13ThingsLA: October 16

Eccentric Orbits for your art calendar

Still from Self-Portrait as a Coffee Pot, Episode 5: As If, 2022, HD Video, 27 min 29 sec. (Courtesy William Kentridge Studio)

New exhibitions at Forest Lawn Museum, Yiwei Gallery, Skirball Center, WhiteBox/Face Guts, Galerie XII. ACID-FREE LITE, a special treat from Mubi, a Giant Robot book party. Gabba Gallery, DTLA the Gallery Platform way, Grand Avenue Arts. Artbound screens at the Library, Emo opera devours United Theater/Beth Morrison Projects. Art & science keep colliding with more PST at LACMA and 18th Street Arts Center. And on Saturday, Shana is among the speakers at the Santa Clarita City’s Business for Artist conference in the morning and at the LACP’s benefit party in the afternoon.

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Feature

Narcissus Quagliata, Self Portrait, 1986, leaded and blown glass, 60 x 71 in. (Courtesy of the artist)

Narcissus Quagliata: Archetypes and Visions in Light and Glass opens Wednesday, October 23, 5-7:30pm at Forest Lawn Museum. It’s not the first time the contemporary art program at the iconic Forest Lawn cemetery has featured stained glass, not even contemporary boundary-pushing stained glass—nearby Judson Studios, a multigenerational artisanal glass legend themselves, had a landmark exhibition there not long ago, for example, and there are also traditional and modern glass works in its permanent collection and within its architecture. But yet, Archetypes and Visions in Light and Glass still breaks new ground, being the first retrospective survey of Narcissus Quagliata—an artist who is, “among the most influential figures in art glass from the past 50 years,” and who “redefined what it means to be a glass artist.” Central to the show is Quagliata’s 50-foot blown glass mural, depicting the swirls of the cosmic firmament, which was made in 1985 for an Oakland building from which it was salvaged and brought to the museum’s collection. In addition to such feats of craft and vision, the show also features his newly revisited/ongoing since 1987 series engaging in the human stories and social issues surrounding homelessness. If you know me you know I love it when artists stretch back into history for material to reframe the present—but even among the recent proliferation of talented contemporary artists exploring the world of glass, I don’t think I’ve seen a lot of political glass, and I find this idea fascinating. Anyway I can’t wait to check this show out, along with the view from their hilltop. On view through March 9 in Glendale; forestlawn.com. —SND

Narcissus Quagliata, The Vanishing Boxer, 2011, stained glass with fused glass inserts, 42 x 53 in. (Courtesy of the artist)

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