It's a small world after all; a potluck invitation: Spire Studios, Sun, Feb 28, 2010

Some 20 artists from around the world are descending on Beacon on February 28 for a two day residency at Dia:Beacon.  The artists who are all enrolled in the TransArt Institute MFA program are being hosted by Beacon residents in their homes.
Folks are invited to join the group at Dia:Beacon on Sunday at 11:30 am to lead blindfolded artists from the museum entrance through the galleries and to the interior of one of Serra's Torqued Ellipses. The artists will spend two days at the museum working on projects that will respond to Dia's exhibits.
After the museum closes on Sunday, the group will convene at Spire Studios for drinks, conversation and a little potluck dinner.  If you're interested in stopping in an being part of the conversation, feel free to, and bring a little something to munch on.  For more information, contact Angelika .

Angelika is in the final stretch of getting her MFA program through TI.  The program consists of an intensive Summer residency in Berlin with a short Winter residency which starts later this week at the Sideshow Gallery in Brooklyn.  She's organizing this Beacon extension to the Winter session.  Coinciding the Brooklyn residency, TI will be holding its annual open house for anyone interested in learning more about the program.

Stepping Out in Beacon NY on Feb 13, 2010

A few images from stepping out in Beacon on Feb 13, 2010.

Though unrelated, I'm sure, Will Walker's sculpture above at Van Brunt Gallery rhymes nicely with the
hues in the sunset I snapped through the window of Will's studio back in October.

David Rothenberg et fils creating layers of music, digital and live at bau.

Young love burgeoning at the Valentine's show at Spire Studios.

The conditioning power of Lub

After some 8 years I'm still surprised when awareness arises as I rub up against the membrane of my comforts of habitual domesticity. 

La Tedesca mia returned yesterday from a short trip to Chicago. Both ends of her trip provided further reminders of the ways in which I have developed and have been shaped by this pairing of ours.

Thanks to my valentine for contending with my ever retarded actualizing awareness-es.

Mr. Short-Term Memory @ Yahoo! Video

New Drawings

 A few recent pencil and gouache drawings done on fragments of the drywall I removed when creating Archive in December. 

Jan 29, 2010: Opening Reception of Harry Roseman's Hole in the Wall at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar

Harry Roseman gave a talk on Friday evening at Vassar on the occasion of the official opening of his installation, Hole in the Wall in the atrium of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at the college. 
Roseman's talk, along with a screening of a video documenting his Woven Walls installation at the Kleinert Art Center in Woodstock in 2008 preceeded the opening.  The main lecture hall was filled to capacity, so a second hall was enlisted, offering a projection of a live online stream of the talk.  

Unfortunately, the webstream had some form of buffering issue and we weren't able to see the entire talk.  A recording of the talk is available for viewing here.
The upside to this technical glitch was that those of us in the second hall were able to go in and view the work before the crush of people filled the space...and fill the space they did.  It got claustrophobic quickly, so I bailed out prior to the performance by Adrienne Elisha of a composition she created which was inspired by the installation. 

It had been too long since I last visited the Loeb.  There's really no better place in the area in which to casually stop in and indulge in morsels sized portions of great work.  The small size of the temporary exhibition and permanent collection galleries offer a remarkable opportunity to get a fix without needing to devote a great chunk of time.  

Artma Auction takes place in Denver, Feb 6, 2010 6-10 pm

Repose oil on canvas 30"x36" 1998

The biennial Artma art auction event is happening again in Denver next Saturday, Feb 6.  from 6 to 10 pm.  The event benefits the Morgan Adams Neuro-Oncology Fund at the Children's Hospital in Denver.

My contribution to this year's event is a bit of a throwback.  It's a piece from 1998 called Repose.

Remember, bid high, bid often and have a great time.

Anthony Easton's pilgrimage to Poughkeepsie - and kork

kork's current offering is a collection of snapshots by Toronto based artist Anthony Easton (his blog).  I met up with Anthony and his friend Pat at Dia Beacon on Jan 17.  The two had conceived a multitasking road trip, the first portion of which focused on visiting religious pilgrimage sites in upstate NY, like the Sacred Grove in Palmyra where Joseph Smith received the revelation that gave form to the Book of Mormon and the Mormon church.  The trip culminated in the installation of Anthony's work on the kork board in Poughkeepsie.

Anthony Easton placing photographs on the board of kork.

