Apenest

A few days ago I stumbled upon something that has me excited- Apenest. A collaboration between Brian Willmont (MassArt alum represented by Lamontagne Gallery) and Cody Hoyt, Apenest is described as an experimental publishing/printmaking project that publishes an annual book of artist contributions. It reminds me of the serial, Aspen (I think the similarities in names is probably intentional), published between 1965 and 1971, that contained items by artists such as Andy Warhol, Yoko Ono, and John Cage. There have been two issues so far, each only $15, hand-numbered in editions of 1,000. The issues contain extra goodies inside the book such as prints, stickers, and a bandana. They have also published two prints, one a silkscreen shown here by Willmont and Hoyt (26"x40") in an edition of 55 for only $25! I would much rather have one of those than the stuff 20x200 has been putting out lately. Sorry, Jen Beckman...

Road Trip: LaMontagne Gallery

There are even more reasons to check out the LaMontagne Gallery in South Boston. The one that I am most excited about is a new sound piece by Benjamin Chaffee that was created specifically for your ride to the gallery on the MBTA bus, from Copley Square to Fort Point Channel. You can download it and listen to it on your own personal audio equipment. It can be downloaded at www.musicforcircumstances.com, but it's not up yet. I am expecting it to be up by the opening of Andrew Witkin's new show at the gallery on Saturday, 1/10/09, from 6-8 PM.

According to the press release, Andrew Witkin's project is a companion presentation to the one he currently has on view at Boston's Institute for Contemporary Art as part of the ICA's Foster Prize Exhibition. For this exhibition, he will be showing a group of 144 t-shirts, each with a different text (by various people) on them, each hung on a hanger, ready to be read. There will also be a group of pieces surrounding the shirts, ranging from a stereo playing an ever-increasing number of versions of the American traditional song, "Stagolee", to an arrangement of mirrors, to a check-list as study guide as notebook, among other found, altered, designed and organized objects.

The gallery is also having a series of talks on Wednesdays in January and February.

Manuel de Santaren (Wednesday, Jan 28, 7pm) will present a talk on his current interests, as pertaining to engaging a hypothetical space.

Daniel Scholnick (Wednesday, Feb 4 7pm) bought a ramshackle building in Philadelphia four years ago and has, by hand, been renovating it with the goal of helping his local community, becoming a resident, creating a quality art creation space, all in a sustainable and affordable manner. Scholnick will talk about having a project that's simultaneously a performance, the building of one's home and an act of entrepreneurialism (a performed act of artistic applied political economy).

Andrew Witkin (Wednesday, Feb 10, 7pm) will give a walk through of "Others Among Others" and will discuss related projects, among other topics.

Contemporary Art in Boston

Last night, WGBH's "Greater Boston" focused on contemporary art in Boston. Russell Lamontagne of the cutting edge Lamontagne Gallery in South Boston and Andrew Witkin, ICA Foster Prize nominee and director of Barbara Krakow Gallery (but represented as an artist by Lamontagne Gallery) were interviewed.
You can watch it (the 12/17 episode) by clicking here.