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Michael Rossman: All Of Us Or None
It is not likely that many people personally knew, or even heard of, Michael Rossman – yet for those even remotely interested in the alternative culture and politics that thrived in Berkeley, California in the late 1960s, Michael’s spirit looms large. I consider myself fortunate to have known him – however briefly – and to be able to say that…
The Shabbiness of Today’s Art Criticism
As a longtime art critic, and as the Senior Curator for the Riverside Art Museum, one would assume Peter Frank would know the difference between “Social Realism” and “Socialist Realism,” they may sound alike to those unfamiliar with art history, but Frank should know better. In his June 28th LA Weekly review of an exhibit of paintings by Armenian artist,…
Los Angeles in Paris: 1955-1985
The Centre Pompidou in Paris has mounted a major survey of art from Los Angeles, titled Los Angeles 1955-1985: The Birth of an Artistic Capital. The exhibit offers 326 objects produced by over 80 artists working in LA during a thirty year period, tracing the explosion of creativity unique to the city of my birth. The Centre Pompidou website describes…
Bush & the 2007 Venice Biennale
It’s more than a little interesting that the most reactionary administration in America’s history would nominate an openly Gay conceptual artist to be a symbol for the “excellence, vitality, and diversity of the arts in the United States.” The Bush State Department has chosen Felix Gonzalez-Torres to represent the U.S. at the 2007 Venice Biennale, and what a wise pick…
Happy Halloween!
Some years ago I took this photograph at a place of honor and history, Copp’s Hill Burying Ground in North Boston, Massachusetts… established in 1659. To the kids, moms, and dads of Melrose, Massachusetts, where Halloween has been canceled in public schools in order to promote “inclusivity.” Do not be afraid of those goblins and ghosts, just look ‘em in…
DESIGNISM: Instigating Social Change
Designism: Instigating Social Change, was a panel discussion organized by the famed Art Directors Club of New York City, and presented as a forum that would focus on the “role and responsibility of creatives to instigate social change”. Naturally, as an artist long committed to a socially engaged art, the forum sounded interesting, but living and working in L.A. made…