Angie Reed Garner

Zayed University artist residency-- day eleven

2009-12-21T11:30:09Z

Quiet morning except for a student interview-- some were assigned to interview
me for a class, to get a sense of what kinds of factors influence artmaking.
I've been interviewed four (?) times now and talked about different things to each
student. They will compare notes and wonder if they spoke to the same
person.

One thing is trying to pin down the magical moment: when
did you become an artist? No idea what criteria should apply. In '95 I was painting
pretty much full time and showing/selling so I just say then. But there were
a lot of milestones and battles before that, and it took something
to win them.

Part of the problem is the question: because my mother is a painter,
I knew painting as something that someone does, a verb. If you are
a professional artist, you also are coping with showing and selling.

There were various moments when I got clearer
that painting and showing/selling is what I wanted to do. But I never
had a magic moment where I looked in the mirror and saw the word artist
written on my forehead in glowing gold letters or something.

Anyway. I got in this morning and got busy and I do think maybe the content is resolved
for this painting. Now I just have to paint it in and make it all get along.

Many more changes stemming from conversations with students... interactions between
the various women taking on some tone, correcting false gestures
and adding in new ones. More work on clothing, still more to do
after this layer dries.

Decided that it is simply easier to accept comments and make the changes
than to try to rationalize not making the changes. How long does it
really take to sand down and repaint? Not that long. But rationalizing
and resisting = very hard work which is incidentally totally unproductive.

(This epiphany has to do with sanding off
and repainting the arm of the woman in red-- see above-- I originally put hand
on hip to introduce some energy and variety into the grouping. But
since she is in trad dress she is probably older, and students said
older woman would not stand that way. I wrote about this yesterday
or I meant to, was tired. Once I moved her arm I had to move her feet,
and then I had to... etc.)

I really love the camera and computer for getting distance on a piece. I used
to have to set things aside to see them fresh or turn
them upside down or look at them in a mirror but photo plus monitor
works better and faster for me. It's a good thing.

Zayed University artist residency-- day ten

2009-12-20T14:55:03Z

I really do not know what is happening with this painting! The
students increasingly offer a reading of this painting + the other one as
"traditional culture meets globalization."

The other painting is falling into place and I suspect 3-4 more days on it will
have it in order... it is missing two pieces. I figured out one of the two
in conversation with a student today, who made an excellent suggestion. :)
Nothing I would have thought of in a million years, which is why it is so good
to let people into my process.

I spent today working on the jalabiya and putting in the peacocks,
which still need a few more layers. Visited two classes and had many visitors
and two interviews, so a bit short on painting time. Saw some wonderful
student work.

Shopping for holiday prezzies at the mall on the way home? Downright relaxing. :)
It's all a matter of perspective.

Zayed University artist residency-- day nine

2009-12-18T09:28:15Z

Yesterday I was a paragon. Of what? Insert any virtue, it probably applied.
I painted a full day at uni and facilitated an impromptu painting experience
for a slew of students complete with You Can Learn Color Mixing in 45 Seconds.
"Here's a color chart! Don't use that red to make purple, it is actually red-orange
so (points to chart) you will end up with brown! Use this red instead! OK, go to it!"

I did two editing/rewriting jobs, helped celebrate a birthday, and remembered
to make the camera go. I even brought S. his lunch from home,
which he forgot, and supervised two puppy play dates for Heathcliff.

I know this would be a quiet day for some of you. But for me? Oh my.

Personally I credit the henna as there is not usually
much steam in my engine: something about looking down and seeing
that pattern makes me think I could pick up the back end of a car
if necessary. Let's hope it does not become necessary.

Henna on day two.

Where ALL the cool kids hang out.

Various changes made.

Got coaching on shape of sleeves, and student showed me the traditional trim
at top of her jalabiya. The place to go see/purchase the trad jalabiya, shoes,
salwar and burqas is Zayed Center, so I will try to get over there soon. I think
I've walked through it before but could not see the trees for the forest
of colorful and shiny; I would not have known what to look for.

Nazars gone. I'll let them show through this much as part
of the history of the painting.

I don't know enough about how they are received here
to use them as a symbol in a painting developed in the middle of
Emirati community. The blue glass nazars are widely imported
and I thought they would be familiar and innocuous, but that was naive on my
part. No unpleasant comments, far from it, but the nazars don't read easily
or clearly for the students and I need to understand what is going on
before I use them. The nazars are foreign and that means complicated.

