marshallastor.com

It’s my bandwith, so it’s self-promotion time here.  This weekend, Five Feelings, Angels Gate International Exhibition 2007: Thailand, opens at Angels Gate.  My trip to Thailand earlier this year wasn’t just motivated by my desire to expand the range of rodents, lizards and insects that I have established my food-chain dominance upon.  I was there to meet with Jessada Kongsommart and assemble an exhibition for Angels Gate.  Well, all of the meetings, studio and gallery visits I did in Thailand pay off on Sunday, when we open the exhibition.

The exhibition features work by five younger Thai artists, Jieng Sae Jern, Narupon Chutiwansopon, Jessada Kongsommart, Pongsak Pechmang, and Narakorn Sittties, all showing in the US for the first time.  These guys are all terrificly skilled and it’s really a pleasure to be able to exhibit their work.  There’s also a small catalog accompanying the exhibition.  I’ve got enough copies to give away or mail out to interested folks, so if you can’t make it, or would just like one, just E-mail me about it.

Here’s a link to all of my Thailand related posts here, and a here’s a link to my Thailand Flickr set.  Also, Five Feelings has its own set on the Angels Gate Flickr page. It’s mostly food, but I’ll be posting some more Thailand stuff as the show goes on - my photo backlog is gargantuan at this point.

Also, at the same time, we’re opening a solo show, Bridges / Decisions,  in the Center’s Downstairs Gallery for Adrian de la Pena, who did a really beautiful installation, A Nice Meal for Yamauba, for the Contemplating Apocalypse show that I organized last September.  I love working with Adrian, and it’s great to be able to isolate his work in a solo exhibition.

The Details

Five Feelings & Bridges / Decisions

September 2 - November 4, 2007

Opening Reception September 2, 2 - 4 PM

We’ll be having a Thai style ribbon cutting and some brief opening remarks at the start of the reception, so if you’re there at 2 PM sharp, you’ll get to participate in that.

Getting to Angels Gate is easy - if you’re coming and haven’t been before, here’s the Center’s directions page.

At top - Cloud 2 by Pongsak Pechmang

Technorati Tags: Thai art, art, art opening, opening reception, reception, Five Feelings, Adrian de la Pena, Angels Gate, AGCC, Angels Gate Cultural Center

Right now much of my time is occupied by playing host and preparing the Thai exhibition at Angels Gate. Last Sunday, Jessada Kongsommart, who’s in the Angels Gate show had a reception for his solo exhibition, Kalasin, at LA Artcore. He gave a great artist talk - I’ve had the pleasure of coming to understand his work, largely without proper translation, for much of this year, but seeing him be in a position to speak about his work to an American audience was great, as was seeing an American audience’s reaction to his work. The most interesting reaction from the American audience was when he told them how fast he knocks out one of his paintings - about 1-2 days for most pieces (not including prep work and sketching).

Check out the Flickr set of images from his Artcore show.

Technorati Tags: Jessada Kongsommart, LA Artcore, Kalasin, art, art exhibition, exhibition, painting

Long title for a short post.  I’m beat.

Saw the SoCal show at LACMA today - why on Earth had I not realized the total brilliance of Craig Kauffman?  Looking at the show, seeing some work that was really surprising, but man, Kauffman’s work has aged really well (LACMA’s online image sucks, sorry - go see the show), compared to some of the various resin works from the 60’s and 70’s.  Also, the installation for Doug Wheeler’s Light Encasement was awe inspiring - since the LACMA catalog doesn’t have an image, imagine this:  A room, unlit, cubical, with rounded edges and corners, all surfaces painted a semi-gloss white, with a single lit Plexiglas panel on one wall, filling the room with marshmallow soft light.  I wanted to move in.

Also - why does LACMA routinely have no photography policies on works shown in the Hammer building gallery, in shows that entirely consist of their collection with no loaned works?  They had the same policy for their Breaking the Mode show earlier this year, and I find it to be a total bummer.  Breaking the Mode was the best fashion oriented show in a year packed with fashion shows, and it really showcased the strength and significance of LACMA’s fashion collection, and not being able to take reference photos was incredibly disappointing.

Lastly - one weird thing about the show.  Two of the large glass works had motion sensors that were in a constant state of distracting electrical beeping as viewers approached within reasonable distances. Other than the constant, annoying, distracting beeping, the show was beautifully installed.

I occasionally get phone calls from folks who have an issue with either something I’ve written or something I’ve photographed.  Usually, they’re slightly confused, either not understanding the nature of my photographic copyright, or their vast sense of self-importance causes them to over-imagine the impact and magnitude of my writing.  So when my intern grabbed me to tell me that Dustin Shuler was on the phone, I was expecting more of the usual.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that he was more interested in giving a thorough clarification of his arrangement with the Berwyn Arts Council (he only gets 5% or $1 from each T-shirt they sell, a fair deal, IMHO) and was more than willing to talk about why he so aggressively holds his copyrights.  Although I’m not really a friend of copyright law in general, I do have to respect his use of the law to generate some kind of income from his works and to protect it’s destiny and use.  While I may feel that works in the public sphere, over time, “drift” away from their creator, he does not, and based upon some of the anecdotes he related about making work in the public sphere, I can see where he’s coming from.

