Mountain Views News, Pasadena Edition [Sierra Madre] Saturday, December 15, 2018

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SOUTH PASADENA - SAN MARINO

Mountain Views-News Saturday, December 15, 2018 

Chu Introduces Taxpayer 
Penalty Protection Act


Exhibition on British Artist Celia 
Paul Comes to The Huntington

 
Rep. Judy Chu introduced the 
Taxpayer Penalty Protection 
Act, Thurday, a bill that 
would shield taxpayers from 
withholding penalties for 
the 2018 filing year should 
they find themselves to be 
under-withheld due to the 
rushed changes made in the 
Republican tax law. Because 
of the new IRS withholding 
tables, and the fact that many 
taxpayers did not adjust their 
withholding, the impact of the 
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) 
will largely remain unknown 
until taxpayers prepare their 
returns in early 2019. In a 
recent survey, H&R Block 
found that only 1 in 5 people 
adjusted their Form W-4 after 
passage of the law. Additionally, 
GAO found that 30 million 
filers, or 1 in 5 taxpayers, will 
find that they owe the IRS 
next year due to withholding 
changes made because of the 
TCJA. The administration has 
already offered penalty relief 
to corporate multinationals 
subject to the new transition 
tax on foreign earnings, but no 
similar relief has been granted 
to individuals. This bill corrects 
that by creating a one-time safe 
harbor to protect individuals 
and small businesses against 
the Failure to Pay Estimated 
Tax Penalty under IRC 6654 if 
the amount of taxes paid by the 
taxpayer for 2018 was 80% of 
the amount of tax the taxpayer 
paid in 2017, and 100% of the 
amount the taxpayer paid in 
2017 if they are high income 
earners with an AGI over 
$150,000.

 This bill follows a July letter 
sent by Rep. Chu and 12 
Democratic members of the 
Ways and Means Committee 
to Acting Internal Revenue 
Service (IRS) Commissioner 
David Kautter urging the IRS 
to give individuals and small 
businesses the same leniency, 
grace periods, and penalty 
waivers given to multinational 
corporations as the recently 
passed tax law is implemented. 
Since sending that letter, 
the Information Reporting 
Advisory Committee (IRPAC) 
also recommended that IRS 
waive these penalties for next 
year.

 Rep. Chu issued the following 
statement:

 “Individual taxpayers, 
already burdened by the cap 
on the State and Local Tax 
Deduction and the loss of 
personal exemptions, shouldn’t 
also be penalized because the 
Republican tax overhaul was 
rushed through the process. 
But that is what is set to happen. 
About 20% of individual 
taxpayers are expected to 
under-withhold on taxes owed 
because they have not had a 
chance to fully understand the 
changes in the tax law. The 
administration predicted this, 
which is why they waived the 
penalty for the new transition 
tax on foreign earnings for 
corporations. Yet individuals 
and small businesses have 
not received any similar help. 
It’s clear this bill was rushed 
and many Americans stand 
to face penalties because of 
it. My legislation will correct 
that by protecting individuals 
and small businesses from an 
unexpected bill as they file next 
year.”

Celia Paul, My Sisters in Mourning, 2015–16. Oil on canvas. 
Courtesy of the artist and Victoria Miro, London / Venice

 


 Seven paintings by 
contemporary British artist 
Celia Paul (born 1959) will be 
on view Feb. 9 to July 8, 2019, 
at The Huntington Library, 
Art Collections, and Botanical 
Gardens. The eponymously 
titled exhibition “Celia Paul,” 
is curated by Pulitzer Prize-
winning author Hilton Als, 
staff writer and theater critic 
for The New Yorker and 
associate professor of writing 
at Columbia University. The 
exhibition was the inaugural 
installment in 2018 of a trilogy 
of exhibitions at the Yale Center 
for British Art; the next two 
exhibitions there will focus on 
the work of Lynette Yiadom-
Boakye in 2019 and Njideka 
Akunyili Crosby in 2020.

 “Celia Paul” features work 
selected by Als in collaboration 
with the artist as a testament to 
their transatlantic friendship, 
and focuses on Paul’s recent 
paintings, which address the 
themes of memory, family, and 
the inner lives of women.

 Paul was born to missionary 
parents in India, a 
Commonwealth nation and a 
former colony of the British 
Empire. The family returned 
to England when she was still 
a child. Her earliest portrait 
subjects were elderly women in 
nursing homes and members 
of her own family. When she 
was 16, Paul was accepted into 
London’s prestigious Slade 
School of Fine Art, where her 
work was noticed by several 
instructors, including the artist 
Lucian Freud (who became 
her romantic partner and with 
whom she had a son).

 “From the first, Paul’s style was 
her own,” said Als. “Inspired by 
Gwen John and others, Paul’s 
visual vocabulary was deep 
and psychological, poetry 
alchemized as paint.” Between 
1977 and 2007, Paul’s work 
concentrated on her mother 
and sisters, and, eventually, 
loss. Since her mother’s death 
in 2015, Paul has also painted 
the sea and other bodies of 
water, believing that if her 
mother were anywhere, she 
would be there.

 Catherine Hess, chief 
curator of European art at 
The Huntington, notes that 
the exhibition has resonance 
at The Huntington, which 
is known for its important 
collection of British portraits 
and landscapes by artists such 
as Joshua Reynolds, Thomas 
Gainsborough, J.M.W. Turner, 
and John Constable. “The work 
of Celia Paul presents new and 
incisive explorations of these 
types of paintings while also 
exploring what it means to be 
‘British’.”

 Three of the seven works 
on view in the exhibition are 
seascapes. As a teenager, Paul 
lived with her family in a 
religious community in Devon 
on the dramatic southwest 
coast of England. Every year, 
Paul returns to the area. She 
has also studied the waves on 
the eastern Suffolk coast. Als 
sees her renderings of water as 
portraits of time, ever shifting, 
and of family by way of places 
she associates with family 
members. The artist said that 
her “sea paintings are never 
really of any particular sea, but 
sort of dreamed up.”

 Another highlight of “Celia 
Paul” is The Brontë Parsonage 
(with Charlotte’s Pine and 
Emily’s Path to the Moors), 
painted in 2017. The glittering 
image demonstrates Paul’s 
concern with the effect of light 
on vision as well as her interest 
in family and religion. The 
artist spent part of her youth 
near the parsonage where 
Reverend Brontë raised his 
family in the 19th century. In 
spite of a harsh life, the Brontë 
children were prodigiously 
creative, excelling in drawing, 
painting, and, of course, 
writing. (Both Charlotte and 
Emily Brontë are represented in 
The Huntington’s manuscript 
and rare book collections.) 
Als suggests that Paul might 
have seen parallels between 
the Brontë family and her own, 
many members of whom have 
been involved in the Church of 
England.

 Paul’s portraiture practice is 
represented in the exhibition by 
the 2017 Self Portrait, March. 
The artist says that she only 
started painting self-portraits 
successfully when she was in 
her fifties; before then she was 
too self-conscious to render 
her image truthfully. She paints 
a self-portrait about once a 
month because she is interested 
in the process of aging and in 
variations of light throughout 
the year. In addition to 
depicting Paul’s own image, 
Als believes this painting also 
features the material presence 
of paint and the pearly gray 
light that is particular to 
London.

 Hess added, “With Turner’s 
masterful brushwork and 
Constable’s sensitive treatment 
of light and climate as a 
backdrop here, our visitors can 
assess Celia Paul’s work within 
the context of British painting, 
while also appreciating the 
innovations and sensitive 
introspection of this 21st-
century female painter.”

 This exhibition has been 
curated by Hilton Als, and 
organized by the Yale Center 
for British Art, in collaboration 
with The Huntington Library, 
Art Collections, and Botanical 
Gardens. It is made possible 
by generous support from 
Victoria Miro, London/Venice 
and Laura and Carlton Seaver.

 The Huntington is located at 
1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino


SPHS Students 
to Perform with 
All State Choir

 
South Pasadena High 
School seniors Ashley Kwon 
and sophomore Nolan Call! 
Both students recently were 
selected to perform with the 
California All State Honor 
Choir March 14-16, 2019, in 
San Jose, Calif. 

 The All State Honor 
Choir brings together the 
finest high school singers 
from the entire state of 
California to perform under 
the direction of nationally 
and internationally known 
conductors. Approximately 
1,500 students audition and 
only 300 are selected for 
three choirs –mixed, men’s 
and women’s.

Police Setup 
‘Safe Deal 
Zone’ Area

 The South Pasadena police 
are reminding residents that 
they can meet online buyers 
and sell items from the lobby 
of the police station. 

 “Please remember that 
our station lobby is a SAFE 
DEAL ZONE. Bring your 
Craig’s List or other person 
to person transactions to 
our lobby, for an added 
layer of security. Know that 
our entire courtyard and 
lobby area is video recorded. 
Happy Holidays everyone 
and stay safe.”

 The department is open 24 
hours every day and located 
1422 Mission Street. 

 Presented by Young Stars 
Theatre

 Tickets $15 for Performance 
dates: Saturday, January 5 at 
2pm and 4pm

Sunday, January 6 at 2pm and 
4pm.

 YST is doing their first one-
week winter camp in over a 
decade! This one-week fun 
winter camp will culminate in 
4 performances of “Disney’s 
Cinderella Kids” (the shorter 
version, about 40 minutes). 
Open to ages 5 to 18. Get 
registered soon, because we 
plan to fill up quickly!

 Camp tuition is $195. Full 
camp day is 10am to 3pm, 
December 31 - January 4th, 
with 2 performances Saturday 
the 5th and 2 performances 
Sunday the 6th. Aftercare is 
available until 5pm for $20/
day or $60/week. All camp days 
and performances are at YST’s 
home, the beautiful Fremont 
Centre Theatre.

YST Winter 
Camp 2018


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