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Roland Reiss Personal Politics:
Sculpture from the 1970s and 1980s

September 18, 2011 - January 8, 2012

Roland Reiss has been a major presence in the Los Angeles art world both as an artist and teacher for several decades. During the 1970s and 1980s, the artist created miniature sculptures of scenes from everyday life, which are among his most famous and groundbreaking works, despite the fact that he works primarily as a painter. Organized by the PMCA and curated by Kate Johnson, the exhibition features close to thirty of these miniature scenes. Evoking stress, panic, ambition, fear, insecurity and delight through the narrative tableaux, Reiss examines our society’s semiotics, or codified signifiers of hidden meaning. In addition, the exhibition will also include one of the artist’s most monumental works: a rarely seen life-size representation of a living room entitled, The Castle of Perseverance.

This exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue. 

Love Never Fails:
The Art of Edouard and Luvena Vysekal

September 18, 2011 - January 8, 2012

This exhibition brings together the work of husband and wife Edouard and Luvena Vysekal and focuses on how the two became emblematic of modernism in a conservative art community, opening the door to an avant-garde aesthetic. While Edouard’s work in watercolor and oils of landscapes, cityscapes, nudes, still lifes, portraits, and allegorical subjects ranged from Impressionism and Post Impressionism to semi-abstraction, Luvena’s portraits and still lifes in oils hewed closer to Realism. Together, they participated in exhibitions as members of the early progressive art organizations in Los Angeles, as well more traditional art clubs, gaining respect from modern and conservative critics and audiences alike.

This exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue.

Alex Kritselis:
Above the Fold

September 18, 2011 - January 8, 2012

Exploring how the media shapes people’s perceptions of significant events, Alex Kritselis creates a vast landscape from the issues of the Los Angeles Times that he collected in the aftermath of September 11, 2001.  His immersive installation was previously installed at the Armory Center for the Arts in 2002, but has been reimagined for the PMCA Back Gallery to commemorate the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and to pose new questions about the lingering effects of the attack on our national psyche. Kritselis is a multimedia artist based in Los Angeles and from 2002-2011 was Dean of the Visual Arts and Media Studies Division at Pasadena City College.

Beneath the Surface:
NASA's Juno Mission to Jupiter

September 18, 2011 - January 8, 2012

Juno is a NASA mission to Jupiter that is led by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The Juno spacecraft launched on August 5, 2011 and will arrive at Jupiter in July 2016. The spacecraft will spend about a year orbiting the giant gas planet investigating its origins and inner workings.

Beneath the Surface is inspired by the science and technology of the Juno mission. Dan Goods, JPL's Visual Strategist, has created an interactive installation intended to help museum viewers experience the mystery of Juno's visit to a cloud-covered planet. Goods' installation consists of a large container of fog, which hides infrared lights. Infrared light is invisible to the naked eye, but is visible to most cell phone cameras. Just as the Juno mission uses special detectors to peer through the clouds of Jupiter and reveal the depths of its storms, the visitor can "see" lightning storms underneath this foggy surface. 

Getting Upper:
Graphic Designers and Artists Reconsider the Alphabet

May 15 - September 4, 2011

Inspired by language-based experimentation and how it can unlock new avenues of cultural expression, Getting Upper curator Amos Klausner charged twenty-six designers with re-imagining a letter from the alphabet, using the illegibility and deconstructive nature of graffiti as their starting point.  If "getting up" describes the recognition that a graffiti artist seeks through proliferate tagging, “getting upper” is the term that Klausner uses to suggest breaking free from history, from the global marketing culture that long-ago borrowed the best of the graffiti scene, and from legibility itself.  The result is an alphabet that reconsiders our collective understanding of what a letter can be and how it functions to create language and meaning. 

Each of the 26 letters has been published as a limited edition run of 100 silk-screened posters and will be available for sale at the museum store and online.

This exhibition is curated by Amos Klausner.

Street Cred: Graffiti Art from Concrete to Canvas

May 15 - September 4, 2011

Internationally renowned as one of the most fertile grounds for graffiti art, the City of Angels has its own idiosyncratic graffiti styles created from filtering the innovative New York “wildstyle” through local influences such as gang writing styles. The Los Angeles artists featured in Street Cred currently represent a broad range of genres through their fine art production, from letter-based formalism to Surrealism. Co-curated by Steve Grody and PMCA Exhibition Manager Shirlae Cheng-Lifshin, this exhibition will also include Grody’s photographs from the crucial years of the graffiti scene, providing key insights into the visual “language” of graffiti, its development in Los Angeles, the ways in which the street work informs the canvas work, and how the two worlds interact.

Artists featured in the exhibition include Michael Alvarez, ANGST, AXIS, Chaz Bojórquez, CODAK, CRAOLA, DASH 2000, Ekundayo, EYEONE, HASTE, Paul SKEPT Kanemitsu, Alex Kizu, KOFIE, MAN ONE, MEAR ONE, Juan Carlos Muñoz Hernandez, Jose Lopez, Erick Montenegro, Nicnak, PUSH, RISK, Jeff Soto, Evan Skrederstu, RETNA, REVOK, SABER, SHANDU, Jesse Simon, SINER, and ZES.

This exhibition is curated by PMCA Exhibition Manager Shirlae Cheng-Lifshin and graffiti historian Steve Grody.

Signed Street Cred pole banners available for purchase in store and online.

