Jack Rutberg Fine Arts in Los Angeles has a beautiful, locally driven, museum-quality show on at its LaBrea Avenue gallery, an expansive exhibition titled “Letters from Los Angeles: Part II – Identity & Self Identity Through Text in Art.” The rich exhibit curated by Rutberg includes more than 70 works by 40 contemporary L.A.-based artists who incorporate elements of words and letters in their work. Many, many beauties are on display here.
Writes Rutberg apropos his exhibit:
L.A.’s association with typography in the visual arts is unique. Text has historically been ubiquitous on the city’s streets with political and gang graffiti, and L.A.’s ever-present billboards that surfaced as far back as the onset of Southern California’s highway system and car culture.
While Los Angeles’ international recognition is acknowledged via text, it must be noted that Angelinos also self-identify with text, as no other city in the world refers to itself in both the written and spoken word so distinctly and interchangeably as we do with the initials: “L.A.”
Artists included this second edition of “Letters from Los Angeles” are: Lita Albuquerque, Bill Barminski, Wallace Berman, Hans Burkhardt, Huguette Caland, Greg Colson, Doug Edge, Mark X Farina, Jud Fine, Alexandra Grant, Eve Fowler, Scott Grieger.
Also on view are works by Mark Steven Greenfield, Raul Guerrero, Lynn Hanson, George Herms, Iva Hladis, Dennis Hopper, Corita Kent, Ed Kienholz, Charles LaBelle, Mark Licari, Michael C. McMillen, Jim Morphesis, Ed Moses, Bruce Nauman, Stas Orlovski, Paulin Paris, David Allan Peters, Raymond Pettibon, Ken Price, Bruce Richards, Ed Ruscha, Allen Ruppersberg, Richard Shelton, Alexis Smith, Masami Teraoka, J. Michael Walker, and Tom Wudl.
Letters from Los Angeles – II | Jack Rutberg Fine Arts | thru April 30
Like this? Read more:
- Hans Burkhardt, Los Angeles master artist
- Good art-gab @ L.A. Art Fair, Rutberg to moderate
- Clare Falkenstein talk @ Ruberg’s (slideshow)