FEELS LIKE THE FIRST TIME Being that we live in the City of Angels, home of endless nipping, tucking and ladyflower rejuvenation, we decided that for this our seventh issue we’d get a little work done ourselves. Nothing drastic, no scary Simpson sister overhaul for us. Just a little ahem, freshening up, thank you. So, what do you think? Can you see the scars? We hope you like it. We did it for you. We’d hate to have you forsake us for some new, cheap imitation of us who’s maybe a couple of issues younger, you know? In sifting through submissions this time we were totally stoked to explore a couple of new avenues that hadn’t really presented themselves before. Along with our usual drawing, painting, photography and writing, we’ve got some performance art and some conceptual art that not only made us a little weak in the knees, it also got us mulling over all the possibilities that could be considered worthy of being sandwiched between our (newly thinner) thighs, er, covers. So, perhaps you work in an obscure medium—maybe you paint hoochie mamas on hot cars or sculpt aliens out of butter. Fear not. Nothing is too weird to send in so get over your submission insecurities and send your shit our way. We’ll figure out how to get it into print. You just concentrate on making it look pretty. Grow some funk of your own amigos, Look-Look
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CONTRIBUTORS YOU: THE PHOTOGRAPHERS, WRITERS & ARTISTS
MICHAEL DECKER 2 4 Fresno CA
EVAN BROWNSTEIN 2 3 Brooklyn NY
MADDIE CHAIS 1 4 Los Angeles CA
SARAH AKERS 1 7 Nashville TN
CHRISTIAN CUMMINGS 2 7 Canyon Country CA
ALEXANDRA HALL 1 8 Lodi CA
NICK DOYLE 2 4 Sierra Madre CA
RYAN BUYNAK 2 3 New York NY
IGNACIO GENZON Pasadena CA
NOAH VAN SCIVER 2 2 Lakewood CO
ADAM REFUJIO VASQUEZ 27 Pasadena CA
BRENNEN HILL 2 4 Saugus CA
JORDAN INMAN 1 5 Ochelata OK
MEGAN SNIDER 17 Memphis TN
DEX MISSION 2 8 Miami FL
MATT FORD 2 3 Milford MI
BARTHOLOMEW COOKE 24 Los Angeles CA
SCOUT LA RUE 1 5 Beverly Hills CA
CHARLIE DEETS 2 7 Westmont IL
MATTHEW NOTESWORTHY 2O North Vancouver BC
MADDIE DAVIS 1 7 Brooklyn NY
HEIDI TURPIN 2 0 St. Louis MO
RENA KOSNETT 2 3 Los Angeles CA
SPENCER LOWELL MISHLEN
JOSH PICKERING 2 2 Auburn AL
BLAKE SINCLAIR 2 5 Los Angeles CA
EMMETT RENSIN 1 6 Tarzana CA
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HUGO TEIXEIRA 2 4 San Jose CA
MARK RUBENSTEIN 2 1 New York NY
MATTHEW WELLS 2 0 Rainsville AL
SCOTT ACKERMAN 2 8 Honolulu HI
NAJVA SOLEIMANI 1 8 Rockville MD
SIMON A SMITH 2 6 Chicago IL
EMILY ALTOON 2 1 Encino CA
MEGGIE DEARLOVE 1 4 Komoka ONT
CONTRIBUTORS NOT PICTURED MARY CHIARAMONTE 27 Broadway VA • URSULA ELLIS 17 Madison AL • SHAUN KESSLER 25 Brooklyn NY • MOLLY LENOX 15 Minnetonka MN • JOSH MADRID 21 La Puente CA • TORI MC MILLAN 2 7 Chicago IL • ROXIE PERKINS 15 Albany CA • MARK STEFFEN 22 Roselle IL • JOHN TUCKER 1 7 Bloomsburg PA • RYNE ZIEMBA 23 Philadelphia PA
Created and Published by DEEDEE GORDON & SHARON LEE • Creative Directors LISA EISNER & ROMÁN ALONSO GREYBULL PRESS • Editor CAT DORAN • Guest Editor JASON UNDERHILL • Art Director FRANK LONGO Production Manager HILARY GRAVES • Look-Look Crew SIAN ANKHASIRISAN / EMILY BRONKESH - BUCHBINDER NANCY CALLAHAN / MELISSA CUNNINGHAM / AMITY FILE / BRANDY FONS / KIMBERLY GILLEM / SHAYNE GLOBERSON / JONA GOODMAN / ASIM KHAJA / RYAN KU / ALLYSON MINTEER / JONATHAN MURPHY / ERIC W E B B Magazine Interns • EMILY ALTOON / MADDIE CHAIS
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LOOK-LOOK INSIDE MAILBOX ETC. RANTS, RAVES & LETTERS | 6. MIXED MESSAGES JOSH MADRID • MEGGIE DEARLOVE • NOAH VAN SCIVER • MARY CHIARAMONTE • SHAUN KESSLER TORI MC MILLAN • HEIDI TURPIN • RYNE ZIEMBA | 8.
