ARTNICKS

Back from Chicago...Jeff Koons...Chris Hipkiss

2008-07-25T05:31:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone- sorry about the lack of posting. Things have been busy!

We just got back from a Chicago trip. I am happy to report that Chicago is as filled with great art as ever. The Jeff Koons show at the MCA Chicago is going on right now, and I completely recommend catching it before its gone. I heard from a little birdie that insurance on this show is so insane, MCA had to postpone some other shows they were hoping to fit in this year. I have to say - I have no idea what else they had planned, but I think they may have made the right choice. This show is incredible. And I didn't think I liked Jeff Koons.

There is really something to seeing a roomful of this work: there is a mix of paintings and sculpture in different media, including the super famous Michael Jackson piece and the mylar balloon pieces (the bunny and the balloon dog). These works are so iconic - I mean, whether you love or hate Jeff Koons, you know these pieces. But then there are some less well known pieces that I found just as striking - a little boy and little girl investingating a "little boy plant", a giant blingy ring, a giant blue locket, hanging from the ceiling. Everything is monumental. It makes you take a second look at our poppy, kitschy world....and why people just eat it up. The show is up until September 1st.

Also, we checked out the show at the INTUIT Outsider Museum. Right now, the show is Chris Hipkiss. This work is completely neurotic and intensely detailed...it feels like they were created in a frenzy. These mostly graphite pieces of grand scale have quite an impact, and one can't help conjuring images of the artist working obsessively on the tiny, repetitive details. The show is well worth a look.

Bye Bye, Blueflip!

2008-07-02T05:33:00.000-07:00

BlueflipArt.com will be closing at the end of July. They featured high quality giclee prints from many artists, including the three pictured here from myself, and connected artists with charity organaizations, so that they could donate part of the proceeds of the sales to whichever charity they wished. Matt at Blueflip was really great to work with, and it was obvious he cared a lot about what he was doing, and about all of the people involved in it. I'm really sad to see Blueflip go.

You can still make orders for the month of July, but after that Blueflip will be gone. So...get out there and do some shopping, people.

P.S. Half of the proceeds of sales of my prints go to benefit the Smile Train organization. Other artists on Blueflip have picked a wide variety of charities to support, so go check it out and grab some prints before they are no more.

Poketo Dreambook

2008-06-25T07:40:00.000-07:00

Poketo's website offers a great store full of arty giftage- prints, t-shirts, doodles printed on this that and the other thing. I got most excited when I ran across this flickr stream of photos of the Poketo dreambook, a sketchbook that is being passed from one Poketo artist to another to another and so forth. Quality, quirky doodles, says I.

Emmanuel Smague

2008-06-23T19:48:00.000-07:00

This is a somewhat self-gratifying post, but I hope that other people find these photos worth looking at... I've been obsessed with photography for a brief period of time (maybe 8-9 years...) Myself not being a great photographer I like looking at other people's work. This is one of the people. Emmanuel Smague is a music teacher and lives in Lannion, France. It is somehow fitting that these images were taken by someone who understands music. Each image seems to transcend barriers of language and speaks on purely emotional levels. Now, go watch "Vodka Lemon."

http://flickr.com/photos/emmanuel_smague/

Lee Piechocki

2008-06-18T05:57:00.001-07:00

Lee Piechocki is a resident artist with Kansas City's Urban Culture Project.On third fridays there is a downtown artwalk including artists open studios, whereupon you can come across Lee's work in the Partnership Place 13th floor studios. Lee's most recent works are a series of still lifes, which look strangely and generically like artist studios where odd objects (such as a gutted stag) are lying about. Lee also works in tiny sketchbooks, filling pages and pages with naive colorful doodles that, to quote him loosely "sometimes become something, sometimes don't". He also takes on odd project pieces- painting on tiny wooden blocks or magazine pages, or whatever happens to be around and interesting.

Charles & Ray Eames Stamps Now Available!

2008-06-17T05:27:00.000-07:00

So for awhile now I've seen it posted on like every single design blog out there that these Charles & Ray Eames stamps were going to be available this summer. Well, I am happy to report that they are here and now available on USPS online (as well as possibly at your local post office). So go out and get your Eames on already.

