Another Saturday, another afternoon in the hab.

I spent another couple of hours at Van Brunt Gallery yesterday. I brought in another habitat tile (above)scaled with old cd roms, some still remaining swimming pool remnants and some Thick & Rich lids from cans of Bush's Baked Beans. MmmmMmmmmmMm (though not as good as mom's).

I chatted with Catherine Welshman who was sitting the gallery yesterday...and who'll be headlining the next exhibit at bau, opening on March 7. I handed off elements of a couple collaborative projects, one of which is the Visual Novel, to Catherine. I hope to be posting info on these projects later in the year. I also made two more Demonstrative Drawings, and another chewing gum sculpture (below) to be cast by Steve Rossi.

Today I'll be working on streaming the live feed from a panel discussion that will be taking place at Van Brunt at 3pm today. The feed can be seen over at www.maykr.com.

For The Love of Art, through March 15, 2009

The exhibit For The Love Of Art opened last week at the Hat Factory in Peekskill, NY. A grid of nine Genesis paintings are on view. The participating artists were invited to submit work that was then reviewed by a curatorial panel. Thanks to Michael Anthony Natiello who invited me to show.. Apparantly, prior to the opening, once the work was installed, there was some discussion among the curatorial panel regarding how appropriate the work is for public consumption with some wanting to yank the work. We'll see how it rolls. The exhibit will remain on view through March 15.
Here's a little snippet from a story in the Journal News that I thought was cute:

Christopher Albert, Beacon, creates abstract works in various media. His oil painting "Genesis 18" (2007) brings new meaning to the phrase "biblical knowledge" as it is painted on pages from the adult magazine Genesis.

Demonstrative Drawings

In a manner akin to that in which I was doing the Depletion Drawings in my Habitat over the Summer, I've been doing some drawings with during my time at the Habitat indoors at Van Brunt. I'm limiting myself to two colors of oil pastel on small irregularly shaped pieces of paper, and seeing what comes up. Much of the imagery for these particular drawings comes from watching Obama make his was to all of the balls on Inauguration night. At at least on stop the foreground of the frame I watched on tv was filled with these odd crooked crane like shapes in silhouette, each one with a glowing blue light square at the end. It's how photographs are taken now. Viewfinders are becoming a thing of the past. How odd is this gesture compared to the posture of picture taking in days or yore. At some point in the near future instead of squinting one eye, cradling an invisible form in both hands, jerking one index finger to indicate photographing something, we'll incorporate the same index jerk while holding one hand aloft high over our heads, hand in an articulated claw. That's the initial point of mediation for these drawings. The Demonstrative bit relates to the doing of this in public on a stage set of sorts as is the case when working in the gallery.

For the Love of Art, Feb 15- March 15, 2009 at the Hat Factory, Peekskill, NY.

I'll be exhibiting a number of the Genesis Paintings from Feb 15 to March 15 in a show called For the Love of Art at the Hat Factory in Peekskill. For the Love of Art is a cooperative effort on the part of Yamet Arts Inc, The Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Collaborative Concepts, the Peekskill Arts Council and the Hat factory.
The exhibit features 30 artists in the Hudson Valley ranging from Mt Vernon, NY to Hudson, NY.
A healthy number of the selected artists hale from Beacon. There's obviously a lot of us here, but there's an inordinant number of quality artists as well. Here's the total line up:
Chris Albert, Emil Alzamora, Deb Davidovits, Matt Harle, Jill Reynolds, Angelika Rinnhofer, Eleanor White, Beacon; Michael Ricardo Andreev, Mt Vernon; Curt Belshe, Carla Rae Johnson, Peekskill; Dina Bursztyn, Catskill; Erik Odin Cathcart, Leslie Pelino, New Paltz; Mimi Czajka-Graminks, Red Hook; Cristina DeGennaro,Scott Goodman, Mamaroneck; E.Y.E, various locations; Gretchen Kelly, Hudson; Leslie Lew, Mohegan Lake; Nathan Margoni,Alec Spangler Purchase; Lael Morgan, Croton; Laura Moriarty, Kingston; Lori Nozick, Crompond; GeneFree (Gene Panzcenko, Peekskill/Marcy B. Freedman, Croton) Jaanika Peerna, Cold Spring; Bruce Richards, Dobbs Ferry; Camilo Rojas, Millerton; Donna Sharrett, Ossining; Kate Vrijmoet, Pawling.

An opening reception will take place on February 15 from 2-5pm. The Hat Factory is located at 1000 N. Division St in Peekskill, NY. Updated information is being posted on the Yamet Arts website.

Habitats inside, weekend 2

I've spent some time over the past two Saturdays at Van Brunt Gallery working on stuff. I intend to do a series of drawings tied specifically to the experience of working in the gallery - akin to the Depletion Drawings done in my habitat over the Summer. In this new set of drawings I'm using oil pastel, a medium I'm not terribly comfortable with, and I've arbitrarily limited myself to two colors - a brown and a sort of fuschia.
I'm also working on some tiles that are being added to the Habitat mix. The one below is taking a while; layering strips of newspaper. I've really gotten into building up the profile of this piece. Who knows if I'll finish. I'm enjoy seeing certain topographies being telegraphed as new layers are added.

Siamese grapes

There's got to be a culture somewhere in the world that considers an occurrence such as this a portent of fortuitous times to come.
A delicate procedure to separate these conjoined grapes was unsuccessful and both twins succumbed--TO MY TUMMY!