Art as Authority

by Marilyn Mitchell


Every year I make one or two trips to NYC to visit family & friends and to walk through as many galleries as possible. This year I was able to make a trip to the National Gallery in D.C., too, which included one of the highlights of my trip. In the contemporary wing of the National Gallery, top floor, there was a room full of Phillip Guston paintings. Photos were not allowed. The room contained about 15 of his works from his early abstractions to his later comic influenced paintings. They also had a video of Guston speaking about his work on a loop. He spoke of how when he began to bring imagery back into his paintings, many people criticized him. He wanted his works to have meaning once again, though not literal meaning, so the images are not realistic. My favorite works of his are from his later period because they are so unlike anything else anyone was doing at the time. It's interesting to note that Jackson Pollack also attempted to bring back some imagery into his painting before he died and was vehemently criticized for it. Guston also said, "Nothing is ever solved in painting." I think we can say that nothing is ever solved in art. Art is not about the ends or the resolution of a journey - it is the evidence of the lived experience.



Jack Pierson

In NYC there were a number of wonderful shows, including a Kandinsky show for the Guggenheim's 50th Anniversary exhibit, a special Vermeer exhibit at the Metropolitan and a fabulous exhibit called "The Art of the Samurai" also at the Met. To me, though, my time in Chelsea always feels the most important.

One of my favorite exhibitions in Chelsea was at Cheim & Read where they were showing Jack Pierson. He takes old signage and rearranges it so it no longer has the 'meaning' that it had. Instead, the result is calligraphic without language. The pieces are whimsical and dance along the walls.

Jack Pierson

Jack Pierson

Jack Pierson

The other stand out exhibit for me was at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery which had Dennis Hopper's show "Signs of the Times". Hopper primarily exhibited photographs which are impressive for their quality and number. He has been working on the project for eighteen years and accumulated over 10,000 photographs. The exhibition had less than fifty, all worthy of contemplation, and not just because they often were of celebrities. Hopper creates portraits of people in distinct environments. They are photos that are revealing, both of personalities and of certain times.

Unfortunately, Hopper has commissioned some sign painters to create large scale oil paintings from some of the more interesting photographs. It is now common place for artists to hire others to create aspects of their work for them. In fact, for hundreds of years artists have employed assistants to complete works for them. What is objectionable in Hopper's case, though, is that he is not a painter. The paintings are done as thinly as possible so they are as close as possible to the tonality of the photos. Why bother doing an oil paint interpretation when there is no interpretation? Since I use photos as references for oil paintings, it strikes me as a huge missed opportunity to create such bland oil paintings from such wonderful photos. If nothing else, painted pieces must take into consideration the paint but these do not. They are flat, lifeless copies - no better than something a high school student might do. The paintings are not signed and there is no attribution to the actual painter - whoever that is. So, the question is, are they works by Dennis Hopper? If sold, who gets the payment? Is it ethical to sell works as your own when your hand did not participate in the creation of the piece? If those paintings are sold as works by Dennis Hopper, any reproduction would therefore be considered works by Dennis Hopper. If you print out the photo reproduced below, can you sell it as an original Dennis Hopper? Why not? Is there any difference between a sculpture which is cast in a foundry by artisans and an oil painting painted by a sign painter? I believe there is.



Dennis Hopper ©2007 artnet - The art world online. All rights reserved. artnet is a registered trademark of artnet Worldwide Corporation, New York, NY.

I think the process of painting indelibly contains the sensibility of the artist, if it is done with any honest effort. Painting and drawing are so direct that simply telling someone what to do does not include all of the variations of tone, pressure, line, thickness, glossiness or texture that is possible with an oil painting or a drawing. No one can create exactly the same painting twice. There are always variations. A casting is a process that does not vary considerably from the original piece. If, in fact, we all truly believed that others can create our works for us, why do we even have a term for forgery? Why send anyone to jail for forgery? They are only creating the original person's art again. What is wrong with that if we consider artist's hiring others to create their works perfectly okay? For years the whole 'hiring' of others to create one's art has bothered me. After seeing these Dennis Hopper paintings, I can say without hesitation - they are unworthy of the term art.

Spun by Art as Authority at 09:22 AM | Permalink

from the press release





Suzanne Wright
“Memories of the Future”

Closing reception: Friday, October 30
7:00 – 9:00 pm
Visual Arts Facility Gallery
UC San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr. MC 0084
Exhibition runs October 25 - 30, 2009, Noon - 5:00pm

Suzanne Wright is an Master of Fine Arts Candidate in UC San Diego’s Visual Arts Department. Her large scale colored pencil drawings create fantastical environments, landscapes, and a physiological space while evoking a sense of humor and beauty.

http://va-grad.ucsd.edu/~drupal/node/1141

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from the press release





Edgeware Gallery
4186 Adams Ave.
San Diego, CA 92116

On October 30, Edgeware Gallery will celebrate its one year anniversary with its first group show. The wine and cheese reception will be from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m, and the artists in attendance will be Dan Adams, Kim Maria Cruz, Brittany Heskett, Anna Zappoli Jenkins, Maura McHugh, Joseph Mark Mueller, Mark Rimland, Anna Stump, Daniel Thedell, Chris Vannoy, and Eric Wixon.

