Galbraith Said it Better Than Me

Al Ruppersberg from the Index Show at MOCA

Bush was completely uninspiring in his speech last night. If Paulson, Bernake, and Bush's advisers were unable to see this economic catastrophe coming, why should anyone bleive their dire predictions if they don't get their unrestricted .7 trillion dollars immediately? Sounds like more fear mongering and extortion, which worked well for funding the Iraq War and forcing though the Patriot Act.

Every so often, I write my represntatives in congress. Here's the letter I sent to Laura Richardson, Barbara Boxer, and Diane Feinstein yesterday:

I’m am writing to express my opposition to the seven hundred billion dollar bailout of Wall Street requested by Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke—a ginormous amount of taxpayer earned cash with no accountability, no transparency and no guarantees. I would expect no less from Mr. Paulson, the former head of Goldman Sachs. Though I don’t think his hundreds of millions in Goldman Sachs stocks is worth what it was when he left, it is plainly obvious where in personal interests lie.

It also seems unconscionable that the same over-leveraged corporations that got us into this mess are being rewarded with unrestricted funds. If the issue is having cash available so the financial system can buy and sell loans—exactly the root source of this over-leveraged mess we’re in now. If anything, these loans should go to the workers and wage earners that are now suffering the consequences of the financial markets’ greed and opportunism.

Over the course of my lifetime, I have watched the deterioration and neglect of America’s infrastructure and social programs designed to help the least fortunate among us. Now with this debacle Congress will be broke for years, and our educational ranking, health, energy dependence and environment will continue to suffer.

The corporations and organizations that fund reelection campaigns now have your ear. But the sea change that has taken place over the past couple of years will continue until us voters—the people who make things and provide services—will prevail over those the speculators and wealthy who now rewrite the rules they play by.

Since the Cheney-Bush presidency began, war in Iraq and then the Patriot Act has been railroaded through congress. Our founding fathers established a system of checks and balances. Section 8 of their proposal would remove the possibility for judicial oversight or administrative review. Use your powers to stop another White House-instigated quagmire.

Sincerely,

Michael Buitron

As an alternative to the bailout, here's a plan that makes sense:

A Bailout We Don't Need

By James K. Galbraith
Washington Post Thursday, September 25, 2008

Now that all five big investment banks -- Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley -- have disappeared or morphed into regular banks, a question arises.

The point of the bailout is to buy assets that are illiquid but not worthless. But regular banks hold assets like that all the time. They're called "loans."

With banks, runs occur only when depositors panic, because they fear the loan book is bad. Deposit insurance takes care of that. So why not eliminate the pointless $100,000 cap on federal deposit insurance and go take inventory? If a bank is solvent, money market funds would flow in, eliminating the need to insure those separately. If it isn't, the FDIC has the bridge bank facility to take care of that.

Next, put half a trillion dollars into the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. fund -- a cosmetic gesture -- and as much money into that agency and the FBI as is needed for examiners, auditors and investigators. Keep $200 billion or more in reserve, so the Treasury can recapitalize banks by buying preferred shares if necessary -- as Warren Buffett did this week with Goldman Sachs. Review the situation in three months, when Congress comes back. Hedge funds should be left on their own. You can't save everyone, and those investors aren't poor.

With this solution, the systemic financial threat should go away. Does that mean the economy would quickly recover? No. Sadly, it does not. Two vast economic problems will confront the next president immediately. First, the underlying housing crisis: There are too many houses out there, too many vacant or unsold, too many homeowners underwater. Credit will not start to flow, as some suggest, simply because the crisis is contained. There have to be borrowers, and there has to be collateral. There won't be enough.

In Texas, recovery from the 1980s oil bust took seven years and the pull of strong national economic growth. The present slump is national, and it can't be cured that way. But it could be resolved in three years, rather than 10, by a new Home Owners Loan Corp., which would rewrite mortgages, manage rental conversions and decide when vacant, degraded properties should be demolished. Set it up like a draft board in each community, under federal guidelines, and get to work.

The second great crisis is in state and local government. Just Tuesday, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced $1.5 billion in public spending cuts. The scenario is playing out everywhere: Schools, fire departments, police stations, parks, libraries and water projects are getting the ax, while essential maintenance gets deferred and important capital projects don't get built. This is pernicious when unemployment is rising and when we have all the real resources we need to preserve services and expand public investment. It's also unnecessary.

What to do? Reenact Richard Nixon's great idea: federal revenue sharing. States and localities should get the funds to plug their revenue gaps and maintain real public spending, per capita, for the next three to five years. Also, enact the National Infrastructure Bank, making bond revenue available in a revolving fund for capital improvements. There is work to do. There are people to do it. Bring them together. What could be easier or more sensible?

