Inspiring Update

My inspirational poster project moved from the windows of copy.com in Houston  to the windows of the administrative buildings of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Houston, Texas.  The Museum is showing several of the projects from, Sisyphus Office, a distributed exhibition that Jonn Herschend curated at Skydive, an artist-run space located in Houston.

The exhibition utilizes spaces that you would ordinarily not expect to see art – a bulletin board in a hallway, an installation above a water fountain, on a staircase, or in the administrative office building.   The work will be up until the end of September, so if you are in Houston, I’d love it if you checked it out.  Here are some shots that Sasha Dela, an artist and co-founder of Skydive sent me.

Next stop: A billboard.  Let me know if you are interested.

Ted Fullwood

While getting the NextNew: Green exhibition up and running over the last week, I took a break to meet San Jose artist Ted Fullwood.  I had heard about Ted’s colorful pipe cleaner sculptures and compulsive making (his house is a living sculpture) so it was wonderful to meet him and get a glimpse into his practice in person.

Fullwood has been making work out of  his San Jose home and treats it both as a studio and as a work of art. Practically everything in Fullwood’s house is tiled, quilted or hand-made. His former roomate, Adam Ellyson, has also contributed to his home over the years, with colorful rugs and curtains.  In the 25 years he has been in San Jose, he has lived in his current residence for the past 14 years and starting the mosaic projects 11 years ago.

Fullwood’s work reminded me of the folks from the Forcefield Collective that was born out the Rhode Island School of Design, most notably, Jim Drain and Ara Peterson’s work. I also couldn’t help to see connections to Nick Cave‘s incredible soundsuits and sculptures at YBCA.

Thank you Ted for the visit, it totally made my day!  Here are a few more pictures of  Ted’s home and work.

Suyama in Seattle

I was in Seattle this weekend and met with Beth Sellars, who for over 10 years, has curated wonderful projects at the Suyama Space downtown Seattle.  Here at the ICA, we have been admiring Beth’s work for some time, so it was a treat to finally see the space and meet her. Suyama focuses on site-specific, experimental, and immersive projects. While there I saw an installation titled RAUMGREIFEND by Andreas Bee.

These large floating sculptures gracefully suspend from the ceiling and unexpectedly emit a wonderful airy energy.  I was also struck by the magnificent light in the space – depending on what time it is in the day, it casts different shadows on the work.

This experience also reminded of how important it is to experience art. While there have been plenty of gorgeous photographs documenting site-specific projects, nothing can quite replace the impression and power of being there.

This work is up until August 14.  If you can’t make this one, definitely make a trip to the space the next time you are in Seattle.

MFA Shows Con’t: Wunderflater at Stanford

When I heard Stanford’s MFA exhibition would be a collaborative effort of its five graduates, I was very interested and totally inspired.  I’ve never heard of this type of collaborative model happening  at an MFA show in the Bay Area and it caused me to wonder:  are we stronger when we work together?

I think this may be an inspiring case. While each graduating artist approaches their artmaking in a different way, they worked together to make something representative of  their collective skills and ideas, resulting in an experience that was truly surprising and yes, wonderful. The artists included Reed Anderson, Michael Arcega, Kazumi Shiho, Cobi van Tonder and Jina Valentine.

Here is what it looked like when you entered the space – you saw a beautiful inflated sculpture.

I think the entire object was inflated by one small household fan.  I loved that you had to take off your shoes to go inside.

When you entered the inflatable and turned the corner, you were confronted with a miniature version of the actual gallery space.

How can I even describe this experience? A meta-museum? A studio space packaged as a cabinet of curiosities? I would call it a successful collaboration -  where the artists chemistry  coelesced to make something extraordinary, weird and unexpected for the viewer while preserving the unique interests and curiosities of each of them.

Cotton Candy and Vending Carts

After presenting a dunk tank  and a hot dog vending cart at the SubZero festival two weeks ago, I am  now scheming as to how to include a cotton candy machine in a future ICA program. A friend sent me the link to a show called Global Street Food curated by Mike Meire at the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany. The show happens to include a stunning cotton candy display.

Cotton Candy Stand from Buenas Aires, Argentina

Though I am not going to Germany anytime soon, I am so excited about this exhibition which includes improvised kitchens typically found in public places from around the world as readymade art objects in a gallery. Check it out.

“Grill” from Kampala, Uganda

“Coffee wagon” from Buenos Aires, Argentina

I’ll keep you posted with my cotton candy schemes, let me know if you have any thoughts.