Pacific Standard Time finally here

It feels as if there's already a year's worth of major art exhibitions open in L.A., but the official kick-off to the Pacific Standard Time series is not until Saturday. The big media event was this morning at the Getty, where the whole concept was born. Judy Chicago, Larry Bell, John Outterbridge and Gronk spoke about the history of the arts in Los Angeles, and the Getty unveiled its signature show, Crosscurrents in L.A. Painting and Sculpture, 1950–1970. On Wednesday the Los Angeles County Museum of Arts begins previewing its most awaited PST exhibition, California Design 1930-1965: Living in a Modern Way.

"Pacific Standard Time is an unprecedented collaboration of cultural institutions across Southern California coming together to celebrate the birth of the L.A. art scene. Beginning October 2011, over 60 cultural institutions will make their contributions to this region-wide initiative encompassing every major L.A. art movement from 1945 to 1980."

"As hard as it is to believe, Los Angeles did not have a public exhibition space devoted to art until 1954, the year the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (LAMAG) was built in Barnsdall Park."

Video: What is Pacific Standard Time?

Pacific Standard Time website
Events
Exhibitions

Previously on LA Observed:
Sam Maloof and friends at the Huntington
Q&A: April Dammann on Earl Stendahl and the early LA art scene
Here's how that boulder will get to LACMA

Image above: Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas, 1963, Ed Ruscha