nouvelle linkage

Its funny how the simplest things can be the hardest to figure out. I suppose its just the thick protestant genes ingrained in my psyche that life will be hard... but that is not what this post is about so I'll save it that topic for a later date.

I built my first website in '97 or so and finally established my domain name in 2001. I've been trying to learn flash and another type of html editing software that would allow me to easily upload videos to my website... duh? I finally just uploaded a quicktime movie created in iPhoto to my server and ah ha! It worked!! If you click on the link above you'll see a QT movie of "Paper Views." After that petite ephiphany we took Sunday off to enjoy one of the last Indian Summer weekends of the season.

We spent the day sailing around the Northern Neck with a group of our friends we've known forever. It was a lovely afternoon but a little rough for the big sails. The rain finally fell last night as we were finishing dinner. It was all good.

Robin Rose on view D.C.

top:
Conspire, 2006
encaustic on linen on
aluminum hexcel panel
24" x 18"

bottom:
Hiatus, 2006
encaustic on linen on
aluminum hexcel panel
72" x 48"



(disregard the white panels on either side of these images.)

Yesterday I rode the Chinatown bus into Washington DC to deliver a painting to the Whitman-Walker Clinic on S Street NW. (There is an Art for Life Auction, sponsored by this clinic on November 17.) Anyone who has been reading this blog for long knows of my frustrations with UPS and FED EX so I decided to spend the funds I would use to ship the art on the bus fare and to take the day to look at art instead of worry whether my painting would make it to DC in one piece. It was a good move, all in all.

I regret missing a few openings in Richmond but I had an unexpected meeting with my muse at the Robin Rose show at Hemphill Fine Arts. I read the show was very good here but when I walked into the gallery during the middle of an Artist Talk I knew that my timing was fortutious.

There has been a great deal of encaustic work shown in Virginia during the past ten years. Its the THING nowadays but I've never seen anything that comes close to Robin Rose's work. He's the master who studied with the master and when he is working the medium disappears and it becomes pure expression. He explained his desire to be a master of his materials so that they would become invisible and he could focus on expression first. This is evident in the work which comes as close to sublime as anything I've ever seen in quite a while.

He succeeds what others attempt. His success looks effortless and that is why his paintings stand out during a time when the artworld embraces novelty.


Fathom, 2006
encaustic on linen on
aluminum hexcel panel
24" x 18"


I made the rounds after that: Adamson, Plan B, Irvine. There was work worth seeing everywhere but nothing hit me like Rose's work. I normally spend my time visiting the museums on the mall but this go I decided to see the Aboriginal Paintings at the National Museum of Women in the Arts since it closes today. I know many painters that should see this show. They would love it. I first heard about it on NPR when I was in Paris and it was worth the wait.

The National Portrait Gallery has also reopened with their biannual Portrait Competition. I wasn't impressed by the work on the website so I am glad I had the time to see the show. Only three of the painters who made it into this exhibition (4000 entries) work with acrylic paint which I found to be very interesting since I can't work with oil paint. It is still the preferred medium by people who paint portraits. You can see the facimile's of the winning portraits by clicking on this link.

The NPG closes at 7pm so I had some time to shop and eat before the CT bus left D.C. at 10pm... never mind the fact that it was supposed to leave at 8:30! I enjoyed being in DC on a Friday night. Washington's Chinatown is a different place than it was in 1987 or so when I first met with Y. David Chung in his studio there.

Squeaky Wheel Keeps on Turning

Why do galleries bother to ask an artist to sign a contract, agree to an opening and closing date, a commission? Why do galleriests invite the public into their salons, complain vigorously about the lack of support for the arts and then discontinue their programs or exhibitions before the end of the PUBLISHED run? If there were a natural disaster or socio-economic calamity I would certainly understand the need to take down artwork prior to a scheduled closing date. New Orleans gallerists had good reason to close shop and head for the hills. Most gallerists can attribute such situations to bad planning and everyone winds up looking bad when a potiential collector shows up to see an exhibition and the walls are blank.

Never mind the fact that everyone is busy and that making time to look at art is a real committment: it is INEVITABLE that people will show up to see the exhibition during the 11th hour. Why would a gallerist risk having to turn someone away? or show white walls because the regularly scheduled exhibition has been taken down early? I don't get it. I've experienced this more times than I want to think about and in galleries that are considered to be very professional. Not!

