Mein Curator
from Jen Graves and the SLOG
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Art as Authority
A contemporary, sometimes historical, art, social, political, blog in and around the art world and its artists. Poetry, litterature, commentary, images, music, books, life... Et aussi, un peu de la culture Française et ses artistes contemporains. A place to come to read, relax and contribute your ideas and projects.
février 11, 2010
janvier 15, 2010
The Spectacle (and Speculation) of Celebrity
by Kathryn Law
"Is it Damien Hirst?" - Robert Matheny from the series Fishing for Fame & Fortune:
Portraits of Celebrity Artists, Sea Creatures, Vegetarian Fish & Lures
The Spectacle (and Speculation) of Celebrity
by Kathryn Law
The role of the art collector, and consequently, that of the artist, has changed greatly since Marcel Duchamp's famous manifesto of 1957, The Creative Act. In this legendary essay, Duchamp described "the two poles of the creation of art: the artist on the one hand, and on the other the spectator who later becomes the posterity." Those two poles of creation still exist, but they are now defined in a much different way than Duchamp might have
envisioned.
Continue reading "The Spectacle (and Speculation) of Celebrity" »
janvier 07, 2010
Très Bonne Année 2010
janvier 02, 2010
Bonne année 2010
by Hervé Crespel
Tous mes Vœux de Santé, Bonheur et Réussite
décembre 15, 2009
Bad for you
décembre 13, 2009
NEA
by Kevin Freitas
According to the Los Angeles Times, the NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) announced its 2009 grant recipients nationwide. 1,207 projects will receive $26,968,500.00 in funding to help support their endeavors. Here in California, 189 grants were awarded to arts organizations up and down the Golden State for a total of $4,295,000.00. San Diego made up 3.7% of that grant money which will be going to 7 groups primarily involved in theater, music, and film. There were no grants awarded to any visual arts organization, individual artist, museum, non-profit gallery, etc. Not surprising. But unfortunately, I can think of a dozen needy enterprises here alone that could use an infusion of cash in these tough economic times. What happened? Here is a list of the winners (from the NEA website):
- La Jolla Music Society
La Jolla, CA
$17,500
CATEGORY: Access to Artistic Excellence FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Music
To support SummerFest, presentations of chamber music and jazz. Under the direction of music director and violinist Cho-Liang Lin and composer-in-residence Christopher Rouse, the festival will include premieres of commissioned works and educational activities. - Media Arts Center San Diego (aka San Diego Latino Film Festival)
San Diego, CA
$15,000
CATEGORY: Access to Artistic Excellence FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Media Arts
To support the 17th San Diego Latino Film Festival. The films and videos exhibited are produced by Latinos or are about the Latino experience. - Old Globe Theatre
San Diego, CA
$40,000
CATEGORY: Access to Artistic Excellence FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Musical Theater
To support the world-premiere production of Whisper House, a new musical with music and lyrics by Tony Award-winning composer Duncan Sheik, book and lyrics by Kyle Jarrow and directed by Keith Powell. Educational and outreach activities will accompany the production. - San Diego Asian Film Foundation (aka San Diego Asian Film Festival)
San Diego, CA
$15,000
CATEGORY: Access to Artistic Excellence FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Media Arts
To support the 11th San Diego Asian Film Festival. Held in the fall, the 10-day event features short films, animated works, documentaries, and narrative feature films. - San Diego Opera Association
San Diego, CA
$40,000
CATEGORY: Access to Artistic Excellence FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Opera
To support a new production of Verdi's Nabucco. Activities designed around the production will include a student dress rehearsal for youth from schools in San Diego County and Tijuana, Mexico; pre-performance lectures; and an artists' roundtable discussion. - San Diego Repertory Theatre (aka San Diego REP)
San Diego, CA
$20,000
CATEGORY: Access to Artistic Excellence FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Theater
To support a residency by Latino theater troupe Culture Clash to create new works. Ensemble members Richard Montoya, Herbert Siguenza and Ric Salinas will rehearse and perform a newly revised version of Culture Clash in AmeriCCa, and develop, design, and perform the world premiere of A Weekend with Pablo Picasso. - Theatre & Arts Foundation of San Diego County (aka La Jolla Playhouse)
La Jolla, CA
$25,000
CATEGORY: Access to Artistic Excellence FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Theater
To support a fully staged production of Shah Mat. A new play by Naomi Iizuka, the piece will explore the way in which recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have impacted the city of San Diego.
While a round of applause should be given to these lucky and I'm sure grateful contestants, it still sends a chill up my spine that no grants were given to the visual arts. This raises a lot of questions and makes me wonder if the artists here (or their network) are unaware of the possibilities that exist, don't care, or are completely dependent on the artworld's hierarchial support for making a buck or even a career. Let's hope this is not the case and there is some reasonable explanation. One thing I do know is, the more artists are dependent on others to provide their sustenance, the more spare change they'll end up with in their pockets. It takes a long time to fill up a penny jar.
décembre 09, 2009
DIY
by Richard Gleaves
Last Friday I went to the Body Narratives opening at NTC Promenade in Point Loma, not so much for the art but to see how the show was put together by the five students in Mesa College's Museum Studies program who made it happen:
- Maria Bolivar
- Megan Daly
- James Johnson
- Kevin Kao
- Samantha Nessel
I spoke with Johnson and Nessel to get a sense of the thought processes that went into the exhibition design, and came away impressed. The thinking was solid, and the design reflected it: fresh use of diagonals in siting the room dividers, a central sweet spot for viewing two of the largest works, and partial visibility of additional works from the sweet spot to lead viewers into the rest of the show.
Johnson explained that exhibition design is one of the topics covered in Museum Studies, and noted that the program brings in experts (such as Michael Fields, lead exhibit designer for the San Diego Natural History Museum) to speak on various topics.
For me the interesting thing about the Museum Studies program is what its name doesn't convey: that the students are being trained not just as potential museum staff, but also as cultural entrepreneurs with all the skills necessary to make successful art shows from scratch.
They're scouting locations, finding artists, doing press releases, designing show cards, contacting newspapers, and signing contracts to secure the exhibition spaces. And they're getting this experience not from an MFA program but from a three-class certificate program at a regional community college. We can only benefit from having such people and programs around.
Program director Alessandra Moctezuma explained that in the past few years the program has moved the student-produced shows out of the Mesa College art gallery and into the community (such as the NTC Promenade space). This makes for a better learning experience for the students, not to mention more art shows around San Diego.
The program's final class places students as interns in local museums or galleries. Johnson is interested in the Mingei, while Nessel is hoping to work with Quint. I wish them the best, and look forward to seeing more shows from them in the future.
novembre 15, 2009
It is what it is — Part II The New York Way
from the New York Times, Deborah Sontag and Robin Pogrebin
One day in the mid-1980s, Dakis Joannou, a Greek Cypriot industrialist, was exploring the art galleries of the East Village in Manhattan when he came upon a basketball suspended in a tank of liquid. Captivated, he invested $2,700 in “One Ball Total Equilibrium Tank” by a little-known artist named Jeff Koons. It was, he said, as if a whole new world had opened up to him.
Twenty-five years — and 40 Koonses — later, Mr. Joannou is considered one of the most important contemporary art collectors in the world. And the New Museum of Contemporary Art in Manhattan is preparing to showcase his vast collection in a three-story exhibition, with Mr. Koons, now an art superstar, as the guest curator. More..
The San Diego Way for comparison
More still..
octobre 02, 2009
wu-shih — October 2, 1968
© 2001 Walker Art Center
juillet 30, 2009
Castles Made of Sand
by Kevin Freitas
And so castles made of sand fall in the sea, eventually..
— Jimi Hendrix
PART I
In his highly regarded and influential essay Relational Aesthetics French curator Nicolas Bourriaud summarized the eponymous theoretical framework as comprising the following elements: “a set of artistic practices which take as their theoretical and practical point of departure the whole of human relations and their social context, rather than an independent and private space.” I experienced a whole different set of relational aesthetics a few weekends ago while attending The 29th Annual U.S. Open Sandcastle Competition.
Team Kyle’s Karvers - "Easter Island"
Others claim to have been relating for years and quite successfully to boot. I wonder however, if as part of a dedicated and self-proclaimed group of San Diego artists we don’t already have the tools necessary, sitting right under our collective noses, to turn our community around and put it on the Google map of cultural destinations.
juin 22, 2009
Monkey See Monkey Do
by Kevin Freitas
Gabriel Cornelius von Max - "Monkeys as Judges of Art" 1889
In last week's blog update, I published a quote from John Canaday. Born in Fort Scott Kansas in 1907, he later became the embattled art critic for the New York Times some fifty-two years later. Here is the quote:
"Critics should not know artists and artists should not know critics. But since we can't make a law against such fraternization, a critic's obligation is to make certain that what he writes (and talks) is after-the-fact judgment on what the artist creates. And the artist should create without thinking of the critic or of his, the artist's, position on a graph."
I chose this quote as a means of codifying my thoughts about several recent conversations I've had with fellow colleagues and artists. Canaday asks for I believe, a larger stake on the part of the artist to make work that is relevent - emphasis on the word create - and less about an artist's statue or social position within the art community. A simple concept no doubt and one that most artists would argue they are already employing. It is often difficult to home in on the art being made in San Diego as we are easily distracted by the beautiful weather, hampered by the lack of exhibition venues, and the non-existant competition from our peers. It's a Darwin thing, you wouldn't understand. Nonetheless, art that is made here generally stays here preventing it from being rightfully exported beyond our borders, held in place by some invisible and powerful sucking machine. Pull the plug I say and let's get back to making, thinking, and talking about art.
For another perspective on Canaday's quote, fellow Art as Authority contributor Marilyn Mitchell, had this to say:
"Artists are art critics, even if they deny their status as such. They must turn a critical eye to their creations, if only for a view to know when to finish a piece. Every artist (other than those creating outside of any public society) is inherently commenting on all the work they have seen with each piece they make. By making work of a particular type, they must recognize it is viewed with the cumulative collective awareness of all such previous pieces by the informed art viewer. Artists may not necessarily think about creating works with a viewer in mind, yet, the viewer still exists. Just as one hand clapping makes a certain sound, art unseen makes a certain vibration. Art comes alive in the eyes of another. Art requires critics. Critics, therefore, require artists. One does not exist without the other. A dialogue between the two is not to be abhorred. It must be exposed for what it is; a sharing of the tightrope. Like any balancing act, though, it requires an honest appraisal of the reality of the situation. Critics that know the artist they write about must expose that fact and as Canaday correctly points out, they must remain objective to the work at hand as they view it. It is only after they have done their best to objectively evaluate the piece that they can comment from their subjective experience of it as an art work."
juin 04, 2009
Let Me Take You Down Memory Lane - Gallery invites from Brussels
by Kevin Freitas
A selection of gallery invitations from 1998, 1999 and 2000.
One Night Stand (18/06/98) - one night event organized by Michael Arata and Leonardo Bravo.
Continue reading "Let Me Take You Down Memory Lane - Gallery invites from Brussels" »
mai 25, 2009
Sign of the Times
by Kevin Freitas
MILO SHOES
NO SHOES
After a tip from a friend that there was a "For Rent" sign prominently displayed in the window of 4Walls Gallery — located in the thriving arts district of North Park and specifically on Ray Street — I had to see for myself. Wow. "Another one bites the dust" to quote everyone's favorite rock band Queen. The comings and goings of galleries and artist-run studios on Ray Street is apparently nothing new or very surprising if you talk to some of the locals that have been around San Diego's arts scene watching it puff up its chest only to see it deflate a few years later. What is surprising is there's been a rash of gallery closings and downsizings voir replacements that have hit Ray Street in the last year or so.
Andre Rushing, Rubber Rose, and Spacecraft are some of the spaces that come to mind, and now it seems 4Walls is also sounding the gong. 4Walls is of particular interest, a strange mix of architectural offices in the back and vanity gallery in front that was recently managed by its director who has since mysteriously vanished — gone it seems from the face of this Earth. The downside to his disappearance is that he put on some of the most interesting and compelling contemporary exhibits in town, with a cast of heavy hitters the likes of Les LeVeque and local talent such as Steve Gibson and Kimberly Tomney. I guess there is no upside to his vanishing act — he left only a shell of the gallery's once innovative programming, stopping it as abruptly as it began. I remain puzzled to this day.
avril 26, 2009
AND THE EMERGING ARTISTS ARE...
by David White
AND THE EMERGING ARTISTS ARE...
SD-Art Prize: Not since the Bush administration have we seen more white males over 40 giving unregulated opportunities to their cronies. …and for some reason people think San Diego is conservative?
"…Baldessari, at a time when he certainly didn’t need to do it to support himself, took up a post at UCLA, which he only recently ended. “I think it’s selfish,” he says of a teaching career that is in fact defined by generations of artists who count him as a generous mentor and a major influence. “I get a lot out of talking to young artists. You know, they’ll be the first to tell you you’re full of… you know, they’re not your peers, and they’re the future, so it’s interesting just to hear what they’re thinking about. And what I give back is that, I think, I’m pretty adept at helping students to get to where they want to go faster."
Christopher Miles on John Baldessari
Original context here
http://www.tate.org.uk/tateetc/issue13/ninetofive.htm
Image: Joan Miro and Henry Moore
avril 23, 2009
Affinities (Two Flowers for Spring)
by Richard Gleaves
Tom Driscoll, oil on aluminum tubing
Richard Allen Morris, acrylic on canvas
février 06, 2009
Garage Sale: a work of Agitprop
by David White
Garage Sale:
Sat. January 31st 7am-2pm
Sun. February 1st 7am-2pm
Recap: Sat. February 7th 6-9pm
Agitprop
2837 University Ave.
San Diego, California
92104
619.384.7989
Participants:
Joy Boe
Judith Pedroza
Eddie Miramontes
Josh Bellfy
Joe Yorty
David White
The organizing structure behind ‘Garage Sale’ is that of a group of individuals who all have an interest in objects with histories. Some of us are attracted to the seductive qualities of these objects for use in daily life, others for use in art practice, and some in both. The concept of this event began as conversation between Joy and myself as a way to fundraise for the space. This conversation grew to include other people and eventually it was decided that a ‘garage sale’ fits the informality of the space better than other economic and/or commercial forms that could engage the neighborhood. It was also an interesting way to approach ‘everyday objects’ in relationship to ‘art objects’. What is the difference? Is there a difference?
février 02, 2009
Christine Lee - "linear elements"
by Kevin Freitas
One of the more innovative and spectacular shows that I've seen in San Diego was Christine Lee's installation at Art Produce Gallery entitled, "Shims: Thousands of Uses - Use #3". It was an amazing show by an amazing artist. More recently, Lee was invited by SF Recycling & Disposal, Inc. to create a public artwork and an installation using 100% reclaimed wood and concrete. The result was an exhibit of these works in January. Images of the work can be seen here.
click for larger image
janvier 29, 2009
"Uhh... yeah, what he said...."
Life is full of surprises. Sometimes it is that last drop of rain that causes the levee to break, the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back, the stare down in the bar that ends up in a fight. And while they may not all have the best of outcomes, there is a brief moment of elation as the adrenelin kicks in before the reality sets up like the concrete around your feet. But damn, for a brief moment, anything is possible. Words are like that too. Bukowski once said, "it takes a lot of desperation, dissastisfaction, and disillusion to write a few good poems," perhaps it takes a few good words to cut through the murky waters, to express one's opinion that ends up being the opinion of many others who simply couldn't shake those very same words from their mouths. Take Mark Murphy for example.
