We may be geographically far from, well, everywhere in the world, but that doesn’t mean we can’t keep up with all the arts endeavors across every which pond. So here’s a bit of news (for the very serious and elite readers) and a bonus round of what’s going on in LA that really deserves your attention (for those who care about little outside LA county).
First, a stop in Paris at the Petit Palais. The Parisian museum brings to the fore the artistic achievements of none other than Yves Saint Laurent. Curated by Florence Muller and Farid Chenoune, the exhibit, called Yves Saint Laurent Retrospective features gowns, menswear, some of the designer’s treasured personal items used in creative pursuits, and it highlight themes used throughout the many collections in Saint Laurent’s illustrious career. One ticket to France, please! {Global Post}
Onto Italy. In Milan, our very own Placido Domingo’s Operalia competition has commenced. Founded in 1993, Domingo’s opera competition is meant to find the cream of the crop amongst new talent in opera. The singers represent not only a range of vocal categories (from coloratura soprano to the lowest bass), but also an array of countries around the world. The competition ends May 2 (this Saturday), so you’ll have a new vocalist’s career to follow starting Sunday, May 3rd. We have a feeling it will be meteoric. {Culture Monster}
Not to shower the French with too much attention, though they don’t mind, Sotheby’s has made quite the announcement prior to the upcoming auction season. The storied (and once thought lost) private collection of legendary Parisian art dealer Amrboise Vollard is set to meet the auction block. His career was spent promoting such up-and-comers as Picasso, Cezanne, and Renoir and Vollard’s collection includes not only paintings, but such enticing items as prints, drawings, and artist books. The sale will be held in London on June 22, so brush up on your British colloquialisms. {ArtInfo}
Back at home, there is much to celebrate. Dig into your pockets just a bit to buy yourself a ticket to the Architecture and Design Museum’s official Grand Opening! For $75, you’ll mingle with a veritable who’s who of the architecture and design world in LA at the reception tomorrow night (April 27), (hint: you can also find them anywhere from Father’s Office to Tar Pit on weeknights), check out the first exhibit, and bid on things at the silent auction. {A+D Museum} Also, if you haven’t uploaded his schedule into your iCal already, Gustavo Dudamel has returned to the LA Phil – he’s conducting pretty regularly from now through May 8 on a number of concerts all worthy of splurging for tickets. {LA Phil} This is your last chance to see LACMA’s exhibit Renoir in the 20th Century. The exhibit closes May 9. {LACMA} Last, but certainly not least, turns out that parodies of Wagner and his Ring Cycle abound. LA Times’ Culture Monster shows us the best of the best. {Culture Monster}
It’s been quite some time since we ran a roundup of arts news and we think it’s high time for a roundup reprise. The art world has been abuzz lately with a forthcoming auction that hopes to bring in some of the most ambitious numbers we’ve seen in a while and news of the Getty Research Institute’s ongoing court case regarding the bronze Fano Athlete statue.
Speaking of that bronze statue, ArtInfo reports that the Getty Trust has appealed the ruling of an Italian judge that stated the statue should be returned to Italy as stolen property. The Getty has countered by stating that the work was not stolen and was in fact found outside of Italy “in good faith.” {ArtInfo}
This weekend saw events held for LACMA’s Collectors Committee Weekend, during which time high-rollers are ‘courted,’ so to speak, by curators and executives from LACMA to give money to a particular sector of the museum for future purchases. The LA Times’ Culture Monster quotes Michael Govan as saying it’s “the American Idol of the museum world.” {LA Times Culture Monster}
San Francisco’s Legion of Honor Museum has extended the run of its Cartier in America exhibit through May 9, showcasing bejeweled works and pieces of art from the private collector of Mr. Cartier, the “King of Jewelers,” himself. {Legion of Honor}
The Hollywood Bowl season has been updated to include some seriously enticing performers for KCRW’s annual World Festival, including The Bird and the Bee, Baaba Maal, and The Chemical Brothers. Check out the calendar here and check back on Fine Arts LA later this week for a full write-up of what to expect. {LA Phil}
Simon de Pury, nicknamed the Man with the Golden Gavel, has got a lot riding on a collection of urinals. According to The Guardian, de Pury is set to host an auction that will fall in line with his latest idea for auctions to have themes. Last month’s theme was Sex and the upcoming theme is BRIC (for Brazil, Russia, India, and China). The auction, a huge risk on de Pury’s part, will include the sale of nine urinals that make up an installation piece called Russian Revolutionary Porcelain by Alexander Kosolapov. {The Guardian)
No time to run through the MoMA yourself? Let Youtube do it for you. Check out the “Two-Minute MoMA,” a video that shows you every painting from the private collection shown on the fourth and fifth floors of the museum. {CultureGrrl}
When I was a young, impressionable, and far too enthusiastic (okay, fine: totally nerdy) college student, I jumped at the chance to fulfill a required GE credit by taking a class called “The History of Opera.” I grew up singing opera, but it wasn’t until I explored the academia behind the music that I was able to truly realize that German opera, especially that of Richard Wagner, was the most dramatic, intense, goose-bump inducing music of all.
Just a few days ago, my friend, colleague, and fellow opera student/patron Nicole C. wrote an article for our beloved site on the current German invasion of Los Angeles arts institutions, Das Ring Festival ist Upon Us. According to Nicole, the LA Opera has spent a whopping $32 million dollars producing the definitive Ring Festival, including its production of the four operas that comprise Wagner’s famous Ring Cycle (a feat unto itself), and a wide selection of events, exhibitions, and concerts at many of LA’s cultural havens. As a Wagner aficionado and someone who thinks German culture is wunderbar, I gladly hopped on this Nordic bandwagon and visited LACMA’s current exhibitionMyths, Legends and Cultural Renewal: Wagner’s Sources.
First with the bad news: after visiting two of LACMA’s box offices and confusing three separate security guards in what seemed a futile attempt to be directed toward this exhibition, I started to believe that the existence of the show was some sort of myth or legend. I was starting to feel as if LACMA’s heart was not in this exhibit, but finally, my fourth attempt at harassing a museum guard proved victorious, and I was led to a small, dark, hidden room, approximately the size of a walk-in closet.
The good news: even though tiny, the exhibition did teach me something about the essential role that myths and legends play in cultural renewal. Reinvented and passed down through the generations, myths and legends are a constant inspiration to artists. Germany’s mythological heritage was best captured in the 19th Century in the work of Richard Wagner. Wagner’s operas utilize subject matter from the Edda (a collection of Norse tales from the 13th Century), and on the Nibelungenlied (verses rooted in pre Christian oral traditions, which in the High Middle Ages were codified into an epic poem). During Wagner’s time, these once lost and forgotten traditions were renewed upon the discovery of manuscripts, which contributed to the renewed German national identity and the development of Romanticism.
The exhibit begins with a series of sixteen postcards (c. 1894-96) based on the watercolors of Emil Nolde. I have always been mesmerized by mountains and the monsters that inhabit them; my favorite part of The Matterhorn ride at Disneyland was when the Abominable Snowman lumbers out from behind a cropping of rocks to growl a warning to the bobsled team whizzing by. Nolde apparently shared my dangerous attraction to mountain creatures. His paintings portray the anthropomorphization of Germany’s alpine peaks and reveal the fantastical presence of mountain monsters. Some of my favorite scenes within these postcards were silly, cartoon humans running away from the spirit of the mountains, while the faces of old men, with their long white beards serving as the snow capped summits, laugh maniacally. I was able to understand why this series of postcards became so popular in modernist Germany, for the realm of fantasy came to life, and the spirit of Mother Nature was more attainable than ever.
