Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Exhibitions Getting a jump on next week: Adam Campbell
Portrait artist Adam Campbell is one of several artists who'll open exhibits next Friday, Jan. 7, at Fayetteville Underground. He joins Susie Siegel and Mike Haley (ceramics) and installation artist Jan Parker. There will also be a show by painter Carl Berman, curated by his widow.
More about the exhibits in upcoming days.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments
Monday, December 27, 2010
Art news Now playing: Allsopp Park
Now Playing from AndyJacuzzi on Vimeo.
This may answer some questions for those of you who hike in Allsopp. Couple of brilliant teens, aren't they? Is it graffiti? It's great, that's all I'm sure of, but we could have a fine time discussing where the line — not to make too awful a pun — should be drawn.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments (9)
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Art review The “Delta”: Better than the Best
The Delta Exhibition has returned to its rightful place at the Arkansas Arts Center — in the Townsend Wolfe Gallery, now that “World of the Pharaohs” has made its exodus — and it’s a good thing, because there’s much work here that deserves the space and setting the Wolfe Gallery can give it. This year’s show — the 53rd annual — is even better than the 2008 show, which I labeled “Best.Show.Ever.”
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments
Monday, December 20, 2010
Art news Marine, Harding grad, abstract artist
Here's another great arts-related piece in the New York Times, about a 1988 graduate of Harding University (where he went on an art scholarship) and a Marine who'll be heading to Afghanistan in February who's having a show of abstract paintings in a gallery in the Georgetown neighborhood in D.C. He's a chiseled guy who — wow! — uses tons of pink in his work, the composition of which loosely reminds me of UARK artist Laura Terry's work. There's a slideshow linked to the Times' story.
He’s an artist on his way to his second war, and he wants to make one thing perfectly clear: He is not a Marine who paints, but a painter who fights.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments
Exhibitions "Small Works" winners
Seven artists were selected to receive purchase awards for their entries in the 2011 "Small Works on Paper" exhibit, the Arts Council's "Artlinks" announces. William R. Detmers of Pine Bluff, Jennifer Hackworth of Jonesboro, Temple Skelton Moore of Prairie Grove, John Harlan Norris of Jonesboro, Sabine Schmidt of Fayetteville, Mitchell Skinner of Tucker and Keri Young of Little Rock will receive between $200 and $1,000, depending on the price of the artwork.
Artist/curator Patter Hellstrom chose 39 works from 275 entries. The exhibit opens Jan. 6 at AETN in Conway; a reception will be held 2-4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 8.
Here's the list of the artists whose work was selected for the show, which will tour Arkansas.
John Ahlen, Melissa Bacon, Ed Barham, David Dodson, Don House, Tenille Hunter, David R. Mann, Holly Reding, Robert Reep, Brady Taylor, Leslie Toler, Lynn Mittelstaedt Warren, Janet Cecil-Wilcox and Keri Young, all of Little Rock; Lynn Bell, Fort Smith; Sheila Cantrell, Batesville; Brian Cormack and John Watson, North Little Rock; William R. Detmers, Pine Bluff; Janet Gade-Malone and Nina Louton, Hot Springs; Duane Gardner and Sabine Schmidt, Fayetteville; Jennifer Hackworth, Amanda Kelly Little and John Harlan Norris, Jonesboro; Dennis McCann, Maumelle; Leaf Moore, Searcy; Temple Skelton Moore, Prairie Grove; Marc E. Palmer, Mountain View; Rhee Reamy, Huntington; and Mitchell Wade Skinner, Tucker.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments
Art news Artworld to Smithsonian: Drop dead.
The Smithsonian continues to catch hell over its decision to pull a video of an ant-covered crucifix from the National Gallery's “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture," as artists and a foundation are asking the institution to return to them works of art.
The Smithsonian removed the late David Wojnarowicz's video after buckling under complaints by Republicans and the Catholic Church (the exhibit is about homosexuality, which makes the censorship even weirder).
The New York Times reported last week that artist AA Bronson asked that his work be pulled from the National Gallery exhibit, photographer Michael Katakis has asked the gallery to return his photo of Maya Linn he donated 20 years ago, and the Calder Foundation is withdrawing an artwork it had agreed to lend to the gallery for an upcoming Calder show. In its letter withdrawing the Calder, the foundation wrote:
"As it is clear that the Smithsonian wishes to appease a fringe audience, it seems appropriate that we remove from the exhibition Aztec Josephine Baker which is surely a most provocative work depicting a nude, African-American woman.”
The Tate Gallery in London is showing the banned video.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments
Friday, December 17, 2010
Third Friday Argenta ArtWalk Argenta Artwalk tonight
Ketz Gallery, Greg Thompson Gallery, Thea Foundation, the Laman Library Argenta Branch and Argenta Bead Co. will have their doors open tonight from 5-8 p.m. for the monthly ArtWalk festivities. At Ketz, NLRSD art teachers Charlotte DeRoche, Angie Shelton, Casey Gorman, Anna Wingfield, Mary Matthews, Lora Matthey, Kristen Malluns, Mona Brossett, Connie Willis and Camilla Landers are exhibiting their work and John Kushmaul's "Cityscapes" continues. At Greg Thompson, Rebecca Thompson's exhibit "Twice Told Tales" continues, and at Thea, there will be kids' activities, a demonstration by Kelly Hargis and an exhibit by the Arkansas League of Artists. Kids 18 and under can register to win a huge art kit as well. The bookworms of Laman Library — the staff, that is — are showing off their artistic side at the branch. And at Argenta Bead, you can make Christmas tree earrings for $3.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Exhibitions Tops at "Toys," talk too: UPDATE
Slideshow
The Arkansas Arts Center's annual "Toys Designed by Artists" exhibit opens Dec. 17, but we know the winners now:
Purchase Awards went to Ye Seul Seo of Korea for "Please, Soothe Me" and Bill Price of Memphis for "Sheriff Rubber Duck." Oklahoma artist Chance Dunlap’s "Tumbler" received an Honorable Mention.
The juror, woodworker Jim Bartz, will give a talk, "Toys: A Juror's Perspective,"at 5:30 p.m. tonight in the Arkansas Arts Center Lecture Hall.
The show runs through Feb. 20.
I just went to see the toy show (and the Delta Exhibition as well) and it's got some great stuff in it this year. Like "Sheriff Rubber Ducky" pictured above, a duck that (looks like it) can shoot back — the perfect toy for the duck hunter in your life.
Others of my favorites: "Please, Soothe Me" (also above), because it is a beautifully-felted Asian girl child doll whose arms move and make her look like she's wiping away tears when you turn a crank. Dunlap's meat-eating plant "Tumbler" (also above; image doesn't do it justice) and another of his wheeled toys, "Refugee," a tentacled thing. A toy that didn't win but should have: John Watts' "Don't Spill the Oil Board Game," complete with box (illustrated with two startled children); game board; game money; oil drums, dolphin, turtle, fishing boat, sail boat, alligator and otter pieces and, in the middle, an oil platform. Stack the oil drums the wrong way and oops! the gulf loses.
Undoubtedly the biggest toy ever in the 37 years of the Toy Show (an Arts Center original): "SLIM," Brooke Foy's giant wooden unicyle made entirely of the branches of trees — a large forked limb supports the seat and pedals, the wheels are woven sticks, the spokes of shaved branches. It's nearly the width of the Jeannette Rockefeller Gallery.
James Volkert of Conway has cleverly reproduced Fragonard's "The Swing" on a small canvas and hung it from a brass structure that appears to have gears that will allow the painting to swing. Nice.
More about the Delta later. Best Delta ever, better even than the last "Best.Delta.Ever" (Artnotes, Oct. 16, 2008).
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Marisol, Taylor at Crystal Bridges
Crystal Bridges' latest revelation is about wood pieces it's acquired: "Room," an installation piece by Alison Elizabeth Taylor in which she's created trompe l'oeil marquetry walls in an 8 by 10 space (see two of the walls below), and "Portrait of Martha Graham" by 1960s pop/folk artist Marisol (Escobar). See the full release on the jump.
I'm not crazy about marquetry myself, but Taylor's piecing together of hundreds of pieces of wood to create a trompe l'oeil scene of, for example, the workshop below looks pretty swell. Marisol's "Martha Graham" is right up my alley.
The CB news release says "Room" is the first piece by the artist to be acquired by a public museum. The last record of sale for the Marisol piece I can find is from a Christie's auction in 2004, for $101,575.
Comments?
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Art news Warhol to cut off Smithsonian
Max blogged the other day Frank Rich's excellent column about the removal of the video "A Fire in My Belly" from a Smithsonian exhibit. The video, created by a grieving David Wojnarowicz after his partner died of AIDS, depicts in one part ants crawling on a crucifix.
Now, Joel Wachs, president of the Andy Warhol Foundation, which put up $100,000 for the exhibit, "Hide/Seek," at the National Portrait Gallery, says the foundation will not support future Smithsonian exhibits unless "Fire in My Belly" is restored to the show. The $100,000 it provided for the show was part of a $375,000 donation the foundation gave the Smithsonian.
With the new conservatism washing over D.C, expect to see a huge jump in Thomas Kinkade exhibits at publicly funded galleries.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments (5)
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Exhibitions Whiteside wins
Two awards? Two awards! LaDawna Whiteside of Fayetteville won both the Grand Award and the Contemporaries Delta Award for her entry in this year's Delta Exhibition, "Animal Architecture Drawing Installation." The work is graphite on paper (see above).
Juror Meredith Ward of Meredith Ward Fine Art in NYC selected Arkansans Brandon Mathis of Conway for a Delta Award;
and the Arts Center Contemporaries awarded an honorable mention to Kat Wilson of Fort Smith.
The show opens Dec. 17 in the Townsend Wolfe Gallery and runs through Feb. 20. Full press release from the Arts Center on the jump.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments (1)
Art sale Boswell-Mourot monkey business
The spider monkeys at the Little Rock Zoo have been painting up a storm, and you can bid on their artwork tonight at Boswell-Mourot and the local chapter of the American Association of Zookeepers fund-raiser at the gallery. The auction of the paintings will be silent, but you can buy ornaments decorated by the creatures, great and small, outright. The event is 6-9 p.m. at 5815 Kavanaugh Blvd. Call 665-0030 for more info.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Argenta Holiday Show TONIGHT!
Now I can post that the Argenta Holiday Art Show is tonight, between 5:30 and 8 p.m., so head over. It's at the Thea Foundation, 401 Main St., and Greg Thompson Fine Art, 429 Main St., . Set aside time between 5:30 and 9 p.m.
At Thea, Doug Norton, Kandy Jones, Mary Shelton, Marty Ann Smith, Chris Dole, Sister Maria Leibeck, John Kushmaul (his painting above is actually at Ketz Gallery, but serves here as an example of his work), Robin Hazard-Bishop, Rene Hein, Tim Jacob, Patricia Davis,Ted Parkhurst, Dana Rogers, the Argenta Bead Chicks, Robin Steves, Peggy Roberson, and Larry Pennington will be selling their work — paintings, jewelry, pottery, etc. There will be refreshments and music by Gentlemen Jazz.
At Greg Thompson, work by Rebecca Thompson, Glennray Tutor, William Dunlap, Donald Roller Wilson, Carroll Cloar, Barry Thomas and other Arkansas artists will be on sale; a portion of sales proceeds will benefit the Argenta Arts Foundation, Camp Aldersgate and the Centers for Youth & Families.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Art sale Argenta Holiday Art Sale TOMORROW !!!!
Whoops! Thanks to V.L. Cox, I can fix this blog post before the hoards show up a day early: Tomorrow, Dec. 8, is the date for the sale at the Thea Foundation, 401 Main St., and Greg Thompson Fine Art, 429 Main St. Set aside time between 5:30 and 9 p.m.
At Thea, Doug Norton, Kandy Jones, Mary Shelton, Marty Ann Smith, Chris Dole, Sister Maria Leibeck, John Kushmaul (his painting above is actually at Ketz Gallery, but serves here as an example of his work), Robin Hazard-Bishop, Rene Hein, Tim Jacob, Patricia Davis,Ted Parkhurst, Dana Rogers, the Argenta Bead Chicks, Robin Steves, Peggy Roberson, and Larry Pennington will be selling their work — paintings, jewelry, pottery, etc. There will be refreshments and music by Gentlemen Jazz.
At Greg Thompson, work by Rebecca Thompson, Glennray Tutor, William Dunlap, Donald Roller Wilson, Carroll Cloar, Barry Thomas and other Arkansas artists will be on sale; a portion of sales proceeds will benefit the Argenta Arts Foundation, Camp Aldersgate and the Centers for Youth & Families.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Art news X3mex, the law and art
I had this first cup of coffee in the morning idea that the next sculpture in the Bernice Garden ought to be a building facade, complete with windows, for graffiti artists to use. Brick, drivit, plaster, whatever.
It came to me after reading in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette that graffiti artist Jose Hernandez, known as X3Mex and sometimes Ch3Mex, was arrested Thursday along with artist Miguel Arrue (chapin), for graffiti in Hillcrest, including painting a wall of Delta Bank. They've been charged with six felony counts of criminal mischief, no laughing matter. The cost of removal of the graffiti was $2,600.
Hernandez acknowledged to police that his decision to spray paint the bank wall was boneheaded and that he'd been drinking at U.S. Pizza. The incident, and five others, occurred in July. Police traced Hernandez by Googling his tag. (I give Lt. Terry Hastings credit for acknowleding that graffiti is an art, as he's quoted in the paper saying.)
Hernandez, who was born in Mexico but grew up in Jonesboro, recently showed his paintings at the Arkansas Studies Institute (see above) in an exhibit called "Raices." He has loads of talent.
In Charlottesville, Va., in the middle of a bricked mall downtown (a success, unlike Little Rock's), a long chalkboard wall allows people to write and draw with provided chalk to their heart's content. That seems a little tame for graffiti artists, so I thought — why not a sculpture that is in fact a place for public expression? It's not a subway train, or an industrial building, but it could be a showplace. Even painting over the graffiti could be an artistic gesture. It's a step away from the culture of graffiti — but it could be interesting.
May be the coffee talking.
Posted by Leslie Newell Peacock | Permalink | Comments (8)
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