Artsource Notes
Check back here from time to time to get updates on what we like, exhibits to see, and art related ideas. If you’re interested in more information about what you see here, please email us.
Wednesday February 1, 2012
Notes from Sundance…
The convergence of art and film at Sundance was alive and well this year. The New Frontier (projects that push the boundaries of storytelling and film) section of the Festival includes both films and an exhibition space. Focus on contemporary art continued in the acclaimed documentaries selections with two films about the lives of artists: Marina Abramovic The Artist is Present and the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Prize winning film Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry - a revealing look into the life and work of the Chinese artist/political activist.
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry TEASER from Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry on Vimeo.
The screening of Eve Sussman’s whiteonwhite:algorithmicnoir in a film festival setting as opposed to a gallery clearly highlighted the difference between art and film. whiteonwhite:algorithmicnoir is an algorithmically generated edit of a complex and futuristic story set in Kazakhstan. Because each screening of the film relies on combinations of image, voice over and music as selected by the algorithm, no viewing is the ever same…at times the edits are clumsy and others, poetic.
The audience seemed uncomfortable with this concept; most viewers couldn’t understand why the artist wouldn’t take the best edit possible and fix it there. My favorite moment in the Q & A was when Sussman explained that she was inspired by the possibility of the ‘random’ edits…further explaining that the algorithm made edits she could never have thought of herself; is about discovery for her. How brave is that?
source: http://www.rufuscorporation.com photo: Eve Sussman
From the Sundance Film Guide: …Eve Sussman/Rufus Corporation… designed a kind of filmmaking robot—a custom, programmed computer dubbed the “Serendipity Machine” that uses key words to select seamlessly from 3,000 film clips shot in central Asia, 80 voice-overs, and 150 pieces of music to create an ethereal narrative that follows a geophysicist named Holz (Jeff Wood). Holz is stuck in a 1970s-looking metropolis called City-A, whose citizenry are subject to various unusual restrictions. Through voice-over dialogues, wire-tapped telephone conversations, and snippets of Holz’s job interview with his employer, a mysterious woman referred to simply as Dispatch, it becomes evident that Holz is controlled by the factory and city where he works, just as his fate is dictated by the machine editing the film.
In the New Frontier exhibtion space…
Marco Brambilla
Evolution (Megaplex), 2010
3-D High Definition disc
Color, sound
03:04 min., loop
Still from Evolution (Megaplex) source: marcobrambilla.com
Brambilla’s first work to be executed in stereoscopic 3D Evolution (Megaplex) is a 3 minute side-scrolling video collage that tells the story of human history – yes, for real… through Hollywood blockbuster clips. Through some technological feat, Brambilla weaves moments from films such as “Ghandi”, “The Ten Commandments”, “A Clockwork Orange” and “King Kong” into one seamless and apocalyptic moving, mural-like image…in 3D to boot. Fantastic!
Hank Willis Thomas and Chris Johnson in collaboration with Bayeté Ross Smith and Kamal Sinclair
Question Bridge: Black Males
An innovative video installation created by artists Hank Willis Thomas and Chris Johnson in collaboration with Bayeté Ross Smith and Kamal Sinclair after traveling around the country interviewing 150 Black men in eleven cities. They created 1,500 videos of conversations with men representing a range of geographic, generational, economic, and educational levels. They then wove the conversations together to simulate a stream-of-consciousness dialogue, allowing important themes and issues to emerge, including family, love, interracial relationships, community, education, violence, and the past, present, and future of Black men in American society. – Oakland Museum of California
Trailer 2 from Question Bridge on Vimeo.
From the Sundance Film Guide:
Dissolving the distinction among subject, audience, and author, the visionary transmedia project, Question Bridge: Black Males, creates a uniquely vulnerable and intimate dialogue among black men nationwide, initiating a new kind of social network. In Question Bridge: Black Males, black men go to a safe space and record their questions, which are then answered by other men who may live miles away. The footage is evocatively presented in various ways, ranging from beautiful sculptural environments to Web forums and geolocative hotspots across the country.
Also on view at Oakland Museum, Brooklyn Museum and Salt Lake City Arts Center.
- JBK
Monday January 30, 2012
To Do List: February
Since the New York Times recently listed Oakland as number 5 on their list of 45 places to go in 2012, we thought we’d highlight art to see in the town across the Bay.
