Howard Yezerski Gallery
is pleased to announce the opening of the gallery at 460 Harrison Ave.

Embodiment

An Installation by

Lalla Essaydi

November 7 - December 16, 2008

Opening Reception: Friday. Nov.7th 5:30 -7:30pm

STEVE AISHMAN @ SOLOMON PROJECTS

October 17 - December 6th

opening reception: Friday, Oct. 17, 6 - 8 pm

artist talk: Saturday, Oct. 25, 2pm

Click to Play

iPod version

Click to Play

Scope Hamptons 2008

Click to Play

Curtis Bartone @ Gallery Stokes

Judith Larsen @ RHYS gallery

Click to Play

Judith Larsen @ RHYS gallery

Raul Gonzalez @ NEGLAA

Click to Play

Raul Gonzalez @ NEGLAA

In-between Expectation and Experience
Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe @ The Guggenheim
Review by Heidi Marston Aishman

When I went to the Cai Guo-Qiang exhibit I Want to Believe at the Guggenheim I thought I knew what kind of experience to expect. After having seen his work at Mass MOCA and the MET, I expected the museum to be filled with large-scale projects that overwhelm the viewer with the complexity of how they were executed. I was not disappointed, as you enter the museum you are immediately thunderstruck (no better word could be used) by the installation of the piece Inopportune: Stage One, nine cars suspended and spiraling up the center of the rotunda with lights exploding out of them. Thomas Krens, Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, described the piece as "maybe the best artistic transformation of the Frank Lloyd Wright space we've ever seen." As you wind your way up the circular space you have to walk through the piece Head On, an arc of 99 life-size replicas of wolves that appear to be leaping head on into a glass wall and falling in a pile to the floor. This piece is truly effective because you are forced to become part of the pack as it races to its end. Throughout the exhibit there are video projections of Guo-Qiang’s gunpowder performances accompanied by various gun power drawings and plans for unrealized pieces. The Guggenheim is a unique space and this work utilizes the circular architecture perfectly. Exploring themes of cycles of violence and peace, creation and destruction, the circular layout of the show makes these themes more poignant. Reviews of the show have all discussed the pieces that have had the expected response of shock and awe and many of the subtler pieces have been overlooked.

In contrast to the shooting lights and arrow-impaled animals is the installation piece An Arbitrary History: River. In one of the Guggenheims’ galleries that is about half way up the spiral and off to the side through a fairly small hallway is an installation incorporating a resin and bamboo riverbed filled with water, a yak skin and wood boat, and other drawings, sculptures and sounds. In this space is a snaking river with a small boat that visitors could get into and take a ride. Regardless of the mass of kids pushing in line to take get a turn in the boat, the space was very quiet and meditative. As I walked around looking at every aspect of the installation, a security guard asked me if I going to take a ride in the boat and I replied, “ Is there an age limit?”

So I got in line with the other 5 to 12 year olds and anxiously waited my turn. While I waited a man who was there with his son asked me which kid was mine, to which I replied, “None! I’m getting in the boat.” We began to talk about the exhibit as the number of kids between me and my ride dwindled. I asked Jack (the son) what he thought of the show and he paused, answered that he thought it was cool, thought about it a little more and added, “It’s also creepy.” I asked him what he meant and he said that he thought the tigers were awesome, but creepy because the arrows were sticking right into their throats. We began to talk about his favorite types of exhibitions he had been to at museums all over the world. Jack proceeded to tell me all about how he like the engineering part of shows, “like how they got the cars to go up the center of the museum at all different angles”, and how he talked to the museum staff about how hard it was to build a river in the gallery “because water can cause a lot of damage if it leaks”. As Jack was talking it became clear that he had no expectation of what he was going to see when he goes to a museum, he was just excited to look and find something interesting. I began to wonder why I go to exhibitions expecting something, expecting anything, then feeling somehow disappointed if my expectations weren’t met?

Jack took his ride in the boat and when he got out, the first thing he said was, “its weird because the boat is lined with animal skin,” he showed me by touching the inside of the boat and making a disgusted face, he turned to leave, said, “see ya” and off he went. As I pulled myself around the riverbed, I thought about how cool it was to be actively engaged in one of the artists installations. I had just gotten in a small 4’x2’ boat, and was taking an arbitrary ride on a man made river in the Guggenheim. An Arbitrary History: River, is a piece about taking a moment to stop and look. I never expected to have such a fun conversation with a boy from Belfast, Ireland. Jack inspired me go back out into the main space and take a different look at the way the cars were angled, then go look again at how truly creepy (and awesome) the tigers are in Inoprtune: Stage Two.

I didn’t write this review so that those who may read it will know what to expect if they intend to see the exhibit. Art reviews often create expectation, I wrote about this show because of the experience I didn’t expect and it made the show have more impact. Cia Guo-Qiang’s work talks about creation growing out of destruction, and by dismantling my expectations an opportunity was created to see the exhibition from Jack’s perspective. So while many critics may think that Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe is about the first impression “WOW” factor, I think that it is about seeing what is in between. It is about finding that riverbed in the midst of the hype, stopping to experience it and looking without expectation.


Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe is on view until May 28, 2008
http://www.guggenheim.org/exhibitions/exhibition_pages/cai.html

Bronze Pour with Allen Peterson

It's Great to Know We Are Not Alone

What’s good about the Art Fairs? Here is one thought, you get to meet a lot of people who are interested in looking, making and collecting stuff. The stuff we are talking about is artwork or objects made by people who want to share it with who ever will look. There are pieces we like some we don’t but there is always something for everyone and people are always willing to tell you what they think of it. I have gone to Miami and New York a few years in a row to go to the art fairs like Scope, Pulse, Bridge, Basel and the Armory and what puzzles me is that a lot of artists I know always ask me “Why do you go?” never “What did you see?” (Until after I answer the Why question).

So here it is, I go because I make artwork and the fairs are an opportunity to see what hundreds of thousands of other makers are doing all over the world in the span of a four days. When I answer this way most of the time I get the response of, “I would just rather go galleries to see work, the fairs seem so commercial.” I have to admit I don’t really understand this response mostly because I usually don’t ask them “Why don’t you go to the fairs.” I guess people who haven’t gone seem to think that going to the fairs is like going to a street market where people are yelling at you from all angles trying to get you to buy some art. I can assure you this is not what happens.

In the last issue of Big Red one of our editors posed these questions:
What I wonder about, though, is what appears to be a growing dependence on the art fairs to increase visibility and profits.
I'm not against the art fairs, but it seems like some of the galleries who participate in a lot of fairs changed over time to show more fair-friendly work.
I just wonder what kind of impact the art fair market is having on the small, privately owned galleries.

After having been a looky-loo at the fairs and working for a gallery during the fairs, I actively see the importance of asking these questions. It is true the art fairs have become the place where collectors go to buy work all in one place because going around to all the galleries is getting harder and harder as people get busier and busier. It does help galleries increase visibility and profits, and it also helps artists increase visibility and income. Some galleries have tried to show more fair-friendly work and many of them have realized there is no such thing. At fairs like Pulse and Bridge, most of the work would not be what I would think of as fair friendly, many of the galleries take a real risk by showing installations and other things that are not “cash and carry”. Galleries have tried toning it down, some have hyped it up, and there is no formula that shows how this has affected their sales. There is no rhyme or reason because fair goers all go for their own reasons and are all looking in different ways. Some galleries bring work they think is less conceptually challenging and often they realize that what is easily digestible to some is really spicy to others. What happens then? The fairs become a place to find anything and everything and your gallery may or may not have what is on the menu that day.

One of the major benefits to the art fairs is that in many ways it levels the playing field. While the blue chip galleries are usually at the Armory, the other fairs offer an opportunity for established artists and galleries to be along side newer galleries exhibiting emerging and mid-career artists. In September of 2007 Eli Klein Fine Art opens its doors on West Broadway. The opening exhibition included well-established artist Alexander Calder alongside modern, contemporary and emerging artists. This year Eli Klien participated in the Bridge Art Fair in New York and they had an exciting and eclectic booth. The booth had work ranging from paintings of Chinese artist Liu Bolin about the current state of transition in China, the contemplative photography of Boston based artist Judith Larsen, to the sculptural plant forms with skulls growing out of them by Shen Shaomin. When I talked with the Director, Rebecca Heidenberg she said it had been really interesting talking with new collectors and introducing their artists work to people from all over the world. The owner of the gallery, Eli Klein talked with excitement about exhibiting many different artists at different levels as a way to highlight new ideas and aesthetics in emerging art markets. Later that evening I went to an opening at Eli Klein and the artists in their gallery spanned three decades of art making from all over the world. Seeing the booth at the fair and then going to the gallery highlighted the importance of both experiences.

Another common question about the art fairs is “What art people buying?” This is a really hard question to answer because people buy anything, everything and nothing. What I would buy someone else hates and what some fair-goers can’t get enough of many people don’t even notice. We all know it is easier to find something you want when you have a lot to choose from, so when I think about the impact the art fairs have on the small, privately owned galleries I realize one can’t deny that there is an impact. It is very expensive to participate in the fairs and many smaller galleries get left out. However, not being in the fair doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t get the benefits of their existence. Many of the galleries from lesser known places like Richmond Virginia (if you are ever in that area check out ADA Gallery), would say how they are part of growing gallery communities and took the fairs as an opportunity to talk about their location, not just talk about themselves. So while smaller galleries may not always have the ability to have a booth in the fairs, the galleries that do seem to realize that standing alone doesn’t make you look better, it makes you look alone.
So what’s good about the art fairs? It is a different experience than going to galleries and there are important factors for both. I go to galleries to see a particular show or artist. I go to art fairs to see things I would normally not have access to from around the world. Going to the fairs doesn’t give you the magic answer to what people like, what collectors are buying, or what galleries are selling the most. It is just a larger scale perspective on what is happening in different art communities everywhere. So now when people, who are clearly skeptical about the art fairs, ask me, “Why do you go?” I answer, “ Because it’s great to know we are not alone.”

Eli Klein Fine Art

Bridge Art Fair New York 2008

Pulse Art Fair New York 2008

SCOPE New York 2008

Steve Locke Visits the Contemporary
Artist Steve Locke is currently the Visiting Artist in the Painting Department of Savannah College of Art and Design. When he came to speak at the Atlanta campus he was kidnapped by Craig Drennen, Avantika Bawa and me!

You Can't Win

click to view another recent video piece in the series.

Skin My Teddy

click to view my recent video piece shown at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.

AMIR FALLAH & EVELYN RYDZ @ THE RHYS GALLERY

click to view video

Making Stuff on Sunday
click to view video

On Sunday I got together with Susan Krause, sculptor and professor of sculpture at SCAD Atlanta, Dayna Thacker, artist and director of Gallery Stokes (see links) and Lindsay Appel, artist, musician and all around great gal.

Hello everyone!
I know its been a while (a looooong while) since my last active posting, but we are now back in business! So enjoy some of the latest articles and videos form Big Red and Shiny and lots more to come...

WANT TO BUY ART? I KNOW WHERE TO GET THE GOOD STUFF.

At 5:00 on August 28th, people lined up outside the frosted glass doors of Rhys Gallery. They all knew the doors wouldn’t open until 6:00, it was hot, humid, and everyone was anxious. As they waited in the heat they began to wonder,

“What wall do I want to head for?”
“Will I have to trip someone to get the piece I want?”
“Will I get a postcard by someone famous, oh who cares, I’m just going to get what I like.”

By 5:45 there were lines at each door going around the block. When the doors were unlocked on the 2nd Proof of Purchase exhibition the floodgates were opened and there was no holding back the crowds. The walls were lined with hundreds of 4x6 postcards created by emerging and established artists, all priced at $50. Artist's identities were only disclosed after you presented your "proof of purchase". For three hours the postcards few off the walls until they were white once more and all the postcards were gone.

