Photographer Jason House’s scenes of terminal transience

Architecture & Design · Visual arts
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)

Dance · Visual arts
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

Dance · Visual arts
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 ...

Out came the stars @ TCM Fest 2015

Film
The stars are only part of the allure of Turner Classic Movies classic film festival. The Festival also features the artisans and craftspeople of classic Hollywood. Capturing it all is a roster of top event photographers. Photo credit: Edward M. Pio Roda, Adam Rose, Tyler Golden for TCM

Pure Petipa, courtesy of American Ballet Theatre

Dance
In this great portrait by dance photographer Gene Schiavone, American Ballet Theatre principal dancers Marcelo Gomes (Prince Desire) and Diana Vishneva (Aurora) pose in “The Sleeping Beauty” the full-evening ballet that just had its world premiere at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. ABT resident choreographer Alexei Ratmansky’s restaging of original choreography by Marius Petipa may ...

Martha Graham emblazoned by Barbara Morgan photo @ VPAC

Dance · Visual arts
Fascinating words that may have resonance today, excerpted from “Martha Graham, A Biography,” by Don McDonagh, page 148: “We must win back our audiences,” [Graham said, in an interview prior to the Company appearance at the Mansfield Theater in Letter to the World]. “We have alienated them through grimness of theme and a nontheatrical approach ...

Stones still rolling @ Taschen’s

Visual arts
Great to learn that It’s Just a Shot Away: The Rolling Stones in Photographs, the fantastic, spacious, high-quality exhibit of superlative Rolling Stones portraiture is still on tap. You cannot miss Taschen’s cool Beverly Boulevard gallery — it’s the hot white-and-pink building. Thru February 28. (b&w) Masks, Toronto, Anton Corbijn, The Rolling Stones, 1994(color) Jumpin’ ...

‘Moonlit Modern’ photography captures eerie Palm Springs 1

Architecture & Design · Visual arts
It’s fun perusing night-owl photographer Tom Blachford‘s portraits of classic Palm Springs mid-century residential architecture. The cheerful pancake-flat homes when portrayed (normally) under a full splash of desert sun by moonbeam ray take on a somewhat cold and menacing aspect. Blachford, 27, not only injects a youthful spin in his “Moonlit Modern” series, but the ...

Ted VanCleave’s tough photographic vision of Los Angeles 2

Architecture & Design · Visual arts
I deeply respond to photographer Ted VanCleave’s recent “Concrete Porn ~ Buildings & Bridges” series, a visual homage to that most unyielding of building mediums, concrete. “My love of concrete architecture began when I visited the Pantheon in Rome. I was in awe of the beautiful, massive concrete dome which is still the world’s largest ...

The jazz strata of Ave Pildas 1

Music · Visual arts
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If you receive photographer Ave Pildas’s weekly e-blasts, you know the prolific nature of his work. His street snaps can be quirky, straightforward, unpredictable, ironic, reverent, whimsical, iconic, or just plain fun. He has an eye for the beautiful and the surreal but the transmissions often time to current events or seasonal observances. They show ...