Best in Show: Meow and Bow WOW at San Diego Art Institute

by Patricia Frischer

Best in Show

Sat. Feb 13, 6-8 Until March 17

San Diego Art Institute
1439 El Prado, SD 92101
More info: Celia Gold 619-236-0011

 A feline and canine themed show would be one that you think would be packed with crazy images and you are not wrong. One of my favorite works was a simple white kitty in a black frame, but when you moved close it was actually the video screen and the cat turned into a tiger. This very simple idea was so effective and I could not stop moving back and forth to make the effect appear and disappear. I can envision a future when we all have video screens in our bathroom showing loops of preferred moving experiences. See Seth Combs selection
Video players on City Beat 
 

The most charming and intimate object in the show was the lovely ceramic sculpture by Irene De Watteville. A cat riding a chicken might make a lovely center piece for a foodie table.

 

Larry Cavenay

 I could find no title of attribution for the following four images...but there were three fictional brochures covers on display along with full illustrated contents.Very clever.   Lack of titles is a simple mistake, but there is no didactic on the walls of this show to explain who the curator was or how the choices were made. 

Brian Leo

Pamela Jaeger

Wick Alexander (mosaic)

Paul Koudounaris, photo Straight Otta Kitten

Paul Koudounaris, photo Kitten Bo Peep

Dan Adams no show about cats and dogs would be complete without the work of Adams.

The Future is Meow: A Cat Fashion Show

Sat Feb 27 6-8 pm

$10

Ship Cats: Adventure! Courage! Betrayal!, a lecture by Dr. Paul Koudounaris

Thurs. Feb. 25, 6-8 pm $5

San Diego Art Institute
1439 El Prado, SD 92101
More info: Celia Gold 619-236-0011

Now you See It: OMA at North Coast Repertory Theater.

 by Patricia Frischer

Now You See It , on view February 24–March 20, 2016 (a farce by the French master George Feydeau) and has a juried show on the theme of the play i.e jealousy bordering on paranoia, a philandering husband, hypnotism, a spurned lover and a scandalous discovery. The reception for this Oceanside Museum of Art’s exhibition is on March 3, 2016, 6:00–7:30pm.at the North Coast Repertory Theater.

 I really applaud that the Oceanside Museum of Art and North Coast Repertory are collaborating to put on displays in the reception area next to the theater. The space is not a proper gallery but there is room for about a dozen works. OMA makes a call for artist to submit works on the theme of the theater plays.  This is hard for artists to do without really seeing the play, but the works are not intended to be illustrations for the play. I found what I was most attracted to in these display was the work that was as theatrical as possible. 

Now You See It was described at "a dizzying escapade fueled by jealousy bordering on paranoia, a philandering husband, hypnotism, a spurned lover and a scandalous discovery. Furiously fast and clever, this visual and verbal treat is guaranteed to tickle your funny bone."  The following works seem to me to make the most reference to some of those attributes. Once I saw the play, I had a completely different feeling about it. It seemed more English than French, had a large element of Victorian theater melodrama and of course the play was written by  the Frenchman Georges Feydeau,(1862 - 1921) but  translation by British playwright Kenneth McLeish (1940 - 1997). It was very well acted by one and all and a farce but with a slight underlying reflection on the way women where seen and treated at that time.  

One thing I noticed in the program was how the individual actors were sponsored by individual donors or donor couples. This would be a very good role model for artist exhibitions as well. Patrons should be introduced to the idea of sponsoring a showing by a favorite artist, giving an additional funding source, especially to non-profit galleries.  

Gregory Brown

Robert Pendleton

Ted Whirledge

No label on this but the signature looks like Kirby

What is the What of What

By Patricia Frischer

My husband had a very interesting conversation with his barber in London many years ago. The barber asked how much of you, do you have to cut off and you are still you. If you are missing a leg, are you still you? If you have a heart transplant are you still you?  The question is, where does the you of you reside in your body?   We are watching David Eagleman’s series about the brain on PBS. It appears that the construct of who we are, resides in the brain. So I guess if the brain remains, I am still me.

These same questions are now being asked in the art world. The Whitney Museum of Art seems to be the only one with a replication committee to decide issues of this kind. If a work can no longer be repaired then, when, how and should it be replicated? Ben Lerner in his article The Custodians in the New Yorker, Jan 11, queries if we should look at older art aesthetically or as an artifact. The first means you want to experience the work as closely to the original view as possible. The later means that the toll time take on an object becomes part of the object’s integrity.  The current solution seems to be to make sure you know the artists wishes, which might mean that the artists needs to be interviewed or leave specific instructions.

