Studio Talk

December, 2008

The Goods Gallery

The Goods Gallery of Long Beach is a public-private temporary mobile structure, also known as shipping containters, soliciting the community and its art and cultural events. Starting December 13th 2008, through January 31st 2009, they are taking submissions and proposals for their downtown Long Beach location.

November, 2008

UAM At Noon

The UAM played host to a gallery talk featuring curators Megan Heotger, Stacie Martinez and Nicole Urquidi; who spoke briefly about their curatorial efforts with Un-figuring the body (until Dec. 14), followed by Things to do when you can't Sleep, a performance by artist Dawn Kasper.

"In a culture increasingly dominated by the media, one's sense of selfhood is figured, or given form and meaning, in relation to a dense matrix of images and fictions."

The first sentence, in the beautiful folder and accompanying essay for the exhibition, I believe is true in that we can all probably agree that our sense of selfhood is influenced by culture as a "dense matrix of images and fictions". I like the first sentence when it is projected on the backdrop of the University Art Museum as an institution that presents a controlled, er, academic and curated matrix of images. I also wonder if, the media, intends to imply that museums are under attack, presenting a persistent reference, by the media. Speaking of images and fictions, Kapser referenced Joseph Beuys in her discussion. I think it is worth reflecting on mythology, as certainly Kasper is aware of the uncertainty of the Beuys myth, and I wonder if her dramatic and introspective work is actually playing on that. I take a mythology as being something our collective conscious had intimate connections with at one time, however now we can all agree that at best our assumptions were incorrect, or at worst we have moved on to a future myth. I would say the most compelling thing about Dawn Kasper is in the performance, rather than trying to connect us to her personal tragedies.

October, 2008

Art Historians of So. Cal.

Art Historians of Southern California spoke at the CSULB Horn Center this month about Old Media New Media during their annual conference. CSULB MA candidate Amber Smith spoke at length about Michelangelo and Vittoria Colonna and their relationship and the art it produced. Jacki Apple discussed her current and ongoing project Re-presentation/exhibition of time-based 20th century art in the 21st century, which mostly was a promotion of her website, but the work done as part of a hypersensitivity to documentation is pretty slick. Rosanna Albertini held an informal discussion illuminating the trajectory of Italian video art since 1976, focused around the videos of Gianni Toti. It pains me that I cannot link to his videos after a couple of weeks looking in cyberspace for them. Glenn R. Phillips, curator of California Video at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Getty Center in March - June, 2008 focused on Wolfgang Stoerchle and his performance work, citing irreverent artist Paul McCarthy as a direct decendant of Stoerchle's research in urine and errections.

Bill Viola vs. 5D

Reality and Hyper Reality

Moderator John Tarnoff , with panelists Evan Douglis, Scott Robertson, Gore Verbinski, and Lance Williams.
Hyper reality is, THE AUTHENTIC FAKE, Umberto Eco.
John Tarnoff opened with the Eco quote, then brought up the Uncanny Valley in reference to the work and goals of immersive design, but admitted he really didn't know what it was about. Kind of like most of the conference, important philosophical questions brushed aside by the free market machine. The utopia of 5D triumphs dystopian viewpoints of the technology. Which, by the way, is totally amazing. The work of Lance Williams at Disney on the Human Face Project speaks for itself. I wonder, because co-sponsor, the Disney Imagineers were on hand, he overlooked Eco and his connection in TRAVELS IN HYPER REALITY between other allegories of consumer society, places of total passivity, places of absolute iconism where visitors agree to behave like robots? But I digress. What does this have to do with Bill Viola? Well, along with Tracy Fullerton and USC's EA Game Innovation lab, he is producing a VIDEO GAME called The Night Journey. I learned that he is a founding member of the 5D conference. I could hear an echo of him giving a lecture for the art students at CSULB... something along the lines of not being able to trust reality because we are able to manipulate it to a magnificent extent. At least on video.

September, 2008

Interview with McLean Fahnestock, Co-Curator of GLAMFA, by Bryan Allen Moore, editor.

What is GLAMFA?

GLAMFA is the Greater LA MFA Exhibition. In its fourth year, it has grown into a curated survey of MFA work from schools in and around Los Angeles -- from UC Santa Barbara in the North to UNLV in the east and UC San Diego in the South. It is unique in that it is curated by CSULB MFA and MA students from the work of our peers in other programs.

Aside from the acronym, is there a common thread among the artists and their work that makes this a coherent show from a curatorial standpoint?

When curating this show, we did not have a set thematic glue in mind but as we worked we began to see trends develop; Materiality and the act of Collection in particular. It is in placing the work in the galleries that we were able to play off of those themes.

In your mind, what role does CSULB play in the conversation of contemporary art by curating an exhibit of graduate students from the greater Los Angeles area?

By curating this show, we insert ourselves into a conversation that had been going on around us for many years. GLAMFA is our way of piping up and making our presence known. Los Angeles now knows that not only can we put on a good show but that we have high caliber work as well (which is why we schedule our Open Studios for the same day as the GLAMFA reception). LA is also a hot place right now as far as contemporary art is concerned and that just adds to the timeliness of GLAMFA.

GLAMFA is growing in size and popularity every year. What are the plans for the future?

For GLAMFA, I would hope that it grows in renown. I would love to see more grad students get involved. We get fabulous support from the department and from The University and the bar gets set higher every year and I can't wait to see what will happen next September.

August, 2008

  • Daily 49er GLAMFA Review

  • Ian Pines (GLAMFA)
    • A Poem.
    Oppressive vapors of a humiliating, cumbersome world view dissipate; the air clears. It is the dawning of a new idol. Self-knowledge and sincerity pierce through the gloomy fog of asceticism. The flittering lights of confused instinct and momentary impulse are out-shown as a telos of a fleshy agenda becomes prominent. Overcome too are the rusted-over, abstract idols. The time for their worship, kneeling before an impersonal, eternal god, making me yearn for what I am not, is over. The new idol is my own.