“We wanted to create a bond with the artistic community”, says Edgeware Gallery Chief Dr. Stephen Edelson, who’s also the Director of the adjoining Autism Research Institute. “And what better way for us to get to know the artists, and for the artists to get to know Edgeware than by having them create their pieces live at Edgeware, which they’ve been doing for the past two weeks”, continues Edelson. “We hope to forge a permanent connection with these artists.”

So please come attend the Opening Night reception, rub elbows with the artists, and enjoy the art and wine and cheese, and remember that any artwork you purchase is a win/win/win: You, the patron, will now own an original artwork to grace the walls of your residence; you will be directly supporting a local artist; and at the same time, 100% of the net profits from all Art Wow sales go to support autism research.

The Autism Research Institute has been a fixture in San Diego since 1967. ARI was founded by the late Dr. Bernard Rimland to conduct research, and to spread the message that “autism is treatable”. Mark Rimland, the adult son of Dr. Rimland, is the resident artist at Edgeware.

Spun by Art as Authority at 08:50 AM | Permalink

from the press release





United & Severed
That window of Time..

Panel Discussion with Artists & Participants
Thursday, Oct. 29, 6 - 7:30pm

ART Produce Gallery
3139 University Avenue
San Diego, CA
619.584.4448
www.artproducegallery.com





The panel discussion features a dialogue among the collaborators and Kim Anderson about the artwork, trauma and disability. Anderson participated in the project through sharing her personal stories and writings. Anderson was looking forward to majoring in music until a car accident permanently injured her two weeks before her 19th birthday. Now paralyzed from the shoulders down, she is finishing her teaching credential and her Masters of Education at National University, having graduated cum laude from Cal State San Marcos with a bachelor's degree in Literature and Writing in 2007.

Kristine Diekman & Karen Schaffman
(writing-audio-videography-choreography-installation)
Richard Keely & Anna O'Cain
(sculpture-installation)

For more info. about United & Severed:
http://www2.csusm.edu/diekman/un_sev

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TONIGHT ONLY !

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from the press release

Off The Beaten Path: Violence, Women and Art lecture

26 October 2009
UCSD Campus
Center Hall, room 109
6:30pm

Please join the University Art Gallery, UCSD in the first of three discussions associated with the current exhibition entitled Off the Beaten Path: Violence, Women and Art that to explore the global ramifications of gender-based violence. "Throughout the world, women and girls are victims of countless and senseless acts of violence. The range of gender-based violence is devastating, occurring, quite literally, from womb to tomb," explains Randy Jayne Rosenberg curator and executive director of Art Works For Change. "The stories that underlie these artworks return us imaginatively to the event of violation and allow it to affect us."

This program will be in a roundtable discussion that examines the range of issues from domestic violence to human trafficking that affect women globally and what is being done to address these concerns as well as what action can be taken.

Speakers include: Farrah Douglas from 5 Women Who Care, Taja McKinney-Zisler from Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking, Kathi Anderson from Survivors of Torture, Katie Feifer from The Voices and Faces Project and Verna Tabor from Center for Community Solutions.

This programming has been endorsed by Amnesty International, Casa Cornelia Law Center, Center for Community Solutions, San Diego, Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking, End Violence Against Women International, License to Freedom, Survivors of Torture, The Voices and Faces Project, United 4 Iran, and Women's Resource Center as well as departments and programs on campus.

ABOUT ART WORKS FOR CHANGE
Art Works for Change produces contemporary art exhibitions to address social and environmental.
It uses the power of art as a vehicle to promote dialogue and awareness, and to inspire action and thought. Art Works for Change operates under the fiscal umbrella of the Tides Center, a tax-exempt organization.

ABOUT 5 WOMEN WHO CARE
5 Women Who Care is a group of women who came together to help make a difference and bring awareness to women's and children's issues globally. Operating out of the San Diego area, these 5 Women collaborate with like-minded organizations for the empowerment and justice of women and children worldwide.

The University Art Gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 5pm.
858.534.2107
uag@ucsd.edu

Spun by Art as Authority at 05:17 PM | Permalink

by Kevin Freitas

T'is neither here nor there.
— Othello

Since the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art mounted "A San Diego Exhibition: 42 Emerging Artists" in 1985, tongues have wagged over the question of who was in and who was not.
— Leah Ollman, Los Angeles Times, August 18, 1988.

Will tongues still be wagging in 2010 ? According to a recent article by Robert Pincus in the Union-Tribune, the La Jolla branch of the MCA has announced plans for a major exhibition of local artists entitled "Here Not There". A guarded optimism is in order.

Scheduled to open in the summer of 2010, the show's aim Pincus reports, (is) "the desire to present a wide-ranging show, in terms of media and approaches to the making of art." According to the museum, "San Diego has developed a critical mass of local talent.” Hallelujah I say, you might even be thinking the same thing right about now, but wait, there's further cause for celebration. The show's curator Lucia Sanroman, who is also the museum's associate curator, has issued a call for submissions from artists who want to be considered for this exhibit. There is no guarantee of course, as all final selections will be approved and made by a curatorial committee that includes the museum's director Hugh Davies. If interested, the museum's submission guidelines can be found here. You need to be a resident of San Diego County to submit. The deadline is January 1, 2010. And finally, art students at any grade level, are asked not to apply.

Some of that critical mass will be chased down in the nooks & crannies of North County, North Park and further south to what I'm guessing will be Barrio Logan or what according to Pincus, the museum has dubbed as the "alternative art scene." This should raise a few eyebrows, if only to ask "alternative to what ?" Alternative used in any relationship to the art world today, has likely petered out its once distinguishing character of well, uh... existing outside of the cultural norm. Still this is very gratifying; if Sanroman is willing to look in these places by letting the artists out of their pens, she will be richly compensated for her efforts with good works by good artists.

Pincus finally points out that there have been several exhibits here about here within the past twenty-five years. Hunter S. Thompson use to bemoan the fact that the art of writing headlines — maybe titles as well — had been lost. I wonder if "Here Not There" doesn't rank right up there with my favorite, "Innocence is Questionable". But I digress. Here are some of those exhibitions: San Diego '72, A San Diego Exhibition: 42 Emerging Artists, Civilians curated by David Hickey, Common Ground: A Regional Exhibition, Off Broadway: New Art From Downtown San Diego and more recently, the unmentioned Homing In exhibit organized by Quint Gallery and to a certain extent, Quint gallery's thirty year retrospective at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido.

So, for all my naysaying that I have been accused of as of late, I truly hope Sanroman & Co. will take the high road and bring back some dignity to the meaning of the words: alternative, diversity, community and emerging and not Something Old, Something Borrowed, Something Blue but Something New. San Diego despite what some people think is ready — stop coddling — this exhibit might very well be our ticket to adulthood.


The full article by Robert Pincus can be read here.

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Saturday & Sunday October 24 + 25
11am to 6pm

Brewery 2009 Fall Artwalk
2100 North Main Street
Los Angeles, CA 90031
E-mail: breweryartwalk@yahoo.com
Web site: http://breweryartwalk.com

Spun by Art as Authority at 09:53 AM | Permalink

by Richard Gleaves

Spun by Richard Gleaves at 11:02 AM | Permalink

from the press release


JOHN BALDESSARI: PURE BEAUTY

Tate Modern London, United Kingdom
Running from October 13, 2009 – January 10, 2010

The JOHN BALDESSARI: PURE BEAUTY Catalogue is Co-Authored by, UC San Diego Visual Arts Professor, John Welchman.

Welchman was also co-author of the catalogs for John Baldessari: BRICK BLDG, LG WINDOWS W/XLENT VIEWS, PARTIALLY FURNISHED, RENOWNED ARCHITECT, Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, Germany, March 1 to July 19, 2009; and John Baldessari: Music, ed. Stefan Gronert and Christina Végh, Kunstmuseum Bonn and Bonner Kunstverein (Walter König, 2007).

JOHN BALDESSARI: PURE BEAUTY is traveling to the following locations:
Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, February 11 – April 25, 2010
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, June 27 – September 12, 2010
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, October 17, 2010 – January 9, 2011

Please read below for the Tate Modern press release

John Baldessari: Pure Beauty

In association with Rolex
Supported by The John Baldessari Exhibition Supporters Group
Tate Modern Level 4 East
Tuesday 13 October 2009 – Sunday 10 January 2010
Admission £10
Opening hours: Sunday to Thursday, 10.00–18.00. Friday and Saturday, 10.00–22.00. Last admission into exhibitions 17.15 (Friday and Saturday 21.15).
Public information number: 020 7887 8888.
Public information URL: http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/johnbaldessari/default.shtm

Press release: 3 July 2009

John Baldessari (b1931) is widely regarded as one of contemporary art’s foremost conceptual artists. Tate Modern presents the most extensive retrospective of his work to date in the UK opening on 13 October 2009.

John Baldessari: Pure Beauty will bring together more than 130 works and examine the principal concerns of this legendary Californian artist. With humour and irony, Baldessari’s work dissects the ideas underlying artistic practice and questions the historically accepted rules of how to make art. Fascinated by language and meaning, he has always been interested in the connection between working in the visual field and working with words.

The combination of film, photography and painting has become one of the key elements in Baldessari’s art. Beginning with his early photo-and-text works from the late 1960s, the exhibition includes his extensive use of found film imagery in the combined photographs of the 1980s, the irregular-shaped and over-painted works of the 1990s, as well as video, and concludes with his most recent works to date.

In the 1960s he notably painted statements derived from contemporary art theory and instructional manuals onto canvas. These early major works from Everything Is Purged …1966-68 to Tips for Artists Who Want to Sell 1966-68 will be included in the show. From the 1970s he marries his humorous pursuit of a new visual language to film. I Will Not Make Anymore Boring Art 1971 sees Baldessari record himself on videotape repeatedly writing the lines over and over again in a notebook for the duration of the tape. This period also begins his experimentation with collage using film stills and his own photos to conceive a series of aligned images. In the Blasted Allegories series from 1978, Baldessari explores the language of associated images by assembling a literal dictionary of photographs randomly sampled from commercial television.

The exhibition will examine the increasingly elaborate formal structures which Baldessari introduced into his work in later years and which have become a key component to his art. Abandoning the standard rectangular canvas or photographic format, he has produced a series of works combining numerous images to create various unconventional formats. Bloody Sundae 1987, for instance, forms an inverted T shape on the wall. On top, two men attack a third beside a stack of paintings; on the bottom, a couple lounges on a bed, a breakfast tray between them, all five faces obliterated by Baldessari’s signature circles of colour, increasing the unease.

