Author: onajide

"Woman with a Ball", 1965, Mixed media on canvas, 58.25 x 49.75 in. Neumann Family Collection, Photo: Robert McKeever © 2003 Richard Artschwager /Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Saturday, 31 Jan., Richard Artschwager presented his “art talk” to one of MoCA’s typical audiences made up of varying ages and, artists, collectors and students. The talk started off in a jumble of words summing up to eventually gave those in attendance something to grasp. That something was the various elements that make up his work: forms, shapes, formal issues, use of celotex. It wasn’t that revealing but, it guided us through his disjointed talk laced with images. Having a few notes of humor here and there definitely helped keep people in their seats until the questions rolled in.

One question concerned his 2002 painting of G.W. Bush, current U.S. President. His answer stated his work had no specific socio-political commentary. That was an interesting response after reading the following by curator, Bonnie Clearwater, “In examining Artschwager’s entire body of paintings, however, it becomes clear that there is a strong emotional element to his subjects.” He was purposefully evasive in other questions as well. However, if one is to gain some clues as to this ambiguity one would find a rather limited sphere of cultural influence as reflected in the paintings. That comes from the predominance of Euro-American faces and interior spaces associated with affluence. Isn’t everything political?

I found the work had some qualities I like, the celotex surface itself, and the scale of the works, but, in general, the “strong emotional element[s]” of his work must, I assume, come from the formal issues and the material itself, not the subject matter. It was all pretty bland, including the portrait of G.W. Bush.

I was cleaning out my old emails and found a reference I thought was interesting. The email came from a Brit that lives in the French Alps and every summer takes great pics of Le Tour de France. After looking at danlmarmot‘s latest additions to his website, this struck a chord. “Up into the French Alps to discover the beauty of riding your bike in and around the mountains, La Marmotte is one of the most popular cycling events in the Alps.”

“Over at Matthew Marks Gallery on West 22nd Street, where the native New Yorker naylandblake is having his seventh exhibition since 1993, the scene is more laconic and Postminimalist, though [Nayland] Blake’s projects have their own melancholy Pop humor.”

I wish I could go see this show. However, I guess I can wait for Nayland to get his website up and viewable. I’m a patient man. *wink*

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

I’ve driven across the US over 16 times so, I’m not talking about landing in the Detroit airport before returning home. Note: Michigan isn’t marked as visited.

“I have a certain sympathy with Mr. Mazel,” says Roger Kimball on OpinionJournal – Leisure & Arts. “I believe works like ‘Snow White’ are art largely by dint of definitional courtesy. Really, they are examples of propaganda masquerading as art. They poach on the prestige of art in order to have it both ways. Criticize the aesthetic vapidness and you get a lecture about how the artwork transcends the traditional artistic categories to interrogate the oppressive political structures of the status quo, blah, blah, blah. Criticize the moronic politics and you get a sermon about not reducing works of art to a simplistic set of objective declarations.” Mr. Kimball is managing editor of The New Criterion.

Yahoo! News – Sweden and Israel in furious diplomatic row over art scandal: “The artwork was designed by Israeli-born Dror Feiler and his Swedish wife Gunilla Skoeld Feiler, both of whom denied the work was a ‘glorification’ of the suicide bomber. Swedish press reports said Israel has threatened to withdraw from the “Stockholm International Forum — Preventing Genocide” conference, which is to take place January 26-28 with representatives from 60 countries in attendance.”

“The dispute erupted Friday after Israel’s ambassador to Sweden, Zvi Mazel, was thrown out of Stockholm’s Museum of National Antiquities for vandalising an art work showing the photo of the suicide bomber who killed 21 Israelis at a restaurant in northern Israel in October. The ambassador was caught on videotape tearing down one of the spotlights and throwing it into the water, causing the installation to short-circuit. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Sunday backed Mazel’s actions. Mazel has defended his actions, saying: ‘This is not art, this is a monstrous glorification of suicide bombers and an incitement to genocide against the Israeli people.'” [The artwork as shown is a sailboat in a pool of “blood” with the female bomber’s face on the sail.]

This is disturbing. What did Mazel do, go find a ladder, disconnect a light fixture and toss it? Do they have no guards? Of course, those with diplomatic immunity seem to get away with things others are not able to. I remember the former N. Miami Chief of Police walking through MoCA at its inaugural telling me, a museum staff employee and chief of museum security, that he could touch whatever art he wanted because he had a “piece” on his hip.

Anyway, what happened with going to the museum curator and finding out about the work? It seems obvious that an international museum hosting an exhibition in conjunction with an international conference on the same subject would be some kind of clue. What happened to speaking with director and requesting its removal, if the work was so personally offensive? But then, I’m not a Zionist.

[added material: 23hr00] There was a video accompanying this article that I was not able to see until much later in the evening (after I got off work where I originally posted this). The diplomat calmly, yet internally seething, walked up to the outdoor installed work, turned off the two lights and we hear sounds of one of the light stands being knocked over. He was then escorted out of the museum during which time there was dialogue in both Swedish and English in bitter tones.

I was able to see the work well enough in the video to see in reality, it was rather a weak piece visually. I looked like a student work: exploration of an idea with poor materials, setup quickly with whatever is immediately available, and left for viewing. However, the artists are standing behind the work in the above image.

Anyone who has a problem with artwork on exhibition should speak to those in charge and not take things into their own hands. Even though this work was not greatly damaged, because of its poor materials, there are ways to handle complaints other than the angry and violent way this diplomat did.

Most of the work in this fair was conservative, blue-chip, or established. One gallery, Kashya Hildebrand, provided something more edgy and exciting for a change. At Art Miami they provided one of the most hideous paintings at the fair, a work by one of their European artists. [+] The work I really liked by a Russian photographer, I was told, developed in an eastern coal mining region. With the fall of the Soviet economy miners that were not working became the willing models and preformers for a project that was largely a protest performance piece. [the letters reflected on the glass were from work mounted opposite the photos] Needless to say the men (I don’t recall seeing any women) were gritty and very raw. It was confrontational with a sexual edge. This work did not look like it was necessarily marketed toward a queer audience though. Sobe would have been a much better place to show these photographs but, instead, they had the big ugly paintings on their outside walls. If they had some of these photos at Art Miami I wouldn’t know; I avoided their booth like the plague. [click image to see larger view]

One bad thing about having two art fairs so close together in both time and proximity is that attending both raised issues for the lectures they both offered. Art Miami had one on Collecting Photography that I felt would have been the lecture of choice for Saturday. However, Saturday was my only day to attend Palm Beach Contemporary. The lecture in PB was another on Globalization. Blah. Maybe it would be better than I expect. Anyway, I’m jumping ahead of myself. full text

ArtsJournal: Modern Art Notes has Miami Art Exchange listed on this month’s Blogroll. I’m honored, thank you. I hope we can meet next time you’re in the Miami/ Ft. Lauderdale area.

Only because I had an appointment to have my eyes checked did I return to Art Miami on Friday. It was mostly to talk a bit more with some friends and with a few dealers in a more relaxed atmosphere, since the crowds were at a minimum. It was a good idea. I did see Dr. Mercy Quiroga, Dept. Chair of Visual Arts and Philosophy of Miami-Dade College, and exchanged a few words of greetings and catching up. I worked as an Adjunct Professor there in the past. Anyway, I don’t think I missed any art at the fair. These are the final two works I wanted to mention before heading up to Palm Beach Contemporary later today. I had a bit more time to write for Art Miami than for Art Basel Miami Beach. No final papers to grade, nor final exams to administer. Here’s the complete reports: Miami Art Exchange Art Blog