Friday, November 27, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Tiernan's Thesis
If you would like to know what's going on in my work, what's up with all the hair, and what I would look like if my head was cut off and then ritually shrunken by the Shuar people of Ecuador, read my thesis! Tiernan_Alexander_Thesis_Final.pdf. Feel free to comment.
Monday, November 16, 2009
www.incca.org is a great resource to know about - that I stumbled on 1-2 years ago researching how to document video installations. Even if they are in the Netherlands, they pretty much do everything in English.
They are doing a call for posters addressing 'best practices' conservation and installation of contemporary art for their annual conference Contemporary Art: Who Cares? More info and links below if you are design inclined.
What is INCCA?
INCCA is a network of professionals connected to the conservation of modern and contemporary art. Conservators, curators, scientists, registrars, archivists, art historians and researchers are among its members. Members allow access to each others unpublished information (artist interviews, condition reports, installation instructions etc) through the INCCA Database for Artists' Archives.
I would like to draw your attention to the Call for Posters from the International symposium Contemporary Art: Who Cares? For details and to download a poster application form please go to: http://www.incca.org/cawc-callforposters
They are doing a call for posters addressing 'best practices' conservation and installation of contemporary art for their annual conference Contemporary Art: Who Cares? More info and links below if you are design inclined.
What is INCCA?
INCCA is a network of professionals connected to the conservation of modern and contemporary art. Conservators, curators, scientists, registrars, archivists, art historians and researchers are among its members. Members allow access to each others unpublished information (artist interviews, condition reports, installation instructions etc) through the INCCA Database for Artists' Archives.
I would like to draw your attention to the Call for Posters from the International symposium Contemporary Art: Who Cares? For details and to download a poster application form please go to: http://www.incca.org/cawc-callforposters
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Hey ya'll this is a call for Art (and papers-if so inclined). I was on a panel at the 2008 conference - it was blast and happens during art week in NYC. Its not really a 'show' - but they screened some of my work and with the theme of collective - who knows what you could propose.... I met some slammin' smart people there that are still really supportive of my work. Give it a try - submission due in January.
Stony Brook Art & Philosophy conference Theme for 2010 - Collectives!
As collectives arise and disperse, we often find ourselves with a dearth of criteria by which to judge their success and viability. This conference will investigate the forms, motivations, methods, justifications, and consequences of persons and things acting collectively. We encourage submissions from across the artistic and theoretical disciplines that approach these themes from practical and theoretical perspectives. Projects may be collaborative in nature, and may examine the collective as an entity or activity.
Everything you need to know here: Stony Brook 2010 Philosophy And Art Conference
Stony Brook Art & Philosophy conference Theme for 2010 - Collectives!
As collectives arise and disperse, we often find ourselves with a dearth of criteria by which to judge their success and viability. This conference will investigate the forms, motivations, methods, justifications, and consequences of persons and things acting collectively. We encourage submissions from across the artistic and theoretical disciplines that approach these themes from practical and theoretical perspectives. Projects may be collaborative in nature, and may examine the collective as an entity or activity.
Everything you need to know here: Stony Brook 2010 Philosophy And Art Conference
Thursday, October 01, 2009
The seminal candy work circa 2008 premieres in DC. Wish me luck. Thanks-Karen
District of Columbia Arts Center
2438 18th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009
www.dcartscenter.org
202-462-7833
October 16 - November 15
Opening Reception: October 16, 7-9pm
Curated by Lea-Ann Bigelow and Blair Murphy
Featuring work by Deborah Carroll Anzinger, Peter Gordon, Michael Matason, Lisa McCarty, Kathryn McDonnell, Karen Joan Topping and Jenny Walton
In a show of new work, DCAC’s resident collective explores the artistic process as a mode of inquiry, a space of exploration focused less on the production of definitive answers than on the acknowledgment and negotiation of paradoxes and contradictions.
District of Columbia Arts Center
2438 18th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009
www.dcartscenter.org
202-462-7833
October 16 - November 15
Opening Reception: October 16, 7-9pm
Curated by Lea-Ann Bigelow and Blair Murphy
Featuring work by Deborah Carroll Anzinger, Peter Gordon, Michael Matason, Lisa McCarty, Kathryn McDonnell, Karen Joan Topping and Jenny Walton
In a show of new work, DCAC’s resident collective explores the artistic process as a mode of inquiry, a space of exploration focused less on the production of definitive answers than on the acknowledgment and negotiation of paradoxes and contradictions.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Terri Saulin: Lines of Flight
September 17 to October 20, 2009
Opening Reception: Thursday, September 17, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Artist talk begins at 7:15 p.m.
