Sleight of Hand

It's tucked away in a back gallery, hidden from view. If looks could kill, this show would plead guilty. Armed with hi-viz hues and iridescent  pigments, the paintings in Shell Game have toppled over themselves on the way to outsmart one another. The ringleader, known simply as FTP (Faker Than Plastic,) was last seen shaking down the gawkers while the rest of the juvy gang (Spin, Downstream Log Dream, Pretty Pass, Hologram, Turner's Vignette, and Ombre on the Outside faced off on opposing walls. Skunk, whose Christian name is Clowns to the Left, Jokers to the Right, sat frozen in the middle, unsure how this scene was going to play out. Lil' Scoop Neck (shorty shorty) wasn't tall enough for this ride and was sent back to the Merry-Go-Round.

Shell Game, a show of 9 works by Mary Addison Hackett is on view at Tinney Contemporary, August 24th - September 28th, 2013. 

Copy. Export as PDF. Delete. Repeat.

Process is in the process of a transformation. What's that you say? How will this affect, me, your not-so-loyal reader?

Well, for starters, 2005, 2006, and 2007 have left the blogosphere. Except the Baldessari post- it's still there for posterity and will be archived at a later date. The writing is a little unpolished and clunky, but it was a charming story.

I was surprised at how uncarthartic the Delete process was. My studio life in Culver City was more exciting than it has been here, but that's like saying Cream of Wheat is more exciting than Cream of Rice. I experienced some fabulous art firsthand and was reminded of shows I had been in with artists I admire. There was sunshine and cappuccino. I saw some mistakes. I had studio visits on a regular basis. People genuinely seemed interested in talking about the work. LA was good. There was some sadness of course, but all in all, very good.

Still, we can't live in the past. Onward and upward.

In tandem, I'm also winnowing out my bookshelves. The odds that I will frantically need to pull a quote from Semiotics and Interpretation or Sexual/Textual Politics is slim, but just in case, I will keep them. On the other hand, my Home Improvement tome can go. If I can't find out how to fix something via YouTube, there's no reason to carry on.

It's time for a change.

I forget things.

"Levitational" at LAX through December 2013

link:

I was just reminded by someone who passed through LAX that I still have work installed at LAX International Airport in Terminal 3. 

3 of 20 panels 

Wow. I made even more work than I remembered this year. I had totally forgotten that the winter work force cranked every day painting 20 scenarios as seen in the above works on paper.

Every year I threaten to take some time off and stick my feet in the sand or something. I'm still threatening to do that. One day. 

I'm kind of on break this week. Not really, because I'm prepping works for delivery and cleaning out the house.  I'm catching up on reading. 

I'm excited about some upcoming stuff. It's not directly art-related, but it's relevant. 

Aiming for nothing.

that's my faux chop that looks like a chair.  ^

Today 

may have been the first day in 3 years

I didn't get emotional

The map of state quarters did it last time, 

but today, 

it was just a piece of cardboard. 

I took in the tattered inspirational daybook

with multiple dates listing births

and deaths, 

including a stillborn first cousin.

My aunt and uncle were like a second set of parents to me. 

My own mother had 2 miscarriages prior to my birth. 

Stuffed animals wrapped in plastic. 

Needlepoint panels noting our horoscope sign, a prom dress. 

Linen tablecloths, 

still creased.

Do I need to keep the paperwork from the cemetery? 

I mean, 

what's the worst that can happen, 

Eviction?

Wake up Glitter Pony! Wake up!

(Occasionally there are technical difficulties when blogging between two formats. As a result, some witty corrections I made to my Glitter Pony post caused said post to be lost in the nether regions of the www.)

To recap, I was mulling over the phrase, "quiet integrity," when I came across something which made me question busting my glitter pony ass for the entire summer. I sat with it. There's the quiet part and the integrity part. I decided the integrity part would be to address it directly, and that the quiet part would be my response.

Wake up Glitter Pony, 2013

acrylic on canvas 

20 x 16

I'm also really happy that some work sold. I usually don't talk about commerce here or anywhere, but I'm blown away by the continued support from my former community. In turn I hope to give back. Maybe I've already given some, but it makes me want to give more. 

Now you see them....

http://maryaddisonhackett.com/shell-game-2013%0A

If you see me with a can of gold spray paint at the opening, be cool.

Two Upcoming Solo Exhibitions

It's been a productive and intense couple of years in the studio and I'm excited to have two shows in September to kick off the fall season. I'm in the middle of compiling the checklists, but roughly, I'll be showing 35 works and 50 studies in two spaces. Insane, you say. I agree.  

