Scratch the Earth

Via "We Make Money Not Art" I found out about the G-ONE sonic surfing by satellite. From the G-ONE website: "The G-ONE (Global Orbit Navigation Engine) invites you to virtually hop on a satellite and scratch across the Earth's topography, just as the needle of a record player scratches across a record." The results can be heard on their podcasts - and amount to different variations of white-noise. So the audio of the line or "scratch" between two place is somewhat dull, the idea is really interesting. And in April you can actually have custom vinyl records made of the journey of your choice. I like to imagine each custom created vinyl record with tiny microscopic bumps representing a building or mountain or street or something. It reminds me of that old Lauren Hill video for "Everything is Everything."

Documenting Movement ; Process Based Mark Making

Issue number 6 of McSweeney's magazine had an art theme and a cd made by They Might Be Giants to accompany it. It's a clever concept with a small notation on each page for the short ditty on the cd the goes with whichever story or image. In that issue, they featured the art of Dave Ford, who did a body of work based on the random movements of suspended pencils inside of a box truck. To quote his website, his process is as follows, " Plastic bottles with penciled tips are hung points down from a web of straps in the back of a truck. The pendulums draw on paper mounted on the floor as the truck travels." Here are two process images and two images of the results:

(Detail)

First Large Scale and Long Distance Truck Drawing, by Dave Ford

He has done other works documenting movement in mailed packages and door-driven drawings. This type of work reminded me of another artist doing similar work in the late 70s on a smaller scale. William Anastasi did a series of "Subway Drawings" at this time - Pamela Lee explains his process:

"Sitting with a pencil in each hand and a drawing board on his lap, his elbows at an angle of 90 degrees, his shoulders away from the back rest, Anastasi was operating as a seismograph, allowing the rhythm of the moving train - its starts, stops and turns, accelerations and decelerations, to be transformed into lines on paper. This signifies not only the internalization of chance in a work but furthermore the phenomenological process:..."it is an art object that expresses the physicality of its making." (Pamela Lee)

William Anastasi, Subway Drawing, Bus 3-10.06 13:40 els.

There's more on these works via rodcorp blog, who rightfully compares process/chance based works like these to important works by Marcel DuChamp like "Three Standard Stoppages."

I would like to round out this post with another artist who depends on the "physicality of making", Luke Homitsky. Luke is a friend of mine from Savannah who is currently doing a series of "body movement documetation" in China using a similarly removed processes to the above mentioned artists. Luke built a device that wears like a back-pack and has a freely suspended marker which records his body movements. The results are random, unpredictable and quite expressive looking.

Luke Homitsky, 30 minutes teaching art class permanent marker on paper 50cm x 65cm 2006

The freedom of these works is inspiring to me, especially after masking off lines on tedious paintings.

Cal Lane Art and Laser Cut Design

Cal Lane, "Shovels", 2005

Cal Lane, "Wheel Barrel", 2005

There's a clever juxtoposition of fragility/strength and the characteristics of work in these pieces. They look great in the gallery setting from her Foley Gallery show, but I've also been interested in laser cut design elements for modern interiors. Here are a few interesting examples:


"Between Two Chairs" (2002) designed for the invite only competition to give form to a chair for his royal highness the crown prince of Denmark. Made of laser cut metal frame and water cut rubber.I also like these laser cut felt rugs by Liora Manne in various sizes and colors.


And I love these shelves by Susan Bradley from her "Creep" series of tables and shelves. She also does interesting "outdoor wallpaper" and other laser cut pieces.

Editioned Art and Photography - Lumas and Artocracy

I discovered Lumas Editions at Art Chicago a couple of years ago. They are based in NY and according to their site,

"We created LUMAS with the hope of making the art market more accessible and stirring our passion for photography in a new generation of collectors. With LUMAS, we aspired towards creating a means for experiencing and owning exceptional art photography. Together with an esteemed curatorial board, the LUMAS team spent two years putting together our current, diverse and exciting portfolio.

We offer selected works by these artists as hand-signed original photographs. These editions normally range from 75 to 150 prints, some being available even in full-wall sizes. This allows us to make high quality art photographs affordable to everyone."

Anne Heinlein, from the "Combat Zone" series, "Feld #1"

They update their site and artists frequently and have a huge range of work that is of much higher quality than most places that do editions. I could post a lot of their artists as persons of interest - but go to their site and take a look around. The prints still aren't cheap - but they are reasonable. If you're looking for something more affordable - check out this new site:

Artocracy

Ryan Helsel, "Untitled 10"

At Artocracy you can find prints as cheap as $20-40, with a variety of framing and printing options. Buy Art!

My New Work

Nathan Abels, All Untitled (Contrails) . All three are 20x16" Acrylic on Panel.

Image of the Day - Jannis Kounellis

Information on Jannis Kounellis is somewhat scarce online. Go to the library and check out a book on him. I just wanted to post this image because it is probably one of the most memorable pieces I've seen in years. I was fortunate enough to see this at the Scottish National Museum of Modern Art. The photos I could find are c/o Gerard on Flickr. Beautiful piece. The green patina of the bells is lost from this being a black and white photo - but try to imagine. There was nothing else in the room (a large room). I love this untitled piece.

Casting Call - Art involving cast multiples

Yesterday I went to Rule Gallery downtown to see the Yoshitomo Saito exhibition. Rule had a very well installed, minimal presentation of years of Saito's work. I read about the "108 Cranes" exhibition in the Westword write up this week and it was well worth seeing in person. He cast 108 square canvases in bronze, each with a slightly different patina. They were hung all down the left wall of the gallery and along the back - uniformly spaced, well lit, and in line. The exhibition was very peaceful and even meditative.

"108 Cranes" Installation view courtesy of Rule Gallery

In the middle of the gallery floor were several bronze cast wooden boxes, and cast pillows:

Pillow no. 25, 1995, Bronze with patina, 5.5 x 33 x 35 inches.
Pillow no. 13, 1995, Bronze with patina, 10 x 12 x 20 inches.
Pillow no. 20, 1995, Bronze with patina, 5 x 15.5 x 11 inches.

In another exhibition from last month's First Friday the art of Chris Faller involved casting every imaginable container for bottled water. The containers were cast in ceramic and glazed with a simple clear glaze - allowing the white stoneware to unify the presentation. Here is the installation shot from Fireworks Clay Studio.

Denver First Friday : March

In a new, monthly segment I will be covering the highlights of the "First Friday" gallery exhibitions in Denver. By far, the most memorable gallery of the night was the inaugural group show of the "Limited Addiction Gallery." I generally refer to the genre of art they exhibited as the "Juxtapoz"-type art or west-coast art - though it does not consider every work being shown, those of you familiar with the magazine might understand the reference or genre. Their own description of what they show is "otherwise labeled Pop-Surrealism, Urban Contemporary and 21st Century Figurative Art." The gallery was packed (both with art and attendees) and represented many great artists from across the country including Tim Biskup, Dalek, Audrey Kawasaki, Dan McCarthy, Tra Selhtrow, Jeff Soto, and more. *Check the links to Dan McCarthy and Tra Selhtrow especially - they have great limited edition silk-screened prints available online for very reasonable prices*

The walls at Limited Addiction were hung salon-style, often four or five pieces high but there was enough similarity of genre to keep it from feeling disorganized or cluttered. I'm looking forward to future shows there. We have now added this signed print from Audrey Kawasaki to our collection:

Mia & Mai

giclee print on archival paper
13" x 22" on a 15" x 24" sheet
signed and numbered
limited edition of 100

The work of Josh Keyes at Limited Addiction Gallery was also quite interesting. It has a science text-book diagram type of feel. I especially liked these pieces:

"Interlock #3", 12"x9", 2007, pencil and gouache on bristol board


"Envelop #1", 2007, 9"x12", pencil and gouache on bristol board

Another artist worth mentioning from last night was Armin Muhsam - whose work can be seen at the Kanon Gallery on Santa Fe Blvd. I was especially taken back by this piece:

Armin Muhsam
"Recent Earthworks"
16x48 Oil on Panel(s)

There was also a strong opening by Tracy Barnes and Eric Havelock-Bailie a the Sliding Door Gallery. Being the most recent addition to the Sliding Door co-op, I was glad to see a good turn-out and well planned show. Here are a few shots of the opening:

Shallow / Deep Space and the works of Kate Shepherd

Kate Shepherd, 'As the hart panteth after the water brooks'
Black Floor and Dark Yellow Walls, 2004
Enamel & oil on panel
80 x 99 inches


My sketch at the Indianapolis Art Museum of the above painting by Kate Shepherd. It took me awhile to figure out the pattern. I was really intrigued by this piece because of its balance of depth and flatness - the pattern makes the floor recede, but the yellow is nearly flat. There is a minor value change from the left side to the right which was less emphasized in person. Another thing that is difficult to translate to pixels is the gloss of this painting - She used a extremely glossy enamel on this piece which added to the depth.

Kate Shepherd, Clay Steps to Sea and Striped Sky, 2004
Enamel & oil on panel
60 x 90 inches (152.4 x 228.6 cm)

The way she breaks up empty space with separate panels interested me and influenced this piece from last year:

Nathan Abels
"Highway Audience"
Acrylic on Panels (each 24x36")

Kate Shepherd, Brave Tailor's Swath, Lit Lake on Small Midnight Billboard, 2006
Oil and enamel on panel
60 x 84 inches (152.4 x 213.4 cm)

This piece reminds me of the 'Seascape' series of photography of Hiroshi Sugimoto (below)

as well as the minimal works of Brice Marden like this:


Brice Marden, "Grove IV". 1976, Oil and Wax on Canvas, two panels, 72x108 overall

Neither Hair Nor There

My haircut yesterday was long overdue, but maybe not as overdue as the subjects of Henrik Drescher's collages:

Collages of Agnes Montgomery

In keeping with a post from a few days ago, I've discovered another interesting artist from the work they did for album covers. Agnes Montgomery, a self-taught artist, did the artwork for most of the Panda Bear releases including the upcoming "Person Pitch" full-length. She must use vintage sources for her collages because they have the unique color quality that is often found in old books or magazines. Check out her work - and the music of Panda Bear too.

Palette

I was just scraping off my palette and decided the results were interesting enough to scan and post.