13ThingsLA: August 21

Reading is Fundamental for your art calendar

Matthew Schreiber, Lily Dale (Benedicte), 2020-23. Transmission hologram mounted to metallicized glass. (Courtesy of the artist. © Matthew Schreiber)

The vibe is fantastical and narrative this week, as across contemporary visual art, the experimental dawn of photography, legendary animation, dance based on books, actual books, unconventional ceramics, aromatics, oracular and material storytelling, we visit The Getty, LACMA, Torrance Art Museum (adjacent), The Ford, PRS, The Loft at Liz’s, Pieter Performance Space, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Track 16 Gallery, the Institute for Art and Olfaction, CalState Los Angeles, Blue Roof studios & residency, and of course, the Library. Mindful maybe—but definitely not demure.

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Noboru Ueki, Untitled, c. 1948, Hand-colored gelatin silver print. (Getty Museum © Estate of Noboru Ueki; Courtesy MEM, Tokyo)

Now Open: Abstracted Light: Experimental Photography, and Sculpting with Light: Artists and Holography at the Getty Center. Another early twinkle in the constellation that is PST: Art: Art & Science Collide (prepare to hear “PST” every five minutes for the rest of the year), this exquisite pairing of two materially thematic group exhibitions highlights strains of creative invention in photography history. Abstracted Light takes a look at a generation of avant-garde lensfolk (like László Moholy-Nagy and Man Ray) who were so captivated by what was possible with 1920-50’s lighting and motion-capture technology, that they delved into the camera’s interpretive mechanical vision as a subject unto itself. Sculpting with Light on the other hand, is focused on the sorcery of holographic illusion regarding dimensionality and pictorial space. Since lasers came on the scene in the 1960s they’ve inspired artists from John Baldessari to Louise Bourgeois, Ed Ruscha, Matthew Schreiber, and Deana Lawson, to go beyond the alchemy of the camera and into another level of magic. Both exhibitions are on view through November 24 in Brentwood; Tickets are free, parking is $20/car; getty.edu.—SND

Film still from Rhythm in Light, 1934, by Mary Ellen Bute. Digital transfer of 35 mm film. Digital transfer courtesy Center for Visual Music, Los Angeles. (Image © Center for Visual Music, Los Angeles)

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