Baldessari’s production of books and prints will feature in the exhibition as well as lesser-known works and installations. There will also be new installation made specifically for the Tate Modern exhibition.

John Baldessari: Pure Beauty has been organised by Tate Modern in association with Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The show is curated by Jessica Morgan, Curator of Contemporary Art at Tate Modern) and Leslie Jones, Associate Curator, Prints and Drawings at LACMA and assisted by Kerryn Greenberg, Assistant Curator, Tate Modern. The exhibition will travel to Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, 5 February-25 April 2010, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 20 June-12 September 2010, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 17 October 2010-9 January 2011. The exhibition will be accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue with essays by major writers, curators, art historians and former students of John Baldessari.

John Baldessari was born in 1931 in National City, California and studied art at San Diego State College (1949-57). He taught at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, CA from 1970-1988 and the University of California at Los Angeles from 1996-2007.

His artwork has been featured in more than 200 solo exhibitions and in over 900 group exhibitions in the U.S. and Europe. His projects include artist books, videos, films, billboards and public works. His awards and honours include memberships in the American Academy of Arts and Letters and in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Americans for the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award, the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, the California Governor's Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts, the Oscar Kokoschka Prize, the “Spectrum” Internationaler Preis für Fotografie, and the BACA International 2008. He has received honorary degrees from the National University of Ireland, San Diego State University, and Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design. He lives and works in Santa Monica.

For further information contact Bomi Odufunade/Oliver Krug, Tate Press Office, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG Call 020 7887 4941/4942 Fax 020 7887 8729, Email: pressoffice@tate.org.uk

Photo credits: Top - John Baldessari, Portrait: Self #1 as Control + 11 Alterations by Retouching and Airbrushing, 1974 Bottom - John Baldessari, Noses & Ears, Etc.: Blood, Fist, And Head (With Nose and Ear), 2006

Purchase catalog here.

Spun by Art as Authority at 08:50 AM | Permalink

from the press release

23 October > 12 December 2009
Opening Reception 22 October 6:00 > 8.30pm

University Art Gallery, UCSD
9500 Gilman Drive
Mandeville Center
La Jolla, CA 92093
858.534.2107
uag.ucsd.edu

With: Amnesty International, Laylah Ali, Maimuna Feroze-Nana, Mona Hatoum, Icelandic Love Corporation, Yoko Inoue, International Rescue Committee, Jung Jungyeob, Amal Kenawy, Lisa Bjørne Linert, Hung Liu, Gabriela Morawetz, Miri Nishri, Yoko Ono, Cecilia Paredes, Susan Plum, Cima Rahmankhah, Joyce J. Scott, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Masami Teroka, Hank Willis Thomas

For the new exhibition season the University Art Gallery, UC San Diego presents an international exhibition entitled Off The Beaten Path: Violence, Women and Art.

The exhibition brings together artists from around the world to explore the global ramifications of gender-based violence. The exhibition, curated by Randy Jayne Rosenberg executive director of Art Works For Change, features twenty-one artists from nineteen countries. "Throughout the world, women and girls are victims of countless and senseless acts of violence. The range of gender-based violence is devastating, occurring, quite literally, from womb to tomb," explains Randy Jayne Rosenberg. "The stories that underlie these artworks return us imaginatively to the event of violation and allow it to affect us." Premised on the visionary potential in art, the exhibition avoids tabloid and sensational imagery. The invited artists were asked, "To help us create new representations through their artworks and, in doing so, help us feel and understand the essence of the problem of violence against women," says Rosenberg.

The exhibition hopes to help create a new conversation on this important topic. The exhibition explores multiple aspects of violence against women and girls organized within several thematic categories: Violence and the Individual; Violence and the Family; Violence and the Community; Violence and Culture; Violence and Politics. The organizers hope the audience leaves the exhibition with a better understanding of the roots of abuse, a feeling of empathy, and an awareness of choice in their actions and beliefs. These problems, though widespread, are often invisible, says Rosenberg. "When we encounter violence against women, we often overlook the facts and experience a sort of blindness. We choose not to see the devastation of domestic violence, calling it 'a family affair'. Honor-killings of women in faraway regions of the world become nothing more than a 'cultural difference'. We find it hard to believe that sex trafficking and exploitation occur in our cities, close to home. The rape and torture of women during armed conflict is the inevitable 'messiness of war'. As such, the political and systemic sources of violence are often underestimated or overlooked."

The University Art Gallery is partnering with 5 Women Who Care, Amnesty International, Casa Cornelia Law Center, CastLA, Center for Community Solutions - San Diego, End Violence Against Women International, Survivors of Torture, The Voices and Faces Project, United 4 Iran and Women's Resource Center as well as departments and programs on campus in order to create an extensive calendar of programming. Please visit our website at uag.ucsd.edu regularly to find out about the different events taking place.

ABOUT ART WORKS FOR CHANGE
Art Works for Change produces contemporary art exhibitions to address social and environmental.
It uses the power of art as a vehicle to promote dialogue and awareness, and to inspire action and thought. Art Works for Change operates under the fiscal umbrella of the Tides Center, a tax-exempt organization.

ABOUT 5 WOMEN WHO CARE
5 Women Who Care is a group of women who came together to help make a difference and bring awareness to women's and children's issues globally. Operating out of the San Diego area, these 5 Women collaborate with like-minded organizations for the empowerment and justice of women and children worldwide.

The University Art Gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 5pm.
For further information please phone 858.534.2107 or email uag@ucsd.edu

Spun by Art as Authority at 11:57 AM | Permalink

by Kevin Freitas





The complete video taped session of the "Meet the Press" panel discussion, held at Art Produce Gallery several weeks ago, can now be viewed online. It is a discussion that is absolutely needed and far from being over. You can link to the videos here.

A quick poll:

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Monday, October 19, 7 p.m.
James S. Copley Auditorium
San Diego Museum of Art

$12 members/$15 nonmembers/$10 students

Artist and filmmaker Neil Kendricks leads a lecture/screening of three films by the hugely influential experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage.

So why pay and go when you can sit and click?

Because abstract Brakhage is less image than sound and light: and the sound's the clatter of celluloid, threading the sprockets on a hot machine.

Spun by Richard Gleaves at 11:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

by Kevin Freitas


As the conservative media continues to take pot-shots at anything that remotely smells of the left, it's just a matter of time before they turn their jaundiced eye on the Arts. Everyone's a critic it has been said, and while right-wingers are ranting about everything from the president's selection of artworks for the White House to Fox News commentator Glenn Beck's discovery of Communist artworks in the heart of downtown New York, or Andy Rooney's appraisal of what is or is not public art, you have to wonder if (art) criticism, objectivity, and rational thinking - practiced by some - haven't left the building with Elvis.

Full story can be found here and here.

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The unreal is more powerful than the real, because nothing is as perfect as you can imagine it. because its only intangible ideas, concepts, beliefs, fantasies that last. stone crumbles. wood rots. people, well, they die. but things as fragile as a thought, a dream, a legend, they can go on and on.
— Chuck Palahniuk

http://devicegallery.com
http://www.claybone.com

Spun by Art as Authority at 12:02 PM | Permalink

from the press release





United & Severed
That window of Time..

Opening Reception: Oct. 17, 6 - 9pm

ART Produce Gallery
3139 University Avenue
San Diego, CA
619.584.4448

An interdisciplinary work based on the experiences of 3 women living with traumatic injuries. Research for this artwork began with Diekman & Schaffman's interviews with Kim Anderson, Michele Caputo, & Ivy Kensinger. They tell their personal stories of shock injury where in a single moment their lives were changed forever.

Kristine Diekman & Karen Schaffman
(writing-audio-videography-choreography-installation)
Richard Keely & Anna O'Cain
(sculpture-installation)





Show dates: Oct.17 - Dec. 6, 2009

Panel Discussion with Artists & Participants: Oct. 29, 6 - 7:30pm
Video screening with Artists & Participants: Nov. 14, 6 - 9pm

For more info:
United & Severed: http://www2.csusm.edu/diekman/un_sev/
ART Produce Gallery: http://www.artproducegallery.com

Spun by Art as Authority at 07:19 PM | Permalink

by Kevin Freitas





Philly Joe Swendoza gives us his own version of a double header. In the first round, Philly Joe and I talk about the recent panel discussion held at Art Produce Gallery. Some of you were there to "Meet the Press", if you missed it, you can now listen to the broadcast for a brief summarization of the evening's events.

Segment 1

In the second round, Philly Joe goes solo with a third installment of Raging Art Bull, and wonders if there isn't too much good will prospering in San Diego's art community. Give a listen.

Segment 2


* Jonathan Richman

Spun by Art as Authority at 07:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

by Richard Gleaves

Nina Paley's feature-length animation Sita Sings the Blues is now part of free culture on the net.

It's available (in 10 parts) on YouTube, but life's too short to waste pure beauty on low res.

Instead, go to the Sita web site, download a high-res copy, and watch it. You'll be glad you did.

Then send the artist money as you see fit — it's easy.

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by Richard Gleaves

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by Marilyn Mitchell


MCASD is exhibiting a number of works from their Annenberg Foundation Acquisitions at their downtown space at 1001 Kettner across from the Santa Fe Depot. Even if you're not especially a fan of minimalism, this is a vital group of works to see. Called "Primary Forms", the works do generally take standard geometric shapes but they are also often subtle plays on perception. Their copy states that it focuses on works from the 1960's and 1970's but the most interesting works are from after 1990. Judging from this show, minimalism has not run its course yet. Again, the museum claims these pieces address the notion of "...materiality as its dematerialization through the reflection and diffusion of light." All of the pieces require a few minutes of viewing in order for your perceptions to register the variations and changes. Attaching photos would not even begin to give you the pleasure of sensing them on-site — so I have purposely not added photos to this commentary, except for the image link to the museum's website above.

In our culture, museum going may be one of the only places where we allow our vision to rest on an object for minutes at a time. The act of viewing can be calming and refreshing for me. In the past, though, some minimalist works annoyed me. I found them not especially interesting or clever. Okay, a cube, big deal, was my feeling. "Primary Forms" has one stellar piece, though, worth the trip. It's a piece so subtle that the museum guard that day said he had never seen any single museum goer actually notice the piece without being told about it until my husband pointed it out to me.

