Thursday, March 31, 2011

Daily Art Nag for March 31, 2011

from voiceof sandiego.org and Dani Dodge

photo: Brian Dick
When Patricia Frischer arrived in San Diego from the United Kingdom, she noticed a hole in the local arts scene: There wasn't a recognition of artists similar to England's Turner Prize, a highly esteemed award given to British artists to celebrate developments in contemporary art.

So Frischer, the coordinator of the San Diego Visual Arts Network, teamed up with another local art leader, Ann Berchtold, and launched the Art Prize in 2006.

Each year, the prize goes to two established artists, who then select an emerging or less-known artist to work with for a series of shows over the next year. The established artists receive $2,000 each, and the emerging artists get $500.

This year's established artists — sculptor Jay S. Johnson and Ruben Ortiz-Torres, who also teaches art at UCSD — were announced last month. The emerging artists will be named next month.

Read more

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Daily Art Jab for March 29, 2011: Huffington Post Strike

UPDATE: The Newspaper Guild officially joins Huffington Post strike

Visual Art Source
info@visualartsource.com
ArtScene
artscene@artsenecal.com

Since the last update we sent to you (March 6th) there have been significant new developments in our declared "strike" of unpaid, not employed, non-union writers against the Huffington Post. The Newspaper Guild, representing 26,000 writers and journalists across the country, officially entered into the strike action on March 17th. See links below for our original strike statement and that of The Newspaper Guild. Guild President Bernie Lunzer has called on Huffington to meet with Guild representatives.

Last week it was reported, on the heels of the Guild's declaration, that the presidents of the AFL-CIO and the United Steelworkers had been drawn into the fray, but are yet to declare a public position that would reconcile the fact that they have for some time placed written statements on the Huffington Post with the Guild's position. The AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka last posted there on March 4th; the United Steelworker's Leo Gerard on March 11th. We will watch with interest to see if the nation's major labor unions join forces with their natural allies.

Separately, it was also reported that the new AOL / Huffington Post had laid off 900 workers, but that the company was also beginning to distinguish between "professional journalism" and "adhoc blogging." A company spokesman stated, "We stand squarely behind The Newspaper Guild's mission of ensuring that media professionals receive fair compensation."

Monday, March 28, 2011

Daily Art Jab for March 28, 2011

from the SD Union-Tribune and the Associated Press

Art thieves targeting statues in San Diego County


The North County Times says the thieves have stolen nearly $44,000 worth of lawn art since October. Most of the thefts occurred in San Marcos and Ramona.

The artworks included Buddha yard statues, a life-sized aluminum colt, a 3-foot-tall statue of the Virgin Mary and a copper statue of three children that's valued at $15,000.

Sgt. Christina Bavencoff says detectives suspect that the metal works may have been broken up and sold to recyclers while the other pieces may have been resold.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Picked RAW: Under Wraps Controversy and Art in Public Spaces – a discussion

Under Wraps
Controversy and Art in Public Spaces – a discussion

Wednesday March 30, 2011
6:30pm
Expressive Arts Institute
2820 Roosevelt Road, Ste. 204
San Diego, CA 92106
Info:
619.337.4891
ajgsandiego@att.net

Panelists:
Ann Berchtold
Co-Founder/Director - ART SAN DIEGO Contemporary Art Fair

Scott B. Davis
Director of Exhibitions and Design
Museum of Photographic Arts San Diego

Wes Chester
Expressive Arts Therapist, Co-Director – Expressive Arts Institute
Curator – Martha Pace Swift Gallery

Kinsee Morlan
Arts & Web Editor – SD CityBeat

Robert Pincus
Art critic and writer

Anna Stump
Artist – San Diego

Alan Ziter
Executive Director – NTC Foundation

Introduction
Kevin Freitas
Moderator
Katherine Sweetman

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Daily Art Jab for March 26, 2011: To catch a thief

from the San Diego Union-Tribune and James Chute


"Vlna" by Czech photographer František Drtikol
Prague's Museum of Decorative Arts









Local art dealer recovers the goods

Friday, March 25, 2011

Picked RAW: SHAYVISION film screening

Premiere of SHAYVISION, a film documenting the compelling life and work of fine artist Shay Davis, brought to you by filmmakers Patrick Flaherty, Tom Antl, and Rhonda Cadena.

April 8th at the Birch North Park Theater in San Diego.

6:30-7:30 pm

Sambazon hosted cocktail hour with music by DJ Sam Morales
8:00-9:15 pm

Film premiere
9:30-10:30 pm

After party with DJ Mary

Art by Shay Davis will be on display and available for purchase.
For tickets, additional information, and to view the trailer, please visit:
http://www.shayvisionmovie.com/

Tickets are $10 each
($1.00 of every ticket sale will be donated to the San Diego Visual Arts Network to help promote local art.)


