Artistic unfolding at REDCAT Gala
The event: Stylized maps of L.A.’s artistic landscape, folded into the origami square “fortune tellers” familiar from the children’s game, floated high overhead at this year’s REDCAT Gala, which honored artist Gabriel Orozco; Jamie Lynton, founder of the online news and commentary site LA School Report; and Michael Lynton, chairman and chief executive of Sony Entertainment. REDCAT — the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater — is the California Institute of the Arts’ experimental arts venue in downtown Los Angeles. The scene: DJ Carlos Niño provided music for the event March 14, a brass band heralded dinner and a closer look at the folded art installation revealed words such as “dreams,” “provocative,” “layered” and “sensual.” Architects Bojana Banyasz and Donatella Cusma of Claret-Cup described their artwork, “Folded Beauty,” as a representation of the city. “When you’re first here, you see nothing,” said Banyasz. “Then [the city] starts sparkling.” The program: Lauren Weedman of HBO’s “Looking” acted as the night’s host, artist Gabriel Kuri presented Orozco’s award and co-chair Tim Disney thanked donors. Co-chair Neda Disney, Tim Disney’s wife, followed to introduce singer-songwriter Aimee Mann.
“I couldn’t really hear my introduction, but she was supposed to refer to me as a goddess,” Mann joked before launching into her five-song performance. The crowd: Among those attending were co-chairs Tony Ressler and actress Jami Gertz; artists John Baldessari, Ana Prvacki and Laura Owens; record producer Lou Adler, singer-songwriter Michael Penn, LACMA Director Michael Govan, MOCA Director Philippe Vergne, CalArts President Steven Lavine, REDCAT Executive Director Mark Murphy and REDCAT gallery director Ruth Estévez. The finale: Jane Kaczmarek of “Malcolm in the Middle” stepped onstage to talk of the Lyntons. “Wait a minute. I didn’t write this,” Kaczmarek said, suddenly looking up from the podium, in a brief, no doubt hard-to-resist allusion to Sony’s recent cybersaga. “Oh my God, somebody must have hacked into my notes.” Quote of note: Michael Lynton said, “Studying art often means looking backward in time, and making art — as we all know — is much more about the present and the future. It means taking risks, and it means living outside the boundaries of our society, and it means being brave … and there is no better institution that I know of that is involved in this process and more devoted to it than CalArts.”
The numbers: This cozy affair with 160 guests raised more than $800,000 for REDCAT.