Green design

Shrub-scrapers!

Photo from Spain by "Correspondent" Hsu

Art "band" on tour

Last night, and for one night only, Young Blood Gallery hosted "Self Made", a show put on by three artists traveling the country and showing their work in a different city and a different gallery every night for 30 days. The idea behind it was to break free of the typical gallery system and tour much like a band would, gaining exposure and experience along the way.

I have to say I love the concept of this, as I spend a good deal of time reading about various bands and envying their lifestyle of touring the globe and sharing their creative passion while gaining incredible life experiences. It is a sharp contrast to the visual artists working in solitude most nights, showing work in venues that are far more regimented, having openings that aren't half as fun as concerts, and the ability to expose your work to people in every city and town across the country in a live venue is next to impossible. I think the popularity of Artist's Collaboratives is a result of artist's desire for more of this creative community and sharing of experience. And the three artists showing at YBG have taken the collaborative effort a step further.

Two Brice Bischoff photographs

The three artists just recently graduated from the MFA program at the San Francisco Art Institute and all three are originally from the southeast. Their tour of cities began in New Orleans, will venture into Canada, and eventually end in Houston, TX. Technically, I found the work of Jamie Spinello very eye catching. She layers plexiglass with cut mylar and paper sandwiched in between to create organic shapes and cavernous spaces.

Artist Brice Bishop, originally from New Orleans, showed photography which related to Katrina and his coping with the disaster while living in San Francisco and only imagining the effects of the hurricane while not actually being there to experience it first hand.

Kevin Parks Hauser, who was an incredibly friendly guy had a lot to say about the current gallery system and the need for more alternative ways to show work. He showed large photographs of installations he had previously done in S.F. He also plans to build actual installations while on tour but sees the photographs not as documentation but as works of art in themselves. The photographs were interesting, but I felt they were a very small window into installation and video work that were undoubtedly more engaging.

While I think the concept behind this tour is inspiring, I found that the artwork did not really fit the purpose. If a group of artists are going to do something so ambitious, their work ought to be a response to the constantly changing space, location, people, and local culture. There are so many different ways to use these experiences in the art, through installation, performance, video, or even better, engaging the audience as participants in the art themselves. Instead these artists were showing work from their MFA thesis show, work that did not seem made for a constant installing and de-installing every 24 hrs for 30 days straight (with the possible exception of Hauser who seems better suited to respond to changing spaces). This work seemed more fit for you typical gallery setting. Nevertheless, kudos to them for taking on this ambitious tour and daring to think far outside the box.

It makes me wonder what it would be like to have groups of artists constantly touring through cities, with venues like The Earle and Variety Playhouse set up for nightly shows of various art groups on tour. Just think of the t-shirt designs that would come out of it! It would be fantastic, I'm ready to join a band.

More information that be found on their website http://www.selfmadeartists.com/

Goose-pimples

"I am mainly concerned with things such as the lightfall on a white skin, bruises on an arm, hands which disfigure in water, and starting goose-pimples in frosty weather. Only then you see the texture of the skin so beautifully. It is exciting to see what happens when you put a leg over a horizontal bar or when you hang a person's hair in a bush."

- Dutch photographer Helen Van Meene. She has a new book out.

The Grizzly Bear Killed It

You can go ahead and name me president of the Atlanta Chapter of the Grizzly Bear fan club. Their show at Variety Playhouse last night was dynamite. They played almost everything off of the Yellow House album along with Daniel Rossen singing the haunting American folk song "Deep Blue Sea" and Ed Droste singing a cover of "He Hit Me and it Felt Like a Kiss" (which makes me swoon like a little school girl).


It was odd they were the opening act for Feist considering how much more talented as musicians they are with more complex melodies and lyrics. Their set was an amazing layering of harmonies. I was astounded by the huge crowd that apparently came for Feist and spent the entire concert in total euphoria over what sounded to me like Ani Difranco on a bad day. All I know is Cat Power could take her down in a matter of seconds and she wouldn't even need the aid of a broken beer bottle.

Here is my least blurry shot of Grizzly Bear singing "He Hit Me"

I left Feist halfway through on the hunt for some Grizzly Bear which I found outside. I walked up just in time to witness guitarist Chris Taylor giving haircuts to two guys from the Atlanta band Deerhunter on the sidewalk.

Then I met singer, songwriter Ed Droste who is incredibly friendly and talked with me for a while. I spent a majority of the time trying to convince him to check out my show at whitespace gallery. Here is a shot by Bradford Cox, lead singer of Deerhunter, who borrowed my camera to accost Ed Drost:


And most importantly, here is shot of me, looking a little too excited, trying to hug up on Ed. (that poor guy)

In less than 24 hours...

Grizzly Bear at Variety Playhouse! (oh yeah, and Feist)

In case you missed it the first go round

You still have another chance to see Beth and I stomp 'n stammer and try to explain ourselves and the concepts lurking beneath our work.

ARTIST TALK SATURDAY, JUNE 16th, 11am! At whitespace!

The "Integuments" show at whitespace gallery featuring paintings by Beth Marcum and photographs, drawings, and sculptures by myself, opened last Friday night amidst a flood of gallery openings across the city. Unfortunately, I was too busy talking to remember to take pictures but I did get a couple of shots in the gallery earlier in the day, in the pre-opening quiet.

Beth is happy to finally be able to sit down for a second beside her monkey painting entitled "Appetite".

Here is a shot of my installation "T-tower" just after doing the final touches. More pictures to come...

Two headed beasts

Terence Koh: You see, or cannot, that I am a two headed beast. I am both hairless albino wolf and rabbit with a pink uni-horn. A two-headed beast is harder to kill and has twice the teeth.

AFH: Do rabbits even have teeth?

TK: Oh yes! Bunnies have the sharpest teeth. They need it to bite evil art critics!

AFH: Cute. I guess that makes sense since you’ve been living in rough places like New York and London but now you are in LA and your current work, with its Zen and cum juxtapositions, has a particularly West Coast sensibility.

TK: “Zen and cum esthetic” makes it sound like I do work that would entice rich Beverly hill's women who do yoga, practice s/m, decorate their backyards with pretty Japanese stones or phallic water fountains and who also collect art. Actually that pretty much describes my ideal collector. I think my work is particularly well suited to be installed within the backyards of LA. Source artnet.com

Terence Koh
These Decades that We Never Sleep, Black Light
2004
crystal chandelier, paint, lollipops, vegetable matter, human and horse hair, mineral oil, rope from a ship found after midnight, glass shards, stones and artist's blood and shit
190 x 72 cm

Terence Koh
These Decades that We Never Sleep, Black Drums
2004
drum kit, paint, ropes from a ship found after midnight, black wax, plaster, vegetable matter, crushed insect parts, artist's blood and cum
100 x 163 x 100cm

Skin Tones

"Correspondent Hsu" sent these pictures of an incredible installation found in a gallery she stumbled upon in Barcelona, Spain. Guess she knows about my fascination with panty hose. Hose are such a bizarre material, it's like snake skin for humans that comes packaged in a plastic egg for $3 and you can buy it at your local market while picking up groceries.

Mark David Ashworth

Chimera Among Us

Ever since whitespace gallery underwent a slick transformation last fall at the hands of architects Brian Bell and David Yokum, the owner and curator, Susan Bridges has been delivering one incredible show after another. Friday night was no exception. "Chimera Among Us" was a show of installation/sculpture by Atlanta artists (and roommates) Julia Hill and Caroline Smith. The creature-like organic forms by both artists worked well shown together and they inhabited the walls and floor of the gallery in harmony, playing with space and light, creating a world all their own.

The two artists stemmed from different backgrounds of study, Julia Hill studied sculpture and in one installation (images above) welded nails together to create reed-like forms emerging from wall-mounted pods. Caroline Smith studied ceramics and her craftsmanship was top notch in a sculpture that I was completely seduced by (images below) and had to resist the temptation to rub myself against it's velvety underbelly.

The shows is up until June 02, check it out while you can. Installation shows like this shouldn't be missed - it's a pity their existence is so brief. More info at http://www.whitespace814.com/.