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Saturday, October 11, 2003

2-D, sorta

 
There's a whole cohort of African-American artists who have achieved prominence in the past decade for their work that seems to use racist stereotypes and to undercut them. I'm thinking about Kerry James Marshall , with his "Rythm Mastr" comics, Michael Ray Charles with his advertising and comic book images and Kara Walker and her antebellum-style silhouettes.

For our first stop in New York on Thursday, we visited the group show "Internal Excess" at the Drawing Center in Soho (I went to see local artists Astrid Bowlby's and Christine Hiebert's work hanging in the Big Apple). The premise of the show seemed kind of wobbly in relation to what hung, but one new name that was a standout to me was Lamar Peterson. The affect of his style is pure children's-book, school-book illustrations of happy, Ozzie-and-Harriet families. The colors are intense and beautiful and flat. But the content is bitter, with too-wide grins on the African-American family members shown watering and trimming the white Bush topiary in their garden (top), or raking the blood red autumn leaves that cover the child like tar and feathers (right).

The work, with its clarity of intent, its control of color and line, and its anger left me breathless.

Other work that was new to me and of interest was a group of fast-food and other brand-name emblazoned paper bags holding tiny paper cut-out trees, which were cut with amazing detail out of one side of the bag by artist Yuken Teruya (image show is similar to those in show). Each bag was beautifully detailed and pristine, but I want to see what else she has to say with her amazing technique.

I was not surprised by the presence of a completely non-drawn item in a drawing show, given that drawing has taken all works on paper into its domain, but I just want to complain that the designation seems silly and counter-intuitive.

We dashed off to Chelsea after the Drawing Center, and among the work that was a surprise to me were some large paintings by Kevin Zucker at Mary Boone Gallery, a gallery I usually love to hate. But the work seemed kind of interesting to me. Its architectural content, severe perspective and enormous scale made the paintings seem like stage sets or real spaces, waiting for the viewer to step right inside. With the bottom edge above floor level, the paintings barely held on to their window/painting qualities. They wanted to be floor-to-ceiling openings into a new room.

The austerity and tight lines (produced with the help of digital renderings) of the work reminded me of blueprints and architectural elevations, but I'm a sucker for color, and the minimal color seemed repressed, as did the spaces themselves. Paintings on the other side of the gallery were grayed out, wall-papery still lifes, decorations for the old-fashioned spaces in the large pieces. For the life of me, however, I cannot figure out why anyone would find this as interesting subject matter in the year 2003. The multi-step technique of transfering the computer imagery to the canvas, however, seemed kind of interesting, but a lot of work without enough payback.

Some likable tiny paintings, mostly portraits, by Connecticut artist Helen Byler caught my eye at George Billis Gallery, perhaps because they had a touch of Philadelphia conservatism mixed in their style. This series of a dog catching a tennis ball also brought to mind the Eadweard Muybridge studies of people and animals in motion. But Byler brings affection and humor to the images, avoiding Muybridge's tone of a Victorian science experiment instigated by a preternatural curiosity.

And crossing the line between 2-D and 3, between fine art and folk art, the painted baking tins of B. Wurtz at Feature Gallery caught my eye. Feature's displays have caught my eye before. And the Vincent Fecteau piece mentioned in yesterday's blog was also at Feature.

Wurtz's pans are found objects (or donated objects), and his painting highlights the variety of forms such a seemingly straightforward consumer good can take. I am reminded of African baskets woven of colorful phone wire and of hubcaps. Wurtz is also working the space between collecting and creating. And at the end of my day, it felt like an easy place to be.
permanent link  libby 8:17 PM
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Friday, October 10, 2003

Sculpture lives--and undulates--in New York

 
We hit the road yesterday with our friend Anne, thirsty for a shot of New York art. And the big news is there's plenty of sculpture in them thar galleries, and it's pretty good.

Late in the day, we stumbled into Galerie Lelong and saw a new spin on artists' books in Donald Lipski's "Non-Fiction" exhibit. The remaindered books were arrayed in elegant rosettes on the wall, on the floor, in stacks on wheels (see image left), and in a giant ring standing on edge. The work spoke volumes about about the meaning of books and of excess. He was not so interested in the books for their content, but rather for their use in repeat patterns and shapes to create new things.

Next door at Feature, Vincent Fecteau showed several table-top architectural what-is-its (shown right) made of painted papier-mache and other stuff that looked like they might have been produced by James Casebere's evil twin. Smooth, sleek, but with an occasional weird bit of yuck, the objects were mysterious interiors for Barney Rubble. You may remember this guy from the last Whitney Biennial--or at least Anne did.

