No Mere Shot in the Dark

Several photographs of O. Winston Link are currently on display at the Reynolda House Museum of American Art in Winston-Salem in an exhibition entitled Trains that Pass in the Night showing from February 19-June 19, 2011. These black-and-white gelatin silver photographs feature images of steam locomotives set against the landscapes of Virginia and North Carolina. While these stunning images reminiscent of the film noir era in which they were taken offer a glimpse into a lifestyle that was at the time ending, they are awe inspiring for the elaborate planning necessary to capture many of the nocturnal images.

The photographs in and of themselves are quite breathtaking. Gorgeous contracts exist between the presence of the trains and the life that seems to continue on around them: people watching a movie at the drive-in, hanging out at the public pool, and even a group of elderly friends chatting on a porch as what must have been a loud steam engine locomotive passes by. But the clarity of the images of these trains in motion set against these seemingly colloquial interactions forces an appreciation for the choreographed facade, for many of these images were staged with but one opportunity as the train passed to be captured.

One photograph contains the photographer himself, his assistant, and their equipment. Looking at the various lamps and flash equipment then studying the crisp images of billowing plumes of steam as they are exhaled from the sleek locomotives as they travel by it is a marvel how brilliantly effective they worked. The lighting and timing are everything in Link’s work. Every detail was minutely attended to from the placement of the people, the direction of the lighting, to the schedule of the trains in order to capture a moment in time designed to depict an entire way of life. Link didn’t miss an opportunity, but he also made sure to create the optimum setting for what otherwise would have passed into the night and out of time unnoticed.

-Veronica Monique Ibarra

http://www.reynoldahouse.org/discover/exhibitions/c_exhibitions_detail.php?feature-id=911613380

Fading as Memory Does

At the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) in Winston-Salem currently on display from March 12 – June 5, 2011 is Imprints for a Fleeting Memorial by Oscar Muñoz. The exhibit consists of many portraits representing people who disappear, and as the subjects, the images likewise are destined to fade before your eyes leaving only the memory of what once was. The images evaporate, drain away, deteriorate and crumble. A few are indistinct images burned into paper, but even those are not meant to last as the series progresses with the loss of the original subject.

The first display to catch my eye is a group of nine soft, warm faces each within their own square, placed close together to be essentially a piece of a larger square of unified work. The faces are each oriented as if focusing in different directions with varying expressions like they were caught in the middle of a conversation.

Walking slowly towards the display the faces become more obviously pixelated, made up of cubes of white and shades of brown. It isn’t until I come very close that the cubes reveal themselves to be crystalline granular constructions - sugar cubes. The array of browns is due to varying degrees of coffee saturation. Suddenly, I notice the crumbling of a few of the cubes, and the images that were at first soft and warm take on a bittersweetness as their deterioration becomes inevitable.

Each piece in the collection provokes contemplation of the fleeting lives we lead, and the fading of our own memories. Marcus Aurelius once wrote, “Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.” Oscar Muñoz’s work is an excellent, if sad, embodiment of this sentiment.

Another piece that illustrates this is a series of newsprint images blown-up and burned into six separate newspapers. As I begin to flip through the pages the images that were burned into the cover page utilizing a dot matrix become less and less evident until the last page is blank, but for a few dots devoid of any meaningful context.

The medium is as fleeting as the images created, yet somehow the poignant message seems branded upon my memory. Time will tell how well this stays with me.

-Veronica Monique Ibarra

http://www.secca.org/exhibitions/2011/Oscar.htm

Finding Place in Abstraction

Walking into the back of the Center for Visual Artists where Jillian Webb Martin’s Spatial Encounters is being displayed, I had no real idea what to expect. I like walking in cold to any exhibition or show without first reading up on either the artist or their style: no expectations to cloud my first impressions.

The collection of paintings is all abstract with just a hint of impressionism in a few. The two that seemed most to convey a sense of a particular place are like looking at the world so far out of focus that only the colors remained to blend together, yet still leaving me aware that I was looking at a place I could almost recognize from a memory.

The abstract works, with their colors blending, some running together, are quite lovely. I found myself imagining not only what could inspire the combinations, but also how the very space in which they occupied the gallery seemed inspiring. My eyes would travel the canvases picking up the various colors and the idea of the play of light and shadow the blendings hinted at in my mind. Almost all of the works seemed to be displayed with lighter colors nearest the top with darker colors nearest the bottom, and I started to think of horizons though none were really present. That is one of the things about abstract art that fascinates: the way it can sometimes leave you to relate on your own.

-Veronica Monique Ibarra

http://www.greensboroart.org/ , http://www.jillianwebbart.com/About_The_Artist.html

Ordinary Expectations

Once while attending college, I was driving along Capital Blvd. in Raleigh, NC when I passed this tower-like object with highly reflective panels. It was the beautifully reflective panels that caught my attention, appearing silver then bursting into rainbow radiance. I wondered at it, but figured it was some kind of radio or phone tower. I later found out that it was Art.

Oddly enough that tower-like structure became the topic of an ethics class in which we discussed art and how it sometimes defies expectations, especially when an artist is commissioned to produce a work and the product doesn’t match the idea a patron may have thought they were asking for. Art is like that.

Art is more than a simple expression of ideas; it takes on life and character. It grabs attention, provokes thought, and elicits emotion: sometimes for its subject matter, sometimes for the elements used. This hit me most profoundly as I was visiting the Weatherspoon Art Museum at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. I had gone to view the exhibit of a local artist, but as I was leaving that exhibit another drew me in.

The exhibit was part of the UNCG Falk Visiting Artists program, and this one featured the work of Judy Pfaff, an internationally renowned pioneer of installation art. It was the massive structure along one wall that first reeled me into the room. Slowly walking along allowing my eyes to drift across its textured surface, taking in the various materials and how they came together to give the structure the form of a coral reef struck a chord within me.

As I cast my eyes around the room at the other works displayed I could see a theme, but it was the smaller constructions upon the walls that really got me thinking. I thought back to that tower-like structure and that discussion once upon a time. Artists challenge expectations.

Visually deconstructing each of Pfaff’s works, I could pick out items that I had seen before being utilized in a way that defied my common understanding of them: some of the items were discarded remains of packaging material, while others were items that typically served a purpose as fishing tools or lighting covers. Defying the common expectation of these individual objects to blend them, creating something greater than the sum of its parts is an amazing form of artistic expression.

-Veronica Monique Ibarra

http://weatherspoon.uncg.edu/exhibitions/show/?title=judy-pfaff-falk-visiting-artist

Art never sold me anything...

I’m all about saving the world, really. I consider myself radical, you know, as radical as you can be, hunch-backed, typing away in front of a computer screen. I have these radical thoughts, in the creative space of night or behind the wheel, watching fragments of society flick by like channels. But, I’m not radical enough to be revolutionary.

Radical changes require radical individuals.

So, there’s no wonder why I’m drawn to the work of an artist I found somewhere in the hollow span of the Internet, someone vaguely referred to as “JR.” I was probably stumbling or something. He’s a French guy. A street artist, they call him, from Paris.

His game is simple: publicize massive portraits on the sides of urban architecture. Take a subject, a person that’s just a face among the crowd. No, a person that represents the crowd, the mass, the everyday, the you and I. People in their natural emotional habitat, real people being…real. Take a picture, blow it up and slap it on the side of a building so people can see it from a plane. Then, disappear.

It all feels like “V for Vendetta” without the explosions. What’s most revolutionary about the artist is his inability to play by the rules. He sometimes doesn’t ask permission, he doesn’t blog about his ideals, he doesn’t have a full name and he probably doesn’t care what you think.

Recently, he won the TED prize, a handsome sum awarded annually to one person to help fund a change they wish to see in the world. His mission: to create a site in which users can upload images of themselves. Then, he and his team make posters of the image and mail it to back to the user in hopes that they display it publicly.

Detractors of the artist claim he doesn’t have property rights for many of his murals. Some might say it is too in-your-face and obtrusive. Others might claim it’s downright illegal.