As 9:00 approached, the line of people waiting to pay for their postcards stretched through out the gallery and those who had already paid for their artwork didn’t want to leave.

Only a few weeks before a similar event had taken place at Apex Art in New York. On the hot summer evening of July 7th, The Most Curatorial Biennial of the Universe opened and the crowd spilled out onto Church Street as the gallery filled to over flowing. And soon, in only a few months, the same phenomenon will happen again at the Royal Academy in London as hundreds of people will queue up in anticipation for the Secret Postcard Sale. The RCA has held the Secret Postcard sale for the past 13 years and it often includes postcards by artists as well known as Grayson Perry, Paula Rego, and Tracey Emin, hung on the wall next to work by the students of RCA.

What causes the kind of mass excitement for exhibitions like Proof of Purchase or the Secret Postcard Sale? Is it that you might pick up a Kiki Smith just by chance? Or is it the opportunity to afford original works of art? It’s a mixture of both with some other added ingredients. When the Daily Candy listed Proof of Purchase in their Arts & Culture section, they began with the statement, “If only buying art didn’t feel like such a commitment.” and I began to wonder if that is why so many people shy away from going to galleries; to avoid the pressure of a big purchase.

Exhibitions like Proof of Purchase are an opportunity for artists, collectors, curators and everyone else who wonders what goes on in galleries to join in, get some art work they can feel good about without having to take out a loan to get it. In addition, these shows are fundraisers, Proof of Purchase sales go to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Scholarship Fund, sales from the Most Curatorial Biennial of the Universe went to the Robin Hood Foundation and all proceeds from the Secret Postcard Sale go directly to the RCA Fine Arts Student Award Fund. The recent success of these kinds of fundraisers comes from a growing interest in the general public to casually participate in the joy of buying quality original artwork at a fantastic price.

These fundraisers also allow artists to reach a wider public without feeling like they are devaluing their work, and they allow for young collectors to start buying artwork without the anxiety of a large purchase. For collectors, it generates excitement over artists they may have in their collections and gives them the chance to pick up someone new. These shows also generate more excitement and create greater value for participating artists pieces the next year. The woman who casually picked up the Damien Hirst at the RCA Secret Postcard Sale stated, "I am absolutely gobsmacked. My boyfriend has been painting things like this and I bought it."

This story was first told on the BBC and soon it was on every blog about the arts. Spectacles like Proof of Purchase and the Most Curatorial Biennial have been promoted and talked about in local papers and magazines like New York Residence magazine. Making a statement that these shows are for everyone, and everyone benefits from the growing participation. Artist Danielle Durchslag, previously based in Boston and now in New York, was quoted in New York Residents Magazine stating that to fit the rules she scaled down her work, “It actually challenges you to do something that you wouldn’t usually do and approach your work from an angle you wouldn’t normally,” she said. After the experience, she plans to continue experimenting with the smaller size, at least some of the time. “I think that’s a gift at the end of the day, it reveals something about your work.”

The statement in the Daily Candy crosses into the lives of the artists as well; it could just as easily be read as “If only making art didn’t always feel like such a commitment.” Sometimes artists just want to make something new and shows like Proof of Purchase allow for that to happen in an exciting way. By casually trying something out sometimes we end up with a gift, a new way of making our artwork, the gift of participation in purchasing art without the stress, and the gift of money raised for students who need it to be able to make a postcard for Proof of Purchase next year.

ALL THE THINGS I LEARNED FROM LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD

1. Computer nerds sometimes look like hot emo rockers.


2. If you are an evil villain, your girlfriend will willingly go into battle for you, so you can stay safely in your armored truck.


3. Boyfriends will still want to call you after your cop Dad pulls them out of a car and threatens their life.


4. Most laptop computers are powerful enough to override communications system of an entire country through an Ethernet cable.


5. When power is knocked out by an explosion, everything where you are will still be clearly visible, just slightly bluish.


6. A man will show no pain while taking the most ferocious beating but will whine when a woman tries to clean his wounds.


7. If a large pane of glass is visible, someone will be thrown through it before long.


8. Computers never display a cursor on screen, but will always say: "Enter Password Now".


9. Even when driving down a perfectly straight road, it is necessary to turn the steering wheel vigorously from left to right every few moments. Tires will squeal on any surface, at any speed.


10. All bombs are fitted with electronic timing devices with large red readouts so you know exactly when they're going to go off.


11. Should you wish to pass yourself off as a computer hacker, it will not be necessary to know anything about computers. A Star Wars reference of any kind will do.


12. No matter how hard you fall on your backpack, all the delicate computer equipment inside remains perfectly intact.


13. If the hero is being mistaken for the villain, the people with guns can no longer aim.


14. Gloating over your enemies' predicament before killing them, only gives them time to kill you instead.


15. The ventilation system of any building is the perfect hiding place. No one will ever think of looking for you in there and you can travel to any other part of the building you want without difficulty.


16. Never design your moving main Control Room so that every workstation is facing away from the door.


17. If I continue to read conspiracy theory someday it will all come true.


18. When a person is knocked unconscious by a blow to the head, they will never suffer a concussion or brain damage.


19. No one involved in a car chase, explosion, or life threatening experience will ever go into shock.


20. Cars that crash will almost always burst into flames.

CONFESSIONS OF AN ART SHOW DOWN CONTESTANT

When I first started writing this I had trouble putting into words what it exactly it was that made me so psyched to be a contestant on Art Show Down. So I wrote an article and was about to send it off to the Big RED editors, but after I spent Saturday morning playing paintball with Colin Rhys of Rhys gallery, I realized I love the Art Show Down because it is being part of a team. A team made up of artists, those who created it would not have show without those who are contestants, and the contestants would still be alone in their studios if they did not have the Art Show Down to go out and participate in.

Many of you have heard of this Art Show Down phenomenon, but may still not quite get what it is all about. It has been described on Big RED and Shiny, an Art Show Down sponsor, as a game show about art, and an art exhibition about game shows. This project, two years in the making, has involved the full transformation of the gallery at Art Interactive into a television studio, with episodes that are filmed in front of a live audience over the course of four weekends. This certainly describes what it IS, but not what it MEANS to the art community. It is an art piece that is just like playing paintball: you get to be part of team, engage in healthy competition, organize as a group, have fun with paint and some people win and some people lose. In the end, no participant of Art Show Down really loses, because it’s all about playing the game. What I have found most fulfilling about being an artist today is getting out there and doing stuff with a community; being a member of that team is the only way to not get shot down.

The Monday after my first episode I went into work and poured myself a cup of coffee as my co-workers had seen me do many times. My boss asked me, “How was your weekend? Do anything fun?” to which I replied, “Yeah, I was on the Art Show Down, this art game show at Art Interactive, and I won!” She looked at me as if I had answered her in Klingon and then said, “I’m sorry, what did you say?” I then proceeded to tell her about guessing what an artwork sold for at auction, stuffing my mouth with cheese while talking to Howard Yezerski, of Howard Yezerski Gallery, climbing a rock wall and hanging a bunch of pictures while throwing rubber snakes, shooting paintball guns and wrestling some girl with a paintbrush on my head. As the rest of my office came over to listen, I realized something: who else gets to say that they did something like this? Only artists, and as far as I know only those here in Boston who came out in support of the Art Show Down.

I found out about Art Show Down from Jeff Warmouth, one of the artist masterminds behind the creation of the art game show a little over a year ago. Before I even knew what it was all about, I wanted to be a part of it simply because I had a great respect for the artists involved in putting it together. As soon as I read the description I immediately knew my destiny:

To be one of final two who would compete in the Ultimate Artist Challenge.

I never thought about being the one winner, I just wanted to be part of it. Just like paintball, I wanted to be part of the team and stay in the game as long as I could. So I set out for my audition last fall with great enthusiasm for things to come. When I arrived at Art Interactive I was ushered into a room with video cameras, a lighting set up and a table with chairs on either side. After a series of tasks involving running across the room and grabbing an apple then making a drawing of it in 20 seconds, they asked me to react as if I had just won the game show, so I made myself cry and I jumped up and down enthusiastically until I heard a voice say, “Thanks, that’s enough we get it”. I thanked Jeff Warmouth, Jim Manning and Matt Nash who were running the auditions and then before I left I said, “If I don’t get picked, one of the other contestants might have an ‘accident’”. They laughed and then looked as if they weren’t quite sure if I was joking.

After hearing that I was chosen as a contestant I was not sure just what I was getting in to, but that’s the fun right? I went on the first day to scope out what was in store for me and I was really surprised. The set was amazing and it was such an incredible collaboration to make things run smoothly. The show started with the Auction Price is Right as the first challenge and contestant Andy Mowbray guessed closest to the actual auction price and moved on to the next round. After watching him during the “Schmooze and Booze” challenge where he had to talk up curator Nick Capasso of the DeCordova Museum while eating pepper jack cheese and drinking Tabasco flavored seltzer, I knew I needed a strategy. I paid close attention when Andy shot paint balls at moving targets, drew his self portrait with a sharpie taped to the end of yardstick, and attacked his opponent with a paintbrush attached to his head.

After competing, and winning, my first episode on September 30th, I was ready for my championship round. I asked who the curator would be, and it turned out to be George Fifield, the Director of the Boston CyberArts Festival and former Curator of New Media at the DeCordova Museum. So in preparation for the Schmooze and Booze challenge, that I might have to compete in, I decided to make a T-shirt with his face on the back that said “George Rocks!” There is no better way to schmooze than to come prepared to be ridiculous but in a way that shows great respect. I have known George for a while so I had to come up with something he wouldn’t expect. As it turned out, however, my fate would be to climb the rock wall for “Hang’em High”, in which required my hanging 10 pieces of art in their frames on a make shift rock wall in one minute and had to save my T-Shirt for later.

As I went into the final challenge of my championship episode I was only 30 points ahead so I needed to be ready to rumble. When I suited up in the white Tyvek jumpsuit and they strapped the paintbrush to my head I felt like I was on Nickelodeons “You Can’t Do That on Television” and I was ready! After 45 seconds of a serious wrestling match with Laurel Kirtz, I was not sure who was going to win. But then, as though it was meant to be, they asked George Fifield to come up on stage to count up the brush marks. When they tallied the score and announced me the winner, I turned around and tore open the Tyvek suit so George Fifield’s face was peering out from my back while yelling out to the audience “George Rules!” What I realized as later on was that I had done some real schmoozing during my episodes, was given a fun opportunity to make a connection with Howard Yezerski, supported many of my friends who have put this all together as part of their artwork and I had the chance to participate in something truly unique and a hell of a lot of fun.

My opponent for the final Ultimate Artist Challenge is local artist Andy Mowbray and the winner of the first episode ever of Art Show Down. Andy and I have been pumped up about the Art Show Down for over a year now, and here we are, the last two. The best part about it is that both Andy and I are really invested in making this a great active artwork and we want it to be a fun experience for the audience while we kick each others ass at crazy competitions involving dumpster diving, curator schmoozing and quick draw with both guns and markers.

When the Big RED editors mentioned that this would be the 50th issue of Big RED and Shiny, I thought that sharing my Art Show Down experiences was the best way to show my respect for the Art Show Down team and maybe help some of you who are still unsure of just what this is all about. My deepest gratitude goes out to all who worked hard to make this happen so that Andy and I can say we were part of it. And for all of you who were hesitant to go out and see Art Show Down, come to the final episode on October 28th at 6pm at Art Interactive, it will certainly be like nothing you have ever experienced before. I hope that it catches on because my next goal is for Andy and me to be the “Returning Champions” like they have on Jeopardy!

This project was co-curated by Roland Smart and Jeff Warmouth, and features a long list of Boston artists: Megan Goltermann, Jeff Smith, James Manning, Big RED's Matthew Nash, Ravi Jain, Nick Rodrigues, Anna Goldsmith, Paul Consemi, Rob Coshow, Mitsu Toda, and many more.

And a special thanks to Boston Paintball for their donation, I had a blast!