Art Is a Place

Charles LeDray: workworkworkworkwork at ICA Boston

2010-08-03T10:20:00.000-04:00

Sculptor Charles LeDray works in fabric, ceramic, and human bone to create a miniature world of kooky characters and metaphorical clothing, while experimenting with aspects of display. His solo exhibition workworkworkworkwork is showing at the ICA Boston until October 17, 2010, so check it out if you're in the area!

Here's my review: Part One. Part Two.

Examiner Review: "In The Making" Exhibit at the ICA

2010-07-07T12:50:00.005-04:00

The ICA has a practice of re-imagining its permanent collections in special exhibitions, and the fourth of these shows, "In The Making" is currently on view until July 18th, 2010. Read my examination of the exhibit for The Examiner, divided into three parts by medium, as the galleries are arranged by photography, sculpture, and painting.

Part One (Photography, including Cindy Sherman, Rineke Djikstra, and Gerard Byrne)
Part Two (Sculpture, including Tara Donovan, Kader Attia, and Roni Horn)
Part Three (Painting, solely focusing on Marlene Dumas, also includes final opinions of show as a whole)

Examiner Review: Dr. Lakra at the Institute of Contemporary Art

2010-06-30T10:33:00.007-04:00

Hello, friends. The ICA Boston is currently hosting a fantastic exhibition for the Mexican artist Dr. Lakra, whose bold and often humorous work fuses tattoo design with found imagery. It runs until September 6, 2010.

Check out my full review at the Examiner.

Apology/ICA Boston

2010-06-20T12:08:00.004-04:00

Hello everyone! I know I have let this blog lie fallow for a year, and I can't promise that I'll start updating again any time soon BUT if you are at all interested in my art-based ramblings, please head over to the Examiner page for the Institute of Contemporary Art, where I'll be writing about exhibits and happenings at that fine Boston museum. Please read and subscribe if it interests you!

International Sand Sculpture Competition

2009-07-12T12:44:00.000-04:00

I visited Berlin recently (amazing) and whilst wandering around the area near the central train station attempting to find the Hamburger Banhof Museum for Contemporary Art (it was oddly difficult for me to locate the entrance), I stumbled across an uncharacteristically sandy area labeled "Sandstation". Entering the space for a small fee of 5 Euro, I found a beachy haven with large umbrellas, beach chairs, beer stands (naturally, this is Germany), and a host of fascinating and incredibly impressive sand sculptures from a collection of international artists.

The first section was devoted to animal subjects, and included a little area for kids to make their own sand creations. I dug the elephant by Johanna Landscheidt and two-headed dragon from Lena Tempich the most.

The main portion was the competition itself, with the theme "City of the Future", so many works involved robotic or computer imagery. I really enjoyed every piece- it was consistently astounding to see the level of detail and the scope of the designs (full view on the photos is recommended). There was a good blend of conceptual and literal interpretations of the challenge. I wish I could have seen the artists' building processes, since I'm pretty baffled by how they achieved certain effects. The following is a selection of my favorites (which is the bulk of entries in the competition, really).

Escape from Virtuality by Ukranian artist Irina Taflevskaya was easily my favorite. It's bold and striking, with a fantastic concept and straightforward, uncluttered execution. Caught my eye instantly, even from beyond the area's surrounding fence.

Indian artist Sudarsan Pattnaik imagines an idealistic future with City of Peace, showing Buddha visiting Berlin during its peaceful time, with elements of Indian architecture incorporated into the composition.

Seven artists from different countries worked together on the monumental Berlin in 2222, a sprawling, mountainous piece combining jagged tiers with various figural elements. It was very hard to get a full photo of it due to its size, but here are some detail shots. The artists are: Lisa Buchholz, Johanna Landscheidt, Edwin Spaan, Lena Tempich, Martin Tulinius, Niels Vegter, and Johannes Weckl.

Shift by Toshihiko Hosaka of Japan is an interesting mix of human features with hard, industrial surfaces, and a little bit of outer space thrown in. I like the overall shape very much (he was inspired by Mt Fuji as well as Berlin's Sony Center ceiling) and really appreciate the detail and texture of the hands and figure.

Berlin-based artist Ulrich Baentsch paid homage to Rodin with The Thinker. As I approached I thought it was just his own sandy version of the classic sculpture, but seen from the other side it is revealed to be partially composed of "bricks" cracking through the smooth facade.

Danish artist Maria Eliot Torp brings us One More Beer, a rendering of the "bar of the future". I love the sci-fi elements here as well as the thoughtful design of the space and its characters. It focused more on expression than most of the other pieces.

Belgian artist Isabelle Decallonne envisions a future headed by women, though still inseparable from the male-dominated past in her large piece Past and Future. I'm not enamored of the execution (the female form looks a little awkward in her positioning, shape, and relation to the buildings below her), but I really like the concept.

Will We Let Us Raise Our Own Children? from Netherlandish artist Joris Kivits was my other favorite. In his version of the Virgin and Child motif, he replaces Mary with an android covered in a shroud, connected to large pumps and wires. She "breastfeeds" a faceless human child through a tube. It's a very blatant and slightly disturbing image, but exceptionally executed and quite memorable. Its large size definitely helps it make a lasting impact.

This really interesting event continues through August 30, so if you happen to be in the Berlin area any time before then, I highly recommend it! It was a wonderfully singular experience for me.

Video Sundaes: Animated Music Videos

2009-07-07T19:43:00.010-04:00

Hello friends, I know I've been a bit lax, but I promise I have good reasons lying around here somewhere. Many art-related ramblings and photos to post later, but for now here is a collection of music videos I dig that feature animation of some kind. (Chad VanGaalen not included, since he already got his own post.) I hope you enjoy them!

"Knowing the Things That I Know" by The Blow. Adorable. 'Nuff said.

"Flowers" by Emilie Simon. One of my all-time favorite music videos- it's a cute song with gorgeous stop-motion animation with stylization reminiscent of Tim Burton's and Tom Selleck's work.

"Schwarz zu Blau" by Peter Fox. I don't listen to his music, but I saw this video during a class presentation on contemporary German music. I don't really like the monkey thing, but I love the concept of graffiti coming to life and interacting with different drawings and such on the walls of a city.

"Year of the Dog" by The Lovely Sparrows. Again, don't listen to the music, but I dig the look of this video, with its carefully-rendered cut-paper technique. Thanks to the "Best Videos of 2008" list at the excellent Music for Kids Who Can't Read Good.

"Myriad Harbor" by The New Pornographers. They're one of my favorite bands, and they usually make pretty weird music videos. This one's got the band trapped inside of Dan Bejar's swirling, seemingly alive mane of hair. Love the use of color here, and the simple, uncluttered shapes.

Video Sundaes: Bruce Nauman

2009-06-28T17:00:00.003-04:00

I visited the Museum für Gegenwartskunst in Basel, Switzerland recently, a small but lovely space for contemporary art. There were a few Bruce Nauman videos on display and I was reminded how much I really enjoy his performance pieces. They're very simple and personal, and often related to his body or movement in some way. Often he is having a bit of fun, just playing around with expectations of what was considered art, or discovering new ways to relate his body to a certain space.

Stomping in Studio (1968). I don't know why, but this is one of my favorite video performances. It's so simple, yet so mesmerizing to me. I think it's the repetitive sound.

Pinch Neck and Walking in an Exaggerated Manner Around the Perimeter of a Square (1967-68)

Violin Tuned D.E.A.D. (1968)

Art Make-Up (1967)

I think next week I'll do some less kooky fare. Maybe some music videos?

Photostreams

2009-06-26T06:35:00.000-04:00

I'm not really into Flickr because I find the layout confusing, but there are a few accounts I check up on now and then, when I'm feeling like some lovely photography or artworks. Peruse them if you feel so inclined!

Jaclyn. She is an art student working primarily through photography. Also she is from my town and I know her!

McNeil. Gorgeous shots of Toronto and various other subjects, from flowers to portraits to traveling. He also has an excellent movie blog The Dark of the Matinee.

Kayt Hester Lent. She is a really awesome Jersey City artist who creates portraits out of duct/masking tape. In lieu of a regular website, she posts her work as well as photos of her exhibitions here. Plus I met her once and she's really nice!

dadadreams. Fascinating collage work. Check out her Etsy Shop as well for prints and jewelry.

jhandelman. As if I needed any more reminders of how desperately I want to visit Japan.

8mobili. Great shots of street life and architecture in Stuttgart, among other things.

Any other Flickr sets I should be checking out? I am not very familiar with the site so recommendations are appreciated.

Hundertwasser: The Right to Dreams

2009-06-23T12:06:00.001-04:00

I meant to get this up weeks ago but forgot/things came up. The Städtische Galerie in Albstadt (don't think it has an English website, sorry) just held a very interesting exhibition dedicated to Austrian artist and architect Friedrich Stowasser, better known as just Hundertwasser ("hundred waters" in German). His paper works are characterized by childlike compositions and environmental themes, exploding with vibrant color and meticulous patterns. His architecture, reminiscent of Gaudi, defies straight lines for being "godless" and instead swirls and swoops around in waves and circles. I actually always pass his Wohnen unterm Regenturm in Plochingen when I take the train to Stuttgart. Most of the work at the exhibition focused on his prints, though. Let's look!

I was gleeful seeing his metallic paints and eye-popping colors- it kind of reminded me of Dubuffet. So fun! And I love that his prints emulate Japanese-style prints with his personal stamp and everything. Adorable.

He also designed a poster for the 1972 Olympics.

He has some wacky building designs.

At the end there were several models designed by school groups who had visited. It's a really cute idea, I think!

I'm really glad I went to see this exhibition, as it offered an interesting window into the life of an artist I had previously known nothing about. There was a lot of biographical and personal information, which I appreciated, as well as a video of him working at home and some of the weirdness of his life (like eating soup over his work, mixing in paprika with paint pigment bottles- yeesh). My next goal is to see more of his architecture- hopefully I will make it to Austria some time!

Mixin' It Up With Some Videos

2009-06-16T12:58:00.005-04:00

Greetings, fair readers. I have been thinking of possibly doing some sort of weekly post of videos I like- short films, performance art, music videos, movie clips, etc, probably related by theme or artist. Just something simple like the Chad VanGaalen post. I think it'd be encouraging for me to have a regular feature here since otherwise I just post sporadically. Thoughts? Please let me know!

We'll try it out today, with some Rebecca Horn performances. I've been studying her in my "German Art 1968-1990 class and I really enjoy her work. After being basically completely bedridden for a year or so, she took to creating body extensions out of soft materials like felt, as she could easily sew in bed. Her pieces from the 70's explore her relationship with her body and its relationship to its surroundings. I find it really interesting and beautifully personal. She also transforms simple and familiar objects into things uncanny in her installations and sculpture. There are some more videos and photos of her performances here.

Berlin, 1974: Segments "Touching the walls with both hands simultaneously" and "Twinkling"

A series of "Art Machines" shown in Basel in 2008. Hers is the first, but they're all very interesting.

Circle for Broken Landscape Installation
rebecca horn

Istanbul

2009-06-13T18:42:00.001-04:00

I just realized that I tantalizingly dangled the promise of photographs I took in Istanbul in front of you, only to quickly forget about it. Sorry! So now here are some pictures from that place I visited a few weeks ago. It was really quite lovely, and very different from anywhere else I've ever been. I am by no means a good photographer; this is more an attempt to give a glimpse of this beautiful, atmospheric, and incredibly colorful city to anyone who hasn't had the opportunity to visit/see some Fatih Akin movies. Enjoy!

Kunsthalle Tübingen: The Interior View

2009-06-11T20:04:00.000-04:00

Tübingen's main art museum, Kunsthalle Tübingen (sorry but the site is almost completely in German), is actually more of a gallery space, in a small but beautiful and well-laid-out building positioned on a sunny hill. Their current exhibition, titled Der Innere Blick ("The Interior View"), brings together several contemporary painters and photographers who focus on the various aspects of interior spaces. It's a simple but fascinating theme, with much room for exploration.

The first room shows the photography of Marina Gadoneix (France) and Thomas Florschuetz (Germany). The former's work is bright with neon lights and crisp, stark spaces. Everything is sleek and modern and full of contrasting colors. Unfortunately I couldn't get any good photos of her pieces due to the glass reflection, but she has a portfolio on her website. Florschuetz focuses more on the grittiness of large, open interiors such as many-windowed and derelict warehouse-like spaces. There's a halting sense of abandonment throughout his settings, but overall I wasn't especially engrossed by the photos.

I found Peruvian photographer David Zink Yi's Roma series incredibly affecting. He takes quiet, neatly laid-out rooms populated by a scarcely-seen elderly woman (his grandmother). Her veined hand or sandaled foot will edge its way into the frame of the photograph, acting as a disembodied limb. He reminds us that a human presence is necessary for all of the lace table cloths, decorative paintings, and cushy couches seen in the main composition. The works carry with them a strong atmosphere of loneliness, as if this woman has nothing but her surroundings to keep her company. They are both serene and slightly disturbing, creating a unique portrait. They reminded me a bit of William Eggleston's more domestic photos.

One of the reasons I really wanted to visit the Kunsthalle was I'd read that Richard Hamilton's Just What Is It That Makes Today's Homes So Unique, So Appealing? (1956) was part of its collection. Upon learning that it was more of an exhibition space and had no permanent objects of its own, I was pretty sad. But then there it was! All by itself and surprisingly tiny, but there in all its Pop collage glory. I love this piece, and it fits really well into the exhibit's theme, portraying "today's" homes with over-the-top irreverence and familiar trappings of modern living.

British artist Ian Hartshorne's paintings are vibrant and dreamlike, utilizing broken angles and slightly garish colors to create a vaguely surreal interior space. He'll take a familiar substance like wood but break it up unevenly and combine it with a red staircase that seems to float and a statuesque android, catching the viewer off guard. His works are interesting, but I didn't particularly like them. Something about his painting style, I think, but I can't quite put my finger on what I didn't like. They just didn't grab me. Sort of emotionless, I guess.

I did enjoy Czech artist Daniel Pitin's paintings, dimly lit and full of dripping strokes and unfinished edges. He distorts the spaces that he chooses to depict, with unclear walls and crouched figures who somehow seem disconnected from their surroundings. I especially like Lost Architect. It conveys a sense of loss and uncertainty, but without reverting to despair. There's a large collection of his images here.

Achim Hoops' works are a surprise delight, at first glance appearing dull and monotonous, but upon closer inspection revealing a keen eye for light and serious skills with crayon and colored pencil. The pieces are small ruminations on various empty interiors and exteriors, with dichromatic palettes and detailed line work. They are textured and grainy, focusing as much on the medium and wooden canvas as the composition. Really a treat to see in real life.

Unfortunately I can't find the video for Swedish artist Sofia Hultén's Familiars (2007), but it is really interesting. It's composed of a selection of short scenes all filmed inside a regular house, in which a figure would set up some sort of strange trick to presumably scare any family member who walked in. A woman lay hidden under a bed and moved it around so it seemed to be levitating. Another hid inside a dresser and hung her arms outside a drawer like a dead body. It's a cool look into the potential terrors of everyday home life. I don't know much about the artist but I'm interested to look into what her other work is like. There some more photos of it here.

Absolutely exploding with color and passion are the large-scale photographs of American artist Raissa Venables. She finds interesting architectural patterns and unreal lighting and exploits them to their fullest potential. Her works are fascinating, decidedly off-beat compositions packed with a nagging feeling that something here isn't quite right.

This is a really wonderful exhibition, with a range of styles from an international collection of artists. The Kunsthalle defies its small space with an impressive display of works, making for an interesting and truly enjoyable visit. This exhibit is up until July 5, if you happen to find yourself in the Tübingen area (though I understand that probably isn't a likely occurance for most of you). Hopefully I'll be able to catch their next exhibition on Israeli artist Tal R before I go back home.

Chad VanGaalen Animation

2009-06-02T12:26:00.001-04:00

I've been meaning to share these superbly-animated music videos from Canadian singer-songwriter Chad VanGaalen. Aside from being an excellent musician, he's a talented animator and artist, incorporating fanciful colors and creatures with flowing, inter-connected movements. It's pretty trippy, and completely fascinating. He's worked on all of his own music videos and album covers, as well as those of a few other artists. Love his music, love his art- check him out already!

"Clinically Dead" (the first video and song I found from him, and still one of my favorites)

"Flower Gardens"

"Red Hot Drops"

"Molten Light" (this one is a little bit graphic, just fyi)

Holy Fuck- "Milkshake"

Pinakothek der Moderne

2009-05-27T16:08:00.000-04:00

I went to Munich for a weekend and it was absolutely lovely- lots of Bavarian architecture and clothing, rolling hills and grand streets. Though I didn't have long, I was able to devote a Saturday morning to two of their main museums: Neue Pinakothek, which houses works from the 17th and 18th century, and the Pinakothek der Moderne, for the 1900's to present. I have to say I was much more impressed with the latter.

Its building is lovely, with a lobby reminiscent of the Guggenheim but without the tiring uphill layout. Their collection covers many areas, from famed Modern and Contemporary painters to furniture design, from jewelry to architecture draftsmanship. Unfortunately I didn't have the time to see it all, and spent most of my visit in the Modern and Contemporary art section, waltzing quickly past the Ikea and Klaus Kinold exhibits after a brief look at the Zoe Leonard photo show (which I enjoyed, but don't have much to say about).

First off was some superb Expressionism with several works from Kirchner, Schmitt-Rotluff, and the like. And maybe you'll remember: I really dig German Expressionism.

I've noticed in the few museums I've so far visited in Germany, that there is a definite focus on showcasing German and Austrian artists. It's kind of cool. I'm accustomed to American museums, which usually don't lean toward a specific country representation unless it is significantly part of the museum's mission (ie the Whitney as a center for twentieth century American artists, etc). This way I am able to see a lot of German artists I hadn't heard of before, who perhaps hadn't become as successful outside of their native country, as well as a wider selection from German artists I already knew about. Which all adds up to: Learning!

Max Beckmann had his own gallery, which I adored. Included were several self-portraits, a piece (Woman with Mandolin) I've seen in the Busch-Reisinger Museum at Harvard (though maybe it was just on loan?), and a triptych (in case you haven't seen enough already).

There was a small collection of Surrealist works. I liked the Max Ernst pieces- he's an artist I know about, and whose importance I understand, yet I have only seen a small portion of his pieces.

George Baselitz had a small exhibition in one room. Large-scale, textured paintings combining abstract brush strokes with representative figures, all of them vaguely menacing. I will keep an eye out for more of his work.

One room was filled with Sigmar Polke's series 8 Loop Images, so I was a happy camper. Gorgeous abstract images combining delicate calligraphy-like scribbles and sandy backgrounds. A wonderful exploration of layering and texture. I am constantly impressed with how varied and extensive Polke's talents are. He can never be pigeonholed into one medium, technique, or movement. Awesome.

Lots of Joseph Beuys objects, as well as the chilling room-size installation The End of the 20th Century, composed of large, scattered basalt structures resembling ruins. It's hard to describe without being there, but it had this unearthly calm and quiet that I found very affecting. I really dig Beuys for his weirdness and boundless imagination. I would have loved to see one of his performances. Also check out this cute Warhol portrait. He looks so befuddled.

Discovered contemporary German artist Norbert Tadeusz in one gallery. Interesting works: mostly ambiguous nudes in dimly-lit rooms, with off-kilter compositions and angles. I loved some, while others didn't move me much. His attention to shadow gives an eerie, compelling mood to his paintings, but sometimes I was thrown off by his color choices.

Small room dedicated to Jochen Klein, another new German artist to me. I really, really enjoyed his paintings. They are small, figural scenes in abstract nature settings. The figures are detailed and emotional, surrounded by incredibly soft, blurred brushstrokes. Everything is so light and subtle, and just really beautiful, but with a slight uncanny air. Unfortunately Klein, who was diagnosed with AIDS, passed away in 1997 at only 30 years of age.

Light art, yay! No Turrell, though, which is always too bad. Nothing wrong with Flaving, I just like Turrell better. I find his works much more emotional.

I really enjoyed the Pinakothek der Moderne, and I only saw 1/4 of its contents! It's well-organized, beautifully designed, and features an impressive collection of modern and contemporary artists. Highly recommended to anyone visiting Munich.

Today is Special

2009-05-22T08:22:00.003-04:00

I'm going to Istanbul for the weekend! Expect photographic explorations of the Hagia Sophia and other wonders when I get back, as well as more artsy things I've been doing in Germany.

(image by Sam Brown at explodingdog)

Reimagining Comic Book Cover Art

2009-05-19T09:57:00.002-04:00

I came across Covered about two months ago, and it has quickly become one of my favourite blogs. Its premise is simple: a large number of contributing artists create new versions of old comic book covers. Many incorporate their own unique styles and techniques into it, making it more of a reinterpretation, while others keep close to the original. It's a lovely idea. It's so fun to look through all of the different ideas its contributors are coming up with. It's very often a series I've never heard of, so I end up discovering new comics as well as new artists. Below are a few of my favorites, but really check it out for yourself! The site updates fairly frequently- a few times a week, usually. Be sure to look into all the artist websites; there are some extremely talented people here!

Batman #195 by Kelli Nelson. (orginal cover)

Strange Worlds #4 by Mark Todd. (original cover)

Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #211 by Robert Goodin. (original cover)

2001: A Space Odyssey #6 by Michael DeForge. (original cover)

Eerie #14 by Krisztián Puska. (original cover)

Battle Chasers #7 by Michaela Colette Zacchilli. (original cover)

X-Factor #31 by Marcos Pérez. (original cover)

Kunstmuseum Stuttgart: Three. The Triptych in Modern Art

2009-05-16T12:06:00.001-04:00

My visit to Stuttgart's modern art museum led me to the exhibition Three. The Triptych in Modern Art. I was blown away. It's an incredibly interesting theme, and one I had never seen explored before.

In case you didn't know, a triptych is an artwork divided into three parts, sometimes separated and sometimes connected. It became a staple in Christian art during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, often designed as altar pieces. Many of them resemble this. Since then the format has shed its religious trappings and has been used by modern and contemporary artists for portraits, abstract pieces, political commentary, video installations, and really any subject they wish to represent.

Spread throughout all five floors of the magnificent cube-shaped glass building, the exhibition features a large amount of paintings, along with some video, mixed media, and pastel works. The bulk are from German artists, but there are several recognizable American and European artists in there as well. It covers a wide range of subjects, techniques, and movements, with each room loosely organized by theme.

There are multiple rooms for works dedicated to war and politics, with large-scale triptychs mourning cataclysmic battle scenes and acts of terrorism. Some of my favorites:

Katharina Sieverding: Steigbild X (1997). The large size and simple but bold composition make for a really striking piece. Its message is universal and easy to read, without being too pushy.

Joe Coleman: War Triptych (2003). This one is small but incredibly complex, wasting no space in its depiction of a world gone mad with brutality and fear.

Robert Longo: The Haunting (2005). A more subtle execution of a triptych, this piece merges both twin towers into one black looming form with a nearby plane on either side. The domination of the black space speaks to the towers' intimidating size and power, making it seem impossible for such small planes to destroy them.

Markus Luepertz: Black-Red-Gold I-II-III (1974). Three portraits of a seemingly bodiless soldier, clad in dark armor in a dirty golden landscape, stained sporadically with red splotches. At first glance they seem identical, but each was clearly painted separately and therefore shifts subtly from one to two to three. They are the same and yet still strive to be distinguishable from one another. Black, red, and gold are the colors of the German flag.

Willi Sitte: Hell Fall in Vietnam (1966). That's a literal translation, sorry but I'm not sure if "Höllensturz" has another meaning. This is a large and chaotic work, heavy with war imagery. I love the light and layered brushstrokes and incredible expression.

Otto Dix and Max Beckmann got their own room, a testament to their importance in modern German art.

Otto Dix: Metropolis (1927/28). Of course Dix, the museum's favorite artist, stands out with this memorable triptych, no doubt intended to shock the wealthy public into taking a more proactive stance for veterans of WWI. Pale, overly-made-up women slink their way in and around a jazz club with colorful furs and snobbish expressions. They glide easily past the grungy, handicapped ex-soldiers haunting the alleys near the club, faceless in the painting as they surely appear faceless to the ignorant partygoers around them.

Max Beckmann: Beginning (1949). I really like Max Beckmann. He is one of those artists whom I have written about for a class, and therefore somehow feel a personal connection to. This piece is part of a series of triptychs he did toward the end of his career. With the reminiscence of a dream on the left, and school memories on the right, the middle panel combines the two into an ambiguous fantasy and a kind of memoir.

There were several Dieter Roth pieces, in which his range of media and subject was apparent. He's quickly becoming one of my new favorite German artists after my exposure to him here.

Dieter Roth: Baroque (Acting) (1977). Several of his triptychs took the form of a middle piece with hinged side pieces, able to open and close. I really like that concept- it makes me think of doors or boxes or something that can be hidden. This one is his most abstract in the exhibition, with a lovely mix of color, form, and medium. The many layers create a sense of depth and complexity.

Dieter Roth: Interfaces (with Richard Hamilton) (1977-78). Definitely my favorite. A set of double portraits of the artists, one a photo and one a drawing. It's playful and imaginative and kind of adorable. I like when artists remember that it's ok to be lighthearted in art. Not everything has to make a statement. Plus, teaming up with Richard Hamilton? Awesome.

Dieter Roth: Unfinished Checkered Picture with Window (with Björn Roth) (1981). A work about creating the work. Interesting.

I was so happy to see Francis Bacon here! When I saw the theme of the exhibition I immediately thought of his triptych I had seen at Tate Modern, but I usually don't see too many Bacon works in museums so it's never something I expect. Above is Three Studies of George Dyer (1969), a wonderfully fragmented portrait of the artist's lover. I'm so enamored of his style.

Gerhard Richter's Studio (1985) is easily one of my favorite pieces in the exhibition. So, so eye-catchingly beautiful. It is packed with feeling, color, and spirit. I don't need to know the message or intent behind it, because to me it's just marvelous to look at. Currently my computer's background, actually.

There were a few more recent pieces that caught my eye, situated in the "Between Surrealism and Spirituality" room.

Sigmar Polke: Apparition (1-3) (1992). I've been studying Polke in a class I'm currently taking (German Art, 1968-Present) and I'm liking him more and more. This is quite an imposing abstract piece, with each panel invoking different images and emotions. I really like the right panel, packed as it is with markers of a powerful sunrise. The left panel is dimmer and somehow monstrous. I like the middle, but I'm not sure why. Its three-quarters of a rectangle seem to indicate an interior space, or perhaps a frame within a frame. You can't really tell, but the entire piece is done on some sort of triangle-patterned material, similar to a wooden floor design. Gives it a nice texture.

Jonathan Meese: ARCH BALLET SCHOOL "SALOON FITTY" (The Grave-Fresh GYMNASTICS of the Total BABY METABOLISM Underpants Revolution "NOT-I") (2009). Yeah, ok I translated that myself (with much help from a German dictionary) and I am completely unsure as to its accuracy. Sorry. Anyway Meese is an interesting character. So far I've concluded he's kind of a stuck-up ass, but maybe I like some of his art? This piece I enjoy, despite its heavy-handed commentary/directions on What Art Is. Visually it's complicated and engrossing, plus it's absolutely huge, taking up the entire wall upon which it is hung. There's a wide array of media, from underwear to pornographic magazine clippings to Euro bills to fans to dictator trading cards. He reminds us that "Art does not equal Culture" and "Art is not a religion, but all religion is art", etc. The painted aspects are childish and graphic, with various monstrous figures interacting with their nearby objects.

Three. The Triptych in Modern Art runs until June 14 at the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart. I highly recommend it to anyone who happens to be in the area! Also, for more pictures of the exhibition check out 8mobili's flickr set "cube".

Inkognito

2009-05-13T18:06:00.001-04:00

I stumbled across this imaginative and whimsical card publisher during my first trip to Bob Slate Stationary in Harvard Square, and now their merchandise has been popping up around Tübingen. German company Inkognito (don't worry, there's an English language option in the upper left corner) sells greeting cards, post cards, prints, and a variety of other fun things incorporating anthropomorphic animals and silly scenarios. A large number of artists design for the company, with each infusing a similar air of playfulness into their unique styles.

Remember those adorable paintings and the pig lamp in Amelie's room that sighed over her lovelorn-ness? Those are totally sold by Inkognito.

They're designed by Michael Sowa, a German artist who seems to be the company's most popular and prolific artist. He creates quixotic scenarios involving pudgy animals and familiar settings. I really like his surreal approach to cute things.

There's also an extensive collection of postcards, something I am in the habit of collecting.

My favorite is this one, currently hanging on my wall. In German the word for light bulb is "Glühbirne", literally "glowing pear". One of my favorite words, actually.

At the Inkognito website, you can browse by artist for their impressively large roster or by product type, including greeting cards, office supplies, bookmarks, and books. I'm not sure what a "panorama file" is but I sure want this one:

Here are some other designs that strike my fancy. Be sure to check it out for yourself! Aside from Bob Slate, I'm not sure where they're available in America, but you can order their merchandise online, or just enjoy the images on this here computer screen.

Kunstmuseum Stuttgart

2009-05-12T11:50:00.000-04:00

Stuttgart is the closest large city to Tübingen, and an excellent source of art-related activities. While my friends dedicated their Saturday to a Beerfest-like celebration in the area or the Mercedes Museum, I made my way to the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, which collects and exhibits modern art.

Its gorgeous glass, cube-shaped building had captivated me weeks before during my first visit to the city.

The interior view is even cooler. Though most of its space was dedicated to the large exhibition Three. The Triptych in Modern Art (which I'll be reviewing later), the museum has an excellent collection, with a focus on German artists.

There's a small room devoted to Minimalism. White Weiss (1997) by Heinz Gappmayr was my favorite.

I fell in love with Dieter Roth, of whom I had never heard before seeing his work here. He has a manic style and a range of materials and influence that I really enjoy. One room houses the series 2 times 5 BATS and 2 times 5 TROPHIES, both from 1978. Several of his pieces were also part of the Three exhibit.

They have a large number of Otto Dix pieces, with several rooms devoted specifically to him. I wasn't too familiar with him beforehand but after seeing his pieces here I really like him. He has an interesting, sketchy painting style and a penchant for drafting sickly, gruesome figures or creepy children. I am in full support of these tendencies.

Homeless Person (1991) by Duane Hanson really caught me off guard. I definitely thought it was a real person as I walked in. It's a very bold piece.

There were some interesting abstract paintings and sculptures.

And a room for Adolf Hölzel and his experimental stained glass windows.

There was also a great mini-exhibition for Stefan Burger, a young contemporary German artist. His Frischzelle_10 is quite imposing, with two paintings completely dominating the entirety of two walls. He has created a very theatrical setting, though devoid of human players. It had a wonderful feel to it.

I was uneasy about Wolfgang Laib's Wax Room (1997) installation due to the small enclosed space, but I ended up kind of digging it. It's a short, one-ended hallway whose walls and ceiling are completely made out of wax. There was a very heavy but comforting smell and a soft light at the end. Quite interesting.

Here are a few other works that caught my eye:

I had a really great experience at the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart. It's a magnificent space, utilized to its fullest. It's open and bright, never feeling over-crowded. My biggest problem was the persistent use of glass over almost every painting. I understand this is important for conversation purposes, but it was often difficult to fully view a piece due to the reflection of light. That happens at a lot of museums, though, so it wasn't a big deal. I fully recommend this museum for anyone in the Stuttgart area. Review of the Three exhibition forthcoming!

Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona

2009-05-10T14:33:00.000-04:00

I traveled to Barcelona a few weeks ago, ready to marvel at its plentiful Gaudi architecture and picturesque beach landscape. I did those things, but my favorite part of the trip was a visit to the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, a beautiful contemporary art museum. The building is bright and open, and very suited stylistically for forward-thinking newer artists. It doesn't have a large permanent collection, but has space enough to house several temporary exhibitions at once. While I was there three exhibits were on view:

Thomas Bayrle: I've a Feeling We're Not in Kansas Anymore
I wasn't a huge fan of German artist Thomas Bayrle. Most of his works incorporated repeated small images in an op-art style to create one unified image, often with a two- or three-tone color scheme. He also did several series relating to cars and highways. Much of his figural work was overly-pornographic. The pieces I liked most were his kinetic paintings, which involved string- or -rod-operated figures moving back and forth in wooden frames. I also enjoyed the room installation Jacke Wie Hose and M-Formation, with interlocked bits of brightly colored clothing repeated throughout a small room's walls, meeting with the M shapes sprawled across the floor. Otherwise, not much stuck out to me here.

Rabascall: Production 1964-1982
I really enjoyed Joan Rabascall's exhibition, chronologically collecting a large number of collages, photographs, and mixed media works. A lot of his work involved tweaking advertisements or news articles to produce humorous composite images or ambiguous pictorial stories. As one might expect from of the 60's and 70's, many of the pieces lingered on photos of the sexualized female form, sometimes in a "women's bodies are exploited in advertising" way and sometimes in a "women of this age love being naked and free" way. Others spoke to the violent tendencies of the age as well as technological advancements.

The second part of the show, featuring a large group of small collages from the "Spain is Different" series (1973-1977) as well as the politically-minded film Elecciones Show, was interesting but very much over my head. I admittedly know very little about Spanish history and could not fully appreciate these pieces due to my ignorance. Most of them fused idealistic tourism advertisements with the reality of its then-fascist government.

Cildo Meireles
The third and final exhibition spotlighted contemporary Brazilian artist Cildo Meireles. His work is highly conceptual, resulting in large-scale installations and ambiguous sculptures, though several small drawings and objects were also shown.

Eureka/Blindhotland (1970-75) is a room-sized space encompassed by black netting, with small, heavy balls covering the floor and a scale in the middle holding wooden shapes: two rectangles and an X, questioning if the two shapes are heavier separated or connected. Inside, it had an odd sense of quiet, and I felt somehow intrusive breaking the silence by clacking around several of the balls.

Virtual Spaces: Corners filled an entire room with drawings of corners as well as a sculptural representation of them, highlighting his seeming obsession with the subject and furthering his examination of spatial constructs.

Glovetrotter (1991) involved a mesh/chainmail-like material sprawled across one room's floor over several balls of different sizes and colors, creating a mini metallic landscape in which everything feels beyond reach.

My favorite was Através (Through) (1983): I had to sign a waiver to enter! That alone made it the best experience of the day. It's a room-size installation with several levels of different kinds of barriers- fences, glass, barbed wire, shower curtains- and a layer of broken glass on the floor. In the middle of the maze-like setup is a large cellophane ball with a light emanating from within. The whole piece is a wonderful exploration of tactile surfaces and the different uses of transparent and translucent materials and their ability to be welcoming or upsetting. It was really interesting, and one of the few times I've been a part of a such a large-scale interactive piece.

Overall I really enjoyed this museum, and I hope I'll be able to go back again some time. Unfortunately these exhibits all ended shortly after I saw them, but I would recommend the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona to anyone visiting the city. Also, their store is phenomenal and very well-priced.

Farel Dalrymple for Dark Horse Presents

2009-05-04T17:05:00.000-04:00

Check it out: Farel Dalrymple, one of my favorite comic book artists, did a short story entitled "Em and Gwen in: Magic Spell" for the Dark Horse Presents series run through Myspace. It's surreal, ambiguous, and stars precocious children, like most of the works I've read by him. The art is fantastic- his style is so dynamic and playful, with excellent attention to line. I'm not sure how I'm feeling the colors though (done by Jim Campbell). Nothing wrong with it, I just think I like his black and white stuff best. It's a bit more audacious, I guess.

For more from this exceptional artist, he posts news and sketches fairly regularly to his livejournal, and both contributes to and edits the phenomenal Meathaus anthologies. He's also the guy who did art for the acclaimed Jonathan Lethem-penned Omega the Unknown revamp.

And his solo graphic novel Pop Gun War ranks among my favorite comics (you know, the one that's the basis for my tattoo?). I'd recommend anything he's worked on for fans of imaginative, sort of weird, and really gorgeous comic books. Or anyone who trusts in my good taste!

ICA: Shepard Fairey's "Supply and Demand"

2009-04-27T13:30:00.001-04:00

I caught this exhibit at the ICA Boston just before I left for Germany. It serves as a general overview of the now-infamous Shepard Fairey, whose work ranges from public murals to comedic stencils to book and album covers to political posters.

By creating a set of specific, easily recognizable images and repeating them throughout much of his work, Fairey merges artistic design with self-branding. He often limits himself to a red, black, and white palette, resulting in distinct and bold pieces.

The exhibition traces his earliest artistic endeavors of Andre the Giant imagery stamped around Providence while he was attending RISD and follows them through the years of celebrity portraits, anti-war canvases, and numerous public art campaigns, landing on a gorgeous large-scale mural he created just for the show.

I enjoy Fairey's work a lot. I know that there is a lot of controversy over his appropriation of photographs and what not, but I still think he has a lot of talent with design, stenciling, and layering. His technical ability cannot be denied, even if some portions of his pieces were brought in from other sources. Many artists appropriate from photographs or film stills, but it's the way they incorporate them into original works that matters.

I love the variations in tone and texture Fairey has developed in a lot of his larger pieces. They make quite an impact.

All in all, an interesting and diverse collection of works by an already-prolific artist. It's really cool to see a street artist receive such a high-profile exhibition, lending legitimacy to the art form.

Shepard Fairey: Supply and Demand is up until August 16 at the ICA. Also keep an eye out for some public works he installed around the Boston area in honor of the exhibition, like the one above I spotted in Harvard, and the now-defunct mural at Tufts University.

Street Art and Graffiti around Europe

2009-04-20T11:03:00.001-04:00

I have been living in Tuebingen, Germany for about a month now, and I've found the large amount of graffiti around here very interesting. It's a very old city, so the contrast between brightly coloured, rebellious tags and quaint, historical buildings on cobblestone streets took a little getting used to, but I really like it. I've taken to photographing anything I find cool or funny as I walk around, and did the same while recently visiting Paris and Barcelona (the latter had much less in the way of graffiti, perhaps due to the already-established artfulness of its architecture and sidewalks). While I'm not a big fan of generic tagging (it's just sort of boring), I think that more thoughtfully rendered stenciled images and text, whether humorous or political, can really add beauty to an urban area. It's fun to walk around and see constantly fluctuating imagery in public spaces. Here are some of my favourites so far:

I'll be sure to post more as I see it!

The Neue Galerie: Die Brücke

2009-04-05T18:30:00.001-04:00

To prepare for my trip to Tübingen (and also because I love German Expressionism), I caught the Brücke: The Birth of Expressionism in Dresden and Berlin, 1905-1913 exhibition at the Neue Galerie in Manhattan. It's a fairly large two-floored space, housed in a gorgeous Classically-inspired building which includes a grandiose staircase and a good amount of marble. The exhibit took up the entire third floor and part of the second (the other rooms contain some Klimts and Kokoshkas along with several pieces of furniture and other objects). I have to say, I really enjoyed it. This is the largest collection of Expressionist art I've ever seen in one place, which I found very exciting. Everything is just so colourful and loose! It's like a fairytale, complete with the sinister undertone. Paintings were organized into several rooms by subject matter: urban scenes, landscapes, and figures.

The urban room was pretty much just Kirchner, but that's ok, since his street scenes are fabulous. They even borrowed Street, Dresden from MoMA, one of my favourites of his.

Landscapes from the likes of Kirchner, Max Pechstein, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff were featured. The latter two I didn't know very well before the show, but ended up liking both a lot.

Much of Schmidt-Rottluff's work is very textured and abstracted. I just wanted to reach out and touch it.

Pechstein's is more understated, but still plays with colour in interesting ways. His later pieces are more blocky and primitive, playing with thick outlines and simplified forms.

And here's Heckel's Landscape in Dresden, 1910. Love the spindly bridge.

The figural room was the biggest and, of course, my favourite. Several large canvases of portraits and nude studies were presented around several pieces of sculpture in the middle of the room. Here we can see the effect of the all-male group's "muses", with several young women popping up multiple times as subjects. It all seems a very laid back, free-love commune type of situation.

Pechstein painted his wife Charlotte Krapolat often, along with various other women. I love the posing of these pieces, and the heaviness of her face. I am admittedly unsure if this particular model is his wife. I don't think it is.

Meanwhile Kirchner became fixated with his lover Dodo and a 13-year-old girl named Fränzi. It's a little creepy to think about, but I still really like the paintings he did of her.

There were also some portraits by Heckel that I'll admit to not really liking, and some stunning large-scale full-body nudes by Kirchner that unfortunately I can't find pictures of. Schmidt-Rottluff's figural pieces were quite wonderful, heavily textured and puzzle-like, but I can't find pictures of them either, sadly. I wish more museums allowed photography.

A hallway and opposing narrow room showcased some woodblock prints and exhibition posters, along with photographs of each artist and short biographies. There were some excerpts from Kirchner's history of the group, Chronik, and their artistic manifesto, as well. Some timely German music played in the background, which I enjoyed a lot. The space was so small that it easily became overcrowded, though, which I found quite frustrating while trying to read about the different artists or puzzle through the German written on the prints. Lots of know-it-all senior citizens were there the day I went.

The lower floor had a room dedicated to crayon, pencil, and charcoal drawings. I always like to see the sketchier, unfinished works by artists who are primarily painters, so I found it quite interesting. It was oddly darkly lit, though.

Overall I thought this exhibit was excellent. It was well-organized and very informative. I think it'd be hard to really mess up a Brücke show- their art is so exuberant and fun, how could anyone looking at it in any context not have a good time? I liked seeing so much of their work in one place, as I could get more of a feel for their group mentality of freedom in love, life, and art. I noticed an odd lack of Bleyl, Nolde, and Müller (in the paintings, anyway), but I'm not particularly into them so it wasn't a big deal for me personally.

Check out it out for yourself at the Neue Galerie, on view until June 29.

Back to the Grindstone

2009-04-05T16:00:00.001-04:00

Hello, everyone. I'm totally in Tuebingen, Germany for the next several months, and I plan on doing many art-related things! For now, here are some photos I've taken of a nearby Gothic monastery and the plentiful local street art. More updates coming shortly!

Street Art/Graffiti
Bebenhausen Monastery

Taking a Short Break

2009-03-17T23:52:00.003-04:00

Hello, friends. I'm sorry for the lack of updates recently. I have seen several exhibits lately but haven't really been in a position to do good posts. I'm leaving for Germany on Thursday (study abroad time!) and so posting will resume once I'm hooked up to the internet in my student apartment. Hopefully it won't take too long.

Carnivale in Venice

2009-02-26T20:11:00.005-05:00

Check out these lovely photos Jess took while attending Carnivale in Venice!

"Venice: A Visual Treat"

Shepard Fairey Mural at Tufts

2009-02-23T18:55:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure how this happened, but apparently Shepard Fairey wanted to do a piece around Boston and chose Tufts University to do it! This is a fantastic mural positioned right outside the campus center on Talbot Ave. I love the limited colour palette and bold, patterned composition. The smaller, tiled images are great too, reminiscent of a city "Post No Bills" construction wall covered in advertising posters. I believe the piece is in conjunction with his new exhibit Supply and Demand at the ICA, which I hope to visit the next time I'm up there in March.

Here are some images of him installing the piece.
Here is information about his recent arrest during the exhibit's opening.

Tufts University Art Gallery: Dinh Q Lê and Christian Tomaszewski

2009-02-20T18:23:00.003-05:00

Two new exhibitions at the Tufts Art Gallery debuted at the end of January. Exciting!

The main one, housed in the Tish Gallery (top floor), is titled A Tapestry of Memories: The Art of Dinh Q Lê, a survey of the Vietnamese-American artist's work. He and his family were forced to leave Vietnam when he was young, subsequently living in Thailand and the US. He has since moved back there, and much of his work examines the relationship between America and Vietnam and their images of one another.

Much of average Americans' knowledge of Vietnam of course relates to the Vietnam War, and much of that information comes from films and books relating to the event. Lê uses a lot of imagery from Apocalypse Now and Platoon to illustrate this point. In the video installation From Father to Son: A Rite of Passage, two screens positioned next to each other show footage from these films, one highlighting Martin Sheen and the other his son, Charlie Sheen.

The accompanying photo tapestries involve weaving images of films and the actual war. These tapestries are the main event of the exhibit, popping up in both rooms and incorporating multiple subjects.

Many focus on the Vietnam War, while others blend Eastern and Western religious iconography.

These works are really exceptionally pieced together. One must shift his or her eyes in different ways to see each layer. At first it can seem like a semi-abstracted mess but upon closer inspection each section comes together across multiple levels to form a complex and intriguing image. Unfortunately I couldn't get any decent photographs, but I feel it's impossible to see their full effect without being physically there, anyway.

The exhibit also showcases two embroidered canvases, a very subtle technique with figural subjects. Again, these definitely benefit from being seen in real life.

The largest piece is a "quilt" compiled from photographs that hangs from the ceiling. It is Lê's attempt to reconstruct the lost history of his own family by meshing together found postcards and photos of anonymous Vietnamese families.

As much as I enjoyed Lê's work, Christian Tomaszewski: Hunting For Pheasants

In the sculpture court are hung bold spheric lights.

The floor-to-ceiling windows are painted with thick piebald stripes, transforming the room when sunshine floods in. It is very pretty. (Images from Quabit's Flickr.)

Inside, the space has been transformed into a knee-level maze. The stripes continue all around the walls, serving as backgrounds to his imaginative portraits of people, real and imaginary, who have been assassinated, often with political motivations.

He incorporates techniques of silkscreening, collage, painting, and drawing to create eye-catching pieces resembling movie posters.

Neon lights and blocks of text pop up here and there, as well. They're all housed in the same-small-sized white frames but the images vary in measurements. I could lose myself in this room, easily, trying to piece together the stories Tomaszewski is trying to tell as a part of his wacky pop labyrinth.

The Tufts University Art Gallery is open every day except Monday from 10-5, and until 8 on Thursdays. It's free (but please donate!) and the people who work there are super nice! Both of these exhibits will be open until March 29, 2009.

Further Reading:
Boston Phoenix
Tufts Daily

The Whitney: Alexander Calder's Paris Years

2009-02-11T11:52:00.000-05:00

To me, Calder's name has always denoted whimsy and innovation. I got to see that and much more in Alexander Calder: The Paris Years, 1926-1933 at the Whitney. Loaded with wire portraits and figures, abstract sculptures and paintings, sketches, illustrations, film footage, and of course Calder's Circus, the exhibit is an exciting and busy experience.

First I was met with a wall full of contour-drawing-like wire faces of his friends and some famous people. Many were hanging, slowly spinning and casting crazy intersecting shadows. The shadows of Calder's wire pieces are a big part of the fun, so I think they should always be highlighted. Unfortunately the lighting didn't make for the boldness I would have liked, but still a cool collection of unique portraits.

Several rooms were dedicated to his abstract sculpture, many of which mechanical in some way or hung to encourage movement. Not too many mobiles, as I believe he began working on those more in the 30's. He seemed fascinated by the interaction of line and sphere, even devoting a series of large paintings to abstract studies of the subject. (I had never really seen his paintings before so I found these particularly interesting.) There were also some paintings and cartoons relating to the circus, which remained a pervasive subject for Calder.

A lot of miscellaneous wire sculptures were on display, including portraits of the singer and dancer Josephine Baker and an cute movable fish bowl. His understanding and use of line is marvelous. Several of them were abstract, complex, and movable, which was cool but I wish I could have seen them in action. There was a video showing one in motion but I was left to imagine how the rest functioned, which was too bad.

The largest room was a showcase for Cirque Calder, with several pieces of the set arranged in a glass case beneath videos of the pieces in motion. There were tight rope walkers, a bucking bronco, a belly dancer, a lion tamer, and various other excitements. Each wonder was mainly composed of wire and bits of fabric.

The walls were lined with even more circus-related sculptures and preliminary sketches. There was a small viewing room with a video of Calder performing his circus in the 1961. It is adorable. He operates his many delights with deftness and joy, controlling them with string and wire to entertain an unseen but laughing audience: a very early example of performance art. His ingenuity seems boundless, engineering scenarios I couldn't have imagined. One of my favourites was a large wire woman to whom small birds sailed down on plastic strings. There was also a little man who could smoke a cigar and blow up a balloon.

All in all it is a lovely exhibition, a testament to an incredibly talented man's gleeful imagination and penchant for entertaining. The sheer amount of pieces is very impressive, ensuring visitors a lengthy stay. I saw several children there and they seemed to be having as much fun as the adults. It's only up until Feb 15, so get yourself there as soon as you can! You can watch the circus video below.

I Met Greg Horn Today

2009-02-08T21:27:00.003-05:00

Let's take a turn and talk a little about comic art, a topic dear to my heart but one which I haven't had much chance to discuss here.

I went to the NY Comic Con for the first time today and am still sort of reeling. So much going on all at once! But it was very fun, despite feeling pretty unorganized. One of the highlights was meeting Greg Horn, one of my favourite comic book cover artists. He was so nice! Unfortunately I missed the opportunity to get a personal sketch drawn because I was partying with Joss Whedon. Le sigh, priorities.

He signed my issue of Emma Frost #14, an excellent but short-lived series through which he first came to my attention.

I purchased this print, which he signed as well! And he showed me pictures of his son!

His work is just so stunning, incorporating fantastic angles and posing for really eye-catching pieces. Any comic with his image on the cover is instantly something I'd like to read. He works in an impressive near-photo-realism uncommon to the over-the-top genre. He seems to often drift into made-for-pinup mode and characters, but that's cool considering his main audience. Check out some images I dig below, and be sure to keep an eye on his website. He updates it pretty frequently with images and commentary about his process as well as personal news.

He did a cover for one of my favourite series ever, Mystique (the first issue of which I searched tirelessly and fruitlessly for while I was there).

He's known for the numerous Elektra covers he's done. A lot of tactful maneuvering to avoid showing her bare behind.

More recently, he did a series of promo images for Secret Invasion, with a bunch of popular Marvel characters turning into Skrulls. Badass.

I don't even know what this is from but damn if it isn't an awesome image to end with.

Poster Boy is Caught, or is it a Stand-In?

2009-02-06T10:39:00.004-05:00

Doesn't the NYPD have more important things to do, instead of stomping out street artists? Good luck, Poster Boy!

The Whitney: William Eggleston, Democratic Camera

2009-02-03T14:03:00.001-05:00

I will tell you honestly that I am not very well-informed in regard to photography of any sort. There are several photographers I like, but I have never studied the art form and confess it intrigues me much less than painting, drawing, or installation. Of course, this doesn't mean I can't have opinions about it!

A few weeks ago I ventured to the Whitney to see the haps in contemporary American art. I had never even heard of William Eggleston, but figured if he had a whole floor dedicated to him he must be pretty special. The exhibit, titled Democratic Camera: Photographs and Video 1961-2008, separated this prolific artist's photographs by various time- and subject-related constructs. Included were several southern America-themed series, black and white portraits, selections from his visit to David Byrne's True Stories film shoot, a visit to Graceland, and some home video-type footage of his friends.

Eggleston is known for taking the seemingly mundane and unexpectedly immortalizing it as art. His camera captured everything from untidy storefronts to lonely diner patrons to vast midwestern expanses: very much the iconic low- to middle-class America. He also pioneered colour photography as an art form (then largely identified with advertising), experimenting with dye-transfer printing. He made good use of colour in most of his work, encouraging interest through high saturation and bold tones in the absence of specific focus or more structured compositions.

Here's one of his earliest experiments with dye-transfer.

I really enjoyed his portrait series, done in striking, high-contrast black and white. They were long and fairly large, housed in their own room away from the smaller colour works. They stood out to me instantly, partial as I am to figural subjects, but also because I felt that the inundation of Eggleston's colour photos in the other rooms was a bit much. I liked the works a lot but there were so many of them, and all packed together fairly closely due to their small sizes, it was hard to handle them all at once. I suppose there would be no better way to display such a large collection of small pieces, though.

Another really cool part of the exhibit was the selection from David Byrne's book, True Stories, a collection of images and writings he put together while working on the movie of the same name. Eggleston is pals with Byrne and photographed a lot of the Memphis area while visiting the movie set. Unfortunately the book is out of print and I can't find much information about it, or even which specific Eggleston photos are in it. Oh well, search for yourselves, I suppose.

I enjoyed his quintessentially American snapshots, glorifying simple places and objects by insisting they qualify as art. He doesn't do it in a documentarian way, he isn't trying to show high-brow audiences how the other side lives or how conditions vary across the nation. I think he just wants to show us the little things he finds interesting and noteworthy.

His work is said to employ "democratic objectivity"; he has stated that he endeavors to make it look "as if a human did not take them". I like that concept a lot.

I was much more swept up in his figural compositions (as I said, it has always held my interest more). He employs odd angles and interesting framing, often combined with vibrant fabric patterns (a lot of these are from the 70's and 80's, after all). He doesn't fetishize or beautify; the people in his pieces are decidedly normal looking, furthering his role as glorifier of the average. In his photographs, anyone can suddenly be a model, and is worthy of becoming art.

Unfortunately the exhibition just ended, but I believe it is traveling the US, so if you see a William Eggleston show popping up anywhere near you, be sure to check it out!

An Apology

2009-02-02T14:22:00.001-05:00

For the past several months I have not really done anything art-related, caught up in school work and general malaise. This is my excuse, anyway, for not having written anything here since Halloween. I am here to make amends! I am trapped home in New Jersey for a while before I go abroad, and will be attending as many museums and galleries as I can while I'm here. So stay tuned for richly textured memories from the Whitney, MoMA, the Frick, the Brooklyn Museum, and of course the Tufts Art Gallery. I hope to get to the Rose before it closes, as well.

Keiji Shinohara, Contemporary Japanese Printmaker

2008-10-31T01:30:00.003-04:00

On Tuesday I had the incredible experience of attending a demonstration of traditional Japanese woodblock printmaking by Wesleyan professor and independent artist Keiji Shinohara. It was amazing! He made four copies of this Hiroshige print:

It's such an intricate and exact process, and really interesting to watch! Everything has to be aligned perfectly, and there are as many blocks as there are colors, so there are a lot of steps and repetitions. He didn't have enough time to finish the prints, but we got to hear a lot about his life and techniques.

After studying to be a nuclear physicist, Keiji saw an ukiyo-e style print and decided that's what he wanted to do with his life. For five months he begged the artist to teach him, but was consistently turned down, especially after it was revealed that he was left-handed (apparently it is very hard to be left-handed in Japan). Eventually he was taken on as an apprentice and studied for 5 years. Then he worked 5 years as a master as a way to repay the years his master had given to him. He came to America in the mid-80's and worked with various other artists (including Chuck Close!) and companies, before eventually teaching at Wesleyan.

He makes reproductions of ukiyo-e prints, but also designs and creates his own pieces. During Edo Period Japan one print passed through several hands- the designer, the carver, the printer- before reaching completion. Keiji was taught only to make prints based on pre-designed and pre-carved images. However, he observed carvers while he was an apprentice, and picked it up from there.

He makes beautiful and innovative landscapes, relying on expressive color to create interest. He has developed some new printing methods, including using crazy glue on the woodblock to produce subtle shifts in hue depending on where the ink sticks more heavily. This would be unachievable with just carving. I really love his combination of a centuries-old tradition and modern personal innovation, especially since woodblock printing is a dying art form in Japan.

Keiji Shinohara at DFN Gallery
More about ukiyo-e printing, with demonstrations by Keiji and high-quality images of his work
Exhibit at Colorado College's Coburn Gallery, starting November 7

Graffiti or Art?

2008-10-26T09:49:00.007-04:00

From the New York Times, October 24:

While Banksy, the pseudonymous British artist, keeps New Yorkers guessing about where his next mural or installation may pop up, a council in London has ordered that one of his works must come down there, the BBC reported. The Westminster City Council has ruled that a 23-foot Banksy mural must be removed from the wall of a building on Newman Street, in central London, as a message to discourage graffiti. The mural, “One Nation Under CCTV,” refers to the closed-circuit televisions that have become ubiquitous security devices in London. It depicts that slogan stenciled in large letters, being painted by a youth in a hooded sweatshirt, as a police officer with a camera and a dog stand nearby. “If you condone this, then you condone graffiti all over London,” said Robert Davis, the council’s deputy leader, according to the BBC.

When does graffiti become art? And, on the other hand, where is the line that separates public or street art from a community nuisance?

It depends on your perspective, I guess. I think that finding things like Banksy's murals can be one of the best parts about living in a city: you have to always look for them, but it's still surprising every time you find one. And then you have that wonderful feeling of discovery, as though you're the first and only person to ever notice the stencil or the mural or the writing on the wall.

It's also interesting that this mural was the one selected to be taken down. One of the first things I noticed about London was the prevalence of CCTV cameras. They are absolutely everywhere - I've stood on a street corner and counted 7 cameras within sight, and that was just on the outsides of the buildings. This mural is actually relatively near where I live. Although I had seen pictures of it before, the first time I walked past it still made me pause: just outside the frame of the picture is a security camera.

HONK!: Street Art?

2008-10-22T21:00:00.000-04:00

I suppose you could call the HONK! festival "street art", but that description doesn't quite capture the energy of this annual event. Over Columbus Day weekend, activist marching bands paraded through Mass Ave. from Davis Square in Somerville to Harvard Square: blowing trumpets, pounding on drums, circling on decorated bikes and towering above the crowd on stilts. All with different causes, it seemed that the march was not so much a focus on any particular issue, but rather a way to bring together the community in a fun, aesthetically and musically-engaging awareness of their ability to be heard. The overarching theme of this year's parade was "Reclaim the Streets for Horns, Bikes, and Feet!" Plenty of each there were, and though the tunes blasting from the horns in each band were different, each blended almost seamlessly into the next as they made their way past the crowds. Check out the photos for a taste of this eclectic event.

Open Studios: Fort Point

2008-10-19T16:21:00.003-04:00

On Saturday the Fort Point Artist Community had an open studios event. They have a large, brick building near the Fort Point Channel with a great view of downtown. It had a vaguely winding interior layout so I felt like around any corner I could find another artist.

It was my first time ever going to one, and I was a little nervous but really enjoyed it. For those of you who haven't heard of this, open studios events are when a group of artists in a certain area organize a free showing of their works inside their studios. This gives them a chance to share their art without gallery liaison, focusing on whichever they choose to exhibit and sometimes including in-progress pieces as well. It's pretty laid back; you can look around quietly or interact with and question the artists (I shyly opted for the former). Some people had free food and drink (lots of Halloween candy!), and some economically-savvy girls were selling baked goods in the hallway. Open Studios take place in cities all over, so if get a chance look for events in your area.

My first stop was to see my drawing professor, Bob Siegelman. He works in different media, first showcasing large abstract prints with beautiful colors and a mesh of twisty splotchy lines. Then on to small ink-and-oil paintings with evocative atmospheres. Sorry, I have no pictures of these.

He also works in photography, trying to "express the need gay men often feel to create a sense of identity, within one's self and culture." They often focus on graphic sexual imagery, but the graininess of the shots lends them a certain softness.

I popped by the studio of Linda Huey, whose gorgeous, organic sculpture caught my eye from the hallway. She has small- and medium-sized pieces that draw from natural, floral forms thematically influenced by "the relationship between growth and decay". Many of her pieces are intended to be in gardens, shown by accompanying photographs of them within different leafy locations. Many of them had an almost alien feel, due to the larger-than-life bulbs and glossy vibrant colors.

Painter Dan Osterman has lovely, expressive landscapes of beaches and mountains. His slightly abstracted viewpoint and free linework make for very striking images. He also had this awesome spinning metallic sculpture hanging from his ceiling that I found fairly mesmerizing.

Bruce Rogovin creates surrealistic self-portraits by repeating his body multiple times in one image. My favorite was one of him sitting on a couch in a rather dank living room, with several nude, translucent versions of him placed around the room. It was sort of Sandy Sklogund-ish, with that suggestion of parallel dimensions. Of course I could find no pictures of them, I'm sorry, but keep an eye on him I guess and hopefully he'll put some on his website.

Bubble World! Martin Berinstein takes bubbles and fluid movement as his inspirations, photographing the effects of dyes and air in liquid mediums. Their extreme close-up compositions make for detailed, intriguing images.
His series "Air, Water and Dyes" was put on large display, as well as a mix of other works, with several focusing on spheres.

Though Laura Davidson works in a variety of media, most of her pieces on display all took a travel theme as the subject. Upon entering a wooden case with many little shelves hanging on the wall caught my eye. It featured little wooden birds and small objects scattered throughout, reminiscent of a Joseph Cornell assemblage but more twee. She had lovely small mosaics of buildings and ancient pottery in etched copper frames.

Her main output seemed to be hand-made books and cut-paper tableaus, or "tunnel books". One book I flipped through, called Mapping My World, Buildings and Bridges, illustrated various places she'd visited. It had hand-drawn maps and pop-up bridges sprawled across almost every page, along with icons of monuments and found vintage stamps.

The tableaus were multi-layered in the way of Dali's Little Theater. Laura was probably my favourite of the artists I visited; the love and attention she put into every piece was to me very apparent, so I could not help but love it too.

The last leg of this artistic journey was a visit to Lenore Tenenblatt's studio, within which I saw wonders done with wood and paint. Her assemblage-like sculptures are full of texture and depth, with interesting shapes and interplay of color. They seemed to have a comfortable familiarity that istantly drew me in, probably due to the materials she uses.

She works with both wall-mounted pieces as well as freestanding. She had some photography and painting on display as well, but I was mostly focused on the sculpture. Also the room smelled like chicken soup. Mmmm.

Other artists I checked out were bookmakers Mary McCarthy and Philip Manna and painter Caroline Muir. I picked up a pile of artist post cards, so all in all a day well spent! If you're in the Boston area, keep an eye out on these artists for future exhibitions. They're having a group show until October 24 in their gallery. Several of the Fort Point artists also teach and run workshops at the Fort Point Studio School.

Short Film: "Falling..." by Dustball

2008-10-13T17:48:00.007-04:00

I really enjoy this short animated film by Dustin McLean, also known as Dustball. The wire figures' movements are so fluid- when they fall their bodies bend softly and bounce as they hit the ground, and when the hero creates a bouquet out of paper it's assembles like clay. The concept is cute as well as disheartening- a combination I like. He composed the music too, which I find whimsically beautiful, reminiscent of Yann Tiersen. Mr McLean says of the work, "I wrote and started animating this in 2004 when I felt sadness for not being able to be with the girl I loved. The good news is I eventually DID end up marrying her and we are living happily ever after, but this animation was never finished. During the summer of 2007 I set out to finish it. The first 50 seconds are the original animation, everything else is new." I was expecting a much more happy-go-lucky tale based on the description so the ending was a nice surprise. Enjoy!

You can find a lot of other films, animated and live-action, at his website. Most seem to be comedic, with the tour de force of course being the genius "Literal Take On Me" video. My god. Amazing.

SoWa First Fridays

2008-10-09T14:50:00.026-04:00

Last Friday I had the opportunity to check out the SoWa (South of Washington Street) studios for their October installment of the First Fridays event. Located at 450 Harrison Avenue in Boston, the SoWa Artist's Guild is essentially a gigantic warehouse, but one full of stylish and fascinating contemporary work. The three-story building is home to over 50 studios, and they open their doors to the public on (yup, you guessed it!) the first Friday of each month. Take away the formality and cost of a large museum and you get the open studio experience: people mingle in the hallways holding plastic cups of wine, artists speak directly to the viewers about their artwork (and about anything worthy of some small talk, for that matter!), and unfinished paintings sit right beside polished and mounted works. It's fun, casual, and as interactive as you'd like to make it.

Linda Cordner was one of several artists who specializes in encaustic painting, a technique which involves creating an image from multiple layers of hot wax and pigment. As the wax hardens quickly, the painting process must be extremely efficient and exact.

In another room, 50 cents bought you an ominous fortune cookie from a vending machine. The words "YOU WILL DIE." marked the wall behind it, and the little slips of paper inside answered how. I'm going to have to appreciate silence from now on, as mine told me that my iPod would spontaneously burst into flames and ignite my clothes, burning my body to a crisp.

There are also some fantastic jewelry studios and one woman creates a whole bunch of bright hats-think feathers, vintage veils, and cozy knits. Here are some samples of some stunning contemporary earrings and a necklace by Sophie Hughes.

Another artist was busy making portraits and had an audience of people in folding chairs examining him as he worked with a live model. A friend and I both spied finished paintings of our studio art class models-sometimes Boston is a smaller place than you'd think!

One of the most popular rooms is always the wire sculpture studio of Brian Murphy. He has a wonderful sense of humor and cunning perception of presence and absence of forms in the pieces of "Totally Wired." His lighthearted works include clever titles sure to delight anyone who looks closely at the details.

Equally popular was the newer "Architecture of Bones" gallery. Haunting (and sometimes politically explicit) images of buildings constructed from human skeletons lined the walls. In the center, artist Shaun Lynch displayed several miniature monuments made to look as if they were pieced together with skulls, ribs, and other body parts. The implications? Definitely worth exploring.

One of my personal favorites was the studio in which Barbara Glee Lucas showcased her large naturalistic paintings featuring glass. A fusion of landscape and still life, Lucas's pieces show a masterful rendering of distortion and details. She's set up in a number of locations, including Australia and France. She talked with some of us about potential locations in Boston for her upcoming projects. I'd love to see her tackle a darkly lit place (maybe a nightclub or bar) and capture the reflections of light on the glassware from neon signs and such. Look for more work from her this year as she explores Boston!

First Fridays is a great way to get to know the South End galleries and have a one-on-one connection with the artists and their work. Head to SoWa with some friends and fellow art enthusiasts on November 7th from 5-9pm for the next event if you're interested in checking it out for yourself. Free artwork, food, wine, and shmoozing abound!

I Want: Dadadreams Story Bracelet

2008-10-09T10:02:00.008-04:00

My goodness, these bracelets by dadadreams are beautiful! They're made of comic strip panels that are adhered to a multi-faceted bracelet so that it tells a story as you rotate it. So cool! They're a little big but I think it's totally worth it. You can buy them here. People who are looking for my Christmas present can especially buy them there.

The blog is pretty cool, too. Lots of satirical and/or silly collage constructions. Check it out!

Tufts University Art Gallery: Empire and Its Discontents

2008-10-06T13:40:00.004-04:00

Despite the fact that I am a fairly gung-ho employee of the Tufts Art Gallery, I'm sure I would have written about its marvelous current exhibit "Empire and Its Discontents" even if I didn't work there. Inspired by Edward Said's 1978 book Orientalism, it features contemporary artists from countries that have been affected by colonialism, and whose work examines the mixture of Eastern and Western cultures. There are ten artists in all, with a related exhibition downstairs, "Contrapuntal Lines: Rania Matar and Buthina Abu Milhem" that has been similarly inspired. Most of the pieces use traditional mediums like painting, ink, photography, video, and sculpture, with one site-specific installation and one cardboard construction. It runs until November 23, and admission is free! If you're in the Boston/Cambridge/Somerville/Medford area, definitely check it out.

Kamrooz Aram has several paintings in the show, including this large-scale abstract narrative piece. You can really lose yourself in it.

I really dig Andisheh Avini's work. He has patterned sculptures that highlight the layering of Persian and American cultures over and under one another.

He also does really interesting collage-paintings that incorporate bleach to achieve a ghostly effect.

Pakistani artist Saira Wasim makes really complex miniature paintings in the Mughal style, with highly satirical political subjects. Her skill and humor shine equally.

One of my favorite works in the show is Egyptian artist Laura Baladi's photographic series The Surface of Time. There are about eight pairs of photos whose compositions depict the ruin and decay she has seen in Egypt since the rise of its current president, Hosni Mubarak, 25 years ago. I love the high saturation and sense of abandonment she captures in these empty rooms and vacated exteriors. I couldn't really find any other images online, unfortunately. You'll just have to see for yourself!

My other favorite piece is a video by French-Algerian artist Zoulikha Bouabdellah titled Black & White #2. In close-up, stop-motion-ish slowly fading shots, it depicts a woman in high-contrast black and white performing Muslim prayer motions with her hands. Google maps shift in the background with locations like Baghdad pin-pointed. In the background is heard "The Star Spangled Banner" in an accented voice. It can be oddly mesmerizing.

Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung has the most visually stimulating piece with his audacious Presidential Erection, a cardboard cut-out focusing on Democratic and Republican presidential candidates and their supporters, with images entirely appropriated from the internet. It's really complex and bawdy, with tons of layers and little hidden images. I find myself staring at it unconsciously when I'm working, trying to identify all of the people and symbols. I like its double-sided aspect too. Apparently there's a video component (not in the exhibition, but it's on his website). He also has a pretty funny video/online game, Gas Zappers, on the New Media Wall.

Other artists include: Seher Shah, with stark black and white photo reconstructions focusing on religious iconography; the graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi, with some enlarged pages from her comic Persepolis; Mark Shetabi, whose installation A Persian Garden recalls his childhood memories of Iran in the late 1970's; and Farhad Moshiri and Shirin Aliabadi, who take common food and cleaning items and re-brand them with thought-provoking messages.

Further Reading:
Tufts Daily
Boston Phoenix

Blog Personality: Julie

2008-10-06T10:57:00.015-04:00

Hello! I'm Julie, the third blogger on this site, and I guess I'm a few days late with this introductory post. I'm also a junior at Tufts, also an Art History major (and maybe an English major as well, but that's a bit unclear at the moment), and also in love with all things art, style, and culture related. I really like finding big things in small moments, and generally I believe that we should all aim to make our lives a bit more like this picture:

Unlike Jess and Alex, I'm not currently in Somerville, since I'm spending the year abroad in London. Expect many, many London related posts, from the basics of the city's art and architecture to more specific discussions of fashion, street art and graffiti, European aesthetics, and the problems of having to go to class when there are so many other things to do instead. Since I'm here all year, I also plan to travel quite a bit, so there will eventually be posts about other cities as well. Yay Europe!
I love modern art. There are many reasons why, but I think two of my favorite artists epitomize most of them...Mark Rothko, because of his exploration of color (and the intersections and overlaps of colors), and his presentation of color as an almost tangible, physical space.

And Joseph Cornell, because of the ways in which he links art to the temporal, the fleeting, and the ordinary, somehow finding immortality in ephemera.

I think our blog will be pretty exciting, especially when we all start posting regularly, so please keep reading. There will be all kinds of adventures, some strange and wonderful things, and if nothing else, some pretty fantastic pictures.

Blog Personality: Alex

2008-09-30T12:13:00.018-04:00

Oh, hey! I'm Alex and I too will be contributing to this visually-focused blog. I'm a junior at Tufts in Somerville, MA, majoring in Art History with a minor in Studio Art. You can probably expect some commentary on the Experimental Drawing and Portrait Painting classes I'm taking, since we're doing some really interesting stuff! I'm also taking a class on medieval Armenian art, a topic not too many people know about or study, but it's a really cool blend of Classical, Persian, and Christian influences. Plus, being a great admirer of Japanese culture, I'm taking a seminar on Ukiyo ("The Floating World") and we are looking at everything from literature to prints to fashion to erotica. Good times! And Learning!

I am mostly into art from 1800s and on. I love anything that's expressive and textured and encompassing and slightly dark or fantastic. I've been getting more into installation and mixed-media artists recently, with help from the internet and museums like the ICA. Incidentally, visiting museums is one of my favourite activities, and I'm hoping writing about my experiences will encourage me to go as much as I'd like to.

Other stuff I'm into/likely to talk about: German art (I'll be in Germany next semester so you'll hear tons about it then), performance and video, cinematography, Surrealism, Da Da, Dutch art, collage, graphic design, outsider art, light art, and animation.

I'm also really interested in comic book art, from standard Marvel and DC to the experimental and independent. Lately I've been reading Scott Pilgrim, the Flight anthology, and New Exiles, which all have very different styles. Comic art has influenced my own drawing style a lot and I love exploring its connections to and influences drawn from other mediums and genres.

I'm looking forward to exploring the boundaries of "visual culture" (if any) and incorporating all I'm learning and seeing into one ongoing discussion.

Anyway I guess that's me. Sorry to be long-winded but if you wanted to you could have just skipped the text and looked at the pictures.

Blog Personality: Jess

2008-09-30T01:03:00.012-04:00

Hey there.

I'm Jess, one of the bloggers for this all-new site run by Tufts students for everything art and design-related. I'll tell you a little about myself, art-wise, so that you'll get an idea of what type of posts you can expect from me. We'll call this my "blog personality."

I'm a junior at Tufts and currently reside in Somerville, MA.

I'm an Art History and English major, so I love combining visual and literature studies. Expect a hearty mix of images and words-I believe the two work wonders together.

A few classes I'm enrolled in might come in handy or inspire some discussion and ideas. They are: Postmodern Art, Arts of Asia, a figure drawing class, and Hitchcock Film.

Right now, I'm interested especially in postmodernism, buddhism, street art, transitory artwork, photography (especially portraits), medieval pilgrimage and spiritual art, visually intriguing films, and the mixture and juxtaposition of ancient and contemporary works.

Some of my favorite artists of all time include:

Kandinsky, because of the meditative nature of his paintings and the fact that they are just so fun.

Andy Goldsworthy, for letting his works fall to pieces, accepting art as a process and not an achievement, and having the most patience I've ever seen. He epitomizes the idea that "nothing is precious." This is also, by the way, a phrase that art teachers love to use before they throw red paint onto an uptight artwork!

I recently traveled to Italy and somehow fit in more cathedrals and art museums than I can count on my hands and toes combined! I'll hopefully return there in the spring to study abroad. Anticipate Italian works later!

Art is a place. Is art Boston? Is it Europe? Your backyard? Something less tangible? Like a game of "Where's Waldo?" you never quite know when and where art will turn up. We'll be looking.