Monday, October 31, 2011

TPAC Open Studios preview...at Tucson Jewish Community Center

Tucson Pima Arts Council's "Open Studios" event is scheduled to start in a little over a week, where Tucson's can traipse around town to visit local artists in their natural habitat (their studios). However, TPAC and the JCC have created a sampler of that exhibit, with each artists getting to show off one piece, all in the spacious and naturally lit gallery space of the JCC. I visited the preview show this afternoon, and made some notes about some pieces that caught my eye.  The best work, I feel, is the mixed media and the fabric work. For me, that's the most interesting and creative. Those who worked in traditional mediums (that is, painting and drawing) had very conventional and "safe" work. The interesting stuff, as I just mentioned, was in the area of mixed media. Let's check it out...

The first piece that caught my eye was Genni Pell's "Nectarines with blue jar". I guess I was drawn to it's contrast, and vivid color. It looks like it's painted with a palette knife on a Masonite board.  Although the colors are nice, it's a pretty conventional painting. This is just a competent, but very safe, painting of some objects from yesteryear. But great color!
Genii Pell's painting of a Chinese vase, Cezanne's cannon balls, and a fallen flower
Aside from Genni Pell's vivid color, the first thing that jumped out at me was Martin Shaver's mixed media piece, "Drilling Down". This piece looks like a bunch of broken drywall, adhered to pieces of wire screen mesh, and attached to a board. In my mind, any broken or disrupted surface looks interesting, and the bits of color in this mound of drywall crumbs make this piece more...colorful! So here I am, a sucker for bright color again! Martin, I really like that turquoise blue!  Actually, if you linger on this piece for a few moments, you can see that the color is distributed in a pleasing way. There's a big shape of blue at the bottom (already noted a moment ago), with a lighter turquise band at across the top. there's a big white area in the upper left of this photo, which is balanced by mass of grey and brown shapes in the middle and mid-right side of this picure. Although this piece obviously looks like a "mess", closer examination finds that there is actually some order to be found in all of this! Now, the question is, did the artist plan this composition? Or is it completely accidental? We may never know...

Shaver's "Drilling Down": from trash to treasure!
Jessie Shin turns in an interesting black and white piece called "Lucid Dreaming". He says it's made with ink on clayboard, but its got a soot-like appearance, that reminds me of the some of the effects you can get when working with charcoal and water. It's got a dark, overcast, spooking feeling. Nice creatiion of dark, atmospheric ettects here:

Jessie Shin's "Lucid Dreaming"
This picture is abstract enough, where it could be anything. I like simplicity of it, and I like the gritty, moody quality of it. This artist definitely captured a mood, and created a sense of mystery...not always an easy thing to do!

One piece I really enjoyed is a stoneware piece called "Large Vessel", by Roy Lizama. I like it because it reminds me of "The Thing" from the Fantastic Four: same orange, chunky, volcanic lizard skin vibe. Although the title claims that this piece is a vessel, I can't help seeing the fist of Ben Grimm (the "Thing"). Nice!
"The Thing" from The Fantastic Four: major psoriasis ((c) Marvel Comics)

Roy Lizama's "Large Vessel". (Better title: "It's Clobberin' Time!!")
Karen Firber has nice fabric piece in this show. She calls it "Greenhouse Effect". It's a quilt, with mixed media additions to it (such as several tiny beads, and glued-on plastic baubles). The green border on the left of this work is actually a print. Most of the other elements, however, are hand sewn. Various beads have been sewn in to create the impression of a field of flowers, and a bunch of tiny blue beads Firber uses to create a "sky". The title of this piece is spelled out with big letters up in a tree (illustrated on this quilt).
Karen Firber's "Greenhouse Effect"
On the same wall as "Greenhouse Effect" is another quilted pieces that is equally as interesting! It's called "Storm's Coming", by Trish Hastings-Sargeant.  This too is a quilted piece, and it depicts a landscape with gathering clouds. I really like how Hastings has used a variety of textures and colors to create her impression of a sky. It looks like art that you can cuddle!

