Luckily no heatstroke-induced corpses at an otherwise exquisite opening

Exquisite Corpse opened Friday night, and it was a great success! I and everyone else I spoke with were amazed at the turnout (it was so crowded that it took me a flip through the signed guestbook afterwards to discover that in attendance were some guests I didn’t even know were there), and that’s not even taking into consideration the almost unbearable heat; outdoors, the mercury rose to 94ºF—really, Chicago? in September?—while indoors, the masses found themselves without air conditioning and with an abundance of track lights. Thank you, everyone, for sweating it out in the name of art!

If you or anyone you know took any photographs, please send them to artists.on.the.lam {at} gmail {dot} com. Proper attribution will be given, as always, if your images are used.

Throughout the night, the comments I received the most related to the show’s energy and the artwork’s diversity. Indeed, because I gave the artists no rules other than to collaborate with one another, emphasizing that there were no limitations in size or medium, the resulting creations spanned everything from delicate graphite illustrations to a kinetic sculpture named “Pug”—with bicycle inner tubes as skin and tufts of real human hair woven throughout its body—that jumps, rolls its eyes, and swings its neck, a toy from hell that requires direct interaction with its viewer. One of the many other pieces that asked for interaction was artist Adrienne Glover’s advice booth. Questions (and pleas) posed to her throughout the night included:

Should I pursue my coworker crush?

What should I do about an unrequited crush?

What should I do with my life? I want to travel.

How do I make an honest living with my idea?

I’m about to graduate. I need advice about getting a job.

I want to make muffins! Help.

Should I stay married?

Should I quit my job?

I want to relocate to a different country. How should I do that?

How do I become a musician?

Should I come out to my parents?

Where should I go out for drinks tonight?

Exquisite Corpse is far from over. The closing reception / party is on Saturday, September 17, 7–10pm. Most exhibition closings, compared to openings, are like Disney’s low-budget direct-to-video sequels in which only a couple of the washed-up D-list voice actors return, desperate for work, and the songs—oh God, the songs—induce more secondhand embarrassment than watching a certain demographic try to dougie. The closing for this show, however, will be to the opening what Return of the King was to Fellowship of the Ring. An example of what you can expect: artist [and budding local comedian] Caitlin Bergh will be doing a performance piece that involves body painting, rolling of the body onto a blank canvas, and destruction of said canvas.

Until then, gallery hours are by appointment, and you may contact me at, again, artists.on.the.lam {at} gmail {dot} com. Most of the artwork is for sale, and all are reasonably priced. I will also be creating a page on this blog with images of the works and their respective prices. Virtual viewing, of course, isn’t the same as seeing the works in person. After all, a few of the pieces do ask gallery goers to uncover, touch, hug, interact with, step inside, write in, take something from, and leave something in them. And your visit won’t nearly be as hot as the opening. Pinky swear.

Extra Extra

Two posts within the same day? What is this…

A couple press mentions for Exquisite Corpse, which opens tonight:

Gapers Block.

Paul Klein’s Art Letter. (The write-up includes photos. Spoiler alert!)

One of the things that I genuinely like about Chicago is that it cares more about what you are doing than what you've done - just look at some of our aldermen. Not that I know anything about what Jenny Lam has done, I'm impressed by what she's doing - creating, finding, following her own path in the Chicago art scene. She's been on my radar since spring. A recent college graduate, she's just curated a charming show at Fulton Street Collective titled Exquisite Corpse. Expanding on the traditional notion where multiple artists work on a single piece without knowing what the other has done, she's solicited, culled, and matched 40 artists who don't know each other to collaborate on creating art. In most cases the pieces are fun, competent, multi-faceted and engaging.

I always enjoy being likened to corrupt Chicago politicians.

Thank you so much!

Showtime

Exquisite Corpse opens tonight! These past few days, strange things were afoot…

But everything came together perfectly.

