The Modern Art Notes Podcast

One of the top exhibitions of 2012 arrives at its second venue, the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, this weekend: the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s major retrospective of Ken Price. Price is a sculptor who worked with clay, paint and forms rooted in whimsy, erotics and the history of sculpture across many cultures.   

Stephanie Barron, the curator of the exhibition, was the lead guest on Episode No. 45 of The Modern Art Notes Podcast. One of the topics Barron and I discussed: Price started his career in Los Angeles, but later moved to Taos, New Mexico. In works such as this, the impact of the light-and-space artists — especially fellow Southwesterners James Turrell and Doug Wheeler — seems clear. I imagine it’ll be great fun to see the Prices at the Nasher and to then think about them in the context of the museum’s (temporarily closed) Turrell skyspace!

Barron is LACMA’s senior curator of modern art. Her exhibition credits include co-curating with Maurice Tuchman a retrospective of David Hockney, an exhibition of Hockney’s portraits and a series of landmark exhibitions on German modern and contemporary art.

Download the show directly to your PC/mobile device. Subscribe to The MAN Podcast via iTunes, RSS. See images discussed on the show.

Image: Ken Price, Pastel, 1995. Photo by Fredrik Nilsen, courtesy LACMA.

Yesterday I named “Ken Price Sculpture: A Retrospective” as one of Modern Art Notes’ best art books of 2012. Episode No. 45 of The Modern Art Notes Podcast featured LACMA curator Stephanie Barron, who curated LACMA’s ongoing Price retrospective and who co-edited the book. Barron and I discussed Price’s sense of humor, how it manifested itself in his work, and why his sculpture so often features prominent orifices. 

Download the program to your PC/mobile device. Subscribe to The Modern Art Notes Podcast via iTunes, SoundCloud or RSS. See images of artworks discussed on the program.

One of the most important — and by all accounts best — shows of the season is the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s major retrospective of Ken Price. The exhibition is on view through Jan. 6, 2013. Price was a sculptor who worked with clay, paint and forms rooted in whimsy, erotics and the history of sculpture across many cultures. He died in February at age 77.  

Download the show directly to your PC/mobile device. Subscribe to The MAN Podcast via iTunes, RSS. See images discussed on the show.

Image: Ken Price, 100% Pure, 2005. Photo by Fredrik Nilsen, courtesy LACMA.

This week’s Modern Art Notes Podcast features Stephanie Barron, the curator of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s major retrospective of Ken Price. The exhibition is on view through Jan. 6, 2013.

One of the topics Barron and I discuss: Price started his career in Los Angeles, but later moved to Taos, New Mexico. In works such as this, the impact of the light-and-space artists — especially fellow Southwesterners James Turrell and Doug Wheeler — seems clear. 

Price is a sculptor who worked with clay, paint and forms rooted in whimsy, erotics and the history of sculpture across many cultures. He died in February at age 77.  

Barron is LACMA’s senior curator of modern art. Her exhibition credits include co-curating with Maurice Tuchman a retrospective of David Hockney, an exhibition of Hockney’s portraits and a series of landmark exhibitions on German modern and contemporary art.

Download the show directly to your PC/mobile device. Subscribe to The MAN Podcast via iTunes, RSS. See images discussed on the show.

Image: Ken Price, Pastel, 1995. Photo by Fredrik Nilsen, courtesy LACMA.

This week’s Modern Art Notes Podcast features Stephanie Barron, the curator of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s major retrospective of Ken Price. The exhibition is on view through Jan. 6, 2013.

One of the topics Barron and I discuss: Price started his career in Los Angeles, but later moved to Taos, New Mexico. In works such as this, the impact of the light-and-space artists — especially fellow Southwesterners James Turrell and Doug Wheeler — seems clear. 

Price is a sculptor who worked with clay, paint and forms rooted in whimsy, erotics and the history of sculpture across many cultures. He died in February at age 77.  

Barron is LACMA’s senior curator of modern art. Her exhibition credits include co-curating with Maurice Tuchman a retrospective of David Hockney, an exhibition of Hockney’s portraits and a series of landmark exhibitions on German modern and contemporary art.

Download the show directly to your PC/mobile device. Subscribe to The MAN Podcast via iTunes, RSS. See images discussed on the show.

Image: Ken Price, Big Load, 1998. Photo by Fredrik Nilsen, courtesy LACMA.

If you’re enjoying the attention Los Angeles and later Taos-based ‘Ken Price week’ on The Modern Art Notes Podcast, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and at the Museum of Modern Art, then you’ll probably enjoy The MAN Podcast’s episode with Price’s close friend Larry Bell. 

LACMA held a memorial service for Price, who died in February at age 77, just before the opening of the exhibition. For a brochure that the museum printed for the service — which was attended by over 600 people and which was standing-room only — Bell contributed this memory of Price:

“I first met Ken around 1958. I was a student of Robert Irwin at Chouinard. Bob was a friend of Kenny’s and introduced me to him at Barney’s Beanery, where they used to go. Coincidentally, I had a job at a little coffee house on Sunset very near, and I would go to Barney’s after work. I met a lot of artists there — from [John] Altoon to [Ed] Kienholz. I got to know Billy Al Bengston, and Kenny was his closest pal; they shared a studio together the next year in Ocean Park. I took a studio the next street south, and Altoon moved in next door.

