Esoteric Survey

Last weekend I visited the new Geffen Galleries at LACMA. The project was designed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. It's been in the works for two decades! It's so LA to have a car in the museum, which obviously the point. It's a really good example of an Avanti, as is the Ruth Asawa. I love this huge ceramics table, especially the lack of acrylic. Doyle Lane bowl They painted the metal brackets to match the glazes. Another Lane A big Natzler. Bernard Kester with Laura Andreson is a nice LA moment. Beato is in the front right. John Mason I took some photos of some older things too, like this Mayan ceramic from 400-600 CE. The plastics room. Kay Sekimachi These college buddies were also in the plastics gallery. Clock by Frank Cumming III Long Chair by Marcel Breuer DCW by Charles and Ray Eames With a nice Evans paper label from 1947-ish. Dora De Larios The Dora sculptures line the walkway that crosses over Wilshire. The Latin American design section Lina Bo Bardi Quilts on ...

Picking up the Frimkess pieces last weekend reminded me that I never did a post on  LACMA's exhibition on Magdalena. I saw it in September of 2024.  Magdalena Suarez Frimkess: The Finest Disregard was the first museum exhibition dedicated to Magdalena. Although she is mostly known for her ceramics, the Venezuelan-born, Los Angeles-based artist was trained in painting, printmaking, and sculpture in Venezuela, Chile, and New York. Spanning more than five decades, the exhibition features ceramics, paintings, and drawings, including works created with her husband, Michael Frimkess. Magdalena was born in Caracas, Venezuela in 1929. She was orphaned at seven years old when her mother passed from cancer. After being raised by nuns, she moved to Chile at 19. She moved to the US when she was 33 after she was offered a residency at the Clay Art Center in New York. That is where she met her future husband Michael. They moved to Los Angeles in 1964 and they opened there studio in V...