PEOPLE WE LOVE
RICHARD GIBBS
Connecting Creatives “No composer with his salt has anything else to do on a Monday morning at 9 a.m., so that’s why the Composer’s Breakfast Club meets weekly at that time at Dreamland,” Malibu composer Richard Gibbs, CBC’s founder, said. Gibbs, once an Oingo Bongo keyboardist, is an award-winning composer with more than 70 scoring credits ranging from Dr. Doolittle and The Simpsons to Battlestar Galactica. “The CBC started organically after I periodically had lunch with Dave Kitay and Frankie Blue, and they invited friends,” he said. “At CBC, all are welcome, including composers, architects, actors, directors of various types, engineers, creatives, realtors, and those in insurance.” At CBC, there are no name tags, and the club is not meant to be a money-making venture, Gibbs said, adding, “I think money pollutes everything.” CBS is about camaraderie and learning. “Ninety percent of our speakers are people with great life stories who have done something interesting or are about to do something interesting,” Gibbs said. “I am fascinated with the guy who broke the speed record for non-motorized, unmanned flight - to me, it’s about the drive to do that. The human who would come up with that fascinates me - that applies to all forms of creativity.” MALIBU MAGAZINE loves Richard Gibbs for his curiosity and drive to bring creatives together.
JOHN GARCIA
Challenging Perception A Malibu kid who grew up immersed in his parents’ creativity, artist John Garcia, Jr.’s work is currently exhibited in Sweet Dreams in Copenhagen, Denmark’s Simian Gallery. The exhibition, in collaboration with Bri Williams, focuses on how representations transform our understandings of both the world and ourselves. Specifically, how shifts that occur between a romanticized love, such as in novels or films, compare with an experienced everyday love. “The title of my oil painting is Dead Roses,” they said, noting the work alludes to Alice in Wonderland’s “Paint the Roses,” where the cards with their exaggerated smiles are gardeners tasked with fabricating the red-hued roses the Queen of Hearts desires. Looking closely - what Garcia has created is a work composed of hundreds of dead roses, moribund yet curiously intriguing, vibrant, and seemingly almost alive, akin to Malibu’s plants and flowers that were fire-parched and burned to the core, as were all of Garcia’s belongings in the Woolsey Fire. Garcia’s painting also alludes to the ballet “Le Specter de la Rose,” set in the bedroom of a girl who falls in love with a rose that animates itself in the night to dance with her in her dreams. The takeaway: Love is a looping back to a person— lover or friend—to renew the bond between ever-changing beings.” MALIBU MAGAZINE loves John Garcia as their art challenges one’s perceptions, daring us to stay grounded, yet always yearning for what seems unattainable.
If you have suggestions for community members to feature in our next issue, email us at editorial@malibumag.com
✎ written by Barbara Burke
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