6/4/10: Kiosk
En route to the opening last night, I happened across a really intriguing store in Soho. It’s been a very long time since anything in Soho seemed interesting or worthy of really slowing down and taking a look, so I guess I could be forgiven for hesitating outside and wondering if the trip in (which involved a flight of stairs and then following arrows pointing you around a graffitied hallway) would be worth it.
It is. Not really an art gallery and not really a standard retail shop and with a little etsy and Printed Matter thrown in, Kiosk is something really different. It’s apparently made up with objects culled during travels by the owners. Let me just quote their website – it’s just easier that way:
We opened the shop to provide an alternative to over-design. We consider the items we show to be humble, straightforward and beautiful in their simplicity and directness. Often they are traditional goods that have developed over generations or anonymous design found in general or hardware stores. We feature the things that generally go unnoticed, products created by not one personality but objects that are the result of local aesthetics and needs. Their value is sometimes hard to see in today’s market; our motivation to start Kiosk was to shed some light on these anonymous objects and support independent producers.
I tended to like the things in the store that were closer to “art” than to “anonymous design,” but it was fascinating to see the different kinds of objects laid out next to each other. One of my faves:
Mr. Hop by Roger Geier
Big plaster bunnies that they had laying on the ground, underneath a small “exhibit” of different kinds of gum from Iceland, which were laid out on a big fabric volcano.
Ok, if the above sentence doesn’t leave you wanting to go to Kiosk right now, I don’t know what will.
5/28/10: Ed Ruscha’s books
Ed Ruscha is one of those people that still, after all these years, a disappointing number of East coast art students know about. It’s shocking to me how many 3rd and 4th year BFA students and plenty of MFA candidates draw a blank stare when I mention his name. What’s especially weird about it is that if you have graduated from art school and spent a few years in the art world, it seems unimaginable that anyone alive wouldn’t know who Ruscha is.
I’ve heard various theories as to why this is the case (the Biggie vs Tupac/East vs West coast one is by far the most frequently cited). Personally, I think it’s because the artist has worked across mediums a lot, the photographers consider him a painter, the painters a photographer, and the print/book people (who are REALLY the ones who should be teaching him) just assume he’s been taught in either photo or painting class.
Well, don’t get me started. But the point is, I’ve been thinking about Ruscha’s books a LOT over the last couple of weeks:
His books, which contain mostly straightforward “documentary” photographs of what is mentioned on the cover (apartments, pools, gas stations, etc; in my favorite case, “Baby Cakes,” his book features pictures of both babies and cakes), are totally phenomenal. And maybe because they look so straightforward that they don’t get considered by book art teachers enough (I’ve seen people lecture endlessly on some obscure artist who made a really insane tunnel book but then completely skip over Ruscha’s contribution to the field), but to me, this is their strength. They float around and find their way into regular bookstores (or they did, before they became highly collectible). They’re inviting, accessible, and understandable. And yet they point to a bigger project and act as a gateway to the rest of the artist’s work.
No matter how many Kindles are sold, books aren’t going away. Definitely not books that rely upon imagery – I would love to have a Kindle so that I can bring it with me rather than lugging around some art history book, but I’m never going to get one to look at art/design/fashion/etc books. For those, I need the book before me, to have the ability to leaf through it and turn it by hand. And with printmaking processes becoming cheaper and easier to do in short runs, I’m surprised more artists aren’t taking advantage of the medium.
Books are (or can be) an intervention into everyday life. They’re stealth operators.
5/24/10: More blog love
Few people have been quite as supportive of my work as John Haber and his site Haber’s Art Reviews. Just yesterday, John updated a long article he has about me and my work, which spans the last five years.
It’s a little crazy for me to read an article that considers all the NYC shows I’ve had. The last five years have been nuts. I’ve barely had a chance to slow down and really think about them. I found it a little overwhelming to see this article, but also of course really wonderful and I’m so pleased that John would consider my work so seriously.
His lead story on his site is about the show I have up right now at BravinLee programs (is now a good time to point out that the show is up til June 5th?). Thank you so much, John.
5/23/10: So beautiful
I have a brochure for this show that was up a couple of years ago and I can’t throw it away. This is the image on the cover. Who could ever throw this away?
5/22/10: Cupcakes!
Wayne Theibaud made cakes:
Maggie Feuchter makes awesome ceramic cupcakes:
I was inspired by my trip to Mississippi to learn how to make traditional ceramics, and Maggie’s work is further inspiration!
Looking at: Aneta Grzeszykowska
I’m generally not the biggest photography fan and I definitely don’t pay as close attention to what’s going on in the photo world as I should. But occasionally I see work in photography that is so smart and just so unbelievably good, and that I’m blown away.
