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Monday, June 25, 2012
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
It Is There If You Want to Take the Time
George Landow (aka Owen Land) 1944-2011
We can individually identify with absurdist behavior, although, our ability to disregard material, visual or otherwise, is the catalyst to the manifestation and longevity of this human condition. Experimental film-maker George Landow, also known as Owen Land (1944-2011), used mode of “structural film” coupled with satirical wit and self-referential material to expose our trained attention span, given to us by media images and advertising culture, and assisted in locating substance within the “absurdity of all phenomena and the arbitrariness of all information.”
In an early example of Land’s work, a short film Film in Which There Appear Edge Lettering, Sprocket Holes, Dirt Particles, Etc. from 1965-66, he allows material to dictate the content. It is a brief loop of a Kodak color test showing duplicate images of a young woman’s portrait alongside the edge lettering, outside sprocket holes and dirt particles present on the surface of the film. The composition is quite minimal, however, the subtle shifts in the artists handling of the film, movement created in the repeated cycle of revealed edge lettering and overlaid with the continual ticking of the film in the camera creates a richly dynamic piece with depth and attention.
George Landow aka Owen Land, Film in Which There Appear Edge Lettering, Sprocket Holes, Dirt Particles, Etc., 1965-66, screen shot.
Expounding upon the capabilities of early film media, using 16mm and 8mm, Land formed non-linear abstracted content that provides an oddly fascinating combination of obstructed imagery and material residue that confuses time and space. The repeating loop of the edge lettering on the film indicates time in terms of isolated moments rather than a sense of duration while the cropped imagery limits the viewers’ perception of space and context. Ultimately, focus is given over to the presence of the material including dust particles and scratches on the surface of the film that have been intentionally left by the artist.
Land’s presentation of a seemingly banal subject in a very methodic repeated fashion invites an entirely new visceral and visual experience, which reorients the viewers’ response to duplicate media and advertising imagery. Author and friend of the artist, P. Adams Sitney wrote in a recent Artforum article that “Land’s unique contribution was to focus on the detritus of television and advertisement as the signature rerum – the more banal, the more spiritually immanent,” emphasizing the artists capability to augment shifts in perception of the mundane or absurd visual imagery.
Essentially, the impact of Land’s films is facilitated by time. Precision application of time in his work is revealed in the way he chose to make repeated imagery seem part of the composition of Film in Which There Appear Edge Lettering, Sprocket Holes, Dirt Particles, Etc. rather than any narrative. Simultaneously, Land understood the time and attention afforded by the viewer in order to mock that very same length of time impressed upon them by media and advertising, which is evermore applicable today. Land harnessed brief moments in time with direct visual vigor and gave back to the viewers their own breadth of experience.
We can individually identify with absurdist behavior, although, our ability to disregard material, visual or otherwise, is the catalyst to the manifestation and longevity of this human condition. Experimental film-maker George Landow, also known as Owen Land (1944-2011), used mode of “structural film” coupled with satirical wit and self-referential material to expose our trained attention span, given to us by media images and advertising culture, and assisted in locating substance within the “absurdity of all phenomena and the arbitrariness of all information.”
In an early example of Land’s work, a short film Film in Which There Appear Edge Lettering, Sprocket Holes, Dirt Particles, Etc. from 1965-66, he allows material to dictate the content. It is a brief loop of a Kodak color test showing duplicate images of a young woman’s portrait alongside the edge lettering, outside sprocket holes and dirt particles present on the surface of the film. The composition is quite minimal, however, the subtle shifts in the artists handling of the film, movement created in the repeated cycle of revealed edge lettering and overlaid with the continual ticking of the film in the camera creates a richly dynamic piece with depth and attention.
George Landow aka Owen Land, Film in Which There Appear Edge Lettering, Sprocket Holes, Dirt Particles, Etc., 1965-66, screen shot.
Expounding upon the capabilities of early film media, using 16mm and 8mm, Land formed non-linear abstracted content that provides an oddly fascinating combination of obstructed imagery and material residue that confuses time and space. The repeating loop of the edge lettering on the film indicates time in terms of isolated moments rather than a sense of duration while the cropped imagery limits the viewers’ perception of space and context. Ultimately, focus is given over to the presence of the material including dust particles and scratches on the surface of the film that have been intentionally left by the artist.
Land’s presentation of a seemingly banal subject in a very methodic repeated fashion invites an entirely new visceral and visual experience, which reorients the viewers’ response to duplicate media and advertising imagery. Author and friend of the artist, P. Adams Sitney wrote in a recent Artforum article that “Land’s unique contribution was to focus on the detritus of television and advertisement as the signature rerum – the more banal, the more spiritually immanent,” emphasizing the artists capability to augment shifts in perception of the mundane or absurd visual imagery.
Essentially, the impact of Land’s films is facilitated by time. Precision application of time in his work is revealed in the way he chose to make repeated imagery seem part of the composition of Film in Which There Appear Edge Lettering, Sprocket Holes, Dirt Particles, Etc. rather than any narrative. Simultaneously, Land understood the time and attention afforded by the viewer in order to mock that very same length of time impressed upon them by media and advertising, which is evermore applicable today. Land harnessed brief moments in time with direct visual vigor and gave back to the viewers their own breadth of experience.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
ArtCore Blog Launch
Thank you, to those of you who have been keeping up with ERIN DZIEDZIC (Je-jitz): Interactions with Art. This blog will remain and I will continue to post regularly in addition to a new blog that I have developed called ArtCore.
ArtCore
The mission of the ArtCore blog is twofold, requiring writers to engage with contemporary art beyond the borders of “home” or ones current city and to provide rigorous and informed writing focused primarily on spatial concepts in contemporary art and curatorial practice. Written material will include but is not limited to critiques/reviews, essays/reports and articles written on contemporary art, exhibitions, installations, projects and art fairs.
Specializing in the extended efforts made by a writer to expand beyond their geographical place as a major component, ArtCore is designed to establish a rich matrix of artists and writers interacting globally for the advancement of writing on concepts of space in contemporary art and curatorial practice using a blog format. “ArtCore” was developed in conversation with friends who make efforts to travel to view art, modeling it after the term “hardcore”, which references the most committed and dedicated members of a group. The prospectus for ArtCore’s dedication to concepts of space began with an essay I had written for a conference, which discusses the possibility for new methods of writing expanded text that could shape modern interwoven cultural globalization amidst the spectacle of the art fair. The ArtCore blog takes its queue from the notion of the art fair phenomenon as a “destination” and expands this format to stimulate critical and creative text in modern times, aiming to be a significant resource in contemporary art writing. After six months of myself as the primary writer for the ArtCore content, on a schedule of bi-weekly posts, other writers, critics, artists, collectors, dealers and scholars will be invited to contribute or may submit writing for consideration. Collectively, these entries will establish a rigorous and informed catalog of reviews and critical writing segments and will be tracked using a visual map.
The desire is for ArtCore to become the nexus for the development, advancement and exchange of ideas and writing focused on concepts of space in contemporary art in a moving global context. The ArtCore blog project aligns closely with and is an extension of my most recent research, writings and interests, which focus on the affects of space on contemporary art and curatorial practice. Currently, I maintain the blog “Erin Dziedzic (Je-jitz): Interactions with Art” which has been in existence for two years with a series of informed reviews and art world information at erindziedzic.blogspot.com. Ultimately, it is the hope that ArtCore will make a significant contribution to the dialog of space in contemporary art and curatorial practice and continue to inform additional research, writing, projects, important exhibitions, and productive writing networks.
Writing on the subject of space exists in critical essays like Gilles Deleuze’s “The Exhausted.” Contemporary scholars like Nicolas Bourriaud, Ian Buchanan, Claire Colebrook and Nigel Thrift also contribute to the field of spatial relations. Critics respond to the artist and institutions use of space in pointed reviews like art historian Meredith Martin’s for ARTFORUM and Elain Sciolino or Rooksana Hossenally’s for the New York Times on the contemporary art installations at Versailles. In the context of the art blogging genre ArtCore is uniquely relevant in its specification that the writer advance from one geographical location to another and respond to art in terms of space. ArtCore would be the first blog of its kind to collect a combination of written material on contemporary art and curatorial practice, where concepts of space are engaged exclusively.
My research and practice is greatly devoted to the investigation of space in contemporary art, resulting in essays, blog entries and exhibitions. For example, in a recent essay I presented the idea of considering the “crisis” of art criticism in terms of our greater need to apply “altermodern’s” push for modern globalization. Suggesting, that the spectacle of the art fair provides opportunity for an expansion of global geographical perspectives and is ripe as a platform for deep consideration of how galleries, artists and institutions navigate space. In an exhibition called “The Masquers” that I produced for a group show at P.P.O.W. I employed the use of works by Craig Drennen to articulate a theoretical space, a fissure in the complicated dance between Modernism and Postmodernism to suggest a new hybrid practice that assimilates traits from modernism and postmodernism, and in the process intensifies the desire for a new perspective beyond the available vocabulary.
The intended audience for the ArtCore blog includes art students, scholars, collectors, gallerists, dealers, critics and artists as well as philosophers and theorists. Open to the fields of art and theory the ArtCore blog would generate a sense of community amongst practitioners in the broad spectrum of art, theory and praxis. ArtCore’s purpose is to act as a positive platform for collaboration and development amongst genres in the art world to expand the concepts of space in contemporary art.
ArtCore has already begun but official posting will begin December 2011! Check back at http://artcorecontemporary.blogspot.com/
ArtCore
The mission of the ArtCore blog is twofold, requiring writers to engage with contemporary art beyond the borders of “home” or ones current city and to provide rigorous and informed writing focused primarily on spatial concepts in contemporary art and curatorial practice. Written material will include but is not limited to critiques/reviews, essays/reports and articles written on contemporary art, exhibitions, installations, projects and art fairs.
