Emvergeoning

Blaffer Gallery Curator Claudia Schmuckli invited French filmmaker Chantal Akerman to show five works, including a new film/video installation project commissioned by the University of Houston. The show closes in four days so I wanted to highlight a clip from one of the pieces in “Moving Through Time and Space.” To read a thoughtful review of the show visit our neighbors.

Enjoy one of many beautiful stills from the show:

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Pretend today is hot potato news day, just snippets of incongruent information:
A little bird told Emvergeoning that Sterling Allen just won an Artpace Residency for the year 2009..Old friends from the San Francisco Noise Scene, win the Best Use of a Flute at South by Southwest for 2008… Zane Lewis might be moving to a place called New York City this year…One of Texas’ star curators, Regine Basha, will be bringing the sound art of Steve Roden and Stephen Vitiello to Ballroom Marfa next year. There was a good article about their West Texas field recordings in the February issue of Modern Painters, only available in print version for now. Buy a copy and you will find a review of Michael Smith at the Blanton while Kate Green writes about at her former place of curatorial business, better known as Artpace.
In other news, the SA Art League mildly mislead artists in thinking there was a lump sum award of $5,000 for their annual call for entries. And despite grumblings amongst local artists, Toby Kamps, Senior Curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston confirmed with Emvergeoning that every piece in the upcoming show was cherry picked by himself, not the Art Leaguers. Apparently most of the award money has been divided between 20 or more artists from San Antonio [myself included]. No official list of artists has been released and the amount of each award is clandestine until the show opens April 6th. Still, I think it might be enough to

Also, speaking of the CAM in Houston, recent Artpace Resident Allison Smith will be in a group show beginning in May called “The Old, Weird America.” Shouldn’t it be Ye Olde Weird[e] America? Emvergeoning minds want to know.

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I snuck in and got a photo of SA’s Karen Mahaffey working on her new show in Gallery 4 @ Blue Star yesterday. Its opening this coming Thursday March 6, 2008. The usual First Friday festivities will follow the next day.

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(The community gives him a saucy welcome.)

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A little while back we did a series of posts on publicly accessible outsider artwork in San Antonio. One of the artists we covered was the Rev. Seymour Perkins, a controversial figure who lives on the east side of town. While others argue over whether he harbors drugs and prostitutes, and his lawyer battles with the city over the fate of his home, we here at Emvergeoning decided to take another peak at the work that isn’t so publicly accessible — the work inside his home. As Rev. Perkins gave us the tour I tried to absorb all the details, while Justin Parr snapped shot after shot of the inner sanctuary. From what I was able to gather, Seymour Perkins’ daughter, Debbie Jo Christi, was killed in a drug-related conflict on February 22, 1994. Here is a drawing on one of the walls that depicts her murder:

On the same day, the tallest angel in Heaven appeared to Seymour Perkins, revealing to him a tunnel that runs under his home, which is in fact the famous Underground Railroad. This tunnel connects his home to the Alamo and the Menger Hotel, and runs on down into Mexico. After receiving this prophecy (which I am recounting in only a very fragmentary and woefully incomplete way), Perkins founded the Debbie Jo Christi Museum, and Hanging Tough Ministries. Here is a painting of the tunnel running under the Perkins estate:

Here are a few shots inside the Debbie Jo Christi Museum:

The Museum is located in a small building in the back of the house. But within the actual house, where Rev. Perkins delivers most of his sermons, there are a number of fascinating works. In his bedroom, the pieces below are painted on the wall. The first is a self-portrait of Rev. Perkins with his son:

Next to this painting, is a larger work depicting one of his assistants, whose ass is stuck to his ass (i.e. he doesn’t know if he’s coming or going):

Below are a few details of one work painted on a window shade, depicting a man named Timothy Ringer, “the funkiest man in San Antonio”:

In addition to these works, dealing with himself, his family, and other meaningful people in his life, Perkins showed us a few pieces dealing with his relationship with God and History:

Now, this post isn’t intended to rally support around Rev. Seymour Perkins, or to say anything about his proper place in our community. I’ll leave that to his neighbors, his lawyers, and the city’s elected officials. But I did think it would be good for people to see what is inside his home — if it is destroyed in the coming months, this may sadly be one of the most complete documents of what it contained. To see more of his work, please visit the San Angel Folk Art gallery in the Blue Star arts complex.