Here's another problem: the wealth loss to near-retirees and the elderly from a declining stock market as things shake out. How about taking care of this, with rough justice, through a supplement to Social Security? If you need a revenue source, impose a turnover tax on stocks.

Next, let's think about what the next upswing should try to achieve and how it should be powered. If the 1960s were about raising baby boomers and the '90s about technology, what should the '10s and '20s be about? It's obvious: energy and climate change. That's where the present great unmet needs are.

So, let's use the next few years to plan, mapping out a program of energy conservation, reconstruction and renewable power. Let's get the public sector and the universities working on it. And let's prepare the private sector so that when the credit crunch finally ends, we'll have the firms, the labs, the standards and the talent in place, ready to go.

Some will ask if we can afford it. To see the answer, don't look at budget projections. Just look at interest rates. Last week, in the panic, the federal government could fund itself, short term, for free. It could have raised money for 30 years and paid less than 4 percent. That's far less than it cost back in 2000.

No country in this situation is broke, or insolvent, or even in much trouble. For once, Wall Street's own markets speak the truth. The financially challenged customer isn't Uncle Sam. He's up on Wall Street, where deregulation, greed and fraud ran wild.

Sphere: Related Content

Iran do Espírito Santo's Stolen Dice From InSite 97 San Diego/Tijuana

Iran do Espírito Santo's Die From InSite 97?

This has been quite a serendipitous week. I'll be posting more, but first I thought I'd put up some pictures of a large concrete die that appeared in front of a friend's apartment in Los Angeles. In 1997 I went with Diane to the scavenger hunt for art that is InSite Sandy Eggo/TJ.

That was the year that Marcos Ramirez made the big Trojan Horse at the border crossing, and Allan Sekula showed his photographs of the Fox Studio Rosarito backlot. >Betsabeé Romero exhibited his Ayate Car, and Louis Hock make his double-sded drinking fountain at Playas Tijuana.

It was also the year that Francis Alys and Miguel Calderon each found their own conceptual ways across the border:

Francis Alys's piece was a five-week performance in which the artist flew due south from Tijuana all the way around the world to San Diego, circuitously evading the border. The work was represented in the exhibition via postcards, correspondence, video and E-mail. Rather indifferent to local realities, Alys's trip was a privileged version of the difficult voyage made by so many illegal immigrants.

Miguel Calderon took a different type of trip; he hailed one of the omnipresent Volkswagen Beetle taxis in Mexico City and rode all the way up to San Diego, some 1,500 miles. The artist took photos of his driver and of other taxis encountered on the way, and presented them in a photo album alongside the taxi meter, which he purchased from the driver. The genius of these two works, which were the exhibition's most offbeat achievements, resides in the fact that the artists got to travel all expenses paid. Their contributions were the concepts rather than the insignificant and ultimately unimportant objects from their travels that they grudgingly agreed to display to the public.

There's a good article about the show from Art in America.

Among the advantages that "inSITE" has over other large-scale exhibitions are that the artists can choose where they place their pieces, and that they have two large cities in which to work The selection of a site, therefore, is of particular importance, as integral to the specific work as it is to the exhibition as a whole. Since its inception, "inSITE" has emphasized the creation of public work In this year's event, however, there was almost no outdoor work in San Diego, except for that of Iran do Espiritu Santo from Brazil whose series of 16-inch-square concrete dice mysteriously disappeared from the streets, purportedly taken by admirers (a series of dice was also installed in Tijuana). (my emphasis)

Iran do Espírito Santo: Scratches on the #4 side make it appear that the #3 side was the top when it was installed.

I remember seeing these blocks in various locations some ten years ago, so when I saw the block on the sidewalk, it make me think it was one of the artworks from the show. I went outside and measured it, and it's 40 centimeters on each side, close to the 16" described in Art in America.

I wonder how many people who come across the cement die would think it's a work of art, let alone place it specifically to a particular day and place?

I contacted the LAPD's art theft division, InSite's old web page, and Iran's gallery in Brazil. If anything comes of it, I'll update this post.

Update 9-24-2008:

I've received messages from the LAPD's Art Theft Division, the artist Iran do Espirito Santo, and Michael Krichman, Executive Director, InSite San Diego/Tijauna. Here are some excerpts:

Dear Michael:

Osvaldo Sanchez forwarded your e-mail to me. It's amazing that the piece has survived all of these years! I'm in touch with Iran and suspect he will love the story---even if at the time he had hoped the pieces might not vanish as quickly as they did. We are in the middle of working on the archive of inSite, and with your permission would like to include your blog page and correspondence in the file on Iran. Beyond that, seems to me to be a crime of passion that might best go unpunished.

Let me know if we can re-print your material.

