dayoutlast is a record of my direct engagement with mostly contemporary art, mostly Los Angelean.

As this blog has evolved since its 2010 inception, so has my perspective. What I once perceived as central within the investigation was what was central, literally, within the photographic frame that I shared here. While still an important consideration, such thinking has also given way to more peripheral considerations, ones also accompanied occasionally by text (written manifestation of thought) and the oscillations between them. What's missing here are larger unknowns surrounding issues of presentation and representation; the amount of time and space it actually takes to accomplish such first-hand observations; and the quandaries between documentation and interpretation.

Despite my attempt to communicate here with image and text what is essential in some respect about the artwork, neither representation should ever be considered a substitution for the primary viewing experience. Of course, occasionally there are exceptions.

Most of the time, these posts are merely remnants---residual fragments---from my last day out.

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Jason Kunke "A Good Wall" @ Monte Vista Projects


Dunning-Kruger Effect, 2015
Quantum spin liquid paint on canvas
23 x 20 inches



Broader Concept of Immanence, 2015
Quantum spin liquid paint on canvas
23 x 20 inches






Intentional Stance, 2015
Quantum spin liquid paint on canvas
23 x 20 inches








Grace Hartigan, 2013
Steel
Dimensions variable









Signature Strike, 2015
Steel
Dimensions variable


Tomory Dodge and Annie Lapin in "Lost In A Sea of Red" @ The Pit


Tomory Dodge
Untitled, 2013
Oil on canvas
15 x 15 inches





Tomory Dodge
Untitled, 2013
Oil on canvas
15 x 15 inches




Annie Lapin
Wipe It Off Your Face, 2015
Oil and spray paint on canvas
39 x 31 inches




Thursday, July 16, 2015

dayoutlast statement revision

dayoutlast is an essential counterpart to my practice as an Artist.  It involves an activity of looking closely and articulating a range between unity and multiplicity.

dayoutlast is my direct, personal engagement with the works of other artists, mostly Los Angelean, and is therefore meant to reflect my own questions and interest about art in this place.  Moreover, dayoutlast is a meant to be a critical mechanism whereby questions are posed and provisional answers are given through this process of looking, taking pictures, and sharing them occasionally accompanied by words. It works in several ways: through all five senses, through photographic, lens-based apparati, accompanying words (internal/verbal), or some combination thereof.  Each way is to be considered in relation to the other, as much as to the whole. 

In terms of the images, they are to be considered as much by what they include as much as by what they exclude, certainly within the context of a particular artwork or showing of works.  As such, training a camera on a subject in a particular way automatically cuts away a visual field, centralizes concerns, and establishes a framework, the defining characteristic(s) in terms of space and time, the latter asserted through sequencing.  It’s really hard not to consider sculptural (cultural?) carving when using a camera.  While the addition of words may sometimes clarify the image, at other times they may complicate the view. Therefore, it is important to consider how they are working together (or not).  In most instances by their lack, a conversation is proposed in terms of thought and thoughtfulness both an effect of a visual thinking process and of the works represented.

dayoutlast focuses on specific things. More than a system of display and document, it is meant to approach something deeper within a constellation of works over a period of time, duration of post and text determined by what’s required rather than arbitrary limits governed by economy I presume.  So, rather than simply recapitulate what one can find on other blogs or institutional websites, image and text here are meant to clarify what’s essentially present (or not).  Granted, there are typically straightforward establishing shots to contextualize a post, just as a documentary film or video might do.  As such, sequence of images is considered very carefully as it represents the works, movements between works, movements within/between spaces, and, quite often, increasing/decreasing distance focal distances toward notions of abstraction at the limits of perception micro and macro. So, as posts fold/unfold, note connective “tissues” between them in terms of continuity of color and scale shift.

dayoutlast, on the most practical level, is organized around principles of stream and flow.  I used to post images just as I had viewed them "streamingly conscious."  The body of posts still scroll from oldest to newest, but I often rearrange sequence to emphasize purpose.  Along the right hand side, there are are series of elements just below About Me. You will find My Blog List, Popular Posts, the Blog Archive, and Medium/Site.  The latter is an important component of my inquiry as a thought has been developing about absorption of art space and medium.  The blog visitor is invited to draw his/her own conclusion, and certainly contemporary life is reinforcing this idea that everywhere is an art studio, namely a photographic one.

dayoutlast will have become a knowledge repository of a certain kind, an archive, of a specific era in time.  Through my lens as an Artist, a primary viewer, a technologically assisted viewer, and interlocutor, dayoutlast assimilates strands of LA art of a certain time and place.  While not to be considered an artwork in its own right, it is meant to call attention to ongoing fragmentation of art spatially and temporarily.  As such, dayoutlast could very well be last day out, in which case the most recent post speaks for itself about art and time.  On the other hand, it could be completely out of order.

Sunday, July 12, 2015

The Paintings of Moholy-Nagy: The Shape of Things to Come @ Santa Barbara Museum of Art

Photo appears courtesy of Santa Barbara Museum of Art. 

Light Prop for an Electric Stage, 1922-1930
59 1/2 x 27 1/2 x 27 1/2 inches
Click here for a one minute video presentation



Z VII, 1926
Oil on Canvas
37 1/2 x 30 inches



TRB 1, 1928
Oil on plastic



CH for Y Space Modulator, 1942 
Oil on yellow formica
60 5/8 x 23 5/8 inches




Jan Tichy
Things to Come, 1936-2012
Three-channel digital video projection




Teen Paranormal Romance Curated by Hamza Walker @ Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara


Kathryn Andrews
Friends and Lovers,  2010
Chain link fence, concrete bricks, wood, and paint
Dimensions Variable












Guyton/Walker
Canstripe_Mint_Mattress, 2013
Queenzebra_Desat_Mattress, 2013
Stripe_Turtle_22_Mattress, 2013







stills from Ed Atkins
Even Pricks, 2013
16:10 HD Video with 5.1 Surround Sound
TRT: 7 minutes 30 seconds


Saturday, July 11, 2015

Doug Ischar "Boy, Pig, Power" @ Commonwealth & Council


Tag, 1994/2015
Lacoste shirt (altered), film based video projection
62 x 20 x 18 inches





Someone, 2013
Hand-written note, video projection with audio
58 x 16 x 20 inches




Siren, 1996/2013
Date due slip, animated video projection
(Jeffrey Dahmer aged 14)
7 x 14 x 27 inches




Go Unnoticed, 1986/2013
Framed ink-jet print from color negative, animated video projection
74 1/2 x 52 x 24 inches