An art show with a Terence McKenna-inspired theme opens this Saturday in Los Angeles. The Archaic Revival, after McKenna’s book of the same title, will explore “the collective subconscious of contemporary art through “allegorical code, sacred plant knowledge, magic and an untethered glossolalia.”

Curator Dani Tull has gathered 31 artists together who’ll visually explore alchemy, prophecy, mysticism and of course, this being a Terence McKenna inspired show, the end of time and psychedelics. The exhibit runs from Saturday, January 29th to February 26th at artist run gallery, Las Cienegas Projects at 2045 S. La Cienega Blvd.

Featured artists include Chromium Dumb Belle, Alison Blickle, Tracy Conti & Stephen McCarty, Liz Craft, Sarah Cromarty, Michael Decker, Francesca Gabbiani, Wendell Gladstone, Pearl C. Hsiung, Charles Irvin, Pentti Monkkonen, Sandeep Mukherjee, Alia Penner, Brian Randolph, Ewoud Van Rijn, Eddie Ruscha, Amy Sarkisian, Allison Schulnik, Anna Sew Hoy, Mindy Shapero, Jim Shaw, Laurie Steelink, Thaddeus Strode, Marnie Weber, Owleyes “James” Weigel, and Landon Wiggs.

Here’s the trailer for the event with an awesome Tony Conrad and Faust soundtrack:
 

 
Intimate 1920s-era portraits of Australian criminals from the archives of the Sydney Police. It’s almost like these dark and moody mug shots came straight out of a Vogue fashion spread. Wonderful!

 
See more photos after the jump…

 
A simple and lovely notion: freeze some hydrophones in various attractive water filled vessels, amplify and subtly tweak the output as the ice slowly melts. Such is the work of an outfit named Portable Acoustic Modification Laboratory. Good on ‘em.



 
With thanks again to Shannon Fields

 
The kind folks over at ModCinema recently sent me a fantastic 2-hour compilation culled from the ranks of the many incredible—and long out of print, or never released in versions with English subtitles—films that they carry. It’s titled Colorspace Vol.1 and covers the “mod” cultural territory of 60s/70s film and television. Interspersed with trailers from films like Barbarella, I Love You Alice B. Toklas and dozens more (many that I’d never even heard of before) you’ll find wonderful vintage TV ads and musical performances from Los Bravos(!), Tommy Roe, Brigitte Bardot, Nancy Sinatra and Colorspace Vol. 1 is especially well art-directed. Professional graphic designers and design snobs will love it.

Order your copy of Colorspace Vol. 1 from Mod Cinema.

The below clip, from 1968’s Erotissimo, is a fine exemplar of the ModCinema esthetic:
 

 
What is the through-line in this batch of tunes I’ve selected to present to you, the discerning Dangerous Minds consumer? Perhaps it’s what Brian Eno refers to as idiot glee. At least that’s the emotional state that these songs tend to evoke in yours truly. That is until the last few tracks when my stock-in-trade taste for melancholic melody and downer sentiment kicks in. Whatever, hope you enjoy being inside my head for an hour. It’s a weird place to be.
 
Don Van Vliet - What Are We Gonna Do With You ?
Wild Kingdom - Roma-Destiny
Shoukichi Kina - Haisai Ojisan
Rick Grossman - Mellow Heaven Clout
Bobby Brown - Hawaii Nei I’ll Miss You
Lila Downs - Pinotepa
Albert Ayler & Don Cherry - Ghosts
Aksak Maboul - A Modern Lesson
Can - Turtles Have Short Legs (original 7” version)
Vogel - Flaschenzug
Eno (with The Winkies) - Totalled (I’ll Come Running)
The Van Dyke Parks - Do Want You Wanta
T2 - J.L.T.
Toru Takemitsu - Sky, Horse and Death
Nick Lowe - Endless Sleep
 

 
Download this week’s episode
 
Subscribe to the Dangerous Minds Radio Hour podcast at Alterati
 
Serious video bonus: The internet debut of the only video footage of the band Wild Kingdom that I know of from my personal collection of New Wave Theatre episodes. I’m truly hoping a member or two of this band will turn up and tell me where the other recordings are (or at least what the incredible drummer ended up doing!)
 

 
John Samson’s 1975 documentary Tattoo explores its subject with a detached visual sensuality. At times reminiscent of Kenneth Anger’s Scorpio Rising, Tattoo dances between the flesh, the fantasy, the mundane and the marvelous.

Tattoo can be seen as a statement against conventional beauty. Influenced by the imagery of painter, sculptor and print-maker Allen Jones, it examines the art of tattooing and its role in the rise of alternative culture. Featuring interviews with tattoo artists and their clients and exploring the fascination with and reasons behind ‘body art’, for over 15 years it remained virtually the only documentary on this subject.

Tattoo contains nudity.

 
Previously on DM: Dressing For Pleasure.

The Catacombs, 12 March 1969

Extraordinarily intimate portraits of the denizens of Cape Town, South Africa’s “Les Catacombs” nightclub taken by photographer Billy Monk in 1969, when he was working as a bouncer at the club. Monk also took pictures of the revelry, which he sold to the subjects. Monk’s friendship with many of the people in his photographs is perhaps the explanation for how he got such “let it out hang out” type scenarios on film.

Monk’s contact sheets and negatives were found in 1982 by Jac de Villiers who arranged an exhibition at the Market Gallery in Johannesburg. Monk never saw the ehibition as he was shot dead in a fight two weeks after the show opened. Jac De Villiers has revisited Monk’s work and curated a new exhibition of Monks classic images and some previously unseen at the Michael Stevenson Gallery in Cape Town, from March 1 to April 9, 2011.

The Catacombs, 1968

See more kooky photographs after the jump…
 

 
Miniature riots in jam jars titled “Small World Re-enactments” by British artist and KLF member, James Cauty. Saddly, It appears all the mini-riot sculptures are sold.

James Cauty Design Solutions
 

 
More images after the jump…

Saunders on shrooms.
 
Bryan Lewis Saunders is a visual artist, musician and brain addled fucking dopefreak genius. Don’t stare at his self-portraits for too long or they’ll invade your soul like a swarm of amphetamine-crazed humming birds. Saunders’ approach to the demons inside his head is to unscrew the lid.

On March 30th 1995, I started doing at least one Self-Portrait everyday for the rest of my life. At present I have over 7,900 of them. Like fingerprints, snowflakes and DNA they are all different, no two are the same.  For hundreds of years, artists have been putting themselves into representations of the world around them. I am doing the exact opposite. I put the world around me into representations of myself as I find this more true to my Central Nervous System.”

Pay a visit to Saunders website and see what sleep deprivation, massive amounts of chemicals and divine intoxication can do to a man.
 

 
Thanks for the turn on I Heart Chaos

Left to right: Donald Cammell, Dennis Hopper, Alejandro Jodorowsky & Kenneth Anger.
 
Cinematic shaman Alejandro Jodorowsky discusses his work. Taken from the over five hours worth of extras that will come with the much-anticipated re-release of Santa Sangre on DVD and Blu-ray by Severin Films on January 25th. Pre-order a copy of Santa Sangre.