Friday 2/3, 6-9 pm Oakland Art Murmur First Friday Telegraph between 22 – 25th Street: Every First Friday of the month about 20 galleries located within a few blocks of each other in Oakland’s Uptown neighborhood stay open late. The galleries overflow with people onto the Street to watch performers, and to eat from the many food carts that also set up in the area. Less crowded is the Saturday Stroll when the same galleries are also open every Saturday from 1-5pm and often have the artists present to speak about the work or offer tours of the exhibits.
people in the streets at Art Murmur
Friday 2/3, 7-11pm, The Great Wall film screenings, West Grand Avenue between Broadway and Valley Street: Every First Friday during the Oakland Art Murmur, the Great Wall of Oakland, a 100′ x 100′ projection installation illuminates the Uptown District with cutting-edge motion art from around the world. For February the theme is All About Love.
Great Wall of Oakland source: Alva Films
Friday 2/8 & 2/25, 7:00 pm Mills College Art Museum Lecture Series, Danforth Lecture Hall, 5000 MacArthur Blvd.: Los Angeles based artist Jennifer Steinkamp uses computer animation and new media to create projection installations that explore architectural space, motion and phenomenological perception. On February 8th she will give a lecture about her work. Then on Thursday 2/25, Apsara Diquinzio, assistant curator of painting and sculpture at SFMOMA will be featured in the Mills College Art Museum lecture series.
Jennifer Steinkamp, Madame Curie, 2011 installation at the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art.
Source: www.jsteinkamp.com
Ongoing to July 8th, Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak Street, Question Bridge: Black Males: This innovative video installation was created by artists Hank Willis Thomas and Chris Johnson in collaboration with Bayete Ross Smith and Kamal Sinclair after traveling around the country interviewing 150 Black men in eleven cities. They created 1,500 videos of conversations with men representing a range of geographic, generational, economic and educational levels. Then wove the conversations together to simulate a stream-of-consciousness dialogue, allowing important themes and issues to emerge, including family, love, interracial relationships, community, education, violence and the past, present and future of Black men in American society.
still from Question Bridge: Black Males source: www.museumca.org
Friday January 27, 2012
Phenomenal in San Diego
Phenomenal, is an exceptionally beautiful exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego. It is open for a few more days (until 2/5) in the San Diego buildings, but is closed in the La Jolla location. The exhibition is an opportunity to see the stars of the California Light and Space movement. Downtown is a work by Doug Wheeler who was recently profiled in the New York Times, as well as outstandingly displayed work by James Turrell, Robert Irwin, Larry Bell and others.
Douglas Wheeler, 1968/2011 white UV neon light, Source: SDMCA
The opportunity to see an Irwin acrylic disk, not lit by the 4 lights that are normally used, but rather simply and perfectly solely by natural light from the skylight above is memorable.
Robert Irwin, 1969, Acrylic lacquer on formed acrylic plastic, 53 in. diameter x 3 in. deep, Source: SDMCA
Coming up in San Diego, again in all 3 of the buildings is Isaac Julien: Ten Thousand Waves, an exhibition we saw and thought was great when it was in Miami.
Isaac Julien 2010 Installation view, The Hayward Gallery, London Nine screen installation, 35mm film, transferred to High Definition 9.2 surround sound, 49' 41" Courtesy of the artist, Metro Pictures, New York and Victoria Miro Gallery, London, Source: SDMCA
February 25 – December 1, 2012
Wednesday January 11, 2012
Spotlight on Los Angeles Jan 12-29
If you find yourself in Los Angeles in the next couple weeks there’s a lot going on, here are a few things to check out:
Photo L.A., January 12 – 16, Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. This is the 21st edition of this fair that features fine art photography from around the globe. The fair includes vintage masterworks and contemporary photography, as well as video and multimedia installations.
Anthony Friedkin, Woman by the Pool, Beverly Hills Hotel, 1975 source: www.photola.com
Art Los Angeles Contemporary Art Fair, January 19-22 at the Barker Hangar, 3021 Airport Avenue, Santa Monica. Next week is the opening of the Art Los Angeles Contemporary art fair that presents established blue-chip and top emerging galleries from the US and abroad.
A.L.A.C. in the Barker Hangar
The Affordable Art Fair Los Angeles, at the Event Deck at L.A. LIVE, 1005 West Chick Hearn Court in downtown Los Angeles. The Affordable Art Fair presents contemporary art priced from $100 – $10,000 with half of the work under $5,000.
