Editors: Uta Grosenick, Caspar H. Schubbe
Much like the rest of China, Chinese artists have exploded onto the international scene and, the world over, gallery owners, art collectors, museum curators and hipster aficionados are desperately trying to figure out who these unknown artists really are.

Enter Dumont, one of Europe’s premier art book publishers, which has just come out with the groundbreaking China Art Book, the first comprehensive overview of Chinese contemporary art. Edited by Uta Grosenick and Caspar Schübbe, this mammoth tome, weighing in at 670 pages, highlights 80 of the most influential artists from all over the mainland. Most importantly, it does so from a lay perspective. Uta Grosenick, who showed up last month at the HART Center for the Arts in Beijing’s 798 to launch the mighty volume, is a widely-recognized expert of Western art. But she’s only been in China for just over than a year. She came into the scene “feeling stupid, I didn’t know much about Chinese art.” She brings this relative naivete to bear on the complex subject, resulting is a perspective that is informed without fawning.

More importantly, there are no references to famous Western artists, a problem endemic to works purporting to contextualize the Chinese contemporary art efflorescence. Labeling Yue Minjun as the Chinese Andy Warhol obfuscates as much as it contextualizes. Grosenick maintains that “this can limit someone’s perspective on the art.”

Her tabla rasa approach resulted in a broad range of artists chosen for the book. In an art world known for its nepotism, Grosenick is quick to point out that they “only picked from the artists who were already well-known, and used their resumes of exhibitions and publications as a basis, rather than personal preference.”

–Elyse Ribbons

I arrived in a theatre in the round, at Oakland University in Auburn Hills, MI to see Satori Circus’ new performance “Funny as Hell.” The set for the show was simple, a spiral staircase made of steel leading up to a platform surrounded by fabric, with scupltures above.

I was impressed immediately by the feeling created by the scenery, Detroit industrial with a classic sensability. I barely knew who Satori Circus was, just that he was a performance artist, and I enjoyed being surprised by his range of talent.

The show began with music, and a figure behind the fabric, as a shadow show. The music was melodic, and interesting, although hard to follow the words, for the voice was a bit low, I think on the sound board. I heard various other audience members respond behind me with “very nice” and it was true. The imagery, music, and start of the performance was executed excellently.

There were four characters that appeared in each of the four corners of the stage. In my mind, they were the four elements, all represented. I also thought about the concept of different aspects of consciousness in each corner. I found this piece very pensive and melancholic.

Imagery continued to be surprising as the show continued with a woman with a paper bag over her head passing by like the girl in the boxing ring, with titles of the different acts.

I found the drag scene to be very fun.

The voice transitions throughout were intersting as well.

Next, a woman came out and sang a song, “at your side where you stand.” She had an amazing voice and was beautiful dressed as a symbol of the Virgin Mary. I wondered to myself, “why the virgin, and her healing?”

She made prayers while climbing the staircase, beautiful, with the song following as well, spellbinding.

The show was very ecclectic, bringing a 70’s disco feel to the following act. I enjoyed the variety immensely.

There was a tango with a doll, which reminded me of a comedy act from the muppets. Again, adding to the wide variety of types of performance. Satori was always in his dark-clown masked face, with a quality of sadness and again, the melancholic.

As a souped up red wagon arrived to follow, the energy continued to be whipped up throughout the audience, as this wagon was impressively hydraulic, and fun.

As our boxing girl continued to introduce each round, it became clear the connection to the seven deadly sins. I found myself reeled back to various performances in the US and Europe reviving the same idea of the sins and the dark apocolyptic feeling. I thought for as professional and as good as this performance was, I wanted to see some other themes introduced. Truly, though his sense of comedy and tragedy throughout were still impressive, and the modern take on this theme was especially fun.

A reference to Pandora’s box was revealed with a lit box, which i also found impressive as a symbol.

and a surprising cat with a violin was very nice…

And finally an aerial ending, with Satori hanging almost tortured, we don’t get a happy ending, instead, a twisted take on death, and resurrection, angels, and devils in modern day society.

