Peter Otto @ Devening Projects

Posted by Paul Germanos

March 8, 2010 8:35 AM

Above: Hand of History (Ode to John Heartfield)
oil on canvas, 21.5 x 43 inches

Below: Artist Peter Otto

Exhibition: The Lodger
March 7 - April 9, 2010
3039 West Carroll Avenue
Chicago, IL 60612
(312) 420-4720
www.deveningprojects.com
Exhibition facilitated by Cultural Services in the USA / Consulate General of the Netherlands and Materiaalfonds, Amsterdam

Noah Berlatsky: "Artists Write: The Last Shall Be First"

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

March 7, 2010 1:06 PM

Proximity continues its Arts Theory Column, edited by Mark Staff Brandl, with an essay by Noah Berlatsky: "The Last Shall Be First."

Most traditional economic theory is built around the concept of scarcity -- the idea that there's not enough stuff to go around. In The Accursed Share (1946), famed theorist Georges Bataille inverts this; life, he says, is characterized, not by too little, but by too much. Life is excess -- it pushes onto every bleak rock, every cranny; it spends itself in profligate sexual activity and in the ultimate profligacy of death. And it throws out unneeded economic activity; too much fat, too many children, too much grain in the stores, too many bodies in the street, too much creative energy shaking its collective tuchas on the YouTube videos.

Lamis El Farra Painting Show in the Collapsible Kunsthalle

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

February 27, 2010 8:54 PM

The Collapsible Kunsthalle (of which I am curator): documentation of the latest exhibition, paintings by Lamis El Farra.

Link here.

Shaun Belcher: Alice and the Curious Curatoriat

Posted by guestblogger

February 22, 2010 12:40 PM

Belcher plunges into the world of the semi-professional art guru - or the 'curatoriat', as he has termed the ever growing army of art school graduates working not as artists, but as facilitators to art activity in their cities. With his ever critical eye he asks what the growth of the 'curatoriat' means to the individual artist...

When did it happen? When did the power structure in the arts shift so fundamentally away from the practicing artist and into the hands of a new breed of art school trained curators or as I have re-designated them 'curatoriat'? The growth industry in 'curatorial' courses like the MA at the Royal College of Art reflects a far wider shift and a worrying one for us poor artists at the bottom of the arts funding pecking order.
Read the rest here on axisweb.org

Dawoud Bey: Trying to Make A Difference at CAA

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

February 21, 2010 5:50 PM

Dawoud Bey writes: Published here are the remarks I gave during my opening Keynote Address at the College Art Association Conference Convocation here in Chicago on Wednesday evening. My remarks were preceded by an awards ceremony in which a number of individuals were given awards of recognition and distinction for their work. Most notable for me were the awards given to Emory Douglas, Barkley Hendricks and Suzanne Lacy, since each has figured in the formation of my own history as an artist in some way. Gratifying too was the award given to Holland Cotter, often the only art critic at the New York Times to consistently note the presence of artists of color in his ongoing criticism and reviews. You can see the full list of awardees here:

http://www.collegeart.org/awards/2010awards

My remarks, "The Art World and the Real World: Bridging the Great Divide" follow:

Short Video Interview with Brandl in CAA on Columbia College Blog by Barbara Trinh

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

February 16, 2010 10:58 AM

Barbara Trinh says, "While I'm sitting waiting for a session to begin, my curiosity was sparked when a man in front of me was enthusiastically speaking about comics and his art on the T-shirt he was currently wearing. Instead of handing someone an ordinary business card, he hands them a button with his contact info on the back. That is because Mark Staff Brandl (http://www.markstaffbrandl.com/) is no ordinary artist. He is interested in comic/ sequential art, painting, and art history. His installations are described as 'walk in comic books', a mixture of installation and comic books that are 12 ft tall. In the video, Mark tells us about himself and his experience at CAA."
Barbara Trinh, BA Candidate from the Film & Video Dept

Post-Hysterical: Timeline, Comics and a Plurogenic View of Art History

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

January 24, 2010 4:19 PM

A 55 minute speech, with images, by artist and art historian Mark Staff Brandl. Originally presented at the CAA (College Art Association, art historians organization) annual conference, as well as at the Kunstschule Lichtenstein, in 2010. It concerns description and criticism of the standard conceptions and models of fine art history and the history of comics, while offering a new one model for conceiving of and teaching these histories.

Altermodernism, etc.

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

January 19, 2010 1:44 PM

In my opinion, 'Altermodernism', like Nicolas Bourriaud's other word coinage, 'Relational Aesthetics,' sounds great, but is, when elucidated, too much of a collage of ideas others have been presenting for some time. --- And I see none of it in the art he chooses. The art in the shows he curates is always the same-old-same-old: Consensus Correct 'trendies.' So it comes down to an attempted, forced, reactionary return to Modernism at best and a fashionable neo-PoMo at worst. Neither possibility is promising.

Stephen Hicks: Why Art Became Ugly

Posted by guestblogger

January 9, 2010 12:57 PM

"The heyday of postmodernism in art was the 1980s and 90s. Modernism had become stale by the 1970s, and I suggest that postmodernism has reached a similar dead-end, a What next? stage. Postmodern art was a game that played out within a narrow range of assumptions, and we are weary of the same old, same old, with only minor variations. The gross-outs have become mechanical and repetitive, and they no longer gross us out.

So, what next?"

Images: Chicago Openings September 19 - December 19, 2009

Posted by Paul Germanos

January 3, 2010 7:10 AM

Wesley Kimler: Open Studio
2046 W. Carroll, Chicago IL
December 19, 2009
artnet.com/artist/21755/wesley-kimler.html
wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesley_Kimler
wesleykimlerstudio.com

Adam Ekberg @ Thomas Robertello
In the between
December 11, 2009 - February 6, 2010
939 W. Randolph, Chicago
"Born in 1975, Adam Ekberg resides in Chicago and graduated the School of the Art Institute's MFA Photography program in 2006."
thomasrobertello.com
adamekberg.com/home.html

Artists Write: IDEAS DON'T MATTER: "How Literary Ideas Subvert and Vitiate Art" by John Link

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

December 28, 2009 2:12 PM

Artists Write: Thinking While Making Things is the column of art theoretical writings by practicing artists, edited by Mark Staff Brandl, in Proximity magazine. This issue, Number 5, features "Ideas Don't Matter: How Literary Ideas Subvert and Vitiate Art" by John Link.

IDEAS DON'T MATTER: How Literary Ideas Subvert and Vitiate Art by John Link

The dirty little mandate of our "anything goes" art scene is that "everything" must revolve around ideas, must ultimately emulate some sort of literature. The connection between visual art and the literal can be obvious or it can be contrived or it can be plain silly, just as long as it is "there."

...

J.A.M. Whistler - A Proto-Shark ?

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

December 22, 2009 3:43 PM

Whistler enjoyed baiting the critics. He began his Ten O'Clock Lecture, a public manifesto of his artistic ideas, in London in February 1885, with a sarcastic dig at John Ruskin, the most powerful art "authority"of his time. Whistler counted on many artists to take his side but they refused fearing damage to their reputations. Besides his long libel suit against Ruskin, Whistler frequently wrote letters to daily newspapers ridiculing art critics. He believed that only artists had a right to criticize other artists' work. In 1890 he published The Gentle Art of Making Enemies a collection of writings.

This self-portrait also bears his famous signature logo, a butterfly with a scorpion's stinger for a tail.

Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung: Crypto-anti-Zionism? Crypto-anti-Semitism?

