Alighiero Boetti at the Fowler Museum at UCLA
Pick of the Week for July 25th, 2012 Granted, to write a rave review of a show closing in four days is regretable. But when the art work on display and the curatorial excellence is so remarkable, it would be more of a crime not to sing its praises. The exhibition in question is the [...]
LA MOCA on Life Support: NY Times Roberta Smith Call Deitch’s Tenure “Disappointing”
Even NY Times critic Roberta Smith, originally a supporter of LA MOCA’s bold move in appointing flamboyant gallerist Jeffrey Deitch as its new Director, admits his tenure has been disappointing. In a Times article titled “A Los Angeles Museum on Life-Support” she recaps MOCA’s problems, Deitch’s failure to solve them, and the worrisome departure of [...]
Carl Andre Redux at Gagosian and Ace Galleries
Carl Andre’s star is ascendant. Again. This is ironic because the artist has long ago earned his place in the canon of art history. But he hasn’t been much of a presence on the gallery scene. Slowly but surely we are seeing Andre pieces reemerge in the exhibition landscape, no doubt catalyzed by the fact [...]
Getty Research Portal Puts Full Text of Art Historical Sources Online
Independent scholars rejoice-The Getty Research Portal, which launched last month, makes 20,000 documents from the Getty’s collection and eight other libraries available to anyone with an internet connection. The texts, published before 1923 in the U.S. or before 1909 in other countries, are all in the public domain, and are downloadable free of charge. So [...]
William Poundstone Weighs Alternatives to the M Word
Have recent museum shakeups begun to besmirch the once-coveted title of “Museum?” itself? ArtInfo Blogger William Poundstone sees a trend, noting that “at least two incipient L.A. museums are avoiding the M word”. Both the the new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in LACMA West, and a proposed gay and lesbian museum are considering alternative [...]
5 from 1: Todd Camplin
5 from 1 presents the work of one artist in conversation with five sources that are driving their studio practice. The rest is up to you. Todd Camplin (link) 89% of “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”, 2012 ink on Clayboard 8″ x 10″
Francesca Woodman
I was a late-comer to Francesca Woodman‘s pictures but liked them right away. That was around 2003, and Woodman’s surrealism provided me with a lyrical counterpart to René Magritte’s poetically banal imagery. Wrong-headed, probably, but I seem to respond to the vaguely familiar at least as often as I do to the totally new. Reading a new book [...]
Deitch/Broad’s New Populism: LA MOCA Planning Disco Show
L.A.’s Museum of Contemporary Art is planning an exhibition that will examine the cultural impact of disco music, reports the LA Times.
Upcoming Surls Dinner Proves It’s Easier to Move Big Collectors than Big Sculptures
James Surls is cropping up in unexpected places: Garden and Gun magazine features an informative feature on James Surls’ contributions to the Houston art scene as founder of the Lawndale Art Center and his larger-than-life career and personality. Last year, Surls radically restructured the way he does business, firing all six of his national dealers, [...]
