Jennifer Sanchez

Anonymous Tantra Paintings at Feature Inc, 7 January – 12 February 2012
hat's off to Feature Inc for putting on a wonderful show of dynamic, thoughtful and intimate paintings.
slow and simple, but not simplistic. this show is NOT to be missed. here are some of the in's and out's of Tantric painting.

Shiva Linga, 2000

Energy’s Egg, 2001

Shiva Linga, 2002

Shiva Linga, 2003

On the four directions, 2006

Portrait of Kali, the Goddess, the “Black One”, 2008

this one can easily be a death metal album cover. especially considering the title of the piece.

The three gunas: matter, energy, essence, 1990

The Birth of Speech, 1995

The three gunas: matter, energy, essence, 1995

The world’s two poles united, 1997

Divine Love, 1997

something similar going on now in some of my paintings.

Kali’s tongues, 1999

Andrea Mary Marshall: Toxic Women at Allegra LaViola Gallery, Closed

the magazine covers were my favorite! i wish they had been given a bit more space to fully enjoy them. she touched on every thing and every artist in her series "100 Vague Magazines".

Andrea Mary MarshallThe Cleopatra Issue2011

The Karen the Killer Issue, 2011Acrylic, gouache and Sharpie Marker on Vogue magazine, 10 7/8" x 8" x 6/16", June 1999

The Demoiselles Issue, 2011Acrylic, gouache and Sharpie Marker on Vogue magazine, 10 7/8" x 8" x 1", November 1999

The Virgin Surrogate Issue, 2011Acrylic, gouache and Sharpie Marker on Vogue magazine10 7/8" x 8" x 3/4"October 2000

The Chanel Issue, 2011, Acrylic, gouache and Sharpie Marker on Vogue magazine, 10 7/8" x 8" x 1"March 2003

The Original Syrup Issue, 2011Acrylic, gouache and Sharpie Marker on Vogue magazine, 10 7/8" x 8" x 1/4", February 2004

The Happy Meal Bitch Issue, 2011, Acrylic, gouache and Sharpie Marker on Vogue magazine10 7/8" x 8" x 1/4", July 2004

MoMA Highlights

2012-01-17T12:52:00.000-05:00

Untitled, plate 1, only state, variant, from The Puritan
Louise Bourgeois

Untitled, plate 6, only state, variant, from The Puritan
Louise Bourgeois

Untitled, plate 2, third version, only state, variant, from The Puritan
Louise Bourgeois

Untitled, plate 5, only state, variant, from The Puritan
Louise Bourgeois

The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight

Beth B (American, born 1955)

Dawn from Home Is a Foreign Place
Zarina

Hot-Breeze from Home Is a Foreign Place
Zarina

Shadows from Home Is a Foreign Place
Zarina

Suited for Subversion
Ralph Borland

Exhibition view of Thing/Thought: Fluxus Editions, 1962–1978

George Brecht. “No Smoking,” c. 1973, Fluxus Edition announced 1963.
Offset wallpaper, designed and produced by George Maciunas.

Joan of Arc
Roberto Matta

Errand Boy (Ausläufer)
Paul Klee

Studies of a Nude
Salvador Dalí

Girl's Head
Marie Laurencin

Casa da Musica Identity, Logo Generator
Stefan Sagmeister

Highlights from The Renaissance Portrait

2012-01-16T11:30:00.000-05:00

The Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini

Portrait of a Woman with a Man at a CasementFra Filippo Lippi (Italian, Florence ca. 1406–1469 Spoleto)

Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi)
Ideal Portrait of a Lady ("Simonetta Vespucci")

Mino da Fiesole (Mino di Giovanni)
Niccolò di Leonardo Strozzi

Antonio del Crevalcore
Portrait of a man

Francesco Francia (Italian, Bologna ca. 1447–1517 Bologna)
Federigo Gonzaga (1500–1540)

from the Met's website:

In July 1510 the ten-year-old Federigo Gonzaga was sent from Mantua to Rome as a hostage. On his way to Rome he stopped in Bologna, where Francia astounded everyone by painting and delivering his portrait in twelve days. The picture was subsequently taken to Rome for the admiration of the papal court and was only reluctantly returned to Isabella d'Este, Federigo's mother. The fine execution of this famous portrait is typical of Francia's best work.

Hans Memling , Portrait of a Man with a Roman Coin

Bust-Length Woman Wearing a Coif
Domenico Ghirlandaio (Domenico Bigordi)

Orsino Benintendi , Cast of the Death Mask of Lorenzo de' Medici
Orsino Benintendi

Attributed to the Maestro delle Storie del Pane (Italian (Emilian), active late 15th century)Portrait of a Woman, possibly Ginevra d'Antonio Lupari Gozzadini

NY Public Library Rocks!

2011-12-14T11:54:00.002-05:00

Geometric Design in Weaving By Regensteiner, Else

i've said that for many posts, but really it does. besides the 5th season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, several books came in this week that i had on hold. i have a very systematic way of tagging pages down the vertical side, then i tag pages again along the top that mark super, mambo, excellent stuff. let's just say that i tagged the shit outta the "Geometric Design in Weaving" book - inspiration galore!

The Woven and Graphic Art of Anni Albers By Weber, Nicholas Fox

the cover of this book rocked my world before i even opened it! but i mean come on, it's Anni Albers. i saw some of her sketches for patterns at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and those just blew me away. everything looks so simple and direct. yeah, try making these patterns - my eyes get buggy and i never see what i'm trying to create. it's a bit of a fuzz until it all finally comes together in the end.

Maori Weaving with Erenora Puketapu-Hetet By Puketapu-Hetet, Erenora
this isn't the book cover, but an example of some Maori weaving patterns

Patterns 2 Design, Art and Architecture By Schmidt, Petra; Schöndeling, Ursula; Glasner, Barbara

Anni Albers by Weber, Nicholas Fox

Licensing Your Stuff

2011-11-22T21:51:00.000-05:00

Andy Warhol x Alien Workshop skateboard decks

//// UPDATED 1/15/2012 ////
first, you need to decide if licensing is right for you. second, think outside the box. don't rule yourself out if you are an installation or fiber artist. before you make your installation you may do some renderings. maybe you work out patterns on graph paper. those preliminaries can make beautiful prints or a pretty bad ass skate board.

one reason it works for me is i'm not that attached to my work. once a painting is done, i'm done with it. i'm ready to move on to the next thing. having them translated into a snow board or made into prints is no a brainer. i need to pay rent and eat, why not? second, i also know that nothing beats the original. even if you've gotten the highest resolution scan possible and a most gorgeous print w/insane detail is produced, it's not the original. it's sorta surreal when you look at a luscious print. it's like looking into another dimension. yes, that's my painting...but it's not, it's too flat, when i run my hand across it, it's flat. remember, you're licensing a representation of a piece. third, i don't buy into the lame sentiment that licensing your work devalues it. just make sure you're in good company and taste. would you buy it? lastly and most importantly, it gives many the opportunity to have some art at an accessible price in various formats.

licensing images of your artwork is a great way to generate some passive income. this type of income is "received on a regular basis, with little effort required to maintain it." if you have a royalty based agreement up to four times a year you can receive a check in the mail w/out lifting a finger. there's just the initial investment of time and office work. granted the check can be anywhere in-between $20 - $2000, depends on sales.

20x200 limited edition print

Poketo limited edition wallets

how to find opportunities - figure out what you'd like to see your art on and look for websites that sell that. if you want to make limited edition prints check out your options. since 20x200.com's launch and stellar success there has been a proliferation of limited edition sites. check out the other artists and see where your work would fit in best. if you think your art would make a great skate board or snowboard deck look at the websites of the companies who make those things. see if they have an artist submission policy and follow their directions. if they don't have a policy, then write them a BRIEF email asking if they accept submissions. mention at least 2 artists already on their roster who's work is akin to yours and include a link to your site. you should also contact a couple of the artists on the site and ask them what their general experience was working w/the company. DO NOT ask them business questions. contracts can be totally different for each artist depending on what they ask for. all you want to know from the artist is if the company is "good people". there are also sites that let you put your art on various products like artsprojekt.com. i believe there are many other sites like this, but i really don't have experience w/them.

