Art Talk

By KCRWArts Visual Arts

Art Talk episodes

February 18, 2009 In Good Times and Bad, We'll Always Have Art
Whatever the state of the economy right now, one thing is clear:
major museums in LA are not wanting for attendance. Last Sunday, the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art was pleasantly crowded; not only its
temporary exhibitions, but the galleries with permanent collections
were full of visitors as well. A lot of young people gathered around
four BMW Art Cars exhibited outdoors on the museum plaza. You might
want to check out these cars painted by Andy Warhol, Frank Stella,
Robert Rauschenberg, and Roy Lichtenstein; this small traveling
exhibition closes next Tuesday...
5 min
February 11, 2009 In Gold We Trust
Bad weather, with its strong winds and rain, can sure put a damper
on weekend plans, unless you get a little bit creative – after all,
there are always museums out there waiting for us. It was pouring when
I hit the Pacific Coast Highway last Sunday, but all of a sudden, the
celestial authorities had a change of heart, and the rest of the drive
to Malibu was smooth sailing: few cars and plenty of sunshine...
6 min
January 28, 2009 All Art, All the Time
It's been a whole week since the dawning of a new era, with President Obama urging fellow citizens to work harder rather than sending us to shop our way out of trouble. I can honestly say that I've never worked harder than this last week; it was all art, all the time, and then some. Judge for yourself...
6 min
January 21, 2009 Obama as Arts Czar?
Since Election Day, when Barack Hussein Obama became President-Elect of the United States, I, like everyone else, have been swept up in the wave of enthusiasm over the results of the election. But truth be told, I'm elated not just because we have our first black president, but because...
6 min
January 14, 2009 Hidden in Plain Sight (Art, That Is)
It shouldn't come as a surprise that with so many good, important
art exhibitions fighting for our attention, we inevitably miss one or
two of them. But what about the smaller exhibitions and art events
which often don't make headlines, though definitely worthy of our
attention?
5 min
January 07, 2009 Lights, Camera, Action: LA Is Ready for Its Close-up
I do remember the opening of the first Los Angeles gallery dedicated
exclusively to showing photography, an event that was met with
considerable skepticism. Then, in the early 80's, not only the public,
but a lot of critics considered photography to be the stepchild of the
art scene, dominated by painting and sculpture and the critical
darlings, conceptual and installation art. These days photography is
all the rage...
5 min
December 24, 2008 To MOCA: Our Hallelujahs, Mazel Tovs and Spasibos
This year, Santa Claus has decided to deliver his gift to us a little
bit ahead of time. Today's announcement that MOCA at last accepted a
generous 'bail out' offer of $30 million from L.A.
philanthropist Eli Broad put an end to a flurry of speculations that
had inflamed the local and national art scene. It seems that the museum
survived the storm and has figured out a way to come out of this mess
as a lean, mean and stronger fighting art machine...
6 min
December 17, 2008 The Blind Leading the Blind?
By nature, I am an optimist. But being an art critic and historian,
I put things in perspective, which keeps my positive impulses in check.
So, I guess that makes me a cautious optimist...
6 min
December 10, 2008 Does MOCA Have the Courage to Face the Music
When I went to Paris in March 2006 for the opening of the groundbreaking exhibition at the Pompidou Centre, which hailed the emergence of Los Angeles as one of the art capitals of the world, I rejoiced not only in celebrating the art and artists of our City of Angels, but also in the fact that so many outstanding works of art came from the collections of our own Museum of Contemporary Art...
5 min
November 26, 2008 MOCA in Peril: Don't Ask for Whom the Bell Tolls
Rumors about the financial difficulties at LA's Museum of Contemporary Art have been circulating for a few years, but the institution, much
admired for its cutting edge exhibition program, has maintained a brave
face. The museum continued to mount exhibitions in all three of its
facilities –- two large spaces downtown and a smaller one at the
Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood. Ambitious exhibitions were
accompanied by thick, scholarly catalogues, well designed and obviously
expensively produced. So, maybe these rumors were unsubstantiated;
after all, in the last few years the museum, instead of cutting its
staff, actually expanded it...
6 min