The busy fall season at LACMA officially begins this weekend with the opening of Ken Price Sculpture: A Retrospective. The exhibitions brings together more than a hundred objects, including works Price finished just a few weeks before his death earlier this year. Exhibition design was done by Frank Gehry, Price’s longtime friend. The show has already gotten a rave review from the Los Angeles Times, which called Price “one of the great American sculptors of the last half-century.” (PS: check out this great photo from the exhibition's opening this week: a who's who of L.A. greats turned out to see the exhibition.)
Installation view, “Ken Price Sculpture: A Retrospective,” September 16, 2012–January 6, 2013, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, © Ken Price, photo © 2012 Fredrik Nilsen
Ken Price Sculpture is on view now for members only, and opens to the general public on Sunday. If you’re not a member yet, now is the time to join. Not only will you get access to Ken Price right away, but you’ll also get exclusive member previews to next week’s Ed Ruscha exhibition and four more major exhibitions this fall alone. Members will also get two free tickets to Stanley Kubrick and two free tickets Bodies and Shadows: Caravaggio and His Legacy, both opening in November. Members-only reservations for both shows begin on Wednesday, so now is the time to get in. Those tickets alone are an $80 value, never mind the twelve months of free general admission to the rest of the museum. What are you waiting for? Show your support for LACMA and become a member.
Tonight award-winning saxophonist Kamasi Washington performs for Jazz at LACMA. Washington has performed with jazz greats like Wayne Shorter and Billy Higgins as well as pop stars like Snoop Dog, Mos Def, and Raphael Saadiq.
Tonight we’ve also got a special film screening open exclusively to members of LACMA Film Club, Film Independent, or the New York Times Film Club: the world premiere of Chu Chang-min’s stylized costume drama Masquerade. The film stars Byung-hun Lee, who plays the dual role of a paranoid king and an actor who is forced to replace the ruler. Lee will be in attendance for the screening and will take part in a Q&A following the film. (Not a Film Club member? Join now—you’ll get access to free screenings like this plus priority tickets to popular events like Jason Reitman’s Live Reads and more.)
Spend the rest of the weekend checking out our other exhibitions or going deeper into our collection. Have you been up to the top floor of the Ahmanson Building lately? In the Islamic galleries we’ve just installed a beautiful fountain taken from a a reception room in a Damascus house, circa 1766-67. (More on this fountain on Unframed next week.)
Fountain from a reception room in a Damascus house, Damascus, Syria, room dated 1180 AH/1766–67, Robert Haber and Associates, Inc.
On that floor you’ll also an installation by contemporary Iranian artist Siamak Filizadeh, Rostam 2—The Return. On the western side of the same floor, take a walk through our South and Southeast Asian galleries for a number of smaller installations—Tibetan Thangka Painting and Furniture, Tibetan silver, 17th–19th century paintings and photographs from India depicting women, and experimental films from Alia Syed.
'Monk's Hat' Ewer, Tibet, late 19th century, gift of Julian Sands
If you’re here on Sunday, get inspired by Tony Smith’s Smoke and make geometric art during Andell Family Sundays. Later that evening, the Salastina Music Society will perform works by Shostakovich at our free Sundays Live concert series.
Scott Tennent