Silkscreen + Social Space

Ikea Garment Performance

2009-05-01T07:54:00.000-07:00

This is my conceptual garment project. The male model posed as an ottoman in Ikea which matched a preexisting chair. The idea was derived from looking at the work of Allen Jones. I felt like offering something on the other end of that. But it seems to function more in relation to the Ikea environment alone. What do you think?

Screenprinting with dirt!

2009-04-29T18:17:00.000-07:00

I used a mosquito-screen from a window, some dirt, a piece of wood for squeegee, and the stencil was made from matt-board.

The stencil and the design is inspired by the crop-circle phenomenon in Europe and around the world. The crop-circles can be very complex and beautiful with geometric shapes. This phenomenon was brought to the bigscreen with Signs, with Mel Gibson. You can go to cropcircleconnector.com and look at some photos & info.

Keep your Art to Yourself?

2009-04-29T07:41:00.000-07:00

In our discussions about alternate audiences for art, one thing we've considered is the idea that "social space" can be an intimate, specific gesture or a broader one aimed at a more generalized audience. As Justine, Tim, and several others have figured out as their projects develop, creating work for "the public" can be tricky: just because an audience has visual access to the work doesn't mean that they will feel any less alienated or irritated by it than work in a gallery space. They may, in fact, find it more so.

Along these lines, I came across several recent news articles of interest: Turning Cities into Art Galleries points out the changing role and pertinent questions facing big-budget public art as it shifts from basic monuments and 'beautification' (a problematic term when dealing with any audience) toward more difficult and sometimes uncomfortable disruptions of the everyday. Though now a widely respected public monument, Maya Lin's famous Vietnam Veteran's Memorial was the focus of intense controversy among Vietnam vets in particular when it was first installed. Richard Serra's Federal Plaza Tilted Arc was not so fortunate. The $175,000 installation was eventually torn down due to intense public outcry. Eegh. (more on that story for those who are interested)

For those of you interested in street art, One Person's Vandalism is Another's Art defines some differences between traditional graffiti and more recent trends in street art, as well as some of the ways that the language of street art is being coopted by advertisers and even political campaigns... and more interestingly, the backlash against street art (and against street art-esque advertising) by other artists, leading back again to similar questions of audience. Should artists keep their art "to themselves," within sanctioned venues? Are there other, perhaps more interesting ways to engage the boundaries of place/space/audience? There are certainly worthwhile arguments both for and against this stance, and I'd be interested to hear your opinions.

Finally, I just learned that New York has recently adopted some of Chicago's stringent anti-graffiti laws, leading to crackdowns on such ephemeral incursions as sidewalk chalking (including this infamous case) as well as a ban on carrying spray paint and wedge-tip markers by people under 21.

Comments? Other links? Images? I'm curious to hear any of your thoughts on the topic, as well as some interesting examples of artists working with less generally "public" (i.e. more specific) approaches to audience, if you can find some.

BOOKMOBILE!!!!!!!

2009-04-28T21:42:00.000-07:00

Projet Mobilivre / Bookmobile Project is (was) a traveling exhibition featuring zines, artist books and a variety of independent publications. Working out of a vintage Airstream trailer, re-designed by the NY-based Freecell collective, this exhibition operated from 2001-2006. Combining independent media, grassroots political activism and community outreach, the exhibition travelled to sites throughout the US and Canada in an effort to move beyond the boundaries of tradional art circles and offer an alternative to the mainstream media. During the tours, volunteers collaborated with libraries, community centers and other host sites to present workshops, lectures and screenings to visitors from every conceivable background. Sadly, the Bookmobile held its final tour during the summer of 2006. Their website has since been dismantled, but the actual trailer seems to be on sale at this gallery. For further information, Ginger Brooks Takahashi (a volunteer) adds an interesting perspective in this article. Let's hope they bring this one back.

Community Connection

2009-04-20T06:31:00.000-07:00

Anna Callahan is a community-based artist who focuses on creating art in public spaces. Her work evolves from informal interviews she has with strangers that she encounters in a community—such as a university, library, and city transit system. The conversations are centered around a particular topic respective to those public spaces. She records all conversations and creates visual and aural installations, which includes printed materials and listening stations to invite people to listen to someone whom they would otherwise never meet.

2009-04-19T19:51:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from the class trip to Sonnenzimmer. Nadine and Nick were very interesting to speak with. Nick was especially entertaining, leaving me to ponder what it would be like to work with them (or watch them work). I really appreciated the honesty and enthusiasm with which they answered our questions and absolutely loved hanging out in their studio space with all that hardcore printing equiptment.

Felix Gonzalez Torres

2009-04-14T10:15:00.001-07:00

The big pile of candy laying on the floor of the Art Institute of Chicago, free for the taking was memorable in my childhood mind. I did not understand why it was art though. I was a bit disturbed to learn the meaning later- that this was Felix Gonzalez Torres' edible representation of his deceased lover, Ross. 175 pounds of candy to start off with- to represent Ross' weight, and then slowly whittled away by people like me, to demonstrate the wasting that occurs to a body affected by AIDS. In a twisted way, I was cannibalizing Ross and contributing to his death.

In 1996 the Cuban-born American artist would succumb to the same disease, six years after Ross had. Though he wasn't active on the art scene for long, his quiet introspective pieces have formed a lasting impression on his audience. His work can be seen as a meditation on his own mortality, relying on audience interaction, and dealing with the unsettling themes of loss, absence, and void.

Learn More about Torres

Harrell Fletcher

2009-04-09T08:29:00.000-07:00

Born in Santa Maria, California 1967
Lives and works in Portland, Oregon
Studied at San Francisco Art Institute (B.F.A., 1990) and California College of Arts and Crafts, (M.F.A., 1994)
For over ten years Fletcher has worked collaboratively and individually on interdisciplinary, site-specific projects exploring the dynamics of social spaces and communities. Along with this work he has developed a series of more personal and idiosyncratic pieces that take various forms - drawings, prints, writings, events, videos, and sculptural pieces. Fletcher embraces socialist ideas about the way we could live. He chooses to focus on subject matters that contains a participatory element or activist mentality. Relational aesthetics is a term used to describe works that are collective activities or art about social relationships. And engagement is at the core of relational aesthetics, and as Fletcher has said, it is "a requirement" for pieces to be successful.

The learning to love you more website requests the submission of life stories to learn about strangers and neighbors. The title of Learning to Love You More is meant that the love between the participants exists prior the assignments being posted. So its the "love" that drives the assignments in which creative actions take place, and communities organize together.

Assignment #9

Draw a constellation from someone's freckles.

Connect a series of freckles, moles and/or birthmarks on someone's body using a ball point pen. The shape that is formed can be abstract or representational. Draw this on someone else, not yourself.

ACCEPT THIS ASSIGNMENT
Every submission must include the following: NAME (as you'd like it to appear on the website) and LOCATION (where you are from). Submissions missing these details will not be posted.

D O C U M E N T A T I O N >
Take a close up picture of the freckle constellation you have drawn. Make sure the picture is in focus. Use the name of the person that you did the drawing on as the title for your piece, for example "Mandy's Arm Constellation." When you accept the assignment, please be sure to include your name and where you live.
Send us your work using either our UPLOAD PAGE or via emailEMAIL .

Sakevi Yokoyama

2009-04-09T05:32:00.000-07:00

Sakevi Yokoyama (19??-Present) has published little information about himself. He was most well known for a band represented by the acronym G.I.S.M. in the early 80's that functioned as a bristling social scraping of the fluffy 1980's sense of growth and whitewashing that covered up so much turbulent history. Borrowing imagery from Japan's period of alliance with Nazi Germany through the Japanese diaspora, bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and international sectarian violence of the 70's, Sakevi began winding a graphic identity of unrest and sickness. His live performances were done clad in military attire, balaclavas and brandished fists. He inspired violence at his shows and grew uneasy when the crowd was passive, so the band began to lash out further. Throwing mic stands, fighting the audience and eventually graduating to lashing a lit acetylene torch into the front rows of the theatre were his means of pulling any semblance of comfort out from the young demographic which attended his show. Other bands were inspired by his violence, such as Hanatarashi, fronted by Yamantanka Eye. Eye roadied for a fairly wild dystopian avante-guarde band called Einstürzende Neubauten. He borrowed elements of the avante-guarde performance with Sakevi's anti-glam-punk aesthetic and message of upheaval, literally driving a bulldozer through the stage and venue as the rest of the band and audience watched in terror.

Sakevi's art was not only performative, he was a fantastic printer and generated the image of G.I.S.M., shielding it from punk bootleggers by swearing physical harm to anyone copying his prints (which was backed up). Posters and flyers did not advertise necessarily the band, but the prevailing dictated anarchronistic and ahistorical fable of success Japan was exhibiting. Directing videos featuring his printed works interlaced with Vietnam War footage. A series of zines interviewing coroners, avante-guarde artists, terrorists, and Japanese hardcore bands.

He continued printing this after his label and the band G.I.S.M. stopped generating music. He created one solo work under the acronym "S.K.V." and then began his printing career under the title of "stlTH."

