I just stumbled over this and thought I'd share. Radius 250 is a for artists working 250 miles around Richmond VA. Last years version was very good and I expect this years to be no different.

Get the full data here

Labels: call for entries, general notice

Al Pacino has been cast as Salvador Dali in director Andrew Niccol's Dali & I: The Surreal Story, a movie that is scheduled to start shooting in June in New York and Spain. The script is based on Dali and I by the Belgian author Stan Lauryssens, a journalist who has written five books on the Third Reich, as well as the prize-winning thriller Black Snow. Dali and I relates Lauryssens' experiences as Dali's neighbor during his final years in the village of Cadaques in Spain.

From Artnet

Labels: Film

I don't need to discuss the paintings - you should already know them. So I'm going to skip the you should see this one or that one type of thing. The show is devoted to the "first" ten years of image production by JJ - it is purposely edited and I think thats a wise decision. I will admit that it is not edited the way I would have edited the work - still the editing does give the show a real sense of start and finish as well as an invitation for looking for further work.

The four areas of this show (targets, device, skin, and naming) seem thin. This is where a different set of subjects could have been more interestingly shown to me anyway. What others are missing? maps, numbers and alphabets, pattern, monochrome (this would have been overarching) and lastly, process. If it were me, you would have seen: targets, device, maps, numbers and alphabets. I mention monochrome because it does indeed stretch across the whole body of JJ's work. Naming does the same thing as monochromes - however to me it feels more like a tactical device versus a contextual device.

Despite my different thoughts about leit-motifs, within the show, it as a whole is quite the viewing, and well worth your time. (sidebar for a moment: how great is it that the NGA is free - I was able to go to the show and see this one show and get out, without having to feel like I had to see the whole museum - I love that about the museums in DC) The show is great until the last few rooms when it becomes the tightest hanging I've ever been a witness to at the NGA - literally at one point I needed to stand two feet away from one painting on a south wall to view the painting on the west wall. Maybe better planning could have been used. I must admit that the layout and flow were very similar to the Dada exhibit. Considering that JJ was at one time considered a "new dadaist" there is a certain humor in that.

One thing that is never said as much as I think it should be is the role/influence that Robert Rauschenberg clearly has on the first ten years of JJ's work (and vice versa). this comes through loud and clear in all of the "Skin" images. These use RR's technique of lighter fluid and burnisher to get images from other media. The images that were made around the time of "Souvenir" all owe a little bit to RR's combines. I have always felt that the JJ/RR relationship (whatever it was) is really the post war art world version of Picasso and Braque.

That said it cant be much better in a museum to be standing in one room with almost all of the targets Johns ever painted in one room, curatorially that is one hell of a masterstroke.

Jasper Johns: An Allegory of Painting, runs through April 29.

Labels: 60's, Jasper Johns, Museums, Washington DC

It is nice to see the Phillip Guston's hanging in a spot that deserves a second look - These paintings just keep getting better and better and feel more relevant than ever.

I think we can take Ad Rhienhart's "the stations of the cross" series down for awhile - I think these have been up since the East wing opened - at least it feels like it. Let me be clear - these are not his best work.

The NGA has two really great Rymans. I still love the Rachel Whiteread sculpture upstairs as well.

Labels: Museums, Painting, Washington DC

Lunar Procession (detail)

I am a child of the space program. Ask anyone who knows me, they will attest to this. When I was growing up kids my age were promised space exploration and possibly colonization, as this was truly the newest part of our existence we could explore. We were also feed images and ideas of this; Major Matt Mason, Star Trek, Silent Running, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Apollo, Gemini, Mercury, Soyuz, Gagarin, Armstrong and Laika. We all know there are thousands more - maybe you had them in your childhood as well. The amazing future that NASA presented me as a child is in no way keeping with the NASA we live with today.

Which bring me to Kahn and Selesnick: "The Apollo Prophecies".
A quick story is necessary to be told about the images before encountering them, although not critical, it does add a degree of deeper understanding to the viewing experience. The Apollo Prophecies depicts, in long panoramic images, an expedition of 1960s American astronauts who arrive on the moon to find a lost mission of Edwardian space-travellers. To the stranded Edwardians, the Americans are long-awaited gods - the fulfillment of prophecies revealed to them many years before.

That is the germane kernel of knowledge needed to enjoy these images to the fullest.

I was recently made aware of these images at the AQUA fair in Miami, they struck me like a version of what might be called "steampunk" (a version of science fiction set in the past with technology built with that days technology - steam engines, radiators, etc, but these could make computers, cars, rocketships, etc.) and in a way they are - however with this fable attached to them they become much more interesting.

