Digital Darkroom at The Annenberg Space for Photography in Century City

After guiding my tour buses through Hollywood and Beverly Hills, my favorite route to LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) is through Century City which was the former 20th Century Fox Studios lot (a smaller lot and corporate headquarters are still on the site). On the east side of the Avenue of the Stars, where the much-lamented Shubert Theatre used to sit, is now an office building housing the Annenberg Space for Photography which I always point out to my tour-goers.

Today members of the Culver City Art Group met at the museum for our January outing. It was my first time in the building. I thought it would be pretty interesting as I have always loved photography as an art form from my early days when I had a darkroom set up in the bathroom (much to the chagrin of my boyfriend at the time who had to make an appointment to use the facilities!).

The current exhibit, DIGITAL DARKROOM, runs through May 28 and features the work of 17 artists from around the world who are exploring the marriage of art with digital technology: Josef Astor, Pierre Beteille, Joel Grimes, Ted Grudowski, Claudia Kunin, Chris Levine, Bonny Pierce Lhotka, Khuong Nguyen, Mike Pucher, Jean-François Rauzier, Martine Roch, Christopher Schneberger, Brooke Shaden, Stanley Smith, Maggie Taylor, Jerry Uelsmann and Jean-Marie Vives.

Whatever you might imagine can be done in the realm of art photography (digital or otherwise) has been produced by these artists. Their creativity is nothing less than amazing. If you are any kind of artist or photographer you need to see this exhibit.

As a somewhat creative person, I take inspiration wherever I can find it. It could be a walk around the neighborhood, a movie, a sunset, a good book, music, a gallery of Renaissance or contemporary art, landscapes or sculptures, or in this case, imaginative photographic manipulation.

Jerry Uelsmann was my hero in the seventies when I was creating my own black and white darkroom "masterpieces" in the bathtub. It was wonderful to see some of his older and contemporary work at the exhibit. He still works in the darkroom while his wife has her digital studio across the street.

If you have any interest in art or photography, do not miss DIGITAL DARKROOM. Admission is free and at the weekends parking beneath the building is a mere one dollar. After viewing the exhibit you can walk across the street to the Westfield Century City shopping mall for a meal.

No photography is allowed inside.

(Photos copyright roslyn m wilkins)