Purple Nurple, Neil Bender @ Tempus

Neil Bender, "A Socialized Veneer"

A purple nurple is what used to be referred to as a "titty-twister". On the Tempus site, the work was described as: "... an all-oil, splattered and patterned investigation into situations, atmospheres, still-lifes, daydreams, and bodies all caught up in a thick, humid, and seductive flatness. The paintings take both pre-packaged and idiosyncratic fantasies and wring them through the ever-circular and perpetually fascinating limbo of pop culture, butting up against actual experience and the wonderfully soupy problems this presents --both as images and moralities." 

 In "A Socialized Veneer", there's what appears to be a pink cloud (with a flag planted on it) floating above a pedestal or free-standing classical period column. Abstract forms surround the column.

Neil Bender, "Pony you up"

In "Pony You Up" we see a pony-tailed figure in an argyle sweater apparently lying down, though in a vertical format. The figure is nude below the waist. Look closely, and she (?) appears to have soiled herself. There is what appears to be excrement around the anal cleft, and on the left cheek, a handprint in what seems to be excrement.

Neil Bender, "Looks Like"

Here we see legs in fishnet stockings, and a miasma if the flesh, complete with some striped black forms at the bottom. All of this can be construed as a commentary on aging, white guy desire and/or a literal carnival.







In spite of that opening salvo of a rant, Bender provides us with a key, a Rosetta stone of sorts.

Neil Bender, "The New World"

This is a collage titled "The New World". In it we see the flattened perspective, the pressed flesh, fishnet stockings, zebra-striped patterns and much more in the other eight paintings.

Congratulations to Neil Bender and Tracy Midulla Reller and Tempus for a curious show.

--- Luis

Visions and Journeys @ Ybor HCC Gallery

 To celebrate Women's History Month, the "Visions and Journeys" show in the HCC Ybor Gallery encompasess work by two women artists working with wax: Leslie Neumann and Judith Salmon.

In the interests of full disclosure: I am part of one of Judith Salmon's works in this show.  "Memory Pocket", pictured on left, is a series of knit pockets dangling curtain-like in rows from wooden branches. Viewers are invited to write out memories on slips of paper and insert them into the pockets. At Salt Creek Artworks, this work was shown in 2010 when it was smaller. I wrote a personal memory and slipped it into one of the pockets. This is one of Judith Salmon's core concerns: Memory. Personal and geo-cultural memory. In the "Pocket", aggregate memories of various viewers across time and exhibits link up over time incrementally within the work, becoming a kind of DNA of memory. These interlaced and layered connections, over people, culture, time and place run through Salmon's work.

Judith Salmon, "Travelers All"

Close-up

"Travelers All"  consists of the outline of a boat's hull, echoed by a black inner compartment, lined in stalls (?) and in each one is a pair of feet cast in wax. They are hollow, and inside them are little dark near-spherical forms about 6mm in diameter. They are allspice. The artist explained that most of the feet are hers and that this work is, in part, about the migrant experience. Originally, I understand the work was created elsewhere, and the boat outline was composed of tree branches from where Ms. Salmon resided. I get the feeling from this that we are all in the same boat. The ephemerality of life and its relation to time come through here as it does in many other of her works. Time is not sidereal, metronomic, oscillations of a quartz crystal, or a decaying isotope. It's measured in heartbeats, stories, things shared and lives. The feet are vessels within a vessel.

 On the left is a photo of Judith Salmon and behind her, "Palimpsests", a sixty piece installation, each comprised of collages and wax. The word refers to writig or something else that has been altered, yet traces of its earlier incarnation are still discernable. Some look like layered fossil forms, others like scrapbooks caught in a flood. Time, layered like sediments, measured in human terms.

To see more of Judith's work: [Link]

Leslie Neumann, "Songs from Beyond"

Leslie Neumann works with encaustic, a method involving oil and hot wax, which has the advantage of drying very quickly, and one of its qualities is a distinct, translucent luminosity. The latter is something Neumann uses in her work, which has been described as "cosmic". In "Songs from Beyond", this theme is evident. Several celestial spheres dance around a coalescing star, like Maypole dancers with gravity as the invisible ribbons tying them together. Taken literally, at first glance this appears to come across as a rendition of an imaginary system, or spacescape. It is not just a window into outer space, but also a mirror  into inner space.

Leslie Neumann, "Concurrent Time and Space"

Neumann's art is about transformation, interleaving realities, unity, connections, and the realization that the same laws and forces permeates everything around us and we are but their living expressions .
There's an analog to the transmigration of souls here with the transfiguration of form and energies (which appear different to us, but as Einstein illustrated, are the same thing). Some works, like "Concurrent Time and Space", have glass 3-D elements, stemming from a collaboration with Susan Gott, a very well-known glass artist based in Tampa. 

Leslie Neumann, "Suspended"

"Suspended", pictured on the left, consists of an orange quasi-rectangular form encased in light, an incandescent blob rising and transforming into plants. There is a companion piece to this one, in which the orange wellspring of energy is risen on its own. Neumann came from New York, and currently lives on a water/marsh front home in Aripeka. In some of the works, her surroundings are incorporated into the cosmic.

Leslie Neumann, "Heaven's Echo"

In "Heaven's Echo", the terrestrial and celestial meet. There are spheres in the sky. Below, earth and water, in the form of marshland. There is a tongue of fire shaped like a tree rising to the evening sky on the left. The water's blue is as the evening sky above, and a few spheres meander just above the grass, all dancing in unison to the music of the spheres.


For more of Leslie's work: [Link].

Congratulations to artists  Judith Salmon and Leslie Neumann, Gallery Director Carolyn Kossar and HCC for putting on a very good show.




Visions and Journeys @ Ybor HCC Performing Arts Building Gallery -  Through Mar. 29th. Palm Ave and 14th St. Tampa/Ybor. Free

Ps. There are at least two hidden messages in at least one of Neumann's paintings.

This Strawberry Weekend, March 8th-11th

What More Can You Hope For? Tina King @ Cafe Bohemia - Paintings and works on paper by Tina King, who's been reviewed here before. Opening Saturday, March 10th, until 10 PM at Face Bohemia, 937 Central Avenue, St Petersburg. Through April 1. Free.
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Tartuffe @ Silver Meteor - This play, a classical comedy by Moliere, is being performed at this charming venue Thursday, Mar 8th, Friday, Mar. 9th, Saturday, Mar 10th at 8 PM, and Sunday, March 11th, at 3 PM. $15 Admission. 2213 E. Sixth Ave., Ybor City.
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Wax, and more wax @ The Morean -  On Saturday, March 10th, 5-8 PM. At the Morean Arts Center, 719 Central Ave., St Petersburg. Lorrie Fredette will be installing her "Great Silence" work. It's 36 feet wide.
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The Dual Show @ Salt Creek Artworks - The works of Steven Kenny, "Layers of Intention",  and Kirk Ke Wang's "Last Meal". Opens Thursday, Mar 8th, Opening reception, Friday, March 9th, 6-9 PM. At Salt Creek Artworks, 1600 4th st S. St Pertersburg. Free.
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Dysphoria, Patrick Deignan @ Collective - Dysphoria opens Saturday, March 10th, 7-11 PM @ Collective Gallery & Tatoo, 601 Central Ave. St. Petersburg. Free.
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Vegas, Baby! Elvis is in the house @ Dan Painter - Winter Haven's Bill Brooks is coming to this benefit for the three widows of the fallen St Pete police officers from last year. Lots of other acts in store. Saturday, March 10th. 5-10 PM. 2338 Emerson. Probably free.
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Black, White and Brilliant Gala, the Grand Opening of FMOPA's new digs - The Florida Museum of Photographic Arts has moved! It's in the cube next to where the Exploding Chicken used to be, at Kennedy and Ashley 400 N. Opening with the show Andy Warhol and Friends, with prints, screenprints and photobooth strips of Andy & celebs. Opens at 8:00 PM Saturday, March 10th. Admission is $75/single, $125/couple. Through May 27th.
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Two Shows @ The Bricks - "Gratitude", a show of fifteen artists themed around skateboard graphics, and "Oscar Keen and Monroe", a show about characters for a children's book. All at The Bricks, 1327 E. Seventh Ave, Ybor City. Opens Saturday, Mar 10th, at 8 PM.  Free.
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Crafty Hag Art Sale @ Coralette's - I've reviewed Coralette Damme's work here several times. This is her famous once-a-year yard art sale. This is a great sale, a chance to own some of Damme's work for next to nothing, and a real local arts/folksy event if there ever was one. 875 Fifth St. N. Saint Petersburg. 10 AM - 2 PM. This year including work by Calan Ree  and Matt Deterior (!!),
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Hipstamatic @ Eve N Odd Gallery - Jennifer Kosharek's gallery space is small, but she's well-versed in the arts, impressively committed, and all about bringing quality and variety to her shows. This time it's iPhone pictures through the Hipstamatic app. This show at her gem of a gallery, opens at 6 PM Saturday. Eve N Odd, 645 Central Ave, # 11. This means it's in the Crislip Arcade, about 1/3rd of the way in, on the left. Free.
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Project Photo @ Duncan McClellan - Photographic work of various kinds will be shown. Opens Saturday, Mar 10th, 5:30-9:30. Free.
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The Mad Hatter's Masquerade Ball @ Artpool - Art, Party and Fashion  at Artpool. $20 admission at the door. Saturday, March 10th, 8-10 PM 2030 Central Avenue.
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Visible/Invisible @ Tempus - Kurt Piazza, Edgar Sanchez Cumbas and David Williams will be shown. Opening Reception is Friday, March 9th, 7-10 PM. Through Mar. 23rd. 5132 N. Flordia Avenue, Tampa, Free.
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Bloom @ Artlofts - A group exhibit by various Lofts artists informed by Nature. Opens Saturday, March 10th, from 5-8:30 PM. Free. 10 5th St N. St Petersburg.
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Mirrored in Time: "Meditative Visions" @ Mindy Solomon

