Los Angeles Art News, Art Blog

ART BLOG

ARTICLES FOR THE MONTH OF MAY 2011
Contributing Bloggers: John Harbinger Jr.and David Harbrenig

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Successful Auction of “Made in California” Art

The successful results of the “Made in California” auction event on May 24, 2011 at Bonhams & Butterfields, signal that the market for California art continues to be robust. Bidders paid out more than $2.3 million for works by some of California’s leading modern and contemporary artists such as Wayne Thiebaud, Carlos Almaráz, Hans Gustav Burkhardt, Jay DeFeo, John Register, Gregory Kondos, Karl Stanley Benjamin & John Altoon.

New world records were set for several of the artists whose works went under the hammer. Wayne Thiebaud’s (Pop Art) “Milkshake & Sandwiches,” estimated to bring $600,000- 800,000, was sold for $1,072,400 during the auction. “Only Thiebaud can make an ordinary lunch look like a million dollars” said a Bonham’s spokesperson.

The results only reinforce what we have been saying for a long time at art-LA-now – California art is great! Invest in its artists and rewards will be yours!

Without the label, can we tell if a piece of art is made by a man or a woman?

I’ve done it many times…..Looked at an artwork, instantly accorded the artist a gender and then been surprised to discover, when I approach to read the label, how wrong my snap judgments were. It was not the work of a man but a woman (or vice versa.) So, what happens when there is no label to indicate the name (and forthwith gender) of the artist? Can we tell if art is made by a man or a woman?

The Delaware Art Museum decided to put its visitors to the test in a special exhibition called Battle of the Sexes which ran from March 5 – May 22, 2011. It was a unique participatory exhibition testing gender preconceptions about art. For the show, 13 women artists invited a male artist to exhibit one of his works besides hers. Thus there were 13 ‘pairs of artworks’ on show. Artists’ first names, however, did not appear on labels identifying the works. Viewers were asked to mark on ballots if they thought each work was by a male or female artist.

The idea was proposed by the Philadelphia Women’s Caucus for Art, and the show was integrated into the Museum’s Outlooks Exhibition Series, which aims to encourage community involvement in the creation and exhibition of art. The results of battle of the Sexes have now been published on the museum website at www delart org.

As the right hand column shows not one piece on show received a unanimous 100% vote as a work ‘definitely’ being by made by a male / or female. Apparently the organizers explanation for the results is: - a high percentage correct vote designates “the artist works within visual or material gender traditions” and a low correct percentage shows the artist “subverts gender stereotypes.”

Only about 200 people took part in the voting during the two month exhibition. I hope more than that actually visited the museum during that time…..

Blog May 21 2011

Off-beat things to do in Los Angeles

Author Borislav Stanic is an art lover who arrived in Los Angeles from Yugoslavia 20 years ago and decided to stay. In Europe, he had already written and published art books so, after searching for comprehensive L.A. museum guide for his own use, and discovering that none existed, he decided to set to work and fill the gap. The first two editions of his “Museum Companion Guide to Los Angeles” came out in 1996 and 1998 and sold a combined 20,000 copies. The third edition, which has just been published comprises 287 pages and covers about 260 sites in Los Angeles County. It has info on all the mainline attractions - art collections, artifacts, zoos, gardens, aquariums etc., and just about everything else that might interest the curious mind – including some bizarre and relatively unknown venues.

For example, have you ever been to the Bunny Museum no, located in a private residence in Pasadena? (No, it’s not Hugh Heffner’s place.) If you are a rabbit lover, this is definitely the place for you to visit. You can see 25,000 objets d’art in the form or image of the cute critters.
Boyle Heights boasts the Mini Cake Museum housed in the Hollenback Palms retirement center. It has a collection of cakes made out of Styrofoam, topped (for some reason) with real icing. When you have feasted your eyes on the false cakes, you can stimulate the nostrils at the Annette Green Perfume Museum at the downtown Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising's FIDM Museum and Galleries.

Still got time to spare? If you have a strong stomach, try the Museum of Death in Hollywood. It has lots of gory exhibits and a dose of smelling salts handy for the faint-hearted.
Along somewhat similar lines is Psychiatry: An Industry of Death Museum, also in Hollywood (Where else?) It's sponsored by the Church of Scientology and aims to debunk the science behind psychiatry by chronicling the physical tortures that have been done in the name of mental health treatment and experiments.

