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Myself and Maisel, a Documentary
"Jay Myself," is a reverential documentary portrait of photographer Jay Maisel by noted photographer Stephen Wilkes, Maisel's one-time apprentice. The framing device for the story is Maisel's having to vacate the New York City building at 190 Bowery where he"d lived and worked for the last 48 years.What makes this "moving day" film all the more remarkable is that Maisel owned and occupied the entire six-story former bank building â all 72 rooms of the 1898 Germania Bank Building. Over… -
Behind The Scenes Of The Beyond Music Project
"Same Sky: Beyond Music Volume 1," is a wonderful collection of inspiring new music, the product of a collaboration between artists from all over the world, all produced by the project's artistic director, Los Angeles native, Grammy-award-winning producer and legendary musician in his own right, Larry Klein.First things first: To explain how the Beyond Music Project came about, we have to begin with its patrons, Beati and Regula Curti, a Swiss couple who believe passionately that music can b... View… -
Sometimes The King Is A Woman: The Paintings Of Amy Sherald
Amy Sherald's show at Hauser & Wirth in New Yorkwhich I regret to say will close October 26th, is a joy to behold and a revelation. Go see it, if you still can!Sherald is perhaps best known for her portrait of Michele Obama which can be seen at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. In that portrait, Sherald invests an authority and a greatness that becomes Obama. So much so that Parker Curry, an African-American toddler, gazing up at the… -
California's Marciano Museum Closes
Los Angeles" Marciano Art Foundation, the three-year-old art museum founded by Marciano brothers, Paul and Maurice - who made their fortune in the jeans business - has unceremoniously closed.Paul and Maurice Marciano came to Los Angeles in 1981 from France and founded a denim company that eventually became the very successful GUESS? clothing and lifestyle brand. According to the Museum's website, around that time the brothers started collecting contemporary art. In 2012 the brothers established ... View Original Article -
Seeing Picasso in Palo Alto
It's time to see Picasso anew View Original Article -
A Turn on Kienholz's Merry Go-Round
The work of Ed and Nancy Kienholz is mostly junk. Junk assembled to reveal the dark secrets of the American soul â our violence, our racism, our addiction to the screens that haunt us. Assembled from the detritus of the modern world , their work is deeply political and, in some instances, deeply disturbing. Other times, their works show a mordant humor.If you have never seen their work, or even if you have, you need to go to LA Louver… -
Making the Unseen Known
The Getty Museum is well regarded for their collection of antiquities housed at the Getty Villa in Malibu, for the work of the Getty Research Institute and the Getty Conservation Institute, as well as for their support of far-flung restorations, and their support and leadership in organizing such landmark art initiatives as the epic "Pacific Standard" exhibitions as well as the Getty's own excellent exhibitions, particularly in recent years as their range and ambition has expanded.Despite al... View Original Article -
Meet Anne Litt, KCRW's New Music Director
Longtime KCRW DJ Anne Litt has just been named the station's new music director (or program director of music, as her official title will read). She's the first woman to lead the beloved local tastemaker music station, which has a national reputation for breaking new music. Litt's been on air at KCRW since 1996, and follows Jason Bentley, Nick Harcourt, Chris Douridas, and Tom Schnabel (in reverse chronological order) in the music director role. Since Bentley's departure last summer Litt… -
Donald Judd Breakthrough Art
Judd, the Donald Judd retrospective at New York's Museum of Modern Art was among the shows I caught B.C. (before Coronavirus), and although you can see it now online, it doesn"t do it justice.Donald Judd's who died in 1994, studied philosophy in college, and did graduate work in Columbia in art history. He spent many years as an art critic before arriving at the works he is best known, beginning in the early 1960s.The abstract expressionist painting of the 1940s… -
Dance And Theater From Home
To cap off this round of arts and culture in the quarantine era, I want to share some dance and theater experiences.If you happened to catch the 90th birthday celebration of Stephen Sondheim, "Take Me to The World," despite initial technical difficulties, it was a wonderful and moving celebration of Sondheim and how his songs have transformed the idiom of the American musical, making it at once conversational, intimate, cerebral and poetic. What's not to like with Meryl Streep, Christine… -
Art Experiences At Home: Russian Edition
In the period A.C. (After Covid), I needed, more than ever, to look at Art. And given that I didn"t see traveling in the foreseeable future, I started to think: Where have I always wanted to go? What Museum have I always wanted to visit? What first came to mind: The Hermitage in St. Petersburg.Turns out The Hermitage has a fairly robust series of video tours, as well as a way to virtually visit the Museum.What I expected was a… -
Los Angeles' Annenberg Space For Photography To Close Permanently
Wallis Annenberg announced this week that the Annenberg Space for Photography which has been closed since March due to the pandemic, will not reopen. Located in Century City, the decade old institution had been LA's only museum devoted solely to Photography.In a letter posted on the The Annenberg Space's website, Annenberg said her decisions was "borne out of the pandemic that has upended public institutions across the world." Calling it a "joy and a privilege to share my favorite art…