Dreams and Visions: Movers and Shakers 2

I have a feeling I am not the only one who was thrilled by the storms of mid-January. The lightning electrifying the atmosphere and the thunder and pounding rain filling my senses was so exciting and reminded me of my Wizard of Oz roots in Kansas. Over 500 people amazed me by filling the gallery for the reception of the Movers and Shakers 2 exhibition at Art Expressions Gallery (2645 Financial Court, Suite C, SD, 92117 Link for map to gallery) in the middle of that onslaught of weather. I prefer to think they braved the storms because the draw of good art and the energy of the arts community when it comes together create the same excitement.

January reflections and predictions are still on my mind when I look at the two Movers and Shakers exhibitions (2008/2010) together as a whole. We set out to mark a cross selection of those who help the visual arts community depicted in a wide ranging portrait format by some of those artists who are aided by their efforts. On line, you can learn about the start of this project, a couple of introductions to the show Id, Ego and Superego, Movers and Shakers 2, and a forward by David Lewison or find all the information in our catalogs one and two. In both exhibitions those VIP s were asked to state their vision for the future of the visual art in our region.

SD Flash Forward: Movers and Shakers Speak Out is a summary of those visions in the first exhibition by Kevin Freitas and myself. It is interesting to see how some of these visions have progressed. A way to promote San Diego outside of our geographical area has been started by the Beyond the Borders International Art Fair by bringing an outside audience to the city. Perhaps September, when the fair is scheduled for the next three years at the new Hilton Hotel Bayfront, can become the month for all galleries to concentrate on promoting local art. Massive collaborations were made to put on the Little & Large project with 41 local galleries and over 120 artists included. We are so cheered to see the Space4Art project with the possibility of an art center in Barrio Logan/East Village.

We hope you will think about these visions and those of your own and then create some real action to make dreams into reality.

Now hear some live chat about last year and the future on Art Rocks! Interview with Philly Joe Swendoza

Patricia Frischer
Coordinator, www.SDVAN.net

State of the Arts 2010 -The Future of Art Publications

I believe that Art is the beginning of change. There are always other ways of seeing, thinking, acting, being. There is more than one reality and of course, more than one choice. So I set out to ask my art writing colleagues Seth Combs contributing to San Diego CityBeat, Keli Dailey stirring things up at SignOnSanDiego, Kevin Freitas posting on Art As Authority (read his entire article on this subject) resident art critic Robert Pincus writing for Union Tribune about the future of art publications and what they see on the horizon of this industry.

Do people read about art in depth any more?

It seems like we are all being bombarded by words on the internet. We assume that the attention span of the young is limited to 300 words at a time so fundamental to this discussion are the reading habits of the future.

Keli Dailey reminds us that you have “…. to see a lot of good art to recognize the limitations of not-so-good art, and this swallowing and absorption of the good vitamins makes your eyes stronger.”

Robert Pincus has faith that “…people want to read good writing about art. My evidence for the continuing viability of informed and passionate art criticism is anecdotal.” as he gets comments sent to him regularly about his column.

“The writing needs to be succinct with less art jargon, treating the reader with respect and realizing that the audience has a multitude of choices…” is Seth Combs take on this question.

Kevin Freitas takes a contrasting view, “As we become increasingly “plugged in” our capacity to reflect and ponder upon the information received decreases – including how art is viewed and understood.” He thinks that the coffee table book may be replaced by the Kindle, but “artist blogs and pod casts will not be the knock-out punch to the jaw of movable type.”

The overriding sentiment here seems to be as Pincus states “…..nothing can replace the value of keen insights about art, no matter how they are delivered.”

Are websites the future of publications or do they also have to organize events, curate show, etc?

As the coordinator of a website directory that has morphed into a media publication with calendar, and events promotions, I wondered how traditional publications are using their websites and how some journal websites are surviving.

Combs states that "local publications that are exclusively art oriented have more problems than nationals art periodicals.” CityBeat has a wider remit and covers news, food, nightlife, etc. But size of the editorials at CityBeat are not dependant on advertising generated by the arts as the “publisher recognize that culture adds value to the publication.” Of course, three people with an online blog can survive, but would they be able to progress and reach full potential? Small local online publication, like Latent Print and Sezio are screening movies, supporting poetry readings, combining music with art displays.

Dailey recommends Arts Journal as one of the few profit-turning and highly trafficked online arts publications. I personally get my art daily from Art Daily right now.

Pincus believes “…that print publications will survive, with online dimensions continuing to expand their scope into a range of media. But new publications may opt not to appear in print at all. More importantly, though, it's always the quality of the coverage that will matter most. The liveliness and lucidity of the writing will set one daily, weekly, magazine and site apart from another. For audio or video reporting, it is the perceptiveness of an interview or the excellence of the footage that is vital”

Freitas applauds the rise of self published volumes, which “give artists the freedom and luxury to get the word out at a minimal cost.” He recommends LA based Coagula Art Journal , now in its 17 th year.

e-Flux which began in 1999 as an exhibition in a hotel has become “state of the art” officially with its recognition of Anton Vidokle/e-flux, Julieta Aranda & Brian Kuan Wood on the top most powerful people list of Art Review Magazine. (See the whole list in our revised Smart Collector article). e-Flux can be described as a collective, a school, an archive, an advocacy source, a journal, a gallery in Manhattan and a gathering place for projects to incubate and mature. e-Flux even auctions and markets artwork.

Frieze is a magazine published 8 times a year, a very successful art fair held in London in October and a non-profit foundation responsible for the curated program at the fair, including artist commissions, talks, films, music and education. The Foundation is funded by the European Commission and Arts Council England. Perhaps our own Beyond the Borders International Art FairSDVAN/SD Art Prize is already the non-profit organization associated with this fair. will develop into a publication.

Are there still movements and if not how do we define contemporary arts?

Everywhere I look combined, collaged, collaborated and bigger than life art is prevalent. How do you get a handle on that all encompassing media assault? And how can we use geography to define art where the World Wide Web makes us all one?

Robert Pincus says he has, “…never felt it to be any less exciting to be a critic in a post-movement era. Art, whether collaborative or made in isolation, is always rooted in the strength of its vision and convictions. Art that grips us and surprises us will always appear.”

Keli Dailey believes there are movements. “ Lowbrow is a movement and there are many micro-movements, which might become major, but the very nature of contemporary art is to morph, and not be static. It overlaps and borrows and competes and revises and reassembles and destroys and sounds intellectually muscular when it tosses the word “postmodernism” around like an ‘ol pigskin.”

Seth Combs is hopeful that the new Space4Art Barrio Logan/ East Village art complex will provide a local geography for “…more interdisciplinary, interactivities and cross pollination of ideas.” He feels that North Park never reached that maturity before the rents went up and the artists moved on. Today’s artists must speak, write and publish in city centers, which are the main ingredient to making that soup from which great art emerges.

For Kevin Freitas, “The problem is everyone is talking and no one is listening or even commenting. And while artists might upload their work to the internet in an effort to circumvent dwindling exposure in traditional press sources, it is actually hurting them. The idea that art speaks to everyone has just gotten harder to hear over the din of a thousand invisible voices competing on the same computer platform. In the end, the only cure for the arts and its exposure is to keep a copy of the painting you’re standing in front of, firmly imprinted in your mind’s eye.”

However, e-Flux has just published a collection of blog threads which they see as the natural developing direction of visual art writing. Could it be that blog topics will emerge and self define categories of interest? Some of the chapter heading include: Politics of Installation (Boris Groys), Is a Museum a Factory? (Hito Steyerl), and Art in the Knowledge-Based Polis (Tom Holert).

My advice is to choose a variety of websites and writers to follow and remain loyal so as not to confuse yourself. If you get bored there are obviously plenty of choices so keep your eyes open and your finger on the search button. Finally, remember to keep those comments coming as this is one of your ways to actually affect the future and make sure that next year 400 more publications do not bite the dust.

London and Venice, 2009

The essence of a trip should be definable. So much content is difficult to organize but here is my summary of some of the trends I saw and observations I made during an exceptionally art-filled month in Europe.

