Art in the Streets
The Museum of Contemporary Art expected to make some waves when it launched "Art in the Streets," billed as the first major U.S. museum survey exhibition on graffiti and street art.
But the LAPD said the show has also become a target of taggers who want to leave a mark of their own outside the Little Tokyo exhibition space where the show opened Sunday.
In a city considered one of the birthplaces of street art, the exhibit at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA has intensified an already fierce debate about whether something that is illegal can also have artistic value.
To fans, it's a welcome recognition of an urban artist style that is evolving from street vandalism into something more. "It's exciting to have some of the most vibrant street art in the world happening in Los Angeles," Greg Linton, an arts blogger who documents street art in L.A., said of the exhibit. "It's what makes these urban areas so special."
But what Linton considers art, some in law enforcement consider urban blight.
"The exhibit kind of glorifies graffiti," said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. Augie Pando, who helps oversee the department's anti-tagging campaign. "It puts taggers on front street."
Authorities are concerned that the show is drawing taggers who might be wanted on vandalism charges elsewhere, said Jack Richter, an LAPD senior lead officer. Police have been taking photos of the dozens of pieces of graffiti found around the museum, hoping to eventually link them to specific taggers.
Over the last week, authorities say, they have seen a conspicuous increase in graffiti and other forms of vandalism near the museum, including tagging over the weekend at the Little Tokyo Gold Line Station.
There is strong evidence that this is not just the work of local taggers. Two French nationals believed to be in Los Angeles for the exhibit were detained Friday after authorities caught them with buckets of grout and pieces of tile near the historic Perez building in Little Tokyo.
Richter said authorities believe that one of those detained was the street artist known as Space Invader, who has left mosaic tiles of the vintage video game in cities around the world. The pair were released while the investigation continued, and Richter said officials were checking to see if they had flown back to Paris.
After their release, their trademark mosaics were attached to several buildings, including the Geffen Contemporary, he added.
"We respect the rights to have an art exhibition, but we demand the security of other people's property," Richter said. "As former Chief [William J.] Bratton was fond of saying, 'if you want to be an artist, buy a canvas.' "
The exhibition traces the development of graffiti and street art from the 1970s "to the global movement, concentrating on key cities such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, and Sao Paulo where a unique visual language or attitude has evolved," the MOCA website says.
The exhibit features paintings, mixed media sculptures and interactive installations by 50 artists, emphasizing Los Angeles' "role in the evolution of graffiti and street art, with special sections dedicated to seminal local movements such as cholo graffiti and Dogtown skateboard culture."
MOCA officials declined to comment about the controversy Monday, except to say they were cleaning up the graffiti as quickly as possible. But in an interview last week, director Jeffrey Deitch said the museum anticipated that "Art in the Street" could bring unwanted graffiti from "some of the young taggers who are anarchic."
One of the show's possible intangible benefits, he said, is that taggers now spraying illegally might see the exhibition and raise their sights. "We want to put out an inspirational message: If you harness your talent you can be in a museum someday, make a contribution and a living from it."
MOCA has been working with Little Tokyo community leaders to deal with the graffiti.
In addition to MOCA's agreement to immediately clean up any graffiti, surveillance cameras have been installed in the area.
Brian Kito, president of the Little Tokyo Public Safety Assn., said he had definitely seen an uptick in graffiti on buildings around the Geffen Contemporary, including the one that houses his sweets shop. He said he believed the tags were connected to the exhibit and hoped visitors would be respectful of the neighborhood.
"We are welcoming people that appreciate street art but we hope they are not inspired to show off their work on the buildings outside," said Kito, who praised MOCA for reaching out to community leaders, previewing the exhibit for them and encouraging them to contact the museum if there were any problems.
MOCA is not the first museum to deal with the issue. When the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego held an exhibition last year that included work by L.A. street artist Shepard Fairey, a tagger vandalized one of Fairey's murals. Museum director Hugh Davies said he was disappointed by the vandalism but accepted it as being part of the street art culture.
"There's an anarchic culture that doesn't want to go through the chain of going to art school, [then getting into a] gallery and museum," he said. "It's like, 'I want to do it in my own way, I'm not in it for the market.' "
The street art scene, which has long influenced popular culture, has been slowly entering the mainstream of the art world. There have been shows at major galleries, and street art has become an influential element of the fashion industry. The scene was chronicled in Banksy's Oscar-nominated movie, "Exit Through the Gift Shop," which was set in the world of L.A. street art.
Man One, a street artist who runs Crewest gallery in downtown L.A., said that he had not noticed much more tagging around the Geffen Contemporary in recent days and that he thought the police were overreacting.
