A Crumb-y Day

Yesterday I went to the Hammer museum in Westwood to see Robert Crumb's Book of Genesis.  It was really exciting, not because it was such a fantastic work of art--certainly, I don't think its his most interesting-- but because I got to see bits of his process in the final outcome.  They displayed each original page, framed chronologically on the wall.  What a thrill to see his drawings in real life--he made plenty of mistakes, used whiteout to erase and draw parts, hand lettered every frame beautifully but with inevitable flaws, and worked meticulously on one idea for years.  That's what blew me away.  He also did tons of visual research and collaborated and had other people compile and collect archives of visual research for him--he didn't go it alone.  He worked as neatly as possible, and created a system for the completion of this insanely ambitious project.  Very respectable, even if he's utterly and completely off his rocker. Watch this film about his life for learning purposes or pure entertainment.

Heat Waves in A Swamp: The Paintings of Charles Burchfield were also at the Hammer.  My first impression was much less than satisfactory, but his work is so expansive, there's certainly something in his collection to tickle everyone's fancy.  Some of his massive watercolours are really breathtaking... his use of color is so unique and unexpected, and convey light in an inexplicable way.  Again, more than I liked his paintings though, I enjoyed discovering about how he worked and his life.  He chronicled his life and work meticulously on huge handbound journals, was mortified of death, thought of his work as a wallpaper artist as "hack" work, and doodled on every scrap of paper he ever touched.  I like how open he was to experimentation, and how loose he was in a lot of his work, allowing natural development and not constraining himself to strict depictions of his subjects.