SanArt

FusionArts Museum
57 Stanton Street, 212-995-5290

East Village / Lower East Side

January 30 – April 25, 2010
Opening: Saturday, January 30, 7 – 10 PM
Web Site

FusionArts Museum is proud to present a solo exhibit of selected works by New York fusion artist Shalom Neuman. The work spans the years 1966 through January, 2010 and is meant to be a very brief overview of a career that spans more than 40 years.

Called an “unprecedented phenomenon” by distinguished art critic Donald Kuspit, Ph.D., Shalom pursued and accomplished a methodology for the seamless integration or “fusion” of all artistic disciplines long before there was any interest in creating art that was both multi-disciplinary and multi-sensory.

The artist sees his work as a language which speaks directly to American culture with its chaos, conflict, waste and utter confusion. The addition of erratic audio and garish incandescent light adds to the overall mayhem of the art. The totality of these pieces – their conceptual message, the materials used and the methodology – speaks to the reality of our world as we know it and experience it. This truly is significant contemporary art for our troubled times.

Metaphor Contemporary Art
382 Atlantic Avenue, 718-254-9126

Brooklyn Misc.

January 29 – March 6, 2010
Opening: Friday, January 29, 6 – 9 PM
Web Site

A group show featuring paintings, sculpture, prints and drawings by

David Atkin . Kate Beck . Mia Brownell . Yashua Klos
Marietta Hoferer . Michael Kukla . Margaret Neill
Karen Revis . Katherine McDowell Patterson . Amy Talluto

Metaphor celebrates a decade of innovative exhibitions of emerging and midcareer artists, with the first show of 2010; Black and White, featuring a diverse group of ten artists who utilize the spare means of only black and white to create works that range from subtle white on white to bold graphic statements. The exhibition will include several works by each artist; drawings in graphite and charcoal on paper by Margaret Neill, Amy Talluto, and Katherine McDowell Patterson, mixed media works by Karen Revis and Marietta Hoferer, paintings by Mia Brownell, Kate Beck and David Atkin, large scale prints by Yashua Klos, and sculpture by Michael Kukla.

Mudam Luxembourg
30 January – 23 May 2010

What do artists tell us about the world we live in? What image do they show us of our bodies, our land, our towns, our dreams and fears? The exhibition Brave New World offers an open and surprising reading of the world through a hundred artworks by more than ninety artists from the point of view of the Mudam Collection.

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SITE Santa Fe
June 20, 2010 – January 2, 2011

SITE Santa Fe’s 2010 Biennial will explore a striking development in contemporary art. Emerging and established artists working in many mediums, from painting and sculpture to film and mixed-media installation, have mined techniques of early animation and moving image technologies to create a hybrid practice where the homespun meets the high-tech.

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"The Misfits of Modern Agribusiness", SVF Foundation Newport, RI; NY Times Slideshow, January 5, 2010

This week What’s Cookin is sent to you directly from Newport, RI  an eclectic little city on the Atlantic coast. Home to some of the best clam chowder and crab cakes I’ve ever eaten, everything seems to be within walking distance including a farm of rare animal breeds, mansions preserved from the Gilded Age, the infamous mystery tower, and the country’s first lending library, the Redwood...I’m always hungry to learn more, meanwhile here’s what’s been happening at Art21:

• It’s a mix-tape tape that flirts with Caribbean Kitsch, romance and hushed Rothko reverence, glitter(!), paint and fesis. Curate your mind around Ben Street’s letter on Chris Ofili’s retrospective at the Tate Modern in London. It sounds like an exhibition not to be missed.
• Welcom Leanne Gilbertson, the latest in the Art21 Guestblogosphere! A teacher at the Sam Houston State University  she is also preparing a manuscript that explores the relationships between the emergence, in the 1960s, of both feminist and queer consciousnesses, and the intermedia artistic experimentation occurring at both Warhol’s Factory and Judson Memorial Church.
• FLASHPOINTS: How does art respond to and define the natural world? For the past twelve years, Dan Phillips and members of the Commotion, including his wife Marsha, have been committed to building affordable and visually-distinctive housing out of largely post-consumption building leftovers, waste from the fabrication of industrialized materials (including “landscape timbers,” a plywood by-product), and other free or discarded materials.
• Nicole Rounds Them UP!  You’ll read about two anniversary exhibitions, 6,000 shapes upstate, masterworks in the Midwest, some road trip souvenirs, a whole lotta prints, and a sale you won’t want to miss.
• Teaching with Contemporary Art: Art 21 has ventured into the land of teacher institutes. Joe Fusaro reflects on the importance of  ‘teaching with ideas’ and introduces Year 2 of the Art21 Educators summer institute will run from July 7-14, 2010 and is now accepting applications from pairs of teachers. Click here for more information and to download an application!
• Grand Canyon Journal 3:  the Painter of Video to Life. Has there ever been such an elegant dramatization of the power of illusion as David Copperfield’s “The Painter”? Art and magic share the stage (which strangely recalls both David Letterman’s set and Monica’s apartment from Friends) in a trick that only gently conflates the initial discomfort of Harold and Maude with Copperfield’s problems with the law…
• If You Can Remember the ’60’s You Weren’t There. “When I moved from Berkeley to Los Angeles five years ago, I thought I was done living in a town that was devoted to perpetually remembering the ’60s. But I soon discovered that Los Angeles also carries a mega-torch for that transformative decade.” Lily Simonson thinks continues to inspire the Los Angeles as a California culural center in relationship to the Ferus Gallery and the Samuel Freeman Gallery.
• Art21 Launches the next Flash Points topic, The Ethics of Art. Ethics are defined as “a system of moral principles” which constantly factor into the choices we make. However, these decisions can become confused, making this system of principles more gray than black and white, especially when competing priorities are at work. Over the next two months, we’ll explore the relationship of ethics in art from a variety of perspectives and question the role that they should — or shouldn’t — play.
• The Dust Settles After the First Culture Wars. On January 28, Art21 and 92YTribeca piloted a program called Culture Wars: A Night of Trivia with Art21. The night began with a music play list created by artist Mary Heilmann (Season 5).
• VIDEO EXCLUSIVE — Julie Mehretu | Workday. Filmed in her Berlin studio, Julie Mehretu discusses the ups and downs of her daily studio practice. Mehretu is shown working on the painting Middle Grey (2007-2009), one work in a suite of seven paintings commissioned by the Deutsche Guggenheim as part of the exhibition Julie Mehretu: Grey Area, which travels to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York later this year (May 14 – October 6, 2010).

