Dennis Matthews Painting

"Out of Context" Skye Gilkerson & Sarah Steinwachs @ Grizzly Grizzly

2011-08-10T11:56:00.000-07:00

Grizzly Grizzly is pleased to announce the two-person exhibition ‘Out of Context,’ featuring artists Skye Gilkerson from Baltimore and Sarah Steinwachs, a Philadelphia native. Both artists create intricately collaged works on paper, wielding their X-acto knives with the precision of a surgeon’s blade. Yet their results are radically different – and entirely intriguing – investigations of mark-making and illusory space.

From a distance, Skye Gilkerson’s works on paper look like quiet abstractions. Upon closer inspection, the drawings reveal themselves to be collages built with punctuation marks cut from magazines. The density of the marks, reassembled in loosely formed grids, suggest the passage of time; lifted from their original context, the marks become author-less. The sentences attached to each of these punctuation marks are implied but never revealed, and the basic elements of written communication are transformed into an exploration of structure, referencing architecture and landscape.

Sarah Steinwachs’ series Paper Microcosms began with an impulse to cut out the spaces between the grid lines of graph paper, a practice that transforms the illusion of space into actual space. The lines that remain are contradictory to the air around them, a two-dimensional construct in a three-dimensional reality. By layering these “in-between” dimensions, Steinwachs creates environments suggestive of both the everyday and the fantastic. The multi-layered works function as architectural abstraction - of iron bars over a screened window, for example - and also to the curving nets of string theory.

Skye Gilkerson lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland. She has recently exhibited her work nationally, in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Nashville, and internationally at the Tate Modern in London, England. Philadelphian Sarah Steinwachs is an Assistant Professor at Drexel University. In addition to being 2011 Fleisher Challenge winner, her work has recently been featured internationally in solo exhibitions in China, Italy, and Israel.

To arrange an interview with the artists before or after the opening (or for further details about this exhibition), please contact marysmull@gmail.com.

‘Out of Context’
Skye Gilkerson and Sarah Steinwachs
Opening Reception: Friday, September 2nd, 6-10PM
September 2-25, 2011
Grizzly Grizzly
319 North 11th Street, 2nd Floor, Philadelphia, PA
Hours: Saturday and Sundays, 2PM –6PM
www.grizzlygrizzly.com

http://www.skyegilkerson.com/
http://www.sarahsteinwachs.com/

Grizzly Grizzly is a project space in Philadelphia, PA. Since 2009, Grizzly Grizzly has programmed monthly exhibitions, screenings and performances. The gallery is currently under the direction of artists Mike Ellyson, Jacque Liu, Dennis Matthews, Matthew Price, Mary Smull, Cindy Stockton-Moore, and Josh Weiss.

Grizzly Grizzly has taken over my life

2011-08-10T11:53:00.000-07:00

So most of anyone who checks in here probably knows that I am a Co-Founder and Co-Director of a project space in Philadelphia since December 2009. I have become extremely lazy with this blog and been focusing all my efforts elsewhere with Grizzly Grizzly but alas this is not a 'blog suicide note' by any means, its more of an apology.
I do plan on updating here more regularly, perhaps changing the focus to go beyond what it started as (art, etc. I liked) and what it became (reposting Grizzly shows). A mix of both and more, and will probably be done in massive bursts of posts. And a s a p.
Grizzly Grizzly as you may know is doing extremely well and getting tons of local and international attention and press. It has been perhaps the most interesting adventure I have embarked on in my life and I can only suggest to art lovers anywhere to check it out whether digitally or actually. And also please send us your images and proposals at 2xgrizzly@gmail.com and who knows we'll probably be glad to work with you and get something rad of yours up and shown.
This is not a retreat this is a regrouping.
Sincerely,
Dennis

Lauren Ruth & Ann Gaziano @ Grizzly Grizzly

2011-05-05T06:40:00.000-07:00

String (Figure) Theory: Lost and then Found is a site specific installation that incorporates large-scale string figures and absurd monumental forms. Making reference to childhood games and crafts, the work explores experiential aspects of learning and the cross-cultural exchange of myths and the forms they take.

String (Figure) Theory is an on-going collaborative project that explores geometry, ritual, and play through sculpture, installation, photography, and performance. We use games as an insight into human interactions and address the gravity that fun and enjoyment take on when examined
though a critical lens.

The exhibition opens with a reception First Friday, May 6th from 6 to 10 pm.

for more info; please visit http://www.grizzlygrizzly.com/ or email 2xgrizzly@gmail.com

http://www.lauren-ruth.com/
http://www.anngaziano.com/
http://ruthlessanimals.com/
http://www.citypaper.net/arts/2011-05-05-first_friday_focus.html

Jules Buck Jones @ Champion

2011-02-23T14:31:00.000-08:00

Jules Buck Jones’ first solo exhibition at Champion, Animal Again, is comprised of new works on paper, video, and a massive installation, all of which extend his investigation into the concepts of wildlife, natural science, mythology, and abstraction. Animal Again builds on Jones’ earlier work by bringing together both drawing and sculpture - choppier, heavier marks abstract the mask-like animal forms.

Employing a larger-than-life presence intrinsic to the changing dialogue between man and the animal kingdom, his characters continue to center around the hawk, fox, owl, and toad. Depicting these animals without their eyes invites the idea of transformation as each drawing becomes a potential shell for one to enter, wear, or maneuver. The illusion of hollowness is created in response to a fascination with the desire, and sometimes unintentional urge, to actually become the animal. This opens up a new direction which allows for the addition of new media to complement Jones' rhythmic drawing style.
Emerging from a densely-wooded landscape installation, Jones’ works meld his intuitive process with drawings of species indigenous to Texas and the Northeast. Jones closely observes wildlife native to these areas and immerses himself in naturalism while studying notions of shamanism. Jones' concentration draws on stories and the role of animal imagery in prehistory and creation myths - especially as they relate to harnessing real animal power within ceremony.

Jules Buck Jones was born in Northampton MA and grew up in Northern and Central Virginia. He received his BFA fromVirginia Commonwealth University in 2005 and MFA from University of Texas at Austin in 2008. Jones was Artist in Residence in Everglades National Park in the summer of 2009 and completed a residency at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, VT this past winter. Showing throughout Texas with solo shows in Dallas, Austin, and Houston, Jones’ works are in the collections of Austin Museum of Art and Everglades National Park. He is also part of several collaborative teams that practice large scale installations and collage. Jones lives and works in Austin.

For further information or images please contact 512 354 1035 or sonia@championcontemporary.com.

Animal Again will be on view from February 25 through March 26, 2011. Gallery Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 11-6 PM.

Upcoming exhibitions at the gallery include The Sultans Played Creole, curated by James Cope, opening April 2, remaining on view until Saturday, April 30.

Images From The Opening!

Milton F Stevenson V @ Grizzly Grizzly

2011-02-23T14:28:00.000-08:00

Grizzly Grizzly is proud to present the work of Milton F Stevenson V.
The exhibition will run from March 4th to March 27th.

Opening with a reception on March 4th

from 6 to 10 pm.

http://www.miltonstevenson.com/
http://www.grizzlygrizzly.wordpress.com/

Grizzly Grizzly exchange exhibition with Tompkins Projects

2011-02-23T14:26:00.000-08:00

Grizzly Grizzly is proud to announce an exchange exhibition with Tompkins Projects.

Please join us Friday, March 11 from 6-10PM for the opening reception.

Current Grizzlies showing recent work include:
Mike Ellyson
Jacque Liu
Dennis Matthews
Mary Smull
Cindy Stockton Moore

Gallery Hours
12pm to 6pm, Fridays & Saturdays
and by appointment

http://www.tompkinsprojects.com/
http://www.grizzlygrizzly.wordpress.com/

127 Tompkins Avenue

Brooklyn, New York 11206

http://grizzlygrizzly.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/omission-breath/

Jo Hormuth opening at Gallery Kusseneers

2011-01-23T07:36:00.000-08:00

Jo Hormuth @ Gallery Kusseneers, Antwerp
"Anymore"
28.1.2011 - 12.3.2011

Mike Hein & Carrie Dickason at Grizzly Grizzly

2011-01-19T09:30:00.000-08:00

Grizzly Grizzly is proud to present the work of Mike Hein and Carrie Dickason.

The show opens with a reception on Feb. 4th from 6 to 10 pm.

319 North 11th Street

Philly, PA

Mike’s work is a reconciliation between the real and non-real. Where the found and fabricated become one thing. I annihilate any hierarchy between the two by creating a narrative that seems natural and believable but at once magic and emotive.

Mike Hein

Carrie Dickason:
My studio practice is an act of cultivation, allowing intuitive decisions to inform systems that are highly influenced by observations found in nature. Through the use of common materials I make things in order to engage with my surroundings.

I am intrigued by the intersections of urban and rural worlds where garish synthetic colors collide with subtle tones of brown and green; where geometric outlines of factories and telephone towers abruptly interrupt organic contours of rolling hills. I find these moments fascinating and poetic – as graphic emblems of power and innovation.

Using a personal logic based on these observations, I shift geometric and synthetic substances into organic patterns and forms. Building with a palette scavenged from elements of contemporary life, I seduce viewers into a world of materiality -altering their perceptions of common materials through the use of repetition to create transformation.

These drawings were made under the influence of the eroded landscape of New Mexico, where mirage and atmosphere can lead to losing a sense of what is and what isn’t.

http://grizzlygrizzly.wordpress.com/2011/01/19/mike-hein-carrie-dickason/

Katrina Fimmel, Mike Ellyson, George Terry, and more at Tompkins Projects West

2011-01-12T09:39:00.000-08:00

Katrina, Mike, and George are part of a works on paper show at Dan Graham in LA.

opening Jan. 20th from 6 to 10 pm

in collaboration with Tompkins Projects in Brooklyn

DAN GRAHAM
506 Bernard St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
DanGraham1842@gmail.com
(323)-600-5731
By Appointment Only

This Friday, Grizzly Grizzly

2011-01-04T08:51:00.000-08:00

Join Grizzly Grizzly this Friday, Jan. 7th from 6 to 9 pm as we welcome Derya Hanife Altan and Casey Droege.
Casey Droege will be showing work where she shoots through paper, writing with a deadly weapon.
Derya Hanife Altan is showing a series of divining rods that ideally would find spirits, like a portable ouija board.
Casey Droege’s parents were both artists and made it clear to her that she should go into computers. She now lives and works as an artist in Pittsburgh, Pa. You can find her sprucing up her home, teaching, or selling her wares at spokepunchers.com.
Derya resides in Pontiac, Michigan where she is finishing her MFA at Cranbrook Academy of Art, in her spare time she makes traps for ghosts and monsters.

This is gonna be awesome, divining rods light-boxes good stuff and the usual Grizzly shenanigans.

stop by we're at 319 north 11th street, 2nd floor aka under Vox

Bruce Wilhelm, Rob Lee and more at Mulherin Pollard

2011-01-04T08:42:00.000-08:00

opening Thursday, Jan 6th from 6 to 9 pm

Mars Needs Answers
MULHERIN POLLARD PROJECTS
317 10th Ave (between 28th & 29th) . New York, NY 10001PH.212.967.0045 info@mulherinpollard.com
Bruce

Bruce Wilhelm

2010-12-15T07:04:00.000-08:00

Thanks John and ADA

bruce wilhelm 2010

2010-10-31T16:45:00.000-07:00

there's more i bet from 2010, these are prints. i have both of them 1/10. bruce is at risd for his mfa '12, putting out awesome work i assume. the last subjects he discussed with me (the approach included) promise to be great and strange.

stay tuned over here to find out

happy halloween

2010-10-31T16:20:00.000-07:00

thanks ella (told you i was gonna steal this)

sharon van etten

2010-10-31T16:13:00.000-07:00

she's playing at world cafe live tomorrow in philly. i might regrettably miss this to a prior engagement. or perhaps the grizzly grizzly meeting will be rescheduled.
sharon van etten
watch here

Jenna Weiss @ Grizzly Grizzly

2010-10-31T15:56:00.000-07:00

Friday, November 5th from 6 to 10 pm
319 north 11th street
ste. 2d
grizzlygrizzly
Jenna's link

Daniel Lane new works!

2010-05-21T15:01:00.000-07:00

Theresa Pfarr @ Grizzly Grizzly

2010-05-11T14:09:00.000-07:00

grizzly grizzly

Grizzly Grizzly is proud to present new works by Theresa Pfarr, we will be hosting this event on June 4th from 6 to 9 pm.

the gallery is located at 319 north 11th street in Philadelphia

My paintings are derived from cultural, commercial images of women, as they address me. The aggressive and pervasive nature of commercial imagery compels me to answer in the interest of creating a dialogue. Provoked by the shifting status and mutable portrayal of women in mass culture, I work to articulate the mixture of euphoria and dread I experience in viewing women’s magazines. Incidentally and anxiously, I discover and draw from the loss of my identity when subject to the meanderings of the female image in our culture. I treat the cultural, commercial and personal as one in my work, through a process of collecting, collaging and manipulating images into my paintings. Through this process the paintings become part self-portrait and part mass culture icon, I want to articulate where the two overlap. My work has evolved to this point through a process of examining the historical narratives and contemporary conventions used in advertising. Drawing from religious imagery, pop culture and themes of innocence, I am exploring and following visual points of tension and continuum in what allows mendacity to function as truth, and vice versa.

“I could no longer console myself with Rilke’s line: ‘Sweet as memory the mimosas steep the bedroom’….The Photograph is violent: not because it shows violent things, but because it fills the sight by force, and because nothing in it can be refused or transformed (that we sometimes call it mild does not contradict its violence: many say that sugar is mild, but to me sugar is violent…)” -Roland Barthes, from Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography

Trudy Benson @ Freight + Volume

2010-05-11T14:02:00.000-07:00

the press release

May 6th - June 13th, 2010

Reception: Thursday, May 6th, 6-8 PM

FREIGHT AND VOLUME

542 West 24th Street
New York, NY
10011
PHONE: 212 691 7700

FAX: 212 989 8708
HOURS:

Tuesday - Saturday

11 AM - 6 PM or by appointment

freight + volume

Trudy Benson - MFA Show - Tomorrow - GO!

2010-04-18T06:28:00.001-07:00

Colleen Rudolf @ Grizzly Grizzly

2010-04-04T06:59:00.000-07:00

Grizzly Grizzly
elephant feet shoes, need I say more?
Hours : Sat-Sun 1-6 pm
319 North 11th Street, 2nd Floor

2010-03-18T13:48:00.000-07:00

Allison Reimus reviewed on theartblog.org!

Yevgeniya S. Baras & Robert Scobey @ Grizzly Grizzly

2010-02-14T06:50:00.000-08:00

Ranbir Kaleka

2010-02-07T05:56:00.000-08:00

Auroboros:

To light up his path, a horse rider turns on his torch/flashlight, but light from the torch doesn’t brighten the rider’s path but the beam of light illumines only the back of his own horse.

I was thinking of many things: The sheer impossibility of absolutely accurate predictions of what lies ahead in time and space, the necessity of illuminating the past before a movement forward, cyclicality, self-reflexivity, the ancient Ouroboros symbol of Serpent swallowing its own tail, the failure of systems, the futility of circular thinking.

This too: At the legs, the man’s body merges with the horse’s body, implying they are one. The man could be looking for its scattered self to put it all together in one piece. The horses body would fit into one piece as a jigsaw puzzle but the shape of the pedestals makes this ‘coming together’ into a whole an impossibility.

The little girl is added digitally to give sense of scale,.. the sculpture is a a little under 2.50 Metres (over 8 feet) tall.

Warmly, Ranbir

P.S.
Ranbir is an amazing artist that I had the wonderful opportunity of presenting his lecture at SAIC, he has sent me this new work and I am working on getting the video of the lecture uploaded which will be posted here soon.

Grizzly Grizzly gettin' some press!

2010-02-02T15:55:00.000-08:00

Gallery Visit by Roberta Fallon and Libby Rosof

Yevgeniya S. Baras and Robert Scobey

2010-01-17T09:18:00.000-08:00

GrizzlyGrizzly presents our new show featuring Brooklyn painter Yevgeniya S. Baras and Philadelphia multimedia artist Robert Scobey.
Our opening reception will be Feb 5th, from 6 to 10 pm
The Grizzly is located at 319 North 11th Street, 2nd Floor.
Gallery hours are Sat & Sun 1 to 6 pm

G

Jorge Benitez

2010-01-10T18:11:00.000-08:00

Believe the hype: Otero is on the rise

2010-01-10T07:17:00.000-08:00

By Lauren Viera, Tribune reporter

January 8, 2010

Sometimes, hype is all we have to go on.

I first learned about a voracious young painter named Angel Otero last spring, shortly after he received his master of fine arts degree from the School of the Art Institute. Even then I was late to the party: At 27, the Puerto Rico native had already reached milestones that most artists rarely allow themselves to dream about.

For starters, in February, several of Otero's works were exhibited at Spain's major international fair of contemporary art (ARCO), represented by the very hip, Canary Islands-based Leyendecker Gallery. On the first day of that fair, every last one of Otero's paintings sold. Weeks earlier, at the Circa '09 international art fair in Puerto Rico, same thing: All paintings sold, all on the first day.

By summer, Otero was on a roll. He received the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund in the Performing and Visual Arts, a prestigious grant awarded by invitation to just one visual artist annually, in the generous sum of six figures to be invested over two years.

One of his works was selected for inclusion in the Museum of Contemporary Art's "Constellations" exhibit, on view last summer and fall alongside major paintings by Andy Warhol, Rene Magritte and Francis Bacon, among others. The icing? In October, Otero was chosen as the honored guest artist at the Art Institute's annual big-ticket fundraiser, BareWalls, adding his name to an elite list that includes Ed Paschke and Cynthia Rowley.

That was last year, Otero's fourth living in the States. He moved to Chicago in 2005 on a scholarship to the School of the Art Institute after growing up in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, a small city best known for its pork rinds. He was raised by his grandmother in a household he's said was devoid of books and paintings.

"What I could consider art around me back then was the stuff that shocked me or affected me," said Otero via telephone from his Brooklyn studio, which he set up in the fall with his Annenberg fellowship funds. "[My] work is about these sorts of memories, or confronted memories … to find some sort of interesting conversation between what is abstraction, material process and memory. There's abstraction, there's paint and then there's all these things together."

Somewhere between Otero's brain and his paintbrush, his interpreted memories become three-dimensional. What finds its way onto the canvas (often painted black, to start) are bright, textural spurts clinging to the surface. The resulting paintings are bizarre, but not off-putting. What could easily appear crude and clumsy, like an amateur experimenting with new materials, instead is laced with meaningful detail in the least likely places.

In a solo show at Kavi Gupta Gallery, Otero's "The Golden Vase" (2009) is abstract, for sure — the flowers in the vase are splotches of peeling, colored acrylics; the table on which it sits is a web of silicone squirted into a grid resembling rattan furniture. But there's very little irony. The vase has depth, and it's obvious that this thing — this object — was foremost in Otero's mind when he was painting it. As Otero explained, when you're raised middle-class, as he was, household possessions present an interesting aesthetic.

He clarified: "If they need a countertop, the high-class people have the budget for granite; the poor person just needs a slab of wood. And then the middle-class person has contact paper that looks like granite, and it's perfect. I like that; I grew up around that. I have found my way to navigate through all these memories and objects, through the stuff of my family, and also confront them with these ambitions of painting."

"Untitled (golden bowl)" (2009) is more controlled than "The Golden Vase." The bowl itself is nearly invisible, but lining the surrounding canvas is an immaculate system of tiny squares — blobs, really. It's gold-leaf, deconstructed.

Gold is everywhere in Otero's work. He attributes it to "weird kitsch" objects present in middle-class families, and the best example we've seen is his "Winners" (2009) installation at Kavi Gupta Gallery: three tiers of trophies covered with gold oil-paint, crusted up into Otero's signature flecks. Underneath those scabs of paint, you can just barely make out a guy frozen in a bowling stance, or a dude popping a wheelie on his motorcycle. The top trophy is the largest, and it's so thick with paint, the figure is diminished to a vague, marshmallow-y silhouette.

Otero likens his thick layers of paint to layers in a cake, adding them one at a time until he has a finished piece. They're created by coating mirrors with oil paint, playing with colors as he goes. Once they're dry, they're scraped off in whole sheets. The resulting layers are so thick and textural, many critics (including this one) have at first mistaken them for fabric.

The back room at Kavi Gupta Gallery features these uber-textural works exclusively. Here there are no golden bowls or vases on tables — just layer upon layer of color and texture, oil and tar poured onto canvas, piece by piece.

"I don't want to be so direct," Otero said of his layering process. "That's why all these things have paint on top of them in different techniques, in order to find that effect."

On the heels of the Kavi Gupta Gallery show, more of Otero's new work will be exhibited in a solo show Jan. 23 at the Chicago Cultural Center. It's a heck of a way to kick off a new year.

I asked the young painter if he felt differently since graduating and receiving so many honors.

"To be honest," he said, "the only thing that has changed is the responsibility that takes over me. I have this weird abstract pressure to work more, and I'm trying to do the best I can, but I swear to God I'm still floating in the air. I swear I still can't believe it sometimes."

Angel Otero at Kavi Gupta Gallery, 835 W. Washington Blvd., 312-432-0708; kavigupta.com. Through Jan. 30.
"Touch with Your Eyes: Recent Works by Angel Otero,"
at Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St., Sidney R. Yates Gallery, 312-744-2947; chicagoculturalcenter.org.
Opens Jan. 23; gallery talk with the artist Jan. 28.

lviera@tribune.com

Copyright © 2010, Chicago Tribune

Joshua and Tisch Abelow, pt. 2

2010-01-03T07:50:00.000-08:00

The Opening will be Friday, January 8th from 6 to 10 pm
Grizzly Grizzly is located at 319 North 11th Street, 2nd Floor
(if you cannot make it, I will schedule viewings by appointment, so please email me at dpmatt@ymail.com)

Daniel Arsham

2009-12-26T10:53:00.000-08:00

Daniel Arsham

annie campbell belcher

2009-12-26T10:14:00.001-08:00

annie's website

Joshua and Tisch Abelow

2009-12-22T09:38:00.001-08:00

Grizzly Grizzly is pleased to present an exhibition of new works by Joshua and Tisch Abelow.

Joshua and Tisch share the same last name because they are brother and sister. Until recently, these two artists lived in different locations (Tisch in San Francisco/LA, Joshua in Berlin). Currently, these artists find themselves working in their respective studios in their hometown, Frederick, MD. This exhibition aims to bring their works even closer together by showing their paintings/drawings in the same space for the first time.

The gallery will hold an opening reception on January 8th from 6-10 pm and will be open by appointment.

GRIZZLY GRIZZLY opening

2009-12-07T07:46:00.001-08:00

GrizzlyGrizzlyis our new gallery in Philadelphia, here are pictures of the inaugural show and ensuing mayhem. Yes we take submissions, email me.

Jorge Benitez

2009-11-08T09:27:00.000-08:00

Castilian Conjugations Recent Paintings by Jorge Miguel Benitez

Artist Statement (In two parts)

Paintings, like grammar, have tenses. Some artists paint in the present and others in the future. Most paint in either the past or the conditional, and egotists tend to paint in the imperative. I prefer to paint in the subjunctive. It addresses the uncertain and the hypothetical. In Castilian it is an essential and difficult tense.

On a technical and conceptual note, I do not use any photographic or digital references. I paint exclusively from hand-generated drawings.

Jorge Miguel Benitez
2009

Part two: Why are the titles in Castilian?

I have no interest in identity politics, and I do not plan to walk in Angela Davis’ revolutionary combat boots. However, even without titles these paintings would still address the nexus of words and images, culture and history. Castilian has been the dominant language of Spain since the expulsion of the Muslims and the founding of the Spanish Empire in 1492. The language has a Latinate directness. Julius Caesar’s famous “veni, vidi, vici,” translates into vine, vi, vencí. The verbs imply a personal pronoun that can be dropped without losing the structure of a complete sentence. Furthermore, the combination of grammatical precision and conciseness with hard consonants and short vowels gives Castilian a staccato rhythm that stresses the speaker’s will. In contrast to Latin Americans, peninsulares, as Spaniards are sometimes called, retain a harsh, clipped sound that echoes the commands of Roman legions and Spanish tercios.

Still, it would be a mistake to think that Castilian lacks subtlety or the capacity for diplomatic assuagement. The subjunctive tense alone allows it to express horrors obliquely. I can say things in my native Castilian that would be unforgivably offensive in English. A simple diminutive modifier can turn a phrase into a mocking insult or a tender endearment. Love, cruelty, reason and irrationality coexist in an exquisite and delicate balance. The most pedestrian empirical observation can be expressed lyrically while remaining boringly factual. Formal and informal pronouns establish social hierarchies yet permit an egalitarian illusion. In short, Castilian defies objective detachment. The speaker can be cool or warm but never uninvolved. Castilian projects a lack of faith in reason even when the thoughts are rational. Lastly, these paintings reflect a linguistic and visual culture that revels in contradictions and accepts life’s unfair and arbitrary nature. Life, like art, can be interesting in spite of its meaninglessness.

Jorge Miguel Benitez
2009

Trudy Benson

2009-11-07T06:49:00.000-08:00

Trudy

Jason Hackenwerth @ Skybox

2009-10-30T07:47:00.000-07:00

Tonight, 7-10 pm
2424 East York Street
Philadelphia
(North of Girard, Fishtown, take Frankford north, right on York)

show is up until Nov. 28th

Jason

John Phillips

2009-10-25T11:09:00.001-07:00

Kevin Van Aelst

2009-09-14T15:43:00.000-07:00

Kevin's Site

Susanna Coffey @ Jared Melberg Gallery

2009-09-14T13:54:00.000-07:00

Susanna Coffey
Plantings and Cuttings

September 19 - October 31, 2009

Susanna Coffey’s small-scale paintings of flowers are carefully and thoughtfully presented as either single blooms, cuttings of branches and vines or images of living foliage. The artist says, This exhibition is a special one for me...The work I am more known for is a kind of portraiture that is loaded with social and political content. These pictures are of a different kind, very intimate, direct and for me, private. I am trying to make beauty from beauty.

