“The referencing of historical styles or iconic works has been popular since the 1970s, but it seems that since Julian Schnabel, Sherrie Levine, and Richard Prince, the conceptual nature of this sort of work has become shallow to the point of engaging viewers on about the same level as commercial graphic design. Don’t get me wrong though, I really do enjoy the works of John Currin and Richard Wathen, despite their reliance on earlier artistic imagery.”
“The problem with this sort of work is that often I find my level of interest no deeper than the thickness of paint on the canvas. The notion of putting contemporary figures and personalities in a classical setting, or of depicting historical figures in a contemporary form is as conceptually engaging as those old-timey photographs you can take at fairs and amusement parks.”
Experimental and referential histories, Lightening Histories
“I feel the blogging tool is an excellent medium for artists, it has so much potential for networking and sharing ideas. Not only can you present your work and receive feedback, there is also potential for sales. The challenge is to make the most of this incredible tool, while it is not controlled and still free. Where else can you connect with other artists without selling your soul. Although I love visiting galleries, I find the supporting culture at times exclusive, snobby and overly protective. Why can’t the new contemporary art gallery in Brisbane, show at least once a year a survey of various Queensland artists who are subsisting in the undergarments of contemporary art. There are quite a few out there, and there work at times is very interesting. I for one would love to see a big gallery represent the culture that supports it instead of the usual suspects, who have risen to the top of the heap.”
Other places, other times, Art Smelter
“The First Appearance of Street Art In Tehran Galleries …. As the first experience of graffiti in Tehran has happened by artists involved with “KolahStudio” Project, we are undoubtedly going to present some in Tehran galleries.”
“Artopia pays no attention to the Chinese art bubble, nor to the bigger art bubble in general. Bubbles come and go. The Bigger Bubble is tied to the stock market. The stock market drops and the art market follows one year later. It has happened twice on my watch. Now it is real estate, everywhere but in New York City high-income zip codes, that is plummeting. Will art follow? Some say that the economy is now worldwide and that money piling up in the oil states will rescue art from the mortgage mess. Tell that to the citizens of Great Britain who are taking their money out of the banks…”
Zhang Huan, Stark Naked and Covered With Flies, Artopia
Grant Beran, Life In The North
“Photography is, by definition, about the interaction between time and light. In Hiroshi Sugimoto‘s photographs we are able to engage in a conversation with light. In a very real way, he opens the light to us. He lets the light speak to us in a way that would be impossible in any other medium. Sometimes the light is fast like in the Seascapes and the dioramas where the exposure time is some small fraction of a second. In other work the light is slow, so slow that one photograph is exposed for the length of an entire movie. In most of his photographs the light is reflected, so that the light seems to be emanated from the subject that he is photographing. This gives the dioramas, the wax figures and even his Sea of Buddha series an uncanny, life-like feeling as if the figures only settled into position a split second before he clicked the shutter. We feel the life of the objects that he photographs and not the hand of the photographer. He heightens the interchangeability between time and light in a way that gives his photographs a remarkable presence. Whether he is looking at animals, the plaster cast of a mathematical formula or even on a cliff high above the ocean, you can sense that he begins to learn about an object by the way that it interacts with light. The Hiroshi Sugimoto Retrospective that is currently on display at the De Young Museum in San Francisco until September 23 is a record of the themes that he has explored for the last thirty years…”
The Wisdom of Light: The Hiroshi Sugimoto Retrospective at the De Young Museum, PORT – Portland art + news + reviews
