A little advance press....

“Everything’s Coming Up Roses”

Upcoming Gallery exhibition @ WG News + Arts / 50 – 52 Dobbin Street / Brooklyn, NY 11222

OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, May 6, 2011 6-8 pm

Claudine Anrather / Dawn Arrowsmith / Luisa Caldwell / Rebecca Graves / Mary Addison Hackett / David Kramer / Cati LaPorte / Norma Markley / Mery Lynn McCorkle / Marilla Palmer / Gary Petersen / Roland Reiss / Greg Stone /

Curated by Luisa Caldwell and Mery Lynn McCorkle

Gallery Hours: May 7 – May 28: Open Saturdays 12-4 or by appointment: (917) 304-6213 / (917) 656-6048 / (706) 528-2306 /

Flowers have a mixed heritage in the arts. On the one hand, they have represented lofty emotions (Shakespeare’s “rosemary is for remembrance”) and sexuality (O’Keefe). On the other, they are pretty, a suitable subject for Sunday watercolorists. They are a perfect metaphor for the half empty/half full debate: it all depends upon one’s viewpoint.

For contemporary artists, both viewpoints tend to be highlighted simultaneously. Flowers in the 21st century have come to represent consumerism, modernism, environmentalism, to reflect our architecture, our psyche, our utopias, allowing the artists to pry a more positive outlook out of misfortune.

The thirteen artists in this May show expose a wide range of interpretations revolving around the word “flower.” Luisa forms flowers with commercial labels. David shows how they are employed as an advertising tool. Cati miniaturizes them into stamps with a contradictory message. Norma creates them out of dance steps. Rebecca uses them to symbolize the transitory nature of life. Gary explodes them into abstraction. Roland embeds them in modernism. Dawn teases them out of the web of LA street maps. Marilla concocts them from mushroom spores. Claudine explores the dissolution of forms. For Mary Addison, they are a juxtaposition of southern decay and play. Mery Lynn fashions them out of glitter. Greg burns them into being.

***

I'll have two watercolors in this show. I'm titling them now. I did them over the winter. I was going to leave the works on paper untitled, but that doesn't seem right. I revisited Ruskin, my go-to guy for nature and painting.

AND on the other coast, roughly around the same time, I will also have 2 watercolors/gouaches in this show.

