Susan and Kurt

pipilotti rist — one of my favorite artists

2011-12-26T10:33:00.000-05:00

Willem DeKooning talks about the absurd, Paul McCarthy is...

2011-12-23T10:30:00.000-05:00

Tom and James do some hard work!

2011-12-21T09:56:00.004-05:00

Tom Sachs new paintings and sculptures at Sperone Westwater remind us of the creativity of artists and the laborious work that goes into the creation of an art object. It also showcases the totally groovy way artists use materials and techniques like resin or pyrography, where "paint strokes" are burned and etched into wood.

His cultural iconography from McDonalds to James Brown addresses the conception, production, consumption and circulation of modern-day stuff.

My favorite seen here is "James Brown’s Hair Products" (2009) and relates to color studies by artists such as Albers and Richter.

There's also a nice interview in "Huffpo" with lots if pix. See Keeping Time With Tom Sachs: An Interview With the Artist .

Fusion — Fashion, Art and my Closet

2011-11-14T16:16:00.009-05:00

I recently went to a lively panel on collecting art. The panel was created by Annika Connor, an artist entrepreneur.

It made me think about collecting to understand the business from the other side and precipitated some new art purchases for me. It also reinforced my own cheap collecting strategy, that of buying art books that interest me. Having them around and studying them and then selling them is cheap thrills that may pay off big time. One book, I bought for $3 , I later sold for $1200. See my post Art $$$ in a Down Economy if you want the story.

The next panel coming up on Wednesday November 16 (Yes, that's this Wednesday) is on art and fashion —two subjects dear to my heart and my closet. I expect it to be as enjoyable as the last. In addition to lively discussion, they promise (and deliver) complementary cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. It is taking place at General Assembly in the Flatiron District. Featured panelists are: Patrick McMullan, Photographer and founder of Patrick McMullan Company; Austin Scarlett, Fashion Designer & Project Runway Star; and Bill Indursky, co-founder of VandM.com.

The Fusion of Fine Art and Fashion is the third a monthly discussion series on Art as Entrepreneurship which Active Ideas Productions (Annika's entrepreneurial enterprise) produces. Tickets are $30 General Assembly is located at: 902 Broadway, 4th Floor, New York, 10010

New Techniques in Video

2011-11-10T20:45:00.004-05:00

live datamoshing and facial recognition

a different kind of facial from oneseconds on Vimeo.

oneseconds: having a different kind of facial from oneseconds on Vimeo.

Nom Wah — Patterned for Success

2011-11-03T05:42:00.001-04:00

Continuing my partnering with Linda Tharp in the artist as entrepreneur thread, we met over lunch at Nom Wah tea parlor on Doyers Street. It was a homecoming of sorts, my father used to take us here every sunday in the 1950s and 1960s. It has been newly freshened up (and the Dim Sum was good) but I was happy to see it has retained the old along with the new, entwining the only seemlingly random patterns of life.

Churchified

2011-11-02T06:41:00.001-04:00

In the last year I have been painting like (and copying) Frederic Church as an exercise to enrich my own painting practice. Now it seems as if anywhere I go the world is "churchified."

Fit to be Cable Tied

2011-11-01T03:44:00.001-04:00

Use 'em for bags, bundles, hand cuffs and art.

"Flaming Cactus” is an art project by ANIMUS Art which has been installed in Astor Place. It’s made by wrapping plastic neon-colored cable ties around light poles to transform them into hairy urban cacti!

Gotta love 'em!

For more views, not by me but lovely,,,

All Hallow's Eve in Art School

2011-10-31T11:07:00.001-04:00

The Street Snap

2011-10-29T06:45:00.001-04:00

... depends on the street. These are both "street" snaps I took this year. Location, location, location.

The Mysteries of Life

2011-10-27T09:00:00.002-04:00

This is a image of my mother, Dr. Evelyn Shaw, taken before I was born. She was a scientist, a writer of children's (I like Alligator) and adult science books, a researcher, a writer of scientific papers, a TV star (on Mr Wizard among others) and an ardent Feminist (check out her book Female Strategies, containing advice on mating and then biting his head off).

I love this photo because I have no idea what's in the strange murky snapshot she is holding. Is it a horseshoe crab upside down?, skate's egg case? one of her experiments with fish eggs? myself in utero? (too early for that , i think), or something else entirely? I bet I'll never find out from the snap within the snap but I love that it returns me to the moment in childhood where one's parents were as powerful and mysterious as the stars.

Brooklyn Bridge #2

2011-10-26T06:00:00.002-04:00

video installation?

2011-10-25T09:50:00.000-04:00

The security camera across the platform was a no less sublime example of a video installation. Supremely unintended?. Perhaps called ,"he/she who waits..."

Andy Confluent

2011-10-24T09:00:00.000-04:00

You know about my obsession with Andy Warhol...well, it's gotten stranger and more connected in odd ways than ever.

Now there is a silver Andy monument by Rob Pruitt right outside my window, where I used to see Andy himself everyday coming and going from Interview magazine...and my studio is neighbor to the Silver Factory which was his studio. (For a chronology of Andy and his players)...and now in Andy's honor I always wear the fragrance from Bond No. 9, Silver Factory...

...and last weekend I met a lovely artist, Madelyn Roehrig, who talks to Andy Warhol at his grave and who started filming people at the gravesite talking to Andy...which turned into...a work of art. November 5 at the Warhol—Madelyn Roehrig's Figments: Conversations with Andy: Year I & Year II (2009-11), with live music by Meeting of Important People, Dave Olson, and Uke & Tuba.

Brooklyn Bridge #1

2011-10-19T17:39:00.003-04:00

I go for the Coffee...

2011-10-19T17:38:00.017-04:00

...but stay for the friendship.

Linda Tharp and I have become pacing partners in the world of art. Taking a concept from the "straight" or not-art business world, we are helping each other to move our art careers forward.

This involves keeping honest to the goals we just created as part of the Artist as Entrepreneur Boot Camp (more about this later) at the New York Foundation for the Arts.

Linda and I are very different types of people and very different types of artists. This partnering has the effect of making us both stronger. As well, I feel we are at the beginning of a new art movement. Not defined, by painting style or concept, but by a new way that artists view themselves and how artists view their place in and their value to the world.

...and the coffee is good and hot and attractive.

Conceptual

2011-10-19T17:37:00.001-04:00

Oblique Directions

2011-10-19T17:29:00.000-04:00

Unfinished Business

2011-09-22T14:42:00.010-04:00

This video turned up as part of a course I am taking on Abstract Expressionism. It is provocatively symbolic. It announces the room where the Rothko's given to the Tate by Rothko will hang, without showing any of the works.

The backstory is this... Rothko repudiated his agreement to provide 600 square feet of paintings for the the new Four Seasons restaurant at the Seagram Building in New York. Rothko later gave nine of the paintings that he had intended for the Four Seasons to the Tate, insisting on an exclusive room for his paintings. On the morning he died, after slitting his arms, creating a a pool of blood roughly the same size as and as abstract as his own paintings, the works arrived at the Tate.

At the request of Rothko, The Tate, like the Phillips Collection, has created a special room to view the works. This video was created to announce the "Room."

We might all agree the color and luminosity of Rothko's works have a transformative power. As distillation of human experience, his works are not just abstract exercises. So...can this video be re-contexturalized as a post modern abstract exercise? An "abstracted" commentary, devoid of color, luminosity, and human experience, on the packaging of art?

Stripped of all content, yet referencing it, Rothko repackaged and absent — an unfinished installation and unfinished Beethoven too. How modern can you get?

We're back...NEW NEW NEW

2011-09-19T13:02:00.003-04:00

John Kilduff paints while jogging on a treadmill, blends a drink and takes your calls live! NEW NEW NEW media!

It woulda been nice...

2011-02-15T04:03:00.002-05:00

It would have been nice if Google's valentine of yesterday had used the opportunity to pay homage to Robert Indiana. Indiana is the artist who first created the famous "LOVE" block. You know, the one that's been riffed on time and time again. Google could have used the opportunity to promote how an artist, and what he/she does can enrich our lives.

At the very least, I hope Google paid him, or that Indiana put it out there for anyone, royalty free etc. to use. Otherwise, he might have to sue them using the Carter Kustera idea of "commercial confusion." ...a whiff of Eau de Litigation in the air, sounds like a modern romance to me.

A valentine for you from Susan and Kurt!

2011-02-14T01:29:00.001-05:00

A Humble Performance

2011-01-17T21:13:00.003-05:00

My son Nemo recently sent me a link to a site where I can see him drawing in real time. Is there a future of art where the collector can be a participatory voyeur? SMSing as the piece emerges? Performance art unintention? It feels humbling to see his courage in letting others in to the process.

Watch live streaming video from neemoh at livestream.com

Secret Language

2010-12-03T03:39:00.001-05:00

Abstract painters always seem to talk about painting as language and the individuality of mark making. I have come to enjoy the secret coding of the walls and sidewalks of New York. These particular ones are clustered in Chelsea.

Happy Chanukah!

2010-12-01T17:27:00.005-05:00

Tonight is the first night of Chanukah so I thought I send you some "cards" and a video. Mixed metaphors or just post modern? Art will light the way.

Opening of/at the Lower East Side Visitors Center

2010-11-24T10:24:00.005-05:00

Last night was the opening of the Lower East Side Visitors Center at 54 Orchard. I was very pleased to be exhibiting both paintings and prints as one of the featured artists. This is one of my appropriately new york centric paintings in the show. Below some snaps from the event: the gallerist Mark Miller ribbon cutting, myself with Senator Daniel L. Squadron and Councilman Daniel R. Garodnick, and with Speaker of the New York State Assembly, Sheldon Silver.

Art Gals!

2010-11-18T01:07:00.001-05:00

I belong to an artist's professional group that meets monthly, the New York Artist's Circle. We exchange tips, discuss business issues and more. These are two of the outstanding artists in the group, Barbara Ellmann and Gwyneth Leech. Gwyneth and Barbara are holding some of Gwyneth's "coffee cup" drawings. You can see others on her blog, Gwyneth's Full Brew.

Margrit Lewczuk - A visit

2010-11-17T01:46:00.001-05:00

This past Saturday I went gallery hopping in Williamsburg (Brooklyn) and one stop of the day was to see the work of Margrit Lewczuk. She was at the gallery and gave some time to speaking with us. I love her work so wanted to share the experience with you...courtesy of YouTube here it is:

A red, blue, green and yellow Herring

2010-11-16T09:47:00.014-05:00

Oliver Herring's recent show at Meulensteen was vastly entertaining. Part happening, part exhibition, part people spitting paint. I went a few times to see the evolution, layer on layer, an artist's form of reality TV or is that just what we fondly remember as reality?

