Sheet

Sheet
2011, digital print on cotton, beads,
metallic wire, wall fixations.(photo Jean Dubranna)


(photo Jean Dubranna)

Here's my piece, "Sheet", installed in the group show "What Women Want". Although it was important for me to make a piece specially for the show, I decided not to "respond" directly.
Here's the short statement I wrote which one can read next to the piece:
Stories heard
from female friends
from women I’ve met
during my travels.
Stories I’ve read,
novels and news,
from everywhere.

Women want to be respected. And a lot of women are not, even in the US.
Women are disrespected and it takes lots of different forms in different places but it is always there, one way or another: the rights they do not have, the education they do not get, the choices they cannot make, sexual harassment, domestic violence, inequalities at the work place. I wanted to create an image which is not ethno-centered and can be evocative of different places in the world.

I had the digitally manipulated image printed on cotton, a technique I am using for the first time. I had to make some tries. The people I worked with at BannerExpress were very helpful and thankfully they had a print sale at the time I had my piece printed.


(detail)

I wanted a "fragile" piece, not hard, not framed, floating and not directly placed against the wall. I like when one can "read" a piece from far and get something else when one gets close. I sewed hundreds of transparent round glass beads in the white parts of the print. That took me a long time and I liked the idea of the repetitive work. It reminded me watching my grandmother embroidering white cotton fabric.



Although it is exciting to follow and explore a path, I like the challenges of trying new things, of experimenting. Getting out of my comfort zone and that's what I did here.

I rolled my piece and shipped it to San Diego. I knew it would be tricky to install it (the metallic system is not very friendly). I did not install the piece because I could not be in San Diego the day of the installation. A friend did it for me and I really thank him for that. It was a huge help. The lighting is not great and that's OK. It would nave been interesting to have a little bit of light from behind, to see all the sewing of the bids, the opaque white thread makes a nice pattern on the translucent fabric.

I regret not to have seen the show. I hope I will be able to go to San Diego for the panel discussion, which I hope will be a positive event.


(detail)

What Women Want
Opening Reception Friday, April 1rst, 2010, from 6 to 8pm.
Lyceum Theatre
In the Lyceum Gallery
March 16-April 17, 2011

Are My/Your Intentions Good?

There is a nasty thread of comments going on right now on the San Diego Union Tribune's blogs after an article was published by Joe Nalven about the show I am participating in, "What Women Want". I understand that one can disagree with Nalven's views. I am disappointed myself in not finding much writing about the art in the article. But the thread of comments is pretty saddening. Anyone trying to calm things down is shot immediately by harsh words. So, not wanting to be shot and not wanting to be part of the destructive game, I will not respond to it. The only thing the thread is doing is breeding hatred.

I cannot stand nasty threads of comments. And by the way, I cannot stand hidden identities either. Someone who has something to say should sign with her/his name - specially if the comment is negative.

This morning when I check my news feed in Facebook, the first post I read was this one:
Dalai Lama: "As human beings we possess determination and intelligence, the combination of which offers many opportunities. It is important to direct our intelligence with good intentions. Without intelligence, we cannot accomplish very much. Without good intentions, the way we exercise of our intelligence may have destructive results."

Something to really think about.

Waiting for my Car

Yesterday I went to a body shop in San Jose - where one of our cars is being repaired - to sign some papers. Oddly, when I left the place, my car's thermostat went suddenly to the maximum, the car got the hiccups, and some white smoke appeared from underneath the front hood. I drove very slowly to the closest car repair which, by chance, was a block away, and asked the person who was working there if he could do something (I really thought it was the end of my old car). He looked in the motor and told me that the thermostat had died and that he could replace it within a couple of hours. And it would not be more than $65 (that was the good news). He said the closest coffee place was 4 lights away, a 30 minutes walk. I was in a sort of industrial zone, body shops, furniture and tiles shops were abundant, but not much else (a few old motels). I decided to walk to the coffee place and back, and to take my time. As always I had my camera and my video with me, but I decided to take some pictures with my phone. Just notes. In the end it was interesting to be in a place where I would not have otherwise stopped and to just walk around.

San Jose Museum of Art: Gallery Talk + Lecture

Exhibition
Roots in the Air, Branches Below: Modern and Contemporary Art from India
February 25, 2011 through September 4, 2011

Gallery Talk / March 31, 2011 /12 pm
Free with Museum Admission

Join Kristen Evangelista, associate curator and curator of the exhibition Roots in the Air, Branches Below: Modern and Contemporary Art from India, for an insightful tour.

Lunchtime Lecture / April 6, 2011 /12 – 1 pm
Free

Santhi Kavuri-Bauer, who teaches modern and contemporary Asian art history at San Francisco State University, will look at modern Indian art from the 1900s to the 1980s in the context of Indian history, culture, and politics.

Lunchtime Lectures take place on the first Wednesday of the month in the Charlotte Wendel Education Center. Visitors are welcome to bring food and beverages.

Save some time to visit the exhibition Roots in the Air, Branches Below (for which regular Museum admission applies).

The Billboard Art Project in Nashville, April 2

Saturday, April 2nd, The Billboard Art Project will be in Nashville, TN.
Artists:
Andrea Lantz - Richmond, VA, Anne Blix - Richmond, VA, Beth Crews Rommel - Oviedo, FL, Carrie Lee Schwartz - Folsom, LA, Charles Clary - Murfreesboro, TN, CJ Nye – New York, NY, Claire Accardo - Richmond, Virginia, Geoffrey Krawczyk - Oklahoma City, OK, Julia Whitney Barnes - Brooklyn NY 11226, Kiran Chandra - Brooklyn, NY, Meghan O'Connor - Murfreesboro, TN, Melissa Cowper-Smith - New York, NY, Michele Guieu - Sunnyvale, CA, Michiko Tanaka - Seattle, WA, Nadia Pacheco - South Pasadena CA, Natasha Bacca - Bend, OR, Rachael Gorchov - Philadelphia, PA, Rick Gustafson - Bayside, CA, Shaun Irving - Richmond, VA.


The Billboard Art Project
email: info@billboardartproject.com
The Billboard Art Project on Facebook

A Week

FITH SEASON closing reception @ SPACE 4 ART

The closing reception of “Fifth Season” will include a lively panel discussion featuring the five artists and curator, Ben Strauss Malcolm, as well as the release of a handmade limited addition catalog produced in conjunction with the exhibition.

Sunday, March 27, 5 to 8 pm.
5 to 6 mix, mingle and revisit this amazing show
6 to 8 Q&A with the artists and curator on our new stage
Free

The artists:
Claire Zitzow
May-ling Martinez
Joshua Jon Miller
Mike Calway-Fagen
Morgan Manduley

Space 4 Art
325 15th Street
San Diego, CA 92101
619 269 7230
Email: sdspace4art@gmail.com

Eric Wixon “Strength For The Journey” @ Habitat

Eric Wixon “Strength For The Journey”
Opening Wednesday, March 30, 2011, 6-10pm.
HABITAT
Home Venue & Art Gallery.
Corner of 21st and Broadway
located in the Golden Hill neighborhood
of San Diego, CA 92102.

No Comment

Behind the Glass

I took that picture February 13, 2011, and published it in this blog Monday, March 7.

March 8, I wrote in my comments: "I am very intrigued by them [the gloves] and definitely want to do more - may be a video. "
March 9, Jane wrote: "Black gloves video!? I'll wait for the video and keep the mystery alive!"

March 11, the 9.0 earthquake struck Japan and the nuclear accident happened. I was working on a video assignment. I suddenly changed the subject I was working on. I decided to do something with my own images about what I was feeling. It is very hard to put words on what happened and it is hard to put images too.
But here it is, a short video made with video footage taken after the disaster happened.
I added some photos I took recently, prior to the events.

I went back to videotape the black gloves.

URGENCY and SIZE MATTERS at San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art

Mike Rathbun, Urgency, 2011,
Exhibition detail, Wood








The installation "Urgency" Mike Rathbun is in a room by itself. In the adjacent room is installed the group exhibition "Size Matters". One piece echoes "Urgency" beautifully: "Long Time" by Terry Berlier. The way both pieces take the space over, the slickness and simplicity of the material, the evocation of an ancient mystery, of an archeological treasure, bones or maybe the dry structure of some cacti. Urgency is growing from underneath the base of the installation, going up to the ceiling. It takes the whole room, almost, and one has to go around along a path. "Long time" is suspended and feels weightless. One can go around easily and even underneath it.
I was under the spell of those two pieces and unfortunately I did not really "see" the rest of the show. I have to go back there!


Terry Berlier: Long Time
Plywood, monofilament




























on the wall: Ian Harvey + Koo Kyung Sook, Figure 2, 2007,
Enamel and shellac on paper, 112 x 132 inches

artists in "Size Matters" Terry Berlier, Kevin B. Chen, Dalton Ghetti, Dana Harel, Ian Harvey, Koo Kyung Sook, Elaine Ling, Eamon MacMahon, Klari Reis, Christina Seely, Gail Wight.

San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA)
560 South First Street
San Jose, CA 95113 408.283.8155