Many thanks,

Michael Krichman

and

Dear Michael,
My gallery in São Paulo forwarded me your e-mail with the dice photo. It is
amazing that one has reappeared in Los Angeles after 10 years! For me it
sums up to the idea of the work. Thank you so much for informing us about
it.
We are discussing what to do with it, but I think that the best thing would
be to get someone from InSite to get it and place it somewhere it should be
protected. The other option would be to leave it were it is...They were 20
all together, and not all of them were stolen.
Thanks again for your good will to inform us about it.
Best wishes,
Iran

My concern at this point is that it doesn't get picked up my the city and discarded. It would be nice if it could be placed in a location where its history and wanderings would be appreciated.

Any suggestions?

Sphere: Related Content

Robert Smithson, Rozel Point, Oil Drilling, and the Jetty's Location

Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty from the Air

Yesterday I posted directions to Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty. Today Tyler Green begins a series of posts on the Great Salt Lake, and has written about the potential impact of oil exploration in the area. In addition to my text, I thought I'd post my pictures taken from a 1952 Piper Cub I chartered and flew over the Jetty. Wayne at Airmotive took me up in his trainer from Brigham City Airport. Wayne was the test pilot for a Wright Brothers replica that was flown on the 100th anniversary of their first flight. The trip took a little over an hour, and he could fly slow enough that I could lean out the open door and take these pictures.

The Jetty, High and Dry, Dotted by Art Pilgrims

The Utah Geological Survey has some some good information about Rozel Point on their web site:

Rozel Point is one of the oldest (if not the oldest) fields to produce oil in Utah. The seeps have been known since the late 1800s and production attempts began in 1904. The field produced an estimated 10,000 barrels of oil from 30 to 50 wells, but has been inactive since the mid-1980s due to extremely difficult production, very high refining costs, and rising lake levels.

Rozel Point may not be the place to take a first date. In the August 1995 issue of Survey Notes, Thomas Chidsey writes of “crude oil dripping from abandoned wellheads, tar on rocks and beach sands, and dead pelicans along the beach…”

The wellheads have since been capped, but rusting industrial debris remains. The sweet perfume or retched stench of crude fills your nose. And, you can occasionally see, hear, and feel the U.S. Air Force test weapons in the Lakeside Mountains across Gunnison Bay to the west.

On the other hand, graceful flocks of pelicans flying by and distal views of the lake and mountains can inspire awe and wonder. The red brine, white salt, and black basalt impart an otherworldly feel. And the economic potential seeping from the ground creates an air of excitement. Perhaps it is because of, not in spite of, these dichotomies that artist Robert Smithson chose to locate his Spiral Jetty earthwork in this area, just a few hundred yards to the northwest of Rozel Point.

Rozel Point, UT: The Abandoned Oil Exploration Jetty in Proximity to Smithson's Jetty

The pink waters of the site picked by Smithson can be attributed to the rock causeway built by the railroad. In the 1950's the lake was divided in two, and the increase in salinity north of the causeway caused the red algae bloom and brine shrimp to replace the preexisting ecosystem.

The State of Utah is faced with the task of providing a balance between using Great Salt Lake’s natural resources and maintaining a healthy lake ecosystem. Often at odds are the production of mineral salts and brines worth over $200 million annually, hydrocarbon exploration, and brine shrimp cyst harvesting worth over $100 million annually; implementing flood-control measures; maintaining proper brine salinities; and protecting thousands of acres of wetlands and the islands which are home to millions of birds including the American white pelican and California gull.

I expect that if the water levels hadn't dropped and re-exposed the Spiral Jetty, these conversations about oil exploration would not be taking place. As I mentioned before:

For those who are opposed to all oil drilling on principle, that's another story. Living among the oil rigs of Long Beach, I'm willing to accept the anti-aesthetic, for the benefit of oil that hasn't been shipped from the other side of the planet.

My previous post show pictures of the on-site debris that Dia carted away to pristine-ify the site:

By the time Smithson arrived in the 70's the north part of the lake had turned red from the brine shrimp and red algae that were the only things that could survive in the super saline waters north of the causeway. It was this industrial wasteland of mineral salt, brine shrimp cyst, and hydrocarbon extraction that Smithson chose to build his Jetty.

Fluctuating water levels can completely submerge the Jetty or leave it high and dry, encrusted in salt.

When word that the drilling was proposed near the Jetty, I received a forwarded email from Nancy Holt, Robert Smithson's widow. There was a matter of hours to respond before the period for public comments were closed. Not having much time, I shot off a letter. In the meantime, several insightful conversations have taken place on line. If an application for drilling were resubmitted, I expect my comments would be quite different today.

At his point it may be helpful to read Smithson's own words on his selection of the Jetty's location:

Two dilapidated shacks looked over a tired group of oil rigs. A series of seeps of heavy black oil more like asphalt occur just south of Rozel Point. For forty or more years people have tried to get oil out of this natural tar pool. Pumps coated with black stickiness rusted in the corrosive salt air. I hut mounted on pilings could have been the habitation of ‘the missing link’. This site gave evidence of a succession of man-made systems mired in abandoned hopes.

