We’re very excited and honored to have been interviewed by Brian Andrews of Bad at Sports and to show up in Art Practical.

Click Here to read the full interview

The audio version of the interview will be released on Bad at Sports on this Sunday 4/25.

“Just mention Germany or Sweden and most U.S. artists break into a reverie (or tirade) over the kind of support their European counterparts receive from their governments. Here, surviving as an artist takes talent, a do-it-yourself attitude and the patience to hunt down funding.”

read more….

When: now
Where: www.thepresentgroup.com

The Present Group is delighted to present Davin Youngs’ edition of artist booklet sets entitled, “You were there too.” In this work, Youngs calls into question the idea of the portrait, exploring the dynamic relationship between the subject and the artist himself. An interactive, online version of “You were there too.” has just been released on The Present Group’s website for the public to explore.

Also included in the online presentation is an artist statment on the project, an audio interview with the artist, a resource for related links to artists and works, and a space for discussion of the work. The artist himself will be participating in the discussion from March 23-29th.

Scott Oliver reviews the work: “The effect is subtle, one of emotional mood rather than detailed biography…With childhood sufficiently distant and the twenty-year-old’s field of fuzzy possibility somewhat foreshortened [the late twenties are] a time marked by the dawning realization that life is finite. This is what You were there, too best captures. And the sense of impending adulthood (and accompanying melancholy) is made almost palpable as each participant recalls their history with Youngs and reaffirms the constancy of their relationship with him.”

About the artist:
Michigan native Davin Youngs lives, works and takes pictures in Chicago, IL. A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Youngs has shown work both locally, internationally and in various online and print publications. His work often deals with the nature of relationships and how they are visually represented through the medium of photography.

About The Present Group:
The Present Group is like like a mutual fund that produces art instead of profits. As a private grant-giving organization, it enables a community of subscribers to support contemporary artists and receive original artwork in return. With The Present Group everyone benefits. Artists gain a new avenue of support. Subscribers receive exclusive and compelling works of art. The world gets an accessible resource and welcoming meeting place devoted to contemporary art.

Contact: co-founder, Eleanor Hanson Wise, eleanor[at]thepresentgroup[dot]com, 510.419.0616

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Thanks Readymade! (Click on image for Link to post)

Also mentioned in the article was a project that is new to me, called 20×200– a la Tiny Showcase fame– it sells prints from artists at pretty darn reasonable prices. The editions are in runs of 200, 20, and 2, with bigger=better=shorter run=a lot more expensive as the main equation. The small ones are only $20, so it’s a pretty sweet entry point.

It is interesting to see how all these projects, businesses, organizations are popping up to figure out ways to support more and more artists while aiming at generating more interest in collecting art at affordable levels. I listed many of these organizations back in the fall (here) when the Collective Foundation brought us all together at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts for a little discussion. Are we helping to create a new and different market for art? Or will art become more designy to satisfy the designsponge crowd that wants to fill up its walls? Is that so bad? I am starting to think about all these ideas as I slowly slowly start to prep for a talk I’ll be giving at the Headlands Center for the Arts in May. More about that later.

In other news, this morning we sent off TPG5 out of our home and into the great big United States Postal System. So soon they’ll arrive in your homes. Hip hip hooray!

If anyone’s in Baldwin City, Kansas these days, I’d recommend checking out the Art Affair Gallery at Baker University where there’s a showing of The John Talleur Print Studio residents (Brian’s one of them). And who’s on the postcard you may wonder? ummm…Brian. Here’s a preview of the show in the Baker Orange.

The show runs until March 14th, 2008.
Art Affair Gallery is at the corner of 7th and High St. in downtown Baldwin City

In an article entitled “Strange Fruit”, Frank Tankard from Lawrence.com magazine Deadwood edition interviews the members of Fresh Produce, an art collective out of Lawrence, Kansas as they celebrate their first anniversary. Brian’s third in the interviews.