Puddle Me This

On the solstice I posted a picture of a frozen puddle that I keep scrolling back to. I had never thought much of the picture-making potential of puddles, even after reading Kaja Silverman's book that argues why photography has been with us prior to the invention of the camera, but I do now.

A small depression filled with water produces an image of whatever enters its field. Once frozen, its surface is no longer reflective of what enters that field, but of the conditions (shifts in temperature, wind, etc.) that forms its contours. Not what the puddle is seeing, as Silverman emphasizes, but what, as the "vibrant matter" people suggest, it is feeling.

Until the 20th century, Art was concerned with the making and appreciation of physical objects (pantings and sculpture). Then, in the early years of that century, the re-assignment of purpose-built utilitarian objects as Art (the ready-made), and later, written instructions as and towards the making of an art object (conceptual art) or a gesture (performance art).

In the early-21st century it was recognized (formalized?) that human relationships form the basis of artistic activity ("relational aesthetics") and can manifest in extremes, from the affirmation/decoration of our world (false consciousness?) to a critique of unequal social relations (hetero-patriarchy, slavery, racism, colonialism, social class disparities, resource extraction...). 

In the mid-20th century, Adorno argued for the autonomous art object (art that is not in the service of humanist imperatives, but to be judged on its own terms, autonomously). More recently, scholars inspired by Kant have argued for objects that exist independent of human perception ("object-oriented ontology"), of which some indigenous artists (Tania Willard) have made art "with" and written ""on" (see Willard's excellent essay in Presentation House's Nanitch exhibition catalogue).

Looking once again at this frozen puddle I accept that its author might well be the Maker, but that's not the whole story. It is the eyes that Art, in all its histories, has given us that allow us to keep thinking about it, return to it, as we would return to a well on a hot summer's day.

Drafting, Photography, Design

The first known photograph of a figure at an outdoor drafting table (above).

The Multitouch Drafting Table of today.

Protectionistas

A Capp Street board member complains that the program isn't paying enough attention to local (Bay Area) artists and shortly after that the head curator is laid off. The next scheduled artist cancels, as does the current artist.

The late Okwui Enwezor left San Francisco because he, too, couldn't stand the unsolicited input of local "builders".

A look at the Capp Street board reveals three people, one of whom -- the Founder + Chair of the Board of Trustees -- begins her bio like this: "Carlie Wilmans has deep roots in the arts, with ancestors who played an active part in the California art scene dating back to the Gold Rush."

(Note to self: Google "california gold rush art scene")

And what have we here, in Canada?

Noted warmonger/stooge/former U.S. president and artist George W. Bush is offered an exhibition of his soldier portraits at the Canadian War Museum and he accepts. Among the first reports is an "Opinion" piece from Globe journalist Kate Taylor, who concludes her article with this: “If you wanted to witness the work of Canada’s Afghanistan veterans, there are professional Canadian photographers who might rise to the challenge of telling portraiture. An American hobbyist’s mediocre political exercise has no place in the Canadian War Museum.” 

"Peaceful, Easy Feeling" (1972)

I was never much of an Eagles fan growing up. But since the band was popular when I was looking to popular music for clues about the world I was growing up in, their popularity told me something about what people enjoyed listening to when listening to popular music.

The passing of Eagle Glenn Frey has me hearing snippets of Eagles' songs every time I start up my car or turn on the radio. The song most news agencies are playing is "Peaceful, Easy Feeling"(1972), and in hearing its first lines (I like the way your sparkling earrings lay/ Against your skin, it's so brown) I am reminded that Tiziana La Melia has a performance at the CAG this January 26, 7PM that "enacts a professional photo shoot for a set of earrings designed by the artist."