Why should we subsidize intellectual curiosity?
— Ronald Reagan
God made Truth with many doors to welcome every believer who knocks on them.
— Kahlil Gibran
You are the content of any extension of yourself, whether it be pin or pen, pencil or sword, be it palace or page, song or dance or speech...the meaning of all these is the experience of using these extensions of yourself. Meaning is not "content" but an active relationsip...
— Marshall McLuhan
Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make, the better.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
above: As I Recall It by Allen Topolski
Why You Need to Get Off Your Ass And Actually Go Stand In Front of Art, Confront the Thing, Deal With It, Allow Yourself To Be Seduced, Dammit!
photo: A. Zambianchi/Simply.it
There's no justice in this photograph. There's nothing wrong with it and it somewhat adequately describes the Dan Flavin piece depicted, from The Panza Collection, on view at the Albright thru February 24. But there's no way any document could properly do justice to the reality of the work, the ethereal ambience of it. Not to mention that it's the only work in this gallery—one of the boldest installations I've seen at the Albright. It more than aptly illustrates my prevailing notion that artwork NEVER fills space, it occupies space. Just like you and I. It needs elbow room and breathing room and it has a presence that insists on your attention. But don't take my word for it, go see. We live in a town small enough that if you wait a few minutes, the other visitors will file out and you can be left alone in the space, negotiating sensation and meaning with a mysterious, beautiful entity. Let's put it this way—if this were the ONLY work on view in the entire museum, I would walk away hugely satisfied.
Julio César Morales The Year of the Diamond Dogs
a Hallwalls Artist in Residence Project
ENDS TOMORROW @ 4pm
gallery hours: Tues to Fri 11am to 6pm, Sat 1 to 4pm
NEXT Hallwalls Exhibition Opening
Kelly Richardson: The Edge of Everything
Megan Greene: Rappaccini's Daughter
Saturday, January 12, 8-11pm
Artists Talks @ 8pm
Opening Elsewhere
Two Locations, One Big Sale
Big Orbit Members Exhibition
Deadline: Jan 19/08
Big Orbit Gallery is seeking submissions for its annual Members' Exhibition to be held January 26 – March 1, 2008. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, January 26 from 8:00-11:00 PM.
We will take work between January 5 and January 19 during regular gallery hours Thursday-Sunday 12 - 5.
All current, new, and renewing members of Big Orbit are invited to participate.
All members’ may submit up to 2 artworks for inclusion.
All work should be ready to hang, meaning matted and/or framed. All work should be labeled with artist’s name, title, process, date, and sales price.
Video and Film work is acceptable, but please contact the Gallery prior to submitting to make arrangements
Select work will be exhibited on Big Orbit’s website – www.bigorbitgallery.org
Best in Show winner receives a SOLO EXHIBITION in the 2008/2009 exhibition season! Past winners have had major solo exhibitions that have propelled their careers. Past winners include: Geoffrey Alan Rhodes, Andrew Hershey, Michael Bosworth, Barbara Rowe, Robert Hirsch, Jena Cumbo, Lara Odell, Andrew Johnson, Joshua Marks, Nancy Parisi, Reed Anderson, Martin Kruck, Al Volo, Kurt Von Voetsch, Patrick Robideau.
We are very proud of our Best in Show winners. Their resulting exhibitions have been of the highest quality and perfectly reflect the strength of the Western New York arts community
CEPA Members Exhibition
Deadline: Jan 28/08
CEPA Gallery is seeking submissions for its annual Members’ Exhibition to be held February 2 to March 15, 2008. An opening reception will be held at CEPA Gallery in the Market Arcade Complex, 617 Main Street, Buffalo, NY, on Saturday, February 9 from 7:00-10:00 pm. We are proud to announce that this year’s juror is Holly Hughes, Associate Curator, Albright-Knox Art Gallery.
All work can be dropped off at CEPA (M-F 10-5 and Saturday 12-4) or mailed to CEPA between January 7 and January 28, 2008. For Artists who wish to have their work sent back to them, returns will only be made via US Postal Service or FedEx. Please provide postage, FedEx account number or a check to cover the amount for the return.
