Stepping Out in Beacon NY on Feb 13, 2010

A few images from stepping out in Beacon on Feb 13, 2010.

Though unrelated, I'm sure, Will Walker's sculpture above at Van Brunt Gallery rhymes nicely with the
hues in the sunset I snapped through the window of Will's studio back in October.

David Rothenberg et fils creating layers of music, digital and live at bau.

Young love burgeoning at the Valentine's show at Spire Studios.

This Saturday's art activities.

Here are a few of the things going on this Saturday- in addition to the items in my two previous posts...check back, time permitting, I'll be adding more.
Spire Studios is holding an open studio party starting at 6pm. I don't know all the details yet, other than there will be an exhibit of Todd Sargood's work in the old Pack and Paddle space on the first floor.

The Beacon Institute playing host to the Dutchess Indie Film Festival, a screening of local films from 6 to 9pm. In its gallery space, the Institute is showing arial photographs of man-made sites along the Hudson taken by workers for the Center of Land Use Interpretation from 2004-2008.

400 square is hosting an opening reception for an exhibit of photography by Diane Smook. The exhibit "Portraits from the Garden: An Uncommon View" will remain on view through July 9. Saturday's reception will take place from 4-8pm.

bau's 54th exhibit will feature work by Linda Richichi called Revolution. A reception for the artist will be held from 6-9pm.

Jesse Lebwohl-Steiner show off his goods in Reflections and Cycles, an exhibit of video documenting performances from the early 2000's at Gallery G, 15 E. Main St. (on the creekside of the building.) You can hardly go wrong when one of the works listed is about watermelon and love. Take note, this exhibit includes nudity -- of the male variety.

Sculptor Herman Roggeman is holding an open house at his Metal Concepts studio beginning at 6pm. Metal Concepts is located at the very eastern end of Main St. (9 Hanna Lane) near the old Tallix complex.

Mike + Doug Starn's Big Bambú will be open on Saturday from 11-4pm.

Don't forget the Hudson River Market which takes place every Saturday 10 - 5pm in the grassy patch at Cross and Main St.

Fovea Exhibitions will be holding another outdoor multimedia projection on that same grassy patch starting at dusk. Man vs. Nature features images from local and international photojournalists. This presentation, curated by photo editors Kelley Kingman and Amrita Singh is the first of the series to solicit submissions for considerations.
Bring a blanket or chair. In the event of rain, the projection will be moved across the street to Bumblebee Art & Music at 163 Main St.

Now for Something Completely different.: BEEP on 3rd Saturdays

The latest group show at bau.
I think my Second Saturday fatigue reached its apex this past weekend.
I recognize the benefit of consolidated gallery openings and similar events, but after some six years of the same month-in-month-out rythm it can feel flat in a "Time to make the donuts" kind of way. There have been small alternative rythms that have pulsed out here and there; the occasional opening on an alternative night, the occasional quiet screening at Hermitage or other venue, or staged readings that pop up. All the things that can fill out a month's worth of evenings.
This coming weekend of April 18 will add a little tweak to the habitual with BEEP, a new monthly series of events geared more toward performance, but including visual art. BEEP is an initiative of the galleries and businesses on the East End of Main St. to concentrate some activity back into their quarter. Joe's Irish Pub, Zahra's Studio, Go North, Floor One, Open Space, Zuzu'a and the Piggy Bank are as the participating venues. Yes, this is just another monthly serial event, one that can, in time, if not guarded against, can become monotonous. But it ain't that yet, and I'd hope that the creative folks behind it can keep it pulsating and evolving. I also think this could be a good way for the East end to redistinguish itself and add a particular tone to that part of the street.
The events include an opening receptions at Zahra's and Open Space, and musical performances at several of the locations, topped of with a Next Step party at the Piggy Bank starting at 10pm. It's also a fundraising event for a second incarnation of the Electric Windows project. Check the link above for details.
The photos herein are snaps from Second Saturday in April, 2009:

Bumblebee Art and Music's newly opened space..

One of Caroline Ruttle's works at Go North.

Above, folks at Open Space. Below, works by Jim Darling.


The way to Floor One.

Teresa Marra's work at Floor One.

Tina Darling's work at Open Space in elegant rhyme with some Main St. mannequins.


Through the window: Jerimiah Lawrence at Mount Beacon Fine Art.

Tomorrow's BEEP line up of events on the East end of Main St.

