Gagosian Haiku, Three Major Openings in Two Days During Oscar Week

A fortuitous last-minute call from a friend turned into two back-to-back nights of art galore. Praise be to the art Gods! The deft Gagosian team pulled off a brilliant haiku of three openings in two days. Being that it is Oscar weekend, these were not just any openings, Gagosian not being just any gallery did not disappoint.

Whipping through the brisk night in my Mini (Cooper that is), we were attempting an exercise in fatality in a mad-dash to the gallery opening for Ed Ruscha's show Psycho Spaghetti Westerns. Fashionably late, we arrived to find ourselves one of the last few to be admitted entry at the eleventh hour. The ubiquitous guest-list so prevalent at Hollywood hot-spots and mansion parties, was being faithfully governed by the PR team at the front entrance. Artists Chris Burden and wife Nancy Rubins, both represented by Gagosian were turned away earlier in the evening, can you imagine? I came to learn that not fifteen minutes after our arrival, Richard Prince and fashion photographer Terry Richardson were told they were not welcomed entry because while yes, they were on the list, it had closed ten minutes prior. This is when things got interesting, and Mr. Prince became "unhinged" as my eye-witness recanted. "Do you know who I am?" our fair Prince barked at Ms. Clueless. Now here's the thing, not only is Prince represented by Gagosian but he was having a small, very private, very fabulous opening of his own the following day at Gagosian's newly remodeled house. Granted, we are in La La Land and Picasso couldn't get arrested here... but at a gallery opening, really? Terry Richardson in the meantime, took a step back to distance himself and looked thoroughly embarrassed as Dick tore into Ms. Clueless. All's well that ends well however and the duo were quickly rescued and whisked inside by an alert Gagosian staff member. Whew!

ED RUSCHA
Psycho Spaghetti Western #4, 2010
Acrylic on canvas 54 x 120 inches (137.2 x 304.8 cm)

Upon entry the room was electric with a who's who of rank and file. Major players in the art-world such as MOCA's director Jeffrey Deitch, mingled with fashionistas the likes of  The Last Emperor Valentino (glowing a stunning shade of orange if I may say) and Natalia Vodianova (with her son in tow), along with Tinsel-Town's very own aristocracy, Drew Barrymore with current beau Will Kopelman, and the kissing bandit Adrien Brody. Among other attendees were director John Waters, Bruce Webber, Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Alex von Furstenberg, Shepard Fairey and of course the man of the hour himself Ed Ruscha. Up to here in Louboutin's and puzzled looking CAA agents we found ourselves meandering towards the grail of vino awaiting us in the intimate tent set up at the stern of the galle(r)y. 

Will Kopelman, Drew Barrymore, Ed Ruscha, Shepard Fairey

But what about the paintings you ask? Well, aren't you a dear? What a novel idea indeed! Ironically these events are more conducive to people-watching than admiring the things which brought them to the "viewing" in the first place. You'd think that proper gallery etiquette would dictate people should at the very least feign interest, but alas this is not so. To be fair, it is difficult to see the works in their full glory through the swathe of bodies, a proper viewing is reserved for regular gallery hours. What I could see however, I liked.       

ED RUSCHA
Psycho Spaghetti Western #10, 2010-2011
Acrylic on canvas
54 x 120 inches (137.2 x 304.8 cm)

With ten genre paintings in his Psycho Spaghetti Western series Ruscha presents us with still-life's reflecting on the au courant subject of environmental sustainability and the impact of human consumption on the ecosystem. Antithetical to the vanitas' sensual depictions of symbols denoting the ephemeral, transient nature of life Ruscha looks instead at the Earth's perennial nature and society's responsibility to future generations. Distorting the perspective of the composition he successfully uses a device of omitting a mid-ground in favor of only a foreground and background while using harsh, angular lines to create tension and an unsettling feeling. The formal manipulation of the picture plane primes the canvas for the moralistic narrative, more precisely depicted with figurative renderings of rubbish. Coming full-circle from his first major show New Paintings of Common Objects  along with seven other painters Roy Lichtenstein, Jim Dine, Andy Warhol, Phillip Hefferton, Robert Dowd, Joe Goode and Wayne Thiebaud, Ruscha reinterprets where he started.  

Ed Ruscha
Psycho Spaghetti Western, 2010

Following the annual Gagosian Oscar week-end opening selected guests were treated to a dinner party a stones throw away at Mr. Chows where Mick Jagger held court.

GUS VAN SANT
Untitled, 2010
Watercolor and charcoal on paper
Unframed: 52 x 56 1/2 inches (132.1 x 143.5 cm); Framed: 55 1/2 x 60 1/4 inches (141 x 153 cm)

The Proceeding evening was a cold and dreary night, like out of the pages of a gothic novel. Oh Heathcliff! The sky was crying and Emily Bronte herself could not have imagined the angst of driving through a city where rain is an anomaly. As I saw it Heaven's gates were cleansing the path towards art nirvāna. Chariot don't fail me now.      


Navigating through the treacherous terrain was an exercise in defensive driving, I was prepared for battle as I finally arrived. Good thing, because his time it was a literal squadron of PR girls lined up to greet me. Oh my! Standing neck-to-neck in formation, the battalion was armed with nothing more than clip-board, pen, and five inch stiletto's. There was no penetrating that unit without being on the list, intimidation being the first weapon of defense. This was my first indication that it must be a very swank party if they were trying that hard to keep me out.  

New wing of Gagosian Gallery by architect Richard Meier 

     
Hosted in the gorgeous new extension of the gallery designed by the Getty Center's architect Richard Meier, the space had been transformed that very day into what was intended to make you feel as though you were... in an AA meeting-- coffee urns, cheap folding chairs, and dirty, distressed vinyl flooring. God, grant me the serenity to accept... that this had a bit of a sobering effect to say the least. Long swathes of cloth draped the length of the room, leaving a marginal arcade along the south facing wall adorned with four large-scale watercolors by RISD alumni Gus van Sant. Behind closed curtains two make-shift rooms projected art-films. One, a twelve hour beast appropriately titled Endless Idaho and the other a modest hour and something; both edited by Oscar host James Franco (who is himself attending RISD, not to mention Yale) from the annals of director Gus Van Sant's archival footage of My Own Private Idaho. The two met while filming Milk. R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe scored the music and Franco is rumored to be directing Stipe's next music video. 


Lovely as it was, I needed to temper my constitution with a cocktail. Jointly partaking in our sinful activities were Robert Duvall, the Rodarte sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy (who were robbed for an Academy Award nomination this year for Black Swan's costumes IMHO),  Adrien Brody in an encore visit, Alessandra Balazs (Andre Belazs' daughter), Bill Paxton, Flea, China Chow, Bryce Dallas Howard along with her father Ron Howard, Jeffrey Deitch, Ione Skye, Hailee Steinfeld, Larry Gagosian and his better-half Shala Monroque, Terry Richardson, Eddie Ruscha, Maria Bell, Gus van Sant & James Franco.    


The mise-en-scène was more New York hipster than L.A. wanna-be-hanger-on, which was a refreshing change. Everyone seemed to be dressed in black as a darker shade of ebony shadowed the room and only to be eclipsed by the colorful eccentricity bequeathed by the patrons.


A big shout-out to the Gagosian team (including James deLima & Cecile Le Paire) for pulling this haiku off with such faculty and panache.


I sadly bid adieu... until the next time.