2009-04-07T13:27:00.000-07:00

Philip Matesic uses public space and social engagement in his work. He received his MFA in Studio Arts- Sculpture from UIC in 2008. Many of you probably know him, but if you haven't taken the time to do so it is definitely worth it to check out his website (just click his name it will take you there). It's interesting to see how he works with social space, and maybe looking at his work will spark some ideas for our class. If not, it's still worth it to take a look.

You Go Girl!

2009-04-06T18:49:00.001-07:00

The Women of Pink Bloque

Pink Bloque is a collaboration of women from Chicago who use public space and performance to engage their audience. They encourage people to dance along with them in an effort to illuminate their causes that range from anti-war protests to rape awareness. These women use the print medium, such as flyers and banners, to aid their visual performances. The flyers have informatioin reguarding the issues they are protesting and provide a residual multiple for people to remember them by. They use multiples in this way and in the manner of their performances, as the group is made up of about 20 or more women at any given time. By using sounds, images and language of contemporary popular culture, Pink Bloque attempts to redefine and femminize protest in the 21st century.

First Place!!! YAYYY!!

2009-03-31T20:14:00.000-07:00

Guys, Im super super happy! I won first place in the Loyola Bling competition for my piece, "Survive in Style" Wow, i never really won anything before. Especially in art. Im ecstatic! On a more serious note, I intend to continue with idea and theme. I am planning on making a series of not only blinged out gas masks but other war equitment and survival equitment. I feel like this is the start of something that I can truley be passionate about. In your face Loyola!! Go Flames!

2009-03-30T14:39:00.000-07:00

So I was watching Color Splash on HGTV the other day and they went to this place that hand printed wallpaper. It was really amazing how beautiful and perfect each strip of wallpaper was printed as well as the many number of layers they used. They even quickly showed the process on the show. The wallpaper printers did each print with silk screen and all by hand, no giant machines doing any of the work, it was amazing! I was very impressed. This image in the exact print they were printing. :)

Murals in BK

2009-03-28T14:23:00.000-07:00

Some stuff we came across while we were in Brooklyn last week

Also my pals that live in Humbolt Park make their apartment into an exhibition space 4 times a year. Basically everything in their house is screenprinted, they use their bathtub to rinse screens and such. Next time there's a show I would check it out.. Humbolt Exhibition

2009-03-21T21:35:00.000-07:00

Do you want to look like them?

What are you waiting for? Transform yourself into a Julian Opie piece, go to http://www.designandtech.com/fotoshop/tutorials/julianopie/julian_opie_tutorial.htm and do the whole tutorial then post your picture on the blog!!! Have fun... also if your interested in more of his work this video is pretty cool it explains the process to some of his most recent work. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8c1HFMp3T0

2009-03-19T00:29:00.000-07:00

While doing research for a bread-making project I had been working on recently (creating sourdough bread from a starter which included samples of my own vaginal yeast), I stumbled upon the work of Kittiwat Unarrom, an artist who creates body parts out of bread. I was interested in the implications of the human body providing food for itself, and though this is more figurative than my approach, the shock value of the work is undeniable. This Thai artist has been producing these gruesome looking works out of his family's bakery, making it a local attraction.

The work can be interpreted in a myriad of directions from political statements to religion to the desire or repulsion stemming from the idea of cannibalism.

His work is fully edible, and reportedly tastes like normal bread, though even with that knowledge, I wonder how many can work up the nerve to eat it?

Survive In Style

2009-03-15T13:53:00.000-07:00

Remember that post from the beginning of the semester? The call for bling? Well I entered that competition, and heres what I made. Its a blinged out gas mask, i titled "Survive in Style". The money sign eyes are spinners, so you could spin them around.

Philip Matesic Demands Your Attention...

2009-03-12T19:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I do anyway . . . through him. I took Sculpture I with Philip Matesic last spring and found several of his pieces that fit in pretty well with what we've been doing this semester. While there isn't a whole lot that's print-related, most of his work addresses social space and interaction. A couple of my favorites are titled "Stop Carrying Out Your Intentions and Watch for My Signals" and "I Wish To Communicate with You". For these, Philip constructed two shelters based on images from the International Code (a series of flags used for communication between mariners), installed them at various beaches in Denmark and let his audience do the rest. Not a bad way to spend a day at the beach. Click here to check out more of his work.

Dog Poo Graffiti

2009-03-10T16:24:00.000-07:00

It sounds gross. What it really is, is someone sprayed over all the dog poo that wasnt picked up on his or her street. Its crazy how many dog droppings there actually are on that block. I imagine this intersting graffiti will drastically cut down the amount of people who dont clean up after their dogs.

2009-03-05T13:58:00.000-08:00

Visiting the Three Walls gallery was really cool. I think my favorite part was the t-shirt printing! I was in awe of how many shirts there were, it must have taken them a really long time to make all the shirts. What I found most interesting was the range in craft. Some of the shirts were PERFECT, as I closely inspected some of them I did not see one printing flaw! I was in awe. But as I continued to walk around the walls of hanging shirt I started to see that the craft tended to vary, and some had some printing mistakes. But overall the shirts were really great, my favorite one was Rabbit Season and Duck Season, I wanted one! I even read the description, but didn't quite understand the reference to the election. In general I really enjoyed all three of the exhibits!

Tract House at ThreeWalls

2009-03-05T13:14:00.000-08:00

There are three shows at the Three Walls gallery. Holle Cambodia, Dispatch, and Tract House. Each is shown in a seperate room throughout the gallery. My favorite was the Tract House. In the back room there is a large table filled with zines of all sizes, colors, and content. I picked up one of each zine and read each one. It was intimidating at first, I honestly did not think i would gt through reading them all like i told myself to, but luckily I have a long train ride home. I ended up liking a lot of the reads. They ranged from promoting minamalist lifestyles, to religion, to cooking tips. Some of them were quite funny. The illustrations were interesting; politicians' heads on dinosaur bodies, greek gods, rolie polie men, and women from the fifties. I thought the most interesting part of this display was how the working was handed out. in class, we were to take our zines with a predetermined audience and disperse them, here, the artists (as written on the wall) are asking us to take these and do what we please with them, letting us pick and chose an audience for them.

If you get the chance, pick up these zines and read them. It may take some time, but they are all very interesting, and i am sure with each one you read, you will think of a possible person to pass it off to as an audience.

2009-03-04T20:11:00.000-08:00

I picked this up at the coffee shop near my house. I thought it may be interesting to check out since we have done some stencil work in class.
I actually tried to go an see the exhibit this afternoon, but it was closed due to the owners being out of town. The man working there said the best day to stop by would be Saturday between noon and four pm. I peeked through the window and it all seemed like very interesting work, I would like to see it up close and encourage everyone to go down and check it out.
It's located on Chicago near Damen at 1953-55 W. Chicago Ave. It's attached to Rotofugi the designer toy store.
If you can't read what the flier says, the featured artists are Johnathan Wakuda Fischer, David Soukup, and Peat Wollager.
I plan on visiting soon. Oh, and the toy store is worth stopping in too.

laser-etched monoprints!

2009-03-03T22:59:00.000-08:00

First: no I don't know how to do it. I looked around and couldn't find anything.

Second: these were made by Damion Silver. I found this looking around this amazing blog called booooooom. There are multiple updates everyday with everything from photos to laser-etched monoprints. All posts are of different artists and most of them are very good.

so i found these on my local trees...

2009-03-02T19:51:00.000-08:00

this is a Knit Down the Block Project. I guess they had to put up signs so the village wouldn't pull down their tree sweaters but for a long time they seemed to be anonymous. i just thought this was a really neat idea of art in social places.

Multimedia Printmedia Show!

2009-02-26T11:23:00.001-08:00

Slightly further afield than Threewalls, perhaps, but I highly recommend making the trip to Hyde Park to see screenprinting (not to mention a rich array of other printmedia) taken to new heights at the Hyde Park Arts Center:

East coast style meets Midwest sensibility in Broad Shoulders and Brotherly Love, a group exhibition of print-based works sampling the archives of two of the most highly respected national non-profit organizations dedicated to innovative techniques and concepts in print media. Both Anchor Graphics (Chicago) and Philagrafika (Philadelphia) selected an outstanding variety of work from the other’s residency program or invitational portfolio collection. This exhibition is held in conjunction with Global Implications, the 2009 Southern Graphics Council Conference happening March 25-29, 2009 at Columbia College Chicago.

Digital, silkscreen, and woodcut prints, lithographs, engravings, linocut collages, printed paper constructions, and smoked paper prints presented in this show demonstrate the experimental trends in printmaking today.

Clothing Project

2009-02-25T16:48:00.000-08:00

Screen-printing these took a really long time to get each print looking good 4 times on the pants and twice on the shirts! I have so many extra reject cat clothes. I was a little nervous for this project, not because I was embarrassed but because I was 60% positive I was about to get arrested at, or banned permanently from at least 3 locations within a mile radius of my home. Luckily, we left all of our I.D's in the car, and we are all very fast runners if a situation came when the Harper Police or security would have attempted to catch us. We were not caught, but we made no friends that day, except for one guy who agreed to be in the movie. He was nice, but very confused. I think I am very pleased with the documentation and project.

2009-02-20T06:46:00.000-08:00

"You thought we wouldn't notice" is a blog that anyone can post to. The site is dedicated to pointing out imagines/website/artwork/designs, etc. that give you the feeling of "haven't I seen that somewhere before?"

