Art & Artists
147 posts found
-
In Re: Artist Miri Chais' Mind
“Re:Mind,” a multimedia installation at USC’s Fisher Museum of Art, is the first solo show in the United States for Miri Chais, an Israeli-born artist who now lives in Los Angeles. For the show, Chais created and installed a room full of paintings and sculptures, as well as objects that have screens embedded in them, all of it accompanied by music (much of it composed by her 15-year-old son) and a looped video displayed on the walls behind and surrounding… -
The Hollywood Blacklist in Exile
Stories of the Hollywood blacklist of the 1940s and ’50s are, by now, well known. Many books, articles and documentaries exist about the lives of actors, screenwriters and directors who the studios deemed unemployable because of their association — real or alleged — with the Communist Party. Also familiar are the stories of many who “named names” to Congress’ House Un-American Activities Committee — such as Ronald Reagan, Elia Kazan and Budd Schulberg, who provided names of people they believed… -
Judy Fiskin: The Hammer's Summer Blockbuster
Judy Fiskin’s video “I’ll Remember Mama” is a witty, complex story of the artist’s relationship with her mother. Photo courtesy of Judy Fiskin In keeping with summer being the season for superhero sequels, the Hammer Museum is presenting “Made in L.A. 2014,” its second biennial selection of contemporary artists working in Los Angeles. Organized by the museum’s chief curator, Connie Butler, along with independent curator Michael Ned Holte, the exhibition features a diverse and eclectic mix of 35 artists working… -
Jackson Pollock's 'Mural': Masterpiece or Macho Outburst?
[caption width="584" align="alignnone"] Jackson Pollock (American, 1912-1956); “Mural,” 1943; medium: oil and casein on canvas. The University of Iowa Museum of Art, Gift of Peggy Guggenheim, 1959. Reproduced with permission from The University of Iowa.[/caption] Rarely do we see singular artworks that, even as they represent an exact moment of transition between art historical movements, are also masterpieces in their own right. Yet that is exactly what can be seen now at the Getty Museum, which, until June 1, is… -
The Wallis: Now that it’s built, will they come?
A giant risk is being taken with The Wallis — as the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills is being called, and for which the 1934 Beverly Hills Post Office on Santa Monica Boulevard, between Canon and Crescent drives, has been rehabbed to pristine beauty. The former post office building holds a theater school, the 150-seat Lovelace Studio Theater — a multifunction black box theater — and administrative offices, and it is now attached to architect… -
The People's Architect (Moshe Safdie)
Moshe Safdie’s new Guerin Pavillion at the Skirball Cultural Center offers a light-filled natural setting for conferences and gatherings. Photo by Timothy Hursley The Skirball Cultural Center, which stands at the crest of Sepulveda and Mulholland just west of the 405 Freeway, was built on a dump. Literally. Who knew? Before the Skirball acquired the land, it was a garbage dump. With its opening in 1996, architect Moshe… -
Hans Richter: The Future is Now! (at LACMA)
The exhibition “Hans Richter: Encounters” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is a curator’s dream: retrospective of a somewhat obscure, multiplatform artist, who is equally adept (and revolutionary) in painting and film; whose life and career intersects with the major artists and artistic movements of the 20th century; and whose work, when organized didactically, continues to appear very of the moment, ready for reappraisal and for greater attention. Although the show’s curator, Timothy O. Benson, had written about… -
Through the Lens of Helmut Newton
As Wallis Annenberg, of the Annenberg Foundation, said: "Helmut Newton is one of the most powerful and influential photographers of the past century -- the place where art and fashion and subversion and aspiration all collide." Many years ago, on Jan. 23, 2004, to be precise, I was driving west on Sunset Boulevard when traffic stopped completely. There were police and an ambulance in front of the Chateau Marmont, where a car had crashed. I figured some celebrity-laden party had… -
Going Home with Gary Baseman
A still from Gary Baseman’s work on the animated Disney movie “Teacher’s Pet.” There’s an old saying that goes something like this: We spend the first half of our lives running away from home and the rest trying to get back. Consider Homer, way back in ancient Greece, who defined our notion of a life’s odyssey as a journey that begins and ends at home. The same could be said of Gary Baseman, a Los Angeles artist whose career… -
The Joy of Discovery: The Art of Channa Horwitz
Sonakinatography Compositition 16, 1987. Plaka on Mylar. Image courtesy the artist. Photograph by Joshua White. Part of the pleasure of seeing a survey show of contemporary art, such as the summer show “Made in L.A. 2012,” currently at the Hammer Museum, lies in the joy of discovery. There may be artists whose works you recognize, but the WOW! of finding an artist you never knew existed but whose work is fully realized, of-the-moment yet timeless and blows you away, well… -
Truth Beauty & Desire in Vienna (Klimt's Drawings)
Gustav Klimt is best known for his famous golden paintings, portraits of society women adorned in jewels and cloaked in gold, and for the flat two-dimensionality of his work that led many to declare it superficial and merely decorative. The Getty exhibition “Gustav Klimt: The Magic of Line” puts a lie to that characterization, demonstrating how Klimt’s work conveys complex emotions and even allegorical ideals. The Getty’s show features more than 100 drawings from throughout the Austrian painter’s career —…