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My first contribution to Blast Magazine, here. The Photography of Jerry Uelsmann at the Peabody Essex Museum

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Had the pleasure of seeing SpeakEasy Stage Company's Boston premiere of John Logan's Red last Friday night. Such an amazing experience to see an artist's process explained and explored onstage, instead of in an art history book. Not to be missed.

January 6 – February 4, 2012

By John Logan
Directed by David R. Gammons

Starring Thomas Derrah and Karl Baker Olson

Winner of six 2010 Tony Awards including Best Play, Red is a searing portrait of an artist’s ambition and vulnerability. After he lands the biggest commission in the history of modern art, abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko begins work on a series of large murals with the help of a new young assistant. What takes place between the two men is a master class on the methods and purpose of art and the dynamic relationship between an artist and his creations.

Editorial Disclaimer: The author of this post received discounted or complementary admission to the above mentioned performance, courtesy of the host institution, organization or gallery.

I Gots Brains In This Big Ol' Head

Cathy Wilkes, Irish, b. 1966, Cathy Wilkes, Forum 67, 201, Installation View 8, Mixed media. Photo: Tom Little

So this one was a thinker. A real thinker. I looked at the work. I read up on it. I reread up on it. And still…nothing. Nothing at all.

Cathy Wilkes, who was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2008 (she lost to Mark Leckey), tries desperately to invoke the knowledge that we will never feel the exact same emotional millisecond that was the catalyst for the creation of a piece of art, exactly what an artist felt while producing a piece, or feel exactly what an artist was hoping we’d feel. I think Wilkes wants us to recognize the impossibility of mirroring what someone else feels and to appreciate the loss of meaning once an artistic piece is finished.

I think.

In any event, I had a lovely time at the Carnegie Museum of Art (a fun picture below!).

You can watch a video of Wilkes trying to explain her process here. FYI, she doesn’t do that great of a job.

Cathy Wilkes is on view at the Carnegie Museum of Art until February 26. For more information go here.

Having Fun/Good Life, Bruce Nauman, 1985, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

Editorial Disclaimer: The author of this post received discounted or complementary admission to the above mentioned exhibition, courtesy of the host institution, organization or gallery.

Wonderfill: The Art of Nathan Lewis

Last Thursday, I attended the opening reception of Wonderfill: The Art of Nathan Lewis, at one of my favorite South End boutiques, J.E.M. I love his work. He makes me laugh.

Wonderfill is on view at J.E.M. until January 31st.

Watch Nathan describe his process here.

Nathan and I. Image courtesy of Randy Gross and J.E.M.

What’s Love Got To Do, GOT TO DO, With It?!

Man Ray (1890–1976); A l’heure de l’observatoire – les amoureux (Observatory Time – The Lovers), 1964, after a canvas of c.1931; Color photograph; 19 5/8 x 48 3/4 in. (50 x 124 cm); The Israel Museum, Jerusalem; © 2011 Man Ray Trust/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris/ Photo © The Israel Museum by Avshalom Avital.

After a very unpleasant episode where a matter of the heart caused acute emotional downfall, Man Ray/Lee Miller, Partners in Surrealism which was on view at the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) might not have been the best way for me to spend an afternoon. What I basically took away from the exhibition was that love and respect can lead to wonderful creative things. No shit.

Although the romantic relationship between Ray and Miller was short lived, its existence and demise was the catalyst for each artist to produce some of the finest works of their respective careers and led to a deep, lifelong friendship.

Exceptionally organized and well researched, the exhibition was laid out chronologically, introducing us to each artist prior to their meeting (Miller convinced the very reluctant Ray to let her apprentice under him), works that each created in Paris during the course of the romance, then those made after its volatile end. The show was rounded out with pieces created by Pablo Picasso, Roland Penrose (who Miller later married), and others from Ray/Miller’s circle of friends. The first exhibition ever organized featuring Ray and Miller together on equal terms, it was one of the finest and most inspirational I’ve seen this year.

Lee Miller (1907–1977); Portrait of Man Ray, 1931; Gelatin silver print; 9 1/8 x 6 7/8 in. (23.3 x 17.5 cm); Lee Miller Archives, Sussex, England; © Lee Miller Archives, England 2011. All rights reserved. www.leemiller.co.uk








Man Ray (1890–1976); Solarized Portrait of Lee Miller, c. 1930; Gelatin silver print; 9 1/2 x 7 3/8 in. (24.3 x 18.8 cm); The Penrose Collection, Sussex, England; © 2011 Man Ray Trust/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris/Courtesy of The Penrose Collection. All rights reserved.

"This exhibition is a microcosm of Surrealism, embodied by two people and their feelings for each other. Together, Man Ray and Lee Miller became the ultimate Surrealist object - two people who were inescapably drawn to each other, but could not make it work." - Phillip Prodger, PEM Curator of Photography.

Man Ray (1890–1976); Indestructible Object, originally made 1928, destroyed Paris 1957, this replica 1959; Metronome with gelatin silver print of Lee Miller’s eye; 9 1/8 x 4 1/4 x 4 1/4 in. (23 x 11 x 11 cm); The Penrose Collection, Sussex, England; © 2011 Man Ray Trust/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris/Courtesy of The Penrose Collection. All rights reserved.

Ray made the first version of this object shortly after Miller left him. Attaching a photograph of Miller’s eye to the metronome, he linked his memory of her to the idea of an insistent beat or pulse that was both irksome and unending – a metaphor, perhaps, for human desire. The original, destroyed in Paris in the late 1950's, was titled Object to be Destroyed. This later version, Indestructible Object, was produced in an edition of 100.

Learn more about PEM and upcoming exhibitions here.

Editorial Disclaimer: The author of this post received discounted or complementary admission to the above mentioned exhibition, courtesy of the host institution, organization or gallery.

It Really Is

I Now Need A Big Yard So I Can Buy This

I was in Manhattan this past weekend; saw Richard Serra’s two new sculptures, Junction (2011) and Cycle (2010), at Gagosian West 24^th. The enormous tilting and winding sheets of oxidized steel made me feel like I was in a tunnel on mars. Or tripping.

RICHARD SERRA, Cycle, 2011, Weatherproof steel, 62' x 56' x 14'
Copyright Richard Serra. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery. Photo by Lorenz Kienzle

I consider space to be a material. The articulation of space has come to take precedence over other concerns. I attempt to use sculptural form to make space distinct.
– Richard Serra

Yay art! Image courtesy of my soul sister, Laura Semon