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.

Arahmaiani

Freedom to do whatever art I please is something that I take for granted. I had a hard time swallowing this...

Display case, photograph, icon, Coca-Cola bottle, the Qur'an, fan, mirror, drum, condoms, sand.
95 x 146,5 x 65,5 cm

Symbol of Islam, sexual intercourse and cultural imperialism in a museum setting
Arahmaiani criticizes the commodification of all symbols. She maintains that they have all become consumer products, just as almost everything in life. When she showed the piece in an alternative space in Jakarta, it was cause of great indignation, principally because she had presented condoms near to the Qur'an. She received menaces and the objects disappeared even before the opening.

Arahmaiani created a statement with this piece. And they harrassed her for it. I can't imagine that happening. I can't imagine someone trying to take my creative freedom from me. What a fight that would be!!!!

Wassily Kandinsky

I am reading a biography about Georgia O'Keeffe, and in it I am learning about other artists. My thirst for more is intense, and I am always finding something that I can cull from my reading. I wonder how spontaneous the universe is, and yet it supplies me with the necessary food that I need to sustain my healthy enthusiasm for art, and collage as a medium.
I was exposed to Wassily Kandinsky and his ideas of abstraction. I was completely enthralled with this work, "Composition IX", 1936. It is collage-like in its form. I could easily imagine different textures and papers composing this work, instead of painting.

Now, I must get personal, this is a blog, not an info center. I was a bit depressed to think of the flatness that must exist in this painting! I feel something sensory as I paste the layers of papers together in my work. I like the visceral and primal feel of rubbing my fingers across the surface and finding that it is not really flat...but multi layered and therefore so much more illusionary. I know that painting skills are important and being able to create reality or quasi-reality is something revered. I, however, crave the textured feeling that the layers create...somehow as tho accidently, in this place and time, these paper units have arrived into these new positions next to each other. and now, together they make an entirely new statement that is somewhat dada in it's formation, yet compositional in the end with somewhat of a story to tell. It is so difficult with words to express what is so simply done with visuals....

I know it is ballsy to comment on a modern master. Certainly that is not my intent! I mentioned that I was completely taken with the painting and love it for various reason. But somehow, the collage artist in me feels as tho a piece like this would be even more interesting with a bit of depth! It is my personal thing, and in no way am I dissing Kandinsky. Quite the contrary, I plan to locate his book and read more about his thoughts on art. Meanwhile, somehow this just confirms that in my inner art heart, there are many layers!

How to Be Everywhere

Warren Craghead


A new show is opening at Gallery Neptune, in Bethesda, MD, featuring some interesting collage works based on literary influence.. "Warren Craghead III, inspired by the French surrealist poet Guillaume Apollinaire, presents ten mixed media drawings and a book of drawings called "How to Be Everywhere". Craghead aligns his own creative impulse to that of Apollonaire's to create new art that pays homage to this visionary poet."




David Wallace


Also featured is David Wallace. "David Wallace, a collage artist from Pittsburgh, uses old advertising images and text in his paintings and collages. His bold images layer font design with unrelated pictures of animals and people that together send new messages to a modern audience."
There are also some sculptures done by Mark Behme presented. This would prove to be an interesting show.








Gallery Neptune
4901 Cordell Avenue
Bethesda MD 20814
Phone: 301 718 0809
elyse@galleryneptune.com
GALLERY HOURS
Wed - Sat: 12-7 PM
"Behme Craghead Wallace" opens April 6th, artist's reception Friday, April 13th, 6-9 PM, artist's talk Saturday, April 21, 1 PM

David Wallace's site
Cragheads's site

Tyvek and Yupo

I have been experimenting with different synthetic papers. I tried the YUPO sampler pack and was quite pleased with using it for water media. It recieves the paint so sensitively. I feel as the the acrylic is floating on the surface of it. I liked it enough to want to order a big phat pack of it. "YUPO sheet surface is primarily polypropylene with some exposed calcium carbonate resulting in low surface energy...YUPO synthetic paper is a category 5 polypropylene (PP) plastic film and is 100% recyclable....Yupo is a 100% "tree-free" product, containing neither timber nor any other organic fiber." Well I don't know if I can speak so eloquently or scientifically as THAT! But this paper is wonderfully expressive and worth the time to try out.

I also read about Tyvek.
"Tyvek combines all the best physical properties and characteristics of paper, film, and fabric. Tyvek is equally strong and protective dry or wet. It is lightweight, flexible, smooth, particulate free, opaque, and resistant to water, rot, mildew, chemicals, abrasion, and aging....Made from 100% high density polyethylene fibers."
I ordered myself a roll of it at Talas. It apparently can be sewn. i saw some really bizarre clothing and jackets made of it online. Imagine the art potential!!

This is all so very strange for me. I have long been a proponent of using bark, seed, and other natural debris in my work. I am a rustic girl! I really live in the woods and enjoy that connection with the most basic of things. This departure to "plastic" surfaces is a weird turn of events for me. I want to help save trees. And I also revel in new things, new techniques. new textures. These 2 products should provide all of these!!!!