1.31.2008

Got Drift-Wood?


Bleu Nature Driftwood Lamps

by Ali Kriscenski
www.inhabitat.com


Bleu Nature designs revolve around the tides, so to speak. Every year, an annual beachcombing for driftwood supplies the material central to their collection of home furniture and accessories. This year’s bounty of driftwood designs, which was shown at Maison & Objet, is revealed in pronounced curves, polar whites, and wave-washed stones and timber.

For over a decade, Bleu Nature has combined French craftsmanship with the found object to create unique, organic pieces for the home. Based on driftwood, the furniture, lighting, and accessories also incorporate hemp, pebbles, stones, flat rocks, raw linen, boiled wool, and petrified wood.

The materials are mostly raw and unprocessed, lending a natural feel to the collection. From beach to bedroom, each piece is an encounter with nature and the “l’esprit matière.” Design elements mimic natural shapes, like the elliptical Kuukku lamp pictured at the top. All of Bleu Nature lamps, wall sconces, and luminaries edge on a contemporary look, but retain the aged qualities of the materials, creating warm, intimate indoor environments.

Sold exclusively to businesses and design professionals.

+ Bleu Nature
+ Maison & Objet

From the Muses


From the Muses
2 influential Photographers visit the Valley

Growing up, Allen Ginsberg’s words spoke with a sense of knowledge and urgency. “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix.” They climbed off the page and gripped at those raw heartstrings that seemed so tangled in my chest. They evoked anger, inspired creation but most of all they completely eluded me. I loved the words, the way the rolled together, the shadow play of black on white dancing across the page as my innocent eyes took in their mystical shape but I didn’t know why. It wasn’t until almost ten years later that I could completely comprehend and appreciate their form. And initially, every art form (be it sculpture, painting, photography or whatever,) has had a similar effect. They stir something inside, even if its unclear at the time why or how.

Photography, while drastically newer than prose or poetry, is still an art form that can grip the soul and inspire motivation, apathy, and love just as strongly. And because of this newness, it is still possible to lay witness to the formation of such a powerful form. History always seems like such a dry word until it is applied to something you love and for those so moved by Photography, now is an exciting time in the valley. Two show in particular, are gracing the gallery walls of the valley, different in shape and emotion they are in the same form. Both retrospective and iconic these shows represent Photography’s development through its formative years.

After decades of struggle with race, gender, sexuality and self, Lyle Ashton Harris came to us at a time when we as a people were growing conscious of our different identities. Harris’s work began with portraiture, more often than not, placing himself as the object, but not the subject. Stepping deftly through the minefields of stigma and prejudice he embraced the elements of life that made up the self and exposed them, using himself as a canvas. Anna Deavere Smith wrote that, “Lyle’s work questions the meaning of maleness and femaleness, not to mention of blackness and whiteness…”. His exhibition Lyle Ashton Harris: Blow Up opens Feb 8th at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Arts. While containing images of his acclaimed portraiture, Blow up will debut Harris’s most recent body of work incorporating photojournalistic styled pieces inspired by his experiences in Ghana. The exhibit will include a large-scale wall collage consisting of video, images and found materials. From his iconic representation of Billie Holiday and the controversial passion of The Caress to his socio-political commentary this is a journey through the career of a Photography trailblazer that should not be missed.

When it comes to one’s love of Photography, its not necessarily the love of the shape that’s important. More so, it’s the love of the form. As Aristotle reminds us, form is not shape. “The wood that becomes a chair as a result of human productivity takes on a form- the form of chairness- that it did not have before the maker transformed it.”1 And like carpenters crafting wood in the form of a chair, Photographers have crafted images into the form of photographs. It’s not the process, or the shapes that dictate a picture’s “photographness,” it’s the form. So to fully appreciate and love a form, one must pay respect to those pioneers of modern photography, for they are the craftsman who took heed from the muses and grasped the immaterial and carved it into what we know today.

Another body of work, so epic in our Pop culture society that it must have been shot through the eye of Calliope(2) herself, is that of legendary fashion photographer Richard Avedon. Cementing his legacy early on, Avedon began his career after being discovered by the director for Harper’s Bazaar. Soon he was working with such high caliper magazines as Vogue and Time. While continuing with his work in the high paced world of pop and fashion, photographing icons such as Bob Dylan, the Beatles, and Audrey Hepburn, Avedon struck out into other fields of photography. While social change in the late 60’s and early 70’s provided much in the way of photojournalism, it was his love of portraiture and its ability to capture the soul that led him to create intimate photo’s of some of the worlds most influential people. Richard Avedon: Photographer of Influence will explore his evolution as artist and display his brilliance in both fashion, and portraiture. Listed in American Photo Magazine’s “top 100”, Richard Avedon is the quintessential photographer to the stars. Running now through April 13th at the Phoenix Art Museum, this is a show to see despite your love or hate relationship with Fashion and Pop culture.

To us, change represents the presence of time. Without it there would be no history, no forward or backward. To bear witness, in a lifetime, to the history of an Art Form is a gift in itself from the Muses and should be cherished. Richard Avedon and Lyle Ashton Harris are by no means the Alpha or Omega, but they are there now for your eyes, important figures in the changing history of an evolving art form

1 Aristotle for Everybody
2 meaning the 'beautiful of speech': chief of the muses and muse of epic or heroic poetry

Richard Avedon: Photographer of Influence
Phoenix Art Museum
Now – April 13th 2008
www.phxart.org

Lyle Ashton Harris: Blow Up
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Arts
Feb 8th – May 27th
Opening Reception Feb 8th 5:30pm

Other events
First Friday Art Walk
Feb 1st 6- 10 pm
50+ Galleries displaying local and national artwork.
Live entertainment
Downtown Phoenix
Visit www.artlinkphoenix.org for more details.