He gave us a reply to an apparently innocent request, a demand you yourself may have received, which became a catalyst for a series of responses clearly outlining a need, the constraints of satisfying it, and a possible solution. Murphy's insight is electrifying. Since the exchange was made public via email to several individuals, artists and the like, and after a brief discussion with Murphy, I decided to post the responses for one specific reason: "to build a stronger arts community in San Diego" through dialogue, clarity, and purposefulness. Kevin Freitas
by Mark Murphy with permission
Question: CityBeat
Hey guys and gals,
We're looking for a cover image for Feb. 11, which will sorta be our
Valentine's Day cover. We're doing a story on people with nerdy
passions, so it doesn't have to be a piece with hearts and flowers, but
we're looking for something, anything that might work with that kind of
theme.
Oh, and again, we're not looking for anyone to do a new piece; this
would be something you already have laying around.
Thanks!
Answer: Mark Murphy
Just a polite heads up :
Hello : I think the idea of artworks laying around by passionate artists is
inappropriate : straight up, there is a lot of value that you folks take
advantage of in regards to receiving artwork that has little or no pay : and
I know you will combat me with the concept of "exposure," but honestly san
diego does not purchase original artwork as a community in droves : this is
a tough community where galleries and artists can mutually thrive :
Politely, I encourage more thoughtful calls to action, community based
inspiration and a true love for what you are trying to convey and move
beyond the atypical cattle call : essentially, MORE celebration of the arts
as a integral partner with your publication is fair and essential to
building a stronger arts community in san diego :
Thanks for listening :
Mark Murphy
author : publish : design
www.murphydesign.com
http://murphydesign1.blogspot.com
Thanks for speaking.
but wait, there's more...
décembre 29, 2008
Art as Authority Round-up - The Best Blog Posts of 2008
by Kevin Freitas
"Each action can be understood as part of his life's work, and his life's work was, and is, to engage an audience in serious dialogue."
Carol Becker - "Introduction: Drawing the Line" - Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life and Resistance Under the Gun Wafaa Bilal and Kari Lydersen
"Father Time Overcome by Love, Hope and Beauty" 1627 - Simon VOUET
By extension, the above quote is exactly what we're trying to maintain and foster here on Art as Authority. In doing so, it's time again to choose some of the best of the best of this year's blog posts. It is of course a very biased selection, albeit a somewhat difficult one at that. Perhaps the faithful reader will remember and enjoy re-reading some of the picks, others may have been missed and will soon be discovered for the first time. Either way, we hope you will like the selection. We're very proud of our near three year run at Art as Authority, and would like to take this opportunity to thank the readers, subscribers, contributors to the editorial line and those who have supported our activity on and off the blog - you know who you are! So, without further ado here is the best of 2008 and a wish for a very Happy 2009!
Continue reading "Art as Authority Round-up - The Best Blog Posts of 2008" »
novembre 05, 2008
Nikki
by KAI ONE
"In the vein of so called Gutter Photojournalism is Nikki. Her photos capture that fleeting and sometimes bleeding essence of life and death. A few of these pictures are really heavy and not for the faint of heart, but therein lies their importance. These photos are not meant to be exploitative; they simply capture the breadth of scum life that endears even the shadiest of characters. Its cool to see a human side to people hellbent on image creation and life's destruction. It's god and the devil in the details. What I like about these photos are the quaintness in which they portray the human animal in a fleeting world. Sometimes, things feel like they're going so fast that you can't even hold on. We may be slighty different from our under evolved brothers, but not that far away. We resist, even though we're still guided from some primal place for better or worse."
octobre 30, 2008
"In case you're still undecided" - McCain and Obama on the arts
from Art & Seek Blog for North Texas and beyond and Julie Checkoway, The Salt Lake Tribune - "McCain's anticipated arts platform comes in at four sentences long"
photo REUTERS-Jim Bourg
Just the facts please:
OBAMA
"Reinvest in Arts Education: To remain competitive in the global economy, America needs to reinvigorate the kind of creativity and innovation that has made this country great. To do so, we must nourish our children's creative skills. In addition to giving our children the science and math skills they need to compete in the new global context, we should also encourage the ability to think creatively that comes from a meaningful arts education. Unfortunately, many school districts are cutting instructional time for art and music education. Barack Obama believes that the arts should be a central part of effective teaching and learning."
Continue reading ""In case you're still undecided" - McCain and Obama on the arts" »
octobre 15, 2008
Imagine a World Without Art - Jim Yuran asks
by Kevin Freitas
septembre 28, 2008
$700 Billion Dollar Bailout
music by Modest Mouse, video by The Bear Hunt
septembre 27, 2008
W. Haase Wojtyla: A Coincidence of Paintings - Revisited
by Kevin Freitas
While doing a little fall clean-up on the blog and some overdue maintenance, I decided to re-post one of the first reviews I did two years ago on the San Diego painter, W. Haase Wojtyla. His solo show, organized by the Oceanside Museum of Art and curated by Catherine Gleason, was one of the largest retrospectives of his work in over ten years. At the time of the review, I was unfamiliar with his paintings or the artist. I'm pleased to have encountered his work and glad to have had the opportunity to write about it. Why re-post the review, well that's easy: the readership for Art as Authority has grown substantially over the past year, and while it appears more and more people subscribe to the blog and are regular readers, this is a way of sharing with you some of the blog's humble beginnings. Enjoy! and thanks for the continued interest.
from September 9, 2006
According to the exhibition catalog, W. Haase Wojtyla was born in Chicago in 1933. He attended the Art Institute of Chicago from 1952 to 1954, left Chicago for New York in the mid-1950's, and earned his M.A. from the University of Cincinnati in the early 1960's before returning to New York in 1967. He moved to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico with his wife and child in 1970, left Mexico in 1973 for San Diego, CA where he has been living and painting for the last 30 years. Wojtyla was included in several prestigious shows while in Chicago, notably the Exhibition of Chicago and Vicinity in 1956 and the Momentum Exhibition of the same year, an alternative exhibit in reaction to what was thought to be unfair politics and exclusion of those students desiring to participate in the Vicinity show. Wojtyla was also part of Art in America's New Talent in the U.S. survey of 1957 which included the likes of Helen Frankenthaler and Ellsworth Kelly. The current exhibit at the Oceanside Museum of Art, Ca is the largest retrospective of Wojtyla's paintings in over ten years.
Continue reading "W. Haase Wojtyla: A Coincidence of Paintings - Revisited" »
septembre 08, 2008
What San Diego Wants - Part II
by Kevin Freitas
I went to the “Movers and Shakers” opening Friday night at Art Expressions Gallery, located off of Morena Blvd. in some rather remote light-industrial building complex. If success can be gaged by the amount of people who show up at a reception, then “Movers and Shakers” was extremely successful. ‘Twas elbow to elbow. I’m guessing, but there might have been a certain amount of star-struck curiosity in the air by the attendees, desiring as it were to get a glimpse of who’s who. Credit is due to Patricia Frischer and the rest of the organizing committee, who were able to turn out such a large crowd, given the difficulties of a last minute venue change.
septembre 04, 2008
Palin Poll (taken and inspired from Sarah herself)
by Kevin Freitas
juillet 31, 2008
Art in America
by Richard Gleaves
The following is an annotated version of the July 31 issue of Night & Day, the weekly online arts section of the San Diego Union-Tribune. All text but the article category headings has been redacted.
