Controversial Art Damaged by Protestors

’The Duc, Viet Nam’ by Brian Doan was damaged by protestors

I recently posted an article about a protest involving an exhibit involving Communism. Over 300 protestors met outside of the controversial F.O.B. II: Art Speaks exhibit sponsored by the Vietnamese Arts & Letters Association Center in Santa Ana. There have been several disturbances at the gallery do to the controversial theme of the exhibit and the fact that it took place in a location near a Vietnamese American community.

Those involved with the protest felt that a similar controversial exhibit would not have taken place near other minority communities. For example, one rights advocate stated that a photograph of a young Jewish person wearing a Nazi symbol standing next to a bust of Hitler would not have been displayed in a heavily populated community of Holocaust survivors. Others have suggested that an exhibit involving African Americans wearing Ku Klux Klan (KKK) hoods would not take place in a predominately black community.

The actions of the protestors has sparked debate concerning what should be expected from curators as far as being responsible for the exhibits they manage. The story has caused a wildfire of comments from individuals online. Some support the exhibit as the perfect example of the freedoms shared in the United States while others have suggested that the exhibit was nothing more than a reckless publicity stunt. Some feel that support for the exhibit reveals that the “scars” within the Vietnamese American community are not acknowledged when compared to the “sensitivity” that is involved in discussions-- both verbal and visual-- involving the history of African Americans and other minority groups in the United States. One anonymous forum commenter stated, “if it involved slavery and the KKK the organizers would have been charged with hate crimes.”.

What is your opinion? Should artists, curators, and gallery owners be held responsible for damage that occurs due to protestors if the work displayed is overly controversial? Should the First Amendment be upheld even if a minority group is hurt in the process? Would the exhibit had been shut down before opening had it involved a different minority in a similar context? Should parts of history be "off limits" until the generation that experienced it are long gone? What say you?

Links of Interest:

Vietnamese Americans protest art exhibit in Santa Ana -- Los Angeles Times

Vietnamese Americans Protest Controversial Exhibit Exploring Communism

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin
Senior Editor
www.myartspace.com
New York Art Exchange
www.nyaxe.com

The Castle Builder

A co-worker and fellow artist, Adam Ogilvie, turned me on to this terrific 5-minute video in December. Entitled "Bishop's Castle," it is a well-edited introduction to Jim Bishop, an under-known contemporary artist.

Working alone on weekends (and four weekdays during the summer), the high school drop out and iron worker has constructed the eponymous Bishop's Castle in the Rocky Mountains, just outside the tiny, central Colorado town of Beulah. He began the project in 1969. At that time, he only intended to build a stone cabin. Forty years later, that cabin has grown into an incongruous marvel.

In the first two minutes of the video, Jim Bishop seems the very picture of artistic heroism. He works for the "glory of God" and for himself, and he characterizes his efforts as those of an honorable "peon." His astonishing creation is, as he puts it, a "one-man project, donation box basis." Bishop is justifiably proud of his remarkable accomplishment. The castle is not a funded public art project, yet it is far more impressive than either Christo's Central Park "Gates" or Eliasson's "Waterfalls."

Sadly, the castle construction has been fraught with legal battles (over insurance, material use and zoning) and even tragedy. In 1988, Bishop's four-year-old son, Roy, was killed at the castle site, apparently crushed by a tree that Bishop felled. One of the castle's towers is named after Roy, and Bishop says that he will inter his son's ashes there. Still, Bishop perseveres.

A rough-worn, but charismatic man, he tosses off memorable quips: "Engineering without money is ingenuity."; "I'm building this for myself. Basically, I'm an egotist." Early on, this rugged individualist act is endearing but, as the video advances, a darker side of Bishop is revealed. He rants about our nation's eroding morals and civil liberties and, although his convictions are not entirely without merit, his attacks on big government seem increasingly irrational.

Near the video's end, he yells from one of the castle's towers, seemingly possessed by a God-given vitriol. "I'm about to pass out. I'm getting...I'm....I just gotta get the blood in the right place now. Get that camera rolling! I'm doing work! I benefit everybody!...I'm the anti-devil!" Come again?

Still, like Jean Dubuffet, I believe that (with the exception of the hobbyist) those artists wiling away in obscurity, whatever their reason, are often producing exceptionally exciting work. Bishop is one such outsider, and his astonishing project deserves more attention.

Photo credit: ripped from Milewalker's Flickr photostream

(Note: The original edit of this post was posted on the blog, Letters From The Inquisition.)

Shepard Fairey: Obey Copyright

(There is an update on this story near the bottom)

According to Reuters a blogger has discovered the source material of Shepard Fairey’s image of President Barack Obama titled ’Hope’. Michael Cramer took it upon himself to discover the identity of the photographer who took the Obama photo that Fairey had used as a resource for the now “iconic” poster. Fairey has openly stated that he found the images while searching for Obama image on Google. Cramer eventually found a match-- a photograph of Obama taken by Reuter’s veteran photographer Jim Young.

According to the Reuters article the photographer does not care that Shepard Fairey used his photograph without permission, stating, “I’m honored, but I’m glad it didn’t come out until after the campaign,“, he went on to say, “I think even if I had known it was mine, I would have kept quiet. It would be just my little secret.” I’m not sure what Young is implying with his statement-- perhaps he thinks that Obama would have lost support from the art community had it been revealed at that time?

On one hand you can say that Jim Young is being admirable. However, on the other hand you can say that he is being foolish-- working against his profession. After all, there has been heated debate about potential Orphan Works legislation for years now. Over 60 visual art and photography organizations have stood against Orphan Works legislation.

Thus, the issue concerning Fairey’s use of Jim Young’s image without permission or credit is a perfect example of how Orphan Works legislation can harm artists if it is passed at some point in the form we have come to know it. Needless to say, I feel that it is of the utmost importance that the needs of so many creative professionals be acknowledged. In other words, the issue is not about Young taking this alleged infringement by Shepard Fairey with a grain of salt-- the issue is that this could have happened to any visual artist, any photographer, anyone. You.

This is why it is important for works by living artists to remain protected. The current legal repercussions for copyright infringement should remain intact so that creators can adequately defend their copyright protected works and receive the compensation they deserve when their rights are infringed upon. This is why Jim Young-- assuming he holds the copyright for the image-- should consider using what has happened as a way to gain momentum concerning the debate over copyright.

Having some knowledge of Shepard Fairey’s history of alleged copyright infringement and examples of him settling out of court I knew in my gut that eventually the truth would come to light. I was not the only one with concern. Now that the truth is free-- or allegedly free-- I can only hope that those involved will do the right thing. What do I hope for?

*I hope that Shepard Fairey will think twice before using random images that he finds.

*I hope that Shepard Fairey will respect the rights of fellow artists and serve as an example for upholding and respecting copyright laws.

*I hope that the present form of Orphan Works legislation is never passed and that people use this story as an example of why it is dangerous to creative professionals.

*I hope that people can set their emotive support for the ‘Hope’ poster aside in order to see that this is an issue of artist rights.

*I hope that the media will notice that this is the perfect time to discuss the rights of artists and legislation that may harm those rights.

*I hope that President Barack Obama will be a true champion of the arts and protect the rights of the creative community-- rights that we need in order to be productive and successful.

*If there is anything to this story-- even if Jim Young refuses to defend his copyright-- I hope that President Barack Obama will reject any further “help” from Shepard Fairey as a sign of solidarity with hundreds of organizations and millions of artists, art buyers, and artist rights advocates who support copyright protection.

