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. 

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.

The Most Beautiful People in Poughkeepsie

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.

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

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.

Free weekend admission to Dia:Beacon for Beacon residents All-Year-Long

Beginning Saturday, Oct 17, Dia:Beacon will begin offering year round free weekend museum admission to residents of Beacon NY.

This new initiative, made possible by Lyn and John Fishback in honor of Pete Seeger will kick off on the 17th with a celebration with refreshments, a performance by Pete Seeger and adult and family tours.  It all starts at 11:30, here's the schedule:

11:30 am   -  Refreshments

12:00 pm   -  Welcome Remarks & Performance by Pete Seeger

1:00   pm   -  Adult and family tours of Dia:Beacon, Riggio Galleries

2:00   pm   -  Line, Rythm, Chance, a guided family activity in the museum's Learning Lab.

                     open to children 6 and above accompanied by an adult. 

                     For reservations email familytours@diaart.org.

Beacon residents simply need to present a driver's license or other government-issued ID for free entry to the museum.

Additionally, the final Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts Workshop to be held at Dia:Beacon will take place on that same day at 2pm.  The topic for this last session is Considering the Fiscal Sponsorship Model to Structure and Support Art Projects. ( I'll be out of town that day and would love a report from someone on this....perhaps Mr. W.Walker?) For reservations call 845-440-0100 x19 or rsvpVLA@diaart.org. These workshops are sponsored in part by the Dutchess County Arts Council.

More Dia:Beacon news: 

Advance tickets for the first stage of Trisha Brown Dance Co. performances on Nov 14 & 15 are on sale for Dia members.  Tickets go on sale to the general public on Oct 15.  General admission to the performance is $35 and includes museum admission.  Dia member tickets are $20.

The St Luke's Chamber Ensemble is kicking off a new concert series at Dia:Beacon beginning on Oct 18.

The Antoni Tapies exhibit will be closing in the coming weeks.  I believe that an installation of Agnes Martin works will follow the Tapies show.

On Saturday, Oct 24, at 1pm, Allstar gallery talk giver Kenneth Goldsmith will be returning to give a talk on Sol LeWitt. Not to put too much pressure on Mr Goldsmith, but this better be good, because (based on his Warhol talk) I've been really building up this talk in my mind....That usually doesn't bode well for my own personal endeavors, so I hope he will fare better than I tend to in light of my own preassumed excellence.

Finally Finally, winter is coming and with it come shorter days and with those shorter days come shorter hours at Dia:Beacon.  On Oct 22, the museum will be open Thurs-Mon 11-4pm. On Nov 13 the museum will be open Fri-Mon 11-4pm.

Other Voices, Other Rooms: talk by exhibition curator Steven Evans today in Long Island City

Steven Evans will be giving a talk today on the exhibit he curated at the Dorsky Curatorial Programs in Long Island City. Other Voices, Other Rooms features selections of work by Max Cole, Marcia Hafif, Winston Roeth, David Simpson and Fred Sandback.
A PDF of the exhibition brochure can be found here.
Steven's talk will commence at 2 pm.
The exibition will remain on view through June 28, 2009.
The Dorsky Curatorial Programs is located at 11-03 45 Ave, Long Island City, 11101 - 718 937 6317.

Dia:Beacon Gallery Talk: Philippe Vergne on Warhol, May 30, 1pm

Dia director Philippe Vergne will be giving this month's Gallery Talk at Dia:Beacon on Andy Warhol on Saturday May 30 at 1pm. To reserve yourself a spot for the talk, call 845.440.0100 or email gallerytalks@diaart.org.

Here's the gallery talk schedule for the next several months, as listed on Dia:Beacon's website:

Saturday, June 27, 2009, 1pm

Robert Lubar on Antoni Tàpies

Saturday, July 25, 2009, 1pm

Christina Rosenberger on Robert Ryman

Saturday, August 29, 2009, 12:45pm

Steven Evans on Max Neuhaus

Saturday, September 26, 2009, 1pm

George Trakas on Beacon Point

Saturday, October 24, 2009, 1pm

Kenneth Goldsmith on Sol LeWitt

Saturday, November 28, 2009, 1pm

Reiko Tomii on On Kawara

I, for one am very pleased to see that Kenneth Goldmsith is returning in October to speak on Sol LeWitt. Goldsmith's talk on Warhol back in November of 2008 was a major treat. Of course, Steven Evans is no slouch in giving a gallery talk either. I've attended at least two of his talks, on Warhol and LeWitt.
I don't know how these speakers for the talks are programmed, but if anyone involved in that process is reading, I'd certainly cast a vote for the return of Norton Batkin. His manner of delivery of a talk on Bruce Nauman was animated, a bit ribald and very edifying....it also had a group participation component. I'd like to see him go at it with one of the other artists....perhaps Blinky.

