Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Chevalier's Books - Book Signing

 

Chevalier's Books, the oldest independently operated bookstore in Los Angeles, invites you to meet photographer Jim McHugh, signing his book Let's Get Lost, a collection of award winning photographs of LA's Golden Era.

Saturday afternoon - Dec. 20 - 3pm until 5pm
126 N Larchmont Boulevard - LA. 90004

The Gallery at Chevalier's - exhibited photographs from Let's Get Lost.

Opening night celebration of Chevalier 's recent remodel, dedicated to Los Angeles architectural heritage.
Orpheum Theatre and Lamppost on West Boulevard  from Let's Get Lost

Chevalier's Books - historic Los Angeles bookstore 

Chevalier's Books, founded in 1940 by Joe Chevalier, is the oldest, continuously operating bookstore in Los Angeles. In 1990, Filis Winthrop, a retired LA high school teacher, purchased the business from Joe Chevalier. The disappearance of these independent, local bookstores is well known. This year it changed hands again to Bert Deixler and Darryl Holter, two passionate, dedicated bibliophiles. Chevalier's underwent a major remodel in November, keeping the cozy, neighborhood feeling of the store created by my wife, designer Johnna McHugh. Today Filis still continues to operate the store - with more books, and added technology but the same devotion she has given for over 25 years. Chevalier's, an enduring, longstanding businesses on Larchmont, is a cultural marker for the community,  It is my great pleasure to participate in the legacy of this landmark bookstore.  Jim McHugh

The first building to be constructed on Larchmont Boulevard in 1924, it was originally a bank. The bank's 
vault remains to this day,  Filis Winthrop and Chloe McHugh with the vintage 1920s bank vault behind.
 
Jim McHugh - Let's Get Lost 
Book Signing - 3pm until 5pm - Saturday afternoon - Dec. 20, 2014

Chevalier's Books
126 North Larchmont Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90004
323.465.1334 
www.chevaliersbooks.com

  
McHugh represented by
Timothy Yarger Fine Art - Beverly Hills
http://www.yargerfinearts.com/#!jim-mchugh/c1k46

 




Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Experience 11: Scratch – El Segundo Museum of Art



LA Artists & The Getty Research Institute - Graffiti Black Book

Artists Defer & BIG Sleeps at SCRATCH opening - El Segundo Museum of Art - ESMoA
Jim McHugh - 8x10 Deardorff camera  -

Portrait of "KING CRE8" made with IMPOSSIBLE PROJECT 8x10 instant film

Experience 11: Scratch (Jun 8 until Sept 21, 2014)

Many of LA’s most influential graffiti and tattoo artists have covered the walls and floors of ESMoA to publicly launch their 21st century encounter with an artistic tradition: the Getty Black Book. 

 Opening Night - 06-06-14


KCRW's Edward Goldman and ESMoA Director Eva Sweeney with artists Fishe and Miner during the installation



Hear KCRW art critic Edward Goldman discuss this exhibition in his popular Los Angeles art series "Art Talk: (audio)


In 2013 more than 150 of LA’s leading graffiti artists responded to a 16th century manuscript from the vaults of the Getty Research Institute called a liber amicorum (book of friends) by contributing works on paper to be bound into a single book and created the Getty Graffiti Black Book. Street artists have used black books for decades to create a visual memory of drafts and to serve as a vehicle for the exchange of ideas. The extraordinary competition that occasionally arises among such artists can also lead to respect as rivals invite each other to “hit” their black books with original works. The contributing artists decided to give the Getty Black Book the title, LA Liber Amicorum, to capture the spirit of its transformation of rival ‘writing-crews’ into a Los Angeles Book of Friends.


Now, ESMoA and the Getty Research Institute have invited Getty Black Book artists Axis, Cre8, Defer, Eyeone, Fishe, and Miner to co-curate those crews of creative friends from the LA graffiti art community and turn the art laboratory of ESMoA into an open black book. Graffiti and tattoo artists will transform the space into a cathedral of urban art for the first presentation of the LA Liber Amicorum to the public with SCRATCH.

