Everything I Do Is Killing Something
I have friends who influence me, and lately many of them have been talking about sustainable foodways, eating locally, organic vs. local, etc. etc. Despite my appearance, I try not to be a slouch, so I read Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma, which led me to Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I aborted that humorless journey of self-righteousness and opted instead for the more playful Plenty by Alisa Smith and J.B. McKinnon.The upshot: We've lost our food traditions, and with that our healthy lifestyles. Our current tendencies to eat food that's traveled an average 1500 miles to get to our plates is making us, and the planet, sick. Big Business has raped the term "organic," and the world is out of whack. To all of these points, I concede. It's probably true. But I miss the bliss of ignorance. I'm now nearly paralyzed at the market. Feeling guilty about the miles, or the pesticides, or the hormones, or the high fructose corn syrup, or the pre-harvest/processed treatment of each product leaves me at a loss about what to buy for the family cupboards. I start visualizing the rogue cells dividing in my children, future tumors that are the direct result of feeding them genetically modified soy. I get waylaid, and then I fail in an elaborate way: With high anxiety, I'll grab some non-local apples and bananas and vow that I will research and make wise decisions in a couple of days.Then for whatever reason, that doesn't happen (piano lesson gone awry, late evening working, PTO meetings and aikido and ballet-the fatigue of parenting). Within a day or so the shelves are naked and my spirit is broken. The kitchen becomes a source of depression, so we flee to La Familia instead. Or Rudy's, or Free State. This trend has been going on so long that my husband and I are good and fat now. So much for being mindful about what we eat.Today I'm feeling the pangs of fatalism. Maybe I need to quit thinking about the politics of food, and just be smart. Five servings of fruits and vegetables, that sort of thing. But despite my objections that sustainable eating smacks somewhat of classism (notice how this conversation flared up around the time Wal-Mart started carrying organic produce?) or that life without coffee is no life at all, I know I should incorporate some of these 100-mile-diet tenets into our lives. But what should my boundaries be? I have no idea.Any L.com readers carrying out an accessible 100-mile diet? I could use some tips. Keep in mind that my garden is an embarrassment and that I'm not all that crazy about cooking:
And there goes 2007
Ah, what a difference a year makes.The Lawrence visual art folks entered 2007 to the rhythmic beats on a dead horse: [The art world was dying][1]! Okay, so it was all about the closing of two galleries, but it packed such a whammy, many people questioned the very viability of our hobbling scene. Turns out, one could argue that 2007 was the strongest year we've had in recent memory. Below are my top five reasons to keep believing.5. [Aaron Douglas Conference and the 20/21 Gallery at the Spencer][2] ![][3][Director Saralyn Reece Hardy][4] and her staff continued dusting off ye olde [Spencer][5] to show us that you can have an academic institution that participates in the contemporary community around it. The Aaron Douglas exhibit and conference organizers commissioned local artist [Dave Loewenstein][6] to create a downtown mural as part of the festivities honoring the pivotal Harlem Renaissance artist, and this year's museum acquisitions included a drawing by local artist [Hong Zhang][7], which is featured in the newly revamped 20/21 Gallery.4. [Nerman Museum for Contemporary Art][8] ![][9] Over 1000 people entered the front doors within its first hour; to say the Nerman Museum in Overland Park will change the landscape of contemporary art in Kansas is the understatement of the day. With galleries dedicated to local and regional artists, rock-solid