Banksy, Banksy, Banksy

2010-10-14T02:01:00.003-04:00

If you haven't seen Banksy's exuberant Exit through the Gift Shop try to see it. A rogue and picaresque journey. Even includes a cameo appearance by Shepard Fairey. And now...Banksy does a dark and scary intro to...The Simpsons. Art and Entertainment's mutant child.

Fairfield Porter

2010-10-12T02:29:00.002-04:00

This summer I saw a small and lovely Fairfield Porter show at the Michael Rosenfeld gallery. I loved seeing Porter's quintessential summer light.

I was especially fascinated by his portraits. "Chris, Sarah, Felicity" a group of three teenagers and "Laurence in Two Lights" (seen here). You get the feeling of personality but it is subsumed in Porter's painterly approach. The painting is the subject here which gladdens my heart.

I often struggle with this issue. How much of the subject must be revealed or remain? More on this later, off to the studio, Porter always makes me want to paint.

Oh Brave New World

2010-10-11T14:07:00.008-04:00

It's Columbus Day and I've been thinking about new worlds real and virtual. This holiday was designated by President Benjamin Harrison in 1892, four hundred years after Columbus' discovery of what we now call America.

Yet, here I sit in my new world of Cyberspace, trying to buy a bed through the seductively vivid universe of online shopping, landing in the country of IKEA, asking a simple question about whether Lade Bed Slats will fit in a Malm bed, and instead I get a verbal slap from the charming virtual Anna.

Is it my unfamiliarity with the New World's Cyber speech that offends? Is this not a polite topic in the new world? Netizens, I ask for help and understanding. Like Columbus, perhaps I can leave you a virus in return. Laurie Anderson did say, "language is a virus." Didn't she?

Pepsi Fizzle

2010-10-06T09:36:00.006-04:00

Hi,

Just wanted to say thanks to all of you who took the time to vote for me on the Pepsi Website. We didn't make it into the top ten to receive funding from Pepsi. BUT...Videos on Broadway will continue. We still have our one glorious night through funding from the Puffin Foundation. As well, I am currently seeking more grant funding.

The exposure was terrific, making more people aware of the project. Here's a Kurt photo to make you smile.

THANK YOU ALL!!!!!

...and remember there is still an OPEN CALL for Videos on Broadway.

Stressed out too?

2010-10-05T08:57:00.006-04:00

Running around like crazy. Trying to get stuff done. Trying to relax while doing it. Here's an image with objects to ponder helping the process along.

...and remember OPEN CALL for Videos on Broadway.

My Neighborhood!!!!!

2010-09-29T02:20:00.002-04:00

You know you live in a strange place when this is how they they set up the pedestrian signage. Not so pedestrian, eh?

The Coney Island Film Festival

2010-09-27T20:18:00.007-04:00

Yeah, It was a blast. Especially opening night, enthusiastic screeners, side show, burlesque and more. My brother came up from D.C.and...we really enjoyed the other films especially the ones about Coney Island itself. One film about neophyte fire eaters made us think we should try it ourselves, there's always the side show school...or maybe not.

Up Coming, Two Events!!

2010-09-22T13:05:00.004-04:00

Two Events!!

#1

My film, Gizmo Kaleidoscope, is showing on Sunday 2 p.m. at the Coney Island Film Festival as part of Program 13. It should be a nice day for the boardwalk, the beach, some knishes or dogs and a film.

Hope to see you there.

#2

I'll be speaking about the creative process at the B&H Event Space in October
Susan Shaw: Grist for the Mill
Tuesday, October 19, 2010 | 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM

AND...voting is still open for the my project, Videos on Broadway in Pepsi Refresh Project. Please click and vote every day. Thank you!!!

Road kill...it's that kind of a day

2010-09-20T02:57:00.002-04:00

Now might a similar artwork consist of snotty dealers, mean curators and grandstanders? Hmmm...

Pepsi Refresh Reminder - Please vote!

2010-09-18T13:29:00.003-04:00

I'm very excited to be asking your support by voting online for a new project of mine, Videos on Broadway. We're finalists in the Pepsi Refresh Project, and we stand to get significant funding if we receive lots of daily votes by September 30.

The way it works is every day you get 10 votes to help 10 organizations. Just go to this url: http://www.refresheverything.com/videosonbroadway or from your cell phone: Text 102152 to Pepsi (73774) (standard rates apply) or start off or post elsewhere with the Pepsiwidget below.

The first time you'll have to register, it takes two or three minutes. After that you can vote in seconds. Just keep on voting for us every day, and we'll be funded and you can use your other daily votes to help some other good causes.

We already have a starter grant from the Puffin Foundation, and we've run a prototype with great success (see details below). With Pepsi we can make Videos on Broadway a regular event.

If the project looks like something you'd really like to support, try to vote for it every day from here until the end of September. We really stand a good chance!

For more on the project itself, including video, go to: www.videosonbroadway.com

We are incredibly excited about this opportunity, and we hope that, thanks to your voting and the grant from Pepsi, we can present videos from all over the world to the sidewalk-walking public from our storefront window at Union Square for many months to come.

And of course, for all you video artists out there...remember we have an OPEN CALL to participate in our projections.

Focus on Kurt #5

2010-09-17T02:00:00.004-04:00

Disco Religion

Remember OPEN CALL for Videos on Broadway.

