E3-HS9, 2011

Tree Drawings, Nightwalks, Insect Flight Paths, Restorative Device, For the Baron, Postal Works, and his latest Recorded Delivery.  Those are the work titles of UK based artist Tim Knowles. You can pick up on the artist’s sensibility simply from those titles – simplified to bare bones – no more, no less. When I first experienced one of Knowles’ Nightwalks photographs at Bitforms Gallery, I was indeed speechless. One could easily muse at Knowles’ Nightwalks images and be inspired to write. Understanding the process behind this creation though, shows us a slightly different story. The artist uses all the natural elements as his materials, which forms a spontaneous and performative act. No, this has nothing to do with performance art, more like behavioral studies. Looking at Knowles’ body of work all together leaves me at this comfortable space that is somewhat ambiguous yet extremely familiar. Who would have the guts (or time) to wire-tap the inside of a package with audio/visual recording devices and send it off on a 902 mile journey?  I wouldn’t. It must’ve also required a period of trial-and-error before the package is ready to set off. The result, “an artwork which captures the topsy-turvy world of a parcel in the post.”  Recorded Delivery, created with permission from the Royal Mail, is currently on view at the Bitforms Gallery, NYC, until the 27th of May. Continue Reading More »

Courtesy of Sean Kelly Gallery

At the risk of generalizing, I’ll admit that I am often suspicious of art that presents itself as “conceptual.” What frightens me is the disconnect that often exists between concept and experience. Discussing this idea with an acquaintance at a party several years ago I was asked mockingly “do you seek to be moved?” I do, and firmly believe that successful conceptual art can elicit not only a cerebral, but also a visceral physical response in the viewer.  With this in mind, I had few expectations when I wandered into Sean Kelly Gallery in Chelsea last Wednesday. What I found was a mixed, but ultimately satisfying exhibition of works by Joseph Kosuth.

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As we approach the horizon of the 2011 Unsound Music Festival NY, I can feel the anticipation building up. If you are a fan of electronic music and sonic arts, like I am, you probably know that Europe (particularly Germany) is the place to be. Beginning April 1st, New York folks will be in for a treat.  It was only until a few weeks ago that the 2011 program has been announced, but it was well worth the wait.  Last year’s line-up was amazing, but this year’s will not disappoint. The Festival officially opens on April 6th, with a preliminary week of screenings and lectures opening on April 1st under Unsound Festival NY Labs.

View full program and artists here.

Courtesy of the artist

I came across the name of Maria Chavez for the first time last July when going through the program of the Christian Marclay Festival (Whitney  Museum of American Art,  July 1- September 26 2010).  It was only a matter of time to see Maria perform live in one of the many events happening in town. Her intuitive, interactive, reactive way of treating her materials, vinyl records and needles for that matter, impressed me. She is also one of the few female artists, if not the only one, in town who manages to bend the turntablist rules effortlessly and create immersive sonic atmospheres made of sparse samples, clicks and scratches. And these are only a few of the reasons that motivated me to do this interview with her. Maria was born in Peru, lived in Houston and is now based in Brooklyn. She is currently curating  a series of shows entitled Dead Of Winter Works at the Splatterpool Gallery showcasing new work by Richard Garet, Shelley Burgon, David Linton, Byron Westbrook, Future Archaeology and Sarah Lipstate. I have asked her a few things about her relationship to vinyl, her working process, about the NY scene and about fashion. Continue Reading More »

For his third solo exhibition at Triple Base in San Francisco, Jay Nelson has masked the entire gallery floor with hand cut, custom shaped panels of ACX plywood. He’s divided the space with a new wall, and installed two separate arrangements of recent works in traditional, consciously transparent orderings. Nelson’s constructed all the necessary tools of perception (the wall, the work, even the floor) and pieced it all together to create an abstraction that according to the artist, was developed “with as little intention as possible.” Continue Reading More »

Opening tomorrow is a very special series of sound art performances and installations entitled Dead of Winter Works #1-6 presented by Splatterpool Artspace.  The project, which is curated by renowned avant-turntabalist Maria Chavez, envisions garnering a collective of multi-media talents for individual and collective introspection (basically to be entranced) during those “dead of winter” months. As we are already being wrapped in to the winter’s darkness, a series of experimental multi-media performances curated by an avant-garde sound artist already sounds pretty amazing. Kicking off tomorrow night is Richard Garet and until the end of February the line-up of artists include Shelley Burgon, David Linton, Byron Westbrook, Thomas Dexter, Future Archeology, Sarah Lipstate. And of course Ms. Chavez herself will be present throughout the performances. Complete details and the entire schedule is up on Splatterpool.

Paul Prudence

Helen asked if I was interested in covering the opening at Devotion Gallery in Williamsburg. She knows I have an interest in electronic art and I remember shrugging and thinking, why not, even though I had never heard of generative art. That’s the term gallerist Phoenix Perry used to describe The Root of the Root, the show she curated, which opened last Friday at Devotion. Featuring works by Aaron Meyers, Paul Prudence, and Marius Watz, the show celebrates generative art, or art that relies on a system that operates with some independence (such as a computer programming language or biological process) for its creation. Continue Reading More »