Upcoming show at Roger Williams University

This is a two person show featuring myself and Hiroyuki Hamada. It opens on 2/23/11 and runs through 3/30/11. It’s organized by curator Jess Frost from Art & Estate Archive, NY. I am excited to show with Hiroyuki and expect some interesting discussion at the university . Jess will be speaking about the show on 3/23/11 at the university. Details below.

Escape from New York - May 15-June 19

Escape From New York
Opening Reception Saturday, May 15, 3:00 - 9:00 PM.
Shuttle buses running from Chelsea arts district to 24 1/2 Van Houten Street across from Federici Park in downtown Paterson. Click here for a detailed map.

Our heroine runs with purpose through the darkened streets of Chelsea, looking for a way out. At every corner she's met with roadblocks. Turning down 24th Street, racing past Feuer, Boone, and Gagosian, she sees a clearing. She leaps across 11th Avenue without a thought, spotting the Hudson! "If only I can make it!" Darting through the traffic of the West Side Highway, she leaps over the concrete barrier. Herein lies the pier. Out of breath, she looks up. Spotting lights in the distance, New Jersey's glacial cliffs taunt her, their lights of shimmering color bouncing off the water's edge. A sirensong like Gatsby's eyes, she walks to the end of the path. She has no vessel. "How will she get there?"

Throughout American history, the concept of Manifest Destiny has greeted us with a newfound optimism for the future of what COULD BE versus what IS. "Go west, young man" held true for generations. Escape From New York concentrates specifically on the breaking free of long-held notions and beliefs that Manhattan only can be the center of the art world. An active experiment in reverse bridge and tunnel, Escape From New York highlights Paterson, NJ-- a historic community in transition with massive venues less than a 15 minute drive from the George Washington Bridge. Ready and waiting with open arms to help reignite a cultural renaissance, the city has given us heretofore unheard of space to showcase contemporary art in a former silk factory.

Escape From New York spotlights the work of 45 top contemporary artists. Running weekends through June 19th, the exhibition includes a broad breadth of genres-- from painting, to video, photography, installation, sculpture, performance and social media-based art. Leaving behind the cramped spaces of Manhattan, for the broad horizons of New Jersey.

For additional information, please contact curator Olympia Lambert at olympia.lambert@gmail.com, or 646.642.4393.

Participating artists:

2010 Whitney Biennial selectees
*The Bruce High Quality Foundation
*Kate Gilmore

Robert Aitchison
Robert Appleton
Man Bartlett
Adam Bateman
Jason Robert Bell
Alison Blickle
Boyce Cummings
Jennifer Dalton
Vicki DaSilva
Sumner Dilworth
Debra Drexler
Murray Dwertman
Richard Eagan
Jeremy Earhart
Agnes Eperjesi
Stephan Fowlkes
Nicholas Fraser
Angela Freiberger
Micah Ganske
Alex Gingrow
Dean Goelz
Grant Haffner
Iliyan Ivanov
Kezam
Daniel Leeb
Thomas Lendvai
Julie Lohnes
Michelle Manley
Jason Metcalf
Michael Paul Miller
Laelia Mitchell
Laurel Nakadate
Mia Pearlman
Rafael Perez
Don Porcella
William Powhida
Christopher Saunders
Robert Schatz
Emil Silberman
Sean Slemon
Peter Soriano
Tamas Veszi
An Xiao

A collaboration with the Paterson Arts Council. Click here to learn more about the city and its rich history of involvement in the arts.


(Above, Julie Lohnes, Tug of War, 2009, video still)

Iceland's Ash Cloud

Here's a satellite view of the volcano eruption Iceland.

These images come from satellites which remain above a fixed point on the Earth (i.e. they are "geostationary"). The visible images record visible light from the sun reflected back to the satellite by cloud tops and land and sea surfaces. They are equivalent to a black and white photograph from space. They are better able to show low cloud than infrared images (low cloud is more reflective than the underlying land or sea surface). However, visible pictures can only be made during daylight hours.

Coast-lines and lines of latitude and longitude have been added to the images and they have been altered to polar stereographic projection.

The visible images are updated every hour. It usually takes about 20 minutes for these images to be processed and be updated on the web site. The time shown on the image is in UTC.

via: UK MET Office

36 Shades of Prussian Blue

For all of us who enjoy the history and use of materials, the new issue of Triple Canopy has something just for us. "Thirty-six Shades of Prussian Blue" by Joshua Cohen, collects historical and scholarly observations on the origins, production and uses of Prussian Blue: the world's first artificial color.

Cohen:

Artists in the West had no reliable blue until the early eighteenth century. Ultramarine, extracted from the blue stone called lapis lazuli, was said to have once been more expensive than gold, and Renaissance artists had to negotiate with their patrons for individual drops of blue upon receiving their commissions (ultramarine means, literally, "over the sea," because most lapis was imported from Afghanistan).

Full text here.

via: Triple Canopy/CORE77

studio view

Thought I would share some working images of one of several new paintings.

Untitled - Jack the Pelican Presents

Brea Souders,Untitled # 7, 2009, C-print, 20 x 20" ed. 1/5

Featuring works by:

Justin Adian
Gina Beavers
Eduardo Cervantes
Marika Kandelaki
Brea Souders
Christopher Saunders
Davis Schild
Rachel Schuder
Eric Shows

SEE IMAGES

I currently have 2 pieces in the following show. at Jack the Pelican Presents. Stop by if you happen upon Williamsburg.

Outside In exhibition extended until Oct.22

Great news on the self promotion front! The group exhibition Outside In has been extended until Oct.22. So if you haven't seen the show you have plenty of time to get down to East Broadway. It is worth the trip. Here are the show details again.

Outside In (curated by Mary Dailey Pattee)

From the press release:

LaViolaBank Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of “Outside In,” a group exhibition curated by Mary Dailey Pattee and featuring the work of six artists: Daphne Arthur, Marina Berio, Diane Carr, Mira O’Brien, Leighton Pierce and Christopher Saunders.

Outside In is a multi-media exploration of the connection between real space and the landscape of the subjective mind. Drawing on land, sea, sky and the atmosphere of imagined vistas, the artists in this exhibition engage the landscape tradition as a means of addressing broader questions related to entropy, destruction and renewal in the contemporary world.

LaViola Bank Gallery

179 East Broadway NYC 10002

September 16 - October 22, 2009

Some selected installation views:

Artist: Christopher Saunders (and above selections)

Artist: Mira O'Brien

Artist: Leighton Pierce

Artist: Marina Berio

Greenpoint Open Studios - this weekend 9/25-27

So this weekend begins the first open studio event for our little corner of Brooklyn. I'll be opening my space to show mostly works on paper and a few paintings that have just started so if you come you'll get to see some of the process. It looks like just around 90 artists will be participating which is incredible for a first effort. Also the local galleries will be hanging some works of those opening their doors to the public.

Here is the general program:

OPENING LAUNCH at TRANSMITTER PARK
Sept 25 7 - 9pm

AFTERPARTY AT COCO66

OPEN STUDIOS:
Sept 26 - 27 Noon - 6pm

OPENINGS AT PARTICIPATING GALLERIES:
Sept 26 6 - 8pm

AFTERPARTY AT GREENPOINT GALLERY

ARTISTS TALK AT GREENPOINT GALLERY
Sept 27 6 - 8pm

CLOSING PARTY AT COCO66

For the map and a complete directory of all artists please go to the Greenpoint Open Studios site. Pdf's are available there. See you this weekend.

image: HLIB

Outside In - LaViola Bank Gallery

I had to take a break from this blog for a while due to some deadlines. One of the primary reasons was the preparation for the following exhibition - Outside In (curated by Mary Dailey Pattee) Come out and see the new paintings - 12 of them.

From the press release:

LaViolaBank Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of “Outside In,” a group exhibition curated by Mary Dailey Pattee and featuring the work of six artists: Daphne Arthur, Marina Berio, Diane Carr, Mira O’Brien, Leighton Pierce and Christopher Saunders.

Outside In is a multi-media exploration of the connection between real space and the landscape of the subjective mind. Drawing on land, sea, sky and the atmosphere of imagined vistas, the artists in this exhibition engage the landscape tradition as a means of addressing broader questions related to entropy, destruction and renewal in the contemporary world.

LaViola Bank Gallery

179 East Broadway NYC 10002

September 16 - October 18, 2009

Reception September 16, 6-9 pm

images from the series WhiteNoise

forever summer

I'll have a piece in this lightnin' quick group show opening tomorrow. Swing by the opening.

Platform Project Space at Denise Bibro Fine Art
June 26- July 2, 2009
529 W. 20th St. 4W
NYC
Artists' reception, Friday, June 26th, from 6-8pm.

Platform, the project space of Denise Bibro Fine Art, is pleased to present "Forever Summer," on view for two days only, June 26 and 27, 2009. Organized by Scott Malbaurn, this impromptu salon-style exhibition features small works (maximum 24” x 24”) by more than 50 greater New York City area artists. Malbaurn has brought together a diverse range of artists with eclectic practices and backgrounds for this special celebratory two-day event. In the face of challenging economic times, this show provides the collector with a unique opportunity to purchase small, affordable pieces by emerging artists, as well as offering the artists a forum to meet and discuss their work.

Artist Scott Malbaurn has curated exhibitions at venues including Platform, the project space of Denise Bibro Fine Art, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; H. Lewis Gallery, Baltimore, MD; as well as Pratt Institute's 2007 M.F.A. show for the College Art Association Tri-State exhibition at Hunter College, New York, NY. Malbaurn is a visiting artist instructor at Pratt Institute.

Darsombra

This is pretty much my studio soundtrack at the moment. Heavy, dark and majestic.

creeping

...or should I say watching the creeps crawl out of their bunkers for a summer of local terror. I swore to swear off the news but you know, interesting times and all. This is one of those posts about not posting and so on....

Basically what is happening on the HLIB front is a confrontation with reality. Dwindling funds do to the economy and the eternal survival mode one gets accustomed to in NY. Aside from the worry over finances and increasing overhead, the daily practice of painting has never been better. That's all I've been doing - painting, painting, painting - and some needed walking. Walking is starting to figure into my practice in someway yet to be fully understood. I guess you can't always live in the clouds.

intended paths

I'm not concerned with spectacular events or frantic rhythms. The works are about concentration, intention and paths of thought: the flow of totality in our perception, the fragmentation of the 'river of phenomena', which takes place all the time.

- Gabriel Orozco

The Everyday in Contemporary Art Practice

For the upcoming holiday weekend I've signed up for a small group art project/micro residency at 303 Grand in Williamsburg. If anything interesting comes up during the process I'll do my best to post some insights. Here are some details on the project.

The Everyday in Contemporary Art Practice
4 Day Workshop Series

26 artists gather at 303GRAND on Memorial Day weekend.
Rosenclaire have invited them to participate and co-create in a Theoractical focusing on The Everyday in Contemporary Art Practice for four days.
An empty space, tables, chairs, a digital projector, a computer, a window and a door. Pencils, pens, paper, ink, watercolors, sound and image recording devices, body and consciousness.

Opening at Pharmaka

Sorry for the hiatus but travel and lethargy rule the day with me. Here are some shots from My Certain Fate at Pharmaka in LA. I great opening indeed. [video]




images: Timothy Buckwalter and HLIB

Intersections at Seton Hall Law/Newark

Thought I should mention an exhibition I'm participating in. The show is installed and now on view through July. So if you're in Jersey, try and check it out.

INTERSECTIONS

curated by Tania Duvergne

Seton Hall University Law Building, Newark

City without Walls

May 4 – July 31, 2009

“Intersections” at Seton Hall Law from May 4 – July 30, 2009, curated by Tania Duvergne, explores diverse meetings between nature and the man-made – from cataclysmic collisions to serene cohabitations. The exhibition includes large-scale paintings by artists Patty Cateura, Noah Landfield, Christopher Saunders, Sarah Trigg, and Frank Webster. Seton Hall University School of Law, One Newark Center, Newark, NJ 07102. Free and open to the public, daily 10am – 5 pm.

www.cwow.org

city without walls
6 Crawford Street
Newark, NJ 07102
ph: 973.622.1188
em: info@cwow.org
fx: 973.622.2941

My profile on updownacross

I've recently had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with art blogger (and neighbor) Joann Kim of updownacross. She's just posted a profile piece on me here and at Greenpointers blog. Joann is hoping to get some dialogue between artists in the Greenpoint established with a grand vision of developing some public platforms for them as well. Very commendable. Please be sure to make Joann's blog a daily read.

passing icon- Helen Levitt

From the NPR obit (which features a swell slideshow): "In the 1930s and '40s, Levitt would wander the streets to document the lyrical quality of daily city life. In an era of social radicalism, she set out to make commentary on the plight of the working class. But after seeing the photographs of Cartier-Bresson for the first time, she realized that photography could be art, and that realization informed her work for the rest of her life."

From NYTimes obit: "In Ms. Levitt’s best-known picture, three properly dressed children prepare to go trick-or-treating on Halloween 1939. Standing on the stoop outside their house, they are in almost metaphorical stages of readiness. The girl on the top step is putting on her mask; a boy near her, his mask in place, takes a graceful step down, while another boy, also masked, lounges on a lower step, coolly surveying the world.

“At the peak of Helen’s form,” John Szarkowski, former director of the photography department at the Museum of Modern Art, once said, “there was no one better."

hat tip: T.Buckwalter / Image: Helen Levitt

anatomy of a painting [7]

Some more time has passed since I trotted out this piece for the ‘anatomy series’ of posts. No reason other than it has been on the back burner as other works demanded more attention. Apologies again for the lack of a quality image here but it should give you an idea as placeholder. As you can see from previous posts that the lifespan of this work is starting to become substantial. This is simply circumstantial but also reflects my general interest in slowness as an approach to picture building. The silences between stages are what set up the reverberations I need to advance the work into a more realized state.

Since the last time I spoke of this piece, I have employed the nuclear option. I eradicated the bottom quarter several times with huge swaths of muddy paint in part to fill in surfaces gaps and also to actually submerge the former grid into a sludgy demise like river water saturating turned soil. (some sanding/scraping also to make the current state change)

Next in order is a reworking of the part of the painting that was actually working. First I wanted to expand the sky upward as the darker passage which bracketed it previously was troublesome in that it suffocated the work as a whole. Painting that out presented unforeseen problems. Uneven surfaces seams and some paint loss due to taping lead me to an endless game of reconstruction that is only now complete in a version not pictured here. Despite this, it was the right call as now there is room to work. This leads to what was the center point of the painting, the smoke/chemical cloud that largely acted as the catalyst and entry point for the painting. I was very satisfied with this part of the painting and have clung to it as the anchor point since its completion. However, now that other changes have taken place, this part now has to be removed and reworked.

This is where painting gets hard. The challenge is having the courage to let go of ‘success’ for the betterment of the whole. Generally when an artist paints themselves into a corner as the expression goes, it is because they are holding to a passage at all costs for fear (or realization) that it cannot be improved or replicated elsewhere throughout the painting. The trouble is, painting is a relationship that requires give and take. It is not static. Letting go is central to the process of realization. At this moment, I have sanded down that centerpiece and blown out the former horizon line. I am now ready for the final leg of the work. I hope to have one more posting of this process before the piece is complete.

new works

Thought I would post some new works recently documented. These are the tail end out my output from 2008. The top image is the latest in my WhiteNoise series. The second image is a reworking of and numbering of the first painting in that group. I was never satisfied with the upper portion for a variety of reasons so I reworked it to make it more in line with how the works have progressed.

Pictured above:

WhiteNoise no. 6, 2008
Oil on linen
24 x 18 in.

WhiteNoise no.2, 2008
Oil on linen
24 x 18 in.

Below are some new paper works each measuring 30 x 22 in. These are both oil as well.