The article is mostly about the architect Andrew Zago, the location and a description of the space. Great to see in the Times! Don't miss the slide show of artwork too!
..."By comparison, Mr. Zago draws inspiration from the squatters' houses, performance spaces, local bars and grass-roots art projects that have sprouted amid the disturbing stillness of the neighborhoods: a kind of forgotten underworld tucked into ruined houses and storefronts surrounded by lots that have been abandoned for so long that they have become overgrown fields."...nytimes
Don't forget downstairs at CAID is a group show of established Mexican artists - quite an opposite to the upstairs cranbrook show. The show of contemporary printmakers is a glimpse into the world of mexican art. I spent a lot of time talking with one of the curators, Gerardo Macias-Garcia (ccs grad), who said that this is some of the artists first time even showing in the US. Many of the artists are already being shown in Mexican museums so it is a rare chance to see some of these prints. All in all...I think it is strange because if I was not informed about the artists and background of the show I might pass by the works without giving them fair respect. To me the works, although contemporary, seem to be rich in traditional culture and printmaking practice. This show makes me want to look further into the contemporary art scene in mexico to see what else is happening.
If I borrow your spaceship will it take me to cranbrook?? Probably - that said, there is an excellent show of cranbrook artists at CAID curated by laith karmo, also a cranny alum. Despite my cranbrook cynicism, a couple of my favorite detroit artists are in this show and I even have a Ballen of my own at home! Detroit has its art cliques and each has there own style whether it is cranbrook's fluorescent conceptual design or wayne's past figurative/wilbert style or ccs' current installation works or the gritty detroit recycled objects...it is only so apparent in this city because it is so small - every group can be catalogued and stereotyped. ivin ballen...love, love his work and am glad he is still experimenting with taking new materials. this time deceiving the viewer with painted hydrocal with an inflated bag appearance.
Britton Tolliver - geez, how can this only be acrylic on panel? This piece is amazing in person...I wanted to lick all the colorful layers before they dripped off!
Chris Williams
sara blakeman - I was pleasantly surprised to see blakeman experimenting with drawing and mixing traditional materials with her usual puff-painted creations. I love the idea of having a drawing become a sculpture and move off the wall.
This drawing is taking a sculpture for a walk.... ...but I think the sculpture made an accident ;)
In conclusion: Riding in spaceships is fun unless you forget your helmet....and by helmet I mean art imagination.
I think I am starting to fall in love with Dan Steinhilber! I saw this piece posted on MAN this morning and would love to see this windy creation in person!
IVIN BALLEN, I.R.U.D., 2006 FIBERGLASS, ACRYLIC PAINT, 78 x 59 x 19
‘Can I borrow your spaceship?’: Ballen, Blakeman, Tolliver and Williams Opening Reception: Saturday, November 25, 2006 6 PM-10PM at CAID
“…geometric monstrosities and structuralization will supercede their own motives and be caught in an artificial purgatory.” –Britton Tolliver
‘Can I borrow your spaceship?’ features the work of Ivin Ballen, Sara Blakeman, Britton Tolliver and Chris Williams. Their imagined landscapes run the gamut of media, from paintings, to objects, to installations and murals. Using a combination of techniques the artists all attempt to transport the viewer from real space to their imagined landscapes and worlds. Visually many of these artists use appropriated imagery or visual tropes from 80’s and 90’s pop culture, sci-fi and video games.
There's a great show up at cranbrook right now - Space is the Place! I don't want to say too much to give it away...this is a show you need to experience. I think if I have to see a group show then it is all up to the curation of the show to bring it together and make it coherant and interesting - which this show did and included all mediums to express space exploration. This show left me feeling like I had gone back during the space race time!
jason rogenes - styrofoam and floresant lighting adam ross (above, below) I really loved these drawings.
steve roden - (wine bottles, cd player, speakers) In this piece the artist uses an old Soviet vinyl recording of Yuri Gagarin's broadcast from the first orbital flight in 1961. lia halloran (above, below)
aleksandra mir, First Woman on the Moon. This video is quite funny.....Go see the show!
So if you are familiar with the RejectEffect here in detroit you might want to take a look at this. Be sure to scroll down and watch the video of the team dressed in blue shirts as they infiltrate a Best Buy store in ny.
"Improv Everywhere is a group of agents (pranksters) based in NYC who organize missions (happenings) in public space. Their intent is to bring excitement to otherwise unexciting locales and give strangers a story they can tell for the rest of their lives. One of the group's latest missions took place in a Best Buy store and was carried out by more than 80 agents. The group met at Best Buy, all wearing blue polo shirts almost identical to the store's uniform where after they entered the store and began circulating." They did not claim to work at the store, however when a customer mistook them for an employee, they did their best to help out...
