Comedian and art collector Cheech Marin walks the galleries of Frank Romero's retrospective with the artist himself; "Hacksaw Ridge" sound mixer Kevin O'Connell has 21 Oscar nominations but no win ... yet; political and topical ads are likely during the Academy Awards. Who's advertising and how are they hoping to benefit?
'Hacksaw Ridge' sound mixer aims for first Oscar after 21 nominations
There's one Oscar nominee you may never have heard of, even though he’s been nominated 21 times — the most of anybody without a win.
This year, Kevin O’Connell is nominated for Best Sound Mixing for his work on Mel Gibson's “Hacksaw Ridge” — a true story about WWII hero Desmond Doss.
O’Connell has worked with Gibson before — on “Apocalypto” and “The Passion of The Christ.” The work that he does unfolds in the background, yet it is critical to cohesive storytelling.
What we do is we guide the audience through the entire film by continually shifting the perspectives of every single sound they hear.
Taking music, sound effects and dialogue, O’Connell weaves everything together to complement what we see on the screen, creating a rich sonic backdrop for the action on screen.
Cheech Marin and Frank Romero walk through the artist's show at MOLAA
Frank Romero is a quintessentially L.A. artist.
Romero was born here and his masterful paintings distinctively capture the history and social geography of the city.
The first major retrospective of Romero’s work is currently at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach. The show is called "Dreamland: A Frank Romero Retrospective," and several of the works in the show are on loan from Cheech Marin — the comedian and actor who is considered the foremost collector of Chicano art.
So it only felt natural to have Marin walk through the show and chat with Romero about his origins as an artist, as well as the impact of the Chicano art movement and the moments it captured.
Interview Highlights
Marin: We are sitting in front of “Arrest of the Paleteros.” It was painted in 1996 and it depicts ice cream men being rousted by a SWAT team because they are such a menace to society, because they are unlicensed and on the streets of Silverlake and Echo Park. What does it say to you that this problem just came up again [when the L.A. City Council voted to legalize street vending].
Romero: It’s interesting. It’s very much like the mural problem which recurs every few years. I guess you can’t paint a mural legally in Los Angeles without getting a permit. Of course, in the '60s, we all painted them anywhere we wanted, and I think they still do.
Marin: Well, the city could use them. [laughs]
Romero: This is the area I’ve lived in since my early 20’s. In my early childhood it was on Franco [Street], and then later on, in Echo Park, it was on Lemoyne. And they are both very famous artists, two of the very first artists in the Americas. One of them was French and one of them was Spanish. I, of course, am known for [depicting] police actions. And, of course, low rider cars, police cars and the SWAT team — everybody harassing them.
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("L.A. River" is a monumental 46-foot long painting by Frank Romero.)
Marin: This is a beautiful painting. Thank you very much for painting it. It has resonance today as we speak.
Romero: I can’t believe that you own it. I was absolutely robbed! [laughs]
Marin: Yes, well that’s my nature. I rob these starving artists so they could starve even further because they need penance in their lives. [laughs]
Romero: I don’t know. I think it kind of saved my life at the time as I recall. [laughs]
Marin: So, this is your very first museum retrospective show that encompasses really the body of your work throughout the ages. How does that feel to have your first retrospective in your home town? How do you feel? Older? (Laughs)
Romero: [Laughs] Yes, you’ve mentioned "iconic," or "legendary," yet I really feel like an old man. But I must say I came for many years to the Museum of Latin American Art when it first opened. It was just for Central American and Mexican artists. This is the first major exhibition for a Chicano artist at MOLAA — that is really exciting. [Editor's note: MOLAA was founded in 1996 by Dr. Robert Gumbiner as a showcase for his collection of Latin American art.]
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("History of the Chicano Movimiento," a painting by Frank Romero that's currently on-view at the Museum of Latin American Art.)
Marin: Why do you think that was? Why did they exclude Chicanos in the beginning? Because Chicano art was viewed as something “other?”
Romero: Other. We’re still the other!
Marin: You know, and that is the source of our pride — that we are the other, and there is even the definition of what "Chicano" is — it’s a less than. It’s all within the progression of recognizing Chicano art as an American school of art — which it is, just as much as Abstract Expressionism or the Ashcan School or Hudson River Valley School or any of those. And it is much bigger in scope because it is an integral part of the cultural fabric.
Romero: Exactly, I feel that way very much about it. So I’ve been very happy to be recognized as a painter in this culture and this medium.
Marin: So, your early start as an artist — you were a product of the L.A. school system. You went to what high school?
Romero: Roosevelt High.
Marin: And you had a very influential teacher that taught you there?
Romero: George May. In junior high, when I graduated from Stevenson Junior High, I was given a scholarship to Otis Art Institute for the summer, and Joe Mugnaini was the drawing instructor at that time, who I still really respect. He’s been gone a number of years now, but he was an incredible influence on my art. And he arranged it for me to study with Herbert Jepson, the famous legendary art instructor. And Paul Landacre, I learned print-making from. And Guy Maccoy, also silk-screen printing. This is before Sister Karen [Boccalero] at Self-Help Graphics.
Marin: Wow, Sister Karen.
Romero: So I fell in love with that school, and I especially liked the way the oil painting studio smelled. It was exhilarating. I never sniffed spray cans — for me it was turpentine!
Will Oscar ads follow the Super Bowl's lead and go political?
You’ve heard of watching the Super Bowl for its commercials, but how about the Oscars?
The Academy Awards don’t offer advertisers nearly the number of viewers that football’s biggest night draws in, but it’s still a huge national platform.
ABC announced a week ago that it had sold all its ad space for Sunday night’s broadcast. And those 30-second slots aren't cheap.
, executive editor at AdAge, says ads for the Oscars went for $2 million to $2.5 million. That's compared to an average of $5 million for this year's Super Bowl.
Taking a page from Super Bowl advertisers, some of this year's Oscars advertisers have released their commercials early. And like some of the ads from the Super Bowl this year, a few Oscar commercials will be political.
Cadillac, the luxury car company, has released an ad that touches on politics while avoiding being partisan. Ives describes their strategy as the "let's just all hug this out and everything's going to be okay approach."
The New York Times has also purchased ad time for the Oscars broadcast, and it's going a bit political as well. Their ad will be the company's first television commercial since 2010.
With the Oscars' slightly more liberal-skewing audience, Ives says, "this is a chance for [the Times] to tell the Oscars audience that they're going to bring them the truth if only they'll sign up and support it."
When it comes to the high likelihood that many of the Oscar acceptance speeches will involve some mention of politics, Ives says, there will be some concern on the part of advertisers that viewers will decide to tune out.
"There's always the chance that's going to happen," Ives says. But "it's not going to be a small broadcast no matter what. It's never going to turn into a blowout where everyone's going to be watching something else instead."