My friend and fellow-collector Joni Gordon, Director of Newspace Gallery, passed away on September 11, 2012. She was a collector, dealer, and supporter of emerging artists. Joni: we will miss you. Condolences to Monte, her spouse of 54 years.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Friday, September 21, 2012
ATTENTION: EMERGING ARTISTS
Because this newsletter has always been at your service, and because I know it is hard to find support and space for your work today, I point you all to this recent list of the Top 20 Art Residencies in the US, published this year by Art Info. Deadlines are always coming up. Good luck and be productive.
On that note, I wanted to mention something I learned about Agnes Martin, who I think is an artist whose self-discipline and devotion is a great example for artists working in their studios today. Agnes Martin worked tirelessly in her studio, taking breaks to walk to the park, where she recollected her thoughts, wrote, and ate lunch, only to return to her studio to work again. She was adamant about being able to work alone in her studio, and without help. The dimensions of her work were determined by her own size and strength as a woman. She did not paint on canvases that were too large or too heavy for her to carry and move on her own. As she became older, her painting surfaces became smaller and she drew on graph paper the size of a notebook.
Michael Ned Holte mentioned this. Congratulations, Michael: I just heard you were chosen as a curator for the upcoming LA Biennial at the Hammer Museum, in 2014. I am glad there is hope for experimental artists getting their work out there, and I know you are devoted to critical, yet kooky work.
NoTA - Fall 2012
Please note: The newsletter is now a quarterly publication that is distributed via post-mail and in person, and is also consistently available online on this blog, with additional content. Readers: feel free to email me with comments, questions, and your own news. See you at the galleries...
THE STATE OF AFFAIRS IN THE CURRENT L.A. ART WORLD
An extreme homogeneity in the various "departments" of the art world have revealed themselves. For our purposes, let us divide these "departments" into five categories: collectors, museums, curators, galleries, and artists. Together these institutions are facing radical shifts that are changing how art is understood. However, in dire economic times like ours the art that is being recognized and touted as art is safe, easily understood, generally accessible, and already contextualized.
Accessible art forms have predominated in the art world. Accessible work is consistently funded and institutionally encouraged precisely because it is the most easily understood, consumed, and monetized by a growing "art industry." The museum has always been in the service of history, and thus, stuck in the past. Both the Hammer and MOCA have come under scrutiny for changing the ways the museum operates, and both make excellent case studies for the shifts we shall see take shape in the coming decade.
For a more definitive narrative of the happenings in the LA art world and the politics surrounding them, read "American Idol Meets the Museum," By Zachary Pincus-Roth in the LA Weekly (http://www.laweekly.com/2012-08-23/news/made-in-la-hammer-mohn-award/), as well as reporting by Catherine Wagley, who has a real acute eye for art-writing, reportage, and has her hand on the pulse of the LA art scene. Also follow stories about MOCA and Eli Broad as written by Chris Boehm in the LA Times. On a final note, it would be interesting to have Los Angeles' curators, museum directors, and the art community come together to speak about the current state of affairs in an open forum. It is difficult to find transparency amidst all this gossip and conjecture. Yours truly, not excluded, of course.
The question this brings up is: How does this affect the experimental art space? A current trend in art-making has shown me that it matters less what the artist is doing and more about how every artist creates his/her own process. The emphasis is on process rather than product. The artist’s process is oftentimes more interesting than the object produced, and therefore take precedence over the material ends.
Take Teeny-Tiny Woman, Amanda Ross Ho's exhibition currently showing at MOCA-PDC through Oct. 7, which conflates her studio with the exhibition space. Ross-Ho integrates design elements within her specific exhibition practice in way that refutes their design "status." Ross-Ho is dealing with the notion of craft-- its gendered politic-- and its relationship to design and ornament by making sweeping conceptual moves by questioning the relationship between an exhibition wall and a studio wall, finding a new use for jewelry in art, and bridging design and concept. The punctual detail of the show is a built-in banister, which (I imagine) was painted yellow to match her other sculptures, with ribbons strewn from it similarly. This design element resonates so well with the rest of the show, and changes what might initially be considered a prosaic detail into a significant conceptual gesture, but only because Ross-Ho has created a platform upon which we can begin to understand the significance of craftwork.
MOCA-PDC. 8687 Melrose Ave. WeHo. (310) 657-0800 Open T-F 11-5, S-S 11-6.
Here is a list of (fairly new) great experimental spaces in L.A.:
The marquis at the Finley Gallery. Simple and subdued.
