Entries Tagged 'Art and Culture' ↓

Art Basel, Night One, Homemade Dress made by Mama Jam and I

Group Photo at The Shelborne

Jeff Koons, Dots

Images: Taryn Cox for THE WIFE

Pacific Standard Time is the culmination of a long-term Getty Research Institute initiative that focuses on postwar art in Los Angeles. Through archival acquisitions, oral history interviews, public programming, exhibitions, and publications, the Research Institute is responding to the need to locate, collect, document, and preserve the art historical record of this vibrant period. Between October 2011 and February 2012, a major exhibition at the J. Paul Getty Museum will present a survey of postwar painting and sculpture in Los Angeles, accompanied by a book that is at once an exhibition catalog and an overview of postwar art history in Southern California.

The eagerly anticipated Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980 is set to begin on October 1 and 2 with simultaneous exhibition openings at more than two dozen participating museums. Visitors of this unprecedented region wide initiative that celebrates the rise of the Los Angeles art scene can expect a number of free program offerings, including:

• More than 25 participating museums will offer free admission on October 2, 2011, courtesy of lead sponsoring partner Bank of America. Major partner museums offering free admission include Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and Santa Monica Museum of Art.
• Free shuttle buses will carry visitors on routes connecting many partner museums.
• Many participating institutions are organizing free opening weekend (October 1, 2011 - October 2, 2011) celebration events, including:
• Multi Grammy Award-winning band Ozomatli will perform on October 2 at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts.
• On October 2, artists Arto Lindsay and Rirkrit Tiravanija along with West of Rome Public Art will hold a free speech celebration entitled Trespass. The downtown Los Angeles parade includes music, dance and other performances.

A full list of museums participating in Free Day, along with comprehensive information about Pacific Standard Time and its partners, exhibitions, events and shuttle routes, is available at:

PacificStandardTime.Org

You can feel the pulse of Spain beat in every garment in Balenciaga and Spain. A dress ruffle inspired by the flourish of a flamenco dancer’s bata de cola skirt; paillette-studded embroidery that glitters on a bolero jacket conjuring a nineteenth-century traje de luces (suit of lights) worn by a matador; clean, simple, and technically perfect lines that extrapolate the minimalist rhythms and volumes of the vestments of Spanish nuns and priests; a velvet-trimmed evening gown aesthetically indebted to the farthingale robe of a Velázquez infanta.

On March 26, 2011, the de Young Museum in San Francisco opens Balenciaga and Spain, an exhibition curated by Hamish Bowles, European editor at large of Vogue, featuring nearly 120 haute couture garments, hats, and headdresses designed by Cristóbal Balenciaga (1895–1972). The exhibition illustrates Balenciaga’s expansive creative vision, which incorporated references to Spanish art, bullfighting, dance, regional costume, and the pageantry of the royal court and religious ceremonies. Cecil Beaton hailed him as “Fashion’s Picasso,” and Balenciaga’s impeccable tailoring, innovative fabric choices, and technical mastery transformed the way the world’s most stylish women dressed. The exhibition closes on July 4, 2011.

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Orange County Performing Arts Center plays host to a unique event – a spectacular new production of J M Barrie’s classic story direct from London. Conceived by an award winning creative team and featuring 22 actors, puppets, music, dazzling flying sequences and the world’s first 360-degree CGI theater set on the tent walls at three times the size of Imax screens, this production of Peter Pan is not to miss! I was literally blown away by their use creativity to make the entire play come to life in the most magical way!

Performed in a state-of-the-art theatre production, Peter Pan is an extraordinary experience for the whole family. Generally, this show is not recommended for children under age five. Tickets range in price from $30 to $85. A $20 discount for children 12 and under is available for select performances. Tickets can be purchased online at peterpantheshow.com Also Soon coming to Atlanta and Chicago in 2011.

Orange County Performing Arts Center
600 Town Center Drive
Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Call for Tickets: 714-556-2787

Tue–Fri at 7pm
Sat at 1pm & 6pm
Sun at 12:30pm & 6pm

THE WIFE-TESTED, HUSBAND-APPROVED BROADWAY MUSICAL!

MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET is the hit Broadway musical inspired by the one and only time ELVIS PRESLEY, JOHNNY CASH, JERRY LEE LEWIS and CARL PERKINS came together to make music… and ended up MAKING HISTORY! On December 4, 1956, these four young musicians gathered at Sun Records in Memphis for what would be one of the greatest jam sessions ever. MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET brings that legendary night to life, featuring a score of rock hits including “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Fever,” “That’s All Right,” “Sixteen Tons,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “Walk the Line,” “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” “Who Do You Love?,” “Matchbox,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Hound Dog” and more.

You’ll love it, and the GUYS will, too! From the very first note, you’ll BOTH be basking in rock ‘n’ roll heaven! Not only are the songs amazing… this electrifying show also tells one of the best stories on Broadway – an irresistible tale of passion, fame and betrayal. A great time is GUARANTEED!

For a chance to win 2 Tickets to Million Dollar Quartet please leave a comment below. A winner will be chosen on Friday, November 19th, 2010. Good Luck!

UPDATE: THE WINNER IS LISA BODNAR!

No purchase necessary. Must be 18 years of age to enter. Not open to employees or family members of employees of TarynCoxTheWife. TarynCoxTheWife will pick a random winner at the end of the contest using random.org. TarynCoxThewife will email the winner and notify the merchant of the winner. The merchant will ship the prize. If we don’t hear from the winner within 48 hours, we will pick another winner. No substitutions for cash are permitted with this giveaway.

www.milliondollarquartetlive.com

Celebrate Halloween at Walt Disney Concert Hall with our annual silent film horror classic, when Clark Wilson returns to improvise another spooky score on the hall’s magnificent pipe organ on Tuesday, October 31, at 8 p.m. This year, the featured film is Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde - one of the more faithful of the many screen adaptations of Robert Louis Stevenson’s story, recounting a visionary scientist’s ill-fated attempts to unleash the human mysteries that dwell beneath the shell of the civilized self.

Considered by many to be the first great American horror film, John S. Robertson’s Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1920) allowed stage legend John Barrymore to deliver his first virtuoso performance on film. The film blends historic charm with grim naturalism. Mastered from a 35mm negative, this Kino edition beautifully showcases the dramatic brilliance and gruesome thrills of this influential American classic. Tickets ($15-$52) are on sale now online at LAPhil.com, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall Box Office, or via credit card phone order at 323.850.2000.

Now in its sixth year, the consistently sold-out Muse Costume Ball attracts more than 1,000 costume-clad revelers to the museum for a night filled with tricks and treats. Enjoy live music and video projections in the BP Grand Entrance and an exclusive preview of William Eggleston: Democratic Camera, Photograph, and Video, 1961-2008 along with after-hours access to Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700-1925, Olmec: Colossal Masterworks of Ancient Mexico, and Eye for the Sensual: Selections from the Resnick Collection. The party continues in the LACMA West Penthouse with DJs, art installations, and the annual costume contest. Get ready to compete for Best American Icon, Most Fashionably Fashionable, and Best Halloween Costume with the winners taking home fabulous prizes.

Includes complimentary drinks by Malibu Family Wines, Effen Vodka, Hornitos Tequila, Dekuyper, Pernod Absinthe, FIJI Water, and more.

Tickets: $25 Muse Members | $50 General Public. Ticket includes admission, complimentary drinks, and parking. On sale now. Purchase tickets by clicking here, calling 323 857-6010, or in-person at LACMA’s Ticket Offices. Please note: $2 convenience fee per ticket added to all phone and internet orders.

Just in time for Halloween…. Beautiful Monsters is a haunting dance dreamscape that reveals the furious abandon of a body transformed by magic in a romance that defies human limitations. Brought to life by Los Angeles’ own Helios Dance Theater, this stunning piece features visual design by acclaimed animator and director Chris Miller and an original score by praised composer Paul Cantelon (The Diving Bell and The Butterfly). Choreographed by Helios artistic director Laura Gorenstein Miller, it is a dance born out of confrontation with childhood nightmares, in which becoming the monster may be the only escape. October 23rd, 2010 at 8:00 pm

The LACMA’S $54 million dollar expansion of The Lynda and Stewart Resnick Pavilion opens to the public: October 2, 2010. The Resnick Exhibition Pavilion, designed by Renzo Piano, dramatically expands the museum’s exhibition space and unifies the western half of the museum’s twenty-acre campus.

The single-story, 45,000 square foot structure is the largest purpose-built, naturally lit, open-plan museum space in the world. This fall, it will house a trio of exhibitions that highlight both the diversity of the museum’s encyclopedic collection and the flexibility of the new building: Eye for the Sensual: Selections from the Resnick Collection; Olmec: Colossal Masterworks of Ancient Mexico; and Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700-1915

Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700-1915 will present a selection major collection of European men’s, women’s, and children’s garments and accessories to the public for the first time. The exhibition will tell the story of fashion’s aesthetic and technical development from the Age of Enlightenment to World War I. It will examine the sweeping changes that occurred in fashionable dress spanning a period of over two hundred years, with a fascinating look at the details of luxurious textiles, exacting tailoring techniques, and lush trimmings. Highlights will include an eighteenth-century man’s vest intricately embroidered with powerful symbolic messages relevant to the French Revolution; an evening mantle with silk embroidery, glass beads, and ostrich feathers designed by French couturier Émile Pingat (active 1860-96); and spectacular three-piece suits and gowns worn at the royal courts of Europe. The exhibition is curated by Sharon S. Takeda, Senior Curator and department head, and Kaye D. Spilker, Curator, LACMA’s Costume and Textiles department.

Join the LACMA in celebration for their Free Community Weekend from October 2 -3. Call or click on the link below to reserve your tickets. - Taryn Cox for The Wife.

www.Lacma.Org

One of the greatest ballet companies in the world, American Ballet Theatre celebrates its 70th Anniversary in 2010 by bringing the magic of dance theater and its world-class dancers to Los Angeles in THE SLEEPING BEAUTY.

Featuring some of the most memorable choreography in all of ballet and Tchaikovsky’s famous score, this timeless fairy tale springs to life in a splendid production for the entire family. The beloved story of the beautiful Princess Aurora, the evil sorceress Carabosse, and the awakening kiss of a handsome prince is certain to cast a spell on your heart and imagination.

Exclusive Engagements from July 15th - July 18th

“It is through living that we discover ourselves, at the same time as we discover the world around us” - Henri Cartier-Bresson, 1952

Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908–2004) is one of the most original, accomplished, influential, and beloved figures in the history of photography. His inventive work of the early 1930s helped define the creative potential of modern photography, and his uncanny ability to capture life on the run made his work synonymous with “the decisive moment”—the title of his first major book. After World War II (most of which he spent as a prisoner of war) and his first museum show (at MoMA in 1947), he joined Robert Capa and others in founding the Magnum photo agency, which enabled photojournalists to reach a broad audience through magazines such as Life while retaining control over their work. In the decade following the war, Cartier-Bresson produced major bodies of photographic reportage on India and Indonesia at the time of independence, China during the revolution, the Soviet Union after Stalin’s death, the United States during the postwar boom, and Europe as its old cultures confronted modern realities. For more than twenty-five years, he was the keenest observer of the global theater of human affairs—and one of the great portraitists of the twentieth century. MoMA’s retrospective, the first in the United States in three decades, surveys Cartier-Bresson’s entire career, with a presentation of about three hundred photographs, mostly arranged thematically and supplemented with periodicals and books. The exhibition travels to The Art Institute of Chicago, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. - MOMA.Com

Hi!

“At 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, the seminal auction of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé’s art collection began in Paris, the likes of which only come along once a century. Amassed by the couple over five decades, the gigantic collection includes works by Picasso, Mondrian, and Matisse, Art Deco furniture, bronzes and antiques, including two Chinese figureheads. Pieces date from the first century to the twentieth century. The collection is so huge the only place in Paris it could fit was the Grand Palais, and Christie’s will spend three days auctioning off the 731 lots. The collection is so special that all 7,000 of the five-volume catalogs have sold out and are expected to become collectors’ items, and 30,000 people came by the Grand Palais over two days just to look at it.”

Henry Matisse

James Ensor

“Welcome to the war zone, otherwise known as a school day. For thirty-something Brit mum Jane (Bess Meyer, alternating with Mina Badie), just making breakfast for her preteen daughters Jess (Phoebe James) and Betty (Abigail Revasch) is like a dawn raid in Fallujah. In “Mammals,” Amelia Bullmore’s sharply observed and thoroughly compelling dramedy at the Lost Studio, it can be hard to tell the difference between love and mere survival.

When husband Kev (Adrian Neil, alternating with James Donovan) arrives home from a business trip, he appears to be the cavalry but instead drops a bomb: He’s fallen in love with a co-worker. Jane is shocked, then furious, but moments later their weekend guests — Kev’s best mate, Phil (David Corbett), and a leggy blond named Lorna (Stephanie Ittleson) show up early. They’ve just had a row as well. Over what? “We only have one fight,” sighs Phil. “It just comes in many different guises.”

