oranje

Getting ready to go for burgers n’ fireworks.
Tooling around online.
Found this –

Mark Jenkins, aka storker
Light on words, heavy on images.

I spent the last two studio days prepping substrates. I am of two minds about organising my studio time. Sometimes, I think it would be better if I prepped substrates as I went. You know, set aside a little time every time I am in the studio. Stretch a canvas, prime a canvas, prepped some paper or something. The upside is that I would have a continuous stream of surfaces on which to work. I do have the space to both at the same time, so I wouldn’t have to set up and break down work areas each time.

On the other hand, once you’re in the groove for either painting or prepping, it’s just difficult to stem the flow and turn your energy to something else.This time I worked into the preparation stage gradually over the last two weeks. I will actually have just today with no painting.

Frankly, the last three months I have spent just painting, no prepping. Wow, that’s been nice! Normally, I would prep about a half dozen surfaces at a time. This would basically last me about a month. While the weather was so cold last winter, I prepped more than my usual number of surface. It was just too cold to really paint. This current series is much more time intensive, so the paintings are not being completed as quickly; the last bout of preparation has finally worn out.

This series is ready to move on to the next stage, with some larger works. I have four canvases ready to go. One of the other things I did during this bout of preparation is that I went through and pulled old canvases off of their stretcher bars. I do this periodically, and generally roll the canvases up and stuff them in a box. I pulled those old canvases out and started cutting them up about a week ago. It’s a little like working with found objects. Some of these older works I cut down and re-stretched onto frames. Some I have mounted on panel.

All of these older works were figurative. My goal in cutting them up was to find areas of the works that would work as grounds within the context of this new series of non-objective painting. This is the first one that I’ve completed -

Obviously, these are going to be smaller works. Even though some of the canvases I am salvaging are fairly large, finding the expanses that can be re-adapted means selecting fairly small sections.

When I was prepping surfaces last winter, I also started a series of gestural drawings with ink and graphite on panel and paper. These works have been sitiing against a wall, waiting for me to get back to them. Somehow, I just have not been able to return to that avenue of inquiry. The paintings have become much more of a compelling inquiry.

… that postal workers don’t think that jokes about going postal are funny. Who’d a thunk?

JT Kirkland is always thinking. This time he is thinking about what constitutes a review in the current dialog about art and artists. From his new project –

… I am no longer sure what an art “review” is today.  Is it a re-hashing of the gallery’s press release?  Is it a description of artwork in a show?  Is it a blog post of images?  Is it a thorough critical analysis of the exhibition, work and artist?  Is it something else entirely?

JT Kirkland has conducted similar online projects in the past. His Artists Interview Artists project was at times very thought-provoking. This current project promises to be the same.

The impetus for the project is the lack of dialog in the traditional press for all of the arts. Currently, it is more likely for a paper to review a television show than it is for them to publish a review of an art exhibit or a new dance presentation. While I understand and agree with this premise, it also seems to me that this project could serve as arallying point for artists to have a direct and significant impact on the art dialog, which has for decades been the provenance of critics and historians. So, go and submit your work for participation in Artists Review Artists. Detailcan be found here.

“Wendy’s illegal sublet that she shares with another photogenic young artist.”

Wendy Watson thought she had it tough as a struggling young artist working a string of meaningless McJobs… until she met The Middleman. Now her life is filled with monsters, mindless destruction and one life-altering choice: to join or not to join the never-ending battle for truth, justice, and the other thing!

ROTFLMAO

The Middleman and The Middleman

Bob Qualters

Okay, so my camera isn’t the best and sometimes my images leave something to be desired. I wanna tell ya, the above is from the Borelli Edwards Galleries site. The BE Galleries does not permit photography (seriously!) so even if I had gone back to my friend’s car to retrieve my camera, it wouldn’t have done any good. But this was a seriously amazing work by a long-established artist, Bob Qualters. I’m not even sure if the image is compelling enough to make someone seek out this Larryville gallery. If you do, it would be worth the trip. It has these strangely assembled layers, providing a very weird depth to the work. It is painterly and loose, a character that is cosistent throughout Bob Qualters work. I didn’t note down the title of the piece, I’m afraid. Sometimes, titles can provide at least a glimpse into the inner workings of an artist’s intention. I do know that this piece was incredibly more compelling in the gallery than it appears here in this scrappy little image.

While you are there, you might want to check out the Pittsburgh Print Group exhibit. Some works by Paula Klein and Sun Young Kang are presented. Both are accomplished artists, coming from entirely different perspectives. You can check out images from the PPG New Works exhibit on the BE site.

Borelli-Edwards Galleries
3583 Butler Street
Lawrenceville, PA 15201
412.687.2606 or begalleries@mac.com

I was walking home from work, strolling along Downing Street on my way to the city steps that go down to Heron Avenue. It’s a nice street. Along one side, the houses are a little unusual for Pittsburgh, with the front doors well above street level. The views must be amazing, since the houses are perched at the top of a steep hillside; you would probably see downtown and the Allegheny River valley from the other side of the house. My eye was drawn to an Obama poster in one of the front windows just as a woman was coming out the door to water the flowers on her small porch.

I looked up and said, hey, I like your house. And that’s a mighty fine sign in your window. (This is Pittsburgh and it is absolutely acceptable to exchange life stories with passersby.) Why thank you, says she. I am having a house party and potluck next Saturday to support Obama. Let me get you an invitation. Here it is –

 

You’re invited to our..

Unite for Change
House Party & Potluck
Saturday, June 28, 2008 6-8PM

Please bring food to share and an open mind. All political affliations are welcome.

330 Downing Street
Pittsburgh PA 15219
in Polish Hill

Please RSVP
Host: Liz Naylor - 412-687-2909
Obama campaign Organizing Fellow: Matt Cohen-Price - matt.cohenprice@gmail.com

I did mention to Liz Naylor that I would post this. It is an open event. But please make sure that you RSVP! The House Party is part social and part informational. So if you want to talk about your favorite candidate with a group of like-minded individuals, drop Liz a line and bring a covered-dish, a loaf of bread or some dessert type goodie and hie you to Polish Hill on Saturday.

Several friends have told me that I should make time to go over the the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts to see the Biennial. I confess that I don’t get there very often. I don’t drive, so when I make excursions out, I generally try to tie several things together. The Pittsburgh Center for the Arts is situated in a mostly residential area, even though it is on easy traffic routes. When I go there it is the only place I go: there aren’t even any restaurants or coffee shops close by. It entails a significant block of time and only one destination. But I am glad that I took the time to go to the show.

Sun Young Kang

Sun Yang Kang Filtered Memories (Incense burning on paper)

I’m glad I came when the gallery was pretty quiet. This would have been a difficult piece to see with a crowd. I spent quite a bit of time in this room. It was like sitting in a room crowded with another’s ghosts. The scrolls, suspended over rods, moved and shifted subtly, tiny movements encouraged by the air currents in the room. Each of the scrolls is insribed with a legend on the bottom edge of the scrol. For instance –

May 28, 1965
Mother seems to have given up struggling with the tragedies in our family.
I cannot help but respect her when I face her calmness.

The legends printed on the scrolls may have some relation to the characters burned into the sheets; no way for me to tell. Somehow, I doubt that it is a direct translation, given the brevity of the english prose and the length of the burned characters. One thing that I would like to note. This work, all of the works that Sun Young Kang presented at the Biennial, are informed by her ethnic heritage. But the work did not strike me as a study in social anthropology, which is a tendency in other artists that work from their heritage. Instead I felt that, even though I could not understand the charcters, I still came away from viewing this work enriched.

Dylan Vitone

Dylan Vitone Ducky Tours

Vitone’s panoramic photographs measured about 60″ in width. The long format makes it difficult to get a feel for the work in the above image. I have provided a slightly larger image, linked here. I liked Ducky Tours. A lot. Really. How he chose that title, I don’t know; there is so much random stuff happening in the above photograph. He could just as easily called it the intersection of Liberty and Smithfield, where the photograph was taken. Dylan Vitone is represented in the exhibit by several of these panoramic photographs.

Bovey Lee

Bovey Lee (Detail of one of her works)

This is a traditional artform, cutting paper. I have seen several examples of this type of work, most recently from a vendor at the Three Rivers Arts Festival. The difference with Lee’s work is her use of contemporary themes and images. Several of the works that she presented for the Biennial had this chain link fence motif. I could not get a good image of the works, so I will refer you to her Artists File Online page. Much better images there.

The Pittsburgh Biennial, on the whole was very satisfying. I will mention that I am disinclined to watch video art. Something in my make up does not allow me to sit in a dark room and watch. Please know that several of the artists represented at the Biennial are video artists. The Biennial will be in place for the next two months.

Pittsburgh Biennial
May 3 - August 24, 2008
Pittsburgh Filmmakers/Pittsburgh Center for the Arts
6300 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15232
412-361-0873