5 design things to do this week

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This week, you can: celebrate David Hockney at the Getty Center; experience an ambitious multi-media art collaborative; consider global warming and its impact on global conflict; rediscover a 1960’s Abstract Expressionist; geek out at a mammoth computer graphics conference and see a flower arrangement that honors an iconic vase.

Pearblossom Hwy, 11-18th, April 1986, #2 represents a collage of over 750 photos shot over several days. (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)

1) Happy Birthday, Mr. Hockney

In honor of David Hockney’s 80th birthday this year, the Getty Center presents a two part exhibition of the British expat artist’s self-portraits and photographs. The self-portraits were made in different media over the past 65 years, while the photographs are from the 1980s and explore time and perspective through Polaroid composites and photo collages, including the iconic Pearblossom Hwy, 11-18th, April 1986, #2 (see above).  The combined works illustrate the artist’s never-ending curiosity and playful experimentation. The museum has scheduled several events to celebrate the artist, including a talk by Lawrence Weschler, author of “True to Life: Twenty-Five Years of Conversations with David Hockney;” a course in self-portrait drawing; a collaborative photo collage project by Art Lab; and curator gallery tours.  

When: The exhibit runs through November 26. Lawrence Weschler talk Tuesday, August 8, 7 pm; self-portrait drawing Sunday, September 3 and 17, 3:30-5:30 pm; photo collage project August 3, 4, 5, 10 and 12 between 11 am and 3 pm; and tours August 8 at 2:30 pm, September 7 at 2:30 pm and October 3 at 2:30 pm.

Where: 1200 Getty Center Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90049

Tickets:  Free. More details here.

Selfie-bait or art or both? (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)

2) The 14th Factory

With The 14th Factory, Hong Kong-based artist Simon Birch stages one of his most ambitious projects to date, bringing together 20 creative collaborators to display 14 interlinked spaces comprised of video, installation, sculpture, paintings and performance.  The spaces range from chaos to calm and are meant to transform the visitor “into a central player in [the] …adventure…that engages and unfolds, uniting individuals to the creative process and to each other.  The experience challenges the current political climate by celebrating creative diversity, unity and the act of overcoming obstacles and challenges as a global society.” However some critics have found the work to be more just “in your face” than a thoughtful and expanding art experience. Which brings up the question about what is meaningful modern art or alternatively just a collection of arresting images.  Called “selfie-bait” at its inception by the Los Angeles Times, the exhibit in fact went on to gain notoriety from a viral video of a girl knocking over several pedestals and causing $200,000 in damage to a display of crowns.  You have until the end of the week to decide for yourself; and isn’t that what art is all about?

When: Through July 30

Where: 440 N. Ave. 19, Los Angeles, CA 90031

Tickets: $18 in advance; $22 at the door.  Get tickets here.

Who will get the water? (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)

3) GRID Alternatives screening of The Age of Consequences 

How can Angelenos help create a sustainable future?  GRID Alternatives, an environmental non-profit dedicated exclusively to providing solar installation services for low-income people, will be leading the conversation with a discussion and an outdoor screening of The Age of Consequences, a new documentary that investigates the impacts of climate change on increased resource scarcity, migration, and global conflict.  Join this “green” party at Los Angeles’ newest green space: Chinatown’s L.A. State Historic Park.  Bring a picnic or enjoy food from Papa Fritz.  You can learn more about GRID Alternatives from our Modern Trades series on DnA here.

When:  Thursday, July 27, 6 – 10 pm

Where: North Broadway Viaduct along Chinatown’s L.A. State Historic Park, 1245 N Spring St, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Tickets: $10.  Get tickets here.

Roy Newell; Untitled; 2000; Oil on panel (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)

4) Roy Newell: Works from the Archive

Featured alongside Willem de Kooning, Philip Guston, Jackson Pollock, and many others in Ad Reinhardt’s Imaginary Museum 1961 Modern Art in America , Roy Newell was a well-respected figure of the New York art scene.  But he shied away from the spotlight, developing a signature style in the privacy of his studio, where he continuously reworked compositions over days, weeks, years and decades, always with the goal of achieving a level of perfection.  With this exhibit (and another later this year), Sotheby’s Fine Art has chosen artists “who have been celebrated historically but are under-recognized by the market today.”   The showing of Roy Newell’s work re-introduces this original member of the Abstract Expressionist movement and brings him to a new audience.  

When: Through August 4

Where: S|2 Gallery, Sotheby’s Los Angeles, 2029 Century Park East, Suite 2950, Los Angeles, CA 90067

Tickets:  Free. More details here.

A panel on women in computer graphics packed the house at the 2015 SIGGRAPH Conference.  See what panels draw big crowds this year! (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)

5 ) SIGGRAPH 2017 Conference

It it has anything to do with computer graphics and interactive techniques, you’ll find it at SIGGRAPH 2017  at the Los Angeles Convention Center.  The week-long conference that begins Sunday, July 30 features talks, production sessions, panels, computer animation festival and studio programs about this year’s emerging technologies.  In addition, the conference will feature a live giraffe as the model in an animal drawing workshop, a rare Pikachu to be released by Niantic, Inc., creator of Pokemon Go, and studio tours of the Walt Disney Animation Studios and Sony Pictures lots.

When:  July 30 – August 3.  See full schedule here.

Where: Los Angeles Convention Center, 1201 S Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90015

Tickets: Packages and prices vary greatly, from $50.  See full options here.

Bonus event. . . on the evening of Tuesday, July 25, check out this special ikebana arrangement by Ravi GuneWardena, above, as well as tributes by the architects Ball-Nogues and designer Eddy Sykes to the iconic Vase d’Avril designed 25 years ago by Paris-based French Studio Tsé & Tsé associées, and made up of twenty-one glass tubes and twenty interlocking metal fixtures. “Avril” is the subject of Please Do Not Enter‘s latest show in their Pershing Square location.  More details here.