Cloudy Skies in LA? Surreal!

Continuing the trend of influencer/influencee exhibits (see Fluxus Reduxus in London or Guston and Di Chirico in Santa Monica, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has put together an exhibit exploring Magritte, the Belgian surrealist, and his effect on numerous PoMo artists ranging from Warhol and Ruschka to Celmins and Johns. Perhaps the most notable quality of the exhibit, and certainly the one that is garnering a great deal of its publicity, is that part of the exhibit was designed by John Baldessari, the bearded man pictured above. Baldessari's contributions include the cloud carpet, a ceiling made of photographs of a freeway and a scrim covering the windows looking out onto WIlshire Boulevard with the Manhattan skyline printed on them. According to Mr. Baldessari quoted in a NYTimes article, "L.A. is always compared to New York, and always loses." The exhibit runs through March. Also worthwhile at LACMA is a "vertical tasting" of Picasso's Minotauromachy etchings, that is eight drafts of the etching in a complete set.

LACMA
Ceci N'est Pas Magritte But Hit Outlook is Compatibly Surreal [NYT]

[Photo: NYT]

Previously: Los Angeles Museum of Art, Juxtaposition Mania in LA, Art For the Penurious, Jolie Seeks Atonement for W Spread; Bansky Goes to Bank