Jim Shaw

As nothing is more bizarre than the ordinary artifact closely observed, this full-color catalogue of 201 paintings by amateurs and hobbyists shoots to the top of the charts of estimably odd coffee-table art books. Conceived and designed by artist Jim Shaw and published by artist Edward Ruscha, the riveting volume is all pictures, no text--save for the purely descriptive titles given to the paintings. "Indian Maidens Frolic in Bikinis," "Man and Woman Emerge From Egg in Seascape" and the ever-popular "Wolves Attacking Steer Carcass on Snowy Night" are among the subjects these vernacular artists felt they simply had to paint; these pictures were then snapped up by Shaw and other collectors at the salon des refuses of suburban American culture--the neighborhood thrift store.

The Michigan-born, L.A.-based artist Jim Shaw squares off with Gilda Frantz — founding editor of Psychological Perspectives and former president of the C.G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles — for the latest in the Hammer's formidable series of Red Book Dialogues , held in conjunction with the exhibition "The Red Book of C.G. Jung." Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. 7 p.m. Thu. Free. (310) 443-7000. hammer.ucla.edu

Dreams come up a lot in conversations with artist Jim Shaw. He frequently recounts his own wildly outlandish dreams with total recall that boggles the mind and can remember dreams he had more than 30 years ago. "When I was 5 I dreamed I was on a scaffold with Michelangelo," he begins, launching into a chaotic tale that can be read as a metaphor for artistic frustration. When one expresses surprise at his ability to recall dreams from his childhood, Shaw responds with equal surprise. "Can't you?"

Twenty well-known artists have donated works to a Bonhams & Butterfields auction to benefit Morgan Thomas, a former Los Angeles art dealer and founder of the nonprofit Foundation for Art Resources. The sale -- to be simulcast in Los Angeles and San Francisco at 2 p.m. Monday -- is expected to raise from $50,000 to $75,000 to help Thomas pay expenses she incurred after she was injured in an automobile accident eight years ago. Thomas' longtime colleagues Connie Lewallen, Claire Copley and Dorit Cypis organized the benefit, soliciting works by artists such as John Baldessari, Peter Alexander, Tom Lawson, David Amico and Jim Shaw.

* "Modotti and Weston: Mexicanidad"'--Photo of Diego Rivera (1923), above, by Edward Weston, is among those on exhibit at the Laguna Art Museum through Jan. 4. * "Windows on Wilshire"--Site-specific artworks by Cindy Bernard, Terry Braunstein and Gisela Weimann can be seen at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art through Dec. 31. * "Jim Shaw"--An exhibition of dream-based paintings, drawings and sculpture opens Saturday at Rosamund Felsen Gallery in Santa Monica, and runs through Dec. 20.

The Michigan-born, L.A.-based artist Jim Shaw squares off with Gilda Frantz — founding editor of Psychological Perspectives and former president of the C.G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles — for the latest in the Hammer's formidable series of Red Book Dialogues , held in conjunction with the exhibition "The Red Book of C.G. Jung." Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. 7 p.m. Thu. Free. (310) 443-7000. hammer.ucla.edu

Twenty well-known artists have donated works to a Bonhams & Butterfields auction to benefit Morgan Thomas, a former Los Angeles art dealer and founder of the nonprofit Foundation for Art Resources. The sale -- to be simulcast in Los Angeles and San Francisco at 2 p.m. Monday -- is expected to raise from $50,000 to $75,000 to help Thomas pay expenses she incurred after she was injured in an automobile accident eight years ago. Thomas' longtime colleagues Connie Lewallen, Claire Copley and Dorit Cypis organized the benefit, soliciting works by artists such as John Baldessari, Peter Alexander, Tom Lawson, David Amico and Jim Shaw.

"This is a twisted view from the warped edge of America--not exactly the Dan Quayle version," says artist Jim Shaw, describing the paintings he bought at thrift stores and swap meets and organized into a successful traveling exhibit that opens here Friday. "Thrift Store Paintings," at Laguna Art Museum's South Coast Plaza satellite, contains 175 works by anonymous hobbyists and amateurs that Shaw has collected the since the late '70s.

