Maybe it's not just LA...

"More than 80 exhibitions opened in Chelsea on the first big night of the art season, a couple of weeks ago. Most are mediocre, as usual, and this many so-so shows early on makes one suspect that a pattern is forming. But amid mediocrity, the needle does seesaw, and three shows (one good, one bad, one terrible) stood out as I made the rounds..." Jerry Saltz, Looking Out for No. 2

Saltz in the Brooklyn Rail

Rail: How would you define originality?

Saltz: I never say “MAKE IT NEW!” I say make it surprising or boring in an interesting way or make it seem to put off more energy than might have gone into making it. A good Pollock is like the burning bush: It burns but doesn’t burn out. You don’t use it up. Artists can be unoriginal in very original ways. Richard Prince said: “Don’t make it new, make it again.” I agree. When my students fret that what they’re doing has been done before I always say, “Don’t worry. See what happens if you do it.” No words can describe the mystery, mysticism, and power of doing that. I hate it when older teachers tell art students that art used to be good but now it isn’t. I tell students to ask those teachers, “When was the last time art was good?” The teachers usually answer, “When I was your age.” When they say that, a student should smile and imagine them dead.

LA openings: 9.06.08

ok, here we go - the first big night of openings for the season:

mark moore gallery





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richard heller gallery









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blum and poe




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walter maciel gallery



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la contemporary

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honor fraser





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kinkead contemporary





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scion space


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and on to chinatown...

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sister gallery

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happy lion gallery

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jancar gallery

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peres projects

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fringe exhibitions

london's opening night

Tour of Duty: Vyner Street on opening night of the new art season - By James Westcott

LACMA is awesome (just another NOT joke)

As posted by Tyler Green (MAN):

"...The paragraph explains that the collector's celebrity is the basis for this exhibit. The wall text has nothing to do with the art on view. For the artists whose work is in the show, it's an insult of the worst kind: 'You're only here because of your association with a Hollywood star,' it says. The exhibition is an embarrassment.

And the presentation gets worse...

'Cheech at LACMA' demonstrates that LACMA director Michael Govan is still growing into his job. No question the museum, which had suffered under poor leadership for years, has been recovering: LACMA seems to be making amends with long disaffected collectors, recent acquisitions have been impressive, and many of LACMA's galleries look better than they have in years. Chris Burden's Urban Light is both smart and endearingly populist. Those are all important developments for which Govan deserves lots of credit.

But two of LACMA's recent exhibition decisions are confounding. It's not just the Cheech Marin debacle: Next month LACMA will open a show called Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913-2008..."

GLAMFA: Greater LA Master's of Fine Arts Exhibition

Ian Pines
Idol #6
univ. ca la


Scott Horsley
Hummer Wreck 3
univ. ca san diego




Jennifer Gradecki
Performing Autonomy
univ. ca la


Benjamin Britton
Panic Americana
univ. cal. la






Jared Nielson
I'm With Stupid
univ. ca irvine


Jesse Aron Green
Arztliche Zimmergymnastik
univ. ca la


Issac Resnikoff
The Wilderness 3 (Cactus)
univ. ca la


Akosua Adoma Owusu
Buoyant
cal arts


Alison Walker
Untitled (Pool Slide)
univ. ca riverside

Liz Glynn
California Surrogates for the Getty
cal arts


Melissa Thomson
From Order to Chaos, Chaos Prevails
cal state univ. northridge


Joanne Mitchell
Representations of Women in Song Lyrics of Top 10 Songs from the Billboard Hot 100 End of Year Chart, 1967-2007
cal arts




Leigh Cole
Boys Boys Boys
univ. cal san diego


Matthew Siegle
Hooah
cal arts






Mimi Lauter
Untitled
univ. ca irvine


...and long beach has it's own art boat? maybe i will look into some classes for the art cruises!

Being my first time to long beach I had no expectations. I knew the coast was industrial, the water quality was a C or D report and that it was a college town. Now, once visited, the port has a nice and easy slow pace with ample parking, cheaper rent and food, and a lovely open-air campus. The GLAMFA show was heavily influenced by the surroundings for me: I am more familiar with private, closed door, eastern (states') campuses so when I see the possibility for outdoor experimentation year round I get a little giddy and wish myself in the program. That said, there is something to the weather out here, but maybe I just haven't fallen to the fumes yet. The MFA show was clearly labeled with each school represented and it was apparent. Calarts was focused and conceptually superior while other California programs at riverside and cal state lagged behind, as probably expected. I had been craving a good, collective show so this cured my need but still considering if this was a ny or an east coast show it would have brought california to it's knees. Did I mention that I just moved to this side of the planet?

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ABOUT GLAMFA
MFA Students from California State University, Long Beach begin this academic year by presenting a group show, which features work by graduate students throughout the greater Los Angeles area. This diverse community includes visual data from thirteen schools, including UC Santa Barbara, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, down the coast to UC San Diego and everything in between.

GLAMFA ARTISTS
Akosua Adoma Owusu, Olga Balema, Gideon Barnett, Christopher Bauder, Benjamin Britton, Leigh Cole, Cathy de la Cruz, Deanna Erdmann, William Fenn, Lindsay Foster, Liz Glynn, Eben Goff, Jennifer Gradecki, Jesse Aron Green, Nico Herbst, Scott Horsely, Whitney Hubbs, Simon Hughes, Niku Kashef, Amanda Keller-Konya, Mimi Lauter, Erica Love, Dana Maiden, Gretchen Mercedes, Matt Merkel-Hess, Joanne Mitchell, Jared Nielsen, Raksha Parekh, Ian Pines, Brian Porray, Seth Pringle, Peter Bo Rappmund, Issac Resinkoff, Sarah Rose, Yoshie Sakai, Tim Schwartz, Matt Sheridan, Matthew Siegle, Melissa Thomson, The University, Alison Walker, Kate Wall, Julia Westerbeke, and Jennifer Wolf.