There’s plenty to do and see at LACMA this weekend, starting with a few brand new exhibitions: William Eggleston: Democratic Camera—Photographs and Video, 1961–2008, on view inside BCAM, includes roughly 200 photographs from Eggleston’s celebrated career; on the same floor, Blinky Palermo: Retrospective 1964–1977 is the first comprehensive U.S. exhibition of this German artist who had an incredible impact on postwar abstract expressionism. Both shows open to the public on Sunday. But good news if you’re a member: the exhibitions are on view now for Members-Only Preview Days. If you’re not a member but you join today or tomorrow, you’ll get right in to the shows. We have lots of Eggleston-related programming happening this weekend and next week—read on for more info.
William Eggleston, Untitled, 1971–73, from Troubled Waters, 1980, collection of Marcia Dunn and Jonathan Sobel, © Eggleston Artistic Trust, courtesy Cheim & Read, New York
Blinky Palermo, Untitled, 1968, collection Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Mudam Luxembourg, photo: Jens Ziehe, Berlin
Also on view now is an installation by Mexican artist Teresa Margolles, just outside the Resnick Pavilion. The exhibition is part of VIA, a year-long, multi-site exhibition organized by LAND, featuring public works created by contemporary artists from Mexico. Margolles’ installation of benches is the perfect place to have a seat if you’re here on Halloween—the cement used to create the benches was mixed with a liquid that was previously used to clean corpses in a Mexican autopsy room.
Teresa Margolles, Untitled, 2006, courtesy Jardin Botanico Culiacan and CIAC, Mexico
Speaking of Halloween… I hope you bought your tickets for our annual Muse Costume Ball on Saturday night—because it is now completely sold out.
On the public programs front, tonight’s free Jazz at LACMA performance comes courtesy the Harold Land Jr. Trio with guest vocalist Rita Edmond. Also tonight, another terrific double-feature as part of our 20th Anniversary Tribute to the Film Foundation. First up is the quintessential Hitchcock film, Shadow of a Doubt, followed by Fritz Lang’s 1946 spy flick Cloak and Dagger.
On Saturday, photographer David LaChapelle and artist Josh Azzarella will be in conversation in the Bing Theater, including a screening of Azzarella’s short film, Untitled #100 (Fantasia), which takes Michael Jackson’s video for Thriller as its topic. The conversation is free—first come, first served.
On Sunday evening, should you wish to escape the trick-or-treaters and costume-clad pumpkin-smashers, our free Sundays Live concert series continues with a quartet of piano, bassoon, guitar, and clarinet performing works by Poulenc, Beethoven, and Mozart.
That’s a lot to see and do in one weekend, but there’s even more if you’re a William Eggleston fan. On Sunday at 1:30, filmmaker Michael Almereyda will join us for a screening of his documentary, William Eggleston in the Real World, followed by a conversation between Almereyda, writer Lloyd Fonvielle, and LACMA’s Eggleston curator, Edward Robinson.
Dipping into next week, you ought to mark your calendars for Tuesday night, when William Eggleston himself will be here to debut a new print published by LACMA on the occasion of the exhibition. Eggleston will join Edward Robinson in the Art Catalogues bookstore in the Ahmanson Building at 5 pm. Following that everyone will be encouraged to head up the street to the Cinefamily to see Eggleston’s 1974 film Stranded in Canton. There are even more Eggleston-related programs in the days following—check the main exhibition page for more event details.