This Weekend in Art: Santa Monica, Torrance, and Laguna Beach
Author:Lindsey ShookWhat to do, where to go and what to see: Check out these fabulous SoCal events happening this weekend!
The 4th Annual Baker’s Dozen Show
Tomorrow night the Torrance Art Museum (TAM) presents its fourth annual Baker’s Dozen show, which brings together thirteen Southern California-based artists hand-picked by curators from other stellar art institutions, including the Santa Monica Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Armory Pasadena. The show samples the wealth of emerging art in the Los Angeles area from the perspective of thirteen esteemed curators. Furthermore, it is a reflection on the decision-making processes and inclinations of curators today. TAM Head Curator Max Presneill explains, “The exhibition [also] reflects a sub-text pertaining to […] the role of the institutional hierarchy in the structure of career building.” Opening July 21 6 to 9 p.m.; 3320 Civic Center Drive, Torrance
Image courtesy of Michelle Dizon
If you can’t make it down to Torrance, 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica—represented by curator Pilar Tompkins Rivas in Baker’s Dozen—is hosting their summer ArtNight, which will feature an opening reception for artist Michelle Dizon’s new video installation Perpetual Peace, developed on-site at 18th Street, Gala Porras-Kim’s installation Prospecting Notes About Sounds, and open studios of the center’s resident artists, and more. Opening July 21st 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.; 1639 18th Street, Santa Monica
Image courtesy of Helen Lundeberg
Laguna Art Museum presents Abstract Classicists
Also represented in Baker’s Dozen is curator Grace Kook-Anderson of Laguna Art Museum in Laguna Beach, which is currently showing the stunning Abstract Classicists exhibit, which has culled the museum’s permanent collection pieces by six artists who were included in the LACMA’s seminal 1959 exhibition Four Abstract Classicists. The critic Jules Langsner described the abstract classicists as purists of painting. “They are engaged in a serious and determined effort to create works of art that are at once a pure, formal, and harmonious quintessence,” he stated in his essay for the exhibition’s catalogue. The works display an intuitive and economic approach to form, a sensitivity and playfulness of bold colors, and an aim to expand on abstract possibilities. In other words, as long as the weather is good, which is almost always in Southern California, we suggest heading down to Laguna Art Museum for a late morning of abstract art and an afternoon at the beach. You’ll be glad you did. On view through October 28, 2012; 307 Cliff Drive, Laguna Beach
