Martin Puryear at MoMA

Caught the Martin Puryear show at MoMA the day after our opera night (see previous post). This show covers Puryear's development from the late 70's to the present and features around fourty-five pieces. The bulk of the work is on the sixth floor special exhibition spaces, but a few of his larger works are placed in the second floor atrium area, where my photos were taken. No photos were allowed in the sixth floor section, of course.

I first became aware of Martin Puryear in the mid-late 80's when I saw a great exhibition of his work at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Quite a few of the works I saw then were in this show and it was like seeing old friends again after a long separation. Right alongside the older works were newer ones, a non-chronological arrangement that was a great asset to the show since you could see Puryear's ideas going back and forth between works completed years apart. At the same time, there wasn't a sense that he was repeating himself. That's something that I think contributes to the sense of timelessness his sculpture has.

The allusive quality of his work is really strong but you can never quite put your finger on what it might be that he is refering to. I can look at one of his pieces and be on the brink of recognition, just about to have an 'a-ha!' moment, but then something happens-a shift in materials or surface treatment-that makes me re-evaluate my original assumption; is that a wooden facsimile of a sawblade or one side of an unfinished flight of stairs? Puryear takes fairly recognizable forms like ladders, wheels, tools, etc..., and places then in unusual formal relationships that creates things that are tantalizingly close to what we know in our world but just different enough to exist on another plane altogether.

Night at the Opera

Metropolitan Starbursts

Those are the chandeliers that hang in the atrium/lobby of the Metropolitan Opera House in Manhattan. E and I had just seen the amazing Placido Domingo sing and were still in a daze from the performance, which was amazing! I went into this whole thing not having ever been to an opera before and didn't really know what to expect. I mean, of course I knew about operas but only in the most cursory way; operas were basically plays whose stories were sung. I wasn't prepared for how good and interesting a well-produced opera could be. For the price of a movie and snacks ($15), we were able to see and hear a living legend perform.

I was fully open to the experience but I have to admit that beforehand, I thought that I'd wind up being bored at some point. That wasn't the case at all. It's impossible to be bored when you're sitting three or four stories up and back from the stage and these ntaural, unamplified voices come soaring up at you and you can hear them as clear as day. Something like that puts most contemporary pop singers to shame, honestly. I nearly forgot that the orchestra was actually there-that's how seamless things went.

It took me a while to get used to glancing at the subtitles on the small screen on the back of the seat in front of me (the opera, Iphigénie en Tauride, was sung in French) and keeping up with the action on the stage during the first half. After intermision I was able to keep up with everything fairly easily. Being at the Met reminded me how great live performances can be.

The source material for Iphigénie en Tauride was based on a tragedy by Euripides titled, Iphigenia at Tauris which reminded me of the source material for three large paintings I did in college as a final project in an independent study painting class in the mid '90's. I don't know why I was interested in it, but I wound up reading the Three Theban plays by Sophocles. I did the paintings in response to the intense emotional drama I found in the plays. The human drama depicted in ancient works like Antigone, and Oedipus at Colonus resonates through the years because human nature never changes, no matter how modern and civilized we think we are.

Placido and Puryear

Last Light IV

Goin' to get some high culture tonight!

A couple of months ago, my wife found an announcement somewhere online that Placido Domingo was appearing in an opera at the Metropolitan Opera House and promptly purchased tickets. The only seats we could afford were the family circle, a.k.a., 'the nosebleed seats', but we figure it's worth it since we're there more to hear him than see him. I've never been to the Met, so maybe the sightlines are better than I might think. I think they have screens now at some opera houses, but I'm not sure. Might have to rent some binoculars just for the hell of it.


The opera we're seeing is Iphigénie en Tauride. There's a synopsis of the story here. Domingo sings the part of 'Oreste', brother of Iphigénie.

We're staying overnight at a friend's house in Brooklyn and tomorrow we're planning on seeng the Martin Puryear retrospective at MoMa. I've long been a fan of Puryear's work, especially since seeing a show of his work at the Philadelphia Museum of Art back in the late '80's. I've always loved his craftsmanship and how he's been able to work near wonders with wood and other materials. Tyler Green had a lot of good things to say about the show as did Roberta Smith in the New York Times. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing this long-overdue exhibition.

