OUR DAILY RED is the blog from New England's online art journal Big RED & Shiny!
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THE ARCHIVES
 THE ARCHIVES
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Somerville ArtBeat: July 18 & 19 2008
We encourage you to explore this year’s theme in the broadest possible terms. Green can convey many things: the environment; greed and money; newness and growth; and the Green Line T coming to Somerville. We hope to explore questions like: What is our relationship with the natural environment? How can nature inspire creativity and artistic production? How can we protect and preserve our natural world? Other interpretations of the theme might evoke questions like: How can money shape, support or corrupt artistic production?
Do you have answers to these questions? Perhaps the events today and tomorrow can move that dialogue forward.
For a full listing of events: ArtBeat 2008
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Roxbury Film Festival - Early Bird TicketsFor those planning on taking part in the Roxbury Film Festival, it's not too late for the "Early Bird" tickets. The deadline has been extended to this Friday. Some of the featured guests include such names as Ruby Dee, Charles Burnett , and Robert Townsend. Purchase online for a savings of $10 on certain tickets. Venues include the MFA, Northeastern University, Coolidge Corner Theater, and Berklee.
From the website:
The Roxbury Film Festival, produced by ACT Roxbury and The Color of Film Collaborative, is the largest festival in New England dedicated to screening films by, for, and about people of color. While the motion picture industry has historically eclipsed the works of independent filmmakers of color, the Roxbury Film Festival supports them by putting their works on the screens of important Boston-area cinemas.
For a full listing, visit 2008 Roxbury Film Festival.
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The new ICAI stumbled upon a piece titled "on the exciting controversy that is the ICA architecture" at a blog called this is no time for back-door bragging. It was too funny not to pass along. Click here to see the original post, and check out the blog.
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Jorg Immendorf on Display in Hamburg
"The Congress Center Hamburg presents a unique exhibition under the title “Jörg Immendorff – his graphic life’s work and sculptures” on 2300 square metres of exhibition space, with a total of 650 exhibits from all the creative periods of this artist, who died last year. The 650 works include some 340 drawings, 30 sculptures, 30 photos and 250 stamps, including suites, series and cycles in Immendorff’s best known motifs such as Café Deutschland and The Rake’s Progress." All I can say is "yikes!" That is a whole lot of bad art in one spot.
(Images are Antonius; 1989 above and Cafe Deutschland (Lift/Tremble/Back) in 1977, continuing it through the 1980s below. Courtesy of Artdaily.org and BBC News.
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ASPECT #11 has droppedToday, the latest issue of ASPECT: The Chronicle of New Media Art arrived. The theme of this edition is "Arte de las Americas" and it features an impressive list of artists and commentators:
- Daniel Mendoza Alafita w/ commentary by Jesse Lerner
- Silvia Gruner w/ commentary by Bill Arning
- Raquel Kogan w/ commentary by Marcus Vincius Fainer Bastos
- Jessica Lagunas w/ commentary by Francisco Nájera
- David Lamelas w/ commentary by Ute Meta Bauer
- Artur Matuck w/ commentary by Herve Fischer
- Yucef Merhi w/ commentary by Christiane Paul
- Sebastián Díaz Morales w/ commentary by Sybil Wendler
- Juan Fernando Ospina w/ commentary by Adriana Rios
You can get a copy of the new issue, and all the back issues, at their website.
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Frank Gehry at the Serpentine GalleryWell, I have spent that past few days eating and drinking my way across Montreal with a little art viewing here and there. Not much of it was good but I will write a bit about the Yves St. Laurent Exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts when I return to Boston.
I couldn't help but comment and post on Frank Gehry's new project at the Serpentine Gallery in London. It is a temporary summer pavilion and Gehry is the eighth architect so far to have completed one of these. The reviews so far haven't been kind but his rarely are. The Times of London said "To the untrained eye it looks like a collapsing tower of Jenga bricks."
Thoughts?
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Quote of the dayI know I just linked to this piece in my last post, but the full magnitude of this paragraph is worthy of its own post:
Finally, the answer to the question about what created the conditions for this spate of gallery closings is a valid one. As I've stated, my reasons are personal, but there is a broader vapor enveloping a lot of galleries in the same genre as mine. The financial downturn is affecting art sales in the lower and moderate ranges. There is also this sea change regarding art fairs' role in the life of a gallery. While a great load of fun for some people, they have grown over everything like a suffocating mold and swallowed up a whole heap of what an art dealer has to do on any given day. All for the honor of showing work in ramshackle booths along with a fuckthousand other artists. It's a different job, being a gallery owner, than it was even five years ago.
When I was in Chicago, I didn't know Lisa Boyle, but I'm definitely wishing I did.
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Seeing it all in action...
Zevitas gave me a tour of the new digs and even let me take pictures (see above).
Happily, Harrison was bustling for a July First Friday, which is a good sign. Overall I thought the quality of the work on view was pretty darn good, but as I said above I had my hands in two of them so I'm a bit biased.
As the Boston shake-up continues, it's worth noting that we're not the only city experiencing changes as a result of the recent economic downturn. Here is Chicago's Lisa Boyle (Lisa Boyle Gallery) at Bad At Sports.
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Get your map of the City Formerly Known as Cambridge
In a series of 13 public renaming expeditions, Cambridge residents will rename the streets, neighborhoods, squares and parks of the city of Cambridge.
[...]
There are a rich set of economic, political and cultural interests at work in the production of names.
The Institute for Infinitely Small Things is interested in researching these interests in Cambridge, MA, by inviting the public to circumvent them.
The Institute is also interested in the social uses and perceived economic value of existing places in Cambridge. Our questions are simple:
- What will people rename?
- What kinds of relationships will prompt people to rename certain places (antagonistic, personal, habitual, historical)?
- What will not be renamed?
- Which places will be renamed the most (i.e. acquire the most economic value)?
The final result of the project is this map, which you can order at their website for a mere $5. While you're there, pick up a copy of the "The New American Dictionary: Interactive Security/Fear Edition".
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It is a hot sticky annoying Thursday in Boston
From the BBC: "British painter Nasser Azam (photo above) has said he is 'ecstatic' after completing two sets of artwork in zero gravity." Well, who wouldn't be? Do you have to be a painter? Stupid "ART" hierarchy. Money quote: "The only explanation I can think of is I was concentrating on painting," he said. "I think it helped me not even think about being sick." Oh Nasser! Focus on the painting! 11 artists were selected by Azam was the only one to complete it.
Again from the BBC we have the Sydney Opera House turned into a contemporary art exhibition! No! You don't say?
The "Sydney Opera House has been transformed into a forest for 24 hours, as part of a festival of contemporary art.
The installation, one of the biggest art works Australia has ever witnessed, is by French artist Pierre Huyghe."
(Image below is from BBC.com).
Despite the hyperbole and my own snarkiness it is pretty cool. But then I am a sucker for Huyghe!
If there is anyone out there reading this in Sydney send us some photos!
Oh and Guy Maddin's film My Winnipeg opens this week. I believe it is Friday the 11th. I'll have my interview with Guy up in this weekends Big and Red. The film is pretty awesome so check it out at the Kendall.
(His pic is below and totally stolen from Flickr). 
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THE CURRENT ISSUE: #86
THE CURRENT ISSUE: #86
BIG RED FEATURES
BIG RED FEATURES
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