"Law enforcement wants you to believe the broken window theory — that the city falls apart and bigger crimes occur because of an increase in tagging," he said. "One of the questions that the city should be asking is if there is an increase of violence. Have there been more shootings because of this show? Has anyone died because of this show?"
Man One also said street art created without permission could have redeeming value.
"The way I always look at it: Is it done with permission or without permission? That's what it comes down to for me. But either way it can be art," he added. "Not all of it is art, but sometimes there are some beautiful things that go up without permission."
But the LAPD said the show has also become a target of taggers who want to leave a mark of their own outside the Little Tokyo exhibition space where the show opened Sunday.
In a city considered one of the birthplaces of street art, the exhibit at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA has intensified an already fierce debate about whether something that is illegal can also have artistic value.
To fans, it's a welcome recognition of an urban artist style that is evolving from street vandalism into something more. "It's exciting to have some of the most vibrant street art in the world happening in Los Angeles," Greg Linton, an arts blogger who documents street art in L.A., said of the exhibit. "It's what makes these urban areas so special."
But what Linton considers art, some in law enforcement consider urban blight.
"The exhibit kind of glorifies graffiti," said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. Augie Pando, who helps oversee the department's anti-tagging campaign. "It puts taggers on front street."
Authorities are concerned that the show is drawing taggers who might be wanted on vandalism charges elsewhere, said Jack Richter, an LAPD senior lead officer. Police have been taking photos of the dozens of pieces of graffiti found around the museum, hoping to eventually link them to specific taggers.
Over the last week, authorities say, they have seen a conspicuous increase in graffiti and other forms of vandalism near the museum, including tagging over the weekend at the Little Tokyo Gold Line Station.
There is strong evidence that this is not just the work of local taggers. Two French nationals believed to be in Los Angeles for the exhibit were detained Friday after authorities caught them with buckets of grout and pieces of tile near the historic Perez building in Little Tokyo.
Richter said authorities believe that one of those detained was the street artist known as Space Invader, who has left mosaic tiles of the vintage video game in cities around the world. The pair were released while the investigation continued, and Richter said officials were checking to see if they had flown back to Paris.
After their release, their trademark mosaics were attached to several buildings, including the Geffen Contemporary, he added.
"We respect the rights to have an art exhibition, but we demand the security of other people's property," Richter said. "As former Chief [William J.] Bratton was fond of saying, 'if you want to be an artist, buy a canvas.' "
The exhibition traces the development of graffiti and street art from the 1970s "to the global movement, concentrating on key cities such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, and Sao Paulo where a unique visual language or attitude has evolved," the MOCA website says.
The exhibit features paintings, mixed media sculptures and interactive installations by 50 artists, emphasizing Los Angeles' "role in the evolution of graffiti and street art, with special sections dedicated to seminal local movements such as cholo graffiti and Dogtown skateboard culture."
MOCA officials declined to comment about the controversy Monday, except to say they were cleaning up the graffiti as quickly as possible. But in an interview last week, director Jeffrey Deitch said the museum anticipated that "Art in the Street" could bring unwanted graffiti from "some of the young taggers who are anarchic."
One of the show's possible intangible benefits, he said, is that taggers now spraying illegally might see the exhibition and raise their sights. "We want to put out an inspirational message: If you harness your talent you can be in a museum someday, make a contribution and a living from it."
MOCA has been working with Little Tokyo community leaders to deal with the graffiti.
In addition to MOCA's agreement to immediately clean up any graffiti, surveillance cameras have been installed in the area.
Brian Kito, president of the Little Tokyo Public Safety Assn., said he had definitely seen an uptick in graffiti on buildings around the Geffen Contemporary, including the one that houses his sweets shop. He said he believed the tags were connected to the exhibit and hoped visitors would be respectful of the neighborhood.
"We are welcoming people that appreciate street art but we hope they are not inspired to show off their work on the buildings outside," said Kito, who praised MOCA for reaching out to community leaders, previewing the exhibit for them and encouraging them to contact the museum if there were any problems.
MOCA is not the first museum to deal with the issue. When the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego held an exhibition last year that included work by L.A. street artist Shepard Fairey, a tagger vandalized one of Fairey's murals. Museum director Hugh Davies said he was disappointed by the vandalism but accepted it as being part of the street art culture.
