Art Addict

If I lived in Minneapolis...

Watering Hole, Survival Design: Jason S. Brown, Sean P. Frank, Elizabeth Scofield, and Frederic Scofield

...I'd make a date to head to the Walker Art Center's miniature golf course. Yep, nothing says summer like Mini-Golf. Walker on the Green brought together artists and architects to build holes for the open-to-the-public miniature golf course. This year's mini-golf comes with a cause...

“The last course was artists and the Walker having a lot of fun. This one is fun with a message,” says Christi Atkinson, an associate director in the Walker’s education and community programs department, who coordinated the entries. “Most proposals incorporate a lot of ideas. We just had to make sure the courses will stand up to four months of weather, not to mention an enthusiastic, club-wielding public.”

May 24 - September 7 on the Walker Campus, $8 adults, $6 kids

If I lived in Dallas...

...I'd head to The Contemporary Art Dealers of Dallas Art Fair next weekend - May 30 - June 1. CADD, in its second year, is a small art fair showing Dallas area contemporary galleries only. Eleven galleries. Totally doable in one afternoon. An easy way to check out the Dallas scene in one stop.

And if you go, I am the keynote speaker on Saturday from 2:00 to 3:00 - with a book signing. Hope to see you there.

If I lived in Seattle...

Ron van der Ende, 727, 2008, bas relief/wood, 122" x 55" x 6.3"

Head to the OKOK Gallery for the opening weekend of a small but fabulous one man show - Motor Memory. Ron van der Ende is from the Netherlands and this is his first solo show in the US. He builds his structures out of salvaged wood. (This plane is ten feet wide.) The color of the wood is never changed by Ron. He pays close attention to how the original color adds the illusion of light and shadow - painting with wood. Check out the hint of Boeing's logo in this close up.

Detail of 727

OKOK Gallery
Opening Reception Saturday, May 10, 6-10
Through June 7

If I lived in Scottsdale...

Margarita Cabrera, Hummer, 2006, vinyl and thread on car parts

...and wasn't planning on being in Chicago this weekend, I would catch the VERY LAST WEEKEND of Car Culture at SMoCA. It is a great small show that is a lot of fun. Great artists (Robert Bechtle, Margarita Cabrera, Robert Frank, Liz Cohen, Amy Stein, Erwin Wurm and others) and one of the best online catalogs I've ever experienced. The design perfectly fits the theme of the show. Speedy and easy facts. So, even if you can't get to Scottsdale this weekend, check out this catalog.

If I lived in Chicago...

...or planned to be in Chicago this weekend, I'd be sure to stop by NEXT. Not an art fair, at least in name, it is self-described as an "Invitational Exhibition of Emerging Art."

More international than any other young fair of contemporary art to date, NEXT boasts galleries from every important art city in the world, including Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, London, Paris, Berlin, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Warsaw and Bucharest. The largest collection to date of significant art trends ever assembled, NEXT presents approximately 170 of the best young galleries from every major international center of art production.

I know, I know. Another bleepin' art fair. Like I said, if you are in Chicago this weekend...

I am going to be in Chicago this weekend, as it turns out, and am excited to be introduced to some of these international galleries whose artists I know very little or nothing about. Organizers/fair curators Christian Viveros-Faune and Kavi Gupta have worked hard to put together the "anti-fair" inviting collectors (like myself) to exhibit (and not sell) their collections at the fair. (There will, however, apparently be plenty of art to buy from the 170 galleries showing.)

They have also put together a great line-up of speakers and topics at their Talk Shop. I am personally hoping to go to the Value System: What Gives Art Value? talk on Friday, April 25, at 1 p.m. (The Merchandise Mart Conference Center, 2nd Floor. Panel includes: Jeffrey Grove, Toby Devan Lewis, and Michael Moses). Description of talk:

Inquiring minds want to know what gives art value in today’s market. A collector, an economist, a curator and an art lawyer discuss the ways in which criticism, exhibitions, sales and other relevant aspects impact and form the "value system" of contemporary art today.

This talk will be after my own panel discussion (yes, here's the plug) The Art of Buying Art (sound familiar?) on Friday, April 25, at 11:15 (Merchandise Mart 7th floor). Description:

This panel will encourage a loose discussion of the collecting experiences and models (however established or organic) employed by the panelists, their roads taken and avoided in establishing their collecting practice, the role art collecting plays in their lives, the sense of mission the panelists may or may not feel with regard to their collecting of contemporary art, and the obsession that may personally drive each of these individuals to commit their time, money and energies to collecting as a sustained activity.

Moderated by Heather Darcy. Panelists: Me, Breck Kling, Scott Miller, Andrew Leslie, and Kavi Gupta. See you there.

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.

Beauty in the Bronx

Hisae Ikenaga, Untitled, 2007, carpet, 144 x 174 inches

There is a wonderful show up at Lehman College Art Gallery in the Bronx until May 15. Some of my favorite artists are represented, especially Courtney Smith, Francis Cape, and Iván Navarro. Discoveries for me are Marc André Robinson and Hisae Ikenaga.

Informed by Function explores sculptural objects influenced by the vocabulary of furniture, design and architecture. Familiar yet displaced or transformed, these forms draw on sources ranging from industrial design to the natural world. Functionality, the “found” object, handmade vs. the mass-produced, and subversion of intent, are among the issues raised by these hybrid works.

Lehman College Art Gallery
Bedford Park Boulevard West
Bronx, NY
Tuesday - Saturday 10 - 4

If I Lived in Britain...

...I'd get to London to see Thomas Demand's photographs of painstakingly constructed environments at the Serpentine Gallery. The show runs to August 20th and is open Monday through Sunday 10-6.

...I'd get to Birmingham to see Marcel Dzama's latest drawings, paintings, videos, and bear costume at the Ikon Gallery. Be quick, though, as the show comes down July 16. Ikon is open Tuesday through Sunday 11-6.

You can catch both shows in one day as London and Birmingham are located just a short (1hr. 30 min.) train ride apart.

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.

If I lived in Durham, NC...

Megan Whitmarsh, Yeti + Franz Kline, 2005

Did you catch the little blurb at the bottom of page 22 or so in today's NY Times Style Magazine about the Branch Gallery in Durham, North Carolina? I did. I googled and discovered that they are currently showing one of my personal picks, Megan Whitmarsh. (I discovered Meg's work at sixspace in LA, home of the ever-so-great abLA goddess, Caryn Coleman.)

Also showing is Jennifer Muskopf, whose work I do not know but I like the looks of online (particularly the paintings - click on the last thumbnail in the grid).

The Branch Gallery is no stranger to the contemporary art scene as a NADA member and recent participant in "New Contemporaries” at Art Cologne. Husband and wife team, Chloë Seymore and Harrison Haynes, spent time in New York before moving to Durham. I support their efforts to bring emerging and contemporary art to a new audience (if I were to open a gallery today I'd do it outside of New York, too) and I love that their gallery includes three studios for Branch artists.

Megan Whitmarsh/Jennifer Muskopf
May 19 - July 1

Branch Gallery, Ltd
401c Foster Street
Durham, NC 27701
Phone: 919 918 1116
Fax: 919 321 1391
email: info@branchgallery.com

Gallery Hours
Wednesday-Saturday 12pm-6pm
(or by appointment)

[n.b. - Artwork pictured is not in the Branch Gallery show. Pulled from Meg's website.]