Paddle8 Blog

Q&A Momenta Art’s Director Eric Heist

admin — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:52:19 +0000

An artist-run institution, Momenta Art’s mission is to promote work by emerging and underrepresented artists and show “…work that is aesthetically sophisticated and deeply, critically engaged.” Paddle8 talked to the Director Eric Heist about the mission of the institution and how it has manifested itself in the past, future projects as well as personal highlights from the Momenta Art Benefit Auction.

Paddle8: Can you a share a brief history of Momenta Art? What was the impetus for the founding of the organization, and what are the central goals?

Eric Heist: Momenta began in Philadelphia in 1986. We were artist-run, starting as an informal crit group to provide some critical support to like-minded artists. We got a very cheap building in Old City where we sublet the upper floors as studio space, and started a regular exhibition program on the ground floor. We started to develop a more clear idea of how we wanted the work to function after we presented an exhibition titled Reimaging America around 1988 that was organized by Mark O’Brien, and included artists that believe art could address serious social matters. We gave early exposure to artists like Jim Hodges and Katy Schimert. In 1992 we moved to New York and started doing nomadic group shows in Soho as galleries were leaving empty spaces behind for Chelsea. We found a permanent space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 1995, and there we focused on exhibitions that combine aesthetic concerns with social criticality, presenting group shows and solo shows, and providing first solo exhibitions to artists that include Kristin Lucas, Omer Fast, Banks Violette, Sue DeBeer, Wangechi Mutu, among many others.

P8: You have an annual fundraiser that also functions as a group exhibition. Can you tell us more about this, and explain how the exhibition is curated?

EH: We have an annual raffle benefit that includes over 150 donated works from emerging and some established artists. It gives exposure to their work and makes up a large part of Momenta’s annual income. It is essential to our ability to continue our mission of providing exposure to emerging artists. Names of ticket holders are drawn randomly. The first name drawn gets first pick. All the tickets are drawn and everyone takes home a work of art. It is a particularly democratic model for a benefit.

P8: What are some recent past initiatives or projects done by Momenta Art that you found to be especially successful?

EH: Some of the exhibitions that I am most satisfied with include Pop Patriotism, curated by Peter Scott, that addressed the commercialization of patriotism after 9-11, a particularly painful subject matter that was unspoken elsewhere at that time. No Return, a group show that included artists Pawel Wojtasik, Rainer Ganahl, Lan Tuazon, Rutherford Chang, James Mills, and others. It spoke about systems of circulation and how meaning can be injected through those systems. Many solo exhibitions – Omer Fast’s show just after he graduated from Hunter, Wangechi Mutu’s show, but also the shows of artists like Riccardo Zuñiga, whose exhibition addressed Nicaraguan history, or Jed Ela’s work, that addressed how we assign value to objects, or Robert Thill’s exhibition that addressed the de-accession of art objects, Ira Eduadovna, presenting the breakdown of “place” after the fall of Soviet Russia through a game show format. All is work that is aesthetically sophisticated and deeply, critically engaged. Some of the artists we show have commercial success. Others will never reach that, but their work is still intelligent and important, and Momenta is just as thrilled to show their work.

P8: You state in your mission that you “promote work that explores the nature of aesthetic experience balanced with social engagement, often presenting exhibitions that ask difficult or uncomfortable questions”. Can you mention some of these questions and give us an example how they have been addressed in the past?

EH: One recent example is our presentation of Occupy Museums. This was an important exhibition for us to host because it questioned the current migration of public funding to private philanthropy, which has a potentially chilling effect on free expression in the United States, and we felt it was important to provide a forum for discussions to take place about this important topic. It was uncomfortable for Momenta in this case because we are funded partly through Bloomberg Philanthropies, which was examined in the exhibition.

P8: What are some other projects you have in development that you are particularly looking forward to?

EH: We are working on an exhibition that examines how labor is defined both socially and in art, an exhibition of work from artists living in Bolivia, an exhibition of work that is derived from newspaper, guest-organized by Adam Simon, and an exhibition by Jacqueline Nguyen that examines Canadian immigration policy in the 60′s through archives of the centennial celebration there which included an alien landing pad.

P8: Can you share some personal highlights from the auction? Is there any work that specifically grabs your attention?

EH: William Powhida gave us a text piece specially made for this auction, Ida Applebroog is just such a great artist, her presentation at Documents was overwhelming and powerful. Mark Dion made an excellent maritime objects drawing for Momenta. The Sarah Braman painting is slow and lasting, very beautiful. We have a very fine print by Mickalene Thomas, part of an edition she made for Momenta through the Benefit Print Project. David Diao’s print of Barnett Newman’s output is striking. His work is complex and personal. I loved his recent show at Postmasters. Hunter Reynolds had a very important show of stitched photographs about three years ago at Momenta. He gave a lovely piece, and Federico Solmi’s work is a joy. It’s so satisfying to have all these excellent artists support us in this way. We are so grateful.

P8: Have you seen any exhibitions recently that you found particularly interesting or moving?

