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Nava’s Links:

Nava’s successful proposal for the TPG15 subscriber’s choice edition. Art Seen Asheville – Nava Lubelski – a video interview with Nava from 2008 Nava’s Book – The Starving Artist’s Way “Make it yourself. Make it cool. Make it cheap.”

Aleatoric Art:

Aleatoricism/ Aleatoric Art – Composition depending upon chance, random accident

“I don’t use the accident. I deny the accident.”- Pollack “the prototypically “male” arts of paint-splashing and canvas-pierced fused to “female” fabric-staining and needlework.” – Karen Rosenberg

Untitled (Collage with Squares Arranged according to the Laws of Chance) Jean (Hans) Arp (French, born Germany (Alsace). 1886-1966)

Arp challenged existing notions of art and experimented with spontaneous and seemingly irrational methods of artistic creation. This work is one of several collages he made by scattering torn rectangular pieces of paper onto a paper support. He and other Dada artists embraced the notion of chance as a way of relinquishing control—a kind of depersonalization of the creative process that would influence many subsequent generations of artists.

Artists “Painting with thread”

Cayce Zavaglia: realistic, densely embroidered portraits Ghada Amer: sexual female line portraits, patterns and repeats Michael Raedecker: dream-ish still lifes and landscapes, acrylic and thread Tucker Schwarz: landscapes of buildings and power lines, threads revealed Steven MacDonald: “A variety of imagery act out fantastical narratives, where tigers, rainbows, cityscapes, skulls and shipping containers are juxtaposed against the backdrop of a traditional Japanese print form.”

Artists playing with chaos and control

Heidi Trepanier:  a drip painter similar to Nava, in the way that she outlines her drips and controls them so that they look almost cartoon-y.  A subscriber sent us this link, calling her work “Dr. Seuss meets Jackson Pollock”

Right and wrong, good and evil—maybe I have always been one drawn to the gray area of life. Likely that is at the heart of what draws me to the art world. I am attracted to contradictions and aspects of life that are complicated—not simplified into categories of black and white. The work of Nava Lubelski is rich in contradictions—just the kind that make it a very compelling artwork. Old Tricks for New Monkeys is a vibrant canvas with colors seemingly caught in motion. Beautifully detailed threads create a palette that pulls the viewer in and keeps the eye engaged. Yet even the title of the piece is a juxtaposition of opposites; and this gives a sense of the multiple contradictions that build layers of content beyond the visual itself. Monkey See and Do, 12″ x 12″, thread on canvas, 2006.  Image courtesy of the artist. This work began as organic stains on fabric that were then hand embroidered by the artist. The process of embroidery is a laborious one, at once meticulous and fine. So from first glance one sense’s the accidental nature of a stain, and begins appreciating the shape and color, only to find that there is a complicated handiwork involved, one with very intentional impulses. The artist has said about her own work in general,

I love art that encourages a perceptual shift in the viewer, particularly a humorous one. My work in a certain sense is a one-line joke about the rewards of “looking closer,” although obviously it’s really labor intensive and complicated as well. I began this technique as an outgrowth of painting and then collaging with fabric, but I got interested in thread and the tiny, rigid structures of the stitches. I became curious about why stitching was always stigmatized as decorative and crafty – I went about finding the least practical, least structured, least controlled graphic imagery that I could embroider and happened upon the “drip.” I liked the idea that from a distance the pieces would look so fluid and painterly, but contain this surprise of shockingly time-consuming deliberation.

Karen Rosenberg’s 2009 NY Times review places Lubelski’s work in the art historical category of artists who ‘paint’ with thread, such as Ghada Amer and Michael Raedecker. The review also illustrates the relation of masculine and feminine elements inherent in her work, as in the ‘male arts of paint-splashing’ and the ‘female fabric-staining and needlework’. There is a tension between the feminine and masculine aspects of the work that grows stronger with the introduction of the digital medium. Monkey See and Do, digital tracing, 2010.  Image courtesy of the artist. In order to produce this work for The Present Group, Lubelski chose to work with a machine to embroider her original design. She began by doing a computer drawing that was a tracing of an earlier piece that she had stitched by hand in response to an organic stain, wanting to see what would happen if she fed that drawing into a computer stitching program without any changes or explanations. In the context of her process, she was letting go of control and trusting the machine to reproduce an image in its own way. Lubelski described this change in process as simultaneously embracing chaos and control. Is something lost in the translation of the machines paths, something that existed in the hand-embroidered stitches? Or is the translation actually more direct due to the nature of the process? Does the machine embroidery change the value of the piece? Much has been written in postmodern theory about the loss of the original in nearly every medium from film to painting. As Baudrillard referenced,

“The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth–it is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true—Ecclesiastes.”

Postmodern theorists often looked to production and reproduction and the inevitable commercialization of art. But the conclusion was that the loss of the original does not signify a bad thing, it opens up progressive possibilities of both process and accessibility. In Old Tricks for New Monkeys, the beauty and wonder of the handmade is still inherent. In fact, digital media here combines the skills of the artist and the machine and expands the artistic practice. Lubelski successfully integrates the feminine and the masculine, the analog and the digital, the original and the reproduction, not favoring one over the other, but developing an artwork full of seemingly opposite threads that provide room for visual and conceptual dialog. . . Jennifer McCabe is currently Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Museum of Craft and Folk Art in San Francisco, where she has been working for three years to develop new programs and expand the image of the 26-year old institution. She is also an adjunct professor in contemporary art, most recently at Mills College. www.mocfa.org

Nava Lubelski in her studio.  Photo courtesy of the artist. [display_podcast] Lubleski’s Studio, 2010  Photo courtesy of the artist.

Old Tricks for New Monkeys is an edition of 70 machine embroidered canvases.  The work contrasts the accidental with the meticulous, depicting the chaos of a spill, delicately recreated with thread. Nava Lubelski was born and raised in New York City and is living currently in Asheville, NC. Lubelski’s work has been included in two exhibitions at the Museum of Arts & Design in Manhattan, and has also been seen recently at the Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro, NC and the Queens Museum of Art in Queens, NY, where her work is part of the permanent collection. Lubelski’s 2009 solo show at LMAKprojects in New York City was reviewed in the New York Times, which referred to Lubelski as being “in the category of artists who ‘paint’ with thread.”  She has had two solo shows with OH&T Gallery in Boston and additional recent exhibitions include group shows in L.A., Stockholm and Berlin.  Lubelski was a featured artist in the book Contemporary Textiles: The Fabric of Fine Art, published in 2008 by Black Dog Publishing in London. She has received grants from The Pollock-Krasner Foundation and the New York Foundation for the Arts.  Lubelski received a degree in Russian Literature & History from Wesleyan University in 1990 and spent a year as a student in Moscow, Russia.

found via Joseph del Pesco

The Present Group will be taking part in East Carolina’s Print Summit 2010: a three day symposium consisting of exhibitions, lectures, demonstrations celebrating the diversity of contemporary printmaking media.  We’ll be showing Whitney Lynn‘s DIY Survival Kit as part of  “A Survey of Contemporary Printmaking,” an exhibition that includes the work of some of the most influential and important printmakers working in the US today. Matt Egan and Michael Ehlbeck, professors of printmaking at East Carolina University, brought together five individuals to co-curate an exhibition that would offer a comprehensive look at the innovations and excellence that are shaping the course printmaking today.  Along with many other lectures through the weekend (um, Karen Kunc!), these curators will discuss the collection they brought together and take a look at the current state of printmaking. The Curators: Bill Fick, of Cockeyed Press and co-author of “Printmaking: A Complete Guide to Materials and Process.” Beth Grabowski, Professor of Art at UNC Chapel Hill and co-author of “Printmaking: A Complete Guide to Materials and Process.” Rockie Toner, former Dean of the Tyler School of Art. R.L. Tillman, artist, educator and co-founder of “Printeresting.” Matt Rebholz, Assistant Professor, Southwestern University, Georgetown, TX. The Details: The Summit is hosted by the Printmaking Department of East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, September 9 -11, 2010. “A Survey of Contemporary Printmaking” will be on view at: Gray Gallery, School of Art and Design, East Carolina University. September 7th through October 2nd, 2010, Opening Reception 7:00 Friday, September 10th Panel Discussion for “A Survey of Contemporary Printmaking” 5:30 – 7:00 pm  Speight Auditorium , Room 1220- School of Art and Design

Because, well, it’s sortof awesome.

The pros and cons about that nemesis for most artists.

sorry for the lack of posts lately: putting out the piece and applying for stuff.  Happy Labor Day Weekend!

My mind is exploding with all the things I want to see and do in September.  Here are some highlights: Stop & Go Rides Again | Intersection for the Arts | 9.11.10: A diverse collection of stop-motion animations by Bay Area and international artists unveil their most recent experiments in animation and comment on everything from the simple beauty of a rubber ball to the history of evolution. Pop Up Magazine | Herbst Theatre | 9.9.10: Pop-Up showcases the country’s most interesting writers, documentary filmmakers, photographers, and radio producers, together, on stage, sharing short moments of unseen, unheard work.  Tickets go on sale TOMORROW (8/26) at noon.  Last time they sold out in 5 hrs, so be ready if you want to go. Once Upon a Time, Happily Ever After… *| Lake Merritt, Oakland | Ongoing:  Produced by Scott Oliver, Once Upon A Time, Happily Ever After… is a public art project set at Lake Merritt.  There are three major components: a self-guided audio walking tour (available now) will take listeners to a variety of sites around Lake Merritt while exploring the stories and forces that have shaped, and continue to shape, the lake and its surroundings.; watershed awareness signage (to be installed this winter) will show how Lake Merritt and the surrounding city are intimately connected through ecological phenomena and a complex network of storm drains; and a series of Lake Merritt souvenirs (available starting 9/15) being developed with local students and artists will highlight different aspects of the lake from individual perspectives. Oh, and I haven’t even mentioned the 01SJ Biennial yet! 01SJ Biennial | Mostly in San Jose, various venues | 9.16 – 9.19: The 2010 01SJ Biennial is predicated on the notion that as artists, designers, engineers, architects, marketers, corporations and citizens we have the tools to (re)build the world, conceptually and actually, virtually and physically, poorly and better, aesthetically and pragmatically, in both large and small ways. 01SJ is about how powerful ideas and innovative individuals from around the world can make a difference and come together to build a unique and distributed city-wide platform for creative solutions and public engagement. This packed weekend of shows, events, talks, performances and experiences looks amazing.  We may need to move to San Jose for the weekend. But fellow carless peeps, never fear!  Here are a few great shows closer to our neck of the woods that are associated with 01SJ: Knowledge Hacking | Worth Ryder Gallery | Opens 9.15: Knowledge Hacking invites artists to use the university research environment as raw material for their work. The three projects selected demonstrate a range of ways in which scientists and artists might share their expertise, to better investigate how we understand and engage with our world. Teen Age: You Just Don’t Understand | Catherine Clark Gallery | Opens 8/28:  Curated by Ken Goldberg.  Featuring Whitney Lynn of TPG 12 fame (she has another show at Patricia Sweetow Gallery in September as well) Building Steam : Lynn Koble | Swarm Gallery | Opens 9/18: Curated by Jeff Eisenberg, Aaron Ximm and Swarm Gallery Building Steam is a year-long program dedicated to sound art created by local and national artists.  The first show in this series is by Lynn Koble, whose work reflects her interest in the many forms of constructed and simulated environments – physical, social, psychological, natural – that exist in a technology-saturated world. She is also curious about how people experience, order and disrupt these environments according to systems, both scientific and personal, tangible and virtual. *disclaimer: Oliver and I helped to fund this project

You tell it what you’ve got and it’ll tell you what to glue them together with.

Not the TV show!  Kelly Lynn Jones from Little Paper Planes is interviewed on her project, gives us a cheat sheet to local affordable art resources.

A1 (Linard) from grahame weinbren on Vimeo. Weinbren is doing a collaborative event at 01SJ in September

Looking for feedback… is it too self referential?  Would you pick it up?  Is it funny?

Via: Ally Trigg

whoa.

An amazing conglomerate of fine craft in Newbury, NH August 7th -15th.  Check out the show and say hi to my Mom in booth 406.

Detroit doesn’t cease to fascinate me.

Nathaniel Stern takes a look at this new book by Sarah Cook and Beryl Graham, co-editors of the CRUMB site and list (the Curatorial Resource for Upstart Media Bliss

Good to know