Good LAT Arts Hire
The TTLA blogger doesn't normally delve into the human resources decisions of one of our former employers, the Los Angeles Times, but today, we offer a congratulatory exception.
LAT Calendar print and online readers have likely noticed a handful of well-done articles published recently under the byline, Jori Finkel.
This is good news.
Finkel is a fine and fair reporter with at least a decade's experience covering the contemporary art world.
TTLA's blogger first got to know Finkel ten or so years ago, when she was an editor at New York's Art & Auction magazine.
At that time, not everyone back East cared about the minutiae of the Los Angeles gallery and museum scene. Finkel did -- even when she knew she couldn't use all the material for A&A's readership.
Still, Finkel developed and worked contacts, listened, and over and over again asked smart, tough questions of her freelancers (I know -- I was one of them). She did the same years later when being pitched for coverage by projects, whether she'd wind up writing anything about them or not (I know this first-hand, too).
Eventually, Finkel moved out west. If memory serves, she's since taught at Otis, lectured at the Getty, and freelanced regularly for the New York Times, among other gigs.
Finkel's excellence is in cutting to the key issue of a story -- particularly when that issue might not be apparent to a general interest audience.
Take her short and simple Sunday Culture Monster and print edition entry about the artist Mark Bradford*. Where other writers might have have simply mentioned Bradford's recent MacArthur Fellowship and focused on the artworks that make up the L.A. natives' forthcoming traveling exhibition, Finkel sought out LACMA director Michael Govan to find out why the survey show won't be appearing in L.A.
"Timing and schedule reasons," Finkel quotes Govan saying, as he also praises Bradford and talks up the museum's various connections to the show.
Or take Finkel's piece last Thursday about incoming MOCA director Jeffrey Deitch's first scheduled show, a Dennis Hopper retrospective curated by filmmaker, artist, and musician Julian Schnabel. In addition to covering the tough but mandatory issues about Hopper's ill health and Deitch's ethical considerations, Finkel also asks Deitch, "Is Hopper's art worth all this attention?"
A pro's pro, Finkel will be a welcome regular addition to the Times.
*Disclosure: TTLA's blogger co-organized a print show in 2008-2009 that included Bradford.