Leggere

jenine's ethereal moments

2012-02-02T08:02:00.000-05:00

As you know, this blog acts as a chronological sketchbook of my exploration and documentation of and through ideas, art and personal musings on such. My thought process of late has been centered towards the meaning of details. Conveniently, I came across Colossal's post on Jenine Shereos and just had to share. She is a sculptor and installation artist particularly in the field of textiles and fibers. Jenine's work gets even better! On her website, her portfolio is filled with delicate poetic details. The above leaf pieces are made with human hair.

all images from Jenine Shereos.

david lamelas

2012-01-30T16:12:00.001-05:00

Ooh! I just saw this show at Maccarone last week. I saw Argentine David Lamelas' work at the Walker in Minneapolis a few years back and his work made an impact in my mind. His work has much influence from the L.A. Space and Light artists. This show did not disappoint. Entrancing the gallery you are met with the bright of the projector, producing blind spots in your vision as you enter into the stark white angular gallery space. There is an audio performance that is described in the exert from the press release below. The show is up until February 4th.

"Corner Piece" is re-examined and expanded upon in four variations of the original. These modifications of the gallery in conjunction with the flow of music by Jorge Chikiar and John King create both a unique piece and a forum for a sonic intervention within architectural intervention. Through sound and collaboration, Lamelas disperses the locus of site and subject specificity, iterating his work as it moves throughout the space and amongst his collaborators and audience.

Jorge Chikiar will perform with John King during the Opening Reception on January 10th. Employing a process of "audio swapping" via the internet, they have worked to craft an improvisation for processed viola concerto and analog synthesizers to form a range of musical textures; a recording of the performance will continue to play for the duration of the exhibition.

~text from Maccarone's Press Release

2012-01-10T19:36:00.002-05:00

EYJAFJALLAJÖKULL from AntiVJ / Joanie on Vimeo.

EYJAFJALLAJÖKULL, an installation by Joanie Lemercier

prov•e•nance

2012-01-06T19:55:00.001-05:00

prov•e•nance |ˈprävənəns|nounthe place of origin or earliest known history of something : an orange rug of Iranian provenance.• the beginning of something's existence; something's origin : they try to understand the whole universe, its provenance and fate.See note at origin .• a record of ownership of a work of art or an antique, used as a guide to authenticity or quality : the manuscript has a distinguished provenance.ORIGIN late 18th cent.: from French, from the verb provenir ‘come or stem from,’ from Latin provenire, from pro- ‘forth’ + venire ‘come.’

new year

2012-01-05T18:39:00.001-05:00

Happy new years to all. And now the silence of winter, but what a welcome and how apt those cold dark nights usher in our thoughts and longings for reflection. The warmth of candlelight is all the more bright, the hands tucked inside coat pockets grasp security and warmth from worn fabric. My coffee days are sweeter and cozier as the steam evaporates with tendrils into my conversations and reflections. Running in the cold gives a new meaning to stamina. My fleeces pile on and my legs stubbornly ignore the cold, the muscles practiced in the rhythm propel me through cold air and icy Hudson winds.

Reflections for 2012 come to mind with...

This year will be much work... good work.
Seizing the mornings.
Eating meals with persons.
Perfecting bread making.
Trusting, trusting daily for the present and future.

A boun anno! Tanti auguri!

cuttings and associations

2011-12-22T11:32:00.000-05:00

Ornamental Invasion

Illusive Insurgency

Picturesque Evacuation Ploy

Check out Liz Miller's work. I feel her work is pretty apt at reflecting cultural and society trends and ideas with a thrust from historical association. I love that she still hand cuts her components. (Her website is quite snazzy too!)

All images from www.lizmiller.com

silent light

2011-12-13T20:26:00.001-05:00

Silent Light (2007)

Be still. The first five minutes pose you for the rest of a film. What is a quiet telling of a story, then poetry of visual reflections on inner turmoil in beautifully framed landscapes represents one man's story in moral dilemma. As the film progresses, it is not the masculine story that defines the film but the female characters that the audience come to know and depend on.

Silent Light has simple dialogue. Tarkovsky-like effective silent pauses give the watcher time to pause with the film and reflect the moral turmoil back on oneself and in doing so relate more effectively with this main male role of responsibility and moral righteousness.

In the end, the director Carlos Reygadas shows the audience strength and reverses the role of foundations in traditional society. The audience totters on the pinnacle of miracle and outright fantasy.

Below are two paragraphs taken from the Lincoln Center Film Society article. The whole article can be read here.

By stripping away all of the usual social conventions inherent to adultery dramas, and by maintaining rigorous indifference toward the finer points of the community’s religious dictates, Reygadas poses these basic questions about love, respect, and responsibility in a manner that’s refreshingly uncluttered and emotionally direct.

Striking a balance between the competing needs of rhythm, storytelling, and visual coherence, Reygadas and his editor Natalia López have paced Silent Light with remarkable tonal precision, pruning nearly every shot in a manner that encourages the mind to entertain a stray thought or two while maintaining a steady, languid focus on building the drama.
-written by JOSÉ TEODORO

jr

2011-12-05T15:16:00.000-05:00

Check out JR's work here.

What sick at home? What museum would you like to visit today?

2011-11-30T13:25:00.001-05:00

www.googleartproject.com

Just finished reading The Artist’s Digital Toolkit: Part 4 by Michael Royce over at NYFA's blog. I love that digital media has made global art more accessible. What is most interesting is the entwining of surface layers of meaning and the aesthetics of culture. This is compounded when presented online with yet another layer of contemporary history and virtual viewing presence to anyone. There are endless interpretations and discussions that arise. Care to comment?

Christine Sun Kim

2011-11-27T09:59:00.001-05:00

Todd Selby x Christine Sun Kim on Nowness.com.

Love!

lee bul

2011-11-18T10:40:00.000-05:00

After Bruno Taut (Negative Capability), 2008

Untitled Sculpture W1, 2010

Untitled Sculpture W6-1, 2010

Maquette W2, 2010

A conversation between Korean artist Lee Bul and Swiss curator Hans Ulrich Obrist from Artnode:
HUO: There is a crossing of high and low references in your work , as when you describe applying it to art-historical references.

LB: Aside from the crossing of high and low, which is inevitable in this case, I'm interested in how concepts and representations of femininity proliferate through various channels in the culture at large, whether it be high or low; and also the processes of their formation and function, which seem to coexist and converge in high and low cultures, as you see in art history and also in popular media images of women.

"...much of the so-called scientific technology, computer technology, advanced engineering, and so on, has always been seen as the domain of male privilege, and, in fact, this attitude is found in the popular notion that women don't know how to use computers or women don't build things that are highly technical."

Lee Bul's current work explores the concept of female cyborgs.

"The first is that it references and elaborates on popular imagery borrowed from cyborgs in animations and films, but my cyborgs are all missing organs or limbs, so they are incomplete bodies in a sense, questioning the myth of technological perfection. The other idea is to invoke archetypal images of women, art-historical representations of femininity, particularly in Western art history - the Pieta, Botticelli's the Birth of Venus, or Manet's Olympia -by rendering these cyborgs in those timeless, iconic, feminine poses."

Text and quotes from Artnode.

bucket list

2011-11-17T10:53:00.001-05:00

Recently, I learned the phrase "Bucket List". Yes, it is a little late in life to be learning such common phrases, but... o.k., no excuses! After adding to my wealth of knowledge this little phrase "Bucket List", I find those little bits of time such as riding the subway, walking home at night, the little pauses in between reading a book now filled with thinking what might be on that "List" before I die. No this is not a morbid fascination but that of inspiration. I am well with being abstract and epic, but to fine tune that list down to specifics, tangibilities... Well, I will not share all of that here, but one item on that list is...

(drum roll)

...I want to see the Aurora Borealis.

sacred in the profane

2011-11-04T12:33:00.001-04:00

All images from Urban Ominbus website, courtesy of Matilde Cassani and Storefront for Art and Architecture

What do you think a city’s sacred spaces reveal about that city?I think these spaces reveal the ways displaced people maintain their identity after moving from one country to another. Cultural identity is not only food and customs; religion builds identity in ways that make the sacred space a community’s common point of reference. So it’s not only religious space, it’s much more: a community center, a café, many different things together in one multi-layered space.

- Matilde Cassani is an architect and researcher who lives and works in Milan, Italy

Storefront for Art and Architecture Closing Reception is Saturday, 5 November

conversation and coffee

2011-10-25T00:08:00.000-04:00

Today during coffee break.

One of the those beautiful moments.

