White on White

A worthy project was mentioned in the collage list on yahoo this week. Cecil Touchon of collagemuseum.com

Inspired by the show I mentioned a while back of found objects. I would like
to invite members of the collage email group to donate objects, collages,
constructions, assemblages, etc. that are white on white. This could be a
collection of white objects, collage made of blank paper or white paper
(maybe mellowed with age) where the white of the paper is the main element
like a Janet Jones 'mirage' collage, things painted white, like a Louise
Nevelson assemblage, or whatever strikes your imagination.

This is an open call with a show anticipated for October 2007 at the Fort
Worth Art Center and where ever else gets arranged. I anticipate this being
a multi-year project. All items will be exhibited on line at the
collagemuseum.com website. Send to:

IMCAC
White on White
6955 Pinon Street
Fort Worth, Texas 76116

Here is the starter page.

4 Ladies in the Butterfly Garden

4 Ladies in the Butterfly Garden
Originally uploaded by misphit

Feeling the garden vibe....

Papier Croises 2007 Nr. 2

"Papiers Croisés (Cross Papers) is the name of a collective and individual work made up of 100 small collages. 10 000 combinations can be made of it, according to location of each collage. Through its concept, Papiers croisés reveals two characterictics of collage : iconoclastic meetings and possibility of recombining all that has been created before…"

The Art Du Collage has an interesting project going on. This large work is made up of 100 collages 3.94 x 3.94 square to complete a 2.28 x 2.28 ft. collage. The objective of this project and rules can be found here on their website.
I have not spent much time at the Museum Artcolle website. I remember when it was first set up, I was so busy at the time to correspond with them. I think its time I looked further into their work.

THE WHOLE TRUTH

Les Boxes







There will be an exhibit by Matthew Rose in Brandon, VT starting next week at June 2 at the Gallery in the Field. This man has done some seriously fascinating collage work. The context behind the work, the loose book like structure of his work has me very intrigued. I am planning on attending his artist talk on June 2 thru July 8, 2007. This should be an excellent show. I really look forward to it!

High brow low brow and middle brow?

Always wondered about the def of lowbrow. Saw this post here at Edward Winklemans blog...as I was reading thru the comments, i read this...
"Ed, the brows are marked by varying refinement of taste. If you'll permit me a wine analogy: Highbrow taste can distinguish between years of a single vinyard. Middlebrow taste can distinguish between varietals. Lowbrow taste can distinguish between red and white.

So in art, highbrow taste is concerned with the highest reaches of the art, and fine distinctions between excellent efforts and superlative ones. Lowbrow taste is concerned with anything that tugs on the human psyche in any way. Middlebrow taste is concerned with the parameters of highbrow taste, but can't or won't access it. Incidentally, some people can become extremely good at low culture, just like others can excel at high culture. ... I'm undecided whether one can achieve mastery in the middlebrow realm - the nature of middlebrow taste might preclude it."

Fair(y) Use Tale

This is a link to a superbly crafted and very cutting edge short film put together by Prof. Eric Faden of Bucknell U. The movie uses numerous short clips from a whole collection of Disney films, pushing the limit on fair use and demonstrating copyright law in an interesting and novel way.

I really enjoyed the humorous tempo that this movie had. The definitive creative spirit behind this little flick makes it worth watching. Also worthy is the fact that this movie explains the whole Fair use idea....I highly recommend a viewing!

Joseph Cornell @ Pavel Zoubok Gallery in NYC

"PAVEL ZOUBOK GALLERY is pleased to present an exhibition of collage and assemblage works by the twentieth century master JOSEPH CORNELL (1903-1972) and the distinguished Czech poet and collagist JIŘĺ KOLÁŘ (1914-2002)."

..."What both artists share is the articulation of a distinctly personal world through the respective creation of new visual strategies that extended the boundaries of what collage and assemblage could be and how they could be read. In this exhibition we find them exploring similar subjects and themes (travel, nature, astronomy, poetry and representations of women) from drastically different perspectives."

Location: Pavel Zoubok Gallery, 533 West 23rd Street (between 10th & 11th Avenues)
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 10am-6pm
April 19 – May 26, 2007

Wanderlust

Wanderlust
Originally uploaded by Angela Petsis.

This beautiful piece was done by Angela Petsis...She sells her collage work on www.etsy.com.
I really am crazy about her use of animals in her work, and I enjoy the story telling nature of her pieces.