Specializing in the extended efforts made by a writer to expand beyond their geographical place as a major component, ArtCore is designed to establish a rich matrix of artists and writers interacting globally for the advancement of writing on concepts of space in contemporary art and curatorial practice using a blog format. “ArtCore” was developed in conversation with friends who make efforts to travel to view art, modeling it after the term “hardcore”, which references the most committed and dedicated members of a group. The prospectus for ArtCore’s dedication to concepts of space began with an essay I had written for a conference, which discusses the possibility for new methods of writing expanded text that could shape modern interwoven cultural globalization amidst the spectacle of the art fair. The ArtCore blog takes its queue from the notion of the art fair phenomenon as a “destination” and expands this format to stimulate critical and creative text in modern times, aiming to be a significant resource in contemporary art writing. After six months of myself as the primary writer for the ArtCore content, on a schedule of bi-weekly posts, other writers, critics, artists, collectors, dealers and scholars will be invited to contribute or may submit writing for consideration. Collectively, these entries will establish a rigorous and informed catalog of reviews and critical writing segments and will be tracked using a visual map.
The desire is for ArtCore to become the nexus for the development, advancement and exchange of ideas and writing focused on concepts of space in contemporary art in a moving global context. The ArtCore blog project aligns closely with and is an extension of my most recent research, writings and interests, which focus on the affects of space on contemporary art and curatorial practice. Currently, I maintain the blog “Erin Dziedzic (Je-jitz): Interactions with Art” which has been in existence for two years with a series of informed reviews and art world information at erindziedzic.blogspot.com. Ultimately, it is the hope that ArtCore will make a significant contribution to the dialog of space in contemporary art and curatorial practice and continue to inform additional research, writing, projects, important exhibitions, and productive writing networks.
Writing on the subject of space exists in critical essays like Gilles Deleuze’s “The Exhausted.” Contemporary scholars like Nicolas Bourriaud, Ian Buchanan, Claire Colebrook and Nigel Thrift also contribute to the field of spatial relations. Critics respond to the artist and institutions use of space in pointed reviews like art historian Meredith Martin’s for ARTFORUM and Elain Sciolino or Rooksana Hossenally’s for the New York Times on the contemporary art installations at Versailles. In the context of the art blogging genre ArtCore is uniquely relevant in its specification that the writer advance from one geographical location to another and respond to art in terms of space. ArtCore would be the first blog of its kind to collect a combination of written material on contemporary art and curatorial practice, where concepts of space are engaged exclusively.
My research and practice is greatly devoted to the investigation of space in contemporary art, resulting in essays, blog entries and exhibitions. For example, in a recent essay I presented the idea of considering the “crisis” of art criticism in terms of our greater need to apply “altermodern’s” push for modern globalization. Suggesting, that the spectacle of the art fair provides opportunity for an expansion of global geographical perspectives and is ripe as a platform for deep consideration of how galleries, artists and institutions navigate space. In an exhibition called “The Masquers” that I produced for a group show at P.P.O.W. I employed the use of works by Craig Drennen to articulate a theoretical space, a fissure in the complicated dance between Modernism and Postmodernism to suggest a new hybrid practice that assimilates traits from modernism and postmodernism, and in the process intensifies the desire for a new perspective beyond the available vocabulary.
The intended audience for the ArtCore blog includes art students, scholars, collectors, gallerists, dealers, critics and artists as well as philosophers and theorists. Open to the fields of art and theory the ArtCore blog would generate a sense of community amongst practitioners in the broad spectrum of art, theory and praxis. ArtCore’s purpose is to act as a positive platform for collaboration and development amongst genres in the art world to expand the concepts of space in contemporary art.
ArtCore has already begun but official posting will begin December 2011! Check back at http://artcorecontemporary.blogspot.com/
Monday, April 25, 2011
Twist & Go
Exhibition by Jonathan Yoerger at Fahm Hall Gallery | 9 N. Fahm St. Savannah, GA
April 1-14, 2011
Twist & Go
M.F.A. Painting candidate Jonathan Yoerger is keeping the discussion of the perplexing nature of Postmodernism alive, and I like it. Amongst all of the big –ism questions, discussions and aesthetics Postmodernism really does get caught up in its own cyclonic wind-up, and the tension, wonderment and suspense of whether it will move beyond this period is becoming much more engaging and optimistic than it was a decade ago and especially took precedence during the market collapse. As the art world emerges from the last pummeling Yoerger’s “Twist & Go” aesthetic is an optimistic tale of discovery, invention and the pleasantries of nostalgia.
Yoerger's work engages an assortment of eras, subcultures, markets and avant-gardes connected to one another by a method of strategic overlapping of familiar visual references. At the same time, he is entirely plugged into developing his own voice or in many ways his very own brand.
Front and center, through the glass storefront-like façade of the comfortably concise square gallery, is Yoerger’s blazing acronym of “YASA.” It stands for his very own “NASA-type” mission to pioneer in a not-so-descript space between art, science and commodity culture. Three larger than life painted female figures, his Space Chicks named after Columbus’ ships, the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, immediately bring the conversation to painting. Lining the wall adjacent to the lit “YASA” sculpture and looking like a trio of other worldly explorers who have just landed in the show, these super heroines seem to be surveying the environment, artifacts, remnants and sounds left behind by an eclectic group of inhabitants. It is unclear whether they’ve crash-landed in the shiny silver space capsule that floats in the gallery or if they too are listening in, carefully, to the sound of the Atlanta-based rap group emanating from the tiny vessel. My guesses is these three sultry Space Chics might have actually had something to do with the capsules’ change of course and ultimate system failing and are surprised at what they’ve discovered.
Jonathan Yoerger, Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, 2011, oil on canvas, 90”x78” each. Photography by Whitney Dail.
An avid collector of a range of objects from taxidermy forms and wrestling masks to Vespas, bicycle parts, model airplanes and helmets, Yoerger’s exhibition integrates these artifacts, that tend to function in very separate worlds and imbues them with a unique second life. In giving these artifacts a new or renewed life Yoerger’s works operate in a manner similar to French philosopher Gaston Bachelard's poetics of space, in which he insists on the transfer of the poet's affectivity to the surrounding space and objects; a process, which endows all matter with a poetic essence and expands the intimate space into a poetic space: "To give an object its own poetic space is to give it more space than it has objectively [...], it is to follow the expansion of its intimate space." (see notes 1,2)
Jonathan Yoerger, Artifact Wall, Photography by Whitney Dail
These artifacts reveal what Yoerger explains as “histories that never happened,” rather than specific narratives, whereby adding to the mystery of their altered functions. His method for displaying these items involves reworking versions of them installed on his studio wall. Always changing and evolving within each new space. Yoerger displays found objects like film reels and a broken model propeller plane to hang comfortably with very large and very tiny oil paintings, small screens that kinetically vibrate with small animated GIF image sequences, sound bites and a slew of re-appropriated tinker toys, taxidermy critters and scooter helmets. They are hung together on a wall where a section is painted gray to denote the standard dimensions of his large acrylic on canvas paintings on the opposite side of the gallery. They reside in a world created by the artist and at the same time reflect aspects of their actual history providing the viewer, Yoerger notes, “with a case study of their own,” leaving an intermingling of visual imagery and objects teetering on the brink of “the end, a new beginning, a discovery or a hidden past.”
A work that best describes the theme of “Twist & Go” is a vintage police Vespa stockpiled complete with tool belt, video camera, a comic, radio, cup holder and parasol. It has all the things anyone could need and a little bit more and although it remains inoperable its accoutrements embody the distinct sensation of something at the ready and on the brink of release or escape. “Twist & Go” leaves us with an interesting awareness of nostalgia and wonderment that looks to the past via Yoerger’s pairing of uncanny and ad hoc imagery and propels scores of pathways setting viewers’ imaginations trailing off into a connected future somewhere on down the road. “Twist & Go” is a successful kick-start to a promising future in the arts.
1. Excerpt from the press release for “The Poetics of Space” at Galerie Marian Goodman, Paris (June 19 – July 24, 2008) curated by Anja Isabel Schneider.
2. Gaston Bachelard, La Poétique de l'espace, Paris, éd. Quadridge/PUF, 1994, p. 183.
April 1-14, 2011
Twist & Go
M.F.A. Painting candidate Jonathan Yoerger is keeping the discussion of the perplexing nature of Postmodernism alive, and I like it. Amongst all of the big –ism questions, discussions and aesthetics Postmodernism really does get caught up in its own cyclonic wind-up, and the tension, wonderment and suspense of whether it will move beyond this period is becoming much more engaging and optimistic than it was a decade ago and especially took precedence during the market collapse. As the art world emerges from the last pummeling Yoerger’s “Twist & Go” aesthetic is an optimistic tale of discovery, invention and the pleasantries of nostalgia.
Yoerger's work engages an assortment of eras, subcultures, markets and avant-gardes connected to one another by a method of strategic overlapping of familiar visual references. At the same time, he is entirely plugged into developing his own voice or in many ways his very own brand.
Front and center, through the glass storefront-like façade of the comfortably concise square gallery, is Yoerger’s blazing acronym of “YASA.” It stands for his very own “NASA-type” mission to pioneer in a not-so-descript space between art, science and commodity culture. Three larger than life painted female figures, his Space Chicks named after Columbus’ ships, the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, immediately bring the conversation to painting. Lining the wall adjacent to the lit “YASA” sculpture and looking like a trio of other worldly explorers who have just landed in the show, these super heroines seem to be surveying the environment, artifacts, remnants and sounds left behind by an eclectic group of inhabitants. It is unclear whether they’ve crash-landed in the shiny silver space capsule that floats in the gallery or if they too are listening in, carefully, to the sound of the Atlanta-based rap group emanating from the tiny vessel. My guesses is these three sultry Space Chics might have actually had something to do with the capsules’ change of course and ultimate system failing and are surprised at what they’ve discovered.
Jonathan Yoerger, Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, 2011, oil on canvas, 90”x78” each. Photography by Whitney Dail.
