Contemporary Charleston 2011: Under the Radar

I am so honored to be included in this incredible exhibition... Please check out the 7 other talented artists featured in the show! I've included some installation shots, so you can get a feel for how the gallery space was broken up between the 8 of us. For more info on each artist, please CLICK HERE to see their profiles from the feature in Charleston Magazine, which is serving as the catalog for the show.

and here are the artists in no particular order...

Melinda Mead

 

 www.melindamead.com

Greg Hart

 

www.greg-hart.com

 DH Cooper

Nina Garner

 

www.ninagarner.com

Conrad Guevara

 

 

www.conradguevara.com

 Rebecca West Fraser

 Alan W. Jackson

Lauren Frances Moore

www.laurenfrancesmoore.com

The artists will be giving lectures on their work on the following Saturdays at 5 pm...

• July 2: Rebecca West Fraser and Lauren Frances Moore
• July 9: Conrad Guevara and Melinda Mead
• July 16: Greg Hart and Alan W. Jackson
• July 23: Nina Garner and DH Cooper

some photos of the opening

photo by Reese Moore of Charleston Magazine

photo by Reese Moore of Charleston Magazine

The above photo is of myself (cheese!) with Rebecca Silberman, Program Coordinator at the Halsey and co-curator of the show

 

 photo by Kinsey Gidick of Charleston City Paper

or

Last night was the opening reception for Contemporary Charleston 2011: Under the Radar at the City Gallery at Waterfront Park. There was an incredible turnout and I am so honored to be grouped with such a talented bunch of artists! I will post more on the opening and the other artists soon, but for now... I'll show you what I made.

These photos were taken before the opening, and before all the vinyl went up. That big open space to the right of the installation now is filled with my name in large print and my profile from Charleston Magazine.  Stay tuned for more photos!

installing at the city gallery: rolling with the punches

 SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION... how convenient (NOT)

 

But I'm optimistic... I'll make it work to my advantage... somehow

what I have so far

tony orrico

 This past semester I took a drawing class. Sure, I can draw a figure and a still life, but I've had trouble trying to figure out how to integrate drawing into my studio practice. So many people say it's a critical exercise for a sculptor, but even so... there a a number of ways to put it into practice. Some sculptors draw out their plans for sculptures. Others create finished drawings that are pieces on their own, still relating back to representations of their sculptures. But then there are artists who take a different approach to drawing. I think of the famed sculptor Richard Serra, who makes very process-based drawings, which I fine quite interesting. "Drawing is a verb" says Serra.

I really like this quote I found HERE that discusses my very dilemma...

"Process, and the trace of that process, are integral to drawing. The action used to make a mark becomes that mark. The drawing is an image of an action. The visual marks made by sound, the doing and undoing of a mark, the space of a mark, at their core all have the essence of an action.

A drawing and a sculpture, there is no clear line between the two. Some sculptures are three dimensional drawings. What begins as a drawing can become a sculptural object. A conversation develops between the two dimensional and the three dimensional. Materials used for making sculpture are used for drawing - so plastic tubing used within a sculpture is then dipped in ink and used as a drawing tool - and the sculpture and the drawing become part of each other. Discovering how an object draws itself is a way of understanding the essence of that object."

So, this this brings me to the drawings/performances of Tony Orrico, which have ignited this entire dialogue. I wish I had been exposed to these in drawing class. One day when I'm a grown-up (ha), if I ever have to opportunity to teach a drawing class (or some sort of special topics class), I would love to assign projects that are performative and process-based. The possibilities are endless, and the creative potential is without bounds. Check out these videos of Tony Orrico... they are utterly mesmerizing.

a drawing

This is a drawing I did as a final project for drawing class. It is the product of much deliberation, as drawing is not an active part of my creative process. Rather than draw something from observation, I wanted to make a piece that could potentially fit into my wider body of work. I went for a more process-based approach, which I won't even attempt to fully explain. I'll just say that it involved a number of steps, including reading aloud three definitions of "drawing" with a drawing utensil attached to my chin...

loose charcoal on panels

9" x 12" each

material prep

This week I've been working out behind the sculpture studio to prep my materials for the Under the Radar install. I have a plan.... and I need an outrageous amount of this polyurethane-coated material to make it happen.

