Fekete Leves (where the sky used to be) is a two-person installation that engages aspects of disorientation and loss of control by Budapest-based artist Nannette Vinson and Detroit-area artist Amy Sacksteder.  Sacksteder is exploring mortality by channeling the last moments in Amelia Earhart’s life through mostly drawings, paintings and installations.  Through her ink drawings, Vinson is revisiting the turbulence that accompanies loss of innocence.  Her visual art background is primarily in photography and video art; Sacksteder’s is in 2D media.  Through this collaboration, each artist is working in an as-yet “foreign” medium to her, thus each is experiencing her own lack of control.  This is their first collaborative endeavor.

Chinese Characters Contemporary Art Space

1073 Budapest – Kertész u. 4

Thursday, March 4, 6 – 10 p.m.

David and Nannette were kind enough to loan me a space in their flat to use as a drawing studio while I’m here.  So far, we’re spending a lot of time editing video and making work–with some feasts here and there for good measure.  Tomorrow we’re off to the hardware store to get installation materials.  Then we’re headed to the Glenn Brown exhibition at the Ludwig Museum.

I wanted to write a long-ish post (with photos) about all of the fun I’m having during my week-long stay in Budapest, but the wireless network in my and Nannette’s “office” (i.e. a large, decadent cafe) won’t deign to allow the uploading of a bunch of images. So for now, I will just be posting one image per visit to the office.  A longer post will have to wait until I’m back in the States.  Some highlights so far include lots of artmaking, insomniac house chickens, a completely affectionate little cat named Mitsy, plenty of good food, and BIG BIG plans.  More to come!

Szia!  I’m Budapest-bound for a week over EMU’s winter break.  I get to stay with friends Nannette and David.  I’m hoping to make it an art-filled week and sneak in some museum-going.  To see entries from my last trip to Budapest in June, click on the Budapest tag on the right.  I’m off! Puszi! Hello!

I updated my website, and that’s no mean feat, considering how behind I was.  Head on over there and check it out, won’t you?

I am reconfiguring the way that I think about this blog in relation to my website.  This seems like a great forum for all of the stuff I had on (and would be updating to)  the pictures page on my site.  There is no longer a link to that page, though you can still access it here.  Now there’s a link to the blog instead!  So, I thought I would go through the images on that page and re-post them here from time to time so everything is in the same place.  I am starting with some images from a residency I attended though the Pouch Cove Foundation (sadly no longer open) in Newfoundland in 2005.  It was a breathtaking experience!    Here goes:

So, I don’t really follow the Olympics…and I don’t own a TV, (I know, I know…how unAmerican, right?) so I didn’t get a chance to see images from the opening ceremonies until they popped up on a TV in a pub I went to last week.  I saw this large crystal structure all aflame, and was simultaneously pleased to see such a brash display of awesomeness, and disappointed that this object I have seen cropping up in art and design the last couple of years was used for such a commercial event.  For a recent, relevant example, see the work of Alexis Anne Mackenzie in the previous post or this post from awhile back.

What’s funny, is that in all of the googling I did to find images for this post, not once did I see the word “crystal” appear.  Cauldron?  yes.  The ever-vague “structure”? yes.  Pillars? yes.  Also, I couldn’t find the name of an architect or designer for the “structure.”  It was simply implemented by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC).  So, as much as I would like to give credit to some savvy designer with her finger on the pulse of the art world, I can’t.  Instead, I am left feeling a little bit like a somewhat ubiquitous, but relevant image was exploited by a behemoth of an event, and as a result, I feel a little bit empty inside.  Oh, Canada.

I have come across the work of Alexis Anne Mackenzie on several occasions, and like it very much.  Her use of collage is extremely sensitive.  Apparently I’m not the only one who feels that way, since she is represented by several galleries and has a lot of exhibitions and publications under her belt.  All images are from her website.

It’s been a busy couple of art months recently.  The latest is an installation called Ghost Town for the Annual Art Faculty Exhibition in the University Gallery at EMU.  What you don’t see is one of the best aspects of the piece: there’s a song.  Mark wrote the most amazing song recently that I dubbed Ghost Town and I knew it had to be part of this piece.  He rigged speakers in the rafters above the installation that plays the song subtly, so that you only really hear it when enveloped in the gold cut paper.

[audio:http://blog.amysacksteder.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/GhostTown.mp3|titles=GhostTown]

To get an interwebby version of the effect, listen to the mp3 while scrolling through the images.

I made the components of this piece at different times.  The gold paper cut-outs and small oil painted panels were all made for my solo exhibition Still at Paint Creek Center for the Arts in April 2009.  The skull pieces (gouache and gold leaf) were made in Budapest this last summer.  They are essentially portraits of the skulls in the artist/stylist/designers’ homes featured on The Selby.  I plan to make more of these and am excited to see where I can go with this piece in the future.

The opening is Tuesday night February 2 from 4 – 7 p.m. in the University Gallery in the Student Center at EMU.    There’s a lot of great work by all of my colleagues.  Come see the show!

One show just came down at the Gallery Project in Ann Arbor and one show just went up at Paint Creek Center for the Arts in Rochester (MI).  I am honored to have been/be a part of both of them.  Here are some photos of my work from Presence/Absence at PCCA (including some new work hot off the drawing table):

Presence/Absence runs from January 15-February 20 with an opening reception at Paint Creek on Friday the 22nd from 7-9.  I am accompanied in the show by four amazing artists: Faina Lerman, Luzhen Qiu, Alison Wong, and Sun You. Here is a sweet blurb about the show in Real Detroit Weekly. Hope you can make it out to the opening!