EH: I recently saw the Performing History show at the MoMA. I liked Sharon Hayes piece in which she re-performed tours outside the homes of historic female figures. The element of reconstruction made this work much less straightforward than it first appeared. Also went to a reading at the New School by poet/lawyer Vanessa Place in which she reads transcripts from conversations with sex offenders in a deadpan manner. Her lack of apology makes this loaded subject matter fall back on the listener with intensity. I like work that refuses to position the maker as above or outside of difficult questions of power.

Q&A with Recess’ Executive Director and Founder Allison Weisberg

admin — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:30:28 +0000

The projects Recess supports are selected because they challenge their makers and receivers, and pose questions that don’t necessarily find answers. Funds raised in the Recess Auction will go towards these projects. In the same way that new art seems to beg a new context outside traditional galleries and museums, new ideas need unconventional classrooms. Paddle8 talked to the executive director and founder Allison Weisberg about the very first seed of the organization and how it has blossomed and unfolded into creative and critical challenging organ that feeds curious artists and an active audience.

Paddle8: Can you a share a brief history of Recess? What was the impetus for the founding of the organization, and what are the central goals?

Allison Weisberg: One of the initial seeds for Recess came from a close look at a single artist’s rigorous pursuit, and we continue to look to our artists for guidance. When I was working at the Whitney, Corin Hewitt, first Session artist and current board member, had a show called Seed Stage. Inside of the Whitney’s lobby gallery, Corin built another four walls that would serve as his studio. The walls were open at each of the four corners and invited viewers to peer in and share the artist’s time and productive space. Inside this literal open studio, Corin took on the life of objects, organic and inorganic, in a full-on dissection of process. He cooked grilled cheese, photographed it, grew plants, recombined and fried the mixture, made clay replicas of it all, and buried bits and pieces in a bucket of dirt – this truncated description does a disservice to the project.

I thought, this is the kind of unwieldy, complicated, messy project that makes viewers stop and reflect on their own position in relation to an artist’s critical investigation of things found and made. I wanted to create a space where artists could experiment free from institutional constraints, and explore the incremental developments of their own work in partnership with their public.

P8: Funds raised from this auction will go towards future projects at Recess. Can you share some examples of projects previously done by Recess?

AW: One of my favorite things about my job is the degree to which it changes with each project. Every artist defines the space on their own terms, and extrapolates new meaning from our mission. Our artists have done everything from building a water slide in our space, to creating industrial sculptures designed to erode their own structure. Our artists take on difficult questions that don’t find easy answers, and take risks, engaging rigorous process and critical inquiry. Currently, Aaron S. Davidson and Melissa Dubin, are realizing “Volumes for Sound”, creating new forms that investigate the physicality of sound. Funnelling, folding and porting sound requires physical structures; these sculpture address archareoacoustics and the pre-electrical harnessing of sound within architecture, while employing the staggered geometries of loudspeaker time-alignment and the slurred voicing of phase cancellation.

P8: You empathise that you have ‘an active audience’. Can you give us some examples on how the artists selected for the residency interact with an active audience? Does the artist need the audience for the art to be meaningful?

AW: Getting people to take the risk to enter an unconventional space that isn’t recognizable as a traditional gallery or private studio, can be a challenge. Luckily, once people come inside, they often stay, and usually return. So, four years later, our audience is increasingly diverse and growing. Our artists create complex, active spaces that speak for themselves. And they speak loudly – our current project “Volumes for Sound” echoes through my brain long after I go home at night.

To clarify, I’ve never been interested in audience participation for participation’s sake. I dislike the relational model that asks visitors to contribute to a work as a simple gesture that forms a cumulative mass of disconnected players and offers no substantive or critical content. Rather, I believe that contemporary audiences – even those unfamiliar with art – are capable of a lot, and I wanted to encourage an active, qualitative approach to serious art. And I found artists and audiences shared my enthusiasm for process-based investigations and creative risk-taking.

P8: What are some other projects you have in development that you are particularly looking forward to?

AW: When we started in 2009, our main program Session, took all of our time, space and resources. Now we have a full line up programs that compliment Session, which remains at our core. A critical writing program happens in conjunction with each Session program, and Analog, our online residency reaches our virtual audience. Performance series and collaborations with other organizations – some big, some small – help us meet new audiences.

As we look toward the fall, we’ll work with Performa on a new project, and collaborate with a British outfit in a new context. We’ll continue to develop our online program and continue to collaborate with organizations that share our commitment to experimental new works.

P8: Can you share some personal highlights from the auction? Is there any work that specifically grabs your attention?

AW: In my humble opinion, they’re all exceptional works. It’s a unique and wonderful opportunity to visit Vito Acconci’s studio with the artist on hand to answer any and all questions. And wandering through MoMA when it’s closed to the public sounds great. The Daniel Lefcourt is stunning and special. He has a solo show opening at Mitchell Innes & Nash next week and we feel particularly lucky to have his work with a starting bid at such a generous price point. Corin Hewitt’s work is funny and beautiful, and you won’t find anything else like it, anywhere. When I first saw the Arthur Ou, I was taken aback. He’s making very exciting work. I could go on like this for each work in the auction, but I’ll restrain myself…

P8: Have you seen any exhibitions recently that you found particularly interesting or moving?

