Jeff Koons

… an article on Shine, an exhibition of his sculptures and paintings… i look at the work thinking i won’t like it, and interestingly, i do… though it seems thoroughly capitalist to me…

Jeff Koons ShineBalloon Dog (Red), 1994-2000. Private collection. © Jeff Koons, Photo: Mike Bruce, Gate Studios, London

… objects of popular culture, rendered in plastic, metal, polished… he likes the metaphysics of the mirror… everywo/man reflected in artifacts of their popular culture…

… Koons talks about wanting the work to be objective, not subjective, not a rendering of his psyche… i am not sure how any art work made by an individual can free itself from being a rendering of that individual… but the reflective nature of his work perhaps accomplishes that… you see, it’s you too, not just me… you see yourself in this world that is the world of Koons but it’s the world of you too!…

… i read what Koons has to say about mirrors and it makes no sense to me…

Patti Smith & Jefferson Hack

Michelangelo’s David, Florence, Photography by Patti Smith

… characters of the late fifties, sixties and seventies cropping up with regularity… i suppose Modern Nature, by Derek Jarman is part of the reason… DJ mentioned Robert Mapplethorpe in my readings of a few days ago… Patti Smith on another magazine ties into that thread, Mapplethorpe and Smith were good buds back in the day… i look the article over because it contains Smith’s photography… i have a book of her photographs… my general reaction is that they are good photographs, but they don’t take my breath away… this article opens with Never Still, a poem being published for the first time by Smith…

… it seems appropriate to the milieu in which my readings and discoveries are unfolding… Derek Jarman would have connected to the physique of David i suspect… who doesn’t, but most of us don’t in a queer way, he would have… perhaps stating the obvious here, but i am thinking about the statue and it’s frank sexuality… do i recall that Michelangelo is thought (known?) to have been gay?… i do an internet search and the answer seems to be maybe… would it be possible to make such a sculpture without being in love with the subject?… it reminds me of MK, designer, artist, mentor… when he died it was discovered that he had a bunch of crocheted penises hidden away in his apartment…

Helen Frankenthaler

© 2021 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc. / ARS, NY and DACS , London / Crown Point Press, Oakland, CA

Frankenthaler’s woodcutting is the subject of a new exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery… The show, titled Radical Beauty, comes ten years after the artist’s death, and is her first major print retrospective to be shown in the UK.¹

… hmmm… beautiful… they seem safe… not provocative, not “radical”… easy to hang in the living rooms of the one percent… we live in radical times, so i have this feeling that art should be provocative, even if i am unlikely to be provocative with my own photographic work… maybe that is a self challenge…

_Helen Frankenthaler: Radical Beauty runs at London’s Dulwich Picture Gallery from 15 September 2021 – 18 April 2022.

Stacy Arezou Mehrfar: The Moon Belongs to Everyone

… as i look through the review, not really sure i can call it that as the reviewer doesn’t take a position on the book that I can see, if don’t find an image that is compelling in and of itself… i get many of the images, but don’t love any of the images, and have a sense that the photographs are gathered to become something more than they are individually… this image is an example:

… an image that most any photographer with a bit of a poetic spirit might make…

The Moon Belongs to Everyone by Stacy Mehrfar, is a response to the contemporary experience of migration – of shifting continents and mindsets. A multi-layered visual narrative set in a non-locatable landscape, the book reflects upon the loss of roots, and search for belonging in the wake of immigration.¹

… it might sound like i am panning the book, i am not… i don’t have it in my possession, so can’t take it in entirely… i have only the images shared in this review and the artists statement about the work to go by… i am attracted by the idea of it and its alignment with a spirit within photography which doesn’t view each individual image as precious, but rather places the emphasis on the story they collectively tell…

Photographer: Kate Sweeny

Kate Sweeny

… nice photographs of young women, clothed and unclothed… an example of nude photography with women behind and in front of the camera… the artist tells us that the photographs are not about the objectification of women, but rather, about the celebration of women’s bodies as an art form in and of themselves and as natural presences in the world… which i believe… the photographs are, however, easy to view in a sexualized and objectified way, especially when they deploy tropes like wet fabric on the body as in the above image… i think we suffer from a lot of confusion about sex and sexuality, particularly in American Society, because there is a strong tendency to repress sexuality, and because the Patriarchy is so alive and well, it makes any young woman an object of sexual desire and any photograph of said young woman sexualized, when patriarchal eyes that are looking… i don’t see this as a reason not to make and display them… i do see a need to be honest about the variety of ways in which content can be perceived…

Photographer: Grade Solomon, BOOOOOOOM Mag

Grade Solomon

… the above photograph blew me away with it subtlety and clarity… it’s also a photo i could easily have taken…

… exceptionally well made photographs and an artist statement that is to the point and accurately reflects what i encounter in the work… no small feat…

Tschabalala Self

Tschabalala Self, “Love to Saarjtie” (2015)

… yesterday i posted about Vanessa Beecroft and two local-to-me artists, Debbie Masters and Judy Sigunick…

… today, Tschabalala Self comes to my attention as painting in a related primitive vein, with the subject matter being woman… i find [the sexual frankness of some of this work](https://hyperallergic.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Tschabalala-Self_Rainbow-Bronze-1_2021_70x48x22in.jpg “Tschabalala Self, “Rainbow Bronze I” (2021)") interesting in that women are addressing their genitals openly and frankly which is new to me… a new trend or have i not looked at enough contemporary art beyond photography?…¹

… i am also finding it interesting that i am frequently seeing work by woman rendered in a Venus-Earth-Mother-Goddess way… is this a sign that the matriarchal spirit is trying to reclaim it’s place…

… these are just reactions… much more study needed to accurately identify a trend and the meaning of it as well as discuss the ins and outs of the representation of women in art…

Vanessa Beecroft, Artist

Vanessa Beecroft, Untitled, 2018, Photography by Joshua White

… despite this article opening with a rather sexually explicit painting (alright, because of it, sex sells god damn it!) i am compelled to have a look at the work and what i see i like a lot… i am reminded of Matisse and a couple of local artists i know, Debbie Masters and Judy Sigunick…

Ghosts 2, Debbie Masters

Noble Elephant, Judy Sigunick

… worth having a look…

** Jörg Colberg, On Art and Neo Liberal Society**

From The Merge by Sara Brincher Galbiati, Peter Helles Eriksen, and Tobias Selnaes Markussen

… watch this video demonstrating the current capabilities of robots created by Boston Dynamics…

https://youtu.be/fn3KWM1kuAw

… then read this…

… and if you need more encouragement, this…

_ But when the sum of it all — the (art) community — largely fails to respond to all the various challenges to our societies, democracies, and well being, then I’m left to wonder where it all went wrong._

Maybe it’s simply the fact that the world of art has become too enmeshed with the very people who are responsible for the challenges I just mentioned. Why or how? Simply follow the money.¹

… the article is significant to me less for the book it reviews, which it pans, than for the conversation it starts, which to me is, wtf are we doing?…

The Sketchbook Project

… talk about starting something interesting… 50K sketchbooks and counting! More about it and their current challenges here.

Get your own sketchbook, fill it up, return it!

From my titled post on my video stills…

Until recently, I have not known what to do with these video stills as an art product. Beyond my mixed feelings about the “art industry,” I truly had no idea how I might sell such a thing to a collector if I wanted to. I placed one of them in a group show once and agonized over how to present it in a way that was salable.

I have, for some time now, been experimenting with, what I call, video stills. These are short (less than twenty seconds) videos that capture a not quite still moment. Here is an example.

I think of them as video zen moments, or, if you will, video stop and smell the roses moments.

One idea haiku poetry has keyed me into is that the simplest of scenes are both exactly what they are in the moment, and pregnant with the possibility of insight. A famous Issa Haiku illustrates this point:

The world of dew

Is the world of dew,

and yet, and yet.¹

Until recently, I have not known what to do with these video stills as an art product. Beyond my mixed feelings about the “art industry,” I truly had no idea how I might sell such a thing to a collector if I wanted to. I placed one of them in a group show once and agonized over how to present it in a way that was salable. How do you supply a digital copy that can’t be replicated? I tried a digital frame which would be solely dedicated to the video, but none of the commercial ones were suitable to how I wanted to present the work. How do you supply a digital copy that can’t be replicated?

