LOS ANGELES — Twenty years after performing at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Ron Athey has come a long way from art world pariah to celebrated performance artist.
Hammer Museum
Posted inArt
The Unadulterated Sincerity of Forrest Bess
LOS ANGELES — Along with many people, my first introduction to Forrest Bess (1911–1977) occurred at the 2012 Whitney Biennial. Artist Robert Gober curated a one room show of Bess’s small-scale paintings alongside photographs and documents detailing his theories of pseudo-hermaphroditic transcendence and corresponding self-surgery.
Posted inNews
Starting Next Year, LA’s Hammer Museum Will Be Free
A few weeks ago, billionaire art collector and philanthropist Eli Broad announced that his upcoming museum in Los Angeles, The Broad, will offer free admission. Earlier this year, the Dallas Museum of Art switched over to free entry, as well as offering a new free membership plan. And now, continuing the trend, the Hammer Museum, also in LA, is going free in 2014.
Posted inArt
How Does One Make an Image of Revolution?
LOS ANGELES — What does it mean to be a revolutionary? How does one make an image of revolution? What are the parallels between religion and revolution? And does religion have a place in our current world?
Posted inArt
The Art of Gaming in the Context of Contemporary Art
LOS ANGELES — Games are everywhere these days. We keep them in our phones, our computers, our television sets. Where once we could content ourselves with a small selection of board games and a pack of cards, we now have a myriad of games at our fingertips, ready to download or purchase at a moment’s notice.
Posted inArt
The Dry Seduction of “Made in LA”
LOS ANGELES — High above Los Angeles on a hill near Silverlake and Los Feliz, Barnsdall Art Park has played an important role for many emerging artists in the city as a site for both education and exhibition. Its Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery is a fitting locale for Made in LA, the Hammer Museum–led biennial of contemporary Los Angeles artists that’s following close on the heels of the multi-venue Pacific Standard Time, which celebrated postwar art in the area from 1945 to 1980.
Posted inOpinion
Why Crowd-Sourced Voting Can’t Win
By now the votes are in, and the winner of LA’s inaugural Mohn Award has been announced: Botswana-born painter Meleko Mokgosi will receive $100,000 over the next two years, and a monograph will be published about his work. The Mohn Award, which is being funded by LA philanthropists and collectors Jarl and Pamela Mohn, was an American Idol–style arts competition that enlisted both art experts and the general public. The former chose five finalists from among the 60 artists in the Hammer Museum’s Made in L.A. biennial — also happening for the first time this year — and the latter then decided the winner.
Posted inArt
The Soundscape of LA Via GPS
LOS ANGELES — For LA’s drivers, the city passes by in a blur, a city protected by glass and one’s own soundtrack. Every experienced Angeleno has a driving mix, a series of podcasts, and, of course, favorite radio stations, to keep them occupied while scooting (or crawling) around town. LA is often a city that’s seen but so rarely heard. Enter the Made in LA Sound Map, a GPS-based iPhone app that detects where you are and automatically plays an interview.