After a week that seemed to confirm everyone’s worst expectations for the planet, our dubious species, and its cratering political structures (to say nothing of crumbling infrastructure), it seemed almost miraculous to close on a note that, if it didn’t exactly...
The Transcendental Minimalist: Agnes Martin
So I’m at brunch at Figaro (on Vermont) with two of my best (and one of my oldest) friends from out-of-town; and we’re actually sitting outside on the hottest day of the year (I’m imagining the wait-staff making bets on my imminent demise). There’s a very...
GUEST LECTURE
A SIMPLE LIST1. It’s simple really, to paint is to trust. To believe in our instincts; to become.2. Painting is an investigation of being.3. It is not the job of art to mirror. Images reflected in a mirror appear to us in reverse. An artist’s responsibility is...
DECODER
I was wondering why everyone in LA always dresses and talks like they’re at work and stoned and then I remembered it’s because they probably are. In 2016 it’s okay to go to work dressed like you’re at Coachella but it’s also okay for your boss to check your Facebook...
UNDER THE RADAR
The mighty Atlas Press—London-based purveyors of “pataphysical texts,” Dada documents, Viennese Aktionist manifestos, and Oulipo anthologies—has reissued a legendary art book that uses a tabletop cluttered with the detritus of daily life as a jumping-off point and...
SHOPTALK
BERGAMOT STATIONFor Real... and it's LouderLos Angeles adds to very necessary public transportation with seven additional stops on the Expo Line, with runs from downtown LA clear out to Santa Monica. Yes, there are complaints that the train is slow and can take up to...
BUNKER VISION
There was a recent article about the waning attendance at churches that featured a striking drop quote from a lad who went to a Catholic church for the first time. The only reference point he had for all of the standing up, sitting down, repeating or responding to the...
RECONNOITER
Aram Moshayedi is a curator at the Hammer Museum. He organized “Made in L.A. 2016” with Hamza Walker, Director of Education and Associate Curator, Renaissance Society.ARTILLERY: What is your area of curating at the Hammer? Moshayedi: There are no distinct areas of...
ASK BABS
A DAY AT THE MUSEUMDear Babs, I would like to know if the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has turned into an elitist institution with exhibits only to be viewed if you have the money? Recently, for my birthday I wanted to visit LACMA to see the Mapplethorpe show,...
RETROSPECT
Have you ever been in someone’s home and seen a painting in the living room or hallway that you have never forgotten? It is not a famous painting, not even an impressive painting, but somehow it sticks with you. You don’t understand why you can’t forget it, but you...
Strike the Pose: Getting high inside high fashion from way outside – the art of Helen Rae
The art world has been revisiting issues of identity and identity politics in recent months (see, e.g., the current issue of ArtForum), which had their own ‘second wave’ in the late 20th century borne largely upon the convergence of conceptualism, especially in its...
Disappearing in Public (and Private): Ramiro Gomez’s On Melrose and Domestic Scenes
While much of the focus on Ramiro Gomez’s new show at Charlie James Gallery, and Gomez’s work generally, has been on labor – as subject and focal point; as a device re-framing public discourse around the subject; as the un- or under-addressed component of its surround...
Disappearing In Public (and Private): Ramiro Gomez’s On Melrose and Domestic Scenes
While much of the focus on Ramiro Gomez’s new show at Charlie James Gallery, and Gomez’s work generally, has been on labor – as subject and focal point; as a device re-framing public discourse around the subject; as the un- or under-addressed component of its surround...
DECODER
Self-portraits have been around forever and photos have been around longer than anyone now living. But selfies, I am going to argue, are their own thing. New in important ways. Definition: on a Venn diagram selfies are a small circle within “self-portraits” and...
ART BRIEF
The City of West Hollywood is well known as one of the most liberal cities in America, so it’s more than a little ironic that the city officials have been accused of censoring the artistic work of photographer Brooke Mason who curated shows of women’s artwork at three...
RECONNOITER
Dhyandra Lawson is a curatorial assistant in the Wallis Annenberg Photography Department at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). ARTILLERY: Please describe your job at LACMA.Lawson: I support the curatorial work of my departmental colleagues and make time for...
ASK BABS: Etiquette for Artful Living
BIGGER IS BETTERDear Babs, I went to the inaugural opening of Hauser Wirth & Schimmel here in Los Angeles. Seeing the sheer magnitude of the new mega gallery as well as the crowds it brought out made me wonder what it would mean for LA. Are these gallery/museum...
RETROSPECT
Unlike Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s fascination with his models—whom he painted obsessively, much to the detriment of his painting—Robert Mapplethorpe’s photographs of Lisa Lyon show no signs of such frustration. Rossetti was like a man locked outside of a house to which...