Opening Night, Meditative Visions @ MSG

Art embodies the zeitgeist of the times, sometimes of times past or future. In the work of the two South Korean artists in this Mindy Solomon show, painter Sungyee Kim and ceramicist Kang Hyo Lee, the balance between traditional forms and the present is a defining aspect of the work.

Sungyee Kim, "White Drops"

Sungyee Kim's paintings, according to her artist's statement [Link], demand "purity" in "...belief in spiritual values..." they open a portal to the ideal. She places at the core of all this the idea that Nature and "good artwork" are incomprehensible, the latter resembling the former.  Painting is the mirror of spirit, like our reflection in water. Her work is not focused on discovering an answer to the mysteries of life, but in the exploration.

"White Drops, 2007" a charcoal and mixed media piece on paper, could be seen as an abstract image, but it also looks like snow, and in effect, the white drops look like they could be negative. The pattern suggests snow falling, dandelions in a field in summer, or a section of the sky from a Hubble photograph.

Sungyee Kim, "Infinity from One"

Ms. Kim's philosophy melds parts of the I Ching with Taoist ideas about the transformation between the artist and his materials. This is reaching back into traditional ideas from the past, but not slavishly, more in the sense of recontextualizing them into the present.

Note the similarity between "Infinity from One", and the visualizations of the earth's magnetic field (sans the effects of the solar wind). Also the "One" is the contact point between two entities.



Kim's paintings partly deal with semi-abstracted patterns that have analogs in nature. They are simultaneously metaphors and similes.

Sungyee Kim, "Meditation 25/Four Dots 4, 2011"

Structures, philosophical, physical and metaphysical abound in these paintings. Here, as in others, we see two different types integrated, or more of a dichotomy reconciled. There are the four dots, aligned in the form of a cross, each with its circumference and center. Look closely at those centers and you will see they have bits of the darker polymorphous forms surrounding the four central dots.

A lot of artists might consider these structures a kind of trap or straitjacket, but Sungyee Kim shows how as open-ended forms, they are liberating and resonant between the past, present and future.






Philosophy and performance are integrated into the ceramic work of artist Kang Hyo Lee. Perhaps it is best to begin by watching a video of the man at work. This will give some idea of the dynamics involved in the making of a large Jar: [Link]. Note how the physicality of this is as much performance as it is ceramics.

