NEWSgrist - where spin is art

Found Art (Soho): Unmonumental 242

Found Art (Soho): Unmonumental 242, originally uploaded by Joy Garnett (archive).

Found Art (Soho): Unmonumental 241

Found Art (Soho): Unmonumental 241, originally uploaded by Joy Garnett (archive).

Pure Beauty: John Baldessari

A 1972 photograph of a CalArts field trip for project called "Rolling: Tire." From left to right: Dede Bazyk, John Baldessari, Suzanne Kuffler, Matt Mullican and David Trout.
Photograph by James Welling, courtesy Baldessari Studio.

via LATimes Culture Monster:

On eve of LACMA survey, John Baldessari talks about his history teaching--and past students flash back too 

-- Jori Finkel

June 19, 2010

When "Pure Beauty," John Baldessari's retrospective, opens at the L.A. County Museum of Art on June 27, expect to see several generations of artists on hand for the opening-week events.

For as long as he has been making art in Los Angeles, Baldessari has also been, in a less tangible way, making artists: offering suggestions, encouragement and above all conversation to students eager to follow in his footsteps by living a life of art.

Follow they have, with their own gallery shows, museum shows, teaching gigs and some commercial successes that have at times even surpassed their teacher's.

Jack Goldstein, James Welling, Barbara Bloom, David Salle, Matt Mullican, Mike Kelley, Tony Oursler, Liz Larner and Meg Cranston are just a few who studied with him at CalArts in the 1970s and '80s. Liz Craft, Mungo Thomson, Karl Haendel, Nathan Mabry, Skylar Haskard, Analia Saban and Elliott Hundley studied with him at UCLA, where he was on faculty until 2007. 

But Baldessari, a conceptual artist with a droll sense of humility, is the last to take credit for any of their accomplishments. “You never really know where students get their nourishment,” he says.

Nor does he glamorize his decision to teach. “I taught because I needed the money — it wasn't a vocational choice,” he says. “I was just trying to make it enjoyable for myself, trying to make it as much like art as possible. Maybe that's why it worked.”

Click here for my Arts & Books story about the artist-teacher. And here for accounts by James Welling, Tony Oursler, Meg Cranston, Elliott Hundley and Analia Saban of the teacher they shared.

You can also read online an "assignment" sheet Baldessari prepared in 1970 for his now-famous post-studio course at CalArts, "just in case anyone needed the structure."

CALL FOR ARTISTS: Sheppard Fine Arts Gallery at the University of Nevada, Reno

Gustave Courbet (French, 1819–1877). The Desperate Man, 1844–45.
Oil on canvas; 17 3/4 x 21 5/8 in. (45 x 55 cm). Private Collection.

CALL FOR ARTISTS
Sheppard Fine Arts Gallery at the University of Nevada, Reno 

MYSELF 

A call for submissions for a group exhibition with catalogue entitled MYSELF. Deadline for received submissions in office is Monday August 9, 2010. 

THEME and EXHIBITION DETAILS: This exhibition will explore the widest possible definition of the term “self-portrait” as it applies to all forms of contemporary art and experimental media. The exhibition will be curated and organized by Gallery Director Marjorie Vecchio, while catalogue co-essayists in conversation include Joy Garnett and Mira Schor. Chelsea Otakan will design the catalogue. 

EXHIBITION DATES: January 18 – February 18, 2011, opening lecture and reception January 20, 2011 (dates subject to change). All exhibiting artists are invited to the opening lecture and reception, however, depending on funding, only a few artists will be chosen to receive transportation and hotel stipends. 

GALLERY INFORMATION: Sheppard Fine Arts Gallery of the University of Nevada, Reno is a 2,000 sq foot contemporary art gallery dedicated to supporting regional, national and international emerging and mid-career artists. Located in Northern Nevada’s high desert within an hour of both Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake, the Reno area has a rich culture and vibrant art community. The University of Nevada, Reno Art Department includes over 900 thoughtful and inspiring art students per semester at the undergraduate and graduate levels, including BA, BFA and MFA programs. Collaborations with our music, theater, dance or other departments are welcome from applicants as well. Please email any questions to mvecchio@unr.edu.
 
ELIGIBILITY: This call is open to all visual/multi-media artists, preferably without gallery representation (though those with representation will be considered) working in any 2D, 3D and 4D media including painting, mixed-media, drawing, printmaking, fiber, textiles, photography, sculpture, text, video, ceramics, film, graphics, sound, music, installation, performance, etc. All works submitted must be available for the duration of the show. Some projectors, monitors, and other technical equipment are available, please include in your submission which equipment you can provide or which you require. Artists must be a minimum of 18 years of age.
 
