vintage color photography

A crossroads store, bar, "juke joint," and gas station in the cotton plantation area. Melrose, Louisiana, June 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Marion Post Wolcott. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

I love these images from the Denver Post's Photo blog (plog?). The images are much more powerful in color. It makes them seem much more contemporary than the more common black and white vintage photography. I also like all of the visual clutter and patterns in the photos.

Barker at the grounds at the state fair. Rutland, Vermont, September 1941. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Progress...

I headed down to Taylor, MS for the Saturday Farmer's market. It was very cool (hot and humid outside) but much more relaxed that the one in town. I would check it out again. I got peaches, figs, and some lemon jelly.

any ideas for a title?

I have been painting away in the studio. I am really trying to finish this painting. I have one more week. I think I can make it!

 As someone who moves art around quite often... I found this really interesting. Moving Serra is the cross country trip of a giant Richard Serra piece (from greg.org)

Mitchell Wright and UM Museum

I headed over to the University Museum today to check out the Mitchell Wright show in the Fortune Gallery. Mitchell is an artist who grew up in South Mississippi and now lives in Brooklyn. Most of the work was about burning and deconstruction. The paintings are very tight and meticulious. I love the tape/exacto knife painting method. The painting method really contradicts the subject matter. It is a cool way of depicting a rash and violent scene. Just with Christenberry, I find it interesting making "southern" art in NYC. I sure it seems so much more exotic up there.

While you are there, make sure to see the Marie Hull and Andrew Bucci show. Marie was born in 1890 and didn't start making abstract work until 1940. I love late bloomers! It is amazing how ahead of their time these paintings seem (Guston, Joan Mitchell, Rothko).

su su studio

The top picture is Peach P-I-E (the first word I learned to spell). I have to make this every summer. Below is a detail shot from my current painting. I haven't decided what to call it. The glitter has been fun to paint. I have 2 more weeks before I head back to New York. It would be awesome if I could finish it by the end of the month. We will see...

Studio update

I have been working away in my studio. I am doing a giant fabric piece for the show at the Powerhouse in September. I cut out 240 12" blocks. I have sewn them into 9' x 3' strips. Kevin and I took them out to the backyard to arrange them. I don't have anyplace in my house that I can layout a piece this big. I think the overall dimensions will be 9' x 24'.

Here is my new painting. It is 4' x 4' and features glittered artificial flowers. Yeah!  This is first painting to have prominent text.

I am listening the Steig Larson books while I paint and sew- they are so good! I have just started the second one.

I better get back to the sewing machine. Stay cool!

A little less conversation

I think it is done!

This painting is 6' x 4' and is a "satire or parody" of a famous place.

The title is "Jungle Gem". Can you guess where it is?

Checkin' Chelsea

After the High Line, I checked out Chelsea. Here are some of the things I liked or thought were interesting.

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Leslie Wayne at Jack Shaiman. These paintings were tiny. I love the luscious, sculptural quality.

 Rodney Graham- We saw his show at the contemporary art museum in Barcelona. I love the high resolution and the lightboxes are interesting. 

 

Tanja Hollander- This work reminded me of Brooke White's work AND the location is Maine.

Wayne Thiebaud- I love the Thiebaud (of course). This drawing makes me laugh. I love anthropormorphized sandwiches.

At Andrea Rosen, I saw the work of an old friend, Nate Lowman. I met Nate  back in the early 2000s at Painting's Edge in Idyllwild, CA.

 Guess who is the artist?

John Wesley... whiskey.

Highline!

I have heard great things about the High Line park in Chelsea. I checked it out this afternoon; it was homework for Draw!New York in August.

You can enter the park on W 14th Street at 10th Ave. It is a former elevated railway. Right now it only goes about 10 blocks, but they are extending it further. It is a fabulous example of urban park planning and landscape design.

 Here are the original railway ties. I love the tension between the green natural elements of the park and the geometry and bustle of the city.

Finish line

I finished my Drawing marathon last night. We had a 5 hour critique- I hit the wall around hour 3 (just like a real marathon).

I am heading back to the Studio School to pack everything up. This afternoon I am going to check out some galleries.

PS. The model had a shaved head.

Dan Fishback's Young Socialist League

I went to downtown after class to see my old friend, Dan Fishback (from MacDowell). He had a showcase/performance as a fundraiser for his play this summer. His play mines the important terrority-Britney vs. Madonna. He was working on it last summer in New Hampshire. He opened with an amazing acoustic version of "Vogue."

Figure drawing

I haven't worked with a model in over a decade. Good news- it is like riding a bike and really fun. Here a couple of my drawings. We have 2 models in morning and afternoon.

celebrity watch 2010

I have seen 1 real celebrity in New York and 2 fake celebrities... I saw Hugh Jackman on my walk to the train. He was driving a huge black SUV and rolled down the window. I noticed him because he said, "hey mate (to the road workers) were is the tunnel?" He was very handsome, but I kept walking and tried not to stare.

On my way to class this morning, I saw 2 fake celebrities from Bravo's Millionaire Matchmaker. Two of her assistants were standing on 8th St.

They are hard not to miss...

I'll keep you updated if I see anyone else interesting.

Queen of Queens, part 2

So I jumped on the 7 train after PS 1 and headed further out to the Queens Museum of Art. It is located in Flushing Meadows, home of the USTA and the US Open.

Flushing Meadow was the home of 2 World's Fair, in 1939 and 1964.

 The Queens Museum of Art is the home of the New York Panorama- a scale model of every single building in New York City (all 5 boroughs).

It was amazing to see the true size of the city. I love obsessive, detailed works- this is definitely an impressive piece.

They had a display of World's Fair paraphernalia from the 2 fairs.

Another exhibit brought back memories. When I was in grad school, I saw a performance by the Survival Research Laboratories in Los Angeles' Skid Row. I had heard about the SF based group in my New Genre's class. SLR combines a punk aesthetic with engineering. They build robots and blow them up. The performance was intense. It was so loud that it made the earth shake. What was shocking about the performance to me- no police. I am positive that SLR did not get a permit and no one thought the fire and shaking was shocking enough to call the police. L.A....

Queen of Queens, part 1

I headed out to Queens today. First I checked out Greater New York show at PS1. PS1 doesn't allow photography so I had to sneak some photos.

I saw several pieces that used digital prints in an interesting way. This piece is by Mariah Robertson- a giant print.

Dave Miko's collection of paintings- from process to highly rendered watercolors.

This is a sculpture/ assemblage/ video piece by Tommy Hartung. His videos are stop action and seem very low tech. There is also a lovely relationship with nature and craft. I love the mixing to medias and constructed environments.

This is my favorite piece by Franklin Evans. It is an installation with tape, painting, and photocopies. To me this work is about the mania and the life of an artist. The photocopies are the press releases from Chelsea shows.

I also liked Tauba Auerbach's paintings. The paintings look like wrinkled or folded fabric. I think the paintings are airbrushed on raw canvas.

Another video piece was a mash-up of opera and rap videos by Rashaad Newsome. It reminded me of another one of my favorites, Christian Marclay.

I enjoyed the painting as installation by Das Institut. I was definitely impressed by the facility with a squegee.

There were 68 artists in the show. I was excited about a few of the artists---not everything, but it still was an interesting show.