Hello, Good-Bye: New Year for Hammer Museum

Was 2022 a blur? It feels like it went by very quickly, too quickly, as we transitioned into the New Normal. People have returned to indoor dining, theaters are open and museums and art fairs are back—though some museums still recommend reservations. The galleries are doing business, but many of them stayed open throughout—were they considered “essential” businesses? In any case, they were essential for me, as they gave me a chance to see art throughout the last two-plus years. Clearly, artists didn’t stop producing work, which is a good thing. Some had to move to different types of work or were inspired to do different kinds of projects. 

New buildings or renovations give us a sense of progress and, after years of construction, the revamped Hammer Museum will finally be completed next March. The change has happened incrementally, so there have been no shutdowns, other than for COVID. The Hammer will have a better-defined entrance on the corner of Wilshire and Westwood, a new outdoor sculpture terrace and will make the entire ground floor along Wilshire added gallery space. From street side, the building will be more clearly an art museum. Sanford Biggers’ 25-foot-tall cast bronze Oracle, previously in New York’s Rockefeller Center, will highlight the sculpture terrace. In the last two decades a total of 40,000 square feet of additional space has been added, made possible by the 2015 acquisition by UCLA (the Hammer’s parent) of the adjoining building on the Glendon Avenue side.

All this allows more space to display the Hammer’s own collection: drawings, prints, photographs, artist books from the Grunwald Center Collection and the contemporary art it has been collecting recently. Several new sections are already open, including the spiffy new gift shop with windows overlooking the street and a dedicated space for prints and drawing, curated by Cynthia Burlingham and her staff at the Grunwald Center. (As mentioned in my last Shoptalk report, the inaugural show in that space, “Picasso Cut Paper,” was a gem, and what a beautiful installation.) The new restaurant Lulu is open, developed by one of America’s great chefs, Alice Waters, founder of Chez Panisse in Berkeley and one of the founders of the farm-to-table movement.

Many kudos to Hammer Director Ann Philbin, who’s had the vision and the drive to make this all happen!

Installation view of “Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971” at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. (Joshua White / JW Pictures / © Academy Museum Foundation).

Art Fair Report

The stalwart LA Art Show returns to the LA Convention Center Feb. 15–19, with its educational division, DIVERSEartLA, presenting works that focus on the global climate crisis. There will be eight interdisciplinary projects including artist Alfredo De Stefano and The Italian Cultural Institute presenting artists Pietro Ruffo and Elia Pellegrini. The fair will continue its recent focus on Asia and will feature a new Japanese Pavilion with over 15 galleries, plus more South Korean galleries participating in their own section.

This year’s Frieze Los Angeles (Feb. 16–19) moves to the Santa Monica Airport, with some 120 galleries plying their wares. If you want to go, buy tickets NOW, especially as this year they’re selling tickets with timed entry, and I see that some slots are already sold out! You can also buy a parking pass at the same time, but these are timed also, so be sure to read the fine print. https://www.frieze.com/fairs/frieze-los-angeles/tickets.

In addition to that venue, we can enjoy Frieze Week in various parts of the city, starting February 13, at galleries, museums and other spaces. Highlights include “Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898–1971” at The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures; “William Kentridge: In Praise of Shadows” at The Broad; “Alicia Piller: Within and Strings of Desire” at Craft Contemporary; “Bridget Riley Drawings: from the Artist’s Studio” at the Hammer; “Milford Graves: Fundamental Frequency” at Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; “Coded: Art Enters the Computer Age, 1952–1982” and “New Abstracts: Recent Acquisitions” at LACMA; “Henry Taylor: B Side” and “Simone Forti” at MOCA Grand. Well, that’s basically the terrific exhibitions we have on in Los Angeles now and upcoming! I highly recommend “Regeneration” at The Academy, and “Kentridge” at The Broad, both exhibitions rich in content and wonderful in presentation.

I have my own addition for those seeking art and inspiration—”Inspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts” (through March 27) at The Huntington in San Marino. This is a fascinating show, very much about the wonderful animators of the early Disney studio who brought life and wonder to furnishings, architecture and inanimate objects. Lots of concept and preparatory drawings, plus some of their inspirations in European porcelain and decorative arts.

An Ephemeral History of High Desert Test Sites: 2002-2015. Image courtesy of High Desert Test Sites.

Desert News

Not long ago, artist Andrea Zittel said she was stepping back from High Desert Test Sites (HDTS), the biennial of desert-sited artworks and installations that I’ve always found a wonderful mix of experimentation and artistry, if a bit unecological for all the driving we had to do. She was letting HDTS and A-Z West, her studio complex, be run by a team. However, in November she sent out a public statement saying she would take back the reins of HDTS as artistic director. This isn’t too surprising, as HDTS and especially her studio A-Z seem to me to be so much a part of her. Not only did she set up the studio when she moved to the desert decades ago, but the design and development of the different components, and the art production that continues there, are part and parcel of her art practice.

Also, they will be turning away from the biennial model they’ve had for 20 years and cutting back to concentrate on their core projects. “I have formally assumed the role of
artistic director of HDTS,“ writes Zittel in the announcement, “both to oversee the grounds and artworks and to help ensure the long-term viability of A-Z West and HDTS. I also remain an active member of the HDTS Board.” New programming will be announced in the new year, but in the meantime they need to raise new funding. To that end, Zittel told me recently, they’ll be having their first fundraising event in Joshua Tree this spring.

Welcome to the New Year, Everyone!