Micaëla Contemporary Projects

2014-07-06T20:58:00.000-07:00

As an appraiser and art consultant, I receive a lot of questions about artwork value. Usually, the inquiries are from a client confirming an acquisition, or from an emerging artist seeking advice about pricing their own work. I also hear from insurance companies, tax attorneys, and individuals seeking to evaluate or sell an artwork. While insurance companies and tax attorneys are straightforward, the more interesting discussions are with individuals inquiring about evaluating artwork.

Ray Beldner. E Pluribus Unum (after Rembrandt Peale, George Washington, ca. 1854), 2005. Sewn US currency. Collection Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco.

Buying artwork can be difficult. For the experienced and novice collector alike, it's about value, where the artwork represents a collector's aesthetic. It becomes a declarative emotional event when colored by acquisitive desire and perceived value, subjective elements defining personal aesthetic. Objectively, artwork is judged by technical merit (skill) and final price too. So it's no surprise that selling a treasured piece is difficult, especially when two more factors are added: condition and the artist's professional resume.
When an artist offers work for sale with a dealer or gallery, we correctly assume the work perfectly reflects the artist's intent. It matches the artist's description, and nothing more is needed to finish the work. If we like it, we accept its asking price, which becomes the work's perceived value. These are the subjective values that initiate discussions about intent and perception. Objectively, we understand good work is defined by a specific set of standards, and accept the final price as the price that brings it home.

Acquiring artwork is the acquisition of luxury. It won’t feed your children or protect you from the elements - but it nourishes the soul and, if you’re lucky, it will give you pleasure. It’s special, worthy of care, protection from theft and damage, and full enjoyment. Until it's time to sell.

When we sell a work of art, we evaluate it using a trifecta of factors: medium, making, and concept. We want to know what the medium is, how it’s used, and whether the artist successfully conveys a concept or intent. Medium (the materials the artwork is made of) is important because we need to consider the life of the artwork in terms of its conservation (and the costs associated with conservation). Knowing what an artwork is made of determines how to care for it under various conditions - the medium is the first informative element the artist gives us to keep his work pristine and protected from age and deterioration. Technical merit, or mastery of the medium, is the skill employed by the artist when making the work. It's the measure of the artist's creative and making process, and defines whether something is well made. It's the factor that brings us to the third step: considering the artist's intent, or underlying goal. The analysis of intent involves whether the artwork successfully conveys the artist's ideas.

John Baldessari. WHAT THIS PAINTING AIMS TO DO, 1967. Acrylic on canvas, 67.7 x 56.5 in

And it’s all good, until we decide it’s time to find a new home for an artwork. We need to establish the artwork's value.

When determining resale value for works of art purchased from a dealer or gallery, the first measure will be condition, or how perfect is the work to the original state it was in at the time of purchase. This is when we assess it for damage and renewed value. Damage can take many forms, and when determining artwork values, it is defined by any event taking place after the artwork’s sale that changed the original nature of the artwork when it was offered for sale. The damage could be as small as a tear to a work on paper or canvas, faded colors, or in the case of sculpture, it could be a break or crack. For work based on multiple pieces, it could be a single missing piece in an otherwise perfect set. A damaged artwork is different because of integral changes to it, where it no longer matches the artist’s original description of the artwork. It isn’t perfect anymore, and its original value is diminished.

The second determinant for resale value is the artist himself. Has the artist maintained his practice, or was he a one hit wonder? Does his work continue to be sold in galleries and shown at exhibitions? Does his work demonstrate a trajectory of professional growth in terms of creative process? If the artist is retired, has his work retained value or grown in value? Can the dealer who sold the artwork find an opportunity to represent it for resale?

Ultimately, after considering an artwork’s medium, technique, intent, condition, and the artist’s practice, its resale value is the value given to it by its new owner. As a result, it’s important for artists who wish to retain value to consider how they sell their work, and for collectors to consider how they acquire artwork to maintain the value of their collection. And that’s a thought for another day.

Review: Playing with Fire at the Oakland Museum

2013-03-02T08:55:00.000-08:00

Glass is so gloriously seductive that it’s easy to relegate it to the status of mere “crafts” medium—as ceramics and photography once were. In 1962, the Toledo Museum of Art hosted workshops by glassmaker Harvey Littleton and scientist Dominick Labino; their innovations in low-heat glass and portable kilns (respectively) made glass studio-friendly. Playing with Fire: Artists of the California Studio Glass Movement at the Oakland Museum is one of 120 shows assembled by the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass to celebrate the medium’s golden anniversary; it includes works by Marvin Lipofsky and Robert Fritz, who established glass programs in the Bay Area; their students—Richard Marquis, Jay Musler, and Mary White; and art glass’s third generation, which, notes Julie Muñiz, Associate Curator of Design and Decorative Arts, adds contemporary conceptualism to the abstraction or semi-abstraction favored by the post-craft pioneers.

