CHRISTINE PALMA
“To write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric” –Theodor Adorno
Archive for Art
February 14, 2010 at 12:01 am ·
Unfortunately due to low energy and lack of time, I could only attend the LA Art Show for a few hours to grab this interview and have a quick look around on one of the days that this was here.
INTERVIEW:
My radio interview with Kim Martingdale (click here for his bio) and others is now up:
click here to listen
REVIEW:
My first stop was the live “graffiti” art in the entranceway. Three artists were simultaneously working on three large murals brought to the LA Art Show by the LA Art Machine Gallery curated by Bryson Strauss. World reknown artists El Mac and Retna collaborated on a monochromatic portrait of a Latina done in aerosol with text. Mear One was working on a deconstructed cityscape with LA’s Watts Towers in the background and a figure of a boy in the foreground with butterflies flying from his chest. Coffee was painting a cubist monochromatic piece.
Next I visited what was probably my favorite exhibit at the LA Art Show, a show called “Signs” (click here to read press release). Sundaram Tagore Gallery curated a grouping of Islamic artists. The paintings were heavily text-based because depictions of the figure are prohibited in that culture. What you have then is text used as a textural element in most of the pieces, text abstracted to symbols. Text sources could be anything from poetry to holy books. The alphabet and its forms was also emphasized.
I then stopped off at the Uruguay exhibit. This year’s LA Art show debuted their guest country program featuring Uruguay. Uruguay is the second smallest country in South America, but it boasts a healthy democratic government, high economic development with a high GDP per capita and the 47th highest quality of life in the world. It sits nestled between Brazil and Argentina and its art scene is world class. They did not have anyone English speaking at the booth so I was not able to interview them, but the artwork shown consisted of contemporary painting and installation work, with a video exhibit as well.
Sister Cities had an collection of artists work from sister cities of Los Angeles. Pete Sterns of London had a very calming color field piece which he rendered as both a richly pigmented painting and as a computer animation. Nori, an artist from Japan, had two paintings representative of “every city.” His work is heavily influenced by jazz.
The Luce Foundation, a photography incubator, curated the Group LA exhibit. The main video element was a series of slideshows from different artist of their neighborhoods.
Finally, I found myself at the cluster of Korean art galleries. My favorite Korean artist is Yong Deok Lee who is known for his concave sculptures. The images are carved into a flat plane.
(YouTube turned up a few examples which gives an idea of the visual illusion created of 3-dimensionality when the viewer walks around his pieces:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SaG271TqqE)
I was happy to see a new piece, an aerial view of a swimmer underwater.
PHOTOS:
I didn’t have much time to appreciate the artwork this year, but this is a small sampling:
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February 23, 2009 at 3:40 pm ·
Someone forwarded this to me: Allen Salkin has a fascinating story in today’s NY Times (link) about high end pawnshops like Art Capital Group. Annie Leibowitz has borrowed about $15 milllion from them and for collateral, among other things, she has put up the rights to all of her photographs.
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February 10, 2009 at 5:59 pm ·
This photorealistic painting of a pile of The Wall Street Journal newspapers on a bookcase by Steve Mills and the concave intaglio-like sculpture by Yong Deok Lee were my overall favorites from the LA Art Show. Please scroll down for comments and other photos.
Steve Mills
(detail)
Steve Mills
Wall Street Journal 2
Oil on Aluminum Panel
42″ x 59″
The creamy paint treatment on aluminum panel intrigued me. Why use aluminum panel?
Ross Merrill, chief curator of conservation at the National Gallery of Art, in Washington, DC, writes in American Artist:
The most stable painting panel is an aluminum panel, such as Dibond (made by Alcon), that consists of a polyethylene and aluminum-skin core. Dibond does not respond to moisture or temperature changes, is exceptionally rigid, and is lighter than plywood.
From Wikipedia on Photorealism:
As a full-fledged art movement, Photorealism evolved from Pop Art[1][2] and as a counter to Abstract Expressionism[3][4] as well as Minimalist art movements[5][6][7] [8] in the late 1960s and early 1970s in the United States.[9] It is also sometimes labeled as Super-Realism, New Realism, Sharp Focus Realism, or Hyper-Realism.[10] The Photorealist genre is predominately made up of painters.
