Ecce Homo

On December 11, 2010 Gallery Aferro joined in expressing support for freedom of art and expression by screening David Wojnarowicz's A Fire in My Belly. It is a cause which demands attention and which shows us the same daunting and opportunistic politics which played so viciously in the 1980s.

It is a cause that demands we all perform gestures in the face of it. So for David Wojnarowicz, Peter Hujur and my own well-loved Michael ... I offer my own thoughts ...

There is nothing which makes us so human as our awareness of the coming of death. There is nothing which binds us to our fellows so fully as the longing and desire that is grief. When one is so honest as to reveal the substance of this unspeakable, un-writable condition - when one has the courage to forego the affectation of coolness and aplomb and to take the risk of revealing this most fragile, telling internal dialogue that is the knowing of the coming of death and the insatiable longing of grief – we’d best do well and offer our hearts to it. It is only in this profound generosity, this hospitality of the soul, that there can be any relief from the infinite solitude which is the awake human mind. If we are so mean, so limited in our hearts as to not make room for the grief of an-other – then we risk the oblivion of a failed humanity.

...

further reading and writing ...

" The 'Fire' man, Essay by Philip Kennicott in The Washington Post

CBC News Article on artist AA Bronson's response to Censorship of the Smithsonian Exhibit

Website for Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture

Contact for United States House of Representatives

Contact info for the Senators of the 11th Congress

Contact the White House

article about NYC and life as an artist vs. other places

This was an interesting article about living in NYC as an artist. I think this kind of "artist exodus" thing comes up every couple of years, but this struck me because this year I did get to see more of/compare how artists are living like in other places, (berlin, kansas city, santa fe).
Worth reading. anyway all fleeing those people should check out Newark.
Crain's: Artists Fleeing the City

During the term of this residency the project that I am currently pursuing involves an investigation into the varied marks left on the sidewalks in front of the gallery and around the surrounding blocks by chewing gum. My interest here stems from the collective history that each of these marks represent. I’ve approached documenting them as individual compositions whose original authorship is unknown.

Two part silicone ready to be mixed.

Initially my approach was to make castings with flexible silicone rubber molds of the various patterns that I found on the sidewalks outside the gallery space.

Coddles set up to hold the mold rubber.

Silicone curing.

Back in the studio.

Although I liked the idea and process of creating a record of the chewing gum patterns through mold making. When I made castings from these silicone patterns I wasn’t at all interested in the results. The difference in texture between the gum and the concrete was too subtle, to the point of being undistinguishable. I tried adding color and tonal changes in a number of ways to the castings but it always felt like something artificial and disconnected was being added to the surface.

Currently I have begun using photography as a way to document the chewing gum marks on concrete that I was initially interested in. This approach has allowed me to document the random and varied patterns while preserving the high contrast graphic quality of the black chewing gum on near-white concrete.

These are 13" x 19" inkjet prints

hours of happiness below

Really.

http://www.nationalphilistine.com/oh/

Response to my query about female artists

I emailed female artists and curators known from working with Gallery Aferro a request to hit reply with names of female artists-in any media, era and continent-whose work and/or lives they had found meaningful.

This is the list right now. I have typed it in order of response, with any repeats from person to person retained.

I was overwhelmed by the thoughtful and opinionated writing, stories and commentary I got back. I do not have permission as of right now to print it all, but it was inspiring and will not go unused in the universe.

Thank you to you all for your time in sending names, links and stories! At the bottom is my original email, please continue to add to this list.

Sadie Benning
Lynne Hershman Leeson
Shana Moulton
Mary Coble
Rene Green
Marianne Amache
Pauline Oliveros
Kara Walker

Ana Mendieta

Niki de Saint-Phalle

Martha Rosler

Mierle Laderman Ukeles

Adrian Piper
Yoko Ono
Nancy Spero
Ana Mendieta

Paula Modersohn Becker

Elizabeth Murray

Lois Dodd

Joan Snyder

Louise Bourgeois

eva hesse
julia margaret cameron
elizabeth cotten
lady hawarden
adrienne rich
dorothea tanning
claude cahoun
agnes varda

Annette Messager
Cynthia Madansky
Martha Rosler

Yoko Ono

Yayoi Kusama

Lili St. Cyr
Jeanette Piccard

Nan Goldin

Ana Mendieta

meret Oppenheim

kiki smith

mona hatoum

Eva Hesse
Natalie Jeremijenko
Lee Bontecou
Mary Lucier
Steina Vasulka
Dara Birnbaum
Marina Abramovic
Louise Bourgeois
pipilotti rist
Kara Walker
Jennifer McCoy
emily breer
mary lum
Janet Cardiff
Kristin Lucas
shirin neshat

marjetica potrc
Alice Guy-Blaché

Catalina Parra

Mierle Laderman Ukeles

Maria Nordman

Joan Nelson
Eva Hesse
Louise Bourgeois
Lee Bontecou
Nancy Spero
Suzan Frecon
Ann Hamilton
Janine Antoni
Sarah Sze
Arlene Shechet
Johanna Drucker
Ghada Amer
Rosalind Krauss

Susan Sontag

Alluquere Rosanne Stone

louise bougeoise

kiki smith

doris salcedo

ann hamilton

janine antoni

harmony hammond

amy sillman

siobhan liddell

frances stark

tracey goodman

jillian conrad

sarah sze

uta barth

mama anderson

heather rowe

jessica stockholder

polly apfelbaum

linda benglis

sophie calle

ellen gallagher

jessie henson

rita mcdonald

rachel whiteread

mona hatoum

Nancy Spero

Lynne Cohen

Pipilotti Rist

Louise Bourgeois

Swoon

Carolee Schneeman
Ursula von Rydingsvard
Barbara Kruger
Laura Hauptman
Thelma Golden
Linda Nochlin
Carol Duncan

janine antoni
ana mendieta
Marina Abramović
Orlan
Patty Chang
Regina José Galindo

Frida Kahlo

Eva Hesse

Louise Bourgeois

The nameless women that have created the "artifacts" displayed today in museums, especially those that have created the intricate and beautiful textiles, jewelry, and pottery of the Pacific Northwest Native American tribes. African women artists' textile and pottery skills-- some of the most beautiful pottery pieces in the world have come from Africa and derive from women artists, who receive little credit for their inspired works.

Artemisia Gentileschi

Rosa Bonheur

Julia Margaret Cameron

Gertrude Stein

Imogen Cunningham

Dorthea Lange

Frida Kahlo

Meret Oppenheim

Martha Rosler

Hannah Wilke

Yayoi Kusama

Carolee Schneemann

Eva Hesse

Ana Mendieta

Annette Messager

Barbara Kruger

Lorna Simpson

April Gornik

Adrian Piper

Marina Abramovic

Kara Walker

Pipilotti Rist

Janet Cardiff

Jennifer Linton

Dana Schutz

Catherine Opie

Jenny Saville

Janine Antonie

Emily Kame Kngwarreye
patricia piccinini
polixeni papepetrou

Chantal Akerman
Gail Scott
Betye Saar
Ida Applebroog
Magdalena Abakanowicz
Viola Frey
Marisol
Helen Mirra

Ntozake Shange
Nawaal Saadawi
Alice Walker

Lillian Bassman

"Hi everyone

I'm writing female artists and curators that I know to ask for a quick
"hit reply" with a name or names of notable female artists in any media, era or
continent whose work and/or lives mean something to you. We are
developing materials to share with the junior/senior female high
school students participating in Identity Blueprint, our pilot
educational program.

http://www.aferro.org/websitebaker/wb/pages/opportunities/identity-blueprint.php

I am hoping to have our cool flyer and trifold online soon, but if you
would like this info I can share it with you via email more quickly!

We aren't aiming to develop an entire curriculum
per se but simply to have some interesting info about a diverse
selection of artists. Think about how you might have found out about
an artist who matters to you. It might have been in a bookstore or
from a friend. The point is you found out about them and it did
something for you.

The entire program is very much inspired by and shaped around the
activities of working female artists that we have been lucky enough to
get to know through Gallery Aferro. We therefore want to continue this
approach by asking you to contribute names. My personal contributions
include Carrie Mae Weems and Marjane Satrapi, but I think it will be
much, much better list if everyone joins in.

