So much to write about these days, and so little time to get to it. We headed east yesterday to see the first installment of the three-part Pacific Standard Time event at Pomona College Museum of Art, It Happened At Pomona: Art at the Edge of Los Angeles, 1969 - 1973. Part 1 is titled: "Hal Glicksman at Pomona." It happens that Hal is an old friend of mine, a former colleague at what was then Otis Art Institute of Los Angeles County (now Otis College of Art & Design,) where he was Gallery Director during my tenure as Dean. At Otis, he staged a number of standout, sometimes controversial shows including, as I recall, a magnificent exhibition of paintings by the late Sam Francis. He also brought the then little-known Laurie Anderson to perform there, and put on a marvelous show of trash retrieved from the MacArthur Park lake, when it was drained for cleaning.
Hal's tenure at Pomona was short, but notable for his ability to recognize important, innovative talent and to find ways to exhibit what others would have balked at. His name became associated with the earliest public installations of the "Light & Space" artists, and the current show is in part an homage to his vision. Here he is in an interview with exhibition curator Rebecca McGrew. The first installment includes seven of the artists Hal brought to Pomona: Michael Asher, Lewis Baltz, Judy Chicago, Ron Cooper, Tom Eatherton, Lloyd Hamrol and Robert Irwin. It's worth mentioning that the work is beautifully recreated and installed: I have seen the now-famous Robert Irwin disc...
(Robert Irwin, Untitled, 1968-69, acrylic lacquer on formed acrylic plastic, diameter: 54 in., The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Installation view at Pomona College Museum of Art, photograph by Robert Wedemeyer.) (Thanks to the museum for all captioned pictures.)
... in a number of different locations now, but never so well installed as here, where the disc floats magically away from the wall, and the shadows cast behind it are in perfect balance. The piece has an ethereal beauty that can take your breath away.
Michael Asher's contribution to the exhibition was to remove its doors...
No Title, 1970 Pomona College Art Gallery, Claremont, CA Photograph by Frank J. Thomas Courtesy of the Frank J. Thomas Archives
... letting in the light and air from the real world outside--and opening up access to the show for twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. Ron Cooper's ball-smashed automobile windshields...
"Head On," 1969/2010; "Dead Center," 1969/2010; "Ball Drop," 1969, Collection of the University Art Museum Art Video Archive, California State University, Long Beach; Photography by Robert Wedemeyer
... were brought back to life, bringing to mind the risk we take every time we head out on the freeway, and at the same time making wonderful "drawings" with the shattered glass itself and the shadows cast on the gallery wall. (We happened to visit at the moment when the action that is an important part of Cooper's vision was being reenacted, and stood by to watch as a number of steel balls were dropped onto sheets of glass laid out on the ground...
An exciting performance piece in itself. The picture is my own.) The spare, minimalist cityscape photographs of Lewis Baltz occupied the full length of one gallery wall and across from it, documentary pictures of Judy Chicago's "Snow Atmosphere" performance with flares and smoke in a canyon on Mt. Baldy...
Judy Chicago, Snow Atmosphere, 1970 Performance, February 22, 1970 Mount Baldy, CA Organized by Pomona College Art Gallery (15 photographs)
... reminded the viewer that much of the work of this period was preoccupied with the way in which we perceive our environment, and how our perception can be manipulated to change our relationship with the external world. The artist's job was not merely to make beautiful objects, but to invent--and reveal to us--new ways of seeing.
Or to create a new, illusory reality, as do the recreations of installations from the period by Tom Eatherton and Lloyd Hamrol. Tom Eatherton's space...
... invites you in, encloses you, transports you. Entering through a narrow passage, we find ourselves dwarfed on either side by immense curved scrims backlit in a blue of immeasurable depth; the dark, carpeted floor and the soft ceiling above take on a deep purple hue in the reflected light, and the whole effect is of walking through deep space with a sense of awe and wonder. We're invited to look into Lloyd Hamrol's space from outside, through a narrow aperture that closes off our vision from all surrounding information. The experience is like entering into our own head, a space as tender as the womb. The ceiling is a carpet of inflated, floating balloons, backlit in soft, pinkish light...
Situational Construction for Pomona College, 1969 9' h. x 30' w. x 40' l. Balloons, lead wire, water, colored light
A few black strands of led connect them to a watery, reflective floor, where their mirrored image pulls the eye down into (literally) non-existent space. It's a truly magical experience, a space so inviting and serene that you scarcely want to pull yourself away.
While at Pomona, we made the pilgrimage across campus to the permanent James Turrell Light/Space installation, Dividing the Light. The division is between the rectangle of "framed" sky above, the vista out toward the west, framed in turn by landscaping and college buildings, and the light reflected in the water of the infinity pool at the center of the installation. (This 43-minute YouTube video gives a sense of how Turrell's work.) We arrived at dusk, shortly before sunset--a good moment to observe the changing light. The view of the sky, isolated by Terrell's frame, was enhanced for us by the high, drifting wisps of cloud that also changed in color as the sun began to set...
(The pictures are all mine...)
Then the moon came out...
A truly awe-inspiring, truly magical experience. I notice that I keep coming back to that word; magic, as I understand it, has to do with transformation. These artists make it happen before our eyes.
And then we had to leave, because our grandson was about to show his face to the world for the first time...
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