Art Talk
Betye Saar in LA, Mark Bradford in Venice
Edward talks about a new exhibition of Betye Saar at Craft & Folk Art Museum in LA, and a Venice adventure, thanks to Mark Bradford and the Getty.
By Hunter Drohojowska-Philp • • 3m ListenI know that mentioning a lady’s age is rude, but when the lady is Betye Saar – the iconic American artist, who continues to keep herself extremely busy at the young age of 90 – in such case, not to mention her age would be simply not right. Last year, Saar had a retrospective in Milan, at the Prada Foundation, and a mini-retrospective here in Los Angeles, at Roberts & Tilton gallery.
Installation shot: Betye Saar: Keepin’ It Clean. California Craft and Folk Art Museum. Image credit: Farah Sosa
Craft & Folk Art Museum honors Saar with a solo exhibition of her washboard assemblage sculptures. The artist uses these sculptures as symbols of the “unresolved legacy of slavery… facing Black Americans today, particularly Black women” (CAFAM).
Left: Liberation, 2011. Mixed media on vintage washboard. Collection of Sheila Silber. Courtesy of the artist and Roberts & Tilton, Los Angeles, CA. Right: Supreme Quality, 1998. Mixed media on vintage washboard, metal washtub, wood stand. Courtesy of the artist and Roberts & Tilton, Los Angeles, CA. Photo: Tim Lanterman, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
Having the pleasure of speaking with Betye on a number of occasions, I know how extremely eloquent she is. And you can experience it too, by attending a conversation with her at CAFAM at 3pm on Sunday, June 25.
Still from “Mark Bradford at the press preview for the US Pavilion in the 57th Venice Biennale”. Vimeo: bmoreart
Venice Biennale – or just returning from there – and glowing about Mark Bradford’s art project at the US Pavilion. With his “genius” award from the MacArthur Foundation in 2009, and high-profile exhibitions in major American museums, including a recent show at Hammer Museum, Bradford is the perfect choice to represent American art in Venice. If you are tempted to attend the Biennale, here is advice I got from a friend: try to travel there in September or October, at the end of the Biennale, when Venice is not hot and not crowded.
Installation shot: “The Lure of Italy: Artists’ Views” and “Eyewitness Views: Making History in Eighteenth-Century Europe”. The Getty Museum.
The Getty Museum, to see the current exhibitions, The Lure of Italy: Artists’ Views, and Eyewitness Views: Making History in Eighteenth-Century Europe. There are dozens of paintings and drawings there by major Italian artists – among them, Canaletto, Bellotto, and Guardi.
Top: Installation shot: The Bucintoro at the Molo on Ascension Day. Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal). 1745. “The Lure of Italy: Artists’ Views” and “Eyewitness Views: Making History in Eighteenth-Century Europe”. The Getty Museum. Bottom: Installation shot: The Grand Canal in Venice from Palazzo Flangini to Campo San Marcuola. Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal). 1738. “The Lure of Italy: Artists’ Views” and “Eyewitness Views: Making History in Eighteenth-Century Europe”. The Getty Museum.
Installation shot: “The Lure of Italy: Artists’ Views” and “Eyewitness Views: Making History in Eighteenth-Century Europe”. The Getty Museum.