AW: There’s a small show up at P! gallery, a new exhibition space on Broome, featuring two of our auction artists, Marc Handleman and Arthur Ou. I’ve also been visiting a bunch of MFA thesis shows to get a glimpse of emerging talent. Simone Subal is a relatively new space on Bowery and she has a really interesting program.

Check out this video that John Miserendino produced during his Session at Recess. John’s sculptures will be “performing” at Four More Years: Recess Benefit 2013. Details are undisclosed…

Q&A with REACT to FILM

admin — Wed, 15 May 2013 13:37:05 +0000

Seeking to engage youth in real social issues and awake critical thought through the film medium, all funds raised in REACT to FILM’s Benefit Auction will directly support the REACT to FILM High School Program, as well as the College Action Network. Paddle8 talked to REACT to FILM about their enlightening programs, the organisation’s previous achievements and the importance of raising young people’s awareness in social and humanitarian issues.

Paddle8: Can you a share a brief history of REACT to FILM? What was the impetus for the founding of the organization, and what are the central goals?

REACT to FILM: Around 2004-05, Dennis Paul & Coralie Charriol Paul hosted a pre-theatrical screening of Born Into Brothels at Soho House New York with the director Zana Briski, displaying the photographs made by the children in the film to raise funds for Briski’s nonprofit Kids with Cameras aiming to build a school in Calcutta to get those kids out of the brothels. That screening turned out to the inception of what would later become REACT to FILM, a 501c3 nonprofit that was created in 2009 and launched with the premiere of Food Inc. The ideas was to bring important social issues to the forefront of people’s conversations. Realizing the gap in civic engagement by young people on these kinds of issues, and the power of the best social issue documentaries to help fill that void, RtF created a high school program, and eventually the college action network to drive discourse on college campuses.

P8: Funds raised from this auction will directly support the REACT to FILM High School Program as well as the College Action Network – can you share some examples of the programming done by REACT to FILM?

RtF: The REACT to FILM high school course is a semester long, elective curricula that leverages the best social-issue films to expose students to today’s critical social issues, to engage them in classroom discussion with peers and teachers, and to inspire them to find their own voice on matters of universal civic importance. Precedence is given to schools that serve socio-economically disadvantaged and minority students. Some of the films used for the High School course are Food Inc., Miss Representation, and The Interrupters.

At the collegiate level, we have enabled young leaders at approximately 50 colleges and universities to start REACT to FILM chapters at their schools. Through this College Action Network, REACT to FILM trains students to be true leaders, capable of planning, promoting, and executing a film screening that is part of the RtF monthly NATIONAL MOMENT uniting college students across the country in a simultaneous event to engage collegiate youth on an important social issues, and foster discussion and debate nationally on that issue among the chapter leaders, their peers, and their professors. Some of the films screened via the College Action Network recently have been Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare, The Invisible War, and Searching for Sugar Man.

P8: What are some recent past initiatives or projects done REACT to FILM that you found to be especially successful?

RtF: An example of a successful student reaction to film was when our Hendrix College chapter reached out to their local juvenile court, and got their college’s basketball team to hold a basketball day camp for three hours with 20 at-risk youth following their screening of The Interrupters. These are the types of actions that we hope to inspire!

P8: What are some other projects you have in development that you are particularly looking forward to?

RtF: Currently we are looking forward to our 2nd Annual REACT to FILM Summer Leadership Conference for our College Action Network students. The conference provides leadership training, workshops, networking opportunities, and screening events.

P8: Can you share some personal highlights from the auction? What about the works specifically grabs your attention?

RtF: We are particularly excited about the experience of Flag football with Tiki Barber, which was attained by the help of Doug Scott, one of our board members. Physical experiences can many times be more valuable than physical items.

P8: Have you seen any films recently that you found particularly interesting or moving?

RtF: How to Make Money Selling Drugs is a film that is produced by Adrian Grenier, who we are honoring at our event. The film is focused on the War on Drugs and features a series of interviews with drug dealers, prison employees, and lobbyists who all talk about the current drug legislation in the US. We are looking forward to hosting a screening at the Museum of the Moving Image on June 2nd, following by a Q&A with Adrian Grenier.

For more about the REACT to FILM programs, check out this video

Myla Dalbesio and Adam Mignanelli | Conversation between two curators on WISH meme

admin — Mon, 13 May 2013 20:16:07 +0000

The Frieze Art Week is by its end, boiling with alternative art fairs, exhibitions and happenings. The WISH meme Exhibition was up May 8-12, but if you missed out on the actual exhibition you still have the chance to bid on a selection of amazing works at our auction WISH meme Exhibition until May 20. WISH meme was organised by SPRING/BREAK creators Ambre Kelly and Andrew Gori as a part of New Museum’s IDEAS CITY festival.

Paddle8 moderated a Q&A between artist Myla DalBesio and founder of Ballast Projects Adam Mignanelli, who respectively curated the exhibitions Magic Kingdom and Make your own luck. Be sure to read the full interview below, where DalBesio and Mignanelli chat about their curatorial process, their experience of being a part of a conceptual curated-driven art fair, painting and art created in a culture of consumerism.

Myla DalBesio: Adam, can you explain to me exactly what Ballast Projects is?

Adam Mignanelli: So, Ballast Projects is my curatorial initiative that spawned out of a blog I was running called Ballast NYC. I mainly wrote about art shows, funny stuff and culture, but as I painted more, and spent more and more time at shows, I slowly transitioned into curating art that I was passionate about – painting – and really tried to push the shows as a movement of what is going on from these young, up-and-coming artists that are serious about their craft.

My main goal and reasoning for Ballast Projects is really to showcase and engage the public with artists that I feel are making an impact, not only due to making great work, but by following their passion and taking it seriously. Simply put, art is too important to not showcase, and I am trying to help a new generation I know will come forward strong.

MDB: Is it just you or do you work with other folks?

AM: As of now it is just me, but a community has started to emerge with the artists and people involved with the projects.

MDB: And how did you get involved with Ambre and Andrew?

AM: Ambre and Andrew were introduced to me by a mutual friend, and they had seen a show I had done showcasing four young women that in a mainly male-centric world of painting and sculpture, I felt were making amazing work and killing it in their own right. They asked me to be in SPRING/BREAK, and we hit it off!

What I find unique is that with the programming they share with us at the Old School, and elsewhere, we too start to build a community with each of us working separately in these rooms to create one large amazing adventure for people to explore.

…..
Adam Mignanelli: Myla, What was your story for meeting A&A?

Myla DalBesio: I met Ambre and Andrew a few years ago, when they first got into the school. My best friend and collaborator Amanda Schmitt had just come off curating this huge show called Physical Center at St. Cecelia’s in Greenpoint, and Ambre and Andrew approached her about contributing to the first iteration of School Nite. We came in and did an installation with an accompanying performance. This was before PACE built the gallery walls in the upstairs rooms, so we were really working within the confines of the alternative nature of the space. That’s something that is so great about working inside of the school; the fact that it’s not a traditional environment encourages a more experimental and innovative use of the space.

AM: I also want to touch on the fact that we both curate, and naturally make our own art. Both of these go hand-in-hand, but Id love to hear more about your process and the type of work you create, as you take on an amazing multi-faceted approach with sculpture, performance art, video etc. How did you get to this place, and how does this influence your curation?

MDB: Curation is new to me. Being that SPRING/BREAK was just two months ago, I decided to curate rather than show my own work this time around to avoid redundancy, and it became a very natural extension of my creative process. I wouldn’t say that the works I’m showing are similar to what I make, but that makes me appreciate them all the more. What I love about these pieces is that upon initial viewing, Magic Kingdom can appear very fun and silly (a stoned Mickey Mouse! Lego uzis!), but there is definitely a dark undertone to it all. And that is something that I explore within my own work: the line between the light and the dark, and how we toe it every day.

AM: Do you look for similarities in others’ works?

MDB: The show itself is based around the concept that we grew up in a culture heavily focused on consumerism, and as a result our childhood memories became encapsulated in merchandise and characters. There is a lot of nostalgia-inducing recycled imagery in there, but the artists all have their own unique ways of shifting and updating these symbols to reflect their personal growth. Memories become warped with time and experience, and that is what I see when I look at these pieces. Take Jason Nocito’s photo Jason, Selfie, for example. An image of a Friday the 13th-style Jason mask shot through the rear window of a car takes on a whole new meaning once Nocito begins to draw the comparison between himself and this iconic character that haunted our collective adolescence. It is honest, self-deprecating and hilarious, and while we all know Nocito is not a mass-murdering psychopath, it plays on the acknowledgement of our evil sides.

In Mike #1, a quilt featuring the visage of Mike Tyson from his “Punch Out!” video game, Weston Ulfig takes someone famous for aggression and hyper-masculinity and reworks him into a soft, comforting object. It is like a memory in itself, the meaning and significance shifting with age. When I was compiling my artist list, those are the kind of things that stood out to me. Work that made my heartstrings feel that familiar pull, yet still felt current. Yung Lenox induces some serious heartache. He is only six years old, and all of his work is produced in quiet collaboration with his father, Skip. To call their process sweet or inspiring or unique doesn’t really do it justice. They are partners in every sense, and the content of Lenox’s work (usually portraits of rappers or recreations of album cover art) is inspired by their joint appreciation for quality hip hop. While the work itself is all done by Lenox’s hand, the project as a whole is something beautiful that they share and create together.

…..
Myla DalBesio: Adam, how did you find the artists you’re showing, and what made you decide to group them together?

AM: I find my artists in various ways, but usually starting with a strong personal connection, whether it’s how we meet and interact as people, or if I have been moved by the work. In the case of this show Make Your Own Luck I found Ian Toms’ work at Volta this past Spring and brought him on board for his dark, beautifully rough paintings. Russel Tyler is an amazing thick painter whom he and his wife both are immersive in the painting community and good friends. I feel his work, along with his new minimal work is something that needs to be shown. Devin Powers was someone who’s opening I had gone to at his gallery Lesley Heller and fell in love with the work. I did a studio visit and the rest is history. Last May I showed Samuel T. Adams, and he has really taken his acrylic paint transfer process to a whole new level.

