| The Hammer Museum |
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| Written by Wendy Innes |
| Monday, 21 September 2009 08:41 |
 LOS ANGELES The Hammer Museum at UCLA has a plethora of interesting projects and exhibitions either showing or upcoming. The schedule is rotating and the work is mostly modern, but all of it is worth the trip. Here are some highlights.For the sculpture lover, the Valentine-Adelson collection can provide just the trick. Thanks to a generous donation from Dean Valentine and Amy Adelson, the Hammer has put together their collection of sculptures by the work of 29 separate artists. There are 50 distinct pieces in the exhibition dating from 1995 to the present. According to writer Michael Ned Holte, “few figures loom larger in this narrative than Dean Valentine, a Los Angeles–based media executive who emerged as a witness to the scene and, along with his partner Amy Adelson, preserved much of it by actually stepping up to the plate and buying the stuff.” This collection is notable for its connection to contemporary Los Angeles art. Valentine and Adelson had a uniqueness of vision when it came to purchasing these pieces, and it shows. Some sculptures could fit on a table, while others need their own rooms, but almost all come from artists in and around the Los Angeles area. Their uniqueness and relatively new nature provide the budding sculptor with an opportunity to glean inspiration and a sense of where the modern artists have taken this medium. There tends to be a local continuum among artists, and this collection allows that to exist in Southern California.  Another exhibit on display at the Hammer is the work of Claude Collins-Stracensky. A photographer mostly, Collins-Stracensky’s pieces are a study in perspective. The work highlights the differences between perception and reality, how we relate to each other and the world around us. This is highlighted through several different forms of art. Anne Ellegood refers to it as a take on Jorge Luis Borge’s “swarming sensation.” According to Ellegood, “Moments when the energy of the natural world bursts forth—when it cannot be predicted or contained—captivate Collins-Stracensky, but he is also attuned to quiet, persistent examples of interaction. Studies in light and energy manifest as photographs, capturing the constant negotiations that take place between humans and our natural environment.” Ellegood goes into detail to describe the influences of a sculpture of “rectangular vitrines” and how they were inspired. Collins-Stracensky credits Robert Irwin and Larry Bell as two of his major influences and they seem to come through in this piece. He again blurs the lines of perception and reality by using glass and plexiglass of various colors to animate a piece that seems to have no distinct borders between being in or out of each box. The most intriguing aspect of his work is that balance of man and nature that exists between the two. Amid other photographs is a crushed pavilion from the Santa Monica airport, reportedly destroyed by a wind storm. It is clear that the artist makes a poignant statement about man’s desire to subjugate nature, and all the while nature continues to have the upper hand. Another photographer whose work is scheduled to grace the exhibit halls of the Hammer Museum is Sharon Lockhart. Born in 1964 in Norwood, Massachusetts, Lockhart came to the west coast to study fine art at the San Francisco Art Institute where she earned her BFA, and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena where she achieved her MFA. Her work has been on nearly constantly solo exhibition since 1993, most recently Kunstverein in Hamburg, Germany. She has exhibited internationally for some time with solo work and in select group settings. Her current collection, Pine Flat Portrait Studio, centers on her time spent in the small mountain town of Pine Flat, California. The photographs are a collection mostly of children, which seen was drawn to in her 4 years in the small town. Many are portrait style, but there are some great candid pieces that highlight children interacting with one another. Particularly moving are the pieces titled “Sierra”, which depicts a blonde ‘tween girl in the full battle garb of a rodeo rider, and “Mikey, Sierra” which shows the same little girl in normal clothes and a cowboy hat alongside a boy in shorts with a gun propped across his shoulders. The symbolism that she brings into these pieces is dualistic. The roughshod life of rodeo and the “Wild West” guns is juxtaposed with the innocence of a child on one hand. On the other, it is an image in California that harkens back to a time when children idolized men like Davey Crockett and the Rifleman. The entire collection is magnificent and a must see. Finally, in October, UCLA will be hosting an evening with cartoonist R. Crumb at the Hammer. Crumb is considered the zeitgeist Jack Kerouac of the 60’s cartoon movement. He is responsible for the Fritz the Cat and Keep on Truckin’ panels. The event is meant to coincide with the artist’s latest publication, a new literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis published by W.W. Norton. The work is certain to stir up the controversy that comes with a literal interpretation of the Bible. Somewhere, in the mountains of Virginia, Jerry Falwell will be rolling in his grave while Pat Robertson prays for lightning to smite Mr. Crumb. The unfortunate part of course is that Crumb is using the very words of the Good Book itself as his points of illustration. It is rare to find people of faith who willing to accept that in certain partso the Bible, its less about Da Vincian Cherubs and more like the plot of the movie Grindhouse.  And it is in this more macabre atmosphere that Crumb does his best work. He will be speaking at the Hammer with his friend Françoise Mouly, the art editor for The New Yorker. If you are even remotely interested in the new art coming from the West Coast and make your way to the Los Angeles area, this should be a definite stop on your trip. Bookmark us: 
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| Last Updated on Monday, 21 September 2009 09:24 |