GessoHead
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Anil Revri's Contemplative World at the Katzen |
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Latest News and Thoughts from Ellyn Weiss
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Anil Revri’s gorgeous show at AU’s Katzen Art Center requires the visitor to slow down, shut
off the constant stream of exterior and interior babble and meet the work in
quiet openness. If that sounds like a description of meditation, it’s no
coincidence; Revri describes the process of making his work as an exercise in
meditation and it asks the same of those who view it.
It’s a big show, including both recent and older work, and
all of it displays a consistency and dedication of mind that I, as an artist
with a tendency to leap recklessly from medium to medium, truly admire.
Painting and drawing lines, dots and shapes with absolute precision, moving the
eye from the edge toward the center, Revri, more than most artists, makes it
perfectly clear how each piece should be seen. Yet, this does not lessen the
mystery of how the work affects the viewer.
I am particularly drawn to the most recent series, Cultural Crossroads. Excerpts from the sacred
texts and poetry of every major world religion are inscribed in their original
languages into the center of each of these small pieces on paper. The text is
surrounded by “frames” of tiny repeating geometric shapes that recall the mosaics of the Islamic world, where human imagery is prohibited. The pieces are all
dark - deep charcoal grays and
blacks, dark bronzes and pewters. Collectively, they posit that the core of
spirituality at the center of all religious expression is essentially
interchangeable; an illustration, of course, of the Buddhist wisdom that there
is one truth but many paths toward it. Perhaps not a revolutionary idea but one that bears particular meaning in today's world.
AU hosted a gallery talk at the opening that featured our
own Jim Mahoney at his most charming and erudite as well as Donald Kuspit, a
Professor at SUNY Stony Brook who wrote the catalog essay and has a long
history with Revri. In describing
the experience of this work, Mahoney used the phrase “a message from another
world” and that is right on the money to my mind. Kuspit, whose malleable face
sometimes seemed about to explode with the effort of containing all of the ideas
pushing through his brain, argued that Revri should be seen in the line of
modern-contemporary art as heralding a way past hyper-individualistic,
“anything goes” post-modernism back to an appreciation for spiritual power and
refinement of technique and intention. Interesting and thought-provoking, but I
found it very odd that none of the speakers discussed Revri’s work in the
context of the Indian tradition which it so strongly reflects.
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Annie Leibovitz’s Pilgrimage at the Smithsonian American Art Museu |
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Latest News and Thoughts from Ellyn Weiss
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January 22, 2012
 Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant's studio
GessoHead recently made her first
Official Press appearance at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, which has,
fittingly, been my favorite outpost of the Official Arts Industrial Complex for
a few years. I find the exhibits to be generally more lively, a bit more
risk-taking and dare-we-say-it light-hearted, than the fare on offer at most of
the mall institutions. Perhaps being a few blocks north of the mall has created
a little rift in the bureaucracy’s gravitational pull.
Having said
that, while an Annie Leibovitz show can hardly be considered risk-taking, Pilgrimage is a significant departure for her and a good reason
to visit American Art if one is needed. For one thing, this exhibit of the work
of one of the world’s most heralded portrait photographers includes no images
of people, or at least, no literal images of living people. It is also the
first time since Leibovitz hit the big time for her Rolling Stone rock royalty
portraits that she has shown work not done on commission – these subjects and
images reflect entirely her own choices and affinities.
Soon after the
death of her life partner, Susan Sontag, Leibovitz embarked on a trip with the
their children to historic sites, the kind that have been photographed to death
by traveling families, like Niagara Falls and Graceland. She says that watching
her children “stand mesmerized over Niagara Falls” began to teach her to “see
again”. The experience launched her on the project that became Pilgrimages. The places she visited over the next two years,
mostly in the US, but also several
in England, paint a broad brush of human accomplishment. They include
the homes of Walden, Emerson and the Alcotts, Elvis Presley, Emily Dickinson,
Georgia O’Keefe, Virginia Woolf and the workplaces of Pete Seeger, Sigmund
Freud and Ansel Adams. Abraham Lincoln, Annie Oakley and Marian Anderson are
included as well as Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty. Perhaps my personal
favorites are the television set that Elvis Presley shot and the studio cum sitting room of the
painters Vanessa Bell (Virginia Woolf’s sister) and Duncan Grant. In both
cases, the life force of the human subjects is still palpable.
 Curator Andy Grundberg
The sheer scope
of the subject matter raised some eyebrows among those at the preview; even the
Guest Curator, Andy Grundberg, appeared a teench defensive about heading off
possible suggestions that the exhibit might lack coherence. I initially felt a
bit puzzled myself; it is not immediately apparent what the battlefield at
Gettysburg may have to do with Sigmund Freud’s couch. And while some of the
connections are still elusive, the unifying idea is clear. The subjects of the
photos are the spirits of the people (all gone except for Seeger) contained in
the places they lived and worked and the things they made and used. This is the
stuff that the artists, creators and ground-breaking thinkers leave behind in
the world when they go. What more fitting subject could there be for
Leibovitz as she experiences the loss of Sontag?
image copyright Annie Leibovitz. From "Pilgrimage" (Random House, 2011).
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Keep your Eyes Peeled, or Do You Want to Be a Stupid Old Fart? |
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Latest News and Thoughts from Ellyn Weiss
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 Ira Tatelman
 This month, the site-specific installation is “Draft”, by
Ira Tatelman. An architect, Tatelman has created an eerily evocative space, a
tiny, dark bedroom that could exist in a basement, an abandoned building or
perhaps under a bridge. The bed is tied in chains but recent habitation is
indicated by the dirty dishes tucked discreetly underneath and the few totemic
objects placed thoughtfully around. Tatelman says he has attempted to create a
“space in transition”; he has succeeded in using the small, narrow space to
evoke the chilling impermanence of comfort.
In the other room, photographer Alexandra Silverthorne has
hung MidNights, a series of small-format photographs taken during late-night
trips around her neighborhood. The shutter was left open for varying periods of
time and the results were not apparent until she got home to look at them. The
images are dark, with objects and places partially limned by light and often
unfocussed as they register the passage of time. The one consistent subject of the pictures is the movement of
the photographer through a fairly menacing environment.
 Sondra Arkin and Alecandra Silverthorne
So, the show at HAL now issatisfying even judged by
conventional standards, but why should a civilian want to patronize HAL, or any
other “risk-taking” art venture when there are so many venues in town that can
be counted on to provide beautiful, enriching art? Let me make the case for
pushing oneself to see new and challenging art.
I was not a big Jackson Pollock fan. I had seen a few of his
paintings scattered around museums and a lot of reproductions in books; they
didn’t move me. Then came the 1998 Pollock retrospective at the Museum of
Modern Art in New York. The huge show began with his very early representational paintings
and then the muddy beginnings of abstraction. Then the drips and pours started
tentatively to appear and finally, we reached a large room, open at both ends –
the hallway to the work that changed the art world. High on each of the two
walls hung a mural-sized Pollock drip painting. As I stood between them, the
air began to vibrate and my body with it. The hair on my neck stood on end.
It was a pure, utterly unexpected, physical reaction, the
kind that demonstrates in the most palpable way that art is always a
collaboration between viewer and producer(s). As Marcel Duchamp said: “the
creative act is not performed by the artist alone” - and he was an artist who
demanded the viewer’s response. In some cases, the result for the viewer is a
visceral experience, as it was for me with the Pollocks. Rothko knocks me out
in the same way. Sit in the Rothko room at the Phillips for a while and you
will start to hear the universal om.
In other cases,
the response is more analytical; the work will provoke thought, hopefully in
addition to rather than instead of the visceral reaction. Picasso’s Guernica perfectly combines the two, for one example.
But, you may protest, those are works by famous artists that
hang on a wall and are beautiful. Everything new out there today moves and
screams or it’s mostly ugly or it makes no sense. Allow me to make the case for the value of looking for the
gold amidst the dreck.
