A+ Art Blog: Is La Jolla coming back as a center for the visual arts in San Diego?

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

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

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.

A+ Art Blog: Audience Engagement

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

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.

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Extraction: SDAWI - EPISODE TWO - COMING SOON

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"

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

Ambush Event

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

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

A+ Art Blog: LONDON 2011 - PART TWO by Patricia Frischer

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

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

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

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.

LONDON 2011 - PART ONE

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.