All right, fair enough. But be honest. When you turned on the television this morning, the radio, when you logged into your e-mail, checked your favorite sites in the morning, did anyone ask you permission to sell you objects you supposedly need in your life?

When advertising does it, it’s “the nature of the beast” but when an artist does it, it’s wrong?

Art never sold me anything, other than a good time, a mute button on life, and a connection to self-worth.

-Alex Clark

http://www.insideoutproject.net/

March 15 Artwork Promotion Event

Persepolis Arts Agency is teaming up with Hhgregg and Alia Kitchen and Bath to create selling opportunities for artists.  Please share this with fellow artists who need help selling their artwork.  Artists who are interested in representation should send an email to info@persepolisagency.com

Baring It All

There I was at the Light Factory, taking in their new "Body & Soul" exhibit. The display features works from artists Jock Sturges, Joyce Tenneson, and Mona Kuhn. All of the pieces in this exhibit are photographs which feature a single nude individual as the subject. The artists each illustrate the human body in a different light: Sturges, who captures the innocence of his subject, Fanny, coming into her own over a period of several years; Kuhn, who shows off the soft sensuality of her subjects in her native land, Brazil; and Tenneson, whose subjects exhude a mystical, spiritual air. All of the subjects in these photographs have something remarkable about their eyes. They are intense, innocent, confident, and no matter what else is going on in these photographs, the eyes grab the attention and represent the focal point in them all. An old saying comes to mind, instantly: "The eyes are the windows to the soul."

As I stroll through the exhibit I take note of the fact that when your body is free, when there is nothing to hide behind, your soul becomes bare, open, vulnerable - beautiful. It's sad that many people, particularly in our culture, will disagree and criticize this form of art. As it is with words, everything must be taken into context. With words, it's how you use them, the tone you give them, the feeling you put behind them. We tend to make too big a deal about something that really shouldn't be, and as a result, that very thing becomes even more threatening.

In terms of our bodies, relatively speaking, we are all the same and have nothing to be ashamed of. (I can just hear my mother calling me a "little hippie" as I type this.) But maybe we should appreciate the beauty, see past the surface, and relax, because it is okay to accept ourselves as we are and experience the beauty of being "open". It's like makeup: wear too much of it, and people will suddenly wonder what it is you're trying to cover up. Now, I'm not suggesting that we all prance around town naked. And if you do, as you are being cuffed, please don't tell the officer this was my idea. All I'm saying is that it's perfectly okay to just be ourselves - we are all beautiful, and we are all works of art. 

-Ali Macaluso 

http://www.lightfactory.org/exhibition-body-a-soul

Stars fell down from the sky and became films on a screen

Go to the Mint Museum Uptown. Don’t waste time; ask someone, anyone where the Janet Biggs’s exhibit is. You will find Biggs’s timeless video “essays” encompassing a thousand themes. Her newest, “Duet,” solely at the Mint, focuses on perfection amid frenzy in NASCAR’s pit crew subculture. You might see them at surface: films in a museum. But, these are modern meditations on control, chaos, the indelible spirit, the locus where you lose an identity. So, go, transcend in the flicker and pulse of a television screen. See, enthusiasts find something in a painting but voyeurs find everything in a film. 

-Alex Clark 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xi9E8JHrRFc 

Power of the Brush

Walking through the Center for Visual Artists to view the last days of exhibiting VISUAL DOCUMENTS by Juie Rattley III, it is impressive to note the impact each brush stroke has on the work.  Oil on canvas, spread with long caressing strokes evokes a sense of compassion for the sleeping woman, while short thick jabs of dark colors evoke distain or perhaps simply imply something coarse and unrefined about the man seemingly looking past the viewer.

A grouping of self-portraits depicts a series of reactions to hearing of the death of a friend.  With bold colors and an obvious mixture of brush strokes it is easy to see the progression of shock to outrage to confusion to grief.  It is the combination of bold, dark colors and the visual tracing of the brush strokes that gives each piece a distinction beyond the expression and stance of those in the paintings.

One painting stands out of the entire collection, drawing you back repeatedly.  Blue is the dominant color with white, black, brown and a hint of yellow.  However it is the brush’s touch upon the canvas that is the fascinating aspect of note.  Each color is dabbed in a loose cube-like manner giving the whole painting an almost pixilated feel.  It is detaching, yet engaging at the same time.  It is easy to spend so much time entranced by the texture and to become startled to see that the subject of the painting seems to be studying you just as intently.

-Veronica Ibarra

http://www.greensboroart.org/

French's Time Capsule

As a resident of Charlotte I am happy to see this city grow and change. In the three years I have been here I can honestly attest to the fact that every time I take a walk through this city there is a new restaurant, a new shop, a new pub that has popped up, and somehow they are all brimming with people and functioning as if they have been there the whole time. Each brings a different vibe, and each makes up a small piece of this ever-changing, ever-growing puzzle known as Uptown. You can’t ignore the art here, because it is everywhere: from the unique and funky décor and signage of the establishments, to the live jazz band that plays on the streets and fills the city with rhythm and life, to the people that cross every intersection.

I met David French the night of the Uptown Christmas Tree Lighting, in the market across the street. He had a booth there, amongst other artists and entrepreneurs selling their artistic specialties: fresh foods, seasonal décor, off-beat gifts and the like. I loved the fact that his booth represented all there is to enjoy in the QC. Many of his paintings were of favorite hot-spots and other local attractions, and for me, this took “local art” to a whole new level. Two paintings of his in particular caught my eye. They were similar in style in that they were the artist’s interpretations of both the intersection of 6th & Tryon, and the intersection of Trade & Tryon. The colors are what drew me in initially, and once I got closer I noticed the beautiful drawings of the statues that box the intersection in the center of the city. Even though I have passed these statues every day, for some reason they seemed even more beautiful in French’s painting. I wasn’t planning on purchasing them, but I was enjoying checking out the detail. Then, a couple came over to look at the paintings. They loved them, and for a moment I was nervous that they would purchase them. The man's complaint: “Hmmm…these would be great, but they are missing some important buildings – the Wachovia Building, The Vue, and the Avenue. That stinks.” The woman quietly nodded, and off they went.

I took a few steps closer and noticed that he was right – those buildings were in fact missing. The artist must have painted these before those buildings broke ground. It put into perspective for me how fast this city was growing, and as a result, his paintings became a time capsule of how this city looked before I called it home. Sometimes when a road is re-done, or a new building goes up, it’s hard to remember what it looked like in the first place. One credit card swipe, two nails and one hammer later, a frozen snapshot of what once was the Uptown skyline now hangs on my wall and serves as a constant reminder of a work of art – even if it is a work in progress. 

-Alessandra Macaluso

http://davidfrenchoriginals.com/charlotte

Fleeting Ownership

The looting in Iraq was infamous. In the frenzy of the occupation, museums were ransacked and archaeological sites were damaged. It still happens in Iraq today but it’s taken in stride as collateral damage.

And now, as political unrest pops up everywhere, it begs the question: what cultural keepsake will be tainted next by political strife?

Just several days ago, the Egyptian Museum in Cairo reopened after the protests happening right outside its door forced them to close. As patrons entered the museum on Sunday, they were greeted with roses. But beneath the rosy surface, Egypt’s antiquities minister tries to salvage the many items that were stolen during the protests. Art is just one of many faceless victims of changing times.

As in Iraq and countless nations where laws are blurred in the fog of war, people loot because they feel an ownership for something. They may not have painted it or sculpted it but being a looter is a sign of being a survivor. They are in the nightmare of it; you are not.

So, who owns the art of the dead?

Ownership is a tricky subject. But, the important thing has never been to argue about who owns an item, it has always been about protecting items for future generations.

Art belongs to future generations.

-Alex Clark

Abstracting With Lori Love Penland

• After receiving a Facebook invite to the entitled 'Showdown', (a competition) exhibition of varied artists at Hart Witzen Gallery event I couldn't pass up the opportunity to not only attend a surprisingly unknown to my knowledge gallery in the area but also artists whose names were new to my ears and work to my eyes. 
  