Event Deck at L.A. Live
Pacific Standard Time Performance and Public Art Festival, January 19-29 In conjunction with the current Pacific Standard Time initiative, LAXART and the Getty Research Institute have organized a performance and public art festival. Throughout the 11-day festival, a group of new public artworks will be on view throughout the city. On Sunday, January 22nd 11:00 am – 1:00pm Lita Albuquerque’s Spine of the Earth 2012 will be performed in the hills above Culver City at the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook. This is just one of the many performances of the festival.
Lita Albuquerque's earthwork "Spine of the Earth", 1980
Santa Monica Museum of Art, Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave, Santa Monica. Adam Berg: Endangered Spaces, January 14 – February 25th. “Santa Monica Museum of Art presents Adam Berg: Endangered Spaces, a new, multi-dimensional video, sculpture, and photo installation created for SMMoA that explores the relationship between man-made environments and displaced wildlife. In this work, Berg identifies a parallel future between endangered animals and threatened architectural spaces; he also investigates the impact historical architectural designs have on popular perceptions of primitive and domestic identities.” – SMMoA
Adam Berg, Endangered Space: Beyer House, 2011
Definitely a must see is Chris Burden’s Metropolis II at LACMA, opening January 14th. Metropolis II is an intense and complex kinetic sculpture, modeled after a fast paced, frenetic modern city. According to Burden, “The noise, the continuous flow of the trains, and the speeding toy cars, produces in the viewer the stress of living in a dynamic, active and bustling 21st Century city.” – LACMA
-KCH
Tuesday January 3, 2012
To Do List: January
This month we are highlighting exhibits where artists create work from discarded or everyday and industrial materials. Then, if you’re feeling inspired we’ve listed a couple ways you can get creative too.
January 20 & 21st San Francisco Dump, 503 Tunnel Ave, Artist in Residence Exhibition opening. Did you know that the SF Dump has an art program? The Artist in Residence Program at Recology SF is a one-of-a-kind program where artists work for four months in studio space on site, use materials recovered from the Public Disposal and Recycling Area, and speak to students and the general public. The program at Recology SF will host an exhibition and reception for current artists-in-residence Terry Berlier, Donna Anderson Kam, and Ethan Estess on Friday, January 20, from 5-9pm and Saturday, January 21, from 1-5pm.
top: Terry Berlier's work and studio bottom: Donna Anderson Kam's studio and work at the Recology Artist in Residence Program
Ongoing until March 10, 2012 Museum of Craft and Folk Art, 51 Yerba Buena Lane. Visit Randy Colosky’s exhibit Fiat Lux of newly commissioned work. Trained in traditional ceramics and building construction, Colosky freely incorporates anything within his intellectual and physical reach to make his art. His practice is both conceptual and material-driven, and the artist works with exacting physicality using commonplace and industrial materials.
Two newly commissioned works by Randy Colosky. Source: MOCFA
Two newly commissioned works by Randy Colosky. Source: MOCFA
Take an Art class at Root Division, 3175 17th Street. From drawing and painting to sewing and t-shirt screen printing, Root Division’s Art Education Program offers highly innovative and affordable art classes. Root Division’s Studio Artists, as well as other Bay Area professional artists, guide students through a variety of art processes, and it all happens in a friendly & engaging environment. The classes & workshops are the perfect length for the busy and non-committal, while allowing enough time for students to leave with a handmade masterpiece and sense of accomplishment!
Make it at MOCFA, Saturday, January 14th, 51 Yerba Buena Lane, 2-4pm with artist Stan Peterson. Come get your hands dirty at this family friendly event. “Construction is collaboration” is a quote from Randy Colosky, the artist featured in the current exhibition. Guest folk artist Stan Peterson will lead this workshop.
Thursday December 8, 2011
Miami Highlights
This year marked the 10th Anniversary of Art Basel Miami Beach, one of the most important art fairs in the United States. Along with Art Basel, there are about 16 other art fairs that happen at the same time. Artsource Consulting was in Miami for the fairs and found promising work at the NADA, Pulse, Aqua and Art Basel fairs. Here are some highlights:
Views of Art Basel Miami
Sculptural works at Art Basel
Sarah Braman’s formalist assemblages combine sections of a scavenged materials with tinted Plexiglas, to make work that is not only formalist but contains a social element.
Sarah Braman sculpture at Mitchell-Innes & Nash
Conrad Shawcross seeks to visually represent the mathematics of sound. The artist devised a machine, adapted from the harmonograph: an instrument popularised in Victorian times consisting of two adjustable pendulums swinging at right angles to one another. Rather than using a fixed drawing surface, he pulls a scroll of paper across the swinging plate to create a long oscillation that tapers away as the motion of the pendulums decreases. The bronze sculptures take this same principle into three dimensions, rendering sound in sculptural form.
