andrew blaize bovasso

Night | Greenville

2011-11-28T19:18:00.001-08:00

Night now...

Installation at Jenkins Johnson - PLUGGED IN

2011-10-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

Plugged In: Jenkins Johnson Gallery

2011-09-12T13:43:00.001-07:00

(Click press release for larger view, text below.)

Jenkins Johnson Gallery is pleased to present “Plugged In,” a group exhibition of forward-thinking artists working with the electronic arts. All of the artists
featured take contemporary approaches to their conceptual missions and use non-traditional media. The exhibition will run from September 15 through October 29, 2011 with an opening reception on Thursday, September 15th from 6:00 – 8:00 pm.

Seattle based artist Jeremy Bert, focuses his practice on the installation of electric signs and large-scale lighting projects. His text-based works reclaim letters from the dismantled signage of defunct businesses. “Sustainable re-appropriation of discarded materials is a liberating process and reflects prevailing concerns in the world today,” Bert states, and the discarded brand imagery draws attention to the uncertain future of contemporary American culture and the economy. When businesses and banks fail, where do their signs go and what do these emblems of corporate culture now mean? Bert has taught neon classes at The Pikchuck Glass School in Stanwood, WA and has been exhibited at the Museum of Neon Art in Los Angeles; McLeod Residence, Seattle; Gather Gallery, Seattle; and Priceless Works, Seattle.

Andrew Bovasso uses lens-based media to produce documents that fuse personal subject matter with universally understood constructs, such as life/death, time, distance, multiplicity, emotional layers, and light/dark. He focuses on using the camera as a vehicle to connect holes in time and bind specific memories that could not resonate as they were occurring. Bovasso has exhibited widely at such institutions as Photo Center Northwest, Seattle; Friedman Benda Gallery, New York; Midwest Center for Photography, Wichita; Spattered Columns, New York; and Rabbitholestudio, Brooklyn. His book,Conversations with Dan McNulty in Jersey City is part of the permanent collection of the indiePhotobook Library in Washington D.C.

Daniele Buetti is a Swiss artist working in photography, video, sound, drawing, light box, sculpture, and digitally assisted work. Buetti makes use of advertising tools to expose the frailty of popular culture, explore our perceptions of beauty, and reveal the omnipotence of the media in our society. In Buetti’s works, beautiful colors and figures merge with light reveal unspoken feelings of ambivalence and despair, asking what function the role of media plays in the formation of identity, and questioning whether society can form identity without the media’s influence. Buetti uses light to attract the viewer in the same seductive way that the media uses beauty, forcing us to realize the inherent manipulation. Buetti is in the permanent collection of public and private institutions worldwide including, Fotomuseum, Winterthur, Switzerland; Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland; MUSAC, Castilla y León, Spain; Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland; and Thyssen-Bornemisza Contemporary Art Foundation, Salzburg, Austria.

Tim Etchells, widely known as artistic director of the UK-based theater company Forced Entertainment, has recently emerged as a dominant force in the world of installations. Drawing on his background in theater, he explores the role of LED and neon sculptures as performance, pushing the boundaries of language, and finding new approaches to story and character. His work has been commissioned for such high-profile events as the Glatonbury Festival, in which his large scale installation will be shown throughout Europe during 2011 and 2012. He is also the recipient of the Legacy: Thinker in Residence Award from Tate Research and Live Art Development Agency (LADA).

American mixed media artist Gregory Scott combines video, painting, and photography into a single piece to create layers of illusion and a work of art within a work of art. Like an updated version of 19th century trompe l’oeil painting, Scott is a master of modern representational technology. By referencing an existing work of art, Scott explores issues of identity and how we regard art, stating “I’m commenting on how we choose our icons.” Scott is in such prestigious collections as the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; Fundación Privada Sorigué, Lleida, Spain; and Harris Bank, Chicago, IL.

Contemporary Viennese artist Timotheus Tomicek forces us to examine our expectations for the familiar. Using portrait photographs as the center of his
installations he composes a series of minutely varying photographs projected in sequence to create subtle, uncanny, and haunting movements. His installs
landscapes, cityscapes, and still-lifes on traditional photo paper around this to create a haphazard environment, emphasizing the difference between their
movement and stillness. While sizes and formats vary and the arrangement on the wall seems random, conceptually, the juxtaposition between subtle action and lack thereof plays with our perceptions and expectations for the familiar. Tomicek has studied extensively internationally and been exhibited throughout Europe, most recently with a solo show at C/O Editions in Berlin; he was also recently awarded the 15th Welde Art Prize in Photography.

For visuals or more information please contact Karen Gilbert at 212-629-0707

Hamptons Design Showhouse 2011

2011-09-12T06:03:00.000-07:00

My work was recently taken on consignment from Friedman Benda Gallery to be used at the Hamptons Design Showhouse 2011 with designer Aurelien Gallet.

The following image is the triptych installed at Friedman Benda.

Installation shots of Hamptons Design Showhouse 2011,

I PLAY THE GAME (ROOM)

images of Showhouse © Joshua McHugh, from Aurelien Gallet Artist page on Facebook.

Below you will find the sourcebook for Aurelien Gallet's showroom.

Please click to view larger.

Remember to Love

2011-09-12T05:01:00.000-07:00

People Taking Pictures- September 11, 2011

2011-09-11T18:58:00.000-07:00

As a photographer, there is something about an event that garners the generation of millions of photographs in a short period of time. That became my interest today at the World Trade Center.

Friedman Benda - Six Rooms

2011-06-25T07:13:00.000-07:00

FRIEDMAN BENDA

515 W 26TH STREET, NEW YORK

(between 10th and 11th avenues)

JUNE 20 - AUGUST 6 2011

Summer Hours: Monday-Friday, 11-6

AB BOVASSO works: link to PHOTO or VIDEO

Artists:

Ai Weiwei
Nick Allman
Atelier van Lieshout
Hand Bellmer
Andrew Blaize Bovasso
Andrea Branzi
Will Cotton
Delphine Courtillot
E V Day
Nan Goldin
Chad Gordon
Kathleen Granados
Kimberly Gremillion
Gottfried Helnwein
Titus Kaphar
Karen Kilimnik
Shrio Kuramata
Lou Laurita
Dongwook Lee
Alessandro Mendini
Arno Rafael Minkkinen
Juma Mulji
Cindy Sherman
Ettore Sottsass
Lin Tianmiao
Wang Jin
Zhang Huan

Nonestica / Chapter One / The Great Fire

2011-05-24T09:49:00.000-07:00

Ground Zero; The day after Osama Bin Laden was killed

2011-05-02T16:30:00.000-07:00

Spring NEWS

2011-04-25T19:45:00.000-07:00

2011 NATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY FELLOWSHIP COMPETITION -

"Developed Work"

May 6 - May 20, 2011

Selected artists will have their work featured in the exhibition opening Friday, May 6, 7:00 - 10:00 p.m.

One fellowship recipient will be awarded $500, and one year artist representation by Center Gallery at the Midwest Center for Photography.

Exhibiting artists:

Andrew Bovasso, Jersey City, New Jersey;*

Elizabeth Claffey, Denton, Texas;

Lisa Elmaleh, Brooklyn, New York;

Michelle Given, Murray, Kentucky;

Eyakem Gulilat, Norman, Oklahoma;

Spike Johnson, Dallas, Texas;

Johanna Wolfe, Brooklyn, New York.

Saint Michael's Monastery; Union City, NJ

2011-03-28T22:19:00.000-07:00

Somewhere Beyond the Fence - project update

2011-03-22T07:07:00.000-07:00

Somewhere Beyond the Fence

Somewhere Beyond the Fence is an ongoing work of mine (surprise surprise... it's been in progress since 2009) I've been adding to the project whenever I can get a chance, or get down to the World Trade Center with whatever camera I have, be it my DSLR or my iPhone (HDR in the off position!) Most of the pictures below were taken in 09-2010. In 2011, a couple of weeks ago, I made my first jump to moving images with this series, and I think I will continue to go that route to add to this project.

Last night, I watched Loose Change: An American Coup. I realized that my stance on 9/11 is that I am aware that it happened, and that it was horrible, and that bad things will continue to happen from the beginning of creation to the end of time. Trying to figure out why these things happen, or who is responsible doesn't change that. The problem is the state of the world, and the generalized psyche of the human race. So I ask, with my words, and with my images, to people interested in conspiracies, to notice and harp on what we can tangibly touch and see--not what is excavated, dead, and closed cased--because, to be quite honest, the conspiracies never mattered. Life did.

"Somewhere Beyond the Fence" -motion image

September 11, 2010

"1 Dollar, Cold Water"

"Walking by the Fence" - (images individually untitled) compilation #1

"Arrow"

Rudy Guilliani and Press - Sept 11, 2010

"The Crucifix at Ground Zero" - Saint Peter's

"Walking by the Fence" - (images individually untitled) compilation #2

"Church and Vesey"

NONESTICA - formerly "Tik-Tok of Oz"

2011-03-15T14:04:00.001-07:00

"To Oz? TO OZ. #1"

"Grey"

NONESTICA - derived from the Latin phrase "non-est" - means that of which does not exist. Commonly referred to as the Continent of Imagination, or more simply put, the Land of OZ.

Image making has always been a method of saving lost moments after my father's death in 2002 (which sparked my interest in photography), but in my most recent ventures with photography in my professional life, I find many of my experiences with it to be entirely isolating. My father passed away and left my life before I really knew who he was, or who I was. His absence fueled my creative energy, and he presented himself in my photographs. And now, almost 10 years later, image after image, I’ve constructed my own history. In OZ, I had discovered that my father wasn’t dead. This world, universally accepted as a place attainable only within times of grey, or want, had provided an escape from a daunting reality. My father, and I, or anyone, lived within the work I created.

Consequently, photography is my inability to reconcile with my living self. This image series deals with the concept of being trapped within an image, or living vicariously through images.

NONESTICA is a poetic assimilation of my dealings with reality, as seen here far from an unreal world—a journey through my home, a life-long residence of constructed and recycled memories—after OZ. This is an examination of the oppositional—The fact that my father is gone, buried; and that a photograph is merely paper, and bone, merely sand in the deadly desert.

Note: these images are photographs of the c-prints, not scans of the negatives.

"Untitled Mirror #1"

"Nonestic Ocean"

"Dancing in Reflections"

"Untitled Mirror # 2"

"Self Portrait, here."

"The house began to pitch"

"Untitled Mirror #3"

"Deadly Desert"

"Untitled Mirror # 4"

"Untitled Mirror # 5"

"Tik - Tok the Machine Man #1"

"Tik - Tok the Machine Man #2"

"There's No Place."

"Untitled Mirror #6"

"The Wizard's Balloon"

"To Oz? TO OZ.#2"

Rabbitholestudio Gallery

2011-01-26T12:17:00.001-08:00

www.rabbitholestudio.com

Winter Emerging Artists 2011:

Sarah Kelly

Eun Gyeong Ko

Opening: February 3 2011

Exhibition through February 23rd.

RABBITHOLESTUDIO

//// 33 WASHINGTON STREET

//// BROOKLYN, NEW YORK 11201

In the show I will be featuring my video triptychs from the series Tik-Tok, the Machine Man of Oz. This will mark their first showing in an exhibition setting, and my first group show in New York not associated with MICA Alumni.

