tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82662050222060536122024-03-05T08:22:56.490-08:00Art:SuppliedReviews and discussions on artOlivia Faleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16231774646508495107noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266205022206053612.post-49687294129419461302014-12-31T10:02:00.000-08:002015-01-03T20:33:47.844-08:00Pierre Huyghe: Unexpected Pleasures and Disappointments <div class="MsoNormal">
To naysayers of contemporary art, Pierre Huyghe’s
retrospective at LACMA is bound to be the last straw. To an open mind, it will have
a positively jostling impact. Huyghe’s body of work is as contemporary as it
gets: it is unpredictable, hyperkinetic, and not for the lazy. This exhibition requires
an amount of effort, be it in the form of resistance or surrender. It is hard
to be unaffected by what might as well be a self-governing organism: a
smattering of live ants follow a trail of rat pheromone; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Human</i>, the artist’s dog, perambulates the galleries; there are a
few giant aquariums, and then there is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Untilled
(Liegender Frauenakt</i>), the reclining nude with an active beehive for a
head. The artist is not the sole meaning-maker here. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHFXFP72IaGjv6xWRPul-8MF7txIxqUrJigNV3CRXL2o_vROMMRqXDG9YSU6xVDXfc-P5xtvNyrwq3MDS9z-rK8cCaiLcHQTbwvUMOZ45l1sw4JHSrH3LIXZS24rvVwr3YXPtRMjfI1jE/s1600/rsz_b3inh_wieaazori.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHFXFP72IaGjv6xWRPul-8MF7txIxqUrJigNV3CRXL2o_vROMMRqXDG9YSU6xVDXfc-P5xtvNyrwq3MDS9z-rK8cCaiLcHQTbwvUMOZ45l1sw4JHSrH3LIXZS24rvVwr3YXPtRMjfI1jE/s1600/rsz_b3inh_wieaazori.jpg" height="221" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: avenir-35-light, Arial, 'PT Sans', helvetica, serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; vertical-align: baseline;">Untilled (Liegender Frauenakt)</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: avenir-35-light, Arial, 'PT Sans', helvetica, serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; text-align: start;">, concrete cast with beehive structure, wax.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: avenir-35-light, Arial, 'PT Sans', helvetica, serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; text-align: start;"> Photo courtesy Annenberg Media Center</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Pierre Huyghe (pronounced<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hweeg</i>) was born in 1962
in Paris and since the 1990s has been playing with the concept of
“auto-generative” art. If you thought Alexander Calder’s kinetic sculptures —
shown in the same pavilion earlier this year — were animated, Huyghe’s
exhibition will stop you in your tracks. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The threshold into Huyghe’s world is disappointing, if not
anticlimactic—you are welcomed by nothing but blank walls angled in seemingly
slapdash ways. It is confounding, until the sense of disruption morphs into
liberation: Ah, I see, this exhibition is here for me to play. If the artist
can break boundaries so can I. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One protean space leads to another, or to a dimly lit room,
or to a manufactured world outside, dripping with precipitation (fog, snow,
rain). In some recesses there is so much light deprivation you get the urge for a dose of sun. Sounds echo around you, some so vivid you can’t tell if
they’re real-time or from one of the handful of films rolling. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNcV-LmDseZUwBxITPUKlU4u8-hDOwdmbCplkIkCpaSdbKPsC_DIjwNdbEM1oFtIy2ypvl__YqUlyuqy4OvBMgyfNlbz_mNhnNYvquyYc6-c7OInFL0g5_fnZ5S-QuWuJM3O8Yktc6PKU/s1600/rsz_sk1_9658.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNcV-LmDseZUwBxITPUKlU4u8-hDOwdmbCplkIkCpaSdbKPsC_DIjwNdbEM1oFtIy2ypvl__YqUlyuqy4OvBMgyfNlbz_mNhnNYvquyYc6-c7OInFL0g5_fnZ5S-QuWuJM3O8Yktc6PKU/s1600/rsz_sk1_9658.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: avenir-35-light, Arial, 'PT Sans', helvetica, serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; text-align: start;">Installation view.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: avenir-35-light, Arial, 'PT Sans', helvetica, serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; text-align: start;"><br />Photo courtesy Esther Schipper</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In Huyghe’s
twenty-five year career, film has been a mainstay. His 2014 film, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Untitled (Human Mask)</i>, captures the
human penchant for manipulation: a monkey, wearing the mask of a woman, is
being trained to work as a waitress. Huyghe describes it as a dystopic portrait
of human alienation. It feels perfectly apropos for the disorienting, sometimes
sparse, sometimes lonely spaces in this exhibition. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoqOm0ea5PdHhKKBsmT8BD7NfNCEIzQ-2VRRC4AVQ-jLuI7sftwE86LIT0Avw1MpeLMu7yYAJi6akn6KwA226zUk1l8dNms5zNWCPejRgHnPDgWJN3a8IBs7s1-6HXUkPJnTDhlCutBOs/s1600/rsz_humanmask.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoqOm0ea5PdHhKKBsmT8BD7NfNCEIzQ-2VRRC4AVQ-jLuI7sftwE86LIT0Avw1MpeLMu7yYAJi6akn6KwA226zUk1l8dNms5zNWCPejRgHnPDgWJN3a8IBs7s1-6HXUkPJnTDhlCutBOs/s1600/rsz_humanmask.jpg" height="150" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: avenir-35-light, Arial, 'PT Sans', helvetica, serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; vertical-align: baseline;">Untitled (Human Mask)</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: avenir-35-light, Arial, 'PT Sans', helvetica, serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; text-align: start;">, 19-minute film. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: avenir-35-light, Arial, 'PT Sans', helvetica, serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; text-align: start;">Photo courtesy LACMA</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Even if <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pierre Huyghe</i>
feels a bit like the artist’s personal play space, it is splendidly self-aware.
The raw, unframed documents on the display feel like personal messages
from Huyghe. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">L’Ecrivain public </i>is his chronicle of the exhibition's opening, voyeuristic and full of banal
observations that cannot resist amusement (celebrities and museum aristocracy, like Director Michael Govan, are mentioned). Reading it soothes the urge to be that fly on
the wall.<br />
<br />
Look up and you'll notice the ceiling doubles as a light grid that visitors can
operate. Before reaching for a joystick, you have to ask yourself, Am I allowed
to touch this?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is where Huyghe’s exhibit can get infuriating. You
don’t know where the lines end and begin. The synchrony couldn’t be more
perfect: Huyghe is pushing you to challenge your obedience in manufactured
spaces. You learn to anticipate moments of freedom, and, inversely, moments of
disappointment: those beds of piled fur, begging to be sat on? Those are not
for you but for <i>Human</i>, the artist’s
Ibizan hound.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGQM45NIU-7JUYxIEbxDY-tTmsLMN3N_kaAXYIy2FhV4r2nmfe-zwJYRH-1PygSUAFS1X9ZY8xNnpvu2i_P6dKFEIcz5DXaHW1f5nC45lMGXseaFaQrdNnBINPaWAJ4Vkh_A0QkR3ize0/s1600/rsz_staticsquarespace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGQM45NIU-7JUYxIEbxDY-tTmsLMN3N_kaAXYIy2FhV4r2nmfe-zwJYRH-1PygSUAFS1X9ZY8xNnpvu2i_P6dKFEIcz5DXaHW1f5nC45lMGXseaFaQrdNnBINPaWAJ4Vkh_A0QkR3ize0/s1600/rsz_staticsquarespace.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: avenir-35-light, Arial, 'PT Sans', helvetica, serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; vertical-align: baseline;">Human</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: avenir-35-light, Arial, 'PT Sans', helvetica, serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; text-align: start;">, dog.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: avenir-35-light, Arial, 'PT Sans', helvetica, serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; text-align: start;"><br />Photo courtesy Autre</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i>Pierre Huyghe</i> is on view at LACMA through February 22, 2015.</div>
Olivia Faleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16231774646508495107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266205022206053612.post-15356384769335025212014-11-13T17:00:00.001-08:002014-11-17T21:16:38.196-08:00Shangri La: A little bit of paradise in LA<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
It's a breath of fresh air, walking into a gallery full of pre-loved objects: an ivory door with nicks, a tapestry that has clearly seen better days. These are just a fraction of Doris Duke's collection now on view at <a href="http://www.lamag.org/" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: black;">LA Municipal Art Gallery's</span></b></a><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> </span>exhibition, <i>Shangri La: Architecture, Landscape and Islamic Art</i>. The eponymous spotlight of the show is the heiress and philanthropist's estate in Honolulu, envisioned after a honeymoon to India and the Near East; Hawaii was the last stop on she and her (first) husband's return home. Smitten by the landscape, Duke bought land overlooking Diamond Head and immediately drew up the blueprints. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<br /></div>
The heiress filled her home with a vast and varied collection: art from India, Spain, and Central Asia; a collection of Islamic art so substantial that it gave rise to the <a href="http://www.ddfia.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;"><b>Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art</b></span></a>. The objects at LAMAG are on loan from the foundation, not including the work of twelve artist residents who spent some weeks at Shangri La in 2010.<br />
<br />
The residency clearly left an impression on its benefactors. Iranian artist Afruz Amighi described the estate as an "idyllic Eden." His installation, <i>Rocket Gods</i>, references the omnipresence of naval bases on the island— a strange contrast to the serenity of Honolulu. Here the rockets and missiles are in disguise as chandeliers, much akin to the spectacular ceiling lamps of the Islamic world.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj15ZY6A8_KNv4oE39fiNmwah3YJNGIA-RSQ6REh5la8LnPoIBqDr6xJvvFSfD_eri135uD8-4lpYt9kAyqbzDdM4Gx322-sO41_g0lq8XGjBa6GNEBVVCuFA8pUjcbw2LSFKCxNjlh8C0/s1600/IMG_2885.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj15ZY6A8_KNv4oE39fiNmwah3YJNGIA-RSQ6REh5la8LnPoIBqDr6xJvvFSfD_eri135uD8-4lpYt9kAyqbzDdM4Gx322-sO41_g0lq8XGjBa6GNEBVVCuFA8pUjcbw2LSFKCxNjlh8C0/s640/IMG_2885.jpeg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Afruz Amighi, <i>Rocket Gods</i>, 2010<br />
Aluminum and base-metal chain<br />
Photo credit: Parisa Rezvani</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
It seems to be a trend these days, pairing contemporary art with historic. (Last year the <a href="http://oliviatheblogger.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-common-thread-antique-and.html" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: black;">Istanbul Archaeological Museum</span></b></a> offered contemporary riffs on the Ravenna mosaics of Byzantium; <a href="http://www.chateauversailles-spectacles.fr/en/spectacles/2014/contemporary-art" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: black;">Versailles</span></b></a> now rotates contemporary art in its palace on an annual basis.) But the pairing of historic and contemporary is doubly apropos for this exhibition: Duke was a fan of both old and new. In fact she commissioned living Islamic artists to make work for her estate, including architectural features.<br />
<br />
Enjoy some highlights below of the exquisite furniture, clothing and accessories from the LAMAG exhibition, which also appeared at New York's <a href="http://madmuseum.org/exhibition/doris-dukes-shangri-la#" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: black;">Museum of Art and Design</span></b></a> in 2012.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-m3UGSB3aNBUYVxgWekmj-N8EJ9VBcpOWlQlfZIaUceOF-cN2EgWT0TR-ggO1RBk-Qqfv5AlybVKJBmgVnSCVqdDzh9ijoAcxorfJOamZ3Za_nX1AazZt0OTQOxFOyo1Xe5S0N_hUZHg/s1600/photo+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-m3UGSB3aNBUYVxgWekmj-N8EJ9VBcpOWlQlfZIaUceOF-cN2EgWT0TR-ggO1RBk-Qqfv5AlybVKJBmgVnSCVqdDzh9ijoAcxorfJOamZ3Za_nX1AazZt0OTQOxFOyo1Xe5S0N_hUZHg/s640/photo+4.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Robe, nineteenth-early twentieth century, probably Turkey</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Silk</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Photo credit: Olivia Fales</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicvd1qAWNuXJmk_GUruZb3Jj-93LmJ_NE_BJuYicvHh0942gat0YYwf3j-ErmG9KrdB3hHCZUto1ARucdhQHWquaJrIARu3Rncb3_t7lUeckMSza5WrGxVmLmXRpcdv4bmQkLOu607ETo/s1600/photo+5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicvd1qAWNuXJmk_GUruZb3Jj-93LmJ_NE_BJuYicvHh0942gat0YYwf3j-ErmG9KrdB3hHCZUto1ARucdhQHWquaJrIARu3Rncb3_t7lUeckMSza5WrGxVmLmXRpcdv4bmQkLOu607ETo/s640/photo+5.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robe (detail)<br />
Photo credit: Olivia Fales</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGabv_N-S1sgwRqAlMj0jW2p00AkmJA5d_Gx0q1xPRQJuhXRsF8hOiWnKPDTg4_Gi2HaXj0HUt0yo2OfKSgG-qC4P5qcdl2AA1ef8d0I0FldxTcbynh8_R_LNQAda8Uf1oV30wtAkg9oY/s1600/PH.sl.DDFIA027.28_57.59.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGabv_N-S1sgwRqAlMj0jW2p00AkmJA5d_Gx0q1xPRQJuhXRsF8hOiWnKPDTg4_Gi2HaXj0HUt0yo2OfKSgG-qC4P5qcdl2AA1ef8d0I0FldxTcbynh8_R_LNQAda8Uf1oV30wtAkg9oY/s400/PH.sl.DDFIA027.28_57.59.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Pair of ear ornaments, nineteenth century, India (Delhi)<br />Enameled gold, white sapphires, rubies, seed pearls, emerald beads, cord<br />Courtesy Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcfLHYrwCEumAF0voMJNUlvL775QoWdPKw6UW53pOgwuB_GPvhniBeAjEOgeJR4AbCnEga4BI8iZnipXQi7vXFfu0uq5FeuUxgs8g__ek4_VKlKgIQa0_2JhJ-yjpQCBANAJpQjNFLA2c/s1600/photo+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcfLHYrwCEumAF0voMJNUlvL775QoWdPKw6UW53pOgwuB_GPvhniBeAjEOgeJR4AbCnEga4BI8iZnipXQi7vXFfu0uq5FeuUxgs8g__ek4_VKlKgIQa0_2JhJ-yjpQCBANAJpQjNFLA2c/s640/photo+1.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.7272720336914px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Chair, early nineteenth century, Iran<br />Wood inlaid with ivory, ebony, brass<br />Photo credit: Olivia Fales</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2AFdVIiXOVJ9AIlEFpIBZuxnEKAizGnCRn8pm0F8ST-b05W7UAlaFpCAjES15u05VaQ3BGBamPbnoJ3rK5wPEoG4kNEC68Qoi3CPhafhgEKHZbf4bUfi-R650ZwfIgd92IOW8vfOk_TM/s1600/PH.sl.DDFIA008m_47.8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2AFdVIiXOVJ9AIlEFpIBZuxnEKAizGnCRn8pm0F8ST-b05W7UAlaFpCAjES15u05VaQ3BGBamPbnoJ3rK5wPEoG4kNEC68Qoi3CPhafhgEKHZbf4bUfi-R650ZwfIgd92IOW8vfOk_TM/s400/PH.sl.DDFIA008m_47.8.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.7272720336914px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Rosewater sprinkler, eighteenth to nineteenth century, Iran<br />Glass, mold blown and hand blown<br />Courtesy Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjusR02uJj_0aTcc8iSTsliLZmp3PyituahA2Gqb_cOXlZ3kqXQ19aAJddZXF3Fc8Tg-SxF7pVJErhmWxSHRt9aeHKJo_bSfK7rhp0GNbC-YDJygDWlVIylsQTN9U_NrpdKE83rYDtST0c/s1600/PH.sl.DDFIA011i_65.15a-l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjusR02uJj_0aTcc8iSTsliLZmp3PyituahA2Gqb_cOXlZ3kqXQ19aAJddZXF3Fc8Tg-SxF7pVJErhmWxSHRt9aeHKJo_bSfK7rhp0GNbC-YDJygDWlVIylsQTN9U_NrpdKE83rYDtST0c/s400/PH.sl.DDFIA011i_65.15a-l.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Chest of drawers, late seventeenth century, Spain<br />Wood, mother of pearl, ivory, ebony, metal hardware<br />Courtesy Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<i>Doris Duke's Shangri La: Architecture, Landscape and Islamic Art runs through December 28, 2014.</i>Olivia Faleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16231774646508495107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266205022206053612.post-7317414094719695452014-10-08T10:52:00.002-07:002014-11-17T21:20:42.255-08:00Candy, etc. at William Turner GalleryRight, more abstract paintings. That's what Carole Bayer Sager's new work makes you think; but not for long: when viewed up close they look fuzzy— even messy. But at a distance, they assume a level of clarity that verges on the photographic. A classic case of the Monet effect. You need a large space with ample leg room to show this kind of work.<br />
<div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Sager's subject matter is popular: in her solo show at William Turner Gallery, food is the focus. What distinguishes her work are the titles. Many aren't about the food itself but what happens to it after human intervention: <i>Torn</i>, <i>Shredded</i>, <i>Pulled</i>. These stand-alone participles sound mildly aggressive. In many ways, that's what eating is.<br />
<br />
On the other side of these actions is delight. <i>Sampled</i>, a delightful mess of boxed chocolates, is a case in point.<br />
<br />
Sager makes us think about the food itself. Her <i>Portrait of an M&M Peanut, </i>while somewhat contrived, is an ode to mindful eating. It is the equivalent of a <a href="http://craftcouncil.org/content/ken-price-big-load" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;">Ken Price</span></a> sculpture: a view into the anatomy of an object. It's not often that we meditate on the viscera of delectables— and there's no need to, but it's nice to be reminded every now and then.<br />
<br />
<i>Carole Bayer Sager: New Works is on view at <a href="http://www.williamturnergallery.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;">William Turner Gallery</span></a> through November 8th.</i></div>
<div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkXDlQ9X2Ed4TB9LhLmrz-B_ETzdfJrHkElqULK0JYHixuNE-LfXjP-Tj823ltVrrYDW0lmplEFXXdr4K1rQmHy7JLlZx-uRf6zz7J6BghAtB2GR3dtSFVXo6dEs5ydWCRjiqgEKukq4k/s1600/photo+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkXDlQ9X2Ed4TB9LhLmrz-B_ETzdfJrHkElqULK0JYHixuNE-LfXjP-Tj823ltVrrYDW0lmplEFXXdr4K1rQmHy7JLlZx-uRf6zz7J6BghAtB2GR3dtSFVXo6dEs5ydWCRjiqgEKukq4k/s1600/photo+2.JPG" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.727272033691406px;"><i>Torn</i> (detail), 2014, oil on linen, 48" x 48"<br />
