Installation photograph, courtesy of Museum Associates/LACMA
Even if you don’t know Barbara Kruger’s name, you’ve likely seen her work, or at least some of the plethora of logos, memes, advertisements, and logos that have knocked off her style.
Immerse yourself in Kruger’s thought-provoking world at LACMA, where the new show, Barbara Kruger: Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You opened on March 20.
The biggest Kruger show in 20 years, this new exhibition includes her most famous work, “Untitled (Your Body is a Battleground),” which dates back to 1989 but remains as relevant as ever.
Known for her critiques of conventionality and our culture, Kruger remains a provocateur at age 77. Her artful comments on greed, sociopathy, and narcissism have made her one of the most influential and imitated artists of our time.
Throughout the month of April, Aloha, OA! celebrates 65 years of Oceanic Arts, the world’s leading supplier of tropical and Polynesian decor. Since they started OCEANIC ARTS in 1956, Bob Van Oosting and Leroy Schmaltz have set the tone and style for tiki as they decked out Trader Vics, Don the Beachcomber, and even Disneyland, in tropical glory. Not to mention the countless restaurants, bars, hotels and backyards that now feature their Polynesian creations.
Peekaboo Gallery, a fresh concept in the curation, exhibition and sale of exceptional antiques and collectable memorabilia, and Oceanic Arts, in association with the Whittier Historical Society & Museum, are presenting a full roster of exciting events, plus a chance to tour this historical workshop before its creators retire and close up shop.
Several of the events are already sold out, but there are still tickets available for “Tiki Revival” on Sunday, April 10, 2022, and “Easter Island Funday: Family Day at OA.” but they are going fast!
“Touch of Evil” (1958, Kino Lorber) Get past the idea of Charlton Heston as a Mexican cop and you’ll find an extraordinary American movie – ostensibly a crime thriller, but really director/star Orson Welles last go-round with his electric trains for the Hollywood studio system. Welles pulls out all the stops behind the camera and in front of it: with the aid of Russell Metty, his camera is endlessly prowling (that amazing opening shot, with Venice doubling as Mexico), casting impossible shadows and remarkable angles, while his border detective, a corrupt heel who somehow also plays as tragic, is as painfully honest an assessment of his own fall from grace as any of the film historians who sought to sum his career. With a baroque cast – Janet Leigh, Marlene Dietrich (“You’re a mess, honey”), Akim Tamiroff, a supremely creepy Dennis Weaver, Mercedes McCambridge, and Zsa Zsa Gabor, for crying out loud – and a great Henry Mancini score; “Evil” was, like so many of Welles’ films, badly banged up by Universal prior to release, and available only in truncated form until Walter Murch and others reconstructed the film from Welles’ famous 58-page memo to Universal; that version, along with the 1958 theatrical cut and a longer “Preview Version” discovered in 1975 are all featured on Kino’s Special Edition set, and all in 4K restored form. Multiple commentaries – Heston and Leigh, Tim Lucas, F.X. Feeney, Imogen Sara Smith, and Jonathan Rosenbaum and James Naremore – detail the film’s look and history, while featurettes explore the efforts to revive and restore “Evil” to Welles’ original vision.
Tuesday, March 29 at 7:00PM, USC’s School of Cinematic Arts continues its Centenary Celebration of the life and work of legendary filmmaker Haskell Wexler. With the first Los Angeles showing of two wonderfully moving documentaries (Rebel Citizen and Shoot From the Heart), beautifully juxtaposed to reveal much about the man, the artist, and the citizen – the evening promises to be both a challenging and energizing contribution to the monthlong event. In addition to the film showings there will also be a panel discussion about the films and about Haskell Wexler, the man, and the filmmaker.
Judged by his peers and professional progeny as one of the ten most influential cinematographers in the history of film, with a resume that includes two Best Picture Oscar winners (In the Heat of the Night and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) and five other nominees including Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf? (for which Wexler won the Oscar for Best Cinematography), Coming Home, The Conversation, Bound for Glory (his second Academy Award for Best Cinematography) and America America, Wexler’s brilliance illuminated decades of work, in both color and black & white. But it will be his achievements as one of the preeminent documentary filmmakers in the history of that form that will be most in focus on this night. Continue reading →
My brother Ed and I asked Henry Rollins heaps of questions when we visited with him at the SST Records office on Phelan Avenue in Redondo Beach, California, in 1982.
He reached into his box of tapes and played us demos and live sets from the hot DC hardcore bands that we knew of and regaled us with stories of his time on the DC scene before packing up his belongings and his razor-sharp voice and joining Black Flag.
Rollins was our personal DJ during those trips to SST, which we skateboarded to from our nearby home in Redondo. And we soaked up every second of it.