The piece I am urging you to experience is on the second floor of the museum across from the elevator — the experience is in how you will see it. It's called "Wall MCASD Downtown" and it's by Wendy Jacob from 1993. You may notice the museum wall card describing the piece before you even see the piece, as I did. I read the placard and then felt confused because I didn't 'see' the piece. I asked my husband where the piece was and he responded, "It's right in front of you". I stood looking in front of me for a few seconds and noticed the wall appeared to be expanding in front of me! What a surprise — a wall that breathes with a slow steady pace accompanied by the sound of it's expansion and contraction. If you stood in front of this 'wall', it would appear like a blank, white wall. It's only when you are standing to the side of it as you read the placard that you can notice that it moves.

Wendy Jacob's piece is successful because there are standard museum going conventions, like written placards and white walls. She transforms the very surface that is meant to support the art into a memorable and unique experience. It made me consider how the institutions we visit that contain art are themselves learned experiences that can be viewed in new ways. It also reminded me how we are generally complacent as what is alive or animate versus what is dead or inanimate. "Wall MCASD Downtown" moves but it is inanimate so that also one can begin to question how we define life. It has nothing to do with reflection and light but it is certainly about what we call art and its material nature. The definition of art has undergone so much expansion in the last 40 years that it is difficult to ever claim one knows what art really is. If we pin it down in any way, it seems to slither away with defiance and glee. Wendy Jacob's piece brought art to the very structure of where art is housed and I know it made my afternoon step a bit bouncier because of my sense of joy from seeing it. Enjoy!

Spun by Art as Authority at 05:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

by Kevin Freitas



"Gold Mama" - Vanessa Madrid


It occurred to me on visiting the new exhibit at Palomar College Boehm Gallery that I’ve been to several campus galleries like this one, and curiously enough, they all pretty much look the same. I’ve bemoaned the gallery at Southwestern College already for their poor space management; the Boehm Gallery on the other hand is much smaller and divided into equal halves. It’s better but still not optimal. The room on the left has a linoleum floor; the room to the right is carpeted in a light gray which neutralizes any sculpture laid upon it. It’s a gallery with two distinct personalities. I imagine most of these community colleges were constructed during the late 70’s and early 80’s during the push to educate everyone in America, however, with no real thought behind what would be put inside. Campus galleries suffered the same indignation.

Artist Talk - Part 1 with Sandra Doore, Marisol Rendón, Brian Dick, Zac Monday and Rebecca Tice

A few white walls, some track lighting and you got yourself a gallery. In essence these spaces are like Tupperware, square containers designated for the showing of generic student leftovers. Their use as galleries for exhibiting contemporary artwork is severely handicapped by their inflexibility. They are for the most part, unfriendly towards any type of installation or conceptually based art. Which begs an interesting question, should they be reserved for student and faculty shows only?

This pre-condition might have hampered to a certain extent, the works in “Stretched, Stitched & Stuffed”. Of course, you can’t always blame the space. You also have to consider the works chosen. All the artists in the show share a common thread, that of soft sculpture: stitching & sewing their way through various fabrics, vinyl’s, and furs, stretching them over wooden armatures or stuffing their pieces with batting, more fabric, or in the case of Marisol Rendón, inflating them with air. In the end, the artists share similar methods and techniques for making soft sculpture. Beyond the curatorial conceit and the recipe theme, the show’s strength resides within several pieces by artists I did not know. Unfortunately, they were often overshadowed by incongruent, if not excessively large scale works in a space that could not handle everything comfortably.

"from the series: Nobody Knows the Hunger that the Other One Eats With" - Marisol Rendón


Two works come to mind as being in opposition to the show’s theme and space: John Dillemuth’s Love Pod and Marisol Rendón’s from the series: Nobody Knows the Hunger that the Other One Eats With. Simply put, Rendón’s sculpture is much too large and cumbersome; it dominates the small gallery space and interferes with Brian Dick’s foam tires piled up in the corner and Mely Barragán’s wall pieces. Rendón’s sculpture is unconvincing in its overripe gaudiness – a large inflatable tomato and a stack of green onions – the fur that covers them heightens their kitschiness. Recalling some of Claes Oldenburg’s oversized sculptures and in particular some of the animated works in plaster from The Store, Rendón’s piece is a polar opposite – formless and dead – its meaning (as expressed in the artist talk Rendón gave) is imperceptible. The Alice in Wonderland shift in scale is likely the only thing that saves the sculpture from collapsing artistically.

I’ve always liked Dillemuth’s work and Love Pod is no exception. A bright, colorful, and whimsical love seat has been fabricated from wood and spandex fabric. A Hobbit-like pod with a vinyl banana seat for two people – though I’m not quite sure how - is inviting to sit on, while a trail of frosted covered stepping stones leads you to the structure. A small light bulb in the shape of a flame adorns the top of the pod, beckoning wayward lovers lost at sea. The problem however, isn’t so much the work itself; I just don’t know what it’s doing here in the context of this show. Its placement and rather static nature, confines it to a corner of the gallery where it barely integrates with the rest of the show. I would have liked to have seen a better use of its seductive qualities. Sandra Doore’s work – while beautiful - might have suffered the same fate. Several of her pieces from a larger body of work and installation entitled “Primal Sense”, were dispersed around the gallery diluting the “high-end boutique” feel the artist told me she strives for when presenting all the works together. The effort put into fabricating Plexiglas clothes hangers and a rack along with other support structures for the free-standing sculptures confirms this intent.

