Finally!

EEK!!! I know I'm really late, but here it is!


One day I decided that I was going to take a day trip to Washington, DC and go visit everything that I wanted to. I went to the National Portrait Gallery to see a group exhibition that I thought sounded interesting when I was planning my day - Recognize: Hip Hop and Contemporary Portraiture. There I was introduced to Kehinde Wiley. A painter who works predominately with black male figures in his work, I was really drawn into his large scale paintings. A lot of pattern is used in the paintings, replacing a background in most cases.

Some of the paintings that were on display in the gallery were actually works commissioned by Vh1 for Hip Hop Honors 2005. The piece with Ice T was one that I particularly enjoyed, especially knowing the inspiration source for the work - Ingres, Napoleon on his Imperial Throne. Wiley pulls his poses and inspirations for his paintings from art history. That idea combined with his imagery puts black men into this position of power that is not very common throughout history. My favorite painting of the bunch was the one of LL Cool J. The green on the red background from farther away played with my perception of the colors, looking orange from a distance but red up close.


I think he's definitely someone to watch for.

Kehinde Wiley

Vh1 Hip Hop Honors 2005

well, i've been intensely working my butt off this semester and unfortunately didn't get to go on any excursions but i did hit up the new grad show in recitation. and its was pretty exciting none the less. so i'm gonna write about a two of the grad's cuz it was a small show. i was really excited about john northington's work... because i've seen some of the process but also bc it has a real industrial ugly/pretty thing going on. for example:

i just think its really interesting to use a material that is normally used for roads and sidewalks and make it into art and make it special and unique. i like how he changes the context in which the materials are existing in. i love the use of glass as an object not just something to see through! its pretty and green and smooth.

i also really liked this work by claudia Torres-Guillemard. its pretty exciting.

sorry for the late post

So when I went to NYC Priscilla took us to this awesome gallery called Bonni Benrubi. They were showing a camera obscura collection by Abelardo Morell. His images are SO AWESOME in person. This gallery really likes to use light boxes for its images which I think is fantastic. This is an example of what a camera obscura does.





Check out the site for yourself!
http://www.bonnibenrubi.com



Also back in the fall Priscilla took our class to go see the Camille Seaman exhibit in the Old College gallery. Her shots are amazing. Never before has a photograph taken my breath away until I saw her shots of Icebergs. The presentation she had before it was equally as breathtaking, especially with the choice of music she played with her slideshow. I highly recommend seeing her exhibit before it gets taken down. I really can't put into words the beauty of her photography so you will have to see it for yourself. **Not only is her show about art but also the effects of global warming.**






Camille Seaman
http://www.camilleseaman.com

better late than never?

Over the summer I saw a Tom Friedman show this summer in London, and I had never seen his work before, and never got a chance to talk about it much.(and i felt a sort of connection during the Franz West show)
http://www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/britannia-street-2008-05-tom-friedman/
one of the things that sticks in my mind were his collages, they are these seriously intricate fitting-together of things. Strange creatures were built out of this huge accumulation of pieces of images--, ephemeral, sometimes grotesque matter. It was just an incredible building up and such a meticulous construction that made me certain everything was in the right place. I was reminded of them in Baltimore, I was really drawn to his collages, the sticking together of things that created planes almost, and inherent narrative, and chattering back and forth between elements that have been smooshed together. West's seemed a bit more impulsive maybe, but I feel like both used a similar and somewhat calculated language.

Friedman made these crisply constructed sculptures, but it was again a building up, massing of material. what are we balancing inside? some of these things are also strange toys, but very pristine somehow, very crisp figures in space.

GRINGOLANDIA!!!!

So on the New York trip I got to see a super amazing fantastical installation done by a guy named Mickey Western (AKA Agent Martian)!

The installation called "Gringolandia" opened up at Honey Space in Chelsea around 21st street. The installation converted the whole space with only found objects off of the streets of New York. Little did I know that would include three TVs, a drum set, guitars, amps, and a SPACESHIP! (Just kidding but he really did build one inside) It was a very nice experience because I acutally had the privlidge to sit and speak with Mickey for about an hour and a half about his art and his life.

"I like to experience America like a poem," was one of his quotes that stuck out to me that really describes his way of living. He has a college degree or two and teaches poetry/english workshops for some money, yet he chooses to live like a vagrant. He wanders from place to place and makes art and music, and if you ask him where he is from Mickey will say, "I am from everywhere."

More Photos of Gringolandia:



As you can see this was an amazing space. They even had a bar!!! Crazy!! It was a very nice change of pace to go to a space like this and be able to converse with an artist. The installation is used for a lot of performance purpose. Mickey has a band and they hold a lot of events like poetry readings, ribbon dancing, and such there. All in all it was pretty damn amazing that he found and made that space. Probably with a little help but there were a lot of smaller handmade things there that were time intensive that he did make. My favorite were the paper cups that he drew portraits of people on with sharpie. The show is down now unfortunately but he is a good person to keep an eye out for in the art world. If you get the chance to speak with him I would shun you if you did not take it!

Mickey's Myspace:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=73515427

A site with a descrpition of the show that was:

http://www.nyartbeat.com/event/2008/554B

north? east?? south??? NO!!! WEST!!!

yes! FRANZ WEST!
So, oh well, everyone is and probably will be writing about the West retrospective, but what to ya do?? Thing is, I have seen other shows this fall (I work at all college! but who wants to write about glaciers?), but Franz West's sculptures where truly memorable. Being completely honest, I did not like his posters, at all, but his sculptures where truly interesting. The ones that where interactive, or had a history of past performance where great, but most of anything I loved the paper-mache and found object sculptures. My personal favorite was the v-shaped white closet with a black line and some weird thing on top of it. I also really enjoyed the blue lamp lounge, where I sat for at least 15 minutes. Since my personal interest has become spaces (I guess) I was really drawn to how his pieces transformed the space and how they called to interact. Oh, and shall I recall the greatness of the little green hands! Yes! The "can touch" or "interactive piece" green hands that were on the tags for those pieces that, well, one could touch or interact with. Green hands, how i love you.

So, this I loved:


This not so much:


And the ancient Hispanic, African and Asian art! How wonderful!!! Those actually got me really exited and gave me chills and all. Beautiful little things they are. I like!




http://www.artbma.org/collection/index.html
http://www.gagosian.com/artists/franz-west

the fuzzy eyeball needs squeegie, trim.

My dog is drinking water and it's so loud. lap lap lap luck lap lah lah lah lllllah llllllllllllllllaaaaaa.
There was an eye at MOMA. It is some installation that was being set up while we were there. Interestingly, the setting up part drew quite a crowd. More proof that process is more important than your puny final product. mu-ha ha ha.
Here is a quote from the final battle between process (YAY!) and final product(BOO!):

"Your powers are weak, old man"
"Strike me down now and I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine"





Here is a portrait of the back of Bill Deering's head:
don't let him know that you know his name or he'll stomp and stomp until he falls through the floor and disappears forever.....



Seriously, the installation was beautiful.. Better still looking down upon. That eye....sucks you in and blows you out all at the same time. Nevermind the projections. All about visual stimulation or over stimulation. the sense of sight plugged in, amplified, pre-packaged and injected with lots and lots of sugar.
If I can find the artist name i'll post it. As of yet, I kind of like that i don't know who made it.