Flipping, deleting, expanding, speeding up, slowing down, layering and distilling visual material into art pieces, Terri Saulin creates artwork organic in nature and layered with meaning. Her interest in biology, botany, classical music, geology, and gastronomy are evident in every nook and crevice of her densely textured ceramic pieces. Although her process begins in sculpture, it develops into drawing (a backward play on the traditional preliminary sketch to final sculpture). Drawings and plaster prints, supplemented by their ceramic references will be exhibited in Lines of Flight.
Finlandia University601 Quincy Street
Hancock, MI 49930
carrie.flaspohler@finlandia.edu
Saturday, June 06, 2009
FOOD FOR THOUGHT LECTURE SERIES
The University of the Arts’ MFA Program in Ceramics, Painting and Sculpture announces the 15th Annual Summer Lecture Series featuring noted visiting artists and critics. This year’s initial lecture will be held at 6pm on Friday, June 12th. All other
SUSAN STEWART FRIDAY JUNE 12, 6PM
Susan Stewart is a poet and critic who has authored several books of essays on art, aesthetics and poetry including: The Open Studio: Essays in Art and Aesthetics, (2004). Poetry and the Fate of the Senses (2002); Crimes of Writing: Problems in the Containment of Representation (1991); Nonsense (1989); and On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection (1984).
Her honors include a Lila Wallace Individual Writer's Award, two grants in poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Pew Fellowship for the Arts, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation. She was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 2005. Stewart is currently Professor of English at Princeton University where she teaches the history of poetry and aesthetics.
PETER KRASHES WEDNESDAY JUNE 24, 9AM
Four years ago, Peter Krashes’ work shifted away from the magnificently painted series of distorted, liquid images that he had been exhibiting. Developers were given permission to exercise eminent domain to build a stadium in his Brooklyn neighborhood, threatening the community. He took on: “…life as a community organizer with a work practice as an artist that embraces my efforts outside of the studio... Put simply, I play a role in shaping what I paint before I paint it. A letter in my work is a letter that needed to be sent, a meeting is a meeting I helped to organize… As a result, the paintings are the last step in a process I have been engaged with from beginning to end….The imperatives I feel outside the studio are explicit so the outcome in the studio is particular and linked to the real world.”
CORIN HEWITT WEDNESDAY JULY 1, 9AM
In his recent performance/installation at the Whitney, Corin Hewitt turned the museum’s Lobby Gallery into a semi-private theatrical photo studio that he worked in 3 days a week. Equipped with food, shop tools, kitchen appliances, art supplies, photo and office equipment, Hewitt explored a range of material processes through “cooking,
sculpting, heating and cooling, casting, canning, eating, and photographing of both organic and inorganic materials” creating a body of 71 photographs over the three month period.
NICOLE CHERUBINI WEDNESDAY JULY 15, 9AM
In an essay by Garth Clark and Mark Del Vecchio for the exhibition One Part Clay, Nicole Cherubini’s work is referred to as “…not polite”, saying: “It is in its way anti-pottery, anti-craft and anticonventional beauty. She is an artist working outside the usual expectations of ceramics. The bridge between art and the design-look is missing. The work is still primarily clay albeit playing host to a wide array of other, mostly found, materials. Her craft is determinedly without finesse, cherishing its inelegance like a clunky badge of honor, but it is not without intelligence. She knows what she is doing and what disturbances she wants to create and just how far off balance she wants to keep the viewer.”
KRISTIN JONES WEDNESDAY JULY 22, 9AM
Kristin Jones’ most recent project, Tevereterno (Eternal Tiber), has been working toward revitalizing Rome’s river by transforming it into a site for the cultural life in the city. “Here innovative contemporary work will bring the river to life by drawing the public to a new experience of the Tiber. The evolving program invites international artists to create proposals for site-specific, multi-disciplinary installations inspired by the river.”. Tevereterno is a solo project by Jones, who has also worked collaboratively for years with Andrew Ginzel. A statement made about their collaborative work applies to this solo project as well: “A fundamental sense of wonder at the perception of time and the natural world motivates us to construct contemplative work aimed at magnifying a sense of place and present.”
LISA SANDITZ WEDNESDAY JULY 29, 9AM
Living in upstate NY, single industry cities (Tannersville, Gloversville, etc) caught Lisa Sanditz’ attention. Her most recent paintings are based on single-commodity towns that she visited in China. In a TimeOut New York review, T.J. Carlin wrote: “Sanditz’s work is undeniably crowd-pleasing in its brilliant use of color, and she has a great excuse for this beauty: It’s the double-edged sword that forces us to balance our enjoyment of these scenes with our understanding that they represent our exploitation of the developing world. Such compositions as Oil Painting Village, which subtly probes the idea of art as another item in a production line, inject a sense of self-deprecating humor. It’s refreshing to see work that’s at once a truly aesthetic experience and a political statement.”
| Host: | |
| Type: | |
| Network: | Global |
| Start Time: | Friday, June 12, 2009 at 6:00pm |
| End Time: | Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at 9:00am |
| Location: | CBS AUDITORIUM, UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS, HAMILTON HALL |
| Street: | 320 S. BROAD STREET |
| City/Town: | Philadelphia, Jordan |
| Phone: | 2157176489 |
| Email: |
SUSAN STEWART FRIDAY JUNE 12, 6PM
Susan Stewart is a poet and critic who has authored several books of essays on art, aesthetics and poetry including: The Open Studio: Essays in Art and Aesthetics, (2004). Poetry and the Fate of the Senses (2002); Crimes of Writing: Problems in the Containment of Representation (1991); Nonsense (1989); and On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection (1984).
