I would like to write about some discussion this show has started in my immediate circle of friends in the graduate department. To give you a bit of background, the following information was taken directly from the Ulrich Museum's web page:
"This international traveling exhibition documents the community of creative people that coalesced around Wallace Berman (1926-1976), the quintessential visual artist of the Beat era. Showcasing the artists and poets who contributed to "Semina", Berman's free-form journal published in California in the 1950s and 60s, this multimedia exhibition includes rarely seen collages, paintings, assemblages and films by Toni Basil, Jay DeFeo, Allen Ginsberg, Walter Hopps, Michael McClure, Dean Stockwell, and Berman himself. Particularly exciting is the inclusion of works by two artists with Kansas roots. Bruce Conner was born in McPherson, grew up in Wichita and attended Wichita University (now Wichita State). Actor and filmmaker Dennis Hopper (Easy Rider, Blue Velvet) was born in Dodge City and as a child attended art classes at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. "Semina Culture: Wallace Berman & His Circle" has been organized for the Santa Monica Museum of Art by co-curators Michael Duncan and Kristine McKenna."
The show is extremely large and engulfs the entire gallery space with over 200 pieces of printings, photos, multi media collage, film and objects. These pieces, though really quite fascinating are not really the basis for this writing. Instead, the areas of Berman's photographs of each artist involved directly with his "circle" were the most interesting and provide the catalyst for the discussion that follows. Berman, took photos of each artist he was in contact with during the printing of the Semina Culture journal. Each artist is presented in their own environment or if you will, as a visual biography of that very second in their artistic lives. This is the part that I found most interesting.
I have always been fascinated by the ideas that the Beat culture revolved and grew from. The ideas that produced manifestos, writings, happenings and "beat" events seem to have been long forgotten in our modern society. Especially the idea of the artist as a viable subject for the artistic portrait (mind you, not the artist SELF portrait). The art society of today seems to have long displaced the ideas of being photographed as important figures for historical preservation and for the promotion of their work, ideas and lifestyle. These portraits taken by "outside" artists have been replaced with digital imagery that can be controlled by the self and relies on no one but the artist alone. It leaves out the view from the "forth wall" that an outside viewer can provide. It leaves out the content that the artist has decided to manipulate or ignore due to the belief that it is not important to their art making or personal invention. It leaves out the inner soul that they may not be aware of.
My fascination with this generation and many others for that matter has generally revolved around these photographic biographies that visually link their artistic culture with my own and seem to provide their "certificate of authenticity" in the world of art history. It is my firm belief that this documentation needs to find resurgence in our current artistic culture in order to facilitate the same authenticity for future generations. While present day art historians have no "ism" to place the current culture of artists and possible movements into, without these portraits, they will loose much of the historical documentation that will form that very "ism" in our history. And in all honesty, we as artists will loose the very stitching that binds our values, ideas and processes into one form, one movement, one generation. Berman had a vision of his artistic world of friends and thought it necessary to "speak" of visually. The generation of today needs the same voice. It needs the same vision of it's own future to be documented. It needs to be held in reserve for the next generation of voices to look upon one day.
Friday April 28, 2006
Fisch Haus Studios
Work by John Hammer
John Hammer, WSU Painting graduate student, showed his recent paintings this past Final Friday. The show consisted of 7 large scale, oil paintings of all male, homosexually suggestive portraits of life. The works dealt with societal situations in the male arena. Several were of early 1950’s “Physique Pictorial” posed males. These pictorials were originally advertised as depictions of the perfect male body in magazine format and mail order postcards. But years later, the realization of the almost all gay audience proved them to be the early start of the gay erotica industry. The paintings that Hammer has produced are generally basic reproductions and color studies of these male models. But due to the other imagery included in the show, the viewer realizes that this isn’t just a male figure study, but an inside look of the homosexual male in American culture. The other paintings included in the portray imagery of the American cowboy and rodeo culture and the American male as soldier and protector in the time of war. Each painting is well executed with loose, modeled brush strokes and a limited, light color palette very representative of Hammer’s style.
Although the subjects rendered in Hammer’s work are everyday portraits of life (bull riding, soldier comradery and body building for example) together as a whole, they each allude to one another via the culture of the American male with a twist of queer culture. The bull rider has been minimized to nothing but “below the belt” rider and bull in mid ride and the soldiers placed in sexually charged close proximity to one another.
While these paintings are of everyday, masculine situations, I believe that they are an excellent insight to the ideas of our culture towards straight activities and the hidden homosexual parallels that coexist. Overall the show seems to be a successfully cohesive body of work that isn’t in your face, but cautiously standing in the shadows of life, waiting to be tread upon and discovered. Sexual gratification or just a male bonding experience is an excellent question that is presented therein.
So, if you haven't recognized it, there is soap box under my feet. A very large one at that. As the event coordinator for Shift Space VII, I have a few open wounds to bandage up and some words of advice for the WSU Art and Design students as a group. This past Final Friday was an attempt to save an excellent off campus art venue; WSU Shift Space Gallery. And you know what… I did it. I raised over $6000 in 7 hours. Now that single "I" should not be as far as I am concerned. Don't get me wrong, I had help… but it was the same help that always steps up to the plate and follows through. Is this a problem? You bet it is!
The event, which took several months of extremely indepth planning and hundreds of hours, was attended by an estimated 1200 people. This number is almost three times our usual attendance. Over 450 artworks were donated by WSU students, faculty and staff and sold for the unheard of price of $20 or less. It was a raging success in my opinion and provided a continuation for Shift Space.
Now, what is my gripe with the students of the WSU Art and Design Department? Many of you are lazy, complaining, non-follow through excuses of artists. Yes, I said it. Does it piss you off? Good, it should. Many of the 450 works were donated by the same people who always follow through with events at WSU. Many of you donted over 10 pieces of work, some even 20. And several of you, put in countless hours of volunteer work for the event. Where were the rest of you? I continually hear complaints on our campus of nothing going on and nothing to get involved in. Well, I am here to tell you that you are blind as bats. Our department has countless events that happen throughout the semester that are poorly attended by the students of WSU. Not general students either, art and design students. Event planning and guild meetings are extremely difficult to have due to poor attendance as well. Overall, almost anything in the Art and Deisgn department is difficult and discouraging to have due to poor attendance and a general lack of interest from the students.
So here is my words of advice to you. Get off your butts, quit complaining and take charge. Plan an event. Participate in events. Get involved with the Art and Design Department at WSU. Finish your homework on time, attend your classes with a positive attitude and be glad you are in school and not working a dead-end job somewhere.. that will happen soon enough in your life most likely. And most of all, VOLUNTEER your time and FOLLOW THROUGH WITH THOSE TASKS. I ended up doing much of the work for this event that was deligated out to students who fell through. And this seems to be a constant at WSU. Do you think that the real world is going to put up with such things? I can tell you that it will not. You will loose jobs, miss out on opportunities and generally be thought of as a flake due to such actions. You are the only person in your life that will drive your abilities and opportunites. Take advantage of this and open your eyes. Prove me wrong and make me eat some crow. Believe me, I am hungry from it so start cooking.
Now for those of you who continually volunteer, attend events and participate… THANK YOU! You are the backbone of our department and the future success stories of our society. If it weren't for the select few at WSU that continually participate, this event would not have been possible as well as many other events. You give me some hope that people are good natured and care about other things than their own selfish ideas. Congratuations on a huge underdog win for Shift Space. We are here for another run of excellent shows and opportunites for the students of WSU.
Review of “Decelerate”, Kemper Museum-Kansas City, MO
February 16, 2006
Again the Kemper has proved to be one of my favorite local museums. The current show, Decelerate, is a great example of some excellent contemporary sculpture. The idea behind the show is the act of slowing down or decelerating in an art environment or artistic process. Many of the pieces in the show could actually be considered direct examples of O.C.D. in the artists themselves. ———– draws window screen on fairly large sheets of paper. ———— stacks silk thread in a strip that is approximately one foot high and 50 feet long. And ——– knits materials such as bridal tooling, nylon rope and rubber into very large format sculptural installations that envelope the veiwer and much of the gallery proper and entrance to the museum.
It was refreshing to see good works of art that were contemporary in the midwest. Much of the contemporary work in our area is only contemporary through the 70's and 80's and is lacking in structure, both on the work level and the gallery installation level. Conservative galleries and museums do not show such works usually, which is what most of the Wichita area is made up of.
I left Kansas City with a recharged attitude and willingess to create art. The ideas behind the show, mostly well thought, made me think about the slowing down of our society and as artists and our art making. And many of the processes seemed very cathartic and processed as theraputic movements by the artists themselves. Just the very action of a repetetive movement, mark making process or construction was a strong backbone for many of the works.
I only wish that I had not gone on the final weekend of the show so that I could have revisited the Kemper another time to participate again in the artists thoughts and products of Decelerate.
