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| VISUAL ART SOURCE |
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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March 11, 2011
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Editor's Note
Also at the Getty ... Fearlessness. We used to talk about that regularly when I was an art student, and we see it reflected so frequently in art of great ambition. The combination of ambition and fearlessness is a formula for exceptional art, correct? This is how Matthew Barney became Matthew Barney, Beuys became Beuys, Johns became Johns. But this is not a reflection on success, but rather on failure. What of those whose talent, willingness to deeply immerse themselves in their work, commitment to a creative vision, and optimistic sense of possibility does not translate into public acclaim, or even some modicum of attention?
Only a few are destined to emerge as iconic figures at any given time. But the prominence of those few is not simply a matter of comparative merit relative to historical and contemporary yardsticks. They are in part the natural product of an ongoing engagement among thousands of participants in a visual discourse that experiences constant shifts and fissures. It is more than their own creative achievement that lifts an artist above their peers, and that is not to belittle the caliber of that handful. There is an argument to be made that the collective discussion is more important than the greatest individuals. There is a better argument that without an environment that fosters excellence creative genius cannot flourish.
But before an artist can flourish they must learn to participate, and in participating they risk failure. The most common form of failure is mediocrity, which in aesthetic terms implies lack of originality or distinction, playing it safe. Providing pleasure for an audience is a pragmatic way to traffic in the familiar in order to seek benefit. There are a host of strategies that serve to ingratiate an artist with a larger or narrower constituency. It is natural for the individual to seek approval, and to repeat those actions that produce the desired response. It is just as natural for some individuals to defy constraint.
The point is that such models of creative behavior are not important, it is the recognition by the artist within themselves of who they most truly are that counts. Constancy between the self and those expressions of the self can lead anywhere at all, but always with a powerful bond between the work produced and the individual that produces it. As a conviction this connection is immature. It makes for a healthy audacity, but is not the same as certainty, the certainty not of dogmatic inflexibility, but of a full investment in the knowledge of what one is. The fearlessness that arises from this is divested of strategy in favor of principles, of work bent only on realizing itself without regard to how others apprehend it. That is why when you look at great work you will often perceive a full absorption that does not seek your approval. It's worth thinking about when you get a chance to visit J.M.W. Turner's "Modern Rome - Campo Vaccino," recently acquired and placed on display this week at the Getty.
- Bill Lasarow |
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"Ganesha," Cambodian, 13th century, bronze, 10 1/4 x 9 1/16 x 6 5/16", at J. Paul Getty Museum.
Courtesy of the National Museum of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
THIS WEEK'S RECOMMENDATIONS. . . .
Continuing through August 14, 2011
J. Paul Getty Museum
West Los Angeles, Los Angeles
A metals conservation laboratory was recently established at the National Museum of Cambodia with financial help from the Getty Foundation and a long-term partnership with the Smithsonian Freer and Sackler Galleries. As a result several of the works on view as part of "Gods of Angkor: Bronzes from the National Museum of Cambodia" were conserved by the new lab and have now toured both American museums.
The Cambodia Museum has a rich history that dates back to the early 20th century. Growing, then closing (the museum was abandoned in the 1970s), and eventually reopening it has become a significant cultural institution that promotes an awareness of Cambodia's history and heritage from the pre-historic to post-Angkor periods, which ends in the 19th century.
See complete article. . . .
- G. James Daichendt
J.M.W. Turner, "Modern Rome - Campo Vaccino," 1839, oil on canvas, 36 x 48 1/4", at the J. Paul Getty Museum. |
Beili Liu, "Gold Stairs," cotton thread, staple, 13 1/2 x 15 1/4 x 10', at Form/Space Atelier. | |
Continuing through March 13, 2011
Form/Space Atelier Seattle, Washington
Using approximately three miles of mustard yellow thread, Beili Liu has created a light infused second staircase. Stapled across the stairwell at Form/Space Atelier, "Gold Stairs" is installed just above head height. Move in relation to this piece and light glimmers against its intense hue. Descend the steps and the whole zig-zag appears to ripple. The shape of the work itself and the play of light across it compel you to descend the stairs and ascend them again. (Hope for sun when you visit, as the gallery is lit with tall windows, and sunlight performs its own magic on this piece.) Hundreds, thousands of parallel lines will shimmer before your eyes.