Project Mayhem


Project Mayhem
A city divides over Public Sculpture, Again.

Public art in the Valley has a spotty past at best. From the much-debated Pots on the 51, to the Patriot Park laser project, there has been controversy, name calling, and lots of finger pointing. When the proposal for Janet Echelman’s $2.4 million jellyfish-esque sculpture hit the table, the once-bitten, twice-shy public spoke up in outrage. But this shouldn’t have come as a surprise; public art will always be controversial. In fact it was the controversy of the Pots by an out-of-state artist that brought national attention and launched Deborah Whitehearst and Gretchen Freeman from their positions as director of the Phoenix Arts Commission and the chairman of the Art in Public Places respectively, into high-profile private consulting, leaving the commission bruised and broken.
However, unlike the 1980s Tilted Arc controversy in New York, or the phallic tower controversy of Paris circa 1889, Phoenix’s Jellyfish feud isn’t centered mostly on location or aesthetics. Much of the naysaying comes from two groups, the artists and the anti-artists.
Many complaints, from the delusional and ill-informed, come in the form of the complete dismissal of arts cultural impact on the city. One lovely statement comes from the director of the Arizona Federation of Taxpayers. In an article in the Jan. 1 Phoenix Business Journal, Director Tom Jenney is quoted saying that “Citizens should pay for arts projects and arts space voluntarily out of their own funds.” According to many of those in agreement with Jenney, the money should be allocated for more “essential” issues such as crime. Perhaps a new anti-aircraft tank for Sheriff Arpaio, or maybe darling pink jumpers for our friends in Tent City would be more appropriate. Clearly, Jenney and the AFT haven’t heard of the city’s-mandated Percent for the Art Program.
Established in the early ’80s, the Percent for the Art Program, which can also be found in almost EVERY major, culturally rich city, mandates that 1 percent of the construction budget for any City of Phoenix public projects be set aside for public arts. That money would then be directed into culturally stimulating projects decided on by a committee of residents, developers, financiers and professionals in the realm of art and design. According to the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture, “Funding for the Civic Space project DOES NOT include funds from the city’s general purpose budget. Monies from the general purpose fund are used for city services such as police and fire, parks, libraries and senior centers.”
Despite the original intention of the Percent for Art Program, the committees have become distorted. According to public artist Clarke Riedy, “While the written purpose of the commission was to include the public in the design review process, the actual process was always slated heavily toward collaborative interaction between the developers, architects and city planners rather than the residents of areas directly impacted by the projects.”
After reclaiming the skeleton of downtown from the ghost of urban sprawl, Phoenix did what Phoenixes do best, it rose again. Local artists moved in and opened galleries and stores and formed committees to protect what they built. They poured their souls into the city with abandon. While their efforts enriched their lives and birthed culture in a city so new, yet so empty, they were not the ones who profited. Again, an out of state artist was chosen for a major installation.
District 4 Councilman Tom Simplot was among many in the committee who supported Echelman’s sculpture. In a study titled Arts and Economic Prosperity III, he is quoted saying “A community investment in arts and culture improves its quality of life, making the community more livable place.” This is a strong and well-crafted statement from a man who has done so much for the community. But many in the community find it hard to believe that this sculpture is an investment in arts and culture at all.
While it’s true the Office of Arts and Culture list any artist search on their Web sites, there is little to no publicity for these searches. The lack of exposure, whether intentional or not, causes low submissions and justifies “international” artist searches. In all fairness, international artists draw international publicity. But to the people who have gotten so little back for what they have put in, it seems as if Phoenix is simply buying a name like one would buy a piece of couture. Like a flashy car or an expensive pair of shoes, this sculpture is an investment into the city’s image, not its arts and culture community.
Associate AIA Doctoral candidate Effie Bouras poses several questions on public art that help bring the argument into perspective. “What one should ask themselves with respect to public art is, does it speak to the loci of its context? Does it emulate the history/ successes, even struggles, of a place? Does it speak to its inhabitants and communicate to those not native to the area?” And it seems to many, the answer to those questions is no. How can an artist from Boston, creating a sculpture similar to one she created in Portugal and New York speak for the city of Phoenix? How can an adolescent city, striving to form its own identity, do so when it only does what is done everywhere else? Bouras continues, “Whether we think something is aesthetically beautiful or not is besides the point; one seeks to communicate through art, without this communication art fails at its most fundamental level.” And it seems soon, Phoenix will have a 65-foot tall amorphous monument to this failure.

1.03.2008

In the begining there was RGB

Hello and welcome. The Pantone Pen is a visual arts and design blog designed to correspond with the bi-weekly column of the same name found in Echo Magazine. (www.echomag.com) Each issue I will post articles, interviews, pictures and reviews written and organized with Echo's readers in mind. While everything printed in the Echo column will be written by me, this blog will have more flexibility allowing me to post more photo's and articles I find relevant as well as my visual rantings. I am always open to story ideas. I can't be everywhere at once so if you know of something I don't, feel free to send me some info.

Comments, criticism, press releases and story ideas can be sent to:

Dann Dykas
Echo Magazine
3815 N. 3rd st.
Phoenix, AZ 85012
dann@echomag.com
p: 602-266-0550
f: 602-266-0773