Thank you so much for being who you are, and for contributing to this
project! If you would like to share this call for names with friends,
please do so.
Thanks!"

objects needed

Hello out there. I'm preparing for a show at the Providence Natural History Museum. The museum collection is made up of a lot of things collected by amateurs, and pretty much anyone who wanted to donate to the museum could do so. So they have enormous archives of bugs, butterflies, nests, eggs, rocks, etc, some of which are rotting away, or unlabeled, or stored in cigar boxes. I am soliciting donations from people, and am creating a vitrine that inserts my new donations into the museum's collection. Also, there is a large collection of disassociated labels (lovely phrase!) which are labels- some of which are over a hundred years old- that have been separated from their objects. I am classifying them according to handwriting/label type and installing them in a display case in typical insect-display format. They are so pretty! Anyone who wants to send me an object for the museum collection (your favorite shell or rock, pressed plant, vial of sand or dust, etc) please contact me and I will let you know where to mail things. Or studio residents, you can put things on my desk in my studio. Please include your name, what you know about the item, and where it was found. I'll start installing in about three weeks.
thanks

work ii - persistence

Notes On Derrida, l cooper
Notes On Derrida, l cooper
studio view

We had open studios as part of the Open Doors 2010 event ... alas I didn't take pictures as it was happening. I did make Pen Poems featuring clips of Derrida. It was funny when I gave them out, people often expected my name to be in them. I never thought of that actually. I'll have to consider it.

work

I understand my life and my work as a crocheted crazy quilt. The thread changes, stitches vary in size and spacing, ripples form throughout the fabric even as it grows. The end of each thread is tied to its predecessor, each stitch dependant on its confederates. After a while and with practice it begins to even out, growing into substance. Beautiful here, failed there. My work in every way is a series of minute tasks, deeply linked, one end to another.

In the studio there is the neuroticism of being alone with what one has made and trying to divine its merit. To see what one has done.

And then there is comfort in the comings and goings of others invested in this same way.

Blindness show- Participants needed !

BLINDNESS

MARIA JIMENEZ, MAURA GUYOTE, HEATHER WESTON

SEPTEMBER 20- OCTOBER 2, 2010

Please join us for the opening reception September 20, 6-9 pm

There will be a live performance September 20 at 6 pm, PARTICIPANTS NEEDED!

25 EAST GALLERY

25 East 13th street, NYC

web holes

I spend a lot of time webbing, too much time probably and often it's random stuff. Tonight it was baby jaguar videos on you tube, an article on hand washing, new fall fiction...you get the idea. anyway I came across this art magazine from Canada, Fillip, and it was really fun to poke around. Some of the articles don't appear in full in the online edition, some do, but there was some good reading.

a fine thing ...

It is a fine thing to celebrate art and people on a day like today... its been wonderful the energy around the building as everyone has prepared for tonight’s opening … It looks pretty amazing. Going to my studio has been great watching the galleries transform as work has been installed and everything readied for tonight. I'm looking forward to seeing everything light and inhabited ...


In other news …
Residencies often feel like graduate school … the energy of other artists in close proximity, even when they’re absent, contributes to the work and the thinking.

I’m finally settling in here and beginning to make progress. Today, this morning, as I was preparing to head to New Jersey I think I solved my “book problem.” I have a mental image now of the two books I’m planning. I also have a lead on some music/sound folks to work with for the video project.

In the meantime painting is as painting … and I expect it to move closer to what I need.

So by the end of this residency I should have some success with my “ghost hunting” … video evidence, written documents and some surplus paintings. We will see.

until tonight then...

burgers at tops, from another angle

physics and the quest for perfect burger ...

the first entry
to wash it down


My first short post on the Aferro Blog … and of course you all know me … lol … so you know you’re likely to hear from me again.

I must begin by singing the praises of the most excellent Emma and Evonne, warm, wonderful and smart women. Hopefully in the future this blog will find me more poetic and maybe more thoughtful … but for today we sing praises …

And speaking of today at Aferro -- today I met two of my fellow residents, Steve and Blyth, as well as the people who will be working “in the lab”. The Lab is a project curated by Nancy Mahl and I can’t wait to see what comes out of it. It looks like it has an angle on getting to work that is really fresh. In fact that’s something that’s attractive about Aferro, it’s programming is so open and truly willing to take some risks. I suspect that’s one of the benefits of their location and being a non-profit with very few strings. The place was humming with everyone working on things for the September 11 opening.

