Heavy Weather Or Not

Still Images from "The Road to Mount Weather" -- See Selection of Video Online
Three-Channel Moving Image Installation/Projection, Stereo Sound, 15 minute loop/Dimensions Variable, 2006

Cliff Evans is a nice young man with a fertile imagination and a liquid capacity for ominous visual storytelling. Coupled with the endless options for digital appropriation, manipulation, and conspiracy theories available on the Internet, he has produced "The Road to Mount Weather," an epic three channel video hallucination/dream/cartoon/nightmare about the government agenda to control the populace from an underground bunker once life above ground becomes too toxic or demented. Those left up in the cold will be blinded by the media and not realize the truth. Obviously, this is already happening. While not willing to completely commit to being conspiracy minded, he speaks knowledgeably about Mount Weather, describing it as a training facility and bomb shelter for the executive branch, located in West Virginia. He can also allude to conspiracy theories, martial law, and Rex 84, a civil unrest containment exercise in the 1970's that continues to spark paranoia in civil libertarians. But overall, the sound and imagery are more satirical than frightening, acting as a sort of fun house mirror of our culture, our government, and our self-absorption.

A scratch-the-surface, stream-of-media-transcription of the work's layered and sequential imagery:

Your future starts here, drive-in, rockets, halo people in city, planes, smoke, bombs, destruction, Dorothy & yellow brick road trio, refugees, trailers, FEMA, spraying down people, press wearing 3D goggles while blinded to decimation, shooting, birds flying away, football players, canyons, corporate logos, stadium, screaming, cheering, clapping, beatific faces, nude female riot cops, destruction, blank sign holders, soldiers, blue eyed child getting eye scanned, mood change, halo, stewardess, devil, church, tree tops and cell towers, elephant, mat chem warriors, bombers, paisley, tires, bunkers, business men with machine legs, balloons on penis daisy (?), pretty couple, haloed, descends below ground, machines, video monitors, command center, watching, staging media, water park, White House, temples, satellite dishes, U.S. seal, Roman senate, fat women, chickens, banquet tables, butt heads, smiling royalty, devil cupid babies, fly by Reagan with dove.

Whew. As you can see, it covers a lot of bases. Evans spent a year and a half building the piece in PhotoShop and AfterEffects and has been exhibiting it in various settings since 2006. Available for purchase for $25,000, two of the edition have already sold. Technically, although it appears film-like, it is a collection of still images that are rendered in 2D, and sequenced for display in real time. Evans reports that 99.5% of the images are acquired off the Internet, and in his artist's statement elaborates:

"I immersed myself in image-gathering and reconstruction, allowing obsessions and paranoiac deviations to bring in tangential elements. At times, believing myself to be a co-conspirator with the powers presented, I abused my access to information, assimilating data from unknown persons' databases of images and photographs, rending subjects from their context and converting their initial intent or purpose towards my own ends. At other times, I found myself becoming a paranoid heretic attempting to subvert the powers of control, yet under suspicion, fearful of being tracked, monitored, and forced in directions that were beyond my knowledge or will. [...] However much a slippery slope, my intent is not to propagate such emotions, but to bring them closer to a singularity of absurdity, reversing the fear and anxiety towards a (albeit limited) sense of control with a sense of humor.

While much of the imagery is funny, satirical, and plain bent, he confesses that the subject matter of the project did bring him down at times. So it was nice to see that he let himself out of the bunker for awhile to come with his project to Scope Miami this week with his gallery, Curator's Office.

Caught in a Trap

Turkysh Bath, Edition of 6, List $24,000, Sold 5 @ $17,000 at Scope

This guy Marck from Zurich put us in a box and we can't get out. Over and over we try. We are extremely uncomfortable from the spikes, the water is cold, and we are banging our head on the table. The Licht Feld gallery exhibit space where we were displayed is actually Basel-ian, unlike most of what was present at Miami Basel. Gallerist and member Fredy Hadorn reported that Marck goes by Marck from Zurich and the three video, iron, and glass LCD works that were drawing crowds and making us feel claustrophobic in reality and in empathy are all untitled. In spite of the labels with titles. Whatever. A trend at Scope seemed to be that the German and Swiss galleries don't label their art at all, either titles or artists. You have to ask. And even then they won't tell you the whole name. Which is too bad, because then you really have a hard time finding the guy on the Internet. But you can't help but try, because this work is out of the box, a trip, and unforgettable.

Thorns, Edition of 5, Sold Out, Scope

To remember more about Marck from Zurich:
http://www.marck.ch
http://www.marck.tv

Fairly Fairey at the Fair

Detail, Site-Specific Mural, 29th Street, Miami, December 2008

It seems like Shepard Fairey is all over Miami Basel. With good reason, because he has somehow managed to do the impossible: capture the zeitgeist of the nation's political and cultural mood while producing visually and intellectually rich imagery. He blew into town and created a fantastic mural on the side of a building on 29th Street only five days ago, while his work is a virtual sell-out at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery exhibit space at the Scope alternative art fair. With prices topping out at $25,ooo for the largest pieces and overall multi-fair-wide sales reportedly dampened by the economic downturn, his success is a pleasant testament to talent and ubiquity. When asked about the impact of Fairey's Obama poster on buyer interest, the gallery rep pointed to his pre-existing, ongoing popularity with collectors, as well as the common first-impression that his work might be that of an Asian artist. Nonetheless, a number of first-time collectors have joined the ranks during the Miami event. With limited edition prints going for $1100 and up, the appeal is clear. Buy now and feel good about it.

Detail, Site-Specific Mural, 29th Street, Miami, December 2008

Shepard Fairey at Jonathan LeVine
Obey Giant: Worldwide Propaganda Delivery

Faves and Raves: Miami Basel Alt-Fairs

Some favorite work from three of the Miami Basel alternative fairs: Pulse, Nada, and Aqua -- sprinkled around the Wynnwood area of Miami. These choices are just a small squadron of mostly digital media work among the thousands of artists and artworks. More about more artists to come. The whole experience is fun, fascinating, and fabulous.

***********Pulse***********
Rave:
Lincoln Schatz: Esquire's Portrait of the 21st Century 2008 / CUBE Portraits. Bitforms Gallery

Shatz was standing with a beautiful multi-screen installation of his portrait series and spoke with enthusiasm about the use of his CUBE digital portrait environment and the software he uses to randomize 24 different video streams that he compiles into digital portraits, generating effects and layering them programmatically in real time. When asked about working with the different subjects and the things they chose to do while sitting, Shatz said, "I ask them what they do with their free time, relaxing, and almost everybody says they're on their laptop." While some subjects need to be encouraged, others are naturally inspired to bring a more personal metaphor to the table. Shatz cited Georgie Clooney's decision to dance with ten women to ten different Frank Sinatra songs, one of whom was Shatz's own mother; LeBron James' choice to play a basketball video game in which he himself is animated as the lead player; and Craig Newmark, founder and sole operator of Craig's List, who alone was depicted sitting with a computer.

Portrait of George Clooney

Masami Teraoka, Catharine Clark Gallery

Teraoka mixes traditional Japanese woodblock and painting techniques with commentary about AIDS, gender, sex, consumption, religion, and the hypocrisy of Western cultural, religious, and political life, like a sexy and sardonic pillow book.

Two of his works had sold during the fair, including Adam and Eve / Surge Protector (1995), for $85,000 and Confessional Series (1994) for $65,000.

Although primarily represented by Catharine Clark, Teroka also was on display in the Samuel Freeman Gallery exhibit at Aqua Winwood.

Sarah Anne Johnson, Julie Saul Gallery
Johnson's work has centered around photographed real and recreated scenes in nature. The piece that stood out at the Julie Saul Gallery exhibit was a lenticular print of a pine forest, composed of sequential images of the pines moving in the wind. Part of a series about tree planting, the trees had an affecting hyper-reality. Other work, in which the artist's nature projects are re-staged with tiny sculptural figures standing in for the original humans and re-photographed, is quite different.

Brandon Morse, Conner Contemporary Art
Morse's framed digital animation depicted two three dimensional wire cubes pulling each other in different directions. Simple and timeless, like a zen koan, it showed the inevitable dynamic of all human relationships, reduced to a formula. Available as one of an edition of 6, the the high-resolution work sells for $2500 and can be displayed at any size or on any screen.

John Gerrard, Grow/Finish Unit (Eva, Oklahoma), Hilger Contemporary
Silvery and mesmerizing 3D digital video animation revolves slowly around modern farm buildings in the wide open space of Oklahoma. This Irish-born artist travels the U.S. taking photographs of various scenes that he then recreates in 3D animation software.

Rave:
Ori Gersht, Falling Bird, Angles Gallery
Named one of Alistair Hicks' "Ten Talents to Watch," Gersht's digital painting loops from a hypnotic meditation on water splashing to a digital trompe l'oeil à la William Harnett, in which a dead pheasant is dropped in the water. Packaged complete with frame, screen, computer, and DVD for $45,000. Edition of 8.

Hell'o Monsters, Untitled, Think 21
The collective of four Belgian graffiti artists worked together to produce this piece, their second animated painting. Gallery rep Christel Tsilibieris reports that they are interested in monsters and anatomy books, and the intersection of eastern and western popular culture. The obvious reference to Hello Kitty is played out in the colorful wall painting, which they came and applied personally. The animation is projected onto the painting, and playfully comments on the functions of the body. The piece is unique, and will be destroyed unless bought. The artists will recreate on site. 3000 eu for the work alone, or 4000 with projector.

***********Nada***********
Marcus Coates, Dawn Chorus (2007), Workplace Gallery
This video installation is probably more staid than Coates' typical work. The project involved recording morning birdsong in Northumberland and northern England, and then video taping various trained amateur singers singing the songs much more slowly. (Similar to Nina Katchadourian's Please, Please, Pleased to Meet 'Cha?) The installation features each of the singers on separate video screens, sped up so that they sound like the normal bird song. Lovely and funny. Ha ha, not peculiar, like this picture of Coates in performance:

Still, Journey to the Lower World, Workplace Gallery

***********Aqua Wynnwood***********

Jim Campbell, Home Movies, 1040-1 (2008), Hosfelt Gallery
LED lights hang in a grid against a large screen, flickering a ghostly black and white home movie to life, barely, like a whisper. Like Shatz, he's got a programmer's mind. See his slide talk on computer-generated art.

Rave:
David Fried, Self-Organizing Still Life, Sara Tecchia Roma New York

Impossibly analog sculpture that moves in reaction to sound, adding motion as the balls click and clack into each other. Wonderful and mysterious, a perpetual motion machine that can be put to sleep by silence.

Uncomfortable Art Positions

Art Positions

In the shadow of the ever-renovating South Beach hotels, Art Basel Miami hosts 20 young galleries in converted orange shipping containers in the outdoor exhibition "Art Positions." Each container has been provided with a rampway, a door, and a shelf space for information about the galleries. Each container is attended by a young woman with bangs, wearing a black dress or something oddly shaped, and speaking Dutch or Castillian Spanish. Cognescenti report that these cell-phone wielding mini-models are gallery interns; the market for interns seems to be an unexpectedly strong economic indicator.

The container concept is totally cool, and cries out for better ideas, planning, execution, and professionalism. Overall, the art on display seems amateurish, unintentionally funny, and poorly displayed. Some containers have a handful of bland, forgettable drawings or photographs. Others have quasi-installations that fail to meet the challenges of the space, present coherent ideas, or interesting imagery. Many display video works that seemed to have been pulled out of a VCR from 1986, or a blender from 1960. The Galerie Andreas Huber features a video by Judith Hopf entitled Zahlen! / Counting, ostensibly a tribute to Hans, the famous counting horse of fin de siècle Berlin, in which a horse is taunted by a quartet of people peeping over a fence while wearing mime-like make-up. Coulrophobia, anyone?

Perhaps the effort and expense involved in transporting the work from around the corners of the globe was daunting. The general effect is like a Top Design project in which the contestants get mad at each other and give up, and the rejected contestants from Project Runway all come to take a look.

In addition to the excellent people-watching, a stand-out:

Teresa Margolles' 21, at the Galeria Salvafor Diaz, appears at first glance to be a Miami Beach jeweller's showcase, the 21 pieces of lavish gold and gem-encrusted jewelry displayed and lit as if in a Bal Harbour store window. Margolles' work is preoccupied with the many causes, effects, attributes, and artifacts of death in her native Mexico. This particular collection of pieces was fabricated under her direction by a jeweller from her local market using shards of glass collected from narco grudge-murder sites in place of jewels, with settings similar to those favored by the narco gangsters. These pieces are beautifully rendered, gaudy with excess luxury, and casually horrifying.

Score Settling #5 (Preliminary investigation), Culiacán, October 19, 2007

Bal Harbour Website, Not Margolles

Art Basel Miami