Check this out!
I am for an Art is an online art journal recently introduced by Seattle artist Erin Shafkind. She is a creative dynamo, and this is one of her recent projects – inspired by the 50th anniversary of Claes Oldenburg’s 1961 artist manifesto of the same name.
I was invited to participate as one of the journal’s contributing writers, along with Enrico Gomez and Amanda Valdez (both based in New York). The site went live on December 31st, 2011. My first submission for the journal was a Sharon Lockhart review previously featured on my blog, but stay tuned… new content to be featured there soon. As it evolves, the journal will be looking for more contributing artists to report back from their respective corners. Intrigued? Let me know and I’ll connect you. If you’d like to learn more about Erin Shafkind’s work, you can link to her website here.
Double Tide is the slowest film I have ever seen. It is the painstaking and beautiful kind of slow that allows one to get lost without even knowing where they’re going. Or really going anywhere at all.
Created by filmmaker and photographer Sharon Lockhart, the film is comprised of two stationary, 49-minute, middle-distance shots in which a woman digs for clams on the coast of Maine. The title refers to the rare occurrence of low tide twice in daylight hours, once at dawn and again at dusk. The screening was held at the Hollywood Theater in Portland this week as part of Cinema Project’s Textural Spaces series, a yearlong look at architectural and spatial experience within the cinematic context.
“Film is a function of the mechanical time you mention, and I think part of its appeal, even its existence, is tied to the way it reflects and operates within the regimented time of the industrial workday. My methodology in filmmaking is to unravel the expected trajectory of time. People are used to experiencing time as money, as labor. They don’t slow down and contemplate the everyday. I’m interested in creating that opportunity for contemplation.” -Sharon Lockhart (from an interview with Michael Ned Holte)
Settling into the first shot of Double Tide, we hear and then see a woman walk onto the beach at dawn, pulling a small dingy behind her. She pauses to take a drink of water, and then sets to work. This work is comprised of a simple set of repetitive actions: sliding a smaller basket along the sand as she trudges through the muck, repeatedly burying her arms in search of clams. A heavy fog largely shrouds the coastline behind the woman as she gathers. Slowly, it emerges as she works her way back and forth across the frame. It is largely quiet; with the exception of the strange sucking sound made each time she plucks a clam from the muck.
With Lockhart’s work, my encounters as a viewer have engendered the sense of both a challenge and an unexpected reward. Her films explore the boundary between photography and cinema, often resulting in quiet, composed meditations on work, time and light. They are deceptively straightforward, using a static camera and prolonged shots of largely unchanging actions. Yet, there is always something more. Watching Double Tide, I felt the obligation to look carefully, without knowing exactly what I was looking for. I waited for something to happen, though I knew that the film was structured to focus on this singular scene and repetitive action. Yet, I still watched and waited. And then, slowly, my gaze relaxed and I was able to freely drift about the frame. As my mind wandered, I felt my own sense of linear time and thought begin to unravel.
Double Tide (2009, 16mm transferred to HD, 99 min.)
In the second half of the film, the woman returns to the same scene at dusk and her process starts all over again. As does ours. The structure of the shot is the same, but the palette of color, light and sound has changed, and we are given a new set of elements to settle into. Eventually, repeatedly, my attention returned to the slow and steady path of the clammer at both dusk and dawn. It is her steady movements that serve as the film’s powerful baseline. They demonstrate a striking humility and honesty, serving as a testament to something much greater than just this simple act. I interpreted this as a testament to the core elements of the human journey – toil and struggle, foward movement that sometimes goes sideways, messy yet enduring.
Lockhart’s work challenges viewers to figure out for themselves what they are looking at, and in the end, the perception is often something very different than originally expected or intended. There is a deep sense of honesty and authenticity in her pursuits; it’s apparent that she is also intimately involved with this act of looking (shown by physical duration of the pieces themselves as well as the time she invests in her projects). As viewers, she invites us to slow down and contemplate with her. Even if our gaze is not as steady, the willingness to try reveals the gift of a layered and reflective experience.
It Is Difficult. With these three words of introduction, Alfredo Jaar began his November lecture at Blue Sky Gallery (sponsored by the Oregon College of Art and Craft). The Chilean-born artist, architect and filmmaker has crafted a successful career over the past 30 years. Even so, he reminded us that “it doesn’t become easier; rather, it only becomes more difficult.”
Alfredo Jaar, Skogall Kunsthall, 2000
Jaar is mostly known as an installation artist, often addressing socio-political and human rights issues. During this lecture, he focused on an array of public interventions facilitated around the globe: Finland, Chile, New York City, Sweden, Germany, the Mexico-USA border, and Montreal. Jaar strategically employs the use of theatricality in these projects, whether orchestrating the public viewing of a burning museum constructed entirely of paper or momentarily blinding viewers in order to imprint their minds with a striking afterimage effect. He intermingles information and spectacle, often incorporating text to ensure clarity while creating dramatic effects and/or spaces to overwhelm.
Seeing the wide range of aesthetic strategies used in his projects, I continued thinking about those first three words. I considered how difficult it must be to maintain clarity of vision when creating work inspired by a wide spectrum of places and issues. When asked about his selection process, Jaar explained that he considers 12-15 open commissions from cities around the world each year. Of these offers, he chooses one. Once an agreement is made, the artist spends 2-6 years investigating the physical and social landscape of the location, culminating in a project that reveals “the essence of a place.”
The resulting works have created an impressive network of symbolic gestures, but are these really public interventions? I considered how Jaar’s work fits into the history of interventionist art. In the 1960′s, groups such as Situationist International and the Art Workers’ Coalition worked to mobilize avant-garde art as a political tool to address social tools and bring about social transformation. Since then, the term “intervention” has been increasingly used by politically engaged artists to describe their interdisciplinary approaches, which nearly always take place outside the realm of museums, galleries and studios.
In the art world of today, I suppose it is fair to call Jaar’s projects public interventions. Yet, what I appreciate most about Jaar’s approach is a genuine and refined effort to convey his individual experience as a global witness. In covering so much terrain, he cannot dedicate himself entirely to the social transformation of any one place or issue. But I don’t think that is his role. Instead, he has the burden and privilege of seeing the news of the world firsthand, then distilling and presenting his experiences to a critical art world largely removed from such realities.
Alfredo Jaar, The Geometry of Conscience (at the Museum of Memory and Human Rights, Santiago de Chile), 2010
It was a fitting coincidence that Alfredo Jaar’s lecture took place in the midst of the Occupy Portland movement. When asked about the recent Occupy movements springing up around the US, Jaar described these as “an act of desperation by those who have given up on politics.” He cited their lack of a specific agenda as their greatest strength, and their collective frustration as a sign of the times. This link provided an interesting parallel to Jaar’s work and different models of how art can be engaged in politics. While I do not consider the public intervention of a protest to fall in the same category, their roots are the same. As Jaar states, “I can’t force people to see, but I can provide conditions for people to slow down so that the work can engage them in a dialogue.”
After graduating from Cranbrook in May, I stayed in the area for a few months to work for the Cranbrook Summer Art Institute. Great program for young artists (13-18 years old). It was a welcome opportunity to decompress after the intensity of Thesis and the chaos of graduation. It’s true that Cranbrook feels very different in the summer. Lush. Quiet. OK, except for the roving packs of kids from various summer programs. Oh, and the museum construction. But otherwise…
In September, I packed up the Bubble and headed back west. I spent part of the month as an artist-in-residence at El Nido Cabins in Tieton, Washington. These cabins are part of the Mighty Tieton project, which is something akin to an artists’ enclave being developed in tandem with the needs of a struggling orchard town in Central Washington. During my time there, my attention focused largely on a wild tract of land located near the cabins which I systematically explored and photographed on a daily basis. A special thank you to Lori Talcott and Robert Kolden for creating the access point to this unique space.
I also fell in love with the tiny town of Tieton, its center focused around a communal park/green space as I experienced in many towns in Central and South America. This center, known as el zocalo, serves as the hub and gathering place — in this case, the businesses bordering the square in Tieton included a carniceria (meat market), an old-school diner, a fine art printing press, a thrift shop and a killer Mexican bakery. Great range.
I am currently living and working in Portland, Oregon. Some of my recent efforts have been focused on reviewing shows and interviewing artists as a contributor for a new online art journal (coming soon!). Until its launch, I’ll keep posting my articles here. Stay tuned for an article on Alfredo Jaar’s November lecture at Blue Sky Gallery.
