What an absolute find of a gem this one is, and yes it is free. This weekend I took my family to see the California Science Center museum located near downtown Los Angeles. My little boy has been asking to visit the museum several times. When we arrived he let us know that he'd been to the museum before, at least three times before! My wife and I thought to each other, what's the point of seeing it yet again. There must be something else interesting around the museum to see instead of the amazing California Science Center again.

On our way walking out of the parking lot and looking at the full SR-71 spy airplane, we spotted another smaller museum, the California African American Museum. We decided that we would stop by and see what was there. What a wonderful choice this turned out to be.

The museum, while it is on the smaller side compared to the bigger LA museums, was filled with some very interesting exhibitions. From the "Black Chrome" exhibit, to the Black Panther photo exhibit (photographer Howard L. Bingham and journalist Gilbert Moore), to an exhibit titled "Of Tulips and Shadows: The Visual Metaphors of Dewey Crumpler," by artist Dewey Crumpler. I had never heard of Dewey Crumpler before, but there was something that I found intriguing about this wonderful name and we had to go and see his work.

I know quite a bit about art, after all, my uncle Henry Geldzahler was an art historian and curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I grew up around art, from Warhol to Hockney to many visits to museums as a child. I remember when I was a little boy being taken on tour of the Met's 20th Century art with Henry. I didn't have a clue what I was seeing, but I knew that it was important and that Henry was a legend in 20th century work. At any rate, I didn't recognize the name Dewey Crumpler.

On our way heading towards Mr. Crumpler's exhibit, one of the museum staff opened up a door to let a patron into a room filled with people. I asked her what was happening in there. She said it was a discussion with Dewey Crumpler and Matthew Thomas. They were discussing contemporary trends in abstraction, processes of conceptualization/visualization, and their personal search for spirituality as reflected in their art work. This intrigued me, but I had my little kids with me and didn't know if they would be able to sit through a potentially esoteric discussion.

So, we decided to head off to see Dewey Crumpler's exhibit. Wow. This is something special. His art is beautiful to look at - sparkly, shiny, vibrant, and powerful. I sat down and listened to a video presentation of Mr. Crumpler discussing his art. I was impressed, this wasn't just another artist with beautiful creations, but this was someone who has ingrained his essence and culture into his art. My kids loved his art too. They loved the sparkle and shine, and the colors in his paintings. Some of his paintings had images, which to me looked like Buddha. Some were bright and colorful and others were beautiful hues of black and grey. My wife and I were awe struck. This was an important work. There was a black painting, which had hues of grey and a stamped type image throughout that was absolutely beautiful. I told my wife that this was a painting I would love to own so I could treasure it every day, but realized this is something that needs to be shared. It was the kind of painting that you could look at every day and see something new, something dynamic, a message, but a beauty too. After going through the exhibit we knew that we had to hear Mr. Crumpler, and our kids had to hear him too.

This was to be a very good decision. The discussion between Mr. Crumpler and Mr. Thomas was brilliant. Covering everything from technique to abstraction, to the esoteric, to philosophy. This was a wonderful place to be and my family and I being there was complete synchronicity. It was just meant to be. Mr. Crumpler and Mr. Thomas both took questions from the audience. My wife asked him about his sparkly, shiny technique and what it meant to him. I won't try to paraphrase what his response was, as you had to be there. In a nutshell he explained from the depth of his soul why he used shine, and what it means to him, and to children, and to the folks who used to the African Americans who used to hang colorful bottles on trees in the South. I felt so honored to be in the presence of this discussion. It reminded me of some of the more valuable philosophic discussions that we used to have in my philosophy classes at UCLA, but it was beautiful too.

After the discussion we were able to meet Dewey Crumpler. What a nice and friendly warm person. He shook hands with everyone in my family and took a special note of my kids and their interest in art. He's a beautiful and genuine man which adds even more to our appreciation of his masterful works.

If you get the chance to see Dewey Crumpler's work or are fortunate enough live in the Los Angeles area then consider seeing this important artist. I understand that Mr. Crumpler lives in San Francisco so I assume that his works are also available for viewing there too (I'll find out and post an update). After the discussion we happened to meet the curator of his exhibit, a nice Spanish lady who obviously saw the importance of his work. I asked her when the exhibit would be visiting New York. I was surprised to hear that the installation is complicated in that some of the pieces are too large to easily transport around the country. I tend to think that as his work becomes more well known that somehow they'll figure out a way to share this with the rest of country. It's an important exhibit and must be shared with more people.

You can see more of Dewey Crumpler's work here:
http://www.caam.ca.gov/ce_3.htm

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