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
Patricia Frischer, is founder of the San Diego Art Prize along with Ann Berchtold and Joan Seifried, and is also the force behind San Diego Visual Arts Network (SDVAN) - an online métropole of artist resources and arts info unique to San Diego. A long time supporter of Art as Authority, Patricia, is debuting on our pages for the first time in a gesture of cultural cross pollination and collaborative exchange, with a review of "Inside the Wave: Six San Diego/Tijuana artists construct social art" on view at the San Diego Museum of Art. We welcome Patricia, and hope you will too. Enjoy! kf
The *particle group*
The San Diego Museum of Art exhibition Inside the Wave was named by its curator Betti-Sue Hertz for its insider view of a new wave of artists not shown at the museum before. I attended the lecture/panel discussion where they all made presentations including a live Skype hook up with Adriene Jenik from Singapore. Brian Dick, Allison Wiese, Zlatan Vukosavljevic and Nina Waisman from the *particle group* and Bulbo presenting Tijuaneado Anonimos were the other five presenters.
Continue reading "Inside the Wave: Six San Diego/Tijuana artists
construct social art - A Review" »
Simayspace @ the Academy
The Art Academy of San Diego
840 G Street
San Diego, CA 92101
619.231.3900
COPY features installation work and collages by San Diego artists Richard Gleaves and Joey Burns, drawings by French artist Hervé Crespel and by Indiana/Chicago artist Tom Torluemke, and a mural by Arizona graffitist KAI1.
Exhibit ends Friday, April 25th - HURRY!
(sculpture pictured above) El Anatsui - "Earth Growing Roots"
Collection of Nancy and Dave Gill
Courtesy Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
Well, miracles can happen it seems, and having El Anatsui's work on exhibit here in San Diego is, it appears, one of those times. I saw a larger show of his work in the Fowler Museum at UCLA last year, and have been a devoted fan ever since. El Anatsui is originally from Ghana and is currently Professor of Sculpture at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria.
"Earth Growing Roots" was organized by Tina Yapelli, director of the University Art Gallery at San Diego State. This show, much smaller in scale than its counterpart in UCLA, only contains seven works, modest in size, with the exception of an untitled work measuring 123 x 195 inches. Yapelli writes, in a small exhibit brochure (for those of you unfamiliar with El Anatsui's pieces), "Using copper wire, El Anatsui joins together foil bottleneck wrappers and metal bottle caps - refuse from empty liquor containers - to create colorful, fabric-like wall sculptures that juxtapose the social, political and cultural history of Africa with the stylistic and conceptual idioms of Western art practice... They (also) refer to the traditional woven kente cloth and stamped adinkra symbols of Ghana, the reductive imagery of geometric abstract painting, the pressing ecological issues of consumerism and waste, and the historical and ongoing impacts of the global marketplace."
I'm not so sure, that one or any, artwork, can possibly make so many claims, but even so, these smaller pieces appear to be more formally "self-conscious" and structurized, moving from the traditional motif to the more stylized, literal, and graphic. For example, a work like "Bleeding Takari," riddled with square holes of red metal, pours out brightly colored hemoglobin ribbons, down to the metal fabrics edge and beyond, as they appear to cling and drip onto the polished gallery floors.
Still, this exhibit is stunning in it's presentation and will likely leave you asking for more. It should not be missed; hurry though, it's only on view until May 7th.
Continue reading "El Anatsui at San Diego State University" »
OR is Innocence is Questionable, questionable? Thoughts on "artspeak" and the presumed innocence of the California Center for the Arts, Escondido.
"WHY is so much curatorial writing so dreadful?... My first assumption is that there's a generation of curators who went to college and grad school in the 1980s and '90s, when the congested language of Deconstruction, Critical Studies and so on still seemed important, intrepid and even a little glamorous."
--Richard Lacayo, critic, TIME magazine. The Decline and Fall of Western Civilization, April 1, 2008.
"Turgid"
Main Entry: tur·gid
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin turgidus, from turgēre to be swollen
Date: 1620
1: being in a state of distension : swollen, tumid [turgid limbs]; especially : exhibiting turgor
2: excessively embellished in style or language : bombastic, pompous [turgid prose]
--Merriam-Webster
"Noyer le poisson" (lit. "to drown the fish")
French slang
1: to cloud or dilute, blend. hide truth [fish tale]
Egyptian; Lisht North - Gold, beryl - ca. 1981–1640 B.C., The Metropolitan Museum of Art
"Ancient Egyptians called fish amulets like this nekhau and gave them to young girls to wear as a charm against drowning."
FACT #1: I've been hesitant to tresspass upon an exhibit, that, I am simultaneously involved in as public spectator (art critic, if you will) and unpaid participant, insomuch as my participation is not related to the show's organization, but its support.
FACT #2: I haven't picked up a copy of TIME magazine in over 10 years. I stopped reading TIME - I never read the whole magazine anyway, just the art reviews - when Robert Hughes left his outpost as the magazine's art critic. Born in Australia, Hughes, among other professional and literary activities inbetween, moved to New York in 1970 to become TIME magazine's leading and most influential critic of the arts. He is an obvious hero of mine, a major influence, and a consistent inspiration to this day. I still recall, screening The Shock of the New on VHS, in the University's (UCD) lecture hall during a class entitled, Art Since 1945.
FACT #3: Ignorance is bliss, and so, I have not read anything by TIME magazine's (new?) critic Richard Lacayo, until now. I'm going to start though, if his recent article, The Decline and Fall of Western Civilization, and the quote referenced above, are any indication of the commentary I'll be viewing.
Continue reading ""Noyer le Poisson" & The Decline and Fall
of Western Civilization*" »
SD Art PRIZE: Recognition of Excellence in the Visual Art
Performance Slam multi-genre Invitational, April 20 from 5 to 7 pm in support of the exhibition, Innocence is Questionable
Featuring 2006/2007 SD Art Prize Artists:
Raul Guerrero and emerging artist Yvonne Venegas
Jean Lowe and emerging Artist Iana Quesnell
Ernest Silva and emerging Artist May-ling Martinez
Performers:
Art criticism - Kevin Freitas, Art as Authority
Dance - Sara Plaisted, Urban Tribal Dance
Instrumental - Zuriel Waters
Poetry - Jaysen Waller
Performance art - Ted Washington, Pruitt Igoe
Satire - Ed Decker
Theater - Marilyn Klisser and Aura Thielen, Emerge Art Center
Stage Manager - Mercedes Casey
Continue reading "Performance Slam - SD Art Prize
California Center for the Arts, Escondido" »
The COPY exhibit currently on view at the Simayspace Gallery downtown got some copy, today, in the form of a nice article and review of the show, by San Diego Union Tribune's art critic, Robert Pincus. The long hours of planning, ideas and physical work that went into the organization of this exhibition, paid off. I'm grateful.
This show of course, couldn't have been possible without the help, good faith and excellent work provided by the artists who participated. I take this opportunity to thank all those who helped in the planning and execution of this event (and if you think this is sounding like an acceptance speech for an Academy Award, you would be right - I'm elated.)
Thanks to the artists: Richard Gleaves, KAI1, Joey Burns, Tom Torluemke, Herve Crespel and Bret Barrett; gratitude for Doug Simay at Simayspace Gallery and the Art Academy of San Diego for the invitation and letting me be the "first;" Mark over at BodyMarks Tattoo on El Cajon Blvd. for playing a major role in the performance; Patricia Frischer for being a sounding board to last minute ideas; Elliott Linwood for curatorial advice at a crucial moment; and finally, Robert Pincus from the San Diego Union Tribune.
