Visit to Long Beach Museum of Art

Early in the semester, I visited the LBMoA for two Exhibits:  Matisse Drawings and “Vitality and  Verve III, Transforming the Urban Landscape”

The Matisse Drawings: Curated by Ellsworth Kelly was a very large collection of Matisse drawings that ranged over a 50 year period, from 1900 to 1950.  The majority of those drawing have dates were in the 1940s.  It was interesting to see what changed over the years, and what was constant.  My light-bulb moment what’s when I realized that art doesn’t have to be complicated to be good.  The images that were captured by very simple and minimalistic lines hit home.

The other exhibit, very contemporary, was Vitality and Verve III, Transforming the Urban Landscape, featuring about 25 artists.  One printmaker featured was Dennis McNett, with a very large piece which I find hard to describe.  I would have loved to be in the studio so see how it was created.  There was a repetition of patterns, mandala-like designs and animal and native-American imagery.  The printing also reminded me somewhat of Japanese woodblock prints.      Printing was on fabric and paper.

[GRRRR.... my images disappeared!  The wolfbat must have eaten them.  Trying to figure out a way to add them back WITHOUT being forced to add a Google app or backing up all my device images to a Google account!]