a reminder...

and... he gave it away!

by David Robbins

Read it online here.

Mr. Robbins (artist profile, teaching bio) has generated numerous projects (e.g. Talent, The Ice Cream Social, Lift) that blur the traditional distinctions between art and entertainment and life. Along the way, he has also authored several great books (e.g. The Velvet Grind, The Ice Cream Social, and soon to be published Concrete Comedy). This newest book, High Entertainment, will no doubt excite and amaze as well.

You can expect a review here soon with lots of glowing praise and critical assessment. Until then, read it for yourself.

THANKS, David!

And, of course, you remember:

Ai Weiwei Update

Check out Ai Weiwei's solo exhibition where curators are describing him as "the most evocative creator in contemporary China":

Ai Weiwei
"According to What?"
Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
25 Jul 09 - 8 Nov 09


See press release below:

"Work from 1990 to the present day by the 49-year-old, Beijing-born artist goes on display in this large-scale, solo museum show. His varied practice spans art, architecture, design and printed matter: this show brings together 26 works, of which six are new, including photographs, video, sculpture and site specific installations. Taking its title from a painting by Jasper Johns, one of Ais major artistic influences, the show is arranged thematically in three sections: Fundamental Forms and Volumesí¸‰í³” explores his interest in minimalism; Structure and Craftsmanship focuses on design and architecture; and Reforming and Inheriting Tradition assesses Ais interest in the role of the individual in society.W.O."

An elevatar journey to heaven from hell

Civilization by Marco Brambilla from CRUSH on Vimeo.

Learn more here.

Ai Weiwei, Chinese Artist Threatened by Government

The Art Newspaper is reporting that internationally-acclaimed Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is under pressure from the authorities in China for his campaign to uncover the corruption that lead to the death of schoolchildren in the Sichuan earthquake of May 2008. Read about this troubling development here.


Ai Weiwei may be best now for his installation piece Bubble (pictured above), which was one of nine works that made up the Art Projects Exhibition at Art Basel Miami Beach 2008. View the installation and hear an interview with the artist here.

This development is highly significant because many voices around the art world have questioned the limits of China's patience with her artists. As pivotal figures like Cai Guo-Qiang and Zhang Huan ascend to new critical heights with their provocative work, more and more Chinese artists will risk retaliation from the government to allow art the role of morality mirror in that society. The fate of Ai Weiwei may indicate the shape of what's to come for a whole generation of Western-influenced, self-aware contemporary artists from China.

Kick the Can't

From the gallery press release...

Jack the Pelican Presents

487 Driggs Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11211
Gallery hours: Thursday – Monday, 12-6pm

Kick The Can’t
July 17 – August 2, 2009
Opening reception: Friday, July 17, 6–9 pm

Uri Aran
Max Galyon
Jonathan Paul Gillette
Liz Linden
Jonathan Monk
Isabel Schmiga
Kant Smith

Julia Weist

Curated by Christine Hou and Melinda Braathen

Isabel Schmiga, Slip, 2006, fig leaves, metal, 37 × 32cm.
© Photo: Vahit Tuna

“…if any action can be made out to accord with the rule, then it can also be made out to conflict with it.” – Paolo Virno

Kick The Can’t is a group exhibition featuring the works of international and New York-based artists. The title of the exhibition alludes to the game, Kick the can, in which players are faced with one objective: to kick a guarded can without being tagged. The can sits there tauntingly, beckoning the players to strike. In order not to be caught, the action cannot be predicted; the player must devise a tactic that is both uncharted and perfectly timed. The can facilitates deviations, while each failed attempt draws attention to the uncertainty of the action. Kick the can functions as a metaphor for the joke. Jokes arrive in the threshold between the norm, what should exist, and what actually exists—this slippage is where much humor is generated. Isabel Schmiga’sSLIP is a play on the fig leaf as a common art historical reference used to conceal embarrassment or obscenities. Schmiga upends this commonly used trope by cutting the leaves into the shape of hands, suggesting something other than what was initially intended. In Kick The Can’t, each of the artists use a particular language to build from a conventional known, or as Paolo Virno calls it in Jokes and Innovative Action: For a Logic of Change, "a normal everyday frame of life.” Jonathan Paul Gillette’s upside down rainbow overturns a common symbol along with it is varied meanings, casting inquiry to its form and exhaustive history—in short, a more satisfactory sign.






















Jonathan Paul Gillette, Upside Down Rainbow, 2009

Kick The Can’t approaches the joke as being codependent with the norm. The joke grafts itself onto the norm and reforms it, calling to focus humor, questions, and a new mode in which to perceive the everyday.

Yim Yames covers Sir George