Through May 30 - Ed Ruscha: Travel Log at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art
Continuing to ease back into seeing art and into society in general, my bestie and I took a chill day trip to Sonoma yesterday to grab outdoor tacos at El Molino Central and see the Ed Ruscha show at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art. It's a small exhibition but it's well-curated, featuring lithographs of his word paintings, small black-and-white photographs from his road trips (including the famous Standard gas station picture that spawned many subsequent works), and my fave artist book Every Building on the Sunset Strip. The show also includes an installation of prints from an edition of On the Road that Ruscha illustrated with a variety of photos, both found and original, and his images are way more interesting than Kerouac's words. Yeah I said it.
Other things I liked this week:
- The Liar's Dictionary by Eley Williams. A charming fictional tale of two London lexicographers, one in Victorian times and one in the present day, one who invents fake words and one who is tasked with finding them. Recommended if you like the Museum of Jurassic Technology.
- Señorita and Apparition by Isabel Sandoval. Grateful to the Criterion Channel for showcasing two earlier films by this trans Filipina director of Lingua Franca. “I’m drawn to women with secrets,” says Sandoval.
- Part 1 of Countercoup: A Life, Redux at The Marsh. Performed live on Zoom by Mark McGoldrick, Countercoup tells McGoldrick's own compelling story of his journey from troubled youngster through traumatic injury and disability to his current position as public defender. So happy that The Marsh has kept programming going throughout the pandemic too.