video art in detroit (2009)

this entry is long overdue, as for the past few months some excellent video art has been on display in the city. I will focus on two institutions that are well-known, the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) and the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD), because their exhibitions on video will come down very soon, so maybe you'll have a chance to go take a look. I visited each show at least three times before today.

from July 03, 2009 through January 03, 2010 the DIA has hosted the exhibition titled Action<>Reaction: Video Installations, which features the works of Peter Fischli & David Weiss, Bill Viola, Bruce Nauman and Ana Mendieta. if one enters the show from its intended beginning, the first thing shown is a video projection of green text onto a wall that contextualizes video art ("video art may be..."). This institution has been heavily criticized by its didactic labeling of art work ("dumbing it down") since their reopening, and to some extent its use of media technology ("gimmicky") but I have always been a fan of both choices, as I believe that the museum needs to speak to many different people, in different levels - experts should not expect wall signage to cater to their needs, they can come up with their own jargon on their own, I am sure. the use of projections also animates and invites young viewers into a familiar territory, so that the museum space might remind them more of home or a movie theater, than a grandmother's house where nothing can be touched.

so I began this particular exhibition and actually thought it was good to use the medium to explain its own diversity in approach (as performative space, sculpture, nonlinear narrative, etc), though I would have liked it better if they had chosen a TV monitor rather than a projection (as I feel that it still connects the medium more to cinema than to television/mass media). as an aside, I thought it was great (funny actually, as in peculiar) to have the director of the DIA speak in a vertical flat panel at the Avedon, exhibition, and wander if the irony was intentional (director as newscaster/personality in an exhibition on models and/as celebrities)... on my third and last visit there, with my video art students, I was asked which artist made that video (the media label), and that for me was telling, as I began to see how, for the untrained eye, that such projection might be confused with a new type of art work, rather than a curatorial statement. it was then that I also began to reconsider my enjoyment of the use of other media throughout the museum, because we do live in times that the word art is used to liberally, and that it might be confusing to some to distinguish which is what...

moving into the first room (there are three of them, off the Rivera Court, plus the initial explicative projection) is a piece by the collaborative duo Fischli&Weiss called The Way Things Go. this was by far the most popular piece in this exhibition; on all three times all seats were taken, with many folks standing around and watching it (it is a fairly long piece). This cleaver exploration might be best described as the documentation of a dynamic sculptural installation, which reminds me very much of a Road Runner carton for some reason. without giving it too much away (as I hope you make it there to see it), I hope you notice the illusions of uninterrupted time via the use of natural elements (fire, water, etc). my one wish in regards to this piece was that it was not presented again in a darkened room, with seating, because then I feel it gets experienced as cinema (specially given its entertaining qualities), and not as video (which I find to be a wonderfully complex and paradoxical medium).

the next room featured a piece by Bill Viola, which I had not seen before. my prior engagement with his works were much larger in scale, but here Nine Attempts to Achieve Immortality was shown in a small vertical flat panel television (again in a darkened room, why?). this part of the exhibition was always quite empty, myself usually being the only person there waiting for something to happens, which it does, and it is sort of wonderful given the beautiful quality of their sound (it is rightly loud at times)... but I feel that the installation loses a lot of the spiritual connections Viola usually refer or imply in his work, because the architectural surroundings are mostly obscured by the darkness (look up his installation at the Church of San Gallo in Venice, quite impressive)... the DIA has similarly impressive rooms, it would have been great to see his work in a different wing.

the last room contained monitors (finally!), two containing the performances of Ana Mendieta, and one by Bruce Nauman, both of which I had seen in person before in different institutions. I saw Mendieta's work (I believe all fall under the Earth Body explorations in situ) in the Bienal de Sao Paulo in 2006, where they were shown as projections, side by side, which I found most appropriate, because of the larger scale that creates and the relationship to the viewer's body in relation to her own body (implied or otherwise) in the works. I also suspect that her work is actually mostly done in film, and not video, and I believe that these different mediums have very distinct discourses (have not found much evidence online that she shot actual video, but all is possible, Iowa was a very progressive place in the late 70s for performance).

Bouncing in the Corner by Nauman is actually one of my favorite pieces of his (him being one of my favorite artists). it is from the same time period as Stamping in the Studio, which I show to my students every year. like many early practitioners of video art, Nauman was interested then in the performative possibilities as relating to time (they lasted the length of the tape) and space (the confinings of an empty space, as well as the dimensions of the video frame), as well as the shifting of one's perception of what is right/correct (he often placed the camera any way other than straight on). I saw Bouncing... at the Hamburg Bahnhof Museum in Berlin back in 2008, amidst a beautiful collection of Joseph Beuys' works (another one of my favorites), Mike Kelly and Rodney Graham (borderline groupie here!)... Nauman's work was situated on an adjacent building, and I first heard his work, before seeing it. I heard this extremely loud thud that actually shoot my insides, much like being in a loud night club with a strong bass, and its repetitive quality reminded me of my own heart beat. when I turned around the corner I saw the simplicity of his work and I was extremely moved by it, which was unexpected (as I always read more wit than raw emotion in his poetics). I wish the installation at the DIA had the same effect on me, but the volume was quite low, and combined with another artist's work in a small and crowded room, it lost its power to me immensely.

I still enjoy my memory very much, which brings a point of something that may or may not have been evident in this post so far: the importance of the apparatus when interacting with video art. along with considering its visual and auditory hybrid condition, it is always paramount to consider how the apparatus of video is used/concealed/conceived as part of the work, as video is inherently dependent on it for its decoding, unlike cinema (one can actually see the cinematic image upon the inspection of the film strip, which video's magnetic ribbon must be mediated/interpreted by a machinery). this ephemeral/spiritual connection to the medium of video is conceptually aligned very well with this exhibition, albeit some minor modifications would have further enhanced it.

the exhibition seen by the main entrance (and to the right) at MOCAD by Alexander Gutke fully and beautifully embraces the incorporation of the apparatus as a conceptual device, a necessity really, for the understanding of the work. the use of film, video, and slide projectors make a commentary on our expectations of the media these machines translate and enlarge, with a focus on the loop as a conceptual and narrative trope. as much as these media (photography, film, and video) aim to capture or encapsulate time for posterity, here time is revolving over and over again, simultaneously exploding any precious notion of a time past and enclosing or interrupting (imploding?) our own present time, by hypnotizing us with unwinding repetition. make sure that you grab at the door the greatly concise description of the works and map for the exhibitions, as they will provide you with wonderful "a-ha!" moments (not in the 80s band way)....

moving towards the back room via the concert area are the works by Ann Lislegaard titled 2062, a first of many references to the future. The entrance to that hall is enclosed by a sound-proofed tube, with snippets of futuristic sounds and quotations from past visions of times to come (aka hollywood sci-fi). there are five distinct areas here, three video projection installations (one single-channel with audio, one two-channel sans audio, and one triptych with sound), as well as two audio bed stations and one room installation. depending on one's knowledge of the genre (one piece was inspired by a book I read ages ago, the left hand of darkness, another in my view a direct reference to the monolith of 2001: A Space Odyssey) more clues may be needed for the enjoyment of these works, though for me their strength rely on their commentary of architecture as space (which funny enough puns with space and imagination in science fiction). what differs from Gutke's work here is the shear beauty of images and sound here (his work is dryer and more formal, hers is very seductive), which created a very inviting environment, albeit filled with mystery (much like going "where no one has gone before")...

both these exhibitions will be available until December 27, so please hurry up and see them... the new addition to the MOCAD space is the current installation/performance of Christian Marclay's The Sound of Christmas, which was initially performed on December 12, with different installments until December 20. I actually went to his live performance, which included local DJs as well, and found it both boring and relaxing, which I think are fine responses to any given work of art, but I am not sure if that was the intended reaction. this performance consists of five or so turntables which are used back to back by different DJs, from a collection of christmas vinyl records that are also on display at the space, as both video representations, and as stacks one can peruse (that was enjoyable). the live event also included a video feed that was projected behind the stage, which for me was a miss. this ten year project reminded me of events I went to, well, ten year or more ago, when video jockeying was beginning to becoming very prominent in the east coast. and like any musical event, one must have a more active participation (such as dancing or talking or moving through space, etc)... maybe unintentionally people sat down to hear the spontaneous compositions (which at times were very interesting, but mostly sounded like experimental sound from the 80s and 90s at best), but I wish we all had not had the chairs and the tables around, because watching someone spin two records with a dramamine-absent projection got old very quickly (Marclay's set, to be fair, was exquisite - my favorite, and all DJs seemed to have a lot of fun, which was wonderful to watch, but maybe for 5 minutes, not a couple hours).

what was most wonderful to me at Marclay's adventure at MOCAD was the inclusion of local talent. MOCAD has tremendously energized the local art community, and its new director, Luis Crocker, has raised the bar with the exhibitions and events he has brought to town since his arrival (keep at it, and truly thanks!). but a hope a clue is taken by the more overt inception of local artists there. I am not the first person who has wondered why this museum does not include a small space for Detroit artists to show their work, much like the 12x12 space at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. a similar venture here would create a more interesting dynamics between larger institutions, galleries, and a great pool of local talent. is there a suggestion box somewhere?

last but not least, on Sunday December 20 at 3:00 pm CCS Professor Michael Stone-Richards will be giving a walking talk at MOCAD on the aforementioned video art exhibitions. this is yet another not to miss event. hope to see you there!

click here to visit the DIA site

click here to visit MOCAD site

click here to visit the Hamburg Bahnhof site

between a blog and a hard place

tonight I come to you as a way to look back at what has transpired here.... what "here" means is for you to decide.

I began this art venture because of my frustration, and that of others... or so I thought...

being pro-active is sometimes understood as talking about being pro-active... but not all actions are created equal....... good intention is not good enough, a level of commitment is warranted... is it possible to do so, when writing is one small part of all the many thing you want/like/need to do?

I first thought I'd be writing about all events I went to, an ongoing art report with a bite, but as these posts came to life and people began to respond, I found myself in a difficult place.

not sure if it is possible to write about everything, every time, everyone, and say all that needs to be said.

tonight I went to three events at the Russell Industrial Projects, where the new MONA satellite site opened, with a print and video exhibition by Christo & Jeanne Claude.... quite amazing what the director, Jef Bourgeau, was able to get, considering that his museum runs with zero funds. (btw, all donated works at MONA are for sale, and the funds will revert to future museum events)

what else can I say about it? can I critically write about a place that has been supportive of my own work?

right next door was the solo show titled "vestiges" by Lauren Rice, at the org.contemporary gallery. I really like this show, the works on paper being my favorites. a few weeks ago in a studio visit and was awed by the 2D work, but the sculptural pieces wonderfully transformed themselves in the gallery installation.

as always I ran into a river of people I have spent some considerable time with, in Detroit, around the country, and even abroad... small world, as they say...

can I critically write about a show at a gallery that showed my own work a few months ago?

here is the heart of the problem... this is a small, intimate art scene in a large metropolitan area... with access to a good calendar and/or Facebook, a car and willingness to venture out in the cold (or in the heat during the summer), and with a lot of persistence, one can easily get to know a lot of the local art scene. acquaintances are made, friendships forged.

I have met so many wonderful people here, and I keep meeting them...

as much as we all want to have a critical exchange around here, are we ready to do so, face to face, or via an interface? are we ready to air the dirty laundry, so to speak? can we take the heat? can we separate ourselves and take in the criticism as a learning experience?

or is this best left to do so with a few close friends at a bar, a restaurant, or someone's living room, over a bottle or two of wine? do we want to have a critical discourse in the area in the hopes that our own work gets a good write up, or even a bad one, and rise to fame via infamy? what will all this accomplish? and who is the right person(s) for the job?

on my way out of the Russell I stopped at the Detroit Industrial Projects (DIP). I ran into its director, Jeanette Strezinski, who is one of the nicest person you can ever meet in town. her smile just warms any room she is in. she told me that in the upcoming year the DIP will feature mostly solo shows by local and regional artists.

and did I tell you that her step-daughter was a student of mine?

then the thought of expressing one's opinion at the cost of hurting someone's hard work came to my mind. should I write that I thought inappropriate (or odd at best) for a Kresge Fellow to be selling work for less than $200 bucks in a group show? or was that the deal of the century? or yet a further dilution of yet another attempt in this region to reach for a higher standard? I drove home and realized I forgot to take pictures of that show, and felt really crappy...

I thought that the last entry in this blog should be fully illustrated....

but not everything ends up the way you set out to go about at the starting line.... I got so immersed in my thoughts about the art scene and this blog, whether I should continue or stop it altogether, that ended up driving two miles past my exit.

eventually I found my way home, and my way into this window... and a way out of my head... instead of reading my impressions, go see these shows and tell me what you thought about them, perhaps we can have some wine? or whine?

what happens after here, whatever "here" is supposed to be, is for me to think about for now...

and for you to, eventually, find out.

happy Hanukkah to you all!

three galleries, one cup

last saturday was my birthday, so I decided to do three things I enjoy very much before joining some friends for dinner: take a walk around town, eat some ice cream and see some art. the weekend before that I missed all the art openings in town, with the exception of "sought/found" one at the Pontiac's Creative Art Center. I had some work in said exhibition (which features work from Oakland University Art faculty), so I will not write about it, but every one should go check it out. there will be future possibilities for local artists to have their work shown there as well, so it might be a good idea to take a field trip.

now, back to November 14, 2009 in Ferndale, Michigan... my first stop was the Susanne Hilberry gallery, which is a few blocks from my house. I had heard from a friend that they have a ceramics show, which worried me because I am not the biggest fan. well, let me rephrase this better. I actually love ceramics, and my small art collection contains quite a few pieces (have more ceramics than paintings, but mostly photography). ceramics is the art that I love to live with, where I love to appreciate formal and functional concerns (as relating to light, as well as the human hand). what I dislike is the discourses that surround the medium, which is usually very minimal. so with this in mind I thought I'd give it a go.

the Hilberry gallery to me has the best set up in town - one cannot but think they are in Los Angeles or Chelsea. the space is simultaneously neutral and sexy, austere and fresh (in an airy sort of way). its current exhibition features the works by Shio Kusaka, whom I have never heard of. as you walk in small drawings (around 16 inches high) are displayed in a row by the wall near the reception desk. these were made with either ink or pencil or a combination or mediums and mirrored some of the vessels on display.

the back alcove has a narrow shelf made out of unfinished wood, and displayed cups of varied girth. there were a variety of techniques employed, which unfortunate I do not know the correct terminology for (some looked like painted patterns with glazes, some were marks or grooves, probably scored before the firing, etc). I walked back to the front desk to see if these works had titles, and to check their prices (each was numbered, all pictured). the titles were either poetically minimal or unspecified enough to leave me on my own. I did not find any information in regards to the title of the exhibition (I assume it is the name of the artist), an artist bio or an artist statement.

I then moved over to the large room, where an L-shaped narrow but extremely long table (same material as aforementioned shelf), or a wall with no sides a bit above waist height, divided the space into two parts. this was an interesting arrangement, as it created a different architecture to that space. I also imagine that in a room filled with people it would create an interesting social dynamics... I looked at each vessel from one side, then walked around the gallery to be able to see them from the other side. it was at this point that the lovely Hazel, dressed in a mini-Swiss Miss dress (her hair has gotten so long), came to me and told me it was okay to hold and handle the pieces, to see them up close and personal (and to find out the info on them, as their numbers were below). she then immediately disappeared, as there seemed to be other folks in the back room, where the staff was hanging out (as at one point an adorable baby walked my way, with the cutest smile, at another Susanne's poodle).

after having permission to touch, fearing for my life that my clumsiness would destroy something, I began to really experience and relate to the art in display (I'd say at least 60 of them throughout the space)... and then I fell in love with one of them.... in particular a small bowl that looked like it was made of white ribbons, overlapped in a vertical manner to form an uneven and somewhat pumpkin-like shape (I think the word moon was in its title). I also loved the simplicity of the lines of the tall vase with dark triangles all over. these pieces (and many others as well), possessed that rare quality of being simultaneously extremely slick in appearance but with enough subtle oddities in their almost primitive formation that brings forth the hand of the artist in the work. while looking at them I imagined a pair of hands touching the surface, slowly moving the clay around like a musician touching a stringed instrument. this calmed me very much, because I imagined that the person doing that was meditating as well.

I then moved back to the room with the cups and handled a few of them... they were gorgeous. most of the ones I liked had already been purchased, but I found two of them that spoke to me a lot and were still available, the ones that looked like doodles I make when I am sitting in a boring meeting at work, of repeated parallel lines forming a grid (one a tighter one, the other with larger squares). I thought those two would make a lovely pair. it was then and there that I decided to buy myself a birthday gift and get a few pieces for my modest collection...

I waited for a few minutes to see if someone would come to the front, but everyone was in the back, or talking to an older gentleman who was looking at a larger vessel... I then moved to the front of the gallery, by the desk and placed the price list back on its rack, and waited for a few more minutes... someone saw me there and walked right by without acknowledging my presence (not Hazel)... I waited a few more minutes and then decided to leave. I tried opening the front door but could not figure out the lock (it had been locked after I walked in)... it took me a few more minutes to figure out how to get out, and by then I was a bit annoyed... I was upset that the gallery did not consider that I would make an art investment that day and therefore spent their time focusing on someone else (they've seen me before I am sure, but I have never purchased anything there). i would normally understand this attitude if this exhibition had the usual price point for that gallery, but the pieces in this show were extremely affordable (in fact I thought it was the Hilberry version of a Holiday Sale), most pieces below $500. this whole situation put a bit of a damper on my birthday, because I had not thought until then that I would actually get myself anything gifts this year. when I made up my mind to get some, I felt that my spontaneous indulgence was denied for no good reason. it somehow reminded me of the art scene in town, which is to some extend highly supported by artists (artists donate works, artists buy works, etc), unless you move to our version of the blue chip, where then collectors jump in - which I imagine is the Hilberry audience. I wish these distinctions were not in place, that there was more flexibility from all parts involved.

I headed my way north to the Affirmations Center to see Taurus Burns' exhibition. the opening had taken place the night before but I did not have a chance to go to. Affirmations gallery uses that cable metal hanging system, which actually works well for their purposes,for the most part (given the cinderblock walls and the multifunctional nature of their lobby gallery).

on one side there were photographs by another artist that were somewhat pleasant but largely pedestrian (a mix of light erotica and amateur modeling/band/catalogue portraiture, borderline artsy)... I understand why they were there, given the young nature of Affirmations' patrons, but I have seen better works from the same genre done in town. but I wanted to look at Taurus' work so I turned around and went to the other side of the space. Taurus' paintings were displayed salon style with the metal apparatus, with varied sizes (but usually in the smaller size, maybe 12 inches as the widest measurement). I looked at them a couple times, and noticed that there seemed to be two distinct veins in this set of pictures. the first being almost like a collection of photographic mementos from urban Detroit, the kind of painting I would buy if I were to move away from the area and wanted something to remember it.

the other was a more set-up, constructed narrative, with figures in somewhat surreal situations, partially or fully nude in a public space. for me these did not work so well, perhaps because the scale of the pieces limited any painting statement he could have tried to make with them. what I mean by this sentence is that I did not find that the painterly quality married well with the compositional choices and implied narrative. perhaps in a grandiose scale (such as his mural works) the intricacies of the color mixing provide a secondary point of entry into those works. his brushstroke quality for me worked better with the portraits of the city, sans people. some of those possessed a sense of irony with the text and mystery with the time of the day they depicted (as well as the eerie notion of cities with no citizens) that the constructed paintings lacked. before leaving the gallery, I looked for a price and title list but did not find any. there was a small bio/statement provided but those seemed to be directed more towards understanding what the artist does, rather than address the actual works presented.

my next eastbound stop was the Pinwheel bakery, to fulfill my goal of getting a cup of their lovely gelato for my birthday... they have the best in town, and many great baked desserts as well (the vegan brownie is to die for). unfortunately they were not making the ice anymore ("Summer is over"), so I decided to head over to the Lemberg gallery, on foot.... I had forgotten how far north from main street the gallery is, and the thought of the long walk home came to my mind, specially as the temperature began to drop. fortunately the art on display there pushed those thoughts right away. I was greeted by the wonderful and forever smiling Lemberg ladies (as I secretly call them). The Lemberg featured works by Jane Lackey, in an exhibition titled "Shapes Of Entanglement: Particle Politic."

large panels of cloth that seem to be hand painted and printed, flanked the main opposing walls. a concern with geometric and architectural shapes, as well as city maps and mapping, was visibly evident throughout the works. there was also an interest in juxtaposing both man-made and machine-made patterns, via readymade stickers and stitching, along with precise field painting. again, I spent quite a bit of time with these works, getting lost in their labyrinthine patterns and reflective surfaces (one word:gold). the remembrance of my pre-flânerie studying of St. Petersburg maps came to mind, as well as how I had gotten to the gallery in the first place. the title of the exhibition, the title of the works and the statement gave me something to grasp, and the unexpected use of thread (sometimes a subtle white, sometimes a strong orange), hooked me to these large panels. again I saw myself living with some of these pieces, which for me is an important component in the art-making process.

when I make work I imagine it in someone's house (not mine, as I never display my own work at home - I find that extremely odd actually, when artist only have their work on walls in their homes)... I imagine someone looking at my work, someone loving and living with my work. As the artist Cyriaco Lopes said (this is a paraphrase), you must first fall in love with your own work before sharing your work with someone else. and I believe in that.... I believe that you must love your own work in order for someone else to fall in love with it. and when I looked at the works by Lackey I thought that she probably loved her work (even if the labor of making it could be quite difficult, not very loving)... and I then saw myself living with those, looking at those on a daily basis (how great they'd looked over my new fireplace). unfortunately for me they were way above my price range, so for now they will remain in my thoughts.

before my departure, the ladies and I exchanged some words about the art work as usual. it is always great to hear them talk about their artists. it is not just spiel for the investor, they seem to always express their awe on the work in an unassuming manner, and not to impress anyone. what I enjoy about that space is the consistency of the aesthetics they subscribe in their representation (contemporary formalism and expressionism, in my view), while keeping a varied roster of artists - the work might not be your cup of tea, but I find them habitually good. as my adventure on my birth day were coming to a close, before my dinner that same night, I headed back home, cutting through NW Ferndale. some folks were raking the leaves, some were bringing in grocery bags, all seemed to be getting ready to enjoy a cozy Fall night at the place they call home. my last unofficial stop was the CVS pharmacy, to get some dental floss. I thought "is this how this walk will end? no art, no ice cream?" it was then that a beacon of light caught my eye, a blinking neon "open" sign at the Dairy Queen. I did not get a cup of gelato at the Pinwheel. I did not get a ceramic cup at the Hilberry either. DQ would have to do it for now. the familiarity of their strawberry sundae hit the right spot.

dinner was great as well, in case you were wondering ;-)



click here to visit the Susanne Hilberry gallery
click here to visit the Affirmations Community Center
click here to visit the Lemberg gallery

projecting

today I finally finished the long-winded painting align="right" align="left" which I began working at the same time I began this blog. again, the title would include the brackets, or a sideways V, which I cannot type here because the blog interface automatically turns it into its html coded function.

while painting I started to think about a lot of things, as I usually do while getting into the zone.... I recalled the beginning of this painting series, which for me was a huge departure to what I had been doing for the previous decades, medium-wise, but really something I've been wanting to do all along... I wanted to major in painting in college, was encouraged by my teachers, but discouraged by my father...... I considered about my entire artistic career, a quest really..

I thought about all the sacrifices, all the moving around, trying to find a job, trying to get shows, trying to get a green card, trying to find a place where I belong......

and here I am, one week away from my 36th birthday.... looking back, has it been worth it? has it been worth living away from my parents, who each day get older and older, away from my sisters and now nephew and nieces? was it worth leaving my country and culture behind? I also thought about all the relationships that I either gave up or did not even give a try because my career was my priority....

36 years old, and what do I have to show? single, bilingual, Pet Shop Boys always seem a right fit...... have a closet full of art work, which occasionally comes out, but is seldom looked at...... really looked at, except by me...... my last show in Detroit I got some wonderful feedback, a couple people (Linda and Dick come to mind, but there were others) seemed to really have looked at the work, considered, and given me generous feedback...... made the months and long hours worth while.... I was very touched by their interest and care...

this artistic quest or journey is one that is filled with sorrows and turbulence and tribulations, with the occasional sunny spots (or bright spells, as Marchand used to say)..... in a way it is an addicting masochism lifestyle, sans kink.....

my mind then moved to some other areas, I thought about people I know, some very close friends actually, going through a real tough time, and I felt their pain..... I've been to similar circumstances (but not to the same degree), and remembered how immensely overwhelming the "not-knowing" can be some times... I thought about them for a little bit and sent my love their way, a mental email that do not require a reply...

and then I looked at my own work, half way through it... I stepped back, turned on my spot light, and blocked the projector with my body to take a look at what I did...... I thought about Jim Carey's joker costume, and the tentative quality of the brush-stroke.... I was not completely happy with how the paint was adhering to the paper.... it seemed so tentative, and too distorted.... I partially blamed it on the old brush I used, and the even older replacement paint I found in my studio (today is a day of losing things, card-reader still missing, or perhaps today is the day of "finding something else instead")... I turned up the volume of the music, hoping to bring some of the celebration into the work, and to quiet my thoughts....

went back to painting, actually set down on the floor and got close to the surface of the paper.... I smelled the paper and the paint, looked at the graphite smudges on my hand, and dipped the paintbrush in the palette, and began covering another letter..... this time I got closer and really looked at what I was doing, and in this process I began to see how the quality of the brushstroke was a reflection of my state of mind.... all my insecurities and stresses were there, as if in the process of covering the projected text, I was projecting back my mind onto the surface of the paper... this acknowledgement made me love what I was doing, made me see how this piece was becoming a marker of where I am in life right now...

36 years old, and none the wiser.... I am still the same boy who a million years ago made concentric circles on a blank piece of paper with his best friend in kindergarden, the same kid who drew around newspaper comics and collected architectural floor-plans, the same youngster who stayed up all night drawing apples on striped fabric in college only to fall asleep minutes before his critique.... I am still the same uncertain person who, against all fears, takes the plunge and pursues his dreams.... I am the one who still has the callus on his index finger, who does not want to get wiser, but remain innocent, even when faced with failure...

by the time I completed the painting I realized I had succeeded here, because, unknowingly, I had actually found out what I was looking for =-)

Breeding Ground: New Detroit Sculpture at MONA

last friday, on my way home from work, I stopped by MONA (Museum of New Art in Pontiac, MI) to take a look at the exhibition Breeding Ground: New Detroit Sculpture, co-curated by Kevin Beasley and Christopher Samuels, which featured the works of Nathan Morgan, Abigail Newbold, Andrew Thompson, and the Detroit Projection Project (as well as the curators'), dispersed in four galleries and two floors, all delineated and labeled in a convenient map.

due to a scheduling conflict, I was unable to come to the opening reception, which greatly diminished my experience of the pieces displayed - the scale and interaction with the human body (other than mine, and that of multiple bodies) could potentially and significantly have affected my responses, as well as seeing the works at night (as opposed to 2 in the afternoon).

in preparation to the panel discussion to take place on November 01 at 4 pm, the gallery that features the works by Nathan Morgan was modified from its original arrangement. I am aware that my reading of his art may not have been 100% aligned with his intended choice, so I elected not to write about it (though what I perceived seemed interesting). the brevity of my visit also did not allow me to fully experience the two video works by the Detroit Projection Projects (aka Steve Coy and Brandon Wally), so I will not write about these works either. for the purpose of this blog I thought this would be the best option - I am certain more opportunities to look at their works will arise in a near future.

there were a few words floating in my head as I looked at the works presented. they, in one way or another, could be applied to all works seen, in both positive and negative aspects.

S: (adj) facile (arrived at without due care or effort; lacking depth) "too facile a solution for so complex a problem"
S: (adj) facile (performing adroitly and without effort) "a facile hand"
S: (adj) eloquent, facile, fluent, silver, silver-tongued, smooth-spoken (expressing yourself readily, clearly, effectively) "able to dazzle with his facile tongue"; "silver speech"

S: (adj) transcendent, surpassing (exceeding or surpassing usual limits especially in excellence)
S: (adj) transcendent (beyond and outside the ordinary range of human experience or understanding) "the notion of any transcendent reality beyond thought"

S: (n) transformation, transmutation, shift (a qualitative change)
S: (n) transformation ((mathematics) a function that changes the position or direction of the axes of a coordinate system)
S: (n) transformation (a rule describing the conversion of one syntactic structure into another related syntactic structure)
S: (n) transformation ((genetics) modification of a cell or bacterium by the uptake and incorporation of exogenous DNA)
S: (n) transformation, translation (the act of changing in form or shape or appearance) "a photograph is a translation of a scene onto a two-dimensional surface"

on the first floor, in the Front Window gallery I encountered the works by Andrew Thompson. I have seen and enjoyed some of his works in other exhibitions, but did not notice a particular correlation to what I have seen him produce before to these, with the exception that a personal narrative seems to lie somewhere between the artist's mind and the title of the piece(s). Constituted of refuse and recyclable materials, an inference to the human body (via humanoid shapes, silhouettes and house/dwelling) was made throughout the space. while I can see that these work relate to the vague exhibition description found online (Detroit as a scavenger's paradise), I do not particularly understand why and how this garbage/recycling aesthetic has to do ONLY with Detroit, but with any urban setting - I am also not sure how the word "new" applies here, as works like this have been made for a long time, every where, in both high and low art. While laborious and obsessive in appearance, process and scale, and with beautiful but very minute sections (the weaving of plastic grocery bags come to mind) the pieces overall seemed facile to me, slightly obvious, and not transformative enough from its original source materials - nor did it transcend enough (or at all) its current museum setting - too much of a good thing sometimes is just too much. perhaps an outdoor installation would have shed a more interesting light onto these. I also wonder where these materials will go to once the work is deinstalled - I fear that it might end up where it came from, and to some extent potentially reinforce or contribute to what is being critiqued (this last thought could be applied to the exhibition as a whole actually).

moving along upstairs I first visited the North gallery where the works of Christopher Samuels and Kevin Beasley were installed. Samuels' use of prefabricated materials and construction tools provided an elegant solution at times. the image above depicts in two views by far my favorite piece of his, which led me to believe (in retrospect) that here what had occurred is what lacked in other parts of the exhibition. this untitled piece transported me outside Detroit, outside Pontiac, outside MONA, and even outside my own physicality - I concentrated on the fragility of the form in front of me, and the implied tension and descension. the fact that it was installed in the most neutral section of the museum aided my experience. the other sculptures by Samuels , displayed in other two alcove, were not as successful to me. the thought that came to mind was that the work seemed mostly "staged", rather than installed (the word facile again resurfacing). for me that was not satisfying. titles (or at least numbers) and a statement would endow focus to these. the poetics of his pieces were also diluted and lost to me given their proximity to one another - it could be interesting if each artist had work in all four galleries and therefore dialogue with one another.

adjacent to Samuels' were Kevin Beasley's works, which to me appeared to center mostly on the congealing of found materials in mutable substances, as well as what I assume to be found objects, with the repeating of round shapes somewhat prevalent. while transformation here was a more evident concern than in Samuels', the transcendence again lacked. his recent solo exhibition at the org.contemporary gallery allowed me to experience Beasley's work under a much more appropriate light (pun intended), his vision there clearer and simpler but more poignant than here, and the beauty of his simplicity seemed more intentional then as well. While navigating through the space here I had a hard time understanding what was purposeful and what was accidental/already there (the North gallery is not spare on industrial fixtures that have a similar texture and feel to Beasley's art), but not in an intriguing or complex manner but rather distracting and dissatisfying (as if I had taken a bite on a piece of fruit and tasted texture but not flavor). it could be interesting that, in their goal of articulating Detroit, these artists could have reconfigured/neutralized the MONA spaces more by remodeling them (even wall paint and carpet removal) prior to installing their work - a makeover practice that Detroit itself needs more, from a grass-roots and proactive position (as a history - of peoples, objects, towns, etc - can be displayed as an interpretation, rather than as an index). I would be curious to see Beasley's work at the Cave, or similar setting.

last but not least I moved over to the South gallery (the main MONA space) to the works by Abigail Newbold. While the facile aspect of other works in this exhibition veered towards the random, here I found an ease of entry/encountering that was truly joyful. Newbold transformed the materials she utilized (a combination of found knickknacks and mass-produced furnishings with home-improvement store supplies) into large but portable platform environments that were both funny, intimate, familiar and somewhat forlorn. her pieces also transported me away from the (literal and metaphorical) surrounding noise of the gallery, and had the potential of physically me transport me outside the gallery too, because they rest on industrial-sized casters (I imagine that any attempts of moving these in their entirety might aide in their own demise, since they were assembled in loco and potentially too large to fit into its elevators, a concept in and of itself extremely pertinent to this geography). their titles also imply a distant location (with a hint of resort getaway or homemade simulacra to boot). while they reminded me of Australian artist Adam Norton's work quite a lot (and many others who work in a futuristic modular-home approach), I was able to push those thoughts aside immediately and really see their poetic possibilities. in my view these pieces complexly spoke about Detroit, about living in Detroit, about being and thinking Detroit (and/or what I imagine all of these to be to many other individuals) - of an uncertain fear and dignified grace, with a dash of kitsch and sass amidst its post-industrial dissolution and blurred boundaries; that desire to simultaneous leave and set roots (here and somewhere else). these qualities would position this work to exist and interact with a local social perception elsewhere, not just here, and speak to the transient nature of a globalized but interconnected society, and its citizens.

my reading and experiencing of the art might have been somewhat different if the facilities of MONA were also further neutralized (sans carpet, stains and inconsistent wall color and surface, etc). I hope their new annex gallery at the Russell will solve some of these issues of space/environmental interference on works of art and continue giving the opportunities for the new generations of artists to best display their works, because MONA is one of (if not the most) interesting alternative spaces in the metro area.

I only wish I had been able to attend the opening reception and conversed with the artists to get a better understanding of their work. ditto in regards to the panel discussion (my sincere apologies). I also wish that the texts provided online were better articulated, not filled with vague generalizations about sculpture and Detroit (as well as statements by each artist, which I did not find, this of course could be my mistake). the somewhat repetitive statement of placing their art practice as unique (have we not moved past the avant-garde quest?) and socially engaging (what constitutes a "social landscape" anyway and why is that exclusive to here?) without ever defining what those terms t actually mean or meant within this curatorial program, lacked a much-needed substance that could broaden what their practice can/could be and become. as is, the ephemerality of some pieces might veer into non-existence and oblivion, rather than transcendence.

what may make the works in Breeding Ground relevant to our times is not their connection to Detroit or urbanity or their sculptural statement/manifesto... but what happens with these works once they leave this gallery space.

click here to visit MONA's Breeding Ground page
click here to visit the Cave gallery
click here to visit the org.contemporary gallery
click here to read an article on Adam Norton

violence in movies

last night I watched at home the movie Knowing (directed by Alex Proyas, starring Nicholas Cage)... I have been going through this period where I enjoy reading sad books and watching action/sci-fi movies, don't ask me why.... so tonight I clicked on this movie while eating my dinner (can never go wrong with Anita's Kitchen)...

it was interesting to see that the main character was a college professor, specially since reading recently on CNN.com that college professor is in the top 10 most desirable professions these days (I believe it was number three)... of course, being a Nolte role, this professor had to be one with a million issues, a drinking problem, etc (nevermind that impossible hairline and them most manicured hands ever)....

anyway, I am not going to write a review on this movie, there are plenty ones to read about online (paging rotten tomatoes)... but I just want to comment a bit on its sheer violence... I also noticed this unbridled violence in District 9 a few months back (that is a great movie)...... and I wonder the amount of violence that was exhibited in two Mel Gibson movies that I boycotted, the Jesus one and the Mayan one..... is this a new trend in movie making?

it was a bit shocking for me to watch last night bodies burning and exploding, being realistically hit and torn up by out of control vehicles etc....... and this is after I saw the trailer and got really interested in watching it... so I guess then my question here is, how do we deal with (in my humble opinion) gratuitous images of violence? I am not a big fan of rating systems, as I view them as a socially-sanctioned form of censorship... in a post-9/11 world do we simply need to learn how to live with these representations?

click here for official movie site

Lisa Marie Thalhammer at The Butcher's Daughter gallery

because I had met the artist the night before at a dinner party, and harbored a massive hangover (for unrelated reasons), I walked up the steps to The Butcher's Daughter gallery with some trepidation and a bad taste in my mouth...

there is a well-known need to have some critical discussion and writing about the art scene in Detroit... we all talk about it and we all hope one day it will get better.... I've been thinking about starting a blog such as this for a very long time, taking matters into my own hands so to speak, but always felt (and still do) that I may not be the best person to do so, or that this might not be very good for my own art career, locally speaking.

what would happen if I had to write something negative about a friend? what would happen if the person being critiqued did not appreciate my comments? would this black-list me in some circles? or is art criticism something people like to complain about, but secretly love its absence? (the complaint being the binding factor in the community)...

and what is art criticism anyway? should I embrace the "I like.../ I don't like..." dictum that my students so frequently use, and that I abhor? how fully should I embrace my subjectivity? these questions are ones that usually surface in the teaching environment... so as any good teacher, it is time for me to become a student too and try to follow some of my own advice...

the addition of The Butcher's Daughter to the Detroit art community has also inspired me to undertake this venture. Monica Bowman has been very brave in actualizing her ambitions at a time when most like to focus on uncertainty and not be pro-active... the energy and freshness this space has brought to the scene is truly wonderful, and I hope the local art community will full-heartedly support it.... Monica, thank you for putting forth and expressing your vision....

a blog is a place of opinion, so I will express mine here... I will try to avoid any notions of taste (and if that is not possible, acknowledge it openly) and attempt to apply a description of my response and an analysis of my thoughts as a means of articulating my opinion.... so here we go!

this exhibition is made up of small-scale collage works (photographic images from magazines with painted elements), one large portrait painting, one mural and one stop-motion animation video piece...

one of my current gripes with art and the art experience is the notion of the presence of the art piece (its existence or lack thereof).... what I mean by that is the physical statement the work has once one approaches and experiences it.... more precisely, the way the aura of the work moves me... I feel that there are a lot of works being done these days that simply lack presence to me... for me that was one aspect that this exhibition did not possess as a whole at a first glance... perhaps the lack of glass in the presentation added to that reaction (I am partial to glossy surfaces, have always been), as well as the scale... the first impression for me was a bit flat...

there were some exquisite moments there though, and some portions of some pieces were very delightful to experience (also note how photogenic they are), such as the outline around the figures in the amber pieces by the reception desk/bar... the color palette and the paper texture worked well for me there... those pieces felt cohesive (no photos of these were taken, so make sure you go to the gallery to check them out)... but with some pieces the texture of the handmade paper were a bit too distracting and odd (specially when the palette was cooler)... the red piece with the arabesque patterns and the small collages around the border was one of my favorite pieces on the show (pictured below), perhaps because it warranted an approximation that fitted its scale better that in others... there was also a very nice dialogue between that piece and the video animation... more on that later...

some of the collage pieces, although interesting, gave me the impression that was too familiar and not as complicated as they could be... there is a whole generation of artists now dealing with this conglomerate look that implies motion (though of course this is nothing new or of only these times - this approach is as baroque as it is cybernetic)..... two artists that come to mind are Alexander Reyna and Sean Capone, whose work I curated into an exhibition at OUAG last March.... what differed their work from Lisa Marie's is their embracing of an over-the-top glossy and orgasmic effect in their final creations. I felt that Lisa Marie's were in a way too timid, too quiet, and even a bit too encrypted....

I also could not shake out the notion of many wall and table decorations I have seen in diners, tattoo parlors, pubs, and alternative restaurants all over the world, where this dismembered assemblage is on public display... it begged me to ask the question "what makes these different?" (aside from their context)... and then it hit me that perhaps this is precisely what this work is about... this is a commentary on that attempt for visual expression that is accessible to many (makers), prevalent in underground and mass media culture, but not completely assimilated.... a grunge or rebellious or queer scrap book of sorts.....

upon reading the statement that brings forth a biography as inspiration, the environments Lisa Marie has lived through begin to focus her work more for me... what was little evident to me was the feminine/feminist perspective in the work that was addressed in the statement (the decapitation and implied mutilation/mutation for me reinforced the critique it attempted to make, instead of posing a new solution or articulation of her position)... both Rosler and Ofili have dealt with similar imagery a while back, both with very different points of view and effect (though both related to this work via religion and gender politics), so what has been absorbed/learned from the(ir) past? is it possible to move into a post-feminist thought where the essence of being is as much celebrated as the struggle of being?

which brings me back to the video piece in the exhibition... it is here that I see a glimpse of things to come for her work.... what attracts me to this piece is similar to my experience in meeting the artist in person the previous night - shyness, humor, beauty and inner glow.... in this video I see where the work can go, in so many different directions (just as my experience of Lisa Marie changed, as we got to know each other more, and her intelligence, kindness and laughter emerged)... I imagine sounds and flashing lights, syncopated rhythm and tons of motion... and I hope this rubs off in the 2-D pieces as well..... I want to see an explosion of colors and rainbows and stars, ripping the edges of the paper, escaping its own boundaries... I also want to see some greater scale (the mural in the room makes me feel this way) and asymmetry (the burden of the rectangle no more)... I want to see, hear, taste and feel anger as much as joy.....

it could be interesting to see actual pieces of the truck stop too (furniture, backlit signs, menus, some 3-dimensionality) somehow incorporated into this endeavor... her personal history should be, somehow, articulated within the pieces to a greater extent (and not only in writing)... there is a million ways to do that (the scrap book mention also recalls the diary or journal), and if this is not an interest, then it is perhaps best left out of the artist statement... because it also reads as some type of justification for what we see, and the work does not need any face-saving... we don't need to always be defined by our parent's career choices ;-)

by the time I left the exhibition I was inspired by the art works I had seen/absorbed, my head filled with thoughts on their potential and possibilities... sometimes we see work that leaves us empty or too full, with nowhere to go to, and in a sense those pieces disappear thereafter from our minds.... sometimes pieces affect you (think of a wedgy or a hotel pillow, discomfort or Unheimlich) and leave you wanting more, like here... I really look forward to seeing more works from Lisa Marie in the near future... I'll be curious to see which road she decides to take next in her life and hope we get invited to ride along...

click here to see Thalhammer's work
click here to go to The Butcher's Daughter
click here to see Reyna's work
click here to see Capone's work

step 3

keeping with the idea of sharing this process with you guys, I decided to video-capture a portion of the painting process...

unfortunately youtube did not allow for a continuous clip that was longer than 10 minutes (the whole thing is eleven).... so it is divided into two sections.....



the actual first step of the process is the photographic image that I use as base for the drawing.... I am not sure what kind of audience this blog will have, so I am not going to be posting that here.... the drawing is obviously the second step, and the painting of the gold the third step... it is also the lengthiest of all....

I usually listen to music while working in my studio (unless I am editing audio), and I usually listen to one track only, on repeat.... I have been doing that since my undergrad days in Savannah... one particular song I remember using was erotica by Madonna for my final in life drawing class..... it was sort of an arrangement of three bodies in a room with a window, standing by a bed.... I meant to use them compositional devices, but now I can see that there were some erotic possibilities there too, though I was completely oblivious to it....



I believe said drawing is either gone for ever or in my sister's storage space in Texas... it was a bad drawing in regards to proportions, but I would kill to have it around right now to analyze the line quality..

anyway, I usually pick a random song of the moment and go with it (Bjork and Gus Gus come to mind, as well as Portishead)... so usually the song has nothing to do with the work itself in a conscious level..... though I have to say that this series has a celebratory feel to them, so who knows? I think it is more of an OCD thing than anything else....

here is how the first layer looks like, completed:



and here is a detail:



the final step will be the painting of the text with black paint... I will post an image of that as soon as I get to it, probably next week or the one after...

work in progress

I thought it would be cool to see my new piece as a work-in-progress here on the blog until I get to go to some galleries this weekend and focus on someone else's art....

so this is a new addition to the HTML/pageview-based works.... they all start as a pencil drawing, from a projected photograph that I took...

I initially used more than one sheet of paper because it was more manageable to work with them in my not-so-tall studio space.... but now I actually think that there are conceptual possibilities for the seam... I believe the edge of the paper enhances the materiality of the piece, which contrasts well with the immateriality of the digital image, projection, and website.....

the whole drawing measures 40 inches wide and 52 inches high... and I completed this earlier today.... the next step is to paint gold the areas surrounding the figure and eventually HTML code and tags somewhere within the piece.... the gold part will take a few days to complete, as at least 4 coats will be needed (more likely 6 to 8 coats), with a drying period in between each....

note the gold markings on the wall around it... this happened when I created the 7 pieces for the show ( about 22 pieces of paper measuring 26x40 inches each).... I would paint a set of four pieces of paper, move them to a table, and paint the next four, etc.... the effect is pretty cool, and I plan on keeping it when I move out of the studio and turn it into a media room....

more on this later =-)

it only makes sense...

... to start this art blog with my own work... if I will post and comment on other people's work (and let others comment on it as well), it is just fair that I place my work under the same spotlight....

to the left is an image from my most recent exhibition, gold code, which was exhibited last month at the org.contemporary gallery in Detroit, Michigan....

the title of this piece is heart.jpg plus the letters b and r between brackets (which ironically I cannot type here because they are automatically hidden as code when this web page is processed, see work for actual tag), which I intend on being read/decoded as " heart break"...

my goal with this piece, and with similar pieces in the exhibition that combine HTML code references with the representation of myself and the gold ground, is to converge distinct but related spheres of knowledge: personal experiences and ephemeral/ubiquitous technology. both of these intersect with the body. both of these complicate our understandings of site as knowledge and the knowledge of site.

my interests also lie in extrapolating notions of what photography was, is, can be and may become as a social and cultural phenomenon, in this piece and in many of the pieces in the exhibition... this is true to most of my works that are actually not photo- and video-based (an overall arch of my work, so to speak)....

at its inception the photograph was both an iconic and indexical sign of the world it depicted. with the advent of digital technologies its indexical nature has lost some of its prominence... the word itself implies that writing or drawing (graph) that is done with light (photo).... by actualizing these original terms (by using projected light as the base for iconic images, and using techniques that emphasize the handmade process, such as drawing and painting) I hope to rescue some of photography's native potential, and in the process display encrypted personal experiences...

welcome to art-sight!

this blog will display my visitations, opinions and wonderings about and around the art world (the partt I have access to)...

my intent is not to generate originality or notoriety, but to catalogue and share my experiences.

thanks for stopping by,

V.