"Bataille's Table of Content" - Sandra Doore



"Anatomy of Drama" - Sandra Doore


However, it was probably Zac Monday who I imagine got the biggest surprise of all. Even I was fooled for a moment when I saw what looked like new works by Monday hanging on the wall and suspended from the ceiling. I did not think past my initial response, partly because Monday has successfully –for good or bad – branded himself into a corner with his crocheted works. I nonetheless felt a tinge of excitement when I saw that the works had been constructed out of music cassette tape. I was wrong though, the works weren’t by Monday but by another artist named Nicola Vruwink who lives and works in Los Angeles. Surprisingly, Vruwink was getting the same forms and appendages Monday typically gets when making his elaborate masks and full-length costumes out of yarn. Even then, I still thought Monday was using a pseudonym as part of the performative aspect that is crucial to his works, until I looked Vruwink up on the web. I’m happy to report that she exists as named.

"Macho" - Mely Barragán



"Male" - Mely Barragán


On the day of the opening, Monday attempted a somewhat orchestrated performance by having two assistants don the costumes he is actually exhibiting and instructed them to interact with the public. For the most part, the performance fell flat to a less than enthusiastic crowd of young college students. What is worrisome for me is how quickly Monday has exhausted the material and the technique of crocheting. Not taking anything away from Vruwink – sometimes a simple shift in materials will stimulate a more complex and interesting body of work – as for Monday; I’m hard pressed to imagine where he can go from here. Let’s hope he finds a new route, the wow factor is definitely starting to wane.

"Do" - Vanessa Madrid


The winner in this exhibit, if I had to call it, is Vanessa Madrid. Her pieces took up most of the wall space but I didn’t care. I wanted to see more. Much more. They danced along the wall playfully interacting with one another. Their stuffed abstract shapes blossomed seductively; the color of their elastic vinyl skins glittered and glowed under the overhead lights, a perfect match for the species they depicted. With simple yet rather didactic titles such as “Do”, “Monster”, “Gold Mama” and others, they added another clue to the deciphering of these works – like noticing a recognizable form in a cloud formation – that brought a smile to my face over and over. Humor was omnipresent, pretention was not. Madrid’s work is wonderfully exciting and refreshing to look at; it cleanses the art palate and leaves me quite literally satisfied. Something I haven’t felt in awhile. Wow.

Artist Talk - Part 2 with Sandra Doore, Marisol Rendón, Brian Dick, Zac Monday and Rebecca Tice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVQf5UdFQeg

Artist Talk - Part 3 with Sandra Doore, Marisol Rendón, Brian Dick, Zac Monday and Rebecca Tice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_TfAG9mOng

"Internal Organ" - Vanessa Madrid

"Dust Bunnies" - Rebecca Tice (foreground) / "Stretch" - Vanessa Madrid (background)

"Some Things Go Up But Most Things Go Down" - Nicola Vruwink (hanging) / "Monster" (wall), "Stretch" (corner) - Vanessa Madrid

Spun by Art as Authority at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

by Richard Gleaves






Brain-imaging studies of people evaluating anomalies, or working out unsettling dilemmas, show that activity in an area called the anterior cingulate cortex spikes significantly. The more activation is recorded, the greater the motivation or ability to seek and correct errors in the real world, a recent study suggests.

“The idea that we may be able to increase that motivation,” said Dr. Inzlicht, a co-author, “is very much worth investigating.”


How Nonsense Sharpens the Intellect

Spun by Richard Gleaves at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

from the press release





"The art scene in San Diego is a joke...," this is what some people say here. That's why we at The Art of Framing are showing Artist / Comedian / Poet Stephen Caddell.

Opening: 6 - 9 pm Saturday, October 10th
The Art of Framing
3333 Adams Avenue (Normal Heights)
San Diego, CA 92116
www.theartofframing.net
619.563.9770

We will be displaying Stephen's artwork and the artist will perform a 5 to 10 minute stand up comedy routine. At the same time we will also be viewing two of Stephen's favorite movies: a blacksploitation film "The Human Tornado" starring the late Rudy Ray Moore as Dolemite and the 80's Comedy "D.C. Cab".
Comedy act and movies may contain profanity language and nudity so be warned.

Stephen Caddell
Art: www.midnitedesign.sonicdb.net
Comedy: www.blackplanet.com/NiteTrain107

Spun by Art as Authority at 02:14 PM | Permalink

by Richard Gleaves

De Salvo's tree-branch networks at Quint serve as pods to his Caltrans mothership: a translation (and refinement) of public-art-scale technology down to the level of portable object.

The pods work beautifully, not just formally but as markers of de Salvo's progress in contemplating the role of mechanism in the world, a train of thought which seems to have evolved of late away from an affinity for per se mechanical ingenuity and towards an appreciation of general systems thinking... something we all need to do these days.