• All current, new, and renewing members of CEPA are invited to participate.
• All members may submit only 1 piece of photo-related art for inclusion.
• All work should be ready to hang, meaning matted and/or framed with appropriate hanging hardware. All work should be labeled with artist’s name, title, process, date, and sales price.
• Video and Film work is acceptable, but please contact the CEPA prior to submitting to make arrangements.
• Select work will be exhibited on CEPA’s website – www.cepagallery.org
• Visit CEPA’s website or call 716-856-2717 for membership information and exhibition guidelines.
• Exhibition Dates: February 2 – March 15, 2008. Submission deadline at CEPA is Monday, January 28, 2008.
This year CEPA will continue its new tradition of awarding 2 EXHIBITION AWARDS. EXHIBITION AWARDS recognize those artists who demonstrate an elevated level of artistic maturity and skill in their work. The winner will receive a solo exhibit of their work in the 2008/09 exhibition year. To be considered for an EXHIBITION AWARD artists must submit 10 slides or images on CD, a slide script, an artist statement, and an artist resume with their Members’ Show artwork submission. This facet of the Members’ Exhibition is open to all artists. It is an option and does not affect regular submissions to the exhibit. Other awards including “Best In Show” will also be awarded.
Continuing Elsewhere
(winding down/see em now)
• Shelly Niro at Ub Art Gallery thru Jan 27
• Buffalo Arts Studio Annual Artists Exhibit & Sale thru Dec 29
• The Panza Collection at the Albright thru Feb 24
• Maxi Boyd, Craig Centrie, Terresa Ford, Kenneth Locke, Eric McIntire, Salagram Sila, Holly Szfranski, Jack Walsh, Tammy Wetzel at El Museo thru Jan 5
• Peter Dyett at 176 Main thru Dec 21
• Mary Begley at College Street Gallery thru Jan 6
• Thomas Annear at Olean Public Library thru Dec 29
• Sharon Kalstek at Buffalo Big Print thru Dec 31
• AJ Fries, Jay Carrier, Kurt Von Voetsch at the Castellani thru Feb 17
• Moses and Pals at Cosmopolitan Gallery thru Jan 5
• Art Dialogue Annual Artful Gifts thru Dec 29
• Impact Gallery Artful Gifts thru Jan 9
• Art Dialogue Annual Artful Gifts thru Dec 29
• Starlight Studio Small Works and Gift Sale thru Jan 4
• Sherwin Greenberg at the Burchfield thru Jan 6
• Tammy Renee Brackett, Hans Gindlesberger, Wilka Roig at CEPA thru Dec 21
• Julian Montague's Stray Shopping Carts at The Light Factory, North Carolina thru Feb 22
• Dorothy Fitzgerald at the Castellani thru Jan 13
• Diane Baker at The Mansion on Delaware (indefinitely)
For All You Raging Listoholics Out There
Michelle Hines sent me this link to a whack of year-end lists, so take your pick....but just try and resist the Top 10 Cryptozoology Stories...
Filmoculous
"In a country still reeling from the calculated murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh by a Muslim radical just three years ago, the controversy hit not just the art community, but the political sphere, like a missile."
artnet
The Year in Art according to Jerry Saltz
artnet Jerry Saltz
Artforum's Best of 2007
Artforum
"That art is now defined as marginal and transgressive only adds to the general ignorance of all Presidential candidates about what is, with music, the greatest contribution of Western, and every other, civilization, to the human spirit."
artnet Charlie Finch
"Unlike many photographers with whom she overlapped, like Henri Cartier Bresson and Robert Frank, Arbus would often meet a subject and form a long relationship, the diaries and date books show. It could take 10 years for her to produce her best photographs of that subject."
NY Times
Frank Morgan 1934—2007
NY Times
Interview
Sweet Louie Smith 1939—2007
NY Times
St. Clair Bourne 1943—2007
NY Times
Something I listened to this week...