Let us pretend that Jim Young was infuriated with Shepard Fairey. Let us assume that he wanted to defend his copyright and seek damages from the controversial artist. I’m not a lawyer, but I do have some basic understanding of copyright law based on conversations I’ve had with attorneys and other individuals who work closely with copyright issues. My opinion is that this would be a case of copyright infringement due to several factors:

* Making copies of a work that is based on a copyright protected image is copyright infringement unless the artist has permission from the photographer to utilize his photograph within the context of the artwork. In this case Shepard Fairey and his business partners should have had permission from Jim Young before distributing posters derived from Young’s photograph of Obama.

* Fair Use can only protect an artist like Shepard Fairey to a certain point. Fair Use is acceptable when an artwork is copied for purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. However, the right-- the Fair Use defense-- is not absolute. I think printing thousands of posters involving the image is well beyond Fair Use. The issue is not that Fairey used an image of Obama-- his First Amendment rights allows him to do so-- the issue is that he did not seek permission from the photographer from which his image was base.

Since Shepard Fairey worked closely with companies that distributed the image-- and since Fairey technically runs a company-- the venture was predominately a commercial one regardless if “all of the money” was donated to the Obama campaign. After all, someone profited off of it. There are even reports that Shepard Fairey sold Urban Outfitters exclusive rights to some of the merchandise. All of this would come out if Shepard Fairey had to defend his Fair Use of Jim Young’s Obama photograph. In this scenario the photographer could take action against Shepard Fairey and others who helped promote and sell the image.

If this issue were to go to trial the jury would consider the potential value or market of the original work-- in this case Jim Young‘s photograph. In this scenario jurors would decide whether the alleged infringement sought to supplant or divert sales away from the original work. One could say that Shepard Fairey intentionally diverted attention away from Young’ photo of Obama-- he did not give the photographer credit nor did he ask permission. The court would decide if Shepard Fairey’s ‘Hope’ suppressed the market or value of Jim Young’s photograph.

In a sense, both the artist and the photographer would be at the mercy of the jury. However, in cases like this the jury will think more about facts than law. So the fact that the portrait of Obama in Fairey’s ’Hope’ matches when flipped and placed over Young’s photograph would not bode well for Fairey’s defense of Fair Use in that scenario. It would be a case of Copyright versus the First Amendment. I will say that I think Jim Young would have a lot of support if he decided to take action. Personally I think he is obligated to take action if indeed he holds the rights to that specific images. There are many photography organizations and visual arts organization fighting against infringement like this due to ongoing Orphan Works legislation. It would be a major win for copyright supporters in the arts community.

*Copyright infringement does not have to be word-for-word copying-- it does not have to be literal. In fact, the total concept and feel of a work can also be protected by copyright. There is no specific percentage that needs to be reached before a work can be considered infringement. Since the placement of the face is exactly the same other than being flipped I think that it is possible that infringement occurred.

*One could claim that Shepard Fairey’s version of the photograph is a derivative work-- that Hope is derived from Jim Young’s photograph. However, the owner of a copyright protected work has the exclusive right to prepare derivative works and authorize others to do so. Thus, Shepard Fairey would have had to obtain permission from Jim Young in order to create, print, and distribute works derived from Young’s photograph of Obama.

*One could say that Shepard Fairey’s image is acceptable based on appropriation. However, appropriation-- a work that involves appropriating the property of someone else in order to claim it within his or her own work-- is hard to define and would most likely be up to a jury to decide. Appropriation is not a solid defense. Some artists have lost small fortunes over the issue.

In court the judge and jury would examine three points when observing an alleged violation of copyright infringement. First, they would find out if the artist had access to the work he or she infringed upon. Shepard Fairey had access to the image-- he admits that he found it online doing a Google search for Obama images. Second, they would examine if any copying had occurred by viewing the original work-- the photograph-- alongside the work that allegedly infringed upon the original work. Look at Michael Cramer discovery. Third, the jury would decide if the copying was substantial. Again, it would really boil down to how that specific jury felt at that specific time.

If Jim Young owns the copyright for the photograph and has officially registered it he would be able to pursue a copyright infringement lawsuit against Shepard Fairey easily. If the photograph is registered Young would be eligible for "statutory damages"-- meaning that Fairey would have a lot to lose in court. Young could possibly take action against Evolutionary Media Group as well for helping in the print and distribution process.

Shepard Fairey and Evolutionary Media Group printed over 300,000 posters (probably more) without permission from Jim Young-- assuming our imaginary jury sided with Young-- the story involving the mass printing and distribution of different versions of the poster is well documented online. The business partnership between Shepard Fairey and Evolutionary Media Group is also well documented online. Various quotes from Shepard Fairey, Yosi Sergant, and others would no doubt be heard in this scenario.

In this scenario I don’t know if Jim Young could target the Obama campaign organizers because they did not officially contract Shepard Fairey for the image-- depending on which article you read and at what date it was published. Needless to say, there are conflicting reports about Shepard Fairey‘s unofficial-official connection to the Obama campaign and fundraising. Recent articles state that Shepard Fairey was not contacted directly by the Obama campaign and that his work for the campaign was not “official“.

However, Maureen Callahan of the New York Post reported (on April 24th 2008) that Fairey had stated that he did not want to do something for the Obama campaign “without proper authorization”. Callahan also reported that Fairey worked closely with the Obama campaign communications director Scott Goodstein on the design of the poster.

A Wired article (from September 21st, 2008) quotes Shepard Fairey as saying that he did not want to be an “unwanted endorsement” for the Obama campaign. Thus, he waited for the “unofficial wink and nod to do the image.” which ended up being promoted heavily by the Obama campaign--- I’m sorry folks, that sounds official to me.

Oddly enough, in the same Wired article Fairey does not hide the fact that he drew some inspiration from Alberto Korda’s famous shot of revolutionary Che Guevara for his Obama image--- so why did he not give credit to Jim Young as well? The article goes on to say that Shepard Fairey was eventually contacted by the Obama campaign to create an “officially-approved” version including a campaign approved slogan, ‘Hope’, instead of ‘Progress’.

However, the same portrait, allegedly from Jim Young’s photo-- was used. The article also stated that the campaign desired Fairey to use a "campaign-approved" photo. If the Wired article is correct would that not mean that the Obama campaign is also responsible for the alleged copyright infringement of Jim Young’s photograph-- assuming that he owns the copyright and is willing to defend it? Keep in mind that the Obama campaign earned over $400,000 from Fairey’s Obama themed merchandise. I wonder how much Jim Young earns per year?

There are many contractions concerning stories about Shepard Fairey and his work with the Obama campaign. I’m certain that Michael Cramer’s discover will only add to the chaos. The truth may be forever buried under the rubble of regurgitated articles about Shepard Fairy’s ’Hope’ poster-- which I firmly believe was hyped by stealthy pr tactics instead of a grass roots initiative.

I don’t know if Jim Young owns the copyright to the photo. It may very well be owned by Reuters. It might be open to the public to use. However, what if that is note the case? What if it did not happen to Jim Young and Reuters? What if Shepard Fairey randomly stumbled upon one of your copyright protected images online and “referenced it”? What if he made $400,000 in profit off of the manipulated image? What if the Orphan Works legislation of 2008 had passed and you had lost your right to seek adequate compensation in a court of law? That is what this is about people. I’m certain the family of Felix Rene Mederos Pazos would have an opinion about it.

Update Concerning Shepard Fairey Photograph Controversy:

Apparently the photography issue surrounding Shepard Fairey’s poster ‘Hope’ has been solved again. Earlier reports by Reuters stated that Michael Cramer had discovered the specific photograph that Shepard Fairey had used without permission and without giving credit. Reuters confirmed that the photograph had been taken by one of their veteran photographers, Jim Young.

