Author Archives: cwongyap

Community, News

Through April 16: IMPRESSIONS: From the CCA(C) Print Shop

Thanks to AR for pointing this out to me: An old woodcut print of mine, originally exhibited in my BFA senior show in 1998 at the California College of the Arts, is in a current exhibition in Oakland, CA.

Curated by CCA(C) printmaking instructors Tim Sharman and Jack Y. Ford, I’d wager that the exhibition includes lots of oldies-but-goodies, with etchings, lithographs (from actual limestones!), woodcuts and letterpress prints on view.

I haven’t made prints in a while, but I’ve hung two etchings in my kitchen here in NY. They were acquired in one of the department’s end-of-semester print exchanges.

March 4 – April 16
IMPRESSIONS: From the CCA(C) Print Shop
Studio Quercus
385 26th Street, b/Broadway & Telegraph, downtown Oakland, CA

THE FAMOUS, NOT-SO-FAMOUS AND THE TOTALLY UNKNOWN
Curated by Tim Sharman and Jack Ford

An exhibition of prints spanning 60 years of printmaking from the print shop at the California College of the Arts—formerly known as the California College of Arts and Crafts. Examples of lithography, intaglio, relief and screen printing will be on display. Over the years, the CCA(C) print shop has seen many students and teachers using the presses to create images to remember. This survey is a celebration of that long history of creativity.

Curated by CCA(C) alumni and instructor Tim Sharman and CCA(C) alumni and professor Jack Ford, this exhibition honors the traditional craft of printmaking.

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Community

New online art journals

I’m cheered by these two new art journals. In addition to providing a platform for emerging critics, these outlets have the potential to cover under-publicized exhibitions and offer fresh perspectives.

On-Verge is CUE Art Foundation’s website for “Alternative Art Journalism.”

Temporary Art Review was co-founded by Sarrita Hunn (CCA MFA 2004) and James McAnally. It’s “a platform for contemporary art criticism that focuses on alternative spaces and critical exchange among disparate art communities.” Founded in the Midwest, there are already reports from Houston, Saint Louis, San Francisco, New Mexico, and Portland.

I would encourage any artist interested in writing criticism to develop submissions for these journals, or get in touch with Art Practical about writing a 250-word Shotgun Review.

Writing about art affords artists:
• more opportunities to look at art, whether it’s merely the extra motivation created by deadlines, or invitations to press previews;
• the experience of thinking more deeply about media, forms, messages, and presentations;
• new perspectives on art shows—that is, critical distance to others’ art as well as your own;
• a critic’s perspective on the art world, at least in terms of how galleries receive writers into their spaces or contact them in their publicity efforts;
• experience honing the craft of writing, if you’re lucky enough to work with great editors.

In grad school, I expressed fear of taking the leap into criticism—who am I to judge?—when MP advised me that I already know everything I need to know in order to write about art. I think she was saying that you don’t need permission to write about art—you just need the skills of perception, and the ability to turn those observations into thoughts and sentences. Of course having an understanding of media, materials, artists and spaces helps, but for those artists who are at all interested in criticism, I’d say: take the leap.

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Art & Development

Art Competition Odds: Skowhegen

Skowhegen received over 2,000 applications this year for 65 admissions.

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or 1:30, or 3.25%

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I would love to see audits of art competitions and the recipients they select. It would be useful to compare recipients’ professional levels, primary media, press coverage, and the likelihood of their social circles overlapping with the host organizations’. I’d love to know how many recipients are local, regional, national or international; how many hold MFAs; how many are women or people of color, and their median ages. It would be fantastic to compare different competitions, or seek out trends at organizations over time. This would necessitate a certain amount of subjectivity (How do you identify an emerging artist? What about artists who are no longer emerging but not yet mid-career?), and as such, total transparency about the criteria in action. Of course collecting this data would be very challenging. The Alliance of Art Communities already collects demographic data, but not nearly to the extent or at the rate of publication I’d like to see.

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Research

barely veiled aggression

R used to joke about the hyper-aggressive language that businessmen would appropriate for talking about business deals. Artists, however, are not innocent of similarly hollow combativeness:

Working for a contemporary art magazine, I get sent a vast amount of press material each day, almost all of which employs a strikingly similar tone of voice. Most common is the one of academic solemnity infused with a barely veiled aggression, as though art were engaged in some cultural ‘war on terror’. Words such as ‘forcing’, ‘interrogating’ or ‘subverting’ occur with incredible frequency. Boundaries are ‘broken down’ and ‘preconceptions challenged’ so often as to make subversion and radicality seem like a mandatory daily chore rather than a blow to the status quo. They perpetuate old-fashioned notions, such as that of the artist visionary liberating the masses from mental enslavement by bourgeois values. Overuse has made these words sound strangely toothless, for what’s at stake in the art is often less important (but not necessarily without value) than the language suggests.

—Dan Fox, “A Serious Business: What Does it Mean to be a Professional Artist?” Frieze Magazine, Issue 121, March 2009
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News

3/31: The Black Portrait opens at Rush Arts Gallery

I’m producing a new kinetic installation for this group exhibition….
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March 31 – May 21, 2011
The Black Portrait
Opening: Thursday, March 31 · 6-8pm

The word black has several meanings in our society. It may reference individuals or groups with dark skin; a complete absence of light; the opposite of white; or the embodiment of a negative or pessimistic disposition. A portrait is understood to represent a person or thing, usually in the form of a drawing, painting, photograph, engraving, or text.

When these terms are linked, a sense of alchemical potency is suggested. This exhibition brings together paintings, photographs, videos, collage and sculpture by ten artists contending with what it means to make a black portrait. It aims to use this linkage to expand dialogue about identity, difference, and belonging in contemporary culture.

Artists:
Kajahl Benes
Delphine Diallo
Duron Jackson
Coby Kennedy
Toyin Odutola
Kambui Olujimi
Shane Aslan Selzer
Keisha Scarville
Felandus Thames
Christine Wong Yap

Curated by Hank Willis Thomas and Natasha Logan.

Rush Arts Gallery
526 W. 26th Street, Suite 311 (between 10th and 11th), New York, NY

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Sights

Agenda: Lordy Rodriguez @ Hosfelt, Art in General

I’m looking forward to two openings for old and new friends this week.

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March 25 – April 30, 2011
Lordy Rodriguez: The Map Is Not the Territory
Reception: Thursday March 24, 4-6pm
Hosfelt Gallery, 531 W 36th Street (b/10 & 11th), New York, NY 10018
A · C · E · 1 · 2 · 3 · 7 · 9

In “The Map Is Not the Territory,” Filipino-American artist Lordy Rodriguez presents three bodies of new work, comprised of more than 400 drawings. This, his fourth exhibition with Hosfelt Gallery and his first one-person show in Hosfelt Gallery’s New York space, is the most ambitious exhibition of his career.

I know Lordy from the San Francisco art scene. He’s hilarious and giving, and his drawings are wonderfully colorful and beautifully executed. His shows are often dense with pattern and sheer production. Have a look.

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March 25 – May 7, 2011
Emily Roysdon: Positions
Ioana Nemes: Times Colliding
Marie Jager: l’heure bleue
STUDIO SM
Opening: March 25, 6-8pm
Art in General, 79 Walker Street (just off Canal @ Broadway), New York, NY 10013
A · C · E · N · R · Q · J · Z · 1 · 6

I’ve been helping out with these shows the past few weeks, and I’m really impressed with Art in General and the artists’ forthcoming exhibitions. First, Art in General is dedicated to exhibiting and commissioning new work, so they’re a non-profit alternative art space that functions much like an ICA. And as I’ve been seeing the galleries come together, the shows look really interesting and clean and thought-provoking. The first-floor project space will house publications and more by a Swedish design team that collaborates with Roysdon and other artists. In the elevator will be a audio-visual project about birdsong and silence. The sixth floor galleries will feature solo exhibitions by Emily Roysdon (who recently exhibited at the Berkeley Art Museum’s MATRIX Program, and was interviewed by Patricia Maloney for Bad at Sports), and Ioanna Nemes, whose works feature diaristic, psychological snapshots that I’m really interested in. I’m completely onboard with the fantastic curatorial work of Andrea Hickey and Courtenay Finn.

Please come by and see for yourself.

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Art & Development

Why I do art technician work

On occasion, I work as an art technician. The job involves handling, installing, and sometimes fabricating artwork, and all the physical aspects of transitioning galleries between exhibitions.

The work is not for the faint-hearted (think: carrying lumber and sheet goods up stairs) or status-minded (the art world can be very classist), but I find it rewarding and educational. Technician work requires multiple abilities: skills of facture, art materials knowledge, problem-solving, and communicating with artists. Art schools don’t teach how to build crates, pack artwork, make pedestals, light galleries and so on. You also need to be able to switch gears: to throw it into high gear when it’s time to jam, and slow down for details and delicate work. It is wonderful work when you can manage this as well as maintain a good attitude and a sense of camaraderie with your team.

I’ve been helping out with exhibitions at Art in General, a non-profit alternative art space dedicated to producing and presenting new work. Their mission reflects the ethos of the art world I’d like to participate in.

I’m proud of the work I’ve done there—this week involved framing things on odd angles, sheetrock, 15 pedestals, 72 linear feet of guttered shelves. Ticking off what seemed to be an impossible checklist is very satisfying. As are the moments when a tool becomes an extension of your consciousness. While I love doing graphic design work, it can mean sitting at a screen all day, increasing my appreciation of the physicality and immediacy of technician work (which, in turn, can increase my appreciation for design work).

Best of all is doing this work alongside good-natured, problem-solving co-workers. I need enthusiasm no less than skills; the “let’s do it” attitude whether the job is re-doing a detail that’s 1/8″ off, or rip-cutting a lot of plywood first thing in the morning.

There are pitfalls to the work—for artists, disillusionment; and in an oft-male-dominated field, confidence becoming arrogance. But I’ve been very lucky to get my on-the-job training from experienced individuals who share knowledge generously and patiently, and who are communicative and team-oriented. And in inviting new members of a team now, I know that I owe my comfort with tools and confidence in my skills to those mentors. In gratitude, I look forward to sharing my modest abilities, and hopefully, my enthusiasm, with those who are hungry to learn.

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