institutional support, and deep-pocket patrons who seem to thrill at taking risks, Bruce Hartman and the crew at the Nerman have already put eastern Kansas art on the international map. 3. [National Juried Ceramics Exhibition & Symposium at the Lawrence Arts Center][10] ![][11] To be so close to ceramics greats like [Jim Leedy][12] (KC), [Jun Kaneko][13] (Omaha), and the ghost of [Ken Ferguson][14] (KC), the dearth of ceramics in Lawrence could only be characterized as strange. [Ben Ahlvers][15] and his cohorts at the [Lawrence Arts Center][16] changed that in October with their hugely successful exhibit and symposium, which featured current trends and attracted heavyweights like John Balistreri and Dan Anderson. The symposium not only opened up the ceramics dialogue in Lawrence, but also introduced the Arts Center to a new national audience.2. Sally Piller and [6 Gallery][17]![][18] The call was clear: Lawrence needed more contemporary art space committed to local art, and no individual stepped to the plate more enthusiastically and with more personal risk than [Sally Piller][19]. An accomplished printmaker in her own right, Piller transformed the downtown alley space into a clean but warm gallery full of art that ranged from traditional to new media. She's now backing it up with programming, like her Second Sundays lectures and conversations with artists.1. Shot in the Arm, DIY-style There isn't a scene worth its salt that's solely driven by commercial and institutional art space: fertility is only as good as what's coming next, and in Lawrence it was the DIY happenings that most invigorated the community. The Lawrence Percolator events at [4-1-1 Art Space][20] ranged from [dramatic poetry by Chantel Guidry to the Farnsworth Bicycle Laboratory neighborhood ride and Karl Ramberg's "Dark Matter Music."][21] The artists' collective [Fresh Produce][22] broke from the [Red Ballooners][23] and hosted public salon-style events at [Teller's][24] and insider happenings like the Avant Garden. The [Solidarity Center][25] opened its walls to give visual voice to the people. [Kendra Herring][26] passed the [Bourgeois Pig][27] walls to [Molly Murphy][28], who has continued the strongest curatorial presence found in a local restaurant or bar (she's closely followed, however, by [Pachamama's][29]). And small one-off events, like the Greek shadow puppeteer at Bill & Cary Allen's house in July, amid the heat and bug spray, kept the edges buzzing. [1]: http://www.lawrence.com/news/2006/dec... [2]: http://www2.ku.edu/~sma/ [3]: http://www.aarondouglas.ku.edu/~aarondouglas/images/aspiration.jpg [4]: http://www.lawrence.com/news/2005/sep... [5]: http://www.lawrence.com/places/spence... [6]: http://www.lawrence.com/search/?q=%22dave+loewenstein [7]: http://www.lawrence.com/news/2007/feb... [8]: http://gallery.jccc.net/ [9]: http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:nb_q7vdY96V2rM:http://www.archidose.org/Blog/HD37b.jpg [10]: http://www.lawrenceartscenter.com/ceramicsshow/index.html [11]: http://www.artaxis.org/ceramics/ahlvers_ben/Ben_Ahlvers_pic.jpg [12]: http://www.jimleedy.com/jl/ [13]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jun_Kaneko [14]: http://www.brackers.com/special_pages/ferguson.cfm [15]: http://www.lawrence.com/news/2007/may... [16]: http://www.lawrence.com/places/lawren... [17]: http://www.lawrence.com/places/6_gall... [18]: http://www2.ljworld.com/photos/2007/s... [19]: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2007/sep... [20]: http://www.lawrence.com/places/411_st... [21]: http://www.lawrence.com/places/411_studio/past_events/ [22]: http://www.lawrence.com/news/2007/jul... [23]: http://www.lawrence.com/news/2005/oct... [24]: http://www.lawrence.com/places/tellers/ [25]: http://www.lawrence.com/places/solida... [26]: http://www.lawrence.com/search/?q=%22kendra+herring [27]: http://www.lawrence.com/places/the_bo... [28]: http://www.lawrence.com/search/?q=%22molly+murphy [29]: http://www.lawrence.com/places/pacham...