About one mile north of the oil seeps I selected my site. Irregular beds of limestone dip gently eastward, massive deposits of black basalt are broken over the peninsula, giving the region a shattered appearance. It is one of few places on the lake where the water comes right up to the mainland. Under shallow pinkish water is a network of mud cracks supporting the jigsaw puzzle that composes the salt flats. As I looked at the site, it reverberated out to the horizons only to suggest an immobile cyclone while flickering light made the entire landscape appear to quake. A dormant earthquake spread into the fluttering stillness, into a spinning sensation without movement. This site was a rotary that enclosed itself in an immense roundness. From that gyrating space emerged the possibility of the Spiral Jetty.

Sphere: Related Content

Directions to Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty: From Brigham City Airport to Rozel Point

From Blogger Pictures

Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty

I thought this would be a good opportunity to post some pictures from my trip out to Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty. It's been in the news lately, mainly because some oil drilling has been proposed in the area. At the time, NewsGrist posted some insightful comments and links. At some future point I'll post my pictures taken from the air, but in the meantime, I post the leg of my journey from the Brigham City Airport out to the Spiral Jetty.

If you follow this, make sure you stop in Ogden and top off your gas tank. Check the spare, as you'll be driving on unpaved roads. Bring water, snacks, hiking shoes, and appropriate clothing for the time of year.  If you get lost, don't blame me!

From Leap Into the Void

Piper Cub at Brigham City Airport

On the previous day I chartered this 1952 Piper Cub out to the Jetty. Click on the link above if you're interested in flying over the Jetty. It cost a little over a hundred bucks, back when airplane fuel cost about a third of what it does now. He was able to leave the window open so I could take pictures, and the plane can stay airborne as slow as 65 mph airspeed. 

From Salt Lake City take Interstate Highway 15 north, past Ogden (about a half an hour north) to Brigham City. Exit at State Highway 13 west to Promitory/Corinne (which is a right after you loop off the freeway at Exit 365). Corinne is about 4 blocks long. At the other side, take the left fork (straight) on Promitory Road. You'll now be on Highway 83. 

After about six miles you'll start smelling sulphur. There's a hot spring on the left side of the road, with four improvised shacks where you can have a dip. If you get there in the off hours, the shacks can be cruisy. 

After another  11 miles you'll come to Lampo Junction, which is the turn off to the Jetty and Golden Spike. 

But first, a little detour.

From Leap Into the Void

Thiokol Rocket Display

Continue north on 83 for a couple more miles. On your right will be the Thiokol rocket factory. This is where they make the solid propellant boosters used for the Space Shuttle. These are the rockets that failed in the Challenger accident. There are labels on the outdoor display, and you can take a self-guided tour for free. When your done, drive the 2 miles back to Lampo Junction (W 7200 N) and you'll now make a right (go west). There should be signs pointing out the way to the Golden Spike Monument.

Continue on the road for 2 miles. You'll come to a fork. Go to the right (not straight).

From Leap Into the Void

The Big Fill Trail Loop Near Golden Spike

After another mile you'll come to the Big Fill Loop Trail. If you have time, you can park here and hike up to the old rail line. Because the two companies that were laying track got free land grants for every mile of track they laid, when they finally came to Promitory, they kept laying track past each other, with parallel lines running for 250 miles. You can hike up a short way and see the ruins of the double rail lines.

 

From Leap Into the Void

Golden Spike National Historical Site

After another 3 miles, you'll come to 2200 W Road. Turn left.  About a mile south on the road, you'll see the Golden Spike National Historic Site. Pull into the parking lot. Enjoy your last flush toilet experience for a while. If the visitor's center is open, go inside, and they'll have free directions out to the Spiral Jetty. If the Center's closed, they should have some in a holder outside the entrance. Inside are some historical displays, and if you time it right, they have replica steam engines that they roll out on the tracks. 

From this point, you have about 15 miles to go. Ready? 

From Leap Into the Void

Spiral Jetty Direction Sign Next to a Class D Gravel Road

There's some lovely directional signs posted along the way (see photo above). I've also posted to Google maps my route (check the satellite view so you can see the terrain) from Brigham City to the Jetty, along with directions and pictures. From the parking lot, check your odometer or set the trip-o-meter to zero. 

Drive southwest 5.6 miles on the gravel road. You'll come to a fork. Go to the left. You'll cross over a cattle guard (pipes across the road like in the picture below). This is the first of four cattle guards.

Check your odometer. Drive 1.3 miles south from here. You'll come to a fork in the road. Go right. At the fork you'll see a corral off to your left. 

Check your odometer. Drive 1.7 miles to the next cattle guard.

 

From Leap Into the Void

Cattle Guard

This is cattle guard number 2. You're counting, right? There's a fence and no gate.

Check your odometer. Drive 1.2 miles to cattle guard # 3.

At cattle guard #3 you'll see a fence and a gate. 

Check your odometer. Drive a half mile (0.5 mi.) to a fence with no cattle guard and no gate.

Check your odometer. Continue to drive straight in a southwest direction for another 2.3 miles. You'll now be at cattle guard #4.  

You'll see the cattle guard, an iron-pipe gate, and a fence. On the fence to the right of the gate is a "No Trespassing" sign that also says Rafter S Ranch. Click here for Joy Garnett's picture of the sign from 2002.

You're now leaving the county-maintained gravel road. Take this last bit a little slower.

Check your odometer. Drive 2.3 miles. The road will curve to your right, around Rozel Point. You should see the old oil exploration jetty (not Smithson's).  You should come to a flat pad where the junk pictured below used to be. This is a good place to park. From here the Jetty is a half-mile hike.

From Leap Into the Void

Debris Near the Spiral Jetty

The old 30's-era Ford truck buried up to its axle was probably there when Smithson scouted out the site for the Jetty. The abandoned oil jetty was in use through the 80's, so it was still in operation when Smithson was building his earthwork. 

Incidentally, this decayed jetty is not the launch point for the proposed drilling. The staging area would be at Little Valley Harbor, about 50 miles away. You can read here about the geology of the area. The basalt rocks that pepper the hillside around Rozel Point--the rocks Smithson used to build the Jetty--are volcanic and quite porous. Before man ever arrived here, tar seeped through the fissures in the rock, pooling on the shores of the Great Salt Lake. When Smithson arrived, oil extraction was taking place, and industrial debris littered the shore. 

From Leap Into the Void

Looking Out from the Trailer to the Oil Drilling Jetty

A little history is in order here. In 1869 the transcontinental railway was completed. In 1903 the railway was rerouted at Lucin, UT (near Nancy Holt's Sun Tunnels) with a trestle bridge over the Great Salt Lake directly to Ogden, cutting miles and mountains from the trip. The wood piles of the bridge quickly deteriorated in the salt water. In the 1950's the wood trestle sections were replaced by a rock and earth causeway. This structure essentially divided the lake into two ecosystems. Most of the water that fills the lake drains into the southern part. With more water evaporating from the water's surface than was being replenished, the northern part became more and more saline. 

By the time Smithson arrived in the 70's the north part of the lake had turned red from the brine shrimp and red algae that were the only things that could survive in the super saline waters north of the causeway. It was this industrial wasteland of mineral salt, brine shrimp cyst, and hydrocarbon extraction that Smithson chose to build his Jetty. 

From Leap Into the Void

The Last Half Mile to the Jetty: Basalt Rocks, Dried Brush

Unless you have a high ground clearance vehicle with 4-wheel drive, park. Walk down a few hundred feet to the fork where you'll see the sign to the Jetty (seen through the window two pictures up). Take the upper trail to the right. At this point the road becomes a 2-track trail with rocks and brush in the middle and on both sides. Follow the trail for about a half mile and you'll see Smithson's Jetty off to your left. 

 

From Leap Into the Void

End of the Road: The Spiral Jetty

The water level of the lake can fluctuate, and over the years the Jetty has spent more time under water than exposed. This has probably helped add to its mythic status. Generally, the lake fills in the spring and drops through the summer and fall. The surface of Smithson's Jetty is at 4,198 feet. If the water of the lake is at 4,198, you can walk on it if you bring galoshes or rubber boots. The surface will be uneven and slippery. Expect to fall on your face several times if you attempt to walk on it. 

From Blogger Pictures

Looking Back at Rozel Point From the Jetty

Before you go, click here to find out real time water levels. Click on the second link for current and historical water levels at Box Elder (near Saline). Next click on "realtime elevations" to find the present water level. Scroll down to the graph. When I typed this in September 2008, water levels were near 4193.5. That means the water level is 4 1/2 feet below the top of the Jetty, and the shore of the lake is out past the jetty, putting Smithson's earthwork completely out of the water, like in my picture above.

From Blogger Pictures

Desiccated Seagull Head and Neck Preserved in Salt

Sphere: Related Content

CalArts Visiting Artist Lecture Series: Fall 2008

The Paul Brach Visiting Artist Lecture Series for Fall 2008 has been announced. The lectures take place at 7:00pm on Thursdays in room F200 (across from the art office) except where noted. I'm not sure what security will be like this semester, but it seems like every year the administration becomes more hardass about keeping the Santa Clarita riff-raff off campus.

