LES and NOoSPHERE cont'd

“LES is More!” was the buzz leading up to the grand opening of NOoSPHERE Arts (please note the name change from .NO). The New Museum had just reopened and a number of eager upstarts started flaring-up the neighbourhood. The last week’s article by Rachel Corbett on bloating of Chelsea, must see article here, only reaffirmed what all of us already knew: LES is fun! Annoying as it may be, listening to manhattanites monopolizing their existence by real estate conversations is beside the point: It is a matter of conviction rather, a kind of commitment to pleasure investments – especially by those who came “not-to-stake-claim-to” anything of estate or land. 

On behalf of the NOoSPHERE Arts Advisory Board, I hope to extend an invitation to the 2012/13 season opener (see the post below). Aptly phrased I Thought We Were the Same Person, NOoSPHERE is proud to present a collaborative multimedia production created by Agnes Nedregard, Moray Hillary and Torgrim Wahl Sund. NOoSPHERE Arts is precisely that, the venue for the ever important challenge of “we.”

NOoSPHERE Arts is an artist-run, nonprofit exhibition and performance venue on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

LAL: 4thF tonight and ARTFAIR@EQUUS this weekend

more The 9th annual Francisco's Farm Arts Festival, presented by the Lexington Art League, Equus Run Vineyards, and Midway Renaissance, transforms Equus Run Vineyards in  magical Midway, Ky., into an outdoor exhibition of fine art and craft THIS WEEKEND! WHAT: Fine art, Live music, Mouthwatering food, Award-winning wine, and Fun for everyone WHEN: June 23, 10a-6p, and June 24, 10a-5p WHERE: Equus Run Vineyards, 1280 Moores Mill Road in Midway WHO: You, mingling with more than 100 artists HOW MUCH: $10/vehicle (no charge for parking)

US Bank Celebration of the Arts @ Kentucky Museum, WKU

This is an open show. Despite the listing on the exhibition material, my task, to be clear, was to select the awards only. This was still rather tricky - many awards, across 14 categories and with various stipulations. I would like to thank Mrs. Staebell, Registrar and Collections Curator at the museum, for her organizational skills that helped me move through the work with ease and clarity.

All the same, the work was just as wide ranging, and as expected, produced by ambitions and intentionalities that were either abundantly clear, convoluted, or better still, a total mystery. If in doubt, I trusted the work, and that only. I assumed that the decisions were deliberate and did not allow myself to dismiss them to hastiness, chance or convenience. If I had missed it, consider me fooled: I looked for what is actually there, instead of what the artists may think the work is doing. This was essential in selecting the best of show and the best photo, for example, wherein the summation of decision-making presented something uplifting while at the same time not at all having any pretense at that. I felt a lift from these particular works for their belief in that there is still something left unexplored and that we should not yet close the book on their respective genres or attitudes. I have also subscribed to their alternative ideal of presentation: Yes, an image or an observation could be presented in this way, too. These are obviously only but a few examples amidst many engaging awardees, diametrically well-established techniques, craftiness and finish. I wish I could give due feedback to all 40+ of these award winners as well as many other earnest participants, for I was oftmade feel as if each artist or craftsperson in some way or other was speaking to me, directly.

I think that the viewers of the exhibition may walk away with similar feelings. It will be a heavy dose of diverging, if contradictory, pleasures. If you are experiencing the exhibition for the first time, however, I would recommend not to go by my selection alone, nor by the organizers categories, but to consider the various and just as exciting ways of cross-sectioning an open exhibition of this kind. Try, for example, singling out various guilds, formal or informal groupings with similar interests. I would especially highlight all the WKU art students in the exhibition to this end. I was very much receptive toward their work. I had spent time doing studio visits the day earlier talking to this highly promising group. You should look for the works by Maggie Reed, Ebony Marshman, Conor Lewis, Wesley Miller, and Chasen Igleheart (to name but a few), as they offer a counterpoint to those seasoned pros with long-term regional studios in-or-around town. And yet, they are very much in tune of what each group is doing. It is very informative, engaging and really something to celebrate. If any precedent were there to be set, I would hope it is this openness to what rolls ahead.

Enjoy the reception tonight! and more on the show see here.

Milward Q & A

On Monday, February 20, students in my course "The Art of Collecting" were in for a treat. Lexingtonian and art collector extraordinaire, John Milward, paid a visit to our class. The purpose was to meet the students who have been contributing to the work of the exhibition that opens next week. Entitled "A Passionate Pursuit: The Milward Collection" the show traces the ways in which this collection has shifted and grown over the past 30 years. Milward's collection is impressive -- a fact that you will be able to confirm for yourself next week.