I blasted everyone's inbox early because the shows are in Nashville and since most of the fine citizens on my mailing list are not, I couldn't think of a reason to keep it under wraps any longer. I also uploaded the recent work to the website. Major thanks to a group of artists friends for inspiring me with their own work, some virtual & long distance studio visits with discussions about what really matters, and for some disciplined daily practices I've incorporated into my life. Time to wipe down the palette table and pack up the work. I'm looking forward to starting with a clean slate and seeing what's next. Anything is possible.  

If you're able to visit Nashville, or would like to do a studio visit while the shows are up, please let me know and I would be happy to arrange a time to meet. 

image: Faker Than Plastic, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 48 inches Shell Game Tinney Contemporary August 24 - September 28, 2013 Opening Reception: Saturday September 7th, 6-9 pm Tinney Contemporary 237 5th Avenue North Nashville, TN 37219 ph. 615.255.7816 www.tinneycontemporary.com contact: Sarah Wilson In Shell Game, I revisit my relationship with abstraction by incorporating invented flora, patterns lifted from family heirlooms, and carefully constructed layers that shift slightly in color when viewed from different angles. Before studio hours, I had a meditation practice. During studio hours I listened to mashups. In between, I walked the dog and did housework; saw a movie or read a book; took a motorcycle ride and did some yoga or ran. There were a few storms. Trees went down. On and on.  Gallery Hours: Tuesday through Saturday: 11am - 5pm, and by appt.   ************************ image: Le Rayon Vert (Stańczyk), 2013, oil on canvas, 20 x 16 inches Le Rayon Vert Leu Gallery September 9 - October 17, 2013 Opening Reception: Thursday September 12, 5-7 pm Gallery Talk: Thursday September 12 at 5:30 pm Leu Art Gallery  Belmont University 1900 Belmont Blvd Nashville, TN 37212 Contact: Jessica Owings In Le Rayon Vert, my focus was on the parameters of painting and the ever-shifting construction of meaning, memory, and representation in my day-to-day life. The paintings in Le Rayon Vert are concerned with ideas about temporality and the absurd. My goal was anti-hierarchical and all-encompassing. I varied my approach by working from memory, direct observation, personal photographs and found images.  A green ray is an optical phenomena dependent on atmospheric condition that occurs as the sun sets. It’s the last ray as the sun recedes over the earth’s horizon. Jules Verne used it as a plot device in his book of the same name, and Eric Rohmer used Jules Verne’s book as a plot device in his film, also of the same name. I’ve taken liberty with the narrative structure and characteristics of French New Wave Film and applied them to the recent work. Viewed in this way, the paintings in Le Rayon Vert can be seen as jump cuts about perception.  Kitchen Paintings (#Drifters) As part of the Le Rayon Vert exhibition, I will be showing 50 studies from the Kitchen Paintings (#Drifters).  composite image: Kitchen Paintings (#Drifters), 2013, oil on wood, 6 x 4 x 1/4 inches each.  Last January I set up a cigar box studio in my kitchen and began documenting the wayfaring objects crossing its terrain. I am offering a selection of them available for sale before the show opens, at www.smallerworks.blogspot.com.  I am emphasizing that in red in case you are skimming. I had sworn off painting really small, but I began these as a casual documentation project and sometime during breakfast while working on #23 or so, I decided to make them available to help fund the studio. They are currently available through my studio, and will be for sale during the show at Leu Gallery at Belmont University.   As an acknowledgement of your support, (and patience), you can choose to be listed publicly on the wall tag as a lender to the exhibition. I'm doing this in the spirit of experimentation since the show is at a university gallery. My intention is to divert some attention back to people who support me and to demonstrate the micro-economy in the arts that often goes unnoticed.  Please visit the site in order to purchase, or contact me directly. The studies are oil on hand-cut wood panels and are priced at $200.

Syllabus.

