Westside Arts District 3rd Saturday Art Walk tomorrow from 11am-5pm

Please join us tomorrow for the Westside Arts District's 3rd Saturday Art Walk. A schedule of events is listed below. I hope to see you at the gallery!

Schedule of Events:

BOBBE GILLIS GALLERY—event 11:30am – 12:30, open 11am – 4pm, FREE
1000 Marietta Street, Suite 108 www.gillisgallery.com
Art lecture, 11:30 – 12:30pm
Bobbe Gillis Gallery will host Gary Hughes, consultant for the “Audubon Centennial Edition” collection. Gary will discuss the “Life and Art of John James Audubon” at 11:30 am. A 40- minute video presentation will be ongoing throughout the course of the day and selections from this limited edition folio will be on display and available for acquisition.

GET THIS! GALLERY—event 1pm – 2pm, open 11am-5pm, FREE
662 11th St. NW www.getthisgallery.com
Artist talk, 1 – 2pm
Fahamu Pecou will give an artist talk about his solo exhibition, WHIRL TRADE.
“WHIRL TRADE” is a new suite of NEOPOP paintings by Atlanta artist Fahamu Pecou. Inspired by his travels, these new paintings address the impressions, interpretations and misconceptions of blackness that African descended communities perform for each other. “WHIRL TRADE” re-presents, questions and plays with the global representations reflected in popular media and entertainment.

ATLANTA CONTEMPORARY ART CENTER – event 1 – 4pm, open 11am – 5 pm
General admission, $5; Students/Seniors, $3; Members, Free; Children under 12, Free
535 Means Street, NW www.thecontemporary.org
Family Day, 1 – 4pm
Kids of all ages can participate in artist Mel Chin’s nation-wide FUNDRED DOLLAR BILL Project, and help support OPERATION PAYDIRT’S solution to lead-related pollution in New Orleans. Final weekend to view exhibitions, Harry Shearer: The Silent Echo Chamber, Corin Hewitt: Seed Stage, and Will Rogan: Remnant World. FUNDRED activities are free; admission fees apply to view the exhibitions.

Additional galleries open for viewing:

EMILY AMY GALLERY—event, open 11am – 5pm, FREE
1000 Marietta Street, Suite 208 www.emilyamygallery.com
Emily Amy Gallery is pleased to present our fall exhibition of new works by Sarah Hinckley, Color Logic. Drawing inspiration from a spring show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Pierre Bonnard: The Late Interiors, Hinckley began further exploration of multi-color relationships. Painting from memory and through emotion, Hinckley’s process is grounded in her appreciation of line, her automatic response to gesture, and most importantly, the logic of color.

KIANG GALLERY—event, open 11am – 5pm, FREE
1011-A Marietta Street, NW www.kiang-gallery.com
Chi Peng (Beijing), an internationally recognized artist, is known for his surrealistic staged photographs. His recent work, “The Journey to the West” blends a magical Monkey King with monsters and Buddhas and modern settings into formats reminiscent of ancient scroll paintings, made magical in content by the artist’s phenomenal use of digital media, his primary tool, bringing the ancient story to life.

OCTANE COFFEE– open 8am – 10pm
1009-B Marietta Street NW www.octanecoffee.com
Octane presents its annual staff art show, an eclectic show featuring various Octane staff, former employees, and close friends.

SALTWORKS—event, open 11am -5pm, FREE
664 11th St. NW www.saltworksgallery.com
“Ten Tigers of Kwangtung” Featuring new works on paper and sculpture by Houston-based artist Dawolu Jabari Anderson will be on view through January 9, 2010. The artist’s first solo exhibition in Atlanta, “Ten Tigers of Kwangtung” takes it name from a Shaw Brothers film of the same title released in 1979. The Shaw Brothers Studio was the Hong Kong-based Hollywood-styled film studio responsible for the large U.S. import of English-dubbed Kung Fu movies during the early 80’s. Through drawings and sculpture, Anderson has created a hybrid alternative reality full of irony and humor where the shared experience occurs simultaneously and cross-culturally, highlighting the parallels of experience and the abstraction of heroic figures.

SANDLER HUDSON GALLERY– open 11am-5pm, FREE
1009-A Marietta Street, NW www.sandlerhudson.com
Know for a wide variety of techniques and materials used in her artwork, Howardena Pindell’s exhibit will include abstract paintings, collages, “video drawings,” and “process art.” Her work explores texture, color, structures, and the process of making art; it is often political, addressing the issues of racism, feminism, violence, slavery, and exploitation. The show includes mixed media works featuring Pindell’s dot pieces, split photographs, and video drawings from 1974-2009 and is in conjunction with Atlanta Celebrates Photography.

ABOUT THE WESTSIDE ART WALK

The Westside Art Walk is a presentation of the Westside Arts District and occurs on the third Saturday of every month from 11am to 5pm, unless otherwise noted. This art-centric event is intended to encourage public interaction and education of visual art in the emerging art district in Atlanta’s Westside neighborhood. There is plenty of free parking at each venue, however, the public is encouraged to walk the approximately 1 mile route between member locations to view the exhibitions and, in many cases, attend a lecture or tour given by the art space. Events are free unless otherwise noted. Maps and exhibition information will be available at each location the day of the event.

The 2009 Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles Christmas House

James Koskinas, Corez, Acrylic on canvas, 28" x 22"

Cecil Touchon, FS 2729, Collage on panel, 11.5" x 11.5"

Paul Rousso, The Rolling Stone, Beatles Anniversary Issue, Collage, 30" x 30"

James Koskinas' Corez in Bob Brown's study. Courtesy of Peak of Chic.

Cecil Touchon's hanging above the Hermes bicycle in Mark Williams' room. Courtesy of Yummy Scrumptious.

As many of you have likely already read via Peak of Chic or Things that Inspire, this weekend marks the opening of the 2009 Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles Christmas House! Those of us at Emily Amy Gallery are particularly excited this year because both Bob Brown (Robert Brown Interior Design) and Mark Williams (Mark Williams Design Associates) chose to use EAG artists in their rooms. Personally, I have not yet seen the house, but I am sure with the roster of designers this year ranging from Suzanne Kasler to Beth Webb, the house certainly will not disappoint. The house is open November 14th-December 6th, so be sure to stop by.

Oh, and look out for gallery artists James Koskinas, Paul Rousso and Cecil Touchon who will be gracing the walls!

When Art History goes Bad

Damien Hirst's dead butterfly wing-covered bicycle, 2009

Horatio Greenough, George Washington, marble, c. 1840

Frank Gehry, Ray and Maria Stata Center, Cambridge, MA, 2004

Thanks to Joyce Youmans and the rest of the crew at local Atlanta outfit, Burnaway.org, I recently discovered a clever new blog to add to my blogroll. Nicole Jordan is an art history graduate student who is a self-proclaimed "art history nerd who likes to complain," which makes her ripe for the job of blogging about When Art History Goes Bad. Although you may not agree with all of her gripes, most of them are hard to refute. Take for example Damien Hirst's dead butterfly wing-covered bicycle on which Lance Armstrong finished the 2009 Tour De France, Horatio Greenough's semi-nude statue of our nation's founding father, or Frank Gehry's Ray and Maria Stata Center on MIT's campus. Although her examples could fill a book, Jordan doesn't stop at bad works of art, she discusses exorbitant price tags at auction, highly inflated artist's egos, and influential critics (who shouldn't have been).

I could spend all day reading her blog. Her ideas are humorous, her writing is clever, and after all, she is an art historian.

Sarah Hinckley: Color Logic

Hinckley, "sunsets come", watercolor on paper, 11" x 7.5"

Hinckley, "listen to the melody", watercolor on paper, 11" x 7.5"

Hinckley, "breathing", watercolor on paper, 15" x 10"

This Friday night, the gallery will be hosting NYC-based Sarah Hinckley's solo show, Color Logic. The show runs from October 16th - November 25th with an Opening Reception Friday from 7 - 10 pm and an Artist Talk Saturday at 12- 1 pm in conjunction with the Westside Arts District "3rd Saturday" Walk.

Drawing inspiration from a spring show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Pierre Bonnard: The Late Interiors, Hinckley began further exploration of multi-color relationships. Painting from memory and through emotion, Hinckley's process is grounded in her appreciation of line, her automatic response to gesture, and most importantly, the logic of color.

If you are in Atlanta, please stop by the gallery from 7 - 10 pm and join us in welcoming Sarah to Atlanta for the first time. Please RSVP here.

I hope to see you Friday!

Good exhibit...eh?

Andreas Gursky, Rhein II, 1999

Gurksy, Paris, Montparnasse, 1993

Gurksy, 99 cent, 1999

view of the harbor from my hotel window

view from my kayak off the coast of Stanley Park

This past weekend, I took several days off from the daily grind at EAG to travel to Seattle and ultimately Vancouver for a friend's wedding. Although I checked the weather before packing for the trip, for some reason 60 degrees is a little cooler than I remember. So, needless to say, I ended up spending a bit more time inside than outside in the lovely Canadian city. Since it was a little chilly for my liking (and raining) on Saturday, what better to do than visit the Vancouver Art Gallery? I had read about the current exhibition, Vermeer, Rembrandt and the Golden Age of Dutch Art, and was thrilled to see some works that I had not seen since my semester abroad during a short visit to Amsterdam. For some reason, the exhibition didn't quite hold my attention the way that the fabulous Andreas Gursky retrospective did.

The cleverly titled Gursky exhibition, Werke/Works 80-08, is a comprehensive collection of over 70 photographs that are all part of his ongoing project to compile an "encyclopedia of life." Due to the breadth of the collection presented, Gursky had to print many of his photographs much smaller than is typical for him, thus offering the viewer a closer look at his entire oeuvre. With work ranging from his well-known architectural photographs featuring interiors and exteriors of hotels and apartment buildings, to abstracted takes on consumerism and capitalist culture, the exhibition is incredibly broad-reaching. This is a wonderful example of a remarkably extensive retrospective. So, if you happen to be in Vancouver, it is one show not-to-miss.

And, while Gursky is great, Vancouver is one of the most beautiful and majestic cities I have seen in some time. Its proximity to the water and to the mountains makes it very unique and the view out of my hotel room alone was worth the entire trip.

Think your collecting days are over?

Monkey Hill Art-O-Mat, New Hope, PA

Detroit Community Art-O-Mat, Detroit, MI

Create Here Art-O-Mat, Chattanooga, TN

Whitney Museum Art-O-Mat, New York, NY

The Contemporary Museum Art-O-Mat, Honolulu, HI

It is no surprise that many of us who had been collecting art for some time are now rethinking that (some would argue) unnecessary luxury. Thankfully for you, as well as for myself, today I discovered that Atlanta, Georgia is fortunate enough to have one of the only 82 active Art-O-Mat machines in the country at our local arts-centric community center, Wonderroot! Art-O-Mat machines are retired cigarette vending machines that have been converted to vend art. The thrill of pulling the knob to receive your "prize" (although hauntingly reminiscent of my college days) is still just as enticing as it was then, although what arrives in the dispenser tray below is so much more rewarding than a hard pack of Parliaments--instead you walk away with a $5 piece of original art. So, in these tough times anyone can be an art collector. Go on, you know you want to try it!

To find the Art-O-Mat nearest you, click here. Happy collecting!

One more reason I love New York

Henri Bendel storefront

Florine Stettheimer, detail of Spring Sale at Bendel's, 50" x 40", Oil on canvas, 1921

detail of Stettheimer's signature as a monogram on the dog's sweater in Spring Sale at Bendel's

Okay, okay. So I might be doing just a little bit of shopping too. Henri Bendel is one of my favorite stores of all time (captured here by American artist Florine Stettheimer in 1921). Some of you may be surprised to find out that I actually wrote my Master's Thesis on Florine Stettheimer, so I had to include an image of hers sooner or later. Below is the text on the label accompanying this painting at the Philadelphia Museum of Art:

The painter, Florine Stettheimer, and her sisters Carrie and Ettie, were among Manhattan's most imaginative hosts during the teens and twenties, mixing circles of intellectuals, artists and socialites. Here Stettheimer offers a humorous look at the chaotic world of high fashion at bargain prices during a sale at one of New York's best-known stores. She signed the painting with her initials on a monogrammed sweater worn by the Pekingese dog in the corner.

So fanciful, flirty, and fun. Just like New York City...I just can't wait!