Photo: Olivia Fales</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPLOyVsMc3YO3EC07uimMsYGbvtRnXTjE6-ZseZJjNOiY4g3wNHyJK7I0kvCRa79wWQH4DQDc53yKExCymohJ0SgfLvmNgBTFFkWfXJiZid7USjT7hL82LAhIUQJWiXPyuojkUGvC8ACI/s1600/photo+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPLOyVsMc3YO3EC07uimMsYGbvtRnXTjE6-ZseZJjNOiY4g3wNHyJK7I0kvCRa79wWQH4DQDc53yKExCymohJ0SgfLvmNgBTFFkWfXJiZid7USjT7hL82LAhIUQJWiXPyuojkUGvC8ACI/s1600/photo+1.JPG" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Torn</i>, 2014, oil on linen, 48" x 48"<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.7272720336914px;">Photo: Olivia Fales</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJqtxBbN7YVT6GHPtkkuBme9x6eDVLVYj7p9pgjXet7AHtEGdD4rsSW7KEd-7YxXdcTS1eBfyQmL_jY1V5L3cTW6D_Uq7vIe6gfZjUm9lxUJ09hZmq5PzYe5Mii2dleQebATlAGAf3hZ8/s1600/photo+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJqtxBbN7YVT6GHPtkkuBme9x6eDVLVYj7p9pgjXet7AHtEGdD4rsSW7KEd-7YxXdcTS1eBfyQmL_jY1V5L3cTW6D_Uq7vIe6gfZjUm9lxUJ09hZmq5PzYe5Mii2dleQebATlAGAf3hZ8/s1600/photo+3.JPG" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Shredded</i> (detail), 2014, oil on canvas, 84" x 84<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.7272720336914px;">Photo: Olivia Fales</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS7OCstTJ_1EBxoQon3dZGiFrAMj5uErYVKBGM2UjRgshxddJytL6ETVBsDRzABrxm151VHVCLxHVHIgKV5RCmikhaS0wWGmgDrq0C8ai9frKqQGnSbPWyuLhKwWb8tP93F8LP-iX7RpI/s1600/photo+5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS7OCstTJ_1EBxoQon3dZGiFrAMj5uErYVKBGM2UjRgshxddJytL6ETVBsDRzABrxm151VHVCLxHVHIgKV5RCmikhaS0wWGmgDrq0C8ai9frKqQGnSbPWyuLhKwWb8tP93F8LP-iX7RpI/s1600/photo+5.JPG" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Shredded</i>, 2014, oil on canvas, 84" x 84<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.7272720336914px;">Photo: Olivia Fales</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMU5HBEtsatnuxvqHISMyQf39Pxh9Y9NG8qItOW2bFy28T9m1ufNe3gyjAkk25VaoPiDvHt3DDtX7Gg30KorWEWB4Hrf3zW95iOeUoba8ySr2HLRbQlqUZVDSONY1JEys8BlC7QIlZPFE/s1600/photo+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMU5HBEtsatnuxvqHISMyQf39Pxh9Y9NG8qItOW2bFy28T9m1ufNe3gyjAkk25VaoPiDvHt3DDtX7Gg30KorWEWB4Hrf3zW95iOeUoba8ySr2HLRbQlqUZVDSONY1JEys8BlC7QIlZPFE/s1600/photo+4.JPG" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Portrait of an M&M Peanut</i>, 2014, oil on linen, 36" x 36"<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.7272720336914px;">Photo: Olivia Fales</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ohyphenhyphenBXDbi3xCV7EhP1iUabgoefaAS4l5dRTWvJxvIWBTq7f_YWGc4cW-XHXA1iHGxoNdLBgucdPRaqwjjh8jMyuiZWzA35sNZoEZ-xx7Ke2TCUWaYhSEF3_Jt_b6fPoBG2oX3b_zlCcQ/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ohyphenhyphenBXDbi3xCV7EhP1iUabgoefaAS4l5dRTWvJxvIWBTq7f_YWGc4cW-XHXA1iHGxoNdLBgucdPRaqwjjh8jMyuiZWzA35sNZoEZ-xx7Ke2TCUWaYhSEF3_Jt_b6fPoBG2oX3b_zlCcQ/s1600/photo.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Installation view, with <i>Portrait of an M&M Peanut at</i> center<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.7272720336914px;">Photo: Olivia Fales</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
Olivia Faleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16231774646508495107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266205022206053612.post-90265696839004231792014-09-17T22:23:00.001-07:002014-11-17T21:21:47.792-08:00Modern Kimonos at LACMA <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Here's a preview of some favorites from the LACMA exhibition, <i><a href="http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/kimono-modern-age" target="_blank">Kimonos for a Modern Age</a>, </i>on view through October 19th.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9r6b287H56JvZ445x91njjPUEgs31pnnUefjU56OH3ALUReuWXhr5c5WH4vPRBfShzhYw0OdXpGf_G4U6xDkTljuVhlpfiz9v1mKa4mJExv2nRPYrt0Vgo5c_CV8RVIc62eiYVq6DZSI/s1600/photo+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9r6b287H56JvZ445x91njjPUEgs31pnnUefjU56OH3ALUReuWXhr5c5WH4vPRBfShzhYw0OdXpGf_G4U6xDkTljuVhlpfiz9v1mKa4mJExv2nRPYrt0Vgo5c_CV8RVIc62eiYVq6DZSI/s1600/photo+1.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Woman's Kimono with Abstract Pattern (Japan, c. 1950)<br />
Silk plain weave, stencil-printed warp and weft<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.7272720336914px;">Photo: Olivia Fales</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2v06bl58BWtWIazSA_Im7PLZxrPv68nPsWFrY9V_vfYF0YYzQiG_3P7PeyExNhm3_dAO8vklLIFY9t2iCS-DxJ3EqnLHddrO1mlIpd4QHHlqSn0rlz7NqHPfMERlE-GlUoTBdnkfF0GU/s1600/photo+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2v06bl58BWtWIazSA_Im7PLZxrPv68nPsWFrY9V_vfYF0YYzQiG_3P7PeyExNhm3_dAO8vklLIFY9t2iCS-DxJ3EqnLHddrO1mlIpd4QHHlqSn0rlz7NqHPfMERlE-GlUoTBdnkfF0GU/s1600/photo+2.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Woman's Kimono with Abstract Landscape (Japan, c. 1950)<br />
Silk plain weave, stencil-printed warp and weft<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.7272720336914px;">Photo: Olivia Fales</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5SgGQ_Ig4oZfyAz80-mznrRAY_gC6Q0B5j_5uML2FD2rIGBvezmBqNx0Q8MD2MDWZqw-fJB3-cSpuQex20_QeInYmz4D40oWuEuZsaBWSQr8n4j8HYB8_icFHRTv2L-y7t6kyt-dlxis/s1600/photo+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5SgGQ_Ig4oZfyAz80-mznrRAY_gC6Q0B5j_5uML2FD2rIGBvezmBqNx0Q8MD2MDWZqw-fJB3-cSpuQex20_QeInYmz4D40oWuEuZsaBWSQr8n4j8HYB8_icFHRTv2L-y7t6kyt-dlxis/s1600/photo+3.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Woman's Unlined Kimono with Abstract Design (Japan, c. 1955)<br />
Silk plain weave, stencil-printed warp and weft<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.7272720336914px;">Photo: Olivia Fales</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxdfI1OM5Dj2sZyoj7uaoqXjHS3VWUxWgfv1DnAW1d5UD1qGIiTddBxbJ903VjH5AJRLgZlsEArQ2s8V4QhWTy_CtBXZLM3ubs4389el_lpriY_Wq75nC84D0LFuMrrYb2vN4WE_DNOhI/s1600/photo+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxdfI1OM5Dj2sZyoj7uaoqXjHS3VWUxWgfv1DnAW1d5UD1qGIiTddBxbJ903VjH5AJRLgZlsEArQ2s8V4QhWTy_CtBXZLM3ubs4389el_lpriY_Wq75nC84D0LFuMrrYb2vN4WE_DNOhI/s1600/photo+4.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Woman's Kimono with Geometric Pattern (Japan, c. 1955)<br />
Silk plain weave, clamp-resist-dyed warp and weft<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.7272720336914px;">Photo: Olivia Fales</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJK5_w-1-gdrdX1KzEd7u57rNTSCYmgCDPkuyRO9tBxWf5DajyWhhqSrqBOJx0gTR_pOmu8lORWbZ6NBgouWMpcxVvWtSQHkdWIGbs7JECq3mSEDZ3Dw9Icp_pM5-sJNLA2nZuB4xJbvM/s1600/photo+5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJK5_w-1-gdrdX1KzEd7u57rNTSCYmgCDPkuyRO9tBxWf5DajyWhhqSrqBOJx0gTR_pOmu8lORWbZ6NBgouWMpcxVvWtSQHkdWIGbs7JECq3mSEDZ3Dw9Icp_pM5-sJNLA2nZuB4xJbvM/s1600/photo+5.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Woman's Kimono with Overlapping Hexagons (Japan, c. 1940)<br />
Silk plain weave, stencil-printed weft<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.7272720336914px;">Photo: Olivia Fales</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Olivia Faleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16231774646508495107noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266205022206053612.post-27056390936647706702014-08-11T19:24:00.000-07:002014-08-12T16:44:40.719-07:00Larry Bell, a Venice Beach mainstayLarry Bell, best known as a pioneer of the <a href="http://hyperallergic.com/38827/wtf-is%E2%80%A6-light-and-space/" target="_blank">Light and Space</a> movement, is also a masterful collagist. Some of his pieces are on display at his <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dailydish/2011/08/larrys-in-venice-opens-today-with-nothing-over-15.html" target="_blank">namesake restaurant</a> in Venice, Ca., where the patrons, sun-kissed and airy, intersect with the great California Minimalist in more ways than one. His studio is also nearby.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFCuB_C6wp1daKHm8LyakFkXXSvfXaWeRsWyVARGe-vAkAT6yL1watagBehj5607Za9shXZKyA80blSs1VtAP7vxSSEmzb-MqV_6MraTam6p8biQ1cvpjYZPk8X2oSjABgUu8u3aXFwqo/s1600/DustinDowning,+photo_Larry's.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFCuB_C6wp1daKHm8LyakFkXXSvfXaWeRsWyVARGe-vAkAT6yL1watagBehj5607Za9shXZKyA80blSs1VtAP7vxSSEmzb-MqV_6MraTam6p8biQ1cvpjYZPk8X2oSjABgUu8u3aXFwqo/s1600/DustinDowning,+photo_Larry's.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of Larry's<br />
Courtesy of LA Times/Photo by Dustin Downing</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
One of Larry Bell's signatures are his plexiglass cubes of the 1960s, translucent and mystical. They were his channel into exploring the properties of <a href="http://whitecube.com/artists/larry_bell/" target="_blank">light on surface</a>. When light passes through a cube, it undergoes metamorphosis: it is captured, reflected, and transmitted. The artwork becomes a sort of light show.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLEf9HLzwVf42TX-my0IrrJFSkkrfkCwMbro45kC8fISo41qEoA37BMoadh1g8BbpuhctXv4HO6XQbujjCB0_eN3_i54rsR5E-_4d4-W81BkD_i9RTLvcmxkC7lu8tWcPSILnh5k-urQg/s1600/Larry_Bell_Cube_16_2008_3227_377.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLEf9HLzwVf42TX-my0IrrJFSkkrfkCwMbro45kC8fISo41qEoA37BMoadh1g8BbpuhctXv4HO6XQbujjCB0_eN3_i54rsR5E-_4d4-W81BkD_i9RTLvcmxkC7lu8tWcPSILnh5k-urQg/s1600/Larry_Bell_Cube_16_2008_3227_377.jpg" height="320" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><div style="font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">
<i>Cube 16</i>, 2008, coated glass</div>
<div style="font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">
Courtesy of Frank Lloyd Gallery</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
At Larry's, the cubes will sneak up on you: They are the inspiration behind the bar's design, which could pass simply (and satisfyingly) as Fiestaware tiles.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmzMFNgU9_AL8Yfuyw87-qFaQFKM2vadzV_pzQrNMcrpDziUR9mzDfhqG3SweFGjE-0ym51nk6fjx-BjGLHY5h3K8FKichTxQHgxvAOHGOlCRvZxoveltAR8JjY69axdtkPmhu_jt7bGI/s1600/savoryhunter.com.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmzMFNgU9_AL8Yfuyw87-qFaQFKM2vadzV_pzQrNMcrpDziUR9mzDfhqG3SweFGjE-0ym51nk6fjx-BjGLHY5h3K8FKichTxQHgxvAOHGOlCRvZxoveltAR8JjY69axdtkPmhu_jt7bGI/s1600/savoryhunter.com.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The festive bar at Larry's<br />
Courtesy of Savory Hunter</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
They are also appear as wall art, in the form of his mixed media collages. They are a pleasant surprise that you're only likely to find if you make a trip to the loo. The collages line the wall to your right, all cubes, all part of Bell's <i>fraction</i> series. They glow, radiating an aura that you never imagined inorganic shapes were capable of.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUgZT0Ja8OxYsUkiVqtGQZw5uHIEfunbo_uQLz_yTOeVzWJ4WpEprDBas4MFG1RNwBBmDdXFbfc1cCGSWkUsfIxWrQRsvL69ahekMCgYJlbNaVQ4sBJj0CynqITTkcexu_1KoAvVkqyI0/s1600/Fraction%231197,+1996,+mixed+media+on+watercolo+paper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUgZT0Ja8OxYsUkiVqtGQZw5uHIEfunbo_uQLz_yTOeVzWJ4WpEprDBas4MFG1RNwBBmDdXFbfc1cCGSWkUsfIxWrQRsvL69ahekMCgYJlbNaVQ4sBJj0CynqITTkcexu_1KoAvVkqyI0/s1600/Fraction%231197,+1996,+mixed+media+on+watercolo+paper.jpg" height="320" width="314" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Fraction #1197</i>, 1996, mixed media on watercolor paper<br />
Courtesy of Larry Bell Studio</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA9HzQeo6EAr-SYjcU7E8pWFJMHSdrmJ4F-z6DQewAZ9yTZo7WYQiDBteV_go81vFC-r-drKY70E2xEGjBRcoODaGFVJL_3BZNzohddv64xqfXhmOgecpg3dh_gPhyEKgWPCEhz9MEk0g/s1600/Larry_Bell_Fraction_2482_1997_FrankLloydGallery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA9HzQeo6EAr-SYjcU7E8pWFJMHSdrmJ4F-z6DQewAZ9yTZo7WYQiDBteV_go81vFC-r-drKY70E2xEGjBRcoODaGFVJL_3BZNzohddv64xqfXhmOgecpg3dh_gPhyEKgWPCEhz9MEk0g/s1600/Larry_Bell_Fraction_2482_1997_FrankLloydGallery.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Fraction #2482</i>, 1997, mixed media on watercolor paper<br />
Courtesy of Larry Bell Studio</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijRfA1ch9NMG-q-MyPWgsoqunIMIBTeWDZfBNy3wWU80nuUTESQ3WBNeHQTwTZuZlmlXrE8IYPHx4VumRzkckyHXiWZo0_aSBgkrrXO3KctSEjYVChDvJB0hsNLEiJMSs7eOeabBVTtNk/s1600/Fraction+2296,+1997.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijRfA1ch9NMG-q-MyPWgsoqunIMIBTeWDZfBNy3wWU80nuUTESQ3WBNeHQTwTZuZlmlXrE8IYPHx4VumRzkckyHXiWZo0_aSBgkrrXO3KctSEjYVChDvJB0hsNLEiJMSs7eOeabBVTtNk/s1600/Fraction+2296,+1997.jpg" height="308" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Fraction #2296</i>, 1997, mixed media on watercolor paper<br />
Courtesy of Larry Bell Studio</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />
<br /></div>
Olivia Faleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16231774646508495107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266205022206053612.post-70632714088538259152014-06-17T12:32:00.000-07:002014-06-17T12:32:52.393-07:00John Altoon, little-known giant<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2xbhEk-8yT9YsMMyWfEZrXy9vELf7H_daGLa5nTJq8wWp-Ft-1TfSJk8SoBNQzYFJKx0kt8js8qezKH54POfhJ7HI1brcblLTvJjOavEw2VGB-NZg6rrLOyrpKwaSj8iCl1NFFJgRJTo/s1600/John+Altoon+in+his+studio,+ca.+1968.+Image+courtesy+of+and+%C2%A9+Joe+Goode.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2xbhEk-8yT9YsMMyWfEZrXy9vELf7H_daGLa5nTJq8wWp-Ft-1TfSJk8SoBNQzYFJKx0kt8js8qezKH54POfhJ7HI1brcblLTvJjOavEw2VGB-NZg6rrLOyrpKwaSj8iCl1NFFJgRJTo/s1600/John+Altoon+in+his+studio,+ca.+1968.+Image+courtesy+of+and+%C2%A9+Joe+Goode.jpg" height="325" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.727272033691406px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">John Altoon in his studio, ca. 1968<br />Image Courtesy of the Getty and Joe Goode</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span>
<span style="text-align: center;">The work of John Altoon is anything but innocuous- and yet, its playfulness can lead you to think otherwise. His paintings and works on paper burst with color; his ink drawings sizzle. Looking at Altoon's work is a bit like walking through a fun house: some images are abstract and distorted; others are crystal clear. </span>It's a successful retrospective that makes you wonder "What's next?" each time you shift left or right. There's candy on every wall.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_2URxsd3cyg6rjnNjWV6os9VfTRbCuhGWNTTTO9bXkXp1bIgdbGaPtDHvwMJWZPO__NlAklfdCfcWNGD0A5vsfGMQbIYhrWlM4nobPiRL9vrsGNzQdRF7URykrrlglxuC9UYiP3-A65k/s1600/Ocean+Park+Series,+1962,+John+Altoon.+Oil+on+canvas.+72+x+84+in.+Orange+County+Museum+of+Art,+Newport+Beach,+CA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_2URxsd3cyg6rjnNjWV6os9VfTRbCuhGWNTTTO9bXkXp1bIgdbGaPtDHvwMJWZPO__NlAklfdCfcWNGD0A5vsfGMQbIYhrWlM4nobPiRL9vrsGNzQdRF7URykrrlglxuC9UYiP3-A65k/s1600/Ocean+Park+Series,+1962,+John+Altoon.+Oil+on+canvas.+72+x+84+in.+Orange+County+Museum+of+Art,+Newport+Beach,+CA.jpg" height="367" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.727272033691406px;"><i>Ocean Park Series</i>, 1962. Oil on canvas. 72 x 84 in.<br />
Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7TtSZQ9aZhgQPS5BDG39YMRrvYDy_JwO8CRCsDGL2mM2CXQ8m7Ml7UCsQBx5w7MHv9tNlpd7YIa0VeRrHy7HkvoYrr8UDwkjyoWEky1XsjyY5b28XIx790kmQGnTorWpXYkEOmeAa56E/s1600/Untitled+(F-8),+1962-63,+Image+Courtesy+of+the+Estate+of+John+Altoon+and+The+Box,+Photo+by+Fredrik+Nilsen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7TtSZQ9aZhgQPS5BDG39YMRrvYDy_JwO8CRCsDGL2mM2CXQ8m7Ml7UCsQBx5w7MHv9tNlpd7YIa0VeRrHy7HkvoYrr8UDwkjyoWEky1XsjyY5b28XIx790kmQGnTorWpXYkEOmeAa56E/s1600/Untitled+(F-8),+1962-63,+Image+Courtesy+of+the+Estate+of+John+Altoon+and+The+Box,+Photo+by+Fredrik+Nilsen.jpg" height="400" width="262" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.727272033691406px;"><i>Untitled (F-8)</i>, 1962-63<br />
Image Courtesy of the Estate of John Altoon and The Box. Photo: Fredrik Nilsen</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<i>John Altoon</i>, an exhibition organized by LACMA and the Rose Art Museum (Brandeis University), is the artist's first major retrospective. Altoon died young, at age 43, and his brief career has made him easy to overlook. But he is important. The vinyl quotations on LACMA's gallery walls, with quotes from big names like Ed Ruscha and Billy Al Bengston, are testament to his impact. Many referenced his uncanny ability to fluidly traverse figuration and abstraction; one friend called him the fastest draftsman you will ever meet. Indeed his quick, impassioned lines are electrifying; they enliven every room. I spent one minute following the curls and intersections of a single eye.<br />
<br />
Another signature are his phalli, which range from conspicuous to not; some materialize only after a few moments of looking. <i>F-24</i> (the F refers to "figurative") is a blend of Pop Art and personal touch: a soda can pours out a stream of sludge, the color of body fluid, catching a phallus in its wake. It is playful, grotesque, and strangely erotic-- an effect that, combined with his distinctive use of line, are quintessentially Altoon.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlsjGYrTtDhCqvACwuhCk6gxHq3eFazTm9h1gtr1yRCVWY-vUTs3EzZq1ey9p09VCjWPpMr7GI7HSa0NhsTyMDpugO7wwTDHtNZEcTd6NSVrGVA2Zh4S8hjihwVOQi_XrHcnDHsZYPhLY/s1600/Untitled+(F-24),+1962-63,+Image+Courtesy+of+the+Estate+of+John+Altoon+and+The+Box,+Photo+by+Fredrik+Nilsen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlsjGYrTtDhCqvACwuhCk6gxHq3eFazTm9h1gtr1yRCVWY-vUTs3EzZq1ey9p09VCjWPpMr7GI7HSa0NhsTyMDpugO7wwTDHtNZEcTd6NSVrGVA2Zh4S8hjihwVOQi_XrHcnDHsZYPhLY/s1600/Untitled+(F-24),+1962-63,+Image+Courtesy+of+the+Estate+of+John+Altoon+and+The+Box,+Photo+by+Fredrik+Nilsen.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.727272033691406px;"><i>Untitled (F-24)</i>, 1962-63<br />
Image Courtesy of the Estate of John Altoon and The Box. Photo: Fredrik Nilsen</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div>
John Altoon<i> is on view at LACMA through September 14, 2014.</i></div>
Olivia Faleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16231774646508495107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266205022206053612.post-81309129708458135302014-05-27T11:59:00.001-07:002014-05-27T11:59:54.309-07:00Notes on the history of color perceptionThere is a limit to our knowledge of other people. How can one articulate their own experience of color, for example? "The chair is blue." ("But what <i>is</i> blue?")<br />
<br />
According to philosopher Zed Adams, that question wasn't even considered until the 1600s. The perception of color is a relatively new phenomenon, one whose history Adams presented in a talk (and promotion for his forthcoming book, <i>The Genealogy of Color</i>) at <a href="http://machineproject.com/about/" target="_blank">Machine Project</a> in Los Angeles.<br />
<br />
Interested in how philosophical questions <i>become</i> philosophical questions, Adams discovered that before the 1600s, it was believed that people experienced color in the same way. Then came a shift: a renewed interest in optics led to the discovery that color is but light reflecting off a surface; that light doesn't just make seeing color possible- it produces color. Since each pair of eyes processes light differently, color, therefore, must be a subjective experience.<br />
<br />
Many other corollary discoveries came about from the 1600s on, and, according to Adams, five important ones in particular:<br />
<br />
1. Light has a speed.<br />
2. Different color experiences are caused by different sources of light.<br />
3. There are lights that we can't see, like infrared and ultraviolet.<br />
4. Other animals can colors that we can't.<br />
5. Color blindness exists.<br />
<br />
It's easy to take for granted these long-accepted facts, but it was revolutionary for thinkers like Isaac Newton and Rene Descartes. Newton believed that seeing color was analogous to hearing sound: pitch was believed to come in seven varieties, so why not color? Descartes didn't necessarily think about variation in color perception so much as the fact that our own ideas about color don't resemble their external causes (the blue chair is not produced by a blue-colored light).<br />
<br />
That isn't to say that color wasn't <i>thought</i> about before the 1600s; the ancient Greeks named their colors according to how much light was emitted rather than their hue. (The entry for "colour" in the Cambridge Dictionary of Classical Civilization gives a precise account of this.) The Greek term <i>ochron</i> for example, included a variety of colors - red, yellow, green - because they all have a similar lightness.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNIsQLoWj_RfmuWXjF6ytnLs5QHBptI4wlszgzzGDKvPPBst60T9FAr-hVHgVL4f7QldIpKBiwTo6_xaPKLN92xisTKB6WVlJ-8-F0JgooEh_TuIHT4CWgeQDuUA3PU9DEVc_OcQr2KK8/s1600/Sketch+from+ReneDescartes,+De+Homine+Figuris,+ca.+1633+(Getty+Images).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNIsQLoWj_RfmuWXjF6ytnLs5QHBptI4wlszgzzGDKvPPBst60T9FAr-hVHgVL4f7QldIpKBiwTo6_xaPKLN92xisTKB6WVlJ-8-F0JgooEh_TuIHT4CWgeQDuUA3PU9DEVc_OcQr2KK8/s1600/Sketch+from+ReneDescartes,+De+Homine+Figuris,+ca.+1633+(Getty+Images).jpg" height="400" width="337" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sketch from Rene Descartes, <i>De Homine Figuris</i>, ca. 1633 (Getty Images)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbL-uzNs19i6_CABLbS0cYwqUfrnOJuIXKOCmwZH0Gw08xJn86F6zcAzlA9AWcXQ3u7Z0phPLOIB_yOK5vt1VpOFYLD0bHvWjTNkYy5CqbrtzQqzNMVRbK2sJiT_6fJ608hcWHdxtm5OI/s1600/Color+Circles,+Traite+de+la+peinture+en+mignature,+(maybe)+Claude+Boutet,+1708+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbL-uzNs19i6_CABLbS0cYwqUfrnOJuIXKOCmwZH0Gw08xJn86F6zcAzlA9AWcXQ3u7Z0phPLOIB_yOK5vt1VpOFYLD0bHvWjTNkYy5CqbrtzQqzNMVRbK2sJiT_6fJ608hcWHdxtm5OI/s1600/Color+Circles,+Traite+de+la+peinture+en+mignature,+(maybe)+Claude+Boutet,+1708+.jpg" height="310" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Color circles from <i>Trait</i><em style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">é</span></em><i> de la peinture en mignature</i>, possibly attributed to Claude Boutet, 1708 </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><div>
Adams' talk, while brimming with food for thought, was at times tiresome: using dates as a device for situating events ("color blindness was first considered in the late 1700s"; "infrared was discovered in the 1800s") is better left for reading material. Then again, he did make the historical focus of his talk clear in its title, "The History of Questioning Color Perception."</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And indeed, tying together this history nicely, he concluded with an anecdote: In the 1800s, a man was surprised by the black suit his future son-in-law was wearing as it was the day before his wedding. Turns out it wasn't black; he was just color blind.</div>
Olivia Faleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16231774646508495107noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266205022206053612.post-17747154827562976912014-05-07T20:38:00.003-07:002014-05-07T20:38:57.925-07:00CP's namesake<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
So <i>that's</i> what contrapposto is...</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikzVWQgEa5XP0mc_a_B1FvuGf-r2JbVbpKd1X0Qsvurbh2l35UtWSDe3sSkFCHGda2fvsS63bExtV3iaDpmMa7LPAhsgcWshHbkY7SKEkD56FkpqUNfY0jjsQNgM6t4fBjM75mKAMTIGo/s1600/unnamed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikzVWQgEa5XP0mc_a_B1FvuGf-r2JbVbpKd1X0Qsvurbh2l35UtWSDe3sSkFCHGda2fvsS63bExtV3iaDpmMa7LPAhsgcWshHbkY7SKEkD56FkpqUNfY0jjsQNgM6t4fBjM75mKAMTIGo/s1600/unnamed.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />Olivia Faleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16231774646508495107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266205022206053612.post-32061960054512762912014-05-01T16:10:00.000-07:002014-11-17T21:23:05.105-08:00Children's book illustrations, for all agesUsing superlatives are a questionable tool, but it's unavoidable in the case of <i>The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats</i>, a new exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center. Based on the luminous and thoughtful work of children's book illustrator Ezra Jack Keats, <i>The Snowy Day</i> is one of the most beautiful, inventive exhibitions I've ever seen. You'll find it rouses your energy on a scale similar to that of their <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/22/arts/design/noahs-ark-at-skirball-cultural-center-in-los-angeles.html?_r=0" target="_blank">Noah's Ark</a> exhibition. It will invigorate the scroogiest of scrooges.<br />
<br />
<i>The Snowy Day</i> proves that book illustrations don't just belong in books. "Finally, he reached the King's high palace" has the glow of a Klimt and the sublimity of a <a href="https://web.duke.edu/secmod/pfau/friedrich1.html" target="_blank">Caspar David Friederich painting</a>. It takes your breath away, in what can only remotely match the awe of a traveler who has reached his destination.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeybbXEDavvTNV3N3Izo4pfXraVXXUwlcDR4D9S-L1Kz6sWBwU2tntk_oa5LzX-jr2cTCBuZ3DGOdKC-dX1bJ-eq5AMRCBma_Io6wnhXaxg6nNr3WTsFBRdJ-aRB_W-_1tkEm0bXzActA/s1600/EzraJackKeats_Illustration_King%2527sFountain+%2528Skirball%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeybbXEDavvTNV3N3Izo4pfXraVXXUwlcDR4D9S-L1Kz6sWBwU2tntk_oa5LzX-jr2cTCBuZ3DGOdKC-dX1bJ-eq5AMRCBma_Io6wnhXaxg6nNr3WTsFBRdJ-aRB_W-_1tkEm0bXzActA/s1600/EzraJackKeats_Illustration_King%2527sFountain+%2528Skirball%2529.jpg" height="213" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #627485; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.882790565490723px; text-align: start;">Ezra Jack Keats, “Finally, he reached the King’s high palace.” Final illustration for The King’s Fountain, by Lloyd Alexander, 1971. Paint on marbled paper, mounted on board.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #627485; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.882790565490723px; text-align: start;">Courtesy Skirball Cultural Center </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
But of course, book illustrations are meant for books, and this show is a testament to the value of the hand-held page. One can imagine words scrawled into the space Keats left for them, be it a marbled sky or a mound of snow. But his illustrations, too, can easily stand alone.<br />
<br />
Jack Ezra Keats gained notoriety after his publication of <i>The Snowy Day</i> in 1962. It was the first full-color, modern book to feature an African American protagonist-- an important addition to the conversation on civil rights.<b> </b>He went on to publish other books with African American protagonists, a choice that led many to think he was black. Keats, in fact, was the son of Jewish immigrants in Brooklyn.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpdo3RwP4g4ZlPc8_Yw2lWhNbRyVyJNCQWoR2L13ke7bTdjm8mfo7DMUmUWk7i_iJXFpDT5CvmySCkoALntfF9ax8GdUwZkjxE_lK8Ennkm_6nPb0KuKY9bAimUEevetRGmZlJcO081aM/s1600/skirball_keats_snowy_5_lg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpdo3RwP4g4ZlPc8_Yw2lWhNbRyVyJNCQWoR2L13ke7bTdjm8mfo7DMUmUWk7i_iJXFpDT5CvmySCkoALntfF9ax8GdUwZkjxE_lK8Ennkm_6nPb0KuKY9bAimUEevetRGmZlJcO081aM/s1600/skirball_keats_snowy_5_lg.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #627485; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.882790565490723px; text-align: start;">Ezra Jack Keats, “After breakfast he put on his snowsuit and ran outside.” Final illustration for The Snowy Day, 1962. Collage and paint on board.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #627485; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.882790565490723px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: 12.7272720336914px;">Courtesy Skirball Cultural Center</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7dhbO7oO0qP4U8ZoKbFXbTiHsgO1jGD75lW3GBDf1J_Co_MT5mo3mu9Te-GGGcehCqJqJJwUnfAioyoDgxVR76jVU1UiByf6t807QWvwecjjLBxOJSZgVVUUWpEftnyq6BPRHhdESmMk/s1600/skirball_keats_johnhenry_2_lg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7dhbO7oO0qP4U8ZoKbFXbTiHsgO1jGD75lW3GBDf1J_Co_MT5mo3mu9Te-GGGcehCqJqJJwUnfAioyoDgxVR76jVU1UiByf6t807QWvwecjjLBxOJSZgVVUUWpEftnyq6BPRHhdESmMk/s1600/skirball_keats_johnhenry_2_lg.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.727272033691406px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #627485; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.882790565490723px; text-align: start;">Ezra Jack Keats, “He said goodbye to his mother and father, and off he went.” Final illustration for </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #627485; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.882790565490723px; text-align: start;">John Henry: An American Legend</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #627485; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.882790565490723px; text-align: start;">, 1965. Collage, paint, and pencil on paper.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #627485; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.882790565490723px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: 12.7272720336914px;">Courtesy Skirball Cultural Center</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggvUbUVXR8q_XvmGoupa_9KAK3TTIJtlxgsDvnM_k8Sh9OD-KCREBTBiSVd6MCMLLHLamyKNpA68Avit8tdmeQZGsU1yh_T-jld4XqOylAO_Q_I1o-7akb4AyYrcXEK1MhMa5uzeRMDIY/s1600/skirball_keats_hat_lg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggvUbUVXR8q_XvmGoupa_9KAK3TTIJtlxgsDvnM_k8Sh9OD-KCREBTBiSVd6MCMLLHLamyKNpA68Avit8tdmeQZGsU1yh_T-jld4XqOylAO_Q_I1o-7akb4AyYrcXEK1MhMa5uzeRMDIY/s1600/skirball_keats_hat_lg.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #627485; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.882790565490723px; text-align: start;">Ezra Jack Keats, “They added a picture of swans . . . leaves . . . and some paper flowers.” Final illustration for</span><i style="background-color: white; color: #627485; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.882790565490723px; text-align: start;">Jennie’s Hat</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #627485; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.882790565490723px; text-align: start;">, 1966. Collage and paint on paper.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #627485; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.882790565490723px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: 12.7272720336914px;">Courtesy Skirball Cultural Center</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSgp3ZPmGvF8CV5rp_9UsmA8vAz9wzuv11aVgjYTjKS47PraV1Fyb46-Mj94gMjUdxG6Z1CpdoQVDH23uD_JZlLdro9ELKSQlUNodTj2ULoMHwiBe1wI6h3ebgfOOI7M0oh-G8rojY63g/s1600/DSC01459.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSgp3ZPmGvF8CV5rp_9UsmA8vAz9wzuv11aVgjYTjKS47PraV1Fyb46-Mj94gMjUdxG6Z1CpdoQVDH23uD_JZlLdro9ELKSQlUNodTj2ULoMHwiBe1wI6h3ebgfOOI7M0oh-G8rojY63g/s1600/DSC01459.jpeg" height="428" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #627485; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 14.882791519165039px;">Installation view (replete with interactive bathtub)</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #627485; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 14.882791519165039px;">, </span><i style="color: #627485; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 14.882791519165039px;">The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats</i><span style="color: #627485; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.818181991577148px; line-height: 14.882791519165039px;">.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><a href="http://www.skirball.org/exhibitions/the-snowy-day" target="_blank">The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats</a> is on view at the Skirball Cultural Center (Los Angeles) through September 7, 2014</i>.</div>
</div>
Olivia Faleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16231774646508495107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266205022206053612.post-33342398546962699872014-04-18T12:34:00.002-07:002014-05-01T14:20:43.143-07:00100 Strong: Connecting through the power of food<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDiMCt8P9gMCnpi3SF06uAX-skeRokGX8u48lyh-m5g0AnSbsOpb-cnDztSpM6hhIP-oLGM4CkIuW80PdZ0pPv8kdwMEIZVHu9_WrERgq5DytDKsmU8STJA1yGPXLmENwNbPw3V52_mP0/s1600/1932408_10154020506395624_1811896726_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDiMCt8P9gMCnpi3SF06uAX-skeRokGX8u48lyh-m5g0AnSbsOpb-cnDztSpM6hhIP-oLGM4CkIuW80PdZ0pPv8kdwMEIZVHu9_WrERgq5DytDKsmU8STJA1yGPXLmENwNbPw3V52_mP0/s1600/1932408_10154020506395624_1811896726_n.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
Artist and chef Maggie Lawson draws a clear distinction
between ceremony and ritual. A ceremony is a way of formalizing an event in a
community; a ritual can be inscribed within that ceremony, or it can be a
mundane, everyday occurrence all its own. Ritual, so defined, is fundamental to
Lawson’s practice: “Ritual is very important in my work. I like engaging with
everyday rituals that have a lot of power.” Like eating. As a chef, this comes
easy for Lawson: her recent project, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Takeout Window</i>, was a huge success. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Staged in her North Oakland neighborhood, Lawson transformed
her home-studio into a site for engaging passersby in the ritual of sharing
food. Envisioned as a one-time event, it was such a success that she staged <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Takeout
Window</i> a second time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Food happens to be the catalyst in Lawson’s newest project, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">100 Strong</i>, a public performance with a
meal at its center. The event will again be staged in Lawson’s neighborhood, a
venue that she was inspired to re-use: “[<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Takeout Window</i>] made me feel like my whole neighborhood was my studio.” Lawson
enjoys drawing on the resources nearest to her, and what better place to stage
an art project than in your own backyard?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZKa_aG6wbK1wpD2S6sVpq8FBjsg25ne8v28tift2qQQ3_3fBWyHc-1gyVheKeVweWZSWffFqnnmzZNB826yLUietEEeytOESrfVFbRdB_1Qoyq_Guds9okQIfL2HheEQvboZPY0ZGFtA/s1600/maggie-053.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZKa_aG6wbK1wpD2S6sVpq8FBjsg25ne8v28tift2qQQ3_3fBWyHc-1gyVheKeVweWZSWffFqnnmzZNB826yLUietEEeytOESrfVFbRdB_1Qoyq_Guds9okQIfL2HheEQvboZPY0ZGFtA/s1600/maggie-053.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Maggie Lawson</i><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><div class="MsoNormal">
When Lawson moved to Oakland in 2004 as an Americorps
intern, the city had already undergone numerous demographic turns. These days the
city’s longstanding African-American population is in transition. Thousands of
transplants, many of them young, white locals from San Francisco, are moving to
West Oakland for lower rents. Many fear not only that the white influx will
displace traditional black residents but that amid all this change the vibrant
history and the civic legacy— Oakland is the West Coast’s epicenter of African
American civil rights —of the town will be forgotten.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Oakland’s history of demographic shifts goes back centuries.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>The indigenous Ohlone inhabited the
region without interruption for thousands of years before the Spanish arrived
in the 1770s, followed by an onslaught of Gold Rush immigrants and settlers in
the 1840s. In the 1850s, jobs on the East Bay waterfront drew European, Asian,
and African-American settlers; by the 1930s a vibrant African-American
community had begun to take hold in Oakland—West Oakland, to be precise. That
was one of the few places on the East Bay where African-Americans were
permitted to own property; in 1966, black civil rights reached a new height on
the West Coast with the formation of the Black Panther Party. Set against these
decades, it is somewhat startling to see that in the last ten years, the number
of white residents in some parts of Oakland has doubled, nearly equaling the
number of African-Americans in certain traditionally black neighborhoods. (Lawson
has observed a similar shift in her North Oakland neighborhood, which has not
only affected black residents, but other racial minorities; Oakland is one of
the country’s most racially diverse cities.) Oakland has a long history of
displacement and revival, all viewable from multiples perspectives of identity.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The city’s rich population history seemed to beckon Lawson;
it fortified her interest in “the sense of place that already exists and the
new aesthetic that’s being laid over it.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lawson understood that she was part of this new aesthetic:
“I’m coming at this as a white, low-income woman, but still with a fair amount
of privilege. What’s my role as an artist and an entrepreneur in
gentrification?” These thought processes are what gave birth to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">100 Strong</i>, a project that would provide
a space to acknowledge the history of her neighborhood, to connect with it, and
maybe even to reconcile with it. “With this piece I think we’re coming up
against the more dramatic repercussions of gentrification…. No one likes to
feel like they’re the gentrifier or the gentrified. This project explicitly
intends to grapple with that…to look for some sort of healing around it, bring
in this more sacred element to it, of ritual<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">
</i>and transformation.”<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since the conversation will develop around a meal prepared
by Lawson and her chef collaborators, the menu is important. Whatever they make
will reflect the history of the neighborhood. They are still in the process of
determining their method (the dinner is six months away), but they’ve been
brainstorming: a few ideas include collecting recipes from neighbors, researching
dining establishments in the neighborhood from the last two hundred years, and using
ingredients from different cultural groups that have inhabited the area. The
meal will tell a story of shifting populations, of identities in flux.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Other artists in the area have tackled gentrification, like
photographer epli. For her project “Here. Before. Art in a Contested Space,”
she lent cameras to five traditional residents in West Oakland (those whose
families lived there for multiple generations) to capture their realities.
epli’s goal was to stage an honest conversation about the subject, an intention
that matches Lawson’s.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Gentrification has a sting to it. It is Lawson’s hope that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">100 Strong</i> will encourage people to
confront the issue directly; she wants them to ask questions and to reflect on
the history of their neighborhoods and their place within it. A paramount
concern of Lawson’s is how the value of one’s labor impacts that place. For
this reason she has done some financial restructuring since <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Takeout Window. </i>Previously, the
contributing chefs (her neighbors) were asked to contribute small amounts for
the cost of producing the piece; most earned their money back from donations. This
time around, Lawson wants funding to be a part of the process, a gesture deeply
wedded to the project’s concern with value. (As she asked, “How do we value
what we create? What is the value of the social impact we make with our work?”)
She wants her collaborators to feel that their contributions are not only
appreciated, but valued. A group of community members are helping to raise the
funds. So far they number four, among them a food blogger and a graphic
designer and illustrator.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A collaboration <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">100 Strong</i> is a
collaborative project. Lawson’s left-hand women are chefs Ikeena Reed and Keri
Keifer, both owners of catering businesses in Oakland. Reed has strong ties to
North Oakland: her family has been in the neighborhood for four generations.
Her mother was a teenager in the Black Panther heyday and participated in their
Free Breakfast and Youth Apprentice programs. (Lawson lives just blocks away
from the community college where the party’s founding members held their
meetings.) Keifer has lived in Oakland for eleven years since leaving her home
state of Illinois to join California’s farming and farm-to-table movements.
Lawson is also from the Midwest, lured to the culinary mecca that is the Bay
Area.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsUPHABqD8sHiSZAVuFVn-zbLkFNPR2awRU20h-kXjgox9_ZCCi-Jqgt23BG3hn44tb2RnYq3KZft9yeRHRqiGU2PDK1iYqHMVBpol3Zr2YdgfEyyPBp9ChTLKyBFhSKRMoDJt4VkQ_t8/s1600/Chef+Ikeena.GumboShot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsUPHABqD8sHiSZAVuFVn-zbLkFNPR2awRU20h-kXjgox9_ZCCi-Jqgt23BG3hn44tb2RnYq3KZft9yeRHRqiGU2PDK1iYqHMVBpol3Zr2YdgfEyyPBp9ChTLKyBFhSKRMoDJt4VkQ_t8/s1600/Chef+Ikeena.GumboShot.jpg" height="206" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Ikeena Reed</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><div class="MsoNormal">
When asked how Reed and Keifer’s backgrounds inform the
project, Lawson grew animated: “They’re both spiritual, self-aware people, and
we’re negotiating the same dynamic among the three of us that’s taking place
out in the neighborhood. I’m really inspired by their work. They create really
beautiful things that speak deeply to who they are culturally and to the other
folks they’re serving.” All three women are concerned with issues of food
justice, and Lawson sees <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">100 Strong</i>
as an opportunity for herself and her collaborators to pursue the creative
parts of their craft while also making a social impact. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The other members of Team <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">100 Strong</i> are fundraisers—the community members mentioned
above—and filmmakers. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">100 Strong</i> is
also a story, and so documentation is fundamental to ensuring access to the
project. This includes recording the event itself, but also the process, which
is no less important to Lawson. She plans to coordinate with a local filmmaking
duo whose company, <a href="http://www.radiologie.co/">Radiologie</a>, produces
content for small businesses. Lawson says they are masterful storytellers. Aware
that there are other ways to document a process besides using video and
photography, Lawson is considering other formats: a recipe book, maybe; even
the very words you are reading now.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ultimately Lawson plans to stage an exhibition. This will be
her first time strategizing how to use the elements from a community piece to
tell a story in a museum or art institution. Her goal is to engage audiences
who weren’t present at the performance, but of course she hopes the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">100 Strong</i> dining audience will also
attend. </div>
</div>
Olivia Faleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16231774646508495107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266205022206053612.post-35250524131934839282014-04-15T12:25:00.002-07:002014-04-18T12:37:06.899-07:00Life is a balancing act (Alexis Lago at Couturier Gallery)<div class="MsoNormal">
Serene and surrealistic, Alexis Lago’s watercolors (and a
few oil paintings) call to mind scenes from storybooks or fables, often casting
man and nature at odds or in tandem. His exhibition, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Possible Moves</i>, is now on view at Couturier Gallery. Expect to be
welcomed by a beaming, Klimt-esque oil painting from across the room, this flanked
by a whimsical and equally contemplative ensemble of works.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsY7KGFsB_0Y_iGAueHsw7rFWuEl0VXEHx6MrprLHXTzT_DmqOzsDehWxxIcJIx5xhELB4-bM3E9cgQBGVl2h2lvvVIk_Rcwk-OfvpT8r3huiCTiLInK7cXfc1g536M8J3rjoVGAWFCQA/s1600/Lago_Concilio_de_abajo_y_arriba.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsY7KGFsB_0Y_iGAueHsw7rFWuEl0VXEHx6MrprLHXTzT_DmqOzsDehWxxIcJIx5xhELB4-bM3E9cgQBGVl2h2lvvVIk_Rcwk-OfvpT8r3huiCTiLInK7cXfc1g536M8J3rjoVGAWFCQA/s1600/Lago_Concilio_de_abajo_y_arriba.jpg" height="640" width="257" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lago is a Cuban native whose gentle yet crisp strokes lend
his work a distinct quality; the same goes for his sensitive treatment of
marine animals, a relic of his background in biochemistry. In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Penitente </i>(Penitence), a stream of fish
fall headlong from the sky like meteors, straight towards a patch of earth in
which a man is buried. The man is Lago himself, his head protruding just above
the surface, awaiting the inevitable. The painting’s verticality is not
isolated; much of Lago’s work assumes this format, highlighting binaries like
sky and earth, groundedness and flight. In <i>Concilio
de abajo y arriba </i>(Council of Above and Below), a crane extends its neck
from out of a sallow sky, looking down (perhaps) on a scene of clashing ships
below. It strikes a contrast between the madness of man and the serenity of beasts.
Maybe being a polar bear, a solitary creature, isn’t so bad after all.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-align: center;">Lago’s oil paintings are just as
vivid. That Klimt-esque painting, </span><i style="text-align: center;">Move of
the Eraser Fish,</i><span style="text-align: center;"> is strikingly beautiful. Three men bear the weight of a
monstrous fish laden with color, almost like a patchwork quilt. The heavy
lifters are in motion, floating through a golden, ethereal space. It is a scene
of struggle amidst celebration. The piece calls to mind a painting by the early
twentieth-century artist Suzanne Valadon, </span><i style="text-align: center;">Le
Lancement du Filet </i><span style="text-align: center;">(Casting of the Nets)—an imagined prequel to </span><i style="text-align: center;">Move of the Eraser Fish</i><span style="text-align: center;">.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii8nwpJNShDz6yav1_02rgDZ3AMOWHlqOEjEZwQ1wkx5KIw-LYkKe4LO5xAonXsOGTO5HkO3RpGdc8TqxpjzC5VpuFlfuCvGxVjAE_oMPshFO50TMkVzM1J5VIjrg63ON_M9-UC2hq-FE/s1600/AlexisLago%252C+Move+of+the+Eraser+Fish%252C+2014+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii8nwpJNShDz6yav1_02rgDZ3AMOWHlqOEjEZwQ1wkx5KIw-LYkKe4LO5xAonXsOGTO5HkO3RpGdc8TqxpjzC5VpuFlfuCvGxVjAE_oMPshFO50TMkVzM1J5VIjrg63ON_M9-UC2hq-FE/s1600/AlexisLago%252C+Move+of+the+Eraser+Fish%252C+2014+.jpg" height="287" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghegQq7uVLIATbKuujnbXdtm6g6y2uOExyVrsFo8pGqMU5myH4t_PH6WRBkcbGXfzkxnOcCZkh3YwAAAFXPW2zggtLa8oKc_ORfW7sw7uPn6v5niaaGcMo8pqNwOxEJSUFPE1LdLECATo/s1600/casting-the-net-1914.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghegQq7uVLIATbKuujnbXdtm6g6y2uOExyVrsFo8pGqMU5myH4t_PH6WRBkcbGXfzkxnOcCZkh3YwAAAFXPW2zggtLa8oKc_ORfW7sw7uPn6v5niaaGcMo8pqNwOxEJSUFPE1LdLECATo/s1600/casting-the-net-1914.jpg" height="271" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Indeed Lago leaves much room for
imagining. His own creativity encourages it, be it a centaur-portrait or a tree
of human portraits in the form of what? acorns? They are whatever you want them
to be.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 58.5pt;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir09nlqoxISFKzSrXzI0_pgA0AT1F5l69Go7J8OVNGLlCDPnIN84GHk0Amu8nh7YHcAuaqlyB1Z4bu7HbJQZoLHYxTJtwjBiUNRDUYgPFnsR9vLgtN4hAxItLFlbu69YHMX_ZVUZxZSME/s1600/get-attachment-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir09nlqoxISFKzSrXzI0_pgA0AT1F5l69Go7J8OVNGLlCDPnIN84GHk0Amu8nh7YHcAuaqlyB1Z4bu7HbJQZoLHYxTJtwjBiUNRDUYgPFnsR9vLgtN4hAxItLFlbu69YHMX_ZVUZxZSME/s1600/get-attachment-4.jpg" height="640" width="273" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Arbol de la ida y vuelta</i> (Round Trip Tree), 2012<br />Watercolor on paper</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 58.5pt;">
<br /></div>
Olivia Faleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16231774646508495107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266205022206053612.post-19093057525146168502014-04-09T21:17:00.000-07:002014-04-10T16:51:15.056-07:00The aura of authenticity<div>
The excitement of recognizing an original work of art has a distinct punch. Not only have you struck a personal connection ("That's on my refrigerator magnet!"; "I used that in my thesis!"), but its very reproducibility makes it all the more exciting. You are face-to-face with a celebrity.</div>
<div>
<br />
Cultural theorist Walter Benjamin argued that the more an original is reproduced, the more its "aura" fades; the less powerful it becomes. (<a href="http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm" target="_blank">According to Benjamin</a>, aura is a correlate of "authenticity," or originality.) With reproduction now at our fingertips, is the aura all but extinct?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This <i>New Yorker</i> illustration by Rose Blake creates a space for considering Benjamin's theory:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyDDXSIYxjRinaoJniFg9zQFLZpUTvXN8zN7s2vtNpzTVPk6Lm5_hdY0PM6J3tEKz1TaKJYQzKhmwPgh0XTLtlbRviqFa-w0u8_rnP1iJh4rLB-_PSxNMD62EApnBYs-Rg1woOCPsc0qA/s1600/140414_r24874_g1200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyDDXSIYxjRinaoJniFg9zQFLZpUTvXN8zN7s2vtNpzTVPk6Lm5_hdY0PM6J3tEKz1TaKJYQzKhmwPgh0XTLtlbRviqFa-w0u8_rnP1iJh4rLB-_PSxNMD62EApnBYs-Rg1woOCPsc0qA/s1600/140414_r24874_g1200.jpg" height="640" width="473" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=2014-04-14#folio=059" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: black; font-family: neutra-2-text-n4, neutra-2-text-1; font-size: 14px; outline: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Rose Blake, Sketchbook, <span class="bibliography mag" style="font-style: italic;">The New Yorker</span>, April 14, 2014, p. 59</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div>
A museum visitor stands before a towering wall of artwork, the very piece above him displayed on his iPad. It seems absurd, even reprehensible, but it makes perfect sense: By pulling up a reproduction of the original, he's reified the glory of its originality. ("Is this it? ...Yes!") Now consider the position between himself and the artwork: Why remain distant from a work of art when you can hold a version of it in your hands?<br />
<br />
Benjamin believed that distance was an affect of power: the more mystifying a work of art, the more powerless the viewer. Reproduction, therefore, is good: it dilutes mystery, it dilutes the "aura."<br />
<br />
Aura is not sublimity. A work of art can still carry us away or ground us, even with hand-held technology (as long as the visitor looks up). What is more, today museums are much more conscious of visitor experience. This can have an inverse effect on the quality of exhibitions, but that's a discussion for another time. Concerns have radically shifted since Benjamin's <a href="http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm" target="_blank">seminal essay</a> of 1936: visitors are a priority as much as artwork (and artists). If a viewer strikes a relationship with a work of art, the museum has succeeded. This isn't to say that museums always prefer proximity over distance. Illustrations like Blake's remind us of this.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
I'm not pro-iPad; in fact I cringe at our reliance on hand-held technologies to guide us through experiences. But now that they've been adopted, I can't help but consider how they can also enhance experiences. Some art can be elusive, and a museum can't fill in every gap. Rose Blake's museum visitor, for all we know, might be Googling that painting on the upper right to find out more about it. He will walk away now, perhaps having discovered that even modern art can make sense after all.</div>
</div>
</div>
Olivia Faleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16231774646508495107noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266205022206053612.post-49807584229370031352014-04-04T12:24:00.001-07:002014-04-04T12:24:17.718-07:00Photography as an instrument in prison reform<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>This post is a continued conversation about SFMoMA's </i>Bearing Witness<i> symposium, March 16.</i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The irredeemable nature of our prison system can be considered a human rights emergency, and yet the issue is often cast beneath larger shadows<span style="font-size: 15px;">. </span><span style="font-size: 15px;">In an effort to reverse this, freelance writer and curator <a href="http://prisonphotography.org/" target="_blank">Pete Brook</a> </span><span style="font-size: 15px;">considers photography’s game-changing role in prison reform. For many, prisoners carry a stigma of sub-humanity that is debilitating and merciless, a condition that, Brook shows us, activists have tackled through the power of photography. The project</span><span style="font-size: 15px;"> </span><a href="http://www.yearten.org/2012/11/project-information-photo-requests-from-solitary/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #1466a1; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Tamms Year Ten</a><span style="font-size: 15px;">, prompted by the horrendous treatment of inmates at the super-max prison in Illinois (now closed), invited prisoners—all of whom were in solitary confinement—to request a photograph of their choice to be sent to them. Here is an example of one such request:</span></span></div>
<blockquote style="background-color: white; background-image: url(http://www.drosteeffectmag.com/wp-content/themes/vibrantjab3/images/blockquote.png); background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; margin: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 55px; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A grey & white (mix) “Warmblood” horse(s) in an outdoor environment — shown in action, such as rearing up or jumping or climbing. I’d like the photo to convey freedom, strength, and the wisdom of nature.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Additional instructions: If possible, taken in a cold environment so that clouds of hot breath can be seen.</span></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It’s hard not to liquefy after reading this; the prisoner’s sense of deprivation is so patent as to inspire a visceral awareness of things that we take for granted, like “clouds of hot breath.” The essential humanity of this prisoner is clear; he craves freedom and nature and movement.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Josh Begley, on the other hand, takes a macro approach to prison reform, using photography to capture the geography of incarceration in the United States. His project, <i style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://prisonmap.com/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #1466a1; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Prison Map</a></i>, culls together aerial photos of prisons, prompting us to consider the abundance of prisons in our country and, most importantly, ask: why so many?</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0-Os07n_xRzP0DSK3saTYQ4C7Dya-cd4BShtrkY1i1RXnrmwluvjBg1C96csjWGDc4nzzS-d3FNZnEpRgrcjidlnsw-lBn73QQ1idmW90-BP8Vr83v0y4yUgrmm119SqWPShWLQfK-xA/s1600/rsz_joshbegley_facility226_prison_map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0-Os07n_xRzP0DSK3saTYQ4C7Dya-cd4BShtrkY1i1RXnrmwluvjBg1C96csjWGDc4nzzS-d3FNZnEpRgrcjidlnsw-lBn73QQ1idmW90-BP8Vr83v0y4yUgrmm119SqWPShWLQfK-xA/s1600/rsz_joshbegley_facility226_prison_map.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; text-align: start;">Josh Begley, </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; vertical-align: baseline;">Prison Map</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; text-align: start;"> (</span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; vertical-align: baseline;">Facility 226</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 11px; line-height: 20px; text-align: start;">). Google Image. <i>Bearing Witness Symposium</i>, SFMoMA, San Francisco.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Olivia Faleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16231774646508495107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266205022206053612.post-88006390948476249502014-03-19T19:14:00.002-07:002014-04-07T12:07:46.319-07:00The List! (Resources for aspiring and/or realized activists)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBz2qEcrfd_2GJPt0dc75Du3pg9Yob0-etRSXGjPk57Scn5UTIPVyP_FHyZkUXFNBUgPSgPcS_7Q1vCJJuQ0ErqnZEI6hLx_LeMojSc8gQkHFQSFvg0cX2vJPV47hIqDwL7MxJR6il1PQ/s1600/Silence=Death+(1986)_Poster,+offset+litho.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBz2qEcrfd_2GJPt0dc75Du3pg9Yob0-etRSXGjPk57Scn5UTIPVyP_FHyZkUXFNBUgPSgPcS_7Q1vCJJuQ0ErqnZEI6hLx_LeMojSc8gQkHFQSFvg0cX2vJPV47hIqDwL7MxJR6il1PQ/s1600/Silence=Death+(1986)_Poster,+offset+litho.jpg" height="320" width="256" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<i>The following is a compilation of some of the projects and organizations that were represented at SFMoMA's </i>Visual Activism <i>and </i>Bearing Witness <i>symposiums this March. (Many of the titles are also links.)</i><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b>AIDS AWARENESS</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><a href="http://www.actupny.org/" target="_blank">Act Up</a></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
An AIDS coalition that played a formative role in
disseminating awareness in the early AIDS crisis and continues to do so. Their
longstanding mission is to turn silence, grief and fear into action.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://hyperallergic.com/42085/aids-art-activism-gran-fury/" target="_blank">Gran Fury</a></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
An artist/activist collective that used bold visual tactics
to convey the urgency of the AIDS epidemic. Best known for the SILENCE = DEATH
campaign and “Kissing doesn’t kill."</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU9xoFW56feZj-MPZxo4PTzwBOK0a-OYlAprISVTyxKz9WcNm3OXqpsO5oQftwmXkhvY_y5zyPTW7alGsX6_Tb-dS-ckWae814dAKSfv7Ur9H5DGrDVOzMME6SiXpPOw55iVs_bvxHGLA/s1600/322AIDSgranfurykissing1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: left;"><br /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://queerocracy.org/" target="_blank">Queerocracy</a><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
An activist organization supporting queer folks and people
living with AIDS/HIV in New York City. Among their activities include staging
protests and demonstrations, such as their Prevention vs. Prosecution project.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.voicesfromthevalley.org/about/introduction/" target="_blank">Voices from the Valley</a><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A project that gives voice to the inhabitants of
California’s San Joaquin Valley, the proverbial breadbasket of America. The
Valley is also riddled with toxins and pesticides that its residents have to
live with on a daily basis. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Voices from
the Valley</i> uses photography, oral history and theater to bring to light
this pressing environmental justice issues.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>IMMIGRATION</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://migrationisbeautiful.com/" target="_blank">Migration is Beautiful</a><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A project launched to rebrand the immigration movement and
promote immigrant’s rights. Why not turn immigrants into heroes? Artist and
activist Favianna Rodriguez (co-founder of <a href="http://culturestrike.net/">Culture
Strike</a>) sees the role of artists today as being one of institution
builders.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizHl0GM9IFHzF6H3XHR-a_ynaCz8CykE4bFSkNUi6c-B1boKeLmEcnDoqiYGD3YtTKgjWFB2opgFGx9xy8YH9pHA849Vm7KMTe4wJoFpoFHK-ln0J5UznkGjM2V11ekG579BJOpxzBZlk/s1600/share_favianna_rodriguez.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Political Equator</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Renowned for his work on the Tijuana-San Diego border, Teddy
Cruz considers the benefits of artistic experimentation in marginal
neighborhoods and how architecture can transform border conflict zones. He rethinks
urban development from the bottom up, and believes that the future of cities
depends less on building and more on socio-economic relations.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You can see Teddy Cruz’s TED Talk <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aG-ZeDqG8Zk" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Undocumented and
Unafraid<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A slogan of the immigrant youth movement. Among the
organizations you can seek resources from are the <a href="http://www.iyjl.org/about-2/" target="_blank">Immigrant Youth JusticeLeague</a>, based in Chicago.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizHl0GM9IFHzF6H3XHR-a_ynaCz8CykE4bFSkNUi6c-B1boKeLmEcnDoqiYGD3YtTKgjWFB2opgFGx9xy8YH9pHA849Vm7KMTe4wJoFpoFHK-ln0J5UznkGjM2V11ekG579BJOpxzBZlk/s1600/share_favianna_rodriguez.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizHl0GM9IFHzF6H3XHR-a_ynaCz8CykE4bFSkNUi6c-B1boKeLmEcnDoqiYGD3YtTKgjWFB2opgFGx9xy8YH9pHA849Vm7KMTe4wJoFpoFHK-ln0J5UznkGjM2V11ekG579BJOpxzBZlk/s1600/share_favianna_rodriguez.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="text-align: center;"><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b style="text-align: center;"><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b style="text-align: center;">LGBTI RIGHTS</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sexile<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A bilingual graphic novel written and illustrated by Jaime
Cortez for AIDS Project Los Angeles. It captures the life of the fierce and
saucy Cuban transgender immigrant, Adela Vazquez. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You can download the entire publication from the artist’s
<a href="http://jaimecortez.org/section/374294_Sexile_graphic_novel.html" target="_blank">website</a>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKL7cvLQJlVCyWRiKE54vV6Oa-_NZIie4i76jUwOwaCUVh6t7jFlk2FLPAZg-T9C4Tf7eltO7bDNfE5XLN_UUJiR0aqgBqVyfZXdcjOa-7hL2AvGwdDI0KfJH_Vpi2CgUaKa95kd6IOdY/s1600/Jaime+Cortez,+Sexile+(Pg.+3),+2004,+Ink+on+paper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKL7cvLQJlVCyWRiKE54vV6Oa-_NZIie4i76jUwOwaCUVh6t7jFlk2FLPAZg-T9C4Tf7eltO7bDNfE5XLN_UUJiR0aqgBqVyfZXdcjOa-7hL2AvGwdDI0KfJH_Vpi2CgUaKa95kd6IOdY/s1600/Jaime+Cortez,+Sexile+(Pg.+3),+2004,+Ink+on+paper.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">Jaime Cortez, <i>Sexile</i> (pg. 4), 2004. Ink on paper.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Faces and Phases</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A photograph series by photographer and activist Zanele
Muholi, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/photobooth/2012/05/muholi-portraits.html#slide_ss_0=1">Faces
and Phases</a></i> seeks to quell the stereotypes of black lesbians and
transgendered people in South Africa, many of whom have been victims of rape
and violence. Her work is featured in an exhibition at the Yerba Buena Center
for the Arts, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Public Intimacy: Art and
Other Ordinary Acts in South Africa</i>. Get to know the lovely and charming Muholi <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aiufq04dp0" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqZT2hYNSFq-XgLm0ZL2Fmstd8PgIHbJvU9mX0Gj1yw2JIgcD2G3ZbMZ7wWmK50nwfdgzEuwbPVyZYOf1ZgqB_yUf6xsmhrccvYvNJqH4Euy0Ccq74Y8yogVV7Pu6p1pFbg5a8qYb3AjM/s1600/ZaneleMuholi,+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqZT2hYNSFq-XgLm0ZL2Fmstd8PgIHbJvU9mX0Gj1yw2JIgcD2G3ZbMZ7wWmK50nwfdgzEuwbPVyZYOf1ZgqB_yUf6xsmhrccvYvNJqH4Euy0Ccq74Y8yogVV7Pu6p1pFbg5a8qYb3AjM/s1600/ZaneleMuholi,+.jpg" height="400" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zanele Muholi, <i>Anelisa Mfo Nyanga</i>, <i>Cape Town</i>, 2010</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>CITIZEN RIGHTS</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://objcts.org/index.html" target="_blank">Objects</a></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A collaboration between artists Cheyenne Epps and Kyle
Lane-McKinley, this project seeks to document items that have been mistaken for
weapons by police who then killed or unlawfully beat the citizens in possession
of those items. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Objects</i> visualizes
this issue through the use of t-shirts, artist’s prints, and a website that
depicts drawings of the objects on a world map, along with the events that
transpired.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">POVERTY</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://longstory.us/" target="_blank">Long Story Short</a></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An ongoing documentary project by Natalie Bookchin comprised
of video diaries by US residents barely getting by. Giving voice to a silenced
group of people, Bookchin asks her subjects questions such as, “What do you
think the middle and upper class need to know about poverty?” and “What would
you like to tell politicians?” They are told to address an audience not of
their class.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>67</o:Words>
<o:Characters>385</o:Characters>
<o:Company>MACENTHUSIASTS</o:Company>
<o:Lines>3</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>1</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>472</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXolUKJ00iIYjq5DB_0cg4QJu56f0loS8Z5yDO4CzFDe1mnimRoPSUMxrQJnXEicjOZqPgsRg_0ZOSeVKrCELy2bxXoDAmHXJev1SjPre5ABGY17AF5kxM-mSukrBBK6zT93jR6qfODoo/s1600/mymeds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXolUKJ00iIYjq5DB_0cg4QJu56f0loS8Z5yDO4CzFDe1mnimRoPSUMxrQJnXEicjOZqPgsRg_0ZOSeVKrCELy2bxXoDAmHXJev1SjPre5ABGY17AF5kxM-mSukrBBK6zT93jR6qfODoo/s1600/mymeds.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Olivia Faleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16231774646508495107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266205022206053612.post-17656868440593367872014-03-18T18:21:00.003-07:002014-03-19T17:01:51.069-07:00Symposium-palooza, SFMoMa: Pt. 1For a museum that's closed for construction, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has been very active. Their tagline says it all: "We've temporarily moved...everywhere." Last weekend SFMoMA hosted a whopping two symposia-- one on visual activism, the other on photography as a changing field. Many of the discussions overlapped, whether it involved the use of digital technology for activist purposes or the representation of a silenced group.<br />
<br />
The event kicked off Friday morning. After walking five blocks down 24th Street through the Mission District (a flavorful Latino neighborhood on the road to gentrification), I entered Brava Theater, the venue for <i>Visual Activism</i>. A lime-green typewriter labeled "The Manifestation Machine" beckoned me into the lobby. Part of a social art performance, artist Aimee Santos had left a note encouraging attendees to "manifest a new world": type a message onto a piece of card stock, adhere it to the neighboring pillar, and you've done your part. Already I was pushed to be an active participant.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2C_SaD9_ePnRw7Sp7iXqQfYBPokS1sI5bDe3mM_o7-QDHWvVtrox-vQdMZ_BSeRhNURt2lq-oDiQecUakqxJFPdCSy7YX41Jairn_vfNAQPK_7NhImbdK42pRZiTT7NJTgIRm80IwqFI/s1600/IMG_0928.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2C_SaD9_ePnRw7Sp7iXqQfYBPokS1sI5bDe3mM_o7-QDHWvVtrox-vQdMZ_BSeRhNURt2lq-oDiQecUakqxJFPdCSy7YX41Jairn_vfNAQPK_7NhImbdK42pRZiTT7NJTgIRm80IwqFI/s1600/IMG_0928.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
<br />
The goal of <i>Visual Activism </i>was to address the visual forms that inspire activism, and, inversely, the way activists use visual mechanisms; the day-long symposium that followed, <i>Bearing Witness</i>, considered the field of photography today: how phenomena such as social media, digital cameras and amateur photojournalism define everyday events.<br />
<br />
Among the presenters were artists, activists, and scholars--many a combination of these--that, together, cast a wide net of issues and approaches. Themes ranged from AIDS awareness to poverty, LGBTI issues to immigration reform, environmental justice to conflict zones. Some presentations were less relevant than others: one scholar's interpretation of Tracey Moffat's photography from a queer perspective was an overreach, not to mention erudite and hard to follow. (It could find a better home at an art history conference.) Some artists should have had more time on stage, like Teddy Cruz and Favianna Rodriguez. The two artists-in-conversation not only gelled beautifully but their activities involve a potent blend of visual culture and activism.<br />
<br />
As a symposium on activism is wont to do, I left longing to hand down the gems that were shared. Since there's about a metric ton's worth, I decided a <i>Contrapposto Puppetry </i>mini-series would suit the scope.<br />
<br />
For starters, here's an introduction to one artist (a remote presenter at the conference) who elegantly tackles the dark history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:<br />
<br />
Beirut-based artist Emily Jacir honored the 1948 Palestinian book looting by Israelis in her project <i>ex libris</i> (2010-2012). Today 6,000 of these stolen books are housed in the Jewish National Library as "abandoned property," their catalogue numbers beginning with "AP." These books, relics of a horrific event, have been left to float in a sort of purgatory-- not part of the library proper but in its possession, unable to be claimed by anyone else. Jacir's project ignites memories of the injustices committed during the systematic expulsion of Palestinians beginning in 1947; it is a project in social memory.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsoa8vPMdfgi1nYXf1I0iA7Q22uDgF6-tS6zSD2_k5gCe0loxPupJnqOxnlpxJcBU0Lmj_-bexf6zdDo2mNj9KbufnzmgG6RonUwaFMYXs8G4qkoYYT5Gx3Kk7Nif47P6VLZwXv_lQ2LA/s1600/EmilyJacir_exlibris+(2010-2012).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsoa8vPMdfgi1nYXf1I0iA7Q22uDgF6-tS6zSD2_k5gCe0loxPupJnqOxnlpxJcBU0Lmj_-bexf6zdDo2mNj9KbufnzmgG6RonUwaFMYXs8G4qkoYYT5Gx3Kk7Nif47P6VLZwXv_lQ2LA/s1600/EmilyJacir_exlibris+(2010-2012).jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1BPYPwNZCwwDf0g4HlSEugvcUw5Jp4sDd0MtXI_cFV8y8mBHqZxU2wZWwd1beGflv8R7H5h27LVooTWx2FBTC1LmH1BWHGWSlDmYo4KppnYVAhqzPH25UawE7deAVKW-th-SO2kMzF8Y/s1600/EmilyJacir_exlibris,+detail+(2010-2012).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1BPYPwNZCwwDf0g4HlSEugvcUw5Jp4sDd0MtXI_cFV8y8mBHqZxU2wZWwd1beGflv8R7H5h27LVooTWx2FBTC1LmH1BWHGWSlDmYo4KppnYVAhqzPH25UawE7deAVKW-th-SO2kMzF8Y/s1600/EmilyJacir_exlibris,+detail+(2010-2012).jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Stay tuned for more reports from the symposia, plus a list of annotated links to various projects.Olivia Faleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16231774646508495107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266205022206053612.post-23800220407279797542014-03-10T17:57:00.000-07:002014-03-11T21:33:00.432-07:00Tea, morphine and other stuff<div class="MsoNormal">
That would be a more fitting title for the Hammer Museum’s new exhibition, <i>Tea and Morphine: Women in Paris, 1880 to
1914</i>. Organized from a selection of prints from UCLA’s Grunwald
Center for the Graphic Arts, including a major gift by collector Elisabeth
Dean, the exhibition feels more like a “Works from the Collection of…” rather
than a tightly woven thematic show. The description on the other side of the
colon is more representative: <i>Women in
Paris from 1880-1914</i>—an array of women: mystics, laundresses, mothers,
prostitutes, and yes, drug addicts. The “morphine” indeed lures you, if not the
“Women in Paris” part. As for the tea, only one image involving the drink comes
to mind. All this to say, the show’s title is misleading, but the show itself
is anything but a disappointment.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUW9yAhrbUwY3HxgW9tzbiWT9vR3Ueaumd0TPeumcrVDewKhwisZq-OBHzsC0Sr9RzojmBts8mmU7CZxfWV6NGAwqzU17RmGTnNArJ09RpfGZbKarL50jmTgJGnbedpxtTu-SJt8e9cjA/s1600/ma-31896200-WEB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUW9yAhrbUwY3HxgW9tzbiWT9vR3Ueaumd0TPeumcrVDewKhwisZq-OBHzsC0Sr9RzojmBts8mmU7CZxfWV6NGAwqzU17RmGTnNArJ09RpfGZbKarL50jmTgJGnbedpxtTu-SJt8e9cjA/s1600/ma-31896200-WEB.jpg" height="400" width="282" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The early twentieth century was a watershed for printmaking:
new techniques were being explored, like the lithograph; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">japonisme</i>, the Parisian mania for woodcut prints, was in full
swing. Color printing enabled the circulation of garrulous posters advertising
products like Vin Mariani, a wine treated with coca leaves. At the helm of the
ad campaign was a boisterous woman, a modern-day maenad.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcfJSbziOaBzqdGlzZDiIgGPLBxoBfoooMkrbnAVKCo5FVelwya5MJU3D-4shABXY2cxfY6VASYk5WnZ3voX9qh5law271NG5WQuBzJas7oAiYlRZ_AATyEjOticgi5T7S8y5FfhaLZsg/s1600/EmileProuve_L%2527Opium_1894+%2528Hammer%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcfJSbziOaBzqdGlzZDiIgGPLBxoBfoooMkrbnAVKCo5FVelwya5MJU3D-4shABXY2cxfY6VASYk5WnZ3voX9qh5law271NG5WQuBzJas7oAiYlRZ_AATyEjOticgi5T7S8y5FfhaLZsg/s1600/EmileProuve_L%2527Opium_1894+%2528Hammer%2529.jpg" height="640" width="448" /></a></div>
<br />
Other female archetypes prevailed through print. The
erratic, vitriolic woman was captured by artists like Eugène Grasset, whose <i>La Vitrioleuse</i> (<i>The acid thrower</i>) reveals
a deranged, embittered woman in the prelude to an acid attack. Emile Prouvé’s <i>L’Opium</i> captures a woman in
morphine-induced sleep, her lax, seductive posture reminiscent of a sleeping
Aphrodite.<br />
<br />
<span style="text-align: center;">The show’s preponderance of mystical women foreshadows the
rising secularization of art, which gained footing in the Enlightenment. (How
often do we see religious themes in contemporary art?) No longer do we find a
straightforward Jesus but a straw-haired woman crowned in thorns. </span><br />
<span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWmDaZG-8a9r-5LbrAqDRDPRAmmGBsWPC_1zMoPZ380JbCZNrdrqKppj4JnKjoejo3QE11CxtUckNHjux_ZSJUdfcOb5Jgz7XoBeWJkaBNsD46aGmNgHI2QY1Kb8IhmOpPzPgm2IiHnd8/s1600/Henri+Martin_Tete+de+femme_1897+%2528Hammer%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWmDaZG-8a9r-5LbrAqDRDPRAmmGBsWPC_1zMoPZ380JbCZNrdrqKppj4JnKjoejo3QE11CxtUckNHjux_ZSJUdfcOb5Jgz7XoBeWJkaBNsD46aGmNgHI2QY1Kb8IhmOpPzPgm2IiHnd8/s1600/Henri+Martin_Tete+de+femme_1897+%2528Hammer%2529.JPG" height="400" width="318" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Indeed women
in fin-de-siècle France were martyrs inasmuch as they were targets of scathing
misogyny and judgment. That is one reason why morphine addiction was so rampant
among women. It was not only an escape, but a communal one: Parisian women
might spend an entire day at the morphine den, languoring in their own haze in
the midst of other <i>morphinomanes</i>. Some of the show’s examples of morphine addicts are disquieting, while others are quite beautiful. A color lithograph of a woman injecting herself through the thigh is spine-tingling; an etching of two women in a morphine haze is lustful and wispy.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1XaCTYENRwsfmEwo_eTYxR2UD6deM-VHOGoUgrKhHHqYLuHXTf-CLBRMV2esYAG_B2pL0LRDcck4nzwC-JLKAy4gIkPXkk8J-OJMEHueA76eNr752GJcx93vuQas-J_lziYYOtYJA_xQ/s1600/AlbertBesnard_Morphinomanes_1887+%2528Hammer%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1XaCTYENRwsfmEwo_eTYxR2UD6deM-VHOGoUgrKhHHqYLuHXTf-CLBRMV2esYAG_B2pL0LRDcck4nzwC-JLKAy4gIkPXkk8J-OJMEHueA76eNr752GJcx93vuQas-J_lziYYOtYJA_xQ/s1600/AlbertBesnard_Morphinomanes_1887+%2528Hammer%2529.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div>
