Paris: Life and Luxury

Getty Center

Oh how the rich suffer!

NOTICE: This is the last week to see Paris: Life and Luxury, at the Getty Center. I’ve seen it twice, and am going back a third time this weekend.  There is a lot to see; there is also a lot to read, lots of walltext, and a lot of it is hilarious.  Beginning with the intro walltext, which explains why most people are unfamiliar with French decorative art from this period:

Largely unfamiliar and underappreciated today, over shadowed as they are by the tumultuous social and political events of the French revolution of 1789.

Oh my god, this stuff is so underappreciated! Who doesn’t love Rococo?  If an 18^th century French peasant saw all the wealth/golden filth in this exhibition, the Revolution would have happened a WHOLE lot sooner. 

Marketing: Zara Window Displays

Koons Inspiration

It is well known fashion designers find inspiration from fine art (post on Balenciaga coming soon).  Walking around the loop, I discovered advertisers of fashion are inspired by fine art as well, contemporary art even.  The Zara store in Block 37 has window displays that look a lot like a certain contemporary pop artist.  After my two posts on museum advertising, I was blown away to see a specific, and familiar (familiar to some at least) contemporary art piece utilized in a window display of trendy clothing store Zara.  The florescent lighting and metallic cylinder forms shouted “Jeff Koons!” so loud to me I almost snapped my neck doing a double-take.

I’m not the only one who sees Koons here right?

Rodarte: States of Matter

MOCA – Pacific Design Center

Black Swan star Natalie Portman in Rodarte at the 2011 Oscars.

It is widely disputed how many seasons Los Angeles has, but it actually has five: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and Awards season.  Awards season affects many aspects of life in LA, from street closures and parties to other cultural organizations like museums.  LACMA has a small unabashed installation of Larry Fink Oscar party photographs to commemorate the season.  The FIDM Museum and Galleries has its annual exhibition of Art of Motion Picture Costume Design, which features costume design from 2010 films.  But another show across town may be stealing some of FIDM’s thunder.  On view until June 6^th, Rodarte: States of Matter at MOCA’s Pacific Design Center outlet features work from Rodarte’s Fall 2008, Spring 2010, and Fall 2010 collections—as well as costumes from 2010’s humungous ballet film Black Swan.

Resnick Pavilion Inaugural Exhibitions

Los Angeles County Museum of Art

They paid for the building, they can show their art for three months in it.

Getting Yogurtland was my priority upon landing in LA.  This was followed by a close second priority of seeing the three exhibitions which inaugurated the brand spanking new Resnick Pavilion at LACMA.  The shows opened while I’ve been in Chicago, but I’ve been following the press about the opening of the Pavilion.  Olmec: Colossal Masterworks of Ancient Mexico was something of a blockbuster loan show, Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700–1915 is a presentation of LACMA’s newly acquired costume collection, and Eye for the Sensual: Selections from the Resnick Collection was an exhibition of the Resnicks’ collection of European painting and sculpture.  The three shows have absolutely nothing to do with each other, and that’s just the way LACMA director Michael Govan likes it: