Getty Center offers Valentine's Day treat

Artist De Wain Valentine created his own kind of love letter to the California sea and sky: Gray Column, a 3,500-pound sculpture made of polyester resin that is twelve feet high and eight feet across.

This February 14, visitors to From Start to Finish: De Wain Valentine’s Gray Column will receive a sweet Valentine’s Day treat — and as an added bonus, the first 50 visitors to the exhibition will get an extra surprise gift. Even sweeter, artist De Wain Valentine will be on hand to discuss his work from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m.

One of the most influential sculptors active in Los Angeles in the 1960’s and 1970’s, Valentine is perhaps best known for his striking, semitransparent, and delicately colored large-scale polyester resin sculptures of simple geometric forms that interact intensely with the surrounding light. Not as well known, however, are the challenges Valentine faced in finding a material that would allow him to realize his artistic vision.

Part of the Los Angeles-wide Pacific Standard Time initiative, the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) presents From Start to Finish: De Wain Valentine’s Gray Column, an exhibition focused on the materials and fabrication processes developed by Valentine that made the creation of his large-scale works possible. The exhibition centers around the 1975-6 sculpture Gray Column, one of the largest artworks Valentine made with polyester resin, which has never before been publicly displayed.

From Start to Finish is on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center from September 13, 2011 through March 11, 2012.


The J. Paul Getty Trust is an international cultural and philanthropic institution devoted to the visual arts that includes the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Research Institute, the Getty Conservation Institute, and the Getty Foundation. The J. Paul Getty Trust and Getty programs serve a varied audience from two locations: the Getty Center in Los Angeles and the Getty Villa in Malibu.


Visiting the Getty Center

The Getty Center is open Tuesday through Friday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. It is closed Monday and major holidays. Admission to the Getty Center is always free. Parking is $15 per car, but reduced to $10 after 5pm on Saturdays and for evening events throughout the week. No reservation is required for parking or general admission. Reservations are required for event seating and groups of 15 or more. Please call (310) 440-7300 (English or Spanish) for reservations and information. The TTY line for callers who are deaf or hearing impaired is (310) 440-7305. The Getty Center is at 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles, California



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