Mar 092023
 

 

It often feels like we are oversaturated with images in today’s world, but the energy at the Charles Atlas exhibition A Prune Twin at Luhring Augustine gets the balance right.

From the gallery’s press release-

Luhring Augustine is pleased to announce A Prune Twin, the gallery’s third solo exhibition with pioneering film and video artist Charles Atlas. The presentation will mark the American debut of this major multi-channel installation with sound that was originally commissioned by the Barbican Centre, London as the centerpiece of their 2020 exhibition, Michael Clark: Cosmic Dancer; which traveled to the Victoria and Albert Museum in Dundee, Scotland in 2021.

The collaboration between the two artists began in 1984 when the young dancer, Clark, performed in two single-channel films by Atlas: Parafango and Ex-Romance. However, it was not until the groundbreaking Hail the New Puritan in 1986, that the relationship between the two artists was deeply cemented. Originally commissioned as an arts documentary by Channel 4 of the BBC, Hail the New Puritan turned the genre on its head, presenting a highly stylized and fictionalized version of a typical day in Clark’s life – an “anti-documentary”, as Atlas has called it.  The two artists also worked closely together on another Channel 4 production, Because We Must (1989), which was full of extreme theatricality in its dance, choreography, scenery, costumes, and directorial position.

In A Prune Twin, Atlas pulls material from these two major films to create an immersive eight-channel installation of sound and moving image. He extends the idea of choreography to camera and sound, flowing across and throughout screens and monitors; in this sense, Atlas choreographs his own past material into a new and compelling dance all of its own. Evident in this work, and many others by Atlas, is his strong affection and attraction to exceptionally creative collaborators, his sensitivity to movement and how to capture it on film, and his novel skills as both a storyteller and observer. Much like MC9, an immersive installation that compiles Atlas’ extensive work with Merce Cunningham, A Prune Twin surrounds the viewer in a beautifully choreographed spectacle. The work captures the spirit and passion of a 35-year collaborative relationship, one that continues to this day – currently realized through the lighting design that Atlas produces for all of Clark’s live performances, an endeavor he has undertaken since the 1980s.

Jan 202023
 

Artist Alex Katz created this mural, Bill 2, a portrait of modern dancer and choreographer Bill T. Jones, in 2019 for Murals of La Jolla in San Diego. Murals of La Jolla is a project started in 2010 by The Athenaeum and the La Jolla Community Foundation. It commissions artists to create work to be displayed on buildings around La Jolla. A map of all the murals currently on view can be found here.

From the Murals of La Jolla website about the work-

Alex Katz’s mural, Bill 2, celebrates Bill T. Jones, one of the most noted and recognized modern-dance choreographers of our time. Executed in Katz’s bold and simplified signature style, Bill 2 depicts Jones’ visage, through a series of distinct expressions. The repetition of his face has a cinematic and lyrical quality, reinforcing his place in the world of dance, music and film. Portions of the face are dramatically cropped, giving the viewer only quick and gestural glimpses of Jones. Bill 2, is a striking homage to two artists, Katz and Jones, both renowned in their respective fields of visual and performing arts. The mural’s proximity to the new Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center gives a nod to the interconnected worlds of art, music, and dance.

The Guggenheim museum in NYC is currently showing Alex Katz: Gathering, a retrospective of the artist’s work from the late 1940’s until the present. The exhibition will be up until February 20, 2023.

From their website about the exhibition-

Emerging as an artist in the mid-20th century, Katz forged a mode of figurative painting that fused the energy of Abstract Expressionist canvases with the American vernaculars of the magazine, billboard, and movie screen. Throughout his practice, he has turned to his surroundings in downtown New York City and coastal Maine as his primary subject matter, documenting an evolving community of poets, artists, critics, dancers, and filmmakers who have animated the cultural avant-garde from the postwar period to the present.

Staged in the city where Katz has lived and worked his entire life, and prepared with the close collaboration of the artist, this retrospective will fill the museum’s Frank Lloyd Wright rotunda. Encompassing paintings, oil sketches, collages, drawings, prints, and freestanding “cutout” works, the exhibition will begin with the artist’s intimate sketches of riders on the New York City subway from the late 1940s and will culminate in the rapturous, immersive landscapes that have dominated his output in recent years.

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company has numerous performances every year. Conceived and directed by Bill T. Jones, and choreographed by Jones with Janet Wong and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, the latest work, Curriculum II, will be performed at on March 10, 11, and 12, at the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston.

Jones also hosts the series Bill Chats at NYC’s The New School. On January 30th, he will be in conversation with Bessie Award-winning theater director and performance artist, Niegel Smith and curator, producer, and director, Kamilah Forbes. For more events check out the New York Live Arts calendar.

 

 

Mar 192015
 

Sea Lions- Tell You

Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (3/19-3/22)-

Thursday

The first of the four Venice Art Crawls this year is tonight and will have art, live painting, music, performances and more- https://www.facebook.com/theveniceartcrawl

Jason Reitman’s live read at LACMA for tonight is Dazed and Confused. Advanced tickets are sold out but there will be some available at the door two hours before showtime- http://www.lacma.org/event/live-read-14

Thursday and Friday

The members of The Both return to Largo for Aimee Mann and Ted Leo’s One Way Mission to March: a Springtime Variety Show along with Jonathan Coulton and Tim Heidecker- http://www.largo-la.com/event/787739-aimee-mann-ted-leos-one-way-los-angeles/

Friday

Tijuana Panthers are playing with Oxnard band Sea Lions at the Echo- http://www.theecho.com/event/734779-tijuana-panthers-los-angeles/

Saturday

The Million Dollar Theater downtown is showing Bonnie and Clyde with live jazz/ragtime before the screening ($10)- http://www.grandcentralmarket.com/events/443/bonnie-and-clyde-screening-at-the-million-dollar-theatre

Church Sessions is hosting an evening with John Doe and Exene from X and Robyn Hitchcock at the First Unitarian Church- http://www.theecho.com/event/779743-church-sessions-john-doe-los-angeles/

Sunday

of Montreal is playing at the Regent Theater – http://www.theregenttheater.com/event/746573-montreal-los-angeles/

LAXART gallery in Hollywood is having another panel discussion on photography titled Remembering Forward from 4-6pm (free)- http://laxart.org/events/view/remembering-forward-conversations-on-photography-2/#images

Heidi Duckler Dance Company’s newest piece explores the intersection of dance and architecture as the audience moves around Mayne’s Morphosis in Culver City for Space Opera– discounted to $15 if you are a Culver City resident, or $25 if not- https://heididuckler.secure.force.com/ticket/#details_a0Si00000075EQCEA2

Artist William Pope.L and MOCA Senior Curator Bennett Simpson discuss Pope.L’s Trinket at the MOCA Geffen (free with RSVP and museum admission)- http://sites.moca.org/the-curve/art-talk-william-pope-l-and-bennett-simpson/

Ciclavia is taking over the San Fernando Valley this time- http://beta.ciclavia.org/ciclavia_the_valley

Jan 302014
 

GRMLN- Teenage Rhythm

Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (1/30-2/2)-

Thursday-

Saturday-

Sunday-

  • Opening of Manfred Müller’s- Objects Are Closer Than They Appear at LA Municipal Art Gallery in Barnsdall Park- http://www.lamag.org/

All weekend-

  • Paramount Ranch is having an art festival Saturday and Sunday- it’s the first one and looks intriguing and it’s FREE- http://paramountranch.la/
Dec 192013
 

Suicidal Tendencies- Institutionalized

Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend-

Thursday (12/19)-

Friday (12/20)-

Saturday (12/21)-

Sunday (12/22)-