Video from the opening reception

Clayton Brothers: Inside Out

May 15 - September 4, 2011

Clayton Brothers: Inside Out is the first major museum exhibition of the work of Rob and Christian Clayton. Featuring their paintings and mixed-media installations, the exhibition surveys the brothers’ edgy aesthetic inspired by California skateboard and surf culture, punk rock, folk art, cartoons, and street art. The Clayton Brothers have been working collaboratively since 1996, constructing complex narratives that introduce memorable characters and comment wryly on contemporary life. 

This exhibition is organized by the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA) and curated by Stephen Fleischman, Director of MMoCA.

Signed Clayton Brothers pole banners available for purchase in store and online.

Video from the opening reception

The 100th Annual California Art Club
Gold Medal Juried Exhibition

April 3 - April 24, 2011

The California Art Club was established in 1909 by the early California Impressionists after the disbanding of the Los Angeles Painters' Club. A number of prominent artists were instrumental in the founding of the Club, including Franz Bischoff (1864-1929), Carl Oscar Borg (1879-1947), Hanson Puthuff (1875-1972) and William Wendt (1865-1946). Today, the California Art Club's primary purposes are to promote the fine arts in the fields of painting, drawing, and sculpture, with a special emphasis placed on the academic traditions and craftsmanship established by the founders of the organization. The PMCA is proud to host the California Art Club's annual Gold Medal exhibition and sale of work by its artist members. All proceeds from the three-week exhibition benefit the PMCA, the California Art Club, and the artist.

Tomorrow Today:
A Juried Student Exhibition from Pasadena City College

March 11 - March 20, 2011
April 3 - April 24, 2011

Tomorrow Today features work by current art and design students at Pasadena City College, selected by a jury of distinguished art professionals, including the PMCA staff. This is the first exhibition co-organized by PCC and the PMCA.

Ranging from conceptual projects to traditional crafts, the pieces on view reflect the generational perspectives and personal idiosyncrasies of an extraordinarily diverse community of student artists, offering a glimpse of our cultural future.

Gardens & Grandeur:
Porcelains and Paintings by Franz A. Bischoff

November 14, 2010 - March 20, 2011

Gardens & Grandeur: Porcelains and Paintings by Franz A. Bischoff was the most inclusive retrospective of Franz A. Bischff to date. Starting out as a porcelain painter in the late 19th century, Bischoff's exquisite renderings of flowers, particularly roses, earned him the nickname, "King of the Rose Painters." When he turned to plein air painting, the artist drew inspiration from California's sun-kissed views and its distinctive light and atmosphere, painting vistas from Pasadena's Arroyo Seco and Monterey Bay, to the Sierra Nevada Mountains. He returned to his native Europe in 1912 to study the Old Masters and French Impressionism, and his later work then shifted to a more pronounced and dramatic palette, which was even described as suggestive of Fauvism. Gardens & Grandeur: Porcelains and Paintings by Franz A. Bischoff examines Franz A. Bischoff's life-long exploration of diverse subject matter and varied materials.

Click to purchase Franz A. Bischoff: The Life & Art of an American Master

Scenic View Ahead:
The Westways Cover Art Program, 1928-1981

November 14, 2010 - February 27, 2011

Originally named Touring Topics, one of the magazine’s early editors, Phil Townsend Hanna, began a program to commission cover art from California artists in 1928. Featuring 44 works, the PMCA exhibition included notable California artists such as Alson Clark, Maynard Dixon, John Frost, and Donna Schuster from the plein air period, and noteworthy watercolorists such as Rex Brandt, Phil Dike and Maurice Logan. The works trace prominent stylistic movements of the 1940s through 1970s such as California watercolor, Pop Art and assemblage. In the last decades of the cover-art program, the magazine explored on the eclectic Los Angeles art scene by featuring covers from diverse artists such as Jan Sawka, Paul Hogarth and Merle Shore.

California Design Biennial 2010: Action/Reaction

July 18 - October 31, 2010

Building on the success of previous biennials, the PMCA presents a new format for the 2010 California Design Biennial (CDB). Whereas past CDBs were juried competitions, this year, the PMCA invited a notable design professional to curate each category in response to a theme, Action/Reaction, which describes designs that respond to current events, whether sociopolitical or economic, in a creative or innovative way. Rose Apodaca curates Fashion; Stewart Reed curates Transportation Design; Louise Sandhaus curates Graphic Design; Alissa Walker curates Product Design; and for the first time in CDB history, Architecture is included as a category, curated by Frances Anderton.

Desire: Six Los Angeles Artists

July 18 - October 31, 2010

Desire focuses on six Los Angeles-based artists whose works exemplify the contemporary landscape of desire in the City of Angels, a city known for commodifiying sex through its various entertainment industries. Although many typically view desire in terms of pleasure, these artists have also interpreted desire as a feature of alienation, spiritualism, consumerism, and cultural/gender identification. Curated by Shirlae Cheng-Lifshin, this exhibition features work by Gajin Fujita, David Grant, Iva Gueorguieva, Tom Knechtel, Monica Majoli, and Linda Stark.

Megan Geckler: Every move you make, every step you take

July 18 - October 31, 2010

The work of Los Angeles-based artist Megan Geckler lies somewhere between art and design, with architectural installations that are assembled from thousands of strands of multicolored flagging tape, a plastic ribbon typically utilized by surveyors to demarcate space on construction sites. The end result resembles an updated three-dimensional version of string art that shares the seemingly kinetic territory of the Op Art and Light+Space movements. These site-specific projects are also strongly influenced by minimalism, but retain a sense of play and delight.