Her honors include a Lila Wallace Individual Writer's Award, two grants in poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Pew Fellowship for the Arts, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation. She was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 2005. Stewart is currently Professor of English at Princeton University where she teaches the history of poetry and aesthetics.
PETER KRASHES WEDNESDAY JUNE 24, 9AM
Four years ago, Peter Krashes’ work shifted away from the magnificently painted series of distorted, liquid images that he had been exhibiting. Developers were given permission to exercise eminent domain to build a stadium in his Brooklyn neighborhood, threatening the community. He took on: “…life as a community organizer with a work practice as an artist that embraces my efforts outside of the studio... Put simply, I play a role in shaping what I paint before I paint it. A letter in my work is a letter that needed to be sent, a meeting is a meeting I helped to organize… As a result, the paintings are the last step in a process I have been engaged with from beginning to end….The imperatives I feel outside the studio are explicit so the outcome in the studio is particular and linked to the real world.”
CORIN HEWITT WEDNESDAY JULY 1, 9AM
In his recent performance/installation at the Whitney, Corin Hewitt turned the museum’s Lobby Gallery into a semi-private theatrical photo studio that he worked in 3 days a week. Equipped with food, shop tools, kitchen appliances, art supplies, photo and office equipment, Hewitt explored a range of material processes through “cooking,
sculpting, heating and cooling, casting, canning, eating, and photographing of both organic and inorganic materials” creating a body of 71 photographs over the three month period.
NICOLE CHERUBINI WEDNESDAY JULY 15, 9AM
In an essay by Garth Clark and Mark Del Vecchio for the exhibition One Part Clay, Nicole Cherubini’s work is referred to as “…not polite”, saying: “It is in its way anti-pottery, anti-craft and anticonventional beauty. She is an artist working outside the usual expectations of ceramics. The bridge between art and the design-look is missing. The work is still primarily clay albeit playing host to a wide array of other, mostly found, materials. Her craft is determinedly without finesse, cherishing its inelegance like a clunky badge of honor, but it is not without intelligence. She knows what she is doing and what disturbances she wants to create and just how far off balance she wants to keep the viewer.”
KRISTIN JONES WEDNESDAY JULY 22, 9AM
Kristin Jones’ most recent project, Tevereterno (Eternal Tiber), has been working toward revitalizing Rome’s river by transforming it into a site for the cultural life in the city. “Here innovative contemporary work will bring the river to life by drawing the public to a new experience of the Tiber. The evolving program invites international artists to create proposals for site-specific, multi-disciplinary installations inspired by the river.”. Tevereterno is a solo project by Jones, who has also worked collaboratively for years with Andrew Ginzel. A statement made about their collaborative work applies to this solo project as well: “A fundamental sense of wonder at the perception of time and the natural world motivates us to construct contemplative work aimed at magnifying a sense of place and present.”
LISA SANDITZ WEDNESDAY JULY 29, 9AM
Living in upstate NY, single industry cities (Tannersville, Gloversville, etc) caught Lisa Sanditz’ attention. Her most recent paintings are based on single-commodity towns that she visited in China. In a TimeOut New York review, T.J. Carlin wrote: “Sanditz’s work is undeniably crowd-pleasing in its brilliant use of color, and she has a great excuse for this beauty: It’s the double-edged sword that forces us to balance our enjoyment of these scenes with our understanding that they represent our exploitation of the developing world. Such compositions as Oil Painting Village, which subtly probes the idea of art as another item in a production line, inject a sense of self-deprecating humor. It’s refreshing to see work that’s at once a truly aesthetic experience and a political statement.”
Friday, May 22, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
mmm mmm. you may have already seen this on the art blog today. I thought this was just too important and user friendly not to share again. My other alma mater, The American University's Center for Social Media breaks down fair use into a mash up all its own. Go here for the written guide in simple people words, sure to become a favorite...
