Great movies meet great graphic design: Saul Bass
An illustrated lecture by Jan-Christopher Horak, director, UCLA Film & Television Archive, presents a selection of film titles, shorts and commercials by Academy Award–winning filmmaker Saul Bass (1920–1996). Best known as the designer behind the iconic, era-defining title sequences for such films as The Man with the Golden Arm (dir. Otto Preminger, 1955), Vertigo (dir. ...
Alex Hubbard’s massive ‘canvases’ stud new Maccarone Gallery
Oct
12
2015
The British aren’t coming; they’re already here, in a pub, in Santa Monica. But the New Yorkers are piling in, the latest and best evidence is Maccarone’s tricked-out art gallery, surely a bellwether for the new, gentrifying Boyle Heights. The 6,000 square-foot SoHo-style space, the Los Angeles outpost of a West Village parent gallery, occupies ...
What a week! Los Angeles blossoms in the fine arts
I’ve inhabited Los Angeles more or less, since 1989. The city’s rich art existence, long undetected, has kept me busy and happy here. There is little doubt, however, that something arts-phenomenal is happening right now in our city. It must be true; the New York Times is sputtering about it all the time. In fact, ...
Mat Gleason (still) putting us on edge
We’re fans, at arts·meme, of art critic-provocateur and coagula art journal editor Mat Gleason, especially when Gleason, himself a monster of the internet, flatly pronounces, “Social media for artists is a time suck.” So we’re intrigued to hear Mat’s lastest ideas concerning the show he has just curated at Cypress College, near to Orange County. Fun ...
Arts visions of American West @ Autry Center 2
Aug
13
2015
Inspired by the gift of 49 paintings and sculptures from the collection of Loretta and Victor Kaufman, a new exhibition at the Autry National Center of the American West’s highlights the Griffith Park museum’s growing fine-art holdings. The powerful grouping of pieces represents diverse peoples and perspectives in bronzes, paintings, lithographs, watercolors and sculptures, all ...
Photographer Jason House’s scenes of terminal transience
An upcoming photo exhibit features images from Rockhaven Sanitarium located in Montrose, California. Founded in 1923 by psychiatric nurse, Agnes Richards, Rockhaven was a private institution that tended to suffering “mild mental and nervous disorders.” Marilyn Monroe’s mother, Gladys Eley, called it home, as did Billie Burke. Abandoned in 2006, the decaying property stands in ...
Miss Ruth strikes a Denishawn pose in “The Peacock” (1914)
A photographer’s dream model, the exotic Ruth St. Denis habitually struck a dramatic pose for the camera. Fifty years later, in the San Fernando Valley, she was doing the same thing. Ruth St. Denis, “The Peacock” 1914, photo by J.D. Toloff, Evanston, IL
David Hockney, choreographer of the canvas
Confronted by the astonishingly energetic recent output of artist David Hockney in “Painting and Photography,” on view at L.A. Louver Gallery, I was struck by how dancerly were the images, framed though they were in rectangles. The artist’s distinct consideration of bodies – and objects – arranged in space evoke avant-garde dance. In particular: a ...
It depends on your point of view, says David Hockney @ L.A. Louver
“Painting and Photography,” a solo exhibition of new work by David Hockney developed over the past two years in his Los Angeles studio, explores the relationship between painting and photography, the artist’s interest in depicting perspective, as well as his fascination with using new technology to create images. The show marks Hockney’s 16th solo exhibition at ...
Spectral ballet studios by Ruth Weisberg
Ruth Weisberg L’ANCIENNE, 1978 Ink Drawing on Lithographic Wash 28 3/4 x 40 1/2 inches JRFA #0935 Ruth Weisberg GILLES ET L’ANCIENNE, 1978 Original Lithograph 29 5/8 x 41 3/4 inches JRFA #0936 The deeply evocative body of work entitled “Reflections Through Time,” a career retrospective of artist Ruth Weisberg now on at Jack Rutberg ...