Trish Hasting-Seargant's "Storm's Coming"
At the far end of the gallery is a bronze sculpture of three walruses sleeping on top of each other. The artist is Kate Iverson, and she calls the piece "Uupas (Sea Peaches)".

A pile o' bronze walruses...goo goo ga joob!
Kyle Johnston has a mixed media piece here (called "As Watchers Sleep"), that evokes shades of Jasper Johns or Joseph Cornell (I'm referring to the row of doll heads at the bottom of this piece). Artwork that incorporates found objects is often very interesting from a texture standpoint. Just as a design alone, this piece has a lot working for it. Johnston did a nice job with this. Nice!

Kyle Johnston's "As Watcher's Sleep"
Artist Kurt Brill has another one of his very large sculptures in this show. This one he calls "Lisa':

Kurt Brill's "Lisa": those feet are thrice the size of her head!
One of the truely surprising works in this preview exhibit was Patricia Bischof's "Springtime in Central Park". If this piece, she's glued a bunch of paper coils to a piece of painted plywood. This work vibrates and shakes at you, like a pair of "googly eyes" glasses. I admire her chutzpah with this one...

Bischof's jiggly paper coils glued to a board!
An artist who also uses paper to create sculpture (though in a different way) is Nick Georgiou, with his paper wall sculpture called "Raging Bull". This piece shows a bulls face made with discarded books.  His work is like a new take on a Picasso-esque vibe: you're simultaneously drawn to it, and repulsed by it. The character is ugly and scary looking, but Giorgious has created it all with rolls and stacks of paper. I'm impressed with Giorgiou's creativity, resourcefulness, and humor...but how'd you like this bull creature staring at you when you're trying to go to sleep at night?? (This piece would make a great Halloween mask!)

Nick Giorgiou's "Raging Bull"
The preview exhibit at the Tucson Jewish Community Center is definitely worth a visit. Like any open studios event, there's a wide variety of syles, approaches, and artistic polish. I like how the who Open Studio's event can be sampled here, all in one room. Save on gas! No need to drive all around town! And if you plan on going around town next week, this show here at the JCC is a great first stop.

Friday, October 28, 2011

A discussion with Master Printmaker JORDI ARKO (at Dinnerware Artspace)

Prof. Barbara Penn (left) standing with JordiArko (right) at Dinnerware Artspace
This afternoon, I stopped by Dinnerware Artspace in downtown Tucson to see a printmaking demonstration by Swedish Master Printer Jordi Arko, but I'd arrived before anyone showed up. So, I asked him a few questions about his artwork! Our brief discussion comprises the content of this interview.

Jordi is in town just for a few days as a guest of University of Arizona Art Professor Barbara Penn. (You can see some of Barbara's current work now on display at the Faculty Art Exhibit at the University Museum of Art)  Jordi is in the States for a semester, teaching at Bethany College (a small, private Lutheran College) in Lindsborg, Kansas.  Barbara invited Jordi to Tucson for a quick sharing of art and ideas.  I was lucky enough to catch him alone for a few moments.

Jordi Arko flipping through the 80 pages of his version of "Los Capriccios": only 4 copies were made!
The work that he's here to talk about is actually about 35 years old. It is a suite of 80 prints, made from etchings on copperplate. The text and storyline closely follows suite of prints by Spain's Francisco Goya called "Los Capriccios". Here's Goya's print titled "The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters", which comes from his "Capriccios" series:

Goya's "Sleep of Reason" print. An inspiration to Jordi Arko!
Arko's project back in the early 1970's was to recreate Goya's suite, using the same style, same text, same calligraphy style....except that Arko would be substituting his own images for Goya's. This was an exercise in free-association for Arko.
Arko's version of Goya's "No More, No Less" print
He would look at the title of each of Goya's prints in "Capriccios" series, and replace it with his own free-associated image. As he explained to me, he would read Goya's title, and then come up with his own unique image. Thus, he created his own version of the Capriccios, substituting Goya's images with his own. The result is very surreal and absurd, but you can immediately see the similarity in printing technique and quality.
Arko does Goya
It's a common exercise for musicians to show off their skills and competence by playing "standards". Standards provide a benchmark to measure the chops of a musician. Same thing with artists.  Jordi Arko provides a way of measuring his technical proficiency by creating his own version of one of Goya's masterworks. Be makes it easy for us to compare the two, since he's kept so much of his version of "Los Capriccios" consistent with Goya's original.  His printing technique is technically perfect; he's got Goya's even grey-tones, and scratchy drawing style down pat..although Arko's drawings tend to be more silly and cartoon-like.

Wikipedia describes Goya's "Capriccios" like this:

a medium for Goya's condemnation of the universal follies and foolishness in the Spanish society in which he lived.
But in Arko's version of the "Capriccios", he also takes on very contemporary themes that still resonate today, for instance, this illustration of police aggression:

a page in the follies of Mankind. Is this 1798? Or 1972? Or 2011? Yes...

Arko punched holes into the printing plate to create these white dots

Currently, Jordi Arko is experimenting with stop-motion animation using his iPhone. He's been working that way for the past month! It is brand new direction for him! I'm curious to see how this affects his printing. As I noted earlier, his work in this article is over 35 years old, but still it has interest for today's art students. Especially in a time when so much work is digital and inspired by fashion. Oh, the follies of Mankind!

Monday, October 24, 2011

"Who Shot Rock n' Roll?"...at the Tucson Museum of Art

This afternoon, I checked out the rock photography exhibit called "Who Shot Rock n' Roll?", which is a traveling exhibit curated by the Brooklyn Museum.  There are some great moments captured in pictures, but as it turns out, this show is a little more complicated than the title would initially have you believe. For while there are a lot of pix of rockers sweating it out onstage (and off stage), this is also a show about fashion, technology, and the packaging and marketing of nostalgia. 

A quote by Chrissie Hynde (of The Pretenders), emblazoned on the wall in the center of museum servers as a guide:
"Presentation is half of it in rock n' roll. It's not just the music.  There's music, and there's attitude, and there's image. It almost represents a way of looking at life"  
This is a great quote, but the only problem is that it's not made by a photographer; it's made by a musician. A photographer needs to be quoted saying this!  I kept wondering, how would a photographer describe this way of looking at life? How does this "way of life" affect how he or she snaps photos?  By adding quotes from the photographers in this show,  not only would the images of rock's photographers be honored, but their ideas as artists as well. (There was actually an audio tour to accompany this exhibit, which I didn't listen to. Maybe I should have!)

The best photos here, in my opinion, are about the audiences. There are a  handful of pix on the bottom floor are where the stars are the audiences; the rockstar is either absent, or simply becomes a prop.  Some of my faves are a bunch of girls all googly-eyed hanging outside the hotel room door of New Kids on the Block, and another photo of Bruce Springsteen hanging out in a doorway of some shop in New Jersey, with about seven very happy girls clustered around him, jammed in the doorway. The picture does not look posed, it looks very candid. Stuff like that is just great!  Hardcore punk photographer, Ed Colver, has several pieces in this exhibit. The best one is a giant print of a moshpit:  a torrential sea of humanity. Amazing!




Practically all of the photos are framed in very non-descript plain blonde wooden frames, with the exception of one or two, which were probably borrowed from someone's private collection.

Although there are mostly framed photographs in this show, there are many forms of media: in addition to photos, there are slides (projected on a wall in a slide carousel), video concert footage, MTV rock videos, a little bit of collage art, some famous album cover photos (e.g. The Clash, two Bob Dylan albums, The Ramones...), a wall of actual vinyl LPs arranged chronologically (hah! They were actually all out of order!), as well as several LP covers, CD's, some cassettes, and an 8-track tape.

One thing that immediately struck me is that there as very little music in this exhibit. The only tunes came from the Elvis video at the entrance, and videos by Grace Jones and The Vines, both on the bottom floor.  But then again, it was just as well: music would only distract from the photos themselves.  And then again still, adding music didn't seem necessary, for I realized that rock n' roll is a lot about image, fashion, and attitude; style over substance? Style is HUGE.