This is a giant pet peeve. I am embarrassed when people make an effort to visit my or anyone's show and there is no work for them to see. I don't know why so many galleries choose not to follow a standard of professional practice that is so basic. I am so frustrated about this and am uncertain as to what to do about it. If I were a magazine or newspaper I would print a retraction regarding the opening and closing of every gallery that is guilty of this.

Showtime

Last night we made the rounds. We stopped in at the Virginia Museum's Studio School Faculty Exhibition which was one of the best ever since the reception offered one of my favorite wines and there were people there I hadn't seen for a long while. Ageless artists like W.A. Wright inspire me. The new director of the VMFA was in attendace which was a nice surprise. SB gave us a lift to the Anderson Gallery exhibition which left me a little cold. I love work that addresses light and I have always enjoyed JRs curatorial work. There just wasn't enough here to hold my attention for very long. Maybe the crowd distracted me? It is worth a second look.

We proceeded to the new Page Bond Gallery as we walked home. It looked like God cut a page out of a photo spread of Chelsea and pasted it onto a map of Richmond's Main St corridor... but it is REAL. KHC was walking in just as we got there. RB was also there but best of all JB of the AIA was there. It was nice catching up with all of them in such an inspired environment. The work was impressive, the space even more so. (a little like having work in the new MOMA?)

KHC gave us a lift home which I appreciate since I have two days of workshops over the weekend. Tis the season.

Paper Viewpoints

Harry Kollatz contributed to this exhibition by helping us put together an introduction for Paper View(s).


Gregg Carbo, Don Crow and Amie Oliver maintain their practice as "makers" regardless of where they are working or whatever else is going on in their lives.

This exhibition reveals ideas in progress, in process and in between. It's a little like looking backward and forward between their various solo exhibitions. No manifestos here- but a glimpse into the process of making and thinking about where their work is going and why.

All three artists use paper as part of their creative process regardless of the materials used in the completion of a work. Don's collage "pictures" likely grew from his habit of making small
postcard-sized pieces that were the seed of Crow's larger oil paintings. Gregg's work, whether on or off paper or utilizing other materials synthesizes an austere beauty with the an unlikely response to found objects, textures and surfaces that is often worked out on paper prior.

Amie finds her inspiration from timeless icons of art history that she visits in museums then takes into her studio as welcomed friends. They create a resonance in her life that is always open to new materials, periods or styles. She may work on linen, styrofoam or panel, but paper is always part of her process of discovery.

Amie arrived in Richmond a few days prior to Paper View(s) scheduled opening and remarked: "Everyone associated with this exhibition did a beautiful job. I think the resulting show is an interesting exploration of how we three approach the materiality of paper and even though I have known Gregg and Don's work for more years than I am willing to put in print, I am still discovering similarities and differences in our approach that I did not know before. I guess that's what keeps me interested."

The artists would like to thank Plant Zero and its staff for their effort in creating a beautiful installation in the face of Tropical Depression Ernesto. Gregg Carbo, Tom Adair and Mil Norman-Risch created a beautiful, balanced installation while Amie and Don were far
away dealing with the world's new security measures and investigating the safest way to get between here and there with art in hand.

And just when you thought the tears would stop...

Thursday night I had a flashback. It was 1982. It was a time when music and art were the things we were fighting for... and living for...all to a New Orleans backbeat. I remembered the names and faces of the people who were part of my circle of cohorts as well as the nameless faces of those who inspired me to be better...to do more... to be more p r e s e n t. It was very healing.

I felt inspired to email one of these cohorts over the weekend and check in with him. His family escaped Katrina with their car and the clothes on their back. He is still working to rebuild Pass Christian, MS while is wife and children live in Alabama... waiting for what? The Pass (as the locals call it) will not be the place he wanted to raise his children ever again - but if it ever recovers it will take until his kids are in college or have children of their own. It must be tough for people down there to shed anymore tears - even for those who lost loved ones on 9/11/01 - when they are still mourning the loss of family, friends and homes.

Its all just too much. Our youngest cat Flannery jumped on the bed (a rare thing since this is not her domain). She curls up next to me as I remember that morning five years ago... I was numb... and then my mourning for New Orleans and the gulfcoast one year ago. Today I am inspired by how those who have lived those experiences first hand have the stregth and the faith to work rebuilding their lives.