Got a record player? If you didn't chuck it out at some point during the successive waves of new technologies that rolled over recent decades--eight-track tape, cassette, CD--can the player that you kept accommodate a 45? Does it have a fat spindle that fits the big hole in the middle? If not, did you keep the spindle adapter? And if records themselves are today an endangered species, has a spindle adapter yet made the transition from plain household object to precious, hard-to-find antique?

The Dec. 11 article "No Quorum, so Panel Has No Stance on El Toro Flight Test" incorrectly attributes to me statements that are not mine. You incorrectly quote me in reference to Orange County officials as saying, "Yes, I think they'll cheat." While I do have serious objections to the county's handling of El Toro reuse issues, I have never formed those words, nor would I choose that characterization, which is unnecessary and inflammatory. JIM SHAW San Clemente

* "Modotti and Weston: Mexicanidad"'--Photo of Diego Rivera (1923), above, by Edward Weston, is among those on exhibit at the Laguna Art Museum through Jan. 4. * "Windows on Wilshire"--Site-specific artworks by Cindy Bernard, Terry Braunstein and Gisela Weimann can be seen at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art through Dec. 31. * "Jim Shaw"--An exhibition of dream-based paintings, drawings and sculpture opens Saturday at Rosamund Felsen Gallery in Santa Monica, and runs through Dec. 20.

Dreams come up a lot in conversations with artist Jim Shaw. He frequently recounts his own wildly outlandish dreams with total recall that boggles the mind and can remember dreams he had more than 30 years ago. "When I was 5 I dreamed I was on a scaffold with Michelangelo," he begins, launching into a chaotic tale that can be read as a metaphor for artistic frustration. When one expresses surprise at his ability to recall dreams from his childhood, Shaw responds with equal surprise. "Can't you?"

"This is a twisted view from the warped edge of America--not exactly the Dan Quayle version," says artist Jim Shaw, describing the paintings he bought at thrift stores and swap meets and organized into a successful traveling exhibit that opens here Friday. "Thrift Store Paintings," at Laguna Art Museum's South Coast Plaza satellite, contains 175 works by anonymous hobbyists and amateurs that Shaw has collected the since the late '70s.

As nothing is more bizarre than the ordinary artifact closely observed, this full-color catalogue of 201 paintings by amateurs and hobbyists shoots to the top of the charts of estimably odd coffee-table art books. Conceived and designed by artist Jim Shaw and published by artist Edward Ruscha, the riveting volume is all pictures, no text--save for the purely descriptive titles given to the paintings. "Indian Maidens Frolic in Bikinis," "Man and Woman Emerge From Egg in Seascape" and the ever-popular "Wolves Attacking Steer Carcass on Snowy Night" are among the subjects these vernacular artists felt they simply had to paint; these pictures were then snapped up by Shaw and other collectors at the salon des refuses of suburban American culture--the neighborhood thrift store.

Got a record player? If you didn't chuck it out at some point during the successive waves of new technologies that rolled over recent decades--eight-track tape, cassette, CD--can the player that you kept accommodate a 45? Does it have a fat spindle that fits the big hole in the middle? If not, did you keep the spindle adapter? And if records themselves are today an endangered species, has a spindle adapter yet made the transition from plain household object to precious, hard-to-find antique?

The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has awarded fellowships to 29 artists, writers, scholars and scientists from California. The annual U.S. and Canadian awards totaled nearly $7 million, and the foundation highlighted the diversity of this year's 185 winners, who ranged from 32-year-old fiction writer Maile Meloy of Los Angeles to 92-year-old New York-based sculptor Philip Pavia.

Bonnie Owens, a cocktail waitress-turned-singer who was married at different times to country music giants Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, died Monday in Bakersfield after a lengthy struggle with Alzheimer's disease. She was 76. Her death came four weeks after that of Buck Owens, but she may have been too deeply gripped by Alzheimer's to know that he was gone, according to Jim Shaw, a close family friend.