Mara Thompson & Ray Johnson: One Degree of Separation [216]

Above:  Mara Thompson and Ray Johnson: Mara Thompson's Audrey Johnson, collage on paper, made from copies of Marie Tavroges Stillkind's Ray Johnson letters. Circa 2010.

In 1951 my mother and father married.  Mom was and is great friends with Marie Tavroges Stilkind, and they have kept in touch. 

My mother moved to Canada during WWII, and went to art school.  My father, John Falk, was a student and beatnik at the time, eventually earning a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology and practicing as a research scientist and teacher (and published poet).

I grew up with a strong interest in the arts, often skipping high school classes to go to the Los Angeles Museum of Art and the local library.  After graduation I found my way to ten years of “living on the land” working a farm in the Ozarks. I returned to Southern California in 1982 and began a twenty year career with the phone company.  At the end, I was a Systems Engineer.  After leaving them, I went to work for Otis College of Art and Design and began my second career as artist. 

It was at Otis that I met the best art instructor of my life, Franklyn Liegel. It was he who introduced me to the collages and the life of Ray Johnson.  Immediately I was thoroughly taken with Ray’s practice.  I still watch the movie, “How to Draw a Bunny” at least once a year.  I dream about him.  I dream about Franklyn.. (see my posthumous collaboration on page fifty in the book, there is a full preview available to review on line).

LEFT: Collage by Mara Thompson, 2010.

In conversation, my mother mentioned that Marie was the first Secretary of The New York Correspondance School!  Thus began my friendship and pen pal relationship with Marie.

Over the years Marie has told me many stories, shared clippings and gossip, books and paraphernalia.  She has been a constant source of inspiration, and I very much value her history in the arts of the time.  I began to explore the world of mail art.

I’ve enclosed a smattering of my postcards for your pleasure.  I’ve been involved with a Ray Johnson inspired series of exhibitions, the first, A Book About Death, curated by Matthew Rose at the Emily Harvey Foundation in 2009.

After that exhibition I insinuated my way into curation of a similar event in the Fine Arts building at Otis.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments – Mara Thompson.

RAVENNA TAYLOR STUDIO [215]

RAVENNA TAYLOR: STUDIO VIEW

Ravenna Taylor, the American artist (Hunterdon County, NJ) is quietly working away in her studio on a series of abstract works and contemplating her upcoming exhibition, in which she has six new works to complete a suite of 12 paintings.  The artist, who contributed to the NYC ABAD exhibition is showing her work here: www.abartonline.com.
 
If you would like to see the full body of works up close, see: http://ravennataylorartlagoon.blogspot.com/

CECIL TOUCHON: THE FUSION SERIES AT SEARS-PEYTON, OPENING APRIL 4 IN NEW YORK [214]

Cecil Touchon, not only one of the artists in the NYC ABAD exhibition, but also an artist curator of the project in both Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas and Pagosa Springs, Colorado has been working on his visual diary of collage art for three decades.

Cecil will show his work in New York this coming April. Sears-Peyton Gallery has been representing Cecil's Fusion Series series from its beginnings. Come meet the artist in New York at the opening April 4 2013 -Thursday 5-7 pm http://searspeyton.com

Eric Andersen : Liaison [213]

Eric Andersen, a contributor to the New York ABAD exhibition at The Emily Harvey Foundation, launches his Liaison at Nikolaj Kunsthal in Copenhagen, Denmark on Friday 15 March, 2013.

On each of the exhibition days Eric will invite everyone to a jam session (he will play an organ concert at the end of the day) beginning at 7:30 PM.

See more here: Nikolaj Kunsthal.

Seatle's ABAD : The Book [212]

ABOVE, ARTIST WILLIAM EVERTSON SHOWS OFF HIS COPY OF SEATTLE ABAD. EVERTSON HAS PARTICIPATED IN 20 OF THE 27 ABAD EXHBITIONS SINCE 2009.

If you are interested in obtaining a copy of the Seattle ABAD project, you can purchase one here: SEATTLE A BOOK ABOUT DEATH.  Printed book is $60 and a digital copy is only $5.  Get both for $60.  The monies earned help to defray the costs of production and benefit QUETZALCOATL GALLERY which went to great expense to launch the exhibition in 2012.

Buy the book, click here: QUETZALCOATL GALLERYThe publication is 230 pages and perfect bound.  A Book About Death Seattle, exhibited at the Quetzalcoatl Gallery, Seattle WA. Nov 11-Dec 10, 2011, is being documented in a book that will archived in the Cornish College of the Arts library. http://www.cornish.edu/about/history/   ABAD Seattle, curated by Kathleen McHugh and Almandra Sandoval included an international exhibition of art and an interactive work by Matthew Rose. The wall of images created a rich cultural space for literary, social and music events by The Tangletown String Band, Choroloco, Jacque Larrainzar, Sin Fronteras, and readings by published authors. ABAD Seattle book are posted on the blog: http://abadseattle.blogspot.com   

RAY JOHNSON'S A BAD ARCHIVE AT CW POST [211]

CW Post College is archiving the ABAD collection along with two boxes of New York City catalogs, invitation and announcement cards from the 1980s donated to the college by Matthew Rose. 

CW Post is located on Long Island in New York.

The Post librarians and specialists who have archived and stored the collections are : Top, Jarron Jewell, Senior library assistant; middle, Erin de Marco Library School Graduate student, Queens College and bottom, Bonnie Gallagher, Library School Graduate student, LIU Post.

Joan Harrison who helped with the entire effort of getting the works into the collections at CW Post, curated wide ranging exhibition documenting Ray Johnson & A Book About Death.  She writes: "Don't you love the signage?  A BAD Archive.  Ray would have loved that and would have had to make a 'Good' archive."

ABAD AUSTRALIA CALL OUT [210]

A Book About Death Australia is now receiving art works.

Please see the Call Out below and visit the web site : ABAD AUSTRALIA.  

A Book About Death Australia

Tweed River Art Gallery, Murwillumbah,

New South Wales, Australia

Opening: October 18, 2013 at 6 pm

Exhibition finishes November 24, 2013

 

 

 

Speaking Muzzled Eurasion - dOCUMENTA - Caterina Verde & Pasha Radetzki [209]

Speaking Muzzled Eurasion, install-actions at dOCUMENTA by Caterina Verde and Pasha Radetzki takes place on August 26 (Sunday) in Kassel, Germany.  Caterina, who lives and works in Montauk, NY set up the project on her SPS (Strange Positioning Systems) platform. See information here: SPS.

The piece being performed is mafestOmarch.  MafestOmarch is a live install-action by New York artists, Pasha Radetzki  & Caterina Verde specifically conceived for Critical Art Ensemble’s curatorial programming at dOCUMENTA (13).  The work is part of a year-long mafestOmarch - art march for all -  initiatives launched by Radetzki on June 10, 2011 in Manhattan, New York.  Employing live intermedia installations, interventions, languages, and actions, mafestOmarch reworks our perceptions of continents’ past, present & future art - social developments by, SPEAKING MUZZLED EURASIAN.

To support the project Caterina and Pasha are offering inexpensive limited editions of their works. Above, right, Poverty is a luxury we can't afford, inkjet on archival paper, 24" x 17." $200.00.  To see more works and support the project, see: Speaking Muzzled Eurasian.

Robert Hughes 1938 - 2012 [208]

Photo: Tim Robinson/WNET13

Robert Hughes, art critic and author of the series on contemporary art, The Shock of the New, died yesterday.  He was 74.  Read more about the critic in the NYT obituary.

And some of Robert Hughes notable quotes, here.  Like the one below:

On the art market, in Time magazine, 1989:

If there were only one copy of each book in the world, fought over by multimillionaires and investment trusts, what would happen to one’s sense of literature – the tissue of its meanings that sustain a common discourse? What strip mining is to nature, the art market has become to culture.

Eline 'T Sant : At The Stedelijk Museum Aarschot, Flanders [207]

Eline ‘T Sant, contemporary Belgian artist, who frequently travels through Africa and Asia for her work, produced a very compelling work for the NYC A Book About Death exhibition – a photograph of a row of parrots wrapped in bandages called "Necropolis."

Eline is exhibiting her current work at the Stedlelijk Museum in Aarschot, Belgium (Flanders) through 19 August 2012.  (It is very close to Bruxelles).  For more information see Eline's website: www.elinetsant.be

Also her Saatchi site: http://saatchionline.com/profiles/index/
id/69655

Eline says about her work: "I’ve always been fascinated by anthropology and archaeology: The primitive state, the purity of materials, the essence of life. Throughout my many voyages I’ve been looking for new basic and raw materials. Elements out of the nomads’ daily life – red earth, blood, milk and cow dung – are either directly integrated into my works or hinted to by use of paint."

ABOUT HORNS, PARROTS AND COCKS
"…and many things related, as the title could go on, is a downright statement: there is something animistic about these works, a spell that lingers on and consumes itself, showing scars of a ritual past. I just initiate what the works have to finish off, bridging the relation between present and past, linking vital forces with the frailty of the objects I reanimate, using ancestral means of packing, and practicing wrapping and preserving as if meant for an afterlife."

The Book: A Book About Death [206]

 

Conceived and produced by Almendra Sandoval and Kathleen McHugh from the exhibition A Book About Death Seattle at Quetzalcoatl gallery, the book is the first printed version if any of the more than 25 exhibitions in the ABAD project.  Foreword by Matthew Rose.  Opening launch party is on August 24, 2012 in Seattle.  Quetzalcoatl Gallery/El Quetzal Lounge 3209 Beacon Avenue South, Seattle.  

Order the book here:  http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/428667

For more details please see: http://abadseattle.blogspot.fr/

Brandstifter: Lost & Found in Mainz [205]

Brandstifter: Lost & Found 2012… Asphaltbibliotheque Mainz

June 06 - August 26, Main Station Square, 55116 Mainz

Brandstifter, the German conceptual artist who performed a cassette tape reading at the Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery opening of A Book About Death in 2009 has set up shop in Mainz, Germany.

The conceptual installation with lost & found sheets of paper from the streets of Mainz collected by Brandstifter are presented on the outside of an accessible wooden cube in front of main station for three months (through August)at the art in public space project by V.E.B. Freie Brandstiftung in cooperation with Kulturdezernat Landeshauptstadt Mainz.

Visitors or passerby can take part in the exhibition by submitting their found papers for the participative project in the mail box at the cube. The Asphalt Librarian will turn them into large Blow ups and integrate them into the constantly changing exhibition. Brandstifter developed his concept Asphaltbibliotheque for archiving found pieces of papers at Mainzer Galerie Walpodenstraße 21 in 1998.

Since then he collects and exhibits them worldwide for example 2009 as artist in residency at Flux Factory New York with grants by Schloss Balmoral, Stiftung Rheinland-Pfalz für Kultur. The three month exhibition will be guided by an opening reception on June 16, 6pm in the shape of an EXCHANGE BUREAU FOR LOST&FOUND SHEETS OF PAPER, a 24h performance with members of the performing arts ensemble “Raum (0)” on July 27, a FLUX exchange project arcross the river Rhine with Ben Patterson (A Penny for your thoughts) at the cube in Mainz and Brandstifter at Ben's Pavillion, Museum Wiesbaden as well as an art zine that displays the progress of the project and lost&found art that can be submitted by E-mail through brand@brand-stiftung.net

Joan Harrison: Sea & Sky [204]

The artist, curator and writer Joan Harrison opens June with art and literature.  Joan Harrison curated the Ray Johnson and ABAD exhibition at CW Post College on Long Island in 2011. 

Joan’s pastels of the sea and the sky will be on view at the Glen Cove Yacht Clulb starting Saturday June 9.  Her book, Locust Valley, will also be available for sale.  See Joan’s web site here: http://joanharrison.com/

Peter Schuyff: Second Chance (Uke) [203]

Peter Schuyff, artist living in Amsterdam, contributor to ABAD's show in NYC is also the guitar and uke playing, troubadour of The Woodwards. Here, he gives an impromptu ukelele rendition of (I think) Second Chance at his gallery in Amsterdam, Galerie Gabriel Rolt. You can also watch Peter's new music video, NOTHING, here: STOREFRONTWINDOWS.

Susan Shulman's Letter From Paris [202]

Above: Musée Maillol, Paris.  Read the post on Praeterita.

This is the second part of a dispatch from a visit to Europe by the three artists of the Seeking Kali Collective (Part 1 here). Artist Susan Shulman recounts what she saw in Paris -- including a visit to the apartment of the legendary Matthew Rose.  (Well, I don't know about legendary).  Anyway:  More here.

Bonnie Gloris: Renaissance, Rebirth, Revival [201]

ABAD artist Bonnie Gloris will exhibit her work in Renaissance, Rebirth, Revival a group exhibition with works that reflect a renewal of life, vigor, commerce, interest and hope.

Above: Mother/Mistress, 2010. Mixed media on paper, 20.5 x 16.25 inches

RSI: 1500 Irving Street, Rahway, NJ; May 20th – June 24th, 2012.

Opening Reception: Sunday, May 20, 11 a.m.-4:00 p.m.

More information, click: Bonnie Gloris.

ABAD SEATTLE: THE BOOK [200]

A Book About Death Seattle, curated by Kathleen McHugh and hosted by Almendra Sandoval will be a published book.  The 250-page book will be available by the end of July. The launch party is August 1.  For more information see: ABAD SEATTLE.

Sandoval, Almendra, ed. A Book About Death Seattle. Seattle: Quetzalcoatl, 2012. Print.
Foreword by Matthew Rose — with Herb Sundvall, Almendra Sandoval and Matthew Rose at El Quetzal.

Gloria Zein / London : I Can't Stop The Dancing Chicken [199]

Mural  and sculpture: Gloria Zein. Photograph stairwell: © Richard Bryant. Photograph sculpture: © Gloria Zein. 

Gloria Zein, an artist who helped launch the A Book About Death project in New York, opens her solo exhibition I can't stop the dancing chicken at the Goethe-Institut London on Sunday, 20 May 2012, noon to 8pm.

Goethe-Institut London 

I can’t stop the dancing chicken was commissioned specially for the 50th anniversary and reopening of the Goethe-Institut London.

It is a temporary installation in three parts consisting of individual works of sculpture, miniatures and a mural, which together form a complex, comprehensive spatial installation addressing the identity of the building and the structure of the Institut. It will be on show until April 2013.

There will also be a number of events:

1) Ten film screenings (22 May - 23 June) including short works by the artists Fiona Chambers, Marcus Coates and Anita Delaney and by director Helke Sander.

You can find the complete  program here:
http://www.goethe.de/ins/gb/lon/ver/en9182736v.htm

2) Artist Talk:  Gloria Zein in conversation with Stephanie Rosenthal, chief curator at the Hayward Gallery, on 3 July at the Goethe-Institut.

If you are in London, the artist will be in town on 20 - 22 May as well as 3 July, 2012.

Gloria Zein: I can't stop the dancing chicken
Goethe-Institut London  50 Princes Gate
Exhibition Road  London SW7 2PH

Please check the website for the new opening hours:
http://www.goethe.de/ins/gb/lon/knt/oef/enindex.htm
 
From the program: German artist Gloria Zein currently works between London, Berlin and Paris. In 2011 she was awarded the Cass Prize for Sculpture in London.

An interdisciplinary, dialogical approach is central to Zein’s practice; the disclosure of her artistic methods allows viewers to appreciate the processual nature of her projects and the conditions surrounding the creation of her sculptural pieces.

The works that have been developed in honour of the reopening and 50th anniversary of the Goethe-Institut London reflect the transdisciplinary nature of Gloria Zein’s art. Her commissioned pieces allude not only to the multifaceted role of the institute with its wide range of cultural and educational activities in London, Great Britain and North-West Europe, but also to the dedication and commitment of its staff, operating within a dynamic network of artistic and creative fields.

Following the extensive restoration of the premises and the redevelopment of the interior spaces, Gloria Zein has responded to the architecture of the building with references to its historical significance and to the cultural objectives of the Goethe-Institut London. The diversity and geographical structure of these are addressed in a complex artistic work. Sculptures and objects in a variety of materials have been installed both outside the building and in individual working areas, and Zein has also developed a striking and playful colour concept for the walls and ceilings of the main stairwell. Visitors experience this space as a walk-through installation that opens up fascinating and surprising new perspectives throughout the entire building.

This project is presented as part of the International Architecture and Design Showcase 2012; a global gathering of cultural projects investigating architecture and design from across the world.

– Claudia Amthor-Croft Head of Arts, Goethe-Institut London, spring 2012, Translated by Jacqueline Todd

GRACE GRAUPE PILLARD's NEW YORK CITY BLUES [198]

Grace Graupe Pillard opens a show of New York works exploring the city, along with seveal other NY based artists.  NEW YORK CITY BLUES taps into the city as atmosphere, motif and symbol of the spirit of our time – and it opens in two art spaces in Denmark –  KUNSTPAKHUSET and Augustiana.  Along with Grace Graupe Pillard, Robin Tewes and the Danish artists Jonna Pedersen and Bjørn Eriksen visit the ins and outs of the city and its population thorugh photography, painting, video and other media.

Grace was one of the New York City artists who participated in the ABAD show at the Emily Harvey Foundation, and also made a film of her visit, visible on the main ABAD site, here.

New York City Blues 28. april – 28. maj 2012
KUNSTPAKHUSET
Lille Torv 5 7430 Ikast Tlf. 2311 1019 info@kunstpakhuset.dk www.kunstpakhuset.dk
 
24. juni – 19. august 2012
Augustiana – skulptur og kunstcenter  ved Galleri Nørballe
Palævej 12 6440 Augustenborg Tlf. 2220 2591 info@gallerinoerballe.dk www.augustiana.dk

Visit Grace Graupe Pillard's website here.

From the catalog:  GRACE GRAUPE PILLARD / The Spirit of our Time

In several of her works Grace Graupe Pillard addresses events of national and political character, which seem to have altered America’s awareness of its own role in the world, and its internal political conscious- ness, and has created a new ”spirit of our time.”