Been a loooong time since I bought a new cd, but I snatched this up as soon as I saw it. There are so many studio tracks where this young guy from Nebraska has knocked it out of the park that I had to hear how it translated live. Pretty damn fine. I bought it two days ago and have already listened to it five times.
Official Website
Best Album of 2007
I noticed a few weeks ago that Ron Ehmke selected Paul Simon's Surprise as his best album of 2007. Never a bad choice to select a Brian Eno-produced album as your fave and I will concede that it's what Ron enjoyed most during 2007....but it was released in 2006. which got me to thinking, what album released in 2007 knocked me out the most in 2007? Where did I find unexpected satisfaction? What could I NOT stop listening to....?
It was a good year for music, and not just because Radiohead threw the industry a big fat paradigm curveball and made In Rainbows available for free. Didn't hurt that it was a great album. Then again, Brooklyn's Tim Fite beat Radiohead to the punch by several months by offering up Over the Counter Culture—his scathing and funny indictment of consumer culture—for free as well. In Rainbows is no longer available as a download, but OTCC is, so click on homeboy's link, kids.
Mavis Staples' We'll Never Turn Back was a ferocious, outstanding album by a 68 year old woman who has never sounded better. An ode to racial equality without sounding sentimental, treacly, or dated, backed by thick, bluesy grooves, it sounded so good at certain moments that it actually made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. But I can't tell you I listened to it more than a few times.
What about The White Stripes' Icky Thump? Well, it has all the marking of my favorite album of the year, except for surprise. The regularity of great material that Jack White is releasing makes the greatness of this album—and it IS great—weirdly perfunctory.
There's not nearly enough time to listen to all the music I want to, let alone keep on top of whatever is illest in the hip hop universe, but I thought two albums stuck out for sure as rock solid and rock steady groovetastic albums. Kanye West's Graduation was slick, funny, self-mocking, with huge aural pleasure about it. On a considerably different tangent, El-P's I'll Sleep When You're Dead was a dark fantastic rumination, solidly put together and compelling throughout.
There was also We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank by Modest Mouse, which is actually a pretty good candidate. Following all the hype and popular success of their previous record, this album proved far better (perhaps their best), without the cloying nuisance of a song that would end up (as Float On did) infiltrating the advertising arena and killing itself. Also, an undeniably great title, always a plus.
As one might expect, Wilco's Sky Blue Sky was typically wilco-great, but it hasn't yet me with the repeated listening virus.
Kickass feminist album of the year may have been Tori Amos' American Doll Posse and I'm still listening to it, but it's not my fave. Still, love hearing her with a band behind her and those great drums.
No, the album that just seared itself onto my soul this year was Handsome Furs' Plague Park. I've become so intimately acquainted with this album it boggles my mind that I've only been listening to it since September, when Beyond/In Western New York exhibiting artist David Clayton gave me a copy, amid a pile of other great music. Husband and wife Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry, some guitars, a drum machine, and vocals that reside somewhere between melancholic, ironic, and redemptive. Any time I left my iPod on shuffle, barely paying attention to what was playing, I would invariably hear a song that would completely stop me in my tracks, check the player and, "Oh, another song by the Handsome Furs!" Dark, brooding, elegant. It's gonna sound trite, but this album just filled me up with joy, from the soles of my feet way up past my eyeballs and into the ether. One for the ages.
Coda—the first song I played off the album (because I couldn't resist the title) was Handsome Furs Hate This City which is, oddly enough, about my old stomping ground, Toronto. Here's a live version:
Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening.
— Oliver Wendell Holmes
2 comments:
It's exciting to me to see a connection between BUffalo and DC, namely the Albright Knox and the Hirshhorn Museum -- the Hirshhorn was recently gifted the Panza Collection, and will be exhibiting many great works (including pieces by Flavin) in DC later in 08 I think.. I bumped into Louis G at the Hirshhorn a few months back and though he doesn't know me from Adam, he was really sweet. He loves John Massier, I think.
Anonymous flattery, eh? Well, thanks!
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