Usually I find myself in the camp of those who see the glass half full and not half empty. But here is some information that challenges my philosophy: there are about one hundred cities in China with a population of more than one million people. With the Chinese economy booming, most of these cities are building or planning to build a new art museum. So what's not to like? It's definitely a bonanza for architects...

You would imagine that after seeing an especially successful exhibition, an art critic would take a break from the never-ending steeplechase and rest for a while, savoring the moment. Not a chance. You would imagine that after seeing an especially disappointing exhibition, yours truly would stop for a moment to lick his aesthetic wounds. Wrong again. Like a shark whose very nature demands constant movement bringing oxygen through his gills, an art critic's very being depends on an endless flow of art through his eyes...

If I tell you that I caught a glimpse of Jackie Kennedy once, in her post-Camelot period, would it pique your interest? "Come on, Edward," I can hear you saying, "people were running into her on the streets of Manhattan for years; what's the big deal?" Here's my story...

Most American museums follow the guidelines that advise against exhibitions showcasing private collections unless some of the artworks are promised gifts to the museum. Private collectors crave a museum's stamp of approval; it's good for their ego, and more importantly, it's good for their pocket. If they decide to sell the collection, the fact that it was shown in an important museum can significantly increase its value...

Do you think you could enjoy seeing paintings that poke you in the eye, make you sick to your stomach and – as if that's not enough – violate your sense of decency and propriety? But wait a minute...I forgot to mention that these paintings also have an explosive raw energy, frightening authenticity, and the violent brushwork of a drunken samurai wielding his sword right and left...

Gasoline prices be damned, I spent last week crisscrossing the cultural landscape of southern California, driving to Santa Barbara, to Ojai, to Long Beach, to Altadena. But on Saturday, I gave myself a break and spent the whole afternoon roaming for art close to home -– in downtown LA, to be precise...

Last year when I went to Beijing to get a taste of its exploding contemporary art scene, I was especially taken by the monumental and rather dramatic art installation by Qiu Anxiong in the cavernous space of the Universal Studios Gallery. In my Art Talk about the Chinese art scene, I described the dimly lit room dominated by a railroad car – not a full-scale replica, but the real thing, which I recognized immediately. I rode similar trains as a child in Soviet Russia in the 50's and 60's. At the gallery, one was invited to climb into this no-frills railroad car where every window was used as a screen for projecting black and white documentary footage of 20th century Chinese history, with special emphasis on the brutality experienced by Chinese people during WWII and the Cultural Revolution...

Unless you are a man or woman of steel, I doubt that you had the willpower to shut out the media blitz surrounding the release of the last and hopefully final installment of Sex and the City. Am I the only one who looks at the impossibly teased 'do of Sarah Jessica Parker and gets spooked because it reminds me of Medusa, the mythological creature with snakes instead of hair?...

After two years in exile, 'Blue Boy' and 'Pinkie' are back home at the Huntington Art Gallery. The much-loved Beaux-Arts mansion, built in 1911 for Henry and Arabella Huntington, has just reopened after two years of renovation and restoration. It looks every bit as resplendent as we remembered it, but now it has even more paintings and decorative art objects on display than before...

It's midnight, and I just said goodbye to the newlyweds with whom I shared a water taxi from the airport to the Piazza San Marco.  The square is still crowded with hundreds of people sitting in outdoor cafés, enjoying a balmy night, listening to live bands playing hilariously sugary renditions of the most sentimental tunes from the 50's and 60's.  The apartment I'm renting is only two blocks away, which is great, but it sits above a noisy trattoria that keeps the neighborhood awake well past 1am.  Well, I didn't come to Venice to sleep, did I?  It's Biennale time...

Among the artists whose art I like and admire, there are a few whom I feel as if I've known personally. Rembrandt would be one of them. With dozens upon dozens of self-portraits, we are able to follow him from youth to old age. Also we know his mother and father, son, wife and mistress – all painted in a deeply personal way that reveals his feelings about them...

It's always the same; with so many museum and gallery exhibitions to see and talk about, I'm constantly racing against the clock. Definitely want to be sure that you will see MOCA's captivating exhibition, Collecting Collections, before it closes this Monday, May 19. This sprawling exhibition is a celebration of the generosity and vision of private collectors – most of them Angelenos – who have enabled this relatively young institution to become a major player on the international art scene...

If I were the cultural commissioner of this city, I would have declared the past few weeks a 'mini festival' of German culture in Los Angeles. Judge for yourself: a week ago I went to a screening of the new documentary, Shadows in Paradise, a fascinating story of German émigré musicians, writers, and filmmakers who fled the Nazis and settled here in LA. Some of them flourished; others merely managed; a few committed suicide. Never before have so many of the best and brightest creative minds of one country either left on their own or been forced to emigrate, and what's especially unusual is that most of these people ended up here in LA. The impact of this German-exile community on the cultural life of our city was profound...

I love LA for being an inexhaustible field of discovery for art, architecture, and music – not only in museums, galleries, and concert halls – but also in less expected venues...

When a few years ago, two Los Angeles museums, MOCA and the Hammer, jointly organized a sprawling exhibition devoted to the history of the American comic strip and comic book, I felt underwhelmed and slightly excluded from all the excitement that surrounded the exhibition...

When a few years ago, two Los Angeles museums, MOCA and the Hammer, jointly organized a sprawling exhibition devoted to the history of the American comic strip and comic book, I felt underwhelmed and slightly excluded from all the excitement that surrounded the exhibition...