Because Thursday usually means that the seven official art galleries on campus have their openings--and free beer abounds--campus security can be more uptight. You might want to call the school during the day at 661-255-1050 and ask for the art office. Someone there should be able to put you on the guest list that's kept at the gate. Another option s to get there around 5:00pm for the faculty receptions at the galleries, and enter when the gate is left wide open.

So here's the list so far, along with some links to the artists' work and reviews. I'll post updates as they come in. Last-minute changes can take place, so you may want to call and confirm before you invest the gasoline on a drive to Valencia.

Sept. 18: Mungo Thomson ("Polymorphus Bastard Coneptualist")
Sept. 25: Mindy Shapero (Sculpture/Drawing)
Oct. 2: Linda Palmer (Neuroscience of Kantian Philosophy)
Oct. 9: Yvonne Rainer (Experimental Choreography & Film)
Oct. 16: Charles Long (Process-Based Sculpture)
Oct. 23: Kim Fisher (Abstract Painting)
Oct. 30: Panel Discussion: Artists TBD
Nov. 6: TBD
Nov. 13: Matthew Coolidge (Center for Land Use Interpretation)
Nov. 18*: Sarah Thornton (author, "Seven Days in the Art World")
Dec. 04: Marnie Weber (Multi-Disciplinary)
Dec. 11: Joan Jonas (Video & Performance)
*TUES. NIGHT LECTURE

Stay tuned for next year's schedule starting in January 2009. Artists are still being confirmed but some tentative names mentioned are Byron Kim, Rodney McMillian, Fritz Haeg, Hans Haacke, Via Lewandowsky, David Hullfish Baily, Coco Fusco, Walead Beshty, Stuart Hawkins, Ruben Ochoa, and Alain Badiou.

Thanks to the visiting artist coordinators Ian James, Christina Ondrus, and Elleni Sclavenitis for your hard work!

Sphere: Related Content

Miller Updegraff at Cardwell Jimmerson Contemporary Art

View of Miller's Work at Cardwell Jimmerson

Saturday night was the start of the gallery season, with openings stretching from Bergamont Station to Chinatown. In Culver City alone, it seems like the number of art spaces has doubled since last September, growing like a tumor that consumes art school grads until Los Angeles becomes nothing more than gas stations and galleries.

Opening announcements asked visitors to be considerate of the residents in the surrounding neighborhoods, but the streets were fairly clogged with Priuses circling for parking spaces and art aficionados surreptitiously sneaking their plastic wine-filled glasses from one gallery to the next.


I was reminded of the conversations overheard in Venice at the last Biennale, where art viewers perpetually asked each other if they had seen anything interesting. There was too much to see, and a nagging worry that there was something hanging in a crumbling palazzo that would make the whole trip worthwhile. From the viewpoint of psychology, a person with limited choices (say Coke/7-Up or Levis/Wrangler) will be much more happy with their ultimate selection. Unfortunately we live in a world with hundreds of jeans and carbonated beverages, so any purchase made comes with the nagging sensation that there is something out there that's probably better. Likewise with opening night of the gallery season and too much art to see.


Koplin Del Rio Gallery featured the work of Kerry James Marshall, with included the Rythm Mastr series seen at Documenta, along with portraits of named men and unnamed women (pinups). Across the street at Cardwell Jimmerson a more complex and nuanced depiction of male sexuality is on display by Miller Updegraff.


Thinking about the various ways men are portrayed--from bears to BMX racers (not to mention cowboys and Indians)--one can see how the plethora of choices may ultimately leave a guy wanting, looking over his shoulder, wondering about the possibilities and choices made. In another artist's hands the depictions could seem ironic or aloof, but the delicate pencil work (poorly photographed here) evokes both distance and desire.


The double drawing of the rifleman in red and blue reminds one of 3-D illusions, but without providing glasses, the image becomes more about the the ploy than the pleasure of falling for the trick. Shooting out from the crotch, the rifle isn't allowed to spring from the page, and thus (like the middle finger) becomes a bit of impotent posturing.

There has always been a Yin and Yang to Miller's work, be it the left/right brain of his patterned depiction of flora, or the gendered ambiguities of his video collaboration with Kaari Upson. Rather than presenting us with nameless objects of desire, Miller's depictions offer up some of the possibilities of masculinity, and at the same time make us pine for more.

Portrait of the Artists as MFA Grads
L to R: Miller Updegraff, Megan Sant, Kara Tanaka, Michael Buitron

Sphere: Related Content

10 Billion Dollars Doesn't Buy What it Used To

J. Paul Getty

Years ago when I worked in the corporate world, I experienced first hand what it meant to squeeze blood from a turnip. Lowering overhead--including labor costs--and increasing revenue becomes the core mission, and the business' primary service or product gets relegated to secondary role.

Earlier this year James Wood terminated over a hundred employees of the Getty as well as reducing expenditures (for building maintenance and the like) in the interest of focusing on the Getty's "core programs." According to the Foundation Center, the Getty is the third largest foundation in the United States, with over ten billion is assets. So what does this money contribute to their mission of exhibiting art to the public? Apparently less and less.

Starting September 9th, the museum will be closing a half an hour earlier on all days, and evening hours will be eliminated on Friday (when the museum will close 3 1/2 hours earlier). In addition, parking rates will increase to $10 per car.

I also thought that maintianing access to the library at the Getty Research Institute was part of their core mission too, but they now charge stack readers for parking, which used to be free. This smacks of a decision made by someone who's salary and allowances amount to over a million bucks a year. Let them eat cake!

I expect that one of the issues around closing the museum early takes into account the number of visitors. Popular events like Fridays Off the 405, probably bring in additional revenue in overpriced food and alcohol sales, with a scant number of patrons wandering through the open galleries (which requires paying the guards). In an earlier conversation with Glenn Phillips, he said that fewer than half the visitors to the Getty ever go inside the building, prefering to wander about the architecture and gardens, and take in the view.

Focusing on "core values" by making adjustments to expeditures (hours, staffing, maintenance) and revenue (parking, food and gift shop sales) inherently makes the bottom line a prime core value. The only question left is when does the influence of the bottom line become a consideration in what art to show and buy? If Bernini busts don't generate foot traffic, will we evenutally be condemned to view the revenue stalwarts like Mummies, Motorcycles, and Monets?

Yikes!

Sphere: Related Content

Love Brother Document, Pt. 1: The Liberty Bell

Liberty Bell Souvenir

Inscription

Quite a bit can be found on line about the history and housing of the Liberty Bell. For the purposes of this document, a few pertinent facts will be pointed out. The bell was commissioned and cast in London to commemorate the 50th anniversary of William Penn's Charter of Privileges--also known as the Charter of Liberty. The inscription below the shoulder of the bell reads:

Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof Lev. XXV X
By Order of the ASSEMBLY of the Province of PENSYLVANIA for the State House in Philad^a
Pass and Stow
Philad^a
MDCCLIII

The source of the quote is Leviticus 25:10. In this biblical episode, a micromanaging old testament god gives instructions to Moses on a celebration marking the 50th anniversary of the freedom of the Israelites. A little further along Lev. 25:44, god instructs on the rules of the taking and keeping of slaves:

Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves.

But thanks to the jubilee, Lev. 25:54 instructs that any slave unable to buy their freedom should be released. This becomes a resonant context for the bell's inscription; by 1780 Pennsylvania became the fist state to abolish slavery.

But Pennsylvania's abolition was a gradual one. A slave born before the law took effect in March of 1780 would remain a slave for life. Children born after would be freed in their 28th year. In 1840, the last year there was a line documenting slaves in the Pennsylvania census, 64 were still counted. The Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery also provided exceptions for members of congress, foreign dignitaries and slave crew members of ships in port. For these domestic slaves, they could not be retained for longer than six months. This later became an issue for president Washington, when he took up residence in the first presidential house in Philadelphia.

Location

The site of Washington's presidential residence is just north of the entrance to the Liberty Bell Center. Originally, the Liberty Bell hung in the tower of Independence Hall until its 100th anniversary, when it was moved to the ground floor. Due to the deluge of tourists visiting both the hall and the bell, it was eventually moved to its current location designed by Bohlin, Cywinski, and Jackson.

The pavilion runs along the west side of Independence Mall; the grassy area to the north is the general area of the first presidential house. The covered entrance area overlaps the footprint of the rear of the presidential house. The main part of the building houses an interpretive center, with the south end encased in glass and angled slightly, so that the view of the bell lines up with the Independence Hall bell tower.

Title

The title of this series--the Love Brother Document--alludes to one of Philadelphia's nicknames, the city of brotherly love (also known as the cradle of liberty). Love Brother is a transliteration of the Greek philos, meaning love and adelphos, meaning brother. The title also refers to an idea for a art piece, Love Brother Monument Proposal which through this and subsequent postings, is being transformed into something more dialogical. So feel free to leave your comments.

Sphere: Related Content

Kill Your Father: Document vs. Monument

Sam Durant (my mentor) Making Art

Andrea Bowers shouted at the class, "You're supposed to kill your fathers!"

This bit of Freudian metaphor turned into the lingua franca of our day was not about drives and taboos, but the historical precedent of responding to, and then subverting the artistic movements of the moment. The Futurists rebelled against "the spineless worshiping of old canvases," just as Pop reacted to the Abstract Expressionism of their day.

But for Andrea's floundering young artists--making work in the post-post-modern world--culling, quoting, and appropriation can seem like legitimate strategies just as much as reacting against. And perhaps in the no-holds-barred capitalism of the art world, referencing accomplished artists can feel like a safer bet; after all, one has to eat!

