Today is a studio day

I also promised to send someone a cd ages ago. I am lame. Will do that
on my coffee break.

Finally saw art today

Britton Tolliver at Kinkead Contemporary. Ali Smith at Mark Moore.
Gegam Kacherian at Rosamund Felsen. Finally remembered phone took pics
at SMMoA. Mike Kelly (above). Also Paul McCarthy, "Painter" video.

The puppet show at SMMoA

Dennis Oppenheim

I'm tired, so just go here -->

I think I mentioned that TAG Gallery in Nashville was closing it's doors. Some of the artists in Nashville threw a big surprise party for Jerry Dale. I was honored to have been invited and if I had been able to seamlessly transport myself the 2000 miles there and back, I would have.

It's been exciting to see the growth of the arts in Nashville over the course of the last 2 decades and I'm really happy to have been involved with TAG for the last 3 years. After having lived in Chicago for a spell, and now, L.A., showing in Nashville was as much about wanting to establish a connection with the arts community in my hometown as it was about exhibiting the work. I would say re-establish, but I moved away and went to grad school before I made any serious attempts to get to know other artists in Nashville. I did have one meeting with Zimmerman Saturn Gallery gallery right before grad school, but practically moments later, the gallery closed down due to personal circumstances and that was that. Life is really strange sometimes. So over the course of the last few years, I've managed to meet and show with some wonderful artists in Nashville and I hope that continues.

ok. I managed to write a couple of cohesive paragraphs, but for party coverage and more farewell responses, go to Sara La's blog.

If John Zorn can do commissioned work, so can I.

I don't actually do "commissioned" work, so it hasn't been much of an issue, but lately I've been asked to put together a couple of bids. I probably should be more internally conflicted about this, but I am not. I've finally realized why I'm not a snob about this anymore. One, I have no plans to paint differently than I usually do, so it's not like I'm going to bang out something less than stellar or try and split myself into fine art me vs. commercial me. Screw that, it's too difficult. Two, I'm incredibly lazy when it comes to finding a "job." And three, I work quickly, which reminds me of the saying, Fast, Good, Cheap, Pick 2. So, in the end, I'm okay with it because it's not a compromise, and because I've learned what 2 parts of the triangle I'm comfortable with. Plus, if Zorn can cut kick-ass tracks for Nike, then I can take on a commissioned work, too.

And another little thing I heard, which I really liked a lot, "You get up early in the morning and you work all day." - Philip Glass revealing the only secret he has.

Tonight's post was kind of about work ethics, wasn't it?

A couple of fun shows this summer...

$2 Show
100 artists were given a $2 Bill on which to make their masterpiece - each artwork is priced at $200 as a fundraiser for i-5 gallery. July 11-August 23.

The economy is sad. A forlorn bather considers jumping into a pool of molten silver. What a nice sunset.

and

Portrait Exhibition – "A Mirror On Which To Dwell"
The Government Gallery at VCAC
Exhibition dates: Thursday, July 31 – Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Reception: Thursday, August 7, 2008 5:30 – 7:00 pm
Curated By: Paul Benavidez



This is a drawing of a photograph taken of my mom and I for the church directory ions ago. My dad didn't go to church that Sunday. I have a godawful shag haircut and braces. I am wearing what I affectionately refer to as my Christmas Morning smile. It's the really big fake smile I put on for the camera after some dysfunctional family holiday argument.

Mother-daughter relationships are kind of intense, aren't they?

More from the influence of John Ruskin

There is No Such Thing as a General Rock
watercolor, gouache on museum board
11" x 6"

I'm having a blast with my works on paper rehab project. This was moping around the studio begging for me to finish it. I've mentioned my interest in Ruskin. I've mentioned my love of rocks. Ruskin also liked rocks. He did not believe there was such as thing as a general rock. Neither do I.

Information Overload

I was getting ready to post some words from, "What Painting Is" because I'm halfway through and there's this one paragraph that I keep thinking about.

But then I notice iTunes has introduced iTunes U—

The iTunes Store offers free audio and video content from top universities, famous museums, public media stations, and other cultural institutions...

—and I got distracted by even MORE intellectual fodder.

At a cursory glance, I came across the following:
Jessica Stockholder talks about teaching art at Yale.
A Conversation with Meg Cranston at Otis
Robert Storr on My Life as Artist
Tons of stuff from MoMA
Blair School of Music (where I studied classical piano from the age of 7- 13.)
and a lecture at MIT called Crackberry's, Exploring the Social Implication of Wireless email Devices.

So even though Apple has alienated a few people with their iPhone/MobileMe kerfuffle, I'm still a fangirl.

But back to Elkins...
p 124. second paragraph. The whole paragraph is pathetically true for me. I'll paraphrase to a point; Elkins is talking about a fixed element in a painting, a passage so successful that it accidentally becomes a cornerstone for the painting. Now, I will resort to quoting bits and pieces regarding this notion of fixation:

It is often possible to look at a painting and guess which passage was fixed early in the process....usually it is whatever is so obviously successful that the painter could not bear to efface it even when the whole painting changed around it until its very existence became a luxury.

...it wears out its welcome and become an annoyance.
...has outlived its value and continues to exists only as a fossil of some earlier notion of what the painting might have been.
...Anything permanent in the imagination becomes an obstruction....
...The paintings swirls around the fixed spot, protecting and enclosing it like a bandage.

My paintings are a tireless crusade.

car talk

Yesterday I was in a car, for most of the day it seemed. I'm in Los Angeles, so this would be considered normal for many people, but not me. I didn't even leave the boundaries of Culver City and yet because I had to cart stuff here and there, I couldn't bike or walk. No wonder people drive Bentleys.

Oh and I'm giving mobile blogging a go while I'm in the studio, just for kicks and because it's forced brevity. So if a post is choppy and brief like the one below, chances are I phoned it in.

Fwd: quake

Earthquake today. I was sweeping studio patio and heard rustling fluttering noise inside studio. I didn't feel the earth shake outside. Epicenter was about 30 miles away. It was a 5 on the Richter scale.

Begin forwarded message:

From: Matthew Konicek
Date: July 29, 2008 11:50:00 AM PDT
To: Mary Addison Hackett 
Subject: quake

http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Quakes/ci14383980.html

Paint Trolley