Challenging Exhibitions at USC Fisher Museum of Art

I do remember how, decades ago, when the Los Angeles art scene was much more modest, it was not easy to find gallery or museum exhibitions that were worthy to talk about every week on this program. Now, the Los Angeles art scene is exploding, with new galleries opening, it seems, every week. These days, my biggest challenge is how to choose from so many important, intriguing exhibitions happening all over town.

So, my choice for today’s Art Talk is two exhibitions at USC Fisher Museum of Art: both are visually arresting, and both make you think twice about what you see and how to interpret and understand it. The title of one exhibition there, Earth Works: Mapping the Anthropocene, refers to humanity’s permanent mark on the planet.

This exhibition of two dozen photography-based images by Justin Brice Guariglia is focused on his participation in NASA’s Operation Ice Bridge mission. He joined NASA in flying over melting glaciers to document and illustrate how they are affecting sea level rise. From a distance, his photographic works have a sculptural, relief affect. But, come closer, and you will be surprised to discover a rich texture and physical depth that seems to fuse photography and painting. In his artwork, Guariglia uses a complicated archival printing process that builds layers of acrylic and incorporates materials such as gold, pewter-leaf, and aircraft-grade aluminum.

The second exhibition at Fisher Museum features large-scale photographs by Janet Sternburg, titled Limbus. Thankfully, the press release helped me to understand that the Limbus is the rim of the cornea where the pupil meets the white of the eye; the home of infinitely generative stem cells.

Standing in front of these large, mysterious color photographs, one not only sees layers upon layers of images, one also starts to have the illusion of hearing soft sounds in the background. Using single-use, disposable cameras and her iPhone, Janet Sternburgcaptures moments full of ambiguity. She stands in front of store windows to capture images of what is inside, behind the glass, and the blurry reflections of the world outside. In some images, you even see the reflection of the artist, holding a camera, which she uses not as a documentarian, but as a poet.

Installation view, Frank Stella: Recent Work. Sprüth Magers Los Angeles. Photo by Edward Goldman.

I also want to tell you about two more exhibitions that you don’t want to miss. Sprüth Magers Los Angeles presents the first major exhibition of work by Frank Stella in LA since 1995. And quite a diverse new group of work it is, especially considering the artist is 82 years old – or as I prefer to say it, 82 years young. Among his inspirations, Stella lists the 18-century German writer and theorist Heinrich von Kleist, and Italian composer Domenico Scarlatti. Surprising choices, indeed…

And, be sure to climb up to the second-floor gallery of Blum & Poe to enjoy beautifully installed paintings by Dutch artist Karel Appel (1921-2006), co-founder of the European avant-garde art movement CoBrA.