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Printmaking Without A Press with Shelley Thorstensen July 10, 17, 24 & 31
THE PRINTMAKING COUNCIL OF NEW JERSEY
SUMMER WORKSHOPS
Printmaking Without A Press
with Shelley Thorstensen
July 10, 17, 24 & 31
Friday, July 10, 10am-4pm
Don’t Even Call this Rubber Stamp: Relief Print and Frottage
Beginner - Learn to carve big and small relief prints free hand or from transferred photographs. We'll use easy-to-cut rubber stamp material that works on paper and/or fabric, with oil or water based inks. Techniques include making repeat patterns for fabric, thin or thick paper. Use them to chine collé into prints, collage into works on paper, and/or integrate them into book arts. Learn a surprisingly simple way to use offset techniques to print onto 3 D surfaces. Pre-carved mirror image blocks made by artists will be available for you to use to make repeat patterns and background materials. Bring sketches, ideas and photographs to photocopy; carve and print; and bring home blocks you've carved to keep printing and creating. Advanced students can create multiple blocks to make Chiaroscuro Relief Prints, or CMYK registration techniques. Students will leave with at least 2 carvings printed relief, repeat and frottage on lots of papers and variations. Fees: $ 100 members/$120 non-members. Materials: $15. Register on-line at www.printnj.org.
Friday, July 17, 10am-4pm
The Gelatin Print Extravaganza
Beginner - Gelatin printing is a form of edition and monoprinting. You'll use gelatin plates with water-based mediums. The process is like magic - simple and versatile and is equally well suited for professional printmakers, professional artists, and those wishing to expand their artistic vocabulary. The basic materials are non-toxic and clean up with water. We'll supply the gelatin plates on trays (print size 12" x 14"), you bring brushes, water-based mediums. We can send you a list of the best kinds – but everything works! Mostly, bring your imagination and be prepared to have fun and make gorgeous prints. Collage, stamping, stencils, overprinting – the possibilities are close to endless. Permanent results, perfect for archival printmaking papers. Advanced – Now you know how! Create and/or refine or work with editioning possibilities. Email Shelley and she’ll work with you to set up what you need. Students will leave with many gelatin prints on paper. Fees: $ 100 members/$120 non-members. Materials: $15. Register on-line at www.printnj.org.
Friday, July 24, 10am-4pm
The Definitive Plaster Print
Beginner - Any etching technique can be printed in plaster – as a way to proof prints; as a step to continue into the work with paint and pencils; to carve into the plaster; or as a beautiful plaster print (an end in itself). We'll work small (about 10" x 10") but size does not have to be a limitation with this process - with little artistic engineering. There will be examples and ideas on how to make very large plaster prints. We'll make easy-to-understand plaster prints and see how all etching techniques can be used to make these prints, including drypoint on plexi or metal, and etched and relief plates of all kinds. Bring small plates to print, or we'll supply the basic ingredients for plexi drypoint that can be printed many ways including using surface rolls, selective wiping, stencils, and even chine collé with paper. Advanced – Learn ways to make bigger and lighter stretched prints, and use additive techniques. Email Shelley and she’ll work with you to set up what you need. Fees: $ 100 members/$120 non-members. Materials: $15. Register on-line at www.printnj.org.
Friday, July 31, 10am-4pm
Painting for Printmakers (It’s Inside Out!): The Cast Acrylic Print
Beginner - Paint and scribe into the surface of the plate with acrylic paint. Once it’s quickly dry, it is backed with adhesive materials and can be transferred to paper, fabric or plaster. This technique allows for the inclusion within a single image, of other media (wet or dry) such as paper, fabric, dry acrylic elements, watercolor, waterbase crayons, pencils, felt pens, waterbase inks, water mixable oil paints, oil pastels and oil paint sticks because of the bonding ability ties of acrylics. It is equally useful for handpainting, collage (cut them up and re-group them!), stencils and monoprinting. Use all the techniques you've learned in the past weeks or start fresh with acrylic paint. Advanced – Learn the process using etching plates. Fees: $ 100 members/$120 non-members. Materials: $10. Register on-line www.printnj.org.
440 RIVER ROAD<SOMERVILLE, NJ 08876<908-725-2110<WWW.
THE PRINTMAKING COUNCIL OF NEW JERSEY
REGISTRATION FORM
Printmaking Without A Press
with Shelley Thorstensen
July 10, 17, 24 & 31, 2009
Shelley Thorstensen is an artist/printmaker living and working in Philadelphia. She has an MFA in Printmaking from Tyler School of Art and a BFA from Syracuse University in Experimental Studios. Recent solo exhibitions include The Preponderance of Evidence, at The Print Center in Philadelphia and Houghton College, Buffalo. Group exhibitions include Intaglio a go go, Etching Moves Forward, curated by Ron Rumford at the Print and Picture Collection of the Free Library of Philadelphia, Synesthesia, curated by Annabelle Rodriguez at The Painted Bride in Philadelphia and Four Plus One at Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester NY. Shelley has taught many places such as Rutgers Mason Gross, Moore College of Art, Minneapolis College of Art, Tyler School of Art, and Women’s Studio Workshop. Shelley Thorstensen is represented by Dolan/Maxwell Gallery, www.dolanmaxwell.com.
