Artist Jeanne-Claude of Jeanne-Claude and Christo has passed away at 74. I didn't get to see THE GATES or any of their works, but I do have a piece of fabric from The Gates tucked away in my box of treasures. It's like having a little piece of her hair.
Read more on NYTIMES.COM.
Labels: ART, DEATH AND DRAMA, DESPERATE AND SAD
This is a video by artist KOKI TANAKA from the 2008 Taipei Biennale. It was on College Humor. I think I like that but I'm not sure yet.
I finally saw Fassbinder's final film, Querelle, today. I watched it after class in the media library at school. Maybe not the most appropriate place to watch a murderous sailor gay porno. However, I think I got the eye from the fellow sitting across from me. So apropos getting cruised while watching such a cruisey movie.
I'm interested in the film's philosophy - is Querelle such a despicable character/emotional sociopath because faggots had to be monsters back in 1966 (when the book was written)? Or is it a self-loathing thing? Or is his behaviour not meant to be connected to his sex? His desires seem to change so rapidly and whimsically in contrast to Seblon's devotion. Obviously Seblon is a good gay, so they existed, just not in leading roles.
I am gonna go look up some reviews of the film to find out more...
Labels: ART, FILM, REALLY FUCKING GAY
Hollis Frampton's 1971 film Nostalgia is a recording of 12 photographs being burned on a stovetop one at a time while a description of each photograph is read. The descriptions, however, are not of the photograph we are watching as it burns, but rather of the next photograph that we will see. By the time we see the photograph that has already been described all we have is the memory of the story of this image. We somewhat desperately try to remember the description while listening to the description of the next image. Nostalgia (from the Latin nost meaning home and algia meaning pain) has us doing the same - desperately remembering in an achy way the lives we have lived while trying to pay attention to what is coming next. It's easy to get confused.
Labels: ART, PHOTOGRAPHY, VIDEO
I had seen, but nearly forgotten about, GOTTFRIED HELNWEIN'S self-portraits from the 1980s (above). So perfect. I had not, however, seen his paintings (below). I've been drawing lately. I really suck. But I'm making improvements. Every drawing I do comes out looking like a picture made by the fat quiet girl in the back seat of math class obsessing about the quarterback sitting in front of her. Not far off, really...
Labels: ART, JEALOUSY, PHOTOGRAPHY
Labels: ART, JEALOUSY, MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER
Upon entering the room housing Katie Paterson's installation, Earth-Moon-Earth, my first understanding of the piece was that a ghost was supposed to have been playing Moonlight Sonata, badly. I then though that the player-piano had been programmed incorrectly on purpose to mimic the endearing qualities of human error. Finally I wandered to the wall where there was a pair of headphones next to the score of the piece. In the headphones a crackly morse code was being tapped out. Beside the score was an explanation:
E.M.E (Earth-Moon-Earth) is a form of radio transmission whereby messages are sent in Morse code from earth, reflected from the surface of the moon, and then received back on earth.
The moon reflects only part of the information back - some is absorbed in its shadows, "lost" in its craters.
For this work, Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata has been translated into Morse code
and sent to the moon via E.M.E. Returning to earth "fragmented" by the moon's surface, it has been re-translated into a new score, the gaps and absences becoming intervals and rests.
In the exhibition space the new "moon-altered" score plays on a Disklavier grand piano.
Such an elegant and tightly realized installation. Earth-Moon-Earth is on display as a part of the UNIVERSAL CODE exhibition at The Power Plant in Toronto until August 30th.
See a video and more images from the installation on KATIE PATERSON'S WEBSITE.
Labels: ART
As promised, I am now selling DVDs from the NEW RITUALS series:
New Rituals - 2009 - 9:00
DVD of 9 animated images on a loop. Plays in any standard DVD player. Each DVD is hand-stamped with the New Rituals insignia and comes packaged in a sacrificial refuse bag. A lock of the artist's hair is sparkled to the front of each package.
To order a DVD please send $30 via Paypal to graydon@graydonsheppard.com. An address request will follow. If you are ordering from the United States, the cost is $30USD including shipping. If you are ordering from Canada the cost is $30CAD including shipping. Please inquire for international rates.
Supply is limited!
Labels: ART, I MADE THIS. ME. GRAYDON., PHOTOGRAPHY, VIDEO
Danish artist MADS LYNNERUP (maybe the best name of an artist I've ever heard) did his MFA at Columbia University:
Lynnerup's work is often diverse, but has remained consistent and recognizable in its approach throughout his career as an artist. Many of the themes in Lynnerup's work has roots in his constant interest in the everyday and his surroundings, whether it's the influence of billboards and advertisement texts, that inspired him to make the poster series "If you see anything interesting, please let someone know immediately," that are based on anti-terrorist posters in the subway of New York City.
I also see the series as a jab at the way we exchange information today. I have a blog, a website, Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter. I don't need all of this, obviously, but I've always seen them as a way to increase traffic to my site. I post things I find interesting as a way of sharing them with other people I think might like them, but they're also like little trophies on my blog. I feel like I score points if I find something original to put up. That's why I called this blog This is a Race. One can't really just sit by and hope for people to discover their work anymore - an active involvement in the online world greatly increases your chance of circulation. So, I won't pretend this isn't mostly a selfish endeavour, but I do hope that the people I blog about and link to get something out of it, too.
Thanks to Sparkles for showing me this.
Labels: ART
Every once in a while I break up with myself. It's painful, but it has to happen. For the dumper side of me it's a relief and I look forward to moving on to bigger and better stuff. For the dumped side of me, I go down the rabbit-hole and am forced to painstakingly analyze everything I've done wrong. I'm like a Mini Wheat. A soggy Mini Wheat.
I was once told by someone who I thought mattered that the most interesting thing about my photographs was seeing my discomfort as a photographer reflected in the expressions of my subjects. I clung to this deduction like it was the only thing that made me unique, and I've just realized that it's something I've been hiding behind.
Ever since I began making images seriously I've bounced back and forth from using just my camera and the sun to making HIGHLY CONTRIVED and constructed work. My struggle for the past few years has been trying to define myself as an artist. How do I reconcile my aesthetic and thematic disparities?
I've often blamed my eclecticism for my difficulties in getting shows with my own work or for failing to get grant money for short films I've written and photo series I've proposed. I thought having done ad work made people think of me less as an artist. I got a big head and thought I was too big for Toronto. But recently I came to the realization that maybe it's not them, it's me (see, it really is like breaking up with myself). And, although I have to keep doing what interests and excites me, maybe I need to grow up a bit, too.
I admit that I like the look of distrust in my photographs, but it's gotten me into trouble. I've always found it more interesting and engaging when my subject doesn't look pretty. I've never been interested in making the people who sit for me look good; I've been interested in making a compelling image. Avedon's images of a despondent Marilyn Monroe are more interesting to me than any other image of her. I've never requested "fierce" from someone I was photographing. It just doesn't thrill me. I find it so disposable. But I've often been unfair to my subjects. I've objectified them because I believed it was more interesting. While I stand by my photographs, while I think they say as much about my insecurities as they do about the subject's, I now understand how cruel I can be.
After spending a couple weeks in San Francisco with photographers at different stages of their careers I was thrown for a loop. Of course I have been around photographers I think are amazing for years, but I mostly went to school with them. I saw them do crap and I saw them do great things and I saw their insecurities and their strengths grow and change as they did. And they saw mine. Being around Parker, Ryan, and Luke changed my mind about what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. I'm sure they all have their insecurities, but unlike my colleagues in Toronto, I didn't see them grow, I just see them now, and I'm humbled in different ways.
PARKER is a brash young thing heading into his first year at California College of the Arts. He's one of those photographers who loves having a camera in his hand and takes it everywhere. He's going to kick my ass big time and he's going to do so well in school. I'm so excited for him and can't wait to see what he'll do. It makes me remember how people who had taken time between high school and university did so much better in the photo program because they really knew they wanted to be there. Parker's really unselfconscious with his camera, he trusts that people want to be photographed and want to be photographed by him, as well they should. I've never had that confidence. I always felt like my subjects were doing me a favour rather than getting anything out of the experience themselves. Watching Parker shoot with such excitement for the medium was both inspiring and disconcerting. I felt like I didn't get nearly as much out of my education as he will. The lucky thing is that I'll get to go back to school this fall. I can't wait to approach my film education with a fervor and understanding that I lacked in my undergraduate experience.
LUKE, who I didn't get to spend a lot of time with but hope to get to know better in New York, is fresh out of UCLA and blowing up the photo world. His work is really fantastic and beautiful and original and varied but coherent - something I aspire to but take too far in some ways.
RYAN is a well-known young photographer who did his MFA at SVA and watching him photograph was so fascinating for me. We use the same camera, but not in the same way. I am sure that in some ways the style of my university education gave me this complex that I have to have a set or a gimmick going on in my photographs in order for people to be interested in them. I've felt like just having my camera wasn't enough, and I felt that from the people who asked me to take photographs of them. I didn't think anyone would trust that my photograph was going to be interesting unless I had a stylist and an elephant on hand and we were going to a treetop village in the Amazon. Watching Ryan trust himself and trust that a camera was all he needed was fascinating. And when I sat for Ryan I suddenly understood how unfair I could be with my subjects. I totally trusted Ryan because I knew his photographs and I knew he would not be unkind to me. It was when I was sitting for him that I understand why people might have been reticent to let me photograph them knowing that my photographs were all about what I wanted them to be, not about who or what they really are.
I have not been a subject for anyone for about six years. I didn't really understand what it was like to be in front of the lens, which I now realize is something a photographer must experience seriously. I thought I knew what it was like to be a subject, and I had disdain for subjects who (I assumed) wanted to "look hot". Both Parker and Ryan photographed me, and while I'll never ask them to retouch an image of me or have the delusion that I'm a model, I see how vulnerable it can make someone feel to be photographed.
So, moving forward, my overarching modus operandi is becoming clearer. When editing my photographs from San Francisco I went down the rabbit-hole because I was afraid others would think them boring landscape photos. But, for once, I'm going ahead with what I believe in rather than what I want people to think is exciting and fresh. I resisted the urge to hide behind digital gimmicks or design tricks and just edited the straight images from an intuitive place.
I see these images as a continuation and purification of what I began in London. London was an accidental beginning to a theme that carried through the photographs in Are We Having Fun Yet? When I went to Mexico I expected this theme to continue, but I mostly just found good people genuinely wanting to enjoy themselves with their families and getting along and having a good time, so the focus shifted. My own solitude began to leak through as I felt on the outside of this group of people I didn't want to judge anymore. This came out as well as a methodical and almost meditative way of photographing. A centre-heavy, Bernd & Hilla Becher informed framing of the subject emerged. I was compelled and excited by this somewhat boring regimented style of photographing. This style reappears in the San Francisco photographs and is even more methodical and unapologetic in its wistful prettiness. I think this way I'm photographing is a foil to the gimmicky pictures I do. It is the most consistently recurrent style of photograph I have taken over any period of time. And it's not to say that I won't have fun with photography and image-making ever again, but I'm really trying to pay attention to what these are and why I'm doing them.
Parker told me that when we went to photograph together that he felt he totally was not a part of my process, that I was working alone. It's true. It needs to be a solitary act for me. I need to get lost in it, I need to feel uninhibited and not judged or scrutinized.
In the end I still haven't been able to pin down what I'm going for, but this way of photographing is leading me by the hand to somewhere I want to be. It's taking me back to the photograph and the medium itself. Kind of purifying it. And it's still me. There are themes that I've always imbued in my work - loneliness, smallness, boredom, apathy, bleached or faded vibrancy, existentialism, and a kind of hush and stillness or stasis beyond the obvious stillness of the photographic medium. I think these themes are not hiding behind anything else anymore. I hope they're not so earnest, that maybe they're a little more natural.
Though all this was a tricky mind-trap to navigate I feel better, lighter, and ready to move forward. I'm still proud of the things I've done. Some things more so than others, but it's all brought me here. And though my work may sometimes be schticky and sloppy, I'm glad to say that I've never approached it from the side of irony.
So for now this Mini Wheat is floating alone, but sugar-side-up in a warm bowl of milk.
Labels: ART, BAD DOG, DEATH AND DRAMA, EW, I MADE THIS. ME. GRAYDON., MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER, NARCISSISM, PHOTOGRAPHY, THINGS I WISH I'D DONE
The great Davida Nemeroff has a new WEBSITE and BLOG. I've been waiting in anticipation to see all her new work from her time in Columbia's MFA Visual Arts program.
Above is Jennifer Castle of CASTLEMUSIC and some girl named Mira.
Labels: ART, PHOTOGRAPHY
Laying With My Father by Ryan Pfluger
Luke Gilford
So I'm in nature now, the crickets are chirping outside my window and I am left in the quiet with my thoughts and still, somehow, a poo-load of work to do. I arrived at my new old home today after seeing both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans in one day and then packing and driving all my earthly possessions up here in an overstuffed GMC with a huge iced coffee from McDonald's.
San Francisco was everything I could have hoped for. Such a great place and such a great experience. I managed to escape Pride Day for the most part and go to the beach and Marin Headlands with Parker and Ryan. Ryan Pfluger is a fantastic photographer that I've been following for a long time but for some reason have never linked to him from my own blog before. It was really cool to watch him work and then to be photographed by him on the edge of the ocean and high up on cliffs. I can't wait to see his photos as well as Parker's and mine. Hopefully I'll have my film back by next week. You can see a sneak peek of Ryan's photos HERE and make sure to check out his other work HERE.
I also got to meet another great photographer, LUKE GILFORD, while I was in San Francisco. Luke is a New York based photographer who graduated from UCLA. All around it was a bunch of cute faggots taking pictures in the gayest city on earth. It seemed pretty right.
Labels: ART, PHOTOGRAPHY, REALLY FUCKING GAY
Photos and interview - Olaf Breuning in his studio on THE SELBY.
Via WE CAN'T PAINT.
Labels: ART, PHOTOGRAPHY
I like it when the birdy looks in the camera and cacks.
Video by SEMÂ BEKIROVIC who also does some beautiful photography and has made paper prints for gallery display, which is something I really want to do but have not yet tried. I think I'm learning that I am most excited by artists know the rules and walk around them - not so much by the ones who don't learn the rules in the first place or who feel the need to say "Fuck your rules, man!"
From the series Reflections
From the series (edition?) Paperprints
Via WLYS
Labels: ART, PHOTOGRAPHY, VIDEO
One of my favourite photographers, BETTINA HOFFMANN, just had an installation up at the AGO. I think it's down now but you can see the videos on her site - the piece is called ÉMILE.
She is Canadian but I don't think of her as a Canadian artist. I really think her work is so exciting and progressive in how it straddles that line between art directed and believable. It's like Lukas Moodysson's film SHOW ME LOVE or the TV series Big Love - the art direction and casting and styling are so perfect and right and down to the detail but feel effortless and completely untouched - almost to the point of looking tasteless or devoid of aesthetic. I'm not sure how much Hoffmann "art directs" her staged portraits, but from the effort she appears to put into perfectly staging her subjects I would assume that she takes control of the mise-en-scène as well (if I may be a douche-bag and say "mise-en-scène").
I think I like her so much because her aesthetic is so much in opposition to the Canadian aesthetic of faux-awkward, tritely-contrived, flash-lit, over-styled, under-evaluated, over-appreciated photographs that we've all been over-exposed to. I mean, JIN-ME YOON'S series was great but we have to stop trying to recreate that, am I right?
Labels: ART, PHOTOGRAPHY, VIDEO
ALEX MCLEOD is unbelievable. His/her 3D creations are breathtaking. I looked at them for a long time until I realized they weren't actual models, but CG renderings. So fantastic - the fun/frivolous scenes imbued with death or disaster or dripping somethings are really great. Dark without having to scream "Hey look I'm dark!" That's not easy to do.
Just click "art" at the top and use your arrows to scroll through the pieces.
Alex is also showing at Switch Contemporary from June 8-July 5 - opening June 11th 7-10 - 2217 Dundas Street West in Toronto (at Roncesvalles).
Labels: ART, JEALOUSY, THINGS I WISH I'D DONE
This series of stills from Jon Rafman's KOOL-AID MAN IN SECOND LIFE are everything I hope to be. The PROMO VIDEO is amazing.
Via I HEART PHOTOGRAPH.
Labels: ART, PHOTOGRAPHY, THINGS I WISH I'D DONE
The show I'm in with ROBYN, LINDSAY, and KATYA was named a BEST BET for Contact 2009 by Toronto Life! Ya!
It's up till the 30th of May if you haven't been yet:
XEXE Gallery
642 Richmond Street West
Wednesday-Saturday, 12PM-6PM
Labels: ART, I MADE THIS. ME. GRAYDON., PHOTOGRAPHY
Lindsay Page
Katyuska Doleatto
Robyn Cumming
Mesies
I have new work on display. Here's the info:
BREAKDOWN
Part of the CONTACT Toronto Photography Festival
XEXE Gallery
624 Richmond St. W.
May 7-30
Opening Thursday May 7, 6-9PM
Gallery Hours - Wednesday to Saturday 12-6PM
Breakdown features a group of photo-based artists exploring the construction of deconstructions. In relation to the CONTACT theme of Still Revolution, each artist responds directly to the constantly evolving yet historically reminiscent nature of the still image. Robyn Cumming constructs the climax of moments of chaos and trauma; the resulting photographs depicting an abstracted state of flux, serving as both the event and its aftermath. In looking at the images one simultaneously experiences the performative nature of the presented scenarios as well as the very act of constructing and photographing them. Katyuska Doleatto creates monochromatic still lifes with the use of decomposing elements. Rather than mimic the opulence and seduction of traditional still life, she instead creates minimalist compositions that beg scrutiny; each specimen seems to undulate though it is laden with the ineludible colour and shape of death.
Lindsay Page presents a building/un-building machine that exemplifies tedium and redundancy. Through the use of slide projectors, a now archaic technology, her photo-based installation loops viewers into the futility of an act that can never extend or develop beyond it self. Shooting with a stereoscopic lens, Graydon Sheppard creates animated, photo-based GIFS, which exhibit a simultaneous spatial construction and deconstruction. Each piece oscillates between a still image and one that moves forward and back with an unnatural and stunted sense of time. Both the images and their content give the impression of a quality, that when sought out, seems to disappear.
Statement for the series New Rituals:
The animations in this series were made by taking photographs with a stereoscopic lens and then alternating the left and right channels from the photograph in rapid succession. This technique creates perspective and gives the illusion of three dimensionality. The content of these images came from the desire to make magical scenes that fit that illusion. Taking cues from mystic, religious, and occult iconography I fabricated these tableaus in urban settings.
It's so easy to forget that we live and experience in three dimensions. 3D technology is making a huge comeback. Filmmakers are going to great lengths to create the illusion of depth that we can experience simply by looking around. In that frame of reference, these images become a strange contradiction. They are simultaneously flat and deep, frozen and frenetic. The kinetic energy is tangible and gives the illusion that the subjects could break free and burst into motion at any second.In looking at these GIFs we can switch back and forth from remembering that they are two dimensional images projected onto a flat wall while believing the experience of depth. It's like looking at a drawing of a cube which switches in or out depending on what we let our mind's eye perceive. In the same way, we can perceive the rituals to be deep when really there is nothing behind them. The man in the cloak in a Christ-like position appears to be floating in the air, but it is easily understood that in reality he is just jumping. These photographs constantly construct and deconstruct themselves in form and in content; they continually collapse upon themselves.
Stereoscopy is hardly a new practice, but the advent and popularity of these GIFs in digital culture today recontextualizes the technique and revolutionizes the medium by doing away with the necessity of a viewing contraption (such as 3D glasses). As an artist who works in both time-based and plastic mediums, this is my missing link between photography and film. It's my zoetrope, even if it's not real.
I'm really excited about this show and flattered to be showing with Lindsay, Robyn, and Katya. I've looked up to them since we were in school and they've all done amazing things, so I hope you'll be able to come to the show!
There will be DVDs of the series that you can buy for $30. They play in any DVD player and are nice, affordable pieces of digital art you can have on when you're not watching Showgirls.
Labels: ART, I MADE THIS. ME. GRAYDON., PHOTOGRAPHY
By PAUL CHAN from his exhibition at the University of Chicago until April 12.
These free FONTS are pretty great too.
Labels: ART, DEATH AND DRAMA
Department of Eagles - No One Does It Like You - Dir. Patrick Daughters & Marcel Dzama.
Labels: ART, JEALOUSY, THINGS I WISH I'D DONE, YOUTUBE
Parker's (above) BLOG is new so this is to encourage. The paintings he posted by CHRISTIAN SHOELER (below) are quite beautiful, but I'm mainly linking to his blog cause he's gonna cop my style and I wanted proof for when I take him to court. He also makes fun of my accent.
Labels: ART, MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER, PHOTOGRAPHY
I've had Animal Collective's "Bluish" on repeat all day imagining what I would do for their video if I had the chance...and now I just found this video apparently by the amazing Pipilotti Rist. I don't know what it is...I haven't seen it before and I think it's just a mashup of her video and their song but I like it anyway.
My SCHTICK is officially OVER. In any case I hope you'll still come to my show with ROBYN, LINDSAY, and KATYA during Contact where I'll be displaying these type of GIFs.
Via IHEARTPHOTOGRAPH.
Labels: ART, JEALOUSY, PHOTOGRAPHY
Video/installation/performance artist, painter, and photographer DMITRI GUTOV.
Labels: ART, PHOTOGRAPHY
PLEASURE DOME was fun tonight. It was MICHAEL ROBINSON showing his work and some of his favourite work. I enjoyed Michael's Hold Me Now which was a video containing seahorses and a clip of a blind Mary from Little House on the Prairie while a karaoke version of Hold Me Now played overtop. I couldn't find a clip to embed, sowwy.
I also liked SHANA MOULTON'S Whispering Pines #7, which I couldn't find but another of her videos is above.
See, I'm not so wrong for having an interest in ENYA.
If you're in Toronto come to the Bad Day Issue 3 (a great publication by Eva Michon and Colin Bergh) launch on Thursday. Details above - website HERE.
Labels: ART, BOOKS MOVIES AND OTHER CULTURALISTICALITIES, FASHION, FILM, PHOTOGRAPHY
I like these but I think I prefer the less porno images and installations by MATT LIPPS'. These are eye-catching in any case.
Via INDIE PORN (NSFW of course).
Labels: ART, PHOTOGRAPHY, SEX
JENNIFER ROSE SCIARRINO and I went to the same school for photography but Jenn has also branched out into other mediums. I like these paper sculptures stalagmites, and stalactites. I also like the tasteful tacky crystals - cause they're just barely on this side of irony thank goodness.
Labels: ART
French artist Theo Mercier has a wicked style, tons of great work under his belt for a 24 year old (god that makes me sick, I hate anyone younger than me), and an impossibly frustrating WEBSITE.
Via DIANE PERNET.
Labels: ART, JEALOUSY, PHOTOGRAPHY
My trip to the US last week was a whirlwind affair. I took the bus down coz I'm po', and arrived at Penn Station at 5:40 on Wednesday morning. I ran out to Brooklyn and drank big coffees at VERB before I could get into my sublet to drop my stuff off and take a shower, then ran back to Manhattan. First stop - Columbia University. Gorgeous campus on the Upper East Side. I had never been and knew very little about the school so I walked around and gave myself a little tour. Then I went to the Film School and got to speak to some people and ask all my questions. They gave me DVDs of student work and all the info I needed.
Then I went to SCHILLER'S in the East Village to have a greasy lunch and watch a couple of the student films on my laptop while I ate. After lunch I went to BBLESSING and had a look, not that I could buy anything at the moment. Then I checked out the Elizabeth Peyton show at the NEW MUSEUM but I wasn't that into it - I kind of get turned off by paintings of cool people, not because they're not good, but because it makes me feel like I'm a loser again cause I'm not friends with those people.
