Colette Fu

Ok, so while I've been crawling the internet looking for RIT MFA Alums to add to the RIT MFA blog, I came across this artist Colette Fu on the EnFoco's website. Her work is really quirky, which I like, and her pop-ups are pretty amazing. While the site leaves something to be desired, her pieces are an interesting juxtaposition of popular imagery and objects, of absurdly menacing miniature scapes. I do love absurdity, especially when it is completely unapologetic. ManRay in 3-D? I don't know how to describe this work, which is probably why I respond to it.

Her china blog is crazy too, it's like National Geographic on a binge. See it HERE!

Actually, upon spending a bit more time with these images, Colette's work also reminds me of Daniel Gordon's work, although the subjects are disparate, the approach and imagery seem somehow related.

Yeah, that's right, I just plugged an artist from RIT's rival program... Yale.

(un)natural worlds

Via RIT MFA Blog.
I just had to re-post this as John and Stefan are alums of RIT's MFA program, and Dornith and I share an Alma Mater with Rice University...it's a small world... seems entirely relevant to this show. All the work is pretty interesting, Texas doesn't get enough respect.


Via
A group show of photographic art from seven contemporary artists, curated by John Aäsp, is currently on display at the Rockport Center for the Arts:

"The unnatural, that too is natural." -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Join seven contemporary artists using photographic processes to create worlds of intrigue, curiosity, and personal vision.

On view September 9-October 10, 2009.

This show, includes work from Dornith Doherty, Susan Dunkerley, Charles Lindsay, Stefan Petranek, Ansen Seale, Trish Simonite, and Sterz. Stefan Petranek is another RIT MFA Alumnus who also teaches here in SPAS. The imagery for(un)natural worlds extends the gamut of aesthetics and ideologies concerned with the connections between science and visual languages used in our representations of the spectacle that is Nature. I am sad that I won't be home in Texas to see this show, but the artists' sites are definitely worth taking a look at. Enjoy!

John Aäsp is currently Curator and Visual Arts Director at Rockport Center for the Arts on the Gulf Coast of Texas, where he also serves as co-director for the Rockport Film Festival.

a brief review of the show is HERE at Glasstire.com, under Rockport.

Summer Must-Sees: Photoconceptualism at the Whitney Museum

Photoconceptualism, 1966–1973

Sadly, I missed viewing this on my recent trip to NYC, and as it is closing week for this exhibition I thought it fitting to announce it on my blog as one of the final 'Must-Sees' for the Summer Season as it surprisingly still feels like Summertime here in The Roc, but it will very soon be Fall.

May 22-September 20, 2009

The final installment in a three-part series taking a closer look at photography in the Whitney’s collection, this exhibition focuses on works by conceptual artists of the late 1960s and early 1970s. During that time, photography became a favored medium (along with video) for art that placed more importance on concepts than on aesthetic and material concerns and rejected the necessity of the gallery or museum as a primary site of exhibition. The presentation features work by Mel Bochner, Adrian Piper, Bruce Nauman, Michael Heizer, and others.

Avoiding Wallpaper via Art 21 Blog

Susan Rothenberg, "Galisteo Creek", 1992 via

Joe Fusaro's post about art becoming wallpaper, particularly in the classroom, brought up some interesting points about integrating forms of art in such a way as to enable and encourage discussion. This brought to mind my most memorable moment in the classroom when I was in high school, which occurred when viewing a documentary on Louise Nevelson; it was like a light was turned on, she was eccentric, she was building structures with the help of others, and she fought through the art scene in the 30s and 40s that was primarily considered a 'man's world.'

This visual exchange should take place more often, with spaces within classrooms devoted to multiple types of art practice in an effort to juxtapose the mediums and processes. I think education would change if this were the case, even in the university setting, I can see this being a positive approach to introducing new artists to students and even to faculty. I think the brutal movement in university architecture has finally passed, but as a student I am still subjected to windowless classrooms, white cinderblock hallways and ultimately an anonymous setting in what serves as the 'creative' backdrop to an arts education. I am a firm believer that a thought-provoking environment would better serve the needs of the photography students. Alas, the institution may not be able to 'remove' the buildings, but surely there could be a sort of compromise in which there is more freedom to alter the classroom by posting and sharing imagery and work in allocated spaces. I suppose I was spoiled at Rice.

I also thought it was ironic to see an image of Susan Rothenberg's work at the beginning of the post, as I for some reason respond to her artwork as though it is 'wallpaper'. I simply cannot relate to it, but she has been critically acclaimed since '75, so what do I know?

