Take a spin through the Behind the Wheel exhibition, then hitch a ride with the actors appearing in car theatre in the back plaza, as three, 10-15 minute original plays are performed in actual automobiles.
Space is limited. Please arrive early to be added to the reservation list.
At 8 pm, the back plaza becomes a summer screening room for American Graffiti(1973, 110 min.). Mini-burgers, popcorn, malts, and soft drinks will be on sale.
Seating is limited to 200. First come, first seated.
Free
image: detail, Joseph Sterling, The Age of Adolescence 1959-1964, 2006. Gelatin silver print.
Categories:
Tags: sbarts, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, sbma, American Graffiti, car plays
The artistOri Gershtgave a talk today at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. It was a private talk just for the Docents and staff were invited too. The work is incredible and a must-see for artists and those interested in the history of art.*
He began with one of the films in the exhibition. A high-pitched scream built and built as the image slowly came into view. The woman seated in front of me winced and cringed as the sound grew louder and more shrill. Then -- POW -- it exploded and suddenly the beautiful floral still life was exploded - and silent. Petals fluttered, floated free from their confined perfect placement. Free now, the glass and flowers filled the screen and through the smoke looked like confetti during a ticker tape parade. The horror of the sound, the beauty of the flowers, and the violent explosion ended in a silence both horrible and beautiful.
Working with Cartier-Bresson's idea of the 'decisive moment', also sometimes called the pregnant moment, Ori Gersht makes visible the split second of time between life and death. He began the talk withGoya's Third of May, one of the most famous history paintings of all time. Contrasted withManet's The Execution of Maximilian painted after the invention of photography, Gersht noted how different the picture looked, using photographs for reference and knowing that it was possible to depict the moment, not from memory, but from detailed documentation. The camera can capture what the eye cannot see. This changes everything.
I'm starting to get excited about the next Atelier at SBMA. The guest artist is author Geoff Dyer and I am sorry to say that I haven't read his book - yet. However I have read about him and about his books and the more I read the more I want to know.
He will be at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art on May 4th for the next iteration of Atelier. This is a smaller version of the famous/infamous NIGHTS event with more focus on the content and context and less on the party. May's event will be as follows:
Satire Meets Sincerity: An Alternative Look at the Venice Biennale May 4, 5:30 - 7:30pm
On May 4 the Museum's galleries stand in for the dual watery worlds of Venice and Varanasi as embodied in Geoff Dyer's novel, Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi, hailed by The New York Times and The Guardian as a combination of "fiction, autobiography, travel writing, cultural criticism, literary theory, and a kind of comic English whining; a louche and canny delight."
Experience the wit of Dyer first hand as he reads from his novel in the galleries and leads us on an amusing and intellectual exploration that pierces the pretense of the contemporary scene of art fairs and biennials.
Listen to the critically acclaimed Sonus Quartet, led by Caroline Campbell in a sincere-meets-satirical send-up of the café orchestras of Venice's St. Mark's Square.
Play Pretense Meets Pilgrimage, an interactive performance art game where guests receive random cards, moving them closer to self-awareness - or is it self absorption? Come find out.
Seriously, this should be fun and I have to work and I still think it will be fun.
A quick heads up about a great FREE program this Saturday at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.
What wisdom, comfort or connection can we find in classical literature? What do the Ancient Greeks have to do with Modern Lives?
Peter Meineck, Director of Aquila Theatre and professor at NYU, brings his vision of the classics to the Museum's plaza in a staged reading from the Iliad, the Odyssey and other works that resonate with the art of Charles Garabedian.
Actors will read selections (in both Spanish and English), exploring the theme of "Stranger in a Strange Land: Encountering the Other." Following the performance, UCSB Classics professor, Dorata Dutsch, will lead a discussion with audience members.
Ancient Greeks / Modern Lives is part of the "Under the Influence" series of public programs offered in conjunction with the Charles Garabedian exhibition examining the literary, art historical, musical, and cinematic influences on the artist, and in turn, Garabedian's influence on his students and others.
Saturday, April 9, 2:30 pm Plaza outside Museum's Park Wing entrance
Photo: September Song, 2001-04, acrylic on canvas, 156 x 300 in, Collection of the Artist, Courtesy of L.A. Louver, Venice, CA
Categories:
Tags: sblifestyle, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Garabedian
Thursday night at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art is the next Atelier event. I'm excited about this one as it riffs off the current exhibitions Stranger Than Fiction and An American Century.