Elizabeth Peyton's "Live to Ride" at the New Museum:
Next stop, ZOMBA on Madison Ave. to pick something up. I could feel Britney all around me.
Finally, off to NYU Tisch for their info session - which was much more administrative than informative which was a little disappointing...but I got to ask what I needed to ask.
Back on the L Train to Brooklyn where I ran into WHITNEY, one of the winners of America's Next Top Model. Poor thing isn't fat anymore, she's just a pretty girl now.
Whitney in her glory day:
Quick rest up and check in to see if anyone was up for a drink or dinner, but alas everyone was busy or non-responsive and I was starving so I went to BONITA, my favourite Mexican restaurant in Brooklyn, for some Mexican Corn, Fish Tacos, and Sangria while I finished reading CAMERA LUCIDA.
Back at the sublet I checked out what was going on in New York, and almost went to the BAD ART AUCTION in Manhattan, but decided to check out THE METROPOLITAN in Williamsburg instead. It turned out to be ladies night, so I downed a pint in .2 seconds flat, waved goodbye to all the lesbians ("Enjoy your death trap, ladies!"), and headed back to the apartment before midnight for an amazing sleep.
Thursday I was up at the crack of nine, heading to Grand Central to catch the Metro North to New Haven. A couple hours later I arrived at YALE SCHOOL OF ART for their open house. I was early, but so were the other 50 people who were on the shuttle-bus with me. We sized each other up silently on the short trip. When we arrived we signed up for the open house at the school and then had half an hour to kill. I checked out the CURRENT FIRST YEAR MFA SHOW and was excited. It wasn't the most polished work, but it was all fascinating and invigorating - especially considering they had put it together within a short month and a half. Ran across the street for a coffee, then headed back to the atrium for the open house with visions of being the idiot who spilled his coffee and caused a ruckus during the introducton. I sat next to a woman in the overcrowded room as we both hoped this was a usual turnout, rather than an especially competitive year. After looking around for a while I turned to her and said "Everyone's so pretty..." And they were. Skinny, polished, fashionable assholes everywhere you turned.
The dean, ROBERT STORR, spoke beautifully about the school, its history, and its philosophy. I was filled with excitement because everything he said was exactly in line with what I wanted from grad school and where I felt I was in my career. But I suppose that's why it's such a good school.
The group broke off into their respective areas of prospective study. I went down to "The Pool" - the crit room for the photography course. GREGORY CREWDSON and RICHARD BENSON led a presentation on the photography program, along with some first and second year students. Then we broke and they served some food and I got to speak with Crewdson a little bit, which was gut-wrenching and exciting and affirming. Then it was back to the station to catch the bus to Boston.
Richard Benson:
Five annoying hours later I arrived at MASSART and met JOBANANA. She took me on a tour of the school and then we ate Kraft Dinner with cream and margarine and washed it down with Trader Joe's. Oh student life.
4 hours of sleep and then we were up at 5:30AM to catch the bus back to New York with a handful of Jobanana's classmates. Upon arriving we went to APERTURE in Chelsea to see the LUIGI GHIRRI show, which didn't blow me away save for a couple images. Then we met up with ABELARDO MORELL, Jobanana's professor, to get a tour of the WILLIAM EGGLESTON show at THE WHITNEY by one of the curators of the show. It was amazing to see the godfather of modern colour photography's prints and video work with the insightful commentary of a curator.
Abelardo Morell's "Camera Obscura: View of Volta Del Canal in Palazzo Room Painted With Jungle Motif, Venice, Italy", 2008:
William Eggleston's "Untitled", 1975:
Downstairs at The Whitney we saw CORRIN HEWITT doing his exhibitionist photo-performance. Then I got to sit down with Abelardo (Abe) and talk with him and the class about the shows and why I was applying to grad school. So amazing to have had that chance.
Corin Hewitt's "Seed Stage" at The Whitney:
Then it was off to THE MET to meet a curator from the photography department, Jeff Rosenheim, who greeted Abe like an old chum which was really impressive. Jeff then took us through a few exhibitions, including REALITY CHECK, an exhibition about truth and representation in photography which was of particular interest and concern to me as it related to my work a whole lot - particularly CRAIG KALPAKJIAN and JULIAN FAULHABER (whose print was cleverly hung facing THOMAS DEMAND'S). Crewdson's photo was also hanging in that show.
