Est. 1992
Santa Monica Auctions features lots like a dynamic Allison Saar sketch and a signed Francis Bacon litho, allowing collectors to stick to the big names and the great results they produced to make those names so big.
When I stopped doing Coagula Art Journal in print in 2009 I promised three people I would publish books of their contributions to the publication. First was what turned out to be two volumes of Gerald Locklin’s poetry – BOOK ONE in 2011 and BOOK TWO in 2014. Cartoonist Jim Caron was next up with … Read more
Film Director Roberto Oregel sent me a link to the trailer for his documentary on Los Angeles painter Alfredo De Batuc. Mexican-born ADB was already a local legend when he was struck with Guillame-Barre Syndrome. This caused him the loss of the use of his hands. For years he went without making any art… but … Read more
After several long international flights and a night in Japan, I arrived. The afternoon light was soft. At first, I thought everything was blurred through the aeroplane window. But it looked the same when I stepped outside. Shadows melted into the landscape. Colours seemed at once more vivid and more nuanced. Even the tarmacked air … Read more
Dear Mr. Gleason, I was disappointed to read your recent review of Bradford Salamon’s work at the Hilbert Museum (LINK HERE). We rely on people such as yourself for thoughtful criticism of art in southern California galleries and museums. This review, unfortunately, was nothing more than an irresponsible series of cheap shots culminating in your … Read more
We went to see the poppies. We stopped by the museum. There were some shows there we wanted to see but we had made the drive to Lancaster to see the poppies. They only bloom for like five weeks. The shows were up for seven or eight weeks but it was getting close to their … Read more
The art collector said, “Look, there’s Barry Humphries. You should get a photo.” I followed his eyes and saw the man best known as Dame Edna Everage. He was discretely browsing paintings at the fine art auction preview, catalogue in hand. I remembered his other character – the obscene Sir Les Patterson, Australian Cultural Attaché … Read more
The Hilbert Museum is the place you go if you want to see traditional art. Their curatorial program most reminded me of the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento on a much smaller scale… ahh, but not for long, as the Hilbert is expanding from it’s current “glorified gallery” size of 7,500 square feet to 22,000 … Read more
ART REVIEW AS SHORT STORY Twice in my life I had visited Glendale Community College and twice in my life I had vowed to never go there again. Both times I had wonderful experiences with the art. The first time was a solo show by Brian Ruppel some time in the 1990s. Maybe one day … Read more
In a few months it will be five years since I returned to Sydney to rebuild my life as an artist. Before leaving Brisbane I rented a room in a boarding house via WhatsApp. I packed the art materials I had left in a few boxes, along with some clothes and books, and sent them … Read more