Art reviews from art critics Edward Goldman and Hunter Drohojowska-Philp.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that with so many good, important art exhibitions fighting for our attention, we inevitably miss one or two of them. But what about the smaller exhibitions and art events which often don't make headlines, though definitely worthy of our attention?
I do remember the opening of the first Los Angeles gallery dedicated exclusively to showing photography, an event that was met with considerable skepticism. Then, in the early 80's, not only the public, but a lot of critics considered photography to be the stepchild of the art scene, dominated by painting and sculpture and the critical darlings, conceptual and installation art. These days photography is all the rage...
This year, Santa Claus has decided to deliver his gift to us a little bit ahead of time. Today's announcement that MOCA at last accepted a generous 'bail out' offer of $30 million from L.A. philanthropist Eli Broad put an end to a flurry of speculations that had inflamed the local and national art scene. It seems that the museum survived the storm and has figured out a way to come out of this mess as a lean, mean and stronger fighting art machine...
By nature, I am an optimist. But being an art critic and historian, I put things in perspective, which keeps my positive impulses in check. So, I guess that makes me a cautious optimist...
When I went to Paris in March 2006 for the opening of the groundbreaking exhibition at the Pompidou Centre, which hailed the emergence of Los Angeles as one of the art capitals of the world, I rejoiced not only in celebrating the art and artists of our City of Angels, but also in the fact that so many outstanding works of art came from the collections of our own Museum of Contemporary Art...
Rumors about the financial difficulties at LA's Museum of Contemporary Art have been circulating for a few years, but the institution, much admired for its cutting edge exhibition program, has maintained a brave face. The museum continued to mount exhibitions in all three of its facilities –- two large spaces downtown and a smaller one at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood. Ambitious exhibitions were accompanied by thick, scholarly catalogues, well designed and obviously expensively pro...
After being seen in London, Paris, and New York, the retrospective exhibition of works by 96-year-old Louise Bourgeois has finally arrived in LA -– to dazzle, to provoke, and to unsettle virtually everyone who walks through the galleries of the Museum of Contemporary Art, hosting this exhibition until the end of January...
I never start my weekly radio broadcast by giving you its title; only if you visit the KCRW website or sign up to receive Art Talk via email do you find out that each program comes with a headline. Today, for the first time, I want to start this broadcast with the title. Here it goes: PLEASE, MR. PRESIDENT, TAKE US ON A DATE...
With just one week left before the election, it's difficult to think or talk about anything else. The political drama –- or comedy, if you will -– of the presidential election proves that we Americans do have a National Theater after all...
In the last few years, I've had the good fortune to visit a number of great cities famous for their art and culture -- from Paris and London to Beijing and Mexico City -- but the eight days I recently spent in Berlin left an especially indelible impression on me. To put it simply: I never worked so hard and, definitely, I don't remember ever having so much fun...
Patience is not my main virtue, but I had no choice but to wait for many years to complete my journey to Berlin. It's been 34 years since I've been there. At that time, the city was divided by the Berlin Wall and we, Soviet tourists, were allowed to see only the Eastern part of the city. I remember standing in front of the Brandenburg Gate in 1974 and wondering what it would be like to walk through its Neoclassical splendor and to discover the forbidden Western part of the city hidden behind the...
Following last week's roller-coaster news – Wall Street in turmoil while London art auction sales for Damien Hirst exceeded $200 million – I couldn't help thinking about the mischievous Gods of Commerce and Art looking down from Mount Olympus at us mere mortals and giggling at our attempts to make sense of it all...
As a rule, I prefer in this program to talk about just one or two of the best exhibitions I’ve seen recently, but today I want to make an exception. So many good shows I saw last week, it makes sense to mention all of them – even if briefly...
Due to our recent pledge drive and the coverage of two political conventions, Art Talk has been off the air for a few weeks, so I wouldn't be surprised if you are starving for some good art news. I'm happy to report that the autumn season has gotten off to a good start with a number of museum and gallery exhibitions worth seeing...
By the rules that applied to everyone who grew up in the Russia of yesteryear, I was destined to live and die in the same city, the same apartment, holding the same job all my life. But in my lucky case, the city happened to be beautiful St. Petersburg -– then called Leningrad -– and the job I had was in a very special place: the Hermitage, the famous museum founded in the 18th century by Catherine the Great...
It’s been ten months since I returned from Beijing, but China is definitely on my mind. And how can it not be? With the Olympics starting this weekend, China has been front and center of political and cultural coverage for months: Tibet, the earthquake, mind-boggling new buildings in Beijing...
