Often I Am Asked To Identify Trends In Art Today. And I Resist Commenting Because Folks Want To Jump

Often I am asked to identify trends in art today. And I resist commenting because folks want to jump on board and by the time they do the trend is flat-out gone. But there's something bigger going on. More than a trend. Likely we should call it a movement. Brought on by the internet, the playing field is getting less skewed. Artists used to have greater dependency on art galleries, who were the intermediary between artists and collectors. Today, the internet is a given. It allows direct communication between artist and collector, and also artist and artist, artist and curator and so on. This is a significant democratizing influence. It makes communication affordable...This is different and it is important. It makes art, artists and us more accessible, and better enables artists to pursue and find success on their own terms.

Paul Klein. April 22, 2011.

With my last day at Marwen on Friday, I made sure to bring home all the digital files I'd stored at work for two years. Sorting through them, I found this image. It was a fun experiment I did by wiggling a photo (in this case a vintage vodka ad) while it was being scanned. I love how the vodka bottle has warped into an almost castle-like structure.

With the blessing of the art teacher, I've carved out a spot in Kawaura Jr. High School for use as a contemporary art space. In this rural area of Japan there are few opportunities for people to see contemporary art; Besides a small local museum, the nearest art museums are over two hours away. So, I'm excited to bring more art into the students' lives and use the space to educate them about contemporary art practices as well.

With that said, I'm calling the little space the Kawaura Art Space or 河浦展示場 and am starting to contact and look for artists to exhibit. What's especially exciting about the space is that I can expand it greatly if need be. Right now I prepped 9' x 6' of wall, but it could be 12' x 6', 24' x 6' or even greater. I put a permalink to it on here under Art Space. I can't wait to start putting work up!

My goal for 2012 is to make more art than 2011. I felt really proud of my projects from last year, but in the end, I only completed two. With a shorter commute this year and a slightly shorter work week, I think I can do better this time around. 

My  first art project of 2012 is about highlighting something hiding in plain sight. I've had a growing interest in the visual symbols of cultures and places lately, so I'm really excited about the Chicago Municipal Device, a 120-year-old symbol which most Chicagoans have never heard of.

So, my plan is find as many symbols as I can and highlight them with chalk. With each chalked Y I leave a laminated card which explains: "This Y shape is known as the Chicago Municipal Device. It was introduced during the 1893 World's Fair after the Chicago Tribune held a contest seeking a new symbol to represent our city. It derives its shape from Wolf Point, the place where the Chicago river forks. You'll find it on the marquee of the Chicago Theater as well as your library card -- but it's all over Chicago. If you keep your eyes open, you'll start to see it everywhere." Make room Chicago flag, we have another civic symbol.

Batavia Gifs!

The first project I want to exhibit at my jr. high is Face Your Pockets, a project created in 2007 by Russian artists Timur Akhmetov and Yulia Yakushova. The project aims to show what the possessions we carry with us say about who we are. To do that it invites anyone to place their face and the contents of their pockets and bag onto a scanner and his scan. Since 2007, hundreds of people have participated from all over the globe. I'm excited to have the jr. high students participate as well!

Currently the project's website is down, but you can see a lot of good scanograms on flickr here. It's odd to look at how many of what I carry with me now are things I didn't own or use in America. The cloth in the lower left corner is for drying my hands, as paper towels are a rarity in Japanese schools. The small oval above my left eye is my signature stamp that I use to sign in at work and stamp important documents. Even within my pencil case (ubiquitous among students at my school) is the red-topped Japanese glue that I'd never seen in the US. Then of course, there's my car key. Never owning a car was a dream I had to give up after moving to rural, public transit-less Japan. It's fascinating to look at the other Face Your Pockets photos and see the wide variety of objects they take with them.