July 2011

July 2011

 

The current installation at L & M Arts in Venice features the work of Barbara Kruger. The main gallery space is wrapped from head to toe with large text on the walls, floor and ceiling, a bombardment of messages addressing issues of money, power and desire - all familiar-sounding communiqués from the mass media and culture at large. Repetition and a reminder of the importance of language are part of Kruger's strategy as the artist reminds us that we are "ALMOST LOVED," "ALMOST PERFECT," "ALMOST BEAUTIFUL," and furthermore that "MONEY MAKES MONEY" and "MONEY IS LIKE SHIT." "The Globe Shrinks" is a 4-channel video installation offered in a separate space. Performers deliver Kruger's raw commentary on consumer culture, power structures, and interpersonal exchange. Fortunately, this piece was just acquired by the Hammer Museum.  Thru 7/9/11.

!Women, Art, Revolution is a significant film by Lynn Hershman Leeson that documents many aspects of the feminist art movement and its important contributors. Although not encyclopedic, the film provides a slice of history and emphasizes the impact of the movement and its influence on art in the late 20th century. Hershman Leeson who accumulated hundreds of hours of film over the last 40 years for this project did some fancy editing to reduce the film down to 83 minutes. Expanded interviews with the artists are at http://lib.stanford.edu/women-art-revolution and you can add artwork to this history as well. View the trailer.

"Beauty Culture" at the Annenberg Space for Photography features images of some of famous models and screen stars that spans several decades. The focus is on their beauty, but at the same time the exhibition invites a critique of the beauty industry. The gallery is filled with images of women almost exclusively photographed by men, there are examples by Lauren Greenfield, Carrie Mae Weems, and Orlan, women artists whose work challenges our culture's ideas about beauty. Be sure to view the documentary film,  "Beauty Culture" by Lauren Greenfield. This vital exhibition merits a dialogue about the beauty industry, the representation of women in the media and the effect these images have on all of us.  Thru 11/27/11.

 

at First Independent Gallery at Bergamot Station are witty and smartly composed works. Thru 7/20/11.

Linda Arreola, Poli Marichal, Marianne Sadowski and CiCi Segura Sadowski and CiCi Segura Gonzalez are showing together in "4" at Tropico de Nopal Gallery and hosting an artist's walk-thru for SCWCA members and others on 7/9. Must RSVP to the gallery with "Walk-Thru" in the subject line.  Thru 7/16.

Platt and Borstein Galleries at AJU hosts Getting It Together with work by Freyda Miller, Daveed Shwartz, and Nancy Kay Turner. Thru 8/14/11.

Ruth Bachofner features  Virginia Katz's "Charted Territories," works derived from satellite imagery and Katz's observations of the environment. The resultant  highly textured abstractions are not only exquisite but truly ethereal.  Thru 7/16/11.

Betye Saar: CAGE, an exhibition of 20 mixed-media assemblages and 6 collages at the California African American Museum, combines global perspectives with the artist's personal interest in metaphysics, legends and mystery. A walk-through with the artist is planned for Fri. 7/8 at 7 pm. Thru 8/11/11.

The National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C. features "The Guerrilla Girls Talk Back" and "Pressing Ideas: Fifty Years of Women's Lithographs from Tamarind."Both on view thru 10/2/11.

 

Works by the "Mama of Dada" are now on view at the Oceanside Museum of Art. "The Virgin's Dream: Beatrice Wood Drawings and Ceramics" focuses on work from the 1930s to the 1990s. Wood will be featured at the Santa Monica Museum of Art in the fall (9/10/11-1/7/12).
The Craft and Folk Art Museum exhibits Ann Weber's Love and Other Audacities (image left) cardboard sculptures and Jennifer Angus' magical installation, All Creatures Great and Small. Thru 9/11/11.

Washington D.C. based artist Linn Mayers' created a large-scale, site-specific wall line drawing on the lobby wall of the Hammer Museum focuses on the concept of time as she layers vibrant colors to suggest light and movement. Thru 11/6/11.