So while Choe’s Nothing to Declare was an onslaught of images, installations, and inflatable sculptures ripped from Choe’s real life (mis)adventures from around the world, Eurotrash is a stylistic mish-mash of epic wheat-pasted photographs, wall-drilled portraits, graffiti-spattered canvases and animalistic paintings put forth by JR, Vhils, Conor Harrington, and Antony Micallef respectively. An installation of Jonathan Yeo’s pornographic portraits will take the reins from July 9-August 9, wrapping everything up with British artist Jay Jay Burridge’s first solo show, opening on August 13.
On the eve of phase two of Lazarides’ LA extravaganza, PLANET got to meet the man behind the madness.

Tell me about the new show. What was the process of putting such a large project together, and why LA?

I’ve accomplished shows in Los Angeles before over the years, and LA’s always been kind to me. Originally, David Choe approached me and asked if I’d help him with his Los Angeles show and it kind of spiraled out of that. We were looking for a venue and then we found this space in Beverly Hills that was so wrong it felt right. We thought the only way we could really make this work is to do it for a prolonged period rather than a two-week pop-up show. That eventually formulated putting a program of people together to come along.

How did you develop your roster of artists?

It’s been a very slow and organic process. I’m not interested in trying to represent 50 different artists. I try to have a good relationship with 15. Maybe once a year, if I’m lucky, I’ll see someone that really grabs ahold of my imagination, that I want to try and represent.