art in los angeles
after years of visits to the LA area, i finally took the opportunity to see some art.
mom and dad lived in agua dulce, 30 minutes east of santa clarita (about four miles from Vazquez Rocks, of star trek and old movie westerns fame). driving to/from LAX took between 80 - 120 minutes, depending on traffic (oh, the traffic). visited them often, but it’s so far out of the way up there, that i rarely got into the city to see art. it’s been almost two years since mom died, and four years (in a couple of weeks) since dad died.
sarah still lives in van nuys, so this time i went to visit her and got to see some cool stuff. sarah who never-met-a-museum-she-liked even joined me for part of it.
first, the getty. it’s closing for renovations in a few months, and they’ve already shut down three of the four pavilions. enjoyable nevertheless. cool photography exhibit by mexican and mexican-american artists. don’t like taking photos of photos generally, but made an exception for these two by Graciela Iturbide.
the iguana lady spoke to me. remembered marxe’s bearded dragon years, when we had a whole slew of sweet adult dragons and upwards of 50 incubating hatchlings. i sometimes felt that they were climbing everywhere. the second photo is a striking image of Frida Kahlo’s bathroom. after Frida died in 1954, diego blocked off two bathrooms in their home and mandated they not be opened until at least 15 years after his death. grace iturbide photographed the untouched scene when the doors were opened, includes some of Frida’s various medical devices.
in the european art section, these two sculptures floored me. the way the artist melded marble and bronze with such intricate detail.
then the gardens and views of LA, south and west to the ocean and east to triple-digit-million dollar houses in the hills. it was a warm november day, and i soaked up the sun.
also some fun sculptures.
next day, sarah and i drove over to the st vincent behavioral health center in westlake. the big hospital went bankrupt in 2020, reactivated during covid, deactivated again, and recently reopened as a mental health/substance rehab. also hosts a temporary show called the hospital of emotions, a few groups came together, sent out a call for artists, received 2000 submissions, and accepted 70 to create individual installations representing varying emotions. kinda like Artomatic, but curated (some meh decisions imo) and payment for the artists! many installations were super well designed and fabricated, and yeah, a number of the artists are set designers in the business.
backstory to the fried egg one: when the artist was a child, her mom made her eat an egg every morning. she hated eggs and dreaded every morning meal. appreciate that this represents resilience to her cause hell yeah.
olivia berionuevo-minkin’s representation of resilience highlighted monarch butterflies, which have come to symbolize immigrant rights and struggles among a population being physically hunted by ICE.
the twister room of “joy” by javiera estrada was a nursery-school room of color. “sadness” by caratoes hit the target for me. and “gratitude,” asked people to write what/who they’re grateful for on a sticky note and place it somewhere in the room. easiest way to get audience participation, as i well know.
fun trip! and my favorite pic of all was taken by sarah.
