For the second time, I was invited by Professor Terri Anderson to guest lecture at her Arts, Entertainment & Social Change UCLA honors class. Last year, I spoke for over 2 hours so I came better prepared and kept it under 60 minutes. For homework, they had to attend art walk and write about their experiences. It was extremely encouraging to receive so many well thought out questions and I hope my stories will serve them well.
Art Battle LA
directed & edited by Eric Heights
written & produced by Nic Cha Kim
Los Angeles, CA – Niche.LA Video Art presents the premiere of Art Battle LA on August 30th, 2012 at 9pm on KCET’s show Open Call, a television series highlighting Los Angeles’s many vibrant arts communities including the Colburn School Conservatory of Music, UCLA Live, Los Angeles Ballet, and Live @ The Ford.
Directed by Eric Heights, Art Battle LA chronicles four graffiti artists as they “battle” in a BritWeek sponsored competition judged by Jaguar and Christopher Guy Designs. Follow along as Mear One, Man One, Inkie, and Eine spend a week together painting murals all over Los Angeles under the direction of LA Freewalls to support Hollywood Arts, a nonprofit dedicated to helping emancipated foster children living in the streets by teaching them employable arts skills.
“I wanted this documentary to reflect the new generation of artists emerging through graffiti art culture with a compassionate narrative structure that brings exclusive discussions on modern street art to a new audience,” says Director Eric Heights.
Hosted by internationally-acclaimed mezzo-soprano opera singer Suzanna Guzman, Open Call sets the stage as Suzanna gives her unique insight into the evening’s program and encourages filmmakers to provide additional commentary to help tell the story.
“We are proud to work with KCET to showcase a misunderstood art form in a more positive light. These are talented artists that do a lot for charities. We should recognize their contributions and support their work,” says Executive Producer Nic Cha Kim.
Niche.LA Video Art thanks Bob Peirce of BritWeek and Bohdan Zachary of KCET for the opportunity to tell this unique story about graffiti and street art for the sake of benefiting charity. Niche.LA also thanks all the amazing artists and dedicated crew that worked on this documentary. We couldn’t have done it without you!
Art Battle LA premieres August 30th, 2012 at 9pm on KCET in the Southern California area on the following HD channels:
Over-The Air 28.1
Charter 309
Time Warner 412
DirecTV 28
Dish Network 28
AT&T U-verse 1028
Repeats Sept 3rd at 1:30PM and Sept 5th at 12AM.
White House AAPI Initiative “What’s Your Story?”
LOS ANGELES, CA – On Oct 30, 2011, Niche.LA Video Art submits new video “Nic Cha Kim, Founder of Gallery Row” to the White House AAPI Initiative “What’s Your Story?” video challenge. Seeking stories about Asian-American community activists, Nic Cha Kim hopes to represent Downtown LA in Washington DC. A select few will be invited to the White House to attend a briefing concerning AAPI Issues.
Niche.LA Video Art presents Transdissipation
new digital artwork by James Adams
curated by Nic Cha Kim
LOS ANGELES, CA – On June 11, 2009 from 4-9PM during the Downtown Art Walk in Gallery Row, Niche.LA Video Art presents “Transdissipation,” original video and digital artwork by James Adams.
James lives and works in downtown Los Angeles. His work spans across media and disciplines from video and sound to sculpture, photography, printmaking, and painting. Adams has exhibited throughout Southern California at venues including The Constant Gallery, Kellogg Art Gallery, i-5 Gallery, Soundwalk and the University Art Museum at CSULB. His single channel videos have screened at the Experimental Edit International Video Festival in Auckland, New Zealand.
Niche.LA Video Art presents Room
digital photography by Brion Topolski and Adam Tenenbaum
curated by Kim Riccelli
Niche.LA Video Art presents DT
digital photography by Dave Bullock and Charlie Cho
curated by Nic Cha Kim
LOS ANGELES, CA – On February 12, 2009, Niche.LA Video Art presents “DT,” a digital photography show by Dave Bullock and Charlie Cho. “DT” is an exploration of Downtown Los Angeles’ skyline, street culture, and industrial landscape.
Niche.LA Video Art presents new works by Stephen Hartzler
curated by woodywise
LOS ANGELES, CA – From December 11th, 2008 – January 30th, 2009, Niche.LA Video Art presents Deconstruction Zone, a collection of street sign found art and jewelry by artist Stephen Hartzler.
Stephen Hartzler graduated from the University of North Texas with a degree in Anthropology and another in Metals and Jewelry. He credits one of his Metals and Jewelry teachers, a Buddhist named Harlan Butt, with helping him find his direction and balance between metal, nature, and skin.
Niche.LA Video Art presents new works and video by Motion One
curated by Nic Cha Kim
LOS ANGELES, CA – From November 13th – December 6th, 2008, Niche.LA Video Art presents a collection of new works by LA artist Motion One as well as his video art debut Mear One – Live Art Experience, a video expression chronicling famed LA grafitti artist, Mear One.
MOTION was born as Ricardo Estrada in Los Angeles, CA in 1980. Growing up, he was your typical kid: video games, skating, chillin’ with the homies, and getting his ass wooped by his mom. He was bit by the graffiti bug in Jr. High. Once he got to high school, Ricardo started to socialize with all the other graff writers and he was taken under the wing of his fellow writers SODA and HECTIC.
