Happenings on the Road

Station to Station, a public-art project organized by artist Doug Aitken, has been on the road since Friday, September 6, 2013, when its first happening took place in New York. Since then, the nine-car train has passed through Pittsburgh, Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Santa Fe/Lamy, and Winslow (Arizona). The locomotive stops at Barstow before arriving at Union Station in Los Angeles this Thursday, September 26.

Station to Station, photo by Ye Rin Mok, courtesy of Station to Station

Comprised of numerous components, including art installations, live music performances, culinary expositions, books (more on this on Unframed later this week), and film, Station to Station morphs (just so) as the train hosting it journeys from city to city. The project picks up artists and performers and features them during single-night performances at any given stop. For instance, Liz Glynn, whose Model Universe is one of five yurt installations on the train, was augmented with Fritz Haeg’s BodyCartography Project in the Twin Cities. L.A.-based Lucky Dragons play at a singular stop: Barstow. Features change as the train moves west.

Eleanor Friedberger at the Kansas City Pop-Up Happening, photo by Mara McKevitt, courtesy of Station to Station

Station to Station poster for Los Angeles, courtesy of Station to Station

Station to Station, photo by Ye Rin Mok, courtesy of Station to Station

The physical mobility and conceptual portability of a project such as Station to Station begs for a look at the seemingly recent (but not so recent, as discussed later) movement of traveling art events. This phenomenon is especially interesting today, when digital media is so ubiquitous. With a network connection, anyone can “attend” an event, or be part of a movement with a simple hashtag. The notion of physical presence as a requirement seems antiquated, however, in a time when virtual encounters with art pass as authentic experiences, it is ever more important.

Recent LACMA projects make possible the physical interaction between a space or with objects. Rather than confine the museum’s collection and education programs within the perimeter of the campus, LACMA has been active in expanding its offerings beyond the county of Los Angeles, of which it is a part, to reach the widest possible audience.

To quote Wired on Station to Station, “In the old world, you traveled to see the art; now it’ll travel to see you . . . ”

LACMA 9 Art+Film Lab, photo by Duncan Cheng

LACMA9 Art + Film Lab, which is currently in residence at the Charles White Park in Altadena, shares an ethos with Station to Station in its objective to bring to a wider audience art, film, and associated media within a contained environment. Designed by artist Jorge Pardo, the mobile structure houses a workshop for the public, featuring video making, sound recording, and oral-history documentation. LACMA staff are present to assist with creating works and to encourage open participation.

LACMA9 Art + Film Lab, photo by Duncan Cheng

As Station to Station re-purposes the trafficked hubs of train stations as its temporary stage, the LACMA9 Art + Film Lab borrows public spaces, such as parks and school grounds, to plant its monthly residency. These communal spaces—accessible by all and at any time—transform into a temporary museum and performance venue. These artist-designed and appointed spaces not only render them as works of art in and of themselves, but also as places to go to and be part of. A digital interface may augment the experience, but it does not replace being there.

Image courtesy of waltarrrrr, via Flickr

Just last year, LACMA’s relocation of the 340-ton boulder that became the centerpiece of Michael Heizer’s Levitated Mass went on the road for a little under two weeks. The boulder, which started its journey in Jurupa Valley in Riverside County, began its procession through numerous streets and parked in various neighborhoods throughout Southern California before reaching its final destination at LACMA, where it was greeted by fans who stayed up well past midnight to witness its arrival on Wilshire Boulevard.

Megalith slated to become part of Michael Heizer’s Levitated Mass, arriving to LACMA on March 10. Photo by Tom Vinetz, © Michael Heizer

During its sojourn, Levitated Mass the work almost became synonymous with Levitated Mass the event. Inasmuch as the object was part of a singular work of art, the events that surrounded its relocation to LACMA were a form of ephemeral public art.

Of course, this phenomenon is certainly not specific to Station to Station or LACMA. There seems to be a sustained interest in creating spaces, although temporarily, in a time when so much interaction is not done within one.

In the end, this idea of a moving event is a novel take on the tradition of the traveling exhibition, in which works of art are transported from venue to venue in order to showcase the theses and curatorial visions that circulate within a culture. Rather than move singular works of art in crates, the crate itself becomes the exhibition. At a time when tangible experience are sometimes superseded by other options, these mobile-art projects present opportunities to be close with and part of the creation of art.