Craig Kalpakjian's computer generated photo-realistic "Corridor":
Julian Faulhaber's "Tankstelle":
Thomas Demand's "Attempt" - made out of construction paper:
Gregory Crewdson's incredible 48x60 inch "car and spooky garage from Twilight":
The other show he guided us through was an ACQUISITIONS show, which he was so excited about, and it rubbed off. Being in the same room with Van Gogh, Brancusi, and Thomas Struth was pretty great. I was also struck by SARAH GOODRIDGE'S "Beauty Revealed" and ADELINE HARRIS SEARS' "Autograph Quilt" (but superficially cause of the cubes).
Sarah Goodridge's comment on marriage, "Beauty Revealed":
Adeline Harris Sears' beautiful and architectural "Autograph Quilt":
Finally, JoJo and I split from Abe and the class to go to The MOMA to see PIPILOTTI RIST'S POUR YOUR BODY OUT (7354 CUBIC METRES).
Pipilotti Rist discusses her installation at The MOMA:
Johanna's phone photos of the Pipilotti Rist installation:
Johanna sipping a Margarita:
Spent, we headed back to our friend's to crash.
Saturday we slept in, had Polish bagels with veggie cream cheese and milky tea, went to BEACON'S CLOSET where I found a great velvet and vinyl sweater (sounds gross but it's great) and a t-shirt with boobie drawings on it, then headed into Manhattan. We met MIMI (our friend who was kind enough to let us crash at her place) at PACE MACGILL GALLERY where she works, and saw the Richard Benson show (one of the professors from Yale) and got to see/hold some PHILIP-LORCA DICORCIA prints (another Yale prof) prints, some WILLIAM CHRISTENBERRY prints, some TOD PAPAGEORGE prints (another Yale prof/director), and see a rare platinum-palladium IRVING PENN print.
Philip-Lorca diCorcia:
William Christenberry:
Tod Papageorge:
Then we went across the street to BONNI BENRUBI to see ABE'S SHOW and really be blown away by having spent the day with him on Friday. I was so inspired and impressed and excited to see his prints in person.
Abelardo Morell's "Nadelman/Hopper -Yale University Art Gallery", 2008 - the colours in this are incredible in person:
Then Gingerbread Lattes at Trump Tower, a tour through BENDEL'S, and back to Brooklyn for a DARK AND STORMY (it was a ginger-filled day) and round two at Bonita. This time I had fish tacos and Mexican Corn again, but a CHELADA instead of sangria, and we had a chance to catch up with Mimi.
Dark and Stormy me having a Dark and Stormy:
Then Johanna and I drank KALIMOTXOS and wine and figured out I am ripped and had an art/life meltdown of big intensity over $2 Pabst Blue Ribbons at CLEM'S.
Sunday morning, Johanna and Mimi had left and I was on my own. I grabbed a coffee and headed into Manhattan for a leisurely walk through Central Park on my way to THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, cause I had never been. I ended up getting pretty distracted upon entering the museum, so I did a SQUID AND THE WHALE tour, checked out the Mexico wing, then left while still trembling. Bugged out, I decided to do an easy stroll down good old Bleecker, where I saw an overly tanned (and taller than expected) VALENTINO, then wound up at CARACAS for yet another South American meal and a beer.
That beer led to a litre of Sapporo from the convenience store on the way back to Brooklyn where I gathered my things and settled my nerves before heading to the overnight bus, where I ran into my unwitting muse ADRIENNE. Then I popped 4 Gravol and clicked my heels and was at Union Station having McDonald's breakfast with iced coffee before I could say "Snickerdoodle".
And that was my trip! I'm so excited because I felt at home and validated and affirmed at all those things after the past while of rejection and questioning...
Coming soon...Owen Pallett photos and a video in January that I'm really exciteg about.
Labels: ART, BAD DOG, JEALOUSY, MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER, PAINTING, PHOTOGRAPHY