Flak Photo Celebrates the Pre-Digital Magic of Polaroid

Flak Photo is sponsoring a Polaroid photo contest with FILE and JPG Magazine:

Flak Photo teams up with FILE and JPG Magazine to present the Polaroid Portrait Challenge. Polaroid pictures are like magic, so we want to see your best shot of a person taken with a Polaroid camera. The days of Polaroid film may be numbered, but we plan to send it off in style. The theme will be open until June 7th and will run as a feature in JPG issue 17. Submit your photo today!

This reminded me of a great Polaroid portrait of my friend, Brenda, taken years ago when we were in college. I think she had a neighbor who did Polaroid manipulations. It's on a matte Polaroid, and still sits on my book shelf. She's smoking a cigarette, looking very literary, and much like she does now. I love those moments, when you remember a piece of art or memento (or in this case, both) that while sitting out in plain view, has gone unnoticed.

There is something endearingly nostalgic about a Polaroid contest.

Look out kid, don't matter what you did . . .

We took a family trip to the Skirball Cultural Center and Henry jammed on the keyboard to some Bobby Dylan in the Bob Dylan's American Journey exhibit. You could also play guitar or percussion, and they had a lot of folk revival memorabilia, too. See it soon - it runs through June 8, 2008 and these things always leave town before you remember to visit them.

We also played around in the really amazing Noah's Ark exhibit (the real reason we went up there that day), which if you haven't been is a real treat for any kid (and parent). It's one of those things that is unique and so interactive and playful that you're amazed at how anyone came up with the idea, and you have to experience it; words can't do it justice. Henry had a blast running around untethered with dozens of other kids. We even ran into some friends we hadn't seen in a long time.

Been-Seen.com & BCAM

Been-Seen.com is one of those great blogs you find from a friend. This has one of the better small articles I've read on the reborn Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM), next to LACMA. Little did I know that it is one of the largest column-free art spaces in the United States, which will make for some stellar installations (as you can see from the Jeff Koons sculptures here).

BCAM / Chris Burden

Saturday at the gym and the red carpet was rolled out across the street for arrivals to the grand opening party for the new Broad Contemporary Art Museum. Seeing it gradually come together from inside the L.A. Fitness on Wilshire has been interesting. I thought at first the collection of lamp posts were just being held there before installation on the grounds. As it turns out, it's an art installation by artist Chris Burden.