The View from the Edge of the Universe

Karimanifesto

I'm reading A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink (note to artists: you'll be in charge in the 21st century) and he mentions Karim Rashid's fifty-point manifesto, a guide to life and design.  Pink lists ten of the fifty points (reproduced below)...if anyone can find a link to all fifty, let me know.  I think these ten are damn good advice:
1. Don't specialize.
5. Before giving birth to anything physical, ask yourself if you have created an original idea, an original concept, if there is any real value in what you disseminate.
6. Know everything about the history of your profession and then forget it all when you design something new.
7. Never say "i could have done that" because you didn't.
24. Consume experiences, not things.
33. Normal is NOT good.  [YES!]
38. There are three types of beings - those who create culture, those who buy culture and those who don't give a shit about culture.  Move between the first two.
40. Think extensively, not intensively.
43. Experience is the most important part of living, and the exchange of ideas and human contact is all life really is.  Space and objects can encourage increased experiences or distract from our experiences.
50.  Here and now is all we got.

Who are the Art Market's Best Performers?

Not an artist, nor a gallery, but the websites Artprice and Artnet.

Artprice's & Artnet's  12 mo. stock price history: 
   

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This confirms what I've been saying all along:  there is no bubble waiting to burst; instead, the market is hot (okay maybe a bit too hot, but not bubbling hot) because of the thousands of new collectors entering the art buying arena.  Why?  More transparency, made possible by the excellent market data made available to any Tom, Dick or Erik out there.  These sites are both known for their vast and excellent martket data research tools and collectors are subscribing in droves, making both companies suddenly quite profitable.
Of course, the introduction of on-line brokerages certainly fed the stock market craze of the late 90's as well and we all know how that turned out, but the art market is a little different and the contraction, if it ever comes will be much less pronounced.  Why?  Art is still a long term hold and its not the easiest thing to sell; so the market is enjoying a massive expansion of buyers but not (at least not yet) sellers. 
My prediction then, is the emergence of many more secondary market sales outlets in the near future and that is when the market is going to soften up.  This may take years though.  With all this buying going on, selling will be inevitable and there is a market niche to be filled there. 
So how to sum this all up?  I don't know and its time for bed.

In Defense of William Cordova

I really like William Cordova's work and my recent smart-alecky post is getting picked up by bloggers right and left, so I better set things straight:
Despite the fact that the drawings are similar, the pieces that William donated to each of these auctions were indeed different and the one donated to the Art Papers auction fetched a pretty decent sum.
the funny thing is, I own yet a 4th version of the drawing, shown here:

Zoe Strauss - February's Best Buy

Zoe Strauss has hit the big time.  Although you may never heard of her, this Philly-based photographer is one of the 101 artists selected for the 2006 Whitney Biennial.  Self educated, she started taking pictures at age 30 and now finds herself in the most prestigious biennial exhibition in America. 
The Philadelphia Inquirer ran this story on her and reported that her photographs are available directly from the artist for $300 a pop.  Dozens of images are available for viewing on her website.  If $300 is too much, she'll make you a 5 x 7 color photocopy for five bucks.  Zoe talks at length about her upcoming Whitney experience on her blog.  Shock and awe may be the best way to describe her reaction to the inclusion of her works in the Biennial.

Go Zoe go!

Steichen sells for $2.9 million

A rare print taken by US photography pioneer Edward Steichen has set a world record for the highest price paid for a photograph at auction. $2.9 million is well over double the previous record set by Richard Prince.

More here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4715106.stm

You gotta love MAO

I love it when bloggers get really really pissed off.

iona! Stella! Brian! Delerium!

