Archives for October 2007

Some tiny parts of Miami wish to be sophisticated, but what can you do?!?!?! At home in Buenos Aires, Bogotá, London, New York and Berlin, the same people support a refined sensibility. But at their second home (or third or fourth) condo, they just let it all pass. Boats, nightclubs and alcohol - socializing, not thinking. The Sagamore Hotel with its hip contemporary art collection in the lobby … [Read more...]

One sequence from Mira Nair's 2006 film, "The Namesake" features the public art project "Travelogues" by Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio. Nair is mixing the storytelling of travelling in the film with the storytelling and animation of the artwork. Also a good film. In a mindless moment, I was flipping channels and discovered the "Notila Fairytale" video by Venessa Carlton. According to my … [Read more...]

Romero Britto's Company is attempting to become the Dale Chihuly of Miami. Like Chihuly in Seattle, Britto is basically a local boy that is achieving worldwide artistic fame from home and thus emerges as an image for the City itself. Unlike Chihuly, the Britto Company ignores the museum circles or artculture. His team follows Peter Max nearly step-by-step minus some association with Rock and … [Read more...]

Except for a few months here and there, I was never noted for my hipness. Or even really knowing what was "in" at any moment in time. With that caveat, I just discovered Jamie O'Shea's blog - Supertouch. O'Shea was the editor-in-chief of Juxtapoz magazine from San Francisco for ten years. Now he is editing a start-up lifestyle publication called Spread Artculture. (Even though the meaning is … [Read more...]

I don't type much about my professional work, but I have managed some public art programs and curated some exhibitions. Through this leadership, I have attempted to find the unique artistic forms of a community and celebrate them. "Artform of a community" could mean 1.) work by special local artists, 2.) visual art appreciated by at least one sub-culture group, and 3.) other locally appreciated … [Read more...]

Channel 4 in the London is sponsoring a series of public art projects: A mobile phone mob blog, seven new public artworks on viewer nominated sites and the Big 4 below. (From the Channel 4 Website ) Channel 4 is bringing its '4' logo to life in a major public art commission linked to the Big Art Project. In the run up to the Channel's 25th anniversary on 2nd November (2007), a 50 foot-high metal … [Read more...]

Sharon Louden at Yahoo Headquarters: New Lawn and Louden's grasses In the last month, the arts blogasphere including Artsjournal.com has been buzzing with the damage and lawsuits regarding two landscapes: "Wildflower Works" by Chapman Kelley in Chicago and "Reflecting Tips" by Sharon Louden in Sunnyvale, California. The basic information and newsclippings are at Edward Winkleman's Blog. The … [Read more...]

On July 26, 2007, a bronze sculpture of young Elvis Presley was installed in Honolulu. The life-size figure is the sixth and final "TV LAND" donations to the citizens of NYC, Minneapolis, Salem (MA.), Chicago and Raleigh (N.C.). Except for Elvis, the artworks depict actors in their roles as popular characters from television shows of the 1950s, 60s and 70s. All are displayed in the actual … [Read more...]

In the comments for a previous blog, Margaret Koscielny wrote: "Public Art" is an oxymoron; just like "Computer Art." Weiss responds: "Art can be privately discovered by the artist and be meaningful to others, therefore "Public Art" Margaret Koscielny ellaborated: (Koscielny Website) "I feel that "Public Art", as a term, is an oxymoron. Perhaps the solution is to allow public sentiment for … [Read more...]

It is completely unfair to everyone involved at Mass MOCA to describe the removal of Christoph Buchel's exhibition an act of censorship this fall. No single human being unilaterally ordered the destruction of a work of art before it was presented to the public, but that is exactly what happened. (Just quickly, due to extensive cost overruns and schedule delays, Mass MOCA asked the courts of … [Read more...]

Slate dumbs down the public art dialogue. Some new mover and shaker with connections named Dushko Petrovich has done public art a disservice manipulating history. But I do understand why Artsjournal Book/Daddy thinks this Slate.com article on public art is interesting. The language and methods of connections to other contemporary thoughts is sparkling. BLOG UPDATE: SEE "comments section" FOR … [Read more...]