Rebels in Paradise


Book Description

The extraordinary story of the artists who propelled themselves to international fame in 1960s Los Angeles Los Angeles, 1960: There was no modern art museum and there were few galleries, which is exactly what a number of daring young artists liked about it, among them Ed Ruscha, David Hockney, Robert Irwin, Bruce Nauman, Judy Chicago and John Baldessari. Freedom from an established way of seeing, making, and marketing art fueled their creativity, which in turn inspired the city. Today Los Angeles has four museums dedicated to contemporary art, around one hundred galleries, and thousands of artists. Here, at last, is the book that tells the saga of how the scene came into being, why a prevailing Los Angeles permissiveness, 1960s-style, spawned countless innovations, including Andy Warhol's first exhibition, Marcel Duchamp's first retrospective, Frank Gehry's mind-bending architecture, Rudi Gernreich's topless bathing suit, Dennis Hopper's Easy Rider, even the Beach Boys, the Byrds, the Doors, and other purveyors of a California style. In the 1960s, Los Angeles was the epicenter of cool.




Made in L.A. 2020


Book Description

Made in L.A. 2020: a version brings together an intergenerational and interdisciplinary mix of artists, each of whom is contributing to L.A.'s vibrant art scene. Since its inception in 2012, the Hammer Museum's Made in L.A. biennial has brought together local artists from a wide range of discipline. Under the direction of co-curators Myriam Ben Salah and Lauren Mackler, the 2020 iteration will be no exception. The Hammer's Ikechukwu Onyewuenyi, who has previously served with Performa and The Kitchen in New York, will assist in the organization of the 2020 biennial in the role of assistant curator for performance. Drawing inspiration from historical artist magazines, this book is not documentation of the artists' work, but rather serves as an additional venue for the exhibition. It includes images of the artists' studios, art made specifically for the pages of the book, as well as essays and conversations between artists and curators that weave together the conceptual through-lines of the show. This book is published in two different covers. Published with the Hammer Museum




Now Dig This!


Book Description

This comprehensive, lavishly illustrated catalogue offers an in-depth survey of the incredibly vital but often overlooked legacy of Los Angeles's African American artists, featuring many never-before-seen works.




Live Art in LA


Book Description

Live Art in LA: Performance Art in Southern California , 1970-1983 documents and critically examines one of the most fecund periods in the history of live art. The book forms part of the Getty Institute’s Pacific Standard Time initiative – a series of exhibitions, performance re-enactments and research projects focused on the greater Los Angeles area. This extraordinary volume, beautifully edited by one of the leading scholars in the field, makes vivid the compelling drama of performance history on the west coast. Live Art in LA: moves lucidly between discussions of legendary figures such as Judy Chicago and Chris Burden, and the crucial work of less-celebrated solo artists and collectives; examines the influence of key institutions, particularly Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions and the California Institute of the Arts – and the Feminist Art Programme established at the latter; features original and incisive essays by Peggy Phelan and Amelia Jones, and eloquent contributions by Michael Ned Holte, Suzanne Lacy and Jennifer Flores Sternad. Combining cutting-edge research with over 100 challenging and provocative photographs and video stills, Live Art in LA represents a major re-evaluation of a crucial moment in performance history. And, as performance studies becomes ever more relevant to the history of art, promises to become a vital and enduring resource for students, academics and artists alike.




Art and the City


Book Description

"Art and the City" explores the contentious relationship between civic politics and visual culture in Los Angeles. Struggles between civic leaders and modernist artists to define civic identity and control public space highlight the significance of the arts as a site of political contest in the twentieth century.




Barbara Kruger


Book Description

Five decades of iconic and incisive art from Barbara Kruger Since the mid-1970s, Barbara Kruger (born 1945) has been interrogating consumer culture in works that often combine visual and written language. In her singular graphic style, Kruger probes aspects of identity, desire and consumerism that are embedded in our everyday lives. This volume traces her continuously evolving practice to reveal how she adapts her work in accordance with the moment, site and context. The book features a range of striking images--from her analogue paste-ups of the 1980s to digital productions of the last two decades, including new works produced on the occasion of the exhibition. Also featured are singular works in vinyl, her large-scale room wraps, multichannel videos, site-specific installations and commissioned works. The book also showcases how Kruger's site-specific works have been reconceived for each venue, and includes a section of reprinted texts selected by the artist. Renowned for her use of direct address and her engagement with contemporary culture, Kruger is one of the most incisive and courageous artists working today. This volume explores how her pictures and words remain urgently resonant in a rapidly changing world.




