False Mirrors - Jacob Kassay

Jacob Kassay's electroplated silver canvases look a lot like old worn mirrors but use today's technology to attain their appearance. If, like me, you have no idea what electroplating is, its a super cool process of plating that uses electrical current to reduce cations (positively charged ions) of a desired material to coat an object with a thin layer of the material, such as a metal. While electroplating dates back to the 1800s its a pretty new and inventive concept for art.

The plating concept burns the unpainted canvas, so at times the pieces look black and burnt on the corners. In several of Kassay's pieces the burn marks extend into the shiny faces of the panels giving them a mirror like appearance.

Joseph Wolin notes "The way that these thin silver surfaces delicately capture the traces of whatever stands before them evokes photography, with its light-sensitive emulsions of metal salts. But film photography as a technology has now been surpassed by digital—just as photography itself once usurped the province of painting—making Kassay's metal coatings feel like bronzed baby shoes, elegies to an unrecoverable past."

Rankin Live - Reminder

A few months back I blogged about Rankin's upcoming exhibit in London and today I received a reminder email from Dazed that I thought I would pass along:
From the 1st August 2009 for 7 weeks, Rankin will take up residence at the Truman Brewery, Brick Lane. A 600 image retrospective of his work and a live photo shoot will feature side by side. You have the opportunity to be photographed by Rankin for £50 (all profits going to Oxfam). In addition to receiving a print, your image will also form part of the live exhibition alongside some of Rankin’s most iconic images, including portraits of The Queen, Kate Moss and Vivienne Westwood to name a few. For a chance to participate, please email rankinlive@rankin.co.uk. Please include a photograph of yourself and briefly summarise your reasons for applying.

Moveable Art

I was in the New York Times building today and was memorized by the permanent lobby instillation by Mark Hansen and Ben Rubin called Moveable Type. This piece is a collaborative installation between New York artist, Rubin and UCLA Statistics professor, Hansen. The interactive piece captures writing from the New York Times, old and new, and displays them in various ways on hundreds of small screens.



The artwork is in a constant state of change because it reflects the up to the minute production of the news by the Times both print and online and draws content from life feeds, summaries of online page views and search activities as well as Times archives dating back to 1851.

What a cool way to mix technology and art it definitely made my rainy day a little better.

...and More Art Ads

My post about Marilyn Minter got me thinking - this weekend while celebrating my soon to be married friends last few months of bachelorette-hood we had a bowling lunch at Lucky Strike. Lucky Strike is a new and can I say posh bowling alley that opened in New York a few months ago.

While bowling I noticed that there were screens at the end of the lanes alternately displaying digital art and attributions. I think its a pretty ingenious way to promote artists and their work and also a great use of technology to do so.

Art ads

So I've been catching up on my New York Magazines and Time Outs from the past few weeks this gorgeous afternoon and came across an interview with artist Marilyn Minter which was pretty interesting. Minter's large scale paintings border on photorealism although she calls herself a "photo-replacer" meaning that she "replaces photos with intense rich surfaces" that tend to look abstract from up close. For her upcoming show at Salon 94 in New York she did something fairly ingenious, she's created an ad for her show.

In the interview Minter talks about how she got the idea of creating an ad from movie trailers. She recruited her makeup artist for help with the project. While taking photos for paintings, her makeup artist who has shot for MAC began taking photos of Minter taking photos which are now the subject of a video that's going up in Times Square for Creative Time an organization that "produces, and presents adventurous artworks of all disciplines in the public realm."

Minter prides herself on pushing boundaries and making art accessible to everyone which is not only in line with Creative Time's mission but also enables her to use technology and various other media such as skateboards or t-shirts and now even trailers to display and promote her art. I'll be sure to try and catch the trailer next time I'm at the Sunshine theater!

Connection Progression - Visual and Media

With the economy where it is now I began thinking about how artists go about marketing themselves or connecting with galleries, other artists and prospective buyers - for networking or just as means of social media

MySpace connected musicians or let me re-phrase that, connected music lovers to bands that they might have never had a listen to before. Twitter came into popularity by people "twitting" about new artists at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas a few years back. But I had never really heard of social media sites for artist until I did a little bit of research. I came across several sites that seemed pretty credible although I'm not really one to judge.

The site VisualProgression is one of the many I came across and seems to provide an environment that makes digital art accessible for artists to sell their work and for buyers. Its an environment for graphic designers and digital artists where they can learn from others and share their knowledge, upload portfolios, blog, ask and answer questions and discuss equipment.

I also came across a list Nicholas Forrest of artmarketblog.com recently put together of the top ten social networks that would be of benefit to art collectors and art investors. Below is his list of the top ten social networking sights that cater specifically to people interested in visual art:
http://www.myartspace.com/ is an online community with more than 50,000 artists, collectors, students, teachers, gallerists, curators, critics and art appreciators across the world.

http://www.artreview.com/ is a new social networking site for the artworld, "creating a global forum for discussion, interactivity and debate. artreview.com is a unique blend of editorial and community content, combining the insight and critical weight of some of today’s most important art world voices with the input and opinions of everyday enthusiasts from around the world."

http://www.artmesh.org/ is an inspiring and innovative network for those who live and love the fine arts. The difference to other art communities is the fact that "artmesh is about communication and collaboration, about inspiration and the exploration of the boundless possibilities of a progressive and innovative virtual art network."

http://www.artslant.com/, is the #1 contemporary art network, launched in Los Angeles in February, 2007. It is a sophisticated website that brings a local and in-depth focus to the contemporary art scene.

http://www.artlog.com/ "Artlog is the place for you to connect with folks, share your work and discover innovative new art & design". Artlog is for art makers, insiders, organizations and art lovers.

http://www.independent-collectors.com/ is an online tool targeted at modern and inquisitive collectors. It makes building a personal network and sharing information about topics like artists, galleries or events much easier and faster.

http://www.artselector.com/ The artselector contemporary fine art collective was originally set up by MA Fine Art graduates of Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and the Royal College of Art.

http://www.rhizome.org/ community includes thousands of artists, academics, curators, critics, and other new media art enthusiasts.

http://www.labforculture.org/en/labforculture/browse brings members of the visual art community together to network, advance careers, and to foster a community with exclusive benefits where information about artists and designers is provided by artists and designers.

Projections and Protections

LED signboards have become a signature material for Jenny Holzer - an artistic means of disseminating a message in a public forum and provoking a response in viewers. LEDs allow Holzer to convey her subversive messages whether its describing torture, or lamenting death and disease.

Her work sometimes blends in among advertisements in public space but it definitely doesn't go unnoticed. Sometimes you wish it was like a show where the announcer warn you of the strobe lights to lessen the shock - but regardless the message sinks in.

Since the late seventies, she has been working in the street and in public buildings, using media from LED displays to posters and stickers applied to telephone booths or parking meters, that enable her work to blend in the landscape. Text functions as social commentary on that environment they fit into, stimulating awareness of our social conditioning conveyed in the very environments and media in which we may be confronted by them.

As a communications professional I find her work extremely interesting - I find it speaks to the adage coined by Marshall McLuhan that the medium is the message. Like McLuhan Holzer tasks herself with understanding the effects of technology as it related to popular culture, and how this in turn affected human beings and their relations with one another in communities.

Holzer's work has been shown worldwide in prominent institutions and last week the Whitney Museum in New York opened a survey of her latest work. The exhibit is well worth your $15 admission and runs through May 31st.