Thursday, March 24, 2011

Picked RAW Peeled: Becky Guttin at Mesa College

Becky Guttin: Above US Only Sky

This elegant exhibition beautifully displayed shows off the skills and her vision of Becky Guttin. Guttin traditionally uses a mix of natural element combined with industrial waste. Her message of recycling and respect for the earth resources is expressed on a very human scale in this show as opposed to the many large scale sculpture installation she has made world wide. We don't often see her work in San Diego where she lives and works. On view are works on paper with a calligraphy of marks in mixed media taking them into the realm of paintings, trees growing houses from their branches, metal stripes woven into the canvas sheeting and my favorite, a giant garden tool as a base for one of her miniature houses. We see tiny houses made from multiple materials an all hung on filament, rows of houses on shelves and larger versions in human scale. None are mistaken for real homes, but instead symbolic of a sort of essential need we all have. Most works are for sale but the minies range from $50 to $75 so almost anyone can afford to start a collection with Becky Guttin handcrafted limited editions.

San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery
(7250 Mesa College Drive , D101, SD 92111)
Show until April 13 More info: 619.388.2829

Picked RAW: What Women Want


Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Picked RAW Peeled: THIS IS A CITY

Sala de Espera or Waiting Room is an artistic project conceived by San Diego artist Judith Pedroza.  THIS IS A CITY put on display by the brother sister team of Alexander and Savannah Jarman is the waiting room’s second project to date.  Pedroza views her waiting room as “a place of artistic exploration that does not aim to generate public objects, but rather to delve deep into the primary and private processes of an artist who is invited into my home, given his or her own key to come and go for a month creating an experience along the way.  However, there are several variables that can affect the outcome of these experiences, notably; the clarity of the concept and its execution given it’s someone’s apartment and not an art gallery.  Hanging pictures on the wall will not suffice to create those experiences.
And while apartment exhibitions aren’t a new idea – though they seemed to be when the economy tanked a few years back – it IS for San Diego.  Pedroza should be praised and supported in this new endeavor.  It is revolutionary, a Trojan horse storming the gates of our rather staid and conservative arts scene here.  The willingness of both Pedroza and her husband to reside in the apartment during these experiences is also commendable – it is their home after all – and makes for an even more exciting and rare showing of support for the artists in the community.  Should Pedroza relish her new curatorial role as much as she does making her own artwork, we will not be kept waiting long for new and adventurous exhibitions of local talent.  
In THIS IS A CITY, Alexander and Savannah Jarman have constructed several towering (city?) effigies out of recuperated cardboard boxes, stacked and strung together like Russian nesting dolls of decreasing sizes that reach up to the apartment’s ceiling and then spread out like wildfire.  These columns create a circuitous route through the apartment, impeding any normal comings and goings of someone who might be visiting or living there.  They could also be made to feel like large redwood trees, their branches overhead or even stalactites, several of which have “dripped” down onto various bits of furniture.  There are several fanciful combinations to be discovered as a kitchen table offers a precarious foundation.

Daily Art Nag for March 22, 2011

from THE ART NEWSPAPER and Charlotte Burns




















Cariou v Prince: Left, a photo of a Rastafarian from Patrick Cariou's "Yes, Rasta" and, right, a painting from Prince's Canal Zone series

A US District judge has ruled in favour of photographer Patrick Cariou in his copyright lawsuit against artist Richard Prince.

Cariou originally filed suit for copyright infringement against Prince, Larry Gagosian, Gagosian Gallery, and Rizzoli books in December 2008 after a number of his photographs were reappropriated without consent in Prince’s “Canal Zone” series. The photographs first appeared in Cariou’s 2000 publication, Yes, Rasta, a photographic book produced after spending six years documenting Jamaican Rastafarians.


Sunday, March 20, 2011

Welcome to Picked RAW Peeled

“The World Turns” as they say, and while there is much to discover and learn, the arts in all its glorious manifestations appear to be turning as well, albeit much quieter.  Our goal with Picked RAW Peeled is to turn up the sound a tad more, increase the volume by exposing the arts and culture being produced here in San Diego to an even larger population – via the written word – for those who may not be within shouting distance.  There are several key elements which contribute to a city’s cultural and artistic heritage, one in particular is more indelible than the ever changing exhibit or theater play, it is the written review.  Those who write about the arts solidify its place in history and insures its continuum.  A benefit that will reach beyond many generations to come. 

We here at Picked RAW Peeled welcome your contributions, in fact we insist (respectfully of course) that you pick up a pen, grab a notebook, go see some art, write about it, and then send it to us so that we may share it with others.  Picked RAW Peeled can and will become a valuable resource and eventual archive of all that is good in the arts in San Diego.  Why don’t you join us?  The pleasure will be ours.

Kevin Freitas
Editor

Picked RAW Peeled: Robert Wilson Video Portraits

By Louisa Garcia

Take a stroll around Balboa Park and stop by the Timken Museum  for the Robert Wilson: Video Portraits exhibit.  Starts Feb. 25.  Ends May 15.  Opening times 10am-4:30pm. For more information contact Kristina Rosenberg.619.239.5548

“It’s so creepy when he breathes.”  This isn’t what one expects to hear when standing in the Timken Museum on a chilly Wednesday afternoon.  After all, except for the patrons of the museum, art doesn’t usually breathe, not literally.