Erling Sjovold

2008-06-16T05:36:00.000-07:00

Erling Sjovold is currently showing at Gescheidle Gallery in Chicago. Having written an artist statement or two, I always struggle with saying something that sheds a little light on the work but doesn't seem like a dissertation. I think Erling's statement is perfect, so I"m just going to quote it here:

"I paint light but have trouble with time.

Lately I think about what friends have said:

At a party I overheard Smoov Brainz say, "I can't help it that I'm a visionary, so don't even ask".

Tim got the demotion he wanted and said, "Down is the new up"

Chris said, "I have never had use for a theory that said what art couldn't be". That was around 2000 or 2001, I still think of it.

Grave Dubz's legendary master's thesis: "Indecision: Crimes Against the Illusion of Mastery"

Paul Green's aphorisms:
"Sentimentality is a burglar who only enters to leave his jewels behind"
"If you correct every error you will never find the perfect mistake"
"Integrity untested by honest whoring is merely conformity"

Between statements like these and images I reconstruct from looking around my house and the newspaper, I make my paintings."

Check out the show, which also features Patrick W. Welch, Grave Dubz & Smoov Brainz (June 6-28).

Affordable Art Fair

2008-06-13T11:13:00.000-07:00

Allison Edge/Like the Spice Gallery
Andrew McAttee/Gallery One
Gina Triplett/Mauger Modern Art

This weekend the Affordable Art Fair is happening in NYC. There are 70-plus galleries (check the website for a full listing) exhibiting in this international display of art priced from $100 - $10,000.

Details:

Where: The Altman Building / Metropolitan Pavilion
135 West 18th Street, NYC

Fair Hours:
Fri June 13, 12pm - 8pm
Sat June 14, 12pm - 8pm
Sun June 15, 12pm - 5pm

Admission:
General Admission $17/day
Students and Seniors $12/day
Group discount rates $10/day
Children under 12 FREE

Scott Barry (Bott Scarry)

2008-06-09T05:40:00.000-07:00

Scott Barry is a San-Francisco based artist and designer. His illustration work and graphic design is somewhat reminiscent of design rockstars from the sixties. Bott mostly works in ink on paper, but also there is the occasional digital collage... exemplified in the color piece shown here, called "meaties".He produces limited edition zine-like books of his work, mostly full of ink drawings. You can purchase Bott's work through Receiver Gallery, where he had his first solo show this past April. Also, check out his website, at Sacred Mtn.com.

"Nice to Meet You" at TAG art Gallery

2008-06-06T05:18:00.000-07:00

Andrew Hem
Terri SaulKeith Greiman

Maura Cluthe

This Saturday evening there is a reception for the opening of a group show at TAG Art Gallery (Nashville, TN) called "Nice to Meet You". It is a mix of the gallery's regulars (Maura Cluthe, Keith Greiman) and new faces to the gallery, like Andrew Hem. The show will run from June 7th till June 28th.

TAG has been operating since 2000 and shows a mix of local, national, and international artists.

Artists in the show: Terri Saul, Keith Greiman, Greg Gossel, Mary Addison Hackett, Maura Cluthe, Andrew Hem

TAG art gallery is located at:
83 Arcade Building
Nashville TN 37219

Kavi Gupta Gallery

2008-05-29T16:59:00.000-07:00

Kavi Gupta Gallery (Chicago, Leipzig) shows and sells work from several recognizable names : Zak Smith, Yoshitomo Naro, Melanie Schiff...as well as many other possibly lesser known but not less exciting contemporary painters and installation artists.

The current exhibtion, a solo show by artist Claire Sherman, will be up at the Chicago location through June 14, 2008.
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Friday, 10-6; Saturday, 11-5

Jen Stark:Drawings

2008-05-29T06:04:00.000-07:00

Artist Jen Stark is fast becoming known for her cut-paper sculptures, which often end up looking much like the wall explodeded and revealed some strange kaledioscope-like wormhole. However, today while checking out her website I was happy to come upon her drawings, which are also extremely colorful and (dare I say it?) well, fun.

She's also working in animations now, which are kind of stop-motiony- cut-paper animations that are really like her sculptures, only moving. Check it out.