Liu has created a lovely way to deconstruct the architecture of a very modestly scaled space and put it back together again. Her seemingly simple, site-specific work offers an idealized view of the gallery's architecture. With the exhibition space measuring in at thirteen and a half feet wide by ten feet high by more than fifteen feet long, this is no small accomplishment. Stapled into opposite walls at seven feet, two inches above the gallery's 18 wooden steps, the yellow suspended staircase acts as a delicate wavy mirror.
See complete article. . . .
- Adriana Grant
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Minoru Kawabata, "Yellow Slow," 1965, acrylic on canvas, 64 x 44", at David Richard Gallery. | |
Continuing through March 27, 2011
David Richard Contemporary
Santa Fe, New Mexico
a.k.a Zen examines the diverse means by which recent abstraction registers and reconfigures Zen Buddhist traditions. Reflecting the style's privileging of direct experiences over defined credos, the exhibition takes as its central focus works by seventeen modern and contemporary artists that loosely evoke the experiential states achieved through meditation and dharma practice.
Emphasizing the diversity of interpretations brought to bear on the Zen activities, the exhibition has been loosely conceived as a movement in four distinct acts. The first gallery focuses on gestural abstraction. Standouts include Masatoyo Kishi's loamy, proto-Kiefersque abstractions and Robert Motherwell's engagement with Chinese calligraphic conceits. The second gallery is suffused with such visual transcriptions of meditation as Minoru Kawabata's sun-drenched take on the Hituzendo tradition and Laura de Santillana's semi-translucent glass sculptures, whose merger of Neolithic vessel forms with the oscillating sheen of California Finish Fetishism is as if Ai Weiwei eschewed Pop Art allusions in favor of West Coast Minimalism. Lisa Cahill's oceanic glass wall reliefs and Marion Estes' nebulous shaped paintings announce the third gallery's dedication to nature-inflected abstraction. In the fourth gallery, Simon Aldridge's sprayed acrylic on glass paintings re-envision Larry Bell as a Pop-savvy colorist, and Maxwell Hendler's works blur the divide between mirrors and monochromes.
Despite the expansiveness of its overriding theme, the exhibition reads cogently through a defined focus on works that merge a proclivity towards visual simplification, automatist strategies, and a highly process-oriented approach. It amounts to far more than the sum of its formalist experiments, reminding us that every aesthetic carries with it an ethic.
- Alex Ross
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John Haddock, "Isometric Screenshots, Wang-Weilin, Saigon, 1968,"2000, digital image, at Modified Arts. | |
Opening March 18, 2011
Modified Arts
Phoenix, Arizona
In "Isometric Screenshots" by Jon Haddock the artist appropriates 20 pivotal scenes from history and pop culture and turns them into video game-like images on digital prints. On one hand, the isometric perspective - an aerial, distant view - minimizes the emotional impact of Haddock's scenes, such as the shooting at Columbine or the confrontation between a protester and a tank in Tiananmen Square. On the other hand, the video game-like renderings force us to question exactly why we aren't more moved by these well-known images. The artist is in effect telling viewers to get out of their video-gaming escapism and confront society's very real problems. "Birmingham, Alabama, 1963," for instance, with its snapshot of National Guard troops hosing black civil rights activists, is an all-too-real evocation of our country's legacy of racism.
It's strong stuff from an artist who says he purposely mimicks the style of the popular video game "The Sims." His artworks, generated in Photoshop with 72 dpi computer-screen resolution, have traveled around the country for 10 years, and now return to Phoenix as part of a group exhibition with video game art by Jason Rohrer, Paolo Pedercini and Carlo Zonni. A concurrent exhibition is "Arma Branca," ceramic toy guns by Brazilian artist Laerte Ramos - all of which could be construed as wake-up calls.
