Oguri tops list of Los Angeles-based USA Fellows
Chicago-based United States Artists (USA) has selected its annual fellowship class of 45 artists and collaboratives, across disciplines and selected from all corners of the United States, who each receive an unrestricted $50,000 awards. A native of Japan, Oguri became inspired to dance after meeting Butoh founder Hijikata Tatsumi in 1983. He started performing in ...
Julius Eastman comes to Los Angeles
Composer Julius Eastman | Photo by Donald Burkhardt Ed. note: Composer Julius Eastman’s “Gay Guerilla,” an initially dappled minimalist excursion for four pianos that morphs into a weighty, deeply personal anthem — nearly a hymnal — had its Los Angeles premiere at last night’s Jacaranda’s “Indivisible” concert. To mark the occasion, arts·meme is pleased to ...
Birthday letter from Tippi Hedren 1
Jan
19
2018
Ed. note: This gorgeous photo arrived from glamorous actress/activist Tippi Hedren who takes the occasion of her birthday to send an “ask,” which we are sharing with delight. Today is my birthday! I am 88 years old! Woo hoo! Some have asked, “What do you want for your Birthday, Tippi?….Anything special?” I said, “Yes, it ...
Anna Pavlova, Hollywood movie star
Smart stuff! The Dumb Girl of Portici (1916) was Universal’s most expensive film to date and featured an enormous cast, large-scale sets, and an ambitious story. The film had a female director, Lois Weber. But it also had what way more movies need — Wendy Whelan, Misty Copeland, Darcey Bussell, listen up! — a prima ...
Pilobolus at Pepperdine — to the max
Jan
18
2018
It’s a ‘best-of’ show — to the max. For 45 years, the clowns, tumblers, acrobats and very good dancers of Pilobolus have tested the limits of human physicality to explore the beauty and the power of connected bodies. Pilobolus also connects with key influencers, thinkers, and creators of our world. A current tour show soon ...
Bullock’s Wilshire former retail glory @ Art Deco Society talk & screening 1
A beacon of Art Deco wonderment, the iconic Bullock’s Wilshire Department Store still stands on Wilshire Boulevard. Designed by Parkinson and Parkinson in 1928, the legendary building is considered a preservation success story; it is now repurposed as the Southwestern School of Law’s law library. Eh. Okay. They dare not tear it down because among ...
He invented ‘happenings’: Allan Kaprow
Jan
15
2018
A new gallery exhibition augurs revelations in the early painting and drawing practice of American artist Allan Kaprow (1927-2006). Kaprow’s career as a painter began with his study with Hans Hofmann. He focused on the medium from the mid-1940s through the 1950s. During this period, he immersed himself in New York’s downtown scene and made ...
Juan de Marcos’s Afro-Cuban beat to pulsate The Soraya
Cuban music has tantalized and insinuated itself into the United States since the 19th Century. New Orleans-born composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869) was smitten with the Cuban tresillo, cinquillo and habanera, and incorporated those elements into his compositions. Ragtime pianists were subsequently taken with what Jelly Roll Morton called “the Spanish tinge.” Then came the ...
My father John Garfield: a portrait by Julie Garfield 7
This wrenching portrait of actor John Garfield recently won a ‘red dot’ award at The Art Students League. The facial expression is imagined — as the artist Julie Garfield has only distant and vague memories of her father. He perished when she was just six years old. John Garfield, who was hounded by HUAC and ...
The wow factor: Paul Steffen Dancers in Italy, 1964 4
Jan
7
2018
After a European tour circa 1950, Jack Cole dancer Paul Steffen — a member of Cole’s resident dance company at Columbia Pictures who performed in Cole’s Rita Hayworth pictures and more — settled in Italy for the rest of his life. There he made this work — a great youtube ‘find’ for this researcher. The ...