Janet Cardiff's "Her Long Black Hair"
is one of my favorite works of art in New York City. Start at Central Park South and let Janet's voice guide you through the park with audio and photos. It's best in late spring into summer and takes about 40 minutes. Commissioned in 2004 by Public Art Fund, "the experience of the walk uses photographs to reflect upon the relationship between images and notions of possession, loss, history, and beauty."
Macayla Sandusky's inventive and dreamy (and functional) ceramics
Macayla is a genius of color in ceramics. I love the way they play with matte and glossy surfaces and with crisp lines and washy brushwork. Their pieces are imaginative and warm and embrace humor. Macayla is an artist pursuing an MFA at the University of Iowa.
Larry Sultan's "Homeland"
Every time I think I've come up with a new idea for a picture I remind myself that Larry Sultan probably did it first and did it better. He's the GOAT of California landscape photography. In "Homeland," he hired day laborers to populate his photos of suburban no-mans-lands in the San Fernando Valley (where he grew up). "Homeland" was his final body of work before his death from cancer in 2009.
Velaslavasay Panorama
Panoramas were a popular form of entertainment before the movies came around. Real 18th-19th century stuff. Housed in an old movie-theater-turned-union-hall, the Velaslavasay Panorama is a museum devoted to the "production and presentation of unusual visual experiences and performances," including a hand-painted 360º view of historic Shengjing. On view in LA August 20-22.
