Tel-ART-Phone Saturday, May 28, 2011

Our show finally opens on Saturday.  It is going to be fabulous and it is huge.  Ten of us have co-curated  the show with Mat Gleason, and it has been grueling work.

An additional pressure on me is that I am also IN the show.  I realized that I hadn't added the hanging sleeve on the back of the quilt that I made, so on Thursday, I had to stitch the sleeve onto the quilt right there in the gallery while the boys were drilling nails into the concrete walls.  I stitched the sleeve on, inserted a piece of wood slat and we hung it yesterday.

I was first in the line to reinterpret this silkscreen print by Gronk entitled 'Cocktails.' 

It was two days before I could even start the piece.  I didn't know where to begin, but the piece did remind me of fabric, so I decided to do a quilt.  I decided to pull motifs from Gronk's print and use percentages of color for my reinterpretation because there was a lot of black in his print.  I jumped in with both feet, didn't get much sleep, and finished it.  We only had a 10 day window to complete our pieces (although I took a bit longer).  I then passed my piece ('Oval 18') on to Adam Teraoka.  His interpretation of my pieces is amazing.

Adam pulled fewer motifs from my piece and his final result is really different, although you can see the common thread.  Adam also added a finishing touch that I loved.  He was looking for tacks to pin his prints to their frames, but decided, since my piece was stitched, to use sewing machine needles (instead of tacks) to hold his pieces to their frames.  How cool is that?  When I get the title of Adam's piece, I'll include it.

The rest of the chain really takes a turn and I won't be posting those pics on the blog here.  You'll have to come and see the show.

We finished mounting the show today and it is really good.  I hope you can make the opening reception and party in the coolest new art venue in Los Angeles.

 

Beacon Arts Presents TEL-ART-PHONE  An 80+ Artist Exhibition  Based on the Classic Game "Telephone" Curated by Mat Gleason Saturday, May 28 - Sunday, July 3, 2011LOS ANGELES, CA - Beacon Arts continues its Critics-as-Curators series with TEL-ART-PHONE, a unique art exhibition that investigates the creative process by mimicking the classic children's game of "Telephone," opening Saturday, May 28, 2011. Curated by Coagula Founder Mat Gleason, TEL-ART-PHONE, kicks-off with an opening reception featuring live painting and catering by Literati Bar & Grill from 6:00 to 10:00pm on May 28. Among the 80+ artists contributing works to the show are Ray Beldner, Tim Biskup, Coop, Sean Duffy, Carlee Fernandez, Gronk, George Herms, Rosalind McGary, Dave Naz, and Robert Williams.  The exhibit runs for five weeks closing on Sunday, July 3, 2011 with a Critics-as-Curators panel discussion and brunch reception from 1:00 to 4:00pm. Artist panel discussions will also be held on three consecutive Sundays: June 12, June 19, and June 26 at 2:00pm. Beacon Arts is located at 808 N. La Brea Ave., Inglewood, CA 90302.  For additional information please call (310) 621-5416 or visit www.beaconartsbuilding.com TEL-ART-PHONE Curator's Statement - Over eighty contemporary artists have been assembled for TEL-ART-PHONE, a unique art exhibition that investigates the creative process. Mimicking the classic children's game of "Telephone," the work of one artist was lent to another artist to inspire a new artwork. The resulting piece was then passed on to another artist who had no idea what the first artwork looked like. Down the line, this was repeated and the results will be displayed, in order, in the show. Artists from diverse mediums are in the show -- from abstract painter Michael Salerno to the master of lowbrow realism Robert Williams. Mid-century master George Herms shares the walls with assemblage artist Sean Duffy. A drawing by Lisa Adams is transformed by painter Yolanda Gonzalez. Will painter Andy Moses rise to the occasion when he inherits a sculpture by Maura Bendett, itself based on work inspired by both a paper drawing by Leigh Salgado and a painting bySuzanne Williams?  Can illustration legend Coop improve upon a Dave Naz nude? Can pop surrealistAnthony Ausgang actually influence the political leanings in the art of Amitis Motevalli? These and other dichotomous combinations are assembled in TEL-ART-PHONE. Curator Mat Gleason has brought together the closest thing to an illustration of the creative process that can be experienced short of actually going inside a leading artist's brain. Established art stars and emerging forces all show up and interact. From Tim Biskup and Ray Beldner to Rosalind McGary and Pierre Picot, artists have been turning out pictures for this show every two weeks since January. Come see 80 contemporary masterpieces each based on the one created before it.   -Mat Gleason TEL-ART-PHONE Participating Artists -  Lisa Adams, Suzanne Adelman, Anthony Ausgang, Vicki Barkley, Ray Beldner, Sharon Bell, Maura Bendett, Lynne Berman, Lili Bernard, Tim Biskup, Ilana Bloch, Justin Bower, Mark Brandvik, Bill Brewer, Wini Brewer, Sky Bruchard, Rude Calderon, Gary Callahan, Lavialle Campbell, Coop, Alex Couwenberg, Sean Duffy, Martin Durazo, Val Echavarria, Carol Es, Ruben Esparza,Roni Feldman, Carlee Fernandez, Barbara Fritsche, Yolanda Gonzalez, Gronk, Doug Harvey, George Herms, Anneke Hiatt, Iva Hladis, Virginia Katz, Barbara Kerwin,Richard Kessler, Mark Kostabi, Catherine Leach, Laura London, Vito LoRusso, Stevie Love, Leora Lutz, Michael Maas, Kara Maria, Gregory Martin, Rosalind McGary,Antonio Mendoza, Steph Mercado, Rick Monzon, Andy Moses, Amitis Motevalli, Dave Naz, Jonas Olsson, Joe O'Neill, Claudia Parducci, Christopher Pate, Josh Petker, Pierre Picot, William Rabe, Stu Rappeport, Michael Salerno, Leigh Salgado, Alex Schaefer,Joan Sebastian, Veronica Soto, Laurie Steelink, Gina Stepaniuk, Audrey Stommes,Mike Street, Sharon Suhovy, Adam Teraoka, Lava Thomas, Juan Thorp, Mike Vegas, Robert Williams, Suzanne Williams, Lisa Worksman, and Tim Youd. Mat Gleason, Critic-as-Curator -  Mat Gleason is the founder of Coagula Art Journal, contributes to the Huffington Post, and is a well-established personality in the Los Angeles art scene. Co-Curators - Maria Bjorkdahl, Charity Burnett, Lavialle Campbell, Victoria Corradi, Lester P. Grant, Neil Gitnick, Shizuko Greenblatt, Virginia Katz, Dominic Quagliozzi, and Anita Ray. Critics-as-Curators Series - Critics-as-Curators is the inaugural art exhibition series at Beacon Arts.  In recognition of the gallery's first year, esteemed art critics and writers -- recognized locally, nationally and internationally -- have been invited to conceive and curate shows of their choosing at the Beacon Arts Building in conjunction with discussions, lectures, catalogues, or other ways to reveal the thought process behind why exhibition works are chosen with insight into their importance to the curator. The individual expertise and personal taste developed by the curators' world-view will be on exhibit throughout Beacon Arts' first year. Critics-as-Curators strives to enrich appreciation of contemporary fine art by critically engaging in art. This series of shows provides a wonderful opportunity for artists and art audiences to learn what individual critics look for, how they think about the art they choose to focus on, and what catches their eye. The series kicked off in October 2010 with Ghost Stories: Happenings, Hauntings, & Curiosities curated by art writer Shana Nys Dambrot, followed by Peter Frank's exhibition, Densities: Line Becoming Shape, Shape Becoming Object in December/January, and David Pagel's Pieceable Kingdom in February/March.     Numbered sequentially, three artists play "telephone" in Mat Gleason's TEL-ART-PHONE exhibition: 1st artist in this particular series: Rick Monzon (left) 2nd artist in this series: Gregory Martin (middle) 3rd artist in this series: Mark Brandvik (right)