Enter Non-Fungible Token (NFT) Art. I am still not entirely clear about the specifics of how it works (I’ve just begun my research), but it seems promising.

HEN, Non Fungible Art Tokens

… ok, another rabbit hole to go down… Non Fungible Token art… turns out, this may be a way to sell photography and then receive royalties on future sales… anyone out there dabbling in this?…

… HEN is an open source iteration of blockchain art sales…

The present decentralized application allows its users to manage decentralized digital assets, serving as a public smart contract infrastructure on Tezos Blockchain.¹

… a series on how it might apply to selling photographic artwork…

Judy Chicago

… feminist artist trail blazer…

… a really interesting artist and article about her written by Miss Rosen, another of my favorite reviewers of photographic art and art in general…

I never thought I would live this long,” says Chicago, who is now 82. “Understanding mortality at such an early age gave me an impetus to work. One of the reasons I produced so much work is that I never knew how much time I would have. The other reason is that every time I lost everything – like when The Dinner Party became the piece that nobody wanted to show, or when Congress debated it, or when I had to start all over again – I didn’t know what to do so I went back to my studio and made making art my reward.”¹

… this quote inspires me… make the work, something will come of it… it’s the making of the work that is the important act… making it for its own sake, wherever the creative imperative leads you… i suppose this is what i want to do… make the work i am compelled to make, and let the rest take care of itself or not… this blog is part of that… my daily photo walks is part of that… this act of living and recording it is part of that…

… I will keep forging ahead…

** Maria Popova on Willa Cather**

… as an artist, i found this Brain Pickings post on Willa Cather particularly welcome this morning… i think it gets at one of the reasons i like living in communities with a lively mixture of working and middle class people who go about their lives largely without the pretensions that wealth can bring, or so it seems to me… from another post on Cather by Maria Popova…

The creative spirit creates with whatever materials are present. With food, with children, with building blocks, with speech, with thoughts, with pigment, with an umbrella, or a wineglass, or a torch. We are not craftsmen only during studio hours. Any more than a man is wise only in his library. Or devout only in church. The material is not the sign of the creative feeling for life: of the warmth and sympathy and reverence which foster being; techniques are not the sign; “art” is not the sign. The sign is the light that dwells within the act, whatever its nature or its medium.¹

05 Art Installation by Sarah Sze:

Image of Fallen Sky installation by Nick Knight

… this article in Colossal catches my attention because Storm King, the installation site, is 15 minutes from where i live… we are fortunate to live near two major art installation sites, Storm King and Dia Beacon…

04 Jennifer Latour:

From Bound Species, by Jennifer Latour…

… i really like this work, looking so much like botanical drawings of yester-yore, but with the contemporary twist of creating franken-flowers, sublime and amusing idea and outstanding execution… and, she has a great instagram feed…

03 My Photography:

Flattened Cans…

I have been collecting images of flattened cans for a number of years. They represent uniqueness out of homogeneity to me. They start as cohorts (particular brand, particular size) of perfectly shaped and, for all intents and purposes, identical industrial objects. When tossed into the environment (sadly, there is no end of subject material) they continue the entropic process of becoming unique and beautiful objects.

05 My Photographs:

… sometimes color is an important reason the photograph is made…

… sometimes color is the whole reason the photograph is made…

… homage to Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty…

📷

04 John Coltrane on being the breakthrough creative:

From a post by Maria Popova on Brain Pickings…

Truth is indestructible… History shows (and it’s the same way today) that the innovator is more often than not met with some degree of condemnation; usually according to the degree of his departure from the prevailing modes of expression or what have you. Change is always so hard to accept.¹

… may we all find truths to tell and the courage to tell them regardless of whether those around us are ready to accept them…