June 13 - July 3, 2010

The California Art Club was established in 1909 by the early California Impressionists after the disbanding of the Los Angeles Painters’ Club. A number of prominent artists were instrumental in the founding of the Club, including Franz Bischoff (1864-1929), Carl Oscar Borg (1879-1947), Hanson Puthuff (1875-1972) and William Wendt (1865-1946). Today, the California Art Club's primary purposes are to promote the fine arts in the fields of painting, drawing, and sculpture, with a special emphasis placed on the academic traditions and craftsmanship established by the founders of the organization. The PMCA is proud to host the California Art Club’s annual Gold Medal exhibition and sale of work by its artist members. All proceeds from the three-week exhibition benefit the PMCA, the California Art Club, and the artist.

February 14 - May 30, 2010

The first cohesive survey of this remarkable period in the oeuvre of Millard Owen Sheets, this exhibition features a cross section of eighty outstanding oils, watercolors, drawings and lithographs, a number of which have not been publicly displayed since the 1930s. Millard Sheets: The Early Years (1926-1944) illustrates how Sheet’s personal style captures Southern California’s rise to prominence through the lens of the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression; as well as his powerful influence on many of the other important artists of the time.  The featured works are from the years before the end of WWII, during which Regionalist Art and American Scene Painting was in its heyday and Sheets, the West Coast leader of the movement, was arguably at his creative zenith as a painter. The exhibition features seminal works from the golden age that established Millard Sheets alongside the other premier American artists of the era, Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood, and Edward Hopper.

Click to purchase the book Millard Sheets: The Early Years (1926-1944)

The Ulysses Guide to the Los Angeles River

February 14 - May 30, 2010

Showcasing new “currents” in art inspired by the Los Angeles River’s strange yet invigorating presence in the City of Angels, the exhibition will encourage the public to take a closer look and examine the details of the River, from its zoological offerings to its artistic ones, which make it a living representation of Los Angeles culture. The artists in the exhibition are as diverse as the city itself, ranging from established artists such as Charles “Chaz” Bojórquez to emerging artist Rob Sato. Along with framed works, this exhibition boasts site-specific murals, which the artists will paint and draw directly upon the walls of the PMCA space, and an installation that recreates the setting of the LA River along with a few imaginative embellishments. The exhibition is inspired by the book, The Ulysses Guide to the Los Angeles River, by Christopher D. Brand, Evan D. Skrederstu, Steve Martinez, and Matthew Brand.

Click to purchase the book The Ulysses Guide to the Los Angeles River

Sumi Ink Club: Sumi Room

February 14 - May 30, 2010

Sumi Ink Club represents a new ethos in the art world, one that builds on the playful spirit of artists like Keith Haring and Kenny Scharf to include a more community-oriented mindset, as well a multi-disciplinary and collaborative approach to art-making. A Los Angeles-based drawing collective founded in 2005 by Sarah Anderson and Luke Fischbeck, the group holds regular open meetings to execute detailed drawings using ink on paper. They have brought their gatherings to many places, domestic and international, and have exhibited in galleries from Los Angeles and New York to England and Sweden, collaborating with many designers, artists, and musicians along the way. In their new installation for the Project Room, the artists have taken up a residence in the gallery, holding weekly events to fill the room with their signature topsy-turvy, detailed, collaborative drawings using sumi ink. Open to the public, these group drawing events function as a means to open and fortify social interactions that bleed into everyday life, reinforcing their non-hierarchical philosophy: all ages, all humans, all styles.

Wayne Thiebaud: 70 Years of Painting

Ocober 4 - January 31, 2010

This special exhibition was a survey of more than one hundred twenty works drawn from the oeuvre of the celebrated painter Wayne Thiebaud. With his penchant for dazzling sunlight and high-keyed color, and a gift for painterly, sensuous handling of oils and other media, Thiebaud's paintings link high art with popular culture while conveying a sunny optimism that is quintessentially Californian. Although he is best known for his vibrantly colored paintings of bakeries and delicatessens, the artist has also specialized in Northern California landscapes, San Francisco cityscapes, and colorful beach scenes. A variety of these paintings will be on display along with prominent drawings and rarely seen figurative works spanning his career. This exhibition is organized by the Palm Springs Art Museum and curated by Dr. Steven Nash. Support for this exhibition has been provided by the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, Bel Air Investment Advisors, LLC., Simon Chiu, Michael and Barbara Brickman, Whitney and Susan Ganz , James Goodman Gallery, Community Bank and Maginnis, Knechtel & McIntyre LLP. In kind support is provided by Peet's Coffee and Tea and Whole Foods Arroyo.

Wayne Thiebaud, Two Paint Cans, 1987, oil on paper mounted on board, Thiebaud Family Collection, © Wayne Thiebaud/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Behold The Day: The Color Block Prints of Frances Gearhart

Ocober 4 - January 31, 2010

A leader in the American Printmaking movement, Frances Gearhart’s work was embedded in the time and place of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Personifying a handcrafted aesthetic and conveying a sense of directness, Gearhart’s prints celebrated the California landscape – its mountains, trees, lakes and coastline. Featuring over sixty of her block prints and ten watercolors, the exhibition is the first Gearhart retrospective and will provide a comprehensive look at the artist’s legacy and influence, including her never before seen prints. Also on view will be the prints from the previously unfinished and unpublished children’s book that Gearhart co-authored with her two sisters, entitled, Let’s Play.