A new article by TIME has thickened the plot. Michael Scherer reports that the origins of Shepard Fairey’s hope have been traced to a photograph of Obama taken in April of 2006. The photograph was taken by Mannie Garcia-- who at the time worked for the Associated Press as a freelancer. The discovery was made by Tom Gralish-- a Philadelphia Inquirer photographer who was inspired by Michael Cramer’s search for truth. In my opinion, the same scenario that I mentioned concerning Jim Young applies.

Photograph of Obama taken by Mannie Garcia for the Associated Press.

From what I've read it appears that Mannie Garcia may actually take some form of action against the use of his image by Shepard Fairey-- at least in the form of discussing appropriation with Shepard Fairey. The photographer has stated that he hopes to contact Shepard Fairey in order to discuss Fairey’s use of his photograph in order to “work this out“. Garcia pointed out that "Photographers are always getting ripped off,". However, Garcia has made it clear that he is not going to seek money from Shepard Fairey.

A comparison of the Obama photograph taken by Jim Young and the Obama photograph taken by Mannie Garcia concerning Shepard Fairey’s ’Hope’.

From what I’ve read it seems Mannie Garcia simply wants to bring issues of appropriation and copyright directly to Shepard Fairey’s attention. However, it should be noted that Mannie Garcia works at the White House for Bloomberg-- so I doubt he would want to press too far into the issue.

Links to the Mannie Garcia / Shepard Fairey story:
http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/01/21/found-the-photograph-that-inspired-obama-nation/?xid=rss-topstories

http://blogs.phillynews.com/inquirer/sceneonroad/2009/01/found_again_the_poster_source.html
The information in this article is for general information purposes only. It is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice for any particular person or circumstance, or for Internal Revenue Code purposes as described in IRS Circular 230. This article is not a substitute for obtaining legal advice from an attorney based on your particular circumstances.

Links of Interest:

http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/09/poster-boy-shep.html

http://blogs.reuters.com/photo/2009/01/15/iconic-obama-poster-based-on-reuters-photo/

www.art-for-a-change.com/Obey/index.htm

www.nypost.com/seven/04242008/news/nationalnews/paint_misbehavin_in_team_os_street_art_107876.htm?page=0

www.laweekly.com/2008-09-11/columns/yosi-sergant-and-the-art-of-change-the-publicist-behind-shepard-fairey-39-s-obama-hope-posters/

www.myartspace.com/blog/2009/01/obama-art-phenomenon-selling-hope.html

www.myartspace.com/blog/2008/11/intentions-of-shepard-fairey-should-be.html

www.myartspace.com/blog/2008/09/obamas-obedient-artist-is-shepard.html

www.myartspace.com/blog/2009/01/brad-holland-responds-to-public.html

www.myartspace.com/blog/2009/01/art-space-talk-martin-trailer.html

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Senior Editor

Myartspace Blog

www.myartspace.com/blog

myartspace.com

www.myartspace.com

New York Art Exchange (NYAXE)

www.nyaxe.com

Buy Art and Sell Art Online: The New York Art Exchange (NYAXE)

www.nyaxe.com connects art buyers to art sellers.

The New York Art Exchange (NYAXE) continues to grow as new features are implemented. The New York Art Exchange, an online marketplace for buying and selling contemporary fine art, enables the art community to capitalize on new digital mediums through technology by connecting artists, gallerists and collectors via the World Wide Web. NYAXE is brought to you by www.myartspace.com, the premier networking site for artists, art collectors, gallerists and other involved in the global arts community. With over 50,000 members myartspace is a concentrated social art site for the art world.

NYAXE connects collectors, artists and gallerists together, allowing buyers to quickly search through thousands of works of fine art on the site and navigate through numerous curated pieces of works. Gallerists and artists can create a personal and customized branded online gallery storefront to begin selling on the NYAXE marketplace. Storefronts can be organized into categories such as watercolors, original works, sculptures, to make it easy for art collectors to find what they are looking for.
Create a NYAXE storefront and sell your art, photography, and fashion to the world. Mark Enger’s store on the New York Art Exchange -- www.nyaxe.com/MarkE

Currently there are five different levels to choose from in building a NYAXE gallery storefront. A basic storefront is free for the first five listings, and each level provides more advanced features and marketing capabilities and cost effective pricing structures. The various tiers of service are designed to enable artists and gallerists to try their hand at ecommerce to build a basic store at a low cost. Artists and gallerists subsequently can upgrade to higher tiers if they wish to expand their offerings. NYAXE is a an affordable solution for exploring what eCommerce has to offer.

The New York Art Exchange (NYAXE) was officially launched on December 2nd at the Bridge Art Fair in Miami. Catherine McCormack-Skiba, CEO and founder of NYAXE, stated, "It's been my vision for years to make great art accessible to a broader audience through technology and the internet. I'm excited that we can empower gallerists and artists to expand the awareness of their fine art and help them connect with a new audience of buyers on a global level."

Browse the New York Art Exchange

Buying and selling art on the New York Art Exchange is easy. Browse NYAXE stores quickly. Browse by medium or by category. Use ‘Jump to page’ to go to specific browse pages or simply view each page one page at a time. Use the NYAXE search field to search by artist name, tag, location, medium, style or price. Sort by Featured stores, date added, and price.

Links of Interest:

www.catmacart.com
www.myartspace.com
www.nyaxe.com
www.nyaxe.com/storeSellerSignUp.do

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Senior Editor

myartspace.com

www.myartspace.com

New York Art Exchange

www.nyaxe.com

ArtTactic: Art Market May Take Years to Recover

ArtTactic Ltd reports that confidence levels in the contemporary art market have fallen 81 percent since May 2008 and may take between three and five years to recover. ArtTactic provides unbiased art advice, analysis and market research for art collectors, art professionals, art funds, and art institutions.

The recent ArtTactic survey includes a new “Survival Rating” of artists who respondents believe will be considered of high importance within 10 years time. German artist Gerhard Richter was at the top of the survival list followed by Jeff Koons and Cindy Sherman. Damien Hirst was lucky-- he was able to land the seventh position on the list of ten ’high importance’ artists. Others were not so lucky.

The ArtTactic survey rated Jake & Dinos Chapman, David Salle, and Franz Ackermann as current high importance artists who will least likely to be considered of high importance by 2019. Needless to say, ArtTactic feels that when the dust over the market settles the market, as we know it, will be a very different place.

ArtTactic became the first company to ever develop an Art Market Confidence Indicator, an indicator of the market based on feedback that is now closely followed by individuals who follow the art market. ArtTactic’s Western Art Market Confidence Indicator dropped to 10.5 from 56, the lowest level reached since the survey was introduced in May of 2005.

ArtTactic’s findings were supported by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors survey. RICS is a professional body representing art appraisers, auctioneers, and real-estate surveyors in the United Kingdom.

Key points of the ArtTactic survey:

-Confidence hits rock bottom: US & European Contemporary Art Market Confidence Indicator drops 81% from May 2008.

- Recovery will take years: 52% of the respondents believe it will take more than 3 years for the market to start picking up, and more than half of these believe it could take more than 5 years.

- Bottom falls out of the high-end of the market: The confidence has weakened in all of the higher price segments since May 2008

Links of Interest:

Art Market May Take 3-5 Years to Recover, Survey Company Says -- Bloomberg

www.arttactic.com

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin
Senior Editor
myartspace
www.myartspace.com
New York Art Exchange
www.nyaxe.com

Art Space Talk: Jessica Wohl

Jessica Wohl, has won third place in the 2008 Graduate Scholarship Competition provided by myartspace.com. Jessica will receive a $1,000 cash scholarship from myartspace. The myartspace Art Scholarship program began in July 2008 and entries were due by December 15, 2008. $16,000 of cash scholarships are awarded to the top three winners in the undergraduate category and the graduate category. Entry to the competition is free as is membership to myartspace.

Jessica is currently working on her Masters of Fine Arts at the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia in Drawing and Painting. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration and Art History at the Kansas City Art Institute. In Jessica's words "I’m interested in the concept of the family. What is a family, and by what is it defined? A family constitutes a group of multiples with a shared common bond, and I investigate the nature of, and the power of that bond. I’m interested in exploring the illusion of a family: how it portrays itself to the world, how they hold themselves together, and what might happen they let themselves fall apart.

Collecting family photographs, stories, memories and imagery connects my personal experience to a larger history. I also collect culturally derived patterns and ornament, most specifically, lace, as it references my Russian ancestors. Collecting, accumulating and arranging are all ways in which one manipulates their environment to achieve perfection, and it is in the obsessive nature of my work in which I emulate the quest for perfection that many families undertake and display."

Catherine McCormack-Skiba, the founder of myartspace and CEO noted, “We had entries to the scholarship program from students at over 1,200 colleges and universities. The unbridled spirit and creativity from this group is quite impressive. While the top winners receive their recognition and award money, virtually all the submissions were of top-notch quality. We applaud the young contemporary artists in school today. Their contribution to the fine art world will be felt for decades to come. We are so excited from this first scholarship program we will be launching our 2009 scholarship program later this year and hope to see more than double the participation. Myartspace remains focused on improving the lives and careers of its community members.”

Brian Sherwin: Jessica, you are one of three winners of the graduate art scholarship competition provided by the artist social network myartspace.com. As you know the scholarship is intended for students who exhibit exceptional artistic excellence in their chosen medium and is to be used in order to further education in art. Can you describe how you felt entering the competition and your reaction to finding out that you had won?

Jessica Wohl: As I'm sure all applicants were, I was hopeful about the competition, though I figured it was pretty competitive. The word 'scholarship' always makes students excited. My reaction to winning was, of course, surprised and excited! I am really honored. It gives me validation and makes me feel like I'm going down the right path.

BS: Can you tell us about your academic background? Where have you studied? Did you have any influential instructors?

JW: I graduated with a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2001 with majors in illustration and art history. After school, I decided Illustration wasn't for me, and that I wanted to paint. My illustration background gave me painting skills, but I felt unfulfilled when it came to thinking conceptually about my work. Since I didn't have anyone to dialogue with when it came to more conceptual ideas, I knew I had to pursue graduate studies.

I'm currently in my second year of the MFA program at the Lamar Dodd School of Art in the Drawing and Painting Department at the University of Georgia. My instructors here at UGA have helped me tremendously in terms of making my work become more visually and conceptually engaging.


BS: You have stated that you are interested in the concept of the family. Can you go into further detail about that aspect of your art?

JW: I am fascinated by the idea of the family as a group of people who are bound together by various connections. Typically when families are portrayed visually, in photographs or even in the public, there is a persona or visual mask that is put on to conceal the deeper, more troubling truths that define who they are.

BS: Tell us more about the thoughts behind your work…

JW: I am very interested in the multiple, as copies always refer to an absent original. In this absence we find loss, trauma, and death, yet in the obsessive multiple, we find security and stability in the predictable nature of the visuals we distribute, consume and ultimately believe. For these paintings, the 'duplicate' or portrait of the subject (residents I volunteered with in a retirement community/nursing home) acts as a stand in for the individual.

In this case, these individuals were facing the end of their lives, and therefore the paintings foreshadow their impending absence, and the loss and trauma surrounding it. To the best of my knowledge, 5 of the 14 people I painted are no longer alive, and I wouldn't be surprised if that number has grown.

BS: What about other influences? Are you influenced by any specific artists?

JW: I am influenced greatly by photography, especially Sears family portraits, as they are the perfect example of this "posing" persona we put on and distribute, in multiple, concealing truths and presenting and distributing how happy we seem to be. The concept of the uncanny, twins, and things that occur in duplicate also profoundly impact my current work. I am also interested greatly in the abject, loss, trauma and memory. The artists I am most influenced by deal with these concepts: Gregor Schneider, Mona Hatoum, Diane Arbus, Gillian Wearing, Christian Boltanski, and Rachael Whiteread.

BS: How do you utilize symbolism within your work? For example, do colors have specific meanings to you? Discuss this aspect of your art…

JW: Most of the time symbolism occurs in the nature of the process I use. For example, the backgrounds of these works are alluring and colorful, yet they are dripping, decaying and eroding, as a metaphor for the subjects who's bodies are nearing death and decomposition. In my current collage work (soon to be posted!) I'm doing a lot of cutting and organizing, a process that implies trauma and healing.

BS: Can you discuss the art that you decided to enter into the competition. In your opinion, why do those specific works reflect your growth as an artist?

JW: This body of work started because I was experiencing a lot of guilt surrounding my grandfather's death, and I felt I wanted to capture and draw attention to people who were in a situation where they were viewed as abject. Given my training as an illustrator, this was really the first body of work where I explored a deeper concept and presented the work in a professional gallery setting. I finally had something to say, rather than illustrating someone else's ideas. Though it still looks a bit illustrative in my opinion, this body of work was the beginning of the road that I'm currently still exploring in my graduate studies.

BS: In your opinion, how is the internet changing the landscape of the art world, so to speak. Obviously artists today have more opportunities than they had before the advent of the World Wide Web. What your thoughts on this?

JW: The best thing about the web, in my opinion, is the access it provides for sharing information. My peers and I often frequent websites such as dailyserving.com, where we can keep a finger on the pulse of what occurs daily in the contemporary art world. In terms of sharing information, I can't think of a better tool to bring art to the masses. My only hesitation would be that I hope the web never becomes a full-on surrogate for people to view art; I still think visiting a museum or gallery in person is the best way to view art, and always will be.


BS: What are your future plans as far as your art is concerned?
JW: I am still exploring ways of investigating the family, and probably will continue to do this for some time, however I am becoming increasingly more interested in ideas of the home, the environment that houses all the dysfunction. I have some ideas for sculptures and installations that I am looking forward to realizing.

BS: Finally, is there anything else you would like to say about your art?

JW: Visually, my work differs greatly from one body to the next. I think this is a product of growing up where my daily routine and environment changed multiple times a week. Even in this chaos I found some kind of stability, so I suppose my work really is an extension of my upbringing. I hope viewers can realize that beyond these visual differences the concepts underlying the work are actually quite the same.

You can learn more about Jessica Wohl by visiting her website-- www.jessicawohl.com. Jessica is currently a member of the myartspace.com community-- www.myartspace.com/jessicawohl.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Senior Editor

myartspace

www.myartspace.com

New York Art Exchange

www.nyaxe.com

Art Space Talk: Justin Lowman

Justin Lowman, has won second place in the 2008 Graduate Scholarship Competition provided by myartspace.com. Justin will receive a $2,000 cash scholarship from myartspace. The myartspace Art Scholarship program began in July 2008 and entries were due by December 15, 2008. $16,000 of cash scholarships are awarded to the top three winners in the undergraduate category and the graduate category. Entry to the competition is free as is membership to myartspace.

Justin Lowman earned a BA in Art History and Classic Humanities from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He is currently concluding his MFA Candidate at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. Justin describe in his own words his works "I want to reinvigorate various kinds of contexts both public and private to produce renewed awareness of being. With a change in focus or through a unique set of materials, one can see the familiar in new ways in order to pause and reflect on a moment, to capture a fleeting glimpse or perhaps even to smile and gain a sense of wonder.

Producing this kind of situation is important to me because so much of our lives are bombarded with speed and information that challenges our ability to process our lives. As the quality of contemporary life feels increasingly rapid, we observe that time still measures the same as it ever has. Why then do situations sometimes feel painstakingly slow while others exceptionally fast? Taking time to appreciate the small things in moments of contemplation affords the viewer an opportunity to digest and restore."

Catherine McCormack-Skiba, the founder of myartspace and CEO noted, “We had entries to the scholarship program from students at over 1,200 colleges and universities. The unbridled spirit and creativity from this group is quite impressive. While the top winners receive their recognition and award money, virtually all the submissions were of top-notch quality. We applaud the young contemporary artists in school today. Their contribution to the fine art world will be felt for decades to come. We are so excited from this first scholarship program we will be launching our 2009 scholarship program later this year and hope to see more than double the participation. Myartspace remains focused on improving the lives and careers of its community members.”

Brian Sherwin: Justin, you are one of three winners of the graduate art scholarship competition provided by the artist social network myartspace.com. As you know the scholarship is intended for students who exhibit exceptional artistic excellence in their chosen medium and is to be used in order to further education in art. Can you describe how you felt entering the competition and your reaction to finding out that you had won?

Justin Lowman: I don't think one ever imagines winning these things. Of course, I knew I couldn't win unless I tried. I enjoyed putting the gallery together. It gave me chance to take inventory on recent work. My placement at the top has rendered me speechless. Of course, there is a smile.
BS: Justin, you are currently attending Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. You are seeking an MFA in Studio Art. Can you discuss your academic background? For example, have you had any influential instructors?

JL: I am truly grateful to be at Art Center with so many amazing people both students and staff. I feel I am too close to the experience to know what the influences are. While it would be premature to assess Art Center, there have certainly been instructors along the way who have been instrumental to my growth.

My high school teachers--Richard Brown and Katherine Belling--were particularly supportive in planting certain seeds. At that time, it all seemed so new. I spent my undergrad years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison finding my way back to art through first engineering, then art history. It really wasn't until moving to Los Angeles that I was able to begin seeing the possibilities as an artist. Through working with both Lisa Adams and Lia Halloran at UCLA Extension, ideas began to coalesce into something that made art seem attainable for me again.

BS: It appears that you adhere to a specific philosophy concerning life and nature. You have stated the following, “The way nature and light changes endlessly, the way sounds and volumes change continuously, the way air shifts and feels in certain moments, and even the way light influences sensation beyond the visual, all contribute to an entire sense of being that we often readily adapt to and subsequently begin to ignore.” Can you discuss how that concern is reflected within the context of your art?

JL: I look to relations between light, trees and water to begin to understand something of surface and depth. Something so seemingly simple and familiar becomes more complicated the longer and more carefully I observe said phenomena. I think reflection is a good word to use because it both speaks to these relations but it also speaks to memory and deeper senses of being. Like watching the sun set over water light changes both reflectively and atmospherically.

I marvel how that seemingly simple viewing experience continues to mesmerize me. I want the work to deliver that kind of experience where movement shifts subtly with a slight tug at the end as when the sun disappears beyond the horizon. To atttempt to fix one of those fleeting moments provides a kind of pleasure in the present for me.

Much of the work relies on the combination of both fixed and shifting perspectives depending on where the viewer is in relation to the work and whether or not the work itself actually moves. I'm particularly interested in those kind of subtle oscillations. There's such a poetic sense that I feel even words can't begin to describe it.

BS: Tell us more about the thoughts behind your work… the specific themes you explore and the symbolism you embrace…

JL: Like I mentioned previously, the notion of the moment can be both pleasurable and sublime. While the speed of contemporary life appears increasingly rapid, it still measures the same as it ever has. What can this say about how we experience our lives now? Sometimes it feels painstakingly slow, at other times amazingly fast, but it's only in hindsight that we can begin to know meaning.

I find myself thinking a lot about speed in relation to technology where digital media delivers information at the speed of light and how that changes the way we may see ourselves and what kind of new responsibilities we may have given the wealth of information that grows exponentially everyday. I believe there can be no substitute for careful observation and thought. If I can arrest the viewer into a space of contemplation, my hope is that it may provide an opportunity to process and restore.

BS: What about other influences?

JL: I am also inspired by dialogue with my wife Jennifer and our two boys (ages 4 and almost 6). In addition to what the family experience brings in terms of relations in time, I am also inspired by art in many forms including the written and the performed both silent and musical. It is eclectic to be sure.

BS: How do you utilize symbolism within your work? For example, do colors have specific meanings to you? Discuss this aspect of your art…

JL: Colors are very important to me. As a product of matter and light, I am very much invested in questions about location of color. Black and white intensify contrasts to reveal basic structures of things. Reflective surfaces reveal infinite colors based on site conditions and viewers in relation to the work. Here is where the viewer may be able to "get inside" the work a bit.

Most recently my palette has been an investigation into color as it is both perceived through depths of water (black into violets into blues into greens into whites) as well as more digitally oriented color such as magenta and cyan and how those color schemes intermingle to develop a dialogue between the fluidic and the graphic. I want to question the space of the actual and the virtual and where I find myself on that continuum.

BS: Can you discuss the art that you decided to enter into the competition. In your opinion, why do those specific works reflect your growth as an artist?

JL:The work I have chosen is my most recent work. It follows a thread that seeks to draw the viewer further and further into an actual space rather than being held with the mere illusion of virtual space such as that found in my more conventional paintings for example. It's really difficult to present the work photographically because it really needs to be seen firsthand. I want the viewer to be able to interact with it and be in the presence of a moment.

BS: In your opinion, how is the internet changing the landscape of the art world, so to speak. Obviously artists today have more opportunities than they had before the advent of the World Wide Web. What your thoughts on this?

JL: While the value of shared information and networking possibilities is invaluable with internet communities and I am grateful for the ones in which I participate, I am concerned that images of art work posted on the internet are seen as substitutions for an actual viewing experience in a real brick and mortar.

While certain media choices are ideal for web exchange (and there really are some people doing incredible work in the virtual space of the internet), there is still so much that must be seen in the flesh. Ultimately, I want to embrace new technologies and how we can continue to expand our understanding of our being through them while also carefully attending to the ethical issues that emerge with them.

BS: What are your future plans as far as your art is concerned?
JL: Right now I am working to refine aspects of what I have show you while expanding through more video-oriented installations.

BS: Finally, is there anything else you would like to say about your art?

JL: I do hope that I can continue to work on ideas that continue to engage contemporary questions about how we perceive time and space, how and where we find ourselves on that continuum in our daily lives, and how we can better see the way we are interconnected and mutually important one to another--that we are one part in many layers of the whole just as moments of time accumulate into collected experience.Thank you so much for your support and interest. It has been a pleasure.

Justin Lowman is currently a member of the myartspace.com community. You can learn more about Justin by visiting his myartspace profile-- www.myartspace.com/justinlowman

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Senior Editor

myartspace

www.myartspace.com

New York Art Exchange

www.nyaxe.com

Art Space Talk: Lucy May

Lucy May, has won first place in the 2008 Graduate Scholarship Competition provided by myartspace.com. Lucy will receive a $5,000 cash scholarship from myartspace. The myartspace Art Scholarship program began in July 2008 and entries were due by December 15, 2008. $16,000 of cash scholarships are awarded to the top three winners in the undergraduate category and the graduate category. Entry to the competition is free as is membership to myartspace.

Lucy May completed her BA in Fine art at The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, University of Oxford. She is currently working on completing her MA in Art at the Royal College of Art in London. According to Lucy "My work is founded on an ongoing investigation of memory and the imagination, and revels in the grotesquely beautiful and the dusty annals of the past. The current sculptural work takes its cue from graphic sources such as the etchings of Rembrandt, Goya and Durer. It is heavily informed by Italian Baroque sculpture and therefore religious motifs.

Said motifs and arresting details from etchings are worked up into fantastical tableaux and figures. Their form, although recognizably in homage to traditional sculptural idioms, are molten and indeterminate; subject matter and meaning are thus rendered subservient to the seething and writhing mass of secretions and organic growth."

Catherine McCormack-Skiba, the founder of myartspace and CEO noted, “We had entries to the scholarship program from students at over 1,200 colleges and universities. The unbridled spirit and creativity from this group is quite impressive. While the top winners receive their recognition and award money, virtually all the submissions were of top-notch quality. We applaud the young contemporary artists in school today. Their contribution to the fine art world will be felt for decades to come. We are so excited from this first scholarship program we will be launching our 2009 scholarship program later this year and hope to see more than double the participation. Myartspace remains focused on improving the lives and careers of its community members.”

Citadel 1 by Lucy May

Brian Sherwin: Lucy, you are one of three winners of the graduate art scholarship competition provided by the artist social network myartspace.com. As you know the scholarship is intended for students who exhibit exceptional artistic excellence in their chosen medium and is to be used in order to further education in art. Can you describe how you felt entering the competition and your reaction to finding out that you had won?

Lucy May: Entering the competition was an excellent way for me to build a high quality gallery of my work online, since I don't yet have my own website. I was aware that the site is vast and diverse, and that there would be many applications for the Scholarship. I am honored that my work was selected and delighted that so many more people will be able to view my work as a result of this competition. I'm also excited about the possibilities that this will open up for me.

BS: Lucy, you are currently attending the Royal College of Art in London. Can you discuss you academic background? Have you had any influential instructors?

LM: Before my BA my academic background was very ordinary so I'll credit my parents with instilling in me my imaginative tendencies and thirst for knowledge.

I completed my BA at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art at Oxford University, which is an fascinating and unique place to study Fine Art. In particular, the study of human anatomy, taught by Dr. Sarah Simblet, was unforgettable and crucial to my creative development. Brian Catling, Head of Sculpture and Richard Wentworth, Ruskin Master, were also influential characters during this time.

I'm now into my second term of a two year MA at the Royal College of Art, London, following some time away from studying. During that time I continued to make new work and put on exhibitions, but am currently flourishing in an environment where I can immerse myself in my work and the creative atmosphere of the College, which I believe is second to none.

Living in Hackney in London has been hugely influential to me and I would like to highlight the support I have received from my fellow artists and the galleries I have been involved with most recently, namely:
Pharos (www.pharosgallery.com/)
Wilson Williams (www.wilsonwilliamsgallery.com/)
and Gone Tomorrow (www.gonetomorrowgallery.co.uk/info.html)

Citadel 2 by Lucy May

BS: You have stated that your work is founded on an ongoing investigation of memory and the imagination. Can you go into further detail about that? Tell us more about the thoughts behind your work…

LM: I am fascinated by the nature of human memory. I believe that imagination plays a huge part in the way we remember and that our imaginitive workings are steeped in personal memory, so I am currently researching the connection between the two. I am in love with the past and have tendencies towards introspection and a touch of melancholia; my internal or imaginative life is very rich, so my work aims to distil these things and give them an appropriate physical form.

BS: You have stated that your sculptural work is influenced from graphic sources such as the etchings of Rembrandt, Goya, Durer. Can you go into further detail about those influences concerning the context of your art?

LM: The etchings which I have seen by the above mentioned artists interest me for two main reasons. The first is the dramatic visual power of such detailed and highly wrought surfaces and beautifully rendered forms. The second is the incredible psychological intensity, particularly in Goya's work, of the subject matter, and the haunting effect this can have on the viewer.

Citadel 2 (detail) by Lucy May

BS: What about other influences?

LM: I am interested in the way that different cultures deal with loss and commemoration. I am therefore always fascinated to see relics, shrines, mementos and other such objects in all their diverse forms.

Children's books and toys from the past and graphic art from the Art Deco period have also been important to me. I love false flowers, plastic tat and other kinds of contemporary kitsch items, in which I find a kind of sad beauty.

Proust's epic work In Search of Lost Time has provided a background accompaniment to my thoughts about my work and life since 2002 and his reflections on memory have reinforced and inspired my own.

Most recently, the grandeur and gestural qualities of Italian Baroque sculpture have informed my work in wax. I'm an ardent admirer of Auguste Rodin and Medardo Rosso, and of course Gianlorenzo Bernini.

BS: How do you utilize symbolism within your work? For example, do colors have specific meanings to you? Discuss this aspect of your art…

LM: My work over the last few years have been entirely dominated by black, alluding to generalised ideas of death and mourning, but also because I felt that colour was superfluous and would distract me from the pursuit of beauty in form. Recent developments, as a result of resuming my studies, have led me to experiment with colour and have opened up new avenues of exploration.

Conglomerate 2 by Lucy May

BS: Can you discuss the art that you decided to enter into the competition. In your opinion, why do those specific works reflect your growth as an artist?

LM: The work that I entered into this competition represents my output since leaving my BA course in 2005. During this time I feel that my work has developed significantly, becoming more ambitious and resolved. I have learned new things from each piece I have made. Each time I have completed a work I have seen what I need to do for the next one, in order to get closer to my ideal - of being able to successfully express in three dimensions the things I have mentioned above.

BS: In your opinion, how is the internet changing the landscape of the art world, so to speak. Obviously artists today have more opportunities than they had before the advent of the World Wide Web. What your thoughts on this?

LM: The Internet allows artists to have their work seen by a huge and diverse international audience in a quick, accessible and unintimidating fashion, and also to be the author of their own persona or mythology. The power of promotional tools such as online galleries and social networking sites would have been unimaginable pre-Internet, and I believe that there is yet more potential here, since the format is relatively young. It is an exciting time.

Conglomerate 4 by Lucy May

BS: What are your future plans as far as your art is concerned?
LM: My work is entering a more experimental phase. I will be concentrating on trying new processes and materials and combining them with the aspects of my practice I feel are already successful.

BS: Finally, is there anything else you would like to say about your art?

LM: Only that I'm looking forward to getting back into the studio

You can read more of my interviews by visiting the following page-- www.myartspace.com/interviews.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin

Senior Editor

www.myartspace.com

UW-Milwaukee Grad Student feature: Brandon Bauer

This is the first in a series of MFA student features from the graduate program I work in at Peck School of the Arts, the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. These will be cross-posted on implicit art at nathanielstern.com


UW-Milwaukee Grad Student features are licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

Brandon Bauer is a multi-disciplinary artist living and working in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His work explores how the strategy of collage creates or obscures meaning. Brandon’s art has been exhibited in the Aces(s) electronic media festival in Pau, France, The European Media Arts Festival in Osnabruck, Germany, and at Project 101 in Paris among several other national and international venues. His work has been produced in DVD editions, used as illustration for various editorial publications and books, and has been published in poster editions. Brandon has recently completed his MA at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and is currently pursuing his MFA with a focus on intermedia. Brandon is an adjunct Time Based Media faculty member at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.

Talk about your current practice. What do you make and why is that important to you?

In many ways I consider myself a collage artist, although I have an expanded definition of what collage is or can be. The products of the mediated world are my material starting point. It has only been in the last few years that I have fully embraced the concept of collage as my medium, and recognized the need for me to confront mediated images directly. I became aware in the last few years that I had always been responding to mediated forms in my work, and with that recognition, I found that I needed to work with these forms in a direct way. My recent exhibition Words Are Not Enough at the Inova/Arts Center Gallery in Milwaukee was a critical examination of the products of the media sphere as well as different ways in which to work with them, analyze them, break them down, recombine them, unform them, and manipulate them. The exhibition was an investigation of ideology and the construction of discourse in the media as well as a critique of these operations.

Images and details from the Words Are Not Enough exhibition, Inova/Arts Center Gallery at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Fall 2008

What got you to this point? What were you doing or making before, and how did that lead you to this kind of production?

I realized I had always been responding to the media in one way or another, and collage has been a constant component in my work, so in the last few years I decided to really concentrate on these forms, strategies, and methods. I think I first realized I was responding directly to media and mediated images in the 1990’s when the images surfaced of the emaciated prisoners in the camps during the war in the Balkans. After seeing those images I began working on a series that came to be called Hungry Ghosts; the series encompassed paintings, drawings, and mixed media works that all depicted tall, withered, cadaverous figures. The collage element came into the works as newspaper pages and headlines buried in the paint so that they could only be seen or revealed by looking closely at the work.

I Bury the Dead in My Belly, from the series Hungry Ghosts, mixed media on wood, 60 x 40.5 inches, 2001

The biggest change in my work came as a result of 9/11 and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Those events really made me reassess the role of art and the need to find a more responsive critical practice. Working on an oil painting for a month in the seclusion of the studio was not going to allow me the kind of direct critical response that I felt was necessary in face of the rush to war that occurred. It was actually quite an empowering moment to be an artist, I wasn’t the only one to feel that way, and that is what made it so empowering- there was an amazing surge of artistic activity as artists all over the world attempted to put their talents in the service of a critical response to the rush to war by the Bush administration. I was very fortunate to co-edit a book called Peace Signs: The Anti-War Movement Illustrated, that chronicled the worldwide graphic response to the march to war by the United States. The Spanish language version of the book won the Ciutat prize for design in Barcelona for the year 2003. This was the first time that this massive surge of creativity was mounted to try to stop a war before it had even started. Most anti-war art historically has been made during ongoing conflicts, or when specific atrocities came to light, or in the case of graphic works like Goya’s Disasters of War, or Otto Dix’s Der Krieg, made years after the fact. Anyway, it was during this time that I tried to find a more responsive critical practice, and looked for different ways of getting the work out there into the world. I did a number of flyers and stickers to be placed directly on the street, and started doing illustrations for publications like Clamor Magazine and Earth First!, as well as working with other activist based art groups like Visual Resistance and Just Seeds. All of this made me think more critically about the function of art, and eventually led me to work with media as a material in a more specifically critical way.

Peace Signs: The Anti-War Movement Illustrated cover

More Dead and Wounded Everyday sticker and placement, created to mark the 1,000 U.S. casualty in the Iraq war, 2004

Corpobot, Illustration for Clamor Magazine May/June 2004

Who inspires you - that you know personally, as well as historically or in contemporary practice?

I am constantly inspired by my friends and so many of the people around me and what they do. Colin Matthes is a good example. He is insanely productive and an immense talent; his last exhibition, War Fair: Occupation Games for Citizens and Non-Combatants, was astounding - a combination of interactive carnival games as a critique of contemporary warfare. Colin and I collaborated on an exhibition in 2007 called Over There, which brought together work we had both been producing independently as well as collaborative art we made specifically for that show. I think that collaboration opened up avenues and possibilities for both of us that we have continued to expand upon in our own ways. I love collaborative projects in general; that kind of work always motivates me and inspires me.

Brandon Bauer and Colin Matthes installing work for the Over There exhibition, Brooks Barrow Gallery, Milwaukee WI, September 2007

As for historic inspirations, I always come back to the collage and photomontage work of the Dada artists as well as the Neo-Dadaist assemblage work like Rauschenberg's "combines" and the work of Bruce Connor. I consistently find new ways to appreciate the work from these two periods on many different levels. As for contemporary artists, I am very interested in the work of Thomas Hirschhorn, especially his public monuments, and the work of Cady Noland really intrigues me. I respond to the fearlessness of Hirschhorn's work, and the fact that he takes the general public seriously as readers of philosophy. I love the innate democratic quality of his public art, and the fact that he is unafraid to confront theory with praxis. I am intrigued by Noland's work with appropriated materials and her investigation of the undercurrent of violence in the American character. She is an artist whose work I want to spend more time with. My list of inspirations could really go on forever. I try to absorb everything I can, am an omnivorous reader and always hungry visually. Lately I have been reading a lot of Jacques Rancière - his analysis of montage informed a lot of the work in my last exhibition, and I have recently picked up some of his non art-related critical writing on democracy, to see where it might lead me.

Tell us about your favorite and least favorite works of art from your entire repertoire - why they deserve those titles and what you learned from them.

Least favorite... that is honestly a very difficult question for me because I get something out of everything I make, successful or not. I tend to rework things endlessly so a piece I am not happy about may get cut up and recombined into a new work, or may be worked over until it feels right. It’s like Colin said as we were collaborating on work for the Over There exhibition, and I’m paraphrasing him: “either it’s going to be great or I’m going to run it into the ground- there is no in-between”… That’s basically it, I’m either going to make it work or create an absolute disaster. Usually my unsuccessful pieces get re-purposed or reworked into new pieces. Art is a fluid process for me, and in that way there are no real failures… I almost wish I would make a spectacular disaster- it may be my greatest work!

As for my favorite, that's hard too... I guess I would have to say I really love the work I was doing in 2006, because that work was a point in which all of my concerns started coming together. I am particularly fond of much of the collage work I did then, as well as the video work in the short/cuts series, which was a series of 30 short videos experimenting with a variety of different aspects of the video medium. There was just an openness and honesty in the work I was making then, I was trying to zero in on what motivated me to make work and why, and I think it comes across in those pieces. My current work owes a great debt to that period of focused experimentation.

Grassroots Congress, mixed media and collage on paper 4 x 6 inches, 2006

IR, mixed media and collage on paper 4 x 6 inches, 2006

And, mixed media and collage on paper 4 x 6 inches, 2006

What are you working on right now, and where do you see your work headed next?

Right now I am in the midst of the preparatory work for a rotoscope animation project, and there are a number of threads I touched on in my exhibition Words Are Not Enough that I want to continue, expand upon and develop further. I also work with a number of other people on various projects and we have some irons in the fire. I recently contributed to a portfolio project through Just Seeds about the prison industrial complex that will tour through Canada and has some other exhibition dates slated in the US. I will have a DVD released soon of video collaborations I did with the Milwaukee based experimental noise musician Peter J. Woods, and I am involved with ongoing projects for the BATHAS Internationale, which is an anonymous participatory umbrella collective project that explores how the modernist avant-garde notion of negation as revolt has been taken up by subcultures in contemporary society. I am in discussions with A. Bill Miller of Master-List 2000 about a BATHAS/Master-List 2000 net-art collaboration, but that is still in the initial stages. I will have a review of Jacques Rancière's The Future of the Image published in the next edition of the FATE journal discussing its use in foundations level pedagogy. Beyond that my wife and I just had our first baby, so maybe I need to find an art practice that just involves me holding my little baby girl...

Street Art: Martin Luther King, Jr.

At age 33, King pressed the case for civil rights with President John Kennedy. At age 34, King galvanized the nation with his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech. At age 35, King won the Nobel Peace Prize. At age 39, King was assassinated. King left a legacy of hope that will never be terminated. The influence of his dream surrounds us today.

Below are some examples of street art involving Martin Luther King, Jr. that readers have sent to me. Feel free to comment with your thoughts on Martin Luther King, Jr. and art inspired by his dream. If you recognize any of the images below please tell me the name of the artist.

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin
Senior Editor
Myartspace.com
www.myartspace.com
New York Art Exchange
www.nyaxe.com

Art Space Talk: Alan Bamberger

Alan Bamberger is an art consultant, advisor, author, and independent appraiser specializing in research, appraisal, and all business and market aspects of original works of art, artist manuscript materials, art-related documents, and art reference books. He has been selling art since 1979 and rare and scholarly art reference books since 1982, and has been consulting and appraising for artists, galleries, businesses, organizations and collectors since 1985.

Bamberger has appeared live on CNN's Daywatch, KTLA's Making It (Los Angeles), and KRON-TV in San Francisco, and answered art business questions on New York City Cable TV's Project Art Show. He's been quoted in numerous media including the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Great Britain's Guardian Unlimited, Marketplace (National Public Radio), the Los Angeles Times, New York Newsday, the San Francisco Chronicle, Esquire, ESPN Magazine, Real Simple, ARTnews, The Arizona Republic and Wired and has been featured in the Chicago Tribune, the San Francisco Examiner, Kiplinger's Personal Finance, Your Money, and other publications.

Bamberger is the founder of ArtBusiness.com-- a website that provides complete art services, art appraisals, art price data, news, articles, and market information to art collectors, artists, and fine arts professionals

Brian Sherwin: Alan, you are an art consultant, author, advisor, and independent appraiser. You specialize in appraisal, research, and the business and marketing aspects of original works of art. You also have extensive knowledge of artist manuscript materials, art-related documents, and art reference books. Can you give us a brief history of your background in this field?

Alan Bamberger: I began in the art business around 1980 selling old paintings and other original works of art. During that time, I would purchase reference books for my library. That gradually evolved into purchasing duplicate reference books and selling them to other dealers and collectors. After a while, I moved almost entirely into selling rare and hard-to-find reference books on the fine and decorative arts.

My education around art comes not only from books and catalogues, but also from artists, art gallery owners, and other fine arts professionals. During this time, I also became a member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers.

BS: You maintain www.artbusiness.com. Can you give us a brief history of the site? Why did you decide to create it?

AB: My original idea for www.artbusiness.com back in the late 1990s was to use it as an online portfolio of sorts-- to show samples of my writing-- in hopes of getting more writing jobs. Putting the writing samples online was easier than sending them in the mail (how writers used to query publications back in the good old days). Anyway, I realized when viewing my website statistics that quite a few people were finding the site and reading my writings, so I started putting more and more of my articles online. That's pretty much how things started.

BS: You have written about the art business since 1983. How has the art market changed in your opinion since that time? Would you say that it is easier to be successful as an artist today due to the advent of the Internet?

AB: I think the main ways the art business has changed are that knowledge is easier to come by and, more significantly, that artists can expose their work internationally with little or no effort. This is particularly advantageous for artists who do not live in major national or international art centers, but have talent. And some artists manage to get known simply by establishing online presences. This was not possible just a few short years ago.

BS: What advice do you have for artists who strive to gain exposure online? Do you have any marketing tips for artists who are focused on selling art online?

AB: A few quick tips-- price your art, have plenty of contact information, make your art easy to buy (accept credit cards, Paypal, etc), don't show a lot of sold work, show your most recent work, don't show a lot of old work (particularly if your current art is very different). I have several articles for artists online about how to approach internet selling like this one for example-- www.artbusiness.com/webworks.html.

BS: What about art collectors? Do you have any general advice for art collectors concerning buying art online?

AB: Know what you're buying, know who you're buying from, don't buy big name art at online auctions like eBay unless you are an expert in whatever artists you're shopping for, make sure you can return whatever you buy if it turns out to look different than it looked online, read and get informed about what you're buying before you buy-- not after.

BS: Can you point our readers to any specific online articles that they may find of interest concerning these topics?

AB: I have plenty of articles for collectors online here-- www.artbusiness.com/collectors.html. And my book, The Art of Buying Art, covers everything collectors need to know about how to buy art. It's easy to understand and anyone who buys art can benefit from it.

BS: Giving the state of the economy… do you have any general advice for artists, gallerists, and others who are focused on the business of art?

AB: Selling art is more challenging now than it's been in quite some time. It's important for anyone selling art to demonstrate the value of that art-- not necessarily in terms of dollars, but also in terms of meaning, significance, and similar intangibles. People buy art because it enriches, beautifies, and enhances their lives. Be able to show how your art (or art that you're selling) does that. Here's an article that kind of sums it all up-- www.artbusiness.com/osoquunewec.html.

BS: Speaking of the economy, there has been some debate online concerning the potential for brick & mortar galleries embracing the internet for an alternative way of selling art. Many traditional art sellers scoffed at the idea of selling art online during the 1990s. Have you observed a change in opinion concerning this as far as gallerists are concered?

AB: Yes. The large majority of galleries have online presences. In fact, some galleries and dealers sell almost as much and sometimes even more art online than they do out of their physical galleries. An online presence is particularly beneficial to galleries that sell art by artists with national or international followings-- avid collectors scour the market for the art they collect, and the internet is one of the best ways to get a quick overview of who's selling what.

BS: Speaking of the art world in general, do you have any concerns about the art world at this time? For example, there has been a lot of debate concerning the potential of orphan works legislation being passed. What are your thoughts on that issue?

AB: I can understand both sides on this one, but I am for the legislation because of the incredible difficulties entailed in figuring who, if anybody, holds the rights to reproduce so many works of art from all nationalities and all time periods. Of course, the person reproducing these works must do due diligence in this regard before reproducing them. That must be made very clear in any such legislation-- and the penalties should be significant for those who don't.

BS: I understand that you are a member of the Association of Online Appraisers. Can you give our readers some insight into the goal of that organization?

AB: The goal of this or any appraiser organization is to educate, promote uniform standards of appraisal, and to give everyone access to professional appraisers, not only for art, but for all forms of personal property, and not only for purposes of insurance, inheritance, donation, and the like, but also for buying and selling. For example, a gallery might represent a work of art as being a bargain when in fact it is overpriced.

When you don't know that much about what you're buying, it's always a good idea to consult an appraiser first-- for a no-conflict-of-interest second opinion. Likewise, private parties who are considering selling art need professional opinions as to how much it's worth before offering it for sale.

BS: What about other organizations and projects that you are involved with. Would you like mention anything about them?

AB: My main project these days is comprehensively documenting the San Francisco art scene with exhaustive coverage of gallery shows. It not only helps artists and collectors now, but I also intend it to be an archive for the future. This May will mark the sixth anniversary of this project which I began in 2003. Over the years, I have also volunteered my time and knowledge to help several local non-profit organizations.

BS: Where can our readers purchase your books online?

AB: You can read brief chapter summaries of The Art of Buying Art here-- www.artbusiness.com/basynop.html
You can order a signed copy of the book here-- www.artbusiness.com/bookorder.html

BS: Finally, is there anything else you would like to say about your profession? Any closing advice for buying or selling art online?

AB: As someone who knows a lot about art and how the art business operates, I can't stress enough that when you're just starting out as a buyer (or seller), talk to professionals, educate yourself, and get second opinions as required before going ahead with purchases or putting art up for sale in the marketplace. It is simply too easy to make very expensive mistakes when you don't have that much experience.

In closing, I'd like to say that it is my great privilege and pleasure to work with as well as serve artists, dealers, collectors, and creative people everywhere. My main goals in life are to make art more accessible to everyone, and to help everyone-- buyers, sellers, and artists alike-- to do whatever it is that they want to do.... better.

You can learn more about Alan Bamberger by visiting the Artbusiness.com website-- www.artbusiness.com. You can read more of my interviews by visiting the following page-- www.myartspace.com/interviews

Take care, Stay true,

Brian Sherwin
Senior Editor
myartspace.com
www.myartspace.com
New York Art Exchange
www.nyaxe.com