I was thrilled to learn about Aneta Grzeszykowska’s work from a friend. The first series I saw was her set of Cindy Sherman film stills. Here’s what the artist does: She is taking this series of photos that are well-known, iconic, and much revered and she’s rephotographing them, painstakingly capturing the original photograph down to the tiniest detail. But two major things are changed: One, the artist produces color photos when the original was done in black and white (more on this in a moment). Two, she incorporates tiny details that refer to the fact that these photos were taken in Poland, and not America.
the "original"
Grzeszykowska's "copy"
Looking at Sherman’s originals, there’s plenty of things that I just sort of glossed over and never questioned because I assumed (with my American eye) that they were “universal.” So of course (I always thought) the signage behind her character in a particular shot was going to be written in English, or of course her grocery bag that spills out onto the floor will have food in it that’s familiar to me. That’s the kind of chauvinism that the training (art school, etc) I have has instilled in me, and it’s so rare to see something that rattles me out of it. And what first tips you off that something really amazing is going to happen is the very simple trick of changing the stills from black and white to super saturated color. Looking at Grzeszykowska’s series, you immediately get that something is wrong, or that something is very different, and it’s the effect of the color on an image you’re so used to seeing in black and white. And then all this other stuff gets revealed, and it’s a real treat.
The artist has also done some other projects I much admire, including one where she went through old family photographs from her childhood and edited herself out, and a riff on the work of Thomas Ruff, where, using Photoshop, she creates portraits of completely nonexistent people.
Now I want to go to Poland. A lot.
5/19/10: The business of art as art, pt 2
I’m totally late to this and you’ve probably already seen it, but hey – it’s amazing enough to watch again!
I wrote a post a week or so ago about a class I want to teach called The Business of Art As Art, and I think this fits in perfectly to that. This is a project, designed to make money (this time for charity), which is art in and of itself. Normally, the idea of making money off of your work is something that artists feel uncomfortable with or they feel as though it has to happen sort of accidentally. But here’s a great example of someone who came up with a very successful project that is incredibly moving and inspiring, and also designed to raise a lot of money! Brilliant.
Go Sheena, go. You are amazing.
Many tiny hat tips to Ms. Siouxsie.
Hey Vimeo and/or WordPress, why can’t I embed Vimeo videos into my blog posts??
5/18/10: Blog Love
You know, there’s no love like Blog Love… when a total stranger feels inspired to write about you or your work, it’s one of the best compliments you can possibly get. Everything your mother ever said about not talking to strangers? It was a lie. Strangers are awesome. I mean, I guess some of them are scary, but most of them are awesome.
This is what I’m blathering about:
Katie Runnels of The Constant Gatherer wrote on of the nicest articles about me ever:
and Jeff McIntire-Strasburg wrote this really great story for the Sundance blog:
Oh man, today is off to a good start. It’s rainy and cold but who cares. The world feels good right now.
UPDATE:
More wonderful blog love, this time from Kickcan and Conkers! Holy cow, you guys are the greatest!!
5/15/05 – special bonus post! Escape From NY!
I just learned about this from the blog Heart As Arena, because the blogger was nice enough (unrelated to what this post is about) to twitter something kind about my work, which sent me over to his blog, which lead me to…
Escape From NY, a really ambitious-sounding exhibition in Paterson, curated by Olympia Lampert. Opens today, but if you’re late to find out about it (as I am), it runs til mid June.
This is a tiny section of the factory they have for the show. It's going to be huge.
I’m a Jersey girl through and through, so I’m generally supportive of anything that happens over here. But this show definitely sounds next level: gigantic, professional, and all-around wonderful. My only fear is that tons of NYers will go and suddenly realize that parts of NJ are a lot closer than parts of Brooklyn, plus that’s seriously nice and also very cheap out here, and this will blow the lid off my ability to walk the dog in the morning with mismatched socks and some serious bedhead without the fear of running into people I know. But I’m willing to take that risk.
A secret between you and me: I’m a little bitter that I’m not in the show. However, that doesn’t dampen my enthusiasm for it and for all the ridiculous amount of labor that had to go into pulling something like this off.
Go Olympia Lampert!!
5/11/10 (part two!): Last tote bag teaser images before you can actually buy one!
TOTES GO ON SALE TOMORROW!
Wednesday, May 12th at 7pm, you’ll be able to buy them here.
(The page is nothing to look at until 5/12 at 7pm. But then? Woo boy!)
I will release ten of them a week. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.
In the meanwhile, here’s some pictures from our photo shoot yesterday:
working 