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: All completed submissions must be received in the gallery office by Monday August 9, 2010.
 
FEE: There is no submission fee.

SUBMISSION FORM [PDF]: Download CALL FOR ARTISTS Portrait

Lewis Hyde's 'Top Ten'

Donald Judd, 100 untitled works in mill aluminum (detail), 1982–86, aluminum. Installation view, Chinati Foundation, Marfa, TX, 2009. Photo: Douglas Tuck.

Check out Lewis Hyde's 'Top Ten' in this summer's edition of ArtForum - note #2 and 6 in particular! (links courtesy of newsgrist). Of course, #1 is hard to beat.

1

DONALD JUDD, 100 UNTITLED WORKS IN MILL ALUMINUM, 1982–86 (CHINATI FOUNDATION, MARFA, TX)

This installation is the American Taj Mahal. Spend an afternoon in the old army artillery sheds—now walled in glass––and watch the sunlight endlessly transform Judd’s simple-complex boxes. In the distance, thirty miles across the Chihuahuan Desert, Goat Mountain marks the horizon. [LINKS: YouTube; Chinati]

2

THOMAS JEFFERSON, LETTER TO ISAAC McPHERSON, AUG. 13, 1813

The seminal American defense of the common ownership of art and ideas. Economists now like to speak of the fruits of human wit and imagination as being “nonrival.” How much more eloquent was Jefferson: “He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.” Read the whole letter and count up how many books Jefferson just happened to have at hand to make his argument. [LINK]

6

DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKERS’ STATEMENT OF BEST PRACTICES IN FAIR USE (CENTER FOR SOCIAL MEDIA, WASHINGTON, DC; NOV. 18, 2005)

If my film history of the 1950s uses TV clips, do I need to clear permissions? If one scene has a radio playing in the background, do I need to pay for music rights? This handy pamphlet does more than help filmmakers answer such questions; it helps them claim the “fair use” rights that copyright law actually bestows on all creative artists. Now all we need is a national movement to do the same for each and every creative community. Artists arise! You have nothing to lose but those endless permissions hassles! [LINK]

Found Art (LES): Unmonumental 240

Found Art (LES): Unmonumental 240, originally uploaded by Joy Garnett (archive).

Found Art (Soho): Unmonumental 239

Found Art (Soho): Unmonumental 239, originally uploaded by Joy Garnett (archive).

'Reflective Reflexion' opens Friday June 18 @ Curatorial Research Lab (Winkleman Gallery)

 

I am pleased to announce "Reflective Reflexion", a project room exhibition I have organized of works by Corban Walker and Carrie Yamaoka. This is the first time that work by these two artists have been shown together. "Reflective Reflexion" is the third installment at the Curatorial Research Lab, situated in the project room at Winkleman Gallery in Chelsea, NYC. Conceived to allow independent curators to experiment with juxtapositions of artworks or try out ideas for larger projects, the Curatorial Research Lab is organized independently of the regular Winkleman Gallery programming.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Reflective Reflexion: Corban Walker + Carrie Yamaoka

organized by Joy Garnett

Date: June 18 - July 30, 2010

Opening reception: June 18, 6-8pm

re·flec·tive - 1. deeply or seriously thoughtful; 2. capable of physically reflecting light or sound; 3. "a reflective surface"; 4. devoted to matters of the mind.

re·flex·ion - 1. the act of reflecting or the state of being reflected; 2. something reflected or the image so produced, as by a mirror; 3. careful or long consideration or thought; expression without words..."tears are an expression of grief"; "the pulse is a reflection of the heart's condition".

The works of Corban Walker and Carrie Yamaoka embody a rejuvenation and continued dialogue with Minimalism that is propelled by an engagement with new materials and technologies. Yamaoka and Walker each beautifully extend the post-Minimalist moment broached and developed by their predecessor Felix Gonzalez-Torres. The works of all three artists, subtly infused as they are with social and political ideas and desires, nevertheless express something very personal that is beyond ideology, tempered by a profoundly rigorous formal continuity. The challenges presented by the sexuality of Gonzalez-Torres and Yamaoka, the Asian American identity of Yamaoka, and by Walker’s physical stature, each comprise an emotional complexity that lends a very real gravity to their works. And yet, the more difficult, chaotic and thorny issues are encrypted in clean, clear materials that are reflective, reflexive, formally exquisite and ultimately seductive.

Images + Artist Bios

 
Where:
Curatorial Research Lab
@ Winkleman Gallery
621 West 27th Street
New York, NY 10001
t: 212.643.3152
e: crl@winkleman.com
http://crl.winkleman.com/
http://winkleman.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the main gallery:

Yevgeniy Fiks: "Ayn Rand in Illustrations" - Info

Opening reception: Friday, June 18, 6-8pm

New Issue: CULTURAL POLITICS, Volume 6:2, July 2010

Yevgeniy Fiks: Song of Russia #27, 2005, oil on canvas. Courtesy of Winkleman Gallery, New York [LINK]

IN PRINT

Special Issue on the French philosopher of technology and political activist Bernard Stiegler, guest edited by Patrick Crogan.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cultural Politics - Volume 6, Issue 2, July 2010 Official site

Art - http://culturalpolitics.org

Journal subscriptions

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Articles

Bernard Stiegler: Philosophy, Technics, And Activism
Patrick Crogan on the principal theoretical coordinates of Stiegler’s philosophy of technology and its relevance for critical explorations between culture and the political.

Knowledge, Care, and Trans-Individuation: An Interview with Bernard Stiegler
Patrick Crogan probes the cultural and political dimensions of Bernard Stiegler’s enterprise, including his conceptualization of contemporary social and cultural, political and environmental crises.

Telecracy Against Democracy
Bernard Stiegler critically reflects on what he terms ‘telecracy’ or the ruination of democracy and citizenship by the short-circuiting of the normal mechanisms of politics by way of television and the wider televisual program industries.

Technology and Politics: A Response to Bernard Stiegler
Richard Beardsworth considers Stiegler’s contribution to contemporary critical theory as a singular understanding of technology indebted to the Marxist analysis of capitalism and Freudian libidinal economy.

Song of Russia [LINK to full content]
Yevgeniy Fiks' ‘Song of Russia’, is a series of paintings based on imagery borrowed from what Stiegler calls the ‘program industries’ or, in this case, three sympathetic Hollywood films about Russia that were produced at the behest of President Franklin D Roosevelt between 1943 and 1944, inclusive of North Star, Song of Russia, and Mission to Moscow.

Bernard Stiegler and the Time of Technics
Ian James examines Stiegler’s thinking about technics as developed in his Technics and Time trilogy, his relationship to Francis Fukuyama’s ideas on technology, history, and progress, as well to a number of other contemporary critical theorists such as Paul Virilio.

The Limits of Human Progress: A Critical Study
Gilbert Simondon looks at human progress and production, language and religion in relation to technical progress after the Renaissance. Are people agents or subjects of development or both and what are the implications for the industrial system?

What New Humanism Today?
Jean-Hugues Barthelemy argues for a reading of humanism and Enlightenment that strips them of their scientistic and Eurocentric implications and makes the values of both available for contemporary appropriation by way of Simondon, Marx, and Heidegger.

Kant Avec Ferry: Some Thoughts on Bernard Stiegler’s Prendre Soin: I. De La Jeunesse et des Generations
Chris Turner on Stiegler’s understanding of the import of the neoliberal turn, the barbarism of the market, and the psychopower of the program industries as individuals are targeted merely as consumers. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About Cultural Politics
 
“Cultural Politics is a welcome and innovative addition. In an academic universe already well populated with journals, it is carving out its own unique place—broad and a bit quirky. It likes to leap between the theoretical and the concrete, so that it is never boring and often filled with illuminating glimpses into the intellectual and cultural worlds.” -- Lawrence Grossberg, University of North Carolina, USA.

Edited by



John Armitage, Northumbria University, UK;  
Ryan Bishop, National University of Singapore, Singapore;  
Douglas Kellner, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

Cultural Politics is an international, refereed journal that explores the global character and effects of contemporary culture and politics. It analyzes how cultural identities, agencies and actors, political issues and conflicts, and global media are linked, characterized, examined and resolved. In doing so, the journal explores precisely what is cultural about politics and what is political about culture. It investigates the marginalized and outer regions of this complex and interdisciplinary subject area.

Each issue publishes artwork by selected artists reflecting contemporary cultural and political issues.

Found Art (Tribeca): Unmonumental 238

Found Art (Tribeca): Unmonumental 238, originally uploaded by Joy Garnett (archive).