Jeremy Blake
I'm ashamed to say that it wasn't until I thumbed through the latest issue of Vanity Fair (["The Golden Suicides,"][1] January 2008) that I learned video artist Jeremy Blake had died this summer. The circumstances of his suicide are bizarre, somewhat: convinced the Church of Scientology was out to get them, his partner of 12 years, Theresa Duncan, killed herself in July. A few days later-whether from similar paranoia, or plain old-fashioned heartbreak-Blake followed. The article doesn't dig very deep as to what fed this spiral of suspicion and fear: were they drug abusers? schizophrenics? Were they drinking too much coffee, or on a low-carb diet?Either way, when contemplating all of this later I realized I was more affected than I thought I'd be. Normally, the ego-maniacal rollercoasters of New York's art elite don't make my short list of things that keep me up at night. This story has all the makings of self-inflicted drama: frustrations with fame (and the lack thereof), hyperintellectual superiority, celebrities. It's the horseshit of the coasts most Midwestern grandfathers warn us about.But then again, there was Blake's art.I first saw his seminal Winchester piece in 2002 at the gallery at Johnson County Community College. Focused on the [Winchester Mystery House][2] in California, the video is vivid, lyrical, moody. Blake redeems the spooky roots of the Winchester House, which is now often considered a kitschy tourist oddity. I had the benefit, by coincidence, of watching it in an empty gallery, just myself and my baby daughter crawling on the floor. I was moved.Later that fall, I recognized similar uses of light and color behind Beck at his Lied Center show with the Flaming Lips. Yep-more Jeremy Blake.Since then, JCCC has exhibited Blake's Century 21, and art benefactors Tony and Marti Oppenheimer bought Winchester for the (now) Nerman Museum at JCCC.Video art generally leaves me cold and bored, but Blake truly was a talent. To get a sample, see this gorgeous Beck video, which Blake directed:Some rogue also tried to tape Winchester at the Nerman; consider it a taste. You really should see it yourself. [1]: http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/01/suicides200801 [2]: http://www.winchestermysteryhouse.com/
What I Meant Was-
Sometimes, the art scene just gets me down.Early on, there was an intimidation factor. I was a country girl who somehow got turned on to Abstract Expressionism, and I was hungry for more. I felt conspicuous in galleries, and I didn't understand the banter, and none of my friends were into it. Love of art, painting in particular, propelled me over the hurdle.Then there was the inkling, uncomfortable, pestering feeling that none of it mattered. "Truth" and "beauty" were bantered about with nary a nod toward the blind romance necessary to sustain what felt like a conceit. After a 10-year journey, I've finally made my peace with that. (Art does matter. How that epiphany came to me in a hospital room doorway in the middle of the night is a story for another time.)But man oh man, do I still get sick of the Scene.The who's who, the posing, the cultivated weirdness, the inaccessible and oftentimes irrelevant goals of various art crowds. The institutional bloodsucking. The lack of heart. The laziness. The whining. My god, the whining.1. Money should fall from the sky. 2. They don't get it. (It's them, not me.) 3. I never get a show. 4. The commoners don't appreciate my art. 5. I have to work a job to make ends meet. 6. The newspaper didn't rain praise upon me.Of course, not all artists or art patrons are guilty (some are too busy working hard doing what they do), but moaning has become so endemic that I can't help but wonder if they're teaching Commercial Martyrdom 101 in art school these days. I know at times life is particularly chock full of hard knocks-for everyone. But why so much Strum und Drang coming from the art sector? Are some artists misguided into believing that, say, accountants are living the dream they've always had? In some ways, I do believe schools are partially to blame for the dearth of perspective. Taught about art history's greats and led to believe, because it improves the financial streams, that anyone can be a paradigm-shifting artist, many students come out of the insular art school womb to discover that the culture is indifferent. It's a shock to the system many graduates face, but the ego-building in fine art programs makes those BFAs particularly vulnerable.Not that I'm a wise old sage or anything, but I have learned a thing or two. In the interest of holiday giving, I'd like to share with you, dear reader, these obvious nuggets of experience: If they don't "get it," ask yourself why. (Are they dumb? drugged? or-egads-bored?) Buying art and appreciating art are not synonymous. Everyone has to work a job that entails tasks that don't necessarily make our souls sing. (Get over that one right now.) And, finally: Press releases, emails, phone calls, and face-to-face chats are invaluable. Know your art dealers, museum directors, gallery owners, established artists, and media contacts. I can't stress this enough.Last but not least, money does not fall out of the sky. Making a living making art is hard work, plain and simple.And that, for now, is the last of my whining.
Phoenix Awards deadline
It's been an amazing, roller-coaster art year. Why not recognize the movers and shakers by nominating them for a Lawrence Phoenix Award???Deadline is this Wednesday, September 26!Each year, the Lawrence Arts Commission recognizes outstanding achievements in the arts with the annual Phoenix Awards. Nomination forms are available here: lawrenceartscommission.org (click on Phoenix Awards). There are 10 categories in which one can be nominated: 1. Arts Administrator 2. Arts Advocate 3. Educator in the Arts 4. Design Arts 5. Literary Arts 6. Musical Arts 7. Performing Arts 8. Visual Arts 9. Volunteer in the Arts 10. Exceptional Arts Achievement. You can submit multiple votes in different categories (not multiples for the same person in the same category). The Arts Commission will then vote for the winners. The Phoenix Awards ceremony will be Sunday, Nov. 4. This year's awards are designed by sculptor Cathy Hale Robins.
