Oakland Museum Exhibition: A Whole New Ballgame

Art lovers who also find excitement in that national pastime--the game of baseball--can combine both interests by visiting “Diamonds Are Forever: Artists and Writers on Baseball,” an exhibition combining both visual artworks and literature on the game, opening at the Oakland Museum on Saturday.

The exhibition includes 112 paintings, drawings, prints, photographs and sculpture, and features works by artists including Claes Oldenburg, Raoul Dufy, Elaine de Kooning, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Alex Katz and Eric Fischl. Featured literary passages on baseball are by John Updike, Garrison Keillor, Phillip Roth, Bernard Malamud, Neil Simon and others.

“There’s an absolute commonality of experience in the life of the (artists and writers) represented in the exhibition,” said Don Grant, the museum’s head preparator and exhibition designer. “Baseball is a part of all of our experience, at least at one point in time. And I think that’s one of the reasons for (the artists’) doing these works--to give a sense of importance to the game and to people’s experiences at the same time.”

Grant said another reason for the exhibition, which was organized by the New York State Museum in Albany, is to “illustrate the mythic or iconic quality of baseball as it’s perceived in many people’s eyes.”

One work that particularly illustrates that “mythic” quality, Grant said, is Michael Langenstein’s “Play Ball.” In a takeoff on Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam,” Langenstein’s post-card collage depicts Michelangelo’s hand reaching up to the hand of God and passing him a baseball. The work illustrates the passing on of youth and innocence that can be accomplished through baseball, Grant said.

Other themes depicted in the art works, Grant said, include “archetypal conflict situations (in which) one person is poised against all the elements,” and works that “speak to how one’s image as a kid growing up is . . . formed in relation to other kids (by) comparing oneself through baseball.” As an example of the latter, Grant cited “Boys at Bat,” by Eric Fischl, which shows “an image of a naked ball player, an older boy, batting, and a younger boy looking on.”

The exhibition, which is divided into five thematic sections--The Place, The Equipment, The Players, The Action and Something Else, which involves less tangible elements such as childhood memories and the smells of spring--runs through Feb. 7.

LABOR: Works of art by Los Angeles workers whose unions are affiliated with the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, and three paintings by union guest artist Phyllis Diller go on view Monday at the City Hall Bridge Gallery, 201 N. Main St.

The “20th Annual Union Artist Exhibit” includes 115 pieces of painting, sculpture and photography. Works by union members and their children were entered in a juried competition that included the categories of amateur works, professional works, high school and college works, grade-school works, and works by undocumented workers who have applied for amnesty through the county labor federation’s Labor/Immigration Project.

According to the federation, the purpose of the show is to call attention to the “hidden” talents of working people.

ASIAN ART: Pasadena’s Pacific Asia Museum kicks off its 12th Annual Festival of the Autumn Moon today with an open house and sale of art objects, collectibles and jewelry beginning at 4:30 p.m. in the museum’s Chinese courtyard garden. On display at the open house will be fine art items--such as “Lady With a Red Sunshade” by Dutch artist Pieter Haaxman, an oil painting by Leon Gaspard, Jacoulet prints and a rare painted-and-gilded seated Bodhisattva of the Ming Dynasty--which will be auctioned at the Festival of the Autumn Moon Gala Dinner and Fine Art Auction beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 7. Tickets are $25 each for today’s open house and $175 each for the Oct. 7 dinner and auction. Proceeds will benefit the museum. Call (818) 449-2742 for more information.

SENIORS: The entry deadline for the first Los Angeles countywide “Seniors in Art” exhibition is Oct. 2. The exhibition is open to all L.A. County residents who are 50 or older and will be held Dec. 18-Feb. 7 in the City Hall Bridge Gallery and other City Hall sites.

Works may be entered in the categories of painting, drawing, mixed media, photography, printmaking and sculpture. For applications and further information, call (213) 485-4851.