It’s First Friday, the big arts day here in Indianapolis, when all the big shows open and people actually go out and pretend they care about art. I tend not to follow too closely what’s going on any given First Friday (except when I worked with MEA, because we did closing shows on FFs). But, this week, two talented people I know have shows opening (sadly, in opposite parts of the scene, which’ll make scheduling rough).
Up first is Nathan Monk with Tre Reising doing a collaborative show called “Nathan Monk in NoSpace.” I can’t tell you what it’s about, because I don’t really know. It’ll be a wonderful surprise when I get there. You’ll find this show at the Wheeler Arts Community in Fountain Square tonight.
The other show includes Paul D’Andrea, who I’ve met a couple times. He and a good number of other people are opening a show at the Stutz called “Social Currency.” From the Stutz blog:
How do the photos you post on Facebook affect your social currency? How does the photography reflect your communities and how you interact with them? These are some of the issues fine art photographers will explore in “Social Currency,” an exhibition opening March 4 at STUTZARTSPACE.
Showcasing a range of photography, the exhibit will look at how photographs are used and shared within communities and social networks, both online and offline.
Sounds like an interesting show, really. As covered, that’ll be at the Stutz from 5-9pm tonight. You can read more about it via the link below:
http://www.stutzartspace.com/
It’s no secret to regular readers of Zed Martinez that I’m quite a fan of Nathan Monk. I keep one of his pieces above my entertainment center, and I commissioned a bag design off of him. He’s got a show coming up this next Friday (March 4th) with Tres Reising at the Wheeler Arts Community here in Indy, and now he’s got a short video interview with Art Beat, where he talks some about his creative philosophies, including his adherence to found materials and green art. And, seeing as Nathan’s one of my favorite people working in this city, and a super-sweet dude to boot, I thought I’d instruct you all to watch the interview.Go ahead, enrich your life a bit. It’s Sunday. You have time.
See, this didn’t take long, not a month after my show and not even a day after my new site design goes live and here I am to talk about my next painting series.
Isn’t that spiffy?
So, this new series I’m working on, it’ll probably be a small one, I don’t think there’s too much I can do with it that can’t be done in three pieces before I start weakening it. It started when Nick reminded me of the minotaur from House Of Leaves, which is one of those works that had quite an impact on both of us. And, within that story, the minotaur takes on this terrifying aspect of not being the guardian, the sign of power and corruption and excess it was in mythology, no no, it’s something darker than that. It becomes the thing that lurks, that exists and leaves behind evidence but isn’t seen. It becomes a representation of our own follies, obsessions, faults, conceits. And, it forces us to pursue it. It lurks and we must brave into the darkness if we hope to find it, to address it, to challenge it.
And so, this next series is called “Lurk,” it’s an exorcism of sorts, an externalization as I sort through my own labyrinth (man, anyone remember when I was stuck on Daedalus and Icarus ideas and imagery? Apparently this myth is good milage for me.)
Visually, what I’ve started working on is methodologically influenced by Nathan, who’s use of found materials and caulk gave me an idea for how to create a textured underlayer to support these ideas, and by some of the darker side of Lawrence Yang’s work over at blow at life. I’m forgoing my usual oils this time to explore using oil-based enamel paint instead. I wanted something a bit different, and for some reason my old collection of model paints started calling out to me. Maybe it’s the ease with which enamel can imitate ink drips and washes that oil has a harder time doing. Maybe it’s just memories, but you know, that fits.
Anyway, some sketches here, some shots of the boards as I caulk them later.
So, I got my messenger bag back from Nathan Monk, who I had asked to raise it from the bland (if still stylish) surplus messenger it was to a one-of-a-kind work of art-cum-laptop tote.
I’d say he succeeded in that endeavor.
It was interesting, and a bit unexpected, to see such a clean ruled and geometric piece from him. But, it is immaculately executed, and utilizes the skyscraper/skyline motif that’s such a recurrence in his works, offset nicely by that organic wisp suggesting clouds. All and all, a very cool piece to have around.
So, last night I met up with Nathan Monk out at Herron to watch a public screening of an episode of Art:21. It was my first experience with the series, which aims to bring “the arts” to the everyday joes out there, despite this being like the fifth season or something crazy. And, I was really disappointed. Carefully shot and well-edited, it exudes class and intellectual detachment, while not managing to have things such as rationale, or really anything to make these arts seem approachable, more or less something the average person can relate with. It was quite disappointing.
So, then Nathan and I went and grabbed some bevvies and sat and discussed a lot, and that was a bit more enjoyable and danced from subjects like Marcel Duchamp and the Dada movement to modern ‘shoegazer’ rock. It reminded me I need to settle down and get to work on a series of posts on artists–alive and dead–that influence me.
And I still need to finish Oranje summaries, I just got a bit frustrated with the amazingly gorgeous and utterly unnavigable site Mike Altman got back up. More to come…
FOR EVENT SUMMARY AND ALL REVIEWED ARTISTS CLICK HERE
OK, I was going to start this with Michael Altman, but his website appears to be down, so we’ll start instead with Mr. Nathan Monk.
"Off Track", Nathan Monk
Nathan, who it turns out is the brother of a nice chap I went to high school with, was up on the second floor (right next to Jennifer Parker’s “Kitsch” booth.) His work has a gleefully eclectic approach to medium, incorporating paint, wax, found objects, collage, and more. His style is also wonderfully mad, with a lot of work focusing on almost-cartoon imagery, only at times to extend to seeming rather like Marcel Duchamp after a long night snorting powdered Kandinsky. And that’s most certainly a good thing.
"Revenge Comes In All Shapes and Sizes", Nathan Monk
Nathan, who attended Herron for a spell before embarking in a different direction with his wife Rachel, has apparently not been exhibiting for a few years since the birth of his son. So, it was a treat getting to see him out at my first Oranje. His booth was busy the whole time I was there, and only partly because out front was a table full of all sorts of stuff which he was encouraging people to crowdsource into five different found-media pieces, which he was raffling off.
You can find Nathan’s work over on his site, http://www.nathanmonkart.com
[EDIT]: View the pictures from Oranje 2009 here: http://zedmartinez.com/2009/09/pictures-from-oranje-2009/
So, my thoughts on Oranje 2009 you (don’t) ask? Well, let’s see here:
Venue: Let’s start with the venue first, because it’s what makes the first impression. An old, empty warehouse in the not-so-hot-but-not-really-awful fringe of downtown? Nice ambiance. It’s safe enough to merit attendance, edgy enough to give things that feel the organizers were clearly going for. Plus, the driving ramp as a way to get to the second floor was awesome.
The Art: So, safe to say, the art was kind of a big deal at Oranje. I know, I know, “Derek!”, you say, “That’s crazy talk!” I know, right? But so it was. I count 33 artists/galleries/groups on the map, not counting the bands. I count 40 bands on here. i spent too much time hitting the art booths, so i didn’t catch many of the bands, so I don’t have as much to say about them as I would like. I do, at least, have a list of artists and groups I’m going to discuss over the course of the week. They are (drumroll, please):
So, keep your eyes peeled here.
All that said, I agree with Aud that it sounded like it would be bigger. Mind you, it was two stories of art and 40 friggin’ bands, but it still seems like they could cram more into it if they wanted. But ti was certainly enough to kill four hours on the weeknd.
Refreshments: I’m going to come right out and say it: anyplace that charges me $3 bucks a pop for PBR has some concession-related issues I’d like to see worked out. Profit is nice, but yowza. Can I get something… better, for those prices? Please?