Good museum exhibitions come in all shapes and sizes. The best of them linger in our memory because of the deep satisfaction that comes from making new artistic discoveries or seeing our old favorites in a new light. Sometimes we remember these exhibitions not only because of the great art, but also for the unusual, innovative way the works were displayed in a specially designed gallery space. Traditionally, major museums rely on a team of in-house designers for the installation of the artworks,...
Usually I find myself in the camp of those who see the glass half full and not half empty. But here is some information that challenges my philosophy: there are about one hundred cities in China with a population of more than one million people. With the Chinese economy booming, most of these cities are building or planning to build a new art museum. So what's not to like? It's definitely a bonanza for architects...
You would imagine that after seeing an especially successful exhibition, an art critic would take a break from the never-ending steeplechase and rest for a while, savoring the moment. Not a chance. You would imagine that after seeing an especially disappointing exhibition, yours truly would stop for a moment to lick his aesthetic wounds. Wrong again. Like a shark whose very nature demands constant movement bringing oxygen through his gills, an art critic's very being depends on an endless flow o...
If I tell you that I caught a glimpse of Jackie Kennedy once, in her post-Camelot period, would it pique your interest? "Come on, Edward," I can hear you saying, "people were running into her on the streets of Manhattan for years; what's the big deal?" Here's my story...
Most American museums follow the guidelines that advise against exhibitions showcasing private collections unless some of the artworks are promised gifts to the museum. Private collectors crave a museum's stamp of approval; it's good for their ego, and more importantly, it's good for their pocket. If they decide to sell the collection, the fact that it was shown in an important museum can significantly increase its value...
Do you think you could enjoy seeing paintings that poke you in the eye, make you sick to your stomach and – as if that's not enough – violate your sense of decency and propriety? But wait a minute...I forgot to mention that these paintings also have an explosive raw energy, frightening authenticity, and the violent brushwork of a drunken samurai wielding his sword right and left...
Gasoline prices be damned, I spent last week crisscrossing the cultural landscape of southern California, driving to Santa Barbara, to Ojai, to Long Beach, to Altadena. But on Saturday, I gave myself a break and spent the whole afternoon roaming for art close to home -– in downtown LA, to be precise...
Last year when I went to Beijing to get a taste of its exploding contemporary art scene, I was especially taken by the monumental and rather dramatic art installation by Qiu Anxiong in the cavernous space of the Universal Studios Gallery. In my Art Talk about the Chinese art scene, I described the dimly lit room dominated by a railroad car – not a full-scale replica, but the real thing, which I recognized immediately. I rode similar trains as a child in Soviet Russia in the 50's and 60's. At the...
Unless you are a man or woman of steel, I doubt that you had the willpower to shut out the media blitz surrounding the release of the last and hopefully final installment of Sex and the City . Am I the only one who looks at the impossibly teased 'do of Sarah Jessica Parker and gets spooked because it reminds me of Medusa, the mythological creature with snakes instead of hair?...
After two years in exile, 'Blue Boy' and 'Pinkie' are back home at the Huntington Art Gallery. The much-loved Beaux-Arts mansion, built in 1911 for Henry and Arabella Huntington, has just reopened after two years of renovation and restoration. It looks every bit as resplendent as we remembered it, but now it has even more paintings and decorative art objects on display than before...
Among the artists whose art I like and admire, there are a few whom I feel as if I've known personally. Rembrandt would be one of them. With dozens upon dozens of self-portraits, we are able to follow him from youth to old age. Also we know his mother and father, son, wife and mistress – all painted in a deeply personal way that reveals his feelings about them...
It's always the same; with so many museum and gallery exhibitions to see and talk about, I'm constantly racing against the clock. Definitely want to be sure that you will see MOCA's captivating exhibition, Collecting Collections, before it closes this Monday, May 19. This sprawling exhibition is a celebration of the generosity and vision of private collectors – most of them Angelenos – who have enabled this relatively young institution to become a major player on the international art scene......
If I were the cultural commissioner of this city, I would have declared the past few weeks a 'mini festival' of German culture in Los Angeles. Judge for yourself: a week ago I went to a screening of the new documentary, Shadows in Paradise , a fascinating story of German émigré musicians, writers, and filmmakers who fled the Nazis and settled here in LA. Some of them flourished; others merely managed; a few committed suicide. Never before have so many of the best and brightest creative minds of ...
I love LA for being an inexhaustible field of discovery for art, architecture, and music – not only in museums, galleries, and concert halls – but also in less expected venues...
