Eye Candy Friday: Stop and Go Traffic

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

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

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

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

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.

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"

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

 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 & Selesnik.

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

Some uppery-state goings on.

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

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

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

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.