Picked RAW Peeled

Thank you, Dennis Paul Batt

2012-02-19T15:26:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Dennis for being one of the first people we met when we arrived in SD. I hear this story from so many people. Dennis helped people feel comfortable when they didn’t know anyone. He would come over and talk to them and introduce them to others. He was a self appointed ambassador for the arts.

Thanks to Dennis for his dedicated volunteerism. He would help hang a show, help make a website, help serve at the bar, help install a sculpture. If you wanted something done you could count on Dennis. He was always a reliable part of a team, with no ego, no need to have his name in lights. It was never about Dennis and always about the art.

Thanks to Dennis for his advice and console. He delighted in calling up to tell you a bit of gossip and you would end up telling him something in return. And in the course of the conversation, you might discover a solution or a different way of thinking about something. He was genuinely a creative thinker.

Thank you Dennis for taking the piss out of overbearing egoist and there are plenty of those in the art world. He railed against them, battled to rid the art world of them and sometimes he even won.

Thanks to Dennis for being that little devil that tempted us to naughty things. Even if we did not rise to the bait, it felt good to imagine doing so.

Thank you to Dennis for reminding us we never know how long we have and that we have to say thanks and I love you to those who matter to us.

There are not enough thank you’s and many of us feel we did not say thank you enough to this man who made us laugh and pull out our hair, who got so thrilled when he saw a new creation, who was working on an exciting new project and who died far, far too soon.

Thanks to Dennis Paul Batt for so many good, good years and for leaving us with all the connections he made for us to continue his quest to have the value of art truly recognized in our community.

New Horizons in SD Art

2012-01-23T21:40:00.001-08:00

I found myself making two speeches this month and in both the most important point was that old chestnut, why do we do this. Now I am no spring chicken and that means that I can cycle back to childhood and do things just for the fun of it. But I do have standards. My husband Darwin helped me to focus on the qualities that really attract us in any art work that we admire. We are looking for the excitement of break-though thinking and creation of the differences in perceived reality. We want a glimpse of new horizons, a view of what could be possible.

Many artworks will tell stories. Those stories will define in someway who we are, maybe in the past, maybe the present and hopefully in the future. I continue to be impressed with the quality of art we are now seeing in San Diego. The standard is getting higher and higher agrees Karen McGuire the curator of the William D. Cannon Art Gallery in Carlsbad. On view right now is the 2012 Invitational Exhibition, and McGuire admits it was hard to make a choice of just five from the juried show held last year.

Robert Ecker's paintinga were a favorite of Darwin especially the landscapes right at the entry. I also found these the best of his works as they seem to have focus and purpose which some of the other composition lacked. The technical ability of all the artists was very, very high but that is not the reason that we see such an improvement in the works in the last 15 years. SD artists were always capable of craftsmanship.

Becky Guttin (assemblage) created a field of strange and compelling shapes mainly on stems of metal and using gourds lined with metal filings. She is revisited these shapes that we first saw a while ago. The real revelation is when she groups them together and used her hand to vibrate the stems. All of a sudden we were transported from a desert landscape to an underwater bed of waving seaweed. I just wish that the works could move on their own so everyone could experience what we saw on the night of the opening.

Roy Jenuine (sculpture) Robert Nelson (drawing) both have stories to tell and allow our imaginations to fill in the blanks although we are directed by the visuals. Jenuine’s small figures holding on to picnic tables in gale force winds generated by drawn desk fans are charming. When grouped with figures in a variety of yoga-like positions all divided into display boxes, or a surfer and his surf board on a pulley with an elaborate water wheel, or a series of dogs of all sizes, we feel we are let into the world of an acute observer of life. Nelson continues his series of finely drawn characters seemingly from his dream world and we enjoyed another chance to see his work which is represented by Noel Baza. Nelson was one of our emerging artists from New Contemporaries III exhibition.

Sasha Koozel Reibstein (ceramics) has her own pharmacological lab in a kiln and has produced capsules for every possible malady. We see them not only suspended but embedded in what looks like body inners. For some reason these look rather pleasant and even humorous but there is a darker novel brewing here.

These artist are only just five of the wonderful talent that is developing in our community. Watch for the show in June of New Contemporaries now in its fifth year and all nominated by art professionals like Karen McGuire.

P.S. You still have time to see the wonderful overstuffed, radically shaped and exquisitely finished works of Lila Jang at Lux Art Institute. Ms. Jang’s misfortune of not being able to travel to SD from Korea is a benefit for us in that Kim MacConnel and Paul Henry have worked in the Lux studio during her show and their work is on display as well until March 3.

SDVAN January Overview

2012-01-22T20:55:00.001-08:00

DNA of Creativity You don't often see a dedicated group of intellectual all gathered together and brainstorming creative and innovative ideas. If you missed the Information Meeting at MiraCosta College you can now watch the video (or below) which answers questions about the application process and explains the criteria for the $2000 grants. This project will connect artists to scientists and culminate in 2013 with large teams efforts producing exhibitions, lesson plans and other documentation of the collaborative process. Team Application are now available. Information PDF & Word doc template. Want to know more and stay in touch? Follow us on Twitter, Facebook AND join the Blog. Click this link to register your intent to participate. Send us an email and we will add you to the DNA of Creativity mailing list.

DNa Info Meeting from Patricia Frischer on Vimeo.

Hats Off for Life Fashion Show on Sat Jan 14 at Fairwinds Ivey Ranch was a charming afternoon where the retirement community, friends and family celebrated the creativity of 8 artists while the admiring hats designed specially for the residents. Now those hats and the photographs taken by three professional photographers, Melissa Au, Raymond Elstad, and Erika Johnson will be on view at Hera Hub (9710 Scranton Road, #160 , San Diego, CA 92121) on Thurs Feb 23, 4:30 - 7:30 pm

Is La Jolla coming back as a center for the visual arts in San Diego?

2011-12-26T12:45:00.001-08:00

La Jolla is known as an upscale shopping community with lots of sales art galleries, but not that much art street cred. I had high hopes when I planned my recent trip there to see three new galleries. I was most impressed with the beautiful white Scott White space showing Ross Bleckner. On Jan 14^th there will be a community "art walk" in La Jolla and Scott White Contemporary Art will unveil the gallery's second show in this new location having moved from Little Italy. Stranger Than Paradise is a retrospective of photographs by Stefanie Schneider that have been hand-picked by White himself. Although her work has been showcased in collections and museums around the world, this is Schneider's 1st solo show in San Diego. You can also still see the William Glen Crooks exhibition.

Thumbprint Gallery does not have street level windows and neither it nor Alexander Salazar Fine Art were open for business on the day I visited. Neither appeared to show work different from their other gallery spaces in North Park and downtown. But both will be open in the evening on Jan 14. ASFA (6-9 pm) will show paintings by Erik Skoldberg from San Diego and sculptures by Kevin Barrett from New York. Thumbprint (5-10 pm) invented Works of Wisdom, works by an eclectic mix of artists using famous quotes as their stimulus.

I used this opportunity to drop into Quint Contemporary to see the stunning minimal back painted glass works by Thór Vigfússon. These works do not read in photographs but have such a quiet power. Also close by is RB Stevenson and I discovered the work of John Rogers, which blew me away. This local professor at San Diego State is another hidden SD treasure. The show at the end of December was sparse because many of the works were sold, but that made the space ever more open and elegant.

The Kathleen Marshall: Still in Paris gouache paintings at the Athenaeum Art and Music Library were almost photographic the technique was so perfect but it was the way that they drew you into the scene and made you believe, for the moment at least, that you could be living in one of these rooms and about to step into the sun dappled garden that is their true charm.

I visited The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego to see the Phenomenal: California Light Space and Surface. I knew the works of most of these artists and was surprised to be most taken with the completely black room by Eric Orr called Zero Mass. I entered the room with trepidation and left after a few minutes. But something prompted me to ask a guard if I had missed anything. He kindly took me back into the room and gave me the confidence to stay long enough for my eyes to become accustomed to the very low light. The room was not a deprivation experience but an experiment in light and space after all.

Do I think that La Jolla is coming back as a center for the visual arts in San Diego? No, three new gallery spaces will not make that much difference. What I do think we are seeing is the re-bounding of the international art market being reflected in these galleries’ quest for a bit of that succulent pie. I hope that Thumbprint and Salazar have not put more on their plates than they can digest as I sincerely wish that they will succeed.

Full roster at OMA

2011-12-01T18:49:00.000-08:00

Oceanside Museum of Art has a full roster of shows right now. You are greeted by 4 huge window creatures with marvelous colors that are repeated in the new striped wall of the foyer which is showing We Can Work It Out: Becky Guttin until Jan 29. The large red carpet which proclaims, “my house is my house” is a theme continued in the large mobile of little wood outlined houses that Guttin has become known for. It is a wonderful way to convert the space into a joyful and welcoming entry.

Turn to the left and for a further riot of color in the show It's Not My Fault: The Art of Everett Peck until Feb 12. Everett Peck who is now in his sixties took up painting just a decade ago after a full life as the creator of Duckman. You will see a reproduction of his workspace and the fantasy dining room table with fully painted furniture and displaying a charming miniature burning log cabin with stone chimney complete with flames. This cartoonist is starting to make some seriously good paintings on view here for the first time.

I was very taken by the show Vantage Point: UCSD Visual Dialogues until Jan 15 because the attempt was to show the establish artists who are faculty member with their selection of emerging artists students. This is a formula that has worked so well for the SD Art Prize and which I would like to see taken up more often. Putting the works in the context of each other was ultimately the most successfully with the collaborative work by Brian Zimmerman and his professor. Anya Gallaccio. The precarious setting of her boulder on his delicate wooden structure was intriguing with so many possible interpretations (for example: her female strength and his male frailty, her lofty and mature ideas and his growing ambition). Marvelous to see this video presentation by Louis Hock with its frosted rectangle moving mysteriously about desert and sea scapes with just a hint of something not quite identifiable and always reminding us of the hand of the artist. Hock has a site specific video cinemural for the Pacific Standard Time Exhibition at the Getty Center in LA right now. The student’s work left me a bit baffled with a very expensive presentation but somehow lacking the punch of holograms that it is depicting. Alida Cervantes shows with Ruben Ortiz-Torres and threatens to overcome the master in this particular painterly figurative style. Her work has developed wonderfully over the years since she was an emerging artist in one of our New Contemporaries exhibitions and now reminds me of Paula Rego, a wonderful Portuguese artist now living in London. It is always a joy to see new works by Ernest Silva and these don’t disappoint. They have his recognizable style but they are more complicated, which is so hard to achieve and still maintain their direct simple charm. The relationship to his student Chris Kardambikis is vague but Kardambikis’ work is a nice distillation of a landscape on newsprint.

Also on view is Parallel Visions: Transitional Youth Academy until Dec 18 and A Matter of Space: Cathy Breslaw showing at the Parker Gallery until Jan 5. (watch the video of her gallery talk.)TheWilliam Glen Crooks exibition begins in mid-December.

Art as a Weapon

2011-11-22T11:55:00.000-08:00

An original documentary about art, politics, religion and war. Everything that makes us human. -Jeff Durkin / Director

"Art as a weapon" will look at the connection between street Art, Buddhism and the struggle for Democracy by using the closed country of Burma as a case study. The film will follow a Buddhist monk poet who's building a library, artist Shepard Fairey painting a 30' tall mural, and a elementary school art class learning how to use spray paint- giving the audience a peek into the the lives of artists and how art has the power to move people. Interviews include Shepard Fairey and Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

This will be a “connections film” looking at the collision between the big forces that shape humanity- Art, Politics, and religion in both the eastern and western worlds. By combining beautiful cinematography, with Buddhist philosophy the project will illustrate the power Art has in the bloody fight for Democracy. Part art film, part political film, the goal is to continue spreading the word by using art as a weapon for peace in Burma.

2 simple ways you can help. 1. Donate to the film while your here on the kickstarter page (tax-deductible) 2. Spread the word on facebook, twitter, blogs and to your network. Just use this link http://kck.st/qkUTKX

This is more than just a movie, it's a movement that will help MILLIONS of people.....and be seen by MILLIONS of people worldwide. Below is a video of how this unique project began.

Audience Engagement

2011-11-21T18:54:00.000-08:00

I was glad to see the James Irvine Foundation publication Getting in on the Act as they made a very good case for the value of the policies at SDVAN. They reported that building support for the arts in the future depends on encouraging more participation from our audiences.

The study identifies three main types of involvement; curatorial where the public makes decision about the content or direction of the project; public co-producing with the collaboration of professional artists; and finally when the public is asked to create their own works of art.

We have found that SD audiences want to meet the artists and love to sit down for a meal with them and even share in the process of making the work. We know that art gives people a way to identify their community, take pride in it and thus protect and improve it.

SDVAN continues in its efforts to gain more and more participation from our community. During the Art Meets Fashion 2011 public launch in April of this year, we invited the public to strut their stuff on our catwalk with fashions made by them or their friends. This popular part of the program helped to build the number who attended this event to 1000 and it was one of the most well attended events of the NTC Liberty Station complex.

Hats Off to Life is a project where we will be going into retirement communities and basing hat constructions on the life of some of the residents. We hope to hold a hat making workshop for them as well. We will strive to introduce participatory components into the DNA of Creativity project in the next two years.

However, having spent 6 weeks looking at art in London with very little personal participation, I can testify that this was an immensely satisfying experience. Not all art needs to be displayed with a participation element although a little education is never amiss for those who might want it. The new show at the SDMA, Mexican Modern Painting from The Andrés Blaisten Collection (through Feb 19, 2012), is wonderful to see just for the varied styles and high quality of the work on display. There are two educational rooms within the show space. One has a time line with four ways to listen and interact with the information presented. The other has specially commissioned drawing benches with a chance to create right there.

For SDVAN, not having our own brick and mortar venue has become one of our strongest strategies. We do not consider this a disadvantage or even something to strive for in our future plans. As we work alternatively online, in loaned spaces and even work to get into people homes, we see this as a cost effective and innovative way to go forward.

Today’s artists are collaborating, remixing and repurposing not just with their materials but with their cultural views. At SDVAN we encourage that and try hard to do it internally within the organization. We are a 100% volunteer organization with no salaries or building cost to cover. All our donations go into the funding of projects for the community. This is an alternative way of running a non-profit and one which has grown out of the needs of those we serve.