Mary Sabbatino talks about representing the ephemeral, "unpossessible" artwork of artists at HVCCA, Sunday May 3, 2009 4-6pm

Classify this in the category of short notice :
Tomorrow (May 3, 2009) from 4-6pm, HVCCA is hosting a talk title "The Challenge of Working with Artists Using Environmental Materials" which will be presented by Mary Sabbatino, Vice-President of Galerie Lelong in New York. The talk presented will include specific reference to Ana Mendieta whose is represented by Galerie Lelong and whose work is included in HVCCA's current exhibit 'Origins'.
HVCCA is located at 1701 Main St in Peekskill, NY.

Coming up: Jan 24+25 events

In Peekskill,HVCCA is hosting a series of poetry "performances" that respond directly to certain works on view currently as part of the Origins exhibit. Performances at 2pm and 6pm are planned on both Saturday and Sunday with a formal reception following the Saturday evening performance. This event is the second collaboration between the museum and the Hudson Valley Writers' Center.
Admission: Performances 1, 3 & 4
$15.00 HVCCA & Hudson Valley Writers Center members, $20.00 non-members
Admission: Performance 2 including reception
$25.00 HVCCA & Hudson Valley Writers Center members, $35.00 non-members
For Tickets: Call 914.788.0100 or email info[at]hvcca[dot]org.

3pm on Sunday afternoon will present a dilemma for some as there will be dueling talks happening at that time. I mentioned before, that Donald Alter will be giving a talk as part of his exhibit at the Garrison Art Center, in Garrison NY.
Here in Beacon NY, as part of the current Habitat For Artists exhibit, Van Brunt Gallery will be hosting a talk on solar energy given by the group Solar1- a green energy arts and education center in New York.

Talk it out people, talk it out.

There are a number of gallery talks, panel talks, and general in person type events coming up all over. Here's a quick rundown:
Saturday, Jan 17 1pm:
Gallery talk by Paul Chan & The Front at Winkleman Gallery, 637 W 27 St, NY NY. This talk is happening in conjunction with the exhibit Things Fall Apart which is curated by Joy Garnett and opens at Winkleman on Jan 16.
Sunday, Jan 18 4pm:
Artist talk by Richard Dupont and Grimanesa Amoros
at HVCCA in Peekskill, NY.
Also on Sunday, Jan 18 at 4pm, Sharon Butler and Austin Thomas are hosting a salon "to discuss art-making, art-blogging, and world-making at" Pocket Utopia in Brooklyn.
Saturday, Jan 24 1pm:
Gallery talk by Tatjana von Prittwitz und Gaffron on Joseph Beuys at Dia:Beacon.
Sunday, Jan 25 3pm:
Artist talk by Donald Alter at Garrison Art Center.
February 14
A panel discussion on Burma and the case of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi currently under house arrest in Burma at Mt Beacon Fine Art. The talk is being held as part of the Freedom and Art exhibit at the gallery. 1/3 of gallery sales will benefit Amnesty Intl.
March 7 1-4pm
Panel Talk: “Curating the Documentary” with Anne Ellegood, Okwui Enwezor, Eduardo Thomas, visual artist and curator. The panel will be moderated by artist, Hito Steyerl at the CCS Bard Hessel Museum

Eye Candy Friday: Bifurcated for your pleasure.

This week's ECF is divided into to two separate treats, one for the eye and one for the mind's eye. The latter exists simply for the reason that I had no camera to capture the full wonder of the vision (if I had one, I'd have to capture it surreptitiously). I'm speaking of Kenneth Goldsmith's lecture last Saturday on Andy Warhol at Dia:Beacon. More specifically, I'm speaking of Goldsmith's attire, which you'll have to use that mind's eye of yours to muster some semblance of its glory through my inadequate description. Goldsmith was dressed in a what I'd call a "still life" two piece suit with a classical (floral/fruit?) motif that floated somewhere between wallpaper and tapestry in violet and olive tones over a dark, almost black field. An intense solid purple sweater with matching tie, under which the collar of a dress shirt of striped violets nested, sneakers in the elusive grey color I've only seen on the Audi TT Roadster - with maroon laces, and a metallic silver tote bag finished of the ensemble.
Please note my improvised sample board to aid you in an approximate visualization of the ensemble.
Goldsmith read from a prepared lecture in a natural way and gave a remarkable talk. He spoke of Warhol and his work in a broad, holistic manner, drawing relationships to the zen qualities of nothingness and the absence of the author in the work of Cage and Ginsberg. He invoked Obama's comments on the Jeremiah Wright controversy which didn't shrink from the inherent complexities of the world and relationships (an approach unusual for a politician) to illustrate the intensely complex implications of Warhol's work existence.

