Friday, October 9, 1998
The gray area
ART: The Armand Hammer Museum delves into the vast valley of
Los Angeles art, filling in the gaps between sunshine and
noir
By Cheryl Klein
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
On one side, there’s the sunshine: Ken Price’s radiant ceramic
"Bubbles," a sort of gilded lava flow, is the size of a small
poodle and gleams like the glitziest day in Los Angeles.
Then there’s the noir: Chris Burden’s "L.A.P.D. Uniform" evokes
all the connotations those four letters are infamous for. A row of
uninhabited uniforms, sewn 10 percent larger than life size, form
an unblinking barricade, complete with guns and night sticks, and
void of compassion.
"They sort of loom over the viewers in a very powerful way to
express that idea of an overpowering force within the city," UCLA
Armand Hammer co-curator Mary Kay Lombino says.
These two pieces exemplify the polarized image of Los Angeles
held by many non-Angelenos. It’s not surprising to learn, then,
that the Armand Hammer Museum’s newest exhibit is the brainchild of
Danish curators Lars Nittve and Helle Crenzien. Originating at
Denmark’s Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, "Sunshine & Noir: Art
in L.A. 1960-1997" has made acclaimed stops in Germany and Italy as
well.
But needless to say, enthusiasm abroad can’t compensate for the
inevitable scrutiny of hometown viewers who have strong opinions
about favorite local artists and a keen awareness that there is a
vast gray area between glittering movie premieres and smoldering
riots.
"This exhibit could have been three to four times larger,"
confesses Russell Ferguson, who contributed an essay to "Sunshine
& Noir’s" 237-page catalog. "Instead, it’s sort of a
smorgasbord," he says with a nod to an amused Lars Nittve.
The Armand Hammer neither denies such inherent weaknesses nor
passively presents a sketchy exhibit. Instead, the museum called on
over 30 local galleries to fill in the gaps. This sort of
innovation seems like quintessential Los Angeles – in a city whose
diversity is patched together by the 405 and the 10 freeways, and
in an exhibit whose logo imitates a freeway sign, a little drive
time may be the best road to a true portrait.
Art enthusiasts can also take an interactive approach, thanks to
three symposia of artists and gallery personnel at the Geffen
Playhouse.
Lombino predicts opinions and questions that may arise once fans
and collaborators start talking.
"Artists feel very strongly about this exhibition; that it is
not the complete picture, but if (we had tried to form) a complete
picture, where do you draw the line? What parameters could we have
possibly set that would make a more perfect show? And in that
discussion, you’ll realize it would have been impossible."
Which is not to say that the exhibition is without significance,
or even without a story to tell about its hometown. To begin with,
it solidifies an art scene that has historically taken a back seat
to New York and been dismissed as "regional" rather than noted for
its universal themes.
"The term ‘regional art’ often takes into consideration things
like climate and the sort of feel of this area, but these artists
have dealt with issues outside their own community," Lombino says.
"They don’t make art just about Los Angeles."
While Dennis Hopper’s black-and-white photos have the glamorous
look of frozen film frames, and David Hockney’s "Beverly Hills
Housewife" captures the isolation of elegance with its stark,
controlled pinks, greens and zebra stripes, many works aren’t
nearly as Angelic.
Take Jennifer Pastor’s "Bridal Cave," a tower of "Alien"-esque
mucus spewing from a plastic wedding cake. Or Laura Aguilar’s
"Clothed/Unclothed" series of portraits, as distinctive in their
everyday serenity as Hopper’s are in their movie star-allure.
But Los Angeles, the tip of the Western frontier, has always
been about experimentation. So perhaps it’s appropriate that
"Sunshine & Noir" is nearly uncategorizable in terms of both
subject matter and media. Ranging from more traditional painting
and sculpture to Doug Wheeler’s walk-in chamber of neon light, the
exhibit offers that art can neither be contained nor defined.
Consistent with this approach are two "samplers" of work from
video artists going as far back as the 1970s – work that has been
repeatedly omitted from other exhibits and even one stop on
"Sunshine & Noir’s" itinerary.
"The medium of video comes with a lot of baggage," Lombino
explains. "You need the equipment, which is often expensive and you
need the time and you need patience on the viewer’s part because
often they take a long time to watch. So a lot of the artists who
are included in these video samplers are artists who’ve been
working just as long and just as creatively in Los Angeles as the
other artists in the show. But very few have the same kind of
recognition."
Ultimately, the show may prove as eye-opening for locals as it
did for Europeans, given its breadth and the lack of attention paid
to many of the exhibitors in the past.
"It was purely out of personal reasons that I began my
research," Nittve says. "I found out that a lot of the artists I
was interested in were from L.A. so I checked libraries for
information on them, but there wasn’t much written on the subject.
I thought, ‘Maybe the initiative has to come from the
outside.’"
It did, and with luck Angelenos will board their own bandwagon,
even if the form it takes is criticism. But in a town where one of
the biggest sculptures is nine white letters jutting shamelessly
from the side of the Hollywood Hills, the exhibit’s collaborators
caution not to take the artwork too seriously.
"This isn’t something someone should find some end-all meaning
in," Lombino says. "Viewing the art itself is probably the best
experience you’ll get out of it."
Following that vein of fun, sponsor Absolut created two drinks
for the show: the Sunshine (involving Citron vodka and triple sec)
and the Noir (a vodka martini with a black olive). And even Nittve
admits an ulterior motive in organizing the show.
"It was great flying here in the winter from Denmark," he
laughs.
ART: "Sunshine & Noir: Art in L.A. 1960-1997" is on display
at the UCLA Armand Hammer Museum through Jan. 3. Admission is $4.50
for adults, $1 for UCLA students and free for everyone on
Thursdays, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. For more information, call (310)
443-7000.Photos courtesy of UCLA Armand Hammer Museum of Art and
Cultural Center
"Beverly Hills Housewife" by David Hockney will be on display in
the "Sunshine & Noir" exhibit at the Armand Hammer Museum.
"Walter Hopps Hopps Hopps" by Ed Kienholz, one of the artists
featured in "Sunshine & Noir."
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