First, a personal example: About 10 years ago, I was in
Cambridge, MA, and wandered into a large show of international conceptual art
at MIT. I tend to regard most conceptual art as too damn much work for too little reward, but I had a
couple of hours to kill so I went in. The happy result is this example of what
there is to be gained by allowing yourself to experience new work. One large
wall was covered edge to edge by snapshots, each composed of two people, a
young Korean woman and an American man in military uniform, posed formally in
front of one of a few painted scenes of natural beauty. The inventory of a
retired Korean commercial photographer, those snapshots of couples brought
together temporarily by the political choices of their countries’ leaders,
evoked wave after conflicting wave of emotion: anger at the idiocy of war;
tenderness for the obvious feelings of these people for each other; sadness in
the knowledge that almost all of these relationships lasted only as long as the
tour of duty and again, anger at how insignificant each of us really is and how
little we actually control our lives, notwithstanding all of the effort we make
to convince ourselves otherwise. I have thought of this piece many times since
then and it has genuinely enriched my life.
Now the scientific case: experiencing new things makes you
smarter and extends your life span. There is a substantial body of research
establishing that providing stimulation for your brain will help to keep it
from turning to mush as you age. This just stands to reason – use it or lose
it. Newer research further indicates that new experiences actually extend
effective time. David Eagleman, a prominent young neuroscientist, has pioneered
the idea of “brain time”, demonstrating experimentally that time stretches out
when you exercise your brain and shrinks up when everything is proceeding just
as expected. Josh Foer, who wrote Walking with Einstein, sums it up like this: “Monotony collapses time,
novelty unfolds it.”
Finally, the social case: People who are open to new experiences are more interesting.
They have something amusing to add to the conversation, they are more engaged
in the world around them. I’m pretty sure they’re more sexy and get invited to
better parties.
In conclusion, if you don’t want to grow up to be a stupid,
boring old person, come to see art that is new and different to you. That is
the manifesto of Harmon Art Lab and providing those opportunities are its
mission.
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Latest News and Thoughts from Ellyn Weiss
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May 1, 2011
 co-conspirators Finsen and Arkin
 a bit of flotsam or maybe jetsam
 more shards  its in there - let it out!
 that's one high ceiling
 We learned that we share an affinity for materials with a sort of arcane industrial look that seem well used and aged. We were inspired by Community Forklift in Hyattsville, where renovators donate salvaged building materials from nails to sinks and they are sold at bargain prices to be recycled. Community Forklift not only provided us with our initial art materials, it embodies the spirit of renewal, re-use and rebirth of the Gateway District that we try to reflect in Community Spirit.
 Fast forward through months of work together and in our separate studios, making elements of the piece. It became clear early on that the final shape and construction of the installation could not be determined until we actually got into the space, adding another level of contingency that alternately caused fear and exhilaration. On April 14, a couple of vanloads of stuff were delivered to the gallery in black plastic bags. At that point, a whole lot of uncertainty remained about the final product.
 Over the course of the next 10 days, the three of us (with help from Ron Childers, Steven Strasser and Phil Davis) turned the stuff into art, if I do say so myself. We had one catastrophic failure, started again with a stronger structural element, moved perhaps surprisingly smoothly to consensus decisions and bridged our individual aesthetics. To me, the critical imperative of collaboration proved to be the ability of each collaborator to let go of the outcome, which to a surprising degree emerged from the process of manipulating the materials themselves.
 16 feet of art
 So, it’s all done and the doors are open at the Gateway Arts Center, 3901 Rhode Island Ave, Brentwood, MD. The opening reception is Saturday, May 7, from 5 – 8. We will also be in the gallery on Saturday May 14, which is Open Studios day in Mt. Rainier and will be giving artists’ talks at 2 and 4 pm. Finally, there will be a panel discussion on Wednesday, June 1, 7 – 9 pm, featuring Jack Rasmussen, Director of the AU Art Museum at the Katzen Center; Claudia Rousseau, Professor of Art History at Montgomery Collage and art critic for the Gazette; and Welmoed Llanstra, curator of Public Art for Arlington County. The topic is “Walking Off the Cliff: The value of artistic risk-taking.” GessoHead will be moderating and no doubt doing some talking of her own. So be there!!
