Out with the Old In with the New

So it kind of goes without saying that I've had to put the blog to rest (no post since, uh, November). I've had to return my focus back towards my own work but I'm leaving this blog up as a resource for all those out there googling one Atlanta artist or gallery or another. But as Cinque rightly pointed out, ending the blog with pictures of coffins isn't the best feng shui - so I figure ending it with foe-toes of my pup will bring all sorts of good karma my way.


Awe. Little Junior. He's all grown up and wet... having fallen into a waterfall.


I officiated my first wedding in front of that waterfall and Jay-tard was ring bearer. We come as a packaged deal.

Go and Kas had a very beautiful wedding (and this is coming from someone who doesn't usually care for weddings all that much).


The bride-to-be gathering her courage.


The rings are wooden, carved by the bride 'n groom for each other. There was some frantic late-night sanding taking place on my porch in the days leading up. During the ceremony Jay scampered through the woods with those rings tied around his neck. I'm glad they didn't fall off.


"Stop taking pictures of me"


Say Bye Jay.

Lost though you may feel without me, stay current on the Atlanta art scene by checking out Burn Away: www.burnaway.org (which I keep wanting to call Burning Man). They keep the information flowing.

Sea Change

Good effing god... at last, at last at last blundering Bush is on the way out and the future actually seems hopeful, prospects look good, artists could even, maybe (?!?), become slightly more valued in this country. Obamanation. Sign me up. Now if only he can do something about the rampant homophobia clogging the veins of this country (what are those 18,000 married gay couples in CA going to do now?) and put a bit more integrity back into the Supreme Court, things would really be looking up.

I've been too preoccupied lately to keep up with this blog or the barrage of photography the month of October in Atlanta offers. But all the Obama craze (and hope, and joy, and pride, and optimism) reminded me of the excellent show "Nelson Mandela: Man of the People" at Spruill Gallery and compelled me to blog onward.

The show is an impressive collection of photographs documenting the life and struggles of Nelson Mandela as captured by Peter Magubane, an internationally acclaim African photographer.

The front two rooms present the earlier years of the anti-apartheid struggle, dated in black and white, the unsettling images convey the violence and suffering with interjections of surreal beauty in the bare landscape.

The show statement notes about Magubane, "Placed under house arrest, banned from photography, beaten up and imprisoned in solitary confinement, he was not deterred from his task, and sometimes hid his camera in a loaf of bread to capture these moments in history."

I know Obama is not Mandela, and America is not South Africa, but this fight for a better world burns in both of them, and this show only emphasises for me the importance of Obama's leadership in a time when our country has spent too long chasing its own tail while tripping backwards down a very slippery slope.

Ok ok, this is not a political blog, and for good reason, because I couldn't tell you the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite if my life depended on it, so I will stop with my Obamatyzing and get back to the aht.

The show transitions into color photography throughout the rest of the gallery, documenting Mandela's personal life, supporters who rallied for him, his time as President, meeting with various international notables, and his personal life as a father and grandfather.

"We place our vision of a new constitutional order for South Africa on the table not as conquerors, prescribing to the conquered. We speak as fellow citizens to heal the wounds of the past with the intent of constructing a new order based of justice for all."

"This is the challenge that faces all South Africans today, and it is one to which I am certain we will all rise."

-Mandela

(Rosa Parks!)

The show is really a must-see, and there is no better excuse than the closing reception (and Obama celebration) this Saturday, November 8th 2008 at Spruill Gallery 6-8pm.

On Marietta St.

Suzanne Opton
"Solider Billboard Project: Bruno"
September 13th - November 3rd 2008

Funded in part by The Contemporary

Awesome.

Hydrangeas: the Vegan variety

Made my way out to Avondale Estates

to pay a visit to my friend Janna and her studio.

which might be the quirkiest alterations shop I've had the pleasure of visiting.

If you happen to be a bride-to-be who needs a complicated wedding dress altered, completely taken apart and put back together, or simply one designed from scratch

this is the lady to see about it.

And her one-woman workshop is always turning out cool detailed pieces (even I think so and I don't like weddings).

Janna is currently making flower girl dresses for a fancy wedding Oprah is rumored to be attending

that are covered in handmade fabric flowers

that are really detailed and too small for my camera to actually focus on.

like these Hydrangeas. Everything is made from vegan friendly materials like Peace Silks (no harm done to the silk worm) and some type of Brazilian nut that is used as a replacement for ivory so the elephants live and the money earning trees aren't torn down in Brazil to make way for more McD's cattle pastures.

