Now: 16:00 Greenwich Mean Time every Friday.
Here: A community of artists in Washington Heights / Inwood and the world meeting in this online gallery.
This: A piece of art created Now and sharing the most important thing on our minds.
Scroll down to view the exhibit below. Thank you for participating in and viewing Now: Here: This.--Peter Ferko, Project Director
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all work ©2004 by artists named
Now: Here: This is funded in part by the Puffin Foundation
Now:
Here: This
February 6, 2004, 16:00 Greenwich Mean Time
James Huckenpahler, Washington, D.C.
Beating dead horses in the Provinces
I'm currently doing a residency at St. Mary's College in Southern Maryland; I'm also teaching a seminar that explores the relationship between tech/new media and traditional media like painting, sculpture, etc. I'm going to screen a passage from Cremaster 3 for my students so I've been doing a little background reading on Barney. Concurrent with that I've got John Geilgud reading Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass" in heavy rotation on my iPod. Geilgud/Carroll put Barney in perspective - Alice is both stranger *and* more accessible than Cremaster; and JG's reading is both ideal and alien. The English seem to have a peculiar, concentrated kind of weirdness that I don't remember seeing in any other culture, except perhaps the Japanese. (I've heard many times that island culture induces eccentricity - is this true of Pacific Islanders?)
For about a year now I've been revisiting my interest in dream-logic narratives - looking again at Robert Wilson, Peter Greenaway, David Lynch, Guy Maddin, Odilon Redon. Colby Caldwell, my sponsor here, was generous enough to loan me a huge retrospective catalog of Redon's work. In a discussion of the milieu of his teenage years, I was struck by this passage, which describes the local arts 'non-profit'...
"Founded in 1871 to further the progress and appreciation of the arts within the community, the Société [Bordeaux] realized its mission primarily through mounting annual exhibitions of contemporary art. These were intended to bring exemplary works to the attention of a large local audience, while creating a pool from which the local collectors, the Société, and the municipality could make acquisitions. The Société modeled itself after similar organizations in cities such as Lyons (which held its first exhibition in 1836), all of which reflected regional attempts to fend off the oppressive cultural dominance of Paris, home to the state-sponsored annual exhibitions of contemporary art, the Salons. Since municipal academies and museums in France were unable to create a significant artistic presence locally, it fell to the various independent groups to take the lead in what their most influential champion, critic Philippe Burty, termed "this great movement of artistic decentralization."
[...]
"But while garnering acknowledgement and support both locally and in Paris, the Société was also the target of consistent and focused criticism. At issue was quality, of the works included in the exhibitions and of the acquisitions made for them. [...] The [bulk of these exhibitions], as critics never tired of noting, included second-rate Parisian fare and, increasingly, the Belgian and Dutch "commercial" pictures spawned by a professional demimonde that had sprung up in response to the new markets created by the proliferation of regional exhibitions. This compromised the exhibition and its goals. [...] Amidst predictions that the continued admission of mediocrities would threaten the exhibition's future, the related question of the Société's responsibility to local artists became problematic. Parisian critics such as Burty and Paul Mantz could support the encouragement of "local art" as the organizations primary mission, but not the fact that so often it was with...
This situation closely parallels the prevailing conditions in DC. The Société's circumstances resemble the Washington Project for the Arts [in its various incarnations since the early '90's], and to some extent the DC Commission for the Arts and Humanities - for example, see Tyler Green's criticism of Art-O-Matic at his blog, and so on...
Tim Folzenlogen, Washington Heights, New York City
Life (4"x6" oil on paper)
It seems like whenever I express an opinion, I find out that I’m wrong, about some aspect of my assumption.
Whenever I ask a question, the answer is rarely what I expected it to be.
All of my initiatives, projects, art shows - the result / response is never what I hoped for.
It’s almost like I never amount to any more, than just a tiny town that I am passing through.
Everything I do, results in new information, and so I change. I never stay the same.
I sometimes think that the closest that any of us will ever get to true enlightenment, is to deeply appreciate that, when considering all the unfathomable amounts of information that is out there, we are all nearly complete idiots.
True value is not to be found in what you know - so much as it is in being aware that you probably never will.
The path is the thing.