The medium’s versatility comes across vividly in the show’s twenty-works. Lipofsky’s organic deconstructions of the vessel form (Zwiesel Series, Summer Sun, and California Loop) prove that nature and culture commingled nicely long before the supposed competition became an academic buzzword. Fritz’s Vessel and Vase and John Lewis’s Copper Patina Bench are, similarly, cultural works that retain traditional functions. Glass artists explore art-for-art’s-sake expression (Latchezar Boyadjiev, Jaime Guerrero, Danny Perkins, Randy Strong); poetic metaphor (Mark Abildgaard, Kathleen Elliot, Bella Feldman, Taliaferro Jones, Michelle Knox, Susan Longini, William Morris, Jay Musler, Richard Marquis, Therman Statom, Cassandra Straubing, Pamina Traylor, Mary White); and political critique (Clifford Rainey’s Erechtheum, a faux-museological installation featuring Coke bottles instead of Greek maidens; and Oben Abright’s Projections in Tun Yee, the glass portrait bust of a Burmese soldier, flickering with video images of political repression).

Playing with Fire: Artists of the California Glass Movement runs through March 24; Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., Oakland; (510) 318-8400; museumca.org. —DeWitt Cheng in East Bay Monthly.
Repost with permission from DeWitt Cheng.

Today's Downtown Gallery: A guide to Public Art in San Francisco

2012-12-16T23:55:00.000-08:00

The San Francisco Planning Department oversees an art fund dedicated to the acquisition of public art for the City of San Francisco. Attached is a copy of the San Francisco Planning Department's guide to public art in downtown San Francisco, Today's Downtown Gallery.

Featured artists include: Bruce Beasley, Bella Feldman, Kent Roberts, Lee Lawrie, Thomas Marsh and Qiliu Pan, Mark Lere, Archie Held, George Rickey, Richard Deacon, Richard Deutsch, Gordon Huether, Joel Shapiro, Albert Paley, Anish Kapoor, Robert Hudson, Teresita Fernandez, Mildred Howard, Dorothy Lenehan, Daniel Winterich, Stephen de Staebler, Gwynn Murill, Pol Bury, Joan Brown, Larry Bell, Charles Arnoldi, Topher Delaney, Johanna Poethig, Paul D. Gibson, Ed Carpenter, Ball-Nogues Studio, Joe Goode, Ugo Rondinone, Jonathan Borofsky, John Luebtow, Pepo Pichler, Manuel Neri, Elyn Zimmerman, Bill Barrett, Arman, Dmitri Hadzi, Fritz Koenig, Paul Kos, Roger Berry, Curtis Hollenback and Topher Delaney.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2012-11-21T10:31:00.002-08:00

Marvin Lipofsky | A Journey in Glass: at the Oakland Museum of California

2012-11-02T23:28:00.002-07:00

Playing with Fire: Artists of the California Studio Glass Movement at the Oakland Museum

2012-10-26T08:02:00.000-07:00

Playing with Fire: Artists of the California Studio Glass Movement

October 26, 2012–March 24, 2013

OMCA is one of more than 120 museums nationwide to mark the 50th anniversary of the studio art-glass movement in the United States. Featuring 32 works on view representing 22 artists in the Gallery of California Art, the exhibition Playing with Fire: Artists of the California Studio Glass Movement celebrates California's involvement in, and impact on, this movement that was brought to the Golden State by Marvin Lipofsky, who started the glass programs at California College of Arts and Crafts and UC Berkeley, and by Robert Fritz, who established the program at San Jose State University. Showcasing pioneer California glass artists, such as Richard Marquis, Jay Musler, Randy Strong, and Mary White, alongside the next generation of California glass artists including Oben Abright and Jaime Guerrero, the exhibition reinforces the Bay Area's prominence as a hotbed for the studio art-glass movement.
Docent Tours
Docent-led tours of Playing with Fire: Artists of the California Studio Glass Movement are offered every Sunday at 1 pm, through the end of the exhibition. Meet in front of the special exhibition in the back of the Gallery of California Art.
Made possible in part by generous support of the Oakland Museum Women’s Board, OMCA Art Guild, Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass, and Glass Alliance of Northern California.