OUT AND ABOUT LOS ANGELES / EMILY ALTOON | 16. HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN CYBERNETIC DINOSAUR BODYGUARD / NICK DOYLE | 20. SMELLS LIKE GREGORY CREWDSON PHOTOGRAPHS / MARK RUBENSTEIN | 24. OPEN PAGES ILLUSTRATION / MADDIE DAVIS | 28.
PHOTOGRAPHY / BARTHOLOMEW COOKE | 32.
WORD UP POETRY | WITH THRILLS CHEAP AND LOVE DEVINE / RYAN BUYNAK • SICK DAY / MOLLY LENOX SPIN IT / JORDAN INMAN • JOSEPH / MADDIE CHAIS • THE GENERICS / JOSH PICKERING REMINISCING / URSULA ELLIS • SUNNY DAY - WALK TO WORK / MARK STEFFEN • CONEY ISLAND / NAJVA SOLEIMANI MOVING / EMMETT RENSIN • AIRPORT / MATTHEW WELLS • JULY / ROXIE PERKINS | 38. PEOPLE I LIKE INTERVIEW WITH LEYLA SAFAI BY MADDIE CHAIS | 44. WORD UP PROSE | YOUR FATHER / JOHN TUCKER • HIDING PLACES / SIMON A SMITH | 50. POSSESSED OUIJA BOARD DRAWINGS / CHRISTIAN CUMMINGS & MICHAEL DECKER | 52. MIND’S EYE EXOTIC WORLD | TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY / RENA KOSNETT | 58. OPEN PAGES ARTWORK / DEX MISSION | 62. PHOTO GEOGRAPHIC BLAKE SINCLAIR • SPENCER LOWELL MISHLEN • ADAM REFUJIO VASQUEZ • ALEXANDRA HALL EVAN BROWNSTEIN • HUGO TEIXEIRA • SARAH AKERS • MATT FORD • SCOUT LA RUE • IGNACIO GENZON • CHARLIE DEETS MEGAN SNIDER | 66.
look-lookmagazine• c o m For PR, please contact: Brandy Fons / brandy@look-look.com. All other inquiries: info@look-lookmagazine.com To subscribe or for further information on how to contribute to Look-Look Magazine go to look-lookmagazine.com
MAILBOX ETC•
Q
I came across Look-Look in some dazed lost instant at an awful corporate book store. I have to admit though, that at least the magazine is able to reach those who are unable to find such art compilations. After making the skim of keep or ditch-I was immediately rushed with a passion to be published in this bad ass book. And so I was wondering if it were possible to submit my polaroids and what the guidelines for that would exactly entail I understand polaroids are a bit hard to print but after a few years of taking solely polaroid pictures and quietly boycotting the digital revolution I am hoping to find some sort of outlet. Is this in any way a substantial goal? Paz-Bailey Lauricella
A
We welcome submissions in any form you’ve got. Check out guidline on how to submit on p.90. Re: Polaroids, we’ve published plenty of them in the past. We recommend scanning them when you first submit and then if we dig them and want to publish them, we’ll contact you about getting the originals. Look-Look
I am very excited about your amateur artists’ magazine. I think it provides a lot of wonderful opportunities for youth to express themselves and raise their voices. I’m stoked with the idea of being a young writer when art created by youth is being recognized, respected, and represented by a publication such as yours. I am very grateful for any consideration of publication. Thank you very, very much. You rock! Toni Perez
I discovered Look-Look yesterday while flipping through photography magazines at Borders, it stood out, being more about art and less about policy. Chris
After buying issue five, in my head I knew this was the magazine I would stick next to. After reading and pondering and thumbing through the pages umpteen times I knew I couldn’t wait for issue six. I waited each day, going to the book store to see if issue six would come out. That’s how much I was in love with it, but coming up short when each lingering day grew longer. I didn’t even know whether there would be an issue six. So some odd months later, I was doing a photography project for my notebook and thought to myself, “just perhaps you’ll have issue six.” So I went to the website and started to hyperventilate because what did I see, the cover of issue six! Hot damn! Haha my heart started to beat rapidly and I HAD to have an issue. So at 10 at night I got on my shoes with my zit meds all over my face got in the car and drove high speed to the book store and bought me a copy. Satisfaction. 20 mins flat. Thanks for feeding the hunger Alyssa D
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MIXED MESSAGES ANYTHING GOES
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JOSH MADRID
21
La Puente CA
MEGGIE DEARLOVE
1 4 Komoka ONT
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NOAH VAN SCIVER
22
Lakewood CO
MARY CHIARAMONTE
2 7 Broadway VA
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SHAUN KESSLER
