Posts

Just sent off letters to try to get out of a ticket and other business matters. Haven't called friends the way I should be - just way too much going on!

I just posted some art at Rhizome.org

http://rhizome.org/art/publish/portfolio.php

I'm really hoping they put me in their "database." That would be a real feather in my cap, as I already have two major successes in terms of getting museum people interested in my work and showing at a University Gallery. I can only hope!

Well someone who might read this with the first name of F - or P- I will be calling you soon, ok?

WHAT A WEEKEND!!!

Saturday: A friend of a friend got me "in" at this historically most significant Los Angeles landmark. It was so amazing and fun - most people "assumed" I was an artist and asked what type of work I do.

Cindy came to pick me up. We worked on one of her images for the website and ate grilled "cheese" (rice cheese) sandwiches: rye bread, thick organic tomatoes, and any kind of nut butter grilled in a combination of coconut and olive oils. Next time I'll add swiss chard, I think it will make these sandwiches even more incredible tasting than they already are.

We planned on walking in my great little Studio City neighborhood, but there was no time. So we went over the hill (Laurel Canyon) to Melrose where Gemini G.E.L. is. I'd been given a 'private tour' there before by Jim Reid, who is the manager and also one of their nine artists working for (see artist list below), amongst many others. I knew Jim from "the corner", where I vigiled with NPJ (Neighbors for Peace and Justice, San Fernando Valley) for five years. I also was a core member of the group until I just couldn't do it any more (many reasons). Although I no longer actively participate, I'm still a 'core member' to those who know me best there. Although it's been years, Jim remembered me and gave me a warm greeting/hug when I walked in.

It was the first party I've ever been to where it felt like I had a "back stage pass." Everyone was so relaxed and happy, all enjoying seeing the artworks up close and hearing about how they were produced. Xavier Fumat had a small group he was talking to right as we came in, it felt like a docent tour. I quickly indicated to Cindy that we should listen in and follow Xavier to hear what he said. He described in great detail how he produced works for Richard Serra. For the main piece upstairs he told how Richard sent two curves, approximately three feet in length; and how Gemini was then instructed to re-produce this much larger, with the exact same curve in painstaking accuracy.

(tired now, story to be continued tomorrow!)

I will update this soon, I have friends Sheri & Donna coming by.Look for update later today. They had a photographic memorial to Robert Rauschenberg in the front of the gallery.

New Editions By:
John Baldessari, Jonathan Borofsky, Cecily Brown, John Chamberlain, Ellsworth Kelly, Ann Hamilton, Elizabeth Murray, Bruce Nauman, and Richard Serra.

Recent Editions By:
Daniel Buren, Vija Celmins, Robert Gober, David Hockney, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Brice Marden, Robert Rauschenberg, Susan Rothenberg, and Ed Ruscha.

From GG's website:

Founded in 1966, Gemini G.E.L. is an artists‘ workshop and publisher of limited edition prints and sculptures. At Gemini, the artists do all of the drawing or carving directly onto the printing elements. The edition is hand-printed by Gemini‘s master printers, and each print is signed and numbered by the artist as well as embossed with the Gemini ‘chop‘.

In 1981, the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., established the Gemini G.E.L. Archive, which functions as a study center for scholars and collectors, and contains a complete history of the workshop. Included is one example from each of the over 2,000 editions published. Three major exhibitions with works from the archive have been organized and exhibited by the National Gallery in the past 21 years. They recently created a complete online Gemini Catalogue Raisonné at http://www.nga.gov/gemini

Gemini has collaborated with more than 60 highly accomplished artists in lithography, etching, screenprinting, woodcut and a variety of sculptural materials.

That was a bit of a lie. I just now made some (to me) major changes to it (July 11). So it's been more like a month since I started.

I'm losing the one thing I loved about my place (apartment)...the light. The intense heat of the valley has forced me into putting aluminum foil on my east and west facing windows. Of course now my apartment looks very trashy, and I've lost my light to put makeup on. The southern windows are filled with green leaves so I'll leave those blinds open to get the maximum light, but it's still very dark and foreboding in here.

What money does in terms of lack of it in terms of coping methods...

I ran into Cary Elwes over at Cinema Secrets yesterday. My favorite all-time actor. He was very gracious. I was bold enough to give him my card, but whether he'll actually like or see the art is of course highly dubious. I keep getting complaints that its' too dark. Well, it's high-maintenance art that requires the right lighting, that's all I have to say. I'm not going to change it because it might not be as popular as the jazz stuff!!!!! We all have to follow our own muses.

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No, I don't mean the STD variety. I mean a certain individual who's initials are VD (supposedly in Iraq, of all places) who tried to get me involved in some sort of gem-smuggling scam (maybe money laundering as well) as well as get one of my limited edition pieces. I ended up shredding both of the $2,500-over-my-asking-price checks she overnighted. I've saved all the evidence - it got to be so weird - many names involved, many people calling me, things just got weirder and weirder. No one can say my life is dull!

I guess what I've gotten out of this is I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, and I just kept smelling fish, so I hung in there and sure enough, it was a scam. I'm now in the process of setting up paypal on everything, so if anyone wants to purchase they just do it through paypal, and that's that! The life of the "online artist"...sure I'm not the only one. Then, of course, there's the ongoing struggle of the "orphan acts" which means pretty much anyone could download and use your work with no penalty (i.e. steal). My policy has always been pretty liberal - I know people can download my image if they want. But I was really surprised to learn from a certain person in the art world I deal with that he himself "steals" works from well-known artists and doesn't care if they don't have a signature or are "originals" or "limited edition prints". "I have the work, don't I?" he said. WOW. To make it worse, he himself is an artist.

I had a fun day yesterday, talking with a fellow artist who gave me a book on using alternative archival materials in the printing process. He saw my extremely messy apartment and pronounced "you really ARE just like me!" I know it's worse than usual now, but I've been so busy with other things (more important!) Here's the pics to prove it...(coming up shortly!)

Some people pet, I wet...

It was 100 degrees in my apartment last night, even with the a/c on 24/7. Driving to a teeth-cleaning appt. in Encino last night, my car temp registered a whopping 118 degrees. The wind was horrible, and when I arrived home after the short walk from the car (and from the dentist office) I felt like my skin had 3rd degree burns (of course it didn't, but touching my arm, my skin was extremely hot!)

I'm glad my 21-year-old is still eating, I worry about her in this heat. I was supposed to visit my parents today but called it off. Just going to stay home and do small projects around the house instead. Too hot to do ANYTHING much! I might call off a visit to Long Beach tomorrow to visit the ex and his wife if this heat continues.

It's so weird. It feels like the Apocalypse or something (I'm not religious, but this  global warming  extreme weather stuff is just so bizarre).  CNN is practically the "extreme-weather" channel  these days. Flipping through cable channels, it seems at least a fourth of them are devoted to stories about extreme weather. Earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, tropical cyclones, heatwaves, you-name-it it's happening!

On another note, I just called Karl Johnson after sending his wife info on the Los Angeles County Arts Commission. Seems he has the sculpture garden on Radford at the CBS studios project wrapped up, however the big fourth of July unveiling is slightly altered. Instead of all of the sculptures being unveiled to the public, six sculptures will be situated in the VIP room (the head of the studios has conferred with the Studio City chamber of commerce and came up with this compromise, as they are busy filming on soundstage 10 where the sculptures were to be placed). What a coup for Karl! Now if he could just get the LACAC involved (they don't have any opportunities posted now, but Karl needs a lot of prep - such as a website - first anyhow).

I found out about LACAC while researching Lola Scarpitta's artist parents. Salvatore Scarpitta did the same thing my great-grandfather did, sculpture and bas-relief on the outside of buildings. Please read the wikipedia on Salvatore (I wish it would get into more detail). Info about Leo Castelli is very interesting too.

I should call Diana Zlotnick back today, and my friend fussboots. Are you reading this fussy?

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The apartment I'm losing (whole building getting evicted).

What an insane day today!

First off, got a frantic call from a neighbor. Seems I hadn't yet seen the EVICTION notice on my door. She got one with my name, and I got hers.