Public Zines, Political Tees, and Activist Artist's Books at ThreeWalls!

2009-02-19T08:27:00.000-08:00

Hi all,
Be sure to visit ThreeWalls in the nearby gallery district at Peoria and Randolph to see three interrelated shows that are completely relevant to the themes we've been exploring this semester.

Here's their press release info:

Holle Cambodia is the first in-depth exhibition of the innovative self-publishing effort undertaken by Anne Elizabeth Moore in Phnom Penh. Featuring the group’s zines on topics as diverse as agriculture, women’s issues, spirituality, education, health care, and the country’s unique and disturbing genocidal history, the show will also house the international debut of the collaborative book New Girl Law, a rewrite of a traditional Khmer text that prescribes proper girl behavior. New Girl Law is a hand-bound, letter-pressed demand for human rights and a captivating vision of Cambodia. (Find out more at http://camblogdia.blogspot.com.)

Grass roots campaigning was the buzz word for the Obama election in a cultural climate where DIY, craft and micro-industry are once again popular as a labor-movement. Dispatch, in the back gallery, is an exhibition of DIY political T-shirts submitted by citizens around the country, made by both professional and non-professional artists and designers. The latest election inspired an unprecedented number of DIY political T-shirts, worn, given away and sold. Dispatch draws attention to how artwork and micro-industry became an important form of participation in a millennial political process where capitalist style branding and grass-roots were not-so-strange bedfellows.

The Tract House is a 'spread the word' project by artist Lisa Anne Auerbach in collaboration with graphic design by Roman Jester. While most popular tracts are religious, The Tract House are nearly everything else: manifestos, diatribes, stories, rants, poems and lyrics, personal, professional, political, domestic, local and global. Visitors to threewalls are encouraged to peruse the many tracts and take home what they wish as well as visiting The Tract House website to print the tracts on their home printers. The tracts can be treasured or passed on, crumpled in disgust or venerated, folded up and put through the laundry, or left on a car windshield.

Check out these shows and let us know what you think. The opening reception is from 6-9pm this Friday, February 20th and will remain on view through March 27.

Art when U least expect it...

2009-02-12T17:34:00.000-08:00

This work is from a photographer that goes by JR. He spent last year photographing victimized women in Africa. He then made massive poster size prints which he plastered illegally in places you would least expect(like buildings,bridges, and beyond!) The idea says JR is to celebrate the strength and courage of women who live in places where they are often targets in wartime,and discriminated against in times of peace.When I saw his work I was simply amazed by the size and the meaning behind of what he does. His work is definitely relevant to the class, so enjoy, get inspired, and look up more of his work! (www.jr-art.net)

Fairey Trouble

2009-02-07T17:03:00.001-08:00

Since we're a.) creating work for public spaces and b.) occasionally borrowing images from popular culture as part of our work for the class, I thought this news item might be of interest:

Shepard Fairey, the street artist now famous for his Obama graphics (and previously for his OBEY stencil / sticker campaign) has been caught up in a lot of trouble recently: first for copyright infringement - the image he used to create his presidential posters was directly lifted from the work of a photographer for the Associated Press. Then he was arrested for tagging on his way to his solo exhibition at Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art this week. Read all about it HERE.

Shepard's case raises some important questions: as the internet makes images more accessible and borrowable than ever, where should we draw the line between appropriation and theft of another person's artwork? What's the difference between "street art" and vandalism of private property? Post your comments below.

BLU

2009-02-05T10:17:00.000-08:00

Has anybody seen THIS before? Because I haven't and when I did it blew my mind. It's not screen-printing but it's site-specific. I thought since it was made in a public space it would be relevant to the class.

Yups! Light switch printing!

2009-02-01T20:55:00.000-08:00

I stumbled this. Its a step by step process of how to print on a light switch cover. At first I thought it was boring because the design on it is kinda blah, but then I got to thinking i could pring a face on there and have the switch be his nose. Cool right? Dont steal it.

Eating your art

2009-02-01T08:06:00.000-08:00

I have no idea what is going on but it seems this is French and they're printing images on food.

Anab & Chienpo - serigraphie sur crêpes
by elshopo1

Here is a text-only article on printing with, or onto, chocolate.

Here is a walkthrough with pictures on how to screenprint, stencil, and laser engrave your pancakes.

-Matt

Mike Dengler For President!

2009-01-29T18:20:00.000-08:00

I conducted some interviews during a rally I hosted for my project "Mike Dengler for President". We used signs t-shirts and sweatshirts that I screen-printed. Here are the two best interviews!

Call for Bling

2009-01-27T13:56:00.000-08:00

Looking for a theme to explore with your screenprinting in public places? Loyola is hosting a juried exhibition of work by undergrad artists from all across Chicagoland that's all about the bling. Sounds like it might be time to print up some diamond studded pants and flaunt your cardboard gold chains to the world!

Here's their official invite:
Need to put those grillz, diamond studded shoes, and solid gold eyewear to use again? Undergrads from schools in the Chicago area are invited to submit works, in any medium, to BLING: Student Art Competition.

On the opening night of the gallery, the works will be judged by three local art personalities. The winner will be chosen by the quality of the art, showing the best BLING theme. DEADLINES FOR ENTRIES: FEBRUARY 23rd

BLING: Student Art Competition will run from March 27 - April 17 at The Loyola University Chicago Crown Center Gallery.

For more info, or to enter this intercollegiate competition click HERE.

Welcome to Silkscreen + Social Space!

2009-01-06T11:44:00.000-08:00

This blog is a space where you can find resources and suggestions, show and tell us about your site-specific adventures, and share links and artist images for others interested in the topics of printmedia and alternative art audiences. I also highly recommend checking out the resource links and posts from previous classes and other artists in the archives. If you want to post video as well as still images, this can be done through both Blogger and YouTube, which allows you to copy and paste their code into any blog posting. Have fun, and check back soon.

Final: Dumb Audio #1

2009-01-01T17:26:00.000-08:00

Clark
Dumb Audio
11x17 bond, 50lb drawing paper for stenciling, green ink
8.5x11 final dimensions
Zine focused on analog/digital works, future of A/V, and applications in contemporary art and music.

Available for purchase at Reckless Records, mailorder from Reckless Records. Photo is from Lifeline Records' Burning Fight pre-show with Converge, Hope Conspiracy, Disnihil, Poison Planet, Indecision, Wait in Vain, and Boiling Over.

Consume!

2008-12-19T16:52:00.000-08:00

Consume is an online project created by a design student at the Ringling School of Art and Design in Florida featuring milk carton culture-jamming tutorials, minizines, and printable posters for everybody to enjoy. Thanks to designer and professor Allen Harrison for inspiring and sharing his student's work.

Paper food exchange

2008-11-22T15:42:00.000-08:00

Lori Waxman recently told me about an interesting public printmedia project at the Sharjah Biennale: Thai art collective SOI Project created a fruit stand stocked with real fruit and printed paper models of fruit. Visitors to the stand could cut and fold their own paper fruit, which in turn could be exchanged for a piece of real fruit.

Flatstock!

2008-07-22T09:02:00.000-07:00

Anyone interested in the world of poster-printing as a creative business venture should know about Flatstock, a major exhibition/sales fair of rock poster art and related creative printing from across the country and abroad. The show, which is presented by the American Poster Institute, takes place at several large music festivals every year. This July Flatstock 17 took over a main artery of the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago with all sorts of gorgeous multi-screen prints. Showgoers could buy by Chicago favorites Jay Ryan, Mat Daly, Alana Bailey, and Dan MacAdam of Crosshair, as well as tons of other printers from across the country. Flatstock 18 and 19 will take place in Seattle, WA and Hamburg, Germany this August and September. Even if you're not interested in poster-making per-se, it's pretty graphically gratifying just to soak up the incredible ways these artists use color, texture, line, pattern, transparent layers, etc. etc. The music was great and all, but I think the astounding display of accessible, affordable, interesting prints was one of the most interesting part of the festival.

Art In Odd Places

2008-05-29T17:04:00.000-07:00

Call for Entries:
In October 2008, the fourth annual Art in Odd Places (AiOP), Pedestrian will take place on 14th Street in Manhattan NYC: the great divider of uptown and downtown / highbrow and lowbrow. From the East River to the Hudson River, artists of all mediums will encourage the masses of daily pedestrians to rediscover this corridor of diverse commerce, political upheaval, and historic significance.

AiOP seeks proposals from visual and performing artists of all media who are interested in exploring connections between public space, pedestrian traffic, and ephemeral transient disruptions. DEADLINE FOR PROJECT SUBMISSION IS MAY 30.

In any event, you may want to check out examples from past AiOP festivals. Gumball-machine galleries, winking coins, and so much more! Visit the AiOP website for submission guidelines and images of past projects.

Contemporary Art + the Gap?

