Posts by Bondo Wyszpolski
Ceramic serenade
+1 at the Manhattan Beach Art Center a handful of photos by Bondo Wyszpolski “+1” is an intimate survey of Southern California pottery, in which each of the 10 or so featured artists was asked to extend an invitation to a mentor (teacher, perhaps) or someone they respect or who may have influenced their work.…
Read MoreMBCC Theater’s musical mayhem is a treat
Four weddings – and no funeral “The Drowsy Chaperone” is wide awake in Manhattan Beach by Bondo Wyszpolski Sometimes I think the Manhattan Beach Community Church Theater is about to bite off more than it can chew, but then I catch one of their shows and I’m often highly impressed. I guess I shouldn’t be,…
Read More“Pair” – art show concludes this weekend in Redondo Beach
“Pair,” an art show that creates dialogues between artists of a similar bent, is on view from 1 to 7 p.m. this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the Redondo Beach Historic Library, 309 Esplanade, Redondo Beach. Pictured at the opening reception last Friday (l-r): Theodosia Marchant, Aimee Mandala, Scott Meskill, Michael Collins, and Shannon Donnelly.…
Read MoreOn the Westside East meets West
Music and vocal theater inspired by tales from ancient China “Book of Mountains and Seas” at BroadStage by Bondo Wyszpolski Composer and librettist Huang Ruo reached all the way back to China’s Qin dynasty in the fourth century B.C. and selected four mythical stories from “Book of Mountains and Seas.” He then created a score…
Read MoreGallery of Hermosa: inaugural exhibition
The new kid in town: Gallery of Hermosa Opening night photos by Bondo Wyszpolski Gallery of Hermosa opened last Friday with a gala reception. The new art space is located at 138 Pier Ave, Hermosa Beach, and the inaugural show, “Jubilee” (up through April 24), features several local artists: Bernard Fallon, Chip Herwegh, Dennis Jarvis,…
Read MoreMichelangelo’s dome in Rome: catastrophe avoided
Skirting danger in Renaissance Italy A conversation with Wayne Kalayjian, the author of “Saving Michelangelo’s Dome: How Three Mathematicians and a Pope Sparked an Architectural Revolution” by Bondo Wyszpolski Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome is so spacious inside that the Statue of Liberty, pedestal and all, could stand upright and not scrape the top of…
Read MoreA world of films comes to Rolling Hills
A Chinese lantern Lynn Tang produces movies and runs the Universe Multicultural Film Festival by Bondo Wyszpolski After working hard for many years, establishing her own company and then selling it, Lynn Tang decided to retire and just relax. That didn’t last very long, because soon after she was contacted by a Chinese filmmaker who…
Read MoreBroken hearts at the opera house
Unrequited love “Highway 1, USA” and “The Dwarf” at LA Opera by Bondo Wyszpolski Over 16 years ago, “Recovered Voices” was conceived to showcase the suppressed operas by mostly Austrian and German composers during and after the rise of National Socialism. Arts philanthropist Marilyn Ziering, conductor James Conlon, and others brought to LA Opera long-neglected…
Read MoreForbidden fruit… at the Getty
Trouble in paradise “Conserving Eden” The First Couple gets a makeover by Bondo Wyszpolski Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden. Soon they’ll be expelled from the Getty in Los Angeles… but only to return to their permanent home at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553) was…
Read MoreA baker’s dozen: photos from the 2024 LA Art Show (on view through Feb. 18)
A night at the 2024 LA Art Show This is what it looked like last Wednesday evening. About 120 exhibitors and galleries have works on view. You can see them through Sunday at the Los Angeles Convention Center in downtown L.A. Maybe we’ll do it again in 2025. ER
Read MoreShakespeare without words
A pyre for their desire Matthew Bourne’s “Romeo + Juliet” by Bondo Wyszpolski Take note of the title. Shakespeare’s name is nowhere to be found, and that’s because his play, his words, are not here. Instead, as director and choreographer Matthew Bourne has noted, his work is “a Romeo and Juliet-like story.” Currently gracing the…
Read MoreA cornucopia of fine art
Beyond your wildest imagination The 2024 L.A. Show is gearing up by Bondo Wyszpolski When it comes to art-related events, I can think of no other that quite matches the annual L.A. Art Show, which runs from Feb. 14 through Feb. 18 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Once again there will be exhibitors (100+…
Read MoreFigures and faces
“Return to Form” On view at the Manhattan Beach Art Center by Bondo Wyszpolski This is a modest show, with a few representational works by each of four Southern California artists, that opened with a reception last Friday evening. Brittany Ryan has made a name for herself with her figurative sculptures, which are like soft…
Read MoreJust an appetizer
“Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting” Munching on crocodile eggs and gazelle fattened on human milk by Bondo Wyszpolski The title of this exhibition, in the Resnick Pavilion at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, says it all. Or does it? On view through August 4, the show features some 250…
Read MorePatrick Smyth: Big or small, shooting everything in sight
Passion projects Conversing with photographer Patrick Smyth by Bondo Wyszpolski Intrigued by the grimacing heads sculpted by Franz Xavier Messerschmidt in the late 18th century (and by the Getty’s “Vexed Man” in particular), Reidar Schopp invited several photographers to his San Pedro studio in order to shoot one another in facial poses — frowns, scowls,…
Read MoreWhere the camera is king: three photography exhibits
Fine art photography, three exhibitions “Arthur Tress: Rambles, Dreams, and Shadows,” plus “Sheila Metzner: From Life,” and Peter Fetterman’s “The Power of Photography” by Bondo Wyszpolski In the earlier part of his career, New York-based Arthur Tress felt that the reason contemporary photography often failed to move us personally was because it didn’t “touch upon…
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