I am thinking about this because I now make work from materials that will not last long. I have used cellophane and glue gun glue in the last few years. I simply stopped promoting these works for sale as the longevity is so questionable. The maintenance or repair of these works would be costly, time consuming and inaccurate. But they give me very immediate results.  No delayed gratification for me!.

In the future, these types of works might be scanned and replicated by 3-d printing. I might even be able to control the number of replications and the length of time they are allowed to last. I could put in future technological changes, like making them move or making them edible…or they could even record reactions of viewers to them. Who knows what the future might be for art.  How will this affect the monetary value? Right now that is determined (in simplistic terms) by how many people with how much money want the works. But who knows what exchange credits we might be using in the future. Maybe these works will be money itself.

Daniel Foster: Inside Out at Susan Street Gallery, Solana Beach

by Patricia Frischer

Daniel Foster: Inside Out is the launch of his artist career at Susan Street Fine Art Gallery (200 North Cedros Avenue, Solana Beach, 92075) from Feb 8 -12 by appointment. Foster was the former director of the Oceanside Museum of Art, Riverside Art Museum and Riverside Foundation. Many remember him as the education director at SDAI. His art has been hidden from view until now. In January 1986, upon a visit to Spectrum Gallery in San Diego's Gaslamp District, Foster was deeply inspired by a Walter Wojtyla’s Stalker Dog series prismacolor drawing. He immediately purchased a box of colored pencils and has been making art ever since.  His work will be revealed for the first time at this exhibition and celebrated at a reception: Fri., Feb.12, 5-9 pm and an Artists Talk:  Sat, Feb. 13, 4-6 pm. Open without an appointment on Sat/Sun Feb 13/14 from 12 to 4 pm. BYOF (Bring your own flashlight) More info and RSVP: dbfosterart@gmail.com

 When an artist makes the conscious decision to work without exhibiting, it creates a mystic around the art. Daniel Foster seems little concerned about this action as a ploy to gain attention. He comes across as honest and transparent about the evolution of his creations.

 In this first show, he is exhibiting a mix of old and new work with no chronological organization. Artist, historically, were encouraged to make very clear statements about the intent and direction of their work visually. But in the past ten years, we have seen numerous high level one person exhibitions where, at first glance, it could appear that multiple artists created what was on view.  

These works by Foster are hung salon style (packed onto the wall like a jigsaw puzzle). There are reflective surface op art works along side of abstract shapes next to word art drawings and sand manipulation photographs. One could see lots of influences and much experimentation. Merging the old and the new was confusing, but it seemed like an appropriate out of the box tactic to make us try to see anew. Foster is a left brain leader but a definite right brain non-linear artist. I left feeling that I had experienced a teaser of things to come out of the storage locker, past, present and future. 

 

What follows is from a press release issue in January, 2016.

Daniel Foster dramatically and unexpectedly became a full-time devoted life-long artist in his late 20's after experiencing an artistic and creative "epiphany" in early February, 1986. The unleashing of Foster's creative spirit completely dissolved his academic and professional aspirations to be an entrepreneur/inventor, and led him over the next 18 years to a simple life of daily artmaking, poetry, and philosophy. 

For the past 30 years, db Foster has extensively pursued his artistic talents in nearly complete and pure isolation -- intentionally abstaining from all professional exhibition and sales opportunities. 

In 2016, Foster is finally "emerging" and engaging the contemporary art world with a series of public exhibitions, installations, programs, and philosophic treatises that will reveal his extensive and diverse artistic investigations and approaches in painting, installation, photography, poetry, public/site-specific art, and conceptual art.

Before becoming an artist, Foster credits his degree in Entrepreneurship from the University of Southern California and his extensive academic studies in Philosophy from UC San Diego in the mid-70s as very influential precursors that became the foundation for his life in the arts. Foster received a Master’s of Fine Arts degree with honors from the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) in 1995 – the only graduate student to receive two department degrees (in New Genres and Sculpture/Painting). From 1988-89, Foster also studied full-time in the Visual Arts Department at the University of California, San Diego with strong influences by Allan Kaprow, Italo Scanga, and Ernest Silva.
 
Living in San Diego/La Jolla from 1986 to 2003, Foster devoted himself to a full-time ascetic life of artmaking – with some part-time arts professional experience at the San Diego Art Institute and UC San Diego University Art Gallery. Life changed dramatically in 2003 when Foster moved to Riverside, California to become the Executive Director of the Riverside Art Museum for over 5 years, and subsequently the President/CEO of The Community Foundation Serving Riverside/San Bernardino Counties for 4 years. Foster’s professional arts and philanthropic leadership career enjoyed tremendous accomplishments and arts community-building successes in the Inland Empire – before returning to San Diego in 2012 as the Executive Director of the Oceanside Museum of Art (OMA) for nearly 3 years.