It seems the landlord wishes to avoid paying the correct amount in my case for the relocation fee, and also to evict me in six months as they are everyone else (my understanding is they need to give me a year's notice).

Been spending the entire day calling lawyers, etc. trying to deal with this. Trust me...they won't mess with me!

Then I get a call from Rex Bruce at LACDA, asking if I wish to be in his most recent show. Details follow:

Jurors:
 
Howard Fox
Curator of Contemporary Art, L.A. County Museum of Art (LACMA)

Rex Bruce
Director, Los Angeles Center for Digital Art

Enter our juried competition for digital art, digital photography, video and new media. All styles of artwork and photography where digital processes of any kind were integral to their creation are acceptable. We accept digital art stills of any kind, digital photogaphy, short experimental time based video, video loops, mobile media, interactive media, internet art (net.art) and new media works of any kind.

The competition is international, open to all geographic locations.

Video, interactive and new media are accepted by DVD/CD. Internet art (net.art) entries are viewed at their original URL. Still image entries are acceped by jpeg upload. Still image winners are printed by the gallery (up to 24"x36") for exhibition to eliminate the need for shipping, especially for international artists.

The selected winners will be exhibited as the central focus of the DigitalArt.LA expo (see below) in a large group exhibit at the LACDA gallery. The show will be widely promoted and will include a reception for the artists. Juror Howard Fox, Curator of Contemporary Art, LACMA, will attend the opening reception. The DigitalArt.LA expo runs August 14-16 (concurrent with and promoted by SIGGRAPH, the Downtown Art Walk and Downtown Film Festival - Los Angeles), the winners exhibit will remain in the gallery August 14-September 6.

DigitalArt.LA (http://DigitalArt.LA) is a multi-site international digital art expo in the Gallery Row area of Downtown Los Angeles organized by Rex Bruce and L.A. Center for Digital Art. The event includes exhibits by area galleries, theatres, and venues near LACDA. Many venues will host screenings and exhibits for major out of area institutions including Centre Pompidou Forum des Images, UCR | California Museum of Photography, Lanzia Center for Contemporary Art (Danzig, Poland), and the Austin Museum of Digital Art. The central exhibit will be the international winners show of juried submissions hosted by LACDA. 

• Los Angeles Center for Digital Art – Winners Show
• Centre Georges Pompidou | Forum des Images
• UCR | California Museum of Photography
• Laznia Center for Contemporary Art, Poland
• Howard Fox, Curator of Contemporary Art, LACMA
• Downtown Film Festival - Los Angeles
• SIGGRAPH
• Austin Museum of Digital Art
• Niche.LA Video Art
• Found Gallery L.A.
• Phantom Galleries L.A.
• Bert Green Fine Art
• El Nopal Gallery
• Spring Arts Collective
• Pharmaka Gallery
• Rowan Gallery
• Regent Theatre
• Creative Commons
• Artillery Magazine
• Coagula Art Journal
• It's Liquid

All entries are given special consideration for exhibiting at LACDA and outside exhibitions where we are featured. Artists participating in our competitions form the pool of artists from which we select the vast majority of those featured at LACDA and are often considered by our associated network of museums, galleries and curators. Proceeds from the competition support these gallery programs and the DigitalArt.LA expo. Juror Rex Bruce has curated and participated in over 50 exhibits since the founding of LACDA in 2004 and is internationally recognized as a leader and expert in the field.

****************
WOW!!!

All this in one day!

To be continued...

Erin came up today, and we had a wonderful time!

Erin and I, who are both fans of the movie Laurel Canyon, drove down said street, passing the market that was featured in several scenes in the movie. We went for a wonderful repast at Real Food Daily, then came back up Laurel and explored the market. Lots of very unusual items from all around the world, esp. British products. Got some delicious Belgian chocolate, and she got a bottle of their own brand of red wine (cheap, $6.99) for her hubster.

The housing inspector just left. I admit although this building is falling apart, the landlord's daughter (now in charge of maintenance) is a sweetie. And about to pop with her first child.

Erin (a fan of my art) really likes the following piece:

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