Both of these shows are closing tomorrow, but the galleries are among our faves and are usually worth a visit.

Ken Price and the team of Venski & Spanle may work in different materials, but we found their affects were surprisingly similar. Price's well-hung clay objects at Matthew Marks Gallery (left) had a California keep-on-trucking affect, while Venske & Spanle's Lasa marble "Smurfs" at Margaret Thatcher Projects stretched beyond the human body to suggest animals and eggs--cartoony shapes in classical material that was soooo smooooth and oozy, they looked like plastic (see below).

Peter Schjeldahl loved Ken Price's gorgeous, painted I-want-to-touch-its in his recent New Yorker piece. Happily, that show will remain open through Nov. 1.

But the "Smurfs" decamp tomorrow.

Coming soon on artblog, we'll tell you about Richard Serra at Gagosian and the anti-Gagosian Rider Gallery in a Ryder truck right nearby.
permanent link  libby and roberta 10:30 AM
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Wednesday, October 08, 2003

Sooo big. Mural sets record.

 
I'm just plain crazy about murals. I drive extra miles just to pass by my favorites. I love them because they bring art out of the gallery, and they have to make a transition from private treasure to something that reflects the public and its values. That's a tall order, and not all murals succeed.

I've been mulling over murals lately, wondering why some are more successful than others. I haven't been able to come up with a formula, yet.

With this in mind, I went for a look at the city's newest largest mural--a whopping 30,000 square feet--painted by artist Don Gensler on the west side of the old Acme warehouse on Darien Street, facing Lincoln Financial Field.

The Philadelphia Eagles paid for this mural, which is so long that you can't take it all in at once (see photo detail above), even if you're standing way back in the Linc parking lot. To see both ends, you have to move your head.


The big mural involved a big number of people. About 250 children contributed images of themselves and their hopes and dreams. Somehow, Gensler had to come up with a design that incorporated the children's images with his own in some coherent, overall design that would be acceptable to the corporate sponsor.

Did he succeed? Yes and no.

But the weakest part wasn't the kids' contributions. Gensler made what they contributed look great, like the scribble-scrabble picture tucked in near the giant kneeling figure (shown above), or the little cartoony images polka-dotting the area around the giant runner (shown left).

Close up, the mural is pretty satisfying. In fact, it's the surprise of the kids stuff, busy, crunchy, non-standard, emerging from behind the giant, professionally designed figures that gives the mural its zing and helps carry it along from panel to panel.

But from far away, the details disappear behind the impact of the intense colors and the giant figures. Without the links of the crunchy details in sight, the mural does not hang together, and many of the giant figures seem expected, predictable. The repeated running figure of a cute little kid seemed glib, and it fails to tie the panels together.

Other giant figures work with panache. Take this one, which, here in Sports Central across from the Linc, looks like a kid with something else on his mind. Somehow, Gensler managed to tip his hat to the sponsoring corporation with a running child and still tuck in a reading, pensive child. That surprise--and the ambiguity of the reader's posture-- helps keep the mural alive.


I don't always like a mural the first time I see it. Sometimes I think a mural is boring or trite or uninspired until I pass it for the 14th time, and then suddenly it seems a welcome part of the neighborhood, like the Karl Yoder Cedar Park mural at 49th and Baltimore (shown). One day, the tree against the sky took on a magical glow I had failed to notice previously. Now I look for that magic every time I pass by.

Some murals never get better, like the corporate paean to nursing at Broad and Vine. It never rises above literal.

With these thoughts in mind, my guess is I'll grow to love this mural too. But it isn't really love at first sight.
permanent link  libby 8:55 PM
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Open studios redux

 
Just in cast you are one of the three people in Philadelphia who doesn't receive the Philadelphia Open Studio Tours info, I thought I'd mention it. Studios east of Broad will open to the public Oct. 11 and 12, and west of Broad will open Oct. 18 and 19. Check out the website for details.
permanent link  libby 5:13 PM
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Ha Ha Boo Hoo

 

Now that Ahnold is almost a governor, the world seems one vast, right-wing cartoon.

But that’s too scary to talk about. So let’s talk about some other cartoons, the ones that exist as animated or non-animated satires and that seem to be everywhere in the galleries these days.

I have always loved cartoons, especially for their ability to transport the viewer into an alternate universe. Done well, cartoons are a first-class imagination transport system.

Most, if not all the works in the Illegal Art exhibit at Nexus (see post Oct. 5) are cartoons. Many of them didn’t transport me....being a little heavy-handed or too expected (Barney with a noose around his neck?).

