Twitter Reviews – October 2012

Ken Price @LACMA. 100% pure perfection. Go see this show. Now. The work, the installation, the skylights, all exquisite. #artLA
6:31 PM – 11 Oct 12

Penelope Gottlieb @EdwardCella (****) More than just peppy florals/botanicals–loss, danger, injury, rupture, bondage & sexuality. #artLA
6:51 PM – 11 Oct 12

Penelope Gottlieb @EdwardCella: Intrigued by the cryptic incongruities within, but bothered by the paper cutouts surrounding. #artLA
6:52 PM – 11 Oct 12

Ruth Pastine @EdwardCella (****) Effect of Turrell LEDs but w/ pastel on paper. Too bad they’re crowed together in the poorly-lit back room.
6:57 PM – 11 Oct 12

Justin Hansch @ Steve Turner (*) So bad I can’t believe anyone would show this cheeseball, sexist, puerile, inanely displayed crap. #artLA
7:30 PM – 11 Oct 12

Best Los Angeles Art Shows of 2009

David Bowen, Photographic Drawing Device, solar-powered mini-robots, charcoal, paper

Data + Art: Science and Art in the Age of Information @ Pasadena Museum of California Art An apt show for the Over-Information Age.  Curated by Dan Goods and David Delgado, both from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the show included both aesthetically pleasing data visualizations that broadened awareness and understanding such as Jim Bumgardner’s “A Year of Sunsets,” and geeky gadgetry employed for artistic expression. The best mix of data and art was David Bowen’s “Photographic Drawing Device,” which used light-seeking, solar-powered mini-robots to draw charcoal circles on paper.

Gary Lang at Ace Gallery Beverly Hills

Gary Lang: Circles Lines Grids Paintings @ Ace Gallery Beverly Hills Standing up close to the surface of Lang’s paintings you could see the slight wiggle in each hand-painted line, and the color juxtapositions seemed a little odd, but when you stepped back these paintings hummed and glowed as if they were actually breathing with life.  They were stunning and magical.

Femke Hiemstra, In Thought, graphite on paper, 8 x 10 inches. Courtesy of Copro/Nason

Femke Hiemstra: The Herring’s Hairdo @ Copro/Nason Her paintings and drawings had this authentic old-fashioned feeling that you don’t find in most Magic Realism/Pop Surrealism, and they had just the right mix of childhood fairytale/storybook style and eerie/scary subtext.  I particularly liked the paintings on book covers and graphite drawings on paper.

Penelope Gottlieb, No $ Down, installation view. Courtesy Kim Light/Lightbox

Penelope Gottlieb: No $ Down @ Kim Light/Lightbox Monochrome color-pencil drawings of idyllic suburban homes were matched with coordinating, brightly-painted vintage frames and arranged salon-style on the walls along with a fake fireplace and gray wainscoting to boot.  The cheerful display of real estate dreams juxtaposed with the phony architectural elements seemed particularly poignant as the mortgage industry was ominously imploding and foreclosures escalated.

Rebecca Campbell, Do You Really Want to Hurt Me, detail, avocado tree, velvet, glass, bronze, Windex

Rebecca Campbell: Poltergeist @ LA Louver Campbell expertly took on the subject of memory and nostalgia from a particular, personal perspective without sliding into over-sentimentalization.  The highlight of the show was an amazing velvet covered avocado tree populated with Windex-filled glass birds. Its haunting aura was counterbalanced by more quirky aspects in the show like the clock running backwards on the olive-colored wall oven stuffed full with childhood books.

Julie Blackmon, Family Portrait, 2007, archival pigment print, 22 x 22 inches, Edition of 25. Courtesy of Fahey/Klein Gallery.

Julie Blackmon: Domestic Vacations @ Fahey/Klein Gallery These wonderfully humorous fictional photos of family life paradoxically balanced relaxation with chaos and escape with everyday stresses.  I had fun deciphering what just went on in each image from the visual cues and ended up chuckling at every one.

