KOREAN TREASURES AT LACMA (the Los Angeles County Museum of Art) Guest Post by Caroline Hatton

 Korean Quadruple Gourd Vase, LACMA

My friend Caroline Hatton, a children’s writer and frequent contributor to this blog, took these photos in March 2024. She writes:

While in L.A. for only two days, I was lucky to spend an hour at LACMA (the Los Angeles County Museum of Art). Viewing “Korean Treasures,” a temporary exhibition until June 30, 2024, filled my short visit with a rich experience.

The 35 items on display were selected from the vast collection of Chester and Cameron Chang, donated to LACMA. The selection offers a broad glimpse at artworks from past millennia to the present, including calligraphies, paintings, scrolls, screens, ceramics and sculptures.

The Poet Lee Baek (LI Bai) Watching a Waterfall by Yi Immun

An ink painting on silk from around 1800, traditionally attributed to Yi Inmun, shows the celebrated Chinese poet Li Bai “Gazing at a Waterfall on Mount Lu” and composing his most famous poem, the one by that title. The image includes a mountain waterfall, a timeless, universal source of awe, and two culturally distinctive and significant products of the creativity sparked by this emotion—a Chinese poem and a Korean painting.

A pair of cranes represents Trust, a Confucian virtue.

On a screen illustrating The Eight Confucian Virtues, which are Filial piety, Brotherly love, Loyalty, Trust, Propriety, Righteousness, Integrity and Sensibility, animals adorn the top of each panel. A pair of cranes represents Trust.

Stone in the shape of the Korean Peninsula.

One of my favorite forms of artistic creativity is what we see at any age in a cloud, a chunk of driftwood, or a rock. This is why I liked the sculpture by Mother Nature, titled “Stone in the Shape of the Korean Peninsula.” I especially liked how the vision inspired the artist who sculpted a wooden base for it, to carve water ripples around the stone.

Ceramics.

I liked the variety represented by seven ceramics in one display, every one of a distinctive shape and color. Vases, a jar, a vessel, a bottle and a seal are faceted in different ways, glazed in different colors, and designed for different functions. My favorite was the “Quadruple gourd vase” (photo at the top of this blog post), in part because it inspired me to make a miniature version of it some day.

Two dozen more diverse art works await viewers with differing sensibilities!

All text and photos, copyright Caroline Arnold. www.theintrepidtourist.blogspot.com

 

 

LA COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART: Levitated Mass, The 2000 Sculpture and More, Los Angeles, CA

Levitated Mass by Michael Heizer, LACMA, Los Angeles, California

On a recent Sunday, I decided it was time to go see Levitated Mass, the giant suspended rock recently installed on the north lawn of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) by artist Michael Heizer. The mid-afternoon sun cast a long shadow along the open tunnel walkway under the rock and illuminated the west face with a golden light.  As we arrived, a mother was coaching her son to hold up his arms Atlas-like so she could take a photo making it appear that he was holding up the rock.  All along the walkway, people were posing for photos.  A large part of the impact is the sheer size of the rock compared to human scale.  Our favorite photo op was the rock reflected in the glass doorway of the nearby Resnick Pavilion. For a review of the rock in the LA Times, click here.

Levitated Mass Reflected

Viewing the rock is free to anyone walking through the park, but to see the inside of the museum you have to buy tickets, which we did.  Our first stop was the Broad Contemporary Museum where we took the room-sized glass elevator to the third floor.  I was impressed by the number of families waiting for the elevator only to discover that the kids were in it just for the ride!  When we got to the top they all raced outside to the red-painted deck (which has an impressive view of the mid-town LA and the Hollywood Hills) and ran down the stairs to the bottom.

Standard by Ed Ruscha

In the gallery to the right of the elevator is the Michael Heizer exhibit, Actual Size, giant photos of rocks taken in the 1970's.  Each one depicts a boulder “actual size” with a person holding a sign giving the exact dimensions.  In the other gallery on the third floor is the Ed Ruscha exhibit, Standard, a retrospective of his prints and paintings, including his iconic prints of the Hollywood sign from the 1960's and of a Standard gas station, with its multiple layers of meanings.

The 2000 Sculpture by Walter De Maria

Our last stop was on the first floor of the Resnick Pavilion to see the retrospective exhibit of Ken Price sculptures, colorful abstract blobs, some looking like oversized children’s jacks, others like giant hands or paws, as well as imaginative ceramic cups and dinner sets, also very colorful.  The other exhibit on the first floor is Walter De Maria’s The 2000 Sculpture, an assemblage of 2000 white bars in precise rows.

One close-up view of the 2000 Sculpture

The remarkable effect of the exhibit is how it changes with your position.  My husband Art was particularly impressed by the piece and took a series of photos showing the sculpture from different views. His thoughts inspired by the sculpture:  Life is an endless set of new perspectives. If you think you know the drill, then you will discover a different drill. It is within your power to find a new perspective from a reordering of old viewpoints. This will surprise you and others. Your insight and creativity will be praised. 

Streetlamps at Entrance to LACMA

When we moved to Los Angeles more than thirty years ago, the County Art Museum was basically one building.  Gradually, more buildings and more galleries have been added so that now it is a whole complex.  At the entrance on Wilshire Boulevard one walks through a forest of vintage street lamps, collected by artist Chris Burden. On this trip we limited ourselves to viewing just a few exhibits.  Luckily, the museum is not far from where we live so we can go often.

For information about planning a visit to LACMA, go to their website.  The Ed Ruscha, Ken Price and Michael Heizer Actual Size exhibits will be up until January 2013.  The 2000 Sculpture by Walter De Maria will be up until April 1, 2013.