For having been far too long since I saw the show, unfortunately my notes dont return me to the show quite well enough, but the feeling I still have so many months later that I carry with me is that Satori Circus is an impressive performer, with bounds of talent from voice, to movement, original music, and very original ideas. As a creator I expect to see much more, and will no doubt run to see his next performances with curiosity and intrigue as this one is definitely worth seeing.

As a performance artist myself, I was brought back to a sense of a dark Laurie Anderson in the days of “Home of the Brave” when she was edgy and raw, while using music as a change to what performance art has evolved into.

I will avoid using the words “young and extremely talented” more than just this once…

“RUHE BEWAHREN” (”remain/keep calm”) is the title of the first group show by the art group known as “let the children use it” lead by Oliver Guy-Watkins. The show was up for one week from August 12-17 in is Berlin location at Tacheles, with a Vernisagge and Opening Party on the 11th.

Charming VIDEO intro to the artists’ work HERE.

The show features: GARETH CADWALLADER, MATTHEW STONE, LIESEL THOMAS, ADHAM FARAMAWY, JENNIFER MARTIN, and TOM J MASON (all from London) LAN HUNGH (Taiwan), MELISSA FROST (USA), JOAO PAGLIONE (Brazil)and performances from Berlin artists SINDY BUTZ, GABRIEL & DON-DANIEL (Berlin)

The exhibit is currently on its way to New York and Los Angeles… where they are more than likely to recieve a good amount of positive critical acclaim. They have a very fun “let the children use it” BLOG HERE

There is a great article from the NY Times about the new Ullens Center for Contemporary Art opening up in Beijing. I’ve pasted it below as I’m sure that at some point they will require a username and password to request the article…

Personally, I’m really looking forward to the possibilities of a great arts library and just imagine the potential with an auditorium! (Ok, sorry, I’m going to try to hold in my excitement for a wee bit, I promise!). The only shame is that it won’t be open until Nov 2nd, which means that it won’t make it into the last Beijing artWALK of the season.

A Belgian Couple Will Give Beijing a New Home for Contemporary Art

By RANDY KENNEDY
If you wanted to illustrate the increasingly global nature of the money and influence driving the art world these days, you might invent a wealthy Belgian couple who live in, say, Switzerland, and plan to use the money they made selling a collection of English masterworks (Turner watercolors) to establish a center for contemporary art in Beijing, where one early show will probably feature a well-known German artist.

In a telephone interview this week, Baron Guy Ullens, who, with his wife, Myriam, perfectly fits that description — they sold their Turners, the biggest group to come on the market in more than a century, for $21 million this month at Sotheby’s — hastened to add that he was educated mostly in the United States. And that he is also using his money to set up philanthropic programs for children in Nepal.

Baron Ullens, 72, is to be in New York today to announce details of his plans for one of the largest contemporary art spaces in China, now nearing completion in a former munitions complex in the booming Dashanzi warehouse arts district in Beijing. The center, scheduled to open on Nov. 2, will transform two large factory buildings and a collection of smaller ones into as much as 26,000 square feet of exhibition space, with an auditorium and library.

Baron Ullens, who had business interests in China for many years, has collected contemporary and classical Chinese art with his wife for two decades. The goal of the center, he said, is to provide an exhibition space for artists from around the world but particularly for those from China who are less commercially oriented, at a time when the market for Chinese contemporary art is roaring. He said the couple’s plans for the center evolved as their collection grew and as they began to see the Chinese government’s growing receptiveness to contemporary art.

“I think it’s part of their desire to have world-class cities with lots of services,” he said, adding that, especially with the Olympic Games coming to Beijing in 2008, “I think they’re suddenly very proud of many of their artists.”

But the freedom and flexibility of Western art institutions has still not fully arrived. Last year several galleries in the arts district were ordered by government officials to remove paintings, apparently because they dealt with touchy political themes.

Baron Ullens also explained that he and his wife, known as Mimi, would have to operate the center technically as a commercial space, even though they wanted to run it as a nonprofit. Under the Chinese bureaucracy a nonprofit space would have been more closely overseen by the government. Yet in practice, he said, the center — to be called the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art — will be noncommercial.

