DUMPR: Your Own Museum Show

Now you, too, can see how your artwork looks in a Museum, thanks to the clever folks at DUMPR!

David Hockney at LA Louver

David Hockney - The East Yorkshire Landscape

I'm a little late writing about this show, since it closes today, but better late than never, right? It's David Hockney's "East Yorkshire Landscapes," and in case you happen to read this before 5pm today, head over to Venice to check it out! I'm so glad the gallery has such great installation shots on its web site, because it really helps show the scale of these works, plus the power of those blood red walls against Hockney's palette of colors, which are all over the place.

There are obvious connections to make with these pieces - particularly Cezanne's French countryside paintings, Monet's water lillies, and Seurat's frenzied pointilism. But these new works of Hockney's stand proudly on their own, mixing his typical brilliant color combinations with a comfy, easy-going British village sensibility. You can feel the change of seasons as you walk from work to work...you can almost feel the spring breeze in "Woldgate Woods, March 30 - April 21," and view the elongated shadows of the autumn trees in "Woldgate Woods, 6 & 9 November 2006." Even though they harken to the aforementioned 19th century masters, they have their own modernist bent. And did I mention I love the colors??

The works are HUGE - many made of six panels each and hung to symetrical perfection to create a cohesive landscape (kudos to whoever had the unlucky job of installing these works). And LA Louver's main gallery was perfect for the big works - it felt more like a garden than a room, save for those lipstick-red walls.

Featured on Jack and Jill Blog

A big thanks to Robyn over at Jack and Jill Design for blogging about Ernest and my other pics! She also has some great info for mommies seeking cool baby products.

Wall Batterton at Pharmaka

Seems like for every gallery in LA I've visited, there are 2 more that I haven't! I finally checked out the burgeoning "Gallery Row" in Downtown LA, and there are some very cool things going on down there, especially at Pharmaka Art. The current exhibition is work by Wall Batterton. Better-known in the early '70s, Batterton is still working on his frenetic, abstract works, and his old buddy Ed Ruscha curated a great show from his early work to the present.

Batterton's story is fascinating, and a little heartbreaking. In the '60s and early '70s, he worked with aluminum paints and auto lacquer (as with this work here). While he achieved a brilliant sheen and texture not possible with regular paints, it made him very, VERY sick. He was so full of toxins and so ill, he didn't paint for ten years. Of course that is ten lifetimes in the art world, and he was pretty much forgotten about during that time. This show is a great opportunity to see the work of an artist who should be better recognized for his contribution to the LA art scene.

While on Pharmaka's site, read more about their history and mission. It's a gallery, but it's also a non-profit institution, with a mission to show truly great art - and protest the superficial and market-driven cacophony that has displaced real critique.

Ernest Finds a Tree Stump

A comfy tree stump awaited Ernest on his morning walk to the pond. Ernest loves nothing more than soaking up some rays on a well-worn tree stump! Click here to view more adventures with Ernest.

Damien Hirst at Gagosian

Anyone with even a vague interest in LA art already knows about this show, but after seeing it in person, post I must! It's the Damien Hirst exhibition "Superstition," at Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills. I really wish the gallery would post some photos of the installation, because it is just impossible to convey the whallop it packs upon entering.

Hirst's new works are enormous and beautiful - at first glance they appear to be stained glass windows, brightly lit from behind. In reality, they are incredible labyrinths of butterflies - some whole, some in parts - arrayed in truly amazing symmetrical designs. The obvious inference of church windows, some a la Notre Dame's round rose windows, others with gothic-esque peaks, convey an almost memorial-like symbolism to the dead creatures.

I know some folks are really disturbed by the use of these deceased creatures, however beautiful they might be. I'd like to naively believe that Hirst didn't actually kill, or have killed, butterflies in the making of these works, but I don't know the truth, and I'd rather not know. Their beauty is so stunning, I'd like to just think of them as a beautiful post-mortem to the fleeting lives of these little critters.

Ernest Visits the Clovers

The adventures of Ernest recently led him to a field of clovers, inspired by the spring-like weather and the impending visit of his Leprachaun cousins. His hunt for the four-leaf variety continues....

Aaron Petersen - my current obsession

There's an artist rep'd at Ruth Bachofner Gallery in Santa Monica named Aaron Petersen. I've loved his work ever since his solo show there last year, but his new works really blow me away! While his earlier pieces had a earthy, muted and mellow feeling, these new works are so sensual and organic.

This triptych, "Metro," is so beautiful, like a red hot sky full of melting balloons and leaking clouds. It looks like how a dark, smoky jazz bar sounds.