Meet yer Maykr: Jim White

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

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

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

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

A personalized valentine.

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

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

Some images of Jim's workspace:

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

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

In the neighborhood

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

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

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

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

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

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.