slideshow is up April 17, 2006
at the opening of Normal Space @ Flux Factory I had a slideshow running on my computer monitor. the images are from various vectors, and while some of them are years old, I think they all helped lead up to the fabrication of Normal Space.
images of studios I have worked in, or friends and fellow artists, or me buying work at exhibitions!
the slideshow as it is now is as it was at the opening, 147 images and randomly displayed. obviously I have plenty more documentation material available so I will probably be adding to this slideshow over time, but for now you can experience it as it was.
click the image for the slideshow
the door lives elsewhere April 16, 2006
it’s been three days now since the opening of Normal Space and an interesting tidbit of information I haven’t shared until this point is, what did I do with my door?!
As you know, most rooms have doors. My studio is no exception. When I started plotting out Normal Space as a ‘gallery’ (wall), one of my first thoughts was “What do I do with my door?” Obviously I didn’t want to leave it on the hinges, and subsequently loose 3ft. of wall space for the door to stay open during open hours. Pretty simple solution: remove the door off the hinges.
I did exactly that, and moved it into our library/living room where it has been ever since. Three days and nights I have operated without a door, which is a slightly odd feeling never being able to seclude yourself completely or having that signifier for privacy or contemplation available when you need it.
of course I have always considered my door a part of my Space, even if it is on the outside. and having removed it, I have noticed one significant backlash: my studio is significantly colder, especially since it is still getting down to 5C/40F these nights, so once the sun sets it tends to get pretty chilly in Normal Space.
brrrrrrrrrr…
Normal Space aftermath April 14, 2006
the inaugural opening at Normal Space was a great success, judging by the volume of Stolichnaya vodka and Baileys Irish cream I dispensed!
thanks to all the artists I have worked with over the years to make this show possible, thanks to the artists who showed up, and brought along their crowds to what was one of the more-exciting Flux Thursday events in some time.
other thanks are due:
thanks to Jacqueline for working the bar.
thanks to Morgan for getting me those lamps.
thanks to Stefany for the ice.
thanks to Anthony for screening his film.
thanks to Jean and Kerry and Robert for their art and support.
thanks to Emma for the coconut i scream.
thanks again to Jean for the excellent dinner.
I will compile documentation shots soon, and make much of this material available on the web for future reference or access elsewhere.
Normal Space opens! April 13, 2006
it’s here!
artist map April 12, 2006
it’s approaching 2am monday morning and since i’ve pretty much resolved the location of all the work for the show, i’ve gone ahead and sketched out the artist map for the show.
the artist map of course will allow visitors to put name->to->work.
i considered several options for the show no doubt. name labels on the wall are the most obvious option, but as there are already over 20 works on the Space wall, with other works scattered about, the Space is already pretty crowded and name labels i think would have only served to add confusion to the array of works on display.
so i considered writing on the wall, with pencil. while i think this is a nice aesthetic, i didn’t conclude it added anything to the work or the show, and so dropped that option.
i eventually concluded upon a hand-drawn (with pen) map. this was simple as a majority of the works are all located upon a single wall, consolidated, of simple sizes and shapes in relation to each other, and could be simply drawn with annotations of artist names.
i will post the map online after the opening (i just don’t have the time to scan it and do this now), and it will be available at the Space as a letter-sized photocopy for viewers to walk away with.
wines & spirits April 10, 2006
bought the liquor today needed for the opening which is just a few days from now. I decided upon a 1.75L bottle of Stolichnaya vodka and 2x 1L bottles of Baileys Irish cream. these are two of my favorite drinks currently: Stolichnaya I like mixed with some type of juice on the rocks (so I have some cranberry juice and a leftover case of Red Bulls from the FluxBox opening) and Baileys I prefer with just one or two cubes of ice.
The lady at the liquor store is great, she’s an anecdotal queen who can relate just about everything you say to something her mother once told her! she’s fantastic!
I just hope I bought enough.
Risa Puno at Normal Space
Risa Puno is officially added to the inaugural opening of Normal Space @ Flux Factory.
i stumbled upon Risa’s work at the 2006 Scope art fair in NYC. my first interaction with her work was near a door gangway, and her machine suggested something part-insectoid part-retro-space-lander (the ‘bacteriophage’).
i put a quarter in and received a capsule that i have yet to crack open. the plastic is quite tough and suspect i will need to take a hammer to it to get it open (Risa says other people step on them!).