The terrorist bombing on September 11, 2001 of the spectacular Twin Towers - the World Trade Center skyscrapers in NYC, changed the USA and its perception of personal safety. The event changed the world so dramatically that there is now talk of a before and after 9/11.The monstrous event shattered the American self-image and revealed a vulnerability of unknown dimensions. It was literally the heart of the American system that was hit.

Grace Graupe Pillard visualizes the consequences of war and the equally powerful manipulation of the electorate through the “politics of fear”, which were created by politicians in the period after 9/11 and the ensuing war in Iraq. “Interventions - It Can’t Happen Here” attempts to make visually evident the ongoing tragic repercussions of war in ”far off places” transported to United States’ own backyard.
By use of computer and digital filters she creates an implanted imagery - sometimes verging on the abstract. Using bright colors and kaleidoscopic patterns, she depicts a recognizable everyday reality that is distur- bingly altered in character and mood. She makes a digital / photographic jolt of reality. As a viewer we ask ourselves: What is paranoia? What is reality?

Pre-Fluxus Time Travel Circus: LuAnn Palazzo [197]

ABAD artist and curator LuAnn Palazzo opens up an exhibition at The Second Avenue Firehouse Gallery in Bay Shore, New Yokr (on Long Island) that touches upon interspatiaion time travelling: Pre FLuxus Time Travel Circus.  The international mail system, the physical world and time are the subjects of this show that features selections from the high flying art world.

The exhibition opens on Sunday May 6, 2012, from 2 - 5 PM.  The exhibition fruns from May 6 through May 28.  Call: 631.669.3236.

For more information: http://www.secondavenuefirehouse.com/

Willie Marlowe In Ireland : Neon Ribbon [196]

Willie Marlowe, a painter and original sponsor of the ABAD exhibition in New York will be showing new paintings and prints in Ireland at The Denis Collins Gallery's Art Upstairs, Wexford, Ireland.

Her works are luminous like the above piece, Neon Ribbon, a 26-inch square archival pigment ink print.   Willie will also show works at the Rosslare Gallery, Strand Road this spring.  To see more work, read about and contact the artist, connect here: Willie Marlowe.

ABAD ON HUFFINGTON POST [195]

Article by Paris-based writer Pamela Poole on Huffington Post about A Book About Death: THE POSTCARD AS LIT MAG AND UNBOUND BOOK .

ONTOLOGICAL MUSEUM ABAD INSTALLATION [194]

Opening March 10, 2012, A Book About Death opens The Ontological Museum's big launch in Pagosa Springs, Colorado.

See more here: ONTOLOGICAL MUSEUM AT PAGOSA SPRINGS.

FRANS VAN LENT : AIRE [193]

Frans van Lent, one of the first artists to submit work to the ABAD show at the EHF invites the world to  an online preview of his new video-performance: Aire (2012).

Please follow this link: http://vimeo.com/fransvanlent/aire

Password: 2012aire

Frans van Lent website here.

See other Frans van Lent videos here.

ABAD SAO PAULO: ANGELA FERRARA INTERVIEW [192]

Angela Ferrara interview about the ABAD Sao Paulo show...

Born in Sao Paulo, Angela Ferrara is painter, architect, designer and curator. Graduate in architecture and urban design in 2001 and postgraduate in Communication and Arts with emphasis in interior design in 2006 in Sao Paulo. In parallel to her work she’s also dedicated to visual poetry
and performance grounded in Fluxus philosophy.

Angela Ferrara is part of a generation of artists who seek to return to the conceptual aspect of 1960s, to search for new techniques in a extensive research of ornamental patterns. Her work makes references to Brazilian artists Aldemir Martins (1822-2006) and Burle Marx (1909-1994). The artist
participates in exhibitions and collections in United Estates, Europe, Brazil. Angela Ferrara works in a decorative patterning, influenced by the fauna and flora of Brazil, to create a work psychedelic and
geometric, but at the same time is organized and rhythmic.

website: http://angelaferrara.com

Assemblings At The Ontological Museum & ABAD [191]

Assemblings (Part One) – Inaugural Exhibition! From the Archives of the Eternal Network at the Ontological Museum (OM) in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, USA.

Opens: March 10, 2012 and runs through April 15, 2012
Location: 262 Pagosa Street, Pagosa Springs, Colorado 81147 – tel. 817-944-4000
Opening Reception: Saturday March 10, 2012 from 5:00pm – 7:00pm
Winter Hours: Tues through Saturday 2:00pm - 5:00pm

On view will be a selection of Assemblings including Franticham’s Assembling Boxes from Ireland; Art/Life Magazine, Tensetendoned - We Absorb assemblings; Fluxkits from Fluxpress Saint Louis, Bamboo Assemblings, KART magazine (an assembling publication from Australia); Fluxlist Fluxbox; Post cards from the assembling: A Book About Death; selections from the Fluxcase Micro Museum. Additional related works from the Permanent Collection will also be on view.

What are Assemblings?
Assemblings are collections or compilations of works of art, multiples, objects, writings, visual poetry and/or ephemera submitted by a network of participants to a single hub where a central editor collates one copy from each artists' edition of submitted materials into a number of portfolios. A common practice is for the editor to then send back one folio or assembling of works to each participating member. Assemblings might be in the form of a box of loose materials, a bound book or magazine format, etc. or even be a collection of sound works or short videos. On view for this exhibit are examples of assemblings in box form, magazine format, an unbound book and as collections of objects. In fact the museum itself is an assembling in its own right.

History of Assemblings
Assemblings - as shown in this exhibit - have been created since the early 1960’s as artists, writers, and small independent printers worked on developing alternative, underground distribution networks for their experimental art and literature. As the art and literary worlds came to be controlled by powerful and well established business interests that, in essence, were seen as cultural gate keepers, the creative community experimented with direct mailings and other self-initiated ways to reach out to their collaborators and extended audiences; what we would call today niche markets based primarily on networks of people with similar interests. This kind of experimentation led directly to the establishment of the international Mail Art community known as the Eternal Network which celebrates its 50 year anniversary this year as does Fluxus, an amorphous group of artists that has been highly influential in developing the Mail Art scene in the 60’s and 70’s and on through to the present.

About the OM
The Ontological Museum, established in 1994 as an experimental art museum, opens it’s new space in Pagosa Springs with this exhibition. The museum houses an internationally focused collection of art that numbers in the tens of thousands of items and growing through direct donations of works from artists. The museum collects inclusively within the parameters of its mission that includes several interrelated fields: collage, assemblage and constructive art in general as well as works from the contemporary Fluxus and Mail Art communities and the art groups: The International Post-Dogmatist Group, The Massurrealist Group, the International Society of Assemblage and Collage Artists and the Neoist Society. Also in the collection are snapshot photography, visual poetry, small press publications, artist books, and the plethora of documentation, correspondence art and ephemera related to these communities and groups.

The Ontological Museum - now open in Pagosa Springs, Colorado - has been a mobile museum keeping works in storage and using exhibition spaces in various locations including commercial art galleries, university galleries, contemporary art centers and museums around the country. The founding director, Cecil Touchon, has curated fifteen+ museum exhibitions and published more than twenty-five related books and catalogs since starting the exhibition program in 2007.
Visit online at http://ontologicalmuseum.org email: info@ontologicalmuseum.org

TITO HONEGGER: MONTAGNEAU – GENEVA AND PARIS [190]

Tito Honegger opens a exhibition of new works at Galerie Michel Foex in Geneva, Switzerland on Wednesday February 29, 2012.

For information on Tito's work, see her web site: http://www.artsites.ch/titohonegger.html


In parallel to the exhibition in Geneva, Honegger will launch her collaboration with artist Jacques Jouet entitled "Un Enorme Exercice" – monotypes and texts in wire – along with a book entitled MONTAGNEAU, published by Art et Fiction.  The collaborative exhibition at the Parc culturel de Rentilly is near Paris, and runs from March 4 through May 4, 2012. For more information click here: Montagneu.

Galerie Michel Foex, 1 rue l’Evêché, 1204 Genève, Tél. : 41.022.311.2686

PETER SCHUYFF: THE WOODWARDS LIVE IN BERLIN [189]

Artist Peter Schuyff, contributor to the NYC EHF ABAD show, is the genius behind the blues and country duo, The Woodwards.

The group will play Berlin on February 15 and 16 at Tausend and O.T. Projektraum. 

Schuyff's partner, the talented Stevie Guy will sing a couple of dozen original songs that pierce the heart and stir the brain.

For more info, tracks and a bit about the group see: The Woodwards. 

RICK PROL LECTURE IN HUDSON VALLEY, NY [188]

Rick Prol, I Have This Cat, 1985; acrylic on canvas, wood and glass; 96 x 93 in. 

Rick Prol, a New York-based artist, and part of the ABAD exhibition in NYC in 2009 will lecture along with collector Ari Strauss during the exhibition Circa 1986, at the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art in Peeksill, NY.  He will speak about his life in the New York art world.

When: Sunday, January 22, 2012, 4:00-5:00 pm 
Where: Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, 1701 Main St, Peeksill, NY 10566.

Rick Prol, born and raised in NYC where he currently lives and works. He graduated from Cooper Union College in 1980 and began showing his work publicly in 1982 - during the then burgeoning East Village art scene. Prol was also studio assistant to painter Jean-Michel Basquiat.

"The East Village Art scene of the '80s thrived on the romance of slumming in an era of widespread economic prosperity. Rick Prol was one of the icons of that era, known for his cartoonish tableaux of mayhem, murder and suicide set in a rat-infested fantasy world somewhere East of First Avenue."
– July 1993, Art in America, Eleanor Heartney, via RickProl.com. 

Ari Straus was a young collector during the 1980s and the son of two collectors. Straus was excited by the cartoonish aesthetic employed by '80s artists. Even at a young age, he was an avid comic book reader, and Straus appreciated the bridge between "High" and "Low" art, which emerged during this period. Ari is currently CEO of Monticello Motor Club, a private race car establishment for automotive enthusiasts located 90 minutes north of NYC.

*Free with Museum Admission and for Members*

For more information contact:
JessicaDenaro@hvcca.org or call 914-788-0100

Graham McDougal at Cornell [187]

ABAD artist Graham McDougal opens an exhibition of his new work at the Milstein Gallery January 16th - February 11th and the Tjaden Gallery January 16th - 28th 2012.  The galleries are on the campus of Cornell University. 

Opening Reception, Thursday, January 26th, 2012. 5:00 - 7:00 pm, Milstein Gallery.

Graham McDougal's web site: http://www.madison-first.com/
More information: http://aap.cornell.edu

2012 Holiday Greetings [186]

A small collection of New Year's e mail images and greetings received from ABAD artists over the past few days...

Louise Millmann

Caterina Verde

© Gloria Zein









Eline 't Sant 

Christina Stahr

Helen Frankenthaler [185]

Helen Frankenthaler (December 12, 1928 - December 27, 2011)

The Wiki.  The New York Times Obituary.

Fancy Fancy : Kim Jong-il [184]

 

 

Korean Central TV of the North, via Reuters

 

The body of Kim Jong-il lies at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang in this image taken from video footage aired by Korean television on Tuesday, December 20, 2011.

Sin Fronteras at ABAD Seattle December 10, 2011 [183]

Abel Rocha and Patricia Mazuela from Sin Fronteras will bring music to ABAD SEATTLE at the c on December 10th. There is a suggested donation of $10 at the door. 

Mitsu Sundvall : On Being Japanese In Post War America [182]

Mitsu Sundvall talks about her childhood as a young Japanese in the United States and the anti-Japanese sentiment through the prism of a best friend who saw through the then-prevalent prejudice rampant in post-War America.   She reads at A Book About Death Seattle on November 19, 2001.

Please blog or hit the FB or Twitter button to share this video and post. 

SEATTLE, ABAD & THE GRATEFUL DEAD [181]

The A Book About Death exhibition opened in Seattle on 11.11.11 to a big crowd and the iconic sounds of The Grateful Dead, thanks to both curator Kathleen McHugh and gallery owner Almendra Sandoval.

Jacques Migeon and his group The Tangletown String Band, played a full set of Grateful Dead music and folks came in and out looking at the work and enjoying this, the 25th exhibition of the project.

More than 110 works were received by the gallery and on Saturday November 19, 2011 (beginning at 5 PM local time), about a half dozen films and videos will be shown in the gallery along with a reading and literary event with Herb Sundvall. 

About the opening, Kathleen (pictured right, with Herb Sundvall and friend) writes: "On the night of the opening a group of people came in because they saw a flyer on a telephone pole. They were familiar with A Book About Death and had wanted it to come to Seattle. Many people in the crowd came down from Victoria, British Columbia thanks to Dame Mailarta and her friend "Snappy." They spent a couple of nights in Seattle and brought both friends and strangers they had met to the show. They are writing and talking about the show in Victoria now. It was a great suprise.  All in all a great evening."

You can see about 60 images from the show here: ABAD SEATTLE PHOTO ALBUM.

ABAD SEATTLE OPENS: SNEAK PEAK [180]

Hours before the opening of ABAD Seattle, curated by Kathleen McHugh, the walls are up and the show is readying to open its doors. 

Details:  Opening –  Friday, November 11, from 6 pm - 2 am at the Almendra Sandoval QUETZALCOATL GALLERY 3209 Beacon Ave S Seattle, Washington 98144.

The exhibition will close with a reception on December 10, from 6 pm -2 am.  For more information see the web site: http://abadseattle.blogspot.com/


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TANGLETOWN STRING BAND : OPENING ABAD SEATTLE WITH GRATEFUL DEAD SET 11.11.11 [179]

Jacques Migeon and his Tangletown String Band will open the ABAD Seattle exhibition with a full set of music from The Grateful Dead.  The Tangletown String Band is a Seattle musical staple.  "We are extremely pleased to be part of this worldwide exhibition and contribute a musical component to this current chapter of the show," says Migeon, a Seattle local.

The Tangletown String Band is a collection of passionate musicians with good day jobs which they have no intention of abandoning. "We emerged from the basement practice room a couple of years ago and now have a couple of sets of tunes drawing equally from "Old Time" Music, Bluegrass, Alternative Country, and a handful of originals that could easily fall in the aforementioned genres.," says Migeon.

Tangletown has been seen playing at variety of Americana music events around Seattle for years.  "We have been heard to say, with pride, 'I’m with the band' or 'I have rehearsal tonight,'" says Jacques.  "Mostly however, we just love to make music with our friends and share that with whomever we can.  At full strength, the band has seven members with Jacques and George on guitar, Karen on fiddle, Peter on Mandolin, David on Bass, John on Banjo, and Mary on vocals and back-up bass.  A veritable forest of microphones can be found on stage as all of us like to sing creating very rich harmonies."

See videos, listen to their music on their website: Tangletown String Band

The Tangletown String Band on FaceBook.  Give them a LIKE.

Ira Schneider's 11.11.11. [178]

ABAD artist Ira Schneider opens his 11.11.11 on 11.11.11. 

Ira Schneider is an American artist living and working in Berlin.  He has a long history with the Emily Harvey Foundation.

WHEN: Opening / Vernissage 11.11.2011, 8pm/20h –  Exhibition/Ausstellung 11.11. bis 23.11.2011

WHERE: Prima Center Biesentalerstr. 24 13359 Berlin, Germany.

Ira Schneider:  http://www.ira-schneider.com

OIL : A Film by Karen Alekyan for ABAD Seattle [177]

A film by Karen Alekyan to be screened at ABAD SEATTLE.

See Karen's web site: http://karenalekyan.blogspot.com/

ABAD History To Date [176]

2011  Quetzalcoatl Gallery, Seattle, WA / November 10 – December 10
Second Avenue Firehouse Gallery, Bay Shore, NY / ABAD: The Ties That Bind / July 31 – September 2
Willo North Gallery, Phoenix, AZ / ABAD: Memento / May 3 – 28
Chiesa S. Antonio Piazza La Rotonda Badoere di Morgano, Treviso, Italy / Un libro sulla Morte omaggio a Ray Johnson / April 9 – 17
Elizabeth Stone Harper Gallery, Presbyterian College, SC / ABAD Life / January 20 – February 25

2010 SAL Gallery, CW Post Campus-LIU, Brookville, NY / Ray Johnson & A Book About Death / November 1 – 6
Belknap Mill Gallery, Laconia, NH / October 29–November 1
The Fluxmuseum, Fort Worth, TX / October 8 – 30
Jaffe Center for Book Arts, Florida Atlantic University, FL / July 15 – October 18
The RNG Gallery, Omaha, NE / Till Death Due Us Part / July 31 – August 28

Villa Torri & Biblioteca Comunale, Vimodrone, Italy / May 8-19
Museum of Modern Art, Wales, UK / April 27 – May 8
Exit 11 Contemporary Art, Grand-Leez, Belgium / April 11 – June 27
ASA Art Gallery, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina / April 1 – 15
Prostor, Zagreb, Croatia / March 22–30
Steppling Art Gallery, San Diego State U, CA / ABAD Mexicali / March 10 – April 9
Vladimir Nazor Library, Zagreb, Croatia / February 26 – March 21
Museu Brasileiro da Escultura, Brazil / Um Livro Sobre A Morte / February 6 – 28

2009 La Sexta Literary Arts Festival, Tijuana, Mexico / November 21
Queens Museum of Art, NY / November 1 –15
River Mill Art Gallery, Westfield, NJ / October 17–31
Ripe Art Gallery, Greenlawn, NY / October 11–18
Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles,CA / October 11–31
Mobius, Boston, MA / September 19 – 20
Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery, Soho, NY / September 10 – 20


IMAGE TOP: EHF DIRECTOR, CHRISTIAN XATREC, INSTALLING WORKS AT THE EHF, NYC, 2009.  IMAGE MIDDLE: INSTALLATION AT THE OTIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN, LA, CA, 2009.  IMAGE BOTTOM LEFT: INSTALLATION ABAD AT THE QUEENS MUSEUM, 2009.

ON POWER [175]

FROM: I SEND YOU THIS.