May 24, 2019–When I walked into the La Quinta Museum one day recently the place was abuzz over an unlikely topic. Staff members too young to remember Woodstock were chatting excitedly about the Hog Farm–a 1960s commune founded by peace…
May 11, 2019–The star-maker machinery, as Joni Mitchell called it, is working hard for Agnes Pelton. The current exhibit at the Phoenix Art Museum positions her as the next Hilma af Klint. An ethereal wisp high on metaphysics, Pelton touches…
March 31, 2019–Art auctions seem to be geared toward sophisticates, people who drive Aston Martins and have helipads in the backyard. But these events also open up worlds of information to the rest of us. The Bonhams California and Western…
March 12, 2019–Millicent Harvey and I stood on the bank of Araby Wash and surveyed a gutted expanse. Some carcasses of smoke trees were snagged under the Highway 111 bridge, but the dense grove–a favorite of painters and photographers for…
March 7, 2019–When I last wrote about Desert X it was to warn you that the art carnival might be coming for your mountain. Little did I know they were coming for mine–the inviolate north face of Mt. San Jacinto.…
February 1, 2019–In the next few weeks, desert art will have a moment. We’ll be gracing the pages of major magazines and newspapers around the world: Vogue, Architectural Digest, W Magazine. If the 2017 coverage is any gauge, the 2019…