October 1, 2011–February 5, 2012
J. Paul Getty Museum, Exhibitions Pavilion

Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas, 1963, Ed Ruscha. Oil on canvas. 64 1/2 x 121 3/4 in. Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire; gift of James Meeker, Class of 1958, in memory of Lee English, Class of 1958, scholar, poet, athlete and friend to all. © Ed Ruscha

• About the Exhibition
• Images
• Related Events
• Related Publication

About the Exhibition

The exhibition charts the abundant artistic innovation in post-World War II Los Angeles. During this period, Los Angeles artists looked for new approaches, subjects, and techniques for art making, including experimenting with the materials and processes of the pioneering industries in the region and the local surf and car cultures. The exhibition leads viewers on a dynamic tour from the emergence of an indigenous strain of modernism evident in the hard-edge paintings, assemblage sculpture, and large-scale ceramics of the 1950s, to the subsequent development of iconic Pop images of the city in the 1960s, and the conceptual and material contributions of Light and Space art and process painting that fostered the advanced art of the 1970s. This exhibition is organized by the Getty Research Institute, with the J. Paul Getty Museum.

Learn more about the Getty Research Institute’s role in Pacific Standard Time.

Images

See more images of works of art in this exhibition.

Related Events

Admission to the Getty Center is FREE. No tickets or reservations are required for general admission. For visitor information, see information on planning a visit or call (310) 440-7300. All events are free, unless otherwise noted. Reservations are required for performances, lectures, seminars, and courses.

Lectures

Modern Art in Los Angeles—Women Curators in Los Angeles
In the 1960s and 1970s, a generation of women curators emerged as leading voices in the rapidly growing Southern California art scene. This conversation brings together pioneering curators—Barbara Haskell, Jane Livingston, and Helene Winer—to discuss their critical role in defining west coast art as well as the future paths they followed as gallerists, curators, and art historians. This event is part of the Getty Research Institute’s ongoing Modern Art in Los Angeles project, in which leading artists, filmmakers, musicians, curators, and critics are invited to discuss their contributions to the Los Angeles’s vibrant postwar art scene.

Learn more about this event.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011, 7:00 p.m.
Getty Center, Harold M. Williams Auditorium

Modern Art in Los Angeles—Assemblage and Politics
This conversation brings together Los Angeles artists, including Ed Bereal, Mel Edwards, George Herms, and Nancy Reddin Kienholz, who employed assemblage sculpture as a way to reflect on the charged political climate of postwar America. These and other artists used found materials to produce complex objects that engaged with issues like the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and the censorship of art. This discussion explores how the medium of assemblage sculpture emerged and continues to thrive as a tool of social critique and transformation. This event is part of the Getty Research Institute’s ongoing Modern Art in Los Angeles project, in which leading artists, filmmakers, musicians, curators, and critics are invited to discuss their contributions to the Los Angeles’s vibrant postwar art scene.

Learn more about this event.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011, 7:00 p.m.
Getty Center, Harold M. Williams Auditorium

Modern Art in Los Angeles—Frank Gehry and the Los Angeles Art Scene
In the 1960s, artists and architects in Los Angeles shared ideas and inspiration and developed closed friendships.  This was particularly true of Frank Gehry, whose distinctive vision of architecture was, in part, shaped by his many exchanges with visual artists, primarily those in the Venice art scene. For this lively event, Frank Gehry reunites with some close collaborators and friends to reflect on their formative years in L.A. Guests include Peter Alexander, Chuck Arnoldi, Tony Berlant, Laddie John Dill, and Ed Moses. This event is part of the Getty Research Institute’s ongoing Modern Art in Los Angeles project, in which leading artists, filmmakers, musicians, curators, and critics are invited to discuss their contributions to the Los Angeles’s vibrant postwar art scene.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011, 7:00 p.m.
Getty Center, Harold M. Williams Auditorium

Symposium

How Los Angeles Invented the World
From movies to pop music to surfing, Los Angeles has created many of the world’s most iconic cultural symbols. How did L.A. culture come to stand in for America in music, books, film, and art?  This half-day conference explores how Los Angeles’s unique culture was built and how it spread to the rest of the world.  Presented with Zócalo  Public Square.

Saturday, November 19, 2011, 2:00–7:00 p.m.
Getty Center, Harold M. Williams Auditorium

Gallery Courses

Made in L.A.: The Birth of a Modern Art Capital
This three-part course explores how artists in postwar Los Angeles developed radical new art forms, responded to the urban landscape, and laid the foundations for a West Coast modern art capital. Educators Audrey Chan and Lucena Valle-Rey lead this course that looks at all four of the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time exhibitions. Course fee $15 per session. Open to 40 participants.

Three Saturdays, 10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.:
Part 1: November 12, 2011: Freeways, Riots, and Swimming Pools
Part 2: December 17, 2011: Antics and Institutions
Part 3: January 14, 2012: Process and Perception
Getty Center, Research Institute Lecture Hall and Museum Galleries

Émigrés and Experimentalists: Music in Los Angeles in the 1930s and 1940s
LA Opera and the Getty spotlight the musical culture of Los Angeles during the interwar years, when Austrian and German composers took up residence and mentored young experimentalists like John Cage. A conversation with maestro James Conlon is followed by a musical recital reflecting the period. Nancy Perloff of the Getty Research Institute moderates a roundtable discussion that explores the significance of Los Angeles’s émigré culture for young  American composers, providing another perspective on the visual arts celebrated in Pacific Standard Time. Course fee $35; $30 students and LA Opera members. Open to 100 participants. Call (310) 440-7300 to register.