THINGS TO LOOK FOR IN A CONTRACT

is it exclusive or non-exclusive
how long is the contract
how are you being paid
- one time fee
- royalty based. what is the royalty percentage?
- what is the royalty payment schedule (it's usually 30 days after the last day of each quarter)
- one time fee + royalties
reimbursement of scans or images (find out when you'll be reimbursed. it usually takes no more than 30 days after you submit an invoice)
where are they selling the product; national, international

each industry has it's own licensing protocol, so any of the above payment options are legit. also, when someone licenses an image they are limited to that image only. they do not have any right to anything else you have. this is not full throttle representation, like a gallery - just the images you license to them.

one reason you may get an upfront payment and then royalties is if you create an artwork specifically for the company. in other words, they buy the artwork. in this case this is a commission and your price should reflect that. you're making something specifically for them, even if it's based on another artwork that's no longer available. so make sure you price your work accordingly.

ask questions. if someone contacts me i check out their site and if i'm interested i reply w/any questions and ask to see a sample licensing agreement. this is not a problem and everyone i've worked w/so far has supplied one easily. if someone gives you shit for asking, you don't want to do business w/them. look over the contract and make sure you understand it. anything you don't understand, ask and quote the contract directly in the email so your question is clear.

it takes awhile to get your first check if you're being paid quarterly. by the time you figure out what images you're licensing, get hi res images or scans taken, then wait for it to go into production, then available for sale, and then finally 30 days after the last day of the quarter, it could be 9-12 months later. if it's just a one time lump sum it shouldn't be more than 90 days from the day you send them an invoice. oh yes, you'll be invoicing sometimes. if you don't have a paypal account, you can easily set one up. it's a great way to receive payments and invoice.

INTERESTING ARTICLES ABOUT LICENSING AND SELLING YOUR STUFF
Cee Lo Strikes Gold, Without a Gold Albumhttp://nyti.ms/s0csM6

The collapse in record sales over the last decade has decimated the bottom line, and a hit song alone is no longer enough to bring in superstar wealth. So even musicians with multiplatinum success have started looking elsewhere for income, especially to increased touring and the kind of commercial deals that result in Miracle Whip product placement in Lady Gaga videos and Taylor Swift’s performing at a JetBlue airport terminal.

Online Sales of Louis C. K. Special Cross $1 Million Mark
http://nyti.ms/uwJAY9

SOME LICENSING I'VE DONE

limited edition prints with 20x200

limited edition wallets with Poketo

unlimited canvas and posters that stick with Wheatpaste

unlimited prints with West Elm

snow boards

motocross goggles...yeah, that's right.

licensing i dream about - Diane Von Furstenberg slapping one of my paintings onto a wrap dress...heaven! there were many fine artist and fashion designer collabs in the 2012 spring collections including: Prabal Gurung, Jil Sander, Rodarte, Jason Wu, etc.

this is Dries Van Noten Spring 2012 Ready-to-Wear. He uses photographs by James Reeve in combination w/other prints for this collection.

what have i left out?....let me know.

More Chelsea Highlights

2011-11-18T19:20:00.001-05:00

Raoul De Keyser at David Zwirner, No Title (8 Verticals/5), 2010, Oil and gesso on canvas mounted on wooden panel, 11 x 8 inches

Raoul De Keyser at David Zwirner, Double Crossing (8 Verticals/4), 2010, Oil and gesso on canvas mounted on wooden panel, 11 x 8 inches

Raoul De Keyser at David Zwirner, Tumbling, 2010, Gesso and charcoal on canvas, 13 1/2 x 17 3/8 inches

JOANNE GREENBAUM at D’Amelio Terras

Dean Monogenis at Morgan Lehman, Polichronis (2011), Acrylic On Wood Panel, 34h x 48w in

Dean Monogenis at Morgan Lehman , The Waiting Place (2011), Acrylic On Wood Panel, 24h x 36w in

Tris Vonna-Michell at Metro Pictures

Raoul De Keyser, JOANNE GREENBAUM, Dean Monogenis, Tris Vonna-Michell

Chelsea Highlights

2011-11-18T18:01:00.001-05:00

KRISTEN SCHIELE at Freight + Volume WOW, 2011, airbrush on paper, silkscreen in custom frame, 24 x 27 x 2.5 inches

KRISTEN SCHIELE at Freight + Volume Kittycat, 2011, vintage collage, acrylic on paper in custom frame, 24 x 27 inches

KRISTEN SCHIELE at Freight + Volume 107 lbs of B-, 2011, transfers, airbrush on paper in custom frame, 28 x 30 inches

KRISTEN SCHIELE at Freight + Volume Over the Edge, 2011, silkscreen, acrylic, and oil on canvas, 84 x 120 inches

KRISTEN SCHIELE at Freight + Volume Honey, 2011, transfers, graphite on paper in custom frame, 27 x 24 inches

Hilary Harkness at The Flag Art Foundation Girl with a Basket of Flowers, 2011, Oil/ linen on panel, 8 1/2 x 11 inches

AMY PLEASANT at Jeff Bailey Gallery Cityscape, 2011, oil on canvas, 72" x 60"

AMY PLEASANT at Jeff Bailey Gallery Wide Open, 2011, oil on linen, 72" x 60"

Rosy Keyser at Peter Blum Mooncalf, 2011dye, house paint, twine, copper and jute linen on canvas84 x 66 in

Rosy Keyser at Peter Blum White in Drag, 2011, charcoal, graphite, house paint on canvas, 88 x 70 in

Boo Ritson at Bravin Lee Astrid, 2010, archival digital print, edition unique, 39 x 30 inches

Boo Ritson at Bravin Lee Sadie, 2010, archival digital print, edition unique, 39 x 30 inches

KRISTEN SCHIELE, Hilary Harkness, AMY PLEASANT, Rosy Keyser, Boo Ritson

My Reader Highlights

2011-10-25T12:09:00.001-04:00

Summer Wheat

i haven't posted these type of highlights in a while and they've been accumulating! most of them come from the fantastic A/ART blog and BOOOOOOOM! click on caption for links - enjoy

Picasso at The Frick

2011-10-18T12:51:00.000-04:00

Portrait of Antoni Sabatés(?)
Barcelona, 1899
Conté crayon and diluted oil paint on paper

i've mentioned it before on this blog that The Frick is one of my favorite museums in NYC. it's hard to get passed what a bastard Henry Clay Frick was. it's especially difficult in the current climate of a recession, occupy wall street happening just downtown and completely being part of the 99% that are fed up w/the shit happening in our government and on wall street. but that's what's so fantastic about this man's collection. knowing more about his evil ways ("once known by his critics as 'the most hated man in America'"), toward railroad workers and unions, it becomes clear but not justifiable, what might have driven his collection. serenity, peace, beauty. he needed it in his home, because he was being so vile to the people that worked under and for him. this is my theory and opinion, not based on nothing but my gut feeling.

i recently checked out a special exhibition of Picasso's drawings that was mainly installed in the lower galleries. i really enjoy looking at drawings. they're more revealing of the artist's intentions and thought process. nothing is refined, just pure, raw work. highlights below. the images are a bit small - the frick doesn't really have large images of the works on their site.

Mother and Child and Study of Hands
Paris, winter 1904
Black crayon on paper

The Death of Harlequin
Paris, end 1905 / beginning 1906
Gouache over charcoal on cardboard

Yellow Nude
(Study for Les Demoiselles d'Avignon)
Paris, 1907
Watercolor, gouache, and India ink on paper

Standing Nude
Cadaqués, summer 1910
Ink on paper

Composition with a Violin
Paris, 8 December 1912 or later
Pencil, charcoal, and papier collé on Ingres paper

The Cup of Coffee
Paris, spring 1913
Papier collé with charcoal and white chalk

Woman with a Pitcher
Paris, 1919
Pencil over charcoal on paper

Two Women with Hats
Paris, autumn 1921
Pastel on paper

Ezra Keats at The Jewish Museum

2011-10-11T12:28:00.002-04:00

Ezra Jack Keats
“They were getting close to home when Ziggie finally dropped the rope”
Final illustration for Regards to the Man in the Moon, 1981

i recently checked out this show at The Jewish Museum. it was fantastic to see the original paintings and collages. there were a lot of collaged elements in the paintings; swatches of fabric, shards of newspaper, scraps of magazines and ads and hand made marbled paper. at the end of the exhibition was a cute, little reading area that included his books and others'. it was great to see how the original pieces translated into books.

