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Page 6 February 1, 2018 TORRANCE TRIBUNE
TerriAnn in Torrance from front page
The case showed clay replicas of the 114
cigars smoked by Clint Eastwood in A Fist
Full of Dollars, A Few Dollars More, and
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. On the
opposite wall were snorkeling goggles worn
by Ursula Andress in the James Bond film
Dr. No by a monumental conch shell.
Luckily, on this very busy opening night,
I had the opportunity of speaking with the
Director/Curator of the Torrance Art Museum,
Max Presneill. I asked Max how he was able
to acquire this particular exhibit and he told
me, “As part of an ongoing development into
areas which are more connected to direct
interaction with artists and artists as curators,
we invited a duo who put together the
show in the main gallery, Smoke & Mirrors,
Elizabeth Withstandley and Gioj De Marco,
and in the second gallery, we invited a group
called Manual History Machines to put a
proposal together.” Max mentioned that his
idea is bringing new museum practices into
the Torrance Art Museum. Speaking with
Max was most informative and I learned he
is working diligently to bring artists from
cities in other countries, teaming them up
with artists in Los Angeles and then pairing
them up and asking them to work together
on mini-shows. “There will be 16 spaces,
eight from Berlin, eight from Los Angeles
-- they are paired up so there will be eight
separate territorial [areas] and we will present
all eight at the same time,” said Max. Wow,
that means dozens of artists from Berlin will
be flying into Los Angeles, working with
local artists, and then presenting their work
at a show at the Torrance Art Museum! “If
it goes well, we intend to target cities all
Gioj De Marco. Elizabeth Withstandley.
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watching and interacting at times with the
art. There are three exhibit rooms at the
museum: the large gallery, a smaller gallery
and a screening room.
First I toured around the impressive show
in the main gallery where a large group of
people listened to an artist as he held an
onion in one hand and an apple in the other.
On the other side of the gallery, Gioj, who
has been replicating cinema props out of
clay, presented All The Cigars Smoked by
Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti
Westerns. “For the piece, I asked volunteers
to smoke Toscanelli cigars exactly down to
the length at which they appear in every
scene of the trilogy. The clay replicas were
made from the resulting butts,” wrote Gioj.
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around the world so every year we bring
artists to Torrance and team them up with
Southern California artists groups to work
together,” added Max.
So Torrance should become the number
one center for international art coming to
Southern California! Wow, that is remarkable
and sets Torrance up as an art mecca. Max
continued, “We are going to divide the main
gallery into eight sections and then each one
presents… 16 galleries, eight different shows,
all in the main gallery at the same time. It’s
going to be mad.” All this is happening under
the watchful eye of the Director/Curator Max
Presneill. Torrance is indeed lucky having
such a forward-thinking, artistic, inventive
leader for our very own Torrance Art
Museum. Max said, “Although we don’t have
a huge budget, one thing we can compete on
is knowing who is doing what sooner than
the big museums - and keeping a finger on
the pulse. One thing that seems interesting
for us is instead of just thinking regionally is
to think of Torrance as a center point for the
rest of the world. We should really bring the
best we can find around the world here and
anyone in Southern California can come and
see what is going on in Berlin.” In thinking
bigger rather than smaller, Max is moving
forward, bringing art and artists from around
the world into Torrance. “We can divide the
main gallery into eight spaces and give a
reasonable size for everyone to work in…
we want it to be part of an ongoing process
which means we want them to get to know
each other, show in each other’s spaces, in
the future develop contacts, and really build
a much, much bigger integration of the art
scenes here and in Berlin. And if we can [do
that] in Berlin, then we will be looking at
literally countries all over the world.”
Some of the other countries and cities
Max is reaching out to include Rotterdam,
Amsterdam, London, Tokyo, Melbourne,
Sydney, Johannesburg, South Africa, Mumbai
and Istanbul. Max wants to work with other
thriving artists from other countries. Their
work, which is rarely seen outside their own
country, will be highlighted at the Torrance
Art Museum where everyone can come and
see their artwork. That is the plan, so let’s
do it! Great idea and why not?
For more information on Smoke & Mirrors,
access www.torranceartmuseum.com or call
310-618-6388. •
The Snorkeling Goggles Worn by Ursula Andress in Dr. No and a Monumental Conch Shell by Gioj De Marco.
Lewis Colburn – A Film For The Theatre/A Theatre For The Film 2018.
Torrance Art Museum Director/Curator Max Presneill.
Torrance Art Museum Director/Curator Max Presneill.