Very good things are happening here. Makes me feel slightly better about the world.... I hear Janna is even toying now with organic fabric dyes.

Check out more of Janna Dudley's work here.

Wrastlin this Weekend

If you're around this weekend stop by Eyedrum Small Gallery this Saturday between 6-9pm! I'll be showing a new installation piece and test running a new way of presenting images. See you there.

The Look of One Happy Pup

Road Kill

Eyedrum is full of unexpected surprises at the moment.

With Ruth Stanford's solo show of sculpture "Cryptoecology."

"Indicator Species: Hellbender (Cryptobranchus Alleganiensis"

It's not your typical ecologically-minded sculpture, but it is cryptic indeed. I left the show still trying to wrap my mind around the complex ideas Standford tackled in the show. Interesting to see, especially being in the south, the use of wall-mounted taxidermied animals as the bearers of dire environmental warnings. (Although I am guessing they were fabricated completely by hand?)

Is "Hellbender" meant to be a foreboding as I interpreted it? The skeletal plaque-mounted chicken head hold in its mouth what appear to be deflated tombstones made of a synthetic rubber material to appear like animal skin.

"Bomb Fish"

Fish heads emerge from abstracted landscape paintings that bring to mind the cheesy paintings of ducks in mid-flight usually found hanging between a couple of stuffed mallards on a hunter's den wall.

"Lily Fish"

Each mouth contains a miniature scene of a horrific event unfolding. People in space suits cleaning up a nuclear waste site or a graveyard of tombstones, or bodies on stretchers like the remains of the plague.

"Green Fish"

The fish seem to hold the future in their belly, opening their mouths as if to speak a prophecy, a warning. Ironically these fish are reduced to stuffed heads, caught, killed, and made trophies; Victims of man's growing impact on the planet.

"Forgotten Facts of Natural Ecology: Aquatics"

But just as this show tips towards becoming too preachy, too obviously dire, Stanford gives us the "Forgotten Facts of Natural Ecology" series of cement and dumptrucks spilling grey masses of food all over the ground.

"Forgotten Facts of Natural Ecology: Aquatics" - detail

These are brilliant. The monotone color stark and gloomy but rendering them monumental despite their actual sizes, as if food production on a horrifying large scale is being memorialized.

"Forgotten Facts of Natural Ecology: Terrestrial Harvest"

The sculptures are simple and abstract enough, slick in their delivery that they are as beguiling as disturbing, capturing in essence the complexity of food production in today's society.

"Forgotten Facts of Natural Ecology: Terrestrial Harvest"

Citrus fruits. Where is the artist statement for this anyway? I never came across one but you can read Cinque's Loaf-worthy thoughts on the show here.

"Forgotten Facts of Natural Ecology: Output"

In "Output" Stanford replaces the grey with the bright artificial colors of the processed pastries and doughnuts, making them stand out as disgustingly unnatural and glossy against the stark background.

The center piece of the show is a road Stanford laid down in the middle of the gallery space, covering it with brightly colored small prairie dogs which seems to be innocently sun bathing and playing around, unaware of the impending arrival of the automobile.

Is that a whippet?

While all of the work in the show contemplates a grim outlook, as with the brightly neon colored animals, Standford continuously adds into the mix an element of humor. It doesn't seem Stanford intends to hit anyone over the head with threats but instead invites the viewer in for a party, allowing them to connect the warnings.

Prairie Dog Congo line or praying to the gods?

"Cryptoecology" up at Eyedrum through October 4th 2008. Check it out.

White Diamonds

And the second show of the night...

"Smoke & Mirror" -detail

"Snakes Eyes." Jody Fausett's new show of photography at Whitespace gallery. I had seen snipits of proof prints and digital images here and there as the body of work was shaping up, making me increasingly excited as to what Fausett had up under his sleeve.

"Smoke & Mirror" - detail - 2008

The new show does not disappoint - pushing the content of his photography one step further, Fausset delves deeper into his version of neverland. Using low-fi tricks and his grandmother's as models, the work comes across as something unpretentiously pure, something as real as the imagined gets.

Each time I see Fausett's work I am reminded of what art can be without the artifice, without the MFA manufactured artist's stabs at originality and importance through formulated statements and hollow work. Fausett's images assume nothing and would exist whether or not there was a gallery to show it or a critic to praise it. Fausett is simply creating images he wants to make, which is a surprisingly unusual endeavor.

The large print sizes and placement of the works were well thought out, each relating to the next and adding up to a very focused exploration by Fausett into his unique visual language and sense of fictional reality.

