Thursday, April 29, 2010

The Pollygrind

The PollyGrind, which takes place May 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 at the Sci-Fi Center in Las Vegas, considers any and all independently produced grindhouse works. This includes, but is not limited to horror, gore, sci-fi, fantasy, exploitation, sexploitation, underground, arthouse, cult, experimental, dark, creepy and campy features and shorts. The festival also welcomes music videos and trailers/ad spots from any genre.

Located at the northwest corner of the Commercial Center (right off Sahara on 2520 State Street, Las Vegas, NV 89109), the Sci-Fi Center is a comic book and film geek’s paradise. Owned by William Powell, the store houses a true grindhouse movie theater dubbed “The Underground Screening Room” that showcases arthouse, horror, cult, science fiction, fantasy and independent cinema not usually available at traditional theaters in Sin City.


Image: Dai Green of Horrornews.net

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Body Rituals at CAC

April 25th-May 12th, 2010

CAC's East Side Projects presents in celebration of Las Vegas Pride 2010:

Body Rituals, by Jean-René Leblanc


The Body Rituals series is a personal exploration of the concept of new male subjectivity, the fluidity and discontinuity among sex - gender - identity, and the phantasmic processes of constructing the body. The strategic conflation of lace, a "male" body and the absence of any specific genitalia is an attempt to destabilize any visual reading of gender assumptions constructed on a strict historical binary framework supported by the medical gaze. The absence of the head acts to liberate the gaze from the dualistic world of desire. Such mobility of gender offers a possibility to the viewer to transgress prescriptive notions of desire.


Jean-René Leblanc is the Head of the Art Department and professor of digital arts at the University of Calgary in Canada. He is co-founder of the Sensorium Lab, a cross-disciplinary research group focusing on research that develops systems of interaction that encourage kinesthetic perception and interpretation. He received his BFA in 1993 from Concordia University, his MFA in 1996 from the University of Windsor Ontario and completed a PhD in study and practice of art from the Université du Québec à Montréal in 2006. Mr. Leblanc’s works have been exhibited in Canada, the United States of America and Europe.

Off The Strip 2010 Call for Proposals

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: OFF THE STRIP
The Contemporary Arts Center is currently accepting submissions for “Off The Strip,” a 4-day new genres art festival held in Las Vegas from October 14-17th, 2010.

The CAC seeks submissions for performance, media, and digital works, including installations. We are accepting submissions of recent work or proposals for new work. We encourage submissions that will be particularly relevant within the context of Las Vegas or Nevada, though we are not seeking Las Vegas-centric works per se. Proposals should address the relevance of your submission within this unique social, economic, and popular cultural environment. Off the Strip will take place at multiple venues including a four-week installation at the CAC gallery and performances and video screenings will be scheduled during the 4-day festival at alternative theater spaces and a sci-fi center located in Commercial Center (one of Las Vegas' first "strip malls") and at the showroom of the Aruba Hotel's Thunderbird Lounge in downtown Las Vegas.

NEW ADDITION:
A recent sponsorship will allow us to provide modest artist stipends this year, and we are working towards more funding. Please spread the word! We are condensing the program and adding a Saturday afternoon panel discussion so that out of town artists can make a long weekend of it! Floorplans for event venues are in the works but in the meantime here are the venues' websites:
http://www.thescificenter.com/
http://www.arubalasvegas.com/las-vegas-club/
http://www.insurgotheater.org/
http://www.onyxtheatre.com/

Please contact CAC at cacots10@gmail.com for floor plans, pics. We also encourage artists to research Las Vegas and propose work for alternate locations in the downtown vicinity.

"It has always surprised me that there isn’t more performance and video art being made in the Valley—it seems such a perfect fit. Entertainment is literally and figuratively integrated into the landscape, and operating 24 hours a day, the city is perennially “on.” Performers from A-list to D-list fill venues on the Strip and beyond. The skyline of our signature avenue is a rambling hodgepodge of displaced architecture, both real and imagined, a colliding photogenic spectacle that forms the world’s largest stage. Under the watchful eye of surveillance cameras, the whole world comes right here to enact its wildest fantasies, all the while surrounded by the stark beauty of the American West in landscape and legend. The possibilities seem endless.”
-Danielle Kelly, from “Las Vegas Was Built for This”, Las Vegas Weekly, April 2009

Submission guidelines

There is a $10 entry fee per proposal.
Submissions should include:
1. A short proposal (outlining concept but also descriptive of presentation)
2. An equipment list or special presentation requirements
3. Work samples and supporting materials (see below) may be sent on a cd or dvd or emailed to to cacots10@gmail.com with OTS in the subject heading.
4. CV with contact information and artist's statement
5. Mail payment (checks payable to the Contemporary Arts Center,) hard copies of artist's cv, statement and list of works to The Contemporary Arts Center: Off the Strip 107 E. Charleston, Suite 120 Las Vegas NV 89104. Or payments may be made online. Visit the “Off The Strip” events page at http://cac.wildapricot.org/events
Include a SASE for return.

*Work samples can include10-20 jpegs (no larger than 1 MB via gmail please) or mp3s on a CD (installation views/details or performance documentation/details), NTSC video samples on DVD (playable from the DVD please!) or links to websites/podcasts.

Postmark Deadline: June 1st, 2010
Gmail Submissions Deadline: June 7th, 2010
Selected artists will be notified via email by July 14th.
Questions? Contact Wendy Kveck at cacots10@gmail.com or at 702-382-3886

Image: Off The Strip performance, 2009. Image courtesy CAC.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

BFA Exhibition

Friday, April 23 @ 6 p.m.
Donna Beam Gallery, TAM Alumni Center, Grant Hall Gallery

The 2010 Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition, showcasing the thesis work from the 2009-2010 Department of Art Bachelor of Fine Arts candidates, will be on display in the Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery at the Alta Ham Fine Arts Building, the Jesse Metcalf Gallery at the Richard Tam Alumni Center, and Grant Hall Gallery from April 23 through June 4. Featuring work by Abraham Abebe, Jennifer Beaty, Yoshabel Cortez, Justin Crabtree, Justin Favela, Dale Feist, Felicia Gassen, Nico Holmes-Gull, Teejay Luna, Josh Navarro, Ian Racoma, Jim Seely, and Mikayla Whitmore.

Many of the BFA candidates are also instrumental in designing and publishing The Vagus Nerve. Their new website is here and it's awesome.

East Side Projects

The Contemporary Arts Center is now accepting submissions of work for East Side Projects, for monthly two-week projects in the gallery’s front window space facing Charleston Boulevard. This is an ongoing call open to all contemporary artists working in any media. Site-specific work for the space is also encouraged (please see link to window specs). Artists must be current CAC members (defined as dues-paying members starting at the $25 level) in order to be eligible for consideration. To join - http://cac.wildapricot.org/join We encourage artists to visit the gallery to see the space. Please note that the window receives a generous dose of Las Vegas sunshine.

Submissions must include a proposal, current CV/resume, artist bio/statement, disc with JPG images of original artwork (1 MB or less please) and image reference sheet (including artist, title, media, dimensions, and filename). Send SASE for return.

Mail or drop off your submissions labeled “East Side Projects” to The CAC 107 E. Charleston, Suite 120, Las Vegas NV 89104. Or email submissions with the subject heading “East Side Projects” to caclasvegas@gmail.com

Questions? Email Wendy at info@lasvegascac.org or call 702-382-3886.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Interview with Jeff Gauntt, Part II


Images: (top) John D. (Ivan Dombrowski) Graham, Two Sisters, 1944. Courtesy MoMA; (bottom) Louise Lawler, Still Life (Candle), 2003. Courtesy x-tra online.

This is the second part of our interview with Jeff Gauntt. Previous postings are below, as well as images of the installation and Jeff's statement on the CAC exhibition.

Jeff: Hey guys, I'm trying to decide where to begin, so I can jump into the conversation. I wrote a few lines last weekend, where I address my concern for how the installation would effect the art, so I'll go ahead and past it here just to get started, then I'll discuss some of other topics.

All along I was enthusiastically concerned about how the installation would potentially challenge the individual works. By forcing a different context not originally intended by the artists, I knew I was heading into dangerous territory. The major concern I was determined to avoid is that of when an artist installs a group show and simply co-opts the works into a new art piece which reflects the curator’s artist’s ego. One horrendous example I have of this is from the mid-90s, when MOMA had asked John Baldessari to curate a small show from the permanent collection. I always enjoy seeing this type of show, since I can finally see a few works, which are otherwise hidden in storage for eternity.

