Art Fair Orgy : Pulse

To break the suspense, I am ranking Pulse as the best of the fairs I saw. But the fact is that the Armory Show was too big to fully take in. Looking at a few blogs showed me all kinds of stuff I missed. I also didn't give Scope the time it deserved.

Emily Noelle Lambert

Emily Noelle Lambert

Prisca Juschka's booth Included two very strong works by Pittsburgh's Emily Noelle Lambert.
Parkers Box from Brooklyn had a strong booth which included a big Joyce Pensato painting and this projection video work by Samuel Russeau.

Finesilver Gallery had a large and very powerfull piece by Leonardo Drew

Then I ran into a wall of Emilie Clark watercolors and new taxidermy sculpture works at Nathan Larramendy Gallery. The place was too crowded and my camera too poor to capture much.


I liked the Aurora Robson work at the Richard Levy Gallery booth.


Edward Winkleman took the risk of dedicating his whole booth Ivin Ballen.

Art Fair Orgy : Red Dot Fair

I was in NY for the Art Fairs and did the Armory Show, Pulse, Scope and the Red Dot Fair, as well as Fountain before burning out. I have not done the fairs in this way for several years.

Friday, I did the Red Dot Fair, partly because this is the type of fair that I could perhaps realistically participate in. This was the only fair that I can truly say had a lot of very bad work, but it also had a lot of great stuff. The fair included a number of private curators, independent dealers and informal galleries which made it very interesting to me. The hotel format, when done well can also lead to a lot of creative surprises.


Eyewash, A legendary, (or like it should be) independent curatorial program had one of the first rooms which held some Linda Ganjin eye candy.


A little further in was the room of Reppetti Gallery in Long Island City, which was stuffed with a lot of intense paintings like this one by Ben Pritchard.

Another treat was Pentimenti Gallery from Philly where I liked the Margaret Murphy work.

Kenise Barnes Fine Art from Larchmont had a nice booth that seemed to focus on works on paper and paintings. Flat file artist Mary judge had two large drawings there. My shot sucks.

Dillon Gallery, NY won the prize for the best use of space with it's Alexander Kaletski cardboard bed instalation.


Several other galleries like Roy Boyd- Chicago, consultant, M% from Cleveland and Rebecca Ibel from Columbus had great stuff.

I had some time on Saturday to visit the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. From their website:

Founded in 1945, PCA is a non-profit community arts campus that offers arts education programs and contemporary art exhibitions, providing services and resources for individual artists throughout Western Pennsylvania. The Center is where the community can create, see, support, and learn about visual arts.

At any one time, the facility can host as many as eight exhibits in its interconnecting galleries. PCA is also the home of Pittsburgh's numerous guilds. All of the shows that I saw this weekend end on March 18, so if you have a chance, stop by.

In the entrance gallery...
Group Picture
Deanne Dunbar
This exhbit was comprised of a half dozen large oil paintings based on group pictures. The artist statement posted with the exhibit states that the artist's intent was to encourage the power of group action. All of the group pictures were very much posed.

Next door and in the hallway was...
Blanket Statement
Shawn Quinlan

I loved the bed. The quilts were more like fabric collage. Figures were cut out and applied with an over-stitching machine quilt technique. More of an applique effect.

Two of the galleries on the second floor are the domain of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh. This group is fast approaching its 100th anniversary. On exhibit is...

Vitreous
Associated Artists of Pittsburgh

Marjorie Shipe -- Phantom City. Absolutely beautiful work.
Nathan Nissim -- Soldier from Orion
William Wade -- Reflections, Clarity and Fog. This is a photograph of the sculpture garden of the Carnegie Museum of Art, taken from the atrium of the Scaife Galleries. Absolutely beautiful shot.

The smaller gallery was a project room. From Associated Artists of Pittsburgh website:

As part of "Vitreous," an exhibit within the exhibit, created by a group of AAP board members, and tied to the Year of Glass, will also be presented February 2nd at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. The first in what is hoped to be a series of projects partnering artists with various industries, the pilot project brings a glass-related business together with art. An experimental fiberglass project, this effort combines the advanced glass fiber fabric produced by Butler-based Dielectric Solutions, with how artists might use the materials in their work. The artists visited the Dielectric factory, studied the material and have used it to create pieces for the pilot project.

