On one side of paradise, you can be a star easy…no ifs ands but plenty of bare butts. As the lady with the sour face shows, you can become a media star if you’re in porn because all porn “actors” are stars. There is definitely a dark side to the paradise of Los Angeles and the art exhibit, “This Side of Paradise: Body and Landscape in L.A. Photographs,” tastefully considers that aspect. (By tasteful, I mean while you can’t take your kids to porn without getting arrested, you can take them to this exhibit at the Huntington).
I do wonder where that woman is. Did she ever think her face would be plastered all over Pasadena? Probably not.
We do also get to see those that made it such as Marilyn Monroe (featured in two photos although one just shows her toe tag), a young Sammy Davis Jr. and we see other less famous people. Famous photographers such as Ansel Adams and Edward Weston as well as anonymous photogs are represented showing Los Angeles as divided up by the categories: Garden, Dwell, Move, Work, Play, Clash and Dream). No photos of nearby Santa Anita as a so-called transfer center for Japanese and Japanese Americans, but race and racism isn’t ignored.
Whatever your dreams are or were, wherever in Los Angeles your work or play, go see this wonderful exhibit and remember what was and is Los Angeles.
Pasadena Arts Smarts 