MARTIN KERSELS:

"WHEN someone asks 'What do you do? What's your work like?' it has always been super difficult," says Martin Kersels. "It was easier when I did performance, but it was always more than one sentence. And now, there's no way to describe it. Do you have any suggestions?" he inquires in a tone both sarcastic and sincere.

MARNIE WEBER

MARNIE Weber has worked in just about every medium, from photography and video to performance-based art and installation. But while the LA-based artist's unique brand of sculpture, collage and assemblage might appear to be redefining multimedia, it's part of an ever-evolving tradition that defines California art, rising above an already-transcendent discipline that is by definition not one medium, but many.

3rd DEGREE: NAO BUSTAMANTE FROM BRAVO'S WORK OF ART

Earlier this year, artist/provocateur Nao Bustamante surprised her friends and colleagues with the announcement that she was to be a contestant on Bravo's upcoming reality series, Work of Art: The Next Great Artist, wherein the last artist standing receives $100,000 cash and a solo show at the Brooklyn Museum.

DON'T JUDGE AN ALBUM BY ITS COVER

I first met the band MGMT in the summer of 2009 when they came to LA to finish up their second album. I made several pharmaceutical visits to the mansion in Malibu where they were recording, and during one particularly psychedelic evening I drew a lot of tripped-out cartoons on paper place mats, scattering them around the house.