Artists Unite Issue

Art News‘ October issue covers the topic Sky brought up about mentors and teachers. Names dropped (to borrow a buzz line from an art podcast I know) include Chuck Close, James Siena, Josef Albers, Jessica Stockholder.

well, you can. The package design is a blank grid with a whole collection of stickers. His maleable highness said he got the idea as his designers and son both became hot on the sticker idea. So go out and buy one to create your own Beck CD. (And I bet the music won’t be bad either…)

What could be more unattractive, they argue, than a bunch of rapacious, acquisitive children traipsing around the streets, demanding candy in exchange for nothing?

For $7 you get “a union of photography, collages, video, and music into one major work of art.”

Nov 3 6pm, $7
@ Serie 56
Broadway btw 191 and 192 st

WaHi artists create, unify, and uplift

The Polish Cultural Institute has been tireless in bringing great Polish artists and performers to America. While very active in New York, they are also sponsoring activities elsewhere in the U.S. Right now, they are supporting–along with the National Endowment for the Arts, the Trust for Mutual Understanding and others–an exhibition in Hartford, Connecticut called “Poza,” which translates loosely to poseur with the notion also of “another side.” Poza is curated by the Polish-born and New York-based art critic and art historian Marek Bartelik. The Hartford location is Real Art Ways, a beautiful alternative space near the center of Connecticut’s capital.

Poza is a multimedia program, including two gallery spaces, a film series, and lectures. The exhibit features 31 artists of Polish connection — either living in, from, or of Polish descent. I caught the opening of the show in Hartford, which runs through January 29, and got to reconnect with one of my favorite Polish artists, Dominik Lejman (a Now:Here:This contributor). Dominik’s work “Skaters” was on display. The image here is from a previous installation of the work, which is a moving “painting” of skaters at Rockefeller Center. Lejman will have a solo show at Luxe gallery on 57th Street in November.The show also features Krzysztof Wodiczko, whose “Warsaw Projection,” showing huge images of women on the facade of the Polish National gallery, addresses womens issues and Monika Weiss (another Now:Here:This contributor) who combines drawing and performance in moving ways that bring new twists to both. Ursula von Rydingsvard, who was born to Polish parents was also represented. We got to see her work the following day at Storm King (see Sky Pape’s review of Storm King here). The video offerings are a highlight, and include a half dozen films from Azorro Group (we covered group member Lucasz Skapski here).

Monika Fabjianska of the Polish Cultural Institute curated a show at the Polish Consulate’s beautiful De Lamar Mansion drawing on Poza’s artists. This sampling, for New Yorkers who weren’t up to the ride to Hartford, formed the exhibition “Polyphony of Images,” opened October 19. I was struck there by an artist, Ewa Harabasz, who uses an ancient, religious approach to portraiture, the icon, to an entirely contemporary, secular purpose. Her “Icon Wall” in Hartford features the image of soldier and boy; a madona and child graced the hall in New York. Her panels are constructed from war images drawn from newspapers.

If you have any reason to be in Hartford, or if you live there, don’t miss this great show. After talking with Real Art Ways director Will Wilkens, I am going to keep my eye on this institution. It was clear that there is a commitment to quality programming, innovative involvement of the community, and intelligent dialog.

Ewa Harabasz, Icon, 2004 (installation view at the Polish Consulate)

I mean he’s one of my favorite artists but this is a little much with the paper towel commercial, real estate article, radio show and even his picture on the busses. The Times review was called “The Man Who Persevered When Painting Was Stalled”

The man? what about the rest of the world painting away in closets and garages while Brice enjoyed the success that only a blank canvas can garner.
Maybe its just my never wanting in to any club that would have me as a member syndrome. Indy this and indy that, sellouts and holdouts and guilty pleasures.

I watched “Flags of our Fathers” as Clint showed me how heroes are made and necessary to fuel the war effort. Do we need an art hero? To what end? Who is behind this effort and why?

Due to illness, the gallery crawl will likely be postponed tomorrow.  Check back in the morning for an update.  Sorry about that!

on wnyc radio:

Art Histories
Monday, October 30, 2006
Leonard Lopate’s 12:00 noon show

Brice Marden talks about how his abstract paintings have evolved over the past 40 years. (Most wnyc programs are available after the shows as downloads or podcasts).

One of the things I kept transferring from one personal “to do” list to the next was ‘find a mentor.’ Throughout my childhood, youth, and on through my professional educational experience I felt it was something I lacked. I witnessed many others benefit from such a relationship, but I never seemed to find that special connection in my own life. Or so I thought. In terms of art, I believed the definition of mentor was intrinsically connected to being a teacher, and at a certain point in my career, my own voice was developed enough that I wasn’t really seeking any outside direction. On some level, I associated mentorship with some “wise elder,” a master/disciple relationship, and frankly, I balked a bit at that.

What I now recognize, with the grief of losing a friend, was that I have had mentors guiding me without my even realizing it. What was offered to me differed from my expectations of the “mentoring” relationship, so I did not consciously acknowledge it for what it was. Mentorship does not require advanced age or direct instruction or subverting one’s ego or ideas. I’ve realized my mentors are a surprising variety of folks who guide me subtly, by the example of how they live artistic lives, sustain their own work, and nurture the creative community around them. My mentors come with tough veneers and blunt demeanors, but have revealed themselves as incredibly caring, generous, and supportive people. They’ve found and shared a way of meaningfulness and possibility, and that’s definitely a path I’d be happy to follow.

This month I received so many invitations to shows of grid-based paintings that in spite of it seeming a bit “Art 101,” I couldn’t resist planning the crawl around such an evident theme.  On the list are Pat Lipsky at Elizabeth Harris Gallery, Richard Kalina at Lennon, Weinberg, Kevin Wixted at Lohin Geduld Gallery, and Sean Scully at the Met.
Due to a forecast of lousy weather for Saturday, the crawl is being bumped to Tuesday the 31st.  Check back for meeting time and place.  Be there and be square.

Participate in Now:Here:This on Friday, October 27 at 16:00GMT or thereabouts. The project is an experiment in creating a virtual arts community. See details here.

I learned recently from director Hal Hartley that his new film, “Fay Grim” is scheduled for release this Spring. That gives those of you who aren’t up on Hartley’s work the homebound winter viewing months to watch “Henry Fool,” which is the prequel. We’ve just gotten it from Netflix so we don’t forget any juicy details.

Via E-mail from the Foundation Center:

October is Funding for Arts month at the Foundation Center, and in honor of the occasion we’ve assembled a collection of arts-related resources, including Newsmaker interviews with Joan Spero, president of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and Ed Able, former president and CEO of the American Association of Museums; original commentaries from Patricia Mooradian, president of the Henry Ford, Christopher Schram, vice president of the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, Mary Pickard, president of the St. Paul Travelers Foundation, and Bill Fleming, managing director at PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Private Company Services Practice; links to arts-related news items; and a selection of related readings.

More features will be made available online through the end of month at: http://fconline.foundationcenter.org/pnd/10004983/special/arts

I’m now looking forward to the new book, Art as Existence: The Artist’s Monograph and Its Project, by Gabriele Guercio. From Christopher S. Wood in Art Forum:

“…Guercio contends that art history has discredited the study of an artist’s life and works because it cannot ‘afford to deal with the instability produced by considerations of someoneness and singularity.’”

And for Cezanne/Pissarro, Johns/Rauschenberg: Comparative Studies on Intersubjectivity in Modern Art, by Joachim Pissarro. Again from Art Forum :

“According Joachim Pissarro, the singular artist emerges only out of dialogic interaction with other artists. …shows how artists communicate simply by “being” and “doing” together, in and through and around their artmaking. The intimacy and sympathy, the presence of the one to the other, are captured in works of art that then become the catalysts for an infinitely ramifying network of communication, from beholder to beholder, subject to subject.”

Kinda makes you want to do Now:Here:This this Friday, no?

NY Congressman Jerrold Nadler defends against Brian Lehrer’s devil’s advocate that the Dems are soft on terror. Live here (podcast later).

I was surprised that I didn’t see much reflection on the blogosphere about the life of Marcia Tucker, who died last week [NY Times obit here] [Correction: with the exception of Anonymous Female Artist]. Her name has cropped up more than a few times here at AU Issue, usually related to topics of superior curatorial efforts, and/or creative perseverance. Tucker was known for founding the New Museum (and directing it for 22 years) after she was fired as Curator of the Whitney, primarily over harsh reviews of Richard Tuttle’s work, which visitors to the show had a hard time finding and comprehending. Tucker was the only curator I can think of who had her own website (still up as of this post), and I enjoyed every minute I spent reading through the selected writings offered up on the site. One story on the site, in the section “excerpts from “A Short Life of Trouble” a memoir in progress,” was about her dogged determination to learn to sing, when every indication was that she should just forget about it. It’s a fantastic, true-life story about creative endurance, and underscores just why Tucker was able to accomplish so very, very much in life: She made excellent use of all that time she refused to spend licking her wounds or dwelling on why she shouldn’t or couldn’t do something. Besides being a writer, curator, teacher, museum founder and director, lecturer, parent, and rumored Guerilla Girl, her site reveals another secret identity: Miss Mannerist.

“Miss Mannerist” is the maven of mores and manners for career-impaired
artists, visually challenged curators, and artistic “big-fish-in-a-small pond” wanna-bees of all kinds…She is reputed to be the only person ever to have made Philippe de Montebello laugh out loud.

Marcia Tucker made a huge contribution to the advancement of contemporary art, and we’d all probably find a lot more of interest out there if we worked on employing her motto more frequently: “Act first, think later — that way you have something to think about.”

Attackers Pillage Moscow Art Gallery and Beat Activist Owner

10 skinheads beat up gallery owner, Marat Guelman in Moscow destroying work by Georgian artist Alexander Djikia.

London gallery owner, Matthew Bown, was taking some Mask Show pieces out of the country when he was detained at the airport and the art confiscated.

It looks like the work Bown was taking was from a different artist namely the Siberian duo Blue Noses (Vyacheslav Mizin and Alexander Shaburov)

Every now and then we like to remind you that the unique aspect of this blog is that you are invited to share your own writing here. A core mission of Artists Unite is to bring artists into dialogue, and we hope this is one place that will happen more and more.To write, simply query me or send me what you’d like to post at editor@artistsunite-ny.org

Have an artful day,

Peter

A trip to Storm King is one option for experiencing the combined impact of sculpture and nature. Another is a visit to see Jane’s Schneider’s exhibition Sculptures from the Forest, at June Kelly Gallery until November 11th. This photo I quickly snapped at the opening doesn’t begin to do justice to this incredibly powerful and poetic body of work. The finished pieces appear as if they have always been that way, and could be no other way, when in fact each one has taken months and months of careful, intelligent decision-making and refinement. Successful art belies the struggle. One thing completely lost in photos is an important subtlety of Schneider’s work: her intense working of the surface.

In the catalog, Ann Landi writes:

“The artist’s time and input are equally critical to the surfaces of her works: You need to look closely to see the fine crosshatchings, random marks, and scrubbed patinas of the sculptures. There are places where the paint or ink has been rubbed on and off, where the wood has been scraped and incised, where even a toothbrush has been brought into play to get a particular density of color — up close, you can intuit Schneider’s roots as a painter and admire the amount of care she puts into infusing her sculptures with a richly chromatic glow…”

“More than 150 years ago, in Song of Myself, Walt Whitman wrote, “You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on specters in books…You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self.” Those lines are particularly apt in Schneider’s case. She has looked widely and carefully, absorbed a huge and rich array of influences, and continues to produce work that speaks in a startling and original language.”

Jane Schneider is an original and admirable talent, a master and mentor, a friend and an indomitable force. Her work isn’t easily tagged with a label or lumped into a group. It is intimate, sophisticated, and unforgettable. She takes nature and shapes it into three-dimensional poetry. Schneider edits to the essentials, and the experience is epic.

(above: Chimera Framed, wood and mixed media, copyright Jane Schneider)