I was astounded when I first came to SD to see the hundreds of art association that exist here. Although they have not perhaps been very proactive in creating an art market, they have certainly been responsible for supporting the many cultural resources of our neighborhoods. The SD region has this incredibly rich pool of amateur and part time artists and their impact is underestimated, I believe. It is heartening to learn that a total of 33% of all adults create and attend art events. Add to that 17% who attend and 12% who make art but don’t attend and you get a whooping 62% of American engaged in creative processes.

Here are a few examples of visual arts project mentioned in the study that I thought you might enjoy:

The Art Gallery of Ontario’s In Your Face was an open-submission art exhibit featuring 17,000 portraits collected from the public
The Davis Art Center’s Junk2Genius program celebrates the community’s commitment to reduce, reuse and recycle. This annual competition features 15 teams of community members competing in a timed sculpt-off using recycled materials
.

Converstations on Beauty at the Mingei and Raymond Elstad at SD Dance Place, SAF Blank to Beauty

2011-11-18T18:14:00.000-08:00

Conversations on Beauty: Uniting Matter & Spirit, Creating a Whole Student, presented by the Ilan-Lael Foundation, is an ongoing discussion forum that examines the concept of beauty and the role it plays in shaping our society and our world. On Tuesday, November 15 the Mingei International Museum hosted the panelists moderated by Dirk Sutro.

Christine Brady - Founder, Colegio La Esperanza pushed hard to create a building designed by James Hubbell to house her school in Tijuana. Her clever idea was to create something so wonderful that it would get wide support with little chance of it ever being destroyed. She and Hubbell succeeded.

Maestro Jung Ho Pak - Orchestra Nova seconded this idea that we have to produce to an excellent level to make the case for the value of the arts. I loved his description of the role of the arts to connect us to what life is about like a “spiritual equivalent of the slow food movement.”

John Eger, J.D. - Professor of Communications and Public Policy, SDSU, once again reminded us of the need for arts being added to the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) movement to make it STEAM. He uses stealth marketing to trick the UCSD administration into thinking he is just teaching a communication class. He is actually teaching creativity and wants to “rehydrate” the arts with a sense of urgency to help our economy.

James Hubbell - artist, environmentalist, humanitarian was the professor emeritus of this group and I hung on his every word as he has a way of going right to the heart of each question. As an architect he sees the role of buildings not as shelter but as a way to arrange the world so people bump into each other. He spoke of not only eliminating the silos separating those in our society, but the need not to think in terms of left and right brain or the truth of science and mystery of the arts. Collaboration does not need these divisions. It is the role of the artists in each of us, to actually influence the rhythms of the world. He urges a little less control and a lot less isolation.

I thought everyone on the panel was caught off guard a bit by the question from the audience, "What can we do?” I am happy to refer people to the article we posted on the SDVAN site which was edited from “The Arts. Ask For More” Children’s Arts Campaign by Americans for the Arts. We have condensed it into Ten Simple Ways Parents Can Get More Art in Their Kids’ Lives with suggestions for projects at home and in the general community.

I wanted to ask a question of the panel but there was not time, so I have decided to ask it here. The James Irwin Foundation is funding projects with an audience engagement element. They urge that the survival of art support depends on active participation by the public defined as: 1. curatorial, 2. collaborative with existing artists, and 3. the public becoming creators of art themselves. This was part of the party line at the panel. However, it seems to me that the act of contemplative looking at art of excellence could be undermined by this participation emphasis. How do we achieve the balance for both things to occur?

Raymond Elstad is the professional seducer in his show of dance photography at Mandell Weiss Gallery of the SD Dance Place at the NTC Promenade of Liberty Station running the entire month of November. Jean Isaacs San Diego Dance Theater was the sponsor of Seduced by Dance but you will see dancers from all the companies resident in this facility. Elstad uses all his skill to compose dynamic images that leap off the page like a dancer’s jeté.

Synergy Art Foundation’s fundraiser From Blanks To Beauty was a fantastic evening with high energy, lots of laughter and fun. Over seventy local artists participated creating over 150 ten inch square canvases. These were displayed at the Mosaic Wine Bar in a silent auction format. A real steal for collectors with the opening bid at $50! The bargain of the night was a James Hubbell watercolor acquired for only $250. All monies raised will benefit Synergy's Emergency Artists' Support League (SD-EASL), which continues to help visual artists in our county through major crises.

Extraction: SDAWI - EPISODE TWO - COMING SOON

2011-11-05T17:32:00.000-07:00

Extraction: San Diego Art World Insiders
- EPISODE TWO -

COMING SOON

Extraction_Episode Two Promo

Episode Two Starring:
Starring Seth Combs, Dennis Paul Batt, Ian Ashley, & Anjela Piccard

Daily Art Nag: REQUIRED VIEWING - "The Curse of the Mona Lisa"

2011-11-05T12:46:00.000-07:00

Link to the following episodes:
http://c-monster.net/blog1/2011/11/04/biggest-unregulated-market/

Ambush Event

2011-11-04T16:23:00.000-07:00

We are pleased to see the coverage that the SDVAN sponsored Ambush Event received in the press after the October event held at Horton Plaza.

ArtsNFashion, Oct. 22 – http://tinyurl.com/44ludsr gives you an account of all the designer with great photos
Dot Magazine, Nov. 4: http://dotmagazineonline.com/?page_id=752 does the same
Downtown, Oct. 26: http://sandiego-downtown.com/?p=3425 finally writes about the visual art at the event and show images
Downtown, Nov. 3: http://sandiego-downtown.com/?p=3537 in this second part gives a review of the fashion show

It seems to be agreed that Antoinette Ransom who brought this show down from LA and added lots of local talent, is to be commended.

We especially like the participation aspect of the evening. Antengo were teaching the guests how to download the "Exhibit Ambush" app for free. They had artists painting live and teaching the importance of color theory and creativity and they had a catering company that made the appetizers to resemble the Amazon Rain forest theme and gave out a booklet on how to make them at home.

Fabian D'hondt - micro dessins

2011-11-01T21:22:00.000-07:00

Some new works by Belgian artist and my good friend Fabian D'hondt.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/fabian.dhondt?sk=info

LONDON 2011 - PART TWO by Patricia Frischer

2011-10-23T10:58:00.000-07:00

The link to this PDF includes news of

Frieze Art Fair
Exhibitions at Tate Modern (Gerhand Richter top)
Degas at the Royal Academy
Frank Stella at the Haunch of Venizen
Raqib Shaw at White Cube (above bottom)
Grayson Perry at the British Museum
more news of the design shows at the Victoria and Albert Museum
Pipilotti Rist at the Hayward Gallery (above middle)
Turner Prize show at the Baltic in Gateshead
and much more totaling 12 illustrated pages of coverage of October 2011 in London and Newcastle

I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed attending these exhibitions.
Patricia Frischer, coordinator, SDVAN

http://www.sdvisualarts.net/sdvan_new/pdf/A+ArtBlogLondon2011Part2.pdf

Picked RAW Peeled - 2011 Art of Photography Show

2011-10-22T08:33:00.000-07:00

by Angela Babb Timmons

Sometimes a moment just grips you. It lures you in and seduces you and makes your head feel all warm and dizzy like a good buzz from a strong martini. You feel alive, excited, tingly, almost giddy. Unexpected laughter slips from your lips, or a tear streaks down your cheek; your heart races, you flush with color. You’re weightless. You could float away and drift like a delicate feather. It’s intoxicating. Scary. Like falling in love, or locking eyes with a stranger, or feeling the zing of sugar when it first hits your tongue. It jolts you awake.

And with a burst of light and snap of the shutter, the moment is gone. Click goes the camera. And it vanishes. Yet captured forever. No words. No sound. Just raw emotion.

That’s what a photograph does to me. It latches onto my heart, pokes and prods and nudges, until I ache to know the rest of the story. Why is that delicate paw wrapped in a gauzy bandage? What lurks in the corner of that empty room, cold and desolate, filled with nothing but a rusted cash register? What tragedy befell that beautiful man with blue eyes and charred skin? Like a voyeur spying through a tiny peephole, a photograph gives only a small sliver of the story, a tasty crumb, delicious and addictive, and makes you crave more.

The 2011 Art of Photography Show runs through Sunday, October 23^rd at the Lyceum Theatre.

Daily Art Nag for October 6, 2011: Gerhard Richter

2011-10-06T21:39:00.000-07:00

from Reuters

Prized painter Richter calls art market "daft"

Gerhard Richter is one of the world's most prized living artists, and one of his famous "Candle" series is expected to fetch 6-9 million pounds ($9-14 million) at auction in London next week.

That is the highest price expected for a single work at the upcoming series of contemporary art sales, yet the man behind the image said he found such figures bewildering.

"It's just as absurd as the banking crisis," said the 79-year-old German, speaking to reporters on Tuesday at the press launch of a major retrospective of his work opening at London's Tate Modern.

Read more.

Picked RAW Peeled: University Heights Arts Open

2011-09-26T22:08:00.000-07:00

by Angela Babb Timmons

I had been staring at a blank page for weeks, cursing the paper and typewriter keys – where are the words, where are the words, I kept asking. The infinite white space scared me. I had convinced myself that I needed a concrete direction or at least the smallest grain of a story before I could allow myself to type a single word. I was so afraid of the empty page that I actually stopped writing and decided I would just wait for the muse to find me.

Several days passed and I soon realized the muse never comes knocking; she doesn’t even tap lightly. The muse prefers to be courted, flirted with, seduced. She’s a prissy little thing and she was not interested in the likes of me.

It was Sunday and the University Heights Arts Open was happening. I decided if I couldn’t make art, I would at least go out and observe it. As I walked out the front door, I paused for a moment and asked the muse for the smallest of favors – please teach me something.

I made my way to the open studios of the Athenaeum Music and Arts Library where I watched students fast at work with paint and brush in hand. In the front of the room a female model sat in stillness on a raised platform as the artists experimented with color, shade and dimension to bring her visage to life on canvas. Some of the painters were delicate with the brush while others seemed to stroke with force and emotion. No one seemed to work in the same way; they all had their own technique and rhythm. I scribbled some words in my journal – it’s not the technique, it’s the outcome – and I wondered if that was the lesson.

Then I was off to Swedenborg Hall where musicians and dancers graced the stage with colorful and heartfelt numbers. Behind the scenes there was a swell of activity. In a back room a musician tuned his guitar while a flamenco dancer fluffed her dress and practiced her steps. In the far corner another dancer slathered on lipstick, tucked a flower behind her ear and snapped her fingers in time to the music. I made a note in my journal – art isn’t just the performance, but all the moments leading up to it. Perhaps that was the lesson.

As I pondered that notion I strolled upstairs to the Swedenborgian Church and viewed Fernando Vossa’s edgy 3-dimensional paintings of captivating celestial spirals surrounding human form. I strapped on silly 3D glasses and watched the images pop and flutter with movement at every angle. There were three of us standing there, all of us strangers, and we stared at the paintings together as we attempted to interpret the meaning. We exchanged ideas, analyzed small nuances of shape and color and stood quietly in observation. And then, after a long silence, one of the strangers uttered something profound. “Art is like a puzzle of clues for the soul to unravel,” she said. The words struck me and I wondered for a moment if that was the lesson.

I jotted down notes in my journal like an eager student as I walked toward the last stop on the tour. I reached the front gate of the Mundo Gallery and was invited to explore the enchanted tree house studio of artist Mario Torero. A steep climb up crooked and unstable steps led to the secret hideaway tucked among the silky leaves of a towering aspen tree. It was in this inspired setting, overlooking a serene soaking pool, where I took a quiet moment and looked out at the natural surroundings. I took in a breath of fresh air, looked to the sky, to the trees, and at the tranquil water below and said to the muse, “Please teach me something.”

I started to head for the stairs to return to the gallery and something magical happened. A light breeze came out of nowhere and the leaves of the aspen tree seemed to whisper, “Pick up the brush.” I looked toward a handful of paint brushes resting in a cup on a weathered table and said to the muse, “But I’m a writer.”

I ignored the faint murmurs and continued for the stairs but the muse didn’t relent. “Pick up the brush,” the aspen tree whispered as its leaves tickled in the wind.

My eyes darted to a painter’s palette in the corner of the studio. I looked to the aspen tree and pleaded with the muse, “I’m a writer. Teach me something.” I continued down the stairs until a fierce wind blew and the leaves crinkled in the breeze and said with clarity, “Pick up the brush.”

I stopped on the stairs and looked back toward the tree house. I noticed a long scroll of white canvas stretched across the length of the studio wall. The canvas was empty, not a spot of paint. Resting in the opposite corner was a vibrant mural filled with images, life and color. And then it hit me. The finished mural started off as a blank canvas just as all pieces of art start from nothing – a crisp sheet of white paper, an empty stage, a lump of wet clay. It wasn’t the blank page that was stopping me; it was the lack of courage to pick up the brush. I felt a surge in my chest, a tug in my throat. I had asked the muse to teach me and she finally showed up.

LONDON 2011 - PART ONE

2011-09-26T14:00:00.000-07:00

My London Trip is Sept 15 to Oct 31, 2011 and I am sharing my art adventures this year on the A* Art Blog. This covers Sept 15 to Sept 26.

This is the beginning of my exploration of the London Design Festival 2011 and there are 200 participants and over 280 events in 25 different design areas. I have plans to go to about a dozen of them as it is quite overwhelming but fascinating. Evidently this is the largest design festival in the world. Hold on to your hats as what follows is just the first day.

I started with a lecture by Murray Moss at V&A about digital 3-D printing and examples are scattered through out the Victoria and Albert Museum so it was like a scavenger hunt to see them all, but brilliant and he is one cool old dude. He curated this collection from existing and commissions works and each is set for a reason in its space. It reminds me of what Ruben Ortiz-Torres says he is doing for the Long Beach Museum for Pacific Standard Time. By juxtaposing art works, you provoke new meaning on both. Displaying works of art in a relationships which are not time lined or regional but has to do with the influences is more historical but Moss envisions museums that could be science oriented one day and economic the next. . Moss was very interested in the way that nature can be mathamatised and how that could teach us things about structure in design. New architecture is not so much a referral to older styles (the variation on the box) but wide open to new materials construction in brand new ways. Some of the objects on view could not have been any other way but by 3-D printing.