"Peacock" Giclee Print - 2008

Ran into Kirsten Mitchell, aka Kiki Blood, at the opening who leaves in a week for Italy to present a further developed rendition of her Pyramid piece and I may have convinced her to pass along pictures from the show after she returns.

"Bear" Giclee Print - 2008

And in thinking about the show I managed to get hold of Fausett long enough for a short interview about his new work. Here goes:

Jonathan: Jody, hey, your show looked awesome!

Jody: Thanks, I was bummed we didn't get to talk but I didn't really talk to many friends. That's how the night goes I guess.

"Mink & Leather" Giclee Print - 2008

Jonathan: yeah, it's really hard to focus at an opening, too many people coming from every direction. But in thinking about your show I had a couple of questions… For me "Snake Eyes" is a logical evolution from your previous show "Smoke From Another Fire." I feel like the work has grown more complex and personal, which is due in part to the inclusion of more people in the photographs instead of focusing on taxidermied animals. While there is a good deal of posing involved either way, including another person makes it a more collaborative process and by using family members I imagine the photographic process must become much more intimate? What has it been like for you to photograph your grandmothers?

"Mink & Leather" - detail

Jody: I thought the show was going to be heavier on the figurative side and less of the animals, but when I finished it seemed to be about half and half. A lot of changes have occurred since I did that last show so I wanted to do strong and bad ass shots of my grandmothers. It seemed like a good time for the images to be made. Posing is important to me, I can't help it that is how I have always shot. They usually start the position and I come in and tweak it some. The props are there, I use them. My grandmother had the baseball bat by the door and I asked her "well, have you actually held it and felt the weight of it?" I think it is a good experience on both sides.

"Bless This Mess" Giclee Print - 2008

Jonathan: Do you think you work any differently when photographing your family versus unrelated models?

"Contradiction" Giclee Print - 2008

Jody: I tend to be the same in both situations. When you are working with family you talk about personal things. With other people I wouldn’t. As for planning and working in the shoot I am the same. Working on a personal project the flow is a little slower for me. I am by myself.

"Wake Up Alive" Giclee Print - 2008

Jonathan: I think the theatrical posing of your work is part of what makes it so fascinating – it’s a glimpse into your imagination, an alternate universe in a small North Georgia mountain town. And while they are posed, they stay true to the subject by incorporating objects already in the house. Is it disconcerting for you to show these photographs in public? I imagine they result from very intimate moments with your family, a sort of “playing dress-up with grandma” time in their private spheres.

"Open Door" Giclee Print - 2008

Jody: Sometimes it is a little stressful to show people, I leave a lot of room for interpretation of a scenario so that can go in any direction in someone’s mind. I know that all the ideas I shoot with come from a positive place, especially this show. It can be a little dark I guess in appearance and then involving my family added to that can look a certain way, but in general people I have spoken with veer to the positive side.

"Ceiling" Giclee Print - 2008

Jonathan: I definitely see your work as being very positive though I may be biased by knowing you and from what is sounds like your grandmothers get very into the shoot as well. Ok, so last question, what is it do you think that drives you to create these images? What keeps you returning to your hometown to photograph?

"Horse Landing" Giclee Print - 2008

Jody: I have been going home to photograph for quite a while. When I was in New York I would come home for a stint and shoot all week and return with the film and be super excited. Out of everything I did this was the favorite. I enjoy working alone a lot and in these spaces. After the last show and the book I just felt like I wasn’t finished yet. I guess the fleetingness of time had me return and shoot more. I feel like it may be gone at some point, I went past one house I shot a lot in and it was gone, so I wondered if I got what I needed. Hope so.

Also ran into Alex who as sporting a hat doodled by his lovely lady Shana.

"Carport" Giclee Print - 2008

I had difficulty resisting the urge to document every single photograph in the show and give it all way (!), but "Carport" above proved impossible to photograph and considering it was one of my favorites, I guess you'll still have to make your way over to Whitespace to check it out.

Show up until October 11th 2008. Go see the show!

Fine Lines and the Invisible World

Friday night was a very good night for openings. In fact, two shows opened that I had been waiting in high anticipation all year to see.


Solomon Projects managed to deliver yet another incredibly difficult-to-photo-document show. What's that you ask? A microscopic view of red blood cells? No. Acid-free adhesive red dots? Yes.

"All Things Considered (March 2007)" 2007-2008

Why it's the United States of America in little dots to herald the passing of town, city, state, country, mountain, lake, and ocean names over the lips of Steve, Renee, and Mee-chele.