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The 2011 Graduate Degree Exhibition of Cranbrook Academy of Art + Sneak Peek of Cranbrook Art Museum Exhibition runs: April 17-May 8, 2011 What happens when 80 emerging architects, artists, and designers get together and throw themselves a party? Find out at the “2011 Graduate Degree Exhibition,” one of the largest and most exciting exhibitions of art and design in the country, opening Saturday, April 16 at Cranbrook Art Museum. The annual Degree Show of Cranbrook Academy of Art is the culmination of two years of studio work at the nation’s top-ranked independent graduate school of architecture, art and design. This is the same show that launched the careers of Florence Knoll, Harry Bertoia, Massamichi Udagawa, Anne Wilson, Hani Rashid, Nick Cave, Tony Matelli, Ed Fella, Lorraine Wild, Martin Venezky, Beth Katleman, Peter Bohlin, Sonya Clark and many more. The exhibition takes place in the over 15,000 square feet of newly restored galleries at Cranbrook’s historic Eliel Saarinen designed Art Museum, which is undergoing a massive renovation and expansion that is still in process. Once completed, the Museum will represent one of the most significant exhibition and research facilities in the United States. (Stay tuned for more details on the Grand Reopening of Cranbrook Art Museum on November 11, 2011). Cranbrook Academy of Art |
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Below are a few images from our Forum show in January. Three different installations, sharing the core concept of the cube. Jordan Long’s structure (left), Joe Sobel’s performance (middle), my installation (right). My piece for the show, Altar for Jordan Stone, was inspired by a business card I found on the street during our trip to Los Angeles. This card, featuring the name and number of an aspiring actor/comedian in LA, became the focal point of four panels wheatpasted with enlarged reproductions.
In February, I was a participating artist in Women!, an aptly named event at the Crofoot Ballroom. Now in its second year, this multi-faceted celebration featured a variety of female musicians, comedians and visual artists. Shortly after midnight, a balloon drop at the main stage contained the pieces I’d created inside.
Later that month, I geared up with a group of Cranbrook students, faculty and alumni for the first annual One x One event in midtown Detroit. Organized by our Artist-in-Residence from Metals, Iris Eichenberg, this event was an art exhibit and bazaar tied up in one. Held at an old Cadillac dealership just north of Wayne State University, the spectrum of work involved was expansive. The concept was to create multiples of one object, displaying one at a time and speaking about the ideas behind it as visitors rolled through. Detroit News article on One x One Event
My concept was Found Objects of Mythical Proportions, based upon a series of keys I photographed this winter. The prints were sold with custom mythologies based upon an interview with each buyer. These myths served as the link between my release of the object (the chosen key from my past) and its insertion into another’s history. I asked each buyer to provide the following: 1/Time, 2/Location, 3/Any Piece of Information. Whether rooted in fact or entirely fictitious, their answers provided the foundation of the resulting mythologies. One was set in New York City in 1980, another in a bathroom at midnight, and there were multiple request for stories from the D…
Since then, I’ve been largely focused on projects here at Cranbrook and sorting out the details of my Thesis project. This has involved a good amount of time working in Detroit and Hamtramck. Motor City is not an easy place for pedestrians, which made the experience of walking, photographing and gathering materials in these spaces all the more interesting and at times, surreal. A number of images from this series will be featuring in our upcoming Thesis Exhibition, which opens on April 16th. The prints will be accompanied by a run of 6,000 newspapers I’ve designed; viewers will be encouraged to take copies. (Note: Should you be looking for a newsprint printer, check out Park Press. Ask for Bob.)
The new semester began with an amazing week in LA. My brain is still swimming in all of the gallery, studio and museum visits. Heavy hitters and hidden gems. Two of my favorites: The Museum of Jurassic Technology, Lisa Ann Auerbach
Earlez Grill, Los Angeles, 2011
Received a nod from the Center For Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, Colorado. One of my images, The Dakotas, was selected for a group exhibition there in January 2011 and honored with the Director’s Selection Award.
Also, wanted to suggest a beautiful book that Liz Cohen recommended to me recently. It’s by the photographer Robert Frank, entitled Thank You. This is the description he provides: “I have saved these cards over many years. I was touched how many people wanted to tell me their appreciation of what I was doing without asking anything in return. This small book is my way of saying Thank You.” Simple, powerful gestures.
Merry Christmas and much love from snowy Michigan.
I’ll soon be heading back to Seattle for a couple of weeks – the last hurrah before diving into my Thesis year at Cranbrook. Ready for a dose of the PNW… and my show next Friday at Gallery 40 .
Gallery 40 is the brainchild of Todd Jannausch — a 40 sq. ft. mobile art “gallery” that has been promoting the work of artists at various Seattle art walks and events throughout the summer. His installation is designed to examine the idea of what it means to be a gallery, promoting greater accessibility and communication about the creative process.
For my show, we will be partnering with PrintZero Studios in Georgetown on Friday 8/27 from 6-10 for the final evening of their Print Exchange. Gallery 40 will be set up outside the studios, where I will be showing some new color work, accompanied by two sculptural installations.
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