25
Brooklyn NY
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TOP
TORI MC MILLAN
27 Chicago IL
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BOTTOM
HEIDI TURPIN
20 St. Louis MO
RYNE ZIEMBA
23 Philadelphia PA
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OUT AND ABOUT LOS ANGELES
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PHOTOS
EMILY ALTOON
21 ENCINO CA
H OW
2
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BUILD YOUR OWN CYBERNETIC DINOSAUR BODYGUARD
BLUEPRINTS
NICK DOYLE
24 SIERRA MADRE CA
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SMELLS LIKE PHOTOS UNDER THE INFLUENCE GREGORY CREWDSON
PHOTOS
MARK RUBENSTEIN
21 NEW YORK
NY
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OPEN PAGES INSIDE MY HEAD ONE PERSON’S DRAWINGS
ILLUSTRATIONS
MADDIE DAVIS
17 BROOKLYN NY
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OPEN PAGES INSIDE MY HEAD ONE PERSON’S PHOTOGRAPHS
PHOTOS
B A R T H O L O M E W C O O KE
24 LOS ANGELES CA
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WPOETRY ORD-UP
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PEOPLE I LIKE INTERVIEW WITH LEYLA SAFAI
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OF HEARTSCHALLENGER
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HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE IDEA FOR A PRETTIER VERSION OF AN ICE CREAM TRUCK? I always wondered why there wasn't an internationally stocked ice cream truck. As a little girl my mom would take me to Little Tokyo or Chinatown, all these wonderful places and I would try things that I wouldn't normally be exposed to, and then when I would go to the ice cream man I would always be confused as to why he didn't have that selection. So I thought when I grow up I want an ice cream truck that's really beautiful, and I want stuff from all around the world. In Los Angeles, all the ice cream trucks look like jail cells, with tiny windows and huge iron bars and you can't see the person behind the window and you can't see the products, because there's always one shelf in the back that's all dusty and dirty. All I wanted was a pretty and simple ice cream truck. DOES ANYBODY HELP YOU IN THE ICE CREAM TRUCK? Yes. I have a partner named Ben, and we do all of the stuff together, we do the music, the trucks, the clothes, and we're actually hiring more people to drive the trucks for us. As of now, we have three girls that do it, but we're moving and expanding the trucks to New York and we have to hire a full time staff to drive the trucks in Los Angeles. Which is something we've never done before, which is scary. THE SONG THAT YOU PLAY WHEN YOU DRIVE AROUND IS DIFFERENT THAN THE SQUEAKY SONGS THAT ARE USUALLY PLAYED BY ICE CREAM TRUCKS. WHERE DID THE IDEA FOR A MORE UNIQUE AND BEAUTIFUL SONG COME FROM? While doing the truck, I thought, I'm putting so much effort into every last thing, but I didn't like that annoying song, I mean, you know how there's about 5 songs that they all play and they're so horrible. My boyfriend was in a band at the time and he would make really cool music for this group, so I asked him to make a few ice cream songs and they turned out so amazing that we made a double E.P. It has ice cream music on one side while the other side of it expands on the Heartschallenger aesthetic - which were songs that sounded like Narnia or some sort of electronic voyage through space and time sort of thing. They still have an ice cream feel, but they are a bit more evolved and three of them are dance songs. We even took love songs that I had left on his answering machine and used those melodies and put beats behind them and then play that. And it was also cool because we used our real heartbeats, with stethoscopes that we recorded through drum machines so the essence of the songs are really us too. SO WHY IS IT THAT YOU NAMED YOUR TRUCK “HEARTSCHALLENGER?” People think that Heartschallenger is an ice cream truck. Heartschallenger made an ice cream truck, but it's really more of an umbrella for a lifestyle brand. The last piece of the “ice cream truck” puzzle was the name and I couldn't think of anything So after a year and a half of working I thought, 'This is the greatest challenge of my heart,' which has a double meaning because everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong, and continues to go wrong, and I'm like, 'I shouldn't have named it Heartschallenger!' And so we took the music and called it Heartsrevolution because it means full circle and completion. No more 'challenger' for me! WHAT IS YOUR PERSONAL FAVORITE ICE CREAM THAT YOU SERVE? Today? Because my inventory varies so much just depending on what I can get it's always different, but I would say right now, my favorite are my Spumoni Wedges. I just got them last week and they're pretty amazing. HOW DO PEOPLE REACT WHEN THEY SEE YOUR TRUCK FOR THE FIRST TIME?