Still Lives

2010-09-15T02:55:00.005-04:00

Here are some of Kurt's images of a dysfunctional family that call to mind the photographs of Bernard Faucon. The human obsession with the humanoid is always interesting. When poking around for this entry I discovered a whole site devoted to manikin photography, Fantomatik. And not to think this is too strange a current exhibition, The Original Copy: Photography of Sculpture, 1839 to Today at MOMA, The Museum of Modern Art, has an entire room dedicated to these issues/obsessions.

Remember OPEN CALL for Videos on Broadway.

Two planets...you know what they are...

2010-09-12T05:48:00.002-04:00

Many times Kurt and I independently photograph the same things. Recent examples:

Remember OPEN CALL for Videos on Broadway.

Focus on Kurt #4

2010-09-11T02:06:00.000-04:00

City lights...

Remember OPEN CALL for Videos on Broadway.

The Pepsi Refresh Project — Good News for Videos on Broadway

2010-09-08T17:04:00.000-04:00

Patterning

2010-09-08T02:00:00.002-04:00

Just went to the Charles Burchfield show at the Whitney. Interestingly, at one time Burchfield worked as a designer at a wallpaper factory in Buffalo, New York, using his fascination with nature in the service of home decoration.

His wallpaper reminded me of a subway train I saw earlier this year. The whole train exterior had been patterned to advertise Target. It was slick and beautiful. Imagine if artists and surface designers were asked to do all the trains. What a phantasmagoria that would be.

Here's a blog I came across that features some stellar surface designers.

Remember OPEN CALL for Videos on Broadway.

The Girl Who...

2010-09-07T09:14:00.002-04:00

In these last warm days, I've been going out to see the Yankees a lot. In fact, I'm going tonight. At the game, my baseball buddies throw statistics and player stories back and forth. I have my particular favorite. If you want to stump most fans ask them if they know the name of Jackie Mitchell.

In 1931, the New York Yankees stopped in Chattanooga for an exhibition game. It was a huge event due to the appearance of "Murderers Row". Fans, reporters and photographers all turned up. Jackie Mitchell stepped up on to the mound to face the first batter, the "Sultan of Swat," Babe Ruth! A neophyte player with only 1 pitch, a "sinker," Mitchell used it to good effect. Mitchell struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig back to back. Ruth was especially angry at the strike out and threw his bat around etc.

The next day Baseball Commissioner Landis banned Miller from playing pro ball. It was big news in the New York Times even back then in 1931. Why did all this happen? Because Jackie Mitchell was female.

Jackie continued her career anyway, pitching in exhibition games and in 1933, she signed on with the House of David, who were characterized by long hair and beards. Mitchell stayed with them until 1937, but eventually became disenchanted. Who wants to play an inning while pitching on the back of a donkey? She quit at the age of 23.

She's my baseball hero. Now where's my Jackie Mitchell baseball card?

Francoise Gilot

2010-09-06T02:45:00.001-04:00

Thinking back to good things about last year. I saw the artist who started me on my artistic path at the age of twelve, Francoise Gilot.Here I am at Francoise Gilot's opening at BLT Gallery. Below is one of her gorgeous monotypes.

Just the Way You Like It..

2010-09-04T17:33:00.003-04:00

These are two snaps from a trip to Rehoboth. I like the color and mystery in both, especially in the one of Kurt.

Focus on Kurt #3

2010-09-03T14:04:00.002-04:00

The subtle tones of architecture.

Remember OPEN CALL for Videos on Broadway.

Art as Sharp as a Pencil!

2010-09-02T01:56:00.001-04:00

Dalton Getty turns ordinary pencils into miniature sculptures. Working slowly sometimes an individual sculpture taking 2 and a 1/2 years.He uses only a blade, a sewing needle and very bright light.

In the fast moving internet age, these hark back to kinder simpler times.

And lest you think that there is not a pencil carving world out there...

Remember OPEN CALL for Videos on Broadway.

Beat the Heat!

2010-08-30T03:06:00.002-04:00

Support for this project provided by the Wexner Center
for Arts Program, The Ohio State University.

Remember OPEN CALL for Videos on Broadway.

Focus on Kurt #2

2010-08-27T01:43:00.002-04:00

Summer red hots!

Remember OPEN CALL for Videos on Broadway.

Rarely Seen Art!

2010-08-26T10:54:00.004-04:00

Yesterday I was stuck on a subway train. A train broke down in the station ahead, and there were trains behind us at the last. Unable to go backward or forward into a station, after quite a delay we rolled slowly, connecting to the offending train, then exiting by walking car to car through both trains. It was a perfect blog opportunity for tunnel art you never get to see. Ah, rara artis!

Spilling

2010-08-23T02:32:00.002-04:00

I'm still worrying about the spill and its after effects. The long term prognosis is still so murky. Here are some recent images from Italian Vogue by Steven Meisel, an oily blue crab larvae from an article by Mary Tutwiler, the Lafayette Independent and my new film, Sibylline Fracture.

Support for this project provided by the Wexner Center
for Arts Program, The Ohio State University.

Remember OPEN CALL for Videos on Broadway.

Focus on Kurt #1

2010-08-20T01:54:00.002-04:00

I tend to be more interested in the blog than my compatriot so I've decided to raid his files on a regular basis and show you the results. He loves NYC and the parks. Here are three from our parks.

Remember OPEN CALL for Videos on Broadway.

Prismatically Yours

2010-08-19T12:07:00.007-04:00

The Wonderful Color Wheel by Jude Stewart in Print Magazine is a fascinating look into the color universe, specifically the color wheels and systems of long ago.