Art work has been digitized before in a reductive process, where robots cut away in a reductive process, those bits not wants. Laser water jets controlled by computers are a good example of this. But 3-D printing is an additive process. Somewhere in between is digital modification to change an existing shape. This technique is pushed forward originally by the need for substitute body parts in the health industry. So far, we only read about the uses for peace purposes, but Moss thinks a broader dialogue is needed to cover the potential uses for war as well.

What you see below is a set of objects that were all made using 3-D printing. The light fixture opens and shuts like a flower in the sun the little stool telescopes up into a pole. The head of Lady Belhaven is reproduced in resin with a hat added to it by Stephen Jones in fiber filaments. The dress (this time on a dress form) was located in the only empty niche of the V&A hall opposite of one of the warrior saint. And the shoes were ringing the Bed of Ware which was supposed to sleep 16!

While looking for all these goodies, I discovered lots of other parts of the Design Festival. The entrance was decked out with a giant curve of interlocking wood bits called Timber Wave by Amanda Levete (left) that looks better in this photo than it did in real life. Bouroullec Brothers: Textile Field (right)- click the link to see a film of this being installed which is more interesting then the finished product, basically a huge colored couch. When I saw it, exhausted museum visitors were reclining all over it. . The massive 240-square-meter structure was pieced together panel by panel over a fourteen-hour nocturnal stint captured by photographer Ben Dunbar-Brunton in the Raphael Gallery

A Pylon for the Future was a set of maquettes of short listed winners of a design contest by the Electric Grid. I think they missed the point here as these are really sculptures and no matter how elegant there is no way they will disappear into the landscape, so why not go all out and use a scheme of 6 which changes as you view them through the landscape.

Engineering Eyelashes: Paper Art by Jessica Palmer was a cute little

workshop for drop in visitors with an array of fiber papers for making jewelry and more sturdy glazed paper for making intricate cut out. I met Jessica who was wearing this collar necklace (left) at the time. I relaxed a bit from all that walking (three tube changes to get to the V&A from my flat in Clapham Common) and made a fun flower broach (right).

I was very surprised to be impressed with the Jameel, the bi-annual £25,000 international Art Prize for contemporary artists and designers inspired by Islamic traditions of art, craft and design. The Jameel Prize 2011 short listed artists and designers span a geographical region stretching from North America, to France, Algeria, Egypt, Pakistan, Iraq and Iran. I did not notice the prize winner Rachid Koraïchi perhaps because it was more subtle.

The youngest artist in the shortlist, Noor Ali Chagani (left) lives in Pakistan and his sculptural works made from miniature terracotta bricks are like a piece of cloth. Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian (middle) has combining Iranian traditions of mirror mosaic and reverse glass painting techniques with a modern aesthetic. Farmanfarmaian spent nearly a decade living in New York during the 1940’s and 1950’s as an art student and later as a fashion illustrator where she worked alongside Andy Warhol. Hadieh Shafie‘s (right) new works are made up of 22,500 strips of paper, each scroll is marked with printed and hand written Farsi (Persian) text then tightly rolled into concentri circles The concentric forms of both text and material take their inspiration from the dance of the whirling dervish.Hadieh Shafie was born in Iran and lives and works in the USA.

Lifeline (2010) Birds of Paradise'(2008) 22500 (2011)

It is a very pleasant experience, walking around in an elegant tent erected in the middle of Berkeley Square at the LAPADA Art and Antique Fair presented by The Association of Art & Antique Dealers. Gold jewelry, silver presentation pieces, curiosities, furniture, paintings and drawings of the very finest quality, beautifully presented with a glass of champagne when one is parched, and a bit of smoked salmon if one felt faint. I gravitated to the Colander Table (so named for the holes) by Daniel Rohr, an edition of 8 for about $72,000 each which crated a stunning optical illusion. It dipped in the middle but a thick glass cover made it viable for use. This was the winner of the LAPADA "Object of the Year 2011 and presented by Peter Petrou Works of Art.

The Tent and Origin Fairs plus Super Brands which is one of five other displays near Brick Lane which is now the most happening place in the capitol. The streets were thronged and apparently this is not unusual for any weekend. The district was old and poor Jewish immigrants but is now a mix of Indian and yuppie. Spitalfields meat market has gone the way of Convent Garden flower market and is now all restaurants and shops. We got fabulous cheese from Androuet and chocolate brownies from St. Johns. Both were first consumed as a picnic lunch with wonderful cold meats, chocolates, corn nuts, baby artichokes, delicious bread and of course, wine, at Lesley’s nephew Ben’s temporary home while his business The Cold Press was displaying at the Tent Fair. (below)

The Old Truman Brewery London E1 was home to the English design fair in about 9 different rooms (NO actual tent!). These fun stools were made from cricket bats and more shapes liked cupcakes, fabulous puddled chrome chair, wonderful chandeliers that looked like them were made from a children’s erector set, and this clever knotted light.

Pierra Ospina Daruma Design Phillip Aduatz

Pink Clip Tick Chandelier by Freshwest Jung Myung Taek

These little fine porcelain pots all lined up like soldiers or a Morandi landscape (left) and this collection of little animals with a tiny pin cushion and two pins (right) was part of the onslaught of far eastern wares on view. .

Ikuko Iwamoto Naori Preistly

I couldn’t help but document all the deer themed wall décor I saw at Design and Made

Another theme was birds that seemed to be everywhere.

Latorre Cruz

Then on to Origins which was in the middle of Old Spitalfields Market London E1 and consisted of 6 long rows of small booths of fine crafts including a mass of jewelry, home décor objects, textiles and lighting. I was watchful for hats because of our upcoming Hats off to Life project and this antler hat seemed most impressive as it referred to all the deer I saw earlier at Tent.

Barbara Keal Katty Janneh Mirjam Muver

Another trend was paper cut outs and you can see further birds here in paper as well.

Claire Brewster Sarah Morpeth Abigail Brown Maxine Greer

This light sculpture below seems to tie every theme together and I am showing it with a wall of doll arms used to display necklaces. As always, many booths put a lot of thought into the display design and that is great fun to see.

Tsai and Yoshikawa Momocreatura

But I think my favorite piece of the shows was these drawings in space, one at the Tent fair on the left and one at Origins on the right. I especially like the one on the right as it only used the essentials lines to tell its story.

Jan Plechac Maya Selway

Picked HONNA: Decade and a Day Ago

2011-09-18T11:16:00.000-07:00

by Keikichi Honna

Because of the 10th anniversary of 9/11 there was nothing to watch other than tribute programs. So I was watching cinemas and somehow ended up with cinemas of angry teenagers. Kristen Stewart showed her usual fuck-you-I-don't-give-a-shit attitude. I don't dislike her. On the contrary, I rather like her, but she's so one trick pony that I call her the Kevin Spacy of teenage anguish. (has he ever played any character except an arrogant ass with "I'm smarter than you" attitude?) Anyway, on one scene, she was walking on a bridge, which looked awfully familiar. Indeed it was a bridge on Olentangy River under I-71. I could even see familiar buildings afar. Which brought me back to some memories on that fateful day.

When I saw the second plane hit another tower, I knew it was deliberate. But I was so shocked that it was much later to realize that we had to abandon our plan. We - I and Wiley, had started talking about another Pearl Harbor just a few weeks prior. Well, not exactly another Pearl Harbor attack we were planning, but some event/installation on Dec 7th, which would have been called "Food Fight." Wiley, as an American, would represent allies - allies of wheat, beef, and ketchup. and I, as a Japanese, represent axis - axis of rice, fish, and soy. I might have needed assistance of fermented beverage on "event" part, but I had been fermenting some idea for installation.

Our humble plan was postponed indefinitely, and Wiley exiled to an appendix of Europe. (No, not Italy)

Other angry teens I saw: Tracy Fragment: Admirable acting of Ellen Page made otherwise almost cinematic disaster watchable. She was bullied, teased, and even called "no tits." No tits! Had she gone to Columbine, I wouldn't have accused her. Wendy and Lucy: Michelle Williams' presence was sooo real and her troubles were sooo real in this non-drama drama. During the movie I was afraid that something worse would happen on top of all the trouble she'd already had. I wish I could give her hug or cash, or both.

You Saw Art Where? The Dark

2011-09-14T12:47:00.000-07:00

by Andrew Printer

One day last week I sat down to gather my pile of promotional material and my thoughts in order to write my weekly arts column when all of a sudden my fan stopped fanning and my computer went kaput. “Perfect!” I bemoaned and started bitching about the humidity, my puny bedroom air-conditioner (which presumably caused the outage) and my absent boyfriend who typically deals with anything electrical. When I finally accepted the fact that said boyfriend was in San Francisco I went outside to take care of the problem myself only to realize that it was not a circuit of my house that had blown but the circuit for all of southern California and northern Baja.

As neighbors flocked to the street to find comfort in numbers I dug into my earthquake preparedness kit (formerly known as the Y2K kit), found my wind-up solar radio (impressive, right?) and learned from LaDona at KoGo of all stations that the power outage could last for hours, perhaps even days. This was my first thought: “But tonight’s Big Brother eviction night! How can this happen?” Subsequent thoughts went like this: “I better find a flashlight because it’s going to get dark soon” and “I should cook things in the fridge that might spoil”, this followed by a whole lot of media fueled alarmism involving looters and terrorism, fear and mayhem.

I found my flashlight, organized my animals, ate my fajitas and fell onto my sofa for the duration. I was dripping with sweat and immediately bored. Clearly, sitting with my own thoughts as time ticked by was not enough for me. I needed to check an email – right now! I needed to surf the internet or just sit at my computer doing anything while the TV chattered away in the background. I was an addict experiencing a kind of cold turkey, flop sweat and all, a profoundly uncomfortable response to stopped stimulation no different than someone suddenly doing without cigarettes or heroin or Oprah.

This is when art began to enter my consciousness. Just an hour earlier I had been rifling through a stack of postcards promoting numerous upcoming exhibitions, each card illustrated by an image aiming to re-present the world anew. All day I had been casually scrolling through press releases, most of them promising a “reality-altering”, “one-of-a-kind” performance in music and dance. Yesterday I spent the whole day in my own studio trying to make work that explained human experience in a way that might cause people to stop for just a moment and wonder.

All of those artistic efforts suddenly seemed so derivative and overly familiar compared to simply sitting alone with myself undisturbed as the sky went dark and the canyon behind my house became a lush green well of microscopic sound. Unlike a vacation, a day at the spa or a retreat “the great San Diego blackout” felt like art because it came about so suddenly; it wasn’t a product or an experience that was purchased and therefore braced for. Like any effective art last week’s inexplicable 12-hour power outage punctured my routine. Once surprise and irritation and my “cold turkey” spasms had settled down the prospect of nothing and no end in sight made me feel something, it messed with my expectations.

Birdsong and sunsets are hardly radical inquiries in our contemporary and often cynical (art) world but these simple phenomena and so many other mundane happenings were suddenly rendered profound because I was forced to notice them again. The overlooked and the banal turned into art right before my eyes. For example, a small cast of neighbors ranging from the scrappy 8 year old boy next (on the north side) to a toothless eighty year old veteran (On the south side) wandered back and forth in front of my lunar xero-scape yard repeating the same synchronous yet unrehearsed words: “Did your power go out?” “Did your power go out?” This was performance art as intriguing as anything I’d seen in a theater for $50.

Across the street a large, close knit family began laughing in unison, marveling at the strange shapes thrown by the novelty of several candles lit one by one inside their tiny wooden home. For them this was play and adventure but mostly light yet for me the spectacle was theatre, a real time abstraction, shadowy shapes flickering and falling from one image into another behind thin white cloth. Even entering the inky darkness of my house when the sky outside was still light enough to read caused me to notice something that electricity had previously masked. My pupils pulsed as they jumped from shadow to shadow, all of them true but unfamiliar. It was a moment of darkness that added many more colors to my palette.

I went to bed at 8P.M. and slept for eleven hours, something I might not have allowed myself in a reality that expects some semblance of prime time entertainment on the back end of a daytime 9-5. Despite the wet stick of humidity that basted me through the night when I woke up I wasn’t sure whether I wanted my computer to come back to life or not because frankly I wasn’t ready to turn the art of living off.

Daily Art Nag: Richard Hamilton RIP

2011-09-14T12:14:00.000-07:00

from the Guardian and Jonathan Jones

Richard Hamilton, the original pop artist, dies at 89
Driven by intellect and political belief, Hamilton created undying icons of the modern world

Richard Hamilton, the most influential British artist of the 20th century, has died aged 89. In his long, productive life he created the most important and enduring works of any British modern painter.

This may sound a surprising claim. We have our national icons and our pop celebrities. But neither Francis Bacon nor Lucian Freud nor Damien Hirst has shaped modern art as Hamilton did when he put a lolly with the word POP on it in the hand of a muscleman in his 1956 collage, Just What is it that Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing?

Hamilton has a serious claim to be the inventor of pop art: this collage is a visionary, yet ironic, manifesto for a new art that would be at home in the modern world. For him, in a postwar Britain of austerity measures, pop was a utopian ideal. Big, fast cars were the metal angels of a smooth, beautiful future.

Read more

Daily Art Nag: Jonathan Hobin

2011-09-11T23:45:00.000-07:00

thanks to Fabian D'hondt for the link

Jonathan Hobin

Lois Stecker Leaves a Huge Hole in Our Lives

2011-09-10T11:34:00.000-07:00

Our own sweet Lois Stecker died this month and she will be so missed. We know she is resting in peace after a fall and short illness. Born in 1919 she was at every event and intrepid to the very end. This is a very sad passing for the SD Visual Arts world.

Picked RAW: "Decade" - Marilyn Mitchell at the Garage

2011-09-10T10:28:00.000-07:00

from the press release

Detail from “American”

DECADE
works considering our culture since the events of 9/11

@ The Garage Gallery
9/3/11 – 9/30/11

4141 Alabama St.
San Diego, CA 92104
By appointment - please call Larry Caveney @ 619.549.9687

Twin Towers

Picked HONNA: Power of K

2011-09-08T10:50:00.000-07:00

by Keikichi Honna

Kim Kardashian married. That's old news. My guess is that I have to suffer mass media's Kim K over saturation, at least for next 1 year or 2. I can see koming headlines of tabloids at grocery stores.

