Posted in SG EXHIBITIONS on 04/02/2010 05:44 pm by admin
For the first time ever, Sullivan Goss painted the walls for a new exhibition that I put together called THE LAST NEW CENTURY: American Art from 1880-1920. Some people will see the show and will complain that the work actually dates from between 1878 and “c. 1920s” (read: 1920-1925), but these are people who enjoy finding fault. I salute these people. The world needs more critics.
Whether the exhibition really helps meet its mandate to explore the aesthetic and intellectual upheaval that came with the turn of the last new century, I don’t know. I will say that I am enormously enamored by the American Barbizon wall as well as the Symbolist wall.
The new exhibition design really helped me appreciate an older aesthetic. The rooms invite intimacy and seem to call for a leisurely glass of absinthe and a bit of poetry. Come on baby, let’s party like it’s 1899…
Posted in SG EXHIBITIONS on 07/21/2009 06:34 pm by admin
Charles Donelan wrote a nice review of a show that I co-curated with Art Historian Danielle Peltakian called Edgar Ewing: The Later Works. Donelan managed, once again, to find an obscure literary connection to the artist that made me feel like I hadn’t done my homework. (He did the same thing in a review of LA NOIR he wrote for art ltd. magazine.) Still, it was a thoughtful piece.
I hope that it gets people to come see the show. The installation turned out quite elegant and the video was pretty solid, too.
Posted in SG EXHIBITIONS on 06/04/2009 03:48 pm by admin
I am very pleased to report that the gallery has just received two new reviews of exhibitions that I curated (or helped to curate in the case of Hassel Smith). Sadly, one of the reviews came after the show had come down.
Both reviews were thoughtful, well-written and positive. Neither journal ever really publishes negative reviews, but some are rather more tepid in their praise. (”This exhibition had a full range of color.” “The walls were pristine white.” “I left happy.”) The exhibitions reviewed:
L.A. NOIR: THE DARK SIDE OF ART IN LOS ANGELES
Reviewed by Charles Donelan of the Santa Barbara Independent
HASSEL SMITH: ONE OF AMERICA’S FIRST ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISTS
Reviewed by Heather Jeno of TheMagLA.com
Posted in PROJECTS, SG EXHIBITIONS on 06/01/2009 01:16 pm by admin
As promised in an earlier post, here is a picture of our fancy new audio-visual set up. Today was the first day that people used our new setup. It had precisely the effect that we intended. It entertained, it educated and it got them interested in finding out more about our videos online.
Somebody get me a band-aid, I’m on the cutting edge.
(While you’re studying this lo-fi iPhone picture for meaning, please be sure to revel in the absurd greatness that is displayed by this pair of Howard Warshaw paintings.)
