marshallastor.com

Sorry about the pun-title. I feel a need to share my fascination with military architecture (largely based upon my desire to live within a heavily armed bunker) with anyone passing by today.

WebUrbanist has a post, Creatively Converted Sea Forts of Great Britain: Strange Adaptive Reuse of Military Architecture, that’s must reading for bunker fetishists, future micronationalists and survivalist types alike.

Technorati Tags: military architecture, British Sea Forts, forts, military history, WebUrbanist, fort

I’m cooking over at Angels Gate, and cross posting, for sharing’s sake.

Right now feels like the calm before the storm. That is, the calm before the end of the week, when everything in both galleries has to be just right, and we’re all ready to go for Open Studios. Here’s a little of what’s going on in Gallery A.

Above - Louisa Conrad’s projection for her wall drawing.

Above - the wall drawing in progress.

Above - Heather Rasmussen installing, with the help of a friend. That’s a scale model of the old Maersk pier (Maersk moved all of its operations out to the new artificial island of pier 400 a few years back), complete with hundreds of scale origami shipping containers. I’ve wanted to get this installation/sculpture into my gallery for some time now, and I’m glad that this exhibition has finally made it possible.

Technorati Tags: Louisa Conrad, Heather Rasmussen, Gallery A, art gallery, installation, installation art, drawing, wall drawing, projection, contemporary art, eye, pier, origami, folded paper, papercraft, paper, CalArts, student work, Salty Dog Bites the Hand

I’m cross-posting from the AGCC blog, since some may enjoy my trip to Union Ice, and also to pimp the upcoming Fluids happening at Angels Gate.

On Thursday, the various coordinators making the multi-venue, re-creation of Allan Kaprow’s Fluids possible met at the Union Ice Company warehouse in Van Nuys to go over proper ice handling and other details related to the physical construction of the happening. Here’s a little photo breakdown of our visit. Fluids will take place at Angels Gate on Sunday, April 27, from noon to 5 PM, during Open Studios. Contact me at marshall@angelsgateart.org if you’re interested in getting involved and stacking some ice with us. Other Fluids locations can be found on LACMA’s page for the project. More photos related to Fluids at all venues can be seen in the Fluids Flickr group.

Above - The tools of the trade. Ice tongs and picks. There’s something unchanging about the technology of the ice business that is reassuringly industrial age.

Above - A Union Ice Company worker moving a 75 pound block of ice with tongs. These guys make it look too easy to move blocks around, and they move around the 300 pound blocks like they’re made of air.

Above - LACMA’s Michele Urton, who has worked tirelessly to make Fluids possible. While we get to find volunteers, and play Lego with blocks of ice, Michele has to deal with all of the complicated legal issues involved in the various partnerships, and also the various quirks of each site. On her right is Pete from Union Ice. Pete’s enthusiasm for this project is exceeded only by his enthusiasm for ice. While talking with us, in an absolutely natural motion, without even looking at the dangerously sharp icepick in his hand, he chipped off a chunk of ice from a stray block and popped it into his mouth like candy.

Above - Pete demonstrates proper ice handling, while setting up a test corner. This ice has been outside for a bit, so it was super slippery.

Above - Antarctica. The inside of the Union Ice Company warehouse is an amazingly refreshing place to be on a hot day in the Valley. Photographs cannot describe the amazing smoothness and just the volume of this landscape of ice is epic.

Above - The 300 pound blocks of ice are passed through this buzzsaw-lined tunnel as they enter the warehouse. This contraption is right out of a a silent film, the kind where a damsel in distress is very slowly threatened with bisection in a lumber mill by a moustache twirling villain.

Technorati Tags: Allan Kaprow, Fluids, happening, Union Ice, Union Ice Company, ice, tools, buzzsaws, warehouse, Van Nuys

The LA Times finally covers the energy exploration near Spiral Jetty issue. No real news in the article, other than some quotes from Keith C. Hill, president of Pearl Exploration and Production promising that the project can be done in a low impact way.

Technorati Tags: Spiral Jetty, land art, Robert Smithson, LA Times

Today was another Saturday spent working in Eric Johnson on his Maize piece. We made another dozen kernels today, nine yellow ones, and three in mixed colours. The process is getting pretty polished, and we’re just knocking the suckers out without any complications or shenanigans at all.

Above - Eric with my favourite of today’s kernels, probably because it’s electric orange, like the surface of a star. This one practically glows when light hits it. Even the plain yellow ones twist the light in insane ways.

Above - Eric with today’s most spectacular kernel. This kernel has about $80 of spectraflare in it, basically a powder made up of microscopic prisms. The things this kernel does with light are sick.

Above - This kernel had shavings from other kernels put into it, including some gold flakes, in the clear resin layers on top, then it was followed by an opaque white layer, and then by an opaque midnight blue layer. The overall effect is a pearlescent jawbreaker colour.

Above - Eric and Christian tapping the molds to loosen the kernels. Those wedges they’re tapping the molds with are also used to slide between the two halves to separate the molds. Opening the molds is a ridiculous amount of fun.

Above - A lot of improvements were made in the studio in since I was there last. First, Eric made a proper setup for the outdoor TV, so we can watch old westerns and other bad movies while we spin the gimbal. Lastly, Eric set up some shelves in this crate so he can store the most recent kernels after they’re cast, but before they’re polished and the nozzles are removed. Everything in there is is today’s work.

Technorati Tags: Eric Johnson, Maize, corn, kernel, art, sculpture, documentation, process, resin, polyester resin, casting,

I was in between meetings yesterday, downtown, and managed to sneak into Sam Lee Gallery to check out the Macha Suzuki show. Also in the back, I got a peek at Christine Nguyen’s work in the project space. There are more photos on the gallery’s site, too. It’s a beautiful body of work, go see it before it closes on May 10. Here are the pics.

Above - Walk, the titular piece.

Above - Minor Threat. This piece functions to me, as a pun on Cai Guo-Qiang’s work. It’s hard for me to see it any other way. It’s much larger than I expected in person, too.

Above - untitled.

Above - If It Even Matters - Lure me in with my dual fetishes for string and antlers, Macha…

And in the project space…

Above - One of the four squirrel drawings by Macha on display. at only $500, they’re a steal for those of us without the dough or the space to buy one of Macha’s larger works.

Above - Christine Nguyen, A Birdhouse That Dreams of Being a Tree, 2005. When Christine started making the transition to doing more drawings back in graduate school, I was worried that her magic wouldn’t translate, and then her drawings on layered mylar made me love her work even more.

Technorati Tags: Sam Lee, Sam Lee Gallery, Macha Suzuki, Walk, Christine Nguyen, art, art gallery, contemporary art, sculpture, drawing

I’m too damn busy getting ready for Open Studios at Angels Gate (April 27, be there or be square!), including the prep for Fluids (photos from yesterday’s awesome trip to Union Ice coming ASAP), so, again, I got almost no idea what’s going on in LA this weekend.

I do know that Matthew Thomas is having an opening reception for his new solo show at LA Artcore at the Union Center for the Arts. Matthew’s just closed show at Angels Gate, Too Busy For Love, was amazing, he sold a pile of work and he did a really beautiful artist talk. The show at Artcore just opened, but the reception is this Sunday, from 3-5 PM, with an artist talk at 4 PM, and features a totally different body of work that he’s kept in reserve for this show, very stripped down and drawing based. Some of my favourite pieces of Matthew’s will be featured in the show.

Technorati Tags: Open Studios, Angels Gate Cultural Center, Matthew Thomas, LA Artcore, Fluids, Allan Kaprow, LA Art, artist talk

I read about this the other day in the Times, that Koons’ Tulips were getting so scuffed and damaged by visitors that they had to go home to the Broad-cave. And Charles Ray’s Firetruck apparently just can’t take the heat of being on public display. I’m not really sad to see the Koons go, but Firetruck seemed a good fit for the museum. I was at LACMA yesterday for a meeting and saw the Koons go away. Maybe this is an opportunity to replace it with a more durable (and better) work by a LA artist? Tulips was located in the perfect spot to meet people, outdoors, by the ticket booth, but in the shade. Something inviting, durable, that doesn’t require a comically large cordon or a virtual army of security to protect it, maybe even sit on-able, is called for, perhaps?

Technorati Tags: Jeff Koons, Tulips, Firetruck, Charles Ray, LACMA, crates, art, sculpture, contemporary art

Just woke up to do some early paperwork and saw this item by Tyler Green on the RSS. Apparently the Prado is opening the exhibition, Goya In Times Of War, and have pulled El Coloso from the exhibition, claiming that “doubts over the attribution of El Coloso are widely accepted by the museum’s scientific team.” That quote is from a really thorough and excellent article in The Independent on the controversy. Apparently the attribution of this painting has been in debate for some time, but there is a tremendous amount of evidence to support that it is a Goya, and outside of “We don’t think it’s a Goya”, the Prado really hasn’t said anything substantial to support its case.

I’m not inclined to buy this, and if it’s not a Goya, then it’s really difficult for me to imagine who else it could be by. El Coloso seems such a natural extension of Goya’s body of work and style, that I cannot imagine it otherwise. Again, it’s one of my favourite paintings by one of my favorite artists, so this whole concept goes against my inclinations and bias.

Technorati Tags: Francisco Goya, Goya, Prado, Goya In Times Of War, painting, art, attribution, El Coloso, The Colossus, art, attribution, Spanish art

It’s very, very difficult for me to believe that this is for real. The seller has no ratings, there are no bids, and the Q & A on the site seems flip. There’s a Chicago Tribune article about the eBay auction, but it’s incredibly short on details. I can’t begin to say how fond I am of Shuler’s Spindle, and how important I believe that it is as an object at the intersection of roadside kitsch and contemporary art. It really bothers me to see its fate stoop to this level of uncertainty. I wish an organizational authority like the Center for Land Use Interpretation or the Dia Foundation would step in to bring a guiding hand to this object’s fate.

Technorati Tags: Spindle, Chicago Tribune, eBay, Dustin Shuler, sculpture, art, contemporary art, public art