Thesis Show Part II at MassArt

Starting on Monday, 4/27, you can see the new work of graduating MFA student, Brian Glaser, at the Bakalar Gallery at MassArt. His show is entitled, "At Least Try to Settle Down," and the accompanying promotional image is of several blocks of wood with what looks like Pinnochio heads on top. (As an aside, the DVD of "Pinnochio" was "released from the Disney vault" this year and, as a father of two toung boys, I have been watching it multiple times over the last few weeks. Pinnochio is actually a really interesting story about morality and what it means to be a "real" boy. I am wondering of those themes will be present in Glaser's show.) Glaser is a thoughtful young artist who has created pieces out of found materials which as an assemblage have a greater social resonance. One example is a large, fluid metal piece that looks like a waterfall which was made out of paperclips that he collected door to door in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The paperclips weren't just any paperclips, they were the paperclips sent by FEMA to fasten the checks to the other claims paperwork. The scale of the piece, which weighs about 300 lbs, gives a sense of how many households were affected. His thesis show runs from 4/27 until 5/9, with a closing reception on Thursday, 5/7, from 6-8 PM.

Show Me the Muniz

Vik Muniz is a genius (hint to anyone who may be on the nominating committee for the MacArthur Foundation). His talk at the MFA last night was one of the best artist talks I have ever attended. Although the talk was structured around his work, it was really about perception. For him, the cross-over from seeing an overall image (which is something your brain constructs) to seeing what it really is really is (for example, a photo of twisted wire instead of a pencil drawing) is magical.
However, what struck me most was the underlying social aspects to his work. Not social in a conventional sense, but social in terms of making art accessible to everyone. He recalled some of his most cherished memories, which were bringing people to museums who had never been before and of cab drivers talking about his work to him. Muniz said that the best art appeals to the most people, which is so true but often forgotten in an art world full of inside jokes. He even has a project in Brazil in which he creates work with impoverished garbage dump workers and gives them 100% of the proceeds. Being able to actually create a better life for someone is really the best art.
After the talk, we took him and his son out to dinner. While he didn't create any works from the food left on his plate, he told many stories that we will never forget. Art is about the stories. Art is about the people.

Evening of Art (Sheffield and Muniz)

Looking forward to an evening of art.

First stop is the opening for an exhibit by Stephen Sheffield at The Achilles Project in Boston, entitled "A new look at some past & present work." Note: if you are reading this before the opening tonight, you have to be on the guest list. Video of the installation of the works is located at: http://stephensheffield.wordpress.com/2009/04/15/install/


Stephen's work can be seen around the Boston area in different venues. Judi Rotenberg gallery represents him and he has a great installation at Eastern Standard.



Then, I am lucky enough to be able to attend a talk being given at the MFA by Vik Muniz (http://www.mfa.org/calendar/event.asp?eventkey=35610). As many know, Vik Muniz often uses somewhat unconventional materials to recreate well-known works of art or images, often of historical images. Some of my favorites are the pictures of pigments and pictures of chocolate (e.g., I especially like how the name Chocolate Pollack sounds).

Call Me

If you thought xeroxed prints were pushing the boundaries of contemporary printmaking, then today's offering on Jen Beckman's 20x200 is going to interest you. Jorge Colombo has done a series of drawings on his iPhone, using the Brushes app (one is shown here). These drawings remind me of impressionist pictures, even though the production methods differ considerably. The Impressionists would lug a canvas and paint to an outdoor site to paint the light, later showing their work in a salon. Colombo is making these pictures with light on a tiny glass screen, printing them out with a computer and showing them on the internet.

It's a Sign

Printed Matter just announced the release of a fund-raising edition by Jack Pierson (shown here). Pierson works in many media including photography, painting, and sculpture. Although some may know him from his portraits of young men, his imagery also spans the gamut. His work is in major museum collections, including the MFA, Boston. In writing the entry, I realized that the title of the piece I bought by Brian Glaser at the MassArt Auction in 2008 (a portrait of a man constructed from cigarette butts entitled, "I Will Leave Less Than This Behind," shown in the blog entry from 10/21/08) references a 1994 work by Pierson, "What You Take With You and What You Leave Behind." Pierson's piece is a photograph of a shirt draped over a chair with cigarette butts on the floor.
Anyway, Pierson has done an 8x10 C-print photograph in an edition of 100 (plus 10 APs) for $100. While the image may suggest caution, you shouldn't wait too long to buy it. You can buy it online at www.printedmatter.org or by phone (212-925-0325).

Mass Confusion

I left the MassArt Benefit Auction on Saturday night a little bewildered. It wasn't because of the art, it was because of the attendees. Whatever I thought I knew about the market, went totally out the window. An unlimited edition by Julian Opie went for four times its price on Opie's webstore (to multiple high bidders!), while amazing pieces, like David Ording's portrait of Lady Agnew (shown here) went for almost half-price. There were no surprises with the usual crowd pleasers in the live auction- Laura McPhee, Abe Morrell, and Ambreen Butt, but downstairs was literally a bargain basement with the exception of a (very) few works that seemed to have been originally priced too low. These included a couple of interesting student works by Jonathan Lewis and Lisa Foti, which were both bought at 150% of suggested price through the "buy it now" option. Many really good pieces that should have easily sold closed without any bids. Some of us got great deals on specific pieces that we had targeted (like the Michael Mazur print I won), but the best strategy would have been to bought in volume, picking up all of the decent work that didn't have bids. How could the same audience overbid for an Opie wall sticker and not place any bids on paintings that could have been won for a fraction of those bids. Were they just unknowledgeable buyers? Is there some twist on charity that I am missing?