This is the painting sitting on my easel at home, sadly neglected for
the last two weeks. I am very in love with it but don't know if I will
get anything done this weekend. I have some presents to work on. :)

Zayed University artist residency-- day eight

2009-12-17T13:46:36Z

I've been shown two very old Gulf henna patterns! The one you see here, and
(you can barely see in notes) the same fingers but a dot in the palm.
A third look is simply to hold a glob of henna in the palm and let it stain.

The student who sketched the patterns for me
offered to paint my hand so voila you see the henna
in process. For final result see tomorrow's entry. It took about an hour
to dry although I didn't wait for the thickest part in the middle.
I set it with olive oil once I got home, and only
then did I get to wash my hands. The color developed overnight from
shocking red-orange to brown.

Painting around the nails is good because the henna stains pretty deep-- you
can buff/sand it off but otherwise you will probably live with it nearly until your
nails grow out. Someone said nail polish remover can lift the stain somewhat.

Those bronze cones are the henna and every grocery store seems to carry them,
well, Spinneys (British chain) might not, but Carrefour (French Walmart)
does. No list of ingredients but this product seems to be what everyone uses
if they do their own henna, which not many do I don't think, they go to henna
artists at the beauty salons. I don't know what they use, it may be the same.

I can tell you from the lovely familiar odor
that they have a good bit of petroleum spirits in them, plus heavy
perfume to cover-- it was nice and fume-y around the table
by the end, as if I'd been glazing paintings.

I drew a long time trying to place that tiger! It will look like a tiger not a puma
when it is painted, inshallah. Collaged on the clothing on the clothesline,
and hung nazars from the tree.

Oh my ladies, I have learned so much from painting you, and I have had
to repaint you so many times.

The nose-rubbing issue continues. Actually, I gave in. See the two figures
greeting each other?

A committee of four students
sorted me out that a woman would only touch noses with a much older woman in her
immediate family, a grandmother. So I needed to age the figure
on the left. (The one on the right has contemporary hair and abaya/shayla,
I wanted her to stay college-age.) They supervised while I painted her older.

So she got grey hair and a softened chinline (her cheeks will not
stay that red-- none of these skin tones are final). You can still see a
little of the grey hair. But not much, because
she still simply ~did not read as old~ to the students until I covered her
hair.

On this issue there was no discussion: if she was older her hair would be
pulled back into a low braid/bun, and then a wide
black shayla worn over, but hanging straight down not wrapped. Young women
are incredibly diverse in terms of how they handle hairstyles and shaylas,
but grandmother? She did it this way. Another student
sat there while I made the corrections to get the length and drape correct.

So I really thought I had it made, after TWO rounds of corrections since my last
entry about this painting. Then another student walked by, stopped
in her tracks, complemented me on the painting, and said "but they would
not touch noses. ONLY men do that!"

So then I threw my hands in the air and painted AIR between the noses. Now
they might be going to touch noses, they might be going to kiss cheeks.

S. told me and told me and told me this would happen-- as you learn more
eventually you start getting conflicting reports, and that is actually good.
Because family and individual practices
simply differ.

And it figures. How often have you discussed with your school friends ~exactly~ how
you greet different family members? You basically know what you've seen
in your own family and figure others are much the same unless the newspapers
are talking about it.

Nobody picked on my burqa (2nd from right) and a couple of women liked it so it must
be OK. :) But I won't get my hopes up since this is my first try.

I'm not complaining. It's been lovely even if I am amazed at
how many times I can get it not-right. The students are unfailingly polite
and kind. If I hadn't solicited participation, I don't think they would
push comments on me, and it was a request to paint traditional dress that started
me down this path. If I'm going to do it, please let me stick it out and
get it right. This is what I don't want to do.

Actually, looking just now at those Orientalist paintings of women
(I saw the show itself when it came to the UAE)...
besides Layla's exposed decolletage and how the women don't work but
just kind of stand around strangely or lounge? The next weirdest thing is the
cinched-in belted waists. That is not part of how the clothes are worn now,
I doubt it ever was.

Zayed University artist residency-- day seven

2009-12-15T16:50:06Z

The daily progress shots are really important with this one since I can't
get very far back unless I sit on the steps and gaze through the banister.

At this point I would not want to give up my stairwell for anything.
Having a lot of fun and able to get people engaged with the art
just by showing up and turning on a light.

