Santa Barbara Museum of Art

Black Is the New Black – SBMA EXHIBIT TRAVELS TO THE 1980S, DOES NOT FIND NEON

October 25, 2013September 25, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Think of the 1980s and art and what comes to mind? Possibly Nagel, neon colors, jagged diagonals and geometry, paint splashes. Maybe the squiggles of Keith Haring, or the attack of Basquiat, or Jeff Koons’ kitsch. But for Julie Joyce, who curated this new show at the Museum of Art, it was a time of excitement for galleries, of a new trust in materials and finance, and lots of black. “Totally 80s: Gifts to the Permanent Collection” only nods to the clichéd idea of the decade in its title. There’s one example of neon. But there’s lots of black. (There’s more, too, in the other show she helped set up: the photos of John Divola, in the gallery around the corner).

Recent exhibitions from the Museum’s permanent collections have been too much of a muchness, with too much repetition of recently shown work. But “Totally ’80s” avoids that, thanks to recent gifts from the Broad Art Foundation in L.A. and Laura-Lee W. Woods and Robert J. Woods, Jr. There are only two familiar pieces here: Charles Arnoldi’s rough-hewn and brutal wood canvas, “Landfisher” and Al Held’s “Brughes II” that used to hang in the atrium, neon hoops and green building girders — an example of the brief “neo geo” movement.

Low-Strung – L.A.’s hard-to-classify-and-quantify String Theory returns to Nights

August 13, 2010June 16, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Conjuring both unique sounds and smoothe moves, String Theory wil be perform at this month?s ?Nights" at SBMA. Courtesy photos — Conjuring both unique sounds and smoothe moves, String Theory wil be perform at this month?s ?Nights” at SBMA.
Courtesy photos

As Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s Nights gets ready for its final shindig of a shorter season, the group String Theory is readying a fourth appearance at the party. Attendees at previous Nights over the years will remember String Theory, which is hard to miss: cello, violin, saxophone, flute, keyboard, bass, drums and vocals make up a band line longer than the room. Their gigantic harp of sorts, with its brass strings, has been installed in large theaters everywhere from Singapore to Palm Desert, even for one performance at the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Each space has its own acoustics, and each performance is different.

For this month’s Nights, the group will return to the back patio, where they played their first SBMA gig. They’ll also be including video projection on the back walls of the patio.

The Dawn (Again) of Nights – Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s big summer party returns

June 4, 2010June 3, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

KCRW's DJ Jeremy Sole, below, will spin for SBMA's first (of two) "Nights" events of the summer. Artists and event attendees will also take part in several interactive activities on the theme of "Pairings," and choreographer Robin Bisio returns with three dancers, two musicians, vocalists and film vignettes for a work called "Centered Green." — KCRW’s DJ Jeremy Sole, below, will spin for SBMA’s first (of two) “Nights” events of the summer. Artists and event attendees will also take part in several interactive activities on the theme of “Pairings,” and choreographer Robin Bisio returns with three dancers, two musicians, vocalists and film vignettes for a work called “Centered Green.”

Yes, the sun keeps hiding behind the clouds, but summer is really here, and for the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, that means the return of Nights. The early-to-late-evening party is one of downtown’s must-see and must-be-seen events, combining DJs, live music, art-making activities, cocktail bars and mucho opportunities to mingle.

In flusher economic times, Nights went off every third Thursday of the summer months. But that was a bit taxing on the museum and the staff, so last year, only three Nights were scheduled. This year, its seventh, Nights is down to two. But those two are going to be big.

Penny for Your Artistic Vision? — The Amazing Animated Jukebox’ returns for CAF’s January First Thursday

January 1, 2010May 8, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Rapper Azeem and Director Ben Stokes video for "Latin Revenge," above, and Russian rock band Lyapis Trubetskoy's video for "Capital," below, have made the cut for "The Amazing Animated Jukebox, Vol. 2." — Rapper Azeem and Director Ben Stokes video for “Latin Revenge,” above, and Russian rock band Lyapis Trubetskoy’s video for “Capital,” below, have made the cut for “The Amazing Animated Jukebox, Vol. 2.”

Ever since MTV devoted an entire network to airing music videos and record companies saw the potential for an all-encompassing marketing tool, visual imagery has become synonymous with music. While a bevy of musicians have embraced the medium to either make a fashion statement or sculpt an image, their more creative counterparts have effectively employed music videos as a means to an alternative creative perspective. When local filmmaker and writer Ted Mills presents a second installment of animated music videos at Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum next Thursday with “The Amazing Animated Jukebox Vol. 2,” it is to the latter that the curator will be paying specific homage.

“These are videos for musicians who don’t need to be the star of the video,” explained Mills. “You will see that, over the years, Radiohead appear in their videos less and less. When they first started out, they were your typical band and were in the videos. These days, if you see Thom Yorke you’re lucky. These tend to be artists that aren’t interested in themselves as rock or pop stars.”