Ezra Jack Keats
“Crunch, crunch, crunch, his feet sank into the snow”
Final illustration for The Snowy Day, 1962

Ezra Jack Keats
“Peter’s mother asked him and Willie to go on an errand to the grocery store”
Final illustration for Whistle for Willie, 1964

Ezra Jack Keats
“On his way to meet Peter, Archie saw someone new on the block”
Final illustration for Hi Cat!, 1970

Ezra Jack Keats
“ . . . weave for us a garment of brightness (American Indian, Tewa Pueblo)”
Final illustration for God Is in the Mountain, 1966

Ezra Jack Keats, Dust jacket
Final illustration for A Letter to Amy, 1968
Watercolor, collage and paint on board, 10 1/4 x 21 1/2 in.

Obsessed with Fashion Week

2011-10-04T13:20:00.000-04:00

new york, london, milan, and paris. i don't know what's gotten into me this year but i'm am glued to style.com's youtube station. i even HAD to subscribe to their station to make sure i didn't miss anything. what do i plan to do with all this info/stimulation. no clue. these clothes are just beautiful and wonderful to look at. several designers were influenced by fine artists. one used a contemporary photographers work directly in his design - uh, gorgeous! that video and many more are compiled below. they are in no particular order and i can't say i have a favorite. really, how can i?

Don't Adjust Your Screens!

2011-09-27T12:26:00.000-04:00

each piece; 11" x 7.5", water based silkscreen inks on stonehenge light gray and black paper, 2011

these prints are supposed to look that way - a little crazy and make you buggy eyed.above are 6 of the 24 new screen prints i just finished. click here to see them all.

for the past 6 weeks i've been taking a class w/ Roni Henning at the Lower Eastside Printshop. screens were made of different shapes i drew with various line qualities. some lines were made w/a marker, waxy crayon or pen. watching how a drawing translated into a screen, then on to paper with rich colors was amazing. it changes subtly, but somehow also with great intensity. i went for high impact, bright fluorescent colors; green, pink & orange. i also used about a 50% gray and an awesome putty color i found in the shop. i thought the intersection of a high key color w/a muted tone on light grey and black paper would be fabulous. as i passed the colors thru the screen and watched these guys develop i totally fell in love w/the material, the line, the color, the lushness, the pattern, the simplicity, and the impact.

DE KOONING HIGHLIGHTS @ MoMA

2011-09-20T11:48:00.000-04:00

Pink Landscape 1942, Oil on composition board 25 x 37 1/8"

Untitled 1945, Oil on paper, 23 x 29"

Untitled (The Cow Jumps Over the Moon) 1937-38 , Oil on masonite, 20 1/2 x 36 5/8"

Pink Lady 1948, Oil and charcoal on paper on fiberboard18 1/2 x 18 1/2"
(sory for the fuzzy photo - only one i could find online)

Bolton Landing 1957, Oil on canvas 83 1/2 x 74

Rosy-Fingered Dawn at Louse Point 1963, Oil on canvas, 80 x 70"

Litho #1 (Waves #1) 1960 , Lithograph, drawn on a stone, Black ink on ivory smooth wove paper, 42 15/16 x 28 3/4

Black and White Rome S 1959, Black enamel and collage on paper, 39 1/4 x 55 3/4"

Door to the River 1960, Oil on canvas 80 x 70"

SOME LES HIGHLIGHTS

2011-09-17T20:09:00.000-04:00

ANN PIBAL: RNKT, 2010; acrylic paint on aluminum panel; 11.75 x 16.25” at Feature Inc.

NANCY SHAVER: Blue Night, 2011; wood, Flashe acrylic paint, house paint; 10.5 x 11 x 3” at Feature Inc.

Cornelius Quabeck, Vier, 2011, Ink and acrylic paint on paper , 42" x 31" at James Fuentes LLC

Zipora Fried, July 2011 - Trickster, 2011, Graphite on mylar, 54 by 93 inches at On Stellar Rays

Seher Shah, Hinterland Structures: Observation Tower, 2011, Duratran in wood light box , 5 x 7 x 3.25 in.at Scaramouche Gallery

Seher Shah, Object Relic (Unite d’ Habitation), 2011, Graphite and gouache on paper, 72 x 106 in.
at Scaramouche Gallery

“Why Am I Afraid To Love?” or I Love Cheese Series

2011-09-15T12:03:00.000-04:00

ny.11.#29 collage & mixed media on paper 7.5" x 12"

These are humorous and simple collages using some pages from a crazy ass book I found on the street. “Why Am I Afraid To Love?” is a book by John Powell written in 1967. As described on the back cover,

“There is a capacity and a yearning to love within all of us that we are afraid to release. We want to give ourselves to others but fear our gift will not be accepted. The author’s deep insights, gained as teacher, counselor and lecturer give us a rare opportunity to break this shell that encloses us.”

Total cheese - but I love good cheese. As I flipped thru the book I was not afraid to love the graphics and the design and choice of pulled quotes it contained. I instantly new I could make collages out of this material.

All of these collages are available at beholder-art.com.

ny.11.#28 collage & mixed media on paper 8.5" x 7.5"

ny.11.#27 collage & mixed media on paper 8.5"x 6"

ny.11.#26 collage & mixed media on paper 8.5"x 6"

ny.11.#25 collage & mixed media on paper 7.5"x 4.25"

ny.11.#24 collage & mixed media on paper 7.5" x 4.25"

I Caused the Earfquake...and I'm NOT Apologizing!

2011-08-23T14:33:00.000-04:00


ny1102, mixed media on paper, 21"x15" now available as a limited edition in these sizes 10"x8" ($20) \| 14"x11" ($50) \| 20"x16" ($200) \| 30"x24" ($1000)

seriously, that was freaky. i went right into survival mode and thought about my next plan of action: put on sneakers, grab cash, go!......uh where? alright, that's about as far ahead as my planning for a natural disaster goes. but the tremor did occur just moments after my 10th print was released on 20x200.com! you gotta admit, that takes some mad, crazy skillz! really though, i'm so happy to announce this 10th edition w/20x200. they've supported my art for the past 4 years through its changes and deviations. an artist couldn't ask for a better partner!

below is Jen Bekman's newsletter on the edition w/lots of great info and links:

Beachy-keen Tuesday greetings, collector friends! I'm writing from a well-loved cottage in Amagansett, where a leisurely five-minute walk brings us right to the shores of the Atlantic. The past few days have been filled with feverish preparations for today's Camp JBP kickoff. I'm thrilled to welcome the 20x200 team here and get down to the exciting, inspiring business of plotting the next phase of our Art-for-Everyone agenda.
With looking back being a key component to envisioning our future, it seems more than fitting to be releasing ny.11.#02 by Jennifer Sanchez today. Jennifer is part of our past (as far back as our past goes, in fact), but she is also very much a part of our future: Her work is now a part of an exciting new partnership we have with West Elm. Having her included in the debut collection of this partnership is perfect—I get all misty-eyed and farklempt when I consider all the millions of new minted collectors we can reach via this relationship. As I recently said about it:

We're excited about 20x200's partnership with West Elm because it brings great things to both our artists and our collectors. As a result of this collaboration, our artists gain exposure to West Elm's art-loving audience and our discerning collectors will find the 20x200 gallery frames at West Elm to be a thoughtfully-designed,* DIY solution for framing the art they've purchased on our site.

