New Device

I'm very excited to showcase my newest medical device. The lights turn on and all the parts move. I'm hoping to collaborate with my partner, Gary Schott who is a metalsmith to create new attachments and re-purpose the piece. I found the item on craigslist and got it for a bargain today. For my show in March I proposed expanding on my Repository series as well as creating a new series of myself interacting with medical devices. I have a Swedish stomach pump, one of my Christmas gifts last year from Gary, and now this microwave diathermy piece to get me started.

I'll be sure to post images as I begin to work on them. If you happen to come across any interesting medical devices on craigslist or ebay send me an email. I'm always on the hunt for something to add to my collection.

I know I'm announcing this a week early but I know how many art happenings go on during any given night in New York City. My good friend Alicia Ross is having her first solo show, Sacred-Profane next Friday, September 5, 2008 at Black and White Gallery's Chelsea location.

I wish I could be there to see Alicia's new large scale pieces which take months to complete. So make sure to stop in and see this amazing show!

Referencing the title of Titian's 16th century painting Sacred and Profane Love, Ross investigates the wide range of media to provide a contemporary reinterpretation of proper and obscene, respectable and shameful. The work, in this contemporary context, mingles teasing innocence with erotic voracity, challenges the irony of representation of the female form with standard moral differences between sanctified love and fantastical desire.

The series of Samplers and Motherboards, Love Swing sculpture and Rockwell’s a Surrealist mixed media installation originate from images from the internet, religious texts and domestic objects – all loaded with pornographic innuendos – which Ross works and reworks using handicraft techniques, transforming them while retaining a sense of their original meaning and physical form. An interesting tension arises when pornography is integrated with handicraft, blurring distinctions between the sacred and the profane for it pokes fun at the very idea of leeway or discrepancy, and inevitably engages the viewer’s critical eye.

In the Ishihara Test Series videos, similarly-sourced imaging is fitted into the template for testing color deficiencies. Ross is savvy about her use of this scientific test for the work, aware that men are considerably more prone to colorblindness than women. Hence, Ishihara becomes an ideal mechanism with which to confound the male gaze. It becomes nearly impossible to possess that which you cannot see. Sacred_Profane draws our attention to the whimsical, the absurd as much as the tragic and to the morally significant.

Colleen Plumb on 20x200

I'm excited to report that Colleen Plumb, an artist I included in my "Super Safe" feature, will have two prints for sale on 20x200 TODAY. If you aren't familiar with this process or website please check it out. Essentially the staff at 20x200 selects photographers and other 2D artists and sells their work online at very affordable prices. The first edition of 200 for an 8.5 x 11 print sells for $20. These typically sell out quick so when Colleen's work hits today be sure to be ready to buy 1, 2 or more. I'll be shooting in a hospital today so I don't think I can benefit from the sale but maybe there is a trade in the near future, wink wink.

Transcendental Smoothie Opening Tonight

My friends Mary Magsamen and Stephan Hillerbrand have yet another opening this evening at Lawndale Art Center in Houston, Texas titled Transcendental Smoothie. They are giving an artist talk at 6:30 so be sure not to miss it. Mary and Stephan who reside in Texas have had a great run lately exhibiting in Texas most recently at the Houston Center for Photography and Big Medium Gallery in Austin, nationally as well as participating in several international video festivals including:

Cologne OFF Film Festival, Cologne, Germany
Wand 5 e.V. 21. Stuttgarter Filmwinter, Stuttgart, Germany
One Minute Film & Video Festival Aarau, Aarau, Switzerland
Videoholica 08 Video Biennal, Sity Gallery, Varna, Bulgaria

Their show at Lawndale runs August 22 – September 27, 2008 with an opening reception tonight, Friday, August 22, 2008, 6:30-8:30 PM

Transcendental Smoothie is a video installation by the collaborative husband and wife team of Magsamen + Hillerbrand. Through a playful and unexpected use of materials and camera viewpoints, Magsamen + Hillerbrand transform the John M. O'Quinn Gallery into a kaleidoscope world of cookie dough, vultures and monumental peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that bring questions and ideas of perception, identity, family and everyday pressures. “Transcendental” refers to Kant’s theory that our experience of things is about how they appear to us, but not about those things as they are in and of themselves. “Smoothie” refers to our use of food and everyday objects and the blending of many items to make something delicious.

Fear of Flying

Today I had the pleasure of completing my first photo shoot for Tribeza magazine. I was assigned to photograph two local Austin artists. One at his Lock-Away studio down south and the other outside or rather on the Federal building in downtown. I found a few moments to capture aerial dancer and choreographer Laura Cannon from Blue Lapis Light as she took time to enjoy being suspended. I must admit I previously thought the shoot would be very challenging yet Sally Jacques the artistic director, Corey Fields the rigger and Laura were amazing to work with and I can't complain about the view. It was like my own private performance held at sunset. Although I am deathly afraid of heights I'm tempted to take a workshop and see what happens.

Ebay Calling

So today I was catching up on my friend Amy Stein's blog and discovered her latest post titled "I am a Secondary Market".

Amani Olu just let me know that one of my prints is up for sale on eBay. This is the first time my work has hit the secondary market and while it's only eBay, it's still a minor landmark in my career.

The print, Peri, Route 64, Kentucky from my Stranded series, was originally available for sale as part of Humble Arts Foundation's Limited Edition Print sale. The original price of the print was $375. Also notice the seller says Peri has never been "framed or displayed" which basically means the person never enjoyed it. Too funny.

I don't see this as an endorsement of my work so much as a strong endorsement of the quality of work and the amazing deals available through Humble's Limited Edition program. Unless you like living with regret you should head over to the Humble site now and pick up a print or three.

Of course I was curious and looked myself up on Ebay. Much to my disappointment I was not listed, at least not yet. I know Mrs. Stein owns one of my photographs also from Humble's Limited Edition Prints. If in the future Amy ever decides to sell my work on Ebay, maybe she'll split the proceeds with me.

Work In Progress

I thought I'd share some recent work-in-progress. It seems I never have enough time to work on my projects. I know I need to just make more time to do this. Knowing a have a solo show next year is both exciting and frightening. There is so much to plan for: making new work; scanning and printing it; figuring out a layout in the space for your work; framing and installing all the pieces as well as notifying the public about the event. It could easily be a full-time job. If I only had that much time to dedicate to it or had a staff to help. One day.

These two images are from a new series titled Finding Antonia. In this image I photographed myself in front of my abuela's grave in Texas. The whole premise is still being worked out as well as what images will make up this developing body of work. I welcome any comments.

Review: Let's Talk About Sex

Last Saturday Erotica opened at Gallery Lombardi here in Austin and was reviwed already by the Austinist. It felt great to have six pieces in the show. Four photographs inside and two videos projected outside. It was interesting watching people stop and view my figure on the big screen examining myself and bathing in the morgue sink. Friends always ask if people recognize me at these events.....often no.

The videos which were projected outside will be displayed on a monitor inside. The show runs through August 30 so stop on by.

Parsons Grads

I'm always hearing about Yale photo grads and SVA photo grads and we Parsons grads seem to have been forgotten. However I'm happy to report that several of us who graduated in 2006 from the Parsons MFA Photography department have recently been written about, interviewed, invited to residencies and given our first solo shows.

Just this week Melissa Fleming and Brigitte Lustenberger sent me recent interviews. Melissa had an interview in Double Exposure. Melissa was also selected for PhotoEspana this last year.

Brigitte had a solo show at Le Maillon/Chambre à Part in Strasbourg and her interview along with installation views can be seen on YouTube. Her work was also published in Purpose Magazine, an online publication, last fall.

The study of the gaze, the interplay between absence and presence in a photographic image, and the fact that the reading of a photograph is most often triggered by a collective memory are the main issues in my work.

I know more of us from my graduating class have been busy–so send me your news and links to new work.