Today: Susan Longini at the Oakland Museum of California

2012-10-23T08:02:00.000-07:00

Caithness Neighbors. 2011. Kilncast pâte de verre, metal frame, 35 x 41 x 1.5 in. Collection of the artist.
Photo credit: Keay Edwards

Susan Longini (b. 1947). BFA University of Michigan, 1969. California College of the Arts, 1982. San Jose State University, 1991. Studied under Marvin Lipofsky at California College of the Arts, 1982.

Susan J. Longini initiated and becamed head of the glass program at Ohlone College in Fremont, California from 1987 to 2003, and served on the City of Fremont’s Art Review Board from 2000 to 2010.

From 2002 to 2004, Longini was Executive Director of the Bay Area Glass Institute, San Jose, California. She is currently president of the Glass Alliance of Northern California. Since 2000, Longini’s concentration is focused on pâte de verre and large scale installations in glass. Her work is represented in galleries in the United States and in collections around the world. —Susan Longini

Goodbye, tradition! Goodbye, SOFA NYC ...

2012-10-22T06:10:00.000-07:00

Last week, the digital version of Art in America magazine published an article about the demise of SOFA NYC (the Sculpture Object and Functional Art Fair in New York City), quoting the fair's founder, Mark Lyman, that with rising expenses, "the economic formula for the show just wasn't working."

Supporters of Mr. Lyman's enterprises, such as New York dealer, Michael Heller, suggest that the fair's acronym was to blame for its lack of "gravitas" in New York. But we wonder whether it was more - such as a lack of market understanding and collaborative efforts with the fair's supporters - the galleries who paid huge sums pursuing new markets under SOFA's full blown exhibition program.

The story of the failed art business has repeated itself time and again with dramatic frequency since the US economic downturn began in 2008. It's a story of declining fine art museums, galleries, art consultants, and yes, art fairs, of raging successful 20th century business models that simply do not adapt to 21st century business practices that include collaboration, community development, social media and, most importantly, access to newcomers and new markets.

Marvin Lipofsky on panel at SOFA Chicago

2012-10-21T10:48:00.000-07:00

Marvin Lipofsky

In honor of the 50th anniversary of American studio glass, Marvin Lipofsky is invited by the Art Alliance of Contemporary Glass (AACG) to participate in a panel of artists discussing their contributions to the American Studio Glass Movement.

The panel will be moderated by Corning Museum of Glass Curator Tina Oldknow and Ferd Hampson, Habatat Galleries Michigan, as part of SOFA Chicago's 2012 lecture series, on Saturday, November 3, from 2 to 3 pm at Chicago's Navy Pier, Room 327.

The panel will also feature glass artists Mary Shaffer, Jack Schmidt and Joel Philip Myers.

They will discuss the history, present and future of contemporary glass art.

Today: Oben Abright at the Oakland Museum of California

2012-10-16T09:46:00.000-07:00

Projections in Tun Yee. 2010. Mold blown glass, cement, video (7:00), custom electronics, oil paint.
26.5 x 25 x 14 in. Collection of the artist

Oben Abright (b. 1980). California College of the Arts, 2004.

Oben Abright was born in 1980 in San Francisco. The son of artists, he spent his early years drawing, painting, and making clay sculpture in his parent’s studio. He received a BFA in glass from California College of the Arts in 2004. Oben maintains a studio in Oakland, California. -Oben Abright

50th Anniversary of the American Studio Glass Movement

2012-10-15T14:10:00.000-07:00

The American Studio Glass Movement begins with the story of Harvey Littleton, ceramicist turned glass sculptor (credited as the “Father of the American Studio Glass Movement” for the 1962 glassblowing seminar he developed for studio artists at the Toledo Museum of Art). It is a story worthy of admiration and respect.

A passionate educator, Littleton originated university-level glass programs (at the University of Wisconsin–Madison) and promoted glass as a course of study at university departments in the Midwest and northeastern United States. The late glass expert Dan Klein (1938–2009), in his publication Artists in Glass: Late Twentieth Century Masters in Glass (Mitchell Beasley, London 2001), wrote that Littleton’s “aim was to take the manufacture of glass out of its industrial setting and put it within the reach of the studio artist.”

Littleton's students, Robert Fritz and Marvin Lipofsky laid the foundation for private and public glass education in the San Francisco Bay Area – underscoring Littleton’s evangelism of glass as an artistic medium from humble Wisconsin beginnings to present-day world-class museum collections throughout the United States.

This year, more than 160 museums across the United States celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the American Studio Glass Movement – convincing evidence of Littleton’s success.

