Electro Mechanical Pop
by Richard Gleaves
The work in Dave Ghilarducci's current show is extremely generative in its ability to assert questions about the artist's intention: whether it is to explore sound, motion, interactivity, or stochastics, any one of which is a topic sufficient in itself to sustain a career-length investigation.
A conversation with Ghilarducci at the opening revealed that for him all these are but means towards an end, which is to make work that is as accessible as possible to as wide an audience as possible. If a modality exists that he can exploit to engage a viewer, he will use it. And as a professionally-trained engineer Ghilarducci has the software and hardware chops to do so, far beyond the typical skill set of a professionally-trained artist (which he is not).
The central organizing metaphor behind Ghilarducci's work is the notion of conversation: in effect he is making machines that engage in abstract conversations. This positions his work somewhere between the wetware of Tino Sehgal and Maja Matarić’s work on social robots.
In response to Ghilarducci's stated goal of total accessibility, I asked if in essence that made his work a kind of Pop art. His response was swift and dismissive: he associates Pop with the work of Warhol and Lichtenstein, and doesn't want to see his own work so pigeon-holed.
This response itself is interesting, as it's consistent with a key property of Ghilarducci's work that makes it his own: namely, an unrelenting masculinity at a level hardly seen in contemporary art since early Matthew Barney. Historically, Pop has (among other things) been characterized as an effete and ironic rejoinder to the marked masculinity of Abstract Expressionism. Whereas Ghilarducci the person is quintessentially masculine: a quality that manifests in his work, which hews tightly to the gym-equipment esthetic of cold steel, industrial finish, and mil-spec joinery.
It's easy to imagine such works as ad hoc rickety (Tim Hawkinson) or bi-gendered (Sandra Doore), but they're not — they're tough as nails. It's this, combined with their propensity to communicate in odd and somewhat random ways, that makes them such a compelling spectacle, and — lest the artist recoil at the title above — not only worthy of their own branch in the tree of Pop, but fully potential of being something very else.
Artist: Lee Puffer - Portrait: Karen McGuire, Curator of Exhibitions, City of Carlsbad’s William D. Cannon Art Gallery
L Street Fine Art
This exhibition takes a closer look at what is normally considered a simple utilitarian vessel used to hold tea. Teapots: Object to Subject is a collection of the best entries from the 2004 Survey of American Teapots sponsored by the Craft Alliance in St. Louis, Missouri. The best of both established artists and the most promising, innovative new artists from around the country are represented in this exhibition. 
Tate Modern London, United Kingdom 
Saturday, September 19:
The following is a philosophical reflection on the manner in which we collect things, whether it is art, souvenirs, or stories. In doing so, we reveal to the world how we picture ourselves through the lens of an inanimate object. 
Saturday, July 11th, The Nesian Ohana, seventyNINE co., and Nesian's Can Cancer Foundation presents the St. Jude Project: Can Cancer Art Show- San Diego located at The Luce Loft (1037 J St. San Diego, CA 92101) on the corner of 10th & J from 6pm-midnight. 
Lux Art Institute Announces 2009-2010 Artist-in-Residence Season
