Hammer Blog

I chose to move to L.A because I admired and was baffled by the work coming from there and wanted to better understand where it was coming from. I was a couple years out of undergrad, teaching middle school science in a bi-lingual Russian English school in Coney Island. I was making paintings in my living room in the West Village and going to Chelsea galleries and a lot of openings. I didn't see a place for myself or my work there, but I felt committed to my work. When applying to graduate school and reflecting on my education, I realized that a lot of the work that inspired my approach and resonated with my belief systems as an artist working in painting came out of L.A.

It’s the end of the month, so it’s time for Hammergram! We are fascinated by the photos our visitors take of the objects and spaces at the Hammer. That’s why we decided to launch Hammergram–a monthly round-up of our favorite visitor photos–in the hopes that they will inspire you to share your own Hammer experience with us!
The Hammer Museum welcomes visitors to take non-flash, personal-use photography (except where noted). Share your images with us by tagging @hammer_museum or #hammermuseum on Instagram or Twitter, and you could be featured in the next Hammergram!

I grew up in L.A. and only started thinking about it as a place when I went 30 miles away to Claremont, to college. Three or four years after graduation, when I began to photograph, I was still thinking about it, and it became one of my main subjects. And it has been ever since.

I first met Sarah Rara and Luke Fischbeck in 2006 when I was working at Skylight Books in Los Feliz. I was in charge of the small press consignments – encompassing everything from cut-n-paste zines to lovely poetry chapbooks and even commercially printed publications without backing from distribution companies. I became enamored with Sarah and Luke’s book works, which we sold at Skylight Books and which tend to fall somewhere between zine and artist book, art object and independent publication, documentary and fantasy. So I went to see Lucky Dragons perform and was not surprised to discover that their stage presence and actions also transcended or at least combined descriptors such as performance, music, interactive, and audiovisual.

When I moved here in 2004 I immediately realized this city was way more interesting than it usually gets credit for, but it took me at least 2 years to decide I actually wanted to be here. Now I can't imagine living anywhere else, in the US at least. I love how private it is, not in an exclusive way, it's just that all the really interesting stuff is happening in peoples back yards, or in a strip mall or behind some other dull facade, where you wouldn't expect to find anything.