MDB: Do you normally focus specifically on painters?

AM: Generally I look for like minded people whom are making incredible work and intelligently placing themselves in a position to be self reliant, hence the name Make Your Own Luck. First time I heard this was when my brother Matt Mignanelli gave me a graduation gift; a money clip with that phrase engraved on it. I still keep this motto with me as I work on my own path, and the works and artists I show all fit in this category. Painting is sometimes seen as a male-dominant archaic art form, and I’m trying to drive home that this is not fizzling, but growing stronger and stronger to young top talent artists in a digital age.

MDB: Yeah, painting is going in a really great direction these days. I really love what Matt Jones is doing. He has been producing these “space paintings” – one of which, Four Dimensions Existing Simultaneously, I have in my show – with oils in simple color schemes. Usually black and white, sometimes a bit of purple or teal, and they have an appearance of being almost random, but are actually quite intricate and mesmerizing. Looking into them gives you this feeling of being sucked into a black hole. He is definitely making those pieces that shoot off crazy vibrations. It’s almost like his paintings have a human presence; even when your back is turned, you can still feel them behind you, humming along. Stephen Zerbe’s Dream TV, is similar in that sense. In the show, it’s installed in the small former coat room attached to my space, and even when you’re on the other side of the wall, you can still sense this eery, electric, monolithic presence.

And of course I would be remiss not to discuss Joe Roberts, who is taking painting in completely different direction. In his blending of medias, he is revisiting pop-like tendencies to appropriate his childhood obsessions (aliens, Mickey Mouse, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), and aging them, melting them down into the pot-addled archetypes of the slacker generation. His work balances carefully between irony and sincerity, and we’re always left guessing which way to tip.

For another Q&A with a SPRING/BREAK curator, check out Q&A with SPRING/BREAK Curator Kyle DeWoody who curated an exhibition for the New Mysticism exhibition in March 2013.

Q&A with A+D Museum’s Executive Director Tibbie Dunbar

admin — Sat, 11 May 2013 13:53:19 +0000

Architecture and design surround us, from the fork you’re eating with to the car you’re driving – it has all been designed by someone. A+D Architecture+Design Museum in Los Angeles offers an unique opportunity to explore this facet of life through enlightening and interesting exhibitions and their strong educational programs. Paddle8 had the chance to talk with the Executive Director Tibbie Dunbar about this, the history the A+D Museum, design in everyday life, personal highlights from the auction and past and future exhibitions.

Paddle8: Can you share a brief history of the A+D Museum?

Tibbie Dunbar: A+D Museum opened in 2001 in the landmark Bradbury Building in downtown Los Angeles. After a nomadic life of bringing architecture and design to numerous Los Angeles communities, A+D opened in 2010 on Museum Row in a renovated space made possible by the pro bono efforts of the city’s building community. A+D is unique in the region, bringing cutting edge exhibitions of architecture and design to students, professionals, and the public at large.

P8: Funds raised from this auction will go towards sustaining the intuition’s work with promoting the role of architecture and design in everyday life through exhibits, education and programs. Can you share some examples of the programming and education done by the museum?

TD: Education is core to the mission of A+D Museum. Our growing educational programs include ARkidECTURE, Urban Hikes: Forgotten LA, inConversation symposia, onScreen film screenings, inBooks literary events, inCollaboration community building initiatives, our exhibitions and more. The goal is to continue to expand our educational outreach. Our annual CELEBRATE fundraiser is critical to the success of this expansion and the growth of the institution.

P8: What is the role of architecture and design in everyday life?

TD: The built environment impacts every aspect of our daily life, whether we are conscious of it or not. The objects, signs, type fonts, tools, virtual icons that we are surrounded by on micro and macro levels, are all designed…

P8: What are some recent past initiatives, exhibitions or projects done by the A+D museum?

TD: A+D was very pleased to be a participant in the 2011/2012 Getty Foundation Pacific Standard Time initiative with our EAMES WORDS exhibition. Our galleries were infused with the thoughts and philosophies of these most iconic American designers. EAMES WORDS met with unprecedented accolades by the press and the public. A+D was also very proud to have presented Drylands Designs, an exhibition curated by the Aridlands Institute at Woodbury University. This exhibit featured work by architects, landscape architects, engineers, and urban designers responding to the challenges of water scarcity in the face of climate change.

P8: Can you share some personal highlights from the auction?

TD: The architecture and design community answered our call, creating one-of-a-kind carry on cases that range from, ready to take on the next commercial flight (but with oh such panache!), to ready for the most enlightening spiritual journey ever! My personal socks are knocked off by the ethereal floating bag, “Air – Light,” by Berenika Boberska of Feral Office, the BMW DesignworksUSA conceptual “Walk on Air” journey bubbles, and the equally conceptual but pocket size BODY[log] or “Augmented Experience Transmuter (B[log])” by INTERSTICE Architects.

P8: What are some projects that you have in development that you are particularly looking forward to?