Conrad Shawcross sculptures and drawings
Peter Liversidge typed and framed the description of his piece that hangs below the sculpture in the gallery booth: “I propose to install a single sign within booth A17 at Art Basel Miami Beach. The sign would be installed above head height. The sign would have the ability to be on 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The letters would be formed by lines of bulbs, which would be no more than 25 watt, the bulbs would read: ABRACADABRA. Abracadabra in it’s dictionary definition is given as: a spoken formula, used esp. by conjurors. Latin/Aramaic; Abra – ‘to create’ Cadabra – ‘as I say. Trans/: Abracadabra; ‘create as I say’.”
Peter Liversidge at Sean Kelly Gallery
During the fairs, artists open their studios for visitors. Whale & Star, the studio of Enrique Martinez Celaya, seems more like a small museum than a typical artist studio. The cuban born artist was first a scientist, completing his Ph.D. in Quantum Electronics at the University of California, Berkeley, before his decision to leave a career in science for art. For Celaya it was important that Whale & Star was more than just his private studio and to participate in something broader than the artworld. At present, Whale & Star has an internationally recognized imprint, maintains a project of public lectures by art historians and philosophers, hosts several working visits each year for poor and at-risk children, and offers a few scholarships to important educational institutions.
Views of Enrique Martinez Celaya's Miami studio Whale & Star
large scale paintings in Celaya's studio Whale & Star
Unique to Miami are the large private collection museums. During the fairs they have special exhibitions and performances for visitors. We visited the Rubell Family Collection and participated in Jennifer Rubell’s breakfast installation “Incubation”. Trained as a chef the artist is renowned for investigating the creative process via audience participation. The performance/installation offers visitors a morning jar of yogurt made on-site from a lab-born “culture”: inside a fabricated lab, two nurses oversee the process and slowly pass the results through a slot to spectators, who then hold up their jar to a ceiling pedestal dripping golden local honey.
Jennifer Rubell's breakfast installation "Incubation"
Watch a video of visitors interacting with Jennifer Rubell’s “Incubation”.
Also part of Art Basel, Art Public presents outdoor sculptures, interactive performances, site-specific installations, and public artworks within an open and public exhibition format. We enjoyed Jen DeNike’s performance “Lemanja” on the beach. The center of the performance forms a star-shaped sandcastle on the beach, around which seven women worship the Brazilian sea goddess lemanja, with dance and song. DeNike’s performance piece celebrates the ritual life that formed the basis of most ancient cultures that few people today understand.
Jen DeNike's performance Lemanja at Art Public
-KCH
Monday November 28, 2011
To Do List: December
For our December To Do List, we have something for everyone. Are you looking to give the gift of art? Both the Creativity Explored Holiday Art Sale and the SF Camerawork Benefit Auction are great opportunities. If you need to escape the holiday bustle, take in the artist talk at Haines Gallery or see the More American Photographs show at the CCA Wattis Institute. Finally, if you have out of town guests, make sure to stop at SFMOMA to dazzle them with Jim Campbell’s site specific piece Exploded Views. Enjoy!
December 2-22nd – Holiday Art Sale at Creativity Explored, 3245 16th Street: Creativity Explored is a nonprofit visual arts center where over 130 artists with developmental disabilities create, exhibit and sell art. For the sale the studio will be filled with original prints, paintings, drawings, ceramics, sculptures and textiles, as well as seasonal items like note-cards and artist made wrapping paper. Opening weekend hours are Friday 12/2 6:00 – 9:00pm, Saturday-Sunday 12/3rd-4th 12noon – 5:00pm.
The studio at Creativity Explored
December 3rd – SF Camerawork Auction, 657 Mission Street, 2nd floor, Live Auction at 1pm: If you’re looking for photography there are many pieces to choose from while supporting SF Camerawork. SF Camerawork is a non-profit artists organization whose purpose is to stimulate dialogue, encourage inquiry and communicate ideas about contemporary photography. SF Camerawork’s Benefit Auction of vintage and contemporary prints is on view now, culminating in a live auction at 1pm on December 3rd. Doors open at 11 am. View the auction catalog here.