POP MUSIC (lead article)
POP MUSIC
ON STAGE
AT THE MOVIES
AT THE MOVIES
NORTH COUNTY NIGHT & DAY (music)
NORTH COUNTY NIGHT & DAY (music)
EARTHLY MUSICAL MUSINGS BY GEORGE VARGA
POP MUSIC
POP MUSIC
POP MUSIC
ALBUM REVIEWS
ALBUM REVIEWS
ALBUM REVIEWS
ALBUM REVIEWS
ALBUM REVIEWS
ALBUM REVIEWS
ALBUM REVIEWS
ALBUM REVIEWS
EVENTOS LATINOS (art, music)
OUT GOING (circus)
DINING GUIDE
juin 23, 2008
"You can almost smell the dirty concrete" - photos by Jesse
photos by Jesse, intro by KAI1
"I've taken to calling Jesse's photographs "Gutter Photojournalism". They invoke a remarkable aura of the underbelly of misanthropy, a world full of characters either genuine or self contrived. You can almost smell the dirty concrete and sweat in his photos. His quick hand captures grit and pores, alcoholic madness, true scum, freewheeling art exhibitions, pure evil, madness, and the ever present soul of the rag tag masses fighting for freedom from ennui. He takes the pictures that I wish I could take but something inside me won't let me. He captures those split seconds that always seem to melt away as my hand goes for my camera. He makes the bad look good and the absolutely shitty look holy. He has a really interesting blog at http://youvegotnothing.blogspot.com"
I would only add that these images are compelling, tragic (some), perverse in a voyeuristic way, making them all that more attractive, as well as being unceremoniously prideful and unabashed in their brutal honesty. It is a "slice of life" that many of us are too ashamed or embarassed to acknowledge, in it, we see our own fragility. In the spirit of Larry Clark and Nan Goldin, these photos by Jesse might shock and appal you, but I promise you, they won't leave you indifferent. Kevin Freitas
Continue reading ""You can almost smell the dirty concrete" - photos by Jesse" »
mai 12, 2008
Bob Matheny - ART-i-Facts JAPANESE: Still-Life Photographs of Japanese Antique & Vintage Objects
by Kevin Freitas
An art exhibition at the Flash Online Gallery:
ART-i-Facts JAPANESE:
Still-Life Photographs of
Japanese Antique & Vintage Objects
by Bob Matheny
June 1-30, 2008
Hours: 24/7
www.almostmaybe.com
For more information: 619.223-3745
almost@cox.net
mai 09, 2008
Round trip London > Brussels - Artist Chris Marshall
by Kevin Freitas
Chris Marshall lives and makes his artwork in the UK. I met Chris in 2000, in Brussels, when he came there as part of a cultural artist exchange between UK and Belgian artists. A reciprocal exhibit entitled Terre à Terre, organized by A.P.T. (Art in Perpetuity Trust) Gallery, an artist collective located in Deptford, S.E. London; Maison de l'Art Actuel des Chartreux, Brussels, a contemporary art gallery with resident studio space (similar to our LUX Institute); and my space, Abel Joseph Gallery, also located in Brussels. Chris was a member and practicing artist with A.P.T. and with a smaller group of South East London artists, under the name of A2 - christened in spirit by the A2 freeway that runs through the South East.
Chris and a second UK artist, Liz Harrison, both did installation works in my gallery, while the remaining artists, Mickey Dell, Paul Malone, and Nicola Rae, exhibited their works at the Maison de l'Art Actuel. The site-specific work Chris placed in the gallery, Red Wine, was made up of 500 8 mm x 1500 mm glass tubes, 30 litres of red Gallo wine, rubber stoppers, filled to the brim, and the patience to line them all up, side by side, against the gallery wall and storefront window. The gallery, a former cafe bar, fit perfectly with Chris' work in both concept and idea. Here is what he has to say about the piece:
Red wine has an enormous history, it is the embodiment of time. It has an inherent depth of process; of making; of maturing. It is metaphysical and scientific. There is immense poetry in the concept of wine, its associations, its symbolism. It has a magical presence in its colour and transmission of light.
The transmission of color and light these pieces gave off, including the fragrant bouquet of decanting wine, was mesmerizing and ephemeral, to say the least. The smoothness of the glass tubes against the rough bricked gallery walls, the variations in tone and gradations of the "redness" of the wine as the eye travelled downward, and the Rothko-esque soft neon glow emanating, made for one of the most poetic and minimalist installations I've seen to date.
To see more of Chris Marshall's work and the A2 artists, please visit them here and here.
avril 28, 2008
I'm just sayin' - Edwin Decker on "Innocence is Questionable"
by Kevin Freitas
"Bagged" (detail) - May-ling Martinez
(photo: May-ling Martinez)
I thought it apropos to have Edwin Decker, writer, performance artist, and homme extrordinaire, honor the virtual pages of Art as Authority - which he so graciously accepted to do - notably, for his award winning performance at the California Center for the Arts Escondido Performance Slam, and his text spoken that night, which can be found in its entirety below.
I am one of the very few who do not yet fully grasp the breadth of this man's talent, having just met him briefly that fateful night - well, actually we just smiled at each other as I mumbled a few congratulatory words to him, but, I was nonetheless impressed. Being impressed is not good enough however, so having an ulterior motivation is helpful, not necessary, but it makes me look clever.
I wanted to post Ed's piece for its humorous and satirical take on the "Innocence is Questionable" exhibit at the CCA, but also because it conveniently fell inline with my own sentiments - and I mean exactly. Besides, if you don't show up for the party that was planned and given in your honor - uh, that would be the artists in the exhibit - you never hear what good was said about you. It is unfortunate for them but great for Ed, and wonderful for us. Thanks Ed, stop by anytime.
by Edwin Decker
HE name of this exhibit is, “Innocence is Questionable,” about which, the brochure says, “Ultimately, what each of these artists question is whether or not the folly of the world is the responsibility of man?”
It’s a synopsis which makes me wonder, how does a great artist illustrate the subjects he or she finds “questionable”?
I look at these paintings and I see the man-made uglies of this urban life made beautiful: The mall escalator, the casino, the toilet in the desert, even the depiction of Best Buy, so bounteous, and blue, and expansive that it becomes a planet unto itself; making me instantly understand that I need another flat screen TV – you know – for the bathroom.
Continue reading "I'm just sayin' - Edwin Decker on "Innocence is Questionable"" »
avril 10, 2008
[de]LUX ART INSTITUTE
by Maura Vazakas
In October of 2004, my cousin Paula and I stepped into the Paul Kopeikin Gallery on Wilshire Blvd. and saw a magnificent large painting of an angelic-looking blonde female clothed in a beautifully rendered dress of greens and flowers painted in the style of the Renaissance masters. It was at that time that we "discovered" the artist Julie Heffernan. My cousin was more enthusiastic about Julie's painting at the time than I was (my taste in art veered more towards the abstract, weird, and contemporary). But, I admired the artist's amazing painting skills!
Occasionally Paula, who lives in New York, would ask me if I could find out (via computer - my cousin doesn't do computers) if Julie Heffernan was showing in the NY area. To make a long story shorter, Paula became obsessed with Julie's art, and I had gone onto other things. Fast forward 2 1/2 years. I was checking the Night and Day section of our paper recently to see if a local gallery I was interested in was listed among the chosen few. It was not. However, on that very page, my eyes caught an artist's name that I would normally associate with showing only in LA or NYC. It was none other than Julie Heffernan! AND... she was showing at the LUX Art Institute in Encinitas - a place I had heard about but never been, yet!
Julie Heffernan - Self Portrait with Men in Hats,
oil on canvas, 2007 Courtesy PPOW Gallery
OMG!! Do I dare call my cousin Paula and tell her WHO is showing here?? Would she have a heart attack? Unfortunately, she and her family are struggling financially, and a flight out here to see the show would only add more $$ to their 6-figure debt. But I did tell Paula, and, as upset as she was, wanted me to "claw" all Heffernan literature, postcards, ("oh and if there is a catalog of the show, please please please?!" ) when I go to LUX. Not wasting any time, I phoned LUX for directions (I sort of knew the general vicinity) and was a bit surprised when they told me it was behind a Kindercare - HA! I could see the wee ones skipping uphill behind their facility to get some culture at LUX!