Somehow our Education staff has wrangled Santa Barbara Indy Arts Editor Charles Donelan into helping guests compose a 6 word autobiography into a special cocktail mixed by the masters from the newly reopened Savoy.
I'm also going to check out the Portrait Studio by Stranger Than Fiction artist Frohawk Two Feathers. He came to the opening and instantly charmed the staff and guests. For this event he'll create the Imperial Portrait Studio in the galleries. You can pose with all sorts of props, the artist will take your portrait, and you may find yourself in a future artwork. Plus you'll get a Polaroid to take home. Dress up and a gift - who can resist that?
Last, but not least, Santa Barbara favorite Jim Connolly will improvise scores for a silent film by Paul Strand and Charles Sheeler.
So one of the really great things about working at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art is that when a new show opens the staff has a walkthrough with the curator. Today's walkthrough was with curator Julie Joyce for the Stranger Than Fiction and Chasing Moby Dick exhibitions.
I happen to love works on paper. I like to see the marks made by the artist, the process, the starts and stops. A friend of mine once said that it was because I like to read, and works on paper are often like books. That seems very appropriate with the new SBMA exhibition as the works in the show deal with ideas of storytelling and narrative.
Two of the artworks in the show are drawings by Santa Barbara's Eric Beltz. Eric came to Santa Barbara to attend UCSB and has continued on, teaching classes and working on these incredible drawings. The detail is incredible and takes a long time to discover all of the layers, meaning and connections. I have the good fortune to be one of Eric's Facebook friends and get to watch the progress of his work as he posts pictures of his daily work. Objects come and go, lines are erased and redrawn, text is added and deleted. The final drawing done entirely in graphite is elegant and profane.
I wanted to be sure and highlight the work "Drunk Jesus Calendar" which was just added to the permanent collection of the museum. It is to the curators' credit that there are many local artists represented in the museum's collections and that they are often shown in context with their peers from all over the world. "Drunk Jesus Calendar" inspired by the local wine country and culture is a great addition.
Below is Eric's description of the work. If you want to see more his site is http://www.ericbeltz.com/ and if you're in NYC he shows at Morgan Lehman Gallery. Eric will give a talk at SBMA on Sunday, November 7 at 2:30pm. (and it's free!) The rest of the show is great too, check it out before January.
Drunk Jesus Calendar
Jesus in a deep alcoholic, meditative bliss. Drunk on wine. A visionarycalendar emerges showing the various events throughout the year on the vineyard and in the winery: the wine-maker¹s calendar. The phases of the
moon surround the calendar, from new moon to the full moon behind his head.The moons are also grayscale ³eyes² of concentric rings that have the same four-step grayscale as the rainbows that emerge from the black sun in the center of the calendar and diamond pattern border. This, to me, is an attempt to show the power of the grayscale, my devotion to it as an artist, and that it is an important part to understanding my work.
The crosses
throughout the image are raptor perches used by growers to attract predatory birds who kill the small creatures like gophers and other rodents that threaten the growing vines and ripening fruit the bird on the upper left
cross is a kestrel. The starling on the post with the barbed-wire is a sign that the fruit is ripe because they show up when the fruit is sweet. The text emanating from his heart gives a name to those stages of grape-growing and wine-making. They are listed in sequential, cyclical order as they occur around the year. "Rest" is pointing up at his head because he is resting.The text behind Jesus is from Meister Eckhart (13th century German mystic) but is here meant to refer to wine as the holy "spirit".
As with all of my drawings, I am interested in the origin of symbols, myths, beliefs, etc. The effects of alcohol (in this case, psychedelics in others) combined within a belief system that uses altered states of consciousness can confirm those beliefs: Drink this and you will feel the spirit possess you. This is the awakening and the beginning of the transformation of the mundane world into the sacred. A raptor perch becomes a holy cross. The sheep used to mow the grass between vines become personifications of a deity. The hope that fruit is born from labor becomes submerged in gospel.
This drawing came about through a variety of accidental encounters. The robe Jesus is wearing was a gift, a blanket that a former student's mother made and that he gave to me. The cross perches I saw at a vineyard in Ballard and who make wine called La Croce. Some of the elements in the background and the calendar vignettes are from photographs I took while traveling and visiting vineyards and wineries, others are from books on wine. The datura in the lower left corner appears in many of my drawing and is a reminder of the native psychoactive weeds and it¹s importance to me.
Categories:
Tags: Eric Beltz, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Stranger than Fiction, Julie Joyce