Anthony's project on kork consists of the photographic documentation of his vacation/research trip in upstate NY.  
In his statement, Anthony cites the recognizeable experience of suffering through a viewing someone else's vacation photos.  This curse of living vicariously through representations of other's experiences has only been magnified through proliferating technology and the annointment of all as producers of content, banal though that content may be. Anthony invokes the traditional banality of this form of vacation documentation, and gives it the pride of place that any individual gives to the relics of their fondly held memories.  These photos are the very same vestiges of leisure time that find their way into office cubicles on on to desks as rememberences of places visited and things during those non-work times spent away from the workplace.  They're emblems of experience and of the personal flown as flags of home in the pseudo home of the office. 

My contact with Anthony had been limited to short email exchanges until we rendezvoused at Dia the day before installation. 
His endeavor of vacation as form of pilgrimage strikes a chord with one of the underlying tenets of kork:  how do we experience art?  Can a bulletin board in an accounting office become a cultural destination?  For me, the nature of pilgrimage and primary experiences plays a role in the broader implication of this work in this office in Poughkeepsie.  Would someone venture to POK to view the expression of an artist on a bulletin board in an office? Does the percieved value of such a site warrant such a trip? Is it sufficient to simply experience it remotely?  Is it enough to know that something is going on somewhere, and get the gist of it rather than making the effort of getting there?  Maybe, and yes - sometimes no.  Folks are more than welcome to stop into the office and check out the artworks.  They are equally welcome to feel satisfied that what they see online gives them some form of full experience. 
The kork project as a whole partially rests on the calculation of reward divided by effort exerted - both in the creation of the works and the viewing of them. In this case the artist tested that calculation for himself.  
I'll admit to some anxiety when Anthony contacted me last year, interested in creating a project, and willing to travel to POK from Canada, and making that travel part of the piece.  I felt, but restrained, the need to inform him fully of the informality of the project and  he might not want to knock himself out over it.  But his coming is the realization of the kind of primacy of the primary experience that is self rewarding and not dependent on a climax resolution for validation.  I respect that attitude.  I know I'm projecting here, but I read it as an imperviousness to futility. It's a key to living, and making art; to dig a hole, not to retrieve something, nor to deposit something, and if something is found, to feel free to leave it in place, then fill in the hole once again and take something away from the whole endeavor.

This array of office implements and corresponding newsclippings is the most naturally sculptural and consistently enjoyable vision I behold whenever visiting the office of Bailey Browne CPA & Assoc.

November 2009 in Denver: Staged @ Michele Mosko Fine Art and Jessica Stockholder/John McEnroe at Robischon

Angelika Rinnhofer's Varsity I and Varsity V

On November 14 while in Denver,  I served as Angelika's proxy at the opening reception of Staged, a group exhibit in which two photographs from her Varsity series are on view through Jan 9 at Michele Mosko Fine Art.  Poor planning on my part thwarted my intention of carrying around a lifesize photograph of Angelika on a broom handle to get some papparazzi photos of the artist with reception attendees.

From that show Marc Willhite and I made our way to Robischon Gallery for the opening of exhibits by Jessica Stockholder, and John McEnroe.
Stockholder's offering included two sculptural pieces and some half dozen high keyed, dimensional and often furry "monoprints".  Rich and wild and totally refreshing was how this exhibit felt.  The nuances of texture and the effect of the compression of the various layers in each piece simply don't translate in photos - but here are a few for your perusal.  The gallery website has images of all the artwork in the exhibit.

Marc checking out Two Frames, Swiss Cheese Field 36, and Swiss Cheese Field 14

Jessica Stockholder, Untitled

Jessica Stockholder, Swiss Cheese Field 18

Jessica Stockholder, (l-r) Swiss Cheese Field 14, Swiss Cheese Field 20, Swiss Cheese Field 24

Jessica Stockholder, Swiss Cheese Field 20

Jessica Stockholder, Swiss Cheese Field 23

John McEnroe Untitled (Blue Red)

John McEnroe was represented by his pendent nylon forms as well as floor standing assemblages consisting of melted and burnt plastic toys. 
These exhibits at Robischon just closed on December 31.  Both artists are featured in the exhibit of installation called Embrace at the Denver Art Museum through April 4, 2010.