Amanda Kavanagh

Velvetina is her flickr name. I have been a fan for awhile watching quietly her work. She has an insane amount of work on typepad...I like her use of type. Her work is very textural.

opinions culled from net sources

Quoted thoughts on current art movements..and issues...


Jeremyville..."I think the art movement of our time is not a stylistic one such as cubism or pop (which both essentially sprung from a particular geographical place and were championed by an art cognescenti), but rather, the new movement is international, happens mainly online, and is not owned by a few galleries. The new movement is collaboration. A project between 2 artists, between a company and an artist, between a publisher and a group of artists. It's a conceptual movement which has seen the artist reclaim his or her freedom from the client or patron or gallery. The artist can now choose who they work with, how much money they can make. How many shows they have a year. Direct their own destiny. Shape the marketing of their career. Create products from their art. Dictate what in fact is art. Reach their audience online. ."

John Maeda...""Amidst the attention given to the sciences as how they can lead to the cure of all diseases and daily problems of mankind, I believe that the biggest breakthrough will be the realization that the arts, which are conventionally considered 'useless,' will be recognized as the whole reason why we ever try to live longer or live more prosperously. The arts are the science of enjoying life."


Jeff Soto..."Artists...If you are a serious artist and you make art because you have to, it’s in your soul, it’s in your heart, you will eventually find your own style. I’m not saying it will be easy. It takes sacrifice, dedication, and experimentation. And once you think you found your style, throw it all away. Because your shit will get stagnant if you don’t keep evolving....Galleries...If you are showing work in this genre you should have at least an understanding of who the artists are, what their work looks like and where they have shown. You have to have the backbone to be able to tell artists to come back in a year with new work if it’s derivative. ...Buyers, You’re gonna hopefully buy a piece of art because you love something about it..."

Arturo Herrera @ IKON

28 March – 20 May 2007
First and Second Floor Galleries

Arturo Herrera was born in Caracas, Venezuela in 1959, and lives and works in New York and Berlin, Germany. He is on display currently for the first time in England at IKON Gallery. As quoted from the IKON Site, "The centrepiece of this exhibition is the ambitious animation, Les Noces. This work comprises photographic and drawn details taken from Herrera’s previous works, characteristically cut and spliced to create new complex networks. Set to a ballet score of the same nameby Igor Stravinsky, the artist’s graphic visuals are complemented by its percussive musical idiosyncrasies."

I am intrigued by the idea of setting the work to a ballet score. I wish England were closer. You can read more about Herrera here.

Suzanne Sbarge

Rabbit Holes
mixed media on board
15" x 15"





I really like the illustrative quality of her work. Her website is full of whimsy...definitely worth looking into.

Erik Foss

ERIK Foss
Who Else Could I Fight a Little War With

On display at Jonathan Levine in NYC.

I liked this piece. Really appropriate use of materials.

Upstream People Gallery

These fine folks at the Upstream People Gallery are hosting a juried exhibit. The 9th Annual Collage, Digital, Mixed Media Juried Online International Art Exhibition will be accepting entries up until MAY 8. That isn't too far away! So go to your portfolio, seek out the best of your work, and enter it in this competition.

About the Upstream people gallery...."The name Omaha means "Upstream People" in the American Indian language, so it seems quite fitting to have an art gallery by the same name. Early exhibitions were developed to promote the best ideals of many Americans as established by our heritage and early founders. Values of family, expressions of love, displays of beautiful landscapes, the capturing of the human condition, alone and in interactions, and the many other conditions of the human soul began to emerge as predominant in the types of shows that were formulated."

I like this statement. I believe that art is under the same attack as the rest of the facets in our life...the attack of commercialism. Everything and Anything can be bought. The whole fact that the gallery even has such a statement is already a testimony to their ideas about art and creativity. There are quite a few galleries online at their site for viewing. It would be a good thing to take a moment on this beautiful Sunday that the planet has given us, and look into some quality and varied work.

OPen Source Cinema

Help to collaboratively make a documentary about copyright.

I received an email this morning from the mailing list at detritus.net...and it announced an interesting project that is underway. Once again we have another artist who is pushing the limits on copyright, this time in the arena of film. This seems related to collage, in that there is a gathering of video pix...and a reworking of things....and then a new final result....which really is the essence of collage work. Video, composed no less of many stills, is also exposed to the rancid undertones of the current copyright situation. How I loathe it all!
It feels democratic, as tho it is the most natural thing in the world, to be able to pick up a piece of paper, or a snippet of a song, and possess it as my own, and rework it and re-define it and then create something anew. I feel as tho all this law and copyright and fair use stuff is really quite a lot like having my intellectual freedoms robbed. I apologize, I am off topic. rant rant!
Brett Gaylor not only is pushing the envelope on the issue, he is inviting us all to join him in his statement. The link to his site is here. Do go take and look and participate!!

Paste UP exhibit online

The online exhibit for the Paste-Up exhibition is online and can be found here.

Lark Street and a New Domain

Today was a momentous day for me. I made 2 different projects happen. Both of them will require hard work and dedication. Sometimes I have to make things happen for myself but just putting it out there. By having some deadlines, maybe I can get my ass moving!

First, I signed up to do a booth at the Art on Lark on June 9, in Albany, NY. I have not doen an art show with any of my collage work before. This should be an interesting event! I have lots of little projects and independently published little books I can sell. t'would be nice to make some extra cash.

Second, I bought my domain for the Sharon Springs project. www.sharonspringsdk.com.
It isn't uploaded yet, but soon I wil be setting up a bunch of experimental collage videos and a whole bunch of collage art.

I already have tons of enthusiasm. Where can I buy some time?????

David Hickman

Viral Weather




Hinged Birdhead




Princess




These seemed so very expressive. More can be seen here.

Joseph Cornell Retrospective Coming Up!!

Joseph Cornell
Untitled
1967, collage of magazine photographs, book
illustration, ink, and pencil, 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm.)
The Huntington Library, Art Collections,
and Botanical Gardens
Gift of the Joseph and Robert Cornell
Memorial Foundation


Can you imagine it??? 180 of Joseph Cornells works all in one space and viewable all at ONCE????? Wowza!
Honestly, I am going to have to make the trip to Salem to see this exhibit. Seriously folks.
This retrospective features collage works as well as his famous box assemblages. I am really excited about this. Cornell is a real inspiration of mine. I look forward to seeing this and feasting my eyes and my soul.....

Joseph Cornell: Navigating the Imagination
APRIL 28, 2007 THROUGH AUGUST 19, 2007
Peabody Essex Museum
Salem, MA

Go to their site, and read more about this under exhibitions.

Concerning the Spiritual in Art - Simple Excerpts

I am simultaneously reading a biography about Georgia O'Keeffe...and the document "Concerning the Spiritual in Art" by Wassily Kandinsky. I wanted to share some excerpts.

"The life of the spirit may be fairly represented in diagram as a
large acute-angled triangle divided horizontally into unequal
parts with the narrowest segment uppermost. The lower the segment
the greater it is in breadth, depth, and area."

"At the apex of the top segment stands often one man, and only
one. His joyful vision cloaks a vast sorrow. Even those who are
nearest to him in sympathy do not understand him. Angrily they
abuse him as charlatan or madman."

"In every segment of the triangle are artists. Each one of them
who can see beyond the limits of his segment is a prophet to
those about him, and helps the advance of the obstinate whole.
But those who are blind, or those who retard the movement of the
triangle for baser reasons, are fully understood by their fellows
and acclaimed for their genius. The greater the segment (which is
the same as saying the lower it lies in the triangle) so the
greater the number who understand the words of the artist. Every
segment hungers consciously or, much more often, unconsciously
for their corresponding spiritual food. This food is offered by
the artists, and for this food the segment"

"Even too often it happens that one level of spiritual food
suffices for the nourishment of those who are already in a higher
segment. But for them this food is poison; in small quantities it
depresses their souls gradually into a lower segment; in large
quantities it hurls them suddenly into the depths ever lower and
lower."
"Such periods, during which art has no noble champion, during
which the true spiritual food is wanting, are periods of
retrogression in the spiritual world. Ceaselessly souls fall from
the higher to the lower segments of the triangle, and the whole
seems motionless, or even to move down and backwards. Men
attribute to these blind and dumb periods a special value, for
they judge them by outward results, thinking only of material
well-being. They hail some technical advance, which can help
nothing but the body, as a great achievement. Real spiritual
gains are at best under-valued, at worst entirely ignored."


Does this describe the current state of art, collection, and art prices???
Somehow I feel as tho we are in one of these motionless retro periods...but maybe it is jet lag from so MANY different art forms blossoming and changing at once. The effect is that we are standing still.