INCOGNITO Saturday, April 30, 2011, 7 – 10 pm Doors open at 7 pm sharp Santa Monica Museum of Art's highly anticipated annual art exhibition and benefit, INCOGNITO, will return for its seventh year on Saturday, April 30. INCOGNITO features original works by 500 contemporary artists. (For the list of participating artists, please scroll down.) From sophisticated art patrons to first-time collectors – all guests are encouraged to trust their instincts to guide their selections. Each 8" x 10" work is signed on the back and artist identities are revealed only after purchase. Hundreds of artworks are available for only $300 each.    Food by Lene DJ Set by Enorbito and Ganas of Mas Exitos and a wide range of libations INCOGNITO PARTICIPATING ARTISTS (As of April 20) Luciana Abait, Lillian Abel, Kim Abeles, Lisa Adams, Nick Agid, Cathy Akers, Cynthia Alexander, Terry Allen, Jami Allen-Snyder, Sophia Allison, Melinda Smith Altshuler, Fumiko Amano, Michelle Andrade, Eleanor Antin, Carolyn Applegate, Skip Arnold, Charles Arnoldi, Alejandro Artigas, Joshua Aster, Chad Attie, Donald Baechler, Hilary Baker, John Baldessari, Glen Baldridge, Devendra Banhart, Miyoshi Barosh, Ray Barrie, Kelly Barrie, Lyndon Barrois Jr, Judith Barry, Gary Baseman, Edith Beaucage, Martin Beck, Drew Beckmeyer, Tina Beebe, Quinton Bemiller, Billy Al Bengston, Jodie Berry, Guillermo Bert, Everitt Betsy, Brian Biedul, Joe Biel, Heimir Bjorgulfsson, Dan Bohbot, M.B. Boissonnault, Lauren Bon, Derek Boshier, Janet Bothne, Katy Kristin Bowen, Astrid Bowlby, Mark Bradford, Leonardo Bravo, Brian Bress, Stephanie Brooks, Kimberly Brooks, Calef Brown, Edgar Bryan, Elizabeth Bryant, David Buckingham, Bruce Busby, Nao Bustamante, Kristin Calabrese, Huguette Caland, Jo Ann Callis, Jane Callister, Clayton Campbell, Giorgio Carlevaro, Barbara Carrasco, Karen Carson, Richard Carter, Jamison Carter, Carter Carter, Enrique Castrejon, Xavier Cázares Cortéz, Corinne Chaix, Matthew Chambers, Emilio Chapela, Jeff Charbonneau and Eliza French, Daniel Chavira, Nicole Cherubini, Marc Chiat, Tofer Chin, Maximillian Chow, Mary Christiansen, Greg Colson, Jeff Colson, Brian Cooper, Michael Coughlan, Eileen Cowin, Lori Cozen-Geller, Liz Craft, Steve Craig, Thomas Alan Cronk, Hugo Crosthwaite, Daniel Cummings, Jay Davis, Tony de los Reyes, Mara De Luca, Michael Dee, Steve Degroodt, Tony Delap, Ann Diener, Guy Dill, Tomory Dodge, Mimi Drop, Anna Dusi, Mark Dutcher, Addoley Dzegede, Mari Eastman, JonMarc Edwards, A. McLean Emenegger, Elizabeth  Enders, Noah Erenberg, Sam Erenberg, Timothy Ernst, Merion Estes, Ned Evans, Kirsten Everberg, Bart Exposito, Brian Fahlstrom, Amir H. Fallah, Mollie Favour, Carolyn Fernandez, Bruria Finkel, Chris Finley, Kim Fisher, Ed Flynn, Kianga Ford, Simone Forti, Andrew Foster, Brendan Fowler, Jona Frank, Jonah Freeman, Bryan Freeny, Terri Friedman, Sarah Frost, Gajin Fujita, Caroline Furr, Joe Fyfe, Francesca Gabbiani, Charles Gaines, Steve Galloway, Harry Gamboa Jr., Corina Gamma, Gary Garay, Helen K. Garber, Helen Garber, Rico Gatson, Jordan  Gaunce, Megan Geckler, Alejandro Gehry, Lisa Borgnes Giramonti, Milton Glaser, Shirley Glass, Sayre Gomez, Marcelino Goncalves, Yolanda Gonzalez, Joe Goode, Penelope Gottlieb, Rives Granade, Tim Granlund, Alexandra Grant, Cameron Gray, Phyllis Green, Mark Steven Greenfield, Maria Greenshields-Ziman, Alvin P. Gregorio and Donald Fodness, Margaret  Griffith , Iva Gueorguieva, Mary Addison Hackett, Nancy Jean Hancock, Lynn Hanson, Willie Harris, Kira Lynn Harris, Joseph Hart, Adam Harteau, Karen Harter, Doug Harvey, Michael Hayden, Edgar Heap of Birds, Drew Heitzler, Wendy Heldmann, Matthew Heller, David Hendren, Roger Herman, Pixie Herms, George Herms, Juan Carlos Muñoz Hernandez, Katie Herzog, Gilah Yelin Hirsch, Susan Holcomb, Loren Holland, Violet Hopkins, Channa Horwitz, Brad Howe, Bettina Hubby, Salomón Huerta, Dusadee Huntrakul, Eva Hyam, Alex Israel, Patrick Jackson, Mac James, Max Jansons, Michael Jantzen, Ellen Jantzen, JC Jaress, Carrie Jenkins, Sara Jerome, Butt Johnson, Robert Johnson, Vincent Johnson, Vincent Joliet, Michael Joo, Jow, Sharon Kagan, Cindy Kane, Yoichi Kawamura, Veronika Kellndorfer, Mary Kelly, Brian Kennon, Steve Kim, Soo Kim, Linda King, Bill Kleiman, Patricia Knop, Christof Kolhoffer, Alice Könitz, Olga Koumoundouros, Thomas Kovachevich, Greg Kozaki, Joyce