Tuesday, November 12, 2013
A Time of Gifts
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Happy for the Opportunity!!!
Survive my very first Open Studio Tour. It was so much fun.
I am so happy to start shooting at Aferro. My up and coming projects "Black women of the World": The sister companion to "Black Men of the World", and Re-Vibe: a modern retro looking at Age of Aquarius and Blaxplotation are both moving along. Thank you Aferro for the work space.
Jermaine
Friday, August 16, 2013
Dreaming about Zombies
There were zombies everywhere. Maybe not zombies. But dirty, sick, violent hordes. You know the routine. One of them came up to me as I fled (or was trying to) and said, "You want to see this-" (piercing her own cheek deeply with a finger and tearing flesh off) "but I want to see this" (touching my skull and eliciting a memory, not mine.)
Shape Shot
A child's face as a coffee mug. A skull, a mask. I remember reading about how the families of the murdered women in the NAFTA border towns would deliberately stall, pretending not to be sure if the forensic busts made by an artist were their loved ones. So they could spend more time with them.
There is so much pseudoforensic on TV these days. Everything gets solved.
What could we make of ourselves? Faces are the most cost effective thing to entertain a baby or toddler. If you have nothing at hand, you can make a face for a child. Show your tongue, pull your flesh. So economical. We all get one.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Museum in the Tropics
On vacation in Costa Rica, I made a stop at the Museo De Arte Y Diseno Contemporaneo in San Jose.
The museum was a refreshing change of pace and perspective. I felt immersed in a rainforest while viewing the show even though the gallery space was shelter (I almost forgot I was in a city).
The work was seamlessly curated, flowing from one piece to the next. Installations of tropical domestic plants are seen alongside a video of a woman ingesting a poster of the rainforest. Screens suspended in the air with projections of the rainforest, and paintings with great palletes that I'm not used to seeing.
I saw very interesting work by two different artists so carefully and discreetly displayed that I almost missed them. One piece by Jorge Warner was tucked around a corner. 3 vertically suspended flat panels of what looked like living gardens covered both sides and occupied much of a small room.
The second artist's work inconspicuously became part of the gallery wall. Jessica Kaire from Guatemala had a piece called Libertis which consisted of a couple of small peepholes. When you looked through, you saw a intimate domestic spaces like a unoccupied bedroom. The spaces such as this model bedroom felt off-putting, strange, but real. One of the peepholes had small steps almost for a child to look through.
There's much to think about after visiting this little museum.
Friday, August 9, 2013
Cheat Sheet
Growing up and going through school, I always had to make these little cheat sheets which consisted of a tiny piece of paper crammed with as much information as possible about trigonometry or some other subject. We were allowed to bring that sheet in with us when writing a test.
I used a lot of highlighters and different colored pens. In the end, I didn't care much for any content on that paper, but I was always excited to see how the sheet looked--how the information was organized.
Here is a cheat sheet for experiencing Newark.
Sunday, July 14, 2013
SPENDING A DAY OF SUMMER VACATION AT THE CHICAGO ART INSTITUTE
Last week my husband and I traveled through Illinois and Wisconsin to see family and friends. On our last day we went to the Chicago Art Institute. If you have never been to the Chicago Art Institute you must see it. Some of the highlights for me that day was seeing the following works. In the Asian Art Section is a wonderful video projected artist's book, "Mimio-Odyssey" by the Japanese artist Tomoko Konioke. You can read more about this work and Tomoko Konioke at www.spencerart.comku.edu/collection/recent/Konoike.shtml We looked at some French old masters and we cooled ourselves off by seeing a wonderful small nude by Cezanne and a sculpture of a bather by Degas.There are a number of Georgia O'Keefe paintings there and we were particularly wowed by "Red Hills With Flowers." I was pleased to see there were a number of women artists in their collection and ones that you might not otherwise see including Suzanne Duchamp's, "Broken and Restored Multiplication," Helen Torre's "Extemporaneous," and Maria Elena Vieira da Silva's "Composition." Outside the Chicago Art Institute in Millennium Park is a huge terrific sculpture by the British sculptor Anish Kapoor called "Cloud Gate" nicknamed "The Bean." Also close by, in the Chicago Cultural Center (a former public library) is a wonderful Louis Comfort Tiffany Dome.
Monday, July 8, 2013
73 Market Street
There is no doubt that these tiny notes in pencil or pen have influenced my work. I look at these drawings with a certain degree of reverence. Somehow, even though I didn't make these marks, I see them as part of my sketchbook - a sketchbook I never had (I rarely make preparatory sketches). I would never consider covering them up or painting over them.
It is crystal clear to me that the space has had a profound effect on art. And, I’m pretty sure that that the art that’s been created in the building has left its mark as well.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Saturday, April 20, 2013
What is it like to lose oneself in the image?
San Francisco detective Scottie Ferguson gasps and about to lose it as his dream of the ultimate beauty is about to emerge from his bathroom (Vertigo, director Alfred Hitchcock, 1958) |
The sublime moving image dreamed by Daria (Zabriskie Point, director mIchelangelo Antonioni, 1970) |
Daria, who loses herself in the contemplation of the sublime blow up above. |
Cecilia, embodying Robby's image of desire, stand in the presence of her beholder (Atonement, director Joe Wright, 2007) |
Robby, losing it, in the presence of the image of his desire (Atonement, director Joe Wright, 2007) |
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Halsey Fabrics
Saturday, March 23, 2013
During My Life
Friday, March 22, 2013
morning hour with painting, Richter, and Mad Men
It is this morning that I'm pondering the third one, C -going back to that breakthrough moment.
First kiss, breakthroughs, brushstrokes, that blue that's keeping Richter's painting from "working," and perhaps many more applicable scenarios -Betty's few lines -plus substitutions- could fit all.
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Lobster Lover's Dream
Art without Market, Art without Education: Political Economy of Art
"It seems to me that MFA programs have become a tool of indoctrination that has had an unprecedented homogenizing effect on artistic practices worldwide, an effect that is now being replicated with curatorial and critical writing programs."
"Being a professional [artist] should not be the only acceptable way for us to maintain our households, particularly when most interesting artists are perfectly capable of functioning in at least two or three fields that are, unlike art, respected by society in terms of compensation and general usefulness. I feel that we have cornered ourselves by denying the full range of possibilities for developing our economies."
"Unless hard-pressed by circumstances, we still think that the proper thing to do is to wait for a sponsor or a patron to solve our household problems and to legitimize our work. In fact, we don’t need their legitimacy. We are perfectly capable of being our own sponsors, which in most cases we already are when we do other kinds of work to support our art-work. This is something that should not be disavowed, but acknowledged openly."