The artists participating in the "Pilot Program #1" will then take the materials to students throughout the area through the AAP Outreach/Education Program, and work with high school and college students to create the students own art pieces using similar materials, and to illustrate the potential for artists and industry to work in unison. "We are hoping that this cooperative effort is just the first of many similar efforts throughout the region," said Anna Marie Sninsky, AAP outreach advisor.

I found the display of the materials within this gallery a distraction. Every once in a while, there would be this little label that said Raw Materials. It really detracted from some of the beautiful individual works exhibited in the space.

in the three galleries on the second floor...

Funny Business
Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators

Need I say more? pretty cool stuff
Phil Wilson -- Boom Box
Rich Rogowski -- Fake Bird Suits

Works of Newfangled Whimsey

If you haven't had a chance to stop by La Vie, try to get it into your schedule. Actually, take an afternoon off and visit all of the small shops that have sprung up between 36th and 39th on Butler Street in Larryville. You'll find delight neighboring with the cynical in the shops.

La Vie is a concept, lifestyle shop. Each of the partners specializes. Bronwyn Lughren works with paper products. Jennifer DiSilvio creates garments. Thommy Conroy does display and floral arrangements. He is also the curator for Works of Newfangled Whimsey, on display through March 2007.

La Vie is located at:

3601 Butler Street
Pittsburgh PA 15201
call for hours -- 412-253-7365
One of the half-dozen prints by Valerie Lueth
I don't think these were part of the show. Some of the many surprises at La Vie.
Renee Ruth Ickes. This is an absolutely phenomenal work.
Elina Malkin
Travis Hito -- I think. The font used on the catalog list is decidedly elaborate...

women's work

Sprout Fund

Mural dedication of East Carson Street Treasures by David Hawbaker, a community mural created in the Southside community of Pittsburgh, 2006

The Sprout Fund Is Now Accepting Applications!

2007 CALL FOR ARTISTS & COMMUNITIES

Sprout Public Art encourages dialogue on public art between the community and the artist, contributes to community and neighborhood development and raises awareness about the important role that local artists can have in shaping communities. During the first four seasons of Sprout Public Art, communities collaborated with artists to develop 31 enduring works of public art that enhance the urban landscape and consider the people of the community, their history and their hopes for the future.

Application Deadline: Friday, March 23, 2007 at 5 pm

Information Sessions:

Learn More About Community Murals/Making An Application
Every Thursday, 12-1pm and again at 5:30-6:30pm, January 25-March 22, 2007 at The Sprout Fund offices, 4920 Penn Avenue, in Bloomfield/Garfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh

For more information or to RSVP for an information session, email, go to the website , or call 412.325.0646


Morton Brown
Program Coordinator
Sprout Public Art
4920 Penn Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15224-1609

Breaking News : Warhol's Doctor Attacked on The Anniversary of His Death

OK, so yesterday was the 20th anniversary of Andy Warhol's death and I was planning to do a post on it. And then this happened.


Doctor fighting for his life after attack. Beaten and burned in his house on the Upper East Side
By Stacey Sager
(New York- WABC, February 22, 2007) - An elderly doctor is hospitalized with severe burns after an alleged sexual encounter.

79-year-old, Dr. Denton Cox remains in critical condition tonight. The doctor is well known for treating celebrities early in his career, like Andy Warhol.
Police say he was attacked inside his penthouse at 530 East 72nd Street.

Eyewitness News reporter Stacy Sager has the latest from the Upper East Side.

Initially, the doctor told police he was mugged and doused with some sort of chemical. But story wasn't all true. For example, he waited to report it until he was found in his apartment the next day with burns over 40% of his body.

TAIE event

Please join us this Monday. Ben Sota of the Zany Umbrella Circus will give a special presentation on his experiences in Kabul, Afghanistan working with at risk youth. Very inspirational, his story relates to the type of work many of us do. Please join us at the Teaching Artists Idea Exchange at the Blackbird Studios on Butler Street in Lawrenceville for a very special evening of conversation, refreshments, and networking with fellow artisans, teaching artists, and arts organizations. This event is an artist based initiative and free of charge to the arts community.

--
Alison Zapata
412-656-1114

Comic Abstraction @ MOMA

Polly Apfelbaum, who has a few works in my flat files will be in this show @ MOMA

Flow @Pittsburgh Filmmakers

installation image: Pittsburgh Filmmakers Gallery

Flow
Josh Tonies
@Pittsburgh Filmmakers Gallery
477 Melwood Avenue -- 412.681.5449

This isn't much notice: the exhibit ends on Saturday, February 25. But if you haven't made it over, do try. The gallery is small and you may have to get the staff to turn on the lights.

The images in Josh Tonies' Flow series are a combination of landscapes and patterns generated from those patterns found in security envelopes.

Below is Lake Effect. The image doesn't come close to expressing the eerie glow of the work. The surface is cystalline, with patterns and landscape layered in an other-wordly manner.

Lake Effect -- Josh Tonies

There's That Ken Freed Stuff

Well I came across two of the works of mine that were sold from the collection of Ken Freed.The photos suck but it's nice to see them. Ken's story is a facinating one.



Artist John Morris
Title Untitled (+ 3 others; 4 works)
Year 1996 - 1997
Medium wax crayon, colored pencil and graphite
Size 9 x 6.1 in. / 22.9 x 15.6 cm.
Misc. Signed
Sale Of Rago Auctions: Saturday, November 18, 2006
[Lot 272]
Kenneth L. Freed Collection of Contemporary Art
Estimate *
Sold For *

Artist John Morris
Title Tribute to Cisco Systems (+ 2 others; 3 works)
Year 1997 -
Medium wax and pencil
Size 7.1 x 10.2 in. / 18.1 x 26 cm.
Misc. Signed, Inscribed
Sale Of Rago Auctions: Saturday, November 18, 2006
[Lot 273]
Kenneth L. Freed Collection of Contemporary Art
Estimate *
Sold For *

More Japan in Pittsburgh

This just in: New York author and debut novelist, Ellis Avery, will be reading from The Teahouse Fire in Pittsburgh on March 13th. Her novel is set in late 19th century Japan, and is based in part on her five years spent studying the tea ceremony, both in New York and Kyoto. The book is getting rave reviews, from the LA Times, Publisher's Weekly, and everyone inbetween. “Beneath the beautiful surface of Avery's artfully controlled prose...the novel's essential question is that of desire: By what ceremonies, through what pains and past what obstacles must we endure in order to have not just any life but the one we most want to claim as our own?” --Buffalo Artvoice; and “Ellis Avery's research included a stay in Kyoto where she studied the tea ceremony, but that alone doesn't account for her perceptiveness about Japan; she's simply a keen cultural observer.” --Japundit

See more at Ellis' website

This reading, reception and book signing will be on March 13th, 6:30pm, at University of Pittsburgh--Room 501 of the Cathedral of Learning. Free and open to the public.

Modern Japanese Prints 1868-1989 @ The Carnegie Museum

Images from Carnegie Museum Website

Modern Japanese Prints: 1868–1989
Through April 15, 2007
Heinz Galleries

Modern Japanese Prints: 1868–1989 presents a fascinating survey of woodblock printmaking during a period of dramatic changes in Japanese life and culture. This exhibition highlights master prints from the late 19th-century Meiji period through the developments in printmaking that occurred in the 20th-century with the new print (shin-hanga) and creative print (sōsaku-hanga) movements. The exhibition further explores the evolving role of the artist within this rich tradition, and the eclectic, sometimes idiosyncratic, but always passionate interests of print collectors. More than 200 prints from the James B. Austin collection at Carnegie Museum of Art and four private Pittsburgh collections will be on view.

The prints in this exhibition are drawn from the museum’s collection of Japanese prints, the majority of which were donated by Dr. James B. Austin in 1989, and from the Pittsburgh collections of Dr. Esther Barazzone, Nicholas Reise, Lila Penchansky and Daniel Russell, and an anonymous lender.