An internationally recognized artist, Coffey received a BFA from the University of Connecticut in 1977 and a MFA from the Yale School of Art in 1982. Coffey is a professor of painting at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago. She divides her time between Chicago and New York City.

Zak Prekop & Jon Pestoni

2009-09-13T06:56:00.000-07:00

Lisa Cooley is pleased to present a two-person exhibition of abstract paintings by two artists, Jon Pestoni, from Los Angeles, and Zak Prekop, from Chicago. The exhibition runs from September 11 until October 18, with a reception for the artists on Sunday, September 13, from 6 until 8 pm.

The paintings of Jon Pestoni and Zak Prekop have clear affinities – their separate practices arise from a conceptual foundation, but are executed with intellectual playfulness, subtlety, lightness and lyricism. Both artists are highly aware of art historical precedent and yet aim for the discovery of unique forms. Both bodies of work deliver formal investigations with a critical edge.

Neither figurative, nor purely abstract, Jon Pestoni’s paintings are imbued with an experiential quality. They highlight paint application, materiality, rich color schemes, and occasionally, blunt, aggressive brushwork. His work is explicit and avoids visual pretense in a direct, immediate way. Scale and color shift subtly from work to work, revealing the internal logic of Pestoni’s practice and contextualizing each individual painting.

In certain works, wide, dragged brushstrokes create thick horizontal bands across prepared grounds. Pestoni sometimes contrasts these severe strokes with small, lyrical surface marks and lines, adding yet another layer to the work. Such contrasting moves address the heavy ground beneath and imbue the painting with a decorative but opposing tension.

Pestoni’s work plays with ideas of negation. The artist might seem to deny the viewer access to the “interior” of the work, but in fact he is playing with the trope of deriving pleasure from inaccessibility, thereby amplifying awareness of the work’s materiality and nuance. Pestoni pushes the act of building up and breaking down, painting something in and painting something out, unifying this practice into a single picture. In short, much of the activity in these paintings is the work of erasing the work. By investigating disappearances, the paintings become evidence of a process and saturated with visual and indexical meaning.

Collage and pencil drawing spark the composition of Zak Prekop’s oil paintings. The artist uses these two non-painting mediums to create the nuanced structures, the destabilized geometry, the rambling, gestural creases and the shallow, color-filled ridges that characterize the surface of his paintings.

This approach yields a range of pictures, some of which are more about drawing, others more about painting. Some pictures combine both ideas, emulating collage to create an illusion of torn paper within the underpainting. Other incongruities are evident - torn paper and quick marks suggest immediacy, but Prekop’s creamy paint application and subdued palette evoke a contemplative, slow reading. His layers of color range from translucent to opaque, but always retain a striking luminosity.

Prekop’s paintings are notable for their levels of refinement, interiority and sincerity. Even in his larger canvases, the artist conjures an intimate experience for the viewer. Diagetic, almost invisible marks reveal themselves only when viewed at certain angles while the quality of the artist’s lines feel introspective and meandering. Reinvesting seriousness and the personal into tropes of abstraction, Prekop creates a new form of subdued and cerebral non-representational painting.

Jon Pestoni lives and works in Los Angeles. He received his BA in Art from UC Berkeley in 1992 and his MFA from UCLA in 1996. His paintings were included in The White Columns New York Annual 2008, curated by Jay Sanders. His work has also been exhibited in New York at Leo Koenig Inc and Marianne Boesky Gallery as well as at Galerie Parisa Kind in Frankfurt, Germany. Since 2005 he has lectured in Studio Art at UC Irvine, UCLA and UC Riverside. Upcoming exhibitions include a two-person show with Shane Campbell Gallery in Chicago.

Zak Prekop lives and works in Chicago, where he also received his MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2008. He is currently studying at the Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Städelschule in Frankfurt, Germany. He has recently exhibited at Shane Campbell Gallery in Chicago and Roger Björkholmen Galleri, Stockholm, Sweden.

The gallery is located at 34 Orchard Street between Hester and Canal in the Lower East Side of New York City. The closest subway is the East Broadway stop of the F line. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Sunday, from noon to 6 pm. For more information or images, please email the gallery at frontdesk@lisa-cooley.com or call 212-680-0564.

Bruce Wilhelm / Jon Clary

2009-09-10T07:25:00.001-07:00

Bruce's Site

Jon's Site

Here's the installation shots from their show at Eleanor Harwood in San Francisco. Two of my favorite people and artists.

Trudy Benson @ Edward Thorp Gallery

2009-09-03T07:57:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

I'm participating in a five person show at Edward Thorp Gallery here in Chelsea this fall; show dates are September 25 through October 31. Participating artists are: Trudy Benson, Simone Shubuck, Neil Farber, Mike Hein, Sebastian Dacey. Hope you will come down!

Edward Thorp Gallery
210 Eleventh Avenue, 6th Fl
New York, NY 10001
T.212.691.6565
Hours: Tues.-Sat., 11am to 6pm
edwardthorpgallery@gmail.com
Edward Thorp Gallery

Best Wishes,

Trudy Benson

David Shrigley

2009-08-29T18:46:00.001-07:00

His Link

Erik Gonzalez

2009-08-26T16:34:00.000-07:00

Opening reception is Thursday, September 10, from 6 to 8 pm.
ERIK GONZALEZ
Diptychs
September 10 – October 31, 2009

Paint the Town (diptych detail), 2009, Oil on canvas/Oil on mirror, 47 x 56 inches/12 x 12 inches, EG-1002

LINK TO SHOW
Massimo Audiello is pleased to announce his first New York solo show of Erik Gonzalez. The exhibition will open on Thursday, September 10 and run through Saturday, October 31, 2009. The opening reception is Thursday, September 10, from 6 to 8 pm.

At first glance, the work by Erik Gonzalez seems to be interested in the practice of making simply pure abstract paintings. The search for a vocabulary seems to be at the core of this body of work.

Elements are taken from language, graffiti, logos, different kinds of textures, monochromatic backgrounds, sometimes from Pop imagery and other times from more sophisticated art historical references such as minimal abstraction. The elements all converge in the creation of a variegated and exciting body of work, where the meaning and possibilities of abstraction are speculated.

At a second glance, Gonzalez’s work will reveal a kind of intrusive alterego, a small painting accompanying laterally the main large work. Those small paintings stand curiously next to the big ones, bound by a symbiotic relationship, as some kind of a window on the main painting’s soul. They reflect, question and doubt and comment on the painting’s identity, creating a stimulating dialogue were all possibilities seem to be taken into account.

