SALON EVENTS

feb 24th- BATTS MOVIE NIGHT- (a collection of experimental films presented by carlos batts) - $10 cover

march 3rd- LIVE SKETCH CLASS- (hosted by BELASCO & MIGUEL REYES)- $25.00 cover

march 10th- HOOKAH DEN- (shisha smoking and belly dancing!) - $20.00

march 24th- SOUTHERN TEA PARTY- (with guest of honor- BABY, live music, spoken word)- $20.00

closing party  on April 4th-
featuring the artist- BELASCO,
(honoring the 43rd anniversary of the passing of MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.)

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BELASCO  currently lives in Los Angeles. Belasco began creating erotic art in the early 1990's for various club rags and small press publications. He went on to create chapbooks featuring erotic stories and paint the covers for the first three books in the "B-Boy Blues" series of novels by James Earl Hardy. In the later part of 1997, Belasco's work was included in the Meatmen anthologies from Leyland Press. In 2000, Cleis press released a collection of Belasco's work in "The Brothers of New Essex". Since then Belasco continues to create original artwork and publish his own brand of afro-homo-erotic illustrations and stories.

GEORGE PITTS is Director of Photography at LIFE Magazine. From 1993-2004, he was the Director of Photography at Vibe Magazine. He is also a photographer, painter, and writer.

Mr. Pitts photographs have been published in The New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, Esquire, Details, Clam, Premiere, Spin, Talk, Raygun, Paper, Nerve, Manhattan File, Voidek, Werk , Tally Ho, Stereotype, Gotham, Vice, E Design,  " Graphics Photo Annual 2000, American Photography, Masterminds of Mode: International Fashion Festival in Japan, (2000),  Nerve: The New Nude,(Chronicle Books), and an upcoming compilation on human scars, tentatively entitled, Scars,(Great Britain); and The New Erotic Photography"  (Taschen, 2007). 

As Director of Photography at Vibe magazine, he received numerous honors in Photography including The SPD Gold Award in 1994 and 2004; an Alfred Eisenstaedt Award nomination for Photo Essays in 1998; selection in American Photography volumes 10 - 19; and received three National Magazine Award (ASME) nominations in Photography: 1994, 1995, and 2001. In 2002, Vibe magazine received the National Magazine Award (the ASME) in General Excellence for 2001.  In 2006, LIFE magazine was nominated for an ASME for the  Best Celebrity Cover of 2006.  In 2006, he was awarded The Lucie Award for Picture Editor Of The Year" for his work with LIFE Magazine.

  Mr. Pitts was named one of the nineteen Movers and Shakers for the Future,  (1995) by American Photo magazine.  In 1995, he was instated in the  Who's Who Among African Americans edition.  In 1999, he was selected for the IBC (International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England) Outstanding People of the 20th Century volume. In 2001, he served as one of the judges for ICP's Eugene Smith Award  in Photojournalism, and was on the Nominating Board for ICP's  2001,Infinity Awards in Photography. In 1973 he was a Fulbright Recipient to Great Britain in Painting.  In 1972 he received The Painting lst Prize at The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.

  Mr. Pitts also teaches courses entitled Picturing Sexuality, and The Senior Thesis Seminar, at The Parsons School of Design. He has also taught at The School of Visual Arts.

 

GEORGE PITTS - MFON

ALVA BERNADINE was born in Grenada, West Indies and moved to Britain at the age of 6 to London. At the age of 10 Alva bought a toy camera that took blurred pictures, some of which his mother still has in the family album.

Alva became seriously interested in photography at the age of 21. Alva?s first pictures were of London tourist spots and the next year Alva started practicing his present style. Alva is self-taught and has never been an assistant.

Alva has worked mainly in the editorial field for the last 18 years. Alva has photographed for numerous magazines and has had many profiles of his work in countries such as France, Spain, Italy, USA, Australia, Germany and, his home country, Great Britain.

In 1987, Alva was joint winner the Vogue/Sotheby's Cecil Beaton Award for his series of shoe pictures entitled 'The Fetish. In 2001 his book Bernadinism: How to Dominate Men and Subjugate Women was published. In 2002, Alva won Erotic Photographer of the year in Britain.

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JOHN HOWARD was born in Austin, Texas in 1962. Howard went to the University of Kentucky from 1982- 1985.

Howard is the gonzo cartoonist of choice for the rowdier adult magazines of America, like Buttman, Screw, and Hustler. Howard is legend in the counterculture comic world. and is the man behind the Horny Bikers Slut comic series, which featured various amped Amazons. muscle-bound native Americans in bikinis and she-males with attitude, Howard recently branched out into adult video directing, with titles like Tales from the Crack- ,(a live action pop art version of the comic starring Belladonna) and Vault of Whores. In his films, Howard merges comic panels into live scenarios, proving there?s life in the comic book genre yet.

Some of Howards comics include - Leaping Weasel, Deathman,Horny Biker Slut and She-Male Trouble.