Population: Portraits by Ray Turner

Ocober 4 - January 31, 2010

A former painting instructor at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, artist Ray Turner fashions a uniquely seductive and engaging fusion of lyrical realism and abstraction in portraiture. A prescient interpreter, Turner’s most recent series, Population, features intimate portraits of Pasadena residents. The artist’s intuitive approach captures his sitters during “privileged instants” with sensitivity and subtlety. Approximately one hundred fifty of these paintings will be installed in the Founders’ Gallery; viewed en masse they reveal the vast range of dynamic possibilities inherent to portraiture.

You See: The Early Years of the UC Davis Faculty

May 31 - September 20, 2009

Featuring work of five UC Davis faculty members Robert Arneson, Roy De Forest, Manuel Neri, Wayne Thiebaud and William T. Wiley, all five artists came to teach at UC Davis between 1960 and 1965. They five artists are sometimes identified with "California funk," characterized by bawdy irreverence, iconoclasm and self-deprecating humor. Their work was instrumental in creating a regional movement that served as a counterpoint to the established New York art scene. Featuring over 36 works, Arneson's enormous ceramic ode to his '50s-era Davis tract home, will anchor the show, together with three Thiebaud masterworks and three of Neri's most admired figurative sculptures. "Crash," Arneson's bronze homage to Jackson Pollock, is also included, together with rarely seen paintings, drawings and prints by De Forest and Wiley.

Edith Heath: Tabletop Modernist

May 31 - September 20, 2009

This exhibition focuses on the life of Edith Heath and her defining influence on California design through pottery. Popular at dinner tables across the country and featured in many of the early American industrial design exhibitions, Heath Ceramics helped define mid-century modernism. Edith Heath began as a studio potter in San Francisco. She established Heath Ceramics in 1947 to meet the growing demand for her dinnerware and accessories. She focused on simple, minimalist style although her process was characterized by innovation and experimentation. Her use of unique glazes and clay underscored her belief that quality does not have to be sacrificed for mass production and accessibility. Her creations were also a reflection of the post-war attitudes toward a more relaxed American lifestyle, especially in California where indoor-outdoor living was taking root.

TRAFFIC!

May 31 - September 20, 2009

Benny Chan has worked diligently over the past few years to photograph overhead views of Los Angeles freeways during the height of rush hour. Using a camera designed and manufactured exclusively for this project, Chan has taken pictures from high in the sky from a helicopter and has rendered monumental sized prints. With his almost omniscient perspective, Mr. Chan explores and sheds light on the conundrum of traffic as a symptom of a society being unable to keep pace with its own expansion, while at the same time rendering a serene beauty from the chaotic scene.

Annie Lapin: Parallel Deliria Iteration

May 31 - September 20, 2009

The PMCA is proud to present Los Angeles painter Annie Lapin’s Parallel Deliria Iteration, which the artist describes as “a never ending painting in three dimensions.” The installation is comprised of recycled components from previous installations, discarded works from Lapin’s studio practice, and new elements added in response to the architecture of the PMCA Project Room. The visual impact of the resulting installation is, like her paintings, marked with the artist’s internal struggle to break free of the constraints of the spatial limitation inherent in the act of painting. This project, conceived by Lapin as a way to sublimate her desires to paint in space and without conclusion, traces the limitations of the medium, while attempting to subsume the architectural space of the room.

98th Annual California Art Club
Gold Medal Juried Exhibition

April 26 - May 17, 2009

The California Art Club's Gold Medal Exhibition is juried by museum directors and curators and features over 100 selected paintings and sculptures by current California Art Club artist members. Attracting plein-air artists and collectors from around the country, the exhibition showcases the long tradition of California Impressionism that continues today.

To purchase an exhibition catalogue, click here.

Data + Art: Science and Art in the Age of Information

January 26 – April 12, 2009

Organized by the Pasadena Museum of California Art (PMCA) and curated by Dan Goods and David Delgado, designers and educators at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Data + Art explores the hidden stories revealed in data through emerging forms of data expression. Featuring work by Jonathan Berger, David Bowen, Jim Bumgardner, Alex Dragalescu, Chris Jordan, Ned Kahn, Aaron Koblin, Greg Niemeyer & Chris Chafe, Seth Ruffins, The Long Now Foundation, and JPL. This exhibition challenges the viewer's assumptions by exploring the beauty inherent in data and asks them to see complexity in a new light. These interpretations of data will empower the average person to see the invisible, hear the inaudible and understand the impossibly complex.

This exhibition is supported by the Pasadena Arts & Culture Commission and the City of Pasadena Cultural Affairs Division, The James Irvine Foundation, The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, Tournament of Roses Foundation, Xerox Foundation, Union Bank of California Foundation, and Michael and Barbara Brickman.

January 26 – April 12, 2009

Although art and science institutions have occasionally collaborated with one another, they have historically been seen as polar opposites. Pasadena is home to the illustrious aerospace institutions JPL and Caltech, and the similarities between science and art are now brought to life in the two exhibitions, Data + Art and Eye in the Sky, an exhibition about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter(MRO). The MRO offers a rare glimpse at the atmosphere, surface and subsurface of Mars through various instruments, the resulting images are as much art as science.

Micronautics: The Photographs of David Scharf

January 26 – April 12, 2009

The PMCA is presented an exhibition of the images of David Scharf, a pioneering scientist and EMMY-winning photographer in the field of scanning electron microscopy for the last 30 years. Once called the “Ansel Adams of inner space” by Time magazine, Scharf’s intriguing photographs provide a closer look at everyday materials on a microscopic level, revealing the hidden nature of pollen, crystals, insects and more.

