More fences...

Cover of November 2008 Art in America
Tsibi Geva, Cafiya 25, 1990
Mixed media on canvas, 240x178cm

Alexandra Olsen

Evan Gruzis - found here.

Driss Oudahi “fences” 2008 oil on canvas, 67×71 inchesDriss Oudahi “fences” 2008 oil on canvas, 67×71 inches
Sarah Morris, "Aluminum Fence", Acrylic on Canvas, 72" x 72", 1997 (sorry I couldn't find a higher res version)

Exclusive Interview: Leah Giberson

Slide, 8"x 8" x 2"Near You (one), 6x6"

Approaching

Here's another minutiae exclusive interview with Leah Giberson:

Leah, I came across your work through Tiny Showcase, where you also found mine. We share a mutual fascination for suburban homes as subject matter. As you have mentioned on your site, you did not grow up in suburban surroundings. Would you care to elaborate about how you became attracted to suburban settings, or perhaps how your work has evolved into choosing these subjects?

I was raised by artists in an old farmhouse deep in the woods of NH. The suburbs were both foreign and intriguing to me - I imagined that was where normal people lived. I coveted these imagined worlds of wall-to-wall carpeting and air conditioning, where the kids were allowed to eat sugar cereal, watch lots of TV and had rec rooms to play in. I was sure that the moms kept clean houses, cooked with microwaves, styled their hair and wore make up and the dads kept the lawns perfectly mowed, taught their kids to play sports and went to an office to work. Among my many naive assumptions, the biggest was that the families who lived in these homes had no worries and their lives were predictable.

There seems to be an undercurrent of optimism or idealism in your works – through the clear blue skies and manicured lawns especially. In your statement, you mentioned that you’d like to “imagine what its like to call these places ‘home’”, and that it might not be what it “appears to be”. What do you mean by that?

As an adult, I now realize that a perfectly groomed lawn or manicured hedge is not a reliable barometer of happiness within a home. It is this tension between the seemingly intact clean surface and the discord pushing from beneath or looming off stage that I am drawn to in my own work and I suppose, in my own life as well. I am a worrier by nature and am always on the lookout for inevitable disappointment and loss in my own life. Strangely enough I am also unreasonably optimistic and hopeful and am the first to admit that I have very selective memory, focusing more on what I want to remember and minimizing the harder times. It is this kind of editing that I embrace in my work. None of us can remember every detail of our lives, so we embellish some moments and ignore others in an attempt to make sense of and find meaning in our experiences.

I see that your works incorporate more than just paint on canvas – listing digital prints and embroidery thread as materials. Could you tell us more about your process?

I begin with an archival print of a photograph, which I adhere - either whole or cut up - to a loose piece of canvas. I paint out much of what would give the image a geographic specificity and distill the elements to what feels essential to me. When the painting is very close to completion, I sometimes embroider sections along the edge of the canvas before adhering it to a wooden panel. I then continue the painting beyond the edge of the canvas onto the wooden surface, including its sides. The result is a very textured surface full of surprises as you get up close to it. By the time I am done, there is very little (if any) of the original picture left visible. By painting over the original "fact" of the photograph, I simplify and cover up some parts and emphasize others in an attempt to unearth an arguably truer underlying story.

Like much of my own work, you also choose to limit or eliminate human subjects in these suburban settings – what do you say when people ask you questions like “Where are all the people?” (A question I am also asked frequently)

In reality, these people are rarely there outside their homes or places of work. I don't paint them out. I guess they're probably inside or out running errands. I find most of these scenes heartbreakingly lonely. Even when there are people in my images, they are rarely truly engaged with one another - rather it seems almost coincidental that they are there at the same time.

Who or what are your artistic influences currently?

I grew up looking at the work of Richard Diebenkorn, Gorden Matta Clark and Ed Ruscha and find that their work still resonates with me. These days, however, I find the most inspiration by looking at the work of photographers. Carlo Van de Roer and Alec Soth are couple of my favorites at the moment, but I've also discovered some really incredible work on flickr and have actually started a series of paintings based on photographs that I've found there. With the permission of the photographers, I've made paintings based on the work of flickr members, Brad McMurray, Dennis Wade, David K, George Pollard and Kitty Dukane and am working on pieces by Manny Diller and Bully Rook.

Finally I must say that your work hits a deep emotional chord with me. If I flew above the houses in my own paintings, I imagine they would look something like your images. They are so lonely and brave as they cling to one another by a the road or whatever other tenuous connections they can find.

Do you have any upcoming shows our announcements you would like to share?

I am pleased to announce that I will have another print coming out with Tiny Showcase. This time it will be one of their four seasonal prints for the winter. Each of the four prints will be available as an open edition, but available only for a limited amount of time. The collection will be unveiled the day after Thanksgiving, when they will announce it first (as they do) to their email list. http://www.tinyshowcase.com

My solo show at Office PDX in Portland just came down, but I have a few group shows coming up.

Dec 2- 28, 2008
Grand Small Works Show
Fuel Collection in Philadelphia, PA
http://www.fuelcollection.com/

December 12, 6-11pm
Design Nearby one-night-exhibition and sale
Pink Comma gallery in Boston
http://www.designnearby.com/
http://www.pinkcomma.com/

February 2009
Enormous Tiny Art V
Nahcotta in Portsmouth NH
https://www.enormoustinyart.com/
nahcotta.blogspot.com/

July 2009
2 person show
Nahcotta in Portsmouth NH
nahcotta.blogspot.com/

Tammy Urich opening tonight

My cousin, Tammy Urich will be showing these works at the BFA Thesis show that opens tonight. Here's the info:

META: BFA Thesis Exhibition at the Center for Visual Arts
Nov 21-22 – Dec 3-11, 2008

Opening Reception | Friday, November 21, 6-10pm

The graduating students from the Department of Art at Metropolitan State College of Denver are proud to present a collaborative creation, Meta. The BFA thesis exhibition will feature a mix of twenty-eight of Denver’s up and coming artistic talents in sculpture, installation, drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, mixed media, video/digital art and ceramics.

Leslie Mutchler

Print work by Leslie Mutchler
Untitled (Manufactured Utopia I: High Density Housing). 2008. Digital print on Somerset paper. 60” x 80”. (Constructed from a single shelving unit from the Pottery Barn furniture collection).
Untitled (Elevated Cabinet). 2007. Digital print on Somerset paper. 30” x 40”

Untitled (Green Shelves in Forced Perspective). 2007. Digital print on Somerset paper. 40” x 40”

Lecture Tonight - Jonas Burgert

photo from thisweekindenver

Lecture starts at 7:00 pm in the Sharp Auditorium at the Denver Art Museum’s Frederic C. Hamilton Building. Doors open at 6:00 pm.

Individual lectures: $8 students, $12 DAMC members & artists, $15 DAM members, $18 non-members.

Amze Emmons

Local artist Mindy Bray recently recommended a colleague of hers from grad school named Amze Emmons and I'm glad she did - he has a lot of great works on his site including some exceptional prints.

Ghost Repeater
Graphite, acrylic, oil on canvas, 20x24” 2005
Utopian Residue
Panel, 20x24” 2008
Fallings Opposite, 2nd state
Intaglio, silkscreen, 18x24” 2005

Damien Hirst...

photo by flickr member knehte(r)gek

Interesting article in the Independent that says, "just months after the success of a ground-breaking sale at Sotheby's that brought him nearly £100m, Hirst has described the art market as over-priced, and welcomed the prospect of selling his work at cheaper rates in the present climate of recession." I guess art really does reflect the times.

I'm going to the MCA this week to see the Hirst exhibit, and I'm really looking forward to it.

On the rocks

Here are a few images I took in Rocky Mountain National Park this weekend.

Opening Photos

Here's a couple of snaps of the opening before everyone showed up. We had a great turn out and a really fun night although you wouldn't know it from these photos:

TONIGHT!

pdf ecard

When: Opening Tonight! Friday November 14, 2008 from 6-9 pm

Show runs through January 10, 2009

Regular weekly hours. Tuesday-Saturday 12-5

Where: 227 Broadway, Denver, CO 80203

Not live

These are screen captures of web-cams at night. Here are the live versions.

Screen Tests to DVD

Trailer for 13 Most Beautiful... Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests, a DVD release featuring 13 of Warhol's classic silent film portraits. This will be the first ever authorized release of Warhol's films on DVD.

Prints by Christopher Pratt

Christopher Pratt, Winter Moon, 1987, colour serigraph on Rising Museum board, 52.9 x 101.5 cm; image: 38 x 87.5 cm
Christopher Pratt, Light Northeast, 1979, colour serigraph on illustration board, 50.6 x 50.4 cm; image: 38 x 43.7 cm

Christopher Pratt, Good Friday,1973, colour serigraph on illustration board, 66 x 72.2 cm; screen: 50.8 x 58.2 cm

Julian Lee talks about his work

Julian Lee, Vorstadt, Mixed Media on Canvas (135 x 105cm)

I had some recent correspondence with Frankfurt, Germany-based artist Julian Lee that he allowed me to pass on. Keep an eye on his site for new works. I've blogged about Lee's work previously and he told me a little more about it, writing;

"Like most Artists I’m not exactly sure what I paint, as what I think they mean can mean something entirely different to someone else. One of the wonderful aspects of the language of painting.

Roughly speaking though, I just start in the studio painting, mostly from memory, increasingly so, or occasionally using photos as reference points for subjects such as nature, or the way a particular building looked etc.

Then the paintings go through all types of transformations often ending up entirely different as to what I imagined. The hard work comes (as I’m sure you know) in trying to objectively analyze the work as to what level it communicates itself.

As for the content. The closet I can come to clarifying what they are about, is what the great Willem de Kooning once claimed as his slipping glimpses. The moment the minds eye makes a snapshot of a place or situation and stores it away in the subconscious. That first de-bunking vision is something I search for constantly and try to bring into the work.

A lot of people note in my work of a certain kind of angst, or solitude, which I take as my own search for some spiritual understanding of the troubled world we live in today.

I do like to leave the works open to interpretation though..."

Updates

I just finished updating a lot of things on my dot com -including the press links and images, the exhibition postcards, and the exhibitions section. Speaking of press - Dear Ada just posted about my new works, writing, "“I really do adore the subject matter he explores, the architecture and landscapes of modern life, all beautifully rendered and conceived. It doesn’t get much better than this as far as I’m concerned.”

"Stills"

I am back. I dropped off the works yesterday and I'm happy to unveil them and return to blogging this week. You may recognize a few but there are ten new works in the show. Here they are:

"Run-on Sentence", Acrylic on Canvas, 16x20"

"A lot of little rain", Acrylic and Oil on Canvas, 16x20"

"There, There", Acrylic on Panel, 24x36""Overpass", Acrylic on Panel, 36x96"

"Not Light, But Darkness Visible", Acrylic on Canvas, 16x20"

"Somnambulism", Acrylic on Canvas, 12x12"
"View From A Train", Acrylic and Oil on Canvas, 16x20"

"Bedlam", Acrylic and Oil on Canvas, 16x20""A Boundary, Not A Thing", Acrylic and Oil on Panel, 24x36"

"Central City", Acrylic on Panel, 24x36"

"Nothing is Fair or Good Alone", Acrylic on Canvas, 12x12"