Sights

get excited: cool things everywhere

Being an artist involves so many activities, I’ve fallen behind on seeing art. But there’s lots out there to be excited about!

 Amanda Curreri, Under the Socialist Sun with Interference, Monoprint with screenprint, 15 x 11 inches, 2013; Llewelynn Fletcher, Standing Sound Costume: Lion, 2010, basswood, mahogany, low frequency sound, bass-shaker speakers, 3.5'W X 3.5'L X 7'H. // Source: c3initiative.org.

Amanda Curreri, Under the Socialist Sun with Interference, Monoprint with screenprint, 15 x 11 inches, 2013; Llewelynn Fletcher, Standing Sound Costume: Lion, 2010, basswood, mahogany, low frequency sound, bass-shaker speakers, 3.5’W X 3.5’L X 7’H. // Source: c3initiative.org.

Cool artists getting a cool residency in Portland, OR

ERNEST Introductions (Amanda Curreri & Llewellyn Fletcher)
c3 initiative, Portland, OR
Dec 7, 2013 – Feb 15, 2014
Opening: Sat, Dec 7, 6-9pm
Launching ERNEST’s collaborative two-year public project and partnership with Portland’s c3 initiative.

Installation view of The Shadows Took Shape. // Source: StudioMuseum.org // Photo: Adam Reich

Installation view of The Shadows Took Shape. // Source: StudioMuseum.org // Photo: Adam Reich

Afrofuturist aesthetics @ the Studio Museum
Including a collaborative project by Nyeema Morgan
Plus a great portrait of the artists in the New Yorker Magazine

The Shadows Took Shape
November 14–March 9, 2014
Studio Museum
NYC

Artists of The Shadows Took Shape in the New Yorker Magazine. Photograph by Christaan Felber.

Artists of The Shadows Took Shape in the New Yorker Magazine. Photograph by Christaan Felber.

I don’t think female artists of color have enough visibility; this is a lovely move in a good direction.

Leonid Tishkov, Private Moon. // Source: ArtsCatalyst.org.

Leonid Tishkov, Private Moon. // Source: ArtsCatalyst.org.

A wonderfully speculative, lunar-themed exhibition in London

The preview images look so cool.

January 10-February 2, 2014
The Art Catalyst’s Republic of the Moon
Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, South Bank, London

Vacuum/plenum (the Cotard delusion, invisibility, and other gravities), 2009, mirror, two-way plexiglass mirror, aluminum, steel, casters, Dimensions variable, mirrored box is 4x4x7 ft. // Source: SeldonYuan.com

Vacuum/plenum (the Cotard delusion, invisibility, and other gravities), 2009, mirror, two-way plexiglass mirror, aluminum, steel, casters, Dimensions variable, mirrored box is 4x4x7 ft. // Source: SeldonYuan.com

Vacuum/plenum (the Cotard delusion, invisibility, and other gravities), by Seldon Yuan

I came across this NYC artist when I received a rejection letter and he was listed as one of the winners. But when I viewed his site, and this project in particular, the selection committee’s wisdom became apparent to me. The sting of rejection is a mitigated by intrigue of this work. I wish this project was my own. It’s brilliant.

Personal Goal Setting Advice for Artists

Love this Personal Goal Setting advice from  Creative Capital’s Internet for Artists Handbook. I came across this a while ago but keep recommending it to folks. Really useful!

(I just noticed it’s written by Blithe Riley, an artist involved in interesting, radical visual art programming at Interference Archive in Gowanus in Brooklyn. Coming up this week: neat programming around Asian American struggle.)

Your turn: These Calls for Entry

Signal Fire’s spring exhibition in the New Mexico wilderness
Spring applications due December 31

Interface Gallery’s call for participatory projects
Oakland, CA
Stipends available. Applications due January 1, 2014.

 

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Sights

Get excited: This week in NYC

Loads of thought-provoking art events in NYC are coming up! These all appeal to things I’m excited about lately—horizontal networks, feminism, activism and more:

Tonight! Tuesday, November 12
PANEL: Who Cares About Collaboration?

Eyebeam
540 W 21st St, NYC
7-9pm, Free

Speakers include Joe McKay (UCB/Headlands!), Sarah Perks (the awesome Cornerhouse of Manchester), and folks from The White Building (a cool London art space).

Friday, November 15
EXHIBITION OPENING: A Necessary Shift
Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts Projects Space 

323 W 39th Street, 2nd floor, NYC
6–8pm

Reception for the exhibition and event series for EFA’s Arts-Workers-as-Artists program, including Hatuey Ramos-Fermín and Elizabeth Hamby, whose excellent Boogie Down Rides event brightened up my weekend.

Lane Relyea, Your Everyday Art World

Lane Relyea, Your Everyday Art World

Saturday, November 16
CONVERSATION: Katy Siegel with Lane Relyea, author of Your Everyday Art World
Regina Rex
1717 Troutman Ave #329, Queens
6pm
About the

new networked, participatory art world

Get there early to check out:

EXHIBITION: Ornament and Crime
Ortega y Gasset Projects
1717 Troutman Ave #327, Queens
Gallery hours are 1-6 Saturdays and Sunadays. Exhibition on through Dec 8.

Group show curated by undercover super hero Lauren F. Adams, featuring projects by Stephanie SyjucoDavid MabbSusanne Slavick, and Stacy Lynn Waddell.

Monday, November 18
PRESENTATION: Guerilla Girls Broadband
Interference Archive
131 8th Street #4, Brooklyn
7:30pm
Talking about their latest project, MapAbortion, on access to reproductive health.

(I’m also really excited about Interference Archive’s forthcoming exhibition, Serve the People: The Asian American Movement in New York, opening December 5. IA’s core collective includes the indefatigable Josh MacPhee, and book- club-mate Blithe Riley!)

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notes on things: from The Intelligence of Things, Parsons 2013 MFA curatorial statement

For a growing number of contemporary artists and thinkers, the ontology of objects has prompted new investigations and modes of making. Perhaps in reaction to the dominance of screens and images in our daily life, artistic practice has embraced the object-as-thing: estranged, powerful and physical…. …objects become ciphers for memory, desire and fantasy. Far from simple gestures, thethings in these works articulate their place as icons and bodily analogs, and as protagonists in interiors, architectural spaces and the scope of history.

The exhibition privileges the role of the displayed objects over any overarching curatorial concept. As a title The Intelligence of Things both emphasizes this approach and illuminates these artworks’ powerful effect and affect. That is to say that following Kant’s purposeful purposelessness, these artworks upend our notions of a thing’s effect or intent, and each one has a particular character, demeanor, and accent—whether fierce or foppish. …The exhibition and the works therein, rather, critically explore how things and human subjects together produce meaning in the world.

(Source: Art & Education)

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Sights

see: Letha Wilson @ Art in General, NYC, through June 30

Letha Wilson, Ghost of a Tree, 2012. Digital print on vinyl, drywall, wood, wood column, 10 × 8 × 14 feet (image size 13 ¾ x 8 feet). Installation view at Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, NE.

Letha Wilson, Ghost of a Tree, 2012. Digital print on vinyl, drywall, wood, wood column, 10 × 8 × 14 feet (image size 13 ¾ x 8 feet). Installation view at Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, NE.

 

I work at Art in General as an installer, but I recommend Letha’s show because her work is not only interesting formally in marrying photography and sculptural materials, but beyond that, it helped me come to see her work as interventions, in the context of Land Art. Don’t miss the beautiful book on display too, which elegantly translates her gestures into the printed page. Allow yourself lots of time to look, breathe, and think.

Now through June 30, 2013
Letha Wilson:
Landmarks and Monuments
Art in General
79 Walker Street (off Broadway and Canal), NYC

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Impressions, Sights

NYC Art Itinerary

"Migration Patterns" map by an anonymous contributor, sent to Becky Cooper, and printed in "Manhattan of the Mind" by Zachary Sniderman, New York Times Magazine, Feb. 17, 2013.

“Migration Patterns” map by an anonymous contributor, sent to Becky Cooper, and printed in “Manhattan of the Mind” by Zachary Sniderman, New York Times Magazine, Feb. 17, 2013.

When MA visited NYC last week, he filled each day with an ambitious art itinerary. It reminded me that I used to try to make the most of of my trips to New York. But since moving here, I’ve become lazy, and too borough- and subway-line-centric. I’ll take MA’s inspiring lead and resolve to get out into my own city more often. Here’s a list of places that I would like to visit, but have not yet been—and which I hope to see in 2013.

It’s better to set goals along with strategies, so I’ll include personal notes to make getting there easier.

The Morgan Library
225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street 
A short walk from one of my favorite places to eat, Koreatown. Also, not far from Grand Central Station where Nick Cave’s horses will be on view March 25–31 as part of its centennial celebrations.

The Cloisters
99 Margaret Corbin Drive, Fort Tryon Park
A bit out of the way, in a northernmost part of Manhattan—yet by bicycle, it turns out to be just 10 miles from my house.

Wave Hill
West 249th Street and Independence Avenue, Bronx
This is even further out of the way in the western edge of the Bronx, but I could make a longer bike and art day out of it, as it’s only 5.2 miles north of The Cloisters. Thirty miles round trip is nothing for serious riders; I am not a serious rider, but maybe I’ll start to up my mileage come spring.

1939 World Fair collectibles, collection of Kyle Supley, on Designing Tomorrow's Tumblr.

1939 World Fair collectibles, collection of Kyle Supley, on Designing Tomorrow’s Tumblr.

Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street

This was not high on my list of places to visit, but it turns out that they’ve got a current exhibition on the 1930s World Fairs called Designing Tomorrow. World fairs are generally fascinating to me, but I am especially keen to learn more about the 1930s fairs in Queens (Didn’t I mention I’ve become borough-centric?) for their spectacle, futurism, modern design, typography, as well as the numerous bits and bobs of memorabilia.

 
e-flux

311 East Broadway
Who knows why East Broadway runs at an angle to, and detached from, Broadway. But I know where e-flux is, having made a pilgrimage to its neighboring dumpling restaurant. Now I just need to combine my dumpling craving with astute contemporary discourse.

Museum of the Moving Image
36-01 35th Avenue at 37th Street, Astoria, Queens
My own borough; I hang my head to admit that I’ve been to the multiplex around the corner.

 
Brooklyn Botanical Garden

150 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn

Not art; visual nonetheless. In Prospect Park next to the Brooklyn Museum. Another nice bike adventure come warmer weather and new blooms.

  • Visited May 17. Huge, lovely, and well worth a visit.

 

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Sights

get excited: turrell, deller

Image: James Turrell, Afrum (White), 1966, Projected light, Dimensions variable, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, partial gift of Marc and Andrea Glimcher in honor of the appointment of Michael Govan as Chief Executive Officer and Wallis Annenberg Director and purchased with funds provided by David Bohnett and Tom Gregory through the 2008 Collectors Committee (M.2008.60) © James Turrell. Photo © 2012 Museum Associates/LACMA. // lacma.org

Image: James Turrell, Afrum (White), 1966, Projected light, Dimensions variable, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, partial gift of Marc and Andrea Glimcher in honor of the appointment of Michael Govan as Chief Executive Officer and Wallis Annenberg Director and purchased with funds provided by David Bohnett and Tom Gregory through the 2008 Collectors Committee (M.2008.60) © James Turrell. Photo © 2012 Museum Associates/LACMA. // lacma.org

James Turrell: A Retrospective is coming this summer, to be exhibited concurrently at three museums! This is super exciting. I love Turrell’s phenomenological light installations. They are very difficult to install and exhibit. Not to be missed!

May 26, 2013–April 6, 2014
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)

June 9–September 22, 2013
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

June 21–September 25, 2013
Guggenheim, NYC

Jeremy Deller, Joy in People banner (made by Ed Hall). Photographed in London, November 9, 2011, by Linda Nylind. // icaphila.org

Jeremy Deller, Joy in People banner (made by Ed Hall). Photographed in London, November 9, 2011, by Linda Nylind. // icaphila.org

Jeremy Deller’s retrospective at the Hayward Gallery in London was a brilliant, daring move by curator Ralph Rugoff. I missed this show at the Philly ICA last fall (and it seems like NYC museums missed this opportunity). The show has continued on, however.

February 1–April 28, 2013
Jeremy Deller: Joy in People

Contemporary Art Museum, Saint Louis, MO.

More Deller: The Guardian picked Joy in People for the sixth Best Art Exhibitions of 2012. Deller will represent the UK at this year’s Venice Biennale.

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get excited: mail order brides

My good friend Jenifer K Wofford and her collaborators Eliza and Reanne are up to their high art hijinks again.

Mail Order Brides (M.O.B.)
 Still from Fiebre Amarilla V, 2011
 Courtesy the artists // San Jose Museum of Art, sjmusart.org

Mail Order Brides (M.O.B.)

Still from Fiebre Amarilla V, 2011

Courtesy the artists // San Jose Museum of Art, sjmusart.org

February 21–September 15, 2013
New Stories from the Edge of Asia: This/That
San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA

These artists take on identity issues (and Asian identity in particular) by creating narratives that often are born from loosely autobiographical, conflicting situations. In video, film, multimedia works, photographs, and performance art, they conjure temporary identities that reflect the constant struggle, negotiation, and precarious balance between different worlds. The exhibition includes works by Erica Cho, Mike Lai, Candice Lin, the artists’ collective Mail Order Brides (M.O.B.) (Eliza Barrios, Reanne Estrada, and Jenifer Wofford), and T. Kim-Trang. “New Stories from the Edge of Asia” is an ongoing exhibition series that presents work by artists from Pacific Rim countries and cultures who explore new narrative territory using animation, digital techniques, video, and film.

Have a look at M.O.B’s Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride services to get a sneak peek at what you might see.

If you’re in SF and Oakland and planning on making the trek down to the South Bay, I’d like to offer this gentle reminder: Happiness Is… is on through April 14 at Montalvo Arts Center Project Space Gallery in Saratoga.

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see: light show at the hayward gallery

The Hayward strikes again. Wish I could visit this exhibition of light-based sculpture in London:

The Light Show
Hayward Gallery at Southbank Centre
London, UK
January 30–April 28, 2013

Though my Bay Area friends are very excited about Leo Villareal’s installation on the Bay Bridge, I would be excited to see installations by Anthony MacCall, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Ceal Floyer, and Nancy Holt, whose works tend to be less tech-y and more sublime.

See this really nice website with previews of artists’ works.

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