A VISIT TO THE GETTY VILLA

August 11, 2022

I can vouch for the truth that there is no better way to celebrate a birthday marking the all too swift passage of the remaining years than a jaunt with beloved family to the Getty Villa. We went yesterday, Ellie and I, with our daughter Sarah and her boyfriend from the Netherlands and her rambunctious young 10-year-old, Luka—another constant reminder, if one were needed, of my own declining years.

DRAWING DOWN THE MOON: AN ART REVIEW

I am a reluctant driver these days, in Los Angeles. I’ve had enough of rude and clueless drivers, of endless traffic snarls around road works, of mad speeds on the freeways. The drive west from where we live at the far east end of the Hollywood hills used to be a pleasant, easy, even somewhat romantic drive along Sunset Boulevard. Nowadays, it’s a nightmare.

ABSTRACTION

May 4, 2017

No surprise that I found myself thinking about abstraction as I made my way through the spectacular Matisse/Diebenkorn exhibition at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art last week. I was pondering some pretty basic, perhaps even naïve questions, like Why abstraction? And, What is abstraction anyway? Also…

‘Van Gogh and Nature’ at the Clark

July 28, 2015

Excellently installed to facilitate viewing, and with usefully informational wall tags, the exhibition starts us off with a handful of the earliest drawings, dating from 1881 to 1883. Here…

Richard Bruland and Sophia Dixon Dillo: Art Review

July 17, 2014

Those who favor a meditative kind of art could do no better than a visit to the current dual exhibition at Lora Schlesinger Gallery at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica. The front gallery offers a selection of recent paintings by…

Chomsky’s Vessel: Art Preview

June 30, 2014

I’m pleased to note that Gary Lloyd’s 1978 work, “Chomsky’s Vessel,” will once again be on public display in “Valley Vista,” a group show curated by Damon Willick and opening in August at CSU Northridge. I wrote about this particular…

Misadventures…

June 2, 2014

…of a Parenting Yogi is the title Brian Leaf gives to his new book, whose subtitle is “Cloth Diapers, Cosleeping, and My (Sometimes Successful) Quest for Conscious Parenting.” Together, the title and subtitle pretty much say it all. It’s a humorous…

Tim Ebner at Rosamund Felsen Gallery: Art Review

May 9, 2014

Rosamund Felsen Gallery has a current exhibition of Tim Ebner‘s work. What a treat! For readers in the Los Angeles area, this is one absolutely not to be missed. It’s sheer delight. Click on that Rosamund Felsen link and you’ll immediately see what I…

Customers Included: Book Review

March 28, 2014

I’ll confess I shelved this book for a quite while after receiving a copy in the mail from its co-author, Phil Terry. It was the title and subtitle that provoked the initial—and as it turned out, mistaken!—reaction: this is not…

They: An Answer

March 19, 2014

Confrontational art proved itself alive and well at California State University Channel Islands, where the Art Department sponsored an installation and accompanying performance by Gary Lloyd last Thursday, March 13, in a…