it took me a while to get over my embarrassment
June 25, 2009
about being so terribly attracted to timothy horn’s work. the australian sculptor’s over-sized baubles are just s o d a r n seductive… but i had a nagging fear that they were also grotesque.
this piece, “grand noeud,” looks in the photo to be a beautiful, baroque pearl drop-earring. thinking vermeer, right? in person, it’s nearly 40-inches high. really, just too big. gorgeous. but completely lacking subtlety.
of course, that discomfort is one of the (many) things that is so good about tim horn’s artwork – the tension he creates around the fine line between good and bad taste. and the line is constantly shifting… someone said to me yesterday, “no one wants to be seen carrying shopping bags on the street these days. it’s considered vulgar.” boy, what a difference a year makes…
“grand noeud” 2009, nickel-plated bronze, mirrored blown glass, 39 x 19 x 9.5 inches, is a new piece by timothy horn, currently on view at our new york gallery.
the first phase of the highline
June 22, 2009
opened a few days ago. wow! the highline is an elevated freight train track that was originally built in the 1930’s to alleviate the danger of trains running on tracks at street-level on the west side of manhattan. the rails went out of use in the 1980’s, the highline deteriorated, and was slated for demolition until local activists came up with the unlikely proposal of a garden path through the industrial wastes of what is one of the ugliest bits of manhattan.
the recently completed the first phase (at a cost of $86 million and change) runs from gansevoort street in the meat packing district to 20th street and is between 10th and the west side highway/11th avenue. it can be accessed at either end and in several spots in the middle via stairs.
from the street it holds little promise. it’s another story from up top…
the project was designed by diller scofidio + renfro and james corner field operations landscape architects. a walkway of concrete planks switches back and forth across the platform, under and through structures, relating to the original tracks that provided direct connection between factories and warehouses.
the planting is appropriately weedy and owes a great deal to the designs of the dutch landscape designer and plantsman, piet oudolf. you “get” the “feel” the highline must have had when the idea for a green space here first occurred in the 1990’s – nature reclaiming industrial deterioration. i can’t wait to watch the plantings grow in, change with the seasons, and take the structure.
this is a brutal site. it will be absolutely pounded by wind/rain/snow/sun. the plant choices are smart and durable and shift beautifully and naturally from one micro-climate to the next.
but make no mistake. this is design. when andrew suggested we go check it out after dinner last night, he said “it’s interesting, the details are almost like interior finishes.” he’s right. if there’s a fault to the project, it’s that it’s too designed. as louis would say, wilfull. it seems the designers had too much ego or too little self-confidence (or both) to allow the unique setting and good plantsmanship to carry the project.
it’s just a little too slick. more courageous architectural design would have better evoked the romantic urban decay the planting does.
i first visited the highline at night — it’s open until 10p. it’s well-lit and patrolled and an evening stroll allows you the voyeuristic thrill of views into expensive modern apartments as well as gorgeous views of the city and river.
the project will eventually run up to 34th street (almost the front door of my ny gallery!). in the meantime, the highline promises to bring life back to a part of the city, that with the collapse of the chelsea gallery frenzy, has been pretty sickly of late.
jim campbell
May 16, 2009
is known for his extremely low-resolution moving images made with L.E.D.s. his pixilated representations are created with so few L.E.D.s (more than a thousand times fewer than the number of pixels on your computer screen) that you shouldn’t be able to comprehend what you’re seeing. but you do… it’s a unique, humanistic approach to information theory. he uses the distinction between the analogue world and its digital representation as a metaphor for the human ability for poetic understanding or “knowledge” as opposed to the mathematics of “data.”
campbell is expanding video as a media by combining it with his own inventions. he’s using it to posit questions about time, memory, and perceived reality in the vocabulary of the electronic age.
in this new piece, a grid of 768 L.E.D.s flicker between off and on to create an abstracted image. a high-resolution photograph between the board of diodes and the viewer focuses the pixels and creates a moving image. there is an interesting reference to “ghosts” in early photographs (with their very long exposure). and a poignant message about the fleeting nature of life.
“powell street” 2009, 768 L.E.D.s, photograph mounted on plexiglass and custom electronics, 22 1/2 x 29 1/2 x 2 inches, from an edition of 3.
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marco maggi
May 7, 2009
just finished installing his show “cubic drops” in our san francisco gallery. it’s genius. there’s a wealth of his masterful drawings – in graphite and on aluminum foil and scratched into plexiglass. there’s an astonishing object that’s a drawing in graphite on graphite. and an amazing assortment of his playful and beautiful explorations of drawing and line made 3-d.
a close-up of a drawing on reynolds wrap:
a drawing scratched on plexiglass that is practically invisible except for it’s shadow:
“A cubic drop is a plexi sheet with floor, roof and four walls. Six faces or surfaces to liberate the line from its two dimensions. A drawing/sculpture unit.” – marco maggi
a stack of scratched, two-inch cubes:
“square pencil” (detail) a pencil drawing on a sheet of soft graphite:
once you’re past the virtuosity of his hand (i’m not guaranteeing you’ll ever get there – i’ve been working with him for ten years and haven’t) you’ll find an extraordinary wit and a linguistic prowess. conceptual and formal concerns dealt with in equal measure – smart and gorgeous.
i should’ve been blogging
April 17, 2009
from italy last week. sorry. now that i’m home and have internet access, here are some highlights.
a year ago, our friends randall and teresa bought a masseria – a walled italian farm house – called villa pizzorusso. the new part of the house (the two-story part) was built in the 18th century, the old in the 15th. the house wasn’t quite a ruin when they bought it, but nearly, and they’ve been working with a local architect to both restore and update it in the most beautiful way. teresa, who is originally from the area, has exquisite taste.
the house (with a large, walled garden, gorgeous pool and orangerie) sits in a field surrounded by miles of olive groves in the province of brindisi in the region of puglia — the south eastern tip of the italian peninsula – the “heel” of the “boot.” it’s an agricultural region famous for it’s olive oil, wine, fish and beaches.
we met up with our beloved dinner group (5 couples) and ate our way through the region. the first morning we went to a local farm, toured the barns and bought fresh ricotta – it was still warm - made from milk from this guy’s mom.
other culinary highlights included a visit to a friend of a friend of a friend who showed us his grove of 1,200-year-old olive trees. there were 1,500 of them on 2,000 acres.
for centuries these trees produced lamp oil – the fruit was considered too bitter to produce edible oil. the current owner, antonio de gregorio irrigates the trees slightly, producing a sweeter oil. he mixes it with another variety from young trees he’s growing on the same property to produce a really delicious oil. and it’s certified organic. here’s antonio showing us his young trees:
and a branch with the flower buds. each little stem of buds will produce a cluster of olives.
the food in puglia is spectacular. seasonal and simple. we picked up foccacia one day from a focacciaria that teresa “had a feeling about” in a non-descript little town that was the best i’ve ever eaten. we ate at a working farm just outside of ostuni – masseria il frantoio - where a restored farm house has a small restaurant and several guest rooms. the owner/chef cooks with materials they grow or forage from their property. it’s the kind of experience i love – you don’t have to decide what to eat – they bring you what they’re making that day from fresh ingredients. 7 courses. highlights were a wild asparagus flan, little salted breads with wild onion paté, wild fennel pasta with puréed fava beans and an olive leaf liqueur that you could use to fuel a car.
other places that patty likes that we didn’t get to are: osteria piazzetta cattedrale (via arcidiacono trinchera, 7, in ostuni) and ristorante da tuccino (via santa caterina, 69/f, polignano a mare – south of bari).
puglia is dotted with beautiful towns. noteworthy are the baroque city of lecce, the hill town of ostuni and the port of otranto. the catherdrale di santa maria annunciata in otranto houses an extraordinary 700-square foot mosaic begun in 1163 and completed in 3 years by a single artist – a monk named pantaleone. “the tree of life” is represented with it’s roots at the entrance to the church and and all of the oddities of the world growing up and out toward the alter. there are references to christianity, but also to greek and scandanavian mythology as well as the legend of king arthur. this pantaleone was out there — a genius along the lines of hieronymous bosch. the work is stylistically surprising and original in content.
then, as if the oddity of the mosaic wasn’t enough to tweak you out, you find a corner chapel where the remains of 800 beheaded martyrs are displayed (along with the stone they were decapitated on)…
while on the subject of oddities, there is a local form of architecture called a trullo — a round stone house with a conical stacked stone roof. the roof is composed of three layers. the inside dome is a structural vault. next comes a layer of rubble filler. finally, a layer of thick limestone shingles is arranged in a spiral. within the town of alberobello there are two areas completely composed of the little dwellings (plural = trulli). one of the neighborhoods is super tourist-y. the other isn’t. worth seeing for the eccentricity and craft of the structures, but a bit too cute in a hobbit-y sort of way…
randall and teresa will eventually be renting villa pizzorusso by the week. when they get an internet site, i’ll post a link.
one more reason
April 3, 2009
i’m proud to be from iowa…
“We are firmly convinced the exclusion of gay and lesbian people from the institution of civil marriage does not substantially further any important governmental objective… The Legislature has excluded a historically disfavored class of persons from a supremely important civil institution without a constitutionally sufficient justification.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090403/ap_on_re_us/iowa_gay_marriage
i love sylvia meyer
March 31, 2009
new work
March 30, 2009
by crystal liu. one of the things i love about my work is seeing artistic process. this is an image from an idea crystal liu is exploring…
i want this painting
March 27, 2009
it’s by baseera khan. a painting on paper, ink and acrylic and graphite on paper, that’ll be in her show – “reductive histories” - that will open in my san francisco gallery tomorrow, 28 march. it’s 44×46 inches.
regarding the fisher museum in the presidio,
March 24, 2009
louis says:
In John King’s 1 March 2009 article on the proposed art museum in the Presidio, John Jarvis, director of the National Park Service Western Region is quoted. “They’ve come a long way improving the design and the way it sits within our historic landmark.”
The Presidio deserves more than something sitting comfortably in our historic landmark. The Presidio is a unique place defined by history, geography, climate, demographics and culture found nowhere else. A new building in this environment has an obligation to honor place, and to provide a legacy for future generations to enjoy.
The Bay Area is known for the bold and controversial actions of our forefathers. The Alcatraz we know was formed in the 1850’s by blasting the rocky shoreline to create steep prisonlike walls. The Golden Gate Bridge harnessed the best of 1930’s engineering to span the strait thereby treating 1,825 million cars to one of the most beautiful views in the world. Innovative thinking has formed the Presidio too. In 1996, Congress created a unique management and funding model designed to preserve the Presidio and make it financially self-sufficient.
As 21st century citizens we are obligated to leave examples of our creativity, technology and optimism. Are the Xerox-enlarged barracks of the Letterman site the best we can do? An art museum in the Presidio is an opportunity not to be squandered demurely emulating the past, but asserting confidence in our own abilities to address the future. The WRNS proposal for the Fisher museum is a thoughtful response to a difficult set of parameters. It sits firmly in contemporary design AND is sensitive to its physical, historical, and cultural context. It deserves more enthusiastic support.
San Francisco is a thought leader. We can be design leaders too.
he’s right. i’d add that not only should good design be our legacy, but a beautifully-designed fisher museum makes sense for the current economic development of our city. think about this: in 2008, the guggenheim bilbao contributed 231,788,989 euros to the economy of the basque region.
san francisco is beginning to have some really noteworthy contemporary architecture – the de young, the academy of sciences, the new federal building. the fisher museum should be equally forward-looking. every time i cross the bay bridge i become apoplectic at the lost opportunity of cal trans designing the bay bridge rather calatrava…