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Curator CARLOS BATTS

Carlos Batts wears many hats very well; photographer, filmmaker, curator. Over the past 15 years he as taken the DIY mantra to heart documenting a variety of sophisticated subcultures; music, life style and art. Painter, stylist, make up artist, and set designer have all been titles he has carried through out the creation of his vast body of work. Carols has honed and refined his artistic sensibilities into a balanced mosaic of high fashion and photo-collages that encompass his entire vision.

Among an ever-expanding universe of other forums in addition to photography, Batts has directed short films, and curated Street Art exhibits by the likes of Mike GIANT, Rich Colman, Kime Buzelli, Axis, Chris Lindig and Photography exhibits by Chris Haston, Steve Diet Goedde, Dave Naz, Patrick Hoelck, Rick Castro, Estavan Oriel, and Andres Serrano.

Batts is a contributor to these magazines: Swindle, WARP (Japan), Vibe, Maxim, URB, WYWS, Garage (Italy).

Clientele: NBC, WB Television, Shoes, NBC, Digi Design, Sky Spirits, Ballantine Books, DC Comics, AGFA Film, Calee Clothing (Japan), Third Rail Clothing, Fleer Trading Cards, Century Media Records, New Line Cinema, Warner Brothers, Abacus Records, Relapse Records and Reptilian Records.

Musical artists photographed: Danzig, Snoop Dog, Mark Mothersbaugh, DJ QUIK, AFROBOTS, Radiation 4, City High, Crystal Method, Z TRIP, Ozomatli, Ginuwine, The Distillers, Pig Destroyer, godHead, Ink & Dagger, The Dwarves, LABTEKWON, Dog Fashion Disco, Nikka Costa, Nebula, AWOL ONE, ONE BLOCK RADIUS and Mastodon.

CARLOS BATTS - MS. VAIN
 

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Rick Castro is an independent filmmaker and photographer. Castros work explores the world of fetish and fringes of sex culture. His work has been published in artist editions, exhibitions and institutions worldwide. Rick co-directed and wrote Hustler White and the documentary Plushies & Furries for MTV.

Castros photography is in the permanent collections of The Alfred Kinsey Institute and The Tom of Finland Foundation. His books and zines are archived at the UCLA library, and The Leather Museum in Chicago. Castro has photographed portraits of the Dalai Lama, (sipping tea) Gore Vidal, Peter Berlin, Alan Poul (producer of Six Feet Under) and his longtime muse, Tony Ward. Castro owns and runs ANTEBELLUM GALLERY.

(see www.rickcastro.com for more information.)

About the gallery

Antebellum Gallery is Located at 1643 North Las Palmas Avenue, in the heart of downtown Hollywood. The term antebellum is latin for before war and while it commonly refers to a more romantic Gone With the Wind era, we find ourselves again today with American culture at odds with political/religious/social agendas that threaten to blow the lid off its foundations at any given moment.

Steeped in Victorian nuances with a salon style, Antebellum is a casual space for art and engaging salon conversation. Antebellum Gallery is intended as a hybrid of artistic, cultural, and political iconoclasm.

For more information please contact Rick Castro (by email: pyewackett@ca.rr.com / phone: 323 856 0667. www.antebellum.us.ms

Quotes

Visit Antebellum Gallery. The only fetish art gallery in America! Maura Egan- New York Times Magazine

Antebellum Gallery claims to be, the only fetish art gallery in America. With exhibits like The Bondage Show and Evening with a Ropemaster, we´re not going to argue.

Leslee Komaiko - Los Angeles Magazine

In a photo that hangs on the wall of Rick Castro´s feitsh-art gallery, Antebellum, a fist is deeply emdedded in an ass. From the fister´s still-visble wrist dangles a  silver chain, echoing the thought bouncing through my own head, Castro chuckles, wouldn´t that make the best jewlery ad

Ernest Hardy- LA Weekly

The Modern Heretics exhibit at Antebellum Gallery projects and intense, sometimes whimsical, otherworldly erotisism.

Dan Cullinae- Frontiers Magazine

The Bondage Show is an exhibit billed as photography by three generations of bondage masters. Not your usual fare, this trio spans the range from tortured rough trade to guilded deity. The live events around the show are significant, opening last week with a performative lecture by the seminal Modern Primitive movement founder, Fakir Musafar, continuing with neo-Victorian Rick Castro´s Fetish Tea Party. and newcomer Domasan who practices shibari, (japanese style knots)

Ron Athey- LA Weekly

On a recent rainy Friday afternoon, Castro served orange pekoe tea, and cookies as he discussed the differences between porn and erotica, defined fetish, bemoaned the culture war and praised his muse and queer icon Tony Ward.

Ernest Hardy- LA Weekly

"I clearly remember we were calling ourselves colored, and after the song, ("Say It Loud  I'm Black and I'm Proud," a landmark 1968 statement of racial pride)

we were calling ourselves black. The song showed people that lyrics, music and a song can change society."

James Brown- Associated Press interview.- 2003