Art Talk

So, at last, the happy dog days of summer are here again. Yes, I know I am mixing metaphors, but it's been hot - almost 90 degrees, even here in Santa Monica, so I do have an excuse. Last weekend, se…

A little more than a year ago, MOCA, LA's Museum of Contemporary Art, was on its deathbed. After years of living beyond its means by illegally dipping into its endowment, the museum finally came to …

Mother Nature, in cahoots with the Gods and Muses, often treats architects and artists very differently.  While architects tend to reach creative maturity and develop their unique style later in life…

I just returned from San Francisco, and let me tell you, I am jealous - very jealous. I went there for the opening of the new exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art... In an unpreceden…

When the late Hollywood comedian Rodney Dangerfield was ranting that he didn't “get no respect,” he was actually building a solid foundation for his career. But when 19th century French painter Jean-…

A few days apart, we Angelenos lost two major players in the cultural life of our city.  First came the shocking news of the untimely death at age 69 of James Wood, the President and CEO of the Getty…

The life of Arshile Gorky, one of the most famous mid-century American artists, was marked by tragedy from the very beginning.  Born around 1902 in an Armenian province of Ottoman Turkey, he and his …

This past Memorial Day weekend turned out to have yet another sad dimension. Yes, we honored the memory of untold thousands of American soldiers who lost their lives on the battlefield in service of …

When I think about artists who excel at the art of portraiture, I am thinking about those whom I admire not just for capturing the likeness of a sitter, but those who, courageously and in the most un…

When I went to Christopher Grimes Gallery for the opening of the exhibition of paintings by Scott Short, I didn't detect any signs of crisis. There were only two large, abstract, black and white pai…

One of the guilty pleasures of being an art critic is having the chance to visit artists in their studios, ask questions, look at art closely, hear the stories, and - yes, smell the paint. When an a…

If I had the chance to be in New York today, the Christie's saleroom in Rockefeller Center would be the place I'd try to sneak into, to watch the high-profile sale of the outstanding private collecti…

As expected, last week's program titled "Let Me Confess..." about the three churches I went rather spontaneously to on Sunday afternoon generated more responses than usual. One listener wrote: "Edwa…

Let me start by admitting that last Sunday I did something very...hmm, shall I say...unusual?  It's not just that I went to church, but that in one afternoon I went to three churches.  And I must con…

The past week turned out to be challenging and very hard on some of my friends. It brought a trifecta of bad news, affecting them and their friends. I would probably still be singing the blues if not…

Last week was special indeed. Most of my friends were busy celebrating either Passover or Easter, so I felt compelled to do something for my spirit as well. As my luck would have it, American Cinemat…

For me, going to see an exhibition or a movie or a new play, it's always the same: the biggest surprise comes when I have no expectations, and the biggest disappointment occurs when, for whatever rea…

It was a hell of a trip, at least the beginning of it: my morning flight to New York was delayed for three hours because of the storm there, and then...the flight was simply cancelled. Great. The onl…

Week after week may pass without any surprise while I'm dutifully visiting numerous gallery and museum exhibition. So you can understand why last week turned out to be particularly rewarding – I stum…

When I went to New York last December, I rushed to the Metropolitan Museum to see the exquisite small exhibition of 18th century French painter Antoine Watteau. It was the closing day of the show, an…