The View from the Edge of the Universe

Doug Hall - July's Best Buy

Do you think Doug Hall has a big ol' Candida Hofer chip on his shoulder?  I do.  Nonetheless, Doug Hall is my best buy for July.  SF Camerawork is offering this chromogenic development print, 24 x 38", in an edition of 25 to its patron members as part of their $1,250 membership price.  Before you get all  huffy that this piece costs over my $1,000 limit, consider that by joining at the patron level, you are entitled to a $1,129 charitable contribution tax deduction, so the price of this piece on a tax adjusted basis is under a grand.

It is part of his acclaimed series of photographs of the opulent 18th and 19th century European opera houses. These concert halls were ornate aesthetic palaces in which social classes, newly arisen to wealth, could participate in the lavish cultural pageants that were previously available only to the aristocracy. Doug Hall’s large-format photography has been exhibited worldwide, including at the 2002 Bienal de São Paulo. He is represented in numerous public collections including: The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; SF MOMA; Centre George Pompidou, Paris; Kunsthaus, Zürich; The Berlinische Galerie, Berlin; and Museum für Moderne Kunst, Vienna. He is represented by Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco; Feigen Contemporary, New York; and Galerie Kapinos, Berlin, Germany.

What's in the Water in Vancouver?

Vancouver continues to crank out an amazing number of good artists given the population in the city.  Eric Deis is a new hotshot from Vancouver who has a cool interactive piece of web art here.  The rest of his stuff is pretty cool too. 

J. Ivcevich in Memphis

Recent Pollock Krasner Grant recipient, former Atlanta resident and soon-to-be East Villager, J. Ivcevich has a show up at David Lusk in Memphis.    So how did J. end up with a dealer in Memphis?  Well....J. and Adrian Turner went to Emory together and then Adrian moved to NYC and worked for Mitchell Innes and Nash and had J. showing at MI&N for a little while but then Adrian went to Matthew Marks and Emmie King (another MI&N'er) went to David Lusk and  there you have it!
J. will be returning to Atlanta for a show of new works at Barbara Archer in the fall.

Kojo Griffin's Bold Move

Kojo Griffin's next body of work will definitely prove that he's willing to take risks and explore new themes and styles.  Gone are the anthropomorphic characters.  Gone are the bold comic-influenced colors. Gone is the direct exploration of human emotions.  Has anything stayed?  Yes:  Kojo's interest in humanity's sociological and biological systems and how they interplay on a conscious and sub-conscious level.  Griffin continues to use visual metaphors to suggest these systems at play in his work.

What is new?  A switch to oil painting and imagery that is partially based on photographs and executed in a style that recalls late 19th early 20th century American painting.  Eakin's style comes to mind in comparison.  Griffin stated that he wanted to develop a visual language with "broader parameters" than were used in his previous work.  He's using photographs as source objects for the work because they gave rise to a much wider variety of possibilities than relying on one's imagination might.  Plus, the language would tend to be less personal which is a direction that this work is heading.  Kojo also stated that even though he still wanted human emotion to play a role in the work, it will be less central to the work.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of the new paintings.  It will make it easier to focus on the new direction instead of analyzing it in reference it to the earlier work, which really is not very helpful .

After spending a few hours with the painting and talking to Kojo during that time, I find the new direction to be very exciting and promising.  If the first peek was any indication, Griffin's risk-taking will certainly be worth it.

"Epilogue" Opens Friday at Jackson Fine Art

My sophomore curatorial effort, "Epilogue" opens Friday at Jackson Fine Art.  I hope y'all can make it to the opening reception which starts at 6pm.  Here's a special treat:  download a  Power Point Presentation of the show.  It should run on any computer.  To stop the show, hit escape. 

DOUBLE SUPER SECRET BONUS: Come to my curator talk at the gallery Saturday 7/16 at 10:30 for do-nuts.

