"I, Gauguin"

Tiki Attire Preferred

Last night Larry invited me to a one-night-only art show and film premiere at Blum & Poe Gallery. His customer, Gregg Gibbs (painter and film maker) invited us to see his documentary, "I, Gauguin." It turns out the the subject of the film, Lee Don Taicher is also a customer of Larry's. He photographs their artwork for reproduction. An explanation of the process here.
Taicher is a successful business man turned artist and film maker. Before the screening, we viewed much of Taicher's artwork, including Gaugin-like paintings of Island scenes which were quite lovely AND Taicher's gestural abstract canvases.


There were hors d'oeuvres and drinks provided by Animal Restaurant. The event was well attended by L.A. art luminaries, including the Godfather of low-brow art Robert Williams, Bergamot Station gallery owner Greg Esclalante and more.

Lee Don Taicher and his wife in front of his abstract
painting, "Miami, 1954"

Gregg's film is about Taicher's journey to make a movie about the last days of artist, Paul Gauguin, called "Finding Gauguin.". Taicher's resemblance to Gauguin is startling. Of course, he portrayed the great artist in his film.
After hearing about Larry's experiences with Taicher druing the photographing of Taicher's artwork, I was not surprised by the direction that Gibb's documentary took. It showed Taicher's attempt to control every situation during his movie shoot with drastic results. Many of the cast and crew members were present....laughing along with the rest of us. I do not know for sure, but from my vantage point, it looked like Taicher wasn't particularly pleased with his portrayal in this documentary.

Film maker, Gregg Gibbs and Photographer, Larry Underhill

This was my first time at the beautiful Blum & Poe Gallery on South La Cienega. It's a fabulous, museum-like space with a desirable parking lot! It was a fun evening in spite of the fact that I secretly wanted to slap Lee Don Taicher in the face many times over during the screening!

Ellen's new boyfriend, Paul Gauguin