Freitas follows the rabbit down the hole
Curator strives for an 'Alice in Wonderland' feel to exhibit at Simayspace
By Robert L. Pincus
ART CRITIC
March 30, 2008
Kevin Freitas has placed a big desk in the current exhibition he's curated for Simayspace downtown. It even has his nameplate on it, with his title (art critic) in French ... more
Continue reading "Critical COPY or A Critic Critiques a Critic
This is how I roll." »
BEFORE
AFTER
Last chance to see Julien Colombier's "90 Grammes" exhibit at Art Produce Gallery in North Park. Show ends Sunday, April 6. Please stop by, and afterwards, have a coffee in the newly opened Caffe Carpe Diem right next door. You won't regret it.
Continue reading "Last Call - Julien Colombier and "90 Grammes" @
Art Produce Gallery" »
The Wonderhaus and Voice 171 (formally Voice 1156)
To hear Monica Hoover tell it, she needs your help and now!
It's unlikely that there is someone left in San Diego who doesn't know who Monica is - artist, lifestyle photographer, "creative activist" and co-founder of Voice 1156. I've known Monica for about a year now after reviewing one of her solo shows at the Rubber Rose Gallery on Ray St. That show, like everything else Monica does was/is perfection. She is un-relenting in her pursuit of bringing artists together, showcasing their works and bringing the public into the fold through exposure, dialogue and education. She is tireless and dedicated to the Arts in general and to the larger artistic community here in San Diego. This is where she wants to be, this is where she wants to stay and she's asking you for your help to achieve that goal.
Monica is in the process of re-locating and re-establishing Voice 1156 in its future location within the Wonderhaus or former Wonder Bread factory, built in 1924 and located in the Ballpark District of downtown San Diego. She has this to say,
"The opposition we are up against is the city, and the laws and regulations the city represents and enforces. I am confident we will get what we need, but it will speed things up a great deal if we show the California and San Diego community supports VOICE as well. We need to show the city that a venue like VOICE is wanted and needed in San Diego."
For those of you who are not familiar with Voice and what they do, here is a brief Mission Statement:
VOICE is a mixed use art and culture facility. Offering art shows changing monthly paralleled with a music venue featuring live music performances. The space will also include a small retail store that sells art related merchandise and a café that will dual as a full kitchen to be utilized for catering special events. The motto of VOICE is “Practice Creative Activism”. Gauging from our experience at our previous facility VOICE 1156, our current goal is to take our grass roots origins to a more mature, professional level by creating financially stability to support our establishment. Additionally we are in the process of setting up a non-profit “YOUTH VOICE” - that focuses on sharing art education to youth through tours, lectures and workshops. VOICE’s intent is to be the leader in the urban, young and progressive arts movement in the emerging downtown San Diego scene. It's not that the lack of people in San Diego – creative individuals and creative patrons, it's the lack of proper facilities. Voice’s intention is to be a part of the contributing leaders whom want to change our San Diego’s scene and reputation.
Monica asks, "It would be AMAZING - if you could print out the 'Signatures for VOICE' sheet - have people sign it - and mail mail it back to me. Monica Hoover P.O. BOX 1017 Jamul, CA 91935"
Won't you please help Monica and all of us who are committed to a vibrant and dynamic arts community in San Diego? Become a Creative Activist and take responsibility for the future of the Arts, you'll be glad that you did. Further information and the "Signatures for VOICE sheet" can be be found below.
VOICE Press Kit (please email me at artasauthority@artasauthority.com and I will send the .pdf document to you.)
Thank you.