It's the new work of Kathryn Refi entitled "All Things Considered" in which Refi listened to the Public Radio broadcast everyday in 2007, marking with red dots the location of places mentioned in the first hour of the news show. Refi's data is broken down by month, with each of the twelve charts lining the gallery walls.

"All Things Considered (March 2007) - 2007-2008

After having seen Refi's painting series "Color Recordings" in which she translates her daily observations into brilliant color fields of abstracted information, I was eager to see her latest technology-based translations of life into art. But I must admit I found myself a bit disappointed.

"All Things Considered (June 2007) - 2007-2008

Where's South America? The moral of the story is as much what isn't marked as what is though it's not surprising that Washington DC and Iraq were both mentioned a LOT in 2007 while a good chunk of penguin populated Argentina was never mentioned once.

A critique of NPR? Of Western culture/interest? I doubt Refi was seeking to critique anything necessarily as her work tends to be run more like scientific experiments in which the data, always displayed in a beautifully minimal aesthetic, is provided for the viewer to draw their own conclusions.

"All Things Considered (June 2007) - 2007-2008

New York New York, DC, stacked high.

Hot topics in June.

As my date shrugged off the show saying it seemed more like a sociology experiment than art, I found myself unable to argue much in Refi's defense. Is this art? Had a sociologist conducted this experiment the data would have no doubt been presented in a much less attractive way, but does the aesthetic of the visual information presented automatically qualify it as art?

For me, what elevates this work above a pie chart and what makes it truly interesting was Refi's decision to omit an outline of the continents. The result is that the less a country was mentioned on NPR, the more difficult it is to locate or identify on Refi's maps. It's as if each piece of paper represents the geographical awareness of Americans, areas of South America, Africa, and Asia reduced to isolated red dots or altogether disappearing.

More interesting for some was Steve Aishman's "Silly Putty Rorshach #5" (2008) which reminded me of Hannah Wilke's chewing gum poon at the Contemporary last October.

If that was All Things Considered then this must be Morning Edition. In another of Refi's studies called "African Violet Drawings" from 2001 Refi drew a house plant each day for a month as it grew and shriveled. This is another series that needs to be seen its entirety of 28 drawings to grasp the fascinations of the artist which makes me think these may have been more successful had they been done on a much smaller scale so that the entire series could be framed as one piece.

Show up at Solomon Projects through October 11th 2008. Go see it! My pictures are almost completely useless.

Related Post:

"Video No Input"

Sit N Spin

"Love Hurts" - detail

"Oh Brad..."

"Love Hurts" - Oil on panel

Not only the best coffee in town

but Octane is currently showing better paintings than you are going to see in most galleries.

"POW: Death of Chivalry" - Oil on panel - 2002

POW. The show 'Love Hurts - Recycled Art" by adept painter Michael Thrush packs such a visual punch it threatens to distract all of the college and indie kids from their Ibooks and espresso.

"Lang" - Oil on Panel - 2005

Done completely in oil, I haven't seen the craft of painting executed this perfectly in quite a while. The imagery drawn and shaded seamlessly, the lines so sharp, the works began to read more as paper collage, literal magazine and comic book cutouts pasted onto board, rather than oil painting.

"Speed Racer: Sit 'n Spin" - Oil on Panel

And I am not usually one to like text on paintings but Thrush incorporates ad slogans to great effect. While a few of the paintings in the show seemed to suffer from a lack of focus, "Sit 'n Spin" unifies the cartoon pop imagery, slap stick text, and abstract shapes of colorful movement just right. This painting brings to mind NYC painter Kristen Baker.

And as far as coffee shops go, Octane has got the biggest balls in town. These meticulously painted ladies no doubt derive from some hot 'n sweaty internet porn ads, each portrait hung above the other like a strip of photobooth portraits. I couldn't help but noticed it was only men choosing the seats directly under ladies.

"Great Taste" - Oil on Panel

Thrush writes about his work: "I see contemporary pop culture subversively affecting our belief structures. In many ways, I feel programmed by the media conditioning my attitude and views. I believe the influence of the media contributes to an individual’s social development. My appropriation of pop iconography focuses on this aspect of social programming. There is a need to ‘read between the lines’ of what an image means and says to understand any socially coded message. In my work, I reinterpret images out of their context as a means to gain authority of the pop image and redirect what their intent will be. Then I choreograph specific imagery into a social commentary."

"Great Taste" - detail

Thrush seeks to retranslate " the language of symbols, signs, images, and text to read as a multi-faceted allegory providing alternative meanings through the framework of free association. "

"Menu" - Oil on Panel

In looking at the work I couldn't help but think Thrush must also enjoy all of these psychologically manipulative pop images as much as he is suspicious of them, to spend so much time layering and rendering them, and often using the same visual hooks

"Menu" - Detail

such as a crotch shot to pull the viewer's attention towards the painting much like the original image grabbed the viewers attention towards the advertisement.

