I was reading Eric Winklemans blog about a month ago and noticed he was on record as being almost done with the major art magazines on the whole. Frankly it's hard to disagree with that. Which brings me to Art Papers (www.artpapers.org) I've been reading Art Papers for about the last year and although it has a slight regional focus, it is seriously focused on expansive discourse on new art. I find it to be the one art magazine I return to between issues.

However I will say that the level of art criticism on the web is less than stellar. Blogs are doing a great job on news and ideas about art, but serious criticism has yet to take a firm hold. Artcritical and Maverick Arts Magazine are probably some of the best. But I want it even better than it is right now.

Artcritical - www.artcritical.com
Maverick Arts Magazine - http://www.maverick-arts.com

From Art on Paper this month "Is printmaking dead?" - obviously the answer is no, that really doesn't change the fact that traditional printmaking publishers have expanded the role of the multiple. In short printmaking is not just etchings and lithographs anymore - think digital editions, books, graphic novels, surfboards, etc. Art on Paper discusses this idea with 4 or 5 publishers - old and new.

On the flip side I discovered a blog last night called "Fresh Paint" http://freshpaint.blogspot.com and discovered that people are using pasta machines as etching presses - the cost savings is only like 5000 dollars. So big kudos to a great idea I'm about to rip off - I mean use. (see above)

Photos (and concept?) of the pasta maker/etching press I believe is from Cynthia King. My apologies if I'm wrong. See her full article here.

At the same time I'm seeing a resurgence on a studio technique called monoprints. Granted I do these as well, but so do a ton of other folks, they are fast, cheap and out of control (as they say). I use monoprints to develop themes on ideas and move through them at a rapid pace. You can leave the piece alone or paint on top - take a look at my paintings page for an idea of what I'm doing with monoprints.

When roughly 2000 volunteers got naked last July, they thought they were in for nothing more than maybe a cold bottom.

Now, the rest of the story, it turns out close-up surveillance camera images of some of the (naked!) participants have been offered for sale to drinkers in local pubs and the police have begun an investigation into "possible misuse" of the footage. Two of police staff face suspension.

My favorite quote on the matter:

"If there is found to be any substance in these allegations we will take prompt and robust action. This is not the standard of behaviour expected of anyone employed by Northumbria Police."

You probably cant tell but I'm laughing, deep down inside where it counts. I really do prefer my naked people pictures sold by the police - it just seems so much safer that way.

I like Tunicks work, and I like the people (or at least the spirit of the people) who pose for his work. His working process is interesting and the images themselves are strong, I'm hoping no one is hurt by the pictures being sold in bars, but I still have to laugh. I guess at heart I'm still basically 12.

Get the whole story at The Independent.

BTW the above is Cleveland - not England.

While I was at the Dada show last weekend, I went downstairs to see the paintings (specifically the Anselm Kiefer, and the Johns' and I completely forgot about the room of Calder maquettes in the basement. I forgot how playful and engaging they really are in the smaller state - in particular - how much more I like them than the larger versions that seem to come with every public building in the world. So I spent a nice 25 minutes or so - looking at the work watching the shadows on the wall and just simply enjoyed them as the objects they are. It was really just a pleasant modernist thing to do, enjoying simple shapes and color.

So as I was leaving I was trying to figure out if I really wanted the Dada catalog (full disclosure: I have a bunch of Dada books already). Anyway, I spotted the recent catalog for Miro/Calder and started flipping through it and brought it home. Even though I will espouse the virtues of Dada all day long - sometimes you just want a little bit of light and joy - this exhibit and book really did the trick for me.

See the Calders at the National Gallery East Wing.
Buy the Calder Miro book just about anywhere (you could try this new place called Amazon.com)

When I was in school, Rolling Stone did a cover story on Jim Morrison titled - He's Hot, He's Sexy, He's Dead. Well it seems the lizard king had nothing on Modigliani. Other than dying early due to drinking to much Absinthe and leaving behind one ugly corpse because of it. Did you know that in the last few years there have been three (3!) movie scripts floating around Hollywood based on his life? I read this and I thought I was going crazy from drinking to much Absinthe.

I learned of this while reading a quick review of a new biography of Modigliani in the Wall Street Journal the other day. The book doesn't seem to be my kind of thing (but frankly it just might be scandalous enough) but I thought the Hollywood script story was worth sharing...

The Dada show is probably one of the most influential and timely museum show (towards today's political and social issues) that you will see in any museum anytime soon. I include the Whitney in this, especially the Whitney.

Let's start with some quick reason's why I think this is so important to today.
• Dada was based in six cities in 4 countries and 2 continents - most art movements are usually based in one or two cities
• Dada attacked the traditions of art history, but became part of it as well
• Dada embraced female as well as male artists (as well as transgendered alter egos)
• Dada used multiple medias; magazines, journals, sound poetry, dance, movies, performance, events (happenings!), traditional art forms as well as a serious investment in collage and photography
• Dada happened in real time not 18 to 36 months after the fact

To see how this has changed art, let's fast forward to today. Photography has become an accepted medium, performance and video are now vanguard forms, collage is universal to the point where we now learn it in elementary school, movie making is in a boom period with video cameras that are now commonplace and, Street art is on the rise and beginning to become much more serious in it's subject matter. Art has now become a vehicle to comment on our culture, sexuality, politics and whatever else we may think of.

Most impportantly, for artists, the most important thing that Dada did was to forever change what we view as art. Art would never again be "just something pretty".

Post Note: I've tried not to make this a go see this show because of all the famous work that's presented type of review. Please understand though, if your looking for the hits of the era, they are all there. To me, the validity and resonance of this show is the profound change it brought to artists ability to communicate both visual and intellectual ideas.

Dada: Zurich, Berlin, Hannover, Cologne, New York, Paris is at the National Gallery through May 14th.

Is a series of interviews that I am in the midst of starting, if your interested in answering the same six or so questions, I'd love to correspond, Drop me an email at mlangley@mediastudio.com if this seems like something you would like to participate in.

I have recently been selected as a participant in a photo show curated by Marshall Clarke titled "Close To Solitude" It runs from March 24 - April 21, with an opening on March 24 at 6 pm. The location is the Current Gallery (30 south Calvert Street). I'll bring more details soon.

Conner Contemporary Art is hosting a series of artist’s talks, named "Discuss". The plan is to go beyond the typical artist talk format, these events will pair two gallery artists in conversation about the current gallery exhibition and their modes of practice.

Attendance is limited to 35 guests; however, a podcast of each ‘conversation’ will be available for download on the gallery website or @ http://www.iTunes.com

Saturday, April 1 @ 2pm: Brandon Morse and Dean Kessmann will discuss being new-media artists.

Saturday, May 6 @ 2pm: Avish Khebrezadeh and Erik Sandberg will discuss figural imagery / narrative in painting.

Saturday, June 24 @2pm: McCallum & Tarry and Mary Coble will discuss social viewpoint in contemporary art.

Jonathan Borofsky’s sculpture, Hammering Man is undergoing repairs after 14 years of working in front of the Seattle Art Museum. Workers have put its arm in a sling, until the sculpture can be repaired. The piece is one of many such sculptures by Borofsky, but is particularly dear to Seattle natives as a symbol of the Seattle Art Museum. Ironically, the Seattle Art Museum is currently closed, set to re-open in 2007.

I just love the fact the sculpture now has a sling.

I'm not sure why this is - but the roar of silence about the Dada show is almost unbelievable.

Frankly I'm a little bit surprised about this - many artists are heavily influenced by Dada. Take for instance, culture jammers, street artists, installation artists, etc. Is the Dada show too mainstream?

Here's my deal: expect a review next week. but if you have thoughts, please share.

In the new Modern Painters, sitting the same size as Duchamp's "Fountain" is an image of the space that was occupied by a statue of Buddha for 2000 years. The article is about Duchamp's reputation as an anti-artist and an iconoclast - the article is defending a stance that this is false. The article is fine, however the image of where the buddha was - is amazingly powerful. It's effectively a picture of a hole in a wall. It has a serious amount of emotional baggage, for a hole.

Clearly this is a image that without knowledge of what I was seeing it would have made no difference - knowing what I was seeing carried the emotional punch that the unknown image would not have delivered.

But isn't that punch what we are all looking for in images that really matter?

Photo from Modern Painters - Photograph by Paula Bronstein/GettyImages

Artforum's articles are online for everyone?
I was looking for some information on Sturtevant the other day and stumbled over this article - a interview with Bruce Hainley talking about the eighties. Go here.

So I did a little digging - ok I backed up the URL to find a whole treasure trove of Artforum articles.

Evidently, findarticles.com is not a new service, magazines of all kind are available - however I saw a bunch of art mags with articles online. So take a moment or a couple of hours and do some reading.

Plastic Fantastic Magazine
Is somewhat new to me, it covers a range of photographers using toy cameras. Since a good bit of my photography is done with toy cameras, I found it pretty curious. It covers Holga, Diana, and pinhole cameras for the most part. I thought it was at least interesting to see what people are doing with lowtech/notech equipment.

Try Plastic Fantastic online.

ARTnews steps to the microphone with a article on the rise of photography. (how timely) Anyhow, the always interesting Lisa Kereszi got the cover this month. I'm a big fan of hers however I'm a bit shocked you would put an artist on the cover and show the same image inside - and that's it. I would think that if someone is deserving of your cover at least a few images (or even one other) would be shown.



I'm completely digging William Wegman's "Postcard Paintings" I saw a huge one (painting!) at Art Basel Miami Beach this year and the few I've recently seen are really interesting. Granted it's not going to be holiday calendar worthy like the Man/Fay Ray photos, these take a very simple premise and push it well beyond the viewer's assumptions. This is especially interesting (to me) as I was never a big fan of his drawings/paintings before.

No Longer Innocent: Book Art in America 1960-1980
I've reviewed this recently without reading it and of course now I am. It's a very interesting read however I am now more convinced than ever that the synthesis of Conceptual Art, Land Based/Environmental Art, Book Art, and Performance Art all met at the cultural crossroads at just the right time. It seems like a shame that these practices are seemingly in decline at more or less the same time. Performance art (to me) has been replaced by video installations/documentary - which I don't view as quite the same thing.



Samantha Wolov's photography is interesting to me - she call's it "anti-pornography" I think they are just sexy images that are not staged like pornography is. It's clear to me that this isn't someone who wants to be Bunny Yeager or Dian Hansen - This staging and a clear delineation that these are not exploitive of the model(s) is what sets her work apart from pornography. I can't believe (ok, I lie - I can believe) that local galleries have called her work porn and have refused to show her - ridiculous. By the way - most of her models are of real people - I just like the barbie images.

Currently on the studio turntable:
Tav Falco and the Panther Burns
Graham Parker and the Rumour
Joe Ely
This Mortal Coil
Big Star

I've been kind of playing with these while the studio is in upheaval with windows and plumbing getting fixed. I think they are curious - but I have no idea where they can go. Time for a small journey I guess.

WSB
The New York Public Library is expected to announce today that it has purchased the Burroughs archive for its Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature. The acquisition will make the Berg Collection, which also includes Kerouac's literary and personal archive, perhaps the premier institution for the study of the Beats. (source: New York Times) This seems right on a number of levels - great decision by the NYPL. Is this the kind of moves they were planning as they sold off the artworks this fall? If so, great great strategy and implementation.

Big layoffs at the Corcoran
(check Modern Arts Notes for more details).
This is sad, I think the Corcoran should be able to keep getting people into the museum, however the curatorial decisions over the last 5 - 10 years have been somewhat strange - also the museum feels to have lost it's vision. It serves brunch with gospel music (which I enjoy) but it's also a serious museum. It's so serious it has a show on the banjo on display right now.

The Whitney Biennial.
It seems like everyone else has something to say, so I'm going to stay quiet about it.