A Visit to RISD

We had the opportunity to meet Cade Tompkins of Cade Tompkins Editions at the Editions/Artists' Book Fair in New York in November. We were quite taken with works by Enrique Chagoya and Serena Perrone. Cade has worked with many of the visiting artists at RISD. We were lucky enough to meet up with Cade for a long overdue visit to the RISD Art Museum. In the newly opened Chace Center addition to the museum, we checked out the Dale Chihuly exhibition which featured not only works by the artist, but in a separate exhibition, 9 of his students. The most spectacular portions of the Chihuly exhibition were the oversized installations featuring blown glass images "growing" out of the floor -- in on case looking like giant kelp in an ocean setting.

Cade made sure that we didn't miss the Beth Lipman installation: After You're Gone. Beth also works in glass. The centerpiece of the installation is a large dining table, jammed with clear glass objects which evoke the scene of a baroque still life painting with a variety of food and serving pieces. The installation is at the same time whimsical (which snails crawling up the side of the table) and morose (with dead animals and broken goblets). The walls of the room included glass "wallpaper" -- inspired by wallpaper in one of the historic rooms elsewhere in the museum. Cade explained that Beth also photographs her work and we are looking forward to seeing some of the limited edition photographs.

Overall, the RISD Museum was quite impressive and we know we'll be back to further explore the strong permanent collections (and hopefully make our way into the print room)!

Collect(ive/ions)

As we are gearing up for Art Basel Miami, I started to think about our collective buying patterns and how much overlap there is in our collections. Although none of us have the same image of an editioned print or photograph (except for benefit prints), we often buy work by the same artists, sometimes even part of the same series. It actually gives some depth to our personal collections, and the collective collection would probably make an interesting show- as much about the art as the social connections. Here is a list of artists that are in the collections of more than one of us (again, benefit prints aren't represented here). (If I left any out, please add them in the comments.)
Christiane Baumgartner
Erik Desmazieres
Lalla Essaydi
Claes Oldenburg
Julian Opie
Judy Pfaff
Stephen Sheffield
Doug and Mike Starn
Kate Sullivan
Kara Walker

InsideOut at the SMFA

Today is the official opening of the annual art sale at the SMFA, now called "InsideOut." The sale includes works by current students, faculty, alumni, and "affiliated artists" (like Kiki Smith, who was given the Medal Award by the SMFA). Some of us were able to preview the sale a couple times over the past week. Highlights in the sale include photographs by Esteban Pastorino Diaz (priced around $3800). The scenes in these large photographs look like they were made out of toy models, but they are of actual places taken by a camera flying on a kite. At least one of these photos sold during previews and there is a rumor that the MFA might have acquired one. Other things that I noticed missing (i.e., sold) at my second preview were a punched paper piece by Rachel Perry Welty and a painting of elephants by Meryl Blinder, both Boston-based artists. Lalla Essaydi photographs, a fixture at the sale, were $18,000 this year- and selling. In terms of prints, there were some interesting works by Mary Heilmann (who we were advised to buy last year, when her prices were cheaper and before her current show at the New Museum in NYC) and Chagoya, who some of us "discovered" at the Editions Fair in NYC this year. The image shown here is from SMFA advertisements for the sale and is done by recent SMFA grad, Nicole Kita (represented by Rotenberg Gallery in Boston).

You Know You Love Me

Several of us are serious Gossip Girl fans. On tonight's episode of Gossip Girl (11/17), I noticed a Marilyn Minter painting (a close up of an eye with glittery make up) hanging on Serena's bedroom wall. At first I thought it might have been the painting that sold at Sotheby's Day Sale on 11/12 for $122,500- but that painting was of a closed eye. After doing some research, I think it is the same image as the Marilyn Minter limited edition beach towel by Works on Whatever from 2006- which sold out. It also turns out that the Art Production Fund, which is responsible for the towels, has been curating the art on the Gossip Girl set this season! Some of the towels from 2007 are still available, but the new 2008 towels have been released. This year, there are limited editions by Ruscha, Kilimnik, Pettibon, and Schnabel for $50 each at Target (http://www.target.com/gp/search/187-3817741-8900650?field-keywords=artist+beach+towels&url=index%3Dtarget&ref=sr_bx_1_1). Compared to works on paper by these artists, the towels are not only much, much cheaper- they are also much, much bigger and are machine washable. XOXO.

Suara Welitoff

One of the great advantages to collecting the works of living artists is that sometimes, if you're lucky, you can spend some one-on-one personal time with them. It's a terrific opporunity and way to watch the growth of the artists, firsthand. This past weekend, the Boston Print Collectors and friends, were able to enjoy a Friday night cocktail reception with Suara Welitoff in attendance. Suara creates stills from video for prints as well as digital videos, this last form of art was unveiled at the home of private collectors. Suara was gracious is talking about her work and seemed to enjoy spending time with young collectors. She is currently represented by the Barbara Krakow Gallery on Newbury Street.

Platemark Design in the Boston Sunday Globe Magazine

Our own Platemark Design was featured in the Sunday Globe Magazine here. Good tips for designing around your art collection.

Printmaking techniques

For anyone interested in collecting prints, as I am, taking an introductory class to printmaking materials and methods, as offered by Liz Shepherd, artist and teacher at the SMFA and Mass College of Art, is a fun and interesting way to enhance your passion for them.

