LA Fridays with Bob and Tom: Jeffery Deitch Gallery, Judy Chicago

LA Fridays with Bob and Tom

 Week 30. Judy Chicago, Jeffrey Deitch Gallery

This week we visit the Jeffrey Deitch Gallery to see a full survey of a remarkable body of work, created by Judy Chicago, in Los Angeles and Fresno from 1965-1972.  Judy Chicago (b.1939, Chicago) is an artist, author, feminist, and educator whose career spans over five decades.

The exhibition features a series of paintings, drawings, sculpture, installations, and documentation of Chicago’s environmental and fireworks projects.  During this period of time Los Angeles was, as many areas of the country, inhospitable to women artists.  A clear example was Jackson Pollock’s comment about the paintings of his then friend Lee Krasner, “This is excellent work for a woman artist.”  Chicago, intent on learning more about industrial techniques that were not taught in art school, enrolled in auto body painting school.  She was the only woman out of 250 in her class.  This exhibition includes her first group of works coming out of auto body school, car hoods hung on the walls like paintings with their bold female centric imagery.   The lacquering techniques that she learned in auto body school allowed her to merge color and surface.  The color is infused into the material.  They are quite striking.

Partly in reaction to the challenge of getting her work to be taken seriously, she began her Feminist art project which contributed to changing the course of contemporary art.  In addition to her Lifesavers and Fan paintings, the exhibition includes major sculptures such as Rainbow Pickett, Trinity, and the work 10 Part Cylinders.  There are several videos of Chicago's Women and Smoke, California, 1971-1972 on the back wall of the exhibition for viewing.

The Deitch Gallery always has wonderful exhibitions and we recommend going to view one any time.

ROBERT BLAUNSTEIN, PhD BIO

Robert (Bob) is a PhD physicist whose career has spanned academia, government and private industry. As a faculty member of the Department of Physics at the University of Tennessee, a Branch Chief at the United States Department of Energy and Vice President of an American International Group Company, his scientific endeavors include radiation physics, environmental research, environmental insurance and nanotechnology.

Originally from the East Coast, Bob was seduced by his sons and their families (and the California weather) to leave Washington, DC after retiring in 2010. While recovering from culture shock, Bob found many outlets to reconcile his eclectic interests. As a member of Senior Scholars for over six years he continues to take courses in a myriad of subjects ranging from film to art history to brain science and finds great intellectual and social rewards in Senior Scholars and the Plato Society.

As a latent artist, he sketches scenes about town once a week with an artist friend from his college days and is attempting to learn to play the electric guitar.

On moving to Los Angeles, he found Tom Jacobson, another recent transplant. They became great friends and decided to explore their new town together leading to over 113 sites in our city. Dubbed “LA Fridays with Bob and Tom” they are happy to share their experiences with others.

Bob lives in Brentwood with Phyllis, his wife of 56 years, an education policy executive. They have two sons and four grandchildren, one of whom plays a guitar a lot better than Bob.

THOMAS JACOBSON BIO

Thomas (Tom) is an attorney who practiced trial and constitutional law in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Born in 1938 in Bamberg Germany, he was one of the youngest passengers on the ill-fated voyage of the Damned, the SS St. Louis, turned away from Cuba in 1939.

Tom represented local civil rights activists and Dick Gregory and twice argued cases successfully in the United States Supreme Court. In 1970 he was the Democratic candidate for Wisconsin Attorney General.

Retiring in 2008, he and wife, Peggy, moved to California to join their two sons and four grandchildren, and enjoy the warm weather.

Tom has kept busy as a member of Senior Scholars and Plato for the last six years keeping his brain stimulated and active. Yoga and swimming have kept his body in shape.