Learn more about this event.

Part 1: Saturday, January 21, 2012, 10:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Rehearsal Room 4
Part 2: Sunday, January 29, 2012, 10:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.: Getty Center, Research Institute Lecture Hall and galleries

Studio Courses

Collect, Compose: Collage Workshop
Join artist Analia Saban and art historian Claire de Dobay Rifelj in this daylong studio workshop exploring the practice and history of assemblage and collage. Participants learn various collage techniques incorporating encaustic paint and are encouraged to bring additional materials to personalize their works of art. Course fee $125 (includes materials and lunch). Open to 25 participants.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011, 10:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Repeats: Wednesday, January 18, 2012, 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Getty Center, Private Dining Room

In Studio
Join us for this behind-the-scenes opportunity as artists featured in the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time exhibitions open their studios and share insights on their work, inspiration, and process. Information and directions will be sent following registration. Fee $25 per studio visit.

Fred Eversley
Sunday, December 11, 2011, 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Venice, CA

Ed Moses
Sunday, December 18, 2011, 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Venice, CA

John Mason
Sunday, January 8, 2012, 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Los Angeles, CA (Downtown)

Larry Bell
Sunday, January 22, 2012, 11:00 a.m–12:00 p.m.
Venice, CA

De Wain Valentine
Sunday, February 12, 2012, 4:00–5:00 p.m.
Gardena, CA

Talks

Curator’s Gallery Talk—Pacific Standard Time: Crosscurrents in L.A. Painting and Sculpture, 1950–1970
A curator of the Getty Research Institute leads a gallery talk on the exhibition Pacific Standard Time: Crosscurrents in L.A. Painting and Sculpture, 1950–1970. Meet under the stairs in the Museum Entrance Hall. Free; no reservations required.

Wednesdays, October 12 and 26, 2011, 1:30 p.m.
Wednesdays, November 9 and 30, 2011, 1:30 p.m.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011, 1:30 p.m.
Wednesdays, January 4, 18, and 25, 2012, 1:30 p.m.

Performances

Saturday Nights at the Getty: An Invitation with Inara George and Van Dyke Parks
Two Los Angeles musical legends from different generations come together for an unforgettable evening of sonic confections. Van Dyke Parks has played with almost everyone that matters in modern music—from the Beach Boys to U2 by way of the Grateful Dead, Ringo Starr and the Byrds. Inara George is the lilting voice behind the indie-rock duo the Bird and the Bee. Joining them in this performance is a chamber orchestra led by concert master Peter Kent.

Saturday, November 5, 2011, 7:30 p.m.
Getty Center, Harold M. Williams Auditorium

Gordon Getty Concert: Carl Stone: Sonic Excursions from Al-Noor to Zang 
Carl Stone is one of the pioneers of live computer music, and has been hailed by the Village Voice as “one of the best composers living in (the United States) today.”  This concert revives some of his early works with new musical technology and also includes world premieres featuring internationally acclaimed pianist Gloria Cheng and Min Xiao-Fen performing with the pipa, the traditional Chinese lute. Tickets $15, $10 students/seniors.

Learn more about Gordon Getty Concerts.

Saturday, November 12, 2011, 7:30 p.m.
Getty Center, Harold M. Williams Auditorium

IGLU and Tell Me
IGLU (1977) is one of four plays created by Guy de Cointet in collaboration with Robert Wilhite. Tell Me, Guy de Cointet’s piece, premiered in 1979 and starred actresses Helen Berlant, Denise Domergue, and Jane Zingale. In this rare opportunity, both works are carefully restaged with their signature simple and colorful props, presenting a delightfully entertaining combination of sense, beyond sense, and nonsense.

Saturday, December 10, 2011, 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, December 11, 2011, 3:30 p.m.

Getty Center, Harold M. Williams Auditorium
Reservations available beginning November 22, 2011

Saturday Nights at the Getty: Los Angeles Free Music Society
Influential experimental-music anarchists Los Angeles Free Music Society have had an immeasurable impact on the spread and evolution of noise and avant-garde music and DIY culture for the last 40 years. This live program includes ensemble performances by Extended Organ, Le Forte Four, Smegma, and a solo performance by Tom Recchion.

Saturday, December 3, 7:30 p.m.
Getty Center, Harold M. Williams Auditorium
Reservations available beginning November 22, 2011

Kalpa
Kicking off the Pacific Standard Time Performance and Public Art Festival, this major new site-specific commission by Hirokazu Kosaka transforms the Getty Center’s Arrival Plaza into a sculptural and performative installation. In this event, Kosaka builds a symbolic parallel between kalpa—a Sanskrit word that means “a long period of time”—and how it inevitably transforms our lives, histories, and memories.

Friday, January 20, 2012, 7:00 p.m.
Getty Center, Arrival Plaza
Reservations available beginning December 20, 2011

Family Festival

This daylong festival takes its inspiration from the city of Los Angeles and the artists of Pacific Standard Time. Enjoy music and dance performances by local ensembles that demonstrate the vibrant artistic diversity of our city, roll up your sleeves at the various art-making workshops, join a family tour through the galleries, and more! Free; no reservations required.

Learn more about this event.

Saturday, October 22, 2011, 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
Getty Center, Museum Courtyard

Related Publication