When a few years ago, two Los Angeles museums, MOCA and the Hammer, jointly organized a sprawling exhibition devoted to the history of the American comic strip and comic book, I felt underwhelmed and slightly excluded from all the excitement that surrounded the exhibition...

So, ladies and gentlemen, if you, like me, have been procrastinating on filing your taxes until the very last moment, then today --- April 15 --- is your Atonement Day. Why this Christian reference. Probably it has something to do with the deep impression left on me by the spectacular works by Anselm Kiefer and their religious symbology that I talked about last week. Or, maybe I was swayed by the purity and beauty of the Madonna, not the one on the cover of Vanity Fair, but the 500 year-old vision of her that I saw last Sunday...

So, ladies and gentlemen, if you, like me, have been procrastinating on filing your taxes until the very last moment, then today – April 15 – is your Atonement Day. Why this Christian reference? Probably it has something to do with the deep impression left on me by the spectacular works by Anselm Kiefer and their religious symbology that I talked about last week. Or, maybe I was swayed by the purity and beauty of the Madonna, not the one on the cover of Vanity Fair, but the 500 year-old vision of her that I saw last Sunday...

So, ladies and gentlemen, if you, like me, have been procrastinating on filing your taxes until the very last moment, then today – April 15 – is your Atonement Day. Why this Christian reference? Probably it has something to do with the deep impression left on me by the spectacular works by Anselm Kiefer and their religious symbology that I talked about last week. Or, maybe I was swayed by the purity and beauty of the Madonna, not the one on the cover of Vanity Fair, but the 500 year-old vision of her that I saw last Sunday...

For me, last weekend turned out to be anything but usual. It's Saturday: I am drinking my morning coffee and, all of a sudden, I am in the presence of...Madonna, staring at me from the cover of Vanity Fair. Still in great shape, still eager to provoke. Behind her, the globe that she holds ---- or should I say, clutches ---- with rather frightening determination. Then, another sip of coffee, and a quick look at another cover story: Moses and his famously thunderous voice is no more; Charlton Heston is dead...

For me, last weekend turned out to be anything but usual. It's Saturday: I am drinking my morning coffee and, all of a sudden, I am in the presence of...Madonna, staring at me from the cover of Vanity Fair. Still in great shape, still eager to provoke. Behind her, the globe that she holds -– or should I say, clutches –- with rather frightening determination. Then, another sip of coffee, and a quick look at another cover story: Moses and his famously thunderous voice is no more; Charlton Heston is dead...

For me, last weekend turned out to be anything but usual. It's Saturday: I am drinking my morning coffee and, all of a sudden, I am in the presence of...Madonna, staring at me from the cover of Vanity Fair. Still in great shape, still eager to provoke. Behind her, the globe that she holds -– or should I say, clutches –- with rather frightening determination. Then, another sip of coffee, and a quick look at another cover story: Moses and his famously thunderous voice is no more; Charlton Heston is dead...

My fellow Angelenos, judging by the numerous exhibitions of contemporary art currently on display in various Los Angeles museums, I want to assure you that the state of art in our city is strong...

My fellow Angelenos, judging by the numerous exhibitions of contemporary art currently on display in various Los Angeles museums, I want to assure you that the state of art in our city is strong...

My fellow Angelenos, judging by the numerous exhibitions of contemporary art currently on display in various Los Angeles museums, I want to assure you that the state of art in our city is strong...

The news about the recent acquisition by the Getty Museum of a rare painting by Paul Gauguin came as a welcome surprise. Though this work is known to specialists, it has rarely been seen, as its Swiss owner was very reluctant to loan it out for exhibitions. Even in reproduction, it is absolutely striking, not only because of the beautifully preserved colors, but also because of the strangeness of its subject. Painted by Gauguin during his first trip to Tahiti, it shows what appears to be the severed head of a man placed on a white pillow in the center of the composition...

The news about the recent acquisition by the Getty Museum of a rare painting by Paul Gauguin came as a welcome surprise. Though this work is known to specialists, it has rarely been seen, as its Swiss owner was very reluctant to loan it out for exhibitions. Even in reproduction, it is absolutely striking, not only because of the beautifully preserved colors, but also because of the strangeness of its subject. Painted by Gauguin during his first trip to Tahiti, it shows what appears to be the severed head of a man placed on a white pillow in the center of the composition...

The news about the recent acquisition by the Getty Museum of a rare painting by Paul Gauguin came as a welcome surprise. Though this work is known to specialists, it has rarely been seen, as its Swiss owner was very reluctant to loan it out for exhibitions. Even in reproduction, it is absolutely striking, not only because of the beautifully preserved colors, but also because of the strangeness of its subject. Painted by Gauguin during his first trip to Tahiti, it shows what appears to be the severed head of a man placed on a white pillow in the center of the composition...

As far as the Los Angeles art scene is concerned, last week was a winner. Consider this: in celebration of its tenth anniversary, the Getty Center held two special conferences. The first was focused on new acquisitions made by Weston Naef, Curator of Photographs, Lee Hendrix, Curator of Drawings, and Thomas Kren, Curator of Medieval Manuscripts. All three curators are old pros who have been with the Getty for decades and have virtually built these collections from the ground up. Each drew from a treasure trove of entertaining, poignant stories about their many triumphs and occasional defeats in the never-ending hunt for rare, beautiful artwork...