Category Archives: Art & Development

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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Art & Development

what freelancers eat

The Ethicist chimes in on artists’ pay (New York Times, November 19, 2010).

Fair warning to non-profits and other workplaces where the culture of scarcity is king: just as two wrongs do not make a right, very right or well-intentioned causes do not make lower standards of conduct acceptable. Rent, unfortunately, is not due only when foundations send checks. And the grocer doesn’t take good karma in exchange for deli meat.

I hire freelance artists for a national magazine facing tough financial times. Must I tell them that they might be paid late or perhaps not at all? If I do, they might decline the job, and we cannot produce the magazine. If I don’t, I burn a lot of bridges. My superiors assured me that they will start paying contributors, but they said that for months with no results.

NAME WITHHELD, NEW YORK

You may not tell a lie to your freelancers, even a lie of omission, even for the good of the magazine. (Nor may you hijack their cars and use them to deliver the new issue.) You must treat your would-be contributors honestly, as I infer you know, hence your discomfort and your question. That means giving them the best assessment you can of when they will be paid, although this might induce some to turn down assignments.

And you should tell your superiors as much. Their determination to keep the magazine alive in lean times may mean giving up limousines, massages and deluxe lunches; it does not mean giving up ordinary business ethics. They may tighten their belts, but not around someone else’s throat.

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Art & Development

I’m a Kafka Card carrier

Yupppp! I just got my Kafka Card in the mail today! It’s a new multiple by William Pope.L to benefit Skowhegen. More info below; Skowhegan’s press release, though, is maybe a tad euphemistic–Pope.L’s text on the back is not an uplifting message to artists; it’s Pope.L doing what Pope.L does best: poke your comfort zones.

Skowhegan is proud to announce the release of

KAFKA CARD by WILLIAM POPE.L

William Pope.L (Alum ’96; Resident Artist ’04) has generously worked with members of the Skowhegan Alliance to create an edition, Kafka Card, that is specially priced within the budget of young and emerging artists (and available to everyone). All proceeds from Kafka Card will support Skowhegan’s program and the initiatives of the Skowhegan Alliance.

Pope.L’s card plays off the idea of the legendary American Express “black card.” (Though the black card began as an urban legend, American Express later capitalized on its aura to create its own credit card with almost unimaginable benefits, available only to the most elite and powerful.) In contrast, Pope.L has created Kafka Card. This “credit” card has the image of a tsunami on the front, and on the back is a manifesto for artists to attack life, take risks, and otherwise brave the storm. The text includes humorous extensions of personal data in a world mired in a credit crisis. In addition to a signature, cardholders are asked to provide a dab of blood, pet’s sex, and a DNA sample, as well as the bank account number of a “rich dead relative.”

Kafka Card is packaged within a Hallmark-style gift card featuring the “President” (Pope.L wearing an Obama mask) holding his own oversized Kafka Card.

Edition size: 500

GENERAL PUBLIC PRICE: $30 per card (+ $3.50 shipping/handling per order)
SKOWHEGAN ALUM PRICE: $25 per card (+ $3.50 shipping/handling per order)

Price for both alumni and the general public will be raised after the first 250 cards are sold.

Limit 5 cards per person.

TO PURCHASE

CLICK HERE and select “OTHER AMOUNT” in the dropdown donation field on Skowhegan’s support page.

Enter the appropriate total for the number of cards you wish to order on the PayPal page:

GENERAL PUBLIC PRICING
1 card: $33.50
2 cards: $63.50
3 cards: $93.50
4 cards: $123.50
5 cards: $153.50
(prices above include shipping and handling)

ALUMNI PRICING
1 card: $28.50
2 cards: $53.50
3 cards: $78.50
4 cards: $103.50
5 cards: $128.50
(prices above include shipping and handling)

All cards in an order will be shipped to a single address. Please let us know if your shipping address is different from your billing address.

WILLIAM POPE.L
is a prominent multidisciplinary artist known for his conceptual, often performance-based art practice, which actively confronts issues of race, sex, power, consumerism, and social class. As the self-proclaimed “friendliest black artist in America,” Pope.L invites dialogue through provocative performances, installations, and art objects. He is best known for a series of more than 40 “crawls” staged since 1978 as part of his larger eRacism project, in which he inched his way through busy city streets on his belly, back, hands, and knees in an attempt to draw attention to the plight of those members of society who are least empowered.

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Art & Development

Justin Limoges’ Chocolate Fountain

I’m delighted to share with you the news of a good friend’s solo exhibition in San Francisco. I absolutely adore this image. He makes killer drawings too. I’m not on the right coast, but you are, you should go!

CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN

JUSTIN LIMOGES: CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN
Solo Exhibition + Opening Night Reception
December 2 | 6 – 9 PM
Art Brunch December 4 | 11 AM – 1 PM
Show on view through January 8

Unspeakable Projects is pleased to announce the representation of Justin Limoges and the opening of Chocolate Fountain, a solo exhibition of sculptures and drawings exploring the cult of contemporary luxury in all its outsize, queasy and often hilarious excess. With high-fives to both Duchamp and Kanye, Chocolate Fountain is a look at what it’s like to stay hungry when the buffet never ends.

Unspeakable Projects
735 Tehama Street
San Francisco 94103

http://www.unspeakableprojects.com

open.php?u=fe9e92f59a9de3d20ede73529&id=7292e3835c&e=2e7c3bd67b

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Art & Development

A few observations of the New York Art World

1.
“You can charge that!?!”
On the NY art market, or as NB pointed out, art mark-up. It could not be more different from the non-profit, alternative art world in the Bay Area that I am most familiar with.

2.
Art auctions = deals and flat-out steals.
At a recent auction I attended, the starting prices were predictably much higher than those typically found in auctions for SF non-profits. At the same time, I thought that people made out like bandits. While there is a bigger pool of collectors here, there are also lots more galleries competing for their attentions. Even big names, great works, steep discounts and the NY collector base can not guarantee sales.

3.
Some gallerists have always been gallerists.
Gallery lineages are alive. They aren’t lost artifacts from the Leo Castelli-era. Assistants who have worked for big-time galleries still open their own shops. The Bay Area seems like it might have a small demographic like that (akin to the tiny percentage of high-society old money in San Francisco), but my sense was that gallery owners often had alternative income streams, or previous non-art careers.

4.
Curators can be art-slaves too.
I’m pleasantly surprised to share that, in my short time here in NY, I’ve worked with a few curators are super down-to-earth and don’t think twice to do install or preparator work. This is reassuring because it speaks to teamwork and efficacy over rigid hierarchy. Proof once again that modest expectations can yield pleasant surprises.

5. Curatorial Master’s programs are OK.
There are a few CCA Curatorial Practice alumni out here, and they all seem to be engaged in interesting, rewarding work. Note the word work, connoting being paid actual money. I’ve heard people question curatorial master’s programs, but NY shows at institutions need curators, and that the curators from CCA have interesting perspectives and they know how to work.

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