my views on the cannon ball press show

I had made the mistake of going to the space gallery just before the Friday night art walk, that is so beloved in Portland on every 1^st Friday of each month, so I had already been somewhat frustrated from trying to walk the 2 blocks from my house to said gallery through brigades and cluster-fucks of dandies and hipsters alike who smelled like b.o. and looked like homeless Russel Brands. So my views on this showing may be a bit harsh. As a silk screener by trade I found it narcissistic that these people feel the need to sell their artwork that cost probably no more than 1$ in plastisol ink and 5$ in canvas to make for 500-plus dollars. Granted there were some moderately price works and a lot of the print had mind-bogglingly cool designs, but the price tag on some of Mike Houston’s and Martin Mazorna’s just shows they think far too much of themselves for doing what just about every vocational tech school student can do in their sleep with only.

The first piece that caught my eye as I walked into space gallery was “Party” which I could only imagine was quite popular with 99% of Portlanders who had the chance to view it. It was about 7” x 10” of silk screened canvas riddled with all the characters you’d see at just about any tailgate, keg, fraternity, and after-party. This one was particularly high in contrast between the front and background giving off somewhat of an illusion of depth. It was like a Where’s Waldo of party staples like the guy with a lamp shade on his head, the puker, and the too close for comfort couple.

Mike and Martin’s eye for composition really came out in their 3.5’ x 7’ canvas poster titled “Rat Snake” of a not quite anatomically correct viper eating a rat. The scales of the snake and the fur of the rat were printed perfectly and the positioning of the snake really makes the eye wonder all over the canvas again and again. I could also be complimenting this biasly since I adore snakes and have used them often to fill negative space in my own works.

Nicola Lopez, rockin' some sox off

Nicola Lopez is an artist born in New Mexico, though she primarily grew up in Santa Fe.  She has studied art at Columbia University in New York and at the School of Visual Arts in Rio, Brazil, and even took and internship at the Museum of Modern Art in Parque Lage.

Nord Wennerstrom says it best in his article on Nicola Lopez when he describes her art as “Devoid of human presence, the world she depicts is overrun by an anarchic tangle of pipes, ductwork, telephone lines, satellite dishes, vehicle parts, oil rigs, tires, and batteries that meet, mate, and mutate”

The gesture Lopez makes in her art is how urban and industrial development has plague and distorted the once gorgeous landscape of America. Most of her work features large oil rigs blowing smoke into the sky or twisted root-like pipes scattered across and polluted and eerie landscape. I think the most attractive aspects of her work are the multiple layers and high contrast in her prints, three dimensional collage and her installation pieces.

If you want brief literature on her work with some of my more favorite works of Nicola Lopez’s check out this link by Trevor Paglan: http://bombsite.com/issues/100/articles/2908

Other interesting links on articles and works of Nicola Lopez:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_2_44/ai_n16752873/

http://artnectar.com/page/74/?archives=category

http://www.brooklynrail.org200610artseennicola-lopez/

http://antiquesandthearts.com/Antiques/AntiquesShows/2007-12-05__10-40-22.html

and an interview between Phong Bui and Nicola Lopez: http://www.brooklynrail.org/2009/06/art/nicola-lpez-with-phong-bui




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after the storm

printmaking assigment #1

1)      Gutenberg changed communication and education during the renaissance era with his invention of the printing press. Though china already had a printing method for quite sometime before and Gutenberg tried to keep his invention a secret, many inventors caught on to how his press worked and started making some prototypes of a similar machine. This lead to the widespread of more books being printed, thus more information was available to the people of Western Europe in a time when many young men were going to school to be clergymen. The printing press aloud these people who were hungry for knowledge to acquire more books at a cheaper cost to them, the student, and also cheaper for the print master to make. This lead to an information overdrive phase much like the internet is to our generation.

2)      These advancements of the printing press lead to artists and printers alike using more casting metals to sustain the life of their original stamps, as of opposed to using wood blocks that continually chipped and split. Different techniques, styles and media of print art have since been becoming more efficient and high tech as a result of the inspiration and spread of information from Gutenberg’s invention.

3)      Photocopier art, more so towards the process of cutting and pasting for zines, is similar to the process used with an old fashioned letter press. Both use a process of re-using images and copying letters to make an image. With the letterpress a stamp of the letters, words, or phrases needed are arranged to make literature, while with zine-art letter from other pieces of literature are cut out and pieced together to make art or literature.

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5)      FLUXUS-International avant-garde group of artists founded in Germany by U.S. artist George Maciunas (1931–78) in 1962. Its members, including Joseph Beuys, John Cage, and Yves Klein, explored media ranging from performance art to poetry to experimental music. Opposed to tradition and professionalism in the arts, the Fluxus group shifted the emphasis from what an artist makes to the artist's personality, actions, and opinions. Throughout the 1960s and '70s they staged “action” events, engaged in politics and public speaking, and produced sculptural works featuring unconventional materials. Though it was an influential movement in Europe, the group's work frequently conflicted with authority and aroused much controversy (www.creativeglossary.com/art-stylesmovements/fluxus.html)

MYRIAD-Constituting a very large, indefinite number; innumerable and/or Composed of numerous diverse elements or facets (www.thefreedictionary.com/myriad)

OSTENSIBLE-Represented or appearing as such; ostensive (www.thefreedictionary.com/ostensible)

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