The myth of Los Angeles as a land of luxury and sunshine has long loomed large in the modern psyche. Two new exhibits, LACMA’s SoCal: Southern California Art of the 1960s and ‘70s and the Getty’s Julius Shulman’s Los Angeles, explore LA’s mid-20th century persona and its dramatic evolution into a world capital. SoCal features wide ranging works that imagine LA as both a utopia and as a funky, in-your-face place with gritty works of assemblage and California pop art. The exhibit runs through March 30, 2008. The Julius Shulman exhibition at the Los Angeles Public Library in Downtown (Oct. 16 – Jan. 20, 2008) will be presented by the Getty Research Institute to launch the Getty Center’s 10th Anniversary Celebration. At 96, photographer Julius Shulman is one of the few individuals who has witnessed and documented the growth of LA during the past century. His seven photographic narratives include the competing urban developments of Bunker Hill and Century City, exotic architectural expressions such as the Watts Towers and Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, and current urban developments now underway.
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