Just to say up front, I’m not a big Baldessari fan, although I appreciate his influence in art. He had installed the show in such a way, that the viewer could no longer see the works in any way outside of his own art. The show included a portrait of two sisters by John Graham, a phenomenal painting by an artist I’ve been influenced by. In the show, Baldessari had purposely kept the painting dark, with only a pinpoint of light creating a perfect circle around an eye in the
portrait. The only thing that could be seen in the dark was the single lit eye, which just pissed me off since I wanted to see that painting. Clearly, this lesson has stuck with me. I knew that through my non-standard installation, I would risk angering some of the artists who imagined their work in a clean white cube, but as Abby pointed out, I considered the awkwardness of the gallery space as another artwork which had to be considered. Also, I should say that there was one artist who kept reoccurring in my thoughts during the installation, which is Louise Lawler. I had the benefit of working with Louise for several years in the late 90s, when I was the archivist at Metro Pictures. Prior to meeting her, I considered her work interesting, but far too dry and formal. It was only after getting to know Louise that I discovered the range of humor, and subtlety in her work. It's unfortunate that there are very few photos online of her gallery/museum installations, since the placement of her work is so key to her exhibitions, and that was what kept reoccurring.

Marc: First off, how did you like karaoke at Ellis Island? What drove you to choose the song you did, and have you sung it in the past?

Jeff: It was great, but a little frightening since the crowd felt like it had the potential to get really rowdy. There were some serious people there, which made the evening more interesting than the usual drunken selection. Of course, I’ll never forget the old white dude just nailing Rapper’s Delight! He possibly did that better than the Sugarhill Gang ever did.

Yeah, I choose Simple Man by Lynyrd Skynyrd, which I’d attempted once before. It’s funny, since I don’t really know the song that well, but I do identify with the lyrics. It just feels like a nice solid song to sing, in a range I can mostly handle, and I can sing it like I really feel it, which is most important. Being a Texas boy, I’m pretty obsessed with identities and stereotypes in southern culture, as well as notions of authenticity, so it fits right in. But that might just make me sound like a smarmy jerk, since I really do love and identify with that song.

[NOTE: This next paragraph arrived in a separate email]

While trying to find a few Lawler installation shots, I found this really nice essay. The author does a nice job of going beyond the usual Lawler summation of "critiquing the institution", and actually sees the poetry in her work. This is certainly what I respond to about her work, and that feels appropriate to what I was searching for in the installation.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Interview with Jeff Gauntt, Part I

We’re going to divide our interview with Jeff Gauntt into a couple of posts, if only to help slightly with giving a sense of how the interview itself took shape and allow readers to potentially see the dialogue unfold and formulate some of their own viewpoints on the questions we discuss concerning curatorial practice and karaoke, among other topics.

Essentially, this interview evolved from (and into) a network of conversations between Jeff, John Bissonette, Abby Coe, and myself over several emails--spanning roughly two weeks--which drifted into several different threads. John and Abby are both members of the curatorial committee for CAC, have known Jeff for some time, and kindly volunteered to assist him with the entire process both virtually and physically; they were at CAC along with Jeff much of the time hanging work, sweating, and negotiating.

The division of postings here is perhaps not the best solution (because it will segregate Jeff’s comments from the conversation somewhat), but there is a latent circularity at work here that will hopefully mitigate some of that separation; questions re-appear and fade away again only to be answered later in a different light, in a different scope. Our hope (my hope anyway) is that posting this on a blog may allow –if not here then perhaps here in future postings—for the community to engage in this type of conversation as well. I’ve edited our dialogue as minimally as possible. As a last note of disclosure, the interview starts with some broad, layered questions about karaoke (these were initially sent to John for editing. As this whole process was unfolding, Jeff, Abby, John, Shannon Eakins, Marguerite Insolia, and myself all went to Ellis Island for a night of beer and singing.

Marc: First off, how did you like karaoke at Ellis Island? What drove you to choose the song you did, and have you sung it in the past?

Jurying the exhibition (virtually) from LA and projecting toward an experience/installation that would both happen in the future as well as in a physical location in a city four hours away (by car) across a desert in a different state with all of the vestiges that Las Vegas brings to discussions on contemporary visual culture, did you have any preconceptions about the works or concepts you wanted to advocate, challenge, or engage and what themes emerged during the process? Which is to say, were there works that engaged you deeply quickly? That made a strong first impression? Were you gambling on any of the choices you made; any Vegas-style risky bets? In what ways does the exhibition act as a mirror of contemporary art(s) practices in/to Las Vegas?

Extending from that, in being asked to jury an annual exhibition, how did you find yourself engaged with the concept of something being an Annual--of jurying an event that has a notion of archive (or a continuum perhaps, which just sounds more vital and projects towards the 22nd Annual next year) already built into the title, and how then the jurying process both reflects and changes that continuum?
And looking more closely at that question, how were you considering your work as a juror in the process; when does the history of the exhibition--its works, venues, exhibition and curatorial practices--come into play during that process, if at all? Does the exhibitions twenty precedents seem significant when you're selecting from over 500 new works? I know you came to CAC and coordinated the installation yourself; would you discuss that process of installing and positioning discrete projects into a cohesive program, and how the works develop their context in this engagement?

What else? You can totally edit these, they seem kinda wordy to me.

John: Here are some thoughts.
One of the first things that came to mind when I saw the show installed in its entirety was an exhibition curated by Keith Mayerson at Derek Eler Gallery in 2007 entitled Neointegrity. This is not to say that I thought the show had anything to do with this particular exhibition, but I got the sense that there were some of the same motivations behind the jurying and installation of the show. I read a review of the show at Derek Eller and a particular statement struck a cord with me, "No salient style, medium, or sensibility dominates but a consensus emerges: community beats competition, and artistic integrity is an antidote to the overheated market." I get the sense that integrity and sincerity are important things to think about in regards to this show. Any thoughts?

[NOTE: Link to Neointegrity manifesto here]

One other thing that I was thinking of was that the installation seemed to be about making connections and correlations between aesthetically varied works. I was thinking if there was some consideration to how this particular form of installing work was against some notion of hierarchy or if it even functioned as a way to disrupt a reading of the show as an aesthetic or thematic "statement?" (which I think many juried shows do).

[NOTE: Jeff’s statement for the exhibition is here]

Marc: That's a fantastic introduction. Maybe I'll post that and some installation images from the exhibition together (keeping names and titles off of the works, to give a sense of what he's speaking about). I love your questions as well--the second part of my last question now seems totally redundant in light of his statement. Your questions seem to radiate around a larger question of the role of *exhibition* (as related to curatorial practice--exhibition as deployment and contextualization) and my questions vaguely circumnavigate around issues of regionalism, historicity (or institutional memory, and by default, critique), and particular works (the individual as active participant; juror, artist, viewer, and their respective roles/overlap/directives/influences/responsibilities) in any sort of serious (and I think this exhibition is indeed serious for this community) artistic discourse.

Are there topics in addition to these we would like to discuss, or are these topics we should delve deeper into? Should this whole exchange (you and me, us and Jeff, you and Jeff) all be published together?

John: I think in the spirit of the show it should absolutely all be published. I like the idea of the conversation being as important if not more so than the answers. I really like your questions about institutional memory and find them particularly relevant. I couldn't help but notice comparisons to last years show (i didn't see it) and shows from previous years (didn't see those either) coming up in conversation all throughout this process.

I find it interesting that despite this being a national call, a great deal of the work picked for the show came from Las Vegas. There were, of course, much more entries from here- but there was the off hand chance that all the work could have come from somewhere else. I wonder what that might say about the work and the process?

When should I/we pass this off to Jeff? Did you read the manifesto?

Marc: I'm especially interested in the idea of the work of art (and exhibitions, by extension) functioning outside of/in dialogue with textual constructs. As they write in their manifesto,
Art communicates via its own internal language, and by the language the viewer brings to a work of art. But this language is not entirely textually based, and being an aesthetic object (or image[s], idea[s], comic, or happening[s]), the work communicates in such a way to be transcendent beyond language, and traditional constructs of textually based ideology. Therefore the work of art remains a deep communication between artist and viewer, and withholds the possibility of the sublime.
While their manifesto relates this in a more transcendental way than I'm comfortable with (notions of transcendence and the sublime being very frontal in their positioning, which seems like a heavy load given that this is only point number 5 out of 11), it opens a really active territory to think about, especially when you're throwing like 600 new works into the mix.

If you're up for it, send it all to him ASAP (both threads, although we could probably cut/paste it all into one), and let's see where we go.

And here’s some Situationist International manifesto to keep you going: 1957!

[NOTE: At this point in time, John transmitted all these disparate threads to Jeff via email.]

Abby: Hey Marc and John. So, John forwarded the email dialogue that you all have been engaged in concerning the cac juried show. I printed them out and was doing my best to read them chronologically and it was funny to underline something and make notes and then have one or the other of you answer or address that same topic later on. The one thing that I did want to hit on comes from John's comment: "...the installation seemed to be about making connections and correlations between aesthetically varied works. I was thinking if there was some consideration to how this form of installing work was against some notion of hierarchy or if it even functioned as a way to disrupt a reading of the show as an aesthetic or thematic 'statement?' (Which I think many juried shows do.)"

I would argue that the connections between the works also concerned the works relationship within the architecture of the space itself. I like the idea of a hierarchy not being solely attached to the value of academic worth of a piece, but also its relative placement in the gallery. Physically and literally, high and low on the wall, (remember the person that was mad their piece was hung too low in their opinion, and the one that thought their piece was too low until John made a comment that seemed to appease them?). Being able to be part of the installation made me especially attentive to these decisions of Jeff's... like lining up the horizontal imperfection in a wall with the dual horizon lines of the two paintings hung there so that it seemed to make a third painting out of the gallery wall itself. Relegating a piece to the corner, deliberately having something in close proximity to an exit sign, etc. I felt privileged to hear Jeff vocalize his thought process throughout the placement and lighting of the works.