Photorealist painting cannot exist without the photograph. In Photorealism, change and movement must be frozen in time which must then be accurately represented by the artist.[14] Photorealists gather their imagery and information with the camera and photograph. Once the photograph is developed (usually onto a photographic slide) the artist will systematically transfer the image from the photographic slide onto canvases. This is done by either projecting the slide or grid techniques.[15] The resulting images are often direct copies of the original photograph but are usually larger than the original photograph or slide. This results in the photorealist style being tight and precise, often with an emphasis on imagery that requires a high level of technical prowess and virtuosity to simulate, such as reflections in specular surfaces and the geometric rigor of man-made environs.[16]
20th century photorealism can be contrasted with the similarly literal style found in trompe l’oeil paintings of the 19th century. However, trompe l’oeil paintings tended to be carefully designed, very shallow-space still-lifes, employing illusionistic devices such as the use of shadows to cause small objects to appear to exist above the surface of the painting. (Trompe l’oeil literally means “fool the eye.”) The photorealism movement moved beyond this illusionism to tackle deeper spatial representations (e.g. urban landscapes) and took on much more varied and dynamic subject matter.
Yong Deok Lee
Yong Deok Lee
Untitled
Sculpture
This triptych was untitled. Yong Deok Lee is a Korean artist known for his concave sculptures. The images are carved into a flat plane.
YouTube turned up a few examples which gives an idea of the visual illusion created of 3-dimensionality when the viewer walks around his pieces:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SaG271TqqE
These remind me of ancient Roman intaglio jewelry:
http://www.ancienttouch.com/roman-intaglios-cameos.htm
Other interesting pieces:
Jordan Eagles
New Blood
I asked and they said it’s made from real cow blood.
Damien Hirst
Cathedral: Orvieto
Diamond Dust and Silk screen with Glazes
42 1/4″ x 42 1/4″
$38,000
Real butterflies?
William B. Hoyt
Hours with Walter Evans, 2005
Oil on Canvas
32″ x 48″
$45,000
William B. Hoyt
Island Kitchen, 2008
Oil on Canvas
30″ x 32″
$35,000
William B. Hoyt
Aranciata, 2008
Oil on Canvas
24″ x 29″
$25,000
Chris Shelby, CGU
Reflections, 2008
Pastel on Paper
50″ x 30″
This was from the student gallery.
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January 12, 2009 at 2:19 pm ·
These have been an emotionally rough and confusing few years for me and it’s been easy to give up and become a hermit. I’ve had some health issues. So, I challenged myself to try to make the effort to see some art, especially when I have press access to events and museums, and even when it means being smooshed inside a building with crowds on all sides for a blockbuster show.
These were my favorite prints from Photo LA held at the Barker Hanger at the Santa Monica Airport:
Soo Kim
Midnight Reyjavik, 2008?
Hand-cut C-print
25 x 25 ” (63.5 x 63.5 cm)
What is the story behind Soo Kim’s Midnight Reyjavik photo series? The title of the photograph above implies that it was taken at midnight on the longest brightest day when midnight is almost indistinguishable from noon. In fact, the shadows the structures cast are short. Soo Kim’s exacto knife cuts mainly in the highlight areas where you might expect white giving the image a blown out feel. She also turns architecture into lacey membranes inviting the audience to peer into the hive that is this city.
Some interesting facts from Wikipedia for Reykjavik, Iceland:
•Its location, only slightly south of the Arctic Circle, receives only four hours of daylight on the shortest day in the depth of winter; during the summer the nights are almost as bright as the days.
•Steam from hot springs in the region is supposed to have inspired Reykjavík’s name, as Reykjavík loosely translates to “Smokey Bay”.
•Most houses in Reykjavík use the geothermal heating system. It is the largest system of this kind in the world.
•The city has fostered some world famous talents in recent years, such as singers like Björk and Oddur Sigurjónsson and bands Múm and Sigur Rós.
