Pointing at the moon 3-05-10 @ the Ceretana

Open Field Artists at the Downtown Dance Collective

Here are some photos I (Jonathan Marquis) took on first night at the Open Field Artists show "Da Floresta".  The photo's order in the post reflect the unfolding of the performance. The OFA will be performing "Da Floresta" again at the Crystal Theater February 4,5, and 6...be sure to check it out and support live art.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I want me some "renaissance"

I hate this word as much as "juxtapose" but I believe Missoula is going through a little "Renaissance" period. So many people are creating art on soooo many levels. You have a food server who paints in the studio (gallery gig in two months), participates and sews for local fashion shows, makes dolls and earrings for the markets, designs graphics for nonprofits, paints a mural, stenciling inside and outside of their apartments no matter how bad the fumes, shows up to band practice twice a week, plus practice with the Missoula Symphony Orchestra, organizing a dance collective, directing the performance art piece that is due next month, curate another gallery space, and then DJ at your favorite local bar (sigh). I haven't mentioned all of it either. There's plenty of more crackheads to go around.

Missoula artists are now taking on the same role the rest of the art world has taken. You don't strive to be the one and only "original" modernist, mastering one medium, throwing yourself in your room, telling your significant other that she's fat......or he's stupid. Focusing on one art theory is like ordering a cosmo because you saw it on Sex And The City. Fundamentalism in any form is uber cliche. Not kitschy, but cliche. I like kitschy. Discussion and different points of view is a good thing. It's all communication and collaboration now. It's learning the new crafts you need to make the aesthetic and concept sing. Learn to be ballsy enough to try and humble enough to fail. That's what my mother always said. Oh, and don't mix your drugs.

This is why I love Tsunami Toys. When it comes to visual art, this is a great store to hit. This little toy store on Higgins sells edition prints from local artist Courtney Blazon and Bay Area artist Sam Flores among many others. Courtney makes a name for herself in this town with all of her local advertising, city commission projects, greeting cards, along with solo group gallery shows. Sam Flores juggles clothing/skateboard designs, solo and collaborative murals, tours the live art circuit, and does studio work for international solo and group shows. Another Bay Area artist, Alex Pardee can work in just as many mediums. A humble yet hot skateboard, pink with warts, signed by Alex Pardee, sits up on the wall. Everything in this store has an artist stepping behind it with creative and skillful play. Josh Quick (local batty) designed the Tsunami illustration. Vinyl toys done by Artist David Choe sits along with N8 Van Dyke's ape figures. And with that, keep your senses open for the "Dirty Hands", a documentary focusing on David Choe himself. I'm crossing my fingers that it will be part of artist series at the Wilma this summer. The credentials on this one can drop an egg white.

Tsunami among other great local stores lets Missoula know that they are on a good track. Enjoy yet focus on making art. Whatever your hands are on, do something with it. A tortured masterpiece is not always needed. What percentage of a population can buy a masterpiece anyways? Just "The Man", that's who. "The Man" nowadays doesn't even know what good art is anymore. Art market used to be seen as part economic organism, part critically acclaimed art. Collectors in the past at least liked what they bought (even in the 80's), now the economic aspect is the majority of collecting. It's true, you can go to a museum to "see" masterpieces. But why can't a kid, big and little, have both. A lot of the reasons why these artists do so many different forms of merchandising, is so the middle and lower class kids can also enjoy and possess a piece of art. They can "possess" something that they can relate to culturally, not because of the market value down the road. That's motivation for them to be creative. This crackhead generation busts the brains so they can mentor and learn from the little crackheads.

P.S.

Dear Oprah,

Thank you for the exploitive movie "Precious". Please keep producing formulaic, badly montaged, taking a crack at neo-realism movies. I didn't know how middle-aged conservative gospel music associated with the 1987 Harlem coming-of-age setting, but thank god you showed me the way. Your like a corporate hero in Indy disguise. It's beautiful. We should go have a cosmo later. Keep up the good work. My popcorn was really good.

Yours truly,

Mad Stinker

Kensuke Yamada @ the GVA

Well folks it is the holiday season, friends are in town, snowboarding to be done, and lots of art to be made for my upcoming show at the Ceretana in March/April. So all this means that this post is a bit late and the show is over and you cannot see it ever again, except for on artmelt.net, so HA!

Kensuke Yamada was or is a UM Grad Student with a emphasis in ceramics. All the work of his I have seen are very large, hand-built figures, including the MFA show at the UC Gallery. His recent MFA Thesis exhibition at the GVA, titled Empathetic, is no exception. The show contains about 7 large ceramic sculptures, most of which are glazed with an elegant yet simplistic patterning of stripes, polka dots, and pastel colors.  The alienated forms, patterning and color scheme reminds me of Picasso's early paintings of circus folk, such as the painting Family of Saltimbanques. His artist statement is simple and to sum it up he is interested in creating an emotional relationship between art and viewer.  I beleive that through the scale, isolation and emotive expressions of his figures this task is accomplished.

