Art Addict

1,000,000

Mary Temple, 441,500-443,500 (detail), 2003, 30"x36", pigmented ink on mylar

What does 1,000,000 look like? A favorite artist and good friend, Mary Temple, sought to answer that question with her 1,000,000 Ellipsoids body of work. From her website:

1,000,000 Ellipsoids 2001-2003

The drawing series 1,000,000 Ellipsoids is comprised of a single ellipse-like shape that I drew and counted one million times. The series includes over 400 drawings; each contains thousands of ellipsoids rendered in monochrome ink on vellum, using forms based on simple systems and consecution. The drawings are sequential: each day's work adds to the previous number of ellipsoids in the continuum toward 1,000,000.

This two-year project allowed me to build a structure by drawing the ubiquitous number as if it were an object that could be experienced empirically.

I was reminded of this body of work after discovering Sighn's ITS OK project.

From his website:

NOV2007>>ITSOK. Edition of 1 million.

Every single one is solid wood (no plywood or particle board) and is hand cut by me.
It should take me about 60 years to finish this 'limited' edition.

$20.00 each (currently) and a tree is planted for each one sold. Cool. Get a few. For those times when you really need a reminder that all is OK.

Got Snow?

It is 99 degrees in NY right now. With humidity they say it feels like 106. I say it feels like 126. Sunday's New York Times had an article on one of my favorite artists, Adam Cvijanovic, and it mentioned a great "wallpaper" piece titled Disko Bay. I want to be in Disko Bay today. While out and about I kept mentally cool by picturing some of my favorite works of "COOL" art. For those that need a visual cool down, take a gander at these beauties, including the inspiration for this post...

Adam Cvijanovic, Disko Bay, 2000, latex and flasche on Tyvek, 10' x 55'

Didier Massard, Underwater Landscape, 2004, cibachrome, 64" x 86"

Anthony Goicolea, Poolpushers I, 2001, c-print, 50" x 70"

Thomas Wrede, Settlement with a Road, 2005, digital c-print, 19 x 39”

Lamar Peterson, The Green Monster, 2003, acrylic and gouache on paper, 28 x 21”

Just Browsing

Holly Andres, Austin, 2006, 31" x 39", Fuji Crystal Archive Print

I was surfing the web today, killing time before facing responsibility and reality. I was at a favorite artist's website (Tracey Snelling) and I clicked a little bug to see who designed her site and landed here. Other People's Pixels - a cool name and business model - a web designer working with artists so they can "spend more time with their art work, not their websites." (Also reminiscent of a little ditty from the early 90's "You down with O.P.P? Ya you know me.") Anywho, I discovered this artist there and fell in love with this photo (above). It reminds me of my childhood, we had that exact car, and has an eerie Virgin Suicides feel to it. I especially like that the photo is devoid of adult supervision. Holly Andres is from Montana. I like that, too. Happy Hump Day!

Small Treasures

I discovered some treasures in Chicago. New artists and new galleries for me.

The first was found "upstairs" at Art Chicago. I was only able to spend a few hours at Art Chicago. The fair felt more cramped, most likely because of the lower ceilings and traditional booths that created a mall-like feeling. Tucked away in a corner of a booth shared by Galerie Anita Beckers (one of my favorites) and Galerie Martina Detterer, both from Frankfurt, Germany, were these...

Tossed into the corner like empties at a frat party, these life size gems by Lei Xue attracted a lot of smiles and snickers. Beautifully executed, the artist must sculpt the cans larger than life because they shrink when fired. Applied to the cans are traditional Chinese motifs and colors. Each "can" cost $2,000. The artist made 100 of them. These are the last available and no more are planned. Each can is unique.

Lei Xue, Drinking Tea, 2004-2008, bone china

Calling All Artists!

Paddy Johnson at Art Fag City has scooped me and blogged about the WEST PRIZE before I got a chance to. Thanks Paddy. Tell your artist friends to apply. It is free. I plan on sending as many people as I can to check out work on the "open to the public" site long before the winner is announced.

The picture above shows $125,000 in one-dollar-bills that we borrowed for our booth at the NEXT fair in Chicago last weekend to launch the prize and get the word out. Thanks to all of those generous souls who offered to "hang on to" the money for us until the winners are announced in October.

(Artwork installed behind the tower of cash is 'Michael Jordan, Save the World' by Norm Paris. The artists pictured stacking the cash are Drew Leshko and John Garrett Slaby.)

Cool Artist

Lee Stoetzel, VW Bus, 2007, pecky cypress wood, steel

If you were in Chicago at NEXT, you may have noticed a very cool VW Bus sculpture sitting in an aisle. Turns out, Cool Hunting had interviewed the artist about this work and others and released this video yesterday.

