Seen yesterday in Eric Johnson’s studio, a trio of My Little Pony resin casts.

Also seen, the artist hard at work on the elements for his contribution to Forming.

Technorati Tags: Forming, Angels Gate Cultural Center, art, artist, sculpture, polyester resin, contemporary art, process

So work is arriving for Forming, and the show is taking shape.  When I started putting together Forming, it was a loose gathering of sculptors whom I think are really cooking right now, but it evolved into something more solid and meaningful, with all of the artist’s media clustering around the theme of consumer materials.  In the 90’s I thought there was a revolution going on in the craft store, that a whole generation of artists had committed themselves the “Jo-Ann’s Palette of Materials”, and now I really think that art that casually integrates itself with the materials of consumer culture has become non-novel, ordinary, and we are seeing that aesthetics and media have gotten cozy with one another.  So I’m pleased with the selection of artists for this exhibition, and I think there’s a real conversation going on between the work, as well as an umbrella conversation about the makeup of our consumer object-based society.

This show also represents some of the maturity that we’ve striven to bring to the gallery in recent years.  The Center is now in the position to exhibit and support artists we couldn’t in the past.  Several of the artists in this exhibition are represented by galleries, and several are very busy with museum shows - these are folks who really have to chose who they show with, and they’re choosing to show with us.  Macha Suzuki is represented by Chinatown gallerist Sam Lee, Kiel Johnson’s work appears courtesy of Mark Moore in LA and Nancy Margolis in New York, Michael Dee is with Culver City-based Western Project.  Both Macha and Kiel have work committed to the San Jose Museum of Art’s This End Up: The Art of Cardboard, which just opened on Saturday, Eric Johnson just finished breaking down Maize, his multi-year masterwork, at the Torrance Art Museum and much of Margaret Pezalla’s work is tied up in a museum show in Ohio. McLean Fahnestock literally had her MFA show last weekend, and was generous to show with us despite the pressure that puts on an artist’s time and body of work.  I think this show is representative of the growth of the Center’s gallery program - we’re now able to go the extra mile to bring the best artists to the Harbor Area, and artists are more eager and exited than ever to make the effort to exhibit with us.

Above - McLean Fahnestock’s piece They said you’d be a challenge (2nd Aspect) sits on six glass plates with black painted backs. A little post-transit touch up was in order before the sculpture, a table on stainless steel rocking legs, could be set down properly.

Above - Eric Johnson is making new work for the show, finally realizing an experimental project that he proposed to me years ago, when I was running my own gallery. He’s casting using the polycarbonate plastic, blister packaging that damn near everything you buy comes in as molds. That yellow baby above is from a 1980’s My Little Pony that once belonged to his now 28 year old daughter, Nicole.

At Top - Michael Dee drops off two of his Stars. They’re not heavy, but they are awkwardly shaped and a van was required.

Technorati Tags: Michael Dee, Eric Johnson, Margaret Pezalla, Macha Suzuki, McLean Fahnestock, Kiel Johnson, Nancy Kyes, Forming, Angels Gate Cultural Center, Gallery A, art exhibition

Angels Gate Cultural Center would like to welcome you to come experience the rich culture of Africa through dance! This class will concentrate on dances from Ghana, Togo and Senegal. African dancing focuses not only on the rich cultural values of African countries but also on the strong relationship between the dancers and the drums. This class is for all levels so anybody can join!

Sammy Oduro is originally from Accra, Ghana and moved to San Pedro about a year ago. He is an experienced drummer, dancer and teacher. Angels Gate Cultural Center is extremely proud to have him and excited to offer this new class:

WEDNESDAY evenings in BUILDING H

For more information, or to sign up for classes please contact Dana: dana@angelsgateart.org or call (310) 519-0936.

