If anyone understands how to make something last, it’s him, filmmaker Denis Villeneuve said at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Art + Film Gala. artist Vija Celmins. Villeneuve and Celmins were guests of honor at the starry 15th event on Saturday. annual event.
“In your work, you pause the seas and the stars long enough for us to really see them,” Villeneuve said of Celmins in a speech delivered in a huge tent in LACMA’s backyard. “I have great respect for painters and sculptors and have always felt that cinema is seen as Pop Art. Film carries the burden of being popular today, but at the end of the day the challenge is to make something that can stand the test of time, as Vija has done with her masterful work. So when a museum, which is a temple for artists, hosts a filmmaker and shines a light on cinema, it means a lot to me.”
1. Model and musician Soo Joo Park wore a feathered Gucci gown at the gala. (Gucci has been the event’s presenting sponsor since its inception in 2011.) (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 2. Model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley just walked as a Victoria’s Secret Angel last month, after a 16-year hiatus. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 3. Model Candice Swanepoel shows off the ethereal silver fringe details of her dress, also Gucci. Swanepoel also recently walked as an Angel in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in Culver City last month. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Celmins, 88, is known for her meticulous re-creations of natural imagery, like night skies, desert sands and ocean waves — and stars.
The night was certainly star-studded: Alex Consani, Andrew Garfield, Emily Ratajkowski, Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo, Kim Kardashian, Parker Posey, Salma Hayek Pinault, Sarah Paulson, Timothée Chalamet, Tyriq Withers and Viola Davis, among many others, traipsed among Chris Burden’s iconic “Urban Light” lamp posts. Other attendees included Al Pacino, Guitarricadelafuente, Anderson .Paak, Anthony Ramos, Anya Taylor-Joy, Ashley Park, Benito Skinner, Brittany Snow, Emma Watson, Gia Coppola, Jordan Firstman and Julia Garner.
Rosé was the night’s musical guest, performing the live debut of her single “New Trick” on a stage below the Geffen Galleries, Matisse’s “La Gerbe” visible through the windows above.
Rosé performed “New Trick,” “Number One Girl,” “APT” and a cover of the Killers’ “Read My Mind” at the 15th Annual LACMA Art + Film Gala, where she was the musical guest.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Just off the red carpet, Guitarricadelafuente — who made his feature film acting debut in the acclaimed “La Bola Negra” — spoke about the relationship between film and the arts.
“I just think everything is holding hands all the time,” he said. “I originally come from music, but when I make music, I’ve always come from a very visual place, and I think everything is so linked together. Like when I’m writing a song, just two words put in the right place can suddenly be a catalyst for a very powerful image in your mind.”
The Art + Film Gala was designed to knit the twin skeins of L.A.’s artistic and film communities closer together — and to raise money for the museum. This year it raised nearly $7 million (breaking last year’s record of $6.5 million) to support LACMA’s initiative to make film more central to its curatorial programming (as well as the museum’s broader mission). Previous honorees Barbara Kruger, Cathy Opie, Ed Ruscha and Helen Pashgian (it was her 92nd birthday) were also in attendance, as well as Lauren Halsey, Mark Bradford and Mary Corse, among many other artists.
Local elected officials and appointees present included U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove and Rep. Laura Friedman, L.A. County Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Lindsey Horvath, L.A. Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky and L.A. County Chief Operating Officer Joe Nicchitta.
“It’s been an unforgettable year at LACMA,” said the museum’s director, Michael Govan, during his own speech. “Same tent, but everything around it — you’ve seen the little building we built, the David Geffen Galleries. It’s a new beginning for LACMA, honestly, and there’s so much more to come.”
LACMA director Michael Govan, left, and his wife Katherine Ross, a communications adviser and consultant, pose in front of Chris Burden’s “Urban Light.”
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Less than a week ago, the museum debuted a new piece of public art, Shio Kusaka’s “Beam,” a clay mosaic flying saucer supported by a yellow metal cone of light. Next weekend, Vanity Fair’s first “Screening Room” event series will christen LACMA’s Steve Tisch Theater. And coming soon, Diana Thater’s permanent video installation will be projected onto the bridge formed over Wilshire Boulevard by the new Peter Zumthor-designed building.
Co-chairs Leonardo DiCaprio and LACMA trustee Eva Chow once again hosted the cocktail party and decadent dinner together, but Chow announced Saturday would mark her final year as co-chair. She estimated that during her tenure the gala has raised close to $60 million.
“To have started with an idea and to see it grow into one of Los Angeles’ most celebrated traditions has been one of [the] “I have had the great privileges of my life,” Chow said, and continued: “I leave this chapter with great pride, wonderful memories and, above all, gratitude. “I hope that this premiere will grow even further and inspire future generations and bring the worlds of art and film together for many years to come.”
Chow first made his name as a fashion designer, and Art + Film’s red carpet (the walkway in front of the “Urban Light” lamp posts) is a sort of fashion catwalk. Halsey worked out from camphor hairdresser long sleeve t-shirt He wore sheer pants over mesh camouflage shorts, and his longtime partner Monique McWilliams wore a chic, galaxy-print dress. Architect Kulapat Yantrasast towered over clear plastic platform sandals paired with a bright orange jumpsuit. Advertiser and artist Sergio Farias wore a dripping ruby headpiece, sparkling silver suit and puffy red train.
1. Contemporary artist Lauren Halsey (right) and her longtime partner Monique McWilliams pose together on the red carpet. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 2. Architect Kulapat Yantrasast shows off her orange jumpsuit and platform sandals. She also wore a shiny silver brooch that read “Kulapat, Kulaparty, Kulapalace, Kulaparty, Kulapalazzo.” (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 3. Singer, rapper, drummer and record producer Anderson .Paak poses with an ivory umbrella that is part of his outfit. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Always practical and always shrewd, Celmins wore a sleek, simple black velvet trouser suit. Writer Rachel Kushner introduced the artist on stage. “It is tempting to reflect on Vija Celmins romantic and cowboy notions of earth, sky and purity, of the artist as seer and hermit,” Kushner said. “And what’s even more romantic is that Celmins is unimpressed by our need to fetishize and own him. He might even corner me for trying.”
Produced by LACMA’s Erin Wright, the short film took viewers into Celmins’ New York studio. “Why did I let them into my studio?” Celmins joked on stage. Then: “It’s a pleasure to be here. You’re just crazy party people.”
Celmins fled to Germany with his family during the Soviet occupation of Latvia, then emigrated to Indiana. He then moved to Los Angeles to pursue his MFA at UCLA. “At one point, Los Angeles had a big impact on me,” Celmins said. “When I had never lived by the ocean and never seen land… I wanted to be an abstract painter, but that seeped into my work. So California had a really big impact on me.”
Nicole Kidman introduced Villeneuve, who flew 15 hours from Australia, despite not having officially met the “Dune” director. He gave a cheeky reference viral AMC Theaters commercialHe said he was inspired to do this to experience films like Villeneuve.
“His films explore the great mysteries of our existence: time, memory, identity, fate, the things we can’t explain, and the possibility that there is something we don’t understand and will never understand,” Kidman said. “They are vast, mysterious, sometimes terrifying, but always deeply human. And perhaps what I admire most is that you have never let the scope of your ambition overshadow the humanity and sensitivity of your storytelling.”
Villeneuve got to know Celmins, Kidman and LACMA. He said one of the strongest shots he’s ever seen was Kidman as Anna in Jonathan Glazer’s “Birth,” a film consumed by grief and haunted by surreal possibilities. And noted: LACMA’s James Turrell retrospective In particular, the experience of watching people standing in silence and hope in front of a bright, colorful light showed him how to direct “Arrival.”
1. Honoree Vija Celmins and her gallerist Matthew Marks pose together. “Painting is very fluid,” Celmins said in the short video LACMA prepared for the event. “You have to paint it, you have to make it stay where it should, you have to beat it, you have to kill it, and you have to make it say what you think a painting should do.” (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 2. Anya Taylor-Joy, who plays Alia Atreides in Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming movie “Dune: Part 3”, poses with Villeneuve. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“Museums have always been superfood for me,” Villeneuve said. “Every time I walk into one, I feel like a vampire. It sucks the energy out of the walls, and one way or another, that happens in one of my movies.”
He finished his speech with a joke that brought laughter to the audience: “And to express my gratitude, with the approval of my new friends at Amazon, I will reveal to you tonight… who the next James Bond will be,” Villeneuve said, and the audience gasped. “Actor who will play the next James Bond I’m going to stop right now because Amy Pascal is about to have a heart attack.”