Newsletter: Essential Arts & Culture: DNC set design, L.A.’s public art biennial, a ballet star in ‘A Chorus Line’
Summer is supposed to be a sleepy time for the arts. Not in 2016! The week has produced intriguing stories on everything from convention architecture to a notable woman conductor to L.A.’s new public art biennial. I’m Carolina A. Miranda, staff writer at the Los Angeles Times, with a look at the top arts and culture stories of the week:
A political stage that unified with pattern and pixels
For the second week in a row, the nation was glued to the action at a political convention — this time the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne writes that the wicker weave set design, by L.A.’s Bruce Rodgers, of Tribe Inc., served as the appropriate platform to bring conflicting factions together. “The set design aimed to look one step ahead,” he writes, “ready to turn arguments seemingly at cross-purposes into a picture of diverse cooperation.” Los Angeles Times
L.A. Philharmonic associate conductor Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla is headed to Birmingham, England, to take over that city’s orchestra. But before departing, she led a captivating program at the Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday night, conducting works by Beethoven and Ravel. “The appeal begins the instant she proudly strides on stage, prepared for action,” writes Times classical music critic Mark Swed. “The video cameras can’t resist her purposeful expression.” Los Angeles Times
Swed also attended another compelling show at the Bowl: a one-night staging of Puccini’s “Tosca,” conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, which offers political themes that are in keeping with our time. “Dudamel’s ‘Tosca,’” he writes, “became a portrait in the inevitability of fascism’s enduring appeal.” Los Angeles Times
An auction house becomes a shadow bank
Bloomberg has an intriguing report on the ways in which auction houses can be used to secure cash loans quickly and possibly launder money. Sotheby’s, for example, was involved in giving Jho Low, who is at the center of the Justice Department’s Malaysian money-laundering probe, a $100-million loan. “As prices for art skyrocketed, Sotheby’s and other firms have become shadow banks,” writes reporter Katya Kazakina, “making millions of dollars of legal loans outside the regulated financial system and raising concerns that such financing could facilitate money laundering.” Bloomberg
“Current: LA Water” is a new public art biennial that features a series of art installations by more than a dozen artists in public spaces around the city — from San Pedro to Granada Hills. But the monthlong show is still working out the kinks, writes Times critic Christopher Knight, with works that are difficult to find and in far-flung locations that can make seeing the works a challenge. “Geography,” he writes, “defies all but the most intrepid souls from seeing everything during such a narrow window of time.” Los Angeles Times
In the meantime, I’m making my own attempt to visit some of the sites (in the company of my trusty research assistant, Bonnie the American Staffordshire Terrier). This week’s journey took me to San Pedro, to see Michael Parker’s intriguing triumphal arch, manufactured out of humble cardboard. Los Angeles Times
New York City Ballet dancer Robert Fairchild has, in the past, reached beyond his area of dance to appear in Broadway musicals — such as “An American in Paris,” which earned him a Tony nomination. Now he has landed in “A Chorus Line,” which is at the Hollywood Bowl this month. For the performer, the role is a return to his youth. “I used to dance to the cast recording of that musical in my living room,” he tells Susan Reiter. “‘Step, kick, kick, beat, kick, touch — again!’ I would make up my own choreography.” Los Angeles Times
In its late 1970s heyday, L.A.’s Slash magazine was known for its bombastic antidisco editorials, its unflinching photography and its booze-soaked interviews with a who’s who of early punk bands, from the Sex Pistols to X to the Germs. A voluminous new art book by Hat & Beard Press compiles the issues along with never-before-seen photos. I spoke with cofounders Steve Samiof and Melanie Nissen about the mag’s heyday. “There was no design aesthetic for punk then,” recalls Samiof. “You couldn’t Google it. There was what little you’d see on the sleeve of a 45.” Los Angeles Times
Drag gets the theater treatment
“Le Bal,” a one-night show at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, took the concept of the drag show — generally the province of gay bars and clubs — and transformed it into a major theatrical production. “We want to take drag out of the nightclub and put it on the legitimate stage,” impresario Cesar Hawas tells The Times’ Tre’vell Anderson, “giving it the same love and tenderness that we would a show on Broadway.” Los Angeles Times
In other news…
— President Obama has settled on a site for his Presidential Library in Chicago: Jackson Park, on the city’s South Side. Integrating the building into the surrounding area, writes architectural critic Blair Kamin, will be “the design equivalent of a three-dimensional game of chess.” Chicago Tribune
— A look at how the presence of women in classical music is on the rise. Bloomberg
— Forget George Lucas. What L.A. really needs, writes critic William Poundstone, is a museum of television. Los Angeles County Museum on Fire
— As a deaccessioning controversy raged at Nashville’s Fisk University, the university’s president quietly sold two paintings — including a rare canvas by Florentine Stettheimer. New York Times
— The Autry Museum of the American West has acquired a major collection and archive of artist Harry Fonseca, who was part of a critical generation of Native artists from the 20th century. The Autry Museum
— In other acquisitions news: The Broad museum has added 29 new works to its collection, including pieces by L.A. artists Robert Therrien, Jonas Wood and Cindy Sherman, as well as art market stars such as Alex Israel and Oscar Murillo. Los Angeles Times
— L.A.’s Craft & Folk Art Museum has been rethinking the traditional boundary between high art and craft in a series of genre-bending exhibitions. Artillery
— The Getty Foundation has announced winners of $1.3 million in grants for the conservation of Modern architecture, including key structures by women designers such as Eileen Gray and Lina Bo Bardi. Los Angeles Times
— Architect Frank Gehry has been hard at work on a pair of new homes in Santa Monica and Venice. Curbed
— Where seven members of the Tony Award-winning “Hamilton,” including Lin-Manuel Miranda, will turn up next. Los Angeles Times
— “Lazarus,” a musical written by David Bowie and Enda Walsh, will open in London in the fall. New York Times
— In Scotland, controversy over a graphic and violent staging of Mozart’s “Così Fan Tutte.” The Scotsman
— How Scottish violin virtuoso Nicola Benedetti got Wynton Marsalis to write her a “wild” violin concerto, which had its West Coast premiere at the Hollywood Bowl this week. Los Angeles Times
— The Coeurage Theatre Company in Burbank has reimagined Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” as a contemporary fable about tolerance and diversity. Los Angeles Times
— Misty Copeland, of the American Ballet Theatre, talks about body image and the changing shape of ballerina bodies throughout history. The Cut
And last but not least…
10 powerful world figures and the artworks they resemble. Just guess who gets the Rubens... Artnet
Find me on Twitter @cmonstah.
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