Ready to go

Spent some time at the gallery yesterday tweaking the layout for the show. It's always tough making choices about what should stay up and what needs to sit on the sidelines, but out of those tough choices often come good results. I think what we came up with works.

Here's info about the show:

Tim McFarlane

Right Now
New paintings and works on paper.

This Moment (vault room)
A temporary, site-specific work that will be done in the vault room project space during the course of the exhibition.

March 31-April 25, 2009

Opening Reception:
First Friday, April 3, 2009
6-8:30pm

Bridgette Mayer Gallery
709 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215.413.8893
bridgetteart@earthlink.net
www.bridgettemayergallery.com

Preview of some works on the Bridgette Mayer website: Tim McFarlane

Jen 11

Jen11 from UPPERCASE gallery on Vimeo.

Jen Bradford, an online artist friend, is included in the traveling exhibition, Jen 11.

studio notes 3.18.09

I don't think I've mentioned it here, but there has been a running drama with my computer over the past few weeks that has been maddening. Back in February, my hard drive crashed and had it replaced. Now, I had a new hard drive with twice the memory than the previous one for a nice price. About a week into using the new drive, it also crashes. This time, I'd saved important stuff to my external drive. This time around, the drive had to be replaced along with the power and data cables. Luckily, the labor was under warranty and all I had to pay for were the cables.

So, I'm up and running again, keeping cautiously optimistic that this time things will keep working like they should.
......

For all intents and purposes, I'm finished with the work for the show. I've been in a whirlwind of finishing pieces and documentation, which is happening this week (Thanks, Mark!). I've also spent a considerable amount of time coming up with titles for the new works. Sometimes, giving a title to a piece comes easily-I'll look at it and something pops up and that's it. At other times, I'm left looking at a painting with the blankest of stares. When it finally happens and seems like a good fit, the work takes on an even greater significance for me.

Although I'm done with the work for Right Now doesn't mean that I stop working, quite the contrary, actually. I'm still in a forward-moving space and have a few projects I want to concentrate on now. This is pretty unusual because with past shows once I've gotten to a point where I feel that the paintings are done, I usually need to take a break from the studio for a bit. Not so much this time around. I'm not going to question it. I'm just going to keep going and ride it out.

Seen last week

I stopped by SAGE Projects shortly after it opened on Wednesday to see what happened when a group of artist friends took over a former retail space on South Street.

Entrance


SAGE members Vincent Romaniello (left) and David Foss (right).

Altar by David Foss


David Foss, Ikea Cow Paisley, 2009, insulation foam, photos, acrylic

Installation by Jon Manteau

1st floor view with works by David Foss and Henry Bermudez.

Second floor view with works by Paul Behnke and Vincent Romaniello

Excavation Tent by Vincent Romaniello

I also managed to get to Fleisher Art Memorial to catch the latest Fleisher Challenge show. I only got shots of one of the artists exhibited, Mark Khaisman who uses common packing tape to make his images. More about Khaisman at Mark Khaisman Studio.com

Studio notes 3.02.09

Two new paintings on paper from the Phenomena series.

Three weeks to go before I have to deliver the new works to the gallery for the show. Last week, I had a good studio visit with Bridgette where we talked about some of the recent works that will be in the exhibition as well as the vault room project.

The title of the exhibition will be Right Now/This Moment and will have two components. In the gallery, I'll be showing new and recent paintings and works on paper and in the vault room, I'll be interacting with the space with temporary drawings and possibly other media. I'm leaving the second aspect open to a more spontaneous interaction with the space.

The scale of most of the works will be smaller than in the past, with the largest paintings on canvas and panels being 36" x 36". Thankfully, I always work in a variety of sizes and going with mostly small paintings right now seems like a good thing to do considering the economic crapstorm we're in. However, I have been working on some larger paintings on paper that measure 50" x 50". Having done the works on paper for the airport, I've gained a liking for using thinned-down acrylic paint on paper. The paper accepts the paint in a way that canvas and wood panels don't and I love the results.

We also talked a little about the vault room project. The vault room is a smallish space in the rear of the Bridgette Mayer Gallery that's used as a project space of sorts. I believe that the space where the gallery is located was used as a jewelry business years ago, but I'm not sure. It's possible that the vault space was used to store jewelry or other valuables. As an exhibition space, the vault room is somewhat difficult, but it has been used to great effect in the past by other artists. One notable installation was done by Susan Brandt (scroll down), who piled various types of fibers along the rear wall.