Posted by Paul Germanos

November 18, 2009 12:12 AM

A (1) Passion play; in which the lead carries not a cross but rather a dollar sign made to resemble a (2) swastika; upon a floor tiled with (3) Stars of David; before a backdrop depicting (4) banking crises? Well, that's what Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung seems to have presented in his work In G.O.D. We Trust, on display through January 9, 2010, at Monique Meloche Gallery. Why?

Hung is a collage artist; his collage is animated; colorful shapes pass across a singular wall-mounted video screen. And in that psychedelic motion, the most readily identifiable figure appears to be Hung's protagonist: President Barack Obama. It's through a series of graphic vignettes that Hung causes Obama to incarnate again-and-again as a prominent religious figure: Jesus, Buddha, Eshu [Nigerian], the Virgin Mary, Krishna, Mohammad, and finally Abraham. Sorry Moses!

One wonders how many consumers of Hung's work fixate upon the foreground, noticing only Obama. In fairness, the video's vivid hues and queer pace--if not also the smiling face of the President--are hypnotic. So that it's good to stop the action, examine a still frame, and ask: What is this fellow doing?

"Insider Trading" Arises to Haunt the New Museum

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

November 12, 2009 8:54 PM

DEBORAH SONTAG and ROBIN POGREBIN in the New York Times, William Powhida's Brooklyn Rail Cover and more.

as Paddy Johnson writes at Art Fag City:

A few more quick responses to NYMagazine's head critic Jerry Saltz, who generally holds more sympathy than most towards the New Museum's rather complex web of insider relationships. He breaks those down as follows:

[Dakis] Joannou, a New Museum trustee, is friendly with Lisa Phillips, the museum's director. Her curator, Massimiliano Gioni, has worked previously with Joannou, and he oversaw the current three-floor Urs Fischer show. [Editor's note: Gioni is also apparently close with Joannou and they speak weekly]. Urs Fischer has curated shows for Joannou; Joannou also owns a good deal of Fischer's work. Fischer's art dealer is Gavin Brown, who also represents Elizabeth Peyton, Jeremy Deller, and Steven Shearer, all four of whom have had solo shows at the New Museum since it re-opened less than two years ago.

Let's face it, that doesn't look great for the museum. It's not a great idea to be so closely associated with one commercial gallery.

Continue reading here.

Thinking While Making Things : Open Thread

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

October 22, 2009 7:36 PM

Practicing artists writing theory?!!! Edward Winkleman, on his wonderful art blog, one of the most important on art, has a post concerning my column for Proximity magazine (and Sharkforum reprints the articles), where theoretical articles are published by good, practicing artists. The column was inspired by a great thread on Ed's blog. Perhaps this post will be a big discussion too! Go check it out and add your voice.

Link.

Ballary Marvels

Posted by Lynne Warren

October 22, 2009 5:39 AM

INDEX Press is pleased to announce the publication of BALLARY MARVELS, featuring pen-and-ink drawings by Ellen Lanyon and eleven "nonsense" poems by Lynne Warren. Twenty-four pages plus cover, perfect bound, trim size 10 x 8 ½.

The book is available at MCA Store, 220 E. Chicago Avenue, and Printworks, 311 W Superior Street.

It can also be purchased online at the MCA website.

'look elsewhere than to stars and moon and sun For the shocks and changes we need to keep us sane.' Constellations at The MCA/Notes From Black Roof Country

Posted by The Shark

October 20, 2009 2:25 PM

Robert Storr: Most theory has little bearing on art

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

October 17, 2009 9:14 PM

"People who have real theoretical minds read widely, they read selectively and they read for use."

Robert Storr: Most theory has little bearing on art:The critic and curator speaks to The Art Newspaper, and article by Helen Stoilas.

Robert Storr, US critic, curator and dean of the Yale School of Art, is visiting Frieze Art Fair for the first time, to take part in "Scenes from a Marriage: Have Art and Theory Drifted Apart?", a panel discussion today at 12pm with artist Barbara Bloom and philosophy professor Simon Critchley. He spoke to The Art Newspaper about the role of art theory, and what advice he is giving to his students in today's artistic climate.

Curators crowned kings of the art world

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

October 17, 2009 8:45 PM

"Curators crowned kings of the art world: Artists relegated to also-rans in power list."

In the "I told you so" department, an article by Andy McSmith in The Independant, including the list of the top 100 most powerful people in the artworld.

"If you want clout in the art world in these recessionary times, you are better off putting pen to paper as a curator than paintbrush to canvas as a jobbing artist."

Continue reading here.

Head on Horizon: Redux

Posted by Gary Justis

October 12, 2009 4:23 PM

Head on Horizon: Redux 2000-2009, light, (digital projection, 2009 in collaboration with L.J. Douglas), mixed media, dimensions variable

____________________________________________________________________

Writing about one's own artwork is often difficult. The main task is finding palpable meaning to share with others when the work is familiar to the maker. Information can be left out, or omitted entirely, depending on the artist's literary inclination at the time of critique or observational writing.

UMURBROGOL

Posted by The Shark

October 2, 2009 4:37 PM

Lead (Pb) Rips our Engines

Posted by Gary Justis

September 29, 2009 1:43 AM

Lead (pronounced /ËˆlÉ›d/) is a main-group element with symbol Pb (Latin: plumbum) and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal, also considered to be one of the heavy metals.

Art Museum of Canton Thurgau Paintings Acquisition

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

September 17, 2009 9:57 AM

It is a particular thrill for me to announce that the Art Museum of Thurgau in Switzerland has just acquired 20 paintings of mine! They comprise a representative cross-section of several years of my series titled "Covers." I am very pleased that they will be in such a great institution and under the care of its eminent director Markus Landert and curator Dorothee Messmer!

CUNY James Gallery's Silent Pictures Exhibitions with Brandl Painting Installation

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

September 5, 2009 2:40 PM

Silent Pictures, running from September 1 through October 11 in the James Gallery in NYC focuses on aspects of comic book structure that do not depend on words to advance an image sequence. The exhibition is inspired by artist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Art Spiegelman's personal collection of wordless comics and graphic novels -- mostly black and white rare artist books from the 1930s. The show will feature a selection of these books, as well as more recent "abstract comics," and a related film program -- all of which investigate essential qualities and aesthetics of this hugely popular medium.

The abstract comics, compiled by art historian and artist Andrei Molotiu for a just released anthology, Abstract Comics Fantagraphics Books, 2009), call attention to the formal mechanisms that underlie all comics. The art gathered by Molotiu emphasizes the dynamic graphics that lead the eye and mind from panel to panel, suggesting that these structural elements are fundamental to the emotional register of the medium. This section of the exhibition features an old-fashioned wire magazine stand ("spinner rack"), which hosts a collection of paintings by Mark Staff Brandl called A History of Composition in Abstract Comic Covers. Done in oil, acrylic and collage on canvas panels, the 30 pieces in this series unite comics, pop art and Pollock-related abstraction with his actual interpretation of the history of composition in painting from Prehistoric times until now.

The James Gallery is located off the lobby of the Graduate Center at 365 Fifth Avenue (between 34th & 35th Streets). Hours are Tuesdays through Fridays, 12-8 pm, and 12-6 pm on Saturdays & Sundays. Admission is free; for more information call 212-817-7138 or visit http://www.gc.cuny.edu/events/art_gallery.htm An opening reception for Silent Pictures will be held on Thursday, September 10, 6-8 pm.

Philosophy Bites: Derek Matravers on the Definition of Art

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

September 4, 2009 11:24 AM

"Philosophy Bites" is a website which features "podcasts of top philosophers interviewed on bite-sized topics." Dave Edmunds and Nigel Warburton seek out expert philosophers and interview them on significant topics in very short, understandable, even entertaining, --- yet scholarly --- , podcasts. Well worth listening to is this one, Derek Matravers on the background to abd problems with the current definition of art.

Go to the website here.

Or listen directly here.

Painting Installation in Switzerland

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

September 2, 2009 2:16 PM

(click on image to enlarge)

You are invited to the "und09" exhibition and opening

Opening: Friday 4. September 2009, 7 pm Fabrikhallen Heer & Co., Wiesentalstrasse 39, 9240 Oberuzwil (Weg ist signalisiert; direkt bei Bahnviadukt Bahnhof Uzwil)

The "und09 - aktuelle Kunst" exhibits in an area of about 1000 m2 recent art by Ghislaine Ayer, Mark Staff Brandl, André Büchi, Karin Bühler, Peter Dew, Liliane Eberle, Reto Jung, Jérôme Keller, Herbert Kopainig, Alex Meszmer/Reto Müller, Jürg Rohr and Harlis Schweizer.

I, MSB, have a 15 meter long, 4 meter high "Panels" Painting-Installation in the exhibition.

www.und-art.ch

Art Circus Fleas

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

August 27, 2009 8:38 PM

I have yet another idea for a new term I would like to add to the artworld discourse. After CC (Consensus Correct), PoPoMo, Pintophobia, Feeble Painting and the others, I now suggest "Art Circus Fleas." This is a term for all those perennial members of every huge artworld spectaclist event: Maurizio Cattelan, Ugo Rondinone, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Wolfgang Tillmanns, etc. etc. etc. The top o' the pops "every show's gotta have em," well-trained purveyors of cute ideas for trendy consumption. The artworld's equivalent of a minor sideshow attraction asking for great attention. Feel free to add names of your choosing to the list of Art Circus Fleas!

Brandl, TV Art Evangelist

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

August 22, 2009 11:42 PM

A 16 minute video wherein I, (the artist Mark Staff Brandl), as an action figure, deliver a TV evangelistic "sermon" calling the artworld back to inspiration, away from hypocrisy and sophistry.

Contemporary Chinese Art, One Financial Crisis Later

Posted by guestblogger

July 28, 2009 10:12 AM

France 24 reports on how the global financial crisis has affected contemporary Chinese art.

China's contemporary art-market bubble has burst. After becoming one of the hottest things in the art world over the last decade, galleries are now struggling to sell pieces, works are failing to reach minimums at auction, and artists are having to rethink their choice of career.

Put Downs & Suck Ups: Matthew Collings's Weekly Ventings About the Artworld - now on-line

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

July 25, 2009 1:16 PM

Love to read the irrascible Matthew Collings on art, but don't get an English newspaper, hate Modern Painters magazine (as you well should) and don't get English TV? Well, now you can read his "PUT DOWNS & SUCK UPS: MATTHEW COLLINGS' WEEKLY VENTINGS ABOUT THE ARTWORLD" articles on Saatchi online. Don't know who he is? Get to know him. Matthew Collings is an artist and writer who lives in London. He studied painting at the Byam Shaw School in the 1970s and at Goldsmith's in the early 1990s. He has written several books including 'Blimey!' and 'This Is Modern Art'. He has written and presented many TV programs, including the series, 'This Is Modern Art,' which received several awards including a BAFTA. His most recent series, 'This Is Civilisation,' was on Channel 4 in November 2007. A book to accompany the series has been published by 21. Collaborative paintings by Matthew Collings and Emma Biggs can be seen at the Fine Art Society, London

To read his posts go here.

Images: Hyde Park Art Center, July 19, 2009

Posted by Paul Germanos

July 22, 2009 4:33 AM

Carrie Schneider:

www.carrieschneider.net
www.moniquemeloche.com

Lora Fosberg:

www.lorafosberg.com

Cody Hudson:

www.struggleinc.com
www.andrewrafacz.com

Images: Chicago Gallery Openings July 10 & 11, 2009

Posted by Paul Germanos

July 16, 2009 4:32 AM

Renee Shaw @ Logsdon Gallery
Polymorphic Polymers
July 10 - August 1, 2009
1909 S. Halsted St.
Chicago, Il
www.logsdon1909.com

Summer Residents: Women in Performance
CamLab, Gitte Bog, Susan Lee-Chun, Kang-hyun Ahn
June 15th - August 30th, 2009
119 N. Peoria #2d
Chicago, IL 60607
"threewalls will host a group of talented emerging women working in performance this summer for our first thematic residency. Artists will be live and work thoughout Chicago, co-hosted by other organizations. Look for performances, site specific projects and other events through-out Chicago during their stay, including our yearly symposium which will extend the conversation about performance art to our yearly panel and publication."
www.three-walls.org/blog/
www.susanleechun.com

The Lion Tours the AIC

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

June 12, 2009 10:53 AM

This is a film in which the world-famous lion statue of the Art Institute of Chicago comes to life to take a tour of the museum for himself.

It is fun, but tell the truth, wouldn't you REALLY like to see a SHARK swim through, devouring the artworld as well?!

Art History-less-ness, an Ailment

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

May 21, 2009 8:51 AM

In James Elkins's great book Stories of Art, he discusses various personalized "visions" of art history. I would like to cite and highlight one important paragraph here.

Discussing widespread ahistoricism in internationalist, or what I would term "academicist," Postmodernism, Elkins writes:

"(The list of periods might look like this):

Art History
(No subdivisions)
The Present

Psychologically, such a radically collapsed sense of history is a great relief for people burdened by a nagging sense of the importance of history. Suddenly, all art is possible, and nothing needs to be studied. ... Some art historians who work exclusively on contemporary art feel the same exhilaration: they can apply any theories they want, interpret in any fashion they choose, and cite or ignore precedents at will. But as Milan Kundera might say, sooner or later the apparent lightness of art history reveals itself as an "unbearable lightness," and finally as an unbearable burden."

Harry Bouras on the "Original" Giant Paul Bunyon

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

May 20, 2009 7:32 AM

The Spanish Tomato Fight Video

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

May 19, 2009 10:41 AM

Who needs art tomato fights when you can have the real thing in Spain?

In August each year, the small Spanish village of Bunol hosts the world's largest tomato fight, the Tomatina.

CHICKEN WING

Posted by The Shark

May 16, 2009 7:54 AM

I hate to admit it, cranky as I am, as much as I did not want to like it, I have experienced a marvelous new contemporary space here in Chicago. A space that with an economy of means, employing the most modest of building materials, with a sense of purpose and an adherence to that purpose conflated in its vision, is simply dazzling. As you wander through the spacious produce section, or stop for a nosh at any one of the fabulous food islands,

S. Cohen: Want to Buy Sotheby's?

Posted by guestblogger

May 5, 2009 10:52 AM

Now would be cheap.
Sotheby's stocks have fallen almost 90 percent! Their profit fell to "only" $28.3 million, the worst result since 2003. You could get them for a song!

Brian Sherwin: ArtPrize competition receives criticism from critics and art dealers

Posted by guestblogger

May 5, 2009 7:31 AM

As Christi Nielson responded to Sherwin's latest great art post, "A colleague of mine once said 'they're trying to lock the doors to a building where walls no longer exist.' "

Sherwin on myartspaceblog:
I've read some buzz about the ArtPrize competition. A few art critics and NYC art dealers have called it a sign of desperation rather than an opportunity for artists-- implying that anyone who enters it is 'just desperate'. In fact, one critic of the competition-- András Szántó -- suggested that anyone who wins the competition will never be accepted in the mainstream art world.