Kozloff, Marcus Kuiland-Nazario, Alan Kupchick, Robert Kushner, Aitor Lajarin, Suzy Lake, Wes Lang, Lauren Lavitt, Tom  Leeser, Rick  Legorreta, Anthony Lepore, Les Levine, Joshua Levine, Robert Levine, Sharon Levy, Won Ju Lim, Clarence Lin, Jed Lind, Martin Linss, Chris Lipomi, Littlewhitehead, Annabel Livermore, Jay Lizo, Karen Lofgren, Peter Lograsso, Caitlin Lonegan, Andrea Longacre-White, William Longhauser, Mara Lonner, Renée Lotenero, Richard Louderback, Jean Lowe, Justin Lowe, John Gilbert Luebtow, Heriberto Luna, Mela M., Kim MacConnel, Nancy Macko, Christina Madans, Constance Mallinson, Daniel Maltzman, Becca Mann, Summer Mann, Mirabelle Marden, Ana Marini-Genzon, Adam Marnie, Amanda Marsalis, Luigia Martelloni, Taras Matla, Jake Kean Mayman, Yassi Mazandi, Kim McCarty, Robin McCauley, Mercedes McDonald, David McDonald, Kelly McLane, Michael C. McMillen, Rodney McMillian, James McNulty, Blue McRight, Jacob Melchi, Robert Mellor, Adrian Meraz, Thom Merrick, Christopher Michlig, Tom  Millea, John Millei, Brad Miller, Allison Miller, Greg Miller, James Miller, Robert Minervini, Robin Mitchell, Ginette Mizraki, Chuck Moffit, Bobbie Moline-Kramer, Nancy Monk, Lester Monzon, Mary More, Jim Morphesis, Joey Lehman Morris, Rebecca Morris, Aaron Morse, Ed Moses, Andy Moses, Brian Moss, Mario M. Muller, Thomas Müller, Manfred Müller, Doug Murphy, Hillary Mushkin, Marcel Nagy, Barbara Nathanson, Chris Natrop, Tucker Neel, Charles Nickila, Jessica Nicol, Leonard Nimoy, Danial Nord, Yarg Noremac, Laurie Nye, Chris Oatey, Matthew Offenbacher, Saelee Oh, Yoshua Okon, Patti Oleon, Chris Oliveria, Pat O'Neill, Catherine Opie, Ed Osborn, Kaz Oshiro, Ruby Osorio, Gina Osterloh, John Outterbridge, Edward Carlo Pacio, Gary Palmer, Liga Pang, Christopher Pate, Izhar Patkin, Joan Perlman, John Pestoni, Renee Petropoulos, Raymond Pettibon, Margaret Pezalla-Granlund, Ave Pildas, Paul Pitsker, Allie Pohl, Bruce Pollock, Vanessa Prager, Lori Precious, Astrid Preston, Stephanie Pryor, Yuval Pudik, Antonio Puleo, Rosamond Purcell, Jonathan Pylypchuk, Michael Queenland, Bill Radawec, Ibojka Radawec, Leta Ramos, Joe Ray, David Reed, Miles Regis, Lucas Reiner, Rob Reynolds, Dan Rider, Ellwood T. Risk, Lynn Robb, John Robertson, Walter Robinson, Steve Roden, Michael A. Rosenfeld, Rachel Rosenthal, Melanie Rothschild, Kathy Rudin, Allen Ruppersberg, Ed Ruscha, Eddie Ruscha, Sharon Ryan, Lezley Saar, Alison Saar, Gwen Samuels, Adrian Sanchez, Ruth Sanpietro, Julião Sarmento, Debra Scacco, Larry Scharf, Lothar Schmitz, Kim  Schoenstadt, Barbara Schwan, Josh Schweitzer, Chloe Sells, Lisa Semler, Shelter Serra, Claudio Sgaravizzi, Tom Shannon, Brian Sharp, Jim Shaw, Peter Shire, Fran Siegel, Elena Mary Siff, Richard David Sigmund, Simmons & Burke, Doni Silver Simons, Kristina M Simonsen, Anna Simson, Alex Slade, Rena Small, Barbara T. Smith, Alexis Smith, Ali Smith, Joe Sola, Mariangeles Soto-Diaz, Brad Spence, Dante Spinotti, Jeni Spota, Zack Stadel, Andréa Stanislav, Randi Malkin Steinberger, Jennifer Steinkamp, Gretel Stephens, Coleen Sterritt, Mary Clare Stevens, Whitney Stolich, Roni Stretch, Dean Styers, Don Suggs, May Sun, Tamara Sussman, Henry Taylor, Ed Templeton, Masami Teraoka, Samantha Thomas, Mickalene Thomas, Mark Todd, Timothy Tompkins, Anne Troutman, David Trulli, Brian Tucker, Carrie Ungerman, Kaari Upson, Bob Van Breda, Alison Van Pelt, Jennifer Vanderpool, Vasa, Sage Vaughn, Ariane Vielmetter, Tyler Vlahovich, Catherine Wagner, Keith Walsh, Gary Ward, Esther Pearl Watson, Mary K. Weatherford, Marnie Weber, William Wegman, Roger Weik, Trine Wejp-Olsen, Jennifer West, Brett Westfall, Pae White, Ben White, Brian Wills, Fred Wilson, Lyn Winter, Steven Wolkoff, Eve Wood, Suzan Woodruff, Leslie Yagar, Rosha Yaghmai, Bruce Yonemoto, Liat Yossifor, Kent and Kevin Young, Brenna Youngblood, Buzz Yudell, Robert Rahway Zakanitch, Eric Zammitt, Christine Zelinsky, Jody Zellen, Bari Ziperstein, Pippi Zornoza. INCOGNITO 2011 COMMITTEE Price Latimer Agah (Committee Chair), Claressinka Anderson, Michael Briggs, Charlotte Eyerman, Veronica Fernandez, Alexandra Gaty, François Ghebaly, Justin Gilanyi, Heather Harmon, Karyn Kohl, Bettina Korek, David Montalba, Bruce Samuels, MD, Colette Shelton, Dr. Leigh Silverton, V. Joy Simmons, MD, Lia Trinka-Browne


I will be time-traveling and astral-projecting the next few weeks.