Continuing to try to get these figures right meaning coherently dressed
and interacting; it's impossible given the strange setting for them
but I carry on.

The two women greeting each other have been the toughest; one
of them needed to be much older for the greeting to make sense (grandmother
or aunt). So her hair needed to be covered. The icky white skin color is just while
the alkyd dries, overnight hopefully, and will get better tomorrow.

One of the figures needs to be wearing the
traditional burka so I need to get that painted on, get feedback on if I have it right,
then I can make it all work. The Gulf burqa is like this. A student today
told me that her grandmother told her that the burqa gets bigger each year you
are married. But this is mostly grandmother lore at this point.

Student henna painting! I brought in some henna cones to see if anyone
wanted to show me some patterns they knew. She said these were Indian style
patterns, very dense and intricate-- the photo above is bigger than
the original so you can see the henna. Gulf style is more like this.

My own attempts are lamentable but I'm starting to get the gist
of controlling the pressure on the cone. If you get lost and happy in making
pretty patterns, henna painting is for you.

The henna I have seen on students since I began asking about it! It just doesn't
stop. Students don't do their own but go have it done. Yes I'm getting
tempted, supposedly for just my hands figure a couple hours including drying.
My feet, with a book to read for the wait, might go better.

Just go look here.

While I was looking at henna photos on flickrivr I came across this photo
set and fell in love. Sigh. Her house, her painted bird eggshell tree, her henna,
all of it. <3

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/henna-und-mehr/

Zayed University artist residency-- day six

2009-12-14T11:03:13Z

I worked some on the other painting but I'll wait another day to take
progress shots, not really enough change to show.

Major weather blowing through, near-record rainfall yesterday
with flooding in our bedroom and studio. Both rooms have French doors
that keep out birds and mosquitoes. Dust and rain however come right
in whenever they like.

So after I painted a full day yesterday, I came home with S.
and mopped and sorted soggy things for a couple hours (mattress wet,
most alarmingly, but no electronics harmed. Heathcliff thought it was
The Best since he prefers to drink puddle water, he had two whole
rooms to choose from).

Then today I painted a lot of little details on the painting I did not show,
and didn't spare the time to adjust my setup. So the painting was always either
too high or too low. This was an amateur move and I do know better, but I can
usually get away with it if I don't go for long.

I think mopping, wringing mop and then stooping to paint
today was a bit much for my back. Irritable. Plus barometric pressure
up and down and up and down. Irritable x 5.

Zayed University artist residency-- day five

2009-12-13T16:10:42Z

Many wonderful visitors today offering much help-- I could hardly paint fast
enough, one sketched some corrections on a sketchpad for me.

Notes:

Traditional pants worn with shorter jalabiya are "salwar" (same word and same cut
as best I can tell as in India + Pakistan) with silver embroidery around the
lower calf and ankle, cloth imported from India (traded for dates). Not sure
if shorter jalabiya are still called jalabiya, but they are worn short
enough for the silver embroidery on the lower leg to show. Photo I was shown
was of silver embroidery on white.

Green cloth with little pink flowers
another traditional favorite besides polka dots-- figure in green will show
this look-- also with sandals with one strap over the top of the foot and
one loop for the big toe.

Some women felt it was less devout to wear the hair piled up high over the
top of the head with a flower clip, based on a surah from the Qu'ran.
"Some girls do it, but we don't."Therefore move hair/clip to back of head.
Had noticed no students wore the very high profile but had seen it
on Emirati women when out and about. So this is one of those tiny details
easy to miss that speaks volumes.

Also, shayla is not worn so as to define the nape of the neck in
profile-- it falls down from the back of the head. Both corrections
made to nose-touching figure on right.

Nose-touching figure on left read as male to students, why? Hair was
hanging down all to one side. Men wear long hair on either side, but
all hair to one side or the other. Fix by having hair fall to both sides, done.

Nose-touching "for very close family only, very close, an aunt."

Zayed University artist residency-- day four

2009-12-10T15:42:45Z

It's Thursday night which means weekend for me! (Sun-Thurs work week.) I'm ready to sit
by myself at home and drool and be passively entertained (rereading same paragraph in
book x4 or whatever).

Here are progress shots from today. These photos look bad, I processed
them so the text bits would be more legible but it flattened the color.

Having fun watching narrative emerge. Every day on the way to Zayed I'm
like what the heck will I paint today? I have not got a clue and then I
get there and it becomes obvious.

An anthropologist (not S.) dropped by and helped me today.
We discussed the painting and it became clear I needed to work on the
pair of women greeting each other: they need to touch noses. "You've seen it
haven't you?!" Well yes. Nose-rubbing is a Bedouin greeting appropriate for important
relationships. Cheek-kissing seems a far more common
practice, was just told by a historian that the cheek-kissing
came from Iran and Egypt. I think there is an art
to knowing how many kisses on which cheeks.

So I moved one figure. It gave me a chance to redraw her
hairstyle-- some women put on a great big puffy fabric
flower clasp, and then the shayla goes over that, and
voila a Nefertiti profile. I look at the photos now and realized
I didn't paint it quite big enough.

That hairstyle plus heels adds as much as 6-8 inches to a woman's height, and in
formal abaya the effect is awesome, statuesque. I won't be able to capture that at this
scale-- the figures are only 6-7" tall. The center figure has the high hairstyle
as seen from the front, but not as dramatic as it needs to be.

Today he got painted in a bit, and he got a boardwalk. Erased tree, intend
to put it somewhere else.

Thinky stuff: am asked repeatedly for a reading of the painting.
People offer their own thoughts too, it doesn't feel creepy. But
it is pushing me to come up with a narrative for the imagery much, much earlier in my
process than is usual. I'm wondering if this will cramp the work or feed it.

I think if I can stay centered, it won't do any harm.
I'm practicing offering up speculation but staying detached from whatever blah blah blah I
produce, for the sake of conversation (I don't want to cut anyone short by demanding
they understand my process etc., what a buzzkill).

It probably doesn't occur to people that I could be working without a
set intent, that the words don't come first.
Many artists work this way, and in other open studio
settings people have had no trouble grasping this point. I say
"I figure it out as I go along" and they nod and get it.

S. says this pressure for words has to
do with the academic setting. Being able to explain
what you are doing or trying to do is a basic skill in this environment.
"I don't know" is not usually a good sign, yet that's the most productive
headspace for me to work out of (prevents artist blocks, for one).

Zayed University artist residency-- day three

2009-12-09T15:17:40Z

I spent today on this painting, and got a lot of student help with the woman
in red.

Traditional dress for women here is not black but a polka-dotted. Students
might still wear polka-dots for National Day or to a wedding or because
they feel like it, with the black abaya thrown over.
I can't find photos, because Emirati women are not
much seen on the internet out of formal abaya. Students were helping me
dress the woman in red in the above painting.

The one image I can find of traditional polka-dotted jalabiyas
is from an immensely popular cartoon show. Here is another
still from the same show. It is about Emirati grandmothers,
who would never appear on camera, earthy humor and social commentary. The face masks
are the traditional form of burka here, and you can still see those worn
for instance at the mall though many women drop a layer of sheer black
chiffon over their face instead. (Others wear nothing on their face, wear the
shayla hanging open barely perched on the top of the head, or not covering the
hair at all but hanging off the neck like a scarf. I tried to draw a range.)

One student whipped out her iphone and showed me photos of herself
in polka dots from last National Day, but you had to be there to get to see.

Oh, the triumph of Google, found an actual photo! It was taken at a Heritage Festival where it was evidently ok
to take pictures. That actual photo makes me feel pretty good about the dress I painted,
since I hadn't seen it at that point but was working purely from student descriptions
and corrections.

This guy is either taking a bath or getting his feet wet, depending on your
pov. This painting started out as something vague about the economy and
the real estate bubble bursting and how cities in the region
and elsewhere are impacted, who knows where it will go.

I wanted to say something smarty about reversing the Orientalist painting
phenomenon, coming in as a painter from "the west" and having Emirati women
stand over my shoulder and tell me how to get the painting right on their terms.
How awesome it was to sit there and paint Emirati women the way they wanted to be seen.

Initially I wasn't planning on putting women in this landscape, because I'm
chicken and also too well aware of how easy it is to get things wrong... but
a student sat down with me yesterday and told me it was important to do so. So I
made the brush go.

Zayed University artist residency-- day two

2009-12-08T16:25:21Z

Mostly photos!

Note new grey walls.

Note mustard-colored seat cushions-- I put them there hoping people would
sit and visit and it worked. Photo taken at end of day so "wet paint" sign
pointing to painting taped to seat by wall.