Modern Japanese Prints, 1868–1989 is made possible by the generous support of the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation. Additional support has been provided by The Fellows of Carnegie Museum of Art.

General support for the exhibition program at Carnegie Museum of Art is provided by grants from the Heinz Endowments and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

I also found this informative post on the show.

Installation Olympic Theatre At The Mattress Factory

Installation Olympic Theatre at The Mattress Factory!

Artist Tom Sarver of The Tom Museum, along with the Mattress Factory Museum of Art present Pittsburgh's newest art event, Installation Olympic Theatre. This event features three teams of Pittsburgh artists competing over 2.5 hours to build winning sculptural installations. The night will also feature food, beverages, audience participation games, music by Totten (member of The Great Ants) and DJ Sarver Express.

Installation Olympic Theatre takes place, Saturday, March 17th from 7pm to 10:30pm at the Mattress Factory. Tickets are $9.00 and $6.00 for students. (Available at the door)

Conceived by Tom Sarver, Installation Olympic Theatre brings the drama and excitement of reality TV straight to the art museum. The idea is closely connected to The Tom Museum's "Art For Everyone"
mission. It also attempts to bring people who are drawn to the action and excitement of sports into the arts.
Three teams of artists will be competing in the event for the title of "Masters of Installation Olympic Theatre." Each team will be provided with a mystery pile of building materials that will be unveiled at the opening ceremony of the event. Teams will also be allowed to bring in one suitcase of their own tools and materials to use in the competition. Only raw materials and tools will be allowed in the team suitcases. Judging criteria will include aesthetic value of the final product, entertainment value of performance element and creative use of materials provided. Seating for the event will be minimal. Audience members will be able to walk around during the event to watch the installations in progress.
Tom Sarver, Mike Cuccaro and Liz Hammond will host the event.
Judges for the event will include Heather Pesanti, Assistant Curator at The Carnegie Museum of Art, John Morris, Owner of Digging Pitt Gallery, and Owen Smith, Assistant Curator of the Mattress Factory.
Three teams of diverse backgrounds will be competing in the competition. Team Leader Tavia La Follette (Founder and Executive Director of Artists Upstairs) is an artist, director, set designer, performer and puppeteer. She will be working with Atticus Adams, (sculptor and installation artist) Stephanie Mayer-Staley, (Head of Design, Conservatory of Performing Arts, Point Park University) and Larry Bogad. (Professor of Performance Studies a UC Davis)
Ben Kinsley, M.F.A. candidate at Carnegie Mellon University, will lead a second team. When asked to provide information on his team, Ben responded, "I play people like musical instruments." Ben's teammates include Kazuki Eguchi (who wrestles giant balls of dough) and John Peña (who races clouds).
The third team includes some of Pittsburgh's most prolific multimedia artists led by T. Foley. Her team includes Jesse McLean, Carolyn Lambert and Thad Kellstadt. Installation Olympic Theatre may be the first of a series of art theatre events. Plans are in the works for a series including sculpture, painting and drawing Olympic Theatre events.

Sponsors for the event include Pittsburgh City Paper, Whole Foods, The East End Food Co-op, Construction Junction, Trader Joes, Penn Brewery, Breadworks and Artists and Craftsman' Supply. The Tom Museum is a project of the Mattress Factory, supported by The Creative Heights initiative of The Heinz Endowments.

Contact:

Tom Sarver, Event Organizer & Director of The Tom Museum tomsarver@gmail.com www.tommuseum.com

The Mattress Factory
500 Sampsonia Way
Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Phone: 412-322-2231

Braddock: City Of The Mind -- Is becoming a real place

And now you know that Braddock rocks.

Jefferson Presents this Friday

Jefferson Presents...7th Anniversary
(#76)Friday 02/23/07, 8:00PM;
$5, $4 Students;

Garfield Artworks,
4931 Penn Ave.

Tons of great stuff-- so much that I couldn't cut and paste it in right.
Get your info here: