Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Sound Art Group Show




I have a small work in The String and The Mirror, which opens at Lisa Cooley tomorrow night, at 6pm. Curated by Lawrence Kumpf and Justin Luke, the show features conceptual soundworks by Alan Licht, Christof Migone, Rolf Julius, Ultra Red, Marin Rosenfeld, Akio Suzuki and others.

I'll be at the opening, so drop by if you're around.

For more information, visit the gallery site, here.



Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Michael Dumontier | The Sky and the Ground (for Remy Charlip)







Arrived in the mail today: a long-coveted book sculpture by Michael Dumontier. These are found books (each unique) that the artist has foil stamped with the same text, turning them into landscape drawings. A few are available, for $150, from here and here.









Monday, July 29, 2013

Happy b-day Jenny Holzer



Jenny Holzer, who was born in 1950 in Gallipolis, Ohio, turns 63 today.


Sunday, July 28, 2013

Tibi Tibi Neuspiel | Doritos® pin




Tibi Tibi Neuspiel
Doritos® pin
Toronto, Canada: Self-published, 2013.
Oil paint and urethane.
Approx 2.5"
Open Edition. Signed by artist.


Available for $150 from Narwhal Projects, here.


Tibi Tibi Neuspiel | Licorice Bracelet in red or black





Tibi Tibi Neuspiel
Licorice Bracelet in red or black
Toronto, Canada: Self-published, 2013
Oil paint and urethane.
Variable size
Open Edition. Signed by artist.
$100 each

Launched yesterday in conjunction with a solo exhibition, Housewarming Gifts for Anorexics, at Narwhal Projects at 2988 Dundas Street West, Toronto. The exhibition runs until Aug 17th, and the jewelry multiples can be purchased there, or by contacting info@narwhalprojects.com.

For more information, visit the website, here: www.narwhalprojects.com










Saturday, July 27, 2013

Bookclub tickets now available from the Power Plant




On August 7th, at 7pm, Bookclub will gather at the Toronto Power Plant and present books from their collection in response to the current exhibition Postscript: Writing After Conceptual Art. The touring exhibition which explores the possibilities of language, features Carl Andre, Fiona Banner, Erica Baum, Derek Beaulieu, Christian Bök, Marcel Broodthaers, Craig Dworkin, Kenneth Goldsmith, Dan Graham, Bill Kennedy & Darren Wershler, Seth Kim-Cohen, Sol LeWitt, Glenn Ligon, Tan Lin, Gareth Long, Michael Maranda, Helen Mirra, Jonathan Monk, Simon Morris, João Onofre, Michalis Pichler, Paolo Piscitelli, Kay Rosen, Joe Scanlan, Dexter Sinister, and many other artists and writers.

Each of the ten members of the group will present for five minutes, followed by discussion. Admission is free for members and $10 otherwise. Call the Harbourfront Centre Box Office at 416.973.4000 or click below to purchase tickets. Members can reserve their free tickets by contacting Jennifer Simaitis, Membership Coordinator, at 416.973.4926 or jsimaitis@thepowerplant.org.


"Since 2009, a group of local conceptual artists, writers, curators, and others interested in artists’ books have gathered as “Book Club.” Members of the group will hold their second public gathering in conjunction with the exhibition Postscript: Writing After Conceptual Art. Reflecting on everything from the distinctive formal qualities of books to the history of the medium and the interrelationships among literature, language, text and print in art, Book Clubbers will discuss the rich legacy of artists’ books in a show-and-tell-style with examples from their private treasure troves of artists’ books. The public is invited to join the members of Book Club: Bill Clarke, Dave Dyment, Wendy Gomoll, Michael Klein, Micah Lexier, Derek McCormack, Roula Partheniou, Sarah Robayo Sheridan, Derek Sullivan, and Paul Van Kooy."

- Power Plant press release


For more information about Bookclub, see Jason McBride's 2011 article for the Toronto Standard, here. For more or less the same information as above, visit the Power Plant's website, here.