Museum Companion Guide to Los Angeles attests that Los Angeles now has 36 art museums. There’s plenty to see for every taste in art.

The Biggest Painting in the World –so they say.

In 2006 Guinness World Records published that “Mother Earth” by Swedish artist David Aberg which took 30 months and 100 tons of paint to complete was the biggest artwork in the world. The painting, done entirely the artist, measures 86,000 sq ft and was done in a disused aircraft hangar in Angelholm, southern Sweden.

In 2008 Guinness recognized another work as the new biggest painting in the world. “The Wave” by Croatian artist Djuro Siroglavic and two assistants was reportedly four miles long, seven feet high and weighed almost 6 tonnes. Later on during that same year the artist decided to cut up the artwork into pieces and sell them off to collectors. This decision was taken apparently because he didn’t know what to do with the painting after its completion. I suppose it must be difficult to find a gallery big enough to exhibit a 4 mile long painting.

The biggest canvas painting “The Big Picture,” by a single artist, is by Australian artist Ando and it measures 100 meters by 12 meters. The acrylic painting is a super realism landscape and was erected in the actual outback of NSW Australia. It blends into the surrounds so well that the viewer can’t tell where the 3D finishes and the 2D artwork starts.

In the USA we are used to having the biggest of everything, so it comes as no surprise to find that the Cyclorama and Civil War Museum in Atlanta, Georgia boasts the largest painting in the world, a sweeping panorama depicting the Battle of Atlanta fought on July 22, 1864. The Cyclorama painting is 42 feet high and 358 feet in circumference. Certainly big enough to merit “the biggest in the USA.”

Sometimes statistics can be misleading

When an artist sets up a personal website it is obvious that he/she would like to know how many people actually visit the sight. After all the point is to ‘exhibit’ the work –to have people see it. So, of course most embed statistics providers into the site. Apart from Google analytics there are quite a few other free (and not so free) services for providing statistics –the most popular being a ‘counter.’ Statistics can provide information about the number of ‘hits,’ ‘visits,’ ‘unique visitors’ and ‘page views.’ There are statistics about increases or decreases in traffic and even from where the traffic is generated. Statistic can be helpful or confusing. If you are like me you probably make your own interpretation of the numbers as positively as possible – no matter what they are.

Always remember that some statistics can be misleading. Take them light-heartedly with a smile:

Statistic: The average human has two arms two legs, one breast and one testicle.

Bought For $10, Sold for $2 Million

Here’s an interesting story emerging from Christie’s New York Contemporary Art sale (Wednesday May 11) when $300 million of art went under the hammer. Silent auctions participants, museum fundraisers and gala art event attendees will be fired up for the next event after reading this story…...

Lot 21 in the sale was “Drawing for Kiss V” a 1964 drawing by Roy Lichtenstein. It had a pre-sale estimate of $800,000 to $1.2 million and was sold for $2,098,500, including fees.

What the crowd at Christie’s didn’t know was the drawing was acquired by the seller in 1965 for $10. Yes, that’s TEN dollars, it’s not a mistake. Not a bad acquisition and certainly a good investment.

According to a Christie’s the person got the Lichtenstein drawing in an event organized by a group formed by the artist Arman back in the 60’s called the Artists’ Key Club. The idea behind it was to fight against the increasing commercialization of the art world. The Artists’ Key Club event invited people to go to the Hotel Chelsea in New York and in return for a “donation” of $10 they would receive a key to one of the lockers at Penn Station. Each locker contained a work donated by a large number of emerging artists and some established names. None of the artists knew in which locker his/her work would be inserted.

The lucky owner of the Lichtenstein who worked in 1965 as a typist was invited to attend the Club event with a friend. She paid her $10 and went off to Penn Station to claim her “prize.” She has had it since then and this week was amply rewarded for her $10 contribution against the commercialization of the art world.

Other well-known artists who had work in lockers include Christo, Niki de Saint-Phalle, Andy Warhol and Arman.

Blog May 13 2011

Like it or not. They spark the imagination.

