critic critique pretty ugly art not so what

An excerpted excerpt in SF Gate response to Chihuly review:
"Many respondents insisted that they do not need a critic to tell them what art is or how good it is. Most complained that I denied Dale Chihuly's glass works the status of art and have no business doing so.

In today's culture, people need not merely critics to tell them what art is, but also artists, curators, art historians, art dealers, collectors - and the viewers' own education and sensibility.

In the consensus as to the art status of a piece or a body of work, each such participant has something to contribute, and each type of contribution has to be valued differently."

---
Not familiar with Chihuly? Here you go:
"Saffron Tower"

Chihuly is a contemporary glass artist/sculptor/fabricator.
"Reeds".

He owns a big compound with many assistants to help create his wares and installations.
"Chandeliers".

---
Is it art? That is so Da Da...
Is it pretty? Sure it is.
Does that make it good? That is like asking if the days are long.
Does all good art have to be depressing and ugly? No.
Do I think it's good? Some of it for simply what it is. (see images shown)
Does it have artistic merit? Ask someone with a Fine Crafts background.*
Does it have artistic merit? Ask someone with an Art History background.*

After that, have a drink and agree to disagree.

La Luz Saturday August 9th.

If you live in LA then you know what that the short term, "La Luz", stands for La Luz de Jesus, the seminal gallery and book publisher of Hollywood and the brainchild of Billy Shire, also of Billy Shire Fine Art.

So when you hear people say, "Are you going to La Luz tonight?", that is what they are talking about.

Billy gets flack for having a soap store, gift shop, gallery, bookstore all in one.
Although, I really have to say that these are idle conversations I hear in the art-opening chatter world, I have never heard of anyone actually telling him this to his face...besides knowing him he would probably just say, "So what" or something of that sort.

Anyway, he has a great art history and involvement and has launched many great artists. On a pop culture level, his family empires are solid.

Way back before I opened my gallery I applied to be a gallery assistant...I didn't interview with him, but later was told that they were just looking for a few kids. I will take that as I was over-qualified.
The job application was the craziest thing I ever had to fill out...I thought for sure I will get the job since I have an aunt who was deemed a Saint by Pope John Paul 2, in May 2000. María de Jesús Sacramentado Venegas de la Torre (1868-1959)
She prayed for some sick children who recovered from a severe heart condition, is what I gleaned from the Spanish explanation on the Vatican Website.
But I digress.

August 9th, is a book signing at La Luz.

Cherry Bomb is illustrated by Liz Adams, a Gallery Revisited fave and sweetheart illustraordinaire! I made that up, but it works.

It's a modern etiquette book...perhaps we could all use a little good advice and maybe some day we will be Saints too...uh, or at least just a bad ass girlfriend as the book proclaims.

$2 Bill Show Update

The $2 Bill Show organized and curated by Mat Gleason is up until August 23rd.

Here is an excerpt of what Mat said on his blog:
"The show started out as a necessity to fill the gallery over the summer. Artist Michael Hornyak had participated in our Autumn Juried show and the prize for that exhibit was winning a solo show at the i-5 gallery...

So I was hit with this inspiration for the $2 Bill show when I found this stack of $2 bills I had gotten at my bank a year or so ago. I posted the parameters for the show in my blog and a lot of people responded..."
---
There are some ultra amazing works, and you will just have to take my word on it, because I forgot to put the charged battery in my camera before I left for the show that night.
My favorite part of the project, was the fact that so many people cut up the $2 (including me):

Since I am a painter, my usual method involves applying layers and mixing, as opposed to taking elements away from something. But I love collage too, and felt a little bit like going back to my DaDa roots...

And since I recently closed the gallery, I feel like this is a time of purging, looking back on memories and taking some new directions. I've been wanting to simplify and have been working on some uncomplicated diptychs, so I decided to turn it into a diptych.

I really wasn't thinking too much about that fluffy romantic stuff while working on the $2, but in hindsight it makes perfect sense.

Mary Jean Mallman was in the show and she did a bunch of research on the $2 bill prior to creating her piece. She told me at the opening that Jefferson wanted money to be federally operated, not for private banks to trade...He lost, hence the term on the front,"This legal tender is for all debts, public and private." These are the actual printed words from the bill that I cut out to use for the diptych.


Some other "cutters" in the show whose work made me swoon and wiggle were YaYaChou, Leigh Salgado (whose pieces both sold btw), David Trulli (we bought that one), Carol Es - also known as "art cutter" did some hilarious painting, and the artist who did the faucet...I loved that one, really gorgeously executed $2 snips encased in a resin "waterdrop".

Other patterns in execution included eyeball imagery, resin with abstract shapes, lots of paint and added found objects, self-portraits, altering the teeny tiny faces on the back of the bill and animal heads replacing Jefferson's.

There are about 70 pieces in all, so just go see for yourself. The gallery is open on Friday and Saturday.

Installation at Riverside Art Museum: Painting's Edge

I helped Peter Frank and the Riverside Art Museum with the installation of the annual Painting's Edge exhibition last week. There are over 50 pieces in all.
The show opens on July 26th and is up until August 16th - kind of a quick show, so try to get over there and check it out.

Here is an excerpt from the RAM website show description:
Every year a two-week workshop in painting - painting techniques, painting subjects, painting ideas - takes place "up the hill" in Idyllwild, as part of the Idyllwild Arts Summer Program. Conducted from its inception by Roland Reiss, who began the workshop after retiring as head of the art department at Claremont Graduate University, "Painting's Edge" brings visiting artists and critics from the Los Angeles area and other parts of the country together with enrollees whose own ideas and ambitions as painters keep the dialogue lively, collegial, and productive.

The exhibition roster includes:

Faculty artists Roland Reiss, Carol Lee Chase and Andy Kolar.

Visiting artists are Mark Bradford and Peter Plagens.

Guest Artists are Micaela Amateau Amato, Laurie Fendrich, Jill Giegerich, Wendell Gladstone, Stephen Maine, Andy Moses, Leslie Shows, and Ben Weiner.

Artists who participated in the workshop: Irene Abraham, Neil Bender, Susan Connell, Robert Frashure, Christine Frerichs, Alexa Gerrity, Sophie Grant, Maureen Gutierrez-Prieto, Noah Haytin, Rachel Higgins, Victoria Jacob, Kirra Jamison, Kathryn Jaroneski, Chris Kahler, Karen Kauffman, David King, Aitor Lajarin, Daniel Lannes Pereira, Heather Lembcke, Casey Loose, Michelle Montjoy, Barbara Moody, Christine Morla, Mark Mullin, Sheila Nadimi, Kathryn Neale, Felicity Nove, Christina Ondrus, Trude Parkinson, Cathie Partridge, Kimberly Rose, Claire Stephens, Gretel Stephens, Lava Thomas, Kathleen Thompson, and Marcos Raul Valella.

Most exciting to me was also the Guest Lecturer and Critic, Fred Tomaselli. Unfortunately RAM could not get a painting of his for this show, not sure why.

Regardless, the work is really great and the installation works in all the varying architectural aspects of the museum.

Roland Reiss' floral piece with urban silhouettes in the center right.
Wendell Galdstone and Lava Thomas
Main Gallery Views



The show includes a Mark Bradford video, "Niagra".
Andy Moses and others are located in the museum front lobby.

The show also continues upstairs to the mezzanine which leads to...


...the Kristi Lippire solo exhibition "For the Birds" - and Katrin Wiess paintings.

Leora Lutz Go-About: LACE show curated by Christopher Russell

In June I went to "Against the Grain" at LACE, curated by Christopher Russell.
The show features Tom Allen, Brian Bress, Robert Fontenot, Wendell Gladstone, Matt Greene, Julian Hoeber, Brian Kennon, John Knuth, Amy Sarkisian, Ryan Taber, Ami Tallman, Kelly Sears, Anna Sew Hoy and Cheyenne Weaver.

Christopher gave me one of the best hugs I have received in a long time - a real firm bear hug. Aaawww.

I first became familiar with Russell's own work around late 05 at Skylight Books, my neighborhood book store. I was like - what is this art book about Pee-ing??!!
Later I went to a panel discussion on art books at LACE where he spoke...and in fact, Paige Wery was there too. We both bought a Russell "Bedwetter" piece:

It was sealed when we bought it, and when I opened it up I just laughed for days, because it was the weirdest thing that I had ever purchased. There's more to the relationship that has transpired between now and then,
but back to His show...

It is installed beautifully and the work really flows visually from piece to piece to piece and room to room. The religious references are evident in most, as well as the social implications of such beliefs, apocalypse, icons and retro societal practices associated with communication in conjunction with behaviors...perhaps even sin.

Here are highlights of some of my favorites + tidbits of conversation that transpired:

Christopher Russell promotes the artist of these animal paintings below as one of his favorites. Her name is Ami Tallman. Her creatures of nature innocent were colorfully arranged salon style as if flying around. A nice scatter that led into the other room of darker works.

In the same room were the very exciting paintings of Wendell Gladstone. I can never look away from something that involves a ludicrously necessary amount of taping, cutting, painting and the like. (detail here:)

I also am a huge sucker for color, the use of a whole ton of it and successfully.

At the moment he has a piece in a show at Riverside Museum which opens Saturday the 26th. That piece really fits the premise of this show, but perhaps it was not available to Christopher for the LACE show.
John Knuth, owner of Circus Gallery, "I love urban decay". His installation of found objects from the '60s:

Included was a petrified, as in dead and rigid, rat on salt in the corner.

Brian Bress, "Oh, you have a blog, right?" [aside; He recently curated a show at Angstrom, which I saw but didn't take pics. I ran into fette, and you can see pics on her site.]
These soft sculpture dominated from the side of the room, sort of listening to everyone gossip or go on about themselves and the work. Brian & Christopher told me that he is doing a stop animation video with an original score and I am looking forward to seeing that in the future.

We were all guilty of pretentious art opening banter, and for this I am sure we will all pay dearly in the afterlife...if we aren't beheaded or burned at the stake by these guys first.

This show ends on August 10th - so go check it out.

Joint Custody Project Update & Press

In July I participated in The Joint Custody Project at Found Gallery in Silver Lake. The show was curated by Shana Nys Dambrot and Tad Beck.

Artists were blindly paired and challenged to create artwork together without meeting each other or communicating verbally.

I was partner A - which means I started the work. One curatorial theme of the show was Dualities, so this was perfect since I have been working on a series of diptychs on this very concept before I submitted work - and before they told us what the curatorial theme was.
Here is what I started:
These are 2) 16" x 24" canvas, painted, then placed back to back and shot with a 45 caliber handgun.




My partner was Dominic Quagliozzi Jr. He was partner B - which means he got to do that last thing to the piece and to title it as well...I was super happy, pleasantly surprised and relieved with his final decision to do this:


I was pleasantly surprised because I was preparing myself in advance to have every centimeter of my painting portion to be completely covered up by him. I told Brady the gallery director that I would be perfectly content if he simply left the holes there. And that is exactly what he did, but not in the way I was expecting.

Once I met my partner he explained that his ideal partner would have covered up what he did, so that is what he was doing to me...

Whereas my view of a partnership or collaboration is a side-by-side movement, as opposed to a "tit-for-tat" or "I did this now you do that" kind of thing.

I was relieved, because I honestly thought that these were to 2 ugliest paintings that I had ever worked on and I really didn't want them to be seen in the first place.
In addition, we both wrote a couple of things on the backs -


One thing he wrote was
"Somewhere in it all there is art" and I wrote Vitality/Attrition. I also included lists on the front in type, but those are now hidden inside the painting sandwich.
Quagliozzi ended up titling the piece, "Treadmill"...Where you stand in place and do all of this waling, but you really don't end up going anywhere. Love it!!

There is some recent press on the show...

Excerpts from Shana Nys Dambrot on the JCP blog:
Domenic Quagliozzi bolted his and Leora Lutz's canvases together face to face and we were sure she'd read this as hostile but then she got there and loved it, old school punk rock hottie that she is. Besides, she had taken it to the gun range and peppered it with shrapnel, so I think she respected his gesture. Ashley Tibbits was worried about how the last minute addition of mirrors as frame mounts to her collaboration with Michelle Liu would be installed, but adored (as did I) the hanging curtain installation the gallery came up with, proving that we were all here to help and really looking at the art.
...though the real crowds gathered around Lisa Adams and Saul Gray Hildenbrand’s hand-operated fake television set/altar like they’d never seen such a marvel of technology before, and this from two painters!

READ THE WHOLE SCOOP, AND I DO MEAN SCOOP, DISH AND DRAMA HERE.

Additional thanks go out to Mallory Farrugia of White Hot Magazine, excerpts here:

The potential for escalation and clashing artistic visions that is inherent in this structure is ripe with viewing pleasure for the art goer.

Shana Nys Dambrot admits to having purposefully selected solidly established and “reliable” artists to be paired with some of the younger, more experimental characters, the results being predictably fiery. Two cases in particular illustrate an explosive tension in artist methodology and vision. Both ended peacefully, however.

The first involves the work Treadmill by Leora Lutz [A] and Dominic Quagliozzi [B], ...This creative temperament became severely inflamed by Quagliozzi’s decision in the middle iterations to paint over that which she had already painted- the repercussions of which was that she cut down her efforts to contribute to the piece and threatened to boycott the exhibition’s opening. She did appear, in the spirit of dramatic confrontation, however her reaction to her partner’s terminal iteration of the work was surprisingly, and perhaps disappointingly, positive...
---

A note: I had no intention to Boycott the opening, but had pondered the fear of showing up. Something got lost in the translation there. That's ok - it makes for interesting press and at least I can mention it here.

And I really did ultimately embrace the process - and I did in fact, feel lots of emotions during the process, but remaining angry in the good spirit of creation just feels too depressing to me.

READ THE WHOLE EXCELLENT REVIEW HERE.

$2 Bill Show at I-5 July 12th

Mat Gleason has put together a big group show. In true conceptual and rebel fashion, all artists we given one piece of US currency in consecutive order: a $2 Bill.

Artists were instructed to do (sort of) whatever they wanted with the bill in these blunt terms:

So if you want to be in an art show here is the deal, I figure if you are reading my blog you are a great artist you can be in my $2 BILL ART SHOW – You send me a self-addressed stamped envelope. I send you a crisp real, legal tender $2 Bill. You make art on it. You send it back to me.

All artworks will be priced at $200 (50/50 split between gallery and artist) and when I send you the bill there will be display criteria so don’t pester me with “can I do this or that or the other” the answer is probably NO as I want to show the bills as close to the format as they are printed.

Are you worried about legal implications for defacing a $2 Bill? Then go away, I don’t want you in my show. If you are not afraid of exercising your free speech and talent on Thomas Jefferson’s face, send a self addressed, stamped (42-cents, by the way) envelope to:

Over 95 artists including some Gallery Revisited faves and fans!

Carol Es
Laurel Hunziker
Ya Ya Chou
Lola Ramona
Paige Wery
David Trulli
Leora Lutz (me)
Christine Weir
Fumiko Amano

and many more!!

Join us at I-5 Gallery located at the Brewery compound.

$2 Bill Show.
All work priced at $200. each.
I-5 Gallery at the Brewery compound in Los Angeles.

July 5th - Joint Custody Project - 22 "Blind Date" artist collaborations

Here is an interesting show coming up this Saturday.
Curated by Shana Nys-Dambrot and Tad Beck.

22 artists, 11 pieces, 30 days, not a single word of communication. (kind of)

The Project kicked off on June 1, and
over the course of the following 4 weeks, 22 Los Angeles based
artists, from a variety of mediums, paired off to create 11 pieces of
art. The theme – "Double Up : Double Down".

You can read the curatorial notes/thoughts here.

The reception is the exciting conclusion of
the project -- see the art as it is revealed for the first time, and
watch the collaborators meet face-to-face.

That's right -- no one knows who they have been working with this whole time...
and you can read about the drama here. What is most interesting to me are the mean tricks and the emotional reaction everyone has had during the process.

In speaking with Brady Brim-Deforest at Found, the conclusion I have come to is that almost everyone seems to Not play well with others without communication.

Perhaps that is the rub. Here we go on about "It's all about the art"...and this project is a perfect example of how that could simply not be the case.

There was also video interviews done...so I am hoping you will be able to see that too. I am assuming that it got edited more like a documentary than a reality show, so we shall see.

So far, I like this one particular photo pairing, a suitcase and a scroll with drawings. All of these collaborations seemed to have been the most creatively compatible, if I may use that word.

The show is only up until July 13, so make sure not to miss out.

Browse the Joint Custody Blog and see what else has been going on during June - -- this project is also taking place in Berlin!!
I think the Berlin work is awesome...