Tired!

Met many people. Students were super interested and helpful-- inshallah
some collab effort forthcoming as I intend to tap henna skills. (Students
suggested I paint women wearing traditional dress and henna as an aspect
of culture/heritage. I told these students I had bought henna
stencils. They said so nicely "those are for children" and I said
"help me! I tried to learn freehand from youtube and it did not go
so well!" And they said "Yes!").

Was inspected by a faculty-student duo who pronounced my lighting "inadequate"
and a new lamp was produced forthwith from I know not where. I now have two.

Wish list-- a carafe and coffee set/tray, to serve my visitors. Plus
I have to find cellophane/mylar to make henna cones. I think any stationary
store will sell it as wrapping paper.

Zayed University artist residency-- day one

2009-12-07T14:05:29Z

As part of my show at Zayed U. I was asked to teach some classes and give a workshop. Which I
could have done but this isn't how I learned to paint or learned about painting.

I learned to paint by hanging around my mom's studio-- posing when I was
younger, and watching a thousand (not exaggerating) paintings go through
the whole process from white canvas to done.

Later after she broke with realism I didn't sit for her any more.
But she was normally in her studio, because that is what she does, it's her job.
So if we were hanging out talking, if she had the time to talk,
that's where it happened.

Which meant listening to her when she was frustrated with a piece, and struggling
to figure out why and find words for it when a painting of hers refused to resolve.
Looking at and talking about art.

Which makes it sound like something other than
it was. If she had been gardening I would have been pulling weeds and trying
to diagnose soil issues, mildew and insect infestations. If she had been cooking
I would be a better cook, though on that count I've picked up a lot (extremely
passively) from watching my dad. If she had made couches, I would have sat
on most of them and learned to give detailed feedback on the sitting experience each
couch provided.

Eventually I was painting too and asking her help on pieces that
didn't work. This still goes on long-distance and in person because she
learned to take and email jpgs.

I wasn't the only one who got this exposure and training; at least two of my
brothers can pick apart the structure of a painting with a half-look,
and the third doubtless could if he cared to but responds more to content.

I trained S. to pick apart paintings, because he
is there and he cares which means he meets all the criteria to become a
painting expert. He just got new glasses so I expect the vigor of his criticism
will improve.

So, back to Zayed, after dithering on teaching classes/a workshop for a month,
I finally had the insight that I wanted to try an informal learning situation,
and such existed even in university settings and it was called an artist
residency. Woo hoo. I pitched the idea, the art faculty caught it, and now
I have my very own stairwell studio in the very middle of the
art and design department, and another chapter in progress for my blog-book of
open studios.

My stairwell!

Why am I painting in a stairwell? It is the space available. Faculty
don't have studio space, and I've seen the art classrooms. I can set up
on a card table if I need to, but there is no place to put a card table.
The ultimate supercampus is under construction, supposed to be done in 2011,
and it will inspire awe and have much space. In the meantime, one works with
what one has.

The scale is a little hard to tell. The under-stair area, where the light is?
The ceiling is exactly high-yet-low enough that I forget and crack my head on it, so I
am mostly using it for storage.

I have power and the lighting is fluorescent (cold), so I brought in a halogen
floor lamp to balance (warm). It's an airy enough space but not especially
ventilated, so if I use a lot of medium I will haul the painting outside for the
solvent to evaporate (there is a door to an outdoor courtyard about twenty steps away).
Right now I have internet in a classroom down the hall as I'm not getting the
university wireless for some unknown reason. A long enough ethernet cable
would get me internet right where I paint if wireless issues do not
resolve, and I may ask for it.

I'm dithering about an easel, I think it would eat up too much space. I'd
rather work flat on that table or directly on the wall, that is what I did today.

The funky liminal location is good for ~me~ in a couple of ways. One is that
it is centrally located for the art and
design classes, thus I won't have to drag students in and build familiarity
with me and what I'm doing. Because they will get that like it or not. :) Two is
that people stop to look and chat, which is very good. I do not have
the personality to hunt people down and make them look at art and talk
to me-- that is what you do to family. If I was going to paint in a quiet
studio with no interruptions, I might
as well have stayed home. This is a change of pace.

Me. Now that you have seen the space and me, it is all going to change--
I just dyed my hair, and Zayed ppl are painting the walls a light grey
to make the space nicer (it probably already happened).