Sketch photo for a new video triptych

2010-12-26T19:25:00.001-08:00

The Wizard's Balloon; a part of the Tik Tok of Oz series

When I was younger I used a stool flipped upside down to simulate the wizard's balloon from Oz. At this young age pictured here, I don't believe I had imagined that yet. My mother stuck me in there, naked because she thought it would be cute to video tape me trapped inside, and it was. I want this new video to reference what we know about photography and child nudity--particularly with cases such as Sally Mann and her images of her children early in her career. My present day insertion into this memory will raise questions about psycho-sexual identity and development.

This is also the first time I've created a sculptural work for a video.

Where It Takes You - Spattered Columns Gallery - SoHo NYC

2010-12-17T10:00:00.001-08:00

The 2011 MICA NYC AREA ALUMNI Show is underway and the artists as a part of this exhibition have been announced this past week. Here is a sampling of the artists and their work and website links. The press release can be found on the bottom of this post.

PRESS RELEASE: "WHERE IT TAKES YOU: MICA Alumni Group Exhibition" opens at Spattered Columns Exhibition Space
SPATTERED COLUMNS, NEW YORK
January 12th, 2011; 6pm-8pm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Spattered Columns, an exhibition space operated by the non-profit organization Art Connects New York (ACNY), is pleased to announce the opening of "Where it Takes You" on Wednesday, January 12th, 2011. This juried group exhibition features New York City-area Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) alumni who graduated within the last five decades. Highlighting 17 emerging and established artists, "Where it Takes You" reminds audiences of the many paths MICA graduates take-physically, aesthetically, or contextually. The exhibition features 2D works of all media including charcoal, oils, acrylics, spray paint, watercolors, photography, collage, pen and ink, and silkscreens. It also includes 3D work.

Exhibiting artists include: Mike Berlant '04, Andrew Blaize Bovasso '09, Eduardo Cunha '99, Annie Ewaskio '06, Lola Flash '81, Michelle Hagewood '02, Maya Nahshon Kasper '08, Barry Katz '73, Steven Ketchum '05, Jeemin Kim '04, Sinae Lee '04, Lindsay '66, Colleen Lodge '97, Jean Promutico '66, Jim Radakovich '77, Allie Rex '02, Stacy Seiler '98, and Ned Snider '99.

The opening reception for "Where it Takes You" will take place from 6pm-8pm on Wednesday, January 12^th, 2011 at Spattered Columns, 491 Broadway, 5th Floor, New York, New York 10012. The show will run until February 8, 2011.

Spattered Columns is a program of Art Connects New York, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that seeks to enrich the lives of all New Yorkers by making original visual artwork more readily available in non-traditional settings.

For more information on "Where it Takes You: MICA Alumni Group Exhibition" at Spattered Columns/Art Connects New York, please contact Jamie Johnson at jamiej@ArtConnectsNewYork.org.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Founded in 1826, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is the oldest continuously degree-granting college of art and design in the nation. The College enrolls more than 2,000 undergraduate, graduate, and continuing studies students from 46 states and 53 countries in fine arts, design, electronic media, art education, liberal arts and professional studies degree and non-credit programs. Redefining art and design education, MICA is pioneering interdisciplinary approaches to problem solving, research, and community and social engagement. Alumni and programming reach around the globe, even as MICA remains a cultural cornerstone in the Baltimore/Washington region, hosting hundreds of exhibitions and events annually by students, faculty, and other established artists.

Spattered Columns is located at 491 Broadway, Suite 500, New York, NY 10012
NW corner of Broadway and Broome Street

By subway, take R to Prince Street; A, C or E to Spring Street; 6 to Spring Street

Our Website

Onward '11 Journey for Emerging Photographers

2010-11-29T16:18:00.000-08:00

Today was the second to last day for the extended submissions of Project Basho's Onward '11 Photo Contest.

I submitted work from my semi-spanking-new series called Tik-Tok of Oz. But for these works, I submitted them as photo stills. Normally, these works are full video triptychs with 50% middle opacities as found on my youtube channel.For the stills, I wanted to choose a definitive moment within each video triptych to scrutinize. But choosing this one moment to frame, I am now able to fully realize the present and past with full control.

Welcome Home #1; video still, 2010

Welcome Home #2; video still, 2010

Hide and Seek; video still, 2010

Dancing in Reflections; video still, 2010

HAMILTON SQUARE EXHIBITION TONIGHT!

2010-11-18T06:57:00.000-08:00

There will be wine and refreshments, myself, and my work, at the Hamilton Square Lobby (232 Pavonia Avenue, Jersey City) TONIGHT from 6 - 8 PM. Work included includes video media, silver gelatin b/w prints, chromogenic prints, and archival pigment prints. The following is a sampling of work that will be on display at Hamilton Square throughout January 18th. (My book will be available for viewing in both hard and soft cover. Purchasing info is available on the link below.)

Conversations With Dan McNulty in Jersey City by Andrew Blaize Bovasso

(Video From the Tik Tok of Oz series)

(Chromogenic print from the Tik Tok of Oz series)

(From Conversations With Dan McNulty in Jersey City series)

(From the Nightmares/Dreams series)

(From the Ode to Morell series)

Follow-your-favorite-blogger-to-work Day

2010-11-17T08:33:00.000-08:00

Here is some recent work I've been doing for Barry Friedman Ltd.

(AB design +photo for Art Newspaper; Sergei Isupov)

(AB design only for Art Newspaper; Takahiro Kondo)

(AB photo for BF Gallery Invitation postcards; Sergei Isupov)

(AB photo; Libensky)

(AB Isupov photo only + design for gallery marquee)

(AB photo + design for NYC street banners in UES)

(AB design/montage; Isupov and Kondo %50 opacity)

Patti Paige Baked Ideas on The Cooking Channel

2010-11-10T11:21:00.000-08:00

My screenshot of Patti's email of Dena's screenshot of me 'flirting' with Aida

Recently, Patti Paige Baked Ideas did a segment for Aida Mollenkamp's Food Crafters on The Cooking Channel. I came along for the ride along with friends from the bakery, Sarah, Nick, Jennifer, and of course, the Patti Paige.