That so many people have discovered Jennifer through 20x200 and have supported her by purchasing her editions and original works makes the brightness of our collaboration's future much more than theoretical. The arc of our relationship with her—from emerging artist, to her sold-out editions, to her work being shown in numerous galleries (currently at the Bronx Museum AIM's Bronx Calling exhibition), to the JBG selling her work to a really great institutional collection and, now, our partnership with West Elm—is truly remarkable and gratifying. We're so proud and honored to support her as she hits milestone after milestone. Our commitment to creating an ever-increasing array of opportunities for artists is resolute, and we're looking forward to tracing similar arcs with many more artists and collectors alike as our business continues to evolve.

That evolution is the task at hand as we kick off our beach week retreat, and I am sure to emerge at its end full of the energy, inspiration and ideas that our awesome team offers up endlessly. Which means I'll be fueled up with all kinds of good stuff when I zip down to the isle of Manhattan on Saturday, the 27th. That morning, at 10:00 a.m., I'll be teaching a special class at the West Elm on Broadway and 62nd street titled "Living with Art and The Art of Living." Don't worry if you're not in NYC to attend—West Elm is holding similar classes at every single one of their stores on the very same day, and we've collaborated with them to come up with a presentation on how easy and enriching it is to live with art.

But if you do happen to be in NYC on Saturday, be sure to check out Try2 at Jen Bekman Gallery. Not only will the prolific Jennifer Sanchez have work in the group show, but also edition-maker Amy Jean Porter and JBG Director Jeffrey Teuton. The exhibit and silent auction are being held to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, so come out for a great cause and to support great artists.

Purty Dresses!

2011-08-12T17:53:00.000-04:00

i got an email or something from Pixie Market and drooled over some right nice purty dresses on their site. find them and some other slammin DVF dresses below. captions are links

WATERCOLOR MESH DRESS

COLOR BLOCK LAYER DRESS

Red Lace Maxi Dress

Red snake print maxi dress

ZANZIBAR DRESS

PATCHWORK LEATHER DRESS

MOTH WING DRESS

DVF, Edna Dress, In Mixed Berry/Cherry Syrup

DVF, Andie Dress, In Red Spice

DVF, Mikaela Dress In Rosy

DVF, Reara Dress In Sailor Blue

DVF, Narcissa Dress In Signs Black/Popcorn

DVF, Deblina Dress In Sun Placement

More Highlights from Chelsea & LES Galleries

2011-08-03T18:33:00.000-04:00

like i said before, there are LOTS of group shows in the summer and LOTS of great art.

click on captions for links.

in chelsea

Megan Foster at Mixed Greens, Solar Rocks I, 2011-2011 acrylic on offset Lithograph

Katherine Bernhardt at Mitchell-Innes&Nash, Untitles, 60x48, acrylic on canvas

Jim Richard at Jeff Bailey Gallery, Opening, 2010, collage, 10" x 7

Kevin Appel at Peter Blum, Screen (owl prehistory), 2011, Acrylic on canvas, 77 x 66

Masami Teraoka at Schroeder Romero & Shredder, Sarah and Octopus / Seventh Heaven, 2001, 29 Color woodblock print on Hosho paper, 10 3/8 x 15 5/8

Leonid A. Voronov & Evstafiev at Tony Sharazi Gallery, October, 1927, 42X54

Vladimir Tatlin at Tony Shafrazi Gallery, Monument to the Third International, Originally conceived 1915-1920 , Current model 1967, 16 feet 5 inches, Enamel on wood, metal & plexiglass with electric motor

Malia Jensen at Cristin Tierney, Seal + Penguin 4 Ever , 2008

Carrie Moyer at D'amelio Terras, Lattice 2011 , 72 x 78, acrylic and glitter on canvas

in the LES

Alex Markwith, Construction No. 5 (Mostly Black), 2011, Mixed media with ring and stretcher bars, 14 x 14 inches

Alex Markwith, Construction No. 6, 2011, Acrylic, fabric, wood, 22 1/2 x 31 inches

Paul Branca at Scaramouche Gallery , 6, 4, 6, 2011, Oil on canvas, 19 x 17 in. each

DANIEL DAVIDSON, Mulherin and Pollard

Haas&Hahn at Storefront for Art and Architecture, proposed intervention for NYC

Megan Foster, Mixed Greens, Katherine Bernhardt, Mitchell-Innes and Nash, Jim Richard, Jeff Bailey Gallery, Kevin Appel, Peter Blum, Masami Teraoka, Schroeder Romero and Shredder, Tony Sharazi Gallery, Leonid A. Voronov and Evstafiev, Vladimir Tatlin, Malia Jensen, Cristin Terney, Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, Alex Markwith, Scaramouche Gallery, Paul Branca, Daniel Davidson, Mulherin and Pollard, Haas&Hahn, Storefront for Art and Architecture, Carrie Moyer, D'amelio Terras

Some LES Highlights

2011-07-26T11:58:00.000-04:00

there are always lots of group shows during the summer. i recently checked out some in chelsea and some group and solo shows in the LES. i'm definitely more impressed w/what i saw in the LES. highlites below.

MAI BRAUN at Feature Inc., By-Product #1, 2010; acrylic paint, gouache on paper; 39.5 x 27.5”

MAI BRAUN at Feature Inc., By-Product #9, 2010; acrylic paint, gouache on paper; 39.5 x 27.5”

DOUGLAS MELINI at Feature Inc., Untitled (Fusi-Form), 2010; acrylic paint on canvas with hand painted frame; 23.5 x 19.5”

Ruby Sky Stiler at Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, no title (wall relief, horizontal pattern), 2011 Foam, acrylic resin, polymer adhesive, spray paint, 10 x 8 inches

Ruby Sky Stiler, at Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, no title (wall relief, fade wedge), 2011 Foam, acrylic resin, polymer adhesive, spray paint, 10 x 8 inches

JOSH CRISCIONE NUSBAUM at Feature Inc., Noah’s Ark, 2011; plywood, formica, mahogany, brass, felt; 36 x 25 x 11”

Ella Kruglyanskaya and Benjamin Senior at James Fuentes LLC, Monsterface Bather, 2011, Oil on panel, 16" x 12"

CRAIG TAYLOR at Sue Scott Gallery, Mixed media on paper, 12 1/2 x 9 1/2 in / 32 x 24.1 cm

Almond Zigmund at Allegra LaViola Gallery, Road Map, 2011

Margaret Lanzetta at Allegra LaViola Gallery, Musiri 0432 2009

Sarah Dornner at Rachel Uffner Gallery, "Bow Trap," 2011, MDF, paint, 65 x 20 x 19 inches, 165.1 x 50.8 x 48.3 cm

Ryan Wallace at Rachel Uffner Gallery, "Tablet 9," 2011, mixed media on canvas, 46 x 38 inches, 116.8 x 96.5 cm

Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, Ruby Sky Stiler, Feature Inc., MAI BRAUN, JOSH CRISCIONE NUSBAUM, DOUGLAS MELINI, James Fuentes LLC, Ella Kruglyanskaya, Benjamin Senior, Sue Scott Gallery, CRAIG TAYLOR, Allegra LaViola Gallery, Almond Zigmund, Margaret Lanzetta, Rachel Uffner Gallery, Sarah Dornner, Ryan Wallace

Some Chelsea Highlights

2011-07-19T10:38:00.000-04:00

i recently checked out some shows in chelsea - highlights below. i'll be heading out again later this wk or next, cuz there are LOTS of summer group shows up now.

