Iran keeps great art in the basement

Fascinating: Iran keeps art in the basement.

Training Ground for Democracy

I know this is old news, and the folks that follow art happenings are probably sick of it, but I'm fascinated by the debacle that was to be the Mass MoCA “Training Ground for Democracy” exhibit. I think this quote from Roberta Smith in a dialogue in Artl!es applies to the curators for artist Stephen Buchel's work: "There is a lot of what I would call 'wishful looking' in art criticism these days." I think there's a lot of wishful looking throughout the public art world, and Mass MoCA was caught looking. Smith wasn't referring to criticism of “Training Ground for Democracy”. In fact, I think she views Buchels work as legitimate, interesting art. I think that some art critics look at Buchel's work and wish it was more than it is — not simply mediocre to bad art, but monumental, relevant, major art.

Here's the current state of the Mass MoCA, Stephen Buchel, "Training Ground for Democracy" show: Judge rules. . .

Why Roberta Smith thinks Mass MoCA shouldn't open a show with what's left: Is It Art Yet? And Who Decides?

Tyler Green's latest comments: On the mess. . .

I've recently read criticism of some art museums' tendencies to book big blockbuster events, at the expense of relevancy or artistic merit. “Training Ground for Democracy” is a perfect example. It appears that it was simply going to be a show about how amazing it is that they got a house and some trucks and other big stuff inside a museum. Too much is made of the juxtapositions. Even if Buchel had finished “Training Ground for Democracy”, and approved of the exhibit, it was still just big stuff from the real world moved inside a museum. I think trying to make much of Buchel's environments is an extended example of "wishful looking". In describing them as "bristling three-dimensional history paintings", Roberta Smith explains his environments, but ultimately exaggerates the positive. I doubt that “Training Ground for Democracy” was going to bristle.

3 Artists from the Affair @ the Jupiter Hotel

I went to my first art fair on Sunday, the Affair @ the Jupiter Hotel. These are three artists that caught my attention.

Amanda Hughen, a San Francisco area artist. I think shown by Swarm, Oakland, CA. Hughen makes complex line drawings repeatedly tracing and abutting some standard template shapes such as hexagon, or ellipses. I believe the drawing I saw was on plywood.

Victoria Haven, Seattle. Shown by PDX, Portland, OR. Haven showed a small drawing or painting of rows of abutting gray planes each in two-point perspective. Her work is reminiscent of another artists whose work I admire: Suzanne Corporeal.

Jeff Keller, a sculpture from Maine. Shown by Richard Levy, Albuquerque, NM. Keller showed a panel with a simple trapezoid shape with a couple of lines, creating a perspective 3-D effect.

Ursula von Rydingsvald, Presenting at PAM

I attended the Ursula von Rydingsvald presentation of her work at the PAM this afternoon. I think that without exception the pieces she showed as slides, and there were many, were superior to the kinetic sculpture upstairs at the PAM. This sculpture is only one of two moving pieces she has done. Perhaps kinetic sculpture doesn't really work with her art. It's as if you went to Arches National Park in Utah, and one of the beautiful arches somehow had been made to bounce up and down. The motion is just not necessary to the effect.

Von Rydingsvald's sculptures are beautiful the way that large rock formations are beautiful. (See the entablature jointing at Latourell falls and elsewhere in the Columbia river gorge.) I wouldn't try to think too much about what they mean. I don't think she does. She has simply arrived at a very successful process, that seems to require less design effort than organization and execution. It's as though she's sped up nature's process of erosion or created in cedar the look of columnar jointing produced when lava cools and contracts.

Manufactured Landscapes

Go see Manufactured Landscapes, a documentary by Jennifer Baichwal about Edward Burtynsky's photography, if it comes to your town.

If you're not familiar with Burtynsky's photography, google images here. My favorites are the shipbreaking photos from Bangladesh. They're included in the film, which chronicles the whole effect of modern industrialization from resource extraction, through manufacturing, shipping, and finally recycling.

Arch Rival

Mark Grotjahn has shown paintings and drawings using one point perspective in several major gallerys. MOMA even has a few of his drawings. Like mine, his have multiple vanishing points. I believe he uses one-point perspective where I use two-point, and typically, though not necessarily, he contains the vanishing points within the picture plane taking lines all the way to the horizon. The effect is many abutting planes receding to the vanishing point, creating a radial image.

Also see the Anton Kern Gallery, and Shane Campbell Gallery, or Google him.

Golden Ratio Drawing

Here's a new drawing more or less done within the golden ratio. I don't think the golden ratio (about 1.6:1) makes it look any better or worse than the 1:1 ratio I usually work in. Granted the long dimension is skewed in my drawing.

I think it must be a myth that the golden ratio contributes anything to beauty, proportion or harmony.