January 29, 2012
January 20, 2012
The Pearl
By
far the most engaging work that Prospect New Orleans has to offer, in this
second rendition of the city’s contemporary art biennial, can be found at one
of their satellite venues, The Pearl.
A Disease of the Oyster, curated
by artist and DJ, John Otte, is a smorgasbord of photography, painting, sculpture
and video (heavy on the video), thoughtfully embedded in the nooks and crannies
of the oldest Creole farmhouse (built in 1799!) still standing in the
Bywater. The Pearl has long been a
place for musicians and performers to gather, often during their frequent
Sunday night speakeasy. But, it
may be the first(?) time its beautiful, creaky bones have supported such an
extensive exhibition of visual works of contemporary art.
The
range of video works in the show is expansive, yet fluid. Some are projected on walls and floors,
others are presented on monitors, staged with old couches and schoolroom chairs
for comfy viewing. Sound from many
of the videos overlap to create a chorus of voice and noise. One of the voices is that of an oyster
shucker on a loop encouragingly telling his patrons “Everything’s gonna be
alright” as they learn of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf. A piece by Courtney Egan projected in
the claw foot tub in the bathroom pulsates with ghostly flowers that feel more
like fauna than flora.
The
Pearl is not just one building, but a grouping of small buildings teeming with
debris and artifacts. It is not
your typical, clean, white, ground; the backdrop for most public art viewing
experiences. On the night I was
there, it was dimly lit, actually almost entirely lit by videos, a few random
strings of light and a small bonfire in the courtyard that serves as the heart of
the complex. The soft, romantic
lighting made it difficult to see the non-video works, and I passed most of
them by for this reason.
The
title of the show comes from a line by Lenny Bruce: “Constant, abrasive,
irritation produces the pearl: a disease of the oyster!” Wow, if ever there was a perfect string
of words for an imperfect, yet magical city, this is the one. Otte told me that much of the work in
the show resonated with him in terms of control and surrender, and that the
installation was aligned with this same notion. He had to wield a certain amount of control to plant art in
a site so heavy with visual and living history. But, in the end, he had to surrender to the wonder of The
Pearl.
January 19, 2012
January 12, 2012
Winter Garden @ The Getty
The birds of paradise are not in Irwin's garden,
but just the other side of the museum.
I remember reading in Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees about how Robert Irwin spent years selecting every little plant for this garden. He would drive out into the desert to visit a little bushy grassy thing along the side of the road that he knew he just had to have for this project. Somehow it all lines up perfectly with his early paintings. In fact, I would say that the garden is a painting.
Oh, and there was some good art inside too.
Outside @ LACMA
So much less violent than his early work.
Hey Austinites,
did you ever wonder what happened to this tubular favorite?
LA stole it.
Glenn Ligon @ LACMA
(Sorry so blurry, but I didn't want to leave it out.)
This is a painting referencing the signs carried by
the sanitation workers on strike in Memphis in 1968.
January 11, 2012
Collection @ LACMA
A poem I wrote for a Philip Guston painting in the permanent collection at the Blanton. That particular painting is either back in storage or on loan away from Austin at the moment.
This smoky lovely hangs at LACMA.
I kept
going back to the Guston
because I
had never seen them before, the forms.
An almost
black form to the left,
and now I’m
forgetting already,
a blue one,
a regular blue, a totally normal blue,
the kind of
blue I don’t really like as it seems particularly the blue of ten year old
boys,
to the
right.
A streak of
blood orange, or maybe a crisscross of blood orange,
beneath,
under and behind the blue form.
They are
figures.
Definitely
early figures, before the shoes, before the trash cans, before the cigarettes,
before
sunrise,
and they are
definitely smoking.
John Baldessari is, of course, much more practical.
And, Warhol is ambiguously direct, per usual.
California Design 1930-1965 @ LACMA
Hellooooo, Los Angeles!
Paragon Speaker
Camel Table
Wandering through the California Design show at LACMA this weekend, stirred up a suppressed desire to design and build fabulous furniture. All I need now is to find a master of the craft who would be willing to put up with me and teach me how to use all those scary tools.
January 1, 2012
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