Graffito is old Italian slang for “a little mark,” and graphein in Ancient Greek meant “scratch, draw, paint” long before it meant “to write.” Graffiti artists craft letterforms, draft perspective, and merge line, color, and form with the same techniques employed by Renaissance masters like Albrecht Dürer.

Axis, Prime, Fishe, Getty Research Institute curator of rare books, David Brafman, CRE8, Phantom, Eyeone and Patrick Martinez
 
The first edition of Dürer’s landmark book on perspective was just one of the many rare books that the artists viewed at the Getty Research Institute in the process of creating the LA Liber Amicorum. Some of those jewels in the history of calligraphy, engraving, and emblematic symbolism from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, as well as sixteenth-century painted friendship-books that inspired the project, will be installed in the space surrounded by the graffiti-writers’ art. iPads will be mounted, so visitors can ‘e-flip’ through the books and not only share the artists’ own creative experience and response to the impact of viewing these rare books, but also continually co-curate the space by choosing which page-openings will be in dialogue with the art on the walls and floor.


Rare manuscripts on view 


Getty Research Institute curator of rare books, David Brafman


The SCRATCH art experience is curated by GRI Rare Books Curator, David Brafman.

"The viewer can see the inspiration of these rare books on form, shape, and lettering, and see these street artists are part of a long tradition of writing and creativity." 
– Lisa Cambier, Getty Research Institute





ENK
artist Joe Reza -"PRIME" working on a scaffold

Timothy Yarger Fine Art, Beverly Hills
#westernave  instagram
ESMoA  SCRATCH




Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Union Station 75th Anniversary

Including "High Hopes" - Six Images by Jim McHugh
"Union Station" – 30" x 60" Duratrans, 1 of 6 from the series "High Hopes"   © 2005 Jim McHugh

Opening ceremony – Union Station 75th Anniversary Celebration 
May 3rd marked the opening ceremony commemorating Union Station's 75th Anniversary. The celebration featured various musical and other performances throughout the day in the Old Ticket Concourse, South Patio, East Portal and Fred Harvey space. Vintage sounds from the years the station opened—swing, blues, roots—mingled with more contemporary and cultural beats—Afro-Mexican Son Jarocho, Salsa, funk, Japanese taiko, New Orleans style brass, Chinese lion dancers and more. 
Metro Art Docents, posted at various locations throughout the station, answered questions about the architecture and art in the station—including the new photo light boxes in the Union Station Passageway!   

The Heart of Los Angeles
In celebration of Union Station’s 75th Anniversary, a new art space has been added to its historic passenger tunnel. The last great railway station built in America, this passageway has appeared in countless films, from the gritty 1950 noir classic “Union Station” with William Holden to “Blade Runner” and its futuristic portrayal of Los Angeles.
“The Heart of Los Angeles” series introduces artworks created by five artists: Suzanne Adelman, Sam Comen, Kevin McCollister, Jim McHugh and Catherine Opie (six by each artist). The photographs relate to the station’s architectural heritage, transit usage, cultural significance, and its physical and social relationship to neighboring communities.
Jim McHugh is inspired by the disappearing architectural landmarks of his childhood in Los Angeles. He makes portraits of the city’s other “celebrities”— the buildings around us, some forgotten and silent. Far more than simple documents of architecture, these photographs serve as powerful portraits, preserving impressions of character and personality from another time.


