Dinosaurs, David Hockney and Light -highlights of an L.A. afternoon

The day was bright and sunny as I began my afternoon adventure.

Yep, there were dinosaurs in California all those prehistoric years ago, and they got stuck in the mud!  The area around Los Angeles was loaded with the remains of dangerous  critters, like  the saber-toothed tiger and the Dire Wolf, and they were preserved in the La Brea Tar pits on Wilshire boulevard, in downtown L.A., where past and present come alive in one setting, and where I began my walk.

Marilyn dropped me off near Wilshire boulevard while she took her sick kitty to the vet, and I walked through the area of the tar pits, admiring the displays and models of the prehistoric beasts. Lamborghinis and BMWs now zoom down the  street where the beasts once roamed. What a heady thought!

My destination, however, wasn’t the tar pits, where these beasts got – literally – stuck in the tar and beautifully preserved, but to the museum that is part of the complex, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, known as LACMA. I was there to visit one of my favorite artists, David Hockney.

Meandering through ponds, fountains, and outdoor art, I found the admission booth and bought my ticket. It’s cheaper if you’re a local, but that’s okay. This is one of my favorite places to visit and there’s always something new to see, or old masters to enjoy again. It is the largest art museum in the western United States, and holds more than 150,000 works spanning the history of art from ancient times to the present.

David Hockney is quite the guy. He was born in 1937 and studied art in his native England until 1964, but the lure of the warmth of Southern California brought him here a year later. He was inspired to make a series of paintings of swimming pools in acrylic, then a new medium, using vibrant colors. He’s known for his use of strong colors which bring life to his work. He’s famous also for his theater sets and I’ve enjoyed his opera sets at performances of Puccini’s Turandot and Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress at the San Francisco Opera. These photos are courtesy of the internet.

The saturated bold colors of Turandot were, at my first viewing, almost a shock to the eyes, but as the opera progressed, the dynamic sets fit in with the drama of music and story. As you can see, his style for the sets of The Rake’s Progress evoked a totally different feel:  soft colors with childlike, almost cartoonish drawings, which, again, paired with the dissonant tones of the music and the satirical mood of the storyline.

Hockney experiments in a variety of media, from painting, photo collages, printmaking, and water colors;  he even made a drawing program for the iPad. He always returns to portraits, however, and the exhibit I was about to see is called 82 Portraits and 1 Still Life, which started at the Royal Academy in London, then traveled to Venice and Bilbao, and is now at LACMA.  He calls the paintings “24 hour exposures” because each sitting took six to seven hours on three consecutive days. All this exhausting work was done at age 80 – pretty amazing. His subjects were friends, family, employees, associates and children and grandchildren of these various associations.

The young man on the right had the only criticism of the artist’s work: he said Hockney forgot to add the eraser on the end of the pencil. Can you see it?  There was a list of people and their relation to the artist on large laminated cards that observers carried around. There was another card  written by one of the subjects who posed, telling of her experience. Sounds like tiring work, even though she was “ just sitting” – for hours and hours. Hmm..maybe it’s not so easy.

The rooms were painted a bold tomato red and the portraits were carefully placed with plenty of room, so the observer could spend time examining the images – the expressions, clothing, and attitudes of each subject,  all alike yet all different. The date and time of the creation was recorded, as well as the name of the person, and the work is considered as “one”. I was fascinated not only by the individual  portraits, but by the work as a whole, as were the others who were in the room with me. I was lucky to have been there when it wasn’t crowded.  The show continues until the end of July.

• My last stop at LACMA was to visit a very popular display called “Urban Light,” which has become  a beloved landmark for the people of L.A. In 2000,  sculptor Chris Burden’s then ten year old son Max gave him the idea for this installation when he was delighted to find old neighborhood light posts at the Rose Bowl Flea Market. Chris found the first street lamps there and eventually assembled 202 of them. The total number of bulbs is 309 because some lamp posts have two bulbs. The lamps are set by an astronomical timer that automatically adjusts to local sunrise and sunset. The lamps are from various L.A. neighborhoods that were used during the 20s and 30s and he sandblasted, power-coated , repainted and repaired them. They were placed at the entrance to the museum and the installation  has become an important tourist attraction.  The display now has LED lights, thanks to a birthday gift  from the Leonardo Di Caprio foundation. Social media has propelled its popularity and people are always there, taking selfies of themselves and friends. It’s a gathering place and a delight to be there as both a participant and observer. I waited for Marilyn and watched the people and pets come and go.

The day wasn’t over, even though the museum had closed. Marilyn dropped off a sleepy, recovering cat home,  picked me up and we headed down to Westwood, near UCLA, where we visited the Hammer Museum, founded by industrialist Armand Hammer to house his personal collection. The biennial called Made in LA is currently on, showcasing the work of 32 local artists, who range in age from 29 to 97. These artists exemplify the diverse and creative spirit of the city.  It was new, fresh, and fun!

As the skies darkened, we got a quick bite to eat before heading home to rest up for another day of adventures in L.A.

Note: photos of Made in L.A. and nighttime views of “Urban Light” below are courtesy of the Internet. My phone ran out of steam…as did I.  There’s always tomorrow.