Art and Photography Blog

Images within Paintings at the National Gallery in DC - Part Two

Recenlty I spent several days at the US National Gallery in Washington DC. I was interested in the detials within paintings to both provide guidance for my own painting as well as works of art in themselevs. Here is the second of a thre part series on these images wth images. See if you can guess the artist. 

                           

Art Show in New York City: Revealing the Ordinary

Here is a great looking New York art show that just openned, Revealing the Ordinary, a three-person exhibit at Gallery Korea.  The opening reception is Wednesday, September 7, from 6 to 8 pm. The exhibit will run until October 10.  Gallery hours are 10 to 5, Monday through Friday.  The gallery is located at 460 Park Avenue, Sixth Floor (corner of East 57th Street), New York.

My friend, Liz Sweibel, is one of the artists. I have written about her work before. See for example, Artist Liz Sweibel’s New Web Site Is Very Inviting.

 

 

TangentProjects is going to Venice with Invasive Alien Species

My London friend Karen Ay is taking a group show, Invasive Alien Species, to Venice this summer. The exhibition will coincide with the 2011 Venice Biennale and aggregate small works to create a larger site-specific installation.

Her collective, TangentProjects, has invited a group of English and other European artists to respond to the theme of Invasive Alien Species and invade the space, “coming up with unexpected artworks, which though perhaps small and inconspicuous in the sense of individual units of work, combine and compete to create a large dynamic, visually striking, site-specific installation.”

Dates and opening times: 1–5 June & 9–12 June 2011 12.00 – 17.00

also by appointment at other times in June 2011

Opening event: 4 June 6-9pm.  Venue: Via Garibaldi 1333, Castello, Venice

TangentProjects is an independent platform for collaboration and project development.
It was established in January 2008, TangentProjects “originated out of a collective desire to create an independent platform for collaboration and project development. Finding that they often crossed paths through a variety of situations and similar interests, three artists made the decision to join forces as a way of creating opportunities for presenting their and others' projects. Circumventing the structures of the mainstream gallery scene, we act as a starting point or trajectory for exploring and finding ways to bring ideas into being.”

In addition to being involved with TangentProjects, each of the artists, Karen Ay, Helene Kazan, Steve Smith, maintains their individual art practice. Karen Ay’s art practice focuses on the “subverting of various groupings and systems by using text, objects, maps and images as agencies of making connections and re interpreting them. By juxtaposing and manipulating those elements she attempts to order, contain, re-system and re-present them in various contexts.  Notions surrounding identity/legacy, accumulated histories, and sense of place are often themes in her work.” Image on left from her site. 

I have always admired Karen’s work and have written about it before. See: Great Upcoming London Sculpture Show and Champagne Army)

 

Cambridge Art Association Holds Its 66th Annual Fall Salon

The Cambridge Art Association hosts an annual member show every Fall. I have participated in a number of them and have the micro-landscape shown below in this show. It is a 16’ x 20” acrylic painting that is part of a series I have done looking at a detail within a folded napkin.

The show is located at the CAA’s Kathryn Shultz Gallery at 25 Lowell Street in Cambridge, MA and at the University Place gallery at 124 Mt. Auburn Street. My painting is part of the University Place show. The show runs form September 10 to September 30.  The hours are Monday - Friday 9 – 6 and Saturday 9 – 1. 

 

2009 Summer Art Fair at Cambridge Art Association

The Cambridge Art Association holds an annual summer sale. It is located at University Place on 124 Mt. Auburn St. Cambridge MA 02138 hours: Monday through Friday 9am to 6pm and Saturday 9am to 1pm. The fair runs from July 10 to September 1, 2009. All items are under $300. Here are my three works in the fair.

Great Upcoming London Sculpture Show

I was in London at the end of March and had dinner with my artist friend, Karen Ay. Karen is participating in an upcoming exhibit, The Sculpture Show in London sponsored by V22 Presents. Here is a photo of the space form the show site.

V22 Presents is a series of projects produced in collaboration with artists, curators and art organisations in a variety of venues around London. For the second project V22 PRESENTS invited five artist curators to select works that engage with current developments and critiques in contemporary Sculpture. The site stated:

“The archaic term Sculpture can no longer contain the multiple directions and potentials that artists have attributed to it throughout its history. Through bringing together diverse approaches and understanding from international artists, groups and projects V22 PRESENTS: The Sculpture Show is an opportunity to engage with the diverse potentials that have come to encapsulate, and exist within, the definition Sculpture.”

The Sculpture Show 
will appear 26 April – 31 May 2009 and be open Wed – Sun 12 – 6pm at The Almond Building, The Biscuit Factory, Bermondsey, London.

It is organized into three groups. Karen Ay’s wrk is part of the Oysters Ain't which is curated by Simon Bill & Cedric Christie. They described the grouping in the following manner.

“Apparently there’s no workable, universally agreed, definition of sculpture these days. Your safest bet is to define it negatively - a sculpture can be absolutely anything in the world provided it’s not a painting…Oysters were, incidentally, until about 1850, the food of the poor. And ‘ain’t’ used to be something Gentlemen said. ‘It ain’t sculpture, damn you Sir!’ is the sort of thing they probably used to say. Now, of course, all that’s changed. “

I wish I got get back to see it and recommend it to anyone in London at the time. You can see Karen’s work at her new Karen Ay web site.

New Orleans Provides Outdoor Art on a Big Scale

The New York Times recently covered what is billed as the largest exhibition of contemporary art ever held on American soil – see New Orleans Rising, by Hammer and Art. I have written about the situation in New Orleans, my home town, after several visits. See New Orleans Update Part One: the Paradox of Two Cities (2006) and New Orleans Update 2007 Part One: the Paradox of Two Cities Remains.

This event, Prospect.1 New Orleans, a new art biennial that opened there on October 28 and continue through Jan. 18. There is a roster of 81 artists and a projected 50,000 visitors from out of town. This would be a good thing for the local economy. Here are some expamples:

“Some of the art refers directly to Hurricane Katrina, like Ms. Mutu’s “ghost house,” which sits on the property of an elderly woman whose attempts to rebuild were stymied by a vanishing contractor. But most of it does not have to. In a shedlike community center a few blocks from the ghost house, the New York artist Janine Antoni has deposited a “soft wrecking ball” made of lead and scarred by the act of demolition. Nearby, the Chilean artist Sebastián Preece has excavated the foundation of a Lower Ninth Ward house and transplanted it elsewhere. Adam Cvijanovic, another New York artist, has taken a page from traditional New Orleans style and, in an unused house, installed a custom wallpaper that presents a lavish scene of a waterlogged swamp with no humans in sight…Miguel Palma, a Portuguese artist, is building a modified Higgins boat, a World War II vessel manufactured in New Orleans that, in Mr. Palma’s version, contains a mini-tsunami.”

Let’s hope they do it in style. Hundreds of residents have volunteered to act as docents, provide exhibition sites (admission to all events is free) and assist the artists. There are a number of related art events with local artists going on at the same time. Nine of 81 in the exhibit are from Louisiana. I would like to get down there to see this experiment.

Contemplative Show at Montserrat - Many Kinds of Nothing

Here is an interesting art show, Many Kinds of Nothing, to take in on the North Shore of Boston. As the site states, “The sculptures and photographs in Many Kinds of Nothing represent the act of meditation. They inspire contemplation with no specific narrative or objective and unveil things that are normally overlooked. This exhibit calls for viewers to physically and conceptually engage with the artwork and be in the moment.” The illustrations look very interesting and evoke the theme. I have been meaning to get up there as I know one of the artists and certainly plan to see it before it ends.

Randi Hopkins of the Boston Phoenix wrote, "Subtle, largely non-representational works explore the kind of contemplative spiritual states that we could all use a bit more of in our lives, in the understated “MANY KINDS OF NOTHING,” She goes to say on the works on display "promise an enlightening experience and a bit of respite from the clatter of the usual. This show looks like a sleeper, in the best sense of the word."

Many Kinds of Nothing is at the Montserrat gallery at the Montserrat College of Art, 23 Essex Street
Beverly, MA. The show runs until October 26. The gallery is open M, T, W, and F 10-5, Th 10-8, and Sat 12-5. The artists are: Roni Horn (New York), Nancy Murphy Spicer (Bristol, UK), Dan Senn (Portland, OR) and Liz Sweibel (Brooklyn, NY). It is curated by Shana Dumont. My friend Liz Sweibel will give a public talk on her work on October 15.

Cambridge Art Association 64th Annual Fall Salon

The Cambridge Art Association is now running its 64th annual Fall Salon in two locations. There are some works at the Kathryn Schultz Gallery and offices: 25 Lowell St. Cambridge MA 02138 
hours: Tuesday through Saturday 11am to 5pm. Also other works are at the university place gallery: 124 Mt. Auburn St. Cambridge MA 02138 
hours: Monday through Friday 9am to 6pm and Saturday 9am to 1pm. I have a painting at the Kathryn Schultz Gallery. It is a 24” by 30” acrylic as seen below.

The Cambridge Art Association (CAA), began in 1944 when some artists got together to auction their art as a way of contributing to the war effort Today, it consists of over 500 juried artist members - photographers, printmakers, painters, sculptors, textile artists, and glass makers - and a supporting group of Friend Members. The purpose of the organization is to exhibit art, support local artists, and create opportunities for art education and appreciation. I am pleased to be part of this group and have learned a lot from my fellow members.

Summer Art Fair - Cambridge Art Association

I am still on break but wanted to let you know about this show. The Cambridge Art Association will host its annual summer art fair at University Place, 124 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA from July 3 to September 3. It is in the lobby at the University Place office building so it is open during all lobby hours, Monday through Friday 9am to 6pm and Saturday 9am to 1pm. There is parking underneath the building. All works are priced at $300 or under. The phone for the Cambridge Art Association is 617.876.0246. I have four paintings in the show as seen below. Stop by.