FAAN adoption gone bad and good again

Jeanne Brasile with Adam Simon at Seton Hall University.
Story here: www.lostmag.com/issue23/art.php
Audrey Rosenfield


My largest painting "The Loading Dock" adopted by Miriam Cotto has been abandoned at The Rockland Independent Living Center. I was just called by Audrey Rosenfield President of the Board that they were going to put it out on the street. From what I understand the Center was left with this painting and was converting space into offices so they did not have place for it. Without Audrey's concern it likely would have been destroyed.

I talked to Adam Simon he said, "this is the worst thing that has happened"

this is a statement Iwrote at the time of adoption-
“Loading Dock” 2001 by Aron Namenwirth

This painting was inspired by the conclusion of my art moving practice, both as performance and work. The loading dock is an archetypical destination for all material possessions that have some value but no place in the world. In depicting the painting, (a facade of three closed gates), I see a portal to all that’s abandoned. It is like the mystery curtains in the game show, “The Price is Right”. The painting was made by projecting a digital photograph, taken of a dock deep underground in the far reaches of industrial Queens, onto canvas. At the time I conceived and executed the piece, I was looking at the work of Lisa Ruyter, an artist, whose studio was across the hallway, and thinking about the epic kiosk pieces by Devon Dikeou made in the early 90’s. Some time was spent driving around the city , in a truck with Matt Bua and Eric Heist, and a few other artists who made this a living. My recent paintings have further examined the implications of digital representation and content. This work was aquired by Miriam Cotto through the Fine Art Adoption Network. www.fineartadoption.net
Special Thanks to Adam Simon who is the founder of FAAN.
After looking at the Rockland Independent Living Centers website, I can see how it is a bad fit.
Thanks Adam Simon for swift action on this. Thanks to Audrey for contacting me "Loading Dock" will be moved to Seton Hall University and their permanent collection this was set up by Jeanne Brasile who is curating there. This probably will not be my last artMoving adventure, but taking it on the roof of the Pathfinder on the New Jersey Turnpike should prove interesting.

unMonumental vs. Biennial 2

(double click on image to enlarge)
Omar Fast "The Casting" The Whitney Museum of American Art Biennial
Totally Amazing - The story of a drive with a cute German Redhead at high speeds combines
with another story of the death of innocent boy and a roadside checkpoint, this video needed no back story.
(This and the following photographs were taken taken without permission of The Whitney Museum of Art and The New Museum, the guards acted aggressively and should in no way be punished.)
Rachel Harrison Whitney - I do not agree with Jerry Salz I think Installation at Whitney this piece with the painted photos rocks and i expect we will be seeing a lot of painting on photographs. Too bad they did not give Michael Smith a room like this.

Joe Bradley

This artist I have been looking at since his Roberta Smith review in the New York Times. The work looked clean but the vinyl had a pucker in the canvas above and it made me question the formal quality or integrity of this piece but, considering how Cynthia Bloom's work is stretched who cares. While minimalism always seems attractive to me and the a la Joel Shapiro in 2d/Peter Halley is really cool, I am no longer convinced. While the geometry, pixcellation and shininess attract never the less they looked better at Canada. Stretching vinyl seems a dauntingly noble task. Given a whole room to himself this artist like Rachel Harrison and Charles Long are certainly going to continue to be a good investment.

Michael Bell Smith The New Museum

This piece was shown in the stairway with lots of natural light flooding in. Despite poor placement it stopped me with it's quick loop of what seemed a familiar image from the late 60s early 70's protester/Bob Dylan with a sign reading oonce. Paddy Johnson informed gave me the back story, (Initially I really missed the piece.) Allen Ginsburg is in the background and Smith takes all the political content from the original footage and formalizes it into something completely unmonumental. It is completely successful. So here the video with it's political content is neutralized, this is not an erasure but an additive process and so something that may appear existential, becomes even more political, or funny and ridiculous- the more I think about it the more I like it. As in so much New Media work unless the viewer has some insight the work can be easily overshadowed by the more theatrical strategies of sculpture and installation. I wish this art-form would be given the same space in both the Whitney and New Museum shows, given central locations and ambient sound. Headphones cause irritating lines. Although sometimes it is fun to watch an animation with a lot of people.