Romance of the Bells: The California Missions in Art

September 28, 2008 - January 4, 2009

Romance of the Bells: California Missions in Art focuses on paintings of California's historic Spanish missions created between 1850 and 1950. Featuring works by such important Impressionist painters as Franz Bischoff, Alson Clark, Joseph Kleitsch, Arthur G. Rider, Elmer Wachtel, and William Wendt, this exhibition features gentle rolling landscapes filled with lush wildflowers alongside the weathered adobe walls of the missions. The romance of these old missions has been immortalized by artists who sought to capture the unique historical heritage of old California, as well as the spirit and beauty of the California landscape.

This exhibition is organized by The Irvine Museum and curated by The Irvine Museum Executive Director, Jean Stern. This exhibition is supported by the Historical Collections Council of California, Josh Hardy Galleries, Robert Giem, and PMCA Board Member Simon Chiu.

Seeing Greene & Greene: Architecture in Photographs

September 28, 2008 - January 4, 2009

William Stranger: Second Growth

September 28, 2008 - January 4, 2009

A second growth forest is one that has re-grown after it has been heavily logged or clear-cut. The exhibition Second Growth explores the "second life" of trees. Using salvaged materials as well as finely crafted furniture and hand carved objects, Stranger's installation invokes the life cycle of a tree. The artist strives to have as little impact on the environment as possible and gives discarded, neglected wood a new existence, creating a new experience of the same wood. Influenced by the structure of trees, buildings and animals, his work exemplifies restraint, simplicity and harmony.

This exhibition is supported by Gerrie Smith, Fiona Chalom, Margi Denton, and the PMCA Board of Directors.

Kori Newkirk: 1997 - 2007

June 1 – September 14, 2008

Kori Newkirk is a celebrated multimedia artist whose practice is based on transforming everyday materials into loaded signifiers, making viewers think not only about concepts of African-American culture and beauty, but also about new and ever-changing ways of making art. This exhibition covers the last ten years of his career, illuminating how the varied but interrelated strands of his practice have converged and developed over time.

This exhibition is organized by The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York.
This exhibition is generously supported by the Peter Norton Family Foundation on behalf of Eileen Harris Norton, and the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Foundation.

Tales From the Strip: The Hot Rod Comics and
Drag Racing Cartoons of Pete Millar

June 1 – September 14, 2008

Tales From the Strip is the first comprehensive museum exhibition to recognize the legendary hot rod and drag racing cartoonist Pete Millar (1929 – 2003). After finding his original inspiration from the artists of Mad Magazine’s heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, Millar turned his drawing skills to humorous situations involving souped-up cars and their errant drivers, as well as his spoofs of actual personalities and controversies during the rapid growth of the drag racing culture in California. Millar’s virtuoso drawing abilities were nurtured by his training as an engineering draftsman and first hand experience as a drag racer.

97th Annual California Art Club
Gold Medal Juried Exhibition

April 27 - May 18, 2008

An annual event at the PMCA, the California Art Club's Gold Medal Exhibition is juried by museum directors and curators and features over 100 selected paintings and sculptures by current California Art Club artist members. Attracting plein-air artists and collectors from around the country, the exhibition showcases the long tradition of California Impressionism that continues today. The work is for sale and the proceeds benefit the artist, the California Art Club, and the PMCA.

To purchase an exhibition catalogue, click here.

Timothy J. Clark: A Retrospective

January 20 - April 13, 2008

Born and raised in Santa Ana and educated at Art Center, Chouinard ('72), CalArts ('74), and Otis, Timothy J. Clark is a contemporary painter working primarily in watercolor. This mid-career retrospective looks at his unique style that combines California Regionalism with a more New York sensibility of Abstract Expressionism, merging two radically different American painting traditions. Guest curated by Mr. Jean Stern, Director of the Irvine Museum, the exhibition includes 35 drawings, watercolors and oil paintings created over a 40-year period by the award-winning artist.

"Timothy J. Clark sees things ordinary people can't... Clark, one of the finest artists of this time, is among my favorite painters. With a fidelity to his own artistic vision, he paints in the rich traditions of Sargent and the American Impressionists. His masterful drawing, heightened sense of color and light, and comprehensive composition testify to decades of dedication as an artist. His sensibilities range from quiet and poetic to vigorous and emotional."
- Jean Stern, Guest Curator

"Clark's ostensibly forthright watercolors...not only are glittering in their execution -- bathed in sunlight, swathed in shadow, shimmering with sure-handed yet expansive and textured brushwork -- but also embody the postmodern concept of art-as-idea. Clark has an almost uncanny ability to infuse rudimentary and inert objects...with something akin to a human soul."
- Dr. Lisa Farrington, from the forthcoming book, "Timothy J. Clark"

Support for this exhibition has been provided by the Board of Directors of the PMCA.

A Seed of Modernism: Art Students League of Los Angeles

January 20 - April 13, 2008

Founded in 1906 as a school for modern painting in defiance of the academic tradition, the Art Students League of Los Angeles was a crucial institution in the development of Southern California art. Its early instructors taught in the Realist style of the Ashcan School until Stanton Macdonald-Wright assumed the directorship in 1923 and gave the school a new vitality. During his nine-year tenure, the League became a diverse center, stressing the art of as the Middle and Far East as well as Western Europe. When Macdonald-Wright stepped down in 1932, artists such as Lorser Feitelson and Benji Okubo directed the school, and a unique style developed at the League-the blending of Japanese art techniques and themes along with Macdonald-Wright's color theories. After Pearl Harbor and during the incarceration of Japanese Americans, the school languished and eventually dispersed, but not before former Macdonald-Wright students Okubo and Hideo Date established a branch of the Art Students League at the Heart Mountain Concentration Camp in Wyoming. The PMCA is proud to present the first comprehensive museum exhibition and catalog detailing the fascinating history of this group of gifted artists.

Support for this exhibition has been provided by the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, the Tournament of Roses Foundation, Lorser Feitelson and Helen Lundeberg Arts Foundation, Bente and Gerald Buck, Anthony and Mary Podell, George and Irene Stern, Lynn and Tim Mason, Jerry Solomon Custom Picture Frames, Louis Stern Fine Arts, Kelley Gallery, Whitney Ganz, Maurine St. Gaudens, National Mustang Association and Harris Art Works, and Simon Chiu.

To purchase an exhibition catalogue, click here.

Project Room:
Susan Silton: Inside Out

October 10, 2007 - January 6, 2008

Conceived in two parts, Inside Out is an exploration of the dual nature of stripes as both a signifier and as a highly consumed decorative pattern. Silton’s installation “inside” will function as a store filled with various striped objects  for sale, reflecting the innocuous function of stripes to aestheticize everyday consumer objects, including art objects . Her installation “outside,” which will  envelop the entire museum, is modeled after fumigation tents commonly seen in the Los Angeles landscape. As exterior indicators of an infestation spreading beneath and the presumed remedy for containing it, striped fumigation tents allude to one of the stripe’s alleged historical functions as a marker for otherness, and by wrapping the museum, the artist signals her intent to infiltrate—structurally as well as metaphorically—the edifice contained within.

Jess: To and From the Printed Page

October 10, 2007 - January 6, 2008

This exhibition presents one of the most expansive themes within the work of Jess (1923-2004), for whom the book served as subject, object, and fodder for his collage-based art. Based in San Francisco, Jess emerged as a visual artist from within the literary context of Beat culture, along with other California collagists Wallace Berman, Bruce Conner, and George Herms. By focusing on art created especially for publication and reproduction, this exhibition looks at Jessís imagery as a form of dialogue with the written word and its transmitters.

Jess: To and From the Printed Page is a traveling exhibition organized and circulated by Independent Curators International (iCI), New York. Guest curator for the exhibition is Ingrid Schaffner. The exhibition, tour, and catalogue are made possible, in part, by a grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support provided by the iCI Exhibition Partners.

To purchase an exhibition catalogue, click here.

Beyond Ultraman: Seven Artists Explore the Vinyl Frontier

October 10, 2007 - January 6, 2008

A longtime generator of American counterculture, California has become the landing site for Asian vinyl toy culture as well. Beyond Ultraman examines the vinyl art toy landscape as seen in the work of seven California artists who reflect that movement, turning art into toys and vice versa. Through originality, wit, flippancy and brilliance, each artist in the exhibition has elevated the vinyl art toy movement and captured the attention of two audiences: the mainstream art community and the toy community. Featuring the work of Gary Baseman, Tim Biskup, David Gonzales, David Horvath, Sun-Min Kim, Brian McCarty and Mark Nagata, Beyond Ultraman is a collaboration between the PMCA and the Los Angeles Toy, Doll and Amusements Museum.

To purchase an exhibition catalogue, click here.

Benjamin Chambers Brown (1865-1942): Califrnia Colors

October 10, 2007 - January 6, 2008

The second in our California Colors series, this exhibition featured a selection of vibrant Impressionist paintings by Benjamin Chambers Brown (1865-1942), a Plein Air painter who was one of the first artists to settle and paint in Pasadena. This was a rare opportunity to view highlights of Brownís work from private and museum collections. A full-color exhibition catalog is available, featuring new scholarship on the artist by Chief Curator of the Crocker Art Museum, Scott A. Shields, Ph.D and an introduction by Executive Director of the Irvine Museum, Jean Stern.

Support for this exhibition has been generously provided by the Pasadena Arts League and the Historical Collections Council of California. Additional support has been provided by Ray Redfern of the Redfern Gallery, Bonhams and Butterfields, Edenhurst Gallery, George Stern, Josh Hardy, DeRuís Fine Arts, Whitney Ganz and Steve Stern. In kind donation is provided by photographer Gerard Vuilleumier.

To purchase an exhibition catalogue, click here.

Jennifer Poon: Lost and Found

August 19 - September 30, 2007

The work of Bay Area painter Jennifer Poon comes to life in a new exhibition that includes a rare first for the artist: a sculptural installation echoing the fragility and sentiment of her delicate watercolors. Using fabric, vellum, and stone, this monumental-scale installation integrates seamlessly with the paintings and drawings also on display. A massive tree branch sprouts from one wall, dripping long strands of Chinese paper dolls, while a large kite flies overhead, constructed of parchment and covered in the artistís drawings. The kite is tethered to the earth by silken strings, whose opposing ends are each wrapped around a different human organ sculpted from alabaster. Precariously pinned to the wall and presiding over the entire installation are thirty-five silkscreened portraits of the artist. Taken as a whole, the installation reveals the artistís fleeting moment of self-discovery, seducing the viewer in the process.

This exhibition is sponsored by Micheal Napollielo Jr., and Gallery C.