If you read LUX's mission statement below, you see the words - "make art more accessible - see the artistic process firsthand - internationally recognized artists." I like that! So, I decided to go on a Friday afternoon to see this artistic process firsthand by the artist my cousin would KILL to see again, let alone to watch her paint (please email me your donations to transport my cousin out here).
I was captivated by LUX, the building looks like something out of the pages of dwell magazine. I COULD live in it - EASILY - for those of you not familiar with dwell, the building is very minimally modernistic. It was designed by Renzo Zecchetto (oh how I love those Italians, they KNOW how to design). Nestled into a hillside, it is one of only a few "green" buildings in SD county. WOW!! As I approached the gallery and resident artist "studio," I noticed a beautifully draped section of the gallery. Some of the sheer white curtain was pulled back so you could view the artist creating a new work. And lo and behold, there was Julie Heffernan, with a few brushes in her hand, busily sketching onto a large canvas. I could smell the oil paint so strongly, an odor I never get to smell (I paint with innocent acrylics). The radio was stationed on talk radio, a folding chair, a table full of paint tubes, the usual studio accoutrements!
avril 03, 2008
Tom Torluemke in Terre Haute, Indiana
Tom Torluemke is in the news again, this time, with a wonderful article about his current mural project in Terre Haute, Indiana. Tom was commissioned by Indiana State University, in conjunction with the Gilbert Wilson Memorial Mural Project, to paint a mural on the side of the Booker T. Washington Park Community Center. The image (above), entitled "Teaching," was chosen for the Community Center's wall over "lots and lots" of other proposals up for review. We here at Art as Authority say, "Congratulations Tom!"
You can also see some of Tom's drawings here in San Diego, currently on view in the COPY exhibit, downtown, at Simayspace Gallery through April 25th.
Read an excerpt of the Terre Haute article below.
Onlookers being drawn to new mural as artists begin work on ‘story’
New artwork expected to be complete by early May
By Deb Kelly
The Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE — The picture beginning to emerge on the north wall of the Booker T. Washington Park Community Center already has begun to attract some attention from curious onlookers, according to the artist.
Tom Torluemke, a painter ... continue reading
mars 27, 2008
Botero in Palm Springs
janvier 07, 2008
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.
Continue reading "The best of 2007 - An Art as Authority Round-up" »
janvier 01, 2008
I Promise...
octobre 22, 2007
San Diego artist Joey Burns - "Jones"
août 27, 2007
New Favorite Artist - El Anatsui
(photo: the October Gallery, UK)
It is never too late nor difficult to hop onto the bandwagon especially when the art is so good. I caught the last day of the El Anatsui exhibit "Gawu" at the Fowler Museum on the UCLA campus yesterday, and was completely mesmerized by the beauty of the sculptures on view not only in the materials used but by the artist's ability to seamlessly encapsulate his life and culture into one wholistic and unique vision. Stunning! Martin Barlow, director of the Oriel Mostyn Gallery in Wales and the organizer of this travelling exhibit of El Anatsui's works, quotes the artist in a moment of early reflection on art (from the catalog) that, "Art grows out of each particular situation and I believe that artists are better off working with whatever their environment throws up." You'll know what El Anatsui means when you see the work and where it is derived from but you can also learn more about the artist and view some other nice examples here - the Fowler Museum and here - the October Gallery, UK.
El Anatsui is originally from Ghana and is currently Professor of Sculpture at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria. For those of you who may have missed the show at the Fowler, you'll get a second chance to see it at the University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona - November 1, 2007 - January 20, 2008. Not to be missed.
juillet 31, 2007
Vive l'Espagne! Alberto CONTADOR in Yellow
Alberto CONTADOR
Winner of this year's Tour de France 2007
24 years old
Team Discovery
Congratulations!
(photo: l'Equipe)
juillet 26, 2007
The Surreal Life
Somewhere in the annals of the Art as Authority archives, I remember having written that surrealist moments occur on a regular basis in our daily lives and go for the most part unnoticed, if you're not on the lookout for them. It's not so much that they happen, it is more important to recognize them when they do. This is part of the fun and the surprise. Case in point: the form letter from the Yellow Pages that I received the other day in the mail asking me to list my company name in their yellow book.
Now, I'm probably the only one that will think this is one of those surrealist moments and likely the only one to make the connection, but I have faith in you the reader and hope you'll at least humor me in your reactions. Le casse pipe in French, literally means the broken pipe. It also means in slang, someone who is a daredevil or who takes risks. Usually daredevils, stuntmen and like end up, sooner or later, breaking something in their bodies or getting seriously hurt - thus body becomes pipe or a broken body. Pipe can also refer to someone's face, typically in derogatory terms. But the French language being what it is, it's quite normal that a or le casse pipe in question, can have yet another symbolic meaning, that of the infantryman on the front lines during World War I - always charging and fighting against impossible odds.
I chose Le Casse Pipe Productions for the name of a future art publishing endeavor I would like to undertake and have organized several exhibitions under that pseudonym already. The notion of taking risks and "charging ahead" into the art world against impossible odds appeals to me greatly. So, back to the yellow book, after having registered a domain under the same name I started to receive all sorts of solicitations from credit cards to personalized letter head. (I have the feeling this isn't going to be as exciting as I'm building it up to be) but the Yellow Pages offered to take the trouble out of deciding where to list my business for me and promptly listed Le Casse Pipe Productions under the appropriate rubrique. And voila! when their work was done, and if you click on the image for a larger view, you'll see that they chose well and put the business under the heading "Fabricated Pipe & Fittings." Perhaps this is indeed a fitting end to a fabricated but true surrealist moment that likely says more about art in a non-art environment and the imagination required by both sides of this spectrum to make it work or to be understood as either an artistic intent or just another pipe.
Ceci n'est pas une pipe.
juillet 21, 2007
Scott Mellen - new sculpture
juillet 01, 2007
Diane Cole - Dream Sequence
juin 12, 2007
Résultats des courses 38 – 11
In City Council today they won 38 – 11. But we didn’t lose.
We’ve galvanized Chicago artists, the Chicago art community and a lot of the public. This is a wake up call. In just 4 days of efforts we went from perhaps 2 alderman supporting our efforts to 11 who stood up to be counted and say they think something is wrong with how Chicago is addressing Public Art. That’s a very significant accomplishment.
The Department of Cultural Affairs has a lot of work to do to gain the confidence of their constituency. It is possible for them to use the passage of their ordinance as a genesis for a much better working procedure than the one they had previously. Let’s encourage them to do that. Since they no longer have Public Art Panels they can now post complete and thorough information about forthcoming commissions on their website. We should ask for that until it happens with regularity.
It is obvious that we made a big difference. My message to you is to not give up. Stay involved. Get to know your alderman. Watch what goes on in art and in government and in art in government. Demand what you know is right. Don’t be timid.
We’re beginning to get national attention.
Think about how to parlay what we’ve been working on together for the past few days into what is good for you and your art in this City and beyond.
Think about what the Department of Cultural Affairs has to do to make you proud of them. Let’s see that they do that. They are capable.
Thank you,
Paul Klein
mai 15, 2007
RECON - A column by “Poor Al” Barasch
Art as Authority is proud to present RECON - A column by “Poor Al” Barasch with its first installment covering the opening of the new Grace Lane Gallery in Costa Mesa, CA. Poor Al, who doesn't know Poor Al? with major shows of his work in LA, San Diego and all across this beautiful nation, Poor Al has earned the respect of many street and graffiti artists and has influenced a whole generation of younger underground upstarts. Poor Al is also the man behind the highly successful Collabro exhibition series. Art as Authority is pleased to welcome him into our ranks. Thanks and enjoy!
