relational aesthetics in the times
photographs of protests
whoa projectors in your pockets!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
ArtMemphis 2.0?
Tonight at the Urban Arts Commission's offices on Broad Street some of the movers and shakers in the Memphis arts community got together to discuss some common goals. Representatives from the University of Memphis, Memphis College of Art, Rhodes College, The Brooks Museum, local non-profits like Marshall Arts and commercial galleries like L Ross Gallery, Joysmith Gallery, Jay Etkin Gallery, and David Lusk Gallery gathered to share ideas about reinvigorating the visual arts scene in this city. I was the youngest and most inexperienced member of the discussion--invited to represent the students of UM--and I felt a little out of my league while we were there. Others present have been working for this community for most of their lives. I have a lot to learn from them, but what do I have to offer?
There seemed to be three common goals for this Town Hall discussion: increasing community visibility, improving arts advocacy, and advertising and promoting our existing visual culture.
Someone mentioned hiring someone like LTB media to feature Memphis in some magazines for the slight sum of $40,000. That seemed a little steep to me for a temporary bump in tourist interest. A more efficient and effective solution was put forward by many; web presence. A feature in a magazine or two is a nice (though expensive) replacement for criticism in the local paper, but I agree with the man who suggested that a working website provides more bang for the buck.
Young, educated, digital natives like me require even more than a website. We're not going to go hunt down the url that a group of galleries print up in an advertisement published in the Commercial Appeal, or the Flyer, or Art Papers, or Southern Accents. We're too busy reading eachother's blogs. And the people who publish those magazines know that--that's why they include features like blogs on their websites! Print advertising isn't enough and neither is a one-dimensional website.
When a major company wants to reach someone like me, they hire a community manager, a.k.a. a web2.0 evangelist. Anyone interested in promoting a new product or evolving brand on a national scale can't just throw up a website and expect people to google it. A Memphis visual arts website needs someone who can not only maximize google hits, but can also serve as an articulate and passionate voice in a variety of online communities. A community manager uses facebook for event organization, twitter for quick news alerts, and delicious for collecting and organizing the records of the city's zeitgeist. Web 2.0 evangelists are savvy with all of the tools in the social media toolbox; they can project a certain image that reaches well beyond the pages of the local print paper or a haphazardly distributed postcard.
So who will be Memphis's visual arts evangelist? Dwayne Butcher has made tremendous inroads by promoting artmemphis.net. Tonight's town hall meeting helped me realize that we need more field reporters twittering -- and not just that an opening is crowded, but what the address is and why we should go (and on twitter; in 140 letters or less). We need to create more useful groups on facebook and add more links to artmemphis.net on myspace. We need more bloggers who blog about all of the art they see in town, in addition to pet projects (or thesis videos). We need more youtube posts from arts events and more youtube interviews of the people who believe that art is "motivated by a genuine sense of care for one's community."
If you're reading this blog, you're in the game. You have a stake in promoting Memphis visual artists. Now get a twitter account and tell us about the show you're going to this Friday, or start a facebook group for the artists in your gallery, or find your favorite artist on artmemphis.net and send them an e-mail that says, "Hey, thanks for making good art and for making that art visible in this forum." In terms of operant conditioning, a constant stream of positive comments is far more powerful than a fancy trophy on a formal night. Those little digital interactions are making our city’s visual culture “sticky.”
To those of you who are already madly facebooking, youtubing, emailing, twittering, updating delicious bookmarks and building our community online, THANK YOU. Your hard work means a lot to emerging artists like me.
For people who don't live online, a print advertisement in a magazine with a link to a website is a stretch. You might reach someone. But if you want a definite connection to the young, urban, creative person you want to reach in Memphis, I can promise you the fastest most efficient way to connect is to use web 2.0 like youtube, facebook, myspace, or twitter to direct them to your online up-to-the-second updatable calendar.
Most of the things I'm writing about here are goals that I've set for myself; I hope you don't mind me sharing them with you. And as far as goals go, I suppose I should (finally) send Bryan Blankenship my artmemphis.net profile.
There seemed to be three common goals for this Town Hall discussion: increasing community visibility, improving arts advocacy, and advertising and promoting our existing visual culture.