2008-05-20T15:21:00.000-07:00

In an interesting twist on the whole artist-designed-tee phenomenon, a certain fashion chain has partnered with the Whitney Museum of Art in NY to create a series of limited-edition t-shirts designed by highly regarded contemporary artists including Sarah Sze, Jeff Koons, Kiki Smith, and a few socially-conscious ones like Glenn Ligon, Barbara Kruger, Rirkrit Tiravanija, and (gasp) my former grad school advisor, Kerry James Marshall. On the one hand one could see this as a way of expanding artistic ideas and practices to the masses -- making contemporary art more accessible and maybe even provoking dialogue at the mall! On the other hand, very few of these shirts operate as anything other than cool-looking hipster gear -- Cai Guo Qiang's wound/stain/explosion shirt stands out as an exception -- and I wonder what percentage of those buying these limited-edition shirts are those already well-versed in the art. I've got nothing against artist-designed consumer items, especially when they're as lovely as some of these are. I'm just a bit disappointed that so few of these artists took the opportunity to push the envelope in terms of how such a thing might operate in the world.

Art in your Trash Can

2008-05-06T12:35:00.000-07:00

Check out this site-specific sticker campaign from a homeless shelter in Portugal. Found recently on Guerrilla Innovation.

Amy Walsh- sculpture/silkscreen hybrid

2008-05-05T22:02:00.000-07:00

So I came across this article floating around the internet-

http://www.roadsidescholar.com/2008/02/07/lets-chat-amy-walsh-silkscreens-sculpture/

It's an interview with artist Amy Walsh, and has a very unique way with her art. She uses silkscreen in her sculptures. I like how the sculptures are interactive and sort of form into a public space all by itself. It's demanding presence, seems like it would make you want to go look inside it. And with examination, you find all these silkscreened goodies inside! Kind of reminds me of some of the more simplistic, but very elegant stencils that some of my classmates did...

Laser Lite Graffiti

2008-05-04T20:14:00.000-07:00

In one of my history classes a teacher showed us this form of Graffiti, i had never seen or heard of before i thought it was really interesting. It's called Laser Light Graffiti. It's obviously not permanent, but it allows the Graffiti to be placed on a much larger scale. It's also not damaging or degrading. I think it's pretty sweet.

You can find more information at Graffiti Research Labs.

There is also a youtube video which demonstrates the performance.

Shoes + Graffiti Art

2008-05-04T12:19:00.000-07:00

This from Justin, who's been having technical difficulties accessing the blog:

One thing I found interesting is that Barry McGee is designing shoes. What does it mean when a graffiti artist goes from the street to the gallery to the shoe store? Does that mean that the art world is recognizing street art as a viable art form or that graffiti is a passing fad like neon spandex that will become highly commercial for a couple of years and then fade out along with roller-blades and slap-bracelets? So then is Barry McGee a legitimate artist blurring the lines between street art, high art and fashion or is he just some guy trying to grab whatever money people will throw at him?

W-K Mart

2008-05-02T14:30:00.000-07:00

I wanted to let the class and public know that the video of my receipt performances in Wal-Mart, Kmart, and my apartment are now posted on YouTube.

JOB WELL DONE!

2008-05-02T13:47:00.000-07:00

From the City of Chicago's Website:

Mayor Daley's Graffiti Blasters

"Graffiti is vandalism, it scars the community, hurts property values and diminishes our quality of life.

Started by Mayor Daley in 1993, Graffiti Blasters stepped up the battle against graffiti by offering a free removal service to private property owners. The Department of Streets & Sanitation's crews remove this vandalism with "blast" trucks or paint crews.

Graffiti Blasters employs 18 "blast" trucks that use baking soda under high water pressure to erase painted graffiti from brick, stone and other mineral surfaces. They also use 14 paint trucks to cover graffiti on the remaining surfaces.

This year, "Graffiti Blasters" is celebrating its 15h anniversary and has cleaned more than 1.6 million instances of graffiti vandalism. It has become one of the most popular municipal services offered by the City of Chicago, and a role model for other cities.

As with the City's many anti-crime and beautification programs, we depend on community groups, block clubs, chambers of commerce and individual residents to reach out to us for this invaluable service. If a cleaned building is struck again, we make every effort to return and remove the new graffiti quickly.

The Department of Street & Sanitation also works very closely with the Chicago Police Department to apprehend graffiti vandals in the act of defacing property. Parents or guardians may be liable for monetary damages, if a minor in the same household commits any type of vandalism, including graffiti.

No community in Chicago has to tolerate graffiti. Please join us in eliminating graffiti and making this an even more beautiful city.

To report graffiti or request its removal, call the city's service request line at 3-1-1."

collage

2008-05-01T09:03:00.000-07:00

Go to www.fecalface.com I came across Alexis Mackenzie's work the other day. there is a video of the artist making a collage. at the end of it its played in fast motion and you really get a clear picture of how intricate and multilayered her collages are. She uses crystals and feathers.

Falling Teeth Dream Pillows

2008-04-29T21:53:00.000-07:00

I am interested in how something intimate like a dream can be so socially experienced. So as my final project I created four dream pillows. The "Falling teeth" dream is one of the most common and vivid dreams among dreamers. I did a little research and discovered multiple interpretations. It was some what difficult to create imagery for the three interpretations that I chose to print. (The three meanings are death, money, and lack of attractiveness and confidence.) It takes a while to grasp the imagery but I think that in the long run it is successful because, just like a dream, it its hard to decipher at first glance but they definitely give you something to think about. So any thoughts?

History of the Zine lecture

2008-04-28T15:16:00.000-07:00

Hey all,
As part of Anchor Graphics' Scraping the Surface series, Craig Jobson will be giving a lecture on the History and Culture of the Zine, and will discuss his own work as designer and publisher of several diy magazines this Wednesday, April 30th from 6:30 - 7:30pm.

The discussion will take place at:
Columbia College Chicago
623 S. Wabash Ave. Room 203
It is free and open to the public.

2008-04-28T12:55:00.000-07:00

Check out more pictures from my Postcard Project at http://postcardart08.blogspot.com/

2008-04-28T12:25:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone.

I wanted to give you all the link to my project blog: http://www.michaelaprojects.blogspot.com/

I invite you all to visit and comment if you like. There isn't much there yet, but I'm hoping to get some more responses. I passed my booklets out to people around campus and left some at Quimby's and Myopic books, so hopefully some curious individuals will pick them up. Here is an image of one person's take on their deity. You can read more about what it means on my blog!

Elementary

2008-04-26T15:23:00.000-07:00

I had been meaning to post my midterm project to get some feedback and ideas from others. I was interested in the idea of relationships in all its aspects ie. love, sex, and communication. Showing all these in a simple form was the man idea. When I was done with the project it seemed to work more on the sex level, which I think worked out better. I heard someone say, "that's dirty." I was interested to see if other people had ideas on how to improve or continue the idea. Some ideas from the critique were to shoot photos of a couple in the kitchen, restaurant, and other places. Then again maybe it works as it stands.

Look @ This

2008-04-20T11:46:00.000-07:00

Found this interesting because they incorporated paintings. the artists are Pamela Lanza, Ellie Barrett Wilder, Glenn Hirsh, Michael Lewis, Nena St. Lewis. http://www.artbusiness.com/1open/111007.html

L.A.S.E.R. Tagging

2008-04-18T21:14:00.001-07:00

I found this article in Time magazine online and was shocked to learn that technology like this existed. It is exciting and I think it could become a new tactic for street artists although it is super expensive currently. I am interested in it as more of a tool to create imagery and its language being read differently than that of stencils rather than a politically charged tool. Has anyone ever heard of this or know anything more about it?-Kristen

The west wall of Hong Kong's City Hall is the kind of canvas graffiti artists long for. Unsullied and several stories high, its white surface can be seen from some of the city's busiest roads. It has never been "tagged" — to use graffiti parlance — but that doesn't deter local artist MC Yan, who is famous for having left his work on, of all places, the Great Wall.

