“In Wonderland” closing soon, wish it could live at LACMA permanently

Visual arts
So late in the day, but better late than never, may I praise the woman-art show at LACMA, “In Wonderland: Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States.” It runs at LACMA’s Resnick Pavilion through May 6. Art goddess Frida Kahlo’s duel-nature psychological self-portrait, “The Two Fridas,” reigns over the exhibit. Don’t ...

Turner’s “Grenoble Bridge,” from collection of Baltimore Museum of Art 2

Visual arts
One of the Museum’s masterpieces, J.M.W. Turner’s Grenoble Bridge (1824), a watercolor that was purchased in 1968 and has rarely been shown due to its fragility. Click for detail. Joseph Mallord William Turner. Grenoble Bridge. (c. 1824).The Baltimore Museum of Art: Purchase with exchangefunds from Nelson and Juanita Greif Gutman Collection.BMA 1968.28

Yes, concentration camp. Yes, Abu Ghraib. Yes, disturbing. Choreography by Hofesh Shechter.

Dance
The most interesting guy out there, an Israeli-born dance maker who came out of Ohad Naharin’s shop at Batsheva Dance Company. His “Violet Kid” took Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet to another level. Read my review in the Los Angeles Times.

“Fly out!” cried Miriam Rochlin. The L.A. dancer/dance teacher has died. 6

Dance
Miriam Rochlin was born in Bonn in 1920 and she died last week in Los Angeles, a huge lifetime later. I knew Miriam only slightly, but knowing her at all was a great privilege. Choreographer Karen Goodman, pictured below chatting with her, knew the incandescent dancer well. The film, “Come Let Us Dance,” directed by ...

Get ready for Hofesh Shechter’s “Violet Kid” @ UCLA Live

Dance
I’m a movement junkie. I like to watch the body in motion and I respond well to a lot of form and structure. I also like work that goes to the dark side. That’s why I’m so attracted to the choreography of the Israeli-born London-based Hofesh Shechter. His “Violet Kid” will be danced by Cedar ...

Highly recommended: Faye Driscoll @ UCLA

Dance
First it’s really good in a crazy way. Then it’s crazy in not-that-good of a way. Finally it’s super interesting in a way you can’t quite figure out. That’s the road map for “You’re Me,” a grueling duet that dancer/choreographer Faye Driscoll will present tonight and Friday at the Glorya Kaufman Theater on the UCLA ...

New Yorkers show their love for an arts-loving building

Architecture & Design
Before-and-after photos of the historic renovation of 62 East 4th Street in New York’s East Village, an edifice with a lot of art history.  

East Village building echoing art history gets preservation award

Architecture & Design · Dance · Film · Music
Our story concerns a grand, old New York City structure with a noble track record in art and cultural history. The pink lady in the picture has been home to creative endeavors in music, dance and film. Last year, the exterior of the building receive a $2.1 million restoration as part of the renovations of ...

Canapes and CLOCLO made COL*COA cool

Film
No one does it like the French. No one, no way, no how. COL*COA (City of Lights*City of Angels), the annual French film festival in Los Angeles, just wrapped up at the Director’s Guild of America building on Sunset Boulevard. The festival, now in its 16th year and masterminded by the incredibly hard-working Francois Truffart, ...

Tribeca Film Festival off to the races with “Ballets With A Twist” 1

Dance · Film
On a recent visit to New York, it was my great pleasure to sit in on a rehearsal of a new work by choreographer Marilyn Klaus. She was preparing the latest addition to her roster of thirst-quenching ballets based on a cocktail menu. Thus the name of Klaus’s boutique troupe, “Ballets With A Twist.” By ...