A PRIORI POSTALE

a priority mail

I was excited to receive a Berlin a priori postcard from Angelika the other day.    It's not unusual for me to receive postcards from her when she's in Germanlandia - we are like two love birds in a cage, after all.  I'm I'm not just her lovey dovey, I'm also a funder of her a priori project, which is the reason she has been in Berlin this past week +.   This special funder status has garnered me the special limited edition postcard you see below instead of the usual topless kraut maiden-laden postcard (photo pending) I might otherwise receive. 

NYFA (the New York Federation for the Arts) is a fiscal sponsor of a priori, lending the advantage of tax deductable-ness to donors who wish to donate.  Angelika has also incorporated a kickstarter-like menu of incentives for those wishing to fund the project at modest levels.  Additionally, since the a priori project will be an extended one, there is an option to "subscribe" as a funder with regularly scheduled payments through the a priori Artspire page. 

I'm also eligible to receive a 5"x7" print taken on this Berlin trip - *excited*. 

So you too, can be the beneficiary of such goodness by choosing to be a benefactor of Angelika's project.  Of course, I can't guarantee your postcard will include her saying she loves you and misses you...but it's worth a try - of course, that might just cost you more.

You can stay abreast of Angelika's activities on the a priori facebook page.

Luke and You Shall Find

Lean and mean, 2010 collage

On Wednesday of last week, I sat at a table in the basement of Beacon's First Presbyterian Church.  I wasn't alone.   Around the table sat a small group of artists, both from within the church's community and from without.  The occasion was an initial meeting of folks who will be participating in a discussion group/ art project revolving around a shared reading and interpretation of the Gospel of Luke. 
This project, "Who Do You Say That I Am?" - so named by Pastor Ben Larson-Wolbrink is intended to be the first of a series of collaborative/interactive projects bringing together various members of Beacon's community to discuss faith, ecumenical texts, and to build a broader community interaction - creatively. 
One of the catalysts credited in the creation of this kind of interactive project was the controversy spawned by a few of Ron English's works featured in the 2010 Electric Windows project.  The work that raised the most hackles entailed references to Christ or Christianity including crucifixion replete with product logos.  Pointed satire of social, commercial and bureaucratic norms of this country is at the hear of English's work, and the work seen as objectionable by some was very much in keeping with this sensibility. In a search, I couldn't find the offending images.....I did snap this photo of the artist standing before one of his less controversial works that day of the Electric Windows.

Ron English in front of one of his works at the Roundhouse in Beacon, NY during Electric Windows 2010.

I think the way in which this instance works into the impetus to instigate a project like this one being hosted at the First Presbyterian Church is to open a channel of communication where sensitive subjects might be engaged with in a more thoughtful manner.

Elia Gurna introduced me to this project and I was immediately intrigued by the chance to share in a process that approaches a subject of deep meaning in an interpretive, discursive environment.

This kind of project seduces me every time - a chance to experience and interpret a text or a "constant" and then watch the variety of participants' interpretations that manifest.  It's a mainline that whisks me back to Mr Pickering's AP English class and the open forum projects (films, artworks, etc) that he fostered.  I guess I can connect my predilection for interactive creative processes back to Pickering's class - and perhaps it offers me the kind of hothouse environment I subconsciously feel I missed out on by not finishing college...But that's another story - one that is reaching it's 20th anniversary this year.

In addition to reading the text of Luke, I've downloaded an audio version which I intend to play several times over with the thought of what might squeeze out.  I've also found some audio versions in greek (one of them is painfully, but amusingly read by a non greek speaker) in which I intend to immerse myself.  Of course, I don't know a whit of, but why not at least try to get as close to the source as possible.

Finally, for folks who might come here and find the image at the top of the post as objectionable.  I agree.  It's a response to what I see as an objectional exploitation and idolatrous use of Jesus Christ as a kitschy shill for branding an organization's efforts -even non profit ones.  The images of JC used in the Namesake group are all culled from fundraising solicitation material sent to Angelika, since she's such a charitable soul.....and that charitable nature has been commoditized and traded on the Non-Profit-Solicitation-Market in the hopes that she might also contribute to any of the sundry organizations that view themselves as deserving as any other.

Happy Walentines Day

Happy Walentine's day, as we say in this household.  Actually, I'm the only one in this household that says it that way.

Over the weekend, Angelika and I participated at Catherine Welshman's annual Love, Lust, Erotica show at Spire Studios here in bountiful Beacon, NY.  I neglected to take any photos at all - except this one of Theresa Gooby's cootchie cupcakes, or more correctly, cuntcakes.

Everyone is an individual.  Everyone is different

Angelika presented two sculptures of deconstructed puti and faeries and such.  Again, I don't have any photos, save for this studio shot from a couple of years ago.  The blurry item in the foreground is a detail of one of these sculptures.

I served up one of a recent series of paintings I'm considering my Suprematist Paintings.  Unintentionally referencing Malevich by way of Blinky Palermo and those black rectangles used  to block out the nips and some eyes of patients in plastic surgeon newspaper ads.  The break room for the preparators at MoMA is always replete with daily newspapers.  Whenever I'm working there, I get my fill of newspaper consumption - something I never otherwise bother with.

Examples of plastic surgery ads that appear in NY dailies.

 
These plastic surgery ads are a throwback to another era.  The black bar has been replaced by pixelation - both rough and refined-  which essentially erases the nipples (I recall this strategy being used in scenes of  The girls next door, rendering the real life centerfolds into even closer nipple-less approximations of the barbie dolls with which they are usually compared.

Holly, Kendra & Bridget from "The Girls Next Door", photo via: tv.ign.com

As with the taboo of cursing, this graphic censorship tends to do more to focus attention on what's beneath the black bar than anything else in an image.  Since I still have a stock of material (read porn magazines) dating from the Genesis Paintings in 2007, I thought I'd play with reversing this sorry state of affairs, blocking out everything but the nipples.

Suprematist Painting, 2012, acrylic on printed paper, 10"x8"

Suprematist Painting, 2012, acrylic on printed paper, 10"x8"

These are basic, dumb works, based on a simple system; obliterate everything in an image with acrylic paint, except a rectangular border around any nipples.  The number of nipples and their placement in any given page layout results in a chance operation in constructing the composition.  The first two I did immediately called to mind Blinky Palermo's Compostion with 8 Red Rectangles" which we installed in the artist's retrospective at the Hessel Museum last Summer.

Joshua Abelow's image of Composition with 8 Red Rectangles on view at the Hirschorn, via: art blog art blog.

 It was through Palermo's reference to Malevich that I saw the connection to Suprematism (at least a connection that I'm claiming here).  These are my Suprematist paintings. Nothing holds more Suprematist power than boobs in general and nipples in particular these days.

Kasimir Malevich, Black Square and Red Square, 1915, oil on canvas. via: wikipaintings

Lastly, I was inspired enough by the theme of Catherine's Valentine's show to create two new paintings over the weekend.  Mr & Mrs S, reworkings of two previous paintings that are now portraits of a coupled couple of stars, made Superstars by the addition of gender assignment.

Mr S, 2012 oil on canvas 24"x 30"

Mrs S, 2012 oil on canvas 24"x 30"

Finally, finally, I spent most of the day of Valentine's Day installing Gillian Wearing's artwork, "Secrets and Lies" at the Hessel Museum for the Matters of Fact exhibit which is opening on March 18th.  The work consists of a constructed "confessional" chamber in which the viewer watches a video depicting various folks confessing their deepest secrets and lies.  The imagery is creepy enough with the anonymous contributors donning uncannily real, and disturbing masks sharing some equally creepy, some sordid, and some heartbreaking secrets - most of which revolve around sex and "love".  Happy Walentine's Day, indeed.

