Two Lots Added to the May 19th Auction: Calder Brooch and Warhol Print

The May 19, 2013 Modern Art & Design Auction just went from 468 lots to 470 lots. The two lots that were just added are an Alexander Calder Brooch made for Connie Breuer, wife to architect Marcel Breuer, and an Andy Warhol print, Edward Kennedy. Continue reading for images and lot information.

Continue Reading >> Posted on May 9, 2013
Posted in Buzzworthy Items, LAMA Current Events, LAMA Exclusive | Tagged Alexander Calder, Andy Warhol, Connie Breuer, Marcel Breuer, Modernist Jewelry | Leave a comment

Raimonds Staprans Emotional Tenor

While his work shares many similarities with his Bay Area contemporaries Richard Diebenkorn, Paul Wonner, and Richard Park, Raimonds Staprans focused on still lifes and distorted landscapes with color and light at the forefront. According to poet and curator, John Yau, Staprans’ work achieves a distinct “emotional tenor” unlike Diebenkorn’s: “His landscapes are like tectonic plates. One senses that their alignment is precarious, and that everything could shift suddenly and violently in the blink of an eye.” Read more about three paintings by Raimonds Staprans to go up for auction on May 19th.

Continue Reading >> Posted on May 8, 2013
Posted in Buzzworthy Items | Tagged Bay Area Artist, Bay Area Figurative Artist, Raimonds Staprans, Richard Diebenkorn, Wayne Thiebaud | Leave a comment

Informal Illuminations: A Survey of Works by Jason Rhoades

Northern-California born artist Jason Rhoades died of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 41, a year short of his critically acclaimed show at the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007. A mere seven years before his death, the artist had exhibited at the 48th Venice Biennale with co-collaborator and friend, Paul McCarthy. Like Jeff Koons and Bruce Nauman that came before him, Jason Rhoades was not afraid to use industrial, commercial, and pre-fabricated materials such as neon, fiberglass, projectors, and other common objects to produce audaciously imposing and grand-scale installations. Read more about three works by Rhoades — two neon works and a book — that will go up for auction on May 19, 2013.

Continue Reading >> Posted on May 7, 2013
Posted in Buzzworthy Items | Tagged Bruce Nauman, Jason Rhoades, Jeff Koons, Paul McCarthy | Leave a comment

Karl Benjamin Early Works

Once again, LAMA is proud to offer a selection of paintings from Southern California’s own Karl Benjamin, the Hard Edge painter who immersed his canvases in a dense vocabulary of color. Two of these paintings come from a family that shared a close relationship with Karl going back to his days as an elementary school teacher in the Chino Unified School District. Click to read more about how the consignor acquired these two early paintings from the artist (one originally bought for $200) and to see a picture taken in 1964 of one of the paintings in their home.

Continue Reading >> Posted on May 4, 2013
Posted in Buzzworthy Items, LAMA Exclusive | Tagged California Hard Edge, California Modern, Hard Edge, Karl Benjamin, Modern painting | Leave a comment

Richard Artschwager Desk

Richard Artschwager (1923-2013) straddled many genres of art throughout his career, from Pop to Minimalism to Neo- Minimalism. With two retrospectives at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Artschwager is internationally known for his sculptures “that mimicked actual objects while simultaneously betraying their identity as artistic illusions.” He learned these skills about a decade before his furniture was intended as fine art. To support his family, Artschwager worked as a furniture maker, and then opened his own workshop in the early 1950s. LAMA is pleased to offer a rare Artschwager desk that was not only exhibited in 1957, but also survived a workshop fire a year later. Artschwager continued receiving furniture commissions throughout the 50s and early 60s, but 1958 marked the moment when he left a successful furniture practice and turned definitively to art. This rare desk will go up for auction on May 19, 2013.

Continue Reading >> Posted on May 3, 2013
Posted in Buzzworthy Items | Tagged contemporary art, modern art, Modern Design, Richard Artschwager | Leave a comment

Sam Francis in California

The upcoming May 19, 2013 Modern Art & Design Auction presents the opportunity to acquire distinctly vibrant Sam Francis works on paper from California collectors. The Pasadena Museum of California Art will be hosting the upcoming exhibition “Sam Francis: Five Decades of Abstract Expressionism from California Collections” opening August 11, 2013 featuring a selection of paintings and unique works on paper. We highly recommend that you come view the exhibition, and to stop by our preview which opens on May 6, 2013 to see the two Sam Francis pieces in-person, in addition to works by his contemporaries.

Continue Reading >> Posted on May 1, 2013
Posted in Buzzworthy Items, LAMA Exclusive | Tagged Abstract, california artist, California Modern, Pasadena Museum of California Art, Sam Francis | Leave a comment

Fate of J. R. Davidson House In Peril; Furniture to Go to Auction

J. R. Davidson, architect of Case Study Houses #1, #11, and #15, was instrumental in transforming the Los Angeles landscape through his mid-century houses that employed expansive yet sensible floor plans. The upcoming May 19, 2013 Modern Art & Design Auction features a selection of furniture (each lot comes with a Julius Shulman photograph) designed by Davidson for the Kingsley residence, a modern gem in the Pacific Palisades. While the fate of the house is still unknown, it seems likely that it will be torn down to build a larger structure.

Now is your chance to acquire furniture from a home that may suffer the same destruction as many homes that helped to define Los Angeles’ modern landscape.

Continue Reading >> Posted on April 29, 2013
Posted in Buzzworthy Items, LAMA Exclusive | Tagged Case Study House, J. R. Davidson, Julius Shulman, LA Modern, Modern Architecture, Neutra | 2 Comments

The Two Bettys

There have been many Bettys that have played critical roles in Los Angeles’ emerging art scene of the 1950s and 1960s. There was Betty Factor, the esteemed Ed Kienholz collector; Betty Freeman, art philanthropist and photographer; however, none were more significant in their contributions than the “Two Bettys”: Betty Asher and Betty Turnbull. Read more about seminal works in the upcoming May 19, 2013 Modern Art & Design auction that come from the collections of Betty Asher and Betty Turnbull.

Continue Reading >> Posted on April 27, 2013
Posted in Buzzworthy Items, LAMA Exclusive | Tagged Betty Asher, Betty Turnbull, Billy Al Bengston, Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles Art, modern art | Leave a comment