The images are panoramic in approach most are 12" X 70" Each image is either a major event or a story cycle that carries you to the next image. Each image is perfectly built so that it feels "real" as well as fake, but fake in the right way. (if that makes a bit of sense). The staging of these with the forced horizon edge curving under the characters of the images with the edwardian looking space gear makes for a experience that you are indeed looking at a smaller planet than earth, so does the fact that everyone is wearing a space helmet of some kind. The built wood and metal structures, organic Edwardian outfits retro-fitted with space helmets and breathing apparatus bring to mind Jules Verne pushed through a science fiction story.

Today I hold a grudge at the future that was promised and eventually denied, These images that rework the NASA mythos are unexpected and brilliant. They might very well be a metaphor for the lack of exploration we are now engaged in and the way we could be seen in the not too near future. Regardless they are a masterful and eccentric approach to narrative and image making.

Please Note: Yes, I am aware of Spaceship 1 and the recent attempt to privatize space, it's really not the same as NASA and the Soviet program of the 60's and 70's. Todays astronauts wear polo shirts and jumpsuits, more importantly they are made to seem smaller than the technology - a unheroic stance and screaming of "the wrong stuff".

For more detail on Kahn and Selesnick, please follow this link

Labels: Art Basel Miami Beach, DC Galleries, Photography, Washington DC

Sotheby's raises commissions as auctions boom
Sotheby's has raised the commission charged to buyers on big-ticket auction purchases worldwide. Previously, the buyer's commission was 20 percent on the first $200,000 bid at auction and 12 percent on the balance of the total bid. Now, buyers will be charged 20 percent on the first $500,000, or an additional $24,000, and 12 percent on the balance. The last time Sotheby's increased its buyer's commission was in January 2005. Within weeks, Christie's raised its commission to match Sotheby's; as of now, Christie's has not announced any plans to raise its fees.

Million dollar gift to baltimore
The Baltimore Museum of Art, which has one of the world's largest collections of works by the painter Henri Matisse, will receive a ten million dollar endowment gift from one of its honorary trustees. The gift from Dorothy McIlvain Scott is the largest in the museum's history.

Bronze sculptures, including Rodin, stolen from dutch museum
Thieves have stolen seven bronze sculptures, including a cast of Auguste Rodin's The Thinker, from a Dutch museum's garden.

This is starting to get a little bit silly. I mean how difficult is it to have a security team for a museum? or even a gate for a sculpture garden? But don't worry, the police have got this all sorted because, The police asked smelters and foundries "to keep their ears and eyes open."

All stories above from Bloomberg and Artforum

Labels: Artforum, Baltimore, Fontana Mix, general notice, Museums

Right off the bat, Colby Caldwell's latest show is set up to take advantage of the Hemphill gallery space, and does so with an ease that is almost unnoticeable. The first room is filled with his series of images of people - take a longer look and you will notice that these are far removed from portraiture, these are what the artist has labeled "gestus pictures" (more about that in a moment). The second room is full of landscape inspired images utterly devoid of people, and the third room is shaped by a video installation and images that reflect time long ago as well as photographic ephemera.

It is these three approaches that spell out the themes for the current show; presence, absence and memory.

Presence
Let's get back to the "gestus pictures". Gestus is a Brechtian Theatrical term for the physical gesture which defines a character in production. This gestus is not a cliche, but the representation of a character. As I said earlier these are not portraits, but carefully staged images of characters. and what characters they are; a hunter, friends, and family - displaying personalities that let us read our own biases and dislikes into them. These are quietly successful and imaginative images.



Absence
These images show just that, absence. However take a second look and many of these images are speaking of an absence that is not the naturalistic ideal. The absence is that of man and these images quietly show his past presence, and his now departure from the area. This is most notably felt in "after nature (33)" (shown above).

Memory
For me, the two standouts of the show play with memory and photographic ephemera. (t)here, and (t)here (1) are my personal standouts of this show. These images feel connected to CC's earlier work - which is no bad thing. (t)here documents the material of the work - film, while (t)here (1) distills the unknown quality of film, this image is an end of a film roll, an overshot. The final work in the Memory room is a 5 channel video installation, readers of this blog know of my trouble with video presentation in the gallery space, while the five monitors or "rounds" feature Bernard Welt's writing (which I care for very much) it is still hard for me to give a review of the video portion of the show. Please do note that this is not due to any fault of the artist - it is due to this reviewer.

Colby Caldwell | Small Game is highly recommended, and is on display through February 24.

One last note: There is a stamped, signed limited edition poster of (t)here, that will benefit the establishment of a wet darkroom at St. Mary's College in memory of Steve Szabo (1940 -2000). He was a teacher of mine as well as many that attended the Corcoran School. The poster is inexpensive ($20) and goes to a good cause in honor of a man who did much for the betterment of the arts in Washington. If you don't feel like owning the print, go ahead and drop the twenty dollars anyway.

Labels: Photography, Washington DC

I apologize for the bad reference in the title, however I do have some good news to share with everyone.

Here's the story: In June I was approached to show a few photographs at "Hon Fest" in Baltimore. I said yes or else this would not be a story you are reading. A collector there saw my work in the space and spoke to the owner that he was interested in purchasing some of the photo's. Well long story short, he just bought every photo I was showing.

Yeah! (for me).

I want to come right out and thank John Starling at Smith Content for arranging the show as well as his devotion for pursuing the sale. John runs a great writing studio in baltimore with local as well as national clients - Follow this link to his site.

Labels: Baltimore, Collecting, Photography

I've been following a slightly new path of image making over the past few months and have finally updated the web site with just few new images. These are oil on paper or canvas. The photographs have been updated as well. The paintings will open to a larger image, the photo's will do the same - however I need to finish that, so give me a couple of days.

Follow this link, thanks.

One last thing, after a protracted conversation this weekend, I am going to make a promise not to use either "hegemony" or "micropolitics" when discussing artwork on this site.

Labels: general notice

Jasper Johns is probably the greatest painter in the second half of the twentieth century. That is quite a statement, I know. However when you look at the body of work into the 1970's you will see many of the critical approaches stemming from work he pursued. I'm talking specifically about; Pop, Minimal, Conceptual, and Pattern and Decoration. Artists from each of these movements all owe at least a strong nod to his work, especially when you look at the way he used systems and approaches to breakdown and re construct painting.

Jasper Johns: An Allegory of Painting, 1955-1965 goes on view January 28th.

By the way, Target is the sponsor of this show. I'm sure that is no accident. Lets hope that the corporate meat grinder is unable to completely co-opt artwork that has far greater meaning (or lack of meaning, if you know what I mean) as opposed to simply becoming a shill for the newest version of Kmart. (Please don't tell me how they love design, because we all know that as soon as that sales ploy ends, the whole "we love design thing" is gone)

Labels: conceptual art, general notice, Museums, Painting

Imagine this book to be twice as large, with a hardbound cover and gold debossed title, beautiful endpapers, head and tail bands, and a dust cover with a French fold. The inside would have glossy, coated paper throughout. Printed on this paper would be a number of carefully selected full color reproductions of landscape photographs of the Mojave Desert. The photos would have been taken with a field camera holding 8 x 10 inch negative film. The reproductions would be scanned with the latest high-end scanning device and printed at 300 lines per inch in five colors with a spot varnish. The tonal qualities and detail of the reproductions would match the originals perfectly. To explain the images and create context, there would be two critical essays by well known critics. And to lend the book credibility it would be published by a New York art book publisher or institute of photography. It would be a beautiful book, indeed.

This is not that book.

I've always admired Rudy VanderLans work with emigre. I even went as far as to learn about Van Dyke Parks from his book "Plam Desert". I think the verbage above is as interesting as any critical text I've read in quite a while. I also think his 8 x 10 photographs of the California landscape are some of the most interesting and banal that I've seen. His other books; Palm Desert, Cucamonga, Joshua Tree are well worth looking at as well.

Follow this link for more info

Labels: Art Books, Photography

I had written two of them (new artists and favorite shows). I was initially drawn to top ten lists by Greil Marcus, who for years did a monthly column - Artforum still runs to this day (only now with different writers every month).

Every blog and magazine in the known universe right now is running lists like there is no tomorrow, and frankly they have all become white noise - that even when well written, are frankly just not terribly insightful.

So I'm going to sit this one out.

Labels: general notice, thoughts

Isaac Layman: Since we last checked in on Mr. Layman, he has joined the Lawrimore Project in Seattle, and was kind enough to forward a few new images. "Foam Core" (above) is especially strong - it follows the approach that I mentioned earlier this month of multiple images being worked to make a whole. By the way, I've been misspelling his name for a little while now - sorry.

Robert Flynn: RF was kind enough to send me a few images of his previously mentioned lawn objects. Below is "Mr Fancypants".

Labels: Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami

Do any of you use Williamsburg Handmade Oil Paint? I'm curious because they seem really good - but I'm a little scared of the price tag - so drop a note if you are, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Labels: general notice, Painting