By coming to the show you'll also see the work of so many from our department. For example, each student in the course mentioned above has been researching an artist or group of works from the show. Bess is taking on John Ward (1917-2007); Elizabeth is working on Tom Coates (1941-); Jordan is researching the social and cultural contexts of French animalier bronzes; and Celeste is rising to the challenge of researching that enigmatic artist George Claxton (1947-1995). Each student prepared an outline to share and questions to ask Mr. Milward who kindly sat on the hot seat for over an hour. Thanks so much, John! (And thanks to Caitlin from The Georgetonian for joining us and snapping this photo.)

The gallery is being prepped for the show this week; works will arrive next week; and the installation will come together over a few days. This exhibition opens on Friday, March 2 from 6-8 pm. To whet your appetite, take a peek at the exhibition catalogue cover, above, designed by Laura Hatton in GC's Marketing office.

Make time next Friday night to come out and see a sampling from this world-class collection. You won't be disappointed. Trust me!

live event @ .NO-in-NYC, Feb 17, 8-9pm

Katy Gunn LIVE @ .NO Friday, February 17, 8-9pm

Catch Katy Gunn next week for this intimate gig with new songs and old favorites -- your last chance in NYC before Katy sets off for her next European tour! A resplendent backdrop for the performance, Pia MYrvoLD’s otherworldly digitial imagery (top image) remains on view through March 4. .NO is located at 251 East Houston Street, btw. Norfolk and Suffolk Streets. Subway: F-train, Second Avenue–Lower East Side stop. Gallery hours are Tuesdays to Fridays 12 pm–6pm, and Saturday and Sundays 1 pm–6 pm. Press viewings can be arranged prior to the exhibitions. For more information or to arrange a viewing, please contact the gallery director at (646) 431-2663 or mail@no-in-nyc.org

Even Deeper: Winters Photography

I must admit that I'm very excited for Michael's show in the Cochenour. I've had the privilege of getting to know him over the past few years as a result of connections with the 930 Art Center in Louisville. I've been able to show a few pieces there and each time I usually get to talk with Michael more and more.

It's exciting when you meet someone with a kindred spirit, who speaks your language; and in our case it's the language of photography. It's fun to sit down and talk shop because we have so much in common, and as a result we can often talk about issues that are more deeply rooted and inherent in our shared medium.

What I wanted to point out with this post is that both Michael and his wife Mickie share the practice and passion of photography and artmaking. To this extent, here's a link to their website where you can see more of their personal work and photography business.

Hope to see you at the reception tomorrow.
DK

Russ Bellamy at Turner Center

Currently on view at Turner Center, Valdosta, GA. Enjoy --

Call to Artists

Right Here Over There
Exhibition: March 23 - May 13, 2012 at LAL @ Loudoun House
Deadline: January 31, 2012

Zakic @ 30 Open Doors (Los Angeles)

Friday, December 16, 5-10 pm

at

Bergamot Station Art Center

for directions or more info see:

http://bergamotstation.com/explore.php

or contact the venue directly here

Alumni Spotlight: Brandon Long

Brandon Long, roof tin assemblage, 32x32 inches (@WAB, Fall 2011)

Georgetown College's, Painting Class, fall 2000

I have followed Brandon Long’s work for over a decade now. He is an artist of principled views of engagement. Even more remarkable, he is temperamentally inclined to follow through on his own terms, too. Neither a validation seeker nor is bothered about any careerist complexes, he just goes about his business.

So in this sense, what to make of the five towering, dingy-clangk, borderline-dangerous “roofing tin assemblages?” The easy answer may be “rustic and farm-boyish,” but you can easily miss the larger picture. Sure, they are held together by the rusty old nails found alongside the very barn-detritus used. Sure, they are also very weighty, beat-up and sharp. Sure, there are no protective bolts, no “Nancy Rubins” tensile cables. If you see wary newcomers to our building slightly lean away from the work’s surface, that’s no surprise. I caught myself at it, too. While the intentions of Long’s work may have appeared quite clear at the quick draw, it has also occurred to me that what I had initially (and narrowly) embraced as a processes of aestheticizing patch-work of rural repairs, was in fact, also steeped in a larger history: as a type of landscapes of protection and/or as a kind of conflicting abstraction of self-preservation. In the walls of the Athenian acropolis today, as a comparison, we can also encounter columnar drums, friezes and metopes of the temples above in the bulwark that is so designed to protect them. The repairs in Athens, as in Long’s sources, are usually made with whatever materials were available and at hand. Long supersedes them only in that it’s done in the name of wall-based painting, accounting for mid-20th sensorium at the precipice of our Blue Grass today: “Inspired by…the collages and assemblages of Kurt Schwitters and Robert Rauschenberg,…I often have to remind myself to not overanalyze any elements of composition, but to let the materials respond to their juxtaposed placement.” (from Long’s wall text, 2011)

Brandon Long, class of 2001, is currently a Programming Director at the CAC Danville. The work is on view through December, 2011.

