There are drawbacks to putting an art gallery in one’s living room,
among them having to keep the floors spotless and hide dirty socks. But
there are definite benefits, too: no overhead, for one, which comes in
handy if the art market, in keeping with most other markets these days,
happens to sputter to a halt.
In Bushwick, Brooklyn, galleries owned and run by artists have
sprouted over the past few years in living rooms as well as in
storefronts and factory spaces. Unlike gallery owners in Chelsea or
SoHo, many of these artists-slash-gallerists have an extra layer of
insulation against the spiraling recession. Most have full-time jobs
and said their motive for showing art was just that: to show art.
“I
never set out to do this for commercial gain, so I’m not dealing with
the same kind of commercial pressures as Manhattan,” said Jason Irwin,
who runs a gallery called Privateer in his small studio apartment, off Flushing Avenue.
Mr. Irwin, an artist himself who has a paid job working for the conceptual artist Fred Wilson, most recently showed work by Ellie Murphy,
whose eight-foot-tall macramé-like yarn hanging one could imagine in a
museum but probably would not expect to buy, or sell. He opened the
gallery in October, showing his own sculptural pieces as well as work
by other artists from as far away as Los Angeles.
The Task Force of the Richmond Region Cultural Action Plan is pleased
to host a series of meetings on January 12 & 13 that will engage
our entire community in forming a comprehensive plan for strengthening
the region's arts and cultural community. Attend one or all of the
upcoming meetings, which will include a presentation about the project
by consultants, WolfBrown, and opportunities for the public to get
involved.
You're Invited to Attend the Community Meetings about the Richmond Region Cultural Action Plan:
Monday, January 12, 2009 4:00-6:00pm Hanover School Board 200 Berkley Street Ashland, VA 23005
Monday, January 12, 2009 7:00-9:00pm Pine Camp Cultural Arts Center 4901 Old Brook Rd Richmond, VA 23227
Tuesday, January 13, 2009 4:00-6:00pm Cultural Center of India 6641 Ironbridge Parkway Chester, Va. 23831
Tuesday, January 13, 2009 7:00-9:00pm Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen 2880 Mountain Road Glen Allen, VA 23060
What is the big picture goal of the Cultural Action Plan?
The
plan will look broadly at the importance of arts and culture in our
region to create a collective and inclusive vision for the area’s
cultural sector. It will identify strategies to increase participation,
financial support, awareness and collaborative opportunities that will
lay the foundation for a thriving cultural landscape. Richmond,
Virginia follows other cities across the nation that have developed
cultural plans that have successfully guided the promotion, planning,
development, and funding of their community’s arts and cultural
organizations.
Half a Dozen Things Fine Artists & Crafters Can Do To Help Themselves Survive the Economic Slump
Because fine art and craft have long been considered a luxury for an audience with a disposable income, visual artists, like many self-employed creatives are susceptible to icky, economic downturns. Right now everyone is hesitant to spend to drop cash on what seems to extravagance, even the very wealthy. But collectors and dealers know this is the best time to buy and fine art and craft is one of the safest places to "park" their moola. But, they are looking to invest in established artists with proven and verifiable sales and exhibition histories.
This is not good news for most emerging and mid-career artists. I've gotten e-mails from creative friends asking for ideas about how and where to sell work during a time when many galleries are struggling to make ends meet. Galleries are way more likely to exhibit the work of artists they feel confident they can sell right now. So, if you are thinking about approaching galleries any time soon here are five things to consider:
Know your stuff. Do your research and keep up the news- art, culture and business. Keep an eye on trends in your community. Watch which galleries are advertising and who they are showing. This will be a strong indication of which galleries will survive. Know which galleries accept outside proposals and when, keeping in mind most schedule exhibitions months or years in advance. Understand that, like the business world, the gallery world ebbs and flows and you need to move with it.