In addition check out Color Lovers and the full Creation of Color in Eighteenth-Century Europe, courtesy of the guttenberg Project. Of particular interest to me, was the section on words for color.

I think that the Japanese have many words for different colors of green. It makes sense to me that a culture so interested in nature would have words like "shin ryu" which refers to the color that is the bright acid green of new leaves.

For myself, an avid painter of safety cones, I love Pyrrole Orange and Cadmium Orange and Vat orange and Alizarin Orange and Permanent Orange and Coral Orange and Scheveningen Orange and Indian Yellow Orange Lake Extra.

No Time for Andys

2010-08-18T14:56:00.002-04:00

Actually there is always time...discovered on Vimeo.

Diana the Mermaid

2010-08-12T04:43:00.002-04:00

Lest we forget one of summer's great joys... This year since I was filming for "Gizmo Kaleidoscope" I didn't take many stills at the Mermaid Parade. However since I was using a Diana lens on my Nikon, I was not surprised to see the parade work it's particular magic.

Remember OPEN CALL for Videos on Broadway.

Love and Hate

2010-08-09T05:31:00.004-04:00

These are all images created with my i-phone. I would have titled this blog, "Fun with i-phone" but recently their upgrade has brought me to my knees. My phone is sooooo slow and cranky I can hardly even type. They've promised a fix but only after insulting the age of my phone, "you can't expect to run new software on an old device." I've been waiting for that software fix but I haven't seen it yet. Ah nostalgia.

Remember OPEN CALL for Videos on Broadway.

Hello Columbus

2010-08-06T05:52:00.002-04:00

What is there about the Midwest that makes you want to drive long distances to look at weird roadside attractions? Sighted near Columbus, Ohio during my Art and Tech residency at the Wexner Center for Arts.

Remember OPEN CALL for Videos on Broadway.

People that change your life...

2010-08-05T05:01:00.003-04:00

I want to give a shout out to Anthony Q. Artis. Last year I signed up for a B&H Photo workshop with him, a filmmaker's boot camp. After hearing Anthony speak, I felt sure that I could make all the hundreds of films running around in my head. It was truly inspiring. I surfed his blog. I bought his book, The Shut Up and Shoot Documentary Guide: A Down & Dirty DV Production and I put it all into practice. Last month it was truly a thrill to see my film on the big screen at a real movie theater as part of The New York Independent Film Festival. Wow! and I'm making more...

Another part of the film/video equation came into play via Jon Berge, wonderful artist and good friend. He's the one who's always cheerleading me on to apply for residencies and exhibitions and even crazy stuff like the Pepsi Refresh Project (more about this in September). I saw him in D.C. this summer for an opening— he's exhibiting at the Smithsonian. He also hosted me recently in Ohio while I was at the Wexner and has prodded and pushed me to make Videos on Broadway (now with support from the Puffin Foundation and the Wexner Center Media Arts Program, The Ohio State University) a reality. Shout out to you too, Jon!

These two inspiring men are evidence that it takes a quirky and interesting village to raise an artist.

Remember OPEN CALL for Videos on Broadway.

Chashama Film Festival 2010!

2010-08-04T09:38:00.003-04:00

You all know Chashama from installations and grants of studio space around the city. I just discovered they host a film festival.

____________________________

chashama Film Festival 2010!

This is the time where we ask you to send in your movies ASAP To be eligible for screening at this years festival. We will be accepting through august 14, 2010

We are looking for movies that are themed philosophically;

* documentaries,
* Narratives and
* music videos.

They can range in time from 10 seconds to 120 minutes.
Submission Fees are:

$10$ for 10sec-1min
$20$ 1- 60min,
$30$ 61min-120min.

HALF PRICE: When you get others to submit.
Our deal this year is half price for any who submit and has an associate submit.
Zero budget to Billion dollar budgets accepted!

We ask that you forward this message to all filmmakers looking for an outlet

AND take advantage of our half off prices.

Screenings will Occur Oct.22-23, 2010

________________________

And, of course , you can submit for the OPEN CALL for Videos on Broadway.

Chelsea sightings...

2010-08-03T06:00:00.003-04:00

In Chelsea recently, lots of shows about...surfing. Made me sooooooo want to get outta town.

Rubbing Elbows...

2010-08-02T08:02:00.007-04:00

Back to the Future

2010-07-19T17:16:00.008-04:00

Finally, some open ended time to start blogging again. For the last few months, I have been churning out work for pay as well as working on new paintings, films and more.

I just got back from a residency at the Wexner Center for the Arts. I used my time to complete two new digital films, "Sibylline Fracture" and "Gizmo Kaleidoscope." More on these later...suffice it to say that "Gizmo" is Coney Island and "Sibylline Fracture" is a response to the BP oil spill in Louisiana.

I've had a lot of action on the film front. This week I'm bi-coastal, I have a digital film in the New York Independent Film Festival showing Friday night at City Cinemas Village East Cinemas and one in the FEED_BACK show at at the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art. The FEED_BACK exhibit premise is a zone of participation, input, response, and transformation that engenders an awareness of the cogent ability of idigital technologies to galvanize the world culture in a constructive manner. For tickets to the New York showing of "Michael's Snow" click here.

There will be more video news coming up. I received a Puffin Foundation grant for Videos on Broadway so it is becoming a reality. We will be kicking off the first screening in the fall so let me know if you have a exciting digital art short to show.

In the meantime, it's back to a hot studio with a paint brush in hand.

Bingo Show!