Join me@.NO Gallery, Sat.10/22, 1-5pm

.NO Gallery is located 251 E. Houston, (btwn. Norfolk and Suffolk) on the Lower East Side in NYC. (take F-train to 2nd Ave, closest stop). See full program HERE.

Noah Becker: "… Authorship of ideas is fluid in the current online environment with ideas and images distributed like a digital wild west. We are still moving forward at a rapid pace with no sign of slowing down. When the paradigm shift in the art world began (from print to digital) things began to change. Whitehot took a drastic step at that juncture bringing in a large number of new critics, artists and curators forward. This involvement will hopefully provide the reader with a disconnect from the massive amount of cyclical commentary and intellectual pollution that is characteristic of our time." (from: The Letter from Editor, Monday Jan. 10, 2011. See: http://whitehotmagazine.com/documents/about)

Franklin Evans: "… Are we the Make It Bigger Generation? I think we are past that (possibly linked to recent economic decline). … Nothing felt like Richard Serra’s Torqued Ellipses, Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, or even the maquette for Jeff Koons’ LACMA Train. The recent economic past may be a harbinger of what’s to come (slow decline of economic hubris and transition to more moderate lifestyles) and in ways it may be seen in some of the GNY work. Matt Hoyt’s strange work wonderfully relates (and more than just this) to what I suggest as the current social attitude digesting the socioeconomic decline of America." (from: Greater New York Roundtable by Richard J. Goldstein, Sep.7, 2010)

Vanessa Albury: "…The light, the image, once you’ve reached it, it consumes the space and cascades before you. You are surrounded by images on top of themselves. A montage of a white lily, black lace trim, dust & sand in a mirror. I send my images back upon myself in reflections on dusty mirrors & on glossy glass windows. I send these images on to you." (from: http://www.vanessaalbury.com/2statement.html)

Tanja Thorjussen: "… One thing that is specific to the Norwegian art market is its multiple grants for artists, this sets the economy of those Norwegian artists that receive a grant in a different light than the American artists that do not get grants to the same extent. We will not be able to sidestep this comparison. I will therefore briefly explain how the grants are built up and how this influences the way many Norwegian artists work." (from an email correspondence with Boris Zakic, Oct.11, 2011)

Inger‐Reidun Olsen: "… Through the physical body, sound and simple scenographic elements [RE-ACTION] is reflecting how these power structures affect us and the way in which we have power over our own lives, in relation to other people and the world around us." (from: http://irodance.wordpress.com/main-projects/)

ABSTRKT @ Manifest, Cincinnati

Alizarine @ A B S T R K T

September 30 - October 28

Opening Reception Tonight
Friday Sept. 30
6-9 p.m.

From the Ground Up: GC Spaces and Places

Photo 1 (above) Earl Grey begins class with an overview of today's mission. From left, Katie, Devon, and Jen discuss their team's progress.

Photo 2 (above) Sarah and Terrell locate information in issues of the Belle of the Blue and the flat files.

Photo 3 (above, from left) Dana and Portia listen in as Katie and Terrell discuss how to develop a context for each of the buildings. Jordan, in the background, is writing object labels.

Photo 4 (above) To locate info on the Cralle Student Center, Earl Grey looks in a copy of the GC College Catalogue from 1964-65.

Students in the Curatorial Studies class have been working on an exhibition devoted to some of GC's buildings. Entitled "From the Ground Up: Georgetown College's Spaces and Places," this show takes a look at the college's buildings and structures -- those that stand and others that have withered away. Items from the college's archives and other primary sources that tell the story of our campus and some of its buildings will be on view. "From the Ground Up" offers a glimpse into the past and aims to connect campus buildings and structures with cherished memories of these spaces and places. Special attention will be given to Rucker Hall (destroyed 1971) and the new Rucker Village (built 2011).

The following art and history majors are involved in the preparation of this exhibition: Jordan Gill, Katie Mann, Sarah McIntosh, Shawn McPeek, Dana Sabato, Jen Stephenson, Devon Stivers, Terrell Taylor, and Portia Watson.

Please join us next Friday, September 23 from 12-2 for a reception in the LRC. Everyone is welcome to attend the 1:00 p.m. Fireside Chat as well. The events are free and open to the public. Photos courtesy of Shawn McPeek (thank you, Birthday Boy!)