Got a look at what will be my art home for the next few months and ate an amazing cheeseburger. Those who know me well know that burgers aren’t my typical fare but today it was right on.

I went with Emma, Evonne, Dahlia, and Leigh Ann (I’m sure I’m misspelling her name) to Tops Diner in East Newark as the great Cheeseburger quest got underway. Initiated by Dahlia with encouragement from all quarters, the quest represents the search for the perfect artist’s cheeseburger and Tops has made a stellar first salvo in the battle. It will be a fight to the death I’m pretty sure as well as providing substance for some of this blog’s contributors. Stay tuned to see whose cheeseburger comes out on top … (tops..)

And just so you don’t think we were just self-indulging, the dialogue was all very erudite as the lunch conversation swirled around such topics as theoretical physics, boat rides, lasers, art and the perils and joys of facebook with a side of drooling appreciation for the proofs of Dahlia Elsayed’s forthcoming show catalog. It's going be beautiful.

All in all … this was not a bad day.

Bicycles!

http://brickcitybicycles.org/

Too much? Not enough.

To steal a great phrase, from Pinakothek, Luc Sante's blog, this blog, "like a vampire, is not wholly dead, but neither is it entirely alive."

It is difficult to get to what happens here in the studios. It believe that it is illusive, that it is very real but resists being branded...ie "The New Newark."

Artists come and go at different times. Walls change color, power tools sound, lights burn at odd hours. Things happen. See Bruce Nauman's spy-cam video, with footage of a cat chasing flies in his studio.

Alternate theory, one that I believe in sometimes: I just think that many artists are already so busy managing the necessary output of self promotional material for their own sites, blog, social media, that the burden of creating yet more digestible little bits of content is too much. Syndicate! Syndicate! Syndicate! Feed! Feed! Feed!

I guess I'm withholding?

I don't take many snapshots of my own life, which might be odd for a photographer. Like anyone else I sometimes wish I had, of people, places and situations that no longer exist, or exist for me. These snapshots that I don't have might even sometimes be appropriate for this blog: light coming into studio enviroments, cute handwritten communication between neighbors, atmospheric closeups of materials. You know, that sort sort of thing. Ambiance. And again, in my more cynical moments, raw material for the secondary market of lifestyle purveyors. There are even Taschen books!

But I do so sincerely enjoy taking snapshots of the studio detritus of artist colleagues. So here are some, in text tag format:

Buddha Statue/Big Elmers Glue/Air Freshener Spray

Ashtray/Video Editing Deck with big piece of tape saying don't unplug me

Rope/Panties/50 lbs Clay

Rolls of multi colored vinyl/copy of Huck Finn from Aferro free book room

Gold Paint Markers/Plywood/Course Schedule

Bleach/uplifting note to troubled youth being mentored/American Flag

Legal Books circa 1910/Razors/Hammers/Blue Paint

weekly accumulations

One of the many things I've been doing during the residency at Aferro is making sure to buy a pair of $1 earrings from a specific vendor on Market Street every time I come into Newark.  Over the past few months I've accumulated quite a collection.
While I don't wear these earrings, nor do I intend to, I like how they function as a marker of my weekly traipse down Market Street.
Below are a few images:

The Profession

The Profession: Artists talk about their career in art.
"What's it like having a career as an artist? Michael Zeng posted this question to his former classmates from San Francisco Art Institute as they approached the 5 year mark since graduating with MFA's."
I think it's always helpful to hear from artists about their real lives, beyond just the successes we hear about at artist talks. It's good for me to hear about how people are continuing to make work day to day and managing the balance between studio and outside world issues.

talking to oneself

I've been remiss, but have been meaning to post the following.

I am curious as to the "inner voice" that artists hear when doing all the non media-specific things that allow their practice to go on. I don't mean things like painting or casting or video editing, but rather things like pacing, looking, thinking. "Inner voice" is an awful phrase, suggesting low grade self help lit or the limitations of film, even well made film, that necessitate things like voiceovers.

It might not be a voice, of course. It might be pictures, or anything really. In the interest of getting this discussion going, I'm going to be completely honest and admit that I talk to myself when photographing. A lot. And it isn't anything interesting either. The most commonly used phrase is "c'mon, shit for brains."