TD: Opening on May 16 is our Pacific Standard Time Presents exhibition Windshield Perspective. This exhibit is unique in concept and execution. A short yet dense stretch of Beverly Boulevard from Normandie to Virgil is the star of the show. I invite you to the opening reception at 6:00pm on Thursday, May 16, 2013.

Coming up this summer is Never Built: Los Angeles. The exhibition explores the “what if” Los Angeles. A thorough compendium of projects that only saw the drawing board, the exhibition asks: Why is Los Angeles a hotbed of great architects, yet so lacking in urban innovation? Never Built Los Angeles opens July 27, 2013.

Have you seen any exhibitions recently that you found particularly successful or moving?

TD: I very much enjoyed the Llyn Foulkes exhibition at the Hammer Museum and Overdrive: LA Constructs the Future 1940-1990 at the Getty Center is an incredible overview of the evolution of Los Angeles over the last fifty years.

Interview with artist Sam Moyer by Timothée Chaillou

admin — Fri, 10 May 2013 16:58:19 +0000

Timothée Chaillou interviews artist Sam Moyer for Paddle8 about her piece for sale in the Vanguard Auction. Here, we’ve included the extended version of their conversation, where the artist talks about this specific piece and her process in general.

Timothée Chaillou: Could you please talk about the making process of Untitled (2013). ?

Sam Moyer: It was made the same way they all were. The fabric was dyed outside in Long Island and taken back to my studio in Brooklyn. I made some choices and it took shape. This one is interesting to me because of the verticality of its composition. It feels new.

TC: Is this work part of a series?

SM: Its part of a type of work I have been making for the past 2 years. Maybe when I’m dead and gone and I’ve made a whole lot of work over a whole lot of years it will seem like a series.

TC: Could you please explain in which manner your work is “about the Abyss”?

SM: Well, I like to make something to stare at, to get a little lost in, which in turn can create a sense of being overwhelmed. It’s not necessarily defining “The Abyss”, rather creating space in a flat field of vision. I think the scale and the imagery (or lack of imagery) are partners in trying to achieve this sense of space and nothingness. The suspicion that there isn’t an end or a defined place or space, that it could just go on and on…and who are you?! Just kidding.

When you stare out at the ocean and you focus on the horizon line and you feel a sense of place but you have no real concept of the amount of space you are looking at, you just have this line to define everything, and that’s ok, but maybe not…it’s a real thing; Sea staring. It works on open plains as well, kind of.

TC: The experience of your pieces is physically sensitive. Is the material always the starting point of all your pieces? Does the material prevail?

SM: I’m always trying to let the material behave the way it wants to, let it’s character dictate the outcome of the piece, but sometimes I get a little bossy and overrule.

TC: For what reasons do you like to call your paintings “wall sculptures”? Why do you prefer to think of them as bas-reliefs, picture-objects?

SM: I feel like I will never live down calling them “wall sculptures”, I just don’t know what else to call them. I like “picture-objects”, that’s a good one! I think they have a relationship with painting, but I also think they have a relationship with sculpture and photography. They represent painting in that they are rectangles that hang on the wall, but their means of production does not involve brushes or paint or a 2D rendering. They exist in a very 3D format until they are mounted to the panels.

TC: Do you think of your wood panels as pedestal?

SM: Yes I do.

TC: Is your work melancholic?

SM: There is mood in tone, but I think this is more of a question for the viewer. I also think it shifts from piece to piece. I don’t want to umbrella all the work under a specific mood, I have a lot of different ones.

TC: Your canvas weave create various abstractions and patterns, and you allow your fabric to dry in wrinkles and folds. For what reasons and when did you start laying your canvas outdoors letting the weather and light be part of your working process?

SM: Things happen naturally. I had to make a piece that was too big for my studio so I dragged it outside and the rest is history (very recent history). It made sense to me, having grown up studying photography and making cyanotypes and solar prints. Oddly enough, I think growing up sailing helped me connect the dots. You really see how things wear down on a sailboat. How the sun and the salt affect different materials. Watching the degradation of exposure acting as documentation of place and time.

TC: Some of your “paintings” bear a direct relationship to a photographic process as you create positive and negative space by burning the dyed canvas with bleach thus mimicking the behavior of light. Could you please talk about the photographic aspect of your “paintings” with their inclusion of brightness popping against darkness?

SM: I don’t actually use bleach anymore; the process has become more and more reductive.
I just feel like the illusion created by the effects of a specific time and place carry a moment or an honesty or hold an aura. It’s an act of documentation, in line with photography. The end process of mounting the work is reminiscent of photography for me as well. It invokes an editing process that aligns more with photography than painting.

TC: After working with photography you said that you are now “trying to boil things down to the essentials; to boil things down to just light’s reaction to surfaces and trying to incorporate that through pattern making and patterns through nature. The easiest way to approach that is through black and white. It just encompasses everything.”

SM: I guess its old color theory? All color is within black and white is the representation of light? The idea that a color can stand in for an element as elusive and present as light? The definition of space through reflection and shadow? I’m trying to actually boil it down in real time here… The more I work on something the more I want to refine it, to get to its “essence”, which falls back on the editing process. Cut the fat until you can really see what you are working with. I want to remove enough information that there is room for the viewer to bring their own stuff to the table. I want to create space for them to move around in the work.