Brian Holcombe and his Saltworks Gallery have knocked it out of the park again with the sensational two-diva exhibition by iona rozeal brown and Stella Vai.  Both artists have very strong things to say about very different topics in very different voices, but yet managed to put together an exhibit where both are heard clearly without harshing the other's vibe...not an easy trick.  To top it off, brown and Vai collaborated on a massive mural painted directly on the gallery's east wall mixing the traditions of the east with the grit of the street that, in part, recounted the history of hip hop combined with a cautionary tale of the trappings of bling-love.
The opening was packed and people kept coming in waves to see what these rising stars had put together.  brown is clearly the draw in Atlanta after her stunning show at Spellman a few years ago and you gotta give her props for so graciously sharing the spotlight with Vai.
This is one of Saltworks finest moments (and there have been many); I have to admit that Brian Holcombe along with the now-exiled Carolan Schwartz have largely been responsible for developing my eye.  I'll give credit where credit is due.  I might still be buying from _ _ _ _ Gallery if it weren't for them!
There are a lot of hot shows up in Atlanta now that I hopefully will get blogged soon: David Humphrey at Solomon, Bryce Hammond at Trinity, Ryan Burkhart at Ty Stokes and Robert Sagerman at Marcia Wood. 
Go see them all, but if you only see one, its iona and Stella that's not to be missed.

Peters Street Raises the Bar in Castleberry

Three exhibits on Peters Street marked the high point of Atlanta's citywide gallery openings on Feb 3.  Each exhibit was tough, complex, visually demanding and in truth, surprising to been seen so close to one another in a city like Atlanta.

First, at Romo Gallery, Juan Miguel Ramos exhibited a video and several digital prints that were based on "loteria" cards, a popular Mexican board game. Ramos replaced the game images with comic-book-like portraits of his friends set in San Antonio neighborhoods.  The work "documents the layered complexity of the Latino identity in an American city."  The idea of cards in  deck is crucial to the work and the portraits function best in a group.

Garage Projects presented "Participant: Speed Culture" a live performance directed by Michael Gibson with invited New York sound artist, Ian Epps.
The performance piece featured a live speed chess game within a specific sound environment. In this directed performance Gibson investigates how the mind recalls memory by means of pattern recognition- a concept he has explored in his painting since 2002.

Finally, Wertz Contemporary put together a group show that addressed issues of Black and Latino culture that was impressive for the scope of the work presented.  This is not easy stuff and one has to give the gallery credit for mounting a completely un-sellable museum caliber show.  Heck, if the museums here won't do it, I guess the galleries ought to.  At left are works by William Cordova (foreground) and Carl Pope.

Do yourself a favor and broaden your horizons by checking out these shows.

ATL[art] 06 Citywide Gallery Opening Recap

What a night!  Here's a recap of what Atlanta's top galleries had going on for ATL[art] '06's BIG citywide gallery opening night on Feb 3:

Fay Gold Gallery:  CLOSED
Saltworks: CLOSED
Solomon Projects: CLOSED
Jackson Fine Art: CLOSED
Mason Muerer: CLOSED
Timothy Tew: CLOSED
Kiang: CLOSED

ATL[art] sucks. period. These galleries aren't to blame.  I wouldn't stay open either.

There were some great openings (mostly in Castleberry) with great art and I'll post an entry about those later, but by and large ATL[art] is nothing more than a brochure disguising as a month long series of events.

Anne Wilkes Tucker Comments on Photography

Anne Wilkes Tucker, curator of photography at the Houston MFA, spoke in Atlanta last week and had some interesting comments about photography and collecting:

On collecting:
"Buy for the front of the picture, not the back." (in quoting John Szarkowski)
"You have to know what to expect from an artist; the standards are not universal."

On the wide spread use of digital processes:
"For some people, it is too big of a candy store."
"The [direct] line between the  'snap' and the print is evaporating."

On photographic truth:
"Photographic truth is something that isn't even talked about anymore."
"There is an acknowledgment that the world of imagination is as worthy of serious attention as is anything else out there." (paraphrased)

On a portraitist's role:
"To find the psychological moment where something is revealed that appeals to the viewer."

The one question she would like museum goers to ask themselves:
"Why are these two pieces of art hanging next to each other?" (spoken like a true curator!)