An avid collector of a range of objects from taxidermy forms and wrestling masks to Vespas, bicycle parts, model airplanes and helmets, Yoerger’s exhibition integrates these artifacts, that tend to function in very separate worlds and imbues them with a unique second life. In giving these artifacts a new or renewed life Yoerger’s works operate in a manner similar to French philosopher Gaston Bachelard's poetics of space, in which he insists on the transfer of the poet's affectivity to the surrounding space and objects; a process, which endows all matter with a poetic essence and expands the intimate space into a poetic space: "To give an object its own poetic space is to give it more space than it has objectively [...], it is to follow the expansion of its intimate space." (see notes 1,2)
Jonathan Yoerger, Artifact Wall, Photography by Whitney Dail
These artifacts reveal what Yoerger explains as “histories that never happened,” rather than specific narratives, whereby adding to the mystery of their altered functions. His method for displaying these items involves reworking versions of them installed on his studio wall. Always changing and evolving within each new space. Yoerger displays found objects like film reels and a broken model propeller plane to hang comfortably with very large and very tiny oil paintings, small screens that kinetically vibrate with small animated GIF image sequences, sound bites and a slew of re-appropriated tinker toys, taxidermy critters and scooter helmets. They are hung together on a wall where a section is painted gray to denote the standard dimensions of his large acrylic on canvas paintings on the opposite side of the gallery. They reside in a world created by the artist and at the same time reflect aspects of their actual history providing the viewer, Yoerger notes, “with a case study of their own,” leaving an intermingling of visual imagery and objects teetering on the brink of “the end, a new beginning, a discovery or a hidden past.”
A work that best describes the theme of “Twist & Go” is a vintage police Vespa stockpiled complete with tool belt, video camera, a comic, radio, cup holder and parasol. It has all the things anyone could need and a little bit more and although it remains inoperable its accoutrements embody the distinct sensation of something at the ready and on the brink of release or escape. “Twist & Go” leaves us with an interesting awareness of nostalgia and wonderment that looks to the past via Yoerger’s pairing of uncanny and ad hoc imagery and propels scores of pathways setting viewers’ imaginations trailing off into a connected future somewhere on down the road. “Twist & Go” is a successful kick-start to a promising future in the arts.
1. Excerpt from the press release for “The Poetics of Space” at Galerie Marian Goodman, Paris (June 19 – July 24, 2008) curated by Anja Isabel Schneider.
2. Gaston Bachelard, La Poétique de l'espace, Paris, éd. Quadridge/PUF, 1994, p. 183.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
James Franco: Who Knew?
I’ve been doing some thinking about (gasp!) James Franco as a lightly complex way of easing back into writing after my blog hiatus. I’ll use him as a jumping off point. Although, gathering from the responses from many of my artist friends when I mention his name it seems as thought they would prefer a jumping off point as well, perhaps off a bridge. So, to kick off some serious blogging in 2011 I begin here, or there, or maybe everywhere.
On top of wearing an array of wigs to the Sundance Film Festival for his screening of “Three’s Company: The Drama” Franco is now slated to teach a course on himself at Columbia College Hollywood called “Master Class: Editing James Franco…with James Franco,” where students works to create 30 minute documentaries on Franco. Apparently, he is also keen to TA a course at Yale as well, where he is currently a Ph.D. candidate, will co-host the Oscars and is traveling the solo exhibition “Dangerous Book Four Boys” to Peres Projects in Berlin beginning in February. Not to mention, teaming up with performance artist Kalup Linzy on co-projects including albums, films and live performances. This all comes post solo exhibition at Clocktower Gallery in New York City last summer, the releases of Howl, 127 Hours and The Green Hornet all in 2010 and a forty-one episode stint on General Hospital that landed him in many homes across America. Essentially, if you didn’t know Franco before chances are you do now.
My interest does not reside in loving or hating Franco, because frankly (no pun intended) I really don’t know how I feel about him, but rather in trying to extract a point of interest from his vastly prolific cacophony of projects I've found myself suspiciously intrigued by him. Perhaps that is what is so interesting, the fact that he interests me. I mean who doesn’t want to be struck by curiosity in a field they love, he just happened to step into mine along the way so now I am being dragged inquisitively throughout the rest of his oeuvre.
Sometimes I wonder if it is all an elaborate performance. One that could culminate in Franco creating his own documentary of the documentaries made by his students. Or maybe I am reading into it all a bit too much and he was simply bored at the moment with acting and wanted to try his hand at a few other disciplines of which his star status afforded him the necessary access. Either way, it is a healthy interest folks and even one that has quite possibly spurred a renewed interest in collaborative models. I surely won’t be stalking his movie sets nor traveling to Berlin to see his show. However, I will continue to delight in artists and projects that pique my interest and send me off onto modes of thinking and development in my own practice. And I will most definitely be adding Freaks and Geeks to movie night with my friends.
In conclusion, let this be a launch pad, a starting gate or an off the line topic that will propel this years blog to new heights and begin to gather some substantial feedback from readers.
On top of wearing an array of wigs to the Sundance Film Festival for his screening of “Three’s Company: The Drama” Franco is now slated to teach a course on himself at Columbia College Hollywood called “Master Class: Editing James Franco…with James Franco,” where students works to create 30 minute documentaries on Franco. Apparently, he is also keen to TA a course at Yale as well, where he is currently a Ph.D. candidate, will co-host the Oscars and is traveling the solo exhibition “Dangerous Book Four Boys” to Peres Projects in Berlin beginning in February. Not to mention, teaming up with performance artist Kalup Linzy on co-projects including albums, films and live performances. This all comes post solo exhibition at Clocktower Gallery in New York City last summer, the releases of Howl, 127 Hours and The Green Hornet all in 2010 and a forty-one episode stint on General Hospital that landed him in many homes across America. Essentially, if you didn’t know Franco before chances are you do now.
My interest does not reside in loving or hating Franco, because frankly (no pun intended) I really don’t know how I feel about him, but rather in trying to extract a point of interest from his vastly prolific cacophony of projects I've found myself suspiciously intrigued by him. Perhaps that is what is so interesting, the fact that he interests me. I mean who doesn’t want to be struck by curiosity in a field they love, he just happened to step into mine along the way so now I am being dragged inquisitively throughout the rest of his oeuvre.
Sometimes I wonder if it is all an elaborate performance. One that could culminate in Franco creating his own documentary of the documentaries made by his students. Or maybe I am reading into it all a bit too much and he was simply bored at the moment with acting and wanted to try his hand at a few other disciplines of which his star status afforded him the necessary access. Either way, it is a healthy interest folks and even one that has quite possibly spurred a renewed interest in collaborative models. I surely won’t be stalking his movie sets nor traveling to Berlin to see his show. However, I will continue to delight in artists and projects that pique my interest and send me off onto modes of thinking and development in my own practice. And I will most definitely be adding Freaks and Geeks to movie night with my friends.
In conclusion, let this be a launch pad, a starting gate or an off the line topic that will propel this years blog to new heights and begin to gather some substantial feedback from readers.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Art in the Culture of Continuous Spectacle
Spectacular Voice: Art Criticism’s Itinerary Beyond Postmodernism
Nicolas Bourriaud’s theory of Altermodern helps to reexamine this contemporary phenomena—of the spectacle’s insistence on extracting the viewer from reality—by prompting the artist and viewer to reconsider their position beyond capitalist globalization and forge an itinerary, or path with which reconnects with a mode of “authenticity.” As an example, the art fair sensation is dominant and now largely dictates forms of ideological art criticism steeped in commodity, written about rampantly in platforms for contemporary art criticism like newspapers, magazines, catalog essays, and the Internet, while held to a skewed notion of “multiculturalism.” This has resulted in a homogenized criticality and modes of representation on the part of the artist and critic.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Young Curators, New Ideas III
(Untitled) The Masquers by Craig Drennen | Curated by Erin Dziedzic
mr. & mrs. amani olu (formerly amani olu projects), in conjunction with P•P•O•W
511 West 25th Street, Room 301 | July 22 - Aug. 20, 2010 | Reception: July 22, 6-8 p.m.
The Masquers, Craig Drennen’s most recent visualized characters within the Timon of Athens (c. 1605–1608) series recontextualizes David Robbins’ 18 photographic images of major art figures of the 1980s titled Talent (1986). The Masquers (2010) or ladies dressed as Amazons, as indicted in Shakespeare's Timon of Athens, reveal a paradox between the notion of “success” and “failure” in the art world deduced by the history of each individual artist represented since the images’ inception and asks us to imagine a world beyond postmodernism. The skepticism toward Jean-François Lyotard’s questioning of the truth advised through metanarratives, Frederic Jameson’s Neo-Marxist reading of postmodernism as the “dominant cultural logic of late capitalism,” and Jean Baudrillard’s suggested shift of identity to mediations and simulations, do not have the high stakes grandeur in expressing the impotence of modernism they had in the early 1980s. However, the current generations tendency to passively default to these theoretical systems has prompted a lull in reexamining critical theory. Are we riding the wave of the “success” of postmodernism and therefore hesitant to further query on the instances of its “failures?” Just as Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Claes Oldenburg, and Jim Dine had reacted to the dominant gestural mark of abstract expressionism by expanding upon it through the recontextualizing of objects to forge Pop art in the late 1950s, contemporary postmodern practices of intertextuality, pastiche, and mediated detachment have become the impetus for a new hybrid art practice.
Furthermore, the title of the exhibition, Young Curators, New Ideas III asks us to peruse the so-called successes and failures in contemporary art but also those whose ideas and visual vocabulary vibrate in between this dichotomy and address a concept of redirection in the current moment.
Drennen’s continued series’ proceed through the entire dramatis personae of the Shakespearean play Timon of Athens, which was never performed during Shakespeare’s life and is often considered a “failed” work. Drennen situates himself within our existing cultural structure and visually explores an unoccupied bandwidth within which a “failed” project resides. The low influx of activity surrounding a “failed” project allows Drennen to insert his own contemporary intertextual modifications driven by intuitive exploration, coupled with the inclusion of a post YouTube mash-up of modern and postmodern ideologies. For The Masquers characters Drennen scanned and enlarged photographic reproductions of each of Robbins’ black and white studio shot portraits from Talent (1986) onto canvas. The glamorized photographic images establish an appropriated identity for viewers, into which Drennen then pulls into the language of painting. He does so by applying a layer of spontaneous drips that call to mind the purification of form and then builds upon them intentionally by adding thick, candy-like masses of oil paint that can be read as embellishment or defacing of the portrait. Small balls of aluminum foil are set into the piles of paint to suggest a beautification of the image, while cigarettes extinguished into the shimmering globs of paint reference both the taboo pleasure of the act of smoking and of putting the lit cigarettes out into a wet painting. This presents an implied abject quality to the portraits and in “defacing” them reemphasizes the notion of a “failed” entity.
Drennen’s works bring to light the possibility of postmodernisms tenure losing ground to a new hybrid practice that assimilates traits from modernism and postmodernism, and in the process intensifies the desire for a new perspective beyond the available vocabulary.