And how do they work formally? Let me count the ways:

• They lie flat on the wall, a move that — along with the studied avoidance of conventional branching structure — precludes a simplistic abstract-diorama reading.
• But not too flat: enough warpage exists to make the shadowplay pop, while suggesting (if not actually implying) that the works themselves are still settling in structurally.
• The small rectilinear bursts of the wood spline joints neatly punctuate the larger biomorphic forms they're embedded in (yielding a beautiful conceptual metaphor).
• The material semantics of the planed and finished wood radiates furniture yet is perceptually detached from furniture's archetypal corners and straight edges. The effect is pure Nakashima: a deft borrow.
• The original tree bark lines the finished edges of each branch, activating them like the neon lips of a Chihuly vase. Less borrow than extremely elegant design freebie.

This is a great show. Let's hope some curator pairs it with Ann Mudge's wireworks. One can dream.

Spun by Richard Gleaves at 09:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Spun by Art as Authority at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

from the press release



screenshot in video game (art gallery of SAN DIEGO, CA artist Paul Brogden)


Could this be the future of how art shows are going to be viewed?
Promo video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNlQy8gTS7s

You Call that Art? ( part 1 and 2) - The interactive video game Art Show is now available to download and play for free at www.InteractiveArtShow.com

Minimum System Requirements to play the game:
OS Windows 2000/XP Processor Pentium III - 1 GHz Memory (RAM), 512 MB Hard disk space, 1.4 GB Resolution 640 x 480 High Color (16 bits) or better Graphics Card, Direct3D compatible w/ 16 MB VRAM sound card, DirectSound compatible, and DirectX 9.0 or higher (free download of latest version available at Microsoft.com).

Participating artists include:
Bret Barrett, Brian Dombrowsky, Dark Vomit, David Russell Talbot, Paul Brogden, Lindy Ivey, James Ivey, Kim Riot, Sean Brannan, Dan Allen, Bobby Lane, Celene, David Gough, Shayne Yates, and the late Larry "Kosmo" Barnes ( co-creator of the Necronomicon).

About the interactive art show game:
This past November, a group of 50 experienced game designers came together and huddled to try and solve design's toughest problems: "How can video games be promoted as art?"
(article can be read at www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3974/making_games_art_the_designers_.php )

It brought out a lot of debate on the internet and blogs, and questioned whether video game design should even be considered "art". Regardless of how people may feel... one thing is for sure. Video games are the future and more popular today than they ever have been. "You Call that Art? (part 1 and 2)" sets the stage to ask: not whether video game design can be promoted as art... but rather... "How can video games work better together with the traditional arts?" Lately, it is has been a great concern to hear that "painting is dead" or that "painting is so 18th century". This particular frame of thought creates the very objective of the interactive art show video game. We hope you take the time to check it out the "new art show experience" at www.interactiveartshow.com We would love to hear how you feel about it!

Kelly and Crystal Hutchison
www.DarkVomit.com
www.InteractiveArtShow.com

Spun by Art as Authority at 09:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

© 2001 Walker Art Center

Spun by Art as Authority at 05:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

from the press release





San Diego Women's Figurative Group presents

"Real Estate"
An Exhibition of Contemporary Landscape, Broadly Interpreted

Saturday, October 3
6 - 10pm
South Park Walkabout
http://southparkscene.com/whats_happening.html

Artists:
Jennifer Bennett
Jeanne Dunn
Misty Hawkins
Daphne Hill
Prudence Horne
Terri Hughes-Oelrich
Ginger Rosser
Anna Stump
Marcela Villasenor
Leah Younker
plus special guests!

Elsa Benedict Real Estate
2973 Beech St.
Corner Beech and 30th, South Park
San Diego, CA
619.279.2536

Spun by Art as Authority at 07:53 AM | Permalink

from the press release


... former professor of mine at UC Davis. You probably won't want to miss this show.

Wayne Thiebaud, Two Paint Cans, 1987, oil on paper mounted on board.
Thiebaud Family Collection, © Wayne Thiebaud/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY.

Wayne Thiebaud: 70 Years of Painting
October 4, 2009 - January 31, 2010
Opening Event: Saturday, October 3, 2009 7-9pm

Pasadena Museun of California Art
490 East Union Street
Pasadena, CA. 91101
626.568.3665
info@pmcaonline.org
www.pmcaonline.org
Public hours: Wednesday - Sunday, 12-5pm

The PMCA proudly presents a survey of more than one hundred twenty works drawn from the oeuvre of the celebrated painter Wayne Thiebaud. With his penchant for dazzling sunlight and high-keyed color, and a gift for painterly, sensuous handling of oils and other media, Thiebaud's paintings link high art with popular culture while conveying a sunny optimism that is quintessentially Californian. Although he is best known for his vibrantly colored paintings of bakeries and delicatessens, the artist has also specialized in Northern California landscapes, San Francisco cityscapes, and colorful beach scenes. A variety of these paintings will be on display along with prominent drawings and rarely seen figurative works spanning his career.

This exhibition is organized by the Palm Springs Art Museum and curated by Dr. Steven Nash.

Support for this exhibition has been provided by the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, Bel Air Investment Advisors, LLC., Simon Chiu, Michael and Barbara Brickman, Whitney and Susan Ganz , James Goodman Gallery, Community Bank and Maginnis, Knechtel & McIntyre LLP. In kind support is provided by Peet's Coffee and Tea and Whole Foods Arroyo.

Spun by Art as Authority at 02:32 PM | Permalink