Was morphine addiction a problem
among men? Based on the visual evidence, it appears not. Male afflictions with
morphine seem to have been relegated to literature. Poet and essayist Laurent
Tailhade published a book about his battles with morphine addiction, calling
the drug a “voluptuous, sinister poison.” You can see a copy of his <i><a href="https://archive.org/details/lanoireidoleetud00tail">La Noire Idole</a></i>
(The Dark Idol), along with other fascinating publications and ephemera, in the
exhibition. It’s a pity that women rarely had the opportunity to speak for themselves. Would
they set the record straight, or did the guys have it right?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>Tea and Morphine: Women in Paris, 1880 to 1914</i> is on view at the Hammer Museum through May 18. </div>
</div>
Olivia Faleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16231774646508495107noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266205022206053612.post-56216234655744732742014-03-04T17:10:00.000-08:002014-03-05T12:04:58.214-08:00China's land, sea, and sky. In Search of Home: New Work by Jiehao Su.<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s
no accident that the Roman poet Ovid began the <i>Metamorphoses</i>, his epic poem of change and unrest, with the
creation and arrangement of land, sea, and sky—artists of all stripes are drawn
to transformations, be they physical, spiritual, or both. The
powerful consequences of a surging economic growth on the land, seas, and skies
of China are likewise as ripe for investigation by artists as they are by
journalists. The Chinese photographer Jiehao Su spent 2012–2013 capturing his
native country’s landscape, honing in on Eastern China, a region that has
undergone the most dramatic growth since the Communist Party’s economic reforms
of 1978. Su covered territories both urban and rural with a
perspective that is all-encompassing: he does not shy away from documenting the
smog and construction notorious to China, but he also bestows his sensitive
attention to the world beyond it. China is more than a country of
smoke clouds and relentless development; it is one of recreation, family, and
feeling. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
While Su’s photos can easily function as documents—artistic and expressive documents—they are also
the product of a personal journey. Su, raised by a “Tiger Mother,” was the
poster child for China’s draconian parenting system: he was a devoted student,
a disciplined boy. When his mother died unexpectedly, he confronted—presumably
among a surge of other sensations—the urge to travel. He felt upended and in
many ways liberated.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX6WNXqvuyLt6n6NlBXEJY40BlPh8-ZAUoIPgtu_VfNXtEf8ErlAgiFSlGLiH7wVQstF8DM7iDidUINt__qQI2uv1gsmSYdPo7fc-AgY0cnHcStADlaxX25KZx9urIsbwRrteXn8OKa8c/s1600/700x0-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX6WNXqvuyLt6n6NlBXEJY40BlPh8-ZAUoIPgtu_VfNXtEf8ErlAgiFSlGLiH7wVQstF8DM7iDidUINt__qQI2uv1gsmSYdPo7fc-AgY0cnHcStADlaxX25KZx9urIsbwRrteXn8OKa8c/s1600/700x0-5.jpg" height="323" width="400" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The sojourn that ensued gave birth to an evocative photo series
now on view at Actual Size Los Angeles in, IN SEARCH OF HOME: <i>New Work by Jiehao Su</i>. The select photographs
underpin the binaries that Su seems to gravitate to (solitude/companionship; abandonment/occupation),
as well as the marks of a changing landscape. What provides evidence for this
change? For one, the construction zones. Swaths of barren land lay covered in
tarp, newly built high rises wait to be filled with residents. From distant,
aerial views of transition and transformation to intimate portraits of inhabitants, Su weaves a telling chronicle of Eastern China’s physical and
cultural terrain.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<!--EndFragment--><span style="background-color: white;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisMnBr8qSn-tyE4X2iEEYuImnb0I3IoQ8esoKNXwdmwaAib0Z5QZVCln_Pdkp5LuI9O-ln8I_RLEbfTFH02qeGpDhN9v7f-kJRuAj8fe9yEQViCCUO9KgVHhgbtkEw15Jbjp1Qa1gmFXc/s1600/700x0-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisMnBr8qSn-tyE4X2iEEYuImnb0I3IoQ8esoKNXwdmwaAib0Z5QZVCln_Pdkp5LuI9O-ln8I_RLEbfTFH02qeGpDhN9v7f-kJRuAj8fe9yEQViCCUO9KgVHhgbtkEw15Jbjp1Qa1gmFXc/s1600/700x0-3.jpg" height="322" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKpthvX5c1OYr5AJjwW34-WliIlk8W_fK-7_3x4P48shR_V8J0VkV9TC2ngiKpq7CGrOqSxKeseq2b-MV26Fuv30cNnb1pr0OlZRa0lJJtTYxA4AdRYrlAWQRJzJEI8DnHENpvf8lm8uA/s1600/700x0-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKpthvX5c1OYr5AJjwW34-WliIlk8W_fK-7_3x4P48shR_V8J0VkV9TC2ngiKpq7CGrOqSxKeseq2b-MV26Fuv30cNnb1pr0OlZRa0lJJtTYxA4AdRYrlAWQRJzJEI8DnHENpvf8lm8uA/s1600/700x0-6.jpg" height="322" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>85</o:Words>
<o:Characters>485</o:Characters>
<o:Company>MACENTHUSIASTS</o:Company>
<o:Lines>4</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>1</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>595</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As his distant photos of golf courses and high rises can
attest, Su’s aerial photos are reminiscent of traditional Chinese painting:
humans are mere fixtures in a vast landscape. A photo of men at the beach is
another riff on this tradition. The scene is a humorous one: adult men stand
and watch a young boy urinate on a mound of unpacked earth. Building a
narrative is irresistible: Have they recently arrived at the beach, eager to
launch out but forced to pause for the boy? The scene, shot from above, feels
voyeuristic, an odd contrast to the blatant voyeurism taking place below.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixYXQANM792DpLhqVZ4nr_nruil_BZDN9ok-v3RVO7xygUwMLl_yeYbmnWi898b2k7hF8a_1HJCjS093JMXCkH_HnJLon4rREdTLm5K95Z8eT8uDMcZrxKwj1KG80T_VxPHFnA5TXuVWg/s1600/700x0-8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixYXQANM792DpLhqVZ4nr_nruil_BZDN9ok-v3RVO7xygUwMLl_yeYbmnWi898b2k7hF8a_1HJCjS093JMXCkH_HnJLon4rREdTLm5K95Z8eT8uDMcZrxKwj1KG80T_VxPHFnA5TXuVWg/s1600/700x0-8.jpg" height="322" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Su is also drawn to pairs: sisters embrace in a field of
bare trees, twin brothers sit side-by-side on a ping-pong table, a man
poses with two German Shepherds. One of the show’s curators, Corrie Siegel,
notes that Su’s gravitation to pairs is interesting in light of China’s
one-child policy. It seems that Su, in his search for home, responds to
companionship as much as he does to solitude. Isn’t that the corollary of an
existential journey—finding comfort in both? The
more we travel the more we discover about ourselves and other people; the less
guarded we hopefully become.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxfVEeEmx4egFiDZ-lmyzM6o6YELyZP1KBFc1_NpYz55WvnZRHrQvnyEgZNkof3z-LZzv6Buwk_Jj5K5J3ViPk8p5uPQr2eUaThdNHVHLnhCbGNrGllsZAzg91VZ9ajH0Yd4ls2g_U5Ao/s1600/700x0-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxfVEeEmx4egFiDZ-lmyzM6o6YELyZP1KBFc1_NpYz55WvnZRHrQvnyEgZNkof3z-LZzv6Buwk_Jj5K5J3ViPk8p5uPQr2eUaThdNHVHLnhCbGNrGllsZAzg91VZ9ajH0Yd4ls2g_U5Ao/s1600/700x0-7.jpg" height="322" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Who would have thought a photographer of siblings in embrace was also responsible
for an image of stacked mattresses and night tables, waiting to be reclaimed
or perhaps abandoned by their owners? The composition is architectonic with its
overlapping and stacking of geometric shapes, verticals and horizontals; it
resembles a Mondrian painting.</div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ9iIOv_dRMx6VK7PEj7zlJWYDBX8DUYTvsUG29xNSfmJz7LbUZa2vxy5uScJZznAAikzpmNHQX3j6B-Rn4KmFpDlFcr1IbxQEVehngvWXga1k_9zcUOu46UmCJrtVHv798QAWetpHcZc/s1600/700x0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ9iIOv_dRMx6VK7PEj7zlJWYDBX8DUYTvsUG29xNSfmJz7LbUZa2vxy5uScJZznAAikzpmNHQX3j6B-Rn4KmFpDlFcr1IbxQEVehngvWXga1k_9zcUOu46UmCJrtVHv798QAWetpHcZc/s1600/700x0.jpg" height="322" width="400" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The narrative and aesthetic qualities of Su’s photos are
magnetic. They have a distinctive quality about them: they are sparse but
substantial; varied yet subdued in color; honest, even earnest. Su’s photos
reflect a captivating journey that encourage acceptance of life's varied palette of contrast and nuance.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
IN SEARCH OF HOME:<i> New Work by Jiehao Su</i> is on view at <a href="http://actualsizela.com/rightsite/current.htm" target="_blank">Actual Size Los Angeles</a> through March 15.</div>
Olivia Faleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16231774646508495107noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266205022206053612.post-80641802170938157742014-02-26T16:27:00.001-08:002014-02-26T16:27:06.781-08:00Ace Hotel: Good art in the wrong placeSometimes art that is meant to charm does not. In the case of the newly renovated Ace Hotel in Los Angeles, the pencil drawings on the walls are rather incongruous with the hotel's design. It has to do with the content as much as the space. The Ace Hotel, designed by Roman Alonso, is a sleek nod to history and rife with sexy energy; the drawings by artistic duo The Haas Brothers are a combination of evocative, beautifully rendered portraits and playful cartoon animals adopting human behaviors. Both the design and artwork are laudable in their own right, but together a match they do not make.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEIPVkMOyCZyAAWTwVFxFbSpYYcuIvdrnFyGIO22Gh6AIRS8Q91vP8z0P_Jk_smy0M2JEAayMReY79KfTxo5PFCaouuS24ZExP6CyK-5r-8S77ovch79AFsRFXm4erVfePdt2WKwoeBuQ/s1600/IMG_0886.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEIPVkMOyCZyAAWTwVFxFbSpYYcuIvdrnFyGIO22Gh6AIRS8Q91vP8z0P_Jk_smy0M2JEAayMReY79KfTxo5PFCaouuS24ZExP6CyK-5r-8S77ovch79AFsRFXm4erVfePdt2WKwoeBuQ/s1600/IMG_0886.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcHkziryWrzG-utODYoH5Grk6IaIqiZ3tZ5yywWCYOWCRy-RS2wg5Vc9mepyIm6I73u32Z_T75DpwX0i0WMYKhwWHpqa5Z-uq0KXpySw1uXP44A3VfYtHIQH1QgJkuS0Asz8vsPhkNPBc/s1600/IMG_0884.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcHkziryWrzG-utODYoH5Grk6IaIqiZ3tZ5yywWCYOWCRy-RS2wg5Vc9mepyIm6I73u32Z_T75DpwX0i0WMYKhwWHpqa5Z-uq0KXpySw1uXP44A3VfYtHIQH1QgJkuS0Asz8vsPhkNPBc/s1600/IMG_0884.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Alonso's <a href="http://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/haas-brothers-downtown-los-angeles-ace-hotel#_" target="_blank">intentions</a> of reflecting the freedom and funk of Los Angeles is admirable, but the brothers' contrasting styles in such a vintage-chic space had a clashing effect. I am anything but opposed to the bizarre and funky, but I don't think the space does justice to the art-- and vice versa.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglCa9DLg3YK8LwwtlsgRQnZmcSYH8hyY1rkWYT8Ey4Bf_DdJmRbHDEHvV7GF1aQhack2o7Vx7AlVXPJgV6i_HJFb17ZH6qHp1Hswb8AY0viWSlSL630MLS5n8m4mPW88Alc_tMuKSbzjM/s1600/IMG_0882.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglCa9DLg3YK8LwwtlsgRQnZmcSYH8hyY1rkWYT8Ey4Bf_DdJmRbHDEHvV7GF1aQhack2o7Vx7AlVXPJgV6i_HJFb17ZH6qHp1Hswb8AY0viWSlSL630MLS5n8m4mPW88Alc_tMuKSbzjM/s1600/IMG_0882.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
In the scheme of things the disparity is paltry, not only because the pencil drawings have been well received by most, but because Ace Hotel's wonderful building is here to stay, and with it the United Artists theater. Both of these institutions are breathing cultural life into downtown's perimeter, along with the few restaurants and the newly opened Urban Outfitters in the historic <a href="http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/12/18/urban-outfitters-to-open-doors-at-old-rialto-theatre-in-downtown-la/" target="_blank">Rialto Theater</a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimlxfgHswVCK-7UEjmmk4om8L6_-Ad3Ye0eNKHC22InM_De_GvbeUVrP6UPMsgoSxSbGDvIKL1mHJT0aX2xG7yuTePjX4w8doJjKNefgWnp4C9X2q6nShkSjc6dB46T6FQaZM-cvQ2aZk/s1600/2014_01_ACE-3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimlxfgHswVCK-7UEjmmk4om8L6_-Ad3Ye0eNKHC22InM_De_GvbeUVrP6UPMsgoSxSbGDvIKL1mHJT0aX2xG7yuTePjX4w8doJjKNefgWnp4C9X2q6nShkSjc6dB46T6FQaZM-cvQ2aZk/s1600/2014_01_ACE-3.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsgPUyWicM9_megmQoydZ8k6PCTQL_fvKzXyP9CHJ9Bx1mtzuohnpBz78d0sh6JBLxw1VO0dC7vCYWZzVhYcyfdrDY0BX9Y_0mqibKaSk1g1dysxvPynGd3zewNYoKsw6SUxd6580P77w/s1600/2014_01_ACE-51.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsgPUyWicM9_megmQoydZ8k6PCTQL_fvKzXyP9CHJ9Bx1mtzuohnpBz78d0sh6JBLxw1VO0dC7vCYWZzVhYcyfdrDY0BX9Y_0mqibKaSk1g1dysxvPynGd3zewNYoKsw6SUxd6580P77w/s1600/2014_01_ACE-51.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<span id="goog_431946848"></span><span id="goog_431946849"></span><br />Olivia Faleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16231774646508495107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266205022206053612.post-15946126641936061812014-02-20T12:07:00.003-08:002014-02-24T13:13:51.918-08:00Printmakers carve out new territory<div class="MsoNormal">
Printmaking has a long history of ingenuity: the
seemingly endless variety of methods, from choice of printing surface to
varieties of ink and paper, have provided sufficient fuel. Technicians are constantly rethinking ways to print images. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
New territory has surfaced thanks to digital technology, and along with it a fair share of opportunities and
challenges. This is exactly what LACMA’s Prints and Drawings Council chose to address
at its fourth annual panel discussion, <a href="http://www.lacma.org/event/la-print-40" target="_blank">LA PRINT: 4.0</a>. The five printmakers invited to
speak offered varying perspectives, some more friendly to digital technology
than others but all of them receptive to its contributions.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRaK7pROomE9k8wvIeCpRT3p-1lQ9DHQa6fU4N4mYxqiCAOjbBL1KSFSo4QecV8n50XZ0cHYECYy3u3NSjxT8Ndc4r6dgrD48ZY3FRgn8cNzxFohS3cr3TPYlp9qLkiVfj8EKWZFDEz2I/s1600/Weatherford_California_679C-MW13_web.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRaK7pROomE9k8wvIeCpRT3p-1lQ9DHQa6fU4N4mYxqiCAOjbBL1KSFSo4QecV8n50XZ0cHYECYy3u3NSjxT8Ndc4r6dgrD48ZY3FRgn8cNzxFohS3cr3TPYlp9qLkiVfj8EKWZFDEz2I/s1600/Weatherford_California_679C-MW13_web.JPG" height="320" width="262" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVxFVcnFPSKWJrhurTmesMqRMLX_7OHPZTVkkVSNQO58IuKBqNAwrqvKmaX4Wa4AulmPEcYu3ae92zHuCE1UEk9w2ZARP5qe1RykrCSIjSwUJNJT0myOKpjUZyOouqRCUhN3h7W7tFYA0/s1600/Baldessari_prnt_677c-JB12_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVxFVcnFPSKWJrhurTmesMqRMLX_7OHPZTVkkVSNQO58IuKBqNAwrqvKmaX4Wa4AulmPEcYu3ae92zHuCE1UEk9w2ZARP5qe1RykrCSIjSwUJNJT0myOKpjUZyOouqRCUhN3h7W7tFYA0/s1600/Baldessari_prnt_677c-JB12_web.jpg" height="190" width="320" /></a>Jean Milant of <a href="http://www.cirrusgallery.com/" target="_blank">Cirrus Editions</a> has seized on new advances in
technology like inkjet printing, an affordable and reliable producer of clear, crisp images. Even if inkjet is a cheaper form of printing,
Milant doesn’t use it indiscriminately; he considers what effect the method
will have on his final product. In the case of John Baldessari’s <i>The First $100,000 I Ever Made</i>, an image
in the form of U.S. currency, Milant determined that inkjet would impart the likeness
of a dollar bill most effectively. Another form of digital technology Milant has adopted is the scanner, which the studio uses to capture the found detritus in artist
Mary Weatherford’s work. Once the three-dimensional objects have been scanned, the resulting image is printed using a lithograph press. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jacob Samuel of <a href="http://www.editionjs.com/" target="_blank">Edition Jacob Samuel</a> is more reluctant to embrace new technologies. A self-proclaimed Luddite, he rarely accepts requests to print <span style="text-align: center;">in color. In his studio, traditional grayscale is king.
That said, Samuel respects the use of digital technology by other printmakers—and
in fact he still prints digital images, just not in his own studio. (He takes
all of that material to a respected, local expert.) Much of his newer work involves
obfuscating the line between the digital and the hand-printed image. His prints
of Cristina Iglesias’ sculptures are an elegant example, whose
three-dimensional work is translated beautifully onto paper.</span><br />
<span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdC00EOV1E1VyiSavFtx87njgT4ZkzMkyI-CVLc6TwBD7ixozayKgnGyc89AUNMfgNm5C_cbIv3FIX2fUmqmzPtv7VBiiYYbbNJQ_7ySnQNZLknsg77zzgy9V5V4OwbWobcQfz_6WD6q0/s1600/Cristina+Iglesias_Hanging+Corridors+%2528Edition+JacobSamuel%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdC00EOV1E1VyiSavFtx87njgT4ZkzMkyI-CVLc6TwBD7ixozayKgnGyc89AUNMfgNm5C_cbIv3FIX2fUmqmzPtv7VBiiYYbbNJQ_7ySnQNZLknsg77zzgy9V5V4OwbWobcQfz_6WD6q0/s1600/Cristina+Iglesias_Hanging+Corridors+%2528Edition+JacobSamuel%2529.jpg" height="267" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.intellectualpropertyprints.com/" target="_blank">Intellectual Property Prints</a>, founded in 2013, has used
digital technology less for creating and more for disseminating work. Founders Ryan McIntosh and Daniel Rolnik rely on Twitter and other social media to publicize their release of
material. When they convinced beloved street artist
Augustine Kofie to design a limited edition print, it went viral the moment it was released.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj2kjTDlGRDUP7oEC4Eh-rWOIOap1G-aIbBMRxUfAdbPhOcuHz1qDG1xB67xwdyH-6y2wliFUbUvHy_CfDuWdZ5v0Q-nfgQnymgSex92wQzaOho_kEM-7ZK_Ej93RB4F7Zey29ZeILo7E/s1600/Augustine-Kofie-full-screen-print-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj2kjTDlGRDUP7oEC4Eh-rWOIOap1G-aIbBMRxUfAdbPhOcuHz1qDG1xB67xwdyH-6y2wliFUbUvHy_CfDuWdZ5v0Q-nfgQnymgSex92wQzaOho_kEM-7ZK_Ej93RB4F7Zey29ZeILo7E/s1600/Augustine-Kofie-full-screen-print-2.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
Digital technology, while clearly a boon, has also muddied the playing field. Take the challenge of differentiating between original prints and reproductions.
