interventionuninvitedprojec-blog

[interventionuninvitedprojec-blog]

The CoLab Studio

A collaborative downtown studio used to facilitate art in the greater burner-community. Showcasing diverse talents from artist to curator, The CoLab houses gallery showings as well as large scale interactive art headed to playa for Burning Man.

San Diego CA

Curation by: Jeanie Carlson, Anthony Nguyen, Lala Merritt

[interventionuninvitedprojec-blog]

Intervention Uninvited

Featuring works by:  Ingrid Calame Amy J. Fleming Paula Flores Mac James Michael Kareken Suchitra Mattai Raquel Maulwurf Doug Russel John Sabraw John Warren

Interventions are not usually invited, at least at first, but they are necessary. The interventions humans place upon the Earth so that it may function in a way better suited to our needs is viewed as necessary. But it is not, in fact, its damaging. The earth does not invite intervention. It cycles out what it needs to on its own. The environment is changing at a rapid pace, and artists are very aware of the phenomenon and choose to bring it to light with their varietal works. All of these pieces have a common ground: Human Intervention in the Environment. Be it the landscapes we form with garbage, the chemicals we dump into our water systems, or the cites driving climate change to a place we will not be able to return from, all of these pieces showcase what humans leave behind in their wake, the effect it has, and the sometimes beautiful results rendered. Each artist selected incorporates environmental themes into their works regularly, some striving for completely sustainable practices. All see the detrimental effect humans are having on the Earth and choose it often as it has become necessary to bring it to the public’s attention. Does the public listen? it certainly doesn’t feel as so, but a CoLab-oratiion like the one your are about to view strives for the same result. Pay attention to the effect you have on the world around you, in big ways and in small. 

[interventionuninvitedprojec-blog]

Amy J. Fleming

LANDSCAPE WITH FIGURE

Scratchboard

18” x 24”

2006

(http://legacy.drawingcenter.org/viewingprogram/artUploads/414/med_2F10E001-C216-B109-74BCDD96D5978FE2.jpg)

My eyes was focused at the center of the drawing where there was contrast between the center and outer areas. Also the harmony of shapes, space, value, and unity was emphasized at the center.

Amy Fleming graduated Magnum Cum Laude earning her A.A.S. at the Northern Virginia Community College, Loudoun County, VA.  In 1982 she graduated from the Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA earning her B.F.A.  At the Florida State University she graduated in 1992 earning her MFA with a concentration in printmaking.

Fleming grew up in the rural Tidewater area of Virginia. “I think I’ve always been a bit of an archaeologist at heart,” remarks Fleming. Junkyards, salvage yards, and wreckage were a common part of the landscape that can be several acres in size.

The reason trash scatters sites are so prized by archaeologists is because of the amount of information they provide about the people who produced them. “I’ve always liked things that show their history. “We are what we throw away.”

“Most importantly, who, not what we toss aside defines who we are both as individuals and as a society.” Bringing them home with her, she will photograph these remnants of consumer culture to include in her drawings and screen-prints of junkyard landscapes. “What you throw out really tells a story of who you are, and even more, nowadays, it’s who you throw out, too.”

(THE DRAWING CENTER - VIEWING PROGRAM - ARTIST REGISTRY - AMY J. FLEMING;  http://www.drawingcenter.org/viewingprogram/portfoliob276.html?pf=414)

Report by Jeannie P. Carlson

[interventionuninvitedprojec-blog]

Paula Flores

Native Flora in the invaded landscape

Mixed Media Installation

8x 10 feet

(Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego; Being Here, With You)

Paula Flores

“In her work Paula Flores attempts to represent the complexity of nature, and our knowledge as well as ignorance that we have towards it.  She treats themes such as immigration and the disappearance of native cultures, flora and fauna as a result of modern industry; the space these cultures occupy and how they've changed according to its commodification. Making use of diverse artistic disciplines and a mix of organic and industrial materials, she creates a dialogue regarding the current situation between human and nature.” (https://www.paulaflores.org/statement)

Color is once again a driving force in the understanding of this piece. So realistic in nature the color breaks up the objects from a simple white background and creates Shadow and definition of the objects in Space the metallic on the sheets displayed creates a depth of value differences. The green is also able to be easily seen in person or translated in a photo of the 3D work. Perspective is inherently present as the objects occupy a true three-dimensional space, each object demanding some attention lending to an overall Harmony.

This is not a quintessential “drawing” peace but Harbors a lot of the same qualities. The artist clearly used these materials as sort of drawing tools, creating form and even identifiable Landscapes. A sort of Moon or Sun in the right corner, Busch Light figures out of holographic paper and a dog head sculpture, a tree, maybe a cactus of other material. Green string like rain or light rays. This could only be the landscape of imagination, depicted in playful colorful form. The artist aims attention toward the effect of climate change on an environment, and how human intervention is altering the landscape here in San Diego and Tijuana. nature imagination and playfulness all come together in this work, re purposing that which contaminates in found and recycled objects for use in spreading useful information. at least make us ask where did the trash come from? -Lala

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Doug Russel

Ebb and Flow #4

Graphite, China Marker, Black Prismacolor Pencil, Ink on Mylar

40 inches x 25 inches

2010

(https://russellfineart.com/artwork/1719714-Ebb-and-Flow-4.html)

Artist Statement from Drawing Center:

Doug Russell is a visual artist who lives and works in Laramie, Wyoming. His work in drawing and painting explores two major creative directions: entangled and knotted natural forms, and monumental architectural compositions. Both bodies of work ultimately are meditations upon structure, repetition, and variation. He currently holds the position of Associate Professor of Art at the University of Wyoming where he is coordinator of the drawing program.

Source:

(http://www.drawingcenter.org/viewingprogram/portfolio82b9.html?pf=4105)

Doug Russell uses the element of value to contrast the features of the buildings between the foreground and the background in order to make it easier to distinguish buildings apart.

The reason why I choose this piece for our gallery was because of the formal element of shape. Since the entangled buildings are mashed together into a ball-like shape, I made the connection that it’s like the earth, a tangled mess of mankind making their mark on it.

Report by: Anthony Nguyen

[interventionuninvitedprojec-blog]

Michael Kareken

Conte on Mylar

20” x 20”

2010

(http://legacy.drawingcenter.org/viewingprogram/art_file.cfm?id=63091','600','400')

Kareken’s education goes as follow:

MFA Brooklyn College, CUNY (1986)

BA Bowdoin College (1983)

Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture (1988)

Yale University Summer School of Music & Art (1982)

The work of Michael Kareken is a continuation of his exploration of industrial scrap and recycling imagery, including series depicting scrap metal, glass and paper.

I see all these discarded glass bottles piled up high as trash. Forgotten now that they are of no use to the consumers. I felt a sense of sadness that overcame me. These bottles were once clean and shiny, filled with some kind of delicious beverages like beer, wine, juice, sparkling water, and soda drinks to be enjoyed by someone.  

Then I am happy thinking that these bottles will be recycled. Glad that they will to be used again to help in conserving our resources.  That they are not laying around in landfills, thrown away to be forgotten.

Scrap Yard Series: Scrap Bottles #3 was drawn on Mylar using Conte crayons. Kareken went monochromatic using the grayscale. I like the way he uses the line and value with the bottles. His pattern and proportion are right on.

Conté, also known as Conté sticks or Conté crayons, are a drawing medium composed of compressed powdered graphite or charcoal mixed with a wax or clay base, square in cross-section

Mylar – has a variety of companies manufacture boPET and other polyester films under different brand in the UK and US, the most well-known trade names are Mylar, Melinex, and Hostaphan. Stretched polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and is used for its high tensile strength, chemical and dimensional stability, transparency, reflectivity, gas and aroma barrier properties, and electrical insulation names.

