MAYKR

Eye Candy Friday: Stop and Go Traffic

2011-10-21T06:51:00.001-04:00

I spent three full days in the car last week, running out to Missouri and Arkansas for kicks and family visits last week. I loathe leaving my home for any period of time - short or long, but once I'm in the car on such a trip (at least, once I get through Pennsylvania, ugh) I'm feeling in the zone. I'm not driving in a car, I'm really piloting my mind.
I don't have have a particular fascination for car culture, although I do have a car...and I do have a soft spot for some signifiers of car culture....strip malls, truck stops and the like.

But your ECF selection for today revels in a car culture. A very small car culture, amplified in the way that only an artist like Chris Burden, unfettered by the limits of obscurity and lack of funds, can do. The artist's Metroolis II, from 2008 or 2009, I think, is a real adolescent's Hot Wheel's fantasy come true.

Eye Candy Friday: Smooth Move

2011-10-14T09:28:00.000-04:00

While digging around the internet for videos of Cheryl Donegan's works for the ECF of two weeks ago, I came across this little gem. A mash-up of a Smith's song and some tight moves from back in a day when life seemed just a little sexier. It seems this is a video created and uploaded by Donegan herself and it's one of less than a handful uploaded to her seedagain channel on youtube from a year ago. Tho' this vid is relies on found material, the other works collage footage that she captured herself. They feel intimate and exploratory and on the scale of the home-video kind. That there are very few views of these works registered on the view counters, and the texture of the videos themselves make them feel like even more of a discovery. Check 'em out.

Eye Candy Friday: Burning Down the House

2011-10-07T09:11:00.000-04:00

The Electric Projected event was finally able to happen last Saturday, Oct 1, after being rained out on it's previously scheduled date in August. I found my self in an extended studio moment while the whole thing was happening so I missed it. By all accounts I received, it was pretty cool.

This video uploaded to youtube by OjosBrillantes
seems to be a pretty complete document of the animations projected on to the 1 Main building.

I was impressed by whatever calculations is must have taken to plot out the location of the individual painted banners and have that information conveyed onto the compositions of the animations.
There are several other videos on youtube and vimeo showing various viewpoints of the event that night as well as some of the individual animations.

Thinking about Electric Projected recalled for me the video for the Talking Heads song Burning Down the House... which I'd embed here if I could, but I cant so I'm not...

This weekend: Open Studios in Cold Spring, NY

2011-10-01T12:16:00.001-04:00


Jeri Coppola's open studio at Spire Studios in Beacon, NY last weekend

Artists in and around Cold Spring, NY are opening their studios this weekend. Check out the list of participating artists/venues and get all the pertinent information at coldspringarts.com.

Studios are scheduled to be open from 12-6p today and tomorrow. As part of the events, Collaborative Concepts' Saunder's Farm Project is holding its mid run reception from 1-6 and Concrete Gallery is holding an opening reception for new works by Susan English from 5-8pm.

In past years, many of these artists would have participated in the Beacon Open Studios (held this past weekend) as several one point or another did work in Beacon. That there are such a number to constitute a sizable presentation in Cold Spring this weekend speaks, in part, to the mini diaspora that occurred recently when the old Beacon High School was sold, fostering uncertainty about the viability/affordability of artists maintaining their studios there.

Last week's episode of the Dead Hare Radio Hour included a little bit of audio from the Beacon Open Studios.

On the subject of studios, Bad At Sports Episode #311 features (in the second half of the show) an interview with Joe Lanasa who runs the Fulton Street Collective. Fulton Street Collective is a studio and gallery building in Chicago that houses artist studios leased by individual artists but it also features a membership level, shared studio program. This "standard" membership of $125 per month entitles the member a small storage area and use of shared studio spaces along with the use of available tables, easels, etc. This shared workspace concept is similar to that enabled at Beahive in Beacon and Kingston, but scaled up a bit for the visual artist.
Something to think about. And something that I think would be very workable and beneficial in for artists in the Newburgh/ Beacon area.

Eye Candy Friday: Slather

2011-09-30T10:23:00.000-04:00

Here's a bonus Eye Candy Friday for this week (although it hardly makes up for the many weeks I've missed of late.)
This is a trailer of an upcoming documentary film on Gerhard Richter - Gerhard Richter Painting - which captures the process of him preparing an exhibit of his abstract, squeegeed paintings. There's also a short descriptive video (in English) of the film and the filmmaker, Corinna Belz.

Eye Candy Friday: Taking it off, Putting it on.

2011-09-30T10:12:00.000-04:00

Artist Cheryl Donegan was at Dia:Beacon this weekend, giving the third of four artist walk throughs of Dia's portion of the Blinky Palermo show.

(Liliana Porter will be doing the fourth walk through on Oct 15. (Additionally on Oct 15, a bus excursion is planned for which visitors must reserve space. The coach tour will leave NYC at 9a, head up to Bard for the CCS portion of the exhibit, then down to Dia:Beacon in time to catch the Liliana Porter presentation, then back down to NYC. The coach tour package price includes a box lunch. Ticket info can be found here.))

Anyway, back to the ECF onhand. Donegan gave a thoughtful and informative talk, but one that was more "lecture-like" than we were expecting/hoping. Peter Iannarelli mentioned that she could have handed out the prepared text of her talk. This actually would have been good as there were some very good thoughts contained within it. (I would like to see this practice adopted, particularly with memorable and recall-worthy talks.) One thing she said that really stuck with me: Blinky's work "carries the signals of awareness without adopting an agenda."
That very idea sounds like an objective to strive for. She also spoke about how Palermo's "To the People of New York" speaks perhaps not to the death of painting but the fatigue of painting. That statement has also stayed suspended in my mind.
During the Q&A that followed the talk, Angelika asked Donegan about how she as an artist related to Palermo's work - which was what I was hoping to hear more of; her personal responses to this other artist's work. I was interested in hearing more about this as she has now been doing paintings for some time, having, as she said, discovered in painting what she wanted to explore (as opposed to making videos about painting). That's not to say her personal ideals and vision didn't inform her talk. It most certainly did. It was just the talk was framed in a more impersonal manner. She even started her talk by saying that Palermo's paintings embodied a lot of feeling for her, but she didn't think we as an audience were interested in her "feelings" about Palermo's paintings.
Cheryl Donegan gained attention in the '90s with her video and performance works that commented on the history of painting. The video piece Head is probably her most well known, provocative and (for some, possibly me) arousing work.
Below is a video of a performance Donegan did at Andrea Rosen Gallery in 1992, in which she wrastles the autonomy of the human brush away from Yves Klein's hand and uses it for her own declaration.

Oddly, as I was perusing youtube for Donegan videos, I came across this surprising bit in which Cheryl Donegan poses as a model on a fashion segment on the Today Show. It was odd to see witness her give a talk at Dia:Beacon, then shortly after, find her in this other role. I was an avid watcher of the Today show when I was in 5th grade (in the Bryant Gumble, Jane Pauly days), but by late middle school, I had simply become too sophisticated for the show....or it had already begun it's slide toward inanity and sheer stupidness, which seems to have been it's niche for a couple of decades now. A nice surreal touch to this snippet is the headline scrawl at the bottom of the screen highlighting murder and stabbing stories while the ladies talk about grabbing cheap deals on cute outfits.By the way, Brice Marden was taking in the Palermo show @ Dia:Beacon just before Cheryl Donegan's talk commenced.PPS: It does seem that the recorded audio from Dia's Gallery talks and presentations will at some point in the future make it's way on to the internet. It's something they're said to be working on.

Jill Reynolds: "In the Labudio"

2011-09-19T21:31:00.001-04:00

In 2010, the Dutchess County Arts Council awarded fellowships in installation and sculpture to two artists: Matthew Slaats (my Dead Hare Radio partner) and fellow Beacon artist, Jill Reynolds.

On March 5 of this year, Jill gave a talk at Pawling Trinity, in Pawling, NY. The talk was a co presentation of the Dutchess Arts Council and the Oblong Land Conservancy and Friends of the Geat Swamp (FrOGS), and it corresponded with the opening of an exhibit of Jill's work at Gallery on the Green in Pawling.

I recorded her talk, partially, with the hope of using portions of it for the radio show. Since her talk was so integrated with the powerpoint images she using to illustrate it, trying to use it for the radio was a bit futile. But, since it was such an informative and interesting talk, I wanted to make sure we could share it with a wider audience.
I combined the audio captured during the talk and married it to the PowerPoint Jill had assembled to create the video embedded below, which consists of her entire talk.

The video clocks in at about an hour and a half. For the first 55 minutes, Jill discusses and surveys a range of artists whose work either is inspired by, responds to, or utilizes scientific methodology or techniques. In the final 40 minutes, Jill shows images of her own work and discusses arc of her creative career.

The video starts with former DCAC President, Benjamin Krevolin's introduction of Jill.

Arthur Ganson is one of the artists Jill discusses, and originally, showed two youtube videos of his kinetic sculptures in action. Since the videos embedded in the original presentation didn't work, we've simply added the video url's. But below is a video of one of the two Ganson works played by Jill (the other, Wishbone with Machine has been removed from youtube).

Eye Candy Friday: Making Sausage

2011-09-16T05:30:00.000-04:00

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.

Inadvertent Galleries and Almost-Art

2011-08-25T18:00:00.000-04:00

A binary ode to minimalism at...is it Jeff Wilkinson architecture?

Roberta Smith reflects on the moments of "almost art" that she encounters throughout NYC in her NY Times piece on "inadvertent galleries." It's a nice piece on looking and seeing.
It's a piece that I think draws out some of the more poignant aspects of the Windows on Main St. exhibit - and many other psuedo-public art projects. It's generally not what exists in the project or the "art", but usually what happens outside of it - and most likely what happens after it's gone that is most interesting.
Having one's very act of seeing gently tweaked opens up the possibility of seeing things around us in another way. A new way. I think that changed state - reached through the exercise of looking at art - is at the heart of Roberta's piece. And it stands at the core of what I think is the greatest power and potential of the WOMS exhibit (even if particular works of art aren't particularly good).
In his essay in the catalogued selection of works from the NY Public Art Fund (Plop: Recent Projects of the Public Art Fund), Tom Eccles offers up an analogy (which I am paraphrasing) that if an artwork in a gallery or a museum is akin to that which you might hang in a place of prominence, over the mantel or a sofa in the living room, a work of public art is more like that painting or photo on the wall at the back of the hall near your bedroom. That work in the hall neither demands or commands your full attention like the one over the mantel; your relationship with it is far more informal, yet perhaps more consistent, and it's likely that this is the work that exerts the most influence on how you see through the day.

Of course, I'm a geek in regards to this notion. I'm tripping out any number of times each day on what I see around me....and what I think I see around me.

The image at the top of the post and the one just below here are just two examples of superb "almost art" that Roberta writes about in her piece.

Even without the dude in the pink shirt, this window is an exemplary expression of a weird, native conceptualized environment.

My midnight waffle courtesy of Theresa and Liam Goodman

In respect to actual moments happening WITHIN the scope of a WOMS work, Liam and Theresa Goodman (Gooby) will be distributing free waffles* at Tas Kafe on Saturday, Aug 27 from 9a-12. This is the second free waffle give away, and I must say the waffles are good.
I even penned my own testimonial quotes in honor of the waffles:

"These waffles are well worth waking up at 11pm for"
"This was the best waffle I've eaten all year. It's also the only waffle I've eaten all year, but that should not diminish any of it's bestness."

Marc Chagall in the Hudson Valley

2011-08-23T09:07:00.000-04:00


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

WOMS walking tour on Dead Hare Radio Hour

2011-08-19T13:03:00.003-04:00

Get ready to hit the Mean Streets err... Main Street in Beacon, NY.

Dakin Roy at Beacon Cycles.

Steve Rossi, Jennifer Mackiewicz, Matt Kinney and Angelika Rinnhofer joined me for a walking tour and review of the Windows on Main St for this week's episode of the Dead Hare Radio Hour.

Now in it's seventh year, Windows on Main St. is a store front window based exhibit of artist installations. This year's exhibit, organized by Melissa Tatge and Hannah Anderson features the work of a whopping 40+ artists.
In the podcast, Our intrepid group strolls and chats about the Western half of the exhibit (stay tuned for the second half very soon).

This is an impromptu, rough and ready recording this week. I sought to not edit the recording....something foreign for those episodes I've been responsible for producing, so it's a little cringe inducing to hear so much of me...and to hear so much of me stuttering through my thoughts. If you listeners might feel the same, by way of an apology, I added a bonus treat to you dear listener, to make up for the lapse of neutral objectivity, we have embedded a special drinking game in this Episode. Here is the one and only rule: Each and every time you hear me utter the word 'Context' take a swig of your favorite cold syrup. You'll be wasted in no time.

I expect to conduct a second-half walk through of the exhibit next week....if you're interested in joining us, drop me a line.
If I have get the time in the next couple of weeks, I'll post some of my thoughts on this year's installment.
Some images (some of them bad) of some of the things we saw on our walk.

Teresa Marra at Bank Sq Coffee House.

Cristin Hughes at Mountain Tops Outfitters

Cayla Lockwood at Paper Presence.

Nicole Ganas

a bad photo of the sculpture at Global Home.

Myra Kooy at RiverWinds Gallery.

Allison Braun at Play.

Amy C. Wilson at Dream in Plastic.

Lynn Isaacson & Shannon Kahan at the Cup & Saucer Tea Room.

Lily Zand at School of Jellyfish.

James Westwater at School of Jellyfish.

Christopher Albert at Artisan Wine Shop

Beth Haber at Beacon Institute.

Chris Sanders at Zora Dora.

Erica Hauser's 2008 WOMS installation still up at Zora Dora.