On the other hand, artblog’s Eric McDade achieves lift-off with his Art Alliance exhibit “More Exercises in Self-Pity.” “Pity” which includes the artist’s trademark black on white graphics has carved out a niche for himself in the self-doubt and secret loathings department. His work takes the passive-agressive inner monolog to a higher level. (see image top, left)

Vox Populi, which seems to attract a lot of cartoonists to its stable, this month also takes you on great head trips. “Killer cartoons” in Vox’s new video lounge (a couple of chairs in front of a tv monitor opposite the front desk) is a loop of four short animations on the theme of death. Jason Scheidel, Nadia Hironaka, Jennifer Macdonald and Kota Ezawa provide the animateds and each one packs a punch. Ezawa’s was the biggest surprise -- a straight-forward cartoonization of the televised reading of the verdict at the OJ Simpson trial. Ezawa, who turned the broadcast into something of an Alex Katz-ian netherworld, --- flat affect everywhere -- hits one out of the ballpark. (image second from top, right is from Ezawa's video)

Elsewhere in the Vox galleries, Nami Yonemoto’s surround-cloud environment (third image from top) and Erin Weckerle's butterfy collages and pillows on the floor are cartoon immersions.

“Team Work,”in the back space, is a show of collaborations by Vox members. It's cartooning as done in childhood -- together with friends with a high degree of make-believe. Here, there's a calico castle (by Weckerle/Aaron Wexler, image above right); a shadow, puppet piece (by Mauro Zamora/Eva DiOrio, image above left), a Barbie-Ken hot-rod made of concrete on springs (by Clint Takeda/Shannon Bowser, below right) and even a video collaboration (by Hironaka/Matthew Suib, image below left) on a teeny, Hello Kitty-sized, 3”x5” video screen that seems to capture footage a child might focus on -- feet walking through a subway; the magic of a ski-lift seen from afar; the horror of a big, open-mouthed fish seen up close in a pond.

The art world is a vast and crazy place and I don’t want to suggest a steady diet of satire to anyone. But I do wonder if the the sheer volume of satirical artworks in circulation is a rising barometer of artists’ worries about the present and the future.

permanent link  roberta 10:57 AM
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Tuesday, October 07, 2003

Posers rule

 

While we’re on the subject of activism and art, I ran into Joseph Dugan and Ted Schorske, members of the Philadelphia Models Guild Friday night outside Nexus. You may remember hearing about the Guild and their fight to unionize the figure models at Moore College. (unionizing would help them get such things as dressing rooms, health care benefits and a fair deal on wages.) Dugan and Schorske were leafletting for next Sunday's draw- and paint-athon at Fleisher Art Memorial -- a fundraiser for the Guild. They told me the models won their case at Moore and are now moving on to their next target, PAFA, which has around 35 models. Read more about the case here

According to Mark Brakeman, a spokesperson for the group, the Philadelphia Models Guild is now a bonafide chapter of AFSCME with around 20 members. The Guild must petition the NLRB for standing at each art school they hope to organize. (The Guild's petition argues that models are employees of the school, not indipendent contractors. The school's position is that the models are independent contractors.) Last week, the NLRB met on the PAFA issue and Brakeman says he hopes to hear their answer soon (with luck in the next two weeks but by December at the latest).

About that paint and draw-marathon on Oct. 12. For $20, you can draw and paint from live models starting at 10 am and going into the night (to 10 pm). Guild members provide food and non-alcoholic drinks also included in the $20. Models will pose in studios on Fleisher’s 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors, some doing quick poses, some doing longer. Portrait models will be available and some models will work in teams for double poses.

It’s the third marathon the Guild has sponsored (Fleisher doesn't sponsor the event, the models rent the building) and the money raised will help with union organizing. Around 65 people came to draw and paint at the last marathon, Brakeman said.

Sharpen those pencils and come on out and support Philadelphia's model citizens. Thomas Eakins would approve. Wouldn't he? (image at top is from Eakins' "Naked Series: Female Model" circa 1883, 7 albumen prints)
permanent link  roberta 8:12 AM
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Monday, October 06, 2003

Bleeding heart radical chicana art

 
I confess to loving Mexican bleeding heart imagery, retablos, and Frida Kahlo. So when I saw that chicana (i.e. Mexican-American) artist Carmen Lomas Garza was having a show at Swarthmore's List Gallery I squeezed it right into my crazy First Friday schedule.

If I were writing a film thumnail or book-jacket thumbnail I might describe the work as Grandma Moses meets Frida Kahlo, but that would be unfair, because it would call into question the freshness of Lomas Garza's vision.

Lomas Garza, whose art grew out of her anger toward the discrimination she suffered growing up in Texas, manages to transcend the political anger and lovingly depict tejana quotidien culture and community. But there's a razor-edged sharpness, beauty and clarity that protects the work from sentimentality.

