Art & Development

As Is transcript, Great Balloon Giveaway photos posted!

as is audience and panel

In case you were wondering:

What’s the role of pleasure in art?
How do you gauge sincerity?
Can Pop art transcend radical negative consumerist critique?

You might like to have a gander at the transcript of As Is: Pop & Complicity, the closing dialogue of my solo show, Irrational Exuberance (Asst. Colors) at Sight School, featuring Glen Helfand, Patricia Maloney, and Ginger Wolfe-Suarez.

Some highlights:

The show is like an experiment; it’s a sincere embrace of different things that are supposed to make you happy. She’s taken a lot of objects that supposedly exude a lot of optimism to see what sort of effect they may have. I don’t think the sentiment in the objects is sincere, but the sentiment in her embrace of that possibility is. (Victoria Gannon)

The term that comes to mind in regards to Christine’s work is ‘added value.’ For example, learning what the Banner photographs are made of makes them more exciting to me. They’re cheesy gift bags that have been transformed. Even though they’re working in the language that the materials are intended to be about—the notion of the gift—they become something ghostly. There’s an added layer of what the artist can bring to the materials. (Glen Helfand)

Also, I’ve just posted some beautiful photographs of The Great Balloon Giveaway shot by Paul Kuroda. Here are some sneak peeks:

The site-specific public project and social sculpture took place at the Camron-Stanford House on Lake Merritt in Oakland a few weekends ago. It was part of a series of projects sited in historic Oakland architecture called Here and Now. A closing reception for Here and Now is scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday, June 26, 8-10pm at Mills Hall, which is also the last chance to see Elaine Buckholtz’ light installation! Prior to that, catch Floor Vahn’s audio installation at Pardee Home Museum.

Full details available at Mills Art Museum or Invisible Venue.

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Art & Development

Reviews, reviewed

In the current issue of Art Practical, I review Elaine Buckholtz’ exhibition at Triple Base. There’s also a thoughtful review of We have as much time as it takes by Jessica Brier.

My review of Black Glass at [2nd floor projects] appears in the recently-released Talking Cure Quarterly.

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Art & Development

Press Junket #2: 5/28 Adobe Books, 6/5 Camron-Stanford House

lending library

5/28: Lending Library opens at Adobe Books, SF

Tomorrow night, you’re invited to shimmy your way into Adobe Books’ Backroom Gallery, where I, along with 6 other artists, are exhibiting our research materials and studio relics at the behest of curator Dena Beard.

This is part two Dena’s Lending Library project, and it features

tools, materials, and resources from artists Amy Franceschini, Colter Jacobsen, Kevin Killian, Tom Marioni, Emily Prince, Stephanie Syjuco, and Christine Wong Yap.

It’s a fantastic honor to be included with such a dynamic group of artists. Congrats to Amy Franceshini, who was recently awarded a Guggenhein Fellowship, and Colter Jacobsen, who was just short-listed for the SECA Award!

Lending Library
May 28–July 2, 2010
Opening Reception: Friday, May 28, 2010, 7-9 pm
Adobe Books Backroom Gallery
3166 – 16th Street (b/Valencia and Guerrero), San Francisco, CA 94103

•••

June 5: The Great Balloon Giveaway, at Camon-Stanford House, Lake Merritt (Oakland)

The Great Balloon Giveaway, artist's rendering

Next Saturday afternoon, you’re invited to The Great Balloon Giveaway, a social sculpture and public project presented by Invisible Venue and the Mills College Art Museum.

This work is inspired by imagery from the recent Oscar-winning animated film “Up” and re-contextualizes the political histories of the house through the free distribution of 1,000 helium balloons to passersby, with volunteer youth assistance from Chinatown community organization City of Oakland’s Lincoln Square Recreation Center. The Great Balloon Giveaway is made possible with the support of FLINC.org and Trader Joe’s.

Saturday, June 5, 12-3 pm
The Great Balloon Giveaway
Camron-Stanford House, Lake Merritt, 1418 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, CA

The Great Balloon Giveaway is one of three projects that comprise Here and Now, a series of installations in three historic buildings dating from the early inception of the State of California that also includes site-specific projects by Elaine Buckholtz and Floor Vahn.

Get the details on Here and Now, curated by Christian L. Frock in various locations around Oakland, CA. And join us at the closing reception: Saturday, June 26, 8-10 pm at Mills Hall!

