MAeX Art Blog

MAP magazine

I see Omar Sommereyns around town pretty often and, Saturday night he asked me if I had the latest copy of MAP. No, I didn't. MAP is using the lot next to Snitzer Gallery to pick up copies and sample café cubano with temporary seating and a nice crowd. Omar has ventured into a number of projects and, I do support his efforts. So should you.

MAP magazine:

"Finally, a local magazine that does it right. This is the 4th (quarterly) issue of Map magazine, and the quality has been consistently great, so I’m finally letting myself get attached. Splitting the difference between local and non-local content — this issue’s cover, of the Ravonettes, is the first non-local — the magazine focuses on art, music, and culture.

Read the full article at NEW MAeX Artblog view it there. Don't forget to update your bookmarks and backtracks!

The Art Market Goes Global

The global credit squeeze has created all kinds of economic jitters, so why hasn’t it reached the art market?

...listen to podcast here at the NEW MAeX Artblog view it there. Don't forget to update your bookmarks and bactracks!

Interview: How Cellphones Change the Way People (students) Learn

Interview: How Cellphones Change the Way People Learn:

"Rich Ling argues that cellphones strengthen ties with users’ close friends and family, but might also narrow people’s understanding of the world by limiting interactions with strangers. Mr. Ling is an adjunct research scientist at the University of Michigan and a research scientist for Telenor, a Norwegian telecommunications company. He’s author of a new book, New Tech, New Ties: How Mobile Communication Is Reshaping Social Cohesion (MIT Press, 2008).

Q. How are cellphones reshaping social connections?

A. If you think about social networks, there can be strong ties and there can be weak ties. The mobile phone is really an instrument for the intimate sphere — your closest family and your closest friends. But weak ties are also extremely important because that’s where you get information about important things. If you only spoke with your strong ties, you just hear the same things being echoed back and forth.

Q. What does that mean for a college setting?

A. It raises questions about emancipation. I grew up in Colorado and went to college in Boulder. It wasn’t that far away from home, but I hardly ever called home. I would come home every other weekend just to do my laundry or something like that. It was only like an hour’s drive. But I understand that college students now call their parents quite often, several times a day. So how is the child’s emancipation from their parents going? Are they establishing themselves as independent individuals that are ready to go out into the world on their own?

Q. Does text messaging have a different impact?

A. It’s sort of under the radar. Quite often when I’m lecturing, halfway through the class I’ll say, ‘How many of you guys have gotten a text message since you’ve been here?’ And a third of the class or something raises their hand. It’s kind of interesting that their social world is going on in the background while they’re more or less paying attention to the lecture.

Q. More or less?

A. Yeah, hopefully more. They kind of sort of zone in and out. And that’s sort of an interesting aspect of it. It’s not very interruptive; it goes on in the background.

Q. Can that be disruptive though?

A: There are all kinds of awkward social dynamics associated with having to deal with the mobile phone."—Jeffrey R. Young

(Via The Chronicle: Wired Campus Blog.)

In my classes students mostly have their phones off and very little disruption takes place. That's because it's a studio/ lab and students can go outside to talk on the phone. We have, at various times, talked about the phone's influence but, I think it's only one of many things that allow the student to be unengaged with the learning process unless, of course, that student is really interested in learning. Just that fact reduces the number of serious students dramatically compared with those who are just floating by.

The New Meaning of Community

Podcast from Smart City.

The New Meaning of Community - 04/03/2008:

"Guests: Eric Gordon and Chris Kelly"

(Via Smart City with Carol Coletta.)

A Director With an Eye for the Fresh and the Local

I cannot deny that Bonnie and Jim Clearwater were part of the reason I moved back to Miami after having moved away for a few years. Ms. Clearwater has been very supportive of a number of my projects including, my art. And, although Miami Art Museum has fought longer for a new buidling, MoCA's efforts seemed, in the public view, a smoother journey.

My only disappointment has been that the attempts to create an art zone around the museum hasn't had the same success as Wynwood. Some of Wynwood's galleries moved from the MoCA area. In spite of those moves, MoCA has always been and, will remain a prime destination for some of the best of South Florida's art.

Cindy Karp for The New York Times

"Bonnie Clearwater, director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami, which is about to double in size."

BONNIE CLEARWATER recognized Miami’s potential to become an important arts center as far back as 1990, on a visit from Los Angeles. At the time, South Beach was a somewhat desolate spot on the cusp of revitalization, and a local collector and developer enticed Ms. Clearwater to work her magic discovering new talent in Miami as she had done on the West Coast.

“Craig Robins, who was just starting to develop the area, encouraged me to move to Miami Beach with the idea that my husband and I would help be catalysts to develop an art scene here,” said Ms. Clearwater, who with her husband, Jim Clearwater, had started the art-book publishing company Grassfield Press, which he still operates.

They made the move, and nearly two decades later, as the director and chief curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami, Ms. Clearwater continues to animate the scene in this eclectic area, capitalizing on a lively community of artists and collectors as well as the crowds that the Art Basel fair brings every December.

Via: NYTimes.
(Also Via: Critical Miami.)

The interview: Antony Gormley

Why is it I'm attracted to the work of Anthony Gormley but, when I get close to it, it somewhat repels me? The figures do have a stiffness that is discomforting yet, they feel more lifelike than they suggest at arm's length.

The interview: Antony Gormley:

"What is it that draws Antony Gormley to cover his own body in Vaseline and wrap it in clingfilm, asks Lynn Barber"

One of Antony Gormley's sculptures catching the sun before being installed on Waterloo bridge in London.

Photograph: Clara Molden/PA

(Via Guardian Unlimited Art.)

Originally posted on NEW MAeX Artblog view it here.

Whitney Biennial 2008

Of course, Miami artists are up there for the show. I spoke to Adler last week about heading up. Good work my friend! Good work Bert, too!

Whitney Biennial 2008:

"A video preview of the Whitney Biennial show and interviews with the curators."

(Via New York Times Video: Arts | Arts.)

Originally posted on NEW MAeX Artblog view it here.

Why Museums Shouldn't Offload Art

Since most of our museums have meager collections this article may not mean as much to us but, the role of museums has changed some over the past thirty years. In this regard it is also important to have a curator that understands what is needed of them because adding to the collection requires some forethought. Have we ever thought about how many donated works are rejected from museum collections? Anyway, as we build up our collections we will have a great opportunity to put together some really interesting ones.

Why Museums Shouldn't Offload Art:

"The role of national museums is to record, preserve, research and display artefacts and art. They are not shops or businesses, and it is not their job to sell off or dump items that should be held in care for future generations. Museums hold items in storage for the benefit of researchers, in case new questions arise, or for use in future exhibitions when, due to innovation and a bit of imagination, the items are deemed exciting and interesting again.

The Disposal Toolkit is a threat to museum collections and is influenced by a profound confusion about the rationale of such institutions. If museums professionals really are so unsure of their own purpose, it would perhaps be safest to keep them away from the objects and artefacts that they were charged to care for on behalf of past, present and future generations."

(Via Spiked Online.)

Originally posted on NEW MAeX Artblog view it here.

FOWA

Thursday and Friday were long days that just about ran together. Really. I only got about 4 hours sleep.

Thursday was BarCampMiami, a gathering of web developers and computer geeks networking, presenting workshops, running around and having fun. While at BarCampMiami I ran into the guys from Freshbooks, a web service I use for invoicing clients. When we introduced ourselves they were excited and I was surprised because they wanted to contact me because of a blog post I made about their app. They invited me and my buddies out to dinner. Paul brought the developer of CakePHP to the conference which has turned out to be a brilliant thing. More about that later when I get time.

Friday was FOWA, Future of Web Apps conference. Not any workshops but, presentations by a number of the top level developers such as Tantek Celik, Matt Mullenweg (WordPress), Joseph Smart (Plaxo), Blaine Cook (Twitter), Leah Culver (Pownce), Carlos Garcia and Alex de Carvalho (Scrapblog), Kevin Rose (digg), Kevin Hale (Wufoo), Emily Boyd (Remembe the Milk), and Kevin Marks (Google).

Friday evening was the South Florida Artist Entrepreneurs Miami-Dade Meetup Kickoff at Carol Jazzar's, who hosted the event. We had an enthusiastic group of artists including, some new faces. Everyone is excited about the new possibilities of what we can do locally. There is no other group of this type in Miami-Dade County. At the end of the Meetup we decided to work on gathering more ideas for future topics. We have to thank Carol for hosting this event with warm hugs.

I really believe that artists, as a self-professed class of creative individuals, have to be MORE like the computer/ internet people I was networking with. We artists need to see more creative options, think more creatively about ourselves and our work, devise new models for creative sustainability and, reach for higher goals.

Originally published on NEW MAeX Artblog view it here.

Does Great Art Require Suffering Artists?

Does Great Art Require Suffering Artists?:

"'The image of the penniless artist quietly expiring in a Parisian garret assumed its emotive power during the Romantic period. So do we, as today's consumers of art, still expect its creators to suffer? Do we still picture them in a modern-day equivalent of the draughty attic?'"

Tortured soul ... Frida Kahlo's The Two Fridas. Photograph: PA

"The panel agreed on the fact that the vast majority of artists - with big earners like Hirst and Jeff Koons as notable exceptions - find it very difficult to make a living from their work. This fact can be both liberating, allowing them to further push the boundaries without worrying about whether or not the piece will sell, and galvanising, preventing them from settling into complacency and becoming stale."

Undoubtedly, difficult life circumstances can be transformative but, difficult life circumstances do not guarantee an artist can translate that experience to their art. Having economic hardships might force that artist into a more creative mindset when finding materials for their art but, that doesn't mean the created object will be what a viewer, collector, or whomever will really want based on the humble or poverty origins of those materials.

"They may not all call it suffering, but every artist I've spoken to for Portrait - even those whose art has brought them fame and fortune - has described the real sacrifices, whether personal or economic, that they have made to dedicate themselves to their work. Yet very few of them have said they regret them."

One of the reasons for the group South Florida Artist Entrepreneurs is to help artists be successful in both their art and their economic lives. We try to provide some answers at our monthly meetings but, there are times were a topic might not relate to your exact circumstance. For instance, my experience says that I have more understanding of the internet and how to make a "good working" web site in relationship to that knowledge than the "average" artist. However, everyone has some experience to share and, that's part of the goals: to build strong networking relationships through sharing.

(Via Guardian Unlimited: theblogart&architecture.)




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