A. New techniques abound with installation art attracting the most attention. Artists are stretching to use technology and seem to be having fun….remembering that they do not just create to make money. There was often an “anything goes” festivity about the work we saw. Boundaries are being pushed and artists are resisting strict categorizations by media. I have a theory this is due to our exposure to UTube and the multi media savvy of youth. A simple image or object is not enough to gratify desire any longer. We want entire environments which somehow encompass us and give us a total sensory experience. Video art is often dull and slow in comparison with the cinema. It may be cheap to transport, but no one has found a good way to show it at a fair or biennial. I suggest a relaxation lounge, with wonderful seats for those who are tired, where all the videos are shown on demand. Too bad there was not an art channel on the 10 hour airline trip overseas.













At the Ca’ d’Oro in Venice, Fabrizio Plessi has undoubtedly the most incredible room with tiled floor and spectacular windows to display his beautifully constructed set of boats with video clips of running water surging on the top of each one.


B. Cliques do exist and there are artists who are being promoted over and over, while emerging artists still struggle to be seen. Young artists, however, have the advantage of being able to make their own websites to promote their work. At the end of the week-long Free Art Fair at London’s Barbican in Oct 2009 (now in its third and final year) all the works are given away for free. Does this undermine the market price? If people get it for free, will they start to expect all art to be free all the time? Or is this a clever strategy to build audience by helping future patrons to experience owning the works? C. American art is still very strongly represented in London and Venice. The John Baldessari exhibition and Andy Warhol in Pop Life: Art in a Material World at the Tate Modern, Ed Ruscha at the Hayward, Bruce Nauman at the American Pavillion at the Venice Biennial and Abstract America: New Painting and Sculpture at the Saatchi Gallery.



Kristin Baker, (left) The Raft Of Perseus, was a work made with collaged hand painted torn paper on canvas. These works really stuck with me and reminded me of Allison Renshaw, who is local painter and has a stunning work in the Quint show at CCAE. Here is a solution to those who say they can not afford the art that they see in big galleries. You can buy local which might be more affordable. Paul Lee, (right) Untitled (Can Sculpture) created this series of cans with faces and lenses and I immediately thought of Tom Driscoll’s smashed bottles on show at the L Street Gallery for the SD Art Prize. You can also see Tom’s work at CCAE and even buy for $8 one of his fridge magnets, which is not a reproduction but a real miniature work of art.D. Fairs like Frieze Art Fair and Biennials are still the easiest way to see art from all over the world in just a few hours or days. The galleries are now concentrating more on the work of one artist or one genre to make a stronger showing in their booths and pavilions and this is a relief to the eye and more of an education. During the Frieze fair in London, there are an enormous number of satellite shows and major exhibitions in museums and galleries opening to take advantage of the audience that Frieze attracts.



SHOWstudio: Fashion Revolution at Somerset House was the most amazing eye opener for me. This project is the brain child of Nick Knight who is mainly concerned with showing fashion shoots as a process deserving of film documentation. In this exhibition, he has done much more. He shows the process of creation, he allows us to see the actual performance of the shot and he encourages participation in many inventive ways. In the photo above you see Naomi Campbell (left) times three and three times as large as real life. I was able to go to a computer board, choose my color and size of pen and my drawings were projected on this huge colossus. The sculpture was made with the latest technology from triple exposure photo converted in to 3-D data and digitally carved. I got so many ideas from this show and hope we can utilize much of what is happening in London for our Art Meets Fashion project in 2010/11. I loved the prints of lips on glass that were signed and displayed…..maybe our VIP’s can do a similar stunt at the next Movers and Shakers show.
Anish Kapoor (middle) at Royal Academy was by far my favorite exhibition on this trip. Take a look at the firing of the cannon video. By the end of the show the room will be filled with red oily wax and I found this both a strangely exciting and silly experience. Henry Darger (right) at the Museum of Everything shows outsider art works by people who are compelled to create. Many are mentally “challenged” or even institutionalized.



Origin is a two part fine craft fair held at Somerset House. Fenella Elms makes these impossibly delicate porcelain images on the left. The cross over from Fine Craft to Fine Art was evident in this show. I think it is time we had a similar fair in San Diego and we intend to encourage that at SDVAN. I enjoyed the Pavilion of Art & Design London at Berkeley Square especially for the Artist’s Jewels at Didier Antiques (center) because of our Little & Large promotion of sculptors/jewelers. I loved Vincent Dubourg’s (right) deconstructed cabinet from Carpenter Workshop Gallery …click the link to see other terrific works by him.

E. The art market in Europe is not that different than in the USA i.e. shrinking money for grants and from collectors, but galleries are numerous and art fairs and biennials are still thriving. Art still has the power to transform a landscape and the economy of an area. The Venice Biennial has expanded to include its garden setting, a larger warehouse nearby and 44 displays in the city. If you are like me and have known about the Biennial all your adult life, you have certain expectations of the quality of the work being of the highest. But over the years, this has become just one more semi annual art venue, so I had to get over my disappointment quickly and realize that this is a mixed bag of art. Some are outstanding; others are lack luster and even seemed unfocused.



When we reached Making World pavilion, it was Galaxies forming along filaments, like droplets along the strands of a spider's web (left) by Tomas Saraceno that was a show stopper. It filled an entire large room and I felt like a thief crossing a laser protected safe room getting from one side to the other. A long series of turntables with a very odd assortment of found objects (right) was made very special because of the lighting, shadows and motion created. Take a look at the video of Hans-Peter Feldman’s Shadow Play.



The photo (left) is just to give you an idea of why you should watch the video link to Paul Chan’s sexy, funny shadows projected on the rough brick wall. Giacomo Costa’s photo montage Private Garden (center and right) engulfs you on both sides of a walk way of light boxes, but it is only on close observation that you see this digital masterpiece is all collaged and not a natural setting at all.

A terrible cliché, but it is good to travel and good to return. A first week at home showed that SD has as much to offer as any major city in the world. I highly recommend Untitled the movie about the art world now playing in Hillcrest. And I recommend even more strongly the Tara Donovan art exhibition at the Downtown MCASD through February.

I wrote a 30 pages diary of a month’s coverage, and edited it down by taking out all the notes on friends and food. If you want to see more details and photos of this trip please read the 18 page PDF of this trip.. I hope this tempts you to make your own commitment to see more art in the near future.

MEET THE PRESS

Meet the Press, Sept 26, 2009. Panel discussion moderated by Kevin Freitas from Art as Authority at Art Produce Gallery as part of Agitprop: David White's Brain Trust.

You can see the video of this panel discussion on UTube posted by Kevin Frietas. Kevin and Philly Joe Swendoza did a further discussion of the evening and you can hear that on this link if you click on Viagra Needed for San Diego Arts Press Corps? on Art Rocks! Internet radio.

What follows are solely my written answers to the questions asked by Kevin Freitas that evening. Other panelist were Keli Dailey from SignOnSanDiego, Pam Kragen from North County Times, Seth Combs from San Diego CityBeat

What is your current diagnostic of the state of health of the arts coverage here in San Diego? (What would you prescribe as a remedy?)

High grade fever of expectations, sperm count is too low. Viagra needed.

How do you proceed and decide what to cover? (Give me one good reason why we should cover the arts at all?)

Art needs to be mystified and demystified. We need to create wonder. We also need to give people a handle on a way to approach art. At SDVAN we chose writers who make a choice for our Picked RAW feature and they then write in Picked RAW Peeled a report on what they have chosen and seen. We ask that they commit to 6 months of Picks in order to develop their own voice. We also ask them to write in a way that the man on the street can understand.
Do you have a target audience that you write for? What is the most effective way to reach that audience? For example, as purely informational (who, what, where, when) or is there a larger goal?Our target audience is those who have never bought art before. They are graduating from Art Walk to Ray at Night to Open Studios to buying their first art work. We are still working on the most effective way to get to them, but we believe they are young and computer literate.

As newspapers and their readership shrink, are sold and re-bought, their advertising dollars shrinking (from what we hear in the press) and the push to put the news on the web, with video and breaking news reporters a la CNN, etc: Has the art press shrunk as well, or is this an opportunity to develop and reach a larger public? How has it affected you as a writer?

I was paid to write free lanch in England for a Middle Eastern Magazine and have a history of connection with writers (I was previously married to the terrorist expert and defense correspondent for the London Sunday Times). I wrote a book of advice for Artists. I write tons of copy (A+ Art Blog on anything I am feeling, Art Resource articles, press releases, an annual newsletter from London and state of the arts) so I have been forced to think of myself as an art writer. It took me three years before I really thought of SDVAN as media source. To me the art writing world just gets bigger and bigger. Sometimes it threatens to take over my life. But if you curate and create, you almost have to write as well. But I have almost no idea who reads what I write and I see that as the biggest possible future change. Could comments left by readers be the new score card for advertisers replacing subscription numbers?
How can we improve the arts coverage here?We need to constantly encourage more writing. Ideally, there would be one place (i.e. website) where an audience could go to link to all the articles that are available by local writers on local visual artists. We need to use art writers to educate art buyers.

What do you think makes for outstanding arts writing?

There is no substitute for text which is well written with no art speak. We should be able to see the personality/prejudice of the writer and identify those we trust. But the most important thing to me is that the article should make the readers want to go and see the work for themselves.


I am including below a small teaser about my trip to London….a full art report will come to you in November about London and Venice.

Anish Kapoor at Royal Academy was by far my favorite exhibition so far on this trip. (click the link “view exhibition photos). Take a look at the firing of the cannon video. By the end of the show the room will be filled with wax and I found this both a strangely exciting and silly experience. Kapoor gives us a once in a life time sensuous experience of cherry red lacquer and gooey oil and wax and ultra shiny surfaces that distorted the room and those in it. It is monumental in scale especially a large H.G. Wells type construction of massive rusted steel which might have been a cross between a time machine and submarine hull with lovely curves and seductive opening. I don’t think I can do justice to describing the giant train-like object that ran on rails blocking five huge gallery spaces and appearing to squeeze through three doorways leaving trails of red wax and oil everywhere. The giant depression in the wall which was a very pure yellow was phenomenal…a Zen experience which was on a level with his first powdered pigment pieces. A few of these were on show and were very disappointing. I don’t know if they were just bad versions or if he has moved on so far from these that they just seemed rather pathetic. I think it might be my first impression of the mirror balls as you come into the courtyard of the Royal Academy that will stick with me (and is the new wallpaper on my cell phone). I was most impressed with the Royal Academy for letting him do major construction and destruction to their rooms. No photo can do them justice. You have to experience them to feel their grandeur. London is all a buzz about this show and it is the one thing everyone agrees you should not miss. Plan a trip to London by Dec 10 if you possibly can.

I also want to mention the Charette held Sept 11-13 held at the New School of Architecture by Synergy Arts Foundation for Affordable Work/Live Space For Artists & Arts Organizations. I received a complete report on this from Naomi Nussbaum. The first 120 participants were divided into 16 groups to discuss development of the nine sites. On day 2, 40 people continued to develop these ideas and they made presentations with sketches, floor plans etc. on day 3. Finally all the participants were asked to give five goals for Work/Live spaces and a master list of these was compiled. They range from Community centers to community outreach to building design to personal space to finance and include lots of miscellaneous information as well. Hopefully the full report and results will be available for all to see soon.

Beyond the Borders International Art Fair

In my youth, I was an art dealer on the international scene attending art fairs representing a gallery I ran in London. Memories of those days flooded back as I entered the Beyond the Borders International Art Fair. When you go to this sort of fair you are able to walk up and down the isles covering thousands of miles with just a few steps. We held court in our booth for the SD Art Prize and SDVAN, made valuable introductions, advised collectors on purchases and spotted talent. There was a buzz in the air that this was the place to be on the opening night. Our wish is that our county can support an international fair on a regular basis and there was a tangible optimism Sept 2-4, 2009 that that might be possible.

True to the title of the fair, it was very exciting to see galleries represented outside of America. Arte 256 Galeria from Tijuana displayed Alida Cervantes who continued her tradition of portraits like the one she did of Jean Lowe for our Movers and Shakers project. Tomas Rivas who has delighted us at the Lux showed with ACG from Chile. Tania Candiani (New Contemporaries) showed with Sumo Arte We were thrilled with the work of Rodrigo Echeverri from KBK. We know one of his paintings of super realistic red bricks sold during the fair to a local collector. Both those galleries are located in Mexico City.

Sales are one of the big things that make an art fair exciting. The pressure is on our local collectors to buy while the work is on location. The fair attracted lots of visitors (from LA and Orange County mainly) who also felt the need to decide before the day’s end.

The Bird Project of the Paint Night Group sold numerous small works and we were pleased to hear that at least one of Matt Divine’s sculptures also sold during the show. Sales were also reported from the Art of Photography booth. I discovered a new artist Stephen Foss represented by Julie Nester Gallery out of Park City, Utah. (an impressive piece was acquired by a La Jolla doctor).

Iana Quesnell’s (SD Art Prize) exquisite drawing of a fully loaded lace table seating graced the stage. Eric Phleger Gallery (newest addition to the art scene in Leucadia) showed Raul Guerrero (SD Art Prize) and Ed Moses side by side. The Klines’ Peaces was a special exhibit with work recently shown at CCAE.

Representing La Jolla, Galeria Jan launched Taylor Marie Prendergast, a highly talented and very young local painter. Madison Gallery featured Luc Leestemaker who was present to sign his book. CJ Gallery from downtown SD, hung the huge tea bowl series by Hoon Kwak.

The fair for me was a combination of exhaustion and exhilaration. With an incredible team of volunteers, including Alexandra Rosa, Dave Ghilarducci, Deborah Francis, Carol Beth Rodriguez, Rosemary KimBal, Kay Colvin, Lisa Van Herik, Virginia Lukei, Tania Alcala, Michele Guieu, and Silvia Valentino Karabashlieva, we greeted over 3000 collector, artists, and art professionals. This mighty band informed all those that attended about our efforts at SDVAN. Our SD Art Prize stand looked magnificent with the works of Kim MacConnel, Brian Dick and May-ling Martinez. The hotel and grounds are delux and the staff of the hotel and the organizers of the fair including Ann Berchtold and Julie Schraeger did a super job. This was a first class operation and most of the leading lights of the art world in San Diego were present.

My recommendation is to save your money, stay close to home, no airfare and no hotel bills. Instead, buy local. Just to be contrary, my next blog will be from London for the Frieze Art Fair and Venice for the Biennial. But after all someone has to spread the word about art in SD.

Patricia Frischer
www.sdvan.net
www.artproca.com
www.drawscrowd.com

Davie Hickey gave a lecture at the Beyond the Borders International Art Fair and you can read a report on it in our SmART Collector: Ask the Art Critic: Dave Hickey feature.

Interpersonal Theory of Art

Interpersonal Theory of Art: Little & Large community phenomenon and the museum exhibition, Calder Jewelry at SDMA
by Patricia Frischer Coordinator, http://www.sdvan.net/

The weather may be hot most of the time in San Diego but we are all out in the cold without each other. Our Little & Large gathering created a palpable energy. You can almost see sparks of creativity flying through the air. This interaction is what we hunger for and our art is the food that ultimately satisfies us.

I went to two major launches for Alexander Calder last month. One was our own Little & Large launch where 450 artists and art supporter came together at the glamorous Se Hotel. The other was for about 250 VIPs invited to celebrate the opening of the Calder Jewelry show at the San Diego Museum of Art. I have pondered about the differences in the two occasions. I have also been wondering about the huge involvement that Little & Large engendered.

Those who are rich and maybe even a bit bored are drawn to the Bohemian chic created by artists. It was an impressive group who attended the Calder opening at SDMA. The staff worked very hard with stilt walkers, acrobats and gourmet food and drink, but only a few artists were invited. Ultimately it was the Calder jewelry itself that brought us together that night. The jewelry that this man created starting early in the 20th century, is starkly modern even today. Whimsical, royal, clever, adoring adornments seem to erupt from him and we are still happy to ogle 90 years later.

At the Little & Large launch the artists were present in droves and wearing their own creations. Professional models enhanced the work of just a few, but many more were encouraged to strut their stuff on and off the catwalk. The clothes, the jewels, the open air moonlight, the aquamarine lights of the pool, the Veev vodka, the 20 foot high projections of the jewelry and related sculpture, the video performance turned into flip books, the sexy salsa demonstration all contributed. But it was the budding collaboration, connections and kinsman ship that turned the evening into a love fest.

Why did this simple idea to ask sculptors to make a piece of jewelry and jewelers to make a sculpture develop into this large promotion at this particular time? The artists were hungry to try something new. The galleries were keen to generate publicity, especially offered for free. That is what we counted on. We were already seeing the artists raising the quality bar of their work when challenged. Galleries are now able to work together as evidenced by joint art walks for example in North Park, Cedros Design, and Kettner. This momentum is now spreading to La Jolla, El Cajon, Oceanside and Carlsbad. These events have one major quality in common. They are all inclusive.

Could we finally be nearing a tipping point? We have everything going for us but buyers to support the work of all these dedicated professionals. The self confidence generated in promotions like Little & Large is, I believe, just what we need to take us over the top. Harry Stack Sullivan was a psychiatrist who developed a theory based on interpersonal relationships. His search for satisfaction via personal involvement with others, led him to characterize loneliness as the most painful of human experiences. Combining artists with art buyers means never having to be alone again.

Little & Large promotions and the San Diego Museum of Art Calder Jewelry exhibition are both on show until Jan 3, 2010.

Patricia Frischer Coordinator, http://www.sdvan.net/

Little & Large Launch

San Diego Visual Arts Network presents Little & Large
Over 90 Artists creating a Sculpture and related Jewelry for display at 41 Venues County Wide
All venue details available on www.SDVAN.net alphabetically by venue location and by artist.
Watch for Little & Large near you through Dec, 2009
More info: info@sdvisualarts.net 760.943.0148
A CATALOG with images of the works is now available to download for free on SDVAN.
http://www.sdvisualarts.net/sdvan_new/pdf/littlecatalog.pdf
Little & Large Launch Slide Show of images from the Launch party at the Se Hotel by various photographers (John Liu, Bruce Meyer, Diane Graber) plus photos by Tom Wilson http://www.tswilson.com/fashionshow/

The energy was incredible as the art world came together July 8, 2009 to celebrate over 90 artists working with 41 venues county wide to showcase over 200 art works. The Se Hotel was the perfect venue for this gathering of 450 art aficionados. Surface and texture play a huge part in the glamour of the décor for the hotel as well as the jewelry sported by all the guests. Adornments were documented on site in NowFlipThis books. The professional and amateur runway shows on the transparent runway over the swimming pool added to the excitement (MCed by Philly Joe Swendoza from ArtRocks! ) as did the 20 foot high slide show of images from the extensive catalog. Eco-friendly cocktails courtesy of VeeV were served during the VIP part of this evening.

Some artists commented that this promotion heralded some of the most creative energy seen in SD. Jewelers were challenged to make a larger work of sculpture and some of our most macho sculptors came up with jewelry petite enough for the most discerning. Fancy a pair of concrete earrings, a bracelet that lights up, a kinetic necklace fanned out to reveal its colors like a peacock? All are available along with some of the most classic, intricate precious jewels you can imagine.

The concept of the show is so unusual that it is getting national press in Ornament Magazine and American Style. A collaboration on this scale is a boost to the confidence of the art world in SD and a shout out to the rest of the community that we are indeed, a cultural destination.

I have not been able to see all the shows yet, but the creative level of the work is extremely high. It is fascinating to see the relationship of the jewelry to the sculpture. In Solana Beach, Johanna Hansen at Trios Gallery made a sculpture which is a collage of all the jewelry she created and detachable for wearing. d. goth’s hearts have taken on brutal nail closures and the matching necklaces and practically punk. This is great interest already in the Susan Hirsch glass hanging. Lynne Merchant’s full size “Humaniquin” changes accessories almost daily. Dick Ditore’s incredible breast plate of glass is a show stopper at the Ordover Gallery.

Downtown, the show of Anne Wolf’s at Noel-Baza Fine Arts fills an entire room with intricate and elegant works including a tea pot poised for lift off. Jett Gallery surprised us by adding Zachary Allen (special concrete earrings), Josh Herman, Britt Neubacher, John Neumann and James Watts at the last minute. Colosseum Fine Art never looked better with jewelry displays making this space explode with a chance to see close up the woven works of Lisa Van Herik and Tara Magboo’s headpiece and a wealth of other treasures. The display at Mixture included necklaces that lights up by William Leslie and a wonderful broach by Matt Divine which is a true miniature of the matching sculpture. It is great fun to see the cascading mobile by blox.

The galleries in La Jolla gave us a stunning collar of glass by Tom Marosz at Hallmark which embodies the feeling of his matching glass sculptures. You can see Becky Guttin’s necklaces and bracelets both at Galleria Jan and at the SDMA Gift Store where the Calder show opens on July 25. Contemporary Fine Art showcases Les Perhac’s kinetic necklace which fans out its peacock colors on demand. Lisa Slovis Mandel is showing her line which already included both 2 and 3-D works but Alexandra Hart’s new crown shaped sculpture is a joy. Corrine Perez-Garcia made her first foray into larger scale cast bronze work and was able to translate to perfection her sweeps and undulations. Carolyn Guerra at the Madison Gallery utilized the outside space to it’s best advantage with her tall double sided columns whose faces are repeated on her ceramic necklaces. Viviana Lombrozo holds on to her memories but allows them to transform into a take away necklace in her combined piece at Art Expressions Gallery.

Whatever you do, don’t miss Denise Bonaimo’s game piece dresses and accessories at the Bonita Museum and SD Art Department. I have not been able to see the five venues in El Cajon yet and Debbie Solan is showing at Fusionglass as well at the Timmons Galleries in Rancho Santa Fe with room divider sized panels.

I can’t wait to see Planet Rooth and Matthew Cirello in his own space in North Park and I am intrigued by what looks like rubber works by Mary Donald at Pigment all in North Park. Richard Keely at Velo Cult has made a necklace from plastic cups but transformed them into a miracle material. My schedule includes visits to Adorn Gallery and Bread on Market (Thomine Wilson) downtown and the GIA in Carlsbad with stops at the Solana Beach City Hall Gallery, Andrews Gallery, Front Porch Gallery, 101 Art and Soul and the OMA on the coast and four fabulous venues inland north, Escondido Art Partnership, Distinction, Par Jewelry and the Fallbook Art Center (don’t miss this one if you have not been there…the space is amazing)

I wish I could have seen them all by now, but I will do my best and welcome anyone to join me as I tour around the county. I am sorry not to mention each and every one of the artists with my impressions. Hopefully, some of you will write in and we can spread the word with first hand experiences of these exception works created at a most unusual time of collaboration and expansion for the visual arts in San Diego.

I have enormous appreciation of the hard work by all these artists to create works for this promotion, for the galleries to showcase them, for the volunteers that helped make it all possible. Now it is up to the public to make the effort to see and support our home grown talent while it is in season and at its peak.

Patricia Frischer
Coordinator, http://www.sdvan.net/

Some spaces are showing only a few artists but we want to draw your attention to the following spaces where you will see Little & Large exhibitions with 5 or more artists: Adorn Gallery, Colosseum Fine Arts, Mixture, Jett Gallery, San Diego Art Department, Sophie’s Art Gallery, Contemporary Fine Arts Gallery and Gemological Institute Of America. There are also grouping of venues in North Little Italy (NoLI), La Jolla, El Cajon, North and South Park, Solana Beach, and Escondido.

This promotion is inspired by the Calder Jewelry exhibition at San Diego Museum of Art beginning July 25, 2009 until Jan 3, 2010