Huge bookstore sale!

Just in:

Check out our huge bookstore sale! An inexpensive way of acquiring quality, previously-archived, out-of-print books covering:
- Art
- Criticism
- Philosophy
- Bios
- Literary Essays
- History
- Theater & Plays
- Classic fiction
- and more

Book store hours are Fridays from 11AM - 6PM and during our events. We are looking forward to seeing you soon!

Your Beyond Baroque Team

Beyond Baroque is a literary arts center and this is our mission!

Beyond Baroque is a literary arts center
1)   Advancing public awareness of and
involvement in contemporary literary
arts;
2)  Providing a challenging program of
events which stress new work and
diversity;
3)   Fostering a community for the
exchange of challenging ideas and
nurturing of new work;
4)   Supporting writers through
readings, workshops, book sales, publications,
archiving, & resources;
5)   Encouraging collaboration  and
cross-fertilization between writers and
those working in other artistic disciplines,
and;
6) )   Using the literary arts to
enhance education and increase literacy

Thanks everyone for your continuous support!

Your Beyond Baroque Team

April 23, Saturday 7:30 PM City Lights Books, San Francisco WILL ALEXANDER PUBLICATION READING

Sat, 4-23 at 7:30pm at City Lights Books, San Francisco - WILL ALEXANDER PUBLICATION READING featuring WILL ALEXANDER introducing his new publication from City Lights entitled 'Compression & Purity at City Lights Books', with CEDAR SIGO and ANDREW JORON who has collaborated with Will musically on prior occasions with his band FREE REIN. They will join in a concert entitled Celestial Navigations with WILL ALEXANDER on Piano, ANDREW JORON on Theremin, and guests.

Check with City Lights Books directly about their admission policy.

Workshop in memory of Erika Erdman with Laurel Ann Bogen - apply now! Deadline is May 1!

Take your poetry to another level, learn a new skill, help Beyond Baroque and remember a Los Angeles Poet on Saturday May 14.

Poet and teacher Laurel Ann Bogen will lead a one-day workshop (11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.) on honing your poetry editing skills. Many writers believe that poems arrive fully formed from the imagination in a single draft. However, just as a nugget of gold can be valuable, in polishing our roughness a nuanced beauty is allowed to shine.

The workshop is open and limited to 15 participants on a first come/first served basis, the cost is $50. All fees received will be donated to Beyond Baroque in memory of  Erica Erdman, a long-time (15-year) student in Laurel's Master Class in Poetry, and will be used to fund a project in her name that will be announced at a later time. 

Please submit 2 poems to Beyond Baroque with your check no later than May 1st for consideration. Mark your envelop Erica Erdman Workshop and mail your application to Beyond Baroque, 681 Venice Blvd., Venice CA 90291.

Thank you for your participation!

Your Beyond Baroque Team

Just in! April 17, Sunday 8:00 PM PREMIER SCREENING OF THE FIRST HOUR OF SWINGING IN THE SHADOWS

The myth of the muse set our spines straight directed. --Tony Scibella
Come to the premiere screening at Beyond Baroque on Sunday, April 17 at 8PM to see the first hour of 
Swinging in the Shadows -- Venice West and the LA Scene -- A “Wild” History of the California Beat Era
$10 at the door, to benefit Mary Kerr & Swinging In The Shadows

Venice West and the LA Scene brings out what developed in Southern California among the underground artists and poets during the 50s. It’s the story of the early Ferus, Syndell Studio, Gas House, Venice West Café. Most of all, it’s about the individuals who made it happen - told in the words, images and expressions from those that lived it. The film now has a new soundtrack of compositions by JIMMY Z, THEO SAUNDERS, BEN and SI PERKOFF.  Their excellent jazz  adds another element of originality to this unique documentary.
The producer, MARY KERR and editor, ELAINE TROTTER will be on hand after the screening for a Q&A session.

Street parking.

Now on Display in our Upstairs Project Room through May 28, 2011: New Work by Louie Metz and Stacy Lande

Sometimes disturbing, always intriguing, figurative oil paintings of LOUIE METZ juxtapose flawless technical detail with a raw, emotionally charged stimulus. An urbane and unique perspective tempers the work, fusing old world classicism onto an outsider art aesthetic. Sensual, confrontational nudes with emaciated souls recline and hesitate in the foreground of plush, photo-realistic landscapes or darkly psychological tableaus. The recent works of LOUIE METZ have earned him a special distinction among the Los Angeles art community, where he has had numerous shows. Louie is a prolific artist, casting local Silverlake personalities to model as his intense survivors. His subjects are usually offset by anthropomorphic landscapes: a suburban backyard and apartment courtyard, a sweeping vista, all rendered in a way that reflects the subject’s inner psychological reality. “Luckily the models are usually going through some kind of psycho drama,” he says, “which makes it interesting.” There is a traditional aspect to Louie's work that reflects a deep interest in the work of the old masters; however, Louie conveys a classicism without investing the work with a classical style,” I don't usually like contemporary art that looks pretentiously old masterish as I find that its a prevailing tendency for figurative painters to stylize their paintings with too many jokey pop-cultural references and self conscious chiaroscuro." Complexity and straight forwardness, tradition and personal vision, beauty and brutality are issues that conflict in life and art, yet because of their importance to the painter they must be dealt with and synthesized in his work. Please find more information on his website: www.louiemetz.com

STACY LANDE was born in Granada Hills, in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. From an early age, she took pride in both stage performance and her art. As a youngster, she would regularly stage variety shows on her family’s front porch. In the late 1970's she was exposed to the explosion of punk rock, via seminal bands such as the Weirdos, the Dead Boys, the Stooges and the Ramones. Lande was formally trained in art at California State University, Northridge. After graduation from art school, she began doing performance art at clubs like Sin-a-Matic and LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions). Lande has painted more than 120 portraits of both men and women in deified and dramatic light. In her book Vicious, Delicious and Ambitious, Sherri Cullision describes Lande as creating "demons and she-gods, hinting at both their ‘phantastical’ pasts and immortual futures.” Lande’s work has been featured in various magazines, including Juxtapoz, Juxtapoz Erotica, Detour magazine, and Petersen’s Hot Rod Deluxe, as well as in the film Gone in 60 Seconds. She has been interviewed on National Public Radio's Airtalk with Larry Mantle. In addition to her own book The Red Box, Lande’s work is also included in lowbrow compilations Vicious, Delicious and Ambitious, and Weirdo Deluxe, by Matt Dukes Jordan (Chronicle Books, 2005). Her work has been seen in solo and group shows in Billy Shire’s La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, and Copro/Nason and Track 16 Gallery at Bergamot Station. Her work appears in collections in Japan, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, and England. 

Open Friday 11 am - 6 pm, Saturday & others by appointment. Street parking.