Kim K Wedding!
Kim K Honeymoon!
Kim K Pregnant!
Kim K First Baby!
Kim K divorce!

A white guy being her husband is a kind of surprise. But his name is Kris. Maybe that's the sole reason she married him. (her sisters - Kloe, Kourtney, Kendal, and Kylie. Her mom is also Kris)

I didn't know K's attraktion was this strong. But this klan is a disgrace of a whole kongregation of K's.

Drink, Mate, Art

2011-08-22T09:26:00.000-07:00

by Patricia Frischer

I am sure everyone has noticed how well attended the events aimed at the younger demographic group are when art is added to the entertainment. TNT at MCASD, Cocktails and Culture at SDMA, A-List at the Athenaeum and Art After Dark at the Oceanside Museum of Art, as well as the numerous vodka companies that hold launches at art gallery, are all opportunities for young adults to mix and mingle.

The really big question is how do we get that same audience to start buying art after they have attended an art show to eat, drink and mate? Suggesting education might be too big of a leap for those addled by alcohol. But the idea is to get them to start looking more closely at the art to develop some sort of choices that might lead to a desire to acquire. Here are two strategies to consider:

Roll playing: Hand out oodles of fake money and ask the guests to make choices about what art they would buy. A case of vodka goes to anyone who brings out the real thing and makes a purchase.
Match Making: ask couples to choose art for each other. This would entailed some work in figuring out the what and why. A bottle of vodka goes to the artist whose work is most chosen.

We need every trick in the book to build a healthier art world and that means where events are not only well attended but artists are supported hopefully in a monetary way.

Read another view on this subject from Kevin Freitas

Picked RAW: Adaptable Sites at the Periscope Project

2011-08-20T14:12:00.000-07:00

Picked HONNA: Peace on Earth

2011-08-13T09:57:00.000-07:00

by Keikichi Honna

I was enjoying reading a book I bought a few weeks back. Silence of a hot summer afternoon was suddenly broken by 3, 4, maybe 5 police cruisers.

Momentarily put the book aside, and eyed on outside. The cruisers were gone, but after a few minutes or so a police helicopter flew in with a loud speaker. Circling around over my place, and called residents' attention. "... a Hispanic male, wearing a white T-shirt and black pants..." Such a precise and exact description - it could be anybody, and everybody. We the inmates burst in laugh "Every Hispanic male wears white T and black pants!" All the resident enjoyed quiet afternoon since there was no one in white T and black pants on the street.

I finished the book. Another peaceful day.

Picked Raw Peeled July: La Jolla Fashion Film Festival

2011-08-01T00:54:00.000-07:00

La Jolla Fashion Film Festival by Patricia Frischer

The Fashion Film Festival held for its second year in La Jolla in July 2011 is the brainchild of Fred Sweet who also owns SD Model Management and is a fashion entrepreneur. He certainly should be given credit for recognizing this new genre of film which is still in the birthing process. There was soft porn without any real eroticism. It appears models don’t mind baring breast for art’s sake. There was narrative in the form of film noire, one line jokes, and even poetry. Sometimes we simply saw the kaleidoscope of images which thrills as a psychedelic color fest. At its lowest, some films were self indulgent and corny, but there were a number of highs.

Although none of the films we viewed were blatantly commercial, product placement was certainly apparent. Costume design in traditional theater and cinema gives credit to fashion designers. And in almost all cinema and TV, product placement is riff, working its insidious way into the plot. The best of these films started with a plot and the worst seemed to be looking for one.

One of my dear friends GB Feld is a film critic in Los Angeles. I always remember his criteria for judging film” Did the film have something to say? Did the film maker say it well? Was it worth saying? Too many of these films used Art to create the lie of fashion desirability as the only subject of the film thus begging the question, was it worth saying.

This was a wonderful opportunity for directors from all over the world to meet and exchange ideas. Hearing some of the speak about the delights of being in La Jolla and getting this attention for their efforts was very heartening.

My top 4 picks from about 40 films:

Move by Dominique Palombo - sheer beauty of movement and rhythm

In Search of Light by Miguel Angel – an artist struggling for his vision and the best use of fashion as a subject equally weighted with the performers.

To the Top by Heidi Hartwig – a model’s revenge

Precious by Monica Menez – pizza as a tool of subversion

Picked HONNA: My Precious

2011-07-30T10:05:00.000-07:00

by Keikichi Honna

For house inspection required to refinance, my land lord asked us inmates to clean up entire house. This once in a life time effort brought some interesting find.

A pair of metal thingys I bought at a flea Market in Paris 5 or 6 years ago. Some sort of molds made of iron came along with softer metal female molds. The seller had 5 or 6 more of them - much larger, but I couldn't afford. I had no idea what they were for, nor could I understand what she was explaining about them. They were just beautiful and precious looking metal thing, I had to buy.
Do anyone know what is this?

The inspection was over without any incident, and a thank you note was left by the landlord. Our house is still in good shape.

Epilogue

Dear readers -

Thank you for filling up Inbox with your information, suggestion, and blatant lie. Here are some notable response.

"Production system for fig leaves for modesty on sculptures .... " Prof. Cochran

Modesty is losing ground. So it's important to have a fig leave in your heart. Thanks for your moral lesson.

"Sure, they are part of an old tradition of hand-made objects intended to be placed in street fairs and flea markets in order to confuse people. It's either that or tools for making gold leaf." Prof. Wiley

Again, modesty is losing ground. Stop making up story, Wiley sensei.

Although I had long suspected that they might be used for paper, leather, or fabric, Kevin's response (They were used to make artificial leaves (flowers, decorations, etc.) out of wax. Commonly used to “decorate” tombs, graves etc.) in conjunction with Prof. Cochran's modesty almost convinced me otherwise. Then, here came the answer.

"It took me a while to remember the name of the american maker of these silk presses. It is Molla. You often see them for sale missing one half. They are super popular with glassblowers as well." - William Breitbart, aka Dad

A quick internet search lead to "Artificial Flower Tool Company" and following sites with images. Thanks Bill.

http://www.artroomsgallery.com/servlet/the-Items-of-Interest/Categories

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/1814717

Thanks Kevin, Laura, and Prof. Bole

Picked RAW: New Contemporaries IV

2011-07-28T11:01:00.000-07:00

from the press release

SD Art Prize 2011 Award Announced and
New Contemporaries IV: San Diego Emerging Artists

San Diego Visual Arts Network is announcing that two established artist awarded the 2011 San Diego Art Prize in its fifth year, Jay S. Johnson and Rubén Ortiz-Torres have made their choices of emerging artists to exhibit with and mentor. Jay S. Johnson has chosen Adam Belt. Rubén Ortiz-Torres has chosen Tristan Shone. San Diego Art Prize in it’s fifth year will show with their choice of emerging artists at Art San Diego Contemporary Art Fair September 1 - 4, 2011 at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront, Hotel.

We are also delighted to announce the fourth year of the New Contemporaries exhibition to be held at Alexander Salazar Fine Art in downtown San Diego from August 1 – 31, 2011.

Mely Barragan nominated by Einar and Jamex de la Torre, artists

Adam Belt nominated by Karen McGuire, William D. Cannon Art Gallery Director

Susannah Bielak nominated by Ann Berchtold, Art San Diego Fair Director

Fred Briscoe nominated by Alexander Salazar, Alexander Salazar Fine Art Director

Isaias Crow nominated by Alessandra Moctezuma, SD Mesa College Art Gallery Director

Shay Davis nominated by Debra Poteet , art collector

Damian Gastellum nominated by Julio Orozco, artist

Gretchen Mercedes nominated by Lauren Buscemi, art writer

Han Nguyen nominated by Robert Pincus, art critic

Jaime Ruiz Otis nominated by Heriberto Yepez, art writer

Lee Puffer nominated by Gail Roberts, artist

Chris Puzio nominated by David Adey, artist

Cheryl Sorg nominated by Patricia Frischer, San Diego Visual Arts Network coordinator

The 2011 nominating committee, which changes yearly, consists of SD Art Prize recipients for the previous year,writers for the SD Art Prize Art Notes, Honorary Hosts and the SD Art Prize committee: ALL emerging artists in the SD region are eligible to be chosen by the established recipients each season including but not limited to nominated artists in this and previous New Contemporaries exhibitions.

The SD ART PRIZE is dedicated to the idea that the visual arts are a necessary and rewarding ingredient of any world-class city and a building block of the lifestyle of its residents. Conceived to promote and encourage dialogue, reflection and social interaction about San Diego’s artistic and cultural life, this annual award honors artistic expression. The SD ART PRIZE, a cash prize with exhibition opportunities, spotlights established San Diego artists and emerging artists whose outstanding achievements in the field of Visual Arts merit the recognition.

San Diego Art Prize 2011 at Art San Diego Contemporary Art Fair : September 1 - 4, 2011
Hilton San Diego Bayfront, Hotel, 1 Park Boulevard, 92101
Hours: Fri and Sat, Feb 3/4 from noon to 8 pm, Sun, Feb 5 from 11 to 5
More info: Patricia Frischer 760.943.0148 Ann Berchtold 858.254.3031

New Contemporaries at Alexander Salazar Fine Art : Opening Reception: Monday. August 1, 2011 from 6 – 9 pm
Alexander Salazar Fine Art 1040 7^th Avenue Broadway, San Diego, CA 92101
Exhibition hours: Tue - Sat 11 - 6, Saturday and Sunday by appointment
For more info: Patricia Frischer 760.943.0148 Alexander Salazar 619.531.8669

Emerging artist definition: artist who are emerging with new, fresh ideas. This is not about the age of the artists or the exposure they have had, but what art they are creating now and in the past three to five years.

One of our own: Jen Trute passes away

2011-07-27T23:20:00.000-07:00

from Dennis Paul Batt

Jennifer "Jen" Trute, an American fine artist, who was known for her environmentally conscientious oil paintings, passed away at the age of 51 on Saturday, July 23. Born May 22, 1960 in Springfield, Massachusetts, she followed an innate artistic vision throughout her life. As a child, her love of nature and fascination with its beauty inspired steady practice of drawing and painting. Educated at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, from 1978-1983, she majored in painting and graphic design. She freelanced as a graphic designer and illustrator in Boston and San Francisco until 1989 when she started specializing in storyboard and comp advertising illustration. While living in New York, Seattle and then El Cajon, she worked for various ad agencies in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, and Orange County.

For the past 12 years, Jen dedicated her focus on creating a series of detailed oil paintings on linen and canvas using traditional techniques with multiple layers of glazing, velaturas, scumbling, and transparent optics. Her art combines elements of classical and surreal styles creating luminous visual narratives of the current state of our society and environment in an edgy, often darkly humorous way.

Jen's paintings earned numerous awards throughout San Diego and were exhibited in many galleries and museums, notably the Oceanside Museum of Art, San Diego Art Institute's Museum of the Living Artist, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Noel- Baza Gallery, Cannon Art Gallery, and the San Diego Natural History Museum. Her work was also published in many newspapers, magazines, and catalogs notably in a feature article in the San Diego Union, December 27, 2007.

Her fascination with natural sciences, art history, sociopolitical issues, and concern over environmental degradation fueled a voracious reading habit, and enriched the depth of her art. Jen loved hiking, music, the company of cats, and discussing the mysteries of life with friends. Her dry humor, keen observation skills, and intelligence made for great conversation.
Jen was preceded in death by her parents, Alice and David Trute of Wilbraham, Massachusetts, and is survived by a brother and sister - Mary Trute and David Trute.

A memorial exhibition will be held at the Noel Baza Gallery, 2165 India St. San Diego, CA. The opening will be on Saturday, September 3rd from 2:00pm - 7:00pm. The exhibition will run through September 24th.

We at Picked RAW mourn the loss of Jen Trute. She will be missed dearly.

Editors note: Here is a little excerpt of a review I wrote about the New Contemporaries II exhibit Trute participated in at Noel-Baza gallery back in 2009. KF

"Jen Trute can paint. The only other painter I’ve seen lately with a tad bit more artistic prowess than she has, is the young figurative painter Jesse Mockrin from SDSU. Wow good stuff. Trute oil paints using traditional techniques according to the artist, “on linen with multiple layers of glazing, scumbling and transparent optics … reminiscent of Old Master paintings”. Indeed, her piece entitled “The Drone’s Last Extraction” has all the makings of a Great Master work – sword, horn, shield, and Mother Nature but with one peculiar addition, a vampire bat. Trute is also considered a Pop Surrealist but is also quite capable of doing rather straight portraiture (Movers and Shakers exhibit, portrait of Dennis Paul Batt) and Rocky Horror Picture Show imagery filtered through a Dali-esque eye."

Daily ART Nag: Art and culture in San Diego Really?

2011-07-27T16:37:00.000-07:00

from Mark Jesinoski and Art Speaks Now

Art in Culture: San Diego

There is some truth to the idea that to get people to pay attention to art in San Diego, you basically have to throw a party. In the longest Facebook comment string I have ever seen, several people involved in the SD art scene took great offense to a City Beat "Sight on Scene" blurb that (in addition to other things) basically insinuated that the San Diego art scene is watered down with parties and feel-good events. Although the blurb itself was irresponsible journalism, the point I want to focus on here was the defensiveness that emerged in reaction to the allusion that, to get people to pay attention to art in San Diego you must add the key ingredients of a DJ and a case of wine. Based on private conversations I have had with my artist friends there seems to be some truth to this idea.

Do you agree?

Picked RAW: Athenaeum 20th Annual Juried Exhibition

2011-07-26T14:41:00.000-07:00

Opening reception: Friday, August 5th, 6:30-8:30pm

Athenaeum Music & Arts Library

1008 Wall Street

La Jolla, CA 92037

858.454.5872

A+ Art Blog: Too Brave to Fail

2011-07-25T10:31:00.000-07:00

One of the suggestions for a DNA of Creativity project that was generated in our June meeting was Super Heroes, the DNA of our future selves. Comic Con, host to all things with super powers, came to town in mid July close to the same time I was invited to a SD Foundation visioning exercise for the future of SD. Join them all together and that train of thought dumped me into the subject of power and how it is used in a successful community and what we expect from our leaders.