Report by Jeannie P. Carlson

[interventionuninvitedprojec-blog]

Ingrid Calame

LA river at Clearwater Street

Pigment on wall, installed at the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland, 2011

18x 45 feet

(http://www.ingridcalame.net/la-river-2005-2006/80m22qcjf3h4p3cddnm1qusz5hl2t8)

Ingrid Calame

Ingrid Calame lives and works in Los Angeles California and has been showing works all over the country as well as parts of Europe since 1997. She possesses a worldly formal education in art and sculpture as well as a masters in film. Her processes are unique, finding beauty in urban landscapes, urban degradation, paint placed by humans, and the layers it creates.Many of her works take tracings of these layers and forms and are layering a re coloration takes place.

The use of color is paramount in this piece. Vibrant Hughes thinly drawn on white background bring softness to the color, as do the organic forms of shape and line. The gradients lead the eye around this massive peace which might otherwise become a repetitive mosaic. the repetition of form creates a unity and rhythm but the color induces in organization in the brain

it is not obvious at all how this make connect back to the themes discuss but Calames process creates a brand new perspective on human change imposed on an environment. She traced graffiti, paint splatter, tire marks, scoring and other changes made to the concrete lining the LA River. The LA River was once free-flowing and frequently flooding, it has been contained to a concrete channel that stays dry or low at best and suffers from pollution as well as Agricultural and urban runoff. on top of that, in layers it is frequently read landscaped buy Graffiti in human changes. Calame found beauty in this, and her interpretation of the degradation rendered beautiful results period for supposing to supply water turn urban area the amount of human interference is somewhat surprising. She turned in urban landscape in need of help in two beautiful art. -Lala

[interventionuninvitedprojec-blog]

Good Sense

Mixed Media on Paper

24 inches x-30 inches

2013

Part of her Portfolio Called “The Freshness of Mourning”

(https://www.kunstinzicht.nl/portfolio-en/werk/rmaulwurf/39.html)

Through the use of texture and color, Suchitra Mattai creates an emphasis on the tires to draw our attention. The achromatic tires are contrasted by the non textured colored forms rising between them to retain our attention. To prevent clutter, she puts a one colored, non textured middleground between the tires and the tiled background.

The reason why I choose this piece for this gallery was simply because I thought it was pretty and vibrant. Unlike the other pieces we have on display, it is both colorful as well as not hiding the fact that the main feature is garbage. Despite being an unappealing barren landscape filled with tires, Suchitra is able to make it look it beautiful through effective use of abstract shapes and bright color.

Suchitra Mattai is an artist that lives and works in Denver, Colorado. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia with a MFA in Painting and Drawing and a MA in South Asian art. She works in many different medias such as painting, fiber, drawing, collage, installation, video, and sculpture. She was born Guyana, South America but has lived in many other places such as Halifax and Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Philadelphia, New York City, Minneapolis, and Udaipur, India. These diverse natural and cultural environments have greatly influenced her work and research. While her practice includes a wide range of materials and ideas, her primary interests include  1) the complex relationship between the natural and artificial worlds and 2) the questioning of historical and authoritative narratives, especially those surrounding colonialism. Though her works, she weaves narratives of “the other,” invoking fractured landscapes and reclaiming cultural artifacts (often colonial and domestic in nature).

Sources:

(http://www.suchitramattai.com/statement/)

(http://www.drawingcenter.org/viewingprogram/portfolio5877.html?pf=4420)

-Anthony 

[interventionuninvitedprojec-blog]

Raquel Maulwurf

Trichtergelände, Ypern Mai 1918

charcoal, pastel on paper

150 x 208 cm

2008

(https://www.kunstinzicht.nl/portfolio-en/werk/rmaulwurf/39.html)

Trichtergelände: definition - n. shelled terrain, terrain pitted with shell craters

Ypern: Belgian municipality in the province of West Flanders

In this piece, Raquel Maulwurf is able to create the illusion of a destroyed landscape from shelling. She uses the element of value to contrast the battered soil with the stillness of the water and the foggy sky in order to see them more clearly.

The reason I choose this piece was because it shows the aftermath of man destroying the environment.