Mixed with this inspiration is the sense of shame I feel everytime I think of the lies and deceptions broadcast by our goverment. Perhaps I am more sensitive to this because I've spent so much time as an expatriot. Its not easy. Click on the link above for a small sample of the things that some across my desktop... it is just pathetic.

Currently on view

Paper View(s)
Project Space, Plant Zero
0 E. 4th St, Richmond

Top: Don Crow "Untitled" 2006
mounted collage 22" x 30"

Middle: Amie Oliver "Angels and Infidels XX" 2005
mixed media on paper 24"x18"

Bottom: Gregg Carbo "Untitled" 2006
mixed media on embossed paper 40" x 30"

Paper View(s) will be on exhibit at Plant Zero's Project Space until September 20. It opened last Friday but the artist reception was postponed to September 8th from 8 to 10pm due to the threat of severe weather. I think Meredith feared that Noah would make his way down the James River and confront Paul D's Neptune in a flooded Shockoe Bottom. It was a nasty evening to be out anyway so I didn't mind the fact that the reception was post-poned. Who would even think about crossing the James after all the delays caused by Gaston's flooding?

It was a strange week with my jetlag induced state intensified by the threat of Ernesto and the reminders of Katrina's anniversary. Spike Lee's New Orleans documentary was being repeated on HBO all week and with New Orleans on my mind I just didn't feel like thinking about our show or anyone's art exhibit after seeing an hour of Lee's four part series. I still haven't seen the whole thing but we were in New Orleans in May so very little of the documentary was news to me. The best observation I heard was the Wynton Marsalis observation that the nation's response to this disaster crystalizes in one event all of the problems of our country. He compared it to a frozen unflattering reflection in a mirror... and my feelings are that he is right on the money. It made me very melancholy as I watched the rain and our drains like a hawk all morning. Its hard to believe it was the beginning of a holiday day weekend but there it was.

Solo, two or three person exhibits like the one at Plant Zero normally occupy all of my attention but this one came together at the last minute and without a lot of drama. (Perhaps this was the result of my absence or the fact that there was no time to obsess over things of little importance?)

Gregg Carbo installed 2/3 of "Paper View(s)" with the help of artist Tom Adair. Since Don left for Quatar in early August his wife Mil oversaw his installation by contractor who hung his work according to his specs. The result is very Don: long, tall and full of surprises. Everyone associated with this exhibition did a beautiful job and I think the resulting show is an interesting exploration of how we three approach the materiality of paper... I have known Gregg and Don's work for more years than I am willing to put in print and still, I am discovering things about our ways of working from this show that I did not know before. I guess that's what keeps me interested.

days of wine and roses

One of the things I love about working in new (old) parts of the world where artists have lived and worked for hundreds of years is the realization that art doesn't lie - even when it tries to. Many great paintings exhibit what I once attributed to artistic license - until I witness the subject matter in the flesh. Over the years I have come to the conclusion that the truth is stranger than fiction... most all of the time.

These images record my last week in SW France. One was taken in pouring rain while exploring a small cemetary in Bartique. The stone structure is noted to be the remains of a Roman pont on the trail to St. Jacques. It follows a four kilometer stretch between Auvillar and Bartique. I was a dripping pilgrim on the walk between the two villages and don't know if I would have finished the journey if it hadn't been for the knowledge that the fantastic cafe Auberg's was at the end of the trail. After three espressos (cafe normal in French terms) I didin't mind one way or the other if the rain stopped or not. The sunflower fields and I leaned into the rain in unison and I was glad to be on the trail in August rather than October.

The image of children were blowing bubbles was taken off the viewpoint in Auvillar during the Schneider wedding reception. It was an idyllic afternoon and a splendid time and place for a ceremony. I felt lucky to be witness to the festivities which preceded and overlapped our vernissage and reading that marked the end of the August artist residency at the Moulin a Nef.

The "Klimt" forests that are planted here and there throughout the Pyrenees surrounded us. These trees are planted and harvested and during the interim they've inspired a great deal of painting. It's all very lush and beautiful... with air that smells like lavendar that is also filled with big billowing clouds. They waft across the sky and lead one's eye to their point of origin: the nuclear power plant on the horizon . oohh la la.....