Transplant: Sept 15, 2012

Angelika floated the idea of having an end of the Summer get together which would also entail asking some artists to create or install works in and around the garden - as we did for our Kamp Maykr shindig in 2008.   

I had this in mind while on Norton Island in July and wanted to recreate the island's buoy trail - a path around the island marked by buoys -  in our yard.  The notion of transpositioning, transplanting seemed a suitable loosely applied theme around which the works could be organized.  What more better or more obvious strategy for an exhibit in a garden?  But transposition and transplantation of ideas, of environmental details, and the disjunction of placement, in general, can be immediately pleasing.  Not to mention the broader allusion that most of us of an art persuasion in this communities are ourselves transplants.

The notion of transposition or transplantation was galvanized after a visit to my pal's place in Brooklyn. [story ensues...]  The men's room Beacon's now closed Piggy Bank sported an alluring...and one (I) might say refreshingly invigorating photo of a chorus line of nude 20's era females.  This photo was a refreshing perk to visiting the WC.   Doug, the owner, told us that a mother had demanded he remove the photo after her young son used the facility...and was undoubtedly scarred by it.  So, my Brooklyn pal, after seeing the photo in the Piggy Bank's men's room on a visit to Beacon several years ago, ordered a copy of it for his own bathroom -which is where it has stayed, until this Summer when I decided to repatriate the image to Beacon.  The Piggy Bank now being closed, I decided to repatriate this sliver of Beacon's visual heritage - to my own bathroom.

So a bit of  Beacon's Piggy Bank was transplanted, via Brooklyn, for the gathering.  By a stroke of visual fortuitousness, I installed the photo very close to the already hanging dog and donkey piece by James Westwater.  There's a crazy synergy chromatic and figurative synergy between the two pieces.

Here are some views of the garden with works by Eleanor White, Karlos Carcamo, Jill Reynolds, Kirsten Kucer, Sara Mussen, Peter Iannarelli, Michael Koch, Susan Walsh, Rene Kildow, Angelika and myself.

 

Peter Iannarelli, Untitled, zip ties

Karlos Carcamo, Untitled (hand cuffs, cast cement

A future archeologist might take castings to track the habits of a society in conflict - or are these urban fossils?

Karlos Carcamo, Untitled (knife), cast cement

Eleanor White, Untitled, synthetic hair (blonde and curly)

The photo above by Angelika shows Eleanor's piece shortly after installation.  The images below show the work in the following days.

 

Kirsten Kucer  Forest Air, glass vessel, transported air.

Our neighbor Michael  Koch played with transplanting words in a prase

This drawing found by Michael outside of the new Dim Sum place on Main St was a ready companion for any lonely folks who needed one.

Susan Walsh, Overheard, twine, plastic bags

 The speckling of black scales on the fence interacted nicely with the arabesques of the thread.

Jill Reynolds, Catenary, twine

photo by Angelika

 Jill said to think of this piece as a spider meeting Fred Sandback...maybe a bit of Johns too.

Angelika Rinnhofer, Untitled, video

 Viewable through the window, a slice of Times Square relocated right into the shed. 

Sara Mussen, Untitled, wood, rawhide lace.

Sara Mussen's untitled pirate ship of a sculpture can portend a global scale of transplantation, and she herself is the ultimate embodiment of transplant, having, just over a month ago, donated a portion of her liver to her infant nephew.  In direct sunlight, her surgery scar vibrated with the fuscia of her blouse.

Sara's scar, photo by Angelika.

a work contributed anonymously, obviously transplanted from the tree to the ground.

The following images are of the various things I fiddled with.

Platform, wood, derelict fountain

I utilized a few pieces originally created as part of my ]twenty-six paces[ project for last year's Windows on Main St.  Above, two mobiles consisting of latex pant "oven mitts", and below, one of an edition of wooden sculptural replicas of the rigs I used to locate the anchor points of the great Main St "spanning" string.

 

Points, 2011, wood.

The constraints of time prevented me from recreating the bouy trail as I had wanted.  Instead, I settled for a last minute de-contextualized display of paper mache buoys. 

Buoys, paper-mache, cardboard

A few of Norton Island's trail marking buoys.

Half Breed, paper, wood, three legged carrot

Finally, on the morning of the shindig, I picked a prodigious carrot which spawned a vision in my head....Such is the bounty of nature.

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.

James Westwater - and me at Beacon NY's Beacon Theatre

A few shots from the hanging of paintings at the Beacon Theatre in Beacon, NY.  The theatre is going through a major renovation, during which, the lobby will be used for performances and events.   Recent works by myself and James Westwater face off with each other from opposite walls of the lobby in this first exhibit organized by Jennifer Mackiewicz.  

I snapped a few photos as we were hanging the paintings last weekend.  There will be reception held on Saturday, August 13th....probably starting around 6pm.
I'll be taking some better photos here shortly.

In the two images above are three recent paintings of mine, all finished in 2011.

Below are James' three works created using giant pieces of "driftwood" material gathered from the Hudson river shore in Beacon.

Some of the Greatest Things:

In no particular order:  Reeses Peanutbutter Cups, Mama Rinnhofer, Icci, 

Constantin Brancusi, the Green Onion Lounge in Omaha, Nebraska. 

ManMade, NatureMade

Saw this monstrosity while crossin Park Ave last week.  

Later discovered it's a work by Urs Fischer.  whatever.

I found this drawing when I returned from work on Thursday. 

 More adolescent made than man made

Small @ Hudson Beach Glass, through March 20

Small, the exhibit curated by Jennifer Mackiewicz at Hudson Beach Glass will remain on view through March 20.  Here are some pics from the exhibit:

Claire Lofrese, After 24 Colors for Blinky by Imi Knoebel, 2011

Gerda van Leeuwen, Insects Caught (on wall) with porcelain sculptures

Jill Reynolds, Ancestor, Recollection, Memorandum, 2000

 John Allen, Promise, 2011

Deborah Davidovits, Mended Pegasus, 2002 and Mended Cat and Dog, 2002

Above: a selection of my white board paintings and collages.

Domivox.com; check it out, 2011

Above, rocker, by me with, above and below, Kirsten Kucer's

 Postcards from Another Place, 2011

 Greg Slick's Maya, 2010 entails a video feed of a bedscape beamed from the cot to a monitor.

 Susan Magnus, Untitled, 2002

 Susan Walsh Residue of Gesture Series: Shelf in Rusty Garden Shed, 2009

 Peter Yamoaka Giorgio Morandi: Natura Morte, 2009. Above, a set of his Dioramas

 Kazumi Tanaka, Separation, 2002