Art Talk

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British, German and Japanese Art Come to LA, Edward Goes to China Oct 31, 2007

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What a difference a week makes... seven times 24 little hours... Santa Ana winds and firestorms once more wrestled to the ground our cherished illusions of our idyllic life in Southern California. No doubt, some day, this recurring calamity will become the subject for a great work of art. To my knowledge, it hasn't happened yet...

You Can Never Be Too Thin, Too Rich or Have Too Many Museums Oct 24, 2007

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Keeping up with what's happening on the Southern California art scene is not as easy as it used to be. In the last 25 years, existing museums have greatly expanded and new museums have opened, while the number of commercial art galleries has jumped from a few dozen to a few hundred. A few weeks ago, I reported on the small, new, fascinating Wende Museum in Culver City, devoted to the history and culture of the Cold War era in Eastern Europe...

Exhibitions That Rock Oct 17, 2007

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When last year the Pompidou Centre in Paris organized the exhibition celebrating LA art, it was monumental, overwhelming, and slightly tedious in its academic intention to miss nothing, no matter how minor. When last week the Orange County Museum of Art opened its exhibition celebrating California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury, it turned out to be not too big, not too small – just right in size. With about 150 objects, including paintings, photographs, TV footage, furniture, and architectural pottery, this exhibition tells the captivating story of how California -– thousands of miles from New York and light-years from Europe –- came, artistically speaking, into its own...

Art on Film Oct 10, 2007

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With rare exception, movies about famous painters prove to be a disappointment. The recent film about Gustav Klimt, with the formidable John Malkovich in the title role, was a futile attempt to capture the essence of this artist's life in Vienna at the turn of the 20^th century. Though the beautiful costumes and authentic interiors provided a certain pleasure, it was not enough. The film disappeared without a trace. A few years earlier, the abysmal movie about Modigliani starring Andy Garcia was kindly laid to rest soon after its release...

A Week Chock Full of Art Oct 03, 2007

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September is the month when, after a summer lull, the art world kicks into high gear. And for me, last week turned out to be all art, all the time, virtually a 24/7 art explosion...

Dirty Money, and Plenty of It Sep 26, 2007

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My dear listeners, I have no doubt that most of you are upstanding citizens with unimpeachable moral standards. Therefore, it's with significant trepidation that I must confess to being tempted, and ultimately seduced by, a big bundle of dirty money. And if you think that you would be strong enough to resist the temptation, go ahead and try it for yourself. There is a place in town where a huge mound of silver coins is waiting for you. First you will stare at it in disbelief, then you will want to touch, to fondle, these coins, and then, inevitably, you will find yourself sitting on a pile of this money the way I did...

In Holland, Drunk on Art Sep 05, 2007

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Three months have passed since my trip to Holland, but I'm still slightly foggy from – let's be honest – being overdosed. When I tell people that I stayed in Amsterdam, they knowingly smile and then, with a wink ask, "Did you try the stuff?" You bet I did. That's what I went to Holland for...and there was plenty of it. Rembrandt! Frans Hals!! Vermeer!!! And not only in Amsterdam, in the stately Rijksmuseum, but in the Mauritshuis Museum in The Hague and the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem as well...

An LA Take on Brazilian and Dutch Design Aug 29, 2007

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When I met Michael and Gabrielle Boyd for the first time at a museum function a few months ago, I knew immediately who they were, thanks to a recently published article about their collection in the LA Times magazine and a profile on them in Vanity Fair. They live in Santa Monica Canyon, in a house built by the famous Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer -- the only structure he has ever built in the United States...

Treasures from Russia under the California Sun Aug 22, 2007

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Now that the Getty Museum has wisely chosen to undertake the painful but inevitable step of placating the Italian authorities by sending back to Italy forty antiquities from the museum's collection, it's a good time to reflect on this controversy and try to make sense of it all. I couldn't agree more with the editorial page of the Los Angeles Times (August 6, 2007) stating that "Legally, the return of the artworks is the right thing to do...International treaties left Getty executives with little choice. Whether it's fair is another matter."

Summer Sign-Up 2007 Aug 08, 2007

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