Second Saturday Sampler, April 11, 2009

Time is at a premium for me these days, so I've had to jam together a cursory glance at art items taking place tomorrow. There's more happening, for sure... I just can't do it all. Don't forget Dia's Community Free Day for Dutchess Co. residents and Caroline Ruttle at Go North.
bau is hosting a group exhibit that interprets the Golden Mean using line. Participating artists are: Heidi Lanino Bilezikian, Ron Debren, Janet Howard Fatta, Michael Gaydos, Carla Golberg van der Merwe, Elia Gurna, Erica Hauser, Tom Holmes Gary Jacketti, Dominico Petrillo, Linda Richichi and Lisa Zukowski.
Open Space next exhibit features the work of Jim and Tina Darling. A preview reception is happening from 6-9pm. The official opening reception with the artists in attendance and a complete installation is taking place next week, April 18 from 6-9pm.

Floor One is presenting the paintings of Beacon resident Teresa Marra. - Reception from 6-9pm.

Images from March 20, 2009. Van Brunt openings and Catherine Welshman at bau

Some of the crowd assembled at Hudson Beach Glass.
We made it out to two of Van Brunt's three opening sites last night. We also stopped into see Catherine Welshman's entertaining exhibit at bau.
The painter Stanford Kay (left) with friends in front of James Westwater's Hudson River landscape at Hudson Beach Glass.
above and below: views of Catherine Welshman's Girls Gone Wild at bau.

More folks at Van Brunt Gallery...and solid proof that Jennifer Mackiewicz has indeed migrated back to Beacon from Antarctica.
Above and below: Seeing may be Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees, but where would the world be if we didn't label everything? I understand there are a few other elements along Main St. that have been contextualized with the aid of some explanatory text. Consider it a scavenger hunt. This bench is located on the corner across from Hudson Beach Glass.

bau 51: Catherine Welshman with Adrian Eisenhower, March 14-Apr 5, 2009

The spicy side of bau will be exposed when Catherine Welshman's Girls Gone Wild takes over the space on Saturday March 14.
Saturday will also mark ahomeward trajectory in the perpetual motion of Adrian Eisenhower, who's been abroad for much of the past a couple of years. Adrian will be showing his recent documentary project; XLIV - Photographs from the Presidential Inauguration.

Art/New York screenings continue, at bau. Punk and New Wave bonus tonight at 7pm

Bau's current project of hosting screenings of the Art NY video series by Paul Tschinkel is the most interesting thing the collective has done in a very long time. Devoting the month to sampling these video amounts to a conversational point of departure that is informative and entertaining. It's a real service to the audience.I've only made it to one screening thus far, but I'll make sure to take better advantage of the remaining two weekends.
Last Saturday, my viewing of the half hour Basquiat interview was fully informed by the the recent appearance of Joaquin Phoenix on Letterman. Marc H. Miller's interview with Basquiat is the quintessential illustration of an intellectual train wreck, the sole survivor of which was the artist. It was painful and ultimately entertaining within that pain. The interviewer, Marc. H. Miller was very much out of his element, even though as an art historian and curator (with a Ph.D., no less) he ostensibly might have had a clue as to how to get down to the substance behind the artist's work, and enact a conversation with the artist. He didn't. His questioning was reaching, as if in the dark, and ultimately insulting to the artist as he tries to verbally diagram each component within one of Basquiat's paintings. Basquiat rolls with it, and then rolls over Miller, ultimately responding to questions with a mouth full of green beans. Priceless. I felt sympathy for Miller, trying to squeeze out a certain amount of footage, and he was doing his darnedest. Interviewing someone is not easy, even for those in the profession, I'm sure.  In fact, through the course of the interview, I realized that the Basquiat/Miller match up had less in common with the Joaquin on Late Night stint than with the video below:
Neither the home schooled kid nor the artist, both fully present for the interactions would conform to the canned form of responses expected by their respective interviewers.
I found another earlier video from 1974, exhibiting Miller's "man on the scene" m.o., also shot by Tschinkel. In this case, his halting, awkward questioning embodies a conceptual charm fitting the topic of the interview, and the varied reactions by his respondents as they discussed their creations of genitalia in clay as part of a participatory workshop organized by Miller and Tschinkel.
Make A Penis And Vagina Out Of Clay from Marc H. Miller on Vimeo.
If I didn't post this video here, you can bet it would have ended up as an Eye Candy Friday feature.
The Art New York videos will continue to be screened through March 8th. Today's schedule will have an additional treat at 7pm with an hour of Punk & New Wave footage of performances caught on tape from 1977-1982 at CBGB, Max's and the Mudd Club. The documentaries scheduled for today are: at 4pm, Cindy Sherman and at 6pm, Chuck Close.

bau 50: Art/New York. A month of screenings at Beacon Artist Union

Beginning on Saturday, Feb 7 and continuing on Saturdays and Sundays through March 8, bau will be presenting screenings of programs of the video series Art/New York. Art/New York is a series of video profiles of contemporary artists produced by Paul Tschinkel. Each episode is devoted to a single artist. Started in 1979, the series consists of 62 individual programs of varying length (28-70 min), most of which focus on a single artist. Admission to the screenings is free and open to the public and when his schedule allows, Tschinkel will introduce films in person. Below is the full schedule of screenings. Refreshments and related discussion will likely follow each video. For more information on specific programs, visit the Art/New York website or view. bau is located at 161 Main St., Beacon, NY. Additional information on bau's presentation can be viewed here. Below is the program schedule.

Saturday, February 7
2PM Jean-Michel Basquiat
4PM Nam June Paik
6PM Gornick/Basquiat
Sunday, February 8
2PM Louise Bourgeois
4PM Kiki Smith
Saturday, February 14
2PM Eric Fischl
4PM Robert Mapplethopre
Sunday, February 15
2PM Alice Neel
4PM Jeff Koons
Saturday, February 21
2PM April Gornick
4PM Nan Goldin
6PM Jean-Michel Basquiat
Sunday, February 22
2PM Elizabeth Murray
4PM Barbara Kruger
Saturday February 28,
2PM Minimalism
4PM Cindy Sherman
6PM Chuck Close/ Eric Fischl
Sunday, March 1
2PM Nam June Paik
4PM Eric Fischl
Saturday, March 7
2PM Chuck Close
4PM Louise Bourgeois
6PM Robert Mapplethorpe
Sunday, March 8
2PM Cindy Sherman
4PM Minimalism

Last weekend for Comix at Bau, Colin Barclay at Van Brunt Gallery

One of the exhibits closing this weekend is Comix at bau. This exhibit represents a recent tangent that's emerged in Grey's work; the embedding of readable comic book imagery in the layering typical in his paintings. His paintings which embody the quixotic erosion of neglected billboard that form gestural mosaics have, in this group, been populated by strata of comic book characters along with selective, appropriated text bubbles.
I talked to Grey a bit last weekend after the Spirit of Beacon Parade. He was amused by the elevated level of response to this work coming from a broad range of visitors. It's not unexpected, but a little surprising that just a little bit of the recognizable makes a huge difference in how the general public responds to a body of work. Also amusing are the number of comic book fans (nearly exclusively men) that have come into the space and linger, talking comics. I had a similar, though less extensive experience with a couple of porn enthusiasts during my Skin Trade exhibit at Go North in 2007. It's really interesting when, as an artist, you tap into an area for which a portion of the population has a real passion, and who reach out to you and geek out, as it were, recognizing a common affinity, when for you, that subject is simply a vehicle, or a visual trope through which your able to explore elements more germane to your purpose as an artist. I can imagine that Erica Hauser has a similar, bifurcated audience appreciating her work. I'm not belittling this interaction. That's the heady hope that as an artist you can tap into such a spring of responsiveness from a viewer, regardless the departure point. It's a fascinating rorschach experiment, whether that connection proves to be fleeting, or if a deeper connection between maykr, viewer and work is established. An example of Grey's more typical non-objective work is on view in the backroom, providing the opportunity for the subject driven viewer to link fundamental elements present in both the representational and the abstract works.
This conversation with Grey got me thinking of the prejudices that artists have, imposing on their own work, barriers against which they won't dare push up against. The maykr's version of the Maginot Line, where if one were to cross (be it abstract artist stepping into the world of representation, or high minded auteur dipping into the well of low brow - and of course, vis-versa) his intent might be tainted, and the world would be altered for the worse. Of course, that's what growth is, and ideally the world will be altered by such a trespass. Positively so. This suddenly brings to mind another opening happening in town tonight which I spaced out when I posted this info the other day. Colin Barclay at Van Brunt is opening tonight with an opening reception from 6-9pm. Here you have a body of work that is perennially popular among folks with the means to fork out for it, but I think I might wet myself if, at the opening tonight, I were to see any sign of growth, or development beyond the cascade of one note paintings we've been treated to for the past several years.

Images: Second Saturday, Dec 2007

Karlos Carcamo sent along these images from last week's Second Saturday openings:

Gary Jacketti, Works on Paper at bau:

Evolve/Dissolve, group show at Go North:

The work of Chris Oh at the Inaugural opening at Hermitage:

Christian Toscano, and Jon Beacham of Hermitage.

Limited Run at Open Space:

There will be more of Karlos' Second Saturday photos on the maykr flickr page by mid week.

MODA reception images.

The post opening sociable sculpture stylings of Adam - but where's he hiding the tap.

Here are a few images from last week's opening reception of The Museum of Drunken Art at bau. There are more images on MODA's blog. Today, Sept 7, is the last day to check out the MODA collection.
Tim Harrod adding to MODA's collection.

Peter Teraberry, left, Director and Curator of MODA speaking with Eleanor White and Karlos Carcamo who facilitated the exhibit at bau.

Lettin' the Juices flow: Drunken Art at bau, Sept 29

Bar-Toons by Harrod

"Back in that day [the '50's and '60's] there were 37 bars in Beacon, 28 of them on or near the East Main Street/Main Street corridor..." (from Jack Sine's article, "Miro's Closes - The End of an Era" Beacon Dispatch, Feb, 2006)

The Museum of Drunken Art (MODA) will be exhibiting its collection of drunken art at bau from Sept 29 - Oct. 7. There will be an opening reception on the 29th from 6-9pm.
Here's the press release:

In celebration of the Spirit of Beacon, (MODA) The Museum of Drunken Art is please to announce that its vast holdings of drunken art are coming to Beacon. A combination of drawings, paintings, mixed media, and sculptural work will be showcased. The museum's collection will be on view from Sept 29th – Oct 7th, 2007.
The Museum of Drunken Art was founded by museum director and curator Peter Teraberry as a venue for the display of uninhibited creativity while under the influence of alcohol. Based in Williamsburg Brooklyn, the MODA collection includes drawings made on a host of materials including napkins, found paper, and cardboard, to more elaborate three dimensional sculptural displays.
The MODA collection includes work by: Enoch Emory, Ben Shambaugh, Tom Smrtic, Donald O'Finn, Katie Welty, Sam Crees, Nate Walker PFC, Timothy Miller, Justin Kase, Fred Mc Fate, Peter Teraberry, Some Professor from Pratt, Clayton Vogel-dreck, Shane Caffrey from the collection of Clay Vogel, Paula Bollers, Timothy Harrod, Damien Leibold, Alex Bell, Greg Henderson, Chris Beams, Anthony R. Toe, Ross, Maurice Lester, Rust Post, Scott Harder, Gregg Samosa, Bon Scott, N. E. Vretta, J. Otto, and Fred Thompson.
In addition, one wall in the gallery will be left empty for Beacon donations to the MODA
collection! For further information and samples of the work on view please visit www.themuseumofdrunckenart.blogspot.com
The MODA collection is brought to you by Beaconstruction, Inc, helping to support and enhance the cultural life in Beacon through creative cultural endeavors in what ever form they dictate. Special thanks to museum director/curator Peter Teraberry for amassing such a great collection and to BAU artist Gary O’Conner for allowing us the use of the space.

bau - beacon artist union 161 Main Street Beacon, New York, 12508 Gallery Hours, Sat/Sun 12 - 6 pm & by appt. T 845 440 7584 bauinfo@optonline.net http://www.beaconartistunion.com/

Gary O'Connor at bau

Gary O'Connor, Steve Rossi, Peter Iannarelli and Gary Jacketti discuss Gary O's piece.

The TnA Critique group headed over to bau last night to discuss Gary O'Connor's installation currently on view there.
Sara Mussen and Gary Jacketti



Reflections from the aluminum piece on the gallery walls.

An element shared between Gary's current aluminum piece and the pot scour curtain he installed at bau in April of 2006 is the residual pattern of light, shadow and reflection on the walls of the gallery.

Gary O'Connor in the shadow of his installation at bau, April 2006.
photo by Harald Plochberger.

Gary's installation will be deinstalled earlier than is usual. The piece will be on exhibit through. Sept. 23.

Opening on Sept 29 at bau will an exhibit of the collection of the Museum of Drunken Art. Karlos Carcamo is arranging this special engagement with MODA Director, Peter Teraberry. Stay tuned for more information, and info on how to submit your own work of inebriation to the show.

Also, expect info on the special preview screening of the PBS series Art 21, Season 4 on the weekend of Oct. 6 & 7 to be hosted at bau.