Use Your Words: Letters from Los Angeles at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts
Some people really hate writing. Something about word choice, grammar, and syntax completely turns them off. But even outside their given grammatical order, words serve as great inspiration for a completely different expression — the visual arts.
That rings especially true for the fascinating works in the show “Letters from Los Angeles.” At Jack Rutberg Fine Arts in Culver City, art lovers mingled with one another and analyzed the creations of many great Los Angeles artists like Ed Ruscha, Eve Fowler, Wallace Berman and more. Each artist’s personality shone through in their choice of words of phrases, the text showcased within their signature aesthetic styles. From Berman’s journal Semina to Ruscha’s views of the city, the works highlighted importance of words in art.
Amidst the artworks, the word nerd and art lover in me met in the middle and shook hands, brought together by a common admiration of the works. The creative combinations of art and text in the show include some of the most important pieces in art history made by Angelenos. I can’t recreate any of the pieces in the show but hopefully my words can paint a good picture — if there’s one thing I took away from “Letters from Los Angeles” it’s that not only does it matter what words you choose, but how you present them.
Top: Sculpture with Books, Stas Orlovski
Jack Rutberg Fine Arts357 North La Brea Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 938-5222
Tuesday – Friday 10 AM to 6 PM
Saturday 10 AM to 5 PM
Disco Mark X Farina
copies of Wallace Berman’s Journal Semina
Eve Fowler piece from set A Spectacle and Nothing Strange
Untitled (Don’t Delay! Enjoy) Bill Barminski
Mask Bruce Richards
Mask from the back
Life/No Life Richard Shelton
Nightmare Mark Steven Greenfield