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exhibit a : Audio from Karen Mahaffy describing the execution.

exhibit b :

(photos copyright Justin Parr 2008)

INTRODUCING NEW EVIDENCE:

exhibit c : futureWorkerGirl reflects on artist as murderer, victim, pimp and ho.

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(words: Aaron Forland, photos: Justin Parr)

Who would have thought the day would come when the mighty Emvergeoning machine would get scooped on its home turf by a little-known upstart lowbrow/street art magazine called Juxtapoz?  Not only that, but with photos we took, documenting a one-of-a-kind, one-night-only (thanks to our crack City maintenance crews – good lookin’ out, fellas) extralegal public art installation coordinated and executed by a group calling itself Uniting Artists Through Crime.  Word has it that Scotch! and co-conspirators utilized the awesome networking power of to pull off this small coup.  The diverse international show was mounted (after a false start one week prior) during daytime hours Monday, December 17th on the defunct, boarded-up former haven for the transient on North Saint Marys at Convent, directly across from our beautiful Greyhound Bus Station.  As the press release (which also contained the magic word emerging) stated, the show ran “until the buff,” which, as mentioned, went down the following day.  Fortunately, Fl!ght World Headquarters received a telephone tip late Monday night and we were able to semi-thoroughly document it in the wee morning hours.

The show featured the work of artists from four continents, and may be the largest wheatpaste-based collaborative installation ever mounted in Texas.  Standout works came from (Florida), New York City’s stencil-mad Bot, the sociopolitical stylings of (Malaysia), and San Antonio’s own fevered x-acto imagists and .  Other contributing artists included (Califas), Aphro (SA), Bomit (Houston), Chis La Notte (Madrid, España), Dual (Houston), Dwell/Oneunit (NYC), Enosh (Califas), Enos One (SA), Genevieve (SA), (Queensland, Australia), Give Up (Houston), (SA), REPS/EPSR (SA), Washer (DC), Wes (SA) and probably a few others (apologies to anyone left out – I did my best to ID you all.)  Media varied from traditional wheatpaste methods of xeroxed, screened or stenciled paper to hand-painted pieces and even stenciled metal plates.

Here you will find the entirety of Justin’s photos, and here are some supplementary celly snaps I took attempting to show a little more detail.

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Back in June I noted that Nick Ut had taken the photo of Paris Hilton (above, right) exactly 35 years after the photo of Kim Phuc (above, left), to the day. Today I came across an article in the Telegraph (via Conscientious) which quotes Nick Ut comparing his relationship to the two photos:

It’s a strange feeling because I know I will never take another photograph that’s as good as this – not as long as I live. When I look at my photograph of Kim and my photograph of Paris Hilton, I think they are both good pictures, in their way. I suppose the big difference is that I grew to love Kim, whereas… well, frankly, I don’t give a damn about Paris Hilton.

Not too surprising, really, considering Ut saved Kim Phuc’s life, and to Paris Hilton he’s just another paparazzo. The Telegraph article uses the strange relationship between these two photos to illustrate changes in culture and the role of photography. The premise is that due to both market forces and government regulation, photographers are increasingly pushed towards a minute but distorted documentation of celebrities and away from realistic documentation of international conflicts. More Britney Spears, less Iraq war.

This reminds me a bit of the Nan Goldin exhibit up at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston right now. There’s a tension in her work between the intimate, gritty realities of chemical and sexual dependency, and stylistic tropes that transform these realities into fantasies. It feels as if she started out as a war photographer, throwing herself into dangerous, chaotic situations and documenting them; but has unwittingly become a servant to the pastime of voyeurism. But I guess the line between truth teller and entertainer has never been terribly clear.

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Bill Fitzgibbons (not pictured above) was seen directing the prologue to a rumored Luminaria Arts Night installation today at nightfall.

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(updated on 11/29/07) follow up by the landowners “buff” crew :

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Heres a little recap of the Ken Little performance of Yoko’s “Cut Piece.”

(all photos by Justin Parr, click here for a more extensive folder of images)

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Is Damien Hirst working on the new Indiana Jones movie? Or is this some stunt by Saatchi to make sure everyone knows that crystal skulls are hot?

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• Emvergeoning friends Megan & Murray McMillan are workaholics. They just finished an incredibly scenic residency in Greece and one of their video projects is currently on view at the 10th Annual Istanbul Biennial. It that’s not enough, check out a review of their Channelbone, 2-day whale installation in St. Louis in the latest issue of Art in America
• Speaking of Art in America, Michael Duncan wrote an informative and eloquent feature on San Antonio recluse, Dario Robleto, in this month’s issue. Duncan also wrote the catalog essay for Robleto’s show at Arthouse, a collaborative installation with the recently deceased Jeremy Blake.
• In other news, why does this story have Dario Robleto written all over it? Seems to fit into the themes of fear and tenderness in men…
• And last but certainly not least, David Rubin gets a high five for managing to book Jennifer Steinkamp for the San Antonio Museum of Art: installation stardate 2009.

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I took part in San Antonios semi-regular Bike Gang Summit the other night for Halloween. During the process of riding through spooky parts of the city, we stopped at a cemetary on the East Side. It quickly degenerated into a game of Wheres Waldo..take a look (Waldo makes an appearance in each of these images).

To see images from the entire night go here.

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The City of Marfa endured an influx of Texas hipsters last weekend. Why would people drive eight hours to a former POW camp in West Texas? A free plate of barbecue courtesy of the Chinati Foundation and the chance to watch Sonic Youth in a small pavilion across the street from a Dairy Queen. San Antonio photographer Patrick Zeller drove out to Marfa and took some great photos of his West Texas journey here. There was a sprawling group show of more than 60 artists at Building 98 called Camp Marfa, a place where you could sit on a couch and watch a sort of Faces of Death version of competitive bull-riding accidents as well as a strikingly poetic series of explosions and slivers of nuclear test documentaries. Fort Russell was once a rest stop for famous generals and various U.S. presidents. The weathered, built in bar still houses a framed, velvet wall that kept high ranking medals. It’s a beautiful example of the art of absence, with the darkened blue velvet beneath the missing medals becoming accidental evidence of importance. There was a big West Texas contingent over at Building 98, with Jeffrey Wheeler at the helm. Wheeler and his brother run a space in Lubbock and started the ongoing, traveling exhibition called Ulterior Motifs. Some of the artists featured in this year’s show include Mel Chin, Bale Creek Allen, Daniel Johnston and Sharon Kopriva. I was in a last minute group show at a renovated restaurant at the edge of town called 500e. Austinites Sean Gaulager, Hank Waddell, Adreon Henry and Jacob Villanueva put the show together on a shoestring and a little bit of help from Vitamin Water and Sapphire Gin.[Sounds awful, but that combination incurs zero hangovers] After Sonic Youth, Adreon Henry’s band played for the meandering crowds. They will be playing again on Halloween if you are in the state capital that day. Over and out. More pictures?

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Seems like Bruce Nauman’s Square Depression is the darling of the mega trifecta of biennials in Europe right now. Glasstire also seemed drawn to this image. Perhaps it is the longevity of the work at the hands of American artist Bruce Nauman that keeps his creations piquant. Nauman originally designed this “negative pyramid” in 1977. Abraham Orden at Artnet gives a vivid, succinct observation of this city block-sized sculpture. Somehow the pictures don’t convey the convex element of the work. Has anyone seen photos from the center of this piece?

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Since we seem to be on the subject of Mexican American art, I stopped by the Instituto Cultural de Mexico in Hemisfair Plaza. It’s a beautiful, spacious building anchored near the Tower of the Americas. The photos on display as part of Fotoseptiembre are black and white images of remote places throughout Mexico. Mariana Yampolsky’s ability to frame fragile subjects in desolate landscapes truly resonates in this overview of her work at the Instituto. Her work dwells in the quixotic realm of fellow photographer Graciela Iturbide, whose work was celebrated at the University of San Marcos’ Wittliff Gallery earlier this year. The Instituto also has an amazing group show called La Caja Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, curated by Martha Papadimitriou. Pick up a catalog to read an insightful essay by author Luis Carlos Emerich in which he explains how the conceptual premise for the show, The Box {La Caja}, “seems to act countercurrent to the formal museum because it forgoes its sanctuary nature.”

