Entrance to the Egyptian Pavillion
Archive for June, 2009
30
Jun
Venice Art Biennale 2009
To give June a fitting end, here is a link to the venice biennale by way of bruce nauman’s tour-de-force. At bottom of the nauman page is a set of links to many of the other exhibits. Happy July! -James
15
Jun
A Visit from the Muse…
The Muse, I suppose, speaks in as many forms as there are artists – or art works. Here is one recent example. I awoke one morning feeling that I should clear easels and such away so I could work on the large wall of my studio. I did that, and pinned up 22 x 30 inch sheets of paper, one vertical one horizontal, to have whatever I would need. It was as though the Muse bopped me on the back of my head, saying, “No, knucklehead, ON THE WALL. Big.” 
I took down the paper. What was I to do on the wall? It was to be a big drawing, freely using various mediums. The figure of a man, a thick man, heavy balding head, big fingers thick like root vegetables, holding something he was looking at. Over the course of a few hours drawing, scrubbing, smearing graphite and paint, the details revealed themselves – the clothing (a cowled monk’s robe), what was being held (a peace dove or perhaps the blue bird of happiness), the thick bare feet, and so on. Always welcome! -james
"MonkMan," 84"x52" 6/09
Now it can be told! I wandered around Oct 08 – Jan 09 wearing a cast on my left arm. Busted wrist. Clean break, not bad. Slowed down my art, tho. I did only one fair-sized painting: of the stairwell i fell down. Since pitching forward and falling down the entire 14 steps including one sharp turn, i had never looked at that stairwell the same! 
"Vertigo," 30"x30" Jan 09
12
Jun
choice point
the stillness at a choice point
the exhibit includes a figure drawing with a striking painted element.
it is different from anything of ryan’s i’ve seen before.
a woman sits thoughtfully on a very large black block.
there is great stillness in that black patch.
she is deciding what path to take in her life and has wisely chosen to perch herself on the immovable center of the universe to do it.
it’s like ryan douglas mixed with mark rothko mixed with zen.
i love it.
btw, ryan’s title is similar to “choice point” but maybe not quite that.
- james
12
Jun
I’m begging you….
Fads for verbal expressions spread like infectious diseases, mouth to mouth, frequently without stopping off in the brain. one recent egregious example is “begs the question.” i’ve seen a flurry of these. the latest is on the inside cover of june 09 Artweek kicking off a review of napa valley museum’s show for women’s history month, “Herstory.”
the reviewer, Hanna Hannah of Santa Cruz, writes, “Herstory inevitably begs the question: Have we come a long way, baby?”
the tasteless cigarette commercial reference aside, the expression “beg the question” does not mean, “to urge that the question be asked.” it means “to take for granted without warrant or proof.”
please, people. what’s next, splitting infinitives??
check it out. my friend phil golabuk keeps a blog of musings at his “fate project,” one of his interesting and practical applications of philosophy. click here and be transported there. have a good trip.
ahna adair is part of the RE-CONSIDER show at artspace404. her work with fabrics is concept-based; yet the concept evolves as the work progresses by intuitive leaps and in multiple stages of skillful manipulation. ahna’s mfa thesis (click on it!) began with found objects: someone’s unfinished project, a decades-old coat pattern and cut out pieces of fabric, which she mounted on a board while thinking what further to do with them. bit by bit, she decomposed the fabric into threads, which she transformed into various unfinished forms; in one case tying short threads into linear continuity, felting others, making and covering buttons and spools, etc. a jeweler, she made all the buttons and spools of silver. at each subordinate stage of an overall random process, adair found the most efficient way of accomplishing the task and set out rules of procedure (e.g., discard bits of thread shorter than one inch). throughout, the concept of “unfinished project” remained her explicit theme. i found process and results quite interesting.
Ahna Adair, found objects