The Artma benefit Auction returns to Denver, Feb 11, 2012

slough (Grande 1) 2006

If you happen to be in Denver this coming weekend.  And if you happen to dig art auctions, love children and hate cancer, you should attend the latest installment of the Artma Art Auction.  The biennial fundraiser to benefit pediatric cancer research.

This year's event is taking place on Saturday, Feb 11 from 6-10pm at the Denver Studio Complex.  More information is at artmaonline.org

I've participated by donating a work for each of the .....six installments of the event dating back to 2000.  This year I've donated a work from 2006; slough (Grande 1), it's oil on canvas, measuring 30"x24".  It's one of two larger works on canvas that grew out of the group of small paintings on wood I was making in 2005 and 2006. 
I considered this group of paintings as my "Morandi" works.  It's a ridiculous thing to say and perhaps an insult to the man who spent a lifetime exploring the vast universe embodied within a very narrowly focused subject matter in his remarkable paintings. I merely spent a year working on this group before my attentions were led in other by the possibilities presented by the very subject matter I was examining.   The invocation of the man's name is intended as a tribute.  For me, the tie to Morandi in these works was that they were a return a form of direct representation - something I had avoided for several years.  Even though they may look abstract and random, they are devoted renditions of real forms; forms that were intimate for me, linked as they were to my livelihood of several years.  For the decorative painting I would do for clients in their homes, I would mix a variety of colors in yogurt containers.  After I was done with them, I would let the remnants of the paint dry inside the yogurt cups which allowed me to easily peel the paint out of the container and then reuse the container for a new color.  For some reason, I started pinning these colored disks of dried latex to my studio wall.  I had quite an array of them. After sometime of not paying attention, I discovered that these disks became misshapen and distorted as gravity worked them over while they were pinned to the wall.  These weird forms became the subjects of the slough paintings, then later, the subject and core material in the blesse sculptures that were to follow.   

1.11.11 -> 1.11.12

In 2008

2011 mash up

A wee sampling of some painting endeavors from this past year;  a painting on a fragment of fruit crate from late Spring, and a very recent painting on a found bicycle seat.

I'm seeing a rhyme, if not a theme.

Oh Christmas Thing 2011

This year's Christmas Thing was late in developing, but alas, it has come.  Inspired by the depiction of the holiday classic Hollywood films, this piece is silvery black and white....save for a string of paper balls that feature the hints of hues from the weekly store inserts which clog our mailbox every Wednesday.  The original versions of films like Christmas in Connecticut, The Bishop's Wife, and Meet John Doe embody such a warmth and lushness of the xmas moment in their monochromatic renditions that the colors of the greenery, ornaments and baubles are realized in the viewer's own perception of the scene.

I'm not claiming that this monochromatic Thing has any of those powers....it's really just an homage.

One thing that it does have going for it is that it has a kinetic potential, as is demonstrated in the video below:

Another thing that this year's Thing has going, is an audio component - in the form of a special Christmas Thing/Holiday Special Episode of the Dead Hare Radio Hour, which will be airing on WVKR in Poughkeepsie, NY on Dec. 27th. The podcast version should release on the 28th.

kork Advent Returns

After three years of exhibiting artists' works on a bulletin board in a Poughkeepsie, NY accounting office, kork is packing it in.

I'll have more on this soon.  'Til then, details are over at kork.  And if you don't want to miss out on getting a special delivery in your inbox everyday this month - from 31 great artists - then get over to kork and sign up for the advent email list.

Let's not assume...

I've been absent from posting for quite sometime.  It's not that I have had nothing to post, nor that I've had nothing to do, nor that I've had nothing to post.  I've simply had too much to do and not enough "space" to get it posted. 

Ahh, but very SSoon....

]twenty-six paces[ : What the Room Saw Part III

The Windows on Main St exhibit has ended, but I'm still catching up on ]twenty-six paces[ related stuff.

From the point at which I first paced out the ]     [  between Artisan Wine Shop and Beacon Pilates, and first really took notice of the tar patchwork "scrawled" along the center of the street, I was immediately interested in it as a drawing. 
In the video below, I try my best to mimic the work on the canvas before me.