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Today was the grand opening for the Mexican American Cultural Center in Austin. Read more about the show in the Chronicle. Just a year after the festivites for the University of Texas’ Blanton Museum of Art, there hasn’t been too much coverage or puffery like the ballons desai before the big blowout for the Alameda Smithsonian and aforementioned Blanton. The latest installation of Young Latino Artists, YLA #12, coincided with the Grand Opening of the MACC today. This year’s show, “Embracing Chaos,” features Gerald Lopez [ Corpus Christi], Jesus de la Rosa [McAllen, TX], Chuy Benitez [Houston], Anna Pilhoefer [El Paso], Lucilla Flores [Austin] and San Antonio’s own Enrique Martinez.

The Mexic-Arte Museum in Austin initiated this annual YLA exhibition to support emvergeoning artists. The YLA show has evolved into a career checkpoint for most young Mexican American artists in Texas. We’ll post a review later this month.

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In the interest of debate, let me put in my two cents on the various stabs being taken at Elaine Wolff (both in Michelle’s post below, and in the various articles she links to). In her critique of Olmos Famous, Wolff accuses the show of being too much surface, not enough depth. This assessment isn’t necessarily wrong, but I think it misses the point. Franco Mondini-Ruiz’s shows (both his solo shows and those that he curates) are about spectacle, crowds, and excitement. They aren’t about quiet contemplation of a body of work. He’s working on making the community aware of the quality of contemporary art that is made in San Antonio, of the kind of excitement and energy that can surround this work, and of the fact that you can pack a gallery in Olmos Park with people who live on the north side and the south side. And he’s doing a great job of it.

There is room for other kinds of shows, as Michelle Monseau’s quiet, mysterious, and very spacious exhibit at Blue Star recently demonstrated. Franco just isn’t going to curate those shows. The “fairy god-mother” remark may sound bad from a certain perspective, but knowing Franco, and the degree to which he can dish it out, I have trouble getting worked up about this comment.

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San Antonio gives weekly alternative media little to be proud of these days. The SA Current tried to cover up its fatuous reporting with an Eighties inspired graphic re-design but it looks like things are just getting pickled. I wrote a Letter to the Editor, Elaine Wolff, last month for her derogatory and vapid review of the Olmos Famous Show at Galeria Ortiz [Curated by Franco Mondini-Ruiz]. You can’t read it because there is no archival search engine on SA Current’s sparkling new website. Although Wolff posted the letter on her blog, she never published it in the print version.

Wolff is under some serious heat for her dubious coverage of one Mikal Watts and her husband’s deep pockets that connect the local weekly editor to a Texas lawyer’s run for Senate. Did I mention her husband, Michael Westheimer, is a Zoning Commissioner? I’m still working on this story but you can read the Express-News [read Aug. 23 post] and local muckraker, Barbara Gonzalez coverage of the ongoing discussion. In the meantime, I wanted to get things started after I waited a few weeks for possible publication of my letter. I am posting Wolff’s response in tandem. In addition, Wolff just fired news staff writer Kelly Dailey. Fellow writer Dave Maas just left the paper a few weeks ago to work for a weekly in Santa Fe after serious contentions over Wolff’s delayed disclosure.

More news later this week…
Here’s the letter and her response for the Olmos Famous Review:

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So, it depends on who your list is made up of, but to some folks at La Tuna this past Friday night, it reminded them a little bit of of high school when they thought they knew somebody in the crowd..

he looks kinda familiar.. wait.. heres a Bryan De La Garza Polaroid of him :

oh wait.. here he is with Tori Amos.

…

oh!

Now I remember.

what a wierd Friday…

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Mark Hansen and Ben Rubin sift through new media with a sharp and calculating statistician’s sensibility. The result, currently at Yerba Buena, leaves audiences reeling with the brainiac implications involved in such a complicated, perfectly orchestrated piece of musical, LED sublimeness. Here’s an example of the listening post in action at the Whitney in 2002.

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