Arts

Pageant of the Masters

• By Cynthia Lum

The Pageant of the Masters is one of the most unique live art productions in the world. Each evening of the Festival of Arts summer schedule, audiences are amazed and enchanted by ninety minutes of incredibly faithful recreations of classical and contemporary works of art, with real people posing to look exactly like their counterparts in the original pieces. 

Presented in a bucolic outdoor amphitheater, with professional orchestra, original score, live narration, intricate sets, sophisticated lighting, expert staff and hundreds of dedicated volunteers have won recognition for the Pageant of the Masters as the best presentation of its kind. This year’s theme, “Made in America” will highlight the artists, revolutionaries, innovators, and dreamers who not only made this country their home, but let their creativity be inspired by the freedoms upon which this nation was founded. Through their lives, artworks and voices, a compelling portrait of our artists will come to life with all the theatrical magic that makes the Pageant a one-of-a-kind, must-see summer tradition.

Ticket holders will also enjoy unlimited access to the Festival of Arts fine Art Show all summer long.  Set in a beautiful open-air gallery, this highly acclaimed show features the work of over 100 award winning Orange County artists. From paintings, glass, ceramics, photography and more the Festival showcases a variety of mediums and artwork styles for avid collectors and festival goers to browse and purchase directly from the artists. 

For more details, click here.

Andy Warhol

• By Cynthia Lum

Andy Warhol: Photo Factory, a never before exhibited collection of rare Warhol Photographs, will be on view at NeueHouse Hollywood until July 9, 2021. The incredibly comprehensive survey features over 120 images, 20 of which have never been seen before. With four films from Warhol’s private Screen Tests series, Archie and George with Coca Cola, Lou Reed, Edie Sedgwick and Kipp Stagg, and Freddy Last Dance, shown throughout the exhibition, the show allows for an intimate view of the artist’s life and work. 

Additionally, NeueHouse and Fotografiska have created Photo Factory After Hours, a new event series to celebrate the groundbreaking exhibition. The lineup of events will offer live music, art, dance, conversations, and exclusive screenings of rare Warhol films recurring throughout the exhibition’s run.  Prepare yourself to understand Warhol’s fascination with photography and his practice of capturing successive moments in time.

“Warhol was as restless as he was relentless and shortly after he took up film, he picked up his own cameras: Polaroids and nifty little point-and-shoots. All of Warhol’s silk-screened and painted portraits, both commissioned and otherwise, were based on his Polaroids. His sitters included an ever-changing pantheon of pop celebrities, from Dolly Parton to Keith Haring, Jane Fonda to Pele, as well as a gaggle of New York drag queens and a host of pretty boys only too happy to take their clothes off for the camera.” said curator, writer, and photography critic, Vince Aletti.

For more details, click here.

Hauser & Wirth

• By Cynthia Lum

Hauser & Wirth in DTLA’s Arts District will spotlight its Los Angeles artists with a multimedia group presentation of nearly 30 artworks on July 8. –  August 22. ‘In Focus: LA Artists’ will showcase the groundbreaking techniques, diverse viewpoints, and intergenerational relationships of the gallery artists who call one of the world’s most creative cities home. Larry Bell, Mark Bradford, Charles Gaines, Richard Jackson, Paul McCarthy, Christina Quarles, Gary Simmons, Henry Taylor, Diana Thater, and the late artists Luchita Hurtado, Mike Kelley, and Jason Rhoades. On the occasion of Hauser & Wirth’s 5-year anniversary in the Arts District and in celebration of the community that has been integral to its vision for nearly 30 years, the presentation will highlight the lasting contributions of the artists and foreground their influential practices, which have been instrumental in making Los Angeles an international capital of artistic innovation and arts education.

Highlights will include the West Coast debut of Mark Bradford’s ‘Untitled’ (2020), recently exhibited in the powerful group exhibition ‘Grief and Grievance’ at the New Museum in New York, as well as Bradford ’s video work ‘Dancing in the Street’. Other highlights will include Mike Kelley’s multimedia sculpture ‘Party Girl’ (1998), Jason Rhoades’ irreverent sculptures from the ‘90s, a visually opulent video work by Diana Thater, a recent Numbers and Trees gridwork by Charles Gaines, and paintings by Luchita Hurtado, Paul McCarthy, and Henry Taylor.

For more details, click here.

Alvin Ailey

• By Cynthia Lum

Many know the name Alvin Ailey, but how many know the man? Ailey’s commitment to searching for truth in movement resulted in pioneering and enduring choreography that centers on African American experiences. Director Jamila Wignot’s resonant biography grants artful access to the elusive visionary who founded one of the world’s most renowned dance companies, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

Told through Ailey’s own words and featuring rare archival footage and interviews with those who know him intimately, AILEY traces the life of this brilliant and enigmatic man.  “Nothing prepares you for the experience of Ailey—the emotional, spiritual, aural, and visual over whelm the senses. As a filmmaker, I am drawn to stories about artists like Alvin Ailey—innovators who tenaciously follow their own voice and in doing redefined their chosen forms. Ailey’s dances—celebrations of African American beauty and history—did more than move bodies; they opened minds. His dances were revolutionary social statements that staked a claim as powerful in his own time as in ours: Black life is central to the American story and deserves a central place in American art and on the world stage. A working-class, gay, Black man, he rose to prominence in a society that made every effort to exclude him. He transformed the world of dance and made space for those of us on the margins—space for black artists like Rennie Harris and me” __ Jamila Wignot

“Ailey” hits theaters July 23rd. For more, click here.