Someone mentioned hiring someone like LTB media to feature Memphis in some magazines for the slight sum of $40,000. That seemed a little steep to me for a temporary bump in tourist interest. A more efficient and effective solution was put forward by many; web presence. A feature in a magazine or two is a nice (though expensive) replacement for criticism in the local paper, but I agree with the man who suggested that a working website provides more bang for the buck.
Young, educated, digital natives like me require even more than a website. We're not going to go hunt down the url that a group of galleries print up in an advertisement published in the Commercial Appeal, or the Flyer, or Art Papers, or Southern Accents. We're too busy reading eachother's blogs. And the people who publish those magazines know that--that's why they include features like blogs on their websites! Print advertising isn't enough and neither is a one-dimensional website.
When a major company wants to reach someone like me, they hire a community manager, a.k.a. a web2.0 evangelist. Anyone interested in promoting a new product or evolving brand on a national scale can't just throw up a website and expect people to google it. A Memphis visual arts website needs someone who can not only maximize google hits, but can also serve as an articulate and passionate voice in a variety of online communities. A community manager uses facebook for event organization, twitter for quick news alerts, and delicious for collecting and organizing the records of the city's zeitgeist. Web 2.0 evangelists are savvy with all of the tools in the social media toolbox; they can project a certain image that reaches well beyond the pages of the local print paper or a haphazardly distributed postcard.
So who will be Memphis's visual arts evangelist? Dwayne Butcher has made tremendous inroads by promoting artmemphis.net. Tonight's town hall meeting helped me realize that we need more field reporters twittering -- and not just that an opening is crowded, but what the address is and why we should go (and on twitter; in 140 letters or less). We need to create more useful groups on facebook and add more links to artmemphis.net on myspace. We need more bloggers who blog about all of the art they see in town, in addition to pet projects (or thesis videos). We need more youtube posts from arts events and more youtube interviews of the people who believe that art is "motivated by a genuine sense of care for one's community."
If you're reading this blog, you're in the game. You have a stake in promoting Memphis visual artists. Now get a twitter account and tell us about the show you're going to this Friday, or start a facebook group for the artists in your gallery, or find your favorite artist on artmemphis.net and send them an e-mail that says, "Hey, thanks for making good art and for making that art visible in this forum." In terms of operant conditioning, a constant stream of positive comments is far more powerful than a fancy trophy on a formal night. Those little digital interactions are making our city’s visual culture “sticky.”
To those of you who are already madly facebooking, youtubing, emailing, twittering, updating delicious bookmarks and building our community online, THANK YOU. Your hard work means a lot to emerging artists like me.
For people who don't live online, a print advertisement in a magazine with a link to a website is a stretch. You might reach someone. But if you want a definite connection to the young, urban, creative person you want to reach in Memphis, I can promise you the fastest most efficient way to connect is to use web 2.0 like youtube, facebook, myspace, or twitter to direct them to your online up-to-the-second updatable calendar.
Most of the things I'm writing about here are goals that I've set for myself; I hope you don't mind me sharing them with you. And as far as goals go, I suppose I should (finally) send Bryan Blankenship my artmemphis.net profile.
Monday, October 27, 2008
dizzy america
This was in the student show last year but has been reworked since then. It's now much faster and louder.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Local Color: Elizabeth Alley's photos of the group show
Here are some of my postcards in a small pumpkin-colored gallery.
Look! Jimmy Haygood's fantastic photos in a totally packed house!
Here are some of Elizabeth's wonderful paintings hanging over some totally rad cobra lamps.
Thanks to Michel Allen for putting together a great night and to Biggs Powell for being such a gracious host.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
A note from Beth
I love getting e-mails from Beth Edwards because no matter what business she has to take care of, she takes the time to point me to some artwork that she knows I'll find interesting. This weekend she sent me a link to a show that's up at The Drawing Center by Rirkrit Tiravanija. They're called Demonstration Drawings.
It's funny, I don't follow Tiravanija as closely as I should; I didn't really know him as a "visual" artist but as a beacon of Relational Aesthetics.
It's funny, I don't follow Tiravanija as closely as I should; I didn't really know him as a "visual" artist but as a beacon of Relational Aesthetics.
What happens when Condoleezza Rice plays piano? When Churchhill or Hitler engage in the act of painting?
Thanks to all of you who came out to see the show at Biggs Powell. It was an amazing crowd. The work there is barely a taste of what I’ll be showing at AMUM in two weeks. Woo! Exciting!
