Mary Blair, the woman artist who inspired Disney’s “Nine Old Men” 1
At last night’s panel discussion of Walt Disney’s animated classic, “Peter Pan” (1953) (the new blu-ray version is now playing at Hollywood’s El Capitan Theatre), we learned about the film’s core group of animators. Walt Disney jokingly referred to this crew not as “Pan-imators,” but rather as his “Nine Old Men.” The expression puns on ...
Celebrating Iran’s Jewish artists: Shulamit Gallery
Dec
9
2012
Two weeks after a bustling opening party launched a new house of art at Venice Beach, we revisited the multi-floored Shulamit Gallery on a grey-skied late-November afternoon. The smart, post-modern shoebox structure wedges neatly into a row of buildings that marks the end of Venice Boulevard. At this location, arguably the western-most point of sprawling ...
Carole Bayer Sager’s splendid nosherai @ William Turner Gallery
When the baseball stadium vendor cried out “peanuts, popcorn, cracker jacks,” little Carole Bayer Sager, as a kid, took that sing-song offering seriously. The prodigious lyricist/songwriter is also proud creator of a fun and poppy collection of super-sized snacks in serious, searing colors. The show’s early November opening at William Turner Gallery in Santa Monica ...
The Tramp meets the Dying Swan
Two great ‘movement artists, Charles and Anna, pose for a photo looking like something more than just “cordial colleagues.” The photo is dated 1922. Like this? Read more: Pavlov(a)’s dog of a movie. Anna Pavlova visits Hollywood Happy Birthday, Charlie Chaplin Charles Chaplin in China
Gwen Samuels’ skyscraper stitchery @ A & D Museum
Looking forward to seeing artist Gwen Samuel’s amazing architectural clothing installed at the Architecture and Design Museum on Wilshire Boulevard across from LACMA. Samuels considers that when we dress and go out into the world we turn ourselves into a moving canvas or a sculpture … or even a classic building. Whatever building I am, ...
Amy Jean Boebel’s intriguing mesh-metal sculptures 1
I am really liking artist Amy Jean Boebel’s beautiful wire and mesh screen sculptures. The Santa Monica sculptress and creator of wearable art also makes tutus! Boebel, who studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and Tulane University School of Architecture, will showcase not this work, but a new installation at Diverted Destruction 5 at The ...
“In Wonderland” closing soon, wish it could live at LACMA permanently
May
1
2012
So late in the day, but better late than never, may I praise the woman-art show at LACMA, “In Wonderland: Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States.” It runs at LACMA’s Resnick Pavilion through May 6. Art goddess Frida Kahlo’s duel-nature psychological self-portrait, “The Two Fridas,” reigns over the exhibit. Don’t ...
“Fly out!” cried Miriam Rochlin. The L.A. dancer/dance teacher has died. 6
Apr
27
2012
Miriam Rochlin was born in Bonn in 1920 and she died last week in Los Angeles, a huge lifetime later. I knew Miriam only slightly, but knowing her at all was a great privilege. Choreographer Karen Goodman, pictured below chatting with her, knew the incandescent dancer well. The film, “Come Let Us Dance,” directed by ...
Ruth Weisberg’s guided gallery tour @ Jack Rutberg Fine Arts
Apr
10
2012
Get thee to Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, where a strong show now hangs, “Ruth Weisberg: Now & Then,” works by the Los Angeles artist pictured above. This Saturday afternoon, Ms. Weisberg will personally guide a tour through her paintings and drawings that are on beautiful display in the LaBrea Avenue gallery. The exhibition reveals Weisberg’s ...
Claire Falkenstein book talk at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts
Mar
14
2012
Claire Falkenstein: An Expansive Universe, a major survey of the late California multimedia artist’s work now on at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts in Los Angeles, coincides with the release of the newly published, comprehensive book on the artist’s work and life, Claire Falkenstein. The Falkenstein material is paired at Rutberg’s with work of another ...