Eye Candy Friday: Over a billion served

2011-08-13T01:03:00.000-04:00

In the event you, like me, were not one of those willing or able to stand in line for hours to see the Alexander McQueen exhibit Savage Beauty at the Met before it closed last week, you can at least get a wee peek via this video tour of the exhibit with curator Andrew Bolton.

I haven't been to the Met in months, and it the McQueen show was not on my priority list (although the Serra drawings exhibit was and is, as is the Franz Hals show) but I have it on good authority, by several folks whose opinion I trust, that it was a phenomenal exhibit. What criticism there has been of the exhibit revolves around the lack of context behind McQueen's body of work and that the show itself amounts to exhibition payola, or showroom rental as McQueen's fashion house sponsorship of the exhibition apparently covered a good deal of the expenses.

Speaking of payola, The Met and MoMA both announced that their admission price is rising to $25. Of course, the Met's admission is suggested, although they obviously hope that a vast majority of its visitors remain ignorant of this. The Met's increase took effect on July 1 and MoMA's will be coming on Sept. 1.

The current Dead Hare Hotline relates to these admission fee increases. We'd like to know your thoughts on these developments. Will it affect your museum going habits? Call the Dead Hare Hotline and leave a message: 480-442-7311

NADA Hudson revisited: Dead Hare Radio Hour Episode 20

2011-08-12T15:41:00.003-04:00

NADA Hudson on the outside.

This week, the Dead Hare Radio Hour visits NADA Hudson, billed as a non art fair/sculpture installation held in Hudson on July 30 and 31, 2011 at the Basilica Hudson.

Listen to the show here:

NADA Hudson on the inside.

Sarah Anderson Lock, artist and Executive Director of Rural Projects has joined Dead Hare Radio as a contributor. She has already been a part of the show's 18th episode (a round table discussion of recent NYFA Mark Program alums) and the 19th episode in which she journeys to Manchester, England to speak with members of the Owl Project.

Matthew, Sarah and I start off the show with our impressions of what we saw. Then we proceed to hear the sounds of NADA Hudson. I conducted short interviews with the following folks:

Nadia from the private dealer Bipolart which featured the "carton marquetry" of Andy Barrett.

Works by Andy Barrett at Bipolart.

The backside of this Andy Barrett work is equally pleasing to look at.

Marisa Newman from Newman Popiaschvili Gallery which was presenting intricately beaded AK-47's by Artemio.

Works by Artemio at Newman Popiaschvili.

Artist Andy Meerow who, with Rose Marcus, curated Evil Freaks II, a selection of artist created "chairs".

A view of the Evil Freaks II presentation.

Andy Meerow's piece is the white panel with black text on the left.

Reid Ramirez

Georgia G Gray

left: Simone Frazier, right: Rose Marcus

Benjamin Tischer of Invisible Exports and Invisible Exports' featured artist Philip Von Zweck who was creating on demand editioned photocopies of artwork by other artists through the run of the weekend.

Philip von Zweck's printing station.

We also fold the recent NY Times article "Williamsburg on the Hudson" by Peter Applebom into the conversation, which is particularly timely given NADA's foray into Hudson.
Blogger and former Beacon resident Phyllis Bobb reacts to the article on her blog reclaimedhome.com
Also, Leonard Nevarez (see DHRH Episode 6) responds to the article too.

Dana Gentile, Induced Seismicity. Presented by Humble Arts Foundation.

Above: the Carson Fisk-Vittori photocopy Philip von Zweck made for Chris, and below, a photocopy of a drawing by Deb Sokolow.

That creepy Three Men and a Rosie O'Donnell baby painting. Not sure of the identity of the artist.

Best bouncy house ever.

A selection of ceramic bat heads harboring surprises by Kahn &amp; Selesnik.

A final view of the space...with Three Men and a Baby looking on.

Some uppery-state goings on.

2011-07-29T12:59:00.000-04:00

The NADA (New Art Dealers Alliance) event this weekend at the Basilica in Hudson, NY. The exhibit that features the participation of many galleries is being described as a " a site-specific project" and not an art fair.

The event is happening this weekend, Sat & Sun from 11-6pm. A slate of performances is scheduled on both days, check the NADA website for details and a list of participating galleries. There are also some "after hour" events happening on Saturday evening including a reception taking place at Club Helsinki.

...And if you happen to be up in that area, the Thompson Giroux Gallery is inaugurating a new space in Chatham, NY with an opening reception for a group show on Saturday, July 30 (4-7pm). Artists featured in this exhibit are: Peter Acheson, Rick Birkett, Claude Carone, Dan Devine, Carol Mangan, Melissa Sarris, Arthur Sordillo, Marion Vinot. The gallery is located at 57 Main St, Chatham, NY 12037.

Eye Candy Friday: Slushy Ice Pop

2011-07-22T23:36:00.001-04:00

Mount Fuji from Kazio Sosnowski on Vimeo.

Just think nice cool thoughts.
To help you along, an image of snowy covered Mt Fuji on which to meditate.

I came across this whilst searching for information on the Edible Sculpture Party 5 - an annual event organized by Tim Davis and Lisa Sanditz which was in danger of not happening this year. But it is happening, and this year it'll be held on the western lawn of CCS Bard.
Here's the gist: sculptures are created. sculptures are judged and critiqued. sculptures are eaten...In exactly that order.
Here's a video, also shot by Kazio Sosnowski, of last year's Edible Sculpture Party.
The joint kicks off at 5pm, if you've got a hankering to indulge.

Josiah McElheny talk on Blinky Palermo at Dia Beacon 7.9.11 @ 2pm

2011-07-09T01:01:00.000-04:00

Josiah McElheny will be conducting the first of four artist talks/walkthrough events as part of the Blinky Palermo Retrospective exhibit at Dia:Beacon.
Working with Josiah on his exhibit up at the Hessel Museum last month, I learned a bit of what he'll be presenting tomorrow. I don't know the details, but he's working on a theory that relates to the nature of color, light and fabric vs. painted surfaces....As I said, I'm not well versed in where he's going. I do know he had the desire to attain swatches of fabrics dating to the 70's which ideally equate to the material Blinky was working with in his fabric paintings which are on view in the galleries at CCS Bard.

Well, let's just say Maykr comes through again...Angelika's mother had some fabrics stored away that fit the bill, correct vintage and everything....So if you're curious, head over to Dia tomorrow at 2pm to see what Josiah has in mind for Mama Rinnhofer's fabrics.

Future artist walk throughs of the Palermo Retrospective be conducted by David Reed, July 24; Cheryl Donegan, Sept 25 & Liliana Porter Oct 15.

Eye Candy Friday: Priming One's Appetite

2011-07-06T22:26:00.001-04:00

Well, it's been all Cy Twombly all the time here at Kamp Maykr for the past few days. Since the artist's death on Tuesday, I've been prowling through the internet, following wormholes of information and personal reflections on the man's work and taking measure of my own feelings about his work. I had the thought today that I'd gladly agree to submit to some experimental scan of my brain to determine what goes on in there when I see a work by Twombly, be it a painting, drawing, sculpture. His photographs are knockout images their beautiful, rich in a dizzy worn out way. They are heavy in their own way.

A's brochure from the Museum Brandhorst exhibit.

But I receive them in a slightly different manner than the other works. Angellika, who's in Berlin at the moment emailed the image above (and another less clear detail image) to me today just after her trip to the Hamburger Bahnhof (she was graced with the luck last week to see an exhibit of 120 of his photographs at the Museum Brandhorst in Munich). Upon simply clicking to enlarge the detail jpg I discerned an immediate increase in the amount of saliva in my mouth. Pavlovian, for sure. I don't remember when I first discovered Twombly. I do know that I was first introduced to his "chalkboard" paintings and I was immediately drawn in by them. There's some sort of hard wiring in my reaction when presented with the majority of his works. I must say that it has taken longer for me to warm up to some of the ~~large~~ ginormous flower works in recent years. One thing that was clear to me from early when viewing his works is the recognition that I was and am utterly incapable of creating paintings such paintings. I'm so grateful that he's been able to make such paintings. I think his work has been instrumental in getting me to make the work that I do make now. (I'll let you, Dear reader, determine what that says about me....or him). It's heartening to see the volume of personal statements of appreciations that have bloomed on the web in recent days.

Some roses at Museum Brandhorst in Munich.

Some of this scrambling around online has been prompted by trying to rouse some content and chase down interviewees for the Dead Hare Radio episode devoted to Twombly we'll be airing on WVKR on Tuesday at 5pm (don't forget it's archived as a podcast too). I admire journalists who do this kind of work regularly. Pressures of a deadline, cramming in as much research and reading as possible while reaching out to possible interview subjects, hoping they'll respond in a timely manner is all interesting but wearing, and that just gets you to the point of starting the difficult part: interviewing. I find it nerve racking. It can be very rewarding, but I have certain anxiety issues that seem to respond robustly to the prospect of speaking with a knowledgeable stranger and trying to render myself an utter rhube. A bottle of cold beer has joined my recording equipment as requisite implements in my interview toolkit. I realized this afternoon that an interview can at times be exactly like a blind date. I was on a blind date once where I somehow felt comfortable talking about my (minor - and since passed) fascination with cannibalism. I won't go into details. It seemed to be going well, yet when that second date just never materialized after repeated attempts to make it happen, I could only think it might have been that cannibalism talk sealed that particular bit of my fate.

The reward of pushing through that personally held anxiety (and this has been true of much of our 4 months of making Dead Hare) is being able to be witness to the insights of some very intelligent and thoughtful folks. For this Twombly episode, I've been privileged to speak about Twombly with David A Ross, Tyler Green and John Waters. Their willingness to share their time is greatly appreciated.

I'll just say there's much too much more reading and exploring to do; so much information related to Twombly that I haven't been able to do much more than cursory perusing before bookmarking for a follow up. And that's just online. I still have yet to make my way through most of the GIANT volume of writings on Twombly that's sitting here next to me. It's a good chance for reverie.
In case you are new to Twombly, there is even a 5 step instructional lesson on How to Spot a Painting by Cy Twombly on ehow.com. This task is rated moderately easy.

Ok, so for a little candy:
This post on chicfaced.com pairing paintings by Twombly and runway designs by Dian Von Furstenberg features some amusing rhymes.

And talk about Candy. There's nothing sweeter than the classic series of photos taken of Twombly and his home by Horst in 1966 for Vogue. The Holler and Saunders blog has the most complete set of these images online that I've seen yet.

There's much much more out there to see....not just candy, but a full meal of visual pleasure. Try to do it in person, though, if you can.

Cy Twombly

2011-07-06T10:58:00.000-04:00

I've been reflecting on Cy Twombly's work since I heard of his death yesterday. There's a lot to unpack and rummage through for me here, and I'm working it out for a post in the near future.

I'm thinking that next week's episode of the Dead Hare Radio Hour may focus on Twombly's work.

We're taking Twombly related comments on the Dead Hare Hotline:

(480) 442-7311

Leave a message about Twombly, his work, and your experience of it. I'll likely use whatever I get on the show...

Dead Hare Radio this week: Bik Van der Pol

2011-07-06T10:50:00.000-04:00

Bik Van der Pol: "Are you really sure a floor can't also be a ceiling?" 2010 Enel Prize at MACRO in Rome.

image courtesy of MACRO

For this week's episode of Dead Hare Radio, I was joined in the garden of MoMA by Liesbeth Bik and Jos Van der Pol who, together are the collaborative duo Bik Van der Pol.

Bik Van der Pol were the artists in residence at CCS Bard this past Spring. Their 2008 exhibition project at the Hessel Museum in 2008, "I've Got Something in My Eye" had some unintended consequences; one being an uproar debating the relative value of artists to birds, and two, the near liberation of Pinocchio (which I have posted about before).

image via the blog called : _____________ which also has a detailed, first hand description of the caper.

Since I'm such a fan of this moment, I'm embedding the video again here for your viewing pleasure:

All of the previous projects that Jos and Liesbeth mention in the interview are documented in their website. Take some time and dig around in there to find out more.

They're scheduled to open a projection New York's Lower East Side for Creative Time in September.

Special thanks to Ryan Magyar for being our attentive studio audience for this interview.

In the event you haven't heard of them, this is Eva & Adele....another artistic duo - of another sort.

Thanks to v<o>brainsee (Dead Hare Theme & Dead Hare Prayer) and the Erthlyngz (Jam to the Present Tense )for their musical stylings in this episode.

Eye Candy Friday: Turning the Tables

2011-07-01T21:00:00.000-04:00

With this revolutionary holiday weekend, here's a point to ponder: what do the spectators look like from the fire work's POV? via: mashable.com

Video by jeremiahjw via mashable.com

2011-06-22T07:01:00.001-04:00

A portrait of the ~~artist~~ artists of the Hudson Valley...at least all of those vying for a spot in this year's Hudson Valley Invitational exhibit at the Dorsky.

On Saturday, June 25, the Samual Dorsky Museum in New Paltz, NY is opening this year's installment of it's annual Hudson Valley invitational exhibition. The theme this year is BEAUTY! In fact, the exhibit is named "Excercises in Unnecessary Beauty." One might think that the nature of beauty is a bit of a passe subject, perhaps even Unnecessary as the title implies, but in reality, finding, creating moments of beauty in life....even that which might not fit with traditionally established notions of what beauty is is what it's all about.