Miriam Vlaming

2008-05-26T15:31:00.000-07:00

Miriam Vlaming's paintings could be described as flashes of memory frozen in time, yet ever-changing and in flux. The recognizable images of figures and structures as if pulled from old photographs or newspapers are densely layered with drippy, expansive fields of color and marks. Each painting does not reveal a story; rather the story seems to unfold over a span of many canvases–all serving almost as film stills in a movie. This movie to me is about the intersection of the artist's personal history with our collective one in the space between time and dreams.

http://www.miriamvlaming.com

Tiffany Calvert

2008-05-20T06:08:00.000-07:00

I found Tiffany Calvert's work through the Lisa Boyle Gallery, which is a Chicago space that was at the NEXT art fair. Tiffany lives and works in New York. Her latest series of work, which was derived somewhat from photos of post-Katrina New Orleans mansions, combines the energy of abstraction with the charged imagery of representational environments that are abandoned and moody. The upturned furniture and contrast of gestural color against monotone backgrounds suggests struggle and disorder in a world that perhaps once seemed very normal and beautiful.

Ellie Curtis

2008-05-16T06:25:00.000-07:00

Ellie Curtis is a printmaker who lives and works in East London. She has an Etsy shop and a website/blog, through which she sells her screenprints as well as hand-printed textiles and items made from them, such as the pillow pictured here. Her limited color palettes usually utilize strong blacks against highly saturated color, in detailed scribbly scrawls that depict unusual fauna, creatures, and the occasional "who-knows-what-that-is".

Dream + Reality Show, About Glamour Gallery

2008-05-12T05:38:00.000-07:00

So- Sorry about my lax posting lately, I started a new job and I've been kind of distracted. I should have mentioned this last week, but I am in a group show that just opened in Brooklyn on Friday, and there are some awesome artists involved, so if you have a chance and you happen to be in Williamsburg, please stop in and check it out....

"Dream + Reality"
5/9 - 6/15/2008
Opening Reception: 5/9/2008, Friday, 7-10pm

Participating Artists:
Kiersten Essenpreis/ Lizz Hickey/ Ilana Kohn/ Amy Kligman/ Jessica Langley/ Sandy Litchfield/ Joel Morrison

Brooklyn - AG Gallery is pleased to present "Dream + Reality", a group exhibition of seven artists who express their own psychological dreamscapes and explore the moment between dream and reality. The exhibition will be comprised of paintings, drawings and several print works.

"Dream + Reality" will be on view at AG Gallery through June 15th, 2008.
The gallery is located at 103 North 3rd St. (between Berry and Wythe Ave.) Hours: Sun. 12-8pm Mon.-Fri. 12-9pm Sat. 12-10pm
For further information, please contact the gallery at 718-599-3044 or visit AboutGlamour.net

Juried Shows + Grant Opportunities..

2008-04-29T06:02:00.000-07:00

JURIED EXHIBITION CALL FOR ENTRIES:

DEADLINE: MAY 21. NATIONAL JURIED MONOTYPE/MONOPRINT EXHIBITION. Attleboro Arts Museum, Attleboro, MA. Sept 6 – Oct 3, 2008. Awards: $1,000.00 Open to US artists. Juror: Aprile Gallant, Curator, Smith College Museum of Art, MA. Prospectus: SASE to MGNE, c/o Alice Merlone, 154 Westminster St, Hamden, CT 06518, www.mgne.org or phone number on prospectus.

DEADLINE: JUNE 1. 4TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION. Soho20 Chelsea Gallery. July 17 – Aug 13, 2008. Open to artists worldwide. Juror:Chakaia Booker,sculptor. Prospectus: SASE to Soho20 Chelsea Gallery, 511 W.25th Street, New York, NY10001, http://soho20gallery.com/juried.htm, 212-367-8994.

DEADLINE JUNE 2. 17TH ANNUAL NATIONAL JURIED EXHIBITION. Art Institute and Gallery. Sept.14 – Oct 11, 2008. Awards: Best of Show- $1,000 plus 2009 solo exhibition in foyer gallery, 2 $500.00 awards of excellence, 3 honorable mentions. Juror: Ellen Harris, former Deputy Director of Museum of Modern Art. Prospectus: SASE to AI&G, Box 193,
Salisbury, MD 21801, www.artinstituteandgallery.org, 410-546-4748.

DEADLINE: JUNE 11. NATIONAL JURIED COMPETITION. Berkeley Art Center. Aug 24 – Oct. 12, 2008. $1,200 cash award and national recognition. Jurors: Catharine Clark, Catharine Clark Gallery SF, JoAnne Northrup, Senior Curator of San Jose Museum of Art. SASE to Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St, Berkeley, CA 94709 or info@berkeleyartcenter.org.

