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Category Archives: Words from Peter Loughrey
Peter’s Picks of the Day: Ceramics
Today I’d very much like to discuss a group of remarkable ceramists represented in Sunday’s auction. These master craftsmen changed our artistic recognition of the clay medium. Glen Lukens, Peter Voulkos, and Ken Price revolutionized ceramics in Los Angeles and the world beyond.
Continue Reading >> May 17, 2013Posted in Peter's Auction Picks, Words from Peter Loughrey | Tagged ceramics, Glen Lukens, Ken Price, Modern ceramics, Peter Loughrey, Peter Voulkos | 1 Comment
Peter’s Auction Pick of the Day: Billy Al Bengston and Ken Price
Today, I’d like to share some thoughts about the great Los Angeles artists Billy Al Bengston and Ken Price, their epic friendship, and how they are both children and fathers of the Southern California art scene.
This week LAMA was honored by a visit from Mr. Bengston and he retains the same wit and magnetism he carried so effortlessly 50 years ago. We’re honored to spotlight the legend of Bengston and Price.
Continue Reading >> May 16, 2013Posted in LAMA Exclusive, Peter's Auction Picks, Words from Peter Loughrey | Tagged Billy Al Bengston, Ken Price, Los Angeles Art, Southern California Art | Leave a comment
Peter’s Auction Pick of the Day: Vija Celmins Painting from 1964
For over twenty years, Los Angeles Modern Auctions (LAMA) has been privileged to auction over 25,000 works of modern art and design, but last February a longtime friend and client of LAMA presented me one of the most important works LAMA has ever represented: Vija Celmins’ Untitled (Knife and Dish) (Lot 160) from her seminal year of 1964.
I had never seen a Celmins painting from this legendary era in-person and for good reason – the artist only created these object paintings for a brief period in 1964. They are therefore extremely rare; experts have speculated that there are fewer than ten such paintings in existence. The works that have survived, and are publicly known, are in the Whitney Museum of American Art, MoMA, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, as well as important private collections.
Continue Reading >> May 15, 2013Posted in LAMA Exclusive, Peter's Auction Picks, Words from Peter Loughrey | Tagged contemporary art, LACMA, MoMA, Peter Loughrey, Vija Celmins | Leave a comment
Peter’s Auction Pick of the Day: Exploring the Artist’s Hand
Peter’s Auction Pick of the Day: Exploring the Artist’s Hand
“The artist’s hand…” You may have heard art historians use that term to convey how a master leaves very specific and telltale signs of his or her authorship with every muse-kissed scratch, scrawl, and dab. An expert can spot an unsigned Picasso as genuine merely by identifying Picasso’s one-of-a-kind handling of every medium he ever tackled.
Sunday’s fast approaching auction boasts an intriguing group of works that take the phrase “the artist’s hand” even more literally – for in each of the following lots the artist works his own appendage into the composition. There’s something deeply personal when an artist gives his hand, his unaccredited collaborator if you will, a cameo.
Continue Reading >> May 14, 2013Posted in Peter's Auction Picks, Words from Peter Loughrey | Tagged Alexander Calder, Bruce Nauman, Emerson Woelffer, Harry Bertoia, LAMA, Man Ray, Peter Loughrey, Sam Francis | 2 Comments
LACMA and MOCA: Words from Peter Loughrey
The recent announcement that LACMA has made an offer to, in effect, absorb the struggling MOCA has been the gossip of the arts community both locally and beyond for weeks. The fact that this offer has been on the table for nearly five years without serious consideration is, in my opinion, scandalous. In 2008, Michael Govan, the director of LACMA, proposed such an idea when MOCA was in dire financial straights. At the time, there was almost universal shock and revulsion from MOCA supporters and the idea was quickly shot down when Eli Broad came to its rescue. No one listened to Govan on the merits. It was just too much to imagine losing independence, especially to the cross-town rival. But really, as it turns out, it was just too big of an idea to get behind.
Continue Reading >> March 12, 2013Posted in LAMA Exclusive, Words from Peter Loughrey | Tagged LACMA, LAMA, Los Angeles Modern Auctions, MOCA | 8 Comments
Peter’s Auction Picks of the Day – The Prophet of Clay
The Prophet of Clay
To a significant degree, Peter Voulkos was the visionary who ushered ceramics into the realm of pure art. Most people considered clay to be mere craft, but Voulkos’ encounters with Klein and de Kooning inspired him to apply a whole new vocabulary to this ancient medium. At tomorrow’s auction we will see a strong grouping of ceramics, including works by Voulkos and McIntosh.
Posted in Peter's Auction Picks, Words from Peter Loughrey | Tagged Harrison McIntosh, Modern ceramics, Modern sculpture, Peter Voulkos | Leave a comment
Peter’s Auction Pick of the Day – Sam Francis on Top of the World
Peter’s Auction Pick of the Day – Sam Francis on Top of the World
The year was 1956 and Time magazine deemed Sam Francis, an American of all creatures, to be “the hottest young painter in Paris.” Mainstream America’s ultimate arbiter of taste arrived at this puckish conclusion after the Museum of Modern Art highlighted the youthful creator in its “Twelve Americans” exhibit. During this peak moment, when Francis could do no artistic wrong, he created Untitled (SF56-003) (Lot 228), one of the star attractions in this Sunday’s auction.
Continue Reading >> October 5, 2012Posted in LAMA Exclusive, Peter's Auction Picks, Words from Peter Loughrey | Tagged LAMA Turns 20, Sam Francis, Sam Francis painting, Sam Francis work on paper | Leave a comment
Peter’s Auction Picks of the Day – Richard Pettibone
Peter’s Auction Picks of the Day – Richard Pettibone and the Art of Other Men’s Flowers
Not long after his first show in L.A. in the early 60s, Richard Pettibone famously declared, “It’s fairly original not to be original.” Fewer life missions were as aptly or prophetically stated; Pettibone is a one-of-a-kind artist who ironically prefers to be an arranger of other Pop artists’ flowers, and his pan-Pop “bouquets” arrive to us in Pettibone’s typically miniature form, using the meticulous skills he honed as a model train builder. For this Sunday’s sale, LAMA proudly offers four hypnotic lots by the artist.
Continue Reading >> October 4, 2012Posted in LAMA Exclusive, Peter's Auction Picks, Words from Peter Loughrey | Leave a comment