Julien Colombier at Art Produce Gallery
Can't say I didn't warn you but I did, and now we have a perfect case (several) of what a lot of us have been preaching these past several months - consistency, integrity, vision and how to put on a good show. March has turned out to be an excellent and exciting month in North Park, particularly on that hallowed art ground we call Ray St. I believe one should lead by example, especially when it comes to exhibiting in the art world. Lead they have and remarkably well, both Spacecraft and 4 Walls have exhibits ranging in style and temperament with rock solid performances. At Spacecraft Matt Wedel is showing some large scale glazed ceramic sculptures of quirky and delightfully charming Polar Bears embracing or dancing, and colorful singular slices of flowering plants clinging to angular stacked boulders. The photographer Bill Dane and the mixed-media artist Kimberly Tomney round out a beautiful and compelling show of works at 4 Walls. Bill Dane, for those of you like myself who are learning about him for the first time, is a longtime Bay Area photographer who has received critical acclaim during his long career and who has also received grants from the Guggenheim Foundation and National Endowment for the Arts each twice. Impressive for work rich in metaphor that combines straight non-manipulated photos of juxtaposed layers of "common" everyday life - bus stops, billboards, window panes, advertising etc. - mixed in with the folk who inhabit that environment, reflected and shadowed oftentimes by the artist's own shadow in a domino effect of us as viewer/voyeur, the artist, and then the subject (photographed). They are stunningly simple and beautiful.
Kimberly's amalgam aluminum and pen & ink drawings on paper of suburban swimming pools have that definite Southern Californian feel to them, reminiscent of Edward Ruscha's black & white photos of the same subject in "Nine Swimming Pools and a Broken Glass" and they even retain the same dead-pan humor and irony of his images. What sets Kimberly's drawings apart is the elegance, simplicity of line and form, and the almost religious atmosphere she creates and worships upon such a banal luxury.
Spacecraft Gallery
Finally, French artist Julien Colombier from Paris has orchestrated a spectacular installation of painted paper bags at the Art Produce Gallery. Derrik Chinn, online editor of the Nightlife & Visitors info at SignOnSanDiego.com, has written a nice little article about Julien's exhibit complete with several photos and a series of questions & answers for the artist. You can read an excerpt from the article below:
POP BOMB: Julien Colombier at ART Produce
Graffiti sprayed all over the sides of city trains, buses and walls. Entire sides of skyrises draped with advertisements. Digital billboards towering over the interstate. Urban decor has exploded with such an intensity that megalopolises such as Sao Paulo, Brazil (population: 10,886,518), are beginning to ban all forms of public advertisements. Imagine ... continue.
If this isn't enough to get you into Spring with a light heart and a head full of images, I can't help you then...
COPY
The present age … prefers the sign to the thing signified, the copy to the original, fancy to reality, the appearance to the essence … for in these days illusion only is sacred, truth profane.
-- Ludwig Feuerbach
Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else.
-- Tom Peters
No.thing Works
-- Gordon Matta-Clark
An American in Paris? - but of course! A Frenchman in San Diego? - splendide!
Paris artist Julien Colombier stands in front of a graffiti mural by Arizona writer KAI1, freshly painted behind the Art Produce Gallery where Julien is having his first solo exhibit in the US. Both artists, KAI1 and Julien, blew into San Diego to participate in their respective expositions with great fanfare and success.
Julien's show entitled "90 Grammes" will be on view through April 6, 2008 at the Art Produce Gallery, 3139 University Avenue, San Diego, CA 92104. Please call 619.584.4448 for more information and gallery hours. Or check out the review of the show at SignOnSanDiego.com here for a taste of what awaits you.
KAI1 is participating in "COPY" which is also on view at the Simayspace Gallery located within the Art Academy of San Diego, and features local San Diego artists Joey Burns and Richard Gleaves along with Kevin Freitas, Herve Crespel, Bret Barrett and Tom Torluemke. The Academy is located at 840 G Street downtown San Diego. Call 619.231.3900 for more information and opening hours. Check 'em both out, you'll be glad you did!
90 Grammes - the weight of kraft paper ....
Continue reading "Julien Colombier - "90 Grammes" - Art Produce Gallery" »
Andi Brandenburg - "Besos not Bombs"
I recently had the welcomed opportunity to give 350 words to CITYBEAT and saw them published today online and in hard copy. What was about? - a review of the current exhibition on display at Art Produce Gallery entitled "Endeavor," a group show of 15 San Diego artists under the collective umbrella of Bill Pierce and Radioactive Future. While I was generally disappointed in the range of work presented, I did find a handful of artists that have consistently "stepped-up" and produced works over the months that continue to innovate and delight. The above work by Andi Brandenburg does not. This may seem unfair but what I do know is this: we're all in this together. We all have our assigned role as artist, curator, gallery, critic, collector, public, museum et al. - as stereotypical and mundane as that might appear on the surface - which has a significant impact on how we go about demonstrating that responsibility. Some of you might be unaware of this added burden or are simply uninterested. This is certainly your right and choice.
I believe to a very large degree that the days of "art for art's sake" are finished - we no longer have the luxury or the time (or the money perhaps) to mess around in the studio and let the art mature and age with grace. Life, society, politics and the world in the 21st century are accelerating past us at an alarming rate which leaves no time for a craft that requires reflection and intuition. Too bad. So as much as I call for some changes in the how and why artists exhibit their works in San Diego, I would also ask them not to speed up the production of those works but to slow it down. Make it count. By making each and every work that you make count, not only are you building a stronger and more diverse community - definitely more exciting - you're also fulfilling the obligations and right to be an artist. Please don't take it lightly - an audience is out there watching and waiting.
You can read the full review here in this week's CITYBEAT. KF
Continue reading "Art Review - San Diego CITYBEAT - "Endeavor"" »
"They say your walls should look no different than your work, but that is only a feeble prediction of the future. We know the ego is the true maker of history, and if it isn't, it should be no concern of yours." - Larry Rivers and Frank O'Hara, HOW TO PROCEED IN THE ARTS, 1955.
Plenty of prediction and predilection going on in the Art Rocks! studio that late December evening, one of the last of 2007. Does my criticism "sound" no different than the work I see, perhaps it is a feeble prediction of the San Diego art scene. But I don't believe so. The artists I spoke of are diverse (obviously) in style and content, intelligent, hard working, dedicated and committed to their craft, to their job as artist and to their art. I would even go as far to say that they are devoted to the audience(s) they exhibit their work before. As a viewer, one should never forget that it is also a privilege to view an artist's work as it is for the artist to make it. This also goes for what I call all the "lookers" and "non-buyers" out there whose civic duty (ok, a "viewers" responsibility) to support and buy - yes I said it - buy the artwork, if you it so moves you. There's no time like the present as they say and definitely never too late.
Finally, there might be some out there that believe I am "risking it all" (what I'm not exactly sure) by my appearance(s) on Art Rocks!, viewed by those same few that the show's content is less than fulfilling and while I am for the most part in agreement, it is a service to the art community and its players that is indeed talk - radio talk - but is much more valuable for being pro-active than non-active. I say let the cards fall where they may and let the listener, like the viewer, decide for themselves.
For a link to this broadcast, please listen here.
"L'addition s'il vous plait Monsieur!"
Ah yes, fine dining and good wine at the Bleu Boheme restaurant (Kensington) the other night, having been invited by the Art Rocks! dynamic duo of talk show internet radio fame: Philly Joe Swendoza and Ally Bling Bling aka "The Fashion Pirate" and friend Joan Seifried, to test drive the restaurant's French cuisine and European charm. Except for the extremely small portions of fromage and charcuterie and a waitress much to eager to serve - a crash course in respectfully ignoring the client à la the bistro style in France could be of great use here - it was a pleasurable dining experience of food and conversation.