Gelitin, Blind Sculpture [in progress], January 30, 2010. Mixed media, dimensions variable. Photos: 16 Miles [more]

Gelitin — the art collective best known for producing art works that looks like they were made out of Play-Doh and organizing performances that often involve remarkable obscenity (peeing on each other) — has arrived in New York. Through February 6, the group is working in Greene Naftali on a Blind Sculpture. The men appear each day sporting high heels, lingerie, and blindfolds; sometimes they forgo the cross-dressing for more traditional, naked exhibitionism. They have recruited artists ranging from Cecily Brown to Liam Gillick to Urs Fischer to guide them as they attempt to produce the sculpture without the use of sight. (There is a full schedule of guest artists available.)

January 30, 2010

Both times I’ve visited there have been some worrisome moments: the blindfolded artists bravely climb ladders and confidently wield power drills and hacksaws as they complete the project. No one seemed to be injured so far. In the span from the first to the third day (this past Thursday and Saturday), they had added quite a bit of material. After they unveil the work (to themselves), it will stay on display through February 26. Until then, there are far worse ways to spend a gallery tour or Chelsea coffee break. Benches have been constructed around the sculpture area, letting viewers relax and watch, as if the makeshift studio was a gladiatorial area.

Of course, not much happens in that arena. Greg Allen pretty much nails it on Art Fag City:

As for the art stars, it’s basically like weekly episodes of Love Boat. Even though it’s incredibly formulaic, the special guest stars add enough novelty to keep people interested week after week. And so it’s the formula–and the main characters, Gopher et al/Gelitin–who come out ahead.

It’s a funny conceit — “let’s make a sculpture while blindfolded” — stretched to a silly extreme. The life of an artist is slow, mundane, and monotonous, viewers learn.

But while it’s not a thrilling spectacle, as the piano player provides a running score to the show, the gallery becomes a nice place to hang out and chat; a warm safe-house above Chelsea’s frigid streets with a good view.

January 28, 2010

January 28, 2010

January 28, 2010

On the first evening, a puppy was present, gnawing here on a piece of carrot.

January 28, 2010

The supplies available to the artists filled one side of the installation area on the first evening of construction.

Gelitin, Blind Sculpture
Greene Naftali Gallery
508 West 26th Street, 8th Floor
New York, New York
Through February 26, 2010
Construction through February 6, 2010

Flores McGarrell I lost my voice. Incredibly frustrating because I have a lot I need to say right now. I just make ridiculous squeaking sounds. […] I think I should just shut up for a while, I have a lot to think about right now anyway.

January 12 at 9:43pm · Comment · Like

This is what everybody who cared about Flo McGarrell was confronted with on his Facebook wall, from January 12 onwards. An outpouring of solicitous messages from friends, relatives, and peers filled his wall again and again and again for days. The first hopeful piece of information that was posted informed us that Flo’s good friend Sue Frame, who was visiting him in Haiti, had survived the earthquake and she knew where Flo was trapped.

I will skip everything else in between and take you to a few days ago, when Sue Frame finally made it back to the States with her friend. Flo McGarrell (1974-2010) passed away on Tuesday, January 12, when the Peace of Mind Hotel collapsed while Flo and Sue were inside. They were making a quick stop on their way back to Jacmel from Port-Au-Prince.

It was not so long ago that I worked with Flo on a post for this site, and I absolutely hate that I am now writing a Remembering artist and friend Flo McGarrell piece. You see, when I think of Flo, I instantly think of an enormous inflatable TV, a bright pink installation, beavers, cats, and her passion to turn trash into treasures. I met Flo when he was a young woman – we were both graduate students at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2002. He had intense sky-blue eyes, a memorable hairdo, a huggable frame, and a hospitable home. There was a drive, a force, and a spirit so well entrenched that they made Flo indestructible. He often raised his left eyebrow. I could never tell what that meant.

