Reed Arts Week: Geographies

Here are some stills by Allie Tepper from the Reed Arts Week: Geographies show earlier this month.

Clemson Part 5: The Exhibition at Lee Gallery

Here are some very low-resolution and bordering on out of focus images (Anderson is sending me some better ones next week). The day before peeking through the window for the first time at the burial wall:



Yay! The polaroids made it in the show (they were missing from the Texas Gallery exhibition).



Images at the main entryway:



Detail of the big wall:



In the back corner:



Artists' Books:



The objects are tucked over on the left as well as the videos:



Nancy and I have discussed our work as a pair on three occasions, each time with a different approach. This time was most successful. We eliminated the chronology and chose one image each from the major locations. We also decided not to talk about the history behind the pieces for the first time but came to the conclusion afterward that we need to say something about them (i.e. where they are located, who made them, etc.). We will have that opportunity at our next talk on 12th March in Atlanta.

Lee Gallery, Clemson University

Wrong vs. Right Part 2

Eva & Franco Mattes
"Stolen Pieces", 1995-1997
mixed media objects
unique installation
via Postmasters Gallery

Once upon a time last year I wrote this entry on illicitly acquiring pieces of artwork from installations in museums and the moral issues that arose when doing so. Last week I encountered an article entitled "Stolen Pieces" by Janaya Williams about the artists Eva and Franco Mattes who in 1995-1997 collected fragments of famous artwork. They were silent about this activity for the obvious reasons but are now exhibiting them at Postmasters Gallery in Chelsea. They are able to show the art because the statue of limitations has run out on the original theft.

From Williams' article: “We wanted to prove that these works were alive,” Mattes says. “We wanted to revitalize these works that were so powerful and so revolutionary and so subversive. We thought that by stealing a little tiny piece of it, somehow we would be putting back new life into these works." The pieces taken by the couple include a piece of shoelace clipped from a Claes Oldenburg sculpture, a porcelain chip from the urinal of Marcel Duchamp's famous "Fountain," and a manufacturer's label peeled from the aquarium in Jeff Koons' 1985 work, "One Ball Total Equilibrium Tank."

I disagree wholeheartedly with destroying the work that already exists by the physical removal of a chunk that will leave evidence but for some reason, I am fine with sneaking a small piece that is part of a larger whole (i.e. a toothpick from a Tara Donovan sculpture). I know both are wrong but one has more lasting repercussions than the other.

The most interesting quote in the article follows: “People tend to see all art as a kind of relic which has this superpower, something that’s almost beyond comprehension, and that is something I’m trying to question,” Mattes says. “These works are not holy. They’re not relics. It’s way more dynamic than one would think, and I don’t think that we should look at art with that kind of reverence.”

This is precisely what Nancy and I are attempting to do when we proceed, as Toby Kamps told us, in "taking these artists [Smithson, Heizer, etc.] down a notch." Ultimately, I have to applaud Eva and Franco Mattes for doing this though I don't necessarily agree with how it is done.

On the road to Austin - One Swallow Doesn't Make a Summer

Our DVD will be screened in Austin the last week in May with a performance bypres Nancy Douthey on the closing weekend of the Art Week Austin festival (28th May). Press release follows.


Cook & Ruud announces One Swallow Doesn’t Make a Summer, an exhibition of new and site-specific work in four vacant commercial spaces and a park in downtown Austin. One swallow doesn’t make a summer

One Swallow Doesn't Make a Summer
April 20 – May 28, 2010
Installation locations: 210 Guadalupe, 416 W Cesar Chavez, 117 Lavaca, 233 W 2nd, Republic Square Park at 4th and Guadalupe

One Swallow Doesn’t Make a Summer, curated by Cook & Ruud, takes its title from a speech given by former Austin mayor Kirk Watson about the development of the 2nd Street District a decade ago as the project had barely begun to take flight. Watson asserted, “One swallow doesn’t make a summer, and not even a dozen [development] projects makes a Great Downtown.” Since then, aggressive development has transformed this neighborhood, once filled with empty warehouses and parking lots, into a new city center replete with wide, tree-lined sidewalks and well-manicured storefronts. An initial burst of economic hope filled these spaces with high-end design shops and restaurants. Although the imminent international economic crisis of 2008 did not leave all these businesses unaffected, ambitious development projects continue to reshape the neighborhood culturally and economically.

The recent history of this newly-minted neighborhood is both unique to Austin and relevant within a national context. Over the past two decades, countless U.S. cities have undertaken similar re-urbanization projects, and the recent economic crisis has left no city completely unchanged. Using vacant storefronts within Austin’s 2nd Street District as a platform, One swallow doesn’t make a summer brings together new and site-specific artworks to offer a variety of perspectives on the shifting cultural and economic landscape of this neighborhood and its relationship to a larger nation-wide experience.

Artists include Justin Boyd, Paul Druecke, Mads Lynnerup , Leslie Mutchler, Carlos Rosales-Silva, Barry Stone, and Jeff Williams, as well as the collaboratives Circulatory System , Nancy Douthey & Jacinda Russell, Michelle Marchesseault & Virginia Yount, and Skote.

Texas Gallery Website

At last all the photographs are up on the Texas Gallery website. You can click on each image and its detail will appear. Thanks Molly! It looks great.

Nancy's MFA Show at the Blaffer Gallery

[the card that keeps on giving...]

Yay! Nancy's thesis show at University of Houston's Blaffer Gallery is up through the 24th April. Rachel Hooper, Associate Curator, writes: "In her performances and video installations, Nancy Douthey draws people into her meditations through repetition, interruption, and disobedient action, and with humor prompts them to question their assumptions."

Nine Swimming Pools (= trespassing at its finest). Our love for Ed Ruscha is undying.



Tammy Fay Baker is Nancy's alter ego. Check out all those screen printed fans and that pink rug!

Letting Go

The day after our opening N and I returned to take the balloons down at Texas Gallery. One side had already been removed the night before and we, after a lot of thought, let the other side go too.

Rainey's FotoFest picts

The grand opening of FotoFest on 12th March in front of DiverseWorks.

Reception Photos Slowly Coming In...

what? i didn't have a camera the entire reception? no minute by minute updates?! i'll slowly add more as they come in but here is the first of Nancy and her family (her sister Amy, her mom, and her sister Carrie).



Of course there was plenty of time to take photographs of "objects sitting around" beforehand but no people.





Here are some of Chris Rauschenberg's photographs of the dinner at Hector's after the opening.



Amanda Shagrin, JR, and Ed Cooper. Yup, that would be a dress I am wearing.

Quotes of the Day (by Fredericka & Ian)

"It looks like a baby shower." (FH)



"It looks like a Mary Kay Convention." (FH)




"Squeal Squeal." (IG)

"It's Just Like Christmas" - ND

The DVD has arrived (and just in time). Apologies Nancy for the "doubtful" remark earlier.



From one bad camera/photograph to another (switched from the phone to the laptop).





Nancy's family sent her these orange roses this morning.



We are off to pick up 50 pink balloons for the entry - the first show in this side of the gallery and the first time this door will be open for public entry since it was the wedding store.

Official installation photographs (not taken from the phone)

Ian asked me to be the photographer for the texgal website today and here are some images. It is impossible to photograph all four walls and tables in one composition unfortunately. The first image represents about 2/3rds of the show with details following.

Friday morning

Nancy's relatives are starting to trickle in so we went to the Magnolia Hotel last night. Just in case I forgot what state I was in, this is the decor that greeted us at the front desk.



Since we arrived quite late, sleeping was in order but we did check out the rooftop pool before leaving this morning (we'll be in another hotel tonight with Nancy's sister Amy).



Nancy is working today so I am on my own with the hopes of visiting Amanda at the Menil Collection in a couple hours. In addition... it's opening night of FotoFest! After dinner at the best Mexican restaurant in town... the Original Ninfa's on Navigation, we are off to see Allison Hunter's Zoosphere at Diverseworks, Anthony Goicolea at Houston Center for Photography, and Whatever Was Splendid: New American Photographs at the FotoFest headquarters at Vine Street (and of course their opening party which is always a hit). It's a relief to be done with installation and to have a day of rest. Wow! This is the first day of my spring break even though it's almost OVER!

Almost there....

What did we do Thursday? We both ended up wearing "peasant shirts" today somewhat inadvertently. Nancy had to protect hers with this stylish bib when painting the staircase.



We tried out the heart rock but Jacinda negated it due to it blending into the floor a little too much and not really enough space to look at it and the artwork.



I helped Ian hang the "Jacinda wall" (to the far right) and we tested out the projection one more time (on mute thankfully). Real photographs of the entire installation to come with a good camera soon. All 50 photographs are up! The blog address in vinyl letters above the entry is installed! The objects are complete (though we keep dreaming of additional methods of display)! the books are done! Now we are patiently waiting for the DVD to arrive.



A quick picture of the objects on the floor before they gravitated to the table: Michael Jackson Banner, Peach Can Phones, Amarillo Ramp Rock, Balloons from Roden Crater, red lipstick, Michael Jackson glitter soap, and heisted bell from Amarillo Ramp. We also had our gallery visit with Toby Kamps which went very well.



Then Nancy took me on a dress buying excursion at Katy Mills Outlet Mall. Yikes! Don't worry, we won't be wearing any of these to the opening.