'Farewell, Work Holiday Parties': Alex Prager's All-Too-Real Art Installation at LACMA

While on the Great Los Angeles Walk last month, my colleague Pat Saperstein posted a few photos on Instagram from what looked like a staged event happening at LACMA: "Farewell, Work Holiday Parties" appeared to be a live, immersive event featuring actors portraying an out-of-control work holiday party. I was a mile or two behind her, and hoped it would still be going on by the time I got to the museum.

And indeed, when I got to the museum an hour or so later, the party was going on. Because here's the amazing part: Artist Alex Prager had not hired actors to re-enact an awful office Christmas. These are all incredibly real-life mannequins, in the most amazing fashion. The exhibit is outdoors, and free to see, making it COVID-safe.
 

I mean, wow. Here's how LACMA describes the work: "Approaching the work from any direction, the visitor gets the distinct sense that there are a lot of people around. It is strange to see a group gathered without masks, standing very close to one another and even touching as they pose for a picture. You quickly realize the plaza before you is not full of people; it is a tableau made of lifelike sculptures and props depicting an office party bordering on absurdity. Like Alex Prager's photographs, the characters are frozen into detailed, fantastical (pre-pandemic) scenarios. The most absurd thing of all is the eerily real feeling about the sculptures. They are so lifelike that it seems as if one might move at any moment—or that they are looking directly at you."

More from LACMA: "This new world has necessitated new approaches to making art and engaging audiences, and this type of life sculptural work is a new element in Prager's practice. Based in Los Angeles, the artist has been working in performance, photography, and film for years (and a keen eye may even notice a nod to one of her past works under the Christmas tree). This piece came about when Miller Lite approached Prager to make artwork that could be featured in a holiday commercial. Speaking about the inception of the work, Prager said, "It's rare that a project like this comes my way. I have been experimenting with sculpture in my work for years. Miller Lite and DDB trusted me to make 15 life sculptures with complete creative autonomy." The result of this collaboration with Miller Lite is a piece that enlisted Hollywood special effects, techniques of photography, and Prager's signature way of blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. The curators welcomed the opportunity to recontextualize these impressive new works by Prager and the hyperreal sculptures now have a new life beyond the advertisement as artworks for this outdoor installation."

All of these characters have names and even motivations. Read here for more.

If you can't make it to LACMA, here's a 3D rendering and tour to get a closer look.

The Obligatory Cheesy "Levitated Mass" Photo at LACMA

C'mon, admit it: The first time you saw Michael Heizer's Levitated Mass at LACMA, you took the same photo.

Best Art Event Ever? 24 Hours of Donuts

An art exhibit featuring 24 hours of free donuts? Could this be the greatest art presentation in history?

Yes.

The Franklin Avenue family headed over to LACMA on Sunday morning to visit the ForYourArt event "Around the Clock: 24 Hour Donut City II, LACMA's Choice." The exhibit was timed to LACMA's presentation of Christian Marclay's "The Clock," a 24-hour montage synchronized to thousands of scenes of time pieces depicted in movie and TV. While "The Clock" played for 24 hours at LACMA, across the street donuts (selected by LACMA employees) were being passed out.

"Embracing a key concept of both Christian Marclay's award-winning 24-hour film 'The Clock' and many of Los Angeles' famous donut shops, ForYourArt offers a selection of signature L.A. donuts from across the city 'around the clock' in concurrence with the screening," the group (located at 6020 Wilshire) said.


24 Hour Donut City sign


Take a donut -- one (ahem!) per person.