Yet a tidy man in a brown tweed suit was standing next to me making just such a comment. I took a step closer to the 65 inch high-definition plasma screen mounted on the wall. At first glance it was a portrait of Mikhail Baryshnikov standing against a white pillar, his only clothing a loin cloth that left nothing to the imagination. I admit, I had been staring at the small gash on his left side, at the arrows above his head that appeared to float in place, at everything except the slow rise and fall of his muscled chest. Mostly because, in my preconceived closed minded thoughts on portraits, the subjects in them don’t breathe – not once they are hanging on a wall.  Apparently no one told this to Robert Wilson. Famous for his work in the theatre, Wilson set out to create a series of video portraits of famous personalities inspired by great masterpieces of European art. Along with the Baryshnikov piece there are two others in the museum and a larger portrait of famous actress Winona Ryder projected on the south side of the Timken from sundown until 11:00 pm, every evening.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

A+ Art Blog: DNA of Creativity


We had our annual brainstorming meeting for SDVAN future projects and this one on a combined Art and Science promotion took off like a rocket. Kaz Maslanka stepped forward to construct our DNA of Creativity blog website where all the member of this group can share ideas and get to know each other. The result of all of this is that we have a bumper crop of new links to share and a special blog site for you to visit to see them.

Synergy is the optimum word for this blog and that is no surprise when Naomi Nussbaum (Synergy Art Foundation) suggested we connect with UCSD, which has a developed interdisciplinary program with Art and Science in one building. With the help of Portia la Touche, we had an invitation for a special guided tour of Calit2 at UCSD.
 
First stop for me was the lecture by Maurizio Seracini (also know as the DiVinci Detective), which was part of the UCSD 50th Celebration and held at the Price Center. Seracini is obviously passionate and sincere about his wish to bring the scientific process to the conservation of art works. He is also creative about his investigations. The story I like the best revealed his Eureka moment while trying to discover if there were hidden murals behind white washed walls in an old Italian building. Nothing was revealed using all his special equipment until he remembered one machine was designed especially to work well though liquid. . A quick spray of the walls with a water mist and all was revealed. Seracini is Adjt Professor, Director, UCSD Center of Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture and Archaeology (CISA3) which is part of the Jacobs School of Engineering. He has a vision to put UCSD on the international map and has arranged a10 year collaboration at the Italian home of Amerigo Vespucci for student to do oversea studies.

Back to the tour of Calit2 and the exhibition Synthesis: Processing and Collaboration including Virtual Reality installation for the StarCAVE with special guest Tom DeFanti, Director of Visualization and Senior Research Scientist at Calit2. Trish Stone was our tour Director and is the Gallery Coordinator at Atchinson Hall. Kira Carrillo Corser (pictures above) and Kay Colvin (View Album) both took photos to share. Tom showed us not only the StarCave, a space with motion detecting interaction programs, but also his mobile communication system where multiple computer screens are visible and uploaded wirelessly. Expensive equipment was on view, but we thought less aesthetics than one would have wished.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Daily Art Nag for March 15, 2011

from the SLOG News & Arts and Jen Graves


Takashi Murakami, the Superflat artist, was trying to host a fair for self-represented artists this month, but it has now been canceled. In response to the earthquake and the cancellation, the artist put out a call to people all over the world: Send us images.

You can Tweet messages of original art, or look at the hundreds already posted, at #newday_GEISAI.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

THIS IS A CITY



Project # 2 Sala de Espera: THIS IS A CITY/ Alexander Jarman & Savannah Jarman
              
Sala de Espera
1515 Ninth Ave. Downtown
San Diego. CA. 92101

Closing Night
Friday, March 25 2011
Artist Talk 6.30 pm
Screening of Dark Days 7:00 pm
Social 8.30 pm                                


THIS IS A CITY


This Is A City was made using the vernacular of its subject matter, which is the relationship of a city's inhabitants.  The aesthetics of the work are partly cartographic, but the piece is not meant to be a guide so much as a document, a witness to the multiple narratives of San Diego's citizenry.

The cardboard box has many uses and re-uses, and so any one box has the ability to enter into many people s lives; many people, across many socioeconomic lines, many geographies and many histories.  Boxes can do so mostly because of their relationship to commerce.  Andy Warhol found his Brillo Boxes to be a radically democratizing blurring of any distinction between art and life, but more importantly a blurring of the classes.  Warhol famously pointed out the power of the mass produced good using Coke as an example.  The queen of England, the prostitute, the famous television star and the homeless citizen- none of them can buy a Coke that s any better than the Coke anyone else can drink.  So too are boxes included in this group of objects that are seemingly equally accessible.  Unlike a can of Coca-Cola though, boxes more often share their lives with multiple, diverse individuals before they are ever discarded or recycled into something else.