He was “a third-generation Los Angeles architect known for playful yet functional modern designs who co-founded the city’s Architecture and Design Museum. … Two of his more prominent public buildings were tributes to 1950s jet-age architecture – the In-N-Out Burger on Gayley Avenue in Westwood that riffed on the company’s boomerang-shaped logo and a gas station at Slauson and La Brea avenues with a swooping canopy inspired by the nearby freeway.”
Tag: 07.07.10
Velazquez Turns Up In Storage At Yale
“[John] Marciari, now curator of European paintings at the San Diego Museum of Art, has published an article in the new issue of the Madrid quarterly Ars making the case that an unidentified painting in storage at the Yale University Art Gallery is actually an altarpiece by the Spanish master.”
Why ‘Real Men’ (Supposedly) Won’t Eat Quiche
It’s not because quiche doesn’t taste good. “Boys learn at an early age that certain foods (red meat, beer) are associated with masculinity, while others (fish, vegetables, yogurt) are considered feminine. Eating gender-appropriate grub becomes a way of affirming one’s manliness. As they grow into men, those choices gradually become habitual.”
American Museum Of The Moving Image, Newly Expanded, Sets Reopening Date
“The Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria [Queens] will open its expanded and redesigned home – featuring a new glass entrance, grand staircase and lobby video wall – on January 15. … The $67 million renovation, designed by architect Thomas Leeser, added three stories – nearly doubling the square footage to 97,700 from 50,000.”
Whales Are Yelling Their Songs Just To Make Themselves Heard
“To cope with the blitzing level of noise in today’s oceans, North Atlantic right whales are calling louder to each other. It is the first time a baleen whale has been observed compensating for the din in this way.”
Versailles Makes Its Contemporary Art Exhibits An Annual Affair
Following the controversial, attention-getting Jeff Koons installation in 2008 and a similar show by French artist Xavier Veilhan in 2009, Château de Versailles director Jean-Jacques Aillagon has decided to display a “guest” artist every autumn. This year’s visitor is Takashi Murakami.
How Outdoor Theatre Plays With (Or Against) The Elements
Ben Brantley: “Ms. Nature (I believe in respecting a goddess who can keep city temperatures in the high 90s in early July) can both enhance and destroy an actor’s performance. If she’s in a good mood, she sends flaming sunsets to accompany soliloquies, makes the moon glow fully for love scenes and provides gentle winds that cause costumes to flutter attractively. When she’s unhappy, watch out.”
LA Quarterly Puts Print, And Long-Form Journalism, First
“Moments of surprise, whimsy and unconventional truth burst from the pages of Slake: Los Angeles, the new quarterly journal whose editors have essentially flipped the bird at the faster-quicker-shorter imperatives that are supposed to define 21st century media.” The fat first issue is “filled with essays, poetry, photography, short fiction, reported stories and almost no advertising. “
A Contemporary Opera, Staged In A Vacant Car Dealership
“The work took seven years to develop, runs three hours long, includes the collaboration of 21 writers and 11 composers, is performed by 21 actors and nine musicians,” and transports spectators “from scene to scene and set to set in a train of carts pulled by an electric golf cart. Those with the lower-priced tickets follow the trains on foot while dragging along their folding chairs.”
Belarusian Regime Invites Tom Stoppard For A Visit
“The invitation is the outcome of Sir Tom’s backing of the dissident Belarus Free Theatre – a group that has been subject to constant harassment since its formation in 2005 – and a protest against draconian new laws regulating internet access in the former Soviet republic.”