András Szántó also suggested that the $400,000+ cash prize should have been donated to existing art programs or as grants to artists who are represented by notable galleries. He actually made the case that only a select few should dictate what is 'good' art or 'bad' art instead of the general public-- backing the idea that only certain individuals are capable of understanding or appreciating art.

Michael Moore (for Time magazine): Bernie Madoff, Scapegoat

Posted by guestblogger

May 2, 2009 9:21 AM

Elie Wiesel called him a "God." His investors called him a "genius." But, proving correct that old adage from the country and western song, you never really know what goes on behind closed doors.

Bernie Madoff, for at least 20 years, ran a Ponzi scheme on thousands of clients, among them the people you and I would consider the best and brightest. Business leaders, celebrities, charities, even some of his own relatives and his defense attorney were taken for a ride (this has to be the first time a lawyer was hosed by the client).

We're clearly in one of those historic, game changing years: up is down, red is blue and black is President. Aside from Obama himself, no person will provide a more iconic face of this end-of-capitalism-as-we-know-it year than Bernard Lawrence Madoff.

Which is too bad.

"A Freak Show Of Conspicuous Consumption" No More

Posted by The Shark

April 29, 2009 2:30 AM

The Slave Market..... Jean-Leon Gerome

What!? You think bloody body parts floating in pools of blood, bobbing about, detritus, stirred by my five foot dorsal fin is a spooky sight? .........wooooOOOooooOOOOOOO!!......... Hah!..... You ain't seen nuthin' yet...!......just wait until this weekend at The Merchandise Mart. You want a horror show! -just keep telling yourself as you stroll from one b gallery nightmare to another, to remember what your therapist told you: 'this isn't really happening to me,' 'stay calm!,'' I'm going to my happy place now...'

I hate it when I'm wrong! Barreling up from the deep, ready to chomp the head off some innocent little baby seal -only to find out I've just latched on to the leg of some mangy surfer dude (quit crying for mommy! I didn't mean to take your leg off!...oops I just chipped a tooth!) or worse yet some pelagic researcher's towed rubber seal dummy (-who wants to have tire mouth?!) and to what end? so I can end up on some low-rent, 'man is the real predator, now that we said it don't we feel good?' piece of pulp on Shark Week?......So, imagine the extent of my mortification when Tony Fitz (the whale shark) patrick proves me wrong about...anything! (an exceedingly rare occurrence) But, in this one isolated incident, he has. Three years ago, after a meeting with the Mart/Art Fair people that included Tony, Paul Klein and myself, Tony walked away saying 'I'm done'.....and he was, and he was right. 'These people weren't going to really treat or think of artists in any way other than commodities, indentured servants, serfs' - and they, haven't. Tony went on to say, this isn't about art or an art fair, this is about political ambition and low and behold......read the political pages of The Chicago Sun-Times in the last few days? Read the list of people on the host committee, or the middlemen/ panelists for ancillary events for this years fair? Lots of players, very few artists. Lots of art world bureaucracy, played out and washed up, manning a decaying, and decadent, outmoded system and a failed scene -and by this I mean the infrastructural end of the Chicago Art World.....

With all the money under one roof, whats is there to complain about you ask? Well for one thing, if we are discussing Chicago money -lets face it, its never been supportive of the Chicago art world. Institutions have been built here true, and mostly to house imported fare -whether we are discussing a French Impressionist Painting or a trendy piece of garbage 'painted' by Karen Kilimnick, the conceit persists and insists that what comes from elsewhere is by the very nature of its geographical origins, superior.

Molotiu's Abstract Comics blog site

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

April 23, 2009 3:05 PM

Andrei Molotiu, art historian, gallery comics artist and editor of the forthcoming anthology Abstract Comics, the first book to trace the history and survey the contemporary landscape of abstract sequential art, has started a blog to showcase the book and other work by some of the book's contributors including himself and Mark Staff Brandl. The link: abstractcomics.blogspot.com.

Paul Germanos: Art Shows

Posted by guestblogger

April 20, 2009 9:06 PM

Myth in Material @ Alogon Gallery

Elizabeth Chodos curates: Ryan Fenchel, Rebecca Gordon, Mathew Paul Jinks, Stacie Johnson, and Michael Ruglio-Misurell
Myth in Material
April 18-30, 2009
Alogon Gallery
1049 N. Paulina 3R [entry on Cortez], Chicago, IL
alogongallery.com

Steve Litsios Interviewed on Bad at Sports Podcast

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

April 19, 2009 6:42 PM

After a rather silly introduction by Richard and Duncan, which as they describe it is a "horribly off-track intro which consists largely of talk of herpes and sleeping around. Eventually they get around to discussing what is really important, this week's show!", then comes Steve Litsios, an artist from La Chaux-de-Fonds in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, who also contributes to the Swiss offshoot of Sharkforum. Litsios is interviewed this week by me, Mark Staff Brandl. Litsios is known for his vast paper installations, wall objects, smaller sculpture, and web-work, all of which are elegant, restrained, and yet puckish in their surprising flirtation with elements of garishness. His work has recently begun to incorporate political content into his formerly abstract approach. The artist also plays in several roots blues and skiffle bands.

Link here.

Dawoud Bey on Art Babble

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

April 13, 2009 2:50 PM

Dawoud Bey on Art Babble

The "In the Factory" series brings you an interview with Chicago's great photographer Dawoud Bey as he discusses his career as an artist, working with high school students and his exhibition at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Class Pictures: Photographs by Dawoud Bey.

Kimberly Soenen: Voom Exhibition

Posted by guestblogger

April 9, 2009 2:33 PM

What do Designer Trevor O'Neil, Architect Mark Verwoerdt, Illustrator Aaron Miller and Painter Michael O'Briant have in common? TOJO Gallery.

During the group show opening night reception on the evening of June 5, O'Neil will unveil his most recent furniture piece; Verwoerdt - one of Chicago's hottest architects, will share his eye for truly raw material with his drawings and portraits; and Illustrator Aaron Miller will exhibit his illustrations for the first time in more than ten years. Round out the four-strong artistic Chicago force with the paintings of Michael O'Briant, and collectors and dealers should expect to experience some serious aesthetic "Va-Va" in front of the VOOM.

Bouras on Brandl: A Podcast Blast from the Past

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

March 31, 2009 9:46 PM

26 years ago. "Art and Artists," Harry Bouras on WFMT in 1982 about a Brandl exhibition.

Review of Mark Staff Brandl in Raw Space, Marilyn Sward at ARC, Joanne Carson and Janet Pines Bender at N.A.M.E. October 24, 1982.

One of the most unique, yet most insightful reviews I have ever had of a show of mine. This installation was described by the New Art Examiner in their Guide to the Galleries as a "fine requiem for "personal" art ... poignant yet powerfully uncompromising " and as the only non-trite use of Raw Space in 1982. It was the basis of change from Late Conceptualist to the expanded painting installation combinations I do today.

Click on Arrow to stream.

Or download here.

Brandl Dissertation Chapter One

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

March 31, 2009 8:39 AM

This is the second chapter of my PhD dissertion following the Prelude, which I already posted. (I am writing under the direction of Prof. Philip Urspung at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. My second reader is Prof. Andreas Langlotz at the University of Basel, Switzerland.)

The Chapters are permanently archived on my website here as well, but I am putting each chapter up on Sharkforum as I finish them. I would love your comments, criticism, tangential thoughts and more! Please be aware that by commenting here, you are giving me permission to use your words, with proper citation including your name, in some fashion in my final dissertation book and exhibition.

I originally intended to do the chapters in html, but have decided for pdf.

Link to dissertation here.

