Dancers, a World War II searchlight, and 400 spools of thread combined to turn the Getty Center’s Arrival Plaza into a performative installation last Friday night. Hirokazu Kosaka’s Kalpa was part of the Pacific Standard Time Public Art Festival, an 11-day celebration of performance art in public spaces.
Because of the setting, it took hours of rehearsal to plan the piece. Check out the video to get a glimpse of some of the preparation that took place before the performance.
Andrea del Sarto, Various studies, c.1520’s
Son of a tailor (sarto). Andrea became one of the best loved artists of Florence. Vasari had good things to say about him.
…Andrea del Sarto, in whose single person Nature and art showed all that painting can achieve by means of drawing, colouring and invention: and indeed if Andrea had possessed a little more boldness and daring of spirit, to match his very profound judgement and talent as a painter, he would, there is no doubt at all, have been without equal.
Browning wrote poems about him:
Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp,
Or what’s a heaven for?His drawings are natural, graceful and sensitive, an excellent draughtsman.
…and he was very much in love with his wife… (something we don’t often hear about Renaissance artists!)
Our curator Julian Brooks is in Florence now researching del Sarto for an exhibition in 2015.