Foye in her studio with recently cast Derby Dolls piece

Jocelyn Foye traces human movements with clay. Foye directs action,
primarily with athletes, over a bed of clay and later casts the
impressions in rubber. Foye has cast the movements of a pole dancer,
wrestlers, fencers, a Native American dancer, martial artists, and the
Goodyear Blimp. Her most recent casting comes from the movements of
two of the LA Derby Dolls, and she has plans to cast a ten-second
match of professional sumo wrestlers. Foye is interested in the
literal collision of sport and sculpture. The inherent masculinity of
athletics, the theatrical and malleable elements of sports, and the
physical traces of time are also her themes. Foye is a former
Angels Gate studio artist with close ties to the San Pedro community
and a new piece in the current AGCC gallery show. This interview
was held in her new working space on Pacific Street in San Pedro.

INTERVIEWER

Where does your work come from? What other artists are you looking at to do this work?

FOYE

I studied at the Glasgow School of Art for one semester when a show
called Sensation came through. Sarah Lucas, Damien Hirst, Rachel
Whiteread all showed work and I was really influenced and excited by
it. I go back to that group of people, that group of artists and that
exhibition. Being in Europe at that time changed my opinions about
how I could make art. At Trinity College in Hartford, there wasn’t
anything like that. There wasn’t installation design or anything. I
studied over at the Hartford Art School to get some of that education
I couldn’t find elsewhere.

INTERVIEWER

How did you train?

FOYE

I did a lot of painting and sculpture. I made a lot of paintings of
skin diseases. I was abstracting skin diseases. I had had two knee
surgeries and I loved the colors that my body turned – the bruising
and all the yellows and purples.

INTERVIEWER

When did you begin to seek out installation work?

FOYE

I knew that I liked giving full experiences to people. For my thesis
exhibition, I remember thinking, “I want to create a spectacle.” I
didn’t know what, but I didn’t want my thesis to be something that,
when I left, people would forget about. Four hundred people turned
out. I couldn’t believe it. Where did these people come from? The
deans of the college were there — people who would never come out for
a show were there.

I hired two men who were true wrestlers, I had a time keeper and a
ref, I did everything completely to the sport. The only thing that
wasn’t true to the sport was the surface they were on – the clay
surface.

This kind of contextual slippage is very exciting to me; is what
happened in that gallery a sport or a performance, or is it both and
what does that mean?

I had bleacher seating brought into the gallery, which meant that my
audience was really close to the action. Most of the audience would
be laughing along — they were like, I can’t believe this is happening
in a gallery. But there were people in the audience who would storm
out and leave. They thought it was too violent. They didn’t like
that there were some people who came to the performance that were
truly there to support one of the athletes. And these guys were kind
of your stereotypical frat boys. They were there and they were really
loudly communicating support for their friends, and calling the moves
and being, like, Go go go! Like a true wrestling match, but in a
gallery setting. And the gallery people who came were like, I can’t
handle this. So it was great! I loved it. I loved that there was
this ebb and flow.

And it was amazing in terms of the performance. Now, the piece that
came from it – the surface of the clay was so beat up – there was so
much activity from six minutes of fighting that it just looks like
waves. It’s a floor piece – it’s like a map, I call it – it’s 12
feet in diameter, a circle. It just looks like a choppy surface.

The thing that becomes the most successful about the clay is that the
clay captures motion. So, say, a motion — you put your hands into the
clay and you drag with your hands into the clay – it’s going to show
the linear movement — the initial imprint plus the dragging motion –
like streaks. So it becomes like this cartoonish visualization of
action based on whatever the component of the material is that I’m
pouring into the clay after the event is over.

The thing I continue to struggle with in all of this work is where I
can find a piece that is as successful as the performance it came
from.

As a result of that piece, I had a bunch of galleries call me and say,
Would you want to come do another one for us? So I did a fencing
piece. That was very interesting. I did a kung-fu sensei street
fight, which I had higher expectations of. It was too choreographed.
And that’s a type of fight style that I didn’t know well enough, but I
knew the performers, starting off. I sort of collect people.