For myself, much of what Andrea has to say got stuck between the folds in my brain, like strings of meat between my teeth after chewing on a plate of ribs. But if recent biennials and art fairs are any indication, how can one react against the "anything goes" artistic production of our day? I guess one place to start is with one's father, and in my case that may be my art-school mentor, Sam Durant.

During my time at CalArts, I had some ideas for subject-based work that might result in a proposal for a monument. These ideas were set aside, seeming a bit too derivative of Sam's work around the pilgrim museum, Altamont, and the Indian/White Memorials. More recently I returned to the idea of the monument, and got to thinking of alternatives.

In a general sense, monuments are a bit of history writing, something thrown up by the victors or survivors. They often grab significant and prime bits of public real estate, and in the end foist their point of view on either the site's visitor or (more likely) an unsuspecting passer by. There is often one unambiguous point of view presented, and the good guys and bad guys are clearly indicated--like in a Hollywood "B" movie. Didactic information is chiseled, cast, or etched into stone or metal--either shutting out or reducing conflicting opinions or points of view--and eliminating conversation completely. In the rare instances where the public is allowed to comment and share their opinion, it is usually relegated to an ephemeral media like a visitors book, while the official version is granted both hierarchy and longevity--becoming a part of the architecture of the monument itself.

On the other hand, documentation is a fungible resource. it can be amended, rebutted, and rewritten (or created new, from whole cloth). Though they can stand on their own, documents often support their position through a foundation of references that can be checked and called into question. A document can take many forms, many of which are easily reproduced and distributed. Though different types of documents have an inherent hierarchy (a peer-reviewed journal will carry more weight than a supermarket tabloid) ultimately a document's validity and relevance will hold it up to the test of time. Innovations in document reproduction--from Gutenberg to Xerox to the Internet--have increasingly flattened hierarchies, allowing alternative opinions (and voices of the oppressed) to have their say.

Because modern day documents can be turned into various forms of zeros and ones, they can more easily bypass censors and hegemonic oppressors of free speech. In a form such as this web log, they can be easily found by those searching for specific terms, and even commented upon. In the shift from Monument to Document, the didactic becomes dialog as information begins to flow both ways. The single point of view is shattered into a thousand points of light.

With that in mind, I plan to post over several weeks what was originally conceived as the Love, Brother Monument Proposal: The Love, Brother Document.

Sphere: Related Content

What Makes a Work of Art Conceptual?

Doug Huebler

No sooner than I offered to answer your questions about art, this message from Louis arrived:

Void-

What makes a piece of art conceptual? Is this a term that can be observed on the surface of a "conceptual" piece? I.e.- We are standing in front of one of the artworks on display at the MOCA:Index show you just wrote about in a previous post and you point to this feature or that element of a work in a way that you might describe pointillism through a Seurat?

Thanks,

Louis

Hi Louis~

For many art makers who would be classified as conceptual artists, it's the idea behind the work that takes primacy over its final outcome as an object, so observation may not always be the best way to determine if a work of art is conceptual.

That being said, I think there are contextual cues in most situations that help one to determine where a particular work "fits" into a continuum of artistic movements. If a painting is made of dots and is in a room (or a chapter of an art history textbook) with other post-impressionist works, it's safe to expect it to be pointillist. Likewise if the accompanying text says it's a Seurat. If the spots are on some pre-Colombian pottery, it's probably safe to say it's something else.

Marcel Duchamp made a big deal about drawing a distinction between the stuff he made and what he called "retinal art." That should give us a clue that using one's powers of observation may not be enough. Often conceptual work can look like something else. It might be a urinal, a can of shit, or a piece of furniture. Sometimes it may look like a hand-crafted work, but the artist may be following rules she or he set for themselves when they executed the piece.

A case in point could be the Sam Durant lightbox in the previous post. A friend who was with me at the show thought the "We Are The People" text looked similar to the text in a Corita Kent. Sam finds 60's-era photographs of protest marchers, and reconfigures the hand-made plackards in the images into lightbox signage. So the "look" of his work is predetermined by the system he uses to aquire the images.

In works like the Doug Huebler in Index, he posts his "system" next to the images he made, so the evidence that the work is conceptual comes from the text he includes. With other folks like Sharon Lockhart, one would need to be made aware of her system for photographing the kissing children to know that the work has some conceptual foundation.

If a work's conceptual underpinnings isn't evident--and it's included in a show of conceptual art like Index--then it's the curitorial and education departments who dropped the ball. Knowing the sources for the imagery in the Jack Goldsteins and the Bruce Conners would make for a richer viewing experience, and if MOCA wants to frame itself as a responsible caretaker and presenter of contemporary art, then education should be made a bigger part of the mix.

Sphere: Related Content