On a breezy November night, Yan etches Chinese characters across most of the side of City Hall. They read "Save Queen's Pier" (an ironic appeal on behalf of a now demolished landmark), and the reason he can write them with impunity is because they are drawn using a laser pointer in high-intensity light — not spray paint. By standing on the roof of a parking lot across the street, he also avoids any danger of trespassing. When he's done, Yan erases the words by clicking a button on the laser pointer, connected to a laptop and projector at his feet. He then moves on to tag other prominent buildings, including the city's Cultural Centre.
The system used by MC Yan is known as L.A.S.E.R. Tag and is a creation of the Graffiti Research Lab (GRL), a New York City art group founded in 2005 to outfit the world's street artists with innovative, open-source technology. Given that L.A.S.E.R. Tag can be operated from hundreds of feet away, the opportunities for subversion are tantalizing. A message can be written on the face of a major public building and the perpetrators long gone before the authorities pinpoint where the laser came from. In a more everyday context, L.A.S.E.R. Tag's ability to allow artists to get their messages across without any permanent defacement of buildings may well increase public support for the art form. And ultimately, it is graffiti for a tech-savvy generation. "Kids these days are born with a computer strapped to their fingers," says GRL co-founder James Powderly, who formerly worked in space robotics but has always been obsessed with graffiti. "We see ourselves as Q, from James Bond, but we don't want just to show this new stuff, we want to implant it."
Along with co-founder Evan Roth, Powderly taught classes at New York's Parsons School of Design and over the past year they have showcased the laser technology in Mexico City, Barcelona, Amsterdam and Vienna. Last month they showed up at a Taipei conference on new media and left behind equipment as a gift for a local graffiti group. Next summer, Powderly and Roth will travel to Beijing,
In fact, the technology has already been demonstrated in the Chinese capital. New York–based Paul Notzold recently traveled to Beijing where he used L.A.S.E.R. Tag to create a kind of performance art, encouraging pedestrians to send text messages to a central phone hooked up to his laptop. The text messages were then projected onto the Millennium Art Museum. "I was tentative about putting up unsanctioned messages on buildings, because of the government," Notzold says. "There were your typical radio shout-outs, and there were also some statements that could be kind of activist protest statements." The event took place without incident.
Traditional graffiti is in no danger of being outmoded anytime soon, however. While L.A.S.E.R. Tag technology is getting cheaper, it's not cheap. The complete setup costs $8,000 — that's $7,993 more than a can of spray paint from a typical U.S. hardware chain. Jay FC, one of the founders of the Hong Kong–based graffiti collective ST/ART, maintains that the cost is contrary to the spirit of street art. "It's supposed to just be something that anyone can pick up and do," he says.
For now, Roth and Powderly must be content with loaning and donating L.A.S.E.R. Tag equipment, and they are finding a particularly enthusiastic reception in Asia. "Technology has a very different meaning in China, in Korea," says Marc Schiller of popular street-art website Wooster Collective. Schiller sees L.A.S.E.R. Tag as standing in the tradition of such pioneering new-media artists as the late Korean-born Nam June Paik. "[In Asia] it's not thought of as incompatible or separate from art," he says.
U.S. media lecturer Alice Arnold argues that if lighting-based expression has a real source, it's Hong Kong, because the city "has always been at the forefront of light signage." But there's just one snag: light pollution. Compared to Hong Kong's extravagantly lit skyscrapers, MC Yan's tags don't stand out as intensely as they should, no matter how big they are. "In New York we can be the brightest thing in town," says Powderly. "In Hong Kong, we've never felt like we were losing so badly." Perhaps his next project should be a system that works in daylight instead.

2008-03-15T10:43:00.000-07:00

Here are some links to the work of Kelley Walker. I don't like his work that much, but Charles Saatchi does. I have been looking at similar topics with my work. Also here is a wikipedia article on reflexivity.

I used to get hung up on consumerism too (like a lot of people in this class seem to be), but not so much these days. Just consume what you like.

(posted by Adam)

When silkscreening becomes consumerized

2008-03-14T20:26:00.000-07:00

We talk a lot about how art works in the social sphere and how it changes when it becomes consumerized. These are images from the website:

http://www.dobi.nu/fullbleed/

Although commonly sold in specialty stores, these t-shirts are often considered to be art in the social space. I'm sure that there are those who would disagree, but it would be interesting to identify exactly when an artwork starts to lose its identity as it becomes more popular.

Roadkill

2008-03-14T10:39:00.000-07:00

My original idea for my final multiples project was to screenprint chalk outlines of animals to put in the street to call some attention to roadkill. I thought it would be an interesting comment on the difference in activation of space between roadkill and a chalk outline of a human in the street, or the difference in value placed on human deaths vs. animal deaths. Then Christa pointed out that this project didn't really require a repeated multiple, nor did it require silkscreening at all--why wouldn't I just draw the outlines in the street? She was right. Anyway, after some googling, I found that it had been done before. This one's kind of funny:

I decided to stick with street or ground space for the final even though I gave up on the roadkill idea. I made prints of the bottoms of my feet and tracked my existence around Evanston. I only attached the newsprint to the ground using water, and when I went back the next day, the prints were mostly gone, which I had expected--the effect mimics my own disappearance from Evanston.

An interesting unexpected effect was that the ink from the prints got on the bottoms of people's shoes and, when I went back to check on my sites, I found that some of them were gone but had new ones in place. They looked like this:

Graffiti in the Not-So-Social Space

2008-03-11T06:23:00.000-07:00

I may have been up on a floor of a campus building that I'm not supposed to be on and saw this image. I instantly liked it for the message and the execution, and I was glad that I had stumbled upon it in the manner that I had.

But it made me wonder: this image is technically in the social space, but it's limited to a very select group of people who get to see it. How does this change it's meaning and what would be different if everyone could have access?

Evanston Ordinance ###-##

2008-03-10T21:51:00.000-07:00

Since January, there has been a large debate in Evanston about passing an ordinance which would restrict landlords and city officials to inquire about a tenant's citizenship status when signing a lease to rent in Evanston. City Counsel has been unwilling to recognize this as a pressing issue that needs to be addressed any time soon. At a town hall meeting last Wednesday, the issue was not recognized by the counsel although community supporters were present. They were merely advised to write to their alderman.

Abc News7 covered the story a few months ago, when the issue was 'fresh', reporting for both sides. The video can be seen here: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=5886129

My final project was a comment on this issue, using a little bit of satire and humor. I did a "composite sketch" of four famous latino actors/singers. The faces of Ricky Martin, Enrique Iglesias, Gael Garcia-Bernal, and Mario Lopez are meshed together (a la Photoshop) to form this 'typical Latino' face who is wanted by the FBI because he attempted to illegally rent in Evanston. Just as in rough composite sketches in real Wanted Posters, I wanted to play off the idea of how social constructs define the features which make one stereotypically latino.

I posted 38 flyers in downtown Evanston and Northwestern, but especially around apartment complexes. Take a look, and tell me what you think!

Bed Bug Project

2008-03-10T21:23:00.000-07:00

Long story short, my apartment had a bed bug problem earlier this year. Most people don't know much, if anything about bed bugs, but they're a growing problem in cities, so I decided to address this in my final project. I'm working on a collaborative piece with an online community of bed bug victims at bedbugger.com.

I was inspired by hobo symbols and wanted to create a image to tag infested buildings (like mine) to warn people away, but also to serve as a sign of solidarity among fellow sufferers of bug trauma and raise awareness of the problem.

Check it out at this link, which has more pictures and a detailed description of my goals and process.

if anyone has also had bed bugs and would like to become a part of the project, please email me at d.nafis@gmail.com for further information

(posted by Debi. I can't figure out how to turn off my Blogger username)

Make Me Nervous Dot Com

2008-03-06T16:12:00.000-08:00

In regard to our first project of creating a zine, I came up with an advertisement for my (at the time, very empty) blog. I started off with a few general ideas, but eventually landed on the concept of mimicking pull-tab flyers which are often used to advertise dog-walking or places for rent. I decided to post these mainly where I saw other pull-tab flyers, but also on other telephone posts and bus stop areas. I enabled comments and hope to eventually see some from people other than my friends. I also plan to distribute more flyers throughout the next few months.

Lately, in my own work, I have been very interested in the drawings/doodles I create in the margins of all my notebooks--sometimes without even realizing it. In my paintings I find myself constantly reiterating every detail from my photographic or observational references. Just like anyone else who doodles, I let myself fall into a completely different zone. Creating these shapes and creatures almost from my subconscious, and yet I also notice that even when I am simply scratching away at a tiny corner of my notebook, I manage to include even the slightest of details.

For the past few months I have been trying to incorporate the stylistic elements of my "doodles" and place them in areas other than scraps. So after finishing the design for my flyer, I started a sketchbook with the intention of drawing in it at least once a day and then updating my blog each time a new image developed. Though I eventually let go and included digital sketches and ideas for other projects, I still hope to maintain the website as a public sketchbook and an on-going project to motivate myself and my work.

Chris Tavares Silva

2008-03-06T14:50:00.000-08:00

Though Christa has already posted a link under "ARTISTS" I wanted to reintroduce everyone to a Chicago-based artist named Chris Silva.

Rather than only using spray paint or silk-screen, Silva uses found objects and shapes them into eye-catching installations by either literally cutting into and around the surface and/or painting directly onto them with enamel. I was first acquainted with his work in the fall of '06 and have maintained an interest in his media. I find it intriguing that he puts a lot of time and detail into his work on these objects that people had originally thrown out and then gives them back to the community. What I also love is his attention to the material and location where he presents his work and how they affect his translation of what colors to use and objects or people to place in these particular locations.

Under Silva's artist statement he says:
"I believe that collective consciousness is infinitely more important than that of individual intellect. For this reason, I am most interested in the interventions of public art. It is my goal to find more ways to expose the general public to art that they can relate to and be inspired by. I want to create progressive, quality public artworks as visual alternatives to the manipulative energies of advertising in public spaces. My goal is to push the envelope of the public art movement by producing work that uses engaging combinations of materials and content to encourage the perceptual and spiritual evolution of the general public.

I am saddened by the cruelty, ignorance and greed of humans. My priority as an artist is not to receive accolades and praise for my talents, but rather to inspire others to help to create a just and meaningful world."

A couple questions I want to ask are do you think this is a successful and affective way to distribute art? Does the fact that most of his work can be easily removed add or retract from his goal? And just like questions brought up in class about Swoon, how does the idea of moving street art into an interior installation work for or against his purpose?

"Jobs not Jails" - Homeboy Industries

2008-03-06T07:51:00.000-08:00

I am very interested in the "social" aspect of silkscreen. In the context of the class, that means interacting with work outside of the gallery space or the typical "art world." After some creative googling, I came across a different meaning of "social silkscreen."

I was very excited to learn about Homeboy Industries, headquartered in Los Angeles. It was started in 1992 by Father Gregory J. Boyle, a Jesuit Priest, to create businesses that provide training, work experience, and above all, the opportunity for rival gang members to work side by side. Other economic enterprises have been created since the first venture, including Homeboy Bakery, Homeboy Silkscreen, Homeboy/Homegirl Merchandise, Homeboy Graffiti Removal, Homeboy Maintenance, and Homeboy Landscaping.

Homeboy Silkscreen was started in 1996, and is currently the largest division of Homeboy Industries. It has employed nearly 500 gang members who have learned the fundamentals of silkscreening while developing a work ethic working side by side with their enemies. State-of-the-art silkscreening and embroidery techniques are used to create custom clothing and accessories for a variety of schools, churches, private companies, and city organizations.

Take a look at the Homeboy Industries Web site at http://www.homeboy-industries.org/index.php

New World Order Stencils

2008-03-05T22:11:00.000-08:00

For my stencil project, I decided to relate it to the Freemasons and the Illuminati—secret related groups that have a lot of conspiracy (true or not?) behind them and supposed satanism. I chose four stencils: the symbol of the Masons (compass and ruler), the all-seeing eye (found on money), the words "New World Order" and the number 13 (number of the Freemasons). I printed the words "New World Order" on the front of dollar bills and the Masons' symbol on the back. I also printed "New World Order" with the all-seeing eye on the bumper and hood of a Dodge Minivan. The number 13 was printed with the all-seeing eye on a McDonald's fries carton. The logos of McDonald's and Dodge may be related to the Freemasons in that McDonald's old logo represents the number 13 and the Dodge logo is a modified ram's head to portray a goat's head which is a symbol of satanism.

I realize that many people may not know about these secret groups, but I believe that many people will recognize the symbols. Yesterday, during critique, I mentioned that it does not matter if a person knows all about the Masons or not, but it is more to function as a curiosity. People that recognize the symbols might want to learn more if they don't know much about the Masons, and people who don't know anything might go on the internet and search "New World Order." During critique, people mentioned that it is not enough information to put it together. I felt that seeing the all-seeing eye and those words together would connect some sort of meaning regardless of how much information a person knew, as well as the Mason's symbol and the words together printed on money. It was also mentioned that "New World Order" is a common phrase and may be used for different things, and that googling those words might land you in many places. I found that extremely hard to believe, so I did a little test. I googled "New World Order" and the whole first page only had sites pertaining to the New World Order I was speaking about.

I am curious to see what other people not in the class at UIC feel about this project and what suggestions you might have? And for the people that are in my class, do you still feel the same way knowing that "New World Order" really only means one thing?

Detroit. Demolition. Disneyland.

2008-03-02T11:55:00.000-08:00

The DDD Project is a group of anonymous artists that came together a couple years back in response to the ignored decay of so many areas of Detroit. They cake on a layer of neon paint called Tiggeriffic Orange to the front of the most visible abandoned buildings in the city. Dilapidated, burned out homes have almost become part of the everyday landscape of Detroit and these artists have made them impossible to ignore. Two of the first houses painted by the DDD were almost immediately demolished.

These houses had all been previously marked with a circled "D"--a designation made by the city which meant that these structures were intended to be demolished. All it took was the simple gesture of painting the buildings bright orange for them to actually be destroyed. This destruction brings up interesting questions. In an anonymous letter to thedetroiter.com, the DDD writes, "From one perspective, our actions have created a direct cause and effect relationship with the city. As in, if we paint a house orange, the city will demolish it. In this relationship, where do the city's motivations lie? Do they want to stop drawing attention to these houses? Are the workers simply confused and think this is the city's new mark for demolition? Or is this a genuine response to beautify the city?"

The rest of the group's statement can be found here: http://www.thedetroiter.com/nov05/disneydemolition.php

There are tons of other artists and groups whose work addresses the declining neighborhoods of Detroit. Artist Tyree Guyton decorated the abandoned houses on one street with discarded objects he gathered from the streets.

Back in 2001, Kyong Park stripped and dismantled an abandoned house from Detroit and shipped it to Orleans, France where it was reconstructed. There the house itself became an exhibition space.

For more photos and information on this project, visit http://www.arch.udmercy.edu/De_Sign-Cat-24620.html#

Field Trip!

2008-03-02T09:12:00.001-08:00

Last week, the UIC half of our class trekked through snow and train transfers to visit the studio of poster artist Dan MacAdam, who makes remarkable multi-layered prints as Crosshair Press in his meatpacking district print shop. Dan talked with us about the audience for his work, which includes the bands and music venues who commission him, the fans who swipe the free prints after shows, and the hundreds of collectors who support his work thanks to the affordable nature of multiples. He also discussed his technique for using translucent layers of color to achieve elaborately multihued prints, which I'm still wrapping my head around . There were plenty of questions, and he was happy to answer them all. Interested in seeing more of MacAdam's work? Check it out at Gigposters.com.

link

2008-02-29T13:27:00.000-08:00

Hi. Just thought I would post this webiste I ran across. There is a lot of good international documentation of tags that I really enjoyed looking at. I really feel like the selection of tags they have posted from the Czech Republic (I was living there for 4 months) really captures something about the country. There are a few tags that I specifically recall seeing, but I know that a lot of them have been painted over. Prague, specifically, is loaded with tags; graffiti has really become part the entire city, and actually, in many areas a lot of the tags do stay put.

http://www.ekosystem.org/

Harrel Fletcher

2008-02-28T08:11:00.000-08:00

I wanted to direct all of you, in case you have not seen it, to Harrel Fletcher's website. Fletcher is an artist working in Oregon whose work primarily operates in social spaces. The grad students have mentioned in class a recent project of his in collaboration with Miranda July entitled Learning to Love You More. I thought his website would be especially interesting because he is very good at talking about his work and he uses his to site to brainstorm ideas. My personal favorites of his are Corentine's Turtle, If I Wasn't Me I Would Be You, North Beach Parking Garage and Wallet Pictures, to name a few. But you all should check it out and see what you like.

Even Dog POo can be a Good Medium...

2008-02-27T20:17:00.000-08:00

I think the piece speaks for itself politically, but makes great use of the ordinary dog shit that you would normally not notice otherwise(or maybe?). I just wish I would have thought of it first!

-Kristen Cavanaugh

Spectacle + Social Space

2008-02-27T19:49:00.001-08:00

I'm sure a lot of people have seen this guy, but I thought I'd post some of his street drawings anyway. He was the first result for images of street art on Google. The drawings are just chalk on the road/sidewalk and only work from a certain angle/distance.

A little puke-y.

Very Disneyland.

Trouble

2008-02-26T05:38:00.000-08:00

As a political organizer and artist I was really excited to take this silkscreen class… But I have found myself in a hard place once the class got rolling.
I make posters and fliers and zines all the time to get the word out about events and ideas that are brewing out of the veteran’s community. So to be able to make my own silkscreen prints was a major plus. However, once I started working on designs and layouts I started to feel like the mass production of these supposed art objects seemed to only be creating more commodity. Or perhaps I can say it a little better… It seemed that all the materials that I was producing were already reified or consumed and there was little potential for them to rupture the everyday. Perhaps these objects do not need to rupture but can function solely as information. But in our everyday that is overly mediated and a space of information overload what is the responsible thing to be producing and inserting into social spaces.

What you all think? Does it matter…

Social Practice in Practice

2008-02-26T05:16:00.000-08:00

Last week I was out in Columbus Ohio contributing to a project by Red76.

The project revolves around a public copy center call the VDC.

Here is the opening quote on the VDC web page, “The Anti-War group, Vietnam Day Committee, was founded in May of 1965 in Berkeley, California; the outgrowth of a two-day long teach-in which gathered a crowd of 35,000 plus. This massive group learning session went on to form one of the earliest, and most inventive, anti-Vietnam War organizations in America at the time. Some of its founders - such as Stew Albert and Jerry Rubin - went on to found the Youth International Party just a few years later. The offices of the VDC had an extremely interesting open-door policy. The origins and actions of this particular open-door office policy serve as a jumping-off point for the VDC Copy Center initiative. We'd like to tell you more...”

Iraq Veterans Against the War Chicago and myself were invited out to help kick the space off. So we went on an organizing road trip of Ohio… doing speaking events and building support for the veterans movement. At the copy center we talked about recruitment and our experiences in the military. Then we all went to work making counter recruitment fliers and screen-printing T-shirts. Over all a lot of materials were produced and then distributed across Columbus… Check out the links.

BLOG

On Printing with Tomato Sauce

2008-02-26T05:00:00.000-08:00

I decided to try making some prints with food products. Tomato sauce and butter. It was a little bit of a challenge finding the method that worked best. In the end, it was important to cover the surface of the screen with the the butter or sauce and then run the squeegee over it to make a print. Neither the butter nor the sauce were liquid enough to pull over the screen on their own. The results:

butter

sauce

Zine, Substitution and Garment

2008-02-25T17:44:00.000-08:00

My zine was a coloring book that included a crayon with every copy. The zine related to shoes so I placed them in shoe boxes at shoe stores and in shoes left at the doors of buildings.

For my substitution project I printed several versions of a television stencil onto books and placed them in book stores in sections that were related. I placed one in the Radio/TV section.

I printed on the Feminine Mystique and placed it in the Women's Studies section. I place Passions within Reason in the Romance novel section.

I used an exacto knife to cut a power button onto every page of the Feminine Mystique and volume controls on Passions within Reason.

I also experimented with the televisions stencils on black and gray striped pieces of cloth. I tacked these onto the outsides of buildings.

I printed onto 4 shirts: a vest, a bra, breasts, and a skeleton. On each I printed a string of pearls as well. The intension was that this project would work as a performance of a sort of stripping in the public space. This was suggested during a crit-it can also function throughout a week, each day revealing more as I fall apart during the week.

Inspiration?

2008-02-25T11:10:00.000-08:00

Maybe too late for the garment project, but still of interest. Check out this article in the Daily Mail.

I BELIEVE ANITA HILL

2008-02-24T10:18:00.000-08:00

This is a recent project. I was interested in the way in which this declaration was as relevant/irrelevant now as it was then. Maybe what I am also interested in: 1991-2008, has anything changed for women in politics? And how to ask that question in public.

Also, I really like this:

Nice Stencils

2008-02-24T10:04:00.000-08:00

I don't know where this image is from, but these are some pretty stencils:

To Be Brief: Undies in the Social Space.

2008-02-22T18:44:00.001-08:00

I'm here to post up some of pictures from my underwear/condom hand-out, as well as to play devil's advocate to myself. Personal research has led me to this link:
http://www.hour.ca/news/news.aspx?iIDArticle=11097
which details a canadian safe sex and AIDS awareness movement that used printed underwear for their cause. I think this group's use of the same garment points out a potential reading of my piece (were it not for my tags) that would suggest something different, perhaps suggesting I was in fact looking for a lot more of this kind of public condom "flyering".
My question is, why weren't they just handing out condoms?
Interesting, nonetheless.
And here are some of my pictures:

More Barbara Kruger... and bags

2008-02-20T20:43:00.000-08:00

Kruger is a great artist to bring up, as her silkscreened work has appeared in many formats.

It also poses some interesting questions about context and substrate. For instance, how does this work of image-text commentary...

change when it's printed on a shopping bag or a canvas tote?

... does it operate any differently when it's adopted as witty packaging by department stores? Or printed on a canvas tote bag and sold as a consumer item for $30 by the Museum of Modern Art? Does this operate as infiltration or cooptation... or something else?

More on Kruger's practice of multiple-making in an excerpt from Jennifer Roberts' essay in Artists and Prints: Masterworks from The Museum of Modern Art, New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2004, p. 244:

The techniques of photolithography and screenprint are ideally suited to Kruger's strategies of appropriation and replication of imagery from mass culture, and they are used throughout her work, whether large-scale and unique, or ephemeral and printed in thousands of copies. Her ephemeral works, which dramatically fulfill the democratic potential of printmaking to bring art to wide audiences, range from book, magazine, and compact disc covers to matchbooks, coffee mugs, and shopping bags. It is noteworthy that visual strategies she appropriated from the mass media have been returned to their sources on covers she created for such magazines as Newsweek and Esquire. In addition, countless graphic designers have adopted her visual style.

A rare example of her venturing into the area of the traditional limited edition is her illustrated book My Pretty Pony by Stephen King, part of an innovative project pairing artists and writers, established at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Unsurprisingly, the book is also available in a trade edition version for greater accessibility.

******

Two other interesting takes on the artist-designed shopping bag can be found in Jeremy Deller's and Franco B's commissioned projects, the contexts of which are described HERE.

Barbara Kruger

2008-02-20T15:41:00.000-08:00

In the stencil project that we just completed I explored the appropriation of advertising for use in a different format and for a different purpose. Barbara Kruger appropriates images from ads and magazines for her work, some of which involves the process of photographic silkscreening on vinyl and plexiglass. Above are some examples of her silkscreening work. You can find out a lot more about the artist as well as a list of articles relating to her at http://www.maryboonegallery.com/artist_info/kruger_info.html

~Emma

Cayetano Ferrer

2008-02-19T18:36:00.000-08:00

Although Ferrer uses ink jet prints and not a form of stenciling or silk screening, I thought his process of manipulating how we interact with the everyday environment was unique and worth thinking about. His art functions effectively because it blends into the environment as opposed to contrasting with it. -Kristen Cavanaugh

UR Magazine Article
Saturday, August 5, 2006 5:31 PM
UR Chicago Magazine, August 2006
In early spring of 2004, Chicago drivers trying to determine if a stretch of empty curb doubled as legal parking were confronted with a strange phenomenon. The street signs were invisible. Cayetano Ferrer, then in the midst of BFA studies at the School of the Art Institute, deployed a classic optical illusion on the modern urban landscape, erasing "No Parking" signs not through removal, but by covering each sign with an image of the precise scenery it blocked. Seen from the right angle, the red-and-white squares of metal became part of a seamless vista of sky and tree branches.
"I am interested in site specificity because I feel like it's easy to get lost in repetition," says Ferrer, a Las Vegas native who graduated a few months ago. "Those 'No Parking' signs are everywhere, and that kind of attracted me to using them as a way to frame these places in the city."
Named for the words that remain visible on the reclaimed parking signs, the "City of Chicago" series shares an attitude with Ferrer's more recent work. Earlier in the summer, he recreated a store aisle on Division using empty packages, the molded plastic shells outlining the items they used to contain. He's crammed everything he owns into a crate and put it up for auction on eBay, the reserve price set to the amount of his student loans.
"It's less about the disparity among people's belongings than trying to realize what convinced me, and others, that I needed so much," Ferrer explains. "I'm not trying to make a global statement about how people should live, but I personally want to experiment in alternatives. I think that if you've come to the conclusion that you don't really need much to be happy, then all of a sudden, you become rich."
For Ferrer, things don't just take up space so much as organize our impressions of the world, which means that they don't even have to be present, so long as traces of them remain -- just enough to get the point across. Ferrer is as much a minimalist as anyone can be without embracing the minimalist aesthetic.
"Situated against minimalist sculpture that has this pure materiality, [my work] is kind of the opposite, being filled with an array of objects which, for me, have these detailed histories," Ferrer says.
Like minimalists, Ferrer is about stripping away, but instead of removing formal elements -- a minimalist impulse that has been criticized as cold -- his philosophy is minimalist while his technique is not. Ferrer is intensely personal, wrenching things away from their relational significance to himself, only to yoke them back together in unexpected ways: "Once you get over yourself, it allows for good introspection about something you made to happen," Ferrer says of "Everything I Own" (the eBay piece). "This was definitely intended to be a kind of cleanse. I have been interested in representing emptiness, or (in) creating voids by erasing things."
Not that there aren't things worth owning. Ferrer emphasizes that usefulness is a personal thing, and that objects have value in their immediate usefulness -- a strangely rigid, utilitarian idea coming from an artist. What, after all, is the use of art? When "Everything I Own" didn't find a high bidder online, Ferrer set up "The Demolition Sale" in a condemned building in East Village on Hermitage and sold his stuff, piece by piece, over the course of a week.
"I think all things are worth having at the right time to the right person," he says. "I don't personally see myself hanging on to anything forever, but I guess tools are the most important for me."
For now, those tools are a wallet with a bottle opener and a tape recorder, and Ferrer says he would like a leatherman. "I can't really say what the balance is -- I'm still trying to find it myself," he says. "I feel like I might be on the other side of an imbalance where I freak out when I have more than I can carry in my backpack."
He'll be taking that backpack to Argentina in the winter, and while his work might seem to be limited by a particularly American understanding of surplus, Ferrer argues that his travels might reveal the universality of his work.
"I think people in poor countries probably have a better idea of it than we do, since most of the production is done on their land," he says. "I'm fully aware that it's because of the excess of others that I can live without so much. I would like to think that there are spaces for personal utopias within the cracks of the grand scheme. I'm trying to find those spaces and maybe expand them."
words: Suzanne Wu

Stencil Project

2008-02-11T16:47:00.000-08:00

Hello Fellow Classmates!
Here are a couple pictures from my stencil project. The Although I printed the stencil on lots of different things(paper, gauze, wood, cardboard), the one I chose to install was the one on a wood panel. I then nailed the wood panel onto other wooden boards that blocked up a boarded up building off of the Bryn Mawr El line. You could see the parking lot where it was located from the platform, but mostly it got pedestrian traffic.

I took these pictures a couple of weeks ago, and since then I have gone back to my installation spot to see what it looked like after that big snowfall we had last week. The board was no longer there, someone unnailed it and took it - guess someone wanted to keep it.

Street Art, New York City

2008-02-10T17:44:00.001-08:00

These are photographs of Street Art that I came across during a trip to New York City (2007). I believe that the top two are from the same artist because they are similiar looking but the woman are in different positions.

LTLYM and "significant outfits"

2008-02-06T20:39:00.000-08:00

As we have been focused on the garment as of late, Learning to Love You More's assignment #55 came to mind. I think putting the biography of a sentimental outfit up on the world wide web for public perusal is a very interesting, vulnerable move. I particularly love the voyeur feeling I get when I read the entries that are addressed to some specific "you". I have thought at length about the outfit(s) I would post... but they are all too emotional for me to want other creeps like me to have a gander at! I picked two good ones, but check the link for more. I realize this all may have less to do with silk screening than with social space...but with social space, it has much to do indeed. As a last (side) note, I really, really like looking at the different floors upon which people displayed their outfits...

http://www.learningtoloveyoumore.com/reports/55/55.php

Postcard Art

2008-02-04T13:22:00.000-08:00

In response to the post about mail art, I wanted to bring attention to one of the most successful mail art collaboratives currently in progress. Originally founded by artist Frank Warren, PostSecret, available at postsecret.com, is a project where viewers are encouraged to send in their secrets anonymously on the back of a homemade postcard.
These secrets represent a wide variety of emotions and experiences, and Frank has received over 2,500 postcards from around the world since January 1st, 2005. More information about the project itself can be found on the website, as well as on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postsecret. PostSecret has had numerous art exhibits nationwide.
As the website is updated every week, the previous secrets become unavailable, although Frank publishes a book that contains these secrets annually.

Is Street Art Puerile?

2008-02-03T08:27:00.000-08:00

For all you Swoon and Banksy fans, here's a rather scathing review of street art in the art market (Banksy is singled out in particular) by british art critic Matthew Collings: 'Banksy's ideas have the value of a joke,' London Times, Jan 28, 2008. It's a snarky tirade indeed, but is he entirely off the mark here? I encourage you to read the article as well as both Anna's and Abbey's posts below, and please do share your thoughts in comments or posts (visuals and links encouraged). There's plenty worth grappling with here.

You should also and absolutely be aware of the writings of Claire Bishop has been an outspoken and articulate critic of socially-engaged art. As we engage in artmaking that steps into the realm of social practice, these are issues to thoroughly consider and work rather than to simply dismiss (or accept). Read her Artforum essay "The Social Turn: Collaboration and its Discontents".

Mail Art

2008-01-31T08:57:00.000-08:00

While working on our current project of repurposing objects, I decided to work with printing on envelopes and sending them to friends. In exploring this idea I came across a kind of art I had never heard of before "Mail Art." I discovered Mail Art is a form of artwork that uses the postal system as a medium. It can refer to an individual message, a medium through which it is sent, or the artistic genre. Mail artists typically exchange letters, zines, and decorated envelopes. It is said that Mail Art began as a snub of gallery art, juried shows, and the exclusivity of the art world.

There are many different blogs and groups dedicated to Mail Art. One of the largest I found was the International Union of Mail Artists. The group is 18 years old and anyone can join once they write to the group's president, the artist TAM, what they think Mail Art is.

There are now exhibits dedicated to mail art. Which makes me question if the movement is staying true to it's original intentions.

Below I have attached a few images of mail art.

Critique on Harrell Fletcher's practice by Steve Reinke

2008-01-31T08:29:00.000-08:00

This blog was pulled from a site Fennelplunger.com if anyone is interested in visiting it for other critiques. I just thought this particular one on Fletcher was relevant to our class since we're working in public space so much. Any thoughts on it?

Oh, and if you don't know Harrell Fletcher's work, it's one of the linked sites here on the blog and you should check him out.

~~After Harrell Fletcher’s presentation Thursday — and in light of the my post-talk questions and comments, which seemed to many to be, despite my overt praise of the work, to be covertly critical — I’ve been asked what I really think about Fletcher’s work.

Well, I like and enjoy much of it, though I find little to admire. (One work, “Blot Out the Sun,” is one of my favourite videos in recent years, a perversely effective and affecting screen adaptation of Joyce’s “Ulysses.”)

Fletcher’s work is based on various types of social interaction, though the interactions tend to be staged with the control of a politician’s photo-op. It is reminiscent of two things I like very much: an old segment on “Sesame Street” with the theme song “These are the people in your neighbourhood,” and a Christmas-themed commercial for Coke, of which there’ve been several versions over the years, “I’d like to teach the world to sing.” I have to admit, as a child the beauty of the commercial’s sentiment made me weep; if it were to have the same effect on me today it would be for very different reasons.

In Fletcher’s work the social is presented as benign, participatory, homogenous, quirkily interesting, sweetly concerned. Kind of like Disneyland, but with organic food and recycling.

Certain types of advertising (and all political photo-ops) carefully select their social subjects even as they are meant to stand in for everyone: good people, everyday people, people like you, hard-working, sincere, just trying to get ahead and do the right thing, hopeful, salt of the earth. It is all very controlled, with only positive participation allowed. Everything else is disavowed.

Ernst Zundel lives in my neighbourhood in Toronto. He’s a very active holocaust denier, his tracts known worldwide. I think it’s fine to have work that foregrounds the nice people in a neighbourhood, but they’re not really a concern to me. I feel a greater need to know about the problematic ones. But in Fletcher’s neighbourhood, holocaust deniers simply do not exist. They’ve been disavowed, repressed. Could Zundel participate in a Fletcher piece? Yes, he would be able to come and give a demonstration of his macrame. That other stuff, the disagreeable stuff, would remain unspoken and unacknowledged. Disavowed, repressed.

This is a horrible thing, antithetical to my view of art and my idea of ethical living.

Hence my initial question to Harrell: “How would collaborate with people who you hate, or find disagreeable or boring?” He could not, of course, admit to the existence of hateful or disagreeable people, though he was able to say a few words about the boring: he would simply not participate with them.

Do you know the compulsory happiness, optimism and enthusiasm of pep rallies and Disneyland? Everything works fine as long as you play along and smile and clap your hands, but if you challenge it with some sort of negativity, the mouse will kill you. Nobody likes a party pooper.

I fear we have entered into an era as charming and insipid as the 1950s is reputed to have been. If this is so, Harrell Fletcher is the artist we deserve: cynically affirmative, allowing no space for difference, dissent, irony or negativity. Deeply conservative, Fletcher adopts the conventions of advertising, political photo-ops and civics for Kindergarteners, deploying an aggressively anti-critical and anti-theoretical stance to keep his bullshit real and untouched by any kind of thinking.~~

Rirkrit Tiravanija in Chicago THIS WEEK

2008-01-28T20:24:00.000-08:00

This from Time Out Chicago:
This Wednesday, January 30th at 6pm, "art star Rirkrit Tiravanija discusses his relational work, from the food-based pad thai “happenings” to the self-sustaining artists' community in Thailand" at the Chicago Cultural Center. This presentation is FREE and open to the public.

For those of you not familiar with his work, Tiravanija is well-known in the contemporary art world for exploring the social role of the artist through the sharing of meals, music, reading, etc. Though his work is not directly related to screenprinting, it is highly relevant in considering the sorts of social interactions art can bring about.

In case you miss his talk on the 30th, on February 2 he will be participating in the discussion "Gordon Matta-Clark's Legacy" at the Museum of Contemporary Art (Free admission, 1pm), with artists Mark Dion and Sarah Oppenheimer, landscape designer Walter Hood, and moderator Mary Jane Jacob.

For more information, call 312-443-3711 or visit saic.edu/vap.

The Fine Art of Parking

2008-01-23T13:14:00.000-08:00

Some interesting projects related to parking spots and meters I came across recently.

Parking Meter Philanthropy
Comic book store owner Benn Ray set up these faux parking meters around Baltimore to collect money for the homeless, counting down the minutes from hope to despair. Audio info is provided by NPR's Morning Edition. Here's another, similar meter project in Dayton, OH. Much feedback on this blog about the effectiveness (or not) of this idea.

The Gift of Free Parking
Philip Von Zweck's Poster project invites people to give the Gift of Free Parking to strangers, positioning the act with a foldable holiday tree and a situationist quote. Check it:

PARK(ING) Space
San Francisco collective Rebar used their quarters to turn metered parking spaces into public PARKS. Their site includes a how-to for creating public parks in your own city, as well as video, audio, and photo footage of their 2006 intervention.

Other parking-related art:
* Mark Jenkins' Parking Meter Lollipops
(check out his other public projects, too)
*Natalie Jeremijenko's elaborate color-coded parking plan
(as yet unrealized).
*Helmut Smits' racially-charged parking for white cars only installation.

Seen any others of note? Post 'em!

Finland's Anti Festivalen

2008-01-17T19:33:00.000-08:00

This past September I headed off to Finland to make new work for the ANTI Festival in Kuopio, where I was the only American among a group of artists coming from across Europe, Australia, and Canada to make place-specific projects in and around this small town. My project involved interviewing Finnish teens to ask their advice on issues like dealing with body image and fitting in. The advice was then formatted into bilingual brochures. These were formatted like the ones you might find at a doctor's office or pharmacy, only in this case the experts were not medical professionals or pharmaceutical companies, but the young people of Kuopio. The brochures were then distributed across the city in coffee shops, waiting rooms, and by hand. You can download two of these as PDFs and see images from the project HERE.

ANTI (which means "offering" in Finnish)," is an international contemporary arts festival presenting site-specific works made for public space. Over the past six years ANTI has presented live, sonic, visual and text-based art from today’s most exciting and innovative artists. A truly international festival and Finland’s foremost presenter of Live Art, ANTI is a meeting place for artists and audiences fascinated by how art shapes and responds to the places and spaces of everyday life." Check out this year's events -- and apply for next year's festival -- at www.ANTIFESTIVAL.com