Contemporary Charleston 2011: Under the Radar

In just one week from today I will begin installing at Charleston's City Gallery at Waterfront Park! I am one of 8 emerging artists that have been selected for the annual Contemporary Charleston exhibition. We've had to keep our lips zipped for the past few months in keeping with the show's theme, "Under the Radar," but the May issue of Charleston Magazine was released just last week with profiles of each artist, so now we can tell the world! Click HERE to see the online version of the magazine article.

The show will open on May 26th and will stay up through the end of July!

Time for me to get to work!!!!!!

the franconia blog

Below is a little something I wrote for the Franconia Sculpture Park blog. Bridget Beck (click her name to see her awesome work!) writes a fantastic blog for the park in which she talks about all things sculpture, not ONLY the on-goings at the park. The blog includes poetry, pictures, definitions, philosophy, and musings of all kind. I recommend checking it out!

 click HERE to see more images of what I made at the park

Here's what I had to day about my time at the park...

“Last June, completely unaware of what was in store, I packed up my Jeep and headed up to the odd place we all know and love, Franconia Sculpture Park. An “Intern Artist Fellowship” seemed like a great way to spend a summer. I thought, “why not?” I was intrigued by the expanse of the place and was invigorated by the thought that I would finally get the chance to make a sculpture without the bounds of pesky doorways and stairwells often encountered in traditional art-viewing institutions.

Upon prepping for my stay, I emailed John Hock with some questions concerning my plans for a very large and very likely overly-ambitious project and his response was this… “We have space. Ambition is good.” And I came to realize, soon after arriving, that this is a widespread theme at Franconia, an anthem of sorts, attesting to the “anything is possible” kind of optimism that is ever-present at the park.So yea, I made a really huge sculpture… but what else is new?

What’s great about Franconia is that I wasn’t the only one doing big things. At Franconia, I was surrounded (and I mean SURROUNDED) by talent and ambition that I had never before experienced. It was the first time I ever spent a length of time with REAL artists, at various stages of their careers, and I learned a great deal about what a future as an artist (particularly a sculptor) might entail. I picked brains for advice and learned much about opportunities that I never knew existed.

The Franconia family (network) is never-ending it seems. It really is a small, small world we sculptors live in. The contacts I made last summer (in addition to the sculpture I made) have proven to be quite valuable in my minimal professional development thus far. Exhibitions, grants, magazine articles, and grad school offers have all followed my summer spent at FSP. Every young sculptor ought to spend some time in a place like Franconia. It should be a requirement.”

CLICK HERE to see the rest of the blog!

sharing a brain with anish kapoor

So, a little over a year ago I made this sculpture...

click HERE for more images and info

And I just came across this image of Anish Kapoor in his studio with a work in progress...

WHAAAAT? Wow... I am really excited to see the finished product. I wonder if he'll build a real deal 'tower of blobel' all the way to the sky like I was hoping to do... hmmmm

It's so bizarre when this happens. Every now and then an artist will make something, get really excited about it, and then find out that somebody else has already done it. It's happened to me before, and it evokes an odd range of emotions... excitement, confusion, frustration, inspiration... all at once! But this isn't even a finished piece. I wonder when Anish conceptualized it. And when this image was taken.

I'm a huge fan of Anish Kapoor's work and was thinking a lot about it when I conceptualized my "Tower of Blobel." I was looking at some of his larger metal biomorphic forms, while I was in a foundry (metal casting) class last year. Perhaps I was tapping into the depths of his brain somehow. Weird.

You know what is also really freaky...? While I was typing this post, my roommate Sanaz commented on an earlier post, saying that one of my students' sculptures reminded her of my tower of blobel as well...  click HERE to see it

childlike enthusiasm

I often talk about wanting to incite a childlike enthusiasm in my work... and this is what I mean by that!



He can't get enough of Yayoi Kusama's infinite dot room! What energy!

the postcard show

I will have a small piece included in the inaugural one night exhibition, Postcard Show: Wish you Were Here!, taking place at the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art on Wednesday, May 11, 2011 from 6-8 PM.

EVENT DETAILS:
Inspired by the RCA Secret show held annually at the Royal College of Art in London, the Postcard Show is a one night exhibition of anonymously displayed 4 x 6 inch artwork. The identities of the postcard creators will only be revealed after ...a work is sold for the set price of $75. All proceeds will benefit the Skirt! Scholarship Fund at the College of Charleston.

