Katherine Lubar

Katherine Lubar

Museum
(2005)
122 x 111 cm
gloss on panel Light Installation

(2005)
overhead projector and wall

Box Painting

Fellow cardboard box painting enthusiast Wes Freese painted this:

I painted this :

Nathan Abels, (untitled), 20x16" Acrylic and Mylar on Panel

Music Video of the Week

Nosajthing, "Acquarium"

This video is very sweet. I love the song - it balances organic and digital sounds very well.

New Aerial Photos

I got a few good snaps yesterday morning:

Symphony in Gray

Symphony in Gray (2nd Movement)

New Exhibition = "Ecocentric"

RULE Gallery is pleased to present a group exhibition Ecocentric. The exhibition runs Friday, August 8th through Saturday, September 13th, 2008. I will be showing three works from my most recent show called "A Blur Defines It".

A selection of the artists that will be included in the exhibition: include:

Nathan Abels

Hanno Ahrens

Kim Dickey

Mary Ehrin

Jacob Fiege

Nancy Jeffrey

Heidi Jung

Ted Kincaid
Yoshitomo Saito

Busy Busy

I've been blogging a little less lately trying to finish up a painting. It's based off of this photo:

And I thought there were elements of this image that reminded me of some of of my favorite abstractionists. For example, look at the fence section at the bottom of the image - it reminds me of a Agnes Martin grid or one of Frank Stella's monochromatic striped compositions:

Agnes Martin

Frank Stella (detail) photo by B-Mer

And I thought the roof sections reminded me of a Robert Motherwell painting - this may be a little more of a stretch or more difficult to see, but I've blurred the photo to make it more pronounced:

more blurred:

cropped in:

Robert MotherwellRobert Motherwell

I know it does not look just like a Motherwell, but I think the roof has a similar visual rhythm. Well that's what I see anyway...

Rain

It is finally raining here in Denver, and I'm a feeling a little drowsy, so I'll just refer you to some archived posts featuring art about rain -

Kana Tanaka "Passages in the Rain 2"

and

David Fried Rainscapes

Artists Studios

I think you can tell a lot about an artists by their studio - things they find attractive, their resources, and even a little about their personalities. It may be no surprise then that Remington's studio is filled with western artifacts and Vija Celmins has a spare, white studio. I recently relocated my own studio from the dining room to the kitchen nook which is a bit of a downsize but adequate. I did a post awhile ago about several of my studio manifestations here.

Frederic Remington's studio installed in the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, WY
- image via red ravine

Josh Keyes studio (via Fecal Face)

Vija Celmin's studio

Sigmar Polke's studio

Carla Klein's studio

Alumni Interview

University of St. Francis, BroadStrokes Vol. IX, Issue I.

Everything you never knew you cared to know about me. Ha ha.

Instant Crits!

Frame from Daniel Clowe's "Art School Confidential" comic

The Instant Critique Phrase Generator (found via C-Monster) can give you the input and vocabulary you've been looking for! All the art-speak jargon a person could ever want! No more sitting around in a quiet room postulating artists intentions to smooth jazz or hipster background noise (ala Sigur Ros) - just type in a few numbers and bingo! - great phrases like this:

"I'm surprised that no one's mentioned yet that the metaphorical resonance of the facture visually and conceptually activates a participation in the critical dialogue of the 90s. "

or

"I find this work menacing/playful because of the way the reductive quality of the Egyptian motifs notates the exploration of montage elements. "

or

"It's difficult to enter into this work because of how the mechanical mark-making of the figurative-narrative line-space matrix spatially undermines the substructure of critical thinking."

see also::

Impenetrable Prose from the Whitney Biennial

and

Artists Forced to Explain Modern Art, Critics Complain

Upcoming...

Here's a sneak peek of a print that I'll be making from another drawing - through POVevolving out of LA. Click image for a great online catalog:

Lessons of Darkness

I watched "Lessons of Darkness" on Netflix - Watch Instantly (great feature) and it was breathtaking. It is an absolutely stunning cinematic experience. The movie is from 1992, so by no means is this new news, but it was new to me and perhaps new to whomever is reading this. It is about the aftermath of the first Gulf War and the Kuwaiti oil fires, but has very little in the way of narration or dialog. Nearly the entire movie is filled with dramatic, beautifully bleak aerial shots of the fires, the oil drenched landscape, and the workers who are trying to put out the fires. At one point, the narrator (Herzog) introduces a perplexing change of events "Two figures are approaching an oil well. One of them holds a lighted torch. What are they up to? Are they going to rekindle the blaze? Is life without fire become unbearable for them?... Others, seized by madness, follow suit. Now they are content. Now there is something to extinguish again."

I highly recommend this film. If you enjoyed Baraka, or the Planet Earth series - you would surely enjoy this film as well. At only about 45 minutes, you've got nothing to lose.

Found Photos of the Day

I went to the flea market this morning and it was very hot - but I did get a photo album with these photos in it (among many others). Click for hi-res versions:

(very Colorado)

Check out his Snow White Tie

Another Music Video

"Electric Feel" by MGMT (click image for hi-res mov)
Get your weekend started right.

Out Tomorrow!

The first issue of the new magazine Modern in Denver comes out tomorrow and has a feature about my work:

Great Opening Tomorrow!

Kay Tuttle will be showing Lost and Found, An art show consisting of paintings on wood, drawings on found Victorian prints, and a collaborative series of drawings between Kay and her father, Sam Tuttle This show will be at Ironton Gallery 3636 Chestnut, Denver, CO 80216 303.297.8626, Dates: July 18, 2008-August 16, 2008, Opening Reception Friday July 18, 2008 7pm -10 pm

Gallery hours,10-4 mon-fri,and Saturdays 12-4

Coffee and Donuts with the artist: Saturday August 2^nd, 12-4,

1^st Friday hours: Friday Aug 1^st, 6-10 pm,

Closing Party Saturday August 16, 12-4pm Desserts I Stressed, Desserts and Drawing Exquisite Corpses , paper and pens supplied

Music Video of the Day

Excepter, "Sunrise"
video by "fingered"

From the album "Debt Dept" on Paw Tracks.

I'm a sucker for time-lapse.

Note to Self

Read less apocalyptic predictions or contemporary accounts of America without cheap fossil fuels (and take a break from the documentaries too).

My Parents

I've been meaning to mention this on my blog for some time now - I made a website/blog for my parents (semi) recently that showcases their art and photography. As previously mentioned, I am very fortunate and thankful to come from artistically inclined families on both sides. My parents express their art in different ways, mostly because of the contrast of their right-brained/left-brained personalities. My Dad has been making great doodle/drawings on meeting notes for years, and we've finally started documenting them. My Mom works a lot with collage and multi-media. Check out their work!

A Collage by my Mom
One of my Dad's drawings

Debbie Carlos Photography

Nice somber photographs by Debbie Carlos:

Erin McSavaney and Carla Klein

I really enjoy these night-time warehouse paintings by Erin McSavaney- they remind me of Carla Klein's work a little, but softer and less brushy.

Erin McSavaney

Carla Klein170 X 300 CM / 66.98 X 118.2 INCHES

180 X 290 CM / 70.92 X 114.26 INCHES

Lonesome Jim

I watched Steve Buschemi's film "Lonesome Jim" again last night. I liked it even more the second time. I think I was bogged down by the depressing tone of the movie last time and didn't notice how much sublte humor there is in this movie. Sure, Jim (Casey Affleck - the much more talented brother of the no-talent hack named Ben Affleck) and his brother Tim (played by Kevin Corrigan) in the movie both see little reason to live, but somehow there is a hopeful spirit to the movie. It is exceptionally acted and very humble in its presentation. It was filmed in Goshen, Indiana - a town not far from where I grew up, so the landscape of the film is very nostalgic for me as well. The movie appears to have been filmed in the late-fall/early winter months because the grey cloud that settles over Indiana for most of the winter clearly effected the lighting in the film. As director, Buschemi doesn't fight the low-contrast - in fact the mellow tones of the movie visually accompany Jim's character well. I would highly recommend this film.