Across the Pond(s)
To say that Kansas is the center of everything is indeed a stretch, especially in terms of happenin' art centers, but two notable local artists are making it look easy. With Kansas as a launching site, Adam Tompkins and Hong Zhang are working the international scene with two respective exhibitions opening in September. [![][1]][2]Jumping WestLawrence painter Adam Tompkins is a member of Konglomerat, a network of 30 artists from Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the USA, and Australia. An exhibition featuring 12 of these artists will open in Kiel, Germany, Sept. 15. Konglomerat was "built on the wreckage of the former German Stuckist group," according to [their MySpace page][3]. "We basically wish to support each other as artists by organizing international exhibitions and not relying on the current systems of control," Tompkins says, "such as the framing function of the art institution and the inevitable dependence upon such institutions to create meaning for art objects." Konglomerat painters seem to focus on figurative forms and use deep color palettes. The images are emotional, soulful re-examinations of forms translated into a new visual landscape. This theme in the work could change, however. Tompkins stresses that this is not an art movement (like the Stuckists of the '90s). "Basically there are no tenets that Konglomerat follow as a group. In truth, it boils down to participation and reciprocity-meaning, if someone is organizing a show in their home country then perhaps it would benefit others within the collective to organize a show in your country and so on," he explains. "The group is really about empowering artists to get involved globally and not to wait for a gallery or patron to knock on your door. There are no boundaries, borders, or barriers that should stop an artist from trying to exhibit their work. Get involved and get things done-take back the system and put it in the hands of the people who create." The DIY ethos strengthened by the Konglomerat support structure gives Tompkins the open field to do what artists should: explore and create. "I do allow myself the freedom to produce work in many different styles," Tompkins says. "From surreal symbolism to direct portraiture, all of which I employ simultaneously." [![][4]][5]Jumping EastLawrence artist Hong Zhang will be featured in the Third Annual Chengdu Biennial in Chengdu, China, next month. Titled "Reboot," the focus of this year's exhibition is innovative approaches to Chinese ink painting. "Hair Gods," an ink painting on rice paper by Zhang, will hang in a gallery focused on emerging artists on the international scene. Britta Erickson, a Chinese art curator and critic from Stanford University, invited Zhang to participate. Zhang's work will hang alongside work by art world heavyweights Wen Da Gu, Cai Guo Qiang, and Xu Bing. As if that weren't honor enough, she will be getting the full star treatment: the Chengdu Museum of Contemporary Art is paying her airfare and hotel expenses so she may attend the opening. Local residents can see Zhang's work at her opening "Thresholds" on Sept. 7 at 6 Gallery, and also next March at the Byron C. Cohen Gallery in Kansas City. On the Home FrontEach year, the Lawrence Arts Commission-an advisory branch of the city government, of which I am a member-recognizes outstanding achievements in the arts with the annual Phoenix Awards. There are 10 categories in which one can be nominated: Arts Administrator; Arts Advocate; Educator in the Arts; Design Arts; Literary Arts; Musical Arts; Performing Arts; Visual Arts; Volunteer in the Arts; and Exceptional Arts Achievement. You can submit multiple votes in different categories (not multiples for the same person in the same category). The Arts Commission will then vote for the winners. Those of us in love with the visual arts know it's been a roller coaster year. Be sure and give them these folks their props. You can [download a nomination form here][6] or at [lawrenceartscommission.org][7] (click on Phoenix Awards). Deadline for nominations is Wednesday, Sept. 26. [The Phoenix Awards ceremony will be Sunday, Nov. 4][8]. This year's awards are designed by sculptor Cathy Hale Robins. [1]: http://media.lawrence.com/img/blogs/a... [2]: http://media.lawrence.com/img/blogs/a... [3]: http://www.myspace.com/stuckismus_de [4]: http://media.lawrence.com/img/blogs/a... [5]: http://media.lawrence.com/img/blogs/a... [6]: http://media.lawrence.com/img/blogs/art/phoenixawards_form.pdf [7]: http://lawrenceartscommission.org [8]: http://www.lawrence.com/events/2007/n...