From Robischon, we stopped in to Marc's studio space in RiNo District and then on to Pints Pub to share a cheese and cracker plate.  I lived two blocks from Pints Pub for 6 yrs and had been in a couple times for drinks, but never knew about that cheese and cracker plate - I wish I had, it might have replaced my Friday afternoon happy hour buffet habit at the Church.

2 + 2 = 2010! : HNY!

 My contribution to kork Advent.

Today wraps up the month of kork Advent emails.  It was fun putting this together.  My thanks go out to all the fine participating artists and all the folks who subscribed and opened the emails each day.   Accompanying the work each artist created was a quote, thought, rant, or definition that each artist scrounged up or concocted themselves.  The text that accompanied my work for Jan 1 is an excerpt from the Forward of E.E. Cummings' book is 5.  Here's the entire text:

F O R E W A R D

On the assumption that my technique is either complicated or original

or both, the publishers have politely requested me to write an intro-

duction to this book.

At least my theory of technique, if I have one, is very far from

original; nor is it complicated. I can express it in fifteen words, by

quoting The Eternal Question And Immortal Answer of burlesk, viz.

"Would you hit a woman with a child?--No, I'd hit her with a brick."

Like the burlesk comedian, I am abnormally fond of that precision

which creates movement.

If a poet is anybody, he is somebody to whom things made matter

very little--somebody who is obsessed by Making. Like all obsessions,

the Making obsession has disadvantages; for instance, my only interest

in making money would be to make it. Fortunately, however, I should

prefer to make almost anything else, including locomotives and roses.

It is with roses and locomotives (not to mention acrobats Spring

electricity Coney Island the 4th of July the eyes of mice and Niagara

Falls) that my "poems" are competing.

They are also competing with each other, with elephants, and with

El Greco.

Ineluctable preoccupation with The Verb gives a poet one priceless

advantage: whereas nonmakers must content themselves with the

merely undeniable fact that two times two is four, he rejoices in a

purely irresistible truth (to be found, in abbreviated costume, upon

the title page of the present volume).

E.E. CUMMINGS

My buddy Rich originally cued me into this piece and it really resonated with me as very suitable summing up of much of my sentiments around what I do and my motivations for doing it.
Now I just have to figure out what to do for next year.
In the meantime, the next kork project (Jan-Feb) will feature Canadian based artist Anthony Easton who will be coming down to Poughkeepsie in mid January to produce a series of photographs around town which he will then install on the board.

Update, 1/2/10: I woke up this morning all leisurely like, began reading and then I suddenly gave myself start  thinking that I had a kork Advent email to send out. But that part of my life is over now...

Forget Christmas in July. This is the Christmas in January Super Fine Art Giveaway!!

 CandyCane

I was inspired by the packages of marshallow candies Meine Frau Noodle purchased to send off to family in Germany to use the discarded boxes as frames for small paintings.

 Ribbons & Stitches

I created a series of acrylic on masonite paintings (6"x9") that would be framed by the candy boxes. I liked the paintings, but wasn't crazy with what was going on with the interaction of paint and package. So I made another set using pieces of drywall on which I incised in places and painted with acrylic.

Reindeer Garland

I'm giving away seven of the eight paintings you see here by random drawing to fans of my Facebook Page.  (The candy cane piece at top is already going to my mom.)  There aren't that many fans of the page, so your chance of getting something is pretty darn good.  So if you'd like a chance to start the new year with a little reward, visit the page and become a fan by Jan 3, 2010.  I'll conduct the drawing and notify the lucky winners on Jan 4.

Green Zip

Think about it.  You deserve a treat.  Christmas is over, what do you have to look forward to now?.....A little sweet something arriving in the mail from yours truly, That's What!!

Marshmallow 1

Pachesi

Bauble

Marshmallow 2

Oh Christmas Thing 2009

Christmas decorating came early and inadvertently this year.  Shortly after my open studio in Sept, I did some shuffling here, a little shifting there and before I knew it, voila!, this year's Christmas Thing was very magically born.  It's a good thing too.  I knew after last year that I needed to step away from the crutch of garland and lights to formulate my annual yuletide alter of the mundane.  Although I adore the scent of real garland, and real Christmas trees, I needed to go deeper to formulate the emblems of my Christmases to come.  This year's specimen is a real contender in my mind.
As you can gather from this and previous years' Christmas Things, I don't necessarily strain myself in the fabrication of these yuletide alters. I'm no Clark Griswold. 
But as with any other expression of seasonal cheer, these pieces elevate some designated niche filled with any ordained collection of items to a position that is worthy of gazing upon and projecting upon, any personally held notions of peace, family, giving, or crass commercialization that one attributes to this festive season. 

