Via The New York Times, this is a very moving portrait of a Harlem-based political blogger named Steve Gilliard (special thanks to SWI for bringing this to my attention). This was his blog, this one is run by his friends. Gilliard, who wrote for Daily KOS (writing on the state of our nation), and though many may have known his work, passed on at the age of 42 back in June. May he R.I.P.

Oh no, not again? Best of lists, in general, are so opinionated, and a lil’ corny. But we all have our (not so secret) faves. And even though this may be is the last time I offer mine publically, ‘07 kicked it! But in an omniperipheral view of an entire 365 days passed, how can you truly rate without the CliffsNotes version, eh? Here at unBlogged the entire team (of one) is doing some housecleaning for ‘08, and part of that will include fewer posts while I teach and dominate the studio. Sure, there will be transmissions from my world behind the curtain and inside the fishbowl, but I’m going to bore you less with details, details, details. That’s right.

So it’s hightime I just put out there my annual personal thesis about what seemed to best take shape around here in Y2K7. What wowed the masses, or at least me. Lots of highlights and lowlights - and it’s only going to take one guy to screw them in or out. That didn’t come out right. Although, there’s always the typical hype connected with advertising and boring incestuous relationships, it’s pretty transparent. I’m the type that just can’t help but tell it like it is from my p.o.v. and here’s the way things asymetrically stacked up:

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Thought For The Day (just sayin’).

I’m 42. If I were going to live to the ripe age of 80, surpassing my dad by 11 years, I would be considered a middle aged man, yes? Now, mind you, I have only acquired parts and pieces of the old ‘white picket fence’ dream - and along the way haven’t had even .5 children, nor even any pets (except ‘Vaughn’ a rabbit who I sorta midwived for a few months to shelter her from a crazy bunch of fratsters). A great example is having my driver’s license ever since I was 16 years of age and never owning an automobile. And I’ve never smoked (for good measure). What’s this I’m blathering about? Well, as we assess things like the best of the year awards, our taxes and waistlines, artists are forever noted as “emerging”. Yes, an overused term in any idiom in fact. But I must say I have enjoyed this reference since around 1988 or so.

As I sit and watch the snow fall outside this window how could I not examine the very delicate moments life deals each of us. And in many ways I’m just getting started over, and over. So, the aforementioned word often feels applicable from my personal view, but when you’ve been at it for going on 23 years (including time in college, of course) there’s this balance between what’s earned, and what’s left best in the past. Yes, we move on no matter what our age. Artists persevere, often without adulation, harnessing whatever motivates the creative spirit in that moment - kind of like the snow falling where it wants.

As it goes on seven years since I first tilled this Northwestern soil, to consider a patch of it my ‘turf’ I think about the trials, tribulations and success of all things I involved myself in prior. The years of darkroom printing, site specific installations at museums and universities, the many full time jobs that stood in the way of my getting into the studio. I think about some of my original curatorial work that I still view as an art form in and of itself. Coming of age as a man in lean times (as well as through the big-haired latter 80s). Without getting too nostalgic, I look at it as a report card of sorts. And while some of these adventures make it into the latter gestations of this year’s curriculum vitae, as time passes, we become a glorified editor of the highlights of our lives.

That said, the concept of mid-career always seems vastly different to me. And just because of a tinge of salt and pepper at the temples doesn’t dictate anything other than something folicular for the most part. But after a solid yearus uninteruptus in le studio I’ve discovered so much more than settling on what mid career might actually mean. Well, for one, you can be the most successful artist for years in any genre, pick one - or live in an area that is lesser on the map, and be completely overlooked for your past work. There is this invisible threshold you must “crossover” into the right audience or venue - or by working with a particular curator, or just some lucky fluke. Most artists (including me) have to work extremely hard, and for many years, to get noticed in a way that may cause for a double take. And it’s not just because of our self-affacing attitude about what we do, it’s about letting go of much of what goes into the whole bit about self promotion. Yes, it takes mucho cahones (and a power-packed and readily available press kit and saavy representation) to get into the public eye sooner rather than later. I’ve known that for years, but the kick in the pants that was the Miami Beach art fairs sealed it in wax. But just what is its melting point, and flexibility level? That’s where finesse fits in.

If it sounds like I am just going on, it’s because I am. When you’ve earned a notch in your belt you will feel that glorious sense of expansion. But just make sure it was truly earned, and that it’s not simply hot air. And though I’ve yet to have any form of career retrospective (I wonder what would be included?), and I regularly feel I am working on new ideas, collaborations, series - there’s usually less time to actually assess, and only a perceived sense to produce in the studio. I’m compelled to be there every day, but usually clock in about 4-5 days a week. I tend to document most of what I do, because when you create either collaboratively, or you sell the work, or it is geared for something temporary (often my case in the past), a record is all you have. Sometimes that record is more exciting, or mythical than the actual physical work produced. I could site a handful of artists who firestarted their careers on past work, went into “early retirement” and fuel their everyday on this sort of myth, rather than the sweat equity it may take another. Do I fault that artist, never, they used the power of influence, and ingenuity to get there quicker. The only thing that this sort of artist needs to watch for is becoming a parody of themself. You know the breed I speak of?

The administration of your career often takes a chunk that cyclically feels like dead, lead weight. Especially when every grant you may apply for in any given year is rejected. It can either rupture your psyche time and again, or you can look at the whole thing like a lottery (especially when younger artists are taking home the gold). But alas, most career driven artists know the basic playing field, you just have to weather the changing climate. For me, I’m more in it because I made a vocational commitment long ago. I’m still learning and yearing - how “mid career” is that? Perhaps this is a cycle of constant emergence. And so what if it’s run like molasses? I did it my way.

It’s the time of year for assessment of how the cream rose to the occasion (or some such). And the Willamette Week’s roving reporter Richard Speer is the first on the block to release his version of what became, in his eyes, the ‘Best of 2007‘. I am honored to note that not only did I (along w/collaborator Abi Spring) receive a nod for Best Installation, but unBLOGGED takes the coveted Best Visual Arts Blog category! I can only hope the momentum continues into 2008 with two solo shows in Portland, a curatorial gig (or two) and my collaborative work with Leif Elggren/Kingdoms of Elgaland-Vargaland (who “took over” at this year’s Venice Biennale) to be presented in the fall at the Neon Gallery (Brosarp). A very busy year ahead, indeed.

• • • My personal ‘best of’ list is timestamped for transmission later in the week…

Art Basel Addendums:
It’s all coming back to me now. You should read these pieces (1 + 2) coming from Boston’s Big, Red & Shiny. These two gals brought the whole thing into daylight for me, having experienced much of the same. Their reports are very much experiential, physical. I heard the official fair count was 26, and the whole thing would probably work better with a dozen max. I “only” got to about 10 or so myself, but honestly, when you’ve had enough one starts to glaze over from all the eye candy.

The season suspends time in a way. This week alone I found the time to screen a handful of films either at home or at the cinema including Charlie Wilson’s War, The Water Horse, Nanny McPhee and Paprika. Such influx leaves me still in amazement regarding the acting finesse of the incredibly versatile Philip Seymour Hoffman (he gets better + better). No to mention my wide-eyes for films geared mostly for children. And I honestly left Charlie Wilson’s War not bored by atypical performances by either Tom Hanks or Julia Roberts. They were well cast indeed. Both this and the Water Horse each depict variations on wartime. Nanny McPhee was a fun lil’ farse sorta spinoff on Mary Poppins, a bit overtly Bedknobs and Broomsticky with Emma Thompson playing the unattractive lead. I’m not quite sure what to say about Paprika, except maybe that it classically fits the phrase “art film”. This was pop Japanimation meets thriller meets Dr. Who. Somewhat genre-neutral presented as a ripe psychedelic trip that repeated scenes bloated with characitures as dreams, or versions of reality, all in animated HD technicolor. People falling in space, and warped time, giant Hello Kitty like bobbly headed isms at every turn. Vivid and plain weird (for weird sake), pulsing so - it put me to sleep. My guess is this film would do much better on the giant silver screen, probably causing certain psychosis for some.

Robert Anton “RAW” Wilson (born Robert Edward Wilson; January 11)
Alice Coltrane (born Alice McLeod; January 12)
Dan Russo (IXOHOXI; January 15)
Uwe Nettelbeck (Faust; January 17)
Brent Liles (Social Distortion, Agent Orange; January 18 )
Jutok Kaneko (Kousokuya; January 24)
Benoit Sonnette (Textile Records; January 29)
Paul Dean Burwell (Bow Gamelan Ensemble; February 4)
Alan Paul Nigel “Nidge” Miller (Blitz; February 10)
Emmett Williams (Fluxus; February 14)
Charles Gocher (Sun City Girls; February 19)
Bruce Bennett (born Harold Herman Brix, was Tarzan; February 24)
Leroy Jenkins (AACM; February 24)
Osvaldo Cavandoli (“La Linea” artist; March 3)
Jean Baudrillard (March 6)
Tyrone Hill (Sun Ra Arkestra; March 11)
Calvert DeForest (a.k.a. Larry “Bud” Melman; March 19)
Sol LeWitt (minimalist; April 8 )
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (April 11)
Donald Tai Loy “Don” Ho (April 14)
Andrew Hill (composer and free improvisor; April 20)
Helmut Schäfer (April 20)
Robert George “Bobby Boris” Pickett (April 25)
David D. “Dave” Cross (Arthur Doyle Electro-Acoustic Ensemble; April 27)
Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich KBE (April 27)
Gordon Scott (born Gordon Merrill Werschkul, was Tarzan; April 30)
Marco Corbelli (Atrax Morgue; May 6)
Roderick “Rod” Poole (Oxford Improvisors’ Cooperative; May 13)
Mario Zanzani (AngelicA; May 13)
Charles Nelson Reilly (May 25)
Donald Jeffrey Herbert (Mr. Wizard; June 12)
Elisabeth “Liz” Claiborne (June 26)
Kelly Johnson (Girlschool; July 15)
Isidore Isou (creator of Lettrism, born Ioan-Isidor Goldstein; July 28)
Ingmar Bergman (July 30)
Brett Ford (Lubricated Goat; early August)
Paul Rutherford (Iskra 1903, Spontaneous Music Ensemble; August 5)
Anthony “Tony” Wilson (Factory Records; August 10)
Elizabeth Murray (Painter; August 12)
Jerome “Jah Jerry” Hines (The Skatalites; August 13)
Maxwell Lemuel “Max” Roach (August 15)
Hilly Kristal (CBGB’s; August 28 )
Lydia Tomkiw (Algebra Suicide; September 7)
Jean-François Bizot (Actuel Magazine; September 8 )
Robert Andrew Deacon (Volume Magazine, Sweatbox; September 8 )
Tawn Mastrey (staunch heavy metaller; October 2)
Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge (a.k.a. Miss Jackie, of Psychic TV; October 9)
Earl Fred Bennett (Spike Jones & His City Slickers; October 11)
Lucky Philip Dube (October 18 )
Paul Vincent Raven (Killing Joke, Ministry; October 20)
Donald Ayler (brother of Albert; October 21)
Paul “Foxy” Fox (The Ruts; October 21)
Lance Hahn (Cringer, J Church; October 21)
Porter Wayne Wagoner (October 28 )
Norman Kingsley Mailer (November 10)
Reg Park (was Hercules; November 22)
Pete “Räkä” Malmi (born Mika-Petteri Malmi, of Briard; November 24)
Kevin DuBrow (Quiet Riot; November 25)
Karlheinz Stockhausen (December 5)
Christine Ann Gibson (Beex; December 9)
Ike Wister Turner (a father of rock’n’roll; December 12, 2007)
Frank Morgan (saxophonist; December 14)
Daniel Grayling “Dan” Fogelberg (singer-songwriter; December 16)
Oscar Peterson (jazz pianist; December 24)

Whether filled with joy or deflated from the traffic and sheer hoardes of suburbanites who have taken over Downtown…Someone’s had their fair share of ye olde nog. All captured on film by Jim Lommasson. There is no way I couldn’t pass this on.

BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS: Nature’s coincidences often fade softly into night. Not tonight. The cross nearly linked beyond the spectrum of time. The actual full moon isn’t until Xmas eve, but it’s been bright enough to light the second floor of our modest treehouse. After all, this solstice we experience is nothing other than the instant when the Sun’s position in the sky is at its greatest angular distance on the other side of the equatorial plane as the observer. The Winter Solstice is deep in my Celtic roots. So from Newgrange to New Brunswick, it’s also the shortest day of the year. Yeah, that’s cool. The Druids were out in droves - from the Guardian.

As ‘07 draws to its grande conclusion there’s this certain something that happens each year, perhaps only in my mind. That is a sense of time suspension, like a calm (if you avoid the malls like I do) sea, predicting everything will be OK in the new year ahead. And though I’m witness, however peripherally, to the many awkward political debates, the issues of global warming, the personal and public self and all its dividing lines, the nit-picky net…or simply put, the naughty and nice - life has a whisper running through it, at least today. I set the tempo while listening to Aranos‘ new Tax CD (Pieros) which is folk/ambient brilliance, with sardonic twists. It also asks some of the important $ and fashion issues/questions of our time:

“Tax is a record with a political theme. How much tax we all pay? Usually we think of income tax only, (which incidentally was introduced in England to pay for Napoleonic wars and was and is collected ever since). But we also pay tax on all purchases and services. It is a lot of money and proportion of it goes on war. More in some countries, less in others. In global economy we all pay for all the wars everywhere. Example: Parts of this computer were made in China, by giving Chinese government some of my money I also pay for weapons that Burmese government uses to brutalise it’s population. Now what is war? Bunch of people dressed in costumes (uniforms) killing another bunch of people dressed in different costumes. These costumes enable them to behave in a fashion that would be considered criminal under different circumstances. The military costume wearers do not know anything about the other costume wearers; some of them might be perfectly nice people. But they wear different clothes so “KILL THEM!” Insane or what? And my (and your) tax is paying for this. In concept the record is fairly original in that it treats one theme and it’s aspects, a bit like an oratorio on the theme “lament about human stupidity”. What can we do? I do not know, Maybe we can start thinking about demanding different approach by our leaders; after all it is our money.”