In my own limited case, power is not a goal in itself. But I seem to have accrued some power as a by-product of various projects that I had a passion to complete. For example, my phone calls or emails are answered, I am asked to make job recommendations, our events draw a crowd and we can fund some projects because of the money we have raised. I have the power to get things done especially for others and I try my best to be a force for the good in the community.

Leaders are known to hold power and leaders have affected our past, affect our present and have a huge responsibility to affect our future. To see that future calls for imagination and a fearless attitude towards charge. No matter how much we might like things to stand still, the world turns and courage is called for to make sure we are traveling in the right directions. My husband Darwin coined a phrase, “too brave to fail.” It refers to risk takers who aren’t afraid to have new ideas and make them public. These leaders are responsible enough to know that failure is not acceptable. Everyone who has an imagination and is willing to use it is a leader in my book. I just wish these leaders were the ones who held the power.

Patricia Frischer, coordinator of SDVAN writes these occasional blogs and welcome comments.

Picked RAW Peeled: Fabric-Free Fashion

2011-07-23T12:55:00.000-07:00

by Angela Babb Timmons

Fabric-Free Fashion at Visions Art Museum is featuring an exhibit of garments and fashion accessories made of non-traditional materials. The exhibit will be on display through July 24, 2011 running Tuesday - Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Contact Beth Smith at 619-546-4872 for questions. Also on display in the Art Meets Fashion room is the work of Team Evolution Transformed.

Gum wrappers and garbage sacks revitalized into a sexy little dress; plastic forks find new life in an ethereal winged getup that one could imagine flouncing down the red carpet on some flashy mega-star; and lottery tickets - 425 to be exact - turned into a sizzling tangerine gown for someone feeling lucky.

That’s the kind of magic that happens when 20-local fashion designers are unleashed from the confines of fabric. It’s called Fabric-Free Fashion and these designers have turned the mundane into magnificent and brought to life some glam designs even Vogue would be proud to have on the cover.

At first glance, many of the garments on display hold the illusion of fabric. The textures flow, the colors pop and shimmer and the material cinches in all the right places. But after a closer look the senses start to awaken to discover ordinary items repurposed into not so ordinary frocks – none of which are fabric.

My nose was drawn to one dress in particular. My nostrils flared as I sauntered by. My mouth watered. I was whisked back to my childhood for a fleeting moment. I wasn’t allowed to touch, but that didn’t stop me from sniffing. So that’s what I did - I took a sniff. It was licorice, black twine – that chewy treat I savored in movie theaters as a child - turned into a little black dress perfect for a fancy shmancy cocktail party. From a distance, even a fashion maven wouldn’t guess it was edible. But the nose doesn’t lie and I’m sure the designer, Eduardo Torres, has proof in a receipt somewhere of the 9-pounds of licorice he ordered when he decided to spring to life Réglisse Noir.

The stories behind the designs are just as fascinating as the pieces themselves. A lot can be discovered about a particular artist when you learn what compelled them to create their masterpiece in the first place.

Keith Bonar was inspired to design Junk Mail Dress from over 300 pieces of junk mail he received and collected for 6-months. He repurposed the paper into a fun, snappy dress with sass and attitude to remind us of the unnecessary waste that clogs our mailboxes and our landfills.

Then there’s the designer Anna Walden, who fashioned her scoop-neck blouse It Happened One Night from video tape from a movie of the same name. The real heart of the garment is in the fringe. Copper wire that once belonged to her now deceased Dad is used to embellish the trim like a delicate whisper.

The stories abound in every garment. And as I strolled through the gallery it dawned on me that it was no coincidence this exhibit was on display in a museum best known for its quilts. Just as a quilt weaves together disparate pieces of fabric to tell a story, these designers have all woven stories of their own by stitching together inventive creations that give a small glimpse into their soul.

RIP: Lucian Freud

2011-07-22T12:01:00.000-07:00

"Spiral Jetty" lease, anyone?

2011-07-20T21:04:00.000-07:00

from Jen Graves and the SLOG, Tyler Green and Modern Art Notes

"End of the line?" photo: K. Freitas

As reported by Tyler Green on his Modern Art Notes blog, Robert Smithson's iconic Spiral Jetty's lease is up and open to potential takers of which (at the time of this writing) there were three. A quick glance at Green's blog just now reveals that DIA Foundation, the Jetty's owner, is "poised to retain Spiral Jetty- site lease" after apparently, missing a deadline to renew it earlier this year. The three potential candidates were the DIA (the original lease holder), Greg Allen, "an art collector and former investment banker"; and Herbert Steiner, a "retired Seattle schoolteacher and arts-funder".

This has been a fascinating story to follow, not to mention an important one, and I thank Green for his informative and exhaustive coverage. I had the opportunity to visit the Jetty a few years back. Its indelible stain on my psyche, art knowledge, and general well-being has never washed away. I've followed the Jetty's trials and tribulations ever since it came under attack (shortly after my visit) as a possible site for future offshore oil drilling. I've been an advocate and supporter ever since. I highly recommend visiting the Spiral Jetty as one thing you must do before you make a final pass through life. You will not regret it.

You can read more of Green's reporting here and here.

You can also read about my visit to the Jetty here.

Picked HONNA: Nadeshiko Standing Tall, Hope Solo Not Withstanding

2011-07-19T22:29:00.000-07:00

by Keikichi Honna

Yamato Nadeshiko (大和撫子^?) is a Japanese term meaning "personification of an idealized Japanese woman", "ideal" in the historical context of the patriarchal, traditional culture of Japan. This floral metaphor, combining Yamato, an ancient name for Japan and nadeshiko "Dianthus superbus, Large Pink", or frilled pink carnation, literally translated as "Japanese Dianthus". From Wiki

Japanese ladies looked like children. Their average height is merely 5'4" It's as if tiny light weight Zeroes fought against larger Hellcats. Like WWII air battles, there were always more than two Americans against a Japanese who owned the ball. They shot 4 or 5 times in the first 10 minutes. My hope got so low, and Japanese couldn't even threaten the goalie Hope Solo, a megan fox of Team USA. Somehow USA failed to score - they could have scored 3 in the first half. Japan had a little luck besides abilities and persistence. It was ice hockey final at Lake Placid between USA and USSR. Japanese has never won USA. 0-22-3 and the very first win was the World Cup Gold? That's more than "fucking awesome." Band of Sisters beautifully delivered hope and joy, which Japanese politicians have miserably failed to deliver. Hey Naoto Kan, don't you even bother to call the Nadeshikoes to congratulate.

P.S. I recently found that my childhood friend became an adviser for Naoto Kan. The level of disgust is somewhere in between "my childhood friend is an adviser for Sarah Palin" and "my childhood friend is Karl Rove."

Picked HONNA: Chi, chi, chi, Chihuahua!

2011-07-18T10:08:00.000-07:00

by Keikichi Honna

Here is a peculiar image I found in Mexico. Usually a man would wear a wolf's head, or at the very least, a coyote. Either the chihuahua is humongous, or this man has a tiny brain.

In the meantime, bitches are about to start kicking a ball.

I'm ready to scream my guts out.

Nippon!

Picked RAW Peeled: Drawing Expanse

2011-07-17T11:32:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Freitas

Drawing Expanse, San Diego Space 4 Art’s first open-call exhibition, showcases a very broad and loose definition of drawing within contemporary art practice today, despite how limiting and restrictive that just might be. There have been some odd and curious selections made by the show’s two jurors, David White (founder of Agitprop in North Park) and Karen McGuire (Director of William D. Cannon Art Gallery in Carlsbad) who themselves make for an equally odd pairing of expertise in view of their politics and ambitions.

For the most part, Drawing Expanse is a solid exhibition with a wide range of good work and a few surprises. Those surprises are the “must-see” pieces but not so much for “the myriad ways in which drawing continues to influence and affect us” as the jurors state, but for the artists' unabashed frankness and pride in tackling their individual subject matter with such gusto, refinement, and a certain delicacy, delightfulness, and joy.

First, here’s a brief overview of what was not working in Drawing Expanse. For example, Sandra Doore’s Fragments, a large wall sculpture covered in eggplant-colored vinyl stitched and pieced together, its seams have been hand-sewn shut as if to try to keep what’s inside from breaking through the exoskeleton. Doore is known for these types of works and has in the past exhibited much more compelling pieces than what she has on display here. Is it a sculpture or a drawing is of no importance? The work’s incongruity in the context of the show and lack of presence already puts it at odds with the viewer.

K.V. Tomney - "Pool Info"

Signature works were also on display by Michele Guieu and May-ling Martinez. Martinez exhibited a previously seen work from a few years back and Guieu demonstrated her indefatigable (nondescript) production of reductive high-contrast silhouettes and figures – again.

K.V. Tomney also made the selection, exhibiting more “pool” drawings, but manages to change it up with one work that details the types of recreational pools that are available to the consumer – in or above ground. It’s hard to tell if Tomney is feeling the need to expand her pool repertoire, but it might be necessary in the not too distant future I believe. Hollis Swan, Chelsea Ramirez and Kirsten Rae Simonsen’s works highlight some of the more academic and contemporary trends in drawing which is either stylistically overworked or conceptually bland.

However, the most disappointing work on view might be Richard Keely’s and Anna O’Cain’s Snowflake Mandala. A mandala, most of you may know, is Sanskrit for the word circle. “In the Hindu and Buddhist religious traditions their sacred art often takes a mandala form. The basic form of most Hindu and Buddhist mandalas is a square with four gates containing a circle with a center point. Each gate is in the shape of a T.” Furthermore, “in common use, mandala has become a generic term for any plan, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically, a microcosm of the Universe from the human perspective.” (Wikipedia) Carl Jung apparently believed the mandala was “a representation of the unconscious self.” Snowflake Mandala might be closer to a Yantra however, “thought to be the abode of the deity. Each yantra is unique and calls the deity into the presence of the practitioner through the elaborate symbolic geometric designs.”(Wikipedia) This would make sense given each snowflake’s geometric shape (hexagonal) and elaborate design.

Richard Keely and Anna O'Cain - "Snowflake Mandala"

Snowflake Mandala is a large drawing of a snowflake on a map of Camp Pendleton with particular attention given to – on this map – gun and mortar positions, impact zones, training areas, landing and drop zones etc. The map’s blatant use as a guide for military maneuvers is in sharp contrast to what the poet Holley Gerth believes is a representation of Christ – “Snowflakes gently cover the world in white and hide what's unlovely from our sight, showing us how He covers our sin and gives us His grace when we come to Him.” In other words, the snowflake is the perfect symbol to assuage the atrocities of man or to exorcise the demons (or to protect ourselves) on the way to spiritual wholeness from our “unconscious self” as Jung believed. Snowflake Mandala is an exercise in contrasts, a foil to the stark background of the military landscape. To make sure we fully understand the impact of this drawing and its overtly “political” message, Keely and O’Cain have employed burnt gunpowder to make the drawing and framed it within a border of decorative lace. The use of gunpowder, of course, calls to mind the early drawings of Edward Ruscha from the seventies.

So what is the intellectual misstep that makes Snowflake Mandala so infuriating? It’s the work’s heavy-handedness and overt message that leaves the viewer no room for interpretation let alone appreciation. It questions our belief system and values with a stereotypical – read moralizing – good vs. evil sort of dichotomy, with a certain complacency that condones without offering a solution to the problem. The artists could have painted Mickey Mouse on top of the map and it would have had the same effect – nothing trumps evil better than commercial icons or token symbols of purity. The conflicting symbols of war and spiritual unity do not mix well (not that they ever have) but the point is lost in Snowflake Mandala. The artist Sven Augustijnen might offer up some clues for Keely and O’Cain as to how to handle the weight of history and how to go about highlighting what truly is important in order to change it. Snowflakes and mandalas will not do this.

Thankfully, there are works in Drawing Expanse that come up to par. One of these works is Claire Zitzow’s Shadow Tracing #10 / 2 Framed Photographs. It is comprised of two photographs that document the video performance of Zitzow tracing the outline of a streetlamp’s shadow on the ground as the sun crosses the sky. The work resonates on so many levels that it is by far the strongest work in the show. Its major success is that Zitzow, compared to previous works I’ve seen, has streamlined her installation down to its essence – photograph, monitor, looping video. Gone is the messiness and junky quality of earlier works, the absence of detritus that only seemed to get in the way of the artist’s intent. The simplicity and directness of Zitzow’s piece – chalk in hand as she waddles her way up and down the length of the shadow – brings images of Charlie Chaplin to mind as well as some of the more absurdist art performances during the 1960s, Land Art, William Wegman’s earlier videos and to some extent, the work of Nina Canell.

And the end result is no less impressive. The final chalk outlines overlap in a cascading drawing of repetitive forms that definitely recall the celebrated chalkboard paintings of Cy Twombly. The only regret is Shadow Tracing #10 / 2 Framed Photographs should have been more prominently displayed within the gallery. A must-see piece indeed.

Claire Zitzow - "Shadow Tracing #10 / 2 Framed Photographs"

Another must-see work is entitled Dewdropic by Lea Anderson. It's a stunning work, one of many that can be found on her website. Dewdropic is impressive for its size (a large oval) and uncanny ability to rest passively on the wall (it’s not the first piece your drawn to in the show) until you come closer. Its cellular structure of hundreds of cut-out and reassembled colored pencil drawings begin to mutate and divide, swirling in a mass of amoeba-like structures that eventually pull you into its microscopic universe – resist we do not.

I’m not much for artist statements but Anderson’s, like her work, is succinct yet elusive enough to respect the viewer’s intelligence and imagination. “Through my creations, I convey the heightened sense of inspiration and wonder one feels when encountering the beauty and complexity of the natural world. However, mine is a ‘nature’ that springs from the psyche. Using organic forms, geometric patterns, and vibrant colors, I create works that live, breathe, and expand within one’s imagination. I desire not to imitate, but to demonstrate, and to celebrate, a sense of ‘being alive’.” And further, “this work is about the love of exploration, of discovery, of adventure. Possibility, Renewal, and Unity are common themes. Contrasts are woven together – the grotesque with the beautiful, the humorous with the solemn, the unique with the infinite. The vastness of nature provides an endless array of fantastic designs, life forms, and rhythms to investigate, as does the vastness of the mind." There is much joy to be found in this work.

