I’ve been asked to jury the Dakota State University student art and multimedia exhibt ‘BEADLEMANIA 2008’ this month.
This is exciting.
As you know I’m a big promoter of openness in art and strongly against censorship. I get to put my beliefs to the test and look forward to the challenge.
http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008804050315
Last year I was the victim of a smear job by a Washington Pavilion board member and his VIP friends because I dared to question the the Visual Arts Center policy of jury secrecy. After they made me look like I was wrong in my assessment of censorship, they changed the policy this year anyway, which surprised me.
I’m still waiting for my apology from said board member. Or do you normally take the advice of people you don’t agree with?
Hypocrites Indeed.
Ray Johnson is Dead (Private collection of the Christen Family)
This was the piece that was rejected by a secretive jury in the 2007 Arts Night exhibit. I still do not know the names of the jurors. Rumor has it that their names will be released in an Arts Night 2008 article in the Gargoyle Leader, but I am not holding my breath.
I guess the words ‘Art is Dead’ scared the F#*% out of the jurors. Even though it was set in a postmark and referred to the death of Ray Johnson (who committed suicide) and was famous for making postcard art popular. Silly me, to expect jurors to know something about art or artists.
Saturday some friends and I took our dogs down to the prison yard fenced off Japanese Gardens at Terrace Park in Sux Falls and watched kids poke the dead carp in Covell Lake.
What’s up with that stupid ugly fence anyway? I swear, the way they blow tax money in this town baffles me.
For the first time, Mark Chervinsky’s Josh “Shag†Agle documentary, The Sophisticated Misfit is available for your viewing pleasure on DVD.
The Sophisticated Misfit is a four-year exploration of the world of Shag, the unlikeliest of Los Angeles artistic icons. His work doesn’t reflect the multicultural urban milieu of contemporary Los Angeles, but rather an entirely different era. Think post-World War II boom years, suburban tracts sprawling across the landscape, Disneyland opening its doors, and designers embracing the space-age motifs of the Sputnik and the mission to the moon. Shag’s world is one of early 1960s furniture, sprawling ranch houses, built-in wet bars, and jet-set style.
With special features that include a never before seen Paul Frank tour of his old Huntington Beach workshop and a day with Shag’s silk-screener Jeff Waserman as he makes Shag’s print Well Hung, this is one documentary that won’t put you to sleep! Purchasing details and more info at www.smee.tv.
l3wis 