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Art, Artists, Features, LA Iconoclasts

HOLLYWOOD IS A VERB. © Ed Ruscha. Edward Ruscha Studio.
ED RUSCHA is as much a part of LA as its sunsets, freeways, wildfires, and beaches. Lest we limit him as a regionalist, let us remember that California itself is a slippery character, an idea as much as a place. As the artist incisively observed in one of his late 70s pastels, “Hollywood is a verb.” Ruscha moved to LA from Oklahoma to attend Chouinard Art Institute in 1956. While a student there he fell in with what he jokingly refers to as the “wrong crowd”: artists like Billy Al Bengston and Robert Irwin, pioneers of LA Pop and the Finish Fetish movement, which appropriated the seductive sheen of Southern California topography, car culture, and surf culture. Ruscha and his colleagues were key progenitors of California cool. Working in relative isolation compared to New York, the contemporary art center of the 60s and 70s, Ruscha is a prolific producer of paintings, drawings, photographs, and books that draw directly and indirectly from LA as a subject, and have played a critical role in creating its cultural mystique today. He spoke to Fabrik about the germinal days of the LA art scene and his evolving relationship with the city.
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Even after the Olympics, eyes remain fixed on China – that is, on the Chinese art scene. Over the past several years the floodgates have opened, and even as the international art ... continue
This portfolio is drawn from an exhibition at the Edward Cella Gallery in Santa Barbara that explores – through the drawings of one of the most important architectural illustrators of his time ... continue
Artist and designer Laura S. Howe sews “Size is Relative” onto some of the labels identifying her clothing line. The practice informing this admirable flexibility can be experienced through her clothing store, ... continue
On November 13, Starlight Children’s Foundation is hosting a photography exhibit and auction in Los Angeles called The Indomitable Spirit to honor the inspirational strength of seriously ill children and their families.
Participating ... continue
ED RUSCHA is as much a part of LA as its sunsets, freeways, wildfires, and beaches. Lest we limit him as a regionalist, let us remember that California itself is a slippery character, an idea as much as a place. As the artist incisively observed in one of his late 70s pastels, “Hollywood is a verb.” Ruscha moved to LA ... continue
Even after the Olympics, eyes remain fixed on China – that is, on the Chinese art scene. Over the past several years the floodgates have opened, and even as the international art world keeps penetrating this potentially vast, recently affluent market, a concomitant rush of new art is making its way out of the once-closed society. Chinese artists have actually been striving for decades to catch up with and participate in the world's artistic discourse; finally, the world has been reciprocating, with mounting - and sometimes irrational – enthusiasm. Chinese artists now rattle the cages of the art world the ... continue
Second Thursday of Every Month, 12 p.m. - 9 p.m.
The Downtown Art Walk is a free, self-guided tour of the many art exhibition venues in Downtown L.A. — commercial art galleries, museums, and non-profit arts venues. Public information and a printable map of the Downtown Art Walk are available at http://www.downtownartwalk.com.
The FREE Art Walk DASH shuttle loops throughout Gallery Row on Art Walk nights from 7-10 pm, with the last bus leaving at 9:45 pm. continue