Triangle space ready

So this week was pretty intense. In three days a crew of four of us erected and painted over 300 feet of walls for the approx. 30 artists coming to Triangle for the next two weeks. I have to say, it was a great crew and while not exactly "fun", we had a good time. Sunday the artists arrive and I have a feeling all hell will break loose. Here's some empty walls for your viewing pleasure.

IFSC open studios

So I get home one evening this week and noticed a sign in the elevator: "Mini-Open Studios 7th and 8th Floors." Woohoo! Head up there, have a glass of wine and look at art without leaving the building my own studio is in! I'm not sure what IFSC stands for, but I'm pretty sure the "I" is for international since the artists were really coming from some exotic spots. The work ranged the gamut too, from new digital media to video, sound, painting, photo, etc. Identity was a popular theme, with Lala Rascic of Croatia (who is an amazing actor in her monologues where she plays alll the parts) and much talked about up-and-comer Tomoko Sawada of Japan. Sawada's ID400 consists of 400 different identities she assumes. Much is made of her NOT taking the photos (instead opting for photo-booths and other photographers) and the intimation of Japanese arranged marriages (?). Still, the Cindy Sherman reference is inevitable. Here's some:
http://www.zabriskiegallery.com/Sawada%202003/ID400.htm
There was also Maori artist Reuben Paterson, whose glitter paintings definitely play on what we consider chintzy in the West. He can be found here:
http://www.gowlangsfordgallery.co.nz/artists/reubenpaterson/
And then JBK Ransu, from Iceland (also into gaudy colors) whose paintings reverberate through the color/value shifts and fluorescent paint. He's most interested in combining the impulsive sensuality of Abstract Expressionism with geometric, hard-edge painting- kind of a Vistor Vasarely/Pollock stepchild. Find him at:
www.this.is/veransu/ransu
Here's my pic.s (in the order I've mentioned artists above, excluding Sawada)

More recent work

Due to popular demand, I am going to post some pic.s of work that is not on my older site. These are artworks that sort of led up to the things I am working on right now (will soon post some pics of models and drafts I'm working on).

Open Studios in Bed-Stuy

Well, contrary to certain SCAD prof''s advice I went to Bedford-Stuyvescant, Brooklyn this weekend to visit some open studios with the Bjerklies (in fine form as usual) and made it out alive! Was particularly impressed and intrigued by the work of Carlos Rekevics, who I remember seeing in Karen Wilkin's SCAD Trustees Theater presentation way back in'04 (see- it does make a difference going to some of those lectures). Apparently he's got work up at thw Whitney Annex right now, so gotta check that out. His website is here, you should definitely check it out:
http://www.karlisrekevics.com/

Triangle update

Ok, well the Blast sculpture by Dan and Alexa is nearly done (see pic). On Friday, the Workshop space was looking even messier than the earlier pic I posted, but it's been cleaned up and we should begin building today.

Triangle Tuesday

Here's some pictures I snapped of Sarah Walko (at back- who many of you know from SCAD) and Ann Chen (Exec. Director) hard at work at the Triangle offices in Dumbo, as well as the sculpture-in-progress "Blast" that is being created by Berlin artists-in-residence Daniel Kerber and Alexa Kreissl (assisted by me!), which will turn out like the model at left in the next pic, then there's the tape drawing on the wall also by this duo, and then 3 highly political scotch-tape sculptures of people by French artist in residence Olivier Blanckart.

UN's in town

You know it's a strange world when you find out the First Lady is staying less than two blocks away. Yet that's what happened, and less than 10 minutes ago, I seen her! WITH MY OWN EYES! Wish I could have got a pic, but she was ushered into her ride pretty quickly. Will be on the look out for other dignitaries today, though. If I get a pic and they look stiff, assume it's due to the pressures of ruling the world with iron fists (and not that I went to Madame Tussaud's- also around the corner from the studio).

Calder installation?

On my way to visit fellow Macalester alums Mike and Molly Lens, I snapped this pic. near City Hall. Yesterday I noticed an ad in Artforum for an Alexander Calder installation in City Hall Park.... I guess this is it! (?)

BYOB

On a side note, I walked around Midtown for at least an hour last night looking for a loaf of bread. Just when I thought I had everything at my fingertips, I discover that New Yorkers apparently have no interest in making their own sandwiches.

Everything and More

On my way up here, my friend John Matson gave me this book, Everything and More: A Complete History of Infinite, by David Foster Wallace. Despite the presumptuous title (it seems ironic that there could be a "complete" history of something that is endless!), Wallace certainly provides a thorough examination of the mathematics of infinity through the ages. While I can recommend this book to anyone whose calculus is still fairly accessible to memory, Wallace's attempts to provide explanations to lay-people are still frustratingly difficult to grasp. I am eagerly awaiting Georg Cantor's proofs of the existence successively bigger infinities.

"Dreams and Delusions"

The much belated, long awaited pix from John Bjerklie's exhibition are finally here! Sally Lelong, who runs the Phatory gallery, showed John's objects and paintings, but there was no "guy in the big hat performance" this time around. The show featured videos which Michael Woody and Kevin Strickland (a couple of friends from SCAD) helped to make- debris/confetti falling through the sky in a grainy, old-style b/w film. I am hopefully going to be helping Sally out a little in the coming months, on a side note: Poogie (sic?) Bjerklie's exhibition will open at The Phatory next month.

Samuel Rousseau at Parker's Box

One last post for the day. After work yesterday, I was able to get over to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to attend the Parker's Box opening of Samuel Rousseau's "video-installation" exhibition. Well, there were only 3 of his works there, but wow! Rousseau is able to inject a new liveliness into his videos by projecting them onto very unusual surfaces. For instance, one piece consisted of a building constructed of plastice containers, standing about 3' high, into which was projected the facade of a building with these tiny silhouettes of people moving around in the windows. The best thing was that you could watch these little people move around and they actually DID stuff, and didn't just repeat the same monotonous action- there were stories. Apparently Mr. Rousseau actually scripted parts for actors to be filmed! Cool. Other highlights involved meeting, in one fell swoop, many of the Brooklyn-art-scene-pioneers John Bjerklie's always mentioning: Allun Williams (a founder of Triangle and head of Parker's Box), Mike Ballou (finally met this guy after some great phone conversations- I can describe hime as the sort of guy who actually seems bigger than he really is, hopefully I will get a chance to work with him soon), and Joyce Pensato, as well as a few others. Bjerklie, of course was in attendance and may have mentioned the new "Today Show" (which he's been workin on) as an unlikely inspiration for upcoming work!

Triangle

I started my internship at Triangle yesterday. We are going to have our work cut out for us, since the Workshop space (an awesome, huge warehouse-like floor in Dumbo, Brooklyn) is under construction right now and the clean up is going to be intense, not to mention the construction of studio space for 30 artists by Oct. 1. Here's how it looks right now:

EFA's Everybody Dance Now

On the 8th, I went to an exhibition in my studio's building, hosted by the Elizabeth Foundation. It included video works by many artists with dance themes. Some of the better known artists represented included Mike Kelley (whose Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #32C, Horse Dance of the False Virgin showed two horses- or at least the old duo of people dressed as horses, one at the head and one at the tail- in a sort of courtship ritual in a high school gym), Nam June Paik, and William Wegman. Many of the vid.s were pretty amusing, like caraballo-fallman's dildos which, without evidence of human operation, became anthropomorphized into characters dancing (or at least shaking) with their own personalities.
EFA's site has some cool and hilarious dance vid.s here:
http://everybody-dance-now.blogspot.com/
and the exhibition is reviewed online here:
http://www.artcal.net/event/view/13/2963

Sitting in Bryant Park

OK, while I've got this fast connection, I'm going to take the chance to rewind and show yall some pix of Times Square (which is practically adjacent to my studio), and also the park where I posted earlier- in between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges.

Old Map of Savannah with Hutchinson

I forgot, here's Hutch, back in the day... Fig Island is shown here, which I think has now been connected to Hutch by landfill.

Hutchinson Island

For you curious peeps, Hutchinson Island is an island across the Savannah River from right downtown Savannah. It is mostly uninhabited, though there is a flashy hotel. On the Southeast bank, there is at least 70 years of debris that has washed up and just sat. Really interesting objects include lightbulbs, toys, shoes, bottles, wood, styrofoam, ropes, and on and on. Some of the styrofoam has been worn so that it looks just like pumice, or other types of stones. There is a lot of stuff which seems to be almost unidentifiable as natural- or man made? There is never really anyone there except sometimes people in 4x4s "muddin'." Anyway, last winter a group of artists, known as the Happy Flaneurs, under the Hutchinson Island Sculpture Park Coalition began creating ephemereal sculptures from the flotsam and jetsom we found. There are now quite a few sculpture sites, though some have been degraded by nature or by our own cannibalistic need for certain objects to create new sculptures. Each work seems to have its own way of interacting within the environment, and we work without judging or necessarily thinking about recycling, or conservation; the sculptures instead perform formal and conceptual roles in the landscape, without rejecting the surrounding "trash," landscape, or the 4x4 drivers who are our main audience (if by chance) actually seem to appreciate them.

Nude Hampster

Sorry I have been a little inattentive guys, have made an emergency detour to New Hampshire to do a few days hard grind and see my friend Will (and Chris....call me!). When I get back into town, hopefully I will get some local NY sights up, and a few other shots I have from art shows I saw last week.

New Hutchinson Isl. Pix!

The Triumphal Arch, The Covered Hole (from above and front side), remnants from the original Bluff Site A, and me hauling buoys.

new museum pix

Thunderbolt Museum's on a break for me, but I got a good start with the "Modern Era Section."

Quick update

Well, I'm in NY now! Am currently sitting right under the Manhattan Bridge, and between it and the Brooklyn Bridge in Dumbo, Brooklyn, in a beautiful park on the river. Weather is much cooler here than it was in Savannah, which is nice. The trip up here was sort of an ordeal, got to see my good friend in DC, John Matson, though, and hopefully will see Mike and Molly Lens this weekend. Spent yesterday helping John Bjerklie set up his exhibition in the East Village (see info below). Today I met Ann Chen and Sarah Walko of Triangle Arts here in Brooklyn. Sarah was a recent grad from SCAD's Painting MFA program, and an alumnus of the NY Workspace before me. Unfortunately, I have not yet established an internet connection at my studio, so I'm gonna have to delay posting images again. Luckily, though I have had the forethought while I am in this free wireless zone to look up some more in Manhattan, so hold tight. The studio istelf is pretty great- very close to everything, but almost adjacent to : Times Sq., Empire State Building, Madison Sq. Gardens, and prob'ly a few other spots I haven't seen yet or am forgetting. Gotta go for now!

Bjerklie update

Here it comes:


Sat, 12 Aug 2006 15:31:32 -0400 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>618 East 9th Street . New York, NY 10009 . (212) 777-7922 . http://www.thephatory.com John Bjerklie, landfill, 2006
The Phatory LLC is pleased to announce Dreams & Delusions: Do Not Be Afraid, an installation by John Bjerklie. The exhibition opens on September 7, and will run through October 1, with an artist’s reception held on Thursday, September 7th, between 7 P.M. and 9 >P.M.In a world that operates by the commoditization of anything and everything, maintaining a sense of personal relevance is a daunting challenge. John Bjerklie’s installation, at The Phatory, Dreams & Delusions: Do Not Be Afraid, illustrates the artist’s attempts at constructing a value system that reflects his own standards. Inspired by the Stanley Kramer’s film It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Bjerklie’s installation deftly arranges assorted objects-at-hand like stand-ins for the thoughts and perspectives that play a role in his efforts to attain self-respect and artistic enfranchisement. Mr. Bjerklie holds a BFA from the Maine College of Art and an MFA from Washington University in St Louis. His work is exhibited nationally and in Europe. Residencies he has held include: Socrates Sculpture Park in New York City, the Ucross Foundation in Wyoming and the Ateliers Triangle in Marseille France. Further information about Mr. Bjerklie can be found at www.johnbjerklie.com .>>Sally Lelong, Director>(212) 358-0028 or phatory@mac.com>

Nightmare or Reality?

Leave it to the Existentialists to put everything into perspective:

http://www.nyu.edu/classes/keefer/hell/sart.html

The Last Question

This is a short story called "The Last Question" by Isaac Asimov. Highly entertaining, but visionary; hopefully humans can last that long.

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~mlindsey/asimov/question.htm

Labor Day

Well, I am finally set on leaving Savannah Monday. I have had to streamline my trip because of problems with my truck, but my paperwork has been signed by honourable professor, department chair, dean of fine arts, and hopefully dean of graduate studies! THANKYOU. I am looking forward to meeting with Ann Chen, of Triangle Arts Association, next week. John Bjerklie will also be having an exhibition on the 7th.

One small step for Tunderbolt Museum- pixs soon.
Also promise to get some Hutchinson pix up in the following week.
I know, I have them.. just gotta edit for web.