Author Archives: cwongyap

Art & Development

pet peeve: mark-ups

I just paid $20 for a pad of vellum (Borden & Riley #90 Sheer Trace Vellum, 9×12 inches, 50 sheets) at Sam Flax in midtown Manhattan. Why? Because I received the materials list for a class 46 hours before it starts, and I haven’t got the time to take the trip to the art stores downtown in the next two days. So Sam Flax it was, and whatever Sam Flax wanted, I paid. Apparently, they want $4.50 over the list price (other stores, like Blick and Utrecht, charge less than the manufacturer’s list price of $15.54—respectively, $12.39 or for a comparable product, $13.99).

I want to support the little guy. I understand that mom & pop shops can’t offer the same pricing that chain stores dealing in much larger volumes. But it’s not like their staff were any less aggressively apathetic. (Three customers waited to checkout as a staff member giftwrapped something, while three other staff stood around; one of them clipped his fingernails. Gross!)

I dislike being so negative, but not as much as my distaste for feeling ripped off. I’ve learned my lesson.

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Citizenship

The coming Culture Wars

Think anti-gay bullying is just for kids? Ask the Smithsonian.

That’s from LA Times critic Christopher Knight weighing in on the recent controversy in which the Smithsonian pulled David Wojnarowicz’s video from an exhibition after someone from the Catholic League complained. Subsequently, Republican representatives (who, like the Catholic League instigator, didn’t actually see the exhibit) attacked the Smithsonian and the NEA.

The merits of art–especially contemporary art that does not conform to traditional/conservative tastes or ideals of beauty–ought to be discussed and debated, not censored. By bowing to religious right pressure, the Smithsonian thought it might be playing it safe, but it showed how easily it capitulates. Homophobia is so not cool. And capitalizing on religious backlash to slash the NEA is so tired. Get over yourselves.

Cheers to Blake Gopnik and the Washington Post for their fearless coverage (afflicting the comfortable!) and alternative art space Transformer Gallery in DC and LA gallery CB1 for exhibiting the Wojnarowicz video in question.

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Research

Csikszentmihalyi, diagrammed for artists

Michael Yap, my husband and a current MFA candidate in the School of Visual Arts’ Interaction Design program, posted a very interesting diagram on his blog yesterday. It charts ideas from psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihaly’s book, “Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention” (New York: Harper Collins, 1996), on findings from direct research on exceptionally creative artists, musicians, scientists, and businesspeople.

“Creativity” speaks to me as an artist–not just because it validates my experiences on living the life of an artist, but also because its subject matter corresponds to my interest in optimism, pessimism and positive psychology. I’ll post thorough notes when I’m done. In the meantime, have a look at what Michael has done with his reading:

Michael Yap, A conversation to learn, artist and the field, goal level, Id like to share an idea with you; We would like to understand your idea

Michael Yap's Conversation Systems Diagram

It’s an interesting way to look at the interaction between artist, Field, and Domain.

Have a look at the assignment and see the whole diagram on the project PDF!

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Art & Development

Cool Tools

The best instruments become extensions of your consciousness. To use a favorite tool is to exploit its familiarity and dependability–the flow of a favorite pen, the rightness of a sharp, well-balanced knife, the haptic response of certain power tools. In celebration, here are some tools I’ve held or used recently — one novel, the other, ingenius.

Tiny wrench

Found at the studio of HWT.


 
Handmade compass

O's handmade compass consisted of two 1/2" square dowels threaded with a wingnut. One dowel was tipped with a pin, the other with a tiny spring clamp with which to grip a pen or marker. A second spring clamp forms a cap for the sharp pin in transit. It worked brilliantly.

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Art & Development

move!

Wow! Move at the Hayward Gallery in London looks like an amazing exhibition! Participation, experiential activities, dance, with projects by killer artists and choreographers? Sounds like fun!

I’m especially curious about the cognitive scientists in dialogue with choreographers:

Move: Weekend is a three-day celebration of visual art, dance and performance across Southbank Centre from Friday 26 – Sunday 28 November. The programme is part of the exhibition Move: Choreographing You at the Hayward Gallery, on show until 9 January 2011.

The weekend features talks, discussions and performances exploring the historic and current relationship between visual arts, performance and dance. Cognitive scientists Scott deLahunta and David Kirsh are joined by Simone Forti and Sian Ede to discuss how we explore the world with bodies in the context of choreographic practice. Franz Erhard Walther is joined by philosopher of mind Alva Noë and choreographers Yvonne Rainer and Siobhan Davies, to discuss distinctive perceptions of time and space in visual arts and dance. Andre Lepecki leads a discussion foregrounding dance and other structured movement systems as vehicles for political and social critique, with Tania Bruguera, Bojana Cvejic and Xavier Le Roy. Yvonne Rainer talks about her practice evolving from choreography to filmmaking with Chantal Pontbriand. William Forsythe, Tino Sehgal and Janine Antoni discuss what parallels can be drawn between choreography and an extended notion of sculpture.

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Art & Development

Color & Color 2

The latest issue of Color & Color, an art magazine produced by Amanda Curreri and Erik Scollon is now out! I contributed to issue #0, and this new issue was curated by Ponzi scheme. Look for contributors I nominated, Justin Limoges (Oakland), Kristina Paabus (Estonia/US), and Sharon Kivland (FR/EN), as well as many talented others from the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond…

C&C#2 LAUNCH PARTY, SF
Join us Dec. 9, Thursday, starting at 8pm for the C&C#2 LAUNCH PARTY. Come check out the book, have a drink with us, a dance. Starts at 8pm onwards. DJ Bus Station John starts his magic around 10pm.

Aunt Charlies Lounge
133 Turk at Taylor, SF
Dec. 9, Thursday, 8pm onwards

The third issue of Color&Color, C&C#2 (Black & White) is available print-on-demand here. More information is available here: www.colorandcolor.blogspot.com

Color&Color is an artist publication guided by the duality of two thematic colors per issue. C&C#2 is based loosely on a Ponzi Scheme. For this issue, each artist from the first two issues of C&C was given five points to invite whom they saw fit for this issue. 3 points = local Bay area artists; 2 points = artists from the larger US; and 1 point = international artists. Allegiances be known and shown!

Artists in this issue:

Libby Black*, Bay Area
Lindsey White*, Bay Area
Francesca Nocera, Ontario
Amber Ibarreche, NYC
Caitlin Teal Price, NYC
Kathleen Hudspeth, Miami
Adler Guerrier, Miami
Kyle Beal, Montreal
Gabriel Johnson, Bay Area
Kelly Sherman, Boston
Justin Limoges, Bay Area
Kristina Paabus, Estonia
Sharon Kivland, London/France
Zach Fabri, NYC
Susana Gaudencio, Lisbon
Jessica Mein, NYC
Selena Kimball, NYC
Suzanne van Rossenberg, Netherlands
Jay Anderson, NYC
Dana Gentile, NYC
Nathan Vincent, Bay Area
Dru Donovan, Bay Area
Noah Wilson, Bay Area
Justin Waldstein, NYC
Christina Empedocles, Bay Area
Katy Smail, NYC
Aiyanna Udesen, Bay Area
Ester Partegas, NYC
Jennifer Lee, NYC
Mike Cloud, NYC
Rose Borthwick, Leeds, England
Jesjit Gill, Toronto
Jessalyn Aaland, Bay Area
Meghan Gordon, Provincetown
Katja Mater, Netherlands
Gabriela Salazar, NYC
Toban Nichols, LA
Nightmare City, Bay Area

*’cover girls’ due to their issue-appropriate last names

Color&Color was conceived as a mobile venue in which to present new work of artists we respect and with whom we want to work. We hope that with each issue the publication can connect artists with new audiences and expanded dialogue. Not wanting to rely solely on traditional venues like galleries and museums,Color&Color presents artwork via the serial print medium. This opens up access to new spatial-temporal configurations for the work. The publication is available both in printed and digital format. Proceeds from sales go directly to future issues ofColor&Color.


www.colorandcolor.blogspot.com

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Art & Development

Go to jail

Chance; go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200
Perhaps since I’ve thought about artists and how they are perceived at length, many of psychologist Mihaly Csikzentmihaly‘s points in Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention seem patently self-evident to me. But some parts, like the following anecdote, are uncannily familiar.

Jacob Rabinow uses an interesting mental technique to slow himself down to when work on an invention requires more experience than intuition:
“Yeah, there’s a trick I pull for this. When I have a job to do like that where you have to do something that takes a lot of effort, slowly, I pretend I’m in jail. Don’t laugh. And if I’m in jail, time is of no consequence. In other words, if it takes a week to cut this, it’ll take a week. What else have I got to do? I’m going to be here twenty years.”

Since a similar thought has crossed my mind about studio practice, I get a grim kick out of this approach to self-discipline, which is so often under-appreciated by those who think that being an artist is all fun, unharnessed, self-expression.

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Art & Development

Shadowshop is now open for business!

I’m a proud participant in Shadowshop:

a temporary and alternative store/distribution point embedded within the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s fifth floor galleries, Shadowshop will stock hundreds of artists’ multiples, small works, tchotchkes, catalogs, books, zines, media works, and other distributive creative output.

While operating as an actual mom-and-pop style store, Shadowshop is also a platform for exploring the ways in which artists are navigating the production, consumption, and dissemination of their work. Four themes (1. artwork-as-commodity, 2. cultural souvenirs, 3. bootlegs and counterfeits, and 4. alternative distribution systems) will contextualize selected projects that are both complicit with and also critical of capitalist circulation. Special projects will be commissioned by Packard Jennings, Juan Luna-Avin, and Imin Yeh.

For almost six months (November 20, 2010—May 1, 2011) Shadowshop will feature only local Bay Area works, give museum visitors access to a wide variety of affordable wares, and provide a snapshot of a vibrant and energetic art scene.

Support your local artists! 100% of pre-tax sales from Shadowshop go directly to the artists.

A project by Stephanie Syjuco in conjunction with the SFMOMA exhibition “The More Things Change” and supported by the Live Art program.

Along with multiples I’ve made by hand, I contributed a new work…
u&me, me&u pillows

With alternating texts on each side, u&me/me&u acknowledges the give and take in relationships between lovers, friends, and artists and viewers, and the validity of diverse perspectives. It is inspired by a pillow embroidered by activists Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon.

u&me/me&u are sewn by the artist in small editions. The open edition will primiere at Shadowshop, a temporary and alternative store/distribution point by Stephanie Syjuco for the exhibition The More Things Change at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

100% of profits from u&me/me&u at Shadowshop will be donated to Marriage Equality USA, an all-volunteer, national non-profit organization whose mission is to secure legally recognized civil marriage equality for all, at the federal and state level, without regard to gender identity or sexual orientation.

shadowshop, local art for mass distribution

To purchase the pillows ($75 each) and support marriage equality, visit Shadowshop, on the fifth floor of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, from November 20, 2010–May 1, 2011. If you are unable to visit SFMOMA, email me to reserve a pillow from a forthcoming batch, to be produced in the coming months.
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