The former involves the use of printmaking technology to yield a specific
result (a woodblock print, for example, might reveal the beautiful texture of the
wood grain); a reproduction, on the other hand, will look exactly like the
artwork it is trying to “translate.” The latter, by definition, is not the end goal
of printmaking; rather, it is to create a fresh iteration of an artwork, partly
for wider dissemination, but also for the purpose of adding new dimension to a work. Inkjet can produce remarkably sharp images that are
liable to fool a less educated eye.<br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>56</o:Words>
<o:Characters>323</o:Characters>
<o:Company>MACENTHUSIASTS</o:Company>
<o:Lines>2</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>1</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>396</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
One thing is certain: digital technology is transforming the
landscape of printmaking— and that means not just for printmakers but for artists, too. Indeed one matter the LA PRINT panel unanimously agreed on was
their devotion to artists. As long as artists forged ahead, so too would they. </div>
<!--EndFragment-->Olivia Faleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16231774646508495107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266205022206053612.post-470167474742482542014-02-04T16:34:00.000-08:002014-02-24T13:30:43.865-08:00Books, books everywhere<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>493</o:Words>
<o:Characters>2813</o:Characters>
<o:Company>MACENTHUSIASTS</o:Company>
<o:Lines>23</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>5</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>3454</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">You’d think a gathering of hip and beautiful people might
verge on pretentious, but the <a href="http://laartbookfair.net/" target="_blank">LA Art Book Fair</a> was a cliché-trumper. A colorful
scene decked the galleries of The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA with a
swirl of eager visitors migrating from booth to booth, taking in the fair’s
decorative spirit, buying everything from artists’ books to periodicals to
zines. There was a lot to choose from: 250 exhibitors from 20 countries were
there, with a hefty presence from California. It was a proud day for
any native. If you weren’t in a book-buying mood, there were tote bags,
greeting cards, prints, pins and other goodies up for grabs. Did anyone notice
the curious preponderance of cat-themed stuff?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">It is immensely gratifying, being
able to touch or handle anything on display. Here, if it piqued your interest
it would most likely end up in your hands. Be it the first 3-D-printed book or
a “garbage zine,” a book of colorful, in-your-face risograph prints or a suitcase
housing W.G. Sebald memorabilia, mere moments separated you from different universes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; clear: both; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: auto; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiMOqtqGnS9mJgDbveQG3Vl4MQEPLytF5sI82iSbWlhdEbnba9En49wowF7VDPS0KEwqzrlPy-GVAvA7eaqJK_KYy-n7hfhOnd2pB7YcJ3ViqPmylSpLn9XG9nvFAiaaj8_HbvYDM0cOA/s1600/photo+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: right; font-family: Times; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 1em; orphans: auto; padding: 6px; text-align: right; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiMOqtqGnS9mJgDbveQG3Vl4MQEPLytF5sI82iSbWlhdEbnba9En49wowF7VDPS0KEwqzrlPy-GVAvA7eaqJK_KYy-n7hfhOnd2pB7YcJ3ViqPmylSpLn9XG9nvFAiaaj8_HbvYDM0cOA/s1600/photo+2.JPG" height="320" style="cursor: move; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="240" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.727272033691406px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;"><i>Searching for Sebald</i><br />
Institute for Cultural Inquiry</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">There were seas of beautifully wrought artist's books. Redfoxpress & Antic-Ham
(Ireland) had an eclectic selection, many of them screenprinted. After I picked up </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Turkish Wedding</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> the vendor himself
chimed in: it was based on his son, Govinda's, wedding in Istanbul. Photos, ticket stubs
and other ephemera escorted me through an intimate stage in this artist’s life.</span></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Template>Normal.dotm</o:Template>
<o:Revision>0</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>42</o:Words>
<o:Characters>240</o:Characters>
<o:Company>MACENTHUSIASTS</o:Company>
<o:Lines>2</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>1</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>294</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>12.0</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment--><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I found myself in a variety of such moments. Take the vendor
at Harper’s Books (New York) who caught me perusing photos of a stallion
undergoing artificial insemination. I gather it was my stunned expression that
compelled him to patronize me about the subject matter. What can I say?
Sometimes the unfamiliar is jaw-dropping. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Sexuality was strongly present at the fair. A book of
vintage photographs published by The Kingsboro Press (New York) revealed images
of women in S&M gear. These photos, disseminated surreptitiously in
the 50s and 60s, the era of “smut,” were culled together to form Kingboro's newest title, <i>The Periodical Flesh</i>. It was a one-of-a-kind time capsule, and a fine segue into a nearby
exhibit presented by Andrew Roth and PPP Editions (New York).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm6M35AD7L4xvOaIz9vpJAXSWuJ-VS6UwlWetNGdh4ZNndfRXyu04fO6aU1-qJrRzJNL9cFhyphenhyphenwLDn4hyphenhyphen7fj5S57e7GwQ4tgFTMncvO_7SY9dPPFozDGlPP7H2IhF4yu08KcWmMlrej-Jc/s1600/photo+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm6M35AD7L4xvOaIz9vpJAXSWuJ-VS6UwlWetNGdh4ZNndfRXyu04fO6aU1-qJrRzJNL9cFhyphenhyphenwLDn4hyphenhyphen7fj5S57e7GwQ4tgFTMncvO_7SY9dPPFozDGlPP7H2IhF4yu08KcWmMlrej-Jc/s1600/photo+1.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">Behind a barrier of rope, 126 books on the social sciences
lay neatly displayed on the ground. The perfectly rounded holes carved into
their covers revealed erotic photographs of women. It was a comical and
thought-provoking convergence of two worlds: academia and sexuality, a binary, if you will, of the sacred and profane.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2I0pDFJS1FBxPyyp_LZau6i3LCRcWTrmYlBv7xl9cthCmNedi2nd1i0JpLSeTOmRZLke7VXZYDzbOslZSgkwoVbY0uNZQTq97j5porddVfITVUuH5wFdjH1bdC4e2GOJoGdCutL2LS7k/s1600/photo+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2I0pDFJS1FBxPyyp_LZau6i3LCRcWTrmYlBv7xl9cthCmNedi2nd1i0JpLSeTOmRZLke7VXZYDzbOslZSgkwoVbY0uNZQTq97j5porddVfITVUuH5wFdjH1bdC4e2GOJoGdCutL2LS7k/s1600/photo+3.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The fair offered an eye-opening taste of a vibrant landscape, abroad and on L.A.'s own doorstep. Books are here to stay. Ensuring this were exhibitors from England, Germany,
Greece and the Netherlands, to name a few, and L.A.-based organizations like Giant Robot 2, KCHUNG Radio, FAMILY Bookstore, and the Institute of Cultural
Inquiry. An entire list of exhibitors can be found on the fair's <a href="http://laartbookfair.net/" target="_blank">website</a>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The adventure was cut short at 6:00 PM, closing time. A friend and I were drooling over L.A. neon artist Dan Regan when a security guard rained on our parade. Unable to resist sneaking in one last
stop we hurried over to LAND AND SEA, a small press and record label based in Oakland. Moments later the same security guard spotted us. Before being escorted to the door we managed to buy an "exploded book" of 100 glowing risograph prints-- just in the knick of time. It was a steal, and an unexpected after-hours sale by
the proud artist who had compiled it.</span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Olivia Faleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16231774646508495107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266205022206053612.post-53602241496757665992014-01-28T16:58:00.004-08:002014-02-19T16:23:29.110-08:00LA Art Show 2014For all the hype it got, LA Art Show 2014 didn't deliver. In a sea of galleries (well over 100), there was little cutting-edge artwork, and attempts to be inventive missed the mark. Little "new media" was to be found, a curious omission considering the show's contemporary bent.<br />
<br />
One expectation it lived up to was the <a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-la-art-show-20140115,0,3053724.story#axzz2rjqGUyvC" target="_blank">prevalence of Asian art</a>. The "Hues of China" segment showed an impressive selection of artists with creativity and technical finesse. Asian artists, as a friend pointed out, tend to show verve these days, in large part due to the new freedoms of expression granted them. The following three Chinese artists, all considered emerging, show the promise of an increasingly fresh and outspoken environment.<br />
<br />
Wang Zhangtao, Hubei Institute of Fine Art, shows a commanding use of line. In <i>Existence</i> he maps out a network of sinuous lines that, in all its restrained but chaotic intricacy and unfamiliarity, signal the map of another dimension.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfPMGmW3CfnEL65atddASvCr93nlAx978xEhvUH5AAZtb79ZLhwRyDXUSNN3OoM9JuWNRwKgAhgLEmqWRWKkbC5InY1SThDhJHWPEokJCk6BMLLPaAvx5PtxIiPWyra3ggkMUWajduxHY/s1600/rsz_img_0657.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfPMGmW3CfnEL65atddASvCr93nlAx978xEhvUH5AAZtb79ZLhwRyDXUSNN3OoM9JuWNRwKgAhgLEmqWRWKkbC5InY1SThDhJHWPEokJCk6BMLLPaAvx5PtxIiPWyra3ggkMUWajduxHY/s1600/rsz_img_0657.jpg" height="400" width="291" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHrtTf1IPTJW-nj2bDjJxDD-fLFKz6FkcrRYqUzqB2JHVdCS5w1LCH-dLl9qCJCmAPSquCE2TZ4I4RFqAe3LitQkTLJmnkK5ORk5Ep3QH9Q_parRoRzJtOx87fexWsPDmNoWWhHr0kGUI/s1600/rsz_img_0658.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHrtTf1IPTJW-nj2bDjJxDD-fLFKz6FkcrRYqUzqB2JHVdCS5w1LCH-dLl9qCJCmAPSquCE2TZ4I4RFqAe3LitQkTLJmnkK5ORk5Ep3QH9Q_parRoRzJtOx87fexWsPDmNoWWhHr0kGUI/s1600/rsz_img_0658.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Existence </i>(detail)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Li Huan makes ghostly woodblock prints with photography as her springboard. <i>Wedding</i> (2012) reveals a vacant dress, the body it once adorned absent. The image calls to mind the trope of the empty chair-- freshly abandoned, the spirit of its sitter strongly present.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2xN9d7wDa2u5PjqDfgOHXhypuDjZd59X4g-x5sOPu9MbKADCMkYJY4P58q8GRiEufc4qP1yPBczHgVw4ijuy8Isl4z3tq6Ur5iREh1wMMyLZxYRsYoVTZ-vmAwWly2ETkoHCrsSCxGco/s1600/46-Li-HuanCentral-Academy-of-Fine-Arts-%25E2%2580%259CWedding%25E2%2580%259D-25-x-30-cm-woodblock-print-2012-290x290.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2xN9d7wDa2u5PjqDfgOHXhypuDjZd59X4g-x5sOPu9MbKADCMkYJY4P58q8GRiEufc4qP1yPBczHgVw4ijuy8Isl4z3tq6Ur5iREh1wMMyLZxYRsYoVTZ-vmAwWly2ETkoHCrsSCxGco/s1600/46-Li-HuanCentral-Academy-of-Fine-Arts-%25E2%2580%259CWedding%25E2%2580%259D-25-x-30-cm-woodblock-print-2012-290x290.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="text-align: start;">The crisp line and color of Wang Yuanyuan's woodblock prints <i>Mutation I </i>and <i>Mutation II </i>are Japanese in nature; the subject matter, on the other hand, resonates on a global level. The age of genetic engineering, which has already caused alarm in the organic community, has frightening potential. Will all trees eventually be born in test-tubes, yielding whatever fruit we command them to produce?</span><br />
<span style="text-align: start;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXMJ_6gVljT_kxhj-Y05L2KL53BdviARucgJfuzFIPT9q_gkz6lDD6T2yCFHpc19X_6YXblEMJf9C9fJ3UJPEuf64TVKtunJ_zHGBHuDPoqctWws6xYJtlcPQCp2tDOXwg3MfSbKeChQc/s1600/rsz_img_0647.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXMJ_6gVljT_kxhj-Y05L2KL53BdviARucgJfuzFIPT9q_gkz6lDD6T2yCFHpc19X_6YXblEMJf9C9fJ3UJPEuf64TVKtunJ_zHGBHuDPoqctWws6xYJtlcPQCp2tDOXwg3MfSbKeChQc/s1600/rsz_img_0647.jpg" height="400" width="283" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpHB2OOoQNW6-8aFvs25nY0CDKMwVX1087RkNwEp7qw212e4cpdtRbUOaROQs8YggffS9f0G2Lw71R1Ls-sekYHu0p3UguanriKFFUn4tVrUzKfroswXkdaUXPNF-aIftNAd_p00f8h0Y/s1600/rsz_img_0649.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpHB2OOoQNW6-8aFvs25nY0CDKMwVX1087RkNwEp7qw212e4cpdtRbUOaROQs8YggffS9f0G2Lw71R1Ls-sekYHu0p3UguanriKFFUn4tVrUzKfroswXkdaUXPNF-aIftNAd_p00f8h0Y/s1600/rsz_img_0649.jpg" height="400" width="302" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<i>LA Art Show, celebrating its 19th year, took place January 14-18 at LA Convention Center.</i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Olivia Faleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16231774646508495107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266205022206053612.post-45821555488048734212014-01-27T11:37:00.000-08:002014-01-27T11:48:33.970-08:00The art of salvation<div class="MsoNormal">
Love and sacrifice are unrelenting subjects in film and
literature, a truism rendered fresh in the documentary <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cutie and the Boxer</i>. Director Zach Heinzerling lays bare the lives
of Noriko and Ushio Shinohara, an artist-couple whose 40-year marriage amounts
to a narrative of chaos and struggle, of love and the undeniable need for
security. We go through the motions largely through the eyes of Noriko, who
until recently had struggled to assert her artistic identity in the shadow of
her husband.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8sP-OvAgXRX0cbM09kB-F1NottLpdM1w0QZ3qz7dquY451Epb634mmZg0a4P9D-ySWcz5rypiYeCFym0BkIFfuwWGtyOt3wxHlBTJ897-Rtq6oQcix2Hhs7EGI5Cu7nAck_7TZyyAmU0/s1600/images-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8sP-OvAgXRX0cbM09kB-F1NottLpdM1w0QZ3qz7dquY451Epb634mmZg0a4P9D-ySWcz5rypiYeCFym0BkIFfuwWGtyOt3wxHlBTJ897-Rtq6oQcix2Hhs7EGI5Cu7nAck_7TZyyAmU0/s1600/images-1.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ushio Shinohara cemented his reputation in 1960s Japan. He
gained notoriety as a Neo-Dadaist, whose boxing paintings creatively responded
to Jackson Pollack’s action paintings of the previous decade. Wishing to launch
a career in the States, Shinohara moved to New York in 1969 where he soon met
the young and idealistic Noriko, an art student twenty-two years his junior.
Their relationship has lasted since—and until recently so too has Noriko’s
subservience to Ushio. She was seemingly destined for an insufferable life the
moment she met Ushio. Soon after their union a son was born, and Noriko had to
sacrifice her craft while Ushio plowed ahead as an artist; he
was more capable of making the family money. He was also proud and selfish. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ1e_dOAImPbxwDdEl2xi2hs4hyyXPvBXGYNVdq3EFwKi-AWFNHYZGFkoS9Jke2D3ZyJNi4QtgIou9paRQvHw-DNjrmME4B5AopGfIMwYFU7mxgS-uEf-mW6RgiWX2dm9tQ8GUOIboBgU/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ1e_dOAImPbxwDdEl2xi2hs4hyyXPvBXGYNVdq3EFwKi-AWFNHYZGFkoS9Jke2D3ZyJNi4QtgIou9paRQvHw-DNjrmME4B5AopGfIMwYFU7mxgS-uEf-mW6RgiWX2dm9tQ8GUOIboBgU/s1600/images.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ushio typifies the male artist-trope, one whose egoism and vigor propel a tireless engine. The trope's female
equivalent applies loosely to Noriko, who is less a muse than an assistant—not
to mention a free secretary and free chef, as she put it. However stifled, Noriko
accepts the challenges of her marriage to an artist under whose shadow she was
cast for decades, and to whom she felt inferior. She accepts it because she
loves him tremendously.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The struggle became more tolerable in 2006 when Noriko began
her comic series <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cutie and Bullie</i>. It
marked her transformation as a self-recognizing artist, a process that
Heinzelberg traces. The series is based on Noriko’s marriage
yet presents a different, more uplifting outcome. Cutie is fawned over by her
partner Bullie, who showers her with gifts and attention as reflections of his love
for her. The outcome is different because, while Noriko may have blossomed as an individual, her marriage has changed little. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB2oSdcHf3zEAar4k_UD6oWUbfClBKSBEF8Uvss8Jn__YdH0LjMHv19mOuCyIYHzcsWEvWEQsONuRIZEIv_vHOU3a4BDSGNfC8UNruX0G1aBVWjEyxsm2Lt-EaLjaNDP5D-h8ZvWUwXYw/s1600/imgres-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB2oSdcHf3zEAar4k_UD6oWUbfClBKSBEF8Uvss8Jn__YdH0LjMHv19mOuCyIYHzcsWEvWEQsONuRIZEIv_vHOU3a4BDSGNfC8UNruX0G1aBVWjEyxsm2Lt-EaLjaNDP5D-h8ZvWUwXYw/s1600/imgres-1.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Cutie and the Boxer</i>
is not only about marriage but an artist’s struggle to stay afloat. We learn
that to do so one must pump out new work, unearth old work from the bowels of
your studio, and talk up curators and gallerists. It is important to have a
capable art dealer, an area where Ushio and Noriko fall short. Maybe their clumsy dealer was simply camera shy, an instinct that the Shinoharas seem impervious to. This is what makes the film all the more delectable and captivating. It feels exactly the way a documentary should.</div>
Olivia Faleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16231774646508495107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266205022206053612.post-5001044615868811572014-01-21T18:55:00.000-08:002014-05-20T17:11:29.391-07:00The medium that conquers inhibition<div class="MsoNormal">
A work on paper can be a wondrous thing. From the spontaneous
strokes of a preparatory drawing to the rawness of a woodblock print, art on
paper has an arresting immediacy. The same can be said for works <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">of</i> paper—and not only arresting, but at
times stupefyingly complex. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">About Paper</i>,
a recent show at <a href="http://www.couturiergallery.com/" target="_blank">Couturier Gallery</a> in Los Angeles, captures these mesmerizing
qualities. Who thought that humble paper could be molded and sculpted so
eloquently, or that a sheet of paper could so precisely be cut by hand, with
scissors no less? Perhaps you, if you were aware of paper cutting’s lofty
reputation in Japan, Poland, and Mexico, or if you were fiercely dedicated to
your pre-adolescent papier-mâché projects.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLD3eIJa8iIx06-cbn5UKngWsNv41omtNTfIAnPC31acuDiiHOAGo7UHjAdPp6yr2mm3yG-dRQo_-njvQamfjYO-RNtVS9K8RtUO4dIeRU5bfBSC-tPUeyA1c6Mes2U354xWhykyayLLw/s1600/Press_Lucrezia_Bieler_Nightingales.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLD3eIJa8iIx06-cbn5UKngWsNv41omtNTfIAnPC31acuDiiHOAGo7UHjAdPp6yr2mm3yG-dRQo_-njvQamfjYO-RNtVS9K8RtUO4dIeRU5bfBSC-tPUeyA1c6Mes2U354xWhykyayLLw/s1600/Press_Lucrezia_Bieler_Nightingales.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">LUCREZIA BIELER, NIGHTINGALES..., 2008</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Scissor-cut paper, 13" diameter</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sometimes the diligence involved in art-making is too subtle
to appreciate—but not here. The eleven artists represented in <i>About Paper</i> convey unmistakable dexterity. And if the medium is partly the message here, their work also, and
no less importantly, underpins the poetic possibilities of paper. The material
is more adaptable and more expressive than one might expect; and its versatility
and affordability allow room for endless points of departure and experimentation.
