Art reviews from art critics Edward Goldman and Hunter Drohojowska-Philp.
So, ladies and gentlemen, this is the time of the year when all of you, art lovers, must put on running shoes and make a mad dash around town. Once again, the month of January is crowded in L.A. with art fairs that bring here hundreds of art dealers from the United States and abroad, all of them eager to spread before you thousands of paintings, sculptures, photographs, videos — you name it...
Nothing, absolutely nothing happens in the world captured in the photos by William Eggleston. But if you take a deep breath and allow yourself the luxury of slowing down, then his photos will start to whisper and maybe even sing to you their irresistible songs...
Last week's program, American Museums: All Talk, No Walk , addressed the issue of the latest artistic censorship, when two leading American museums were intimidated by controversy caused by art they put on display. I didn't expect to do a follow up to this program, but so many of you placed comments on the Art Talk page of the KCRW website...that I decided, with your help, to try to undo the whitewashing done by MOCA and the Smithsonian.
In a short program like this, there is no way to do justice to the New York art scene that I plunged head first into last week. The week after Thanksgiving is my favorite time to go there: museums and galleries are putting their best foot forward, and theaters and concert halls follow the same trend. So if you are thinking of visiting the Big Apple, here is a haiku review of the best that I saw and experienced there...
To make your life a little bit easier during the Christmas frenzy, here is a wonderful array of art books to give as holiday gifts. Trust me, your friends and family will be amused and entertained...
Have you ever heard the expression, "An exhibition a day keeps the devil away?" Ok, I made it up, but in a nutshell, that sums up my religious philosophy. And that's why, for the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend, I want to present you with a whole spread of delicious art exhibitions that should keep the devil away for the entire week...
Probably many of you would agree that we are living in a rather cynical age, and that's why it's so inspiring to witness the miracle of resurrection. And no, I'm not talking about the story of Jesus. I'm talking about MOCA, our Museum of Contemporary Art, which last year swiftly rose from the ashes thanks to the tremendous support of Los Angeles artists, collectors, and especially the generosity of LA philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad...
Keep us, Lord, from losing close friends... those are the words of a Russian poet lamenting the loss of dear friends. In Russian, it goes like this: "Teryat druzei gospod ne prevedi." But somehow, when departed friends happen to be good artists, their spirit continues to live on in their art, and for those of us left behind, it's welcome consolation...
I am very tempted today to honor L.A.'s 30-year-old Museum of Contemporary Art, which thinks of itself as the ‘Artist's Museum,' by simply reading -- with much respect and admiration -- the names of all 140 artists whose works are presented in the ambitious new exhibition occupying both of its downtown venues, MOCA Grand Avenue and the Geffen Contemporary. But going through this roster would take all the time and space allotted for Art Talk . Instead, I want to extend my sincere congratulations ...
The recent announcement that KCET, L.A.’s flagship public television station, cut its ties to PBS as a result of a protracted financial dispute with the network, was met with disbelief. You could hear the outcry: What would happen to the innocent children -- all those little angels in our city -- deprived of their beloved Sesame Street ? And how will aging Baby Boomers manage without their Antiques Roadshow and News Hour ? But come now, dry your tears and rest assured: KOCE, the Orange County-ba...
After the five long, tortuous years that it took Italian authorities to make their dubious case against former Getty Museum antiquities curator Marion True, the trial is over -- at last. It didn't prove either the curator's innocence or the validity of the prosecutors' claim that True knowingly acquired for the Getty numerous ancient artifacts which had been illegally excavated and then smuggled out of Italy. In an all-too-familiar example of excruciating Italian bureaucracy, the criminal charge...
WEB EXCLUSIVE! Whether in scorching heat or foggy gloom, driving along the PCH toward Pepperdine University in Malibu is always a pleasure. My goal was to see the exhibition Inspired by Fashion and Finance presenting artworks created in the last forty years and pulled from the holdings of the Weisman Art Foundation. Though this exhibition doesn’t break any new ground, it definitely provides plenty of amusement and food for thought...
By nature I'm not an envious person, but this morning, going through the Los Angeles and New York Times - I felt a pang of jealousy. There, on the front page of the New York Times, was a glowing report about the major Claude Monet exhibition that just opened at the Grand Palais in Paris. And if that's not enough, this front-page article was illustrated by an attractive photograph, with the report continuing on the inside with a generous half-page of text accompanied by an even larger color photo...
When I mentioned in last week's program, The Best of 9/11 , the captivating exhibition of Italian artist Alberto Burri currently on display at the Santa Monica Museum of Art, I was still ignorant of the most important and dramatic experience of his life. While serving as a physician in the Italian army in North Africa, he was captured in 1943 by American troops and then imprisoned for three years at a POW camp in Texas...