During this segment, according to Patti, I had been ham-ing it up for the cameras!--okay.. probably most likely. I end up stuffing a mini-gingerbread house in my mouth, and I am called over by Patti and Aida at the end of the segment to decorate a house in fast forward.

Curious Matter / Psychopomp review on lendmeyoureyes.org

2010-11-10T11:14:00.000-08:00

The show entitled Psychopomp! at Curious Matter in Jersey City was just reviewed on Lend Me Your Eyes blog. Here is what they had to say about my inclusion in this show:

(screen capture of the blog)

The Blue Chapel

2010-11-09T08:26:00.001-08:00

The Blue Chapel- photos by A.B. Bovasso

for purposes of restoration by the National Registry

I have been involved in an ongoing project to restore the Blue Chapel in Union City. This chapel served as the home for cloistered nuns in constant prayer for a number of decades, possibly over a century?

I was discovered by Leon Yost after my studio tour opening back in 2009 at JC Studios where I was showing my Dan McNulty project. He saw that I had a nack for history and historic preservation so he called me one day in efforts to get me to photograph the Blue Chapel with John Gomez of the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy. Leon could not do it himself because he was out of town that weekend, and at the time the project was do or die that day and super hush hush.

These are the images that will be used to apply for the registry of historic places in order to properly renovate and rehabilitate the building. When I began work with the Dan McNulty project, I had hoped that I could be somewhat responsible for preserving lost historic gems within out neighborhoods, and it looks like I've been able to make those connections happen.

Tik Tok- Project update

2010-11-09T08:17:00.001-08:00

Please note these images were 'scanned' by taking digital pictures of the negatives on a light box and then inverting them in photoshop. Ha! The original images are actually much better quality and (I assume) color balanced.

These images are a continuation of the work in progress entitled "Tik-Tok of Oz." They are meant to work in conjunction with my triptych videos preceding this post.

New Work: "Welcome Home"

2010-11-02T07:28:00.000-07:00

0:58 / 2:27: photo still

This video triptych is a part of my Tik Tok of Oz series.

Hamilton Square Opening; November 18th 6-8PM

2010-11-02T07:27:00.000-07:00

The people over at Hamilton Square were generous enough to let me have an official opening of my work after hosting my show for the JC Studio Tour this past October. The opening will be from 6-8 PM on Thursday November 18th, and the exhibition will continue to be open for view around the clock until January 18th 2011.

I will be exhibiting new work along with some older series dating back to 2007. Half of the exhibition has been installed since the studio tour, and the other half I still have to print and frame!

Jersey City Artist Studio Tour 2010//Works by Bovasso (solo + group)

2010-10-06T10:25:00.000-07:00

Tyler Clementi is a fallen Angel; Ravi & Wei are snakes.

2010-09-30T11:13:00.000-07:00

Tyler Clementi was a student at Rutgers University. He was an accomplished violinist, a decent human being, and of course, a child of God. He was video taped unknowingly [twice] while having sex with "another dude" as Ravi puts it. Ravi & Wei then posted on twitter and facebook about how to watch the webcam stream.

Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei are the reason I am blogging about this incident. They seemed to think that the internet was a good source of communication to ruin someone's reputation, humiliate them, and make them want to die so much so that they jump off the GWB bridge.

Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei have blood on their hands and none in their hearts, these individuals are ruthless and spineless, they will most likely gag on human feces of the living and are damned to hell for six eternities--As is anyone who believes that they have a right to human indecency and humiliation.

I hardly ever publicly speak about homosexuality. It is because my views of gender are solely based within a very religiously defined outlook. Most of my contemporaries speak against Catholicism, but I do not believe that homosexuality and Catholicism need to be polar opposites. I also don't believe that the scriptures are wrong. I TRULY believe that the hate coming from Christian officials and leaders are actually the devil in disguise, as well as any human or Christian that thinks [s]he has a right to offend or humiliate anyone because of religious implications.

I believe that the scriptures of the Bible spoke out against homosexuality because the writers [man] were confused about the ramifications of gender, and that God was not necessarily speaking against homosexuality, but against the violent and apocalyptic rippling effect that homosexuality would have on the people who refuse to understand its principles.

In tern, I also believe that the belief in increased homosexuality being a sign of the rise of the apocalypse to be true---However, I do not believe it in the way that most people understand that signal. I believe that the devil has been able to infiltrate man's understandings of the scriptures in such a way that our brothers and sisters here on earth will actually begin to hate each other. Our definitions of sex, sexuality, and gender are so far removed from light and truth that it has become more important to mankind to dwell on 'otherness' as the source of damnation rather than redefining the definitions of love and friendship for all mankind. The overwhelming sense of negative energy surrounding sex for both straight and gay partners is blatantly clear. Love is harder to attain in 2010, or absent altogether. Social stigma surround all parties. All are damned. The devil is here and clearly visible, but God is Love, so find it.

My blog isn't going anywhere. Their names will hopefully bring up this blog in google unless they pay to have it taken off. Their shame should eat their organs from the inside-out as they fester in sadness for the rest of their insipid lives.

FALL 2010

2010-09-27T19:03:00.000-07:00

Click to view larger --- Listings + info for my fall shows!

My work was chosen for the cover of this Fall's NEW Magazine by the Jersey CIty Independent. I will post a clipping when the issue hits the street, but in the meanwhile, this is the cover, posted to facebook by the JCI.

Conversations With Dan McNulty in Jersey City; the final version.

