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| Martha Alf, Red and Black #2, 1975. Orange County Museum of Art |
The Pasadena Museum's pioneering 1962 show of Pop art was titled "New Painting of Common Objects." That could almost apply to "Ordinary Extraordinary," a show of Pop-inflected simulacra of consumer products now at the Orange County Museum of Art. Drawn mainly from the permanent collection, it documents the ongoing relevance of certain themes and strategies of 60s Pop. A few historical pieces (by Vija Celmins, Claes Oldenburg, DeWayne Valentine) supply context for contemporary work. Many of the most stunning pieces are by less-familiar names.
Among them is the under-appreciated Martha Alf (1930-2019). Alf studied painting with Diebenkorn at UCLA and made a 1975 Whitney Biennial debut with her "cylinder paintings." These are spare still lifes of unnaturally hued toilet paper: "It is about the absurdity of the idea that a roll of toilet paper is so important to our society that it can become a symbol of it," she explained. OCMA, then the Newport Harbor Art Museum, bought its example the year of the Whitney show, with funding partly provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.
"Ordinary Extraordinary" runs through May 25, 2025. Courtenay Finn, Ziying Duan, Albert Lopez, and Philipp Hube curated.
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| Ricky Swallow, Chair with Rope, 2018. OCMA |
Trompe l'oeil is a leitmotif. Ricky Swallow's
Chair with Rope is a bronze sculpture painted in oil. Linda Stark's
Candy Corn Weave pretends to be a 3D-printed textile of Halloween sweets. It is actually a small oil painting, canvas on panel.
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| Linda Stark, Candy Corn Weave, 1994. OCMA |
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| Joan Linder, untitled, 1997. OCMA (c) Joan Linder |
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| De Wain Valentine, Pink Top, 1965. OCMA (Laguna Art Museum collection) |
Comments
The Lucas Museum will shape the opinions of one type of visitor while the Broad or MOCA will shape the opinions of another type of visitor.
Meanwhile, the Geffen building at LACMA will shape the opinions of people into looking out windows. Lots of windows. (Dropping the snark, I'm really anxious and curious to see what Govan's/Zumthor's galleries will be like----failure is not an option.)