RECON
A column by “Poor Al” Barasch
Grace Lane Gallery and Warren Heard
Once in a while a gallery is opened by someone who really understands the art business more than your average Joe. With galleries popping up in Southern California at a rate faster than ever before, many owners are anxious to have success but really fail to understand what it takes to throw shows month after month relentlessly, just to establish a working business. Many people don’t consider that they might have to have a “real” job while running a gallery. The art business can often be more glamorous than it is in reality, and having the right plan, clientele, and artists lined-up can make the world of difference.
One wall of Grace Lane Gallery
mai 06, 2007
What does a Frank Gehry inspired silver gas station and a circus-themed western have in common?
by Maura Vazakas
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! So, I called on a couple of friends and asked them what they thought about day trips to LA to visit galleries and art museums. The vote was unanimous! And so, about every couple of months, we planned our trips according to the LA weekly art calendar. This most recent art run happened to be on Cinco de Mayo (so who needs mariachis and tacos anyways)!Unfortunately, I was so excited, as usual, to get the hell out of my house, that I forgot to bring my camera. So instead, I will list the gallery websites so you can see some of the shows that we (meaning Richard Gleaves and myself) saw.
First stop was Bergamot station ( no, we didn't get there by train!). We usually select just a few of the many galleries in this massive art gallery drive-in. I saw to really amazing shows. The first, was at Patrick Painter www.patrickpainter.com. The artist was Marnie Weber and her show was titled "Sing Me A Western Song". I loved her large-scale color photos of the artist herself juxtaposed with scenes of western images. She looked sort of scary with her face powdered a pale white, spooky-looking eyes and an ultra-long dark wig. In the large center area of the gallery were superbly crafted circus animals and ghost-like clowns draped in white cotton sitting atop bales of hay. A few galleries away was yet another photographic show at Robert Berman www.robertbermangallery.com. New photographs by artist Alex Prager, show titled, "Polyester". This was one of my favorite shows of the art run. To quote Robert Berman,"Prager's cinematic approach is reminiscent of the mid 20th century angst and naivety that Hitchcock, John Waters, and David Lynch portrayed. Wish I could have afforded one entitled "Alexandra". Enough said.
"Je serai le président de tous les Français" - France elects a new President Nicolas Sarkozy
by Kevin Freitas
Nicolas Sarkozy - Ségoulène Royal (defeated)
It was recently brought to my attention that anyone involved in Arts & Culture, at least where the French are concerned, should be reading Libération, a well known Socialist and anti-American (to my point of view) news journal. If as a person involved in the arts such as I, were to quote or even link to what some might consider to be a rather fascist-like political point of view found in such journals as Le Figaro or even Le Monde (as I've done above), it could be construed as "sleeping with the enemy" in an exagerated sort of way.
While I find this bit of information somewhat amusing, I do understand it in an odd sort of way having lived in France for many many years but not paying any particular attention to what journal I was reading. Faux pas perhaps, but I do find myself in a bit of a dilemma - not wanting to "offend" my French lecteurs but at the same time, not wanting to read a ... well, propagandish journal such as Libération. What to do? I guess nothing for the time being, now that Sarkozy has expressed re-kindling an old flame called America.
mai 01, 2007
Uncle Freddy's, Bill Boyce, Kapoor, Artropolis, Wicker Park and Chi-Town
by Kevin Freitas
"I remember way back in the days on my block... "
Bill Boyce - downtown Hammond, Indiana (courtesy Uncle Freddy's Gallery)
Couldn't have been any better, good friends, great art, 4 days of vacation in the artropolis of the Midwest - Chicago. And thanks to Tom Torluemke and Linda Dorman of Uncle Freddy's Gallery, you can add Hammond to the list thank you very much.
Continue reading "Uncle Freddy's, Bill Boyce, Kapoor, Artropolis, Wicker Park and Chi-Town" »
avril 17, 2007
Monique Dobbelaere
Monique Dobbelaere lives and works in Brussels.
Click on image for full view
avril 06, 2007
Breaking News
It seems to me “Breaking News” to interrupt our favorite TV show or clutter the banner on our default homepage should be changed to something like “Instant News” or “Flash News” as it appears nothing is breaking anymore as much as disseminated in the time it takes you to do a Google search on that very same headline news. Sliced, diced and packaged in easy to understand sound bytes from news agencies from around the globe to the personal blog and back out again, the news du jour will be emblazoned with personal commentary and opinion – it’s really that fast. I’d hazard a guess and say anything newsworthy over several hours from being announced is considered old news and probably completely dead after 24. So, if there is any solace to be gained at least on my part, it would be not worrying about breaking news since it has already been broken to the masses – my happiness comes from sifting through the debris.
Case in point: my friend Richard once opined that “Google is art’s best friend” as in the use of it to make art with and I would only add along those same lines, CNN has also become art’s best friend and more specifically, it has become Warhol’s 15 minutes of fame. Take for example, two recent headlines of art worldliness that both broke at roughly the same time, that is to say in a timely fashion, that earned one artist, Cosimo Cavallaro, an interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN with Bill Donahue from the Catholic League and the other artist, David Cordero, barely a mention in the national press. (image: Cosimo Cavallaro)
mars 13, 2007
Occupational Hazard
Paul Garon, member and contributor to the Surrealist Movement in the United States, wrote the Surrealist Occupational Index in Arsenal/Surrealist Subversion 2 (1973) which was an attempt to “exceed the colorless array of occupations with which Hatt and North provided their respondents.”
In 1947, NORC (National Opinion Resource Center) conducted the first study of public attitudes regarding the prestige of 90 selected occupations. The study was known as the North-Hatt study.
Interestingly enough, SEI scores were originally calculated by Otis Dudley Duncan based on NORC's 1947 North-Hatt prestige study and the 1950 U.S. Census. Duncan regressed prestige scores for 45 occupational titles on education and income to produce weights that would predict prestige. This algorithm was then used to calculate SEI scores for all occupational categories employed in the 1950 Census classification of occupations. Similar procedures have been used to produce SEI scores based on later NORC prestige studies and censuses. (from the NORC at the University of Chicago website, http://www.norc.org/homepage.htm)
Paul Garon on the other hand, responded with the Surrealist Occupational Index which you'll find below in its entirety.
février 28, 2007
Can you spot the differences?
by Kevin Freitas
The Iraq Series are powerful and obstreperous - new word I learned today - images from Forkscrew Graphics. Proof once again that if your honest in the making of your work as an artist, and you believe in your message, the appeal and recognition will be universal. Apple is trying to sell you an iPod, the government is trying to sell you a war - who is the more (dis)honest? The most interesting works of art have always been those who have reflected and transformed our view of the world. www.forkscrew.com
Forkscrew encourages you to "Download it. Propagate it. Get involved. And then do something else all your own. We don't give a fuck."
février 27, 2007
Mirror mirror on the wall...
by Kevin Freitas
Isabel Almeida lives and works in Brussels, Belgium.
One piece in a series of hand-blown glass works by Isabel that she then mirrored on the inside of the bulb like form with a liquid solution that coated the glass and made it reflective. She then adhered the form onto a flat 12" square mirror and hung the whole piece on the wall about waist high. She would alternate the cast pieces with "blank" flat mirrors that ran the whole circumference of the gallery walls. The resulting effect was nothing less than spectacular.
More images can be viewed here.
février 13, 2007
Hervé Crespel
"Les petits caprices" - Hervé Crespel
février 08, 2007
Diane Cole
décembre 31, 2006
Art as Authority's Best of 2006
Much thanks, happiness, health and success to all who had a hand in Art as Authority. I'll see you in 2007! Enjoy!
