Art in the Crack of the LAC (MA)

Went to LACMA’s late Night Art event last night. They made very good use of the space between the Ahmanson and BCAM buildings, behind the Urban Light installation—a space I started to call the “crack in the Lac” with my friends. DJs pumping out the German techno and outdoor seating with bar created a very pleasant outdor hangout space. The best part though was behind the projection screen, where some LACMA staff (perhaps education staff? They always have the most fun) were there with art-making supplies for making puppets and photocopies of Franz West’s face for mask-making, and a mini installation of liquor bottles plastered a la Franz West (hidden treasures for sure).

The art was a bit difficult to see due to the crowds, and the readings in the galleries, which sometimes blocked the art from those of us who didn’t want to listen to the spoken word. Franz West was not for me (except as a cut-out puppet I made), but the Art of Two Germanys exhibition was quite impressive. It was huge though, and although the art was a bit depressing, you got the sense of something that must be important. Highlights included some great still photographs of performance events, including artists like Josef Beuys and Nam June Paik; and some monstrous Anselm Kieffer paintings. In one room, a chocolate sculpture by Dieter Roth proved how experiencing art through unexpected sensory information can make you take a second look (see object on left in image below). I had dismissed it on first glance, but then smelled chocolate and had to find the source of the smell. Those little terracotta monkeys are actually chocolate (and lions). One well-placed performance inside the gallery was a musician playing a leaden sounding composition on a double-bass in a room with a glasnost-era oil painting of Ronald Reagan looking skyward, and a red carpet leading away from him across the room.

Gallery installation shot of LACMA’s The Art of Two Germanys/Cold War Cultures.

Giant Robot Post-It Show

This is a brilliant idea for an art show: commission a slew of local artists to create little drawings on Post-It notes, stick them to your gallery wall, and charge about $20 for each. It’s Cash-and-Carry–when you buy it, you take it home. It’s a great way to make original works of art affordable, makes a really fun exhibition to explore, encourages the artists to have fun and experiment, and exposes your audience to a whole bunch of new artists all at once! I love it.

On view at the GR2 store/gallery on Sawtelle in West L.A. through January 14. But hurry! They are disappearing fast! They should do this again!

Giant Robot GR2 Post-It Note exhibition

California Video at the Getty

At long last, the exhibition surveying video art in California is here. California Video opens to the public tomorrow.

Curator Glenn Philips made a really great point in the L.A. Weekley today about how contemporary technology (specifically YouTube) has affected how we view video art today:

“The weird thing for me is that I think people will receive this show better now than if I’d done the exact same show 10 years ago. It’s kind of silly, but I honestly think YouTube has something to do with it. We all watch YouTube now and it’s prepared us: People are now comfortable with the idea of someone alone with a camera, turning it on and doing whatever they want to in front of it. That’s really what ’70s video art is. You can theorize about it all you want, you can make as many high-minded claims as you want – and most of the artists that would be applicable to – but they’re really just playing with the camera, and your average museum visitor is now a little more comfortable with that.”

He’s right. It’s amazing to watch the activity online around this exhibition as bloggers each curate their own mini versions of the show, embedding video from YouTube into their online galleries.

Matthew Barney’s “Drawing Restraint,” at the Serpentine

When in London a few weeks ago, I went to see the Drawing Restraint exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery. It was my first time at the Serpentine and I loved it. What a perfectly sized museum! This was a great show and a great, compact space for the material.

I am not a huge Barney fan and actually don’t know much about his work. Before this show I’d only seen one of his movies (and it wasn’t even from the famous Cremaster Cycle), which didn’t overly impress me. So I wasn’t expecting much. So I was kinda shocked to be blown away by this exhibition of such exquisitely wrought objects. But it was the drawings that really blew me away. I was fascinated by one drawing of the rock of Gibraltar, drawn from a ship’s deck. The lines on the paper were so evocative of movement, pressure, lightness, sea air and wind. I could feel him tracing, caressing the coastline. I found the visceral quality that many seem to attribute to his sculptures made of materials like vaseline and wood just as palpable here in the drawings.

Another element I really enjoyed, and which I didn’t know previously about Barney, is the athleticism. Throughout one of the galleries were a  series of drawings on the gallery wall made by Barney while holding onto rock-climbing holds high up on the wall. The rock-climbing gym cum gallery: the holds were still there on the wall and I found myself staring at the grips, trying to flash the wall…figure out my route and mentally preparing myself to climb (oh I wish I could have!). Almost unwillingly, I stared at the holds and the corresponding shoe smudges on the wall, trying to re-trace the route Barney would have taken to climb up, brace himself with one arm, and reach out to draw on the wall a few feet away. It just brought the process to life for me. It was like I made a movie inside my head recreating the action that made these marks.