What to See in L.A.: March 2014

Here are my family picks for museum exhibitions to see in Los Angeles for this month, March 2014.  REMINDER: If you haven’t seen LACMA’s critically acclaimed James Turrell exhibition (see below), you’d better hurry. It closes in a month and tickets will surely sell-out soon. See my blog post Turrell for Kids to find out why it’s a must-see experience for adults and kids.

Add a comment and let me know about your museum visits, and don’t forget to share this blog post with your friends and family. See you in the galleries!

NEW THIS MONTH:

David Hockney: The Jugglers, LACMA (through April 20, 2014).

David Hockney’s captivating short film (9 mins.) The Jugglers is now on view in the Resnick Pavillion. The artist used 18 fixed cameras to record a procession of jugglers as they tossed brightly colored clubs in the air against a stark red and blue backdrop. John Philip Sousa’s military march The Stars and Stripes Forever playfully accompanies the jugglers’ movements. In The Jugglers, Hockney “explores new ways to depict movement through multiple perspectives on a singular event.”

 Jackson Pollock’s Mural, Getty Museum (opens March 11, 2014).

Here’s your chance to see Jackson Pollock’s monumental work Mural (1943) – one of the most iconic paintings of the twentieth century. Part of the University of Iowa Museum of Art’s permanent collection, Mural arrived in L.A. two years ago for cleaning and extensive study by Getty experts.  Pollock created the mural for art collector Peggy Guggenheim’s New York townhouse. The mural will be on view only from March 11 through June 1, 2014, so don’t wait to see it.

Connecting Seas: A Visual History of Discoveries and Encounters, GRI Galleries, Getty Center (closes April 13, 2014)

The Getty Research Institutes’ (GRI) Connecting Seas exhibition takes us back to a time before cars and airplanes – a time when people took long ocean voyages to see the world. Featuring rare books, maps, prints, and photographs from the GRI’s special collections; this exhibition presents a visual history of these seafaring explorations to the continents of Africa, Asia and the Americas. A free Kids Gallery Guide written by Cornelia Funke is available in the galleries or online (see below).

FEATURED FAMILY EVENT:

Cornelia Funke Storytelling and Book Signing, Getty Center. Sunday, April 6 at 2:00pm.

FEATURED EXHIBITIONS:

Calder and Abstraction: From Avant-Garde to Iconic, LACMA (through July 27, 2014).

This retrospective brings together fifty Alexander Calder sculptures in an installation designed by architect Frank Gehry. Using ordinary flat sheets of metal and thin wire, Calder created extraordinary abstract mobiles that revolutionized the world of modern sculpture  (see my review). Timed ticket reservations required.

Fútbol: The Beautiful Game, LACMA (February 2-July 20, 2014)

Adults and kids alike will love this new exhibition, especially if they’re soccer fans like my sons. Fútbol-inspired paintings, photographs, videos, and sculptures by local and international artists explore not only the beauty, brawn, and excitement of the game; but also its cultural significance in societies around the world (stay tuned for my review).

James Turrell: A Retrospective, LACMA (closes April 6, 2014).

James Turrell’s immersive light installations have to be experienced to be believed. Get ready to have your visual perception and your mind altered. See my review for details. Timed ticket reservations required. It’s a popular show so I recommend you buy tickets online at least 24 hours in advance.

Traveling the Silk Road, Natural History Museum (closes April 13, 2014).

Discover the Silk Road at the Natural History Museum, one of the most celebrated trade routes in history. Recreations of ancient city settings, videos, and hands-on activities allow visitors to imagine what it was like to travel the Silk Road 1,000 years ago. The Museum’s recent renovations include a new Entrance Pavilion featuring a real 63 foot-long whale specimen, and an interactive Nature Lab and Nature Gardens that kids love.

What Every Snowflake Knows in its Heart, Santa Monica Museum of Art (through April 5, 2014).

There’s snow in Santa Monica thanks to artist Yutaka Sone and writer Benjamin Weissman. Together, they’ve transformed the Museum’s galleries into a winterscape filled with their collaborative snow-themed paintings, sculptures, and videos. They even created a monumental ski mountain with roving chairs lifts and ski characters.

Image Credits:

1. David Hockney, still from The Jugglers, June 24th 2012, 2012, duration: 22 minutes, Courtesy of the artist. © David Hockney. All Rights Reserved. Photo courtesy of LACMA.
2. Jackson Pollock’s Mural (1943) arriving at the Getty Center in 2012 for conservation and study. Photo courtesy of J. Paul Getty Trust.
3. Detail of Batavia, City, Fortress and Residence of the Governor General of Holland, ca. 1750 Johann Baptist Bergmüller (German, 1724-1785) Hand-colored engraving, the Getty Research Institute.
4. Detail of Miranda Studio illustration from the Kids’ Gallery Guide for “Connecting Seas” exhibition at Getty Research Institute.
5. Alexander Calder, La Grande vitesse (intermediate maquette) 1969, Calder Foundation, New York. © 2013 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, photo courtesy Calder Foundation, New York/Art Resource, NY.
   
6. Andy Warhol, Pele, 1978. Courtesy of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
7. James Turrell, Breathing Light, 2013, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, purchased with funds provided by Kayne Griffin Corcoran and the Kayne Foundation, © James Turrell, Photo © Florian Holzherr.
8. The Prince and the Queen, 1854, Roger Fenton, salted paper print, hand colored. Royal Collection Trust/© Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2013.
9. Traveling the Silk Road banner. Courtesy of the Natural History Museum.
10. Yutaka Sone and Benjamin Weissman, Grandma’s Closet [detail], 2007. Courtesy of the artists.