Sorry to get a Meatloaf song stuck in your head.  But today I acquired some new stuff and it’s somehow all art related, so I thought I would share my successes and sorrows.  First here’s the stinker.  I ordered this paper from Canson in “indigo”

to make more island drawings and it’s not the right damn stuff.  It’s the wrong size and slightly the wrong color and there is a sticker annoyingly adhered to all 50 sheets.  But the kicker is that I can’t find the right paper anywhere online.  I guess that’s what happens when you pick up some single sheets of colored paper on a whim in Budapest–it’s ne’er to be found again–at least on this side of the Atlantic…or in cyberspace, for that matter, which I hear is a pretty big place.

But now for some good purchases.  I got this big blingy book that I had been drooling over for awhile and wanting since seeing the wonderful grotesque paintings in Italy:

I actually did two things:

1) I finally put the images of the work I made in Budapest onto my website.   That’s  an important step in the artmaking process for me.  Seeing the work together, online, is a way for me to digest it differently than seeing it on the wall.  It also officially puts it “out there” (wherever that is) for others to see and comment on.

2) Also, and bigger and potentially better (yet all part of the same package), the universe collided in such a way so that today I found myself writing an email to Richard Gillespie, TIGHAR‘s (The International Group for Historic Airline Recovery) executive director in charge of leading yet another expedition to what is now called Nikumaroro Island (formerly Gardner).  I am writing to see if I can go along on the month-long expedition starting in May 2010 to search for DNA on the island that could lead to knowledge of Amelia Earhart’s whereabouts at the time of her death and a big “mystery solved” stamp on one of the most compelling enigmas in recent history.

Now if I get a response at all from this supremely busy man, that will be great.  If I get an affirmative response from him, that will be epic.  Then I can start the extensive grant writing process that will consume me for the next few months.  Thanks to NPR’s The World for featuring an interview with Ric Gillespie about the trip and my friend Brian Spolans for alerting me to this article from ABC News.  These two bits of media helped kick me in the butt to write the email.

In other news, when I finally bring all of this work together in an exhibition, I hope to make it somehow museum-like in appearance and presentation, as though I am presenting artifacts rather than artwork, or a hybridization of the two.  On this topic I just received this book in the mail today:

which I am very excited to read.  The Museum of Jurassic Technology in LA presents fictions as though they are fact.  I am very compelled by this aesthetic of painstakingly contrived deceptions.  It is a historically rich, yet very current mode of presenting information.  I have witnessed this phenomenon in the writing of Ben Marcus, and the artwork of Hyungkoo Lee who’s work we saw at the Korean Pavilion during the 2007 Venice Biennale.  He creates realistic skeletal remains of cartoon characters.

Now, I am going to use all of this excited energy to head off to the studio!

I’m skipping Florence because we were only there for an afternoon and the museums wouldn’t allow photos, so I don’t have many.  But Venice is another story because we were there for the opening weekend of the Pinault Collection and the 53rd Venice Biennale.  Ok, art first, my photos next.

Here are three experiences with amazing art (it was hard to choose only three!) Mark and I especially enjoyed.  These choices are probably a little bit mediated, by the extent to which they were photographable.  Behold:

Lydia Pape at the Arsenale

Lydia Pape uses gold thread and light in a darkened space to create these ethereal prism-like shafts of majesty.

Grazia Toderi at Arsenale

Grazia Toderi has made a video project like no other.  Combining imagery of stadia, space, lights at night and god knows what else, she gives the viewer a reverse-symmetrical kaleidoscopic experience of another world.  For an idea of the way these videos move and shift, visit my flickr page, starting here and flip through the next few images.

Denmark and Nordic Countries (Finland, Norway, Sweden) The Collectors

The Nordic countries outdid themselves with their two pavilions invaded and transformed by the group The Collectors.  Creating a David Lynch meets mid-century homoerotic swingers’ loft, it is up to the participant to put the pieces together to form a sort of ramshackle pseudo-narrative.