Special thank you to the following: Craig Drennen, Camilo Alvarez, Amani Olu, Brian Newell, Katie Walker, Stephanie Greene, Hugo Aguilera, Christopher Bumgarner (Precision Plastics, Inc.)
mr. & mrs. amani olu (formerly amani olu projects), in conjunction with P•P•O•W
511 West 25th Street, Room 301 | July 22 - Aug. 20, 2010 | Reception: July 22, 6-8 p.m.
The Masquers, Craig Drennen’s most recent visualized characters within the Timon of Athens (c. 1605–1608) series recontextualizes David Robbins’ 18 photographic images of major art figures of the 1980s titled Talent (1986). The Masquers (2010) or ladies dressed as Amazons, as indicted in Shakespeare's Timon of Athens, reveal a paradox between the notion of “success” and “failure” in the art world deduced by the history of each individual artist represented since the images’ inception and asks us to imagine a world beyond postmodernism. The skepticism toward Jean-François Lyotard’s questioning of the truth advised through metanarratives, Frederic Jameson’s Neo-Marxist reading of postmodernism as the “dominant cultural logic of late capitalism,” and Jean Baudrillard’s suggested shift of identity to mediations and simulations, do not have the high stakes grandeur in expressing the impotence of modernism they had in the early 1980s. However, the current generations tendency to passively default to these theoretical systems has prompted a lull in reexamining critical theory. Are we riding the wave of the “success” of postmodernism and therefore hesitant to further query on the instances of its “failures?” Just as Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Claes Oldenburg, and Jim Dine had reacted to the dominant gestural mark of abstract expressionism by expanding upon it through the recontextualizing of objects to forge Pop art in the late 1950s, contemporary postmodern practices of intertextuality, pastiche, and mediated detachment have become the impetus for a new hybrid art practice.
Furthermore, the title of the exhibition, Young Curators, New Ideas III asks us to peruse the so-called successes and failures in contemporary art but also those whose ideas and visual vocabulary vibrate in between this dichotomy and address a concept of redirection in the current moment.
Drennen’s continued series’ proceed through the entire dramatis personae of the Shakespearean play Timon of Athens, which was never performed during Shakespeare’s life and is often considered a “failed” work. Drennen situates himself within our existing cultural structure and visually explores an unoccupied bandwidth within which a “failed” project resides. The low influx of activity surrounding a “failed” project allows Drennen to insert his own contemporary intertextual modifications driven by intuitive exploration, coupled with the inclusion of a post YouTube mash-up of modern and postmodern ideologies. For The Masquers characters Drennen scanned and enlarged photographic reproductions of each of Robbins’ black and white studio shot portraits from Talent (1986) onto canvas. The glamorized photographic images establish an appropriated identity for viewers, into which Drennen then pulls into the language of painting. He does so by applying a layer of spontaneous drips that call to mind the purification of form and then builds upon them intentionally by adding thick, candy-like masses of oil paint that can be read as embellishment or defacing of the portrait. Small balls of aluminum foil are set into the piles of paint to suggest a beautification of the image, while cigarettes extinguished into the shimmering globs of paint reference both the taboo pleasure of the act of smoking and of putting the lit cigarettes out into a wet painting. This presents an implied abject quality to the portraits and in “defacing” them reemphasizes the notion of a “failed” entity.
Drennen’s works bring to light the possibility of postmodernisms tenure losing ground to a new hybrid practice that assimilates traits from modernism and postmodernism, and in the process intensifies the desire for a new perspective beyond the available vocabulary.
Special thank you to the following: Craig Drennen, Camilo Alvarez, Amani Olu, Brian Newell, Katie Walker, Stephanie Greene, Hugo Aguilera, Christopher Bumgarner (Precision Plastics, Inc.)
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art
Volume: 2010, Number: 26
Check out my review of Deborah Poynton's exhibition/work from "Everything Matters" in the first issue of Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art published by Duke University Press.
Check out my review of Deborah Poynton's exhibition/work from "Everything Matters" in the first issue of Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art published by Duke University Press.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Whitney Biennial 2010
Whitney Museum of American Art
Feb. 25 - May 30, 2010
There were very interesting works, thoughtful selections, stimulating connections, and curatorial advances taking place. What 2010 did lack was a bit more tailoring and some further insight into a dialogue on the future of museum/biennial curation. After all, the museum, and the spaces which art has shown on a consistent basis have also had major changes in 2009 and 2010. Michael Asher's proposal to keep the museum open for 24 hrs a day for one week and its subsequent impossibility due to budgetary and human resources limitations is a quiet, yet effective piece, which responds conceptually to the ever present financial strain.
Despite any heavy claims and to the credit of the curators, Francesco Bonami and Gary Carrion-Murayari, 2010 has a shortened list of 55 artists in which subtle leads in some of the new paces in video, realism, modernism, and abstraction made an ever so slight gesture towards what to look for in the future. For instance, a quad of artists working in video reference gesture, body movement, body language, and communication. Kelly Nipper, known for her choreographed works, in Weather Center, combines movement with audio of a person counting from one to eight to convey fluctuation in weather, which also suggests a nod to eight count in dance. Around the corner Rashaad Newsome's Untitled and Untitled (New Way) pays homage to voguing, revived in pop culture by Madonna in the 1980s and originating in the Harlem ballroom sub-culture of the 1930s. Fracturing the postures further by building a new choreographed element based on individual interpretations of voguing and the artists editorial decisions on the cutting floor, Newsome engages the force of collaboration, via the body and use of current technology, which generates ideas regarding how works like this can take shape in the future. For example, his gestures are absent of sound leaving more room for the injection of future audio prospects.
Directly across the congested entrance is Kate Gilmore's Standing Here, which poses to explore conquering self-imposed obstacles through themes of displacement, struggle, and female identity. My question remains, why is the female identity visualized as a polka dot dress and heels? I realize that women are still facing many of the social issues they have faced for centuries but why do we continue to keep hitting that same wall with visual representations that suffice to change with the equality women have reached. The generalized notion of this work to channel women as the stylistically fragile outfit charging up against the phallic societal limitations is overwrought. Reaching into this continued struggle in terms of specificity to a certain struggle warrants further investigation as we live in the present and look toward the future.
Jesse Aron Green's single channel video is another strong example of reflecting on the past and developing future ideas in contemporary video art. Blending text material from Daniel Gottlob Moritz Schreber's 1858 book on gymnastic exercises and art historical references of 1960s Minimalist sculpture and Structural filmmaking provides a platform for considering various historical genre as inspiration and mode for critical response. Green's single channel video captures the subdued nature with which the curators present 2010 yet also gives a sense of the same tension and inquisitiveness via the artists method. Tailoring back to a single channel shot is at this state almost enough to confuse viewers amidst video artists who use technology which provides multi-dimensional reach and perspective in video practice who remain fixated on Green's video, waiting for something else to happen. Honestly, is that not what we usually expect, especially at a 75th anniversary biennial, is for "something to happen."
An arc to realism both in reference to paintings use of trompe l'oeil, which is as historically remarkable today as it was in the 5th Century BCE and revived again in the 17th Century and photography's continued shift on objective reality were both present at the Whitney. Brooklyn-based photographer James Casebere's fabricated communities are so spatially alluring that they render as super-realist paintings until further exploration of the surface reveals their photographic medium. They play with our perceptions of reality and boggle our objective understanding of space, which fulfills the artists intention to invite one into a space, only to be surprised by the reality that lies within. Chicago-based painter Scott Short also reminds us of the process based elements inherent in painting on his large scale canvases resembling sheets of paper that have been copied several times. He transitions our mode of thinking in terms of painting an technology by not only differentiating it in size but by also giving the viewer an appreciation for the tactility that a copied image can provide.
Some not so subtle claims were also addressed, for example, in Lorraine O'Grady's suggestion that Modernism began with nineteenth-century French poet Charles Baudelaire and ended with twentieth-century American musician Michael Jackson. At first, this work seems a bold and contained view of Modernism but upon further investigation, a sense of uncertainty is revealed in where the direction of art is headed. In giving Modernism a "death," perhaps O'Grady offers up an allowance to look to the future of art while at the same time giving out the question of, how do we think of art now that a reigning period has ended? In this consistency with subtlety, perhaps what the curators and the museum look to do is offer art a breather from the confines of -isms and reflect in this holding pattern on what has taken shape over the course of the past 150 years.
An arc to realism both in reference to paintings use of trompe l'oeil, which is as historically remarkable today as it was in the 5th Century BCE and revived again in the 17th Century and photography's continued shift on objective reality were both present at the Whitney. Brooklyn-based photographer James Casebere's fabricated communities are so spatially alluring that they render as super-realist paintings until further exploration of the surface reveals their photographic medium. They play with our perceptions of reality and boggle our objective understanding of space, which fulfills the artists intention to invite one into a space, only to be surprised by the reality that lies within. Chicago-based painter Scott Short also reminds us of the process based elements inherent in painting on his large scale canvases resembling sheets of paper that have been copied several times. He transitions our mode of thinking in terms of painting an technology by not only differentiating it in size but by also giving the viewer an appreciation for the tactility that a copied image can provide.
Some not so subtle claims were also addressed, for example, in Lorraine O'Grady's suggestion that Modernism began with nineteenth-century French poet Charles Baudelaire and ended with twentieth-century American musician Michael Jackson. At first, this work seems a bold and contained view of Modernism but upon further investigation, a sense of uncertainty is revealed in where the direction of art is headed. In giving Modernism a "death," perhaps O'Grady offers up an allowance to look to the future of art while at the same time giving out the question of, how do we think of art now that a reigning period has ended? In this consistency with subtlety, perhaps what the curators and the museum look to do is offer art a breather from the confines of -isms and reflect in this holding pattern on what has taken shape over the course of the past 150 years.
Are we slowing down the pace a bit and applying our own associations. Several artists in the exhibition allow us to do so including New York-based Maureen Gallace whose New England inspired landscapes present unembellished houses. These blank facades, like clean slates, provide entry without the pressures of disguised meaning and honor the medium's ability to entice. Gallace's paintings are deceptively unique in that their surfaces alone can take you to another place before the content is even met. A friend of mine who is also an artist stated that these creamy surface were like ice cream spread about.