The Art Rocks! Bites portion of the one half hour live broadcast (worldwide) was conducted here in San Diego at the ws radio station under the auspices of Philly and Ally. Future bites or chewing will feature weekly culinary reviews of local and out of town eating establishments by Philly, Ally and their subsequent invited dinner guests, and later recorded as was our experience at the Bleu Boheme for future prosperity. Our largely unanimous "thumbs up" review can be heard by clicking on the link below. A link for our mobile podcasters is also available for download. Other than one or two extra "uhh's and err's" in my debut radio appearance and the annoying habit of "The Pirate" cutting me off in mid-sentence, I had a great time. I hope you'll have as much by taking a listen. KF
Direct link:
http://www.wsradio.com/wsradio-player.cfm/type/windows/show/Art-Rocks!/segment/14499.html
Podcast:
http://www.wsradio.com/podcasts/talk-radio-podcasts.cfm
Contributing writer to Art as Authority Maura Vazakas has a new show of her new work, not to be missed!
Art of Framing Gallery
3333 Adams Avenue (Normal Heights)
San Diego, Ca. 92116
through November 30, 2007
This concludes the review of David Adey's exhibit at Spacecraft Gallery - KF
"Pump" - David Adey
If you look around the incredible display of works by Adey in this his first solo exhibition, you might deduce that he likes to work in series. This makes a lot of sense of course given the stamina and patience he brings to each and every work, stubbornly(in my view) by methodically finishing and drawing out the last breath of each sculpture’s essence. What I do know in asking him directly, is that this working methodology is part and parcel responsible for the greater success of all of his works. Aside from the one “lamb” sculpture in the exhibition and the other two I spoke of which are not, there are two separate bodies of work (loosely) that employ the use of black drywall screws and craft punches – no less compelling I guarantee.
ART Produce Gallery
3139 University Ave.
San Diego, CA 92104
Opening reception: Oct. 13, 2007 6-9pm
“A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me.”
(Dr.) Victor Frankenstein
“I was benevolent, my soul glowed with love and humanity; but am I not alone, miserably alone?”
Monster
"Lamb of Man" - David Adey
David Adey could be a modern day Dr. Frankenstein. He is very fond of the literary genius of Mary Shelley and I would imagine, fond of any work of genius whether it be in literature, art, music or relevant discipline if somehow he could break it down, dissect it, and put it back together into his own vision of order. The world according to Adey. He is not a dictator and this is not about power, it is about structure. Adey doesn’t give you much wiggle room when looking at his oeuvre; you’re almost always reacting to or against the very visceral content laid out before you. The work is emotionally charged and spiritually complex, it assaults the viewer’s sensibility by controlling the viewer’s intake of what is being looked at. It is sensual, deceiving, mischievous and humorous. It is also obsessive, maniac, and perfection at its core. It can also be process, repetition, manufacturing, design. It is Adey’s penance for having created so “many happy and excellent natures” that owe their being to him.
"To boldly go where no man has gone before" is indeed a lofty mission statement by which most of us know by now is the stuff of science fiction; much like the exuberant proclamations of the Administration’s equally enthusiastic “The Way Forward” or “Mission Accomplished”. The upside of the adventures of Capt. Kirk and the USS Enterprise is that their journey has never really ended, boldly moving forward exploring every nook and cranny of the universe. The downside of the political quagmire we find ourselves in today is that we are truly stuck, hardly advancing and sinking deeper.
A bit like the current art scene here in San Diego, wouldn’t you say? There’s the stuff that floats on the surface, bobbing for attention and then there’s the stuff that is already starting to decompose, shedding its superficiality and exposing its heart and soul. Not all bad art sinks and not all good art rises to the top, it takes a certain blend of ooze, time, permutation and quality of the ingredients – yes, the good art – to get a residue worth staining the knees of your pants as you dig down to pull up some of that primordial muck we call art. (All allusions to Peter Morgan’s recent expo at Spacecraft is intentional) But where do you know to dig? Call it Lady Luck, the environment, experience or just plain boredom, call it what you want but sometimes you needn’t drive from Houston, Texas to Orlando, Florida to find what you’re craving for. Sometimes it’s bubbling right up in your own backyard and sometimes it just lands there.
