Daly Conservation

I recently went to Los Angeles for a weekend to work for Rosa Lowinger & Associates.  Rosa was great and I was really happy to see LA.  The last time I went to LA was in 2001 and I saw a number of museums, but mainly took a lot of yoga classes, good times!

Rosa really pushed me to see the Pacific Standard Time shows, and I took the weekend to check out shows at the Getty, LACMA, and the Santa Monica Museum of Art. I have also been reading some of the critiques of PST, from The New York Times(where the critic couldn’t get the name of the LA MoCA correct, and seemed to only want to talk about how much being in LA made them miss New York), and the hilarious response to this article from C-Monster.

From the Getty webpage about PST

“Pacific Standard Time is the culmination of a long-term Getty Research Institute initiative that focuses on postwar art in Los Angeles. Through archival acquisitions, oral history interviews, public programming, exhibitions, and publications, the Research Institute is responding to the need to locate, collect, document, and preserve the art historical record of this vibrant period.”

I was impressed at how each museum interpreted PST in different ways. The Santa Monica Museum of Art (SMMoA) had an exhibit of art by Beatrice Wood, whose life spanned most of the 20th Century and the exhibition includes Wood’s drawings, ceramics, and a film interview where she candidly discusses her libido. The museum is only a few rooms but the exhibit was very well presented and focused.

The exhibitions at the Getty included an incredible work in cast polyester resin, Gray Column by De Wain Valentine.  The exhibit includes a discussion of the conservation of the piece and why it was important to preserve the pristine surface, even though it meant removing a layer of the original material.  Tom Lerner makes a appearance in a video in the exhibition discussing this ethical dilemma.

And of course LACMA has the exhibition ‘California Design‘.  I personally love modern design, having grown up with George Nakashima’s furniture in our modern house designed by Curtis Besinger. California design is incredible, clean lines, beautiful wood, good use of color.  The Eames livingroom has been reproduced for this exhibition and it is fantastic.  California fashions are also included, some have regrettable color combinations, but the Barbie Dreamhouse and the LACMA Barbie are amusing and fun. I also saw Five Car Stud at LACMA, and then I remembered why I don’t watch horror movies.

The great thing about these exhibitions is that it forces people in LA to talk about the art that has been made in LA.  There is a lot of focus on collecting oral histories, interviewing artists, and archiving LA Art.  I was glad to see this effort and in my conservation head I thought, this is going to make telling the story of LA Art so much easier, Thank you!