To register for workshops, please print this form and mail to: PCNJ, 440 River Rd, Somerville, NJ 08876. Class size is limited, so please register early!
Name__________________________
Address_______________________
______________________________
Phone_________________________
Please register me for the following workshops:
Friday, July 10, Don’t Even Call this Rubber Stamp: Relief Print and Frottage
Friday, July 17, The Gelatin Print Extravaganza
Friday, July 24, The Definitive Plaster Print
Friday, July 31, Painting for Printmakers (It’s Inside Out!): The Cast Acrylic Print
Check one: Member__, Non-Member__, Would you like to become a member? Yes , No
| |
____ Individual $ 35 ____ Sustainer $100
____ Family $ 50 ____ Senior/Student $ 25
Workshop Tuition $__________________
Materials Fee $__________________
Membership $__________________
Total $__________________
Check Enclosed Yes , No or Charge my Visa or MasterCard (circle one)
Number________________________
Signature_____________________
440 RIVER ROAD<SOMERVILLE, NJ 08876<908-725-2110<WWW.
Shelley Thorstensen
120 W Lancaster Pike
Oxford PA 19363
(609) 932 6475
jane_doe_press@yahoo.com
portfolio:www.dolanmaxwell.com
Friday, May 01, 2009
Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant Accepting Applications
holycreamoly - another crazy amazing arts writing grant op - you know who you are -
Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant Accepting Applications
The Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant provides project grants to individual authors whose work addresses contemporary visual art. The program is spearheaded by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts as part of its broader Arts Writing Initiative and is administered by the Creative Capital Foundation.
The Arts Writers Grant Program issues awards for books, articles, short-form writing, blogs, and new and alternative media projects. The program aims to support the broad spectrum of writing on contemporary visual art from general-audience criticism to academic scholarship.
Only individuals are eligible for a grant. Applicants must be an art historian, artist, critic, curator, journalist, or practitioner in an outside field strongly engaged with the contemporary visual arts. Nominees must also be at least 25 years of age and be a published author (specific publication requirements vary depending on project type).
Applicants are not eligible if applying on behalf of an organization or for a project in which his/her primary involvement will be as an editor. Full-time students in degree-granting programs (with the exception of those students who are simultaneously maintaining professional careers as arts writers) are not eligible.
The program supports approximately twenty to twenty-five projects a year. Grant amounts range from $3,000 to $50,000 each, depending on the scope and complexity of the project.
Visit the program's Web site for project-specific requirements and application procedures.
http://www.artswriters.org/guidelines.php
http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/rfp/rfp_item.jhtml?id=250900025
Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant Accepting Applications
The Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant provides project grants to individual authors whose work addresses contemporary visual art. The program is spearheaded by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts as part of its broader Arts Writing Initiative and is administered by the Creative Capital Foundation.
The Arts Writers Grant Program issues awards for books, articles, short-form writing, blogs, and new and alternative media projects. The program aims to support the broad spectrum of writing on contemporary visual art from general-audience criticism to academic scholarship.
Only individuals are eligible for a grant. Applicants must be an art historian, artist, critic, curator, journalist, or practitioner in an outside field strongly engaged with the contemporary visual arts. Nominees must also be at least 25 years of age and be a published author (specific publication requirements vary depending on project type).
Applicants are not eligible if applying on behalf of an organization or for a project in which his/her primary involvement will be as an editor. Full-time students in degree-granting programs (with the exception of those students who are simultaneously maintaining professional careers as arts writers) are not eligible.
The program supports approximately twenty to twenty-five projects a year. Grant amounts range from $3,000 to $50,000 each, depending on the scope and complexity of the project.
Visit the program's Web site for project-specific requirements and application procedures.
http://www.artswriters.org/guidelines.php
http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/rfp/rfp_item.jhtml?id=250900025
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Fear(s) of the Dark
This film is a Blockbuster exclusive. If there's one near you, make sure to rent it.
The disparity between great art and bad art is ridiculous. In the world of bad art, an amazing film like Fear(s) of the Dark doesn't seem possible. In the world of good art, Paul Blart: Mall Cop doesn't seem possible. One of them is bluffing.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
What about art criticism?
Hope to see you there ~gerard
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
holy moly
As much as possible given the time and space allotted. from Galerie Leonard & Bina Ellen on Vimeo.
OK - I seriously do not know what to think about this...as someone who has worked behind the scenes in museums, (in the collective I work with in DC - DCAC's Sparkplug more than a 1/3 of us have 'done time' in museums as I know 1-2 of you in SUMFA do now). This is a painter-centric type of rant - which is a little funny coming from me - but here it goes...
