Time of the Season

Bierstadt Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park - photo by me.

The park was quiet this weekend and a little cooler than we expected. This was a new hike for us -with quite a dramatic view when we reached the lake (pictured above). On our hike up, we passed a lot of evidence of moose, but no sightings. There were of course lots of elk and deer grazing in the meadows and the aspen trees had fresh green leaves:

 

 

photo by Ernest Greene of Washed Out

good studio listening:

If you really like the Gimu album - buy it for just a five buck download (or a $7.50 tape) and support a Fort Wayne, Indiana label (my home town!).

Aron Dubois

Aron Dubois

"Doors Open Denver"

As part of "Doors Open Denver", we visited the Elitch Gardens Historic Theater in the Highlands neighborhood of Denver. According to their site, "The Elitch Theatre has been a vital part of Colorado’s cultural landscape since its inception in 1891. Having the honor of being Colorado’s first cultural center, the Elitch Theatre was home to the oldest summer stock theatre in America and hosted the screening of Colorado’s first moving picture in 1905. Many pioneers and famous faces of the theatre industry such as Grace Kelly, Douglas Fairbanks and Edward G. Robinson, to name a few, passed through this iconic American playhouse at one point in their career. " It is now undergoing fundraising efforts for restoration.

(historic photo via Elitch Gardens Historic Theatre website)

Color photos by me.

Spring

Here are a couple of arrangements my middle school students made based on the work of Andy Goldsworthy. Photos edited on Befunky.

From the Archive

This is an aerial photo I took in 2009 that I've not uploaded previously - look at it big.

Never Ending Hike

Taken in Natural Bridges National Monument - music added (by Ryonkt)

Photos by Astrid Kruse Jensen

Astrid Kruse Jensen

Spring mix

for the first day of Spring:

Spring 2012 from nateabels on 8tracks.

Got that on tape

Here it is 2012, and I'm writing about cassette tapes. New music on cassette... who would have thought? In the last couple of years quite a few small tape labels have been springing up - mostly making small editioned tapes in numbers of fifty to one hundred. The appeal of this format is the cost (most I've bought have been around $4-6 with shipping), the fuzz/grain of the tape, and of course probably a little nostalgia. There's also some appeal to having an object rather than just digital files. Personally, I like to bring my little tape player with us camping and on road trips.

I don't think every new album would sound good on tape, but this format is favorable to a lot of the music coming out on cassette. Most of the music I buy on tape is quiet, ambient, drone, field recordings, etc and are well suited to the format. Recently I purchased a couple from Avant Archive - who is selling any of their tapes made prior to this year for half off (making them five bucks with shipping within the US). The Olli Aarni tape is beautiful - I highly recommend it. If you don't have a tape player you can get one at a thrift store for a few dollars- so all together you would have the tape, and the tape player for the price of one LP. If you're not sold on the idea of going back to tapes, Avant Archive offers their albums in digital formats as well (The Olli Aarni album is only $3).

A few other tape labels doing good work that I'd recommend include Bridgetown Records, Wil-ru recording company (who has the awesome Morriconez tape), Sweat Lodge Guru, Hooker Vision, Space Slave Editions, Fadeaway Tapes, Goldtimers tapes, and Mirror Universe (who released the new War on Drugs album with an exclusive b-side).

Paintings by Alexander Tinei

Alexander Tinei, Hair, 2012. 100 x 80 cm. Oil on canvas

Def ace is weeping. 2009. 120 x 100 cm. Oil on canvas (Nick Cave)

and one of Tinei's I saw at the Armory show Friday:

Thomas Hylander

Cellar Door, 2011, Acrylic on Canvas, 40x30cm

Soffit, 2011, Acrylic on Canvas, 35x45 cm

Singing In Your Sleep, 2007, acrylic on canvas, 40.5 x 35.5 cm

Milk, 2006, acrylic on canvas, 45 x 35 cm

Pip of the Core, 2012, Acrylic on Canvas, 60x50 cm (my photo from the Armory show in NY)

other photos from David Risley gallery and Vilma Gold

New Album art for Black Swan

The album art is a combination of my drawing ("Half-Seeing") and a moon/text added by Black Swan. Get a preview of the exceptional new album here:

A few highlights from NY

I spent the weekend at the art fairs in NY - visiting the Armory, Volta, Scope and the Dependent. As with any art fair(s), there is a huge range of work in terms of style, subject matter, quality, etc. The fairs were bustling and everyone you asked had a different opinion about which was best (my favorite was Volta). Overall, it was a great trip. Here are a few highlights:

Friend and fellow SCAD grad, Michael Scoggin's show at Freight and Volume

Alec Soth at Sean Kelly -where I also was able to watch the documentary "Somewhere to Disappear" :



The Soth show was my favorite gallery show - Soth describes it this way; "It's not really about running away, it's about having the desire to run away"

I liked these quiet, dry, semi-abstract paintings in the Norwegian section of the Armory (my favorite section) by Thomas Hylander ( pictured: "Donder", 2012, Acrylic on Canvas 16x20")

Fritjof Nansen by Gisle Harr at No gallery.

There were a lot of photographers in the fairs, but these dream-like painterly photographs by German photographer Stefan Krauth were my favorites- with all kinds of grain/dust/scratches


This painting (left) by Niall McClelland was a memorable one from Scope ("Trash Bulbs 1", 2011; aerosol paint and broken light bulbs on raw canvas; 56 x 40 inches) via Envoy Enterprises

Certainly there was a lot more art than I'm picturing here- I should also probably say that a lot of the great work being shown/made here in Denver easily stood up to what was being exhibited in the art fairs in NY - so you don't have to travel far to see great art. On that note, check out Mindy Bray's current exhibit at Rule!

New Mix

March 2012 from nateabels on 8tracks. - I know it's not quite March, but close enough.

Mamma Andersson

Dazzle, 2011
Mixed media on panel, 99x184.5 cm
Doldrums, 2011
Mixed media on panel, 107x195 cm
Ramble On, 2011
Mixed media on panel, 111,5x228,5 cm

Images via Galleri Magnus Karlsson exhibit, "Dog Days".

My good friend Jason Stopa had the opportunity to interview the exceptional painter Mamma Andersson for NY Arts Magazine recently and the result is a fascinating insight into her work and process. One particular part of the interview stuck with me, in which Andersson says,

"It is just daily life that interests me, all those days that just go on. It is in them that great events take place, right in front of us, but we hardly notice them. At its best, we understand afterwards what happened. It applies to love, degradation, persecution, actually everything. Suddenly, it is summer and we never noticed that spring passed."

Opening Friday

Opening February 24, 2012 at Hinterland
1st Friday March 2
running through March 16

Song of the Day

The new Damien Jurado album came out yesterday - highly recommended.

Art Inspiration of Late

Ana Cabaleiro

Merlin James

Jason Stopa, Winter Jacket (for nathan), Oil on Canvas, 2012.

Carsten Nicolai, Pionier I, 2011. Wind machine, panels, parachute, dimensions variable.

“Salome,” by Henry Ossawa Tanner

New Work, News

Artopia went well - I exhibited a dozen new or never-before-shown works for a little over three hours. It was a little crazy, but overall -a good motivation to get new works finished. Here's a few:

“Untitled”, Acrylic on Canvas, 16x20”

“Somewhere when your heart glowed the hope", Acrylic on Canvas, 18x24"

"Gathering Light",16x20", Acrylic on Canvas

"Attic Ghost”, Acrylic on Canvas, 16x20”

And a (cropped) view of the display. I'll be back to posting fairly regularly now - lots to share. Thanks for your patience.