Ivin Ballen, 62 Diamond Street, 2011, fiberglass, aquaresin, acrylic, gouache, 80 x 74 inches

at Tanya Bonakdar

Sam Moyer, Untitled, 2011, ink and bleach on canvas mounted to wood panel, 60 x 48 inches

at Tanya Bonakdar

Jason Polan, installation view at Nicholas Robinson Gallery

B. Wurtz: Works 1970–2011, Installation view at Metro Pictures

Wordsmith > I Am Not That

2011-07-12T11:23:00.000-04:00

i have a doc that i started a few months ago called "good artist statements". they're statements or snippets from reviews, blog entries, etc that i felt captured some essence of my painting. it's an attempt to help me craft an artist statement. talk about my art w/friends and artists? yes, i can do that. craft an artist statement? not so much. i'd rather listen to noam chomsky's monotone voice for 3 hours straight. so today i'm sharing these snippets to help communicate what's going on w/my painting. in a comment in an earlier post i mentioned one thing i tend to do in my artist statement is write about what i want my paintings to be, not where they're at now. or write where they've been and how they've changed. but that's not what's going on. writing about what i'm doing now is trickier to navigate because i'm trying to figure out what it is i'm doing. my paintings are influenced by a wide variety of stuff (like this, this and this) and heavily dependent on working shit out in the studio. i don't think that last sentence is all that eloquent. snarky? yes. articulate? no.

Sharon Butler

the links below are to her blog and to the comments that the post generated. A GOOD READ! http://www.twocoatsofpaint.com/2011/06/new-casualists.html

http://www.twocoatsofpaint.com/2011/07/reader-response-to-abstract-painting.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+twocoatsofpaint+%28Two+Coats+of+Paint%29&utm_content=FaceBook

The casualists use earlier abstract styles and motifs intuitively as a visual language rather than as a conceptual premise. Plenty of artists believe in the premeditated strategic employment of references to historic abstraction, but the paintings I’m discussing are more likely to emerge unplanned through the process of painting – not through the focused exploration of a front-loaded conceptual proposition. All casualists could be called provisional painters, but not all provisional painters are casualists. That many contemporary artists appropriate and strategically quote previous styles is less relevant to the casualists’ way of working than the way Rauschenberg used, say, a tire or a cardboard box.
The painters I call the casualists, however, are far less concerned about framing their work in terms of the impossibility of painting than they are with uncovering, with good humor, new possibilities for painting.
The painters I call the casualists, however, are far less concerned about framing their work in terms of the impossibility of painting than they are with uncovering, with good humor, new possibilities for painting.

Jennifer Bartlett

from MoMA website: http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=357

... Her ambivalent use of systems to establish an order and to oppose it allowed her to explore the material and the conceptual process of making images and objects.

Keltie Ferris
KF + CM 4EVER at Horton Gallery - From the press release

Treating every mark like a found material, Ferris builds her work ... Each mark remains openly and honestly itself, and of its material: the spray is not masked, the oil pastel is not blended, and all 48 colors from the box set are used. However each mark is tightly knit to the structure of the painting.

Vince Contarino

...searching for thrown away or discarded marks and pairing them with more deliberately constructed forms. While there is room for chance and discovery, I strive to operate in a middle ground that is neither restrictive or self indulgent, continually editing down the paintings to their most important elements.

Wendy White
AUTOKENNEL at Leo Koenig - from the press release

...off-kilter compositions prove well considered with time, though perhaps deliberately confounding.
... a surface that is consistently finessed.

New Work & More!

2011-07-05T10:30:00.002-04:00

ny.11.#10
mixed media on panel
2 panels, each 16"x12"

ny.11.#11
mixed media on panel
2 panels, each 16"x12"

i have several new paintings up on my site! i'm working a lot on panels and loving it.

the Bronx Museum's AIM Biennial is up and will be open until sept 5, 2011. it was great to be a part of the program and meet so many great people. below you'll find some shots i took of my and surrounding work.

Jennifer Sanchez, Nathan Gwynne and Randal Wilcox

....and now 20X200 has framed prints available!

ny.10.#03

ny.09#20

20% off @ 20x200.com !!!

2011-06-16T12:30:00.004-04:00

ny.10.#03 by Jennifer Sanchez

20% of all prints at 20x200 - NOW til mon on orders $50+. enter RIDONK at checkout. i have several prints still available. check out some other kick ass prints i'm drooling over! click on captions for direct link to prints.

Animal Locomotion; Plate 197 (Couple Dancing) by Eadweard Muybridge

You by William Powhida

Ferry from Ardrossan Harbor by Laura Bell

Untitled (300 x 404) by Greg Allen

Black on Blue by Giovanni Garcia-Fenech

StudioVisit

2011-06-14T10:01:00.004-04:00

my new space is smaller, but i still have a similar layout

FAILURE

2011-06-07T10:00:00.013-04:00

UPDATED JUNE 13, 2011

for one of the sessions in the AIM program we had to bring in our artist statement and let our peers give us feedback and constructive criticism. i used the word failure in my statement and nobody liked it - thought it had a negative connotation to it. i don't think i used it that way. i see failure as an obvious element in the artistic process. i have faith in and welcome it. it's the only way to push through ideas and get to the core of the painting. if you don't try something how will you know? you don't. that's why you have to try and ultimately a lot of stuff won't work out and you move on to the next one.

since that session, i've noticed failure being tossed around. to begin with Michael Harvkey, who led the workshop and overheard my group's conversation about the word failure, showed up at the next session with a book called Failure published by MIT Press and compiled by Lisa Le Feuvre. still haven't read it and can't wait to get me hands on it.

next, there's Tavis Smiley's book, Fail Up. watch the video.

i just checked out Mira Schor's M/E/A/N/I/N/G; An Anthology of Artists' Writings, Theory and Criticism and found within it The Success of Failure by Joel Fisher. Which is a revised essay, originally written for the exhibition The Success of Failure in 1984. he writes:

The failures of big ideas are sometimes more impressive than the successes of little ones.

and more recently, Sharon Butler's article in the Brooklyn Rail, ABSTRACT PAINTING; The New Casualists. this whole article could be my artist statement. she writes:

The idea is to cast aside the neat but rigid fundamentals learned in art school and embrace everything that seems to lend itself to visual intrigue—including failure. The painters take a meta approach that refers not just to earlier art historical styles, but back to the process of painting itself. These self-amused but not unserious painters have abandoned the rigorously structured propositions and serial strategies of previous generations in favor of playful, unpredictable encounters.

They are looking for unexpected outcomes rather than handsome results.

With less investment in honing a unique visual language, painters like Kadar Brock, Rebecca Morris, and Jasmine Justice use earlier forms of abstraction the way Rauschenberg used found objects. In the process, there is no room for handwringing about originality; it is simply assumed that it will result from synthesis and recombination. And if it doesn’t, well, isn’t that just as interesting?

On balance, they are more intrigued by the questions and contradictions in art than by any definitive answers it might provide.

In many ways, the new approach to abstraction is indebted to female artists of the 1970s like Elizabeth Murray, Mary Kelly, and Ree Morton, who, railing against the macho posturing of the Minimalists, worked from an intimate point of view that embraced messy everyday detail.

i took "failure" out of my artist statement. now i want to put it back. but has it now turned into meme? ... ugh.

UPDATED JUNE 13, 2011
i found another article on failure via AFC, when i finally got around to checking out the starred items in my reader. Choire Sicha writes in the Awl:

...there has to be a place to try and make things and achieve failure along the way

Inspiration Online

2011-05-31T16:41:00.000-04:00

Russell Leng via Parts Gallery, landscape painting 6, 2010
acrylic on wood panel, 14 " X 11 "

SERIZAWA KEISUKE (1895-1984) Pattern Imitating Glaze Dripping Down the Side of a Jar, 1961. Kimono, stencil-dyed banana-bark cloth, 61 x 50 in. via the Japan Society

Roberto Calbucci,WAITING / DEEP, ink, wax, pencil, oil, mix materia on cardboard, via A/ART

SERIZAWA KEISUKE (1895-1984) Seabream, 1964. Kimono, stencil-dyed tsumugi-weave silk, 62 1/4 x 51 1/8 in. via the Japan Society

Clark Goolsby Critical Error II, Mixed media on linen over panel, 24 x 18 inches

Going Modular?

