February 21-27, 2008
By Alfred Lee
PORTRAITS IN JAZZ
There’s nothing new about fine artists using jazz musicians as subject matter. As far back as the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, painters like Archibald Motley, Jr. considered jazz and its makers as subjects worthy of serious interpretation. As jazz has been marginalized from mainstream entertainment, the players are seldom depicted in contemporary art. When they are – especially in present day Los Angeles – the level of expression seldom rises above gushing fandom or naive folk art.
Painter Tim Townsley has been addressing jazz musicians in his work for a number of years. He paints figuratively and the human figure is consistent in his wide-ranging oeuvre. Townsley, who speaks rapidly and directly, notes that jazz is something that he returns to periodically. “I get bored quickly,” he confesses. “But I love jazz, so I keep coming back to painting musicians.”
His new show of paintings, Jazz Impressions – the opening reception of which is Thursday, February 21 – won’t be hosted by a gallery. Townsley’s latest offering will sit in the Crowne Plaza Hotel LAX, preceding an evening performance by pianist and singer Dena DeRose.
Although he studied formally at Otis Art Institute, UCLA and Cal State L.A., Townsley has a practical background that few painters have. He painted sets, backdrops, and movie mattes for about 25 years. “I grew up in North Hollywood,” he notes, “and my dad worked in the studios. I learned some tricks when I got to work with Benny Carrera. He was about 70 and he’d worked with D.W. Griffith. He could sightline a big wall and figure out the perspective of a scene, within two or three inches of accuracy.”
Townsley’s pieces vary in their mode of expression and their intent. “Most of the musicians I’m interested in painting are gone,” he confesses, “So I have to rely on photographs.” Though depictions of the arch of tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins’s distinctive head or Billie Holiday’s regal cheekbones are accurate, Townsley doesn’t duplicate photographic images. “I try to play with what’s there. Depending on what it suggests to me, I’ll work tight or loose.” A head portrait of pianist Oscar Peterson – painted a la prima in a couple of hours – roils with energy and seems to move before your eyes. “I’m always playing with color and line,” he notes, “so painterly things like focus or depth of field can bring a psychological aspect to the subject.”
–Kirk Silsbee
Jazz Expressions opening reception. Thur. at 4:30 p.m. Free. Crowne Plaza LAX, Brasserie Jazz Lounge, 5985 W. Century Blvd., L.A., (310) 642-7500. In-housemusic.com.
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THIS WEEK IN THE CITY
THURSDAY 21
ZELL’S SELL
It didn’t take long for much of L.A. to discover that it loves to hate Sam Zell. The almost proudly coarse new owner of the Tribune Company, and thus the L.A. Times, has made the most of the spotlight with a few widely reported f-bombs and porn jokes; he’ll say hello perhaps more cordially to the general public tonight at the Hammer, in a conversation with Judy D. Olian, dean of the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Just don’t get him started about puppy dogs. 7 p.m. Free. 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood, (310) 443-7000. Hammer.ucla.edu.
FRIDAY 22
DRUMS NOT DEAD
The indie rock (emphasis on rock) show of the young year plugs in tonight at the El Rey, with two deserving bands vying for your T-shirt allegiances. In one corner we have Brooklyn’s mercurial Liars, who move from dance-punk to more experimental drone with equal aplomb; in the other, L.A.’s recent punk breakout No Age, momentarily leaving their home turf at The Smell for the wider cross-section that’s been promised to them ever since The New Yorker and Pitchfork jumped on board. Chances are you’ve never seen this many kids rocking the skinny jeans-earplugs combo. 8 p.m. $15. El Rey, 5515 Wilshire Blvd., L.A., (323) 936-6400. Theelrey.com.
SATURDAY 23
STOP, DON’T SHOP
You’d think the title would say it all, but the Make Art/Stop AIDS exhibit at UCLA’s Fowler Museum is no auction fundraiser. Instead, its engagement with the AIDS epidemic is strictly to be found in the art it features. More than 60 contemporary works, from documenting photographs to more conceptual pieces about the fear of touching, aim to educate and inspire viewers. Tonight’s opening reception is preceded by Ntare Mwine’s reading of Biro, a one-man play based on the true story of a Ugandan man who ends up in America homeless and HIV-positive. 8 p.m.-11 p.m. Free. Fowler Museum, UCLA, Westwood, (310) 825-4361. Fowler.ucla.edu.
SUNDAY 24
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
For those who can’t stand the idea of Academy members getting to have all the Oscar fun tonight, the Alex Theatre hosts its “2nd Annual Red Carpet Gala,” complete with drinks, hors d’oeuvres, a big HD screen, and that rouge rug. The $80 ticket goes toward fundraising for the nonprofit Set Decorators Society of America, and the Alex itself (4 p.m.; 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale, 818-243-2539; Alextheatre.org). I’d rather go the TiVo/DVR route myself, or at least spend the evening with some film buffs and leather sofas at the Silent Movie Theatre’s “Oscar Night with the Cinefamily” (4 p.m.; $10; 611 N. Fairfax Ave., L.A. 323-655-2510; Silentmovietheatre.com).
MONDAY 25
THE WHOLE STORY
First novelists are in general an ambitious bunch, but apparently few more so than literary newcomer Steve Toltz, whose A Fraction of the Whole dares to sprawl out its intercontinental father-son comedy across 500-plus pages and has captured the heart of many a seasoned book reviewer. Toltz presents tonight at Book Soup (7 p.m.; 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, 310-659-3110; Booksoup.com). Scheduled there earlier in the week is Charles Ferguson, a fellow first-timer in a different medium – the reputable academic’s recent debut film, No End in Sight, was an irrefutable argument against the Bush administration’s competency in Iraq. He presents and signs the book version Friday at 7 p.m.
TUESDAY 26
GREEN CINE
Anxiety of Influence literary theorist Harold Bloom would have a field day with the work of filmmaker David Gordon Green, who only now seems to be stepping out of arthouse giant Terrence Malick’s shadow. The American Cinematheque’s tribute to Green starts tonight with a screening of his 2000 debut feature George Washington, which borrowed effectively from Malick’s dreamy style of camerawork and voice-over narration. He’ll be present at all screenings. The series culminates with the February 28 screening of upcoming release Snow Angels, his first time working from adapted material. 7:30 p.m. $10; $8 students. Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., (323) 466-3456. Americancinematheque.com.
WEDNESDAY 27
A LENSER’S CRAFT
Speaking of both Malick and the Oscars, no film last year tipped its Malickian influence more than The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Its cinematographer, Roger Deakins, may very well hold an Oscar trophy in his hand – either for Jesse James or No Country for Old Men, which he was also nominated for – by the time he appears tonight at the Billy Wilder Theater. Deakins is participating in the Curtis Hanson-hosted “The Movie That Inspired Me” series, with a screening and discussion of Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1969 French Resistance thriller Army of Shadows. 7:30 p.m. $9; $8 students. 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood. Info: (310) 206-3456 or Cinema.ucla.edu.
Published: 02/20/2008
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