I was recently pointed in the direction of Blinky Palermo by JW Mahoney, who thought that I would enjoy his work because of the titling of his work as well as the geometric approaches of his work. Well when someone is right, they're right. Palermos work has connected with me in a lot of ways recently. I have been compulsively reading and re-reading the book Palermo which as a catalog of the recent show at Kunsthalle Dusseldorf, this has proven to me to be a gold mine of discussion and thought about an artist who was for the most part, unknown to me. As a cherry on top - I've learned quite a bit about artists that I knew a good deal about.

Back to Palermo. Adopted and his name changed to Peter Heisterkamp (1943-1977) he later assumed the name of the American gangster and boxing promoter and became known to the world as Blinky Palermo. The namesake Palermo was famous at the time for "owning" Sonny Liston, who would later be defeated by Cassius Clay (Later to be known as Mohammed Ali)

Probably most famous for his initial works - spare monochromatic "fabric paintings". These "paintings" would be stitched together and then stretched over a traditional canvas stretcher, where they resonate with the works of Ellsworth Kelly, Brice Marden, Rothko, Albers and Daniel Buren (to name a few) later his work would shift to a triangle motif for a few years and then move into installation type works. One of the most interesting parts of his work was the fact that these installations were subtle and easy to miss, a fact not missed by many looking (and not finding) his work.

What I'm finding most interesting is that his work keeps opening like a flower and is multi-layerd like an onion. His sense of humor is evident in almost all his work in an age where reductivist work was so very earnest, clearly we have an artist who is thinking in ways that not everyone else is, while at the same time covering similar issues in ways not thought of by his contemporaries.

I'm just really getting to know this artist, I suggest you take a look yourself.

The Palermo catalog has a cast of thousands in it as far as the writing and interviews go (27 different artist and writers contributed) is a great read - and frankly less of an exhibition catalog - but all the better for it.

One last quirky note: Did you know that Donald Judd based a portion of his work on the colors of Harley-Davidson motorcycles? Neither did I.

Labels: 70's, Europe, Galleries

Daniel Buren has threatened to destroy his signature black-and-white striped columns in the Palais Royal courtyard in Paris, saying the government has let them go to ruin, the London Times reports. The 260 columns, which form Les Deux Plateaux (1986), one of Paris's most controversial sculptures, are crumbling, the lights for illuminating them are broken, and the fountain has run dry.

In response, culture minister Christine Albanel said Palais Royal would undergo a $20.6 million restoration starting in 2009, with up to $4.7 million allocated to the courtyard and the sculpture. Buren said he had been pressing the Culture Ministry to repair his site-specific sculpture; his supporters said the renovation may come too late.

This is from Artinfo

Labels: 70's, Europe, Sculpture

An interesting story about people trying to get to see James Turrell's "Roden Crater". Here are the basics; no one is being invited these days to see it. very few people have seen it - most of them are by invite only. Flickr has a few images. Thats the story - here are the links to the images:

very1silent
Heide Pollock

The whole story is here.

Labels: 70's, conceptual art

The above quote is from the novel High Rise, by JG Ballard. 20 years (maybe more) I was introduced to the writings of JG Ballard, to say it changed the way I see certain things is an understatement. Ballard is best known for his groundbreaking work of fiction called Crash. Followed by his memoir of his childhood called Empire of the Sun. However for me, High Rise is the work that speaks to the new, or should I say future, urban experience.

I was jogged back into thinking hard about JGB last week when the New York Times Magazine ran a fashion spread (sample image above) in which the models were adorned in great clothes but also great medical equipment. This spread immediately triggered me to think about Crash. A few years ago Crash was made into a movie with a reasonable degree of success, however it is the themes of Crash that carry the greatest weight; The sexualization of the car crash, the fetishization of damage, and finally the objectification of the scar on the human body as sexual device. This is clearly not dinner table conversation to be sure.

Funny enough the paper this weekend had a short article (New York Times - Arts and Leisure) about Richard Prince's recent work about/using the automobile. Clearly JGB and Prince are using the automobile as a device that speaks of an everyday experience although, clearly Ballard's view is far from everyday - however I can see parts of society moving in a curious direction.

Why am I writing about Ballard in my "artblog"? I think it is because usually I look at art and think about the experience, then when I discuss the art, most often I discuss its "Meta", rarely it's experience. (meta is a prefix used in order to indicate a concept which is an abstraction from another concept, used to complete or add to the latter) I find that the writings of JG Ballard, have adjusted the focus of the lens that I view, and ultimately discuss art with.

Where to start?
The three most groundbreaking books are: Crash, High Rise and, Concrete Island. You might find one of them in a better bookstores, or you might try this internet shopping all the kids are talking about.

There are some videos on YouTube as well.

Labels: 70's, books, Richard Prince

Siebren Versteeg has had it's inaugural exhibition, but what caught my attention was the photograph of Max Protech sitting on the curb of seventeenth street. That's Washington DC, by the way. I was also delighted to see the headline for the show taken from the masthead of the old Washington Star. I always forget that 17th street was the hot art center during the 70's. With Protech, Drysdale, Osuna (then called Pyramid) and Henri all within a block of each other. It's also interesting to see who has left DC (Baumgartner, Shainman, Protech, plus others I can't think of).

By the way, Siebren Versteeg is an affiliate of Max Protech.

Labels: 70's, New York, Washington DC