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from all different backgrounds and ages and everybody gets that same look of 'The ice cream truck!' Or… people are just completely confused. So many people will come up and ask if we actually have ice cream! When they find out that we do, they always respond in disbelief because they thought that a truck like this must only be for show. Ultimately most people are exicted and love it. SO WHEN YOU'RE NOT DRIVING OR DESIGNING OR MAKING MUSIC, WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO IN YOUR SPARE TIME? Spare time… I wonder what that is. I guess just making new songs. We're in the process of recording a full-length, self-released dance album and I'm really excited. LAST QUESTION. WHO INSPIRES YOU TO ACCOMPLISH ALL THESE DIFFERENT THINGS YOU DO? My mother. She always pushed me to do anything I ever wanted to do and to believe in ideas. Also, I think really myself, which sounds like a narcissistic way to be, but I just have this drive to make unique and beautiful things that can inspire other people. When I was 16, I was a riot girl and that instilled something in me. It is important as a young woman to own the ability to do anything you set your mind to. In this world anything is possible! Heartschallenger essentially is about pushing yourself to do things that really challenge your heart. That inspires me everyday to push the limits, change the way things are and create beautiful things for the world to hear, see, taste, touch and feel. TIME FOR ICE CREAM!
INTERVIEW WITH LEYLA SAFAI BY MADDIE CHAIS 14
LOS ANGELES CA
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WPROSE ORD-UP
YOUR FATHER. As with anything, there are many types of shakers. There are the long shakers that excessively rattle your hand for what seems to exceed an hour. Those that clasp your arm with their left hand to spice up the usual shake; it also seems the arm-grabbers are the ones that shoot beams of intensity into your eyes until you look away and they feel like they have out-manned you. I find my least favorite however is the "hand pumper." Squeezing as hard as they possibly can is bizarre enough, but including the pump action as if they are resuscitating a heart failure in your hand however, is verging on sexual. With this predicament do you side with the victimizers or do you oppose the war---the opposition being the paradox, that one guy with a ridiculously limp handshake. While it is almost a relief in comparison to "The Hulks" green iron grip, it is unsettling just nuzzling hands, almost like you are assisting one another in collectively washing fingertips. When encountering such a person I find myself sympathizing for them, like they could have been victim to frostbite as a small boy and sustained joint and ligament injuries, disabling their ability to administer a normal handshake. However, the gimps don't feel like they need to impress anyone or project anything, they just want to be polite, shake your hand, and leave it intact. Though the latter may seem to ooze "gay," if you look at the facts it seems quite the opposite. Latent homosexuality is often expressed by the act of accentuating your masculine side; most homophobes have doubts in their sexual orientation. Ironically, the brutes with a crushing squeeze are losing their manhood to the disabled shaker. I am sure that team macho would disagree in the same way that people think purchasing red, white, and blue paper plates on the fourth of July is demonstrating patriotism more than those who exercise their rights by burning the flag. If this scenario were a Presidential election I would vote Independent. The slippery handshake is a little weird, while the overly firm handshake is absurd. Since I don't see the appeal in lathering a stranger's hand with my own, from now on I am going to say that I am infected with ringworm and slide to the cocktail weenies.