Dorsky curator Brian Wallace joined us on the Dead Hare Radio Hour for episode #4 (Apr 11, 2011) to talk about the Dorsky's history, the annual invitational, and the inherent challenges of curating (read approving and rejecting and navigating the angst that can come along with that rejection) local artists for an exhibit like the Hudson Valley Invitational.
This year, the artists who made the cut are: Jane Bloodgood-Abrams, Hannah Raine Brenner-Leonard, Karen Capobianco, Amy Cheng, Vincent Connelly, Timothy Englert, Charles Geiger, David Hebb, Jim Holl, Sue Horowitz, Roman Hrab, Charise Isis, Lynn Itzkowitz, Michael Joyce, Iain Machell, Tanya Marcuse, Gilbert Plantinga, Susan Sammis, Bill Shuck, Charles Stein, Scott Serrano, Paul G. Stewart, Joy Taylor, Harry Wilks.

If you're still wondering about beauty, this video meditation on the subject by Hennessy Youngman makes the case for why beauty is still relevant in art and in society.

The reception for Exercises in Unnecessary Beauty is happening from 5-7pm on Saturday June 25.

2011-06-18T06:26:00.000-04:00

Benjamin, with Todd Spire at the art auction to benefit Grace Smith House back in 2005 at Spire Studios.

This week marks the end Benjamin Krevolin's tenure as prez of the Dutchess County Arts Council. Benjamin served as the area's arts advocate in chief since 2002.
Listen to Benjamin's "exit" interview on the Dead Hare Radio Hour earlier this week.

Eye Candy Friday: Angelika's addiction or the Language of Laughter

2011-06-10T07:07:00.000-04:00

This week, a poll sampling folks from 15 countries found that Americans are considered the funniest of nationalities and the Germans are the least funny. The Reuter's report on the poll quotes Mark Twain's saying that "a German joke is no laughing matter." We'll, they may not make us laugh (intentionally), and it might seem that they are incapable of laughter themselves. But there could be some exceptions. Below is a video that has, of late, smitten and amused Angelika to no end. I'm sharing it here to give you a wee indication of what I've been living with recently. Every so often I hear the audio of this video wafting in from the other room joined with laughs and those "oh that's so cute" sort of sighs. The German lady just can't seem to get enough of this.

This next video might serve as some evidence that Germans are indeed capable of eliciting laughter from others - simply by being themselves. This news report is on a laughing club (lach club) in Germany, where there is a proscribed time and place for everything. This video is in German. That just makes it funnier.

Speaking of the German Language, Mark Twain's meditation on trying to learn the German tongue is entitled "The Awful German Language".
For my own purposes, I have no intention of really to speak German. I'm just trying to hone my mimicry of any spoken moment of German I come across. Also, my lack of knowledge and comprehension does nothing to prevent me from reciting any German text I find to Angelika. I find this pastime enormously amusing. I believe she does too. Her amusement is manifested in a pretense of eye rolling incomprehension of what she's just heard.

I will say that Angelika, being German and all, is not among the unfunniest of folks. I guess since she is also an American citizen, the balance of her national identities places her in the middle of the spectrum.....She's part of a hybrid group: 1/2 Kraut + 1/2 Yank = Krank

Out of Noise, Let There Be Signal

2011-06-08T13:12:00.001-04:00

...Or perhaps, let us gather our signals to produce a little noise.
Or, more likely, that which we create and consider to be signal, may well be just noise for anyone else.

In any case, this week's Dead Hare Radio Hour episode marks our three month anniversary of producing the show. If you've missed any of the shows, don't worry. This week, we're playing all of the previous 11 show - simultaneously - so you can get caught up real quick.

If, by chance, you want to listen to any of the shows individually, you may do so on the Dead Hare Radio website, or download them via iTunes. You can also click on the title of this post to listen to the show.

cheers.

Eye Candy Friday: Non Chala la lance

2011-06-03T06:48:00.000-04:00

In the art world there are those individuals who knowingly strive to achieve the look of disaffected insouciance and naivete in their work. There are also those who, though not ignorant of the art world, are untrained, and uninterested in, transmitting the coded language and signifiers of the the art world mechanisms in their artwork. These folks, are labled "outsider", or "visionary" artists. To those on the inside, these folks, revered as they are, are "other." Then, of course, there are those who embarrassingly self identify as a visionary artist as a form of marketing hook, hoping to distinguish themselves and gain status on the inside. (Aside: it seems, in most cases, that to qualify as a visionary artist one, if a man, must sport long flowing locks - a rat tail or mullet earns bonus points - and some sort of mystical, wizardy facial hair. Female visionary artists seem to need to take the form of a medieval wench or middle eastern harlot.

But for today's installment of ECF, we honor the true, the un-self conscious expression of the individual.
In this spirit of making the distinction between the construct of an affected look and the natural intuitive impulse that embodies a certain look, we present to you Accidental Chinese Hipsters, a newly started blog that examines the very definition of insouciance at work in its own environment.

(photo by Andreas Vagelatos), via Accidental Chinese Hipsters

Wassaic Project @ Hudson Beach Glass through June 19

2011-06-03T06:19:00.001-04:00

I have found myself, of late, pondering the satisying nature of unicorn poo. A center made of a hefty dollup of cast cement, and an outer surface of soft sumptuous white fox fur. The experience of passing this truffle must be a luxurious one for the unicorn.
It's enough to elicit a touch of envy from other species. And it is the wonder of art that ignites such flights of fanciful speculation on subjects never before imagined.

Jin Yu is the artist responsible for said Unicorn Poo. She's one of the artists I spoke with for this week's Dead Hare Radio Hour.

Unicorn Poo, 2008
Concrete, fox fur, gold leaf

Jing Yu is among the group of artists, all of whom are or will be artists in residence at the Wassaic Project this year and who are currently exhibiting work at Hudson Beach Glass through June 19th. The exhibit is co-curated by John Gilvey and Jennifer Mackiewicz.

I also spoke with Jennifer, and exhibiting artists Ben Bigelow and Amanda Lechner for the radio show. Matthew Slaats made a trip up to Wassaic to take in the project's first Last Saturday event of the season and record an interview with Wassaic Project co-directors Bowie Zunino, Eve Biddle and Jeff Barnett-Winsby.

Listen to the episode here, or download it via iTunes.

Here are a few images from the Hudson Beach Glass exhibit.

Works on paper by Amanda Lechner.

Above and below: collages by Ghost of a Dream.

Breanne Trammell's giant bookmarks.

Paintings by Karl LaRocca.

Dead Hare Radio Hour Update

2011-05-23T12:57:00.000-04:00

My goal in the coming weeks is to catch up a bit on the month plus of posts that have not been posted.

It's good to have goals, no matter how unattainable they may be.

In any case, here's a little catch up with what's been happening on the Dead Hare Radio Hour.

Last week's show, which you can listen to with the player pasted below features conversations with Beacon, NY based artists Kirsten Mosher and Erica Hauser.

Matthew and I visit Kirsten's home to find out all about her work and Erica stopped by Kamp Maykr for the first of a couple of visits about the back to back residencies she's doing this Summer. Currently, Erica is in Truth or Consequences, NM at the Starry Night Retreat and she's blogging her residency adventures at www.ericahauser.blogspot.com

Coming up this week on the Dead Hare Radio Hour, I ventured up to Kingston, NY to catch the closing reception of the Conversations exhibit at R&F Paints. You'll hear the conversations I had with Laura Moriarty, Pam Farrell, Lorrie Freddette and Joanne Mattera.
DHRH airs Tuesdays at 5pm on 91.3 WVKR FM in Poughkeepsie, NY.

Eye Candy Friday: Subliminal Eye F*ck

2011-05-20T05:44:00.003-04:00

There is that which is seen and that which is understood. That which is understood of what is seen mayhaps not have ever been part of the mayking of that which is seen in the first place.

Or not..
Take these unfortunate visual expressions of company brands which may well have unintended understandings of that company embedded in a customer's mind - whether that understanding is the product of the customer's projection, or the mischief of some graphic designer.

It took me a very long time to figure out what was going on in this example:

I'm a little slow sometimes.

Then you have those understandings, separate from the things that are seen until the right creative visionary can effectively marry the two:
Viktor Hertz has modified logos of some of your favorite brands in such a way as to demonstrate the subtext that may represent a tangential product line of those brands.

Last weekend to catch Deb Davidovits and Kazumi Tanaka @ HBG

2011-05-06T06:09:00.000-04:00

This weekend will be your last chance to catch two exhibits at Hudson Beach glass by Kazumi Tanaka and Deb Davidovits. Below are images snapped during the opening of the exhibits in April.

Next up @ Hudson Beach Glass: John Gilvey and Jennifer Mackiewicz are curating an exhibit of work by 2011 residents of The Wassaic Project. This show will open on May 14.

Kazumi Tanaka:

Deb Davidovits:

Passport reviews Trickling...or maybe Ebbing in.

2011-04-27T00:11:00.000-04:00

I've been hoping to get some kind of review from someone who attended the performance of Robert Whitman's Passport in Beacon and Montclair, NY on Apr 17 and have heard nary a peep from anyone other than a few museum employees.
Paddy Johnson of Art Fag City was there. Today, she posted some images from the scene to the website, saying that she's still weighing her reaction to the work...

.....I just found one review of the performance on artreview.com by Jonathan T.D. Neil.

The Most Beautiful People in Poughkeepsie

2011-04-26T23:45:00.002-04:00

Yep, that would be them, Angelika Rinnhofer and Billy Name.

Angelika and I visited the home of Billy Name last week to have a chat with that man of myth for the Dead Hare Radio Hour.
You can listen to Billy's Dead Hare episode here:

A selection of Billy's photographs from his days documenting life in Warhol's Factory are currently on view at the Albert Shahinian Fine Art in Rhinebeck, NY ( 22 E Market St.) through May 22. Billy will be giving a talk at the gallery on Saturday April 30th during a reception taking place from 5-8pm. These particular photos on exhibit were originally included in an exhibit curated by Emma Lavigne entitled "I Am A Cliche - Echoes of the Punk Aesthetic" which was part of the 41st Rencontres D'Arles Photography event last year.

I'll be capturing audio from Billy's talk which I expect will join portions of our conversation with him last week for the radio show.

Considering he's the man responsible for making the Silver Factory silver, I couldn't resist snapping a few images of the shiny-backed insulation on Billy's back porch, from which one can see the Mid Hudson Bridge, the color of which he claims inspired the choice of decor for Warhol's studio.

Billy's roommate. I didn't catch his Name.

By chance, Flavorwire recently published a "where are they now" item on Andy Warhol's surviving Superstars, including Billy.

Eye Candy Friday: hi yo, i've got plenty of time

2011-04-22T07:17:00.000-04:00

Not much to say. Just something to loooook at. The listening isn't bad either. This video by Michael Bell-Smith comes via Art Fag City.

Art Tape: Live With / Think About from Michael Bell-Smith on Vimeo.

Observing the Loss of two carriers of our sight onto the world.

2011-04-21T12:51:00.000-04:00

Our friends at Fovea are among those mourning the deaths of two photojournalists in Libya yesterday. Chris Hondros and Tim Hetherington died yesterday after when a mortar hit a group of international journalists traveling with rebel soldiers in Misrata, Libya. According to the Wall Street Journal, another photographer, Guy Stevens, along with seven rebel fighters and a Ukranian physician were also killed in the attack. Initially, Hondros had injured in the attack and died later in the day.Another photographer, Guy Stevens was injured and in stable condition.

FOVEA_FRIENDS FOVEA_FRIENDS
Devestating news of the death of Tim Hetherington in Libya today, and prayers for Chris Hondros: http://nyti.ms/h0d2tr

FOVEA_FRIENDS FOVEA_FRIENDS
hearts are heavy across the photo community today..some of Chris's photos filed earlier today... http://fb.me/TYKYvrBa

As can be seen in the second twitter link above, Hondros had filed photos of rebel fighters making fighting and moving through and occupying building earlier in the day.
Chris Hondros' work, along with that of Todd Heisler and Suzanne Opton was featured in Fovea's second exhibition entitled, It's Our War, in 2007 and all three photographers partook in a panel discussion held in conjunction with the exhibit.

Panel talk on the Role of Art and Media in Hudson Valley communities, today in Poughkeepsie

2011-04-20T12:48:00.000-04:00

The Dead Hare Radio Hour is among the sponsors of a panel talk happening today from 5:30-7 on the role of media and contemporary art in communities.
It's happening at the Cunneen Hackett Theatre at 12 Vassar St in Poughkeepsie, NY
I'll be moderating the talk. and the panelists include Kiese Laymon from Vassar College, Karen Michel of Marist College, Edward Summers of Marist College, Decora of the Readnex Poetry Squad, Nichole Fenichel Hewitt and Maria Marewski of the Children's Media Project, Matthew Slaats my Dead Hare co-host and director of Pause and Leonard Nevarez of Vassar College.

Meet yer Maykr: Charlotte Schulz - Listen to the studio visit, 4/19/11@ 5pm on 91.3 FM WVKR, Poughkeepsie, NY.

2011-04-19T00:06:00.002-04:00

Charlotte Schulz and Peter Iannarelli talking seriously.

This Meet yer Maykr installment, focusing on the work of Beacon, NY artist Charlotte Schulz has an added element: audio.

One of the drawings on the wall of Charlotte's studio.

In fact, this Meet yer Maykr is an audio studio visit which will be heard on The Dead Hare Radio Hour on WVKR 91.3 FM in Poughkeepsie NY. My conversation with Charlotte, and fellow Beaconite artist Peter Iannarelli who joined us will be aired on Tuesday April 19th at 5pm on WVKR, 91.3 FM in Poughkeepsie, NY. If you can't pick up the station, you can listen to the live stream at wvkr.org.
As usual, the podcast version of the show will be available to listen to and available for download on iTunes later in the evening of April 19.
Listen to the conversation with Charlotte here and now:

Check back here soon for more images and details on our visit to Charlotte's studio.

Images from the installation Object Lesson, curated by Karlos Carcamo at Para/site in 2005.
courtesy, the artist, via: charlotteschulz.com

There are more images from the Para/Site exhibit on Charlotte's website,

and here is the Object Lesson press release.

One of the paintings from 2000 that was included in Charlotte's exhibit of paintings at the

Van Brunt Gallery in 2009.

A detail of Charlotte's untitled work for Windows on Main St., 2006

Dead Hare Radio wants your review: Robert Whitman's Passport

2011-04-16T09:00:00.000-04:00

If you have an inclination to view Robert Whitman's Passport this weekend, you'll have to head down to New Jersey; the Beacon portion of this simultaneous two-city performance is sold out. There seem to be tickets available to view the work from Montclair, though. The work will be performed tonight and tomorrow at 8pm.
Those of us here at MAYKR and our sister media outlet, The Dead Hare Radio Hour, will not be able to experience the work, but we are interested in hearing responses from those who were able to witness it.

If you're attending Passport and wish to share your reaction to it, give us a call on the Dead Hare Hotline: (480) 442-7311

Give us a 15 or 30 second review...or leave your information so we can speak about it in the near future.
You can also leave us an email at deadhareradio at gmail.com or leave a comment here or over on the Dead Hare blog.

The double edge sword of curating....

2011-04-16T00:44:00.000-04:00

....Indeed, the curator can seemingly has the power to create life but at the same time is subject to the passions of an artist who refuses to be ignored...

The number of submissions facing Dorsky curator Brian Wallace last month as he embarked on selecting the participants of this year's Hudson Valley Invitational exhibit.

The Dead Hare Radio Hour episode from this past week (Show #4) features interviews with Greg Slick and Karlos Carcamo, former directors of the former gallery Go North, in Beacon, and current curators of the Illustrious Mr. X exhibit on view at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at SUNY New Paltz. At the end of Show #3, Matthew and I spoke with a gentleman claiming to be the very Mr. X that Greg and Karlos claim to have invented. Someone's not telling it straight.

Matthew and I also spoke with Dorsky Curator Brian Wallace on the history, present and maybe the future of the museum.
(The next evening I attended a talk on the SUNY New Paltz campus about Marc Chagall's time spent in the Hudson Valley during WWII and the grass roots efforts afoot to have a Chagall in the Hudson Valley exhibit at the Dorsky in the near future.)

During our conversation with Brian he mentioned the travails of the curator having to reject sizeable number of artists, possibly incurring their eternal scorn. Part of this made it into the interview. The theme for this year's invitational is Beauty. It's funny that last year's exhibit, guest curated by Thomas Collins had the notion of Praxis, the joining of critical theories with practical applications, as an organizing principle and very, very few people submitted for it. This says something interesting, though I'm not exactly sure what, perhaps that most people don't know what Praxis is and how it might apply to their work...or they're aware that their work simply doesn't fit that particular paradigm. But apparently, many many people think they know something about beauty, and that their artwork obviously has something to say about it...

For those who might be rejected in this or any other exhibition selection process, I encourage you not to lose heart. In fact, I found a helpful guide that you might apply in your future endeavors to catch the eye of some looksome curator.
As a service to artists everywhere, Hennessy Youngman put together this step by step tutorial for impressing curators.

Somethings to keep in mind, particularly when submitting for next year's Dorsky invitational. I'll just say here that I will not be responsible for any sort of fatal attraction-type stalking of Brian Wallace or any other curators perpetrated by unstable, overly ambitious artists..

Looking back at Looking at art, March 2011

2011-04-15T23:57:00.000-04:00

It's funny, I had to go down to Chelsea to find out about a gallery in Beacon that I hadn't even heard of. Back in March, hitting some galleries in Chelsea, I ran into Amy Lipton on 11th Ave. She told me about the place called Estuary Gallery, located over at the loft project off of Rt 52. Amy said she tried to go to the opening of the inaugural show in the previous week, but couldn't find the place (it can be confusing to navigate that area if you're not familiar with it, especially at night.)

At the Josh Smith Show at Luhring Augustine Gallery, I met Jerry Saltz, who was marvelling at the great awfomeness (my word, a cross of awesome and awful) of Smith's work - which has provided me with at least a couple of hours of entertaining conversations. Peter Acheson and I caught his previous exhibit from last March at Luhring Augustine. His latest painitngs seem to be striving more for awesomeness than awfulness (something I'm not sure could be said of previous groupings) - aside from those stop signs; I was challenged by Mr. Saltz to put something that awful in my next show. That will be priority one, next show I have.

Some Josh Smith at Luhring Augustine.

I also met Phong Bui, editor of the Brooklyn Rail who was at the Augustine with the artist Joel Shapiro. I spoke with Phong about recording an interview with him for Dead Hare Radio. I once had dreams of bringing the Rail up to Beacon for distribution. It entailed a convoluted human chain of that would somehow get a couple of bundles of the paper to Beacon through happenstance convenience. Of course that never developed. I was actually capturing ambient sounds during my walk through the galleries and created a sound collage for show #3 of Dead Hare Radio.

Let's see....what did I see? Some unexpected and weird videos - in 3D by Gary Hill, “of surf, death, tropes & tableaux: The Psychedelic Gedankenexperiment,” at Gladstone Gallery, New York, NY through April 23.

I know how this feels: Terence Koh at Mary Boone.

I watched Terence Koh edging his way around a mound of salt on his knees at Mary Boone. Some black and white reliefs of Ellsworth Kelly at Matthew Marks, I believe. A Tara Donavan at Pace(?) that was a bit too prim for me. Also, Richard Butler had a show at Freight and Volume. I'm back and forth with his work, but I'm digging some of his new larger heads. I could be wrong, but I think I heard Richard has moved into that building where the unfound Estuary Gallery is located.
A few Richard Butler pieces from his Freight and Volume show:

Eye Candy Friday: Misdirectionals

2011-04-15T18:28:00.002-04:00

I can't remember when I learned about the Dazzle Camouflage that was used for British and American navy vessels in WWI and WWII, but I do remember my surprise and thrill at the discovery of it. You'll see these images repeatedly online, along with other contemporary incarnations of the concept. For some reason, the newer and alternative (non naval) implementations of the Razzle Dazzle paint schemes don't have the umpphh that the forms overlayed onto these vessels have. The ships themselves are visually stunning canvases on which to deploy the patterns. There are many references and links to a RISD site that accompanied an exhibit about Dazzle Camou, constituted by material donated by RISD Alum, Maurice Freedman, who was a camoufleur in Florida prior to attending RISD.
The graphic patterns of the Dazzle paint schemes are particularly appealing to me currently. I'm relating them to the repetitive graphic qualities of road signs which have been becoming more an more fascinating to me in recent years and which have been finding their way into some of my paintings, but more on that later..

via: http://www.rihumanities.org/

via core principles.blogspot.com

The French Cruiser, Gloire

from Twisted Sifter via Jeff Thompson's blog.

via Twisted Sifter

via Enemy2Fashion's blog

The Mauratania in Dazzle paint, via: merchantnavyofficers.com

The Dead Hare Radio Hour, Marching on into April

2011-04-04T22:30:00.001-04:00

We're coming up on show #3 of the Dead Hare Radio Hour and I haven't even mentioned show #2 yet.

So Last week's show (#2) focused on the recently closed exhibit at The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College called 150 Years Later: New photography from Tina Barney, Tim Davis and Katherine Newbegin. The show features interviews with Loeb curator Mary-Kay Lombino, photographer Katherine Newbegin and Zach Russo (Dead Hare Intern) and Emily Kloppenberg who were both captured in one of Tina Barney's photos.

Dead Hare Radio Show #2

This week's show features interviews from Fovea Exhibitions in Beacon, NY. I speak with Fovea co-founder/director Stephanie Heimann and Lori Grinker, whose work is currently on view in the exhibit, Nothing Like My Home: The Iraqi Refugee Crisis. A panel talk accompanying the exhibit is scheduled for Saturday, April 9. Matthew and I also interview a mysterious Mr. X who claims to be the Illustrious Mr. X whose life is the subject of the current exhibit at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art in New Paltz, curated by Greg Slick and Karlos Carcamo.
Check it out, the show airs live on Tuesdays, 5-6pm on WVKR, 91.3 in Poughkeepsie, NY, and it's available whenever you want it online and via iTunes.

Eye Candy Friday: Lost? Never. Just Found, pt 2 *with bonus audio.

2011-04-01T13:46:00.001-04:00

This week's ECF is a belated stream of consciousness addendum to the ECF of the week before last in praise of the found object.
Our recent Art Book Club (ABC) selection was W.J.T. Mitchell's What do Pictures Want?: The Lives and Loves of Images; a really astute investigation of images (totems, fetishes, idols) and their presence and power society. It's well worth a read, or two. It's one of those reads that asserts itself as framing overlay for how you (I) relate to images. I also surmise that it's a book that due to the subject and structure is timeless in its relevance; it added a layer of insight and reflection on recent events in Egypt, Libya, Japan and the National Portrait Gallery and more distantly Iraq, as well as the even more quotidian visuals we encounter without noticing.
Mitchell articulates the essence of the found object in a way that I meaningful and recognizable, noting the very finding of which is, by nature a 'fortuitous circumstance'.

What better place, though, to locate the roots of the found object than in the foundling, a poor, orphaned creature that might just amount to something. The moment of finding the found object is the moment when one feels oneself to be pregnant or about to adopt something (which comes to the same thing). This is, I think quite distinct from the moment of finding the lost object (fetishism) or the sublime object of ideology (the idol), neither of which are capable of surprising anyone or of binging newness into the world.

The excerpt above, paired with a portion of a conversation I captured between Angelika and Peter Iannarelli as part of the Beacon Art Salon's Contemporary Artists on Contemporary Art series, in which Peter talks about his penchant for claiming authorship of found objects..even when those objects aren't lost crystallized the thought in my head that in some way, the studio is a place where conditions can be set in such a way as to create an instance - one that approximates that sensation of an object found.

I don't work in an overly determined manner in the studio. In fact, I leave a lot of room for randomness and automatism in the pursuit (unconsciously) of the found object. I don't think he'd agree, but when I visit Peter Iannarelli's studio, I see the mechanism found object cloning at work. But then, we're all just trying make personal discoveries...
So, slightly appropos of nothing other than through the stream of consciousness and fortuity of time, we come to the visual portion of your Eye Candy Friday serving.
Today's images come from the pre-MAYKR photo archive that I happened to be perusing through recently. I came across these images of an installation that Peter Iannarelli did in his studio at Spire Studios back in 2004, when Spire was still very much the beating heart of Beacon's art life (to my mind). This installation probably stands as the high water mark of Peter's Walmart phase. His studio was bedecked as a crazy post big box rave, complete with strobe lights streamers and giant shopping bag windsocks. Come to think of it, if I'm correct, it was a rave that sported only the sound of oscillating fans and rustling plastic. I was a majorly cool visual experience, and I treasure these photos of it. I feel fortunate that I uploaded these images two weeks ago since my external hard drive crashed to the floor last week, and possibly along with it, a substantial chunk of the unpublished MAYKR photo archive (along with a boatload of other data). I haven't yet had the stomach to really try to investigate what might be salvageable.

BTW, if you're looking for other treats in the found object category, look no further....yes, indeed, look further, but don't miss looking at......than Joy Garnett's Unmonumental series of images.

How Do You Want to See MAYKR?

2011-03-31T10:11:00.000-04:00

Today, Google has graced Blogger with a new feature that allows readers to view their favorite blogs in five new ways.
These new options are accessible by entering: /view after the blog url, and the options are navigable via a drop down menu on the top right area of the screen.
Here's more information on this feature via mashable.com.

Eye Candy Friday: Catch an Eyeful

2011-03-25T21:19:00.002-04:00

Today's ECF is a commemoration of the procedure endured today by one of us here at KAMP MAYKR.

Art Boobs is an ever growing compendium, in blog form, of all things boob in art - contemporary and not. I'm a longtime Art Boob subscriber and find it refreshing and enlightening tour through art history. I usually consume art boobs through my google reader, so on visiting the site today for research, I found that Frank van Eykelen is the man behind Art Boobs. To him, I say thank you.
And for those who find this content somehow uncouth or simply not your cup of tea, perhaps you'd appreciate Frank's compilation of photos of people with their giant zucchini on his Stereoparty blog.

But back to boobs. This Ted talk by Deborah Rhodes, is one that should be watched and passed along.

(I'll say I have had issues with the marketing juggernaut of Breast Cancer fundraising Campaigns that have infused itself into a - at the expense, I think, of other, more deadly cancers, statistically speaking. But cancer is cancer and information relating to innovations and knowledge pertaining to treating/detecting cancer in all its forms should be explored and supported and spread and given the opportunity to be debated, not cast aside by those steeped and committed to the line of conventional thought.)

Still haven't had enough? Here's a full frontal peek-a-boo taken by c-monster of a work created by Raquel Paiwonsky. I just found Paiwonsky's website, which features an eyeful and then some.

Dead Hare Radio Hour show #1 hits the airwaves

2011-03-23T06:52:00.002-04:00

It's out of the bag. The first show of the Dead Hare Radio Hour aired yesterday afternoon at 5pm. We'll be doing it again next Tuesday at 5pm on Independent Radio, WVKR 91.3 FM in Poughkeepsie.

But you can listen to show #1 here:

The Dead Hare Radio podcast is available for download via iTunes today.

The Vassar College Newspaper, The Miscellany News ran an article this week on the Dead Hare Radio Hour.

Only through meeting with the Misc.'s arts editor did I learn that the paper has a fully populated and updated website, which is great news for anyone who has been stymied and frustrated by the lack of information coming out of Vassar about events and talks and the like that often happen at Vassar and to which the public is welcome..

The Dead Hare Radio Hour Coming Your Way 3/22/2011

2011-03-21T23:57:00.003-04:00

I've been chained to my computer of late even more than previously. The culprit behind this turn of events (aside from my own impetuous urge to get my self into burdensome, but rewarding projects) is The Dead Hare Radio Hour.
DHRH is a joint project with Matthew Slaats. He had proposed to me the possibility of doing an art related radio show at least a year ago. Ideas are easy to say yes to when they are just ideas. Matthew had shopped the concept around to a couple of local internet radio operations before it occurred to him to check with Vassar College's radio station, WVKR. Matthew works at Vassar in the technology department. The proposal was accepted and we were suddenly faced with a new recurring deadline, another unpaid gig that comes fully loaded with a vacuum custom made for sucking up hours of personal time. We both had one of those "oh shit" moments. Then we went forward, with trepidation and excitement at every step.
Our first show airs tomorrow, March 22 at 5pm, Eastern Time. Our regular timeslot - provided we're not pitched from the station will be Tuesdays from 5-6pm. In addition to the broadcast originating in the Hudson Valley (the signal strength is 3400 watts and can be heard in portions of five states,) the show will be streamed live on WVKR's website, and it will be available for download as a podcast. (Podcast will be available for download by Wednesday evenings....consider subscribing to it - when the feed is set up this Wednesday.)

The format of the show will largely be talk, with interviews and conversations with artists and curators and such, but we also want to feature sound works from artists and musicians and folks who are engaged in radio as an art medium.
Matthew and I are of like minds on many fronts - one of them being that we both are interested in catalyzing and sharing conversations about art and culture - but we bring different aspects to the show. He's an artist with heavy a social practice bent and I tinker in the studio. I think he's more concerned with investigating the role of the artist in society than I am and this may well be reflected in the directions we each follow in uncovering content for the show.

The Hudson Valley will be a major focus of the show content, a - because there's a lot of interesting people and projects based here, and b - because this is where we're at, and the content of the show will, in some way, be borne of convenience (but not of laziness.) But it's not only going limited to this region...by any means. We'll be capturing the folks we encounter on our art-driven paths. It's a big/small world out there and we're interested in examining how concerns/inspirations/connectedness in large and small contexts intermingle and influence the work and conversations that are happening on the ground, in any region. We will be bringing on board other contributors to add to our coverage.

Given our schedules, much of the show content will be pre-recorded, although we look forward to doing some live in studio things as we are able. I think we're both far less interested in interviewing people than capturing conversations between people. I, for one, am an avid listener. I hope to set up situations that other folks are apt to enjoy listening to.

So Show #1 features two interviews. We speak with Carolina Miranda of the blog c-monster.net and Duncan McKenzie of Bad at Sports. I follow both of these individuals, gladly. ( I've been an avid listener of the B@S podcast since 2007. It is my weekly dose of art.) Part of what I appreciate most about both of these projects is the mixture of intelligent reflection and humor (not rarely, the adolescent kind.) High and Low, intermingled as they should be.
I find both of these interviews entertaining and informative. I hope ya'll will too. This being our first show - there is some unevenness in the audio quality of show 1, but we're learning valuable lessons everyday as we get our radio legs.

Why the name? There's a little context on the Dead Hare website, and I'll be posting a bit on that here soon too.

Today Angelika reminded me of these photos she took of a dead hare several years ago in Eastern Colorado. Dead Hares are everywhere these days.

Eye Candy Friday: Lost? Never. Just found

2011-03-18T22:09:00.004-04:00

I spied this small sculpture while walking to the Hudson Valley Tweetup held at Chill last Sunday afternoon. Though tiny, this piece has a presence that could rival any di Suvero over at Storm King (which opens its 2011 season on Apr1, BTW.) On the way back, this thing still presented a pull on me. So I took it home.

The new acquisition, re-sited at Kamp Maykr.

This found work in Poughkeepsie strongly recalls (to my mind) the recent David Hammons exhibit at L&M Arts in NYC

This jacked up Mac laptop screen could pass as a pretty good abstract Cosima Von Bonin piece.

(I couldn't get a photo without that glare)

Meet yer Maykr: Martin Bromirski

2011-03-16T22:14:00.000-04:00

I posted previously about the trip Peter Acheson, Mark DeLura and I made to the Jewel Thief exhibit at the Tang Museum in Saratoga, NY at the end of December. Visiting the museum that day was a bonus warm up, but it was not our primary objective. Our main mission was to visit the studio of Martin Bromirski in Greenwich, NY (a half hour drive from the Tang.)

Greenwich, NY.

Martin is widely known as the man behind the blog Anaba. The blog, which he started in 2004 while living in Richmond, Virginia, is his fiber connection to the rest of the world. He's an insatiable looker which is evident in the way he generously, and with dedication shares the work of many many other artists on Anaba. The posts are chock full of his images of and responses to other people's artworks culled from his intense, meticulously planned multi-day sojourns in NYC. The remarkable aspect of Anaba that is lost on the person who assumes (and it's easy to do given the volume and timeliness of his posts) that Martin is a resident of NYC, with the habit of haunting and documenting the exhibits in Chelsea, Brooklyn and the Lower East Side. In reality, Martin lives painfully far from NYC. The distance - 186 miles from NYC - is only painful for those who want to make regular trips into the city - but have no car. Martin has no car. He makes these gallery hopping visits via a convoluted, several hour journey by bus, then packs in as much viewing possible over the proceeding 3 or 4 days. And, up until recently, Martin didn't even have a computer. His posts usually often (and sometimes still) are made from computers at the library. Anaba is a blog by an artist about what that artist wants to see and wants to share with those who care - with humor, and at no small cost to him. If you are so inclined, I suggest you throw a little coin his way via his donate button.
But enough of the blog....

We met Martin at his mom's house, then made the 10 minute walk with him to his studio.

We're walking....

and we're walking......

There's the building where Martin's studio is located.

There's Martin's studio window.

Martin's studio is a sliver of space flanked by two other studios on the second floor of a building otherwise used for storage (I think.)
At one point during the visit, conversation turned to the fact that the proportions of his studio mimic the elongated horizontal format of many of his paintings. Martin mentioned that he may one day lay canvas on the floor to catch the over spill of many year painting, then stretch it and mount it on the wall as his one monumentally scaled work. His version of this notion, given relation to his "normal sized" works, may have more raison d'etre than Joe Bradley's recent go at Gavin Brown.

Martin on the left, Mark Delura on the right.

Examining Martin's "extreme landscaped" canvases while standing inside a space of a similarly formatted footprint, one can easily envision the effect of an infinite mirror; as if this world in which we ponder a grain of colored sand on a Bromirski painting could itself be grain of colored sand on some other colossal Bromirski painting of galactic scale. In fact, Martin's use of circular forms evokes the cosmic. His 2008 exhibit Circus on Mars at the John Davis Gallery in Hudson, NY conveyed a real sense for the cosmic and creepy carnival clownsiness implied by the show title.

Martin's work table, crusted and dusted with sand.

Martin's works are paintings of simple means. They live on a strict and steady diet: acrylic paint & matte medium, colored paper, colored sand, glitter, plus time and gravity .
Erosion and deterioration are at work here. But what remains of those processes is pure of hue; fresh, not faded. Martin achieves the effect of embossing through the process of addition. His pieces are built up layers of matte medium, colored sand and acrylic paint. After building the layers, he'll scrape the surface down in the bathroom sink, revealing the underlying colors, rinsing, then repeatingt. His works can appear deceptively simple in photographs, but the process is very rigorous. The worked layers of sand and paint take on the appearance of crushed velvet.

Although Martin's work is very different, I found an affinity in color, texture and abandon in with Jessica Stockholder's "monoprints",

Martin takes the pre-fabbed canvases with the extended rectangular format - the kind that I've always seen in the art supply store and determined to be useless - and puts them to good use. As Martin says, this size removes them from the realm of paintings and renders them more as objects.

Some raw materials

Peter Acheson examining a piece.

If Will Cotton's paintings convey the promise of a dreamy sugar orgy, Martin's depict the next morning's hangover. Can one puke glitter? Would could be a more rewarding end to a retching filled evening? How better the relief of tossing one's cookies if one could see the previous night's consumption dressed up with glitter?

Maybe I should do a book of artist's studio floors.

The distress of the canvases often entails punching through them, cutting the surface, then stretching and tying off the pieces, sometimes mending them with fragments of Martin's own clothes; socks, jeans, boxers etc.

The back of a painting trussed up with pieces of denim.

The top left piece is the one I took home (Martin initiated trades with the three of us.)

After the visit we walked back home through the dark. Greeted at home by Martin's mom and bowls of might damn fine chili, which we savored while being treated to a viewing of Martin's trove of treasures and regaled with tales of conquest (and collaborations with Richard Prince.)

Jill Reynolds talk, March 5, 2011

2011-03-16T13:27:00.000-04:00

In May 2010, an episode of Science Friday, in its recurring Science Diction feature, included a story about how in the 1830's, William Whewell, a Cambridge historian and philosopher of science coined the term scientist, to characterize the "men" who followed that pursuit. In making the case for this new word, Whewell cited the word artist as a model of the use of the affix 'ist' to describe one as a general "cultivator" of a discipline.

Last Saturday, (March 5) 2010 Dutchess County Arts Council, Friends of the Great Swamp (FrOGS) and the Oblong Land Conservancy hosted a broad and very informative talk given by 2010 DCAC fellow Jill Reynolds at Trinity Pawling. The two part talk centered on the interface between art and science. In the first part, Jill highlighted a selection of artists who have been either inspired by science or utilize scientific methods, materials or procedures in the creation of their work. The second part of the talk focused on Jill's own work and the role that science plays in it.
I recorded Jill's talk and expect to have some form of it uploaded online in the next couple of weeks. When I do, you'll be able to see it here on MAYKR.

After the talk the gathered crowd adjourned to the Gallery on the Green in central Pawling where Jill's selections of Jill's work is currently on view.

I dig this tiny picture of Jill. It makes her look like the mad scientist madly at work.

Passionate Gathering: Herb & Dorothy screening @ Dia:Beacon 3.12.11

2011-03-10T23:55:00.000-05:00

Angelika Rinnhofer's reworking of the Herb & Dorothy poster for the 2009 kork advent project.

There are collectors, and there are COLLECTORS.
The first is the type of collectors are essentially consumers. Their looking for a product. Sure that product may well be unique and handcrafted, it may touch them a some level, but it essentially fills an external need ( decoration, meaningful gift, etc.) but it's purchase is not primarily motivated by an internal drive. Artists and galleries may bestow upon these folks the moniker of collector, perhaps hoping that calling him/her so will make him/her so. The tendency for an artist to refer to one as a collector is de riguer in the artworld, but it might also placate some deep seeded need to make something more of the transaction than there is.

The second type, the COLLECTOR is the kind that artists and galleries dream of. This person is driven by a passion for the intangibles that accompany the equally passion inducing tangibles of a work of art. This type of individual is committed (or challenged by) to the ideas and the philosophy - the program - of a given artist or gallery, believing that the experience of the exchange entails far more than the exchange of an object - or multiple objects over time.

Herb and Dorothy Vogel are a couple that exemplify the endeavor of COLLECTING. The Vogels represent a collector that artists adore and value, and gallerists are tend to be uneasy with....given their manner of circumventing the galleries, acquiring works directly from artists.
The Vogels' passion for art and ideas affirms the pursuits of someone like me (as an artist) and further motivates me to do what I do. (Not for the hope of having work purchased, but because their passion affirms the passion I feel in exploring what I do; it gives proof of concept that these things that are pushed and pulled - the whole activity that throbs in the studio is vital - to someone else (regardless of the particulars of taste and selection.)
The Vogels are the subject of an fascinating documentary from 2008 entitled Herb & Dorothy. I recommend it highly. I could go on, but I won't. Here's the trailer:

The film Herb & Dorothy will be screened at Dia:Beacon on Saturday at noon as part of a weekend long program to raise funds for the refurbishment of The Beacon Theatre on Main St. Admission for the screening at Dia is $20. A Q&A panel with the Vogels, the filmmakers, artist Charles Clough and Roy Lichtenstein Foundation Executive Director Jack Cowart will follow the film at 2pm and a reception at 3:15 (cost for the panel talk is $10 and $20 for the reception.)
The Beacon Freeze Frame Fundraiser continues on Sunday with a 12 pm Screening of the film Fresh at the Howland Cultural Center followed by a Q&A panel and then a treat of fresh, locally grown food at the Beacon Theatre ($20, $20.)

The Vogels are not alone. They are extraordinary, given the details of their lives, and the generosity of their gift, not to just one institution, or even a handful, but to the country. The Vogel 50x50 is a program in which the Vogels donated 50 works of art from their collection to museums and art centers in each of the fifty states. Seriously, if you haven't seen the film, and you are near Beacon this weekend, check it out. As one who is on one side of the experience of an artwork, (the maykr side) it's to see the result of the devotion of those that don't create the stuff, but fill their lives and homes with what is essentially an vital document of a slice of human creative thought, ingenuity and aspiration.

I've mentioned here before that I work, from time to time, at the CCS Bard| Hessel Museums, installing shows. Last Summer, the Hessel held an exhibit of works selected by Matthew Higgs from the collection of Marty and Rebecca Eisenberg. The title of the exhibit, At Home/Not At Home addressed the very notion of collecting and living with art. The Eisenberg's domestic situation is very different from the Vogels' but the close proximity in which both families live with the work is very much in keeping. As can be seen in the film, the Vogels' tiny apartment was and is crazily packed to the ceiling with artwork. The Eisenberg home, though not crazily stacked to the ceiling with artwork as is the Vogels' apartment, is still filled, cheek by jowl, with artwork filling every possible niche, nook, cranny....and where there are no walls, certain conducive works are installed in front of windows.