Kaz Oshiro, False Gestures, installation view. Courtesy of Rosamund Felsen Gallery.

Kaz Oshiro: False Gestures @ Rosamund Felsen Gallery Oshiro’s painting/sculpture facsimiles were illusion to perfection. The suitcases and shelves alluded to the disparity between simulation and reality, while the metallic blue panels with faithfully replicated duct tape made evident the tenuous line between realism and abstraction.

Lorser Feitelson, Untitled, 1971, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 60 inches. Courtesy Louis Stern Fine Arts.

Lorser Feitelson: Late paintings @ Louis Stern Fine Arts In these paintings, Feitelson’s took his hard-edge, straight-line geometry to another level.  The sensuous curves, curls and undulating ribbons were so sexy.  It’s hard to believe they were painted in the late-60s, early-70s given their immaculate surfaces and contemporary feel.

William Powhida, How to Destroy LA, 2009, graphite, colored pencil, and watercolor on paper, 18 x 15 inches

William Powhida: No One Here Gets Out Alive @ Charlie James Gallery This dead-on skewering of art world insiderness and the bad-boy-artist mayhem of Powhida’s alter ego was effectively tongue-in-cheek but also achingly honest, openly admitting artists’ gripes and egoism as well as worries and self-doubt.  I absolutely loved the way he used the crossed-out word to convey humor.

Zadok Ben-David, Blackfield, 2009, painted stainless steel and sand. Photo: Elizabeth Gilson and Andrew G. Glennon, courtesy of Shoshana Wayne Gallery.

Zadok Ben-David: Blackfield @ Shoshana Wayne Gallery This installation was totally amazing. As you walked into the gallery you saw a sea of tiny, delicately-cut sheet steel botanical shapes coming up from a perfect rectangle of white sand.  They were black, as if charred or dead.  But then, as you walked around to the far side of the gallery you began to see that the back of each minute plant was painted with vibrant, bold colors.  Once you reached the back of the gallery you were faced with a glorious field of flowers, full of joy and life.  Visitors were audibly gasping as they circled around the installation.

Richard Wilson, Town to Town, 2008, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 60 inches. Courtesy of Carl Berg Gallery.

Richard Wilson: Rises @ Carl Berg Gallery The perfectly balanced, asymmetrically stacked, rectangular and square canvases had the most absolutely pristine surfaces. Wilson took Donald Judd’s dictum “one surface, one color,” and had some fun with it.  The spot-on color combinations in each grouping covered not only the front of each monochrome canvas, but also rectangular areas along the edges, allowing him to toy with the tropes of geometric Hard-edge painting as well.

Irving Penn, Deep Sea Diver (B), New York, 1951, gelatin silver print, copyright 1951 (renewed 1979) by Conde Nast Publications Ltd., Partial Gift of Irving Penn, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA

Irving Penn: Small Trades @ Getty Museum Amazingly, Penn’s subjects were both individual and typical.  The attire, trappings and tools of each tradesperson at first seemed obvious and conventional against the plain studio backdrops.  But before you could pigeonhole the sitter, their stark surroundings allowed you to notice clothing details like the wrinkled suit of a harmonica player or the crisp apron and toque of a London chef.  Facial expressions and postures were also telling.  Some seemed like nothing but affectation like the upturned head of a proud undertaker or the contrapposto of a deep-sea diver in full gear.  Others revealed humility and honesty like the tired face of a New York groom clad in worn shoes or the slouching shoulders of a milkman with a heavy milk bottle carrier in hand.  The simple style and elegance of this series of photographs could easily have seemed antithetical to his chosen topic, but Penn’s talent made this tension work.