I was a little surprised at first by the show at Oakland University Gallery. In contrast from the last show of minimal ny drawing, the gallery was filled with art on the walls, on the floor and in cases. Without knowing what was in store for the evening, it looked like a flee market of arts and crafts. After reading the curator and artists' statement it was apparent that this wasn't your typical show. The idea behind the exhibition was to compare and contrast the collection of two artists and the art they make. To draw conclusions that one influenced one another is difficult but still apparent. They collect mainly folk, old world, and memorabilia art while Hall (former cranbrook sculptor in residence) makes clean form modern sculpture and Glascock makes fauvist-style colorful paintings and narrative drawings.
Hall This area behind the yellow chain ropes is a recreation of their drawing room and the art and furniture within it. Goody pointed out to me that some of the work in the room is estimated at $50k (like the oval painting)...which for me was surprising because some of it looked like art you would find at a garage sale ...but to tell the difference for me was nearly impossible!
Hall's models for public sculpture Hall Glascock
Glascock books...prints...memorabilia...small collectables... Cases and cases of their collection.
Mike Kelley Deodorized Central Mass with Satellites $2,074,000 Phillips, de Pury & Co. - great piece!...but this isn't something that you buy and can hang in your living room....although? hahaha...looks like it will go into storage or travel around or be donated to a museum. Todd Levin, the curator of the Sender Collection was mentioned again in an Artnet article relating to the recent Phillips contemporary art auction. Levin had commented in this blog about a month ago on art consulting and mentioned he was from detroit. "Both the Kelley and the Prince were reported to be among perhaps 10-20 lots being sold by hedge-fund manager Adam Sender, who has become a major player in the contemporary market while amassing a collection of some 800 artworks. Sender is the first hedge-fund collector to test the market with a substantial sell-off, though his curator Todd Levin has told reporters that the deaccessions are just part of a normal fine-tuning of his holdings. The 37-year-old Sender keeps a modest website for his art at www.sendercollection.com" (artnet)
Last night as I started in the direction downtown to 555 to see Tillman's curation of the "Ben Franklin Project" where each artist made a piece of work that would be priced at 100 bucks, I realized I only had time to either eat dinner or go downtown. I normally schedule weekend evenings around openings but last night was my big date with James....James Bond so I didn't have a lot of time before I had to get to the theater. People might be wondering why James...well, starting with Sean Connery, he has been there for me especially through the holidays when the Bond marathons start playing. It was weird, I felt guilty about turning around and choosing to eat dinner and not go to the opening. It was like I decided not to do my homework and I let the rest of the class down. But after I finished my sushi dinner I realized that I made the right choice. So sorry to those in the Franklin show, but I will be out tonight at Meadowbrook and Cranbrook....with my secret spy camera!
It not often that we detroiters get to experience performance art...so I jumped at the chance last night and went to Marygrove College to see "Short and Sweet" - an evening of short performance works by local artists. I didn't really know what to expect seeing I didn't know who would even be performing. Do I know any performance artists in the area...humm...no, I couldn't say I did. But once there, I spotted melanie manos and knew that I would be in for an entertaining evening. I enjoyed the night so much that it would be nice to see more venues hold performance art based works...come on let's get hip to the scene here! Below are a few short segment clips of the acts...but I warn you, you really have to see the full performance to understand and enjoy the works. Each artist brought something completely different to the stage!
In "Getting Layered", Manos puts on layer after layer of clothing. Normally you might associate getting on stage with taking off clothing but Manos creates a humorous act of putting on ridiculous amounts of layers to prepare for the cold. It becomes a compulsive routine where in the end she has every possible form of winter accessory on plus a wind up radio that flashes, chapstick, sunglasses, sunblock...and the list goes on.
You might have heard of Jawbone - the one man blues band and if you haven't you should definitely try and catch one of his performances. He does it all...sings while playing the harmonica, plays guitar, uses on foot to bang on a "cardboard box base drum" and the other on a cymbal. It is kind of like if Jack White got even more manic and kicked Meg out and decided to make all his music by himself...and at the same time. Jawbone has some crazy rhythm to keep all that going at the same time!
Nick Tobier's "hmm hmm boom" took a few moments for the audience to catch on to. Nick, dressed in business attire - a suit with a brief case, started by having some "technical difficulty" with his computer connection and video projection. The confusion and frustration of video technology then stretched on with Nick only saying "hmmm" and other short nonsensical words and reacting to his computer noises. It was apparent that the "problems" were not problems at all but the whole piece was a silent spoof, almost Charlie Chaplin style, of a business presentation gone array. (sorry about the sideways movie format...I couldn't figure out how to rotate the videos)
In "Desperate Times Call for Desperate Pleasures" Jim Leija reinacts past memories in a theatrical, humorous way. First off the clip is not the best in describing the performance as a whole but he told two stories, one more humorous about his time in chicago and another about visiting a cathedral in europe. Jim also has an amazing voice...the second act he broke out with singing parts that related to the story telling. Nick describes his work..."as situational. If there's a situation, I'll try and interrupt it with something that is gently out of place - an aberrant gesture, a curious movement, a mis-used object."