GRANTS:

DEADLINE: NOTSTATED. MONEY FOR WOMEN/BARBARA DEMING MEMORIAL FUND, INC. Up to $1,000 to individual feminist women artists whose work in some way focuses on women. Money for Women/Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, Inc., P.O. Box 630125, Bronx, NY 10463.

DEADLINE: ONGOING (3/08). ARTISTS FELLOWSHIP, INC. A private, charitable foundation that assists professional fine artists and their families in times of emergency, disability or bereavement. Assistance given without expectation of repayment. Artists Fellowship, Inc., 47 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10003, 646-230-9833, http://ArtistsFellowship.org, info@ArtistsFellowship.org.

DEADLINE: ONGOING (3/08). LUDWIG VOGELSTEIN FOUNDATION provides one-time grants to individuals working in fine arts and literary arts (no photo or film/video). Grants $1,000-$3,000 based on merit and need. Diana Braunschweig, Executive Director, Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, 4001 Inglewood Ave., #101-309, Redondo Beach, CA, 90278, lvf@earthlink.net.

DEADLINE: ONGOING. (11/06) THE ELIZABETH GREENSHIELDS FOUNDATION. Open to artists "in the early stages of their careers" working in painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture. "Applicants must have started or completed art school training or must demonstrate, through past work and future plans, a commitment to making art a lifetime career. Funds may be used for any art-related purpose: study, travel, studio rental, purchase of materials, etc." $12,500CAN award. The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, 1814 Sherbrooke St. West, Suite 1, Montreal, Quebec CANADA H3H 1E4, 514-937-9225.

DEADLINE: ONGOING (11/06). NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS. Offers several grants, fellowships, and other opportunities. A partial list follows. Grants for Arts Projects. Challenge America: Reaching Every Community Fast-Track Review Grants. Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth. Access to Artistic Excellence. Arts on Radio and Television. Contact: arts.endow.gov.

DEADLINE: ONGOING (11/06). POLLOCK-KRASNER FOUNDATION. The Foundation welcomes, throughout the year, applications from visual artists who are painters, sculptors and artists who work on paper, including printmakers. The Foundation encourages applications from artists who have genuine financial needs that are not necessarily catastrophic. Grants are intended for a one-year period of time. The Foundation will consider need on the part of an applicant for all legitimate expenditures relating to his or her professional work and personal living, including medical expenses. The size and length of the grant is determined by the individual circumstances of the artist. The Foundation does not accept applications from commercial artists, photographers, video artists, performance artists, filmmakers, crafts-makers or any artist whose work primarily falls into these categories. The Foundation does not make grants to students or fund academic study. The Foundation does not make grants to pay for past debts, legal fees, the purchase of real estate, moves to other cities, or to pay for the costs of installations, commissions or projects ordered by others. With very few exceptions, the Foundation will not fund travel expenses. Please do not send applications via fax or email, and do not call to request application. SASE to Pollock-Krasner Foundation, 863 Park Ave., New York, NY 10021, 212-517-5400, www.pkf.org.

Jess Langley

2008-04-23T10:01:00.001-07:00

Jess Langley is currently finishing up her MFA at Virginia Commonwealth University. Jess uses a mix of abstraction and realism to morph elements of nature into narratives that depict very human emotions. She works in blurry watercolors, guache, and archival giclee prints.

Her thesis show is currently running at the Virgina Commenwealth's Anderson Gallery , and will be up until May 4th.

Art Chicago & Chicago NEXT artfairs

2008-04-22T05:33:00.000-07:00

Art Chicago is happening this weekend. At Art Chicago, over 180 of "the worlds leading emerging and established galleries" will be showing the work of over 2,000 artists. The work will be in a variety of media; including painting, drawing, video,installation work, sculpture, and prints. There are also seminars, ranging in topic from "What gives Art Value"? to "Curators on Curating".

The hubub is taking place in the RIver North district, at the Merchandise Mart. Occuring alongside Art Chicago are several other fairs, all falling under the umbrella citywide celebration of "Artropolis"; including Intuit (Outsider art), and Chicago NEXT (focused on emerging artists). Purchasing a single $20 pass will get you into all of the exhibitions for a day.

