HINDSIGHT - WRITE SOMETHING WORTH READING ABOUT OR DO SOMETHING WORTH WRITING ABOUT
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Tullman Collection Artist Jim Lutes in New LA Show at Kinkead Contemporary in Culver City
Jim Lutes
Cancel the Band
April 5 - May 17, 2008
Jim Lutes, Hey, Kid, 1997-2008. Oil on aluminum. 54" X 84"
Jim Lutes is an unbelievably amazing artist. For those of us who have seen him in action - painting, teaching, being - he is strong, focused and completely unflappable. His fortitude both drives and enriches his paintings to an extent rarely experienced. For 30 plus years he has been making gritty, gentle, self-loathing and self-celebrating paintings. And while he himself is often celebrated in Chicago, the city within he works, Lutes is an all too often unfamiliar name in art circles in Los Angeles and New York. Kinkead Contemporary is ardently proud to present Jim Lutes' first solo exhibition in Los Angeles in nearly 20 years.
Lutes paints in a variety of media. Although, recently he seems to favor egg tempera over oil or acrylic. Egg tempera, a historical process and medium, which gives the paintings a depth and luminosity, is rarely utilized in contemporary art. However, Lutes' subject matter is quite au courant - skulls, dated technology, urban architecture and a good heap of self-reference. Truth be known, he's been making genre paintings of this nature long before the current throng similarlyminded artists even entered art school. Lutes' unique combination of gritty subject and lustrous style mirrors his uncanny ability to marry figurative painting and abstraction. At first glance, there appears to be a struggle between gesture and representation, however, according to Ezra Hoffman, the consistent layering of translucent pigment on top of the subject emphasizes "abstraction as a kind of representation."
In her essay for the 43rd Corcoran Biennial Judith Kirshner states "Lutes appreciates the timeless richness of masters such as Brueghel and Rubens, but at the same time he depends on his resistance to figurative impulse; his paintings neither repudiate nor invest in such heroic conventions. Rather, his work moves freely, layering oppositional concepts such as literal and abstract, visible and invisible."
Over the last 20 years, Jim Lutes has lived and worked in Chicago, where he has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago since 1983. His many professional accomplishments include an impressive exhibition history at venues such as The Walker Art Museum, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and the National Academy Museum, New York. Lutes has also been included in the Whitney Biennial, Documenta and the Corcoran Biennial. Lutes work can be found in the permanent collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and The Phoenix Art Museum among others.
Cancel the Band
April 5 - May 17, 2008
Jim Lutes, Hey, Kid, 1997-2008. Oil on aluminum. 54" X 84"
Jim Lutes is an unbelievably amazing artist. For those of us who have seen him in action - painting, teaching, being - he is strong, focused and completely unflappable. His fortitude both drives and enriches his paintings to an extent rarely experienced. For 30 plus years he has been making gritty, gentle, self-loathing and self-celebrating paintings. And while he himself is often celebrated in Chicago, the city within he works, Lutes is an all too often unfamiliar name in art circles in Los Angeles and New York. Kinkead Contemporary is ardently proud to present Jim Lutes' first solo exhibition in Los Angeles in nearly 20 years.
Lutes paints in a variety of media. Although, recently he seems to favor egg tempera over oil or acrylic. Egg tempera, a historical process and medium, which gives the paintings a depth and luminosity, is rarely utilized in contemporary art. However, Lutes' subject matter is quite au courant - skulls, dated technology, urban architecture and a good heap of self-reference. Truth be known, he's been making genre paintings of this nature long before the current throng similarlyminded artists even entered art school. Lutes' unique combination of gritty subject and lustrous style mirrors his uncanny ability to marry figurative painting and abstraction. At first glance, there appears to be a struggle between gesture and representation, however, according to Ezra Hoffman, the consistent layering of translucent pigment on top of the subject emphasizes "abstraction as a kind of representation."
In her essay for the 43rd Corcoran Biennial Judith Kirshner states "Lutes appreciates the timeless richness of masters such as Brueghel and Rubens, but at the same time he depends on his resistance to figurative impulse; his paintings neither repudiate nor invest in such heroic conventions. Rather, his work moves freely, layering oppositional concepts such as literal and abstract, visible and invisible."