"There's an anarchic culture that doesn't want to go through the chain of going to art school, [then getting into a] gallery and museum," he said. "It's like, 'I want to do it in my own way, I'm not in it for the market.' "
The street art scene, which has long influenced popular culture, has been slowly entering the mainstream of the art world. There have been shows at major galleries, and street art has become an influential element of the fashion industry. The scene was chronicled in Banksy's Oscar-nominated movie, "Exit Through the Gift Shop," which was set in the world of L.A. street art.
Man One, a street artist who runs Crewest gallery in downtown L.A., said that he had not noticed much more tagging around the Geffen Contemporary in recent days and that he thought the police were overreacting.
"Law enforcement wants you to believe the broken window theory — that the city falls apart and bigger crimes occur because of an increase in tagging," he said. "One of the questions that the city should be asking is if there is an increase of violence. Have there been more shootings because of this show? Has anyone died because of this show?"
Man One also said street art created without permission could have redeeming value.
"The way I always look at it: Is it done with permission or without permission? That's what it comes down to for me. But either way it can be art," he added. "Not all of it is art, but sometimes there are some beautiful things that go up without permission."
River North gallery owner indicted in art scam
A River North art gallery owner has been charged with selling allegedly phony artwork he passed off as original works by masters such as Salvador Dali and Marc Chagall.
Theindictment of Alan Kass and two others comes more than three years after federal agents raided Kass' gallery in the 300 block of West Huron Street and is part of what prosecutors have described as an international fraud scheme that bilked thousands of buyers.
According to the charges made public Wednesday, Kass collected more than $480,000 in the 17-year scheme from hundreds of victims throughout the United States and around the world. Also indicted were Sawyer K. Cade, who worked at Kass/Meridian Gallery, and John Panos, of New York and Florida, who allegedly distributed forged artwork to Kass and other dealers across the country.
Nine others have previously been charged in the scheme, including Michael Zabrin, a Northbrook art distributor who first surfaced in the murky world of fraudulent art in 1992 when he was charged with a Magnificent Mile art gallery owner for peddling counterfeit limited-edition fine art prints.
"The art world has always struck me in how elegant yet crooked it could be," said former Chicago FBI agent Robert Spiel, who specialized in art theft. "I am not saying 90 percent of everybody involved is selling fakes. But there can be big fancy galleries who are doing it."
Kass, 73, and Cade, 47, allegedly sold the fake work on eBay and at auctions, according to the indictment. At times, they also provided false certificates claiming the artwork was authentic.
Panos, 64, was accused of forging signatures of legendary artists, including Chagall, Alexander Calder and Pablo Picasso.
At one point Kass and Cade were kicked off eBay for violating the company's rules against selling counterfeit goods, according to court documents.
The counterfeit art included "Green Bird," a lithograph by Marc Chagall; "Still Life with Lemon and Glass," a lithograph by Roy Lichtenstein; and "Horse and Rider," by Dali.
They allegedly collected $4,500 in payment for "Still Life with Lemon and Glass." In another instance, an auction house paid them $8,482.50 for several pieces of work, including a fake Lichtenstein work titled "Hopeless."
Theindictment of Alan Kass and two others comes more than three years after federal agents raided Kass' gallery in the 300 block of West Huron Street and is part of what prosecutors have described as an international fraud scheme that bilked thousands of buyers.
According to the charges made public Wednesday, Kass collected more than $480,000 in the 17-year scheme from hundreds of victims throughout the United States and around the world. Also indicted were Sawyer K. Cade, who worked at Kass/Meridian Gallery, and John Panos, of New York and Florida, who allegedly distributed forged artwork to Kass and other dealers across the country.
Nine others have previously been charged in the scheme, including Michael Zabrin, a Northbrook art distributor who first surfaced in the murky world of fraudulent art in 1992 when he was charged with a Magnificent Mile art gallery owner for peddling counterfeit limited-edition fine art prints.
"The art world has always struck me in how elegant yet crooked it could be," said former Chicago FBI agent Robert Spiel, who specialized in art theft. "I am not saying 90 percent of everybody involved is selling fakes. But there can be big fancy galleries who are doing it."
Kass, 73, and Cade, 47, allegedly sold the fake work on eBay and at auctions, according to the indictment. At times, they also provided false certificates claiming the artwork was authentic.
Panos, 64, was accused of forging signatures of legendary artists, including Chagall, Alexander Calder and Pablo Picasso.
At one point Kass and Cade were kicked off eBay for violating the company's rules against selling counterfeit goods, according to court documents.
The counterfeit art included "Green Bird," a lithograph by Marc Chagall; "Still Life with Lemon and Glass," a lithograph by Roy Lichtenstein; and "Horse and Rider," by Dali.