Ken had a studio in a small strip of stores on Robertson. One night burglars pried open Kenny’s back door and entered with plans to punch a hole in the wall that adjoined an appliance store. They chose an area where Ken kept his greenware to dry. When Ken discovered the destroyed wall, he called me and I was right there. Ken was picking up demolished plaster and wood when I came in, and I was shocked by the scope of the damage to the room. I asked how much work he lost. He pointed to the other side of the room, “Nothing! Nothing was damaged. They moved everything; the only thing they took from my studio was that photo you gave me.” These were pretty sensitive burglars.

Ken was probably the most unique sculptor of the times. From my perspective, he was a giant in my life and the personification of a serious artist with an incredible sense of humor. Ken moved to New Mexico around 1970, and I followed him in 1972. 

I moved to New Mexico because he moved there. I ended up in the house that he had originally bought, and I lived there for thirty years. When we were younger, we hung pretty close together with a few other bros. When Ken’s family grew, I tried not to be in his face, although I know he loved the company of his pals. Knowing that Ken was at work was all I needed to nourish my strength in the studio.

Kenny’s awesome skill and totally ‘off the wall’ sense of humor will live with me all my days, and I feel totally blessed to have known him.” 

Bell was my guest on Episode No. 12 of The MAN Podcast, when he told great stories about Irwin and the development of the 1960s art scene in Los Angeles. It’s a fun, entertaining show. Don’t miss it!

Download the Bell program directly to your PC/mobile device. Download/susbcribe via iTunes, RSS. See images of works discussed on the program here.

This week’s Modern Art Notes Podcast features Stephanie Barron, the curator of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s major retrospective of Ken Price. The exhibition is on view through Jan. 6, 2013.

Better yet!: It’s not just LACMA that’s celebrating Ken Price: In New York, the Museum of Modern Art has installed a gallery of Prices from its collection. The gallery includes the marvelously androgynous Slenderella (2003, detail above) as well Redneck (2002), Pacific (2000), Flatso (1999) and works on paper such as the whimsical Double Frog Cup (1968). 

Price is a sculptor who worked with clay, paint and forms rooted in whimsy, erotics and the history of sculpture across many cultures. He died in February at age 77.  

Barron is LACMA’s senior curator of modern art. Her exhibition credits include co-curating with Maurice Tuchman a retrospective of David Hockney, an exhibition of Hockney’s portraits and a series of landmark exhibitions on German modern and contemporary art.

Download the show directly to your PC/mobile device. Subscribe to The MAN Podcast via iTunes, RSS. See images discussed on the show.

This week’s Modern Art Notes Podcast features Stephanie Barron, the curator of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s major retrospective of Ken Price. The exhibition is on view through Jan. 6, 2013.

Better yet!: It’s not just LACMA that’s celebrating Ken Price: In New York, the Museum of Modern Art has installed a gallery of Prices from its collection. It includes the piece above, Troy Decuto (detail, 2003), the marvelously androgynous Slenderella (2003), Redneck (2002), Pacific (2000) and Flatso (1999) as well as works on paper such as the whimsical Double Frog Cup (1968). 

Price is a sculptor who worked with clay, paint and forms rooted in whimsy, erotics and the history of sculpture across many cultures. He died in February at age 77.  

Barron is LACMA’s senior curator of modern art. Her exhibition credits include co-curating with Maurice Tuchman a retrospective of David Hockney, an exhibition of Hockney’s portraits and a series of landmark exhibitions on German modern and contemporary art.

Download the show directly to your PC/mobile device. Subscribe to The MAN Podcast via iTunes, RSS. See images discussed on the show.

Image: Ken Price, Troy Decuto (detail), 2000. Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

This week’s Modern Art Notes Podcast features Stephanie Barron, the curator of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s major retrospective of Ken Price. The exhibition is in member previews and opens to the public on Sept. 16.

This is Price’s Hunchback of Venice (2000). Hunchback of Venice? One of the topics Barron and I discuss is Price’s wonderful titles….

Price is a sculptor who worked with clay, paint and forms rooted in whimsy, erotics and the history of sculpture across many cultures. He died in February at age 77.  

Barron is LACMA’s senior curator of modern art. Her exhibition credits include co-curating with Maurice Tuchman a retrospective of David Hockney, an exhibition of Hockney’s portraits and a series of landmark exhibitions on German modern and contemporary art.

Download the show directly to your PC/mobile device. Subscribe to The MAN Podcast via iTunes, RSS. See images discussed on the show.

Image: Ken Price, Hunchback of Venice, 2000. Photo by Fredrik Nilsen, courtesy of LACMA.

This week’s Modern Art Notes Podcast features Stephanie Barron, the curator of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s major retrospective of Ken Price. The exhibition is in member previews and opens to the public on Sept. 16.

This Price, 100% Pure, is owned by architect Frank Gehry and his wife Berta. On this week’s show, Barron explains how and why Gehry stuck it in a scanner to try to learn how Price had made it. (!!!)

Price is a sculptor who worked with clay, paint and forms rooted in whimsy, erotics and the history of sculpture across many cultures. He died in February at age 77.  

Barron is LACMA’s senior curator of modern art. Her exhibition credits include co-curating with Maurice Tuchman a retrospective of David Hockney, an exhibition of Hockney’s portraits and a series of landmark exhibitions on German modern and contemporary art.

Download the show directly to your PC/mobile device. Subscribe to The MAN Podcast via iTunes, RSS. See images discussed on the show.

Image: Ken Price, 100% Pure, 2005.