The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art is exhibiting ‘Charles Arnoldi: Wood’ through March 30 at Pepperdine, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway. Featuring over 25 large-scale works in wood from the 1970s and 1980s, the exhibition is the first major museum survey devoted to this seminal Los Angeles artist.??”Charles Arnoldi rose to prominence during the 1970s and 1980s, a period that corresponds to the growth of Los Angeles as a major center for contemporary art,” says Michael Zakian, director of the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art. “His works in wood from the period–especially the Stick and Chainsaw paintings–helped define the L.A. style.’ Born in 1946 to a blue-collar family in Dayton, Arnoldi came to California soon after high school. After a short stint in construction, he studied briefly at the Art Center School of Design and then the Chouinard Art Institute before winning the Los Angeles County Museum of Art New Talent Award in 1969. Originally a painter, he began to experiment in the early 1970s with wood. At first he lashed together thin strips of wood to create open lattice structures. After Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, he created a series of “logjams”–dense and aggressive accumulations of branches that emulate nature’s cataclysmic power. He embarked on another new direction in the early 1980s when he began using a chainsaw to cut, carve, and “draw” into large sheets of plywood. These Chainsaw Paintings have lines that are ripped, torn, and appear intensely expressive. A Family Art Day is set for Saturday, January 19, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.??The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art is open Tuesday-Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and one hour prior to performances through intermission. There is free admission. Contact: (310) 506-4851; visit http://www.pepperdine.edu/arts/museum?.?
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