The jazz strata of Ave Pildas 1
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 ...
Historic Raleigh Studios to host “Photo Independent”
Photo Independent, the artist-only fair for photographic artists, collectors and art professionals, rolls out this weekend at an unusual venue: Hollywood’s Raleigh Studios. An amazing and charming movie complex that dates to the ‘teens and comprises fourteen sound stages, Raleigh occupies a distinct niche of Hollywood dream-factory history. Paired with Paramount Studios, which sits to ...
Let’s go bowling with Chris Nichols
Apr
16
2014
These evocative photos speak reams to arts·meme friend Chris Nichols, a mid-century-modern architecture/culture expert and founder of the Los Angeles Conservancy’s Modern Committee, the infamous “Modcom.” So much so that Chris has organized an entire museum exhibit to celebrate the design universe of bowling alleys … the show just opened at the A + D ...
A keeper: Quincy Jones photo-portrait for TCM Fest
At arts·meme, we like it when art begets art. That’s why we respond so positively to photographer Stefanie Keenan’s outstanding photo-portrait of an artist — Quincy Jones — that came across the transom from Turner Classic Movies this morning. The prodigious Jones gave a fascinating, free-wheeling interview to movie (and jazz) maven Leonard Maltin at ...
Backstage intimacy from Phil Stern’s camera 1
Hollywood photographers have always had to walk a fine line. Their work is contingent on access to the celebrated, but entree hinges on trust and following implicit rules of privacy. Movie studios have always wanted their actors and directors depicted in the best possible light and they’ve rewarded those whose images flatter most. But good ...
Hayworth by Hurrell … just because
This stunning portrait of Rita Hayworth shot in 1942 by Hollywood glamour photographer George Hurrell is featured in Mark Vieira’s massive coffeetable book, “George Hurrell’s Hollywood: Glamour Portraits 1925 – 1992.” photo courtesy mark vieira
Hooray for Hurrell 1
We caught up recently with Mark Vieira, author of the newly published “George Hurrell’s Hollywood,” an image-filled tribute to the film industry’s lauded glamour photographer. When asked how Hurrell got his start in high-gloss movie-star portraiture, Mark explained, “Hurrell was an unknown commercial photographer in the artsy Westlake District of Los Angeles when he made ...
Review: Quirky master-photog Bert Stern captured in doc 1
It doesn’t matter that “Bert Stern: Original Madman” falls short in depicting the hectic life and work of the go-go photographer of the sixties. The documentary, a first major effort by Shannah Laumeister, is unevenly told, biased toward the actress-turned-director’s own personal relationship with Stern, and values cheap story elements over artful ones. Yet the ...
Stravinsky in West Hollywood, 1967, captured by photog Bobby Klein
I had been invited back to the Maestro’s house one evening to show him some of my previous work. He took me into his study and locked the door. Beethoven was playing on these huge Voice of the Theater speakers really loud. Stravinsky had been ill and was being watched like a hawk by his ...
E.O. Hoppé’s “London” a jewel in Santa Monica
Jan
17
2013
“Hoppé is to London as Atget is to Paris,” art curator Graham Howe tells us in an email. Howe manages the E.O Hoppé estate as the CEO of museum services organization, Curatorial Assistance, in Pasadena. He’s just organized a special exhibit of Hoppé’s London photography now on view at Bergamont Station in tandem with PhotoLA. The German-born ...