On Saturday night we scampered downtown to the “@ Murakami” exhibition at MOCA to see UnBeige favorites Gary Baseman, Tim Biskup and Simone Legno in a special evening program. “Pervasive Persuasion” promised a discussion about “how and why artists in Los Angeles are blurring the lines of media,” but the scene was typical of previous Baseman-Biskup events we’d covered: lots of mostly Asian kids waiting in line to get as close as possible to the artists.

Added to this mix was an army of women wearing the uniform of supershort sweater dresses, tights and low-slung belts, toting more Toki Doki Le Sportsac bags than we even knew existed (which Legno patiently signed with Sharpies). Baseman and Legno painted in the middle of the room and posed for pics while Biskup DJed nearby (we appreciated the Rob Base).

Okay, so maybe we should have waited in line with the kids to get a better seat. We’re sure the panel moderated by Giant Robot’s Eric Nakamura was fascinating and informative. But from where we were sitting, only about halfway through the seating, the whole thing sounded more like the grown ups in “Peanuts”: Wawa wah wawa wah wah waaaah. To be fair, the panelists realized the problem and tried holding their clip-on mics in their hands, but it didn’t really help. We did hear the Italian-born Legno say something cute about loving Japanese culture more than the Japanese. We think.

But afterwards, even those who couldn’t hear the artists got some great one-on-one interaction as Biskup, Baseman and Legno–all incredible sports when it came to posing for pics–created art with attendees on a giant mural, which was divided up and handed out at the end of the night. And then Baseman painted on Japanese Butoh dancer Oguri. Yep. More on that at Nakamura’s blog.

The Murakami show, of course, did not disappoint. We saw the new kaikai & kiki film (cute, but we preferred the Kayne West video that preceded it). While we’re whining, however, might we mention another incredibly perplexing decision made by MOCA, on this night specifically focused on how artists have parlayed their work into products (and specifically, purses)? The embedded Louis Vuitton store selling Murakami goods was not open, nor was the gift shop. It was enough to make us want to steal some plates.

More goodness (and lots of toys) by the artists…

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Remember LA artist and Freedom Wig-wearer Martha Rich, who we first met at the Yosemite Studios party last summer? She’s got a show up with David Sandlin at La Luz de Jesus, one of the galleries curated by the fine Billy Shire here in LA. We braved the worst night of weather in Los Angeles history (we actually had to use an umbrella) to attend the opening last Friday, but the show is up until January 27, and it probably won’t rain anymore for the rest of the year, so it’s safe to go. If you really can’t make it, view all the images here.

The woman, and her minimizer. Rich used to be a model for commercials and catalogs when she was a teen, and became fascinated with the visuals upon discovering an old JC Penney photoshoot of hers.

Rich was doing one painting a day at Freedom Wig, a year-long experiment that was supposed to end on Halloween 2007…but she extended it in honor of this show.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

We’re probably getting to this post about the same time everyone from Paper is finally waking up from their recovery naps after the five-day bender that was the LA Paper Project. The highlight for us, of course, was the 24-hour pop-up store featuring some of our very favorite art and design retailers. The store, designed by Barbara Bestor, was hot and packed tight, and, to our dismay, a completely dry event, except for the bottomless supply of Red Bull. We hear Lindsay Lohan came by later, so it was probably for the best.

Kim Hastreiter‘s red specs presided over the Paper booth and Mickey Boardman flitted about the space in a signature cardigan. A smiling Tim Biskup carried an unhappy camper, his daughter, through the throngs. Cobrasnake was there selling his line of products (who knew?) and chatting with the guy we didn’t know was Jeremy Scott when we snapped him at Moss (he was wearing the same sweater so he was easy to spot). And we finally met the troublemaker behind CITIZEN:Citizen, Philip Wood, who handed us a bottle of pills (to promote their pop-up store in LA this December). He wasn’t too rattled by the fact that vendors Andrew Andrew were selling knock-offs of CITIZEN:Citizen’s products a few booths away. More on that.

We met photographer Dan Monick, he’s the guy who snapped those shots of Daft Punk for Paper this month (and he’s not telling who’s who behind the helmets). Adorable Rose Apodaca was found manning her booth and promoting A+R‘s new blog. The ‘A’ in A+R, Andy Griffith, was putting the final touches on the second A+R store in Venice, which opened this week. And our vote for favorite booth, Heartschallenger, got their heart on (below).

Click on for lots more photos of the wares…

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Had to get up some shots of the mural by new UnBeige BFF Tim Biskup before it sees a less talented set of paint rollers. The mural, which he completed in stages on La Brea here in LA, was sponsored by Helio (who also co-sponsored his recent opening with Vanity Fair at Billy Shire). But like anything plastered across a building here, it’s only temporary.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Our lovely hostess Martha Rich, who has been doing a painting a day over at Freedom Wig, and studio mate Carlos Ramos.

Tim Biskup and Madeline Yang, Joe Rocco.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

You know him for his frolicking tikis, happy-go-lucky cyclops and giddy Gama-Gos. But you may not recognize Tim Biskup this go-round at Billy Shire Fine Arts. The work is darker than Biskup’s usual, both in shade and in subject. It’s like a beautiful Biskup netherworld. Plenty of the regular characters are here–although they may be impaled by swords or strangled by thigh-high wearing women–a giant dragon wields a machine gun and blood runs traffic cone orange.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Take a look at this list: Mark Ryden & Marion Peck, Tim Biskup, Gary Baseman, Todd & Kathy Schorr, Camille Rose Garcia, Michael Hussar, Shag, Clayton Brothers, Shepard Fairey, Andrew Brandou, Gary Panter, Miss Van, Paul Frank, Isabel Samaras (above) and like a hundred more artists have been given vintage paint-by-numbers for a huge fundraiser next week in LA to benefit Kids Alliance.

Charity by Numbers runs from February 10 to February 17 at the Corey Helford Gallery, but you can bid online for the prints you like. And, the organizers have leaked a few sneak peeks to UnBeige…

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Forget the toys, lines were the theme at Kidrobot’s party at the Standard Hotel. One freaking long line to get in. Lines to get up the escalator. Lines for cotton candy. Lines for drinks. Lines to get your limited-edition “Hello My Name Is” Dunny signed by Huck Gee.

To give you a sense of this event’s urgency, the hotel’s uberglam roof was empty–hipsters were squeezed into conference-type rooms on the second floor and more eager to customize their 3-inch Munnys at several art tables. Peanut Butter Wolf spun old school hip hop in the corner; accompanying videos played on a monitor (we saw a sweet Tribe one from the ’90s). Sadly our buddy KR founder Paul Budnitz was nowhere to be seen but folks like Tim Biskup milled about. On the way out, Mena Suvari was spotted wearing this hoodie.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.