2010-04-04T09:37:00.005-04:00

A leftover but no less tasty from our trip to la belle Looouisiane. The divine Clint Maedgen singing. Check out Shoeshine Blues.

Yuken Teruya

2010-03-31T11:20:00.004-04:00

Yuken Teruya — amazing paper cutting. Here he's turning toilet paper rolls back into trees—a remarkable feat of recycling. And you wonder what I think about when...I need say no more.

Remember OPEN CALL for Videos on Broadway.

He Said, She Said ...

2010-03-30T20:16:00.007-04:00

It's the usual thing. Kurt and I went out to photograph the circus elephants as they walked into Manhattan in the middle of the night via the Midtown tunnel. We waited for about 2 hours in the pouring rain and got our best photos, and not of the elephants. As usual it seems to be a case of Mars vs Venus. Decide for yourself...

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Au Natural Part 2

2010-03-25T01:33:00.001-04:00

Continuing with our concept of natural intervention, I've come up on a couple of resonant oddities relative to the placement of rocks.

One is a story on Current by Elisabeth Wood, It follows two weekenders who spend their weekends balancing rocks and have been doing it for the last seven years.

The second is a project at cool(E)motion. A series of large rock sculptures were created hoping to draw attention to climate change.

The third group are photographs by Kurt of balanced rocks in upstate New York at Ashokan.

Interventions all, societal, political, spiritual and maybe even artistic.

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Au Natural Part 1

2010-03-24T01:40:00.001-04:00

Being in Louisiana for a while has the effect of making one think about nature more than usual for a New Yorker. And when I spied this vine it made the usual connection to the work of Andy Goldsworthy.

I was also struck recently by a comment made by Cora Cohen when we were at the Joseph Beuys: Make the Secrets Productive exhibition currently at Pace Wildenstein. She reminded me of his idea of social sculpture as a gesamtkunstwerk. Whether that interaction is societal or political can depend on one's point of view. So is interacting with nature politically or automatically green? In my case, I am only a natural bystander, photographing things as I find them without any alterations as seen here, always looking for spots where nature mimics the man-made. In Andy Goldsworthy's case he does an active intervention via natural materials collected from the site. We are probably both descended from Beuys view of interaction although somewhat far afield.

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Ad Woman, Mad Woman

2010-03-22T01:49:00.006-04:00

I've enjoyed watching Mad Men and have been curious about the potential for merchandising, fully expecting to see barware sets and fitted dresses with poufy skirts. What surprised me was when the New York Times covered the launch of the four Mad Men dolls for Mattel that come under the Barbie rubric. Surprising because in America dolls are very wholesome. Given Don Draper’s propensity for adultery, he and Betty may be firsts for the Barbie world as stand-ins for Barbie and Ken. The other two Mattel Madmen dolls represent Roger Sterling and his former mistress, Joan Holloway. They must be the first extra marital Barbies. The dolls come with period accessories like pearls and padded undergarments, but no cigarettes, martini glasses or cocktail shakers.

I have a major thing about Barbie not only because I grew up with her, but also because at Hyperspace Cowgirls we created a Game Boy game for Mattel, Barbie Fashion Pack, and because I love the work of artist, David Levinthal, who has two incredible Barbie books. They are, as are all his works, "political" and worth seeking out.

Lastly with my triple obsessions of Mad Men, Barbie and dress up, I discovered that one can Mad Men oneself. AMC's entertainment allows you to create your own persona within the Mad Men universe. Here I am the ground breaking first Jewish Creative Director at Sterling Cooper, meeting with Kurt and Donald Draper for drinks after work.

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03/20/10 On the Side

2010-03-21T12:51:00.009-04:00

Yesterday in Chelsea to visit several galleries: Friedrich Petzel Charline Von Heyl; Alexander and Bonin Willie Cole; David Zwirner Marlene Dumas; Thomas Erbin Animate Matter; Paula Cooper Dan Walsh; Senior & Shopmaker Thomas Nozkowski; David Krut Print workshop William Kentridge; Mitchell-Innes & Nash Joe Bradley & Chris Martin; Cheim Read Bill Jensen. I went, I saw, and this is some of what I captured on the side.

Saints Preserve Us!

2010-03-20T16:16:00.004-04:00

Saints preserve us! How Louisiana is that sentence? The night I saw/heard the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, they also showed a wonderful short animated film by Tancotoons. I've tracked it down...enjoy!

In Artocovery

2010-03-16T16:34:00.002-04:00

Whew! I'm in the post opening let down phase. The opening was great. More than 1200 people came. I was gratified and honored by the wonderful turnout. I was not surprised about the power of media though. Only 3 minutes on TV and people all over town would come up and say, "oh, you're the artist lady." Of course, I do have lavender hair...

In the meantime, I took two true fishing days and am now anxious to get back into the studio.

Today's the Day!

2010-03-13T07:10:00.008-05:00

Susan Shaw: Moving Violations opens at the ACA! I am really excited. Nothing like four years of work distilled into a single entity.

They've even given me some additional space. A presence in the lobby of some additional works that didn't make it into the show. They won't be up long since the walls of the lobby will soon change shape as they open parts of the amazing expansion that the ACA is doing.

I am riding on a cloud. Louisiana seems to provide the substance that is usually only dreams. In just one day, the ACA put up a building banner of my work, I went out on Lake Martin and I got to twirl a hankie and dance a second line with the guys in the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Life doesn't get much better than this. See you at the opening. Remember it's 6-8pm tonight as part of Artwalk and it's free!