Note: Tickets to Station to Station in Los Angeles are sold out, but there will be publicly accessible art on view. Ticket sales support the Station to Station Cultural Fund, which supports programming at nine institutions, including LACMA, throughout the country. To donate to the Cultural Fund, click on this link.

Linda Theung, editor

Remembering Cecil Fergerson (1931–2013)

Former LACMA curator and community activist Cecil Fergerson believed in the power of art as a lightning rod for discussion and, most importantly, a catalyst for change. Moving through an incredibly challenging period in America, Fergerson left an indelible mark on the history of art at LACMA.

Unknown photographer, Betty Asher, Maurice Tuchman, Stephanie Barron, and Cecil Fergerson in Tuchman’s Mercedes, December 1977, Los Angeles County Museum of Art Photography Archives, photo © 2008 Museum Associates/LACMA

When I arrived at LACMA at the beginning of 2010, one of my earliest encounters was with Cecil Fergerson. I had been told many things about this man and was happy he had agreed to sit down with me at his home. Sure, there was mutual admiration from a shared vocation, but it was also the familiar way that the older generation greeted young newcomers who share mutual friends. Perhaps feeling her husband could come off as a little gruff, his wife, Miriam, was welcoming and warm, as if she were my own grandmother. Cecil enjoyed talking, most especially about art and activism. I didn’t get back as much as I would have liked, but we did manage to share some stories along the way. The first sight of his kufi and long dashiki at public events promised fireworks, or at least there was going to be a lively riposte at some point!

Fergerson’s story was improbable, but true. He was born in Oklahoma in 1931 and moved with his family to Los Angeles in 1939. He started working at LACMA—which was still a part of the Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science, and Art in Exposition Park—in 1948 as a janitor. By 1964, he became an art preparator and was later named a curatorial assistant in 1972. In between, at the height of the civil rights movement, Fergerson and his colleague Claude Booker began calling for the presence of black American artists in the museum’s exhibitions. Together they formed the Black Arts Council in 1968.

The group’s work led to a series of lectures and two exhibitions: Three Graphic Artists: Charles White, David Hammons, and Timothy Washington in 1971 and Panorama in 1972. The latter included artists Noah Purifoy, John Outterbridge, and Betye Saar. The Black Arts Council’s efforts led to LACMA’s initiation and support of the exhibition Two Centuries of Black American Art in 1976, which traveled to the High Museum in Atlanta, the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, and the Brooklyn Museum. Before organizing these two exhibitions, Fergerson had made his mark on another important LACMA project, assisting with the Art and Technology Program, which traveled to Expo ’70 in Osaka, Japan. Cecil traveled with the show.

“When I arrived at LACMA in 1976 Cecil Furgeson was a curatorial assistant in the department of modern art. He particularly enjoyed working with artists, and one of his proudest accomplishments was working on the Art and Technology show that opened at the museum in 1971,” said Stephanie Barron, LACMA’s senior curator of Modern art. “Artists loved working with Cecil—he always said anything was possible—and then would figure out how to make it work. I learned a lot from Cecil. I had to prove myself to him. He was a tough critic. But once I won his respect and admiration, we enjoyed a terrific relationship. When Cecil left the museum, we lost someone very special—but I was so proud of what he accomplished in the community. He was a remarkable man and someone I will miss very much.”

Fergerson retired from the museum in 1985 and began his second career as an activist curator and organizer of exhibitions in diverse spaces around Los Angeles, always promoting black artists.

Recently LACMA rekindled the flame that Fergerson set alight through his participation. Austen Bailly, former curator of American art, said recently, “I love that we were able to bring Cecil into conversations at LACMA through our programming and online archives about the Black Arts Council and Two Centuries of Black American Art, and that he could share his incredible stories and views about the museum and black art and artists with old and new audiences. What an inspiration. The momentum we have around expanding collections and exhibitions and audiences and supporters and enlarging our community is due to the foundations Cecil laid at LACMA over decades. Rest in peace.”