Show hours:
Friday, April 25, 11 AM – 7 PM
Saturday, April 26, 11 AM – 7 PM
Sunday, April 27, 11 AM – 6 PM
Monday, April 28, 11 AM – 3 PM (Art Chicago's main exhibition will be open until four, most of the other shows close at 3)

You can find lists of exhibiting galleries, directions, and details at the following websites:
ArtChicago
NEXT artfair.com
INTUIT folk & outsider art fair
The Artist Project

Sandy Litchfield

2008-04-14T05:12:00.000-07:00

Sandy Litchfield's approach to landscape painting is definately not what you would find hanging over your crusty aunt's fireplace. And that's exactly what I like about it. The organic nature of the paintings definately speaks to forms and textures found in nature, but in unpredictable compositions so that even familiar elements like twisted tree roots and mossy patches are fresh and put into new context. She juxtaposes complicated, detailed parts of the painting with stark white spaces and flat colored shapes, giving the viewer plenty to look at without overwhelming.

Sandy has an MFA from the University of Massachusetts in Amherts, and continues to live in the the area, bouncing between Massachusetts and New York. She has shown work mostly in the Northeast, in Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. She has a website, at Sandy Litchfield.com.

SPACES Call for Artists

2008-04-10T12:55:00.000-07:00

SPACES is a well-established alternative art space in Cleveland, OH. Check out Spaces Website for details about their annual application process for both the regular gallery space and SPACELAB, which serves as a short term experimental installation space.

Engrave Your Moleskine

2008-04-08T07:57:00.000-07:00

design by Dan Funderburgh
design by Alisha Wessler
Moleskines are everyone's favorite sketchbook. Now there's a website that will custom engrave them for you. At Engrave Your Book.com you can not only purchase copies of your own custom design, but you can submit your artwork to be chosen as a "featured artist" whose books will be sold on the site (and for which you would earn a 15% royalty). Also, you can engrave the spine of your book with a title and can do bulk runs. The site provides a design guide for best engraving results. Average turn around time is 7-12 business days.

Balint Zsako

2008-04-08T07:23:00.000-07:00

Balint Zsako is a Hungarian-born, Canadian artist. His drawings, watercolors and sculptures have been exhibited widely in Canada, United States and abroad. Zsako's drawings have a folk-art quality with their stylized figures and hierarchical compositions. However, further investigation reveals a complex net of psychological narratives that has been woven around the smilingly naive imagery.

http://balintzsako.com/

Romo Gallery

2008-04-07T07:29:00.001-07:00

Alex Kavares
Leslie Kneisel
Ryan Mrozowski
Romo Gallery in Atlanta, GA is known for fresh, "edgy" shows. It is part of the "4th Friday Art Stroll", in the Castleberry Hill area. The current show "The Boys Are Back In town" is a group show of art from a resoundingly male perspective. The next show, opening April 11th, will be called "Controlled Release". The gallery is open from Thursday to Saturday from 11-6 or by appointment, and is located at 309 Peters St SW, Atlanta, GA, 30313.

Betsy Timmer

2008-04-02T05:32:00.000-07:00

Betsy Timmer is an artist working on her MFA at Kansas University in Lawrence, KS. Her MFA show is opening this weekend, and if you're anywhere near the vincinity you should really check it out. I've previewed the work for the show, and the pieces are grand in scale and ambitious, thematically and in sheer physical presence. I really wish that I had photos of the new work..I may take some and post them next week. The pictures here are of old work off her website, and they kind of give you an idea of her thing, which is to anthropomorphize domestic objects. I will say though, as fun as these pieces are, they really pale in comparison to the new work, which embodies so much character in the simpliest of materials: muslin, zippers, teabags, etc.

Many of the objects in the show are distinctly feminine, and a theme throughout is the perceived feminine roll in domestic life juxtaposed with other ambitions, goals, and ideas that a women might have to the contrary. There is also a subtle appreciation for certain elements of domesticity in Betsy's work, which might lead you to believe that even though she doesn't want her whole life to be about ironing, she might actually enjoy it, and appreciate the meditations that come from doing these kinds of jobs...sweeping, sewing, knitting...

The show opens on Sunday, in the gallery on the 1st floor of the art and design building on the KU Lawrence Campus. Betsy Timmer's website, for those of you who can't travel to see the show, is at Btimmer.com.