Lea Anderson - "Dewtropic"

Lea Anderson - "Dewtropic" (detail)

Melinda Barnadas appears to have equal footing in both the scientific and art worlds, which might explain her drawing, entitled Gliding Ant – Cephalotes Pavonii. It is a simple black and white illustration of a gliding ant, which in the context of the show would seem a little out of place, if it were not for the contemporary treatment of the drawing itself (detail, line quality, etc.) and its intriguing presentation splayed out like some rawhide floor rug or wall decoration. It’s quirky and fun enough to get you to look as well as enjoy the drawing’s intimate qualities. Barnadas was an intern and scientific illustrator for the Field Museum in Chicago back in 2000 and is also part of the creative team of Magpie Studio. She is also responsible for probably the world’s largest “Paint-by-Numbers” painting on record.

Another work of note are Alexander Jackson’s Delineation of Space and Time: a large obelisk form lies on its side and is very reminiscent of the sculptor Masayuki Nagare and his iconic “Bachi” series of works. This form is taken from the bachi pick used to play the traditional Japanese Shamisen lute. One of Nagare’s Bachi can be found in the SDMA (San Diego Museum of Art) sculpture garden in black granite. Jackson’s drawing however, though not a sculpture, is deftly drawn with a series of small crosshatches in pen and ink that progress (left to right) in bands of diminishing opaqueness and density to nothingness at its very tip. The only drawback is, it was hung much too high and thus loses its immediacy and intimacy.

Melinda Barnadas - "Gliding Ant – Cephalotes Pavonii"

Finally, Tom Driscoll exhibited a Oldenburg-esque study in felt-marker on paper with an accompanying painted coiled tube in plastic pinned to the wall and casting a whimsical shadow. It was a fine example of gesture and line with a minimalist efficiency to it. Albert Atrillo and Jon Gomez both exhibit works wildly opposed in subject matter but no less compelling for their unique presence. Atrillo’s Soldier Boy and Boy with Machine Gun (from the series Three Patients) are narcissistic adventures into some unknown dark seedy underbelly reminiscent of work by the Chicago Imagists and notably, Jim Nutt, Karl Wirsum and Ed Paschke. Gomez’s Loteria: El Valiente taken from the board game of the same name is indeed a brave drawing. A beastly figure of a man emerges from the shadows, head held high, prominent nose and jaw emerging from a head full of wild hair calling to mind images from the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Gomez’s graphite drawing is bold and powerful; it expertly combines line, shadow, texture, and even erasure in a masterful work that is delicate yet valiant. Yet another must-see.

Jon Gomez - "Loteria: El Valiente"

Tom Driscoll - "Line Drawing"

In the end, you’ll find Drawing Expanse to be a typical survey of artists working in this domain. As in most surveys and jury selections there are those artists who either did not submit or were not selected. This is a given – after all it’s the jurors’ choice. However, there are some absences felt, notably, among others, the drawings of Clayton Llewellyn, Lea Dennis, and even Linda Kardoff. Let’s hope SD Space 4 Art continues the open calls for submission, if anything, it is an opportunity to discover some new and exciting talents at work.

Kristen Simonsen - "Oops"

Article first published as Art Review (San Diego): Drawing Expanse on Blogcritics.

Marianela de la Hoz

2011-07-14T18:22:00.000-07:00

from the LA Art Dairy

It's getting harder and harder to do assemblage/found objects art, in a shadow box format without looking like you are only taking half a step away from Joseph Cornell or George Herms. Marianela De La Hoz does this well by incorporating tiny egg tempura paintings and pencil drawings. They add real impact to each piece, with their elegant craftsmanship and their sly social commentary.

Lucid Dreams in Little Italy by John Purlia

2011-07-12T06:40:00.000-07:00

We are delighted to see this review of the exhibition curated by Mark Murphy about his show Lucid Dreams now showing at the Noel Baza Gallery in Little Italy.

Last night I attended the opening reception of Lucid Dreams, the tremendous new group show curated by local art impresario and all around good guy, Mark Murphy. You’ll remember Mark as the driving force behind last summer’s Survey Select exhibition and event at the Wonder Bread Factory in the East Village. This year, Mark has invited many of the same artists, plus an influx of bright new talent to take on the subject of “lucid dreams” (wonderful dichotomy there!), and has moved the venue to Noel-Baza Fine Art in Little Italy.

While Mark curated the show around a specific theme, there’s lots of additional work on hand from the fine stable of artists who show regularly at Noel-Baza. These pieces mix with great cohesion, as there is definitely a shared aesthetic between the gallery and the show’s primary theme. Even better, the quality of the work from piece-to-piece is maintained and heightened by the eclectic mix.

I was at the gallery for several hours chatting with artists, collectors, and gallery folks, and observed a constant flow of people moving through the space, most staying for quite some time to admire the art and socialize. What I noticed, though—and this is important for anyone out there thinking of curating their own art shows or opening their own gallery—the focus was entirely on the art, with refreshments and other distractions kept out of the way and at a minimum. The art on the walls was easily approachable, invited discussion, and throughout the evening I noticed that most of the people in the gallery were actually facing the walls and looking at the art. Isn’t that what an exhibition of art is supposed to be an about? Well, yeah, duh! Kudos, San Diego art lovers!

::: ranting lecture mode to San Diego gallery owners ON :::

Many of the art openings I attend in San Diego (especially the small galleries that should be promoting upcoming artists) seem to lose sight of the purpose of exhibiting art. That being, showing and promoting art and artists to people who enjoy, buy and collect art. That may seem obvious, but… all too often it seems as though the opening reception is really just an excuse to throw a party, with the art nothing more than wall decor behind the bar, hors d’oerves, or live band. How do you expect a collector with a big fat patron-sized wallet to get close enough to connect to a piece he or she may want to take home; thereby supporting the success of the gallery, the artist, and the San Diego art scene?!?!

::: ranting lecture mode to San Diego gallery owners OFF :::

In any case, the event at Noel-Baza was first rate, and there was a constant flow of people moving through the gallery all evening with several red dots popping up on the walls beside worthy pieces of art. And one of those red dots belonged to me, as I purchased a super cool painting by Chilean artist Jorge Catoni. Take a look!

To read the full report and see illustrations check out John's Wind-Up Dreams & Vinyl Nightmares blog site.

Picked RAW Peeled: Allan Morrow - Drawings to Constructions

2011-07-10T13:46:00.000-07:00

by Patricia Frischer

It is always a joy when yet another artist of talent is discovered hiding in plain site in San Diego. I had no knowledge of the work of Allan Morrow before Friday when we attended the opening of his one man exhibition at Perry Meyer Fine Art on Kettner as part of Kettner nights.

A glance at Mr. Morrow's resume reveals an extensive exhibition history and a BA in Painting and Printmaking from San Diego State University in 1979 and then in 2002, an AA in Graphic Design from San Diego City College. His first one-man show was in 1981 and he has also been exhibited at the Pacific Beach Library Gallery. With more than 70 group shows and a recent write up by Robert Pincus in 2010, he is just the sort of artist that we need to support with sales to make it possible for galleries like Perry Myers Fine Art to exist. The work is first class, extremely reasonably priced for someone with his track record and deserves a larger audience and buyers. We understand that Mr. Morrow is now retired and able to dedicate even more of his time to his art. If this new direction is any sign, we can't wait to see more.

Median Right

Middle Town

Roadside

Two Land Bop

I Shot an Arrow

For Sale

All We are Saying

Marrow Vs. Marrow

Tower Cranes

Trailhead

From Perry Myer:

Meyer Fine Art, Inc. presents a solo exhibition of ALLAN MORROW: Drawings to Constructions, featuring contemporary mixed-media constructions. Known in San Diego in the 1970s and 1980s primarily as an abstract landscape painter, Morrow’s latest artwork has taken a new creative turn; works on paper incorporating techniques of collage and construction. This exhibition includes construction pieces of varying sizes, many accompanied by drawings and watercolors, the studies for these works. The art patron can view the creative process of the artist as he morphs an idea from conception to final composition. On first impression these constructions appear as simple, contemporary landscapes. Further, in depth evaluation displays the multi-level ideas that resonate from the assemblages. Drawing from personal experiences, local architecture and everyday happenings Morrow captures the essence of the ‘city surroundings, enticing the audience to visualize a story, event or memory.

The show is up from July 8 to August 27, 2011
2400 Kettner Blvd, Suite 104 , SD 92101
Gallery Hours: Tue - Thu: 11 – 5 p.m., Fri - Sat: 11 - 6 p.m. or by appointment

For more info:
pmeyer3583@aol.com
619.358.9512

Picked RIPE: Why soup? A theory unfolds

2011-07-09T11:59:00.000-07:00

from Christopher Knight and the LA Times

Digital Image / The Museum of Modern Art

Why did Andy Warhol paint pictures of Campbell's soup cans?

Why not, say, cans of Chef Boyardee ravioli? Or B&M baked beans? Why not Alpo, one of the first commercially available canned dog foods? Alpo was manufactured in Allentown, Pa., across the state from Pittsburgh, Warhol's hometown.

Supermarkets stocked lots of canned goods, circa 1960. Any one of them could have signified the ubiquity of commercial imagery in contemporary American life. Any one of them could epitomize modern mass production at its most banal. Those are the usual reasons given for Warhol's full-bore move into Pop imagery, which began in 1961-62 with "Campbell's Soup Cans."

This weekend marks the 49th anniversary of their controversial public debut. Warhol's renowned suite of 32 small canvases was shown for the first time at a Los Angeles gallery, the only gallery willing to take a chance on the virtually unknown New York artist. The mundane commercial subject matter bewildered an art world more used to avant-garde abstraction, not to mention a public already skeptical of Modern art. Bemused, a neighboring gallery stacked a pyramid of actual soup cans in its window, along with a sign that boasted, "Get the real thing for only 29 cents a can."

Read more

Picked RAW Peeled: From El Greco to Dali

2011-07-06T23:01:00.000-07:00

by Patricia Frischer

Great Spanish Masters from the Pérez Simón Collection at the San Diego Museum of Art July 09, 2011 through November 06, 2011.

The San Diego Museum of Art is rightly proud to be the only U.S. museum to show this survey of Spanish master artworks from the 16^th century to the 1970s with 64 works out of a collection of approximately 2000 owned by the Pérez Simón Foundation. The collection, normally housed in the private estates of Juan Antonio Pérez Simón in Mexico City, Spain and San Diego, was started in 1970 and has already traveled to Paris and Quebec on loan. The actual show covers over five centuries of art as we travel chronologically through religious themes to court paintings, Impressionism, Symbolism and ends with the Surrealist and Minimalist movements. In this report, I would like to concentrate on the tiny shining stars of the show before the blockbusters.

There was only one El Greco but it is a sweetheart miniature of the head of Christ. See in real life and do not judge it by the reproduction here. The light in back of the head and the gleam in the eyes is luminous. The whole world of religion belief is caught in this tiny rectangle of oil on paper.

Domenikos Theotokopoulos, Called El Greco
Head of Christ Ca.1600
Oil on paper, mounted on wood /10.5 × 8.6 cm

Discovering “new to us” Spanish artists is one of the educational joys of the show. Ramón Bayeu delights with a matched set of casual figures.

Ramón Bayeu
Seated Majo and Maja Ca. 1778 or 1784
Oil on canvas / 14 × 21.5 cm

The thick layered oil is slathered on this tiny canvas making it an impressionist tour de force.

Joaquín Sorolla
Fishing Port, San Sebastián Circa 1903–08
Oil on canvas I 19 × 31.8 cm

Again, you must see this to view the vital energy of every line of this small Picasso.

Pablo Picasso
Reclining Nude on a Bed Barcelona, 1902
Pencil and ink on cardboard / 9 × 13.3 cm

You need a microscope to see the details in this miniature landscape populated with all the regular Dali figures.

Salvador Dalí
Erotic Beach, 1950
Oil on wood / 14 × 17.5 cm

Back to 1640 to this still surreal floating image of St. Mary in her moment of ecstasy.

Jusepe de Ribera
Saint Mary of Egypt in Ecstasy, Ca. 1640
Oil on canvas / 177 × 123 cm

Amazingly, this Goya was only purchased 10 years ago, as almost all his work is in museum collections. The surround of this oil on wood is exposed and although the image is in perfect condition and newly varnished, it is showing the hand of the artist as he over strokes on to the surround that was touching, intimate and memorable.

Francisco de Goya
Doña María Teresa de Vallabriga y Rozas, 1783
Oil on wood / 66.7 × 50.5 cm

This work was dubbed the Spanish Mona Lisa by the SDMA Mexican director Roxana Velásquez Martínez del Campo, who toured us around the show. It appears on the cover of the catalog and is by a relatively unknown artist to Americans. It was billed as a symbolist portrait but I think you just need to look at those eyes and the words don’t need to prove anything.

Julio Romero de Torres
Portrait of a Lady, Ca 1925−30?
Oil on canvas / 62.2 × 52.1 cm

The museum is working hard to make all traveling exhibitions which come here relevant to SD and so this work was chosen as it is Picasso new mistress Francois Gilot long before Jonah Salk won her heart.

Pablo Picasso
Françoise in an Armchair, 16 March 1949
Oil on canvas / 41.6 × 27.6 cm

The two Christ figures by Dali will be show stoppers, this one because of the difficult perspective and the next pair with it mirror structure designed to trick us into seeing a 3-D image. These are now old tricks and those of us who have grown up with Dali know he is not that trustworthy. But the Dali is above all a showman.

Salvador Dalí
The Ascension of Christ, 1958
Oil on canvas / 115 × 123 cm

Salvador Dalí
Gala’s Christ, 1978
Oil on canvas and wooden structure with mirrors
100 × 100 cm (each panel)

I am a self declared huge fan of Tapies, and as the last picture on the floor, this one is like a clean breath of air after the Picassos, the Miros and the Dalis.

Antoni Tàpies
Large Gray Paper with White Symbol, 1965
Acrylics on paper mounted on canvas / 193 × 137 cm

My great thanks go to John Marciari Curator of European Art, Tom Gildred, President of the Board of Directors, and Helen Mola, Madrid, consultant to the Pérez Simóns for answering all my questions.

