Jon: Sculptor Hyungkoo Lee Shows Us the Gristle Underneath…

…and the true face of our beloved childhood friends.

 Korean sculptor Hyungkoo Lee recently debuted his new collection, Animatus, at the Natural History Museum in Basel Switzerland. The series studies an imagined biological reality within deeply rooted American animation icons. Lee sculpted life-like skeletal systems for well known characters such as Huey, Dewey and Louie, Bugs Bunny, and Wyle E Coyote. The startling visual effect created by these pieces is largely a result of their transferral of perspective from fantasy based viewing to scientific based viewing.

Seriously, what is up with the shape of these well known characters’ bodies? It is a question that we have become so accustomed to not  asking, that when it is brought up we are put into a jarring stasis. Hyungkoo Lee has effectively debunked whatever preconcieved notions we have about the normative reality we build around these childhood loved-ones. It is the subconcious cultural importance that we have applied to these characters that ultimately makes Lee’s art so important. By seeing the “truth” within their forms, it is now possible as adults to once again see our animated friends as artistically relevent figures.              

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jon: The Strange Bodies of Lucy and Bart…

 

“Germination Day 1″  and “Germination Day 8″

 

“Evolution” and “Exploded View Part 2″

“LucyandBart is a collaboration between Lucy McRae and Bart Hess described as an instinctual stalking of fashion, architecture, performance and the body. They share a fascination with genetic manipulation and beauty expression. Unconsciously their work touches upon these themes, however it is not their intention to communicate this. They work in a primitive and limitless way creating future human shapes, blindly discovering low – tech prosthetic ways for human enhancement.”

-Official Artist’s Statement           

For more of these amazing images, check out their website, LUCYANDBART

Jon: Susan Dobson is Seeing Double….

…or triple, or quadruple, or whatever comes next.

Images from Susan Dobson’s “No Fixed Address” (2004)

Whether it be for the purpose of visual trickery (such as in Victorian stereoscopic photography), or as a means of making a statement about modern obsession and celebrity ( the most well known practitioner being Andy Warhol), the use of repetition as an modern artistic tool has always held a certian allure. By putting forward the striking sameness in a group of images, the viewer’s immediate intellectual response  to this brand of art is to assign great importance to whatever differences do exist.

Artist Susan Dobson’s 2004 photographic collection No Fixed Address begs the question: If there truelly is a natural drive within human’s to find and create variation when reacting to repetition, then how does this need for controlled chaos manifest itself in our day-to-day lives? The answer becomes apparent when studying what is possibly one of the most visually jarring self inforced uses of man made repitition: tract housing in modern American suburbs. These highly planned communities use repeating or alternating floor plans and designs. Driving down a street in one of these neighborhoods it is easy to become lost as a result of the immidiate sense of deja-vu and confusion that sets in. In fact, developers of tract housing have created the design element of building curved streets  even when geological factors don’t require it. This is done in order to prevent the creation of an endless repetitive horizon and the disheartening emotional reaction it would cause to a resident.

A similiar dissorienting affect is created in the presentation of Dobson’s No Fixed Address, in which the identically cropped images are hung in such a way as to mimic the visual sameness of her subject. Each photograph features the startalingly duplicated front entranceway of one of these homes. Each house has the same basic door, windows, bricks, and pillars. The slight differences that begin to emerge outside of that combination are all a result of individual intervention and the effects of aging. Some home owners choose to alter their walkways or paint their doors. Others make dramatic landscaping choices. The color of the brick facade is slightly weathered over time. However they choose to do it, all residents have found ways to stamp the immediate world around them as uniquely their own.

At the root of Dobson’s study seems to be a question of the confused duality of our human desire to at once find comfort in familiarity, but to also challenge the validity of that comfort. Though No Fixed Address does seem to be saying that there is a certain individual beauty and warmth that shines through in even the most uninspiring of conditions, Dobson chooses not to offer a direct qualitative answer to her overarching question. Instead, we are left to ponder our own existence as one of many, and to ask ourselves, “Am I doing enough?”

Jon: The Puzzling Art of Kent Rogowski…

…from the series “Love = Love”

“Love = Love is a series of puzzle montages. Flowers and skies were taken out of over 40 puzzles and combined to form a series of spectacular landscapes. Although puzzle pieces are unique and can only fit into one place within a puzzle, they are interchangeable within a brand. Kent Rogowski uses and alters mass-produced consumer products as a vehicle for self expression. By transforming the generic into something personal, Rogowski questions what these products communicate and also what role they play in our culture.” 

-from Rogowski’s Official Statement and Bio

(Click above for large versions)

For more, check out Rogowski’s show online at The Jen Bekman Gallery

Jon: Photographer KayLynn Deveney doesn’t tell it like it is…

…but her model Albert Hastings does.

 

 

(above: top and middle- Three pieces from KayLynn Deveney’s The Day-to-Day Life of Albert Hastings. Bottom- View of show from Blue Sky Gallery in Portland)

 

There is an obvious and intentional duality to photographer KayLynn Deveney’s new project, The Day-to-Day Life of Albert Hastings, now showing at the Blue Sky Gallery here in Portland. For this series, Deveney photographed the everyday routines of her then neigbor, 85 year old Albert Hastings, during her time studying in Wales.

Upon first viewing this collection, the ritualized nature of Hastings simple daily tasks, as well as the gratification that accomplishing them brings,  becomes immediately apparent. However, the true importance of this show derives less from the viewers interpretation of these acts, and more so from Hastings’ own self aware translation. Where as similiar photographers may have retained control over this presentation of extreme voyeurism, Deveney has given the power back to her subject by allowing him to intellectually frame his own experience. For each image, Hastings was invited to create a handwritten caption, filtering the viewer’s response to the photograph through a lens that was uniquely his own.

As a result, it is easy to be swept away into an understanding that is at once individual, but also shared by the elderly community as a whole. Where at first there seems to only be a pile of folded shirts, we now see through Hastings’ eyes that it is actually “…a little bit of comfort.”  We are transported to the world of the advanced elderly where every small detail holds a comforting familiarity while at the same time being imbued with a telling sense of urgency. The unexpected improtance of these everyday tasks and objects is further enhanced by the flat snapshot-like quality and physically small scale of Deveney’s photographs. By telling us that we are about to see is important and then showing us in such a way that it is mundane, we are forced to search for a deeper meaning than that of the simple aesthetic.

In this shared project, Deveney and Hastings show us the world through the eyes of the elderly while simultaneously forcing us to step back and also view it through our own, admittedly critical, vantage point. We feel all at once a loving sameness with the subject while still harshly judging him qualitatively for reminding us of what we all really are: boring creatures of habit.

The speed of change and the constant desire for “the new” that drives modern culture frequently devalues not only the lives of the elderly, but the simple and startling beauty that can be found in the mundane world of each of us. By giving a strong voice to a margenlized group that we will all one day be a member of, Deveney has reminded us to look around and to look ahead. Doing our laundry for the thousandth time seems unimportant till we realize that one day, there will be know more dirty clothes. One day, we will not be.

Deveney seems to say to us all “Look at those drying socks! And that delicately hung shirt! Don’t you see: they shine!“

 

Jon: Immortalize your furry friend…

 

Queer Portland artist and power-zinester Nicole Georges has been publishing her awesome narrative illustration zine Invincible Summer for quite a while now, but did you know that she also creates one of a kind pet portraits for a totally reasonable price? I think she catches something really special with her slightly off center depiction of out four legged friends….

Jon: Self portrait photographer Arno Rafael Minkkinen shows some skin…

…”some” being the operative word.

Throughout the 70’s and early 80’s, photographer Arno Rafael Minkkinen created a body of work (no pun intended) in which he explored the idea of the inherent naturalness of the human form. While this is not a revolutionary idea, it is Minkkinen’s execution that seperates him from other artists working with similiar concepts in mind. In each self portrait, Minkkinen isolates parts of his body in such a way as to make them seem foreign. Upon first viewing, the body in question frequently appears either severed, unrecognizeable as part of a human whole, or existing in the world seemingly through supernatural intervention.  Minkkinen is quick to point out in his artist’s statement that none of the images have been manipulated through digital or mechanical means. Everything you see is as the camera saw it in the natural world.

By seperating the human body from it’s normal social connotations Minkkinen is able to, without undo emotional reference, make a precise (almost medical) argument for it’s naturalness. This turn of logic is quite unexpected in viewing the pieces. It is easy to at first assume that by removing the human form from it’s natural genetic place in the world that the viewer would become alienated from it. In reality, it is rather the opposite that occurs. By changing it context, the spectator is able to finally see that the normative way in which they have always viewed the body has been shaded by cultural contextualization. By instead showing us the whole for it’s parts, Minkkinen has made is possible for us to view the  human form as what it truly is: magnificent and mundane.

Jon: Multimedia artist Nina Katchadourian sees the world differently…

Artist Nina Katchadourian works in multiple mediums including sculpture, paint, photography, video, and collage but maintains a strong thematic concept throughout her collections. Each seems to study the relationship between the natural world and the human interpretation of it. She examines the way in which we as people, for lack of a better world, anthropomorphize the enviroment around us. How we insert our own human interpretations to create order out of a world that at first seems chaotic. The works seems to be saying to the viewer, “See! See! There is a pattern here, it is just not a human based one!”

Of her body of work entitled World Map, Katchadourian states:

I made this map in college in response to an assignment, and it marks the beginning of my work with maps. Using a blade, I took apart a paper map, moving pieces over to a large piece of paper which I watercolored the same blue as the ocean in the original map. Gradually, the world was reconfigured. I often reconstructed words using presstype in places where the names of countries had gotten truncated. There were switches based on historical or geopological factors (Western Europe inserted into West Africa); others were based on formal correspondences or quirks of the map itself. Australia and Alaska had the same green border color, for example, and fit perfectly together due to the distortion of scale that occurs towards the poles.

Nina Katchadourian was introduced to me via Katherine Dexter’s Blog

Jon: Gap’s Whitney Biennial T-Shirts…

…super rad or super lame?

Above: Kiki Smith Limited Edition T-Shirt for the Gap (click for detail)

International American based mall chain Gap recently unveiled it’s new limited edition Whitney Biennial t-shirt series featuring prolific artists such as Chuck Close, Kiki Smith, Jeff Koons,and Barbara Kruger. Each guest designer was invited to create one shirt graphic for the limited edition line.

I have extremely mixed feelings about this concept. It os abvious that exposing people to these artists when they otherwise would not be could potentially be a very powerful thing. On the other hand, the Gap is a clothing company that strongly maintains the status quo and plays a large part in a sort of globalized conformitization of fashion (and don’t forget: fashion is art).

Though, that “status quo” based argument could also be flipped around as a statement in favor of the concept. If the customer of the Gap truely is the average middle of the road american, then affecting them could be the greatest possible change in the way we as a society view and internalize art.

But on the flip side, these shirts are in reality extremely limited edition. In fact, judging by the Gap’s Website, most of them seem to be sold out already. This of course means that the shirts mostly ended up in the hands of collectors and people who are already fans of the artists. These people who waited in line outside Gap stores to get them. It is doubtful that many people discovered a new artist as a result of the collaboration.

Whatever.

If the trend seen in past collaborations (such as those at H&M with guest designers like Viktor and Rolf) like these continues to hold true, I would keep my eyes on Ebay. Most likely these $28 shirts will start showing up on there in the upcoming weeks selling for $100.

HERE’S A TIP: DON’T BUY THIS SHIT! GO TO A LOCAL ART GALLERY, BUY SOMETHING, AND SUPPORT AN ARTIST WHO ACTUALLY NEEDS IT!

 

 

 

ps:I totally want to buy one of these shirts…. Come on! It’s Kiki fucking Smith!

 

 

Jon: Lego sculptor Nathan Sawaya…

…creates organic art using very inorganic materials.

“Yellow” by Nathan Sawaya

www.brickartist.com

Jon: Photographer Enid Crow is not a man…

…but does “it” with her boyfriend like one!

   

(click thumbnails for full size)

 

New York City renaissance woman, Enid Crow, is perhaps most famous for her fairly referential (but still interesting) series of photographs entitled Disasters. This popular group of images, which Crow began work on in 2001, are all self portraits featuring the artist in the guise of different women and men. In each photograph the featured character is dramatically reactting to a looming disaster outside the frame of the image. The assumptive leap can be made that since these images began to be created in 2001 (and the artist is based in NYC) that they are commenting on the overwhelming “unknown” fear that many Americans had internalized in the wake of September 11th.  While it is true that Crows first series is visually jarring and thought provoking, the images tend towards the melodramatic and repetative. While this is most likely the artist’s intent, it quickly begins to feel stale and boring upon repeated viewing. Even though Crow is perhaps the first artists to explore this idea, it is hard to view this series and not thinks to one’s self, “I have seen this done before.”

Crow’s latest series The History of Moustaches, revisits several themes from Disasters (self portrait, drag), but brings to them a more freshly contemporary thematic sensability. The majority of the photographs feature Crow posing alone as the archetypical middle-american blue collar working man. We see images of factory workers, farmers, consruction crew, and hunters. The subject matter within these images is very mundane and the images ressemble everyday snap shots. This begs the question “What exactly is Enid Crow trying to say with these images?”. The unremarkable nature of the photographs forces the viewer to focus of the one thing that is unusual: Crow herself. The costuming and sets are dead on accurate, but it is hard to not notice that Crow (mustache and all) is just not very convincing in drag. And this, of course, is where the true depth of the images comes into play. When you view the pieces, you are not supposed  to be fooled into thinking you are looking at a man. Given Crow’s earlier works, and her clear fascination with internalized fear, one begins to understand her true intent. This series is a statement on masculine fear of the feminine. The fear that outward presentation may not reflect one’s inherent and uncontrollable inward dialogue. Or inner gendered desire.

Which (yes, finally) brings me to the images posted above in this blog entry. They are a small subset from The History of Moustaches, entitled Faggots. Each of the seven photographs in this subset explore gay male desire (from the chance meeting, to the sexual encounter,to the longterm relationship). The characters are portrayed by Crow and her real life partner Justin Duerr.  This group of images takes the next logical step in the series by studying perhaps the ultimate masculine fear, homosexual (feminized) erotic attraction. Where in Disasters we had a looming tragedy out of frame, in Faggots the “tragedy” is front and center. This shift in representation creates a strong statement when looking at the entire span of Crow’s artistic work.

This new work shows a lot of promise for Enid Crow, and it will be interesting to see her future creative trajectory. Perhaps, as one of her self proclaimed (and obvious) influences Cindy Sherman did, she will begin to explore human representations without the conventional use of human models. As far as studies of fear go, there may be nothing more appropriate than a self-portrait photographer giving up total control and stepping out of frame.

Jon: Photographer Michael Ensminger is not homeless…

…but he does have a sense of humor. I think.

   

(sorry for the poor quality of the clickable thumbnails. I don’t have a scanner which means they are photographs I took of I book I own.)

 

Photographer Michael Ensminger began his series, “What’s Your Sign?”, in 2000. The  collection is made up of 90 images of Ensminger posing as a homeless man. In each photograph, Ensminger holds a cardboard sign displaying contextually humorous quotes that challenge consumer based trends in a culture in which poverty thrives.

The strength of these images arises almost entirely from the cronological response of the viewer. Upon first seeing these pieces, the initial response is humor. In fact, it is quite easy to simply write these images off as mere satire. However, upon further digestion it is obvious that the artist’s true intent is to create an internal discussion about one’s own materialistic urges. The artist intentionally trivializes the consumption based culture we are all so invested in by pointing out how ludicrous it is to place such weight on these materialistic desires.