Become a little geeky. Aside from having an organized electronic (email) database of collectors, fans and people interested in your work, as well as an accurate inventory system, take a little time to research web sites (if you don't have one) and blogs. Determine whether you are better served with a blog that you can easily update or a static website that is updated quarterly or annually. Check out social media sites like Facebook or LinkedIn to find out
how networking online with other artists and people of a like mind can
benefit you. It's easy to let these things slide and find reasons for not having enough time, energy or resources...but, there is never a better time than now to get this stuff done.
Find creative weirdoes. Face it: being a visual artist can be a not only a weird but solitary profession, so in surrounding
yourself with other creative weirdoes you can help one another remain positive and upbeat. So find other artists and creative people you can talk to and/or meet on a
regular basis. It's always important to keep creativity flowing but
especially during economic downturns. Nothing does that better than talking to other artists about their work and discussing yours.
Get out of the box. Be willing to think out of the box and explore non-traditional venues to
exhibit work and be willing to lower prices and/or barter for goods and services if you can. Look into local outdoor and weekend farmer's markets and other similar venues. Look into renting space in an antique mall. Many people looking to decorate their homes with antiques also collect fine art and craft.
Curate yourself. Create your own exhibition of your existing work and approach local non profit exhibition spaces, small museums and college and university galleries with your ideas. Since many are coping with budget cuts, they are often more open to an exhibition that is already prepackaged and ready to hang. Use the distance you are willing to drive as your geographical radius and send proposals to everyone within that area.
Do stuff for yourself. Everyone is under a tremendous amount of stress in this uncertain economic climate. The world seems chaotic right now. Money, career and family responsibilities can feel overwhelming. For many visual artists and fine crafters, it is our art that centers us and in an intrinsic part of who we are. We will all get through this, so continue to make the best possible art you can make and you will continue to thrive.
If
you've ever stared at a jar of bodily fluids at a gallery and
exclaimed, "They call this art?" you're not alone. But neither are you
set in your curmudgeonly ways. Research shows that simply thinking
about the distant future puts those white canvases and Campbell's soup
cans in a new, more artistic, light.
Subjects
spent a few minutes writing about their lives tomorrow or a year from
now, and then rated a series of works on how well they matched "a
conventional concept of art." Those who prospected further ahead were
more likely to place unorthodox pieces under the umbrella of "art."
German
researcher Katrin Lo Baido explains that we tend to think more
abstractly about the far future, priming us to widen our conceptual
horizons. Near-future planning focuses us on the concrete here-and-now,
inducing us to, say, measure that new exhibit against familiar
prototypes, such as the Mona Lisa.
Other
research suggests more tricks for seeing the forest for the trees at
MoMA. Keep your mood positive, ponder the whys rather than the hows of
the artworks, or simply stand farther from the pieces. Especially Piss Christ. —Matthew Hutson
From Questionable to Classic
Three historic works that pushed the boundaries of art.
Fountain, Marcel Duchamp. This urinal, Duchamp's most famous readymade, was originally denied entry to an open art competition.
Brillo Boxes, Andy Warhol. If a Brillo box can be seen as art, philosopher Arthur Danto said, "anything is possible."
Fat Corner, Joseph Beuys. His pile of fat left rotting in a gallery corner was accidentally destroyed by the cleaning crew.
RICHMOND, VA.- The University of Richmond Museums is pleased to announce the recent addition of 153 original Andy Warhol photographs to the permanent collection of the Joel and Lila Harnett Print Study Center, gifted as part of the Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy Program. In celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the organization donated more than 28,500 original Warhol photographs valued at more than $28 million and divided amongst 183 college and university art museums in the United States. The University of Richmond Museums is honored to be selected as a recipient of this extraordinary gift.
The University of Richmond Museums will organize an exhibition showcasing the works in the spring of 2009. Warhol's "Photographs and Pictures": Selections from the Gift of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts is scheduled to be on view from March 20 to May 22, 2009 in the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art. The exhibition will be curated by Lucy Green, '09, art history major, University of Richmond, and will be the subject of her senior thesis project.