They allegedly collected $4,500 in payment for "Still Life with Lemon and Glass." In another instance, an auction house paid them $8,482.50 for several pieces of work, including a fake Lichtenstein work titled "Hopeless."
Manhattan art dealer Leigh Morse cleared of scamming Robert De Niro
BY MELISSA GRACE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, April 06, 2011
An art dealer was cleared Wednesday of ripping off actor Robert De Niro after a holdout voted to acquit - claiming he was bullied into it by four fellow jurors.
"Tell De Niro I am sorry, but it was hopeless," said juror Stanley Cohen. "I thought she was guilty.
"The pressure got to be unbearable. It was grueling," Cohen said. "I apologize to Mr. De Niro. I'll see him in the movies."
The jury convicted Leigh Morse of scheming to defraud through the theft of $5 million from four foundations - and she faces up to four years in prison.
BY MELISSA GRACE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, April 06, 2011
An art dealer was cleared Wednesday of ripping off actor Robert De Niro after a holdout voted to acquit - claiming he was bullied into it by four fellow jurors.
"Tell De Niro I am sorry, but it was hopeless," said juror Stanley Cohen. "I thought she was guilty.
"The pressure got to be unbearable. It was grueling," Cohen said. "I apologize to Mr. De Niro. I'll see him in the movies."
The jury convicted Leigh Morse of scheming to defraud through the theft of $5 million from four foundations - and she faces up to four years in prison.
Helen Hamilton
Helen Hamilton's family settled in the Silvermine area of New Canaan, CT in 1912. She studied painting at the National Academy in New York and with her father Hamilton Hamilton NA at home. Beginning around 1909 she was showing her paintings with the Silvermine Group of Artists, a significant achievement for a young woman at the time. There she painted the Silvermine River and the local environs until her death in 1970.
James Daugherty, 1887-1974.
Daugherty was of the first generation of Americans that explored modern art having learned first hand from Robert Daulaney c. 1911-1912 in Paris. There he participated along with Morgan Russell he participated in the development of Synchromism a color dynamic which used color to describe space and form. Later back in America Daugherty moved to Weston, CT developed a figuative style reminencent of Thomas Hart Benton. He used this style in the commission of many important murals, and thus became known as a muralist. Late in his career he went back to a synchromist inspired style of non represenation closely associated to Abstract Expressionism. Since his death in 1974 his late abstract works have gained much respect for their integrity and first hand connection to the earliest notions of modern art.
Tiger Beat founder Charles Laufer dies at 87
Charles Laufer, 87, who built a publishing career with youth-oriented fan magazines such as Tiger Beat, died April 5 at a hospital in Los Angeles. The cause of death was not reported.
A journalism graduate from the University of Southern California, Mr. Laufer was teaching at Excelsior High School in nearby Norwalk in the 1950s when he came up with the idea for a magazine, called Coaster, aimed at students.
He changed the name of Coaster to Teen, and that magazine led Mr. Laufer to launch his signature publication, Tiger Beat, in 1965. He started several other magazines before selling the company in 1978. He built his success on such teen heartthrobs as Bobby Sherman and David Cassidy, as well as the Beatles and the Monkees.
A 1971 Los Angeles Times article described Mr. Laufer’s staff covering every move by Cassidy, then star of the television series “The Partridge Family,” and producing “about 15 David Cassidy stories a month and sentences that almost always end with an exclamation mark (David ordered a steak!).”
Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University, said magazines such as Tiger Beat are “really quite sweet ways for people to indulge in their interests, in their crushes, with lots of glossy pictures to tape to the walls of their rooms.”
As his father told the Times in 1974: “We provide entertainment. How much does a hot-fudge sundae cost? Seventy-five cents? OK. We give them a package for 75 cents. It’s a hot-fudge sundae.”
“The readers of these magazines, they’re becoming consumers for the first time, falling in love for the first time,” said Charles Laufer’s son, Scott, whose company bought Tiger Beat in 2003 and publishes another magazine for teens, Bop. “We’re trying to make it a positive experience for them. It’s pretty wholesome fun for teenage girls.”
Charles Harry Laufer was born Sept. 13, 1923, in Newark. A standout basketball player at Newark’s Central High School, Mr. Laufer could not serve in the military during World War II because of a heart murmur and a broken leg suffered in a car accident.
He sold Teen but remained its editor until becoming publisher of Tiger Beat. His other magazines included such monthly publications as Rona Barrett’s Hollywood and Gossip.
“The first [magazine] was for love,” Mr. Laufer told the Times in 1980. “Tiger Beat was for money.”
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