Ahmad Jamal, child pianist, photographed by “Teenie” Harris
He’s propped up on a trumpet case! It’s the young Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell ‘Fritz’ Jones), a Pittsburgh native whose photo by renegade photog, Charles “Teenie” Harris, is featured in an exhibit at the city’s Carnegie Museum of Art. Jamal’s is only one of 80,000 photographs Harris snapped of daily African-American life in the ...
Meeting Art Laboe, L.A.’s pioneering rock ‘n roll deejay
We enjoyed meeting the amazing Los Angeles radio legend, Art Laboe, Wednesday night at the Grammy Museum downtown. Laboe’s a pioneer in many ways — issuing the first-ever record compilations and coining the expression “Oldies But Goodies.” The deejay is very much alive and kicking; though in his eighties, he was in great shape cruising ...
Cartoonist John Norment’s mid-century watercolors @ New Puppy Gallery
Feb
7
2012
Opening this coming Saturday night — the first gallery exhibition since 1980 of watercolor paintings by John Norment, a prominent cartoonist for The New Yorker magazine. Over 40 unseen watercolors by the cartoonist and joke book editor/illustrator will be on view in the show, which is co-produced by New Puppy Gallery and Planet Glass. Norment ...
Santa Barbara bound
Feb
3
2012
Heading to Santa Barbara for a writer’s retreat, we are delighted that our visit to the Pearl on the Pacific coincides with the opening of a “golden oldies” show at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. I like gruesome cowboy art like the Frederick Remington canvas at left. [click on it for detail] The show, ...
Mike Kelley (1954-2012)
Feb
1
2012
Twinkling Coppers (from “Plato’s Cave, Rothko’s Chapel, Lincoln’s Profile”), 1986 Acrylic on canvas with penny and string of multi-colored flashing electrical Christmas lights 60 x 60 x 3 3/8 inches (152.4 x 152.4 x 8.6 cm) Artist Mike Kelley died today. Story here. Peter Frank, Associate Editor of Fabrik magazine and art critic for The Huffington ...
Tattoo you, Jackson Pollock, on your 100th birthday
Jan
30
2012
Arts writer Mat Gleason walks the walk where the great abstract painter, Jackson Pollock, is concerned. It’s a permanent love story. Gleason, the prime agent provocateur of The Huffington Post arts page, puts it succinctly: “When people ask me who my favorite artist is, I just roll up my sleeve.” Pollock, who died violently in ...
Sculpture meets photography in Peter Schlesinger’s L.A. homecoming show
Jan
29
2012
Days after seeing Peter Schlesinger’s wonderful photograph, France 1968 (above), part of the L.A.-born artist’s sculpture and photography show at Duke & Duke Gallery, I figured out why I love it. It reminds me of a David Hockney painting. The hot color clash, cool depiction of the leisure class, and disparate figures all hearken the ...
Where industry meets the arts
E.O. Hoppé, Large Alternator, Siemens-Schuckert werk, Gartenfeld, Germany, 1928 Unknown photographer, GE Plant in Schenectady, 1934. Features Ted Shawn and His Men Dancers (Shawn at center) Hoppe photo credit: E.O. Hoppé Estate Collection, courtesy Graham Howe Shawn photo courtesy, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival Archive, courtesy Norton Owen Like this? Read more: Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival ...
Julian Stanczak’s op art at the L.A. Art Show
Jan
20
2012
Capturing my eye at the L.A. Art Show opening last night, the optical art of Polish-born artist Julian Stanczak, on display by Santa Fe’s David Richard Contemporary art gallery. The show, at the Convention Center — L.A.’s own contribution to urban blight — is on through the weekend. Shifting Square, 1973 acrylic on canvas 30 ...
L.A. traffic jam inside Caroline Graham’s home 2
Super-publicist Caroline Graham’s holiday party in Santa Monica last night was akin to the 405 freeway bumper-to-bumper. Navigating the human traffic-jam conjured Blake Edwards’s party scene in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” It took a full forty minutes to cross Caroline’s cozy living room to greet a friend. It took just as long in the other direction ...