Art happens
The Santa glowed like a star-we followed it down the Ninth St. corridor to the yard humming in the night: The Avant-Garden, a one-night, "purposefully 'underground'" happening meant to bolster the creative collective in the Lawrence vis-art scene. Sculptor Camille Banchand pulled Jäger draws straight from the bottle, her elbow pinning a washboard to her side. Blushing plushy seamstress Taylor Triano stood nearby, opining her recent move to KCMO. There's a clown revolution, they joked. Indeed, there were clowns about; even our low-key host Whit Bones of the Fresh Produce Art Collective was in ominous clown drag. They echoed the clowning Triano and Banchand did earlier this summer at KT Walsh's Art Mayhem. Inside the back shed was a television showing of "Clusterf*ck." Footage of broken Rudolph the Reindeer toy audio loops, old-school video game action, that sort of thing. The requisite close-up of a mouth I can forgive this one last time with hope and thankfulness in my heart that, 25 years later, we're still crushing on Ann Hamilton in these parts. The most enjoyable, and poignant, was the footage following a cut-out paper man floating down rapidly moving gutter water. I could have watched it all night. Outside, the sound of an alto sax lumbered against drumbeats; eventually an electric bass snuggled into the noise. A guy walked around with polyester stuffing in his nostrils. In the center of the yard, a semi-circle of people sat intensely focused on a precarious tower of whitewashed coffee canisters. A man behind the containers was reaching around, drawing this and that, with a black marker. Every so often, the semi-circle would laugh. They were all in on it. Somewhere, at some point, this idea was established, and they found their way, together, to this patch of grass, in this breeze. To hell with chiggers. "This is cool, this is cool," assessed printmaker Brian Stuparyk as we looked over the crowd. Fresh from Detroit, in his four days in Lawrence he'd already set up house, attended the Alec Joler opening, and pressed buttons at Blue Collar Press. He starts his printmaking residency at the Lawrence Arts Center Monday. I asked if he ever saw Aretha Franklin walk her dog at Cranbrook. He hadn't. (Damn.) Next to a vintage typewriter begging for new ribbon and renegade words, muralist Dave Loewenstein reported that Harveyville, Kansas, is small-so small that the old ladies at the grocery store write down unknown license plates, just to keep things in check. They'll be busy bitties soon, scribbling about all the freaky types sure to converge on the Harveyville Project, a new "creative residence" that's gathering traction. Lawrence poet Chantel C. Guidry is currently finishing up her residency there amid the scenic barns and ponds and such. The Avant-Garden brought memories of the one time I was a bridesmaid. Polished, manicured, my hair shellacked, I smiled and preened only to immediately catch my heel in my hem and rip the shit out of my skirt. My buddy Kurt, posing as my date, helped me patch it up with duct tape he had stashed in his Monte Carlo. I could have cried black streams of mascara down my face and hid in the bathroom. But we were underage kids living in the hope that the hotel bartender would be too disaffected to card us. It's a cumbersome metaphor to say that sure, we don't have a slick art scene here, but art is resilient. Here's to Whit et al. of the Fresh Produce collective sharing their duct tape so we can keep this party going.
Field Notes: May 2007
Seed LecturesI'm humbled. The Seed Artists' Lecture Series has been a success-more than I'd predicted, or even dared hope. At the April lecture, landscape painter Paul Hotvedt mentioned that he liked living and working in Lawrence because "it's easier to be kind to people here." I agree, and the lectures have underlined that sentiment for me. The curiosity, enthusiasm, and support of the Seed audience members has been an inspiration. In turn, the kindness and generosity of spirit the artists have set forward is awesome. To everyone: thank you.Speakers so far have been Kendra Herring, Hong Zhang, Shawn Bitters, and Hotvedt. The scope of artwork shown by these mere four-from Herring's small-scale assemblages, Zhang's detailed skill, Bitters' grandiosity, and Hotvedt's composition-is proof enough that Lawrence's visual art scene may be in the cultural background, but it can't be for long.Next up: ceramicist Ben Ahlvers, moving from vessel to sculpture (May 24). June will be in & out of context with KT Walsh.Gallery 20/21Remember that old relic, the Spencer Museum of Art? And that dusty old John Buck nook? I am happy to report that both are gone, outta here. The re-designed 20/21 Gallery will be opening soon, and the Spencer crew have done more than remove the drop ceiling and paint. Creative curating has deconstructed the idea of what an art gallery will be. Soon visitors will see nearly the entire collection on the walls (salon-style), in flat files, and on pedestals. Curating will involve "conversations," in which selected pieces will be pulled from their original gallery space and situated in the center along a transparent grid. New relationships among the works will spark new life to the permanent collection, and our global world will be embraced. Sure, maybe it will be overstimulating; maybe it will contrast too greatly with the quieter, surrounding galleries. But it's new, interesting, and well-intentioned-very 21st century indeed.BrewingYeah, so maybe the vis arts scene could still use a swift kick in the hindquarters. One component worthy of the steam it's building is what has been dubbed the Percolator: a building where early-career artists can work, exhibit, and interact. A hearty group of locals are commandeering the idea, with a particular building in the crosshairs and ideas for funding buzzing in every conversation. In its infancy still, the idea is that the studios will rotate; there will be a common area where artists can meet and exchange ideas; the gallery will feature work produced there; and the community will be welcomed through events and lectures. Events are planned for this summer. Stay tuned for more.Other NewsThe site of the Kansas River Expression of Soul is under water!
Xu Bing’s Babel
[![][1]][2]No kidding: contemporary art is an opaque language. What a relief when, literally, the work is unreadable. In the late 1980s, Xu Bing crafted, with amazing precision and scope, 4000 "Chinese" characters according to traditional printing methods. To the untrained eye, the character strokes are the graphic, lyrical style we associate with Chinese calligraphy. They are, however, illegible and meaningless. Xu invented, carved, and printed all 4000 characters himself. "[Book from the Sky to Book from the Ground: Xu Bing's Book Work][3]" is currently on view at the Spencer Museum of Art through April 29. The exhibit is in conjunction with the Lifetime Achievement Award granted to Xu as part of the Southern Graphics Council Conference recently held in Kansas City. Xu will lecture on his work [Thursday, April 26 at 7 p.m. at the Spencer][4]. Xu, the son of a librarian, had an intimate relationship with words while growing up, a privilege not common during China's Cultural Revolution. At the time, Mao's government was wrestling with words: characters were simplified, discarded, revived, revised, then discarded again. People were not allowed to read what they wanted. This cultural affront, Xu has noted, combined with his voracious appetite for reading led to confusion over the meaning of language: "The more I read, the more muddled my thinking became, until I felt as if something had become lost to me." Xu's ambitious printing of the semantically empty 4000 characters culminated in the installation "A Book from the Sky" (pictured above), which was first seen in Beijing in 1988. It created a sensation, but he lost favor with members of the Chinese Communist government, who criticized him as a "bourgeois liberal." He emigrated to the United States in 1990. Samples of the printed scrolls, as well as the hand-carved, pear-wood type and traditional printing tools, are on display at the Spencer. Acclimating to a new language inspired Xu's "Introduction to Square-Word Calligraphy," in which he devised a Roman alphabet and English words in the manner of Chinese calligraphy. By applying quick but careful study of these words, English-speaking viewers can easily make out the letters in each character word, demystifying the process of such a graphic writing system. Bringing his art off the page, Xu expanded his "Square-Word Calligraphy" with his installation "Living Word 2." In this, Xu beautifully rendered Oxford English Dictionary definitions and shaped them from Roman to Square-Word type styles, and eventually a graphic image of the form itself. In other words, one can see "bird" shape into a Chinese-appearing character and then transform again to a drawing of a bird taking flight. In the installation, the paper birds then broke free, ascending toward the ceiling. Today, Xu is working on his "Book from the Ground," what he says is a "novel written in a 'language of icons.'" He uses pictographic forms found on airline safety cards to create a narrative that could possibly be readable to everyone on the planet, a language with a very small learning curve involved. It's interesting that Xu's work is evolving from nonsense and tradition to new, readable, almost democratic forms. One may cringe to think that a universal language can burst forth from commercial icons, but perhaps this dynamic to the "Book from the Ground" will eventually attain a statement on capitalism's vast sweep of the planet. In 1999, Xu was awarded a MacArthur genius grant, for good reason: his prolific body of work reaches beyond his deconstruction and manipulation of writing systems. He has worked with glass, silkworms, Braille, stamps, installation, tutorials, computer programs, among other mediums. The Spencer sampling of artworks shows Xu's adept hand and ability to stand firm in tradition while at the same time pioneering the art world forward in repeatedly progressive, contemporary, and accessible moves. The Spencer curation and installation are an interesting turn: whereas Xu's art may set the form upfront, asserting function as irrelevant, the Spencer show is a function-heavy tour of the artist's illustrative career. The exhibit-crowded, hidden, and quiet, but also honest and educational-lacks the poetry of Xu's installations and the magnitude of his mind-bending exercises. One could bemoan the tiny scale, but when it comes to art of this caliber, gratitude for its stay in Lawrence is more appropriate. [1]: http://media.lawrence.com/img/blogs/a... [2]: http://media.lawrence.com/img/blogs/a... [3]: http://www.lawrence.com/events/ongoing/17250/ [4]: http://www.lawrence.com/events/2007/a...
The New Land Scape
In a short time, we have progressed from wanting to respect and protect the environment-you know, all that stuff outside-to worrying about our carbon footprints and our monetary support of pesticides-in other words, our role within the environment. Makes sense, then, that art will evolve from its millennial adoration of nature to an exploration of an individual's experience within it. Influenced by land strata, geologic time, personal experience, ancestry, genome research, geography-to name a few things-Shawn Bitters' art brings the world down and grapples with it on a personal level. He uses various media to work with two- and three-dimensional space, inviting the viewer to explore his work visually and physically. From maps to large-scale paper sculptures to photography, Bitters considers topography and place with a deep, nuanced perspective. [![][1]][2] Consider it landscape art for a new millennium.Trained at the Rhode Island School of Design, Bitters is currently an assistant professor of serigraphy at KU. He will present a chronology of his work at the [SEED Artists' Lecture this Thursday, March 29][3] at [4-1-1 Artspace][4]. To preview, he answered a few questions regarding his history, influences, and the wide world of Kansas. lawrence.com: Give a little personal history: Where did you grow up, and how long have you been in Lawrence? Does your background influence your current work?_Shawn Bitters:_I spent the majority of my childhood in Orem, Utah, which is about 45 miles south of Salt Lake City. My work stems from my relationship with my home landscape and how that landscape and culture effect all others that I encounter. I have also lived in Seattle, Rhode Island, and a short stint in the West Bank/Israel. I have been in Lawrence for about 2 years.You're currently exploring the body and how it defines place. How does this continue the dialogue with Body Art pioneers such as Chris Burden, as well as feminist artists like Jana Sterbak? Were these artists influences?I am exploring how the body defines place and also how place defines the body. Ana Mendieta, Vito Acconci, and Chris Burden, of course, opened up the possibility of using my body to directly express my ideas. However, I think the stronger influences were land and environment artists such as Hamish Fulton, Richard Long, and Giuseppe Penone. My new work, which uses my body, in the end is to discuss my physical connection to personally significant landscapes. However, you can't use the body in contemporary work without referencing feminism, and the influence is strong.Unlike current scholarship on the historical parallels of cartography and the medical mapping of the human body, your work uses the body as a launching pad to explore the space/place around it. How do you see these approaches differing? Does history play a role in your approach?History plays a large role. I am using history on both the minute (personal) and epic (geologic) scale. My personal history is a blink compared to geological time. The Ancestral Tattoo Photographs have a tie-in to the human genome project in the way that they tie my body to my indigenous lands in Europe, generally similar to the way you can swab the inside of your cheek, send it in to certain research groups, and get a broad idea of the path your ancestors have taken since prehistoric times. However, as a creative work it is (I hope) more nuanced, personal, and specific. [![][5]][6] How is your interest in geology (i.e., "Devil's Backbone") reflected in your current body of work?In "Devil's Backbone," the body is important in that I am trying to engulf it. So the emphasis is on the work and the viewer/participant. Also, the processes of geology are metaphorical for personal history. In the current work I am taking a step back from geology and focusing directly on my body's connection to the land. Do you think the Kansas landscape will change your work?I'm trying to figure that out. I'm sure it will, but it will take time. The openness of the land is almost frightening. I'm accustomed to the dramatic terrain of the intermountain west but not the power of the near unchanging Kansas landscape. In Utah the strata is buckled, warped, and gorged. Here the exposed strata has not yet been transformed. The effect of geology is more subtle, and it will take time for me to respond to it. What do you find to be most influential in your work?It is a combination of things. Mostly it is the land and how I am or am not connected to it. The geographer Yi Fu Tuan and the writer Barry Lopez have recently been important. This is not to diminish the role that both past and contemporary art have and will have on my thinking. [1]: http://media.lawrence.com/img/photos/... [2]: http://media.lawrence.com/img/photos/... [3]: http://www.lawrence.com/events/2007/mar/29/18828/ [4]: http://www.lawrence.com/places/411_st... [5]: http://media.lawrence.com/img/photos/... [6]: http://media.lawrence.com/img/photos/...
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