Rob MacInnis
Fresh Faces 2
The worse thing happened last week: My 15-year old dog Tommy died suddenly on January 2nd. He taught me to be sensitive to the animal spirit. We had been through so much together. I was still raw from this when I attended Photo LA. I was immediately drawn into Rob MacInnis’ work.
When you first encounter Rob MacInnis’ Farm Families series in the mural size, you are struck with a sense of the unhomely or uncanny. (Especially Fresh Faces I) Is it a trick, my friend asked, Are these animals alive or dead, How do they stand so still. In this particular “family portrait” (above) we have rare animals, including pygmy goats and miniature horses. I was also struck by the popularity of this print; I counted nine red dots next to the photo which means nine buyers.
If this print calls out to you, check out Rob MacInnis’ fascinating website – http://www.robmacinnis.com where you can see his body of animal portraiture work, as well as, watch a very good documentary on his work process. I would love to have this print.
The press release notes:
MacInnis’ work focuses on the idea of the creation of identity within the photographic image. By foregrounding our innate compassion of animals, MacInnis explores the correlation between the reifying process of animal consumption and the fashion world’s depiction of the body.
MacInnis’ uses animals as portrait subjects, drawing parallels between the idealization of the human form in contemporary fashion photography and the subjugation of animals by humans.
The artist gives the animals an arena for self-expression as well as humiliation. His photographs reverse the traditional roles of animals in western society, setting them to a level on par with humans. The artist’s objective is to portray an alternative world where animals are not our possessions, but individuals whom we subject to the same idealization as we would a contemporary fashion model.
Rob MacInnis’ portraits demand immediate emotional reaction, drawing on the raw connection between viewer and subject and exposing the instinctive, compassionate union of species.
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August 28, 2007 at 11:56 pm ·
In homage to this morning’s Full Moon Lunar Eclipse (2 to 4 AM), a revisit of Nam-june Paik’s video installation, “Moon is the Oldest TV,” feels appropriate.
Moon is The Oldest Television – 1965-67 (1996)
Nam-june Paik
TV Moniter,projector and video
I.
The Moon vis-à-vis the Beholder
In 1963 America put the first man on the moon, an event broadcast live on television sets around the world. That year, that day, that hour and even those minutes are punched into the timeclock of global consciousness. Two years later, Paik reflects on this event with “Moon is the Oldest TV.” The installation is composed of a single row of Philco television sets on individual pedestals. On their screens play a progression of reprocessed black-and-white video footage from full moon to new moon.
The moon as television becomes a metaphor for a philisophical view of parallax. Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek (writes) in his work The Parallax View,
“…the observed distance is not simply subjective, due to the fact that the same object which exists “out there” is seen from two different stances, or points of view.
It is rather that, as Hegel would have put it, subject and object are inherently mediated so that an “epistemological” shift in the subject’s point of view always reflects an ontological shift in the object itself.
Or -to put it in Lacanese- the subject’s gaze is always-already inscribed into the perceived object itself, in the guise of its “blind spot,” that which is “in the object more than object itself”, the point from which the object itself returns the gaze. Sure the picture is in my eye, but I am also in the picture.
Denial is also an extention of parallax and the moon landing as a staged event is a rock that revisionist historians (negationism) cling to. (Click here for video from Moon Hoax Documentary – Fox News.)
As I contemplate Paik’s installation and the mythos of moon watching, I am immediately drawn to the Apollo Moon Landing hoax accusations which claim the Apollo Moon landings were faked by NASA.
From Wikipedia:
A year after the first moon landing, Knight Newspapers conducted a poll of 1721 U.S. citizens and found that more than 30 percent of all of the poll’s respondents were “suspicious of NASA’s trips to the Moon” with the number rising to over half in some demographic areas. The Newsweek article that published the poll results noted that among the respondents were “an elderly Philadelphia woman who thought the moon landing had been staged in an Arizona desert” and a “housewife” whose suspicions were based on her belief that her television could not “receive signals from the moon.” Another respondent said, “It’s all a deliberate effort to mask problems at home . . . the people are unhappy – and this takes their minds off their problems.” …
Fox television’s 2001 TV special “Conspiracy Theory: Did We Really Land on the Moon?” … said roughly 20 percent of the public had doubts about the authenticity of the Apollo program…
A Dittmar Associates poll in 2006 showed that among 18-26 year old college-educated students “27 percent expressed some doubt that NASA went to the Moon, with 10 percent indicating that it was ‘highly unlikely’ that a Moon landing had ever taken place.”
