NIAD: Twist and Crawl
KQED Arts | Jan 21, 2011
I was once in a graduate seminar when the visiting artist asked the students to explain how they knew when a work was finished. Nearly all said it was done when they couldn't work on it anymore or when they had reached a stopping place or when the idea had run its course.
A few days ago, I asked Susan Weiss, working on some fiber-sculptures at the time, how she knew when a work was finished, she replied, "It's done when it's done. And when I am done with two more, then I am going on vacation." Seems like we both work using a lot of intuition, which to me, at least, is half of what makes up a completed piece of art…. < full article>
An Oral History With Michael Macfeat
Paintings + Drawings Blog | July 19, 2008
After graduating from art school in 1988, I stuck around Philadelphia for a few years -- trying to figure out my art, and answering the telephone for the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The scene was pretty dead, except for Meat.
I didn’t know much about this group with the unusual and seemingly ironic name but they seemed to be a loosely affiliated bunch of artists that put together well-attended group shows, garnering a lot of press attention along the way. It was certainly inspiring to see artists say “fuck it” to the puny and really straight Philly gallery system by doing what they wanted…. < full article>
Trevor Paglen Has His Eye On Satellites
San Francisco Chronicle | May 31, 2008
Up in our darkened sky, sinister objects lurk.
They are not the vehicles of some alien life form bent on destroying humankind, though many do look like props from a sci-fi film. Some are so large they could engulf three football fields.
For four decades, the United States has been filling the outer reaches of our atmosphere with 189 reconnaissance satellites. And for several years, artist-geographer Trevor Paglen has been keeping his eye on them… <full article>
M.I.A. at SFMOMA
KQED Arts | Feb 04, 2008
Let's take a quick run through "Matisse and Beyond," the rotating exhibition of selections from SFMOMA's permanent collection. Or maybe a brisk walk -- I'm pretty sure running is still not allowed in the museum.
The first two galleries one enters feature the beginnings of 20th Century art in Europe -- Fauvism, Dada, and Cubism. When you look around, please notice that all the paintings and sculptures are by men... <full article>
Love at First Sight
KQED Arts | Feb 14, 2008
Seeing a specific painting or work of art in person, at a certain moment, can change your life. Something in the painting and in you just click. Maybe it's a color. Maybe it's the subject matter.
Ask an artist and they can probably tell you the first time it happened to them. Some emotion flew off the canvas and lodged in their heart. A sense of wonder was born. A conversation began. Time goes on and other influences flow into that artist's life. His work changes, but that first emotional experience is still there… <full article>
Alice Neel
KQED Arts | Jan 25, 2008
Pablo Picasso was an asshole -- kids, wives, lovers, even a pop song agree. So was Philip Guston. Or at least a terribly self-centered artist and an absentee father, Musa Mayer wrote in the semi-bitter memoir of her painter dad.
Until recently, most artists who made it into the pantheon of art history were male, they got there in large part through the support of their all-sacrificing wives. The women were there working jobs to support the family, raising the kids (if they could afford to have any) and tolerating the art world while the men painted… <full article>
Might As Well Jump: Bruce Conner's Mabuhay Photographs
KQED Arts | Nov 17, 2007
Whenever someone asks me that age-old question "Who do you like better, Elvis or The Beatles?" I always answer the Dead Kennedys.
I'm not gonna deny that part of the reason I say it is to be a jerk. But I mean, really, if I have to pick music that zenithed awhile ago, the snotty self-righteousness of Jello Biafra and crew gets my vote.
Fortunately for the Bay Area, BAM/PFA recently announced their purchase of 53 photographs by San Francisco's Bruce Conner -- two portfolios of images from his Mabuhay Gardens series. Shot in 1977-78 and printed in 1985 and 2004, the series came out of his contributions to V. Vale's punk rag Search and Destroy… <full article>
Not Fade Away: Preserving Clyfford Still
KQED Arts | Dec 24, 2007
It all began with Clyfford Still. At least for me it did. Back in 1991, freshly arrived in San Francisco, I visited SFMOMA. To say I was blown away by the roomful of Stills would be an understatement.
I had never experienced a Still in person until that moment. The feelings that washed over me included, but were not limited to, amazement, horror, disgust, delight, and ultimately, unfettered admiration. Growing up at the beginning of our post-modern era, I was well-versed in the joys of cool detachment. But I walked away that day with the realization that art was a huge and vicious battle, a never ending quest for some sort of redemption against the darkness of forever. The Stills spewed out the idea that a hellfire fight against nothingness could also be a celebration, and no matter what the cost, the fight was worth it. At that time, long before the alleged death of irony, it seemed like a radical notion... <full article>