I like Jeff's statement in his introduction:
The works have been arranged using my own personal logic; as if the room if just another part of the puzzle. I am interested in how the works create a dialogue with each other and the space. The architecture of the gallery is unique, and the works within the installation reflect this system. Totes.

Marc: Abby, that's an awesome observation. I've been reading (and re-reading cause I like it) an article by Anthony Huberman entitled Naive Set Theory (in Dot Dot Dot 15) in which he discussing the notion of contemporary curatorial practice providing viewers with "not enough" as a way of destabilizing the exhibition site. As he writes,

Recent curatorial practices have also employed the not-enough strategy in attempts to elude the overbearing nature of thematic exhibitions and to permit works of art to remain unburdened by curatorial claims. For instance, Bob Nickas curated a series of red shows, where he simply selected red artworks by a wide range of artists including Steven Parrino, Sherrie Levine, Alan McCollum and even Donald Judd. In 2001 he curated "W" at the Musee des Beaux-Arts in Dole, an exhibition of artists whose last names begin with W: Kelley Walker, Jeff Wall, Dan Walsh, Andy Warhol, John Waters, Weegee, Lawrence Weiner, James Welling, Franz West, T.J. Wilcox, Christopher Williams, Jane & Louise Wilson, David Wojnarowicz, Christopher Wool and several others. In both cases, the curator chooses a system that allows him to make selections; he provides his audience with information about that system, but not enough for a theme to parasite the active pursuit of looking at and appreciating art.

As you suggest, Jeff is both employing this type of approach (Huberman's "active pursuit") and something else simultaneously. Jeff has designed an environment of active looking that demands negotiations both on the part of the viewer and artist (i.e. traditional hierarchies of placement and content become devalued or perhaps exchanged for something else, something bigger-- even architectural perhaps) and he is at the same time designing another project altogether; his use of and response to the architecture of the gallery becomes a proposition (exhibition maybe isn't the right word just yet) unto itself, the exhibition as installation.

It's like he's essentially installed two exhibitions concurrently, one on top of and porous through the other. One exhibition is the assembly of the works he's curated into a type of conceptual and physical dialogue with one another, and the other concurrent exhibition (which is latent or underlying; not asleep, but more like a vampire perhaps) is that assembly itself with its suggestion of a new response to the architecture, the works, and perhaps the not-enough analogy? In Jeff's project, is he both giving the audience "not enough" and "more than enough"? Are the works in the exhibition at once both unburdened (again using Huberman's language) and simultaneously totally over-burdened? Are they used to support something else that may not even concern them? Do the two paintings that line up with the wall to make a "third painting" challenge what the works are about or open them up in completely different fashions? Are there pieces that become compromised in this exchange, or does it matter to them ultimately? Are the works themselves engaged in this new architectural conversation in ways beyond their formal attributes (the dual horizon lines)?

Maybe two concurrent exhibitions or a division of labor is not the best way for me to think about it (as one will always be behind the other, in some way), but this question about the exhibition *as puzzle* (without a solution maybe, or with multiple solutions) is really interesting. Are there any hierarchies that he kept intact?

Friday, April 16, 2010

13,000+ Drawings & 1,300+ Models

Monday, April 19 @ 2- 5 p.m.

Architecture Building (ARC) on the UNLV Campus, 2nd floor

Assistant professor Glenn NP Nowak and his first year design students along with the School of Architecture would like to invite you to one of the largest architectural exhibits in school history on The presentation 13,000+ Drawings & 1,300+ Models will fill the entire second floor gallery of the ARC building and showcase student work from the first 13 weeks of this semester. The projects explore multiple modes of conceptualizing the designed environments we live in.

Contact: Glenn NP Nowak glenn.nowak@unlv.edu 702-895-1076

Poetry at UNLV

Wednesday, April 21 @ 7:30 p.m.
Barrick Museum Auditorium
A Poetry Reading by Professor Laura Mullen
(Department of English, Louisiana State University)

A poet working in hybrid genres and traditions, Laura Mullen's work shows the influence of writers as canonical as Henry James and Edgar Allen Poe. Her diverse modes--they run from a series of sonnets written from the sleuthful perspective of Sherlock Holmes to the postmodern-gothic and prose-poetry-crime novel-language text of "Murmur"(2007)--hold up a mirror to the limits of language. Mullen is the author of five collections of verse, including "The Surface" (1991) which won the National Poetry Series, and "The Tales of Horror" (1999). Co-sponsored by the UNLV Department of English and Nevada Humanities.

