Three Girls #2, 68" x 98", oil on canvas

Here's my latest work from the Three Girls series. I think I'll put it to bed for a bit, and start a new series, but mostly I'll be getting my show together for November.







and I posted this one a while back, here it is again (now it's an "official" series)

The Handmade vs. The Brainmade (Idea)

I like to build my own stretchers, stretch and size my own canvas, frame my own work. I like my work to be mine from start to finish. There's a real satisfaction in becoming the process of your work. When you get your hands dirty, you become invested in what you're doing. I also really like to get my brain involved, and the result is usually a muddled, twisting, wrenching argument with myself.

On May 20th I went to an open house and day of demonstrations at the Berkeley Art Museum. The open house went in conjunction with Allison Smith's Notion Nanny exhibit, which I stumbled across a few days prior. The primary message of the exhibit was a study in the idea of the "itinerant apprentice": someone who travels from town to town, learning the skills and crafts of the local tradespeople, and offering up his/her creative ideas in turn. In this case, Allison Smith, a Brooklyn artist was the Itinerant Apprentice, who offers an exhibit of a collection of handmade objects, on display at BAM until August 12, 2007.

I found the collaborative nature of the show to be the most thought-provoking, although there were times that I felt a sense of ambivalence. The woven tapestries were exquisite, and on the placard it read "Allison Smith", and below it read the name of the artist who actually wove the piece, thus giving a somewhat secondary credit to the contibuting Artisan. This leads me to the ever-pervasive debate between Idea vs. Craft; Conceptual vs. Modernist. When the two are polarized as they are in Contemporary Art, it's usually the Idea or Concept that wins favor in the eyes of the critics. But then, I do tire of the "Wow - all those dots and lines must have taken days" - OCD-style works that are "so hot right now". Again, this is an argument I'm having with myself, and this show was a great catalyst for further exploration, polarization, and perhaps the discovery that I have multiple personalities. And we are IN Gemini, and I AM a Gemini after all.. whoa!

Meanwhile, the vast range of exhibitors at the open house were kind, open and earnest in their love for their Craft. I think that was the most inspiring aspect of the show, and I'm really glad I went. Here are some photos I took:


Ehren Tool, an ex-Marine and MFA from Berkeley, makes ceramic cups with grim images of war.


Jeremey (last name?) works with a Letterpress


Travis J. Meinolf works on a loom. He's in the MFA program at CCA in textiles, and his wool blankets are something to see!


If you caught the CCA MFA exhibit, you probably couldn't have missed the giant fence covered in hot-pink knitted I-cords. Here's the artist, Lacey Jane Roberts demonstrating her technique.

One of the most fascinating and beautiful aspects of the open house is that some of these poeple just give their product away for free. Ehren was giving out his ceramic cups, and Travis gives away his wool blankets during his exhibits. Jeremey had GLOBAL WARMING prints to hand out, there were samples of homemade cheese, and free cookies. Amazing.

Hans Hoffman: 1880-1966

I've gotten a chance to look at a lot of work by Hans Hoffman lateley, as I have visited the Berekely Art Museum twice in the last week. His paintings are really, really good - I guess that's putting it a little simplistic, but it's true. He was a great painting teacher too, and pushed his students hard. Sometimes it's those teachers, whose work is not of "star" status in their own time, that make a bigger imact on their students. Apparently he made Wolfe Kahn have a nervous breakdown when he was studying under him. Hoffman taught summer sessions at UC Berkeley, and later donated a huge portion of his body of work to the Museum. There are about five or six huge paintings always on display.

Also, new to the BAM collection is a piece by Jennifer Bartlett. The sculpture by Maria Porges is always fun to visit. In the "Measure of Time" exhibit there's a wonderful painting by the legendary Jay DeFeo.


Nocturnal Splendor, 1963


Equinox, 1958


Ecstasy, 1947


The Golden Wall, 1961

The bad news is that last night we tried to go to Moma for the Picasso show, but it was sold out. Better luck next time.

Next Up: my re-cap of Allison Smith's Notion Nanny Open House Day of Demonstrations at the Berkeley Art Museum.

Hurry Hurry : May is halfway over

I really don't mean to be such a tool by giving free advertisement to Bank Of America, but did you know that for the entire month of May, BofA will cover your admission to museums? ..If you are a current cardholder. I do love the museums...

The following museums in San Francisco are participating, and here are some current shows that are of particular interest to me:

SFMOMA: Picasso and American Art: "examines Pablo Picasso's far-reaching influence on his American contemporaries and successors". Art in the exhibit includes works by: Stuart Davis, Willem de Kooning, Arshile Gorky, John Graham, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Jackson Pollock, David Smith, and Max Weber. I will visit this show and then blog about it. Yes I will. That's an Arshile Gorky to your left...

Legion of Honor: I'm not sure which of these intriguing exhibits I want to highlight more. The two that I think I would make an effort to see are Masterpieces of French Jewelry (February 10, 2007 — June 10, 2007), and Marie Antionette and the Petit Trianon (November 18, 2007 — February 17, 2008). Okay, wait that Marie Antionette doesn't open until November. I guess that's one for the calendar. Anyway, here's the link to all exhibitions at the Legion of Honor. Then, when your'e done looking at art and artifacts, go grab some Samosa Soup at Burma SuperStar. YUM!

DeYoung Museum: Vivienne Westwood: 36 Years in Fashion
(March 3, 2007 — June 10, 2007). See it in May because there's a $5 surcharge for admission to this exhibit.

Asian Art Museum: Telling Tales: Illustrated Storytelling Scrolls. (April 21–October 21, 2007). Not sure if I can make it to this, but maybe I'll try...

Yerba Buena Center for The Arts: Current Exhbitions to check out

And finally, The California Academy of Sciences, where you can go pretty much any time of the year and find something neat. I'm intrigued by Extreme Life on Earth, where scientists have "studied life in some of Earth’s most “extreme” environments in order to understand the full range of life’s capabilities and limitations."

Up now in the Rowan Morrison Gallery

A new solo show by Carl Auge opened up here at Rowan Morrison May 4th. The East Bay Express' Kelly Vance wrote about it here, and The East Bay Monthly's Timothy Buckwalter wrote about it here.


"Between You and Me #1", detail, oil on canvas, 72" x 98" ©Carl Auge

Carl's paintings are up until June 24th. Auge first makes an impression as a disciple of the CCA art star painting teacher, Christopher Brown. But in fact, upon further study, what I find in his work is it's attention to the finesse, line-work, collage and form, much like that of Pop Arist/Painter James Rosenquist. Rosenquist always fascinated me because of his Billboard painting background, and the attention to form one must undertake in order to create smooth and precise large-scale works that actually work. I, personally love the work of James Rosenquist, and until I saw Carl's work hanging in the gallery, I hadn't even thought about him in so long. Thanks for reminding me of this great painter!


"President Elect" (1960-61) by James Rosenquist. 228 x 366 cm. Collection du Musée d'art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.

retorno

Just got back from our family vacation to Akumal, on the "Mayan Riviera" in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico. I did a total of 1 drawing, and that was in the Cancun airport on the last day. Sorry, but when it's warm and all you have to do is swim and snorkel, I have much less impetus to make art.

Animals I saw while snorkeling:
Turtles
Squids
Sea Urchins
Corals
Tropical Fish of many colorful varieties
Barracudas
Sting Rays
Schools of Mackerel (or something)