It's easy to tell when paintings, sculpture et al are displayed for tasteful effect. It's equally easy and damn thrilling to see art deployed in such a way as to demonstrate just how essential it is to the sustenance of the inhabitants of that space.

March 10, 2011: dubknowdub performance @ the Clocktower Gallery in NYC

2011-03-09T23:11:00.001-05:00

Looking down from the 12+1th Floor.

Last night I headed down to the Clocktower Gallery and the studios of AIR (Art International Radio,) formerly WPS1. The purpose for this journey was to conduct a Dead Hare Radio interview AIR Managing Director Beatrice Johnson and Director of Programs David Weinstein to talk about the history.

STO installing his works on paper.

Additionally, I chatted with STO, who along with ELI, make up the visual and noise making entity DubknowDub. The duo will be culminating their month long Time Sync Laboratory Residency at the Clocktower with an exhibit and performance, tomorrow (March 10) @ 6-9pm. STO was in the process of installing his ink on paper works. He explained that along with the visual works he and ELI created during their time in the Clocktower, they've been sampling the creepy sounds made by the building late in the night. Apparantly, a man committed suicide in the Clock Tower in 1913, and it's said the building is haunted....
A quote from a note on the deceased's body in the original NY Times story:
"Dear Art: Everything you've done for me sticks me like a pin." Yep. That sounds about right.

STO's battery powered grocery cart - instrument.

If you want to catch tomorrow night's performance at the Clocktower Gallery at 108 Leonard St, here are instructions on getting into the building. The evening's events can also be heard on the ARTonAIR audio stream.

AIR has an extensive archive of audio documentation on its website. The audio stream features a mixture of art and culture related conversation and music and sound works.

Mary Heilmann's Two Lane Blacktop, 2009

is one many permanent works installed throughout the space.

We're still waiting for an inaugural airdate for Dead Hare Radio, but my interviews at AIR will be broadcast shortly thereafter.

Small Talk @ Hudson Beach Glass

2011-03-07T19:44:00.000-05:00

An informal panel discussion will be happening at Hudson Beach Glass on Saturday March 12 @ 5 pm. The talk is being held in conjunction with the exhibit Small, on view now through March 20. Most of the participating artists; myself, Claire Lofrese, Kazumi Tanaka, Kirsten Kucer, Deb Davidovits, John Allen, Susan Walsh, Greg Slick, Jill Reynolds should be in attendance and the talk will be moderated by exhibition curator Jennifer Mackiewicz.

Eye Candy Friday: You'll spoil your dinner.

2011-03-04T12:52:00.001-05:00

Ms. Rinnhofer's digital photo class at The Harvey School got an assignment this week:

Serve up your Eye Candy Friday for the week.

Ms. Rinnhofer has many talents. Not the least among these talents is her ability to whip up a delicious and nutritious meal for herself and me, seemingly from thin air.
A certain egg and potato thingy that was last Saturday's lunch sported an uncanny likeness of a human skull. I simply cut a potato into small pieces for teeth and Voila! a class assignment was born. The students were charged with making faces with their food and photograph the results - like a table top Archimboldo. The students then voted on the selections that are included in this post. Here they are in no particular order.

Anderson Greenwood

Armando Vazquez

Emily Silk

James Underwood

Natasha Stein

Shovana Clarke

Maya Sank

My thanks go to the students for willingly contribute their work to this post. Thanks to their teacher too for such nice lunches.

All Talk All The Time

2011-03-04T09:27:00.000-05:00

I have, in recent weeks, been treated to and participated in an awful lot of talking.
Matthew Slaats and I are on the verge of launching our weekly art oriented radio program for Vassar College's radio station, 91.3 WVKR, which will also be available in podcast form. The Dead Hare Radio Hour (our show) is responsible for a majority of this talkto which I've been privy...and that part for which it has not been responsible, I'm sure it will find a way to usurp in some way.

Here's a little rundown of what I've heard, and what you may end up hearing through the radio show:

Lori Grinker (left) with Sabine Meyer at Fovea

Feb 12 - Stephanie Heimann & Lori Grinker @ Fovea: Lori Grinker gave a talk relating to her current exhibit of photos of Iraqi refugees at Fovea. I interviewed both Stephanie and Lori.

Feb 15 - A triple header @ Vassar: Matthew and I conversed while walking through the 150 years Later exhibit at the Francis Lehman Loeb Art Center. While there we happened upon, and interviewed, Katherine Newbegin, whose work, along with Tina Barney and Tim Davis, is featured in the show. Tina Barney gave a talk on her career. Ira Glass gave a talk and schooled a standing room only crowd on making radio and crafting compelling narrative (particularly timely for me.)

Feb 16 - Peter Iannarelli and Jill Reynolds came over to Kamp Maykr for sustenance and satisfying conversation as part of Angelika's Hole In The Head "salon" series.

Feb 21 - My first solo DHRH interview via Skype with Carolina Miranda. A real treat, and a great way to get auger in this new interview based vocation.

Feb 22 - Matthew and I interviewed (also via Skype) Duncan McKenzie of Bad At Sports. Lots of fun. Plus, our talk with Duncan inspired us to create and deploy (out of necessity) our first show "feature" which we'll calling the "Duncan McKenzie Working Blue Profanity To Sound Effect Conversion Chart" - we will be on drive time radio after all. When needed for reference, the chart will be available on the DHRH site.

Feb 23 - I sat in on a talk at Bard CCS by Debra Singer, outgoing Executive Director of The Kitchen on the topic of archiving performance and art events. The Kitchen is planning a 40th Anniversary Exhibit of selections of its archive...sometime this Summer.

Angelika and Peter on the couch at last night's talk.

March 2 - Peter Iannarelli and Angelika Rinnhofer spoke as part of a series of talks organized by the Beacon Art Salon at the Beahive. Aesthetics and meaning in the context of contemporary art was the theme of the talk.....and I imagine I'll find a way of getting audio from that onto the air.

So much for the past, here's a bit of what's coming up:

March 5 @ 11 am - Jill Reynolds is giving a talk in Pawling, NY on her work and the work of other artists who are inspired by and use scientific concepts in their work. This talk is held in conjunction with Jill being a 2010 DCAC Fellow.

March 12 - Small Talk (4 or 4:30ish). A table top discussion at Hudson Beach Glass as part of the Small exhibit on view there now. I'll be participating, and likely trying to record it.

Apr 9 - Fovea will be holding a panel discussion as part of Lori Grinker's exhibit. Fovea is hoping to raise funds to bring one of the refugees, a young man named Ali, from TX to Beacon for the talk. They could use some help making this trip happen financially. If you'd like to assist, please visit the website to find out how to help.

That's it for now. More is coming up. I just needed to share this sliver of my last 2 or 3 weeks. Remember, Dead Hare Radio Hour....coming soon.

James Westwater @ kork

2011-03-03T23:02:00.000-05:00

Be sure to check in periodically to the kork blog to catch James Westwater's Evidence Bags which will be rotating on the board through the end of April.

Untitled (Mark Rothko 2), 2011

found items and rubber oval in

zip closure polyethylene bag, 16 x 12 inches

Eye Candy Friday: Separated at Adolescence

2011-02-25T23:00:00.001-05:00

My assistant editor for EFC came across these photographs (via twistedsifter.com) by Irina Werning that reunite her subjects with their younger selves by crafting present day recreations of their childhood photos. Many of them are very funny and the detail of replication is pretty spectacular in some.

Extending a thread of thought....

So Werning's project is a sort of temporal displacement of twins within a self. This photo by André Kertész (via the very fine artboobs) projects an expression of the simultaneously conjoining of the self over and over and over again.

Eye Candy Friday: Unprotected Techs

2011-02-18T07:17:00.002-05:00

This week's selection comes to us via Building the Perfect Beast. Dead Drop is an offline file sharing network created by Aram Bartholl during his residency at Eyebeam in October, 2010. The street level guerrilla nature of this form of sharing and communicating is appealing. I see a whole sci fi analog to the project, one in which a wormhole onto a plane of virtual space(information) can be accessed by the enlightened on an otherwise unremarkable streetscape.
I am given pause, however, when I consider the prospect of laying bare one's USB port to any cyber sailor looking to dip his wick or some nefarious goodfornothing out for a cheap thrill who could, intentionally or not, give your computer scabies.
On the other hand, as the Bad Idea Jeans commercial says, "....But then I thought, when am I going to make it back to Haiti."

Dead Drops 'How to' - NYC from aram bartholl on Vimeo.

Eye Candy Friday: Film-Strip Tease

2011-02-11T23:27:00.000-05:00

Here is your moment of....Winter? For those not getting enough...
Angelika is working on a project part of which, since September, entails hanging strips of developed 35mm film from any vertical structure available in the yard.
This here footage was filmed in January on a day after yet another accumulation of snow and the wind was gently but persistently teasing image laden streamers..
The background audio is a podcast I was listening to at that moment of a talk by Pete Favat for the SVA Designer As Author Series.
Just so you know, this video is about 15 mins. long - and nothing really happens in it. Enjoy.

Eye Candy Friday: Refined Sweetness

2011-02-04T23:12:00.001-05:00

Ok. I've been vacillating over how I want to proceed with maykr over the past year or so, and I think I'm close to figuring it out - which will hopefully be taking shape over the not to distant future. What I can say now is that I am fully committing myself to reinstate Eye Candy Fridays.

This is Friday. This is your Candy:

Up this week is the new Google Art Project which is a site that culls selections of works from 17 art museums from around the world. The site brings the google street view technology to bear on certain galleries and halls of some of the finest galleries out there.

There's never a substitute for viewing artwork in person, but this project goes along way in bringing the ambiance of some of these galleries home if you can't make to the actual locations. These works are seen in context with their neighbors. Trolling through the galleries evoke a semblance of the experience of travelling through the physical spaces. There are some galleries in the Met's section which are jarringly washed out, otherwise the quality of image is fairly decent. I'm digging sitting here on the sofa, traipsing around the galleries of the Gemäldegalerie seeking out a few of the paintings that struck me when I was there the Summer before last.

I certainly don't need an excuse to be on the computer for any longer than I do already, but it can be rewarding time, as long as you're there. I expect to use the art project for my own research....which may well end up in some form in my work down the road.

I also expect the website will be informing future ECFs.

Meet yer Maykr: Marc Willhite

2011-01-12T10:20:00.002-05:00

Buddy and collaborator of mine, Marc Willhite, will be kicking off the 2011 exhibition schedule at Ironton in Denver on January 14 with an exhibit of new work entitled Soft Descriptions which will run through February 19.

I snapped some photos on my visit to Marc's studio back in November 2009. I returned again in August of this year when I was able to see some candidates for the Soft Descriptions show in their nascent state.

work table

Over the years, I've looked at Marc as a metric against which I've measured my own development.
Marc and I met in our Freshman year of college. We had a drawing class together. Out paths diverted when I left college after Sophomore year. He finished and went on to get his MFA while I did what I did - which was bot get an MFA. Or a BFA for that matter. We met up again a few years after college. Though our approaches and experiences had evolved differently, a root commonality we shared from those early days allowed each of us to serve as a calibrated voice of critique for the work of the other. I think this quality in our interactions has continued lo these many years. The differences in process/practice we exhibit are clear indications of the divergence of our developmental experiences . Marc is more conceptually and intellectually grounded than am I. I get the ideas (eventually,) and I can get excited about them, but my response always comes, initially, viscerally. (If my gizzard could read and reason, I could be unstoppable.) That said, his work at its base is also driven by intuition and it's often inventive.

pattern, color form.

a couple of works on canvas

Marc now has a website of his work at marcwillhite.com

In 2007 Marc and I collaborated to create the In the Spirit of the Text exhibit at the Curtis Arts and Humanities Center in Greenwood Village, CO.

In 2008 Marc had an exhibit at Pirate in Denver. I posted some exhibition installation shots here.

In 2009 Marc created a work for kork in Poughkeepsie, NY.

In the foreground, you can see Marc's Dec 13th contribution to the 2009 kork Advent project.

collages on interior shots from magazines

Drape, 2005, scotch tape. at Echo

Marc's contribution to the 2005 installment of the Windows on Main St. Exhibit here in Beacon, NY

Shots from 2010 studio visit:

mylar tape on wall

susan sontag

Here's the press release for the exhibit:

“Soft Descriptions” is Marc Willhiteʼs ﬁrst solo exhibition at Ironton Studios. The work in
the exhibit is text-based and features a wide range of materials including etched glass,
neon, translucent push pins, oil on linen, latex on panel, ink jet prints, spray paint on
paper and direct carving into the gallery walls. The scale of the work varies from
discreet works of sixteen square inches to ﬂoor-to-ceiling, wall-size installation. It is a
formal exploration of the ways words exist, particularly in relation to how we visualize
and use them: a collection of textual depictions, “portraits” of words, terms and phrases.

The work for this exhibition is primarily rooted in Willhiteʼs interest in language. From
the artistʼs statement:

“Language is not so absurd, though our use of it often is. We are regularly
constructing realities incongruent with our experience. This project embraces this
characteristic aspect of our use of language (along with the reality that words are
subject to misunderstandings and misconceptions) and explores the arbitrary nature,
excessive possibilities and inevitable shortcomings of textual description.”

Willhite is a multi-disciplinary artist living and working in Denver, CO. He has an MFA in
painting and drawing and an art history minor from the University of Minnesota, Twin-
Cities and a BFA from Colorado State University with a double concentration in painting
and drawing. He has exhibited nationally and internationally, been included in various
publications and maintains a collaborative practice with several artists working around
the U.S.