On the far wall of the exhibition, Henri Fantin-Latour’sTannhauser on the Venusberg (1864) represented the international fascination with the legends utilized in Wagner’s work. Latour, who considered himself a French Wagnerite, fell in love with Wagner’s operas in the early 1860s after attending a performance of Tannhauser. His painting is a study in modernist technique, and reveals the incident when Tannhauser, a knight and poet, finds the secret home of the Venus of Teutonic legend. In this painting, Latour offers an alternative to popular genre painting and achieves unison of gestures, staging, and poetic sources. The painting itself looks like a drowsy, unconscious dream state, perfectly representing the transformation of myth to reality.
The finale of the exhibition is Achim Freyer’s set design and installation, based on the prototypes for the LA Opera’s 2010 production of the Ring Cycle. Freyer, the director and designer of the the Ring Cycle, belongs to the post-World War II generation that felt alienated from a national culture left in ruins and misrepresented by the horrific plunder of the Third Reich. In an effort to redeem his culture, Freyer strives to recuperate the idea of Wagner for our own age. The abstraction of his drawings brings to mind the sense of the absurd and the surreal, but also eliminates any specificity of time by pulling the audience into an everlasting present. A true Wagnerite, he managed to never waver from the composer’s stage direction and vision. His allusions breathe life into his productions, and withhold a sense of universal significance. Just as Wagner hoped for his Ring Cycle to be eternal, Freyer’s representations are freed from the constraints of time. Too bad the installation looked like a makeshift Halloween haunted house in some wacky neighbor’s garage. I can only imagine Freyer throwing a fit at LACMA’s sorry production value.
In all honesty, this exhibition is worth seeing if you’re an avid German history fan, or like me, get embarrassingly excited about anything and everything Wagner. Otherwise, I might advise that you spend your weekend doing something else. With a little bit more time, PR effort, and space, the exhibition could have been much more enlightening and rewarding. I give LACMA credit for joining the Ring Festival effort, but for Pete’s sake, what good does it do if you can’t find the exhibition?
Wagnerite or not, the Ring Festival is upon us. Let me explain. If you haven’t heard, LA Opera spent $32 million on producing the ultimate Ring Festival that not only presents Richard Wagner’s infamous Ring Cycle, but also features an array of events, lectures, and concerts offering tons of things to do for German-loving Angelenos. Starting this evening alone, one can find a visual exhibit on Maria Callas at the Italian Cultural Institute in Westwood, a Ring Cycle discussion panel chatting on “From Nietzsche to Star Wars: The Wagnerian Power of The Ring,” and at Los Angeles Conservancy, see the German influence on Los Angeles’ mid-20th-century landscape. Who knew Wagner made such an impact on so many aspects of our lives?
There’s one truth I’ve yet to unveil. I’m not really a Wagner fan. Yes, Wagnerites, Tristan und Isolde is undeniably gorgeous and the famous aria at the end, “Liebestod,” is truly glorious. But his Ring Cycle, which features four full-length operas from Das Rheingold to Gotterdammerung, is simply not my cup of tea. Putting personal preference aside, though, LA Operas tour de force Ring Festival is a triumph of peering into what makes such an infamous piece of classical music tick. There will be, over the course of the next few months (now through June 2010), lectures detailing Wagner and his influences paired with art exhibits, free film screenings “for opera lovers,” and of course, full length masterful productions of Wagner’s Ring Cycle. In full.
The Cycle itself is four operas, each longer than the last. There’s Das Rheingold and Die Walkure, which LA Opera produced during their 2008/2009 season and Siegfried and Gotterdammerung which both go up this season in June, finishing out the Cycle. All four productions were designed by the controversial and avant-garde set director Achim Freyer and will be performed under the very accomplished tutelage of conductor James Conlon.
The Ring Festival is a huge accomplishment for the arts in Los Angeles. Not only will it bring arts lovers of all shapes and sizes to our fair city, but it also derives its allure from many of LAs various attractions from food trucks (like Let’s Be Frank hotdogs) to the Hammer Museum and from LACMA to Griffith Park Observatory. There’s rarely a better reason to cross the city in a German-and-opera-filled fury as there is now.
The show on at the Geffen Playhouse, Nightmare Alley, is also connected to the Ring Festival. Running now through May 23, the show is based on the 1946 Gresham novel about the dark, wild world of “carnies, cons, and clairvoyants.”