[Edit: mom had a look at this entry and said that she asked her children
for feedback simply because they are good at providing it. "I know I
asked a lot of you-but kids tell what they see. Very good critics."
What I would then add is that she was extraordinarily good at
eliciting and accepting direct and useful criticism on her works--never
needing to go have a pout.]

closing reception @ Zayed U.

2009-11-24T14:06:20Z

It was sweet. There were people there, but you mostly can't see them.

Here I make the camera go away with the power of my mind aka blink
at the wrong time.

There was food. You mostly can't see it either. I did not have any but other people
did. S said it was cheese pastries and sandwiches and mini-pizzas, and it was
ok.

It's a real problem to take pictures of female students. It is theoretically
possible with various permissions but in practice for something like
this blog entry, it will not happen.

S. was dispatched with camera to get whatever kinds of shots
could be had given this limitation. He did great. But please
note as a result the photos make it look like there were no
women there, and there were plenty.

Smart people asked smart questions pretty much the whole time. It was awesome.
They asked me what I would ask me. They listened then followed up with more smart
questions. How often does that happen?

There was also an official photographer, and so it will all be documented.
Somehow.

There are other pieces from this series (which is still in progress)
that I cut from the show to keep it tight. Behind the cut, the last
two are each four times the size of the first three, and the size difference
does not show up on your computer screen. There was a long wall I haven't gotten
a good photo of yet, because if there is daylight then there are students, see above.

Go here to find detail shots.

Abu Dhabi Art 2009 part two

2009-11-22T04:31:11Z

Where was I? OK, took a day to rest my feet and went back to the fair for more.

In the Emirates Palace lobby...

Yan Pei-Ming, Mona Lisa's Funeral, 2008

There is another panel on the wall that you can't see. One of the men in bed is
the artist and one is his dead father. The landscape behind her is
filled with lots of skulls everywhere.

It's an interesting piece given how/why it was created--
for the Louvre. (Pei-Ming was to riff on a painting in their collection
because great artists riff on great art.)

Henry Loyrette, director of the Louvre, says of this commission: The universality
of the Louvre is recalled here at this time of globalisation through the
strong link that is made between the museum's exceptional collections and
contemporary artistic creation. It emphasizes the power of a great work of
art to unite the people of all nations regardless of their differences. The
Louisvre thus reaffirms its position as an essential element in, and initiator
or, dialogue between cultures at the start of the 21st century.

Wonder if this is what Pei-Ming was saying. :)

OK, here is an installation shot of Rachid Khimoune's The Children of the World. Twenty-one bronze sculptures, each
flagging a national identity... US one on left with multiple NYC references (manhole covers) and the Great Plains warbonnet.

Khimoune gave the children names, ie. Ayako the Japonese and Rania the Arab.

http://www.artsawa.com/site/images/works/rk/aj.jpg
http://www.artsawa.com/site/images/works/rk/ra.jpg

There is a night shot of the side/back of the install in my last entry.

The rant about nationalism and essentialism and neo-imperialism and identity
is generally in this blog entry left as an exercise for the reader.

Oh well I'm ranting.

I don't take well to art as missionary work... and that seems to be how too many
western academically-trained arts professionals seem to imagine
what they doing here in the region. I do not think this is how
the works are appreciated and understood and collected by Gulf
nationals, and I think these attitudes could lead to some painful pushback.

My own position is getting a little complicated. I end up being nearly grateful
for art world free-market attitudes, because that seems to be the only thing
able to loosen the deathgrip on art of the combination
of academy + big state money. A dealer who wants or needs to make money
will show works that are likely to sell.
Period.

Some collectors care a lot that artworks have academic imprimatur,
others prefer they don't, and most I suspect fall in the middle. Dealers, if they
are successful, know their people. They know what their people care about, what they
need, and what they want to see.

There are many gallery owners on the other hand who are in it for
the love of art, and they often do a hybrid schedule of stuff they <3 and stuff
their clients <3 and if it isn't the exact same work all the time, well, that is ok
and maybe you will never know. They take
a hit in the pocketbook for doing this but keep their soul.

Dealers don't worry about soul, having none, and life and selling
art is much therefore more simple. But they at least aren't trying to
enlighten anyone.

