reviews
Manny Farber: About Face
Austin Museum of Art, Downtown
5 June - 29 August 2004
I've been infatuated with Farber's work, visually and intellectually, since I was in college, and I was ecstatic when I heard his retrospective was going to make Its way to AMOA. I think of Farber's paintings as thinly disguised self-portraits. Most are populated by a variety of objects from his garden,
from his home, and from his studio (melons, candy bars, post-it notes, plastic figurines, model trains, Japanese erotica), which the artist envelops in fields of vibrant, sensuous color. Farber practices what he calls, strangely enough, "termite art." In a brilliant essay from 1962, he compares "termite art" to "white elephant art." I probably admire Farber as much for his painting as I do for this quote, which summarizes exactly what he most disliked about "white elephant art": "The painting, sculpture, assemblage becomes a yawning production of overripe technique shrieking with preciosity, fame, ambition; far inside are tiny pillows holding up the artist's signature, now turned into mannerism by the padding, lechery, faking required to combine today's esthetics with the components of traditional Great Art". Farber's own "termite art," by contrast, is at once modest and unpretentious, delightful and witty, intelligent and sexy. Not to be missed!
New American Talent: The Nineteenth Exhibition
Arthouse
12 June - 22 August 2004
events
lAIR 04.2: Artist's Dialogue
ArtPace
9 July 2004, 6:30pm - 8:00pm
Join 04.2 resident artists Fareed Armaly, Ulrike Ottinger, and Willie Varela and guest curator Ute Meta Bauer in conversation about their ArtPace projects.
opportunities
AIPP (Art in Public Places) is teaming up with the City's Aviation Department to offer artists an opportunity to design and install ceramic, mosaic, metal, stone or other forms of durable media on the exterior concrete walls of two pedestrian bridges at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
Deadline: August 31, 2004.
The South Austin Tennis Center is being expanded... the artist(s) selected for the project will be asked to develop a proposal, which will determine the scope of work on this project.
Deadline: Artists must join the AIPP Visual Art Image
Registry by July 2, 2004, so don't delay!
For more information please visit www.citvofaustin.orq/aipp
announcements
San Antonio artist (and long time studio director at Artpace) has been on leave for the last four month's doing a residency of his own in Dale, Norway at the Nordisk Kunstnarsenter
Dalsasen (see: http://home.no.net/nkd.) After working with over 100 artists Riley Robinson has taken advantage of an artist's residency of his own. Here is what he has been up to: http://homepaae.mac.com/metalcracker.
Austin's Karen Bernstein and Ellen Spiro's new documentary film, ARE THE KIDS ALRIGHT? UT's Chris Taylor calls it a "heart wrenching and wonderfully made film." For more info see: www.mobilusmedia.com.