Artists in the Auction: Anne Collier, Reid Yalom and Todd Hido
December 14th – 5:30 – 7:30, Haines Gallery, 49 Geary Street 5th Floor: See Leslie Shows’ current exhibit Split Array at Haines Gallery and stay for the conversation between the artist and Lawrence Rinder, Director of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. Learn how she photo realistically constructs her mixed media paintings based on pyrite rocks – more commonly known as fool’s gold. The results are beautifully luminous paintings on aluminum panels that use sheets of plexiglass, inks, mylar, crushed glass, metal dust and engraving.
Leslie Shows, Face M, ink, acrylic, paper, aluminum leaf, and engraving on aluminum
On view until December 17th –, More American Photographs, at CCA Wattis Institute, 1111 Eighth Street: This exhibit features historical photographs from the Depression-era Farm Security Administration’s photography program, which commissioned photographers to document the rural poor of America. Curators Jens Hoffmann and Jana Blankenship commissioned 12 contemporary artists to travel the U.S. for a year and document the impact of today’s “great recession”. Installed together along with FSA photography program objects and documents, this project aims to update the FSA file, showing how some parts of America have floundered while others have flourished. Special talk with photographer William E. Jones on Wednesday 12/7 at 7:00pm.
Photographs by: John Vachon, Sharon Lockhart, William E. Jones and Hank Willis Thomas
Ongoing at SFMOMA – Jim Campbell’s Exploded Views, 151 3rd Street: “This new installation by acclaimed San Francisco-based artist Jim Campbell explodes the moving image into three dimensions, illuminating the Haas Atrium with a flickering grid of light that is part sculpture, part cinematic screen. Thousands of computer-controlled LED sphere create the illusion of fleeting shadow like figures that dissolve and resolve as one moves around and beneath the suspended, chandelier like matrix. Exploded Views investigates the nuances of perception through a series of four different films, changing every two months, the first of which is a collaboration with Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet.” – SFMOMA
Watch the video of Jim Campbell describing the process of creating this piece by clicking here.
View of Exploded Views from SFMOMA's 2nd floor landing source: SFMOMA/Ayesha Ghosh
Tuesday November 1, 2011
To Do List: November
People often ask us, “what should I go see/do/check out this month?” So we decided to create a monthly “To Do List” with a few select art exhibits or events happening in the Bay Area. Don’t worry, we won’t overwhelm you, but if you find yourself with some free time, check these things out!
November 3 – November 6, 2990 San Pablo Ave, Berkeley: “Kalassal” Art Sale at the Kala Art Institute & Gallery. Half-off art by past and present artists affiliated with Kala. A great opportunity to get original artwork for low prices while supporting an important Berkeley art organization.
November 12th, 3:00-5:00pm, Electric Works 130 8th Street, San Francisco: 75 years ago on November 12th, the Bay Bridge opened to traffic. Sip champagne while artists Amanda Hughen and Jennifer Starkweather talk about riding to the top of the new Bay Bridge tower to create work for their exhibit Approach, Transition, Touchdown: The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge Project. If you can’t make the talk, the exhibit is up through November 23rd.
Hughen/Starkweather, Original Bridge, 2011 archival pigment print. Source: Electric Works
Ongoing to December 8th Sun-Thurs, noon to 5pm, Headlands Center for the Arts, Fort Barry Marin Headlands: The Project Space at the Headlands Center for the Arts featuring Katherine McLeod and Paul Santoleri is open to the public Sun – Thurs noon to 5pm. This is a unique part of the Artist in Residence program at Headlands, wherein two 180 sq ft studios are open to the public. Visitors are encouraged to interact with the artists, ask questions, explore their studios and get an insider’s view into the artistic process. Visit towards the end of the month to see more art produced.
Paul Santoleri installation in Philadelphia, PA. Source: www.headlands.org
November 11 to April 8, 2012, Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin Street & YBCA 701 Mission Street, San Francisco: Three perspectives on Indian Art, one old world Maharaja: The Splendor of India’s Royal Courts, one new world Deities, Demons and Dudes with ‘Staches: Indian Avatars by Sanjay Patel. Then, for even more Indian Art go to the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts to see The Matter Within: New Contemporary Art of India.
(L)Portrait of Amar Singh II, 1700-1750 (R)Sanjay Patel Majaraja illustration Source: www.asianart.org
Installation view of The Matter Within at YBCA Source: www.artbusiness.com
- KCH
Tuesday October 25, 2011
Thoughts about Innovation in Bay Area Art
Jody speaks to group at Marx & Zavattero featuring Yoon Lee
A private wealth advisor reached out to us as he was searching for a resource to bring to his select list of private clients. Once a year, he plans an event that brings his clients knowledge and ideas on subjects that they might not have experience with. He asked us to speak about Bay Area art in context with the larger world of art. Tessa and I talked about a lot of ideas but kept coming back to one: innovation. While the Bay Area is not a major commercial hub like New York, we can claim a reputation for innovation and a dissemination of ideas.