The show is up through September 30th 2008 with a reception on September 12th 7-10pm at Octane. Go check out the show - it's so worth the burden of having to drink some good coffee while you peruse.

Why I Reside in da Atl (reason #3)

Read recently that Georgia's system of state parks are rated 3rd best in the country.

3rd best! I believe it.

Shame you can't say the same thing about the state SAT scores.

But never mind maths

these mountains are beautiful.

and they make J-tard one happy pup.

Master of the Bump

Rainy night

loitering at Friends with Beth and Erin.

After the very best tasting dinner at Kitchen de Christo

on to the show. The much anticipated XiuXiu live at the Crunked up Uni-corn.

where I saw the magic happen live at last.

Eccentric instruments, wailing lyrics, discordant sounds, it was incredible and exhausting to watch.

Paper earplugs required. The music was beautifully jarring and threatened to pierce eardrums in all its harsh instrumental screams and cries. (I sound like a such a douche bag music critic right now)


The drummer was a force to be reckoned with.

The tortured soul Jamie Stewart used an autoharp (!) to great effect. With the level of sincerity in Stewart's rasping voice its hard to believe this concert is part of a tour, to be performed over and over on a nightly basis. The music felt emotionally raw, fresh off the cuff, but the production of it was comfortably smooth.



F.T.W.

Time to dance it all out.


Sweat it out to some Queen and what else? its all a blur.


With a dance partner

in a skirt printed with bountiful baskets of fruit.

Somewhere along the way, in all my animated eurhythmics, my cell phone bounced out of my pocket and ended up in the possession of the DJ. (just when I had become convinced my vest was the most perfectly utilitarian piece of clothing I owned)

Luckily I know Hanyun and she knows everybody. So I got it back.

Bomb Baby Bomb

To Each Their Own Monster

the eyedrum

fittingly has an old discarded car sitting out front

the Elder

is half of the team responsible for this show

Goni "Trepadora"

The Monster Show, which may be disbanded at this point but luckily you've got snap happy me to take you on a belated tour.

Jennifer Montes "Sweet Machine"

Every artist in the large group show was asked to create art dealing with "monsters" and the entries greatly varied from mutilated clocks with transplanted orifie and felt bows

Chadwick Noellert "(Everything and/or Nothing) is Obscured"

to paintings of obscure dreamscapes where the monster threat seems to loom just outside the frame of the canvas.

While the monster theme seems to be quite popular these days (possibly due in part to the Mail Order Monster Show at Deitch last year) what made this show so worthwhile had less to do with the included artist's own thoughts on personal demons or cultural symbols of evil or even present day monsters (cough cough george w cough) but that this show gave license to many young artists (a majority from SCAD) to get a little crazy and experiment both in material and subject.

Maybe the best example being the sculptural painting above. The imagery on the panels was not quite as interesting as the funky dynamic shape of the overall piece

which, especially this bit, broke apart any preconceived notions of "the painting."

Ashlee Oliver "Oh My Goodness I'm so Depressed"

Musing over monsters seemed to have moved many of the artists to drop traditional art practices for something entirely more playful.

The two organizers of the show, Heather Elder and Ashlee Oliver built this giant puppet show "I Told You All I Want is for You to Play With Me."

And there was this excellent paper-cut painting of oozing monsters defying gravity and swallowing a mannequin whole. (Not sure on the artist name)


The show came together into a comfortably packed salon style exhibition


which included this sweet series "Monsters Are Real" of crying children by Jacosa Kato (which, in a different setting, could have taken on a much darker in tone)

Alex App's "Robot Sculpture" and in the background are a series of portraits by Josh Durham entitled "King of Horror" of actors in classic horror movies (I'm think).

Heather Elder took a more personal approach in her portrayal of real life monsters with the painting "Unchecked Growth," depicting an engorged cancer cell bathed in classical light with rich reds and pinks on a velvety dark background.

The same form is almost mocked (giving the finger to one of life's more menacing occupants) with the excellent tongue-n-cheek screen print "Autotrophic Carcinoma of an Unknown Primary." This work nicely grounded a show which may have otherwise been caught daydreaming in a time when life's real monsters are all too common.

Another really excellent inclusion is "Mini-Twinned Apparatus I"

and "Twinned Apparatus I" by Lucha Rodriguez. These two writhing creatures worked well layered over water stained paper and I was ready to take them both home with me.