I'm going to be in an art coma by the time we're home tomorrow night.

Arc

Arc

Art Alliance talk

Last Light V

A couple of months ago, a friend who teaches at University City High School in West Philadelphia, asked if I was interested in talking to a group of his students at the Art Alliance, while my show was on exhibit. I met with the class last Wednesday around 11:30am. I got there around five minutes before they arrived and had just taken off my coat as the group of 18 or 19 students and three teachers came in. They were all around the 15-17 year-old age range, just about the same age I was when I first started taking art seriously.

I introduced myself in the hallway before they got into the galleries and told them a little about what they were going to see and let them roam around looking at the paintings. About a couple of minutes in, one of the young women approached me, pulled out a small painting on board with an outlined, stylized figure of a woman in the midst of an abstracted background, and asked me what I thought about her work. I was a bit surprised but honored that she was so forthright with her request. It was good to see that she wasn't shy about presenting her work to an outsider and wanting their opinion. I talked with her about the painting and a photocopy of a still-life that seemed to be inspired by Matisse.

Both of the works were good for someone of her age and skill level. I thought she had a good eye for color and told her so. I also mentioned that she should keep working and to continue working from life to develop her skills. I wanted to say more about her work, but I didn't want to spend all of the time only with her while there was a bunch of other kids who either had questions or wanted to escape as soon as they could. Acutally, most of the students were really engaged with the work and had a lot of good questions and comments. One of them was eager to share his socialogical interpretation of Plume, which boiled down to "the colors underneath equaling people of color with the white (man) ruling over everything..."

Once they'd had their fill of looking at the paintings, I gave the group a short talk about my life growing up in Philly and my development as an artist. It felt good to have the chance to address a group of young kids, especially since most of them might not have come into the Art Alliance on their own or any other art-related place, for that matter. I don't know how the trip might have affected any of them, but I'm hoping that some of them got something from it.

'Black and White'

Light Veil, 2007, acrylic and ink on canvas, 36" x 48"

New painting, new show.

This is my comtribution to the next group show at Bridgette Mayer titled, Black and White. The show will be up from November 27-December 22, 2007. Opening Reception: Friday, December 7th, 6-8:30pm

b/w

Untitled (detail), ink on paper, 30" x 40"

I'm preparing for an upcoming winter group show at Bridgette Mayer. The theme is "Black and White". This afternoon, I had a short chat with an acquaintance about the show, and he expressed surprise that I might do something that might literally be a black and white painting. "Are you going to sneak in a bit of color somewhere?". Without missing a beat, I said, "Probably not." He continued, "You're like me, I see you as more of a colorist...".

Guilty as charged. I love working with color, but the idea of working with only 'black and white' is intriguing. I almost never use black alone. Black is often seen as the absence of light, but I've always like mixing a lot of other colors to make 'black'. It makes for a much more interesting dark color, even if someone looking might not see it as a color right away.

opening

A Hole In The Sky

An opening in the sky over West Philly.

Ernie Sandidge @ JOG

Stopped by the James Oliver Gallery last Friday to meet up with a friend checked out Wings and Tails, an exhibit of "fairy paintings and sculptures" of New York based artist, Ernie Sandidge. Wings and Tails features a series of strong figurative paintings and sculptures in various poses with mermaid costumes and fairy wings. Sandidge carries on the tradition of Cezanne-like paint handling without his work seeming quaint or clichéd. The works are juicy, vibrant and very contemporary in feeling.

There's only three days left to see the show and it's well worth the walk up to the fourth floor of 723 Chestnut Street, where James Oliver Gallery is located.

Wings and Tails
Fairy paintings and sculptures of Ernie Sandidge
through November 10th, 2007

James Oliver Gallery
723 Chestnut Street
4th floor
Philadelphia, Pa 19106
267.918.7432
215.923.1242
www.jamesolivergallery.com

Gallery hours
Wed.-Fri, 5-8pm
Sat. 1-8pm or by appointment

Ominous skies

The Cira Centre on a cloudy late afternoon.

Richard Serra in conversation

Richard Serra at Penn

Pardon the blurry shot but that's all I could get without using the flash on my camera during the talk with Serra and curator, Lynne Cooke last Thursday evening at the University of Pennsylvania. Cook co-curated Richard Serra Sculpture: Fourty Years.

The talk lasted for about an hour and-a-half, with Serra doing most of the talking and Cooke not really asking great questions. The thing about Serra that's impressive is how direct and engaging he is with his language as he is with his work. I really wish Cooke was a bit more engaging with her questions. For the most part, familiar ground was covered in terms of his development as an artist living and working in New York and Europe in the late 60's-early 70's. It was enlightening to find out that Leo Castelli bankrolled Serra's work for three years, even when Serra didn't sell anything. One of those stories that the stuff of myths are made of. I doubt there are many art dealers in the world who are willing to give young artists that kind of support any more.

It was interesting to find out that Serra had a part in the design of the renovation of MoMA. In order to accomodate the three newest sculptures in the retrospective exhibition, which closed in September, a portion of an outside wall had to be made into a door thorough which the plates that made up the works were brought into the museum on the second floor. Serra was asked how big the door needed to be. According to Serra, he said, "About 40 feet wide and 13 feet high" and so it was done. That's a lot of pull.

The question-and-answer session was a bit of fun. One guy asked Serra if the size of a lot of his work was related to his relatively small physical stature and a possible 'Napoleon complex', which Serra denied. Another question came from a student who asked what qualifications would Serra look for in a possible apprentice. The answer to this intrigued me since I've wondered how he managed to keep all of his projects going and how many people might be helping him. Serra said that he only has four people in his circle. Including himself, his wife, an office manager and another assistant.

Someone else had a comment about how the controversy surrounding Tilted Arc may have affected Serra's other work at the time; if Serra saw this as a "low point" from which his newer, "more refined" work came out of. Serra debunked this notion quickly by saying that he never stopped working during that time and that Tilted Arc was probably the "most refined piece" he's ever made.

With that, it was all over.

the old, the fat, and the ugly

Well done, Philly! Not only are we fat, we're the ugliest, too!

Woot!

I just found that article over on Watching Paint Dry and couldn't resist commenting a little.

I mean, really, these stories and such are so far away from reality as to be laughable-and this really is laughable. Expecting much 'reality' out of surveys like the one quoted in the article is like expecting reality shows to be, well, real. Seriously, how are we going to compete with the surgically augmented denizens of South Beach?

The real sorry aspect of the situation is that there are going to be people and media outlets here that will fan the flames of 'controversy'. There will be all sorts of 'Beautiful Philadelphia' pagents and photo-ops with local pseudo-celebrities, like slick haired weathermen and bubbly news anchors. There will be a search for the 'Ugliest Philadelphian' others will call for a full-frontal boycott of Travel & Leisure Magazine that will go nowhere and mean nothing...just like the survey.

Open studio thoughts

top (left): Breathing(Again), 2003, acrylic on canvas, 36" x 48"
top(right): Inverted Dislocation, 2003, acrylic on canvas, 48" x 48"
bottom left: Blue Field, 2007, acrylic on canvas, 60" x 72"
bottom right: Vertical Blues and Grays, 2003, acrylic on panel, 12" x 12''

My studio set up for the Philadelphia Open Studio Tours.
This past weekend was a good time to pull out some older works along with the couple of newer pieces I had out. I have a lot of paintings in my studio, but I don't often pull much of the older work out to look at. It's one thing to have the images in your mind and another altogether to actually look at the works. I like my paintings having good homes outside of the studio, not to mention being able to sell work, but it's also good to be able to have some right at arm's length to study and simply enjoy from time to time.



Sometimes, I'll look at something I did two, three or five years ago and wonder how I got the results that I did. There are other pieces that I just want to stare at for long periods and transport myself back to when I was working on them. There have been times that I actually forget how something came together. I'll look at a painting of mine and wonder what that artist was up to when he did that piece, as if I were seeing it for the first time. Conversely, other paintings cause me to be transported right back to the moments of the work's creation-I'll remember everything going on around me at the time; a bit of visual and mental time-traveling.

Serra at Penn

Richard Serra is speaking at Penn this Thursday.

Conversation: Richard Serra+Lynne Cooke
Thursday Oct 25 @ 5:30pm
The Sachs Forum in Contemporary Art

Location: Meyerson Hall B1, 201 South 34th Street

I've been Schmapped...twice!

Three of my photos have been chosen to be featured on the Schmap Online Travel Guides. One for the Philadelphia Guide and two for the Washington, DC guide.

Open Studio recap

Despite the crazed end of last week with me attempting to prepare my studio for this past weekend's Open Studio event and plan for a party on Friday, everything turned out pretty well in the end. This is the fifth year that I've participated in POST and preparing for it is always nerve-wracking. Luckily, I had my wife here to help out a bit and keep me on a more even keel.

I didn't have much prep time on Friday, so on Saturday I spent the first couple of hours putting work up on the walls. I knew from past experience that no one shows up for the first 2 1/2 hours on both days, so I had some wiggle room to finish getting the studio in shape for visitors. Since my most recent work is in the show at the Art Alliance, I dug out a bunch of older paintngs and drawings. Some of the paintings I hadn't looked at in four years and it was good to see them in relation to the couple of newest paintings I have.

Overall, the weekend was good. The weather was nice which people took advantage of. I had about 18 visitors over the two days. Not bad, but fewer than I've had in the past. There were a few first-time visitors, which is always good. The interesting thing is that my space is now off the beaten track. Old City was much more acitve with artists years ago, but with the changes in the real-estate climate, most of the pockets of art studios are spread out further north, west, and south. On top of that, it was just a really nice weekend for being outdoors. I know that if I wasn't participating in POST, I would have been out there, too.

I look at the open studio events as another tool to get people to know who I am and what I'm up to. It's a great way for people who don't know what I do to find out and for others to see what I've been up to lately. I thought I might actually work on a painting or something, but I'm not in the paitning mood during Open Studios. I might mess around with a small drawing or something between visitors, but that's all. Having my wife there working on and showing some of her jewelry helped with the boredom that comes with just hanging out waiting for people to show up, too.

The second part of POST takes place next weekend for people who have studios west of Broad Street. I won't be able to visit anyone's space since I have to work. I'd like to, but visiting studios doesn't pay the bills.

More photos from the weekend are here

running behind

I'm so not ready for the Philadelphia Open Studio Tours this year. This fall has been a non-stop roll of too many things going back-to-back. Good things (getting married, exhibitions and more), but, yeah, a lot going on at one time. Something had to give and this time it's been my preparation for this weekend's festivities. I usually do a lot more self-promotion than I have and I'm behind with some new works to have up. I'm not going to worry too much.

Earlier this year, I was considering not participating at all, but I thought that wouldn't be a good idea since POST is growing and it's a good tool for promotion and letting the public get a glimpse of what goes on before the artwork winds up in the public or private realm.

I still have a couple of days, so I'm sure I'll get it together. I might even set myself up to be working when people come to the studio so there's more going on than usual during the event. I've done that in the past, but only to kill time during a slow hour one afternoon. It was actually a fruitful thing to do because a few of the resulting drawings sold during a show later.

Anyway, I'm off to bed. Tomorrow is going to be one of those days that I need a list to get through.

Art + $$$=????

Artblog on the difficulty of selling art in Philly


Art critic Jerry Saltz's scathing take on the current exploding money/hype machine drowning out rational thinking amongst art collectors and auction houses and the trickle-down effect.

Charles Burwell: 'Continuum'/Susie Brandt: 'Dam'

White Clusters & Blue Figures, 2007, oil on canvas, 16" x 16"


White Clusters & Blue Figures (detail)




Zones, 2007, oil on canvas, 23 1/2" x 18"

Stopped by the gallery to drop off a commissioned painting this afternoon and took the chance to see the Charles Burwell show sans the First Friday crowd. The show and work looked great. I've followed Burwell's work for years as a student and now I find myself exhibiting in the same gallery as him. Life's funny that way.

Burwell's canvases are filled with multiple layers of dripped paint patterns interspersed with hard-edged, sripped graphic elements-some curved and others straight. As inconcruous as this combination sounds, Burwell makes it work well. Using imagery that he began experimenting with in the 80's, Burwell adds layer upon layer of controlled paint drips and at some point, starts integrating the patterns and hard-edged curves into the works.

Also on display are several digital prints featuring his signature patterns in addition to multitudes of organic shapes. Some look like seashells and primitive life forms while others resemble cells of some sort, suggesting the intermingling of biology and technology. While digital, the prints have the look of very well executed etchings.

In conversation during the opening, Burwell told me that he never feels that the works are finished, regardless of how done they might look to the viewer. I've had those feelings myself about some of my exhibitions, but looking at Charle's paintings, I'd be hard-pressed to imagine anything else being done to them. The exciting thing is knowing he's nowhere near done and there's more to come, hence the title of his show, Continuum

Charles Burwell: 'Continuum' at Bridgette Mayer Gallery through October 27th, 2007

Vault Room:
Susie Brandt: 'Dam'




In the vault room is a piece by Baltimore-based textile artist, Susie Brandt. With Dam, Brandt has stacked folds of multicolored and texured fabrics along the back wall of the vault room at Bridgette Mayer. The first thing I noticed even before stepping into the truncated space was the vibrant colors and layers that allude to geology and other types of layering (metaphorical and literal). Secondly, the change in sound, or rather, the dampening of sound in the room brought another dynamic into play.

The fabric absorbs much of the sound that would ordinarily echo in the space, much the same as the walls of music studios. Not only are your visual senses engaged, your aural senses relay a message of calm that is at odds with the vibrant hues of the fabric. Dam works very well in the vault room and makes good use of an unusual space to great effect.

close

The Kiss

The rounded ramps of a parking garage barely brushing the walls of it's neighbor.

16 Blanks

16 Blanks

Those are 16 new 6" x 6" panels I'm planning on using for a new series. I spent most of the afternoon and evening sawing and glueing. The panels I purchased in four packs and added the wood supports myself. I enjoy doing prep work like that, but towards the end of the night, I just wanted to be done. I almost stopped for the day, but decided that it would be better to push through and finish the last few. The more I finished, the faster I could move on and get to working on them. I've had it in my head for a while to do some smaller pieces after working on larger paintings for two back-to-back shows this summer. It'll be interesting to see what comes out of working on such an intimate scale.

Of course, there are more paintings swirling around in my head, as well. There are some ideas from the 'Stratum' series that I want to pursue in different ways so there are some potentially interesting artistic challenges to work out this winter.

I rarely read, much less buy, Artforum. There was one of the October issues on the shelf with a striking image of two casts of Barnett Newman's Broken Obelisk on the cover. Next to the image was the title, The Art of Production. After wading through the first 150 pages of gallery exhibition ads, I found the articles, all of which explore the issue of the 'readymade' and artists who have to rely on fabricators to realize their works. That was worth it, so I wound up buying the mag. I'm looking forward to reading about how the artists they feature deal with the fabrication process and having teams of people essentially produce their work.

I often wonder where some of the artists get the money to have large projects done and I'm sure a lot of the money comes from grants and so forth. Then there are others, most notably the blue-chip names that probably get backing from the galleries and institutions they are associated with.

sheepage

I've linked up with Technorati. I was on the verge of doing it for a week or so when I saw a post by Kesha Bruce and thought, "Yeah, why not?". I'm already involved in a bunch of sites around the interwebs and only have time to update a couple of them on a regular basis. The others I might look at once a week or so. I'm checking out My ArtSpace.com, but haven't made up my mind if it's worth getting involved with it or not.

I've not been in the studio much over the past couple of weeks but my brain has been buzzing with new ideas. I even broke out the sketchbook the other day to do a couple of quick sketches, something I haven't done much because of the nature of my work over the past couple of years. I use the sketchbook more when I'm working on more 'structured' ideas. The looser my work has become, the less I work in the sketchbook. I work out everything directly on the canvas and don't feel the need to work anything up from a sketch. I turn to the sketchbook when I'm working with more graphic ideas involving linear elements.

into the wilds

Wetlands at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education(SCEE)

This past weekend turned out to be a really good one. Particularily Saturday, which began on a very gray and rainy note. I'd made plans for E and I to go up to the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education located on the northern edge of the Roxborough neighborhood here in Philadelphia. I woke up in a bad mood and seeing the rain and clouds only made things worse since I'd planned for us to spend some quality time outdoors.

My work schedule is such that I work every other Saturday, and on the ones I have off, I like to really take advantage of good weather by being outdoors as much as possible. I hadn't had the chance all summer to get out to the wooded areas around Philly and Saturday's temperatures were good for it. My wife and I spent the afternoon trying hard to not step on frogs crossing the paths we were on. It was a good time.




Installation of gourds by Katie Murken w/P'unk Avenue


The green speaker in the upper right is part of a project by Chris Vecchio for Green Machine.

Philadelphia Art Alliance installation shots

Left: Stratum I
Right: Plume
both: 2007, acrylic on canvas, 60" x 72"


Stratum V, 2007, acrylic on panel, 11" x 14"


Right: Stratum(blue)
Left: Stratum(light)
both: 2007, acrylc on panel, 9" x 12"

Delivered the work for my show at the Philadelphia Art Alliance last week and took a few shots after the paintings were installed. The Art Alliance's walls are very different from the more common gallery space I'm used to seeing my work hung in. The walls are covered in a tan-colored fabric that has a softer feel and look than the usual flat white walls of most galleries. The wall-covering is due to the Art Alliance being housed in a mansion on Rittenhouse Square that dates back to 1906. It's a great place to see comtemporary work just for the seemingly incongruous setting.

My exhibition, titled, Stratum, consists of 9 paintings, 8 of which were done specifically for this show. Stratum will be on view at the Art Alliance from Thursday, September 20-December 30, 2007. The opening reception is this Thursday, September 20th from 5:30-7:30pm.

image ≠ word

Favorite new quote:

"Art is a creation for the eye and can only be hinted at with words"
(text from a John Baldessari painting in a current MoMA exhibition titled, What Is Painting?)

That's how I feel about it most days.

work in progress

The beginning of a new, on-going work of art.

PAA art announcement

Eastern State Corridor

The Philadelphia Art Alliance has posted notices of their fall exhibitions on the website.

Glitchy glitch

Still here.

A couple of days ago, I purchased a domain name as the first step towards my own personal art website. I spent a few minutes getting all the information correct, including the domain forwarding. Unfortunately, I made a tiny mistake, an omission, actually, that led to a couple of days of teeth gnashing and furrowed brows. Thankfully, I figured the problem out this morning and everything seems to be working correctly now.

mystery solved!

Last night, I found out that my studio-mate, Carol, fixed the door leading out to the fire escape. "No hubby needed", as she said...

sooner than later

I'm pretty much done with the work for the Art Alliance exhibition. I spent the whole day in the studio running on not-quite- enough sleep and had to take a nap at one point. I got up after about 40 minutes and continued working on the smaller pieces on panel that I had going.

I noticed an interesting thing while working on this series, which is that because of the timeline I had, I started work on the largest paintings and worked down in size instead of the other way around. Now, those small paintings might wind up being the starting point for larger paintings I have in mind to do down the road into the fall and winter.

I really thought that I'd be taking it down to the wire, but that's not going to be the case, it seems. If I really need to change something, there's some time to do so without feeling too much of a time crunch.

Now appearing on Stellargirl...

My long-time friend and fellow blogger, Roz, aka Stellargirl has started a new feature on her blog called, 'Get To Know My Blogroll'. She sent me a great series of questions and asked if I'd want nto be a part of the project. Of course I did and sent the answers back to her last night after work. Check it out here. Thanks for the feature, Roz!

I picked up the cards for the upcoming show at the Art Alliance on Friday. Having promotional materials for a show always puts into perspective what I have left to finish. There's a couple of weeks to go and a few things to complete. I'm aiming to be done with everything at least a week before delivery...if not, then the night before will have to do...

Missed signs

On Monday, I had one of those mornings where I took a couple of wrong turns and landed in that magical land of 'where the hell am I?'. I swear, I was painting and things were going ok for a bit but, mysteriously, I wound up with Mess On Canvas. The funny thing is, I could feel things beginning to veer out of control about a half-hour into the session. The adventurer in me took over and urged, C'mon! Don't bother looking at it! Just keep going with it and see what happens!

Once in a while, I have to learn to ignore that voice, haha!

It's ok, I'm used to traversing this terrain. If I'm lucky, I'll go in today and will find some small thing to grab onto and turn the 'mess' into something I want to show.