- Deborah Ross
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Kerry Tribe, "Milton Torres Sees a Ghost" (detail of installation), 2011, mixed media, dimensions vary, at LAXART. | |
Continuing through April 24, 2011
LAXART
Culver City, California
"Milton Sees a Ghost" employs a minimal set of found objects to tell the story of retired American fighter pilot Milton Torres. In it Kerry Tribe constructs an imagined scenario based on a 1957 reported UFO sighting. Copies of classified documents addressed to the military from July 21, 1988 are framed individually along a bare wall. The name is purposefully crossed out to protect the identity of the witness who has testified about a "bogus" radar blip that he encountered while in flight. A reel-to-reel tape deck positioned on a large wooden counter across from the classified documents hisses as it churns out tape. The tape has been pulled from the machine and runs along the wall to the adjacent gallery, while the tape from another reel-to-reel runs from the back gallery to the front. The result is two audio stations linked by tape measuring 150 feet running along the walls from gallery to gallery. Audio waves can be read from the tape as it travels back and forth between the corresponding tape decks. Positioned next to the tape deck is an oscilloscope that visualizes waveforms.
In the first gallery a slow moving series of lines tracks an object which then quickly disappears. This would be the radar "blip" discussed in the documents. The second oscilloscope plays Torres' testimony, which explains that the "blip" looked like an aircraft carrier or UFO burning a hole in the radar, quickly disappearing and going off the radar. The evidence for Torres' account seems substantial. We can see the activity from the reel-to-reel players, visualize the soundtrack of his story and even see the radar screen. The "blip" that occurs, however, is the lag between beginning and end of Torres' story as the space between is characterized by the churning of machines and a flat line on the oscilloscope.
- A. Moret
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Sister Corita Kent, "American Sampler," 1969, at the Museum of Craft and Folk Art. | |
Continuing through June 5, 2011
The Museum of Craft and Folk Art
San Francisco, California
A blaze of bright color and bold graphics by Sister Corita (1918-1986; born Frances Elizabeth Kent, aka Sister Mary Corita and Sister Corita Kent) abound in this celebration of her life and impact. Additionally fleshing out the importance of this influential West Coast Pop artist, innovative educator, and activist are ephemera, such as copies of the educational books Corita wrote; personal letters and photographs; and films and videos about the artist's career and life. The exhibition "E is for Everyone: Celebrating Sister Corita" emphasizes key works from the 1960s, such as the iconic "Power Up" and "Tender" images as well as her close relationship with design couple Charles and Ray Eames.
Corita is known for crossing boundaries, be they creative or social. This comes through in this intimate (the museum encompasses one large gallery space) but still powerful exhibition. She was on the vanguard of pop and graphic art, working primarily in the discipline of screen-printing. The serigraphs she created combined graphic art, typography, music lyrics, social commentary, and literature to create her unique style. (Her teaching also reflected her cross-disciplinary interests; Corita co-taught classes at the Immaculate Heart College Art Department in Hollywood with such cultural icons as Alfred Hitchcock, John Cage, and Buckminster Fuller as well as the Eameses.) Her choice of medium fit well with her interest in social change and working class outlook on art and art-making, as her prints were easy to widely distribute and recreate. And they were: Corita was commissioned by Amnesty International and International Walk for Hunger, among other socially conscious organizations. Perhaps most widely known is her "Love" stamp, issued in 1985, and her notecards for the Campaign for Human Development (a collection of which are featured here).
Corita's provocative spirit did not go unnoticed during her lifetime; in 1967 she was featured on the cover of Newsweek magazine; the cover line read: "The Nun: Going Modern." And her influence continues: one can find correlations between the twenty-one works on show to contemporary artists such as Shepard Fairey, Ed Ruscha, and Pae White, and curators, graphic artists, and students continue to rediscover and draw from her work and teachings.
- Chérie Louise Turner
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