It is pretty funny though…..

Jon: “The Pull” by Andy Blubaugh…

…my favorite from The Portland Documentary and eXperimental Film Festival.

This week was the seventh annual PDX Film Fest (do you see? do you see? do you see how they cheated when making that acronym???) and I was lucky enough to get the chance to catch around 24 or so of the short films. They covered quite a range. There were animations, documentaries, narratives, music videos, and more flashing seizure inducing visual peices (read: boring/irritating) than you can shake a stick at. I really fell in love with several of the shorts, but my favorite by far was Andy Blubaugh’s, “The Pull”.

The film documents Blubaugh’s (real life) experimental relationship in which he and his partner at the time decided to put an experation date on there time together. Basically, on the outset of the relationship the two set a date four months in the future at which point they would break up. “The Pull” touchingly tells this story through reenactments of the events (sidenote: the “actors” are in fact Blubaugh and his ex. In the Q&A after the screening, Blubaugh admitted that it was very akward at times filming some of the more intimate scenes) intertwined with footage of the pair riding bicycles through rural Oregon. Blubaugh uses this metaphor shockingly well. He states that when riding bicycles in a pair, two people are acting as seperate individuals who just happen to be doing the same thing in the same place at the same time. At any point, one individual could simply diverge from the path and continue on, essentually remaining unchanged as an individual.

Blubaugh’s film challenges the viewer’s first inclination in judging the relationship. As outsiders, it is easy to assume that this experation date would trivialize the relationship; somehow making it less comitted. However the film maker counters this by explaining that the actual result was the creation of a deep sense of urgency. That every moment in that four months felt extremely important.

The film is only eight minutes long, however it is so well presented that it stays with the viewer a long time afterwords. The implications of the piece teach us to reevaluate the way in which we experience our own relationships with those around us in a way that is truelly profound.

I wish that the full film was available online, but unfortunately all I could dig up was this trailer:

 

 

Jon: Guy Ben-ner’s Ikea sitcom….

….yet another example of me being slow on actualizing my ideas.

 

About two or so months ago, the four members of Gaycondo were perusing the aisles of our new local Ikea store. Being there is like a consumption explosion! So much stuff I don’t need… but it is SO cheap. It really brings out the consumer in me. Anyway, we were all secretly feeling a little guilty for being so materialistic, and discussion turned to the idea of finding ways to make the Ikea experience more creative and less consumptive. Several plans of action were verbalized, but my favorite idea (which, the narcissist that I am, was my idea) was one in which we would write a script for a soap opera that would be filmed “on set” using Ikea’s model homes.

“What a brilliant concept!”, I thought. We could sneak the camera in and film the highly choreographed and organized show in less than a day!

What original gorilla film making!

Unfortunately, I have a habit of coming up with great ideas and then apathetically not acting on them. Boo on me.

I have been beaten to the punch by Israeli fim maker Guy Ben-ner. He created an 18 minute sitcom, Stealing Beauty, starring his wife and two children. It was shot (without permission) entirely within Ikea stores thoughout the world. 

Here is a short preview of the film:

I love all the random bystanders that wander into the shots.

Anyway, lesson learned….

Ben-Ner was recently profiled in New York Magazine because of his amazing idea. That could have been me. Next time I am out getting drinks with friends and spout a genious thought, I’m going to act on it.

Fifteen minutes, here I come!

 

Jon: The last 50 years of art in three images….

MODERN

Keith Haring brings the “low” art form of graffiti into the the gallery world.

 

POSTMODERN

Annie Leibovitz photographs Keith Haring in a hyperbolic, three dimensional, Haring-centric world.

 

POST-POSTMODERN

Adidas releases limited edition track outfit designed by Jeremy Scott using the art of the now deceased Keith Haring. It bares a striking resemblence to the visual ideas present in the Leibovitz image.

 

!!Ta da!!