11. Ronnie
10. WAR, what is it good for? Absolutely NOTHING!
http://www.artasauthority.com/2006/03/war_what_is_it_good_for_absolutely_nothing.html
WAR, Part II
décembre 17, 2006
Window Talking
by Kevin Freitas
"Carmen is in Paradise" (my Mom, Carmen, had passed away several months before)
The gallery in Brussels was located in a predominately residential neighborhood and located at the corner of a "rond-point" or roundabout, basically a rather busy intersection where many folks would take the tram or bus to go downtown. I'm not quite sure how it got started, I believe my friend and writer Paul Simonetti, suggested one day that we start writing phrases on the window of the gallery that faced and ran parallel with the tram tracks. We quickly realized that we literally had a captive audience, since the tram almost always slowed down when navigating the roundabout. Here are just a few excerpts from a month long - we changed the slogans daily, installation of basic communication.
"Another fuschia that has disappeared" (I had a terrible time keeping plants of any kind planted before they grew legs - it didn't help)
décembre 01, 2006
Show your Color - World AIDS Day
According to the latest figures published today in the UNAIDS/WHO 2006 AIDS Epidemic Update, an estimated 39.5 million people are living with HIV. There were 4.3 million new infections in 2006 with 2.8 million (65%) of these occurring in sub-Saharan Africa and important increases in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where there are some indications that infection rates have risen by more than 50% since 2004. In 2006, 2.9 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses.
It's time for a cure now. For more information. Please help
novembre 30, 2006
"I remember way back in the days on my block..."
FLASHBACK or DEJA VU: For those of you my faithful Art as Authority readers, who didn't know the Abel Joseph Gallery or myself "back in the days," here is a recent photo and montage of the Tower Building at the corner of Milwaukee, Damen and North Avenues in Chicago (Wicker Park). The gallery - outlined in red marker - was located on the ground floor and spaned both sides of the "point" of this lovely early 20th century architectural wonder. Those were the days...
novembre 25, 2006
Luna the tuna
photo: Christine Fricaud
novembre 21, 2006
Recommended Viewing - Land of Plenty
A film by Wim Wenders. Powerful.
novembre 15, 2006
It ain't over until it's over - The saga continues
by Kevin Freitas
Floyd Landis and the "Administrative Error" from the Associated Press.
Landis lab made 'administrative error'
PARIS - The French anti-doping lab that tested American cyclist Floyd Landis' urine samples made an "administrative error" when reporting its findings on his backup "B" sample, the French newspaper Le Monde reported Wednesday.
The newspaper cited unnamed sources as saying the Chatenay-Malabry laboratory gave the wrong number in its report about Landis' second sample. Tests on the rider's two samples indicated that Landis had elevated levels of testosterone in his system when he won the Tour de France in July.
In its report, the lab wrote that the "B" sample tested was number 994,474, while the actual number was 995,474, Le Monde said.
novembre 12, 2006
Recommended Viewing - "L A W" MART - the film
Watch this film, you can help save the planet! Join the revolution at Wal Mart Movie and do your part.
novembre 01, 2006
Recommended Listening - Gang Starr
octobre 09, 2006
Tram - Bruxelles
septembre 28, 2006
Looking Back - BXL
by Kevin Freitas
James Renier - installation detail, printed image on vinyl banner, 6ft. x 18ft., Abel Joseph Gallery - Brussels
Full piece here.
James wanted to do a site specific piece that was literally specific to the site/gallery through its duplication or copy/rendition, an accurate topology thereof installed directly on top of the "original." James subsequently took photos of the gallery's interior in a full 360 panoramic view. He then pieced the photos into one long photo montage starting and ending from the entrance to the gallery. This image was then transfered to a sheet of vinyl canvas, in a slightly smaller scale to the actual support (the gallery wall) that it was fastened to. To further heighten this "trompe l'oeil" effect, James hung four of his original paintings directly onto the vinyl wall, mimicking an actual installation/exhibition of his work, had he had the entire gallery to work with instead of just one wall. He purposely printed the image of the gallery in B&W to enhance the contrast between his originals in color and the more subtler (bland) interior of the gallery space. The light bulbs you see in the image are the actual light bulbs that were suspended from the gallery's ceiling. It was a fascinating and intriguing work to behold.
septembre 05, 2006
The Wonders of Mother Nature
Oceanside, CA - 12:18 pm
août 28, 2006
One Year Later - FEMA (episode 2)
by Kevin Freitas
août 19, 2006
Featured Artist - Tom Torluemke
"Departing", graphite on paper, image size 6" x 7"
juin 29, 2006
Don't cross the Moon (Luna°)
Photo: Christine Fricaud
juin 20, 2006
San Bernardino, CA - June 15, 2006 - 7:30pm
juin 13, 2006
IN SHADES OF WHITE
My blog title is NOT about a new movie or a current bestseller novel. And it has nothing to do about art.
As summer is fast approaching, beaches being blanketed bodies (alive, hopefully!) car windows zapped down, more people outdoors, I am talking about
NOISE POLLU[TE] SHUN! Definition: POLLUTE - to render impure or morally harmful. SHUN - to avoid deliberately.
I was stopped at a light the other day, and this noise polluter behind me, windows wide open, played his specially equipped extra boom blasted bass rock music SO loud that my car (and stomach) was vibrating to the point, where for 2 minutes, I was getting a major stomach/head AND earache and concerned that my car's glass windows might crack!
juin 08, 2006
Pronunciation for Dummies
Just in case you need a little brushing up on how to properly pronounce Sandro Botticelli, here's a little guide to get you on your way. Guide courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 1958.
juin 04, 2006
Torrance, CA - June 3, 2006 - chez MacDo
mai 23, 2006
Notes on Television part III
TELEVISION, FURNITURE & SCULPTURE: THE ROOM WITH THE AMERICAN VIEW, 1984 - Vito Acconci
From the catalogue The Luminous Image, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
Excerpt 1
Television space is fishbowl space. There's a world going on in there: that exclamation might be made by a child-person looking, from out of the large world he/she is in, into the small world behind either the aquarium-glass or the TV-screen. In the case of the TV, the world is on something, on-screen, not (as in the case of the aquarium) in something, in the bowl; but, unlike movies, the TV screen isn't all, there's something behind it, something underneath it all - the TV tube lies behind the screen. We know that the screen is only the facade of the box; even now that the screen can be drastically reduced in size - as in the two-inch "watchman" - there still has to be room for the TV tube, the TV box screen might be thought of as the window into the box - except that we probably can't, in 1984, be innocent enough to believe we're really looking through a window, really peering inside the box.
mai 22, 2006
STOP! ou encore, et encore, et encore...
mai 17, 2006
WARNING: (NA-60) A MOVIE REVIEW
by Maura Vazakas
For the film, Art School Confidential, you don't need a Picasso to decipher my blog title. Artists "under 60" should steer clear of movie theaters showing this current film. And if you didn't read this blog warning first, (before reaching into your billfold for movie money and viewing this sick but very real film about the artworld) you might want to change your life course. The movie does tell it like it is, but barely. I would like to know where Malkovich (or better, Clowes) got the statistic that "only one out of a hundred make a living as an artist". Try one out of two hundred or so, maybe. This movie is very cheesy with a lot of really stupid stereotypical students at a New York art school and very corny punchlines. The 3 male roommates, the "big headed" wanna be film maker, the fashion design student who FINALLY! realizes he is gay--come on, gimme a break! And lastly, the very naive and forlorn main character of the movie, Jerome, who is majoring in drawing and painting and wants to be "the best artist of the 21st century"! Where was his brain at? I wonder just how many art students out there think they could be the greatest? You really MUST have talent, know the right people (connections), be in the right place/city at the right time... and PRAY. OR you can do what Jerome did....STEAL (and I'm NOT telling you what, just in case you might have nothing else better to do than to see this film), end up in jail for a crime he didn't commit and then, because of all the publicity, becoming a celeb in the art world. So, is the moral of the film to "create a BIG stir" (does shock have value?) to get "known" or must we all hang up our brushes??? woof woof.
mai 09, 2006
LUNA
Photo: Christine Fricaud
mai 04, 2006
OH WHERE, OH WHERE HAVE THE GALLERIES GONE (PORTRAIT OF A STRUGGLING ARTIST IN SAN DIEGO)
by Maura Vazakas
Question#1: Where is the most obvious place for a family to move after enduring numerous years of depressing cold and rainy weather?
