Danielle Orchard Artist Talk at Tamarind Institute, Weds, April 17, 5:30pm

The Tamarind Institute is hosting an artist talk by Danielle Orchard on Wednesday, April 17 at 5:30pm.  Orchard is the third recipient of the Frederick Hammersley Artist Residency.

The talk will be held at George Pearl Hall Auditorium in the UNM School of Architecture and Planning building across from Tamarind at Central and Cornell Ave.  Seating for the talk is limited and registration is recommended - this can be done at https://orchardattamarind.eventbrite.com. 

The talk will also be streamed live on Instagram on the

Conversation: Contemporary Art Journalism Then and Now at 516 ARTS, Thursday, April 25

516 ARTS and The Magazine Speaker Series kicks off on Thursday, April 25 at 7pm at 516 Arts.  Contemporary Art Journalism Then & Now brings together Bill Peterson, former publisher of ArtSpace Magazine (1976-1993) and Lauren Tresp, publisher of The Magazine.

The Speaker series which is being presented in connection with 516 ARTS current exhibit In Our Own Backyard and continues with two more installments:

Thursday, May 9, 7pm:  Collectors Collect New Mexico I
Christian Mayeur & Annie Poux, Mayeur Projects
Jugnet + Clairet, Artists
At The Magazine Project Space, 1415 W Alameda ST, Santa Fe.

Thursday, May 23 7pm: Collectors Collect New Mexico II
RJ Bailie, Contemporary Art Society of New Mexico (CAS)
Diana Gaston, Director Tamarind Institute
Marisa Sage, Director, Curator University Art Museum NMSU
Nicola López, Emmi Whitehorse, Artists
At 516 ARTS, 516 Central Ave, Albuquerque

In Our Own Backyard is on view at 516 ARTS through June 1. 

Guard Everything Appropriately and All Will Be Well Reception at Sanitary Tortilla Factory Tomorrow @ 5:30pm

For the past couple of days, Nora Wendl has been redacting the trial transcript from van der Rohe vs. Farnsworth in a perfomative action called Guard Everything Appropriately and All Will Be Well at Sanitary Tortilla Factory. You can get some background to the project.here.

 

I stopped in to view the progress late this afternoon and found the task seemingly complete.  

The installation including an accompanying dual projection video will remain on view though tomorrow.

There is a reception tomorrow evening to cap off the performance tomorrow from 5:30 to 7 pm.

The two videos, straddling one corner of the gallery depict an enactment of the performance, the redaction here happening line by line.  In the present instance of the performnce, Wendl has used ink and a brayer to strike the text in broad compositional forms, selectively leaving fragments of the text visible to create a kind of humorous and random concrete poetry while at the same time revealing the obvious animosity within the transcript if not the substance of the interaction documented in the text.

Qué Chola Opening

Parking was at a premium at the National Hispanic Cultural Center on Friday night.  A very full house was on hand on the for the opening reception of Qué Chola.  The opening of the exhibit which will remain on view through August 4, happened to coincide with International Women's Day.  

A series of exhibition tours, related art-making opportunities for adults, and for families and screenings will be scheduled through the run of the exhibit. Schedules for such events can be found on the NHCC Events page. 

An Associated Press story by Russel Contreras on Qué Chola can be found here.

Curator Jadira Gurule making public comments and acknowledements during the opening.

One of two community sourced Chola photo boards on view in the galleries with images imbued with the Chola spirit sent in by the Public.

Detail from one of the Chola boards.

Dust Dust Dusting this thing off.

The Beacon Art Postcard Archive continues...

The Beacon Art Postcard Archive (BAPA) has been resting on the back - way back - burner for awhile now.  However, I recognize the need - if I expect to have this project reach it's potential of documenting the moment of art in Beacon, NY for the past 10+ years and moving forward, I have to be able to capture this material while it's available - so there's no time to waste.

So, what is this BAPA, you might be asking.  The goal of BAPA is to collect the ephemera relating to exhibits and projects that happen in Beacon, NY (and it's near environs) and also track the activities of the artists who are a part of the artistic community of Beacon, NY - whether they are residents of Beacon, NY or live in it's near environs.

So what are we talking about?  We're looking for the physical material that related to exhibits/projects and artist promotion:

• postcards
• flyers
• brochures
• business cards
• posters
• printed artist statements... 
• digital versions of material
• exhibition checklists/ price lists
• ANY thing that might fit this bill, we'll consider.

If you are an art venue in Beacon, NY, or an artist involved in Beacon, NY, we would very much appreciate you donation of a copy of any such material.  For the artists in the area, we are interested in all of the material you have relating to any of your artistic activities - within Beacon or outsided of it - we simply ask that the material coincides with the time in which you have been living or part of the community in Beacon.

One of the goals is to have the material digitized and made part of a fully indexed, cross referenced, searchable website that will document the moment, so digital forms of this material is welcome too (it will save us the effort of scanning or photographing).  However, we are heartily interested in the physical material.  This physical material speaks to one of the most basic levels of self publishing - one that is even now diminishing as more and more of this type of promotion is remaining in it's digital state for digital distribution and not making it into a physical form.

Ultimately, the goal is to donate this material to the Beacon Historical Society.

So, how can you get involved, or participate? 

If you are an artist in the area and are interested, shoot me an email at info[at]maykr.com  and I'll hook you up with a BAPA envelope in which to collect your material, and we can make the transfer. 

If you happen to have material from any of the art galleries and venues that are no longer around, that is very much appreciated.  We still have known holes we're looking to fill dating back to about 2002 (and before).
 
BAPA has lived in a box for the past several years, mostly residing at bau.  Although now it's living here at Kamp Maykr in the hopes that I might be able sort through the material at my leisure.  I expect we can locate another collection box at bau in the near future.

Lastly, you can help by spreading the word.  If you're among the folks who have donated material already, thanks so much.  Just remember that this project is ongoing, so your more recent material is welcome.

Please spread the word that this project exists and we are seeking material.  If you know of artists who are new to the area, let them know that they can start donating material and be included in this archive.

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.