LOOK INTO MY OWL

Yes, that really is the title of the current show from Aleksandra Mir at the Mary Boone Gallery. The works displayed in this post are all large scale marker drawings on paper.

The gallery has kept the press release simple. The sum total is this hilarious quote from Waldemar Januszczak’s review of the 2006 exhibition “USA Today” at the Royal Academy in the London Sunday Times.

“… Aleksandra Mir, from Lubin, in Poland, is another maker of new maps of the USA, across which she declares the Cold War to be Hot Stuff, in the style of a mustard advert in a hamburger outlet…Young America is a bottomless source of the stuff. This entire display stinks of stupidity and an absent education. Has anyone here read a book or studied history or looked at a Botticelli or questioned a technique or patiently thought their way through an artistic conundrum? Not a chance. This is a generation of paint-happy knownothings brought up on hamburgers and porn, a talentless bloom of post-pop trailer trash that makes our own Brit Artists look like a parade of Einsteins by comparison.”

Aleksandra Mir
WHITE HOUSE PURPLE HEART WHITE HOUSE IVORY TOWER WHITE HOUSE RED NECK WHITE HOUSE BLUE DEVILS WHITE HOUSE YELLOW SUBMARINE WHITE HOUSE AGENT ORANGE WHITE HOUSE BLACK POWER WHITE HOUSE GREEN THUMB WHITE HOUSE PINK DOLLARS WHITE HOUSE DUMB BLOND WHITE HOUSE GOLDEN SHOWERS WHITE HOUSE SILVER LININGS
30 October - 20 December 2008
Mary Boone Gallery
NYC

Caitlin Wheeler has a new exhibit at the Bluebottle Art Gallery in Seattle. The mixed media works are drawings and serigraphs on handmade paper and found materials. The substance of the show demonstrates the similarities between human and animal behavior. In the guise of the mask we are little removed from the kingdom.

Caitlin Wheeler
Ardor/Armor
1 - 31 October 2008
Bluebottle Art Gallery
Seattle

Packard Jennings produced this amazing pamphlet. There are eight pages depicting the imagined downfall of a shopping mall. I first became enchanted with his “Business Reply” illustrations via orphaned images on a discussion board a couple of years back. After an exhaustive search I still could not find the identity of the artist… until now. Packard Jennings, see his site, enjoy the anarchy.

Jennings spent a day at the mall leaving his pamphlets in odd places for the unsuspecting shopper. His actions led to a 24 hour banishment from the mall. Here’s the video.

Last night Jermaine Rogers stopped by NOWhere Limited for a meet and greet with his fans. A good time was had by all. Thanks to everyone that came to the gallery for “The Detailed Mechanics of the Monkey Hustle”. The show continues through the 28th of September so there is still time to get hustled.

More photos after the break. (more…)

Here are some teaser images of the current show at NOWhere Limited. Jermaine Rogers will be at the gallery for a visit this Saturday, September 6th at 4pm. Head up the mountain for some good times. I’m bad about remembering to take pictures during events but I’ll do my best this weekend.

Jermaine Rogers
The Detailed Mechanics of the Monkey Hustle
30 August - 28 September 2008
NOWhere Limited
Nederland, Colorado

We are pleased to announce that Jermaine Rogers is bringing his sideshow to Nederland. “The Detailed Mechanics of the Monkey Hustle” will feature concert posters, art prints, drawings and a painting (The Gorgon). Unfortunately, due to his insanely busy schedule, Jermaine will not be at the opening, rather he will be in attendance the following Saturday, September 6th at 4pm. He will be bringing with him previously unreleased art prints and extras unavailable anywhere else.

Keep your eyes on the NOWhere Limited website as we will be making available some very rare items at random times during the four weeks of the show.

Jermaine Rogers
The Detailed Mechanics of the Monkey Hustle
30 August - 28 September 2008
NOWhere Limited
Nederland, Colorado

Tim Knowles is always coming up with great new projects. In “Tree Drawings” he attaches markers to branches allowing trees, with help from the wind, to create. The recordings reveal something different about each tree.

Be sure to have a look at Tim’s website for more.

We’ve hijacked NOWhere Limited to show our own work for three weeks. The opening is this Saturday at 4pm, hope to see you there. More on the show including opening night photos next week. Here is the official word on an interactive project that will run for the duration of the exhibit.

“Make Art/Take Art is a collaboration between Scott Lickstein and Elisha Sarti and perhaps…you! For this project, the artists have created 16 black ink drawings on collaged backgrounds as well as a stack of “blank” collaged surfaces. The drawings are displayed in a grid formation; the slot for each drawing on the grid is numbered. Interested parties are invited to take one of the exhibited drawings in exchange for their own drawing, which must be completed on site using one of the provided blank surfaces and black ink marker. The drawings on display will be constantly changing, so that a participant may take a piece that has not been drawn by Elisha or Scott but by a random participant. For the duration of the exhibit, each slot will also be available for sale online for $15. Buyers of each slot will acquire whatever random piece occupies the slot number at the time of purchase.”

son:DA is the Slovenian duo Metka Golec and Miha Horvat. Their first solo exhibit in the US is on display at Bitforms Gallery. Golec and Horvat are interested in the hypothesis that technology draws us closer. A networking theme in the work is the overabundance of electronic gadgetry. They often portray the individual mastering their technology alongside others doing the same.
The pair spent two weeks printing and assembling the large scale imagery using only 8.5 x 11″ sheets of paper and an inkjet printer found in the gallery.

son:DA
19 June - 25 July 2008
Bitforms Gallery
NYC

There is a strong sense of polarity in the works of Brooks Salzwedel. This opposition is the element that holds the art together both in content and process. The contraposition of nature and technology exists in these seemingly serene floating islands. The methods employed by Salzwedel in the creation of these environmental pieces is in itself toxic. Resin is layered with graphite to produce the ghostly effect found in the bulk of his catalog.

Brooks Salzwedel
Modern Soil
28 June - 26 July 2008
Black Maria Gallery
Los Angeles, California

Laurie Lipton is passionate about drawing. She combines charcoal and graphite on the same surface. The forms utilize the complete spectrum of contrast, light to dark, achieving a surreal quality. Lipton claims influence in Goya clearly indicated in the drawing above. “Love Bite” is the artist’s take on the painting “Saturn Devouring His Son” completed by Francisco de Goya in 1824. Both pieces deal with time, a statement on age and the refusal of being supplanted.
Head over to the website of Laurie Lipton. There are many originals available as well as limited digital prints and lithographs. Her show “The Sleep of Reason” at Strychnin Gallery in Berlin opens this Friday.

Laurie Lipton
The Sleep of Reason
opens 20 June 2008
Strychnin Gallery
Berlin

Little Cakes Little Gallery has put together the show “Bed & Breakfast” with individual works and collaborations from Evah Fan and Brendan Monroe. The theme of the show is gardening and growing food. The couple will be on hand at the gallery this Friday from 1-6 PM.
The gallery reminds us that they don’t make cakes, they just enjoy eating them. Little Cakes has an interesting history with some excellent goals. Check out their mission statement.

Evah Fan and Brendan Monroe
Bed & Breakfast
6-29 June 2008
Little Cakes Little Gallery
NYC