At this point, I'm going to be doing temporary drawings and whatever else I decide to do during the exhibition. This part of the show is going to be a 'spontaneous interaction' where the objective is to make use of a space that I'm not used to working in. There is no plan for what I'm going to do from day to day, but something will change in there every time I'm present.

Even though I'm just about done with works for the show, I'm going to continue working just as hard over the next couple of weeks on new pieces and putting final touches on others. I'm in a good creative place right now and I want to keep making use of it.

NEXUS extends deadline for call for artists

NEXUS/foundation for today's art has extended their call for artists to Sunday, March 15, 11:59pm

NEXUS is seeking experimental artists in ALL disciplines including but not limited to painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, installation, video, performance, electronics, digital media, audio, dance or curatorial practices to apply as members of our co-operative. NEXUS values artist members who are dynamic, willing to take risks, dedicated to their work and enjoy being part of a community of artists.

NEXUS members are given the opportunity to exhibit their work once every two years in solo exhibitions, participate in group exhibitions and curate large scale exhibitions. Our next review is March 15, 2009. Applications are due Sunday March 15, 11:59 PM

Click here for more information

Questions? Send an email to: info@nexusphiladelphia.org

NEXUS is located in the Crane Arts Building at 1400 N. American St, Suite 102.
2 blocks north of Girard Ave, between 2nd and 3rd streets.

NEXUS is a registered non-profit organization, incorporated and qualified under Internal Revenue Service Code 501(c)(3), Our exhibitions are made possible through the kind generosity of State, City and Local foundations and by individuals such as yourself. You can help support our unique and valuable programming with a gift in any amount by clicking the link below.

http://www.nexusphiladelphia.org/
info@nexusphiladelphia.org

two new philly arts ventures

Tiger Strikes Asteroid is a new co-op art enterprise formed by five Philly-based artists including, P. Timothy Gierschick II, Alex Paik, and Caroline Santa.


CURRENT EXHIBITION: Getting Ready for the Prom Phillip Adams, Tim Gierschick, Alexis Granwell, Alex Paik, Nathan Pankratz, Caroline Santa

March 6th - 27th
Opening Reception:
Friday, March 6, 6pm - 9pm


Tiger Strikes Asteroid
319A North 11th Street (4th floor, upstairs from Vox Populi)
Philadelphia PA 19107
hours: Friday and Saturday, 12pm-6pm. Other times by appointment
Blog: Tiger Strikes Asteroid
Facebook: Tiger Strikes Asteroid page

Philly's South Street is getting something of an art makeover, so to speak. There has been an arrangement made with building owners where arts groups can apply to use the empty spaces for projects, rent-free with only insurance and utility bills to foot until new tenants are found. I received an email recently from painter, Jim Erickson, announcing the upcoming shows that the group he is a member of, SAGE Projects, are having beginning this week


For the months of March and April, SAGE Projects will take over a recently vacated storefront space at 333 South Street. From the SAGE website:

SAGE will officially open a project space at 333 South Street. There will be a five person exhibition downstairs based on the theme of repurposing and recycling. Because of the dire economic situation a number of stores have become vacant on South Street in Philadelphia. A number of arts groups are taking empty storefronts and repurposing them to showcase their work and bring new energy to the area.

Artists Henry Bermudez, David Foss, Jon Manteau, Vincent Romaniello, and Rob Solomon will use cast-off materials, excavated finds and remnants of the former boutique itself, in the creation of paintings, assemblage, video and installation work. On the upper level these artists will join Karen Baumeister, Paul Behnke, Nic Coviello, Jim Erikson and Michelle Marcuse for a members group exhibition that will change over the March and April programs.

Sage Projects Purpose/Repurpose Opens Wednesday, March 4, 12 - 6pm
Reception Sunday, March 8 2 - 8pm
email: sagewhat@warpmail.net


Also, there are a few more days to catch Martin Bromirski's show at UArts through March 6:

Martin Bromirski
"Paintings"

Gallery 817
Anderson Hall
333 South Broad Street
Philadelphia, Pa

something to chew on

This video comes from a photography viewpoint, but I think any creative person can relate to it...

Click to play

prep work

I stretched my first canvases in months today. I like the prep work. Stretching my own canvases makes me feel that there is more of "me" in the final work. I also get a feeling of accomplishment every time I finish one. The flip side is that stretching canvases can be a huge pain, especially larger ones. I'm constantly having to check the corners to make sure that they are square, especially when the stretcher bar tongue and grooves have too much play, causing there to be too much movement. I have a system for cross-bracing that works...most of the time. 

Today, was one of those days when I had to practice a lot of patience with the larger of the two canvases above. A lot of turning on the edges, checking with an L-square, and taps from a rubber mallet finally got me where I wanted to be. That's part of why I chose to work on wood panels over the past few months. Aside from wanting to work with a different surface, all I have to do with panels is seal the surfaces and paint. There's much less time and work involved. The problem now was that I was getting tired of working only on the wood surfaces and started longing for the feel of canvas again. I also like the absorbent nature and slight give of canvas when it's being painted on.  I'll probably keep going back and forth between the two surfaces for some time to come.

progress

Yesterday, I was feeling a bit panicky about the amount of work that I had ready for the show coming up in April, but I'm a bit farther along than I thought. All it took to ease my mind was a good look at what I had completed already. So far, so good. I still want and need to get a few more pieces done over the next month and-a-half, but I think I'm on a good time line now. Now, I have to get into mild adjustments, attaching hanging hardware, signing the pieces and wrapping them so the chances of wandering paint spatters from things I'm still working don't find their way to completed surfaces. One of my least favorite tasks is having to deal with unwanted surprises and repainting a piece with a show coming up.

All the work for the airport show is done. I still have to go through and select what I consider the best of the lot and that's that. Those works have had a profound effect on the direction that I'm taking some of the paintings and other works I'm preparing for my solo show. 

......

"...we create problems to push the work forward..." In conversation with painter, Keith Crowley last night.

winter walk

A small sampling of what I saw yesterday while walking to work.


Snow Fairy
The coolest snow fairy you never made. Seen on Carpenter Street near 8th Street.


Snow fairy closeup. Note the colorful mixed media approach to defining the features.


Winter Path
We finally got a real snowfall for the first time this winter.


Crossing Washington
9th and Washington Avenue, nexus of the Italian Market-Philadelphia

(all photos ©tim mcfarlane)

good vibes break

Winter Blooms I


Winter Blooms II


Winter Blooms III

(all photos ©tim mcfarlane)

Some brightness to ease some of the gloom of winter. I don't know what the name of these flowers are, but they've been blooming in the employee lounge at work for a couple of weeks now.

Here's something else that's been making winter a little more bearable:

This is what you are - Mario Biondi & The High Five Quintet

white slope

White Slope

Chelsea 1.23.09

Terry Winters and Pipilotti Rist

Friday, I hopped on a bus for an 'art day' to be spent in Chelsea and at MoMA. My main reasons for going were the Terry Winters exhibit at Matthew Marks and the Pippolotti Rist piece, Pour Your Body Out (7354 Cubic Meters), at MoMA. Both shows were very much worth the trip. 

The Winters exhibition contained beautiful paintings based on loose grid systems of overlapping 'knots' (the title of the show was Knotted Graphs) that floated in layers of translucent colors. They were a welcome departure from the seemingly impenetrable linear abstractions of recent years. They were two very different shows in concept and execution, but I felt a slight correlation between the Terry Winters paintings and the Rist video piece that has to do with the implied sense of objects and light floating in Winters' painting and the immersion of the viewer experiencing Pour Your Body Out. 

It's a very tenuous connection. I mean, the Pippilotti Rist piece was conceived with the idea of enveloping the audience in a sensuous visual and aural experience, while the Knotted Graphs of Terry Winters only hint at possible movement of light and objects across the painted plane. However, I still felt a sense of lightness fluidity that parallels some of the water scenes and slow-motion action that played out across the walls at MoMA in Pour Your Body Out. 

......

Chelsea

In Chelsea, I didn't have much of an agenda besides seeing the Winters exhibit. Other than that, I wandered in and out of some of the galleries and was happy to find a few nice surprises and artists that were previously unknown to me. In no particular order: 

Shinichi Maruyama at Bruce Silverstein

Bruce Robbins at Marlborough-Chelsea

Teun Hocks at P•P•O•W

Two group shows that I also enjoyed: 

Drawing at Margaret Thatcher Projects and Off The Wall at Lennon Weinberg

......

The real and virtual worlds collide

I happened by the Jim Dine exhibit, Hot Dreams (52 Books), and had started leafing through some of the books hanging from the gallery ceiling when I heard my name called. I looked up to find someone staring back whose face I didn't know. 

I don't know many people who live in New York so the chances of running into them randomly was pretty remote. It turns out the voice belonged to Martin B., aka,  Anaba online. He mentioned that he was familiar with my blog and recognized me from my profile photo. We chatted for a bit about the various shows we'd been seeing, our shared history of living in Philadelphia and going to school here before parting ways after an half-hour. 

......