Kenneth Tin-Kin Murig New Museum Postmasters Gallery




Paul Slocum UnMonumental

This piece blows everything else away. Even though it is just the screen shots of generic icons and menu boxes on his desktop by taking lessons learned in modernism from Peter Halley/Mondrian he converts into a psychotropic and psychcodelic slide show.
Look for more when I get back from Willington.

rocks being an enclosed space...
China Tracey (aka Lao Fei) "Mirror"
John Stezaker

(Biggest Disappointment) Looking though entire 3 floors of the Whitney for the Mike Smith a personal favorite of mine and asking 3 guards and supervisor for it's location who have no clue where it is, I find it does not play for 40 minutes. I can not wait-I think putting an artists work on a loop with 3 or four other artists is a bad idea. Start the show on 2nd floor and work your way up. This brings up the question whether one can see either one of these shows on one visit?

unMonumental vs. Biennial

Charles Long
The Whitney Museum (from website)
Rachel Harrison
The New Museum (from website)
A comparison of online advertising of two shows. I will be going to check them out and time permitting will give my two cents. I am not sure if either institution will allow photography.

Saving the United States

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrp-v2tHaDo
Watching Barak Obama's recent speech where he defends his minister, reminds me that
my own problems while large are not so important. Family, art, war, mortality, politics, religion, class, and racism, remain the eternal struggles of civilization. They are universal and always present.
While things seem acute and in crisis- it has always been this way.
I think that in telling things as they are and reopening the wound that is bleeding, Obama deserves some credit. He is not really playing the game in the traditional sense. He is not saying what people are comfortable hearing, especially white people. When one listens to him speak even those who don't like him can not say it is bull.
After returning from Connecticut and this Jewish enclave where my mother finds herself imprisoned in a nursing home, I hear Obama is anti-Semitic, his minister is in with Farakan, he is a terrorist and i think this is why race, religion, and class are the walls blocking Democracy.
In fear things have become so conservative. Buy Gold. Buy Oil. All the talk is about diet- don't eat this or that.
I think if we don't elect this guy- we really deserve what is coming.

Friendship

John Gasner(right) a brother and mentor in a secret place.

Block Island and Butterfly

(click on image to enlarge) from J. Zvi Namenwirth's Butterfly collection, there is a box of these at artMovingProjects, we never knew about these treasures found in the house below

Block Island Rhode Island- not a sole as far as the eye can see.
The Bayside.
We will need another dumpster for this one. The long term plan is to turn this back into a bed and breakfeast/artist and writers retreat.

An awful truth
(To my father and son spanning generations)

Son,
John tells but once
and can't repeat:
All truths are myths,
all myths are false!
Today, illusions may entice,
create,
and still destroy
this very night.

from: Free Fall From Cormorant Isle
by John Ree aka J. Zvi Namenwirth 1988

Spirit Surfers

Saturday, March 08, 2008

"Spirit Surfers" at vertexList

"Four Seasons", Paul Slocum

VertexList has the pleasure to present “Spirit Surfers”, a two person exhibition featuring recent new media projects by Kevin Bewersdorf and Paul Slocum.

The reception will take place on Saturday, March 22, 2008, 7pm - 10pm, artists will be in attendance.

Live electronic music peformance by BUBBLYFISH at 8.30pm (free)
The exhibition will be on display until Sunday, May 04th 2008.

"Maximum Sorrow Throw Blanket #2", Kevin Bewersdorf

Exhibited works by Kevin Bewersdorf include: “"Two videos for the Mitchell Chiropractic Clinic Separated by Eighteen Years" (two channel video) and “Maximum Sorrow Throw Blanket #2” (digitally produced quilt).

