Artists on Art
Video Series (2016–2019)
Over the past few years, LACMA asked a number of contemporary artists to share their insights on particular works in the museum’s permanent collection that have inspired and informed their own work. Their selections span global art history.
In these short videos, the artists reflect on how their predecessors’ achievements have fed their own creative practices.
I filmed and edited these videos.
Thomas Houseago on Tony Smith
Thomas Houseago, born in Leeds, England, gained early acclaim for his highly tactile figurative sculptures. Made with traditional materials and techniques and informed by art historical precedents, his hulking figures are enlivened by a contemporary, often eviscerating effect.
Helen Pashgian on Georges de La Tour
Helen Pashgian is one of the California Light and Space artists who, beginning in the 1960s, focused on vision and perception. Her sculptures are concerned with how light interacts with materials and how the viewer perceives this.
Ed Ruscha on Marcel Duchamp
An icon of West Coast Pop, Ed Ruscha is known for his works in a wide variety of media; his images are typically text-based and/or depict the deadpan yet nonetheless expressive landscapes of his adoptive state of California.
Catherine Opie on Thomas Eakins
Catherine Opie’s photography is extraordinary for the range of its gaze, taking in our institutions and fringes, icons and outcasts, rituals and taboos. Her landscapes, portraits, still lifes, and interiors are, collectively, a profound document of contemporary America.
John Baldessari on René Magritte
The groundbreaking conceptual artist John Baldessari was one of the most influential artists, both as teacher and practitioner. His work ranges from photography, paintings, prints, artist’s books to video.
Betye Saar on Ceremonial Board
As a member of the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s and ’70s, Betye Saar emerged as one the most incisive visual artists to address issues of race and history in the U.S.