With delicate colors, rhythmic compositions, primitive (but sophisticated) solutions to perspective issues, and a sense of the magical, Lomas Garza uses guaches, oils and prints, as well as traditional Mexican paper cut-outs--and metal cutouts based on them (shown, metal cutout detail from Day of the Dead ofrenda to her grandfather, Antonio Lomas).

Worth the trip to Swarthmore, folks.
permanent link  libby 8:44 AM
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Sunday, October 05, 2003

Ebb, flow and coagulation

 

The masses were flowing like molasses last Friday around 7 pm. It was the slow, glug, glug, glug of bodies in, bodies out of galleries until the blockage at Nexus where congealment occurred. (image is Albo Jeavons' soft sculpture seen through the Nexus window.)

There at the travelling exhibit “Illegal Art: Freedom of Expression in the Corporate Age” -- in what seemed like an alt-culture meet-and-greet -- a youthful crowd came to rest in front of art that parodied capitalistic mainstays like Disney, big oil companies, Colonel Sanders and Harlequin romance novels.

Nexus is usually crowded on First Friday but this was extreme what with everybody’s backpacks and bicycle helmets doubling the congestion. I managed to see a fair amount of stuff though not a whole lot that seemed flagrantly, provocatively illegal.

Wall cards tell the stories of the works, many of which have been threatened by lawsuits according to the press material I read. Natalka Husar a Ukranian emigre artist actually had the best story. Husar paints on the covers of Harlequin romance paperbacks putting her life out there as the stuff of romantic fiction. The thickly painted, obviously NOT Harlequin books were objected to by the humorless corporate lawyers who demand that she not exhibit her work. The artist has hired a lawyer. (image above right is one of Husar's Harlequin paintings.)

Aric Obrosey’s “Oily Doily” (see image, right) which used the icons from Shell, Amoco and Texaco to make an elegant acrylic on mylar design that looks like a doily was more typical of what was there -- accomplished, even beautiful works that were subversive but...I couldn’t imagine a corporation going after any of it...although apparently some artists have been harrassed.

Andrew Jeffery Wright and Clare Rojas are included with images from their outstanding fashion-ad parodies from the “Manipulators” series. Jesse Goldstein, a Space 1026er whose wonderful Bush-the-Medieval-Crusader parodies stood out in the collaborative’s ICA show in 2002 here appears with Neighborhood Watch parodies that skewer the rush to surveillance post 911. The wall card says Goldstein's been installing his signs around town. (see image, left)

And Albo Jeavons, he of the short-lived DisneyHole Project had a soft sculpture in the front window that poked fun at hydra-headed, government-military-industrial monster. Jeavons was also selling t-shirts that corrupted corporate logos like Banana Republic (Ban Republican) and Dolce and Gabbano (Dumb and Greedy). (for more information see his website)

I give Michael Durham’s Pez dispenser “Fallen Rapper Series” high marks for having fun with it. You can read Durham’s proposal to Pez that they make dispensers for Tupac and other fallen rappers. Pez’s letter is a short, polite note saying the project skewed a little old for its target audience of 3 to 6 year olds (who are they kidding...a lot of adults collect those dispensers). (image below left is mock-up of Durham's Pez dispensers)

I keep thinking about Michael Moore’s “Bowling for Columbine” a movie that skewers corporations, the government and the culture much more effectively than anything I saw in this exhibit. Moore seems to have gotten away with exercising his rights to free speech. Did Moore have corporate trouble but just do it anyway? Is that the key to succeeding with an anti-corporate project?

If you’re stirred up about how first amendment freedoms are being eroded in the homeland, you might want to check out the creative rights conference sponsored by Media Tank that surrounds this exhibit. The conference includes lectures, film screenings and panels about copyright, public domain and fair use. Then again, you could just go do it.
permanent link  roberta 1:40 PM
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Hot paint cool gallery

 

Before getting to 2nd St. let me recommend another juicy painter, Jan Baltzell, whose solo exhibit just opened at Mangel Gallery. Baltzell, who teaches at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), is an established Philadelphia abstractionist known for her yummy, saturated colors and sensuous paint handling. In these new works she delivers a blast of color and feeling that’s positively celestial. These are paintings that Rubens might be making if he were here today -- majestic, tumultuous and exhilarating. (both images are untitled oils on canvas)

A short aside on the gallery. Mangel, located around the corner from the Art Alliance, is one of those small galleries that never seems particularly welcoming to the casual viewer. It's been this way for years. Gird your loins and open the door and go in. It’s worth risking the chill air to see this hot work.



permanent link  roberta 8:41 AM
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