I Know They Know

Louise Bourgeois ( ink on silk )
  at The Herbert F. Johnson Museum
  "HAIR - Untangling Roots of Identity"
     thru July 14, 2013

If the government is conducting surveillance and reads my blog, at least they will be learning something about what to see in our part of New York State!

On a sunny day, I ducked inside the Herbert F. Johnson Museum on the Cornell University campus in Ithaca, to see their exhibitions.  The new entrance to the museum leads you downstairs past a partially enclosed Japanese garden and towards a temporary exhibition extolling the artistic potential and virtues of human hair.

The show accompanied by a handy little catalog was developed by The History of Art Majors' Society, and on the walls of the museum were myriad images where hair and hair styles play their part ( no pun intended).

Marina Abramovic

Marina Abramovic in a video projected on a wall is seen brushing her hair furiously and intoning that:"Art Must Be Beautiful" and the "Artist must be beautiful" meanwhile her image conveys frustration as the performance piece continues and the quandary deepens....  The subtitle of the show is "Untangling Roots of Identity" and this concerns both sexes - made memorable by the image of Ernesto Pujol all dressed up in a white habit of a Catholic nun that totally obscures the hair and calls into question the sex of the wearer.

Red dyes on silk is the medium in which Louise Bourgeois completes her thoughts on hair - and her funny image equates a faceless woman with a fountain continually spouting.  My friend,  Kumi Korf has a little print in this show that portrays a free floating hairstyle ( no face once again ) and short straight bangs.  How we look, and how we present ourselves is all part of our design, and it becomes identified with who we are and what we would like others to think of us.

A space is set aside for an extensive collection of weavings that the Johnson Museum has received as a donation.  Here I found a radical departure from the pictorialism of hair concepts in the rich geometry of a Naga Culture textile from 1930-1950.  The Naga Culture is from Burma, now called Myanmar and the strong grid is reinforced cotton with cowrie shells.

Naga Culture textile:
   cotton, goat hair, and cowrie shells

In the next room Kumi Korf is given more space to lay out a mini-retrospective of her prints and artist's books.  Kumi is also an architect and the three dimensional aspect of her artwork is very engaging.  There seems to be some influence from Joseph Cornell's shadow boxes in Kumi's artwork, as well as an aesthetic of biomorphism combined with calligraphy.  I am attracted to her recent prints like "Starr's Garden" - an intaglio print on Akatosashi paper, and I was struck by the unusual geometric forms of her book: "The Alphabet of My Phobias".

Kumi Korf's "The Alphabet of My Phobias"

Upstairs, in the Johnson Museum is another solo show titled "Summer Breeze", the paintings and drawings of Alice Dalton Brown.  Here, paintings dominate the space and Ms. Brown - a photorealist - portrays a world of sunlight in an empty room ( without the existential angst found in Edward Hopper's painting of the same name ).  Alice Dalton Brown has a quiet, patient approach to art making and it strikes a slow, determined, therapeutic note in contrast to a world that seems to constantly rush by.For this viewer the paintings are repetitive - seeming to strike the same notes over and over again, all done with a consummate virtuosity, of course.

"Golden Corner", 1988 by Alice Dalton Brown

Outside of the museum and just up the street is the new wing attached to the School of Art, Architecture and Urban Planning.  Opened this past year we have the marquee designs of Rem Koolhaas and you should take a walk through the new premises to see what can be done to shape the academic environment and give those students some new ways to think about space.  I was impressed, this sets a new standard, and an example to build upon.  

Rem Koolhaas 

School of Art, Architecture and Urban Planning

Cornell University

When I was a student getting my MFA at Cornell in the 1970's, I watched as the I.M. Pei designs took shape as the Herbert F. Johnson Museum went up on campus - it is still striking now forty years later.

You should take a look!

Father's Day

" 6 x 6 " 2013
     at 
     Rochester ContemporaryArt Center, Rochester, NY

I took a break from my painting of an iris blooming in my backyard to look around at the latest incarnation of " 6 x 6 " at RoCo.  This fundraiser never disappoints- there is something for everyone  and the price point for works of art was never better!