I don't know where it came from, and I now have said it so many times in my life that it just comes out of my mouth when I'm alone.

There are various other minor, unremarkable verbal tics such as counting incorrectly habitually when timing exposures and film development, and singing tuneless rounds of choruses from various 30's jazz standards when nervous or timing night exposures, but really I want to know where the shit for brains came from. Why is this comforting?

Reminds me of this a bit, and also of the trope of thrillers where the repititon of a loved one's habitual phrase or personally significant word serves to confirm foul play, such as in LA Confidential.

scratching video

I'm trying to find my pink records. After moving to a new place, all the good stuff is in a box, under some other boxes. Assuming I find them, I'll be scratching some video at the opening of VIDEO MELEE.

Gravity Connundrum, (Jen Poueymirou and myself) will also be debuting a new video object at the melee. (exciting!Exciting!)

Common Ground Festival

Ann LePore via The Get Down: Come check it out! I'm doing some live video mixing for Terry Riley's "In C" and then my students are showing off their circuit-bent-toy-instruments in the band, Noise Theory. 
Friday, 4:30pm in the Adler Theater at Ramapo College

 

The Get Down : - Beats

http://thegetdownblog.com/beats

4:30-5:00 Computer Music Ensemble performing Terry Riley’s In C with Video by Ann LePore

5:00-5:30 Physical Computing Class: “Noise Theory”

Ann: Getting Connected

In addition to wearing matching (almost) coveralls, Mariam and I found Newark Art Supply and the cool ACE hardware store on Lafayette with a 10% discount. Why a discount, I asked? Because it's spring? because they've heard about the matching coveralls? The man at the register wouldn't say... but I was grateful, regardless and I'll be back.

(Mariam on the left, Ann on the right)

We loaded up on supplies and Mariam learned to prime canvas.  I learned, or was reminded, that the Airport Express can't wirelessly boost an existing wireless network. (Fail!).
But with a few pie tins and a pringles can we could really have something here.
Cantenna, anyone?

(image from http://www.binarywolf.com)

Emma Wilcox: Building Specifics (I'm a syncretic dilettante)

This project remains one of my all time favorite site-specific creations from Aferro, and it was created by artist Vandana Jain when I asked her to "bless" the building for our grand reopening.

How much can a ritual be altered/borrowed cross-culture before it is "broken?" Is fidelity necessary for belief? (I'm a syncretic dilettante) But my fear of misfortune was and is sincere, so I really did want a hex against trouble. No posturing there. If you're familiar with the story of the gallery's origins, you will understand my paranoia and lack of faith in the, ahem, Goodness of Civic Planning.

Thanks again for coming up with such as great response to my odd request, Vandana!

She also has "Prayer Flags for Health Care" in Art Shop, the gallery's gift shop.

Emma Wilcox: Back to the Real

Recognize anyone you know?

I can't match the text curation coming out of Reborn, but I find the following weirdly soothing:

from Bohemians: A Hate Song (1918)
Dorothy Parker

"I hate Bohemians;
they shatter my morale

There are the Artists;
The Inventors of the Nude,
They are always gesticulating with their thumbs,
And sketching, with forks, on table cloths;
They point out all the different colors in a sunset
As if they were trying to sell it to you;
They are forever messing around with batik;
And hanging yellow tassels on things;
And stenciling everything within reach...

And then there are the Radicals;

...They are always in revolt about something.
Nothing has been done yet that they can wholly approve of...

They are forever starting magazines
And letting the Postal Authorities put the finish to them...

Always longing to loose the trivial fetters of Convention,
and go far away- back to the Real-
I wish they'd get started!"

Emma Wilcox: Salvaged Content

When Alec Soth's blog was active, he did several themed weeks on it, with a curated selection of images that he located, plus the contributions of readers. One was "Shit Week," and the other was "Snow Week," if I remember correctly. I don't think we have the critical mass necessary for such undertakings, but I'm going to start posting poems periodically. I read this on Soth's blog, and shared it with many friends. Here it is, in another place now on the internets.