The sparse nature of the gallery layout with a few dark corners also reenforces the emotional landscape, however the question is "is the minimal amount of work part of the design or just a desire to move on from school?"  One of the most intriguing pieces was a sculpture containing an 8 foot figure with a 4 inch figure.  The contrast in scale certainly evokes an emotional response.  In addition, the large figure was actually wet to the touch...now is this some kind of way to ad to the emotive content by referencing the wet, the damp, the dank, the slimy? or was it simply not finished?  I think the sculpture is a succesful piece of art and I am all about an unfinished aestetic, but I also feel that this piece being the only one with out a glazed surface seems a little out of place with the rest of the exhibit.  Either way I was impressed by the show and rather enjoy Yamada's style.

Ultimately, as a 2005 UM alumni I certainly understand the desire for exodus from the education system.  Being in school from before we can remember us crazy artists get a little antsy and are ready to get out and emerse ourselves in the real world - where we get to find out what it really means to be a creative individual.  So good luck I say to Kensuke Yamada! He is off to reside at the Archie Bray so I am sure us Montanans will have the honor to see more work from this great ceramic artist.

More pics after the jump....

We want to see your "Art Gifts"

So its Christmas time and that means gift giving, and Artmelt wants to see what art gifts you have received.  So take a pic of your art gift(s), or a pic of you and your "art" and we will post it online. Email them to artmelt@gmail.com, include your name and the artists name, medium, etc. and anything else you feel is relevant.  I made some awesome art trades at the Ceretana Holiday Bazaar and will be posting them soon. Merry Christmas!

Rebecca Weed - an "Experience" at the ZACC

It is always a pleasure to see & experience Rebecca Weeds drawings.  "Experience ? I thought you just looked at art?"  Well, lo and behold, art can produce a fuller, integrated experience that goes beyond the passive and dualistic viewer/ artwork separation. 

Weed's drawings accomplish this feat in a few ways. Most obviously, is the drawings are made of multiple layers of tracing paper, fastened only at the top. Therefore they move when someone walks by or the air moves. When viewing smaller artworks it is easy to feel like an outside onlooker; but the movement and large scale of these drawings creates a presence and becomes more of the viewers' immediate spatial experience.  Time is another important factor as it is implied by the content and the physical movement of the drawings.  The images and the implied time gives the viewer a  conceptual departure point to create meaning, in turn engaging them even deeper.

There are two drawings that address "time" through sequential imagery. One titled " I Hate Pink" is of a young girl frantically ripping off a pink dress and then stomping on it. Another "Shower Scene" depicts a woman showering.  The content of "Shower Scene" lacks in the humor of the first, but is an elegantly drawn and intimate view into an experience many take for granted.

Adding to the experience, Weed's use of layered tracing paper allows for the discovery of new images.  For example,  when the piece "Archer" moves, an image of an archer comes in and out of focus, and on the back layer a wolf is revealed.  Another piece reveals an image of swimmer fit with goggles and a swim cap.  These revelations so to speak provide the viewer with constantly changing imagery adding yet another level to the experience.

In conclusion, Weed's use of of material and stylistic drawing technique makes for a great art show that will engage you in more ways than one. I encourage you all to go to the ZACC and check it out!

More pics after the jump

Andy Cline "Scenic Overview 1/4 mile" at the Dana Gallery

In my eyes, Andy Cline's paintings bring some fresh air and ironic commentary into a Gallery that doesn't always grab me.  To my excitement, it would appear that Mr. Dudley Dana is gathering into his arsenal some younger, upcoming artists, including Artmelt favorite, Courtney Blazon.

Cline's paintings are about as photo realistic as you get, however I still wouldn't say he is any Richard Estes.  I find the images, although technically masterful, to be a bit dry in appearance.  The compositions are pretty calm and frontal with hardly a diagonal to be found. "A Pack of Resting Semis" is barely the exception as the shadow from a large sign enters from behind the viewer and takes you into the scene.  Generally, most of the compositions are sweeping vistas with the interstate laid out in front of you.  Perhaps there is a truck on the road, or in "Cruise Control" the view is completely empty minus the road and the sky.  While Estes' crowded scenes reflect the fast pace of the city, Kline's spacious paintings capture the feeling of being on the interstate in the Big Sky.  Ahh the open road...certainly one of the reasons I love driving in Montana.

The titles do add a touch of humor to the otherwise dry, empty, meditative, spacious images.  Names like "Oh Deer" beget images of dead deer on the side of the road. "At Least We'll Have a Ski Resort In Our Backyard" ironically describes an image of a run down trailer, with beat up vehicles framing in the decrepit "homestead", and the controversial  Bitterroot Resort looming in the background.   As mentioned before, "A Pack of Resting Semis" compares the big rigs of the road to the wildlife that inhabit the surrounding landscape.

To me this is the best part of the show.  The elk, bears, and fish that generally fill the gallery are now being replaced by the real Montana  - semis, cars,  and open roads instead of open meadows.  I say real Montana, because we often get this romantic portrait of elk calm, un-startled-by-your-presence grazing in a meadow, yet every hunter knows that this not the way you generally find these majestic creatures (if you can find them at all).

Ironic the titles may be, but even better is that in a gallery surrounded by romantic images of nature we find an artists saying "that is not Montana", here is a semi to replace your elk, here is a junk pile instead of a forest,  a beat up car instead of a horse, a dead dear, a logging trailer, the road...

More pics after the jump