Twitter Reviews – March 2009

Mineo Mizuno: Coexistence @ Samuel Freeman (***) Like moss covered ovoids in theory, but in reality fall short. Wish they were greener.
4:27 PM Mar 3rd from web

Mizuno @ Freeman: Misting contraptions distract. Matte-glazed works weak, but love the small, shiny river rock shaped ceramics.
4:32 PM Mar 3rd from web

David Hockney: Drawing in a Printing Machine @ LA Louver (**) Is this what phoning it in for an affordable price point looks like?
1:21 PM Mar 5th from web

Elias Sime: Eye of the Needle Eye of the Heart @ SMMoA (***) Wowed by obsessive craftsmanship of the stitching, but too much of the same.
1:37 PM Mar 5th from web

Julie Blackmon: Domestic Vacations @ Fahey/Klein (*****) Wonderfully humorous fictional photos of family life.
1:03 PM Mar 6th from txt

Jeremy Kidd: Fictional Realities @ Fahey/Klein (****) Dizzying (in a good way) urban photoscapes including LACMA under construction.
1:07 PM Mar 6th from txt

Carlos & Jason Sanchez @ dnj (***) Photos of some pretty depressing topics. Kind of a mood killer.
1:15 PM Mar 6th from txt

Angel Delgado: Continuous Limit @ Couturier (***) Liked the “objects in soap” series and sheep in metal cases. Didn’t care for drawings.
1:30 PM Mar 6th from txt

Angel Delgado @ Couturier: Objects are more metaphorical. Drawings are too literal.
1:31 PM Mar 6th from txt

Jutta Koether: Sovereign Women in Painting @ Susanne Vielmetter (*) Ridiculously awful.
2:09 PM Mar 6th from txt

Arsen Roje: Body Parts @ Peres Projects (***) Jenny Savillesque paintings of fingers, thumbs and hands.
2:22 PM Mar 6th from txt

Dave Muller: iamthewalrus @ Blum & Poe (****) “Beatles Within Beatles” is my favorite piece in the show.
2:32 PM Mar 6th from txt

Melissa Manfull: Tesseracts @ Taylor de Cordoba (****) Gridded towers and arches as organic stalactites and stalagmites.
2:51 PM Mar 6th from txt

Penelope Gottlieb @ Kim Light (*****) Suburban real estate dreams with shopping carts & fake fireplace thrown in to break the reverie.
3:03 PM Mar 6th from txt

Brad Eberhard: As Different as Twins @ Cottage Home (****) Washes, paint layering, colors, all great. “Snake Stack” my fav.
3:53 PM Mar 13th from txt

Katherine Gray @ Acuna-Hansen (***) Forest glass installations remind me of the coin toss at carnivals. Clear bubbles in back room best of show.
4:02 PM Mar 13th from txt

Vorcan: Painting Live Music @ L2kontemporary. (*) High school Day-Glo paintings made worse by 3-D gimmick.
4:11 PM Mar 13th from txt

Rebekah Bogard: Flesh & Bone @ Sam Lee (****) Pink and fecund. Cute but sexy, naughty.
4:21 PM Mar 13th from txt

David Kramer: Guilty Pleasure @ Jancar (***) Drawings with text. I laughed at “Burn This.”
4:46 PM Mar 13th from txt

“Burn This” says: Nice being an artist. Even if you are lucky enough to get famous your neighbor still doesn’t know who the f*ck you are.
4:51 PM Mar 13th from txt

Catya Plate @ Jancar/McCorkle (***) Does amusing things with clothes pins. Liked the colored pencil tarot card drawings best.
4:54 PM Mar 13th from txt

Illegiblusion @ Sabina Lee (***) Most delicate use of line. Grids for Mary Ijichi, and loops & dots for Kimiko Miyoshi.
5:04 PM Mar 13th from txt

Walter Robinson: Transport @ Charlie James (*****) Auto name plates, fun color, metallic sparkle meets Rothko and resin.
5:21 PM Mar 13th from txt

Kit Hinrichs: The Storyteller’s Art @ ACCD (***) Impressive body of graphic design. A bit stuck in the ’80s. Some stuff hung too high.
6:20 PM Mar 13th from txt

Jalopy @ Side Street Projects (***) Baron Margo’s race car and motorcycle look like something from the Rocketeer by way of the Great Race.
6:52 PM Mar 13th from txt

