Jess

Jess, "Rintrah Roars...': Salvages VI, 1965-81, at Tibor de Nagy.

Jess often incorporated the frame into his work, using frames found at thrift stores and flea markets. This plexi-encased piece pictured above isn't an example of that... it was added years later for a museum exhibit... but I love it.

John Beech.


Detail of a Jess painting set in frame, wrapped at edges with something velvety.


Al Loving surrounded some of his paintings with something soft and velvety also.

(first time i saw a jess was in a group show at the pma, when reason dreams, which included mildred greenberg... sam hand-wrote out the complete list of participating artists)

Michael Zahn

Michael Zahn at Eleven Rivington.

He has re-booted the gallery storefront inside the gallery... a window has been dragged.. there are scuffs.


Wall is painted like a computer version of a domestic space, hung with pixelated paintings. Try not to click on that upper-left corner. The painting on the right is a low-res image lifted from an album cover... the bottom hasn't finished loading. If you choose to end the program now you will lose any unsaved data.

Image Results.


Color swatches can be removed and added... the office has a huge stack.. you can download and arrange your own. The flowers will droop and die while you wait for it to come into focus.


Trying to figure out the password.

Not pictured are the solid 3-d macro-pixels stacking up in the window at the front of the gallery... not sure what is being transmitted, they can't be opened.... the information is not within but cumulative.

Interview with Michael Zahn.

freeze-frame

Pre-party (prior to going to Wendy White's opening) at Tom Sanford's studio... Tom Sanford, Eric Sall, Meridith Pingree, Barnaby Whitfield. Thank you to Barnaby for standing so still, I am the worst party photographer EVER... all of my photos from the opening include at least three very blurry central figures. I'll do some cropping later and post what I can.


Here is a better picture of Tom and his recent work... not sure what might still be in progress, this is the studio... click the picture to see it larger. The piece at top right is the announcement he painted for Amanda Browder's show Cyclone, at Green Lantern Gallery, in Chicago.


ride to opening with tom, martin, meridith, eric. this is what most of my photos look like.

announcements and misc.

Wendy White opening at Leo Koenig, Friday June 2oth 6-8pm. The show runs through August 1st.


N. Elizabeth Schlatter has published a book, Museum Careers: A Practical Guide for Students and Novices.

Speaking of books... I'm enjoying Goodreads, especially as a place to find good books and to easily keep track of books I'd like to read. Not so into the Facebook applications and all the junk that comes with them.

PLUS: some photos from interesting shows seen on my last visit to nyc... wish i could post more on them, but i got overloaded -


Susan Hiller at Timothy Taylor Gallery, at the Armory - it was like a solo survey show, the whole booth was for her... I don't think I've ever seen her work before. Here are some more photos.


Dave Miko, at Wallspace - kinda liked these failed paintings made into stools.


Miriam Schapiro, at Flomenhaft - this was also a survey show... rewarding.

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Marlene Dumas Tally Reaches Fever Pitch

Someone left an anonymous comment yesterday morning (thanks!) noting that anaba is mentioned in this week's NYTimes Magazine... a Deborah Solomon profile of Marlene Dumas -

"An art-world blog, Anaba, has taken to listing the names of Dumas’s supporters and detractors as if they were superdelegates charged with putting an artist into office. Are you pro-Dumas or anti-Dumas? “All of the anti-Dumasers are men,” the blog noted in 2005, in a reference to a group of influential critics that includes Jerry Saltz, the art critic for New York magazine, who has described Dumas’s work as 'flat-footed'."

Also noted in my posts, along with the gender split, is that most of those quoted who don't like Dumas are not artists. I'm not sure which posts Deborah Solomon read, but here are the most relevant -

1/5/06 - My ongoing monitoring of the critical response to the work of Marlene Dumas
10/30/05 - The Dumas Report
6/17/05 - Carol Vogel and Sarah Milroy come out for Marlene Dumas
6/1/05 - Jerry Saltz still doesn't like Marlene Dumas
5/12/05 - Marlene Dumas - 1994
5/11/05 - Richard Polsky really hates Marlene Dumas
3/28/05 - Marlene Dumas!

CURRENT TALLY -

PRO-DUMAS: Svetlana Alpers, Chris Ashley, David Cohen, Nicole Davis, Nicole Eisenman (in comments), Joy Garnett, Cynthia King (in comments) Sarah Milroy, George Rodart (in comments), Barry Schwabsky, Adrian Searle, Elisabeth Sussman, Richard Vine, Carol Vogel.

ANTI-DUMAS: Franklin Einspruch (in comments, and on his blog), Charlie Finch, Tyler Green, Jerry Saltz, Richard Polsky, Peter Schjeldahl.

Jerry Saltz has been consistent, but it has always been in throwaway lines, never an actual review, so I'm looking forward to reading his inevitable review of the upcoming MoMA show. I say inevitable because after that much glib dismissal he is going to have to put up or shut up. Hopefully Roberta Smith will also review that show.


Howard Dean and my mother are counting the superdelegate votes as they come in... I'm told a final decision will be reached in about a hundred years.

UPDATE: votes are poring in!
pro - Eva Lake, Amie Oliver

Richard Wright

Richard Wright

Jon Lutz saw last week's post on Richard Wright, commenting that they used to work together, and has since e-mailed me images of this piece he got from Richard. Jon says that a number of co-workers received work from Richard -

"I wanted to send you (images of) this work of Richard's that I have...get a chance to look at the back of the works you saw? He meticulously records all materials, sizes, dates, and details along the way. This work has 10 different materials... gold leaf, fur, among them..."


detail


detail

Jon says that Richard has moved to North Carolina. No other gallery or website that we are aware of.

- thanks, Jon!

...

...

Walter McConnell

Walter McConnell, Itinerant Edens: Chinoiserie, moist clay, wood, plastic, polysterene, utility lamp, 2003/2007

Walter McConnell's misty Shangri-La of moist clay encased in plastic is one of my favorite pieces in MASS MoCA's Eastern Standard: Western Artists in China.

The statement -

"McConnell's moist clay sculpture reflects China's rich artistic history as well as a fantasy image of the East. Inspired in part by his tours of classic scholar's gardens, the work investigates the way images evolve as they are translated across cultures. This imaginary landscape is taken directly from an 18th-century wallpaper pattern book created by French painter and designer Jean Baptiste Pillement. The condensation produced from the 3,000 pounds of wet clay gives the work an apparitional quality, manifesting the veil through which visitors often view a foreign place. Reminiscent of a snow globe, the work takes on a kitsch quality, referencing - on a large scale - trinkets sold to tourists, and an image of China consumed by locals and foreigners alike"

MASS MoCA now allows photography, and has started a flickr pool and a youtube site. Here is the video of Walter McConnell constructing his piece; it's less than a minute and twenty seconds... worth it!

Eastern Standard: Western Artists in China

Eastern Standard: Western Artists in China, at Mass Moca.... I was excited to see this show, as a former Western Artist in Japan (8+ yrs), but it was disappointing. I think there were only one or two artists who actually live and work in China, so the show is more like Western Artists Make Brief Visits to China and Share Many of the Same Simplistic Responses... lots and lots of repetitive photos and video (the medium of the tourist) of shipping containers and apartment blocks.

Wall texts inform that the work "references China's economic and commercial development as well as the loss of cultural and social traditions in the wake of such progress", or "this poetic work subtly reminds viewers of the environmental impact of China's new development". Those are from two different pieces, but you could almost walk around with a blindfold on and attach wall texts, it wouldn't really make much of a difference. They should maybe just all read "tsk-tsk", or "KEYWORD: Three Gorges Dam"... it would have saved some time. I can imagine the roar of the collective Chinese groan. What would happen if every person in China rolled his eyes at the same time? Would the Earth spin off it's axis???

The most off-putting inclusion is Jules de Balincourt's snooze of a painting, previously seen in his most recent Zach Feuer show (scroll down). Why is this here? Thanks for your insight. Please.

It's interesting to see what artists/gallerists (Feuer, Koenig) are evidently still interested in working with Mass Moca, despite Michelle Maccarone's lobbying against it. I suspect that all of the shows currently at Mass Moca are the most cost-effective shows possible, after all of the money spent and wasted struggling through last year's Buchel/MassMoca mess. Lots and lots of easily shipped and insured video and photography, a collector's vanity show (of work by Anselm Kiefer), Jenny Holzer's projected piece (I think Jenny has covered a lot of the costs of her show, she is awesome).

GREAT NEWS is that Mass Moca no longer prohibits photography! They've even started a flickr pool.

NEXT: i liked some of the individual work in Eastern Standard, if not the show. next i'll feature some of the artists i liked... Tobias Bernstrup, Patty Chang, Walter McConnel, Catherine Yass.

Richard Wright

Richard Wright, The colours ran, 1973-92, Mixed media on paper and glass, at BCB Art, in Hudson, NY.

Richard Wright has two framed works-on-paper at BCB Art... the frame, or at least the glass, is part of the piece... he's painted and scratched/etched onto the glass, as well as painted, collaged, and cut into the matting. The gallerist said he works on things for a looong time... this piece (detailed below) is dated 1973-92.








This is the second piece.... I wake up at 2:40 every morning, 1992-95. It has some writing along the sides -

I wake up at 2:40 every morning.
I've been having a lot of dreams.
16 September 1995.
8 January 1992.
Richard T. Wright.

I can't find any more information about this artist.

James Kalm visits Eric Sall at ATM... plus, Before and After photos

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James Kalm visits Eric Sall at ATM.

PLUS: Eric is a re-worker...


before


after


before


after

RELATED: Eric Sall 2008 ATM show reviewed in the Village Voice. Eric's LMCC studio. Nadja Sayej review of Eric's previous ATM show, for artUS.

Bryan Zanisnik... plus

Bryan Zanisnik, Vivarium, for PLUGGED IN, in Hudson NY - this was the only piece I saw, but fortunately it was one of the two I most wanted to see. Short, looped video of Bryan as a tin-foil merman in a tub, looking clueless and scared, getting watered and inspected by fish-eyed masked doctors. Studying the video of Bryan, with the monitor in a glass tank, I realized that I was acting out the role of the doctor, evaluating the vulnerable Bryan.

Michael Oatman was the second artist I specifically sought out. I could hear his piece fine, but the bright sunlight reflecting off the window prevented me from seeing anything. It sounds good.

Oatman had a great video piece in his big show at the Tang a few years ago, and was recently awarded a Steve Lehman 6 Gold Star Award! Congratulations!!


Ben Butler and Laurel Sucsy - Ben has the current show in the main space at John Davis Gallery... Laurel's show at the same gallery opens in September. My photos didn't turn out so hot, so check out Ben's site.

This is Ben Butler the sculptor, not Benjamin Butler the painter... BBSculptor has a funny story about getting mixed up with BBPainter.

Kenji Fujita + Nancy Shaver

Kenji Fujita and Nancy Shaver, untitled collaboration, 2008, at John Davis Gallery, in Hudson, NY.

This piece is included in the Nancy Shaver-curated group show in the top-floor space of the rear "carriage house" (it feels more like an old grain elevator/silo). Perfect piece for this space... all of the angles, the palette, the possibilities of function and purpose, the materials and treatment. Too good.


Kenji Fujita's debris of life and mind #2, 2008, leaning against wall in background... house paint, sculptamold, aqua-resin, fiberglass, felt, found objects, cardboard, wood and 3/4" plywood square (24 x 24").


pile of freely stacked gray boxes... they're light, just painted cardboard, or maybe empty soap boxes.


clumpy protest sign - this was in the box, i pulled it out to see if those sticks were anything.


sails. it's on casters.


tilt.

Eric Gelber on Nancy Shaver, for Artcritical.com (i found this when i googled her).

links

David Cohen talks about life as an art critic in New York City, on youtube. Bill Maynes' youtube site, which I've mentioned previously, has a number of good artist talks (Alexi Worth, Chie Fueki, Stephen Mueller, Trevor Winkfield).

Life on Mars - lots of stuff on this site, including a page of video interviews with curator Douglas Fogle and some of the artists (David Shrigley, Vija Celminsm, Matthew Monahan), which I think will be expanded. Thanks, Zipthwung.

ARTifice - listed anaba as one of it's favorite artblogs, saying -

I have to give a shout-out to the guy who started it all for me, Martin Bromirski and his blog “Anaba.” Through Anaba, I was introduced to the world of art-blogging, and I was hooked. At the time, Anaba was Richmond, Virginia based, and I loved Martin’s witty, snarky, humorous take on the RVA arts scene (or lack thereof). Posts regarding Jerry Saltz and Art Basel:Stuffys, AND the world’s first google image search sculpture, AND the Christoph Buchel saga were instant classics.

WOw... that was so nice.

John Hager - Okay, this is not art, but I read that Jenna Bush married Henry Hager... so here is a photo from when I took Henry's father, John Hager, rafting. He is a Republican, but is otherwise a nice guy, and was pretty amazing. He's a paraplegic, and went white-water rafting... that's him in the front, sitting low because his legs are useless to brace with. Plus, he was sixty-nine yrs old in this picture.

MY FLICKR - Daaang, I've been on uploading my photos to flickr for a while now, but have only just discovered the extent to which they record visitor statistics. My flickr is like a website... I didn't realize so many people were looking at the flickr pictures... the total view count for my flickr site is 320,982(!).

Top Ten most viewed photos on my flickr site are -

1. Mary Heilmann - 1,813 - this was taken at Miami Basel 2005, probably at 303's booth. So ironic in light of the Simon Greenberg e-mail... and it's a really shitty picture.
2. Thomas Hirshhorn ...at Miami Basel 2005 - 1,455.
3. Marina Abramovic .. at Miami Basel 2005 - 1,089. Titties.
4. shunga - 1,054
5. PMA's Cy Twombly room - 1,019. This photo was taken by JT Kirkland.
6. One Day In The Garden, page 4 - 950. Yo, I have made a new site for this piece.
7. One Day In The Garden, page 1 - 880.
8. Inka Essenhigh - 805. One of the thumbs-up photos. It's like the first thing that comes up in a google image search for her. Sorry, Inka... (could be worse).
9. Martin Bromirski - 785.
10. Chris Dorland - 772. Not sure why.

Alison Fox is #12, Eric Sall is #16, Allyson Mellberg is #18 - not bad out of more than 3,500 photos.

RELATED: David Cohen's artcritical.com. Coincidentally, David Cohen's most recent review for artcritical compares Jake Berthot and Lois Dodd .... both of whom are artists featured on Bill Maynes' above-mentioned youtube site. Read the review, watch the artists.

Thumbs-Up from Lois Dodd.

cosmic

backboard.


birdbath.

Kirby Krackle.

compare and contrast

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This show is a lot like this show.

- happy face balloons... yes and yes.
- clothes on racks... yes and yes.
- flannel shirts, check yes and yes.
- scattered junk and leaning hunks.
- found stand-in man, hunky and dory.
- floormats!
everyone must go = closing down sale

I made the mistake of making a (negative) comment on the Philly artblog... gallery director William Pym responded with the brilliant deduction that I would probably accept if offered a show at Fleisher-Ollman. Wow, what a Sherlock. He really got me.

Randall Sellers thankfully contributed some well-thought and smartly couched/cautious advice (comment #15).
Jerry Saltz review of Wet Pain... with some good comments.

savers

no hands harvard.

Seventeen people, and not a single hand... maybe the photographer directed them to do that?

Diagnosis: Weirdos.
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.
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303 Gallery

303 Gallery's Simon Greenberg sent Mark Barry an e-mail telling Mark to remove two photographs of Maureen Gallace paintings from his flickr site, photos he took at the 2006 Armory Show (press preview?).

hello mark -

this is simon at 303 gallery. i noticed you had an image of Maureen Gallace's work up on your flickr page - please be aware that 303 Gallery owns the copyright to the work and all public display of images, including web content. if you could kindly remove this image from your page, it would be most appreciated.

best
simon

303 Gallery is claiming to own the copyright to gallery artists' work? That's ridiculous.

TOO FUNNY: "Chelsea Shoot Themselves In The Foot"... "Chelsea’s bizarre attempts at public relations"... "Chelsea Director of Communications Simon Greenberg"... PR Week says ‘Simon Greenberg is about to embark on a major charm offensive".


Corner of Rodney Graham painting at Hauser and Wirth's Armory (2008) booth... I was photographing Christoph Buchel's Mickey Mouse. Rodney Graham is the artist currently showing at 303 Gallery, an exhibition photographed here by Brent Burket.

What would be the 303 opinion if Disney came after Buchel, for infringing on Mickey? Answer: Who cares.

The other artist whose work I photographed at Hauser and Wirth's booth was a painting by Jakub Julius Ziolkowski (scroll down), whose work I've previously photographed at 303 Gallery.

- Jakub Julian Ziolkowski, at 303 Gallery, posted to anaba 7/6/07 (scroll down).
- Inka Essenhigh, at 303 Gallery, posted to anaba 3/27/06.
- Plus, here's a link to all the 303 Gallery photos on flickr.

RELATED:
- "no photography"... of Richard Pettibone???
- C-Monster's 303 RANT.
- Louis Vuitton collaborates with Richard Prince, but sues designer Nadia Plesner, writing "as an artist yourself, we hope that you recognize the need to respect other artists' rights and Louis Vuitton's Intellectual Property rights".
- Mark Barry took my photo at the 2008 Armory show, without my knowledge, and posted it to flickr.

Richard Prince on Exhibition Prints

Brian Appel contacted Richard Prince after reading Monday's post... here is Richard Prince's response -

Brian: the exhibition prints are exactly what they are... just for exhibitions... they are so stated on the back of the print... they are in my possession and remain so... for a large exhibition like the Guggenhiem, they become invaluble because you don't neccessarily have to show them, where if you borrow a print from an collector your pretty much committed to having to exhibit that work... they are especially flexible when the exhibition has to travel for a couple of years... Not every photo was an exhibition print... anyway I hope that clears things up... they will never see the light of day outside of an exhibition... because my editions are so small, we know where every print is anyway...

Prince doesn't address the use of enlarged formats for some of the Guggenheim exhibition prints, as mentioned by Isabelle Graw.


Richard Prince, untitled (Living Rooms), 1977

(thanks, Brian)

openings

Tom Sanford, at Leo Koenig, May 9th-June 14th, with an opening reception Friday May 9th.

Check out the posters (above) advertising Tom's show... the coffee cups. They're all over the place.


Rachel Hayes, at THE LAB, May 9th- May 30th, with an opening reception Saturday May 10th. THE LAB is at the corner of 47th St and Lexington Ave.

NEWS FLASH - Eric SALL reviewed in the Village Voice (scroll down for Eric "SAUL"). Eric's LMCC studio. Nadja Sayej review of Eric's previous ATM show, for artUS.

Meridith Pingree will be showing a new kinetic sculpture in a group show at a new LES space, opening soon-ish but I don't have the exact date yet. There is an old neon sign outside of the space, which used to read Prescriptions, but the only letters that still light up say rip ions, so that is going to be the name of the space -- Rip Ions on 159 Rivington St.

Meridith's solo show at Sarah Lawrence has been extended to May 9th.

David Reed is having shows at his studio. A selection of works from 1993-2006 by Rochelle Feinstein in the studio, a painting installation by Mandolyn Wilson in the lunchroom, and an investigation of drawing with works by Nicholas Krushenick, Lee Lozano, Richard Allen Morris, Ulrike Müller, Ruth Root, John Wesley and Jack Whitten will be on view in the Office. Three poems by Bill Berkson will premiere to accompany the drawings, with a special poetry reading by Bill Berkson on May 24th at 7:30 PM.

Studio shows will be open to the public Saturday May 17th and Saturday May 24th from 1 to 4 PM, and by appointment. 506 Greenwich Street, Storefront.

PLUS - Wendy White at Leo Koenig, 6/20-8/1. The opening will be on the 20th, possibly the 19th....

Richard Dupont

Richard Dupont, at Lever House.

Nimoy

Spock plaque.

(not) on exhibition prints

Brian Appel interview with Richard Prince. Not sure when it was done, but it wasn't too long ago, because Prince references preparing for the Guggenheim show.

Appel twice expresses admiration - excerpts below- that Prince doesn't make and exhibit new prints of his old photographs. Prince doesn't say anything about the upcoming Guggenheim show's heavy use of exhibition prints.

Brian Appel - Richard, I’ve always loved the fact that your photographic editions were so small. The cowboy image from the 16th of May was from an edition of two. Traditionally, fine art photographers think nothing of going back to their negatives ten, twenty, thirty or even forty years after the original exposures are made and use photographic materials that are completely removed from the original technological conditions from which the initial images were created – in effect producing pictures that are divorced from their time frame...

When I look at your photo based artworks I always know that the image I am looking at is a print done in close proximity to the original exposure. Your ‘copy’ of someone else’s ‘original’ is in effect ‘authentically vintage’...

Richard Prince - This was a choice I made back in 1980. I was treating the photograph as an object. Always thinking about the way it was presented....

Brian Appel - I’m always cautious when I look at a fine art photographic print – trying to decipher whether it’s a ‘vintage’ or ‘printed later’ print. But with your work, the prints are always locked into the act of the original exposure and carry with them the appropriate color aging and patina of prints made at the time of their creation.

RELATED:
- my post on first noticing all of the exhibition prints at the museum.
- Isabelle Graw, Reconsidering Prince, Dec 2007 - she talks about the use of exhibition prints in the Guggenheim show, and says the Living Rooms prints of 1977 (and others?) were produced in an enlarged format for the Guggenheim show. The originals were 20x24 Ektacolor prints, each an edition of ten. I don't recall exactly what the Guggenheim displayed.
- Nancy Spector on the decision to use exhibition prints.

fantastic four

Fantastic Four - paintings, they seem kind of chalky or something, like they might be done on blackboard. Don't know who the artist is, or what information might be on the back.

From the same shop at which I found the Jeffery Beardsall works.