Green recalls the buzz and excitement among the students and museum staff when opening the gift for the first time. "I was only familiar with Warhol's more popular and commercial prints," Green explained, "but these photographs capture a unique and personal glimpse into Warhol's world." The collection allows her to explore themes such as Warhol's ever-increasing preoccupation with fame, his use of the camera both as an equalizer and a social diary, the method behind his technical process, and finally, Warhol's theories of art and business. Green states, "I feel extremely fortunate to be able to have this valuable opportunity to study Warhol's original photographs with my senior thesis. My in-depth research should provide a foundation for curating and shaping the exhibition for the spring."
Executive director of the University Museums, Richard Waller notes, "We are greatly appreciative of the Warhol Foundation's gift. The photographs provide a rare opportunity to view and study Warhol's creative process and work. The photographs have already sparked much interest among our faculty, staff, and students."
The Warhol Photographic Legacy Program aims to provide greater public access to Warhol's photographs that have remained largely unseen. Curator of the program at the Warhol Foundation, Jenny Moore, notes that these works demonstrate, "Warhol's profound and frank engagement with the personality in front of the lens…his eye for detail, and his compulsive desire to document the world around him."
The University of Richmond received 102 Polaroid photographs in addition to 51 black-and-white silver gelatin prints made by Warhol from 1970 to 1987. Several of these Polaroid photographs served as studies for Warhol's later works. For instance, Witch (1980) directly correlates with his later myth series of pop culture figures such as the Wicked Witch of the West from the film "The Wizard of Oz." Also, the black-and-white works, most of which are candid shots, provide a personal lens into Warhol's life, social circle, and artistic milieu.
Warhol skillfully captured celebrities, socialites, artists, and models in his photographs. The image of Mick Jagger, Mackenzie Phillips, and Nicky Lane Weymouth exemplifies Warhol's illustrious quote that, "a good picture is one that's in focus and of a famous person doing something unfamous." Viewers may recognize others figures of the 1970s and 1980s from athletes Dorothy Hamill and Vitas Gerulaitis to designers Carolina Herrera and Stephen Sprouse to editor of Glamour magazine, Marguerite Littmann. Warhol also reveals the art scene of his time through portraits of contemporaries such as artists Roy Lichtenstein and Victor Hugo as well as influential curators and major art collectors. These noted celebrities paired with Warhol's more personal acquaintances are some of the many subjects represented in the University Museums' recent gift.
Founded in 2001, the Joel and Lila Harnett Print Study Center houses the permanent collection of works on paper of the University of Richmond Museums and serves as a research center for the study and exhibition of prints, drawings, and photographs. With more than 5,000 works on paper in the collection by artists from the fifteenth century to the present, the Center promotes exposure to original works of art to the University's students, faculty, and staff as well as the Richmond community and the region. Through research, programs, publications, and exhibitions, the Harnett Print Study Center encourages the study and appreciation of works on paper and the visual arts.
One of
the reasons I don't often write much about other people's art is that
sometimes I can look at a work and have NO CLUE why the particular
piece was composed but I like it. Often it doesn't occur to me to
wonder about the story behind the artwork unless it is obviously a
statement of some sort. It may be the color, it might be the
way a certain technique was employed that draws toward a work of art.
It might be how it makes me, the
viewer, feel. It could be any number of things that captures my attention and draws me to a particular piece of art. But why the artist
did what she or he did is not something that is always immediately
apparent.
Indeed one of the things I am asked quite frequently about my own
art is, 'Why' and to them I always say what the art says to you is far
more important than any meaning I could attach to it for you.
One of the things heard being discussed around the fine art and photography gallery I work with, is what photographers can and cannot photograph.
Here's
a scenario: You are out strolling around, photographing interesting
stuff. You come across a terrific landscape that has a complete
stranger in it. Without that person's silhouette in the composition,
you have no terrific photo. What do you do? Go ahead and take the
picture? And if you do, do you need the person's permission order to
print or sell the photograph?