Lastly, but certainly not least of the artists in the Whitney Biennial, R.H. Quaytman, another New York-based artist coming off of her recent exhibition at the ICA Boston responded to the space so seamlessly as part of her continuing body of work. Distracting, Distance, Chapter 16 is sequential without seeming contrived, is subtle without seeming flat. Quaytman's works gesture to one another, to the viewer, and to the space, carving a light path, one that welcomes new responses and gives a refreshing angle on contemporary painting. The care with which the curators made in choosing or allowing the artist to respond to this particular room within the museum was superior. For me, it was the most commanding, yet the most investigative installation in the biennial that truly presented their curatorial vision of observing the past and future of the Biennial. While I didn't walk away from the Biennial feeling like I had been given a glimpse of the future, or slapped into submission by an over zealous mission, ultimately, there was serious thoughts about the future of the Biennial that emerged via its overall thematic generalization. Maybe it's the age of the Biennial that is taking a soft landing onto new, uncharted territory, and while the initial impact won't jar the viewer, there is a door somewhere that will be opened up onto a new terrain. Therefore, as I wrap up these thoughts on the 75th Whitney Biennial I realize it is that very subtlety that at first triggered my impatience, has now got me highly intrigued about a budding group of artists who are taking on projects with which I hope to track into the future. Now that is a soft landing.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Mini Armory Preview
Location | New York City
Dates | Mar. 3 - 7, 2010
Coming off of the foot heels of my Miami mini review, which seems like only a short while ago I've decided to compile and share a mini Armory preview of some noteworthy fairs, exhibitions, lectures, and parties that my colleagues out there in the art world have generously shared with me. Are we really already into February and looking on to March!? Wow, so that means there is a lot to look forward to.
Of course there is the main fair, The Armory Show, located on Pier 94 and also featuring The Armory Show - Modern temporary home to the modern and secondary market. While these core events are not to be missed there are so many other fairs, projects, and exhibitions launching at the same time. I recommend, if you can obtain a VIP pass, to not miss out on the opportunities to view over twenty private prominent art collections as well as admission to embassies and international cultural consuls and major museums like the Guggenheim and MOMA. My interest in this mini preview reveals a bit about digging your way through the art mecca that is New York during the Armory and some helpful tips along the way.
The Armory Show
General admission is Mar. 4 - 7, 2010 (US$30; Student US$10; Run of the Show Pass (4 day) US$60; The Armory Show/VOLTA NY Pass US$40) * If you are a student I recommend bringing along your student ID and keep in mind that this price will only get you into The Armory Show.
This should surely be a stop as it has 167 contemporary dealers, 66 modern dealers and 10 non-profits hosting national and international exhibitors.
Satellite Fairs
VOLTA NY | 7W 34th Street | Mar. 4-7, 2010 | US$15 or joint with The Armory US$40 | Preview Mar. 4, 2010 VIP, 12 - 2 p.m. | Public Hours Mar. 4, 2010 2-8 p.m. and Mar. 5-7, 2010 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Founded in 2005, VOLTA NY is an invitational show of contemporary art. This year's theme, No Guts No Glory emphasizing the fairs mission of showcasing tightly-focused in a solo format giving this fair its unique character.
TIP: See what you have time for and what peeks your interest. For example if you know you can only hit Armory and one other fair then see if there is a dual pass that will get you into both. Or say you are a student and you want to go to Armory and VOLTA NY. Pay the separate fees, at $15 for VOLTA and $10 for student ticket at Armory, you save $15. Otherwise, you pay the $40 joint ticket fee at VOLTA for the same.
Scope Art Show | Lincoln Center Damrosch Park 62nd Street and Amsterdam (10th Avenue) | US$20 or student $10 | Preview Mar. 4, 2010 VIP, 12 - 8 p.m. | Public Hours Mar. 4-6, 2010 12-8 p.m. and Mar. 7, 2010 12 - 6 p.m.
SCOPE introduces artists, curators, and cutting-edge galleries to new audiences internationally.
TIP: There are several other satellite fairs to visit during the Armory including the ADAA Art Show (Art Dealer's Association of America), Bridge Art Fair, PULSE. A good place to visit to obtain addresses and information for additional art fairs is ARTFORUM/art guide.
Museums
Whitney Museum of American Art | 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street
2010 Whitney Biennial, Feb. 25 - May 30, 2010
MOMA | 11 W 53rd Street
William Kentridge: Five Themes, Feb. 24–May 17, 2010; note: see accompanying performance and lectures during the Armory.
Tim Burton, Nov. 22, 2009–April 26, 2010
Ernesto Neto: Navedenga, Jan. 22–April 5, 2010
The New Museum | 235 Bowery
Skin Fruit: Selections from the Dakis Joannou Collection Curated by Jeff Koons
Museum of Arts and Design | 2 Columbus Circle
Slash: Paper Under The Knife, Oct. 7, 2009 - April 4, 2010
Additional Events
31 Women in Art Photography, Affirmation Arts 523 W. 37th Street, Mar. 6 – April 10, 2010
Another helpful guide can be found on the Artadia website.
I will add more information as it comes in. If you have any suggestions please send them to me and I will post them!
Dates | Mar. 3 - 7, 2010
Coming off of the foot heels of my Miami mini review, which seems like only a short while ago I've decided to compile and share a mini Armory preview of some noteworthy fairs, exhibitions, lectures, and parties that my colleagues out there in the art world have generously shared with me. Are we really already into February and looking on to March!? Wow, so that means there is a lot to look forward to.
Of course there is the main fair, The Armory Show, located on Pier 94 and also featuring The Armory Show - Modern temporary home to the modern and secondary market. While these core events are not to be missed there are so many other fairs, projects, and exhibitions launching at the same time. I recommend, if you can obtain a VIP pass, to not miss out on the opportunities to view over twenty private prominent art collections as well as admission to embassies and international cultural consuls and major museums like the Guggenheim and MOMA. My interest in this mini preview reveals a bit about digging your way through the art mecca that is New York during the Armory and some helpful tips along the way.
The Armory Show
General admission is Mar. 4 - 7, 2010 (US$30; Student US$10; Run of the Show Pass (4 day) US$60; The Armory Show/VOLTA NY Pass US$40) * If you are a student I recommend bringing along your student ID and keep in mind that this price will only get you into The Armory Show.
This should surely be a stop as it has 167 contemporary dealers, 66 modern dealers and 10 non-profits hosting national and international exhibitors.
Satellite Fairs
VOLTA NY | 7W 34th Street | Mar. 4-7, 2010 | US$15 or joint with The Armory US$40 | Preview Mar. 4, 2010 VIP, 12 - 2 p.m. | Public Hours Mar. 4, 2010 2-8 p.m. and Mar. 5-7, 2010 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Founded in 2005, VOLTA NY is an invitational show of contemporary art. This year's theme, No Guts No Glory emphasizing the fairs mission of showcasing tightly-focused in a solo format giving this fair its unique character.
TIP: See what you have time for and what peeks your interest. For example if you know you can only hit Armory and one other fair then see if there is a dual pass that will get you into both. Or say you are a student and you want to go to Armory and VOLTA NY. Pay the separate fees, at $15 for VOLTA and $10 for student ticket at Armory, you save $15. Otherwise, you pay the $40 joint ticket fee at VOLTA for the same.
Scope Art Show | Lincoln Center Damrosch Park 62nd Street and Amsterdam (10th Avenue) | US$20 or student $10 | Preview Mar. 4, 2010 VIP, 12 - 8 p.m. | Public Hours Mar. 4-6, 2010 12-8 p.m. and Mar. 7, 2010 12 - 6 p.m.
SCOPE introduces artists, curators, and cutting-edge galleries to new audiences internationally.
TIP: There are several other satellite fairs to visit during the Armory including the ADAA Art Show (Art Dealer's Association of America), Bridge Art Fair, PULSE. A good place to visit to obtain addresses and information for additional art fairs is ARTFORUM/art guide.
Museums
Whitney Museum of American Art | 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street
2010 Whitney Biennial, Feb. 25 - May 30, 2010
MOMA | 11 W 53rd Street
William Kentridge: Five Themes, Feb. 24–May 17, 2010; note: see accompanying performance and lectures during the Armory.
Tim Burton, Nov. 22, 2009–April 26, 2010
Ernesto Neto: Navedenga, Jan. 22–April 5, 2010
The New Museum | 235 Bowery
Skin Fruit: Selections from the Dakis Joannou Collection Curated by Jeff Koons
Museum of Arts and Design | 2 Columbus Circle
Slash: Paper Under The Knife, Oct. 7, 2009 - April 4, 2010
Additional Events
31 Women in Art Photography, Affirmation Arts 523 W. 37th Street, Mar. 6 – April 10, 2010
Another helpful guide can be found on the Artadia website.
I will add more information as it comes in. If you have any suggestions please send them to me and I will post them!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Krzysztof Wodiczko...OUT OF HERE: The Veterans Project
Impacting both the soldiers who participate in war and those civilians who occupy the spaces of conflict, Krzysztof Wodiczko's video and sound installation at the ICA Boston imparts a flood of emotion. At the same time Wodiczko's work prompts questions of how uncertain our understanding really is of our own perceptions of war. Running until March 28, 2010, OUT OF HERE demonstrates Wodiczko's sensibility to the personal and political aspects of conflict and how these events have a greater global impact.
"...OUT OF HERE: The Veterans Project," installation view, 2009.Upon entering the installation, the viewers visual and auditory senses are immediately bombarded, which creates a feeling of disorientation. In a large darkened room a horizontal strip of projected warehouse-like industrial windows borders the top portion of three walls. Screams of horror, smashing glass, gunfire, and dialogue from men, women and children in various languages infiltrates the space, at times collectively, while simultaneously several of the windows are smashed and the projected images shake. The viewer only sees a strip of sky passing above. For the viewer, this produces a feeling of confusion and reinforces the notion of our obvious disassociation with the realities of conflict. Often we deal with situations that are absolute; there is either war and destruction taking place or there are civilians going about their daily routines. We tend to ignore the reality that exists in other locations, which is that countries of conflict are also civilian communities. This horrifying fact took place for us here in the U.S. with the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. For many of those who fight or live in countries of conflict this is an everyday occurrence in which people must adapt their lives to constant bombing attacks, military raids, and the social and political upheaval of war.