Asked whether pieces from his own collection would be exhibited — exposure that could help to increase the market value of the pieces, should the couple decide to sell any — Baron Ullens said yes, adding that a show from the collection is planned during the Olympics, to be held Aug. 8 to 24 next year. But he added that the center’s director and curators would be given great latitude to program the space as they see fit and to choose only the pieces they want from his collection.

“We’re going to try to have as little influence as we can,” he said, adding dryly: “Nobody thinks were doing this for the love or the passion. They think we’re doing it for the money.”

“The key question for us is how do you organize it in such a way that is clean and transparent for everyone — that is what we are doing right now,” he said. He added that while he and his wife, who live outside Geneva, were the only backers for the center now, they planned to seek sponsorships and other financial help later. “It’s painful now,” he said, laughing loudly. “It’s just me and Mimi.”

The center is planning a large opening exhibition that will examine the emergence of a new wave in Chinese contemporary art that emerged in the mid-1980s. It is also planning a show with the German artist Rebecca Horn, and Baron Ullens mentioned interest in an exhibition involving Gilbert and George, the irreverent British pair.

Baron Ullens, whose father was a diplomat in China before his son was born, grew up with a deep love of the country instilled in him by his family, which made its fortune in sugar and other food-related companies, including Weight Watchers. When he had a hand in the family’s firm in the 1980s and early ’90s, he traveled constantly to Asia, where he was trying to expand the business.

“We were not too successful,” he said. “In a way that was my weak spot in business. But I started meeting young artists and traveling with them on weekends. It was a golden time really.”

“They were very professional but not at all commercial at that time,” he said. “Some might have been producing 10 pieces a year. There was no market, no Sotheby’s or Christie’s in this field then.”

Now, he said, even with his wealth he can no longer afford some of the most sought-after pieces coming onto the market, from artists like Wang Guangyi and Zhang Xiaogang. And even having a huge, sleek space in Beijing is no guarantee that he will be able to attract those artists and others to take part in shows. “There’s a lot of competition,” he said. “We’re learning, learning every day.”

“The key problem is going to be to keep the quality of the art very high,” he added. “Are we going to be good enough to survive? I don’t know.”

Jon Raasch is an illustrator and writer. His recent work includes short videos using classic pornography set in wind-up stop-motion. These herky-jerky films comment on society’s use of pornography and leave the viewer disoriented in a phantasmagorical slew of vulgar images. The effect is a handshake between William S Burroughs and Ron Jeremy.
FF-So Mr Raasch, tell me how you climbed into the world of pornographic art?
JR-Well, besides the obvious, I have always been interested in the way standards of vulgarity and edginess change over time. Read something by Lenny Bruce and its great, but listen to it and it becomes unbearable, waiting for him to pause for laughs after each curse word.
I also find the whole concept of “pornokitsch” to be absolutely hilarious. People have an undeniable urge to look at nudey pictures, some choose to disguise it as looking at art. Its always so thinly veiled, it really is laughable. So I suppose my goal with my pornographic art is to escape pornokitsch, instead of hiding the pornographic aspects of my work, I embrace them fully. Porn, after all, is really the only media that doesn’t attempt to disguise itself, it hangs right out there like the big vulgar sack of nuts it is.
FF-What is it specifically that you intend to do with these works?
JR-I’d like to webpublish a stop action video of a 70’s porn, perhaps others.
FF-Do you find yourself aroused when working on these pieces?
JR-Rarely. If anything it desensitizes me. I end up dissecting porn and thats enough to put anyone off their mood. Besides, my work isn’t really pornography, true pornography is only a means to an end, while I try to show pornography in a different light. By disrupting its flow, I allow the viewer to notice aspects of it they may have missed otherwise.
FF-What would you do if your parents were to see these?
JR-I wouldn’t mind them seeing anything public, although I doubt they would want to. But let’s not talk about my parents.
FF-What else are you working on?
JRI’m doing a series of illustrations of bad-ass women. Strong women have always fascinated me.
FF-Do you think there is an audience for work like this in Portland?
JR-Hell yeah. One of the McMenamins was showing 3D porn earlier this month. And as long as there is some form of repression there will be a market for pornography. Everyone loves to pop a zit. That’s not a euphemism.
FF-Tell me something fascinating.
JR-At one time sailors suffered from a type of delirium specific to the tropics. They would imagine the sea to be green fields and leap off the boat. It was called calenture.

Anniversary

For folks willing try something off the beaten path, Brenda Norbeck and Josh Ford’s high energy performance piece, “Anniversary,” is a guaranteed good time. Described by the artists as a “sci-fi comedy,” the performance is a playful investigation of 21st century married life. Mixing political satire with a pleasantly bizarre brand of humor, “Anniversary” follows a backwards narrative structure similar to the film, Memento. The piece dramatizes the adrenaline highs and disillusioned lows of marriage against the backdrop of an absurdly high-tech American landscape. The country, rocked by a mysterious terrorist attack, elects its first robot president, and the snack food franchise, Frito Lay, becomes the holy symbol of an emotionless commercial dystopia.

The performance is the couple’s inaugural piece as Session 2, a brand new Atlanta theatre group. Be prepared: the show can be a little disorienting, and like many grassroots-variety performance acts, “Anniversary” runs on a *low* production budget. Keeping that in mind, “Anniversary” is as personal as it is hysterical. Session 2 succeeds in creating an emotionally stimulating, laugh-out-loud experience.

“Anniversary” runs Fridays at 8 and Sundays at 7 from May 11 - June 4 at Blank Stage Theatre, located in the Artisan Resource Center in Marietta. Tickets are $8 at the door. Don’t miss the final weekend performances on June 1 and June 3.

http://www.myspace.com/session_2

Artisan Resource Center

The Artisan space is worth its own mention. Featuring an eclectic handful of Atlanta artists and hosting a number of workshops, performances, and film screenings, Artisan is a venue with a lot of promise. The gallery’s head guy, Brent Brooks, just finished a screening of his original film, Art of Suicide. Filmed primarily in Athens, GA, the movie explores the lives of four struggling art school graduates. Brooks interrogates a number of familiar themes related to death, the “art market,” and “suffering for one’s art.” If the movie could be summarized as a question, it would resemble something like this one:

“Does a great artist like Van Gogh have to commit suicide just to sell a few paintings?”

Brooks plans to take Art of Suicide to film festivals later this year.
http://www.blankstageproductions.com/

*also in Atlanta

Beep Beep Gallery
“Crawl Space” Bryan Westberry - through June 10.

Alcove Gallery
“Broadstrokes: A Showcase of Four Female Painters”
Jenna Colby, Emmy Dudley, Laurel Hausler, & LiShinault
Opens Friday, May 25 7-11pm with music by Cinetrope
Show runs through June 22.

Lenny’s Bar
Youngblood Fundraiser - June 2nd.

Flex Space
“History of the Future Show” - Opens June 8th.

Youngblood Gallery
MINT “Take Flight” - June 7-11, Opens June 9.

Foundation One Gallery
Groundwork - through June 23.
- and
Derek Hess and BASK “Double Vision” - July 7-11
Opens July 14.

**
- Jeremy

Standing in front of a collaborative studio space on DeKalb Avenue, I tossed painter John Tindel a minefield-of-a-question, “What is it about your work that represents the South?” The artist, who was walking with a cane due to an injury last month, returned with a varied response.

“Visually, so much of what we do is experiment,” he answered, “we call it a kind of ‘folk graffiti.’” John Tindel and fellow artist Michi call their collaboration TindelMichi, adding the affectionate tagline, “Two Fat Southern Boys that Paint.” Their work combines regional humor with a flare for commercial design and Pop as well as a healthy taste for old Cadillac convertibles, fried chicken, and Pabst Blue Ribbon. Tindel and Michi’s paintings are as flashy and cosmopolitan as their images are infused with a delicate sensitivity for Southern culture.