The full schedule is about as long as a novel, proving again that LA Opera has gone above and beyond with this Festival. Ticket prices range from free to $10 to $2000 (for really good front orchestra seats at the opera itself, calm thyself).
Regardless of my personal relationship with Mr. Wagner, when I say enjoy the show, I really do mean it. Really. Enjoy… Just make sure you bring your flask.
The Ring Festival has begun! Click here for more information on the Festival and click here for information on the Cycle itself. Click here to see the LA Times’ complete guide to the Ring Festival.
What is it about cities in the night-time? Without fail, they seem to possess a kind of magical, haunting quality—the scattered matrices of illuminated office windows, the splash of light from a street-lamp upon a deserted intersection, the blurs of red and white night-traffic, the sharp shapes of buildings making shadows of moonlight on an empty sidewalk.
I suppose one could try to explain this beauty rationally; talk about how urban environments are designed for large masses of people, and how the nightly absence of such populations is bound to create a sense of surrealism. Or maybe how the necessity for artificial light in a city-setting reminds gazers of civilization’s simultaneous dominance and fragility. But I prefer to just look, and so do photographers Helen K. Garber, Ginny Mangrum, and Bill Sosin.
In their combined exhibition, entitled “Night Lights,” which is on view at the DNJ Gallery right by the intersection of Beverly and La Brea until May 1st, they have collectively opened their F-stops wide enough to capture the mysteries of life during night-time. The images range from abstract studies of light and shadow, to more relatable scenes of eerie desertion, where most people wouldn’t dare walk without an added quickness to their step.
Helen K. Garber, who is a member of the San Fransisco-based Nocturnes—a group of photographers dedicated to taking pictures at night—will be giving a talk at the gallery this Friday, April 17th at 5:00 PM as a part of the Miracle Mile Art Walk. Her photographs—mostly black-and-white urban landscapes—have been published in the Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter, and LA Weekly. She has exhibited all over the country, and been the recipient of numerous photography awards. So come out to hear what she has to say, browse the myriad images of night and light, then take a stroll around the rest of the art walk—if for no other reason than to enjoy the beauty of sunny Los Angeles when there is no sun.
“Night Lights” features photographs by Helen K. Garber, Ginny Mangrum, and Bill Sosin. The exhibition runs until May 1st at the DNJ Galley located at 154 1/2 La Brea Ave. Helen K. Garber will be speaking on Friday April 17th at 5:00 PM. For more information, call (323) 931-1311 or visit www.dnjgallery.net.
It seems only natural to combine our two first loves – art and food. Yet that combination is rarely accomplished in a tasteful manner — that is, until recently.
The artist group Fallen Fruit has pioneered a considerable effort that is changing the way we view Los Angeles’s urban landscape, one tree at a time. Fallen Fruit, founded by Matias Viegener, David Burns, and Austin Young, mapped areas of Silver Lake that have public access to fruit trees — i.e. free, locally grown, organic food. This project continues to connect those with too much and those with too little of that good stuff.
Fallen Fruit’s next big project is at LACMA and is aptly titled EATLACMA. Both today and tomorrow, Fallen Fruit will be giving away free fruit trees to kick off their year-long investigation into food, art, culture, and politics. And keep your ear to the ground as their program unfold seasonally, including the exhibition Fallen Fruit Presents the Fruit of LACMA and day-long event in November.
An apple a day never tasted so good – or so free for that matter.
For more information about Fallen Fruit, click here. For more information about EATLACMA, click here.
During stressful weeks, it is always recommended that you check in with your nearest and dearest psychic(s) at least once if not twice. You’ll never know how to handle your many doting suitors, luxurious travel plans, and multi-million business deals without a little help from your friends.
