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Edward Goldman is an art consultant for private and corporate collectors. Contact: edwardgoldman (at) earthlink.net to sign up for his email list and to receive the weekly Art Talk program.
Art Talk
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Art reviews, news and announcements from KCRW's resident art critic, Edward Goldman. Both fearless and fun, Edward offers a unique "accent" on art. Formerly employed by the famed Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, and a favorite on-air presence, he offers impassioned views on what he sees in the galleries and museums and at events throughout the world, and he isn't afraid to "speak truth to power."
RECENT SHOWS
MOCA in Peril: Don't Ask for Whom the Bell Tolls
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Rumors about the financial difficulties at LA's Museum of Contemporary Art have been circulating for a few years, but the institution, much admired for its cutting edge exhibition program, has maintained a brave face. The museum continued to mount exhibitions in all three of its facilities –- two large spaces downtown and a smaller one at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood. Ambitious exhibitions were accompanied by thick, scholarly catalogues, well designed and obviously expensively produced. So, maybe these rumors were unsubstantiated; after all, in the last few years the museum, instead of cutting its staff, actually expanded it...
Sex, Life and Lots of Art
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After being seen in London, Paris, and New York, the retrospective exhibition of works by 96-year-old Louise Bourgeois has finally arrived in LA -– to dazzle, to provoke, and to unsettle virtually everyone who walks through the galleries of the Museum of Contemporary Art, hosting this exhibition until the end of January...
Please, Mr. President, Take Us on a Date
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I never start my weekly radio broadcast by giving you its title; only if you visit the KCRW website or sign up to receive Art Talk via email do you find out that each program comes with a headline. Today, for the first time, I want to start this broadcast with the title. Here it goes: PLEASE, MR. PRESIDENT, TAKE US ON A DATE...
Art, Politics, Money...
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With just one week left before the election, it's difficult to think or talk about anything else. The political drama –- or comedy, if you will -– of the presidential election proves that we Americans do have a National Theater after all...
Berlin, Part II: Getting Drunk on Art
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In the last few years, I've had the good fortune to visit a number of great cities famous for their art and culture -- from Paris and London to Beijing and Mexico City -- but the eight days I recently spent in Berlin left an especially indelible impression on me. To put it simply: I never worked so hard and, definitely, I don't remember ever having so much fun...
Seduced by Berlin
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Patience is not my main virtue, but I had no choice but to wait for many years to complete my journey to Berlin. It's been 34 years since I've been there. At that time, the city was divided by the Berlin Wall and we, Soviet tourists, were allowed to see only the Eastern part of the city. I remember standing in front of the Brandenburg Gate in 1974 and wondering what it would be like to walk through its Neoclassical splendor and to discover the forbidden Western part of the city hidden behind the Berlin Wall. It was a time when only a few of the bravest or most desperate souls would attempt to climb over the Wall, and for most of them, the price was a bullet in the head...
Is the Art Market Impervious to Stock Market Turmoil?
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Following last week's roller-coaster news – Wall Street in turmoil while London art auction sales for Damien Hirst exceeded $200 million – I couldn't help thinking about the mischievous Gods of Commerce and Art looking down from Mount Olympus at us mere mortals and giggling at our attempts to make sense of it all...
Spooky, Unsettling, Mad
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As a rule, I prefer in this program to talk about just one or two of the best exhibitions I’ve seen recently, but today I want to make an exception. So many good shows I saw last week, it makes sense to mention all of them – even if briefly...
Bernini: Tales of Power and Seduction
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Due to our recent pledge drive and the coverage of two political conventions, Art Talk has been off the air for a few weeks, so I wouldn't be surprised if you are starving for some good art news. I'm happy to report that the autumn season has gotten off to a good start with a number of museum and gallery exhibitions worth seeing...
From Russia with Art
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By the rules that applied to everyone who grew up in the Russia of yesteryear, I was destined to live and die in the same city, the same apartment, holding the same job all my life. But in my lucky case, the city happened to be beautiful St. Petersburg -– then called Leningrad -– and the job I had was in a very special place: the Hermitage, the famous museum founded in the 18th century by Catherine the Great...
Marathon of Chinese Art
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It’s been ten months since I returned from Beijing, but China is definitely on my mind. And how can it not be? With the Olympics starting this weekend, China has been front and center of political and cultural coverage for months: Tibet, the earthquake, mind-boggling new buildings in Beijing...
Secret to a Great Exhibition
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Good museum exhibitions come in all shapes and sizes. The best of them linger in our memory because of the deep satisfaction that comes from making new artistic discoveries or seeing our old favorites in a new light. Sometimes we remember these exhibitions not only because of the great art, but also for the unusual, innovative way the works were displayed in a specially designed gallery space. Traditionally, major museums rely on a team of in-house designers for the installation of the artworks, but on occasion, they take a risk and invite someone else to design the exhibition...
Buyer Beware...of Art
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Usually I find myself in the camp of those who see the glass half full and not half empty. But here is some information that challenges my philosophy: there are about one hundred cities in China with a population of more than one million people. With the Chinese economy booming, most of these cities are building or planning to build a new art museum. So what's not to like? It's definitely a bonanza for architects...
The Never-Ending Quest for Oxygen and Art
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You would imagine that after seeing an especially successful exhibition, an art critic would take a break from the never-ending steeplechase and rest for a while, savoring the moment. Not a chance. You would imagine that after seeing an especially disappointing exhibition, yours truly would stop for a moment to lick his aesthetic wounds. Wrong again. Like a shark whose very nature demands constant movement bringing oxygen through his gills, an art critic's very being depends on an endless flow of art through his eyes...
Mona Lisa, Jackie, and...Yes, Me!
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If I tell you that I caught a glimpse of Jackie Kennedy once, in her post-Camelot period, would it pique your interest? "Come on, Edward," I can hear you saying, "people were running into her on the streets of Manhattan for years; what's the big deal?" Here's my story...
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Edward Goldman
Edward Goldman is the fearless art critic who speaks truth to the art world’s power – a must-listen for culture mavens.
Tapes & Transcripts
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