PROJECTS AND ASSIGNMENTS

1. Mark-Making. Students will produce drawings demonstrating the vocabulary of mark-making while simultaneously texting how boring art class is. 
2. Sighting Techniques. Students will produce drawings of still lifes demonstrating basic and advanced sighting techniques that they will pretend to understand but won't. They will insist they understand, and yet, continue to draw the still life as if they are standing directly in front of it.
3. Composition. Students will produce drawings investigating open and closed compositions and not really care one iota about old school compositional strategies. And who can blame them.
4. Contour and Line Sensitivity. Most students will produce drawings of environments and still lifes exploring line quality with emphasis on line variation and modulation to describe volume and mass. A few will insist they need to draw shadows and start smudging their paper with their fingers making it look like total crap. 
5. Value and Volume. Students will draw a still life containing the basic forms (Sphere, Cone, Tube, Cube) beginning with line and finishing with rendering and modeling skills. We will continue to work on this project until everyone runs out of graphite. Students should bring sleeping bags and rations.
6. Perspective. Students will create a one and two point perspective drawing based on the laws of linear perspective. Some will create intricate labyrinths leading to a 4th dimension. Others will feign boredom, a few won't understand. After 15 years of doing this, I will become disoriented when drawing on the blackboard. 
7. Wet Media and Serial Imagery. Students will explore process based wet media techniques and create a series of drawings investigating a single theme. One student will dis abstract art as bullshit. Other than that, we're nearing the end of the semester. I'm giddy.
8. Collaboration and the Grid. Students will work collaboratively to create a drawing enlarged by the accurate use of the grid method. Each student will be responsible for a portion of the drawing. Someone will inevitably have a death in the family. Another will blow it off or leave it at home. There will be a lovely grid hanging on the wall with gaping holes. We contemplate this as metaphor and proceed to question if the universe has meaning.  
9. Final Project demonstrating successful use of skills learned thus far. Students will be responsible for their own still life and spend both class and homework time on this project. One student will insist their project be a direct copy from a photograph and throw a fit when reminded the focus is observational drawing from life. Another will show up to class with nothing. In the end, most everyone pulls off amazing work. I call my bookie to cash in on the bet I placed earlier: Which "A" student will abruptly stop coming to class the last two weeks before school ends? 
10. Sketchbooks. Most students will keep a sketchbook throughout the semester as means of investigating sketching as a serious activity designed to improve their day-to-day drawing skills. Some will advance to demonstrating tattoo designs, their name in various fonts, and a 10-second still life. Others will take a more minimalist approach and turn in a blank sketchbook. All approaches are valid. As a way of expressing solidarity, I will match minimal work with a minimal grade. 

Two more for the weekend.

August is upon us.

Which is just a fancy way of saying, holy crap, I've been painting solid for two shows. And soon they will be over. And I presume there may or may not be something else to come later. I used to get anxious concerned if I didn't have something booked in advance while preparing for the current show, like that was it. Over and done. Time to make peace and call it a good run. Happens with every show. But sometime over the course of the last 10 years, I finally noticed that there was always something next. A phone call, an email, another artist recommendation. It keeps going. I also noticed another sign of growth: if it didn't, I could use the space to take more risks and explore. Occasionally I try and rationalize that I should NOT still be exploring new ideas in my work. That I should jump on the consistency bandwagon and turn pro. I am joking of course. If you know me, you will know which part of that sentence is the funnier part of that joke. Let's go with bandwagon for now.

I've even thought I'd actually welcome a couple of years of without a commitment- nothing but working on transient ideas going nowhere, or perhaps taking the time to work on a couple of large mind-blowingly detailed paintings without knowing the results, but let's not get hasty. Time is weird like that.

I'll be off the grid focusing on nothing most of this weekend, but here's a couple more from the Kitchen Paintings (#Drifters).  Enjoy.

See's vs. Bananas

Reheat

WE ARE LIVE. YES!

There was a small technical issues that prevented the blitzkrieg from taking the Internet by storm, but it's been resolved and persistence does pay off.  Thank you, early supporter!

So far, here's what you've missed:

20. Chemex, Dollar Bill

Not to worry, there are more, but currently, I'm only uploading a small selection during the month of August.

And in case you're just now hip to this, here's the the down-low. Scoot over to Smaller Works presents right now, and read more about it. Or sure, if you're tired and can't stand the thought of clicking a new window open, read about it below. But over there is the only place we can engage in a public act of commerce without having people stare at us like we're some trashy leftovers from the 80's art market.

Kitchen Paintings (#Drifters) will be part of an upcoming solo show, Le Rayon Vert, at Leu Gallery at Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee. The show runs from September 9 - October 11, 2013.

Beginning THURSDAY August 1st, I will be posting selections from the Kitchen Paintings (#Drifters). I will be offering them for sale before the show is installed.

For being an early supporter, you will be thanked on the wall label with a "Courtesy of Your Name" attribution, and receive free shipping. Paintings will be shipped as soon as the show comes down. 

September 1, 2013 is the last day for credit on the wall label and free shipping. (You can also choose to be an anonymous supporter.)

The Kitchen Paintings (#Drifters) began as a contemplation on simplicity and the passage of time. To date there are 53 paintings.