Visit writer Timothée Chaillou‘s site.

Bulgari’s Serpenti Collection makes a statement at VANGUARD

admin — Thu, 09 May 2013 14:29:06 +0000

Created with the precision of, and with the creativity behind a piece of art, the Bulgari watch will be featured in the live Vanguard Auction taking place May 11. Graceful spirals with scales of diamond pave wrap around the wrist with extraordinary suppleness revealing a meticulous system of openwork on both sides and the back. 10% of the jewellery purchased in the Bulgari store at 5th Avenue within May 11 will be donated to LAND.

Bulgari’s style is expressed through the captivating contours of the distinguished and elegant serpent creature. Tradition and modernity intertwine to create a contemporary vision of a timeless icon.

Specialist Picks from the VANGUARD auction by Paddle8′s Tim Malyk

admin — Wed, 08 May 2013 16:41:33 +0000

Paddle8′s Senior Specialist Tim Malyk talks us through his favorite picks from our curated Vanguard auction.

Our current auction endeavor, Vanguard, held in collaboration with LAND and curated by Shamim M. Momin offers a broad selection of Contemporary Artists creating works today, alongside established classic Contemporary art world veterans from the East and West Coasts.

From an umbrella painting and bullet holes by Nate Lowman to the elegant calligraphic brushstroke action painting by James Nares or the stunning and remarkable miniature reproduction of a Frank Stella masterpiece in the Frank Stella, Tomlinson Court Park, 1959 by Richard Pettibone.

The Vanguard sale offers a selection of artists who are at the forefront of their respective areas of practice whether they have been recently anointed into the Contemporary Art arena or have held the mantle for decades.

Paddle8 and LAND encourage you to visit the full site for our sale and view the sale in its entirety. Your support will help to make future projects and creation of future masterpieces possible.

Q&A with collector-turned-curator Amir Shariat on his new exhibition at Leila Heller Gallery

admin — Wed, 08 May 2013 15:36:27 +0000

The collector-turned-curator Amir Shariat talks to Paddle8 about his upcoming exhibition, his experience as a curator and the similarities that can be found in rap music and art.

“Bass! How low can you go?” marks your debut as a curator, but as an art collector you have had a strong involvement with art for decades. It’s an interesting leap. How did you get involved with this exhibition and what has been your role as a curator?

Amir Shariat: Leila came to visit my collection in Dubai and kindly asked me to curate her show during Frieze NY in May. This was a major step for me as I had never curated a show before.

Can you describe your curatorial vision for the exhibition?

AS: Art is like rap music as sampling is at the core of our creativity. Visual artists and musicians always get inspiration from past masters. The Italian masters of the 1960s are at the core of many a young artists practice.

How did you envision your role as a curator when you first started?

AS: I totally underestimated the time it took to put a show together. It taught me to better understand galleries and the amount of work and effort they put into their exhibitions.

The title on the exhibition, “Bass! How low can you go?” is taken from an old hip hop song from 1989. Can you elaborate on the connection between the music reference and the artists in the show?

AS: Simon Harris sampled a line from Public Enemy’s song “Bring the Noise” and it became a 1980s hit once again. Anthrax also covered the song. Contemporary artists behave like rap artists as they also sample from the past, just think of Raphael Danke and Boetti or Gibb Slife and Andy Warhol.

If you conclude that all artists somehow resample the past, why do you think some of them are more successful in doing so than others?

AS: At the end of the day it’s up to the ear (for music) and the eye (for art). Creativity is not something that one can explain easily.

Can you share some personal highlights from the exhibition?

AS: I love the Bonalumi and Scheggi works as they are great masters and slightly overlooked compared to the master Fontana. They truly worked the canvas! On the contemporary side Sheree Hovsepian has created some sensational bronze sculptures while Raphael Danke has taken collage to the next level.

What are some projects that you have in development that you are particularly looking forward to?
AS: Nothing.

Have you seen any exhibitions recently that you found particularly successful or moving?

AS: I was taken aback by the Paolo Scheggi exhibition at Museo Luigi Pecci in Italy and Dynamo in Paris. On the art gallery front I loved Kaari Upson at Carlson, Peter Piller at Andrew Kreps and Nikolas Gambaroff at Gio Marconi. I think that the Stingel at Palazzo Grassi will be out of this world.

Why is Bass! How low can you go? an exhibition worth checking out?

AS: Because you will discover artists that have been overlooked, and contemporary ones that are emerging.

Bass! How low can you go? will be on display from May 8 until June 1 at the Leila Heller Gallery, New York.

Q&A with LMCC’s Director of Cultural Programs Melissa Levin on the LMCC Benefit Auction

admin — Tue, 07 May 2013 17:40:48 +0000

We had the chance to speak with LMCC’s Melissa Levin on the 40th anniversary of the organization and their incredible efforts to support artists during Hurricane Sandy.

Can you share your curatorial process for the LMCC Benefit Auction?