What’s remarkable about the second image above is that Patricia Biesen, who created the torso, and Lorraine Grandinetti, who did the head and hands, using the artwork of her late brother Frank Grandinetti (come to the show to see the rest of the piece, including Diane Ponder’s bottom section!), did not see each other’s sections until it was time to install. The palette is serendipity at its most—wait for it—exquisite. Beautiful how things really do fall into place.

Punching Crunch time in the face

Exquisite Corpse opens this Friday! Local artists have been dropping off their pieces at the exhibition space, and pieces from across the country and overseas have been signed, sealed, delivered (and could be yours! support starving artists!). And. They. Look. Amazing. Really, you need to see the art in person. Get excited.

As a preview of what you can expect at the show, here’s a striking collaboration by Boston-based artist Gideon Ansell and Amsterdam-based artist Mark Pol:

Image courtesy of Gideon Ansell, 2011.

Installation begins tomorrow. Let’s do this.

Affixed words [for the] media // Mixed media bird [women]

The press release for Exquisite Corpse has been… released. Read up.

Here’s one of two pieces by Amanda Mudrovich and Moca Garcia:

Image courtesy of Amanda Mudrovich, 2011.

Image courtesy of Amanda Mudrovich, 2011.

Thus begins the countdown: less than 10 days until opening night.

“How many surrealists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?”

“A fish.” (Thank you, Carrie McGath.)

More behind-the-scenes previews of Exquisite Corpse artwork (find past sneak peeks here, here, here, and not there but here):

A piece by Robin Rios and Derail Howery:

Image courtesy of Robin Rios, 2011.

Werewolves? Vampires? A post-apocalyptic showdown between Adam and Eve? This is not your mother’s hairdresser’s lover’s dog walker’s dealer’s nanny’s chessboard.

The final version of this piece by Brittany Majka, Carrie McGath, and Jennifer Moore:

Image courtesy of Jennifer Moore, 2011.

I never would’ve expected it to take such a direction, and I love that. See more photos—including other exquisite corpses—and read about the process at Jennifer’s very informative blog, where there are a few NSFW images (although still much classier than the Marilyn Monroe behemoth she, Brittany, and Carrie [rightfully] mock).

A work in progress by Jessica Drogosz, to be added to by Avisheh Mohsenin and Jes Standefer:

Image courtesy of Jessica Drogosz, 2011.

Philadelphia-based artist Becket Flannery (whom I interviewed for my first Sixty Inches From Center article) and New York-based artist Tucker Rae-Grant are organizing their collaborations around the idea of bait and trap, “both in the sense of how painting operates as a trap, how the surface is a kind of bait and the frame is a kind of trap, [and] also the ways in which paintings and art objects can be tactical.”

Diane Ponder, Lorraine Grandinetti working on behalf of the late Frank Grandinetti, and Patricia Biesen are keeping their individual images unknown to each other until the opening reception, where they will unveil their final piece. Similarly, Deirdre Fox, Jessie Winslow, and Zachary Trebellas “would like to maintain the mystery for now.” The images and videos I’ve seen so far from both groups, however, are making it very hard for me to not share them with you (Patricia even stated, “I’ve just created one of the most unique paintings of my entire career for this event”), but fortunately (or unfortunately), I [think I] have willpower.

And Cassie Hamrick and Veronica Stein are working on a series of pillows that will be displayed on couches and chairs they’ve found throughout the exhibition space. Guests will be able to touch and interact with these pieces. Art: it comes in furniture form too.

And that’s not even all the artists.

Basically, this is going to be one hell of a show.

Behind the Curtain + Lifting the Veil

The tables have been turned—I’ve been interviewed by Sixty Inches From Center. Most peculiar. Read the interview here if you dare.

Irene Wellm, Kirsten Perry, and Adriane Strampp have released the following statement regarding their collaboration, Spiritus Saltus, which was revealed several days ago:

Our practice for this piece was to follow the traditional procedure of Exquisite Corpse, where each artist has no idea of what the other artist has done. Each of us found this to be a nervous experience, feeling trepidation and a sense of responsibility towards the other two artists. Yet it was paradoxically a freeing experience to not be completely responsible for the artwork’s outcome! No restrictions other than the registration marks were made, so as to allow for playfulness.