JOHN TUCKER 1 7 Bloomsburg PA
Drawing by NICK DOYLE 24 Sierra Madre
HIDING PLACES The night the police officer came to pick up my father I was in the house watching cartoons. Through the kitchen window I could see my dad hiding his small red car in the woods behind our property. I watched him carefully maneuver it behind a gang of tall oak trees, and then the taillights went out. As soon as he exited the car he started running, doubled-over with his arms braced out to block stray branches, and whipping his head around like someone fleeing a forest fire. The front door banged shut and I could hear my father's locomotive breathing. "Dad" I said. He was standing at the end of the hall, shaking. From the look he gave me, I don't think he knew that I was home. "Son," he said, "Travis. Travis, come here."I started walking toward him, but he was already talking. "I'm going up in the attic for a little while." He had his hand wrapped around the doorknob. "If anyone asks, you don't know where I am." He opened the door then and I could hear him falling up the steps in the dark. A few moments later, a cop car drove up and a uniformed man came to the door. He showed his badge. He looked down at me through one eye and cocked his head. He stood over me with his hands on his hips and sucked his teeth. It wasn't long before I was crying and the heavy-footed man was making his way up the attic steps. I'm thirteen years old and I can't stop crying. I hear my father groaning in agony, "No, noooooo. Let me stay. I didn't do anything." He was sobbing. My mother told me that he had been caught driving under the influence for the third time in a row without his license and that he was going to be in jail for six months. She said it very matter-of-factly. Deep down I don't believe that she wanted him punished that severely, but she said, "If a man gets caught three times for the same thing in eighteen weeks..." There was a strong desire to seek improvement. We went to go see him every weekend. He sat across from us at a filthy folding table in a rec room with harsh cafeteria lighting and asked me how basketball was going. I mostly nodded or shook my head. He looked a little disheveled. I wondered if they let them have electrical razors inside. He never talked about himself. According to one of the guards, he was now allowed to leave a few days at a time on something called a work permit. Different things reminded me of him all the time. Every time I made a basket, I'd wonder how different it might feel if my dad was there, sitting flat on the floor along the sidelines with his back against the wall and his knees sticking up under his elbows. That was spectator mode for a guy like him. And he'd wear a black cotton coat, a baseball cap, and a pair of boots that my mother bought him for fishing.
My friends were starting to get suspicious. I told Nicholas, Johnny, and Evelyn Stewart that he went camping a lot now. Whenever my neighbors Carl or Stanley Boone came over to play, I'd mention that my father was away on another hunting trip. It was a very small town. I never told a soul the truth. If I could manage, no one would be able to make me feel bad about it. There was nothing more important to me than secrecy. As far as I was concerned, there wasn't a single person outside my family who had any business. Basketball season was over by the time he was released. Things were quiet and strained around the house. My mother was skilled at keeping grudges. Speaking up involved choosing sides. I wasn't capable of decoding or comprehending the battle tactics of married life. I didn't know why my mother went to bed an hour before he did, or why she had stopped massaging his back after dinner. Much later, I'd understand that these weapons were made of silence and strangulation holds. When my dad and I were alone, he'd try smiling for appearances. My mother didn't feel the need to pretend, maybe because she thought if I paid attention I might learn something. Even before the incident, my father was the type of man who liked to keep busy outdoors as much as possible. If he didn't have a chore to complete, he'd invent one for himself. One afternoon he was raking stones at the bottom of the driveway. It was the day after a big thunderstorm and he was trying to rearrange the sediment so that it wouldn't wash out as easily next time. I put my jacket on and walked down to meet him. It had only been a week, and I felt the need to be close to him whenever I could. Mr. Boone happened to be out walking his bloodhound. He came to a halt when he saw my dad. "Edward!" he shouted. "Where the hell have you been lately? I haven't seen you around for ages." My father stopped raking. He rested his chin on the top of the handle, propped his foot up on the bank. And then, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, he said, "Oh. Oh, that. Oooooh, I've been in jail for the past six months."
