Mike Maxwell’s haunting historical portraits will be on display during a solo show opening this friday at the MModern gallery in Palm Springs. He’s been working on this collection for a while, and it’s been fun watching his progress unfold on flickr. Do yourself a favor, and swing by if you’re in the area. I certainly wish I could go.
I feel like i’m REALLY late to the game, but Crap Hound looks to be an amazing zine. Head over to Kickstarter and do your part to help reprint issue #4. They are so close to reaching their funding goal. Do your part to help keep indie (arts) media alive.
Faesthetic #10 contributors Playlab have a few pages in Junk Jet No. 3 “Flux Us, Flux You!,” a zine published by the Institut of Modern Architecture and Design at the University of Stuttgart. This looks awesome and you should purchase it immediately.
Just an FYI… I’ve decided to extend the sale a while longer. I want to get as many copies of Faesthetic out to the world, and want to make it as easy as possible to pick up. You’ll always find the lowest prices at Faesthetic.com Why not swing by and pick up a few issues? 33% off orders of $30 or more with coupon code: WAREHOUSEFIRE
Sorry for the last minute post, but Justin Van Hoy and Blake Marquis are having an opening tonight at Space 1026 in Philly and you should really go if you can. Snow be damned.
In case you’ve been living under a rock, or just don’t care (which I totally understand) then you know that BRAVO TV is launching a new reality show called Work Of Art: The Next Great Artist. Like other career based reality shows, it’s going to basically embarrass a cast of young artists through creative competitions, melt downs on camera, and complete exploitation of their craft and process. That being said, it’s probably going to be incredibly compelling entertainment and i’ll be torrenting it as soon as it’s available.
There has been a lot of coverage about the project since word first came out last year about the casting calls. I’m not really the best person to criticize art but if you head over to Art Fag City you can read some great posts on the up coming show.
All this being said… the reason I’m most interested in this bit of Reality TV is because several of my good friends auditioned to be a part of it. While I think it’s an incredibly bad idea to exploit yourself like that, I was also really fascinated by the idea of seeing friends of mine on TV so i’ve been paying attention to any and all coverage of the show to see if anyone I know ended up being casted.
One friend who did not make the cut, was Scott Rench. He just passed over his audition tape, along with his experience of going through the audition process. It’s a fascinating look at the behind the scenes of the nightmare that is Reality TV. Is this the future of Art? I doubt it, and I sure fucking hope not. But it is a serious part of contemporary pop culture… which in a lot of ways is art itself. Watch the video and read on for Scott’s story!
The turnout was HUGE. People drove from all over the US to be in line for the Chicago audition.
The whole thing went a little bit like the scene in the Christmas Story. I waited in line for what seemed like eternity. The next thing I know is I am told what books, images or art do I have for the respected Chicago judges.
I hand my stuff over and was given a short run through of what I could do and not do. The next thing I know the door opens. I am blinded by lights and standing in front of a coffee table with 4 people. They are flipping through some of my books.
I tell them I developed a process for printing on clay. I think it really helped that I brought the Gestalten books I am in. One was young contemporary people to watch or something like that. This book seemed to get me glances over the glasses.
Before I could really sell myself I was told thank you we are sending you to the next round. I was shell shocked and a foot was pressing on my head sending me down the slide.
I was given a form that told me the next part of the challenge was to make a video about myself, my work and my vise. All under 5 minutes which goes REALLY fast…
I was leaving for NY that day for a show and workshop. I had to beg for extra time and plead how there was no way I could get my video done in the day or two we had. I was given 1 day extra. Literally the morning I landed I had 4 hours to get content on video, I had no idea what I was going to do and basically I had time for one take.
I ran to an editing house where I called in a favor and spent the next 8 hours editing down the video into 5 minutes.
There were some back and forth emails asking me what i needed to make my work and then the rejection letter.
The process was really funny… the interview thing was over before I had a chance to breath.
While i’m honestly glad Scott wasn’t picked for the show, I think Bravo made a mistake. This guy’s work is amazing, and there is no way to judge someone on 5 minutes of rushed video. Swing by Yosoh.com to check out Scott’s work for yourself.
We’re really proud to be a part of this event, opening this friday in San Jose, Ca. More info from the Anno Domni website…
We love zines… those little diy, cut-and-paste, copied-on-the-cheap, hand-folded, self-distributed gems that continue to surface because someone, somewhere feels the need to express themselves. It’s that simple. Zines exist and fleurish outside the mainstream with no particular interest whether you’re paying attention or not. According to Chip Rowe, creator of Chip’s Closet Cleaner, “They’re Tinkertoys for malcontents. They’re obsessed with obsession. They’re extraordinary and ordinary. They’re about strangeness but since it’s usually happening somewhere else you’re kind of relieved.”
Opening Reception: First Friday, February 5, 2010 from 8 p.m. ’til late
Featured Zine sellers: Marc Arsenault, John Bobst, Silvia Chenault, Michael Foley, Ben Henderson, Chris Kardambikis, M Undead, Yumiko Miyagawa, Tomas Moniz, Kyle Pellet, Mahoney Perkins, Louis Schmidt, Matthew Seigel, Kate Steward & Meagan Zupancic
Special thanks to: Davida Gypsy Breier, Cafe Royal, Cantab Publishing, Faesthetic, Gimme Brains Distro, Islands Fold, Parking Block Publishing, Razor Cake and TTC
Music & Performance: Adam Lynn, Zoe Boekbinder (Vermillion LIes), Corpus Callosum
Kozy-N-Dan’s new puzzle (based on their print “The Audience“) made by German brand Heye Verlag GmbH is now available for sale via their online shop. Very rad.
