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October 11th- Paul Anthony Smith and Keltie Ferris

Today we visited the first artists’ studios in the New York Semester on Contemporary Art! The very first studio we visited was Paul Anthony Smith, a young African American artist. The space itself was very small; we could all fit in it, but it wasn’t comfortable walking around. Because Paul works with photography and also large canvases, most of the space was taken up with working space, but also old paintings, new canvases, and a giant printer. There was art in every available space, which was amazing for coming to a studio for a class, since there was plenty to look at, but that I could not see myself being able to work in. I feel like I would need either a larger space with the stuff more spread out, or a smaller amount of material in the space in order for me to be able to focus. One of the elements that I found most interesting about our conversation with Paul was when we talked about his connection with food. Paul explained that food and eating with family and friends is one of his biggest inspirations and passions. To illustrate this, he pointed out a piece he made using chicken feet, a popular food in Jamaica, where he is from. The inspiration for this particular piece was a meal he had with friend in Jamaica, New York, which he described as a marriage of the two cultures that he had grown up in. The discussion around food really struck me because I also have a strong connection to food and consider myself a “foodie”. I had never seen food as an inspiration for art that did not directly depict food before, but since that discussion, I began to notice what I was eating affecting the work that I was doing and the passion that I had for it (rather hard when you have Commons as your main source of food). After I went out with friends of mine for a good meal, I found my passion, energy, and ideas for work increased. We had lunch at Jason’s studio, which was in the same building as the two artists we were visiting. The space was a little larger than Paul’s, or at least looked larger due to the extreme amount of organization in the space. After having Jason for class and also Senior Studio, I knew that he was very organized, but it was different seeing his studio in person. I also didn’t feel like I could work in Jason’s studio, even though he said it wasn’t usually this organized, but I just don’t think that I could keep that level of organization in order. We then visited Keltie Ferris, who was the most well-known artist we visited that day, and also had the largest studio (which made sense considering she was the most well-known). Because of the way that Keltie works however, she needs that amount of space. One section of her studio was sectioned off for working on body prints, which is her most famous work, according to the reviews and interviews we read. The rest of the space was full of her new work (abstract pieces), a large table where she designed and mixed paint for those works, an old couch, and her bicycle. This space was the space out for the free studios that we looked at today that I could see myself working in because although there was a lot of art around, it didn’t feel crowded due to the large windows in the studio. One of the most interesting things that I learned from Keltie (except for that the name Keltie exists, I am totally stealing that for one of my kids), is that she works in different ways during different seasons, working on body prints in the spring and summer and abstract works during fall and winter. This made sense technically due to the application of oil to a body for prints and how one would need to be warm in those situations, but Keltie also said that she was more drawn to the actual techniques during different months personally, not as much for a utilitarian purpose. I found this idea of following what your brain wanted to make at any time very freeing, and also very self-aware, a quality that I am trying to cultivate both in my work and my life in general.

#keltie ferris #bodyprints #studiovisit #newyorkart #artsemester #selfawareness #foodislove #foodislife

Jean Tinguey at Gladstone Gallery

Receiving critics pick by Timeout New York, the Jean Tinguely exhibit being shown by the Gladstone Gallery is certainly a hit. Tinguely was a master of metamechanics. He is known most for his sculpture, “Homage to New York” that destroyed itself when shown at the MoMA in 1960. His kinetic art is from the Dada tradition and it gives his sculptures the feeling of energy. Even the still pieces seem as if they were going to move at any moment. Walking into the Gladstone Gallery, I was mesmerized by the sculptures that made me think of scrapyard Rube Goldberg machines. Tinguely’s art is built from objects you might expect to find in a junkyard as a statement about consumerism. The art satirizes “the mindless overproduction of material goods in advanced industrial society.” Tinguely’s art definitely demonstrate this message, which gives a bit of dark humor to the sculptures. There is a certain industrial darkness integrated in the imaginative pieces. I almost expect to see one of the sculptures come to life in a Tim Burton film. I loved seeing the different objects that make up each sculpture to look like mechanical skeletons. I most enjoyed the bursts of color and unexpected items hidden in different sculptures.

Since it is a curator’s duty to enhance the artist’s vision, I'm curious how a gallery curates a show for an artist is already passed? The gallery manager at Rachel Uffner Gallery, Allison Cooper, said she would work in collaboration to hang a show with the artist. Occasionally the artists already have everything planned out and needed no help organizing the space. Since Jean Tinguely cannot voice his opinions for a show, I wonder who makes the final call how to curate a show? I supposed the gallery owner might be in charge, but it would interesting to know if they use past exhibitions as a springboard for the set up. In the case of Dan Flavin, his son curates any exhibitions of his work. I wonder if there is such an expert for the Tinguely as well, perhaps someone who works at the Museum Tinguely?

http://hyperallergic.com/86637/next-stop-reality-a-sixties-radicalism-revisited/

http://www.tinguely.ch/en/museum_sammlung/jean_tinguely.html

http://artforum.com/picks/id=56346

http://www.gladstonegallery.com/exhibition/10846/installation-view#&panel1-1

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/mar/23/hans-ulrich-obrist-art-curator