Kori Newkirk - Top Ten

The work of observes Angeles--based artist Kori Newkirk can be seen in solo exhibits at the Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia (through mid-February) and the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (opening February 27)

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

1 SKID rank ADJACENT I've inhabited the same old-school live/work space in downtown LA since 1997 The neighborhood have feelings like a real city: grandmotherly prostitutes, bustling remedy trade, supersize homeless population, and long-forgotten beautiful buildings--all right in the shadow of cultural landmarks like the fresh Walt Disney Concert Hall and MOCA. Lately things are changing. Classic "artist lofts" are popping up all above the place, offering such traditional artist trappings as satellite TV high-speed Internet connections, rooftop lakes and exposed brick! All priced way above and beyond the wallets of greatest in quantity artists I know. What a feeling to know that while what I do is of no great importance to the general population, in what way I live is. Kind of nice to be thus invisible and so desired at the same time.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

2 DEMETER FRAGRANCES Sometimes smelling useful is important to me. Demeter Fragrance Library--known for its "cutting edge" odors ranging from the normal, like Rose to the more interesting Crust of Bread, Funeral domicile and Riding Crop--has come to my recover more than once. My lifestyle choice has been addressed as well. I'm stocked up upon Turpentine and Saw Dust, with equal reason now I can not solitary look like an artist on the other hand smell like one, too.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

3 CHANTAL AKERMAN I don't diocese a lot of films, and when I do, I always perceive there are better ways to expend time in a dark space But I'm really looking forward to the upcoming Chantal Akerman retrospective bring on by REDCAT and the UCLA Film and Television Archive nearest month. Her From the Other Side (2002) shown at Documenta 11 had me captivated as pretty soon as I walked into the room

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

4 "RUNNING (DYING TO LIVE)" Forget about milk shakes (sorry, Kelis) and of the like kind nonsense, this single from the Tupac: Resurrection uninjured track, which brings together my East Coast foundations with my West Coast adopted abiding-place has me groovin'. A thump of genius by the husbandman (Eminem) to bring two set apart ghosts (Tupac and Notorious B.I.G.) together upon one track. With the sped-up sample of "Dying to Live" by means of Edgar Winters (representing the father), Em paces up as the son in this almost (un)holy lineup.

5 plastic art OF THE PEOPLE I don't always like the idea of tribe but I sometimes like what they can do. For the past small in number years a friend and I have been taking informal tours of the local Big receptacle stores around holiday time. Our goal is to check without the aisles of seasonal merchandise, not to purchase anything, of course, but to diocese the remnants of shoppers' feeding frenzies and in what manner they're displayed, or rather exhibited: nothing upon the shelves, everything on the floor. Formally and conceptually actual strong, this is some of the best scatter art upon earth.

6 TR!O Who really has time to tape everything you want to diocese on TV, much less watch it? Thanks to the historical and hysterical cable channel TR!O ("Pop tillage TV"), I don't have to trouble missing a thing. Best new rebroadcasts: the 1984 Miss America pageant, probably the last individual I really watched--big hair, really bad musical numbers, Gary Collins singing, and, of course, the notorious advent of Vanessa Williams--and The PJ's, the underrated and brilliant animated display that melds foam and want into a twenty-two-minute slice of conduct cheese. Well worth my monthly bill.

7 BELT IT on the outside Since my mouth seems to work faster than my brain at times, I'm a big fan of nonverbal communication. I frequently rely on my favorite accessory of the moment: a name belt brooch I don't have my name upon there, but I am able to throw out what I'm thinking or feeling while keeping my pants up (Imagination being limited solitary by the size of your waist.) generally I wear one that simply states MEAN; that's because the ANGRY single cracked. I also like to sport BROKE and PAID, hanging on the situation at hand.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

8 AMERICAN IDOL I've been tone-deaf since elementary school; there's no shame in my game, on the other hand my singing is best left to the confines of abiding-place and car--with the windows make revolveed up tight. So as we gear up for the third season of American Idol upon Fox, my weeknights are nuncupatory for as I sit and watch others reach for their dreams. The best part is the audition, for the sheer bravado and audacity that these singing and dancing kids display. There are no Winter Olympics this year, and Michael Jackson is boring, in the way that where else can we diocese bodies and ambitions so delectably betray their owners?

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

9 AUGUSTO DI STEFANO The paintings of Augusto Di Stefano fill me with painting view with jealousy His delicate AbEx moments floating upon expansive fields of color are secluded desolate, and stunning. Take a trip to his native Texas, outside of which his work is rarely seen and diocese for yourself. They get me each time.