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Month: November 2013
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LickethTheRainbow
at Jaus
Fernando Rascon Licketh The Rainbow
at JAUS
Rainbows sometimes make me cringe—not that I am inherently opposed to their beauty and deeper metaphoric meaning, but in the wrong hands, they can fall so easily into triteness. Tricky little things those rainbows can be, however the artists in Jaus Gallery’s most recent exhibition, “Licketh the Rainbow,” transform this sometimes overused Hallmark symbol into a sexy and provocative visual delicacy. Highlights include Rochelle Botello’s “rainbowic” though oddly unsettling ode to her dog—beautifully imagined and moving as well as Junta Egawa’s arresting paintings, which are tense and focused meditations on color and form with an undeniable dynamic edge.~Eve Wood
Licketh The Rainbow
Jaus
11851 La Grange Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
November 15 to January 5, 2013
“Sponsored Video” Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative 2013-2014 mentors are chosen
Leading artists from around the world gathered in Venice in October, not for the celebrated biennale, but for a project with even loftier ambitions—the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative.
Launched in 2002 and renewed every two years, the Rolex initiative pairs young artists with world-class masters in seven disciplines to spark creativity and to “ensure that the world’s artistic heritage is passed on to the next generation.”
The Venice event, hosted by Sophia Loren, gave the illustrious mentors and their aspiring protégés a chance to display and discuss their work from the past year, and to celebrate the next round of collaborations. Mentors announced at Venice for 2014 include the Sri-Lanka born Canadian novelist Michael Ondaatje, author of “The English Patient;” Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, who garnered an Academy Award nomination for his 2006 film “Basel,” and Peter Zumthor, the Swiss architect drafted to redesign the campus at LACMA.
Recent works produced under the initiative range from a web-based collaborative novel, in which Canadian author Margaret Atwood traded chapters with protégé Naomi Alderman, to erection of a new community center on the quake- and tsunami-shattered town of Tohoku, Japan.
Rolex underwrites the project with a stipend for participants and funds for expenses. But the key to the program lies in the recognition and encouragement afforded young and aspiring artists. The arts today “are in a precarious state,” novelist Ondaatje remarked at the Venice ceremony. Talented young writers and artists, especially outside the great urban centers, “have a hard time being recognized and helped and eventually acknowledged.” Without some kind of boost promising new work can simply get lost. “A mentorship program that is not based on an already close friendship or a literary location is therefore essential.”
Article sponsored by Rolex
Our Guide to Art Basel Miami
Next week an explosion of art, champagne, and parties descends upon South Florida in the annual blowout that is Art Basel Miami Beach. With all of the events, exhibits and parties at Basel Miami this year, it’s hard to decide what to hit and what to miss. So here’s our guide to the events we’re looking forward to along with a map and addresses of all the venues.
Events happening this year at the Standard Spa, Miami include
- Andre Saraiva and photographer Jean Pigozzi are hosting a pop-up gallery called Room 40 that will used for massages during the day and for exhibitions at night. They’re also hosting a private dinner on the 5th.
- Alldayeveryday is opening a pop-up version of zine emporium The Newsstand in the hotel’s Lido Lounge. It will be open all week.
- There’s a release party for an Everybody Street zine by Cheryl Dunn and another zine by Chris Johanson and Franck Haines on Thursday, December 5, from 2 to 4 p.m.
- Creative Time hosts a a brunch with Krug Champagne on Friday, December 6, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- On December 6th, The Newsstand has a book release for Glenn O’Brien’s Penance from 5 to 7 p.m. and a “lecture” and book launch by Ryan McGuinness from 7 to 8 p.m.
- End your week at the annual Basel wrap-up “Lazy Sunday BBQ” on Sunday from 3 to 8 p.m. and check out the “paper boat” by Miami designer Luis Pons.
Adam Lindemann, real estate tycoon Aby Rosen and art dealer Larry Gagosian. Lindemann’s Venus Over Manhattan gallery is throwing a VIP preview for Ferrari’s Piston Head exhibition on Dec 3. Artists including Damian Hirst and Joshua Callahan will feature automotive sculpture. On Dec. 4, Roger Dubuis, in partnership with Dom Perignon, will host a private dinner hosted by Gerard Butler. The evening showcases the Roger Dubuis Excalibur Quatuor, alongside the Jeff K
oons-designed Dom Perignon bottles. Alex Dellal, Stavros Niarchos and Vito Schnabel are throwing a late-night fête celebrating Limited Edition by Jeff Koons on Dec. 5, at Wall with music by DJ Ruckus and DJ Zoe Kravitz. Also Dec. 5, Architectural Digest, Amy Sacco and Miami Cocktail Company are hosting the No. 8 pop up at the James Hotel. And Artsy is also throwing a dinner that night celebrating the new John Baldessari Studios at the CalArts School of Art.
Metal Fatigue Music at NADA at the Deauville: Thursday, Dec 5, 12-2pm & 3-6pm, Friday, Dec 6, 12-2pm & 3-6pm, Saturday, Dec 7, 12-4pm.
