Let's Get Rid of LA Magazine



Lets Get Rid of L.A. magazine Cannibal Flower Intro by Gabriel Hart Iinterview by Sondra Albert and Gabriel Hart with Cannibal Flower co-founders Leonard Croskey and Jean-Paul Garnier Let's weigh the options for an up-and-coming L.A. artist in the dismal pre-Cannibal Flower-era, shall we? 1) Beg for a show at one of the few galleries in town that have a monopoly on the scene, followed by being placed on sometimes a two-year waiting list only to be given a 50% commission for each piece sold, or 2) rot in a downtown loft space. Since its inception in the summer of 2000, Cannibal Flower has successfully taken the politics out of the L.A. art world, giving a chance for all poor creative souls to show their work on a monthly basis (Cannibal Flower asks for a very modest 15% commission), with the goal in mind to take all the stiffness out of the gallery concept and replace it with a much more spontaneous party vibe, complete with the DJs, self-mutilators, belly, burlesque, and break dancers, video installations, live music, and not to mention some of the strongest jungle juice served anywhere this side of South Central. All this and 50-plus pieces of some of the most truly cutting-edge art (if you think mags like Juxtapoz have their finger on the pulse of underground art, think again) you'll see in your short-but-precious L.A. lifetime. Cannibal Flower also gives an alternative to those who are tired of going to shows in the sometimes confining clubs, offering a more decadent "anything goes" option for those who choose to let their freak flags fly. What are you guys trying to do? LEONARD CROSKEY: Well, of course our long term goal is to have a gallery that is open for artists to show more than a regular gallery. Right now it's just giving artists exposure. 80% of our shows are artists that don't get shows. But you know what, everyone is telling us our shows rival other gallery shows. I know you guys have run into some problems with galleries- kind of like you guys are taking their clients away and shit like that. JEAN-PAUL GARNIER: Well, they hate us for two reasons. One, we charge 15% commission for artists just to make flyers while other galleries charge 50%. They're making the money from the art. But that's not what we're doing. The other thing is we can show them first because other galleries only have group shows like once a year and we do a group show once a month. And two, we feature three artists. So we're getting to like the fresh new artists in L.A., San Diego, all over the place before they can. LEONARD: The thing is they say our show is the only true showcase of L.A. art because at the galleries you see the same guys and here you see a bunch of new names that you didn't even know. How did it start off though? How did you find people when it started out? LEONARD: When we first started it was like twenty friends and it was such a cool thing because at that very first show, we had like 125 people. All the people at the next show told all their friends and it was double and double and then more friends. It's like every artist has five artist friends. So what's the all time craziest performance that's gone down here? LEONARD: It's probably hard but what stands out - I'd say Torture King. JEAN-PAUL: Yeah, Torture King. I think he shocked the most people. I had to turn around because I thought I was going to be sick. I couldn't stand it. He fucking swallowed ten feet of metal wire, cut his stomach open and pulled it out with a pair of tweezers and hung Christmas ornaments. LEONARD: Like when he made an X through the bottom of his mouth. JEAN-PAUL: With skewers. There seems to be a lot more interactive experience at Cannibal Flower than at regular gallery show. Was that something you guys were looking to do or was it just sort of incidental? JEAN-PAUL: We wanted an art experience. LEONARD: Because most of the time you go to art shows you'll be there for 45 minutes and then you're outta there. By adding interactive stuff like painting, performance art, bands, they hang around a little longer. You see a band, you go back and look at artwork. You get familiar with that artist that you like. This whole thing is like a subliminal promotion machine. Because people are doing triple takes. LEONARD: Yeah. Right. They come back to the same thing like five times. LEONARD: You have time to do that because you can enjoy a show. When the show's over you look at the artwork. The first time you look at everything, you're like, overwhelmed; it's too much stuff. The second time you're picking out those few artists that you like. The third time you're zeroed in and you've found out who you really like. You know it by name. I like the fact that there's people that come to the shows and they'll see a really popular artist, and not know who the guy is next to him. It's like, "Who is that guy?" But they all just paint their ass off, so that's what it's about for us.