Personal Democracy Forum Panel on WikiLeaks, 12/11/10 12 pm

2010-12-11T13:02:00.004-05:00

pdfleaks on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

Meet yer Maykr: Lauri Lynnxe Murphy

2010-06-13T21:22:00.000-04:00

Lauri Lynnxe Murphy has been a staple in the Denver art scene for some twenty years. She's had her finger as a member/and or founder of a number of artist initiate groups and venues throughout the city. Lauri is preparing for a change as she is shipping of to Ohio later in the year to embark on the MFA adventure. In preparation for this pending event, LLM is holding an all out clearing sale this weekend in the wonder emporium she calls a studio.While in Denver last November, I stopped into the Curtis Park garage to pick up her kork advent contribution (Dec 3.) (Previously, in July of last year, LLM cultivated a heretofore unknown life form on the board of
Below are images from my brief studio visit:

The space is pretty enormous, and although it has been shared among (three people, I think) there's no doubt that LLM's projects take up the bulk of the space. The density of materiel and the breadth of projects made this joint feel particularly homey for me.

I likes me that herringbone pattern - in whatever form it takes.

I think this is when, overwhelmed, I started getting dizzy.

Several days prior to my studio visit, LLM had an opening at Plastic Chapel which I was able to take in, accompanied, by chance, by fellow Beacon (and kork) artist, Elia Gurna. The exhibit consisted of a menage of wall mounted roccoco wormlike tubers that had a very rococco quality.

On Colfax, a walking version of an LLM work in the micro blizzard that greeted us on leaving the show.

Lauri is currently organizing and curating the exhibit Objectophilia which is opening on June 30, 2010 and is part of the Biennial of the Americas being held in Denver during the month of July.

Calls for Artists: The Big Draw + WOMS 2010

2010-05-11T11:55:00.000-04:00

First, The Big Draw: a fundraising drawing extravaganza for the Beacon Open Studios 2010. The Big Draw will be a drawing marathon, party and live auction. A handful of exquisite corpse drawings created by notable Beaconites will be auctioned off and a broad wide selection of 6"x8" 2D works will be available for $40 each. Artists will be on hand drawing throughout the evening.
Deadline for submitting 6"x8" works for thee event is May 23. Artists whose 6x8's are sold will receive 50% ($20) of the purchase price.
Artists will also be on hand creating drawings throughout the evening. If you are interested in drawing during the event, or submitting a piece, check out the submission info & form
This event is not restricted to Beacon artists. Anyone from anywhere are invited to submit work.

Remember, Beacon Open Studios is taking place on Sept. 25 & 26. Artists interested in participating can sign up for the low low price of $20 until June 5th at which point the fee will rise.
I can tell you that both members of the maykr household will be participating this year...since one of us will have just finished her MFA, and last year's installment was so successful.

Next, Windows on Main St is coming back for its sixth year.

Deadline for project proposal submissions is July 1. As I understand it Ty Marshal has handed over his share of the reigns to Katy Peace, but Melissa Tatge is still involved in the inner workings. The exhibit will be taking place from August 14 to September 11.

Creative Process Dialogue at the Beacon Institute, April 8, 4pm.

2010-05-07T06:15:00.000-04:00

I'll be moderating a talk with artists Erica Hauser and Ian Wickstead tomorrow at 4pm at the Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries. The talk is part of a series accompanying the exhibit curated by Linda Stewart, Water, Water, Everywhere.
The Beacon Institute is located at 199 Main St in Beacon. The next Creative Process Dialogue is scheduled for Sept 18 featuring Peter Brauch & Shawn Snow and will be moderated by Carl Van Brunt.

As the kork turns...

2010-05-01T08:31:00.000-04:00

There are yet a few moments left this weekend to engage in a bit of remote viewing of Matthew Hereford's kork project, Highland Path, while it is still on the wall in Poughkeepsie.

Up next on kork: Unfolding the mind of Robert Lomblad.

Eye Candy Friday: It takes two, baby.

2010-04-23T06:16:00.005-04:00

It's been a long while since I posted an ECF post, but this Vernissage TV vid of the opening of this John Wood and Paul Harrison exhibit at Von Bartha Garage in Basel CH tickled me, so rejoice and have a good weekend.

Remarks by Ron Haviv on Haiti Jan 12, 2010 at Fovea via Adrian Eisenhower

2010-04-18T13:40:00.000-04:00

Adrian Eisenhower's short video about Fovea includes a few moments of Ron Haviv's remarks from April 10, 2010 on his experience in Haiti immediately following the earthquake in January. Haviv's Haiti photographs will be on view at Fovea through June 10, 2010. A limited edition book/box of 16 photos of photos by Haviv has been created to raise funds for relief efforts.

This video, other short documentaries and other projects can be found at Adrian's blog On People, places and process.

The non-archival orifice: panel discussion on Carolee Schneemann, Apr 10, 2010 2-4pm

2010-04-09T20:12:00.000-04:00

On a trip to LA back in 2007, we visited took in the Whack! Art and the Feminist Revolution exhibit at MOCA. I regret not having seen the exhibit when it later traveled to PS1 because my impression of the installation in LA was of an un-congealed mess and I may have had an improved perception of it in another venue. There was a lot of great work by a range of notable artists which suffered by the wholesale lumping together of it with less successful work, all in the broader interest and exhibit. Certainly, the purpose of the exhibit was to chronicle of the development of the Feminist movement through works of the time; perhaps more appropriate fodder for a book than an exhibit. Nontheless, walking through the exhibit was an experience; one that was oddly like that of visiting the Vietnam Memorial in DC. Along with us in the galleries were visitors - obvious veterans of the time- walking through the exhibit with the air of making a pilgrimage to remember their comrades and their own experiences from the time of this struggle. Although I found the exhibit overly nostalgic, I appreciated the programming choice in pairing Whack! with Andrea Zittel: Critical Space, and a MoCA organized exhibit of pre-fab housing at the Pacific Design Center called Some Assembly Required. The web of domesticity/gender roles/lifemaking issues that ran through the three exhibits was broad, brilliant stroke -BTW, the Zittel show was majorly engrossing.
The one moment that highlighted my experience in Whack! which will stay with me forever is beholding the actual scroll that Carolee Schneemann used in her piece Interior Scroll from 1975. I have often seen photos documenting the performance piece in which the nude artist reads from a long thin scroll of paper that she pulls from her hoohaa, but was the first time I had privilege of seeing (and even pondering) this piece of ephemera. It was impressive.
Narrow, yellowed and brittle looking and, if my recollection serves, with bits of clear tape to join pieces of paper to achieve the length of three to four feet; I was stunned by the decrepit nature of the artifact. I don't know how long it rested up there inside her body, but the condition of this scroll immediately brought to mind the Dead Sea Scrolls - and they sat in their respective caves for nearly 2000 years and don't look much worse for wear than this holy relic from the 70's, which reveals much about the climatic differences between the vagina and the Dead Sea region.

Carolee Schneeman and her work, which is the subject of a survey exhibition entitled Carolee Schneemann: Within and Beyond the Premises at the Samuel Dorsky Museum in New Paltz, NY will also be the subject of a panel discussion tomorrow afternoon from 2 to 4 pm at the Rosendale Theater in Rosendale NY (408 Main St.) The panel, which has been organized in connection with the exhibit will be populated by: Emily Caigan (SUNY New Paltz Women's Studies), Maura Reilly (American Federation of Arts), Brian Wallace (Dorsky Museum), Linda Weintraub (independant scholar), Kenneth White (Stanford University) and moderator Patricia Phillips (RISD).
A screening of select film and video works by the artist will follow the discussion at 5 pm. Admission is $6, $4 for students. Call 845.658.8989 for more info.

The Age of Exploration: Up River, April 2-5, 2010

2010-04-02T07:11:00.000-04:00

A homemade, two person, tide and paddle powered vessel is scheduled to set off today on the Hudson River at Tivoli, NY and head north to the Troy dam. On board the vessel will be artist Marie Lorenz and curator Diana Stevenson as a project by Lorenz called Up River and represents Stevenson's thesis which is part of the Spring line up of Bard Curatorial Studies Thesis Exhibitions. A new round of graduate exhibitions open on Sunday, April 11 from 1-4pm.
Between today and April 5, the pair will be posting photos taken along the exploration on an hourly basis. One can subscribe to the trips rss feed plugging into one's url: http://www.marielorenz.com/inprogress/?cat=25&feed=rss2 , into your feed reader. One may also choose to follow along on the Up River page of the artist's website. There is also a facebook fan page for the project.
This project is a more subdued and, I expect, precise endeavor than Swoon's Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea which barrelled down the river in 2008.
The duo will give a lecture and slide show on the expedition on May 6, 2010 at 7:30 at the Tivoli Town Hall in Tivoli, NY.

Nava Atlas at Abecedarian Gallery in Denver, April 3

2010-03-29T22:29:00.000-04:00

The work of New Paltz artist, Nava Atlas is included in a three person traveling exhibit called In Retrospect: Artists' Books and Works on Paper. The exhibit will open at the Abecedarian Gallery in Denver on April 1 and run through May 8 . The opening reception will be held on April 3 from 6-8 pm. Nava will be in Denver to give a presentation at the gallery 5 pm, prior to the opening reception. The gallery is located at 910 Santa Fe

Nava will also have work included in The Edge of Art: New York State Artist Series at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse NY from Apr 17- July 11.

Kork: Matthew Hereford, through April 30, 2010

2010-03-26T00:27:00.002-04:00

As if unwilling to relent to the very notion of spring and vivacity it embodies, Mother Nature delayed by several days the installation of Matthew Hereford's installation at kork earlier this month. "Highland Path" is testament to the coming of a new season.
The work is a sort of visual onomonopoeia. It is what it looks like.and it looks like something real. And it is real; real components are playing themselves as if in a walk on roll in a sitcom in the formation of a fictionalized representation of a view of itself, of nature.
The scale is a little disorienting. This is a God's POV and the size relationships between elements and composition engender a frenetic blurring and refocusing of the eye as it works to discern what is in the fore and what is receding. It's this constrained view finder onto a distant pastoral scene lends the entire kork board a sense of receding. Even as the work itself is a dimensional and additive amalgam of collaged elements, the work as a whole functions as a negative; a removal of the constructed office interior to reveal that natural scene through or within the wall mounted portal.

The components of Highland Path were collected during the many walks Matthew takes in the Hudson Highlands.
Maybe it's just me, but the more I look at this work, the more I get the sense of time and space folding in on itself over and over again.

Matthew Hereford's work will remain on view through April 30, 2010.

Diary of an Art Hand....lete?

2010-03-26T00:11:00.001-04:00

Here's breakdown of one person's date on the event of the inaugural Art Handling Olympics:

7:45 am - Wake up and check my look in the mirror - I likes what I see.

7:57 am - eat breakfast consisting of pineapple and yogurt, topped with some corn flakes (I pretend they're Wheaties)

8:21 am - I do my morning stretches, 'cause I'm playing old and I'm dealing with some back pain.

8:35 am - Consider shaving my entire body from the neck down. Might make up for time lost due to back pain, but decide I don't have time for another all day project. Settle on just shaving neck.

9:50 am - Meet up with teammate Sara to head to rendevouz with the rest of team rBad

10:51 am - A united rBad convoy is city bound

11:27 am - Potty break pit stop/detour in the wilds of Westchester County.

Descend here all ye with hopes of glory and fame.

12:42 pm - arrive at Ramiken Crucible, official AHO venue.

1:26 pm - rBad's team photo is taken

The Stripped Screws' striped stockings.

2:05 pm - rBad team knuckle tattooing

2:53 pm - Opening remarks and layout of events from AHO organizer Shane Caffrey

The Nitro Lords!

The all LADEES team, Screw 'Em

The Well Hungs Team. I only just now got the connection between the team's name and the logo of the horse...It takes me a while sometimes.

AHO official blogger, Paddy Johnson of Art Fag City tweeting the event.

3:15-3:20ish pm - The qualifying event "Special Delivery" begins. rBad is in the second 6 team heat.

rBad in the home stretch. Even though all looks copacetic, at least one of us at the very moment is convinced he is dying, his thighs feel like bundles of stretched out bra straps and he wouldn't be surprised if blood started spurting from his eyes.

A brave bystander rescues the Quick and Dirty team from a surprise attack by another bystander

This image and the previous one, courtesy of Rachel von Wettberg

3:41 pm - O god, o god, god, o god o god, o god, o god.

3:52 pm - The Well Hungs and the Kings of Cleats participate in the first heat of "Hang This." I've regained my breath from the grinding ordeal of the Special Delivery.

4:20 pm - The Quick and Dirty and Dept 13 are in heat two of Hang This. And I insured that the dumplings and whiskey I consumed in Special Delivery would stay down by burying them under a supressive layer of cheese balls.

4:45 pm - rBad is hungry so we pack up gear, and head into Chinatown for dinner.

6:12-6:17 pm - Watching the woman from the restaurant trying to rustle an eel out of the tank. It's a real contest of wits.

6:35 pm - Walking back from the restaurant, we pass the gallery, considering whether we should rejoin the gathered crowd. Instead we head to the cars for our long drive home, champions, not of of international art handling primacy, but of our own.......whatever. Really, the Art Handling Olympics is like the Special Olympics in that everyone is a winner.....any other similarities between the two contests, is for the viewer to decide.

I'm not sure what this posting is for. I just liked the way it fluttered in the breeze.

In the end, the Kings of Cleats take the day with the Well Hungs and the Quick and Dirty also making to the medals platform.

