Lucy, Darwin and Me / video

A 12 mn video part of my solo exhibition, "Lucy, Darwin and Me", at Art Produce Gallery in San Diego, December 2009 - January 2010.
It was videotaped in Anza Borrego State Park, Southern California, in 2009.

More information:
Photos of the exhibition
Photos of the Exhibition 2
In the San Diego Union Tribune
In the San Diego City Beat
Essais by Katherine Sweetman (SDVAN)
Essais by Jane LaMotte
In Archaeoikon

CoMa @ Edgeware Gallery

"Behind the Iron Curtain"
One of the pieces shown at Mission Cafe, March 2010


Conrad Mecheski and Maura Vazakas
"Insider / Outsider" group show, The Garage, September 2009
in front of one of their collaborative pieces

I had the pleasure to see the collaborative work of Maura Vazakas and Conrad Mecheski on three occasions: at the Garage (group show "Insider/Outsider") in the fall 2009, at the Garage and at Mission Cafe downtown San Diego last spring.

I regret not to be able to see this new show at Edgeware Gallery, but the video is really nice to understand how the two artists collaborate and to see some of their new pieces.
I have always been fascinated by collaborative art work and I am following this work with a lot of interest!



From the press release
Edgeware Gallery is proud to present:
CoMa - A collaboration of Conrad Mecheski and Maura Vazakas
Show Runs Until Nov. 14, 2010

CoMa is a collaboration of Conrad Mecheski and Maura Vazakas. They paint simultaneously, sometimes adding, some-times deleting. They have explored text, figure and abstraction in a poetic form both verbally and visually as line and shape. Conrad and Maura learn to accept the process as something that has no formulated or contrived idea of end result. It is a mystery. They must agree when the work is finished. It puts them in the present moment when the joyous creativity is truly happening.
In conclusion, their work has always been about the relationship of two individuals joining together on one surface.

A portion of the sale of their artwork is donated to the Autism Research Institute (www.autism.com) in San Diego, California.

Edgeware Gallery
4186 Adams Avenue
San Diego, CA 92116
info@EdgewareGallery.com
Phone: 619.534.8120

Gallery Hours
Friday: 5pm-9pm
Saturday and Sunday: 2pm-7pm

artists' contacts
mauravazakas@hotmail.com
conradmecheski@gmail.com

A National Park for the coves near Marseille, France: "Les Calanques"

Les Calanques: Sormiou, Le Canape, cove's left bank

My mom is 76 and she is doing an amazing job working endlessly (at least for 20 years now) for the creation of a National Park near Marseille, France. She lives there, that's where she studied biology at the University before I was born. When we go to France to visit her, we always go to the Calanques. They are a breath taking place, one of the most incredible ones I know - but dangerously close to the town of Marseille.



"Les Calanques", the site my mom and a lot of dedicated people want to transform into a National Park, is a very special place along the Mediterranean sea: white cliffs plunging in the water, secluded coves, old pine trees and a reach flora and fauna.

My mom goes to the Calanques very often (as I did when I lived in Marseille) - she hikes there and she also guides group of people to explain the geology of the site. She is very passionate about the subject, goes to meetings, writes letters, participates in conferences. It takes a great amount of patience, of work, to convince so many people that the creation of the national park is an absolute necessity or the site will be constructed and anything can happen.

She sends me photos she takes, different days, different lights. Here are some of them.


Maïre, Cap Croisette


Sugiton cove from the trail


Rosemary

I hope to have her energy if I reach her age.
Mom, you are an inspiration, thank you for what you are doing! And I hope the National Park for the coves near Marseille will be a reality very soon!


Sugiton cove (where I spent lots of Sundays when I was a child -
one hour hike to get to the cove)


Les Goudes, Ile Maïre (all photos Denise Guieu)

If you want to read more (in French!) about the creation of the National Park, please visit:
"Un Parc National pour les Calanques".

Open Up Your Eyes

The earth from space - image NASA

"We live in a human created environment where it's very easy to think we are different from other creatures. We are smart, we create our own habitat, we don't need nature. It's the economy that's the most important thing and in focusing on the economy I think we've forgotten these ancient truths, these ancient wisdoms that kept us plugged in to nature and understanding that if we do something to offend the natural world, we are going to pay a price for that. We have to treat nature much more gently."
David Suzuki, Geneticist/Biologist, talking in "The 11th hour".

My New Space / Upcoming Show

That's how the garage space looked when I arrived here in late July. There were 4 shelves and no panels on the only wall I could use. Now the shelves are regrouped in the middle of the garage, like an island, I am waiting for the owner to come get them. It may never happen and that's OK.



I insulated the wall I wanted to use, even if the rest of the room is not insulated. But the sun heats directly that wall on the outside, so I figured it could help a little.
Then a very efficient handy man installed some drywall in 2 hours.





I painted the wall white even if I know it will not stay like that for very long, but the soft reflection of the light on the white is really nice.