  So there I am, confronted with a card at the door with a list of the artists names featured in the showing with empty boxes beside each name to puncher after viewing to cast your vote of choice for favorite artist to be inserted in a raffle box. But little did I know walking in, that the first viewed collection that looked to be inspired by the Rorschach test used to subject perceptions of inkblots for psychoanalysis would be my vote right away without any further consideration or curiosity of other works. After submitting my ballot I visited other mediums and concepts and fortunately I remained without regret - l know what I like. 
  
  Penland's mixed media abstract almost existential analysis on nature combined with sophicated composition and intelligence swooned me. Especially, the work on light boxes in particular. It's the kind of pieces you would even want to see in the dark and thanks to modern contemporary design being three of her canvases you can. The fascination of the human mind/nature with the play of the inkblot like forms give not only the eye constant evolution through shape from angle to angle but a perspective interactive. 
  
  Lori Love Penland's collection was featured at Hart Witzen Gallery from February 4th-18th. 
  
  Q&A
  
  Q - Out of curiously and not to 'kill the cat' but do you have a background in psychology? 
  
  A- I like to say that I have a background in the human animal. My first two years as an undergraduate student were spent in a premed program. I was infatuated by the human body at a cellular level, the level the human eye cannot see without the aid of microscope. However, that infatuation waned somewhat as I began to pursue interest in philosophy, psychology, sociology and the social sciences. I actually did a fellowship at a University in England studying the writings of Marx and Lenin.
  
  Q - I read a bit of info on your site and it quotes "My work as an artist is one of continual struggle whereby I attempt to narrow the chasm between vision and reality." and "Many of the paintings in the Human Touch series are based on images from photographs, newspapers and magazines documenting the state of society and the often overlooked emotions of shame, grief and despair as exhibited by addicts, the homeless, the institutionalized, and other more vulnerable elements of modern society."
   
  Would you then say that your work is conceptual in a way being that your last collections medium differentiates from your most recent? Does subject matter evoke what to do/use next?
  
  A- Let me just say that I see my art as a journey and like every journey, there's the actual physical, that which can be measured whether it be space, time, shape, color, etc..and then there is the metaphysical or the nature of the mind in relation to the physical.
  
  My latest series is really an attempt to marry these two worlds together. I think that the medium used in this body of work has taken me one step further in that journey in that I am attempting to bring others along on their own journey, realizing that while the physical may be common to all, the experience is unique to the individual. 
   
  For me as an artist, these pieces convey a certain conceptual completeness in my vision. They are organic, yet structured, a certain yin and yang, which again is very much a part of the human experience and particularly the human psyche.
  
  
  Q - When/Where will your work be featured next? 
  
  A- Currently, I have a duel exhibition scheduled to open in August of this year at a gallery in Gastonia. All the details have not yet been finalized. "In the Beginning" has also been juried by Nathan Trotman, Curator for the Guggenheim, as a semi finalist for a show in NY in late March. 
  
  -Amanda Medina
  
  http://www.lorislove.com/
  
• 
  

More Heaven Than Earth

"Whenever I am on East Boulevard in Charlotte, I always make it a point to stop in to Red Sky Gallery. The artwork here never disappoints, and the space that houses it serves as the perfect canvas. Some galleries are meant to have soaring ceilings, large open spaces, and blank, white walls - this is not Red Sky. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Although Red Sky chooses art work to fill its walls, there is a strange feeling that the art here, even the rotating exhibits, seek out the gallery on their own and call it home. And home is exactly what it feels like.

The Red Sky building is a house, with separate rooms, staircases and landings - even a kitchen. Behind every corner, around every turn, up every step is another surprise to greet you and engage your senses. The current exhibit here features new works by Devon Burgess and Paul Hastings. Burgess is a glass artist, and Hastings, a painter. Upon first glance of the exhibit I can't help but wonder if these two have met. If their personalities mesh as well as their works, I think they would get along famously. Burgess's glass works are sleek and mysterious, and their shapes seem as if they are fluid and natural, and freshly poured. His vases are so striking and gorgeous all on their own that you wouldn’t even want to interrupt them with a flower.

