If anyone understands how to make something last – said filmmaker Denis Villeneuve at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Art + Film gala – that’s good. the artist Vija Celmins. Villeneuve and Celmins were the guests of honor on Saturday at the 15th starry annual event.
“In your work, you stop the seas and the stars long enough for us to really see them,” Villeneuve said of Celmins during his speech under a huge tent in the backyard of LACMA. “I have enormous respect for painters and sculptors, and I have always thought that cinema is considered Pop Art. Cinema carries the burden of being popular in the present, but ultimately the real challenge is to create something that can stand the test of time, as Vija does with her masterful work. So when a museum – a temple for artists – welcomes a filmmaker and puts cinema in the spotlight, it means a lot to me.”
1. Model and musician Soo Joo Park wore a Gucci feathered dress to the gala. (Gucci has been the main sponsor of the event since its inception in 2011.) (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times) 2. Model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley just announced herself as a Victoria’s Secret Angel last month, after a 16-year hiatus. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times) 3. Model Candice Swanepoel shows off the ethereal silver fringe details of her dress, also Gucci. Swanepoel also recently walked as an angel at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in Culver City last month. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
Celmins, 88, is known for her meticulous recreations of natural images, like the night sky, desert sands and ocean waves – and the stars.
The evening was certainly filled with stars: Alex Consani, Andrew Garfield, Emily Ratajkowski, Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo, Kim Kardashian, Parker Posey, Salma Hayek Pinault, Sarah Paulson, Timothée Chalamet, Tyriq Withers and Viola Davis, among others, among the emblematic Chris Burden.Urban light” street lamps. Other participants included Al Pacino, Guitarricadelafuente, Anderson .Paak, Anthony Ramos, Anya Taylor-Joy, Ashley Park, Benito Skinner, Brittany Snow, Emma Watson, Gia Coppola, Jordan Firstman and Julia Garner.
Rosé was the evening’s musical guest, performing the live debut of her single “New trick” on a stage under the Geffen galleries, “The Sheaf” by Matisse visible through the windows above.
Rosé performed “New Trick,” “Number One Girl,” “APT” and a cover of The Killers’ “Read My Mind” at the 15th Annual LACMA Art + Film Gala, where she was the musical guest.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
Just after the red carpet, Guitarricadelafuente — who made his acting debut in a feature film in the famous “La Bola Negra” – spoke of the relationship between cinema and the arts.
“I just think everyone is holding hands all the time,” he said. “I’m originally from music, but when I make music I’ve always come from a very visual place, and I think everything is so connected. Like when I write a song, two words placed in the right place can suddenly be the catalyst for a very powerful image in your mind.”
The Art + Film Gala was designed to bring together the two skeins of Los Angeles’ arts and film communities – and to raise funds for the museum. This year, it raised nearly $7 million (breaking last year’s record of $6.5 million) to support LACMA’s initiative to place cinema at the heart of its curatorial programming (as well as the museum’s broader mission). Previous winners Barbara Kruger, Cathy Opie, Ed Ruscha and Helen Pashgian (it was her 92nd birthday) were also in attendance, as well as Lauren Halsey, Mark Bradford and Mary Corse, among many other artists.
Local elected officials and appointees in attendance included U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove and Rep. Laura Friedman, Los Angeles County Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Lindsey Horvath, Los Angeles City Council Member Katy Yaroslavsky and Los Angeles County Chief Operating Officer Joe Nicchitta.
“This has been an unforgettable year at LACMA,” museum director Michael Govan said during his own speech. “Same tent, but all around – you saw the little building we built, the David Geffen Galleries. Honestly, this is a new beginning for LACMA, and there is so much more to come.
LACMA Director Michael Govan, left, and his wife Katherine Ross, a communications advisor and consultant, pose in front of “Urban Light” by Chris Burden.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
Less than a week ago, the museum unveiled a new piece of public art, “Beam” by Shio Kusaka a clay mosaic flying saucer supported by a yellow metal cone of light. Next weekend, Vanity Fair’s first “Projection room” series of events will christen LACMA’s Steve Tisch Theater. And soon, that of Diana Thater permanent video installation will be projected onto the bridge formed on Wilshire Boulevard by the new building designed by Peter Zumthor.