Here were the donut selections this time:
- Michael Govan, CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director: Coconut Cake Donut, Bob’s Coffee & Doughnuts
- Stephen St. Laurent, Director of Security: Chocolate Glazed Buttermilk, Tang’s Donuts
- Amy Heibel, AVP, Technology & Digital Media: French Cruller, Randy’s Donuts
- Ellen Castruccio, Director of Membership Marketing: Blueberry Buttermilk Bar, Stan’s Donuts
- Scott Tennent, Director of Executive Communications: Crumb Donut, Bob’s Coffee & Doughnuts
- Alex Capriotti, Marketing Manager: Rainbow Sprinkle Donut Holes, Bob’s Coffee & Doughnuts
- Erin Wright, Director of Special Projects: Buttermilk Bar, Winchell’s Donut House
- Elvis Mitchell, Curator of Film Independent at LACMA: Buttermilk, Randy’s Donuts
- Franklin Sirmans, Terri and Michael Smooke Department Head and Curator of Contemporary Art: Traditional New Orleans Beignets, The Gumbo Pot
- Christine Y. Kim, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art: Choco Glazed with Rainbow Sprinkles, SK’s Donuts & Croissant
- Miranda Carroll, Director of Communications: Green Tea Donut, Café Dulcé
- Lorraine Wild, Creative Director: Bearclaw, Bob’s Coffee & Doughnuts

More pics:


Sprinkles!


Green tea donut (with custard) -- my favorite of the morning.


What those green tea donuts originally looked like, before I devoured one.


Bob's Donuts!


Large paper mache donuts art


Donut art, by Blogger Kid


Donut art, by the Blogger Toddler 2.0


24 Hour Donut City II sign


True dat!

"Through the Mic" at LACMA

Looking for something to do tonight? As part of LACMA's new hip-hop series, "Through the Mic," Freestyle Fellowship and Breakestra will be preforming in front of the "Urban Light" sculpture tonight at 7 p.m.

Details on the groups:

Freestyle Fellowship features Aceyalone, Myka 9, P.E.A.C.E., and Self Jupiter. Since the independent release of 1991's To Whom It May Concern, Freestyle Fellowship's indelible mark has involved stream-of-consciousness rhymes, intricate wordplay, powerful battle raps, and thoughtful spoken word poetry that incorporates jazz, funk, soul, and reggae all under the umbrella of hip hop.

Breakestra is made up of eight folks getting loose and flexing some soulful skills over some serious grooves—both original and deep covers drawn from music’s vast vault of funk—think James Brown, the Meters, early Kool & the Gang, Funkadelic, and Sly & the Family Stone mixed in a gumbo pot. Breakestra's live performances are events not to be missed.

I've included some Freestyle Fellowship tracks on past Choice Cuts mixes. Tickets are $10 for LACMA members and $15 for non-members. Go here for more info.

Mike on TV: Introducing "Kissy Sell Out" to L.A.'s Food Trucks

A few months ago, producers Jeff Androsky (who was behind my one shot as a TV reality show judge, Fox Reality Channel's Gimme My Reality Show!) and Michael Linder asked me to particpate in a TV pilot they were shooting starring rising British DJ Kissy Sell Out. The premise: Kissy comes to the U.S. to conquer this market, meeting people across the country along the way.

I taped a couple of segments with Kissy. Above, I introduce him to the joys of L.A.'s food trucks (including Korean tacos and ice cream sandwiches at Coolhaus. Yum -- although I'm not sure I recommend normally eating such things back-to-back. Shot outside LACMA. More tomorrow.

Free Museum Day As Pacific Standard Time Comes to an End

Pacific Standard Time, the region-wide celebration of L.A. post-war art, is already drawing to a close -- but before the event officially ends, 20 museums, galleries and collections will open their doors for free to visitors on Saturday, March 31. Participating museums include LACMA. Here's the list:

American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA)
Art, Design & Architecture Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara
California African American Museum (CAAM)
Chinese American Museum
Eames House Foundation
Fisher Museum of Art, University of Southern California
The J. Paul Getty Museum
The GRAMMY Museum
LAND (Los Angeles Nomadic Division)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Mingei International Museum
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives (West Adams)
ONE Archives Gallery & Museum (West Hollywood)
Pacific Asia Museum
Palm Springs Art Museum
Pasadena Museum of California Art
Pomona College Museum of Art
Santa Barbara Museum of Art
Scripps College, Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery

We hit several Pacific Standard Time exhibits at LACMA and MOCA, among other spots. And yet... I feel like we never got a good handle on such a sprawling event. And I don't know if it took the city by storm like promised. What do you think? Was Pacific Standard Time a big success? Did anything wow you? Or was it too spread out to get your arms around?