Located on the parking ramp outside of the Deauville.
CB1 Gallery’s Project Miami booth (215) will feature new paintings by Lisa Adams, a new series of light box photos by LA-based Kiki Seror, a selection of past work and new work by Mira Schor (NY) and paintings, sculpture, and works on paper by Craig Taylor (NY).
The UNTITLED fair has two big VIP previews: Monday, December 2nd, 7 to 9 p.m. hosted by Marina Abramovic to benefit the Elton John AIDS Foundation and the Marina Abramovic Institute (this is the one that Lady Gaga is rumored to be attending) and Tuesday, December 3rd from 3 to 7 p.m., featuring performances by TM Sisters and Jacolby Satterwhite.
New York gallery The Hole is having their big, Basel blow-out at the Shore Club (1901 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach) on December 4th and the Delano hosts their third MoMA PS1 pool party on December 6th.
MOCA + Vanity Fair/Vanity Fair International Party is in honor of Tracey Emin’s exhibition “Angel without You.” The party takes place on December 3rd from 7 to 9 pm. This event is open to MOCA members, Art Basel VIPs and exhibitors only.
The Wayside group show @ Plymouth Hotel – Steve Saiz, Melanie Bernier, Autumn Ahn, Georgia Kennedy, Christopher Wawrinofsky repurpose abandoned hotel rooms at the Plymouth Hotel. The hotel is a deco-clad building that is also home to a pop-up speakeasy, and beer garden. The artists will pair local items with materials sourced from their origin cities of Los Angeles, Boston and Chicago to adorn their rooms with temporary artwork.
FRESCO has put together a group show called “Hang ’em High” that will be up from December 3rd at 5 p.m., to the 8th at 97 NW 25th Street, Miami, and includes works by Banksy, Faile, KAWS, Swoon, Dface, BAST, Retna and Ryan McGinness.
Harper’s BAZAAR magazine is bringing back their pop-up shop, ShopBAZAAR, to the Soho Beach House (4385 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach) from December 3rd to the 5th. Look for designer brands, limited editions, a Gevalia coffee station, plus several beauty bars.
Mansion Nightclub (1235 Washinton Avenue, South Beach) has two big Basel nights with Mark Ronson DJing on Friday, December 6th, and Boy George spinning on Saturday.
The Wynwood Art Building (2750 NW 3rd Avenue, Miami) kicks off the week with a big gallery night—catered by Wynwood Kitchen & Bar, Tanduay and Vita Coco—on Monday, December 2nd from 6 to 10 p.m. All the galleries in the building, including m+v ART, ArtMedia, Cienfuegos, Ricart, etc. will showcase their new exhibitions.
Vanessa Beecroft will present replicas from her past performances, from 1994 to 2008, and one new work, which will feature 140 women acting as a choir in a Greek Tragedy. Also, Kanye West is participating. December 4 from 6-10 pm at Mana Wynwood, 318 NW 23rd Street
Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) members are invited to preview PAMM’s inaugural exhibitions on Dec. 3 from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on the eve of the Museum’s grand reopening. This event is open to members only.
Juxtapoz is moving into a private beach house at the Shore Club (1901 Collins Avenue, South Beach) for a four-day series of parties and events with San Francisco’s Chandran Gallery. They’ve scheduled art installations by Geoff McFetridge, Andrew Shoultz, Monica Canilao and SWOON, brunches, BBQs, performances and DJs and there’s even an evening hosted by Shepard Fairey. The spot will be happening from December 4 until the 7th, but many of the parties are invite only.
Tiffany Trenda performs “Tap and Touch”, at LICHT FELD Gallery. CONTEXT Art Miami, Tuesday 7-7:30, 8-8:30; Fri, Sat & Sun 2-2:30, 3-3:30
NOWNESS, Art Production Fund and Suzanne Geiss celebrate the release of a new film by Adam Dugas and Casey Spooner called “Dust,” starring Cody Critcheloe, Peggy Noland and Jaimie Warren,on Thursday evening at the Mondrian (1100 West Avenue, South Beach). RSVP only.
Shulamit Gallery presents Mythical Homeland, an installation by Gary Baseman. This installation by the well-known and multifacted Los Angeles-based artist depicts a unique environment dominated by birch trees, an extension of the artist’s personal narrative and ongoing exploration of his heritage and homage to his father’s survival during WWII by hiding in forests on the outskirts of Poland. The artist will be present for a book signing at Aqua Art Miami on Friday, December 6, at 1 PM; and Baseman will also be among the exhibiting artists featured at Milan’s Antonio Colombo Gallery in Room 206.
Coagula Curatorial presents Tim Youd in “Get Shorty – a Durational Performance”. Artist Tim Youd continues his ongoing series of durational performances with his retyping of Elmore Leonard’s crime fiction classic Get Shorty throughout the duration of Art Aqua Miami, retyping of entire novel on a single piece of paper, utilizing the same make and model typewriter used by the original author.
Somebody is planning to shoot a man out of a cannon behind the Soho Beach House(4385 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach). at midnight on December 3rd, following the annual White Cube bash.
Influential Paris retailer Colette touches down at Art Basel Miami Beach (December 2–8, 2013) for a decidedly different art experience, in partnership with Miami’s innovative fashion concept shop Alchemist. The colette art DRIVE-THRU at alchemist is installed in the Carpark adjacent to Alchemist on Level 5 of 1111 Lincoln Road, the celebrated concrete structure designed by architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron.
Charlie James Gallery presents Steve Lambert’s “Everything you Want, Right Now” in the fair’s entrance via the hotel’s front windows and lobby. Consisting of a fabricated commercial sign with flashing lightbulbs and a neighboring panel of commercially painted storefront signs, the installation will provide a witty welcome to the commercial art-world dealings to be found inside the fair.
The Drawing Room. Featuring Reed Van Brunschot. Complimentary cocktails by Pernod Ricard from 8-9 p.m. The Freehand, 2727 Indian Creek Dr., Miami Beach. 8 p.m.-midnight. Free with RSVP to events.miami@thefreehand.com.
Google Glass, Google’s Internet-connected eyeglasses, has teamed up with New York-based artist David Datuna for his series “Viewpoint of Billions.” Visitors can try on the eyeglasses to have them interact with Datuna’s work up close at Contessa Gallery’s booth at Art Basel Miami Beach.
The Standard Spa Miami Beach
40 Island Avenue
Miami Beach Florida 33139
Tel: (305) 673-1717 Fax: (305) 673-8181
Miami Beach Florida 33139
http://standardhotels.com/spa-miami-beach
Art Basel in Miami Beach
Miami Beach Convention Center, 1901 Convention Center Drive
Thursday, December 5 — Sunday, December 8
http://www.artbasel.com/en/miami-beach
Design Miami/
Corner of Meridian Avenue & 19th Street
Wednesday, December 4 — Sunday, December 8
NADA Art Fair
The Deauville Beach Resort, 6701 Collins Avenue
Thursday, December 5 — Sunday, December 8
ART MIAMI
3101 NE First Avenue
Tuesday December 3 – Sunday December 8
CONTEXT
The Art Miami Pavilion, 3201 NE First Avenue
Wednesday, December 4 – Sunday, December 8
http://www.contextartmiami.com/
PULSE Miami
59 NW 14th Street
Thursday, December 5 — Sunday, December 8
UNTITLED.
Corner of Ocean Drive & 12th Street
Wednesday, December 4 — Sunday, December 8
Miami Project
Corner of NE First Avenue & NE 30th Street
Tuesday, December 3 — Sunday, December 8
http://www.miami-project.com/miami
Aqua Art Miami
1530 Collins Avenue
Wednesday, December 4 – Sunday, December 8
Scope Miami
1000 Ocean Drive
Tuesday December 3 – Sunday December 8
Fridge Art Fair
337 SW 8th Street
Thursday, December 5 —Sunday, December 8
New Material Art Fair
855 Collins Avenue
Thursday, December 5 — Sunday, December 8
http://www.newmaterialartfair.com/
SPECTRUM Miami and ArtSpot International
Corner of NE First Avenue & NE 30th Street
Wednesday, December 4 —Sunday, December 8
http://spectrum-miami.com/show-information/about/
INK Miami Art Fair
Suites of Dorchester, 1850 Collins Avenue
Wednesday, December 4 — Sunday, December 8
Select Fair
1732 Collins Avenue
Wednesday, December 4 — Sunday, December 8
Red Dot Miami
3011 NE First Avenue at NE 31st Street
Tuesday, December 3 — Sunday, December 8
Miami River Art Fair
400 SE Second Avenue
Thursday, December 5 — Sunday, December 8
Newsha Tavakolian
Since she began her career as a photojournalist at the age of 16, Newsha Tavakolian has been capturing the essence of the modern-day Iranian experience through poignant photographs that challenge Western perceptions of the women of the Islamic Republic, while alluding to the intricate weavings of dialogue that shroud this forward-thinking and over-educated population. Her photographs capture the weight of the internal and external veils that, at first glance, seem to tether their subjects. Yet there is empowerment present in the faces of Tavakolian’s women, alongside determination, and a fiery tenacity that speaks of internal strength and defies subjugation.
Four of Tavakolian’s photographs are on display at LACMA through December 15, 2013. The fourth-floor elevator doors of the Ahmanson Building pull apart to reveal these somber-faced female protagonists who have been plucked from two different series: “The Day I Became a Woman” (2009) and “Listen” (2011).
Unlike the rest of the images in “The Day I Became a Woman,” which document the rite of passage ritual that celebrates a young girl’s transition into womanhood at the age of nine, the photographs on display at LACMA show the artist’s niece, Romina, before and after this ceremony. The transformation in Romina is staggering. The nine-year-old child sits on flower-covered sheets, dressed in a revealing pink ballerina outfit, her hand absent-mindedly resting on a doll. The second photograph shows the idea of woman-ness reflected on the child’s face. This Romina is self-aware. She crosses her arms tightly across her chest, her expression serious and distant, her eyes almost confrontational. Perhaps the most jolting difference between these two images is the sense of decision present in the woman-child—a decisiveness that covers her like a veil of power even as her childhood is concealed with her hijab.
Tavakolian created her “Listen” series in three phases. In the first, she captured images of female singers—who are forbidden to sing in public under the current political regime—as they performed in a private studio in downtown Tehran. The photographs on display at LACMA are from the second phase and portray a young Iranian woman whose expression reveals an amplification of the determination present on Romina’s face. These women are not tied down by the societal restrictions placed upon them. One stands in the middle of an empty street, wearing red boxing gloves as though daring us to challenge her. In the second photograph, the woman stands in the ocean with her back pressed against the assault of waves, her stance strong and unwavering. In a third phase, Tavakolian uses these photographs to create CD covers for the forbidden albums of the female singers.
Newsha Tavakolian’s work seems especially relevant in the context of women photographers emerging from the Middle East. Unlike Shirin Neshat’s “Women of Allah,” whose bodies often become canvases for scripture and poetry, or the women presented in Gohar Dashti’s “Me, She, and the Others” series, whose split identities are explored through the realities of mandatory conformity, Tavakolian’s women seem to use their societal limitations to trigger an internal process of private empowerment that fuels a sense of quiet determination. Tavakolian’s women are not every woman. They are individuals intimately connected with the possibilities present in their shrouded potential.
“Newsha Tavakolian” runs through Dec. 15
www.lamca.org
Michael Landy
Michael Landy is hardly the kind of artist you would expect to see named artist in residence at London’s National Gallery. For one thing, he’s a charter member of the Young British Artists made famous by Damien Hirst’s legendary “Freeze” exhibition. Known for their grand gestures and conceptual contrarianism, the YBAs also took a famously entrepreneurial approach to art making. But Landy was after something different. His famous 2001 work, Break Down, is the ultimate anti-materialism statement. Having assembled all his worldly possessions, from his birth certificate to his car (and a painting from fellow Goldsmiths student Hirst) in an empty department store in the heart of London, he catalogued all 7,227 items, then destroyed them in assembly line fashion using a conveyor belt, shredding machine, granulator and 12 assistants in a process that took over two weeks.
So how does Landy’s particular brand of art jibe with one of the bastions of Western European painting? Despite the fact that even Landy himself thought the National Gallery had made a mistake when he was informed he’d been chosen as artist in residence, the answer is very well.
Before his selection, Landy claims he had never been inside the museum—an irrelevant dinosaur as far as the Goldsmiths crowd was concerned. But he quickly made up for it, going through the collection meticulously, room-by-room looking at every painting. It was during this process, that he discovered a plethora of saints, particularly Saint Catherine (of whom there are 35). This would not be a surprise to anyone familiar with art history, which is so closely tied to the Roman Catholic Church, but to Landy it was a revelation.
A longstanding admirer of Jean Tinguely’s kinetic, self destructing sculptures, Landy struck on the idea of joining Tinguely with Renaissance art as a novel means of engaging with the National Gallery’s collection, while blowing fresh air into it.
The first thing you notice standing in line waiting to get in to Landy’s “Saints Alive,” is the noise. Great crashes periodically emanate from behind the glass doors that seal the installation off from the rest of the museum. It’s a surprising phenomenon in this hushed temple of art. As you draw closer to the front of the queue, you spy a large statue of a woman dressed in red. She looks authentically Northern Renaissance except for her size (7.5’) and the fact that there’s a gap at her upper torso exposing an assemblage of wheels and gears. She’s Saint Apollonia from Lucas Cranach the Elder’s Saints Genevieve and Apollonia, who holds a pincer with a tooth. For her martyrdom, all Apollonia’s teeth were pulled, and at the press of a button, Landy’s saint rams the pincers into her face. Visiting the show a month in, the sculpture’s face was already badly scarred by repeated blows.
It’s a macabre funhouse inside the show. Drop a coin in the wickedly droll Donation Box and Saint Francis bops himself on the head with his crucifix. St. Jerome whose torso, arm and lower half are separated by a scrapheap of moving parts is the source of the crashing noise. When a visitor steps on a pedal, St. Jerome slams a rock into his chest. Really hard. The effect is unsettling, it’s kind of funny and also kind of shocking, and though I wanted to see what each sculpture did, I really didn’t want to be the one stepping on the pedal. An equally brutal Doubting Thomas features a disembodied hand mercilessly poking Christ’s flesh, sending a shower of fiberglass particles to the floor.
Landy has lifted fragments from different paintings to cobble together his Frankenstein saints, monumentalizing them and turning what were flat, static works into animated sculptures. The fiberglass bodies and body parts have just the right ecclesiastical garishness, reminiscent of old-fashioned religious figurines.
Looking at the works on paper, it’s clear this use of fragments is actually an important theme of the show. Many of the paintings Landy draws from are fragments themselves, a single panel from a triptych, for instance. And the collection itself is a somewhat patchy representation of the history of art, containing only those things that, for one reason or another, survived through the ages.
Landy’s, collages made from large-scale representations of paintings augmented with drawn Tinguelyesque mechanisms are wonderful. I particularly liked Saint Apollonia (de-faced) in which Landy anticipates the scars from the bashing with the pinchers, making the image not about her martyrdom, but about his sculpture, and Saint Catherine Wheel Dump.
But the show is really about the sculptures. Violent, overwrought and self-destructive they present religious lore literally to disturbing effect. Landy has made the saints’ stories immediate and the art accessible, because there’s nothing like watching it intentionally self-destruct, to knock the preciousness out of it. Landy wants to jolt National Gallery visitors out of their museum-going passivity; perhaps even provoking them to go back and look at the pictures that inspired his work.
With Saints Alive, Landy has shown (and learned) that far from being irrelevant, the art of the past can provide a wellspring of inspiration for contemporary artists. Kudos to the National Gallery for going out on a limb and giving him the opportunity to do so.
“Saints Alive” runs through Nov. 24.
www.nationalgallery.org.uk
High Desert Test Sites 2013
I didn’t know what to expect on my first visit to High Desert Test Sites, a series of art installations and performances out in the desert organized by artist Andrea Zittel, Aurora Tang and their team. The most ambitious edition yet, HDTS 2013 featured some 60 projects, stretching from Joshua Tree to Albuquerque over a week, Oct. 12–19. Their mission has been to support “experimental art that engages with the local environment and community.” Before going, I knew that the best work would make use of the dry, sere landscape of elemental sparseness, and of the light which one becomes so present in that pared-down environment. I wasn’t disappointed.
Given temporal and monetary limitations, I checked out as many sites as possible during opening weekend in Joshua Tree and vicinity. The small official guide map was pretty rudimentary, and I gather that getting lost is part of the HDTS adventure. I found the sites mainly by a) going with someone who knew the lay of the land and b) talking to other seekers along the way. The first time I came to Debbie Long’s very worthwhile detour off the main road, “Naima,” I was led by someone who had worked on the project; the second time by signs that were put up. What was an old trailer from the outside held a gem inside—a chamber encrusted with pinkish cast glass “growths.” These pieces had been carefully fitted into custom cutouts so that the light from the outside (the top of the trailer was open) was filtering through them, and bean bags were provided for visitors to lie back on. I was reminded of stalactite caverns, except these protrusions glowed from within and bathed you in their transmission.
Two of the most remarkable pieces were suggested by people I ran into. At Saturday night’s opening dinner at The Palms—itself a wonderfully hip-funky restaurant and saloon on Amboy Road and the site of several art pieces—I ran into Asuka Hisa of the Santa Monica Museum of Art. She had spent the day scouring the desert and gave me this recommendation: “Secret Restaurant.” Later that evening I met artist Bob Dornberger while walking to “We Build Excitement” by Jesse Sugarman, a kind of post-apocalyptic car dealer with eerily glowing Pontiac signs. Two cars were stuck in the sand in a V shape, held up by steel poles, and another perched on its own stand like a giant piece of cake. All this around an abandoned shack. Quite cool.
The Secret Restaurant was 20 minutes away, plus a trek through the desert, so the next day my friends and I drove out there for lunch. Out in the middle of nowhere rose a steel booth largely buried into the sand. In his white chef’s jacket Dornberger stood inside cooking up tacos and quesadillas at his miniature kitchen—he took orders from “windows” on two sides, so we had to stoop down to talk and look at him. On top of the booth was a small “sunroof” where you were welcome to sit—if you could fit. “The idea came from a proposal I once made for a seasonal restaurant—it would be open only four days a year,” he told me. “Needless to say, it didn’t fly.” So he thought this up: a restaurant in the middle of the desert that was only operational three days. That said, word of mouth was such that there was a steady stream of people making the jaunt there for Sunday lunch.
The other remarkable recommendation was a non-HDTS piece, although the HDTS center helped distribute the postcard which helped me find it. At a health food cafe Sunday morning, a local artist showed me photos of Philip K. Smith III’s “Lucid Stead” on her smart phone. Later I contacted Rick Royale, Smith’s rep, and went on Monday, up Sunburst Street and onto a long stretch of dirt road which seemed never to end. From a meeting point, my friends and I were taken by Phil and Rick to the site—and we came upon a lone homestead shack in dark weathered wood amidst an expanse of packed sand and shrub.
As we got closer, we could see that Smith had taken out alternating slats and replaced them with mirrored plastic slats, so that the desert—and we—were reflected in horizontal strips. It was simply stunning. So stunning I returned at sunset for the night illumination of the shack. As dusk came, Smith turned on the inside lights—which showed up the cracks and inside diagonal supports in white light, while, quite magically, the windows and door became solid panes of slowly shifting color. (Okay, done through LEDs.) That piece alone was worth the drive and the dust and the possible damage to my aging car shocks. Although no future viewings of “Lucid Stead” are scheduled, Smith is having a show at Royale Projects in Palm Desert opening Nov. 29—check www.royaleprojects.com/
A couple other notables from the weekend were the wildly incongruent crocheted pup tents set midst boulders by Lea Donnan in “Desert Applique” and the awe-inspiring sound and light show put on by Pascual Sisto and Joey Jensen on Sunday night at the Big Boulder.
