Tony Feher and Jason Middlebrook at Usdan Gallery, Bennington College.
Dan Cameron curated a three-artist installation for Bennington College... the show was assembled over the first three weeks of its four-week run, with each artist working independently... the first artist had an empty gallery, the second artist worked with the first artist's work, the third artist finished the installation. None of the artists were informed of what the others were presenting.
My visit was at the end of the second week... Tony Feher and Jason Middlebrook had each finished, Ted Riederer was yet to install. Here are some photos of Riederer's subsequent performance/installation.
Tony Feher's red and blue buckets + Jason Middlebrook's black cardboard-box city.
I visited some studios and saw a possible Josh Blackwell painting class still-life setup. Pink argyle sweater. Josh teaches at Bennington.
I thought those were ammo boxes - you know, rpg towers, fifty cal, grenades.
ReplyDeleteShall I do it and claim I owe a debt to JM? Or You could use computer boxes, crate and barell, Ikea - like jason Rhoades sort of, or Nancy Rubins or Kurt Schwitters or Sol Lewitt or Duncan Hines, Mattell.
The only problem I have iwth this sort of work being shown in schools is that the kids are impressionable and often not exposed to more radical approaches or even alternative methods - I know schools tend to stick with a genre - which can be good (I;m against the homogenization of "international" styles or "art fair art" - regionalism is important - incubating odd viruses).
And there is also the problematic (problematizing) influence of a centralized cultural center expanding outwards. This constitutes a sort of rhizomatic spore patterns that, while somewhat beneficial, can also be stifling.
I guess Im conflicted about that - on the one hand there is strength in numbers, and on the other, these sorts of numbers always seem to come up.
i mean I like Jason's vibe but often I think it come too close to the often maligned "one liner" - comparable to Chris Burden;s later work (the sailboats an bridges, medusa).
ReplyDeleteNice objects but not "worked" _ my tastes run towards more visible process - though I must say I wouldn't want to live with the permutations of "shaped canvas" I see - I create my own clutter, so I need order, though i'm not a minimalist. Tastefull constructions of bounded chaos - in that I see a relation to your work, which references traditional abstraction while putting sand in it's eye.
Or not. PowerPoint is weird.
and Im glad someone is making it outside the city i can;t afford to.
ReplyDeletei missed you zip.
ReplyDeleteI;m working on my "skills."
ReplyDeleteone day dude.