2011-05-17T12:16:00.000-04:00

ny.11.#10, 2 panels 16"x12" each, mixed media on panel (click image for larger view)

i've been painting on panels for a bit now and i REALLY like it! they can take a beating and won't warp when layers of paint are built up. i'm not sure whether it's their rigidity or what but the new panel pieces feel modular to me. i want to mix and match the paintings i'm working on now, even though some aren't even done. the painting above is done and each panel was started independently of each other. but somehow they came together to make this diptych. can't explain it, just happened. will i make more? maybe, don't know. but these 2 seemed drawn to one another. i've included some detail photos below. click on the image above to see a bigger image.


ny.11.#10 detail

ny.11.#10 detail

Andean Tunics

2011-05-10T11:45:00.000-04:00

Tunic of Stepped Pattern, ca. 500–650
Peru, possibly Arequipa area, late Nasca style (?)
Camelid hair; plain weave, discontinuous warp and weft; 39 1/2 x 56 in.

went to the Met on thursday to see this and the Alexander McQueen show in particular. (i won't be posting about the McQueen show, but check out the met's website for it.) hopefully this week i'll get around to seeing some other shows there that are on my list. no surprise that i'm interested in the patterns on the tunics in the show The Andean Tunic, 400 BCE–1800 CE. yesterday i tried recreating the stepped pattern above on a panel piece - TOTAL FAIL! it looks simple, but i couldn't wrap my head around it. the pattern was confusing me and i made a mess of marks on my painting. i switched over to graph paper and changed my proportions and i finally got it - sort of. some interesting notes from this exhibition:

tunics were folded in 16th's. this was the customary way to store them.
the Inkas used the hair of all of the camelids—alpaca, llama, vicuña, and even the wild guanaco
Inka tunics are imposing and positively austere in their clarity of design
In the technique used here, known as discontinuous warp and weft, both the horizontal and the vertical yarns are turned at the edges of each color area. It is a more laborious process than tapestry weave but creates a thinner fabric that drapes more gracefully over the body.
Tunics became even more important under Inka domination; they were commissioned as a form of taxation and were worn by members of the Inka ruler’s household, by his entourage, by nobles, and by warriors. Treasured items in gift exchange, they were put to political and diplomatic purposes and given as gifts to allies and subjected peoples, to leaders and to followers. They had ritual functions as well, used as offerings to sacred places, to powerful deities, and to the honored dead.
Persons clothed in garments of a heroic pre-Hispanic time and representing Inka identities became worrisome to both church fathers and colonial administrators in the 1780s, and the wearing of such garments, particularly tunics, was prohibited. (bastards!)

this show along w/Sonia Delauney's at the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum have given me a lot of inspiration that's you'll see soon in my paintings.

Child's Tunic with Faces and Hands, ca. 750–800
Peru, south highlands, Wari style
Camelid hair, cotton; tapestry weave; 21 1/4 x 21 in.

Banded Tunic with Proliferous Patterns, ca. 580–680
Peru, probably Arequipa area, Nasca-related style
Camelid hair, cotton; tapestry weave; 41 x 62 in.

Tunic with Crescent Headdress Figures and Felines, ca. 1460–1540
Peru, north coast, late Chimu style
Cotton, camelid hair; tapestry weave; 23 1/2 x 44 1/2 in.

Tunic with Animal-Headed Staff Bearers, ca. 850–950
Peru, south highlands, Wari style
Camelid hair, cotton; tapestry weave; 44 x 40 in.

Tunic with Zigzag Pattern, ca. 1460–1540
Peru, reportedly found in the Ica valley, Inka style
Camelid hair, cotton; tapestry weave; 35 x 29 in.

Tunic with Diamond Band, ca. 1460–1540
Peru, Inka style
Camelid hair, cotton; tapestry weave; 35 x 29 in.

Condon & DeGraw in the LES

2011-05-03T11:34:00.001-04:00

2 shows that recently grabbed my attention are Elisabeth Condon at Lesley Heller Workspace and Brian DeGraw at James Fuentes LLC. highlights below.

Elisabeth Condon, Hello Yellow, 2010, 37" x 48", Acrylic on linen

Elisabeth Condon, Sky Tree River, 2010, 110" x 65", Acrylic and oil on linen

Elisabeth Condon, Slippery Slope, 2010, 48" x 48", Acrylic and oil on linen

Brian DeGraw, Untitled (Nina Simone + Taliban Trim), 2011, Work on paper, 26.5" x 21.5"

Brian DeGraw, Untitled (Alexis Taylor), 2011, Work on paper, 19" x 16"

Brian DeGraw, Untitled (???), 2011, Work on paper, 26" x 20"

Brian DeGraw, Untitled (Pequot Woman), 2011, Work on paper, 19" x 16"

Beautiful Failures / AIM Homework

2011-04-19T11:42:00.000-04:00

Jane Dickson gave us some homework last week for today's session; create a dream group show, including yourself. i started jotting down names of all the art crushes i have. it could have easily turned into a train wreck of a show if i didn't focus and really think about who's work is rocking my world right now. she asked us to come up w/a title, concept and location. the show is below and artists are in alphabetical order. i've mentioned these artists b4 on this blog, so their names should come as no surprise: Kadar Brock, Vince Contarino, Jennifer Sanchez (me!), and Justin Valdes.

TITLE: Beautiful Failures
LOCATION: Minus Space in brooklyn, "a platform for reductive art on the international level."
CONCEPT: all 4 us us share a similar aesthetic sensibility which includes geometric shapes, minimal compositions and a subdued palette w/splashes of color. although we may apply our materials differently, what ties us together is our approach to painting. whether it's gestural application of paint, using discarded parts, building up layers, breaking things down or inviting chance, we combine careful planning with a faith in failure. or as bob ross liked to call it "happy accidents". we reduce our paintings to a clear, straightforward, uncluttered, and elegant end.

KADAR BROCK, demigg, 2008-2010, Oil, acrylic, flashe, house and spray paint canvas, 72 x 48 in

KADAR BROCK, demiu,2008-2010, Oil, acrylic, flashe, house and spray paint canvas, 72 x 60 in

KADAR BROCK, daboc, 2010, House paint, spray paint, and ballpoint pen on canvas, 96 x 72 in

KADAR BROCK, daem,September 2010, House paint and spray paint on canvas, 96 x 72 in

VINCE CONTARINO, Untitled (4), 2011, 10” x 8.5”, acrylic on paper

VINCE CONTARINO, Untitled (6), 2011, 10.75” x 9”, acrylic on paper

VINCE CONTARINO, Acoustic No. 6, 2010, 12” x 14.75”, acrylic, flashe, tyvek on paper

VINCE CONTARINO, Acoustic No. 13, 2010, 12” x 14.75, acrylic, flashe on paper


ny.11.#07, 2011, mixed mediums on panel, 16"x12"

JENNIFER SANCHEZ, ny.11.#05, 2011, mixed mediums on paper, 19.5"x16"

JENNIFER SANCHEZ, ny.11.#07, 2011, mixed mediums on panel, 16"x12"

JENNIFER SANCHEZ, ny.10.#20, 2010, mixed mediums on paper, 22" x 15"

JUSTIN VALDES, untitled, 2011, 11" x 13", acrylic and ink on paper

JUSTIN VALDES, untitled, 2011, 22" x 30", acrylic and ink on paper

JUSTIN VALDES, untitled, 2011, 11" x 13", acrylic and ink on paper

Collage Mastah > Romare Bearden

2011-04-12T09:48:00.000-04:00

Of the Blues: Kansas City 4/4, 1974, mixed media collage on board 44" x 50"

a few years ago i interviewed for a job at the Romare Bearden Foundation. i can't remember what the job was; some entry level assistant bullshit i'm sure. i didn't care, i just wanted the opportunity to be surrounded by his greatness. i didn't get the job. this show at Michael Rosenfeld Art really had some choice pieces - highlights below.

Profile/Part II, The Thirties:Uptown Sunday Night Session, 1981, mixed media collage on board, 44" x 56"

The Train Whistles, 1979, mixed media collage on Masonite, 31" x 39 15/16"

Morning Train to Durham, 1981, mixed media collage on board, 18" x 13 3/4"

excerpts from the press release:

...collage, the medium through which Bearden arrived at his mature style. Created between 1964 and 1983, the twenty-one works in the exhibition exemplify Bearden’s exceptional talent for storytelling as well as his mastery of the medium’s fragmentation of form and space.