Our auction is always a really wonderful opportunity to look back at the artists we’ve worked with throughout the years, specifically in our artist residency programs, and to reconnect with them. This year being our 40th anniversary, the process was especially meaningful. We wanted to make an effort to represent the organization over the years, the different artists we’ve worked with, the buildings in which we worked, and the way in which we’ve changed what it means to “work” in Lower Manhattan. We started by putting together a committee of artists who we feel represent the past, present, and future of LMCC – including Jenny Holzer who participated in LMCC’s Art Lobby exhibition at the Marine Midland Building at 140 Broadway – one of the earliest examples of LMCC adapting temporarily vacant space for arts activity, Rackstraw Downes who was in the first World Views residency session in the World Trade Center dedicated to cityscape painters, Paul Pfeiffer who participated in a later World Views program and whose career took off in the following years with inclusion in, among others, the Whitney Biennial and the Venice Biennale, and Liz Magic Laser who participated in our current Workspace program just before being featured in MoMA PS1’s Greater New York exhibition and receiving a commission from Performa. Each committee member donated a work, creating a stellar foundation on which to build the rest of the auction. Most of the participating artists this year have a long relationship and deep bond with LMCC and it was a really fun challenge to put together this group.

Can you share some personal highlights from the auction?

Though. I love everything in this year’s auction. A few highlights for me are Paul Pfeiffer’s Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse, from a series I’ve always admired, and LaToya Ruby Frazier’s U.S.S. Edgar Thomson Plant and Mon Valley Works On Braddock Avenue which is a powerful photograph that is also included in her current solo show, A Haunted Capital, at the Brooklyn Museum. Other highlights include Hugh Hayden’s Obama made from shaved sheepskin, which he created in his LMCC studio, Mary Mattingly’s photograph Wearing an Island, which perfectly encapsulates Mary’s commitment to alternative thinking about clothing, housing, and our environment, and Peter Ruta’s Winter in New York, a poetic meditation on downtown.

LMCC was an incredible resource for the arts community during Hurricane Sandy, can you tell us about some of the results of your efforts?

In the aftermath of the storm, it was important to us to both maintain our regular communications with our constituents, and also provide responsive recovery resources and information. During the first weeks after the storm, our staff worked to keep current artists informed on a daily basis about access to studios and to put together e-newsletters and social media communications with information including emergency resources for artists and ways in which they could help their fellow residents and businesses affected by the storm. Although we ourselves did not have the capacity to provide emergency space or funding at the time, we were able to provide artists with information about everything from legal support, emergency loans, and artwork salvage/recovery resources, to relief grants being offered by NYFA, The Joan Mitchell Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Rauschenberg Foundation, Pollock-Krasner Foundation and others, to workspace being offered by Brookfield, the New York City Economic Development Corporation, Christie’s, and even the Santa Fe Art Institute in New Mexico. The immediate and generous response from all directions to the situation artists and arts organizations were finding themselves in was truly moving.

In addition to providing what information we could, we also began to assess how the storm had impacted our 2012 artists – grantees, space recipients, professional development participants, and those artists preparing for presentations in our 2013 summer public programs. We anticipated that in addition to interruptions some of them may have experienced because of the damages to our facilities, many would have experienced losses in income, impeded access to other spaces they may use for development, storage, presentation, or even living, and other types of business disruptions.

With the knowledge that events such as Sandy and Irene and the blizzard that shut down some of New York City in October 2011 are likely to become more regular occurrences, we have been begun to reframe our programs. This includes developing additional Professional Development curriculum materials directly addressing resilience and preparedness, in order to provide artists with both the tools to sustain and build their careers, but also to plan for and adapt to large-scale events that can cause unforeseen disruptions.

What are some projects that you have in development that you are particularly looking forward to?

We have a lot of exciting programming coming up this summer for audiences to enjoy. Governors Island reopens to the public Memorial Day Weekend and our Building 110: LMCC’s Arts Center will open with “In Residence,” part of Season of Cambodia, and open studios with visual and performing artists. Just one week later, the Workspace artists- and writers-in-residence will open their studios at One Liberty Plaza for the culminating weekend of their residency. In June, we launch the 12th annual River To River Festival which transforms over 25 indoor and outdoor sites throughout Lower Manhattan with an unparalleled collection of performances and events featuring music, dance, theater, visual art, and film by renowned and breakout artists. And we close out our summer programming with an exciting new community-based design initiative, called Paths to Pier 42, which will be a series of art, educational, and design installations and public events that will increase access to, and create public uses of Pier 42 while it awaits permanent transformation into a new public park over the next several years.

Have you seen any exhibitions recently that you found particularly successful or moving?

There are so many to choose from! I loved seeing recent artist-in-residence Rob Carter create his exhibition, Faith in A Seed, in his LMCC studio before it went up (and grew) at Art in General, I was very engrossed by Rosemarie Trockel: A Cosmos at the New Museum, being a Los Angeles native, it was amazing to see Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles 1960-1980 at MoMA PS 1, and, most recently, it was incredibly moving to see LaToya Ruby Frazier: A Haunted Capital at the Brooklyn Museum. It’s up through August 11, 2013 – Go see it!