RIP: Cy Twombly

2011-07-05T15:52:00.000-07:00

from Randy Kennedy and the New York Times

Cy Twombly, Idiosyncratic Painter, Dies at 83

Cy Twombly, whose spare childlike scribbles and poetic engagement with antiquity left him stubbornly out of step with the movements of postwar American art even as he became one of the era’s most important painters, died in Rome Tuesday. He was 83.

The cause was not immediately known, although Mr. Twombly had suffered from cancer. His death was announced by the Gagosian Gallery, which represents his work.

In a career that slyly subverted Abstract Expressionism, toyed briefly with Minimalism, seemed barely to acknowledge Pop Art and anticipated some of the concerns of Conceptualism, Mr. Twombly was a divisive artist almost from the start. The curator Kirk Varnedoe, on the occasion of a 1994 retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, wrote that his work was “influential among artists, discomfiting to many critics and truculently difficult not just for a broad public, but for sophisticated initiates of postwar art as well.” The critic Robert Hughes called him “the Third Man, a shadowy figure, beside that vivid duumvirate of his friends Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg.”

Read more.

* All images, where subject to copyright, are used purely for illustrative purposes and on the assumption that their reproduction at a lower resolution than the originals satifies the requirements for fair use and neither competes nor conflicts with the copyright holder's use of the original material. Cy Twombly is represented by Gagosian Gallery.

Picked Honna: Souvenir from Mexico

2011-07-02T14:48:00.000-07:00

by Keikichi Honna

So, this is it. Balls of twine.

1 3/4" or 40mm in diameter. One of the worst hand crafted stuff I've ever seen. The quality is so poor that it's almost crime to put a price and sell them. 6 pesos each (like $0.5), or 60 pesos for a dozen. Hadn't they been placed among toys, I couldn't have guessed they were intended for children. Nor had they had dark colored strings for decoration, I couldn't have told that they were supposed to be soccer balls. I was laughing, and of course bought a couple.

They don't bounce, they are not round enough. I was laughing at their quality and thought that bundled up rubber bands would work much better as balls. Then, I'd think "oh, you can't waste rubber bands. They are expensive." I realized the desperation of those who made them - they couldn't use better materials, and those who would buy them - that's the best they could afford.

This is the poorest hand crafted stuff I've ever seen. However, this is also the most honest product I've ever seen. There is no deception, no over-decoration - you pay for exactly what you see, and you get what you pay for - nothing more, nothing less. For only 6 pesos, you can buy the poorest quality yet the most honest hand crafted products. That's fucking steal!

I was thinking to make them myself. I can make better looking ones for sure. Probably I can even sell them for $6.00 each on ebay! But I can never duplicate the desperation and honesty of the original. Bought them as a joke. Now they remind me of (my lack of) honesty.

Email: Keikichi Honna

Picked RAW writers

Out and About in June, 2011

2011-06-27T22:33:00.000-07:00

by Patricia Frischer

I viewed a wonderful video talk sent out by Dan Springs about shattering your miss-conceptions by Jared Cohen and realized yet again how important it is to have an open mind to allow creativity to flow. I also know that we can’t just talk about ideas we have to do things and do them with passion and conviction. That is why I am so excited about the DNA of Creativity project. I spent a day and a half at the Art of Science Learning Conference at Calit2 and then we held a DNA of Creativity meeting where 28 professionals gathered to further discuss the project, give in put and feedback. This was our third meeting and I think we now have a project which has legs and will help us meet the goals not only of SDVAN but to follow the mission to fuse the art and science communities.

Now that Art Meets Fashion is almost over, I have had a chance to go to a few exhibitions and boy has it been fun to see what is up and about in San Diego. I am not claiming to have made a survey of everything out there, but I just visited the shows that were in my path.

Italo Scanga mini retrospective is at the Oceanside Museum of Art to Aug 21 and I am looking forward to seeing a selection of his more intimate objects at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library. He broke new ground in San Diego but I think it is the way that his colleagues speak of his zest for art and his welcoming spirit that adds to his status. Also at the OMA is Beatrice Wood Drawings and Ceramics to Sept 18, a charming eccentric women with an exciting love life that she captured in her often naïve way which makes art so accessible to all. Jeff Yeoman was a star at the Gold Coast Paintings of Southern California, California Arts Club now over. There were a few other paintings that made the show worthwhile. I liked Eric Merrell and Ken Goldman and I imagine these lush landscapes were a treat for the Oceanside audience.

I enjoyed the crowd and the cookies at the Zandra Rhodes and Andrew Logan tea party at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library. I know both and own many marvelous jewelry pieces by Andrew from my time in London. It appeared like there were lots of sales for this one day event. Code-O-Chromes by David Fobes now over but well reviewed by Kevin Freitas on our Picked RAW Peeled blogsite. I love color field works and so was enchanted by these made from duct tape. They are all about the edge and seem to be on the edge of being edgy so I will follow his work with great interest.

Lynn Engstrom and James Watts at RB Stevenson are now over but the Watts showed a new (to me) style not using his usually tin tacked method. It was almost globe shape of drift wood hanging with little men dangling like chandelier crystals. I saw a similar pieces at the Solomon’s home in La Jolla (they were host for the annual SDMA Contemporary Art Council picnic) called brick man. I loved the sense of humor that Watts brings to his work.

Behind What It’s In Front Of: John McLaughlin painting and Roy McMarkin sculptures at Quint Gallery gave me a chance to see their new space just east of Torrey Pines on Gerard. The façade has been designed by Roman de Salvo (SD Art Prize) and has a retro maze feeling that suits the building perfectly. The show of augmented and altered bureaus was so intriguing and bodes well for exciting shows in the new larger space.

It is your last few days of Patricia Patterson show at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido open only until June 30 so get your skates on if you have not seen the show if only to see the one installation room which is brilliant papered her personal notes.

We looked forward to seeing Gustav Stickley and the American Arts and Crafts Movement as we lived for a time in a Renee Macintosh inspired home near Glasgow. This American version has strong ties to that European master’s work. On the night of our view we also got to see, John Dillemuth with his crazy and charming wood machines like a cross between a Da Vinci invention and Rube Goldberg and Brian Zimmerman with his astounding chairs which seemed to be site specific rising up in the atrium of quietly adding to the aesthetics of the eastern rooms. Both were part of the Summer Salon Series, What Does a City Need, Every Thursday from June 2 to Sept 1 at The San Diego Museum of Art Balboa Park, 92101 and highly recommended. By the way to the parties at the SMDA are elegant and fun and real crowd pleasers with special cocktails and exotic foods. Well done to the staff for putting on these events for people who really want to see the art besides having a good time. I think they hit just the right balance.

Who wouldn’t like wondering among the incredible gardens with exotic flora and cascading waterfalls of the SD Botanic Gardens but an added pleasure is the New Sculpture installation curated by Naomi Nussbaum Synergy Art Foundation aided by Dennis Batt. Special pieces by Cheryl Tall (with added mosaic skirts), Jeffery Laudenslager (who continues to grow as a master kinetic artist), Deanne Sabeck (new 3-d column of glowing light), Sandra Chanis (cleverly sites over water), and many, many more.

At the Lux Art Institute, see the work of South African sculptor Claudette Schreuders and the new sculpture she created while in residence at Lux. These works are an unexpected blend of realistic and cartoon that draws you in and then surprised you with a certain poignancy. A big wow for the ceramic objects for sale by Kelly Schnorr who reproduced ordinary objects but added unusual colors and transfers to show her quirky take on life. Very reasonably priced as well.

I also went to Hera Hub a new business center for women started by Felena Hanson for a Legal Issues in Business workshop by Amanda L. Mineer from the Legal Center for Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs, Inc. Watch her new space for other events of interest to those setting up shop of some kind or another.

I end with just a plain old crazy-assed Mid-summer party at Fusion Glass Company in La Mesa full of artists wearing wings and sporting wands and eating, drinking, and dancing. All this gaiety was a thank you to their customers and artists for a great year of sales. No fee, no cause, just bohemian artists doing what they do best. A big thank you to Debb and Paul for including us.

Daily Art Nag: Sushi closes

2011-06-26T16:13:00.000-07:00

from Kinsee Morlan and CityBeat

photo: San Diego CityBeat

Sushi gone

A local arts group is no more and I, for one, am ready to rant

Shame on me. Shame on you. Shame on anybody interested in keeping this city's cultural scene alive.

When The San Diego Union-Tribune reported last week that Sushi Contemporary Performance and Visual Arts is closing its doors, most people acted shocked and surprised, but as board chairman Indra Gardiner Bowers put it to me over the phone last Friday, "It's like, 'Really? How many times did you go to a Sushi performance? How much money did you donate?'" For my part, I should have done a better job at covering Sushi's plight.

The story started writing itself the moment the once homeless, cutting-edge arts organization moved into its new East Village digs just as the recession hit.

Picked RIPE: Katherine Sweetman Presentation Videos: Americans for the Arts Public Art Preconference's panel on Media Infrastructure

2011-06-24T08:57:00.000-07:00

Part 1: The Back Story (AKA The Real Story)
from Katherine Sweetman on Vimeo.

Parts II, III, and IV can be found here.

Picked RIPE: Museum School Art Auction - Tonight!

2011-06-18T09:41:00.000-07:00

JETT Gallery
989 W. Kalmia St.,
San Diego, CA 92101

Engine28

2011-06-16T17:30:00.001-07:00

Sent to us by Kim Richards is news of Engine28 temporary website that pops up just for a set of art events and then disappears. it is always fascinating to see what others are doing and it must morph into something else but we am not sure what that will be. They are hoping to address the problem which we certainly experience in SD of ”Hey You! critic” when a hapless news journalist ordered by an editor to switch beats overnight and cover the arts because somebody hadn’t been planning ahead. We think this sounds rather like the super heroes of journalism, flying in to save the day. Wouldn’t we like to have that great team here!

Daily Art Nag for June 15, 2011: Art Must Be Revolution

2011-06-15T14:41:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Freitas

The French philosopher Alain Badiou said the other day in a lecture at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, “Art must be revolution.”

The topic, in which Matthew Barney also headlined, was billed as Can Art and Politics Be Thought? I immediately misread the topic as Can Art and Politics Be Taught, which, to this writer, is an infinitely more interesting question. Helas, I agree with Badiou and feel any sort of revolution (if not activism) in art would be a welcome one. I would be happy to throw a few pavés in the general direction of change.

In a separate article, Sebastian Smee, art critic for the Boston Globe and this year’s Pulitzer Prize winner for criticism writing on the Venice Biennale, commented, “Contemporary art likes to pretend it has no past. Every year, artists shamelessly recycle conceits that established others’ reputations mere decades earlier. Aging geniuses are relegated to the history books well before their time is up. Amnesia reigns.” More importantly, though, he made a comment about how the "gesture" in art these days has replaced the idea. “The received wisdom is that contemporary art is mostly about ideas. In truth, however, it’s mostly about gestures. Sustained engagement and the kind of mental activity that generates actual ideas are rare. In today’s art world, one gesture is completed, and a new one must be dreamed up.”

I also agree with Smee. There’s a certain level of comfort knowing that gesture has to some extent replaced any real meaning or ideas in art; it helps one to accept the inadequacy and quality (the missing content) of a lot of work I see these days – especially in San Diego.

It might also be a convenient label I can slap on any work that doesn’t meet my approval. Who's to say? But there is a fine line between "gesture" as a means to an end, a sort of justifiable irresponsibility in an artist’s intent or production (the artwork), and "gesture" in the form of, say, personal investigation, which might have more to do with ideas and a process (method, technique, material) fueled by a passion and the resulting fruitful labor of its outcome.

And so while we can pretend to effect change within our cultural ranks – for the good of the cause – there are those who gesture and leave us rotting in jail and those who point decisively. I much prefer the latter and artists who can do so with works that can lead the way.

Article first published as Art Must Be Revolution on Blogcritics.

Daily Art Nag for June 10, 2011: Heath Fox goes to the Broad

2011-06-10T16:15:00.000-07:00

from Mike Boehm and Culture Monster

Eli Broad's museum names veteran of San Diego museums -- and U.S. Marines -- as second-in-command

Heath Fox, a retired U.S. Marine Corps lieutenant colonel who made a second career helping to run art and photography museums in San Diego’s Balboa Park, was named Wednesday to serve as second-in-command at the Broad –- the downtown art museum that will house Eli Broad’s contemporary art collection and is expected to open in about two years.

As deputy director of operations, Fox, 57, will report to museum director Joanne Heyler. He begins June 27 and will spend the coming two years helping to devise the museum’s operating plan and management approaches. When the Broad opens, he’ll be responsible for planning and operations.

After retiring from the Marines in 1996 after 20 years of service, Fox became associate director of administration at the Museum of Photographic Arts from 1997 to 2001; he oversaw its $6-million expansion in 1999-2000, which increased the museum's size from 7,500 square feet to 31,000.

Picked RIPE: "Bare It All" at the Bluefoot

2011-06-08T17:15:00.000-07:00

Angela M. Sahyoun

Creator/Director

Arte Fresca Events
619.850.7096
www.artefresca.webs.com

Daily Art Nag for June 5, 2011

2011-06-05T09:55:00.000-07:00

Shawnee Barton, contributor to the UT's Sketchbook blog, published a recent article on how she was taking steps to become a better arts patron. While her efforts are certainly admirable, I came up with a few of my own that I believe might have a longer lasting affect within our community. Here they are:

1. Open a gallery or alternative exhibition space, commercial or otherwise.

2. Buy a piece of artwork. Get your FB friends to buy artwork. In fact, get everyone who lives in your apartment complex or on your block to buy artwork. Prices for work in SD are extremely reasonable and affordable.

3. Buy art supplies for an artist. Sponsor an exhibit or installation. Help stretch a canvas. Buy a frame.

4. Take a friend to a museum or gallery, and then buy them the catalog.

5. Take a collector to lunch (if you know one). Introduce yourself as Delacroix and hand them your wet paint brushes (to paraphrase Larry Rivers & Frank O'Hara).