The official greeter at the gallery let me know that the exhibition contained over six thousand tiny works of art and that more than 1400 have been sold - towards a goal of selling over 2000 before the show closes July 14th.  The show and sale opened last week and sales continue also online where you can slowly view the entire collection.

The fun thing about this is that the artworks are all anonymous - that is,  there is no signature on the front to identify who made the art - all the buyer needs to do is plunk down their $20. and it is theirs.
Artists donate their artwork to help RoCo raise the money they need to operate.  I donated three small prints and they are hiding in plain sight, maybe someone will find them!

The show itself is hard to categorize beyond the size of the works aligned in a grid on the wall.  Many of the three dimensional works have already been sold and I think textures go a long way towards attracting attention.  Some of the art is easily identified with their creator - so if you are up on your contemporary art, and know the work of many artists - you probably can spot some works by a favorite artist, and then go and try to buy one for your own collection.

1975 Gallery mural

This summer keep your eyes open for murals being painted.  Last year there was quite a lot of attention being paid to the murals near the Farmer's Market.  I saw this wonderful mural on the side of the 1975 Gallery with a fresh coat of bright red on a clear day in June.  The initiative to bring murals to the street can be very interesting and a calling card for something a city has to offer.  Just take a look sometime when you are in Philadelphia, PA.  The murals there attract so much attention - there are regular tours to go and see what's up.

Now I have to get back to my painting before the light goes, or it starts to rain again!

Gasland 2

Josh Fox
  Director,  "Gasland 2" at Cornell University

Friday night in the Statler Auditorium on the campus of Cornell University, the director Josh Fox brought the crowd to its feet even before the movie started.  Josh Fox is the force behind "Gasland" and "Gasland 2" - both films that tell a story about recent developments in shale gas extraction - and much more..

The style of the film is cinema verite where a handheld camera juggles around too much - but this technique also lends a bit of an edge to the proceedings - especially when his camera is taken into a hearing room on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. where we see Josh Fox being arrested for filming a public forum.

His documentary artform is put to work making a case against fracking even though this point of view gets skewed at the beginning by recapping the horror story of the BP oil disaster in the Gulf from a couple of years ago.  There are many layers of information in the present film, and it covers a lot of the same ground that the first "Gasland" explored.  What was different for me this time was a follow-up discussion held in the Auditorium with many of the folks who had been interviewed in the new film.

People who attended this screening were able to ask questions of some of the experts including Robert Howarth who is a Professor at Cornell.  Howarth drew our attention to the amount of methane being poured into our atmosphere, and he touted a new plan to hook up our power grid to other energy sources, not natural gas.  Hopefully the activists in the audience will begin to promote the new plan to change over to renewable energy sources ( wind, water, bio fuels, etc ) and move the New York State government towards a positive action for our environment.

I Care at Bausch + Lomb

On a recent bumper sticker it said "Artwork Is Work!" and I couldn't agree more..

Trying to dig into the summer and spend some time in my studio, it is good to know that there are people out there who will appreciate the results.  Having a place to show this art to the public is the major follow-through for the artist - trying to make that all important connection with a viewer. Otherwise you could feel like the man-on-the-moon.

At the Bausch + Lomb Building in downtown Rochester, the Geisel Gallery offers a wonderful place to exhibit artwork and welcome the public.  Bausch + Lomb is responsible for the support of the galleries and this is a very rare thing to find in this city.  The recent news that a Canadian firm has purchased Bausch + Lomb throws this into high relief - will the new parent see this gallery as an asset or just another expense to be dispensed with?