Answer: Sunny, Southern California.
Question#2: If you had to choose between smoggy, traffic congested LA or San Diego's cleaner, (if I didn't attach the "er", I'd be lying) get anywhere in roughly 15 minutes or less (well, most of the time) living, which city would you pick?
Answer: Almost 20 years ago, my answer was San Diego. And yes, I must admit, it was great raising a family here.
BUT,... what about ME, a struggling artist trying to establish myself in the art world? FAT CHANCE HERE, I say! I have seen art galleries come and go here like popsicles in the desert heat. Where are they when you REALLY need them? I can say from experience, you get your hopes up, envision your art on the cover of a future issue of Art In America when a fresh, new gallery takes you under their wings. "I have high hopes for you," they say. You get favorable reviews by the art critic. You have show after show. Even sell some art! "Wow", you say. Life is starting to look good. Wait a minute!.... I can feel the heat. The gallery is getting a FEVER. Oh, No! It DIED!! along with some unreturned even damaged paintings, owed $$$, and the high hopes of the many artists it stabled.
The above is a sad story for aspiring artists. But it is all too true here in San Diego. Galleries that showcased local emerging artists have closed, leaving just a very small handful of "closed door policy" (you know what I mean!) galleries left showing works by ONLY established artists.
What is going on here?? Can we bring back the galleries??? What does it take?? Who is collecting contemporary art here???? Are there ENOUGH sophisticated, cultured, and art-plugged people living in San Diego??? Do people here ONLY care about the Padres, retirement homes, or beach blanket bingo????? Will there be any feedback/comments on my story?????, I wonder.
In summary, 20 years later, my answer to Question#2: Neither.
And advice to young emergers.. Get your work out, out, out of San Diego, into cities that are "art friendlier". It's not difficult to do, if you have your he[art] in it.
avril 20, 2006
aperçu Part III - Hervé Crespel - Installation
Un Printemps pour la Tossée
by Hervé Crespel
THE INSTALLATION
50 Têtes réfléchissantes et 10 photographies
Du 25 Mars [March] au 17 Avril [April] 2006 à Tourcoing, France
Un Printemps pour la Tossé
Hervé Crespel
Hervé's Blog
Continue reading "aperçu Part III - Hervé Crespel - Installation
Un Printemps pour la Tossée" »
avril 18, 2006
Notes on Television part II
TELEVISION, FURNITURE & SCULPTURE: THE ROOM WITH THE AMERICAN VIEW, 1984 - Vito Acconci
From the catalogue The Luminous Image, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
Excerpt 13
Video installation is the conjunction of opposites (or, to put it another way: video installation is like having your cake and eating it, too). On the one hand, "installation" places an art-work in a specific site, for a specific time ( a specific duration and also, possibly a specific historic time). On the other hand, "video" (with its consequences followed through: video broadcast on television) is placeless: at least, its place can't be determined --- there's no way of knowing the particular look of all those millions of homes that receive the TV broadcast.
avril 09, 2006
Notes on television
TELEVISION, FURNITURE & SCULPTURE: THE ROOM WITH THE AMERICAN VIEW, 1984 - Vito Acconci
From the catalogue The Luminous Image, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
Excerpt 7
Assume that there are two kinds of power: economic power and sexual power. What new TV-equipment does, now, is camouflage economic power: it gives the buyer the illusion that economic power is in his/her hands - after all, the buyer can prove it, the buyer can hold the state-of-the-art in a box (as if looking at himself/herself in a photograph, like other people, in other photographs, holding the state-of-the-art in a box).
avril 06, 2006
Library Opening in Duesseldorf
by James Renier
Dear Friends,
The Library, not unlike a museum, is a place full of history.
As we enter into such institutions we re-author our history with each visit. Everyone contributes to the interpretation of our culture whether it comes from a document, book, or painting. The discourse with history enables us to prevent its repetition.
Unfortunately many stories fall by the wayside. The mere fact of ignoring or forgetting past events is an invitation for them to rear their ugly heads again.
We have entered into such a phase again where past lessons could have prevented recent problems. In particular we are living in a time governed by fear. Fifty years ago we felt the same way. Bomb shelters were built books were burned and people were convicted for thinking differently. Presently we have all conformed to the new worries, with terrorism and loss of security being the protagonist. We patienty wait in line for our next security check. We offer no resistance as our lines of communication are being tapped. We resign to this state of paranoia as a coping mechanism to the daily dose of fear shoved into our life.
The Joe McCarthy Memorial Library is not a tribute to a celebrated life. It is a subtle reminder of the fears he sold and how we have fallen victim to them again. Explore the Library and its glow in the dark archives in person in Duesseldorf on April 21st at 8PM or on the World Wide Web @ www.e-sinom.com/mccarthy/mccarthy.htm
Thanks
James Renier
avril 01, 2006
April Fools Day - Poisson d'avril
Image courtesy Paris14.info
mars 31, 2006
Galerie Soustraction - Révélation du Poteau Rose
Some facts for your viewing pleasure: This was a gallery invitation to an opening that I created, albeit a FAKE one, that I printed and (e)mailed to a number of galleries, newspapers, art magazines and critics in Belgium and abroad. Soustraction in French means subtraction and the asbl that follows the gallery's name stands for Association Sans But Lucratif - or what we call here in the States, Non-for-profit. The cast of characters listed on the invitation were all recognized artists, patrons of the arts or Ministers of Education and Culture. They were obviously known and respected public figures in Belgium, and perhaps a little less so in other parts of the world. Didier Vermeiren was and still is, a Belgian artist/sculptor. Viviane Reding was a member of the European Commission in charge of Education and Culture. S.E. Jean-Jaques Kasel was the Ambassador to Luxembourg. Corrine De Parmentier was the Mayor of Forest, an affluent neighborhood outside of Brussels. And finally, Claude Lorent was a critic for Le Palais des Beaux-arts magazine and La Libre Belgique newspaper.
You might be questioning the motive behind such a stunt by now, and I'll try to answer that by putting the idea into an art political context going on at this time in Brussels. I believe that almost always, it's better to question than not to speak at all.
View the gallery invitation
Continue reading "Galerie Soustraction - Révélation du Poteau Rose" »
mars 27, 2006
This is not a pipe OR a lesson in Belge, almost
Mark Hayward (U.S.A.) installation, Abel Joseph Gallery: La cage aux ours, Schaerbeek, Brussels
The lesson: Ceci est une PIPE
Continue reading "This is not a pipe OR a lesson in Belge, almost" »
mars 21, 2006
aperçu, Part II - Un Printemps pour la Tossé
EXPO
50 Têtes réfléchissantes et 10 photographies
Du 25 Mars[March] au 17 Avril[April] 2006 à Tourcoing, France
Un Printemps pour la Tossé
Hervé Crespel
Hervé's Blog
Continue reading "aperçu, Part II - Un Printemps pour la Tossé" »
mars 11, 2006
aperçu
by Hervé Crespel
Projet pour la Tossée -Tourcoing
50 Têtes réfléchissantes et 10 photographies.
J’ai voulu garder de cette visite passée un matin de décembre :
quelques flocons, un ciel lourd et cet immense espace vidé. J’ai fixé
des bribes de vie, l’état passager d’un chantier de nettoyage.
février 05, 2006
Brown who ???
