Cool It (2010)

• 72%
• 2010
• Documentary
• Ondi Timoner
• Bjørn Lomborg
• Hashem Akbari
• Al Gore

The Cool School is the story of American art in the 1950s and '60s, LA's coming of age, and a distinctive, fraternal group of headstrong talents. The renowned Ferus Art Gallery groomed certain members of the LA art scene from a loose band of idealistic beatniks into a coterie of competitive,The Cool School is the story of American art in the 1950s and '60s, LA's coming of age, and a distinctive, fraternal group of headstrong talents. The renowned Ferus Art Gallery groomed certain members of the LA art scene from a loose band of idealistic beatniks into a coterie of competitive, often-brilliant artists. What was lost and gained is tied up in complex web of egos, passions, money, and art. The Cool School is about San Francisco versus LA, New York versus LA, commercialism, and bohemianism. Ferus managed to do for art in LA what the museums would not; the gallery gave birth to a vibrant, coalescing scene. Assemblage art, abstract expressionism, or Pop--the men of Ferus shared ideas, goals, studios, women, and a vision. The Cool School is an extraordinary lesson in how a city can build an art scene from scratch without losing its soul.