These amalgamations and the spirit with which I view their creation are as dear to me as any of those memories of the natural or artificial, flocked or not Christmas trees, garlands, tangles of lights and copious amounts of baked goodness of my Christmases past.

There's much about the Christmas season from which I have worked to sequester myself, but those aspects that I do relish; the atmosphere (physical, ethereal, and nostalgic), the taint of expectation, the sense of specialness that is attributed to certain gestures be they grand or not are the things I respond to.  Those are the abstractions (the good things)  formed at the fringe of this massive stress-filled hustle-bustle, overindulged merchandised moment.  And for me, for this moment, these Ritz boxes, that flattened Miller Lite 6 pack carrier, that polka dot sunglass case I found on the street, that stack of cardboard pallet feet from the packaging of our Ikea sofa and that spiral of Astroturf scrap are all imbued with those wonderful notions that waft in on gentle holiday currents.

Meet yer Maykr: Jim White

While in Denver back in November, I paid a visit to Jim White in his studio to pick up his contribution to the kork Advent project.
While there, I shot some images of Jim's space and a bit of the nascent works of various forms he has in progress.

I met Jim in the late 90's at a group exhibit he was participating in at Revolucciones space in Denver.  I was struck by his facility for drawing and his compositional treatments.  I bought two paintings from that exhibit and we've been in and out of contact ever since.

As I'm writing this, I'm recalling an instant during an exhibit I had at EDGE gallery in 2002.  At the same time, Jim had a show up across the street at Pirate.   Having run over to check out Jim's show, I came away feeling very envious of his work.  I can't say now what it was in particular that drew that reaction out of me, and I can't actually remember what I saw - that portion of the memory has been drowned out by response to it.  It's the only time I can remember feeling that way toward someone elses work.  It was a short but sharp sensation.

A box of antique player piano rolls that Jim is starting to use in his collages, such as he did for his Dec 19 contribution to the kork Advent project.

A personalized valentine.

Jim said that he's just now returning to drawing and painting after a period in which he's been involved in creating small foamcore sculptures.  These table top sculpture sit somewhere in between misguided architectural models and a fanciful scheme for cultural merchandising.  Jim thinks of  to these as miniature monuments; each one a lilliputian ode to the heyday of macho plop art.

In time, these pieces will receive some form of paint treatment.  We began discussing possible applications of these for a future kork project....stay tuned for that later in 2010.

Some images of Jim's workspace:

 The two untitled works from (98, 99?) currently hanging in my bedroom.

You can view past Meet yer Maykr studio visits at Maykr.com

In the neighborhood

There's a sculpture that suddenly appeared in the front yard of a house just up the block. I noticed it yesterday on my way to the gym. 
It's an alright piece;  One that I might notice if it were in a public park or civic setting, although it maybe a bit generic in that public sculpture kind of way.  But in this setting (complete with a plaque with artist name and sculpture title: Robert Giordano; First Gate) the work definitely has more of a charge.

Part of this charge comes from the surprising context of this work sitting on a residential front lawn.  It's a slight tangle in relation to the otherwise uprightness of the line of Victorian homes on the block.  Perhaps the only really odd thing about the presence of the sculpture here is that it is not festooned with Christmas lights.  And although the popularity of those inflatable Christmas lawn figures push the envelope of scale even further than this comparatively modest structure,  the other reason I think it works here is the relationship of the work's size to its setting. The sculpture dominates the square of lawn on which it sits in a wonderfully almost-claustrophobic manner.  Lawns are tedious, tiresome uses of space, but here that bit lawn has been deputized into an actual purpose of framing and supporting the sculpture.  The ratio of sculpture to grass here turns the normal sculpture to sculpture park relationship on its head - and it works really well in this situation....unlike this similarly but less successful tweaking of scale in a public work.

It gave me a lift to see it there.  It also reminded me of how uninterested I am in the bulk of sculpture in sited in natural settings, or conventional civic settings.

I'm intrigued by the thought of having a sculpture tour that takes place in the front lawns of residences, if only for the novelty and the potential for the absurd.