I have seen 'the stacks' and know the beautiful collisions that can happen on those racks where items are put together solely based on available space-like a little Daumier painting ending up next to a big Bonnard, where proximity creates affinity. Dollars to donuts that's the kind of thing you'd have to travel through space and time to actually see hung up in a museum - unlikely matches happen, but rarely.
It also struck me that this show looks a lot like the proverbial mid-century SOHO painters loft (Alice Neel's is infamously described in my circle of education) where finished paintings line every available space not needed for walking or working. This kind of chaos is often where us 'art professionals' work - why not drive that point home to the pedestrian public?
Well frankly, because when I see it on 'tv' I realize how freaking insane it looks - how does clearness of message arise out of this horror vacui?
Well brother - it just does. Contemplate that.
Monday, April 06, 2009
Make Sense
Before the Internet, when texts were confined to publications or notebooks, they were solid (or at least encased). They had a place, a center, and their meaning was partly derived from their participation in objecthood. They had to be copied, printed, and passed around from hand to hand. One could trace their history and track their movement.
These days, however, texts are like water. They spill and run through the infinity of cyberspace, being absorbed into everything or evaporating before you know it. As a writer, I’m almost afraid—better yet--embarrassed, to pour. Without cups to catch and hold them, texts just slip through our hands into the abyss.
Better to be a visual artist then! The problem discussed above is of no concern to the painter or the sculptor (we’ll suspend consideration of the photographer) since we deal in objects. A word is a word whether it’s in a book or on the Internet. But a painting on the computer screen is not a painting. It’s a picture of a painting and it doesn’t come close to recreating the experience of an actual painting. One can only judge the size of a painting relative to his or her height and one can only examine the thickness of the paint by viewing it from all sides. To see a large painting in person is to enter it; to see one on the Internet is only to catch a whiff.
At a time when the Internet is swallowing all—newspapers, books, the mail—it can’t touch art objects. Going to a gallery cannot be replaced by browsing the web. If someone makes a drawing, there’s still a delay between its construction and its public presentation unlike blogs, which can be “published” immediately upon completion by anyone, anywhere. The gallery system continues to function as the publication industry did before the Internet. It decides who’s in and who’s out, acting as a necessary filter to retain the value of the goods.
Make an object and be proud! That object holds a significance that exists in no other place. By locating meaning, you are making sense in a world that desperately needs some.
These days, however, texts are like water. They spill and run through the infinity of cyberspace, being absorbed into everything or evaporating before you know it. As a writer, I’m almost afraid—better yet--embarrassed, to pour. Without cups to catch and hold them, texts just slip through our hands into the abyss.
Better to be a visual artist then! The problem discussed above is of no concern to the painter or the sculptor (we’ll suspend consideration of the photographer) since we deal in objects. A word is a word whether it’s in a book or on the Internet. But a painting on the computer screen is not a painting. It’s a picture of a painting and it doesn’t come close to recreating the experience of an actual painting. One can only judge the size of a painting relative to his or her height and one can only examine the thickness of the paint by viewing it from all sides. To see a large painting in person is to enter it; to see one on the Internet is only to catch a whiff.
At a time when the Internet is swallowing all—newspapers, books, the mail—it can’t touch art objects. Going to a gallery cannot be replaced by browsing the web. If someone makes a drawing, there’s still a delay between its construction and its public presentation unlike blogs, which can be “published” immediately upon completion by anyone, anywhere. The gallery system continues to function as the publication industry did before the Internet. It decides who’s in and who’s out, acting as a necessary filter to retain the value of the goods.
Make an object and be proud! That object holds a significance that exists in no other place. By locating meaning, you are making sense in a world that desperately needs some.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Elsewhere Artist Collaborative
WOW - this gem was brought to me by my BF listserve - artinfobank - so brilliant - residencies in a former thriftstore that was never cleaned out - a shangrila of stuff to make art with - I can hear your 'mouths' watering - xo Karen
Residencies at Elsewhere
Elsewhere’s dynamic architectures and the immense 58-year collection of American cultural objects (thousands of toys, books, periodicals, clothing, fabric, games, trinkets, bric-a-brac, furniture, antiques, army surplus, and historical documents) housed on-site serve as a resource for the cultivation of new creative processes and the creation of new works.
Elsewhere’s residency program invites emerging and established artists and scholars to create site-specific works using the plethora of objects and dynamic spaces as materials for works or as a foundation for conceptual or technological projects. Residents launch projects from within the theoretical framework of an evolving exhibition of objects and artworks across media, composing an experimental museum rethinking the premise of the collector and collection, questions of history and myth, the stasis of the art object, the role of the artist, and the relationship of process within production.
