David Quan, a Brookyn-based artist with Phoenix roots, has been back in the Valley since May. Chances are good you’ve seen his work under the name Luster Kaboom — including murals on Citywide Studios and the Chocolate Factory, where his Blue Ooze surrounds a mural by Los Angeles-based El Mac,…
For a cultural institution focused on visual art, Phoenix Art Museum has been all about the drama of late. On Friday, August 14, Carlotta Soares and Stephanie Lieb of the museum’s marketing department were let go, leaving the department with one remaining member: graphic designer Felicia Penza. That same day,…
“Border of Dreams” The image evokes triumph, frustration, and heartache with a black-and-white capture of a man, arms outstretched in a Christ-like way toward a barren background. Towering near him made of slanting barbed wire, the U.S.-Mexico border fence. The photographer behind the shot? Award-winning photojournalist Nick Oza. “Border of…
Julie Teeney spent the better part of two decades in the corporate world, bouncing from public relations and marketing to communications for large companies like Honeywell and Wyndham Hotels. She was happy, she says, and she was good at her job, but when she moved back to the Valley from…
Third Friday offerings are shaping up nicely this month, even as some galleries are in their final weeks of summer hiatus. A few of the new exhibitions merit excitement, but August 21 is also a chance to get a final glimpse of a cool show that’s been up for a…
“You could make five different N.W.A movies. We made the one we wanted to make.” That’s director F. Gary Gray during an audience Q&A after a recent screening of Straight Outta Compton, the long-awaited N.W.A movie. In our review, Amy Nicholson writes that there’s much more to the group’s story:…
Nima Nourizadeh’s American Ultra is a bloody valentine attached to a bomb. It’s violent, brash, inventive, and horrific, and perhaps the most romantic film of the year. Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart star as Mike and Phoebe, two West Virginia stoners blissed out on weed and each other. “We’re the…
An opening line can make or break a movie, but there are times when a clunker shouldn’t be held against an otherwise sweet, well-observed picture. Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini’s Ten Thousand Saints starts with a dud, rendered in voiceover: “I’ve heard people say that life is like a…
Brooke, Greta Gerwig’s latest Manhattan creation, is a hurricane gobbling up lives. She’s a singer, restaurateur, interior decorator, math coach, spinning instructor, and self-described autodidact. When 18-year-old admirer Tracy (Lola Kirke), Brooke’s sister-to-be following their parents’ Thanksgiving wedding, squeaks that she wants to write short stories, Brooke devours that idea,…
When I moved to Phoenix two months ago, I looked forward to a lot of things: dry heat, Mexican cuisine, and bicycling around town – but mostly the bicycling. Coming from the northeast, I had never lived in a flat city, much less a flat city with year-round sun and a…
It looks like [nueBOX], the nonprofit arts organization established in 2014 by Matther Mosher and Julie Akerly, is already starting to think outside its own box. Conceived as a nonprofit residency program for emerging performance and installation artists, [nueBOX] recently announced its newest artists in residence: a pairing of CONDER/dance…
College kids of the Valley, we’ve got both good news and bad news to drop on y’all — and as always, we’ll get the bad news out of the way first. The beginning of the fall semester (and thus, the school year itself) is less than a week away. For…
The staff changes at Phoenix Art Museum keep on coming. Jerry Smith, PAM’s longtime curator of European, American and Western art, submitted his resignation on Friday, August 14. And, according to a Tuesday, August 18, report from The Republic, PAM has hired Gilbert Vicario as its chief curator. Smith did not…
Even amid Light Rail construction, Main Street in Mesa has proved a popular place for many years now, thanks to local attractions including Mesa Arts Center, Second Friday art walks, a self-guided sculpture walk, and an assortment of shops. Most recently, new public art has taken shape — from Jake…
Something’s brewing in Tempe. The second annual Beer Olympics, presented by New Times, takes over Tempe Marketplace from 8 to 11 p.m. on Friday, August 21. While aspiring champions shouldn’t expect an opening ceremony, they should be prepared to face some semi-serious competition. Here’s how it works: Athletes will face…
The good news is that no one among us will go broke seeing every single interesting and innovative theater production this coming season. The bad news is that commerce dictates another year of More of the Same. The exceptions are worth noting. Perhaps taking a cue from Phoenix Theatre, which…
Looking for something to do this week without spending some of your hard-earned money? We can help. Free is one of our favorite four-letter words, and this week we found five no-cost events in the Valley this week that are sure to pique your interest. Wether you’re looking for something…
Teetering in high heels and dressed in trendy jumpsuits on a warm summer night, the Valley’s fashion set hit Hotel Palomar for a capsule collection runway presentation and trunk show marketplace from Phoenix Fashion Week’s 2015 emerging designers. Dubbed Shop the Garment District, the event spanned a few ballrooms on…
Your guide to the best things to do in Phoenix and Tempe from August 17 through 21. Felicia Day The Internet is a strange place, which probably means that you’ll fit right in. That’s how Felicia Day frames the world in her memoir You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)…
Phoenix Art Museum’s marketing department is almost empty. PAM public relations director Carlotta Soares and manager Stephanie Lieb were reportedly let go today, Friday, August 14. Sources close to the situation, including Evan Roberts, formerly part of the museum’s marketing team, confirm that Soares and Lieb are no longer with…
In a world gone mad for superhero movies, what chance does the light spy caper have? Audiences will put total faith in a guy wearing a red metal suit, but the soft woolen folds of the bespoke kind barely register. When a whole city can be blasted to smithereens thanks…
Phoenix artist Nic Wiesinger recently founded something called Rhetorical Galleries. But it’s no-brick-and mortar art space. Instead, he explains, Rhetorical Galleries is a vehicle for curating and showing new works. It’s name reflects a simple question posed by Wiesinger: What if we made this space into a gallery? That space could…
