Artists Unite Issue

Here’s the plan for tomorrow’s gallery crawl 3/27: Meet at 11:15 am at The Drawing Center (35 Wooster St). From there, we’ll go see Bruce Pearson’s work at Ronald Feldman Gallery (31 Mercer St), then on to Location One (26 Greene St) for Laurie Anderson installations, The Painting Center (52 Greene St), and lastly Margarete Roeder Gallery (545 Broadway) to see works by John Cage and Tom Marioni. Maybe something else thrown in between for kicks…it depends.

Join us for all or part of the crawl. Call me at 917-992-4001 if you’re trying to find where we are mid-way. All are welcome!

Now that SoHo has again become “off the beaten path” unless you’re looking for designer fashions, furniture, food, or bathroom fixtures, I’ve decided to visit some of the ol’ ‘hood’s die-hard art holdouts for March’s gallery tour.

We’ll head to The Drawing Center, Ronald Feldman Gallery, Location One, and more.

Details about meeting time and place will be posted at Drawn Together in advance. The agenda’s loose, and all are welcome to crawl along with us for all or part of the rounds.

Traversing the vast expanse of Audubon Terrace always brings on a sense of exhilaration. There just aren’t that many wide open public spaces surrounded by imposing Beaux Arts architecture to be found these days. So, last Tuesday night, passing the statue of El Cid on a rearing stallion, I took a deep breath of brisk air and soaked up the scene as I made my way to the American Academy of Arts and Letters for the opening of their annual invitational exhibition.

The Academy’s premises have just undergone an enormous expansion, and the new exhibition space is impressive. There’s a lot of work in this show (116 paintings, photographs, multi-media works, sculptures, installations, and works on paper by 30 artists), up until April 5th, so I’m just going to point out a few highlights:

A trio of neon pieces by Stephen Antonakos infused the east gallery of the new space with their jewel-like glow. This mature artist not only knows how confident, modern, & minimal can still be engaging, warm & welcoming in terms of art, he lives it!

In the south gallery, three portraits (one of herself) by Ann Gale assert a subtle, yet undeniably strong presence. The canvases coalesce animism of paint and the energy of the living human. These paintings evince a kindred connection to Lucien Freud, but perhaps more importantly to both Cezanne and even Giacometti in the attention paid to locating a mark or bit of paint in a very particular physical space, with the paint simultaneously describing and deconstructing. When much portraiture relies on photography and digital resources, becoming flat and lifeless, these portraits hum and buzz and bristle with the intensity of living and looking — the experience of the eyes, interpreted by the mind behind them, without any intervention. The portraits’ subjects are rendered alive and real, and the recognition of these daubs of paint coming together to convey an individual with such psychological power is to wonder at how our own cells happen to hang together to create the assumed reality of self.

Artists ultimately selected to participate in this exhibition have first been invited by one of Academy’s members to submit work, so it’s a generally high bar of peer recognition. In this year’s show, there are a number of big-name artists such as April Gornik, Gregory Crewdson, Roxy Paine, and Beverly McIver. To these eyes, the biggest surprise and stand-out of the exhibition came by way of paintings bearing titles like “To Crack a Smile,” and “Vaudeville Hook” by David Nelson, an artist with whom I was not familiar. Nelson’s non-objective canvases are both technically and aesthetically seductive in a manner as modest, genuine and self-effacing artist as the artist himself. I’ve rarely met anyone who seemed so truly touched and surprised to receive well-earned compliments and congratulations. Unfortunately, my camera was out of juice, and I couldn’t find any other images of his work on-line to show you, so you’ll have to take my word for it or go see for yourself!

[images above: Audubon Terrace looking east, c. 1950, courtesy American Academy of Arts & Letters; Installation view of work by Stephen Antonakos, "Departure" 1993-2007, 61 x 51 x 5"; "Arrival" 2008, 88 x 46 x 5", and "Respite" 2000-2001, all pieces white paint on versacel, neon, copyright and courtesy of Stephen Antonakos; Ann Gale, "Self Portrait with Blue Stripes", 14 x 11", oil on masonite, courtesy of Hckett-Freedman Gallery, San Francisco, copyright Ann Gale.]

[review via Drawn Together]

Singer/Songwriter’s Handbook Q. 43

If a singer/songwriter falls down in the middle of a set and no one is there to hear him, does he make a sound?

Yes.

An awful clankity clank sound with some feedback and then a resounding thud as he hits the floor.

It looks really funny.

Josh Moore W/ Jeff Washburn
The National Underground
Friday, March 20th
10PM 10$

JOSHMOOREMUSIC
THENATIONALUNDERGROUND
THEJEFFWASHBURN

Friends and Fans of Music,

Audacious as it may be, I hope that everyone I know can make it out to The National Underground on Friday March 20th. All the proceeds from the door and all merchandise sold at the show will go to The Michael J. Fox Foundation For Parkinson’s Research. For more information please visit:MichaelJFox.org

Rock The Jam,

Josh Moore
Josh Moore Music

Artists Unite’s last event used the time honored artists tradition of blurring the lines between party, performance and exhibition in the comfort of Rosa Naparstek’s residence. The New York Times‘ Cara Buckley today has a story on the growing phenomenon of using one’s living room as a gallery on the other side of the East River (”Art Galleries with Less of a Profit Motive Flourish in Brooklyn”).

EYE ON THE STRAND PHOTO CONTEST: In Focus

Due to popular demand, the DEADLINE has been EXTENDED to March 31, 2009

To date: over 20,000 visitors worldwide have visited the Eye on the Strand site

New York, NY – The Strand Book Store, a New York institution since 1927, has one of the largest, most comprehensive collections of photography books in the world, all at discount prices. As a New York Cityicon and a popular destination for tourists and New Yorkers alike, the Strand has been the subject of countless films, news articles, documentaries and photography shoots over the years. The Strand invites photographers to focus their Eye on the Strand.

The Strand has partnered with the Aperture Foundation, a leading non-profit arts institution dedicated to promoting photography, and publishers of over 400 acclaimed photography books, and Pratt Institute Center for Continuing and Professional Studies (CCPS), to host a photography contest, “Eye on theStrand.”

Amateur and professional photographers from all over the world are invited to submit their photo representations of the Strand Book Store for a chance to win an afternoon with internationally renowned photographer Mary Ellen Mark, including lunch with Ms. Mark at New York City’s famous Balthazar Restaurant; a collection of fifty photography books published by Aperture; a group exhibit of all the winning images at Pratt CCPS Gallery, located at 144 West 14^th Street, in the summer 2009; a free digital photography or computer graphics course at Pratt CCPS; a B&H Photo gift card; a J. Crew gift card and personal styling consultation; a one-year subscription to New York magazine  and much more.

The contest judges include some of New York City’s most influential names in photography & digital imaging, including Lesley A. Martin, Publisher, Aperture Books program; Cheryl Stockton, Pratt Institute Adjunct Professor, CCPS Photography and Digital Imaging; Charlie Rhyne, the Strand Book Store’s photography book buyer; Paul Amador, co-owner of New York City’s Cohen Amador Gallery; Jeffrey Ladd, photographer & creator of http://5b4.blogspot.com; and Darren Ching, Creative Director of Photo District News and co-owner of Brooklyn’s Klompching Gallery.

The Eye on the Strand photo contest will run through March 31, 2009. Pratt CCPS will host a reception at their New York City gallery, where the work of the twenty finalists and three winners will be on view during the month of July, 2009.

The Strand will exhibit the work of the twenty finalists, the three winners and the Viewers’ Choice award winner on the Strand’s online photo gallery and will use the photos for the Strand’s marketing purposes, which may include a Strand calendar, a poster, or other merchandise; the photographers will receive credit on all materials generated for the promotion.

Images will be judged on overall photographic and artistic quality, originality and how they best represent the Strand Book Store.

Judges:

Lesley A. Martin, Publisher & Editor, Aperture Books

Cheryl Stockton, Pratt Institute Adjunct Professor, Photography and Digital Imaging

Charlie Rhyne, Strand Book Store Photo Book Buyer

Paul Amador, co-owner, Cohen Amador Gallery

Jeffrey Ladd, photographer & creator of 5B4 Photography and Books

Darren Ching, Creative Director of Photo District News & Co-Owner, Klompching Gallery

Grand Prize:

-An afternoon with internationally renowned photographer Mary Ellen Mark with lunch courtesy ofBalthazar Restaurant

-A collection of fifty Aperture photography books (value: over $2,000)

-One-year subscription to Aperture magazine

-One-year subscription to New York magazine

-$100 Blurb gift card and a free Blurb book of the winning photographs**

-Photo exhibited at Pratt CCPS Gallery (July 2009)

-Photo exhibited on Strand’s online Photo Gallery

Second Prize:

-Free photography or computer graphics course at Pratt CCPS * (value $805)

-A collection of fifty Aperture photography books (value: over $2,000)

-One-year subscription to Aperture magazine

-One-year subscription to New York magazine

-$100 Blurb gift card and a free Blurb book of the winning photographs**

-Photo exhibited at Pratt CCPS Gallery (July 2009)

-Photo exhibited on Strand’s online Photo Gallery

Third Prize:

-$300 B&H Photo Gift Card

-$250 J. Crew Gift Card & personal styling consultation at J.Crew’s new Tribeca men’s shop

-One-year subscription to Aperture magazine

-One-year subscription to New York magazine

-$100 Blurb gift card and a free Blurb book of the winning photographs**

-Photo exhibited at Pratt CCPS Gallery (July 2009)

-Photo exhibited on Strand’s online Photo Gallery

*The Pratt Institute course is non-transferable and must be redeemed within 2 years of receipt.

**Blurb is a creative publishing platform that enables anyone to design, publish, share and sell bookstore-quality books. Blurb will give the three winners a Blurb book, up to $100 in value, featuring a selection of the winning photographs, along with a $100 gift certificate.

20 finalists will receive a $25 Strand gift card, a Strand tote bag, placement at the Pratt Institute CCPS Gallery’s photo exhibition in July 2009 and placement on the Strand’s online photo gallery.

Viewers’ Choice Award

The public will be able to view all photos submitted to the contest and will be able to vote for their favorite. The winner of the Viewers’ Choice Award will have his/her photograph featured on the Strand online gallery and will receive a $50 Strand gift card.

To submit photos, visit:

www.strandbooks.com/photocontest

Things you can do with crayons and pencils if just drawing with them seems just far too ordinary:

Christian Faur makes pixelated images from hand-cast encaustic crayons.

Here’s one for those who think you might be able to erase a few pounds from the backside whilst sitting on it, doing nothing! Pencil bench by the twin Boex brothers.

[Both sites via Monster-Munch, a site which may just have the most adorable favicon ever, plus tons of other wondrous stuff.]