Monday, February 14, 2011

How TAM Differs From The Uffizi

How does TAM differ from the Uffizi Gallery, in Florence, Italy?

The Uffizi is one of the institutions participating in Google's Art Project.*

Art Project uses the technology behind Google Street to allow users to cruise around and inside certain works of art.

London's Tate, St, Pete's Hermitage, and NYC's Guggenheim are among the other museums that participated in the elite launch.

TAM, which does not have a permanent collection for Google to scan, was therefore not eligible for participation.

Here, however, is the link to Street View's look at the exterior of the museum.

*Also, the Uffizi has longer entrance lines and better access to gelato.

Friday, February 11, 2011

'Never Feed or Attempt to Tame...'

By popular demand, following up on the previous post's coyote reference...

How many, if any, of the following nine guidelines "to avoid problems with coyotes" also apply to dealing with artists?

This blog awaits reply.

*Never feed or attempt to tame coyotes.

*Do not leave small children or pets outside unattended.

*Install motion-sensing lighting around the house.

*Trim ground-level shrubbery to reduce hiding places.

*Put garbage in tightly closed containers.

*Remove sources of pet food and water.

*Pick up fallen fruit and cover compost piles.

*If followed by a coyote, make loud noises. If this fails, throw rocks in the animal's direction.

*Ask your neighbors to follow these tips.

Source: Torrance Coyote Safety Advisement

Ephemera Collected at Civic Center

The Torrance Civic Center is home to an art museum, art and dance classroom / studio spaces, koi pond, police station, theater, television station, city hall, parking lots, and we're probably missing a couple of edifices here.

To wander the CC grounds, then, is to have the opportunity to collect all sorts of ephemera.

Found pamphlets and print-outs from a recent trip:

*Torrance Theatre Company 2010-2011 Season program list;

*Protecting Your Private Information: National Crime Prevention Program brochure;

*Torrance Art Museum 2011 Exhibition Schedule oversized postcard;

*What's New, Pussycat? oversized postcard;

*Torrance Cultural Arts Foundation Presents A World of Entertainment 2010-11 glossy program list;

*ArtScene: The Monthly Digest to Art in Southern California;

*Artful Days! Lecture series list;

*City of Torrance: A Guide for Citizens Personnel Complaint Procedure;

*City of Torrance, Police Department: Personnel Complaint;

*Carjacking: You Can Make Yourself Less Vulnerable To This Kind of Car Theft brochure;

*Do You Love Art? Volunteer at The Torrance Art Museum! one-sheet;

*Neighborhood Watch Newsletter: January to March 2011, Volume 48;

*Torrance: Coyote Safety Advisement one-sheet.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

To Eat The Grapefruit, Or Not

It's one of the great conundrums of contemporary art:

When during a performance, the performer, clad in boxers, a robe, and mouse ears, removes grapefruit from the torso of a mannequin mouse-human hybrid rag doll, and opens up the grapefruit, and hops around in a crouching position, offering pieces of the grapefruit to members of the opening reception audience who have formed a haphazard circle around the performance, do the audience members accept the grapefruit, and if so do they eat the grapefruit, and if they do, or if they do not, then in what ways have they changed or become in part of the performance?

Viva Brian Getnick, from the What's New, Pussycat opening.

Why Sixty Inches?

Claudia Parducci's piece is the star of the current TAM show, What's New, Pussycat.

This blog doesn't want to give away too much more about the piece -- please, go see it in person for yourself.

When you're there, keep in mind not just what went into Parducci creating the work, but also the curatorial decision to include the work in the show as well as the crucial decision where to hang the work. Parducci's piece is given -- much deserved -- prominence in the exhibition.

Also keep in mind the work done in the days before the exhibition opened, by the volunteer installers who came to TAM at director Max Presneill's request.

Padrucci's work includes nearly two dozen separate elements. Each had to be adroitly hung. During installation week, Presneill huddled with his volunteers to decide how, and where, to center the overall piece.

Presneill said the middle of the work should be sixty inches off the ground.

Later, he explained that that's at the high-end of the museum and gallery norm, which can be as low as 54-inches.

Related: Here's a link to a discussion, in part, about eye-level being 63-inches.

And: Eye-level is such an important behind-the-scenes topic in the fine art world that the group blog produced by the Smithsonian Institute is called... "Eye Level."