Marfa Dot Net

Akio Suzuki and Aki Onda

MARFA – Marfa Live Arts brings two pioneers of sound art, Akio Suzuki and Aki Onda, to Marfa for a series of free events on Wednesday, October 25th and Thursday, October 26th.

The duo visits West Texas during fu-rai—a seven-city North American tour. While in Marfa, Suzuki and Onda will host a workshop on October 25th from 6-7:30pm at the Marfa Stockyards. Participants are invited to bring instruments and found objects for an acoustic performance. No prior music training is necessary. The following night on October 26th, Marfa Live Arts will present a concert from 8-9:30pm at Saint George Hall. Kate Molleson of The Herald describes a past Suzuki and Onda performance, “They moved with the deliberateness of dancers, by turns spontaneous, urgent and precise, and their chemistry was intriguing… It was captivating sound art, unfussy and expertly executed.”

In addition to the public events, Suzuki and Onda will visit band students of Marfa ISD. As part of this education program inspired by the musicians work, Marfa Live Arts purchased and is donating four Korg Analog Ribbon Synthesizers to the school’s music program.

Suzuki and Onda, who have been collaborating extensively in recent years and released their first album “ma ta ta bi” in 2014, share a deep interest in the relationship between sound and space and exploring the possibilities of site-specific happenings.

Since the 1960s, Akio Suzuki has been investigating the acoustic quality of selected locations and creating corresponding topographies. His intensive involvement with the phenomena of pulse and echo led him to develop his own instruments in the 1970s. One of these is the spiral echo instrument Analapos. It consists of a coil spring and two iron cylinders that function as resonating chambers, and is played with the voice or by hand. Starting from the 90s, his soundwalk project, oto-date, which means, respectively, “sound” and “point” in Japanese, finds listening points in the city, and playfully invites the audience to stop and listen carefully at given points on the map. Suzuki has been also active in the improvised music scenes in different continents, and has collaborated with Takehisa Kosugi, Derek Bailey, Peter Brötzmann, Steve Lacy, George Lewis, David Toop, and John Butcher.

Aki Onda is a New York-based artist and composer. He is particularly known for his “Cassette Memories” — works compiled from a “sound diary” of field-recordings collected by using the cassette Walkman over a span of last quarter-century. He creates compositions, performances, and visual artworks from those sound memories. Onda often performs in interdisciplinary fields and collaborates with filmmakers, visual artists, and choreographers, including Ken Jacobs, Michael Snow, Raha Raissnia, Akio Suzuki, and Takao Kawaguchi. Onda’s work has been presented numerous institutions such as MoMA, The Kitchen, documenta 14, Pompidou Center, Louve Museum, Palais de Tokyo, Bozar, and many others.

More information on www.marfalivearts.org.

Solange

MARFA – The Chinati Foundation is pleased to announce a performance by Solange Knowles Ferguson on Sunday afternoon, October 8. Part of this year’s Chinati Weekend programming, the performance will begin at 5pm on museum grounds in the field where Donald Judd’s 15 untitled works in concrete are sited. The event is free and everyone is welcome, according to a Chinati news release.

In a social media post announcing the performance, Solange wrote: “Donald Judd’s ‘15 untitled works in concrete’ has had such a profound influence on the way I view the world, and I am beyond honored to deliver a site specific version of my performance piece, “Scales” (2017) alongside these phenomenal installations during @chinatifoundation weekend. Texas peeps, pull up!”

According to Chinati Foundation Executive Director Jenny Moore, the performance has been in the works for some time, with Solange having initiated contact after having visited Marfa multiple times.

The performance, Moore added, will keep within the mission of Chinati.

“I’m really excited to see that piece performed in the context around the Judd’s concrete works. She’s been engaging with institutions and challenging the way these institutions operate,” said Moore. “It’s important that we should be having these conversations, which help us reflect on the radical nature of Chinati and keep the longtime spirit of that moving forward. Part of our mission is to keep the conversation open by hearing other artists’ voices.”

Solange, Moore said, has in recent years moved beyond being a singer and recording artist, moving into other spheres of art.

“She’s been defining herself as more than just a musician. It’s exciting to have her in all aspects as an artist for Chinati Weekend.”

Solange’s third album, A Seat at the Table, was released in 2016 to critical acclaim. Reviewing the album for New York, Craig Jenkins wrote: “A Seat at the Table isn’t just an expression of pride in black American womanhood, it’s a third stunning entry in Solange’s ongoing case for greater prestige and accolades for soul music.”

