Jeanne Wilkinson: March 2013

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Marching Along...

(Note that this post is liberally studded with links - wherever you see the dark gray text,

click to find treasures far beyond the scope of this blog...)

March is proving to be better than February...

...in spite of continuing stormy weather that delivers no useful snow.

I see art everywhere I look!

At Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea, a collaborative umbrella installation
is presented in the entryway.

Inside is the work of Basquiat, whom I will write about for d'ART International Magazine.

Here's a sneak preview of the first paragraph:

"In 1988, Jean Michel Basquiat died of a 'speedball' overdose when he was twenty seven, becoming a member of the '27 Club' along with Janis, Jimi, Jim Morrison, Alan 'Blind Owl' Wilson of the Canned Heat, Kurt Cobain, and lately Amy Winehouse, just to name a few. Speedballs are usually a mix of heroin (sometimes morphine) and cocaine, a combo that accentuates the positive and eliminates the negative until it’s too late and there you are floating away forever on your euphoric high – oops!"

This may have been his last painting, called "Riding with Death" (1988)...

(internet photo)

I also discuss in d'ART the eloquent work of Jennifer Wynne Reeves

at BravinLee projects. About this piece, "Laughing at Snakes" (2011 - 2013) I write:

"...here [bits of flotsam and jetsam from the life of an artist]

are saved and held by this frame that has been calling out to them: come and cover me, make me something, make me real, make me laugh, make me more than I am."

Then, these "Accidental Abstractions" appear...

(internet photos)

...while I'm watching Jon Stewart online - he's in there somewhere.

It's the show where Tea Party Patriots are standing up for the rights of Manatee-riders.

And speaking of the TP, Sarah Palin is taking on the big issues, too.

Here she sips a Big Gulp and gets a standing ovation.

(internet photo)

They're all standing up for the right to digest 30 teaspoons of sugar in one fell swoop,

whenever and wherever they want to, dammit, and subsequently require

massive amounts of expensive health care. The Big Gulp makes the "9 Offensively Enormous Drinks" list according to, yes, the "Reader's Digest," which says:

"Women who drink two or more of them a day were more likely to develop abnormal levels of fasting glucose—a sign of diabetes, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions last year."

(internet photo)

Other important issues of the day:

Rush is taking on Beyonce about her latest song "Bow Down Bitches"

because, in his immense sad cluelessness, he thinks she means that she is bowing down, while of course it's just the opposite.

Beyonce is ordering us all to bow down to her, and that includes, you, Mr. Limbaugh,

because you're her bitch, too, regardless of your bully pulpit!

I like how the picture is labeled so we don't get confused about who is whom.

However, Noah Berlatsky on the "Atlantic" website reveals what Rush gets right in spite of himself:

'It's true that for Beyoncé or for Nicki Minaj, "bitches" almost surely refers to the men who are beneath them, as well as to the women. But while that puts a twist on the message, it doesn't exactly change it. Femininity is still an insult, and power is being able to treat your enemies like bitches—that is to say, like women. Beyoncé can be strong and independent, but only (at least in this case) by relying on the tired tropes of performative misogyny. Rush Limbaugh may not have understood much about the song, but he understood that, which is why he's laughing.'

(Beware! Shameless self-promotion ahead...)

Speaking of press, I got some of my own recently

regarding my participation in "Sideshow Nation" the yearly extravaganza

put on by Richard Timperio in his Williamsburg gallery.

Above, Richard is more than ready for the massive

dismantling of the show.

My name appears in the review of Mario Naves on his excellent art blog "Too Much Art" where he writes:
"Am I wrong in thinking that Timperio’s overviews give a broader and, in many ways, truer overview of the contemporary scene than, say, the Whitney Biennial? Certainly, it’s a more generous endeavor and less prone to theoretical blather."
And then in the next paragraph he includes my name in his list of artists of note!
I am honored.
Frank and I, in fact, have acquired our own Naves painting,
"A Pigeon in Catalonia" 2011, 24 x 18"!

And Piri Halasz also writes a bit about my work in her review (see below).

(photo from Sideshow website)

I wish I could have made it to the opening, but as fate would have it,

I was doing a screening that very night back in January at Gallery 128 in the Lower East Side,

my collaboration with Kaitlin Martin,

"Something Something With Fish."

Above is my artwork shown at Sideshow, "Feer Euphoria"

where Alya of the Painted People

floats through a mysterious world, a digital collage

which includes imagery from the Downtown Brooklyn Macy's Garage

and Fort Tilden on the Rockaway Peninsula.

This is the Piri Halasz review, click here to read:

"Other, and more attractive, photographs that appear to shade into conceptualism

have been contributed by Jeanne Wilkinson and Ralph Raphael Fleming,

both of whose pictures are dominated by delicate shades of gray.

“Feer Euphoria,” by Wilkinson, suggests to me nothing so much as the

beat-up back of a car, but it is hung so high that I can’t be sure of what I’m seeing.

Hmmm. Well, that's an interpretation I hadn't thought of. But hey, words is words.

There were nearly 500 artists in this show, so being singled out is very self-affirming.

But wait! There is more March good news for the Painted People (and me)!

We will be in:

ART/NAMASTE: THE CROSS-POLLINATION SPACES

April 8 through June 22nd, reception and curator's talk April 18th, 5-8

The show is about "friendly gestures" and the press release says:

'Respectful of others, respectful of each other,* the spaces and programming of Namaste offer new perspectives on global respect through art, language, music, and performance. In modern interpretation from the Sanskrit root,

"The spirit in me respects the spirit in you."'

"Mushroom House 9" is the piece that will be in this show, an image of Ayla and Cal which

springs from photos I took some time ago in Minnestrista, Minnesota with my sister on one of our wanderings, of a mysterious sculptural structure that looked as though it had been abandoned mid-task.

I have since found out that it's called the Ensculptic House,

designed by the architect Winslow Wedin who brought a group of college students to work on the house in the summer of '69, stringing cable and spraying polyurethane foam.

Apparently it has been recently sold and the plan is to

restore and finish it as it was meant to be. I hope to visit it next summer and perhaps

meet with the new owners, as Sherry and I probably won't be able to freely walk through

the unlocked door and explore to our hearts content, as before.

I'm very happy to be showing at the Queen's College Art Center where I curated an exhibition some years ago entitled

"LIght to Dark: Paintings and Works on Paper by Margery Edwards"

(photo from the M. Edwards estate)

'Australian-born and raised, Margery Edwards (1933-1989) lived in Sydney and later in the United Kingdom, East Africa, Italy, and New York. In 1975 she left her ocean-view home in Australia to find her mature artistic vision in a Manhattan loft overlooking the Hudson River. She also left behind her bright palette to immerse herself in an exploration of the moods and modes of black. Her life’s journey was an interior one, a difficult and deeply personal voyage. When she died in 1989, Edwards had created a series of images that trace a path both earthbound and ethereal—in her own words, a “progression through darkness and light.” ' (Quoted from the press release that I wrote.)

I worked with her husband, Dr. K. David Edwards, a retired research physician, for over ten years curating, documenting and placing her work in museums and private collections such at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Minneapolis Insitute of Art, and many more,

including all the major art institutions of Australia.

This exhibition was also shown at the Australian Embassy in Washington DC

where Frank and I were graciously put up at the Jefferson Hotel. They apologized because our original room was taken and, sadly, they had to upgrade us to a

two-bedroom suite with dining room, living room and full kitchen.

Three times the size of our Brooklyn apartment!

(Jefferson website photo)

Those were the days! Of course we knew they would end after our three days in WDC.

We knew that we couldn't move into the Jefferson permanently.

The Australian Embassy budget didn't stretch that far.

Returning from those Halcyon days, currently there is more good news on the art front:

I will be screening new work at Trestle Gallery in Brooklyn,

opening on the summer solstice, June 21st!

I was at Trestle last week and saw the extremely engaging exhibition

Celestial Dome, curated by

Shingo Francis and Eri Takane

where artists explore the world above in all its mysterious manifestations.

The opening was hopping.

(photos by Hannah Gopa)

The show features the work of Shingo himself (center above), elegant monotypes that
express the diverse colors of the sky

from brilliant cerulean to deep ultramarines...

I loved this piece that was a collaboration between the artists

Christie Leece, Ben Light, Matt Richardson and Inessah Selitz,

called "Bird on a Wire"

where if you called a certain number on your cell phone,

the birds would fly off the wire.

I called several times and really got those lazy birds moving.

(photo from Trestle website)

I'm working on a cave-painting solstice symbolism idea

for my interactive video projections for the June Trestle show.

So when I go to Madison for my spring break, I plan on going to the Priske farm

where Andrew got married, where they have a herd

of Highland cattle that I hope to film running and frolicking...

(Andrew on his wedding day)

Speaking of horns, I found this on 3rd Street in Brooklyn - it appears

to be an object lost long ago by Hal Thompson. Now he will finally get it back.

This arresting image is from Hal and Cody's latest "Fun Rangers" episode

that you can see here.

Here is how you pack when you're going to visit Hal Thompson, expert.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Fire and the Pratt Phoenixes

March is proving to be better than February, which was a nasty month for many.

I'm so pleased to be over the February blues that I could put
on a pink tutu and dance in the Union Square subway station.

Oh, wait, somebody fabulous is already doing that.

The above sight was seen after an event at Parsons The New School for Design NRM Gallery,
on Thursday, March 7th, which I will describe shortly.

But wait, we're not done with February yet, or even January!

One rainy night in late January I went to Pratt to the wonderful
Senior exhibition of one of my former students,

Diana Q. Ngo - the Miss Dingo...

(photo by Cameron Blaylock)

...where I also saw the work of her co-exhibitionist, Anne Hong,

from whom I received the gift of a fish.

As you may remember, one of my previous posts was entitled,

"So Long Pratt, and Thanks For All the Fish"

so, in rather miraculous fashion, this event turned metaphor into reality!

I was required to sign for my fish and note my religion,

which I don't really have, having lost my Lutheranism quite a while back.

But I do have a rich spiritual life, which directed my choice of labels.

I really wanted one of the gold fish, but that wasn't allowed.

I named my white fish after Kaitlin Martin's and my show at Gallery 128,

"Something Something With Fish" --

it is now nestled into my extensive home fish-art collection.

Miss Dingo's show was full of exquisite artwork that combines her love of the natural world

and its creatures with a bemused, biting but always spot-on critique of the ways in which

humans trash and clash with that beauty and wonder.

See her website HERE.

Then, on February 15th, Dingo posted the following on her Facebook page:

"Woke up this morning to find out that my studio went up in flames last night... I think everything I worked on in the last few years is gone..."

She was right. The senior art studios on the sixth floor of Pratt Institute's Main Building were gone,

the flames taking all the work from her exhibition,

including three paintings which had been sold but not yet delivered.

Also destroyed were the artwork, supplies, text books, class assignments, electronic equipment, etc.

of a number of other Pratt seniors,

many of whom had not yet had their thesis shows.

(internet photos)

Much of the rest of the building, including classrooms and the offices of the Dean, Provost and President, suffered extensive water damage.

Fortunately, no one was hurt. They still haven't determined the cause - arson was at first suspected,

but there is no word yet definitively. They may never find out how it started.

The Main Building in earlier days.

(Pratt archives)

Here are some thoughts from Gerry Hayes, former Assistant Chair of Fine Arts, who had a lot of history with the sixth floor:

I feel so attached to the 5th and 6th floors in the Main Building.
So bad that they were burned and destroyed but I'm very glad no one was hurt. Students, I'm sure feel sad about losing all or most of their paintings and drawings.

In 1982 the 6th floor was just one big open space on either side of the elevator. I had been appointed Chair of the Painting Department by Dean Andy Phelan...With Painting Department money I bought materials to create cubicles. Mr No (Sung Ha No ) was a graduate ( MFA ) student and was paid to oversee the construction. Mr. No is still employed at Pratt. This was ad hoc and 'under the radar' but I was determined to have it done. When the Physical plant found out, they were furious but after some time gave us help with labor and made sure we built according to building codes.

Senior cubicles have been changed and rebuilt since then but back then the Seniors at least
had a new semi-private space for their work, instead of dragging paintings and easels around
the huge 6th floor studio when Jack Sonenberg was the previous Chairman of what was then
the Painting Department. They loved the new designated spaces...a reward after spending 3 years in communal class rooms.

Undergraduate Fine Arts offices were on 4th floor Main where Foundation is now. The Graduate Fine Arts program offices and cubicles were in Higgins Hall. Some years later (1990 ) Grad and UG programs were combined into one department. We moved our offices to South Hall. Frank Lind as Chair and me as Assistant Chair...since I spent all those years in the Main Building, I do feel attached to it and regret that the fire has destroyed those floors...

Here is a comment by Alex Bird, Pratt Fine Arts alumna:

"I said earlier that the main building is a living thing-it housed us and had teachers that nurtured us. Within its walls, we laughed, cried, fought, hugged, learned, slept, taught and did countless other things and in that sense it has seen it all, and it has been seeing it all for countless students since 1887. I miss my Pratt family and my heart goes out to all the BFA students whose work and studios were lost. It makes me so, so incredibly sad."

Here are some stills from a video from another alumna, Olivia O'Dwyer, taken during her time on the Main Building's sixth floor:

6th Floor Silhouettes - Olivia O'Dwyer

Studio Sun - Olivia O'Dwyer

Long Sun Wall - Olivia O'Dwyer

Sun Stairs - Olivia O'Dwyer

(photo from Juliet Knuth's Facebook page)

Juliet Knuth has set up an Indiegogo fundraising page for victims of the fire.

Please donate to help the students: HERE.

Information from the fundraising campaign:

"This online fundraising campaign was started for the students who lost their studios in the Pratt Institute Fire. Of the 35 senior painting majors that had their studios on the 6th floor of Pratt's Main building, more than half the studios were completely destroyed. For these students the fire meant more than losing their precious work; it also meant losing the place they had called their creative home.
The money from this account will be used to create new work and to fund a massive group show. Pratt Institute has already received generous donations in supplies and offers for show spaces. However, many students use untraditional and collected materials which cannot be easily donated or bought at art stores. The students do not yet know when or how much they will be compensated for what was lost. This money will help fund not only the supplies needed to execute their wildest artistic endeavors, but also help fund a massive and guaranteed spectacular group show. Any unused funds for this project will be passed onto the Pratt Painting Club, to fund further generations of Fine Arts Shows.
WHAT WE HAVE TO OFFER
Because of the nature of our loss, and the overwhelming amount of work we now have to make up for, we do not currently have anything material to offer contributors. The immense gratitude and appreciation we have for anyone who can help us will manifest itself in the forms of new works of art.
OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP
If you would like to donate supplies to the victims of the fire, please send them to the Pratt Fine Arts Office:
Pratt Institute
Fine Arts Office, South Hall Suite 101
200 Willoughby Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11205
Or contact Dina Weiss, the chair of the department: dweiss13@pratt.edu
Pratt also has it's own support website where you can donate online. Proceeds will help rebuild Pratt's Main building.
www.pratt.edu/support_pratt/"

(Susan Luss's studio, photo by Sally Novak)

Overnight, the sixth floor changed from a place to work, to hang out,

to commune with other students, to become an artist...

(photo by Sally Novak)

...into a nightmare of devastation and destruction.

(photo by Fire Department official using Dingo's phone)

(photo by Sally Novak)

Sally Novak's studio, above, in better days;

Jiwon's, below.

(photo by Sally Novak)

Kayla Rivera, Maria de Los Angeles, Milo Wissig, below.

(photo by Sally Novak)

There were many, many post-fire meetings at Pratt, to decide what to do and where to do it.

Pratt gave the affected students generous gift certificates to help replace

lost materials, and started immediately to build new studio space for them to work in.

(photo by Sally Novak)

Maria managed to salvage Milo's chair from the rubble,

which he showed at an exhibition/fundraising event set up by the students of Parsons

for fire-affected students to help them get back their art-momentum.

Milo fabricated this chair himself to look like a beer-bottle cap,

and it is now a rare and precious survivor of the Pratt fire.

This show takes place at the Parson's NRM Gallery, curated by the BFA students who have studios

there. The gallery was founded last year, and named in memory of a student,

Nicky Ray Muller, who died of a brain tumor: Link HERE

It is a very kind and generous gesture by these Parsons students to share their space with the Pratt seniors, and to conduct a silent auction for fundraising.