He worked and hung out a lot in the Sculpture Department. At heart, he was a sculptor  in the most traditional sense yet also a multidisciplinary artist in practice. The studios behind the Art Institute of Chicago saw a lot of him. He was always busy, with enormously ambitious projects. Outspoken, his critiques were candid without being aggressive — rather, they were sweet and caring.

Flo made a LOT of friends at school. He and (her) partner at the time, Brian Stansbury, shared with all of us – meaning us SAIC students — the greatest parties and BBQs at their home. They would go all out! At one of those gatherings in Spring 2003, I took 6 disposable cameras with me, which I passed around. Everybody took photographs and out of over 200 shots today, I can hardly find one fitting for this post to share with you besides these two.

After graduation, we all parted ways and unfortunately, somewhere along the lines a diminishing sense of closeness took root. Luckily, that brief period came to an end after 6 months or so. Soon after, I bumped into Flo again at a party in Chicago and we picked up our conversation from where we had left it off. By that time, Flo had facial hair, some muscle definition, and a hint of what it seemed to be a dude’s beer belly. It was so right and made so much sense. Flo was 100% himself. We spoke about the changes in our lives and Flo sounded like he had reached a high state of being, where his inner voice was heard and in-sync with his needs, desires, and hopes.

Haiti was always on his mind. This past August, we spoke about Haiti and how his fascination got started. Along with the memory of Flo, his journey is important too.

FM: When I was 11, my mother took me to the Saint Louis Art Museum to see Maya Deren’s film Divine Horsemen, which she shot between 1947 and 1951 at various Vodou ceremonies. Not only was I really taken by the beauty of the place and people in the film, the rhythms of the sacred music became imprinted on my brain, and the pantheon of the Lwa, who are the spirit gods in Vodou…thoroughly seduced me. Finally, a theology that made sense to me.

I came away from that film needing to know more about everything Haitian. My whole life I asked questions about the place, read books (including Maya Deren’s treatise on the Vodou religion) on history, politics, fiction, etc. Most people didn’t want to discuss it with me. They just told me to forget it because Haiti is this awful poor place where people are getting hacked up with machetes all the time.

Well, when someone tells me I won’t like something, I think, “how the fuck do you know what I like?” So naturally, when I was 30 and I had a chance to go down there with Professor Houlberg, co-curator of the well-received and traveled Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou exhibition, who mentored me in graduate school…I jumped at the chance.

Turns out that the land, the sea, the people, the manners, the food, the sense of humor, the dirty trash, and the language suits me just fine. The Vodou religion is still a very real and sensitive subject for me, but it’s not why I am there anymore. The Kreyol (Creole) language is my current big love affair, I want to speak-write-think-dream it all the time because the sound it makes in me is the sound I want to be making. Life is indeed difficult there, nothing is easy, we only have electricity half of the time, if at all. Water may or may not come out of the tap, and then it could make you sick. It only took a little while for me to adjust. Luckily, I have always liked living rough, raw, and real, and this is what normal is in so many parts of the world.

I could have lived quite happily in the Bay Area, where everything is ideal and everyone is a lot like me (queer and transgendered, environmentally and socially aware, etc.), but why be somewhere so perfect? Why be so comfortable? Why should all my friends be so similar to me? Why not be someplace that is in flux? Someplace where the advantage is that it is NOT overdeveloped and fixed? There are many cultural differences, of course, but that’s what makes it rich, and I believe that all the people who tried to warn me off of going to Haiti are the ones who are sad and poor.

I have been deeply saddened by Flo’s passing. This earthquake was much closer to all of us that we initially thought. Where should one begin to feel and when should one end — from the hundreds of thousands of lives lost in the earthquake to Flo’s loss?

Let’s remember Flo for the person, friend, and artist he was. For closure, I suggest the following. When I came across this photograph, I wanted to share it with you. I further invite you to take turns to pretend you are the one locked in this embrace.

I took the liberty to pinch numerous Flo photographs I found online to post along with mine. Flo’s friend Juan William Chavez was kind enough to prepare a slideshow for all of us.

Stay connected through Go With Flo – Flo McGarrell Memorial.

As for his family, our sympathies and wishes are with them.

opening January 28, 2010
www.catrionajeffries.com
Press Release

Practice Space
16 Waverly Avenue, Basement

Brooklyn Misc.

January 24 – February 6, 2010
Opening: Sunday, January 24, 6 – 10 PM
Web Site

PRACTICE SPACE is hosting its first ever exhibition [Self-Titled] on January 24, 2010 from 6-10pm.

[Self-Titled] is a group show of 8 up and coming Brooklyn based artists, separated out into 6 different rooms, both visually and auditorily disjointed.

The opening will also host live music by:
Kate Ferencz
Sabina
Love at First Sight
and Talia Kellar
(music starts at 7pm)

We will also be serving beer and jello shots in exchange for a donation to the Haiti relief fund.

opening January 29, 2010
www.spruethmagers.com
Press Release