I did a lot of walking on Friday and learned a very important lesson: if it's cold, always make sure to wear the pair of socks without the thick thread that presses on the two smallest toes...

wall for art/ art on wall

Unintentional art on the walls of the studio. 

works on paper 1.14.09

Ph  11409.1, 2009, acrylic on paper, 20" x 20"

Ph 11409.2, 2009, acrylic on paper, 22" x 30"

playing hooky

Warm Tips

Keeping my hands warm at the studio on Thursday with a good, hot cup of tea.  

Today, I took a 'cold day' and stayed home. It's the same as a 'personal day' except it's because you don't want to deal with a cold studio. I had every intention of going up there; thought about what I wanted to get done, got up early, got dressed, had breakfast and so on. Sat down at the computer, saw how cold it was outside and thought, "You know, I could put up those bathroom shelves that have been sitting around for almost three weeks...". You know it must have been bad for me to not go out because I'm pretty hard-core about dealing with the cold weather on my bike and the cold in my studio.

Stayed home, drank lots of tea, tried to catch up on a million and one things online and finally got to the shelves late in the day. I'd done a good bit of work in the studio over the past two days, so it wasn't a loss. That, and E was happy to have the shelves up.

A couple of things stood out for me on the web today:

As you most likely know by now, Andrew Wyeth died. Here's the NYT obit by Michael Kimmelman. Wyeth was one of those artists whose works you either liked or didn't-there seemed to be no light between those walls. 

Does anyone have an extra grand to spare? 'Cause that's what it costs to purchase the new Taschen monograph about Christopher Wool. I like Wool's work but, seriously, a $1,000.00? You don't suppose Taschen will be willing to barter for an original painting from a relatively unknown painter from Philadelphia, do you? Nah, me neither. That's ok.  I'll just practice patience. When I get my hands on that kind of money (once some art buyers' wallets start opening again), that thousand dollars will buy me a lot of art supplies. Art supplies will always win out over an over-priced coffee table book any day. Besides, it won't take long for some copies of the book to appear at The Strand or on Amazon. I give it a year or so. 

 

R.I.P. R.B. Strauss

I just found out about the death of Philadelphia art critic, R.B. Strauss, via Romanblog II. He's described on Romanblog II as, "...one of Philadelphia's finest art critics..." and I could not agree more. He will be missed.

Joanne Mattera Art Blog: Where's The Bailout for the Arts?

A must-read post from Joanne Mattera about the damage the economic meltdown has or could visit on the creative industries:

Joanne Mattera Art Blog: Where's The Bailout for the Arts?

the studio in two views

There's no such thing as going into the studio for "just a minute" with me.

I went up to the studio after getting off from work Saturday to pick up my drill. I needed it to work on a couple of apartment projects. My plan was to pop into the studio , grab the drill and go home. With this weekend having been the first one after the holiday, I was feeling in need of doing something creative, even if it only meant a small drawing or something.

I get there, change clothes and get to working on a couple of things. I'm working along and in my own world and before I knew it, almost three hours had passed. I called Eva to let her know that I was coming home. I cleaned up and left...without the drill. My excitement about what I was working on completely trumped my original objective...
......
Over on Pam Farrell's blog, I've been included in the latest installment of her Interactive Studio Blog Posts, a project she began in November with this post. The idea is for artists to give a peek into their work spaces by sending in two photos: one showing the studio space and another with an image of artwork.

The project grew out of a studio visit Farrell had with Joanne Mattera and Janet Filomeno, of which she wrote, "In addition to seeing my work, my friends were seeing my mess, my jumbled process, my id, the stuff that gets kicked around before being perfected (or at least completed). Presentation-ready or not, meant for public consumption or not, it’s all me."

So, the ISBP is Farrell's challenge to other artists to give a glimpse into their heads, so to speak, through showing their spaces and work, ready or not.

I like the idea of this project because it makes you think about how you view your work space as a part of your identity as an artist and person, in general, as there's little separation of the two; the studio is just another conduit for aspects of our personalities to assert themselves.

When it comes to my space, I don't worry that much about cleaning up too much. I might pull out some things and hang them on the wall for better viewing and sweep, but that's about it. The paints stay out where they are usually and whatever else is out stays out. The biggest concession I'll really make is if I'm working on some new work that I'm really not sure about showing.

It depends on who is coming for the studio visit. If it's a client who is looking at particular works, then that's what I'll have out; anything experimental and considered 'not ready for prime time' is put away. If it's an artist who is visiting, then I'm more likely to have a variety of works out, to get some feedback on.