TERROR OF CONFORMITY
“Eat salami before bedtime to ensure nightmares. Bonjour! Bonjour!”
STEVEN ARNOLD
ADVANTAGES OF A NEWER SOCIAL STRUCTURE
“Someones got to come out, be outrageous, and break the rules. God save us from the normal, PLEASE! Be silly. Make it fun! The world needs madness and creativity so badly. Gardening, cooking, dressing, the way we entertain our friends, the grace we exude – it’s all art. It’s what makes us deep, rich, astonishing and miraculous creatures. I’m talking about love here. Bliss. Joy. Having a ball. To lose touch with this is tragic.”
STEVEN ARNOLD
MUNDO MEZA
A tableaux-vivant of Chicano performance artist Mundo Meza. For more information on Meza and the art movement of which he was a part, click HERE. You can see a photograph by Mundo Meza, which was included as a part of the west coast retrospective Pacific Standard Time by clicking HERE.
MECHANICAL THEATRE
“I live in my own dreamworld. That’s the message of my work: regard your dreams, pay attention to them, really look at them, and allow them to manifest! Give yourself time to be quiet and listen to the ancient messages beyond worldly success. [These messages] form the depths of our souls, make us solid, align us with the nature of compassion, and unveil our true place in the cosmos.”
STEVEN ARNOLD
ELASTIC OPERA
“Nowadays, in our vast cities of steel, we still haven’t lost our need for ancient ritual. Dances with masks and drum are alive in our bones. We are witchdoctors in designer jeans. Ancient sexual impulses rule our buying powers and claw at our self illusions. We get high on whatever, and tune in to our instinctual selves. We seek guides and desire teachings. As we accumulate, we share, and thus we grow – the more evolved our sharing, the richer our growth. Oh, beautiful evenings when we we can truly share!”
STEVEN ARNOLD
DIG IN YOUR GARDEN
“Fantasy is a universal human trait – art is the principal means of expressing it.”
STEVEN ARNOLD
STEVEN’S LOVE OF GEORGES MELIES
A still from one of Georges Melies' films.
Steven Arnold first discovered Méliès in the 1960s on a trip to Europe with students from the San Fransisco Art Institute – he was instantly spellbound. Méliès’ influence on Steven’s work can be seen through Arnold’s use of fantastic dream imagery, his intricate, painted cut-out sets, his skill for floating or flying people and objects, and his use of double exposure, for all of which Méliès laid the groundwork.
Steven Arnold's photographs clearly show signs of his admiration for Georges Melies.
And without him, not only would we have been deprived of Méliès’ amazing cinematic visions, but we may have missed out on some of Steven’s contributions as well.
Watch our video portrait, and see Steven talk about his influences, including Méliès, Dalí, and more HERE.
ALTHEA AT 13 WITH KUSKA, WHO ALWAYS WEARS HIS LITTLE CROWN
Steven borrowed the monkey in this photograph from the highly respected window dresser and fashion enthusiast, Simon Doonan, one of Steven's great friends and supporters.
“The images in Steven’s work cover the broadest possible range, from the commonplace to the most arcane. You will find a teaspoon, you will find a skull. There are drag-queens and Gods, fishes and angels, nudes and fools; trivia mingles with idealism, esoterica with kitch. He wants you to have a good time, he wants you to be transformed forever, he wants to trouble and amuse you, poke fun at you and put you in a sweat, he wants you to feel wonderful and we are all invited to the party he’s giving in heaven. Black tie optional: you might prefer yourself in polka dots and globs of golden goo.”
JAMES LEO HERLIHY, WRITER OF MIDNIGHT COWBOY
DRESSED FOR DALI
“Although androgyny is rooted in antiquity, it carries a powerful message for our own time. Spiritual perfection depends precisely on rediscovering one’s androgynous nature. Androgyny knows no boundaries. It leads us beyond the tyranny of convention. Androgyny may indeed be the guiding principle of the new age. It is the incarnation of totality.”
STEVEN ARNOLD
LET THEM EAT CAKE
“[My art] starts with Ludwig the Second of Bavaria meeting Woolworths and Barnum and Bailey over dinner with Louis the 14th in drag, then it just spirals out from there. I’m constructing a new mythology from the shards of the universe.”
STEVEN ARNOLD
GESTATION
“I want images to be complicated, not smart, designy little things. I’m bringing back density – pieces that take time to look at.”
STEVEN ARNOLD
KLIMTESQUE
This never-before-seen tableaux-vivant, is styled after the Austrian Symbolist painter, Gustav Klimt.
“In the right atmosphere, your creative dam will burst forth in a beautiful compassionate celebration. This will be the key to your success on all levels.”
STEVEN ARNOLD
HUNGER FOR THE MARVELOUS
“It will be my ability to get each subject, quietly and secretly, to unleash their creative powers, and in so doing, liberate them from their normal inhibitions, and into a state of trust, openness, and creative frenzy.”
STEVEN ARNOLD
THE ADVANTAGES OF MODERN MARRIAGE
Steven’s photograph, The Advantages of Modern Marriage, was chosen and is currently being exhibited as a part of ONE Gay and Lesbian Archive’s current three part exhibition Cruising the Archive: Queer Art and Culture in Los Angeles, 1945-1980.
The first part of the exhibition, titled WINK WINK, which features Steven’s print, is scheduled to show from now until April 1, 2012 at the ONE Archives Gallery and Museum. The show presents artworks that convey a particular emphasis on social scenes, queer humor, playfulness, and abstraction. Artists in Wink Wink include: Steven Arnold, Don Bachardy, Mitch Berman, B. Bow, Sidney Bronstein, Claire Falkenstein, Anthony Friedkin, Sister Corita Kent, Robert Legorreta (Cyclona), McAlister, Kate Millett, Robert Opel, Phranc, John Quitman, Don Sorenson, Anne Stockwell, and Patssi Valdez, and others.
Again, the exhibition can be viewed until April 1, 2012 at:
ONE Archive Gallery and Museum, 626 North Robertson Boulevard, West Hollywood, CaliforniaCruising the Archive is presented in conjunction with the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time initiative. This unprecedented collaboration, initiated by the Getty, brings together more than sixty cultural institutions from across Southern California for six months beginning October 2011 to tell the story of the birth of the L.A. art scene.
If you happen to be in LA, stop by the ONE Archive Gallery in West Hollywood, and show your support for this very influential, often overlooked, piece of art history.
