Protocols of Looking (2011) at Figure One

n to Watch is a year-long set of shows curated by Allyson Purpura, Terri Weissman, and Jimmy Luu “that brings relevant and engaging ideas from the School of Art + Design’s classrooms to a public forum.” Figure One is located at 116 N. Walnut in Downtown Champaign. Open hours are Wed. 12-4, Thu-Sat 5-9. There is a closing reception on Friday, Feb. 24th from 6-9p.

Twelve Dark Paths

Photographs by Will Arnold

December 18th-28th

Indigo Gallery – 9 E University Ave Champaign, IL

Gallery Hours Tuesday-Friday 4-8pm

Opening Reception Sunday December 18th 6-8pm

Thanks everyone for coming out to open studios!   Here are some pictures courtesy of Paul Shortt:

Lecture: Friday, November 4th, 12:30, Rm 107 Art and Design

ABOUT:  William Powhida (b. 1976, New York) is a G-E-N-I-U-S and habitual critic of the art world.  Powhida lives in Bushwick, has a studio in Williamsburg, and exhibits in Chelsea.  He studied painting at Syracuse University where he easily received a B.F.A with honors and scored an M.F.A. from the cheap-assed famed Hunter College Program. Getting a honors there was a joke. He has exhibited internationally in New York, Los Angles, Seattle, London, Madrid, Miami, Chicago, and Copenhagen.  Recent shows include Dirty Kunst at Seventeen Gallery, London,  I Like The Art World And The Art World Likes Me at The Elizabeth Foundation,READykeulous: The Hurtful Healer at Invisible-Exports, and If These Walls Could Talk a contemporaneous exhibition at Marine Art Salon and Charlie James Gallery in LA. He has organized exhibitions including #class and  #rank with Jennifer Dalton and Magicality with Eric Trosko.  He also collaborated with artist Jade Townsend on the Lemonade Stand and the ABMB Hooverville drawing.  His work has been discussed in the New York Times, Artforum, Art in America, The Brooklyn Rail, Art News, Artinfo, Artnet, Hyperallergic, Art Fag City among others.

Links:

http://williampowhida.com/wordpress/

http://www.jazjaz.net/2010/09/controversial-artist-william-powhidas-art-world-board-game.html

Link to MFA Critique series website:

http://uiucmfastudiocritiques.pbworks.com/w/page/575791/UIUC_MFA_STUDIO_CRITIQUES

Laura Tanner’s installations are often discussed as part of the Southern Gothic literary tradition, sharing similar themes with authors such as Flannery O’Connor and Eudora Welty. As a Georgia native and a 4th generation Atlantian, Tanner’s work seeks to understand our construction of identity while also questioning contemporary issues of class and gender politics. Her ancestral-based narratives are tightly bound to antebellum traditions while balancing the changing ideals of new generation of southern society.

“n to Watch” is a year-long series curated by Allyson Purpura, Terri Weissman and Jimmy Luu that brings relevant and engaging ideas from the School of Art + Design’s classrooms to a public forum.  The show will be open through the end of November.

http://www.seefigureone.org/

Kansas City, MO  Friday November 4th Subterranean Gallery will host a public reception from 7:00 – 11:00 p.m. showcasing new work by artists Robert Chase Heishman and Paul Shortt. The exhibition will feature video works, photographic prints, and interactive sculptures. Visitors are welcome to join us in the gallery the following afternoon at 1:00 pm for an artist talk and coffee.

 
How To Do Something, All Alone, By Yourself brings us to a place where we can see the moments that shape human identity. Heishman’s videos and photographs aim to embody the crisis of individuality. He shows us his attempt to form a relationship and compare himself to his soap opera namesake Chase Gioberti. Shortt’s videos and sculptures remind us of how foreign it is to fully adopt society’s rules. His work presents opportunities for spectators to feel their personal agency limited, while at the same time pointing to an emancipation.

 
Robert Chase Heishman presents a recent suite of work that is part of his larger My Falcon Crest project. My Falcon Crest, which began in 2009, centers around an exploration of Heishman’s discovered namesake: 1980’s Falcon Crest soap opera star — actor Robert Foxworth, who played the character, Chase Gioberti. In his current series of videos and photographs, NAMESAKE, Heishman physically grooms, feeds, bubble-bathes, (and so on) various photographic prints of his soap opera “elder”. The videos in this suite reveal the sequence of actions enacted upon the photographic print, while the final, partially eroded print is displayed as a record of the communion with the image.

 
Robert is an artist living and working in Chicago, Illinois. He has held residency at the Charlotte Street Foundation, and is in the collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Heishman received his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2008, where he double-majored in Photography and Art History. Currently, he is earning his MFA from Northwestern University’s Art Theory and Practice department, expecting to graduate in 2012.

 
Paul Shortt’s new video series depicts his attempts to perform simple actions that have larger, more complicated cultural meanings. First in this series, Fly the Flag, Shortt attempts to get the American flag to fly at full mast but encounters numerous pitfalls and setbacks. In Breakdown, Shortt literally and figuratively breaks down on the side of the road. Paul will also be presenting some of his recent sculptural works that will engage viewers through interactions. In mirrored pillory, participants are put in a stockade that reflects viewers’ image. In Time Out Zone, a sign that conforms to the corner of the gallery directs the viewer into the act of time out. This new series of works continues to put not only himself, but also participants into awkward funny and uncomfortable situations.

 
Paul received his BFA in Painting from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2009. From 2009-2010, he directed a monthly, year-long series of performance art at the Fishtank Performance Studio in Kansas City, Missouri, called The Paul Shortt Invitational Performances. He has participated in the Charlotte Street Foundation residency program in Kansas City, and spoken about his work at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. Shortt currently is pursing his MFA in New Media at The University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, and expects to graduate in 2013.

As part of the Intervention lecture series AGSO brought in Olivia Robinson for a lecture and student workshop.  After her lecture on thursday, October 6th, students from throughout the school of art and design spent friday collaborating on a large scale inflatable project.  The workshop culminated in an installation/celebration on the main quad in front of the student union.  The piece is made from plastic, packing tape, a fan, sandbags, and rope.

Robinson’s visit was funded through the Frances P. Rohlen Visiting Artist Fund, the College of Fine and Applied Arts, the Krannert Art Museum, and the School of Art + Design Visitors Fund.

Artist’s website: http://oliviarobinson.com/

Photos by Megan Roche

Download PDF of Visitor’s series flyer here: 2011-12 visiting_speakers_flyer

While much of the writing addressed the artistic or philosophical aspects of the work, a few included some humor as well. Some choice quotes:

Grosser may have unknowingly birthed the apocalypse with his Painting Machine. –Huffington Post

He [Grosser] created a robot that’s — how to put this gently? — a thin-skinned neurotic. –Fast Company

I can already hear the outcry of the artists’ associations for protection of their works as soon as the following robots would fall into the hands of pirates. –Robonews [Germany], via Google Translate

If Warhol were still around, we’re pretty sure the man would’ve snatched up this contraption as a Factory-approved objet d’art. –Engadget

Overall a much nicer, more cultured use of artificial intelligence than, say, a swarm of flying death robots. –the creators project [UK]

An incomplete list of coverage around the ‘net: