I know I know Wallflower Wednesday didn’t happen this week, GET OFF MY BACK OKAY, I’m in California in a canyon without internet and I bought an hour of internet here at Peet’s by purchasing a sugar-free fat-free vanilla latte ‘no whip’ but that’s all the money I had so I can’t buy another one!!!! But this is so great–you can now sponser a piece of Reference Gallery, the smart Richmond folk who show smart young artists. More information here.
I rewatched this video today after a year of keeping it in the back of my mind. It is so good. Hampshire College professor and stand-up theorist Joan Braderman gets all Mystery-Science-Theatre-3000-on-acid with Dynasty. Brought to you by everyone’s favorite community media organization, Paper Tiger TV. It’s 28 minutes long and worth it, though a few minutes will give you a pretty rich taste. Braderman’s commentary is great and all, but thumbs-up to the amazing 1980s video art. Remember when this stuff used to be new and not pseudo-vintage irony? Neither do I.
Drawing by hannesisaksson
Recession Proof on The New Repbulic “Art should never be a slave to the market. A call to arms” Uh, yeah, whatever dude.
Don’t Give Up The Day Job on The Guardian How artists make a living.
Modern Wing on The Point The Art Institute of Chicago gets winged out.
A World of Hits on The Economist Ever-increasing choice was supposed to mean the end of the blockbuster. It has had the opposite effect.
What, if any, are the political values of ‘lo-fi’ indie music? The comments are a world of wonder.
Video Cabaret on Artnet On cross-dressing and the new media avant-garde. Via artblahg.
(image by vik vudor)
A real Wallflower type of Wallflower Wednesday. These are serious business.
An Interview with Steve Grasse of Art in the Age on Printeresting God, really? “I think [Benjamin] would dig [Art in the Age]. It is not like we are just exploiting his name to build a brand. To us, it is a lifestyle, a movement and a calling…” I just want to curl up in a corner and cry when I read things like that.
Crescat Graffiti, Vita Excolatur on Inkling Magazine Statistical analysis of graffiti in the University of Chicago library.
Twilight of the Idols by Friedrich Nietzsche All of it.
Playing with Dead Things: On the Uncanny by Mike Kelly I was reminded of this essay recently. Though reading it on Google Books is headache-inducing, it’s a fantastic piece. Here’s my all-time favorite part: “Truth arises from the base material, gives rise to archetypal meaning, and issues in timeless truths. The sign for the timeless in monochrome. It isn’t until surrealism, and later pop art, that the truthfulness of an image is examined in relation to daily experience, either as a psychologically determined phenomenon, or simply as the by-product of culturally produced cliches.” You know when he wrote that he did a little ‘raise the roof’ motion.
The Rise of Yuppie Coffees and the Reimagination of Class in the United States by William Roseberry (PDF) Thanks Adam for this.
Let’s hope I’m on a plane to Germany as you read this. FINGERS CROSSED. Here are some touchy-feely articles to read as you snuggle up to your blanket or kitten or sexbot or, maybe, boyfriend.
Why I Don’t Have a Girlfriend (PDF)
How Life Without Sex Works on LiveScience Etc: Asexual organisms are extremely rare, apparently. Tell that to my ex-boyfriend. Nice try.
The 6 Weirdedst Things Women Do to their Vaginas on AlterNet
Bestiality Ban in Netherlands on Reuters
If you’re looking for a last minute gift for yourself or your special lady, might I suggest the milkmaid?
A Woman’s History of Vaginal Orgasm is Discernible from her Walk
Ryan McLaughlin, “Larry Lagoon”, 2008. Oil on wood.
I don’t know, something just seems a little bit familiar here. Maybe the wave of turbulence. Does it represent 2008? No clue.
(the ultimate wallflower)
This is seriously the biggest Wallflower Wednesday ever. EVER. It even has categories. This is for real.
The Art Things:
Johannes Itten, The Art of Color, 1920
The Resistance of Painting: On Abstraction by Barry Schwabsky for The Nation
Color me a Dinosaur on Weather Sealed
Mag+, a concept video on the future of digital magazines
The Social Network Things:
Conversations about the Internet#5: Anonymous Facebook Employee by Phil Wong on The Rumpus
The Neuroscience of Myspace on Neuroskeptic
The Gay Things:
The Day I Decided to Stop Being Gay by Patrick Muirhead for the Times Online
Meet the Fearsome Gay Gangsters of Bash Back by David France for Details
Ultimate Fighting: Not Gay, Per Se by Sam Sheridan for The Daily Beast
The Funny Things:
Sorry Vegans, Brussel Sprouts Like to Live Too by Natalie Angier for the New York Times
Weight Watchers clinic floor collapses under slimmers’ weight by Martin Higgins for the Metro
As I mentioned last week, I’ll be doing a column for the Philly Weekly called Harsh Palette. And I’ll be posting the original unedited, unabridged articles here.
Philadelphia, the city of perennially keeping it real, holds fast to Baltimore. The DIY art scenes are congruent, both based around grimy neon-laden warehouses, factories, stairwells, and living rooms—I mean galleries. The show “Baltidelphia”, currently on view at My House Gallery in South Philly and Hexagon Space in Baltimore, celebrates the twin towns by pairing 22 artists from Philadelphia with 22 from Baltimore. The teams, consciously selected by curators Alex Gartelmann and Phuong Pham, had three months to collaborate on a project. According to Gartelmann, the exhibition is less of a finished and seamless show than it is a reflection on the nature of collaboration in art and communication.
With all this artistic teamwork at the heart of the curatorial concept, there is a surprising lack of sentimental chumminess in the pieces themselves. Perhaps this stems from the reality the artists faced in their attempts at actually working with each other. In many of the pairs, communication stopped shortly after the initial salutary emails. The result, says Gartelmann, was a wave of panic in the few weeks before the opening, with many of the artists floundering for something to make. This hands in the air feeling carries through to the work, much of which is more a documentation of the communication that occurred than anything else. Take, for example, Masha Badinter’s drawings of emails between her and her partner Sean Scheidt, or the framed printouts of Gmail chats and Facebook comments between Megan Lavelle and Jen Gin. There is an earnest attempt at artistic integrity through personalizing technological interaction. But getting meta doesn’t mean getting conceptual. The aesthetic choices by the artists, like what Gmail theme they chose, are not really a satisfying intellectual viewing experience. Beth Heinly and Rick Royer’s piece is more subversive as it wades through the waters of digital clunkiness. The piece, which has been appropriated, altered, Photoshopped, Google Voiced, Flickred, and favorited, is not only a documentation of what transpired between the partners. It is a product, equally crafty and confusing.
There are other pieces that hint at multi-step process, at effort, at concept. Daniel Petraitis’s large metal sculpture glorifies the lowly broom, and is simply a masterful work. The broom is not necessarily collaboration in the puritan sense of the word, as Petraitis sculpted it himself. But it is just plain good. Jim Grilli and Emily Claire Dierkes’s did work in the puritan sense, mailing a painting back and forth for months. The result of their diligent and incremental changes is, unsurprisingly, a finished piece. Daniel Potterton plays with the very notion of collaboration in his installation. Though the work is executed by him, it is an imitation of his partner Kathleen Mazurek’s aesthetic with materials she sent him. These works distinguish themselves from the rest of the show: a piece of paper tacked to the wall, a little assemblage on the floor, a one-color screenprint. Incidental stuff, the detritus of attempted partnership.
Baltidelphia, though sincere, is lackluster. The show strives to unite the various artists in a gesture of solidarity: despite geographic differences artists can communicate, inform each other, and develop relationships. This might have been more interesting if those geographic differences had been actually different. The choice to unite Baltimore artists with Philadelphia is not exactly a stretch of the imagination, especially when said artists are virtually indecipherable. The forty-four artists, though technically strangers, are all young and energetic. They come from the same demographic and share the same cultural touchstones. They themselves are the very audience to which My House Gallery and Hexagon Space cater. The show does not purport to be some sort of feel-good teambuilding effort, but that’s the very thing that redeems it. Taken on its own artistic merits, it does not hold up as it boasts mainly works in progress (or, occasionally, works in abandonment). But as a presentation of a single community, maybe even a single art, it succeeds. Less a celebration, it is an acknowledgement of the togetherness of DIY artists—shared faults, yes, but also a shared untiring spirit, one that trudges through the living room galleries of the world to revolt against boring art. It is, well, Baltidelphia. It marches pure.
“Baltidelphia” is on view now through February 7th at My House Gallery, 2534 South 8th Street. The closing reception will be held in Baltimore at Hexagon Space, 1825 North Charles Street, on February 6th from 6-9:30pm
follow me while i burst into flames.