On Pacific Standard Time: LACMA's California Design Exhibit

As part of the citywide Pacific Standard Time exposition of California mid-20th Century art and design, LACMA's Resnick Pavilion is currently showcasing "California Design, 1930-1965: Living in a Modern Way," an interesting cross-section of the state's influential modern design from that era. Details:

This exhibition is the first major study of California midcentury modern design. With more than 300 objects—furniture, ceramics, metalwork, fashion and textiles, and industrial and graphic design—the exhibition examines the state’s role in shaping the material culture of the entire country. Organized into four thematic areas, the exhibition aims to elucidate the 1951 quote from émigré Greta Magnusson Grossman that is incorporated into the exhibition’s title: California design “is not a superimposed style, but an answer to present conditions…It has developed out of our own preferences for living in a modern way."

We visited the exhibit on the same day we checked out the Broad Contemporary Art Museum and the "Metropolis II" exhibit. Some pics from "California Design":


Vintage Airstream streamline trailer






Studebaker's 1962 sports car Avanti


Album covers


Ceiling light from Barton's Bonbonniere candy shop in San Francisco, circa 1952. (Victor Gruen, designer)


Modern furniture


Mattel and Barbie are a sponsor of the exhibit, hence the mid-century Barbie dolls on display


Barbie's mid-century dream house, circa 1962


Wartime poster


Table from the sportswear department at Bullock's Wilshire, designed by Jock D. Peters


Screen (with a cool atomic, space age feel), cira 1952, designed by Greta Magnusson Grossman.


"Rib chair," designed by Arthur Espenet Carpenter in 1968.

Modern Times at LACMA

Yesterday, I wrote about our visit to the amazing "Metropolis II" exhibit at LACMA. But that wasn't the only thing that was a hit with the Blogger Toddler 2.0 and Blogger Kid. Also in the Broad Contemporary Art Museum at LACMA is a floor of works from Andy Warhol, John Baldessari and Jeff Koons. The exhibit employs "different formal and conceptual methods to engage issues of mass culture and comment on contemporary society." Koons is behind the Michael Jackson and Bubbles sculpture (made in 1988), above.

LACMA's Coolest Exhibit Ever? 'Metropolis II' Wows

Sometimes having a kid pays off. Yeah, there's the unconditional love and affection from the little ones, and they can be cute to boot. But those tiny sponges don't come cheap -- except when it comes to a visit to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. As part of LACMA's "NextGen" program, kids (who are usually free) can bring one parent in for free two. For us, that means 2 kids, 2 parents... and a free afternoon at the museum.

On Sunday, we grabbed the kids and took them to LACMA in order to finally see the "Metropolis II" exhibit. I knew the Blogger Kid and the Blogger Toddler 2.0 would be fascinated by the sight of toy cars and trains speeding around a miniature city -- but I gotta admit, I couldn't wait to see it as well. The exhibit runs only certain times of the day, and we got there early enough to stake out a prime viewing spot in the viewing balcony above the exhibit. And I was right: It's pretty damn cool. Details:

Metropolis II is an intense and a complex kinetic sculpture, modeled after a fast paced, frenetic modern city. Steel beams form an eclectic grid interwoven with an elaborate system of 18 roadways, including one 6 lane freeway, and HO scale train tracks. Miniature cars speed through the city at 240 scale miles per hour; every hour, the equivalent of approximately 100,000 cars circulate through the dense network of buildings. According to Burden, "The noise, the continuous flow of the trains, and the speeding toy cars, produces in the viewer the stress of living in a dynamic, active and bustling 21st Century city."

See Metropolis II in action at these times:
Fridays: 12:30–1:30 pm; 2:30–3:30 pm; 4:30–5:30 pm; 6:30–7:30 pm
Weekends: 11:30 am–12:30 pm; 1:30–2:30 pm; 3:30–4:30 pm; 5:30–6:30 pm

Good news: Metropolis II is "ongoing," so it looks like you'll have plenty of chances to catch it. Bring the kids. More pics:



















Don't have a kid? LACMA still makes it amazingly easy to visit for free. Free admission is granted on the second Tuesday of each month, plus to all LA County residents after 5 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday (the museum is closed Wednesdays).

More from our LACMA visit in another post!