Marking the 50th anniversary of the American Studio Glass movement, 2012 is a year of multiple opportunities to view exhibitions of work made by students (in many cases, students descended from students) of Harvey Littleton. A list of 2012 studio glass events can be found here, as promoted by the Art Alliance of Contemporary Glass, a national, and international, group of glass collectors.

Locally, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (at the de Young), will open its exhibition, Reflections: Celebrating 50 Years of the Studio Glass Movement on Saturday, October 27. A special lecture by California's Studio Glass Pioneer, Marvin Lipofsky, will be held on November 9 at the Koret Auditorium. On the other side of the bay, the Oakland Museum of California will host its exhibition, Playing with Fire: Artists of the California Studio Glass Movement from October 27, 2012 through March 24, 2012 (exhibition catalog available by request from info@micaela.com).

Today: Cassandra Straubing at the Oakland Museum of California

2012-10-10T21:42:00.000-07:00

He kissed his wife and kids good-bye and hitched a ride to Lodi; to work the fields at the peak of the summer’s heat, in hopes for an early harvest of the fall. 2012. Cast glass, found object. Installation. 69 x 18 x 7 in. Collection of the artist. Photo credit: Esteban Salazar

Cassandra Straubing (b. 1978). BFA California Polytechnic-San Luis Obispo, 2002. MFA Rochester Institute of Technology, 2007. Lecturer, Glass Faculty Head and Studio Coordinator, San Jose State University, 2005–present.

My work explores the sociological aspects of working-class garments and the tools of bluecollar labor — how they define a person, externally and internally. These objects become a representation and a symbol of what a person does to contribute to western society and culture. They become a skin, defining a person’s economic and social position as well as their gender role. Clothing, used as a skin to cover the vulnerable and fragile body, is rendered transparent in glass. The viewer can see through the superficial definitions of gender and status to a personal truth without the exterior facade society so readily judges.

In my other recent glasswork, I use washing and mending as metaphors for the cleansing and repair of an emotional state of mind: the decontamination of the stain of a memory. The art symbolizes cutting out an uncomfortable section of personal history, repairing it, and stitching it together with a previous life to create a new life ahead. The choice to fabricate and cast these objects in glass lends itself conceptually to the sociological study of these belongings and the social systems that surround them. Glass displays ghostly reminiscences, representing a personal history or memory left behind. Glass can also portray a lack of memory, representing the invisibility of an uncomfortable emotion. Glass is a window for the viewer to explore what might otherwise never be seen. —Cassandra Straubing

Today: Mary Bayard White at the Oakland Museum of California

2012-09-25T11:15:00.000-07:00

Living on Fault Lines and Pacific Currents. 2005. Found glass, steel, 67.5 x 24 x 20 in. Collection of the Oakland Museum of California. Gift of Evans and John Wyro in honor of Mary Bayard White. Photo credit: M. Lee Fatherree

Mary Bayard White (b. 1947). BFA California College of the Arts, 1970; MFA California College of the Arts, 1982; Studied under Marvin Lipofsky at California College of the Arts, 1968, 1969. Studied under Robert Fritz, early 1970s. Fulbright Scholar (Dublin, Ireland), 2009–2010.

The intersection of art making, environmental science, arts education, and peace making attracts me. I am particularly drawn to the interfaces between the physical natural world and the human built environment. My work investigates habitats, and, in this piece, the west coast earthquake zone. Habitat is “the place of residence of a person or a group” or “the place or environment where an organism naturally or normally lives and grows.” Investigating the meaning of the structures we live in can be revealing and informing. How can we live in accord with natural extremes, rather than
dominating nature? What are the currents that run through our homes and lives? What do we need, and what do we desire in our homes? What is the meaning of the inner light, the light that fuels the inner habitat?

For me, visual inquiry evokes magical metaphor. It can stir new meaning into the “embodied object.” The creative flux can gather diverse people to learn from each other, can bring forth the best in each individual thru looking and seeing anew, and can bring forth new visions and approaches to critical social and environmental problems facing us. Visual inquiry brings forth curiosity, hope, humor, appreciation, and affection, my favorite states of being.

Today: Pamina Traylor at the Oakland Museum of California

2012-09-15T21:31:00.000-07:00

Exhale. 2011. Blown glass, oil paint, steel, silicone, 24 x 16 x 3.5 in. Collection of the artist. Photo credit: Hans Jurgen Bergmann

Pamina Traylor (b. 1964). BA Bryn Mawr College, 1987. MFA Rochester Institute of Technology, 1995. Interim Chair and Senior Adjunct Professor, Glass Program, California College of the Arts, present.

