The best of 2007 - An Art as Authority Round-up
Yes it's that time of year where we at Art as Authority get to choose some of the best of the best in last year's blog postings. It is of course a very slanted and subjective choice and a somewhat difficult one at that. Perhaps you our faithful reader will recognize and enjoy re-reading some of the picks, others you might discover for the first time but yet, I hope this will be an enjoyable trip into the past. We're very proud here at Art as Authority of our two year run thus far and would like to take this opportunity to thank all the readers, commenters and especially the contributors to the editorial line: Maura Vazakas, Hervé Crespel, Richard Gleaves, Julien Colombier, KAI1 and Poor Al. So without further ado and in no particular order, I give you the best of 2007.
1.) Exposé part II - Tom Torluemke - his paintings
“The Secret Life of Salvador Dali,” published in 1942 against the backdrop of spectacular world events including World War II, the Sino-Japanese War, the Wannsee conference in Berlin which opened the doors to the Holocaust - to name but a few, Dali wrote a manifesto of sorts aptly entitled “My Battle” which wasn’t fought with the Allies against the Axis powers of Germany, Italy and Japan but was fought against conformity in any spiritual, philosophical or aesthetic form. It was one man’s fight against the Nine Muses or any Muse for that matter that threatened to level the battle field to a match nul.
2.) Crystal Clear
WHEN I moved to Brussels to open my gallery, I found a large home with commercial ground floor space and living up above. De-centralized from the downtown arts district, I found myself located in a predominately Turkish and Moroccan neighbourhood with a couple of aging Belgian families too old to relocate or too stubborn to move like some already lost Alamo battle against the rising tide of immigration washing upon their shore.
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3.) "I'm a Fountain of Love"
"Life in Front of a Bowl of Chineese Noodles"
- Julien Colombier
Julien Colombier - Paris, France (friend Erik in photo) - www.myspace.com/mrjulien_c
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4.) Art and Oil: A Tragedy in 5 Parts
The following posting germinated out of a forwarded email to Richard Gleaves, fellow Art as Authority contributor, that I received from Mark Vallen's weblog: www.art-for-a-change.com/blog concerning BP's (British Petroleum) recent $25 million dollar donation to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). The museum according to Vallen's article, "plans to dedicate a new entry gate and pavilion to the energy Goliath. To be christened the 'BP Grand Entrance', the construction is nothing more than an edifice to big oil and the clearest example yet of the increasing corporatization of the arts in America."
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5.) New work from the studio - Hervé Crespel
"Clair de lune"
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6.) San Diego Round-up Part 2 : "A Fine Line"
Rubber Rose Gallery - Ray St.
"Make Money B 4 I Die" - Monica Hoover
THERE are very few times (lately) that I’ve walked into an exhibition and have been captivated by what I saw.
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7.) A Fair(y) Use Tale
If the traditional avant-garde suffered a fatal commoditization from the one-two-three punch of a taboo-free liberalized society, a cultural fetish for novelty, and advanced real-time marketing, then the neo-avant-garde thrives by simply flouting the law: specifically the victimless laws of defacement and theft: aka graffiti and copyright infringement.
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8.) KAI1 - A photo essay
"Wrecked doors are a part of a vast network of unchecked layers of anarchy which are now being forced off of good spots and into the asscrack fringes of culture. In them sometimes, we witness a multi-layered collaboration of dozens of different human beings." - KAI1
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9.) What does a Frank Gehry inspired silver gas station and a circus-themed western have in common?
If you are thinking the answer is the back lot of Paramount studios, you're "half" correct! The "half" that I am talking about is LA. This blog is about an action-packed, visually-stimulating, art trip to LA, the art capitol of this wonderful US of A (sorry NYC)!
I started our "art runs" back in 2003, when I realized the art scene here in S.D. was beginning to fade and I desperately needed some visual stimulation to inspire me to paint!
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10.) The "New Contemporaries" @ Simayspace - Part I - OR
Impressions: soleil couchant à l'ouest
"Industry Need Not Want"(detail) - Allison Wiese
A personal dilemma I have had lately, when visiting an exhibition, is what information am I relying on - meaning what do I exactly see in front of me - and what do I need to fill in with past visual experiences/memories, knowledge or these days, an artist’s website. It’s as if I need some sort of cultural reference guidebook or art historical dictionary to remind me where I’ve seen work like this before let alone getting a crack at, or a glimpse of its ubiquitous meaning.
continue... and also here, here and here.
11.) Spacecraft Studio Lands in North Park - Part I
"To boldly go where no man has gone before" is indeed a lofty mission statement by which most of us know by now is the stuff of science fiction; much like the exuberant proclamations of the Administration’s equally enthusiastic “The Way Forward” or “Mission Accomplished”. The upside of the adventures of Capt. Kirk and the USS Enterprise is that their journey has never really ended, boldly moving forward exploring every nook and cranny of the universe. The downside of the political quagmire we find ourselves in today is that we are truly stuck, hardly advancing and sinking deeper.
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12.) RECON - "A Lesson in Lab101"
an art column by poor al
Freddi C and Crash
A LESSON IN LAB101
First let me apologize for the long delay in any ‘recon’. The last Collabro show that I curated kicked my ass, and honestly I still am just recovering. However I am ‘back in action’ now and will have many more articles coming as I check out some new spots that have caught my eye in LA and Orange County.