The painting and its double reflect the ambiguity and complexity of identity, not in a cubist form, but as a more straightforward starring at one’s self. Abstraction is in this way commented on and perversely substituted by a representation verging on the surreal. This psychological game adds a new twist to the endless game of painting, while reflecting a part of how painters work.

For more information, please contact the gallery at:

MASSIMO AUDIELLO
526 West 26th Street
No. 519
USA- New York, NY 10001
212.675.9082 TEL
212.675.8680 FAX
www.massimoaudiello.com

John Phillips

2009-08-04T15:22:00.001-07:00

Jon Clary & Bruce Wilhelm

2009-06-02T13:19:00.001-07:00

Here's your exclusive sneak preview of Jon and Bruce's upcoming show at Eleanor Harwood Gallery in San Francisco. The show opens on June 20th and closes on August 1st.

Gallery Hours:
Thursday, Friday & Saturday 1-5

1295 Alabama Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
cross street is 25th
415. 867. 7770

Branch Clarke

2009-04-29T10:18:00.000-07:00

His Site

Bruce Wilhelm

2009-04-29T10:08:00.000-07:00

His Site

Upcoming Show at Eleanor Harwood Gallery with Jon Clary opens June 13th to July 11th.
Bruce will also be in a group show;
'Paper' at Phyllis Stein which opens May 13th to June 6th.

Brock Davis

2009-04-28T17:09:00.000-07:00

His Link

Ranbir Kaleka

2009-04-07T10:37:00.000-07:00

Dennis,

Reading Man is a free standing triptych.The paintings stand in a spatial configuration where there is a retinal shift instead of a linear scanning as we view the work.

The installation consisits of three large oil paintings and one small oil painting. The floor covering around 18’ x 7’ has acrylic painted canvases extending the paintings to the floor. Three wire sculptures work as drawings etc etc three other sculptural components

‘Reading Man’
oil and acrylic on canvas, aluminium sculptures and a wall clock.

installation size:
height: 8’5’’ 282 centimeter
width: 17’
depth: 7’ 214 centimeter
His Site

Angel Otero

2009-03-17T14:26:00.000-07:00

His Site

Laurie Scavo, Mock Stars, and Maria Bamford

2009-03-04T11:50:00.000-08:00

Went to Skylight Books in Los Feliz last night for a reading of Mock Stars: Indie Comedy & the Dangerously Funny by John Wenzel, a columnist at the Denver Post. Had a great time there, and after the reading was three short sets by comics including Maria Bamford.
There was a girl there taking photos, who I saw hand a card to another woman...a bit of research (googling the phrase I lifted from her card) found out that she's Laurie Scavo, an excellent photographer of events, music, and her own subjects.
Laurie's Website Link

Ella Watson

2009-03-04T10:40:00.000-08:00

A dear friend of mine and of many many other people needs a liver transplant. There is a foundation set up to provide for the donor and her, that you can donate to and can receive art in exchange for your donation. Please follow the link to learn more and how to help. Ella loves you.
Help Save Ella

Bruce Wilhem

2009-03-03T16:46:00.001-08:00

His site

Jo Hormuth

2009-03-03T16:25:00.000-08:00

Her site

Theresa Pfarr

2009-02-24T13:35:00.001-08:00

Her Site

Jon Clary

2009-02-24T13:25:00.000-08:00

Interview Link
Jon's Site

Diana Al-Hadid featured in Art News' Artists to Watch

2009-01-15T20:07:00.001-08:00

Link but pick up this issue (long enough to read this feature!)

Diana's Website

Hanna von Goeler

2009-01-15T20:00:00.000-08:00

Her Link

Trudy Benson review of Corin Hewitt at the Whitney

2008-12-10T16:43:00.000-08:00

Trudy Benson
23 November 2008

Corin Hewitt's work has been described as borrowing from postminimalist and performance forebearers such as Gordon Matta-Clark and Bruce Nauman in its blending of performance, photography, and installation. His work also deals with the themes of transformation; preservation; the cyclical stages of growth and decay, and life and death; and the relationship of part to whole. Seed Stage, currently on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art, serves as a theater for transformation. Hewitt has created a studio within the Museum as a nucleus in the gallery space Seed Stage occupies. Through the corners of the walls housing Hewitt's workspace we can catch only a small glimpse of the work that he executes live for three days of every week for three months during museum hours.
Hewitt asserts "What I need is here, and if not, I can make it here". What we cannot see as viewers, pivotal to his process, is the root celler that has been installed beneath the very floor Hewitt stands. He has several tools: some for practical use and some for aesthetic construction, but the way he uses these tools overlap and blur between practicality and aesthetic outcomes. He puts up preserves, paints and blowtorches food products and prints out color schemes – all to eventually photograph. These photographs are gradually displayed on the outer wall of the gallery space (which is set up like a ziggurat).
The temporal element of Seed Stage is really what fascinated me. His theme of transformation leads into the theme of endlessness. His process could recreate itself as simulacra hypothetically forever. Photographs of photographs posted inside the studio and outside in the gallery. Time captured (literally) on the film of a camera for however long the aperture is allowed to stay open. Light contained as time in these photographs resonates with the internal containment of the artist's studio inside of the gallery space. Both artist and living roots contained inside of the museum establishment were to be present in real time rather than in the afterwards that is usually present in pieces other than performance. Although viewed through small openings, the voyeuristic quality of the piece came apart when the Hewitt made eye contact with me and returned my smile as he went about his work.

Ezara Hoffman opening in Dresden

2008-12-03T14:29:00.000-08:00

EZARA HOFFMAN and RAINER SPANGL

Her Website

"Collaborative paintings on view"
Exhibition opening: 5th December 2008, 8 pm
(open from 5th till 9th December every day from 4 till 8 pm )

Venue:
KOLONI-artist-run-space
Torgauer Street 40
01127 Dresden
Germany

Koloni Site
koloni@web.de

Sie sind herzlich zu der folgenden Ausstellungseröffnung eingeladen:

EZARA HOFFMAN (USA/A) und RAINER SPANGL (A)

"Collaborative paintings on view"

Ausstellungseröffnung: 5.12.2008 ab 20 Uhr
(Die Ausstellung ist ab 5. bis 9. Dezember zu besichtigen, jeden Tag
zwischen 16 und 20 Uhr)

Ort: KOLONI artist-run-space
Torgauer Strasse 40
01127 Dresden
Deutschland

www.koloni.wordpress.com
koloni@web.de

Die amerikanische Künstlerin Ezara Hoffmann und der österreichische
Rainer Spangl stellen diesmal gemeinsame Collagen/ Gemälde aus. Die
diese Werken ergänzen sie sich so sehr, dass sie etwas Neues-eine
dritte Person ins Leben rufen.

