Anyone looking for an aspiring journalist fresh from the Art Institute of Chicago? Located in Paris, this young graduate recently contacted Art Fag City in hopes that we might have a position for her. In an effort to help this woman out, I’ve posted her solicitation below, and an email address where she can be reached. Do not hesitate to contact her.
from: mnuernATarticDOTedu
to: tipsATartfagcityDOTcom
date: Dec 12, 2007 6:00 AM
subject: hellos from paris
hellos,
i found yer site linked to another site linked to another site… you see.
i recently graduated from the school of the art institute of chicago and moved to paris to chase down my dream of being a reeeal artist.
i see that you keep tabs on things… only in new york? yes. maybe. not?
well, im writing to you cause im interested in writing a monthly review
of the art happs in paris for yer site.
if yer interested (read: curious) im happy to send along a resume, CV and
writing
samples.
thanks bunches,
seasons greetings…
mabel nuernberg
*wink*
mabel
In other news our final posts on the Miami art fairs will return tomorrow. I’m off today paying some bills.
Grandma Johnson attended the BlipFestival at Eyebeam last Thursday observing a number of youths at least 10 years her junior dancing to chiptunes. I probably wouldn’t have felt quite so self conscious if there were a few more people around, but the crowd was thin enough that those who chose to dance stood out as teenagers. Rather than show you the one shot I managed to get of someone relatively well known — a quarter head of one of the members of Bodingstandig — I rooted around youtube a bit to find some of the finer footage I missed over the weekend. DJ Big Wiz performing with minusbaby [above], is in my opinion, amongst some of the better clips from the festival on youtube.
A word of warning: Depending on how things go for us this morning, this may be our only post for the day. We’ll be spending the majority of our day in an airplane.
Installation view from Brian Belott’s Swirl Music at Canada Gallery
We’re running a little behind today, so we probably won’t be able to get too much up. I’m posting this photo from Brian Belott’s Swirl Music, with a promise of a full review Monday. The show is nothing short of excellent.
I’m out of town today, but given yesterday’s post, I thought this jpg by John Michael Boling was appropriate.
Elsie Kagan, My Blue Heaven, 2006, Oil on canvas, 42 inches in diameter
I intend to be in a food coma for the majority of today and tomorrow, so don’t look for too much new content here over the holidays. On an administrative note, please bear with us while we work on a solution to slow comment moderation. Anyone who can point us to a comment white listing plugin for wordpress that actually works, please get in touch with us via tips@artfagcity.com. Alternatively, those interested in pursuing a glamorous career in volunteer comment moderation might also drop us a line.
Not the sculpture, but the closest picture I could find in my hasty Internet search. A drawing of Stalin by Picasso. 1953
Facebook can be a real treasure trove of goodies if you use it right. Originally posted by the self described fledgling historian Greg Afinogenov and forwarded to me by B, this quote has been circulating around the site. Picasso on being commissoned to do a statue of Stalin below.
“Can you imagine if I had done the real Stalin, such as he has become, with his wrinkles, his pockets under the eyes, his warts. A portrait in the style of Cranach! Can you hear them scream? ‘He has disfigured Stalin! He has aged Stalin!’
“And then too, I said to myself, why not a Stalin in heroic nudity? … yes, but Stalin nude, and what about his virility? If you take the pecker of the classical sculptor … so small … But, come on, Stalin, he was a true male, a bull. So then, if you give him the phallus of a bull, and you’ve got this little Stalin behind this big thing they’ll cry: But you’ve made him into a sex maniac! A satyr!
Then if you are a true realist you will take a tape measure and measure it all properly. That’s worse, you made Stalin into an ordinary man. And then, as you are ready to sacrifice yourself, you make a plaster cast of your own thing. Well, it’s even worse. What, you dare take yourself for Stalin! After all, Stalin, he must have had an erection all the time, just like the Greek statues … Tell me, you who knows, socialist realism: is that Stalin with an erection or without an erection?”
Posting Notice: This will be the only post of the day. Tomorrow the blog will be active, but will close up shop Thursday and Friday for the holidays.
Aron Namenwirth, untitled 34 (Obama) acrylic on panel 30 x 30 x 3 inches
Detail
Unfortunately, we don’t have the liberty here of planning how much time we devote to unrelated activities, like say the shipping of artwork, which is to say we will not be posting as much as we would like. I’ve published another work by Aron Namenwirth, our featured artist, in an attempt to give a fuller picture of his work.
Echo Eggebrecht, Snake in the Grass, 2004, acrylic on panel, 24 x 36 inches
I’m out of town today, so enjoy the work of Echo Eggebrecht.
Naomi White, from the Makeup Eaters series. Image courtesy of the artist.
I’m out of town today so enjoy the work of Naomi White.
Over the course of browsing my reblogger archives at Eyebeam this morning I noticed that all the MTV station ID’s I had posted have been removed from youtube. I had originally listed them because the ID’s were part of a commission project soliciting artists to come up with new promotional videos, many of which were quite good. People don’t talk much about the old days of MTV any more, but their programming in the early eighties was actually quite relevant to video artists. Often having trouble finding enough videos to play, bands they would never air today found opportunities. Devo, an art rock/new wave band of the eighties probably marks the best example of this, and as such, I have provided three pieces, all put together in a similar vein from the album, Oh No! It’s Devo.