Known for his visionary leadership style and collaborative community-building skills, Foster has created and launched numerous important organizations and initiatives, such as: North County Arts Network (arts council for North County San Diego), Arts Connection (arts council for San Bernardino County), Riverside Cultural Consortium, Oceanside Cultural Consortium, Inland Empire Arts Forum, Inland Empire Funder’s Alliance, and the Artist-in-Residence Program at Joshua Tree National Park. Additionally, Foster was a weekly Arts Columnist for the Press-Enterprise daily newspaper for five years. 

Foster regards these community leadership endeavors and initiatives to be a form of “social art practice” that complements and adds to his range of diverse creative art practices over the past 30 years. Foster left OMA in June, 2015 to dedicate time and priority towards launching and establishing his professional artist career on a local and national/ international scale, in addition to pursuits in community building and healing through the arts and collective impact. 

Although exposed to and appreciative of the arts through his childhood growing up in Woodland Hills, California (suburb of Los Angeles), Foster showed no interest, talent, or inclination for making art or pursuing a professional path in the arts. Upon leaving the USC Marshall School of Business/Entrepreneur Program in 1981, Foster eventually relocated to San Diego in late 1984 and pursued inventing and starting small businesses. 

Then, in January 1986, upon a visit to Spectrum Gallery in San Diego's Gaslamp District, Foster was deeply inspired by a Walter Wojtyla Stalker Dog Series prismacolor drawing. He immediately went to the Fine Arts Store on India Street and purchased a box of Berol prismacolor pencils (colored pencils). After making a small self-portrait sketch drawing, Foster felt motivated to attempt a larger and more refined drawing/painting on a 40"x32" sheet of Strathmore 4-ply paper. In one day, Foster obsessively initiated and completed a surrealist style Self Portrait drawing---and experienced a profound sense of his inner "creative spirit and person". On that day, db Foster, the artist was born. 

Lacking technical confidence in his art making skill sets, and desiring an absolute artistic journey of self-discovery without external influences or pressures,  Foster philosophically and strategically redesigned his life. At the core of his guiding principle: Shut out all of the voices and noise of the external world, and listen deeply for your inner “creative voice” and follow it. 

Foster developed his art practice quietly and patiently through a deliberate process of isolated art making. He never anticipated that his artistic journey and substantial body of work would remain sequestered in storage for 30 years. 

Yet, Foster states wholeheartedly, “Patience is a virtue with my art making process. I’ve waited many years for the right time and place of my life to share my art. Making art is the most satisfying and important work that I’ve pursued and produced in my adult life. And yet, strangely, everyone that I know…knows very little or nothing about it. I’m excited to open up and share my inner artistic journey with everyone this year.” 

Currently, Foster lives in Oceanside, California raising his 5-year old son, Kenneth. He can be reached at dbfosterart@gmail.com or visit the artist's new website at www. dbfosterart. org.
 

Culture Report: The Secret Life of Daniel Foster Voice of San Diego by Kinsee Morlan

Art of the Open Air at SD Musuem of Art

By Patricia Frischer

Art of the Open Air:San Diego Museum of Art Plaza de Panama  
February 11, 2016 through February 13, 2018

"They paved paradise and put up a parking lot" are lyrics from Joni Mitchell Big Yellow Taxi. What we have here is a parking lot that got paved over to make an open air art gallery. 

Don't expect to do a drive by and see gigantic sculptures in the middle of the new umbrellas and seats in the plaza in front of the SD Museum of Art. These works, which have been rescued from storage, are very close to the front of the museum. Todd Gloria, city council member for District 3 in the City of San Diego made a special speech at the launch of this exhibition pointing out that no matter how lovely and artful the walls of the museum were, that having the art on the outside made it accessible to the public. Dana Springs was keen to remind us that this new plaza and the outside spaces of Balboa Park can be enlivened by new project of all kinds.

 

The San Diego Museum of Art  has now opened Art of the Open Air, a free exhibition located in Balboa Park’s Plaza de Panama featuring seven modern works from the Museum’s  sculpture collection. . In October, The San Diego Museum of Art in partnership with the City of SD  launched a crowd-sourced fundraising campaign, #FreeTheArt, to help raise funds for the exhibition. The art needed to be freed from storage as it was not often on view.  .Buzz Kinnaird (Board of Trustees member) and his wife, Helen gave a lead grant of $20,000 and   #FreeTheArt raised $8000 of the $20,000 they were hoping but the Museum did raise 17% of its goal in a short time. The city did not contribute anything to the project from public funds. Money raised is funding conservation, installation, security and lighting for the sculptures
Anita Feldman joined the Museum as Director of Curatorial Affairs in May 2014 and is the curator for this display. This public art project is open to all, free of charge and includes  Auguste Rodin’s The Prodigal Son, Joan Miró’s Solar Bird, Lynn Chadwick’s The Watchers, Luis Jiménez's Border Crossing, Francisco Zuniga's Mother and Daughter seated, Jack Zajac's Big Open Scull and Tony Rosenthal’s Odyssey III.  The sculptures featured in the Plaza de Panama are in addition to the significant sculptures in the May S. Marcy Sculpture Garden and Panama 66 restaurant, both located adjacent to the Museum. A work by Alexander Calder will also be joining the Sculpture Garden, alongside the 19th- and 20th-century modern and contemporary sculptures by Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, George Rickey, Louise Nevelson, David Smith, Alexander Liberman and Saul Baiszerman in total, fifteen sculptures.