Walter de Maria, RIP






I can't find confirmation or an actual obituary anywhere, but it sounds like Walter de Maria died today, at the age of 77.


UPDATE: He died of a stroke. The LA Times obituary can be read here.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Afrika Bambaataa’s record collection




Putting together a list of things to try to see next weekend in NYC and came across this Artforum piece on Afrika Bambaataa’s record collection at Gavin Brown. En route to Cornell University’s Hip Hop Collection, where it is being donated this fall, the collection is open to the public like an archeological dig, with guest DJs making selections and crowd sourced alphabetization. It's open Monday to Friday from noon to 5pm until August 10th.


Here's Bambaataa’s Metal, a Gary Numan cover with some Debbie Harry thrown in for good measure:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uVZNPwdbf0

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Claes Oldenburg | Geometric Mouse, Scale E, "Desktop"




Claes Oldenburg
Geometric Mouse, Scale E, "Desktop"
Los Angeles, USA: Gemini G.E.L, 2013
Painted aluminum sculpture on painted aluminum, signed and numbered base
6 1/2" x 8 1/4 " x 6 1/2"  
Edition of 50

Previously available as a cardboard multiple, the Geometric Mouse will soon be released as an aluminum sculptural edition, from Gemini G.E.L., who have a relationship with Oldenburg that dates back to the mid-sixties.

For other editions by Gemini G.E.L. visit their site here or stay here.




Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Kenneth Goldsmith on the Colbert Show tonight



Artist and poet Kenneth Goldsmith will appear with Stephen Colbert on the Colbert Show tonight, promoting his new book Seven American Deaths and Disasters.



Coach House Books Sale




For the next week, all titles published by Coach House Books before 2006 are available, via the website, at a 50% discount.


The long list of titles, available here, includes books by bp Nichol, Derek McCormack, George Bowering, Steve Reinke, Christian Bök, Brian Joseph Davis and many others.







Monday, July 22, 2013

Mel Bochner | Misunderstandings (A Theory of Photography)




















Mel Bochner
Misunderstandings (A Theory of Photography) 
New York City, USA: Multiples, Inc., 1970
[10] pp., 15.1 x 22.9 cm., loose leaves in envelope
Edition of 1200 unnumbered copies

From Artists & Photographs, a cardboard box containing six artist’s publications, four multiples, eight artist’s books, one poster and an exhibition catalogue, published by Multiples Inc in an edition of 1200 copies. In addition to Bochner, the box included work by Christo, Jan Dibbets, Dan Graham, Joseph Kosuth, Richard Long, Robert Morris, B. Nauman, Andy Warhol and many others.


“When I realized in 1967, that my work had become about photography without wanting it to – I thought, I should do some research, look into the history of the medium and find out what’s been written about it, what the issues are.” What I found was really pretty dumb – it had no value in any theoretical terms. And the more I read, the more I began to see it all as a colossal misunderstanding. So I started compiling a set of misunderstandings. After a while I had quite a large number of these quotations which I wanted to publish. The first title was “Dead Ends and Vicious Circles”… I submitted it to Artforum but Philip Leader said ‘we’re not a goddamn photography magazine, this is an art magazine, don’t give me anything on photography, we don’t do photography!’ Then I sent it to Art in America and they were not interested either, but suggested that I send it to a photography magazine! Like Popular Photography! Well I knew that no photography magazine could possibly be interested in this, so I put it in a drawer and forgot about it. Then in 1970, Marian Goodman, who then had a gallery called Multiples Gallery, came up with the idea of doing a boxed multiple set of artists’ photographs. She made this box which was quite an amazing thing, it had Smithson, Graham, Ruscha, Dibbets, Rauschenberg, LeWitt, myself and a number of other artists. My contribution was a version of Dead Ends and Vicious Circles, a compilation of quotations I titled “Misunderstandings (A Theory of Photography).” And to further add to the confusion, three of the quotes were fakes, I made them up. The last card in the envelope is a reproduction of a negative of a Polaroid, but of course Polaroids don’t have negatives!”

– Mel Bochner



Available for $215 US, here