Staying in to avoid the summer heat… Why not take in a movie? Cool down with these L.A. Louver favorites!
Filmmaker Andrew Neel, Alice Neel’s grandson, put together the pieces of the painter’s life using intimate one-on-one interviews with Neel’s surviving family and personal archival video. This documentary explores the artist’s tumultuous biography and the legacy of Alice Neel’s determination to paint her era.
The film focuses on the seminal Ferus Gallery. Its proprietors, Walter Hopps and Irving Blum, groomed the LA art scene from a loose band of idealistic beatniks into a coterie of competitive, often brilliant artists, including Ed Kienholz, Ed Ruscha, Craig Kauffman, Wallace Berman, Ed Moses and Robert Irwin. The Ferus also served as launching point for New York imports Andy Warhol (hosting his first Soup Can show), Jasper Johns and Roy Lichtenstein as well as leading to the first Pop Art show and Marcel Duchamp’s first retrospective. What was lost and gained is tied up in a complex web of egos, passions, money and art. This is how LA came of age.
David Hockney: A Bigger Picture
Filmed over three years with unprecedented access, this documentary follows David Hockney as he returns to England after 25 years in Hollywood. As Hockney approaches the age of 70, he revitalizes his painting, capturing the beautiful Yorkshire countryside in all weathers and seasons, and finally creates the largest picture ever made outdoors. Premiered on BBC1, the film tells the story of an unusual homecoming and also an intimate portrait of what inspires Hockney as his time runs out.