The work of San Francisco artist, Yoon Lee at Marx & Zavattero was the perfect backdrop for this discussion. Lee received her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and has participated in some of the Bay Area’s renown non-profit arts programs that support emerging artists. Marx & Zavattero is deeply supportive of Bay Area alternative art spaces and is dedicated to serious artists with singular voices. Their roster speaks for itself.
The story of Eadweard Muybridge so eloquently told in Rebecca Solnit’s book, River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West begins this story of innovation. At the turn of the century, Eadweard Muybridge was working in the Bay Area as a photographer. This was a time of great technological development in the West…as Solnit describes; train travel literally changed how we experienced time. Hired by Leland Stanford to decisively prove whether all four hooves of a race horse were airborne at once, Muybridge began an experimental body of work that ultimately became the foundation for motion graphics.
Selden Connor Gile, Boat and Yellow Hills, n.d., oil on canvas. Source: Oakland Museum of California
In the twenties, the Society of Six, a ground breaking group of Oakland painters is often referred to as “the most important modernist development that occurred in this country ” according to William Gerdts in this book American Impressionism. With their unified dedication to color focused work that emphasized light and the landscape they laid the ground work for another generation of innovators like Richard Diebenkorn and Wayne Thiebaud.
The California School of Fine Arts which in the 60′s became the San Francisco Art Institute, was a at the core of many new ideas in art in Northern California. After World War II it became the nucleus for Abstract Expressionism with faculty such as Clyfford Still who is known for laying the groundwork for the movement, and Mark Rothko who is considered one of the most important American post-war painters.
Clyfford Still, Untitled (PH-118), 1947, oil on canvas. Source: clyffordstillmuseum.com
David Park and Elmer Bischoff – also faculty at that time – while initially devoted to Abstract Expressionism, abandoned it in favor of figuration which spawned a two generation movement – Bay Area Figurative Movement – with extraordinary influence on future artists, perhaps the most well known being Richard Diebenkorn.
Richard Diebenkorn, Cityscape I, (Landscape No. 1), 1963, Oil on canvas. Source: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
The 70′s, an era defined by socio-political unrest was heady time in the Bay Area. Paul Kos, David Ireland and Tom Marioni, artists whose innovative approaches to concept-driven work while uniquely their own, shared themes of time and space. With a limited number of exhibition spaces for young work, and more students graduating from art schools, the 70′s marked a growth in non-profit and alternative spaces many of which thrive today. A fundamental commitment to experimentation and support for emerging work continues to define the Bay Area.
The San Francisco Art Institute continued its influence in the 1990′s by spawning a group of artists who ultimately became known as the Mission School (a term coined by Glen Helfand in 2002). Artists such as Barry McGee and Margaret Kilgallen whose expression was largely defined by the street culture of the Mission incorporated murals, graffiti, comic and cartoon art, folk art and even sign painting in their work. This work ultimately opened doors for the legitimization of street art by the fine art world.
Barry McGee, Untitled, 1994-1998, The Luggage Store, SF, photograph by David M. Allen. source: Creative Work Fund
More than a century later, innovation in technology has a whole new identity. In the early 1990′s Campbell and artist Alan Rath were the first artists create artwork with self-designed hardware. M.I.T. electrical engineer turned artist, Jim Campbell pushes the boundaries of innovation in art by inventing his own medium. For Campbell the technology isn’t a device, but rather the means for exploring ideas of perception, memory and time.
The list goes on. What is it that makes the Bay Area this breeding ground of innovation…the light, space, demographics, politics or is it just our reputation as the “Wild West” that ignites the spark of creativity and groundbreaking art?
- Jim Campbell, Home Movies, video installation, custom electronics, 1248 LED’s., source: jimcampbell.tv
- JBK
Wednesday September 28, 2011
September Gallery Shows In New York
Some highlights for me were:
Nick Cave at Mary Boone
Nick Cave at Mary Boone
Tabaimo, danDAN (video Still), 2009
TABAIMO, BLOW, (Video Still), 2009
Jutta Haeckel, Altitude, 2011, oil on paper
Eva Lundsager, The Orange Line Stays, 2011, oil on linen