Green Lantern @ NFO XPO
May 11, 2009
posted by Young Joon
NFO XPO took place three weeks ago…
Shannon Gerard’s installation at the Green Lantern booth consisted of a wall installation of small knit boobs and dinks of various colors, wearable boobs and a dink and an instructional video and booklets for practicing checking oneself for lumps.
all of the boobs and dinks have a little hard pea-sized lump.
Oh, I get it…
This is Jeroen Kuster. I originally met him at last year’s NFO XPO, and it was awesome to see him again this year.
Here’s a shot of one of his pieces at the fair. Check out more of his artwork here.
Pictures from the opening
March 28, 2009
posted by Young Joon
from the current show, curated by anne Elizabeth Moore–Without You I am Nothing: Cultural Democracy from Providence and Chicago
March 17, 2009
pannel the next day–
No Coast Needs New Members
March 24, 2009
posted by Young Joon
No Coast is a screenprinting and fiber arts collective in Pilsen looking for new members. In addition to extensive studio equipment we also have a multi-use space for retail and public events.
Applicants should have experience with or interest in group work, concensus process and collective practice. We have weekly meetings and all volunteer a few days a month to work the store and run public events such as workshops and screenings.
Spaces are available now. Rent is $200-225 and includes utilities and some public supplies. Preference will be given to those who can commit to the space for a minimum of 6 months.
Facilities include cutting, printing and drawing tables, personal storage, drying racks, exposure unit, light box, wash-out room with pressure washer, flat files, bathroom, kitchenette, washer/dryer, letterpress and sewing machines.
For more information go to www.no-coast.org
Send an e-mail to everyone[at]no-coast[dot]org to apply or ask questions.
New York, Part 3: P.S.1, LMCC
March 11, 2009
P.S.1, LMCC
*click on the images for larger versions, sorry about the quality of these images–they were taken on my camera phone*
–Young Joon
P.S.1, the contemporary art sister-museum to MOMA, is housed in an old school building–it looks like a fortress. I kept imagining the battle in Lord of the Rings, where everyone’s trying to hide inside that fortress and fend off the evil ogres…
It was really nice to see some artwork outside of the fairs.
Leandro Erlich: Swimming Pool
This was a really nice work. You can view the pool from above or below. People were really having fun with it–pretending to be swimming, taking pictures; it was a really well-done interactive installation.
The video installations of Yael Bartana were really engaging. The work doesn’t require one to sit through the entirety of the video, but rather, one may enjoy the works on one’s own terms. Still, I felt compelled to sit and to contemplate the moving images, allowing meaning to unravel slowly in the dark and intimate environment.
Bartana’s work brings up associations of human patterns throughout history–of violence, of power struggles, of social divisions and hierarchies.
Tofu on Pedestal in Gallery
Jonathan Horrowitz
Haha; a nice little “fuck you” to the institution.
Kenneth Anger Installation
I’ve long been a fan of Kenneth Anger–his impact on Queer artistic discourse is great, and his works were at the forefront of avante-garde video. Still, I was wonderfully surprised to experience this installation of his, which was very thoughtfully executed. It has the power to renew and shift considerations of his work. It was a real pleasure.
To see more about the artists and the exhibitions at PS1, click here.
Later on, I met up with friend and artist, Gisela Insuaste, whose work you can check out here.
We headed over to the LMCC (The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council) artist studios for their open-studios. The organization does a lot for artists in New York–offering grants, residencies, and public art programs in Manhattan. Check them out here.
Artwork by Davied Balula, current resident and wierdo.
I’m going to be paying attention to this artist…
I love the variety of common everyday materials he uses; they seemed a little frivolous at first, though that notion is disproved or rather, complicated by a cerebral approach to combining these materials, and the resulting aesthetic of the works–minimal, quiet, fun, whimsical, pleasurable. The work relies on the environment or rather, the environment is an important part of the work–physical space, and the tenets of that reality…wierd! The way he brings everything together is inventive, beautiful, and thought-provoking.
New York, Part 2: Volta
March 11, 2009
Volta
–Young Joon
Of all the fairs, I was most excited to visit Volta–this is a fair in which each gallery’s space presented a body of work by a single artist. The fair was housed in an office building in mid-town, adjacent to the Empire State Building; its location–a signal of what I saw to be an overarching subtext for the fair itself, and much of the work on display: art’s place in commerce, the changing role of the artist in contemporary times, and the anxiety therein.
The fair seemed a collective critical response to contemporary pandemic conditions–of an ailing economy, and a society dealing with the repercussions of the failure of capitalism. It didn’t seem to propagate a simple polemic, rather, it was a forum for the exchange of cohesive artistic voices.
an allegory for the apex of artists’ careers?
by Trong Gia Nguyen
a piece by Angelina Gualdoni
Kavi Gupta
Chicago was VISIBLE at the New York fairs. It was great to see Jason Lazarus’ work in the Andre Rafacz space, along with that of Walsh Gallery, Imperfect Articles, and Rhona Hoffman, Western Exhibitions, and others at the Armory.
Pieces/installation by Gavin Turk
Drawings by Sebastian Gogel
Galerie Emmanuel Post
Art by Maria Nepomuceno
A Gentil Carioca
I’ve noticed a lot of art that doubles as functional objects, being presented in a fine-art context. Is this a sign of things to come?…what with the history of consumers seeking hybrid/cross-over products with versatile functions..
Rune Olsen
Samson Projects
Indeed, it’s a bear market…
New York, Part 1: The Armory
March 11, 2009
The Armory Show
*posts on volta, and other art stuffs in NYC will be posted separately*Young Joon
I got a chance to go to the Armory fair & Volta this past weekend, and there was a lot to look at. Being the first time I’ve gone to the New York art fairs, I didn’t know what to expect; though I have to say that I held onto the notion that commerce is really at the heart of art fairs’ existence. Since the ’90s (?), they’ve played a very real function in contemporary art–being the primary mode for displaying and dictating the trends of VALUABLE artworks. I was also really interested in observing how current market conditions are affecting the ubiquity of these fairs–if and how the structures for widespread cultural legitimization/commodification of art will shift. I’ve yet no declarative sentiments. Even still, this is very exciting for me. 
I took pictures of some artwork that really captured my attention–be it through the materials, color, or a more ambiguous percieved connection in ideas between myself and the art…
[click on the images for larger versions]
William Pope.L
Bin (Version 2)
2008
Wood, mirrors, fake fur, rock lamp, metal handle, dvd monitor and playback
36 x 52 x23”
Mitchell-Innes & Nash (New York)
Something about this piece feels like home–kinda like something I’d see in Chicago. I can’t quite put my finger on it–it lacks that veil of seamlessness that many contemporary art objects strive for. When I look at this piece, I start to develop a narrative of the work’s creation, from the inception of the artist’s ideas, to the compiling of materials, and the way the artist uses what they’ve got, the way they know how, because the artist had to make it when they did–resulting in this wierd, crazy thing that fucks with notions of singular material discourses (is it a painting? video? sculpture?); and it’s so captivating, yet unostentatious.
Andy Coolquitt
21st century aggressive carpet growth
2008
Wood, Carpet, metal , wire, lightbulb, glass
269 x 15 x 15 cm
Galerie Krizinger Vienna
Arabella Campbell
Black Painting, 2009
Plastic tarp
48” x 60”
Catriona Jeffries
Loris Cecchini
Gaps (ladder)
2004
polyester resin, paint
Galleria Continua
Marlene Dumas
“Inverted Marilyn” 2008
40 x 50 cm
oil on canvas
K, perhaps I just haven’t seen much of Dumas’s works outside her body of monochrome portraits–but it seems she’s made a huge shift in her painting. The way she creates this ambiguous space, and her complex, yet understated pallette, and how she physically handles the paint on the canvas–the goops, the brushwork, the finnesse of her hand–it’s all the more powerful to me–here in this very painting. Blown away…
What did others think of the fairs?
Kittens
February 19, 2009
Marvin sent me this awesome video–enjoy!
–Young Joon
Yoshitaka Amano, The Tale of Genji
January 15, 2009
Most well known as the character designer for the early Final Fantasy video games, Yoshitaka Amano created a body of paintings that brought to life The Tale of Genji for a new generation.
The Tale of Genji was written by Murasaki Shikibu shortly after 1000 AD and is considered by most scholars to be the first novel ever written. The Tale of Genji is the epic story of the breathtakingly handsome prince Hiraku Genji, his many adventures, romantic conquests, and the women in his life.
The translated snippets of text from The Tale of Genji appear alongside the paintings in the published book by Amano, from which I scanned these images (click on the images for larger versions):
Oborozukiyo
Be it your will that I Live out my days feeling sorry for myself? Though night may end and turn to dawn, never will there be an end to my thoughts of you.
Rokujyo-no-Miyasudokoro
To bid farewell at dawn will surely elicit a tear, though never have I seen such a lonely autumn sky as this morning I witnessed.
Genji and Women
check out the book for many more fabulous paintings by Amano.
–Young Joon
The Parlor January 2009
January 6, 2009
ZACH DODSON
@
The Parlor
Tuesday, January 6, 2008
Download the podcast at theparlorreads.com
Zach Dodson’s hybrid typo/graphic novel, boring boring boring boring boring boring boring, came out last year under the nom de plume Zach Plague. He has launched such experiments as Featherproof Books, Bleached Whale Design, and The Show N’ Tell Time Talk Show. His writing has appeared in The2ndHand, Opium, Take the Handle, and Proximity Magazine. His design has appeared in MAKE Magazine, Punk Planet, Resonance, Mule, and Bagazine. This morning, in his bedroom, he thought he saw a cat out of the corner of his eye, but when he turned to look there was nothing there. He doesn’t own a cat.
here are some pictures from tonight’s Parlor featuring Zach Dodson:
–Young Joon
Nikki S. Lee, Galleries in Chelsea
December 26, 2008
Is Nikki S. Lee making giant drawings now? Yes she is!
this is her…
…the same artist who created these amazing photographic self-portraits, all of which are completely fabricated:
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Aside from my encounter with the artwork of Nikki Lee, I popped through some old haunts in Chelsea; it seems the glut of galleries is diminishing. However, the big blue chip galleries–Gagosian, Mary Boone, Jack Shaiman, Gladstone, and a few others are still pumping out some interesting art!
ENjoy some camera-phone pictures from my lil’ excursion:
