Sketches: October 16, 2008
Zoophilia: Yes, the economy is sinking inexorably into the mud, thrashing, struggling, choking. Trashy pop magazines sport headlines reading “The End of Capitalism?” Counterintuitively, I seem to have read recently that people were dumping money into that all-so-safe investment, contemporary visual art. It seems the blue chips march ever on untroubled by our dying economy, or even the end of capitalism, and, happily, more and more alternative projects are emerging. This Saturday, curatorial collective Slab Projects is organizing a one-day exhibition at the old L.A. Zoo in Griffith Park. The artists, including Michael Decker, Liz Glynn, Deva Graf, Hilary Graves, George Kontos, Louisa Van Leer, Karen Lofgren, Marco Rios, Ry Rocklen, and Rosha Yaghmai, will use the abandoned cages and habitats to pull out art of the white cube showroom and put it somewhere a little more dangerous. Griffith Park – Old Los Angeles Zoo picnic area, 4730 Crystal Springs Blvd., L.A.
Herzog’s Gifts: I worry most about the young galleries and young artists in this sinking economy, though they always manage with verve, but I’m not worried about artist and librarian Katie Herzog, not because the work is imminently saleable, though it might be, but because something about Herzog’s day job as a librarian so deeply informs her work about the obsession of books and archives that I don’t think the work would quite be the same without manhandling information daily. Katie Herzog: Librariana, Opens Sat., 6-8 p.m., and runs until Nov. 22. Circus Gallery, 7065 Lexington Ave., L.A. circus-gallery.com.
Blue-Chip Wolfgang: So how will the big blue-chip galleries fare during this muddy wreck? Doubtless, Wolfgang Tillmans’ newest show at Regen Projects will do as well as anything else, his market likely being one that will always be rich. Tillmans has written his way into art history, his abstract photograms and playful snaps of friends and lovers influencing a generation of would-be photographers. And once the word “history” gets dropped, the price at least doubles. Wolfgang Tillmans, Half Page, Regen Projects, Opening Reception: Thurs., Oct. 23, 6-8 p.m. Through Dec. 8, 633 N. Almont Dr., L.A. regenprojects.com.
Polyglot in Orange: Few major international events take place in Los Angeles, and even the ones that do are either boldly egocentric or just plain provincial, but the latest edition of the California Biennial opens Oct. 26 with a smattering of California artists, young and old, taking place all over the state but centered at the Orange County Museum of Art. Curated by LAXART director/curator Lauri Firstenberg (with a modest catalogue contribution from yours truly), the Cal-Bi promises to capture for better or worse the polyglot practices going down in California.
2008 California Biennial, Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA), 850 San Clemente Dr., Newport Beach, (949) 759-1122. www.ocma.net.
Published: 10/15/2008
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