Director Tim Skousen has just released his documentary “Zero Percent” at the Dallas Film Festival. It spotlights a higher education program within the maximum security prison Sing Sing called Hudson Link. It’s graduates boast a zero percent recidivism rate, meaning that upon being released, none have returned to jail. The film focuses on a small [...]
I took a little hiatus from writing about art because I needed to sort out some thoughts. I have not been visiting gallery shows or museums recently because I have been tired of the quality/crap ratio. On the other hand, I am in awe of all the cool things being made these days, they just [...]
From July 2 – August 1, Northpark Center is displaying an exhibit of various buildings in Downtown Dallas made entirely of Legos. These are HUGE models, many of which focus on the new Dallas Arts District (including the new park over Woodall Rogers). The location is on the second floor, beside the Barney’s entrance. Girls, [...]
Kana Harada just had an opening at the MAC, displaying almost a dozen of her plant-forms. The combination of trees and flowers reminds me of the forest within the movie Avatar. Part plant, part self-aware, these wilting organisms feel like they are from a dreamscape both familiar and wondrous. More pictures here. [...]
A podcast has recently been released on Frieze Art Fair’s site with a panel discussion about Art and Theory. (The most notable figure being Robert Storr, but the entire panel is excellent). When you have 1hr 30min to spare, take some time to listen. It starts slow with a few prepared remarks, and then really [...]
The Sunday edition of the NYTimes featured an article on Ken Price titled "The Blobs Aren’t Talking ," by Nick Stillman. While I am happy to see such a worthy artist get the spotlight, the article read more like a Wikipedia survey. The primary contributions by Mr. Stillman’s (beyond good gathering of facts) were [...]
If there were three balls on the floor (1lb, 50lbs, 100lbs) but all the same size, shape, color and surface … could you tell the difference from just looking? The questions of mass, ambiguity and perception seem to be Jay Sullivan’s starting point. I had previously written about his rock-forms here , and now [...]
I just returned from attending Modern Ruin, a great experiment organized by Christina Rees and Thomas Feulmer. The two-day exhibition takes advantage of the never-used 1 million dollar WaMu branch at 5030 Greenville. The corperate franchise aesthetic provided a very bizarre backdrop for the experimentation of 15 artists remaking the space visually and behaviorly. [...]
Chong Chu & Hyun Ju Chung (married) continue to be Dallas based painters, but they have not shown much in Dallas since the close of Edith Baker Gallery. They do continue to show in Korea and LA. Recently, I came across an invitation for their upcoming show in Austin. The VAM Gallery within the [...]
The New York Times’ Hollin Cotter has recently reviewed Tino Sehgal’s show of performance based art at the Guggenheim. It is a highly praised show, but the no-photography policy (of the artist) is making just as many headlines, see here and here. (Everyone notes how untenable this position is). Even the New York Times starts [...]
"Sho" is the name of the new sculpture in the Meadows Museum Plaza, consisting of a large wire-frame head. I had seen images of this promoted around town, but had no idea how large and impressive it is in person. While the form is barely a head, it unifies the vast (empty) surroundings in [...]
As the director of SlideRoom, I have a unique point of view on trends in the arts: contests, grants, education, etc … One interesting trend I am seeing in West Coast Art schools is creating different educational tracks for Studio Practice and Social Practice. Two schools that are doing this include California College of Arts [...]
Philip Van Keuren has mounted a fantastic show of his work on paper from the past forty years (at the MAC). This includes poetry, drawings, photographs and photogravure. Impeccably arranged, the show contains a wide variety of forms & formats, but also an amazing focus over such a long time-period. The invitation to the show [...]
Artist and Blogger Dennis Hollingsworth just visited Claremont Graduate School to talk with students. He was struck by their longing for professional assurances about life after school and questions about theory. The full post is really a two parter: 1) Comment on Grad School 2) A History of Theory (sort of). His message to young [...]
Art Critic Carol Diehl, in her recent post Observation on Observation , has written an excellent essay about the importance of writers talking about the art itself, and not getting distracted by outside BS. Here is a clip: "Interpreters of art seem unable to deal with the object itself and instead rely on externals, [...]
Once a year (or so) the artists with studio space at the Shamrock Hotel in Deep Ellum host an open studio day. The whole space is includes 6-7 spaces, each with work on display by a different artist. The space has been a rotating community of artists since 1997 (I think) and continued to be [...]
Helen Stoilas has just published an excellent interview with Robert Storr titled: Robert Storr: Most theory has little bearing on art. Here is a snip from the opening remarks: Storr: "I’m not sure that art and theory were ever that close to begin with. There are some artists who read theory seriously but not [...]
The topic of offering an MFA degree (or even a PhD) has long been a subject of debate. Edward Winkleman recently posted about it again, and the comments show that the intensity of the topic is still alive. Contributing to this intensity is the expense of getting a degree in these difficult economic times. I [...]
Joe Fig interviews 24 contemporary artists (from the usual to the young) and askes them each the same questions. From "what kinds of paints do you use and special devices" to "when were you able to dedicate yourself full-time to being an artist?" The questions are exactly what artists want to know and (I think) [...]
Many artists today rely on their computers as part of their studio practice. Whether this be Photoshop, video-editing or some other practice, there is a heavy reliance (and trust) of color on our own computer screens. The problem resides in not knowing how the monitors of others will see the work. I have already written [...]
