DINE GRAPHICS, SISKIND PHOTOGRAPHS ON VIEW

A retrospective of graphics by Jim Dine and a show of recent photographic images by Aaron Siskind open Thursday at the County Museum of Art and continue through Nov. 16.

“Aaron Siskind: Recent Photographs,” organized by photography curator Kathleen McCarthy Gauss, features new work that emerged from the 83-year-old artist’s travels to Mexico, South America and Morocco. He has created formally abstract photographs revealing an interest in hidden details, suggestive forms and subtly modulated textures.

Siskind began his career in 1932 with such photo essays as “Harlem Document,” which illuminated his belief in the power of photography as a tool for social improvement. This ideology was shared by other members of New York’s Photo League, in which Siskind was intermittently active.

By the early 1940s, he turned his attention to abstract and lyrical compositions derived from nature. These photographs show a startling affinity with abstract paintings of the period.

“Jim Dine: 1977-1985” includes about 75 works in intaglio, lithography, woodcut and screenprint processes.

Dine emerged more than 25 years ago as a consistently inventive and experimental artist working in graphics. Using the same subject matter and symbols in all of his work, he regards his prints of equal importance to his paintings, drawings and sculpture.

Although Dine often chooses to depict common objects, he transforms them into personal icons invested with private significance. For example, images of a robe and Venus are interpreted as male and female entities.

The exhibition was organized by the Davison Art Center and Zilkha Gallery, Wesleyan University. The catalogue has text by Ellen G. D’Oench, Jean Feinberg and full documentation on each print.

A selection of contemporary German video art will be at the UC Riverside Art Gallery today through Oct. 19.

“Videokunst Ausstellung: Contemporary German Work” explores contemporary German culture and the country’s history of video. This history begins with an initial resistance to television, an eventual acceptance of the medium and the presently used technique of image-fragmentation (developed to generate a new expressive language devoid of words yet capable of articulating complex ideas). Works by 17 artists, including Ulay and Marina Abramovic, Klaus Von Bruch and Marcel Odenbach, are on view in 23 videotapes ranging in length from 3 to 37 minutes. Subjects include the birth of Venus, transformation of colors and TV commercials.

The gallery is located in the Humanities Building on the Riverside campus. Information: (714) 787-3755.

The Long Beach Museum of Art in association with Falcon Cable, Pasadena; Valley Cable, Chatsworth, and Simmons Cable, Long Beach, has announced recipients of the 1986 Open Channels Television Production Grants:

John Arvanites (Los Angeles) for “So Cal Americans,” a series of 90-second spots visualizing aspects of American culture from the incredible to the absurd.

Jeanne Finlay (San Francisco) for “Common Mistakes,” a 10-minute experimental work illustrating cultural misconceptions and political errors.

Ed Jones (San Francisco) for an untitled 10-minute experimental work about a reunion with two friends.

Tony Labat (San Francisco) for “Mayami,” a 10-minute work combining fact and fiction in a narrative work based on the death of a 40-year-old cocaine dealer.

David Stout (Valencia) for “A Video Tapestry,” 10-minute experimental video/music work in the form of a short operetta.

A panel composed of Sharon Goldenberg, program director at Valley Cable; Peter Kirby, independent producer, and Connie Fitzsimons, Long Beach Museum of Art curator, reviewed more than 80 submissions before selecting the award winners.

Each of the artists selected will receive a cash award of $1,000, a case of videotape stock and eight days’ free access to the equipment and facilities at Southern California cable systems.

The completed works will be compiled into a 60-minute series that will become available for distribution following its premiere at the Long Beach Museum of Art and participating cable TV stations.

Recent capital improvements have paved the way for future expansion of the video production/post/production facility of the Long Beach Museum of Art’s Media Arts Center at 5373 East 2nd St. Subsidized access is now available for artists, and applications are available through the museum.

Plans for further expansions are on the drawing board for this, the largest public collection of video art on the West Coast. Access to the facility, its resources and collection is by appointment, Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Rate sheets featuring fees and member discounts for use of facility and equipment are available upon request. Call (213) 439-0751.

L.A. artists out of town: Jules Engel, a member of the CalArts film/video faculty, will present a show of film graphics at the Center for Contemporary Arts in Santa Fe, N.M., on Oct. 17 and 18, and at New York’s Museum of Modern Art on Nov. 10. Eleanore Berman Lazarof will show her paintings at the Municipal Cultural Center in Amstelveen, Holland, this month.

Slater Barron is holding a solo show of installations and portraits at the University Art Museum, Arizona State University, through Oct. 12. Michael Wingo is showing new work at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art through Oct. 18.

Susan Venable Nelson just closed an exhibition of mixed-media constructions at Miller Brown Gallery in San Francisco, and Victoria Nodiff participated in a group show at Littlejohn-Smith Gallery in New York.

John Nava is holding a solo exhibition of paintings and drawings at Sonoma State’s University Art Gallery, through Oct. 26. David Furman’s work is included in a “New Talent Show” at the Allan Stone Gallery in New York, through September.

“A Legacy of Luxury,” featuring 60 examples of intricate Chinese silver pieces known as “Chinese export silver,” (made for the Western trade during that country’s period of active trading with the West, circa 1785 to 1885), is at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana through Nov. 2.

Included are objects such as ornamental boxes, card and utility cases, a walking stick, a nutmeg grinder, jewelry, tableware and presentation silver.