The Beat and the Buzz: Inside the L.A. Art World


Book Description

The Beat and the Buzz is the history of the Los Angeles art world since 1970, as told by thirty-three of its participants, in their own words. This art-world family album captures the intimate, lived experiences of artists, dealers, curators and critics whose personal history is becoming codified as art history. Whether you're in Los Angeles, or not, this book is also about the tensions of making it as an artist, or not. Clarifying but also complicating the many factors of success, the accounts here demonstrate that it's not only who you know but also when you know them, and how they're willing to support you at crucial junctures in your career. Finally, "The Beat and the Buzz" is also just gossip: The entertaining anecdotes of thirty-three interesting people with their own inside tales and humorous asides about one another and about the world they have lived and worked in. As artist John Baldessari proclaims, "It's a page turner."Contributors: Tony Berlant, Alexis Smith, Javier Peres, Elyn Zimmerman, Hal Glicksman, Dorit Cypis, Henry Hopkins, Sarah Gavlak, Elyse Grinstein, Edward Goldman, Emi Fontana, Maynard Monrow, Gianna Carotenuto, Ed Moses, Judith Hoffberg, Daniel Hug, Dagny Corcoran, Clayton Campbell, Kathryn Andrews, James Hayward, Robert Berman, Lyn Kienholz, Tom Lawson, Kim Light, David Askevold, Christine Nichols, Marc Pally, Skip Arnold, Barbara Guggenheim, John O'Brien, Heather Harmon, Cliff Einstein, and Jeff Poe.




Still Lives


Book Description

Twelve shocking paintings. Eleven famous murders. One missing artist . . . and one woman driven to find her—this Reese's Book Club x Hello Sunshine Selection is a “stunning achievement” (Los Angeles Times). Kim Lord is an avant–garde figure, feminist icon, and agent provocateur in the L.A. art scene. Her groundbreaking new exhibition Still Lives is comprised of self–portraits depicting herself as famous, murdered women―the Black Dahlia, Chandra Levy, Nicole Brown Simpson, among many others―and the works are as compelling as they are disturbing, implicating a culture that is too accustomed to violence against women. As the city’s richest art patrons pour into the Rocque Museum’s opening night, all the staff, including editor Maggie Richter, hope the event will be enough to save the historic institution’s flailing finances. Except Kim Lord never shows up to her own gala. Fear mounts as the hours and days drag on and Lord remains missing. Suspicion falls on the up–and–coming gallerist Greg Shaw Ferguson, who happens to be Maggie’s ex. A rogue’s gallery of eccentric art world figures could also have motive for the act, and as Maggie gets drawn into her own investigation of Lord’s disappearance, she’ll come to suspect all of those closest to her. Set against a culture that often fetishizes violence, Still Lives is a page–turning exodus into the art world’s hall of mirrors, and one woman’s journey into the belly of an industry flooded with money and secrets. “It’s a thrilling mystery that will leave you wondering which characters you can and can’t trust . . . There’s a twist at the end that still keeps us up at night, it's THAT good.” —Reese Witherspoon (A Reese’s Book Club x Hello Sunshine Selection)




Botánica Los Angeles


Book Description

Material expressions of spiritual belief are integral components of the Los Angeles landscape. Cathedrals, temples, churches, and shrines dot the city, but they are not the only sites where notions of the divine, or at least the supernatural, are made visible. Reflecting the broad ethnic and cultural reconfiguration of Southern California in recent years, botanicas have emerged as one of the most frequent purveyors of sacramental items. This book explores these fascinating venues and their role in transmitting, transforming, and critiquing traditional faiths. An ever-evolving combination of spiritual center, religious supply house, and alternate healthcare facility, the botanica is generally associated with folk Catholicism and other Latin American religious traditions. Vivid photographs and essays describe these sites of spirit-infused artistry, ceremonial activity, and community building. Patrick Arthur Polk is visiting assistant professor of world arts and cultures at UCLA. Other contributors include Donald J. Cosentino, Ysamur Flores-Pena, Miki Garcia, Claudia J. Hernandez.




Pop L.A.


Book Description

In this original and engaging book, Cécile Whiting examines what Pop looked like when it left the highbrow cloisters of Manhattan's art galleries and ventured westward to the sprawling suburbs of Los Angeles.