On January 29th, at the opening of their new space, Pop tART Gallery in Los Angeles, Dangerous Mind pal Lenora Claire and her partner, Phyliss Navidad, along with super-talented photographer Austin Young, orchestrated the chaotic first night of Young’s performance art/installation piece YOUR FACE HERE. With a crack team of some of the best make-up artists in Tinsel Town, Young and his glamorizers (in full view of an invited audience, passers-by and a reality TV camera crew) worked their magic. Margaret Cho was in the make-up chair when we got there. I’m told that he was able to shoot 40 portraits at the opening party alone.

Over the course of the following five weeks, Young moved his studio into the gallery and took portraits of people from all walks of life—grannies to trannies—and tonight the fruits of these labors will be unveiled when 100 of these portraits go up on the Pop tART Gallery’s walls. Some of the celebs who sat for Young’s camera include Joe Dallasandro, Karen Black, and Perez Hilton.

I’m pretty unabashed in my enthusiasm for Austin Young’s work. I think he’s the most original photographer to emerge in America since David LaChapelle. If you happen to be in Los Angeles tonight, this is going to be the best party in town.

Above, a “Young” James St. James of The WOW Report.