I discovered this artist - DIANA AL - HADID at the Happy Lion Gallery site. Her sculptures are somewhere between fantasy, fairy-tale buildings and castles and decaying ancient ruins. The piece above is amazing!!
I am interested to see "Short and Sweet Performance Art: Four 12 minute works by Detroit-area performance artists at Marygrove College. Show starts at 7:30. Also... There is a Richard Tuttle lecture at College For Creative Studies at 7:30. Looks like you will have to pick one or the other :(
Willem de Kooning, Untitled XXX, 1977. I might think the world of de kooning but it is weird to think that art can sell for millions of dollars! $10,656,000 Sotheby’s New York Nov. 15, 2006
I got this book over the weekend, Collecting Contemporaryand it has so far been an interesting read. It is one of those books you can read here and there and don't feel intimidated of - plus it is a pretty book to have on your coffee table to impress all your friends..."so, you collect contemporary art?"... It isn't over-your-head artsy either which I like. It is good for us artists because there are interviews with the top dealers and they give insight into why they pick the artists they do. Some of the contributing interviews are:
...the biggest players in the global art market: the Critic (Rimanelli), the Dealer (Boesky, Deitch, Gagosian, Gladstone, Hetzler, Rosen, Shave), the Consultant (Cortez, Fletcher, Heller, Segalot, Westreich), the Collector (Brant, Broad, Joannou, Lambert, Lehmann, Miller, Pinault, Saatchi), the Auction House Expert (Cappellazzo, de Pury, Meyer), and the Museum Curator/Director (Dennison, Eccles, Heiss, Peyton-! Jones, Lowry)
This issue of ARTnews has a section called "Over 30/Under 30" - established artists choose younger figures whose work interests, intrigues, or provokes them. Let's see if these artists provoke us.
charwei tsai matthew schenning eduardo navarro kamrooz aram barney kulok elin hansdottir ivan civic The mag also has a nice story on Beverly McIver who's show I was able to catch in ny the last time I was there. All of the clown paintings are taken from pictures of her dressed in clown costume. While growing up, beverly joined "clown-club" in a mostly white high school - while in costume beverly recalls, " I could forget that I was poor and black and could have a larger positive reception than when I was just myself". (artnews) She now lives in boston after moving from arizona (former teacher at arizona state) and is working on a new series documenting her mother's passing, while taking care of her older mentally challenged sister. Sounds like some emotionally charged paintings coming.
Is it worth the three hour drive...yes! I had been to moca cleveland about a little over a year ago (thus the green trees pic above - I forgot to get an establishing shot this time) but not to see any certain show in particular. This time it was mission: dana schutz. I attended her lecture at ccs and fell even more in love with her paintings so I knew I had to go see her works in person. And it is well worth it to see them in person: the works are highly textural with plops of oil paint and painterly hatching strokes of flourescent, intense color. The color was even better in person: better than any picture I have seen on the internet and the layout of the massive show was quite impressive. Her giant paintings filled two massive exhibition spaces. Although the museum had many "eyes" I was able to take some pics of the show in hopes to lure more people to attend the show. So GO, GO!
Here's a great example of the built up layers and oil clumps on the surface!
"...Meditations in an Emergency presents a few moments of real refinement and fragility. But the exhibit's also bewildering. If it's supposed to say something about the contemporary art scene — with a machine that plops out gooey sculpture, a video of flower petals trailing off a body like tears and a "plywood paradise" of cuddly creatures — it says that, in these tough times, artists have gone soft." Mazzei
And then there was magsig.... I think I am finally getting to the end of my weekend gallery openings to post but I am losing steam as I go. I know waa-whaa... Magsig used to be rep'd by lemberg but he has turned to klein now for representation. I had no idea he lives right in my neck of the woods, ferndale and also is rep'd in a ny gallery. Frankly I am not a photorealist junky but I did enjoy the "la" piece and the other close up signage paintings - they had more personality. Next post: primary space.
