I flipped open the book to page 98 and this was what I read.
“I want pictorial content without sentiment, but I want it as human as possible.”
I created a website call LA Art Openings, which list many of the art openings in Los Angeles as the name might suggest. Mostly the information currently on the site is culled from the gallery websites listed, but I am in the process of asking these galleries and other galleries to increase the amount of email I receive. A second page on the site will list the current exhibitions at these galleries, but in order to save myself a bit of work initially, the listings will be filled as the current upcoming shows come to pass. I hope this proves to be of use to people.
I spent some time writing this. So since it won’t be published in art on paper, I decided to publish it here.
It is hard for me to estimate the impact of Vija Celmins’ work in any detached way as it figured heavily in the formation of my own work.
I think the first painting I saw was either Heater or Fan (both 1964) at the Oakland Museum of Art in the early nineties, not long after I started painting. What struck me was the straightforwardness and clarity of the image painted, the reduced but controlled use of color, as well as the concise brushwork. From these early works of day-to-day objects, painted from observation, to the later works that employed photographs, her intentions have remained consistent.
Celmins’ singular use of photographic information cannot be categorized with photorealism or Pop Art. Instead of treating photographs as source material, she renders the physicality of the photographs; rather than giving her images a solely photographic quality (as in photorealism), they depict the photographs themselves. Additionally, in the desert, ocean, and star drawings, the vistas are delimited, as are the subjects in photographs, rather than discreet subjects contained within the work of art (as in the Pop Art icon).
It is these qualities that have helped her work avoid easy labeling, and define her as an artist’s artist. Celmins’ art presents an object lesson in maintaining a private artistic vision.
Don Suggs: One Man Group Show at Otis’s Ben Maltz Gallery April 14-June 23 (9045 Lincoln Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90045)
To my knowledge Don has not had a solo exhibition in Los Angeles since I’ve lived here (1999). I’ve seen a few works in group shows and at his gallery (LA Louver, where he is having a solo presentations in May–link and info below). I was a student of Don Suggs while at UCLA, and I don’t recall Don ever relating his work to what I was doing as a student. He would tell me of other artists and explain methods and materials with a great amount of knowledge that was useful to what I was trying to do. So because of my ignorance of his work and his practical art schlorship, this chance to see what he has done was of great interest to me.
The show surveys Don’s work over the last 35 years, according to the website, though someone mentioned that one of the pieces dates from 1969 (38 years?). Walking through this with friends what struck us was how the works in their component parts related to other artists’ works, sometimes following sometimes pre-dating, and how truly divergent the work really is. Beyond a genuine exploration it is difficult to see what any given body of work has in common with the next as the title suggests. There may be a cataloging of methods and content, not unlike Richter. That something is being indexed and created at the same time. What is apparent is that he has allowed himself to go where the work has taken him without being bound to what has come before and hopefully has enjoyed the rewards of doing so. This show doesn’t contain every medium imaginable but it comes close. I realize I have not described the work, and I will not try. I can only say it should be seen.
very soon…
Don Suggs
Concentric
LA Louver
45 North Venice Blvd.
Venice, CA 90291
17 May – 16 June
reception Saturday May 19th 6-8 pm
Once again, a proposal by MAN. I’ll recuse myself from the list, although my work would fit neatly on to many screens. My current paintings share the same proportions as HDTV (1:1.778), a simplified version of the cube root (1:1.732). Measuring 9 by 16 inches they are also one square foot in area. Hopper is off the list too, since there was already a play based on Edward Hopper’s Night Hawks called Nighthawks by Douglas Steinberg.
1. Vija Celmins, Gun with Hand #1 (1986). Guns + anything = good time.
2. Neo Rauch, Hatz (2002). Giant worm, ice cubes and men in long coats and hats with hockey sticks. It is made for Hollywood.
3. Albrecht Altdorfer, The Battle of Alexander at Issus (1529). I’ve never seen any films about Alexander and I doubt any depictions have been like this painting.
4. Gerhard Richter, Lesende (1994). Typically on view at SFMOMA, this painting could take one in any direction; murder, extortions, or grocery shopping.
5. Mr. Hollywood is a verb, Ed Ruscha, Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas (1963). Sky is the limit gasoline prices, international intrigue and Texas.
Sotheby’s has a video podcast. Centered around their many auctions. I found this on itunes music store in the podcast section under new releases or visit the link here.
Over the years I have made paintings of how cars are parked. In general they were paintings of cars of the same make and model parked in close proximity to one another on the streets of Los Angeles. I currently live across the street from a bio-diesel conversion center. In a dirt lot to their side a different type of parking situations is presented—fitting as many cars as possible into a triangle space, thus
a sea of diesel mercedes at twilight.
Most of the galleries on the La Cienega corridor had openings last Saturday. here is the aftermath.
Dinner in Koreatown,
followed by a bar in Boyle Heights
I got this flexible little tripod on friday. It is called the Gorillapod by JOBY. I haven’t had much of a chance to use it, but I am looking forward to it.
From the same trip as the last post, and continuing on with images from which I’ll probably never make work. I took this while waiting at a stop light.