In Wodiczko's installation the viewer is given the opportunity to experience a portion of the atmosphere of civilians and military personnel, whom he denotes both as veterans. This is intended to have people recognize the situations taking place in the world but at the same time to be confronted with what is unknown to us. The confusion created by the disorienting space, and auditory barrage, emphasizes the uncertainty of our own perspectives on conflict situations.
In Wodiczko's installation the viewer is given the opportunity to experience a portion of the atmosphere of civilians and military personnel, whom he denotes both as veterans. This is intended to have people recognize the situations taking place in the world but at the same time to be confronted with what is unknown to us. The confusion created by the disorienting space, and auditory barrage, emphasizes the uncertainty of our own perspectives on conflict situations.
Guests, 2009, video installation, 17.17 minutes. Polish Pavilion, 53rd Venice Art BiennialWodiczko is best known over the last three decades for his large-scale projects both on architectural facades and as installations. He confronts the viewer with the social, political, economic, and emotional responses of major circumstances. OUT OF HERE, like Wodiczko's installation Guest for the Polish Pavilion at the 53rd Venice Art Biennial points to our responses to the visual virtual space coupled with real dialogue involving human hardships. Guest highlighted intimate audible stories shared by blurred bodies of immigrants projected onto a room to create a virtual niche, made to feel as though the viewer were on the outside looking in, eaves dropping on personal conversations. OUT OF HERE simulates the viewer to have a sensation of being on the inside looking out, a disorienting space that now promotes reciprocal dialogue. The sensation is truly heart stopping. Such a visually simple space made so real by the complexity of intertwining human voices, indeed forcing the viewer to grapple with their own conceptions of war and conflict.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Art Basel Miami Beach 2009 | Mini Review
The atmosphere at Art Basel this year was refreshingly dynamic. There was a real positive sense of energy that filtered through the venues and into the social scene as well, despite the current lukewarm economic status for luxury. There was a certain something about a majority of the booths at the main fair and the satellite locations that exhibited an inspiring sense of intellectual force. This was evident both in the curatorial aspect of how galleries hung their booths and in the selection of works that they chose to bring down and exhibit at the fair. This observation comes from a viewing of the booths post vernissage, which kicked-off Art Basel on Wednesday, December 2, 6-9 p.m.
One of the first booths that I took notice of was Susanne Vielmetter | Los Angeles Projects, showing with Art Nova. Art Nova presents over 60 emerging and established galleries from 24 countries with recent works by up to three artists. Vielmetter exhibited Ruben Ochoa and Tam van Tran, both artists working in two and three-dimensional space. Ochoa, born in CA and lives and works in Los Angeles, expands upon the limitations of two-dimensional space by presenting a scenario for a space that is suggetive of the potential of the three-dimensional reality that the viewer experiences. This small installation includes five skids, or wooden pallets stacked and arranged haphazardly in a small pile. Behind the skids, in the back left corner of the booth, two drawings abut one another that contain three stacks of skids arranged more systematically into vertical piles. The juxtaposition of the tall stacked drawings of skids in the background and the group of skids spilling onto the floor in the foreground created an almost city-scape and landscape-like frame of reference. These new works parallel Ochoa's interest in pairing perceptions of man-made materials with suggested geographical contents and contexts. Ochoa's installation is shown alongside a series of thee-dimensional paintings by Tam van Tran, born in Vietnam and lives and works in Los Angeles. These multi-media works combine fantastical and practical architectural reference along with reference to science fiction and pop culture. In a layered matrix-like composition, these works take action onto the whimsical and project out onto the space as thought they are coming to life. The intricately layered patterning that evolves within these structures is futher enhanced by the science fiction-like anthropomorphic suggestion of human-like body formations. Together in the Vielmetter's space both artists made up an intersting exploration of multi-media works and installation and covered a wide range of thematic concepts from architecture to science fiction, all presented with a keen sense of aesthetic compatibility. Bravo!
More highlights at the main fair included, mixed-media paintings by Penny Siopis at Michael Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa. These ghostly red figures appear beneath a golden layer of oil paint, liquid ink washes and viscous glue, which creates a unique dream-like affect, although much of her work is driven by the aspects of human suffering. At James Cohan Gallery, New York, a large Roxy Paine sculpture, similar to Maelstrom, the sprawling installation atop the MET's Cantor Roof Garden which was presented until late Oct. 2009, was shown in its own niche. This gave a good bit of depth to the works presented and again highlighted ways in which galleries utilize their booth options. They are given the space dimensions and asked to provide a layout for additional walls and even Pantone swatches for any strategic wall painting. Some galleries even take the next step and install flooring within the space to offset the dark grey carpeting of the fair. Kukje Gallery, based in Seoul for example, had installed a light wood floor in their space, and kept most of the walls white except for one niche, created specifically for a Bill Viola video installation that was painted a very dark navy tone. This was decidedly different than their 2008 choice to have video work presented on the outer walls of the booth. This year I think it worked particularly well since they were exhibiting several new works by Ghada Amer, who is using very deep blues and reds that played nicely off of the Viola wall color as they dialogued with one another across the booth. It keeps coming back to space and how galleries are using the spaces this year to their potential. Yes, sales are always the big goal for the art fairs but I get a real sense of commitment to the minimal square footage that galleries are afforded that has made quite the impact.
At Galerie Lelong, New York, there was a beautiful homage to the late Nancy Spero. An early multi-panel gouache and ink on paper marked the entrance to the space. With playfully dancing figures it set the tone for an equally playful approach to the space. Among works from Lelong's exceptional artists included was a vibrant new painting by Italian artist Angelo Filomeno whose traditionally monocrhomatic palet was injected with a beautiful strip of aqua fabric running horizontal across the panel, dividing an ebroidered skull from a striped satin base of the work. For photographic works, a light box work called Sleep (alcove), 2006 by Catherine Yass added an other punch of color. Her exploration of hues derived from experimentation with color photography processing methods leads the viewer into auras of unexplained spaces, this work specifically a doorway, that play with our depth perceptions yet exudes a pull into a subconcious realm. Galerie Lelong also had a very nice section set up for works on paper by Kate Shepard, Helio Oiticica and more.
Nature Morte/Bose Pacia had works on display by Indian artist Aditya Pande, who lives and works in New Delhi. Originally trained as a graphic designer Pande's works have a strong element of design originating from ink jet prints, which are transformed into lush fields of information with the addition of applied art elements, collage, print-making and painting. Pande's scenes that often include a figure of figures within a space invite the viewer in with an explosion of color and texture and keep the viewer intriqued at the depth of information present.
The main fair wasn't the only place for well curated space and a look at some interesting emerging artists. NADA came out in full force at their new location for 2009, The Deauville Beach Resort. A few artists of mention at NADA were Justin Cooper at Monique Meloche, Chicago, whose photography and sculpture give insight into a new look at consumer consumption based on need and how this can still evolve into a reality of accumulation. Also, Ann Woo and Joy Drury Cox at Humble Arts Foundation presented a minimal photography and drawing exhibit which brought back interesting perspectives in color and line. Cox's job application drawings map out the blocks the applicants are meant to add their life experiences into, supposedly giving an brief yet compelling glimpse into their work ethic and Woo's C-prints from Sunset Series, which dispay a range of color produced in a sunset. These candy colored prints make a very soft range and also explore the affective quality of how natural color is translated in contemporary photography.
The De la Cruz Collection Contemporary Art Space, admired not only for the amazing collection housed here but for the amazing architecutre, was a new gem amongst the Wynwood Design Disctrict scene. Brand new and open to the public for the first time for Maimi Art Basel this 30,000 square foot space, designed by John Marquette is a curator's dream. Meant as a space for education in contemporary art, Rosa de la Cruz says, "With everything that’s happening in the world right now, we need to slow down and spend more time looking at works. So there will be the collection, and that’s it. And a little library," in a Dec. 2008 interview in Art + Auction. Her predictions seems to have played themselves out, not only in the way she has conducted her exhibition space but in the atmosphere of the entire fair this year. Curated by herself and her husband Carlos, the collection boasts astounding large-scale fiber works by Cosima von Bonin, born in Kenya and living and working in Germany, that steel the show. These massive fiber compositions hold pop culture references and expression alongside social recognition and relationships creating a puzzle of information for viewer's to piece together. The De la Cruz Collection is known for its support of Latin American artists and proudly displays many of the most beloved on the very top floor of the space including Guillermo Kuitca, Félix González-Torres, and Ana Mendieta. There is a room dedicated soley to a very intimate collection of Mendiet'as photographs, sculpture, video and works on paper with an informative text by Mary Sabbatino, Vice President of Galeri Lelong who houses the estate of Ana Mendieta. Done simply and tastefully, the De la Cruz exhibition spaces have the finish of an established museum-like environment with the infinate potential for new and exciting installations, acquisitions and creative thinking. The collection, the mission behind the collection, and the building were simply outstanding and I can't wait to see how the De la Cruz's use the space next year.
While my term at Art Basel Miami was brief this year, I didn't make it to Pulse or Scope, which are two of the other major venues, I certainly chose wisely under the advise of seasoned fair particpants. Of the four years that I have been attending Miami Art Basel, 2009 was certainly one of the best in many ways. It had its glitz and glamour, which I'll admit, I would be a little disappointed if that wasn't included (it is Miami after all) but the focus this year was art. Of course about buying and selling art but there was an energy this year that brought back the intellectual and sophisticated viewer and gallery.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Cinemagician
Yeondoo Jung
Asia Society
Friday, November 20, 2009
WAKE UP NEW YORK CITY! PERFORMA 09, in its third edition of the biennial dedicated to new visual art performance, certainly knows how to put on a show. There was a packed house at Yeondoo Jung's performance of Cinemagician at the Asia Society, commissioned by PERFORMA with the Yokohama Festival for Video and Social Technology. Supported by The Korea Foundation and the TOBY Fund. Co-produced by Tina Kim Gallery, New York, and Kukje Gallery, Seoul Co-presented with the Asia Society.
Yeondoo Jung's Cinemagician may be viewed at the Asia Society website.
