BACKYARD OASIS
BY WALL DONE, 18/03/2012
Anyone who’s taken a plane flight over LA knows that its landscape isn’t marked by rivers, crop fields, or cows. Rather, it’s distinguished by an inordinate number of swimming pools, collectively forming an iconic staple of SoCal living that’s been explored by David Hockney, Herb Ritts, and countless other artists who have been inspired by the region’s so-called “backyard oasis.” More than any other medium, though, photography captures the swimming pool’s distinctive features, like the characteristically glistening, unpredictable play of light and shadow — not to mention the backyard barbecues, poolside parties, and moments of quiet reflection on the shores of man-made watering holes across greater Los Angeles.
In conjunction with the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time initiative, the Palm Springs Art Museum presents a comprehensive visual survey of swimming-pool photography: Backyard Oasis: The Swimming Pool in Southern California Photography, 1945-1982, featuring more than a hundred archival images of swimming-pool design and culture. Curated by the Palm Springs Art Museum’s Deputy Director of Art, Daniell Cornell, the exhibition is thematically divided into five categories: California Architecture and Design, Hollywood and Celebrity Culture, the Shape of Desire and Dreams, the Utopian-Dystopian Topos of Suburbia, and the Pacific Ocean as Context. And for anyone who won’t make it out to Palm Springs for the exhibit, the accompanying hardcover catalog offers more than 200 illustrations and insightful essays, all which further examine the cultural importance of these unique hallmarks of life in the Golden State.
List of works (in order of appearance):
1. Herb Ritts, Richard Gere, Poolside, 1982, C-type print, Courtesy of the Herb Ritts Foundation, Los Angeles © Herb Ritts Foundation. Photo courtesy Palm Springs Art Museum
2. Lawrence Schiller, Paradise Cove, 1964, printed 2011, modern digital chromogenic print from original negative, Courtesy of Judith and Lawrence Schiller; Lawrence Schiller © Polaris Communications, Inc. Photo courtesy Palm Springs Art Museum
3. Bill Owens, Hockney Painted This Pool, 1980, © Bill Owens, courtesy PDNB Gallery, Dallas, TX
4. Bill Owens, He's a typical Californian who doesn't know how to relax, 1971/printed 2000, c-type print, Courtesy of PDNB Gallery, Dallas, TX © Bill Owens
5. Leland Y. Lee, Silvertop – Hollywood Dawn, 1972, printed 2010, archival pigment print from original Ektachrome transparency, Courtesy of the artist and Michael H. Lord Gallery © Leland Y. Lee
6. Lawrence Schiller, Palm Springs Fashion, No. 8, 1964/printed 2011, digital chromogenic print, Courtesy of Judith and Lawrence Schiller, Lawrence Schiller © Polaris Communications, Inc.
7. Lawrence Schiller, Marilyn Monroe, 1962/printed 2011, digital chromogenic print, Courtesy of Judith and Lawrence Schiller; Lawrence Schiller © Polaris Communications, Inc.
8. Michael Childers, The Hockney Swimmer, 1978, C-type print, Courtesy of Michael Childers © Michael Childers
9. Mel Roberts, Rich Thompson and Mike Kelley, Bel Air, 1962, C-type print, Estate of Mel Roberts © Michael H. Epstein & Scott E. Schwimer
