Category: Contemporary Art
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Virtual Exhibition: Burn Baby Burn!
TONDI’s first virtual exhibition Burn Baby Burn will take you into the work of Mark Bradford and Noah Purifoy who were each given large scale retrospectives at the Hammer and LACMA this summer. The virtual exhibition is anchored by two essays that probe into specific works found in each exhibit. In Scorched Earth we examine how…
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New Site! TONDI
My new site is officially up! I’m excited about trying something new and I invite you all to continue to follow my journey into contemporary art on TONDI. I truly value all of my followers on WordPress and have learned so much from this first blog. Cheers to a new beginning!
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An Uncomfortable Silence: Doris Salcedo
For as long as I’ve been writing Culture Shock Art one of my biggest challenges involves whether I should write about work I have not seen in person. In order to effectively write a piece about a specific piece of art you have to see it in person, otherwise you cannot bring a reader into the process…
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RIP Chris Burden
Chris Burden’s work has become a permanent fixture in the creative landscape of Los Angeles. While writing this blog over the years, Burden was revealed to me in many different forms. The most obvious was from his signature massive installation of Urban Light, a sea of 202 1920’s street lamps that he sourced and refurbished since 2000…
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Seeing Double at MOCA
Kahlil Joseph: Double Conscience It’s a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.” ~ W.E.B Du Bois For me, a great litmus test for a good piece of…
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Artist a Day Challenge: Hank Willis Thomas x James Baldwin
For the past week I’ve been thinking about James Baldwin; so much so that I was searching for an original copy of “The Price of the Ticket”. In the meantime, it’s Armory Week in NY and all I am hearing about is Hank Willis Thomas and his art.sy collaboration. While looking at Thomas’ work on-line…
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Artist a Day Challenge No. 26: Mickalene Thomas
Mickalene Thomas has a unique style that is nothing short of bodacious. Her colorful, glitter infused portraiture work is commands your attention and invites you delve into a deeper understanding of the person that is being portrayed. Her use of interiors and recent pivot to abstract portraits were a mystery to me because I couldn’t connect the…
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Artist a Day Challenge No. 24: Beauford Delaney x Ella Fitzgerald
This painting by Beauford Delaney out of all his portraits of fellow artists really stuck out to me, not just because it is a beautiful piece, but I wonder why he chose to obscure the Queen of Jazz, Ella Fitzgerald amongst this colorful palate of brushstrokes. Delaney’s work transitioned from figurative to abstract upon his…
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Artist a Day Challenge No. 22: Carrie Mae Weems
There are photographers that make me wish I was in an MFA program for creative writing. Their work begs for a story to be told. This is how I feel about Carrie Mae Weems’ Kitchen Table Series. Using a simple setting Weems was able to create a rich albeit fleeting glimpse at complex relationship dynamics in this series of photographs. This…
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The Broad: 3 Things I Love About LA.’s Newest Museum
Some people see things as they are and say, why? I dream things that never were and say, why not?”~George Bernard Shaw You know, some people may say it is unreasonable to charge a fee to attend an early preview of a museum that still doesn’t have operable indoor plumbing (especially when said museum will be free…
Colony Little, Culture Shock Art 