Richard Diebenkorn Berkeley Years in Palm Springs

My friend Penny and I roamed through the Richard Deibenkorn exhibit at the Palm Springs Art Museum on Tuesday.  We connected to the audio tour via cell phones and enjoyed the colors and creations of the artist during while he lived in Berkeley, CA from 1953 to 1966.  This Abstract Expressionist painter turned to painting figures and landscapes during this period...often in combination with his abstract architectural paintings.  Some Abstractionists were outraged...others admired his combination of painting styles.  Certainly his figures of people, still lifes and landscapes we very "impressionistic."  He was highly influenced by Matisse...a post impressionist painter.  In fact in one of the paintings, he duplicated a detailed wallpaper pattern that Matisse painted.

Diebenkorn was born in 1922 in Portland, Oregon and moved with his family to San Francisco when he was 2.  He entered Stanford University in 1940.  He lived around the country including New York where he developed his style of abstract expressionist painting.  He served in the Marines during WWII and used the G.I. Bill to earn his MFA at the University of New Mexico.

In his early Berkeley years he carried over the color palate of New Mexico soil and scenes.  Later he added brighter primary colors in his paintings influenced by the Berkeley and San Francisco architecture and landscape.  

In 1967, he moved to Santa Monica in the Ocean Park neighborhood where he dropped his painting of figures and created abstract paintings influence by the light, color, and landscape of the Southern California beach life near the studio of his friend Sam Francis, also an abstract expressionist painter.  He was also a professor at UCLA.  In 1985, he moved to a house on the Russian River in Sonoma County North of San Francisco to get away from the busy and noisy city. He died in 1993 from complications from emphysema.

Below are pictures of a few of the over 100 paintings and drawings on display in Palm Springs:

Richard Diebenkorn 1956

Figure on a Porch 1959

Seawall 1957

Untitled 1955

LA Phil Rehearsal Concert

On Friday, Colleen and I enjoyed a rehearsal/concert of the LA Phil conducted by the young Polish conductor, Krzysztof Urbanski.  He is currently the Music Director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and is in demand as a guest conductor all over the world.

The opening piece was entitled Krzesany which was composed in 1974 by the Polish Wojcech Kilar who was born in 1932.  This 15 minute number had an giant orchestra filling the stage.  This included 10 basses, 4 timpani players, four of all the woodwinds, 4 of the each of the brass...except just one tuba, Norman.  The percussion section was jammed with tom-toms, cow bells, base drum, snare drum, gong, cymbals and all sorts of other bells including sheep-bells.  It was a rousing beginning to a great morning.

About a third of the orchestra left before we heard Chopin's Piano Concerto No.2 in F minor with the 26 year-old Khatia Buniatishvili on the piano.  She was born in Tbilisi, Georgia.

After intermission we witnessed the performance of Prokofiev's Symphony No.5 in B-Flat Major. This Russian composer lived from 1891 to 1953.  His works reflect the "heavy" themes in Russia during his life.

Lang Lang at the Grammy Museum on Wednesday

Colleen and I enjoyed an interview with the great young Chinese pianist, Lang Lang last evening. The interview was conducted by the CEO of the Grammy Museum, Robert Santelli.  After the hour long interview, Lang Lang gave a wonderful performance of  Tchaikovsky, Mozart, and Chopin music.  His final gift was playing a very fast Chinese composition.

Lang Lang will be performing at the Grammy awards on Sunday with Metalica...the rock band.  This should be interesting.  He is 31 years old and lives in New York now with frequent trips to China.  His English is very American and very good.  He said that his favorite orchestra and conductor is the L.A. Phil with Gustavo Dudamel.  He seemed genuine...but his also very diplomatic.  Here are a few pictures of the interview and his performance at the intimate Grammy museum auditorium at L.A. Live.

Roaming on Wilshire Blvd. to explore a couple of Galleries on Wednesday

The first gallery I explored was the Steve Turner Contemporary gallery across from LACMA.  The title of the exhibit is "Single Image," a two-person exhibition by New York based artists Brendan Lynch (born 1985 in LA) and Alex Ito (born 1991 in LA).  As the description sheet states "the works on view all stem from a pact between the two artists whereby each agreed to make work inspired by a found photographic image that depicts a white sheet billowing in the wind...to draw heavily upon his own imagination to create works - and viewers would have to do the same."

Lynch presents a group of paintings and a sculptural installation that incorporate multiple copies of the found photograph.  He also present his own desk and a laptop computer with the image of the sheet and a painting of the same image created by the artist brother.

Alex Ito's work is a mix of painting and sculpture.   "His paintings consist of three abutting panels, one with stream of consciousness text that he wrote in reaction to the source image."  "His sculptures consist of a group of installations comprised mostly of office materials together with the found image... open scripts  with multiple meanings."