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Community

Art art art

Closer to home, there are lots of art shows worth checking out… On my list:

This film screening in conjunction with We have as much time as it takes sounds interesting. If you haven’t had a chance to see the show (to which I contributed Unlimited Promise), the gallery’s open late…
Tuesday, May 18, 7–10 pm
Wattis presents Another Time
A one-night-only screening of James Benning’s 2005 film One Way Boogie Woogie / 27 Years Later in Timken Lecture Hall. The film portrays an industrial, blue-collar town, in the filmmaker’s hometown of Milwaukee. The first 60 shots of the film–depicting factories, lonely railroad tracks, and desolate construction sites–were captured in 1977. Twenty-seven years later Benning returned to restage the film shot-by-shot, revealing the transformation of the landscape over time. One Way Boogie Woogie / 27 Years Later is exemplary of Benning’s distinctive cinematographic language, including extended shots that prolong anticipation.
CCA Wattis, 1111 Eighth Street @ Irwin, San Francisco

Leah’s delightful and intriguingly odd stripey, colorful paintings…
May 13–June 30, 2010
Time Will Tell
Solo Show by Leah Rosenberg
18 Reasons, 593 Guerrero St., San Francisco, CA 94110

Immersive light and video artists’ projects.
May 14-July 3, 2010
Jars Filmed Inside (Elaine Buckholtz Solo Show)
Perception Projection Delay (Hunter Longe Installation)
Triple Base, 3041 24th Street, San Francisco, CA
Gallery Hours: Thu-Sun 12-5pm

The inaugural show at Intersection’s new downtown space! A little bird told me it’d be good!
May 19 – July 3, 2010
Let’s Talk of a System
A group exhibition featuring work by April Banks, Sergio De La Torre & Vicky Funari, Suzanne Husky, Laura Parker, Favianna Rodriguez, James Reed and Banker White.
Intersection 5M, 901 Mission Street @ 5th, San Francisco, CA 94103
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday 12 to 6pm / First Thursdays: 12 to 8 pm
Opening reception: Wednesday May 19, 2010, 6-8pm

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Art & Development

Recent, future, random

A random round-up of things I’ve seen or are looking forward to:

RECENT

Robert Irwin‘s rambling, 50-MPH monologue at Mills College. I couldn’t sum up what he said — comparing Modernism to a cup of Coke, and proposing an array of realms of art rather than a hierarchical pyramid — but I’m pretty sure it was brilliant. I should probably re-visit Lawrence Weschler’s biography of Robert Irwin, Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees after all the other books I’m reading, or intending to read (Ranciere’s The Future of The Image and Beyond Visual Perspective by Gaetano Curreri-Alibrand. Yikes!). Cheers to Mills for bringing such an influential and erudite artist to the East Bay.

Valentine’s Day Celebration at Glide Memorial Church.
I’ve lived in the Bay Area all my life, but I am taking time to appreciate quintessentially San Franciscan experiences like visiting Glide, a Unitarian church whose openness, political activism and community service is a prime example of powerful faith-based progressive work. M and I attended the service on the suggestion of a friend, who was performing an excerpt of The Erica Chong Shuch Performance ProjectsLove Everywhere, a beautiful, tender dance/theater/music performance on love and marriage equality—the civil rights struggle of our time. It was really profound to have the time and space to celebrate love in all of its manifestations—unconditional love, the love of one’s community, to love fiercely and courageously—on Valentine’s Day. (How many red teddy bears does anyone need anyway?) More often, what’s needed is a reminder to look beyond your immediate situation towards community, and to be in spaces where you are accepted as you are. To love and be beloved.

Collaborative installation by Chris Bell, Elaine Buckholtz, and Floor Van Herreweghe at SF Arts Commission Window Space, 155 Grove Street, San Francisco
For Chain Reaction 11, artists were invited to nominate other artists to exhibit at SFAC. One chain went beyond the call and developed a collaborative installation that fills the window site with a sculpture, video and light work, and spills onto Grove with a moody, Sam Shepard-esque musical component. It’s wonderfully unexpected and surreal, and it’s one of my favorite art things that I’ve seen of late. I urge you to visit it, especially at nighttime. It’s on view 24/7 at 155 Grove Street through May 16.

Future

Friday, February 19, 7-10pm: Opening Reception
Blow As Deep As You Want to Blow: New Work by Michelle Blade

Triple Base, 3041 — 24th Street, San Francisco
Exhibition: February 19 – March 21, 2010

Weird bad paintings; don’t come to this if you leave your sense of humor at home.
Denim on Ice: paintings by Keith Boadwee / Erin Allen / Isaac Gray
Steven Wolf Fine Arts, 49 Geary St., Suite 411, San Francisco
Exhibition: February 19 – Mar 20, 2010

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