Ultimately the drawing process took over, and without predetermination, it became an enjoyable reprieve from our personal everyday practices.

The unveiling, done with ceremony, was nerve-wracking and exciting. How was this going to come together? Averting our gazes as the work was unwrapped and displayed, finally the moment was there. And what a delight and surprise it was. How strangely the three parts seemed to synch together with some strange kind of instinctual reason. Here was a hybrid creature that embodied a sense of Pan, like some mysterious and playful archetype from Nature.

When you break out of your comfort zone, you break free.

Exquisite Corpse Sneak Peek No. 4

A quick update from the last post: Australian artists Adriane Strampp, Irene Wellm, and Kirsten Perry have unveiled their exquisite corpse!

Image courtesy of Adriane Strampp, 2011.

The moment of unmasking marked the first time all three artists—like the rest of us—saw the finished piece in its entirety. Here are detailed shots of each artist’s segment before the revelation, after the jump:

Fragments and Fawning

Are all my posts from now on going to be divided between previewing Exquisite Corpse and praising Peru? Probably.

No, not really.

OK, one more.

Maybe.

The studio and home of Exquisite Corpse artist Adriane Strampp have just been featured in The Design Files. Take a look and get inspired.

Adriane and fellow Melbourne-based artists Irene Wellm and Kirsten Perry have been collaborating in the traditional exquisite corpse fashion, choosing to not reveal their piece until the very end.

Image courtesy of Adriane Strampp, 2011.

Speaking of tradition, in the last post, I mentioned how Peru embraces a mix of the old and the new. This synthesis, in keeping with the multilingual, multiethnic identity, can be seen and experienced throughout the country, from solar panels on the Uros Islands—man-made islands, made completely of reeds, floating on Lake Titicaca as they have for hundreds of years—to flatscreen monitors at the Museo de Arte de Lima that flip through artists’ sketchbooks; museumgoers can thus view each page without having to handle the original, physical items, which are displayed in adjacent glass cases. And—what were the odds—I stumbled upon an exquisite corpse reference at the museum’s Szyszlo retrospective. Photos after the jump.

Viva

First, another Exquisite Corpse sneak peek. Here’s a wonderful work in progress by Brittany Majka and Carrie McGath, to be added to by Jennifer Moore (check out another WIP by this artist group in the previous post):

Image courtesy of Carrie McGath, 2011.

On to Peru. It was and is, quite simply, beautiful.

Heaving microbuses blasting reggaeton and bearing Hanzi on windows foggy from the passengers packed inside hurtle through congested streets checkered with chifas on every block. Incense burns and yellow confetti powders shaded arcades in celebration of Pago a la tierra—the Andean New Year—paying tribute to the goddess Pachamama, while Catholic cathedrals loom over colonial plazas. Quechua and Aymara women wearing English bowler hats paired with long braids and layered petticoats share sidewalks with youth in leather bomber jackets and heavy boots. It’s a place of multiculturalism, of tradition and technology, of old and new, of East and West and… Far West.

A barrage of photos after the jump.

Sneak Peek: Exquisite Corpse

I am back from Peru—stay tuned for a photo post. In the meantime, here’s a quick Exquisite Corpse sneak peek.

A work in progress by Carrie McGath and Jennifer Moore (check out Jennifer’s blog post about it here), to be added to by Brittany Majka:

Image courtesy of Jennifer Moore, 2011.

A work in progress by Nicole Syrquin and Peggy Shearn:

Image courtesy of Peggy Shearn, 2011.

There are over 40 artists participating in this show. Keep checking back for more.