Risa had other work available throughout Scope including a free machine that included hand-written fortune-esque phrases such as ‘I love cowboys’ or my personal favorite ‘I like to take shit apart’.
At the time I did not know these works belonged to Risa, but i was curious enough that i wrote the Scope organizers and requested if they could tell me the artist’s name given my description of the work. They eventually wrote back, informed me it was the work of Risa Puno, and i tracked down her website, which i was pleasantly surprised to see contained an image of me interacting with her previously mentioned ‘Bacteriophage’ dispenser! Great!
I’ve sent an email to Risa inviting her out for the opening. I love the spontaneity of this all.
site back online April 9, 2006
you may have noticed this site went down this past weekend. well it actually went down friday morning, around 4am when a malicious h4x0r (hacker) gained entry to the admin backend of my webhost (telnap.com) and started purging accounts. i was one effected by this action. i had some data backed up but not all, and will work over the next 24 hours to restore this site to its previous capacity, and will detail these events further. right now i need some sleep.
the exhibition opens in less than 4 days, and having to deal with this has been a huge pain, but whatever. as we say in the trade, “d4+ h4x0r SuX0rz”.
no speedo?!
friend and fellow artist Jason Eisner – who is the only artist fortunate enough to have two count ’em two works in the inaugural Normal Space opening – just emailed me that unfortunately he suspects he won’t be in attendance as i requested… in his speedo! he will be here, but with the recent snow his chode is shriveling for salvation. tis a shame, really.
subway word April 3, 2006
Blair Butterfield, a fellow American i met while studying in London, who gave me a test painting over two years ago and who will be making her NYC debut at Normal Space, just emailed me an exciting rumour:
My friend contacted me to say they saw an advert in the subway in NY for the normal space show.
Sounds great!
hope your [sic] well, probably really busy.
Awesome! I don’t know who is responsible for this, but thank you, you rock!
Cassie Thornton – artist statement
Cassie Thornton is a great friend and fellow artist. She’s also a like-minded Midwesterner, and we met in London of all places. I was studying full-time and she was on an exchange and she’s a ball of energy, continuously impressing me.
She just forwarded me her artist statement. As I’m not sure i’ll have the space to display her words, but want to make sure her statement lives on, i thought it appropriate to blockquote her statement here:
The piece adopted by Mr. Nick Normal is of a series of re-modeled utopian communities in the style of Le Corbusier. As I work in this mode, I uncover the contemporary culture of myth that has descended from 20th century governmental and artistic attempts to create a clearly-ordered conceptual foundation to inspire and manipulate the steadily growing disorderly masses. Focused specifically on the utopian ideals of Le Corbusier and their vexed adoption by the French government, I am interested in this last ditch effort to remedy a happy people from the reality of humanity.
To emphasize this idea of tonic culture, I am using mythically healing root vegetables to print the facades of the buildings. A teller of wives tales I know has described to me the properties of root vegetable juice, especially potatoes, as a remedy for fatal sickness. With this in mind, I have used this essence to create a contemporary model for the progress of civilization. I hope to participate alongside Le Corbusier in the thwarting of the corruption of humanity and who have made an actual attempt to oppose monumental forces that they disagree with.
The building adopted by Mr. Nick Normal is a truck stop in the process of printing and building a large structure with the ideals and rules of Le Corbusier. The process started by meticulously carving root vegetables to the specifications of individual window designs of various self contained communities designed by Le Corbusier. In this piece I modelled the shape of the building and the window design to represent Le Corbusier’s residential project designed for and completed in Marseille, France. The mode of social architecture developed for this project is revered by many but equally distrusted and hated by others who relate it to similarly constructed city housing in Paris. Le Corbusier’s complex vision of successful urban living was cyclical: for communities to come into being and support themselves will need to be deeply connected and dependant on nature, but to maintain their existence they must fertilize the world outside of their community with the cultural nutrients that develop within their isolation. I enact this utopian cycle by delivering this small bit of well intended architecture to the doorstep of Nick Normal.
Now you have to come to the opening to see what the work is all about! of course I’ll add an image of all the work after the opening. Cassie’s work is currently one of my favorites: part sculpture, part architecture, part text, a complete work.