The painting of the subject photograph was done by both artists identically...with their own signature.  This  one was done by Alex Ito.  

By Brendan Lynch

By Brendan Lynch 2013, oil and photographs on wood panel

The painting by Brendan Lynch's brother

Brandon Lynch's desk with painting "Work Makes Work," 2013

"A Pact Between Two Friends," 2913 by Alex Ito.  Plaster, plastic and digital print on aluminum.

The Edward Cella Art and Architecture gallery featured two artists. Spencer Lewis work is abstract mostly p;us interesting I Pad paintings of his mother.  He was with his mother when she was dying.  His paintings are mounted on walls with electric plugs and wainscoting like the hospital room where she spent her last days.   Here are some of his works:

"Mama told me never to stop til I bust a nut" - Decapitated Headwall, 2013.  Note the wainscoting, paper wall plugs and the I Pad painting of mother.

"Black Figure (the first Hedda painting), 2013

"Small Double Bikini Altar with Roses and Scenes from the Annunciation," 2011

"Bradford 19," 2012-13 and "Bradford 69," 2012-13

"Bradford 36," 2012-13 iPad App:  Brushes

"The Whole World," 2013

The second artist's works exhibited are by Joshua Aster.  "Aster presents optically intricate oil paintings that expand upon the artist's ongoing investigations into pattern and mark making..use of tools and repetitive forms are transformed through his intuitive color sensibility and innovative aggregation into lyrical yet dynamic abstractions.  Here are a few of his works:

Groovin with the Eagles at the Fab Forum on Saturday Night

It was a night of fun with Colleen, her two sisters, brother, and brother-in-law.  We crawled into a Limo at Patrick's house and glided to the newly refurbished Forum where we sang along with the Eagles as they performed their History Tour program.  They talked about and played all their major hits from 1971 to the present.  They played and sang (and we sang along) for 3 hours. 

That was my culture for the week as I was a bit under the weather mid week.  I did, however, enjoy a walk on the beach in this amazing California weather we have been having.

Here are a few pictures:

A visit to Bergamot Station Galleries on Thursday

The many galleries at Bergamot Station on Michigan in Santa Monica are continually changing their exhibits and several were in process when I roamed through.  Below is what I discovered today.

Below are two paintings from the Patrick Painter West Gallery by Andrew Piedilato from Brooklyn, NY.  The press release states "Through this body of work, Piedilato resolves issues of space, color and juxtaposition...the artist's struggle with blank space on the canvas, both literally and figuratively...with their energetic combinations of texture, color and motif, each painting functions as an entire world within itself."

"Q-bert," 2008

"Notebook Paper," 2009

The next stop was the Craig Krull Gallery and several artist.  The first is Phranc, an American singer-songwriter whose career has spanned several decades, and is known for her cardboard and craft fine art.  Born as Susan Gottlieb in Santa Monica in 1957, she still resides there.

These look like winter clothing and toys hung on a wall.  They are actually made of card board as the close ups below better show.

"Girl's Anorak with Mittens," 2013



Paintings by Nicole Strasburg, 2013



The Rosamund Felsen Gallery had just installed an exhibit of the works of Jean Lowe:  Lost Time.  The West Gallery houses an installation of a library with sections ranging from Food and Wine to Religion and Spirituality, these titles "comment on various aspects of contemporary culture."    What looks like actual books on shelves is actually a digitalized rendering of the papier-mache books Lowe has been fabricating since 1994.

My favorite in this section is at the bottom of my piccture "Freelancing in the New Economy"...yest that is a stick up.

The Talisman fine Art gallery featured photography by Paula Stoeke.

"Demeter's First Love From the Series Myth and Memory" by Paula Stoeke

The Skidmore Contemporary Art Gallery featured the oil paintings of Kelly Reemtsen.  She shows fancily dressed women with interesting tools...don't mess with them.

"Shear Pleasure" 2011

The TAG Gallery has a group show of all 41 of their artists.  A reception and silent auction will be held on the 25th to support the Santa Monica Malibu Educatioon Foundation.

Peter Kempson created this portrait of the Queen using mixed media.  If you look closely you will see photos of members of the royal family including lace on the right created by wedding pictures of the Queen and other members of the family.

"Steven Spielberg, Director" you can see that Peter Kempson references many of Spielberg's pictures.

Ernie Marjoram painted with oil these tempting treats. 

The JNA Gallery was featuring a group show.  Here are a couple of my favorites.

This delicious oil painting is "Lime Emotion" by Ganna Halvorsen

This playful acrylic on canvas, "Hockney," takes David Hockney's swimming pool scene a step further with an overflow caused by the dive and the need for sandbags.  It is by Ervin Kaplan.

This was just hung at the William Turner Gallery for a show that begins Saturday called "Shape Shift" with works by Charles Arnoldi, Dawn Arrowsmith, Michael Braden and Peter Lodato.