02 Buson

… i keep searching for a name for this daily 02 slot post, which i like to be based on readings that are inspirational or in some way dealing with bigger questions… i intend the readings to be a moment of centering and contemplation, a meditation perhaps…

… this morning i continue with the haiku of Buson as translated by Robert Haas…

… as i open my book, i turn to a reproduction of a painting by Buson… Two Crows in Winter (the left panel)…

… i am reminded of Masahisa Fukase’s photo book, Ravens… an acknowledged masterpiece… i have a copy and look forward to looking at it when i get home…

… a poem about a quilt, stained with urine, drying on a line in Suma Village… Buson has no qualms about mentioning urine or shit, in his poems… we shit, we pee, and not always with decorum… an example of the down to earth nature of his poems…

04 Basho to Buson

… i have finished reading the poetry and prose of Basho in the present volume… it concluded with The Saga Diary… an account of his time at the home of a friend… in it, i think i perceive that Basho might have been gay… this reminds me of my own mentor, M, who died long ago during the AIDS epidemic…

… yesterday, i thought of the work i did with him… M was a true master… he thought highly of me… i have not lived up to the expectations i have of myself because of this… still, i keep trying…

… i read the introduction to Buson, who seems to have been a more down-to-earth artist… he enjoyed earthly things, drinking with friends, Geisha girls…

… he loved the poetry of Basho…

… in this introduction to Buson, i learn that the struggles i have about whether to feed the art market (make some money from my work) or not are not new (did i really think they were?)… it seems that as long as there has been art and a market for it, this has been the struggle… i am fortunate to not require an income from the art i make… though the occasional sale is welcome…

… the sun is well up… the birds continue to twitter outside… the dogs sleep in the living room… a cool breeze brushes over my back… in the distance the waves break on the shore… i feel good in this moment…

03 My Photography:

Flattened Cans…

I have been collecting images of flattened cans for a number of years. They represent uniqueness out of homogeneity to me. They start as cohorts (particular brand, particular size) of perfectly shaped and, for all intents and purposes, identical industrial objects. When tossed into the environment (sadly, there is no end of subject material) they continue the entropic process of becoming unique and beautiful objects.

Every country’s past is contested to some extent. But there might be no country as extreme as Germany. To begin with, there is history that is largely uncontestable: World War 2 and especially the Holocaust. I added “largely” in that sentence because the contesting does happen, albeit at a different level (for example, members of the neo-fascist AfD party have been talking it down, claiming it doesn’t matter as much in the context of German history as a whole). But the basic facts stand, and denial of the Holocaust is a criminal offense.¹

… as i read this, it is not possible to avoid thoughts of all the denial of January 06, 2021 that is going on by right wingers… the idea of such denial being illegal is appealing… perhaps there ought to be laws that make lying to further fraudulent or destructive aims in public forums of any kind illegal… i don’t think speech should be free if it’s demonstrably false and destructive…

… JC is reviewing Ruckshaufehler by Eiko Grimberg… the book is dedicated to the symbology of the German State… it sounds like an effective critique of where things stand… nationalist/fascist sentiments are on the rise… attempts are being made to minimize the Holocaust… if it weren’t illegal to do so, there would of course be denial that it happened…

… human beings are an ugly species… the so-called rational mind has given us the capacity for duplicity and, i might argue, little more…

… JC gives the book a highly recommended thumb up…

… I look for a place to possibly purchase, i find this article by Brad Feuerhelm, who gives it his highest recommendation…

As American As Apple Pie – Amy Sherald © Amy Sherald, Hauser & Wirth Photo: Joseph Hyde

… an article on Amy Sherald, Michelle Obama portrait artist, painting the American lives of black people…

Each person’s identity is revealed only through visual cues and objects familiar to contemporary American life, for instance, the Barbie logo, denim, surfboards, a picket fence, and – in one case – a convertible. It’s all to “reinforce their inseparable connection to the nation’s historical and cultural fabric, and to reconstruct conceived notions and reinforce the multiplicities of Black American life”.¹

… the tension of growing up Black and Brown American, having dreams of an American life that any of the rest of us have, but knowing that for a large section of white America, you are not entitled to the realization of those dreams…