I just made up the distinction between dealers and gallery owners, it isn't
real or rather that distinction has no currency. ;)

On the bright side are curators and writers with strong personal ties to the region,
very motivated and capable, who only put up with western cultural
imperialist nonsense as a tradeoff because it serves the development of
arts in the region. Otherwise they rebuke it
at every turn.

There is an enormous Guggenheim Museum under construction, and there is no
collection to fill it. It really matters right now what works individuals
choose to collect-- it will have a degree of impact not possible in
established institutions.

The pieces that key collectors bought the day before yesterday are
what their grandchildren and great-grandchildren and great grand children
will grow up knowing as "art."

Anyway. One thing a trip to a major art fair tells me
is how my own tastes, needs, and wants differ from those of
people who have six, seven, eight figures
(USD) to drop on artworks. We aren't quite really living on the same planet,
but at events like this we can sometimes see each other. :)

I get a glimpse into their world when I look at myself in a shiny Koons. You can't really see a Koons
without looking at a reflection of yourself, all tinted and glossy
and distorted. It's awesome.

Of all the professionals I heard speak at Art Abu Dhabi, Larry Gagosian made
the most sense to me. Which leaves me going, wtf, did an alien give me a personality
transplant?

He was the one on a panel about collecting
that could deal well with the charge of elitism. He compared it to
poetry-- kids who go to school are generally exposed to poetry,
how many are still reading it 30 years later.
Well, I would guess that more do in the Gulf.
Poetry matters here, which is why it ends up in so many paintings (see below).

But he is basically running a museum out of his NYC gallery. He said 100,000 people
came through his recent Picasso show, for free. He had tour buses of senior citizens
and kids on school field trips and they just kept coming.

Anyway, Gagosian feels he gives to the common people and gives plenty,
and so the charge of elitism really does not bother him. If you are open to
the public, you deal with everyone. If you work within the confines of museums
with paid entry charges and universities, that is another matter entirely. You
might never personally speak to someone who is poor.

OK, moving on to the booths. I tried to photograph the work that you might not get to
see much of if you weren't living in the Gulf, figuring American and European readers have
enough access already in person and online and in publications
to the Koons and Picasso and Haring and Bourgeois etc. etc.
But when I got home and researched, the artists I loved
were in general already showing in London and New York.

There was a contemporary Indian art exhibit
that was not part of the fair but in the palace. I mostly failed to photograph it
because the Sheika was visiting when I was there with my camera. I went back
and the staff made me feel uncomfortable, sad to say, and I did not linger.

My photos are heavy on painting because that's what I look at most,
but so was the fair.

Golnaz Fathi, untitled 3, acrylic, 170 x 140cm

Above is a horrible photo of a gorgeous Golnaz Fathi piece. Go here and read this about her
and her work. Note the relationship to text/poetry, Parker does a wonderful job explaining
so I don't have to try.

This was the back wall of Bait Musna gallery from Oman. It feels to me to be the kind of art
most specific to the Arabic pennisula region. Since prices were posted
on the wall in dirhams and US dollars, I will include them.
top left: Abdallah Akar Les Astres poetry M. Darwich mixed media on canvas 80 x 100cm $11670

bottom left: Moosa Omar Myths buried in the silence mixed media on board, 120 x 40cm $4000

right: Abdallah Akar Le Talisman poetry I. Abou Mahdi mixed media on canvas 80 x 100cm $20,000

This is by Khaled Hafez... an Egyptian artist, just at Queens Museum in Brooklyn+
a Saatchi artist so some of you have had a chance to see him before.
More here.
Interview here with his art world analysis-- very worthwhile!

Reza Derakshani, detail of white falcon hunting green 180x450cm

Iranian painter... now that I research him, I find out
he also did my least favorite art in the fair. That is something,
out of all that art. He's got the goods.

Here is a link to the work
I didn't like. It is not because I thought it was bad, but because
I really didn't like how it made me feel and I was frustrated to see yet more tragic
veiled woman imagery. This is the exact piece that bothered me. You can't see how scarred and pitted
the surface was from the photo, but ugh, acid burns. What do you know, he has
also done work on the theme of the circus.

Abdul Qadir Al Rais, Caligraphy watercolor 203 x 152cm

Emirati painter. This photo is not kind to his luminous color
and Google is not being kind to me at the moment in terms of links--
I believe this is an older artist and may not be on the internet.

I've seen other works by this artist with the the glowing watercolors,
use of calligraphy and masking.