The names of the bands on the tapes were written in black marker, but they might as well have been scrawled in heavenly golden ink. Rollins took the excitement level up even further by vividly describing some of the gigs that took place in DC, all the while shaking his head and swinging his arm when a critical part of a song would arrive.
A documentary series examining dynamic, successful Italian women in the US, the second season of “One of Us” debuted at the Mr. Brainwash Museum in Beverly Hills on March 10.
This second installment of “One of Us” focuses on four inspiring Italian women living in Los Angeles. The premiere coincided with Women’s History Month.
The most prominent member of the quartet is Chef Giada De Laurentiis. Her fascinating story includes more challenges than you might expect, given her family background: her grandfather was Oscar-winning film producer Dino De Laurentiis, while her grandmother, Silvana Mangano, was a successful actress.
Giada’s grandfather was vocal about his concerns when Giada was offered her first TV show, “Everyday Italian,” given that working in television was far less prestigious two decades ago than it is today. “He told me not to destroy what he had built for our family.” She also experienced antagonism from male chefs who believed women shouldn’t work in professional kitchens. “Restaurant kitchens are a man’s world. They’re getting better now, but 20 years ago there wasn’t a chance… I had to fight tooth and nail.”
I attended the Cirque du Soleil in Santa Monica in 1987 when it first came to the United States. It was a revolutionary idea–a circus that combined acrobatics, dance, music and mime to create a spellbinding story. It was also a circus without animals–an idea way ahead of its time–instead focusing on this amazing troupe that had come together in a charming little village near Quebec City. What impressed me most was the intimate settings. We had all been to big tops and seen tiny little figures perform daring feats too far away to really appreciate. The Cirque du Soleil is more like a dinner guest setting up a high wire in your living room. You had to marvel at the skill involved.
Fast-forward 35 years, and the Cirque has a variety of themed shows happening all over the world. OVO, which has just returned to LA Live’s Microsoft Theater with a revised show, continues those intimate, close-up performances that amaze and delight. OVO revolves around “a colorful ecosystem teeming with life, where insects work, eat, crawl, flutter, play, fight and look for love in a non-stop riot of energy and movement.” I need to mention here that I hate bugs.
But these insects are colorful, adorable, and charming. Even the much-despised cockroach finds life as musicians who keep the tempo going with international music that brings together samba, bossa nova, funk and electro grooves, with the beautiful song stylings of Julia Tazie.
“King Boxer” (1972, Arrow Video) Possessed of a steely gaze but only limited fighting skills, a martial arts student (Indonesian actor Lo Lieh) sets out on a journey of self-improvement and becomes embroiled in a battle royale between warring dojos. The owner (Tien Feng) of one school seeks to win the contest through dastardly means – a star pupil is blinded and Lieh’s hands are shattered – which forces Lieh to dig deep and learn the fearsome Iron Palm style in order to settle the score and spill some blood. This 1972 production from Hong Kong’s legendary Shaw Brothers Studios was the first Asian martial arts film to receive a wide theatrical release in the States where, under the title “Five Fingers of Death,” it topped the American box office and helped to kick off the ’70s martial arts craze in conjunction with Bruce Lee’s “Big Boss”/”Fists of Fury” and the “Kung Fu” TV series. Time and endless imitations from both Hong Kong and the States may render this 1972 Shaw Brothers production somewhat stock and even silly for modern action/martial arts fans (who may note elements from the movie in Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” and Wu-Tang Clan tracks); viewers with less grasshopper-like patience will find Korean director Chang-hwa Jeong (billed here is Chen Chang-Ho) offering gorgeously ripe color vistas and jaw-dropping action scenes rife with a baroque mix of fighting styles and gallons of blood. Arrow’s presentation – part of their sprawling and (for kung fu devotees) essential “Shawscope Vol. 1” set, which compiles twelve of the company’s most iconic titles – features interviews with Chang-hwa, his biographer Cho Young-jung, and co-star Wang Ping, as well as commentary on and appreciation by Hong Kong film experts David Desser and Tony Rayns (respectively), as well as the first part of a three-part documentary on Shaw Brothers, which features interviews with Jackie Chan, John Woo, and others. International trailers and the US feature credits round out this skull-busting disc.
Tuesday, March 29 at 7:00PM, USC’s School of Cinematic Arts continues its Centenary Celebration of the life and work of legendary filmmaker Haskell Wexler. With the first Los Angeles showing of two wonderfully moving documentaries (Rebel Citizen and Shoot From the Heart), beautifully juxtaposed to reveal much about the man, the artist, and the citizen – the evening promises to be both a challenging and energizing contribution to the monthlong event. In addition to the film showings there will also be a panel discussion about the films and about Haskell Wexler, the man, and the filmmaker.
