Comments on: Name the Object

By: Barbara Davis

Barbara Davis — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 03:53:31 +0000

Ronald Davis’s wife responds:
Yo LACMA: Is this the way you’re going about getting the public interested in modern art? The general public isn’t very well educated about world class modernism to begin with, and even though social networking tools may help give exposure to your Modern collection, the “game” of “name that painting” is pretty lame didactic. Do you even WONDER why the arts are often misunderstood, overlooked and underfunded in this country? Ron Davis’s “Roto” and all the Dodecagons in his 1960s series were made to be beautiful objects, not to tease people with. While the Baby Boomers were marching in the streets against the horrors of the Vietnam War, he and other artists of his generation in Los Angeles were in the studio making art as a reply to that war and to the insanity of the times. Where there was ugliness in the world, Ron and others sought to create beauty. Sure, you own the painting “Roto,” but the law says Ronald Davis owns the intellectual property and the copyright, so take a bit of care, please. Why not try a different approach to attracting interest in LACMA, maybe by writing a social networking “game” that focuses instead on positiveness, beauty, color, technique, history, or humanity rather than meaningless, idle “What kind of complete jerk would YOU be if YOU had to name somebody else’s painting you’re too much of a Philistine to understand?” I think your “name this thing” blog is very disrespectful, and typical of institutional bullying of artists by museum biz administrators looking for ways to drum up tacky, sensationalist “bread and circuses” approaches to your dwindling museum business.
BTW, Mr. Razell: why yes, people DID buy these — do a search for “Ron Davis Dodecagon” on the internet and you’ll see they were acquired by major institutions and collectors worldwide…. like LACMA.
Thank you for letting me share.
– Barbara Davis, Taos, New Mexico

By: laura

laura — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 04:08:52 +0000

“fragmented ferris wheel”

By: gina

gina — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:09:52 +0000

color-go-whirl

By: zack

zack — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:24:42 +0000

thought it over, and I’m going for a nested retitling for maximum arty-ness:

‘panopticon” (architectural drawing from ‘rodeo drive dressing room from hell’, socialite torture version, after bruce nauman and michel foucault)

now if I could just remember what period in historical painting used multi tiered titles, I’d reference that as well. anyone? LACMA staffers, help? I’m blanking here.

By: lacma

lacma — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:52:45 +0000

Suggestions from our Facebook page:

Suzanne Gibson at 7:25am June 15
“Around in Color”

Cameron O’Steen at 10:55am June 15
Punch Card Clock Report

Andrew Chaves at 11:12am June 15
Dharma’s Kaleidoscope Report

Angela King at 12:32pm June 15
“Auroras Aura”

Chuck Tellez at 4:10pm June 15
see and say

Pamela Sivula at 6:39pm June 15
Zoetrope Fantasie in Six Colors

Wendy Taylor at 8:36pm June 15
rainbow panorama

By: zack

zack — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:40:44 +0000

“panopticon (rodeo drive dressing rooms)”

By: zack

zack — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:00:45 +0000

“panopticon”

“rodeo drive dressing room from hell”

By: Joseph

Joseph — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:18:58 +0000

“Mondrian at the Gay Rodeo”

By: Donald Frazell

Donald Frazell — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 23:05:03 +0000

Um, did anyone actually BUY this stuff? Why? That can go with the supposed Curators series, Uh, hello, HELLOOOO! Anybody home? Guess they got laid off, only been a week. Must be busy threading plastic plastic cups in the Korean show. Artistes.

art collegia delenda est

By: gina

gina — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:15:36 +0000

“Color Happenings”