Bruce Wilhelm

2008-11-26T12:16:00.000-08:00

Bruce was interviewed and visited by Fallon and Rosof in Philadelphia a couple weeks ago. Great words from Bruce about everything, his process, his life, his painting and animation work.
Studio Visit Link
Bruce's site

Ben Bauman

2008-11-26T11:21:00.000-08:00

And he also makes these drawings, but I must admit I only taught him some of the painting part.

Ben Bauman

2008-11-24T19:20:00.000-08:00

one of my students from SAIC, very good painter watch out art world! His Website

Heide Trepanier

2008-11-19T20:44:00.000-08:00

in my Top 10, yes!

Zak Prekop

2008-11-18T12:29:00.000-08:00

Zak Prekop

November 22 - January 17, 2009

Opening Saturday, November 22
6 - 8 pm

Shane Campbell Gallery
1431 West Chicago Avenue
Chicago Illinois 60622
312.226.2223
shanecampbellgallery.com

Brooke Barnett, Corrine Halbert, & Karen Azarnia

2008-11-13T14:54:00.000-08:00

Kippenberger Review Done!

2008-11-06T21:01:00.000-08:00

Read it over here

Mike Dowley MFA Show-SCAD

2008-11-06T09:00:00.000-08:00

Hey Dennis - I'm trying to get some more people to see
pics from my thesis show - If you're interested in showing it, I'd be
grateful (see link below to pics). I have some more close-ups if needed, as well. I
hope you keep up the postings - I def appreciate seeing the images and
reading what you put up. The blog's definitely given me some inspiration and
connected me to artwork from other places during my time in grad school.
I've looked at a lot of blogs and not many put up as consistently interesting work, so thanks
- Mike.

Link to Show

Trudy Benson

2008-11-05T22:44:00.000-08:00

Fluers de Guerre

2008-11-04T17:23:00.000-08:00

fleurs de guerre reminds you that your country is still engaged in an
illegal war.
happy election day!

Jules Buck Jones

2008-10-31T10:12:00.000-07:00

Reed Kirst

2008-10-31T10:09:00.000-07:00

John Phillips

2008-10-28T18:54:00.001-07:00

Of course JP is in my top 10
I told him once that he was my favorite painter, he was a little down that day as I remember but I really meant it all the same. I should tell him again.

Sally Bowring

2008-10-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

In the Top 10

Candida Alvarez

2008-10-28T14:27:00.000-07:00

In the Top 10

Susanna Coffey

2008-10-28T14:10:00.000-07:00

In the Top 10

Jorge Benitez

2008-10-28T13:57:00.000-07:00

one of the other top professors of mine...and I think the list is really a top 10

Bonnie Collura

2008-10-27T19:58:00.000-07:00

one of my top three professors that made me what I am today.
that's funny, I can only think of her and one more right now.

Erik Gonzalez

2008-10-26T12:52:00.000-07:00

Trudy Benson's Review of Jeff Koons' "On the Roof" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York

2008-10-20T19:09:00.000-07:00

In his 1958 essay "Jackson Pollock", John Berger asks us "how far can talent exempt an artist if he does not think beyond or question the decadence of the cultural situation to which he belongs?". "Jeff Koons On the Roof" exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art featured three pieces from his Celebration series installed in the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden. Balloon Dog (Yellow), Coloring Book, and Sacred Heart (Red/Gold) were factory-made of high chromium stainless steel with transparent color coating and range in height from ten feet to almost nineteen feet. According to John Berger's problem of the Western artist in a disintegrating culture, Jeff Koons' recent rooftop exhibit, featuring pieces from his "Celebration" series, falls short of any kind of consideration beyond the decadence of today's culture.

"The constant problem for the Western artist is to find themes for his art which can connect him with his public,". According to Berger, an artist's theme is the emergent significance found in a subject. He went on to describe Pollock's desperation in finding his theme in our disintegrating culture where every artist's purpose is accepted, and criticism only consists of distinguishing between the gifted and those who are not gifted. The result of our disintegrating culture could be considered to be the inability to find a cultural significance within an artist's purpose. In Pollock's struggle to think beyond his cultural situation, he could only find significance in the impossibility of finding any cultural significance. In doing so, he has succeeded in thinking beyond his culture. And, "If a talented artist cannot see or think beyond the decadence of the culture to which he belongs, if the situation is as extreme as ours, his talent will only reveal negatively but unusually vividly the nature and extent of that decadence,".

Balloon Dog (Yellow) stands 121 inches tall: a highly reflective golden rendition of a balloon twisted into the shape of a dog. Coming out from the elevator onto the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this is the first piece we come across. The piece is truly sensational, enticing the viewer with its vast scale, its familiarity of form, and with its luster. The backdrop of our toy, aptly selected, no doubt, is a gorgeous Manhattan skyline. To the immediate right of Balloon Dog (Yellow) is the bar featuring three specialty drinks created in honor of each of the pieces on display. Standing over 140 inches tall and to the left of Balloon Dog is Sacred Heart (Red/Gold). A bright candy red, it is made to look like a heart-shaped chocolate wrapped in cellophane and topped off with a golden cellophane gift bow.

According to the pamphlet provided for the show, Koons is said to look for his inspiration in today's consumer world. It is also stated that he wishes his art to communicate with as broad an audience as possible. In these pieces, Koons' themes involve the appropriation of objects found within the world of consumerism. Any conceptual theme beyond fingering consumer decadence Koons admittedly owes to Marcel Duchamp's readymades. He has commented on this debauchery by achieving stardom personally and creating objects that call forth the seductive qualities of consumer media. He has demonstrated his sophisticated talent in his knowledge of his material and expressed an astute aesthetic sensibility. Still, he has failed to look beyond what our culture is dissolving into. It can be said that Koons' theme do indeed connect him to his culture; however, Koons has failed to make the theme of appropriation personally significant in "On the Roof".
Trudy Benson

Daniel Lane

2008-10-18T13:15:00.000-07:00

Trudy Benson's Review of "After Nature" at the New Museum

2008-10-16T22:19:00.000-07:00

"After Nature": A Delirious Prank

"After Nature", the extensive group show at the New Museum, spans three floors and includes the work of twenty-six international artists. The show includes almost one hundred different works and was organized by the museum's director of special exhibitions Massimiliano Gioni. Thematically inspired by Werner Herzog, W. G. Sebald, and Cormac McCarthy, Gioni proposes a post-apocalyptic perspective in art. Gioni writes that the exhibition is meant to be "a cabinet of curiosities that pieces together a fragmented encyclopedia", and overall meant to portray a mood suggested by Herzog's "ecstatic truth". Herzog minces around what he means by "ecstatic truth", describing it as a poetic truth liberated from fact just as Gioni's selection of works tries to send the viewer on a wild goose chase for integral meaning.