Pamina Traylor is an artist and educator. She was a visiting artist/faculty member at the Osaka University of Art (Japan), in the fall of 2007, served as a member of the Glass Art Society’s (GAS) Board of Directors from 2003 to 2011, and continues as its Treasurer (from 2006 to the present).

Traylor was awarded fellowships from the Creative Glass Center of America (1995 and 2003), and received California College of the Arts Faculty Travel and Development Grants in 1998, 2007 and 2011. She has lectured and demonstrated at schools in Australia, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, and taught workshops throughout the world, including The Glass Furnace (Istanbul), Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Penland School of Crafts, and The Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass, among others. Her work is found in several prestigious permanent collections.

CBS News: The Art and History of Studio Glass-Making

2012-09-10T07:28:00.000-07:00

Today: Randy Strong at the Oakland Museum of California

2012-08-14T11:21:00.000-07:00

Blue Orchid. 2011. Blown, assembled glass, 25.5 x 12 x 10.5 in. Collection of the Oakland Museum of California. Gift of the artist in memory of Katherine Grubb. Photo credit: Benjamin Blackwell

Randy Strong (b. 1947). BA California College of the Arts, 1972.

At this stage of my career – looking back – I would have to say I did not choose glass as a
medium. It chose me. My whole life has been making choices that led me down some very
tough paths.

The tougher the challenge, the more it demands my interest.

Of course, 45 years of glass has been both foolish and rewarding. I don't know of any
art form that is as costly as glass – with such a high rate of loss – and is both heavy and
delicate at the same time.

I feel that I resemble the material, both liquid and solid – delicate yet hard – and can be
both opaque and very reflective.

Glass has led me down a path of understanding – of myself and the world around me. My
mistakes have become my most sought after friends. The medium of glass continually
teaches me about the fear of loss, letting go, and acceptance. —Randy Strong

Today: Donata Benker. Kuchenzelt, 2011.

2012-08-10T16:09:00.002-07:00

Donata Benker. Kuchenzelt, 2011. Acrylic, oil, lacquer on canvas.

The World's Best Art Collections: Top 3

2012-08-09T09:29:00.002-07:00

The top three corporate collections are owned by UBS, Deutsche Bank, and Progressive Insurance.

David Schnell. Cirrus, 2007. Acrylic, oil on linen. 170 x 300 cm.

Image courtesy of Courtesy Galerie EIGEN + ART Leipzig/Berlin

UBS Art Collection. Why do corporations collect art? It seems, even large corporations want to put something on the office walls (seriously), per Jacqueline Lewis, UBS' curator for the Americas. The idea of creating interesting and stimulating environments for clients and employees is important, as a means of conducting business and keeping the workplace desirable. The UBS collection contains 35,000 objects, most of which are displayed in private conference rooms, with works generally rotated among location every year or two. The collection includes Cirrus, 2007 (David Schnell), Post Visual, 1993 (Roy Lichtenstein), and Jon Pylypchuk's "these are all forgetful moments/you are fighting left and right", 2000.

Xaviera Simmons, Warm Leatherette, 2002.
Deutsche Bank Collection

Deutsche Bank Collection. When the Deutsche Bank Collection was founded in 1979, its goal was to support young and emerging artists in the bank's native Germany. With exponential growth since then, the collection followed suit and now includes 57,000 objects, and is the largest corporate art collection in the world. Not surprisingly, work by Gerhard Richter can be found in the collection, which has evolved to include work by international artists, such as Warm Leatherette, 2002, c-print (Xaviera Simmons) and Husker Dü, 2009 (Skylar Fein). Each floor of the bank's New York headquarters features a different artistic theme. Organizing the collection topically helps viewers gain a better understanding of the work when seen within a context. It also gives a different character to each floor. Floor themes such as “Drawings by Sculptors,” “All About Eve” (figurative works), “Off the Grid,” and “Theories of Relativity” (works highlighting differences in scale), offer a range of subjects realized on paper.One floor is devoted entirely to photography-based works, while another features woodcut prints from around the world.

Andy Warhol. Mao, 1972. Serigraph.

Progressive Art Collection. I'm always surprised by this collection, simply because auto-insurance and cutting-edge contemporary art just never seem to be an intuitive fit. Progressive quietly began collecting fine art in 1974, with an acquisition of 30 artworks, mostly work on paper. The collection philosophy evolved in 1985 to include works by international artists of all ranks - emerging, mid-career and established - whose creativity and innovation reflect the company's business vision. The collection includes work by Andy Warhol, as wells as the not surprising auto inspired sculptures, Jerry Can: Love Gasoline (Animating Elements), 2006 (Jude Tallichet) and deliberately provocative work, Pelvis, 2005 (Matthew Cox), among the 7,800 works the company uses to develop its community.