Historic passengerway at celebrated Los Angeles Union Station. Six Duratrans panels titled "High Hopes" by Jim McHugh. (photo Matt Levitch)
Celebrated photographer Douglas Kirkland, known for his timeless photographs of Marilyn Monroe, points his lens on a perhaps-less-glamorous subject, Jim McHugh, with lighting assistance from Tim Yarger of Timothy Yarger Fine Arts. Union Station opening celebration, May 3, 2014

"Far more than simple documents of architecture, these photographs serve as powerful portraits, preserving impressions of character and personality from another time."
– Heidi Zeller, MTA Creative Services

Color-proofing small Duratrans proofs for Union Station installation with master printer Joe Hill of Prolab Digital and Heidi Zeller of MTA Creative Services. (photo Matt Levitch)

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

L.A. Skies at Rick's Caruso's Grove in Los Angeles

"The Grove – Looking West #1" and "The Capitol Records Building"



L.A. SKIES

Now on view at The Grove

The Whisper Restaurant and Lounge

New and Historic Landmarks of Los Angeles



Prints from the Rick Caruso Collection by photographer Jim McHugh

For Paris Photo LA 2014 and continuing as a permanent installation



"Blue Wedge - 8500 Burton Way" and "LAX Theme Building"


"Unique architectural and environmental gems – each with its own unique story to tell. They embody dreams about a sneak peek behind the curtain, the glittering simulacra, unimaginable power and neon riches."

– Joe Lewis, Dean of the Claire Trevor School of the Arts, UC Irvine

L.A. Skies 

This series of photographs of Los Angeles by photographer Jim McHugh began in the early 1990s as an homage to Hollywood’s Golden Era, to the noir world of Raymond Chandler, and continuing to the newest landmarks of the city. 

The images span nine decades, beginning with The Orpheum Theatre, built for the vaudeville stage in 1923, and concluding with the dynamically contemporary 8500 Burton Way, which was completed in 2012. 

McHugh’s images of these Los Angeles architectural celebrities fit seamlessly into this newly remodeled space at The Grove. A personal project of developer Rick Caruso, The Whisper Restaurant and Lounge is based conceptually on the famous private supper clubs of old Hollywood, such as Perino’s, La Rue and The Cocoanut Grove at the Ambassador Hotel. The sounds of Sinatra, Billie Holliday and Bing Crosby take you back to another era. Caruso himself is an astute historian of the city. 

Jim McHugh has garnered many awards for his photography and is included in such prominent collections as the Museum of Modern Art, the Walker Art Center, and the National Portrait Gallery in London. 

All of the images are captured on 4x5 Polaroid film, a medium that is no longer manufactured, or Fuji Instant 4x5 film, which is no longer available in the United States. Each 23.5” x 18.5” image is printed in an edition of 25 on INNOVA Digital Fine Art Paper. 

The work of Jim McHugh is available through Timothy Yarger Fine Art - Beverly Hills.

With Olivia Penfold, interior designer for the $500,000 remodel of The Whisper Lounge

The Whisper Restaurant and Lounge at The Grove
189 The Grove Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 931.0202
Sun-Thurs 11:30am-10pm Fri-Sat 11:30am-12 Midnight

Visit The Grove during Paris Photo
Los Angeles 2014


Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Let's Get Lost - CBRE Installation

Spring 2014, a collection of images from Let's Get Lost: Polaroids From The Coast  is installed as part of the new global headquarters of commercial real estate giant CBRE. Located on Hope Street, 25 floors above downtown Los Angeles, the Fortune 500 firm's innovative penthouse workplace offers glass walls, no assigned seating and Steel Case iPhone docking conference tables...    An A+ for urban visionary & managing director Lewis Horne.  Lew chose the 12 color photographs of Golden Era Los Angles to celebrate the city's historic architectural past in the midst of such futuristic surroundings. CBRE is committed to architectural preservation.  As observed by curator Joe Lewis, the Orpheum Theatre was at one time the most modern, technologically advanced movie house in the country. Modern is a term dependent  on where you looking from along the time line. ..

 The CBRE collection is curated by Joe Lewis, Dean of the Claire Trevor School of the Arts at U.C. Irvine. 

Prints are available through Timothy Yarger Fine Art, Beverly Hills. 

Lewis Horne,  Managing Director of CBRE,  conducting a meeting at the new, downtown Los Angeles headquarters.




Inaugural reception