Maybe next year I’ll get to Albuquerque.
All photos by Scarlet Cheng
Zackary Drucker, Manuel Vason
at Luis De Jesus Los Angeles
Zackary Drucker & Manuel Vason
at Luis De Jesus Gallery
Performance/video artist Zackary Drucker and London-based photographer Manuel Vason have teamed up to create a series of self-reflexive and sometimes enigmatic images shot in Milan in 2010 during one of Drucker’s seminal performances. Drucker’s imagery does more than explicate transgendered identities; each of these photographs in some way expands the transgender dialectic to include, and indeed embrace, the compulsion toward violence, voyeurism and the interior space of the body versus the exterior space of public display and performance. Drucker utilizes performance as an explicit and coercive state of being where dominion over the artist’s own physical body is up for grabs. Be sure to see these stunning photographs before the show ends this weekend. Incidentally, Drucker has been chosen to participate in the 2014 Whitney Biennial.~Eve Wood
Zackary Drucker
and Manuel Vason
“Don’t Look At Me Like That”
Luis De Jesus
2685 S La Cienega Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90034
Oct 19–Nov. 23
and Manuel Vason
“Don’t Look At Me Like That”
Luis De Jesus
2685 S La Cienega Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90034
Oct 19–Nov. 23
5Pointz Pilgrims: One Last Visit to the Doomed Graffiti Mecca
New York Observer
“I’ve been coming here for years. It’s always been a great place where people will get together for art and peace and positive vibes,” said Rhonda Elhosseiny, gazing up at one of the exuberantly graffitied walls of 5Pointz, the Long Island City warehouse and global graffiti mecca. “But the reason I came today is that we don’t know how much longer it will be up and I wanted to see it again.” . . READ MORE
Brooklyn Banksy for Sale in Miami
www.telegraph.co.uk/
A broken heart and a graffiti-covered car door will be the first two pieces from street artist Banksy’s New York series to go up for public sale next month in Miami. The sale by an artist whose pieces have gone for as much as $1.87 million at Sotheby’s has drawn fire from some street-art experts who say they are public art that Banksy did not want sold.. . .READ MORE
‘Monuments Men’ veteran predicts more Nazi-seized art will surface
Reuters
When news of a hidden trove of Nazi-looted art in Munich came to light this month, an 87-year-old man in a quiet retirement community in New Jersey straightened a copy of a Rembrandt self-portrait hanging on his wall, completely unsurprised. The picture is a constant reminder to Harry Ettlinger of his days with the “Monuments Men,” the allied forces team tasked with returning looted art to its rightful owners at the end of World War Two. . . READ MORE
Kim Rugg
at Mark Moore Gallery
Kim Rugg
at Mark Moore Gallery
Kim Rugg dismantles and reassembles things—mostly words and images, including newspaper articles, magazines, cereal boxes, stamp and now maps. “Rendering their original content meaningless,” Rugg teases out new and sometimes extraordinary meaning from the obvious and the provincial. Maps are culturally relevant objects that have significant meaning, if only in that they are often ardently collected and stand to represent a specific place and time in history. Rugg masterfully transforms these iconic symbols according to a strangely altruistic and sublime methodology—like a gifted apothecary prescribing remedies for the end of the world. This show ends this weekend; a must see.~Eve Wood
Kim Rugg
Patterns of Landscape
Mark Moore Gallery
5790 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
Oct. 19 – Nov. 16, 2013
Patterns of Landscape
Mark Moore Gallery
5790 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
Oct. 19 – Nov. 16, 2013
Miguel Osuna at Garboushian Gallery
From Miguel Osuna. Posted by Artillery Magazine on 11/19/2013 (12 items)
- Miguel Osuna in front of one of his paintings
- Miguel Osuna
- Evan Senn
- Brianna Karrasch, Jason Robinson
- Herair Garboushian, Michael Arata
- Abel Alejandre, Herair Garboushian
- Susan Feldman Tucker
- Liz Gordon, Stuart Kusher, Shana Mabari
- Center: Herair Garboushian, Miguel Osuna
- Raquel Gomez, Sinai Fernandez
- Michael Dee, Tulsa Kinney
Generated by Facebook Photo Fetcher 2
Martin Mull
at Samuel Freeman
Martin Mull, “State of the Union,” 2013. Oil on linen, 50 x 60in
Martin Mull
at Samuel Freeman
Accurately representing the human experience in this day and age presents unusual complications—mainly because the business of being alive today is painful on a collective level. Martin Mull’s recent exhibition, ironically titled “State of The Union,” represents a luminously metaphoric investigation into the specifically American human experience during the 1950s. Works like the strangely ominous “State of The Union,” represent a typical scene—a family gathered around their television, completely subsumed in the image before them, and disconnected from one another. Mull’s exhibition reads like a road map for the divinely disengaged, a warning of what was yet to come.~Eve Wood
Eric Nash: Western Noir
“Western Noir,” an exhibition featuring Eric Nash’s newest paintings are currently on view at Skidmore Contemporary Art at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica. At first glance, his work brings to mind “Old Hollywood” featuring a youthful, yet noir-infused Los Angeles: neon signs from historic Hollywood symbols, road signs and classic images of gas stations. Day-lit paintings such as La Cienega (featuring a crisp blue sky with an exit sign suggesting a new destination) conjure up memories of childhood road trips; getting back on the road at the crack of dawn after a night of respite brings promise of a new day.