That’s Good
Peek-A-Boo
Time Out For Fun
Dave LaMorte, M-16’s, 2005, wood foam cardboard, handmade paper, steel, astro turf. 300 x 40 inches
.
I’m out of town today so posting will be decidedly slim. In the meantime, I will leave you with the observation that the luxury housing developers 520 West Chelsea are now advertising in Artforum’s magazine. I’d post a picture of it above, but I loath the thought that a jpeg representing the high end condo business might replace legitimate art endevors.
Neil Rough
I’m out of town today, so enjoy an old favorite: Photographer Neil Rough
I’m in Canada right now tying up some last minute family business so part two of the Automatic Update review will have to wait. In the meantime I’ve posted a few more links to painters talking about painting courtesy of the commentor _Meh_.
Carroll Dunham part one of two
Carroll Dunham part two of two
Chuck Close part one of two
Chuck Close part two of two
Thomas Lendvai doesn’t reinvent the post-war wheel, but I’m a fan of any sculpture that imposes photographically pleasant limitations on the gallery space. Speaking of pleasing shots, it’s a whole new world at Art Fag City as we are now working with a new camera. Say goodbye to photo credits with disclaimers about our shitty camera, and hello to those that complain about our inability to work hand held digital devices. Photo credit AFC
Thomas Lendvai’s Between Pain and Boredom transforms Winkleman’s space, at least for the next month while on exhibition. As mentioned in the photo credit above, Lendvai isn’t about making ground breaking art, which is fine with me, since I’ve never thought artists should have to come up with something radically new in the first place. In Lendvai’s case, his work simply means to force visual disruption and physical interaction within a largely enclosed space. It’s actually a really fun and engaging piece to experience.
Matt Keegan, Any Day Now, Installation Detail, Photo credit, AFC
Probably my favorite show of the evening opened at D’Amelio Terras. Matt Keegan’s Any Day Now, was the runaway hit of the Thursday night receptions in my opinion, but since I have a full write up scheduled to appear Wednesday, I won’t be issuing any grand statements on the show. I will however note that D’Amelio Terras has the shiniest of all Chelsea floors. Such an observation may seem banal, but I truly believe that the floor would make even the most makeshift art look slick and commercially viable.
Notice: The majority of this post seemed to have disappeared after I wrote it Thursday evening. The above was rewritten Saturday and published. Apologies to artists and galleries mentioned.
Video by Julie Ruin (Kathleen Hanna), directed by video artist Sadie Benning. via bblagojevic
It’s sort of a shame since I’ve got all kinds of posts to be writing, but due to necessity, content will be a little slim on AFC until next week. We have a lot of house cleaning projects to take care of prior to the art world opening up again September 6th.
In the meantime a couple of links of note:
Tomorrow I will be competing in ROFL! the Internet gong show at Joe’s Pub. The competition starts at 9:30, and has turned out to be a really popular event, so do get your tickets early. Personally, I am excited about taking on Miss Information. I am guessing a lot of her found web content to be sex related, which should be, well, fun. Also note that Andrew Baron of Rocketboom and Petra Cortright of Nasty Nets will be competing
ArtCal has relaunched! I will talk more about the design next week, but in short, I can’t tell you how excited this makes the art Internet nerd in me.
Image via girls.c64.org
Remember how I mentioned Friday night that I might have a cold? I wasn’t wrong.
As a result, I’m taking the day off to get some sleep. However, I did manage to line up the above image for you all, a variation on last week’s Dungeons and Dragons porn. The image uses a commodore 64 to render the piece which reduces the painting to 16 colors. Technology brings us so much.
Heather Rowe, Persona, (Blue, black and beige), 2007, Wood, frame, mirrored glass, paint, 29.8 x w: 21.6 x d: 7.2 in
Well, I tried, but it looks like the last emerging artist will appear on the site this coming Monday. I’m out of town today, so that certainly puts a cap on what I can do during the day. In the meantime I encourage you to consider the work of Heather Rowe [above].
Also, I suppose inviting readers to come watch me surf the web “live” at Eyebeam with a bunch of dudes is a bit of a tough sell, but I invite you all regardless. Meet me there at 8:00 pm. Chances are I’ll be late. Because I always am.
FourFour aptly asks why Laura Dern is so confused in his write up of David Lynch’s Inland Empire. I don’t get to have an opinion on the movie since I haven’t seen it, but being something a Lynch fan, the gif certainly meets our approval.
The next piece in the Emerging Artist Series is scheduled to post later today.
Richard Serra; “Core,” 1987; Paintstick on silkscreen; Sheet: 49 1/2 x 57 inches; Printed and published by: Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles, CA; Edition: 30 + proofs
After noticing that most galleries closed their summer shows this past Friday, I decided to run the emerging artist series this week; after all, why not give people a few new artists to look at while Chelsea is down? The first piece in the series will appear later on today, but for those who prefer the real thing, Susan Sheehan Gallery has an excellent black and white abstract print exhibition up until September 8th that includes three commanding Richard Serra prints. I’ve included an image from their website, but it barely represents the power of the actual piece.
Full disclosure: I worked at Susan Sheehan Gallery 4 years ago.
I’m out of town again today, but I’ve lined up two early Indiegirl videos for your viewing pleasure. Witness the antidote to Lonelygirl.
Rantings of a Retail Drone 1
Rantings of a Retail Drone 2