Following the release of A Seat at the Table, in March 2017 Solange debuted “Scales,” a choreographed performance featuring compositions from the album and original arrangements, at the Menil Collection in Houston. Earlier this year she organized the performance “An Ode To” at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, which featured a large cast of musicians and dancers and utilized the building’s entire space. Writing in the New York Times, the dance critic Siobhan Burke described the performance piece as a “sublime reimagining — with [Solange’s] own choreography and reconstructed musical arrangements — of A Seat at the Table.”

Donald Judd was engaged with modern dance and collaborated with the choreographer Trisha Brown. Chinati’s presentation of Solange’s “Scales” continues a tradition of musical and dance performances throughout the installations at the museum, including residencies and collaborations with Karole Armitage, L.A. Dance Project, Jen Rosenblit, Sounds Modern, Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo, and the xx.

Solange’s “Scales” will be performed Sunday afternoon, October 8, at 5pm. In preparation for the performance, Chinati’s collection and grounds will close to the public at 3pm. Gates for the performance will open at 4pm. To ensure safety and enhance the experience of the performance, Chinati requests that guests refrain from photography and bringing pets, chairs, and large bags or backpacks onto museum grounds. Cell phones are prohibited; a phone check will be available at the gate. Bottled water only, please – no food or other drinks. No smoking or flame of any kind. Gates close at 5pm – there will be no admittance once the performance starts. Please wear appropriate footwear for the outdoor terrain and stay on walking paths only as directed by Chinati staff.

For Moore, Solange’s challenges to the art world is welcomed.

“What she’s doing is important. I’m glad about Solange coming in and working with us and maybe even against the institutional structure of Chinati,” she said. “It’s an honor to have her here and to have the performance free and open to every member of the community.”

With additional reporting by John Daniel Garcia.

Sarah Cortez

ALPINE – Poet Sarah Cortez will read from her new book, “Vanishing Points: Poems and Photographs of Texas Roadside Memorials,” during a visit to Sul Ross State University Tuesday, Oct. 10.

Cortez’ reading begins at 2pm in the Bryan Wildenthal Memorial Library. Her visit is sponsored by The Sage, the Sul Ross student literary and art magazine; the Bryan Wildenthal Memorial Library, and the Sul Ross Department of Languages and Literature.

Cortez won the 2016 Award for Editing from the Press Women of Texas and the 2016 National Award for Editing from the National Federation of Press Women. “Vanishing Points” was published by Texas Review Press and was selected as one of the 2016 Southwest Books of the Year.

“Sarah’s poetry and her current edited collection both beautifully resonate with the cross-sections of landscape and the human spirit, touching on Texan lives and shared experiences when we take the moment to stop, rest, and enjoy,” said Dr. Laura Payne, professor of English and chair of the Department of Language and Literature at Sul Ross University.

Sul Ross rodeo coach Jacob Gernentz has been invited to the reading as Cortez’ special guest. Gernentz assisted her with the authenticity of her poems in “Vanishing Points,” which reference the rodeo.

Alyson Ward, writing in the Sunday, March 26, 2017 Houston Chronicle, described “Vanishing Points” as “a sobering, gorgeous collection.” The book features the poignant drama of Texas’s lonesome highways and bustling intersections illustrated by the stunning photography of Dan Streck. Cortez and three other poets provide lyrics to the visual images.

For more information about the event, call Language and Literature, (432) 837-8151. For more information on Sarah Cortez and Vanishing Points: Poems and Photographs of Texas Roadside Memorials, visit www.poetacortez.com.

Artwork by Rosy Keyser

By JOHN DANIEL GARCIA

johndaniel@bigbendnow.com

MARFA – Chinati Artist in Residence Rosy Keyser will hold an open studio from 6 – 8pm Friday at the Locker Plant, located at 119 E. Oak Street, as Chinati Open House Weekend kicks off.

Keyser, who lives and works in Brooklyn, is a month into her residency in Marfa, where she has sourced reclaimed material for her multi-media work.

“I’ve just been wandering around and talking to the local folks, checking out the scrap yards, and digging through the $1 rack at the Marfa Library,” she said of her time so far in town. “One of the things I’ve realized and enjoyed is how curious, helpful, and funny the people are. They’re really salt-of-the-earth people. It’s been great that they’ve been trusting enough to let me dig through their scrap yards and take my dog with me everywhere.”

Though Keyser has only been around for a month, it isn’t the first time the artist has exhibited in town, as she was part of a 2010 group show, Immaterial, at Ballroom Marfa.

For her open studio, however, Keyser will be viewing the event not as an exhibition, but as a peek into her work habits.

“I’m keeping things loose and open to not lose momentum,” she explained. “My paintings are still in progress, so I don’t want to present what I’m doing as a show. It’ll be more like walking into a laboratory than an actual show.”

Keyser’s work relies heavily on reclaimed material, such as corrugated steel and other pieces of scrap, often accompanied by painted canvas and other found objects.

“I like the concept of refuse. My work deals a lot with the idea of transformation and things being constantly in a state of flux,” she said, describing a new work in which she had painted and flattened corrugated steel using a borrowed barrel roller.

The Marfa landscape, she added, has inspired her latest work.

“Being out here has got me paying attention to things in new ways. There’s this feeling here where artwork can exist in a space that’s both realized, yet still intangible,” she said. “I didn’t grow up in a landscape like a desert. I find it fascinating with division of the earth and sky and how the landscape seems to shift at different times of the day. There’s a lot of magic here and I feel like the magic influences the art while the art influences the magic.”

Chinati Open House Weekend begins tomorrow with Made in Marfa, which opens local artists’ studios from 5 – 10pm.

For more information, please visit www.chinati.org

A still from Hillary Holsonback’s ‘Tan is Here’ video.

MARFA – Hillary Holsonback’s new video exhibition “Tan Is Here” will open this Friday evening, October 6, with a reception for the artist from 7-10pm at a new “pop up” location, Roy’s Garage, 130 W. San Antonio Street in Marfa.

This is the third exhibition Holsonback has had at Eugene Binder in Marfa. During this period, her work has moved from “collaged” photographic imagery, incorporating images of herself clandestinely posed in almost unrecognizable contexts with (and as) 1920’s German film stars with an affectation toward men’s wardrobe and costuming.

Subsequently Holsonback is now moving to video imagery though which she now creates brief moments of contemporary “interpretation” via Instagram, once again putting herself back into the frame of imagery, clad subtly in wigs and costume that reflect the particular “moment” she wishes to work within.

Her discoveries are in one of the most popular mediums of contemporary culture, Instagram, and her expertise therein has given her the capability to expand and contract moments of experience for she creates for her viewers.

One’s viewing experience shifts exponentially as the video begins and continues. There are no plots, no moments of suspense built into the “construction” of the work, in the conventional sense of this definition, nor any further expanded plots that are developed.

The concept of “present” has shifted into a continuum of time as elastic and pliable as the artist wishes to create it. The interpretation, if in fact one is discernible or applicable, is likewise hydra-headed and ambiguous. Will the phrases that are being articulated lead to some forward motion or resolution within the context of the work?

As the video expands in its own time, it takes on a somewhat warped, and reconstituted “present,” fully manipulated of course by the artist. The heightened anticipation on the part of the viewer assuming further developments will actually occur, and how they may occur, ends up being counter intuitive to the expectation. It becomes obvious that none of the forthcoming possibilities align with the expected linear progression that all has somehow fallen by the wayside and strangely become more interesting without the expected content.

The video installation will continue through selected times during the weekend and by appointment. Please call 432. 729. 3900 for further information.

Midnight River Jammer by Raychael Stine

MARFA – How Now Snarly Yow, an exhibition of new paintings by Albuquerque, New Mexico artist Raychael Stine, will open with a reception for the artist at Eugene Binder, 218 N. Highland Avenue in Marfa, Saturday, October 7th from 9 to 11 pm.

Stine continues to deftly elude any possibility of formal definition in her new paintings. Using elusive amalgamations of representational and abstract imagery, she moves fluidly through uncharted territory with ease, her commanding use of slashing, broad, brushstroke combined with the courage to confront the daunting compositional “problems” she creates for herself, while coming up with innovative, flamboyant, unorthodox solutions that in turn create astounding results.

The importance of openness and informality of her stylistic discoveries allow the viewer to share these discoveries as the paintings continue to reinvent themselves.

The immutable physicality of the painted surface seems at first to be at odds with the exuberant, wildly animates imagery that appears to be in constant motion. The discovery of loosely gestural brush strokes that coalesce into a dog’s ear, for example, move toward, and simultaneously from, any predefined resolution.

The viewer is encouraged to be guided by the artist’s brush, through every passage of the painting, and by this process attain heightened perceptions and sensory awareness, much like the seeming whimsical behavior of dogs who are constantly in motion while continually moored in the present, populating her paintings and works on paper with frenetic energy paired with the depth of intuitive wisdom for which these creatures are revered.

Although they seem quite content to dwell in these mysterious environments, the figurative aspects of Stine’s paintings inhabit a world of oddly ethereal light sources and sequential, multiple perspectives that further distance them from any recognizable setting, be it interior or outdoors, the occasionally hint at a horizon line or architectural background (or in some cases, architectural foreground). Multiple, painted framing strategies within the same composition imply a vignette of “painting within a painting” an idea and imagery that enhances the invention of the artists own multiple vanishing points as being further contrarian.

It is ultimately the viewers of these paintings that may search for rigid categorization and carefully defined structure. However the real enjoyment of these paintings is the possibility to join the artist moving forward to create paintings that seem to reinvent themselves whenever they are viewed, perhaps taking the viewpoint of the subjects in the paintings who have an unfathomable, and immediate capacity for perception without listening for a command.

“Modern Future No. 1”
by Kelly O’Connor

MARFA – Artist Kelly O’Connor brings her psychedelic collages using popular imagery from the 1950s and 1960s to Marfa with an exhibition at Wrong Marfa. MODERN FUTURE opens 8-10pm Friday, October 6, as part of Chinati Foundation’s Made In Marfa.

Through iconic characters from pop culture sources such as Disney and The Wizard of Oz, she taps into American cultural consciousness to invoke fantasy and nostalgia. However, the superficial beauty and glossy, colorful surfaces hide darker, more sinister and sorrowful interiors. Judy Garland frequently appears, the heroine and her happy onscreen presence/tragic personal life a stand-in for the dichotomies at work in O’Connor’s collages. The artist is particularly concerned with the expression of these tensions as they relate to gender, femininity, and domesticity in both historical sources and the present day. Her collages draw the viewer in with bright colors and familiar figures and scenes to ultimately force contemplation of society’s superficial nature and the impossibility of Utopia and, by default, the American Dream.

O’Connor was a Chinati intern in the Fall of 2005 and stayed on for an extended internship in the conservation department with Francesca Esmay.

She has fond memories of Marfa: “I was so lucky to have experienced Marfa during this time, we had dinner parties every night and got to know (and sometimes date Penske OMG!) many of the locals. I formed life long friendships with some of the folks I met.  I’m thrilled to come back and enjoy the landscape and people of Marfa again.  One of my favorite things about Marfa is the artist is taken off the proverbial pedestal and you are able to interact with them face to face.  Tony Feher was one of these artists and he made such an impression on me.  I cannot wait to have a Marfa burrito, swim at Balmorhea and finish the day off with a Mezcal margarita!”

O’Connor was born in San Antonio, Texas in 1982. She completed her BFA at the University of Texas at Austin in 2006 and studied at the Santa Chiara Study Center in Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy. Following her studies, she returned to San Antonio to work as a studio assistant to the late Linda Pace, and she currently serves as the Collections and Exhibitions Officer for the Linda Pace Foundation. O’Connor participated in the McNay Art Museum’s Artist Looking at Art program in 2011, and her work was selected for the 2013 Texas Biennial at Blue Start Contemporary Art Museum.

Wrong Marfa is located at 110 W. Dallas. For more information, call Buck Johnston at 432-729-1976.

Everyone is invited to finish their gallery hopping at our opening.

MARFA – Birth Throes, a solo exhibition of new work by Patrick Earl Hammie, will be on view at Kruger Gallery Marfa, 212 E San Antonio Street, from October 6, 2017 – September 22, 2018.

Patrick Earl Hammie is an American visual artist best known for his large-scale portraits and figurative paintings that draw from art history and visual culture to examine cultural identity, social equity, and critical aspects of gender and race today. Hammie’s body of work is defined by his ongoing engagement with the history of painting, and his use of scale, expression, and emotive subject matter recall the painterly gestures of the Baroque and Romantic periods. Considering such conventions in a contemporary context, he delivers fresh ideals of marginalized bodies that both disturb the existing cannon and normalize their presence in public art space and discourse.

Birth Throes, a collection of portraits and allegories, meditates on the relationships between the artist and his mother, mortality, and the capacity for black experience to disrupt, diversify, and enrich American culture. In this new body of work, Hammie continues to mine figurative painting’s capacity to address societal issues alongside personal ones. The series pictures matrilineality, the effort and peril towards birth, and the onset of one’s path. Informed by personal experience, shifting American demographics that forecast a black and brown majority, and overwhelming cases of regulated execution and incarceration, Hammie presents a narrative that explores familial bonds, the processing of trauma, and the ways we value people of color. A selection of charcoal drawings from the artist’s 2007 series Oedipus will be exhibited alongside the new body of work.

Patrick Earl Hammie was born in 1981 in New Haven, Connecticut. His work has been exhibited widely throughout the U.S. and abroad, and is included in eminent public collections including the John Michael Kohler Art Center, William Benton Museum of Art and the JP Morgan Chase Art Collection. He has received grants and awards from institutions including the Alliance of Artists Communities with the Joyce Foundation, Indianapolis Art Center, Puffin Foundation and Tanne Foundation, and was named an “Artist to Watch” by the International Review of African American Art. Birth Throes is Hammie’s second solo exhibition with Kruger Gallery, and his first presentation in Marfa.

Opening reception • Friday, October 6 from 5–8pm

Conversation and Cocktails: Patrick Earl Hammie • Sunday, October 8 at 12:30pm

Chinati Weekend gallery hours: Saturday 12–5pm, Sunday 12–3pm

MARFA–Greasewood Gallery at the Hotel Paisano will host a new exhibit for Chinati Weekend 2017. “Hidden Sequences, Concrete Sculpture by Thomas R. Lancaster” will open with an artist’s reception from 6-8pm Friday, October 6. The reception is free and open to the public.

Thomas Russell Lancaster III is an American artist born in Fort Worth in 1976.  Minimalist lines integrated with sacred geometric sequences are often seen in his work.  Lancaster began his creative journey with computer-generated designs he manipulated from his photography.

“It was the first time in my life I considered myself to have any creative ability,” he said. Wanting to further develop his creativity while making a living, he began a website design business called Lancaster Designs after earning an Associate’s Degree in Digital Integrated Image Communications.

Wanting to experience more than Texas life and culture, after graduating from Tarleton State University with a Bachelor’s of Business Administration degree, he and his wife relocated to Seoul, South Korea.  A few years after their return to Texas, Lancaster and his wife took a vacation to the Chihuahuan Desert of Far West Texas, and never returned to his family’s farm in Glen Rose, Texas.

This move prompted Lancaster to take on an enormous endeavor of building his own home from the ground up.  With no prior experience in architecture or construction he devoted several years of his life to creating a passive solar home almost entirely alone.  As this project neared its completion he became intrigued with concrete.  Knowing that he lacked technical knowledge he attended the Concrete Counter-top Institute in Raleigh, North Carolina.  It soon became clear Lancaster had found a medium he wanted to work with and returned to his home to begin building his studio, again almost entirely alone.  After the construction was complete his business Lancaster Concrete Designs was created.  Utilitarian slabs of decorative concrete for home use eventually gave way to works of furniture and ultimately sculptures.

Lancaster’s designs were initially inspired by Donald Judd with current inspiration drawn upon Fernando Mastrangelo.  Lancaster strives to create concrete mix designs that will rival ancient Roman concrete in its durability and will withstand the test of time.  His sculptural designs have a minimalist flare and are embedded with glass, stones such as agates, brass, and often uses wood such as teak or mahogany to add a warming element.  Various fabrication methodology is used in his traditional poured concrete and Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete (GFRC).  The engineering component and integrity of his pieces are equally as important as the aesthetic design.

“Ancient symbolism and sacred geometric sequences are often found in my work,” he said. “Through close examination of the natural world and meditation, geometric shapes and designs begin to be revealed.  My quest to understand the origin of my designs drives my work.  Each piece I create my understanding of self and the universe around us deepens.

“I’m also motivated by the almost limitless possibilities of my preferred medium, concrete.  Chemistry, engineering, and logistics are all important factors I have to consider when designing new work.  I enjoy working with concrete due to its challenging nature and understanding the complexities of this material is ongoing.  To develop highly refined structural works of concrete, precision is paramount.”

Thomas, his wife, Belle, and their son, Ellis, divide their time between Alpine and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Greasewood Gallery is located in the Hotel Paisano on the corner of Highland and Texas Streets in Marfa. Gallery hours are 8am-6pm on Sunday, 8am-8pm Monday-Saturday.

For more information contact Vicki Lynn Barge, gallery director, at 432-729-4134.