In the foyer, right as you walk in (after reading the aforementioned statement), you're confronted with a massive 10 foot high color portrait of David Lee Roth (from Van Halen), screaming crowd noise from an Elvis Presley exhibit adjacent to it, and a photo of the Brooklyn Paramount theater advertising the Alan Freed radio show on it's billboard sign.  Those are the three images that served as the introduction to the exhibit.

 Surveying the exhibit from the top floor, you notice that the walls of the museum are painted various shades of grey, evoking a smokey appearance. Throughout the museum are some freestanding walls, painted a rich red color.  These walls serve as dividers (creating themed "rooms", and also add some color to this predominately black and white show.

The first images you see as you walk through the top floor are early pictures of the Rolling Stones, and (on the flipside) photos from Bob Dylan's "Freewheelin" and "Blonde on Blonde" albums. They are mounted on a big room divider which has the phrase "In the Beginning..." written on it. So...there IS an historical aspect to this show; in the beginning was the Rolling Stones! This is an odd beginning to confront, because the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Led Zepplin, the Yardbirds, and others were all  including old  rhythm & blues covers on their first albums, an obvious acknowledgement of their debt to an even earlier music,  country and blues.  I just feel that, out of respect to rock's real history, that a few pix of bluesmen would have been nice, and perhaps a picture of Dylan's mentor, Woodie Guthrie. (KISS, however, is completely absent--and like them or not, they were a big part of rock fashion!)

On that same top floor are pictures of the Mamas and Pappas, The Ramones, The Clash (there's a lot of The Clash in this show) and a great famous pic by Alfred Wertheimer of Elvis licking a girls tongue while holding her close.  There are also pictures of Pink Floyd, Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Velvet Underground, The Yardbirds, The Doors, Madonna...and in a corner, a photo of Ike and Tina Turner (playing at Club Paradise in 1962).

 Walking down into the museum, you pass another wall divider, with the title "Behind the Scenes". Here you see pix of people partying, kissing, and posing for the camera. We see The Beatles exiting a plane, Keith Richards with his newborn, and Joe Strummer enjoying himself in Thailand.

There's a great pure rock n' roll shot of Joe Strummer in a leather jacket, kissing a blonde woman as he's got her back arched over the tailfin of an old car. Hot stuff!  There's also a picture of Buddy Holly,  sitting on (what looks like) a Greyhound bus, looking like a total rose-cheeked dweeb; there's The Supremes, with their big hair doos, exiting a plane.  This photo of Salt n Pepa is also in the show...


 

There's Debbie Harry showing off her diamond wedding ring at CBGB's in 1978;  There's Patti Smith outside CBGB's in 1976 (with a "Bleeker Street" street sign in the background).

There's a photo of Joe Strummer dressed as a beat writer, nattily dressed in white shirt, slacks, and suspenders, sitting at a writing desk, with an old typewriter: three feet of paper roll out of the back, ala Jack Kerouac writing "On The Road" (the cadence of my writing here is starting to remind me of "Howl"...)
 
Moving right along, we see photos of Wu Tang Clan (1996), M.I.A (2007), and a pair of video screens showing Bjork singing her song "Big Time Sensuality" (ho hum! Empty pixie rock!)

Mounted on another wall divider is a large picture of Paul McCartney looking at Linda McCartney (that is, us) in the rear view mirror, while driving down a London street.  The photos is titled, "My Love, London"(1978). Also on this level are pix of several rock women in bed: Bjork (again, several times in this exhibit!), Amy Winehouse, John Lennon & Yoko Ono, and Patti Smith.

As I walked through this exhibit, I wondered, "Is a rock photographer someone who simply shoots pictures of rockstars? Or is there something else at work here?" 

