I shot this video of a one-man band named Gull outside of ADA Gallery in Richmond on Friday. We were down there for Matt Fisher's reception. All the links necessary to everyone mentioned in the first two sentences can be found in the video description at YouTube:
Monday, November 09, 2009
Post 1006
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Post 1005
Lots to see on First Friday:
Timothy Gierschick- Bulb 2, latex, spray paint and enamel on panel, 2009. (c) P.TGII
Timothy Gierschick has a show at Tiger Strikes Asteroid. I always like seeing Tim's work Definitely put that in your must-see list.
Vox Populi has a number of shows opening. Keep an eye out for the Robert Chaney/Paul Swenbeck/Clint Takeda collaboration centered around Black Sabbath.
Jackie Tileston and Jedediah Morfit are at Pentimenti.
Looks like Locks Gallery is curating a good group drawing show out of their stable/collection.
The Shelter show at Painted Bride has a great line-up of people as well.
There is a lot more going on. Libby and Roberta have their recommendations. They are wise people and you should check out their picks.
Also:
You should also check out their story on the recent developments in the Pew Fellowship process. It's the Philly art story of the day as far as I can tell.
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current location
Working area of my studio. Hard to tell unless you know what I'm working on, but this pretty much sums up everything these days.
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Monday, November 02, 2009
Pilgrim Africa via Gregory King
Gregory King spoke at the Church Studios a few years ago. About a year ago, we posted a link of one of his videos that had been posted on IFC.
He sent a link out this week for a documentary he helped to create about Pilgrim Africa's work in Uganda. You can watch it below and read Greg's info on it below that:
Pilgrim in Uganda October 2009 from Helen Hofman on Vimeo.
"Last march, I had the opportunity to travel to Uganda, Africa to do video documentary work for Pilgrim Africa (www.pilgrim-uganda.org), an indigenous Christian organization working to heal the scars of two decades of civil war in that country. I'm happy to report that we have a finished promotional video from that trip available to view online:
http://www.vimeo.com/7356728 (I recommend watching it with decent headphones and/or speakers, not laptop speakers)
It runs about 10 minutes, and highlights Pilgrim's main programs in the areas of public health, education and refugee resettlement. I traveled with photographer Ira Lippke on that trip, whose still images can be seen in the video. Also, filmmaker Craig Marsden has footage in this piece, as his work was instrumental in covering the Move on Malaria program in 2008.
Pilgrim is an amazing organization. I was thoroughly impressed with their community-enabling tactics, tirelessness, and joy in the face of incredible social hardships. Their work on combatting malaria has received international attention, for example. While they continue to grow, they could definitely use your help in these tough economic times, if you are in a place to contribute financially."
Post 1003
If you are a Phillies fan and want to know what it feels like to be a UNC fan and get beat by Duke, this World Series might give you a clue. Hurts, don't it? Watching them whine about pitches that don't go there way and complain the whole game, then having the nerve to hit well and take advantages of our errors. Painful. For the record: we got beat in games 2 and 3. We lost game 4. There's a difference.
But for all you art kids that "hate sports" that for some reason are watching the Series, I'll go ahead and break it to you- barring some miracle where half the Yankees wake up tomorrow and have forgotten how to play baseball, the Phillies are going to lose this. Don't sweat it. The Yankees are the best team in the league this year. It was inevitable. Just a shame it had to happen to us. Enjoy the off-season. All the boys should be back next year and there's no reason why Cole Hamels should have his head up his butt next year. He'll bounce back. Keep late October/early November of 2010 open.
Onward...
There's a Twitter box on the right side now. Feel free to follow along if you so desire. I haven't figured out what I'll do with it yet. My guess is that I will do more on that than I will here. True "more" constitutes a lot of meaningless rambling but I'll put some links in there or whatever as well. I just started it today so give me a while to build up something meaningful.
Friday finally allowed me the time to go see Gorky at the PMA. I read one unkind review about the curatorial choices made in the show. The review praised the work (duh) but took some shots at Michael Taylor. B.S. It's a great show. Yeah, the wall design seems a little out of place in the back room but we're also an audience of art viewers that expects nothing but white walls and cement floors. It's not like this has been the status quo for more than 15 years so, you know, loosen up. Have some fun. And as for it being overhung- yeah, it might be. Go twice. How hard is this? New York critics must really hate getting on the train to come down here.
Arshile Gorky- Agony
Gorky might not be the right artist to start "having fun" with, curatorially-speaking. What a friggin' life. Chased via genocidal warfare. Mom starved to death. Rectal cancer. Depression. Abandoned by family. Suicide. That said, this isn't a show just about the wonderful, horrible life of Arshile Gorky. It's about the art. All that heart and soul is in the work but there's also a painterly genius in it as well. I've seen plenty of "tortured" work full of heart and soul that was terrible. Gorky pulled some magic out of his misery. He properly bowed at the feet of masters like Cezanne and Picasso before carving out his own semi-Surrealist style. There's a point as he's crawling out of Cubism where the paint gets thick and unmanageable but that is almost immediately followed up by a fluid handling that speaks to a mastery of materials. 
Gorky- The Artist and His Mother, 1926
The "artist and mother" painting on loan from the Whitney is the only painting that has made someone that I know cry just by standing in front of it. I don't know if my friend even knew the back story at the time but you can see why someone would have that reaction just as a viewing experience devoid of biographical knowledge. It's a crushing painting. Breaks your heart.
Gorky- study for The Artist and His Mother
With this and the Duchamp show, multiple visits to the PMA are required this month (Duchamp folds on the 29th). Be prepared. The Gorky show is huge and exhausting. I think you need two shots at it to fully appreciate it. Already the final two or three galleries are blurring together for me. I need to see it again and take something to write with when I return.
On another note, a student of mine asked it was okay to make work from photos...which is awesome, if you think about someone asking me that. His high school art teacher said it was a no-no. I said that it wasn't a good way to learn but after a while it was fine as long as you knew what the camera didn't record. Gorky shows that you can definitely do it as long as you know what you're doing. Clarity of vision beyond source material. That's the key.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Post 1002
Yes to all things Yo La Tengo but especially yes to Yo La Tengo live on a rooftop doing one of James' songs:
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Post 1001
I know I'm dropping the ball when it comes to blogging. Sometimes a man has to draw...and replace the utility sink in his basement. But mainly I have to draw. I feel very much under the gun these days. It's fine. I like the work. All that said, I'm not living in a bubble these days. This week I have to go see Alexis Granwell's show at Tiger before it closes on Friday. I also want to see Matthew Pruden at Nexus and Back To Earth at Fleisher Ollman.
Reading the summary of the Malcolm McLaren video, Shallow, (at PAFA) didn't give me a whole lot of hope but I dug it. There are 21 chapters. I saw about 5 of them. One day I'll return for the rest. McLaren refers to the videos as painterly which initially struck me as a load but the more I watched, the more I got it. It's video so it's tonal color mixed with saturated shapes. Richard Hamilton-ish?
Worth the trip. PAFA is in good shape these days with McLaren and Barkley L. Hendricks.
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We saw the Coen Brothers' new one, A Serious Man. It's the book of Job set in 1960s suburban Minneapolis. The son in the movie is the age Joel Coen would have been at the time of the movie...not that he is lens of the movie. But it lets you know that this movie is autobiographical in setting and tone. It spends 2 hours struggling with whether or not there is a God and if so, is He worth pursuing or is He a mean-spirited diety with a wicked sense of humor. "Loving" doesn't seem to be an option. "Unknowable" is still on the table. Like most other Coen movies that wrestle with theological/philosophical questions, there didn't seem to be a real investigation or search going on. It all just seemed to be a set up to let us know that the Coens are smarter than us...or at least, so they think. Well, there's a search for a moral code but it always feels laughable to them that there would be a God at the heart of it. The characters never took root for me and just lived in somewhat superficial categories. Kind of like the brothers based them off people they knew growing up but left them at the level that a 13 year old would interpret them to be. There wasn't much effort to flesh out adults beyond what a 13 year old could piece together. That doesn't seem to be the point either. It just felt like bad character development. But hey, it beat the crap out of Burn After Reading. Maybe I'm being too rough on it. It's better than most stuff I've seen this year.
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Local band, The Flying Sutra, has released their second record, Glowering and Glowing Red. You should sample the track "Leviathan" and then get the record.
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One of my favorite musicians of the past two years, Machinefabriek, is set to release two new albums in November. My money is currently on his collaboration with Peter Broderick on the album Blank Grey Canvas Sky (more below).
Here's a track from the forthcoming album:
Peter Broderick & Machinefabriek - Kites by Fang Bomb
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The other record is another collaboration, this time with Tim Catlin titled Glisten.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Post 1000
According to Art:21, Nancy Spero passed away this weekend.
In early 1998, my graduate school class from VCU, along with some undergraduates, went up to NYC for an art trip. While there we got a tour/visit at Spero and Leon Golub's studios. They worked in two separate but adjoining rooms. I think their living area was in the back. It seems like they gave a number of tours. I've met a number of people who were able to go there.
Spero and Golub were both pleasant and open about their processes, etc. I think at the time Spero was working on a subway proposal. Golub was working on the series that would include Prometheus II. The final image is at the bottom. The second to last photo at the bottom shows it in progress in the background.
Here are a few photos that I took that day.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Post 999
You got kids? Teach'em to read...so they don't use words like "teach'em."
Need some books? Buy my friend Mike Townsend's new books. It's cool, Mike's from Philly. He's one of us. Two of his books released this week. Another is slated for January. Here are the covers and some links.
Buy Kit Feeny: On the Move
Description:
"Kit Feeny is moving and losing his best friend! Who will help Kit make things out of cheeseballs? Who will he go ninja fishing with? Will Kit end up all by himself, a lonesome hobo eating cold beans for dinner? Join Kit as he mostly figures this all out in his very first totally stupid and completely awesome adventure!"
Buy Kit Feeny: The Ugly Necklace
Description:
"Kit’s mother’s birthday looms and Kit is determined to get her something way, way better than his sisters, something completely “stupid awesome!” Would she like a cool metal detector? Where might Kit buy a baby dragon? Or maybe a spiffy pair of hip hi-tops? Shovels, dirt, Elvis, and the words “pip-pip!” all lead to the best, ugliest present ever!"
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