Individual themes within artworks include loss, as in Artur Zmijewski's film Oko Za Oko (An Eye for an Eye) in which a cripple is helped by another man to perform mundane acts; death, as in Pawet Althamer's figurative sculptures; and environmental issues, as in Allora and Calzadilla's Growth (Survival), an installation of Jenny Holzer's running LED light sculpture as light source for a large, hanging staghorn fern.

Tree, Zoe Leonard's dismembered tree pieced back together, resonates with the jumbled mood of the rest of the show. Perhaps the most palpable of Gioni's elusive grapple with "truth", Tree is a documentation of a random act of nature. High up on the wall Maurizio Catelan's taxidermied full-sized horse (Untitled) dangles with its head seemingly stuck in the wall. Together the two pieces more than dominate the room. The scale of works in the comparatively sparsely-curated room infuse the room with an eery energy. Both pieces stand as kinds of perverse monuments to loss, in that after their demises, the tree and the horse were turned to an improper use.

The third floor "houses" a full-scale replica of the Unibomber's cabin by Robert Kusmirwski with is only slightly evocative once we've answered the question, "Why is this colossal home blocking my view of the rest of the room?" Also disappointing are the unexciting large scale photographs of holes dug by Diego Perrone. The two pieces together feel like a room in an underfunded natural history museum; the artworks seem more like artifacts and the mood is morbid.

Pieces in the show were often accompanied by impartial or found texts placed with the intention of misleading the viewer even further of the curatorial decision making. According to Gioni, these blurbs suggest "new possible keys for their misinterpretation", but to the viewer who hasn't been let in on Gioni's deceptions, they come off as unprofessional. In fact, the entire exhibition operates under the premise of a fictitious presentation: that of a documentation of the present by some future institution. Once we've completed all of the necessary research into Gioni's inspirations and are making Herzog's search for an "ecstatic truth", this deceptive approach seems heavy-handed. The fourth floor alone, because of its overall mood rather than literal fabrication, is definitely evocative and fulfills Gioni's intentions.

The exhibition seems to prey off of eccentricities assumed by Massimiliano Gioni. Surely Herzog's truth could be reached in a slightly more prosaic manner than the overly romantic "After Nature". Gioni actually expects us to stumble starry-eyed through his Hall of Curiosities!

Gioni's attempt to discuss the changing themes of young artists today is another ambitious proposition, perhaps upstaged by his "quest for truth". The incorporation of the nuclear finger paintings by outsider artists Eugene Von Bruenchenhein and quotes by Reverend Howard Finster are ecstatic exclamations of the kind of overly dramatic romanticism we find Massimiiliano Gioni guilty of.

Trudy Benson

Eric Sall

2008-10-14T10:57:00.003-07:00

Eric Sall interview is published too, on White Hot's website,read it here

INDEX review published!

2008-10-06T07:26:00.000-07:00

My review is now published online for White Hot Magazine, read it online!

Michael McDevitt "Transect" Oct. 11th Seattle

2008-10-04T19:49:00.000-07:00

Opening October 11th, from 6 to 9
5511 1/2 Airport Way
Seattle
His Site
Another Site of His

For More Info, please call 206-767-8081

Daniel Lane

2008-10-03T07:32:00.000-07:00

Michael Ellyson

2008-10-01T17:23:00.000-07:00

Balthus

2008-09-30T22:26:00.000-07:00

Mr. Wiggles Goes to the Mountain

Angel Otero

2008-09-30T15:28:00.000-07:00

Interview with Angel Otero by Brian Sherwin

Jules Buck Jones

2008-09-30T15:04:00.000-07:00

Martin Kippenberger

2008-09-29T19:16:00.000-07:00

“Put Your Freedom in the Corner, Save It for a Rainy Day” 1990

---“The Wall is a part of German History. Now that all that’s left of it is a bit on Potsdamer Platz, it no longer feels like you’re walking through a wall. History is something you need to feel. First they weren’t Nazis, then they weren’t Communists. So what were they? They pulled down the wall without asking us and smartly wiped out some German history. The wall ought to have been preserved. We don’t need excavations, like in Greece—in this country history happens at your front door. Joseph Beuys thought the wall should have been seven centimeters higher---on purely aesthatic grounds. Everybody cheered when the wall was pulled down. That’s the wrong way to handle history.” Martin Kippenberger

Image Credits;
Martin Kippenberger in Venice, Italy, 1996, © E. Semotan

Trudy Benson

2008-09-29T08:35:00.000-07:00

Ella Watson-Medical Militia Series

2008-09-29T08:26:00.000-07:00

Bile Guns: Shoot from the Gut-- bile, percutaneous bile drains, liver, water guns

Bile Baby (Ella Watson, Biliary Atresia/ Wilfredo Gomez, Cerebral Palsy)- mixed media

Crutch Gun- crutch, fgr, fiberglass, mixed media

Stressed?- dummy grenade, blood pressure cuff

Mona DiFiore

2008-09-28T14:06:00.000-07:00

The Stitched together things I was talking about on the last post about this artist's work

Erik Gonzalez

2008-09-27T22:57:00.000-07:00

Erik, you crazy, rockin the chevron I think, is that right, chevron?

Joel Dean @ Thrones Gallery

2008-09-27T09:48:00.000-07:00

Joel Dean
His Site
"Out Drop The Daggers"

Oct.3rd - Oct.24, 2008

Opening Reception: Oct.3rd, 2008.

6 - 9PM

Thrones Gallery

123 N. Jefferson
3R
Chicago, IL
N. Jefferson St. in between Randolph and Washington

Chicago Art Open

2008-09-25T15:33:00.000-07:00

I'm in this, again. Should be cool, Candida Alvarez was one of the judges and she's a great painter and teacher of mine.
Its at a much better venue this year, The Merchandise Mart, from October 3rd to the 19th. Go see this!

Interview with John Kilduff of Let's Paint TV

2008-09-25T14:01:00.000-07:00

My Interview with John Kilduff is finally up, my fault not his.

Mona DiFiore

2008-09-24T19:07:00.001-07:00

damn she's getting good! not to toot my own horn here, but Mona was a student of mine last Fall at SAIC doing these great stitched together things that didn't fall into sculpture or painting just fell into the great category. On that note, Mona, when you read this, email me some images of those too!