Here's a video piece on the event by the NY Daily News:

For more info and better pics of the event, check out:
The NY Times article and slide show
Art Fag City's exaustive coverage, including photos by Marina Galperina.

My City Was Gone|What is ever lost? Mapping Place and "Space with Freespace

2010-03-23T07:15:00.000-04:00

Matthew Slaats is not a fellow who is ever wanting for a way to fill his down time. He concluded the Hyde Park Visual History Project last October with a long awaited interactive projection at the Hyde Park Drive In and now he's fully involved in the Midddle Main Revitalization effort, working to leverage artistic activity to invigorate the cultural and economic life in a stretch of Poughkeepsie's Main St.

Matthew's work is interactive and participatory. His impulse is toward community building and he engenders that in activities which are engineered to pool the knowledge, experience and creativity of a given community.

His latest project is an online and real world project called Freespace. The website of Freespace seeks to generate a network of sites of of significance - of personally held significance as opposed to significance on an institutional or national scale. The nature of the project is open ended and will ultimately be determined by the aggregated character of submissions by the public, and the site will map those locations and experiences and individual's experiences tied to that location. As stated in the website's About section, the impetus for the project arose out of a visit to the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park as a way to spur a sort of National Park System that reflects the American experience of the common individual. The project is a cataloging of the relationships built between people and place.
When Matthew sent the link and an invitation to participate I was reading James Fallows' article How America Can Rise Again in The January 2010 issue of The Atlantic and the pairing felt particularly synchronous.
In the article, Fallows questions several individuals on the state of the nation's well being and tracks the attitude that's been ingrained in the American psyche since its infancy that the society's high point has passed and the downhill slide is underway. Fallows' inquiry takes stock our current state and indexing the values of today's society against the real and perceived visions of our history. Freespace is a similar activity, codifying the involuntary habit we all have of staking claims on our surroundings based on our experiences and emotions. Freespace charts this new territory in land we all already to navigate it with new insight;
it's just one particular approach on remaking the concept of the commons. Stake a claim, then open it up for your neighbors to enjoy and share.

The Pressure is mounting; more details on the Art Handling Olympics

2010-03-17T21:34:00.000-04:00

Paddy Johnson from Art Fag City has an interview with Art Handling Olympics founder Shane Caffrey reveals valuable details of this Sunday's competition, including, the menu that is part of the qualifying event: dumplings and shots of whiskey.
The members of rBad are getting psyched with every passing moment.

Link updates, Artist Talks at the Hessel Museum

2010-03-17T14:02:00.000-04:00

I've made a couple additions/updates to the artist links in the right sidebar: Greg Slick has a new website catelogueing his various works. Robert Brush's new website is listed in the sidebar.

I've also added a link to Ron English's website. Juxtapoz.com recently did a two part profile on the artist who moved to Beacon a little over a year ago.

Blogger now has the option of creating pages. You can see above that I've created two pages for area art venue/resource links, and for web resources. If you have a link to suggest, shoot me an email or make a comment here,and I'll work on getting it added.

Finally, artist Nicole Eisenman will be giving a talk tomorrow, March 18 at the Hessel Museum as part of the current exhibition project Living Under the Same Roof, curated by the CCS Bard curator in residence Ana Paula Cohen. The series of talks of which the Eisenman talk is a part is co organized by Judy Pfaff for her course "Art in conversation." Martha Rosler kicked off the series on March 11.

Here are the upcoming talks:
April 8 - Stephen Shore
April 15 - Matt Mullican
April 22 - Robert Longo
April 29 - Judy Pfaff

All talks are scheduled at 2pm.

Get It On!: The Art Handling Olympics @ Ramiken Crucible, March 21 3pm

2010-03-15T07:19:00.000-04:00

Periodically, I condition my wallet by working as an art handler at a couple of esteemed art institutions in the area, one of them being the CCS Bard|Hessel Museum. The CCS|Hessel installation crew is fielding a team (rBad) for the first ever Art Handling Olympics which is coming up on Sunday, March 21 at Ramiken Crucible down in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The competition kicks off at 3pm with the Official Opening Ceremony.
rBad, along with r support crew will join some fourteen other 4 person teams will be vying for glory via a handful of absurd feats of skill and endurance indigenous to the often absurd world of art handling and installation.
Think of it as MXC with booze, box cutters and measuring tape.

If you're around the LES that day come show your colors and cheer us on to either said glory, orto immediate and inglorious indignation.

Oh, It's on, alright. It's on!

Update on the TransArt Institute residency at Dia

2010-02-27T11:11:00.000-05:00

I'm waiting on confirmation for the TransArt Institute residency at Dia:Beacon that is scheduled for tomorrow.
As of this morning it was on, but given the conditions brought on by the snow storm and the difficulties that many of the resident hosts are going through, the plan may have to change. I'll update inform
ation as I get it.
If you have any questions or concerns, give me a call 914-844-6515.
One thing that I do know is that the plan to lead artists through the museum blindfolded at 11:30am will not happen.

Update, 11:38am: the program is a go. Visiting artists will be contacting hosts to confirm the possibility of their stay. Some artists will be opting to return to NYC at the end of the day.

Electronic Music: Powered by Girls Workshop at Ann Street Gallery in Newburgh, March 13

2010-02-25T18:50:00.000-05:00

On March 13 the Ann St Gallery in Newburgh NY will be hosting a free workshop on creating electronic music for girls aged 13-18. Suzanne Thorpe and Bonnie Jones, both electronic music artists will conduct the afternoon long workshop called Electronic Music: Powered by Girls (1-5pm) which will be followed by a public concert performed by Thorpe and Jones at 8pm.
You can read the full press release with details of the workshop and the artists here.

Electronic Music: Powered by Girls, contact Bonnie Jones at (443) 858-3494 or bonniejones[at]gmail.com, or Suzanne Thorpe at (212) 206-1505 or suzanne[at]emf.org. For more information regarding the Ann Street Gallery, contact Virginia Walsh, Director, at (845) 562-6940 x. 119, vwalsh[at]safe-harbors.org.

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

2010-02-21T22:23:00.001-05:00

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

2010-02-21T20:53:00.001-05:00

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.

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

2010-01-31T16:50:00.001-05:00

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.

Anthony Easton's pilgrimage to Poughkeepsie - and kork

2010-01-31T14:01:00.001-05:00

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.

Meet yer Maykr: Jim White

2009-12-24T12:50:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-17T21:21:00.001-05:00

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.

This is the endThis is not the end This is the End This is not the end This is....

2009-12-12T01:30:00.001-05:00

If you're a frequent visitor to Maykr, you have noticed that the blog is going on two months since it's last post.

This post is here to confirm that which you already know: maykr is on indefinite hiatus.

I've decided to pull back to focus on personal and collaborative projects (including some Maykr publication projects), more studio time and a re-imagining of my art blogging activities. Maykr is not dead - it's in an induced coma, but there are signs of life here. You'll notice that I've added a MAYKR twitter feed in the sidebar. Many of the announcements I've posted about previously will be funneled through there - so keep your announcements and notices coming and as I'm able to, I'll throw them there. There is also a MAYKR group on Facebook, so feel free to join up and post art related items yourself there or start a conversation. Also, don't forget about the Beacon Art Postcard Archive (BAPA) this project continues and I continue to need contributions of postcards and other art promotional ephemera.

The writing I will be doing in the near future will be channeled through my personal blog which will contain a lot of my studio oriented items in addition to Maykr-type, art related posts. I want to create a more clear correlation between those things in the broader world (and artworld) that draw my attention and my studio activities, and how both sides of that coin influence one another. I'm working on a new webpage/blog format that will provide me a proper context for this dual writing I'd like do, although I'm being stymied by technological limitations at the moment. It's possible that I'll start posting Eye Candy Fridays again after the new year, and I have a handful of Meet yer Maykr studio visit posts in the pipeline, all of which you'll be able to find at chrisalbert.blogspot.com for the interim.

This change of venue stems from that desire to tie together (for myself) the strands of writing and mayking that dominate my time. Also, my interest in blogging has incrementally drifted from art related items specific to the Beacon Area. It's not captivating enough for me to maintain a Beacon-area specific blog any more. I think it's best to create a little more separation between the newer content and the local-centric archive that the Maykr blog has become.

As with any body in a coma, Maykr can still sense your presence. Although it may not be able to respond fully, it still holds within it the memories and essence of a body having lived. You can always direct questions or announcements to info[at]maykr[dot]com. Going forward, I'll work to maintain the currency of the links on this page, and hopefully add new ones as they come up. I will also work to add lables to older posts that will make the pre 2007 content more searchable.

Finally, I send my gratitude out to all who have become regular visitors to the blog, and those who have subscribed to the blog's feed, and those who have shared with me their words of encouragement over the years.

Thanks.
C.

James Westwater at Heidi Cho Gallery in NYC, opening tomorrow

2009-10-14T14:32:00.000-04:00

James Westwater is among the artists featured in an exhibit opening tomorrow at the Heidi Cho Gallery in Chelsea. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds also includes the work of Richmond Burton, Maurizio Pellegrin, Tad Wiley and Saya Woolfalk.

Heidi cho is located at 522 W 23 St. the opening reception is taking place from 6-8 pm and the exhibition will run through Nov. 12.

Hyde Park Visual History Project Premieres Oct 17 at the Hyde Park Drive In

2009-10-13T23:58:00.000-04:00

After two years of hustling and armed with some 2000 images gathered from residents of Hyde Park, Matthew Slaats is ready to present his interactive Hyde Park Visual History Project at the Drive In theater in Hyde Park.

Matthew was in Beacon on Saturday and gave me a quick rundown on this tail end of the project and the added technically interactive twist he's incorporating into it.

The projected collected images and accompanying sound will be influenced by movement of bodies in a set location on the grounds of the drive in.

Here's Matthew's description from the project's Facebook event page:

The Hyde Park Visual History Project, developed by artist Matthew Slaats, is a community‐centered artistic project that engages the elaborate evolution of the local landscape and its inhabitants through images and sound. Serving as a dynamic meeting point for the community, the arts, and the history of Hyde Park, NY, the project builds an understanding of place through donated images, home movies, film, and audio. The collected visual and auditory material will be presented at significant sites in the community throughout the summer of 2009, culminating in an installation at the historic Hyde Park Drive In Theatre. For these installations, images of the past and present will meld into brilliant moments of color, all of which is supported by a sound track developed from recordings of children describing their hometown. Audience and environmental movement will control this interactive installation, becoming the driving force for the installation.

The Project Presentation will take place from 8 - 11pm on Saturday, Oct 17 at the Hyde Park Drive-In Theater on Rt 9. If you try to find this on google maps, it'll send you way up state, but I've marked it on a map right here.

Be sure to check out Matthew's blog on the project which chronicles its development and his thoughts that have emerged through his interactions with the public of Hyde Park and their memories of the place.

On for this weekend.

2009-10-10T10:02:00.001-04:00

I've been squeezed for time of late, so if you're looking for information on the openings and happenings tonight at Floor One, Gallery G, bau, Van Brunt, RiverWinds, and many others, check out BACA's website......

note that the time for the Art21 screening today at the Beacon Community Center has been changed from 2 to 4pm.

Also, Collaborative Concepts' Saunders Farm Project in Garrison is having its mid-run reception today from 2-6pm. Musical performances are scheduled throughout the day.

Thursday night's talk by Thomas Nozkowski up in Stone Ridge was great. Aspects of his process really resonated with me, making it personally rewarding...I'll have more on this soon.

On the subject of talks, this one comes via the arts muse blog: the Katonah Museum is hosting one given by Robert Storr on the subject of "Art's Self-Sufficiency in a Boom/Bust Art World". Storr's talk is happening tomorrow at the Chappaqua Crossing Auditorium from 5-7pm. The talk is being held on the occasion of Storr being named the first recipient of the museums new Himmel Award. This is a pricey one, $85, $75 for museum members and $25 for students. If you're interested, call 914.232.9555 x2978. The Chappaqua Crossing Auditorium is a t 480 Bedford Rd in .....Chappaqua.

And don't forget COTA is happening in New Paltz today starting from 10-5.

Eye Candy Friday: Oh, ho, ho It's Magic

2009-10-09T10:21:00.000-04:00

Hanging out last Friday night with Will Walker, fresh from his two month residency at Seven Below in Vermont, brings us this week's EFC: the work of Peter Miller. Peter was one of Will's two studiomates, along with Mia Feuer at Seven Below and his website is chock full of subtle, visually and intellectually rich work and there's a lot to see on his website between his video pieces and the video documentation of his performances and installations. Just the thing for perusing on a rainy Friday.

Expect to hear a bit about Will's experience in vermont in his own words and images in a forthcoming MAYKR post.

Art 21 "Compassion" airs tonight on PBS. "Fantasy" preview screening @ BCC on Oct 10 4pm

2009-10-07T19:18:00.001-04:00

If you weren't able to make it to the Art21 Sneak Preview Screenings of Art 21 Episode 1 at the Beacon Community Center last Saturday or at the Beahive last night, the episode will be airing tonight at 10pm on WNET 13.

A preview screening of Episode 2 "Fantasy" will be held at the Beacon Community Center on Saturday, Oct 10 at 4pm.

Fantasy features the work of Jeff Koons, Mary Heilmann, Cao Fei and Florian Maier-Aichen.

I've mentioned some of the various attributes to the Art21 world and the accompanying educational programs. Stacey Ward Kelley and Jennie Duke, both teachers in Beacon Public School are two of 15 chosen nationwide to participate in the Art21 Educator's program.

Stacey and Jennie will be presenting a development workshop for visual art teachers in the Beacon and Newburgh City School District's on Nov. 3. Via Beacon Citizen Network .

Update: "Compassion" will be viewable on the PBS Video Portal until Nov 13, 2009