If he were not an invited participant in recent years, he was surely there agitating as a respondent. The long-term loan of a work by John Biggers was celebrated by a panel discussion with Fergerson’s peers Samella Lewis and Bill Pajaud, in addition to the Houston art collector Bill Perkins. In 2011, LACMA held a 35th-anniversary celebration for Two Centuries of Black American Art, with a keynote from David Driskell (who also led the panel discussion), the scholar Bridget Cooks, and Fergerson. In 2012, Austen Bailly led a discussion, “Building Collections of African American Art,” in which Halima Taha moderated a discussion with collectors Jesse Williams and Aryn Drake-Lee, Lyndon and Janine Barrois, and Paul and Linda Gotskind. LACMA also acquired an important document from the era of Fergerson’s Black Arts Council. The Ruth Waddy Sketchbook consists of 130 drawings by various artists from 1968 through 1981. In fact, Waddy, Lewis, and Fergerson formed a kind of triumvirate of voices and support for L.A. artists.

Cooks offers, “Fergerson was an advocate and agitator for black artists, the impact of which has spread across the nation. He encouraged and mentored three generations of people in the L.A. art scene through his example of activism and collecting.”

He will be missed.

Franklin Sirmans, Terri and Michael Smooke Curator and Department Head, Contemporary Art

This Weekend at LACMA: Under the Mexican Sky: Gabriel Figueroa Opens, The Golden Age of Mexican Cinema on the Silver Screen, The Altadena Art + Film Lab Continues, and More!

The beginning of fall marks a great opportunity to visit LACMA. The debut of the latest chapter from our Art + Film initiative takes place this Sunday with the unveiling of Under the Mexican Sky: Gabriel Figueroa—Art and Film. Centered on the prolific career of Mexican cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa (1907–1997), this exhibition highlights the distinctive and vivid visual style of one of the most important figures from the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. The depth and scope of Figueroa’s work was exceptional. In fact, he was considered by many as the “Fourth Muralist” of Mexico, alongside Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and José Clemente Orozco. The exhibition invites visitors to witness the emblematic and lasting image of Mexico as it was framed by Gabriel Figueroa. Under the Mexican Sky: Gabriel Figueroa—Art and Film opens on Sunday, September 22, to the public. Members see it first (with free admission) beginning Friday.

Gabriel Figueroa, film still from Enemigos, directed by Chano Urueta, 1933, © Gabriel Figueroa Flores Archive

In conjunction with this grand exhibition, LACMA presents The Golden Age of Cinema, featuring the enduring films of Gabriel Figueroa. The series opens with a double feature of Enamorada (A Woman in Love) and Flor Silvestre (Wild Flower), beginning on Friday at 7:30 pm. Enamorada (1946) tells the romantic story of a charming general and a passion piqued by the daughter of the richest man in town. Flor Silvestre (1943) is another collaboration from the famed director-cinematographer duo of Emilio Fernández and Gabriel Figueroa. In this story, a plantation heir falls for both the poor farmer’s daughter and the revolutionary movement. On Saturday, Salón México at 5 pm and Victimas del Pecado (Victims of Sin) at 7:30 pm illuminate the Bing Theater. Salón México (1948), a noir-tinged melodrama, follows the troubles of a working girl in this stylish look of Mexico’s urban landscape. Victimas del Pecado (1951) is another black-and-white noir by Figueroa, serving as a metaphor for modernity’s inevitability and reach. The film series continues each weekend through October 11.

The Altadena Art + Film Lab at Charles White Park will be busy all weekend long with free public programming, including two Oral History Drop-in sessions on Friday and Saturday, a Mini Docs Workshop at noon on Saturday, and a Composition Workshop at noon on Sunday. And at this go-around, we’ll be screening Jackie Chan’s Police Story in the outdoor big screen beginning at 8 pm on Saturday night. Don’t forget the blankets and popcorn.

If it’s free live music you need this weekend, LACMA has you covered. Jazz at LACMA hosts Grammy Award–nominated pianist and composer Alan Pasqua. Currently a professor of jazz studies at USC, Pasqua has previously worked with music legends like Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, and Carlos Santana, to name a few. The show begins at 6 pm on Friday. Closing out the weekend, Sundays Live brings violinist Phillip Levy and pianist Peter Wittenberg to the Bing Theater, performing works from Edvard Grieg and Ludwig von Beethoven. The concert begins at 6 pm on Sunday.

Edward Steichen, Mrs. Paul Abbott, Vanity Fair, February 1924, reproduced with permission of Joanna T. Steichen, gift of Richard and Jackie Hollander

After visiting the new Gabriel Figueroa show, stop by a few of our favorite exhibitions currently on view. Talk of the Town: Portraits by Edward Steichen from the Hollander Collection features works from one of the most admired photographers of the 1920s and 1930s. Kitasono Katue: Surrealist Poet demonstrates how visual art and poetry intersect. And Little Boxes: Photography and the Suburbs documents and comments upon the architectural, environmental, and social impact of tract housing. Lastly, visit Andell Family Sundays, on Sunday at 12:30 pm, which continues its study of Pinaree Sanpitak: Hanging by a Thread, with textile art projects for the entire family. Fall could not have come at a better time.

Roberto Ayala

The Modern Golem

In his 1915 novel The Golem, Austrian novelist Gustav Meyrink wrote, “Who can say he knows anything about the Golem? . . . Always they treat it as a legend, ’til something happens and turns it into actuality again. After which it’s talked of for many a day.” Meyrink is speaking to the eternal nature of the golem myth. This timeless quality is evidenced in the use of the golem figure in contemporary art and pop culture.

Paul Wegener and Carl Boese (directors), film still from Der Golem: Wie er in die Welt kam (The Golem: How He Came into the World), 1920, written by Paul Wegener and Henrik Galeen, produced by Paul Wegener

The most well-known golem narrative, which formed the basis for Paul Wegener’s 1920 film Der Golem: Wie er in die Welt kam (The Golem: How He Came into the World), is set in 16th-century Prague, where a cruel emperor persecutes Jewish residents. Rabbi Loew fashions the golem from riverbed clay and brings him to life with a mystical amulet; the creature then rampages through the city, crushing the enemies of the Jews. As the monster begins to experience glimmers of human emotion in the aftermath of destruction, he is disabled when a little girl removes the amulet. According to legend, the golem still lies dormant in Prague’s oldest synagogue, perhaps to be reanimated one day.

Dave Wachter (artist), Steve Niles, and Matt Santoro (writers), page from Breath of Bones: A Tale of the Golem, no. 2 (July 2013), private collection, Los Angeles, © 2013 Steve Niles, Matt Santoro, & Dave Wachter

The idea of a magical creature with immense strength and power created to protect the innocent is at the heart of many superhero stories. It is no wonder then that the golem has been a character in numerous comic books. For instance, three 1974 issues of Marvel’s Strange Tales feature the golem. In this story, the golem, created and brought to life in the middle ages, was subsequently buried in sand and forgotten. The figure is then excavated by professor Abraham Adamson and reanimated as he dies to protect his family. Although the golem is dangerous, he is ultimately driven by the professor’s love for his family. In a 1977 issue of The Invaders, also published by Marvel, the golem comes to the heroes’ rescue when they are held by Nazi scientists. In this fiction, kabbalah scholar Jacob Goldstein, who lives in the Warsaw ghetto, is supernaturally merged with clay to become the golem to defeat the Nazis holding the Invaders, eventually destroying the walls of the ghetto. The transformation of Goldstein inspires him to lead a rebellion.

Comic-book installation in the exhibition Masterworks of Expressionist Cinema: The Golem and its Avatars, in the Ahmanson Building, Level 2, at LACMA

The use of the golem to protect Jewish communities from Nazi forces is beautifully depicted in the 2013 comic series Breath of Bones, illustrated by Dave Wachter and published by Dark Horse Comics. Here, in a departure from the Rabbi Loew myth, the children of the threatened village collect mud and form it into a huge human shape. After they flee, Noah, the protagonist, and his grandfather stay and pray over the golem. As Nazi troops roll into the village, Noah’s grandfather dies, but his life and their faith animates the figure and transforms him into the powerful golem. In these comic books, the legends of the golem are adapted, but the essence of it being a protective supernatural creature remains.

David Musgrave, Untitled from Reverse Golem Portfolio, 2012, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum, purchased jointly with funds provided by the LACMA Art Museum Council, the LACMA Prints and Drawing Council, and the Grunwald Center Helga K. and Walter Oppenheimer Acquisition Fund, TR.16296.1.5,
© 2013 David Musgrave, photo courtesy Edition Jacob Samuel, Santa Monica

David Musgrave’s Reverse Golem Portfolio displays an interest in the creative act of making a golem rather than an emphasis on its mythical abilities. Musgrave is known for his trompe l’oeil depictions of crude stick figures. At first glance the humanlike figures look like they are made from scraps of paper. However, they are actually carefully rendered depictions of collage. Rather than draw the figures on the metal plates used to make these prints, Musgrave employs wide and narrow parallel lines to produce the illusion of a three-dimensional assemblage of paper. By using this labor-intensive technique and calling the figures golems, the artist emphasizes the generative act of creating. Like Rabbi Loew, Musgrave has made something vital and brimming with life out of inanimate and simple materials: clay in the case of the homunculus and lines in these prints.

These contemporary explorations of the golem myth and figure speak to the continued potency of the legend for artists.

Sienna Brown, curatorial assistant, Prints and Drawings

Students, the Public, and Turrell

In May, while the finishing touches were being made to James Turrell: A Retrospective, 13 students from local colleges and universities were studying Turrell’s work and learning about strategies for engaging with visitors to the exhibition. Over the course of 14 Saturdays, from June 1 through August 31, these students conversed with members of the public while exploring the exhibition. As their time working with the exhibition came to a close, we spoke with some of the students about what they have learned and observed over the summer, as well as tips they have for people who have not yet visited the exhibition. Here is part one of their reflections.

James Turrell, Breathing Light, 2013, LED light into space, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, purchased with funds provided by Kayne Griffin Corcoran and the Kayne Foundation, M.2013.1, © James Turrell, Photo © Florian Holzherr

LACMA: What has been the most interesting thing you have learned about Turrell’s work this summer?

Aida Lugo (recent graduate, Otis College of Art and Design): The most interesting thing I learned about Turrell’s work was the inquisition this work creates in those who view it. After viewing a work the audience is full of wonder. It is interesting to me the questions Turrell frames for the viewer: how is art like science, archaeology, architecture, and psychology? What happens to our perception when we enter a space, light or complete darkness?

Kristen Laciste (senior, UCLA): What I found most interesting about James Turrell’s oeuvre is that his experiences (such as the notion of greeting the “inner light” associated with his Quaker upbringing and his childhood activity of poking holes in the window covers to see light shine through) influenced his fidelity to the exploration of light.

James Turrell, Raemar Pink White, 1969, Shallow Space, collection of Kayne Griffin Corcoran, Los Angeles, installation view at Griffin Contemporary, Santa Monica, California, 2004, © James Turrell, photo by Robert Wedemeyer, courtesy Kayne Griffin Corcoran, Los Angeles

Marissa Clifford (senior, UCLA): One memorable moment came when my colleague Emilie and I spoke with a family of Quakers who frequented contemporary-art exhibitions. For them, Turrell’s work truly fulfills their religious tenet of “being with the light.” Just as it was for Catholics in the Baroque period, contemporary art was a way for this Quaker family to enrich their religious practice. It was inspiring to meet international visitors, from all walks of life, all of whom were captivated by the exhibition.

Kristen: As an art/art history student, it is interesting for me to know about the experiences and inspiration behind an artist’s work. This exhibition made me think about the nature of light and its use and treatment by artists through history. In art history, light is usually used as a device that illuminates, highlights, and creates depth. Light is ubiquitous, yet most people do not pay much attention to it. Turrell’s works fascinate me because they focus on light, commanding viewers to see and think about its complexities: its ability to reveal yet blind, its objectness, its intangibility, its natural and artificial properties, and its ability to shape and be shaped by spaces.

James Turrell, Afrum (White), 1966, Cross Corner Projection, LACMA, partial gift of Marc and Andrea Glimcher in honor of the appointment of Michael Govan as CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director and purchased with funds provided by David Bohnett and Tom Gregory through the 2008 Collectors Committee, © James Turrell, photo © 2013 Museum Associates LACMA

Marissa: The idea that daily realities of our natural world that do not have tangible form could be shaped and molded into personal experience was energizing and novel to many visitors, as it is to me.

Aida: I see art as all encompassing. I feel that it is possible for an artist to have freedom from context. James Turrell dives into psychology, perception, public engagement, performance, engineering, and aviation in his work. He is a good example of an artist whose practice is based on different intellectual interests. Leading the discussions in the gallery, I found people attracted to the work, and the mysterious quality of the work was an interesting entry point for exploration. Turrell’s work succeeds in opening minds, allowing the opportunity to discover new things about our presence on Earth.

James Turrell, Bridget’s Bardo, 2009, Ganzfeld, installation view at Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany, 2009, © James Turrell, photo © Florian Holzherr

Elizabeth Gerber, Education and Public Programs