Peter Ferko, Washington Heights, New York City
'Does Bliss Show?' Portrait #6: Reading Literature
On my mind: Variables of Creative Motivation
- Scale: 1) human; 2) community; 3) national; 4) international; 5) infinitesimal; 6) transcendental
- Impact: 1) subtle; 2) thoughtful; 3) emotional 4) physical; 5) transformative
- Purpose: 1) harangue; 2) profess; 3) share; 4) converse; 5) hear; 6) know
- Perspective: 1) above; 2) below; 3) within; 4) without; 5) integral
- Sincerity: 1) heartfelt; 2) nonchalant; 3) bogus; 4) malicious
Joel Adas, Brooklyn
Self-Portrait
This week's drawing came about as a result of my immediate
circumstances. I found myself sitting in a bagel shop with a drawing
pencil and an eraser but no paper. The next best thing was a white
paper bag which proved to be a very nice drawing surface. Then,
when I was pondering what to draw, I noticed the beautiful big mirror
in front of me. A good chance to attempt another self-portrait...
It got me thinking about how art comes into being. I think for me
the best stuff I do is the result of being open to possibilities, having
my mind settled, non-judgmental, calm and ready to receive what is out
there and interpret it. This can't be forced, you must simply be
present when something attracts your eye, when something clicks and there
you are drawing, absorbed in that interaction.
Wendy Newton, Washington Heights, New York City
Jacie
Black and White
"Black results from the absorption of all colors, whereas white is their copresence."
-Georg Feuerstein, Tantra: The Path of Ecstasy
I’m thinking about time and its passage. This morning on the subway I was reading about the goddess Kali, whose name means "black," "time," and "death." I had a vivid memory of waking up one night at our country house when I was about six. I opened my eyes and didn’t see anything. Nothing. Absolute blackness. I had the presence of mind to get out of bed and flick on the light switch by the door. Nothing happened. I thought maybe I’d gone blind, but somehow I knew I hadn’t. I don’t remember what I did, I just remember standing there in the utter darkness, blinking. It must have been either a power outage or a dream. I do love the dark. Surrounded by it, I sometimes feel that the world is dissolving and yet I continue to exist. It’s a profoundly comforting feeling.
Anya Szykitka, Brooklyn
Empty Kitchen
Our apartment is being replastered, repainted, and re-floored. The kitchen and bedroom are completely empty, while the two front rooms are so full we can hardly move. The most important thing is trying to say something with my photos about this empty apartment. It is the counterpoint to last week's photo of Joel in the kitchen before the work had started. But the film in my camera is too slow for this grey dark day, so I use an empty beer case as a stand, giving me a limited number of angles from which to shoot. So here there are two sets of limitations, one self-imposed by the emptiness, the other given by the film and light. Of course, as usual, the limitations multiply the possibilities (an old lesson, but one that is continually re-learned).
Emotionally, being in our empty living space after eight years, with only the sound of the rain, alone, looking, allows me some newness, potential, perspective, and calm. (I could stand in this space and look at the emptiness for hours.) Tomorrow the things will be moved back in, but I will remember this spaciousness, like a ghost that no one sees, like a secret.
[note, Anya has a late entry in Jan. 30. See it in the archives.]
Jacie Lee Almira, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York City
under the desk
I am thinking about the future. How this, here and now, will affect that, there, later. And am I doing enough to have it all? And will I have to let things go?
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Laura (top) & Aineki Traverso, Washington, D.C.
Untitled & Untitled
Aineki: I'm thinking about venetian blinds. And their purpose in life. If they have one, that is...
Petr Shvetsov, St. Petersburg, Russia
Leila
New York is big and very fast.
I hope it never will collapse.
I'm here with my daughter
Staying in the Stanford Hotel.
She's sleeping at the moment
And I have no other comment.
Piero Ribelli, New York City
Untitled
I MISS JUSTIN!
Scott J. Plunkett, New York City
Untitled
I have a cold. I'm sending flowers.
Rosa Naparstek, Washington Heights, New York City
Heart of My Hearts
-What's on my mind right now is that I need to get to an
appointment on time and probably won't
-How I grabbed the red T shirt fabric after a remark that I don't use
enough color
and discovered a heart
-How I wish I knew enough Photoshop to have been able to eliminate the
background shelves and make the gun and safety pins visible
-How much I liked Pat's phrase: "being between the differences",
Tim's paintings, Wendy's writing, the Russian map, and much more
-How community is built
-How happy I am that knowing I'm going to be late, that my piece is not
the way I want it, that feeling I haven't done my share to communicate___I
can still feel happy.
PP, New York City
User Friendly
My smart computer, my beautiful screen, and cable make me happy. Looking at my 19" monitor can seem like unlimited space, and the way the images are lit from behind are as lush as a sunset; and so I like to make art on it and share that with the world. Email makes me write more and I love to see how my friends write. The internet is a huge library in my apartment where, as you know, it's soooo easy to look something up. And what my mother called "the other side of the world" now seems accessible and open to me. So despite it's limitations, I still say three-cheers to technology and thank-you to my computer guru who lives next-door.
Bridget Shields, New York City
Steve
The most important thing I was thinking about on this Friday was love.
Maybe there are no accidents or mistakes... This was the 1st picture of hundreds, over and again I would photograph you...
This Week's Guest Artists (How to join this project)
Renee Tamara Watabe, Verona, New Jersey
Heart Chakra
The Most Important Thing on My Mind:
Keeping my heart consistently open.
How this feels safer than I thought it would.
How the things in life that break open your heart, if you sit with them
long enough,
eventually become your friends and gifts.
Feeling glad to be alive.
Anthony Gonzalez, Washington Heights, New York City
Untitled
Feelings honored and exploited. Even the ones I am uncomfortable with. Particularly those that I am uncomfortable with must be embraced - befriended - or eventually they will get me.
Karen Greene, Washington Heights, New York City
Blinds
Thought for the photo--seeing and seeing through
Comments on Last Week's Now:Here:This
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From Renee:
Regarding Homage
I think there is a lot of power in this piece.
It makes me think of a tribal woman, wide hips, feet planted squarely on the earth,
getting ready for .....something....transforming?
and the nipples are like luscious rosebuds.Regarding Peter's Photo #5 Water
Now, here, in THIS, I see Bliss.Regarding Scott's digital collage
The texture of the collage engages me.
A war zone embedded within a refined civilization is what I see. People fleeing and aiding one another.
I wish it had a title. It feels like it has a story that goes with it.Regarding Wendy's
True, intimate and spontaneous.
From Tim:
Don't mess with Petr.
What's a deep thief? Titanic looters?
Piero's photos always move me.
I've always thought of myself and everyone as being Allah.
What does it mean to wash away time?
My wife is finishing up with breast cancer. It's been a real interesting ride for the both of us: the hospital movie. Waiting rooms. Chemo wasn't nearly as bad as we thought it would be. Read lots of magazines.
Sharing art is a given with me. What's rare is getting response.
Does it mean anything? If not, is it wallpaper? Is that wallpaper?
Having a daughter introduced me to teacher world. I give all of her teachers a painting every year. I greatly admire people who want to teach kids.
Sometimes I think that there is no meaning, no purpose, and that I'm foolish to act like there is. I don't think it matters to me either way. Maybe I'd be just as happy if it was all for nothing - like some kind of a cosmic joke.
Jesus talked in parables because stories make the lesson real. Could you give me an example of what you, or A.H.A., are talking about, Pat?
If I'm ever in St. Petersburg, I want to check out the view from that window.
Renee's life is the stuff of great novels. Together, we are going to make an epic movie.
Fear unerringly guides you to the goal. It doesn't allow you think about anything, except what you most need to think about. It's not the devil. It's more like your best friend. Walk through the door, and it will kiss you on the cheek.
Why do so few comment here?
Fear.
From Peter:
I was moved by 'deep thief,' but shared Tim's question about it's meaning, so I asked James. His response was "Right now I'm really struggling to generate any work that I like. Feels like I'm pulling teeth. If I make anything worthwhile it's despite myself, as if I've managed to sneak past my own editorial defensiveness. Looking for back doors into my own psyche as the front is locked up up and password-protected." I've also heard confused responses to other work and writing in Now:Here:This. "What is that?!" sounds like such a stereotypical uninformed response to a work of contemporary art--it's a stale joke. Yet for an artist new to another's community, with no context, what else would you expect if people are speaking candidly? What can one piece of work on its own mean--unless we're just enjoying the scenery? But to explain a piece is to remove the poetry, right? (There's a line in "Il Postino" where Neruda is asked to explain a poem and he says, "I can't expain it any other way.") So we have a dilemma. Luckily, the About the artists page gives us a place to begin to find a context...and there are more weeks of work to see...p.s. Tim, washing away time means being in the moment, but sounds more poetic ;-)
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Thank you, artists, commenters and viewers, for participating in Now: Here: This. -Peter Ferko
How to join this project | About the artists | Archived weeks
all work ©2004 by artists named