2010-09-26T21:03:00.001-07:00

Conversations With Dan McNulty in Jersey City by Andrew Blaize Bovasso |

1983 - 2008 (Twenty-five years)

2010-09-26T20:49:00.000-07:00

The Moon, Night

2008

(Original image, and inspiration for the overall piece Twenty-Five Years)

1983 / 2008 - Twenty-Five Years

2010

Music box, c-print collage, door knob, lamp, b/w lith print, several layers of vellum

This work had been created over a span of 25 years, with a bulk of the creative finalizations happening from 2008-2010. The large image was created in 2008; the discovery of the smaller color images happened after the larger image was already created and I thought that was very synchronistic. In a way, time will always stand still, regardless of if you are aware of it. This peice is my visual acceptence of synchronistic continuum.

Oh... and there's a ghost in the window.

JCM JCAST?

2010-09-20T10:52:00.000-07:00

September 11, 2010, wtc photo series update

2010-09-12T22:20:00.000-07:00

Day of Observation

The Fence

American Brotherhood

Rudy

Rudy #2

View from my window in Jersey City:

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

Amen

Recent-ish works in charcoal

2010-09-11T08:58:00.000-07:00

Halloween With Daddy, 1989;

2008

Halloween # 2, 1989

on wood, 2010

In Dark; Self Portrait

2010

Seeing Light from Darkness; Self Portrait

2010

Charcoal rubbing #1

2010

Otterness/Real World

Charcoal rubbing

2010

Firefighters

Charcoal rubbing near World Trade Center

2010

Otterness Penny

Battery Park City/The Real World charcoal rubbing

2010

Untitled

WTC Charcoal Rubbing

2010

Untitled #2

Charcoal Rubbing

2010

On Kennedy Boulevard

vine, conte, and compressed charcoal on arches

2008

Fall line up... Artist at work!

2010-08-28T22:06:00.000-07:00

I have a couple of things going on to open up my motivation for good work this coming fall. I start at Barry Friedman Ltd after Labor Day, and I have at least three exhibits of my work lined up for the fall (with hopefully more to come). I'm heavily involved in my Tik-Tok of Oz and World Trade Center series and keep coming up with some exciting results --so I expect more to come from the muses.

Photolust at Photo Center NW in Seattle is an an annual auction held to raise funds for this great organization. I was able to donate my piece for the Miniatures Show to coincide with the live auction. I was able to contribute due to my good friend Rafael's involvement with the organization and the auction itself. My piece, First Window was created in 2007, the edition of 5 silver gelatin 8 x10 contact prints from the 4x5 negative were printed in July of 2010. The edges of the negative have been burned out.

My piece Dorothy Leaving [Oz] was accepted to be a part of Psycopomp! group art show at Curious Matter in Downtown Jersey City. Each of the 18 prints were made consecutively in the darkroom, paper contact printed from the image that came before it, resulting in an end result of a harmonious grey, a reference to the many times the word 'grey' is used in the first few pages of the original novel by L. Frank Baum, as well as a return to the grey of Kansas, and the slow death of the image itself.

I have the Jersey City Artists Studio Tour coming up in the beginning of October. I'll be showing at least one new piece from Tik-Tok, and Conversations With Dan McNulty in Jersey City, to promote possible sales of my newly published book on the full series... the book includes full maps and pinpoint locations to each image triptych in the series. I don't feel that blurb books are too easy to sell widely, but Jersey City residents are usually very receptive to this project and really love to see it.

TOTALLY TOP SECRET: New photo/video series: "Tik Tok"

2010-08-18T17:56:00.000-07:00

Tik Tok was conceived of not too long after Conversations With Dan McNulty in Jersey City.

The long title of this project would be:

Tik-Tok; Patent Double-Action, Extra-Responsive, Thought-Creating, Perfect-Talking | M E C H A N I C A L M A N | Fitted with our Special Clock-Work Attachment. Thinks, Speaks, Acts, and Does Everything But Live.

The honest truth: living as a photographer has not helped me any more or any less at dealing with major life changing experiences. In fact, the very act of photographing something removes the photographer from being in completely direct contact with the subject. I started to photograph and create images after my father died in 2002. Most of my work was a direct response to this event, and things surrounding studies of death and bereavement. I did not know it then, but retrospectively I would feel that my images were a facade of a past that never really existed. The real moment in time had already gone, and I could not ever get that picture. Until now.

The images will be either silver gelatin prints or c-prints (haven't decided that either), framed 16x20. The videos will be housed behind the wall of each photograph, each set of photos and videos will be housed in it's own coffin-like wooden wall structure.

The Room

Dancing in Reflections

The black and white photographs are meant to be read as 'titles' for the triptych videos posted below them. At this point, I am still not sure whether the titles The Room andDancing in Reflections will be used.

more World Trade Center series image updates

2010-08-14T22:44:00.000-07:00

Hard Hats series:

Fence/Pedestrian series:

Underground WTC series:

Photographers series:

Atmosphere at WTC:

Down on Skid Row...

2010-08-14T20:58:00.001-07:00

My cousin Brittany LeFante has been doing musical theater for a while now, associated with Saint John Vianney High School in New Jersey. As of recent, she has been working with their alumni production team in the summers. This summer, the cast of characters came together to perform the unmistakable musical, Little Shop of Horrors. I brought my 35mm loaded with b/w for the occasion.

Brit

Afterwards, we went back to my cousin Diane and Raymond's for an impromptu gathering to celebrate my Aunt Jeannie's __ th Birthday.

And the winner is...

2010-08-12T11:31:00.000-07:00

(I'm going to have to take credit on inverting this bravotv.com image)

Abdi Farah is the Next Grea...

...wait a minute. The is honestly no way that the show's title holds water, so calling him the next 'great artist' would be lying, but his work was good enough for the solo show at the Brooklyn Museum.

Of course, I am enthralled that Miles did not win the finale. With that said, I would have to say that I was disappointed with some things that Abdi decided to include in his final show, as well as Peregrines cohesive in-cohesiveness.

As far as Abdi’s work, I will wait until after Saturday to critique it, because I found a ‘way in’ to the Brooklyn Museum opening! For now, I will say that some of his work is compelling, like the black bag painting, and to a larger degree, the sculpted forms, but mostly these successful pieces remind me far too much of work and subject matter executed by other artists.

Abdi, Bravotv.com uploaded some of your slides upside-down. I'd ask somebody to recheck that.

Peregrine’s work was very original. I thought that the vomit drawings were grotesque, and made me very uneasy. Her sculptures in wax were also very haunting. My only issue with this body of work was that some of the pieces seemed like ‘unsuspecting objects’ that were ‘conned’ into being art.

Frightening as all hell.

However, one of these objects—the unborn twins—worked well, even after being conned. It was a truly beautiful photograph… I wonder if she commissioned someone to take it, or if she in fact created this work.

Also being conned into being art was Mile’s White Castle bum. How disturbing—and I am speaking about Miles, not the work. I have a serious problem with people taking pictures of the homeless—for they don’t own the home that defines the privacy that makes it illegal for photographers to photograph them in vulnerable states.

I have always found photographers who exploit the homeless to be extremely selfish. The saving grace was his distance from the subject, which was a view through a surveillance video; this idea, for me, became a perplexing statement about privacy and right to privacy that kind of tickled me strangely.

What’s worse is that this homeless man died while Miles sketchily took pictures of him for every Bravo TV fan to then scrutinize. If Miles had won I’d have suggested donating his money to the Salvation Army. OH YEAH, and his abstraction prints were as bad as an intense mushroom trip that you realized you were allergic to the mushrooms after you ate them and have to go to the hospital in an ambulance—that’s how much I hated those prints.

It’s been great blogging week to week about WANGA. I’ve made some interesting acquaintances along the way and ran into about 35% of this seasons cast. It was an interesting season, yet the producers left very little to the imagination about the direction of the show. I mean it was basically exactly the same as Project Runway. Tim—I mean Simon—even did studio visits in the finale episode.

For the next season, I would like to see more opportunities and challenge wins during the season for the artists. Penguin Books was not enough, and the public art piece that Nicole lead during the group challenge didn’t even stay on site after the show aired. Let’s face it… this season was the trial run, and it was okay. But next time around, just be smart and pick me during auditions. I’m sure 50% of the kinks will be worked out after that. Just kidding... or am I?

And just for fun, I decided to include a little funny tidbit, one last time, indirectly about Jackie:

Her painting, Untitled, herself and Shaina.

Me and Shaina in the funniest picture I have ever used as my FB profile shot. Enjoy... until next time.

World Trade Center; ongoing project update

2010-08-08T08:51:00.000-07:00

I've made a previous posting recently about my ongoing World Trade Center series of images made at ground zero. Is it even a 'ground zero' anymore? I've been focusing on probably five different categories at the same time when I shoot down there. The five categories are a direct reflection of things constantly happening or existing at the site at all times:The Photographer,The Fence, Hard Hats, Underground, and 9/11 Culture (yet to process culture shots)

Photographs are processed traditionally in a darkroom at my home in Jersey City.

[click images to enlarge]

The Photographer is constantly making images here. I focus on culture around the Trade Center, as well as the need to photograph beyond the fence.

The Fence is an extreme barrier between the public and the monumental site. The streets between Church and W Broadway on Vesey are frequented by PATH train riders and pedestrians visiting the site. The street is never empty.

Hard Hats are what help me distinguish pedestrians from construction workers. They walk differently through this site. I may be drawing upon my own sentiments, but it seems as if the workers walk around these streets as if they have a strong attachment the site; it's something about their demeanor.

Underground the World Trade Center, riding on the PATH train from Jersey has always been a wonder to me. I wish I had been photographing since I was 16, because I used to ride the PATH into WTC when there was still debris from the towers at Ground Zero. Over the years, the tracks have slowly become completely enveloped in the darkness of the new construction at the site. Now, all that is seen from the train are the under-workings of WTC 1.

Goodbye, Jackie, Nicole, and my Wednesday nights.

2010-08-05T17:48:00.000-07:00

“Artsy fartsy in the woods” is what I typed as I was taking notes for this blog posting, as a side note, even before I knew what the challenge was.

Adbi, at the start of the episode, admits hes lost all knowledge as an artist because hes been in the bottom the entire time. How could this really be? Maybe it was good to be in that frame of mind before learning what the challenge was. He walked to the water, and meditated. In the end, he decided to go with his gut instincts and create a truly new vision/direction for his work to go. My friends don’t know this, but I also converse with God for new project ideas. Not kidding—but recently I’ve called so much he’s been putting me straight through to voicemail.

Abdi was finally true to himself, I thought his drawing was one of the more amazing works of art tonight. His piece was so beautiful to me that it makes me cry. I’ve written such horrible things about him and his work in past shows, but his work tonight was so realized. He didn’t use the materials as much as I would have liked to see, even before watching his choice of natural material I thought to myself, “I’d mix gravel into a medium to make some sort of mark with”… and then I thought, “that would be cheating the challenge.” My only other concern is that Abdi drew himself without any signs of male genitalia.

When I saw that it was JACKIE who was laying down under that cover, I was very let down… I could have sworn that it was Peregrine when I watched the preview commercials for the show. It just seemed so unlike her. She didn’t represent herself in the way that she had been doing in weeks previous. I am dying to read her explanation as to what happened right after I publish this post.

I was perplexed by Jackie’s image of the shower and the umbrella. I initially noticed the white umbrella when she was in ‘nature’ from a painting for hers that I have been familiar with for quite some time, and then, later on, the image source of the painting came right out of the printer, so naturally I became completely confused. Towards the end of the show it was apparent that she had not used the source image, but later on decided to go ahead and use that image in a future painting unrelated to the show.

That painting always held some mystery for me. I would like to ask Jackie, retrospectively, why she chose to create the painting of the herself and the umbrella even after the challenge. The painting always held something different than her other work for me, very shy and silent. It makes me think that this work was reflection of her experience on the show., but I might be reading too deeply.

Her piece that she ended up doing would have been stronger had she been more clever about interpreting the project in words. If she had only said something to the degree of what the piece had actually depicted, I think the work could have actually been very haunting. It’s like art school 101, she had to whip something up really quick because she was sick since the last challenege, so she did her best and turned out something pretty beautiful. But when you get to class and can’t talk it up to the class during the critique, all the minimalism turns into the viewer noticing how little effort was actually put in. The punctuation made with the hanging rock became empty; it could have held more weight, no pun intended.

Watching Nicole work on the show is always a kind of treat. You never really know exactly what she’s making until the final reveal. He use of making molds in her work lends itself to this. I am very sorry that she was not picked for the finale. As I have expressed before, her work is personal, and bold.

A side note about Nicole and Jackie: I really was set on believing that both of these artists would be in the finals. I was pretty happy about it too, while it lasted. I think that Jackie and Nicole, given enough time to work on actual art, that these artists could have given Miles a run for his money. (100,000 dollars to be exact) Nicole had commented on Jackie's DFN Gallery event on Facebook saying:

I thought this comment meant that they would potentially both end up in the finals, being as you wouldn't say something like that to someone who isn't on an equal playing field. Now I realize that the comment was made because both of them didn't make it.

This picture was too sweet not to post, I feel for the both of you for going home.

Oh yeah and Peregrine... I know Jerry Saltz had a lot to do with swaying the judges. I have to say that I completely disagree and am disappointed with Jerry at this juncture.

Miles sucks too. Good luck in the finals. I hope Abdi beats your white ass into the Wednesday after next. Yeah... I just brought it there.

As for my work this week:

I have been cheating myself this entire time with my WANGA weekly challenge. My initial plan was to make work during the hour of watching the show, but I've been so lax that it has turned into a posting of my past work that is relevant to the challenge. This work was completed last winter, with a shoot done once in the fall, and once in the winter. I was speaking to the cyclical nature of photography and life, and the continuum of life and death represented in nature.

WANGA RELATED:

2010-08-04T18:58:00.000-07:00

I have a job interveiw tomorrow so it might be a little bit before I am able to post my Work of Art visual response/recap. But rest assured that I am typing tidbit notes as I am currently watching the show... I can't believe that Peregrine is in the final, I don't even really want to talk about it.

Until tomorrow, here's a picture taken recently at a Chelsea gallery opening last Friday when I met WANGA contestant, Judith Braun. She was really great to meet!--Very animated and exciting to talk to.

She was accompanied by Robin Rollin, (Judith in the zesty colors, of course), Bill Benson, and Paddy Johnson who, among her many endeavors in the arts, is the creator of Art Fag City. All of these people started chuckling at me when I tapped Judith as asked if I could please take a picture of her. (and it was great... because I totally expected it)

JACKIE ON CHELSEA

In other news, Jackie Santos gained some airtime on Chelsea Lately, which airs on the E! network. Click on the following link to watch exactly how 'inspired' Chelsea was after viewing Jackie's feminine control piece.

Road Side Memorial - Gabriella Giselle Camejo

2010-08-01T20:25:00.000-07:00

Roadside Memorial

Gabriella Giselle Camejo

My good friend Gaby was killed our senior year at MICA when she crossed the street with my other good friend Kent Miller who was injured, but survived. For whatever reason, ever since then I periodically write my thoughts about the experience, or create visual works expressing my concern about the situation. I never truly was able to recover from the experience as I am sure many of my friends who were close to her also cannot. Emotions that could never truly be expressed through a blog. I created this work for Suzanne Camejo, Gaby's mother.

The print is a pictogram of a tracing of an image of Gabriella, with the following flowers overlaid on the print. A negative was created with Ilford paper in the dakroom, and a positive was printed from the paper negative.

World Trade Center; ongoing b/w project

2010-08-01T17:51:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I wrote about something that I've done personally. In the next few days I will be posting some ongoing projects, and my reviews of some exhibitions I went to in Chelsea within the past two weeks.

The following images are from an untitled series about life at the World Trade Center construction site, with an emphasis on pedestrian traffic. I believe that the magnitude of the events at Ground Zero have obviously affected the site's pedestrian traffic and demeanor, but the gate around the site specifically creates mystery, and a temptation for onlookers to reach over the gate to photograph. My focus in this project is about the site in general, the onlookers, the photographers, and the construction workers. I have been photographing this series since the winter of 2009. This project was shot with 35mm b/w film and printed at home in my darkroom in Jersey City.

Let's Agree to Disagree: WANGA 8

2010-07-29T18:31:00.000-07:00

Opposites don't necessarily attract. Neither do random pairings of artists via paint tubes. The only reason why artists collaborate in the first place is because they decide for themselves that their work informs each other's vision. It is hard to force that, or base an elimination off of it.

Let’s get it out, loud and proud: I AM SO GLAD THAT MARK IS GONEZO. As I have stated in previous posts, I have no idea how he got this gig. Mark’s been overwhelmingly negative throughout the entire show about everyone else’s work and process, even their state of being. (I think that’s a job solely reserved for the spectators of the show) But I’ll be fair and give his work a final critique.

HEAVEN AND HELL: (or hell and more hell)

Mark and Peregrine’s work essentially became a photographic diptych, It was interesting to me that Peregrine chose to allow Mark to have such a heavy hand in this work, when she also has stated in the past that she doesn’t trust his vision. It was obviously anything but her naked body that was up for grabs. What Mark should have known was that if Peregrine was going to just draw and barf all over the photograph that he should have suggested a medium other than photography. His photographs aren’t fine art in the whatsoever. Work of his nature is good for things other than this.

I like Peregrine as a personality, but her work in this show never struck me as any better than standing in the shadows of the best and worst artists. Now that there are less artists to go around, Peregrine is becoming revealed—I’m not sure this falcon ever lifts off the ground.

Btw- I love the ‘art gab’ segment during the commercial break. Total hoot for people who now will look back and say ‘does it really sound that pretentious when I say those things?’ Well I mean yeah, sometimes it’s necessary.

ORDER AND CHAOS: (or kudos for trying)

Nicole let her hair down for us at the critique and it was hair for days and days. (probably 5 days.) Unfortunately, Nicole, this was not your challenge, but I do think that you make work that is extremely personal and beautiful—even though I’ve seen this concept done before by my friend who crated an interactive changeable gear-art piece establishing a more permeable order. She always manages to make these challenges about her life, and she often seems to use text directly in the work, which is bold. I do, however, have one criticism about her effectiveness in this duo; If Abdi was having such a hard time with ‘chaos’ she should have switched with him. We already know Abdi is obviously a right-brained artist if anything, so I am suggesting that this would have been great for the two of them.

Abdi obviously has no idea what the allegory of “The Cave” is about. He created a green blob of nothing in sculpey clay. I asked my friend Sarah where she thought he gets that from and she suggested that it’s because he went to Carver Center for Arts and Technology in Towson, Maryland. She says everyone that goes to that school uses sculpey non-stop for no reason at all, and paints figurative paintings… it’s apparently the only thing they teach at that school. I suggest a curriculum change to prevent reoccurring mistakes like this one.

MALE AND FEMALE: (or male and YOWZA WOWZA!)

I have to say that I bit the bullet and not only asked Jackie a few questions before I blogged about her, but I also read her blog before writing this segment of this post, which is against my rules of blogging. I have to say that her blogs are written mostly in defense of her representation on the show, whether forced or implied, is extremely interesting to me given my recent obsession with Bravo reality television and their casts infiltrations in platforms like facebook and twitter. Her blog can be taken as an extension of her art—a constant need to expose the truth about herself while being unfairly portrayed as this huge bimbo dimwit.

In her blog, she states that she was extremely upset with Miles because she had no idea he was back-handedly making comments on-camera about how this work was his manipulative idea. I have to say, I believe you, Jackie, because you obviously would have taken this opportunity to do something like that anyway.

And here’s some proof:

Last week when I went to Jackie’s opening at DFN Gallery, Jackie and our friends posed in front of this painting she placed in the corner of the room. The painting, as shown here, seems extremely reminiscent of the ideas proposed in this week’s piece, both aesthetically and otherwise. I asked her last night if this piece was created before her adventures on Work of Art and she replied ‘yes’ in more than one word. I wonder who had the truer influence in this piece given this tidbit of back history

I would also beg to differ that Miles created this piece to be a literal ‘reflection’ of what he assumed Jackie would create given her past experience with the ‘feminine mystique’. If Miles did get his way, and was paired with Nicole, I would have to argue that I don’t think that the piece would have been as effective as it was—and he probably wouldn’t have acted nearly as masculine with her.

Given Jackie’s piece at DFN Gallery, and her blog post, I have to say that I wonder who really lead who in this project… I think if Bravo reversed the story, it might have been much more interesting to see Miles being overcome by Jackie’s sense of femininity. I am going to get hate mail for this, but I’ll deal with it.

I think I should stop being so harsh on Miles, however. His work is very contemplative and poetic, often using a uniform method of communication with the materials he chooses. His work is better than I give his personality credit for.

Between Jackie and China Chow:

It’s a sexual act. So you were masturbating?

Yeah! (as excited as she could possibly sound)

Between Jackie and Ryan McGuiness:

Jackie, have you masturbated standing up?

(Long pause) Yeah, I have. (Shoulder shrug)

On a side note: My friend Kate Burnley sent me a text message after the show had ended. It read: And the Oscar goes to… … … China Chow.

For my piece this week I have decided to combine all three pairings as the title for my two diptychs. When in doubt, its better to make simple poetic statements with the least amount of fuss, and dirty used cigarettes.

DFN Gallery Opening: Jaclyn Santos

2010-07-22T23:01:00.000-07:00

Anybody who has been following my blog knows that Jackie Santos is pretty much the only reason why I became a fan of this show in the first place. I would say the same thing about some of my friends too, who watch because we knew of her at MICA. But I don't think that I have ever been able to call myself a groupie until tonight. I practically idolized her and retrospectively feel embarrassed. My love for the show and my love for her exists in the fact that she's on my channel: BRAVO, pretty much the only television I watch other than Six Feet Under which went out years ago. [If Jackie was a Real Housewife of New York City I would be going equally bonkers for her] I can't stress enough how sweet she actually was to me and all our friends and it was truly a pleasure, she really made sure she was covering all her bases at the show the entire time with everyone that came to show support. The following pictures are from Jackie's opening at DFN Gallery on the Upper East.

Of course, a lot of MICA kids came out to play

Left to right: Beth Rush, Kate Linder '08, Jackie Santos '07, Emily Matles, Michael Ciancio '06 and Gant Powell '07

Myself '09, Emily Addis '08, and Kate Linder '08

We pretty much found some new ways to spread the Jackie love by embracing the new signature poses.

Nicole Nadeau's awesome overalls.

Jackie Santos, Lisa Levy, and Nicole Nadeau

Jackie and her sister Heather Santos