local ephemera

A Question of Drawing the Line

2011-04-22T11:12:00.025-05:00

This post is about to rhyme itself into the visual equivalent of a ditty. Hold on to your hat.

listening to her is like going on a mini-tropical vacay inside a whiskey glass.

In April 6pm is apparently the witching hour.

Perfect lighting for Nancy to shoot a video in her studio. She installed new wallpaper from the Haverford College show, it looks awesome.

Table full of artists for Nancy's "Truth or Dare" dinner. I dared.

Ok, food, wall paper, repetitive color pattern, flowers, where does this take us next?

Amy Landesberg, "Rosewood Swag," 2011, Digital Print on clear and translucent film.

6pm was also the time Amy Landesberg chose to give a talk at Solomon Projects about her piece currently in the show "Something Along the Lines of Rock and Roll" and about the massive commission being completed for the new international wing (F) at Hartsfield.

Amy Landesberg, "Rosewood Swag,"detail.

The pieces derive from scanning endangered wood veneers, turning the patterns into vector based graphics, and printing them on glass and/or film.

Alex Brewer, "Untitled," 2010, silkscreen, graphite, house paint, on panel, 48'x48"

But what is most important is the way natural light projects the colors into space. It's ephemeral at heart. You can see better images of the cast light here.

Alex Brewer, "Untitled," detail

Veneer scans aside, what I also see in Landesberg's pieces are layers of graffitied and wheat pasted walls weathered into abstraction and liberated into space through light.

Alex Brewer, "Untitled," 2011, m/m on canvas, 60"x70"

And at Sandler Hudson graffiti artist and painter Alex Brewer is taking ephemeral methods and creating very solid paintings

Alex Brewer, "Untitled," detail

as part of the group show "Mark Making in Black and White."

Alex Brewer, "Untitled," detail

Brewer's gestural details build a network, however convulsing or on the edge of explosion, the marks convince the eye there is a harmony in the chaos

Alex Brewer, "Untitled," detail

like the intricate balance of a wood veneer patterning.

Brett Smith, "Spring Fireworks," 2007, Pastel on paper, 26"x40"

Also in the show, Brett Smith builds an intimacy of space in his small frenetic marks

Amy Pleasant, "How I See You, How You See Me," 2011, Latex paint on sheetrock.

and back at Solomon the fantastic Amy Pleasant takes adjacent walls and transforms them into an intimate meeting in muted color.

Amy Pleasant, "How I See You, How You See Me," detail

Pleasant removes every artifice in her study; managing to balance a massive wall-sized scale with a pair of small paper pieces, each seeming to speak at the same decibel.

Ink marks become a depth of floating figures in space.

Go see the Solomon show, it is ephemeral and beautiful.

All this talk about decibels and the corner space of a room. Last weekend was National Record Store Day and Criminal had a bunch of bands playing

including members of the recently disbanded band the Back Pockets, who are in the process of reforming into something new and equally fantastic.

Lead singer Emily Kempf's lyrics - delivered in a weaving of the guttural and the delicate -exploded somewhere beyond the cerebral cortex, somewhere much deeper,

creating a new sense of the rhyme in the chaos.

Playing Jazz Without Playing Jazz

2011-04-14T16:46:00.019-05:00

Who said that?

I can't remember but I heard it recently.

I've been thinking about Helen Molesworth talking about "visual rhyming."

What if this blog were nothing but visual rhyming?

I'm going to try it sometime, sometime when I am feeling particularly speechless or forlorn.

You've been looking at pictures of the Imperial Opa on a rooftop in Castleberry. Julia Hill is doing some art directing! They were great.

Hanz told me that America is running out of helium.

In something like 40 years we will have run dry.

Dear Blogger, why do you always do weird things like underline text for no reason?

I guess they found that a particularly important sentence.

Apparently helium really ought to cost around $100 a balloon.

Imagine an America of limp balloons.

Oakhurst Community Garden sale = lack of self control.

What we're talking about here are not just any ordinary tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers.

I have a really good feeling about the garden this year. It shall overfloweth.

Alright art blog, time to look at art.

There are a lot of good things suddenly happening right now.

John Heward, "untitled (abstractions)," 1987-2011, Canvas, rayon, acrylic, ink, oil, metal clamps.

Like John Heward's work just opened at the Contemporary

it's fantastic, this entire show is fantastic

raw and unencumbered and poetic and to the point.

John Yau had a lot to say about the elitism of materials and production in art making. Wealthy collectors are more comfortable with expensively made art (think Gursky or Koons); luxury items for a luxury lifestyle.

Completely missing the point of art.

John Heward on the other hand is exactly onto the point of art.

So if this were a visual rhyme, essentially a visual poem discussing visual things visually

there would be some nice juxstaposing images of graffiti, billboards of stark icons,

an image of my roommate's bathroom towels hanging neatly in an array of subtle color variation,

some solid representation of abstract expressionism, a nod the current trend to "free" the painting from the geometric two-dimensional structure of canvas and stretcher bars,

maybe the image from earlier of the fallen tree with all of the words and symbols carved into the trunk (or is that not primitive enough?) Heward's work is unadulterated mark making and yet

the marks are caught up in the fluidity of the fabric, changing shape based on the way the fabric is hung or draped, a gesture outside of the artist himself considering that gallery visitors have the opportunity to take part in the placement.

There is a nice accompanying video that serves to explain the work - or at least place the viewer into a particular mode of thinking about the work. With some great quotes, I think from W.H. Auden poem(s)?

"Intention, accident, acceptance."

"It's to seize and clap perception." (I found that particularly fitting).

And in other news the great Paul Boshears just wrote a review on Dongoski's show at Whitespace you ought to read. The show is in its last week, check it out.

It's a Good Things We All Wear Clothes (!)

2011-04-08T12:31:00.015-05:00

Starting a couple of new projects.

Got free tix to the Russian Ballet at the Fox.

There were a surprisingly large number of Russians in attendance.

JT spent a lot of time trying to liberate a frisbee caught in a tree

It was tense to say the least.

Just got this book

I am really digging Condo's figures

especially these

and these.

And I heard Anthony McCann give a reading as part of the Emory Poetry Series. Everyone reading that night was incredible. You should get his new book out by Wave Books and read it out loud to yourself or whoever happens to be sleeping beside you. Here is a poem:

FIELD WORK

by Anthony McCann

Later, on the ridge, in samurai dress

I appear. It's me. In mustache. And gear.

The most is full of

CHERRYBLOSSOMS and I count

the cries of

BIRDS. Beyond that moat is

TEENAGE FRANCE. There youths frolic,

pace and

resemble me. But

what kind of person

is a person

like this? My fingers

put shadows

on all of the

birds

as just

beyond song

birds

scrape up the sky.

We ride

on a haycart

down through

their codes. In the village

the villagers

dress

in blue codes. Our fathers

make shadows

all over their

caps. I mean

our fingers

make shadows

on the faces

of cops. We cross the

late bridge

to our fathers.

Sugar, Mr. Poon?

2011-03-25T11:37:00.046-05:00

Last week there were television shows being filmed at the end of the block at both my house and my studio.

Catering trucks seemed to be everywhere I went.

I must live a very cinematic life.

Or my life is very made for TV.

Whoever thought of putting rye and fernet branca together had vision.

Indeed, this post is going to be completely muddled

much like my brain.

Who can stay focused in the spring?

I haven't seen as much art lately as I have been hearing people talk about it.

Listened to John Yau who said when he was starting out he moved to new york to be a poet and for money he planned to either "be an art critic or an x-ray technician" depending.

He said he didn't want to go into academia because he didn't know what a poem was.