In the early 1960s, he turned to collage in “an attempt to redefine the image of man in terms of the black experience.” Cutting and pasting photographs, paper, fabric, newspaper, and magazines, Bearden often added gouache, ink, pencil, and oil to his kaleidoscopic surfaces, creating dazzling compositions that focused on themes as expansive as his own talent. He redefined the image of humanity not in terms of “the black experience,” but black experiences—rural and urban, African, American, and Caribbean.

The works in this exhibition reflect the artist’s belief that “art is made from other art.” This idea is literally present in the act of collage-making—taking images, colors, and forms out of one context, altering them, and juxtaposing them with other pre-existing images, colors, and forms to create something new.

Illusionists at 4 PM, 1967, mixed media collage on board, 30" x 40"

La Femme de Martinique, 1970, mixed media collage on Masonite, 16" x 3 1/2"

Flights and Fantasy, 1970, mixed media collage on Masonite, 8 3/4" x 11 3/4"

AIM Begins Tonite!!!

2011-04-05T11:37:00.000-04:00

yay! after 11 attempts - i'm in! this shit better be worth it! a week or two ago i submitted yet another application to the LMCC Workspace program. i almost didn't cuz i was fed up w/applications in general. especially when they ask you 3 times in different ways to describe your work. they want an artist statement, want to know what you'll be doing in the studio (painting bitch!) and a description of the work you've submitted. it all seems like bullshit. just look at the work. if you like, give me studio. i'm fine w/an artist statement, that seems reasonable. but all the other bullshit, why? i think it's to weed out people. if you can get thru the application, that says something. but i'm no good at writing, so i hate doing it.

last year a friend was kind enough to really, i mean really help me out w/the statements the LMCC wanted. it was a real struggle for me. i found that the process of trying to figure out what to write led to some over conceptualized bullshit. i had to start over again, and again. i learned not to think too much about the statements and write honestly. to a certain extent, writing these things help me crystallize what i'm doing in the studio. i get that it's important to speak intelligently about my work and understand my place in art history. i've heard too many artists fumble and not be anywhere near articulate when they talk about their work .....and i cringe.

so hopefully AIM will help w/writing artist statements, give me insight into what people want to hear and provide some feedback. over the wkend they gave us an itinerary of the 13 wk program:

1: MEET THE CURATORS
2: The Art Community – Presenting Yourself
3: The Art Community – Creating the Future
4: WRITING WORKSHOP
5: WRITING WORKSHOP
6: MEET THE DEALER
7: MEET THE CRITIC
8: FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
9: FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
10: MARKETING
11: COPYRIGHT LAW
12: STUDIO VISIT13: AIM ROUNDTABLE

looks like good stuff. i'm notorious for asking lots of questions....i hope they're ready for me!

Good Shit on the Interwebs

2011-03-29T10:32:00.000-04:00

ahhh the interwebs...the inspiration never ceases. here's some stuff i'm diggin.

Matija Drozdek, Oneonone

Robert Straight, P-427, 2006-07, 32" x 41", Acrylic, thread, wood slabs Add caption

Tom Moody

Jenny Zhang, JUBA-SPIDER panel 2 of 8, 2009, printmaking, 23x32in

Victoria Beckham, Wrap Collar Fitted Dress

this collection if fucking beautiful! such clean lines w/bold, rich colors. i'm an 8 if anyone wants to gift me a dress.

Victoria Beckham, 118 V Neck Cocoon Dress

Victoria Beckham, Vb0065 Perfect Square Smoke

these might be bigger than the sunglasses i currently have... must have!!!

The NYPL Rocks!!!

2011-03-22T15:51:00.000-04:00

i still can't get over all the great books i can check out from the new york public library. here are just a few of the books i have out now and what's caught my eye in them.

Stenberg Brothers : Constructing a Revolution in Soviet Design, by Christopher Mount

The Eleventh

The Eyes of Love

Six Girls Seeking Shelter

A Woman of Paris

Albers and Moholy-Nagy : From the Bauhaus to the New World, edited by Achim Borchardt-Hume

Moholy-Nagy, Construction, 1934

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Leda and the Swan

Robert Rauschenberg by Sam Hunter

Memorandum of bids, 1956

Sulphur Bank (Hoarfrost), 1974

Gianna Commito @ Rachel Uffner

2011-03-15T10:33:00.000-04:00

"Tunk," 2011, watercolor, casein, and marble dust ground on panel, 30 x 24 inches

"Boro," 2011, watercolor, casein, and marble dust ground on panel, 16 x 20 inches

love how you can see where the tape has ripped off the paint. in the top painting "Tuft", look at the lower right - what the hell is going on there? controlled scrapping and sanding. these paintings are not quite perfect and that's why i like them. not to mention the colors in the above 2 are some of my favorite combos; acidic yellow and green w/gray. i've been noticing a stripe trend in painting lately and i like it. whether it's concentric squares or off kilter stripes in one form or another. i also like how most of these artists leave their trace on the canvas. the paintings are never polished, always a little rugged, worn and to me accessible. some other artists that rock the stripe include; Jered Sprecher, Jasmine Justice, Lisa Williamson, Jennie C Jones, Julian Hoeber, R.M. Phoenix, Wayne Adams.

"Crain," 2011, watercolor, casein, and marble dust ground on panel, 20 x 16 inches

"Roque," 2010, watercolor, casein, and marble dust ground on panel, 30 x 24 inches

"Ells," 2011, watercolor, casein, and marble dust ground on panel, 24 x 20 inches

thanks Rachel Uffner Gallery for having a great site. easily accessible artist and image info, a navigable site and she' not stingy w/images. thx!

Art on Online

2011-03-01T10:49:00.000-05:00

Malin Bergström, The Universe was created without legs and without feet, collage

Justin Valdez, Untitled, 8 1/2" x 10 1/4", pencil and ink on paper, 2010, via William Crump

here's some stuff i've seen online that's caught my eye.

Botkier, Bleeker crossbody

Jonathan Saunders Spring Collection via the Sartorialist

Prada Fall 2011 via the Sartorialist

this whole outfit just kicks ass! i'm luvin these boots and ALL the boots in this collection.

Tom van Kints, via A/ART

Julian Hoeber, Execution Changes 19 (XS Q1 MJ LC Q2 RMJ LC Q3 MJ LC Q4 LMJ LC), 2011
Acrylic and graphite on panel, via A/ART

Fun with Math!.....REALLY

2011-02-22T10:15:00.000-05:00

i don't have a clue what these shapes represent, i just think they're cool. enjoy!

New Paintings

2011-02-17T13:18:00.000-05:00

ny1106, mixed media on panel, 16"x12"

i'm still updating my website and working out a few kinks. until i get that fixed, here are some new paintings!

ny1108, mixed media on panel, 16"x12"

ny1107, mixed media on panel, 16"x12"

ny1105, mixed media on paper, 19.5"x16"

ny1104, mixed media on paper, 23"x17"

ny1103, mixed media on paper, 21"x15"

ny1102, mixed media on paper, 21"x15"

Arturo Herrera

2011-02-16T11:00:00.001-05:00

Agon, 2010, Mixed media on paper-One from set of 8

Arturo Herrera at Sikkema Jenkins

Agon, 2010, Mixed media on paper-One from set of 8

Under the Tree, 2010, Mixed media on paper, 95.875 x 56.5 inches

Miró: The Dutch Interiors

2011-02-08T11:19:00.000-05:00

Joan Miró, Dutch Interior III

just like rauschenberg, this guy to me is as relevant as ever. whenever i walk into the met or MoMA i'm floored by the great art that surrounds me and am thankful for living in nyc.