"So what, they are just grey paintings." That's what some may think upon entering kotula's space but art isn't always easy and the answers don't always appear without investigation. I was able to speak with schutter, recent grad of chicago university about his recent works. Schutter, thoughtful and inquisitive, used another traditional masterpiece as his starting point to create his atmospheric landscapes. His traditional painting background influenced everything from the subject matter to the oil painting application. Once you start to stare off into the grey paintings you see that they are not truly grey but soft gradients of color and value that make shadowy and dreamscapes. It is like you can almost see the setting sun and mountains off in the distance but you will have to see for yourself! detail detail Here is an example of the traditional influence in schutter's works and a helpful press release: "The subject of this exhibition is the painting Haarlem, from the Northwestern Dunes by 17th Century Dutch Master, Jacob van Ruisdael (1628/29-1682). In a series of muted tonal paintings, the same scale and material as the original work, Schutter formulates not a replication, but a re-creation of the master's work. Like his graphite on mylar drawings, Schutter's enigmatic compositions elicit thoughts about the phenomenology of "historical being."' drawings - graphite on mylar
From what I gathered from the artist, these drawing occur during the process of painting other works and act as studies for the brush strokes and subtleties within the grey compositions. The drawings, assertive with contrast and swirling, tornado-like lines capture the building block mark-making of the paintings yet are like a ying-yang of the monotoned pieces.
Alumni & Faculty Hall: Celebrity Makeovers by Reject Effect - an artists' collective feature maria prainito and tim gaewsky. (above ryan seacrest) These photo-collages are the type of work that need more than just a glance. Some might say..."oh, I used to doodle on my TV Guide or People magazine" but it is the presentation and the act of making these deliberate mockeries that interest me. They appear to be ripped out magazine pages that have been purposefully scribbled on and then re-printed. They act as a derogatory statement on the "industry's" need for perfection, and how celebrities/media culture will do anything to change themselves including all sorts of plastic surgery and photo-airbrushing. So isn't it the best commentary to have artists distort the truth of their "flawless" personas? I thought these were really smart pieces and well worth checking out.
Great night down at ccs! This show consisted of ccs woodward lecture series visitors/alumi.
emmet gowin john torreano - I love his work: it reminds me of a science experiment turned into art. I heard from someone that he is also a stand-up comic...love him even more! joyce tenneson lynda benglis - recently shown at hilberry tony hepburn rackstraw downes tom sachs carrie mae weems michael lucero
martha wilson bruce davidson marshall arisman thomas nozkowski dawoud bey guillermo gomez-pena dana schutz - this was just a woodblock print...I would have loved to have seen a real painting but I heard that dana has aggrements with the galleries she is rep'd by, so sadly no painting. leonardo drew alex katz - I have to say this might be the least interesting katz piece I have seen...didn't even know it was katz till I saw the list. elizabeth murray michele oka doner collected books/catalogs by michael kimmelman, kertess..... brenda goodman The perfect "ass detail" - I love brenda goodman and was happy to see this one! dale chihuly- Weird, I expected a chihuly glass piece but was pleasantly suprised by this painting on paper that was created at ccs during a student workshop.
It was weekend packed of openings so I will start off with Alley Culture...be sure to keep checking back for the rest of the shows! kirill slavin paul biundo hong chong alana carlson
alana carlson - super man, this piece at first startled me...it would have been great to see a show just of these hunched over figures. francis brazeau
Detroit Notations features works selected by gallery curator, Narine Kchikian, from the local art collection of Shirley and Frank Piku. All artists in this exhibit have contributed significantly to the Detroit art scene and currently live, or have previously lived, in the Detroit area.
Lucy Arai Michele Oka Doner Brenda Goodman Ted Hadfield Christine Hagedorn Tony Hepburn Lester Johnson Aris Koutroulis Gary Kulak Donald Lipski Charles McGee Heather McGill Sandra Osip Sharon Que Gilda Snowden Joseph Wesner Albert Young
Opening Friday, November 3 from 6-8pm College for Creative Studies' CENTER GALLERIES presents:
In the Main Gallery: "CCS at 100: Woodward Lecture Series Alumni" An exhibition of work by the distinguished guests of the CCS Woodward Lecture Series since its inception in 1998. The exhibition includes work by:
Vito Acconci Marshall Arisman Larry Bell Lynda Benglis Dawoud Bey Dale Chihuly Lynne Cooke Juan Coronel Rivera Bruce Davidson Rackstraw Downes Leonardo Drew David Ebony Larry Fink Guillermo Gómez-Peña Brenda Goodman Emmet Gowin Rudy Gutierrez Tony Hepburn Kristin Jones & Andrew Ginzel Alex Katz Rick Kaufmann Klaus Kertess Michael Kimmelman Michael Lucero Carlo McCormick Elizabeth Murray Forrest Myers Thomas Nozkowski Michele Oka Doner Dennis Oppenheim Albert Paley Michael Rush Tom Sachs Peter Schjeldahl Carolee Schneemann Dana Schutz Franklin Sirmans Joyce Tenneson John Torreano Richard Tuttle Steina Vasulka Carrie Mae Weems Marjorie Welish Martha Wilson Toots Zynsky
In Alumni & Faculty Hall: "Celebrity Makeovers" by RejectEffect, an artists' collective featuring Maria Prainito and Tim Gaewsky, from the CCS Fine Arts Department.
Her sculptures are 