James Oberg, an American journalist who writes about space (and has worked for NASA’s space shuttle program), estimates that “perhaps 10 percent of the population, and up to twice as large in specific demographic groups” believe in the hoax or have some doubts about the Apollo program “It’s not just a few crackpots and their new books and Internet conspiracy sites,” Oberg said in 1999. “There are entire subcultures within the U.S., and substantial cultures around the world, that strongly believe the landing was faked. …
Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong in NASA’s training mockup of the Moon and lander module. Hoax proponents say the entire mission was filmed on sets like this training mockup.
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Our American culture’s shifting regard for both the physical truth and the unifying vision of the Apollo Moon Landing just in the last 45-years, speaks to a jadedness deep in our belief system. We fear being conned. We keep one hand on our wallets. We are pessimistic about our past. We distrust the future.
This nation grown wary of shared feel-good moments is like the frog-in-the-well surrounded by a dark pit of complexity. The only way out, perhaps, is through art. In the literary and visual arts we are willing to suspend our disbelief in order to reach a simpler truth.
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August 14, 2007 at 1:29 pm ·
Maurizio Cattelan’s La Nona Oralso (1999)
Venice Biennalle Installation
wax, clothing, polyester resin with metallic powder, volcanic rock, carpet, glass
Maurizio Cattelan’s "La Nona Oralso" (1999, translated as "The Ninth-Hour"), was auctioned off at Christie’s in May of 2001 for $886,000.
In 2006, it sold for $3 Million.
Also known as "Pope Struck by a Meteorite," Cattelan defends his installation at the 2000 Venice Biennale with a glib statement,
"In the end it is only a piece of wax."
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Filed under: Art, Nature, Religion, Sculpture, Site-Specific Installation, Writing about Art
August 14, 2007 at 11:48 am ·
It used to be that on an occassion like the Perseid or Leonid meteor showers, I’d be in my car in a heartbeat, headed into the desert, passing Gorman, away from the light pollution of cities.
This year, I content myself by feasting on artists’ interpretations of these events.
In honor of the Perseid Meteor Shower, Belly-Timber has created:
The Swift-Tuttle Dark Chocolate Espresso Berry Comet Truffle!
Click here to view the step-by-step process.
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October 9, 2006 at 9:54 pm ·
I though I would repost some art writing from my Echo in the Sense website here:
Much of 2004 was spent taking long walks along the Santa Monica pier and wallowing in a tide of inertia. I came upon this installation for the first time this January at a time when I very much needed a mental jog from the past.
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"Cycle Olympic Boulevard: No 18"
Painted Fabriano/Mixed Oil Color
27.5" x 24.5" framed, 2001
Entwer ein Museumsmonument, 1985
Palacio de Memoria, 2003
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The boat sculpture/permanent installation in these photos is Manfred Muller’s "Twilight and Yearning."
I had the opportunity to hear him lecture at Form Zero bookstore in 1994 and he mentioned the boats under the pier. He first proposed it to the Santa Monica City Council in 1992, but it still took several years for the city to greenlight his project.
I still remember the gallery pieces I saw ten years ago at Form Zero. Each was about a foot high made of cardboard or felted paper; they were gatefolded and scored, duplexed with a contrasting color on one side, and shapes were cut out. Each one was like a present or a large banana leaf folded over on itself. He was working on a series of not quite assemblage pieces, a visual pun on figure and ground and enclosure and these had an architectural feel or a very tangible sense of being a part of a larger dialogue. These very much reminded me of the maquettes of sculptor Betty Gold and her process of arriving at her monumental public sculpture pieces: reduction from a very basic shape; she usually starts from a rectangle. With some of Muller’s pieces, complexity is dependent on audience reference points; how personal and social memory weaves itself in relation to form.
Sculpture magazine has a meaty critique of where his work is in the present. The USC Fischer Gallery has a catalogue page with photos from his recent exhibit there.
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