THIS LONG CENTURY

PETRA, JORDANIA PHOTOS, 21ST JANUARY 2011

— This incredible place has many of my absolute favorite ingredients: rock-carved temples and tombs (alleged usage), caves, proto-Biblical references, pre- and post- human civilization overtones, Alexander the Great, spiritual infusion, monolithic man made structures, monolithic natural structures, density and mass on an epic scale, super-realism, surrealism & incredible hallucinatory factors (such as mind-bending color shifts, defacings, dense organic stone patterns, miraculous lighting and natural theatre), gorges, craggy peaks and fierce winds, blood altars, donkeys, etc.

Unbelievable.

Here are some attempts to capture that perspective with iphone camera.

RIP Brendan Majewski.

—

Stephen O’Malley is a founding member of several groups including Sunn O))) (1998–present), Burning Witch (1995–1998), KTL (2005–present), Khanate (2000–2006). His collaborations include projects with Banks Violette, Gisèle Vienne, and Dennis Cooper, amongst others.

www.ideologic.org

To a palace made
Of wind

To a palace whose towers
Are pillars of fire by day

To an opal palace
In the sky’s zenith heart

The bird of pale air
Flies

In a swift white line
On a black space

A brushstroke
Signifying absence

“Vacancy in Glass,” Roger Gilbert-Lecomte

—
Rita Ackermann, Hungarian born painter/artist, lives and works in New York. She is currently editing a monograph with Rizzoli, working on a short film “Pure War”, and a organizing a mob flash performance for a festival in May for New Museum. In November 2011, she will be showing her new paintings at the Ludwig Museum, in Budapest.

www.ritaackermann.com
www.andrearosengallery.com

— Listening this morn to a nice, formal piece of music derived from Near Eastern sounds, extremely nice. (CD, Dream of the Orient, orig. in Turkey). Like to do some filming if younger and stronger out in the deserts of Arabia! Mysterious worn and weathered edifices of various sorts appearing here and there in the vastness of the Arabian Desert. An apartment building from three millenia past, still protruding from the red desert sands, former town, now occupied by 3 or 4 families, hot east wind blowing thru the darkened interior, window openings, some screened by articles of clothing. Child’s bicycle on “the street” below, in front of this ancient apt doorway. A single tree at the end of what was several thousand years ago a village main street. Nothing else on the horizon to suggest civilization, humanity. Naught ‘cepting wind, desert, time.

From top to bottom:
QUIXOTE (1965), 45 minutes
QUICK BILLY (1970), 56 minutes
VALENTIN DE LAS SIERRAS (1968), 10 minutes
MASS FOR THE DAKOTA SIOUX (1964), 24 minutes
All stills provided by Chuck Stevens.
—

Bruce Baillie was born in Aberdeen, South Dakota, in 1931. He is one of the pioneers of the Avant Garde film movement in San Francisco, as well as a founding member of Canyon Cinema Cooperative, 1961 to the present. In 1992 his film CASTRO STREET (1966) was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. He is currently undertaking the task of putting his work into a series of DVD albums, some of which are already available through Canyon Cinema.

www.brucebaillie.com
www.canyoncinema.com

— This Fall, while I was in San Francisco, my friend Bonnie Camplin sent me an invitation card to Creative Growth. Following her advice the first chance we had, my partner and I took a motorbike trip to Oakland.

It was a Tuesday—a regular day of work in CG. The doors were wide open, we heard the sounds of hammering, scribbling, conversations and giggling. Behind the doors was a gallery covered with collages, watercolours, oil paintings, pencil drawings, ballpoint drawings, crayon drawings, decoupage, and all kind of paper mache figures, cardboard vehicles, abstract ceramics and wool works.

This was not a usual gallery, everything looked attractive, unpretentious and extremely imaginative. From the gallery you can look into the workshop—a large open space with working tables and studios for all sort of media.

In the studio there was around 40 artists varied in age, all working on their artworks. The results were fabulous—from a video of Star Wars puppet theater, to ceramic waves, to amazing abstract wool scarves and collaged pictures of dogs in 1970s sweaters.

What caught my eye and made my legs soft was a series of loose interpretations of fashion catwalk drawings, from 2007. This is the work I want to share.

Above:
Artist, Barbara Rice.
Designer, Lanvin.

Above (top to bottom):
Artist, Merritt Wallace, Paulino Martin and Barbara Rice.
Designer, Isaac Mizrahi.

Above:
Artist, Merritt Wallace.
Designer, Prada.

All images from Paper Magazine, September 2007.
Copyright Creative Growth.
—

Paulina Olowska was born in 1976, in Gdansk, Poland. Solo exhibitions include Metro Picture, New York; CCA Wattis Institutefor Contemporary Arts, San Francisco; Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Köln; the Abtelberg Museum, Monchengladbach; the Kunstverein Braunschweig, Germany; Cabinet Gallery, London, UK; Public Space Commission (with Lucie McKenzie); the Gdansk Shipyard, and the Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw. In 2007 she was the recipient of a DAAD (Berlin).

www.metropicturesgallery.com
www.galeriebuchholz.de
www.simonleegallery.com

Creative Growth is a non-profit visual arts center, located in Oakland, California, providing art programs, educational and independent living training, counseling and vocational opportunities for disabled adults.

www.creativegrowth.org

LOST

—

John Stezaker was born in Worcester, in 1949. He studied at the Slade School of Art, and currently teaches Critical and Historical Studies at the Royal College of Art in London. Stezaker’s work has been exhibited internationally since the 1990’s and has been adopted in renowned museum collections around the world such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Saatchi Collection, London, and the Tate Modern, London.

www.theapproach.co.uk
www.petzel.com
www.galerie-capitain.com