The Russell Lecture: Elliott Hundley - Too much?

 by Patricia Frischer

Elliott Hundley: details of pinned collage

An artist that makes a mini diorama and takes a photo of it and destroys the diorama before the photos were developed. An artist who created a huge collage, but decided the detritus he created making the work was more interesting than the art. Elliott Hundley constantly wants to exceed what he thinks is his limited mind. During his Russell Lecture at MCASD, you could tell he took the greatest pleasure in encouraging questions. He likes to be interrupted. He appeared almost bored with showing his work and purposely did not prepare a structured talk.

We did learn that he started with abstract painting. He knew there was meaning that no one saw, so he switched to narrative works.  And when painting became too laborious, he took pictures. He cast friends and family as the players.  He is an artist who does not think he has his own rich ideas so uses historic art, myths and theater which he then re-imagines. He is making copies as a way to understand those concepts which are many and varied. So, in the work, many views are revealed.  There is every path contained and every path is explored. 

The artist's mother in costume.

Gluing the photos at one point seems too hard of a decision. That is when pinning was started. He believes the pin was in control instead of him. Hundley then uses a back ground foam. This meant he could add objects and those became inclusive…magnifying glasses to draw attention to certain areas of these vast composition, strings of curtains. In some works, he is carving back into the foam. Eventually the works came off the wall entirely. The installations are more like performances.  There never seems to be enough as he fills every space.

A skeleton chandelier.

Hundley did save everything to begin with, dumpster diving, shopping, even the scrapes from cutting out images. Lately, his space is so filled, he no longer has to accumulate. In fact, as he has become known, people bring him truckloads of things to incorporate.

There are violent works, many of them about anxiety that he puts in separate categories; social, theological, bodily, information, environmental. Hundley is actually building his own world view, but in an uncontrolled way. It just unfolds and we see brilliance. He calls this sublime but reminds us “when a man brushes against the sublime, he is destroyed. “

Elliot Hundley started his talk by saying it was always “too much”. For me, sublime and anxious makes for fascinating. 

Installations sometimes include works directly on the wall
as Hundley believes this helps to under mind the other works.  

  

Russel Lecture at MCASD

 

Elliott Hundley in "Secrets" - Season 7 - "Art in the Twenty-First Century" | Art21

Elliott Hundley (b. 1975 Greensboro, North Carolina) received his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence in 1997 and an MFA from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2005. He has shown at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2006). The Broad, Los Angeles (2018–2019); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2016; 2017–2018); Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2015); Regen Projects (2021) to name a few. He received a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Guggenheim Fellowship in 2019 and is in museum collections countywide.

Korean Artistry Inside & Outside SDMA

By Lonnie Burstein Hewitt. Photos by Maurice Hewitt.

 INSIDE: Sacred Mt. Baekdu by artist Lee Sookja

February 3 was, for a change, a sunny Saturday in San Diego and a great time to be in Balboa Park. We were there to see Korea in Color: A Legacy of Auspicious Images, a truly auspicious exhibition at San Diego Museum of Art which that day had an outdoor component: an array of Korean performers and artists in a special event titled On the Steps.

Outside : K-Pop Dancers from NK Dance Studio in LA

In the Study: Pictorial Ideographs. A panorama of slow-moving images that gradually change as you watch.

Three static views of one ideograph’s changes. (This and the 2 images below)

Women in traditional clothing welcomed visitors to artists’ tents adjoining the performance area.

Award-winning San Diego-based artist Saegil with some of her work

On the Steps was a one-time-only event, but Korea in Color will be at SDMA through March 3, and it’s something no art-lover would want to miss. https://www.sdmart.org
 
While we were there, we strolled over to the museum’s new partner, the Museum of Photographic Arts, which is now MOPA@SDMA. We always enjoy the annual Juried Youth Exhibition, which features students from SD and TJ in grades K-12. One of our favorites was the work of a 9-year-old photographer from Sequoia Elementary in Clairemont, but there’s lots more to admire, and the show runs through April 21.

Sea Level, by Ni'yema Alexander, age 9.

In the main gallery, we were thrilled to discover James Balog: Photographs from the Anthropocene, a display of imaginative images of humans and nature by someone whose name was new to us. You have until March 10 to see for yourself.   https://mopa.org
 

The Old Man and the Ape, by James Balog.

 A wall of relaxing nature photographs by James Balog.