For examples, check out the artists’ work on the web. Go to http://www.thecreativelife.com/MAIN/ARTWORK/indexmain.html and click on the thumbnails at left.

The deceptively simple image, CottonMouth Kin, offers the careful viewer a handful of interpretive options. A cow wearing a rather gloomy expression stands with its back to a horizon suggestive of anxieties about the past juxtaposed with the product logos of the commercialized present. The viewer is invited to enter the painting through the cow, whose pink star-shaped mark links it to a silhouette of a Confederate-era steamer in the background. By chance, the symbolism is strangely similar to the star-marked sheep of the novel, A Wild Sheep Chase, by Haruki Murakami.

In Tindel and Michi’s painting, the cow wears its pink star and somewhat droopy angel wings with little mirth. The smoky plume of the ship, which vaguely resembles the historical C.S. City of Vicksburg is inscribed with the crossed-out letters “C-O-N.” Like several of the collaborators’ other works, the piece contains stylistic shout-outs to artists like Basquiat, and in the sky overhead, an eyeball reminiscent of Guernica judges the landscape below. Just as in Picasso’s painting, the innocence of rural livestock - here set off by lime and baby blue – contrasts with the grit of history, held prisoner by that ominous, patriarchal gaze.

“We want so much to create this unique Atlanta art experience,” Tindel elaborates, “we want to take you in, give you food and cornbread, and talk with you and tell stories.” This story-telling process is an important part of the artists’ collaboration. Tindel describes his painting sessions with Michi as “less so much a duel and more of a dialog.” The dialog has a discernable effect on their paintings. Visually impressive, the images also contain dialect puns such as “can’t never could” and “Jackson-Potluck.”

The two artists designed a recent show that centered on the real life story of a mid 20th century Alabama bootlegger. Tindel explains, “We staged this show as if [the bootlegger] was actually the one throwing a party for all of our guests.” Tindel and Michi invited the living descendents of the bootlegger to join the celebration. This dialectic between narrative and art is part of what makes the TindelMichi project unique. The artists have made an effort to use these Southern narratives to energize their openings and events without crossing the line into gimmick.

“There’s a balance between the art and the marketing,” Tindel continues. Still, the two artists like to have a good time. In the past, TindelMichi shows have at various times featured a 1920 Rolls-Royce parked on site, authentic mint juleps (and, of course, PBR), and a buffet complete with 150 pounds of fried chicken.

Tindel, who became a father recently, is looking out for the next change in his style. “I was painting like 18 hours at a time,” he explains, “now I either do tons of little drawings or I paint something over a long period, with very little work each time I sit down.” Having a child, though, does promise to expand Tindel’s repertoire of images. He says laughingly, “One day I’m drawing a helicopter, and the kid says ‘helicopter!’ It’s great.”

- Jeremy
ghostmap.blogspot.com

http://www.thecreativelife.com/MAIN/index.html
http://www.johntindel.com/2005/artwork.htm

***

For those of you new to the Beijing art scene, you may not have heard about the 798 Dashanzi art district, but it will certainly be interesting to artscene-istas from all over the world to learn that this art district is one of the three main tourist attractions in this city. Art, as tourism? This is both a plus and a minus, as its great news to the contemporary Chinese art world that so many people are coming up to these galleries to check it all out, but its a big negative that the place has become so touristy. (so touristy, in fact, that one might see random laowai such as myself posing with the statues that are littered about the place)

Let me take a step back: 798 is actually the name of a road that runs through a large soviet-style factory compound in the Northeast section of Beijing. This factory compound has now been mostly turned over into more than 80 art galleries, as well as Chinese restaurants, European-style cafes, art-house theaters, book stores and more. Its actually my favorite place in the city (and oh, the trees!) and has also been the location for Beijing’s first artWALK. Most galleries feature contemporary Chinese art, though there are often also exhibitions of foreign artists as well.

As with anything in China, there are a lot of politics involved with this area, but it looks now (finally!) as if its here to stay. I’ll save this discussion for another blog entry later… I figured that the best way to introduce everyone to the Beijing art world is to start with 798 and go from there.

