PST, A to Z: 'Now Dig This!' and 'Places of Validation'

Pacific Standard Time will explore the origins of the Los Angeles art world through museum exhibitions throughout Southern California over the next six months. Times art reviewer Sharon Mizota has set the goal of seeing all of them. This is her latest report.

I was hesitant to compare “Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles 1960-1980” at the Hammer Museum and “Places of Validation, Art & Progression” at the California African American Museum. Both shows feature many of the same artists and cover overlapping periods (“Places” stretches back to 1940), but in lumping them together, I’m reinforcing the separation of both from the mainstream. Still, there’s something to be said for acknowledging the histories of our varied relationships to this thing called art and the institutions that support and police it. “Now Dig This!” and “Places of Validation” are actually complementary shows that together provide a fuller picture of art by African Americans in Los Angeles.

“Now Dig This!” is the more easily digestible of the two. As Christopher Knight noted in his review, its story is “not so much unknown as underknown.” Divided into four clear sections, the show provides a broad historical and political context for the work of artists like David Hammons, Betye Saar, Mel Edwards, Noah Purifoy, and John Outterbridge. And, perhaps in an attempt to unmoor the show from a strictly defined “black” identity, it also includes a section that mixes works by African American artists with those of their non-black peers and friends.

Hancock among honorees at California African American Museum

Jazz musician Herbie Hancock is one of three recipients of the annual lifetime achievement award from the California African American Museum, organizers have announced. Hancock will be honored alongside choreographer Donald McKayle and visual artist Betye Saar.

The award ceremony is scheduled to take place Oct. 15 at the museum. Hancock will be presented with the museum's Lifetime Achievement Award, Musician & Composer. The musician currently serves as the creative chair for jazz at the L.A. Philharmonic, and recently performed with the orchestra at its season opener at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Hancock won an Academy Award for his score to the 1986 Bertrand Tavernier film " 'Round Midnight."

McKayle, who has choreographed for the stage, television and the movies, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award, Dancer & Choreographer. In 2010, he stepped down as chair of UC Irvine's dance department.

Saar, the L.A.-based artist who specializes in assemblage, will be presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award, Visual Artist. One of her best-known works is "The Liberation of Aunt Jemima," which depicts the popular figure holding a shotgun. Her works will be featured in Pacific Standard Time exhibitions. Her children Alison and Lezley are also artists.

Previous lifetime honorees at the museum include Muhammad Ali and the artists William Pajaud and Artis Lane.

RELATED:

Gustavo Dudamel, Herbie Hancock hit L.A. Phil's 'Blue' gala

African American Museum toasts the arts

Donald McKayle opens his memory bank

-- David Ng

Photo: Herbie Hancock. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times

The Watts Towers' perpetual state of crisis

Luisa Del Giudice, a scholar who's hosting an October UCLA conference on the Watts Towers, is quoted by my colleague, Hector Tobar, repeating an awful truth: "The towers are so fragile, we've been forced to save them over and over again."

The Watts Towers have been in a perpetual state of crisis for more than half a century. Sabato (sometimes called Simon or Sam) Rodia might have crafted one of the most powerful works of 20th-century American art, but its light is typically hidden under a bushel.

A major reason is that, to most people in Los Angeles, they're out of sight, out of mind. Here's a small example of the problem.

The last time I went there, about a month ago, I took a different route than usual to 107th Street. In the past I've always taken the 110 Freeway to Century Boulevard, then turned down Compton Avenue or Wilmington Avenue. This time I continued on the 110 to the 105 Freeway, taking MapQuest's advice and exiting on Wilmington. Even though I was looking, nowhere on the 105 did I notice signage that would tell me I was about 10 blocks away from an astounding national treasure. Maybe I missed it, but if it was there it wasn't prominent enough.

Rodia may have formally named his monumental structure "Nuestro Pueblo," but sometimes you'd never know that "our town" has anything to do with it. Ten blocks and light years away.

Tobar's column on the Watts Towers is here. The California State Parks website, with a map, is here.

-- Christopher Knight

Photo: Sabato Rodia's "Nuestro Pueblo" (Watts Towers), 1921-1954. Credit: Christopher Knight / Los Angeles Times

RELATED:

L.A. Times editorial: Don't let the spires crumble

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants to rescind arts grant cuts