Nicole Dextras

Nicole Dextras creates amazingly elaborate costumes and clothing out of leaves, flowers, and twigs etc.  Humanity’s impact on the environment, consumerism, feminism, the fashion industry, and sweatshop rights are all on topic when discussing her garments.  

In Dextras' Weedrobe series, she takes her art to the public by dressing models in her eye catching creations and putting them on the streets to be seen and interacted with.  Next she stages photographs of her pieces.  These photographs serve to both suspend the temporary garment in time, and to provide an everlasting context for the garment to be considered in and discussed. 

Once the garment has lost its flexibility and has passed the point of wearability, it is left on display to naturally wilt and fall back to the Earth.

See and read more at Nicole Dextras' website!

Abelardo Morell

Today I ran across the work of Abelardo Morell, who is currently featured in this months issue of National Geographic.

Employing camera obscura, he takes whole rooms and uses the interior as a background for projecting beautiful images of the outside world onto. He then photographs the entire space and in the the layering of these worlds creates interesting conversations and unexpected meldings between the two.  In some cases it is hard to tell what is interior wall and surroundings and what is the exterior projection.

For more information on Abelardo Morell please visit his website

Julian Hoeber

While recently flipping through the latest issue of Art in America, I saw a review for an installation, Demon Hill, by Julian Hoeber which was on view at the Hammer Museum this past winter.  I was definitely intrigued by the image shown above and went online to find out more about this artist and his recent project.

Demon Hill uses clever engineering to create a structure that calls on "gravitational mystery spots" a common term used in popular roadside attractions across California. Where tourists can experience settings in which the laws of physics no longer seem to apply, people lean at extreme angles but don't lose balance and objects roll uphill instead of down...

In these tourist spots the magic behind the structure is hidden and guides chalk the experience up to supernatural forces that can't be explained. Conversely, in Hoeber's piece the viewer can clearly see the extreme angle in which this makeshift house is built upon, making the "magic" of the construction visible.

Having not been there myself I can only imagine how crazy that feeling must be as you try to reconcile abnormal acts of physics that are happening in front of your eyes and seemingly to you. (As you lean at a 45 degree angle while standing completely straight) All while knowing in your rational mind that it is an illusion and your sense of space and perception are being tampered with by the pitch of the house's foundational structure.

Hoeber talks about his interest in Op Art and the idea that much of the phenomenological art we see leans on being very clean and streamlined in it's construction so that the structure and craft fade away. Leaving the viewer with a tendency to have a more spiritual experience with the piece. (As can be seen in much of the work of James Turrell.) On the other hand when things show their structure in a less refined way, they tend to be seen in a more supernatural light. Hoeber decided to combine the two opposing ideas in this piece, by drawing on minimalist idioms and coupling it with the architecture of the roadside attraction. Giving the viewer a chance to examine them both and how they might play off of one another.

There is a great video of the artist on the Hammer website where he talks a bit more about this project and his process. I encourage you to watch it! And if you'd like to learn more about Julian Hoeber and his work, he is represented by Blum & Poe, where you can find images and information about his videos & installations.

VERSION 11: The Community

Hello all you fellow artists, activists, gallerists, writers and awesome Chicagoans out there. It is almost time again for the VERSION festival!  

As described on their site, Version is produced by the Public Media Institute, a non profit 501(c)(3) arts organization, Version is an annual springtime arts festival that brings together hundreds of artists, musicians, and educators from around the world to present some of the most challenging ideas and progressive art initiatives of our day. The ten day festival showcases emerging trends in art, technology and music.

This years festival will run from April 22d - May 1st, 2011 and will include a slew of awesome activities that will appeal to all kind of interests. Come as a viewer or participant in any number of the festivals events from the MDW Fair, where you can check out all the great art practices and spaces happening in Chicago and around, to fulfilling your role playing dreams by dressing up as a police officer and participating in the reenactment of the Haymarket Square riot. More activities include community gardening projects, video screenings, live art, performances, presentations, talks workshops and more!

If this has piqued your interest....

Version:11 The Community is currently looking for proposals for in these four platforms::

Free University (FREE U)
Each year Version features workshops, presentations, demonstrations, talks, lectures and classes within the framework of the Free University platform. Ideas for provocations and projects as well as instructional guides, lecture and class ideas are welcome.

Performance/ Interventions/ Mobile Projects
Performance art in site specific locations, picnics, tours, public interventions, asphalt canoeing, anarchist marching bands, creative disturbances in public space are important components of the festival. Initiatvies by space hijackers and performance artists of all stripes welcome.

Call for TEXTS Proximity 009
This year Proximity magazine will be releasing it's Community themed issue covering the Chicago art worlds. It's a revisiting of issues addressed in Issue #1. Send a proposal very very soon.

The MDW Fair: visual arts landing in Chicago
CHICAGO: threewalls, Roots and Culture and Public Media Institute announce The MDW Fair, a gathering of alternative art initiatives, spaces, galleries and artist groups from the Chicago metropolitan area. Held April 22-23, 2011 at The Iron Studios, 3636 S. Iron Street, The MDW Fair will demonstrate the diversity, strength and vision of the people/places making it happen in the art ecology of our region.

The fair features for-profit, 501(c)3, and commercial and unincorporated galleries, independent curatorial projects and publishers and media groups in over 25,000 square feet of exhibition space that includes a 10,000 square foot sculpture garden with work by local artists. The MDW Fair is a manifestation of the collective spirit behind the region's most innovative visual cultural organizers, focusing on the breadth of work done here by artists and arts-facilitators alike. Participants include: threewalls, Roots and Culture, Reuben Kincaid, ebersmoore, Antenna, OxBow, The Suburban, ACRE, Iceberg Projects, The Post Family and more.

The MDW Fair is currently accepting proposals from independent curators due April 1st. Please send a project description and up to 10 images of proposed work to mdwfair@gmail(dot)com.

More information about this years festival and how to submit a proposal can be found here.

I hope to see you all there!!

Swimming Cities

At first glance these structures look like floating heaps of trash.  But…

The first Swimming Cities project sprung up in Brooklyn in 2006 and was lead by artist and activist Callie Curry (otherwise known as "Swoon.")  Swoon's fleet of three rafts left New York and made their way to the head of the Mississippi River.  Once there, her crew grew to include dozens of artists, crafts people and performers.  When the rafts had been sufficiently fortified and decorated they set sail for New Orleans.  

Swoon says that the Swimming Cities project is not directly trying to address issues of humanitarianism or environmentalism, though it is easy to draw these kinds of connections.  Rather, her vision is more about stirring up dialog and raising questions about how such a creation and adventure is even possible.

The point is simply to create functional objects that inspire wonder out of found and donated materials.  But the physical execution of such an idea is not so simple.  Navigating rivers is not easy and can be downright dangerous.  Especially if your boat has been built by a bunch of rookie boat builders out of random stuff.

In 2009 Swimming Cities launched an armada from Slovenia to Venice.  Their current project is called "Oceans of Blood" and is scheduled to set sail in India this April.   

Read more and donate to "Oceans of Blood" at the Swimming Cities website!

Rock on.