Urs Fischer/Christopher Wiedeman.... PLUS

Today's NYMagazine Urs Fischer review makes me want to re-post images of Christopher Wiedeman's piece from last year, in Richmond (scroll down).


Christopher dug a deep pit, through a concrete floor, inside a small cinderblock building. A narrow ante-chamber on a raised platform was constructed from plywood, around the corner of which the plywood flooring becomes a curved ramp directing your eye and body toward the black hole.

The NYMag review, by Jerry Saltz, refers to Fischer's piece as "a Herculean project". It looks cool... but with a backhoe, a $250,000 budget, and a team of assistants.... whatever. Herculean it isn't. Chris did everything by himself, it was a fantastic piece.


Chris building entry, stage, and ramp.


Chris digging pit.

RELATED: Christopher doesn't have any website that I can find.... but you can see another one of his installations here, documented by Michael Lease. MORE: a video.

PLUS: JERRY SALTZ DATA REPORT

I am a guy, so I can point and laugh at Jerry Saltz writing yet another feature decrying gender disparity followed by yet another review of a male artist. Jerry has written twenty-six reviews of individual artists so far this year, only seven of which have been reviews of women artists.

MoMA is a museum, and it's asking a lot to go back and revise history, unfair as it may be, but Jerry is writing new history NOW. If I were a girl I guess I would have no option but to put on a gorilla mask and wheatpaste a poster somewhere. I don't think you can expect much more than 25% representation anytime soon, if Jerry is supposedly your champion.

RELATED: Art Candy hasn't been updated yet, so it still stands at 59 men to 16 women.

Ron Johnson

Ron Johnson has a website now.... I really like Ron's work... there are so many good artists in Richmond.

I wanted Ron to be in Art Basel: Stuffy's, but he didn't want to do it because he had another show happening - at Reynolds Gallery - around the same time. Ron and Kirsten were two that got away. They would have been so good together, and I think would have worked especially well with the Travis Conner, Don Crow, and my own stuff. Oh well... it was still a GREAT SHOW.

Here is my post on Ron's show from last September, featuring TWO special *guest-star* art critics (one in the post, one in the comments). Okay, Ron is getting his own label now.

PLUS: Judy has a Ron?!? HOW??? I want one too.

Larry Lorca, Stuffy's, HOPEful, Guernica

Richmond has the best graffiti and outdoor art... how come? Something about the vibe in Richmond, the South, the urban/nature mix - river, bricks, cinderblocks, and trees... it's all so vibrant and compelling. I like this photo above because YOU CAN SEE STUFFY's in the reflection!

Are artists like Judith Supine and Deuce7 starting in Richmond, with some moving to NYC, or is Richmond a draw for the NYC artists? Both, probably. I wish the raft shop hadn't closed... not spending so much time in the James, it isn't feeling like summer...

Larry Lorca is taking pictures of EVERYTHING. I'm so glad he got the classic...


HOPEful... Guernica boards. These are glued to the wall...

Judith Supine! Woah, Amazing BEFORE and AFTER photos, PLUS... RVA Gallery Results Are IN! and a BONUS REWARD!!!

Somebody left a comment on the old in-between alley post... with a link to somebody's flickr page showing the work when it was NEW. Wow! I had no idea they were so bright, these are acidic... looks great on the bricks.


Here is the photo I took when first seeing this piece. The artist is called Judith Supine.... it looks like s/he's moved to NYC and is doing a lot of stuff up there. Here is an EXCELLENT youtube video showing how they make the posters and collages.

Here are a couple more of my AFTER photos, and the BEFOREs:




Yay to RATS! Rats is the word!




Never posted this photo before... and it was taken well after Christmas was over.

PLUS! RVA Gallery Results Are IN!!

Heart as Arena posted on Scope, mentioning ADA Gallery, saying he was excited to see them after reading about them on my blog... so now that I have started adding labels to old posts I can easily go back and see what RVA galleries have been "featured" the most.

ClicK on a gallery link below to see all of the feature posts on that gallery... newest posts will be on top, scroll down for older posts. It only shows twenty posts, so if a gallery has had more than twenty features they won't all show up.

1708 Gallery - 6 times
ADA Gallery - 24 times
Anderson Gallery - 13 times
Chop Suey - 7 times
Gallery 5 - 4 times
Nonesuch - 10 times
Reynolds Gallery - 10 times

BONUS REWARD!!!

Okay, if you have made it this far your Bonus Reward is a link to a new-ish artblog called Artworld Salon. This is Marc Spiegler , Ian Charles Stewart , and András Szántó's new blog...

It's informative, and a little different in that commenting is by invitation only, or something... I guess that is what the "Salon" part implies.

ummm, I'm a little put off (I'M JEALOU$!) by the sense of privilege, and exclusionism - it appears Szanto is hoping to make happen the sort of thing he talks about here - and I'm not getting the sense that their definition of "artworld" includes artists... but, it's still interesting and they aren't really talking about art anyway.

UPDATE 3/5/07: aaack, this Artworld Salon blog is fascinating... it is a good thing... a lot more insight into the money side of it all...

Thanks, Richmond!

Okay... I am not in Richmond anymore (maybe for good)... so this is a good time to review the blog for Richmond Art highlights.

Some Favorite in-Richmond Posts:

i keep finding treasures
broad street robot dance
the Belmont Library is ruined, later... restored!
in-between alley
Castle Masters!
Spahr Brothers - not into their work, but the post is cute and funny.

Some Favorite Richmond Artists whose work I'm REALLY glad to have seen, and shared with all of the people who look at this blog -

Danielle Reide
Michelle Arthur
Nick Kuszyk
Kirsten Kindler, and here
Dawn Latane
Rachel Hayes, and here and here
Michael Mewborn
Eric Hall
Jeannine Harkleroad, and here
Tom Harte
Carolyn Henne
FEAST
Joel Holmberg
Bruce Wilhelm, and here
Travis Conner, and here
Don Crow, and here
Paul DiPasquale, and here
Ron Johnson
Michael Lease, and here
Haigh Jamgochian, and here
Christopher Weideman
Scott Eastwood, plus Scott with Drew Liverman.
Jason Coates, and here
Timothy Sean Johnston, and here
Amanda Blackmon

That is NOT a listing of all of the Richmond artists that have been included on anaba, just a listing of some of my favorites to have been featured. They have all probably been mentioned multiple times, those links are to posts that look at their work in a little more detail. Use the little box in the top-left corner of the blog to search for any names.

Some Excellent Richmond Art Efforts to Remember -

Dinah and Paul Ryan's Adaptation Syndrome - panel post 1, panel post 2, panel post 3 (shocking conclusion!), Dominique Nahas follow-up.
John Ravenal's Artificial Light - post 1, post 2, secrets of Ceal Floyer revealed!, miami boo-boo.
Radius250 - here and here.
Amy Hauft's Relativity - here, here (17 comments!), and here
Sabine Russ and Gregory Volk's Surface Charge - pre-post (NOT a Karin Sander), post 1, post 2, my collaboration with Maix Mayer, cute fox.
Sculpture Invitational 2005 - here, here, here, and here.
Sculpture Invitational 2006 - pre-post (i'm in it as a social sculptor!), post 1, post 2.
VCU MFA Thesis Shows: Round One - here and here, Round Two here.

Some Richmond Art HEROES!!

Ashley Kistler - for her work with the Visual Arts Center of Richmond
Harry Kollatz
Amie Oliver
Jeremy Parker - for both Gallery5 and RVA Magazine and that whole community.
John Pollard - for ADA
Kirsten Kindler - i don't think ADA would have gotten very far without Kirsten's work, and support.
John Ravenal
Beverly Reynolds - the MOST gracious and beautiful gallerist in Richmond!
Melissa Roberts - for Nonesuch and that whole community.
Tom and Amanda Robinson - for Gallery5

My Richmond Flickr Set -

a TON of Richmond art pictures, like 800.

Some Favorite me in Richmond -

Face of Jesus
Super Surface Charge!
Seal of Approval
Guggenheim Richmond, Pictures From Another Planet, the Assault on Taste review
Jerry Saltz at Art Basel: Stuffy's, followed by a Studio Visit!!!
Meatballs at Stuffy's - the first Stuffy's show explained!

i might update this post later with things i've missed....

I wish that each of Richmond's nine Fortune 500 companies would chip in and give me four grand a year or so to keep anaba/me in Richmond.... that would be NICE.

you can get your boards back

Street Board Makers, you may have noticed a bunch of your boards have come down, but DON'T DESPAIR.

I have it on good authority that - "Britt Drews, the spokesperson for the Department of Public Works, says they’re keeping the signs they’ve taken down in case those who did the artwork want them back. No fine, no arrest." I think there will be a feature on local TV about the street boards soon, on the CBS channel.

Thanks, Street Board Makers, for making such nice things and getting people talking about art.

Richmond Street Boards

Some Richmond street boards... I've learned more since my last post on these, and been talking to one of the artists. S/he has also seen anaba, and told me s/he appreciated the comments of Curious very much.

Curious, are you out there? Thanks!






The artists have different names, like "Hope" and "Lost". I'm not sure who did what here, and some of the artists may be the same person using different names. Larry Lorca, another pseudonymous artist, has an EXCELLENT flickr set of many of the Richmond boards (from which I took these photos).

Amanda Blackmon

Amanda Blackmon's new animations! Hit "refresh" to start it up again. YES, she is a Richmond artist. I am still here for another week.

Frank on Cary Street

Scratched into the metal door-frame of an empty building on Cary. I'm pretty sure it was scratched... that was my impression, but I never touched it and now I'm wondering.


Frank is.

Grateful Dead Rock, Belle Isle, Da James, Richmond.

Grateful Dead Rock, on Belle Isle. This is the only graffiti on Belle Isle that doen't get painted over by the city.. it's become a landmark. That said, on our first raft trip of 2006 we saw that it had been painted over... it was GONE. That felt like a bad omen. Fortunately, it was quickly painted back early in the season and left alone.

This new one is a little different than the previous one... a little smaller, no red.


Da Roaring James. I went down to the river on Saturday.


Another view...

red show

Timothy Sean Johnston was the star of the red show, at Gallery5.

SURPRISE!


Fire pole. These photos are not too good, but his website is impossible right now.


Parker is short, Doug is tall.


George Allen singing with his band. Dreamy O'Creamy!

street bee

Street Bee.


Back of Street Bee, with someone else's smaller piece. Is this kind of thing done elsewhere? I've only seen them in Richmond.





RELATED: Street Heart.

Richmond Raft is Over

No more Richmond Raft, for real. There was an article in yesterday's paper, and here is an article from Style Weekly two months ago. I'm glad I got three seasons in... thanks, Buzz.


Hollywood Rapid, 2005. This is my best rafting picture. That was a fun trip, too.


At the campsite after rafting the Ocoee, in Tenessee... Jay, Rob, me, and Buzz.

Richmond Bible Car

I saw this car parked on the street, in front of a church.


side of car.


the window is patched with a bible.


roof of car, with prayer.


it's like the Batmobile.

PREVIOUS COOL CARS:


The Richmond MULLET POLICE. Here is the Richmond Police God.


The Hoosick Falls PAMPERS-MOBILE. This photo was taken on my last visit to my hometown, Hoosick Falls, NY! This is a good post.


window of the pampers-mobile, advertising goods for sale.

Salvador Dali's Monument Avenue Statue that Was Never Made

This is a drawing of the statue that Salvador Dali proposed for Monument Avenue. It's a monument to a nurse, Sally Louisa Tompkins... in Dali's proposal she is portrayed as slaying a dragon in a bowl of spaghetti, atop a giant finger.

Maybe it isn't spaghetti, I don't know, it looks like it might be spaghetti. Does anybody know of any other sketches or models? I'm not sure if this sketch is by Dali, or an assistant.

UPDATE!!: it ISN'T spaghehtti, she is standing in a petri dish filled with disease! It would have been made of ALUMINUM!!!

Here is a link to Larry Hall's article on Dali and Richmond.
Here is a link to a Style Weekly article on Roland Reynolds, Salvador Dali, and Sally Louisa Tompkins.

Eric Fischl's Arthur Ashe Statue VS. Paul DiPasquale's Arthur Ashe Statue

Eric Fischl's Arthur Ashe Statue. Yes, he is naked, heavily muscled, and about to swing an invisible tennis racket.

VS.

Arthur Ashe, originally uploaded by answermyclone.

Paul DiPasquale's Arthur Ashe Statue.

NO CONTEST!!!

Timothy Sean Johnston

Timothy Sean Johnston has posted some NEW paintings to his website... he is GOOD. HERE it is BIGGER. We included six of his paintings in the fair. I bought the painting that Jerry lingered over, the one we had first seen at Gallery5 back in June.

You can see more of Jerry's visit here.


See it BIGGER here.