Raquel Maulwurf Taken from her site’s bio:While Maulwurf’s previous work dealt with the remnants and destruction of war, her new work captures our world’s chaos when hit by the forces of nature and ecological disasters; exploring the notion of whether nature is striking back at us for polluting its oceans, poisoning its air, burning down forests and turning the ground we walk on into radioactive wasteland. Making something evocative and beautiful from horrific events, these images, both destructive and monumental, are manipulated in such a way that only the essence of the event remains. The drawings no longer show what we see, but that which we know, making current events tangible, posing the question of why mankind is so eager to destroy. Drawing on museum board allows the artist to brutalize the surface with sharp objects; depicting violence through violence by scratching, the artist is materializing destruction in both subject and process. Sources: (https://www.kunstinzicht.nl/portfolio-en/over/rmaulwurf/index.html)

[interventionuninvitedprojec-blog]

Jim Warren

Waiting for the Rain

Oil paint on stretched canvas 1997

30x40 inches

(The Art of Jim Warren: An American Original P.148)

Jim Warren

California born, Jim Warren began his self taught art journey in high school claiming he would become “rich and famous.” A career surrealistic fantasy illustrator he became just that with hundreds of book covers, magazine illustrations, and album covers with the likes of Alice Cooper, Prince, and Bob Segar, winning a Grammy for Segars cover of “Against the Wind,” He continued his career with the critically acclaimed series “Earth… Love it or Lose It” And followed with ongoing collaboration with Disney released as fine art prints. Today he continues to depict Disney characters in his surrealistic style. His medium of choice is traditional oil paint on stretched canvas, his art anything but. “To hell with the rules, paint what you like.”

You will see with all of my chosen works that I am a fan of color. The contrast in saturation stands out the most here. The desolate, dry ocean bed is more muted colorways, though still Whimsical and Light. Where the hands are tearing into this harsh reality, what once was is revealed and in contrast is more vibrant and saturated. The gradients achieved are marvelous. another interesting element here is the use of space. Perspective is obviously utilized in both images if they are looked at individually, but the hands tearing into the foreground render it two-dimensional. The use of visual texture and shadow create separation between the perspective images. The hands in turn possess their own unique qualities in space as well. Each element of the painting possesses its own individual emphasis demanding attention in its own way, but ultimately giving way to the dominance of the “dreamscape.” something that is so real today but could only be a product of the mind tomorrow.

The themes in “Waiting for the Rain” Are more obvious than some of the other works. An ocean that used to be, and a longing for what once was. Its sort of Science Fiction, but not far off from a nonfiction landscape. The contrast between the two scenes drawers on how terrible Earth would be without the beauty we take for granted. The surfer drives this home. He came out with an expectation, little did he know his precious ocean was no more. the cityscapes in the background tells us this is a modern world, the elements still in the barren ocean depict a sudden shift. The eventuality of such things could very well be sudden We lack the empathy to pay attention. It will be too late. -Lala

[interventionuninvitedprojec-blog]

Mac James

Baitball

Oil + graphite on seamed canvas sailcloth over veneer (wood)

64” x 96” x 2”

2009

http://legacy.drawingcenter.org/viewingprogram/portfolio7f7a.html?pf=7622

A baitball is a welcome sight to ocean life - a whirling ball of succulent bait fish await all who can catch them.

Our baitball is a bounty of food at the ends of hooks and nets, mixed with eroded nature and the remains of the day.

Artist Mac James

Education:

Self - taught

Inspired by family painters Marcia James and Robert R. Newell

California Institute Of The Arts, Valencia, CA, 1975 - 78

Studied graphic design, painting, and drawing

James has been painting and drawing on Kaua'i since 2004. Arriving in Kaua'i, he has been working on an ongoing narrative series of works. Combining facts and local stories. Recording and commenting on issues at hand on Kaua'i and throughout Polynesia.

The flux and flow of elements and nature is what he tries to emulate in drawing and painting. By working outside at different spots and times of day evolves the cocoon of capturing nature in virtual time. He aims to continue to live in Kaua'i as an artist.  Working each day inspired by past, present and future story yet to come.

His field notes are a useful tool later in the studio to remind him of the colors and thoughts of the day.  Talking story with many friends and Islanders on Kaua'i inspires James with ideas. To share knowledge from past to future generations educating and learning.

There was another painting I would have liked to use by Mac James called ‘Death by Plastic.’

It is copyrighted and I cannot find the date it was painted.

This masked booby is a natural born collector/purveyor like us all. Though selective he eats first and is not concerned with content – only the need to feed. A child’s plastic horse (tail-less and three legs) actually found in a mature adult. The ingestion of plastic debris kills many of the new colony each year in the Northwest Hawai’ian islands. Another man-made catastrophe in the shadow of preservation.

Report by: Jeannie P. Carlson

[interventionuninvitedprojec-blog]

John Sabraw

Chroma S4 Chimaera

Painting; AMD (acid mine drainage) pigments and other paints on aluminum composite panel 2017

48x48 inches

(http://www.johnsabraw.com/studio)

John Sabraw

An activist and environmentalist, Sabraw produces his art in a sustainable manner, striving toward a fully sustainable practice.Transforming toxic sludge and polluted iron oxide water in his town in Ohio to create these beautiful pigments and bring awareness to the consistent pollution from abandoned coal mines. His works are featured in museums nationwide and he teaches as a professor of art at Ohio University. His newest endeavor produces these special pigments for market to other artists. Proceeds paying for jobs and the clean up of the Acid mine drainage that pollutes his  immediate environment. (http://www.johnsabraw.com/about-1/)  (http://www.johnsabraw.com/press-1/)

Color, like my other choices, is clearly a dominant element in this painting. The Hue and value changes are in agreement with each other, drawing the eye easily around the organic shapes. Though the shapes are organic informed there is some symmetry in this piece balancing the circle from top to bottom. The color creates contrast as well as harmony with each part of the painting drawing its own Focus, eventually leading to a dominant Center. The rounded organic shapes lend well to the round aluminum canvas bringing the eye to that center, a radial balance of sorts.

This piece, though not necessarily depicting anything related to the theme, the methods and materials used are what make it unique. Some of the pigments used are created from Acid mine drainage from abandoned coal mines in Ohio forests list. These chemicals and oxides have been wreaking havoc on the beautiful Ohio Landscapes since the mountains were harvested for their resources. The rivers of color deposits in Hughes from neon green to burnt orange are beautiful nonetheless, even though it is apparent their effect. His paintings invoke a similar organic flow like the contaminated water. Striving for a sustainable practice sets the tone for his imagery. Sabraw is bringing needed attention to an otherwise previously ignored issue. Creating these pigments for use by other artist adds an entirely new facet to his work. The awareness spreads and the toxic sludge is re-purposed into art, no longer contaminating the environment. -Lala

[interventionuninvitedprojec-blog]

Intervention Uninvited

Featuring works by:  Ingrid Calame Amy J. Fleming Paula Flores Mac James Michael Kareken Suchitra Mattai Raquel Maulwurf Doug Russel John Sabraw John Warren

Interventions are not usually invited, at least at first, but they are necessary. The interventions humans place upon the Earth so that it may function in a way better suited to our needs is viewed as necessary. But it is not, in fact, its damaging. The earth does not invite intervention. It cycles out what it needs to on its own. The environment is changing at a rapid pace, and artists are very aware of the phenomenon and choose to bring it to light with their varietal works. All of these pieces have a common ground: Human Intervention in the Environment. Be it the landscapes we form with garbage, the chemicals we dump into our water systems, or the cites driving climate change to a place we will not be able to return from, all of these pieces showcase what humans leave behind in their wake, the effect it has, and the sometimes beautiful results rendered. Each artist selected incorporates environmental themes into their works regularly, some striving for completely sustainable practices. All see the detrimental effect humans are having on the Earth and choose it often as it has become necessary to bring it to the public's attention. Does the public listen? it certainly doesn't feel as so, but a CoLab-oratiion like the one your are about to view strives for the same result. Pay attention to the effect you have on the world around you, in big ways and in small. 

[interventionuninvitedprojec-blog]

The CoLab Studio

A collaborative downtown studio used to facilitate art in the greater burner-community. Showcasing diverse talents from artist to curator, The CoLab houses gallery showings as well as large scale interactive art headed to playa for Burning Man.

San Diego CA

Curation by: Jeanie Carlson, Anthony Nguyen, Lala Merritt