Speaking of that whole thesis show thing, I should get back to the thesis writing. I’d like to talk about some of the things that I’ve been reading and how they relate to the statement I made in an earlier post.
In an essay titled A Plea for Irresponsibility from a collection called The Subversive Imagination: Artists, Society and Social Responsibility, Ewa Kuryluk makes an argument that artist shouldn’t be dealing with this type of anxiety at all. Kuryluk argues that “the politicization of art is harmful to a sophisticated humanity.”
“the politicization of art is harmful to a sophisticated humanity . . . ”
“the politicization
of art
is harmful
to a sophisticated humanity?”
I guess I have little faith in sophisticated humans, or maybe I haven’t engaged in discourse with enough sophisticated humans, kicking up red-clay dust with their red-state flip-flops in Memphis and Tuscaloosa. It seems to me that this statement can be interpreted in two ways:
A. The role of the artist is to provide mediation or common ground for politically oppositional entities.
B. The role of the artist is to provide a means for escaping political realities.
What happens when Condoleezza Rice plays piano? When Churchhill or Hitler engage in the act of painting? In each case these political giants are engaging in art as either A or B. Diplomacy or escape. (Fight or flight?)
What does this have to do with the movies I’ve posted? Truthfully, I’m not a political mover or shaker and so I don’t often encounter any serious political threats. I don’t need to use my art as a means of diplomacy or as a means of escape. It's more essential to me than that--in many ways it's a foundation on which the rest of my life is constructed. Should I still attend to Kuryluk’s suggestion that combining art with politics is ethically problematic? Could it be possible that by 67 paintings about the Kent State shootings could be as harmful as the bullets themselves?
Kuryluk’s essay is a warning about forcing political correctness onto a work of art. “In today’s America . . . It’s good to produce and sponsor art which is politically correct, that is, has been deliberately made to fit, reinforce, or promote the collective images, ideals and goals favored by them . . . [BUT] the whole phenomenon is an offspring of the totalitarian past.”
I guess I agree with Kuryluk about one thing. Forcing.
I use painting and video to tell stories. I often give in to the urge to tell every story that I come across, to share everything. I don’t force anything into the work, but I’m not very keen on editing out ideas once they spring up.
An individual painting might be unapologetically political, but I make so many paintings so quickly there’s plenty of room for “harmful forces” like political correctness, cool analytical observation, and red hot emotions like regret, loss, joy, sappiness and love. In the hundreds of little paintings I have stacked around my studio you’ll find all of the richness of my human experience.
That richness is democratic. If democratic art is political, and I got so far as to make pieces of art that are innately political, and it’s true that “the politicization of art is harmful to a sophisticated humanity,” then it’s no wonder I use words like anxiety.
Speaking of that whole thesis show thing, I should get back to the thesis writing. I’d like to talk about some of the things that I’ve been reading and how they relate to the statement I made in an earlier post.
I use painting and video to tell stories. These stories are about the mechanisms people use to understand and mediate anxiety-producing situations. For good or bad, democracy produces anxiety.
In an essay titled A Plea for Irresponsibility from a collection called The Subversive Imagination: Artists, Society and Social Responsibility, Ewa Kuryluk makes an argument that artist shouldn’t be dealing with this type of anxiety at all. Kuryluk argues that “the politicization of art is harmful to a sophisticated humanity.”
“the politicization of art is harmful to a sophisticated humanity . . . ”
“the politicization
of art
is harmful
to a sophisticated humanity?”
I guess I have little faith in sophisticated humans, or maybe I haven’t engaged in discourse with enough sophisticated humans, kicking up red-clay dust with their red-state flip-flops in Memphis and Tuscaloosa. It seems to me that this statement can be interpreted in two ways:
A. The role of the artist is to provide mediation or common ground for politically oppositional entities.
B. The role of the artist is to provide a means for escaping political realities.
What happens when Condoleezza Rice plays piano? When Churchhill or Hitler engage in the act of painting? In each case these political giants are engaging in art as either A or B. Diplomacy or escape. (Fight or flight?)
What does this have to do with the movies I’ve posted? Truthfully, I’m not a political mover or shaker and so I don’t often encounter any serious political threats. I don’t need to use my art as a means of diplomacy or as a means of escape. It's more essential to me than that--in many ways it's a foundation on which the rest of my life is constructed. Should I still attend to Kuryluk’s suggestion that combining art with politics is ethically problematic? Could it be possible that by 67 paintings about the Kent State shootings could be as harmful as the bullets themselves?