SIMON A SMITH 26 Chicago IL
POSSESSED BY OUIJA
5 2•
I am an amateur mystic. I collect crystals, have an astrologer, read about alchemy and astral projection, and I have a firm belief in aliens and all things paranormal. I am also an artist. In December of 2004 these two worlds (artistic and mystic) were synthesized in the first of many séances conducted by me and assisted by my friend the artist Michael Decker. The original idea was to invite ghosts to make drawings using the familiar mechanics of an off-the-shelf Ouija board adapted to hold a magic marker. I am not proud to say I didn’t expect it to work very well in the beginning. Our first ghost visitor was a French boy who called himself Pleaut. When I saw his drawing of a ninja turtle, I felt we had been a part of something exceptional. To collaborate artistically with a ghost on a drawing of a ninja turtle is a singular experience. Everybody asks what it feels like when a ghost is drawing. The short answer is that it feels like the other person is moving it. It does help when your Ouija partner is a psychic prodigy (as was verified during our work early on with a parapsychologist). We have performed Ouija drawing séances for friends and groups alike on several occasions. On these occasions we wear sleeping masks as blindfolds to aid in suspending disbelief. The masks are not necessary, and the drawings do not look any different from those done without them. Sometimes we become more tired when wearing the masks but this is probably because they were designed to help you sleep better. The whole process from beginning to end can last anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. Sometimes, we like to have people in the room try their hand at the board or ask the ghosts questions.
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OUIJA DRAWINGS
CHRISTIAN CUMMINGS
27 CANYON COUNTRY
MICHAEL DECKER
24 FRESNO CA
When this whole thing began, it was exciting for us. It allowed us to breathe. We became spectators while the art made itself. This was a refreshing departure from our more typical creative work. The whole notion of authorship has since lost its meaning. Nowadays, the Ouija is more like an excuse to get together on a Sunday afternoon, catch up on life and let the ghosts make their art. It is rather unbelievable, the idea that ghosts exist and communicate to the living. Even more so, that ghosts like to make art. After almost two years of ghosting, I still have yet to intellectually conquer the subject. The folks who have visited the board, seem no different than other human beings. They are sweet, tell jokes, act grumpy, have opinions and personalities, make keen observations and even sometimes laugh. There is something v e r y natural about the supernatural. I try to be respectful of the ghosts and find that they will do the same in return. Though we have contacted ancient ghosts on occasion, the ones who most commonly visit us have had relatively recent deaths. They are usuall y average people from average places, sometimes children, and even a few celebrities. I am reluctant to mention the most famous celebrity who has made a drawing with us. I don’t think the company bearing his name would be too comfortable with the idea that he is drawing his famous cartoon mouse from beyond the grave. Among others who have contacted us are Barnett Newman, Paul Klee, Norman Rockwell, and Beck Hansen who happens to still be alive (don’t ask). Once a drawing is finished, we talk with the ghost using the letters on the board. After giving us personal information like a name, death date, city and occupation, we ask them to title their new work. We also ask questions about the art piece. In a sort of critique-like dialog, we treat each drawing like it is art. Thus far we have assisted well over 100 drawings.