6. Start an art publication, a real one, on paper - not a blog. Newsprint is still cheap and so is Kinko's.

7. Write about art, no seriously, write about it. Trust me on this one.

8. Buy a building, property, an empty warehouse, a tool shed if you have to. Stake a claim, build your empire, and invite other artists to join. Live there, invite others to live with you, make lots of art.

9. Instead of sending an email to your local city council, become a city council member yourself. You can affect change from the inside - it's warmer. If this isn't possible, protest, take to the streets, throw bricks. Kansas is going to end up biting us all in the ass if we are sitting on ours.

10. Make the best art you can and get rid of the rest. Become an arts editor, your own.

11. Get educated. Knowledge is power and history is good but art history is better.

12. Yours?

Daily Art Nag for May 30, 2011

2011-05-30T11:05:00.000-07:00

Daily Art Nag for May 29, 2011: Lady Gaga - "Critics are bullies"

2011-05-29T16:17:00.000-07:00

A+ Art Blog: Putting Our Tax Dollars to Work

2011-05-23T14:02:00.000-07:00

by Patricia Frischer

Putting Our Tax dollars to Work or what I would do if I were Arts and Culture Commissioner. Okay, I will probably never be a commissioner for Arts and Culture, but I had a good fantasy while I was in the shower and thought I would share some thoughts. You never know when seeds of ideas might sprout. I have no doubt things need to shake up a bit and these ideas would certainly do that.

Throw out the current plan for distributing TOT dollars. It is too much paperwork that no one wants to complete or read. Instead instigate a nomination process and a lottery draw to see who gets what. How great would it be if a tiny organization got a wind fall and could run with it?
All commissioners would be responsible for one interactive community project during their term. They would mentor and support the project to make sure it was excellent.
A Commission for Art and Culture Limousine would be on call once a week to take VIPs to art events. Commissioners would be responsible for filling this car up with different people for every trip thus widening the support of the arts and being seen to be present in the community. Only limited number of these trips would go to large established organization events. VIP would have a wide definition: politicians, community leaders, entertainment stars, sport stars, industry leaders, etc. A blog would be kept on these trips and statement taken from the VIPs.
The Commission would stand fully in back of SD Art Month and do everything possible to make this an awareness time for the value of the arts in our community. They would encourage cross collaborations of all kinds.
The Commission would hold the 21 st century version of a decathlon. Each entrant to complete a 100 Meter Race, High Jump, Hurdles, Discus, Swim/Surf, Painting, Poetry, Dance, Video, and Song.

Now it is your turn. Do you have a fantasy of what you would do as commissioner? Blog away.

PS This is written with respect to the current Commission for Arts and Culture. It is a hard job, we know.

Picked RAW: David Fobes at the Athenaeum La Jolla

2011-05-19T20:49:00.000-07:00

The Green Line, 36" x 72" x 3/4", Vinyl cloth tape on sheet metal, 2011

Code-O-Chromes: David Fobes
On view May 14 - June 18, 2011

David Fobes will present a new series of works that explores themes of code, space, geometry, and color. He has developed a technique using the unlikely medium of duct tape, a material he manipulates to create fascinating illusions of color and three-dimensional space. David Fobes is a professor of art at SDSU and his work has been included in many local, national and international exhibitions.

http://misterfobes.com/index.php

Athenaeum Music & Arts Library
1008 Wall Street
La Jolla, CA 92037-4418
858 454 5872
www.ljathenaeum.org

Daily Art Nag for May 14, 2011: Sit in Solidarity

2011-05-14T18:11:00.000-07:00

For Immediate Release

Leah Masterson, Communications Associate, 858.454.3541 x119 lmasterson@mcasd.org
Rebecca Handelsman, Senior Communications and Marketing Manager, 858.454.3541 x116 rhandelsman@mcasd.org

MCASD STAFF, PATRONS "SIT IN SOLIDARITY" FOR AI WEIWEI

24-Hour Sit-In Inspired by Ai Weiwei's Marble Chairs Featured in Current Exhibition

San Diego, CA- The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego announces a 24-hour protest to call for the release of detained Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. On Thursday, May 19, a broad roster of MCASD staff, members, and community leaders will participate in a silent yet symbolic event.

Beginning at 11 AM on Thursday, May 19 and continuing through 11 AM on Friday, May 20, volunteer participants will occupy two traditionally styled Chinese chairs for one-hour periods. This 24-hour sit-in references Ai Weiwei's sculpture series, Marble Chair, two of which are currently on view in the Museum's exhibition, Prospect 2011. These impressive yet haunting marble sculptures were acquired on May 11 by the Museum's International and Contemporary Collectors.

Internationally acclaimed Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was detained April 3 at the Beijing airport as he attempted to board a flight to Hong Kong. MCASD has stood alongside members of the international art community in voicing its disapproval and encouraging action from members, the community and the government to call for the artist's release.

Hugh Davies, the David C. Copley Director and CEO considers the silent protest a way to express the Museum's support of the artist, whose Beijing studio Museum supporters visited just months before Ai's detention. "As the time of his detention lengthens, we grow more concerned for Ai's welfare and want to make a collective gesture in support of his release," said Davies.

Members of the community are invited to participate by offering an hour of their time to sit in the replica chairs during the 24-hour demonstration. Volunteers can RSVP on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mcasd or by emailing mdaniels@mcasd.org with the subject line "Sitting in Solidarity," and will be contacted to confirm a time.

Visitors may observe the silent protest during the Museum's open hours, which are 11am to 7pm on May 19. Participants will continue to occupy the chairs throughout the night after the Museum closes; the public can still view the protest since the chairs will be stationed directly behind the glass entry of the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Building.

For one week following the initial 24-hour demonstration, the chairs will remain on site and available for people to sit in, either for a minute or an hour. Participants are encouraged to post photos of themselves sitting in the chairs to the Museum's Facebook page to serve as a visual petition.

ABOUT AI WEIWEI AND MARBLE CHAIRS

Ai Weiwei works in a variety of media, from sculpture and installation to photography and performance. His works revisit and translate well-known Chinese forms to comment on the country's rich history and complicated present. In Marble Chair, he carves a familiar yoke-back chair out of a single block of marble. This startling translation and memorializing of a piece of furniture raises questions of history, memory, and modernization. Marble Chair suggests that the rush of progress takes its toll not only on the people, but also on the culture that becomes lost among the change. The empty chair evokes the absent figure, an effect made more disturbing due to the artist's recent incarceration by the Chinese government.

On Wednesday, May 11, MCASD's International Collectors and Contemporary Collectors voted to purchase new works for the Museum's collection, including two examples of Ai Weiwei's Marble Chair (2010). The artist's continuing incarceration made this year's acquisition particularly poignant. Members of the International Collectors were among the last groups to visit Ai Weiwei's Beijing studio during a collecting trip in November 2010.

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO

Founded in 1941, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) is the preeminent contemporary visual arts institution in San Diego County. The Museum's collection includes more than 4,000 works of art created since 1950. In addition to presenting exhibitions by international contemporary artists, the Museum serves thousands of children and adults annually at its varied education programs, and offers a rich program of film, performance, and lectures. MCASD is a private, nonprofit organization, with 501c3 tax-exempt status; it is supported by generous contributions and grants from MCASD Members and other individuals, corporations, foundations, and government agencies. Hugh M. Davies is The David C. Copley Director and CEO at MCASD. Institutional support for MCASD is provided by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture.

Daily Art Nag for May 13, 2011

2011-05-13T11:15:00.000-07:00

from the SLOG News & Arts and Jen Graves

photo: John Lok/The Seattle Times

Derrick Cartwright is leaving SAM, he wrote on the museum's blog today.

This comes as a total surprise to me. I don't know what happened. Cartwright's statement says he will take time to refresh his love for art history rather than focusing on institutional administration, which he has been doing for several years, and to be with his family.

In Cartwright's short tenure here, he was very well-respected by artists, pretty much loved by staffers (even though he had to make layoffs due to the WaMu crash's aftermath), and colleagues enjoyed working with him. He arrived in summer 2009, less than two years ago. (Here is what I wrote about him then.)

Continue

Related here and here

Picked RAW: "Behind What It's In Front Of" at Quint Contemporary Art

2011-05-13T10:25:00.000-07:00

from the press release

BEHIND WHAT IT’S IN FRONT OF
Paintings by John McLaughlin
Sculptures and videos by Roy McMakin

Saturday, May 21 – Saturday, July 16, 2011

Opening reception: Saturday, May 21st from 6 to 9pm

Quint Contemporary Art is pleased to announce the opening of our new exhibition space (7547 Girard Avenue La Jolla, CA 92037) with Behind What It’s In Front Of, a show conceived by Roy McMakin to explore his many decade long fascination with the paintings of John McLaughlin. This will be McMakin’s sixth exhibition at Quint Contemporary Art. Please join us for an opening reception with the artist on Saturday, May 21st from 6 to 9pm.

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN - #15,1961
oil on canvas - 60" x 42"
Photo credit and courtesy Quint Contemporary Art

From the recently released book Roy McMakin When is a chair not a chair published by Rizzoli, Michael Ned Holte offers this:

Undoubtedly, McMakin’s body of work can (and should) be placed in an artistic linage that would include John McLauglin, Robert Irwin, and Charles Ray – a linage of shared interest in formal issues of space and perception that seems to have developed on the West Coast, which McMakin has called home for three decades. McLaughlin’s spare, immaculate, geometric paintings precede and predict minimalism. Many of the paintings relay on a reduced palette of black, white, and (sometimes) gray, and a modicum of rectangular shapes to efficiently construct figure-ground conundrums that a viewer can never fully resolve. Many of McMakin’s furniture pieces, including a desk and a dresser follow closely from McLaughlin’s tactics; for example, they employ black lines that are nearly indistinguishable from the negative voids or gaps.

Roy McMakin received his B.A. and M.F.A. from the University of California, San Diego. His work is included in numerous public and private collections and he has been selected to do commissioned pieces for the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, The J. Paul Getty Museum, the Henry Art Gallery, The Seattle Art Museum, and the University of California San

Francisco.

ROY MCMAKIN - Untitled, 2010
found material, oil paint - 45" x 34-1/2" x 20-1/2"
Photo credit Todd Johnson
Photo courtesy Quint Contemporary Art

John McLaughlin was born in Sharbon, Massachusetts in 1898 and after having worked for the U.S Army Intelligence in Japan, Burma, and China he settled with his wife in 1946 in Dana Point, California. In 1946 McLaughlin was awarded the Visual Arts Award from the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities and in 1963 he received a Tamarind Fellowship. His works belong in many private collections as well as major museum collections such as The Albright-Knox Gallery, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary, Los Angeles, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

QUINT CONTEMPORARY ART

7547 Girard Avenue

La Jolla, CA 92037

www.quintgallery.com

info@quintgallery.com

858.454.3409

GALLERY HOURS: Tue - Sat 10:00 am - 5:30 pm and by appointment

Picked RAW Peeled

Thank you, Dennis Paul Batt

New Horizons in SD Art

SDVAN January Overview

Is La Jolla coming back as a center for the visual arts in San Diego?

Full roster at OMA

Art as a Weapon

Audience Engagement

Converstations on Beauty at the Mingei and Raymond Elstad at SD Dance Place, SAF Blank to Beauty

Extraction: SDAWI - EPISODE TWO - COMING SOON

Daily Art Nag: REQUIRED VIEWING - "The Curse of the Mona Lisa"

Ambush Event

Fabian D'hondt - micro dessins

LONDON 2011 - PART TWO by Patricia Frischer

Picked RAW Peeled - 2011 Art of Photography Show

Daily Art Nag for October 6, 2011: Gerhard Richter

Picked RAW Peeled: University Heights Arts Open

LONDON 2011 - PART ONE

Picked HONNA: Decade and a Day Ago

You Saw Art Where? The Dark

Daily Art Nag: Richard Hamilton RIP

Daily Art Nag: Jonathan Hobin

Lois Stecker Leaves a Huge Hole in Our Lives

Picked RAW: "Decade" - Marilyn Mitchell at the Garage

Picked HONNA: Power of K

Drink, Mate, Art

Picked RAW: Adaptable Sites at the Periscope Project

Picked HONNA: Peace on Earth

Picked Raw Peeled July: La Jolla Fashion Film Festival

Picked HONNA: My Precious

Picked RAW: New Contemporaries IV

One of our own: Jen Trute passes away

Daily ART Nag: Art and culture in San Diego Really?

Picked RAW: Athenaeum 20th Annual Juried Exhibition

A+ Art Blog: Too Brave to Fail

Picked RAW Peeled: Fabric-Free Fashion

RIP: Lucian Freud

"Spiral Jetty" lease, anyone?

Picked HONNA: Nadeshiko Standing Tall, Hope Solo Not Withstanding

Picked HONNA: Chi, chi, chi, Chihuahua!

Picked RAW Peeled: Drawing Expanse

Marianela de la Hoz

Lucid Dreams in Little Italy by John Purlia

Picked RAW Peeled: Allan Morrow - Drawings to Constructions

Picked RIPE: Why soup? A theory unfolds

Picked RAW Peeled: From El Greco to Dali

RIP: Cy Twombly

Picked Honna: Souvenir from Mexico

Out and About in June, 2011

Daily Art Nag: Sushi closes

Sushi goneA local arts group is no more and I, for one, am ready to rant

Picked RIPE: Katherine Sweetman Presentation Videos: Americans for the Arts Public Art Preconference's panel on Media Infrastructure

Picked RIPE: Museum School Art Auction - Tonight!

Engine28

Daily Art Nag for June 15, 2011: Art Must Be Revolution

Daily Art Nag for June 10, 2011: Heath Fox goes to the Broad

Picked RIPE: "Bare It All" at the Bluefoot

Daily Art Nag for June 5, 2011

Daily Art Nag for May 30, 2011

Daily Art Nag for May 29, 2011: Lady Gaga - "Critics are bullies"

A+ Art Blog: Putting Our Tax Dollars to Work

Picked RAW: David Fobes at the Athenaeum La Jolla

Daily Art Nag for May 14, 2011: Sit in Solidarity

Daily Art Nag for May 13, 2011

Picked RAW: "Behind What It's In Front Of" at Quint Contemporary Art

Sushi gone

A local arts group is no more and I, for one, am ready to rant