Full disclosure: Mixed Greens represents Lee.

Chicago Rehash

Over the next few days I will be sharing some highlights, favorite artists, and experiences from NEXT Chicago. In summary, I had a great time and thought NEXT was one of the best fairs I had been to in a long while. I am biased, of course, because I had two booths there (the West Collection and Mixed Greens) and was in attendance for three days straight. I bought art, learned of a few new artists, and sat on a panel discussion about collecting art.

For starters, I must state the obvious and say that the work pictured below was my favorite. (Sorry, the pictures were taken with my phone.) It was so fun checking on it throughout the weekend and watching everyone's faces light up when they realized what was going on. Pictured here are two muscle cars that with the help of hydraulics very slowly crashed into each other - moving an inch at a time over the four day fair period. If you walked by too quickly you'd think you had seen a stationary sculpture. Jonathan Schipper is the artist and the piece is titled 'The Slow and Inevitable Death of American Muscle'. Love that!

Thursday

Friday

Saturday (Jonathan is pictured on the right with beard and beer)

Sunday

Monday

More pics of it here. Thanks to Joe and Susan at Pierogi for showing the work.

If I lived in Philadelphia...

Alex Da Corte, Accessory, 2008, fingernails, nail polish. Swarovski crystals, sequins, pins, foam, earrings, seed beads, mirrored display case, turntable

If you are anywhere near Philadelphia this weekend, do not miss Alex Da Corte's new show (with Jack Sloss) "Love Explosion" at the
Fleisher/Ollman Gallery. I'm a huge fan (and proud owner) of Alex's work. Roberta and Libby are big fans, too. Go to Annette's blog to read a very informative transcribed interview with Alex. Show runs from April 18 - May 17.

Erwin Wurm in Boston

Series: Instructions on How to Be Politically Incorrect, 2002/2003
Inspection (detail)

If I lived in Boston, or within a few hours driving or flying, I'd get to the Rose Art Museum of Brandeis University to see Erwin Wurm: I love my time, I don't like my time.

I traveled to Boston to see this show last Friday. I have been a fan of Erwin Wurm's since seeing Fat Car II (pictured left) in Paris in 2001. The show at Brandeis is a wonderul survey of this Austrian artist's work - the first survey of his work to visit the US. This show includes the numerous photographs, videos, and sculptures he is known for - How to Be Politically Incorrect (2002-2003), Curator/Imperator (2002), One Minute Sculptures (1997-present), and Instructions for Idlesness (2001). The highlight of the show is Fat House (pictured right) - a life size house covered in rolls of fat. Fat House is both cartoonish and satirical. With the accompanying video, installed in the belly of the house, in which the Fat House discusses (with the help of digital animation) its reason for being ("Am I a house? Am I a work of art? Who decides?") is, for me, a poignent and somewhat humerous summarizing of all of Wurm's work. What is art? Who decides?

You can also create your own Wurm at two instructional drawing stations. Combine your body with a common object (large sweater, for instance) according to Wurm's instructional drawings and have a Polaroid taken of your effort.

Here's a blurb from Brandeis' press release as an overview of his work if you are new to it:

Wurm’s work is concerned with finding ways to extend the dialogue of the pioneering performance and conceptual art of the 1960s into formal works of sculpture. He has staged art pieces that walk the delicate line of performance art. While appearing purely comical on the surface, there are complex messages beneath these temporary sculptures that elevate them above the status of mere incident, form, and behavior. These sculptures provide satirical commentary on life and art.

Erwin Wurm: I love my time, I don't like my time
April 27 - July 30
The Rose at Brandeis University
415 South Street
Waltham, MA 02453
781-736-3434

Because this is a blog about collecting art, here are a few places to find Erwin Wurm's work, if you are so inclined. Chicago, San Fransisco, and artnet.

Jane Fine

Well, I did it! I went in search of one of the artists I discovered at the Brooklyn Museum of Art's Open House: Working in Brooklyn show and have added her to my collection! Here's a detail:

Jane Fine, Untitled (detail), 2001
Acrylic and ink on paper

I fell in love with this work because of the color (I'm going through a pink phase), texture (impossible to see in this photo), and crazy details found throughout. Dr. Seuss on speed! I know that I will find some crazy new detail in this work every time I take a gander at it.

I found Jane's work at Pierogi and picked this one out of their Flat Files for $1,300. Jane's larger paintings are priced between $4,000 and $7,000.

This is fun! Join me in my addiction and hunt, won't you?