Elsewhere offers a dynamic alternative to the museum and gallery spaces and traditional residency formats. Artists find Elsewhere residencies to be intensive, conceptually challenging, and highly playful. Working within transforming installations, artists engage interactive environments as platforms for conceptualizing their practices. An Elsewhere residency becomes an ongoing artistic happening formed by an evolving dialogue that explores responsive artistic practices as a means of communication within an artist community. While artists are given control over their individual work for the time of their stay, artists collaboratively build upon others’ visions in response to the developing installation. The opportunity to build alongside, work with, or even transform past artists’ work yields layered histories of experimentation, communication, and art production that resituates the creative possibilities for the museum-as-medium.
While all work produced with Elsewhere’s objects stays within the space (works in reproducible media are shared with Elsewhere and curated within the environment), artists have the opportunity to expand and apply their body of work on an unprecedented scope and scale while furthering the development of a collaboratively built museum. Elsewhere’s collaborative framework cultivates continued feedback and response throughout the creative process from the directors and other artists. Interns and production staff assist artists with documentation, creation and curation.
Residents are encouraged to spend one month creating in the space. No proposals are requested. Instead, we ask artists to draw their ideas from the space itself, its resources, and the multiplicity of systematic arrangements and performative organizations that interweave resource, artwork, and collaborative artistic response.
Residents pay a $200 residency fee and $50 deposit to hold space upon acceptance of invitation. Residents are required to fund their own travel, although Elsewhere, as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, can assist artists with granting opportunities. Collaborative or collective groups are encouraged to apply. Shorter residencies and student-residencies are available.
The application requires a written portion including a written application, resume/CV, digital work samples, and a phone interview.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Eileen at the Locks Gallery
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Self Exposed
Mike liked to sketch faces. His drawings were similar to this Cezanne sketch:
(picture used with the courtesy of http://www.jamesharrisgallery.com/Previous%20Exhibitions/junctions.htm)
Afterwards, he abandoned his face studies and dedicated himself to exploring the sculptural potential of paper (a practice related to but not the same as Chun's).
Does this mean that Mike's facial explorations through drawing were insincere (because he dropped them at the first sight of something cooler) or that Mike's facial explorations were sincere but Chun's work opened a new creative path in Mike's mind that was more "authentically representative" of his creative self than his sketches?
Of course, one would actually have to know Mike to answer this question but I propose it because it gets one thinking about the recurring proposition: How does an artist stay true to herself? This inquiry relies on many assumptions, one being that there is a "true self" and another: that the potential for singular and honest artistic expression exists in each artist.
Cultural critic Lionel Trilling recounts J. J. Rousseau's ideas of how the pure self becomes corrupt in his 1972 book Sincerity and Authenticity:
(picture used with the courtesy of http://www.jamesharrisgallery.com/Previous%20Exhibitions/junctions.htm)
However, during a trip to NYC, Mike's world was rocked by Kwang-Young Chun's Aggregations (pictured below):
Does this mean that Mike's facial explorations through drawing were insincere (because he dropped them at the first sight of something cooler) or that Mike's facial explorations were sincere but Chun's work opened a new creative path in Mike's mind that was more "authentically representative" of his creative self than his sketches?
Of course, one would actually have to know Mike to answer this question but I propose it because it gets one thinking about the recurring proposition: How does an artist stay true to herself? This inquiry relies on many assumptions, one being that there is a "true self" and another: that the potential for singular and honest artistic expression exists in each artist.
Cultural critic Lionel Trilling recounts J. J. Rousseau's ideas of how the pure self becomes corrupt in his 1972 book Sincerity and Authenticity:
The individual who lives in an urban setting is subject to the constant influence, the literal in-flowing of the mental processes of others, which, in the degree that they stimulate or enlarge his consciousness, make it less his own. He finds it ever more difficult to know what his own self is and what being true to it consists of...Rousseau's "savage" lives within himself--proof of perfect autonomy.
The biggest problem with this line of thinking is that ignorance then becomes the goal. Hiding from new information is the cure for the disintegration of the self. When one thinks about it, this logic is absurd because from the moment of birth one is subject to an "in-flowing" of information that is not one's own. Only an impossible, abstract version of a horrible person who couldn't absorb any information could be the ideal pure self.
My interest here isn't to make people defiant of cultural refinement. I'm not saying "Don't look at other people's art, be true to your self," but rather focus on the gate. What's in your garden? What's outside of it? Where did the stuff that's in come from? Why do you keep other stuff out? Are you conscious of what is in and is out? How much so?
Let's say that Mike's facial studies were beget from the habitual drawing of the human form in a drawing class rather than a pure fascination with the subtle movements of a smile. This state is less sincere than that of Jennifer's, who was hypnotized by the peculiarities of the mouth and thought that drawing was the best medium to examine this phenomena.
The core of this thought process is actual interest vs. simulated interest. When I was a child, I liked sports because my dad did. I simulated his interest. However, as I got older, I developed a love for the passion and dizzying movement involved in the game. My simulated interest progressed into an actual interest.
Maybe Mike's interest in the face was only simulated and Chun's work opened a path that began as simulated but will evolve into actual.
Here, I have to keep the internal/external dichotomy of the self in mind. What portion of our interests are for ourselves and what portion are for society?
Trilling mentions Alex de Tocqueville's assessment of America in the 1800's. He said:
My interest here isn't to make people defiant of cultural refinement. I'm not saying "Don't look at other people's art, be true to your self," but rather focus on the gate. What's in your garden? What's outside of it? Where did the stuff that's in come from? Why do you keep other stuff out? Are you conscious of what is in and is out? How much so?
Let's say that Mike's facial studies were beget from the habitual drawing of the human form in a drawing class rather than a pure fascination with the subtle movements of a smile. This state is less sincere than that of Jennifer's, who was hypnotized by the peculiarities of the mouth and thought that drawing was the best medium to examine this phenomena.
The core of this thought process is actual interest vs. simulated interest. When I was a child, I liked sports because my dad did. I simulated his interest. However, as I got older, I developed a love for the passion and dizzying movement involved in the game. My simulated interest progressed into an actual interest.
Maybe Mike's interest in the face was only simulated and Chun's work opened a path that began as simulated but will evolve into actual.
Here, I have to keep the internal/external dichotomy of the self in mind. What portion of our interests are for ourselves and what portion are for society?
Trilling mentions Alex de Tocqueville's assessment of America in the 1800's. He said:
The democratic dispensation required [Americans] to shape their speech not by the standards of a particular class or circle but by their sense of the opinion of the public...[This] democratic style doesn't signify an absence of sincerity; it does however, indicate that the personal self to which the American would wish to be true is not the private, sold intractable self of the Englishman...[This] American self can be taken to be a microcosm of American society...
This passage describes an open self, one that is simultaneously sincere (as in true) and general. But if the self is general, how can it exist? If the American self is one shaped on the public, then the public, as being the whole, consumes the self. Logically, this leads to all being the same. Of course, us being singular entities, we are physically separate. And our placement and filters distort our in-flow, causing default peculiarities.
Therefore, the artist's job is to seek and identify these default peculiarities, these variables we've been dealt, and see how they shape the world distinctly from one's vantage point (if the goal is unique, honest expression). I watch South Park (general sameness), but I watch it from Williamsport, PA (default distinction) and see it as related to my locale and my experiences.
Mike should be conscious of the fact that his new interest in paper came from Chun and that perhaps he's currently mimicking Chun's interest for the sake of Aesthetic pop. But he should also make sure that his interest in paper and his future direction with paper is not defined by Chun's. If it is, it can't help but be false. He must discover aspects of paper that are colored by his experiences; ones that make a favorable impression on him because he's him.
Chun's interest in mulberry paper came from his Korean's cultures traditional use of mulberry paper. Mike unconsciously cut up paper while he was bored in class in high school. This can be claimed as an honest interest due to a past experience. If he explores paper in that context by making tiny notebook paper sculptures, he's being true to himself. This would then be a synthesis of an inner interest combined with an external stimulant to form a particular, honest path. If others have cut up notebook paper to make sculptures in exactly the same way as Mike, it's a victory for the innate generality of the self caused by common experience, but it's sincere.
Therefore, the artist's job is to seek and identify these default peculiarities, these variables we've been dealt, and see how they shape the world distinctly from one's vantage point (if the goal is unique, honest expression). I watch South Park (general sameness), but I watch it from Williamsport, PA (default distinction) and see it as related to my locale and my experiences.
Mike should be conscious of the fact that his new interest in paper came from Chun and that perhaps he's currently mimicking Chun's interest for the sake of Aesthetic pop. But he should also make sure that his interest in paper and his future direction with paper is not defined by Chun's. If it is, it can't help but be false. He must discover aspects of paper that are colored by his experiences; ones that make a favorable impression on him because he's him.
Chun's interest in mulberry paper came from his Korean's cultures traditional use of mulberry paper. Mike unconsciously cut up paper while he was bored in class in high school. This can be claimed as an honest interest due to a past experience. If he explores paper in that context by making tiny notebook paper sculptures, he's being true to himself. This would then be a synthesis of an inner interest combined with an external stimulant to form a particular, honest path. If others have cut up notebook paper to make sculptures in exactly the same way as Mike, it's a victory for the innate generality of the self caused by common experience, but it's sincere.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Art Lies!
The following is a link to an art magazine's website...
http://www.artlies.org/index.php
The quarterly is called ART LIES! I've only read a few articles but the writing seems well-informed and cutting edge, so, I thought I'd spread it around a bit.
Enjoy!
http://www.artlies.org/index.php
The quarterly is called ART LIES! I've only read a few articles but the writing seems well-informed and cutting edge, so, I thought I'd spread it around a bit.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
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