Upon walking up a flight of stairs I was greeted by a gorgeous canvas, fittingly titled "More Heaven than Earth." The detail of the piece appears to only take up the very bottom of the canvas - about one quarter of the piece. The top three quarters is filled with nothing other than a blue sky. A gorgeous blue, but really, that's it - just a wide open blue sky, not even graced with a single cloud. 

Hastings' paintings got me thinking about how we limit ourselves, box ourselves. They gently remind us to look up once in a while, to jump into that space and make something happen. It's very easy to become wrapped up in our "worlds", and when we forget how small we really are, we lost perspective on how big the world is: what really matters, how to be happy, how certain instances just aren't important in the grand scheme of things. Appreciate the beauty in the little things, and make sure you are grounded. But every once in a while, don't forget to look up. After all, there's more heaven than earth.

-Ali Macaluso

Getting Up Close to Art through Technology

Wouldn't it be great to take a trip to the National Gallery in London or the Museum Kampa in Prague? How awesome would it be to get up close to a Van Gogh painting - so close you could see the texture of the paint and follow each brush stroke?

Well, the Art Project, powered by Google allows you to do just that. Utilizing their Street View Technology, Google has partnered up with museums from around the world to allow you to view art in places you may never have the chance to visit, and get closer than you would ever be allowed in person.

As a study tool for any artist, this could prove invaluable. The zoom application of this site provides an opportunity to see the detail of the techniques and materials used. Study the works of an artist at your leisure, any time, day or night--even if those works are housed in different museums. The site allows you to create and save an Artwork Collection of your favorite works viewed at the zoom level of your choice with the option of adding comments, which can be utilized to make special notes. These Artwork Collections can also be shared providing artists a way to collaborate and compare study notes.

From paintings to photographs to sculptures and more, this site allows any artist the opportunity to study art more broadly than they may have the ability to do otherwise.

-Veronica Ibarra

http://www.googleartproject.com/

Keeping Up with the Jones.0

Of what use are museums when technology takes over completely? Will we bulldoze the art museums when the Internet age matures? Perhaps we will use the ghostly halls of washed-up museums to hold massive servers and supercomputers where digital memories of once-great pieces of art will be entombed forever.

Thankfully, we’re not there yet. But skeptics and hopefuls alike know the embittered war between the horny, slavering monster known as the Internet and those that prefer to stay in the “technological dark age” is already over. Yankees or Red Sox. East coast or west coast. Blondes or brunettes. We could have never imagined that the debate as to whether or not technology is good for us would join the list of great debates of modernity.

There is salvation at last though. The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum are spearheading a peace operation between the two. Attempting to reach some sort of harmony, both the Met and the Brooklyn Museum are looking for ways to implement technology into the museum experience to attract patrons otherwise uninterested.

According to an article on the New York Times website, the Met has already created its first app to accompany one if its exhibits, which itself is a reflection of the times—collection of cool guitars, no biggie, even the Director of the Met called it a “teenager’s wet dream.” Times sure are changing. The Met is also looking to hook the entire 21-building compound up to Wi-Fi, allowing patrons to enjoy customized tours on personal electronic devices, depending on “levels of sophistication.” Please don’t rate my sophistication, Met.

The Brooklyn Museum is experimenting with the way viewers make snap distinctions of paintings with their new exhibit titled, “Split Second: Indian Paintings.” The premise would make Bill Gates warm inside and no, I’m not referring to the microchips that power him. Participants who signed up viewed a collection of paintings for seconds at a time and were asked to make a judgment about the quality of the painting based on what they noticed in that short span of time. The result: a final ten pieces were chosen based on the people’s choice. Ah, there is room for Internet critics after all.

At least some out there are making the effort to meet the demands set forth by a rampant technological age but who really knows what the future holds. For now, you can still enjoy a trip to the museum the way we have for decades. Take your time with it; walk aimlessly, allow yourself to get lost and feel awed, even stupid in the presence of genius. You know, unplug from it all.

And if you have to, go ahead, use technology to supplement your journey. At least you’re not sitting at your desk, looking at paintings on Google.

-Alex Clark