Life Work, Work Life

Surprise! A weekend post! The reason being: I will be in Peru from July 25 through August 5. I won’t be blogging in that time, as I’ll be too busy digging through my brain’s foreign language files and dusting off the Spanish folder, as well as fraternizing with llamas, to do so. Until my return, here’s some food for thought from the Frieze archives:

Life, to start with, is not just about your professional life. There is so much more to it than just work. The trouble is that, when you get into art, that ‘so much more’ is precisely what you want your work to be about. Life is what you want to immerse yourself in through your work. The freedom of the artist and intellectual, Theodor Adorno wrote, lies in the possibility of not having to separate work from pleasure as all those caught up in the system of division of labour do. This is our chance for a good life. But this is also why things tend to get messy. [...]

[...] To be part of an art scene was probably always as emotionally confusing as it is today. With who [sic], and in what guise, do you want to get involved and recognized? As a professional or as a person? How do you mark the difference? How do you draw the line between colleagues and friends? Why even categorize? You may wish to be open to whatever someone who enters your life might become for you. Still, recognizing a real friend seems crucial when everyone around you is professionally friendly. And love is a mess anyway when you happen to be in the same field, in the arts, with all of us being – how shall I put it? – a bit special (beautiful and difficult, grandiose and needy, generous and selfish, seeking and giving intense pleasure). So, rather than draw lines, we may want to invent a new language to commune with the strange phenomena that the people who get under our skin inevitably are and will continue to be.

It’s a poignant piece that hits close to home. A career in art does not constitute a 9 to 5—rather, a 9 to forever. The workday never ends, and every day is a workday. And yet, I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Discussion: Skill vs. concept // “But this is revolutionary!” “It looks like a 4-year-old made it and then sneezed on it.”

First, an Exquisite Corpse update: The artist application window is now officially closed. Thank you to all who applied! The portfolios I’ve looked through so far are fantastic. I’m impressed not only by the quality of the art, but also by the variety of media (my inbox is filled with everything from animatronic sculpture to performance to guerilla art), themes (race, gender, sexuality, and class! death, decay, and the grotesque! beauty! freedom! promise I’m not just throwing out buzzwords!), and applicants (artists range from emerging and still in school to established and with work that can be found in collections around the world, from the local to as far from Chicago as you can get—hello, Australian creatives!). Hmm, I believe I just drafted part of the exhibition’s press release with those juxtapositions. Artists, I will be contacting you within the next couple of days.

I also enjoyed being addressed as a “respected sir” in one of the cover letters.

Second, here’s my latest Sixty Inches From Center article, in which I interviewed the gallery director of Western Exhibitions, as well as a few artists, for insight into People Don’t Like to Read Art, a group show. (For the record, I love reading art. And reading. And art. Look at that!)

And now: We’ve examined conceptual art and its [monetary] value, as well as what we value in art and what draws us to particular works of art. (Those discussions are still active, by the way! Check out their comment sections to hobnob with your fellow collectors, artists, art professionals, and art lovers.) Let’s expand the conversation back to a more comprehensive level: concept vs. skill. Art Radar profiled a panel discussion on a very specific issue—the decline of contemporary ink painting—but one panelist’s observations resonate with the subject at hand:

All media, such as oil, are struggling with issues similar to those ink is facing. Today’s artists prefer to use multiple media rather than master a single medium. There is less need to grapple with challenging media because they are primarily interested in conceptual art; the medium of a work and its subject are mere tools for expressing an artist’s ideas.

I have my own opinions on the subject. As an artist myself, I try to strike a balance between technical skill (I can draw) and conceptual vision (for my thesis project at Columbia, I created hundreds of self-addressed and pre-stamped postcards, all blank save for the prompt, “Tell me one thing you dream of doing before you die—use this card as your canvas,” marked each with a code, and placed the cards in public spaces throughout Manhattan, using the codes to record where I left them; when the postcards returned to me, I was able to pinpoint the exact location of where each had been found, and thus created a map of the city from New Yorkers’ dreams—no technical skill needed), in addition to making needlessly verbose parenthetical statements. But I won’t trouble you with mine [yet].

What are your thoughts? The most common reaction to much contemporary art, I’ve found, is “I can do that.” I’ve also found that the proper response to such a grievance is “But you didn’t.” Many people may indeed be technically capable of executing what can be seen in galleries and museums, but they weren’t the ones who conceived the ideas behind those pieces in the first place, and that’s what counts. Or is it?

Can we excuse mediocre (or downright poor) craftsmanship if the artwork communicates a groundbreaking idea (perhaps the piece possesses great sociopolitical significance) or, more simply, a clever idea? If an idea is good enough, exactly how “good” must that idea be? Is it necessary for contemporary artists to master a medium? Which do you hold in higher esteem: technique or concept? Or do you regard both equally?

Excluded from this discussion, however, is James Franco trolling the art world. (And whatever you do, don’t read his prose. Ketchup randomness.)

Discussion: Should I shell out a hundred grand in cash to watch a museum guard slowly strip naked?

Today, this blog is one month old! Since its inception four short weeks ago, it has received over 6,800 pageviews from 76 countries across six continents (someone please donate laptops to the penguins in Antarctica), each post with more hits than the last. I see sixes and an eight. This is good. Thank you, lovely people, especially all the returning visitors and those who, astoundingly, spend more than half an hour on this site (hopefully that means you’re actually reading the posts and pages instead of stepping away from the computer to take an extended coffee break while forgetting to close this tab). Again, thank you. Make sure you share the love and point your friends in this direction!

In the last post, we discussed the many reasons for collecting art. In the same vein but less broad, let’s consider collecting art that is more ephemeral and/or conceptual. Newsweek (they of the hilariously misguided top 10 artists list) recently published a piece profiling collectors who purchase conceptual art, asking their readers if these buyers are “crazy or on the cutting edge.” An excerpt:

When you buy a [Lawrence] Weiner you don’t acquire the lettering itself, let alone the 3-D work it implies. You buy Weiner’s immaterial idea, as a certificate that lets you write his phrase in a room, or come up with the sculpture you think it describes. “When you take ownership, you can realize it any way you want,” says Victor Gisler, the Zurich dealer showing Weiner’s balls-y piece, priced at $160,000. In late June, the Museum of Modern Art in New York put a vintage piece of his on display as part of a major acquisition of so-called immaterial art. MoMA curators are eagerly backfilling a collection that has tended toward the material.

“I think good art is when I can hear the ideas bouncing off each other in my brain. This is where aesthetics are for me—not in my retina,” says Aaron, a 76-year-old lawyer who makes his living suing Big Pharma. “Ninety percent of the money [at Art Basel] is spent on painting,” he adds with a hint of contempt. Whereas the Levines want work that makes you wonder if it’s even art—and therefore might be the art that’s breaking new ground.

From the collectors who own the Tino Sehgal piece referenced in this post’s title:

“What’s interesting is people talking about the work,” says Josée. “You may think more about a Weiner [text piece], over time, than about some canvas you’ve bought… An idea may not be material, but it’s powerful.” She refers to her memory as the “medium” such works are realized in—and then you realize that that’s where most art lives, anyway, most of the time.

Her husband chimes in: “When the work is immaterial, we’re just its temporary holders. Accumulating fancy goods is absurd. We buy works to talk about them, and to stretch people’s notions of what art is… But some people want the opposite: a reassuring object with a big name.”

What do you think? Are these collectors ahead of the game, or are they being duped? Would you buy art you can’t simply hang on a wall?

Discussion: Why do you collect art?

I’ve returned from a trip to New York, where I attended a Pixar Artists Masterclass; hit up as many art events as possible, such as Bronx Calling: The First AIM Biennial (my good friend and fellow Columbia alumnus with whom I was staying curates at Wave Hill), which showcases experimental work by 72 emerging artists and runs through September 5; and got into oddly heavy late-night discussions that included questions like “Would you resort to murder if not doing so meant you could no longer create art?” with the aforementioned friend. I also may or may not have gone tagging with said friend. (You have no proof!) (I type this with unpredictably permanent paint still encrusting my fingernails.) It’s always good to be back in NYC.

ARTnews recently published their Top 200 and Top Ten Collectors lists. Accompanying the latter was an article that detailed the art market’s recovery over the past couple of years, a shift in collectors’ interest from Impressionist and Modern to contemporary, and reasons for collecting art:

The late art historian Kenneth Clark probably said it best: "It's like asking why we fall in love, the reasons are so various."

Some of the reasons: social climbing; the work will increase in value; and, as a dealer said, it "provides you with feelings or sensations that you cannot get from anything else—visceral rewards, emotional satisfaction, the fact that you can look at the work in your home every day and continue to get renewed pleasure. It doesn't wear off."

Why do you collect? Whose work would you most want to collect, barring any and all financial and political limitations?

CALL FOR ARTISTS: Exquisite Corpse

“Exquisite corpse” is a method by which a collage of words or images is collectively assembled. Each collaborator adds to a composition in a sequence, either by following a rule or by being allowed to see the end of what the previous person contributed.

corpse (n.) – 1. archaic: a human or animal body, whether living or dead; 2. a dead body, especially of a human being

exquisite (adj.) – 1. carefully selected; 2. archaic: accurate; 3. marked by flawless craftsmanship or by beautiful, ingenious, delicate, or elaborate execution; 4. accomplished, perfected; 5. pleasing through beauty, fitness, or perfection

The body is paradox incarnate; it is one’s most personal possession, yet it is also the most universal. Art, too, embodies a dichotomy: the creation of art is customarily a private endeavor, yet art thrives in a public forum; no matter how hermetic or misanthropic its creator, art feeds off of its viewer—art enjoys adoration, delights in disgust, revels in revulsion. The interplay between private and public, between self and other, sits on a tenuous scale. What happens, then, when we subvert the private completely? When artists collaborate—when the body is bared—we breach the solipsistic citadel into which so many artists retreat; we reject that insular conviction in which one’s own reality is the only truth. Indeed, this world is filled not by one, but many. Sabotage the solitary artist’s secluded cell. Desecrate the supposedly sacred sanctuary designated as the body. This destruction results in the death of a self—the corpse—but there lies a certain beauty in uniting seemingly disparate parts to build a whole, making that death, truthfully, exquisite.

Exquisite Corpse is a curated show that asks artists to kill comfort and convention for a chance to step into the new. Those selected for the exhibition will be arranged into small groups, with no more than three artists per group. Each group will collaborate on one work of art.* This means that new work will be created specifically for this show; artists are not submitting pre-existing works. Collaborations can be anything and everything from sculptural to sonic to performative to cinematic—there are no restrictions on medium or dimensions. Each group will decide whether to have its artists work separately and pass on the piece from one artist to another, have all artists meet and work together at once, have the artists engage in a back-and-forth exchange, or any other means through which a collaborative piece can be created.

*If the artists choose, they may collaborate on multiple works of smaller size.

Visit this page for application instructions and guidelines.

Artist application deadline: Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Exhibition opening: Friday, September 2, 2011 at the Fulton Street Collective, Chicago

It's Coming: Exquisite Corpse

First, an announcement: This blog has garnered over 2,200 pageviews from over 40 countries within its first week live. That is incredible. Thank you all, especially overseas readers! Keep spreading the word and keep visiting. There will be many new developments coming soon, including artist profiles and galleries, so check back often.

And a teaser: I will be curating a group exhibition titled Exquisite Corpse, opening at summer’s end.

Check back for the official statement and call for artist submissions.

For now, to give you a sense of my curatorial oeuvre thus far, here’s a look into a few of the shows I’ve spearheaded in the past, prior and unrelated to this business:

Somnambulist national group show at the Zhou B Art Center, Chicago, 2010:

Photo by Robin Rios, 2010.

Collision underground music and multimedia festival in Bushwick, New York City, 2009:

Photo by Julia Alekseyeva, 2009.

The Naked Show at Postcrypt Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York City, 2007:

Photo and crudely Photoshopped emoticon (so as not to violate the terms of service on Facebook, where this was originally uploaded) by Jenny Lam, 2007.

Et cetera. In other words, look forward to Exquisite Corpse.