Maynard Dixon: Masterpieces from BYU and Private Collections

June 1 - August 12, 2007

The PMCA celebrates the Fifth Year Anniversary of our opening with an exhibition and premiere of a documentary honoring renowned California painter Maynard Dixon (1875-1946). Dixon was a fixture in the Northern California art world in the early part of the century, known for his landscapes and portraits, particularly during the Great Depression. His marriage to photographer Dorothea Lange and his move later in life to the Utah desert influenced the subjects and style of his work. His modernist approach to painting Western landscapes featured simple compositions and powerful color fields that shifted the genre away from the more typically sentimental treatment of familiar subject matter. The largest and best single collection of Dixon paintings resides at the Brigham Young University Art Museum and through the generosity of that institution, 47 paintings and 6 drawings will travel to the PMCA. This exhibition marks the first time this body of work has been exhibited in California since Dixon sold the work to a BYU professor in the 1940s.

To purchase an exhibition catalogue, click here.

Dark Metropolis: Irving Norman's Social Realism

January 21 - April 15, 2007

This exhibition, produced on the occasion of what would have been Irving Norman's 100th birthday (1906-1989), features paintings that remain as poignant and relevant today as when they were first created. Norman's monumental paintings reflect a troubled and turbulent world. His works teem with detail and are populated with swarming, clone-like humans. People are constricted by small urban spaces and modern technology, caught in the crunch of rush hour, and decimated by poverty and war. Shocking, revealing and profound, the paintings aim, as Norman himself described, "to tell the truth of our time."
Dark Metropolis is curated by Scott Shields and is organized by the Crocker Art Museum. The exhibition is accompanied by a 228-page full-color catalogue available in the PMCA bookstore.

This exhibition was funded in part by The Judith Rothschild Foundation, Rolfe Wyer, Martin Sosin/Stratton-Petit Foundation, LEF Foundation, Estate of Moses and Ruth Helen Lasky through Morelle Lasky Levine, and Janice and Maurice Holloway.
Media support provided by Juxtapoz.

To purchase an exhibition catalogue, click here.

California Watercolors: Collector's Choice

Ocotber 15, 2006 - April 15, 2007

The last in the series of four exhibitions of California Style watercolors, this exhibition offers a special glimpse into the private collections of serious connoisseurs in the field of historic California watercolors. The thirty works have been selected by thirty different collectors and represent their unique tastes and interests. The exhibition was conceived as a counterpoint to our previous watercolor exhibitions which were organized by a single curator.

This exhibition is organized by the PMCA. Support is provided by Jan and Mark Hilbert, Sandy Hunter-California Art Gallery, Ray Sahranavard, Ian M. Patrick, Kenneth M. Kaplan, Jeffrey Olsen, Chris Coleman, and Anonymous.

California Colors: Hanson Puthuff

October 15 - April 15, 2007

This is the first museum exhibition focusing exclusively on the work of Hanson Puthuff (1875-1972), an American Impressionist who painted primarily in California. Organized by the PMCA, the exhibition will feature 25 of the artist's most omportant paintings, as well as his personal effects, on loan from his estate. The PMCA will also republish his autobiography in honor of this important exhibition, with an introduction by the Irvine Museum Executive Director, Jean Stern.

This exhibition was supported in part by the Historical Colections Council of California.

To purchase an exhibition catalogue, click here.

Advancing the Moment: Recent Work by California Photographers

October 15, 2006 - January 7, 2007

Advancing the Moment, organized by the PMCA and held in conjunction with the Norton Simon Museum's exhibition, The Collectible Moment, reveals the eventual trajectory of the groundbreaking Californian photographers of the 1960s and 1970s by showcasing their work from the last five years. The exhibition includes works produced between 2000 and 2005 by Donald Blumberg, Darryl Curran, Judy Dater, Robbert Flick, Ingeborg Gerdes, Anthony Hernandez, Ellen Land-Weber, Jerry McMillan, Gregory Allen MacGregor, John Spence Weir, and Henry Wessel, Jr. Together with the exhibition at the Norton Simon, Advancing the Moment documents the development of contemporary photography in the context of this region, presenting a pivotal moment when institutions recognized and began collecting photography.

This exhibition was curated by Donna Stein. Support was provided by the Pasadena Arts League.

Drive-by Shooting: April Greinman Digital Photography

September 8 - October 8, 2006

These images were captured by April Greiman over the past 15 years in various parts of the world, including Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and North America. Although Greiman is one of the first women to be recognized as a leader in the graphic arts world, her fine art production stands apart, reflecting her personal travels and unique worldview. Finding meaning and beauty in the smallest, most imperceptible details, Greiman presents her images on a monumental scale so that the idiosyncrasies of the digital technology combine with chance encounter to produce these striking images. The end result appears almost accidental, but actually represents a carefully constructed intervention by the artist.
This exhibition is organized by the PMCA and Merry Norris and is sponsored in part by Nash Editions, Larry Baca Technical Consulting, Premier Imaging Products, I.T. Supplies, Urban Partners, LLC, and InSync Media.

To purchase an exhibition catalogue, click here.

California Watercolors: Focus on the Fifties

May 6 - October 8, 2006

California Watercolors: Focus On The Fifties highlights the innovations of California-based watercolorists after 1945. Artists such as Phil Dike, Rex Brandt, George Post, Nick Brigante and others experimented with abstract form, reflecting many of the larger changes taking place at that time in the art world, most notably the rise of Abstract Expressionism. While most of these artists are better known for their pre-war watercolors, which reflected more conservative American Scene and Regionalist styles, this exhibition, which features 31 paintings, reframes their work in a national context that was in a dialogue with broader trends. Focus on the Fifties is the third in a series of four exhibitions designed to explore in depth the achievements of mid-20th century California watercolorists.

