Picture In Picture

A woman photographs her friend inside the installation of "The Great Picture" on the last day of the exhibition at UCR Sweeney Art Gallery in Riverside, Calif. on Saturday, October 8, 2011.

Golden

Action on the Hot Wheels track at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, Sunday, August 14, 2011.

Why So Serious, Skulls?

Dire Wolf skulls at the George C. Page Museum in Los Angeles, Sunday, August 14, 2011.

No, I don't know why they are called that.

Maillol LOL

A museum visitor poses in front of a sculpture by Aristide Maillol at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, Tuesday, June 28, 2011.

The Ground Below

Museum visitors look through Sarah Oppenheimer's "610-3356" to the ground four floors below during the show "Gestures: An Exhibition of Small Site-Specific Works" at The Mattress Factory Art Museum in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, April 19, 2011.

Turrellean Blue

Patrons view the work of James Turrell during the show "Gestures: An Exhibition of Small Site-Specific Works" at The Mattress Factory Art Museum in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, April 19, 2011.

Matchy Matchy

"What should I wear to the museum?"

"I dunno. What about your striped shirt?"

"Hey, great idea. What could go wrong with that?"

Above: A woman views art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in Los Angeles on Friday, April 1, 2011. LACMA has an extensive collection of modern and contemporary art.

Punctum

Generally, I know why I like one picture and not another. Now and then, however, I find an image I keep coming back to ... but can't quite define the attraction or significance.

Above: At the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, Friday, December 31, 2010.

On Time

Above: A row of fossilized skulls at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, Friday, December 31, 2010.

Time

Above: a snapshot from earlier today at the California Academy of Sciences.

Decisive-ish

Went to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art today. Another snap is here on my other blog.

The thing about the endless "decisive moment" talk is that we really should be asking "why not a different walker? That's a fine moment for that one, but ... does it matter? Would it be any different with someone else?"

Actual Size Never Is

I think it's important to remember that photographic meaning relies on context. There's no "large" in actuality, only a relationship of one depicted object to another.

Above: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, December 27, 2010.

Good Hans, Nice Arp

Made it out to Pasadena today for a quick stop at the Norton Simon. Above: "Classical Sculpture" from 1960, by Hans (Jean) Arp.

P.S.

The L.A. Times takes a long trip inland via the freeway, and finds a stack of photographs out in the desert.

Picture this: Palm Springs Art Museum as photography hub

"Thanks to a gift of 543 photographs from an anonymous donor, the Palm Springs Art Museum is transforming its photography collection and expanding its exhibition program.

The donation surveys camera art from the mid-19th to the late 20th centuries, with pockets of strength in early photography and Pictorialist images by artists such as Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen and Julia Margaret Cameron. It also includes views of Egypt and Palestine taken by Francis Frith in the 1850s, street scenes of early 20th century Paris by Eugène Atget, dramatically modern compositions by Edward Weston, experimental pieces by Lyonel Feininger and poetic landscapes by Harry Callahan."

A note to those considering applying for the residency program out there: Palm Springs is fun, but the summer is really, really, really hot.

You Walk to the Big Park, Then Turn Left

On Friday evening, we went to the Met.

I really enjoyed Poiret: King of Fashion, but didn't get much out of Hidden in Plain Sight: Contemporary Photographs from the Collection.

Why didn't I like the photography exhibition? Well, after some thought, I believe it's because it consisted of completely literal work presented as conceptual art. The museum makes this claim for the show:

"Often deliberately understated in style, these photographs are filled with everyday epiphanies. They capture the unexpected beauty of found still lifes and modest interventions in the landscape, inviting us to look more closely at the world around us."

A while back, a friend taught me about titles and captions: if they are the least bit redundant, they're wrong. That is, if the caption says the same thing as the photograph, you don't need it. If it gives new information, or better yet deepens the meaning of the work, then it's fine. And that's the problem with this show: "Sand on Table" is a photograph of sand, on a table.