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MIND’S EYE PHOTOJOURNALISM EXOTIC WORLD
The drive to Exotic World takes you through a little desert town off highway 15 called Helendale, a tiny yet thoroughly irrigated community of Jesus-freaks and skittish small town types who ride around their hellish utopia of neon-green lawns and Christian centers on golf carts all day and stare suspiciously at you as you drive past. As I felt one particularly scary man suck my soul out of my body through his hateful eyeballs, I wondered how such a bright lights big city type of woman like Dixie Evans ever ended up in such an out of the way wasteland, and it was amazing to me that she could keep up a burlesque museum surrounded by a bunch of people who vow every day to avoid sinking into the depravity which composed Dixie's colorful life; as it turned out, after sixteen years, Dixie no longer could. The signs, which point you away from Christ-village and towards Exotic World, were conspicuously absent, forcing me to telephone to get new directions, as my previous directions had read, "follow the signs." Dixie answered the phone in the brusque voice of someone who's been up all night partying, and yelled, "Oh, yeah, the city made me take down all my signs, the simpletons. Turn RIGHT down the dirt road—not left, RIGHT." The first gate I came upon looked demolished, and was barely standing—later Dixie told me that a camera crew which was at Exotic World making yet another documentary about the museum (although this time the film would be about the end of Exotic World in Helendale), had accidentally broken the gate the day before we arrived as they backed out of the driveway. The second gate had a small hand-scrawled sign in the front that read "No more wood," as if there had been some mad community rush to get scrap wood. As soon as I saw that sign, I knew there was something afoot with Exotic World. Dixie walked up to us in smeared makeup and a circa 1980s puffy leather jacket. "Lemme just get rid of this champagne," was her greeting as she threw the remnants of her morning drink from a paper cup into the grass. Dixie started the tour off in the manner of someone used to giving the same tour over and over, monotone and robotic, but as the tour went on she seemed to startle herself by breaking up her rhythm every so often to include the phrase, "Well, this is where that USED to be." The once colorful rooms of Exotic World, the entirety of which used to be the personal home of famed exotic dancer and friend of Dixie Evans', Miss Jennie Lee, had been turned into a world famous exuberant showcase of burlesque memorabilia after Miss Lee's death in 1990, and was now almost entirely gutted. Exotic World had come upon some recent trouble, she explained. Terrible rain damage, citations (although undue and unnecessary) by the local officials of Helendale, and the death of Dixie's mysteriously unnamed sugar daddy had all come down on the small museum in one fatal blow. There was nothing to do, she said, but move on. "It's just hard to accept, after all these years," Dixie confessed as she stared off into god-knows-what in the distance. Even though she was swallowing tears as she told me about all this misfortune, Dixie didn't seem defeated. She just seemed like an eighty-something woman who's seen a lot in her lifetime, and didn't feel like fighting anymore. She simply let her younger friends and business interests pack everything up for her, including her personal effects, and accepted an offer to move the entire museum, as well as her home, to Las Vegas. I just read something encouraging on the website. Dixie's yearly burlesque competition, "The Annual Miss Exotic World Pageant," for which busty beauties from all over the world would flock to Helendale, California, to compete for the grand prize of $100, was scheduled to take place this year in May at the Celebrity Theater in "historic downtown Las Vegas." I didn't attend the gala event, although I wish I had. For prosperity's sake, I should get an "Exotic World: Las Vegas" T shirt to go with my "Where in the Helendale is Exotic World?" mug, because knowing what kind of firecracker Dixie Evans is, it is possible that Exotic World might not stay in Las Vegas forever.
TEXT & PHOTOS
RENA KOSNETT
23 LOS ANGELES CA
60•
6 1•
OPEN PAGES INSIDE MY HEAD ONE PERSON’S SKETCHBOOK
ARTWORK
DEX MISSION
28 MIAMI FL
6 4•
65•
PHOTO GEOGRAPHIC
THE PEOPLE, PLACES AND THINGS THAT LIVE IN YOUR WORLD
BLAKE SINCLAIR 25
Los Angeles CA
BLAKE SINCLAIR 25
Los Angeles CA
ADAM REFUJIO VASQUEZ 27
Pasadena
SPENCER LOWELL MISHLEN 22
Sherman Oaks CA
ALEXANDRA HALL 18
Lodi CA
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EVAN BROWNSTEIN 23
Brooklyn NY
EVAN BROWNSTEIN 23
Brooklyn NY
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HUGO TEIXEIRA 24
San Jose
CA
SARAH AKERS 17 Nashville TN
MATT FORD 23 Milford MI
82•
SCOUT LA RUE 15 Beverly Hills CA
IGNACIO GENZON 23
Pasadena CA
83•
SPENCER LOWELL MISHLEN 22
Sherman Oaks CA
MEGAN SNIDER 17
Memphis TN
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SCOUT LA RUE 15 Beverly Hills CA
CHARLIE DEETS 27
Westmont IL
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MEGAN SNIDER 17
Memphis TN
BLAKE SINCLAIR 2 5 Los Angeles CA
BLAKE SINCLAIR 2 5 Los Angeles CA
“Fire in Agoura Hills”
“Floating in Bora Bora”
ADAM REFUJIO VASQUEZ 27 Pasadena CA “Vegas Baby!”