Hello, my name is Edward Goldman, and I am an art-aholic. There, I've said it. Dope, drugs, and alcohol don't do much for me, but art...that is another matter. Art has held me in its grip for as long as I can remember. If, God forbid, there is no museum or art gallery within thirty minutes of wherever I am, my blood pressure drops dangerously to the point where demons start dancing in front of my eyes...
Most artists, before developing their own unique voice and signature style, go through lengthy and often difficult rites of passage. The amazing exhibition of Arshile Gorky currently on view at LA's Museum of Contemporary Art has numerous examples of his earlier works, where we see the young artist gradually absorbing the ideas and energy of Modern Art – a kind of art he knew next to nothing about before emigrating from Armenia to the United States in 1920...
Monday's announcement that Los Angeles art collector and philanthropist Eli Broad had finally chosen downtown as the location for his new museum did not necessarily come as a big surprise. After all, he has always been deeply involved with the Grand Avenue Project, which was intended to revitalize downtown LA through commercial and cultural development..
So, ladies and gentlemen, here is the Art Gospel, according to Edward Goldman: The Top Ten reasons – no, Ten Commandments - urging your support for KCRW, the radio station par excellence...
If you've never been to the Pacific Design Center, it might be a challenge to find the satellite galleries of the Museum of Contemporary Art there. The small separate building stands near the busy intersection of San Vicente and Santa Monica Boulevard, but driving by you wouldn't see the large banner advertising the current exhibition. Only by approaching this building on foot via the PDC plaza will you see the banner announcing the new exhibition by video artist Ryan Trecartin titled Any Ever ....
So, at last, the happy dog days of summer are here again. Yes, I know I am mixing metaphors, but it's been hot - almost 90 degrees, even here in Santa Monica, so I do have an excuse. Last weekend, seemingly everyone wanted to come to the beach to cool off, but I had better plans: with a group of friends, I went in the opposite direction - toward downtown - to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Cool idea, don't you think? Actually, it was freezing cool inside...yes, I know, I am mixing meta...
A little more than a year ago, MOCA, LA's Museum of Contemporary Art, was on its deathbed. After years of living beyond its means by illegally dipping into its endowment, the museum finally came to a breaking point: the director had to resign, the museum board was revamped, and at the eleventh hour, Los Angeles mega-philanthropist Eli Broad came to the rescue, to the tune of $30 million. Thus, the museum was saved, and one could hear sighs of relief all across our City of Angels and well beyond....
Mother Nature, in cahoots with the Gods and Muses, often treats architects and artists very differently. While architects tend to reach creative maturity and develop their unique style later in life, their artistic cousins - painters, sculptors, and photographers - reach a creative peak, most of the time, much earlier in their careers...
I just returned from San Francisco, and let me tell you, I am jealous - very jealous. I went there for the opening of the new exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art... In an unprecedented act of generosity, Doris and the late Don Fisher, renowned collectors of contemporary art, gave their outstanding collection to SFMOMA, and in celebration of this occasion, the museum mounted a superb exhibition called Calder to Warhol ....
When the late Hollywood comedian Rodney Dangerfield was ranting that he didn't “get no respect,” he was actually building a solid foundation for his career. But when 19th century French painter Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904) complained that he could get no respect from either his colleagues at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts or the leading critics of the day, it was definitely not a joke, but the bitter truth of his otherwise successful career...
A few days apart, we Angelenos lost two major players in the cultural life of our city. First came the shocking news of the untimely death at age 69 of James Wood, the President and CEO of the Getty Trust. And then we learned about Ernest Fleischmann, former managing director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, who, after a long illness, passed away at age 85...
The life of Arshile Gorky, one of the most famous mid-century American artists, was marked by tragedy from the very beginning. Born around 1902 in an Armenian province of Ottoman Turkey, he and his family experienced the horror of the 1915 Genocide, during which more than a million Armenians were massacred. Somehow, he, his mother and three sisters escaped, though a few short years later, his mother died of starvation. At the age of 16, he managed to find his way to America, eventually settling ...
This past Memorial Day weekend turned out to have yet another sad dimension. Yes, we honored the memory of untold thousands of American soldiers who lost their lives on the battlefield in service of our country. But in addition to that, those of us caring deeply about art had an extra reason to mourn over the last few days. Saturday brought the news of the death - at age 74 - of Dennis Hopper, the famous Hollywood actor and distinguished artist...
When I think about artists who excel at the art of portraiture, I am thinking about those whom I admire not just for capturing the likeness of a sitter, but those who, courageously and in the most uncompromising way, swore to tell the truth, and nothing but the truth: about the people who model for them, then about us viewers, and ultimately, about themselves...
When I went to Christopher Grimes Gallery for the opening of the exhibition of paintings by Scott Short, I didn't detect any signs of crisis. There were only two large, abstract, black and white paintings in the front room, which made for a very elegant, spare installation. The last time I saw this artist's work was a couple of months ago in New York, at the Whitney Biennial, so I was looking forward to seeing his new exhibition here in Los Angeles and meeting the artist himself. Scott Short's p...
