Art Talk

Probably many of you would agree that we are living in a rather cynical

Keep us, Lord, from losing close friends...those are the words of a Russian poet lamenting the loss of dear friends. In Russian, it goes like this: "Teryat druzei gospod ne prevedi." But somehow, when departed friends happen to be good artists, their spirit continues to live on in their art, and for those of us left behind, it's welcome consolation...

I am very tempted today to honor L.A.'s 30-year-old Museum of Contemporary Art, which thinks of itself as the ‘Artist's Museum,'

The recent announcement that KCET, L.A.’s flagship public television station, cut its ties to PBS as a result of a protracted financial dispute with the network, was met with disbelief. You could hear the outcry: What would happen to the innocent children -- all those little angels in our city -- deprived of their beloved Sesame Street? And how will aging Baby Boomers manage without their Antiques Roadshow and News Hour? But come now, dry your tears and rest assured: KOCE, the Orange County-based public TV station, announced that it will fill the void and start to broadcast these beloved programs in Southern California...

After the five long, tortuous years that it took Italian authorities to make their dubious case against former Getty Museum antiquities curator Marion True, the trial is over -- at last.  It didn't prove either the curator's innocence or the validity of the prosecutors' claim that True knowingly acquired for the Getty numerous ancient artifacts which had been illegally excavated and then smuggled out of Italy. In an all-too-familiar example of excruciating Italian bureaucracy, the criminal charges simply exceeded the statute of limitations, and the trial, as the LA Times put it, "ended in a bureaucratic whimper."

WEB EXCLUSIVE! Whether in scorching heat or foggy gloom, driving along the PCH toward Pepperdine University in Malibu is always a pleasure. My goal was to see the exhibition Inspired by Fashion and Finance presenting artworks created in the last forty years and pulled from the holdings of the Weisman Art Foundation. Though this exhibition doesn’t break any new ground, it definitely provides plenty of amusement and food for thought...

By nature I'm not an envious person, but this morning, going through the Los Angeles and New York Times - I felt a pang of jealousy. There, on the front page of the New York Times, was a glowing report about the major Claude Monet exhibition that just opened at the Grand Palais in Paris. And if that's not enough, this front-page article was illustrated by an attractive photograph, with the report continuing on the inside with a generous half-page of text accompanied by an even larger color photograph..

When I mentioned in last week's program, The Best of 9/11, the captivating exhibition of Italian artist Alberto Burri

Hello, my name is Edward Goldman, and I am an art-aholic. There, I've said it. Dope, drugs, and alcohol don't do much for me, but art...that is another matter. Art has held me in its grip for as long as I can remember. If, God forbid, there is no museum or art gallery within thirty minutes of wherever I am, my blood pressure drops dangerously to the point where demons start dancing in front of my eyes...