So, in other words, he’s definitely no dick - rather he’s a genial, friendly fellow.  To top off his general good nature, he quickly informed me that he worked in San Pedro for 10 years, having a studio above John T.’s (home of the once legendary Wall of Foam) in the John T. Gaffey Building.  I don’t know how he managed to work on a second floor, given that his materials are cars, airplanes and giant nails, but he was probably the most interesting tenant that building’s had in decades. Considering his subject matter, it comes to no surprise to me that he’s got some roots in Pedro.  It’s almost ridiculous how often I meet an artist who’s done time in this corner of the world…

Technorati Tags: Dustin Shuler, Spindle, art, artist

My garden has finally moved into “to many damn tomatoes” mode.  I’m eating heirlooms two out of three meals a day, and snacking on salted tomatoes between meals.  It’s always so hard to go back to market tomatoes when the plants finally succumb to the cold.  I’m in heaven.

When you visit the same museum a lot, you start to notice objects that seem unusual, or that really just stick out in the collection.  One of those is Francesco Laurana’s marble sculpture of Saint Cyricus.  It’s rare to see a sculpture of an infant with correct anatomical details, and the story behind Saint Cyricus’ martyrdom takes what could just be a rather creepy sculpture of an infant and puts the creepiness into overdrive.

From the Getty’s online catalog entry on the piece:

In 304 this Roman toddler was martyred at the age of two and a half years, along with his mother Saint Julitta, a Christian who refused to pray to “false idols.” According to legend, Saint Cyricus endured brutal tortures: sawing in half, flaying, and boiling in a cauldron. These episodes may have inspired both the unusual half-length form of this representation and the oval plinth, which recalls the shape of a cauldron.

Technorati Tags: Saint Cyricus, saint, christian art, christian, infant, martyr, art, Getty Center

I can’t imagine not liking this project. It was born for me to like. The Screamers were the most perfect punk band that ever was, when I was a younger fellow, and playing keyboard in a noise band, they were the band I truly wanted to be in. Having never released an official album, they’re like a punk ghost, seen only in documentary video, or heard via scratchy bootleg, their Gary Panter designed logo an electrocution in progress - like the fearsome visage of a post-apocalyptic biker gang. No Guitars. Loud. Barked vocals, with Tomata du Plenty’s stage presence like a more honest Ian Curtis - no pretense of desired celebrity there.

Kept pure and symbolically malleable by their short existence and the rareness of their recordings, The Screamers permanently lurk in Los Angeles punk mythology - touching everyone and yet somehow completely outside. Other bands of their era have a catalyst effect - theories about the genre inventing influential power of the Ramones, for example. The Screamers weave a subtle curse throughout punk music - while there are bands that most certainly have followed in their footsteps, their essential essence seems unimitated, and somehow, therefore, pure. Perhaps I’m simply too big of a fan to have any kind of real or objective understanding of their importance. I do own a pair of 6′ x 8′ mixed media paintings of the band that have been a dominant feature of my studio, and now my living room, for the past five years - maybe the omnipresence of those objects and their scale has assisted me in my Screamers delusion.

Yesterday, I finally made a visit to Craig Leonard’s Gift for the Screamers show at Raid Projects. I’m not really capable of reviewing this show, so I’ll just let the links and the photos speak for themselves. Luckily, Craig was working the front desk when we were there, so I was able to meet him and talk with him about the project and about punk in general. He’s a totally warm guy, and this project came about due to his discovery of the Screamers demos recorded at Toronto’s Crash ‘n Burn club in the late 1970’s. Given that he had a residency in Los Angeles coming up, it was the perfect opportunity to engage in a project of raw and honest appreciation - to make vinyl versions of the demos and present those records to the still living members of the group.

Craig’s been documenting his search via a blog, and as would be expected, this project has attracted the interest and the assistance of various people from throughout the Los Angeles punk community. During and following the the curatorial process for History of San Pedro Punk, I encountered some of the most amazing people and stories, and I know that Craig is probably knee deep in the oral history of Los Angeles punk. He still hasn’t found Tommy Gear, though, so if you know what Tommy is doing these days, drop Craig a line. Anyways, on to the pics. FYI - today is the last day of the show, from 12 - 5, so if you haven’t seen it, make a beeline if you can.

above - Crash & Burn Demos album cover.

above - Crash & Burn Demos stencil and overspray.

above - stereo for playing the cast records. The vinyl is a beautiful white.

above - televisions. One displays the Mabuhay Gardens Screamers video, one displays Craig making the records and one displays photographs by Jenny Lens (Jenny has an amazing photo archive of early Los Angeles punk..

above - the back wall with enlarged Screamers Fan Club forms, and the center pedestal with the record making apparatus.

Technorati Tags: Screamers, The Screamers, music, punk, punk rock, synth punk, Raid Projects, Craig Leonard, art, installation art, Gift for the Screamers

I hadn’t seen this before, and I thought it was plenty cool.  Last week I ate at ToT in Little Tokyo and encountered the squeeze-it-yourself soju citrus cocktail.  I don’t know why paying for the privilege of squeezing one’s own grapefruit is so much fun, but it is.  That’s Edith doing the squeeze, above.  Below is the “cocktail kit” in patented “no motion.”  I’m fond of anything that comes either in a kit, or with an activity.

Technorati Tags: soju, DIY, Edith Abeyta, citrus, cocktail, drink

This is why audio tours and the “focus on the famous” theory of art education sucks. Everyone in this viewer cloud is probably already pretty familiar with this painting before they walked into the museum, but they choose to give it all of their attention, while they ignore much, if not most of the collection.

View the picture that Michele is taking in the above photo here.

Technorati Tags: American Gothic, Art Institute of Chicago, viewers, lookers, painting, crowd

UPDATE/CORRECTION - I was directly contacted by Dustin Shuler who informed me that he only get’s 1% ($1) from T-shirt sales, and it sounded like that’s an agreement that pre-dates the Spindle’s current crisis.

I look at a lot of art, in a lot of places. When I’m looking at a piece of work, and something immediately strikes me as “out of the ordinary” or “does not belong”, a little light goes off in my brain.

On my last road trip, when Michele and I went to visit the Shuler’s Spindle in the Cermak Plaza parking lot in Berwyn, Illinois, one thing flipped my little light on. Spindle sits in the middle of a series of steel barriers, intended to protect it from errant cars and other hazards. This square barrier has a label (only one wasn’t so messed up as to be readable) on each of its four sides. At the bottom of the label is a copyright notice, informing viewers “Copyright held by Dustin Shuler. All copyright laws apply.”

This is unusual. Many, if not most pieces of public or semi-public art have some sort of plaque or label to let you know about the piece, but not many of them have copyright notices. I’ve photographed lots of statues and their labels, and I can’t find one with a copyright notice in my files. My immediate impression was that Shuler is likely a very controlling and maybe a little uptight fellow, given that he feels a need to make sure that all viewers are reminded of something that seems obvious.

Anyways, I’m a “BFF or whatever” of the The Spindle’s myspace page, which has been sending out dissatisfied bulletins about Shuler’s recent conduct. The first bulletin “Dustin Shuler is a Dick”, railed against Shuler for “charging the non-Profit Berwyn Arts Council a 25% fee on every T-shirt the sell to raise money.” The second bulletin “Dustin Shuler - I’d Rather See It Torn Down”, linked to a Chicago Sun Times article where Shuler’s inflexibility on sharing profits from the future use of the sculpture’s image seems to indicate that the piece doesn’t have a future.

Here’s the relevant portion of the article -

The snag is over control of the rights and fees when the artwork is used in advertisements. Artist Dustin Shuler is balking at losing sole control of the copyrighted image of the piece, fearing the Spindle would end up in “cheap” advertisements.

“I’d rather see it torn down than have that,” Shuler said in an interview Wednesday from his California studio. “It’s not a sign. It’s not commercial art.”

Michael Flight of Concordia Realty said that Shuler’s position may spell the demise of the artwork. The piece has generated wide support since the July announcement that the Spindle’s days were numbered because of construction of a drugstore.

“We’d like to save it,” Flight said. But without the ability to negotiate contracts for use of the sculpture in exchange for financial help in moving and preserving the work, saving the car kabob will be difficult. “We have to be able to market it,” Flight said.

As an example, Flight said a beer company might pay to include the sculpture in an advertisement, with the money funneled into the reconstruction effort.

“I like beer, but I don’t want it to be used to sell beer,” Shuler responded. The artist said he has allowed the sculpture to be used in some ad campaigns, including ones for the Illinois Lottery and United Airlines, but only because he felt comfortable with the way it was used. “I’ve turned down a lot of companies,” Shuler said.

So I recognize that artists have certain rights in regards to their copyrights and to the long term disposition of public works, but I really have trouble sympathizing with Shuler on this one. But I really, truly believe that once you put a piece of artwork into the public sphere, you have to relinquish some sense of ownership, especially as the original intention of the project fades with time, and the piece develops its own public persona and identity. You have to let go to some degree - eventually, you have to let go completely.

Shuler, in multiple places, has asserted that the piece is a piece of “Fine Art” and not a piece of “Commercial Art.” I’m sorry, is there really a difference? He seems to have no problem using the piece to funnel profits to himself via T-shirt sales, even though those sales are intended to raise funds for the preservation of the work. So he seems to value his bank account over the preservation of his work - doesn’t sound like the

The Sun Times article ends with the following quote -

“It’s theirs, so they can tear it down if they want to,” Shuler said.
“I’d be very disappointed but I just can’t give up” control.

So Shuler admits that he doesn’t own the piece, that on some level it’s simply a piece of property that’s owned by another party, but at the same time he is unable to give up control of the piece? Make up your mind, man…

Technorati Tags: Dustin Shuler, Spindle, Berwyn, art, public art, sculpture, cars