It conquers inhibition. (The Surrealists used it in their automatic drawings to
channel their subconscious.) In <i>About
Paper</i>, the medium’s creative potential adumbrates a variety of formats,
ranging from two-dimensional to sculptural and conceptual works.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho_SAblySj_vy1IJgPl64E9ru7zcsbMpJjTaVYLRxvmZQsoBqNC8m-_N4DesUU9XjNaQPZUIwLB-A_W9KitIYac9V-B1UWgiUqhlNtlGj5JK40yjoiM_kxsP4rj0gNgrheqnkOZfbPxws/s1600/elsa-mora-paper-scissors-1384469735_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho_SAblySj_vy1IJgPl64E9ru7zcsbMpJjTaVYLRxvmZQsoBqNC8m-_N4DesUU9XjNaQPZUIwLB-A_W9KitIYac9V-B1UWgiUqhlNtlGj5JK40yjoiM_kxsP4rj0gNgrheqnkOZfbPxws/s1600/elsa-mora-paper-scissors-1384469735_b.jpg" height="320" title="" width="250" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">ELSA MORA, <i>PAPER SCISSORS</i>, 2013</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Cut paper, 27" x 36"</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The papercuts start off the show with a bang. Lucrezia Bieler’s <i>Nightingales...</i> is so intricate it could pass as an ink drawing. When studied up close its hand-cut qualities come to light: littering a scene of reverie are imperfectly serrated cuts of foliage, proliferating from the hair of a reclining nude—a sort of Mother Nature. Hina Aoyama’s <i>Papillon</i>, another
ode to nature, resembles the delicacy of a taxidermied butterfly, encased and
pressed against glass. Cuban-American artist Elsa Mora offers a deeply
psychological work in <i>Paper Scissors</i>.
More than a self-conscious artwork, it is a surrealistic meditation on
identity. Dismembered body parts float within a pair of scissors; branches that
resemble nerve-endings or roots connect them. It suggests a nervous system comprised—inseparably?—of
Mora’s own body and nerves and the tool that is so integral to her craft.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ0aDxhhHl_sLF2Qz3uLSsZCViMxgEBzCjoBvTT6ScXRqldoQXklwDzx8w_xddsJLSiCHeSh_eQw51j9kGDzzoJc3fHt5IZsX7O1Qgq4q-XHfx7Su28qBErN70jy-TCRJ6SnNPy42sYlU/s1600/Press_Alison_Keogh_Floating_Pellicule.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ0aDxhhHl_sLF2Qz3uLSsZCViMxgEBzCjoBvTT6ScXRqldoQXklwDzx8w_xddsJLSiCHeSh_eQw51j9kGDzzoJc3fHt5IZsX7O1Qgq4q-XHfx7Su28qBErN70jy-TCRJ6SnNPy42sYlU/s1600/Press_Alison_Keogh_Floating_Pellicule.jpg" height="120" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">ALISON KEOGH, <i>FLOATING PELLICULE</i>, 2012</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Handmade Kozo paper, persimmon juice, beeswax, 108" x 30"</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="text-align: center;">Continuing the conceptual approach to paper is New Mexico
artist Alison Keogh, who explores the physicality of the medium. </span><i style="text-align: center;">Floating Pellicule</i><span style="text-align: center;">, a grid of handmade
paper squares colored with persimmon juice, materializes the process of
papermaking. </span><span style="text-align: center;">Delicate and diaphanous, the squares amount to a color gradient,
transitioning from white to red. The triple stacks of handmade paper and clay
slurry in her sculptural grouping </span><i style="text-align: center;">Stratum</i><span style="text-align: center;">(s)
likewise suggest a transition, here between sculpture and ceramics. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ0aDxhhHl_sLF2Qz3uLSsZCViMxgEBzCjoBvTT6ScXRqldoQXklwDzx8w_xddsJLSiCHeSh_eQw51j9kGDzzoJc3fHt5IZsX7O1Qgq4q-XHfx7Su28qBErN70jy-TCRJ6SnNPy42sYlU/s1600/Press_Alison_Keogh_Floating_Pellicule.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXhN-2GAnm0xcXURqM1clBJAl7UFy04QLByFGfc7d77lqx-texmh6i_TZkX_axOdG6FYnEQblXoj86G2pCuRLsZm3yrw983Yn8cUAjobFHDZykKE8zPwcUXp56wAYiV9PnQn5Ouvkb524/s1600/SoniaRomero_Mans_Trunk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXhN-2GAnm0xcXURqM1clBJAl7UFy04QLByFGfc7d77lqx-texmh6i_TZkX_axOdG6FYnEQblXoj86G2pCuRLsZm3yrw983Yn8cUAjobFHDZykKE8zPwcUXp56wAYiV9PnQn5Ouvkb524/s1600/SoniaRomero_Mans_Trunk.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">SONIA ROMERO, MANS TRUNK, 2013</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Cut paper, 21" x 26" framed</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Pushing the boundaries of paper is Los Angeles-born Jeff
Nishinaka, who sculpts and molds the material into beautifully wrought
images. His stylized portrait of
Chairman Mao is composed of multiple layers that lend it a theatrical
chiaroscuro effect. Sonia Romero also uses paper in unexpected ways. Muralist,
printmaker, and daughter of Chicano artist Frank Romero, she crafts matrices
out of paper, creating surfaces that are typically reserved for more durable
materials like metal or wood. She is, in effect, a matrix artist as much as a
print artist. Her <i>Womans Torso</i> and <i>Mans Trunk</i>, headless models tattooed
with botanicals, dance with symmetry: the female is adorned with flowers and
thorny rose vines, the male with a crow-studded tree whose trunk and branches
extend the length of his torso. Romero’s work is not unlike the proliferating
foliage in Bieler’s <i>Nightingales...</i> or
the bifurcating nerve endings in Mora’s <i>Paper
Scissors</i>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN8qZAXUm9ovsh5ZBRMv5L8P2VnDNgqT0vLNHY6tbPdiM4ryxPOCkGyhQRlxfsMX1rr8o1khTyA1w11NKiSDnyheF0R-6sLhMdv74xtPmiqvPiM5gsW2STgSRzQ4ppanVZYp_q63Wu3pQ/s1600/web_Bubar_Lorraine_Predators.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN8qZAXUm9ovsh5ZBRMv5L8P2VnDNgqT0vLNHY6tbPdiM4ryxPOCkGyhQRlxfsMX1rr8o1khTyA1w11NKiSDnyheF0R-6sLhMdv74xtPmiqvPiM5gsW2STgSRzQ4ppanVZYp_q63Wu3pQ/s1600/web_Bubar_Lorraine_Predators.jpg" height="320" width="293" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">LORRAINE BUBAR, <i>PREDATORS</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Cut paper, 39" x 36"</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It is to the show’s credit that this element of continuity doesn’t
feel repetitive. A good art show, after all, reflects a balance of cohesion and
variety. The astuteness and ingenuity of its organizers has insured that <i>About Paper</i> has, for all its seeming
diversity, a rhythm formed from a distinct group of tropes. The preponderance of flora and fauna, for example, is by no means excessive. The lyricism of the works
themselves, their subjects sitting in perfect rhythm with the uninhibited spirit
of paper, sees to that. (Botanicals, birds, snakes, and critters are among the
gallery’s many denizens.) Lorraine Bubar captures our wide, wild world with
exotic handmade paper collected from her travels, overlapping them into
fable-like scenes. <i>Predators</i> is a
shocking work: what looks like a happy aquatic image verges on the sinister
when rats and coiling snakes come into view. A similar dichotomy lurks in Japanese artist Haruka’s <i>Goumannauso</i>: elegant chrysanthemums, formed from paper cuts cascading in a dramatic vertical, are mind-blowing in their precision. Grappling with the astonishingly fine points of her technique will likely effect your belated discovery of a skull residing among the flowers.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN8qZAXUm9ovsh5ZBRMv5L8P2VnDNgqT0vLNHY6tbPdiM4ryxPOCkGyhQRlxfsMX1rr8o1khTyA1w11NKiSDnyheF0R-6sLhMdv74xtPmiqvPiM5gsW2STgSRzQ4ppanVZYp_q63Wu3pQ/s1600/web_Bubar_Lorraine_Predators.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So expertly rendered is the work here that it appears fragile
and durable at once. Moreover, the combination of medium and subject creates
psychological and aesthetic insights that, by the end of this remarkable
exhibit, one may well come to believe could only —as surprising as it may
sound—have been rendered in paper.<br />
<br />
<i>About Paper</i> will be on view at Couturier Gallery through January 4, 2014.</div>
Olivia Faleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16231774646508495107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266205022206053612.post-85016199451289961732014-01-17T12:18:00.001-08:002014-01-17T12:36:07.626-08:00Navigating our geographies, with Corrie Siegel by our sideCorrie Siegel is more than an LA-based artist; she is a communities-based artist. Her multidisciplinary exhibition, <i>Star Tours</i>, drives this forward: a nomadic initiative, the project ventures to unite visitors with Los Angeles' diverse landscape-- its communities, cultural diaspora, and history. A manifestation of Siegel's attention to identity and place, <i>Star Tours</i> approaches these universal experiences with eloquence and sensitivity. Ranging from drawings to photography to video, her work makes a resounding impact.<br />
<br />
After returning home from university in New York, Siegel confronted a sprawling and diverse city whose terrain she struggled to navigate. In an effort to improve her sense of direction and place, she began drawing maps of Los Angeles. Her personal project mushroomed into a series of handmade maps that fused her study of cartography and micrography, an art form developed by 8th-century Hebrew scribes that integrates small text within an image. Select works from her map projects, thought-provoking, exuberant, and astonishing in their meticulousness, will be on display throughout <i>Star Tours</i>.<br />
<br />
In <i>LA #30 Lamed Aleph</i>, Siegel explores neighborhood boundaries and her subjective relationship to them. Regions are distinguished by letters of the Hebrew alphabet whose significance we are compelled to reflect on: do they represent Jewish communities? personal narratives? collective stories? By prompting us to create our own maps, we are inclined to consider our own geographies, whether personal, cultural, or physical. We leave with an itch to chronicle.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYiqtVRJhUZ6qD7I14R8uIEMp4mHn14A2tXUVzYU_GWDhWpAJm-5Ci76-TrQB1solIYXPzWFzBVflv8v9Vl5S9hlvzqUEAvyfOu7NGwIpCevoc7YTl35zbA2QtRd9d7ucsolnCuLujXEA/s1600/4lamed-aleph.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYiqtVRJhUZ6qD7I14R8uIEMp4mHn14A2tXUVzYU_GWDhWpAJm-5Ci76-TrQB1solIYXPzWFzBVflv8v9Vl5S9hlvzqUEAvyfOu7NGwIpCevoc7YTl35zbA2QtRd9d7ucsolnCuLujXEA/s400/4lamed-aleph.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.727272033691406px;"><i>LA #30 Lamed Aleph</i><br />
Ink on paper, 2012</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Through the month of January you can find Siegel at various culturally significant sites in Los Angeles. Siegel's migratory gallery, a 16-foot truck, will assume a dutiful presence throughout the project.<br />
<br />
The project was launched at <a href="http://sidestreet.org/about/" target="_blank">Side Street Projects</a> in Pasadena, an artist-run organization that supports the creative endeavors of artists. Subsequent events will be held at Watts Towers, LACMA, Taco Zone, and more.<br />
<br />
For an up-to-date list of events, click here:<br />
<a href="http://corriesiegel.com/news/star-tours-coming-to-a-neighborhood-near-you/" target="_blank">Star Tours Schedule</a><br />
<br />
Photos from the Side Street Projects opening, Jan. 11:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipqWg2NV7bD5Vn3-STfBs_1hNiiRh7pz4VWeLa4yOo09TklCRQraGyWZp6NzrziTAPCzj9XNuW5KsnC9a28lXzCy-MmflM_KQfcrc9wPsFPHdC8zZFET8IQzxFCrE1IxslnRFTWCEttX4/s1600/DSCN0874.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipqWg2NV7bD5Vn3-STfBs_1hNiiRh7pz4VWeLa4yOo09TklCRQraGyWZp6NzrziTAPCzj9XNuW5KsnC9a28lXzCy-MmflM_KQfcrc9wPsFPHdC8zZFET8IQzxFCrE1IxslnRFTWCEttX4/s320/DSCN0874.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawings from <i>Cadastral Mosorah</i><br />
Mobile exhibition space<br />
<br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFePvKyHl1bUp-JT_0ULBSKOVkYmDeO01cp_S-vOYNVfUz5zDeimE132w20XQqMDdP_5uHo70KdRO9fP7D_zpthmXBCvVAcbE4dAIOqI7wbZXCAPRSoQ5-X1wgg7AndLq3FbOtB8P7nQk/s1600/5lamed-aleph-detail-974x648.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFePvKyHl1bUp-JT_0ULBSKOVkYmDeO01cp_S-vOYNVfUz5zDeimE132w20XQqMDdP_5uHo70KdRO9fP7D_zpthmXBCvVAcbE4dAIOqI7wbZXCAPRSoQ5-X1wgg7AndLq3FbOtB8P7nQk/s1600/5lamed-aleph-detail-974x648.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>LA #30 Lamed Aleph</i> (detail)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFmCF5zOBo6b5qzun87Dvmsoi499W3qWFTQZWyt6FHZcL4UR26WM3Xz9pcCYmhxJJYjEdnnq_e3F7gH-E2tk-Yv08m1DcY0VxHlfbF5J8r5S5tPYKIl10oXfR7JMI_381eZMMYfEp3NSw/s1600/igrcompletecrop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFmCF5zOBo6b5qzun87Dvmsoi499W3qWFTQZWyt6FHZcL4UR26WM3Xz9pcCYmhxJJYjEdnnq_e3F7gH-E2tk-Yv08m1DcY0VxHlfbF5J8r5S5tPYKIl10oXfR7JMI_381eZMMYfEp3NSw/s320/igrcompletecrop.jpg" height="269" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Irving, Bertha and Ralph </i>(detail)<br />
Ink on paper, 2013</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBEL9iPiunyM2HUDe2wMk2Ke_HRMY7K7g3xwjxaOFqjCF9TrJuJSI84bAoLcuMURwbf2rMi2dXTTqSu65W2a7SaK1LmmKq5C2yPV2BAWuXDC0Pgcqyh7b2PsJ12QWHg43WPGimZUpdlMA/s1600/DSCN0882.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBEL9iPiunyM2HUDe2wMk2Ke_HRMY7K7g3xwjxaOFqjCF9TrJuJSI84bAoLcuMURwbf2rMi2dXTTqSu65W2a7SaK1LmmKq5C2yPV2BAWuXDC0Pgcqyh7b2PsJ12QWHg43WPGimZUpdlMA/s320/DSCN0882.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.727272033691406px;">Micrography work station</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
Olivia Faleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16231774646508495107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266205022206053612.post-20857438212144295362013-12-31T15:31:00.001-08:002013-12-31T15:31:18.452-08:00Alexander Calder, absentee choreographer<div class="MsoNormal">
Alexander Calder will make you think twice about air
currents. They are the unseen forces that propel his mobile sculptures,
whimsical feats of engineering in which abstract bodies of shape and line draw
attention to their own balancing acts. His stabiles, or stationary sculptures,
are likewise distinguished by an airy kineticism.<br />
<br />
Calder’s sculptures were unprecedented in the 1920s, during the early years of his career. He challenged the notion of sculpture as mass by demonstrating the possibilities of sculpture as space. Responding to the groundbreaking work of artists like Piet Mondrian and Joan Miró, Calder summoned the open, biomorphic shapes out of their canvases and brought them into human space. His background in mechanical engineering undergirded his aesthetic ingenuity and boldness. Calder’s vision is epitomized in works like <i>White Panel</i>, a canvas-like backdrop with a mobile floating before it; or <i>Eucalyptus</i>, a sweeping, skeletal stabile that is quietly ebullient. They amount to nothing less than drawings in space.<br />
<br />
Calder’s sculptures, and especially his mobiles, invite meditation. They encourage the viewer to contemplate them in motion as they rotate according to the whims of air currents, an experience not unlike watching clouds go by. <i>Snow Flurry</i>, a pristine work composed of jutting lines ending in white discs, is wondrously alive: it casts shadows upon itself; it resists itself; it dances. In this work, and throughout this exhibition, Calder proves that he was more than a sculptor and engineer and visionary; he is an absentee choreographer.<br />
<br />
Alexander Calder, <i>Calder and Abstraction: From Avant-Garde to Iconic</i>, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, through July 27, 2014.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzYsiQyRPeonIShSLr1sO_TfPsCXOCSGO91M4CLnMph3sjEypt2gDO8I-blHW6uhA9HwNnMSIWKkuDNzD4ojNum6xZjmXXPTnixkg480lbDpLq6dJsYilCt25zUYTD8YQ-8vGSgLWkVzg/s1600/rsz_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzYsiQyRPeonIShSLr1sO_TfPsCXOCSGO91M4CLnMph3sjEypt2gDO8I-blHW6uhA9HwNnMSIWKkuDNzD4ojNum6xZjmXXPTnixkg480lbDpLq6dJsYilCt25zUYTD8YQ-8vGSgLWkVzg/s400/rsz_large.jpg" width="313" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>White Panel</i>, 1936.<br />Plywood, sheet metal, wire, string and paint</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzYsiQyRPeonIShSLr1sO_TfPsCXOCSGO91M4CLnMph3sjEypt2gDO8I-blHW6uhA9HwNnMSIWKkuDNzD4ojNum6xZjmXXPTnixkg480lbDpLq6dJsYilCt25zUYTD8YQ-8vGSgLWkVzg/s1600/rsz_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8owSyyelRGcMVZzhEoe8e_ip15-wmqAps51EAGORArMfuiUxumOwTK8p06KpGdPTDtjLYXEcQP-DFUdqwwa9BQfOKyLM1MiT0qMzS05t0lz6FCJGonmEyEakvLn87g_SKdN5ckNAhyTE/s1600/rsz_calder_eucalyptus_1940.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8owSyyelRGcMVZzhEoe8e_ip15-wmqAps51EAGORArMfuiUxumOwTK8p06KpGdPTDtjLYXEcQP-DFUdqwwa9BQfOKyLM1MiT0qMzS05t0lz6FCJGonmEyEakvLn87g_SKdN5ckNAhyTE/s1600/rsz_calder_eucalyptus_1940.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8owSyyelRGcMVZzhEoe8e_ip15-wmqAps51EAGORArMfuiUxumOwTK8p06KpGdPTDtjLYXEcQP-DFUdqwwa9BQfOKyLM1MiT0qMzS05t0lz6FCJGonmEyEakvLn87g_SKdN5ckNAhyTE/s400/rsz_calder_eucalyptus_1940.jpg" width="296" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Eucalyptus</i>, 1940<br />Sheet metal, wire and paint<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg7wNIxdsUsfeUNgPjKeqbtnxRiiYFbzvx8WPIqYdZ2KnlkcZghd2hS7qm_2nAaIRvtEkN-GaNiQi7StRrVdxKpxyfyw-LapHw3Pxx8Ji7eP7-tS1DHmb3MfIoVQm2IeenR3Yb6rzCQo8/s1600/CRI_126599.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg7wNIxdsUsfeUNgPjKeqbtnxRiiYFbzvx8WPIqYdZ2KnlkcZghd2hS7qm_2nAaIRvtEkN-GaNiQi7StRrVdxKpxyfyw-LapHw3Pxx8Ji7eP7-tS1DHmb3MfIoVQm2IeenR3Yb6rzCQo8/s400/CRI_126599.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Snow Flurry</i>, 1948<br />Painted sheet steel and steel wire</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Olivia Faleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16231774646508495107noreply@blogger.com0