Proper Painting Attire
Might be time to upgrade my painting getup. Or at the very least, begin to call it painting attire.
Angel Art Auction Tonight
Online bidding for the Angel Art Auction has closed and transfers to the live event at Creative Artists Agency tonight. With a committee that includes Honor Fraser, Jennifer Aniston, Larry Gagosian, and Tom Ford, the auction is an example of how Contemporary Art, Charity, and Hollywood currently intersect in Los Angeles.
Photo: Irving Blum and Peggy Moffitt by Dennis Hopper courtesy of Paddle8 website
WILLIAM POWHIDA’S ‘BILL BY BILL’ AT CHARLIE JAMES GALLERY
As a fairly sturdy William Powhida fan, I am biased delighted how the ‘Bill By Bill’ press release reflects his work.
Opening: April 20, 2013, 7-10PM 969 Chung King Road, Los Angeles, CA 90012
CHARLIE JAMES GALLERY WEBSITE
Dismissed Acclaimed provincial New York-based artist William Powhida is pleased to announce Bill by Bill, a new collection of art works fabricated exclusively for Charlie James Gallery and the fast-growing Los Angeles art market. Conceptualized and designed by William each work of art has been crafted by better highly skilled artists, designers, friends, family and fabricators under the artist’s supervision in a studio he visited at least once. After years of going to art fairs intensive market research Bill by Bill represents a decisive breakthrough for the artist into the fields of sculpture and painting by creating unique variations on some of the dominant formulas trends in contemporary art.
Bill by Bill brings together classic Modernist forms with bleeding edge post-studio, conceptually based1 practices to create a mercenary stunning vision of contemporary art. Begun over a year ago while on residency at the Headlands in beautiful Marin County, William has designed a line of auction-ready commodities objects across stylistic boundaries for market-savvy executive producers collectors. These objects are primed and ready for purchase to move quickly at Phillips de Pury. With a focus on painting and sculpture Bill by Bill avoids problems of reproducibility inherent with photography, new media, multiples, and editions which have diminished the deep satisfaction of buying art. These one-of-kind objects are able to offer the ‘experience of art’ at a price that isn’t quite for everyone, which affirms William’s belief that art holds an elitist special place in culture.
A unique, signed certificate of authenticity in the artist’s signature style accompanies2 each hand-touched3 object. The certificate provides the artist’s critical insight into the fascinating design and fabrication process behind each work. These intimate, text-based certificates contextualize each object in a theoretical and aesthetic discourse while situating them in the broader social and political space of neo-liberal capitalism late modernity. Charlie James Gallery is relieved pleased to finally bring this moyen-garde model of art production and distribution to Los Angeles, which we believe is the only city capable of buying this.
William Powhida was born in 1976 in Ballston Spa, New York. Powhida has no upcoming exhibitions at any major art institutions. Recent exhibitions include “Market Value: Examining Wealth and Worth” at Columbia College in Chicago, IL; “On Sincerity” at Boston College in Boston, MA; (2012), “Seditions” at McKinney Avenue Contemporary in Dallas, TX (2012), “Derivatives” at Postmasters Gallery, NY (2011) and Dublin Contemporary in Dublin, Ireland (2011). His work has been discussed in October, Art in America, Art Forum, The Brooklyn Rail, Frieze, New York Magazine, and the New York Times. His art was recently featured in the Village Voice, America’s oldest corporate-owned alternative weekly.
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1 This does not mean conceptual.
2 The collector agrees to purchase the certificate of authenticity to receive the object.
3 The artist may have only touched to the work indirectly receiving the work or crating it.
Photo: Charlie James Gallery
http://joellemctigue.com/ledger/william-powhidas-bill-by-bill-at-charlie-james-gallery/
Jeff Speetjens, Puppeteer on Los Angeles I’m Yours
This month is Puppetfest in Los Angeles which means there are a lot of puppet happenings in and around the city. This means comedy shows with puppets for adults and fairy tale puppet shows for kids and much, much more. You know where it’s actually always a puppet celebration? Bootsy Bellows in West Hollywood, a nightclub that regularly features puppets and puppeteers interacting with patrons. We got a tip from artsy person Joelle McTigue about a video on puppeteer Jeff Speetjens, one of Bootsy’s puppet masters. He’s the subject of a mini-documentary that gives a peek inside what it’s like to be a puppeteer in Los Angeles.
LAB Art Opens at Fred Segal Santa Monica
Joelle McTigue is a Los Angeles artist. The process is the intention.
Haircuts, yoga, and Annie Preece paintings all in one place. I love you, LA.
Lab Art opens their 2,000 sq ft gallery space in Fred Segal Santa Monica tonight. After Party is at 41 Ocean, the new Westside members-only dinner club.
First Guest Post on The Ledger: Jeff Speetjens / Puppeteer By Jordan Wayne Long
Matt and I had been wanting to follow around a puppeteer since we began shooting documentaries for our site (Half Cut Tea). I had been calling agents for months trying to find a puppeteer to let us follow them around, but we weren’t having any luck. That’s when I made a last ditch effort and put up an ad on craigslist.
Read more at: http://joellemctigue.com/ledger/jeffspeetjens-puppeteer/
"Today is not the first day of Paolo Soleri’s legacy. Arcosanti was the first place I felt a sense of home that was not bound by location. Home became ideas and relationships, as well as the desire to fortify and preserve them. This has been Paolo’s legacy in my life. Just as each resident has held their own. Newsweek magazine described Arcosanti as “the most important urban experiment undertaken in our lifetimes.”, but Paolo Soleri and his message are not bound by time. It will just take us time."
A SUBURBAN STATE OF MOM on Wives. Go Buy It. (Joelle McTigue) & Stars Collided In Our Hearts. (Beat Radio)
Joelle is an LA based artist whose art is about who we are. Identity. Which is something I think about just a little bit. I like this particular piece because it hits at the heart of who people think I am. Yet another suburban mommy, complicit in the consumer culture I inhabit. I’ve certainly spent some words dissecting it around the blogosphere. For better, I hope.
I lately find myself sort of over the entire thing. Perhaps I’ve accepted that there are no merit badges available for motherhood. And really the best signifier I’ve done a good job is that my sons are safe and secure in our relationship and as the men they become that they know it’s time to live their lives on their own. Once upon a time, that sense of distinction would have been unfathomable, but as we all age, I’m getting accustomed to that idea. We’re not supposed to live together forever and hang out all the time. Proximity and hours tallied are not worthy proofs of honest love and affection in my estimation.
That’s why this song provides a nice cushion for the piece of art. The song’s about the ending of something. Maybe something you never really wanted. ”You choose your fate. But was it someone else’s dream?” And the imagery of taking the suburban chariot of convenience through its paces was so perfect. I love it when it all comes together like that.
