East of Liberty

East of Liberty GET DOWN Commercial

East of Liberty
A Story of Good Intentions


Thursday, December 14 through Saturday, December 16 at 8:00 PM
Saturday, December 16 and Sunday, December 17 at 2:00 PM
Tickets are $10 and are available through ProArts or at the door.

For more information, call: 412-523-4793

East of Liberty is the much anticipated documentary by filmmaker Chris Ivey that examines the redevelopment of the East Liberty area. Edited in the style of Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke , the documentary lets the East Liberty community raise questions, praises and concerns about the changes and its effects on the community.

Featuring comments from Davu Flint, Ebony McKinney, Born Shamir, Police Commander RaShall Brackney, Maelene Myers, Alethea Sims, Doloris Morris, Al Vento, Morton Coleman, Robert Pease and Ronell Guy-Curtis. Also featuring comments from internationally acclaimed reseacher and author of the book ROOT SHOCK, Mindy Fullilove and many more...
East of Liberty is a hard hitting documentary that will raise questions and awareness to the constantly changing area of East Liberty.

ARBOREAL RESONANCE

ARBOREAL RESONANCE: an installation by Dan Letson & Spencer Longo,
opening this Friday December 15th
TAI + LEE Gallery in Polish Hill, 7-9pm.

A sound/video/sculptural piece where the space is "played" like an acoustic instrument, and activates the space as an esoteric, hypnotic place of ritual. The vibrations of the "instrument" will turn the invisible to physical, turning the piece into a "hypersigil".
Visit TAI+LEE for more information and directions.

In favor of pluralism

Bill Gusky at Artblog Comments has a wonderful and thought-provoking post about Danto's After the End of Art: Contemporary Art and the Pale of History. Definitely a good read.

Responding to Contemporary Art After the End of Art History

Drink and Draw with Tinsel Garland!

We had a great session last night. Tinsel Garland was our model; He had some very inspiring poses. There were a couple costume changes, too. Many thanks to Tommy for putting the set together. The staging was wonderful.

>

Mike took one of his drawings from the last session and put this together. Pretty great, huh?

If you want to get on the update list for the brillobox Drink and Draw, just email us. And don't forget to check out our Myspace.

The next session is on December 26, Burlesque Boxing on boxing day!

Holiday Folds @ Digging Pitt Too

We had a great time folding paper last Saturday. We concentrated mostly on making boxes and gift bags with a few forays into folded shirts and ornaments. Keep your eyes open for other origami workshops at Digging Pitt Gallery and Digging Pitt Too.

Another Call For Submissions

Call for Projects for Make/Do For more info.contact: Carin Mincemoyer - carin.mincemoyer@gmail.com

Wanted: Objects or activities that exemplify the do-it-yourself spirit for an exhibit at Future Tenant titled Make/Do.Have you turned your old VCR into an automatic cat feeder? Made your old video games into musical instruments? Then you’re who we’re looking for. We’re interested in projects that alter mass produced products to do things that the manufacturer never intended, gizmos that solve problems in ingenious ways, and homebrewed answers to needs that would send most people to the local mall.

Who: Projects or proposals welcomed from artists, tinkerers, musicians, hackers, and do-it-yourselfers of all stripes.

About Future Tenant: Future Tenant, located at 801 Liberty Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh, seeks to promote raw, innovative artistic expressions from all disciplines. You can check out the website at http://www.futuretenant.org/

Send your stuff: Send digital images, photos, slides, or proposals for projects to Carin Mincemoyer at carin.mincemoyer@gmail.com or mail to 2100 Mary Street #403, Pittsburgh, PA 15203.The Deadline: Send materials by December 31, 2006. The exhibit will take place in March 2007.

Call For Submissions

New Prints 2007/SpringInternational Print Center New York announces a call for entries for New Prints 2007/Spring opening in our Chelsea space in March, 2007. We are requesting submissions of newly created fine art prints.

Once a year, in a variation from the usual six-member Selections Committee structure, IPCNY invites an individual artist or curator who has contributed significantly to the world of printmaking to make the selections. The Juror for New Prints 2007/Spring will be announced in late December.

In keeping with our mission to promote the greater appreciation and understanding of the fine art print, IPCNY presents a selection of new prints four times per year. Criteria for selection are:

Only original fine art (limited edition and unique) prints are eligible; reproductions of other artwork such as drawings or paintings are not acceptable.
Selections will represent a broad diversity of sources, geographical and otherwise.

Prints must have been completed between January 1, 2006 and the submission deadline.
Please refer to the following guidelines when preparing submissions:

THERE IS NO ENTRY FEE. Independent artists, workshops, publishers and dealers are all welcome to submit recently completed print projects.
Send work in 35 mm slide format (no glass). DO NOT SEND ORIGINAL ARTWORK. A maximum of five works per artist is allowed. There is no size limit.

All submissions must contain a completed entry form.

Slides must be labeled with the number designated on the entry form, artist's name, the name of submitter (if different), and a dot in the lower left-hand corner.
Place slides in slidesheet (can be cut down). DO NOT ENLOSE BINDERS, FOLDERS, OR ANY MATERIALS OTHER THAN SLIDESHEET AND ENTRY FORM.

A self-addressed envelope with the proper postage must be enclosed, otherwise you will not receive notification or returned materials

Mail submissions to IPCNYNew Prints Program526 West 26th Street, Room 824New York, NY 10001Materials must be received by January 8, 2007. No phone calls please.

Selections will be made by late-January. Artists and publishers whose work has been selected will be responsible for the framing and delivery of work to IPCNY. IPCNY will cover the return cost of delivery within reason. If being shipped outside of New York City, the lender must provide packaging.

With this twenty-third presentation, IPCNY continues its role as an ongoing venue for the rotating display of exciting new prints. We look forward to seeing your recent projects. Thank you.

A Personal Story

A month ago, I got an email from a private art dealer friend of mine about an art auction in the middle of New Jersey. She was shocked, that a legendary art collector named Ken Freed, who had supported so many artists seemed to be dumping the bulk of his collection, which included my work, at once. The personal story behind that sale is a striking comment on the recent changes in the art world and its effect on one collector.

Review Of The Keny Marshall Show @ Space

Adam Grossi has a review of the Keny Marshall show that both me and Merge love @ Space, downtown. It was originally printed in the City Paper and is now on the Pittsburgh Art Review website.

"This level of access into ordinarily inaccessible technology is a driving force for Marshall’s work, an aesthetic of transparency he shares with contemporary DIY technicians like L.A.- based artist Tim Hawkinson. Marshall is motivated, to quote his artist’s statement, by a critique of the “increasingly invisible world that technology inhabits.” For Marshall, the unveiling of high-tech mechanisms also provides insight into their ideological constructions: the framework of thought that propels their creation. In a world hell-bent on microchips, nanotechnology and deceptively smooth plastic shells to conceal it all, Marshall’s approach is a playful protest against our rarely questioned immersion in man-made environments we can’t attempt to understand."

Read the whole review here. The web site is trying very hard to get more contributors.

Apophenia continues through December 31st at SPACE Gallery , 812 Liberty Ave., Downtown. 412-325-7723

Cheapo Report From Miami

No, I am not in Miami but, I feel like I will lose readers if I don't at least give some nod to the goings on there. Thanks a lot AFC, for telling us that it doesn't suck that bad, which was the last bit of consolation keeping me from tears. But, I do notice that there is no mention of free cookies.

Here are a few AFC reports from Miami.

Here , Here, Here, Here, Here, Here, Here, Still, nothing about cookies!!!

This show will also have an opening downtown tomorrow night at 707 Penn.


707 PENNinvites you to an opening reception

Friday, December 8from 5 - 7pm
VISTAS new works by Sarah Beitler

GALLERY HOURS
Tuesday-Thursday 12-8pm
Friday-Saturday 12-10pm

I think the show closes on Dec 31st, but I am not too sure how I got that info. The email I got didn't have it and what passes for a website doesn't give any date for the closing.

Good luck finding much info about this show.

People should be realistic about what most of the downtwon shows are-- temporary, transparent efforts to hype real estate downtown. However, many of these shows are very worthwhile. People here need to cherish these spaces while they exist.

Anna Divinsky @ Future Tenant

December 8, 2006 through January 2, 2006

"Boundaries and Stems are two installations that explore the relationship between silk and skin. The opaqueness and transparency of “Boundaries” are reminiscent of living membrane or tissue covered in welts and small growths. This installation is an examination of fiber’s potential to stretch and droop in response to its surrounding environment. Each “welt” is authentic in its size, coloration, and shape, vulnerable to light and temperature. Warm colors and drooping shapes are evocative of human bodies that breathe and sway in response to human contact. “Stems” are humorous phallic forms that examine the human body and its connection to the plant world. Their intricate surfaces address the nature of human and non-human skin that constantly grows and transforms reflecting time’s toll."