I've always thought not and in asking around, I've found that ideas
and opinions about this vary greatly. So off I went in search of some
conclusive answers for myself. In fact, there are, surprisingly, very
few restrictions on what and who can be photographed in the public view.
At this point though, I need to make you perfectly aware that although I'm devastatingly savvy, awesomely bright, and a talented writer, I'm not not a lawyer and none of this is legal advice.
A lot of this information was gleaned from attorney Bert P. Krages‘
website, which was chockfull of terrific and useful information about
copyright, photography and art law and bunches of other useful stuff.
There's even a downloadable PDF called the Photographers Right that covers quick access to your rights and obligations concerning confrontations over photography all in a handy-dandy flyer. So remember! If you have a legal
issue, get in touch with a lawyer, not me or 12 12 Gallery!
My fiend friend Morgaine and I agreed to make some art everyday since we are both kinda plunking along for various reasons. The idea is to just start creating something everyday or as close to it as we can manage.
So here is my offering for today.
Homage to the Full Moon 10" x 11.5" found images, pattern, Prismacolor Art Journal Collage Krishanna (c) 2008
12 12 Gallery is pleased to announce an open call to artists and photographers for its second annual Manchester National Juried Fine Art Exhibition.
Artists age 18+, working in 2D and 3D any medium, in the United States and Canada may submit up to 10 slides or digital files of work to be considered for the exhibition.The exhibition will be curated by N. Elizabeth Schlatter, Deputy Director and Curator of Exhibitions, University of Richmond Museums, and will award over $1000 in cash prizes.
N. Elizabeth Schlatter, has curated more than 20 exhibitions, including the recent exhibition “Leaded”, and of work by Andreas Feininger, Hans Friedrich Grohs, and Fiona Ross. As an independent curator and writer, Ms. Schlatter has organized exhibitions for contemporary art spaces in the mid-Atlantic region, and has authored several articles and essays for Focus and Photovision magazines, the National Women in the Arts Bulletin, and the American National Biography (Oxford University Press), among others. She is also author of the on-line publication “Become An Art Curator.” Prior to working at the University of Richmond she was an exhibitions project director for the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) in Washington, D.C. You can submit your work online, download the Prospectus and a printable entry form or get more information about submitting work for this exhibition by visiting the Call for Entries page on the 12 12 Gallery website.
HONDO, N.M.- Renowned artist from New Mexico, Luis Jimenez,
died Tuesday while working on a sculpture for Denver International
Airport. when a piece of sculpture - a part of the 32-foot-tall rearing
mustang - disengaged from a hoist and fell, fatally injuring him. The
accident happened as Jimenez, 65, used the hoist to move a section of
the gigantic fiberglass sculpture, "Mustang." The piece came loose and
hit Jimenez, pinning him against a steel support beam, reported the
Denver Post.
Jimenez was often controversial because he crafted sculptures that
touched on hot political topics, reported CBC. Luis Jimenez's work can
be found in numerous public and private collections including The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New
York; The Hirshhorn Museum and The National Museum of American Art,
Washington, D.C.; The Art Institute of Chicago, IL; and The Rockefeller
Foundation.
Jimenez is survived by his wife and children Elisa Jimenez of New
York; and Luis Adan Jimenez, Juan Orion Jimenez and Sarah Alicia Xochil
Jimenez, all of Hondo; a brother, David Jimenez of Hondo and a sister,
Irene Branson of El Paso.
Source: ArtDaily For full story: Chron.com- Houston Photo Credit: Jack Parson; Museum of New Mexico Press
“This latest exhibition represents a culmination of exploring new directions in form and thought, content and materials. These assemblages are distinct and nostalgic, as well as deeply spiritual and earthy. Some bursting with colors, others juxtaposed with surrealist compositions and whimsy, this collection of my work is full of energy; warm and rich with the images and symbols that continue to be focal points for meditation and inspiration in my life”.