Of course coffee was involved.

But an unexpected conversation from a stranger.

Their dream is being realized.

You hear their story...

You are thinking, this is my story. I share your dream.

You share each other's excitement.

Formalities and good byes are said.

Finish the last of your coffee with a smile.

Then go back to work and continue to seek out those life goals.

A good pause, no?

hos•pi•tal•i•ty

2011-10-22T12:46:00.000-04:00

The English word hospitality originates from the same Latin root as the word hospital. A hospital is literally a "home for strangers." Of course, it has come to mean a place of healing. There is a link between being welcomed and being healed.

-Skye Jethani

Sarah Chilvers

2011-10-16T21:39:00.002-04:00

images from Mousse

Love these. Thank you Sarah Chilver. I like the small size, that they are on the ground, that you have to stoop to look closely. Art make us stop. Draw us in. Let us ask questions.

My days and nights are so busy... happily busy. I feel the need for art breaks; today was one of those days. I am you might say "hyper-conscious" of time, of time passing, time lost, time gained. I treat time as an object and an abstract intangibility both. But always conscientious of it. When I run, time is most tangible both of passing and stopping. I listen to my breathing, feel every jolt and step, resist gravity's tug... this is a physical consciousness of the physical duration of running. Then there is the intangibility of the mental task of running, my mind takes flight. Thoughts pass back over time, project future and present conditions. My physical self is running, my cognitive self is unrestricted to the running. The methodical practice of running, lets me experience memory and future time apart from the physical time frame.

Enough soliloquy.

selections from Living Series

2011-10-03T21:32:00.000-04:00

LIVING (1980-1982)
JENNY HOLZER

YOU HAVE TO MAKE THOUSANDS OF PRECISE
AND RAPID MOVEMENTS TO PREPARE A MEAL.
CHOPPING, STIRRING, AND TURNING PREDOMINATE.
AFTERWARDS, YOU STACK AND MAKE
CIRCULAR CLEANING AND RINSING MOTIONS.
SOME PEOPLE NEVER COOK
BECAUSE THEY DONT LIKE IT,
SOME NEVER COOK BECAUSE
THEY HAVE NOTHING TO EAT.
FOR SOME, COOKING IS A ROUTINE,
FOR OTHERS, AN ART.


IT'S AN EXTRAORDINARY FEELING
WHEN PART OF YOUR BODY ARE
TOUCHED FOR THE FIRST TIME.
I'M THINKING OF THE SENSATIONS
FROM SEX AND SURGERY.


WINDOWS ARE A NICE FEATURE
BUT OFFER LITTLE SECURITY.
WHEN YOU STAND INSIDE AT NIGHT
YOU BECOME AWARE OF YOUR
HIGH VISIBILITY AND YOUR COMPLETE
BLINDNESS TO WHAT'S  OUTSIDE.
COURTESY OF THE BASIC DECENCY OF PEOPLE,
YOU'RE OFTEN LEFT IN PEACE
BEHIND THE GLASS.

MORE THAN ONCE I'VE AWAKENED WITH
TEARS RUNNING DOWN MY CHEEKS.
I HAVE HAD TO THINK WHETHER
I WAS CRYING OR WHETHER IT
IS INVOLUNTARY, LIKE DROOLING.


IF THINGS WERE A LITTLE DIFFERENT
YOU WOULD DIGEST YOURSELF
THROUGH A CUT IN YOUR MOUTH.
IT'S A RELIEF TO KNOW THERE ARE
PROVISIONS AGAINST THIS.

amalia pica

2011-09-30T09:00:00.000-04:00

Amalia Pica at Marc Foxx.
In order of appearance: Endymion's Journey, Under the spotlight (white on white), Speaker's Corner

Eve Sussman

2011-09-26T09:02:00.000-04:00

Eve Sussman is now at Cristin Tierney.
Separate narration, video... a different story every time.

More details at Rufus Corporation.

the diamond age

2011-09-24T10:54:00.001-04:00

Technology, arts and education... these are essential to knowledge in the "classroom". I taught adult computer classes in my past life. The experience was one of the most challenging and engaging tasks yet, and I enjoyed it. What was most fascinating, is the emotional level between the piece of technology and the person using it. The pupil's mindset and age were a huge factor in the learning experience also. The age group that has spent half their lives without a computer and now the other half of their lives learning to re-think, re-apply knowledge reacted to the computer more at a relational level. Younger adults and children react to the computer much as one would react to a toaster... "it toasts and warms my bread, it is useful." To this latter group, the computer is so integrated and necessary to their lives, they have adapted to it osmosis-ly. Their mindset and adaption to the computer eliminates the "why" or processes of deduction with the immediacy of action and response met by the computer brain. At this point, you might say, "Kristin, stop. What does this matter? The computer is great! Look at how we can do so much more!" I would respond, "True!" And...

The effect of technology has affected our learning habits, formation of ideas, emotional and societal relationships. There are pros and cons. I realize there are just now studies receiving data back that help us to understand technology's impact. Or even more immediate, the studies make us aware of the impact of technology, though we do not fully understand it yet. I am particularly interested in how this affects for better or for worse, the education of an upcoming generation (from besides an academic viewpoint) the relational and eventual societal impact on a generation. The question is how to integrate into the educational system and maximize the use of both a "real" teacher and technology.

Perhaps back to science fiction might be the answer...

The Diamond Age I read this not too long ago. I love how many truths from science fiction can be applicable. The gist of the the story by Neal Stephenson is the development of a book style primer that is actually a computer program with a satellite human teacher and the adaptation of the computer program to the child's mental, emotional and spiritual well-being.

Ideal.

Is it a possibility?

A perfect blend of the relational and technological?

berlinde de bruyckere

2011-09-06T18:42:00.000-04:00


	Kunstmuseum Luzern, Switzerland, 2007		(Photo: Andri Stadler)

Visited DHC
I haven't enjoyed a show this much in a very long time. I vaguely knew of the artist, Berlinde de Bruyckere from an art text there, a newspaper article here. The materials are gorgeous and visually tactile. Beyond a pretty eye candy, is simple perception and simple representation of key themes of pain and corporality. Look carefully, there are many layers to these pieces. Truly, it is a curiosity. How appropriate a "wunderkabinet".

montreal contemporary art gallery

2011-08-30T09:13:00.001-04:00

Taking a little vacation out to Montreal soon. Anyone have any contemporary art gallery recommendations?

body drama

2011-08-29T09:00:00.000-04:00

New York–based artist Xavier Cha incorporates video and installation in performances that play with multiple perspectives and deferred access, reflecting our fractured contemporary experience. In between performances the resulting footage is projected on the wall, offering viewers two versions of the same experience, both of which center on disorienting psychological and physical space.
~ Whitney Exhibition Xavier Cha

Whitney exhibition XAVIER CHA: BODY DRAMA runs through 9 October 2011

fables

2011-08-28T12:40:00.000-04:00

A week in natural disasters (earthquakes and hurricanes here in the city), gave my thoughts to abnormal and elaborate schemes of the everyday. In the midst of imagination, I came across Karen Knorr's photography via the Contemporary Art blog. Yes, these images from Knorr's Fable series capture wild and elegant very subtly and precisely. {Notice the colours are very Dali.}

the penny

2011-08-20T12:57:00.000-04:00

The Penny

Grandma says always stop to pick up a penny,
because it makes you humble and rich in many ways.

Scene
Busy New York street. Warm sun on pedestrians. Traffic and car sounds.

The lunch agenda
Kristin briskly walking to get lunch. It is a late lunch so tummy rumbling quickens
the pace as does a short lunch time frame.

The quiet struggle
Her cain poking into pedestrian traffic caught my eye and slowed my pace. I could not understand at first what she was doing. In the span of a few seconds, my eyes told me
an older woman, hunched and dressed warmly, though the day was warm,
leaning against the wall trying to push something closer to her person.
This was all maybe from a distance of 14 feet away.

The encounter
Kristin slowing her pace only slightly, dips to one knee next to an old woman leaning
against the brick wall and scoops up the penny and places it into the old woman's free hand. The old woman looks up smiles, shining eyes and says "thank you".
Kristin smiles back and continues in stride to lunch.

Christopher Janney

2011-08-09T09:00:00.000-04:00

Flying Heart Beat

Christopher Janney, an architect, visual artist and musician.