But, if stepping into darkened, incense infused rooms isn’t exactly your cup of tea, get a healthy dose of insight and art the next time you are in the Miracle Mile. The Craft and Folk Art Museum just opened The Fool’s Journey: The History and Symbolism of the Tarot, an exhibition that draws together the imagery, history, and iconography of tarot cards over time. This show will highlight the 22 cards of the Tarot’s major Arcana – from the Fool to the World — and will present historic and modern examples from stylistically different decks. Also, plan to see how tarot cards have influenced the imagery of other works of art.
See? Isn’t it already making better sense now? At least you have part of your weekend plans squared away.
The Fool’s Journey: The History and Symbolism of the Tarot will close at the Craft and Folk Art Museum May 9th. Please click here for more info.
There are only four days before Thanksgiving. Heaven knows Fine Arts LA has plenty to be thankful for. Let us count the ways!
The Surging Number of Food Trucks — These bad boys (and girls) are making a presence at practically every art event in Los Angeles through Twitter-based campaigns. With delicious cuisine ranging from Indian food to gastro pub food to dessert, we want to thank you for saving us on many Saturday nights after downing one too many Grolsch beers. Thank you, food trucks!
LACMA Film Program – You never fully appreciate something until it’s gone, or until it’s hanging on by a thread just waiting to be cut by the budget police. Thanks to the wonderful people at Save Film at LACMA, we are fortunate to have the rich film program of classic and international films at LACMA away from its grave. And we couldn’t be more thrilled by the fact that through this grassroots effort, we will be sitting pretty watching all of our favorite films, at least until June 2010. Thank you, Save Film at LACMA!
MOCA’s Comeback – One year ago, we were all shocked by the reports that revealed MOCA was teetering on the brink of financial disaster. And look at ‘em now! They are keeping their doors open with the help of philanthropist Eli Broad and the work of countless others. Taking it all in last night at MOCA’s 30th Birthday Party, I was fortunate enough to enjoy a Lemonade red velvet cupcake with the best of them all while catching a preview of their latest show. Collection: MOCA’s First Thirty Years reveals the best of MOCA’s inventory, the tastes of chief curator Paul Schimmel, and the vision of curators before. Thank you, MOCA and Eli Broad!
The Broad Stage — Speaking of Eli Broad, there is a lovely contemporary gem on the horizon in Santa Monica – The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage. The home of dance, theatre, voice, chamber music, film, and spoken word, it is as if the Walt Disney Concert Hall’s little sister is making its claim on the Westside bringing home the best talents without a trip on the 10 freeway. Thank you, Broad Stage!
Gustavo Dudamel – Even before he arrived, this city was crazed about this talented, young man from Venezuela. As the music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel’s personality, playfulness, and passion have been infused into every portion of his program. Making grown women (and men) behave like children and professing their crush at any given moment, Mr. Dudamel has taken this city by storm one concert at a time and has caught the attention of everyone including those unfamiliar with classical music. Bienvenido, Gustavo, y mil gracis!
And finally, we are most thankful for you, dear readers… Without you to check us out daily, to recommend us to your friends, and to Google image search the most oddest things to find our website, we would cease to exist. So thank you!!
Tomorrow evening, we are going to play it like it is 1984 all over again as The Wall Project commemorates the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s fall. Starting at 11:00pm, an 80’ x 10’ wall of art will span Wilshire Blvd. between Fairfax and Spaulding — and guess what? It is going to collapse at 12:00am just like the original wall separating East and West Germany. Join the rest of us tomorrow night after your evening stroll tonight up and down La Cienega catching all the Culver City gallery openings (Tomoo Gokita at Honor Fraser, Noah Sheldon at Cherry and Martin, and Sean Duffy at Susan Vielmetter). History repeats itself at one of its more finer points and even better…it won’t cost you one red cent.
Click here to read Fine Art LA’s piece about The Wall Project. Click here for more details about tomorrow evening.
Halloween has come and gone — you’ve hung up your wigs and put away the sumo wrestler fat suits. It’s high time to return to thinking seriously about the coming months. By seriously, we mean – it’s time to think about all the openings and parties you’ll be heading to through the holiday season.
