Est. 1992
Mat Gleason 
It was the first Lisa Yuskavage exhibition in Los Angeles in thirty years, or so the Zwirner press release tells us. Some of us were there though, it was actually 29 years ago at Christopher Grimes Gallery in Santa Monica, but okay, it’s been a while. Almost three decades later the artist is still doing … Read more
Leigh Salgado’s solo show PISSED ‘N BLISSED opens Saturday, October 19 with a reception 5-8 PM at LAUNCH LA Gallery, 170 S. LaBrea Ave. in Los Angeles. The show runs thru November 9. I had exclusive access to the art studio of Leigh Salgado because I am her husband and it is our garage. She … Read more
In 1994, legendary Los Angeles art collector Frederick R. Weisman died, leaving the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation under the direction of his wife and former Getty Museum conservator Billie Milam. Today the Foundation’s main Holmby Hills house, annex pavilion, and surrounding gardens are accessible to the public (by appointment only) on guided tours. The foundation also … Read more
Rochelle Botello’s recent work continues her quest to be an uncompromising formalist who takes the stuffiness and rigidity out of the “art for art’s sake” approach. Her superpower is a talent to render whimsy and make it no less serious than any other grand philosophical foray into the meaning of things. Refreshingly free of theoretical … Read more
I’ve seen hundreds of museum shows around the world. This exhibit is the worst. Its only standout feature is that it is clearly the worst, that no other show comes to mind to even compete with it.
Two giants of art, two great Modernists, Richard Serra and Frank Stella passed within a few weeks of each other in the Spring of 2024. There were many parallels in their careers but in this most hectic, political year, these passings give pause. Can art, considering the current climate, ever be apolitical again? Triumphantly apolitical? … Read more
Some artists leave without a trace. Some artists meticulously trace their source material. Some cultures vanish without a trace. Some people trace their past to preserve it. Perhaps they trace the path they made last night to find something they lost or maybe they trace their roots or look back for a trace of some … Read more
Julia Rooney takes lyrical modernist painting into the 21st century with a meditation on pictorial depth in her BLUEPRINT solo show at Band of Vices.
It is a quirk, really, that oil on canvas is the gold standard of where the billionaires park their money to beat inflation. Paintings have a proven track record of lasting centuries when they are just left alone on a wall or in an attic. But the elemental truths that great paintings tell are not … Read more
The artist Robert Irwin, a colossal figure in reductive Modernism, died today at the age of 95. His list of accomplishments is almost as long as the demonstrable influence he had on how art itself is fabricated, displayed and revered. Here is one second-hand story of the man and a first-hand anecdote of my own. … Read more