Mr. JANNEY: Well, you know, my training is as an architect and a jazz musician, so my interest is finding ways to combine these two disciplines. And sometimes I try to make architecture more like music, trying to make it more interactive, and I call them urban musical instruments. And sometimes I try to make music more like architecture. I try to make it more physical, more visual. And certainly the heartbeat piece with Baryshnikov was a good example of that.
-NPR interview (read and listen to here)

lygia clark

2011-08-06T15:43:00.000-04:00

"Throughout her career, Lygia Clark devised ways for museum goers to interact with her art works. She sought to redefine the relationship between art and society, and use art to deal directly with people's inner life and feelings."

-Flavorpill

"...lived-through experiences permeated the core of her artistic and intellectual concerns."

-FlashArt (This article is a great read about not only her artistic practice but also her writing.)

il fin della settimana

2011-08-04T20:41:00.001-04:00

L'antipodeuse

Oh my! The weekend here already! My weekends have a whole new meaning these days. A new job keeps me busy and even though I have been at it a while, I still get flutters when Friday is around the corner. I am amazed by the elementary joy it brings. One perk of my job is that I am thrown into a world of contemporary art that allows me to keep up to date with artist's work. Also I am learning about new work and trends in art. Be ready to learn with me. Many cups of coffee keep me going in the day to keep track of all the names and much more. This beautiful little stage above is from blogger L'Antipodeuse. Click on the image for a link to her photography. Love the sense of rest and pause the imagery brings. Much needed at the end of a work day.

ceal floyer

2011-07-27T09:02:00.000-04:00

Overhead Projection, 2006

Solo, 2006

Overgrowth, 2004

Ink on Paper, 1999

"Floyer lays open the structural character of things, as well as reflecting on the linguistic basis of signification. She often takes objects and situations to an extreme logical conclusion. These mental deliberations can sometimes achieve a haunting poetry." ~DHC/ART

I might have first really been aware of Ceal Floyer when my art professor in Italy sent the Ink on Paper, 1999 to me via email from a show in Torino.
There was the "ah-ha" moment.

All images from Lisson Gallary.http://www.dhc-art.org/en/exhibitions/ceal-floyer

science fiction weekend

2011-07-25T20:15:00.000-04:00

Another Earth, 2011

It was a weekend in science fiction, good escapism and philosophy. You might gasp and think, "What! She admits to be a fan of science fiction!" I would respond, "Of course." Let me share a bit more... please, don't close the browser window just yet. We will start academically. First, I have been reading The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre by Tzvetan Todorov. So, yes, it might border a bit on tedious at times but is superb at giving an overarching viewpoint of the genre and giving some classifications to this type of literature.

For those less academic...

I saw the film Another Earth. This film might have gotten overlooked by some of it's more famous contemporaries such as The Tree of Life, Harry Potter, ...etc. This film is a quiet, delicate, and intimate portrait of life choices and consequences. For those of you, who might find science fiction a hard stone to swallow. This is a good intro.

And for nerds...

Now the "nerds" might criticize me here. One friend Libby, whom I go to for amazing science fiction recommendations, told me to read The Stars, My Destination by John Baxter. I come to realize this is a classic in science fiction circles. Perhaps you might also know it by its early title, Tiger! Tiger! The novel is definitely a fun read bordering on witty and comedic, then in the middle of your chuckle it spirals into complex and raw ideas. NPR as a nice review on it here.

So there it is... the science fiction round up!
Don't call me a nerd, please.

Against the Way Things Go

2011-07-13T07:24:00.005-04:00

Joe Winter

Jason Tomme

Inanimate objects, could it be you have a soul that clings to our own soul and compels it to love? -Alphonse de Lamartine

Peter Simensky

I recently had the opportunity to see the show Against the Way Things Go at Gasser and Grunert gallery in New York. The show was part joy and delight in their open airy space, a curiousity cabinet with a hodgepodge of various art mediums and pieces.

"Against the Way Things Go disrupts classifications between strict performance and object making while addressing time, audience and immateriality — key principles of performance. It merges the object with the event in a liberated approach where performance is integral in the making of objects, the object is merged with performance, inert matter becomes the subject of performance and the object self-documents its own history."

(text taken from Against the Way Things Go)

moule

2011-07-11T07:10:00.001-04:00

Moule, 2006, Plaster and silicon elastomer on wood, 25 x 25 x 35 cm

Hysterie Neigeuse, 2006, Plaster and salt crystals on wood, 320 x 30 x 12 cm

Valerie Collart

...notions of representation, illusion and space in relation to sculpture

sabado...

2011-07-09T10:52:00.000-04:00

{ah!}

Zbigniew Preisner

2011-06-30T14:51:00.002-04:00

image from Criterion Forum

The Double Life of Veronique was the big break for Zbigniew Preisner. A beautiful concerto in E minor by a dutch composer, Van den Budenmayer was a most strange mystery as there is not a single word written about him in the history of music. Of course, Van den Budenmayer is just something Zbigniew Preisner had pulled out of his hat, an alter ego. The text sung by Weronika in the concert is actually the beginning of the second chant of Dante's Paradiso.
Source: http://www.musicolog.com/preisner.asp

The second DVD of the Criterion Collection's The Double Life of Veronique speaks of Preisner and Kieslowski's collaboration and approach to the film. The actual voice in the concert with Weronika was a woman singing in a club Preisner had visited. A glimpse of the concert can be found here.

Now come up to current time to the recent film A Tree of Life. (At another time, perhaps there might be an effort for a discussion on this film.) Zbigniew Preisner's music La Crimosa is used for the light and darkness scene. This same music was part of an album Requiem for a Friend for Krzysztof Piesiewicz. A clip from La Crimosa can be viewed here.

an ideal co-mingling

2011-06-24T22:59:00.002-04:00

Dear Sirs (Chemical Brothers and Zbigniew Preisner),

Would you please coalescence your two styles to create fantastic sound landscapes and music genres all to your own imagination. You have similarities, but I would compare them to the same theme of two different historical periods, albeit relevant to this culture and time–my culture and time. Apparently, the film world thinks so too.

Please consider. I would be your biggest fan.

Thank you,

~me

occurrences in joy and the uncanny

2011-06-18T11:02:00.004-04:00

...that bit of reflection and shadow across the street, the way it changes with the passing clouds.

...the fly is stuck on the inside of the screen, it doesn't know that if it goes just a hand's width lower it is free.

...watching the water pets (creatures that grow with the absorption of water) and mocking them; these poor inanimate creatures that get so many giggles.

Do you create margin to enjoy these?

video found via thisiscolossal

Erwin Wurm

2011-06-14T13:33:00.000-04:00

378 - Punschkrapferl

386 - Untitled (Strick #2)

381

Erwin Wurm. You may know him from fat cars or his one minute sculptures, but his recent work... oh my! I love the every day aspect, and since we just came from William Leavitt's staged shows, Erwin Wurm's recent show Mak in Vienna Schöner Wohnen (March 22–September 4) captures a bit of the staged in everyday objects given a bit of character and elevation from their humble origins. Perhaps the most endearing are the bottles incorporated into the first image (see above) and the purple heels (second image). These elements take the work and truly give it the aspect of theatrical. Suddenly objects take on roles and an unspoken narrative invites us to participate and interact though they are still restricted by the gallery backdrop.

Still, lovely.

cool

2011-06-11T11:29:00.001-04:00

Oh, sweet relief. The heat at bay. The air is moving. The ground is damp. I can smell earth in New York City– a rarity and one missed. I come back from vacation rested and the moment the plane touches down, there is a veil pulled over my rest and relaxation. Immediately, business and rush crowd my thoughts. My plans go into effect, the wheels in my head are creaking again. So much to do, tasks to be done, persons to call, errands to run– the rest of the list grows longer and somewhat daunting. Vacation is already miles away. And yet...

I still sense it. Rest was there, it makes me go again tirelessly. There is energy and renewal. But...

I do not want to live in this rush, this busy-ness. I catch a breath at lunch and pause, to contemplate the smell of soil, to enjoy the run with one extra mile, to walk without listening to music, podcasts and language courses. Yes, I can do these things. Why? I want to preserve that bit of sacred before it is swallowed up in my consumerist environment that I have chosen to live in and dwell. Without that pause, the making time for peace, living would be restless and agonized.

And there is the pause for vacation reflection and return to the daily grind.

~A sweet Saturday to all.

William Leavitt

2011-06-08T11:26:00.000-04:00

William Leavitt, Cutaway View, 2008

William Leavitt, California Patio, 1972

William Leavitt

The culture and atmosphere of Los Angeles has played a significant role in Leavitt's ongoing interest in "the theater of the ordinary" and the play between illusion and reality and nature and artifice that characterizes the city.

While visiting Los Angeles, I had the opportunity to visit several enjoyable shows on view and get to see a couple gallery openings, or more acutely, experience a couple gallery openings and drinks with the artists. William Leavitt's retrospective shown at the MOCA was particularly enjoyable for the artist's mundane and cinematic presentations (I loved the lawn chair paintings!) but also for the excellent curatorial direction of the show. Each of the galleries fed off of each other and created a system of organization and parallels that created a narrative not just of the art being presented to the viewer, but of the art's dialogue between walls and space.

vacanza

2011-06-02T18:32:00.000-04:00

Slept in
Reading with coffee with no time frames
Taking pictures in the street
Walking with no end in mind
Eating grapefruit and actually enjoying it
Yellow chairs and checked tile floors
Talking with a friend about everything and ridiculousness too
Riding in a car

Vacation in L.A.!

And it is my birthday! Art viewing and cake bar tonight!

Roman Ondák

2011-05-27T22:40:00.001-04:00

Roman Ondák... stages temporary situations and imaginative site specific constructions that predict various communication patterns in behavior and in the perception of things...

The work of Roman Ondak consists of subtle interventions into sociocultural structures, which denote processes in society that are often outside of direct public visibility.

~Kontakt (in reference to Resistance, 2006)

Ondák lives in Bratislava, Slovakia, and he has described his gratuitous queue as a memory of the lines "that in the 1970s and 1980s often used to form in front of shops... In what everybody then called the bad times, people were capable of patiently waiting in queues and feeling good about it, because they thought at the end of it they'd probably get what they were hoping for". In both the context of the rationing and bread lines of embattled eastern Europe before the fall of Communism in 1989, or its pan-European legacy of migration, asylum quotas and visa-mongering in an expanding Union, Ondák's queue is a potent symbol of submission to inequality and bureaucratic justice where too many people need something and there is not enough to go around.

But at the poetic heart of the work, and in the buzz of its title's "good feelings", is surely the fact that there is a jovial testimony to human dignity and etiquette in the fact that people bother to queue at all.

In (Britain) a culture where the lure of a bargain and a shared goal can turn waiting itself into a fond ritual of camaraderie should surely innately sympathise with his good feelings?

What are we waiting for?

~Max Andrews on Roman Ondák for the TATE (in reference to Good Feelings in Good Times, 2003)

balance

2011-05-21T13:39:00.001-04:00

My room mate sent me an article on diligence and regime for the creative minded. It is interesting and made me recall Daily Routines, a collection of creative minds that share their schedules and the balance or non-balance they find in daily schedules. As a creative myself, I do not know this balance. I think it will be something life-long I must strive and work for. To work, to work artistically, to sleep, to be social, to rest... these sound essential, but the jumbled lot frequently cause me to quake and get lost in the many tasks. The last "to rest" usually gets left out. I do not want to copy these schedules but learn from them and adapt what seems reasonable and necessary to live healthfully in mind, body and spirit. Here is an exert:

{Haruki Murakami

When I’m in writing mode for a novel, I get up at 4:00 am and work for five to six hours. In the afternoon, I run for 10km or swim for 1500m (or do both), then I read a bit and listen to some music. I go to bed at 9:00 pm. I keep to this routine every day without variation. The repetition itself becomes the important thing; it’s a form of mesmerism. I mesmerize myself to reach a deeper state of mind. But to hold to such repetition for so long — six months to a year — requires a good amount of mental and physical strength. In that sense, writing a long novel is like survival training. Physical strength is as necessary as artistic sensitivity.

The Paris Review, Summer 2004

See also: "The Running Novelist," The New Yorker, June 9, 2008}

Happy reading.

confession

2011-05-21T13:24:00.002-04:00

image from the lovely blog bferry

Dear to whom this may concern,
I have an addiction to coffee and croissants.
Help.
Is there a support group?
I will come if you provide coffee and croissants.

~anonymous

Kevin Cooley

2011-05-13T18:30:00.003-04:00

Kevin Cooley, LGA Landing Pattern, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY, 2006

Kevin Cooley, Landings 24L LAX, Inglewood, CA, 2006

Kevin Cooley, Cell Phone Lot LAX, Westchester, CA, 2007

Kevin Cooley, Takeoffs Runway 13R JFK, Rockaway, NY, 2007

images found via OUTLIER

It's amazing, isn't it? There are highways in the sky which are just as precise as an interstate highway for cars. You stay within your lanes of traffic. ~R.B.

Kevin Cooley captures travel, in a way we might otherwise be oblivious to, mapping takeoffs and landings in light from airports. Cooley makes aware what we are not aware of. Is that what it means to be an artist? To make aware or bring to light what otherwise might be passed over? Why do we need to make aware of what is unaware? {This is only one facet of art.}

Art as a term seems a fragmented abstract concept, especially today with digital intersections in thought and the potential for spaces fragmented and abstract themselves such as virtual or social networks. Along those parameters there are relevant events and chronologies happening. Here I think of Ai WeiWei's influence on contemporary art and government. Miranda July's name also comes to mind as she reaches various locations with various mediums specific to an age group and prodding the relevant questions asked by the specific audience. The term 'art' is evolving and is much more complex, but we are in the midst of understanding language and influences right now and see only parts of the 'where' and the 'what' art is. Hindsight, why do you make us wait?

On another note. I pulled out my carry-on luggage today. Going to L.A. in two weeks. Can't wait. Catching up with an old friend. There will be some beach, vineyards, copious coffee drinking, art talks. Oh my, I have already begun a list of conversations to share. Sounds lovely no?

illustrator Daniel Cociu

2011-04-29T19:28:00.000-04:00

Oh my, Daniel Dociu! What gorgeous drawings. I want to escape. These images intensify the longing for the fantastical! These are just a sampling. His website Tinfoil Games has a gorgeous gallery and collection of his body of work. Enjoy!

old sketches

2011-04-28T19:28:00.002-04:00

Going through old sketchbooks. Finding a timeline and understanding my art processes better. I have been stepping away from conceptual and focusing on design and it's place in both art and marketing. I am loving line. I am loving type. I concur with Rirkrit Tiravanija when he talks about his art as sharing. With technology and social media, artists need to think grander and further in terms of how art is experienced and perceived. Technology and social media implement into our fabric of thinking. As an artist, I ask how is art perceived and interacted with? The question arises of how we communicate and share information particularly in a multi-media culture and still maintain an intimate and communal relationship with the art piece, artist and viewer.

objects: Factory 20

2011-04-22T14:01:00.000-04:00

Factory 20

Detouring just a bit from sketches but today, I am flabbergasted by this beauty. Oh, design! Does it ever expire? Lines, functionality, aesthetic, simplicity but finesse. Yes? Don't you agree. This silhouette attracts me just the same sometimes as a human face, wrist, or bone structure might grab my eye. Lovely, really lovely.

O.k. no more oogling, back to work!

back to graphite

2011-04-20T21:37:00.001-04:00

new work2: banjo duo

2011-04-16T10:12:00.001-04:00

new work: rubiks duo

2011-04-14T20:06:00.002-04:00

algorithmic architecture

2011-04-11T09:30:00.001-04:00

Michael Hansmeyer uses algorithms to provide a framework for articulating and defining both input data and procedures. This formalization can promote structure and coherency, while systemically maintaining full traceability of all input. (Yes, this sounds so simple and easy right? Continued... keep reading.)
Algorithms’ output can now be directly visualized, and through digital fabrication methods this output can be built.
The projects presented seek to explore algorithms and computation as a generative design tool, and to merge these with existing design processes to produce a new architectural form. (I think he is on to something, no?)

I had fun with this one. I enjoy the aesthetic he is seeking. There is a definitive he seems to grasp from imagination to reality. I am pondering his inspiration. Could I see the influences and joy he pulls from is mind in these visual forms? What does he read? What music does he listen to? What vacations did he go on?

The studies are just as intriguing.

Enjoy!

Koo Jeong A.

2011-04-05T15:51:00.001-04:00

Koo Jeong A.
“Koo Jeong A: Constellation Congress,” Dia at the Hispanic Society of America.
November 5, 2010–June 26, 2011. Photo: Cathy Carver, New York.

Dia's website states To venture near Koo Jeong A’s work is to travel unreservedly through a cosmos of unassuming large and small forms, mysterious dwarfed spaces, and perilous landscapes of memories. The exhibition Constellation Congress comprises a gathering of works in three different locations, which, though placed at considerable distances from one another, establish an ensemble of visual and conceptual relationships in a cosmology of characters, materials, and forms.

The east gallery of the Hispanic Society of America was ambiguous and mysterious. My immediate impressions on entry to the space were of atmosphere and depth perception. A raised floor, a fading line drawing encompassing one wall, the charcoal and new paint smells, veiled lighting all pummeled the senses in a cognitive effort to make sense of the environment. Carefully arranged details give gravity and anchorage to ambiguous running themes in the show. The "trap door", false as the false raised floor, points towards depth and darkness. The trap door itself is scaled down so that we can not deny it has a copy of an original and becomes an icon instead. The sharp iron sickle (disportionately large) in close proximity to the trap door brought to mind representations for the afterworld. In addition, on the wall close to these two (sickle and trap door) was a drawing in thick black line of perspective fading to nothing. Time and death? (Puzzlement.) Across the room are the floating white cubes and on the walls where the cubes face each other is a projection of a sun in close detail rotating and giving up fiery aura. The viewer has a slim narrow field in which to view these facing suns.

The pleasantness of the show was the perception of atmosphere as my eyes adjusted to the darkness in the gallery. The light green floors glowed less, the air became thicker, objects appeared oddly in the dim light. A puzzling discover and assimilation of details.

I should clarify, I have not seen the other two locations of this show by Dia, Dia Beacon, Beacon, NY and the Dan Flavin Art Institute in Bridgehampton, NY.

Lee Bontecou

2011-03-27T21:10:00.001-04:00

Lee Bontecou. One of my heroes.

continuing with audio

2011-03-23T21:51:00.000-04:00

Can I really box up each blog post with such a narrow description or label?
Hmmm. No.

In love with Max Richter.

Oh, music.
You see, I have been gathering these twenty-eight years thoughts, impressions, sounds, repetitive dream fragments, moments that catch me off, the light, oh so many little things. Fragments really. But they are beginning to shift... all these fragments... into some type of order. I can not tell you yet what type of order, I am still learning this order. Right now they are in a similar fashion to that of perhaps a 5 single pages pulled from one Jorge Luis Borges' book. Not just the visual, there are audio fragments that haunt me, and I reach out to.

Max Richter inspires me.

Listen to him here.

3D Sound

2011-03-20T21:47:00.000-04:00

"Surround-sound can give you a sense of an explosion happening at a distance, but it's not accurate," says Professor Choueiri, sitting in his custom-built acoustics lab on campus.
"With 3D audio, I can get a fly to go around your head… or if you want to really scare somebody, you can put a sound inside their head."

(The Princeton University physics professor's main day job is working on space rocket propellants.)

Read about it here.

dear eistein

2011-03-17T14:37:00.001-04:00

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.
~ Albert Eistein

I have spent the nights before bed listening to music. I am in awe.
I ride the subway without music, and I am in awe.
What do I give up and what do I hold onto? I want to stand in awe and race in it.

typography

2011-03-13T21:12:00.002-04:00

1000 Decorated Initials by Pepin Press Design

NYC Field Guide No. 4

2011-03-10T15:13:00.001-05:00

A day in fashion. What would I do without the sister who I go to in winter and say, “Help what do I wear? I am wearing black weeks on weeks, and she immediately sends back a whole story board of inspiration and variations.”

Love.

O.k. She got in late the night before. You both chat late and end of sleeping in a bit. Beautiful. Now refreshed and in the same time zone, take a walk out about town to visit the first stop at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute. With 80,000 costumes from around the world, this will provide inspiration for hours. (Note: suggested admission is $20.00. Hint: suggested!)

Next keep heading south towards the south east side of Central Park. Perhaps if the day is nice, walk through the zoo (hey, we all need to laugh at those lazy bears) in Central Park till you come to the retail part of Fifth Avenue. Yes, this iconic shopping street with high end retailers will have her eyes all aglow. This is the perfect spot for window shopping and now has quite a mix of high end with more common clothing retail chains. Mix in with the tourists and go slow, there is a lot of picture taking.

The third stop for the day is the FIT Museum. Perfect for student watching, history and fashion–all free. Vivienne Westwood is the current exhibition until April 2.

Now on your way. Take any subway or bus that will get you to Soho. This is a shopping sister and there are plenty of stores to keep her busy, analyzing and mind-whirling. She will be comparing notes of presentation, wardrobe looks, window displays, people watching… of course, it is her job! If you have time visit Maryam Nassir Zadeh, a bit out of the way in the Lower East Village but the display is well worth the visit for an exquisite curation in presentation of gorgeous products. Also in the Soho area is Housing Works Thrift Shop. While she is looking for bargains, you might even want to take a peak in at the Housing Works Book Store right next door!

Time to slow down. The feet are probably tired and the stomach is probably growling. Head back north to West 4th and grab a leisurely bite to eat in the eclectic and bohemian atmosphere of Caffe Reggio. Little sandwich plates, pasta plates and dessert make up the menu, but it is the atmosphere that is most fun. Their claim to fame is a 1902 espresso machine and antique furniture and paintings that truly to give the place it’s charm. Take your time. This place could keep you a while.

What a day. After contented rest, nourishment and conversation. On your way back to the subway, check out the films playing at the IFC Center. Some are golden; others are daring. The night is young.

Maryam Nassir Zadeh Showroom is located at : 273 Grand Street, Suite 5W, New York, 10002

Caffe Reggio

NYC Field Guide No. 3

2011-03-08T12:54:00.002-05:00

They have been to NYC many times before for brief visits. They have seen all the “hot spots” to see in New York City. Now it is time to show them other great scenes that still inspire travel and give grateful detail to the city as an abstract whole. First, what more inspiration than a United Nations building tour. The UN decided to commission a collaborative effort among a multinational team of leading architects led by Wallace Harrison to design the building and location. The architecture is definitely reminiscent of the 50s. See where the worlds leading diplomats talk world peace and discuss the betterment of the future. The tour lasts about forty-five minutes. While in the area take a short walk west to Grand Central Station, this iconic building in the city bustles with travelers and the scent of adventure. Grand Central boasts shops, food stores, and the MTA museum and gallery. Next head just south along Park Avenue and you will reach another piece of interesting architecture, the Scandinavian House. This place is also an international bridge of Scandinavian countries and the U.S. featuring exhibitions, films, concerts, lectures and symposia. Currently on view is Nordic Models + Common Ground until March 16 with beautiful design objects and vast artistic projects crossing multiple mediums. There is also a little cafe inside if you need some energy in the form of a coffee. In Swedish, there is a word Fika, literally translates “to share a cup of coffee”. There is no equivalent in English.

Next with that extra little bounce in your step. You will need it! The next destination is Chinatown/ Little Italy. Take the Subway train 6 down to Spring Street. Chinatown proceeds to branch out all the way to Canal Street. While Little Italy is more isolated to Mulberry Street.You will get a feast of sights, smells and sounds in this part of the city. Also in the area is the Tenement Museum. Here you and your friend will learn a bit of history and some of the realities and hardships of early immigration to New York City.

What a day! Before leaving this area take advantage of some of the best treats in the City. I have heard many contestations over the best dumplings. One place that keeps popping up is Prosperity Dumpling. As for Little Italy, cheap pizza and wine can be found at Frankie Cee’s Pizzeria, and Ferrara Cafe fulfills your sweet tooth for both pastry items and gelato, or a Negroni at GoldBar.

Now count how many languages you have heard throughout the day!

(If as you read this, have any suggestions or recommendations, please comment.
This part of town, I am not as familiar with.)

picture from: wirednewyork.com

NYC Field Guide No. 2

2011-03-07T10:14:00.001-05:00

Spring is in the air. Ahh, warmer weather but still a bit of chill when the sun goes behind the clouds. What activities to fulfill when your art professor friend pops into town on a tight budget? Let’s start with a mix of out doors and in doors to get the vitamin D fill. Mid-morning begins with a cup of Joe literally at Joe the art of Coffee at 8th and 23rd. Then with that warm energetic drink running through you, take a short walk to Chelsea Galleries. Don’t forget to stop by Greene Naftali, CGR, Eyebeam, LeLong and so many more. Artcat.com gives a good listing and recommendations too. Take your time. Walk slow. Before leaving the galleries, make sure to stop in at Printed Matter. Lovely tactile bits of readings and lookings. I usually want to buy everything but also am inspired by the many forms of language and walk out with my inspirations instead.

O.k. Tired? Maybe mentally? Take a lovely stroll through the Highline Park. The ever expanding sopra strada park is urban genius. You can catch the entrance at W. 20th street. This is a great way to see the city and get some spectacular views of Jersey.

After all that walking take a break with some lunch in Chelsea Markets, or just enjoy the smells and speciality food shops. Limited seating is available inside or if the weather is friendly take it to go back up on the Highline for a picnic (yes, there is a fondness for picnics.)

Now you are rested and refreshed. Back on the feet again! Here are a couple options to this part of the guide. Depending on the day…

Guggenheim in the evening on Saturday (pay what you wish!)

Moma in the evening on Friday (free!)

Whitney Museum of Modern Art in the evening on Friday (pay what you wish!)

New Museum in the evening on Thursday (free!)

Museum of Art and Design in the evening on Thursday (pay what you wish!)

… more museum listings here.

What a day! So much art! Not much of a penny spent either!

Enjoy some dinner and catch up, critique the art seen, talk about current art projects, cats, robots… ah, a good day!

NYC Field Guide

2011-03-04T21:32:00.002-05:00

Recommend starting the day with a great sit down coffee at Indian Road Cafe.

Venture into Inwood Park. Bring a camera and some good walking shoes for a bit of Manhattan that doesn’t seem Manhattan at all!

Keep taking those pictures. You can venture across the Bridge into Inwood, the Bronx or head south through the park to Dyckman Street for some cute shops and right across the way is one up hill trail to The Cloisters. If you plan ahead pack a sandwich or find a little cafe and order to go for a picnic on The Cloister grounds.

The Cloisters are a little jewel and part of the Metropolitan Museum. In fact, keep your ticket for access to the MET. (Speak to person at the visitor desk for more info.) Stroll through Cloister grounds to subway. You have done quite a bit of walking. If your feet are still fresh, keep walking south on Broadway. You will get a good tour of Washington Heights/Inwood.

Don’t forget to drop by La Rosa Fine Foods for ingredients for dinner on Broadway at 176th. Grab some tasty morsels to prepare a beautiful dinner. Proceed to home of choice and prepare dinner at home (I recommend a good wine to accompany the cooking process.)

Time to relax! Rest your feet and share the couch to watch a movie to engage your adventuresome spirit perhaps Out of Africa or Jurassic Park.

to iPad or not to iPad

2011-03-02T08:31:00.003-05:00

Hmm...

Hmm...

...that is all for now.

recent work

2011-03-02T08:30:00.001-05:00

Recent work. A proposed sculpture installation in geometric staircase.

Traditional beauty in Italy is held in high esteem. A beautiful object is taken and interpreted in a contemporary material and placed between two “viste belle.” The location and the height of a renovated geometrical stairwell in a 14th century renovated monastery speaks of past, present, progress and future. The object speaks beyond just a beautiful aesthetic; it represents a town, a history and an enriching future.

Conversations and Musings on Communication, Internet and Art

2011-02-25T15:12:00.004-05:00

AMDM

TheSteward

As I grumble over the inklings of communication via Facebook, I come to embrace technology. I am one that would any day prefer getting lost in the woods. Sigh. Slowly and painfully, I come to accept that Facebook, social networking and digital communication are not leaving (duh!) and dare I say, becoming essential to the development of contemporary conversation? (Don't worry, I never denied them, just tried to appropriately distance myself from them.) I am skeptically beginning to embrace social networking and digital platforms of sharing information and yet grasping the last bit of nostalgia for the actual and physical. I still write letters on paper… with ink! What is actuality you might even poise? Good question. We might extol on that later.

A recent find from a favorite technology and arts website, Rhizome, is Vito Campanelli's new book Web Aesthetics: How Digital Media Affect Culture and Society. I have yet to get my hands on it, but am looking forward to it. (Should I go ebook or paper? Just joking!) Five years ago, I was interested in the trend of communication via internet methods. Facebook was just becoming rapidly trendy. Smart phones were popping up. Conversation and attention were changing daily. I was interested in the psychological and relational aspects of these phenomena’s impacts on both children and adult learning patterns and communication skills. Today, a two year old only knows of an aunt as a person in a box that talks from a flat screen (a.k.a. Skype) or what about morale and anthropology of how many friends I have on Facebook. This has a real impact and direction in education, communication and aesthetic. Communication and thought processes in our daily lifestyles are being reinterpreted at a global level. I can learn and take lectures from courses around the world via iTunes. I can keep in touch with family from across the world. I can find out what is most current and honest via Wikileaks.

So as the building blocks of human development of communication and education are being transformed by digital capacities, the question raised is how is art is interpreted via internet, app and further technologies? A place to start might be with how is art viewed and interacted with online? I am finding a growing trend of digital "museums." Rhizome has long been one of my favorite destinations for trends on arts and technology presenting video, editorial posts and acting as a pointer to the physical locations of where shows are presented or performances are held. Adobe even recently created a new product, Adobe Museum of Digital Media (AMDM) where digital art, even commissioned pieces will be on display and a robotic-like female voice to guide you through the galleries. There is no physical gallery. The trend towards this curation is not just limited to organizations. Services like Tumblr, Flickr and blogs now create personal wunderkabinetts for displaying and arranging selected imagery and texts. One Tumblr, with an interesting selection is TheSteward. TheSteward is rich in texture associations, landscape and vintage photography.

What is your take on the flood of digital communication and the impact on art? What will be the outcome of the museum? Viewing a piece online can be more potent and informative than in actuality. (Ah, there is that word actual again.) I have only shared something old, these concepts have been ongoing. Your thoughts are wanting. Do you have any online curations you would like to share?

story telling

2011-02-21T10:41:00.001-05:00

La Vitesse Et La Pierre from WHYRED on Vimeo.

A short film, La Vitesse Et La Pierre, for Whyred found at the website
of Malin Gabriella Nordin.

Back to story telling. Light. Narrative. Audio. Ambiguity allows the viewer to indulge in their narcissistic reflections and contemplations. Is this harsh? Is it necessary? This reflection and contemplation allows a different perspective and learning... the third person view. Perhaps we see more clearly then.

{Very La jetée by Chris Marker.}

The Elephant

2011-02-19T09:40:00.000-05:00

There is an intriguing bit of space in L.A., The Elephant Art Space. Be prepared to be met with complex varied shows, a carefully curated selection of art pieces, BBQ's, and a quirky gallery space. The last show The Reanimation of Fabricated Nature with David Waddell caught my attention. He comments on how we as a culture view everything in a hybrid manner. His materials included in his works are quite varied and bring to mind playfulness of a stoic nature in regular and familiar objects.

Check his website for more information and upcoming projects. If you by chance find yourself in L.A. stop my The Elephant Art Space for their next show *JAMES JEAN IS FAMOUS (NOT A JAMES JEAN SHOW)* on March 11.

art for your winter soul

2011-02-18T10:02:00.001-05:00

I am new to artist Martyna Szcz. I came across her work through an article at Rhizome on the “Sequence of Waves” show at the end of January at St. Cecilia’s Convent in Greenpoint. Here is just a bit of an exert from your website:

I collaborated on an installation with Phillip David Stearns. Our project was inspired by the meditative, hyper-aware state one experiences in a remote winter time setting. Phillip constructed a string instrument tensioned between the floor and ceiling that was triggered by stillness. Motors with fishing wire attached to them were set off in succession, striking the strings to build a layered and dense sound.

Do check out more of the writing.

Auditory trumps the physically visual.

a good film

2011-02-10T09:00:00.001-05:00

Sometimes you watch a film and the plot is nothing new, preeminent expectations are set, the length of time... gasp... etc.

And then the story.

Sometimes a good story, no matter how told is the trophy.

Plus, I enjoy the two actors Ed Harris and Saoirse Ronan.

Then the director Peter Weir... yes.

So, The Way Back was a good surprise. I enjoyed the parallels of brutality (weather, landscape, humanity) versus fragile, beautiful shots (water, hands, the same landscape, relationships). I love when the camera lingered on the hand in the water and then drifted to the bather's face and then further back to a mid-distance shot of the figures all in view but at individual distance from one another and the fact of the desert in the background. Smart. No?

Unsound Festival New York April 2011

2011-02-07T12:39:00.001-05:00

I am looking forward to Spring and... Unsound. I first heard about Unsound from journalist Evon Koprowski covering the event in Poland in 2010. Unsound engages sound experimentation and nuances to reflect back to the culture audio in a new experience and recollection. I was thrilled to hear there will be an event in April in New York City. More information can be found on their website Unsound. Hope to see you there.

We Don't Need Other Worlds, We Need Mirrors

Music for Solaris by Ben Frost and Daniel Bjarnason, with Sinfonietta Cracovia

Film Manipulations by Brian Eno and Nick Robertson

Kijow Centrum, Krakow, Poland

24 October 2010

Australian musician Ben Frost (formerly of Something for Kate) and Iceland's Daniel Bjarnason unveiled their world premiere composition of music for Solaris on the final night of Krakow's outstanding Unsound Festival. Specially commissioned by Unsound, “We Don't Need Other Worlds, We Need Mirrors” is a work of extreme fragility and gentleness tempered with moments of intensity that unsettles beyond what is subliminally comfortable.

Creating a personal introspective journey, Bjarnason conducted the superb Sinfonietta Cracovia with caressing flowing ease, allowing the 28 member-strong orchestra to interpret the music and contribute to the vision of the pair in a way which was both symbiotic and expressively human.

Written by Krakow author Stanislaw Lem and adapted for film by Andrei Tarkovsky, Solaris will celebrate it's 50th anniversary in 2011. It tells the story of a psychologist who travels to a space station orbiting the planet Solaris whose objective is to understand why the mission has stalled, only to experience similar hallucinations to the rest of the crew. Frost and Bjarnason took the film as a starting point for the creation of their vision, as opposed to writing a new soundtrack to be performed simultaneously with a screening of the film. The evocative title was lifted from within the pages of Lem's book.

In many ways, the complexity of this piece is in the tension between the movement of notes. For strings, percussion, electric guitar, electronic loop and prepared piano, it opened with a delicacy of sound from Frost's guitar, with slow piano notes struck intermittently by Bjarnason.

Conducting from the piano, Bjarnason introduced the orchestra ever so gently by sliding in with a stringando sound. Soft dischord coloured a slowly modulating baseline with extreme beauty and gentleness. With top lid removed, the modified piano allowed some strings to be struck with a soft mallet whilst others had sustained a metallic transformation to sound tinny and bent. The overall mood was hopeful, continuous, slowly twisting with pain before unravelling and punctuating itself in a different way. The strings, double basses and cellos, created turgidity that became uncomfortable to listen to before being cleared by the sound of tubular bells. Simple open fifths on the piano, crossed hands, electronic noises and low trembling kettle drums crescendoed before choosing to become minor.

Created by Brian Eno and Nick Robertson, the imagery manipulations shown on a giant cinema screen only used two frames from the original film. Black and white visuals of slowly morphing faces bathed the orchestra in different shades of light, showing beauty in fragility and destruction. The music was the colour of a bruise gently spreading at the end of the piece.

“We Don't Need Other Worlds, We Need Mirrors” will be recorded in Krakow on the Icelandic label Bedroom Community. The album will be launched during the North American premiere of the work at Unsound New York in April 2011.

An article taken with permission from journalist Evon Koprowski.

Shinichi Maruyama

2011-02-02T09:00:00.000-05:00

Shinichi Maruyama
1. & 2. from Water Sculpture
3. & 4. from Kusho

"Maruyama's photographs both document and formalistically play on the chance effects of these processes, exemplifying the Japanese concept of Wabi-Sabi–the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent and incomplete." –Maurice Berger
statement taken from www.shinichimaruyama.com

return to snow

2011-01-31T22:15:00.000-05:00

Almost back. Oh, learned much. Oh, Italian language we are getting somewhere. Oh, friends it was so good to see you. Oh, runs on mountains. Oh, little town you were nice. Oh, New York City, how will we fare this time?

mousse

2011-01-25T10:13:00.000-05:00

LOVE Mousse.

the ark

2011-01-14T12:02:00.001-05:00

Russian Architect Alexander Remizov says that he took a holistic approach to the problems of providing power to The Ark, working with colleague Lev Britvin on energy solutions to keep it in balance with the environment.

A wind power generator that runs through the center of the building would provide power while the outer surface would be covered with transparent solar panels. If the Ark was built on water, as Remizov suggests, he says it could also utilize thermal water energy.

"The form of a dome promotes the formation of turbulences of air, strengthening the work of wind generators," wrote Remizov in an email to CNN.

"Inside the building, the dome form promotes accumulation of warm air in the top part of a building," he continued. "This heat will be transformed to other kinds of energy and collects also in thermal accumulators."

(text from CNN)

Fantastic.

I would rather say rolly-pollies than slinkies.

TYPOGRAPHY Tania Alvarez Zaldivar and Typoretum

2011-01-07T05:12:00.000-05:00

E and F, Fabric by Tania Alvarez Zaldivar

Plate, Bespoke Letterpress by Typoretum

I think I might give up artmaking and go back to making fonts. (Just joking! I am in the happy-angsty process of writing graduate letters and such.) But aren't these gorgeous. They visually remind me of music. I like the design of Tania Alavarez Zaldivar's website also.

new years

2011-01-02T08:59:00.000-05:00

It's the New Year. A good 2011 to all. I have been busy.

Daniel Rybakken

2010-12-30T03:44:00.000-05:00

Aahhh...

Daniel Rybakken you are wonderful. Your art is quiet poetry of math, light and space. I love the outlet plug in the last one. This humbleness and visibleness of the outlet and the size of the graphics brings me closer, more intimate to this piece. I am ready to explore colour. I admire your courage Daniel Rybakken. I have been drawing with a gold colored pencil.

Colour is about the mixing of colour and composition in shape. Though I work often with aspects of daylight, this collaborative project allowed me effects and sensations of light.

~Colour (In collaboration with Andreas Engesvik - prototype 2010)

a work does not make sense... sense is important in terms of emotions

2010-12-28T06:00:00.002-05:00

Friends in NYC, see this for me! What is it like live?

merry christmas

2010-12-22T10:22:00.000-05:00

Vilhelm Hammershøi, Dust Motes Dancing in the Sunbeams, 1900

Vilhelm Hammershøi, Portrait of a Young Girl, 1885

Merry Christmas dear friends. The city of Labro is soft and glowing in the night like a Christmas tree. Jazz is comforting over the dinner table. I got my first Christmas card here from my grandma! Best wishes to all.

caffè e piu... get ready...

2010-12-19T04:27:00.000-05:00

Do you remember the religious Italian calendar from a couple posts prior. I found these on my home page this morning from Repubblica.it for Lavazza's 2011 Calendario. Had to share. The context of my location and besides, don't you think it is a nice carry on from the last post on caffè?

the italian cappuccino

2010-12-14T10:04:00.001-05:00

The Italian cappuccino. It is a beauty, it is essential, it is only a morning drink in Italy. Italian bars are on every corner and an essential part of the daily routine. Whether a dash in the morning for a cappuccino and pastry (I am a sucker!) or a mid-afternoon cafè or the evening spritz. Always the popular hang out or gossip place. The one in Labro is like a family den, events are held here. Dog walkers congregate here. Birthdays are celebrated here. Language exchange is held here. They are the best. Sadly, I have forgotten to bring my camera for every visit, this latte is from the old days at Indian Road Cafe in Washington Heights. Lovely spot to warm and sit. Then be sure to walk in the park across the street.

Le Creative Workshop

2010-12-14T10:02:00.003-05:00

Le Creative Sweatshop... beautiful paper moments. Presently as mid-dicembre rolls through, my focus switches to grant research and making again. Ahh, making again... more thoughts on this to come. I have two art shows with deadlines coming and tons of paperwork!

Le Corbusier

2010-12-05T04:04:00.003-05:00

Sound. When I look at these pictures, I think of space and sound. Can you see how the sounds would imprint on the angles, on the length of a room, how it would disperse. Where it might be most loud, the echo the farthest. Where it would mute. Where would you hold an intimate conversation? Where would the choir sing loud? Could you place persons of different language in opposite ends and have the language mingle in the space in between. Would those languages be distorted or effected by the space and become their own conversation displaced from the speakers?

Space and light and order. Those are the things that men need just as much as they need bread or a place to sleep.
~Le Corbusier

Images taken from Foundation Le Corbusier

~Labro~

Charles Dickens

2010-12-05T03:48:00.001-05:00

Things That Never Die

The pure, the bright, the beautiful
that stirred our hearts in youth,
The impulses to wordless prayer,
The streams of love and truth,
The longing after something lost,
The spirit's longing cry,
The striving after better hopes—
These things can never die.

The timid hand stretched forth to aid
A brother in his need;
A kindly word in grief's dark hour
That proves a friend indeed;
The plea for mercy softly breathed,
When justice threatens high,
The sorrow of a contrite heart—
These things shall never die.

Let nothing pass, for every hand
Must find some work to do,
Lose not a chance to waken love—
Be firm and just and true.
So shall a light that cannot fade
Beam on thee from on high,
And angel voices say to thee—
"These things shall never die."

~ Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

One of the first books that I can recall from childhood that made an impression on me was Charles Dickens' The Tale of Two Cities. (Also, one of the first books I started bawling over. I have my Grandma's tears at curious times.) I have read he would wander through the worst streets in the city. This poem is sharp and cutting and soft and rendering.

It is a good Charles Dickens' type of weather here. The air is considerably colder, for a while the sun as been out and about some and over the valley, the darkness and light are steep contrasts as on a stage for the audience. You can see perfect sun beams on the hillside as if white glowing columns from the clouds were raised out of the mountains.

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-26T05:49:00.000-05:00

The long table was set... in the office... no room in the house.

Thirteen plates and a highchair for a little one.

There were the bottles of wine as gifts decked across the table with their gorgeous packaging.

The high window let in light that lit of the jars as glasses on the table.

Jazz played in the background and the guests arrived.

A bit of chit chat and waiting for good food. A musician pulled down a guitar and made a funny tune for entertainment. Soft Italian and English mingled. The little one clung to mama and made shy steps around the table.

Then the feast.

First the pasta was served on the waiting plates. Next calamari and olives, then little fried white fishes, a nice salad to finish...

And then the dessert.

The guests had brought a beautiful chocolate coated panettone with a sweet dessert wine, my grandmother would be proud.

And of course little cups of espresso at the end.

I love how Thanksgiving has been interpreted at different stages in my life. No matter the location, the fellowship, the nationalities or the backgrounds. This holiday is special to me. It is not my favorite, but it is for me an affirmation of the importance of relationships, those past, present and the hope of for the future. I still think of people met in chance and random encounters from 12 years ago. I still remember the faces of friends 4 months ago. And time does not matter. We kept a bit of the American experience at the celebration in Italy with a round of everyone saying what they were thankful for or had good intentions of. One was the wished intention of Obama being the head of Italy instead of Berlesconi (perhaps this was not a thankfulness but an ideal wish, it was that of an Italian.) Mine was for conversation in Italian and English and in any language for that matter.

gli sacerdoti

2010-11-20T10:11:00.002-05:00

I kid you not, a calendar exists and is put out by the Vatican of these... yes... priests. There are even auditions to be in the calendar. See for yourself Calendario Romano!

Read more about Labro and the Church, albeit in the restroom here.

Sun's Gone Dim

2010-11-15T05:57:00.000-05:00

by Johann Johannsson
I like this. Thinking again about storytelling. What are the choices that compose a story. How can a story be shared and participated in. Where is it autonomous and where is it community interaction. Should the story be explicit, should there be an abstract quality to which the person is invited to complete that story with their own suppositions and bias. Gosh, music/audio is powerful.
That is scary.

O.k. back to work...

the Zoopraxiscope

2010-11-14T05:44:00.002-05:00

image from Wikipedia

Before there was film as we know it...

In 1879, Eadweard Muybridge created the Zoopraxiscope. The Zoopraxiscope projected images from rotating glass disks in rapid succession to give the impression of motion. The stop-motion images were initially painted onto the glass, as silhouettes. Can you imagine for a moment, never having seen a film (I know this is impossible, it has permeated our thought conscious and perception of continuos time). You peer at a rudimentary image and it is moving! Is this alive? What is this? Brilliance! Just a motion! Imagine, it is a part of a story.

Text on Eadweard Muybridge from Kingston Museum's collection on Muybridge.

Later Annabelle's Butterfly dance by Thomas Edison with the invention of the Kinetoscope. You can watch it here.

Another one is the Serpentine Dance by the Lumiere Brothers (1899) –Thank you Astri!

In 1926, comes one of my favorite's Prince Achmed by Lotte Reiniger. When I first saw this film, I was a child again with glassy star eyes. My gosh, this is imagination and I was so ingrossed? Was it story telling, was it craftsmanship, was it the freedom of processing the details and assimilating the rest with my own contribution in the imagination fill in. The details offer a delicateness and intimacy to the film that gives the viewer a rare experience of participation.

More Labro.

Sam Winston

2010-11-05T07:09:00.000-04:00

Language, sound, audio, silence, meaning... I have been a little smitten of late thinking audio-wise. How sound is perceived, meaning of sounds... etc. There was a little experiment with audio-technician Mark Via a while back at Harlem Art Space. Art and type have long been a visual engagement and partnership. Now, as research continues, I came across Sam Winston. Through his explorations of language Sam Winston creates sculpture, drawings and books that question our understanding of words, both as a carriers of messages and as information itself.

I was interested in Sam's work because: yes, there is an underlying exploration of language, but also for how sensually auditory is visually. For example with the smashed frame and glass, he says, The smashed frame is identical to the frame containing it. The title Kali refers to the Indian goddess with the same name. She is considered to be the goddess of time and of the transformation that is death (Kala). The artwork is an ongoing project where each stage of artwork becomes framed – is destroyed – and then remade in it’s own image. But as I am visually exploring his agenda for this piece, I am appropriating my own experiences and interests into this interpretation of Kala. His meaning of his piece is transformed in my experience of viewing it... remade in it's own image and remade in the viewers experience...

Adesso, so Labro... continuation.

Mad Supper

2010-10-30T15:07:00.000-04:00

Announcing this weekend. More art.
Ideal Glass is having a show Mad Supper. It will be quite the event with a memorable goul-ish supper, animations, sculpture (hint, hint! from yours truly), video, performance and a launch of a new company... more details on this to come.

Adesso sono qui

2010-10-30T14:55:00.002-04:00

Still October

The day really is beautiful.

Chilly.

Turn that collar up. Pull down the sleeves of my shirt inside my coat.

The leaves here and there behind stone walls and iron Renaissance fences are just shyly showing their colours.

A heavy key is in my pocket and not much else.

No map.

Streets play with my memory.

This is familiar!

Was this the street…

That is a jolly little bar.

Ah, this is where we went to grocery shop…

There is more here.

This blog is still for art happenings. I have been a bit distracted but this area will remain art and inspiration. Albeit, there might be less happenings in the next couple months but there will be some. Please do check back soon.

Cari, miei amici... é vero! é vero!

2010-10-18T20:42:00.001-04:00

Che cosa fa?
É vero! Ritornoró in Italia nella settimana.

This one week to prepare mentally, restfully, busily–a.k.a mad packing! Oh dear! But the actions thus far that have led me to this decision... ah, there is so much grace involved. Even tonight, a dear friend who has a car drove my one suitcase and box (hey, I live lightly) to another dear friend's extra closet space to store while I am away. Repeat: she is letting me store my belongings there... can you imagine! New York and extra space! AND GENEROSITY WITH THAT EXTRA SPACE! Should I underline "extra space" and give italics and five more exclamation points... yes?

Ah, my friends I will miss you. Remember goals from last post, this is one goal in the bigger goal–bigger story. My friends, some of you are quite chosen, some of you are accidental friends, some of you, well we are sandpaper friends. But all are called friends. Friends, I spur you on in your goals. Keep your hopes, the questions, the doubts, they are not necessarily your enemies. Oh, there are such dark moments, caverns, more aptly called. Talk to each other, that is support. Trust.

Email me. Goodness, I go from this huge city with the overload of technology and consumerism to sans mobile phone and sans a lot of other things.

obiettivi

2010-10-13T09:16:00.000-04:00

Hold loosely.

Pause.

What pursuit do you passionately seek?

I just raced a half marathon. Normally, that distance is my regular run, but racing it was a different story. At mile 7, the freedom of pushing forward. I had flight, my mind was free, the day was gorgeous and sunny. We ran next to water. My legs raced, it was a gentle testing of limits. This feeling of speed and endurance as my body adapted quickly.

Then mile 9, faster Kristin, faster.

Mile 10, ah, this is good, faster. Be smart though, but oh, faster.

Mile 12, smart is finished, my legs are taut, my breathing checked. I am still soaring. Truly, running is a drug.

Mile 13, I laugh that there is even a sign, I have been taught that if you can sprint at the end you have not budgeted your strength across the race but no matter what race, I find myself sprinting at the end. Oh! Crossing the finish line. My elation is high. I am already evaluating my run, critiquing my endurance, checking the body for weak points and signals of how it took the physics of a race.

Running so often parallels my thought process and way of living and seeking goals. Keep those goals, hold them close so they are not allusive but let them change, adapt. That metamorphosis is necessary and tests the goals. If they are golden they will stay or strengthen in the change. This itself sounds allusive. It is that part of being vulnerable and broken in the testing that gives emphasis and sharpening to what is held as goal and what is unnecessary.
{No more talking.}