Art Talk

By KCRWArts Visual Arts

Art Talk episodes

July 30, 2008 Secret to a Great Exhibition
Good museum exhibitions come in all shapes and sizes. The best of
them linger in our memory because of the deep satisfaction that comes
from making new artistic discoveries or seeing our old favorites in a
new light. Sometimes we remember these exhibitions not only because of
the great art, but also for the unusual, innovative way the works were
displayed in a specially designed gallery space. Traditionally, major
museums rely on a team of in-house designers for the installation of
the artworks, but on occasion, they take a risk and invite someone else
to design the exhibition...
5 min
July 23, 2008 Buyer Beware...of Art
Usually I find myself in the camp of those who see the glass half full
and not half empty. But here is some information that challenges my
philosophy: there are about one hundred cities in China with a
population of more than one million people. With the Chinese economy
booming, most of these cities are building or planning to build a new
art museum. So what's not to like? It's definitely a bonanza for
architects...
5 min
July 16, 2008 The Never-Ending Quest for Oxygen and Art
You would imagine that after seeing an especially successful exhibition, an art critic would take a break from the never-ending steeplechase and rest for a while, savoring the moment. Not a chance. You would imagine that after seeing an especially disappointing exhibition, yours truly would stop for a moment to lick his aesthetic wounds. Wrong again. Like a shark whose very nature demands constant movement bringing oxygen through his gills, an art critic's very being depends on an endless flow of art through his eyes...
5 min
July 09, 2008 Mona Lisa, Jackie, and...Yes, Me!
If I tell you that I caught a glimpse of Jackie Kennedy once, in her
post-Camelot period, would it pique your interest? "Come on, Edward," I
can hear you saying, "people were running into her on the streets of
Manhattan for years; what's the big deal?" Here's my story...
5 min
July 02, 2008 Chicano Art and All That Jazz
Most American museums follow the guidelines that advise against
exhibitions showcasing private collections unless some of the artworks
are promised gifts to the museum. Private collectors crave a museum's
stamp of approval; it's good for their ego, and more importantly, it's
good for their pocket. If they decide to sell the collection, the fact
that it was shown in an important museum can significantly increase its
value...
5 min
June 25, 2008 Marlene Dumas at MOCA: Art That Slaps You in the Face
Do you think you could enjoy seeing paintings that poke you in the eye,
make you sick to your stomach and – as if that's not enough – violate
your sense of decency and propriety? But wait a minute...I forgot to
mention that these paintings also have an explosive raw energy,
frightening authenticity, and the violent brushwork of a drunken
samurai wielding his sword right and left...
5 min
June 18, 2008 Art Makes Nothing Happen
Gasoline prices be damned, I spent last week crisscrossing the cultural landscape of southern California, driving to Santa Barbara, to Ojai, to Long Beach, to Altadena. But on Saturday, I gave myself a break and spent the whole afternoon roaming for art close to home -– in downtown LA, to be precise...
6 min
June 11, 2008 Record Prices for Art and Crude Oil
Last year when I went to Beijing to get a taste of its exploding
contemporary art scene, I was especially taken by the monumental and
rather dramatic art installation by Qiu Anxiong in the cavernous space
of the Universal Studios Gallery. In my Art Talk about the Chinese art
scene, I described the dimly lit room dominated by a railroad car – not
a full-scale replica, but the real thing, which I recognized
immediately. I rode similar trains as a child in Soviet Russia in the
50's and 60's. At the gallery, one was invited to climb into this
no-frills railroad car where every window was used as a screen for
projecting black and white documentary footage of 20th century Chinese
history, with special emphasis on the brutality experienced by Chinese
people during WWII and the Cultural Revolution...
5 min
June 03, 2008 Up Close and Personal: Happiness and Monsters
Unless you are a man or woman of steel, I doubt that you had the
willpower to shut out the media blitz surrounding the release of the
last and hopefully final installment of Sex and the City. Am I
the only one who looks at the impossibly teased 'do of Sarah Jessica
Parker and gets spooked because it reminds me of Medusa, the
mythological creature with snakes instead of hair?...
5 min
May 27, 2008 Blue Boy and Pinkie Back from Exile
After two years in exile, 'Blue Boy' and 'Pinkie' are back home at
the Huntington Art Gallery. The much-loved Beaux-Arts mansion, built in
1911 for Henry and Arabella Huntington, has just reopened after two
years of renovation and restoration. It looks every bit as resplendent
as we remembered it, but now it has even more paintings and decorative
art objects on display than before...
5 min