 I had the idea of delineating details seen through the window by drawing on the window early on.  That intention led to the thought that I might be able to create monoprints using the window as my printing plate.  Last week I made my first attempt at pulling a print from a side window.  It's crude, but it's a start.

 The yellow on the paper was preexisting, remnants from another effort. 

The exhibit is over, but many related projects I planned for originally have not been completed, and new ideas born out of those early thoughts have yet to be followed up on, but with the indulgence of the Tim and Mei at Artisan and Juliet at Beacon Harvey, I hope to continue working to resolve some of these ideas.

Eye Candy Friday: Making Sausage

This week's treat comes via Arthur Hash's blog The Art Escape Plan. I'm not sure what the origin of this gif is, but It's pretty cool, particularly the reverse view. Lovin' the animated string.

Breaking News: Pinhole Photographs of Hurricane Irene

We were spared the torment that Hurricane Irene wrought upon many across the Hudson and up in Vermont.  A couple of inches of water in the basement, loss of cable and internet for a good part of a day and the loss of a day of work was as much of a cost we at Kamp Maykr had to pay.
It seems possible that since the impact on that megalomaniapolis, NYC, was less than feared, Irene will be remembered as a dud of a storm even as the devastation it wrought upstate in New England resulted in homes and entire villages being destroyed by storm related flooding.

Inspired by my new found fondness of pinhole camera shots as part of my ]twenty-six paces[ endeavors - and since I had several sheets of photo paper on hand  - I decided to document the effects of Irene in long exposure black and white images.  These are the resulting images of setting Mabby 1 and Mabby 2 in the windows near the porch and the back yard and seeing what they would capture.

After the deluge.

A post-storm, pre-wind-gust shot of the garden and shed, neither were any worse for wear when it was all over

]twenty-six paces[ : What the Room Saw Part II

8/13/2011 8 mins

In a previous post, I mentioned creating pinhole camera prints from the vantage of the two points anchoring the tin can telephone in both Artisan Wine Shop and Beacon Pilates.  Angelika and I exposed two sets of prints on two recent Saturdays.  Last weekend, we finally got a peek at the results.

8/13/2011 8 mins

Angelika treated me to a basic developing lesson in the darkroom at Fovea.  It was something new for me, but also something very familiar.  It was like was channeling all those memories of darkroom scenes from movies and tv.  It was a real Greg Brady moment.  I seem to remember at least one episode of the Brady Bunch (turns out it's an episode called "Click" from season 3) in which Greg sets up a darkroom in the bathroom.  I have retained a vague yet vivid image of that red tinted scene and even as I try to remember all the times I've seen similar scenes in movies and tv shows, Greg Brady's version is for in my mind.

Above is a re-enactment of Angelika developing the pinhole prints in Fovea's darkroom....just imagine this scene happening when the lights are off.  It's the first time I had been in a darkroom like this and I was impressed by how much one's eyes are able to adjust so well and how functionally visible everything was in there with just that little bit of red illumination.   

The cameras: Mabby 1 (right) and Mabby 2 (left)

The two sets of exposures made in August were short, 8 and 12 minutes.  Today I took I took another set of exposures of an hour in length.  Hopefully there will be much more information visible in the Beacon Pilates view.

8/20/2011 12 mins

8/20/2011 12 mins

I really love that creating an exposure with a pinhole camera is such a dumb, passive process - and one that is so receptive of the chance occurrance.  You just set it somewhere, open the lens and let it go.  It's a chance operation in a box.  It's not just  a bit magical either; a very lo-fi replication of how our eyes function.
In this case, I'm using 5"x7" black and white paper for a negative.    The rich blackness, particularly in the underexposed prints is pretty great - even if not as detail laden as hoped.
The point in pursuing this as part of the ]twenty-six paces[ project was to capture a moment in time in the relationship of these two locations to one another.  Ideally, two simultaneous views along that line I articulated with Telephone.  That the representational aspect of this action is not entirely reliable adds to it for me - allows for something else to seep in.
I'm hooked.  I plan to continue taking shots, and hopefully incorporating this form of image making into the overall process of my work.
I've named these two cameras Mabby 1 and Mabby 2, loosely after my twin nieces.  I expect to make more and perhaps explore the sculptural possibilities of the cameras themselves.  There are certainly some very innovative constructions of pinhole cameras.