Nash started painting when he was just three-and-a-half years old. Raised by academic parents, his artistic talent was encouraged and he was enrolled in a Saturday morning art class at a local university by the age of four. I had the chance to sit down with the artist for an interview.
Artillery: What inspired the road signs and gas stations?
Eric Nash: I was obsessed with lonely urban landscapes. I have always been fascinated with the open road and the freedom it implies, and I have always loved cities and highways. I wanted to recreate what I saw with the emotions that went with it. I wanted to tell stories based on places and moods and Iʼm still doing that. I can show you drawings of gas stations, signs or lonely street scenes going back to childhood. I did my first highly realistic gas station at age 12 in fact.
I have to ask, were you inspired by the work of Ed Rusha and his book Twentysix Gasoline Stations?
Yes, Ed Rusha has been a life-long inspiration. He is the definitive West Coast/LA painter and artist. His direct simplicity but open-ended approach has always intrigued me—both figurative and conceptual—a balance between idea and craft, a rare combination. His iconic vocabulary, use of words and clean Los Angeles color palette seemed like a modern day extension of Edward Hopper whom I consider to be my root artist. Ruscha’s Standard (of a Standard station) was to me a modern step from Hopper’s early use of the gas station and the open road. The gas station is an oasis, a crossroads and in some sense the ultimate American place or icon.
When did the work of Hopper first attract your attention?
Edward Hopper was my first and biggest influence. His lonely urban street scenes and celebration of the ordinary as well as his use of light spoke to me very early, around age 12.
Tell me about your process as an artist?
I’ve spent a lifetime looking for the moments that speak to me. I like routine. So, for example, I drive into LA from Palm Springs, and I see the same things over and over again in a slightly different light or mood. I remember them. Usually I have a camera or iPhone, and I record them as a reference. But for me a photo is just a beginning. I have countless images that I comb through and those that stand out are put into a special folder. Once I decide on an image, I sketch it out in small scale to feel the cropping and proportions. Then I draw it on a canvas or a large sheet of paper. I like to jump right in with the first blocks of color or light and shadow to give it immediate life. I usually edit out unnecessary information and increase the drama or do something to make it “pop” in my mind.
What are your long-term goals for your art?
To create what I want to create. And if people like it, that’s even better. But as a life-long artist, I can say that it has to be true and soulful and about what youʼre interested in or it wonʼt work. So I just hope to remain soulful and honest and without pretense. Art is for the people and Iʼm one of those people.
“Western Noir” runs through November 23. Skidmore Contemporary Art is located at Bergamot Station Arts Center (D-2) 2525 Michigan Ave., in Santa Monica. http://www.skidmorecontemporaryart.com/ http://www.ericnashart.com/
all images courtesy Skidmore Contemporary Art
Editor’s Letter
Dear Readers,
Cold trickling creeks, running rivers and green woods were my surroundings growing up. That’s where we played as children and partied as teenagers. When I moved to Southern California, the unchanging climate and landscape were a bit unsettling—they still are, actually.
But discovering the desert made sense out of living in Los Angeles. The first time I went into the high desert, it was like visiting another planet. We were graduate art students then, and headed to the desert on the weekends. I know it’s a bit of a cliché, but the desert felt truly magical. It was so foreign to me. And of course if you add libations and other recreational fare, the experience was, well, mind-expanding.
I continue to need my desert fix.
But what is the appeal: Is it the vastness, the harshness, the brutality? Or could that be its beauty? If you’re a true desert rat, all of the above applies.
However, the desert doesn’t make sense to a lot of people, especially folks from where I’m from, the heartland. I always try to entertain my family when they visit by suggesting a short trip to the Mojave. Why? they immediately ask. One way I got to introduce the desert to my dad was on a road trip to Las Vegas. I pointed to the magnificent view out our car window. He seemed underwhelmed, then stated matter-of-factly, “Looks dead to me. It’s just a pile of rocks and dirt.”
I knew it was hopeless. I understood my dad’s point of view.
He practically lived the Tom Sawyer life growing up near the Missouri and the Mississippi. I even questioned why it appealed to me, with my deep fondness for lush greenery and four seasons.
The desert can look like an empty canvas with a neutral palette. Perhaps it takes an artist’s eye to pump up the colors and see how utterly sublime it can be. I wanted to believe my dad could see like I did. I wanted all my family to be able to see what I saw. But maybe my attraction to the desert was also my refuge from the world I escaped.