Here are some images of some strikingly odd contemporary art works. You may think they’re unusual in character; strange maybe or downright weird. Whatever your opinion, you have to admit that because of their uniqueness, they seize one’s attention. The mind is provoked into wondering just what they are about…..

Blog May 11 2011

The Gulbenkian is now the biggest Art prize in the world

Ever heard of the Gulbenkian? No, me neither. Yet it’s a word worth remembering since it the name given to the biggest art prize in the world. 175,000 British pounds (currently worth about $290,000) will be awarded to the winner. It was launched yesterday May 9 and the name of the winner will be announced next month in June. This UK prize will displace the US Art Prize, which offers the winner $250,000, from the top spot.

The award is sponsored by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, set up in 1956 by the energy baron Calouste Gulbenkian, to promote culture and education throughout Europe. The current director says the aim of the award is “to promote the arts within disadvantaged communities while creating work of uncompromisingly high artistic standards. The prize will help artists develop the gleams in their eyes."

($290,000 would put a gleam in anyone’s eyes!!!)

Don’t go looking for an application form online. This is a prize for performance art and the shortlist of potential winners has already been determined. One can only wonder who, when and how this was done, since the announcement about the newly created Gulbenkian was only published over the past weekend.

The shortlist for the first Gulbenkian ever awarded includes a bonfire night spectacle involving street drinkers; a surreal world in which humans and animals change place; a group of young Somalis in a poetry drama on Cardiff's dockside; an interactive virtual version of a Brecht/Weill opera; Shetlanders tinkering with cars; and a London indoor and outdoor mass cycle ride.

The lucky winner will have two years to develop their idea before it is presented in 2013.

Why art critics should write stuff we can understand

One of the purposes of writing about art, and in particular writing about contemporary art is to influence the social, cultural and exchange value of works of art. Many writers and critics are still convinced that art is a cultural commodity reserved for the elite. Therefore they continue to address it in a sophisticated, pretentious and obscurantist language sufficiently complicated to evaluate that art beyond the grasp of the general public.

Such literature and discourse is a deliberate attempt to remove art from the judgment of the general public. For too long, art critics and writers about art have perpetrated an ongoing rivalry between competing coteries whose sole aim is to monopolize the language of art criticism and to declare themselves the only legitimate authorities.

What makes this situation particularly annoying, nowadays, is that most readers of their work are intelligent people who have a real desire to receive clear information. Art is no longer the domain of the few. Museums and galleries are full of hard-working, average American families who are not pretentious, snobbish intellectuals. They like to look at art, and have a real desire to be informed about what they can experience during their visits. Much to the ire of these readers, art critics seem intent on using convoluted prose and on systematically avoiding the use of simple, declarative English language.

I understand that to do his/her job, the critic/writer often has to find a conceptual framework or vocabulary to describe adequately the new types of art work which abound on the contemporary scene. But, can’t this be done with simple phrases?

Suddenly we are Faceless at Facebook

Until today all the blog articles at Art-LA-Now have been related to Art - somehow or other. Today is an exception. This article is written to express our disappointment in the facebook administrators who decided to deactivate the account we set up almost 18 months ago.

A while ago somebody used one our in-house computers to access their own facebook and make changes to their account. After this happened, for some reason, we were refused access to our own facebook account until we completed a verification process which involved answering a series of security questions. Although we were convinced we were answering the questions correctly (according to the info stored in our files), facebook told us our entries were incorrect and we were still denied access. After multiple unsuccessful attempts, we were then asked to identify photos taken at random from the facebook pages of the 3296 friends we had at that point. Unfortunately we were unable to identify successfully the required number within the required time frame. (I guess that’s the problem of ‘friending’ on facebook – you just don’t get to meet your friends personally.)

Even though we have heard from other people how difficult it is to contact facebook, we decided at that point to send an email to: info at facebook.com and ask for Help. We received a prompt reply from them asking for a personal I.D. to prove ownership of the Art-LA-Now facebook. A personal I.D. was scanned and sent off to facebook. With this accomplished, we were sure we would be soon be able to re-access the account.

Life is not so simple. The next email we received informed us our account was now deactivated. The reason?..... The page we had previously set up was supposed to be a personal account and not a company or organization account. In an instant 3296 friends disappeared!!