I can't forget to give a big whooping thanks to Alec Simpson and Phil Davis at the Gateway Arts Center/Brentwood Arts Exchange who gave us the chance to try out our ideas, were exceedingly generous with their time and help and never let us see it if they were worried about the outcome.
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Grand and Sirvet @ Artery Plaza |
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Latest News and Thoughts from Ellyn Weiss
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April 28, 2011
 Rousseau and Sirvet  Freya Grand and Michael Sirvet have been combined by curator Claudia Rousseau in a visually stunning show at the Artery Plaza in downtown Bethesda. The space, formerly the home of Osuna Gallery, has been made available by the building’s owners for temporary exhibition space (and their hospitality apparently extends to a lovely opening reception). The high-ceilinged environment is perfect for Sirvet’s increasingly large and ambitious sculptures. An architect by training, he shows the architect’s affinity for repetitive forms and the engineer’s proclivity for perfection and symmetry. I have always been a fan of Michael’s metal constructions, the pieces that look to me to have the shapes of a bird’s closed feathers or a monster seedpod, punctured by a bazillion perfectly-shaped, evenly-spaced holes. The work shown here, many hung from the ceiling, takes them to another level.
 Freya Grand's piece
 The wonderful Elyse Harrison and Freya Grand
The show is up until May 13 - plenty of time to get on the Metro and check it out.
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Ruth Trevarrow's Bare Bones |
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Latest News and Thoughts from Ellyn Weiss
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March 6, 2011
 Bare Bones
 Bare Bones represents the culmination of Trevarrow’s year of study of marine mammal bones in the Smithsonian’s Osteo Prep Lab. Her work has long dealt with the poignancy of the stark physical remains of animals threatened by human activity. Admitted to the Smithsonian’s bone closet, she was given the resources and time to study animal bones and absorb their delicate strength from the inside out.
 Tim Tate and Pat Goslee looking good
 The Athenaeum is an increasingly adventurous art venue; the spare elegance of the 200 year-old structure in old-town Alexandria is a welcoming setting for contemporary abstraction and the President and primary curator, Twig Murray, has a good eye. The opening reception was jammed despite a soaking rain that surely discouraged the only moderately motivated. Those that made it through the weather were clearly ready to fall in love – the red dots were thick on the walls. I am not immune to the cynicism that proximity to the commercial art world frequently induces, but this show and the reaction to it struck me as something quite pure; the artist communicating and the viewers experiencing something beautiful and memorable.
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Critics Challenge, Chapter 2: Aletha Kuschan and Bonnard's Nu Dans Le Ba |
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Latest News and Thoughts from Ellyn Weiss
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February 25, 2011
Here is the second installment in the Critics' Challenge, wherein Aletha Kuschan encounters Bonnard in the deepest possible way:
Revisiting Bonnard in Thought
Do you know this one? Bonnard’s Nu Dans Le Bain au Petit Chien
at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh? I made this fast kids’
crayon version of it when my daughter was a crawler. And I was looking
at it again as reproduced in the book Bonnard: The Work of Art Suspending Time.”
And I was busy remembering when I saw it in real life during its
inclusion in a Bonnard exhibit at the Phillips Collection in 2002. And
had you been rich and ready, you could have purchased a version of it here. A fun thought. I’d put it where I could always see it.
The colors of the painting when you see it in real life are
surprisingly light. It seems like almost every reproduction gets it
too dark, as you can see for instance here.
I did a very small color study in a notebook while looking at
the actual painting. As always these kinds of drawings are balancing
acts of holding the notebook while also holding the crayon box while
also jostling with other museum visitors, all as eager as I to see
the famous painting.
The color tonality is difficult to photograph, and yet the painting
is so lovely, airy, magical. Is worth driving all the way to
Pittsburgh to see it. (No matter where you live…)
Prior to Bonnard’s visit to the Phillips, the painting had been a
special favorite of mine. Seeing the actual painting, however, was
transformative. And it prompted me then to ask a question that I think
too few artists ask: what will the future of painting be like?
Nu dans le bain is a jumble of spaces and color. It jolted
me into remembering that the primary colors when combined form white
light, and I was never prepared for the airy atmospherics of this
picture with its nubby, chalky surfaces. The dancing tiles of the
painting float and move in response to both color laws and by virtue
also of weird optical moiré effects. Marthe’s body (Bonnard’s wife) in
the midst of all this has been pulled and stretched as though caught in
the gravity of a new physics. It’s in experiencing these dazzling
sense perceptions that one recognizes how much more is going on here
than just naive drawing.
The big squares and Marthe’s out of perspective body and the
random-seeming little floor tiles can appear almost childlike in
simplicity, but standing before the painting one experiences the full
force of their space-warp. Bonnard’s Bain anticipates in its own quirky way Captain Janeway’s perennial troubles aboard the Starship Enterprise as well as the LSD montage at the conclusion of 2001: A Space Odyssey and the enigmatic black holes of Stephen Hawkings Brief History of Time. Bonnard’s innocent eye and vivid French sensibility for color finds it all in the neat confines of a charming little white bathroom.
Some of Bonnard’s naive drawing could have come straight out of the workshop of the Rohan Master. It
not true that Bonnard is very new. He is also very old. And yet, for
me, he prompts the question more than any other of the modern artists:
what will the future of painting be like?
My impulse in searching for the answer to my question was to make
these drawings. Because that’s the way that artists understand each
other. With image.
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Lenny Campello challenges the critics |
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Latest News and Thoughts from Ellyn Weiss
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February 23, 2011
About the turn of the year, I put up a facebook post noting that I was underwhelmed by most of the art critics' selections of "best of" art and I asked any and all to tell me about a piece of art of any period that you love/hate/are fascinated, repulsed or infuenced by - something
that touches you deeply in some way. What is it that you respond to and
what has it meant to you? I will post them and link them to www.BourgeonOnline.com. Here's the first, by Lenny Campello, DC's own artist, art dealer, fabulous blogger and maven of art:
Critics Challenge I: Lenny Campello
My favorite?
Watson and the Shark by John Singleton Copley at the National Gallery of Art. It seeks to depict an event that took place in Havana, Cuba, in 1749.
The
naked guy in the water is fourteen-year-old Brook Watson, who was
attacked by a shark while swimming alone in Havana harbor. Lucky for
Watson, some of his mates were already at sea waiting to escort their
captain ashore, and were able to fight the shark and rescue Watson,
although the shark bit one of his legs off. On his return to England,
he got his fifteen minutes of fame and Copley painted this work.
If
you study the painting carefully, you will realize that Copley probably
had never seen a shark in his life, and his depiction of the great
white in Havana harbour yields one of the most ungainly and ugliest
non-sharks fish things ever painted.
I love to sit in front of
this painting and watch people as they walk by and get mesmerized by
the brutal event taking place and kids making fun of the shark.
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Material Girls in Baltimore |
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Latest News and Thoughts from Ellyn Weiss
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February 20, 2011
 from left:Stout,Scott,Jarvis,Hassenge,Dyson,Booker
 Dyson, untitled
 Martha Jackson Jarvis  Any exhibition of representative contemporary art mounted these days would certainly include work in “non-traditional” materials, Everything from fire to dung is fair game and the visual effects achieved through these materials are sometimes dazzling. What makes this show so strong is that the materials are almost without exception used in the service of the artist’s meaning and intent. You won’t find a gimmick among them. These women work in the traditions of their craftswomen make-do ancestors, who used the unwanted and discarded bits and pieces, and they use the materials to achieve levels of power that would make their ancestors proud.
 Sonya Clark's human hair wreath
 Joyce Scott
Finally, I can’t end without mentioning Joyce Scott’s work. Of the eight artists, her work is probably the most traditional, in the sense that the line can be traced clearly from her figurative sculptures back to the craft work of the generations of women who preceded her, making beautiful objects from materials that had been discarded and forgotten. The clarity of her vision and the elegance of her execution combine to create objects that vibrate with spirit.
 Joyce Scott
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