Exploring the people, places & culture of greater LA
Every year on June 21st, the day of the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere, people in 460 cities in 110 countries celebrate music and community through a series of free, outdoor concerts and performances. These international events are based on and inspired by France’s Fête de la Musique, a national music festival inaugurated in 1982 by the French Ministry of Culture.
The Los Angeles arts scene is one of the most vibrant in the world. Long known for its embrace of experimentation and innovation, the city’s community of artists is as diverse as its population. To recognize and support this rich talent pool, the Hammer Museum has organized Made in L.A. 2012 in collaboration with LA>
This weekend MOCA opens a new exhibition called Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1974. According to the museum, this is the first “…exhibition to deal broadly with Land art… [and] provides a comprehensive overview that reveals the complexity of the movement’s social and political engagement with the historical conditions of its time.”
This weekend LA Commons is launching Trekking LA 2012, its annual summer series of walking tours. The first tour of the new season is called Angels Gate: A City Within A Park. It will explore Angel’s Gate Cultural Center in San Pedro and will be lead by Angela Romero.
Last Thursday night I attended the opening of American Light: Paintings by John Tierney at the Paul Smith shop on Melrose. Unlike other art events I’ve experienced in the past, this one had a decidedly Hollywood / fashion industry vide. As the invitation only crowd browsed Paul Smith’s latest collection, waiters clad in all black served wine and British beer to the artist and his son Ben, Alan Aldridge, Josh Duhamel, Stacy Ferguson (aka Fergie), Ryan Philippe, Diana Aragon, Abbie Cornish and Mira Sorvino, among many others.
Earlier this year I published a story about English painter John Tierney, who makes regular visits to southern California and has a particular fascination with the City of Los Angeles and the area in and around Joshua Tree National Park. After interviewing him for my article and spending time looking at his paintings online, I became an admirer of his work because of the way he uses vivid colors and deftly captures light and shadow in his urban and desert landscapes.
It’s always fun coming across people playing music when and where you least expect it. Whether at a park, the beach, a street corner or some other location, music enlivens a space and brings people together. For those with the talent and inclination, it’s also a pleasure to spontaneously create music and share it with others.
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