I cannot contradict their claim –I can only offer an explanation. A few months after the facebook of Art-LA-Now was established, we realized we had made the error but, by then, we already had a few hundred friends …….. So we just kept it as it was. It grew into a network of 3296 friends who are almost all artists and art lovers from the greater Los Angeles area.

Ah, well I guess Mr. Zuckerberg knows what he’s doing. In any case we are back onboard (in the right conditions this time – I hope) and eager to retrieve our lost-in-cyberspace friends. You are all welcome to join us again.

The Incomprehensible-For-The-Sake-Of-It Contemporary Art

"I shudder if the majority of people look at my brush work and say it is pretty, for then I know it is ordinary and I have failed. If they say they do not understand it, or even that it is ugly, I am happy, for I have succeeded."

—An anonymous artist

I don’t know if the quote above is attributable to a real person or whether it serves to reflect the attitude of certain artists. Can contemporary art no longer be aesthetically pleasing and easily understandable? Have our values concerning art changed so much in the last hundred years that now only the utterly banal (urinal) or vulgar, (piss Christ) or incomprehensible (100 million porcelain sunflower seeds) or monstrosity heaps of garbage can be proclaimed as true art?

Are these the only ways for an artist to prove he has not sold out to the bourgeois, corporate, materialistic, traditionalist, oppressive, soul-less art market.

There are three types of artists who would probably agree with the anonymous artist quoted above:

1. Those who want to redefine the concept of art by making something that is obviously not art and referring to it as art. Their purpose is to force their audience to re-think what art is to begin with. The success of 20^th century abstract art has led us to Incomprehensible Art-For-Its-Own-Sake in the 21^st century.

2. Those who genuinely believe that what they make is aesthetically pleasing (though most would disagree with their conception of “aesthetically pleasing.”) They make their art because it pleases them so, and the audience is a nice afterthought.

3. Those who crave attention at any price. These artists usually look at what’s creating buzz around them and then try to ‘follow the leader.’

In many languages, the word for "art" is the same as the word for "skill". Perhaps if we asked the question: "is it skillful?" rather than “is it art?” we might be able to obtain a more understandable answer about Art.

Artists and art-patrons who appreciate the kind of contemporary art that ‘surpasses’ the understanding of us lesser tuned-in beings, tend to be pretentious snobs who look down their noses at anyone who doesn't 'get it.' They are not nearly as smart as they like to think they are. Real art withstands the test of time and the fleeting modes of fashion. We will see how much of today’s art will endure into the future and enthrall us as has the art of the Greeks, Romans and Renaissance and Modern artists.

Laguna Art Museum is seeking a new director. Are you a candidate for the job?

After 24 years at the Laguna Art Museum — including the past 14 as its director- Bolton Colburn has decided to tender his resignation. His decision, which will be effective from May 13 is entirely voluntary and reflects no internal friction. Colburn began his museum career in the early 1980’s at La Jolla Museum of Contemporary which is now known as the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego. A search for his successor has been initiated however no time frame has been set for finding a new director.

The Laguna Art Museum institution has adopted as its mission the promotion of California art and traces its roots to 1918, when a group of painters in the Laguna Beach art colony formed an association that eventually spawned a gallery, then a museum.

The president of the Museum Board has said he’d like to find a replacement with similar qualities to Bolton. “He has great community-relations skills. We like the idea of an art scholar running the museum. The Museum has a strong record of highlighting artists of Southern California and there is no desire to change that policy.”

According to the museum’s most recently available tax returns, Colburn earned $99,000 in 2008-09. That same year the museum’s attendance under his directorship guidance was 44,000.

So, if any of our Art-LA-Now members, friends or readers, think they possess the necessary qualifications, and would like to earn a very decent salary - give them a call. Who knows? And many of you do have the academic background, a proven track record as artists, are active in the SoCal art scene, have business acumen and have the personality to handle public relations with aplomb.

