ARTifacts

Found, as-is, on Willow St. near Santa Fe. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

You can often find the remnants of photoshoots all over this area. I find it fun to try and imagine what kind of shoot occurred in each of them.

Industrial St. - Widelux View

(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

The Widelux is officially out of storage.

Tom Garner - Painter/Graphic Designer

(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

When one thinks of the Arts District, the type of artist that comes to mind first is the fine art painter. A painter with a loft studio filled with canvases, easels and bottles of wine all against a musical score of some sort playing in the background.

Artist Tom Garner pretty much fits that to a tee.

Tom responded to a community e-mail I sent out looking for portrait subjects in the neighborhood. Upon receiving his reply, I checked out his website and immediately realized that Tom lives in a different visual world than most of us. I was intrigued.


(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

Classically trained, but with a very contemporary interpretation, his work seems familiar at first, but then quickly eludes. With a nod to the Venetian greats, his paintings look classic, but only at first. A good example is his Omaggio A Tiepolo series. This body of work pays homage to the works of classic painters, but with the added element of movement. A technique I, as a photographer, could appreciate. When questioned about how he derived the look, the answer proved simple, and humorous. He would tell me that, as with most museums, photography is prohibited. Therefore, many of his reference photos were taken on the sly. This translates to: quickly, and often—blurred. Lemonade from lemons they say


(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

The amazing thing about Tom is that painting isn't all he does. His day job is as Director of Graphic Design at Lucky Brand jeans. After our shoot, he pulled out some color digital printouts of tee shirt designs he's hand-lettered or hand-illustrated. All of it stunning. He also teaches painting in the classic style at UCLA. He's a busy guy. The day after our shoot, he was off to Italy to meet up with his wife and son for the Holidays. They split their time between Italy and California.

People like Tom are fast becoming a rarity. A commercial artist who can draw and paint. We discussed graphic design, something I have dabbled in on occasion. He says he's happy the latest trends in graphic design are going back to the fundamentals, when, he concludes, "graphic artists really were artists."

Hear, hear Tom.

UNICEF - Amare Stoudemire

(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

The UNICEF "Believe in Zero" ad with my commissioned portrait of NBA star Amare Stoudemire has rolled out. Amare was the only portrait subject I've ever shot that required me to stand on not one but TWO full apple boxes. Dude's tall.

For more information on the campaign, click here.

Credits
Art Director: Brad Roberts
Asst. Coordinator: Ari Schneiderman
Production Manager: Pamela Sunnarborg
Agency: Matale Line

Dan - TOY Factory Lofts Security

Dan in his natural habitat. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

Meet Dan.

Officially, Dan is security at the TOY Factory Lofts across the street from my building. Unofficially, Dan is a security guard, doorman, dog-sitter, FedEx package signatory, dog treat dealer and overall jovial guy in a polka-dot tie.

Dan moved to Los Angeles from Maryland some years back to deal poker. But he quickly tired of that scene and stumbled onto our little block way the heck out here in industrial-land. And he decided to stay. When asked about the transition and why he can't ever seem to want to leave, he simply says, "I love it here. I REALLY love it here. The people are great." You'd have to love it here to work 6 days a week as he often does.


Dan Field Guide. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

Beloved by the tenants—and their four-legged best friends—Dan is a fixture around these parts. He earned that status through his charm, sense of humor and biting, lightening-fast wit that is nearly always delivered completely deadpan.

I befriended Dan while hanging out at The Royal Claytons around happy hour. I'd recognized him as the guy I'd seen sitting in the odd little shipping container box/front desk in the lobby of the adjacent TOY. Only at The Claytons, the tie is gone and his shirt is always untucked (his way of saying "off-duty") as he holds court with a bottomless White Russian in hand.

And if you ask Dan what he does, he'll turn to you and pause with a serious look on his face and reply completely deadpan, "I run the building."

Bus Stop

Hailing a bus. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

A single piece of foamcore carved out in the shape of a bus commuter on Traction Ave.

Grey's Anatomy Filming at The Biscuit.

Patrick Dempsey during a take. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

Last week, they filmed another scene for the ABC series Grey's Anatomy here at the Biscuit Company Lofts.

Apparently, Sandra Oh's character, Dr. Cristina Yang, lives in a loft building. So whenever they have an exterior scene in front of her building, they shoot here. The photo above is mid-take. Cristina and Derek (Patrick Dempsey) exit the building and she crosses the street to get in a Land Rover to meet someone. Derek stays behind and sits on a bench outside.

Ironically, I moved from Seattle to Los Angeles only to see a series set in Seattle shot in Los Angeles. It's slightly odd seeing a bunch of cars with the "Mt. Rainier" Washington State license plates driving down Industrial St. They also hosed down the street to make it look like it had just rained. Here in L.A., they actually have to TRUCK IN THE RAIN. Too funny.


Another take. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

The Limey on Willow St.

"You tell him I'm f*@&ing cominnnnggggg!" (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

A neighbor told me one of my favorite motion pictures, The Limey was filmed here at the Biscuit Building. After a few minutes searching on YouTube and one evening on my bike, I discovered that the infamous quadruple murder scene was actually shot at a warehouse on Willow St., not far from here.

I decided to take some newly acquired five-years-past-expiration 4x5 Polaroid film I recently uncovered down to the location to re-shoot it. The look of the Polaroid film just seemed to fit the tone of the scene.

And here's that scene. (NSFW: Language, Violence, Terence Stampitude.)



It's a great flick. I watched it for the first time as a second-run art film in an empty La Paloma theater in Encinitas, CA circa '99. In addition to excellent casting and a hallmark performance by Terence Stamp, Steven Soderbergh's use of washed out colors, disjointed timeline and beautiful lens blooming in the dream sequences make this one of my top 10.

A trip under the 6th St. Bridge

(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

A few days ago I discovered this disjointed but very neatly written screed on the 6th St. bridge approach columns. This being an area called both "The Industrial District" and "The Arts District," it could have been written by any one of the following:

1.) A junkie.
2.) A homeless person.
3.) A photographer for yet another "urban" fashion shoot.
4.) A bored set security guard.
5.) A bored key grip originally from Santa Cruz.
6.) An extremely well educated rat on some really good shit.
7.) A troll.
8.) Amy Winehouse. (See also 1 and 7.)

I like to picture it was some crazy, hyper-intelligent, Exidor-looking, ranting end-of-times, hallucinogen-loving self-proclaimed shaman. Whoever wrote it, thank you. It made my afternoon.


(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony


(Click image for full size.) © William Anthony