Lady Gaga isn’t someone you’d readily associate with Los Angeles’ contemporary art scene, but Italian artist Francesco Vezzoli would like to politely disagree. For MOCA’s 30th Anniversary Gala, Vezzoli will put on the first and only performance of his Ballet Russe Italian Style (The Shortest Musical You Will Never See Again) starring Lady Gaga and dancers of the Bolshoi Ballet. Also on offer at the gala will be a preview of “Collection: MOCA’s First Thirty Years,” featuring 500 works from the museum’s permanent collection by such luminaries as Jeff Koons, Ed Moses, Nancy Rubins, and Ed Ruscha. The exhibition itself opens to the public on November 15, but you’ll want to see Ms. Gaga’s performance on the 14th, just to see if she still gets dressed in the dark. There is also an Engagement Party event on November 21 for MOCA members featuring My Barbarian’s The Fourth Wall to celebrate the museums second 29th birthday.
Los Angeles Philharmonic has decided to keep things interesting this fall with their “Eureka! West Coast, Left Coast Festival.” A celebration of the culture of California and how it works to inspire musical and artistic masterpieces, the festival will run from November 21 through December 8 and will include such performances as Kronos Quartet led by Leonard Slatkin in a world premiere by film music composer Thomas Newman and multifaceted Mike Einziger in a solo performance with a number of guest collaborators. Gustavo Dudamel will conduct the LA Phil in Esa-Pekka Salonen’s LA Variations and also, the festival will include a slew of multidisciplinary events.
The gallery scene doesn’t disappoint this season either with a number of openings that should fit well in your schedule. Roberts and Tilton in Culver City will bring Delphine Courtillot and her cinematic, almost Californian paintings back for her second exhibit in their space on November 21. On November 7, you can celebrate the opening of Tomoo Gokita’s exhibit “Heaven” at Honor Fraser Gallery in Culver City. Photographer (and Fine Arts LA team member) Gray Malin’s work will be shown at David Streets Gallery in Beverly Hills now through the holiday season. LA><ART will throw their Third Biannual Benefit Auction on Sunday, November 15 featuring participating artists like John Baldessari, Dave Muller, and Allen Ruppersberg.
In case the Luis Melendez exhibit at LACMA has been making you nothing but hungry, November 18 sees a rare chance to head to the museum on a Wednesday (when they’re normally closed). They present “The Art of Wine and Food: Spain in the Time of Luis Melendez” featuring a buffet inspired by what Melendez might have munched on during painting breaks.
Make sure to keep a couple of your Saturdays open. We’ll be back with more where this came from… So stay tuned!
We may be geographically far from, well, everywhere in the world, but that doesn’t mean we can’t keep up with all the arts endeavors across every which pond. So here’s a bit of news (for the very serious and elite readers) and a bonus round of what’s going on in LA that really deserves your attention (for those who care about little outside LA county).
Back at home, there is much to celebrate. Dig into your pockets just a bit to buy yourself a ticket to the Architecture and Design Museum’s official Grand Opening! For $75, you’ll mingle with a veritable who’s who of the architecture and design world in LA at the reception tomorrow night (April 27), (hint: you can also find them anywhere from Father’s Office to Tar Pit on weeknights), check out the first exhibit, and bid on things at the silent auction. {A+D Museum} Also, if you haven’t uploaded his schedule into your iCal already, Gustavo Dudamel has returned to the LA Phil – he’s conducting pretty regularly from now through May 8 on a number of concerts all worthy of splurging for tickets. {LA Phil} This is your last chance to see LACMA’s exhibit Renoir in the 20th Century. The exhibit closes May 9. {LACMA} Last, but certainly not least, turns out that parodies of Wagner and his Ring Cycle abound. LA Times’ Culture Monster shows us the best of the best. {Culture Monster}
There are only four days before Thanksgiving. Heaven knows 
Halloween has come and gone — you’ve hung up your wigs and put away the sumo wrestler fat suits. It’s high time to return to thinking seriously about the coming months. By seriously, we mean – it’s time to think about all the openings and parties you’ll be heading to through the holiday season.
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