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The Visual Codec Regional Newswire (Sep.2006)
A weekday aggregate of news, rants, raves, reviews, interviews, and more culled from rags, mags, blogs, slogs, journals, and diaries. In short, your cheat sheet to following the regional visual arts coverage that's worth following.
Fri.Sep.29.2006
Affair at the Jupiter Hotel (Guide)
"Here are a few letters from our Affair at the Jupiter Hotel mailbag. We hope they help you muster all the knowing aloofness you'll need to brave this intimidating art extravaganza..."
Chas Bowie & John Motley, The Portland Mercury
The Dealer Who Doesn't Deal (Profile)
"Francine Seders was a sharp young corporate lawyer buried in the Paris headquarters of the Citroën automobile company when it hit her that she would work for 30 more years under a bunch of sexists only to retire to some helpless, silent, tedious station in the world..."
Jen Graves, The Stranger
A History of Ideas (Review)
"Anyone who's been hanging around the Seattle art scene for a while needs no introduction to the Joseph and Elaine Monsen collection. For decades the former University of Washington professors have devoted themselves to assembling a fine and comprehensive selection of photographs — an overview of the medium dating back to the mid-1800s..."
Sheila Farr, The Seattle Times
Thu.Sep.28.2006
Kingdom, Come (Review)
"In the perpetual future, our size is changeable. While we become godlike, peering down at a small earth from planes and spaceships and skyscraper observatories, through microscopes and zoom lenses, we burrow like ticks. The artists Yuki Nakamura and Robert Campbell transport us back now to a quaint mutation of scale—the miniature movie set..."
Jen Graves, The Stranger
Peek at the Everyday (Review)
"Here, a mirror isn't doing its normal job of reflecting: condensation, which would also pose a problem to a camera lens, has obscured surface. Too, there are great painterly sweeps across the surface, possibly from a previous motel occupant, trying to see his or her face..."
Clint Burnham, The Vancouver Sun
Carhenge Carnage! (Blip)
"It's an ongoing project that first went underway in the late '80s, and if the concept isn't strange enough on its own, on top of that it's apparently haunted. Matt O'Brien is showing his photo essay of the monument this month..."
Margorie Skinner, Blogtown PDX
Wed.Sep.27.2006
Elton John has a Feeding Frenzy at Greg Kucera (Gossip)
"SOIL member Chris Engman, a local photographer, was just happy to have his first show at Greg Kucera Gallery this fall. What he couldn't have known was that Sir Elton would come into the gallery and buy not one, not two, but SIX of his photographs for his personal collection...The man has taste. He also bought three Tim Rodas and two Alice Wheelers..."
Jen Graves, The Stranger Slog
What's the Storyeum? (News)
"I wasn't aware that the Gastown live show/museum attraction already owed the city $5 million in back taxes and other costs when it filed for bankruptcy..."
Jonathan Narvey, Metroblogging Vancouver
Poster of the Week (Review)
"It's not very often that designers get the hang of a copier and produce work that manages to look good despite the notable handicap of bring printed on one of the lowest quality mediums in existence..."
Demo Fregosi, Blogtown PDX
Tue.Sep.26.2006
Comic Book Heroes Go Up Against the Wall (Review)
"Low-brow kids' stuff or fine art? Book Forms, at Emily Carr's Concourse Gallery, puts a diverse range of comic book art on exhibition..."
Clint Burnham, The Vancouver Sun
Seattle Hires New Public Art Manager (News)
"Michael Killoren, director of The Mayor's Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, announced Friday that the city had hired a new manager and a curator for the city's public-art program. Ruri Yampolsky has replaced Jim McDonald..."
Sheila Farr, The Seattle Times
An Opposing View of War (Review)
"Despite the projects' brilliance and often touching moments, the artist's ability to strip away the pretense of 'art' seemed to linger too heavily: Fletcher conjured something out of nothing, but with the self-awareness of a magician..."
D.K. Row, The Oregonian
Mon.Sep.25.2006
XML Graveyard (Review)
"A recent project by Seattle artist Caleb Larsen harnesses RSS feeds to document the news media's cynical exploitation of readers' lust for tragedy..."
Bill Hanley, Rhizome News
James Nizam: Dwellings (Review)
"James Nizam's work reveals a fascination with the processes of change, decay, and reclamation within our built environment..."
Robin Laurence, The Georgia Straight
Artstar Radio with Nan Curtis (Audio Interview)
Listen online or download the archived mp3.
Eva Lake, KPSU Portland
Sun.Sep.24.2006
Brendan Clenaghen's Endless Parade (Review)
"Clenaghen's pieces appear to be objects of decadence, and upon first impression, one might dismiss them as such. Exquisitely crafted, the eye hungrily inhales each piece's silky, almost skin like surface, the sex of its fine design..."
Amy Bernstein, PORT
The Mind Games of a Master Printmaker (Review)
"New Hampshire artist Peter Milton says he has long been obsessed with space and urban vistas, which is obvious enough when you look at his work. He's a fastidious draftsman who uses the old-fashioned print medium of etching to execute layered, intricate, highly intellectual images..."
Sheila Farr, The Seattle Times
Craft Perception and Practice (Printpub)
"A new series designed to give recognition to the exciting developments occurring in contemporary Canadian craft practice and scholarship over the past decade..."
New Series, Artichoke Publishing
Sat.Sep.23.2006
The Flattening and Opening of Space & Walking/Listening/Recording (Reviews)
"Carrie Bodle will be presenting her work at two openings in the Pacific Northwest in the upcoming weeks. Her collaboration with Margie Livingston in the New Works Laboratory 2006, jointly sponsored by 911 Media Arts Center and the Henry Art Gallery..."
Jo-Anne Green, networked_performance
Pop-Polynesian style Rears Its Head Again (Review)
"To partake in tiki is to indulge in a world that is, at turns, cheeky and chic and one that shouldn't offend your sensibilities unless you appreciate the music of Jimmy Buffet, which is a decided no-no in tiki land..."
Florangela Davila, The Seattle Times
Fri.Sep.22.2006
Shadows Illuminate 'Into Black' (Review)
"For more than 2,000 years, the fire in Plato's cave has cast distorted shadows against the wall, proving the durability of the metaphor. What we take for reality could be shadows, as the Greek philosopher suggested, but because the image has taken root in our collective intellectual history, each new generation, discovering it, sees it shine..."
Regina Hackett, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
New Photographs by Greg Girard (Review)
"Born of the tradition of street photography and the flaneur, Greg Girard's recent photographs of Shanghai traverse the rich areas of documentary and art, moving fluidly through both..."
Shannon, Vancouver Photobloggers
Andy Warhol (Review)
"He changed the world. The question is, did he change it for the better..."
James Walling, Willamette Week
You May See This on Sunday (Holy Cow)
"The park is still closed...but the art is going in piece by piece..."
Jen Graves, The Stranger Slog
Thu.Sep.21.2006
God Had to Go (Review)
"Choe is about the purity of production, a life that does nothing but produce art and trouble. He's known for trashing his body, and the energy from a consumed hot dog or nachos is converted into trouble (robbing, stealing, defacing, fighting) or into art objects...."
Charles Mudede, The Stranger
Supernormal (Review)
"There's playful nostalgia in his exaggerated depictions, but Healy's slick production values preserve an air of cool detachment..."
John Motley, The Portland Mercury
Wed.Sep.20.2006
Vancouver SWARMed by Art, Hipsters (News)
"There will be paintings, drawings, sculptures, soundscapes, landscapes, films and photography. And yes, if the website is any indication, most of it will probably be served with a pleasant garnish of semi-lucid and thoroughly profound artspeak...."
M. Tippett, Now Public
Gates' Leonardo Notebook Withdrawn from Exhibition (News)
"It is understood that Mr Gates wanted airport-style screening of all visitors for the Leonardo show, which would have been expensive for the V&A and time-consuming for the public. The museum felt this measure was unnecessary, since the Leonardos are displayed in highly-secure cases with toughened glass and in a gallery with appropriate security..."
Martin Bailey, Art Newspaper
Tue.Sep.19.2006
EMP and Art: Nan Goldin Canceled (News)
"I just got off the phone with her and there is an illness in Nan's family and she has unfortunately had to cancel her Seattle itinerary. It will be rescheduled for later this year..."
Jen Graves, The Stranger Slog
A Wish List for the Portland Art Museum (News)
"The museum Ferriso will take over faces enormous challenges, including a recent renovation of the Mark Building that went over budget and caused a rift with architect Ann Beha. But it also has extraordinary promise -- a dedicated curatorial and administrative staff and a bustling local art scene desiring leadership from the state's flagship museum..."
D.K. Row, The Oregonian
Mon.Sep.18.2006
Final Lineup For Decibel Festival Confirmed (Review)
"Seattle's Decibel Festival, now in its [third] year, is the Pacific Northwest's answer to a multi-media arts festival, and the folks behind it have done a bang-up job this year bringing in the best musical and visual acts around...."
Jennifer Marston, XLR8R
The Body's Interior Laid Bare in Intricate Detail (Review)
"According to von Hagens' Body Worlds, The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies, the book that accompanies the exhibit, plastination is a process that removes the body's fluids and replaces them with "reactive plastics, such as silicone rubber, epoxy resin or polyester resin, in a special vacuum process...."
Kevin Griffin, Vancouver Sun
Sat.Sep.16.2006
Olympic Sculpture Park Opening Rescheduled for January (News)
"To avoid opening during the busy holiday season, museum officials pushed the celebration date into the new year...."
Sheila Farr, Seattle Times
The Art of Time (Review)
"On Sight, curated by Kristin Kennedy, promises to be a fresh show that addresses how artists 'make' history..."
James Jack, Daily Vanguard
Fri.Sep.15.2006
Artist Constructs, then Photographs in the Desert (Review)
"What is it we are seeing? A rough attempt at play, a sojourn into a wilderness that no longer exists. Although rarely found in the frame, all of Engman's photos are self-portraits, and they aren't just Photoshop wonders either. He went to the desert and built this absurd coil...."
Regina Hackett, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Emily Carr: New Perspectives on a Canadian Icon (Review)
"Beginning with a partial recreation of the first exhibition of Carr's work on the national stage, Emily Carr: New Perspectives on a Canadian Icon also examines the artist as a modernist painter and explores how her persona and her work have been portrayed and interpreted over time...."
Staff, ArtDaily.com
Opulent Dreamscapes (Review)
"The works emanate a vampiric seductiveness impossible to resist...."
Richard Speer, Williamette Week Online
Thu.Sep.14.2006
Profanity, Testing, Explosion (Review)
"Galleries Full of Stuff You'll Regret Missing..."
Jen Graves, The Stranger
Sutapa Biswas (Review)
"Put another way, there's no need to laboriously decode the artist's esoteric intentions when viewing Biswas' films. That's not to say that they lack rigor or detail. Rather, they're full of enough allusion and painterly construction to bear up to any level of scrutiny a viewer wishes to apply..."
John Motley, Portland Mercury
The Whole Ball of Wax (Theory)
"Can art change the world...Most art world denizens would instinctively say yes. But if by "change" you mean, can art on its own change global warming, stop Iran's president from denying the Holocaust, or halt the spread of AIDS, the answer, I'm afraid, is no..."
Jerry Saltz, The Village Voice
Wed.Sep.13.2006
Light and Illuminating (Review)
"But if [Laurie Anderson's] touch is lighter these days, her methods simpler, her musings remain substantial..."
Brian Libby, The Oregonian
Weegee and Film Noir (Theory)
"I would finish the photographs on the contrastiest paper I could get in order to give the kids nice white, chalky faces. My customers, who were Italian, Polish or Jewish, liked their pictures dead-white..."
Clint Burnham, Doppelganger Magazine
Brooklyn (Diary)
"I have no idea why a passage of five years is more significant than four, or perhaps all of us just like things in nice groups of years we can count on one hand..."
Carolyn Zick, Dangerous Chunky Notebook
Tue.Sep.12.2006
Art That's Not All About Us (Discourse)
"On Q13 Fox News yesterday, an anchor praised the life-sized salt sculptures that Michael Magrath placed in Occidental Square as eloquently commemorations of the 'pain of 9/11,' poignant memorials to the devastating losses Americans suffered that terrible day. What a sickening crock..."
Jen Graves, The Stranger Slog
The Dinkwallets Out Front of the VAG (Rant)
"[The Vancouver Art Gallery] is a popular place for people to hold protests and demonstrations because it's a big chunk of public space sidewalk and if holding up a sign gets too hard there's a big set of stairs to sit on..."
Jeffery Simpson, Metroblogging Vancouver
Paul Frank Sues Paul Frank (News)
"There is nothing cute about long drawn out legal battles, Julius. Paul Frank (the guy) is suing Paul Frank (the corporation) in the hopes of getting out of the company he started..."
Demo Fregosi, Blog Town PDX
Mon.Sep.11.2006
This Memorial Destined for Oblivion (Monumentum)
"Once the figures were released from protective restraints, everybody handled them with great care. Because they're made of salt, the smallest bump could have crumbled them. In the first good rain, they'll dissolve..."
Regina Hackett, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sun.Sep.10.2006
James Turrell at the Seattle Art Museum (News)
"On a sneak-peek walkthrough of the new Seattle Art Museum downtown yesterday afternoon, the curator Chiyo Ishikawa was ticking off which art would go where: abstract expressionism here, minimalism here, pop here, Northwest School here, and the James Turrell room over there. Stop—what? What James Turrell room? Oh, the one from our collection that we've never been able to show, even though we've owned it for something like 20 years, she said..."
Jen Graves, The Stranger Slog
Time Is On Our Side (Interviews)
"With this in mind, WW tapped a handful of people, from TBA icons to festival organizers and local dancemakers, to find out what sets this fest apart—and what they won't be missing this time around..."
Multiple Reporters, Willamette Week
Shooting Through the Viewfinder (Experiment)
"Essentially they were getting these results from using two cameras. One was usually an old camera with a large viewfinder like the Uniflex below..."
Leigh, Vancouver Photobloggers
Sat.Sep.09.2006
Higher Ground (Review)
"The exhibition 'Systematic Landscapes,' at the University of Washington's Henry Art Gallery, is a homecoming for architect and artist Maya Lin..." (Note: Article available via paid subscription to A/R.)
David Sokol, Architectural Record
Get Your Beauty Sleep (Review)
"But what's really interesting about Ms. Hanson is her main project, 'Beauty Sleep.' She calls it 'private, vintage-themed living,' but it's really a cross between an extended stay suite hotel, a bed and breakfast, and a vintage clubhouse, complete with theater, dance floor, and bar..."
Lisa Radon, ultra
Metaphor for Freedom (Review)
"Speaking before his show opened last week, Barbeau said that his method was to construct maquettes, or models, and then photograph them. The photographs he would then project onto the linen surface, and he would paint from that..."
Clint Burnham, The Vancouver Sun
Examining (Review)
"The exhibit is not so much about Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, but the spirit of all whose act of show-and-tell is greater than the sum of its inventory..."
Brian Libby, The Oregonian
Fri.Sep.08.2006
Jaq Chartier (Review)
"Chartier consciously thinks of her paintings as organic material and uses the decay she experimentally induces as a formal device to achieve abstract patterns, what might be called maps of an aesthetic DNA..."
Regina Hackett, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Underwater Idylls (Review)
"First, know this: Sonia Kasparian is a romantic. There's no getting around that. This is no naturalist, postmodernist, or Gen-Y termite cutester here. No, this is a visionary with utopic designs and the technical and aesthetic means to portray them—successfully..."
Richard Speer, Willamette Week
The Walls Come Down (Review)
"Forget stuffy art criticism and dusty art history, overly cerebral wall text, ad nauseam analysis of technique. Art appreciation is often mistaken as the domain of snobs..."
Sue Peters, Seattle Weekly
Wondering About One-Named Wonders (Blip)
"There's probably not just one answer. But whatever the case, the women are definitely beating the men at this game..."
Craig Takeuchi (with His Friend Chris), Straight.com Blog
Thu.Sep.07.2006
Serving Up Food for Thought (Review)
"Before I drove through the Drive Thru, I had looked at the CAG's Web site and was surprised to find Cranfield's piece listed under 'Events' rather than 'Exhibitions.' Such is the fate, I suppose, of an art show organized by an ad man (Ian Grais of ReThink Advertising) instead of a curator..."
Robin Laurence, The Georgia Straight
Be Awesome (Discourse)
"SOIL has been getting a serious run for its money—not in terms of clout or size but in terms of artistic prestige—from a bitty little six-person collective in an out-of-the-way location: Crawl Space..."
Jen Graves, The Stranger
Hope Floats; Does Art? (Blip)
"David Eckard needs his nifty white shirt and pants to be warm, dry and clean at the end of Thursday evening. Because the alternative is a potentially catastrophic bath in the gnarly, detritus-strewn Willamette River..."
D.K. Row, The Oregonian
Arts Populi (Blip)
"Yes, 2006 is the year of art for the people, and we're not just talking about the sculpture park..."
Lynn Jacobson, Seattle Weekly
Illegal Art (Review)
"In a sense, the act of appropriation is as old as art itself: Artists imitating the styles and ideas of their peers is essentially how we conceive of the art historical dialogue..."
John Motley, The Portland Mercury
Wed.Sep.06.2006
Michelle Forsyth in Brooklyn (Blip)
"Michelle, whose work I last saw when it was featured at Shift last February has had a great run this year, having just come off of a residency at Centrum and a show in Las Vegas this past year..."
Carolyn Zick, Dangerous Chunky Notebook
Pentabike Graffiti (News)
"All I can say is: The City's Graffiti abatement co-ordinator will have a freaking field day over it, bearing in mind she went ape-shit last month when the folks at Mountain Dew barely chalked their logo on the sidewalks for the bridge pedal..."
Matt Davis, Blog Town PDX
Images that Challenge Perceptions (Review)
"The vandals are not demanding higher wages or an end to globalization. But they are protesting an emptiness in society..."
Clint Burnham, The Vancouver Sun
Tue.Sep.05.2006
Indie Artists Fight for Space (News)
"The recent loss of a string of independent arts spaces has sparked a new group to take action. A candlelight vigil and impromptu exhibition of art posters are set to take place..."
Brian Lynch, The Georgia Straight
Seattle Artists Help Rebuilt a New Orleans Sculpture (News)
"A New Orleans fixture of crisscrossed steel tubes and cables, 'Virlane Tower' once rose 45 feet in the Museum of Art's sculpture garden. A year ago, Hurricane Katrina pummeled the sculpture to pieces..."
Charlotte Hsu, The Seattle Times
Busy Banksy (News)
"Banksy...who got his start as a graffiti artist...and went on to kill telephone boxes and hang his own work in the Tate and the Met, has turned his sights on Paris Hilton..."
Brendan Kiley, The Stranger Slog
Nagel Retrospective (Profile)
"His celebration of the feminine is often misunderstood. Working in the 1980s, he pioneered what would be a trend in graphic art blending Raphaelite treatments of the human figure with an iconic, pop-art sensibility..."
Annie Graham, The Portland Mercury
America's Smartest Cities (News)
"If you equate education with intelligence, then the smartest city in the United States is Seattle..."
Les Christie, CNN
Mon.Sep.04.2006
PICA TBA:06 Line Up Released (News)
"PICA released the line up for Septembers Time Based Art Festival, and it looks like a good mix of namebrand national acts with Portland mainstays who will undoubtedly benefit from the huge exposure they get to the global performing arts community..."
Chas Bowie, Blog Town PDX
Anything but an Average Joe (Profile)
"Though he hasn't made any new work for the past six years, Joe Average is still an artist. However, he's been a little busy, what with taking 50 pills a day, adjusting his schedule to that of doctors, working with a trainer at the gym and doing all the myriad things you do when you've been HIV-positive for 22 years..."
Clint Burnham, The Vancouver Sun
Kirsten Anderson, Proprietor of Roq La Rue Gallery (Interview)
"Basically it came down to being passionate about the Lowbrow art movement and wanting it to be here, so I just decided I'd do it because no one else was going to..."
James Callan, Seattlest
Sun.Sep.03.2006
Obligatory Public Art (Rant)
"In an RFP system, artists can't truly be held responsible for junk...And sadly for FIC they're stuck with it. Soon, probably now, the artwork has already been deleted from the engaged mind of staff and regular visitors..."
C, Portland Public Art
Sutapa Biswas (Visiting Artist)
"With a host of events in Portland this month, not to mention signing with the local Elizabeth Leach Gallery as her first international dealer, Biswas, an internationally acclaimed video artist and painter, might want to consider adopting the City of Roses as her third home..."
Brian Libby, The Oregonian
Debate (Rant)
"I guarantee you that no critic in town would be willing to stand face to face in a gallery and have an animated debate about the work they are reviewing..."
Graves, The Human Merry-Go-Round
Anderson Gig Grows out of a Garden (Visiting Artist)
" 'Everything around you reminds you that this was the bottom of the sea,' she explains. 'Even the tops of the mesas...' "
Alexander Varty, The Georgia Straight
Sat.Sep.02.2006
Digital Divide (Review)
"The handcrafters make art that is confrontational, impolite, and cerebral—not folksy and nostalgic. And the online world that provides a medium for the digital artists is only shocking in that it is so routine..."
Jen Graves, The Stranger
Rodin: In His Own Words (Review)
"At its best, Rodin's sculpture has the depth and range of a great and vital tragedy. That's why it's nothing short of tragic that he's best known for his weakest work: "The Kiss," sentimental as a Hallmark card; and "The Thinker," which could be subtitled, Nude Philosopher on Steroids..."
Regina Hackett, Artguide Northwest
New Graffiti: Cool or Cruel? (Discourse)
"This graffiti's been spotted in Port Orchard, a suburb of Bremerton in Washington, according to Portland's Gang Violence Task Force..."
The Unpaid Intern, Blogtown PDX
Josué Menjivar (Interview)
"You've read 'Way Off Main' and 'Everyday Things.' Now read all about the Oz-like man toiling behind the curtain..."
Craig Takeuchi, Straight.com Blog
Join the Eva-Lution (Profile)
"Something tells me Eva thrives on drawing out the most monumental reactions...This is no wall flower, folks—and neither are her paintings..."
baby SMITH, Artworks Live Journal
Fri.Sep.01.2006
Bumbershoot: Creepy Cakes and Tree Sweaters (Review)
“Miss Havisham never ate her cake, preferring to let it rot as she aged inside her wedding dress. Elizabeth Jameson brings her back from 19th-century fiction for 21st-century reasons. Havisham's single cake has become a battalion, signifying consumerist glut, and the jilted bride now wears a gas mask, in case a cake explodes...”
Regina Hackett, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
D.K.'s Hot Sheet (News)
“Brian Ferriso is the new executive director of the Portland Art Museum. The museum ended a monthslong search to replace John Buchanan when it selected the executive director and chief executive officer of the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Okla. Ferriso was unanimously approved by the Portland museum's board last week...”
D.K. Row, The Oregonian
The Ghost Whisperer (Review)
“For an artist as acutely conscious of (and thus, perhaps, more acutely subject to) the tropes of popular culture as Myfanwy MacLeod, her three month Glenfiddich-sponsored residency in the semi-wilds near Dufftown north of Aberdeen in Scotland was a ready-made scenario, impossible to avoid...”
Peter Culley, Fillip
Filmmaker in Exile (Profile)
“It's doubly challenging to be an Iranian-American filmmaker, educated locally at Cornish and Evergreen, trying to create a short film that addresses both her own immigrant experience and politics back in Tehran. Yet that's what Ladan Yalzadeh has done, quite successfully and suspensefully, in her 20-minute short The Florist, one of several titles at Bumbershoot's 1 Reel Film Festival...”
Brian Miller, Seattle Weekly
Artstar Radio with Jim Demetre (Audio Interview)
Listen online or download the archived mp3.
Eva Lake, KPSU Portland
Time Capsule (News)
“The time capsule has landed. Shaped like a giant spinning top, more than three metres high, encrusted with barnacles and mineral deposits, it stands on the north shore of False Creek, just west of the Cambie Street Bridge. Indigenous plants—gum weed, dune grass, Nootka rose—surround its site, and the high tide laps at its three bulbous feet...”
Robin Laurence, The Georgia Straight
James Lavadour (Review)
“To call James Lavadour a landscape painter is somehow misleading. Yes, depictions of the Northwest's desert mountains, swooping valleys, and twilit skies figure in nearly all of his work. But the formal aspects of his paintings are so vibrant and energized that his subject can seem secondary...”
John Motley, The Portland Mercury
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