For a ½ day, a small group of people were able to participate in making prints from woodcuts, linoleum blocks, copper plates, silkscreen and lithography. We learned that most prints fall into one of five categories: relief, intaglio, planographic, stencil and digital. Attempting on one’s own to be the next Rembrandt gives a lot of meaning to how hard it really is to do his work….it’s a lengthy process to prepare the metal plate and a challenge to sufficiently and artistically engrave the plate. I have much greater appreciation for his work now as a result.

The class is offered in the Cambridge studio of Liz Shepherd, and small, private classes may be scheduled among friends. Definately recommend it!

www.lizshepherd.com

Judith Larsen

On election night, courtesy of a friend of artist Judith Larsen, several Boston Print Collectors had the good fortune to be able to visit with Judith (along with her artist husband, Peik) in her Cambridge studio. It's an impressive space with lots of wonderful pieces hanging on the walls. Some of us had seen her works at the Colin Rhys Gallery before he left for LA and we wanted to know more about her and her style. In her wonderful, gracious and articulate manner, she provided us with insights about her work and explained her technique; how she projects historical math and science formulas onto photographs of nudes. It is a process she said can be very time consuming, as she is working with live models who she needs to direct into specific poses. She explained that sometimes she needs to take 500 pictures to get one good one. Asked how she decided upon this type of photography, she indicated she was always good in math and science. Well great for us, as we see her as an artist producing gorgeous small, medium and large-scale engaging and captivating prints. She also showed us an incredible video piece. She is currently working on a project for the Sao Paulo biennale.



As Judith explains it: "my work incorporates the figure as an empty vessel or blank slate, which is then infused with a series of images from the history of Art and Science. The projected images examine various organizing systems, including language, mapping and microscopy, as shadowed testimony to an unknown light source. The viewer or audience is invited to look beyond the ‘apparent’ and imagine the implications of these symbolically clad vessels. As the figure and imagery merge, the body begins to shed its epidermal shield and inhabit its own metaphors.This figurative work is as much about stillness as it is about the constant metamorphosis of possibility. It dwells in suspended opposition between the enduring vitality of the flesh and its fragile impermanence."



Her website is: http://www.judithlarsen.com/

Julian Opie, Everyday Art?

I just recieved a notice from Alan Cristea Gallery about the newly launched Julian Opie Online Shop and I'm torn. Many of the Boston Print Collectors are fans and I've certainly envied the nifty postcards and invitations, designed by Opie and sent to those who collect his work. But putting that same invitation (for a long past event that you weren't invited to anyway) on sale to the public, seems a bit odd. That said, there are many fun items on the site like refrigerator magnets and a flip book, that for only about $15, lets you experience the movement inherent in his installation pieces.


It will be interesting to see the reaction, as merchandising by artists is a slippery slope and sometimes negatively influences critics perception of the "real" art (though Murakami, seems to have made it work financially, if not always critically).

Sara Sze, An Artful Lodger

Before you throw out today's NY Times, make sure you check out the Design and Living special section. The Artful Lodger piece has photos of several artists in their homes. We're big fans of Sara Sze who had a multi-level sculpture at the MFA Boston in 2002-2004, and who was nice enough to have lunch with the MFA Council Fellows when we were in New York last November. We saw a really interesting sculpture last week at the Editions/Artists' Book fair -- complex cutouts from a pad of writing paper that include several ladders stretching down from the piece. So look closely in the NY Times photo -- that piece is on the wall, just over her shoulder.

Print Market Update

Yesterday, artnet.com online magazine (which everyone should read at least weekly) had an interesting article on the current print market (11/5/08). The link to the full article is below. Briefly, prices for prints are down at auctions and many lots are going unsold. Reserves and estimates have been really lowered. Collectors are holding out for the best examples of artists' works and are keeping a look out for works that rarely come to auction. Contemporary artists are not selling as well. However, in contrast to auctions, print dealers haven't seemed to have adjusted their prices yet.
http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/news/ripley/ripley11-5-08.asp
What does this all mean for collectors of contemporary prints buying newly released editions?

Reflections on Culture

On Sunday, as a part of the Museum Council Fellows trip to New York, we visited several galleries on the Lower East Side. Stephan Stoyanov, the founder and director of LUXE Gallery hosted us for the current exhibition, Black Mirror/Espejo Negro. We were lucky to meet the artist, Pedro Lasch. The exhibition features a series of photograhs, which examine several aspects of another of Lasch's exhibitions by the same name, currently at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke.

The exhibition is a commentary on the relative neglect of pre-Columbian art at museums in the US -- even top museums which have deep holdings. The photographs depict the sculptures at the Nasher which turn their backs to the audience, facing instead, the wall on which hangs black mirror-like rectangles. Upon closer examination, these are not merely black mirrors, but include within images of classic hispanic paintings in pale, ghostly images. The pre-Columbian status exchange glances with the classic paintings, while we look at them both. Finally, we see that in fact we are a part of the art, as we see ourselves in the reflection as well. Lasch's photographs at LUXE are lit such to encourage these reflections, so that the total effect is constantly changing. As a final piece of the installation, Lasch includes a black reflective section in the Gallery's street-level window. Like the others in the exhibition, the work includes a faintly visible image of a historic work. This exterior-facing piece is able to include reflections of the historically hispanic, but now diverse neighborhood.