Red Grooms

No artists were more serious than the New York School of Abstract Expressionists. Even the word "school" carries with it something stiff and formal. Pop art, by way of contrast, was anything but solemn. If it could even be labeled a school, it would be of the variety for delinquents. "Pop! Goes the Humor," a new exhibition at the Palm Springs Art Museum (through Oct. 7), gleefully illustrates the theme of artists who don't take themselves too seriously. Originating in Britain in the 1950s, Pop really flourished in the U.S. in the following decade.

No artists were more serious than the New York School of Abstract Expressionists. Even the word "school" carries with it something stiff and formal. Pop art, by way of contrast, was anything but solemn. If it could even be labeled a school, it would be of the variety for delinquents. "Pop! Goes the Humor," a new exhibition at the Palm Springs Art Museum (through Oct. 7), gleefully illustrates the theme of artists who don't take themselves too seriously. Originating in Britain in the 1950s, Pop really flourished in the U.S. in the following decade.

"The Discount Store," artist Red Grooms' 1,500-square-foot "sculpto-pictorama," has been acquired by the Museum of Contemporary Art, it was announced Monday. The gift from Irma and Norman Braman was partially installed at the Temporary Contemporary during the 1986 Red Grooms retrospective. The complete work will be exhibited at the Temporary Contemporary, beginning next Tuesday. "The Discount Store" is based on the Target drug store chain.

"Even when I was a young guy, people thought I was an old man," reflects artist Red Grooms. "My work looked folky and my name was peculiar. I sort of liked it, actually. I don't think it's so funny now." Grooms is 64 and the carrot-colored hair that inspired his moniker has turned gray. (His parents named him Charles.

Red Grooms' replica of a Target department store has all the items that shoppers would want--except long lines at the cash register. Grooms' "The Discount Store, 1970" is a witty and wry depiction of a Target store. Using wood, canvas and myriad other materials, Grooms built a 1,500-square-foot walk-through replica, complete with wooden shopping carts, a garden center with seeds and a soda counter. "It was a real puzzle" to put together, said Nora Halpern, founding director of the Frederick R.

Zak Zaikine's painted metal sculptures take the form of psychological icons, attempting to transform comic-book heroes, movie starlets and art historical personalities into Jungian archetypes. Using bright primary colors in a faux naif style, this Woodstock-based artist creates flat, free-standing and wall pieces that appropriate and distort the imagery of the mass media and art Establishment.

Over the years, Red Grooms has used his special brand of vernacular caricature to poke sophisticated fun at the rich and famous of arts and letters. Recently, an East Coast show featured pencil drawings of famous New York School personalities, including a look at the fabled Cedar Bar hang-out, complete with Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning locked in mortal combat and Clement Greenberg shaking a polemic figure at a staid Harold Rosenberg. A current show offers L.A.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and UCLA Film Archives' Contemporary Documentary Series continues tonight at 8 in UCLA's Melnitz Theater with a pair of films on two major artists, Thomas L. Neff's "Red Grooms: Sunflower in a Hothouse" and David Sutherland's "Jack Levine: Feast of Pure Reason."

Red Grooms is a well-known New York artist, a fact that often spells sophistication. In his case, however, all you probably really need to know is that as kid in Tennessee, Grooms was mightily impressed when the circus came to town. Now his circus is in these parts again in a show called "Target: Red Grooms!" Ensconced at Malibu's Pepperdine University's small art museum, it was organized by director Nora Halpern.

The Museum of Contemporary Art will host two retrospective exhibitions surveying the works of Jonathan Borofsky and Red Grooms beginning March 17. "Red Grooms, A Retrospective, 1956 to 1984" is a national touring show, expanded at MOCA with new works assembled specifically for this occasion. Organized by Judith E. Stein of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, it remains on view through June 29.

Red Grooms' replica of a Target department store has all the items that shoppers would want--except long lines at the cash register. Grooms' "The Discount Store, 1970" is a witty and wry depiction of a Target store. Using wood, canvas and myriad other materials, Grooms built a 1,500-square-foot walk-through replica, complete with wooden shopping carts, a garden center with seeds and a soda counter. "It was a real puzzle" to put together, said Nora Halpern, founding director of the Frederick R.

Red Grooms is a well-known New York artist, a fact that often spells sophistication. In his case, however, all you probably really need to know is that as kid in Tennessee, Grooms was mightily impressed when the circus came to town. Now his circus is in these parts again in a show called "Target: Red Grooms!" Ensconced at Malibu's Pepperdine University's small art museum, it was organized by director Nora Halpern.

Ronald Reagan leaves Washington today, but images of the retiring President by nearly 40 artists, including Andy Warhol and Red Grooms, continue on display in a new exhibit titled "Reagan: American Icon" at Bucknell University's Center Gallery in Pennsylvania. The Reagan interpretations feature works done in the past eight years and range from flattering to critical. "It's unprecedented that a President has had contemporary artists do this many images of him," said Robert P.

Over the years, Red Grooms has used his special brand of vernacular caricature to poke sophisticated fun at the rich and famous of arts and letters. Recently, an East Coast show featured pencil drawings of famous New York School personalities, including a look at the fabled Cedar Bar hang-out, complete with Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning locked in mortal combat and Clement Greenberg shaking a polemic figure at a staid Harold Rosenberg. A current show offers L.A.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and UCLA Film Archives' Contemporary Documentary Series continues tonight at 8 in UCLA's Melnitz Theater with a pair of films on two major artists, Thomas L. Neff's "Red Grooms: Sunflower in a Hothouse" and David Sutherland's "Jack Levine: Feast of Pure Reason."

Zak Zaikine's painted metal sculptures take the form of psychological icons, attempting to transform comic-book heroes, movie starlets and art historical personalities into Jungian archetypes. Using bright primary colors in a faux naif style, this Woodstock-based artist creates flat, free-standing and wall pieces that appropriate and distort the imagery of the mass media and art Establishment.

The current exhibition of the Museum of Contemporary Art is the most popular since the museum went into action--a word that we use advisedly--in the converted garage now known as The Temporary Contemporary at the end of 1983. This public response roundly validates the decision to make the "temporary" almost "permanent" with a 50-year extension of its $1-a-year lease from the City of Los Angeles.