Update from PDN: For Annie Leibovitz, a Fuzzy Financial Picture

Well, I hadn't visited PDN in a while, but found this article about Annie Leibovitz's current situation and am eagerly awaiting the verdict and resolution in the coming weeks as her deadline for repayment of all loans approaches.

I knew from the previous NYT article that ACG was suing Getty, but I had not realized at the time that Annie Leibovitz was also named in the claim. I am a little confused, ACG loaned Ms. Leibovitz $24 million last year, however, they were in talks of selling her archive to Getty claiming the value of her images was around $50million? SO that would have paid off all of Annie's loans, and I suppose with ACG as the acting agent, they would get a little off the top for the sale? (Apparently, Getty lowballed with a $15 million offer, and negotiations ended.) But if Ms. Leibovitz's archive is worth $50 million as ACG claims, then they would not be able to obtain the entire archive for collateral, as that would be more than she owes. Collateral is to cover debt, correct...so now I'm totally confused, because if ACG is accurate in its claims of her archive's worth, then by default they could not possibly gain full control of her archive.

I suppose I need to look into the law a little more, as I know nothing about it. Perhaps until the collateral is liquidated, during that time there would be an opportunity to control all of her images. Seems convoluted.

Alright, I did a little googling and came up with this:

It is important to note, that the lender can use the collateral only to regain the money owed by the borrower (capital and interest). If the property (real estate, car) will be sold, the lender will get only the sum owed to him by the borrower. The rest will go to the borrower, who was previously the owner of this property. For example - if you owe $1 mln to the bank and your house secures the loan, and you are not able to pay the installments any more, the bank can take over the house and sell it. But, if the house will be sold for $1.5 mln, the bank will take only $1 mln and the rest ($0.5 mln) will come back to you.

Found here

Annie, how did this happen? In another article I read that a lighting company filed a complaint as Ms. Leibovitz owed over $200,000 to the company. What? Doesn't she own her equipment, she's been in the biz for like 4 decades, and don't her employers pay for any technical needs like lighting... what I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall in Vanity Fair's office so I could snoop through all her contracts and dealings.

Yelle: RGB Made Simple!

This is Yelle's Video for "Ce Jeu", this is going to make it into my regular examples for educating my students on how light differs from pigment, notice the RGB spotlights and how the secondary colors appear where the primaries overlap! RGB makes CMY, yes those are colors of LIGHT! Or what is otherwise known as the additive color model.

A great lighting demo as well, an excellent example of checkerboard lighting, the use of cookies, and making a still-life interesting through lighting (although who doesn't like plastic dinosaurs gettin' down?), this video even includes complementary coloring. Thank you Yelle!! I love it when pop-culture somehow makes my life easier, while teaching my students something about photography.

Did you learn anything from this video?

God, I heart the French.

Art Must-Sees this Summer: New York Photographs

image of John Lennon by Bob Gruen, on view at Bonnie Benrubi


As you may well know, I get many of my topics from NYTimes, so of course today I have to tell everyone about another summer must-see. This summer on exhibition throughout 13 galleries in Chelsea, are photographs of New York. From Nan Goldin to Helen Levitt, one can view almost every perspective of the city through the last century.

This is sure to take up a day or two when visiting the city, so plan ahead to hit all of the venues. This loosely titled exhibit, called New York Photographs, is organized by galleries that specifically represent photography, so even if the New York Photographs show is over, this is an excellent gallery list to start with if you want a down and dirty education on the broad representation of photography in New York City. For instance, Yancey Richardson is a highly respected contemporary gallery with some of the hottest photographers on the scene, while something like Howard Greenburg Gallery seems to show more conservative black and white work. Overall, the beauty about photography and this city, is that both have come of age together; as photography was developed during the same period as the birth of the steam engine and the iron industry, so the city literally grew up around the photograph. I think that's what will be beautiful about these exhibits, viewing the increasingly complex relationship the photographic medium, which has recorded and re-presented the life of the city time and time again, has with New York. Reviewing in these galleries, how both the visual structures and the concrete structures have altered in context over the last century. I am certainly going to try to make it to see many of these galleries before the end of the month.

I have made a list of the participating galleries below, some have references to the New York Photographs show, while some mention nothing of it. Alas *shrug* I never fail to be disappointed in at least a few NY gallery websites.

Bonni Benrubi, thru Sept. 5
Danziger Project
Yossi Milo, thru Aug. 28
Deborah Bell, by appt. thru August
Edwynn Houk
Howard Greenberg
Hasted Hunt, thru Aug. 28
Janet Borden, worst website yet...*sigh*
Laurence Miller0, Helen Levitt thru Aug. 2
Pace/MacGill
Robert Mann
Julie Saul, thru Sept. 12
Yancey Richardson