Herb Ritts’s Revolutionary Props
Chains. Pedestals. Balloons. Sea creatures. Those are just some of the props that photographer Herb Ritts employed to set a scene, adorn his models,... Read More
All Posts by Jessica Portner
I’m a contributing writer for the Iris. As a journalist, I've covered science, education, and art, both as a staff writer for The San Jose Mercury News and as a freelancer for The Washington Post and the Science Channel. I've also studied political philosophy, surrealism, and Shakespeare. I grew up in L.A. and have been tooling around museums since I was in kindergarten.
L.A.’s Cinematic Experiment, Then and Now
Los Angeles is known as a Hollywood town, but our film scene has always been about more than stars and blockbusters. Throughout the Pacific... Read More
Creating a Canvas for “Pacific Standard Time: Crosscurrents”
As you move through Pacific Standard Time: Crosscurrents in L.A.: Painting and Sculpture, closing this Sunday, the colors of the walls or the unusual... Read More
Will the Real Los Angeles Please Stand Up?
Impersonal concrete sprawl. A surfer’s paradise. A dark battleground of grisly crimes. Los Angeles is a regular character in the movies, on TV, in... Read More
Lyonel Feininger’s Photographic Vision
In the 1920s, Lyonel Feininger was one of Germany’s best-known artists. He painted, drew, and made prints; he sketched caricatures and composed music; he... Read More
It Happened in L.A.: Artists Turn to Zen
Artists’ studios aren’t generally thought of as meditative places. The stereotype is one of disarray—an image comes to mind of paintbrushes, sculpting tools, or... Read More
Unraveling the Narrative: A Conversation with Photographer Eileen Cowin
In the exhibition Narrative Interventions in Photography, opening October 25, contemporary photographers Eileen Cowin, Carrie Mae Weems, and Simryn Gill present works that explore... Read More
It Happened in L.A.: George Herms Gets Creative for Rent Money
George Herms is known for his poetic assemblages of discarded, disheveled materials. But back in the ’60s, he had preoccupations besides art: he was... Read More
The First Modern Catalogue of an Art Collection: Q&A with Curator Louis Marchesano
In the 1700s, the seeds of a new style of presenting works of art—both on the wall and on the page—were planted by a... Read More
Clocks and Globes – How Prosperous Parisians in the 18th Century Navigated Their Day (with Bonus Ringtone)
Enter Paris: Life & Luxury, closing this Sunday, and you’ll hear chimes pinging through the galleries from extravagant clocks that French aristocrats used to... Read More
Power Breakfast Inspired by a King: The 18th-Century Toilette
Dressing for success.
Read More
The Making of Charles Ray’s “Boy with Frog”
Following the sculpture from artist’s conception to installation at the Getty
Read More- 1
- 2