Short Takes: "Art" Videos

On those maddening days when I get blog-block and can't come up with a suitable topic, I often go to YouTube and type in "art" (but only after I've watched a few Doc Martin bloopers or cute animal videos). It never fails to lead me on a strange and wonderful journey. Today's meanderings took me through food art, hand art, and healing arts.

This first video combines two of my favorite subjects, coffee and art.



Staying in the food art category, watch as Phil Hansen paints the "Mona Greasa" with burger grease.



I hope that didn't "grease you out!"

And now for some hand art.



This amazing video of shadow hands is actually a VW commercial in praise of the hand-made.



One of the search results that always comes up for "art" is Dr. John Tsoi, "the acupuncturist, the herbalist, and of course, the artist." He has hundreds of these videos online and in many of them he does his artwork blindfolded. I always end up wondering if this guy is for real!



But this artwork of Dr. Tsoi's has to be my favorite. (The video is almost unwatchable at over nine minutes long, but you'll get the idea in the first minute or so.) MFA programs, take notice!




Upcoming events at Offramp Gallery
Through February 12, 2012:
Bianca Kolonusz-Partee: Countries of Origin
Closing Reception & Artist's Talk: Sunday, February 12, 2-5pm

Through February 12, 2012:
Megan Madzoeff: Cut it Out!
Closing Reception & Artist's Talk: Sunday, February 12, 2-5pm

March 4 - April 15, 2012:
John M. White: Recent Works
Opening Reception: Sunday, March 4, 2-5pm

Sunday, March 25, 3pm:
Betty Ann Brown reading & book signing from her new book, Afternoons with June: Stories of June Wayne’s Art & Life

May 6 - June 3, 2012:
Chuck Feesago: Matter of Perspective
Opening Reception: Sunday, May 6, 2-5pm

More on Artists and the Future of Books: An Interview with Kirk Pedersen, Founder of Zero+ Publishing

Zero+ Publishing founder, Kirk Pedersen (standing) at
Photo LA, January 2012, with Anna Mendoza and art critic
Peter Frank (seated).

Last week I talked about some amazing ways artists are repurposing books. Some of you were upset that anyone would cut into or alter a book, even to transform it into a unique work of art. The sad news is that libraries and bookstores are throwing out, burning and otherwise disposing of books by the dumpster load. (You can read about it here and here.)

The good news is that the future of books, having lost their monopoly as conveyors of information, lies in aesthetics. There will always be a market for interesting, beautiful books -- and artists are, of course, leading the way. Zero+ Publishing, an art book publisher located in Claremont, CA and founded by artist Kirk Pedersen, is collaborating with artists, making limited edition books that push the definition of what a book is or can be.

I caught up with Kirk Pedersen at his booth at Photo LA last weekend. Besides running a publishing company, Kirk is also an artist and Professor of Fine Arts at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, CA. I asked Kirk how he went from being a painter and teacher to starting his own publishing company.

KP: In 2004, I went to Bangkok, southern Thailand and Cambodia, primarily for a vacation. I didn't go there as an artist or as a photographer. I went back to Bangkok in 2005, and on one particular day I had an epiphany and knew that I would create a photo book and it would be called Urban Asia and it would be in two volumes -- that was all very clear to me. It wasn't until I started working on the second volume in 2009 that I decided to publish other artists' work. So the intention with my first book had nothing to do with the idea of publishing for other artists.

JC: How many titles does Zero+ have now?

KP: Close to 15, each in a limited edition of 1000. With all of the titles we have some sort of packaged smaller edition option, such as a clamshell box, or a deluxe box, that is signed and numbered by the artist.

JC: How do you select the artists whose work you publish?

In most cases the choice of subjects is curated by my vision of this company, but there are other ways, like in the case of street artist Above who a friend introduced me to in Portland. I wasn't familiar with his work, so I googled him, liked his work, and decided I would like to work with him. We sat down to talk and he said he really liked everything we talked about in terms of design and ideas, but he had two publishers in New York who were already interested in working with him. He subsequently met with both, then called and said he wanted to work with me. The difference was that I told him we would print 1000 copies total, using the best paper we could get and that he would have a lot of control over what the end product would be. Most publishers give the artist no control.

That's one of the things I love about publishing. You're working collaboratively with artists and there is a flow of creativity. It's a great process. As an artist you're often working in your studio in isolation, but as a publisher you're constantly in communication with other artists. I like that very much.

BLAINE FONTANA: AMALGAMATE DELUXE BOXED EDITION (Edition 10 / 2 AP)
Box was hand-made by the artist with reclaimed wood and the cover has a CNC routed logo with cast resin – signed/numbered. 14 x 14 x 4.5” (35.5 x 35.5 x 11.43cm) / 14lbs. (6.35kg) Contents: Signed/numbered/embossed book - 11.25 x 11.25" (28.6 x 28.6cm), Hand-finished signed/numbered six-color silkscreen print – 11 x 11” (27.94 x 27.94cm), Vannen/Fontana watch, 6 – 6 x 8” postcards, Mini wood sculpture (signed/numbered) – approximately 9” tall (22.86cm), Retired brush cast in resin box, Giclee print (signed/numbered) – 11 x 11” (27.94 x 27.94cm), COA

JC: You've created quite a buzz at Photo LA with your deluxe boxed editions, especially Blaine Fontana's Amalgamate. I've watched you put on your white gloves and reveal the contents to many fascinated fair-goers. I've even seen a few take out their wallets and purchase the remaining copies of the edition, as well as the artist's proof.

What was the inspiration for making these custom box sets?

KP: I'm a book collector and I've purchased a lot of books that come in special packaging -- books that have prints or some element of surprise to them. So I wanted to up that idea even more by having these be unique handmade boxes, something that very few people in the publishing world have done. I'm a collector and ultimately I wanted make deluxe editions that I would want to own.


Deluxe Edition Amalgamate Box Set Process from Blaine Fontana on Vimeo.

JC: What other deluxe editions do you have coming up?

KP: I have a book coming up with LA street artist Cryptik -- he works with a lot of eastern images, Buddha, Gandhi, etc. Inside the box will be incense, an incense burner and candles that are custom carved by the artist. Each box will have the artist's script on it. All of the contents will be customized by the artist. I don't know everything that will be in it yet, but because of the overwhelmingly positive response of the fair, I have a lot of new ideas that I don't want to talk about at this time.

JC: So you're being cryptic about Cryptik! I guess we'll just have to wait.

Thanks for taking the time to talk about Zero+. We'll be eagerly anticipating your future projects.

Click here to learn more about Zero+ Publishing.

Upcoming Events at Offramp Gallery

January 20, 2012
Offramp Gallery Director Jane Chafin will be participating in a panel discussion at the 17 Annual LA Art Show at the LA Convention Center on Friday, January 20 at 4pm: A MATTER OF DEGREES -- MFA, PhD in Art: Is it all BS?, sponsored by Artillery Magazine. Other panelists include: Betty Brown, Tucker Neel, Austin Young and Anuradha Vikram.

   January 8 - February 12, 2012
   Bianca Kolonusz-Partee: Countries of Origin
   Closing Reception: Sunday, February 12, 2-5pm

January 8 - February 12, 2012
Megan Madzoeff: Cut it Out!
Closing Reception: Sunday, February 12, 2-5pm

Artists and the Future of Books

“A room without books is like a body without a soul.” ― Marcus Tullius Cicero

The Bookworm, 1850, by Carl Spitzweg

It will come as no surprise to anyone who reads this blog that I am a bibliophile. I've not yet reached the point of bibliomania, which Wikipedia defines as "an obsessive-compulsive disorder involving the collecting of books to the point where social relations or health are damaged, and in which the mere fact that an object is a book is sufficient for it to be collected or loved," but I'm not ruling it out for my old age. I love books, I live surrounded by them and never thought I would live to see the current changes in technology that have many referring to them as obsolete.

I personally don't believe books are becoming obsolete, but I do believe they're going through a transition. Freed from utilitarian bonds as conveyors of information, aesthetics are what will carry books into the future, and not just as relics of a bygone era. There will always be a place for beautiful books. Artists and other creative types, always sensitive to cultural change, are already repurposing books with stunning results.

I first came across the notion of altered artists' books a few years ago when I did a studio visit with Los Angeles artist Susan Sironi. I was totally captivated by what she was doing and continues to do with books. Using a subtractive process, she carefully cuts through books with a scalpel and transforms them into objects of wonder. 



Susan Sironi, untitled (Alice, foot), 2011, altered book


.

Susan Sironi, Hanging By A Thread, 2010, altered book, 12" x 18"


Perhaps the best known of the altered book artists is Brian Dettmer. In the following video Dettmer talks about the information revolution as well as his artistic process.





And then there's this video which has been making the rounds on social media this week. See what happens inside a bookstore at night when no one is watching.



Upcoming Events at Offramp Gallery

   January 8 - February 12, 2012
   Bianca Kolonusz-Partee: Countries of Origin
   Closing Reception: Sunday, February 12, 2-5pm

January 8 - February 12, 2012
Megan Madzoeff: Cut it Out!
Closing Reception: Sunday, February 12, 2-5pm

January 20, 2012
Offramp Gallery Director Jane Chafin will be participating in a panel discussion at the 17 Annual LA Art Show at the LA Convention Center on Friday, January 20 at 4pm: A MATTER OF DEGREES -- MFA, PhD in Art: Is it all BS?, sponsored by Artillery Magazine. Other panelists include: Betty Brown, Tucker Neel, Austin Young and Anuradha Vikram.