The first piece with a single performer was done for the College of
Santa Fe in New Mexico. Up until then, it had only been the
two-person fights. That project became much more about site
specificity. I lucked out in finding a tribal dancer from a tribe in
New Mexico, and she danced on clay that was mined in Santa Fe. And
she was amazing. She got what I was doing extremely well. And the
type of dance that she did, in the end, sort of looked like this
amazing mandala. She did two different types of dancing around the
circular diameter — at first she had these crisscrossed dance steps,
and then the second dance was a pattern of all these little taps. It
made an amazing pattern and I couldn’t afford to cast the whole clay
floor from that event — I could only make a small section — and it
was so sad. I think this, by far, of any of the pieces that I’ve made,
truly reflected what my agenda has been — which is somewhat studying
the marks we leave in the world, and somewhat analyzing what the
placement of that mark signifies.

INTERVIEWER

Do you actually direct during the performances?

FOYE

People ask, Are you a sculptor or are you a performance person? Well,
I don’t perform. I hire performers. If anything, I take on the role
of director. A certain curator has written about my work saying that
she loves that I — being a woman — am telling men how to perform
these very masculine activities.

INTERVIEWER

Is that a novelty that she said that of you, or something more profound?

FOYE

No, I kind of like it. I have to admit, to tell these two wrestlers
to hump each other essentially was something that could only be
accepted in society in the context of art. I like the certain
sexuality that I was able to produce. If you put certain sports
outside their context, it looks a lot different than just sport. It
looks like violent sexual actions that come through in the
performances. Thats where the curator who was writing about my work
got really excited. She was like, Look at what this woman is doing,
she’s taking on this new role.

INTERVIEWER

Are you interested in traces of time — like, This is the handprint he
left on the banister to the gallows — or is this a palimpsest of sex
and sport? Is this a record or a jumble?

FOYE

Right now it’s a jumble. Right now it doesn’t have an agenda that’s
super specific. It’s kind of an inundation of all these things in my
head. Someone said to me, There’s a lot to write about in your work –
and I don’t know if that’s a good thing. I want there to be a
mystery. I don’t want to handhold anyone. I came from an interest in
being an abstract painter. So I think from an aesthetic standpoint,
I’ve done that.

To go back – I can’t say that I don’t think about Matthew Barney. He’s
someone that a lot of people think about. People will inevitably
respond to me and say, You’re so Matthew Barney. And it’s just
because I’m using rubber, really.

I can’t do certain things now without being referenced to him. I’m
not thinking about how I can be like him. I’m just being aware of
him.

INTERVIEWER

His working methods inform what you’re doing but does his work and his
intention speak to you too?

FOYE

No. I mean, he’s dealing with masculinity. Masculine issues. But I
haven’t really thought of it that way. Maybe I am following in a
direction of his. Bt there’s a danger because he’s done so much in so
many different areas. Like, I did a piece with the Goodyear Blimp,
where the blimp came in and plopped on a piece of clay for me. And I
intentionally sought out the Goodyear Blimp because he had done it in
one of his Cremaster pieces. And I was just asked if I’d like to have
my sumo piece performed at the Colosseum, and I was like, Oh my god,
yes. Now I’ll have done a piece in a stadium as well as with a blimp
– and I can truly start going, Mr. Barney, here’s a nod to you.
Because he’s also taking signifiers in the same way I am, but his are
kind of going in a different direction.

The next step is to go three-dimensional. I want to talk about the
same vocabulary of mark-making in the world but in a much more
three-dimensional way. I have a cast of a saddle that a woman rode
bareback and there’s a very, very subtle labia impression in the
rubber that you have to really be looking for. I also want to cast
boxing gloves. I want to make the glove out of florist’s foam and
cast the impression after a single hit to the face.

INTERVIEWER

What is your ideal response? What do you want someone to say to you
at the opening?