Art Spotting: Gallery (P)reviews
by Andie Villafañe
Niche.LA Video Art participates in DigitalArt.LA
digital international art expo curated by Rex Bruce
Rex Bruce and Los Angeles Center for Digital Art present:
DigitalArt.LA
CLICK TO DOWNLOAD DIGITAL ART LA MAP
NICHE.LA VIDEO ART PRESENTS “Pull For Peace”
new work by Craig Ruda
curated by Trish Lamantea
LOS ANGELES, CA – On February 8, 2007 (12:00 – 9:00PM), Niche.LA Video Art presents “Pull For Peace” curated by Trish Lamantea, featuring digital artist Craig Ruda and video artist woodywise.
Craig was born and raised on Long Island, New York. After a move to New York, Craig joined the band Gods Child and later Joe 90. Gods Child released two albums “Everybody” and “Aluminum” for Warner Brothers Records. Gods Child’s first single “Everybody’s One” topped both the Billboard “Modern Rock” and “Album Rock” charts simultaneously. Joe 90 based out of Los Angeles released two albums “Dream This” and “A Raccoons Lunch” for Interscope Records.
NICHE.LA PRESENTS 04/05/06
new work by Retna and Michael Allen
curated by Marcela Garate
LOS ANGELES, CA – On September 14, 2006 (12:00 – 9:00PM), Niche.LA presents “04/05/06,” curated by Marcela Garate, featuring digital artist Retna and video artist Michael Allen.
Los Angeles based artist Retna removes corporate advertisements of women from illuminated signs and embellishes them in a style that not only recalls Mayan and Egyptian hieroglyphs but even the aesthetic heights of Byzantium with its mosaic tiling of Christ and other deities. In one work, the well-known and ill-fated singer, Aaliyah, gazes upwards while color explodes like jeweled fragments around her. Retna’s intervention in these advertisements elevates the perception of the mostly anonymous females – fodder for representing desire and selling other objects – to a form of idolatry.
NICHE.LA PRESENTS “RETROW // CENSORIAL”
curated by Nic Cha Kim
LOS ANGELES, CA – On April 13, 2006 (12:00PM – 9:00PM), Niche.LA presents “Retrow // Censorial,” curated by Nic Cha Kim, featuring new work by Osman Khan and digital animation by Tawd b. Dorenfeld & thePOLYMORPHCrew.
“Retrow /” returns many artists previously exhibited at Niche.LA since the July 2005 opening. Participating artists include John Edward Faulkner, J. Joseph Mahoney, Kjell Hagen, and Rex Bruce.
Niche.LA presents “Wireless”
new work by Rex Bruce
LOS ANGELES, CA – In his new series, “Wireless,” Los Angeles artist Rex Bruce presents images and videos taken with a cell phone camera where the subject is the “air” in which mobile communications are transmitted. Within abject looking sky-scapes, tops of golden arches, street lamps, vernacular decoration and architecture jut upward into the frame. Often included are telephone poles and slack wires strung between them, an ironic choice considering the instrument with which they were photographed.
Niche.LA & Lounge 441 present “Digital World: LA”
curated by S.E. Barnet
LOS ANGELES, CA – LOS ANGELES, CA – Beginning February 9th, 2006, Niche.LA & Lounge 441 present “Digital World: L.A.,” a diverse exhibit of art and videos from 20 emerging Los Angeles digital artists, including Robert Lepiz, Andrew Woll, Erin Preston, Tara Kozuback, Brent Langieri, James Olech, Helen Cahng, Wendy Given, Erika Suderburg, Eric Wise, Jeremy Lucido, Jacob Melchi, Thera Barnett, Calvin Phelps, and Lori Schindler. Works by Suzanne Oshinsky, Jacob Melchi, Christina Carrea, Laura Martin, and Hillary Mushkin, which are permanently archived at the Sandberg Instituut.
Niche.LA & Lounge 441 present “Pixel Pleasures”
LOS ANGELES, CA – On October 13th, 2005, Niche.LA & Lounge 441 present “Pixel Pleasures,” a collection of erotic digital art and videos from J. Joseph Mahoney.
curated by Nic Cha Kim
Mahoney grew up in New York, where he received a BFA in Illustration from The Pratt Institute. He continued his studies in graphic design, typography, photography, sculpture, and production design at UCLA and NYU. He worked for Walt Disney Feature Animation for several years as a visual development artist and had a one man show of erotic drawings at The Pacific Asia Museum. Recently, he wrote and directed a live-action short film which was accepted into the New York International Independent Film Festival. He’s currently producing an independent live action feature length film.
Niche.LA & Lounge 441 present “Digital World: Oz”
curated by Jason Waters
LOS ANGELES, CA – On August 11th, 2005, Niche.LA and Lounge 441 present “Digital World: Oz,” a collection of digital art from various mediums, focusing on Australia and the works of ADAM PHILLIPS and SCART. Situated next to each other, Niche.LA & Lounge 441 form one space that features an 18-seat private screening room and a mixed-media/video art gallery. A digital cooperation in the middle of Gallery Row, these two “mini-galleries” offer an eclectic artistic experience on the 4th floor of the Spring Arts Tower in less than 750 square feet.
“Cell-Outs & Phonies”
curated by Laura Merians
“I prowled the streets all day, feeling very strung up and ready to pounce, determined to ‘trap’ life – to preserve life in the act of living. Above all, I craved to seize the whole essence, in the confines of one single photograph, of some situation that was in the process of unrolling itself before my eyes.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson
