Art: the mourning after

"Art is for the living. If someone has lived creatively and you are grateful, for goodness sake, write them a letter, or create a website about them; get an article about them published if you have the opportunity, or if you are an editor, commission tributes while she or he can read them. What is the point of making a fuss when they are gone? It is morbid and to me it seems inauthentic...Instead of lamenting the lost, we should be celebrating their achievements, and saying thank you, while they are still among us. So stop this saccharine artistic morbidity. Instead, pick your favourite living creative artist – and write them a fan letter."
-Jonathan Jones, The Guardian, UK


Full blog post here: "The mourning after: why we should celebrate artists while they are alive"


In his latest blog post, The Guardian's Jonathan Jones writes about the loss of Cy Twombly, Lucien Freud, and Ken Russell. His overall point being that the rush of the arts media to heap praise and tributes on the recently departed artists comes too late. Now, the people Jones mentions were hardly unknown and did live to see their work exhibited or seen by wide audiences. I think that it's the lesser-known people who should have a chance to have an encouraging note or two, especially from people that they don't know and may never meet. 


I come across a lot of images of artwork on the web and when something strikes me in a particular way, be it art, design, photography, or music, I'll often find a way to let the artist know how I feel about their work, mostly via email and sometimes by posting about their work either on this blog or elsewhere. 


I don't do this to "network" or to gain some other in-kind favor or notice, I do it because something about their work grabbed me. I do so for the same reason that Jonathan Jones mentions in his blog post for the Guardian; that we should celebrate artistic achievements while artists are alive and can appreciate the thoughts and accolades from peers and others.  

The art of time/the art of lithography

 "The Art of Time" is a documentary about Tamarind Lithography Workshop, Inc, founded in Los Angeles in 1960 by the late June Wayne (1918-1911) to prevent the demise of lithography. "The Art of Time" (top) focuses on the more emotional aspects of lithography, while "The Art of Lithography"(bottom), a slightly different cut, focuses on the more technical aspects of lithography. "The Art of Time" and "The Art of Lithography" were directed by Marina Chamrad.

After watching these videos, I'm really itching to do some printmaking again after too many years away from it...

Mention in the Philadelphia Inquirer 11.20.11

There is a nice mention of my painting, "Constant Flux" in the review of the group exhibition "Karmic Abstraction" by Edith Newhall in the Sunday Inquirer. 

'Karmic Abstraction' will be on view at the recently re-designed and expanded Bridgette Mayer Gallery until December 31, 2011. There will be an Opening Reception on Friday, December 9th from 6-8:30pm

Charline Von Heyl @ ICA Philadelphia

Charline Von Heyl, Igitur, 2008. acrylic on linen, 82" x 74"

I saw the Charline Von Heyl 10-year survey exhibition at ICA-Philadelphia today and had a hard time leaving. I kept wandering back and forth in the exhibition because I couldn't get enough of her work. At once chaotic, serene, and very much about the materiality of paint, Von Heyl's paintings really deserve some extended viewing time. 


Besides the paintings, there is also a large selection of works on paper by Von Heyl that incorporate printmaking, collage, drawing and other techniques. The show is up until February 19, 2012 after which it will travel to ICA-Boston.


More images of Charline Von Heyl's work can be seen here: Charline Von Heyl via Friedrich Petzel Gallery

Back to now

Me in the studio earlier this summer. I'm sporting some old-school Cazal frames for a special photography project. When Cazals were really trendy during the 80's and popularized by hip-hop icons Run DMC and  you would not have caught me in a pair. Not only did I not like them, but there were kids and adults being robbed and killed for them. However, when they were presented to me as a prop for the shoot, I was instantly taken by...not nostalgia, but an instant connection to my teen years. 

This shot was taken by Iman Jones. To see more of his work, go to Iman Jones.net

Interview on Artblog Radio

The interview that I did a few weeks ago with Libby Rosof and Roberta Fallon of The Artblog is up, so check it out here: Tim McFarlane on Artblog Radio

There is also an audio slideshow of this interview on YouTube: Tim McFarlane Artblog Radio audio slideshow

It's so very strange listening to myself talk...

Christine Sun Kim: Sound and Vision

Todd Selby x Christine Sun Kim on Nowness.com.


This is a great video portrait of deaf performance artist Christine Sun Kim. Kim uses sound in her work as a way to make the audience "listen with their eyes".  There is an interview with Kim on the NOWNESS Facebook page. The video was directed by Todd Selby, aka, The Selby. Artist website: Christine Sun Kim Is Unlearning Sound Etiquette


About the video:

Cult photographer and filmmaker Todd Selby's latest short is a revealing portrait of performance artist Christine Sun Kim. Deaf from birth, Kim turned to using sound as a medium during an artist residency in Berlin in 2008, and has since developed a practice of lo-fi experimentation that aims to re-appropriate sound by translating it into movement and vision. "It's a lot more interesting to explore a medium that I don't have direct access to and yet has the most direct connection to society at large," says the artist. "Social norms surrounding sound are so deeply ingrained that, in a sense, our identities cannot be complete without it." 


Selby filmed an exclusive performance from Kim in a Brooklyn studio as the artist played with field recordings of the street sounds of her Chinatown neighborhood, feedback and helium balloons, and made “seismic calligraphy” drawings from ink- and powder-drenched quills, nails and cogs dancing across paper to the vibrations of subwoofers beneath. Working with sound designer Arrow Kleeman, Selby carefully choreographed the film's ambient score to reveal the Orange County native's unique relationship with sound. "Her work deals with reclaiming sound because it's a foreign world to her and one she's not comfortable in," explains Selby. "I wanted the film to act as an artistic conduit for her to tell her story to the world.”
(text from NOWNESS.com)

Artblog radio interview coming soon...

Mark your calendars! Next Monday, November 14th, an interview I did recently with Roberta Fallon and LIbby Rosof of The Artblog will be posted on Artblog Radio. There is a brief sample of the conversation with this link.

Karmic Abstraction @ The Bridgette Mayer Gallery

Constant Flux, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 60" x 60"

The Bridgette Mayer Gallery reopens it's expanded exhibition space to the public on November 15th with "Karmic Abstraction", a group show featuring works from myself, Neil Anderson, Charles Burwell, Ryan McGinness, Rebecca Rutstein, Odili Donald Odita, Arden Bendler Browning, and more. 


I've seen the new gallery space in progress and am really excited to see it finished. More wall space, more space to play with for exhibitions!


See the press release for Karmic Abstraction after the break:

  Glas #048 Dub Techno Mix by glas

  Glas #044 Dub Techno Mix by glas

Two mixes by Glas that I've been listening to a lot lately while in the studio.

Great studio visit yesterday with Douglas Witmer,  Jeffrey Cortland Jones, and Jones' colleague at Dayton University, Kyle Phelps. Jeffrey and Kyle were in Philly from Ohio and this was my first time meeting JCJ, after having been 'net friends for a few years now. 


Studio visits with other artists always serve as reminders of how much time I spend with my ideas in my head and working in solitude because I talk so much when people come around...