Tom Waits narrates the life of John Baldessari (See Baldessari’s 109 art class assignments)
If you don’t love every little thing about this, we can’t be bros.
From YouTube credits:
The life of John Baldessari, jammed into six minutes. Narrated by Tom Waits. Commissioned by LACMA for their first annual “Art + Film Gala,” honoring John Baldessari and Clint Eastwood. Directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. Edited by Max Joseph. Written by Gabriel Nussbaum. Cinematography by Magdalena Gorka and Henry Joost. Produced by Mandy Yaeger & Erin Wright.
18 Most Expensive Photographs.
1. Andreas Gursky, Rhein II (1999), $4,338,500, in November 2011.
2. Cindy Sherman, Untitled #96 (1981), $3,890,500, in May 2011.
3. Andreas Gursky, 99 Cent II Diptychon (2001), $3,346,456, in February 2007. A second print of 99 Cent II Diptychon sold for $2.48 million in…
Invite for my show at C3 Contemporary Art Space
I’ll be part of a photography show entitled New Bodies with Isobel Taylor-Rodgers in Space B at the C3 Contemporary Art Space. The opening is on May 23rd 6-8 pm. The show runs until June 10th. I’ll be exhibiting my latest series, It’s conceivable!
Eugenia Lim - Narcissus
Last night, I attended the video performance piece of the Melbourne artist Eugenia Lim, entitled Narcissus, held at Kings ARI. Lim explored the idea of narcissism by filming herself brushing her hair without saying anything and then replaying the video. Lim would then watch herself and would mimic some of her actions. She would start the sequence all over again.
I was curious to see Lim’s performance because I had heard about her last project, Stay Home Sakoku, where she stayed in one of the gallery spaces at West Space for 7 days. Also, the concept of narcissism is something I’ve recently started to explore and I wanted to see Lim’s perspective on it. I think she succeeded in conveying the idea using simple props, a camera, and a TV.
Eugenia Lim is a multidisciplinary artist who explores race, identity, and representation.
Ruth Asawa, 1952.
Ruth Asawa, Life Magazine Feature, 1954.
Ruth Asawa’s living room, 1970’s.
Untitled (S.210), 1958.
Now at the Centre for Contemporary Photography
I attended the opening of the latest exhibition at the CCP last night. In Gallery 1 to 4 are showing respectively John Nixon, Phuong Ngo, Siri Hayes, and Mark Beehre. In the night projection window is the South Korean artist, Junebum Park.
John Nixon
The artist John Nixon (Gallery 1) was new to me. His series, Black white & grey. photographic studies (photosheets), compares and contrasts textures, shapes, and light, among other things, through close up photography. The final images are presented as 4x6” prints pasted on Manila folders. Categorization and organization are important characteristics of this series. The investigation of simple photography principles lead to abstraction, which is what Nixon is further exploring. These studies reminded me ofthe black and white abstract photos of László Moholy-Nagy. It would be interesting to see this series shot on grainy film, which would add another dimension to the exploration.
Mark Beehre
Mark Beehre (Gallery 4) was another artist new to me. His series, Men Undressed, consisted of portraits of male nudes. (Apparently, this is only the third time the CCP has ever exhibited nudes.) These men were casually posing in their own environment, staring back at the camera.The portraits explored intimacy between the viewers and the subjects. It would be noteworthy to investigate the ‘male gaze’ versus ‘female gaze’ for this exhibition. Also, if the nude subject is in a position of vulnerability, can the viewer really feel more intimate with the subject beyond feeling in a position of power?
I had seen the works of Phuong Ngo (Gallery 2) last year at the Rae & Bennett Gallery. I found his exploration of identity and culture very interesting. For this show, Domino Theory explores how politics influenced the history of the Vietnam War and its impact on the people it affected, and how Ngo was consequently affected as a Vietnamese Australian/Australian Vietnamese. I liked the craftsmanship involved in his installation which consisted of glass-like rectangular prisms on which a transparency of a black and white image is embedded on one side. These prisms were set upright on low tables covered with graphic papers. I think conceptually, the installation works well with the complex nature of the topic of the Vietnam War and politics.
Phuong Ngo
Siri Hayes
All you knit is love by Siri Hayes (Gallery 4) was the exhibition that impressed me the most. It involves photography, installation, and mixed media. The show consists of framed large format prints of portraits and landscapes. The framing definitely added to the overall aesthetic. This series was done during Hayes’ residency in Spain in 2010. The landscape shots are stunning and remind me of Romantic landscape paintings. Through this series, she explored a new environment from her perspective as tourist, artist, and parent. I found similarities in her interest in investigating a new place from a maternal point of view. I will become a mother soon and I’m intrigued about how other female artists’ creative process is affected by such a life changing experience. I think that Hayes managed to successfully incorporate the maternal in her series. I particularly liked the way the maternal was suggested in the use of mixed media (pearls and embroidery) in 2 of her portraits. Even the landscapes have an element of the personal incorporated in the image. I recommend Hayes’ exhibition as well as the others as all artists used the medium of photography differently and interestingly.
Yasuaki Onishi. Reverse of Volume.
The conceptual body-scape is a theory… convoluted through form and formation. Japanese artist Yasuaki Onishi’s series ‘Reverse of Volume’ establishes this intricate premise which is about to premiere at the Rice Gallery in Houston, Texas. “I am interested in the visible and the invisible thing. Through my art work, I get information from the space and leave clues on the space. Form, color and movement is changed to the simple element, like points, lines and lights.” -Yasuaki Onishi
Lindsay Seers, I saw the light, 2005
“She is engrossed by the conceptual and philosophical questions raised by the medium that relate to truth, imagination, memory and history.
(…) as a child she could not speak. This silence was possibly caused by a condition called eidetic memory (photographic memory). Seers first spoke at the age of eight when she saw a photograph of herself, asking: ‘Is that me?’ Her eidetic memory faded with the onset of language. This traumatic loss of her memory led her to ‘become’ a camera; she started forming images by inserting pieces of light-sensitive paper into her mouth and using her lips as the aperture and shutter. This passive process of ‘ingesting’ the world occupied her for many years, she gave up her life as a camera to ‘become’ a projector emitting images in an act of extramission.”
Nicolas Bourriaud on Lindsay Seers @Tate
This reminds me of Peter Greenaway’s ‘The cook, the thief, his wife, and her lover’.
Music video for OK Go’s ‘Skyscrapers’.
via Colossal
Barbara Kasten
Studio Construct 118, 2011, Archival pigment print, 43.75x53.75 in
A student mentioned Barbara Kasten with regards to my recent work. I guess my constructed still life series triggered a connection. Kasten was new to me. I discovered she had an amazing ability to create simple installations with strong illusionistic effect. Her minimal use of light is quite effective on the reflective surfaces of her objects. I’m very impressed by her studio work.
My recent series and Elad Lassry
Digital prints, ‘Untitled 2012’, Claudia Phares
My teacher suggested I check out the Israeli-born artist, Elad Lassry, for his use of bold bright colours and simple compositions. My teacher saw some similarities between my use of vibrant colour in my current work and Lassry’s photographs. I’ve uploaded the most recent series on my website.
Elad Lassry, ‘Untitled, (Cheetah)’, 2008
Elad Lassry, ‘Pink Hat’, 2010
Lassry’s works include collages with found images, still life compositions, and studio portraiture. What’s interesting with Lassry’s images is how the final size of his work never exceeds the size of a magazine page. He embraces the fact we are saturated with images by creating conceptual works, with a blur or a double exposure, referencing popular culture.
My images were constructed in a studio. There are visual metaphors of my recent physical journey. I’m still working out the title of my series. I presented the series to the class yesterday and it was well received. The general feedback was to consider printing bigger, which is something I’ll be looking into. I also showed my sculpture on plinths outside the exhibition space, facing the entrance. It was a tentative proposition. The installation is a work in progress.
What’s on at Blindside and Edmund Pearce Galleries
Kubota Fumikazu, pen on paper
I stopped at Blindside gallery to see the current exhibitions, in Gallery one there is Chris Bennett who explored the concepts of isolation and alienation in society through oil paintings. In Gallery Two is featured Kubota Fumikazu ’s exhibition ‘(Un)fortunately no longer human’ whose intricate pen on paper works look like imaginary architectural blueprints. Fumikazu was in the gallery at the time. We chatted about his process which starts with a small scale drawing which is then projected on the final print and traced out. I admire the meticulous work that comes out of the simple use of a black pen on paper. It is worth checking out.
Jessica Tremp
From the 7th floor of the Nicholas Building, I went to see the current show at Edmund Pearce gallery (2nd floor). Currently showing, is a photography exhibition entitled ‘Body’ featuring Jane Burton, Joanna Collyvas, Heather Dinas, Lee Grant, Colin Page, Jessica Tremp, and Konrad Winkler. This gallery is the only one in the CBD that focuses on photo media and is at its 3rd show since its opening.
The show includes amazing portraits and self-portraits (in the case of Jessica Tremp) worth checking out. I was already familiar with the works of Jane Burton and Jessica Tremp. I met Jessica 5 years ago via a Melbourne-based photo group.
I discovered Joanna Collyvas’ works involving family history, fabric, and femininity which I found interesting. I noticed that more than half of the exhibition involved the female body. I wonder if this was a coincidence, or a reflection on how the female body as subject matter continues to be more depicted than the male body in visual arts. This is probably worth an essay.
Memory, dreamscape, identity, intimacy, history, and feelings were some of the topics that were explored by the artists. Most of the works exhibited were constructed or staged and only one series, Konrad Winkler’s to be precise, consisted of a more intimate approach in photography reminiscing of Nan Goldin. Overall, this group show gives a good overview on various styles of photography by emerging and established Australian artists.