Joan Miró, Dutch Interior I

Joan Miró, The Potato

Joan Miró, Portrait of Mistress Mills in 1750


Joan Miró, This Is the Color of My Dreams

Joan Miró, Painting

Inspiration Online

2011-02-01T11:59:00.000-05:00

R.M. Phoenix via A/ART

Lisa Williamson via A/ART

Marianna Uutinen via A/ART

this is stuff that's gotten my attention via my google reader. there's so much more, but i had to draw the line somewhere. there's a wide range of stuff here from paintings to nail polish... never know what will inspire.

Sam Messenger's "Seame's Veil" via Lindsey Pollack

Marcus Coates, "Psychopomp" via VVORK

Matt. W. Moore via Share Some Candy

trebleseven via Share Some Candy

Alexander McQueen, Samurai Embroidered Wool Dress

Alexander McQueen, Satin Flower Knuckle Box Clutch

OPI's, "Glow up already"

20% OFF @ 20X200

2011-01-27T12:30:00.151-05:00

ny.10#01

ny.10.#03

20x200 is having their semi annual sale! sale begins TODAY @ NOON - MON, JAN 31 @ 11:59 PM EST. 20% off purchases $50 or more. use the code RIDONK at checkout. take advantage, cuz this only happens twice a year. on view here are the prints i still have available and some of my favs from other awesome artists. ENJOY!!!
click on images for direct links.

ny.09.#20

ny.09.#19

ny.08.#06

ny.08.#14

Arrow by Bryan Schutmaat

Stay Icy by Martha Rich

Sewanee No. 17 by Don Hamerman

Waiting Dangerously in Rio by Scott Listfield

Hustlin'

2011-01-25T11:55:00.000-05:00

seems like this is my story everyday. i'm feverishly getting my shit together for the Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation application, organizing images for a possible book publishing, painting like a mo'fo for a small commission and to get work ready for the AIM Biennial in june, and updating my beholder page. good things, i'm happy to be hustlin - just wish i had some of rick's stacks in the bank to take the egde off! but this is what we do. artists have to hustle and be proactive to get their shit noticed and bought. trying to remember, "i'm livin' the dream. i'm an artist living and working in nyc." been hustlin' since 2001 and i don't see it ending...ever. bring it bitches!

Stuff at the Swiss

2011-01-18T10:23:00.000-05:00

Rita Ackermann & Harmony Korine, bmxhex, 2010

Rita Ackermann & Harmony Korine, Trouble is Comin, 2010

Rita Ackermann & Harmony Korine, High powered tramps, 2010

from the swiss institute's website:

Shadow Fux, the artists’ first collaborative presentation aims to create a veritable alien, who stalks the viewer from the fringe of the exhibition space. Taking the recent film Trash Humpers (2009) as its point of departure, the exhibition features large scale works in which Ackermann and Korine have collaged, painted, and drawn over stills of the film’s beguiling young bodies with old faces. Produced in a call and response method, the collaboration illustrates the importance of cutting to both artists’ works. Editing and splicing, Ackermann and Korine insert absurdist moments into narrative tropes, subverting plotlines and ultimately defying our expectations towards story telling. Bmxhex (2010), a towering collage, is composed of two scenes––a redheaded half-figure standing on an abandoned mattress, and, grafted onto it, a quarreler sitting on a BMX, ready to take off. The composition is a phantom for the split personality, which runs throughout the show.

... in other words, CRAZY SHIT! i'm not sure how i feel about the work, but it left an impression. i quess that's says something...maybe. wtf?!

Art Krush: Steve DiBenedetto

2011-01-11T11:50:00.000-05:00


Scene Selection, 2010, oil on canvas, 60 x 48 inches

ever since i saw his stuff at the whitney in 2005, then heard him talk about his work - i've totally fallen in love. this guy is a bad ass! he makes messy, a bit clumsy paintings that i could look at all day long. the helicopters and octopi have nearly disappeared and morphed into some crazy abstract shit. the one above was my favorite. this work is from his show that just ended at David Nolan Gallery. ENJOY!

Cephlaglyph, 2010, oil on canvas, 70 x 96 inches

Spiral, 2010, oil on canvas, 78 x 96 inches

Five Elements, 2010, oil on canvas, 48 x 60 inches

Quarry, 2010, oil on canvas, 78 x 116 inches

Untitled, 2010, colored pencil on paper, 22 1/2 x 30 1/4 inches

Shut And Take It, 2010, colored pencil on paper, 22 3/8 x 30 1/8 inches

Brock & Ferris > Rockin My World

2010-12-07T11:00:00.000-05:00

Kadar Brock

all i can think about are 2 amazing shows i've seen by nyc painters Kadar Brock at Thierry Goldberg Projects and Keltie Ferris at Horton Gallery. i'll quote from their press releases in a bit, but really, i don't tend to read them. but they may help to understand the work if you're not slapped in the face by their fucking talent!

Kadar Brock

those black areas are holes. he sanded and scrapped the fuck outta these canvases. sorry for the lack of captions but the gallery website and his didn't have names. there's a whole lot of erasure going on here. something i've been playing w/and trying to get used to in my own work over the last year. he does it so beautifully that it totally inspires me to keep on and buy a big ass tub of gesso. there is something scary and liberating about totally covering up what you might have spent months working on. it allows you to say fuck it and start over. or for what i think is going on here, the erasure is the point. becuz of the aggressive sanding you see bits of color come thru. the surface was so inviting that i totally wanted to run my hand over its surface to feel the slight bumps & ridges, the huge X in the center and stick my fingers in the holes.

from the Thierry Goldberg press release:

The paintings on view are the result of old work that the artist has transformed through a process of erasure. In this sense, the new work consists of residues, traces, specters—end products, evidence of what's left over, after the original images have been almost completely destroyed. In this way, Brock pushes the image to its threshold, stripping away and discarding what the canvas, and by extension, the artist himself, once held fast to, in order to see what remains.

Toying with the notion of what painting is in this way, we have a new understanding of what it really means to "kill your darlings," as William Faulkner once advised. And yet, while Brock, by destroying his early work, has rejected it in one sense, he has, obviously, not disposed of it completely. Rather, through a process of deletion that recalls the practices of Brice Marden or Lucio Fontana, the artist has used a method of eradication to make something new.


Keltie Ferris, <<<>>>, Oil, acrylic, oil pastel & sprayed paint on canvas 80x80"

Keltie Ferris, ((!!!!!)), Oil, acrylic, oil pastel & sprayed paint on canvas
80x80"

Keltie Ferris, oooo000()()(), Oil, acrylic, oil pastel & sprayed paint on canvas
100x80"

these looked like giant out of focus old atari games. the fuzzy spray paint was disorienting in all the right ways! reminded me of what the world looks like to me w/out my contacts in. while w/kadar's work i saw the courage to cover shit up and move on, in keltie's i saw a wonderful reckless abandon w/color, materials and form - something else i've been working on. both artists' work are not clean and neat - they're messy and you can see that they've been there. she layers the shit out of all kinds of bright materials that adds up to a dense explosion in your face. she also has the courage to cover old stuff up too. what's great is that you see all that, you see a bit of her process. i kept walking back and forth from the paintings, squinting my eyes wondering if i could get the paintings in focus - i had created a game for myself. i'd like to go back w/out my contacts in and see what kinda crazy happens.

from the press release:

Treating every mark like a found material, Ferris builds her work like a bird builds a nest, or a beaver a dam. Each mark remains openly and honestly itself, and of its material: the spray is not masked, the oil pastel is not blended, and all 48 colors from the box set are used. However each mark is tightly knit to the structure of the painting.

The work is non-verbal, more like noise then language, more akin to flashing lights and potential energies then anything namable. Therefore each painting is titled by a set of punctuation marks, such as (((!!!))) created by the artist to emblematize the emotive, nearly expletive nature of her work. Other titles (including the title of the show) allude to bathroom graffiti, notebook valentines, as well as the ambition of marking a space and marking a future.

both shows are up until the end of the month; kadar brock until the 23dec, keltie ferris until 30dec. if you're in nyc, CHECK THEIR SHIT OUT!

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2010-11-29T12:18:00.000-05:00

ny.10.#03

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