Michael Soyer: A Life of Passion and Compassion

Michael Soyer: A Life of Passion and Compassion

On a splendid afternoon I sit in the fashionable Esplanade Café in Paris with the bon vivant Michel Soyer, and we talk about a tasteful way to live and how to incorporate that philosophy into my stay in Paris. He suggests dinning at George’s inside the Centre Pompidou. He also suggests a Parisian drink that is the fad at the moment, the “Swimming Pool,” which is champagne flowing over ice.  If there is one thing…

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Ai Weiwei: According to What?

Ai Weiwei: According to What?

During my trip to Toronto, I caught wind of the Ai Weiwei exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario, and boy was I lucky!  Having lived in Toronto before moving to Los Angeles, I never visited the AGO, and Ai Weiwei’s exhibit was the perfect introduction. Ai Weiwei was born 28 August 1957 in Bejing China, and most notably renowned for his political activism, expressed through his art, against the Chinese Government and its stance on…

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Urs Fischer Takes Art History to New Heights

Urs Fischer Takes Art History to New Heights

THE RECONSTRUCTION AND DECONSTRUCTION OF ART Urs Fischer will certainly go down in the annals of art history as a visionary and revolutionary.  Take the commonplace, immerse it in a little Fischer, and the result is a startling confluence of reality and imagination. Works of the Swiss-born artist are currently on display in Los Angeles at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) and the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA until August 19, 2013, with Jessica Morgan of the Tate…

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Caravaggio, Caravaggio!

Caravaggio, Caravaggio!

Let there be light and then let there be darkness!  This is perhaps the story of Caravaggio, who was not just one of the greatest painters ever to have lived but also a true revolutionary in both spirit and technique.  Eight of his paintings are currently on display at LACMA as part of a massive homage to him and the many, many painters he influenced – fifty of their works are part of the exhibit…

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Cy Twombly: Against All Odds, Rises an Artist of Greatness

Cy Twombly: Against All Odds, Rises an Artist of Greatness

Part 1: Overview and Beginnings One of his first major exhibits was described by a critic as a fiasco, involving scribbles a grammar school student could have created.  Even one of his supporters described his work as discomfiting to critics and truculently difficult for laymen.  So, how did Cy Twombly, who came from relatively nondescript beginnings, attended a seemingly obscure college, lived almost incognito for many years outside Rome, and produced works of seeming collagic chaos…

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2012 Hero of the Year: Kimberly Moore

2012 Hero of the Year: Kimberly Moore

Another year has passed and we again pick Baroness Kimberly Moore as a global hero. No, make that angel! Not only does she help the poor children of Los Angeles but children around the world. This year Moore will throw a Wonderland Party on Sunday, December 16, 2012. Her organization, the Echelon Club, will present: “A Day to Remember”, the first annual “Winter Wonderland Christmas Party” for children who will not have a Christmas this…

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For the Victims of Domestic Violence Comes a Champion: Face Forward

For the Victims of Domestic Violence Comes a Champion: Face Forward

On Saundra’s 28th birthday, she caught her husband cheating with another woman.  He beat her into unconsciousness and  left her on the sidewalk.  He later told the police that she had been mugged.  As a result of the blunt force trauma she had suffered, Saundra developed necrotizing fasciitis, a rare skin-eating bacterial infection which nearly took her life and cost her all the skin, muscle, and feeling on the right side of her face and…

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Thomas Hodges’ Photographic Artistry: Where Conception and Imagination Meet

Thomas Hodges’ Photographic Artistry: Where Conception and Imagination Meet

Thomas Hodges’ photographic artwork invites controversy, which he doesn’t mind one bit!  For sure, it sparks the viewer’s imagination, and that is Hodges’ goal. When your artwork is labeled Erotica that is indeed ironic because ancient civilizations embraced the nude.  If we study art history, the depiction of the nude was certainly not foreign to the Egyptians, the Minoans, the Greeks, or the Romans.  In the Renaissance, Michelangelo and Da Vinci, among the many, featured…

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The Beauty of Good Health

The Beauty of Good Health

I was introduced to the California Wellness Institute through a friend who subtly suggested I visit the clinic after I stated that I absolutely must lose weight and tighten up my chin. Yes, unfortunately time marches on and leaves the signs of aging written not just on one’s face but on one’s body. It is time for some upkeep. After all, this is Hollywood! Another friend pointed out that it is specious of me to…

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Ideas Have Consequences: Enlightenment Leads to Freedom

Ideas Have Consequences: Enlightenment Leads to Freedom

“An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot.” So said American statesman and author Thomas Paine.  We celebrate two great revolutions, the American on July 4th and the French on July l4th, both of which Paine supported.  Indeed, his writings were an impetus for both revolutions.  Paine himself is a product of the Age of Enlightenment and each revolution is based on principles born out of that Age.  The French supported…

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