Along with juried submissions, the Postcard Show will also feature the work of prominent members from the local art community. The invitational and juried submissions will be mixed together in the installation to keep the prices consistent and buying mysterious until the card is purchased.
Food by O-Ku! DJs Cassidy & the Kid! Champagne Bar by La Bubbly!

Tickets are $10 but included artists get in free!

BUY TIX in advance HERE:
http://skirt.com/postcardtix

finger painting

oil on canvas

1' x 4'

plaster possibiliies at REDUX

Here are some photos from my Plaster Possibilities class that just wrapped up at Redux Contemporary Art Center. The kids were great! They weren't afraid to get messy and make some really neat work.

 Alexis - 8 yrs old

Connor - 9 yrs old

 Emily- 13 yrs old

Ainslee - 8 yrs old

public art proposals

The bubble project is coming along. Last week Jarod and I submitted a few proposals through CaFE, a site that hosts calls for submissions and applications for a wide range of artistic projects. The above image is of our aluminum "tool" that we cast ourselves in our foundry at the College of Charleston. This will be given to our plastic fabricators as a mold for the plastic bubbles (seen below). Jarod used his photoshopping genius to fix up the aluminum surface. We will work through the summer to get it to actually look like this, repairing holes and cracks with Devcon Aluminim Putty.

Below is another photoshopped image of a VERY basic example of how the bubble tiles may be installed, however, we hope to see this realized on a MUCH larger scale.

And if you're interested... here is part of our statement about the project... our design approach, if you will.

Charzewski and Moore’s collaborative approach to the design will undoubtedly be based upon our individual art practices. What unites our work is our use of the topographical style, or the grid, as a basic reference and starting point. The grid is a common denominator for engagement in our work and the final result is orderly, yet fluid, and slightly chaotic when necessary.

Part of our design strategy will encompass this topographical style and will result in a sort of controlled chaos. Our collaborative project, involves the replication of a single module, or master tile, which contains a sculptured surface of a bubble eruption that appears to be random to the viewer. The individual bubbles are specifically placed on the master tile so that when another identical tile is placed next to it is continues the bubble topography. We would like to mass produce these identical tiles, and with them create a large-scale installation that responds to existing architecture and enhances the surrounding environment.

why

In thinking about my work and how to sum it up in an artist's statement, I've found myself struggling to narrow things down. Anything I say, no matter how convincing it may be, simply feels like BS. I can't convince myself. This question of "why do we make things?" is something artists are supposed to be constantly asking themselves... there's supposed to be this element of intent, of significance to every detail... right?

One time, I was working on a sculpture in a public space (Franconia Sculpture Park) and a visitor came up to me and said "I have one question... Why?" I asked him to verify... did he mean "Why make sculpture?" or "Why make this particular sculpture?" and he said it made no difference... he just wanted to know WHY. Our exchange was awkward and I gave him no real answer, but I couldn't get the question out of my head.

I came to the conclusion that, if I knew WHY I made things, I don't think I'd be interested in making things anymore. I make things because I want to know why I make things. Out of curiosity of my own creative process. It's a never-ending process. And I hope I never find an answer.

I found the below quote by Robert Wilson in an online magazine entitled Whitewall. Wilson has been called "America's — or even the world's — foremost vanguard 'theater artist,'" and he says...

"My responsibility as an artist is not to say what something is, but to ask questions. Not to say what it is, but to say "What is it?" That's the reason to work."

Good... at least I'm not the only one.

gabriel kuri

I first encountered Gabriel Kuri's work in 2007 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. The exhibition was a group show of contemporary Mexican artists. If I remember correctly, Trinity (shown below) was his only contribution. These hand-woven, floor-to-ceiling receipts had quite an appeal to me. The minimal aesthetic. The reference to the everyday. The irony between the manufactured and the hand-made.

 

 "Kuri has been described as a playful accountant who uses personal experience as a point of departure to explore the ways we quantify and chart the most basic events and transactions in our lives."

Boston ICA

To my knowledge, I haven't come across Kuri's work since that summer day in Chicago until... today! The first image popped up in my Daily Serving surfing, in discussion of his solo show that's currently up at the Boston ICA. I immediately recognized it. From further research I also quickly found that Gabriel Kuri has been commissioned to create the visual identity for the 2011 Armory Art Fair.

Images of the rest of his work are spotty and hard to come by on Google, but the giant hand-woven receipts seem to be his claim to fame.

job listings in the arts

I thought I'd post some links... some resources for artists. I've been pouring over these sites recently looking for potential post-graduation opportunities. These links primarily pertain to job opportunities. More opportunity-related links to come...

New York Foundation for the Arts: art-related jobs, internships, residencies, and calls - primarily in NYC (but not everything)

Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance: art-related jobs in Philadelphia, PA

American Association of Museums: art-related jobs in the US (mostly upper-level jobs)

Arts Opportunities: art-related jobs, internships, residencies, and calls in the US (listings not as extensive as other on sites)

Alliance of Artists Communities: jobs associated with various artists communities/residency programs

frank stella

When I think of Frank Stella, I think stripes. I think shaped canvases. I think minimalism. I think of what he had to say about turning the painting into the object, rather than a surface on which an image is produced. I like the Frank Stella that comes to mind when I think of Frank Stella.

 

But what I hadn't realized until recently is that my Frank Stella of stripes (above) has been replaced by a man who makes not-so-minimal sculptures (seen below). Stella has been making this type of work since the late 70's, yet I think I'm correct in assuming that the majority of the art-viewing population thinks of stripes when they think of Stella.

It's not that these are terrible sculptures. I mean, I don't necessarily like them, but they're not BAD. I just have this odd sense of betrayal when I see them. Like I'm hit with this feeling of, "but that couldn't possibly be a Frank Stella." Seeing them makes me want to really look into his work and to see what he's trying to accomplish with these wacky 3D forms. Perhaps it's not so different from his 2D work after all, and I'm assuming/hoping that's the case, but I'm not yet convinced. I just really don't like them.

Ok, I said it. I really don't like Frank Stella's sculptures.

Worth sharing, I think... particularly in light of my recent sculpture/dance collaboration. below is a video of a dance choreographed by Merce Cunningham. Costumes and set by Frank Stella.

who knew?

Check it out... apparently I'm on the College of Charleston's homepage! ha! CLICK HERE to see it for real.

KK7

Tonight the dancers will be performing Darkness/Light (the dance collaboration I've been working on) at Kulture Klash! Hopefully it doesn't rain, because they will be dancing outside! Eek!

CLICK HERE to read what Charleston Scene has to say about the event.

city paper write-up

CLICK HERE to read the City Paper's review of the 2011 Young Contemporaries exhibition.

we have aluminum!

 We poured metal on Friday and anxiously awaited Saturday when we could bust open the mold and see what we got. We had no clue what to expect. Since it was such a large mold, we could only keep our fingers crossed that we wouldn't run out of aluminum... the biggest crucible can only hold 80 pounds! There were fears of air bubbles, leaks, and shrinkage, all of which occurred, but only on a minimal scale. We're hoping it's nothing we can't fix.

 Once we got all the sand cleaned off, we had to "chase" the "flashing." Which just means we had to chisel off all of the extra stuff. There's a little foundry vocab for you!  This has been such an interesting process for me. I took a foundry class last spring, but due to a malfunctioning furnace and kiln, never got to do many pours. This project is giving me the chance to learn metal casting in a much more hands-on way, which, despite the hours upon hours of tedious technical stuff, has proven to be quite an exciting learning process.

Young Contemporaries 2011

Congratulations to all the Young Contemporaries prize winners! My installation, Flesh In, Flesh Out, which I spoke about in the previous post (in the background of the above photo), took the title of "Best Sculpture." Pretty cool!

I had one other piece in the show, entitled Objectified (seen below).

4' x 2' x 2'

fiberglass insulation on pedestal

Flesh In, Flesh Out

 

I recently completed an installation for the Halsey's annual juried student exhibition, Young Contemporaries. I proposed it as one thing, and it kind of turned into a thing of its own. It came to life, despite the fact that upon proposing it, there were many unknowns as to how it was actually going to come together. It was very much an experiment, materially as well as formally, but I'm quite pleased with the results.

 13' x 6' x 4'

made with polyethylene fabric coated with polyurethane, held together with hotglue

The piece is designed to be experienced from both sides. Viewers are invited to step inside, which is the most exciting part, if you ask me!

Many people have been asking me about the nature of the material that I used. It's actually been recycled from a sculpture I made a while back... look familiar?

CLICK HERE to see more photos of this piece