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Who am I and what I do.

I am Zac Willis and I am artist. But before I go any further I want to say sorry to everyone for taking nearly a decade to introduce myself. I go to school at American for my MFA in Studio Art. I am currently working on a body of work that addresses ideas of self. I am working in different types of mediums; video, performance, print making, and photography. That is pretty much my work in a nut shell. I hope that we can get the everyone together to critique some work and get to meet one other.

a sucker for art theory talk

i was wondering if anyone else has a personal criteria, either generalized or specific when looking at artwork or critiquing artwork?

i think the whole process of art critique is interesting and how everyone sees a different facet and draws different connections, i feel like it would make an interesting psychological experiment.

personally, when i look at a piece i immediately think of it in terms of written art criticism and then use that as a jumping off point.

1. how would i write critically about this piece?

2. overall then how does it relate to broader cultural, political, social, etc. points.

3. at this point the piece should spark a connection to some other artist’s work – usually concept wise.

4. if these steps don’t work for me then i usually have a hard time talking about a piece and revert to the defaults:

- class issues/dynamics

- history/archives/science/math all as the “new art” instead of derivative “art about art”

- artistic process/behind the scenes/documentation

tell me your train of thought when it comes to looking at artwork! i always seem to have a set way because i am a very meticulous and planned-out person….

-ding

Hans Haacke @ Paula Cooper Gallery

534 W. 21st Street, New York, NY

Here’s a show to see not only because of it’s grandeur, but also because of the historical significance of the artist. Hans Haacke, a seminole conceptual artist, presents works from the earliest stages of Haacke’s career in the 60s up to a very recent piece in 2005. It’s basically a mini-retrospective.

I was pretty stoked to see in person a piece that really ruffled a lot of feathers in 1971. Haacke was suppose to have a solo show at the Guggenheim that year, it was installed and ready-to-go when the museum decided to cancel it due to monetary politics over the content of the subject matter. Sol Goldman and Alex DiLorenzo Manhattan Real Estate Holdings, a Real-Time Social System, as of May1, 1971 lists apartment buildings that are owned by two particular real estate lords that unfairly treated their tenants.

Of the various works exhibited my favorite was Wide White Flow is a visually mesmerizing sculpture, part of series of work when Haacke was studying natural processes such as wind. none of the piece remains static, as is everything in Haacke’s ideology be it nature, politics, etc. Staring at it for too long started getting me sea-sick. NYFA has a great interview with Hans Haacke that you can check out here.

This exhibition will run until February 16th, 2008. You can also view his works at the Queens Museum’s “New York State of Mind” exhibit and in the Whitney’s recent acquisitions.

-laser

El Anatsui at Jack Shainman Gallery

513 W.20th St. New York, NY

I have never heard of the Jack Shainman Gallery, but they are definitely on my radar now. These photos are just a small portion of the gargantuan works by Ghanaian artist, El Anatsui. From the press release, “Drawing on African history and cultural idions, as well as Western art practices, Anatsui uses rigid materials to create seemingly soft and pliable cloth-like structures.” I can’t get over how energetic and engaging these are. When viewed up close you notice that these tapestries are an assortment of bottle caps, twist-ties, metal foil from bottle necks, and other discarded materials. Anatsui should be the poster boy for a recycling campaign! The art historical references and environmental issues don’t really matter to me when in the presence of these structures. I just want to bask in their beauty and stare all day. A lot of people must share my sentiments because it is a sold out show! I do wonder… how many assistants? How long and time consuming? It’s all part of the magic.

Zebra Crossing by El Anatsui is at Jack Shainman Gallery until February 2, 2008.

-laser

William Kentridge “Seeing Double”opens @ Marion Goodman

24 W. 57th St. New York, NY

This is a must see exhibition! One of the best I have seen ever. If I had the time to go back up to New York and see it again, I would. Kentridge’s fascination with sight and how we construct images in our brain have led to the synthesis of this exhibition. Most of the works involve looking at them in two ways: looking with the naked eye and then seeing it with a optical device. Stereoscopes and mirrors are used to look at two drawings that become one 3D image in your brain. Anamorphic drawings (remember Art History 101’s anamorphic memento mori?) are displayed on a round table with a mirror cylinder in the center so that you can see it properly. The exhibition centers on an 8 minute animation on a round table with mirror cylinder titled, “What Will Come.” It’s a glorious piece with beautiful corresponding opera music.