 Here’s wishing you many eye-and-mind-opening encounters in the months to come!
 
 
Lonnie Burstein Hewitt is an award-winning author/lyricist/playwright who has been writing about arts and lifestyles in San Diego County for over a dozen years. You can reach her at hew2@sbcglobal.net

Superflex: Beyond the End of the World and Artists in Conversation at ICA San Diego / North

 by Patricia Frischer

Superflex, Power Toilet Death Masks, 2024 unfired clay

As part of ICA San Diego’s 2024 Interface season, Superflex: Beyond the End of the World presents a video and exhibition installation along with a panel discussion. It was unusual for me to see the panel first and then the exhibition, but that panel colored my view of the art work on display. It was moderated by Dr. Jordan Karney Chaim, Curator of ICA San Diego with three participants.

Here is my summary:

Jakob Fenger for Superflex – In their installation and film at the ICA, Beyond the End of the World, Superflex use some humor (clay rolls of toilet paper, urinals as death mask) and metaphor to describe a future world no longer inhabited by human.    One of their big themes is recognizing that non-human species on earth are just as important as the human species. That perhaps we need to allow things (including humans) to disappear. No one wants to change. But our current society finds it is easier to imagine the end of the world, than the end of capitalism. Fenger knows that Art can’t solve all the problems. But he appreciates that art allows necessary mistakes, and we learn from those.  

Teddy Cruz, architect and art activist, has been working within the UCSD university, trying to get out of the neutrality of research and becoming an advocate. He believes we should not just be gathering information from communities of need, but constructing partnership and collaboration with those communities. There is an opportunity to leveraging the economic power of the university to aid in affordable housing.  Art can’t just be symbolic. It should not just be a reminder of the problem, but it should transcend the problem. Those communities need to own their own spaces.  Art should be able to speak to the people and should be able to cut through data-speak.

But If we continue to think taxes are evil, that politicians can only be bad, that the American dream of urban spawl and growth on steroid is a right and imminent domain is wrong, then things will never change. There should not be a war between the public and the private. We need to embrace the collective well-being. We all want to live in a world that is safe, with co-existence and empathy and interdependence. He asked, “What is the political economy that is needed?” 

Adam Aron, environmental artist, believes that climate change is a crisis and it is large institution that are guilty of abusing it. Elected officials say the right thing, but don’t do anything. The solution is a large public mobilization to demand changes need to save our environment. This means civic and volunteer engagement. But how do you mobilize in the most effective way? He says we need research so we are able to make change. The change has to happen under capitalism because it is too late to change that, but our priorities of individual ownership have to change. We need to share tools, cars, work spaces to cut down on amounts of things. We need artist to help us imagine a positive version of the future world.

 

As part of ICA San Diego’s 2024 Interface season, Beyond the End of the World is on view until June 2 with a video in the Education Pavilion and until July 28 in the Artists Pavilion
ICA San Diego/ North, (1550 S El Camino Real, Encinitas, CA 92024)

Interface is the collective title for the 2024-2025 exhibition season and it invites the audiences to consider how art can expand the relationship between humans and science.  The Interface season will consist of six exhibitions spread over ICA’s two campuses in Balboa Park and Encinitas with free monthly public C You Saturdays events with artist talks, exhibition tours, food and music.

The Winter/Spring exhibitions includes Turkishborn San Diego based Dr. Pinar Yoldas at ICA Central
 
The Summer/Fall exhibitions in the north includes solo exhibitions by Rafael LozanoHemmer, Nathalie Miebach, Manuel Alejandro RodríguezDelgado, and Melissa Walter.
In Balboa Park, the ICA Central mezzanine displays Rafael LozanoHemmer’s interactive installation, Remote Pulse (2019) and  Nathalie Miebach will occupy the main gallery space. 

 

SDVAN Summary: Americans for the Arts Federal Appropriation Bills - Funding Earmarks for Arts and Culture

 by Patricia Frischer

This American for the Arts webinar invited Harper Downing (Bill Harper and Roberta Downing) lobbyist for specializing in federal policy and congressional appropriations to share their insights. We heard from Randell Reid Smith about his $21/4 million grant for archival facilities at the West Virgina Department of Arts Culture and History, as well as Robert Chelimsky’s $4 grant for a new Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis. This is a brief summary of the hour discussion.