His description of Warhol as a 360 degree man - one complete with nuanced and contradicting complexities - one lacking a flattened side on which he can be easily rested for convenient storage rhymed with Dia's room-ringing installation of the Shadow paintings. The gallery took on more significance as a meme for the man whose blending effect (on life and work, high and low culture, etc.) leaves little opportunity for discernable beginning and ending points.
Goldsmith's talk was excellent and several companions felt this to be the best of the museum's talks thus far....Unfortunately, this talk seemed to not be recorded as the others have.

So the second portion of candy referred to at the beginning of this post also relates to Kenneth Goldsmith as he is a Founding Editor and Publisher of UbuWeb (www.ubu.com); I've referred to the site previously. UbuWeb a dizzying archive of artist videos, images, and words that is ever-growing as a form of networked culture hive.

UbuWeb is a completely independent resource dedicated to all strains of the
avant-garde, ethnopoetics, and outsider arts. All materials on UbuWeb are being
made available for noncommercial and educational use only. All rights belong to
the author(s). UbuWeb is completely free.

Indeed it is candy for the eye and the eye's mind. Go there and root around; new items are being added all the time. There's so much diversion and distraction online that eats up one's time. This site too can easily devour your time, but in contrast to so much else, what it excretes is the sweetest of honey.

Gettin' the Le(a)d out

On Oct 25, we went to Dia to hear Steven Evans' densely attended gallery talk on Sol LeWitt. I moved through the LeWitt galleries in a mindset infused with a talk I attended the night before at the Garrison Institute given by Father Thomas Keating. Keating spoke on the oneness of solitude and the power of centering prayer. For me, this viewing of LeWitt's wall drawings were informed by the tenets of Keating's talk that related to the discipline of silence, solitude and the power of centering prayer. Of course, Lewitt's process in creating these works is anything but silent, and solitary. His process is all about interaction, communication and collaboration; it relies on the swarm for its realization. But the effort of all of this activity is funnelled through the silent and fine point of a pencil grazing the wall. It's the disciplined focus of the pencil's point that sets condition for viewing the work which is quite different from its execution. Drawing is the visual analog of prayer. Solitary. Meditative. Looking at marks scaled up to equate room sized scrolls emphasizes the commonality of the two disciplines. The marks evident on the wall, however, represent but one component of the whole as Lewitt intended it to be considered. LeWitt offers the final drawing as a signifier to understand the system, which is the crux of his biscuit.

The system is the work of art; the visual work of art is the proof of the
System. The visual aspect can't be understood without understanding the system.
It isn't what it looks like but what it is that is of basic importance.

At the end of his talk, Steven quoted a talk given by LeWitt at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in the late 60's. The passage related LeWitt's view that the performance of a music composer's work should be accompanied by copies of the score for the benefit of the audience, since many of the nuances with which the composer is engaged while crafting the system at the heart of the work is visible in the notations, but become indistinguishable in the aural mix. Such a graphic accompaniement, LeWitt believed, would allow the audience to know better the mind of the composer. Such a desire for that type of understanding relates back to Keating invoking silence as a mechanism to know better the system of the soul.

One year after his death, LeWitt is very much in the air.

Storm King's exhibit this year featured a selection of LeWitt's sculptures, and an informative documentary on the artist. You have through Saturday, Nov 15 to catch this show before the joint closes down for the winter. (A storm King tangent: The NYTimes website has a story and video on Maya Lin's Wave Field work that will open to the public in the Spring.)

On Sunday Nov 16, MASS MoCA will be opening a Heeeuge retrospective of one hundred wall drawings. Check out their website for all sorts of goodies relating to the exhibit.

Oddly enough, later in the evening, after Steven's gallery talk, as I was listening to the most recent podcast from the Hirschorn Museum, I caught an interview featuring Lacey Fekishazy who was recently in DC on the crew executing some wall drawings at the museum. Questions asked of Lacey and fellow artist/crew member Roland Lusk on the logistics of executing the work echoed those poised to Steven, and their answers offered a fine accompaniment to the earlier gallery talk. Lacey worked on the original LeWitt Galleries when Dia:Beacon opened, she came in 2006 to work on the Drawing Series..., and she partook in preparations for the MASS MoCA show. For giggles, and because I happened to come across it the other day, below is a photo of Lacey's studio from 2003 or 04 when she occupied a space at Spire Studios.

