Words word, and the face to face

For some time now, I've forsaken much of my print media reading habits for the environs of art blogs. I guess reading is a bit of an overstatement. I peruse. The downside of the sheer volume of all of the insights, critiques and commentaries online is that my attention level is fairly shallow.

Last week I attended Art Bloggers panel discussion that was organized by Joanne Mattera and Sharon L. Butler and hosted at the Red Dot Art Fair.

The panel discussion was moderated by Joanne and included Sharon, Carol Diehl of ArtVent, Carolina Miranda of C-Monster (yeah poop jokes!), Paddy Johnson of Art Fag City and Edward Winkleman of Edward Winkleman was preceeded by an informal gathering and discussion in the hotel's lobby and then shuffled down to a small conference room.

I really enjoyed meeting the folks behind my favorite blogs and meeting folks whose I hadn't yet discovered.

Franklin Einspruch of Artblog.net was the first to post a list of people who gathered for the informal discussion prior to the panel. Here's his list:
Hrag Vartanian
Chris Albert
Steven Alexander
Olympia Lambert
James Kalm
Chris Jagers
Megan and Murray
Andrew Robinson
Pretty Lady

If you're not familiar with the blogs of these folks, check them out. Of course, each blog varies in its voice whether that be straight critique, expostulation on one's own studio process or reflections on the machinations of the world at large. Each provides an view into a particular personal interaction with the world of art, casting that world in a multitued of tints. When there's an overlap of subject matter covered by many blogs, one can get an interesting triangulation on the topic at hand. It can certainly be of value. Already, I've learned the definition of flaneur after Hrag's blog post on the panel sent me to the dictionary.

Megan and Murray MacMillan are a collaborative team hailing from Providence area. They spoke to me about way they've been able to frame their blogging activities as an extension of their studio practice, which can be a supreme benefit of blogging, both for enriching one's blog content, and providing another avenue to digest the ins and outs of one's process.

I was excited to see what James Kalm looks like. Ok, excited is too strong a word, but I've wondered about it, and I've wondered how he goes about getting his footage, sometimes covert, of the very many exhibits he covers in his video reports braving the harangues of a select few uncooperative galleries and getting bounced from the Whitney Biennial.

If you're interested, Joanne Mattera gives a quick rundown for the panel discussion at the Artbloggers@ blog. James Kalm also captured much of it on video.

Three of the assembled bloggers, Butler, Vartanian and Kalm, are also contributors to The Brooklyn Rail. If your're not familiar with it, the Rail is a wonderful publication- sort of like the Voice, but worthwhile. It's also chock full of art content with many reviews and great interviews with artists. I got into the habit of heading down to Utrecht on 12th St. to pick up a copy whenever I was in the city (I'm not sure where else it's distributed), but I've been stymied for the past several months. I really ought to subscribe, because number one, it's a non profit, number two, with all the other reading I do online, I'm already suffering from content retention, and I'd like be able to peruse through it away from the computer. (I could use a good incontinents treatment to clear myself out.)

I had the brilliant idea last Summer to begin making runs down to Brooklyn, picking up bundles of the Rail, and distributing them up here in Beacon. Unfortunately, the one day I was able to arrange to stop in, no one was in the office. Stymied again. But I'll try again. If anyone would be interested in participating a monthly rotation of delivering a couple of bundles of the Rail up here, I'd be willing to get the ball rolling as I think it would be appreciated here in Beacon.