July 16, 2004
Welcome:Bienvenidos
This
exhibit is an "art spark" generated by a community of artists
living around the world. Every week, we meet at this virtual studio/gallery
to share work and the most important thing on our minds.
Artists are invited to join Virtual:Comunidad.
Some material may not be suitable for children
©2004 by artists named
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Wendy Newton
Washington Heights, New York City
Roar
Changes so sweeping, the landmarks that oriented me in downtown Moscow years ago are all but gone or submerged in neon. But smells, so ephemeral, cling. The smell of the subways and underpasses wafts out onto the street, blasting me with a dose of 1988. Underground, time lingers. And stone has its story. Eroding slowly, unless toppled.
Peter Ferko
Washington Heights, New York City
Majestic Equality
There are so many challenges to getting through each day and so much of the challenge boils down to attitude. The massive Moscow building that this magnificent fragment comes from speaks of so many challenges, and yet each window represents an individual's soul and reminds me of each personal struggle to find peace in that thing that is life.
Vikki Michalios
Jersey City, NJ
Knees
The most important thing on my mind right now is healing from reconstructive knee surgery. On June 21st my Doctor grafted the middle section of the patella tendon to reconstruct a new anterior croax ligament. I was awake to observe the procedure on camera with the help of an epidermal injection every 45 minutes, morphine, a sedative, and an oxygen tube. The camera was sent inside the knee along with several instruments to cut, chisel, grind, scrape, screw, pound, siphon, clean, and sew. While observing, I asked how surgeons might compare themselves to artists with their work. He remarked that the work depends on focus, concentration, and practice. I am ahead in the curve for healing. My Photoshop collage is made of layers super imposed on top of one anther. The layers include an image of my 15 month old daughter's knee, my own knee contained in the CPU machine designed for recovery, and a the third layer of the hardwood floors in my house.
PP
New York City
Horizon with Ego
Yes it's hopeless, but not serious.
Image: Jack Pierson
James Huckenpahler
Washington, D.C.
Untitled
Check out the review of Seimon Allen/Dominic McGill in this month’s
Artforum
One of the ongoing threads of Seimon Allen’s work has been the remixing-recombination-manipulation of found materials such as Herge’s Tintin comics and South African fumetti [comics made from sequences of photos rather than drawings.] In older works he did a lot of cutting and pasting, but the newer work opts for a more subtle approach using longer, unedited sequences; see the Artforum review for a full description.
Howard Risatti’s assessment of ‘Pop Agenda’ at FUSEBOX left a few things hanging with regard to Allen’s work – I think in part due to the restrictions of the format. Nonetheless, it’s stuff on my mind that I think would have merited expanding on.
Describing Allen’s ‘Naglegioen, 2004,’ he suggests: “Because all the participants look alike and the Afrikaans-language text is untranslated, it’s impossible for an American viewer to tell heroes from villains, and one is left to ponder the nature of aggression and violence itself.” That’s too broad a statement to be useful in assessing Allen’s work. Rather, I think the viewer is left to ponder the nature of representations of aggression and violence. The viewer can see that violence is taking place but is not equipped with the resources to make any sort of judgment with regard to the participants in the narrative. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but if those words are in another language…
I think it’s problematic to attempt to form meaningful, actionable ideas about the nature of violence from this particular work of art because key pieces of information for making rational judgments are obscure to an American audience; we simply don’t have the context to evaluate what’s going on. On the other hand, we can ponder the fact that violence in general can be placed in the context of a comic book which in turn can be placed in the context of an art object, itself in the context of an exhibition…
Risatti goes on to discuss ‘Land of Black Gold, 2004,’ created from two editions of the same Tintin comic, the editions differing and language and date of publication. His final thought: “… Allen’s shifting frames make the changes in Western political attitudes toward the Middle East palpable and visible; they also raise our awareness of the way seemingly innocuous sources can quietly manipulate our understanding of history.”
I’m in complete agreement that Allen’s work brings the shift in broad cultural perception into high relief. Comics, like other pop media, are a barometer of a culture’s center of gravity. However, I think it overstates the power of the medium to suggest that an ‘innocuous source,’ like the Tintin comics, could have the influence to ‘quietly manipulate our understanding of history.’ Then again, who knows what the shrub is reading…
Renee Tamara Watabe
Verona, NJ
What a Woman Wants
Image Ten: Roots and Wings
In yoga class, the instructor spoke about the importance of establishing a steady, stable foundation with your feet, with your seat, with your hands, with any points of contact with the earth. That there is a humility in establishing this. That the temptation exists to see a pose, and to rush to assume it. Without the base, the complicated stuff will knock you over because you lose your balance. Take your time, she urged, make that base. Dig your roots in the dirt and then shine up and out.
Anthony Gonzalez
Washington Heights, New York City
Pretty In Pink
My life tends to be disorderly - chaotic. My studio is a mess, and I don't sleep well. I am not very good at sticking to a plan, or setting goals. But these submissions to Virtual: Comunidad have become a healthy part of my weekly rhythm - such as it is. It was disconcerting to have had to miss last week.
Tim Folzenlogen
Washington Heights, New York City
murder
I once heard about this tribe where the baby who was destined to become the tribe’s High Priest, would be born in a cave, and would be raised and kept from ever leaving that cave, until his (I really forget all the specifics) twentieth birthday. During this time, he would be taught all the sacred ways.
On his twentieth birthday, he would be taken, blindfolded, to the top of the highest mountain. The blindfold would be removed at dawn.
Can you imagine what that must be like?
This is a primitive planet that is about to emerge from the cave.
The people on this planet will soon see something, the likes of which will far surpass the wildest imagination of most.
Everyone will soon see this thing.
Once seeing, no one, not one person, will want to go back into that cave.
end of exhibit
Next week submit to Peter.
Welcome home Peter and Wendy.