And for my “artful” photos, which are, incidentally, of art:

Russian Pavilion- Anatoly Shuravlev

Korean Pavilion- Haegue Yang

Russian Pavilion- Andrei Molodkin

There’s so much more to include, but these are the images I settled on.  Here are more photos from our stay in Venice.

Next stop: Vienna!

After having just spent a month and a half in Europe, I have spent a lot of time since my return (about 2.5 weeks) reliving and retelling my experiences there.  Within three weeks, Mark and I visited five cities in three countries.  I have finally uploaded all travel photos to my flickr page, but I want to blog about the trip a bit too.  Of course I have already concentrated heavily on my three weeks at the residency in Budapest, but now it’s time to explore the rest of the trip leading up to that.

So, since our purpose in going to Europe was to see and experience artwork, in each of the next few entries which will correspond to the cities we visited in order, I will post three photos of art that is somehow noteworthy in it’s own right (at least as I see it) and three of my own “artful” photos- perhaps of artwork or anything, really.

Here goes round 1- first stop: Rome!

Let’s start with three notable artworks or experiences with art:

It started with a visit to the Vatican Museum and extended throughout our time in Europe: my infatuation with Italian Grotesque painting.  I love that sur-realism existed prior to Surrealism.

Again at the Vatican Museum (one of the few museums we visited that allows photographs) is the Room of the Animals.  These two gallery rooms contain carved stone statues of every type of animal imaginable.  They reflect the age-old obsession with conquering and collecting animals to form a sort of menagerie.  A private garden full of exotic animals was a sign of wealth.  An excellent book on the larger subject is called Dominance and Affection: The Making of Pets by Yi-Fu Tuan.

Foil she-wolves placed on the walls that line the Tiber, a public art-installation by Kristin Jones.  Here’s one that was close enough for us to see in detail, but hundreds of them  line the wall that recedes downward from the upper walkways on both sides of the river for a stretch.  The way they reflect the city’s lights at night is a mystical spectacle.  I like this photo because it captures the reason for Jones’ embarking on the project in the first place: neglect.  The barricade, graffiti and litter form an environment against which this momma wolf  snarls and bristles as she protects her young–human and wolf alike.  Here’s a New Yorker article on how this project came about.

Okay, now for my three “artful” photos, whatever that means.  They might be photos of or containing someone else’s artwork, or they might just be a shot by me that I think turned out particularly well.

Palm trees against the bluey blue of a sky nearing dusk.  Taken on our first night in Rome.

We were fortunate to travel with our friends Mary and Chris for the Rome-Florence-Venice portion of our trip.  We had traveled with them to Toronto, CA and London, UK on separate trips in the past, and when we started to hatch this trip to Europe around my residency and the Venice Biennale, it coincided with vacation plans they were making for the summer.  Here is an amazing photo of Chris having a great time at a cafe that we joked would be perfect in a travel guide.  We really were having a good time, but this photo is almost hyperbolic in it’s quintessential just-kicking-back-in-Rome-ness, complete with the token accordion player.

I was able to momentarily stop time at a fountain near the Coliseum.

Next stop: Florence!

So, what with all of the vegan brunch hosting, Shadow Art Fair going, blogging, and uploading and categorizing hundreds of travel photos to flickr, the semi-annual rearranging of the water studio has suffered a bit.  But fear not!  It’s ready for action and with more work space and room to move around, I can’t wait to nestle in with my audiobooks, drawing pens and fancy papers.  Behold the glory that is organization!

So, that last post would have gotten out of hand if I had included everything I want to write and show, so I decided to break it into two posts.  And now for part 2!  This year’s poster and t-shirt were designed  by the amazing and talented Melissa Dettloff (aka Mad Dog) who just happens to be my friend and studiomate.  The shirts and posters were printed by the ubiquitous VG Kids.

She's clearly pleased her design was chosen.

Here’s a quick look around the fair:

the mervelous Amelia and her new lavender-scented skunk friend

A couple of booths I’d like to feature:

Sarah Bradstreet, working it at the Broad Street booth

the lovely Maria working the Swipple! booth

Swipple!

Their booth debuted a sleek new design this year for maximum art viewing (and therefore purchasing).

And then there was the food!  This vegan was pleased as punch about Jennifer Albaum’s Chips and Cheeeze which rocked to a sold-out audience.  Thankfully, you can find the recipe over at her blog Scumpdilly.

Jennifer serving ups Chips and Cheeeze! We had ours with lotso jalapenos...

Mark Maynard was also signing people up for his Cycle Powered Cinema project.  Mark (my man) has volunteered to help out.  MM was posting to his blog live during  the SAF, which is pretty funny.  There’s even a bathroom video interview with Ryan Groendyk, one of the meisters in charge of the Shadow Brew which sadly got all drunk up before we made it back for our second visit for the day.  I hear it was pretty amazing and…”weird” (hey, that’s Ryan’s own description).

As twilight fell, Manhole rocked some Chuck E. Cheese-style limbo action outside under a glorious sky.

I hope you had fun!  (I know I did)

My friend and art colleague Ryan, recently texted me the somewhat cryptic message:  “Check out the paintings of Jordan Kantor.”  Where had he come across these paintings?  Why was I supposed to see them?  An email cleared it up: Ryan has seen them at the exhibition Untitled (History Painting): Painting and Public Life in the 21st Century at the newly opened University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) in Ann Arbor.  I still need to get over there to see them.  In the meantime, we can take a look at why Ryan thought I should check them out:

Jordan Kantor Untitled (Challenger), 2007 Oil on canvas 70 x 60 inches

Jordan Kantor Untitled (Basel lens flare 6761), 2009 Oil on canvas 21 x 28 inches

Jordan Kantor Untitled (Basel lens flare 5727), 2009 Oil on canvas 21 x 28 inches

Jordan Kantor Installation view, 2009 Art Statements Art | 40 | Basel

Ryan and I discussed his text message to me.  He thinks something in my new work resonates with Kantor’s work.  What do you think?

I feel like a mad scientist…perhaps an anthropologist spelunker.

I am really into the work of the artist Mike Peter Smith lately.  Can you guess why?

Nannette and I have been collaborating on a video piece the last couple of days…

I’m not exactly sure how it will turn out, but it’s been a lot of fun to work on so far.  Props involve a bathtub, oil paint, a rock, the stuffing from a plush pig’s belly, a sharp knife (to procure the pig guts), a gold threaded cloud puppet, one broken video camera, one working video camera, ink- black and shimmery blue.  Here’s a still image from shoot #1.

The clouds have been floating over my bed.  I think they like it near the map drawings…

Dear Carl Adamshick,

I love your poetry.  Specifically Pacific.  I am writing you this letter on my blog for everyone to see because in searching for you on Google, I can’t find out how to contact you, so here it is.  Perhaps you, when Googling your own name, or when a friend Googles you, will discover this letter and the compliments it contains.

For all of the non- Carl Adamshicks out there, which would be most of you, sadly, you can read only an excerpt of this fine poem here.  Why write a letter to a poet on a blog about (predominately) visual art?  This particular poem, addresses Amelia Earhart and her place in history, specifically in the year 1935.

The poem opens thus with a quote:

“After midnight the moon set and I was alone with the stars.
I have often said that the lure of flying is the lure of beauty.”

Amelia Earhart

So,  Mr. Adamshick and I are caught up in the roughly the same subject.  If anyone is interested in reading the whole thing, get a copy of The Missouri Review Volume 31, Number 3, Fall 2008.  Thanks Joe, for calling my attention to this poem.  Mr. Adamshick, I apologize for turning this letter into a blog post addressed not only to you, but everyone else out there, but it is, after all, a blog post.

Speaking of Amelia Earhart, I have finished the fourth little panel in a set of four with Howland Island and Gardner Island as their subjects.  These little panels are artifacts.  They are wooden photographs.

Here is #4:

and here they are together:

So, please feel free to peruse the rest of this blog, as images of AE-influenced work abound.  Thank you for your time and patience with my cyberpermient.

Sincerly,

Amy Sacksteder