Not technically local, but the internet makes the term "local" relative

I haven't been posting because the wedding/reception planning, chores, errands, and my paper take up most of my time these days, but I wanted to share a link to what appears to be a rather interesting online gallery called Vellum. It appears very geared toward youth, "emerging" artists, and all the trends those two characteristics bring to mind. Whether or not it is substancial remains to be seen, but I like the "Dear Diary" exhibition that is up currently. I have a penchant for sketchbooks and journals, though, so it may not be your cup of tea if you differ in that regard. Still, take a peek and see what people are up to in the cyber world.

.

Sculpture Conference at ETSU (exact title unknown), Fall 2008

Sadly, I don't remember the names of the artists and the digital records I have with their proper information have been lost. (Fiance is still working on the computer.) If you happen to have any information about the conference or the artists who participated, please share it with me.

The work below was done by one visiting artist, sort of the star of the conference:



The following work was made by various different artists from all over the U.S., part of a juried exhibition put together by Slocumb Galleries.






Amanda Richardson



On our way to Tipton Gallery, we spotted Ty LaRue's site-specific sculpture. Not like it was hard. We decided to have some photographic fun.





Then, in Tipton.


Ty LaRue


Reese Chamness


Travis Graves


Brandon Pruitt

It was a pleasant evening.



.

Gender Bias in PopMatters

I came across an article about Polly Scattergood, and although I'm not familiar enough with her music to actually care, I read the first two paragraphs because I've taken a liking to mentally reviewing reviewers. There's an art to writing reviews, after all, and I really appreciate a well-written one. I can learn things from them, and not just about the subject at hand.

Anyway, within the first two paragraphs and a little bit throughout the rest of the article, Alex Ramon, the writer, places careful consideration on gender bias and how female musicians are being handled by popular media, which I think is refreshing and an overdue accusation. I've copy and pasted the beginning, the rest of the original article can be found here.

***

For reviewers writing about the work of new female musicians, the Kate Bush comparison remains the laziest critical shorthand that there is, and one that’s still far too frequently wheeled out as a substitute for proper engagement with the work of a new artist. Without wishing in any way to undervalue Bush’s impact on both male and female performers, it seems that her influence may now be being overstated; this is, after all, an artist who has offered us a mere eight albums and just one tour in 30 years. The greatest sufferer from the Bush Comparison has always been Tori Amos, who, 10 albums and 1000 live shows on, still finds reviewers myopically concentrating on the superficial similarities that link her work to Bush’s rather than the massive disparities in performance style, vocal approach, lyric content, and career philosophy that differentiate them.

What’s worrying is the accusatory and diminishing tone in which these comparison criticisms are often phrased. While it’s apparently perfectly valid for male artists to derive “inspiration” from one another, comparable relationships between female musicians are usually described as simple parasitism, as copying or stealing. Overall, such comments suggest that the majority of music reviewers are still reluctant to properly attend to or appreciate the differences in work by women composers, preferring, instead, to view them as an entirely homogenous group who get by by blatantly ripping each other (or, rather, Bush) off. And while it seems that there can never be enough male guitar bands (no matter how samey), just a few high-profile women with pianos is quickly deemed more than enough.

***

Refreshing, no?

.

Visiting Artist, Fall 2008: Alyssa Monks

I have written an article about this event, or rather what was most interesting to me about it, for Vision already, so I won't get into too extensively.

Basically, an artist that I wasn't really excited about came to ETSU, as chosen by the Student Painting and Drawing Association. When I saw pictures of her work on the wonderfully designed posters by a friend of mine and fellow student, I thought, "Obsessively realistic soft core arty porn. Fabulous."

Then I looked at more of Monks' work and decided that she has more to her than that - her paintings probably sell like hot cakes and she's probably regularly involved in shows, but that's not the only reason she makes the work that she does. And she may not be some little twit trapped in the modern splooge of ugly sex.

I decided to try being positive and derive from the experience whatever possible. The artist lives and works in New York City, so if nothing else she can speak on what it's like to be showing in galleries, selling work, and selling self.