Similarly, when it comes to art he likes to "be in a situation where I don't know what I am looking at."

I like that as well.

Like Yau said, "you have to get beyond what's happening in your own thinking." I think maybe I'll just start quoting him from now on when people ask me questions.

Saw Jizzle De Jizz

Those guys I enjoy every time.

Speaking of, I went to the Goat Farm

and shot a video.

Attractive fellows coming soon to a computer screen near you.

Yau is also working on some poems that are a play on words

"more true bull ahead"

"disguise the limit"

"believe it alone"

Am I allowed to post those online?

What are the rules for posting someone's poetry? I don't know. I don't ask.

William was back in town for a visit.

This tends to involve shoe shopping

and sparkly things

we're planning something for May that has great potential for being hilarious and if it goes well then you too will be wondering what you are looking at.

Mike Germon, "Our Lady of the TriForce."

Saw these Germon's at Aurora.

Mike Germon, "Nudes."

Statuary.

It's not William, it's six foot five inch Zoey now. This woman came up to Zoey and asked "so were do you dance?"

You could call that moment the Ecstasy of Saint Zoey

Garden update: strawberries survived the winter

Weeded and seeded

and spinach has starting popping up (rather late but here nonetheless!)

tender little babes

trying a hand at zucchini.

And this is my new favorite thing. Riverview Farms has gone mobile and roams neighborhoods selling the best grassfed beef and spicy sausage and eggs you will ever eat. I follow them around on my bike like it's an ice cream truck.

You can get their weekly schedule here.

Poke in the Eye

2011-03-21T10:08:00.013-05:00

Schutz show coming to a close.

Heard poet Paul Guest give a reading amongst all those drawings.

Schutz, "Untitled," 2005, Gouache and Ink on Paper, 14"x20"

His poems start with a particular question or thought. If you could interview Godzilla what would you ask?

Schutz, "How We Would Talk," 2007, Ink on Paper, 22"x23"

A drawing by Schutz starts with a question too.

Schutz, "Swim, Smoke, Cry," Detail, 2010, Gouache and Ink on Paper, 38"x50"

How do you depict someone swimming, crying, and smoking?

Schutz, "Untitled," 2008, Ink on Paper, 19"x25"

NOTES FOR MY BODY DOUBLE

by Paul Guest

The plot hole by which you must enter in

to the story is a doozy, a real humdinger,

if you will, and it is all made of fire,

the way the stars are made of fire,

though we dream them to be utterly cold

and prickly with a sad light. Nothing

ever stops in my world to hear me

singing to you. I have always loved you,

sweet twin, beloved doppelgänger,

alien lump of word in my mouth,

language I spent three years learning

only to forget when it grew too hard

the phrases that meant something:

Dear, I am your long lost butter cookie;

and, I am sorry, it was accidental,

but I have dipped the poodle in laudanum.

Let us do away with digression

for the night, though to me

it has always seemed the heart’s core,

and think on our motivation

for the lines to follow:

the suddenness of our sorrow is shocking

and the day is hollowed out

and here at this moment,

this crucial hinge of the breaking heart,

I think of the day years ago

when I was a boy and came upon my uncle,

a fish’s tail clamped in his teeth,

tearing the skin from the fish with such force

I could hear it —

and I felt so strange and empty

I have never spoken of it

to anyone, or let myself on a day

whole with sun think of it.

What he was doing, and why,

I never asked; there is never

an answer large enough for a world

so huge with meanness.

And I was pulled from myself

but couldn’t feel a thing,

and this is your motivation,

mirrored self, speaking back

the words I make wrongly,

lifting the heavy, crude lot of anything

I can’t. You must know me

exactly, apart from yourself,

to give back to the world what I can’t.

You must know the angles

of light so well the shadows

will accept you like a brother.

You must not choke back my breath

when the ashes on the wind

blind even the birds in the trees.

Schutz, "Poke," Detail, 2010, Ink on Paper, 20"x18"

He Was Not Foxing

2011-03-15T12:49:00.029-05:00

What constitutes an Atlanta Artist anyway?

As opposed to an artist in, I don't know, Little Rock?

Collective consciousness heeding man-made geographical lines?

Who's the mover and who's the shaker? ITP or OTP? Under or over?

Pink Ladies, a current contender for summer drink.

New treasure found on the street.

It takes two baby to carry that loveseat.

Jizzle De Hearts played SoundTable

my face watched precariously close to Mr. Day's guitar.

A lone Brussel

everyone is hungry for a bit of attention.

Everyone is looking to be the best somewhere.

Saw this band

"fun" may or may not be a complementary description to say to a band.

fun light show

it was not fun, it was immensely engaging.

You may as well invent your own country for the declarations. Actually I saw a show about that once at the Palais De Tokyo.

This post was veering decidedly towards no art until

this! Who made this? It was fantastic sitting there

sort of entombed like, festering, felt like a real presence, all sure of itself

atlanta art or art in atlanta? It pays a tribute to night, solidarity, warehouses, echoes, living, no, better: memory of having lived once.

not art devised in a city for a city. That is what parks are for; little windows reminding what the land looked like before it was all hustle and bustle

little islands

peeping up through the cracks.

7 Pictures of a David Altmejd

2011-03-09T14:49:00.013-05:00

The surprising things you'll sometime find at the High.

To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Triumph

by Anne Sexton

Consider Icarus, pasting those sticky wings on,
testing that strange little tug at his shoulder blade,

and think of that first flawless moment over the lawn

of the labyrinth. Think of the difference it made!

There below are the trees, as awkward as camels;

and here are the shocked starlings pumping past

and think of innocent Icarus who is doing quite well.
Larger than a sail, over the fog and the blast

of the plushy ocean, he goes. Admire his wings!

Feel the fire at his neck and see how casually

he glances up and is caught, wondrously tunneling

into that hot eye. Who cares that he fell back to the sea?
See him acclaiming the sun and come plunging down
while his sensible daddy goes straight into town.

How Not to Burn in Your Own Momentum

2011-03-07T13:32:00.036-05:00

The artist's mind

completed by the viewer?

Not as excitedly fertile at the moment

are the mountains of North Georgia

still slumbering, still unawares.

Junior, the determined yet inevitably befuddled squirrel chaser

ran circles around all the AT hikers planning to return this way when things have perked up.

When not hunting, JT prefers to lounge at home in something a little more comfortable.

That was all his idea.

Anyway, visited scad atlanta corporate headquarters

Kent Knowles, "Bloom," Oil on Panel, 2009

Saw these paintings.

Kent Knowles, "Bloom," Detail

They walk an interesting line

Kent Knowles, "Twin," Oil on Panel, 2008

quite comfortably I think.

Kent Knowles, "Twin," Detail

So what is it called when you burn? Body Drama.

I learned that from the ABRAMOVIC.

She was incredible right? Carried celebrity level energy with her. It was contagious the crowd was all titteringly excited. Admittedly, I was hoping she would make at least one audience member cry.

This is the opening of Attack/Decay/Sustain/Release at Whitespace Friday night.

Craig Dongoski, "Decay," 2011, Color Pencil on Paper, 22"x30"

Craig Dongoski's work has branched out into color.

Craig Dongoski, "Release," 2011, Color Pencil on Paper, 22"x30"

These newer pieces are responses to music. They read linearly almost like musical scores.

Craig Dongoski, "Release," Detail

The layers of line build on each other. I wrote about Craig's work before... err... ah, here.

Craig Dongoski, "{ }," 2011, Color Pencil on Paper, 48"x48"

I found the ABRAMOVIC to be unabashedly romantic about art in a way that pleased my starved soul. As thoughtful and concept driven as her work may be, it also deals with raw emotion. You know emotion?

Craig Dongoski, "{ }," Detail

Like when you can literally feel the weight of time as you look at an artwork laboriously crafted?

Craig Dongoski, "Duration: Spring 2009,"Oil Pencil on Birch, 63"x48"

Or like when you can feel the presence of mind, that meditative space the artist must have momentarily drifted into and essentially documented with the habitual rhythm of his hands?

Craig Dongoski, "Duration: Spring 2009,"Detail

The ABRAMOVIC was full of good fodder. She feels strongly that only through long durational work does it become transformational for the artist. Only by struggling through that time do you deal with the real truth.

And most importantly, art must be true. Wise words.

HommieSexuals

2011-02-24T15:10:00.027-05:00

"Feather," Sharon Shapiro, Watercolor on Paper.

This blog is officially on a roll with the sex theme.

"Madonna Inn," Sharon Shapiro, Watercolor on Paper.

Who me?

Went to Tanner Hill Gallery

had lemon meringue

saw the Sharon Shapiro show "California."

"Heaven," Sharon Shapiro, Watercolor on Paper.

Paintings of 70's Playboy images

with some nice frantic stroking.

"Sunday," Sharon Shapiro, Acrylic on Canvas

It's interesting how many artist make work on the subject of pornography. John Currin, Cecily Brown, Thomas Ruff, Larry Clark, just to name a few well-knowns.

"Busy," Sharon Shapiro, Watercolor on Paper

But here's my beef, I am not convinced they are making work on the subject of pornography as much as they are just commandeering the imagery. Some artist are inspired by pornography, eager for their work to posses the same carnal energy. Some are perhaps trying to "elevate" it to a higher level through slightly abstracted replication.

"Pearl," Sharon Shapiro, Watercolor on Paper

Where are the artists actively engaging and challenging the mechanism of pornography itself? That work I haven't seen yet although Jeff Koons was on the right track when he pointed out the very thin veil between high art and high poon.

Changing tracks only slightly. It's John Q at Outwrite.

Andy, Joey, Wesley curated an issue of JOSH and had a launch party.

I spent too much time talking and they sold out before I could buy one. Story of my life.

It's Trevor! He knows how to smooth talk a bartender.

and he's got a new cute pup!

Also happening the same night and at the same time at Charis, poet Eileen Myles gave a reading to raise money for the Atlanta Queer Literary Festival. Since I missed it you'll have to settle for a poem instead of a picture.

OHH

by Eileen Myles

Baby's

apricot

with

its

tongue

hanging

out

I fight

the constant

conscious

I fight

for

you.

Donkey PUnched

2011-02-21T17:00:00.039-05:00

There's so many things happening around us right now it's hard to keep it all straight. This is going to be a very link heavy post, I can feel it already.

Green egg!

Speckled egg!

Mocha egg!

Weirdly unequal twins! Forgive me, I just finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle for the third time.

Trying to jazz myself up for another stab at gardening

which is now covered in weeds instead of snow.

So much copulation in the air. On the heels of seeing "My Sweet, Sweet...." there is also this show to consider.

Stuart Horodner curated for Haverford College and included the controversy-stirring David Wojnarowicz and Andres Serrano among others and more locally Forest McMullin and Larry Jens Anderson (both of whom are also currently on view at the Dalton Gallery)

not to mention Nancy VanDevender who did an awesome wallpaper based on bathroom graffiti found on the college campus. You really should check this out.

Taken from the show brochure: "Sex Drive asks us to consider the conventions that govern sexuality, as well as its unruly power."

There is also this interesting addenda "The Google Blacklist" of words that Google refuses to autocomplete for you in the search field.

Lots of them. 2600! All kinds of delightful topics like double donG, goodpoOp, bEaver clEaver, electrotorTure, tentacLe (eh?), or, even more oddly, happy slapping Video. I feel like this is solid material for an experimental poetry reading.

I had to google a few myself, like shrimpinG isn't nearly as dirty as one may imagine.

Others are best left a mystery. Oh America! Land of the free!

Davendra warming up for spring.

He told me about another term involving the word omelet but it didn't seem to have made the list.

All this dirty talk.

It's time for a brief musical interlude.

Went to Starbar

and saw Reptar play.

Those guys were all goodviBes

got us drunk and vibratoRing.

Since when is taiNted love more than just a depressing and often covered song?

Back to the topics of censorship and David Wojnarowicz (how long before google blacklists his name?) Emory held a screening and panel discussion for "A Fire in my Belly" in response to the National Portrait Gallery ball gaGing artists and removing the video from their show "Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture".

Here is what I think is the full 20+ minute version. Watch what those cornhOles got all jizZed up and honkeY over when they whipped out the chastity bElt.

This is the 4 minute version removed from The National pole sMoking Gallery.

Here's Wojnarowicz talking some wanKing sense.

And even better is this ball kiCking statement by the show curator, Jonathan Katz. It's really worth reading.

Look on the Backside

2011-02-15T17:14:00.027-05:00

Things are moving right along.

Big things, lovely things, some covered in paint.

Celebrated the end of my twenty day no alcohol liver cleanse

with muddled berries, St. Germaine, Cassis, Sloe Gin, Rose Champagne.

It makes for a party

celebrating (ok, more like lamenting) Skulzie's departure.

Hmpf.

Went to Dance Truck Friday night.

This duo was pretty funny

though I'm not sure if they meant to be?

And the Beyonce bit was clever.

They danced to a voice mail recording of a woman giving a laboriously long description of how they need to learn Beyonce's Single Ladies dance via watching a video online.

And since we're already at the Contemporary thinking about how much warmer we'd be if we were dancing instead of watching other people dance

let's take a detailed look at the fine detailing of Stephen Schofield's dancing sculptures.

More than meets the eye.

Oh my!

This is where you insert the leaf blower.

I'm actually not kidding.

These sculptures are inflated, and then coated in a sugar/water mixture that dries to stiffen the fabric. They're simultaneously massive and light as a feather.

The fabric is intricately tailored. The majority of it is from men's dress suits Schofield inherited from his partner's side of the family.

The dimensions and proportions of the figures relate to Pliny The Elder's tale of the origin of drawing in which a woman traced her lover's silhouette by candlelight, thus creating the first expressionistic portrait.

Schofield similarly traced his partner's distorted silhouette and created three-dimensional patterns from it. It's an incredibly complicated process to go through. I tried to make a pattern once and was defeated.

And I was only trying to make a very two-dimensional ascot.

You can bike through the heart of Atlanta in complete solitude on a Sunday afternoon

and consider the appeal of a migratory life. Ascot or no ascot.

Lip Locked And Tongue Tied Tomorrow

2011-02-11T17:06:00.056-05:00

Let's say one minute your trash has toilettes in it

but then your sky has this.

Traded Dekalb Ave.

for a more scenic route.

A good state for driving.

For skipping B and going straight to C.

Good state for plundering.

William said I couldn't show anyone this picture because he hadn't put his face on yet.

I kind of wish all of my furniture was mirror plated. And my plates too.

Here's some advice for those being haunted

and in need of instruction for vanquishing ghosts

there's this thing you can do.

Firstly, plunder an old forgotten closet

and find a fox fur coat.

Secondly, take it dancing outside.

Thirdly, define your boundaries

for better results, work in a circle from the inside out.

You can chant for added effect. It works

at least for as long you keep up the running.

South Carolina.

Family, all rosy cheeked and resolute.

Kate Kretz "Your Fragility..." 2010

What you are now looking at is a child's garment embroidered with mother's hair from gestation period. It reads: "your fragility in this sharp world is paralyzing."

Karen Tauches, "Paradise, Cabbagetown Installation," 2010

Welcome to Dalton Gallery's "My Sweet, Sweet..." curated by Lisa Alembik, who has to be one of - if not the biggest - champion of Atlanta artists currently curating large ambitious shows.

Karen Tauches, "Paradise, Cabbagetown Installation," Detail, 2010

Alembik is always looking for a connecting pulse to this place. Kind of like Tauches' neon-light billboard project "Paradise" displayed in her Cabbagetown side yard garden in 2010. Which had to be the most poignant piece of Atlanta-specific art to be made that year.

Am I right or what? Paradise in NEON, drifting above a lot of wildflowers, complained about by neighbors because of the light pollution (or so I think I heard), god it's Atlanta in all her dirty commercialized space wasting absurdity.

Jason Murphy, "Hansy," 2010, Pencil on Duralar, 23"x29"

And look at this obscenely raw portrait! Those beady eyes. Gross I can't stop looking and loving.

Jason Murphy, "Gorilla Mask," 2011, Pencil on Duralar, 8"x10"

Jason Murphy has a way of drawing that can be so uncomfortably visceral.

Jason Murphy, "Family Portrait," 2010, Pencil on Duralar, 21"x25"

Vibrational even. Family portrait. Sweet Sweet indeed.

Jason Murphy, "Family Portrait," Detail, 2010, Pencil on Duralar, 21"x25"

Look at the meatiness.

Karen Tauches, "Paradise," 2010, Neon, 2'x10'

Out of context of an urban side yard Paradise starts to take on an entirely different meaning. In the Dalton Gallery it was nicely paired with two small video pieces, becoming a looming specter, further unsettling the already anxious ridden home movies on display.

Larry Jens Anderson, "Miss Lois," 2011, Digital Image, coffee, handmade paper, prismacolor.

Larry Jens Anderson's piece "Miss Lois" nailed the aim of the show for me.

The delicate naivete of youth blown up and laid bare.

when Lois is just Lois and Ruth is just her "traveling companion."

Jillian MacDonald, "Screen Kiss," 2005, DVD

Love; the tricky business of lounge music and disco balls.

Jillian MacDonald, "Screen Kiss," 2005, DVD

And Johnny Depp in drag.

Jillian MacDonald, "Me and Billy Bob," 2003, DVD

Artist Jillian MacDonald added an element of hilarity by superimposing herself into romantic film moments with various heartthrobs.

Jillian MacDonald, "Me and Billy Bob," 2003, DVD

All apparently in a ruse to make Billy Bob jealous after he broke her heart (or so the story goes).

Jillian MacDonald, "Screen Kiss," 2005, DVD

Keaneu Reeves. ha. You need the background music to really feel this piece.

Jillian MacDonald, "Screen Kiss," 2005, DVD

Get it girls. Making me see red all over.

I've Been Sleeping on Your Pillow

2011-02-08T12:31:00.033-05:00

Yes, exactly.

This is a good year

especially when you get a fluke weekend of sunshine

and the city looks golden and momentarily attractive.

Biking around in shorts in January.

I've learned to like the inbetweens.

Subtlety. Nay, accidents.

Working behind the scenes

of my own mind.

It's a prickly place, the mind.

William visited with his fan (article #1 of the forthcoming Antoinette outfit).

And I went to Athens

to see Forever Young projected big for the 6x6 festival.

Mr. Hits showed me ATHICA late night.

The new show "Taking Part." The artists all collaborate with or respond to other people, many becoming social anthropologist of a sort.

Apparently the more appropriate term is "Participatory Art." Like the project by Michael Lease entitled "Send Me The Pillow That You Dream On."

For example, take this striking woman

who was similarly striking in High School.

She sent her Brooklyn apartment window view of the world.

And her bed. I love photos of pillows and beds.

Or take this guy from High school

who now has a pleasant view of a brick wall

has grown up

and sleeps in an amazing dinosaur bed. It was easy to get distracted and spend a long time running circles through this piece, sort of like Facebook except less gross.

Hope Hilton, "Walk With Me: Athens," 2011

Hope Hilton, who loves walking like I love beds, asks gallery visitors to draw maps of their favorite walks in Athens. She then does each walk - experiencing some intimate glance into a stranger's routine.

I wonder what she thinks about on these walks. How quickly they become her own?

Brian Hitselberger, "Psalm," 2010-2011, Double-Sided Silkscreen Prints on Card Stock on Wooden Shelf.

Mr. Hits, poignant and austere and gorgeous as ever,

collaborated with his father. Each wrote this line

and Mr. Hits transformed it into a screen print on the front and back of each piece of paper.

One for each visitor to take. This is my kind of participation. I took four.

Best Not be Too Intentional

2011-02-01T11:53:00.016-05:00

I went to a poetry reading the other night.

Here are the backs of heads of some of those in attendance.

And here is a poem by Sandra Simonds who read from her new chapbook "I've Lived In So Many Apartments."

I couldn't find a poem from that collection online so you'll have to settle for this gem magnificently titled:

"Prose Poem Written at the Ok Coral."

I went to visit the amputee. He lived in a teepee made of stained glass. Precious stones lined the pathway leading up to his teepee. There were gardens in the area mostly gardens of light green moss. There was a forest of glass pineapples. I want to ask him many questions like do you take vitamins and if you do, what sort of vitamins do you take. I also want to ask him if he ever experiences the phantom limb phenomenon. When he says yes, I have a phantom limb I ask him: does it feel pain? or does it tickle the rest of your body. He said he lost his limb in the great war of 44444444444. According to the Kabbalah this was a "no nonsense" war. A war among wars.

When the great war of 4445454545454523243 ended many people were walking around the continent looking for their limbs. Prosthetics were invented only much earlier so he was fortunate enough not to bear the shame of a false-limb. The sham of it. He says I am an elitist and if I have lost a limb then I shall not hide from a night of googly eye stars. I lack nothing. I have all of my limbs.

He showed me his pet goat. He said the goat likes to drink saline solution and the goat chews black bubble gum. I was getting annoyed with myself. Would I ever be able to really understand the amputee in the teepee? Strange days. Strange days, friend. The moon is that dried clot of blood on a dried flower in my left pocket. Does the limb ooze cloud? I took out my ATM card because the teepee had a snack bar and I was getting hungry. Limb, llama, buccaneer, despair.

a Ghastly fear!
The amputee would ask me to play a game of pick-up sticks. Notice that his left leg is missing and he wants to play only if a towel is tied around the missing limb. It's okay. I will tie the towel to the missing limb. He says please go outside the fort and pick us a few glass pears so that we can dine tonight and play our games in peace with full stomachs and I will put on some Schubert for the goat. It's the uselessness of milk, I tell you. The red breasts thrown out to Chernobyl sized skin cancer mutts.

In the months that followed the amputee disclosed the much needed information and though he had a violet temper I got all of the facts Jack. He moved into a dormitory-style "old folks" home and he killed his pet goat in a sacrificial ritual that could only be understood in terms of biblical prophecy. I was moved to a different case. Oh my caseload is heavy! Peking duck, marbles, Joan of Arc.

Dog in a Blanket

2011-01-31T13:25:00.003-05:00

Ya'll Say Hip

2011-01-28T10:59:00.028-05:00

Hop to it.

If I were a camera

you'd see how intense the fog.

If I were a sound recorder

you'd hear how quite it buzzed.

Ever wondered what the back of the Earl looks like?

The room where people watch zombie movies to alleviate the anticipation.

I'm always hoping for something gilded in gold and throne chairs.

Maybe some palm fronds and a miniature harp.

Jack of Hearts.

Jizzle of Hearts.

Jardin de Hearts.

They killed it, they really did.

And I have a new found appreciation for mixologist of the non-bar variety.