Also in the show “Four Seasons” (gicle print on canvas) and “You're Not My Father” (video) by Paul Slocum. Both artists will collaborate on the launch of a brand new web-surfing club “Spirit Surfers”, which will premiere at the opening reception. (http://spiritsurfers.net/)

"You're Not My Father", Paul Slocum

This joint exhibition is an exploration of a new type of objecthood, which emerged as a product of the information era: the ephemeral-imperfect, forced back into the palpable reality from the domain of codes and numbers. Kevin Bewersdorf and Paul Slocum work toward establishing the contemporary expressive vocabulary, capable of transforming the internet-mediated, generic content into meaningful statements.

"Two videos for the Mitchell Chiropractic Clinic Separated by Eighteen Years", Kevin Bewersdorf

Paul Slocum is a new media artist, curator and a musician, currently living and working in Dallas. Slocum was recently included in Nexus Texas at the Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, Texas. He has also been included in exhibitions at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, The Dallas Center for Contemporary Art, Dallas, Texas, and the National Center for the Arts, Mexico City, Mexico. In 2004, his work was exhibited at the Liverpool Biennial in the United Kingdom. In addition, he has been invited to do performances in France, The Netherlands, Canada, The United Kingdom, and New York. http://qotile.net/

Kevin Bewersdorf is a conceptual media artist living in Austin. His was featured recently in Passing Time and the Changing Seasons of Time at Okay Mountain in Austin. He is also known for his work in the critically acclaimed film, LOL: The Movie, which he co-wrote and stars in. http://www.geartekcorporation.com/

Bubblyfish (Haeyoung Kim) relocated to the US from Korea in 1992. With a background in classical piano, she has been focusing on experimental electronic music. Currently, under the name Bubblyfish, she creates "lo-fi," 8 bit sound works and experimental compositions. Based in NYC, Haeyoung has worked as a composer, sound designer, and audio engineer. Haeyoung's work has been presented in various art venues, clubs, festivals, and galleries including Centre Pompidou, The American Museum of the Moving Image, Eyebeam, The New Museum, Roulette, and Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater.


VertexList gallery hours are Friday, Saturday, Sunday 2pm - 6 pm, or by appointment.
We are located between Graham and Manhattan Avenues on Bayard St.
For more info please visit our website www.vertexlist.net or call 646 258 3792

Friday, March 07, 2008

Marisa Olson + Christine Gedeon @ And/Or

and/or gallery
4221 Bryan St. Ste B, Dallas, TX 75204, tel: 214.824.2442

March 8th - April 12th
opening reception March 8th, 6pm-9pm with both artists in attendance
music by Animal Forces @ 8:30pm
be there or be square


Marisa Olson, animated gif

Marisa Olson's work combines performance, video, sound, drawing, and installation to address intersections of pop culture and the cultural history of technology, as they effect the voice, power, and persona. Her work has been presented by the Whitney Museum of American Art, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, the 52nd International Biennale di Venezia, the Hayward Gallery-London and at several international festivals.

The Two Koreas, Christine Gedeon

Christine Gedeon uses blue prints to create aerial compositions of political figures and celebrities. This abstract format brings a new sense of reality to publicized images of political and public figures. Christine has exhibited at A.I.R. Gallery in New York and The New Art Center of New York.

I had a brief conversation with Michael Bell Smith at the opening of Spirit Surfers and while my feelings about his show at Foxy remain, I think his work is really important and look forward to seeing his next show. The launch of Spirit Surfers is tonight, good luck hope to see the spirit tommorrow.

Dumpster

Thanks to this guy who got this 30 yard dumpster down a long dirt and ice driveway in Willington. We filled it up with stuff and it is gone and need another one. I am on Block Island at the other house. I left my cord or i would post pictures of the house. Similar deal i will need a 30 yard dumpster. Fewer paintings and junk out here more and treasure. Heading back tomorrow to get ready for closing party at aMP. Brian and Leon Dewan with Tim Spelios drumming starting at 7.00PM easter sunday, followed by Ken Butler and Scott Fulmer.
Also, Check out new buzz on Marcin Ramocki's "Torcito Projects" first shown at artMovingProjects. Tom Moody and Paddy Johnson re-visit it find their blog links at the bottom of page.

Home

For Tom Moody

www.tommoody.us

Fenton River

Cynthia Bloom oil and mixed-media 1970's 9'x12'

This one is also in the I-Pod.

Cynthia Bloom this should be in the show

Cynthia Bloom "untitled" 84x96" oil and mixed media on linen 1970s

A landscape painting in the Landscape- kinda blows away Joan Mitchell.
If i were really a good son i would rent a big truck and drive to west willington and get this
never shown masterpiece out of the i-pod where it is deeply buried, closest to the wall, as i
cleverly put all the largest paintings in first. Instead, i merely photoshop it into internet presentation. Sad to report only seven visitors to the show so far. Marcin Ramocki, Nancy Horowitz, Jane Namenwirth, PAMELA AUCHINCLOSS,
and William Stone, also, a couple of intellegent collectors- didn't get their names, thanks to Chia's open studio. Since I still have not sent out the press release or invites i guess that is not too bad. I have Jens Brands info. for the new media project space up at artmovingprojects.blogspot.com also, check out Paul Slocum and Kevin Bewersdorf at vertexlist.blogspot.com
Still no dates for the performances.

Tiles from Holland and other treats

Chia Fueki williamsburg after the party new works on the way to http://www.shoshanawayne.com/

Anybody know about Dutch tiles ?

Cynthia Bloom at artMovingProjects

artMovingProjects
166 N.12th St, between Bedford and Berry Sts., Williamsburg (917-301-6680, 917-301-0306).
Subway: L to Bedford Avenue  Thurday -Sunday, 1pm - 6pm
http://artmovingprojects.blogspot.com
info@artmovingprojects.com

Feb.28th - Mar.30th 2008 :) by appointment only
Performance: Ken Butler, Brian Dewan, April Smith, Scott Fulmer, and others- to be announced

Cynthia Bloom
Paintings, photographs, credit cards, and assorted items come out of a home prepared for sale to support her upcoming medical expenses. Also, savaged from the house the manuscripts for the “Happy Holocaust “ by J. Zvi Namenwirth and the definitive text in three volumes on Mahler by his brother Micha Namenwirth. A mother-son psychodrama.

A new fresh spring and a fresh new sound:
I want that this song rings as the birds call
That oft heard on a summer night
In an old town along the water way.
Inside, it was dark yet the silent street
Collected twilight, last rays shone late
In the sky, there fell a golden speckled shaft
Over the roofs into my window pane.
Next blew a youngster as on an organ pipe,
That shook ripely in the open sky
As mellow cherries do when a springtime wind
Awakes in the woods to start its trip.
It roams on bridges, and at waters edge,
So slowly going, blowing everywhere.
Chirping as a long bird, unaware
Of its joy over the evening’s quietude.
And many a spent man awaiting supper meal
Listened as if it were an old tale,
Smiling while the hand that closed the pane
Dawdled momentarily for the youngster sang.

At war, I did dream it was wartime yet:
A wooden airplane tumbled from the sky
And rockingly drove through the grass
To stop the groaning, singing, and relief.

From the sickly ark came wounded animals
Of each kind one, dragging feet to a tent
While I was to beautify this heavenly house
With grass, tree twigs, the fieri firmament.

Then what did I see on a long whitish table
But the white birdie with the bluest head
Just a blue fire that in the evening heat
Burns on a summery hillside top.

Was he badly hurt and should I care for him?
Firmly he clawed my finger tight.
Then, it was night. Blenchingly white
Removed the dawn when the sun appeared.

And, examing my own two tiny hands,
The finger that he clawed became blue.
I wrote this verse as the bird did burn:
He glanced back as to bless me as it seemed.
(in scripted Cynthia Bloom the last poem 1991 by John Ree aka J. Zvi Namenwirth)

New Media Project Space

Jens Brand
http://aronnamenwirth.blogspot.com/2007/12/jens-brand.html