Esoteric Survey

  Calder and Abstraction , at LACMA No photos allowed, and there were plenty of guards making sure of it.  Trust me, you need to go see this exhibit. James Turrell: A Retrospective , also at  LACMA   James Turrell, " Breathing Light " is an 8 minute  walk-in environment with a constantly changing spectrum of lights. Art that you have to take your shoes off for is the best. Turrell and Eames Along with the light pieces are several exhibits that deal with larger scale works, like the  Roden Crater Project and other site-specific works.  There's a lot of ephemera too. I wish I was on the ball and was able get a spot to see Perceptual Cell and Dark Matters before they sold out.    If you haven't already been, don't forget to go to  TANYA AGUIÑIGA : FIBER ELEMENTS  at  Reform She'll be at LACMA soon too. Wanna bet?

A Robert Irwin groupie poses with the artist after his talk last night at the Parma Payne Goodall Alumni Center at SDSU. She's really an art professor at SDSU, but there was a line of fans waiting to get their pictures taken with Irwin.   Poster for Ferus Gallery's The Studs exhibition, Los Angeles, 1964. The photo on the right is  Billy Al Bengston,  Allen Lynch, Robert Irwin, Craig Kauffman, John Altoon, Ed Kienholz, and Ed Moses, Los Angeles, 1958 Some things never change. At 85, Robert Irwin is still a stud (see photo above). Image: East of Borneo Untitled,  1961 Irwin's talk focused on his artistic journey of reduction, beginning with his abstract expressionist phase.  The end product would be to get to the point of "pure energy". Image: Christie's  Untitled,  1964 The reduction progresses. Image: Christie's  Untitled,  1966. O il, dots on canvas with bowed wood frame Now...

The ferry ride out to Naoshima. This Yayoi Kusama sculpture is next to the ferry landing. This is the view from my room at the Benesse House Park hotel.  Tadao Ando designed the hotel and the adjoining museum.  Those are George Rickey sculptures in the reflecting pool.  There was a Helen Frankenthaler print hanging in the room. Not bad for hotel art. Art at the Benesse House Park Another Yayoi Kusama sculpture. This one is in front of the  Benesse House Park site. Look at the framed piece!  Bruce Nauman neon piece in the  Benesse House Museum.  They also had a great Cy Twombly and a pretty good Donald Judd. Benesse House Museum Benesse House Museum I thought this was an actual plant growing inside the museum but it's a wood sculpture by Yoshihiro Suda.   Benesse House Museum  Dinner at the  Benesse House Museum Restaurant, Issen. They made me a special vege...