SPENCER LOWELL MISHLEN 22 Sherman Oaks CA
ALEXANDRA HALL 1 8 Lodi CA
EVAN BROWNSTEIN 2 3 Brooklyn, NY
“Stuck in Lodi again. “Images are from a series on Las Vegas titled Meandering Patterns. I am fascinated by chaos conceled by organization of the surface.”
EVAN BROWNSTEIN 2 3 Brooklyn NY
HUGO TEIXEIRA 2 4 San Jose CA
HUGO TEIXEIRA 2 4 San Jose CA
“Grab the bull by the horns.”
“Live all 11 dimensions.”
SARAH AKERS 1 7 Nashville TN
MATT FORD 2 3 Milford MI
SCOUT LA RUE 1 5 Beverly Hills CA
“My photographs are not retouched or digitally edited. They are grainy and slightly blurry and that is what makes them real. You can see one of my biggest flaws without seeing me.. I have a very shaky hand.”
“This was taken at the John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids, The girl in the photo is my friend Jackie.”
“I am Temujin, Barbarian. I fight! I love! I conquer, like a Barbarian!”
IGNACIO GENZON 2 3 Los Angeles CA
SPENCER LOWELL MISHLEN 22 Sherman Oaks CA
MEGAN SNIDER 1 7 Memphis TN “I like to catch things in their natural state, capture them as they simply are.”
“Mongo use light machine to his advantage.”
SCOUT LA RUE 1 5 Beverly Hills CA
CHARLIE DEETS 2 7 Westmont IL
“ABCDEFBEAST”
“It’s a mystery”
MEGAN SNIDER 1 7 Memphis TN
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HOW TO CONTRIBUTE 1• - Be someone between the ages of 14-30 who does not get paid for your art. 2 • - Go to look-lookmagazine.com and follow the submission guide lines. Images MUST be 300DPI. Contact us if you are not sure. OR 3 • - Mail your work to:
Look-Look Magazine
2•
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Submissions Department 1201 West 5th Street Suite T850 Los Angeles, CA 90017 Be prepared to part with your art... Forever
LAST LOOK-LOOK
BLAKE SINCLAIR 25
Los Angeles CA
THE AD GALLERY Corporations have a reputation as the evil do-badders, the ones who will steal your soul just to make some cash money while you poor starving artist wither away in your drafty bedsit wearing fingerless gloves and painting with the blood from packaged chicken you are forced to dumpster dive for. And sure, there are some companies out there who are probably like that—the US Government, Enron, WorldCom—those guys are the kinds of guys you don’t want to meet up with in that dark alley while you’re scrounging for the chicken carcasses. The companies we’ve been fortunate enough to glom onto, however, these guys aren’t like that at all. They don’t even like chicken. They are super cool and shiny and they give us the money to print the pages to showcase your art. Not only do they pay for the magazine, they even go so far as to put their images in the hands of rank amateurs (no offense intended guys) and let you knuckleheads design the ads. That is what is known in the dictionary as “bonkers”. It can also be described as “visionary”, “insightful”, and “f-ing koo-koo”. Almighty sponsors, we are forever in your debt. Look-Look
Sponsor FREECITY Sponsor C Y W O R L D
Designer EMILY ALTOON
Sponsor VIRGIN MOBILE
Designer MATTHEW NOTESWORTHY
21
Encino CA 20
North Vancouver BC
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LO O K ISSUE
Look-Look. The magazine by young photographers, writers, and artists
NET PROFITS WILL BENEFIT YOUNG ARTISTS
US $5.95 CANADA $7.95
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