I tried to take some photos that shows the incredable trees in bloom right now. 

Todd Gloria, Roxana Velásquez, Dana Springs posing for the photographers

Joan Miró’s Solar Bird, and Tony Rosenthal’s Odyssey III.

Jack Zajac's Big Open Scull and Tony Rosenthal’s Odyssey III.

Auguste Rodin’s The Prodigal Son

Auguste Rodin’s The Prodigal Son

 Lynn Chadwick’s The Watchers

 Luis Jiménez's Border Crossing, 

 Francisco Zuniga's Mother and Daughter seated.

“Art of the Open Air is a collaborative project designed to make art more accessible to our community and visitors while turning the spacious Plaza de Panama into a source of creative inspiration,” said Anita Feldman,  “These sculptures are some of the most significant works from the Museum’s sculpture collection, many of which have not been viewed by the public in years. We’re thrilled to bring them back on display, where they belong, and hope visitors will enjoy a new experience with every visit to the Plaza.” 

Roxana Velásquez, Maruja Baldwin Executive Director says,. “Making art more accessible for our community has been an important, ongoing objective of The San Diego Museum of Art, and we hope to continue working on more public art projects like Art of the Open Air in the future.”

Tara Donovan: Slinkys at Quint Gallery

By Patricia Frischer

Tara Donovan: Slinkys opening on Sat. Feb 6, 6-8 pmat Quint Gallery ( 7547 Girard Avenue, La Jolla 92037) More info: Nina Makosch  858-454-3409

 Run don't walk to see this show in person. You don't want to miss it. Photos can not do it justice. You have to walk into the gallery and see this sparkling tower of curved delight. Tara does not disappoint.

A very close up view to show the tiny connections that hold this work together.

This photo shows a close up of the slinkys minus their collars and laid flat which is the work at the entrance of the exhibition above.

close up

Shadows on the floor and walls enhance the work

Aren Skalman in demand

by Patricia Frischer

This seems to be Aren Skalman's winter. He is conducting workshops at Horton Plaza for SDAI. He has a display at the Athenaeum and he has been selected as an emerging artists for the 2016 SD Art Prize and will be included in a group show at City College Gallery in June.

Aren Skalman: Singing Machines at Joseph Clay Gallery at the Athenaeum
January 9-February 13, 2016

"Much of the work is interactive, so I invite you to approach it, manipulate it, move and spin elements (so long as the wiring is not abused), in order to investigate the workings, and the relationships between sound, substance, and image." Aren Skalman

We loved the way the circle on the left was hung off the side of the wall so that the piercing changed color and you moved.

These circle constructions all can be turned manually and they make different sounds. You can almost imagine that a group of friends could play a melody.

As you come close the motor comes on and the center disk moves and created sounds that are regulated by your body movements.

Coolest ever guitar coffee table.

Margaret Noble: Incorporeal Things to Control in the Rotunda Gallery was a bonus show of  work by Margaret Noble a previous nominated emerging artist for 2014 New Contemporaries VII. It was not possible to take adequate images from this show  but imagine a room full of bullet that protrude from of the walls as if shot from the inside out and a central collection of small bells suspended from the center of the room like a chandelier. .

The San Diego Art Institute (SDAI) presented Aren Skalman’s Open Studio and Workshops at our Horton Plaza Project Space. In preparation for SDAI curator-in-residence Amanda Cachia’s exhibition, “Sweet Gongs Vibrating,” SDAI  opened the Horton Plaza Project Space to artist Aren Skalman to use as an open studio/laboratory and weekly workshop space. These experimental workshops encourage artists and non-artists; members of the Blind Community Center of San Diego; and mall window shoppers to create multi-media, multisensory artworks. These works will evoke the myriad experiences of navigating Horton Plaza through the combined use of aural, tactile, and visual forms. Work created over the course of these sessions will be exhibited in “Sweet Gongs Vibrating,” which opens Saturday, March 26. To register for any or all of the workshops, please email cgold@sandiego-art.org with your name and whether or not you would like information regarding sighted guides.