That's why I painted my card boxes white too, it does help the light to reflect in the room.



It did not take much time to figure out what I wanted and to make the few changes I needed to feel comfortable with the space. Since then, I am working on the new series for the next exhibition at Project X in December (which I started in San Diego, before moving), "Defragmentation, rearranging bits and pieces of memory". I will have the pleasure to come to San Diego for a week to install the show and hopefully to see all my friends!
I am very excited about the project and I am working on it intensely.

A Season in Hell by Randall Packer @ The Stage / San Jose

"A Season in Hell, for perilous times in post-apocalyptic America, presented by the US Department of Art And Technology"

A Season in Hell, a multimedia performance created by Randall Packer, was part of 2010 01SJ Biennial and was presented only a few times at The Stage. The experience started in the entrance/lobby of the theater where Packer's installation was an introduction to the multimedia spectacle.


America's grave







The performance itself is an extremely dense journey, packed with montages of hundreds of CNN documents, photos and videos' excerpts, political statements, dialogues on stage, haunting chants performed by tenor Charles Lane, breathtaking videos taken in Death Valley.

A journey through a post 9/11 America, which, like Rimbaud's journey through Hell, is full of disillusions, anger, sufferings and questions. And some hope in the end.
Like in Rimbaud's "A Season in Hell", there are some mysterious allegories and I may not have understand everything Packer is referring to in the performance and it does not matter. In its explosive richness, its changing pace and amazing light, is a very powerful poetic journey.

The trailer of the performance gives an idea of what the performance is about, although I believe it is very difficult to document a performance like this one. I hope the performance will be shown elsewhere in the country and will initiate interesting debates, like the one which took place after the show.


See the trailer of the performance here - Image and video courtesy of the artist.


The last image of the spectacle.



The Stage
490 South First Street
San Jose, CA 95113
Box Office
(408) 283 7142

Videos of the 2010 01SJ Biennial

I took some videos during the 2010 01SJ Biennial. It difficult to render the diversity and richness of the whole event. This is just a glimpse.


Absolute Zero / street festival / South First Street / one night, September 17.


Out of the Garage, Into the World / South Hall.


Out of the Garage, Into the World / South Hall.
Cheese Computing by GrowBot Garden.


The Green Prix Parade - Saturday, September 18.

ZERO1
2010 01SJ

2010 SJ01: Build Your Own World - Fantastic Biennial!

Out of the garage, into the World / South Hall


Inside South Hall, a view on Growbot Garden's workshop
[ZER01 is inviting independent artists, designers, architects, engineers, programmers, and corporate and academic research programs to publicly work in San Jose’s 80,000 square foot “South Hall” to create projects for exhibition, performance, provocation, and interaction.]



Tomato Quintet


Eyebeam / Ticket Machine


Cheese Computing / Growbot Garden




Name your Price / UC Santa Cruz






Zorop


Empire Drive-In





2010 01SJ, the San Jose Biennial, was a fantastic mix of events! The theme this year was "Build Your Own World" and it is exactly what it was: an archipelago of ideas/propositions/realizations/dreams.
Museums and galleries hosted great exhibitions. "Absolute Zero", a street festival, featured live performances, live music, multimedia shows, participative installations. In South Hall, transformed into a giant lab, "Out of the Garage into the World" proposed talks, workshops, works in progress, presentations and films. Public Art was commissioned throughout the town, a symposium was organized on Global Warming, a Green Prix parade took place in the streets.

It is the second edition of that biennial, it was quite extraordinary for me to witness it as a newcomer! It was very exciting to discover all the projects, an amazing mix of experimental and institutional events. Lots of energy, lots of ideas and a load of collaborative works and/or participative works. Lots of different venues.


Green Prix Parade



I have no idea how something like that can be organized! It seems crazy to me. Of course I missed a lot, I had to make (difficult) choices. I enjoyed myself a lot. I saw people excited, really interested by what they were seeing, enthusiastic, happy! I made some short videos, it gives a little idea of what the biennial was.

In previous posts, I talked about some of the venues participating in the biennial, like the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), or the San Jose Museum of Art. Also I posted a video about Robin Lasser (public art). See o1SJ Biennial tag.


Karrie Hovey: The Garden Grows


A Season in Hell, Multimedia performance @ Stage
(I'll post more about this impressive event!)

The Biennial, with its energy and all the questions it generates is an excellent occasion to reflect on all the different art practices today. The more I see what is going on in the bay area, the more I believe bridges between art, technology and science are not only encouraged here but they are wanted. I can see an extraordinary diversity and artists trying different paths, crossing boundaries.

I am excited! But now I have a ton of questions concerning my own art and practice. But that's good.

2010 01SJ is produced by Zero1

2010 SJ01: Build YOur Own World - September 16 - 19 in San Jose

ZER01 website
ZER01 blog
ZER01 Facebook