Secondly, I have an interview up at www.japancinema.net
Thirdly, there's an Opening this Saturday, February 5th. I'm part of a pretty big group show curated by Nathan Spoor at CSUF Grand Central Art Center / Santa Ana, CA this week titled: SUGGESTIVISM
All the info is here...
CSUF Grand Central Art Center / Santa Ana, CA
125 N. Broadway / Santa Ana, CA 92701
February 05 - April 17, 2010
Opening Reception: Saturday, February 5, 7:00-10:00 p.m.
Sponsors: GelaSkins, Hurley, Gingko Press, Juxtapoz, Planet illogica
Main Art Gallery Suggestivism features over fifty contemporary artists whose work is inherently ambiguous, and organic in process. Curator Nathan Spoor believes they follow the ideals of "Suggestivism." The term Suggestivism in art was first used in the late nineteenth century describing the organic process of making art, the loose mark-making, and the ambiguous narrative. Early modern art can be seen as examples of Suggestivism. However, Spoor's contemporary examples begin with the organic process and follow through with ambiguous narratives, but the artwork is tightly rendered, and illustrative.
Conceptually speaking, the term suggestivism refers to the ability of an individual to pursue their purpose with an amplified understanding and sensitivity. The artists involved represent precisely this - a wave of purpose, working within the more fluid aspects of narrative or figurative arenas. Through the mere power of suggestion, the magic is transferred from one to another, engaging the world at large from the most vivid and evocative of visual realms. - Nathan Spoor, Curator
Featured Artists: Esao Andrews, Carrie Ann Baade, Sandow Birk, Michael Brown, Nicoletta Ceccoli, Dave Cooper, Bob Dob, Thomas Doyle, Ron English, Alex Gross, Robert Hardgrave, Naoto Hattori, Femke Hiemstra, Gregory Jacobsen, Audrey Kawasaki, Andy Kehoe, Kris Kuksi, Darren LeGallo, Kris Lewis, Francesco LoCastro, Jason Maloney, Mars-1/Mario Martinez. Chris Mars, Dalek James Marshall, Dan May, Elizabeth McGrath, Jeff McMillan, Tara McPherson, Mia, David Molesky, Brendan Monroe, Scott Musgrove, Nathan Ota, Michael Page, Kevin Peterson, James Roper, Chris Ryniak, Bob Schneider, Todd Schorr, Greg Simkins, Skinner, Jeff Soto, Nathan Spoor, CR Stecyk III, Heidi Taillefer, Joe Vaux, Nicola Verlato, Oliver Vernon, Eric White, Robin Williams, Martin Wittfooth, Chandler Wood, Chet Zar
As (primarily) a photographer, this reminds me very much of the Pictorialist movement at the turn of the 19th century. As Wikipedia states:
ReplyDelete"Pictorialism largely subscribed to the idea that art photography needed to emulate the painting and etching of the time. Most of these pictures were black & white or sepia-toned. Among the methods used were soft focus, special filters and lens coatings, heavy manipulation in the darkroom, and exotic printing processes. ... The aim of such techniques was to achieve what the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica termed, in discussing Pictorialism, "personal artistic expression"."
You see, photography was still attempting to establish itself as having capability to be an 'artform', yet to do so it felt the need to emulate the aesthetics of painting; to alter the crisp reflections of the mark-making of light (photo-graphy) via each photographers' interpretation, a la organic and intentional ambiguities - oil on lenses, kicking tripods during exposure, etc.