“Mammals” is itself one subject in many guises: Connection — how much to have, with whom to have it. Everyday traffic in other people can be so, well, messy. Not to mention disappointing. “The Love Room is a con,” purrs Lorna, confiding in Jane that her interest in Phil is on the wane as she recalls an old flame’s anorexia-inspiring passion. Even steady Kev admits monogamy lacks intensity: “You might amaze each other twice a year,” he complains to Phil, in one the play’s most delicious scenes.

The darkly comic take on intimacy is hardly new territory — recent memorable contributions include “August: Osage County” and “Closer” — but “Mammals” isn’t making any claims to originality. It’s Bullmore’s keen wit and directness that grabs your attention and holds it with the force of a suspense thriller. Toward the end of the first act, Jane announces she too has a confession, and it’s hard to tell whether Kev or the audience is more anxious to hear it. The play somehow implicates all of us, caught between animal impulse and human vulnerability. (Did I mention this is an ideal date night?)

Director John Pleshette draws strong performances from his leads, particularly Meyer as Jane. Brittle with anger, physically dwarfed by her own offspring, she pushes the play to its jagged edges. Corbett’s jaunty Phil, all chuff and charm, delivers the evening’s best lines with relish. The children are played by adult actresses, a highly theatrical choice but stylistically at odds with Tiffany Williams’ realistic kitchen and den set, strewn with suburban debris.

“Forget other people,” Lorna advises Phil, in one of the play’s moments of bracing candor. For better or for worse, you’re not likely to forget Bullmore’s savage, acutely human “Mammals.””

- Charlotte Stoudt for the Los Angeles Times

Mammals

Lost Studio Theatre,

130 S. La Brea Avenue

Hollywood, California

8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 4 p.m. Sundays. Ends March 8.

$25. (800) 595-4849. Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes.

The city emptied out early on Tuesday night for the Thanksgiving holiday, but Lincoln Center’s newly renamed David H. Koch Theater was filled to the rafters with ballet lovers. “I’ve been crazy for it my whole life!” said Valentino Garavani at the tip-off to the New York City Ballet’s Winter 2008-2009 season. “And when Peter Martins does it in New York, I know it’s going to be sensational.” Joining him for a one-time-only performance—which began with a somber set reflecting the current economic climate and ended on a jazzy upbeat note with the music of Wynton Marsalis and Ray Charles—were Alicia Keys, Candace Bushnell, Rachel Roy, and Peter Som “I would sit and watch rehearsals if I could!” enthused SArah Jessica Parker, who danced with the American Ballet Theatre in her early days. “This is the best escape I can think of,” added Blythe Danner. Speaking of getting away, Derek Lam told us, “I’m leaving for Turks and Caicos tomorrow.” So, will there be turkey, sweet potatoes, the works? “No. We’re thinking alcohol, the beach, and sleeping. A lot.” — Katie Hintz

New York City Ballet’s annual Opening Night Benefit featured an evening of ballets set to American music by such composers as Leonard Bernstein, Samuel Barber, Charles Ives, Wynton Marsalis, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, and Ray Charles. The theater is being named in honor of Mr. Koch who recently made a $100 million gift to support the capital campaign for the theater, previously known as the New York State Theater, which is home to both New York City Ballet and New York City Opera. The theater, which opened its doors in 1964, is currently undergoing a major renovation, with the initial phase due for completion in the fall of 2009.

Photos Compliments of : Style.Com

Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs
1913–2008

October 26, 2008–March 1, 2009 | Hammer Building

Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913–2008 is the first major exhibition to bring together the magazine’s historic archive of rare vintage prints with its contemporary photographs. The exhibition explores the ways in which photography and celebrity have interacted and changed, with portraits from the magazine’s early period (1913–1936) displayed in conjunction with works from the contemporary Vanity Fair (1983–present). The Los Angeles presentation, which is sponsored by Burberry, will be the only U.S. stop on the exhibition’s international tour. Photographers to be represented include Cecil Beaton, Harry Benson, Julian Broad, Imogen Cunningham, Annie Leibovitz, Man Ray, Mary Ellen Mark, Steven Meisel, Helmut Newton, Herb Ritts, Edward Steichen, Mario Testino, and Bruce Weber.

Curators: Terence Pepper, curator of photographs, National Portrait Gallery, and David Friend, editor of creative development, Vanity Fair. Curator at LACMA: Charlotte Cotton, photography.

A collaboration between Vanity Fair and the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Sponsored by Vanity Fair is a registered trademark of Advance Magazine Publishers Inc.

Edward Steichen, A Much Screened Lady—Gloria Swanson, 1924,© Condé Nast Publications Inc./Courtesy George Eastman House.