Whatever the desert means to you, it’s evident that it means a lot to Los Angeles artists.
Look at David Hockney’s famous
Pearblossom Highway photo collages or Andrea Zittel’s High Desert Test Sites. Michael Heizer’s land art. Even Burning Man was spawned for desert creativity.
Our desert issue just barely touches the tip of the saguaro cactus. Our Guest Lecturer Bill Viola is working on a new series about the hinterlands. Contributor Luca Celada interviews (recently deceased) Paolo Soleri on the architecture compound, Arcosanti, and Tucker Neel partakes in Shangrila, a Mojave madhouse of art and antics.
It’s hot. It’s our Desert Issue. I hope you can see what all the fuss is about.
FILM: Scott Stark’s Promethean Sparks
In Scott Stark’s The Realist—fresh off premieres at the Toronto and New York film festivals, and screening later this month as part of a REDCAT nano-retrospective of Stark’s three-plus decades of tenacious experimentalism—a gaga pair of drop-dead gorgeous department-store mannequins wiggle, wriggle and smash their way into life, out of their habitat (an array of window and merchandise-counter displays at an unnamed Austin-area shopping mall), and down through a melodramatic spiral of attraction, engagement, entrapment and betrayal.
Easy for me to say.
Accounting for Stark’s miracle of cinematic quickening, on the other hand—a miracle whose roots are sunk deep into film history, as far down as Sergei Eisenstein and Weird Ed Muggeridge—seems matter sufficient for a monograph. Here it shall suffice to say (based on two weeks’ frantic perusal of everything the filmmaker has seen fit to post on Vimeo) that with The Realist, Stark appears to have crossed a major threshold, pressing a prolific lifetime of homespun memes and special effects, of gestures comic, cosmic and ambiguously political, into the service of a cinematic saga of sorts, a movie-movie for once, augmented by glossy hit-and-run production values, timed to a preexisting music score (American minimalist David Goode’s 1998 large-ensemble piece Tunnel-Funnel), and knit together in ways calculated to mess with viewers’ expectations of narrative coherence.
Enter Ned and Judy, as Stark dubs his protagonists in the press materials—or, as I found myself thinking of them once the engine of eros had kicked in and torn them to pieces, Punch and Judy—a pair of full-body department-store mannequins who, following an intense moment of recognition (as in “Hey, we’re the only ‘people’ around here with heads!”), begin their search for a language in which to share their discovery of each other and their impulsive longing for a way out of their high-end consumerist environment, a way past the dazzling “smooth talk” of fashion and product and packaging design.
The trick to animating these wooden (or polystyrene, as the case may be) figures—and of putting them into more intense communication with each other—lies neither in some demiurgical Word of Life nor as the answer to some latter-day Geppetto’s prayer of petition, but rather in the fx toolbox Stark has put together over 75 short films and counting, in sketchpad work after sketchpad work (at least one of which, “Tracks 1-5,” is also on the bill at REDCAT). For example, having embarked upon a “dialectical” juxtaposition of images, of the kind with which Eisenstein experimented in his “Bolshevik” films of the mid–to late ’20s, Stark loops the splice and accelerates the repetitions, thereby rubbing or smashing images together in hope of igniting Promethean sparks of synthetic understanding. Or again—in what I take to be an original move, or at least an original approach to generating a cubist interpenetration of perspectives—Stark uses the images captured by a stereoptic camera (think Viewmaster) to produce rapidly occillating parallax views of his subject. This three-dimensional “wiggling” effect carries a conviction of urgency at once erotic and dramatic—as in a sequence where the rapid intercutting of brick wall and leaf-scattered lawn (an image for which another short in the REDCAT program, Speechless, provides the interpretive key) feeds into tableaux of dismembered mannequin limbs.
That said, it should promptly be noted that the film’s indefinite sense of forward momentum and episodic structure derives as much from the pull of David Goode’s “process” composition as it does from the progression of mute images. Indeed, The Realist is timed to the precise length of the Goode piece, which seems at times to have grown out of the first two bars of Stardust, which the recent Hoagy Carmichael biography called “a song about a song about love.” Which would make Stark’s film what? “A song about a song about a song about love,” presumably. Which may or may not come as news to Scott Stark.
As to the film’s title, it’s hard to say. Is the evocation of “realism” literary, cinematic? Either way, it’s an ironic appellation indeed when applied to Ned and Judy’s relentlessly artificial habitat. Is it a psychological “realism” born of disillusionment with consumerist and/or boy-meets-girl romantic idealization? Or is it simply a reference to the vintage Stereo Realist camera that Stark used to create the jiggled perspectives that drive his vision? Best, probably, to settle on all—and allow for the possibility that it’s none—of the above.
Or better yet, bring the matter up at the Q&A.
The Real and the Hyper-Real:
Films and Video by Scott Stark
At Redcat, Monday, November 25.
www.redcat.org/event/scott-stark-0