Natural Fashion; Infighting Among the Art World's One Percent Continues

Many of you wrote to thank me last summer when I posted a video (see below) of Hans Silvester's stunning photographs of the painted people of the Surma and Mursi tribes in Southern Ethiopia. The images are a magical portal to childhood fantasy and play, to a lost world of unfettered, unfiltered imagination and creativity. I found it hard to believe that there weren't stylists and make-up artists off camera staging this fantasy fashion show -- beautiful brown faces and bodies vibrantly painted with abstract motifs in ochre, red, yellow, green and white, and adorned with colorful headdresses of flowers, leaves, pods, mud, fruit and feathers.

To take a closer look at Silvester's work, I ordered a copy of Thames & Hudson's 2009 paperback version of Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa. The book contains 160 of Silvester's astonishing color photographs and is accompanied by an essay, Art and the Body, also by Silvester.

According to Silvester:

"These body paintings are totally free, and yet they never repeat themselves, and there is no underlying system. Each one is extraordinarily fresh. The technique and skill of body decoration, with its infinite variations, is learned at a very early age, with mothers painting their babies. But it is adolescents who devote themselves most avidly to this activity. Some of them are immensely talented. They have a highly original sense of colour and form, whereas others can by clumsy and need to start all over again."



Silvester believes that the absence of mirrors, until very recently, may have contributed to the freedom of the tribes' creativity. There was no self reflection, only the approval (or disapproval) of others in the tribe.

Inevitably, the tribes are being discovered by the outside world and are becoming tourist attractions, intensifying and altering the practice of body painting. In one Mursi village, tourism already has a strong foothold. According to Silvester:

"Then the 4x4s arrive, at about 10 a.m., the natives are ready to welcome them, sporting their accessories and bodies painted for the occasion. This somewhat surreal show lasts until around midday, and then the tourists depart and 'performers' are paid in local currency . . . The money is immediately converted into alcohol or weapons, two flourishing trades. The whole business reeks of tragedy."

Tragedy indeed.

Click here to buy Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa from Amazon.com

* * *



Ilya Repin (1844–1930), Eugene Onegin and Vladimir Lensky's duel. Illustration.
Watercolours, white lead, and Indian ink on paper. All-Russian A.S. Pushkin
Museum, St. Petersburg.

British artist David Hockney took a very public swipe at YBA Damien Hirst earlier this week. According to this article in The Independent, posters for Hockney's upcoming show at the Royal Academy of Arts in London read "All the works here were made by the artist himself, personally." Hockney confirmed on Radio Times that the dig was directed at Hirst saying "It's a little insulting to craftsmen, skilful craftsmen."

Starting next week, Hirst has an exhibition of his "spot" paintings opening at 11 Gagosian Galleries worldwide, most of which were made by assistants. Hirst was unavailable for comment.


Upcoming Events at Offramp Gallery

   January 8 - February 12, 2012
   Bianca Kolonusz-Partee: Countries of Origin
   Opening Reception: Sunday, January 8, 2-5pm
   Closing Reception: Sunday, February 12, 2-5pm

January 8 - February 12, 2012
Megan Madzoeff: Cut it Out!
Opening Reception: Sunday, January 8, 2-5pm
Closing Reception: Sunday, February 12, 2-5pm

January 20, 2012
Offramp Gallery Director Jane Chafin will be participating in a panel discussion at the 17 Annual LA Art Show at the LA Convention Center on Friday, January 20 at 4pm: A MATTER OF DEGREES -- MFA, PhD in Art: Is it all BS?, sponsored by Artillery Magazine. Other panelists include: Betty Brown, Tucker Neel, Austin Young and Anuradha Vikram.

Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!

The world's first commercially produced
 Christmas card, designed by John Callcott Horsley for
Henry Cole in 1843

I'll be taking a couple of weeks off from blogging to enjoy the holiday (and to clean out the garage which is starting to look like an episode of Hoarders). I want to take this opportunity to thank you for reading, clicking and responding to my various musings on art this past year, and to wish you a wonderful holiday season! See you in January.

Here's my favorite French Christmas carol performed by Siouxsie and the Banshees in 1982 (thanks Kendra for reminding me). Enjoy!




Upcoming Events at Offramp Gallery

January 8 - February 12, 2012
Bianca Kolonusz-Partee: Countries of Origin
Opening Reception: Sunday, January 8, 2-5pm
Closing Reception: Sunday, February 12, 2-5pm

January 8 - February 12, 2012
Megan Madzoeff:Cut It Out!
Opening Reception: Sunday, January 8, 2-5pm
Closing Reception: Sunday, February 12, 2-5pm

January 20, 2012
Offramp Gallery Director Jane Chafin will be participating in a panel discussion at the 17 Annual LA Art Show at the LA Convention Center on Friday, January 20 at 4pm: A MATTER OF DEGREES -- MFA, PhD in Art: Is it all BS?, sponsored by Artillery Magazine. Other panelists include: Betty Brown, Tucker Neel, Austin Young and Anuradha Vikram.

Myron Kaufman's "Horse Scents" | Feud Update: Is The Art World's One Percent Imploding?

Myron Kaufman, Big Bertha Gives Birth, 2011,
acrylic on canvas, 18" x 24"

Congratulations to Offramp Gallery artist Myron Kaufman, on the publication of his first short story, Horse Scents, in Bomb Magazine. Horse Scents, which is also illustrated by Myron, is the offbeat story of a man who falls in love with a horse. It begins with a touching introduction by Myron's son, filmmaker and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman. If you're familiar with Charlie's work, you're about to learn that in the Kaufman family, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Hold on to your hats -- it's a wild ride.

Click here for Part I of Horse Scents

Click here for Part II of Horse Scents

Click here to learn more about Myron Kaufman

* * *

Feud Update: Is The Art World's One Percent Imploding?

Last week I blogged about a public feud that had erupted in the upper echelons of the art world. The emperor is suddenly naked and his minions are scrambling to publically cover their asses. Mud is being slung far and wide.

Here is a recap of where things stood when I posted last week:

*Son-of-a-billionaire art collector Adam Lindemann had written in the New York Observer that he wasn't going to Art Basel Miami Beach because he didn't want to be "seen rubbing elbows with all those phonies and scenesters, people who don’t even pretend they are remotely interested in art . . ." And then he went.

*Advertising mogul/art collector and owner of the Saatchi Gallery, Charles Saatchi threw his hat in the ring with an article in the Guardian stating,""Even a show-off like me finds this new, super-rich art-buying crowd vulgar and depressingly shallow."

*New York Magazine art critic Jerry Saltz jumped in and neatly analyzed the feud with an article titled: The Prince of the One Percent [Lindemann] Would Like You to Know That Buying Art Is Less Fun These Days.

On Wednesday evening Lindemann responded to Saltz by posting this article, Columnist Adam Lindemann Responds to the Critics of “Occupy Art Basel Miami Beach, Now!” on GalleristNY. Lindemann defends his actions by saying that his article was "meant to stimulate dialogue" and ends with another promise I'm sure he has no intention of fulfilling: "Nonetheless I apologize to any and all of you who in sympathy with him have taken offense, and so that we may be friends again I promise that I will never attend another art fair, buy another work of art or express my views in print."

Early Thursday this video of a secret meeting of Jerry Saltz & Charles Saatchi in a sauna appeared on FaceBook:




On Friday afternoon Jerry Saltz suddenly called for a truce in a FaceBook post:

"Not that it matters to anyone; but it matters to me - so I want to get this on the record. I have met Mr. Adam Lindemann. I like Adam Lindemann. I bear [sic] him no grudge.

"He and I disagree on a lot of stuff. He had his say in print; I had my say in print. We had a critical cat-fight in public (always good to watch critics go at it). But I'm okay with him; and look forward to going at it in print again, or not. Kumbyeya"

German artist Anselm Kiefer got his hands dirty in this article in the Guardian. He started out taking the high road:

"Art is difficult," says the 66-year-old firmly. "It's not entertainment. There are only a few people who can say something about art – it's very restricted. When I see a new artist I give myself a lot of time to reflect and decide whether it's art or not. Buying art is not understanding art."

But then he lobbed this grenade, using Charles Saatchi's own words against him:

"It sounds as though Kiefer, who was born in the Black Forest but has lived in France since 1991, endorses Charles Saatchi's view that the art world is eurotrashy, vulgar and masturbatory. 'He described himself, no?' says the artist, laughing uproariously. '[These days] art becomes fashion, it becomes [financial] speculation, but Saatchi started it.'"

Mom, he started it!

Finally, this article about son-of-a-car-salesman artist Damien Hirst appeared in the LA Times: Damien Hirst prepares to unleash another blizzard for buyers. In January, Gagosian will fill all eleven of its galleries worldwide with Hirst's "spot" paintings, about 300 altogether, the vast majority of which were made by his assistants.

Hirst defends the ubiquity and inflated value of his assembly line work by saying:

"You also have to ask yourself as an artist, 'What would be more appealing … to have made the Mona Lisa painting itself or have made the merchandising possibilities — putting a postcard on everyone's walls all over the world? Both are brilliant, but in a way I would probably prefer the postcards — just to get my art out there.'"

It's the merchandising, stupid!

Stay tuned.