~ Elyse

(above: “a few free years” by Jason Rhodes at Hamburger Bahnhof)
Lots of goodness going on around town at the moment.
United Nations Plaza is a white cube of a building located at Platz der Vereinten Nationen 14a, this week there is a series of head-spinning lectures by Liam Gillick titled “Five Short Texts”

I only attended this evening’s talk, entitled Reoccupation, Recuperation, and Aimless Rennovation which began with a rapid-fire re-cap of previous days talks followed by a barrage of new ideas regarding- well, heck, I can’t really summarize it. Ecopolitics, material production and its effect on art production, - anyhow, the talk was fascinating. Bring a notepad, or better yet just by the book so you can spend some time digesting the ideas on your own sweet time.

Great quote though: “Managing your own time and the self-oppression that comes with that” How true.

THe joy of the unitednationsplaza talks is that you are stuck in a room full of unkept and eager souls, mostly Am.English-speakers, and there is a good/tense energy as the room fills with information.

Talks are going on every evening for the rest of the workweek, they begin at 7:30 (show up waaay EARLY, seating is limited)

Also, before it is to late I would highly recommend the ArtNews Projects visiting show from Nosbaum & Reding - Art Contemporain, Luxembourg Show features:
Aline Bouvy / John Gillis
Damien Deroubaix
Tina Gillen
Manuel Ocampo
Assan Smati
Wawrzyniec Tokarski
Klaus Winichner

Mangled and often gorgeous post-pop mutations in sculputre and paint, all on a generous scale, this show is one of the ones that definitely sticks out in the mind of exhibits currently up around town.

It closes on May 12, the gallery is located at Brunnenstr. 190.

Hamburger Bahnhof has a completely badass show up:

“there is never a stop and never a finish” in memoriam of Jason Rhodes, tons of work including two large spaces just full of creepy creepy Paul McCarthy fun. smack in the middle of the lower level (an endlessly and ridiculously long hall) is one of Rhodes’ own installations entitled “A Few Free Years” consisting of a hall-like double row of REAL 80s and 90s arcade games facing each other with only a foot-and-a-half or so to spare for museum visitors to cram themselves in, I currently have most of the tops scores on Galaga so lay off with your cheat codes… well, the joystick sticks anyhow, so good luck with that, -But serously- this is the most engrossing interactive and crowd-pleasing work of art I have seen in many many a year. The security guards literally had to start pulling the plugs to get people to leave as the museum was closing. Ouch, carpal tunnel, ouch.

To sprinkle some cheese on that: “Art “never hurt so good.

Viel spaß, Folks!

Have you ever been to a fetish club? How about tried some B&D? Maybe tied up your lover, with your fuzzy handcuffs, or tie? Well, that was The Exotica Expo. Three fun filled days with booths for your favorite purchases by local and national artisans, Artists to woo you with their charm and whips (and muscles), Performers to dazzle you, and of course Noir Leather to top it all off with a dark “nasty” fashion show that finishes with our favorite fire eating fox Miss Mischief.

http://www.exoticadetroit.com/ (you can look if you’re over 18)

The turnout was excellent, full and more full Friday afternoon and Saturday all day full, full, full. Vena was the lovely charming hostess who rocked everyone’s world with her skills as a beautiful hostess, dressed to the 9’s in lace and corsets.

I personally found the fashion show of Dykes in the City one of my favorites. A bit more down to earth and realistic. I could see myself spending a pretty penny on some of those outfits, where I understand the whip culture well enough to blend in, but it’s not my favorite.

Honestly though, for an adventure and a guaranteed fun time, good music, and great people the night was awesome. The only improvement that i wanted to suggest would be adding some bondage X’s downstairs for those who want to make a show of their own pain, they have a place (or an X) out in the lights, and another in the dark, so the screetches of delight could just be heard over the music pumping from the speakers.  I am just reliving a Torture Garden night in London years ago. It’s all good.

Coming up: May 20th, another Torch with a Twist night at Cliff Bells in Detroit (1940’s Variety Cabaret)

www.cliffbells.com

DetroitKate