Sometimes I feel
excluded by the use of calligraphy--I don't read Arabic or Farsi. It's not a bad
thing necessarily when this happens, not all art is meant for ME ME ME. But this artists' work
does not rub me that way, ever. The color is so exuberant and the calligraphy tends
to be large, looping and embracing.

I still have more photos but I'm getting tired. I went back to the art fair for a
third time and even made myself take a few photos not of paintings. But enough for today.

Abu Dhabi Art 2009

2009-11-19T07:06:08Z

...opened last night.

In front of Jeff Koons' Red Diamond. Wiki says:
Gagosian Gallery in New York, which the previous day had purchased another
Koons sculpture entitled "Diamond (Blue)" for $11.8 million from Christie's London.
But that was 2007 before the art market went ouch. I didn't ask what they wanted for it.
Here's a link about the diamond series.

I think they ought to have put the asking price on the wall, that would
be quite appropriate given Koons' ethos and intent. On the theme
of it's a small world, I reminded S. (see below, mugging mightily
for camera) who Koons was and how Koons produces his work
(works executed by studio assistants)... he furrowed his brow and
said oh yeah, he has a friend who was one of Koons' artists.

:)

My fav was this 4-meter wide painting by Ahmad Moualla, untitled. I think I'm homesick
for ma's work. Like her he paints
a world big enough to step into. Another link about him.

(detail)

This piece was installed in a fairly narrow
space so one had no choice but to fall into it, so you get angle shots.

Outside, trying to give a sense of the place. It's a nice big Calder,
photo does not show its scale well.

Last year's art fair was stomped flat and sad by the economy, but this year lots of red dots and buzz.

reconciled #1

2009-11-18T11:21:33Z

reconciled #1, oil on canvas, 20 x 16"

between thoughts

2009-11-09T09:56:16Z

between thoughts, mixed media on canvas, 150 x 120cm

Detail shots at website, click image to go there. And one behind the cut.

horizon watch

2009-11-07T03:05:33Z

Show is up @ Zayed University in Abu Dhabi. It's going really well. Will post the paintings.

horizon watch, mixed media on canvas, 120 x 150 cm (approx. 47 x 59")

Click image to go to site for detail shots. I'll put one behind the cut as well.

Process shots here and here.

I do disclose...

2009-10-06T12:44:13Z

I sell my own art and shill for my galleries who are all
awesome even those that are closing, thank you not
very much recession. Because my awesome galleries don't take
that much money for the work that they do, and they make it
so anyone can walk in and see the actual pieces and much
other beauty. For free.

Bloggers Will Have To Disclose Freebies

New guideline released by the Federal Trade Commission will soon force bloggers to adopt a higher standard of disclosure as they will have to tell readers when they got money or in-kind services from a company they write about. In addition, the commission also said that celebrities must disclose a relationship with a company when they talk about products somewhere besides traditional ads, such as in talk shows or social network sites.

Source.

And an available painting, while I'm at it.

backward

2009-10-02T17:29:48Z

backward, detail

green fence

2009-09-27T11:52:11Z

green fence, oil on canvas, 31.5 x 23.5"

Click to go to website for detail shots.

Wow, long time no post. I have a show coming up
in November for which I'm doing new work, so the pace should pick up around here. :)

fever dream #1

2009-09-21T13:53:29Z

fever dream #1, oil on canvas, 12 x 30"

Click image to go to website and see details.

and this is the painting now.

2009-09-10T14:27:24Z

Not done.

in progress

2009-09-09T12:48:53Z

Still working out some issue with the content; the back of my brain is not happy. I'd like to get started painting on it but... not yet. I wish I would just say what else I want in this painting already. I'd be most happy to give it to myself. Probably complaining on my blog will be enough to do the trick and shake loose the final missing components.

look ma we are in the paper. the hometown paper. where is my evil eye amulet. oh, already wearing

2009-09-08T03:47:50Z

Thank you considerphlebas for scanning this for us.

done for now EDIT really done.

2009-09-02T14:23:29Z

I can't look at it any more. ~~I am sure it will get another round or two of changes, but not until I've painted something else.~~ Changes made.

booktree, oil on canvas, 31.5 x 23.5"

Click image to see details-- it is not displaying well at this size, too dense, and the details are much better.

Am picking up the bookgarden theme I began in Pakistan, click image below to see individual panels better, click thumbs on the right.