KCRW's Art Talk

To MOCA: Our Hallelujahs, Mazel Tovs and Spasibos

podmaster@kcrw.org (KCRW.com) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 13:52:00 EST

This year, Santa Claus has decided to deliver his gift to us a little bit ahead of time. Today's announcement that MOCA at last accepted a generous 'bail out' offer of $30 million from L.A. philanthropist Eli Broad put an end to a flurry of speculations that had inflamed the local and national art scene. It seems that the museum survived the storm and has figured out a way to come out of this mess as a lean, mean and stronger fighting art machine...

The Blind Leading the Blind?

podmaster@kcrw.org (KCRW.com) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 13:44:00 EST

By nature, I am an optimist. But being an art critic and historian, I put things in perspective, which keeps my positive impulses in check. So, I guess that makes me a cautious optimist...

Does MOCA Have the Courage to Face the Music

podmaster@kcrw.org (KCRW.com) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 11:29:00 EST

When I went to Paris in March 2006 for the opening of the groundbreaking exhibition at the Pompidou Centre, which hailed the emergence of Los Angeles as one of the art capitals of the world, I rejoiced not only in celebrating the art and artists of our City of Angels, but also in the fact that so many outstanding works of art came from the collections of our own Museum of Contemporary Art...

MOCA in Peril: Don't Ask for Whom the Bell Tolls

podmaster@kcrw.org (KCRW.com) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:44:00 EST

Rumors about the financial difficulties at LA's Museum of Contemporary Art have been circulating for a few years, but the institution, much admired for its cutting edge exhibition program, has maintained a brave face. The museum continued to mount exhibitions in all three of its facilities â- two large spaces downtown and a smaller one at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood. Ambitious exhibitions were accompanied by thick, scholarly catalogues, well designed and obviously expensively produced. So, maybe these rumors were unsubstantiated; after all, in the last few years the museum, instead of cutting its staff, actually expanded it...

Sex, Life and Lots of Art

podmaster@kcrw.org (KCRW.com) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:45:00 EST

After being seen in London, Paris, and New York, the retrospective exhibition of works by 96-year-old Louise Bourgeois has finally arrived in LA -â to dazzle, to provoke, and to unsettle virtually everyone who walks through the galleries of the Museum of Contemporary Art, hosting this exhibition until the end of January...

Please, Mr. President, Take Us on a Date

podmaster@kcrw.org (KCRW.com) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 13:44:00 EST

I never start my weekly radio broadcast by giving you its title; only if you visit the KCRW website or sign up to receive Art Talk via email do you find out that each program comes with a headline. Today, for the first time, I want to start this broadcast with the title. Here it goes: PLEASE, MR. PRESIDENT, TAKE US ON A DATE...

Art, Politics, Money...

podmaster@kcrw.org (KCRW.com) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:44:00 EST

With just one week left before the election, it's difficult to think or talk about anything else. The political drama â- or comedy, if you will -â of the presidential election proves that we Americans do have a National Theater after all...

Berlin, Part II: Getting Drunk on Art

podmaster@kcrw.org (KCRW.com) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:44:00 EST

In the last few years, I've had the good fortune to visit a number of great cities famous for their art and culture -- from Paris and London to Beijing and Mexico City -- but the eight days I recently spent in Berlin left an especially indelible impression on me. To put it simply: I never worked so hard and, definitely, I don't remember ever having so much fun...

Seduced by Berlin

podmaster@kcrw.org (KCRW.com) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:44:00 EST

Patience is not my main virtue, but I had no choice but to wait for many years to complete my journey to Berlin. It's been 34 years since I've been there. At that time, the city was divided by the Berlin Wall and we, Soviet tourists, were allowed to see only the Eastern part of the city. I remember standing in front of the Brandenburg Gate in 1974 and wondering what it would be like to walk through its Neoclassical splendor and to discover the forbidden Western part of the city hidden behind the Berlin Wall. It was a time when only a few of the bravest or most desperate souls would attempt to climb over the Wall, and for most of them, the price was a bullet in the head...

Is the Art Market Impervious to Stock Market Turmoil?

podmaster@kcrw.org (KCRW.com) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:44:00 EST

Following last week's roller-coaster news â Wall Street in turmoil while London art auction sales for Damien Hirst exceeded $200 million â I couldn't help thinking about the mischievous Gods of Commerce and Art looking down from Mount Olympus at us mere mortals and giggling at our attempts to make sense of it all...