Over the last 20 years, Jim Lutes has lived and worked in Chicago, where he has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago since 1983. His many professional accomplishments include an impressive exhibition history at venues such as The Walker Art Museum, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and the National Academy Museum, New York. Lutes has also been included in the Whitney Biennial, Documenta and the Corcoran Biennial. Lutes work can be found in the permanent collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and The Phoenix Art Museum among others.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Tullman Collection Artist Peter Drake in New Show at FUEL
Peter Drake at FUEL Collection, Philadelphia
Indifference & Apocrypha
A group show curated by Katerina Lydon-Warner
The FUEL Collection
249 Arch Street
Philadelphia, PA
www.fuelcollection.com
Opening reception with artists Friday April 4, 6-9 pm
Exhibition: April 1-25, 2008
Artists include:
Angelou Guingon, Peter Drake, Adela Leibowitz, Catherine Tafur, Rene Smith, Megan McGinnis, daniel Baltzer, Kendrick Mar, Steven Skinner, John Zoller, Ikeda Koosuke, Scott Sjobakken, Ali Cabbar, Lizabeth Eva Rossof, Chris Mateer, Maria Adela Diaz and Tattfoo Tan.
Life Sized Lead Soldiers
"This new body of work is based on a collection of lead soldiers my father assembled over the course of his life. I was surprised when I inherited them to see how many depicted Arab and North African soldiers. There were Zouaves, Saracenes, Mamaluks and Ottoman Turks. It struck me as strange that we had been demonizing certain cultures forever. That even in child's play the exotic could take on a menacing and evil aspect and that so much animosity could be embedded in a child's toy." - Peter Drake
Tullman Collection Artist Adam Stennett in New Show in East Hampton
Adam Stennett: Off the Grid
April 12 to May 27, 2008 at Glenn Horowitz Bookseller, 87 Newtown Lane, East Hampton, NY 11937
Glenn Horowitz Bookseller is pleased to announce an exhibition of new work by Brooklyn-based artist Adam Stennett. This show consists of new works on paper, sculpture and video, all thematically organized around the idea that the way we look at the world determines what we see. This exhibition, entitled Off the Grid, is anchored by a series of still-lifes which re-imagine the possibilities of a stuffy and traditional genre while the video and sculptural works invoke secret government projects, psychedelic drugs, and the culture wars of the 1960s.
The paintings are elegantly composed and beautifully drawn but their outwardly staid appearance is a misdirection. Stennett’s real program is to reinvent the tropes of still-life and retrofit the genre for renewed contemporary relevance. To do so he returned to still-life’s earliest origins and the Netherlandish masters who gave weight and meaning to each piece of fruit, shank of meat, flower, bowl or bottle they painted, thereby making still life the study of character and narrative by other means. Likewise, Stennett presents objects as if they are to be read as evidence. He paints opium poppies, nutmeg kernels, or hallucinogenic morning glories, with teapots, grinders, strainers, bottles of solvent or grain alcohol. These are materials and tools for the extraction of specific euphoric agents that reside within common plants, seeds and tins of spice. These works are not so much still-lifes as painted recipes, precise visual demonstrations by which the observant may be initiated into all sorts of covert activities.
Traditional still-lifes often aimed to calm by suggesting comfort and domestic tranquility but Stennett makes work that undermines calm. This series encourages the imagination to conjure a monster: part vigilante, part amateur pharmacologist, someone knowledgeable and resourceful, but solitary, secretive, at odds with society and given to violence, self-medication and paranoia. In the end the work defies precise interpretation but it is clear that there is an unseen presence at the conceptual center of the exhibition. Collectively these works form a composite portrait of a contemporary anti-hero, as erratic and volatile as the images themselves are composed and contained. That we are never shown a face, only allowed to sense an elusive presence, makes the experience all the more unnerving.
Accompanying the works on paper are video and sculptural works that take a mischievous look at those who have made research into altered consciousness. The sculptural pieces display team jerseys in orderly upright ranks, as if squared off for a competition. The “teams,” MK-Ultra and Millbrook, make reference to groups that did early LSD testing; the first is a classified government program and the second a community founded by Timothy Leary in a wealthy town of upstate New York. Such research has provided fodder for conspiracy theorists while generally revealing more about the ideologies of those who formulated the studies than about altered consciousness itself. The notion that methods inevitably color conclusions subtly informs every piece in the exhibition. Pinned to a wall of Stennett’s studio is an excerpt from the report of another study--it dryly notes how substances that ordinarily provoke nothing more than dizziness can, when aligned with the ideology and expectations of a particular individual, just as well lead to states of profound euphoria. To Stennett this is a metaphor for the peculiar alchemy by which art transforms images and objects into devices for the expansion of consciousness.