Take Emily Fierer and Christopher Puzio for example. They land in San Diego, stardate 2003, but it takes a meeting of the minds in Boston so to speak, via a voyage on their way here plus a long layover in Detroit to make it happen – that is to say, the building and opening of their design firm and gallery known as Spacecraft Studio in North Park. It is an interplanetary adventure that merits a closer look.
Continue reading "Spacecraft Studio Lands in North Park - Part I" »
(Cover San Diego Business Journal - detail Volume 28, Number 37 Sept. 10 - 16, 2007)
A special report was published in the San Diego Business Journal today entitled "Artists Flourish in a Lesser-Known Market," written by special report editor Pat Broderick, who presents her findings just as she collected them - straight-up. Covering several points of view from local art dealers and players such as Mark Quint and Joseph Bellows, Hugh Davies (David C. Copley director of the MCASD), Carlsbad artists Dennis Batt and Nanette Newbry, Patricia Frischer and Joan Seifried from Art Girls, Inc. and co-organizer of the San Diego Art Prize and yours truly - Kevin Freitas amongst others, Broderick's article will hopefully stir up a potential (and much needed) discussion about San Diego's sustainability as an art market and art community. In fact to further assist you in this debate, there are three other articles to be gleaned about San Diego's art scene which can be found in print at your local newstand or online here, here, and here.
San Diego Art, Fact or Fiction - you decide.
(Roman De Salvo - photo: Crissy Pascual SD Union Tribune)
Three “emerging” artists Allison Wiese, Lael Corbin and Pamela Jaeger have been selected for the San Diego Art Prize. If you recall, these were three artists that were participants in a larger group exhibit at the Simayspace Gallery downtown, chosen from 14 others hoping to be selected for a future exposition and potential mentorship with three established or career artists living and working in San Diego. Those career artists, according to Patricia Frischer – coordinator of SDVAN and the Art Prize – had free reign to choose whomever they wanted and even had a “Get out of jail” card to use in case they wanted to choose someone else outside of that group. Luckily that didn’t happen. Marcos Ramirez ERRE, Roman De Salvo and Elanor Antin took on the responsibility and challenge to select their future partners and exposants. ERRE will team up with Allison Wiese, De Salvo with Lael Corbin and Antin with Pamela Jaeger.
Continue reading "And the winner is... SD Art Prize unveils" »
This is the third and final review of the "New Contemporaries" exhibit currently on view at the Simayspace Gallery, downtown San Diego.
"Paint #30" - Brad Streeper
Brad Streeper’s (www.streeperart.com) paintings are brash, large unflinching pieces that are robust, solid and fought out on the wood panels they’re painted on. Painted might be too romantic for the swirling orbs of material used to construct these abstract icons of solidified acrylic paint, gesso, glue and ink that create an aura of muted pastel colors bathed in faint reds and blues, charcoal blacks and titanium whites. The works are fluid by the nature of the materials used, poured on in layers of hide and seek washes, utilizing an all over approach to the surface often laying the panels on the floor. The effect is a topographical (maybe) satellite view of the land, sea or atmosphere.
Continue reading "The "New Contemporaries" @ Simayspace - Part III" »
SD Art Prize: New Contemporaries
Featuring Emerging Artists nominated for the SD Art Prize 2007/2008
Simayspace at the Art Academy
Opening reception June 22 from 6 pm to 9 pm
Exhibition continues through July 27, 2007
840 G Street, Downtown SD, 92101
619.231.3900
Hours: Monday through Friday 9 am - 6 pm, Saturday 9 am - 1 pm
Continue reading "SD Art Prize: New Contemporaries - Brad Streeper" »
You are invited,
To the first public preview of Jim Bliesner and Paul Vauchelet's monolithic 90' sculpture "FRATERNITY" at the Gustaf Rooth's Planet Rooth Gallery.
This sculpture has been accepted as a finalist by the Shanghai City Planing Administration and the Office of SHANGHAI URBAN SCULPTURE COMMITTEE for consideration as a commissioned work for the SHANGHAI 2010 WORLD EXPO.