Kuryluk’s essay is a warning about forcing political correctness onto a work of art. “In today’s America . . . It’s good to produce and sponsor art which is politically correct, that is, has been deliberately made to fit, reinforce, or promote the collective images, ideals and goals favored by them . . . [BUT] the whole phenomenon is an offspring of the totalitarian past.”
I guess I agree with Kuryluk about one thing. Forcing.
I use painting and video to tell stories. I often give in to the urge to tell every story that I come across, to share everything. I don’t force anything into the work, but I’m not very keen on editing out ideas once they spring up.
An individual painting might be unapologetically political, but I make so many paintings so quickly there’s plenty of room for “harmful forces” like political correctness, cool analytical observation, and red hot emotions like regret, loss, joy, sappiness and love. In the hundreds of little paintings I have stacked around my studio you’ll find all of the richness of my human experience.
That richness is democratic. If democratic art is political, and I got so far as to make pieces of art that are innately political, and it’s true that “the politicization of art is harmful to a sophisticated humanity,” then it’s no wonder I use words like anxiety.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Faith Ringgold
I just spent one of the most amazing afternoons of my life dishing about politics and art with Faith Ringgold. Dr. Boo Ruch and I picked Ringgold up from the Memphis International Airport this afternoon and drove her through the city to the Madison Hotel, where we chatted and relaxed for a few hours before she had to make an appearance as the keynote speaker at the Tennessee Art Education Association conference.
Faith, Boo and I talked about our hopes for the upcoming election; we all shared the belief that art and education should be supported as the economy goes into recovery mode. We talked about the role of women in politics and she wondered if Nancy Pelosi should be held accountable for not doing more to stop the Bush administration. We talked about being fearless and not just catering to the whims of others when making artwork. We talked about the art we find in airports. She explained a really interesting piece she recently finished about the Declaration of Independence. She told us about traveling the world and about her duck pond at home in New Jersey. We told her about the Peabody Ducks downtown.
It's been years since I really considered how much Ringgold's art has contributed to my understanding of what art should be. Today I was amazed at how easy it was to talk to the person who made it interesting and even easy for me to make the things I want to make. Because of her, it's cool to make art that is narrative. Because of her, it's cool to make art that is political. Because of her, it's cool to make art that is feminist. Because of her, it's cool to make art that is powerful. Because of her, I feel proud to be not just a painter, but an illustrator. Because of her, I feel proud to be not just a painter, but an educator--and a student!
I owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Donalyn Heise and Dr. Bryna Bobick for making this opportunity possible--what an unforgettable life experience.
next weekend
I'm in a group show next weekend and if you want, you can come buy some paintings!
Susan Maakestad, Jimmy Haygood and Elizabeth Alley are in it too. It's atBiggs Powell Interior Design
1698 Monroe
Memphis
Opening Cocktail Reception:
Friday, October 24th from 6-8:30
Open House Saturday, October 25th from 6-8:30
After Church Viewing Sunday, October 26th 1-3
To RSVP please email info@allengallerychelsea.com
View Larger Map
See you there!
Susan Maakestad, Jimmy Haygood and Elizabeth Alley are in it too. It's atBiggs Powell Interior Design
1698 Monroe
Memphis
Opening Cocktail Reception:
Friday, October 24th from 6-8:30
Open House Saturday, October 25th from 6-8:30
After Church Viewing Sunday, October 26th 1-3
To RSVP please email info@allengallerychelsea.com
View Larger Map
See you there!
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
I had a great committee meeting today and I wanted to follow up by posting a to-do list of some of the interesting topics we discussed that I need to review before my defense.
1. Scott McCloud, Reinventing Comics
2. I need to qualify earlier remarks about Greenberg, find what Fried has written about theatricality, and revisit Susan Sontag's essay "Against Interpretation."
3. I need to look for Gerhard Richter's earliest videos. So far I've found one called "Deutschland im Herbst."
1. Scott McCloud, Reinventing Comics
2. I need to qualify earlier remarks about Greenberg, find what Fried has written about theatricality, and revisit Susan Sontag's essay "Against Interpretation."
3. I need to look for Gerhard Richter's earliest videos. So far I've found one called "Deutschland im Herbst."
Sunday, October 05, 2008
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