Pablo Picasso, Creator/Destroyer as the title of one of his many biographies observed. Pablo Picasso, selfish prick or genius… or both? If any artist of the twentieth century “contained multitudes” in the way Walt Whitman observed about actualizing the many lenses of human potential, it was Picasso. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has … Read more

Mat,  Barbara Kruger’s work has never made me feel “sad” or be a “buzzkill” but your visceral article of immediacy surely has. Standing on the shoulders of giants leaves you cold, Mat? What other giant in the art industry are you going to take a hack at next? Take a swing at Cindy Sherman while … Read more

It is Spring in a vestigial Los Angeles, as the bustling, outdoor enthusiasts who comprise the United States’ second-largest city populous, are confined to their homes due to a COVID-19 quarantine mandate. Four million Angelenos, who are ready for the tepid season’s social gatherings, concerts, restaurant reservations, beach and canyon outings, Dodgers games, and gallery … Read more

Of all the legacies the art market and its institutions have collaborated to spawn and cultivate, the most self-congratulatory of them all by far is that of Barbara Kruger. The fog of memory clouds our collective recollection concerning her signature style – scaled hectoring – is it a relic of the eighties? Or do we … Read more

REVIEW: Elise Wagner – Tipping Points Frederick Holmes Gallery, Seattle • May 5 – 31, 2022 Shimmering like heat waves over mysterious landscapes, Elise Wagner’s solo exhibition of encaustic works at Frederick Holmes Gallery in Seattle combines a visionary sweep of terrestrial and celestial adventures with intriguingly sensual surfaces and dynamic fields of color and … Read more

The Art World has been reacting to our increasingly digital age with the material, the tactile, and craft. While the current Whitney Biennale is overrun with digital and video art, the results from the 2022 Venice Biennale tell the other side of the story. Women from all over the world (Simone Leigh, Precious Okoyomon, Acaye … Read more

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.

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