The Artist
by Peter Schjeldahl (1972)

The artist does not want to deal with the world.
He wants the world to deal with him.
He realizes that, to this end, he needs the help of others.
Gaining this help involves him in a series of accommodations for
which he despises himself and those who help him.
That one day he is a success, and it seems to be exactly what he
had imagined it would be
Money, of course, but also the sense that an unlimited number of
possibilities for experience await his leisure.
His former friends and supporters now hate him, but even among
themselves they pay tribute to his talent.
His work proceeds satisfactorily.
He cultivates what he regards as a rich gamut of eccentricities.
At some parties he is taciturn, at others garrulous.
He finds it increasingly easy to satisfy his limited, if mildly
irregular, sexual appetites.
He collects Art Deco one year, Navajo blankets the next – or,
rather, he has assistants collect for him.
He is appalled to realize that he has a drinking problem.
He is bothered by a feeling that his progress in life has somehow
fallen behind schedule.
He becomes obsessed with the thought that he must create a
monumental, devastatingly original work.
After a period of intense application, he does so.
The public reaction is favorable, but no one seems devastated.
This throws him into a lengthy depression.
He is surprised by the thought that his reputation has gotten out of
hand.
Every month or two he reads a new article by some idiot, praising
him.
The occasional intelligent article – which he often has trouble
understanding – fills him with a vague uneasiness.
Surrounded by assistants and dealers and involved in endless
projects, he feels like an industry.
He finds that he can do without parties.
He manages to quit drinking for weeks at a time.
He worries about his health, which is perfect.
He reminds himself continually that he can do whatever he wants.
But all he can think to do is work.

Emma Wilcox: Pony Seeds

is the title of this short film by artist Lydia Moyer, and is taken from the autobiography of Dolly Parton.

I bought seeds on 3/8, am starting seedling indoors for what will hopefully be a full-sun urban gardening effort for a new art project. (More on that when I have something to show for it.) It was the first decent day of weather, and "Detroit Dark Red" beets were already sold out when I got them. (Yes, I bought instead of going to a seed exchange. You can throw things at me when you next see me.) I bought lots of Craft Gourd- "suitable for arts and craft projects." I sure hope they grow.

While this may seem like an atrocious tangent, my entire practice has been and remains influenced by ideas of failure and expectations.

I am always interested in what is considered reasonable to expect, and who gets to decide what is reasonable for who? What is it ok to want?

I will be exhibiting a photograph titled "Father's Day" in the Print Center's 84th annual print competition for photography from May 1 - July 24th, 2010. The image was taken in the spring, and features rabbits. It is one of my more accessible and thus popular images, but is based on several separate stories that I have been told that involve accidents, animals, disappointment, mishap and guilt.

I hope the seeds grow.

Eve + Bowie: Projects

Bowie + Eve were residents from August 2009 - February 2010. We worked on a couple collaborative projects and Eve worked on some of her own work, too. Here are a couple snap shots of the studio...

The photos at left are from the project "Temporary Vitals" that includes temporary tattoos that viewers can take and apply to their own necks.



These are drawings of Ribs that Eve did in preparation for a mural at Local Project in LIC, which will be up from April 10 (check out the gallery here: http://www.localproject.org/) through June.








This is our reference wall and chaotic desk which is now in our new studio in Wassaic, NY...









This is where we're working now! Beautiful photo thanks to Jeff (http://www.jeffbarnettwinsby.com/), one of our co-directors at The Wassaic Project.




Want to come visit? check out: www.wassaicproject.com

We miss you, Aferro Studios!!

Emma Wilcox: a Manifesto

From artist Susan E. Evans : Manifesto

Gallery Aferro: Hello!

This blog is created by current and alumni Gallery Aferro Studio Residents, and is a platform to share work in progress, ideas and news. Some contributors may be current workspace neighbors, others are time zones apart. The context can be one artwork in progress, the small community of residents, the 20,000 sq ft former furniture store and current alternative space, the block, the city of Newark, NJ, the art world, or none of the former.

Evonne: I'm an ArtReach mentor!

Melany and I met for the first time on Sunday. I was so embarrassed that my studio was such a mess. I spent four hours cleaning and she spent four hours sketching things from some of the art books I have around. It was really nice having someone in the studio with me, I'm looking forward to adding many posts and pics about it in the coming weeks.