Ever wonder what kind of crazy outfits the Nappy Roots wear?

Root de Nappy.

Soul de Napped.

Let's move on.

Clearly it's not as cold inside as out.

Never saw any hair whipping

but I did notice a trend of hands

in the air.

With resignation I acknowledge the unintended ode to Volfy. He's good that way.

Only the Lonely

2011-01-24T13:01:00.036-05:00

I think for maybe a year

I didn't see the world as being worth much of a picture.

Things change though.

People-less-ness.

People-full. It's the opening of "...After the Suburbs" at Kiang Gallery and that is a moss covered chair by Pandra Williams.

Pandra Williams, "Moss Chair; Renaturalization," Detail, Mixed Media, 2010-11, 44"x34"x37".

The show is curated by Karen Tauches, as she continues onward in her studious fascination with urban decay and suburbia.

James Griffioen, "Feral Houses," Digital Archival Prints, 2010, 8"x10"

Detroit artist James Griffioen sets the tone of the show with a grid of abandoned, comically tragic, and ready-to-be-rubble houses photographed Becher style.

It's like a perverse real estate listing you'd see tacked up on a coffee shop bulletin board.

This poor little house calls to me.

James Griffioen, "Feral Houses," Digital Archival Prints, 2010, 18"x24"

Steve and David D. said that Detroit is working on a program to auction off the land cheaply for the purpose of being converted into farms. An idea with potential! Apparently Atlanta needs to turn her suburbs into water reservoirs and quick.

Sarah Hobbs "Avoidance" C-Print, 2009, 60"x48"

I do enjoy a show with a good layout. Hobbs's photograph of aluminum-foil covered foyer windows greets you at the gallery entrance and sets a tone of quiet entrapment.

Travis Shaffer, "Residential Facades Series," Silver Gelatin Prints, 2010, 9"x9"

From there the show diverges into two categories

"Residential Facades Series," Detail

the prevailing being glimpses of wardened off exteriors - cooly geometric and foreboding - which threaten to kill off sentimentality (and perhaps the viewer's sympathy?)

but is brought into balance by Williams's spongy forest floor chair and even more by Nancy Van Devender's rolling landscape of ruffled fabrics.

Coy and subtly complex, Van Devender adds to the show a well-rounded musing.

Inclusion of an artist like Jessi Wohl would have been another nice counterbalance; providing a peep into the inner realm of theses cardboard cutouts.

Susan Loftin, "Blue View," Blue Painter's Tape, 2011.

It's a good time when two galleries exhibit shows that create an interesting dialogue between. Especially when the galleries sit side by side, and even better when it resultant of sheer coincidence in curation.

Cheryl Goldsleger, "Rear View," Mixed Media on Paper, 2011, 22"x30"

Like in 2010 when established Koran-American artist Jiha Moon was at Saltworks while emerging Korean-American artist Gyun Hur opened next door at Get This! Gallery.

"Rear View," Detail

Or when Sandler Hudson opens a group show dealing with the rather random topic of chairs while next door Kiang is opening a conversation about the exoskeleton of a house (with a chair sitting in the midst of it all).

Ilene Sunshine, "L.S. #75," Honey Locust Leaves on Paper, 2002, 13"x10"

It would seem like William's fern chair may have something to say to Ilene Sunshine's fantastically simple chair of Honey Locust Leaves on paper, but what do I know of chairs and their conversations?

A Better Version

2011-01-18T23:34:00.036-05:00

Odd events.

Inclement weather.

The agave plant has seen better days.

The vegetable garden is undeniably finished.

Though I think the swiss chard could surprise us all.

The herb garden is definitely dead

and the cemetery too.

Unaffectedly so.

All the snow does inspire renewed appreciation for a stable home structure

when even the tombstones are getting buried.

Actions halted.

The fates smiling

almost like Whitespace had planned it all

to add a touch more surrealism for Wendy Given's opening

"By the Boat of Charon," Wendy Given, 2010, C-Print, 40"x60"

of surrealist imagery in snow covered landscapes.

"By the Boat of Charon," detail

It was all shot in Oregon.

so beautiful I think I need to take myself there for a sojourn.

"Besom," Wendy Given, 2010, C-Print, 30"x45"

The further you go into the wilderness the more anything seems possible.

The show, titled "Turn Your Back to the Forest, Your Front to Me," is loaded with rabbit holes worth escaping into, to hope for a moment that Given's view may be true

"Of Augur and Auspice: No. 5 (From Under the Pillow)," Wendy Given, 2009, C-Print, 40"x40"

that nothing is quite what it seems.

Cupped n Capped

2011-01-14T13:50:00.012-05:00

Photograph by Nicole Craine

This image makes for an excellent object to have a bit of controversy surrounding it. It's beautiful, innocently so, endearingly honest, and dare I say tastefully executed. Any vulgarity of subject attached to it, any sense of shame, is constructed completely by those attempting to censor it - in the end only making the censors themselves look absurd.

Image taken from Creative Loafing site

I'm not sure if this is driven more by a shame of one's own body or a fear that other's may be inspired into an awareness of their own.

Censorship is fascinating. Speaking of, I'm reading this excellent book at the moment.

It gives an argument for the pivotal role censorship has played in relation to modern art. Censorship may be inherently bad but it's spawned many an incredible thing.

Having now become a bit of a martyr Craine's image stands a chance of getting the attention it deserves.

It really is lovely.

No Day

2011-01-10T21:41:00.037-05:00

The weekend started out innocently enough.

Allison Smith, A Good Haul (Or, an inventory of objects found by Huck and Jim in the house that was floating down the flooded Mississippi River), 2010, mixed media

The Contemporary

for the Stephen Schofield and Dana Schutz talk.

Both of whom were incredibly genuine and open to discussing studio practices (which, interestingly, greatly differ: Shutz a more traditional painter working in the studio long hours under superficial lighting while Schofield draws much inspiration and material sources from his home, and other facets of daily life).

The question came up of defining success and both artists nimbly worked their way around answer it. Though it was reaffirming to hear Shutz say she very rarely tasted a feeling of success in her studio and whenever she did it was fleeting at best.

The struggles of an artists.

What else? For her personally, Shutz does not think the word "process"appropriately describes the act of painting. Mixing the paint is a process, but the somewhat subconscious act of actually painting is an organic, fluid, action; a set of responses as the painting unfolds.

That night the Skulz and I made our crawl down Ponce.

Tamara Argo "Untitled"

Look at this penguin with C-cups at Young Blood. No doubt a monstrous foreshadowing of things to come.

Jennifer Jenkins, "Hang II Stage" Intaglio, 17"x14"

And there was this nice diptych at the Kibbee Gallery print show "Glitter and Ghouls".

Cats.

Who needs 'em?

Had to pay our respects at Church.

I swear these exact same lights hang in the sanctuary of my grandmother's Baptist church is South Carolina.

Though I don't remember a rooster in the bathroom.

Speaking of Sundays and the evenings therein.

When the sky dumped a short burst of snow

and the last place you'd want to be is the interstate

and the first place you'd want to be is Grant Park around 2am.

Who's got the half broken trashcan lid?

Turns out sledding on an old baby crib mattress really pads the ride down.

Fresh powder

and frolicking deer-like creatures.

Food goes gourmet when you're snowed in

and the sleds get inventive. Baby pool might have been my favorite (at least in theory).

Air mattresses did not seem to hold up as well as one might have hoped.

Trees shed ice leaves

Someone turned a BMX bike into a sled.

After sliding down a hill using my face

we retreated and made biscuits

or whatever

Done and done.

Horse in a sweater

Junior gets so excited when it snows he can barely contain himself.

He was humping every snow covered thing in sight.

Talk Sweet Nostalgia

2011-01-07T12:49:00.029-05:00

Maybe the blog ought to be all blown out foetoes.

Your imagination can conjure all the details.

Truths illuminated. Life's subtle nuances laid bare.

"Clearing" 2010, oil on canvas, 24"x36"

Or there could be pictures of paintings that make me think of pictures.

"Snag" 2010, oil on canvas, 20"x16"

Like this gem of a painting.

"Obstacle" 2010, oil on panel, 24"x39"

Mark Leibert's show Interstices at Sandler Hudson Gallery seems like a reverie through some idyllic past. Story book quality in thin brushy layers, filmy as memory itself.

"Dragon Lade" 2010, oil on canvas, 18"x26"

And tinged with a yearning for what may have been lost - or more realistically - never was. The paintings feel like daydreams; escapist and wistful, though less than hopeful in their stubborn longing.

Maybe it was the jet flying through a green-tinged aged sky, or Leibert's ability to capture a nostalgia within the paintings that is more often found in photographs, but it brings Wolfgang Tillmans to mind.

Specifically his Concorde series. Tillmans would photograph the jets flying overhead from varying vantage points, presumably as he went about his daily routine.

Photography as a medium is enriched by time, becoming increasingly surreal and layered as it ages. Tillmans had a way of making the iconic jets look like relics of the past, packaged memories, even before they were permanently grounded.

Interstices: an intervening of space or an interval of time.

Despite the comparison I would say Leibert's paintings touch on nostalgia in a very different way than photography - it's a construct rather than involuntarily attached. The paintings exist outside of time to some extent, daring to be flamboyantly irresponsible in their attentions.

An adolescent boy who misses summer.

Yearning to fly somewhere exotic.

Eat fresh fruit again.

To go for a walk in a warmer place.

Hello Sir, would you like to buy some magazines?

2011-01-06T11:37:00.018-05:00

It's a new year. Ought to try something new.

Or rather old with a different aim.

Where has Local E been anyway?

Off duty. Off licking wounds. Off floating down rivers.

Speaking of cameras and rivers. Those two things don't mix unless you enjoy all of your pictures having an artsy blown out quality to them.

I am armed with a new camera now.

More importantly, there is something bearishly exciting brewing at the Contemporary.

Something very exciting opening tomorrow night.

Something you ought to see.

Out with the Old In with the New

2009-04-07T14:37:00.011-05:00

So it kind of goes without saying that I've had to put the blog to rest (no post since, uh, November). I've had to return my focus back towards my own work but I'm leaving this blog up as a resource for all those out there googling one Atlanta artist or gallery or another. But as Cinque rightly pointed out, ending the blog with pictures of coffins isn't the best feng shui - so I figure ending it with foe-toes of my pup will bring all sorts of good karma my way.

Awe. Little Junior. He's all grown up and wet... having fallen into a waterfall.

I officiated my first wedding in front of that waterfall and Jay-tard was ring bearer. We come as a packaged deal.

Go and Kas had a very beautiful wedding (and this is coming from someone who doesn't usually care for weddings all that much).

The bride-to-be gathering her courage.

The rings are wooden, carved by the bride 'n groom for each other. There was some frantic late-night sanding taking place on my porch in the days leading up. During the ceremony Jay scampered through the woods with those rings tied around his neck. I'm glad they didn't fall off.

"Stop taking pictures of me"

Say Bye Jay.

Lost though you may feel without me, stay current on the Atlanta art scene by checking out Burn Away: www.burnaway.org (which I keep wanting to call Burning Man). They keep the information flowing.

Sea Change

2008-11-04T19:33:00.029-05:00

Good effing god... at last, at last at last blundering Bush is on the way out and the future actually seems hopeful, prospects look good, artists could even, maybe (?!?), become slightly more valued in this country. Obamanation. Sign me up. Now if only he can do something about the rampant homophobia clogging the veins of this country (what are those 18,000 married gay couples in CA going to do now?) and put a bit more integrity back into the Supreme Court, things would really be looking up.

I've been too preoccupied lately to keep up with this blog or the barrage of photography the month of October in Atlanta offers. But all the Obama craze (and hope, and joy, and pride, and optimism) reminded me of the excellent show "Nelson Mandela: Man of the People" at Spruill Gallery and compelled me to blog onward.

The show is an impressive collection of photographs documenting the life and struggles of Nelson Mandela as captured by Peter Magubane, an internationally acclaim African photographer.

The front two rooms present the earlier years of the anti-apartheid struggle, dated in black and white, the unsettling images convey the violence and suffering with interjections of surreal beauty in the bare landscape.

The show statement notes about Magubane, "Placed under house arrest, banned from photography, beaten up and imprisoned in solitary confinement, he was not deterred from his task, and sometimes hid his camera in a loaf of bread to capture these moments in history."

I know Obama is not Mandela, and America is not South Africa, but this fight for a better world burns in both of them, and this show only emphasises for me the importance of Obama's leadership in a time when our country has spent too long chasing its own tail while tripping backwards down a very slippery slope.

Ok ok, this is not a political blog, and for good reason, because I couldn't tell you the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite if my life depended on it, so I will stop with my Obamatyzing and get back to the aht.

The show transitions into color photography throughout the rest of the gallery, documenting Mandela's personal life, supporters who rallied for him, his time as President, meeting with various international notables, and his personal life as a father and grandfather.

"We place our vision of a new constitutional order for South Africa on the table not as conquerors, prescribing to the conquered. We speak as fellow citizens to heal the wounds of the past with the intent of constructing a new order based of justice for all."

"This is the challenge that faces all South Africans today, and it is one to which I am certain we will all rise."

-Mandela

(Rosa Parks!)

The show is really a must-see, and there is no better excuse than the closing reception (and Obama celebration) this Saturday, November 8th 2008 at Spruill Gallery 6-8pm.

On Marietta St.

2008-10-01T23:25:00.005-05:00

Suzanne Opton
"Solider Billboard Project: Bruno"
September 13th - November 3rd 2008

Funded in part by The Contemporary

Awesome.

Hydrangeas: the Vegan variety

2008-09-30T15:19:00.013-05:00

Made my way out to Avondale Estates

to pay a visit to my friend Janna and her studio.

which might be the quirkiest alterations shop I've had the pleasure of visiting.

If you happen to be a bride-to-be who needs a complicated wedding dress altered, completely taken apart and put back together, or simply one designed from scratch

this is the lady to see about it.

And her one-woman workshop is always turning out cool detailed pieces (even I think so and I don't like weddings).

Janna is currently making flower girl dresses for a fancy wedding Oprah is rumored to be attending

that are covered in handmade fabric flowers

that are really detailed and too small for my camera to actually focus on.

like these Hydrangeas. Everything is made from vegan friendly materials like Peace Silks (no harm done to the silk worm) and some type of Brazilian nut that is used as a replacement for ivory so the elephants live and the money earning trees aren't torn down in Brazil to make way for more McD's cattle pastures.

Very good things are happening here. Makes me feel slightly better about the world.... I hear Janna is even toying now with organic fabric dyes.

Check out more of Janna Dudley's work here.

Wrastlin this Weekend

2008-09-18T15:59:00.004-05:00

If you're around this weekend stop by Eyedrum Small Gallery this Saturday between 6-9pm! I'll be showing a new installation piece and test running a new way of presenting images. See you there.

The Look of One Happy Pup

2008-09-15T09:10:00.006-05:00

Road Kill

2008-09-11T14:05:00.017-05:00

Eyedrum is full of unexpected surprises at the moment.

With Ruth Stanford's solo show of sculpture "Cryptoecology."

"Indicator Species: Hellbender (Cryptobranchus Alleganiensis"

It's not your typical ecologically-minded sculpture, but it is cryptic indeed. I left the show still trying to wrap my mind around the complex ideas Standford tackled in the show. Interesting to see, especially being in the south, the use of wall-mounted taxidermied animals as the bearers of dire environmental warnings. (Although I am guessing they were fabricated completely by hand?)

Is "Hellbender" meant to be a foreboding as I interpreted it? The skeletal plaque-mounted chicken head hold in its mouth what appear to be deflated tombstones made of a synthetic rubber material to appear like animal skin.

"Bomb Fish"

Fish heads emerge from abstracted landscape paintings that bring to mind the cheesy paintings of ducks in mid-flight usually found hanging between a couple of stuffed mallards on a hunter's den wall.

"Lily Fish"

Each mouth contains a miniature scene of a horrific event unfolding. People in space suits cleaning up a nuclear waste site or a graveyard of tombstones, or bodies on stretchers like the remains of the plague.

"Green Fish"

The fish seem to hold the future in their belly, opening their mouths as if to speak a prophecy, a warning. Ironically these fish are reduced to stuffed heads, caught, killed, and made trophies; Victims of man's growing impact on the planet.

"Forgotten Facts of Natural Ecology: Aquatics"

But just as this show tips towards becoming too preachy, too obviously dire, Stanford gives us the "Forgotten Facts of Natural Ecology" series of cement and dumptrucks spilling grey masses of food all over the ground.

"Forgotten Facts of Natural Ecology: Aquatics" - detail

These are brilliant. The monotone color stark and gloomy but rendering them monumental despite their actual sizes, as if food production on a horrifying large scale is being memorialized.

"Forgotten Facts of Natural Ecology: Terrestrial Harvest"

The sculptures are simple and abstract enough, slick in their delivery that they are as beguiling as disturbing, capturing in essence the complexity of food production in today's society.

"Forgotten Facts of Natural Ecology: Terrestrial Harvest"

Citrus fruits. Where is the artist statement for this anyway? I never came across one but you can read Cinque's Loaf-worthy thoughts on the show here.

"Forgotten Facts of Natural Ecology: Output"

In "Output" Stanford replaces the grey with the bright artificial colors of the processed pastries and doughnuts, making them stand out as disgustingly unnatural and glossy against the stark background.

The center piece of the show is a road Stanford laid down in the middle of the gallery space, covering it with brightly colored small prairie dogs which seems to be innocently sun bathing and playing around, unaware of the impending arrival of the automobile.

Is that a whippet?

While all of the work in the show contemplates a grim outlook, as with the brightly neon colored animals, Standford continuously adds into the mix an element of humor. It doesn't seem Stanford intends to hit anyone over the head with threats but instead invites the viewer in for a party, allowing them to connect the warnings.

Prairie Dog Congo line or praying to the gods?

"Cryptoecology" up at Eyedrum through October 4th 2008. Check it out.

White Diamonds

2008-09-10T18:18:00.023-05:00

And the second show of the night...

"Smoke & Mirror" -detail

"Snakes Eyes." Jody Fausett's new show of photography at Whitespace gallery. I had seen snipits of proof prints and digital images here and there as the body of work was shaping up, making me increasingly excited as to what Fausett had up under his sleeve.

"Smoke & Mirror" - detail - 2008

The new show does not disappoint - pushing the content of his photography one step further, Fausset delves deeper into his version of neverland. Using low-fi tricks and his grandmother's as models, the work comes across as something unpretentiously pure, something as real as the imagined gets.

Each time I see Fausett's work I am reminded of what art can be without the artifice, without the MFA manufactured artist's stabs at originality and importance through formulated statements and hollow work. Fausett's images assume nothing and would exist whether or not there was a gallery to show it or a critic to praise it. Fausett is simply creating images he wants to make, which is a surprisingly unusual endeavor.

The large print sizes and placement of the works were well thought out, each relating to the next and adding up to a very focused exploration by Fausett into his unique visual language and sense of fictional reality.

"Peacock" Giclee Print - 2008

Ran into Kirsten Mitchell, aka Kiki Blood, at the opening who leaves in a week for Italy to present a further developed rendition of her Pyramid piece and I may have convinced her to pass along pictures from the show after she returns.

"Bear" Giclee Print - 2008

And in thinking about the show I managed to get hold of Fausett long enough for a short interview about his new work. Here goes:

Jonathan: Jody, hey, your show looked awesome!

Jody: Thanks, I was bummed we didn't get to talk but I didn't really talk to many friends. That's how the night goes I guess.

"Mink & Leather" Giclee Print - 2008

Jonathan: yeah, it's really hard to focus at an opening, too many people coming from every direction. But in thinking about your show I had a couple of questions… For me "Snake Eyes" is a logical evolution from your previous show "Smoke From Another Fire." I feel like the work has grown more complex and personal, which is due in part to the inclusion of more people in the photographs instead of focusing on taxidermied animals. While there is a good deal of posing involved either way, including another person makes it a more collaborative process and by using family members I imagine the photographic process must become much more intimate? What has it been like for you to photograph your grandmothers?

"Mink & Leather" - detail

Jody: I thought the show was going to be heavier on the figurative side and less of the animals, but when I finished it seemed to be about half and half. A lot of changes have occurred since I did that last show so I wanted to do strong and bad ass shots of my grandmothers. It seemed like a good time for the images to be made. Posing is important to me, I can't help it that is how I have always shot. They usually start the position and I come in and tweak it some. The props are there, I use them. My grandmother had the baseball bat by the door and I asked her "well, have you actually held it and felt the weight of it?" I think it is a good experience on both sides.

"Bless This Mess" Giclee Print - 2008

Jonathan: Do you think you work any differently when photographing your family versus unrelated models?

"Contradiction" Giclee Print - 2008

Jody: I tend to be the same in both situations. When you are working with family you talk about personal things. With other people I wouldn’t. As for planning and working in the shoot I am the same. Working on a personal project the flow is a little slower for me. I am by myself.

"Wake Up Alive" Giclee Print - 2008

Jonathan: I think the theatrical posing of your work is part of what makes it so fascinating – it’s a glimpse into your imagination, an alternate universe in a small North Georgia mountain town. And while they are posed, they stay true to the subject by incorporating objects already in the house. Is it disconcerting for you to show these photographs in public? I imagine they result from very intimate moments with your family, a sort of “playing dress-up with grandma” time in their private spheres.

"Open Door" Giclee Print - 2008

Jody: Sometimes it is a little stressful to show people, I leave a lot of room for interpretation of a scenario so that can go in any direction in someone’s mind. I know that all the ideas I shoot with come from a positive place, especially this show. It can be a little dark I guess in appearance and then involving my family added to that can look a certain way, but in general people I have spoken with veer to the positive side.

"Ceiling" Giclee Print - 2008

Jonathan: I definitely see your work as being very positive though I may be biased by knowing you and from what is sounds like your grandmothers get very into the shoot as well. Ok, so last question, what is it do you think that drives you to create these images? What keeps you returning to your hometown to photograph?

"Horse Landing" Giclee Print - 2008

Jody: I have been going home to photograph for quite a while. When I was in New York I would come home for a stint and shoot all week and return with the film and be super excited. Out of everything I did this was the favorite. I enjoy working alone a lot and in these spaces. After the last show and the book I just felt like I wasn’t finished yet. I guess the fleetingness of time had me return and shoot more. I feel like it may be gone at some point, I went past one house I shot a lot in and it was gone, so I wondered if I got what I needed. Hope so.

Also ran into Alex who as sporting a hat doodled by his lovely lady Shana.

"Carport" Giclee Print - 2008

I had difficulty resisting the urge to document every single photograph in the show and give it all way (!), but "Carport" above proved impossible to photograph and considering it was one of my favorites, I guess you'll still have to make your way over to Whitespace to check it out.

Show up until October 11th 2008. Go see the show!

Fine Lines and the Invisible World

2008-09-07T22:31:00.016-05:00

Friday night was a very good night for openings. In fact, two shows opened that I had been waiting in high anticipation all year to see.

Solomon Projects managed to deliver yet another incredibly difficult-to-photo-document show. What's that you ask? A microscopic view of red blood cells? No. Acid-free adhesive red dots? Yes.

"All Things Considered (March 2007)" 2007-2008

Why it's the United States of America in little dots to herald the passing of town, city, state, country, mountain, lake, and ocean names over the lips of Steve, Renee, and Mee-chele.

It's the new work of Kathryn Refi entitled "All Things Considered" in which Refi listened to the Public Radio broadcast everyday in 2007, marking with red dots the location of places mentioned in the first hour of the news show. Refi's data is broken down by month, with each of the twelve charts lining the gallery walls.

"All Things Considered (March 2007) - 2007-2008

After having seen Refi's painting series "Color Recordings" in which she translates her daily observations into brilliant color fields of abstracted information, I was eager to see her latest technology-based translations of life into art. But I must admit I found myself a bit disappointed.

"All Things Considered (June 2007) - 2007-2008

Where's South America? The moral of the story is as much what isn't marked as what is though it's not surprising that Washington DC and Iraq were both mentioned a LOT in 2007 while a good chunk of penguin populated Argentina was never mentioned once.

A critique of NPR? Of Western culture/interest? I doubt Refi was seeking to critique anything necessarily as her work tends to be run more like scientific experiments in which the data, always displayed in a beautifully minimal aesthetic, is provided for the viewer to draw their own conclusions.

"All Things Considered (June 2007) - 2007-2008

New York New York, DC, stacked high.

Hot topics in June.

As my date shrugged off the show saying it seemed more like a sociology experiment than art, I found myself unable to argue much in Refi's defense. Is this art? Had a sociologist conducted this experiment the data would have no doubt been presented in a much less attractive way, but does the aesthetic of the visual information presented automatically qualify it as art?

For me, what elevates this work above a pie chart and what makes it truly interesting was Refi's decision to omit an outline of the continents. The result is that the less a country was mentioned on NPR, the more difficult it is to locate or identify on Refi's maps. It's as if each piece of paper represents the geographical awareness of Americans, areas of South America, Africa, and Asia reduced to isolated red dots or altogether disappearing.

More interesting for some was Steve Aishman's "Silly Putty Rorshach #5" (2008) which reminded me of Hannah Wilke's chewing gum poon at the Contemporary last October.

If that was All Things Considered then this must be Morning Edition. In another of Refi's studies called "African Violet Drawings" from 2001 Refi drew a house plant each day for a month as it grew and shriveled. This is another series that needs to be seen its entirety of 28 drawings to grasp the fascinations of the artist which makes me think these may have been more successful had they been done on a much smaller scale so that the entire series could be framed as one piece.

Show up at Solomon Projects through October 11th 2008. Go see it! My pictures are almost completely useless.

"Video No Input"

Sit N Spin

2008-09-05T16:09:00.018-05:00

"Love Hurts" - detail

"Oh Brad..."

"Love Hurts" - Oil on panel

Not only the best coffee in town

but Octane is currently showing better paintings than you are going to see in most galleries.

"POW: Death of Chivalry" - Oil on panel - 2002

POW. The show 'Love Hurts - Recycled Art" by adept painter Michael Thrush packs such a visual punch it threatens to distract all of the college and indie kids from their Ibooks and espresso.

"Lang" - Oil on Panel - 2005

Done completely in oil, I haven't seen the craft of painting executed this perfectly in quite a while. The imagery drawn and shaded seamlessly, the lines so sharp, the works began to read more as paper collage, literal magazine and comic book cutouts pasted onto board, rather than oil painting.

"Speed Racer: Sit 'n Spin" - Oil on Panel

And I am not usually one to like text on paintings but Thrush incorporates ad slogans to great effect. While a few of the paintings in the show seemed to suffer from a lack of focus, "Sit 'n Spin" unifies the cartoon pop imagery, slap stick text, and abstract shapes of colorful movement just right. This painting brings to mind NYC painter Kristen Baker.

And as far as coffee shops go, Octane has got the biggest balls in town. These meticulously painted ladies no doubt derive from some hot 'n sweaty internet porn ads, each portrait hung above the other like a strip of photobooth portraits. I couldn't help but noticed it was only men choosing the seats directly under ladies.

"Great Taste" - Oil on Panel

Thrush writes about his work: "I see contemporary pop culture subversively affecting our belief structures. In many ways, I feel programmed by the media conditioning my attitude and views. I believe the influence of the media contributes to an individual’s social development. My appropriation of pop iconography focuses on this aspect of social programming. There is a need to ‘read between the lines’ of what an image means and says to understand any socially coded message. In my work, I reinterpret images out of their context as a means to gain authority of the pop image and redirect what their intent will be. Then I choreograph specific imagery into a social commentary."

"Great Taste" - detail

Thrush seeks to retranslate " the language of symbols, signs, images, and text to read as a multi-faceted allegory providing alternative meanings through the framework of free association. "

"Menu" - Oil on Panel

In looking at the work I couldn't help but think Thrush must also enjoy all of these psychologically manipulative pop images as much as he is suspicious of them, to spend so much time layering and rendering them, and often using the same visual hooks

"Menu" - Detail

such as a crotch shot to pull the viewer's attention towards the painting much like the original image grabbed the viewers attention towards the advertisement.

The show is up through September 30th 2008 with a reception on September 12th 7-10pm at Octane. Go check out the show - it's so worth the burden of having to drink some good coffee while you peruse.

Why I Reside in da Atl (reason #3)

2008-08-29T14:06:00.011-05:00

Read recently that Georgia's system of state parks are rated 3rd best in the country.

3rd best! I believe it.

Shame you can't say the same thing about the state SAT scores.

But never mind maths

these mountains are beautiful.

and they make J-tard one happy pup.

Master of the Bump

2008-08-26T16:31:00.018-05:00

Rainy night

loitering at Friends with Beth and Erin.

After the very best tasting dinner at Kitchen de Christo

on to the show. The much anticipated XiuXiu live at the Crunked up Uni-corn.

where I saw the magic happen live at last.

Eccentric instruments, wailing lyrics, discordant sounds, it was incredible and exhausting to watch.

Paper earplugs required. The music was beautifully jarring and threatened to pierce eardrums in all its harsh instrumental screams and cries. (I sound like a such a douche bag music critic right now)

The drummer was a force to be reckoned with.

The tortured soul Jamie Stewart used an autoharp (!) to great effect. With the level of sincerity in Stewart's rasping voice its hard to believe this concert is part of a tour, to be performed over and over on a nightly basis. The music felt emotionally raw, fresh off the cuff, but the production of it was comfortably smooth.

F.T.W.

Time to dance it all out.

Sweat it out to some Queen and what else? its all a blur.

With a dance partner

in a skirt printed with bountiful baskets of fruit.

Somewhere along the way, in all my animated eurhythmics, my cell phone bounced out of my pocket and ended up in the possession of the DJ. (just when I had become convinced my vest was the most perfectly utilitarian piece of clothing I owned)

Luckily I know Hanyun and she knows everybody. So I got it back.

Bomb Baby Bomb

2008-08-23T11:02:00.002-05:00