There will be Paintings, Drawings, Photos and Models of this monumental work on display at the Planet Rooth Gallery during the Saturday, June 9th Ray at Night Celebration. Festivities begin at 7:00pm.
Planet Rooth Gallery
3811 Ray St.
San Diego, CA 92104
619.297.9663
"Make Money B 4 I Die" - Monica Hoover
THERE are very few times (lately) that I’ve walked into an exhibition and have been captivated by what I saw.
Continue reading "San Diego Round-up Part 2 : "A Fine Line"
Rubber Rose Gallery - Ray St." »
Jeremy Wright - "Gruffy Jack Ball"
"This is where the rubber meets the road" I was once told by a gallery owner that I worked for in sales, believing he did that most successes in life and the negotiations necessary to achieve them came not by chance but by persistence and a call to the client. You don’t buy a ticket you can’t win the Lottery and if you don’t call the client you can’t make a sale. Sound advice but does it always work? Well of course not but at least you know where you stand. Persistence, tenacity, hard work all respectable values, some would even call them character traits but do they pay off in achieving your goals? How about in the art world?
Continue reading "San Diego Round-up Part I : "Tenacious"
Zedism Gallery - Normal Heights" »
I just got back from visiting the newly renovated Jacobs building at 1100 Kettner Boulevard downtown San Diego, the contemporary art annex to MCASD’s (Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego) permanent exhibition space across the street. It was up until recently, the Baggage Express holding area for the Santa Fe Depot train station that is adjacent to it and still in service. It had been empty for several years and then acquired by the museum. According to the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum web site the depot is, “an outstanding example of the classic Spanish Mission-Colonial Revival style of architecture, including Moorish influences.” It also goes on to say, “the Santa Fe Depot is 650 feet long by 106 feet wide, including the Baggage Express building, connected to its north end by arches and a track-side arcade. It's built of wood, bricks, cement and tile on a steel frame, with wide arches, tuscan columns, baroque cornices and heavy masonry appearance. The roof is of steel supported wood, with red mission tiles. Its twin towers have zigzag-pattern glazed tiles with Santa Fe's cross-in-circle emblem. The bricks around the depot were laid without mortar for long wear in a herringbone pattern.”
David Russell Talbott & Dark Vomit aka Kelly Hutchison
Opening: March 10, 2007 - 5pm to 11pm
Fish Out of Water
Weirdo Art Gallery
2925 Lincoln Avenue - SD
WHEN I moved to Brussels to open my gallery, I found a large home with commercial ground floor space and living up above. De-centralized from the downtown arts district, I found myself located in a predominately Turkish and Moroccan neighbourhood with a couple of aging Belgian families too old to relocate or too stubborn to move like some already lost Alamo battle against the rising tide of immigration washing upon their shore. Equal opportunity and issues of class and/or culture over in Europe are a far cry from the problems we’ve experienced and continue to have in America, but it is no less damaging. At the time I truly felt that art could conquer all, turning the whirlpool of ignorance and hate into a positive life altering, food for the soul experience. I don’t believe anyone thought we would see 9/11, terrorism yes but not on that level, and certainly I believe no one felt it less when it did happen, than those involved in a very naïve and hubristic art world – including myself. How ironic that the destruction of the two Buddha statues in Bamyan, Afghanistan were the first to fall – art, religion, mankind had suffered the first lance. Don’t get me wrong, art has its place within the society; however it never seems to be in the right place at the right time. I no longer feel art can even remotely solve the world’s problems.
Looking back before the events of 9/11, I recall a few years earlier, opening the doors of the gallery for the first time to the amazement and shock of the neighbourhood – they were a bit amused to say the least. In hindsight, perhaps they felt threatened. I mean who would purposely move into a community that had previously been reluctantly given up to now, second and third generation immigrants with their own children, having taken the place of their parents, now with even fewer possibilities of social and economic success, a “good” education and overwhelming racial inequality at every turn.
