Late breakfast, Walk to Farmers Market. Talked with Jonathan about his global capitalism course. .
Kids leave for NYC
DOG gallery watching
Tennis with Ted Felt buoyant. Played very well
Drimks at restaurant in Athens where Dave Drake works great
Éric Philippe Bernard Van Hove Marsan de Mondragon (born 1975 in Guelma, Algeria) is a Cameroon-raised Belgian conceptual artist and entrepreneur. He lives and works between Brussels and Marrakech. (from https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Van_Hove )
UTMH work in the morning. Met with Tony Kieraldo to develop new social media program. David A. Has already indicated he doesn’t want to spend money on it even before seeing the proposal. Turns out he is once again funding the company so this brings out his craziness about money. Then, telecon with a private equity firm. We aren’t mature enough to be of immediate interest. David once again closed the door with his closing comments. A pointless exercise. Seth and I had a telecon with Troy Web about project status. Then lunch with David. He once again expressed himself about the social media campaign. This despite the fact that the revised proposal won’t be forwarded for review until Monday.
Jumped in car at 1 pm for ride down to NYC and Nyla’s lacrosse game at Horace Mann. Talked with Matt Almeida on the way down.
Across the street from the field….
Trinity won the game 8-7. Nyla scored 3 goals. Girls lacrosse is a strange unsatisfactory game.
Drove into Harlem in time to get to the Maysles Documentary Center for a showing of The Feeling of Being Watched by Assia Bondaoui. Andrea had tickets.
This is a personalized story of the investigation of FBI surveillance and harassment of a Muslim community outside of Chicago in the late 1990s into early 2000s. Very good. Discussion following was also stimulating. Mentions of “politics of respectability” – reminds the same in the history of civil rights earlier. Also the need to get beyond the objective journalism trope.
Back to Andrea’s about ten pm.
Here are a few seconds of this game. Noah scored 4 goals and an assist in this 8-7 victory on 4/15/15 at Randalls Island.
Play video full screen for best watching.
Last week we went to NYC for a Nyla event at Trinity. Along the way we went to the Guggenheim largely to see the Francesca Woodman show. We had to walk up the ramp quite a way to get to that show and I found myself enthralled by the sculpture of John Chamberlain.
John Chamberlain – untitled 1962
John Chamberain – Miss Remember Ford – 1964
Kiss #12-1979 (30 x 31 x 27 inches) by John Chamberlain-from Guggenheim show catalog
Though he is apparently usually noted for his wide use of car parts in his sculpture, he noted, in an audio clip, how annoying this is to him, “Do you ask a painter what brand of paint do you use?” Any connections to Pop Art or other commentaries passing as art was clearly not his intent or desire. The car parts were just material to him.
As I moved up the ramp it dawned on me that his use of painted/colored metals introduced, for me, color as a major element of sculpture. Although there is obviously color present in every sculpture, for the most part, I have been most focused on the 3-dimensional form not its color or even surface textures. Looking at Chamberlain’s work I started to see the color not as a surface element but in an entirely new dimension.
As I moved around the sculptures, the fields of color shifted into new juxtapositions of color. Because my mind does not process 2-dimensional forms with much interest I have always been left mostly uninterested in abstract expressionism and other non-figurative 2-dimensional art. Chamberlain’s work has given me new access to these forms of abstraction.
As we were leaving the Guggenheim I purchased the catalog. A bit later I opened it to a few of the photos of works that I had liked the most. I was immediately struck by how unsatisfactory these photos turned out to be. Though the photos were of high quality and the reproduction on the pages very good. They lay flat. It was not possible to get any of the experience of moving around the sculpture.
This reminded me that for years I have taken multiple images of sculpture with the intent of providing a weak simulation of this experience. With this in mind I went back to my photo collection and created a little slide show of a work Karen and I saw earlier in the winter on a walk through the field sof Omi International Arts Center in Ghent NY.
Stopped off at the New York Art Book Fair. More overwhelming than last. Don’t these people know that books are so dead. Really last year there were two floors. This year they added on a whole tent in the courtyard. Too many books on politics and art movements that were obscure 40 years ago. Still some good stuff. Karen found a few she felt compelled to buy.
My nod to Lee Friedlander and countless other rear view mirror afficianadoes.
Location:Warren St,Hudson,United States