Special Delivery

In a recent New York Review of Books (also appearing in the Guardian), Charles Simic wrote on the Lost Art of Writing Postcards.   Then, an editorial in the Guardian last week also stood in praise of postcards.  That, on top of the current state of the USPS's financial woes,  has me also thinking positively about the wonder of missives sent and received - physically.  Although I am, to some degree, enslaved by my email inbox, even the most gratifying incoming messages lack that wonder of opening that little box for what untold surprise that might be awaiting inside. 
Giving and receiving.


I join the sentiments expressed at the other end of the links above in lauding the visual/text mashup that is the postcard.  I'm sharing a couple of the most recent Missives that I've made recently.  Missives are collaged photograph postcards that I send to friends, family, and anyone who requests to be added to the mailing list.  I haven't added these, or several other recent ones to the Missive page on my website, but that should be coming soon.

Faces have been changed to protect the innocent...and the guilty.

 In a moment of almost-synchrony, last the August 12 editions of the NY Post and The Epoch Times (a newspaper published by the falun gong and given away free on the northern exit of Grand Central) both included images of pixelated faces to illustrate items in their pages.  The instance in the Epoch Times' front page that day was particularly arresting.  Seemingly crafted as a design project, the pixel colors are very harmonous - not to mention weirdly large for the scale of the face they are obscuring.  It works for me as a representational/abstract mashup.  The Post's incarnation is less aesthetically dynamic, but the rarity of seeing the tool used twice in one day was enough for me to clip it out.  It does take me back to a childhood memory - that of the fembots from the Bionic Woman (and the Six-Million Dollar Man).  The image below lends a pretty good likeness to the Post's use of pixelation. 

Fembot.  via bionic.wikia.com

This fembot in the form of Oscar Goldman is particularly creepy...an intriguing piece of sculpture.

A male fembot(?)  Is that even possible?  via bionic.wikia.com

As it happens, Angelika engaged in a bit of frontpage pixelation herself, mindlessly moving melon seeds around in the kitchen.  (Her photo of it is much nicer than mine.)  In this case, she livened up an illustration of a rather bland painting by an artist showing at bau this month.

This week on Dead Hare Radio:Marc Chagall in the Hudson Valley

Marc Chagall walking with son David on Mohonk Rd in High Falls, NY.  photo by Charles Leirins

Tonight's episode of the Dead Hare Radio Hour focuses on that consummate Hudson River School painter, Marc Chagall.  Whaaa?, you might say.  but yes, it turns out that Marc Chagall lived in High Falls, NY with his companion, Virginia Haggard from 1946 through 1948. 

I interview Gary Ferdman and Rik Rydant, two fellows who have been digging deep into the details of Chagall's life in this Hudson Valley hamlet and the proliferation of work he created there.
The D&H Canal Museum will be hosting an exhibit on Chagall in High Falls from September 3 - Oct 30.
Tune in this afternoon to 91.3 WVKR in Poughkeepsie to learn all about the details of the exhibit and to hear the details of this moment in the artist's life.  An extended version of my Chagall in High Falls interview will be released in podcast version tomorrow.

Marc Chagall, Blue Violinist, 1947

This episode is a real story-time treat for me.  I really have enjoyed hearing Rik and Gary recount this story.  I think this is what radio is all about. The quality of their voices alone, I think makes this one worth listening to.  Chagall's work has never made a huge impression of me, but there are two small stained glass windows in a chapel near Chamonix that I saw that are pretty stunning.