Days 10 & 11

2010-03-12T11:56:00.003-05:00

Well it's up. And I love the way it looks. Brian Guidry did a fantastic job of organiging the work. I've spent the last two days as well doing press , radio and TV. Now working on the electronic component. Whew! I hope to see all of y'all at the opening tomorrow night! Remember 6 to 8...

Days 8 & 9

2010-03-10T12:58:00.005-05:00

Too tired to post last night. Worked late cutting images to go under the cast glass bubbles and marking on the prints.Will finish up today. At least its stopped drizzling. It's now a little steamy hot and feels like Louisiana.

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Day 7 Pastels and Grey Skies

2010-03-08T19:48:00.004-05:00

Drizzly rain and dreary work on labels and statements (for the vinyl wall letters).

Bright burst at the end of the day though, started working with the pastels to do the water markings on my large paper pieces. Unpacked the glass as well. And final burst of color having dinner with artist friend, Stephanie Patton. She has a show opening same night as me (March 13) in New Orleans at The Front. At least I'll get to see her work tonight before it heads west.

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Day 6 painting the boat

2010-03-07T19:51:00.004-05:00

In Turtles Bar at the end of the dock. My closest internet access. Here are photos of my neighbors and more views from the roomboat. I have to call it a roomboat because its too small to be a houseboat. I'm recovering from painting three coats on the interior of the boat. Turtles is fun! I saw a dog just jump 10 feet into the air. Met some more neighbors and am chilling with a Margarita.Back to work at the gallery tomorrow.

Day 5 Gone Fishing

2010-03-06T13:40:00.009-05:00

I got up at dawn to watch the sunrise from my deck. Today is a day off!!! I went out on Lake Martin already, where I surprised a wood duck and it surprised me. We had an incident on the boat where an alligator bit someone's cellphone. "Can you hear me now?" I stopped for coffee and stumbled on a Cajun jam in Breaux Bridge, and after a few errands, like stopping by Tee Sues if the fresh baguette light is flashing, I'm gonna sit on thedeck and have a cold one. Laissez les bon temps rouler.

Day 4 the Layout

2010-03-05T18:14:00.004-05:00

Spent today laying out the show. Was vert surprised I had to edit. After spending a year in a panic about filling the space, we cut five paintings and 12 photographs. Everything has room to breathe and its looks wonderful. So now I'm heading back to my boat to eat crawfish etoufee and watch the sunset. Ahhhhhh.

Day 3 Mixed Bag in the Best Way

2010-03-04T22:16:00.008-05:00

Got a look at the space now that the prior show is gone. Wow!!!!! What a beautiful space. Not much to do since they are prepping walls so I went off to get my float camp into the basin. I spent some time on the deck and then went off with a friend to check her catfish lines. Fried catfish for dinner. Yum. I love Louisiana!!!

Day 2 - Framed

2010-03-03T23:14:00.004-05:00

Today I started unpacking the show today. Had to frame the photographs. Because of all the blizzards the frames never got a chance to arrive in New York and went south directly. They look really good. And, of course, I was amused by the blue dog sticker on the tool cart, a famous icon from one of Rodrigue's paintings. George Rodrigue is a quintessential Louisiana Cajun artist.

My heart and me in Cajun Country #1

2010-03-02T16:40:00.007-05:00

Today I am at the Acadiana Center for the Arts in Lafayette, Louisiana starting the process of hanging my show. I had to laugh, they are expanding and it's under construction. Those of you familiar with my work know my predilection for construction sites so it's entirely appropriate.

I am staying with some good Cajun friends. I hope to combine working on the show with some fishing, birding and dancing so be prepared...

The night I didn't meet James Gandolfini. A typical New York story.

2010-02-27T20:44:00.010-05:00

Hot off the computer, my newest film, Nightcar. A helter skelter urban experience on a rainy night. Nightcar, with music by the remarkable Conrad Cummings, is a tone poem, perhaps even a love poem, to New York City.

It even has a typical New York story to go along with it... One of the nights when I was filming oncoming lights in the pouring rain, standing in a gutter on lower Broadway, a car drove up. The passenger in the car began waving his arms, I flicked my attention away, thinking, "not another one." He kept waving and waving, finally the car pulled away. I turned to Kurt (of Susan and Kurt blog fame) who was standing behind me. He was convulsed with laughter. Whats going on? I said. Didn't you see James Gandolfini? He was waving at you and laughing to beat the band? Well, No I didn't. But you know, in New York famous people trip over you all the time, so contained within Nightcar is the New York story of the night I didn't meet James Gandolfini.

Mr. Gandolfini. I dedicate this film to you.

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No How, No Where, Noho

2010-02-25T02:19:00.001-05:00

Something new...

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Loaded

2010-02-24T01:53:00.002-05:00

Last weekend I passed a gun shop and the word loaded flew into my mind. Loaded not as in gun but as in memory. Weegee's image (above) immediately flashed up. After I snapped a my own gunsmith photo, I was intrigued by the window display—it seemed to fit in with a more modern (perhaps timely or post modern) image reference. And lastly as I turned away, there was Bruce Willis, complete with graffiti, definitely post modern in its culture of celebrity. Personally, I prefer the window display, so where on the spectrum does that place me? Fully loaded?

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Happy Lunar New Year

2010-02-22T13:44:00.012-05:00

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Modern Romantic American Landscape...Why does this sound weird?