One of the most memorable set of pix in this show is on this level: Kurt Cobain (of Nirvana) crying after smashing his guitar, and an SX-70 photo of Courtney Love (of Hole), which she signed "Fuck You" (not pictured).  Both are displayed side-by-side on their own red wall divider, as if to say "Courtney and Kurt forever" What's interesting about the Courtney Love picture is that it was made with the Polaroid SX-70. The SX-70 was a very unique camera, the first to create an "instant" photo, before the days of digital photography.  But any discussion of photo technology is, for the most part, absent from this show. But it's so important! Especially if you're honoring photographers!




One of the curiosities in this exhibit of rock photography is the inclusion of actual recorded artifacts: vinyl records, CD's, cassette tapes, 8 track tapes, paper record sleeves and cardboard album covers (for those LPs).  These are all hung on a wall, and organized by decade, starting with the 1950's, and continuting right through the current day, all divided with place markers for each decade (1950's, 1960's, etc...)

Here are some details about the records mounted on the walls...  From the 1950's: The Hilltoppers, "Til Then" (Dot Records); The King Cole Trio, "Route 66" (Capitol Records); and paper record sleeves from Elvis Presley, "Heartbreak Hotel" (4 song EP), and Little Richard, "Keep A Knockin'" b/w "Can't Believe Ya Wanna Leave". From the 1960's: (it starts getting a little out of order here, as you'll see...): Klymaxx, "Meeting in the Ladies Room (Constellation Records); The Mood Blues, "Seventh Sojourn" LP (Threshold Records), and Kool and the Gang, "Ladies Night" LP (De-Lite Records)...I'll stop here, because I notice that a lot of albums from the '70's (I checked the dates) are hanging in categories for all of the decades (for about half of the albums)...maybe their used mainly for decoration?

Other albums from the '70's on the wall are from the Platters (a '50's group), the Lettermen (ditto), Diana Ross & the Supremes, and Joan Baez. By far, the largest number of albums in this part of the exhibit come from the '70's. Others from that decade are: Allman Bros, Cher, Rod Stewart, Blondie, David Bowie, KISS (their "Dynasty" album; WTF??), Queen, Peter Frampton, Lou Reed, and Marvin Gaye. Also from the '70's: four cassette tape cases (Foreigner, Rick James, The Who, and Neil Young), and one 8-track tape (David Bowie's "The Stage"---was that a Bowie album? I can't find it listed anywhere! Better research that one..it may actually be a collector's item!).

From the '80's, there are LPs from Cream, Joe Cocker, Jethro Tull, and Iron Butterfly (I'm not even checking if these bands are categorized correctly by decade anymore...), and CD cases by Prince, Feargal Sharkey, Chris Isaak, Simple Minds, LL Cool J, Tina Turner. For the 2000's, we've got vinyl LPs by The Stranglers, Berlin, Pat Benatar, Pacific Gas & Electric, Ten Years After, Seals & Croft, The Who's "Tommy", and "The Worst of the Jefferson Airplane".

This wall full of misfiled records has got to be regarded as an installation that recognizes the fact the the primary vehicle for showing off rock photography is the record album cover. The fact that they are sometimes out of order is no big deal. This is an exhibit, as was noted earlier, that is more about rock photography than it is about rock history. The out-of-order album covers only reinforces that claim!

Right as you walk into the exhibit, there is a placard which attempts to clarify the aims of the show: "The exhibit is not a history of rock n' roll, but an appreciation of the men and women who have photographed the music and given it its visual identity", and "there is no one soundtrack to rock, and there is no one photographic vision". That is correct, but it's also about memory, and curating, and collecting, and technology, and rock journalism, and trends, and style, and fashion. And then there are issues particular to photography:  there's the type of film, the type of camera, how the photographer composes the shot, the photographer's approach to capturing an image (is there a method?).

For me, although I really enjoyed looking at these photos, and these videos, and these artifacts, I still don't know the answer to the question "Who Shot Rock n' Roll?" I know the images, but I really wish I knew more about the photographers and what they did to get their images. That would take the focus off of the rockers themselves, and instead, put it on the image makers and their methods, which is where it belongs (for a show that honors photographers)!  Still, this exhibit is a lot of fun, and there are many great moments here captured on film (and video).  Check it out! 
my photogrphic contribution: "Encore!!"