FOYE

There was a recent interview in ArtForum — a conversation between Ed
Ruscha and David Hickey, and they were asked how they know when art is
successful. When do you know when you see something good? And the
consensus was, when you approach a piece and you go Huh and then you
go Wow, they would much prefer that than someone saying Wow then Huh.
Can we get people to question? Can we get people to stare at it for a
little bit and try to work with it? I hope my work produces a Huh
moment, but then also a Wow.

Images of Foye’s work can be found online at jocelynart.com

Matthew Thomas in his studio

By far the coolest part of my summer has been conducting interviews with the studio artists who rent work space from the Cultural Center. As someone who’s interested in making things, having a window into my peers’ process and intention and research is invaluable. Some artists can’t speak at all about what they’re making, which is no real problem if their work is speaking for them. But the rare artist who makes expressive work and is equally articulate and adept in describing his process cries out to be put on tape, and I was privileged to speak with more than a few of them in my time here.

As a photographer, my inclination was also to make expressive portraits of my interview subjects, some of which were successful and some of which were just good fun. I’ll be posting as many as I can.

The biggest shock was the physical volume of transcription required for this project. I didn’t have a set list of questions when I sat for the interviews, and instead I wandered conversationally hoping for fertile territory, which had the effect of putting everyone at ease but also generating 2+ hours of tape per interview. As a result, I am now the proud owner of a Dictaphone microcassette transcriber complete with foot-pedal and quick rewind features. It’s a good investment, I feel, because I’ll probably be asking questions on tape for the rest of my life — held hostage by my curiosity as a writer and imagemaker.

Matthew’s raw pigments and encaustic work table

Hello and welcome!

This is Mitch. I’ve been Angels Gate’s summer intern since June but I’ve only recently found the blog passwords. How exciting! My time is almost up here at the Cultural Center but I figure I can pass the torch accordingly. My duties are being taken over in a permanent capacity by Dana Helwick, whom you can see at her desk directly behind my gigantic blue eye. She’s pretty awesome. In fact, we’re moving in together. But it’s not what you think. She’s a painter and I’m a photographer and we’re subletting a studio on Pacific in San Pedro. One of many serendipitous connections forged at Angels Gate in the summer months. In fact, here’s a hallway portrait of Dana with the fax machine taken 20 minutes ago just for illustrative purposes.

Stand by for more. Now that I know how to run the blog, there’ll be no stopping me.

View the majesty of Edith Abeyta’s Mythical Beast Sweet Shoppe, a multi-artist, unicorn themed, collaboration/installation that was initially installed in Edith’s studio earlier this year, and which gallery assistant Michele Hubacek helped me knock out quick, as Edith is on her way to Thailand, where I will be joining her shortly, to install a show that we’re in.

I am perpetually moved by Edith’s manipulation of retail space and concepts as installation art. I have this fantasy where she gets a museum show, in their gift shop. There’s something crafty and slighly evil about Edith’s approrpiation of mundane/profane space for her art needs. Objects in the shoppe range from candy cigarettes and other bulk snacks to multiples by Edith Abeyta, Matty M. Cipov, Kissing Candy, Merry-Beth Noble, Camilla Stacey and Sublime Stitching. The Sweet Shoppe’s logo was designed by Jason Lucas.

You can get a head start on enjoying the Sweet Shoppe’s delights with this downloadable Mythical Beast Sweet Shoppe Activity Statement. Or you can wait until Sunday and get your sugar rush on.

Technorati Tags: Edith Abeyta, Matty M. Cipov, Kissing Candy, Merry-Beth Noble, Camilla Stacey, Sublime Stitching, Jason Lucas, installation, installation art, art, art exhibition, shoppe, Mythical Beast Sweet Shoppe, unicorn, pink, candy, Angels Gate Cultural Center, AGCC, Gallery A

I returned to the gallery yesterday, only to discover that this mysterious, giant, red ball had arrived for New In Town?

Technorati Tags: ball, Sojung Kwon, red, red ball, inflatable, sphere, art, Angles Gate Cultural Center