Anna always has work in Digging Pitt's flat files and has been in several shows here.

Location:Future Tenant Gallery
801 Liberty Ave.Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Downtown Pittsburgh

Films From The Braddock Film Frenzy

Four of the short films that were done at the One Day Film Frenzy in Braddock were screened at the Viewer Discretion show on November 28th. People were given a group of things that had to be included in the film, like a candle and an egg and 29 hours to complete the filming in Braddock. The mayor of Braddock cooked this one up.

All four films were good, but my favorite involved a plot in which several companies compete to open a plant in Braddock.

Point Park-- Pittsburgh's Great Urban University

Pittsburgh is the home of a solid number of very important colleges. But if someone asked me which one is the most important to the life and future of the city- I would say Point Park. This is because it one of the few schools here that seems intent on embracing it's location and integrating itself into the fabric of the city.

New York is a city with dozens of colleges which play a huge role in it's life. There is Columbia, NYU, Fordam, Pratt Institute, Saint Johns and the huge City University system. There are also tons of smaller schools scattered throughout the city. Parsons, SVA, FIT, Cooper Union, Hunter College, The New School, Juilliard, Baruch College and John Jay are a few. Not surprisingly a lot of these schools have strong specialties in the major "industries of NY" - art, film, media, fashion, theater, music, law, business , design and food. One is sometimes struck, by the rather unassuming nature of some the schools. Few have stadiums, elaborate sports facilities, fancy campuses or massive buildings. Many of the most respected are pretty low key and functional. But looks can be decieving in that few of these schools beg for applicants and degrees from a lot of them are highly valued. A few like SVA, started small but have grown into sizable institutions. A lot of them do a booming and I think lucrative business in continuing education. So what makes these schools so popular and successful.

What are they selling if it ain't fancy campuses, winning teams and hot cheerleaders? What these schools got is NY and they have learned to work it. Courses taught by major executives, takeover artist's, art dealers, former mayors, film or television producers and the like are the norm. Internships with major law firms or media companies are integrated into the deal. This is easy because many of these people live and or work blocks away. These schools have a symbiotic relationship with the city. Their street level harmony with NY feeds the city and the city in turn feeds the schools.

Few Pittsburgh schools seem to have or want much of a relationship with the city. But Point Park does and is expanding in away that should benefit the school and enhance the life of Pittsburgh. I also like it's marketing spin which proudly positions itself as an urban school in a great city. I also want to give a shout out to to other schools in the downtown which play a very positive role in the city and have a strong pro-urban history. The Art Institute of Pittsburgh is the flagship of a huge for profit education empire and the Pennsylvania Culinary Institute has held on doggedly to a downtown that most ignore. I think that anyone looking for answers to why Pittsburgh has failed to develop a self supporting organic art scene and retain large numbers of it's out of town students should look at the design of the city's colleges.

Celebration of Visual Traditions @ August Wilson Center For African American Culture

Vanessa German
Vanessa German

Robert Smalls
Chantaphone Rajavong
Chantaphone Rajavong
Leroy Johnson
Leroy Johnson

John Abner

These are some images I took of the Celebration of Visual Traditions show at the August Wilson space downtown. This is a touring show organised by the Pensylvania Council On the Arts, designed to highlight the diversity of culture across PA. Given my weakness for art as visual communication; I found the show to be very enjoyable and inspiring. The show catalog is very thin on artist's statements. They are not needed.

Several of my favorite works were, John Abner's Day Worker; Leroy Johnson's assembage works, Chantaphone Rajavong's assemblage sculptures and Vanessa German's mixed media works.

First Friday Images

Bob Ziller @ The Clay Penn
Bob Ziller @ The Clay Penn
Jenn Bechak @ C- Space
Jenn Bechak @ C- Space
Carolin Wenning @ C Space
Deanna Mance @ C- Space
Deanna Mance @ C- Space
Deanna Mance @ C- Space
Meg Graham @ Modern Formations

Here are some shots from first friday on Penn Ave in Garfield. Garfield Artworks was closed, because of a big event it was involved in at Mr. Smalls so the overall number of venues was a little lighter. Still, there were several great shows and almost all were worth seeing. Stand outs for me were; the Fabrizio Gerbino show at 5151 penn; the group show at C- Space ( with a lot of great Deanna Mance works ) and Bob Ziller's show at the Clay Penn. The Meg Graham show at Modern Formations seemed not up to the very high bar set by that space. Still, I was moved by a few works and got the impression of seeing sincere explorations by a seriously hard working artist.