Richard Hunt at David Weinberg Gallery and Art Chicago

Posted by guestblogger

March 28, 2009 8:20 PM

The David Weinberg Gallery is proud to present a solo show for Richard Hunt opening April 17, 2009. The artist will be present at the opening reception from 5-8pm on Friday, April 17, 2009. Richard Huntʼs works will be on view and available at our Art Chicago booth (#12-146) May 1 - 4. The gallery show will run through May 30, 2009. Hunt is this years recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Sculpture Center. A black-tie gala celebrating the achievement will be held on April 29, 2009 at the Chicago CulturalCenter.

Richard Hunt (b. 1935) has had a long, prosperous career with deep ties to Chicago.

Brian Sherwin: Steve Litsios Interviewed on myartspace

Posted by guestblogger

March 26, 2009 3:02 PM

Born in 1959 near Boston, raised in Washington DC, Steve Litsios moved to Switzerland with his family in 1967. He studied art for a couple of years at Geneva's ecole d'arts appliqués before attending the San Francisco Art Institute in the late 70's, then moved back to Switzerland where he has been active internationally as an artist since 1983. He lives in the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds and can be found playing the washboard with The Crawfish Blues Band.

Paul Germanos: Spring 2009 Undergraduate Exhibition and Time Arts Event

Posted by guestblogger

March 24, 2009 1:38 PM

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Sullivan Galleries
33 S. State, 7th Floor
March 20 - April 3, 2009
Tues-Sat, 11-6

www.saic.edu/

Above: Erin Elizabeth

Paul Germanos: Scott Stack @ Monique Meloche Gallery

Posted by guestblogger

March 24, 2009 1:34 PM

"Scott Stack (b. 1952) lives in Oak Park, IL and received his MFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 1976..."
"Stack expands the conceptual reaches of his investigation of night vision surveillance..."
March 20 - April 25, 2009
118 North Peoria
Chicago, IL 60607
www.moniquemeloche.com

Joyce Owens: Who Can't See Us? Invisible Artists? Panel, Mar. 26 at School of the Art Institute Chicago

Posted by guestblogger

March 23, 2009 7:30 PM

I was told that some students at Chicago's School of the Art Institute believe there is not art on the South Side of Chicago. My immediate response was, "HUH????"
It reminded me of people who say, "He's has NO personality". I wonder if they have looked!
Anyway, this should be an interesting chat. Hope you will come, and if you have advice in advance, please add to comments or come out and voice your thoughts!

Suffering from a long history of negative stereotypes and the harsh realities of urban living, Chicago's Southside community...

John Perreault: On Martin Kippenberger

Posted by guestblogger

March 22, 2009 5:09 PM

The Martin Kippenberger Caper

How German Is It?

I have a problem with Martin Kippenberger. Not personally; after all, I never met him, but I have a problem with his work. It is not anything fancy as might be suggested by the awkward subtitle of the current festival at MoMA: "Martin Kippenberger: The Problem Perspective" (to May 11). If an art history graduate student were to use this phrase and I were the professor (which I have been), I would make the criminal leave the class, the university, the universe.

So, where to begin?

The best thing and simultaneously the worst thing one can say about the huge amount of "art" Kippenberger (1953-1997) left behind is that it is all so '80s. In order to really "get it," you had to be there, which does not bode well for immortality, does it? We like art that is anchored to its time and its culture, but if that is all it is, then we do not really cherish it. It has no -- perish the unfashionable thought --transcendence. In Artopia, the transcendent and the quotidian are not in opposition. In fact, they can be exactly the same.

Pelelui, The Umurbrogal, Bloody Nose Ridge, or, TIGER BURNING IN THE SUN

Posted by The Shark

March 21, 2009 7:06 AM

This particular drawing (Tiger Burning In The Sun) is the opening salvo so to speak -of a new series of drawings I have just put up at wesleykimlerstudio.com

(click on drawing to enlarge)

Holland Cotter: The Boom Is Over. Long Live the Art!

Posted by guestblogger

March 8, 2009 7:32 PM

In the New York Times.
"Anyone with memories of recessions in the early 1970s and late '80s knows that we've been here before, though not exactly here."

"I'm not talking about creating '60s-style utopias; all those notions are dead and gone and weren't so great to begin with. I'm talking about carving out a place in the larger culture where a condition of abnormality can be sustained, where imagining the unknown and the unknowable -- impossible to buy or sell -- is the primary enterprise. Crazy! says anyone with an ounce of business sense.
Right. Exactly. Crazy. "

_____

LAST year Artforum magazine, one of the country's leading contemporary art monthlies, felt as fat as a phone book, with issues running to 500 pages, most of them gallery advertisements. The current issue has just over 200 pages. Many ads have disappeared.

The contemporary art market, with its abiding reputation for foggy deals and puffy values, ...

Let Me Guess: If It Isn't Lunch You Had In Mind, You Must Have Dropped In To Have A Look At My New Website!

Posted by The Shark

March 2, 2009 9:27 AM

Recently, there has been much 'spin', noise and chatter, -emanating from that particular bastion of the specious and the trite (think 'Ren', think 'theory's bitch' Claudine Ise', think gatekeepers losing their grip) about abstraction, representation, the decline of abstract expressionism, the misused term 'Imagism', who is who, what is what, and who has done what in terms of Chicago painting -where these specific conceits come in to play-

My only question then, would be my favorite one: what is the nature of legitimate authority? what makes something true?

The url to my new website: wesleykimlerstudio.com

Chicago Artist Panel on Video

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

February 25, 2009 7:58 AM

The whole evening in a playlist of videos. Check it out, it is worth a watch. This roundtable featured Elizabeth Chodos, Director of Three Walls; Paul Klein, critic; Chuck Thurow, Director of The Hyde Park Art Center; Philip Von Zweck, artist; and Lynne Warren, Curator at The Museum of Contemporary Art. Hosted by Hamza Walker at Kent Hall on the University of Chicago campus.

We'd like a Sharkforum discussion on the issue!

Sharkforum Podcast 2: Art Academy Liechtenstein Reviews Exhibition in Art Museum Liechtenstein

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

February 22, 2009 11:12 AM

Sharkforum Podcast 2: Art Academy Liechtenstein Reviews Exhibition in Art Museum Liechtenstein

(click on image to enlarge)

A short review of the exhibition "Knocking on Heaven's Door" at the Art Museum of Liechtenstein by the Introductory Art History class of the Art Academy of Liechtenstein, Students of Mark Staff Brandl. Only 14 Minutes!

Click on arrow to listen streaming:

Or download here.

Other download formats here.

Brandl Art "Inadvertently" Stolen from Museum

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

February 8, 2009 5:53 PM

No Shit. A painting installation disappears in an opening in Colorado Museum. 26 of 31 paintings taken by visitors.

The cat is out of the bag, they have gone to the press, so now I can discuss and indeed complain about the events.

Brandl Exhibition in Switzerland

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

February 7, 2009 6:06 PM

Press release from the gallery:

The gallery "Am Landsgemeindeplatz" in Trogen, Switzerland is exhibiting the art of renowned artist Mark Staff Brandl. In the show, titled "Prelude," the paintings and sequential drawings displayed are a part of his PhD dissertation, currently in progress.

Throbbing Gristle Returns

Posted by entro

February 4, 2009 5:06 PM

Controversial British Industrial noise pioneers return to decimate the most ironic of venues in Chicago. The Epiphany Episcopal Church of Chicago at 201 South Ashland Avenue will set the stage for two shows by Genesis, Chris, Cosey, and Peter reunion.

Steve Hamann: (Po)Modern Shark: A Feeding Frenzy Comic

Posted by guestblogger

February 4, 2009 10:30 AM

Click on image to see full, enlarged version, and click on that enlargement to enlarge it even more.

A comic --- oops, a piece of sequential art --- in which the artist Steve Hamann braves the Sharkpit to finally meet Mark Staff Brandl, discuss with Wesley Kimler, see art by both, and comment on it all!

Sharkforum Introduces Its Podcast!

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

January 30, 2009 10:13 PM

This is the first podcast by Sharkforum! Wesley Kimler, "The Shark," and Mark Staff Brandl, "The EuroShark," introduce their intentions in a short 33 minute discussion. Skype discussions, rants, Shark attacks, reviews and more will follow.

Listen here:

Or download here.

James Kalm: Leon Golub at Ronald Feldman

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

January 29, 2009 11:19 AM

James Kalm rolls down to Soho to catch the tail end of the exhibition of one of Americas great post war figurative artists. Leon Golub, (1922-2004) presents us, in these late paintings, with a mingling of his mastery of representation and a heightened use of abstracted space. These massive unstretched canvases focus on scenes recalling the brutality of political and social strife, but Golub nevertheless maintains the legacy of classical painting and brings the influences of Titian and Goya into a contemporary context.

"science et cité" festival: "what would you invent to save the world"?

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

January 18, 2009 6:52 PM

I was invited by ReneeMcGrath-Abazovic to make a contribution to a project by the Visual Communication Department at the Hochschule der Künste in Bern. At the moment, they are working on a project for the "science et cité" festival that takes place in 5 towns in Switzerland in order to bring science and society closer to each other.

They asked for my answer to the question, "what would you invent to save the world" or "what should science invent to save the world".

This is my answer.

What would I invent? A new self-reliant attitude in human thought.

Science and research in general can do many things to help the world. Some of society's greatest successes in this direction have been in medicine, health care and especially surgery. Logical analysis alone is important ...

Sculptor Scott Fife Opening At Tony Wight This Friday

Posted by The Shark

January 13, 2009 11:40 AM

The terrific sculptor Scott Fife, creates absolutely marvelous (masterful) large scale heads in cardboard -often grayed out -but this go around with big splashes of color, with all the workings -screws, glue, staples adding both detritus and, detail -in some ways reminiscent of Conrad Marca Relli's best work- made 3d. Scott will be showing with the interesting psychedelic abstractions of Todd Chilton -a painter The Shark knows nothing of, but looks forward to seeing-

Scott will not be at the opening -BUT! will be coming to Chicago in the next month to give a gallery talk -date TBA-

Solve : A Retrospective at the Country Club

Posted by entro

January 12, 2009 4:20 PM

My first and last sighting of Solve in the flesh was slam dunking his patented sticker on a CTA bus sign at what has been referred to as "Solve height." A lanky, beanpole of a man, Solve's inconspicuous infiltration of the city landscape seemed almost impossible by nature. But even after his tragic and untimely death, his imprint still ghosts the bike and bus paths for us urban denizens to appreciate and intake on a daily basis. Brendon Scanlon has become the patron saint of not only street art in Chicago but of any street level dweller willing to navigate the grime and grit.

An Open Letter to MCA Director Madeleine Grynsztejn: How To Subvert the Art Institute, Create a Chicago Canon/ a Remedial, Visionary New Wing for this Stairway to Architectural Ignominy, and Have Chicago Lead the Way to a Brave New Art World

Posted by The Shark

January 9, 2009 7:06 AM

You laugh! But you shouldn't! or, wouldn't, if, that dorsal fin was attached to, say me for instance, and you were climbing the stairway to the business end of carcharodon carcharias (the ultimate in evolutionary epicurean elegance ) rather than this embodiment of all that is ultimately dysfunctional when it comes to the Chicago art world.

Charlie Rose: Harold Bloom, then Chuck Jones

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

January 7, 2009 7:45 PM

Charlie Rose: Harold Bloom, then Chuck Jones, How Can You Lose!

Bloom attacks literature studies in universities and Chuck Jones discusses his art but also draws live!

Jerry Saltz: On Marlene Dumas

Posted by guestblogger

January 6, 2009 7:40 AM

Jerry Saltz in a quick note on his Facebook page:

"MoMA's dreary Marlene Dumas show establishes that she is a sensationalist with no original ideas about painting, color, or photography; she hasn't developed as an artist; is merely a later day Neo-Expressionist; is more connected to Andreas Serrano than to any painter."

Brian Sherwin: Was There a Dark Cloud Looming Over Miami? Or Was it All in Our Minds?

Posted by guestblogger

December 24, 2008 12:21 PM

Brian Sherwin, Senior Editor of the site www.myartspace.com, who is well-known for his fine interviews, discusses the Miami Basel Art Fair, taking a long term view of his impressions.

Gallerists, collectors, and art appreciators were fully aware of the dark cloud-- psychologically speaking-- looming over Miami during the recent art fairs. The 'rain' fell on Scope, Pulse, Bridge and other art fairs-- they fell on Art Basel Miami Beach as well. It was a psychological rain and with it came great concern and fear surrounding the stability of the current art market. The streets and busses were filled with rumors and dark predictions-- this collective voice of dissatisfaction blared throughout the length of the Miami fairs. ...

Drawing in Taverns

Posted by Gary Justis

December 21, 2008 7:25 PM

Proximity Magazine's Theory Column: Artists Write; DAVID REED: "Jackson Pollock and Piero della Francesca Ride Lonesome"

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

December 21, 2008 3:58 PM

Proximity magazine number 3 has just been released. One of the features, as mentioned before here, is edited by your friendly EuroShark. I am organizing short theoretical essays from other active artists. The Proximity editors are also gracious enough to allow us to publish the essays on Sharkforum as well as in their magazine. They would love subscribers, though!

This issue and next issue feature a wonderful two part essay I solicited from renowned NYC painter, David Reed, titled Jackson Pollock and Piero della Francesca Ride Lonesome. Here is the first part ...

Out of Sequence, Krannert Art Museum Video

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

December 15, 2008 6:36 PM

A super short (2 min. 35 sec.) TV video clip of the exhibition "Out of Sequence: Under Represented Voices in American Comics," which is on exhibition at the University of Illinois' Krannert Art Museum. This video tours the exhibition with its co-curators, Professor John Jennings and PhD candidate Damian Duffy. Mark Staff Brandl's corner Panels painting-installation and Covers paintings in the spinner rack are prominently featured.

Every Once In A Blue Moon, I like to Stick My Head In The Room Just To Remind Everyone What a Nice, Friendly, Good Looking Fella I Really Am!...Effervescent!...Bubbly!

Posted by The Shark

December 14, 2008 2:58 PM

So much to say, so little time, coming in the next weeks from the Supreme Dictator For Life- that would be me, The Shark himself,...several things that I will be circling around here in some brand spanking new, pools of blood!....

EuroShark Brandl Interviewed on Bad at Sports

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

December 1, 2008 7:15 PM

After the Shark, now the EuroShark is interviewed on the award-winning podcast website Bad at Sports! Episode 170: Mark Staff Brandl. As they write on their blog, "Duncan "the fieldmouse" MacKenzie interviews Mark "The EuroShark" Staff Brandl, theorist, writer, professor, artist, and contributor to Art in America, Sharkforum and Bad at Sports. Richard expresses concern that Duncan is off his meds."

Go on over, listen streaming or download the mp3 and listen to it on your iPod. Then join in the discussion! Link: click here!

James Kalm: Mary Heilmann

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

November 26, 2008 8:47 AM

James Kalm motates to the Upper East Side for an intimate viewing of three decades of painting, by Mary Heilman. Some Pretty Colors is a selection of works that display the qualities which have attracted and increasing amount of critical and curatorial attention. With a seeming ease boardering on the nonchalant, Heilman constructs compositions with sophisticated structure and vibrant color. Recognized as a major influence on young abstract painters, shes also inspired artists of all stripes with her long-term commitment. Featuring an interview with Bobby G.

Joanne Mattera: Mary Heilmann at the New Museum

Posted by guestblogger

November 26, 2008 8:14 AM

Mary Heilmann's paintings turn the idea of the "tortured artist" inside out. Her joyful paintings seem effortless and spontaneous. Her grids and stripes are unmeasured. She makes big, blowsy shapes with thinned paint and loose brushwork, with seemingly no attempt to do anything about the resulting drips except to let them have a life of their own. Sometimes she paints over vast tracts of the canvas; other times there's a pentimento or perhaps an image intended to be visible beneath the surface. Lines meander ...

My Dissertation Begins

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

November 23, 2008 7:24 PM

This is the beginning post of the on-line, in process, version of my PhD dissertion, which I am writing under the direction of Prof. Philip Urspung at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. My second reader is Prof. Andreas Langlotz at the University of Basel, Switzerland.

It will be permanently archived on my website here as well, but I will put each chapter up on Sharkforum as I finish them. I would love your comments, criticism, tangential thoughts and more! Please be aware that by commenting here, you are giving me permission to use your words, with proper citation including your name, in some fashion in my final dissertation book and exhibition, which I am planning to do. It's your chance to become a part of and liven up an often unduly stodgy process.

I have separated it into sections which repeat the page divisions in my hard-copy manuscript version. This is both for easier reading and for easy reference between the versions.

Each chapter includes an introductory Cover painting, perhaps other painting(s), sequential comic art page or pages and studies as well as the text.

Out of Sequence, Krannert Art Museum Podcast

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

November 12, 2008 10:01 AM

Excerpt of a radio show interview with John Jennings and Damian Duffy touring the Out of Sequence exhibition at Krannert Art Museum in Illinois.

For 13 minutes of streaming radio click on the arrow. To download as mp3 click here.

Penn Says: Tony Fitzpatrick

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

November 11, 2008 8:09 AM

From Crackle: Penn Says- Tony Fitzpatrick

Penn on his Tony Fitzpatrick and Kara Walker collection.

The SHARKPIT ---The Newest Chicago Kunsthalle

Posted by guestblogger

October 7, 2008 10:15 AM

Artist Wesley Kimler, aka "The Shark," in conjunction with the other members of the Sharkpack, will begin presenting art exhibitions and events on a semi-regular basis within his vast studio space. Thus it is now officially designated THE SHARKPIT.The first event is an "apero and Vernissage" (to use European words), that is an opening and display of smaller works by the EuroShark Mark Staff Brandl on THURSDAY OCTOBER 16 from 7:30 pm on (see below or here), presented as an addendum to his Krannert Art Museum installation. A preview of Kimler's huge recent paintings will also be visible. In following months a complete exhibition of these works will occur. Stay tuned!

EuroShark in Chicago and Champaign Soon!

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

September 25, 2008 7:37 PM

Two invitations: SHARKPIT and KRANNERT ART MUSEUM.

I, Mark Staff Brandl, will be in the US in October and would love to see you -- and show you work. The dates and contact info ---

OPENING (vernissage, apero)
SHARKPIT (Wesley Kimler's Studio)
THURSDAY OCTOBER 16 from 7:30 - 11:00 pm (or so)
a small SHOW of littler works

After that a very large painting-installation in

KRANNERT ART MUSEUM
Champaign, Illinois
THURSDAY OCTOBER 23 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm
(Wherein I will also give a "gallery conversation")

YOU ARE INVITED! Please come to one or both.

More info ---

Proximity Magazine's Theory Column: Artists Write

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

September 23, 2008 9:41 PM

Proximity magazine number 2 has just been released. A party for its appearance was held at The Co-Prosperity Sphere. Issue 2 is 208 pages. One of the new features is by your friendly EuroShark. The editors, Rachael, Edmar and Mairead have taken me on as a Corresponding Editor for Theory. I will be contributing short theoretical essays, but perhaps more importantly, I will be soliciting, organizing and editing the same from other active artists. The Proximity editors are also gracious enough to allow me to publish the essays on Sharkforum as well as in the magazine. This is an important new magazine about art and should be supported. Below you will find my introductory article --which is also a call to arms, a request for contributors. Please read it, buy Proximity, and contact me with your theory essay ideas. The next two entries I have scheduled will be the halves of a theoretical essay by New York painter David Reed. After that -- how about you?

Peter Schjeldahl: Good Artists Tend to Be Bad Students

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

September 20, 2008 5:25 PM

Peter Schjeldahl the sharp-eyed and sharp-tongued senior art critic for the New Yorker is much beloved by the Sharkpack. You can see why in this video of excerpts from a speech he gave at Boston University's College of Fine Arts School of Visual Arts 2007--2008 Contemporary Perspectives Lecture Series. He took his hosts -- and the entire university system -- to task for their dysfunctional relationship to the creation of art.

Hakan Topal: Interview with Tony Fitzpatrick in New Orleans

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

September 19, 2008 1:51 PM

Chicago's own Tony Fitzpatrick has been keeping a New Orleans diary for more than a year. Along with his paintings he sends them to his close circle of friends. They are presented at the website of Prospectus, along with this video interview.

Prospectus is the web publication/blog for the Prospect.1 New Orleans Biennial, directed by Dan Cameron.

Check out Tony's diary here.

Peter Greenaway's Projection on Leonardo's Last Supper

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

September 18, 2008 8:28 PM

Peter Greenaway's projection onto Leonardo's Last Supper in Milan. An excerpt.

Robert Hughes: "Day of the Dead" On Damien Hirst's Sotheby Auction

Posted by guestblogger

September 18, 2008 7:48 PM

From The Guardian, Saturday September 13 2008:
"Amid the controversy surrounding the Sotheby's auction, Robert Hughes explains why he has taken a stand against Damien Hirst's 'simple-minded' works, and an art world where prices bear no relation to talent..."

Glenn O'Brien's TV Party Trailer

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

September 12, 2008 9:56 PM

Stephanie Seymour and Art T-Shirts

SHARK NEWS FLASH: BETSY BAKER NO LONGER EDITOR OF ART IN AMERICA

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

September 12, 2008 8:57 PM

"After more than three decades as the editor of Art in America magazine, Elizabeth C. Baker, a powerful voice in the contemporary-art world," as Randy Kennedy describes her, has resigned.

David W. Galenson and Joshua Kotin: Creativity Young and Old

Posted by guestblogger

September 3, 2008 4:13 PM

Excerpted from the LA Times --- more on Chicago's financial expert with his theory of the two major creative-types, inspiration, development and maturation.

It's Never Too Late to Create

AT 76, CLINT EASTWOOD is making the best films of his career. "Letters from Iwo Jima" has been nominated for four Academy Awards -- including best picture and best director. ("Flags of Our Fathers," which Eastwood also directed last year, received two nominations.) New York Times' film critic A.O. Scott recently named him "the greatest living American filmmaker." Such accolades are the latest development in Eastwood's creative ascension. Two years ago, his "Million Dollar Baby" won best picture and best director, a repeat of his success with "Unforgiven" at age 62 -- his first Oscar after making movies for more than 20 years.

Sculptor Louise Bourgeois is 95. ...

James Kalm: Jonathan Lasker

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

August 24, 2008 1:11 PM

James Kalm: Jonathan Lasker

The Tomato Fight Festival of Valencia, Spain

Posted by guestblogger

August 17, 2008 3:51 PM

La Tomatina, Buñol (Valencia)

The sunny Mediterranean city of Valencia in Spain is world-renowned for its tasty and succulent oranges. And just thirty miles away is Buñol, another town just as famous for its produce. But its notoriety comes from the locals' habit of wearing the produce as well as tasting it: every year, Buñol hosts La Tomatina, the world's largest tomato fight. Situated only 30 kilometers inland from the Mediterranean Sea, and well-connected by motorway and rail to Madrid and Valencia, this charming town erupts into a fiery blaze of tomato-hurling on the last Wednesday of every August.

John Haber: Buy Low, Sell High, David W. Galenson

Posted by guestblogger

August 17, 2008 3:38 PM

Does it make sense to speak of free markets at all, when so many public and private institutions have a role in shaping what art, careers, and exhibitions? Does it matter that artists mostly never share the benefits?

Roswitha Haftmann Prize goes to Vija Celmins

Posted by guestblogger

August 11, 2008 8:44 PM

The 2009 winner of Europe's most valuable art award, the Roswitha Haftmann Prize, is the American artist Vija Celmins.

Painting Update, in English and German

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

August 10, 2008 8:43 PM

An update on one of my newest paintings.

Rembrandt Video

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

July 28, 2008 7:07 PM

One of those morph things, but it works beautifully with the art. I am feeling pensive and somber due to the nearness of too much death. This fits.

Interview with Mark Staff Brandl at myartspace>blog

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

July 6, 2008 2:31 PM

Brian Sherwin, artist and art blogger has interviewed me, the EuroShark for his website, myartspace>blog. Sherwin, originally from Illinois and now living in California, has conducted and published a series of interviews with visual artists including William T. Wiley and others. You can read his piece with me here.

Also new --- a short video interview with me in German on youtube here.

Donald Kuspit: THE TROUBLE WITH YOUTH

Posted by guestblogger

June 26, 2008 7:51 PM

"All modern art begins to appear comprehensible. . . when it is interpreted as an attempt to instill youthfulness into an ancient world," José Ortega y Gasset wrote in The Dehumanization of Art, adding that "Europe is entering upon an era of youthfulness."(1)

This was written over three-quarters of a century ago. A century before that, in the "Squibs" section of his Intimate Journals, Baudelaire wrote that "nowadays. . . youth itself is a priesthood -- at least according to the young."(2) The cult of youth, even of childhood -- what might be called the regressive search for the original freshness of being, for the innocent spontaneity and playfulness of the child -- is a constant of the avant-garde outlook.

Two of the Sharkpack about Basel Art Fair on Bad at Sports!

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

June 15, 2008 6:42 PM

A Bad at Sports Basel Art Fair Overdose!

The intro and outro are extra creepy this week. Highlights(?) include Duncan talking about some fantasy involving wearing tight short shorts and Teena McClelland!!! Tom Burtonwood interrupts the recording by shooting rubber bands. Chaos!

After Richard and Duncan are done making a mess of things, the real pros come in and present a fantastic report from Basel.

Lamis El Farra, emerging artist, and the EuroShark Mark Staff Brandl, seemingly perennially emerging black sheep artist, traverse and discuss the entirety of the King of Art Fairs, Art Basel. Yes: the Fair Itself, Art Statements, Art Unlimited, Scope, and the Solo Project. They only missed Liste and Print Basel. Sorry, but all the rest was already enough. Of course they were at the VIP opening (ahem) and managed to talk to more people than you can shake a stick at: artists, gallerists, museum directors, curators, critics, art magazine editors, fair organizers, all the hangers-on, ...er..., important elements of the international artworld.

Link to the podcast on BaS.

"Enter Dream": New photography by Ray Pride

Posted by Ray Pride

June 12, 2008 7:04 AM

A show of 40+ photographs opens Friday, June 13 at Medicine Park (Chicago Avenue at Washtenaw) and runs through July 9. Friday's opening reception begins at 8 with dj Lauri Apple spinning. Details and a sample below...

Finally! A New Chicago Art Magazine --- Proximity

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

June 11, 2008 11:05 AM

This Week on Bad at Sports Duncan and Amanda talk to Rachel and Ed "Edmar" Marszewski about Proximity Magazine. A wonderful interview about a great project. With Sharkforum, Bad at Sports, The Art Letter and now Proximity (and some other blogs too), we just might get some appreciation for the depth of the real Chicago artscene going.

The show also features a short segment on the interesting Spudnik printmaking location.

Listen here.

We All Know The Shark Likes Anything Having To Do With War...

Posted by The Shark

June 11, 2008 12:06 AM

Dawoud Bey on " the Studio Museum in Harlem - A Case Study in Solutions"

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

June 6, 2008 8:20 PM

In a great post on his blog, photographer Dawoud Bey raises some very Sharkpack-like questions about how to circumvent the decided lack of appropriate institutional support:

"Within the past week here in Chicago there have been no less than two panel discussions on race and art production. More specifically these panel discussions (with vocal audience exchanges) looked at black art and black art production, or as yesterday's panel at the University of Chicago (in conjunction with the exhibition Black Is/Black Ain't) was entitled, "Post Black: There and Back Again." Thursday night's program at the Experimental Station, which was organized by Theaster Gates as part of the "Representations" series on culture, politics, and aesthetics, was entitled "Black Enough?"

Both of these gatherings were lively, engaging, and variously informative, and provided a much needed forum for the airing of ideas that usually take place away from the light of public discourse."

Chicago in the Big Artworld, a Roundtable on Bad at Sports

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

May 31, 2008 9:00 PM

I want to post ---as a blog --- a comment I put up over on Bad at Sports. I know most, yet not ALL of our two publics overlap. I was very enthused by the roundtable discussion Duncan MacKenzie and Lori Waxman had with Kathryn Hixson and James Yood.

They brought up some very important points, as did several commenters including Pedro Velez and our own Shark. ...

Eugene J. Martin, Video About the Painter

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

May 22, 2008 7:20 PM

1995: A year in the life of artist Eugene J. Martin. Part I.

The widow of the late US artist Eugene J. Martin, Suzanne Fredericq, has put up a beautiful series of videos dedicated to the paintings and drawings of her husband.

This is Part I of a 2-part series showing abstract paintings (acrylics on canvas) created by visual artist Eugene James Martin in 1995 in Washington D.C. Video clip montage by S. Fredericq, filmed in Lafayette, Louisiana (LA).

eugene 1.jpg

Post-Event Artworld Arising (Slowly?); C. Knight on Matthew Barney's 'REN'

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

May 22, 2008 7:02 PM

Finally, an important critic takes a clear stance on "Event Art." Will the Consensus Curatorial World that feeds on such events be analyzed soon too?

Christopher Knight of the LA Times dissected Matthew Barney's 'REN' in a recent article.

"The first mistake Matthew Barney made in his corny two-hour performance, "REN," at a Santa Fe Springs car lot Sunday night, was in the choice of starring automobile. The 1967 Chrysler Imperial had obvious meanings."

Read the rest here.

Meta-Toons, Details O' De Tales

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

May 18, 2008 6:51 PM

Meta-Toons: Details O' De Tales, Mark Staff Brandl

A series of four abstract cartoons.

Dawoud Bey's Blog: Racing Art, Racing Chicago

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

May 18, 2008 2:00 PM

Dawoud Bey has an excellent blog here. I particularly recopmmend a recent article addressing a great unspoken sin of the Chicago artworld --- racism. As the feminist theorist from the Netherlands, Anna Meulenbelt, expressed it so well, the destructive agents in our cultures at present are like the skin of an onion: racism, sexism and classism. We will not

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