Jean Geisel in the gallery
  that bears her name.  
  Painting by Paul Garland

Jean Geisel has the vision and the administrative capacity to make this gallery space work and for that she deserves some applause and recognition.  At the moment she has selected a show of art by the painter Paul Garland (who has over forty years of experience as a creative professional).  Last year I saw many small works by Paul Garland at The Axom Gallery, so this is a nice follow-up.  I should also mention that The Axom Gallery is currently having a retrospective showing of abstract art by Paul Garland from the 1980's and both of these shows will continue until June 22, 2013

Paul Garland's show at Bausch + Lomb is called "Confluence" which is an apt title since many of the paintings on view at the Geisel Gallery join landscape imagery with abstraction, and these elements will sometimes mingle in the paintings but they often occupy their own different visual territory - imagine a leaf form in the middle of a Josef Albers painting - square within a square.  Paul Garland's art is one of juxtaposition in his paintings which he calls "Junctures".  In one painting ("Understatement")  a suave gesture - a colorful brushstroke - might comment on a more illustrative rendering of a tree, or the rushing water of a stream might be placed over a geometric diagram that really defines the word "confluence" in purely visual terms.

"Understatement" by Paul Garland

There is a certain poetic bent to Paul Garlands work if not his titles:  going counter-clock-wise around the show, I took note of the titles: EASE, Urgency, I Have Seen It, Prior To, Understatement, Sure But,  Most Of, And Now, Somewhat, Looking Ahead, In Accord,  Each,  Tandem,  That's All, Think About It, So,  Just That,  Factors,  A Sense Of,  Straight Forward,  Close.

You can read the paintings too:  gestures float in clouds of color, sometimes anchors of geometry press their case, other times it is all mixed up.  The paintings are sometimes decorative, sometimes somber, but always they are about color and a lively dialog with nature, human and otherwise.

Good Humor

"Melancholy Mind Map"
   oil on canvas by Doug Whitfield
   at The Oxford Gallery

Walk downstairs to The Oxford Gallery to see the exhibition now on display ( this show ends June 1st).

"The Four Humors" is the premise and title for the show and it is based on ancient theories by early practitioners that link temperament with bodily fluids.  The "humors" are also linked to the Four Seasons, so that Spring is matched with Air and Blood ( hence the title Sanguine); Summer is linked with Yellow Bile and Fire ( under the rubric: Choleric); Autumn is linked to Earth and Black Bile ( certainly Melancholic), and Winter is defined by Phlegm and Water, and indeed it is truly Phlegmatic!

People were said to have a temperament associated with one or more of the humors, and you can find descriptions  in writers like Emerson that call upon these kinds of dispositions in prose and poetry.  Of course there were medical procedures to bleed a patient to address an imbalance, and only with the onset of modern medicine do we begin to see changes in the approach to social and physical well-being that we value today.

So, it is a throwback to have artists address the notion of "The Four Humors" - but that was the challenge raised by Jim Hall, the owner and director of The Oxford Gallery.  Over fifty artists responded with a diverse range of images ( most but not all paintings ) and within this group there is a great diversity of approach, material, size and color.

Archival print by Cynthia Beth Rubin

Four vultures by Ray Easton greet you at the entrance on the right - but don't worry there is still time to see the show (but these big birds do look hungrily back at you!) and there are many interesting approaches to the humors - although not every artist composes with all four humors in mind.  There are some big paintings here by Thomas Insalaco ( reflections in a store window with male and female mannequins ) and also Doug Whitfield ( see above - Melancholy Mind Map ) as well as medium size works like "Humor Squared" by Todd Chalk and even miniature sized artwork like the collage by Barbara Page called "Doctor Root's Garden".

Some of the interesting works include digital prints like "Medieval Plankton and the Four Humors" by Cynthia Beth Rubin, and a strong solid yellow sculpture by Bill Keyser titled "Flying Down to Rio" and a wonderfully cool rendition of " High Falls After Blizzard" by Phyllis Bryce Ely.

So, check out this show before it is gone, - go humor yourself!

"High Falls After Blizzard"

oil on linen

by Phyllis Bryce Ely

Applied Mathematics

"Fact or Fiction?"
   art by Alan Singer at The Little Theatre Cafe Gallery

I am taking a moment to write about some new artwork on view at The Little Theatre.  This gallery space is in the cafe of the famous movie theatre complex in Rochester which was conceived of by the artist and construction man Peter Monacelli, and it is now a curated space by Kathy Farrell from The Mercer Gallery at MCC.  Both of these individuals have had a lasting effect on the visual arts of this city, and they are true advocates for the arts, helping many people along the way; they deserve recognition for the roles they have played.  Along these lines I would also like to recognize the work that Sally Wood Winslow has done over the years at The Center for High Falls, and the gallery she directed for so many years - a local resource for artists of the region - now slated to be closed!

And back at The Little, I have had many chances to observe the art shows in the cafe gallery, and while it may not be the best of circumstances to see artwork, it has the advantage of being a place where people congregate - so it is not so bad to expose your artwork to a public that might not go off to a gallery as their first choice in entertainment.

My show is called "Fact or Fiction?" - it is hanging in the gallery until May, 24th.  Many of the pieces in this show are watercolors that I have made en plein air,  and the rest are prints that I make in my studio - and it is these prints which I want to say something about.  They are transfer prints - and this is a method that I stumbled upon by accident - part hand made, and part digital.  My images are derived from applied mathematics.  The major software that I work with (Photoshop or Illustrator) on the computer enforces this approach.  The methods are driven by data - with Photoshop it is a grid or raster, and with Illustrator it is a vector or a measurement from point A to point B.  There is also a three dimensional function which plots curves on a three dimensional graph.

When you think of mathematics and forms, you mostly think of the kinds of geometry you learned in school.  There are the standard or primitive forms like the sphere, the cube, the pyramid and so on.  I go ahead and invent my own forms by writing equations and have my computer map out the results, which then can be tweaked.  This can be very addictive - inventing forms just to see what you can get.  There is a whole range of dimensional forms which are new to art - especially my art.  So, it is not that I go out of my way to make my art surreal, it is just that I am in the midst of discovering shapes that didn't exist before, and putting them into a more natural "context".

Below is another example of a print, now on view at The Oxford Gallery as part of the show "The Four Humors", through June 1, 2013.

"In Circulation"
  transfer monoprint by Alan Singer
  at The Oxford Gallery, Rochester, NY

Materialism or Immaterialism?

Axom Gallery
  presents art by Henry Avignon

Immaterialism is a metaphysical doctrine that denies the existence of matter and it might call into question our appreciation of art - what are we seeing?  Maybe everything is sheer energy, and what we experience are vibrations - a cosmic chord structure with which we resonate?  We need a physicist to shake out the distinctions here, or should we just relax and enjoy the art?

But hold on - the art gets us to question what we are seeing, and how we feel after what we have seen.. What is the lasting impression?  Standing in front of the art at Axom Gallery, we find a suite of prints as a memorial to those whose lives were lost at Newtown, CT a few months ago.  This show by the artist Henry Avignon is very eloquent, and has the healing capacity that time and color can bring to those who seek it out.

Is it ironic that great heat has shaped what we are seeing in this art?  The act of galvanization -  applications of a torch to plates of copper - bring out a variety of colors and also forms that seem to appear and recede as part of the process.  That process is documented by making photo captures of the surface of the copper plates and then reproducing those images - and this series of prints is the result.

The copper plates continue to oxidize and gradually turn a greenish brown, and are not part of the show except as the momentary image - a canvas on the way through some major changes - just like life.

Henry Avignon
    with the Newtown Collection - A Gift of Hope

This spring there is a lot to see, and not all shows get this kind of recognition, but Henry Avignon's artwork found on a front page story in the Democrat & Chronicle brought out many people who might not seek out contemporary art otherwise.

So if you continue to look for subtle inspiring artwork, go off to the LBJ Building on the campus of R.I.T. - and into the Dyer Art Center, walk up the circular stair and visit "Satori" .  Fahan "Sky" Mcdonagh is the artist, and the afternoon I visited this show my eye was caught by the wall work - a glass drawing - where fine rods of glass have been shaped ( once again with heat ) and suspended in front of a white plane.  The lighting creates slanted shadows which help create the drawing - so unusual!  All the art in this show was influenced by natural forces and seems to have an autumnal character ( maybe it is the dry leaves on the floor piece that make that lasting impression).

Artwork by Fahan "Sky" Mcdonagh
   at the Dyer Art Center, R.I.T.