Last week I received an email from L.A. based artist Lou Beach letting me know that he was having a exhibition at La Luz de Jesus along with his two kids, Alpha Lubicz and Sam Lubicz. The title of the show is Gene Pool, the opening is Friday, August 5^th, from 8 to 11 pm, and here’s the Q&A that ensued:

Left to right: Looter, by Sam Lubicz; Seer, by Lou Beach; Museum, by Alpha Lubicz. Copyright and courtesy the artists.

Peggy Roalf: Terry Gilliam said that your work is funny, smart, twisted as well as being brilliant - and I agree, for sure. So art directors must think of you when they have something that's a little, well, macabre. What's the most twisted assignment you've had so far and how much fun was it to do?

Lou Beach: I had to do a lot of menial and degrading things for Mr. Gilliam in exchange for those remarks. Well, I suppose some ADs might think of me for macabre assignments, but truth be told, I get called to do things that are conceptual and last minute more than for anything else. If you need it in two hours and don't have an idea, call Lou. I recall a record cover assignment where I was told to be sure to include a stack of money, a naked woman and some cocaine. The research was fun.

PR: Your bio states that you got your start as an illustrator doing record jackets in the 1970s; do you ever get assignments these days for actually vinyl records, with 12-inch jackets?

LB: No, it's been a while since I've done a 12" cover, a few years, I guess. Those days are in the past. 12" is a nice piece of real estate and I loved the work, the going to the record labels. There were a lot of them here in L.A. when I came to town with my taped together portfolio of collages, the outside covered with plastic blinking eyes.

PR: I noticed you use a lot of birds in your art. Is this because you found a field guide in the trash or is there some deeper meaning? And why did you do birds with fox heads for the cover of your new book, 420 Characters?

LB: I have lots of old bird ephemera and am especially fond of crows and ravens. They are a nice stand in for a human element, a cheap trick, I suppose. Birds have been kind of played out lately though - I may try squirrels for a while. Those aren't foxes....they're German shepherds on the removable "belly band" of the book. That image appears on the inside of the book, along with 9 other collages. Martha Kennedy of Houghton Mifflin designed the cover with me and it was her idea to use the bird/dog, mirrored.

PR: The show that's opening this weekend at La Luz de Jesus is something of a tribute to you as a parent, since it includes work by your son Sam and daughter Alpha. Did you encourage your kids to make art when they were little?

LB: Well, my kids were brought up around art making as a normal, every day activity, so they just picked up stuff and played. I don't recall any special encouragement to become artists, but they are both very talented and found their own way to a creative life. They inspire me, their approaches are unique.

PR: Could you elaborate a bit on what’s normal in your household?

LB: Alpha is 30 and Sam is 22 so they are not crawling around the studio anymore. Daily activity hasn't changed all that much in the years since they were young children, except for what comes with the addition of  computers. Life is about the mundane activities one engages in. My wife (photographer Issa Sharp ) and I work from home, as opposed to going someplace else. Otherwise it's get work, do work, have meals, yap on the phone, etc etc. Most artists I know lead a pretty regular existence but for what goes on in their heads. Making art is our job. Orgies and drugged out parties, not so much.

PR: How old were they when you allowed them in your studio?

LB: We had an open door policy from early on. The animals were in there, too.

PR: What kind of animals?

LB: We've had dogs and cats, fish, a turtle. When I was a bachelor I had birds and lizards, a tarantula in the studio, an old converted barber shop across from MGM in Culver City. We likes them critters.

PR: Do you ever collaborate, like, doing Exquisite Corpse-like drawings by email?

LB: We've spoken about it and perhaps we will some day. We have separate lives and are rarely all together.

PR: How long was Facebook around when you camebup with the idea for the 420 Characters project? Do you think a successful book proposal can be done in 420 characters? Wanna bet?

LB: I was on Facebook for a few months before I got bored with the daily status updates business and began filling that space with fiction, as an amusement. I still write a new tale almost every day. They seemed to catch on and one thing lead to another and I got a book deal with Hougton-Mifflin-Harcourt. The book will be out in December and I'll be in NY doing a reading that month, maybe at The Strand? Come on down!

Gene Pool will be on view at La Luz de Jesus from August 5-28 featuring work by Lou Beach, Alpha Lubicz and Sam Lubicz. 4633 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA.