Speed of Life

In this exchange between Shahzia Sikander and Art:21 on the nature of art practice, the conversation touches on the place of spirituality in contemporary art. Art:21 defines spirituality as follows: Spirituality A questioning of humanity's place in the universe, marked by an interest in self-reflection, mortality and meditation. Spirituality is often associated with things that are mysterious, felt before they are understood, and beyond the scope of human thought, time and history. Distinct from religion, spirituality is an attitude and not an organized set of rituals or beliefs. Conversation between Shahzia Sikander and Art:21: ART:21: Do you see any links between praying and fasting - practicing your religion - and the process of making art? SIKANDER: I think the hard part is when you're out of practice. ART:21: The hard part of what? SIKANDER: Oh, the hard part of the lack of discipline is when I feel less productive. Like, if I am painting regularly and ...

by Gregg Chadwick It's all things Tut in L.A. this week. I happened to be in the bowels of LACMA yesterday and the energy was high. Security was tighter than usual and media types were everywhere. Look forward to long lines, expensive merchandise and fluff pieces appearing in news outlets across the country. My major problem with the exhibition is the way that our museum has been hijacked to serve corporate interests: "I hate to say this, but it's very similar to how we would go market another entertainment event, like a major awards show or sporting event," says Tim Leiweke, president of AEG, the sports and entertainment presenter that developed Staples Center, among other venues, and is financing the exhibition." Royal diadem found on the head of Tutankhamun  when the British archaeologist Howard Carter opened his coffin. The objects in the exhibition are magical. They bring us to another time. And they help illumine the artistic legacy...

Opening June 17 at the SJICA : Monotype Marathon XI Exhibition: June 17 - July 9, 2005 Closing Reception and Auction: July 9, 5:30 -8 An exhibition of over 125 prints produced in a marathon weekend of Bay Area print workshops. Gregg Chadwick "Whispers of Siam" 33"x20" monotype 2005 Notes on the Monotype Process: Spontaneity characterizes the monotype. A monotype is made by brushing printer's ink or oil paint onto a smooth surface such as glass or a metal plate. The image is then transferred to paper before it dries, using a printing press or other means of pressure. Because most of the image is transferred in the printing process, only one strong impression can be taken, hence the term monotype (one print). Additional impressions of the residual image are sometimes printed (ghosts). They are significantly fainter than the first pull, yet at times these lighter open images are more successful as works of art. The personal nature of the monotyp...

JL at modern kicks wrote in with the original source for the contemporary art in Iran link in the article below. It was originally on the Metropolitan Museum of Art website under modern and contemporary art in Iran . JL was particularly pleased to see the work of Farah Ossouli discussed. Farah Ossouli (Iranian, born 1953) poster paint on heavy cardboard Both Farah Ossouli and the Pakistani artist Shahzia Sikander "appropriate the language of miniature painting, yet re-present it in a contemporary idiom." Nice clip of Shahzia excerpted from the PBS documentary series Art:21 — Art in the Twenty-First Century. JL also dreams of going to Iran one day. Any way that we can arrange an art blogger tour to Tehran?

Currently on view at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art is the exhibition "Masterpieces of Persian Painting". In Saturday's International Herald Tribune , Souren Melikian reviewed the show, prompting Charles T. Downey's dreams of visiting Tehran one day. Tyler Green has also been caught in the exhibition's spell. Most importantly, even viewed on-line, the works are gorgeous. In lieu of a published catalog, a significant number of the works in the exhibition are accessible via the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art's website: "Masterpieces of Persian Painting" "The Flower and the Bird" Mohammad Yusof Indian Moraqqa’ First half of 17th century Golestan Palace While researching some of the artists in the exhibition I came across an article on contemporary art in Iran which provides a nice introduction to a culture that is sadly undervalued in the West. Mohammad Ehsai (Iranian, born 1939) The Echo of the Word ...

Jonathan Harr's new book "The Lost Painting" is being billed by Random House as the true story of a search for a lost Caravaggio. The book is scheduled to be released in November. "The Lost Painting" will be remembered as one of the last works pitched to the press by Jonathan Karp who resigned this week as the editor in chief at Random House. Dinitia Smith reported in the New York Times on this years BookExpo America at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan: "Jonathan Karp of Random House optimistically called Jonathan Harr's "The Lost Painting" "a page-turning work of suspense about the mysteries of a religious painting." "We showed lots of restraint," Mr. Karp said. "We didn't call it 'The Caravaggio Code.' "

by Gregg Chadwick The exhibition "Rembrandt's Late Religious Portraits" opens today at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Rembrandt "Hendrickje Stoffels, Possibly as the Sorrowing Virgin" 30 7/8" x 27 1/8" oil on canvas 1660 The Metropolitan Museum of Art Tyler Green's thoughts on the exhibit during its first stop in D.C. bring up an important question, "No one knows why, near the end of his life, Rembrandt painted so many religious figures who devoted their lives to spiritual goals and who were killed for it. Arthur Wheelock, the NGA curator who put together this show, brought these paintings together in an effort to spark some thought on the question." Tyler Green's superb piece concludes with an echo of Lawrence Weschler's "Vermeer in Bosnia" by providing a wartime context to Rembrandt's portraits of martyrs: "Just as now is a time of battle in the Middle East, so too was the Netherla...

by Gregg Chadwick As the evenings grow longer in late Spring and voices from the clubs down the hill from my studio drift in on the breeze, I feel a human quickening that the 17th Century Japanese poet Bashō would have understood. Art's ability to speak across the centuries never fails to inspire me and provide hope for the future. I am currently reading "Bashō's Haiku" , translated by David Landis Barnhill . Barnhill's translations from the original Japanese are crisp. Each word is chosen carefully and the original verse order is maintained. These translations have an almost clipped brevity - like a Zen master's clap to focus his students. Barnhill's deft word choice allow Bashō's images to suggest layers of meaning without overlaying a modern American voice onto the poems. Gregg Chadwick "The Porcelain Sea" 48"x38" oil on linen 2005 Matsuo Bashō (1644-1694) was born into the samurai class, but rejected that world a...