jasmine revolution?

A story in today’s Guardian highlights how the artist and activist Ai Weiwei – who has been detained and missing by the Chinese Government since April 3rd – has sparked an anonymous online call for protests, a Jasmine Revolution, inspired by the Middle Eastern Uprisings.

Read the story here.

Ed Winkelman summed it up poignantly in his blog earlier this week:

‘Perhaps other countries have no power to interfere, but as China is asking to be taken seriously as an equal contributor to the dialog of contemporary art, the rest of the world has every right to demand some answers. It’s entirely ludicrous that China would arrest Ai Weiwei on apparently trumped up charges and yet expect a place at the table as respected members of the international arts community. China needs to release Mr. Ai now.’

Ludicrous indeed.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Mr. Weiwei, and we Love the Tate Modern for this.

 

big bang big boom

Check out this incredible new video featuring wall-painted animation by the artist/rapper Blu.

Big Bang Big Boom

A short, unscientific story about evolution and his consequences.

the poem of display

Arcades Project
The Poem of Display
art books + book arts + small presses + editions + multiples
Friday, May 6, 5pm-9pm
135 The Commons, Ithaca

emailarcadesproject.com
arcadesprojectithaca.wordpress.com/

On Friday, May 6, an empty storefront on The Commons will be transformed into an experimental marketplace of literature, art, and design, when several local and regional independent presses, makers of art books and editions, conceptual artists, video installation artists, and indie craft vendors will convene to offer visitors an alternative and thought-provoking shopping experience.

The vendors of Arcades Project will include A-Jump, Essay Press, Essays & Fictions, Garlic Press, Harpur Palate, Split Oak Press, Stockport Flats, and the Wells College Book Arts Center. Visual artists, Elizabeth Whitehouse, Kaleb Hunkele, Scott McCarney, Kathy Morris, Josh Sperling, and Steve Poleskie, will ‘vend’ their editions, multiples and other indie crafts in the marketplace.

Arcades Project will also host a curated series of works by selected visual artists who creatively explore the relationship between literary and visual arts, text and image, or art and shopping. Works include a performative installation by Buffalo-based artist Jamie O’Neil, who will peddle his ‘skippisox’ product to gallery visitors, and a pirate printing press by Thomas Gokey, whose participatory work deals with ‘the overthrow of global capitalism and the protection of democracy through non-violent methods and the purity of true love.’ Paul Chambers offers a series of abstract political landscapes featuring text and image, and local artist Werner Sun will invert the notion of the artist’s book by turning sculptures into books, rather than books into sculptures, in a large-scale kinetic mobile made from strips of paper printed with digital images.

The event will take place on Friday, May 6 from 5 to 9 pm as part of the Spring Writes annual literary festival in Ithaca, coinciding with Gallery Night, and supported in part by funding from the Community Arts Partnership. Arcades Project is founded by Danielle Winterton and David Pollock, founding editors of Essays & Fictions Press, artist Karen Brummund, and yours truly.

Spring 2011 participants include:

• A-Jump Books
• Elizabeth Whitehouse
• Essay Press
• Essays & Fictions
• Garlic Press
• Harpur Palate
• Jamie O’Neil
• Joshua Sperling
• Kaleb Hunkle
• Kathy Morris
• Paul Chambers
• Scott McCarney
• Split Oak Press
• Stephen Poleskie
• Stockport Flats
• Thomas Gokey
• Wells College Book Arts Center
• Werner Sun

patterns and prayers

The String Room Gallery at Wells College in Aurora, NY,  has a new show opening this week, featuring the work of  Pittsburgh artist Michael Morrill. Titled “Pattern and Prayers,” the exhibit consists of a series of  oil and acrylic paintings by Morrill, an associate professor of studio arts at the University of Pittsburgh. In his artist’s statement, Morrill says, “My commitment to the language of abstraction stems from a belief that the expressive power of abstraction continues to hold potential for poetic visual experience.”

William Ganis, Director of the String Room and Professor of Art History at Wells College said to me: “I installed this last week and became more and more excited as I unwrapped each work. These are some of the most technically accomplished abstract paintings I’ve seen—real painter’s paintings—I’ve decades of experience looking at paintings, and frankly I’m not sure how he achieves some of his marks, textures and saturation. Photographs only give an approximation of the experience.”

Makes me want to go for sure.

And if you wait until  next week, you can turn your trip into a real junket by popping over to see the show and then having dinner at the delicious and insanely rustic Pumpkin Hill Bistro which reopens for the season on April 7th.

Morrill’s work will be on display in the String Room Gallery (SRG) from March 30 through May 11. The exhibit is free and the public is cordially invited to view the show. Read more about the show here.