Tom Freudenheim

LACMA plans pioneering post-war German art show

Published on December 10, 2008

Discomfort with German art might seem like a problem that's particular to the Jewish community. It's another part of the "I would never set foot in Germany" statement that I often heard in response to my frequent German trips and my subsequent working in Berlin

Art: Goldfarb’s sleight of hand and eye at MOLAA

Published on January 24, 2008

"Walter Goldfarb: D+Lirium," on view at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach through May 18, should reassure viewers that our art-jaded world still provides the occasional joy of discovery. The mid-career view of this talented Brazilian artist is also his first solo exhibition in the U.S., and the work is much more interesting than the show's somewhat precious title suggests.

Schnabel dives into another mind with a visual poem

Published on November 29, 2007

I don't recall anyone ever classifying Schnabel as a "Jewish artist" -- even if his mother was a Hadassah president and his father an active member of B'nai B'rith. Unlike the parody of pushy Jewish parents aiming their son at medical school, Schnabel says that his parents encouraged him to do anything he wanted -- which may explain a kind of restlessness as an artist that sometimes feels like a lack of focus, and an oeuvre of uneven quality and interest. But if the result is a work of art as accomplished as Schnabel's latest film, then such antsy-ness is laudable.

Abstract eye follows Dali in film at LACMA

Published on September 20, 2007

Early in the last century, when film was a newer medium, many artists were intrigued by its kinetic visual possibilities, and for a fantasist like Dali, the opportunities must have seemed especially rich.

Making sense of today’s Jewish Germany

Published on March 8, 2007

With the fastest-growing Jewish community in Europe, Germany is both a somewhat comfortable haven for recently arrived Jews from the former Soviet Union, and a rather settled home for those Jews (mostly former displaced persons) who ended up there shortly after the war.

MOCA’s latest exhibition reveals the early years of the ‘Feminist Revolution’

Published on December 7, 2006

Regarding either Jewish or feminist art, we may ultimately be stuck with Justice Potter Stewart's comment about pornography, "I know it when I see it." And perhaps that will be the most valuable contribution of this exhibition.