2010-02-19T08:55:00.004-05:00

I first saw Valerie Hegarty's work in a public project on the High Line in New York City. A painting being "reclaimed" by nature. Her work amusingly turns the conceits of landscape painting on it's head while also seriously investigating the meaning of landscape painting in the context of American history. A local artist, she also had/has a work on view in the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Museum.

Party Gras 2010

2010-02-16T10:23:00.011-05:00

It's the third blizzard out the window, The Saints won (maybe Hell is frozen over), I'm filming Lunar New Year, we had a cold and windy sweetie pie day, and it's Mardi Gras.

In good New York Therapeutic tradition, I saw these avatars for Kurt and myself that embody the recent events: dirty snow, Superbowl, Year of the Tiger, Valentine's Day and Fat Tuesday. Add in the run-up to my ACA show (in the main gallery), shake it up and what do you get?

...too bad the story ends in jail, maybe it's a good place to sleep?!!??, just kidding. Party on...

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Videos on Broadway Open Call

2010-02-15T02:56:00.000-05:00

OPEN CALL Point us to your artistic videos to be considered for exhibition at the Videos on Broadway exhibition space. We are looking for artists, young or old, serious or funny, etcetera or etcetera.

Videos on Broadway is a new project created by Susan Shaw to showcase contemporary art video to a diverse audience in New York City. Videos on Broadway provides emerging artists an urban location and video monitors to showcase their video art. Using a glass front building on the famous street of Broadway, we will give both the artist and the public a unique and free experience to contemporary new media.

We will show new work by artists from around the world. Videos on Broadway will use film and video to reflect the artists personal interpretations of social, political, psychological and spiritual themes.

The video below was a proof of concept test. The viewers are watching a rough cut of Susan Shaw: Nightcar. It was freezing yet people still stopped to watch. How great is that? We are still putting together the funding to be able to this right i.e. including things like announcement cards but we are nowhere without you. Please point us in your direction. E, W, N, S...

Kurt's view #2

2010-02-05T02:36:00.000-05:00

Another recent photo I like. This one shot with his Lego camera, out the studio window.

Kurt's view

2010-02-03T10:42:00.000-05:00

Just really liked this photo of his. It has the content he so loves, and the shapes, the frame, and the color are so sophisticated...

Leonardo...Drew

2010-02-01T14:24:00.005-05:00

I stopped by Sikkema Jenkins Saturday night for the opening of a solo exhibition of new work by Leonardo Drew. He is a friend via my time at the Vermont Studio Center. He creates dynamic large-scale sculptural installations, which incorporate created, manipulated and found materials such as paper, wood, tree branches and roots, rust and mud. His work stuns with humble materials in the service of sophisticated shapes and arrangement. His opening was all abuzz, and he oh so added to the general excitement wearing a bowler and a pair of peacock feather pants.

Andy's Daily Diary

2010-01-27T10:12:00.009-05:00

This broken traffic sign was a marker for some mental cloudiness about a decision I have to make. My method of dealing with my lack of clarity it is to walk, taking photographs and letting my subconscious attack the problem. Last night my conscious brain was thinking Andy Warhol and his daily Tri-X diary. He shot at least a roll of Tri-X a day, not surprising since his work has a photographic base, but interesting in that what he shot was truly a visual diary. There were celebrity pix, interesting objects, ideas for paintings, people having sex and more. You can see the descendants of these ideas in the work of Nan Goldin, or David Hockney. I enjoy the freedom and randomness of the shots I take and the diaristic freedom that attaches no particular individual value to the imaging stream. I enjoy the jokes too, e.g. the limited palette abstract of the crumpled wrapper that states "quarter pounder no cheese." Perhaps a visual diary adds clarity in retrospect. I sincerely hope it does.

Showing your true colors

2010-01-24T04:22:00.004-05:00

Personas is a new software experiment on MIT's site. What it does is look for references to your name on the internet and then builds a color profile/persona of who you are based on those references. There were 29 Susan Shaws. I am the first two here. My doppelgangers run the gamut from writer to scientist, from republican to beauty queen, from CEO to social worker. Maybe I should re-write Felix Krull... Maybe we should put on a show...

New paintings...'nuf said.

2010-01-22T02:08:00.001-05:00

Shepard Fairey Yet Again

2010-01-20T10:23:00.001-05:00

I am becoming almost paranoid about Shepard Fairey. His art is interlaced throughout our culture and my life.

Four recent examples:
1. Andre the Giant seen on an abandoned building in the new art district in Miami.
2. A spoof (of Fairey and Obama) on the cover of The Advocate.
3. A recent holiday gift to me, the Shepard Fairey Acme Obey Card Case for business cards. Let's hope the clients get the message...
4. An actual Shepard Fairey recent Obama critical poster.

Serial Folk

2010-01-19T02:25:00.013-05:00

Photographers like to work in series. It creates a depth of investigation. Saul Robbins gave a very good talk about his work recently at B&H Photo. His series Initial Intake is a series of photographs of psychotherapists' chairs seen from their clients' perspective. It was written up in The New York Times and is a very New York idea. His other series are very interesting as well, my personal favorite is "Where's my Happy Ending?," oblique views of domestic life.

Kurt and I like to work in serials as well, for example we've been documenting the Mermaid Parade for several years, and continue to go to Louisiana to document the wildlife. And, of course, right now the Metropolitan Museum's recent showing of Robert Frank's The Americans which can still be seen online.

The Golden Gate: an opera in two acts 2

2010-01-18T07:42:00.005-05:00

Hurray! Here is the delightful New York Times review of Conrad's opera.