As it turns out, Monks was a really enjoyable visiting artist and we completely got our money's worth. Although I still think some of her compositions/scenes of women are rather superficial or conceptually weak, I also think she's incredibly talented and comitted to making good paintings. The woman just loves paint. And challenges. It's obvious by the decisions she makes in terms of her subject and how they're handled. I can appreciate that in an artist.

Monks talking about Noise, which I'm sure was a bitch to paint. All that glistening water...

There's a subtlety to her work that has grown on me. Mostly she speaks through the paint itself, in the pigment and viscosity of paint, but there are other things at play here as well. I'm not sure how much I'm willing to read into them because I'm not entirely convinced of their meaning or narrative, most especially in the shower paintings, but I don't require a meaning nor do I believe in the usefulness of shutting onself off to an encounter or future encounters.

Monks talking about Baptism, one of her newest paintings at the time of the lecture.

I've also read in other articles written by professionals that her work is 800 times better in person. It's believeable. For some artists, photographs simply cannot do them justice. Someday I hope to see her paintings in person, until then the internet and magazines will have to suffice.

Monks went through her college career with us, or at least some of the points of note, which I found to be really refreshing. It's nice to hear some of the struggles and personal evolutions other older, more experienced artists have gone through. She's also got a good sense of humor. It made her stories all the more enjoyable. Since she doesn't have this painting on her website, I can't give you the title. The name escapes me.

After her lecture, we ate at Stir-Fry and took up a lot of space.

.

Taken of the Land

Shortly after lamenting on not having any record of the events I attended, I discovered old uploaded photos to my Picasa account, so it appears that I have some material after all! 

I suppose I should backtrack completely, and in order, but I don't really feel like it. 

So I'll start with Charlesey Charlton's MFA show, Taken of the Land, which occured in May of this year. I don't know Charlton, really, beyond what I experienced of her in our Book Arts class together. It wasn't much. She's kind of fiesty. Kind of a good-ol'-southern-gal. I had heard that she was a printmaker.

Showing up to her exhibition's reception was mostly I've got time and why not? - I'm glad that I did. In additition to the artwork, there were, of course, tables of food, but also a talented musician. A few of my friends, the few that usually make time to go to exhibition receptions, were there already there.

Kyle almost immedtiately sought me out and started talking about the prints.

"They work better as a whole, together, from farther away. When you get up close to them, they become weaker." Then he looked at the three prints on the wall across from us, about 10 feet away from us. I took a general survey of the room, then walked over to the prints he was looking at, and agreed. They hold together very well from farther away, but up close up most of them loose their structure and any semblance of direction.

Although, to be fair to Ms. Charlton, I don't really know how to receive abstract work. It's still very raw and unsophisticated. I like it or I don't, and I have a hard time explaining why, if I can. 

I didn't dislike Charlton's prints. Quite a few of them had a tone about them that reminded me of standing in fields late in the evening with mountains framing the landscape. Or walking in the morning at my grandmother's old house, feeling the dew on my feet and listening to the cows across the street behind a rough, wooden fence. Perhaps stereotypical experience in southern Appalachia. 

View From My Trailer

Monotype, 2007

Landscape/Quacker Knobs

Monotype, 2008

Nonetheless, these experiences are as poetic as they sound, often with a gritty reality present that does not dissuade the charm. It merely enhances it. 

Landscape/Greene County

Monotype, 2008

When I was wandering through the gallery looking at each print, I had the distinct impression that I was enjoying the song without knowing the lyrics. It happens that way sometimes, and that's okay. 

Native Grass II - Contradiction of Space

Monotype, 2007

It's not surprising that in Charlton's artist statement, which I looked at last as I usually do, the first sentence is: "I have a profound passion and love for nature and the region in which I was born and raised." 

Some artists here are very interested in their region, it's obvious in their work, while others are more indifferent. I've noticed that people who feel close to nature are often the artists who emphasize the landscape and culture of this region in their work the most. As an outsider, as a person who doesn't really think of anywhere as home, this is deeply fascinating to me. I am interested in Southern Appalachia, it comes into my own work; however, I am still the outside observer.

Given this region's historical connection to the land, the contemporary connections and connotations are really not shocking. I don't feel the need to even spell them out. It's there and we can each do with it what we like. 

As it often happens at receptions, we turn our attention to socializing and stuffing our faces.

Taken of the Land/Personal History III

Monotype, 2008

damn, damn, damn

I was waiting for the semester to be over before beginning to write here again, and then right before finals week our computer stopped working properly and we may end up losing our files. I don't know yet. 

So I may not have any photos to post and there won't really be any exhibitions for me to attend around here until August. There are exhibitions and such that occur about 30-40 minute drives away, but I don't drive and asking my fiance, who drives a lot for work, to take me seems kind of insensitive. We'll see.

It may end up that I simply don't post very often, or instead respond to things coming to me from art magazines and the internet. It's not really what I originally intended the purpose of the blog to be; however, I forgot about the summer months when there wouldn't be as much going on locally. 

There were some really great shows this year and I'm proud of my friends who made such beautiful, startling, funny, thought-provoking, passionate work. It definitely reminded me, each time, that this is right where I need and want to be.

Feeling good. 

.

Visiting Artist, Fall 2008: Derek Buckner

Thanks to the Slocumb Galleries, art enthusiasts were able to see an exhibition of Derek Buckner’s work, titled Paredolia, as well as hear the artist give a lecture. The Artist’s Statement, simply though tastefully presented below the show’s title and the artist’s name, takes on a more serious tone than the artist portrayed during the lecture, which was ended on the note of laughter as Buckner showed recent paintings of huge, landscape-like piles of marshmallows. I’m not sure if the audience was being polite or genuinely found the marshmallows laugh-out-loud-able, though I think it was perhaps a combination of both. Reese Chamness, a BFA sculpture student, said he found the marshmallow paintings to be “masturbatory” and “didn’t find them funny at all”. My stance is one of amusement and admiration – painting hundreds of marshmallows is mind-numbingly meticulous – yet at the same time I can sympathize with the point of view that a few students held regarding the paintings.

The paintings in the exhibit itself were from airplanes and UFO’s series, which expressed a sense of the “modern anxiety” and an exploration into “the ideas of safety/danger, fantasy/reality” that Buckner spoke of in his artist statement and during his lecture. The pastel, dreamlike chalkiness to his color palette emphasized the fantasy and strangeness of the scenes, despite their existence within a modern, almost adult-like objective context. This may result from the obvious focus Buckner directs towards his materials for making the paintings, his subject sources, and the process of painting itself. In the lecture, Buckner mentioned on multiple occasions that he uses almost exclusively gouache and oil paints; edits his own photos on the computer to meet his aesthetic needs; and constructs models of his paintings, if necessary. Rooted in human fears, paranoia, and sense of emptiness, the rawness of these concerns is choreographed into technical refinement during the process of exploration, giving a body of his work the feel of being held at a distance to observe.

This is not necessarily a complaint, only something of note when examining each painting and hearing the artist talk about his work. I am far from being the one to say that there are only a few ways to go about making or understanding art. The execution of the paintings and the ideas explored within them were well worth considering and Buckner was an enjoyable, pleasant visitor. Wyatt Moody, a drawing BFA student, expressed excitement following his critique with Buckner. Other students, when asked about the exhibition, simply shrugged in response with the follow-up of “it’s okay” or “it’s cool”. To be fair to Buckner, these tended to be younger students who show signs of apathy virtually every moment they breathe. And to be fair to the students, some people are not as inclined to articulate their thoughts as I am. Despite the mixed responses of students, professors, and other members of the community, it’s always thrilling and professionally useful to have an outsider come in and show us a bit of ourselves as they attempt to share themselves with us.

http://derekbuckner.com/Home.html