Gallery Talk: Denise Markonish at the Dorsky Museum, Sept 4, 7pm

Denise Markonish, MASS MoCA curator and juror for exhibit, Hudson Valley Artists 2008: The Medium is the Message will be taking part in a conversation about her work and her approach to creating the exhibit.
The talk will be held Thursday, September 4, at 7:00 pm in the Chandler Gallery at the Samuel Dorsky Museum in New Paltz, NY. The Medium is the Message will be on view through Sept 7th.

Dia:Beacon Gallery Talk: Aug 30, 1pm

Jennifer Mackiewicz, Beacon's resident authority on all things Michael Heizer will be giving a gallery talk on the artist this Saturday, Aug. 30, at Dia:Beacon. The gallery talk, as usual, is scheduled for 1pm.
Reservations are suggested, call 845 440 0100 x 44

Jennifer Mackiewicz worked for Michael Heizer for eleven years as the artist's
assistant and Operations Manager for the Heizer Studio. She continues to serve
as the artist's liaison and is Vice-President of the Triple Aught Foundation,
founded to preserve the artist's archives and to see the completion of the City
project. Ms. Mackiewicz received her Bachelor's in Studio Arts from the Center
for Creative Studies in Detroit. She is currently working as an arts consultant
and pursuing her personal art practice.
Michael Heizer was born in Berkeley, California, in 1944, the son of the anthropologist Robert Heizer. After briefly attending the San Francisco Art Institute in 1963-64, he moved to New York in 1966. In 1967 Heizer began creating large Earthworks, primarily in California and Nevada. For his first one-person show, at the Galerie Heiner Friedrich, Munich, in 1969, he removed 1,000 tons of earth in a conical shape to create Munich Depression. He followed this with Double Negative, a displacement of over 240,000 tons of earth to make two vast incisions opposite one another on the
edge of Virgin River mesa, Nevada. Heizer's next one-person show was at the Dwan
Gallery, New York, in 1970, and that same year he exhibited in the International
Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Major exhibitions of his work have been staged
at institutions such as the Museum Folkwang, Essen (1979), and the Museum of
Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (1984). Heizer lives in Nevada, where he continues
to work on City, a sculptural complex begun in 1970 currently supported by Dia
and Lannan Foundation. Gallery Talks at Dia:Beacon is a series of presentations
that take place the last Saturday of every month at 1 pm and are free with
admission to the museum. Focused on the work of the artists in Dia's collection,
the one-hour presentations are given by curators, art historians, and writers,
and take place in museum's galleries. Gallery Talks at Dia:Beacon are made
possible through the generosity of the New York State Council on the Arts, a
State agency; The Karan-Weiss Foundation; and the Jane W. Nuhn Charitable Trust.

Tids & Bits

This afternoon at 6pm, Marc and Livia Straus are giving a gallery talk at HVCCA in Peekskill called "The Art Market: Making Art and Collecting Art in a New Globalized Economy"
Admission to the talk is: $5 Adults, $4 Seniors/Educators, $2 Students/Children, Free to HVCCA Members. This is also the last chance to see Size Matters: XXL – recent large-scale paintings which is closing on July 27th. There's a Caroll Dunham piece in that show that I really dig.

Via a new Beacon community website, the Beacon Citizens Network, I learned that the Beacon Art Supply is for sale, and it is currently having a close out sale going on. If the business does not find a buyer it and it's conjoined neighbor, Burlock is scheduled to close; Burlock on Aug. 31 and BAS on Sept. 30. Good luck to Jeff and Nicole on their future endeavors.

A post on Yorktown photographer Rob Penner's blog says that he is planning on open a photo gallery in Beacon in September. Details forthcoming. Here's a link to Rob's main website.

Photographer Richard Falco to give talk at HVCCA, June 29 3pm

HVCCA will be hosting a lecture by Richard Falco entitled "Witness to our Times." Falco will be referencing his 30 years in photojournalism experience as he speaks on the social, cultural and historical value of documentary work. More info on Falco and his talk here.
Students (with Valid ID) - $5.00
Non-Members - $10.00 HVCCA Members - $7.00
Free for HVCCA members at Friend level and above
HVCCA is located at 1701 Main St. in Peekskill, NY.

This weekend at Dia:Beacon, and more

In another installment of Dia's monthly Gallery Talks, George Trakas will be speaking about his work at Beacon Point on Saturday, May 31 at 1pm. The talk will take place on site. To make reservations, call 845-440-0100 ext 44.

Also this weekend, from Friday to Sunday, Dia:Beacon will be hosting screenings of three James Benning works.
Here's a NYTimes review of the most recent Merce Cunningham performance at Dia on May 18th.

A recent blurb about Dia on Artnet.com portrays Lynne Cooke as the Robert Mugabi of Dia's curatorial fiefdom.

On another note, the first line of the blurb says that "The Dia Art Foundation is happily ensconced up on the Hudson at Dia: Beacon..." But apparantly not everyone is so pleased about moving on up. In a letter to the editor in the March 8, 2008 issue of the NY Times, former Dia Foundation trustees, Lois de Menil, Margaret Douglas-Hamilton, Peter Wolff add some back story to the Times' article on the departure of Jeffry Weiss as Director of the foundation. I had to laugh at the letter's characterization of the Riggio Galleries as a "beautifully renovated though somewhat inaccessible building in Beacon, N.Y." This is very ironic given the remote projects that Dia Foundation has supported in the past 30 years which have come to define the term "inaccessible." And, really, getting to Beacon from NYC may take a bit longer and require looking at a Metro North timetable, but it's no more taxing to get there than to get to Chelsea from one of the Burroughs. But then I usually don't enlist a car service when I do my gallery tour.

The statement clearly indicates which audience rightfully should be served by the mission of the Dia Foundation, at least according to a few of the folks who helped shape the organization; the righteous benefactors sending forth missionaries into the cultural wasteland to bring back trinkets and oddities, tales of maverick actions to festoon their parlor for to share with the fellows of their privileged class.

Tacita Dean Talk and Screening at Bard College, May 14

I understand that Tacita Dean will be giving a talk and screening two of her films at the Weiss Cinema located on the campus of Bard College. The two films to be screened are "A Bag of Air"(1995) & "Mario Merz"(2002) The program is scheduled for Wed, May 14 from 5:30-7:30. The Weiss Cinema is located in the Bertelsmann Campus Center.

This program is presented in conjunction with the CCS Bard exhibition Another
Time, curated by Milena Hoegsberg as part of her master's thesis project. Tacita
Dean's work "Kodak" was featured in the exhibition that was on view from April
11-27, 2008.
This event is made possible by a generous grant from the Beudert Foundation.

I received the information via email from Milena although I haven't been able to find any listing or information about the talk online. If you're looking for information about the talk, I suggest calling the Bard CCS office at 845.758.7598.

@ HVCCA: Jonathan Meese performance & talk, May 10. Chris Jones exhibition opening May 18

German based artist Jonathan Meese will be giving a performance followed by a talk on Saturday from 12-2pm in Peekskill at HVCCA. $5 Adults; $4 Seniors/Educators; $2 Students/Children; FREE HVCCA Members.
Speaking of HVCCA, Chris Jones, the museum's current artist in residence will be opening an exhibit of the work created during these past three months he's been in Peekskill. I stopped in two weeks ago to see him and drop off more magazines to feed the furnace of his studio frenzy. Chris Jones' stockpile of material.

Since my first visit in the beginning of March, Chris' studio has become far more densely packed with materials and it is now dominated by the sizeable works in progress. Chris uses collaged elements from magazines to build a sort of 3D collage. His work has a dualistic nature - visually, and conceptually. Visually, seeing his work feels a little like viewing something through a set of stereoscopic glasses; your field of vision is slightly skewed. Conceptually, that duality plays out in the notion of actuality vs. representation and what is concrete, solid, vs. the ephemeral, non-structural made structural. The glossy pages Chris uses are not simply the surface of the piece they are integral to the structure and form holding his work together, yet the amorphously shifting imagery within the pages that are essentially the building blocks of his structures serve more to dissolve or erradicate the work's representational presence rather than reinforce it.
He manipulates the imagery in the magazines to embody an uncanny presence and form of textures depicted in his source images. Sculpture detail.
It's trippy stuff. How an appropriately crumpled piece of paper bearing a photographed image can take evoke the immediate and visceral experience of seeing a thing even while you are aware that you are viewing a scaled down, 2D, documentation of that thing.
I'm not going to give away what he's been doing, but he's been doing it feverishly. The work that he's creating now has everything to do with his stay in Peekskill, which is his first time in the States.
architecture of paperChris Jones' exhibit opens Sunday May 18 with a reception and Gallery talk from 4-6pm. The exhibit runs through August 17, 2008.

Aaron Johnson, John Newsom to speak at HVCCA, April 13.

Painting by Aaron Johnson, courtesy of HVCCA.

John Newsom and Aaron Johnson will be discussing their work which is included in the museum's Size Matters: XXL exhibit. The talks will be held on Sunday, April 13 from 4-6. For more information, visit HVCCA's website.