Over at the Rise Flickr page (link in the bar on your left) I posted some photos of a house my friend Selena is working on at Barbara Bestor Architects. Its just some detail shots of some really nice things going on there. So take a look.
A R T F U L Wednesdays
In light of the recent Israeli/Hezbollah fighting in Lebanon, I thought it would be appropriate to discuss the work of Walid Raad and The Atlas Group. I was first introduced to Raad’s work through Professor Gene Gort at Hartford Art School when he invited Raad as a visiting artist. He gave a slide show and presented several videos that appeared to be experimental documentaries about the Lebanese civil war. Afterwards, I remember overhearing Gene say to Jeremy something to the effect of “don’t believe a word he says.” Years later I saw Hostage: The Bachar Tapes at an LA Freewaves screening and I was reminded of how powerful Raad’s work is. This video is presented as if it is made by a Lebanese man who was held hostage with 5 Americans leading up to the Iran Contra Affair. It chronicles his hostage experience through a direct address to the camera combined with video compositing of appropriated news footage and a long take of the Mediterranean Sea. No where on the tape or in its credits does it mention Walid Ra’ad or The Atlas Group. Occasionally there are digital glitches. One thinks they are mistakes and not part of the original piece, but after a while one realizes the glitches are clues to its making, reminding the viewer that this is manipulated and edited video art not a fully factual document. Yet it still calls into question – did the Arab hostage really exist? And if so, why was his voice not heard until now (2001) and the American’s voices heard through their published memoirs in the early 1990s? Atlas Group’s website says this piece is part of files that they created but are attributed “to named imaginary individuals or organizations.” Yet Souheil Bachar has his own page on the Internet Movie Database. Hmmmm?
Ok. I know this goes beyond the confines of Art, Music and Architecture but this is important!
Humidity is like a wet finger in your ear. It’s more humid here than in Boston at the moment. Though it is a bit cooler, it gets pure skanky in the office without an air conditioner. Yilk.
Intermittent Architectural Thursdays Returns on Monday
Today a note from one of my friends led me to look up some old cut-away drawings of Ferraris. Like this beauty. This got me thinking about drawing class back in school (yes, we did draw with pencils, not just computers), and the giant, fantastic drawings of Paul Rudolph.
I was able to find a few of them online:
House, House, Tower, House, House, Birds eye, Birds Eye of an Exhibit
And here is a whole slew of them – though most do not have enlarged images to click to.
These bring back memories of 1st year, perced on a high stool, graphite on hands, making precise lines across fine paper. Then of course the inking process is where the real fun is. You tape a sheet of mylar over your drawing, pour yourself a nice glass of red wine or port, and slowly trace out the linework. Luckily, ink on mylar erases very well. Of course, my drawings never were quite like the works linked above. Lucky for me, there is illustrator and photoshop.
Holly Myers has written a nice review of our installation Sweater for the LA Times. Read it here.
So, this must be a like a Steinway Grand to you eh, Tim?
World’s Fastest Growing City: Dubai A Flickr photo set.
In many areas, it is not easy to see Dubai’s sky without at least one crane in your view; Industry experts cautiously estimate that 15 to 25 per cent of the world’s cranes are in Dubai. Some US$ 90 BILLION are on-going in Dubai alone.
This makes me both amazed and sad.
If you have never heard Syd Barrett‘s solo work, I highly recommend you track down some of the songs from The Madcap Laughs. Its his first solo album after he left Pink Floyd (uh, after he started going catatonic at concerts and doing things like detuning his guitar during a live set). Especially good is the very odd “Here I go”.
A R T F U L wednesday (a day late)
Last night at REDCAT Theater I saw a screening curated by Nancy Buchanan called Still Radical: Feminist Video from the 70’s. I first met Nancy at Gallery 825 when we were both founding members of the Video 825 curatorial committee. At the time I had no idea who she was and that she was a key figure in pioneering early video and feminist art. She has a wealth of knowledge and experience to share. The screening included works by Martha Rosler, Susan Mogul, Nancy Angelo, Eleanor Antin, Cynthia Maughan, Lynda Benglis, Ilene Segalove and Buchanan herself with a candid panel discussion afterwards between Buchanan, Mogul, Eungie Joo (REDCAT Gallery Director and Curator) and Andrea Bowers, who’s exhibition is currently on view at the REDCAT Gallery. It is much better to see these works while in an audience, however you can still watch them by yourself online or in the media library at your local art school.
There is something inspiring about the history of feminist art in LA, as if the whole genre began here at Womanhouse. It reminds me of the many reasons I was drawn to LA instead of NY. There was a sense of community, collectivity, sharing and support among artists that I didn’t see in the established art world of NY. I am not sure how much of that still exists here, perhaps the myth is over, but everyonce in a while I find pockets of artists who are generous and willing to share information and ideas without feeling threatened by each other.