Jung's Cinemagician is an interestingly playful theater piece and performance that takes on the task of revealing the relationship between the magician and audience that unfolds as an unknown event or trick is developed. Jung, an avid lover of performance, film, art, magic and illusion, has fused these disciplines to create and direct a work that plays with perceptions of illusion and leaves the viewer feeling pleasantly perplexed.
Cinemagician presented a live performance juxtaposed with a projected one hanging directly above the action, which reveals some very interesting paradoxes between the two simultaneous events. Famous South Korean magician Eungyeol Lee, who also acts as the live magician and the lead role in Cinemagician, does an outstanding job of revealing just enough of his magical talents and holding back others in order for the rest of the crew to step in and assist him. Not a regularly practicing visual artist, Lee was tasked with making a drawing which acted as the central visual basis for the constructed work, an initial sketch which dictated the direction of the performance. Lee, along with a cast of about 15 participants was "directed" by Jung who made a brief appearance at the start of the performance by announcing "quiet on the set," through a directors megaphone. The accompanying cast was made up of set technicians dressed in bright orange jumpsuits, a solo percussionist who kept tempo and guided the audience through a series of crescendo's and little narrative vignettes, and a videographer. The magician "leaves the audience to oscillate between the "suspension of disbelief" and a paradoxically ravishing spectacle (Asia Society 2009). Using a cinematic technique called "stop trick," in which the filming is stopped, then something is substituted in front of the camera or changed for something else, and finally filming is resumed. This gives the illusion that something spectacular has happened when in reality a team has come together to create it. Jung uses both in Cinemagician, giving the audience an insider perspective on a little bit of the spectacle. The interesting twist is that Eungyeol Lee is "assisted" by a secret agent-type figure who also aids in creating the behind the scenes magical moments unbeknownst to Lee. So while Lee's character of the magician thinks that he is actually orchestrating the magical elements that bring the image together he in fact has help. This style that Jung favors was inspired by nineteenth-century French filmmaker George Melies who experimented with "stop trick."
The performance hit a few peak moments that reflect the whimsical aesthetic of Jung's photgraphic vision. Once Lee and his team had adjusted, spray painted, nudged, placed and rolled everything into place he inserted himself into the set, whereby completing the moving image projected just outside of the action. This image was cropped in such a way that Lee looked like he was inside a fairytale-like image of candy colored flowered mountain tops. This happened again where Lee inserted himself into an ice fishing scene, where the cool tones of the backdrop and accompanying props really gave a sense of context. While the audience was not far removed from the mechanics of how these images were constructed, once the elements came together on screen it created a moment that was quite magical, pun intended. For these brief instances everything and everyone was still and the image shown in real time on the video screen above was so beautiful that it drew the focus of the audience in immediately, and for that short glimpse everything else in the entire space melted away.
In this piece the audience simultaneously had the privilege of viewing the seamless magical world that Jung had conceptualized but also the behind the scenes stunts, props and mechanics involved in making such a spectacular performance. The idea that Lee has no idea of this under cover helper who ultimately completes most of his magic tricks for him, puts an even more compelling twist on this theater piece. This surmounting tension keeps the viewer shifting back and forth between reality and magic and action and illusion that is characteristic of much of Jung's photographic and video works. Jung is a master at giving just enough information away in an image that will give the viewer a sense of a constructed fantasy but the astute subtly in which he maintains this flux keeps the tension between reality and fantasy very much alive.
Born in South Korea in 1969, Yeondoo Jung received his MFA from Goldsmiths College in 1997. He is the recipient of the 2007 Artist of the Year Award, given annually by the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul. Jung has an impressive list of solo exhibition held in Asia, Europe and the United States and has also been shown in the 51st Venice Biennale and the Liverpool Biennale in 2008. Yeondoo is represented by Kukje Gallery in Seoul and Tina Kim Gallery in New York.
Asia Society
Friday, November 20, 2009
WAKE UP NEW YORK CITY! PERFORMA 09, in its third edition of the biennial dedicated to new visual art performance, certainly knows how to put on a show. There was a packed house at Yeondoo Jung's performance of Cinemagician at the Asia Society, commissioned by PERFORMA with the Yokohama Festival for Video and Social Technology. Supported by The Korea Foundation and the TOBY Fund. Co-produced by Tina Kim Gallery, New York, and Kukje Gallery, Seoul Co-presented with the Asia Society.
Yeondoo Jung's Cinemagician may be viewed at the Asia Society website.
Jung's Cinemagician is an interestingly playful theater piece and performance that takes on the task of revealing the relationship between the magician and audience that unfolds as an unknown event or trick is developed. Jung, an avid lover of performance, film, art, magic and illusion, has fused these disciplines to create and direct a work that plays with perceptions of illusion and leaves the viewer feeling pleasantly perplexed.
Cinemagician presented a live performance juxtaposed with a projected one hanging directly above the action, which reveals some very interesting paradoxes between the two simultaneous events. Famous South Korean magician Eungyeol Lee, who also acts as the live magician and the lead role in Cinemagician, does an outstanding job of revealing just enough of his magical talents and holding back others in order for the rest of the crew to step in and assist him. Not a regularly practicing visual artist, Lee was tasked with making a drawing which acted as the central visual basis for the constructed work, an initial sketch which dictated the direction of the performance. Lee, along with a cast of about 15 participants was "directed" by Jung who made a brief appearance at the start of the performance by announcing "quiet on the set," through a directors megaphone. The accompanying cast was made up of set technicians dressed in bright orange jumpsuits, a solo percussionist who kept tempo and guided the audience through a series of crescendo's and little narrative vignettes, and a videographer. The magician "leaves the audience to oscillate between the "suspension of disbelief" and a paradoxically ravishing spectacle (Asia Society 2009). Using a cinematic technique called "stop trick," in which the filming is stopped, then something is substituted in front of the camera or changed for something else, and finally filming is resumed. This gives the illusion that something spectacular has happened when in reality a team has come together to create it. Jung uses both in Cinemagician, giving the audience an insider perspective on a little bit of the spectacle. The interesting twist is that Eungyeol Lee is "assisted" by a secret agent-type figure who also aids in creating the behind the scenes magical moments unbeknownst to Lee. So while Lee's character of the magician thinks that he is actually orchestrating the magical elements that bring the image together he in fact has help. This style that Jung favors was inspired by nineteenth-century French filmmaker George Melies who experimented with "stop trick."
The performance hit a few peak moments that reflect the whimsical aesthetic of Jung's photgraphic vision. Once Lee and his team had adjusted, spray painted, nudged, placed and rolled everything into place he inserted himself into the set, whereby completing the moving image projected just outside of the action. This image was cropped in such a way that Lee looked like he was inside a fairytale-like image of candy colored flowered mountain tops. This happened again where Lee inserted himself into an ice fishing scene, where the cool tones of the backdrop and accompanying props really gave a sense of context. While the audience was not far removed from the mechanics of how these images were constructed, once the elements came together on screen it created a moment that was quite magical, pun intended. For these brief instances everything and everyone was still and the image shown in real time on the video screen above was so beautiful that it drew the focus of the audience in immediately, and for that short glimpse everything else in the entire space melted away.
In this piece the audience simultaneously had the privilege of viewing the seamless magical world that Jung had conceptualized but also the behind the scenes stunts, props and mechanics involved in making such a spectacular performance. The idea that Lee has no idea of this under cover helper who ultimately completes most of his magic tricks for him, puts an even more compelling twist on this theater piece. This surmounting tension keeps the viewer shifting back and forth between reality and magic and action and illusion that is characteristic of much of Jung's photographic and video works. Jung is a master at giving just enough information away in an image that will give the viewer a sense of a constructed fantasy but the astute subtly in which he maintains this flux keeps the tension between reality and fantasy very much alive.
Born in South Korea in 1969, Yeondoo Jung received his MFA from Goldsmiths College in 1997. He is the recipient of the 2007 Artist of the Year Award, given annually by the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul. Jung has an impressive list of solo exhibition held in Asia, Europe and the United States and has also been shown in the 51st Venice Biennale and the Liverpool Biennale in 2008. Yeondoo is represented by Kukje Gallery in Seoul and Tina Kim Gallery in New York.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Franklin Sirmans
New Appointment
In his first public lecture at SCAD since being appointed department head and curator of contemporary art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Franklin Sirmans gave a brief preview into his curatorial practice and the previous appointments he has held in his exciting career. Sirmans will make the short journey to L.A. in January, succeeding Lynn Zelevansky, who recently resigned to direct the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, as noted in the L.A. Times. Sirmans' first job out of graduate school was at the Dia Center for the Arts in N
ew York where he was part of the publication team. With a double major in art history and english, Sirmans felt comfortable in this position and enjoyed the opportunity to take on a dual role of writer and curator early on in his career. He mentioned that this helped out quite a bit as "there really are only a handful of writers out there who can make it as a writer full time." Interestingly, I think this works in his favor, as he has had the tools necessary to not only conceptualize significant exhibitions but to also write about them in a clear manor and to maintain an interest in writing as part of the discourse of art history.
One of the most interesting points Sirmans made, that resounded throughout the lecture, was his interest in working with certain artists or artists' works, and how the institution can provide a real opportunity to see these projects through to fruition. For example, Sirmans knew going into his current position at the Menil Collection in Houston that they had works by Robert Ryman in their collection as well as connections with his collectors. While in the end, fearful of damage to the works, collectors opted out of sending them for the exhibition, Sirmans was still able to craft a concise exhibition of three of Ryman's works from 1976 called Contemporary Conversations: Robert Ryman, 1976 exhibited in 2007. Now, this was not something new to Sirmans practice but given as an example of an exhibition that he had wanted to accomplish for some time and within an institution he was a new curator at, it is something of a dream for a curator to hear. So, I asked him, if "there are any works and/or artists in particular that he would like to tap into at LACMA?"
His first mention was that of Mexican artists Diego Rivera, which flowed nicely from his answer to a previous question asking what he was looking forward to working on at LACMA, in which he mentioned graffiti art. In many ways Rivera's outstanding murals have a political, social, and aesthetic link to contemporary graffiti art. He also mentioned a continued interest in curating works by Jean-Michel Basquiat. Sirmans co-curated "Basquiat," which was exhibited at L.A.'s Museum of Contemporary Art in 2005.
Fresh on everyone's mind is Sirmans recent exhibition from 2008 titled "NeoHooDoo: Art for a Forgotten Faith," which sprang from a book by Ishmael Reed that Sirmans had been contemplating since his days at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in New York. Eventually, the exhibition was exhibited at P.S.1 in early 2009. While working at P.S.1 Sirmans was reading this book and sharing ideas informally with other colleagues. It wasn't until he came to the Menil Collection that he could put his plans for an exhibition into play. In the accompanying catalogue for the exhibition it is explained that NeoHooDoo, a phrase coined by Ishmael Reed in 1970, celebrates the practice of rituals, folklore, and spirituality in the Americas beyond the scope of Christianity and organized religion. Artists included were Ana Mendieta, David Hammons, José Bedia, Rebecca Belmore, and Nari Ward, among twenty-eight others, whose works strengthen the dialogue of art and spirituality.
I am quite interested to see the impact that Sirmans will have on the exhibition programming and publication to come at LACMA. His sensibility to really understanding a collection and utilizing it to potential is something that will result in additional exhibitions of interest and truly maintain an outstanding academic rigor.
In his first public lecture at SCAD since being appointed department head and curator of contemporary art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Franklin Sirmans gave a brief preview into his curatorial practice and the previous appointments he has held in his exciting career. Sirmans will make the short journey to L.A. in January, succeeding Lynn Zelevansky, who recently resigned to direct the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, as noted in the L.A. Times. Sirmans' first job out of graduate school was at the Dia Center for the Arts in N
ew York where he was part of the publication team. With a double major in art history and english, Sirmans felt comfortable in this position and enjoyed the opportunity to take on a dual role of writer and curator early on in his career. He mentioned that this helped out quite a bit as "there really are only a handful of writers out there who can make it as a writer full time." Interestingly, I think this works in his favor, as he has had the tools necessary to not only conceptualize significant exhibitions but to also write about them in a clear manor and to maintain an interest in writing as part of the discourse of art history.One of the most interesting points Sirmans made, that resounded throughout the lecture, was his interest in working with certain artists or artists' works, and how the institution can provide a real opportunity to see these projects through to fruition. For example, Sirmans knew going into his current position at the Menil Collection in Houston that they had works by Robert Ryman in their collection as well as connections with his collectors. While in the end, fearful of damage to the works, collectors opted out of sending them for the exhibition, Sirmans was still able to craft a concise exhibition of three of Ryman's works from 1976 called Contemporary Conversations: Robert Ryman, 1976 exhibited in 2007. Now, this was not something new to Sirmans practice but given as an example of an exhibition that he had wanted to accomplish for some time and within an institution he was a new curator at, it is something of a dream for a curator to hear. So, I asked him, if "there are any works and/or artists in particular that he would like to tap into at LACMA?"
His first mention was that of Mexican artists Diego Rivera, which flowed nicely from his answer to a previous question asking what he was looking forward to working on at LACMA, in which he mentioned graffiti art. In many ways Rivera's outstanding murals have a political, social, and aesthetic link to contemporary graffiti art. He also mentioned a continued interest in curating works by Jean-Michel Basquiat. Sirmans co-curated "Basquiat," which was exhibited at L.A.'s Museum of Contemporary Art in 2005.
Fresh on everyone's mind is Sirmans recent exhibition from 2008 titled "NeoHooDoo: Art for a Forgotten Faith," which sprang from a book by Ishmael Reed that Sirmans had been contemplating since his days at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in New York. Eventually, the exhibition was exhibited at P.S.1 in early 2009. While working at P.S.1 Sirmans was reading this book and sharing ideas informally with other colleagues. It wasn't until he came to the Menil Collection that he could put his plans for an exhibition into play. In the accompanying catalogue for the exhibition it is explained that NeoHooDoo, a phrase coined by Ishmael Reed in 1970, celebrates the practice of rituals, folklore, and spirituality in the Americas beyond the scope of Christianity and organized religion. Artists included were Ana Mendieta, David Hammons, José Bedia, Rebecca Belmore, and Nari Ward, among twenty-eight others, whose works strengthen the dialogue of art and spirituality.
I am quite interested to see the impact that Sirmans will have on the exhibition programming and publication to come at LACMA. His sensibility to really understanding a collection and utilizing it to potential is something that will result in additional exhibitions of interest and truly maintain an outstanding academic rigor.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Circling the Center by Nene Humphrey
Brooklyn-based artist Nene Humphrey's most recent series/project/performance/exhibition, Circling the Center is motivated by collaboration in every sense of the word. This project's origins began with a residency at Joseph LeDoux's neuroscience laboratory at New York University where Humphrey worked with scientists to visualize recorded images from the amygdala, the part of the brain where emotion, fear and anxiety reside. From these images Humphrey has created a series of layered drawings and sculptural works entitled The Plain Sense of Things. Inspired by Wallace Stevens' poem of the same name which brings us back to the simpler things in life, Humphrey's work moves us back through some of the most interesting, poignant, and fundamental examples of the origins of communication, linkage, and remembrance.
Circling the Center, installation image, 2009.
For the inaugural site-specific installation of Circling the Center at Pinnacle Gallery, over sixty SCAD students, faculty, alumni and staff are participating in an exceptional feat of collaboration with Humphrey, artist Julie DeLano and sound design artist and musician Roberto Lange. Together, participants learn Victorian hair braiding patterns, woven with various colors and gauges of wire, made using simple looms. Seated in a tight circle of eight weavers, reminiscent of historical drum circles, the circumference expands as the woven sculpture grows, hanging from the center of the space. Like a ripple effect, sound also emanates from the core of the weaving group producing an intricate fusion of human chanting, spooling, spools hitting the sides of the looms, spools clanking and crashing to the floor, and the muffled thud of them hitting the felted tops of the looms. The sounds Humphrey collected and recorded from the emotional responses of lab mice make up the base sound from which Lange then records the actions in the gallery from the weavings, integrating them together to create an additional layer to this work.
Circling the Center, spools.
The work largely encompasses Humphrey's continued investigation of emotional responses through an interpretation of the patterning of the mind that we can not see with our naked eye. The results are an astonishingly beautiful forest of woven wire braids that undulate down from a suspended ceiling structure. Dark at the core, the intricate web of thicker dark wire, and wispy silver wire, are accented by bursts of red shimmers in the light, to reveal a structure that unites individual works by a large group of people from various disciplines. The linchpin of the exhibition is the haunting sound composition that Roberto Lange has arranged to accompany this new work.
Lange has spent the last week of the project making the aforementioned recordings which have now come together to reveal a mantra tied into Circling the Center. It is that of the sound, the energy that resonates from the research, the tools and the people associated with this project. Voices recorded in French, Russian, English and Chinese reveal simple chants that the participants murmur to themselves as they methodically move the spooled wire into position for weaving specific hair braiding patterns. These chants are intended not only to guide the weaver through the steps of a particular braid but they also give a voice the the piece, a way in which the ear may hear and in turn be able to have the mind understand more about how all of these factors tie into Humphrey's larger concepts of memory and emotion. Along with the voices of those chanting, Lange has integrated the other noises associated with making these woven braids in order to give a sense of work, a sense of a collective effort of motion and making inherent in the overall concept of this project.
In terms of understanding Circling the Center as a way to visualize that which is not visible, Humphrey has given the viewer a myriad of avenues from which to traverse this concept. Sound, touch, visual information and historical context come together to create a unified experience, one grounded in collaboration and interdisciplinary exploration. Circling the Center will be exhibited until Dec. 30, 2009 at Pinnacle Gallery | 320 E. Liberty (corner of Liberty and Habersham). The exhibition will travel to Sharidan Art Gallery, Kutztown, PA.
Circling the Center, installation image, 2009.For the inaugural site-specific installation of Circling the Center at Pinnacle Gallery, over sixty SCAD students, faculty, alumni and staff are participating in an exceptional feat of collaboration with Humphrey, artist Julie DeLano and sound design artist and musician Roberto Lange. Together, participants learn Victorian hair braiding patterns, woven with various colors and gauges of wire, made using simple looms. Seated in a tight circle of eight weavers, reminiscent of historical drum circles, the circumference expands as the woven sculpture grows, hanging from the center of the space. Like a ripple effect, sound also emanates from the core of the weaving group producing an intricate fusion of human chanting, spooling, spools hitting the sides of the looms, spools clanking and crashing to the floor, and the muffled thud of them hitting the felted tops of the looms. The sounds Humphrey collected and recorded from the emotional responses of lab mice make up the base sound from which Lange then records the actions in the gallery from the weavings, integrating them together to create an additional layer to this work.
Circling the Center, spools.The work largely encompasses Humphrey's continued investigation of emotional responses through an interpretation of the patterning of the mind that we can not see with our naked eye. The results are an astonishingly beautiful forest of woven wire braids that undulate down from a suspended ceiling structure. Dark at the core, the intricate web of thicker dark wire, and wispy silver wire, are accented by bursts of red shimmers in the light, to reveal a structure that unites individual works by a large group of people from various disciplines. The linchpin of the exhibition is the haunting sound composition that Roberto Lange has arranged to accompany this new work.
Lange has spent the last week of the project making the aforementioned recordings which have now come together to reveal a mantra tied into Circling the Center. It is that of the sound, the energy that resonates from the research, the tools and the people associated with this project. Voices recorded in French, Russian, English and Chinese reveal simple chants that the participants murmur to themselves as they methodically move the spooled wire into position for weaving specific hair braiding patterns. These chants are intended not only to guide the weaver through the steps of a particular braid but they also give a voice the the piece, a way in which the ear may hear and in turn be able to have the mind understand more about how all of these factors tie into Humphrey's larger concepts of memory and emotion. Along with the voices of those chanting, Lange has integrated the other noises associated with making these woven braids in order to give a sense of work, a sense of a collective effort of motion and making inherent in the overall concept of this project.
In terms of understanding Circling the Center as a way to visualize that which is not visible, Humphrey has given the viewer a myriad of avenues from which to traverse this concept. Sound, touch, visual information and historical context come together to create a unified experience, one grounded in collaboration and interdisciplinary exploration. Circling the Center will be exhibited until Dec. 30, 2009 at Pinnacle Gallery | 320 E. Liberty (corner of Liberty and Habersham). The exhibition will travel to Sharidan Art Gallery, Kutztown, PA.
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