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| In Close Proximity Rubell Family Collection |
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by Onajídé Shabaka - 21 Dec., 2006
In Close Proximity - Rubell Family Collection by Onajídé Shabaka Casa Lin, around the corner from the Rubell Family Collection, again had their "art yard" on display. Unfortunately, my arrival did not coinside with any of the artists involved although, Robert Chambers did warn me of his motorcycle and its precarious position hanging at the end of a rope. Sometimes the childhood silliness that gets injected into his work brings a needed smile of irony to the sometimes overly serious world of art, especially Art Basel Miami Beach.
Casa Lin - "art yard" What is going on at the Rubell Family Collection? I heard and read more complaints about the current exhibition than any other during the entire art fair. Red Eye: L.A. Artists from the Rubell Family Collection features the work of Mike Kelley, Barbara Kruger, Paul McCarthy, Doug Aitken, John Baldessari, Catherine Opie, Laura Owens, Raymond Pettibon, Charles Ray, Jason Rhoades, Jim Shaw, Henry Taylor, and a large cast of additional artists. (Unfortunately, I didn't get a complete listing of the artists whose works are shown here but, they will be provided and properly attributed.)
large scale drawings
"Timeless" (2005)
above and below: cast metal (Chicano artist)
Oh Henry
Mark Bradford at Rubell Family Collection
Black Wall
Street, 2006 A few blocks from the Rubell Family Collection is the exhibition space of Dennis and Debra Scholl, World Class Boxing. It has only been this year that the space has been open more regularly, which is something many would like to see more often. The featured artist, Mark Bradford, also had work at the Rubell Family Collection, hence the close proximity. Thelma Golden: "I want to talk specifically about the two paintings, Scorched Earth (20O6) and Black Wall Street (2006), and the two untitled works on paper (2006) that will be included in the exhibition. Tell me about how these two new paintings came to be. I am also very interested in what you were looking at and thinking about when you made this body of work." Mark Bradford: "Scorched Earth and Black Wall Street refer to a real moment in American history. In 1948 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, there was a race riot. They used to call Tulsa "Black Wall Street," because there were. so many black professional businesses that were doing really well there. So there was a race riot, and some people believed that it was instigated by the Ku Klux Klan. And what happened was that this was the first time in American history [aside from the Civil War] that the American military actually dropped bombs on American citizens. And it just basically decimated Black Wall Street in Tulsa. Three or four thousand people were killed, and the event is still very undocumented. So I took that moment in history because we're talking so much about war now, but it's always about war over there."
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