Adam Stennett was born in Kotzebue, Alaska in 1972, grew up in Oregon, and now lives in Brooklyn. His work is in numerous public and private collections and has been widely exhibited in the U.S. and internationally. He is represented by 31GRAND in New York City. For more information about the artist or this exhibition please contact Glenn Horowitz Bookseller via email: info@GHbookseller.com, or by telephone: 631-324-5511.
April 12 to May 27, 2008 at Glenn Horowitz Bookseller, 87 Newtown Lane, East Hampton, NY 11937
Glenn Horowitz Bookseller is pleased to announce an exhibition of new work by Brooklyn-based artist Adam Stennett. This show consists of new works on paper, sculpture and video, all thematically organized around the idea that the way we look at the world determines what we see. This exhibition, entitled Off the Grid, is anchored by a series of still-lifes which re-imagine the possibilities of a stuffy and traditional genre while the video and sculptural works invoke secret government projects, psychedelic drugs, and the culture wars of the 1960s.
The paintings are elegantly composed and beautifully drawn but their outwardly staid appearance is a misdirection. Stennett’s real program is to reinvent the tropes of still-life and retrofit the genre for renewed contemporary relevance. To do so he returned to still-life’s earliest origins and the Netherlandish masters who gave weight and meaning to each piece of fruit, shank of meat, flower, bowl or bottle they painted, thereby making still life the study of character and narrative by other means. Likewise, Stennett presents objects as if they are to be read as evidence. He paints opium poppies, nutmeg kernels, or hallucinogenic morning glories, with teapots, grinders, strainers, bottles of solvent or grain alcohol. These are materials and tools for the extraction of specific euphoric agents that reside within common plants, seeds and tins of spice. These works are not so much still-lifes as painted recipes, precise visual demonstrations by which the observant may be initiated into all sorts of covert activities.
Traditional still-lifes often aimed to calm by suggesting comfort and domestic tranquility but Stennett makes work that undermines calm. This series encourages the imagination to conjure a monster: part vigilante, part amateur pharmacologist, someone knowledgeable and resourceful, but solitary, secretive, at odds with society and given to violence, self-medication and paranoia. In the end the work defies precise interpretation but it is clear that there is an unseen presence at the conceptual center of the exhibition. Collectively these works form a composite portrait of a contemporary anti-hero, as erratic and volatile as the images themselves are composed and contained. That we are never shown a face, only allowed to sense an elusive presence, makes the experience all the more unnerving.
Accompanying the works on paper are video and sculptural works that take a mischievous look at those who have made research into altered consciousness. The sculptural pieces display team jerseys in orderly upright ranks, as if squared off for a competition. The “teams,” MK-Ultra and Millbrook, make reference to groups that did early LSD testing; the first is a classified government program and the second a community founded by Timothy Leary in a wealthy town of upstate New York. Such research has provided fodder for conspiracy theorists while generally revealing more about the ideologies of those who formulated the studies than about altered consciousness itself. The notion that methods inevitably color conclusions subtly informs every piece in the exhibition. Pinned to a wall of Stennett’s studio is an excerpt from the report of another study--it dryly notes how substances that ordinarily provoke nothing more than dizziness can, when aligned with the ideology and expectations of a particular individual, just as well lead to states of profound euphoria. To Stennett this is a metaphor for the peculiar alchemy by which art transforms images and objects into devices for the expansion of consciousness.
Adam Stennett was born in Kotzebue, Alaska in 1972, grew up in Oregon, and now lives in Brooklyn. His work is in numerous public and private collections and has been widely exhibited in the U.S. and internationally. He is represented by 31GRAND in New York City. For more information about the artist or this exhibition please contact Glenn Horowitz Bookseller via email: info@GHbookseller.com, or by telephone: 631-324-5511.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Ron Brinkmann Holds Student/Industry Workshop at Flashpoint Academy
Flashpoint Industry Workshop - Friday, April 18th
Flashpoint is PROUD to host Ron Brinkmann, co-creator of the advanced digital composting software, Shake!
Due to the successes of our previous FIWs - when we hosted Lonelygirl15's Mesh Flinders, Halo's Mike Salvatori, Star Farm Productions' Sara Berliner, among others -we will continue to have our monthly Flashpoint Industry Workshops specifically designed for you and your students! These workshops are an attempt to get the Chicago-land area high schools & community colleges—counselors, teachers & students—involved in the advancing digital arts technology and entertainment world.
The goal of these workshops is twofold. Firstly, it is to introduce you to Flashpoint and our state-of-the-art programs in FILM, RECORDING ARTS, VFX/ANIMATION & GAME DEVELOPMENT. Secondly, it is to present a program that keeps you, as professionals, up-to-date in the digital world. These workshops will allow you the opportunity to bring your most ambitious students to Flashpoint to meet and learn directly from artists and business leaders in various digital media arts fields.
When: Friday, April 18th @ 9:30 am (with tour to follow)
Where: Flashpoint Academy | 28 N. Clark St., Chicago
For further information about Brinkmann and/or future workshops, or to RSVP, please contact Flashpoint at 312-332-0707 or email Lindsay Drucker at lindsay.drucker@flashpointacademy.com.
________________________________________________________________________
ABOUT RON BRINKMANN
An occasional supervisor in the visual effects and animation world, Ron Brinkmann is the author of The Art and Science of Digital Compositing, which is regarded as a standard reference book in the visual effects industry.
One of the founding employees of Sony Pictures Imageworks, he was also part of the initial design and development team that produced the digital compositing application Shake (acquired by Apple in 2002). From 2002-2007 Brinkmann continued at Apple in his role as the Product Designer for Shake, as well as being involved with Apple’s professional photo-management software Aperture.
Mr. Brinkmann frequently speaks at seminars on the topics of visual effects, digital filmmaking and general technology, having given talks in Europe, China, Singapore, Thailand, Australia, Japan and India (and several less-interesting locations).
He is currently working with Digital Domain in their new games and animation division, serving as a special advisor to The Foundry, and working on the second edition of his compositing book.
He can be reached via http://www.digitalcompositing.com.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
98.7WFMT to Debut New Series Focusing on Local Young Musicians
98.7WFMT to Debut New Series Focusing on Local Young Musicians
Introductions to debut Saturday, April 5 at 11:00 a.m.
CHICAGO, March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- 98.7WFMT will launch Introductions starting in April, a new weekly live performance series that will feature the Chicago region's most talented pre-college musicians. Introductions will air on Saturday mornings at 11:00 a.m., beginning April 5 on 98.7WFMT, and via live streaming at wfmt.com.
"This is the most important project that I've ever worked on," said
WFMT's General Manager Steve Robinson. "That's because we consider
supporting young musicians to be a core part of our mission, and this
program is our way of reaching out to young musicians and showcasing their
enormous talent to our listeners. In addition to the most gifted
instrumentalists and chamber groups in our listening area, we'll also
feature the most accomplished high school orchestras, bands and choruses.
Introductions is already creating enormous buzz, and we expect it to
continue once the program launches. I can't wait!"
In addition to their performances, the musicians featured on
Introductions will be interviewed briefly about their passion for music,their outside interests, and their hopes and dreams for the future. Smaller
ensembles and soloists will perform live in WFMT's Levin Performance Studio
and at facilities generously provided by lead corporate sponsors
Flashpoint: The Academy of Media Arts and Sciences LLC in Chicago, and at
the Barretts Home Theatre showroom in Naperville. The orchestras, bands and
choruses will be recorded in their school auditoriums for broadcast on
future programs. Groups interested in participating in the Introductions series may call 773-279-2019 or visit http://www.wfmt.com/introductions for
application information.
Each one-hour episode of Introductions will celebrate the fresh,
talented, non-professional musicians who are a vital part of the Chicago
arts community. In keeping with the spirit of the series as something
created by young artists for young artists, the series will be hosted by
two student-musicians, Lisa Brownstone (age 20) from the University of
Chicago and Raja Burrows (age 21) from Northwestern University. Both are
eager for the opportunity to meet fellow performers and to work to expand
the audience for classical music among their peers.
Series Producer David Polk, a recent college graduate himself, is
developing a unique companion website for the series
(http://www.wfmt.com/introductions) that will use interactive technologies to
create an electronic community based around the program. The site will
include archived audio of the weekly programs, pictures from the
broadcasts, biographies of the performers, links to the various schools
represented on the program, and a regional high school performing arts
calendar. "The long-range goal is to make the Introductions website a community for young classical music lovers to learn from and a means to
communicate with each other," says Polk.
Introductions is an original production of 98.7WFMT. Series Producer is David Polk. Executive Producer is Steve Robinson. In addition to the
corporate sponsorship provided by Flashpoint: The Academy of Media Arts and
Sciences LLC and Barretts Home Theater, Introductions is made possible by
the generous support of Richard and Mary L. Gray, Jim and Kay Mabie, The
Negaunee Foundation, The John R. Halligan Charitable Trust, Susan and
Richard Kiphart, Fay and Daniel Levin, The Music Institute of Chicago and
members of the WFMT Fine Arts Circle.
More information about Introductions and all of 98.7WFMT's programming is available at http://www.wfmt.com.
About 98.7WFMT
98.7WFMT, Chicago's Classical Experience, provides the best and
broadest selection of classical music and fine arts programming heard in
the country. A broadcasting force for more than 50 years, the station's
appeal continues to widen. 98.7WFMT is currently serving the largest
audience in its history. 98.7WFMT is available to listeners across the
nation and around the world via the station's enhanced web streaming at
http://www.wfmt.com.
Introductions to debut Saturday, April 5 at 11:00 a.m.
CHICAGO, March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- 98.7WFMT will launch Introductions starting in April, a new weekly live performance series that will feature the Chicago region's most talented pre-college musicians. Introductions will air on Saturday mornings at 11:00 a.m., beginning April 5 on 98.7WFMT, and via live streaming at wfmt.com.
"This is the most important project that I've ever worked on," said
WFMT's General Manager Steve Robinson. "That's because we consider
supporting young musicians to be a core part of our mission, and this
program is our way of reaching out to young musicians and showcasing their
enormous talent to our listeners. In addition to the most gifted
instrumentalists and chamber groups in our listening area, we'll also
feature the most accomplished high school orchestras, bands and choruses.
Introductions is already creating enormous buzz, and we expect it to
continue once the program launches. I can't wait!"
In addition to their performances, the musicians featured on
Introductions will be interviewed briefly about their passion for music,their outside interests, and their hopes and dreams for the future. Smaller
ensembles and soloists will perform live in WFMT's Levin Performance Studio
and at facilities generously provided by lead corporate sponsors
Flashpoint: The Academy of Media Arts and Sciences LLC in Chicago, and at
the Barretts Home Theatre showroom in Naperville. The orchestras, bands and
choruses will be recorded in their school auditoriums for broadcast on
future programs. Groups interested in participating in the Introductions series may call 773-279-2019 or visit http://www.wfmt.com/introductions for
application information.
Each one-hour episode of Introductions will celebrate the fresh,
talented, non-professional musicians who are a vital part of the Chicago
arts community. In keeping with the spirit of the series as something
created by young artists for young artists, the series will be hosted by
two student-musicians, Lisa Brownstone (age 20) from the University of
Chicago and Raja Burrows (age 21) from Northwestern University. Both are
eager for the opportunity to meet fellow performers and to work to expand
the audience for classical music among their peers.
Series Producer David Polk, a recent college graduate himself, is
developing a unique companion website for the series
(http://www.wfmt.com/introductions) that will use interactive technologies to
create an electronic community based around the program. The site will
include archived audio of the weekly programs, pictures from the
broadcasts, biographies of the performers, links to the various schools
represented on the program, and a regional high school performing arts
calendar. "The long-range goal is to make the Introductions website a community for young classical music lovers to learn from and a means to
communicate with each other," says Polk.
Introductions is an original production of 98.7WFMT. Series Producer is David Polk. Executive Producer is Steve Robinson. In addition to the
corporate sponsorship provided by Flashpoint: The Academy of Media Arts and
Sciences LLC and Barretts Home Theater, Introductions is made possible by
the generous support of Richard and Mary L. Gray, Jim and Kay Mabie, The
Negaunee Foundation, The John R. Halligan Charitable Trust, Susan and
Richard Kiphart, Fay and Daniel Levin, The Music Institute of Chicago and
members of the WFMT Fine Arts Circle.
More information about Introductions and all of 98.7WFMT's programming is available at http://www.wfmt.com.
About 98.7WFMT
98.7WFMT, Chicago's Classical Experience, provides the best and
broadest selection of classical music and fine arts programming heard in
the country. A broadcasting force for more than 50 years, the station's
appeal continues to widen. 98.7WFMT is currently serving the largest
audience in its history. 98.7WFMT is available to listeners across the
nation and around the world via the station's enhanced web streaming at
http://www.wfmt.com.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)