Esoteric Survey

This is your one month warning.  Downtown Modernism  is Sunday, April 28th You don't want to miss it!

Painting by Conrad Woods, 1961 and a planter by Raul Coronel Conrad Woods (1932-1993) was the son of actor Donald Woods .  He studied at UCLA and received a BFA and MFA from the University Illinois, before traveling to Europe and India on a Fulbright Scholarship to study painting and sculpture. Moving to California in 1960, he had gallery representation in Los Angeles and San Diego. While in San Diego, he was included in exhibitions alongside local favorites Richard Allen Morris, Guy Williams, Russell Baldwin, John Baldessari and Bob Matheny.  One such exhibition was in 1964 at Southwestern College. Coincidentally, this relates to my last post on Matheny  since Bob was running the show at the time. It's interesting how things show up out in the field like that. I wonder if Matheny and Morris remember Woods? Image: Objects USA Speaking of out in the field. The painting came from the same estate as these books, which belonged to an architect wh...

BOB MATHENY: ALMOST ANONYMOUS IS THE FIRST MAJOR SURVEY OF THE WORK OF BOB MATHENY This exhibition at the San Diego History Center ends on March 24th!  Since the late 1950s Matheny has developed his expansive practice through the lens of many different disciplines and mediums, including graphic design, sculpture, small press printing, painting, writing, photography, curating and performance. Grounded in the formal tenets of modernist design, but mitigated by a healthy dose of Dada irreverence and Duchampian hijinks, Matheny’s diverse body of work is a singular blend of craftsmanship and concept, idea and object, wit and intelligence. Matheny’s legacy in San Diego’s art community also extends to his role as a committed and progressive educator. In the early 1960s he was the first full-time art instructor at Southwestern College in Chula Vista, a position he held for three decades. During his tenure at Southwestern Matheny founded and programmed the college’s art ...

Malcolm Leland sculpture I picked up a nice little group of early Leland ceramics. This is Leland too.  Kenji Fujita, Bernard Kester and a cup by Daniel Rhodes and Don Reitz Leather sling chair, Kai Kristiansen nesting tables and Don Shoemaker bookends

Thanks to everyone who participated in Mod Swap and especially to our host, One Bunk .  The first few Mod Swaps took place between a group of friends in their backyards. We love that it still has the same spirit. Vintage Modern SD Lisa Cliff Collection and the Museum of California Design Greg Ledesma That's right, $1 architecture mags from  Modern San Diego . The Dave Hampton files Lisa Cliff Collection Cara Golden Pan dulce from Panchitas ! The  One Bunk  team and venue is top notch.

The Glen Lukens house by Raphael Soriano (1940) is up for sale. Listed at nearly $2 million, it has been fully restored by Barry Milofsky of M2A Architects. It's on a huge beautifully-landscaped lot in the historic West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles. It's an important house beyond the architecture. T here is no way to overstate the importance of Glen Lukens (1887-1967) in the world of California ceramics.  It was commissioned when Lukens was teaching ceramics and metalwork at USC. Soriano had graduated from USC in 1934 and later returned as a lecturer in the architecture program, where Lukens was teaching metalwork.  Lukens lived in the house from 1940 to 1959. In addition to his innovative glaze work, while at USC he led the ceramics department where Laura Andreson, Susan Peterson, Carlton Ball, Harrison McIntosh, Beatrice Wood, Doyle Lane and Vivika and Otto Heino were all a part of.  Frank Gehry also took a Lukens ceramics class at U...