The Finley Gallery. Andrea Longacre-White and Brendan Fowler show a "support" structure, floating beautifully in a stairwell, of this new converted pop-up space. Upon the "wall," Longacre-White's photograph of a glitchy iPad screen, reveals a webcast image of the stairwell itself. Also in the building, a reflective signage piece by respected artist Eli Langer, whose paintings were once put on trial for obscenity in Toronto. 4627 Finley Ave. Los Feliz. Irregular hours. www.thefinleygallery.com
The desk at Commonwealth&Council. Young Chung, over the shoulder, on right, with artists.
Commonwealth&Council. Young Chung's space, which emerged from his house two years ago, serves as residency, studio spaces, and galleries for emerging artists from LA and abroad, all housed in one place! Showing until mid-September: Orlando Tirado and Margaret Haines' Billy+Jean show. Jesse Tiger (their adopted Billy the Kid babe) DJ'd at their opening and the show was the No. 1 "artsy thing to do” by Catherine Wagley. Currently: Danielle Dean and Shaga Ariannia's "Part-time Lover." 3306 7th St. Koreatown. Open T-Sun 12-6. www.commonwealthandcouncil.com
Darin Klein and Friends. 'Zines and independently curated events. Various venues. Shows TBD.
Otherwild. Rachel Berks and Marisa Suarez-Orozco opened this Hollywood design studio and gallery in June. Monthly events. 6727 7/8 Hollywood Blvd. Hollywood. Open Wed-Sun. 11-7. www.otherwild.com
Machine Project. Who knows what Mark Allen has up his sleeve this month, but it's sure to never have been done before. Early September: Spanish ham. 1200-D N. Alvarado St. Echo Park. Open for events and by appointment. Weekends 12-5. (213) 483-8761 www.machineproject.com
Artist Curated Projects. Conceived by Eve Fowler and Lucas Michael, ACP invites an artist to curate a show, a project started several years ago as an informal salon. This month: Piru Canyon artist’s “bad drawings” are not bad at all... Alex Becerra: It's Not A Normal Office Job. Sept. 8-30. 5152 La Vista Court East Hollywood. Call for hours: (323) 333-7351 www.artistcuratedprojects.com
EXHIBITION NEWS
Regen Projects has relocated to 6750 Santa Monica Blvd., on Highland and Santa Monica, the intersection most well-known for Hollywood's seedy underbelly and “tranny donut stop.” Regen joins Rubinstein Gallery and Redling Fine Arts. Regen Projects opens its new doors on Sept. 22, with a group show. In Chinatown: Charlie James moves two doors down to where Javier Peres once stood. The Distance Plan, a heady show about climate change in an informal setting, at Favorite Goods, through Oct. 6. 936 1/2 Chung King Rd. Chinatown. Call for hours: (323) 488 FAVS. www.favoritegoods.com
The city of LA is promoting the attendance of art events in your own neighborhood, during the second Carmageddon, scheduled for Sept. 29-30, 2012. For details, see: www.latimes.com/culturemonster
Prism of Reality, a new art publication edited by Travis Diehl, artist and contributor to Artforum, launches Sept. 15, 4-7. 510 Bernard St. Chinatown. Copies of its first issue also for sale at: www.prismofreality.com. Also: look out for Andy Robert's beautiful lunar calendars (forthcoming), and Margaret Haines' self-published book Coco & Love With Stranger, available through New Byzantium Press. www.newbyzantium.com
Melodie Mousset: Impulsive Control. Sept. 8- Oct. 20. This young artist is well-known for putting herself on a potter's wheel and using her head as a platform upon which ceramic vessels are created, sneaking into abandoned pools for the occasional skinny-dip, and a perfect French accent. Susanne Vielmetter. 6006 W. Washington Blvd. Culver City. T-Sat 11-6. (310) 837-2117
Thomas Lawson: In The Shadow of the Beast. Sept. 8-Oct. 20. The work looks better when it breathes on big, white walls and one can see each painting at a time. David Kordansky. 3143 S. La Cienega Blvd. #A Culver City. T-Sat. 11-6. (310) 558-3030
Phyllis Green and Bessie Kunath: Odd Ghosts and Unlikely Dancers. through Sept. 30. Weekend. 4634 Hollywood Blvd. East Hollywood. Sat-Sun. 11-6. www.weekendspace.com
Doug Harvey in Curatorial Exchange, an experiment in art-making and curatorial practice, through Oct. 20. Irvine Fine Arts Center. 14321 Yale Ave. Irvine. M-Th 10-9, F 10-5, Sat. 9-5. (949)724-6880.
LA Art Platform opens Sept 28 and runs until Sept. 30, 2012 at the Santa Monica Barker Hangar. http://www.artplatform-losangeles.com
Congratulations Michael Ned Holte, art critic and instructor at CalArts, for being chosen as one of the curators for the Hammer Museum's next L.A. Biennial.
MNH during a studio visit.
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