Luis de Jesus Los Angeles Presents Group Show "I've got a good mind to give up living and go shopping instead"

“I've got a good mind to give up living and go shopping instead,” is a group exhibition featuring works by Jim Adams, Edie Beaucage, Kate Bonner, Liz Collins, Caitlin Cherry, Hugo Crosthwaite, Zackary Drucker & Rhys Ernst, Dennis Koch, Margie Livingston, Erik Olson, Josh Reames, Alexandria Smith, and Peter Williams. The show takes its name from the 1968 blues song by B.B. King, which deals with the heartbreak that comes from a broken relationship. The artists in this exhibition explore ideas about relationships that aren't necessarily what they appear to be. Break-ups can be a constantly negotiated battle between parties. Sometimes things can be read one way and understood in a completely different manner, or perhaps the fluidity of a thing—gender, for example—makes expansive truths and multiple realities possible. The varied nature of interpretations that seem to embody opposing or contradictory positions often inspire a level of empathy, communication, and creativity that may transform a situation, making it ultimately more relatable and moving.

“I’ve got a good mind to give up living and go shopping instead” is on view through August 17 at Luis de Jesus Los Angeles 2685 S La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA. photographs courtesy of the artists and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles

Folk Art: The Clay Skulls of James "Son Ford" Thomas

Photo by William Ferris, 'James "Son Ford" Thomas and Clay Skull, Leland, 1971' Collection of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art

Grave digger, blues musician, and dark, mystic soul of the south, James "Son Ford" Thomas made skulls from clay collected at the banks Mississippi's Yazoo River, often using authentic human teeth. His art mirrored, or was a catharsis, from the constant nearness of death at his job digging graves. "We all end up in the clay" was Thomas' oft quoted philosophy on life. The cemetery was probably a great place to pick up teeth too.  You can find his work at various blues museums throughout the south.

Text by Oliver Maxwell Kupper