Kojo Update

The Griffin drawing for sale at Christies sold for $1,560 -  right in the middle of its $1,200 to $1,800 estimate.  A strong, yet modest debut for a still-very-young (30ish) guy.

And soon:
My blog will be the first to present the latest work by Kojo who has completely moved in a new direction.  Say goodbye to the anthropomorphic characters and hello to realism that evokes Thomas Eakins with a decidedly contemporary twist.   If nothing else, the kid's got balls.  But you know what, he's got a lot more than that; just wait and see.

I Wonder...

I wonder how many photographs are taken every day?  My guess is 10 million.

Do you think that people get a little riled when I talk about art as investment because art is just about the last thing we hold sacred and looking at it as currency somehow diminishes it?

Do you realize that photography is the one form of art that is used overwhelmingly for non art purposes?

Do you think street photographers truly have a gifted eye or is it more of a volume thing?  I mean, if you take 10,000 photos a year, you're bound to come up with 50 good ones.

Why is it that when people see a painting or drawing (regardless of its quality or context) they generally consider it to be art, but when they see a photo they generally consider it not art?

Can I borrow $50?

Scott Ingram at Solomon Projects

Minimalism's southern savior Scott Ingram opened his new body of nail polish drips last night at Solomon Projects.  Gallery goers hob- nobbed shoulder to shoulder at the packed gallery and Scott seemed to be enjoying every minute.  Nancy Solomon looked radiant as she schmoozed potential collectors. 
Ingram's nail polish drips immediately evoke Morris Louis in their general look but the comparison stops there.  Ingram's pieces are candy colored stripes that are meditations on control (or lack of it) and how futile one's attempt to control becomes as the circle broadens. 
I'm going to return to the show when I can view it alone.  I think the minimal aspect of the works will resonate more powerfully in solitude.

Kojo at Christies

Atlanta's highest profile artist, Kojo Griffin makes his first appearance at a major public auction house when Christie's opens bidding for the piece at left on July 12.  The 13 x 14 inch drawing carries a presale estimate of $1,200 to $1,800.  This is  a fine example of a Griffin drawing and I for one am looking forward to seeing how the piece fares.

I Visited Another City's Art Museum & You Know What That Means.....

......it's High Museum bashin' time!

Yes folks, I trolleyed it up to City Park to visit the New Orleans Museum of Art and once again was reminded why the High Museum is so very irritating on so many levels. 
In the Museum's contemporary galleries, along side works by Chuck Close, Shirin Neshat and Jackson Pollack were a number of artworks, many of them recent acquisitions, by Louisiana artists.  The museum even has a special symbol noting them as such.  NOMA recognizes that it is a regional museum (as is the High) and (unlike the High) celebrates this fact.  The High instead rents artwork from the Louvre in a futile effort to present a world class collection which it will never have.  Further, NOMA presented a retrospective by living New Orleans artist John Scott.  Here is a museum that is completely committed to recognizing and celebrating artists of the region.

Also on view was a photography exhibit (in its entirety on-line) entitled "64 Degrees of Separation".  The exhibit, meant to be viewed sequentially, contained sixty-four photographs. Each photograph was tied thematically to the one next to it and snaked through three galleries so the viewer ended he began with the last photograph tied thematically to the first one as well.  This was not heady stuff, but it was a joy to walk through and discover connections between very different photographs and to see how the theme changed during the exhibition.  It was really a clever way to display many of the museums strongest photographic holdings in a way that was very accessible.  The exhibition took up about 1750 sq. ft. (I measured) of space which is  about 45% more than the High will be devoting to photography once the expansion opens.  NOMA had a number of other photographs on display as well including many by a New Orleans photographer whose name I forgot to note.

All in all, NOMA is a perfect fit for New Orleans: a special museum in a unique city that is not trying to be anything more than it is.  Oddly enough it has made me realize how well the High fits Atlanta: a city that is striving to be a major international city with a museum that is futilely striving for the same.