Contact: Pam Weiss pam.weiss@unlv.edu 702-895-3401

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Vagus Nerve Launch, BFA Lectures at Barrick Museum

Thursday, April 15 @ 6:00- 9:00 p.m.
Marjorie Barrick Museum
Vagus Nerve Launch Party

This event sets the stage for the following night:

Friday, April 16 @ 6:00 p.m.
Marjorie Barrick Museum
BFA Lectures

BFA Candidates from the Department of Art introduce their studio practices in a series of short lectures.

Rewilding at UNLV

Friday, April 16 @ 1:00 p.m.
White Hall Auditorium
Pleistocene Rewilding: Lions in a Den of Daniels? Lecture by Dr. Harry S. Greene

Most of North America's large vertebrate species were driven to extinction by humans in the late Pleistocene (some 13,000 years ago), an event that caused the loss of many ecological interactions, such as dispersal of particular fruits eaten by these large vertebrates. Some conservation biologists propose to reestablish some of the lost ecological processes by rewilding, that is, by reintroducing large, charismatic African and Asian vertebrates (e.g., lions, elephants, cheetahs, camels) to the American continent, to replace species that disappeared during the Pleistocene extinctions. Proponents of rewilding argue that the creation of "Pleistocene Parks" is justified on ecological, economic, aesthetic, and ethical grounds. On the other hand, critics of the approach have called these proposed parks "Frankenstein Ecosystems." As one of the proponents of rewilding, Dr. Harry W. Greene (Cornell University, New York) will discuss the merits of rewilding, including some of its potential economic and political impacts in North America, and address the major criticisms of this intriguing conservation strategy.

Please join us for what will be a provocative seminar, presented by the School of Life Sciences.

Contact: Javier A. Rodriguez
Email:
javier.rodriguez@unlv.edu

Phone: 702-895-1554

Monday, April 12, 2010

AJS, Part I




In advance of our interview with Jeff Gauntt (and following the curatorial lead of his writings and exhibition design for the Annual Juried Show), we're posting a few installation shots of CAC and the statement he wrote to accompany the exhibition. Stay tuned for the interview.

*****
“…be yourself, use everything around you, don’t be afraid.”
Roberta Smith, NYTimes review of Sigmar Polke exhibition, February 25, 1996

My approach to art is direct and sincere. I do not distinguish between so-called “highbrow” and “lowbrow” art, which are often simply divisions for classicist categories based on education and skill. Before attending art school and learning about these divisions, my visual education was derived from comics, movies, videogames, books covers and album art. Thanks to the benefits of college, my interests and appreciation have grown to include all forms of art, expression and creativity. Together with my academic awareness, the education of my youth creates a well-balanced view of art in all forms and stages; one that allows me to be both critical and innocently inspired across the board of expression.

For this exhibition, as in my daily life and art, I attempt to locate a balance between these two worlds; the clean, idealized world of the academy, combined with the beautiful chaos of popular culture and reality. The works have been arranged using my own personal logic; as if the room is just another part of the puzzle. I am interested in how the works create a dialogue with each other and the space. The architecture of the gallery is unique, and the works within the installation reflect this system.

For my selection, I looked through nearly 600 submissions, and my goal was to experience each piece as openly as possible. I began by spending time introducing myself to the work; slowly looking at each image while resisting judgment. During this initial phase, I avoided additional information, such as materials and dimensions. I ended this phase just before sleeping, so I could absorb the information, allowing everything to settle within me.

During my second viewing, I paid attention to scale and medium, although I still held off on making any decisions. Finally, during a third round, I noted pieces that had an impact on me, whether it was academic, conceptual, formal, emotional, or simple curiosity. This initial purging narrowed the possibilities down to the 124 works I found most interesting. Finally, through a marathon session of repeatedly examining the pieces, I narrowed the selection down to the 41 works in the show.

Also, during this final phase, I instinctively began to discover connections between the pieces I was selecting. Sometimes these similarities hinged on elements as tangible as images, lines, shapes, colors, process, or psychology. However, I also found more ephemeral connections, corresponding to memories, experiences or stories.

I love every piece of art in this show, and I am thankful for having had the opportunity to select them. It was truly inspiring to see such a huge variety of work, and then having to narrow that down. Clearly, I had to leave out works which I would have enjoyed including, but the restrictions make that inevitable.

I would like to thank all of the artists who submitted work for this exhibition. Just taking that first step requires a huge amount of courage, so keep working. Thank you to everyone at the CAC for asking me to jury this exhibition, as well as several great volunteers for their invaluable assistance during the installation. Foremost I would like to thank John Bissonette and Wendy Kveck for your hard work, confidence and patience. I’d also like to thank Marguerite Insolia, for her love and support.

Jeff Gauntt, 2010

Antonioni lecture at Barrick Museum

Wednesday, April 14 @ 7:30 p.m.
"Chung Kuo-Cina": A Documentary by Michelangelo Antonioni
Barrick Museum Auditorium
Professors Giuseppe Natale and Ying Bao, Department of Foreign Languages, UNLV

In 1972 the Chinese government asked director Michelangelo Antonioni to make a documentary on the ancient "Middle Kingdom," then being transformed by a proletarian revolution. The result was the 3 and 1/2 hour film "Chung Kuo-Cina," more concerned to observe everyday life than to describe political institutions. Antonioni's China, so distant from Maoist iconography, angered Chinese authorities, who censored it as reactionary propaganda. The film was not publicly screened in China until 2004. Its belated appearance led to a national discussion about the relations of art and politics as well as the objectivity of the cinematic camera. The speakers will present an illustrated review of its reception in both Italy and China.

Contact: Pam Weiss
Email: pam.weiss@unlv.edu
Phone: 702-895-3401

School of Architecture at Monte Carlo

Tuesday, April 13 @ 7:00 p.m.
The UNLV School of Architecture and Interior Design Program is holding a Fashion Show at Brand Lounge inside the Monte Carlo to benefit the School of Architecture. The collection of garments that will be shown are made from leftover building and interior samples that the UNLV students used for their Architecture and Interior architecture projects this past year. Please come and join us and support the SoA. Doors open at 7 p.m. Show starts at 8:30 p.m.

Contact: David Baird
Email: david.baird@unlv.edu
Phone: 702-895-3031

Thursday, April 8, 2010

UNLV Spring Flicks 2010

The Department of Film and the UNLV Short Film Archive are pleased to sponsor Spring Flicks 2010, the annual short film festival at UNLV. The goal of the Department of Film and the UNLV Short Film Archive and the Spring Flicks film festival is to promote the art and importance of the short film and to celebrate and showcase the filmmakers who make them.

Spring Flicks is open to UNLV student filmmakers, UNLV Alumnus and other filmmakers. Spring Flicks screenings will be held on Friday, APRIL 23 and Saturday, APRIL 24. All entry forms, along with the $35 entry fee, are due at UNLV Performing Box Office no later than Monday, April 5, 2010 by 5pm. All films are due in the Film Dept. no later than Friday, April 16th by 5pm.

Films can be no more than 15 minutes in length. Good luck to all.

DATES: Friday, April 23 and Saturday, April 24.
TIMES: 6pm-11pm (both Nights, with awards presentation held on Saturday Night)
LOCATION: CBC A-106.

The screenings are free and open to the public.

PICK UP ENTRY FORMS from the FILM DEPT. MAIN OFFICE or from SPRING FLICKS program director DAVID SCHMOELLER, FILM DEPT. FDH 425 or, you can download at the link here.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

LVCCLD

April 8, 2010 @ 6:00 p.m.
Rainbow Library Meeting Room
Open Board Meeting of Trustees

The Las Vegas-Clark County Library District is discussing new budget cuts and revisions. In the last few days we've received numerous pleas to attend this meeting and make your voice heard on these vital matters.

As a not-so-subtle plug for how amazing and vital the library is as a resource in our community, their April series Reading Las Vegas will feature movies, plays, book clubs, and lectures by Harvey Pekar, Alison Bechdel, Tony Curtis, and David Sedaris, among others. Tony Curtis!

Klai Juba Lecture Series

April 13 @ 6pm
Historic Fifth Street School
Roger Thomas (Wynn Corporation) lectures on Unlimited Luxury

The Event is part of AIA Las Vegas' Architecture Week.
From their website: In 2010, AIA Las Vegas has planned a full week of events and activities celebrating Architecture and those who design and create our communities. Officially proclaimed by the Mayor and government officials, the week includes concentrated media coverage of events and special programming on KNPR. Full schedule of events is here.

The Roger Thomas lecture is free, but RSVP is required. RSVP here.

Archived videos of previous lectures are available for check-out from the UNLV Architecture Library here.

Neon Lit at CAC

April 16, 2010 @ 7:00 pm. CAC.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Roy McMakin at UNLV


April 12 @ 7:00 p.m. Bigelow Physics Bldg. Room 102 on UNLV Campus
Roy McMakin lecture

This posting is somewhat ahead of the curve as Roy McMakin isn't lecturing until next week, but since we moved to Las Vegas from Seattle, it just seems like some kind of civic duty to announce to everyone in Sin City how much you should really go to this talk and hear Roy discuss his projects. In Seattle where his firm is located, his projects are almost synonymous with the Pacific Northwest and include the renovation of Western Bridge as well as work on numerous private residences. From the Matthew Marks Gallery website,

Roy McMakin is a designer, architect, and furniture maker, and his art, which draws on his knowledge of and experience in these disciplines, demonstrates a deep engagement with the artistic potential of domestic objects and environments. In sculpture that looks like furniture or mundane household fixtures (a non-functioning toilet made of wood, for example) and furniture that is detailed or decorated to emphasize its sculptural aspects (such as a wooden writing desk painted bright pink), McMakin tests the cultural distinctions that separate the two classes of objects, which occupy the same physical space.

McMakin (born 1956) first brought his work to the public through Domestic Furniture, his Los Angeles showroom (closed in 1994). He has continued to engage with the public through Domestic Architecture, his Seattle-based design firm whose portfolio has expanded from remodeling to ground-up home designs. MOCA Pacific Design Center, West Hollywood, California, exhibited a survey of McMakin's art and design work in 2003, and sculptures by McMakin are permanently installed at the University of California, San Francisco's Mission Bay campus and the Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle. McMakin lives and works in Seattle.

Images courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery, NYC.
Top: Love and Loss: An Outdoor Sculpture
Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle, 2005-2006;
Bottom: Untitled (Seven-drawer Chest in Green), 1998, Enamel paint on eastern maple, 40 x 62 1/2 x 22 inches, 102 x 159 x 56 cm

Sustainable Urbanism Lecture

April 06, 2010 @ 7:30 p.m.

Location: Marjorie Barrick Museum Auditorium

The Copenhagen Protocol: the View from Las Vegas – Problems, Possibilities and Shifting Paradigms in Sustainable Urbanism

Dr. Robert Dorgan Lectures on Sustainable Urbanism

The rapidly growing city of Las Vegas, Nevada, with over 2 million residents, 40 million tourists annually, and an acute desert climate in the upper Mohave, provides one of the most compelling design laboratories in the world. This lecture re-examines well-known strategies of sustainable urbanism in practice today, and explores the unique ways in which these strategies are practiced in the Las Vegas valley. Event is free and open to the public.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

April 6, 2010 @ 5:30 p.m.
Greenspun Hall Auditorium
"Creating an Opportunity Society"
Ron Haskins, Senior Fellow, Economic Studies Program; Co-director, Center on Children and Families.
America presents citizens and immigrants with great opportunity to get ahead. Even so, there is less mobility in America than in other industrialized nations and perhaps less than in the past. Individuals, parents, communities, and governments at all levels can do a lot to promote mobility and opportunity. Specific proposals for increasing opportunity, many supported by good evidence, will be presented.

April 8, 2010 @ 5:30 p.m.
Greenspun Hall Auditorium
"The Recent Migration Slowdown and America's Changing Regional Demographics"
William H. Frey, Demographer, Senior Fellow
America's regional demographics have been strongly influenced by persistent migration flows from the sunbelt to snowbelt, inward from the coasts, and immigration from abroad. Fast growing metropolitan areas like Las Vegas have ridden the waves of these flows. This presentation will discuss how past migration patterns has created sharp regional distinctions, and how the recent migration slowdown has affected them.

Events are free; no ticket or reservation is necessary.

More information can be found here: http://brookingsmtnwest.unlv.edu/
Contact: William Brown
Email: william.brown@unlv.edu
Phone: 702-895-0091

Blurring Borders

Tuesday, April 6, 2010 at 7:00 p.m at the UNLV Student Union Theatre
Black Mountain Institute is pleased to present "Blurring Borders," a panel discussion among three preeminent contemporary authors. Dominican-American writer Junot Diaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Chinese-American writer Yiyun Li, PEN/Hemingway Award-winning author of The Vagrants, and Cuban-American poet, novelist, and translator Pablo Medina, author of The Cigar Roller, explore issues of identity, nationality, and culture as they appear in their work and elsewhere. This free event features open seating. Tickets and reservations are not required.

Generous support for BMI's public programming is provided by The Harrah's Foundation, Nevada Public Radio, Las Vegas City Life, and the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
More information can be found here: http://blackmountaininstitute.org
Contact: Maritza White
Email: maritza.white@unlv.edu
Phone: 702-895-5542