Seriously…with or without tongue buried deeply in cheek - that sense of temporary calm can be ours year round, within our songs, drawings, words, films, images. Here’s looking to an ‘08 filled with best understanding our differences, using the arts to speak truths not currently spoken fully from either the tank or the pulpit or the poison pen.

I was watching this interview with Francis Bacon from The South Bank Show taken from my favorite site on the web (ubuWeb), when I discovered something. That, perhaps, as artists we can really be so definitive, yet introspective, that we are profoundly susceptible to contradict ourselves constantly. Aside from being an odd couple in basic housekeeping (he breeded amongst chaos, I need a blank slate to think), it’s my belief that I would have gotten along quite well with this man. There’s a critical vibe running through the simplest of comments. Especially when it comes to the non-evasive approach to discussing his own work.

• • •

“Art is artifact, and the more artificial you can make it the better, the more intense it will be.”

“If I drew it, I would just be making an illustration, so it’s so much better to immediately attack the canvas with the paint.”

- Francis Bacon, 1985
(slightly paraphrased)

Our M_US__EUM piece is featured today on this tres cool site, a source for “highly abbreviated entries on design”.

HOMELAND NO LONGER HOMELESS: This past weekend Paul Middendorf and crew re-opened Gallery Homeland (2505 SE 11th Avenue) with its latest offering, a project called A NW Thang. It would seem that the new location could potentially become an actual physical rooting down of the oft mobile organization. The new space located in the Ford Building (12th and Division) is a fairly good sized, uncontained hallway-like space that travels through the main corridor of the first floor. The ceilings are high, the energy was too on Friday night. For the opening they also used a larger adjoining space located on SE Division for a live performance and video. The space is rumored to become a new restaurant which will beef up foot traffic in this neighborhood pairing the industrial edge with the residential. The varied works in this show come from Marc Dombrosky, Saya Moriyasu, Patrick Rock, Paige Saez, Cynthia Star and Jason Wood. I was particularly attracted to two of PNCA grad student Saez’s sewn collages of Art Forum on paper, and the enticing entry point with unusual wood carvings by Jason Wood. In the back room laid a group-made skeleton of various yarns, set upon a lit table, like an medical experiment in progress. They promise some strong programming in the form of upcoming artist residencies.

ZOOBOMB BECOMES “OFFICIAL” PUBLIC ART: Vanessa Renwick and Brian Borrello will become the first duo to officially christen this ongoing project in an official status as a public art work. To be unveiled in June ‘08.

“DIY, people power, pedal power, free fun, wildness, non-hierarchical community…if we can manifest that, it will be something people take notice of.” – Brian Borrello

Here There Nowhere: Over at Laura Russo Gallery are the latest works by Michael Brophy. Perhaps you could call these his ‘premonition paintings’. It’s kind of eerie to me seeing these very dark black and fiery pieces (Pallet Fire) that only hint at the light of day. With his recent studio tragedy it is more than a basic double take, it’s downright forethought of odd calm before the storm. One of the pieces looks like a completely unlit night with all left in sight being the charred detritus of a campfire in silhoutte, another of a truck’s rear (Night Truck) fading into the distance is solemn, staid and reminds me of the film Lost Highway. There’s something mysterious going on throughout the room, as if the paintings are more like apparitions of work in a state of mind, of delivery. They seem disconnected from his long body of work. It hit me like a ton of bricks, and I am sure I am projecting a little bit of the larger picture into these seven footers. I suppose he has always included a sense of the cognizant devastation brought on by man’s intervening with the due course of nature.

In February Tilt Gallery + Project Space co-director, Jenene Nagy, will be the next featured artist in the Portland Art Museum’s APEX series curated by Jennifer Gately. A very pleasant surprise to get in my e-box and exciting to be Nagy’s first-ever solo museum exhibition. This proves that the museum can be a bit dangerous and risky, and is recognizing a rather young artist among us who has made a clear impact in the community. Presenting someone who hybrids media in a way that confronts the flat architectural/monotone plane. Justice done for what’s happening right here and now here in Portland. With a handful of younger artists using the motif of playful angles, as props, as staging, raw, with cheap materials, Nagy always offers something that pops in its various painting and sculptural references. And once she shifted to larger scale her work became something both contentious and on the playing field within the scale of the body. Many viewers have to contend with things larger than themselves. Some with awe, and some within the pluralism of basic physics.