Today: Weston Lambert. The Cost of Materials (IV)

2012-08-08T08:37:00.002-07:00

Weston Lambert. The Cost of Materials (IV), 2010. 11 x 2 x 6 in. (with stand). Glass, petrified wood, metal stand.

The Painting Factory at MOCA

2012-08-05T10:42:00.000-07:00

There's a lot going on, politically, it seems, at the MOCA lately. So, I wandered into the downtown galleries to check it out. Do their politics got in the way of art?

Coinciding with Andy Warhol's 84th birthday (if he were still alive), the current exhibition, The Painting Factory, Abstraction After Warhol, explores the recent transformation of abstract painting into one of the most dynamic platforms in contemporary art. The exhibition attempts to address a painting tradition that was once seen as essentially reductive but has now become expansive, merging popular culture and current technology into its vocabulary, and includes works by Tauba Auerbach, Mark Bradford, DAS INSTITUT (Kerstin Brätsch and Adele Röder), Urs Fischer, Wade Guyton, Glenn Ligon, Julie Mehretu, Seth Price, Sterling Ruby, Josh Smith, Rudolf Stingel, Kelley Walker, Andy Warhol, and Christopher Wool.

Mark Bradford. Ghost and Stooges, 2011. Mixed media collage on canvas. Courtesy of the artist and Sikkema Jenkins & Co., NY.

Ironically, one of the places where this fresh approach to abstraction was germinating was the studio that might seem the farthest from the practice of the abstract tradition, Andy Warhol’s Factory. A haven for all sorts of brilliant artistic misfits, the Factory was a laboratory where historical and contemporary innovations in art and culture would be remixed and reconstituted. After Warhol turned back to painting in the late 1970s and 1980s with series like Shadows, Oxidations, and Rorschachs, he transformed pure abstraction into work that opened up new directions. Thriving on the increasing confusion between high art and progressive popular culture, Warhol challenged conventional methods of painting using techniques of mechanical reproduction - confrontations that simultaneously undermined and expanded the accepted approaches to painting.

Julie Mehretu. Black City, 2007. Courtesy of the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, NY.

My favorite works were by Tauba Auerbach, Mark Bradford, Glenn Ligon, Julie Mehretu, and Kelley Walker (I'm kicking myself that Auerbach's work escaped my collection when it was so affordable early on). I love the visual trickery she employs with dimension, and still find myself looking at her paintings from the side to check whether they really are flat.

Ever since Mark Bradford's retrospective at the SFMOMA, I can't get enough of his work. Part of the attraction, admittedly, is the story. How a poor man from humbling circumstances could come so far. I love his use of personal history in his work, as well as the immense scale. This is work that needs a lot of room for the viewer, as part of the fascination is seeing it in context of lots of interior space, as well as examining the small details. Visually, it's a feast.

Glenn Ligon is a big artist. We know this from all the attention he's received at the Whitney, in NY, and internationally lately. His coal-dust paintings are luscious. That's all I can say. Using backgrounds of pure white or deep black painted canvas, Ligon somehow adheres layers of velvety coal dust on a series of canvases. The effect is seductive, dark, and beautiful.

The kinetic action of Julie Mehretu's work reminded me of Jackson Pollock energy with Alexander Calder shapes. Did she mean to reference them? Using extremely large painting surfaces, Mehretu's work activates the eye with visuals that leap from one side of her surface to the other. Likewise, Kelley Walker's work, with its layers of poster imagery and deep solo colorings were irresistible, thoughtful, and wholly in keeping with a nexus to Andy Warhol's Factory.

I can't tell you whether their politics got in the way of anything. Visually, the exhibition looked well planned and, except for the slide show (and slight new media nod), it was thoughtful. All the news referencing the MOCA these days is unbelievable: accusations by Eli Broad that the MOCA has a cash stash over $2 million sitting in exhibition reserves (they are so lucky!), and refusing to continue to fund until the fund reserves are spent down the way they were meant to - for exhibitions, grants and residencies, among others; and who hasn't heard about the imploding Board of Trustees? Perhaps that's why only 10 pieces from the permanent exhibition were available for viewing, with the remainder shuttered away.

Today's News: Taliaferro Jones

2012-07-19T09:52:00.004-07:00

Taliaferro Jones. Nimbus, 2006. Kiln cast lead glass.

Today's News: Taliaferro Jones shows in an exhibition curated by Melanie Egan for the Harbourfront Centre's Summer Exhibitions, "Material Wealth: Revealing Landscape." Opens tonight.

The exhibition statement: One of the most interesting aspects about materials (glass, ceramics, textiles, metal etc.) is their ability to act as catalysts for conceptual ideas. Ideas about landscape have prompted a viewing of material from a different perspective, isolating elements within the landscape and focusing in exploring the material’s meaning and its trajectory across culture and geography.

The artist's statement: My current body of work uses water as a metaphor to illustrate the ever-present alchemy of our existence. Water is the essence of life. When I dive into any body of water I immediately have an intense and profound sense of joy and wonder. In its duality, water is extremely powerful – crashing and yet, also calming; we cannot live without it. The work explores the different states of being within water. It touches on how we flow through our lives striving for a state of grace and beauty. Like our blue planet, our bodies are 70% water, yet we still have a need to ground ourselves; the paradox of standing still while always flowing. In many ways we are between states, part spirit and part matter, part liquid and part solid. I sought to use the lyrical dance of light, space and colour to explore and manifest these ideas in glass and photography.

Born and raised in Northern California, Taliaferro Jones holds a BA and BFA from Tufts University and the Museum School, Boston, followed by Sheridan College. Her work is shown in international exhibitions, including recent biennales in Spain, the Netherlands and South Korea. She has done large-scale commissions in London, California, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. Her work is included in the Canadiana Fund collection at Rideau Hall and El Museo de Vidrio in Spain. She has been featured by Bravo and TVO as well as in the following books: International Glass Art, The Contemporary Glass Art of the World, Craft of Northern California and Golf 365 Days. She is a founding member of the Cadence collective, currently sits on the board of the Ontario Crafts Council, and is on the developing board of a new foundation and Museum for contemporary art in Spain.

Taliaferro Jones. Caress, 2008. Kiln cast lead glass, sandblasted.

Her sculpture, Caress, will be included in the Oakland Museum's upcoming homage to the 50th Anniversary of American Studio Glass.

Peter Foucault working with Chris Treggiari brings MAP to Seattle, WA

2012-07-17T19:32:00.003-07:00

Artist, Peter Foucault, first presented the idea of his Mobile Arts Platform (MAP) to us in 2007. Using a vintage retrofitted 1963 Ford Falcon van, Foucault's MAP introduced, and in some cases, reintroduced, the ideas and techniques of fine art practice to local communities with staged presentations of drawing, performance, and sound. Today, the van is paired with Chris Treggiari's mobile art trailer and a vintage Vespa scooter. MAP partnered with San Francisco's SOMArts Cultural Center with presentations at the Precita Eyes Urban Youth Festival, Japantown's Cherry Blossom Festival, and Potrero Hill Neighborhood Association. Additionally, MAP events have been held at RootDivision, Oakland's Art Murmur, and the Zero1 San Jose Art and Technology Festival.

The current iteration of Mobile Arts Platform was awarded a generous grant from the Seattle Center Foundation to set up daily interactive art installations at the Seattle Center (for Next50, a 50th Anniversary celebration of the Seattle World Fair), from Wednesday, July 17 through Sunday, July 22, as well as satellite programming in neighboring areas. For related information please go to http://www.thenextfifty.org/

Working with a partner, Chris Treggiari, Foucault will unveil two new MAP constructions: A mobile pop-up cinema structure built in collaboration with Patrick Wilson, and a mobile screenprint cart towed behind a vintage Vespa scooter featuring the work of Seattle printmakers selected by PrintZero Studios co-founder Brian Lane.

The installations will feature artwork by MAP, Brian Lane and fellow PrintZero Studios artists, David T. Olsen, Jonathan Grover, Scott Kiernan, Matthew Parrott, Everett Beidler, Justin Hoover, Patrick Wilson, and other local Seattle artists. Musical performances by guest artists will also be featured.

On Sunday, July 22, Foucault will set up "Building Bridges of Peace Station," an interactive pop-up post office/mail art installation, a collaboration between MAP and Bay Area-based non-profit Building Bridges, which made its debut earlier this year at Oakland's Art Murmur.

The MAP Seattle itinerary is:

Wednesday, July 18

1-4pm: MAP Epi-Center Office set up at the Seattle Center featuring interactive artworks and video projects.

6-8pm: Georgetown pop-up event at Georgetown Art Walk

Thursday, July 19

1-4pm: MAP Epi-Center Office set up at the Seattle Center featuring interactive artworks and video projects.

6-8pm: Columbia City Art Walk http://communityartscreate.org/

Friday, July 20

1-4pm: MAP Epi-Center Office set up at the Seattle Center featuring interactive artworks and video projects.

6-8pm: Capital Hill Block Party http://capitolhillblockparty.com/
Saturday, July 21

12-6pm: Interactive MAP programming set up behind the EMP at Seattle Center
Sunday, July 22

12-6pm: Interactive MAP programming set up behind the EMP at Seattle Center

Who is Mark Abildgaard?

2012-07-13T10:58:00.002-07:00

We wrote about glass sculptor, Mark Abildgaard, a few years ago when he joined us for a group exhibition, COLD+HOT 2008. And although we forged separate professional paths, his strong link with the community of glass artists, collectors and art professionals, ensures his work remains at the fore of California studio glass artists.

Abildgaard works with kiln cast glass. Using the lost wax casting technique, he sculpts his forms from wax, from which a mold is subsequently made. Filling the mold with glass, it is placed in a kiln where the glass liquifies and accepts the form created by the mold. This technique allows for intricate sculptural forms, a hallmark of Abildgaard's work.

Born and raised in San Francisco, Abildgaard has worked with glass since 1986. He is well-known and well-liked within the glass community, among artists and collectors alike. His work can be found in prestigious private and corporate collections, including the George and Dorothy Saxe Collection, the Saks Fifth Avenue Collection, and the Corning Museum of Glass.

Glass love

2012-07-13T08:42:00.000-07:00

Glass sculpture is the unquestionable "rock star" of the world of sculpture. The artists retain a defiant, bad boy quality, supported by a following of well-heeled and adoring collectors. We remain fascinated by its simpler qualities: beauty, fragility, light, craft, and utility. Its making, dangerous under the best conditions, under intense heat, and necessary choreography of glass blowers continue to bring us in performance after performance.

Artists we love showing at the Oakland Museum

2012-07-11T10:22:00.001-07:00

It has been, shamefully, quite some time since our last post here. Our only explanation is that our work surprisingly took over to such an extent that we inexplicably shifted away from our love of this blog. To our readers, we offer humble apologies with the promise to amend and forge ahead.

Our news today is that some of our favorite glass artists will be featured at the Oakland Museum of California's celebration of the 50th Anniversary of American Studio Glass. They are: Marvin Lipofsky, Mark Abildgaard, Oben Abright, Latchezar Boyadjiev, Kathleen Elliot, Bella Feldman, Robert Fritz, Jaime Guerrero, Taliaferro Jones, Michelle Knox, John Lewis, Susan Longini, Richard Marquis, William Morris, Jay Musler, Danny Perkins, Clifford Rainey, Therman Statom, Cassandra Straubing, Randy Strong, Pamina Traylor and Mary White.

Marvin Lipofsky. California Loop Series #55 (1970). Blown glass, flocking. 8 x 36 x 27 in.

We are extremely honored to have been invited to share our thoughts on these artists with collectors, curators and museum professionals, and continue to support the beautiful work they make that we believe in so passionately.

To the artists and professionals involved in presenting this upcoming exhibition, thank you for your collaboration.

Micaëla Contemporary Projects

Review: Playing with Fire at the Oakland Museum

Today's Downtown Gallery: A guide to Public Art in San Francisco

Happy Thanksgiving!

Marvin Lipofsky | A Journey in Glass: at the Oakland Museum of California

Playing with Fire: Artists of the California Studio Glass Movement at the Oakland Museum

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Today: Susan Longini at the Oakland Museum of California

Goodbye, tradition! Goodbye, SOFA NYC ...

Marvin Lipofsky on panel at SOFA Chicago

Today: Oben Abright at the Oakland Museum of California

50th Anniversary of the American Studio Glass Movement

Today: Cassandra Straubing at the Oakland Museum of California

Today: Mary Bayard White at the Oakland Museum of California

Today: Pamina Traylor at the Oakland Museum of California

CBS News: The Art and History of Studio Glass-Making

Today: Randy Strong at the Oakland Museum of California

Today: Donata Benker. Kuchenzelt, 2011.

The World's Best Art Collections: Top 3

Today: Weston Lambert. The Cost of Materials (IV)

The Painting Factory at MOCA

Today's News: Taliaferro Jones

Peter Foucault working with Chris Treggiari brings MAP to Seattle, WA

Who is Mark Abildgaard?

Glass love

Artists we love showing at the Oakland Museum