Selected Juried Art Competitions Deadlines May 2011

"Inanimate" A call For Still Life Photography – “Working with Artists” seeks entries for a juried photography exhibition, June 17 - July 30, 2011 at FLASH Gallery in Lakewood, CO. Still life in art has a long, rich tradition in history. Artistic movements of the 20th Century re-imagined the still life in exciting new ways, making them more abstract. For Inanimate, we are seeking the motionless as a way to express wisdom to the living. Objects that say something about us –about our journey and about how we see, live, work, love, and die in this world. $35 fee for up to 3 images, and $5 each image thereafter. Visit www.workingwithartists.org for prospectus. Questions? Email - Valerie Photogoddess at flash@workingwithartists.org or call 303-837-1341. DEADLINE: May 13, 2011

San Diego Watercolor Society seeks entries for its annual International show Sep. 30 - Nov. 1, 2011 in San Diego, California. $15,000 in cash and merchandise awards, $1000 1st place Award. Juror: Carrie Burns Brown. Entries must be original work in water-soluble media on paper or YUPO painted within the last two years. All work must be at least 80% water-based media. Collage is acceptable only if treated with watermedia. No digital art, work produced under instruction, copies of another's work or copyrighted references. Entries must not have won awards in other national or international shows. No painting exhibited in a previous SDWS International Exhibition is eligible. Only one painting per artist. The juror's decision is final. Paintings must be for sale. One entry: Members-$30, Non-Members-$40. Add $5 for each additional. Maximum of 3 entries. Visit website for prospectus, or send a SASE to: 2825 Dewey Road, #10 San Diego, CA 92106. Questions? Email: alice.kayuha@gmail.com or call (858) 277-7066. DEADLINE: May 15, 2011

Sedona Arts Festival: Applications are now being accepted for the 21st annual Sedona Arts Festival, October 8 and 9, 2011 in Sedona, AZ. $100 Winner for each category; $250 Best of Show. Applicants work must be original concept, design, and personal execution. No commercial reproductions or embellished commercial products. Artists must be present with their work for the 2-day festival. $30 application fee. Info and application on website. Questions? Contact Lori Reinhart at director@sedonaartsfestival.org or call 928-204-9456. DEADLINE: May 15, 2011

31st Annual Spring Photography Contest: Photographer's Forum magazine announces a call to amateur photographers worldwide. Juried by a panel of three photography instructors (TBD). 1st place: $2000 + Sigma 85mm lens; 2nd place: $1000 + Sigma 8-16mm lens, 3rd place: $500 + Manfrotto tripod. $100 each of five 4th places. Subject matter is open. All contest finalists published in the hardcover book Best of Photography 2011; winners published in Photographer's Forum magazine and exhibited at Brooks Institute Gallery 27, Santa Barbara, CA. Enter prints or slides by mail. Do not mail disks. Entry form online. $4.95 per photo by May 16, 2011. Enquiries to julie@serbin.com or call 805-963-0439, ext. 240. DEADLINE May 16, 2011.

"Mix It Up, Mixed Media" - The Santa Cruz Art League announces a call to artists for a juried art exhibition, August 5 - September 4, 2011 in Santa Cruz, CA. $1,000 of Awards. Juror: Tobin Keller, Teacher, Director & Curator. Open to U.S. residents. Max 3 entries/$40/jpegs on CD. Visit website for prospectus, or send a SASE to: SCAL, 526 Broadway, Santa Cruz, CA 95060. Enquiries - contact Cindy Liebenthal at cindy@scal.org or call 831.426.5787. DEADLINE: May 20, 2011

Brand 40, 40th Annual National Juried Exhibition of Works on Paper: The Associates of Brand Library & Art Center and the Glendale Public Library announce a call to artists for an exhibition September 17 - October 28, 2011 at the Brand Library Art Galleries in Glendale, CA. $4000 in awards. Juror: Peter Frank, art critic for the Huffington Post and Adjunct Senior Curator at the Riverside Art Museum. Open to artists residing in the United States. Work must not have been previously shown at the Brand Library Art Galleries. Any work on paper: collages, drawings, paintings, photography, prints, watercolors, 3-dimensional work, etc. $20 for first submission, $10 for each additional. Maximum 3 entries. Deadline: June 1, 2011. Visit website for details, or send SASE to: Brand 40, 1601 West Mountain St., Glendale, CA 91201. Questions? Please contact Irena Raulinaitis at irena.raul@gmail.com or 818-244-0654.