Eye in the Sky: JPL’s Mars Orbiter @ PMCA (***) Second time wearing 3-D glasses today. “Opportunity Rover at Victoria Crater” is amazing.
7:38 PM Mar 13th from txt

Data + Art @ PMCA (****) Best mix of data and art is David Bowen’s “Photographic Drawing Device,” solar-powered mini-robots drawing circles.
7:49 PM Mar 13th from txt

Roger Kuntz @ LAM (***) Though best know for his Freeway and Sign series, I prefer the Crystal Cove series, especially “Sea Porch,” 1960.
7:03 PM Mar 14th from txt

Kuntz created multiple paintings of same subject, starting with realistic rendering & achieving greater abstraction in each subsequent version.
7:10 PM Mar 14th from txt

The Bathroom series was Kuntz’s undoing. Especially when he added red to his favored blue and grey palette.
7:17 PM Mar 14th from txt

Kuntz gets brighter and funner in his subsequent Ocean Interior and Blimp series, bringing in luminous teals and greens.
7:28 PM Mar 14th from txt

I think Kuntz didn’t become as well known, not because the Bathroom series was out of step, but because it wasn’t as compelling.
7:47 PM Mar 14th from txt

Christine Nguyen: Dark Matter of Fact @ Angels Gate (**) Too much sketchbook experimenting. Only photo mural finds some resolutions.
3:10 PM Mar 20th from txt

Kurt Franz: Desublimated Landscapes @ Angels Gate (***) Diebenkorn but in 3-D. Nice to see construction materials used for more than scattertrash.
3:21 PM Mar 20th from txt

Amy Thornberry: Sheaths, Veils, Sediment @ Torrance Art Museum (**) Oh no–scattertrash!
4:26 PM Mar 20th from txt

Marie Thibeault: Broken Symmetries @ Torrance Art Museum (***) Paintings are dynamic, fragmented, chaotic and yes, scattered, but definitely not trashy.
4:30 PM Mar 20th from txt

Kim Abeles: Location Studies @ TAM (****) Who knew homeless sleep where the trees aren’t? Always liked her smog work.
4:34 PM Mar 20th from txt

Iva Gueorguieva @ Angles (***) So-so. Liked large B&W with collage best (The Pageantry of Power: The General).
12:50 PM Mar 27th from txt

Dimitri Kozyrev: Lost Edge @ Mark Moore (****) Love the way he uses masked areas of different paint texture & real/abstract as collage elements.
1:21 PM Mar 27th from txt

Steven Hull @ Rosamund Felsen (***) Felt like I was in a Psychedelic/Surrealist/Modernist haunted house in Disneyland with a bad hangover.
1:32 PM Mar 27th from txt

Nobuhito Nashigawara: Identities @ Mark Moore (***) Yoshimoto Nara meets Nathan Mabry.
1:36 PM Mar 27th from txt

John Miller: The Natural Order @ Patrick Painter (**) Gold-leaf pirate booty assemblages juxtaposed with ’80s decor. Kind of a snore.
1:51 PM Mar 27th from txt

Rock Paper Scissor @ Robert Berman (**) Why do rock musicians think they can get away with anything? Scissors should win. (Save 1 Pettibon)
2:07 PM Mar 27th from txt

Michael Beck: The Object as Still Life @ Lora Schlesinger (****) Each a single antique object against a wall. Multiple light sources make for cool shadows.
2:29 PM Mar 27th from txt

Alexandra Hedison: Ithaka @ Frank Pictures (***) Not about trees? Too bad–would have been better without the pseudo-theory text on the walls.
5:58 PM Mar 27th from txt

Donald Sultan: Recent Works on Paper @ Greenfield Sacks (**) Much better in reproduction than in person.
6:03 PM Mar 27th from txt

Amy Ross & Carole Silverstein: The aim of waking is to dream @ Overtones (***) Sugar pills and hallucinogens.
6:09 PM Mar 27th from txt