What I love about the exhibition is that Kentridge still is able to keep-it-old-school but still fascinates the viewer by adding a new element to twist it up: the optical illusions. With the current art world flooded with virtual reality, bright colors, diamond studded skulls, and the color gold seems to be in every Chelsea gallery… Kentridge continues to make his black and white drawing animations that he is so well known for. Keep in mind, he is not being a cookie cutter artist by doing the same stuff over and over again. He has found interest in something new: optics, and uses it to challenge himself as an artist and his personal style.

The exhibition also displayed recent works that didn’t involve”seeing double” such as sculptures, equestrian tapestry, and collage prints.

Anna Pinks looks into a double sided mirror

Personal Rant:

I love the Marion Goodman Gallery and what she has done in the past 30 years. Back in the 70s when women weren’t curators and when the New York/American art world didn’t have strong dialog with the European art world, Goodman opened up this gallery in New York and began exhibiting non-American artists such as Laurence Weiner, Jeff Wall, Marcel Broodthaers, Gerhard Richter, the list goes on and on… (today, she does include Americans) If the art world had a royal court, Marion Goodman would be the queen. All that being said, at the opening on Friday night, in passing, I congratulated Goodman on a fantastic show. She coldly muttered under her breath a “thank you” back to me without even looking my way. I am so fed up with being treated like this in New York by the art world A-listers. By “A-listers” I mean anyone who makes it into Art Review’s Power 100 list or into your history books. This is one of the many reasons why the DC scene is so great. Ours is small- we know we need every galleriest, collector, artist, and yes the meager art students to comprise of our social circles. I am never down graded in DC because I am just another art student. So if any of you reading this, “make it” in New York don’t act like the Marion Goodmans out there.

William Kentridge’s “Seeing Double” will be up at the Marion Goodman Gallery until February 16th.

-laser

2nd Installment of UNMONUMENTAL

235 Bowery, New York, NY

Each month the New Museum is adding a new layer of art for their inaugural exhibition, UNMONUMENTAL. For the first month the museum had only sculpture, now into the second month, they have put up collages and collage installations on the walls. In mid-February they will add a layer of sound art and Internet art. The exhibition wants to focus on the times we are currently living in. These fragmented and sometimes precarious forms reflect the opening of the 21st century- marked by moments of falling monuments (ie/ Twin Towers, Saddam Hussein, etc). It also reflects the current trend in art to use modest -unmonumental- materials. This isn’t a show of marble statues and meticulous oil paintings; it’s littered with broken furniture, paper clippings, and old clothes. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself bumping into a sculpture that looked like a turned over trashcan.

I wasn’t a big fan of the sculptures, they weren’t doing enough for me to give more than a glance. Maybe because I wanted those small intimate moments when artwork draws you into looking at a small fragment of itself, similar to a painting. I LOVED the collages. They were loaded with imagery. “Collage: The New Painting for the 21st Century” could be another title for this second installment. Thomas Hirschhorn had a wall full of collages that juxtaposed images of death and gore with porn ladies. On top of that he drew all over and around the clippings with a pen. My favorites were Martha Rosler’s framed works that collaged domestic interiors with happy advertisements with runway models with the War in Iraq. I know there is a glare on the photos I took, but if you look closely there is a Febreeze add of a lady cleaning a couch inside a bombed out castle. That says a lot right there- perhaps, as we are cleaning our homes our military is cleaning out other peoples’.

On the lower two levels of the museum were monumental collages. Monumental in their massive size and installations. Wangechi Mutu’s, “Perhaps the moon will save us” has flying pigs (with faux fur for wings), holes in the wall for stars, and a moon made of stuffed stockings, blankets, and various garments. Mark Bradford’s “Helter Skelter 1 + 2″ is an enormous collage on canvas which he sanded through to expose different layers. From afar is looks like, well- Helter Skelter, but when you come up close you can see the various fragments of images.

UNMONUMENTAL will be at the New Museum until March 23, 2008.

-laser

I need help naming this piece

basic ideas are: domesticity/sanitation, attempting to leave a mark on a place/ make a change in a short time, being painterly, etc

-Laser!

Corcoran ‘09

It Isn’t Easy Being Pink

I just uploaded this performance piece I did. Keep in mind that this is all real and I did not coregraph every action. I set myself up in a situation to see if I could escape it. Please turn your volume up, comment, and feel free to criticize.

-Laser!, Corcoran BFA ‘09

(ps. I use “Laser” to separate my art from my other professional pursuits)

this is what i’m currently working on

polka dots to emphasize borders. the stop motion mode of presentation was suggested by my professors.

i want to make a lot of these that all connect together so its like i’m outlining as many objects/things/spaces that i come across as possible.

-ding ren, GW MFA ‘09