Earmarks are money specifically allocated within a bill and are called Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) in the Senate and Community Project Funding (CPF).This year's earmarks are only allowed in the Senate as Arts and Culture earmarks have been banned by Republicans in House.  This has happened before when all earmark were banned in 2011 but they were brought back in 2021 for non-profits. Although your contact will be with your federal senators, it is also good to have your local House representative know and recommend your project. You need letters of support from a wide range of supporter at the highest level possible.

Local Senators control this process at the start and you can begin by going to Senators’ portals to research their appropriation applications. But it is worth a call first to see if they have any appropriation funds and if so, to make an appointment with the staff.

Use the staff to find out what projects will have preferences and to make sure you know their deadlines for 2025.  If Senator accepts your application, it still needs to be accepted by Appropriation committee. That still needs to be approved in the budget.  This is a long process and although you might not get funding your first year, creating the relationship is the most important thing you can do to help.

There are only 5 of the 12 appropriation subcommittees that are eligible in the arts: Agriculture, Financial Services, Interior Development, Labor, Health, Human Services Education and Transportation Housing Urban Development.

Completion in the fiscal year of your application is not required. Funding might not come after acceptance for even 6 months. For example, 2023 funding is still pending, the deadline for 2024 is over and 2025 deadlines are coming up in March. The Federal year runs Oct 1 of one year to Sept 30 of the next year. It is important not to spend the money until you get funding.

If you succeed, you will work with the federal agency and you may need your Senator for local help. Each federal agency is different and each state has different rules as well so you have to make sure you have correct information on the local level. The good news is that they like to give this money away and even though it is highly competitive, once selected everyone will work hard to support you. 

The following resource page and contact details will be helpful for those wanting to pursue these funds:

 

Art Unites Community Conversation: AI Art and the Future of AI

 by Blanca Lucia Bergman

On January 12, 2024, I hosted AI Art Refana, an online exhibition featuring outstanding representatives from San Diego’s AI Art community. To supplement the exhibition and promote critical thinking, the art of conversation, and leadership development, I hosted Art Unites Community Conversation: AI Art and the Future of AI.

“This was one of the few “sketches” I did with the Unstable Diffusion platform, which, for the most part, largely produces over-sexualized images of women. I had to manipulate the prompt with modifiers such as “man,” “male,” “masculine,” and eventually had a sketch which resembled men struggling on all fours. It ultimately became the painting, Side Effects by Adrian Huth / #ArtUnitesFeatured

Part 1 of the conversation took place via Zoom on January 19. We had a diverse group of friends: artists, philosophers, entrepreneurs, youth, and one interior designer. To my surprise, the youth in our group expressed higher resistance to using AI tools for art and other purposes than the adults. Their insightful comments included, “My school discourages the use of AI for homework assignments” and “AI generated art is inauthentic.” The popular perspective was that AI is a useful “tool” for starting the art creation process, simplifying tasks (such as sketching), drawing inspiration, and testing visual ideas.

 

Children of The White Sun by Paul B. Drohan, Partner and Executive Director of Creative at Folklore Digital (www.folklore.digital). Created with AI tool, Midjourney. This image presents the hope children have of a path to paradise. / #ArtUnitesFeatured

Part 2 of the conversation took place at Lestat’s On Park cafe one week later. This is where things got exceptionally interesting! Before we began, I stated the conversation purpose, goals, and guidelines, including the goal “listen to understand” (a valuable leadership skill). We debated the timeless question, “What is art?” as well as: AI generation transparency, AI’s impact on creative careers, conceptual art, art disciplines, fact versus opinion, art valuation (from personal and cultural perspectives), and the meaning of learning, randomness, and free will. Not your usual Friday night topics! All comments shared were intriguing and thought-provoking. Two were prominent in my mind: 1) it is crucial to notify art patrons about an artist’s use of AI as it may influence their purchase decision and 2) AI will inevitably reduce the number of creative positions available (e.g., entry-level graphic design positions). I found myself raising my timeout robot twice during our conversation. The cute, seven inch metal robot proved to be an excellent laughter-inducing device.

I supported the beautiful and complicated web of topics we spontaneously created, because I recognize the power of uninterrupted speech and attentive listening. We eventually returned to the agenda and one friend voiced the opinion that AI can be an artist, based on his inclusive definition of art. Collectively, we made two adjacent lists of AI dual-use applications. Under the “Beneficial Purposes” list, we came up with seven points, including: anyone can create with AI, AI generated art can be inspirational, and some services are starting to pay original artists. The “Harmful Purposes” list was shorter and it contained broader concerns about AI, such as: convincing fake news, AI scams, and Autonomous Weapons Systems (AWS).

What did we learn from our conversation? We learned that “it’s the wild wild west with AI right now,” listening to understand is a challenging yet powerful skill, and conversations like ours can inspire new endeavors, such as the pursuit of facilitation mastery and the public display of works that are, in a friend’s words, “intended to not be art” (in part, to stimulate dialogue about the meaning of art). I look forward to this non art exhibition!

I would like to thank Michele Marlo, Lauren Patch, Kazmier Maślanka, and Jess Bergman, for being the stars of this Art Unites Community Conversation and encouraging its extension by one hour!

Pictured (bottom row): Michele Marlo, Kazmier Maślanka, Lauren Patch.
Pictured (top right): Jess Bergman, Blanca Lucia Bergman.
Pictured (largest image): Wrap Your Head Around It from the series Idioms. A Celebration of Language and Artificial Intelligence by artist Johno Wells. Created with AI tool, Midjourney. / #ArtUnitesFeatured

Blanca Lucia Bergman, MBA, is a business consultant, public speaker, and entrepreneur with a diverse background in the arts, cognitive science, technology, and biotechnology. Her brands include Art Unites, Mental Wellness for Artists, and Cycad Gallery. For further details about Art Unites Community Conversation: AI Art and the Future of AI, please email Blanca at artunitescommunity@gmail.com

Seen and Unseen at Oceanside Museum of Art

by Patricia Frischer

Dennis Carrie (1st place)

2023-24 Artist Alliance Biennial – until March 31, 2024

This first that comes to mind when I view this show is, “you have come a long way, baby!” From a one room building when I arrived 23 years ago,  the Oceanside Museum of Art has greatly expanded their footprint. The Artist Alliance when I was first a member, was showing art in an alleyway. Now the quality and quantity of work on display is truly impressive. There are just too many names for me to mention, that I have watched develop and improve,  and so many others that I am discovering which excites me.  

Jonathon Glus, Executive Director for the Arts & Culture, San Diego has to choose from 1,149 submissions by 303 artists to select works of 75 artworks from 62 of OMA’s Artist Alliance members. Whew! Marshall Toomey was the grand prize winner who get his own one man exhibition later in 2024 or 2025. There are also other cash prize winners and honorable mentions, but the joy of this kind of show is picking your own favorites. Go and see!

Lani Emanuel

top: Matthew Meinhardt bottom: Sue DeWulf

Sandra Chanis

Robin Raznick

Robin Raznick (detail)

 

Listening to the Unheard/Drawing the Unseen. Meditations on Presence and Absence in Native Lands Drawings by John Halaka, curated by Vallo Riberto – until Feb 17^th, 2024

Until the lions have their storytellers, tales of the hunt will always glorify the hunters.   African Proverb

When circumstances are made real by another’s testimony, it becomes possible to envision change.  James Balwin.

The art and literature of suvivance* are the antidotes to forgetting.  They ensure that experiences are preserved and current and future generations are well informed. John Halaka

*A combination of survival and resistance.

I often think of artists as predictors. They can draw from their unconscious mind and tap into what may be in our futures. We have lots of evidence of this happening especially in books and movies. 

But artists are also documenters of past and present occurrences. History shows that we need many points of views to make that documentation valuable. But the artist brings a special emotional component to the recording. It is non-verbal and so much more open to interpretation when analyzed. But what about when is it not analyzed and it is just felt. It is then that the viewer can be struck potently with feeling they may not even have known they have. I believe John Halaka is trying to make us feel. Those feelings can be confusing, guilt ridden, outraged, tormented, anxious. They can be conflicting and even controversial. For me, acknowledging those feelings can be as important as acknowledging wrongs. 

Halaka’s subjects are Indigenous and Black Americans as well as his own Palestinian ancestral heritage.  The show has been expertly curated by Vallo Riberto who selected and displayed the works to read very clearly. The artist’s voice is stated in many dialectics on the wall, but it is the calm presentation of Riberto that make them accessible. 

It is to be noted that the show was planned before the recent middle eastern troubles and I believe is not intended by OMA as a statement in support of any particular side in the conflict. John Halaka is a San Diego artist and professor at UCSD and the mission of OMA is to explore the art of southern Californian artists.