Co-chairs Leonardo DiCaprio and Eva Chow, LACMA Administrator once again hosted the decadent cocktail and dinner together, but Chow announced that Saturday would mark her final year as co-chair. She estimates that during her tenure, the gala raised nearly $60 million.
“To have started with an idea and watch it grow into one of Los Angeles’ most famous traditions has been one of the great privileges of my life,” Chow said. “I leave this chapter with immense pride, wonderful memories and above all gratitude. I hope this gala continues to grow and inspire future generations, bringing together the worlds of art and cinema for many years to come.”
Chow first made a name for herself as a fashion designer, and Art + Film’s red carpet (a catwalk in front of “Urban Light” streetlights) is a fashion show of sorts. Halsey sported the Wekaavant long sleeve t-shirt for hair salon and sheer pants over mesh camouflage shorts, and his longtime partner, Monique McWilliams, wore a stylish galaxy bodysuit. Architect Kulapat Yantrasast stood tall in clear plastic platform sandals, paired with a bright orange jumpsuit. Publicist and artist Sergio Farias wore a dripping ruby helmet, a sparkling silver suit and a fluffy scarlet train.
1. Contemporary artist Lauren Halsey, right, and her longtime partner Monique McWilliams pose together on the red carpet. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times) 2. Architect Kulapat Yantrasast shows off platform sandals with her orange jumpsuit. He also wore a sparkling silver brooch that read: “Kulapat, Kulaparty, Kulapalace, Kulaparty, Kulapalazzo.” (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times) 3. Singer, rapper, drummer and record producer Anderson .Paak poses with an ivory parasol as part of his outfit. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
Celmins, ever practical, ever sneaky, wore a sleek, understated black velvet pantsuit. Writer Rachel Kushner introduced the artist on stage. “It’s tempting to project romantic, cowboy notions of earth, sky and purity onto Vija Celmins, a psychic artist and monk,” Kushner said. “And even more romantically, Celmins is unimpressed by our need to fetishize and claim her. She might even heckle me for trying.”
A short broadcast film, produced by LACMA’s Erin Wright, took viewers into Celmins’ New York studio. “Why did I let them into my studio? » Celmins joked on stage. Then: “It’s a pleasure to be here. You guys are just crazy party people.”
Celmins fled with his family to Germany during the Soviet occupation of Latvia, then immigrated to Indiana. She then moved to Los Angeles to pursue her MFA at UCLA. “At one point, Los Angeles had a big influence on me,” Celmins said. “When I had never lived by the ocean and never seen land…I wanted to be an abstract painter, but that crept into my work. So California had a really big influence on me.”
Nicole Kidman introduced Villeneuve, having taken a 15-hour flight from Australia to do so, although she never formally met the “Dune” director. She cheekily referred to his viral ad for AMC theaterssaying she was inspired to do so in order to discover films like Villeneuve.
“His films explore the great mysteries of our existence: time, memory, identity, destiny, the things we cannot explain and the possibility that there is something we do not understand, that we never will,” Kidman said. “They are vast, they are mysterious, they are sometimes terrifying, but they are always deeply human. And perhaps what I admire most is that you never let the scale of your ambition overshadow the sensitivity of your humanity and your storytelling.”
Villeneuve recognized Celmins, Kidman and LACMA itself. He said one of the most powerful shots he ever saw was of Kidman as Anna in Jonathan Glazer’s “Birth,” consumed by grief and haunted by surreal possibilities. And he noted that LACMA James Turrell Retrospective — especially the experience of watching people stand before a bright, colorful light in silence and hope — showed him how to achieve “Arrival.”
1. Winner Vija Celmins and her gallery owner Matthew Marks pose together. “The painting is very fluid,” Celmins said in the short video LACMA made for the event. “You have to paint it, you have to make it stay where it wants to be, you have to beat it and kill it and do all these things to make a painting say what you think it should do.” (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times) 2. Anya Taylor-Joy – who plays Alia Atreides in Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming film “Dune: Part 3” – poses with Villeneuve. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
“Museums have always…
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