Richard Diebenkorn: The Carey Stanton Collection

May 6 - August 27, 2006

Celebrating the legacy of one of America's greatest artists, this exhibition showcases the private collection of Carey Stanton, owner of Santa Cruz Island and close personal friend of Diebenkorn for over 40 years. This collection has never before been seen in its entirety, and many of the works were painted on or inspired by Santa Cruz Island, reflecting a unique personal dialogue between the artist and the collector.

To purchase an exhibition catalogue, click here.

Family Legacies: The Art of Betye, Lezley, and Alison Saar

May 6 - August 27, 2006

Family Legacies is the first exhibition of the Saars' work to examine the relationship of these three important artists to each other within the context of the family's distinct contributions to art history. The exhibition features thirty-six objects, including mixed media sculptures, assemblages, collages and a collaborative installation created by the Saars. With twelve key works by each artist, representing the full chronological range and stylistic evolution of their oeuvre, the exhibition addresses themes that underline the artists' family ties, multi-racial heritage and strong affinities to nature and African cultures.

To purchase an exhibition catalogue, click here.

Kevin Macpherson: Reflections on a Pond

April 1 - April 30, 2006

In the Impressionist tradition of capturing the changing conditions of the outdoor environment - weather, light, seasons - Kevin Macpherson painted this alpine pond, located in New Mexico, over five years, making sure to include every day of the year. The concept of this series was conceived by Macpherson as an artistic journey that would be demanding both physically and psychologically, but would ultimately give him deep insight and fresh appreciation for the natural world. Throughout the creation of these paintings he maintained several constants: each painting was executed on a 6x8 inch panel, his palette remained consistent, each painting contains realistic, identifiable elements of the scene, and the artist painted from the same location. The variations in the paintings are generally the result of the weather, season, or time of day the paintings was made. However, the events and the general course of the artistís life over the five years are also present in the paintings.

95th Annual California Art Club
Gold Medal Juried Exhibition

April 2 - April 23, 2006

An annual event at the PMCA, the California Art Club's Gold Medal Exhibition is juried by museum directors and curators and features over 100 selected paintings and sculptures by current California Art Club artist members. Attracting plein-air artists and collectors from around the country, the exhibition showcases the long tradition of California Impressionism that continues today. The work is for sale and the proceeds benefit the artist, the California Art Club, and the PMCA.

To purchase an exhibition catalogue, click here.

Soo Kim: They Stop Looking at the Sky

January 22 - April 23, 2006

In a new installation for the PMCA Project Room, artist Soo Kim constructs a city and the interior and exterior spaces of its built environment. Through densely layered and reconstituted photographic imagery, Kim explores the visually riveting connections between interiority and exteriority. In a departure from her recent work, this exhibition features a series of three photographic collages mounted on 4' x 5' translucent plexi-glass panels. The work transcends specificity of time and place, suggesting a reimagined urban environment.

Spirit Totems: Herb Alpert Sculpture 1995-2005

December 11th, 2005 - April 2nd, 2006

A music icon who is world renowned for his extraordinary career, Alpert has worked as a painter since the 1960s and as a sculptor for more than 20 years, and his work has been shown in various galleries and museums around the world. Spirit Totems: Herb Alpert Sculpture 1995 - 2005 brings together his recent body of work, Spirit Totems, which was unveiled this past October in New York City's famed Bryant Park and features other sculpture from the past decade. The exhibition is installed in open-air public spaces throughout the city: the PMCA roof top terrace, the Pasadena Civic Auditorium Plaza, and the Paseo Colorado, an outdoor shopping and dining space.

Raimonds Staprans: Art of Tranquility and Turbulence

January 22 - March 19, 2006

Staprans began working in the Bay Area in the 1950s at a time when other artists in that region were rediscovering figurative painting. With Abstract Expressionism at the forefront of American painting, these artists, which included Richard Diebenkorn, David Park, Roland Peterson, and Wayne Thiebaud - often referred to as the Bay Area Figurative artists - explored inventive new ways to depict traditional subject matter - the figure, landscape, and still life. Staprans created his own distinctive niche within this movement through his pared down compositions and his rich, saturated palette. Although Stapransí work bears connections to the work of these artists, curator Dr. Paul Karlstrom notes a psychological distance from other Bay Area Figurative artists: the paintings rarely depict the human figure and therefore lack the specific drama that it suggests. However, what distinguishes Staprans above all is the degree to which he infuses his realist art with psychological concerns and self-revelation, resulting in the turbulence and tranquility of the exhibitionís title.

To purchase an exhibition catalogue, click here.

R. Kenton Nelson: Rhyme and Reason/Prose and Cons

November 5, 2005 - March 19, 2006

This Pasadena-based artist's figurative, architectural, and landscape paintings are contemporary recollections of the graphic style exemplified by the American Scene painters, the Regionalists, and the WPA (Works Progress Administration) artists of the 1930s. However, the documentary style of his paintings belies their function as timeless tableaus of American culture. With rich colors and striking compositions, Nelson's paintings impart a sense of the heroic into his scenes of everyday life.

To purchase an exhibition catalogue, click here.

Fun, California Style

November 5, 2005 - March 19, 2006

Fun, California Style is the second exhibition in a four-part series exploring the California Style, a regionalist, mid-century style of painting that was predominantly executed in watercolor. This exhibition focuses on the lifestyle of upwardly mobile Californians at a time when the state was achieving international fame through entertainment, commercial, and agricultural industries. This exhibition includes watercolor and oil paintings by Rex Brandt, Phil Dike, Barse Miller, Charles Payzant, Dorothy Sklar, Jade Woo and Milford Zornes, among others.