The recent opening of retail on the avenue is a harbinger of things to come.

RGB Land : Miguel Chealier / Eric Wenger @ Wood Street

Here are some shots of the huge projection work on Wood Street's top flooor called RGB land. I think that a good argument can be made that the work is conceptually boring-- a big video game type world. But, as an experience the work which also involves a sound element is transporting. I will be back.

Here is the blurb from the press release :

"The desert landscape, RGB Land, which regularly moves towards us, could be filmed by a drone, or seen by a bird of prey that glides unperturbed by the sight of a moving animal. This could be in Arizona or New Mexico, but it is neither. Everything, the earth, the water, the sky, comes from the calculations of machines, the computation of algorithms and fractal models.

We endlessly move towards infinity in this procedural landscape that envelops us. However, we are only exploring a tiny part of a world that has been globally mapped. The gigantic map, which looks like a seismic study, precedes the existence of this region that is nothing more than an extrapolated detail. Consequently, it is the map that makes the territory and not the other way around.

The framing, just like the image’s sharpness, evokes panoramic photography, which, as early as the second half of the nineteenth century, placed the viewer in an immersive situation. Our eyes are impossibly attracted to the far distance, just like when we contemplate the paintings of Gaspard David Friedrich.

The singularity of this landscape also resides in the saturated colors - reds, greens and blues - that cover it. This covered landscape evokes Robert Smithson’s Earthworks. But, here, the rain is not at all a threat to the artifice. This artificial nature has already succumbed to fractal erosion. It now appears to us frozen in its movement."

Wood Street Galleries is located in Pittsburgh's Cultural District.
601 Wood StreetPittsburgh, PA 15222

GALLERY HOURS
Tuesday-Thursday 12-8pm
Friday-Saturday 12-10pm

Miguel Chevalier : Ultra Nature @ Wood Street

Here are some still shots I took of the Miguel Chevalier instalation on Wood Street's second floor. Ther is also an amazing piece on the floor above called RGB Land that I will post on later. Here's the press release from Wood Street's website. Both of these works have to be experienced in person.

"Ultra-Nature is a lush virtual garden that was created for Sejul Gallery, Korea. The garden’s flora is made up of eight varieties of luminescent, scalar plants, ranging from herbaceous vegetation and bright yellow flowers with turquoise stems, through to cacti in shades of red and violet. Each plant evolves according to a unique cycle that is defined by its morphogenetic characteristics. Motion sensors allow visitors to influence the growth of the garden’s plants. As viewers interact with the artwork, the plants incline to the left or right, creating a scene that alternates between baroque strapwork and stylized organic ballet. In this way, they mirror Monet's cosmic sensibility, his evocation of light and time as well as his taste for series (as in Nymphéas water lily)."

Wood Street Galleries is located in Pittsburgh's Cultural District.
601 Wood StreetPittsburgh, PA 15222

MOCAD --- In The New York Times

Detroit's new funky, raw and brutally honest museum of contemporary art got a nice article in the New York Times, which celebrates it's real deal aesthetic. MOCAD will gradually be upgrading and transforming the building over time.

"But the design springs from a profound rethinking of what constitutes urban revitalization. Designed by Andrew Zago, its intentionally raw aesthetic is conceived as an act of guerrilla architecture, one that accepts decay as fact rather than attempt to create a false vision of urban density. By embracing reality, it could succeed where large-scale development has so far failed.

Mr. Zago is uniquely positioned to grasp this context. Born in Detroit in 1958, he has vivid memories of the 1967 race riots that led the exodus of the white middle class. He remembers hearing white neighbors talk of fleeing to the suburbs as black families moved in. After departing with his family to a northern suburb, he saw the city decline to the point where it became a poster child of decay.

Only later, as a practicing architect in the 1990s, did he begin to see these decrepit neighborhoods as a legitimate landscape for architectural experimentation. “I didn’t want to romanticize it,” he said during a recent tour of Detroit, “but the city had a depth of character, a real substance and integrity. And while you want to do away with the problems, you don’t want to lose that quality.”