When I asked her about being tapped for this series she said “Extremely flattered. It was a pretty unbelievable phone call to get. Every time I went to the APEX I always thought it begged for installation. I never dreamed of being included in such a prestigious program. Well, not this early in my career at least. I am so appreciative of Jennifer and the museum for supporting this kind of work and giving me such an awesome opportunity.” She further went on to define what she’s doing in the studio these days as “Paintings that behave like sculpture.”

From the release: “For the last year, Nagy has questioned the need to invent idealized spaces with site-specific installations that blur the boundaries between built and natural environments. Composed with standard construction materials such as drywall, candy-colored latex house paint, wood two-by-fours, and shelf paper, Nagy’s work references manufactured and organic worlds. Residing somewhere between painting and sculpture, her imaginative landscapes flow from gallery walls and fracture into space. “With their clear architectural roots and abstracted organic gestures, Nagy’s playful, yet subversive, faceted installations ask viewers to question their perception of interior and exterior worlds,” said Jennifer A. Gately, Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Curator of Northwest Art.”

Nagy recently offered an open studio visit to the public, and also has just this semester taken on the role of overseeing a few galleries at PSU where she plans to show a handful of artists from her own gallery roster. Next year is a big year for Jenene as she also pursues a duo exhibition with colleague and gallerymate Stephanie Robison at the Art Gym. An artist to watch.

It’s that time of the year. In the last week I have donated my work, time, efforts or organizational skills to art related fundraisers around town delivered by PICA, Portland Art Center, Newspace Center for Photography and Artists Space New York. All events, from my point of view, were well organized this year and there was a large outpouring by regional artists, known, emerging and newbies, all taking part in this synergy of giving. ‘Tis the season as has been the buzz phrase for decades. For the average artist, who has a basic studio practice, it comes with a certain level of exhiliration and exhaustion.

The community of creative peers, working together side-by-side at yesterday’s Prints 4 PICA was oddly like a calm sea until late afternoon. There was music and munchies as the ink overfloweth, and a whole lot of work being printed and donated on the spot. The halls were filled from floor to ceiling with strong imagery and color and technique. I enjoy an event where artists from all media (videographers, painters, sculptors) attempt the scape of the monoprint for a day of it. And the printers who donate their time and their presses for the event, the wonderful PICA staff and volunteers. So many people thanked me for the use of my studio, though spinning the table I give thanks for having so many talented folks under one roof for nine whole hours - and with good cause. So many familiar artists, ongoing dialogues, new faces in the crowd, conversations and laughter.

Over the entire 12-hour day I only broke away for an hour to participate in M.K. Guth’s project that was already well under way at the Gerding Theater. Here in wartime, primaries/elections, real fears about global warming, wildlife extinction, and near recession she dares ask the question “What Is Worth Protecting?”. I scrawled (in my best teenage boy block lettering) “Common Sense”. She’ll take this to several major cities across the States before it lands at the Armory in New York for the Whitney Biennial. To build a bridge between fairy tales and the fear of reality is extremely provocative and important right now. The Oregonian reports.

The Portland Art Center outdid itself with its party for PDX Panels (photos above courtesy of Christopher Brown) on Friday evening and the turnout was great. They had a DJ whose setup was built upon a gurney, some fine mini cupcakes dusted with coconut and a whole lot of din of conversation. The mood was up-up-up. It was my first time to see the show, and though not curated, comes off like a wonderful salon-style tapestry, a grid of 300 same sized panels all donated to help keep their roof intact. The work ranges from bold and sophisticated to bright and brazen, with some intimate in-betweens. At press time close to 1/3 of the panels had already been sold, including mine, so it would seem a growing success, and hopefully that will only increase in its last week on view. There are several gorgeous pieces still without the familiar red dot. If you have a loved one and want to wait on that iPod (I hear there will be fancier models come February) and give the gift that will last longer than any Energizer bunny, and support a growing cultural center, please think about how much more valuableyour dollars can make sense in the form of a gift of art.

This week I also dropped off my piece neuwave (2006) as a gift to Newspace for their upcoming fundraiser in February. They really provide the classic services of a non-profit organization and continue to need solid support, and have consistently provided incredible opportunities for photographers, professional and amateurs. This includes an upcoming exhibition and lecture by the amazing Hiroshi Watanabe.

I’m also teaching my class Deconstructing Criticism starting January 8th and there have already been some folks signed up for this five week class (Tuesdays 6:30-9:30PM). We will delve into the finer curvatures of how to look at the field of photography and its hybrids without holding back. This class will do well with a range of people in the group, you make it what it will become. It’s all about developing and destroying and rebuilding the greater dialogue about critique, and looking. We will discuss YOUR work, and make observances of photographers in the public eye, and those of yore as well. And there will be a field trip to a local image spot. The class holds a max of eight, so sign up as a gift to yourself (it’s affordable too)!

Artists Space in New York held its annual Night of 1000 Drawings. This was my first year to be asked to participate and I was working on small works on paper, so it was a perfect fit. I was also nudged by two colleagues who I respect, so I sent in two small pieces that I thought turned out quite nicely. Soon I will post an image or two from the evening. It was one of the few things I’ve participated in that I was unable to actually attend, maybe that’s growth?! Their organization is one of the oldest arts non-profits in NYC, and host the wonderful Irving Sandler Artists File, an incredible resource for international curators, collectors and artists.

In the past few weeks I also received a request for next year’s Cascade AIDS Project’s Annual Art Auction, this year curated by Lewis and Clark College’s Hoffman Gallery director Linda Tesner. I’ve donated work thrice in the past, but have been a strong advocate of all donated works, as there is a curatorial process in place, to appear in their catalogue, at least in the form of thumbnails. I’m a bit of a stickler on this one. We’ll see if that finally takes shape this year. I gave 1/2 my adult life to the causes of HIV/AIDS (lost a handful of special friends and mentors), and hope that there is more a full circle than a bell curve in the cards. It’s a great cause, though I want to be an advocate for artists who have truly made these efforts worthwhile, and been the root of this fundraising effort. The creative voice needs to be heard as well as seen.

This all puts into perspective exactly how much a single artist can realistically donate annually. I’m sure I am among many who are asked from all angles. It’s flattering, and important to be sought after. However, sometimes the effort bears reasonably small fruit. It comes back to the collectors and the institutions to do their best in hyping these events to their constituency and the general public. The hopes are high, the output is great, the return on investment, when balanced with these efforts, possibly a breaking even point for some, probably a grande success for others. And yes, sometimes the unexpected happens and makes everything more exciting and challenging to like-minded pro-active proponents of the cultural landscape. Comfortable with my efforts this year, I will probably have to reign in slightly in ‘08, and then maybe every other year be an artist elf. Or perhaps donate to a different organization I care about one year and another in the following year? These events are also fun community builders, and there is a healthy level of non-specific competition going on. Here’s wishing them all a great season and to all a good night.

Event Information
5th Annual Prints for PICA
Saturday, December 15, 2007
TodayArt Studios ßNote New Location this year!
439 SE Grand at Stark (enter through red door on Stark, half a block west of Grand).
6:00 pm – 9:00 pm

www.pica.org

WHO: Prints for PICA Artists to Date
Adam Sorenson, Alex Felton, Annette Thurston, Barb Tetenbaum, Bill Park, Blair Saxon-Hill, Bonnie Paisley, Brad Adkins, Brian Schellinger, Bruce Conkle, Calvin Ross Carl, Carol Ferris, Catherine Rondthaler, Cecilia Hallinan, Chris Gander, Chris Moss, Christine Bourdette, Corey Lunn, Cynthia Lathi, Dana Lyn Louis, Darren Orange, David Corbett, Deborah Horell, Eleanor Erskine, Ellen George, Gabriel Liston, Gabriele Irle, Heather Watkins, Henk Pander, Hilary Pfeifer, Jenene Nagy, Jesse Hayward, Joe Hockett, Joe Thurston, John Brodie, Joshua Berger, Kristan Kennedy, Linda K Johnson, Mack McFarland, Manya Shapiro, Mark Mahaffey, Meg Peterson, Melia Donovan, Midori Hirosi, MK Guth, Modou Dieng, Morgan Walker, Nan Curtis, Nathaniel Price, Paige Saez, Patrick Long, Patrick Rock, Pete McCracken, Philip Iosca, Rae Mahaffey, Renee Zangara, Rhoda London, Rob Halverson, Robert Gamblin, Samantha Wall, Sara Gottesdiener, Scott Porter, Scott Wayne Indiana, Sean Healy, Stephen Hayes, Storm Tharp, Timothy Scott Dalbow, TJ Norris, Yoshihiro Kitai, Yuji Hiratsuka, and more!

WHAT: Prints for PICA
Take a slew of emerging, established, revered, and talked about artists from across the burgeoning city of Portland. Put them all together in a studio. Give them access to accomplished printers, free flowing ink, and lots of coffee, and watch them turn stacks of blank pages into coveted art. Ranging in price from $100-$250, prints are sold on a first come, first served basis. All proceeds to benefit PICA’s Artistic Programming.

The 5th Annual Prints for PICA event: A printmaking marathon and floor-to-ceiling studio art sale returns this December 15, 2007. Conceived by artist Stephen Hayes and hosted by TodayArt Studios, Prints for PICA gathers artists together in support of PICA’s artistic programming. Over 50 artists spend all day Saturday creating and printing with the sale opening that evening for the public from 6:00 pm through 9:00 pm.

While Prints for PICA is a great chance to buy a very special gift, it’s also an amazing opportunity to create and build a personal art collection—either for a friend of for your own home gallery—all while helping make the world safe for contemporary art. In past years, Prints for Pica artists, printers and buyers have contributed significant funds to PICA’s Visual Art Program—providing important ballast for the creation of new work and the support of artist residencies.

A Greek-based e-gallery curated by social designer Costas Voyatzis called Yatzer features ‘M_US__EUM‘ this week.

Don’t miss this week’s edition of Oregon Art Beat. In this episode yours truly is this month’s “featured artist”. Also featuring the Portland Art Center’s PDX Panels. Broadcast tonight at 8PM; re-airs Sunday Dec 16 at 6pm. Check your local listings.

This is in my old neck of the woods. My family was spared, but the area houses didn’t do as well….Related story from the Boston Globe.

While in Miami I spent some time with Miami Art Exchange’s Onajídé Shabaka. Here’s the result of our casual midday conversation at the Aqua Miami Art Fair.

Interview with TJ Norris @ Aqua Miami Art Fair from onajide shabaka on Vimeo.

On Monday we managed to set out for a touch of sun and fun on the final leg of our packed week on South Beach. Bryan (below) and I found ourselves at some of the smaller (and free-of-charge) fairs yesterday instead of the larger Wynwood lot. It was a nice balance to the ‘box’ with many hotel rooms offering AC, outdoor views and thin winding corridors.
(* Is that passing woman above a Stockard Channing lookalike?)

We started at what I would consider the only poorly conceived fair that we attended overall, Art Now. I caddily referred to it as “Art Never”. Pardon me, but it’s hot, and there’s lots to see. This hotel was run down, the rooms cramped and drab and much of the art, honestly, was what I might call tourist fare. When you entered you were confronted by a large canopy piece with fabric toilet paper dangling from above. Tacky! We ventured forward less-the-none.

Next it was the Red Dot and Bridge Art Fairs, which was in a fun and very 80s hotel, lots of white, and a wild red shag carpet, futuristic motifs in their polypropolene furnishings. This fair was hipper, however after asking one NY dealer about a Miami artist she was showing, noting that I had never seen her work before though had at three different fairs, she adamantly pointed out that they “owned her soul” because she “signed a contract”. I responded by saying “I am scared of that”. And her hard and fast attitude had a whole lot to be desired. For myself, I would never work with a dealer with this sort of ownership angle and approach. And no matter how I am ever “handled” and however many galleries I would consider showing with – it’s either a two-way street or the highway in my opinion. It’s a critical and delicate relationship, one that I waited until I was 41 years old before I said, yes, I can trust this person to truly “represent” me. That’s a seriously important job, and if my dealer barked like that, someone who puts their position ahead of the art they’re dealing, I would cast them to the wild dogs.

NAME DROPPING SECTIONAL: Through these fairs it was pleasant to see Portland folks strewn all over. Among them were Bruce Guenther, the Butters folks, Maryann Deffenbaugh, Rod Pulliam, G. Lewis Clevenger, and the crew from Laura Russo. Most seemed in good spirits. I got the chance to speak with Howard Yezerski after many years, I was approached by artist John Ruggeiri from Boston who was showing work at the Provincetown Firehouse Art Center –we have started conversations about co-curating something for ’09 over the last year, and it was wonderful to meet him for the first time in person. I stopped to talk with one tattooed Brooklyn gallerist who was showing big old oil paintings with figures from history painted finely and in KISS makeup – I pointed out to him the lead story in the current issue of Art Papers on the neo art/goth movement.

I got a certain thrill seeing how some of the local ‘bling culture’ sort of rolled its way into hi and low brow everywhere you looked around town. Though in the higher category, the three standouts of the week were works by photographer Clinton Fein (showing at Toomey Tourell who had stands at two fairs). The work, a partial commentary (sort of a brutal homoerotic take) on Abu Ghraib, were striking, visceral and bloodied bodies, masculine, pretty raw stuff. Nothing else quite like it in the fairs. I was excited that Erik Schneider of Quality Pictures had works by former Floridian William Cordova who was selected for this year’s Whitney Biennial. Very intimate collage/drawings with a particular introspective direction mostly having made a vanishing act over and above in the entire scene. Big, wild and colorful doesn’t always speak to everybody. And these works’ whisper is louder than any of the huge Massimo Vitali’s I saw along the halls. Mind you, those are stunning and comment on the maximal aesthetic, but the Cordobas spoke to this informal quietude and poetic form such as those from the era of Schwitters and Cornel.

Lastly, it was jaw-dropping to see the amply gorgeous striped paintings of William Betts – stunning and machine made, with a popping interplanetary cross section of color field painting and pure geometry. Several dealers seemed to have his surveillance pieces which I think are good and ripe for our time, but nothing compared to his optical stripes. If you were thinking of getting me a lil’ something for Xmas, my wish list is official.

The best fair that I attended by far was the extremely well organized Aqua Wynwood, where the feeling was fresh and contemporary with vendors from all over. This was a more intimate space, with about 30-40 galleries. Inside was the best booth all week, and that has to go to Lawrimore Project, where Scott Lawrimore helped escort me into that rock box in which I appeared inside in yesterday’s blog. He had video work by Susan Robb, Tivon Rice’s video/light sculptures and other large scale projects as well. Elizabeth Leach Gallery had a strong presentation with power pieces by Cris Bruch, and some of the best Jaq Chartier’s I’ve seen. She also has Sean Healy’s cool glass houses floor piece and MK Guth’s extremely popular elongated braid lenticular images.

Today a few of us made it down to SOBE and rented a cabana complete with super comfy lounge chairs, with fitted towels surrounded by people in so many various stages of undress. It was slightly on and off overcast though we all took in the last rays of light before escaping the town of lawless swerve happy driving, white sands, palm trees and more blue (sky and azure waters) then I’ve experienced in decades. The light breezes were nice as we each made our way into the Atlantic. Lapping waves, mojitos, eating at The News Café, shopping at Puma and window shopping at Barney’s. This was a resort trip away. Who knows…maybe I’ll be talked into coming back…..

• • •

Richard Speer of Willamette Week caught up with me as we crossed in our rounds and reports here.

BYE BYE BASEL: The New York Times captured the real sense of the whole ‘movement’ and is running this recap video of Art Basel Miami Beach.

As I wake on Sunday with a slight hangover from some moderately priced wine illuminated by certain sulfites, I realized something important. Well, probably a few things, actually. Part of it is when you go away from your your own personal setting, your box, your practice - even for just a while - this sense of dislocation also comes with a reality check. Part of that comes in the form of simple things like the allusions I’m imagining in the wisdom found in my fortune cookie last night which read: “The greatest ownership is embracement of emptiness”. It caused pause in my life. A fleeting little saying, most certainly mass produced could lend itself to my imagining the fabrication of an entire work of art, based on my own past personal experiences. Sounds simple, doesn’t it?

Coming to Florida for the first time (perhaps the last) helped me gauge the art world in a very general way. And I would say beyond the beautiful things, the history, the gobs of money that go into it all, the glamour (and glitz)…underlying I see a dour lot. Mind you, many of these folks are well heeled and educated, most traveling long distances, and here to sell. But the sense of relationship building goes cold with the stiff corporate model and the higher than thou climb of the roster of prestige. Many have already made it there, so what’s next many might ask?

This maybe only understood on a 50,000 foot view of it all, rather than the few feet you stand back to view their wares. I guess I’m probably talking about dealers moreso than collectors, and certainly not about most of the artists (some, sure) - but it makes you stop and wonder what’s actually happening. The art world has its multifarious factions of image makers who keep things fresh and ripe, it has its corporate accounts, bank transfers, credit checks and the business of the business. But I would be so bold as to ask how deep is the course of relationship building? Who is selling who here? And why? How much do you invest in a personal and artistic vision, and how much of that investment is solely based on the bottom line?

This said, the dealer, especially the newer dealer, is most certainly something of a fortune teller. And a risk taker on many levels. And raising the bar has got to seem an insurmountable task as we all know “it’s been said and done” before. But how do you say it with a kind of resonance so that it makes sense for right now? How do you put the whole thing into perspective for a general audience?

I fear that I have many more questions than answers today, but despite the myths and ambiguity, I’m empathetic to the extremely important place that the average dealer plays in the art world-at-large.

The unofficial count is 26 fairs in all. I am planning to do a few smaller ones tomorrow (Bridge, Red Dot and others on SOBE only) even though I have one of those super special black VIP cards that pretty much gets you in everywhere (probably more trouble than I bargain for), I am taking it easy from here on out. The wildlife here is cool and strange, possums, salamanders and vultures - I’ve seen them all.

Today I ventured with Bryan and Ojadide to Aqua Wynwood (see photo by Carlee Fernandez - a find for sure) and Art Miami (by far the best catering, and port-o-potties complete with wood floors) fairs. The NY Times released their take on it today too. I met many fine dealers today, particularly from LA and London. The Aqua fair seemed the freshest of all fairs, Art Miami had some big names from New York, but warped floors - but they had some popular chair massages and some amazing works by Doug and Mike Starn. This is the point where I leave you with a few of the eye poppers of the day…..

Check this spot out about Scott Wayne Indiana’s Braille Graffiti project.

PS: THIS JUST IN - Tonight #1 of 3 of our collaborative M_US__EUM edition sold at Aqua and dinner was on me!