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).

Look at Me

Recently I have become interested in portraiture, especially photographic portraits. Two things have been contributing to this interest: having my portrait taken by Martin Parr last month and seeing the Karsh 100 show at the MFA, Boston. While a portrait presents information about the sitter, it also conveys information about the artist: technical skills, perspectives, and the editing of reality. There are two upcoming courses on portraiture in Boston. One is a one-week intensive course at the SMFA in March called, Identity: The Contemporary Portrait, taught by Sean Johnson. The other is a 4-week seminar at the Photographic Resource Center, Contemporary Trends in Photographic Portraiture, taught by Roswell Angier (2/17-3/10/09). If you can't do either, Roswell Angier has a book about taking photographic portraits, Train Your Gaze, available on Amazon.
I especially like portraits in which the artist inserts him/herself. Christine Rogers, a SMFA alum who is now on faculty there, did a series in which she had her photo taken with other families having their portraits taken at a commercial studio. Futoshi Miyagi did a series of photos of himself with gay men who were strangers, in their apartments (shown here). These photographers play with the ideas of insertable intimacy and the deconstruction of relationship images.

Jehad Nga

Another photographer under 40 to follow is Jehad Nga. The Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at the MFA, Boston purchased one of his photos last year. He has done series of arresting photos of Somalia and Darfur. Originally from Kansas (!), he trained to become an EMT (emergency medical technician) while he interned for Magnum Photos. Although that may seem to be an odd combination, his medical training may have helped him gain access to some of his sites. He was also an embedded photojournalist for the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

He is represented by M+B Gallery in LA and Bonnie Benrubi Gallery in NYC.

More of his work can be seen on his webiste:

http://www.jehadnga.com/

Dylan Vitone

I always like to keep an eye on what the MFA, Boston is collecting and their annual report (which came yesterday in my mail) lists their acquisitions over the last year. This year it looks like they acquired four works by a young photographer, Dylan Vitone, including the image shown here of a Homeland Security drill (you can click on the image to see it larger). Dylan Vitone is a MassArt alumnus and he currently teaches photography at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh. I first saw (and bought) his work at the annual MassArt auction this past April. He makes long panoramic documentary-style pictures by digitally "knitting" individual photos together. There seems to be a narrative (or narratives) in the photos and the process reminds me of a very high tech version of Hockney's photo-collages, except Vitone's work is seemless. He did a series of scenes of South Boston and more recently has been documenting Pittsburgh.

His work was at Photo Miami this year, but the booth's installation was really lackluster. On the outside wall (prime real estate), they enlarged one of his photos (actually of the image we own) and broke it into three separate pieces- totally destroying its impact.

Dylan Vitone has a great website:

http://www.dylanvitone.com/

He is represented by the Oswald Gallery in Jackson Hole, WY and DNJ Gallery in LA. The prints are done in two sizes, a smaller version in an edition of 30 (currently priced at $1,800) and a larger version in an edition of 5 (currently priced at $4,000). You might also be able to pick up his work at the next MassArt auction on 4/4/09.

Vrrrooom! IFPDA Print Fair Opens

Stealing a quote from Cliff Ackley, "Vrrroom!". There was no doubt that the IFPDA members were trying to leverage the exhibition Rhythms of Modern Life: British Prints 1914-1939currently at the Met and previously at the MFA Boston. At the IFPDA Print Fair which opened last night at the Park Avenue Armory, we spotted two entire booths dedicated exclusively to these British Modernest style prints, with several other booths also including a few prints by Cyril Power, Paul Nash, David Bombert, C.R.W. Nevinson and Sybil Andrews.

This was our first time at the opening night preview. It is definitely a much less crowded time to visit. There is a sliding scale of ticket prices, with the priciest tickets offering earliest access. But even at 7:30, the latest entry time, there was still plenty of opportunity to talk to dealers. Despite economic fears, we did see several red dots early in the evening.

Stay tuned for more posts as we return to the fair. See you tonight at the opening of the Editions/Artists' Book Fair!