Lee Kang Hyo, Punch'ong Jar with Ash Glaze

Lee Kang Hyo specializes in onggi ware and tea bowls. Onggi ware is a traditional Korean type of ceramics used to make vessels of various sizes in which to store bean pastes, vegetables soy sauce and other goods. The surface of the clay has bubbles and is semi-porous, good for fermentation. He works in the Punch'ong tradition of  grey stoneware decorated with a white slip, though a range of colors is available through the process, which in his case involved building a traditional kiln. Tradition is at the core of Lee Kang Hyo's process, but he keeps the flow between the past and present open, allowing each to inform the other.

The jar pictured on the left shows the white slip and the subtle pinks and reds possible. These works have a strong sense of being connected to a tradition and place and simultaneously transcending it. If you look closely at the white, you will see that it has texture and minute color variations and subtle lines.

Lee Kang Hyo, Jar

In this work, the range of colors is nearly complete, and the performance aspects of the glazing are readily visible, with strong brush strokes and finger marks. The balance between rigorous order and freeform expressiveness is not fixed in this piece. It floats like a living thing, depending on the viewer's position and outlook.

 There are also many tea bowls in the show by the same artist. These bowls are used in the tea ceremony to cool off the tea. As with everything else used in the ceremony, the aesthetics are very important. These tea bowls are exquisite, and seem to have Buddhist influence.

Here are close-ups of two tea bowls from Lee Kang Hyo. Note the strong brush/finger marks, and the counterpoint(s) of the dots on the one on the left, and .
the Buddhist symbol of the hand on the bowl on the right.

Work by Lee Kang Hyo

I want to thank and Sungyee Kim and Lee Kang Hyo, along with Mindy Solomon and her crew, for a very good show, and broadening the arts horizon in St. Petersburg by bringing in work from across the globe.


--- Luis

Art Taco's Guide to the 2012 Gasparilla Art Show

It is best to arrive early. Very early, and walk over to the First Watch restaurant, on 520 N. Tampa Street for a good, hearty breakfast (AT is partial to the Bacado omelette).

The artists whose work I have chosen are not a hierarchical list, but what stood out to me in my quick, early morning sweep of the show. In the pictures, it may look unpopulated, but that's because of the early hours I was there. As I left, it was packed.  Above is a view of the show as it opened. Those are Dale Rogers metal sculptures in the background. His work has been reviewed here before.

Richard Currier, "Amber Dawn"

 Richard Currier's "Amber Dawn" is a Luminist, Turneresque radiant painting. Seen in the tight space of the booth, it is overwhelming in a very good way. Richard is a graduate of Ringling, and has studied his art in various countries in Europe. He also does figurative and still-life painting as well. To see more, [Link]. He is at booth #221.

Work by Nancy Cervenka

What you are seeing on the work on the right is movie film. Literally. Rolled, formed, bound, film. The old fashioned stuff. Nancy is one of the most respected and admired artists in the area. This work, like so many of hers, is lyrical and full of grace. Nancy has a degree in cinematography and turned towards working directly with film. This year she has made and brought earrings made in this manner, one of the great bargains of this show for wearable art. The work seems like a metaphor for time, what with the spirals and passing of the film era. [Link]

[Booth #319]

Work by Duncan McClellan

Duncan McClellan is no stranger to these pages. A prominent glass artist, one of the premier gallerists in the area, and soon to have his own hot shop, Duncan is above all, a community-maker in the arts scene who is making things happen in a difficult economy.  His glass works are beautiful, strong in form and rich in content. [Link]

Geoffrey Aaron Harris, "Monsterbot"

Geoffrey Aaron Harris digitally paints robots. They are framed by curtains and/or signs that are reminiscent of carnival/fairs art. These robots are like freaks on exhibit, and they are unmistakably like humans. [Link].

Sara Novio, pictured with her work on the right, is concerned with identity and its geography on our faces and bodies. In the work depicted, a woman (reminding me of the artist, though I did not ask) looks at her own face in the mirror, on which there are plastic surgeon's markings. [Link]

Work by Jessica Stoddard

Jessica Stoddard showed a variety of work, all paying close attention to line. Here is a child's pedal tractor, a toy from a bygone era. There are girl's dresses, stollers, and other memory laden forms. [Link].  Booth # 143.

Work by Scot Coulter

Scott Coulter's landscapes have been reviewed here. I said about this series: "...acrylic landscape paintings that have partitions & sub-frames, sometimes disjointed..."


and...

"The effect is very similar to that of a highly ordered photographic collage, with notable differences, like the shading below some of the subframes gives the illusion of stacking, or 3-D. The eye keeps trying to unify the visual field, which resists its efforts because of the smaller images and individual perspectives within the picture."

[Link]

Aaron Sault is a standout creative jeweler pushing the boundaries of design. On the left is an amazing finger ring probably made of silver with a pointed, flame-shaped bit of hair more or less bursting from it. On the right are more rings, including another hairy one. He is in the current jewelry show at Craftsman Gallery. [Link].

Marvin Hill, "Does She Hear The Forest?"

Marvin and Wendy Hill produced fabulous water-colored blockprints. Sadly, Marvin passed away, and now Wendy carries on. This is one of the last shows she will be doing before moving sales online. These are formally gorgeous and full of grace, and unusually strong in content. Walking into this tent is like walking into a cathedral. [Link]






Maria Albornoz is a ceramicist of note in Tampa. Her installation at Sat Creek Artworks last year was one of the best narrative ceramics by a Tampa based artist in a long time. It would stand out in any circle for its brilliance. At Gasparilla, she has brought her vertical integration series, with variants in several sizes. These have their socio-cultural implications about mobility and are beautiful as well. [Link]. Booth # 86.

David Royce, "Inquisitive"

This exquisitely crafted metal and glass piece is titled "Inquisitive". It is by David Royce, of Minneapolis. Note how the bulb at the bottom has crosses on it, the stem between it and the other bulb is bristling with crosses in all directions but a little more spread out, and the top bulb has them too, but less cluttered, distilled. On the right, two other works by Royce. [Link]

 Ernesto Piloto-Marquez raises questions with his paintings. In this one, a facelss clown, dressed in a top hat, red nose, jacket and striped bankers' pants, juggles the earth. Daring, political, and with unbridled passion this kind of energy  typifies his work. A classic image for our age.

 Marla Baguetta's pastel landscapes have an unbelievably luscious sense of color and form. Somewhat abstracted, the eye happily adds its own details and movement to the water. These don't invite you in, more like a child taking your arm, they take you in at a breathless pace. These function at many levels, but I found them as big broadband portals to a calmer, more beautiful world. [Link]

ACT Gallery

 One of the great things about Gasparilla is its ACT gallery. Designed to teach kids about collecting, it was packed with works donated by exhibiting artists, which the kids could buy between $5 and $10. Parents have to stay outside, so the young buyers can go throught the process on their own. Fantastic idea.

Karen Krajacic and Jill Cowen Playing

On the sound stage, I caught this duet of guitarists singing beautifully. Karen Krajacic and Jill Cowen, of Folk by Association sang in the morning air. [Link].


I want to thank all the artists and the great number of people, at every level, that make Gasparilla possible. Yes, I wish some of the crafts could be taken out, but it's still one of our premier shows. Treat yourself: Go.

Fusion: "Parallels" Underground Poetry Reading in St Pete

Poet

Underground, in a 574 meter deep tunnel seventeen miles in circumference at the border between France and Switzerland, the Large Hadron Collider brings together subatomic particles at great energies. The results help us to understand basic truths about the universe.

In a large garage in St. Petersburg, poets, musicians and a small crowd likewise come together to unlock the secrets of what it means to be human.

Audience

It all happened in a spacious, perhaps ten-car garage divided into a 'stage' and spectator areas. A few couches were put together. Many people sat on the floor or stood. Some stayed out of the garage, or in the gravel-floored patio out back under the open sky. In the back you can see the projector that threw images over everyone onstage.

Bradley reading

There were four poets scheduled, Bradley, Wayne, Christian and Barry, all silverbacks, practiced, experienced. and in their poetic prime. Also on stage were musicians, about ten of them, all talented, interpreting and riffing off the spoken word and each other in a freeform jazz-like manner recontextualized into current musical terms. Most, if not all of them were under thirty. I asked a musician about this disparity, and he calmly remarked: "The elders will guide us".

Alex playing

In the interests of full disclosure, I admit  there's no way to do this justice in a review. I took copious notes in the darkness, and they look like the nonsensical scrawlings of a madman. I should have made movies, but like most of the audience, I was too spellbound to think clearly.

Poet Wayne S. Williams

What happened on that Saturday evening was extraordinary. Some times art dazzles, rarely, it is far greater than the sum of its parts, but here it transcended all that. Energy flowed unimpeded, resonating between the walls, poets, musicians and audience in a way seldom seen.

I remember a line from Wayne's reading on a poem about Africa: "A trail of wet sorrow..."

Christian read next. One poem about Florida and the Caribbean, had in it the lines: "Blurred menagerie"..."Shell mound ghosts"...

The trail of greed, madness and pain of the colonial period in a way no history class lecture could approach.

The Musicians

The musicians interleaved with the poetry seamlessly, sometimes coming to the fore, sometimes receding, always a pure stream of creative energy.

Barry Moses

Barry Moses asked in a poem, "Who's Crazy?".

The synergy between the musicians was exquisite and varied. Some passages were hard and throbby, others subtle. All electrifying.

I want to thank the poets, musicians, the hosts and Malcom for an extraordinary evening.

--- Luis

Seen around the web...

The 2012 State of the Art Survey -- from full-time artists @ Red Dot Blog [Link]. A fascinating look at the results of this survey (1250 respondents), complete with pie-charts. Follow the money...what different artists working in various media make, and what they expect in 2012.

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Finding your pictures lifted onto Pinterest? Here's an article on how to deal with it. My interpretation is that this is not covered by the Fair Use Act, as there's no review, educational value or discussion about
the work. From Making a Mark [Link].
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Interesting interview and insights with a husband and wife team of collectors, from Isabelle Bryer Paintings [Link]
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This Nude Weekend, March 2-4.

Gasparilla Festival of the Arts @ Curtis Hixon Park - Yes, it's that tie of the year again, when the tents return to Curtis Hixon waterside park, and below them a huge variety of artworks and the talented people who make them. 230 artists competing for a share of $74,500 in prizes, amongst them the $15,000 Best of Show prize. There's a children's area where no adults are allowed, and kids can purchase works for between $5 - $10, a great way to instill the collecting habit. So... bring the kids. Revenues from that all go to the Children's Cancer Center.  The show is right next door to the Tampa Museum, on Ashley Drive in downtown Tampa. For low-drama parking, get there e-a-r-l-y. I recommend that and having breakfast at First Watch before walking over to the park. Or, lunch at Bamboozle Cafe on your way out. Or both. Free Admission. Saturday and Sunday, March 3rd and 4th.
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Figure Drawing @ The Morean Arts Center -  This class involves figure drawing, and they will have three models at each session. There's one session Saturday, March 3rd,  at 9:30-Noon, and another at 1:00-3:00 PM. Bring everything you will need to draw. TMA 719 Central Avenue St Petersburg, FL.  $7.00 for member or non-members.
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Purple Nurple Closing Exhibit @ Tempus - Neil Bender's paintings.  Tempus Projects, 5132 N. Florida Avenue. Tampa. 8 PM Friday, March 2nd. Free. Music by Alien House.
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Ken Rollins 70th birthday exhibit @ 620 - Art Museum Director Ken Rolling's 70th b-day celebrated with a how of artists he's shown. Opens Saturday, March 3rd @ 7:00 PM. Runs trough March 17th. Free. 620 First Ave. S., St Pete.
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Paul Cote Solo Show @ The Roosevelt - Cote paints with his skateboards by rolling over the canvas (!). Friday, March 2nd. The Roosevelt 2.0, 1812 N. 15th St., Ybor City.  Free.
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Visions and Journeys @ Ybor HCC Performing Arts Building Gallery - Thursday, March 1, 5:30-8:30 PM. Through Mar. 29th. Palm Ave and 14th St. Tampa/Ybor. Free
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Wash, Rinse, Repeat @ USF Nancy Oliver Gallery - Kevin Brophy's works will be shown, which has to do with Obseesive- Compulsive tendencies. Opens Friday, Mar 2nd, from 7-9 PM. FAH 102. Includes live performances. free art and refreshments.
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Art on The House @ Tampa Museum of Art - Free admission from 4-8 PM on Friday, March 2nd. 120 W. Gasparilla Plaza.
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