field trip :: Kusama at the Broad

Field Trip :: GCM & the broad

we finally had a sunday where our schedule and availability aligned and were able to plan a morning at the new "The Broad", downtown. i had visited Eli Broad's collection in the old space, in Santa Monica, and am very fortunate to be very familiar with a few pieces in his collection due to contract work I did for MoCA many moons ago. i have been curious to visit this new space, and while i don't agree with the man, i must say the collection in this space is wonderful to see.

we started the day at the Grand Central Market and breakfast(s) from EggSlut, Wexler's Deli, and Valerie.





then walked up bunker hill, passed Disney Concert Hall, to The Broad. it was a grey day. and i was concerned the building wouldn't play well off the dull sky. but in fact i really loved the monochrome feel. and the light was wonderful. it is so rare for a day like this in L.A., and everything felt a little softer.







the first floor is mainly drawings (some of my favorites by Ed Ruscha) and photographs, more sensitive to light exposure, as well as a fantastic video installation - The Visitors - by Ragnar Kjartansson, and Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrored Room.



the second floor has all natural light. lots of sculpture and bold paintings. it is lovely to walk through. and sit in.





there is a small public space outside, and a restaurant to come.



it was a great day. unfortunately we decided the wait for the kusama was too long.

but an excuse to return.

Field Trip :: Charles Garabedian

I've had the pleasure of spending time with Charles "Chas" Garabedian in his studio, and was thrilled when his new exhibition - Sacrifice for the Fleet - opened a couple of weeks back. a very well received opening, it was hard to get near the work, and I returned today for a closer look.

if you believe in the power of art to tell stories, this is an exhibition for you.










Charles Garabedian: Sacrifice for the Fleet
L.A. Louver 8 October - 7 November 2015







(aside - as I drove from the gallery at Venice Beach to the barn in Chatsworth I was reminded why I love this city so.)

night out

The Burning (Mandelshtam), 2006 oil and wax on canvas

d and i were thrilled to be invited to the inauguration of Enrique Martinez Celaya's new Los Angeles studio. and even happier that my cold subsided enough that we could attend saturday night!

we started off with a nostalgic early dinner at father's office (we went to the helms bakery location, but i spent many happy hours as a getty graduate intern at the santa monica office, years ago, when it was a craft beer pub with a long history. the office burger is still one of the best burgers i've ever had.)

then we headed to Martinez Celaya's space, which he's been in for 9 months or so. the converted industrial building provides discrete spaces for the artist to paint, draw and sculpt. it was truly magnificent. the kind of LA studio one dreams of. (Kitaj would always joke about how small his studio was in comparison to most L.A. artists.)

the night ended with a performance by his long-time collaborators, the cowboy junkies, who performed a full set in the courtyard, under the stars.


The Well, 2013 bronze



enrique martinez celaya bio
works here
more studio shots here
watch for Martinez Celaya exhibition at LA Louver April 2015

wash day

with e in her own room, she is exercising much more responsibility, including an active interest in doing her own laundry. d set up a hamper that fits right into her closet and i posted a list of laundry steps in the laundry room. so far so good!


found this cute print that would be a perfect visual aid from the caravan shoppe

field trip :: L.A. Louver

work took me down to venice and i spent some quality time in the gallery with these lovely pictures and more. (leon kossoff at L.A. Louver through 01 march 14) a lovely sense of london light and energy by a favorite of mine from the "school of london".

a bigger picture

with the opportunity to take in david hockney's "a bigger exhibition" at san francisco's de young sunday, we made a quick decision and headed north. of course the opportunity to visit dear friends only made the weekend sweeter.

i love to tell e stories of her visits with hockney. lunch at his house, and an amazing afternoon at his studio. of course she was a wee baby, and remembers none of it. but it is fun to recall none-the-less. he was so friendly and welcoming and excited about what he was doing. that exuberance is so evident in his work. e was drawn to the giant iPad drawings and video, and k went around searching out details in the paintings. it was the charcoal drawings though that had me lingering the longest.

visiting friends like these is, well, always a highlight. it is easy - the way it should be. we are blessed to have them in our lives. no matter where they, or we, roam. these big picture friends mean the world to us.

and we had a day to explore a little piece of golden gate park with them. these family outings are only beginning to get grumbles from the big sister. i hold onto them tightly.

so, the show was fantastic. the company the best. so good to have a little get-away.

(and oh those sf bay sunsets.)

luxury

i spent the morning being interviewed by a design-group from an automaker interested in learning about the tastes of people on "the edges" of their demographic. it was mainly focused on our home. what we filled it with, how we found the things in it, and what their importance was in our lives. it was an exercise in self-reflection and i found the questions on the concept of "luxury" most interesting. is luxury important to me? what do i think of when i think of luxury?

art.

something to pass down to future generations.

well-made things that will last forever.

and travel. (it doesn't have to be luxurious travel! but travel is a luxury i would like to do more of as a family.)


how does that translate to a car? i'm not really sure.

they mentioned a trend in re-defining luxury. no longer big homes. no longer the "best". it sounds like meaningfulness is finding a place there. so interesting.

we live here.

we've been looking for quite some time for a work to hang in the kitchen. i had originally planned to enlarge a photograph - but this is a very sunny corner - and the cost of an enlargement coupled with the inevitable fading that would take place, put that idea to rest. when i saw this poster (also available as a screenprint) i knew we had found a perfect fit. (and the price couldn't be beat!) d put together a frame, and we sprung for UV plexi. we will see how it lasts.

the girls love finding home on it. i love that it includes all these neighborhoods that i have recently discovered (after living here 12 years!).

ork posters has a whole series around this concept. fun stuff.

my plan to paint the kitchen myself has also been waylaid. april.

hanging this on our puttied and unpainted wall might be putting the cart before the horse, but we couldn't resist.