If anyone understands how to make something last — filmmaker Denis Villeneuve said at Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Art + Film Gala — it is the artist Vija Celmins. Villeneuve and Celmins were the guests of honor Saturday at the starry 15th annual event.
“In your work, you stop the seas and the stars long enough for us to truly see them,” Villeneuve said of Celmins during his speech inside a massive tent in LACMA’s backyard. “I have enormous respect for painters and sculptors, and I’ve always felt that cinema is seen as Pop Art. Film carries the burden of being popular in the present, but at the end of the day, the real challenge is to make something that can endure the test of time, like Vija does with her masterful work. So when a museum — a temple for artists — welcomes a filmmaker and puts a spotlight on cinema, it means a great deal for me.”
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.
(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 at the 15th Annual LACMA Art+Film Gala.
(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] great privileges of my life,” Chow said. “I leave this chapter with tremendous pride, wonderful memories and above all gratitude. I hope this gala will continue to grow and inspire future generations, bringing together the worlds of art and film for many years to come.”
Chow first made her name as a fashion designer, and Art + Film’s red carpet (a walkway in front of the “Urban Light” lamp posts) is something of a fashion runway. Halsey sported the Wekafore hair salon longsleeve tee and transparent trousers over mesh camo shorts, and her longtime partner, Monique McWilliams, wore a sleek galaxy bodysuit. Architect Kulapat Yantrasast towered on clear plastic platform sandals, paired with a bright orange jumpsuit. Publicist and artist Sergio Farias wore a dripping ruby headpiece, sparkling silver suit and fluffy scarlet train.
Celmins, ever practical, ever sly, wore an elevated, understated black velvet pantsuit. The writer Rachel Kushner introduced the artist onstage. “It is tempting to project romantic and cowboy notions of earth and sky and purity onto Vija Celmins, of artist as seer and monk,” Kushner said. “And even more romantically, Celmins is unimpressed by our need to fetishize and claim her. She might even heckle me for trying.”
A short film played, produced by LACMA’s Erin Wright, and took viewers inside Celmins’ New York studio. “Why did I let them in my studio?” Celmins quipped onstage. Then: “It’s a pleasure to be here. You guys are just crazy party people.”
Celmins fled with her family to Germany during the Soviet occupation of Latvia, then immigrated to Indiana. She later moved to L.A. to pursue her MFA at UCLA. “At one point, Los Angeles had a big influence on me,” Celmins said. “When I had never lived next to the ocean, and I had never seen the land…I wanted to be an abstract painter, but it crept into my work. And so California had a really big influence on me.”
Nicole Kidman introduced Villeneuve, having flown 15 hours from Australia to do so despite never having formally met the “Dune” director. She cheekily referenced her viral AMC Theatres ad, saying she was inspired to make it in order to experience films from the likes of Villeneuve.
“His films explore the great mysteries of our existence: time, memory, identity, destiny, the things we cannot explain, and the possibility that there is something that we do not understand, that we will never understand,” Kidman said. “They are vast, they are mysterious, they are sometimes terrifying, but they are always profoundly human. And what I admire the most, perhaps, is that you have never allowed the scope of your ambition to overshadow the sensitivity of your humanity and your storytelling.”
Villeneuve recognized Celmins, Kidman and LACMA itself. He said one of the most powerful shots he has ever seen was of Kidman as Anna in Jonathan Glazer’s “Birth,” consumed by grief and haunted by surreal possibility. And he noted that LACMA’s James Turrell retrospective — particularly the experience of watching people stand in front of a brilliant, colorful light in silence and hope — showed him how to direct “Arrival.”
“Museums have always been superfood for me,” Villeneuve said. “Every time I walk into one, I feel like a vampire. I’m sucking the energy from the walls, and one way or the other, it ends up in one of my films.”
He ended his speech with a joke that caused the room to erupt in laughter: “And to express my gratitude, with the blessing of my new friends at Amazon, I will reveal to you tonight… who will be the next James Bond,” Villeneuve said, and the room gasped. “The actor who will play the next James Bond is — and I will stop right now because Amy Pascal is about to have a heart attack.”
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