VOL 07 ISSUE
3 
March 15, 2008
BACK ISSUES | ° | ¤ | CURRENT ISSUE
VOL 07 ISSUE
3 BACK ISSUES | ° | ¤ | CURRENT ISSUE |
| MACH ATTACK: MACHETANZ LITHOGRAPH COLLECTION | ||||
 INVADERS In 1961, Anchorage
booster Bob Atwood and a small group of friends 'suggested' to Fred Machetanz that he
spend some time painting and let them pay his bills and arrange for an exhibition.
The 1966 painting Invaders, shown at right as a photo-lithographic reproduction,
was among the early results of this confidence. Downtown developer Jimmy
Wong hosted a collection of Machetanz prints at the post office mall during Fur Rendezvous
and the accompanying First Friday. Folks visiting Anchorage
had the chance to wander the hallways which were filled with nearly two dozen
reproductions signed and numbered by the artist. |
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HARPOONER'S MOMENT: TENSE Collectors
were right in supporting and encouraging Machetanz. The artist might have seen
himself in the title role of Harpooner's Moment, seen at left, for artists like
harpoonists depend on the collective good will of those in their same boat depending on
them to strike the truth and deliver spiritual sustenance. Machetanz worked from specific models and actual locations. Pioneer Peaks and genuine old sourdoughs and huskies are among the topics he chose familiar to the Cook Inlet region, and he documented his travels to the North Coast perspicaciously. He only rarely squeezed a tube of red onto his pallette. A detail of his Native Girl original found in Charley MacAlpine's Far North Gallery is the index image for this issue as an example. Machetanz received many honors during his career, and his McKinley portrait Heritage of Alaska, not shown, was sold out in an edition of 950 as the first document in Alaska history signed by all 5 governors since statehood. In honor of Alaska's 50th Anniversary of Statehood, Artique is offering a giclée edition of 950 of Sydney Laurence's Denali portrait, Legacy of Alaska, signed by 8 of 10 governors since statehood. The signatures add to the future values of the new prints, made from a painting in the collection of the Alaska National insurance Company, offered at $1500 while they last, half of which is a forced tax deductable donation to The Alaska Community Foundation/Anchorage Statehood Celebration. Details online. |
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GEOPHYSICAL: ROBSON At
Alaska Pacific University's Carr-Gottstein Gallery this month the work of Jim Robson in
oil on canvas is shown, including Yenlo shown at left. Robson is an amateur painter
with a masters in Geology who is driven to express his appreciation of Alaska's landforms.
Influenced by the 60's, he imagines each painting exploring a room in the
landscape.
YENLO:BELOW BIG MAC Southwest of the Denali Mountain is an isolated promontory known as Yenlo Mountain, seen at left. Hidden lakes, eroded hillsides, and trees like lonely sentinels express the secrets of the landforms. The paint is applied expressively, and Robson's worldview is singular. Speaking of the solitude available to Bush walkers, he says in his statement that "I experience a strange joy in the wild ... that energizes me to paint." |
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FORBIDDEN FRUIT: DOBSON
DAULT Spenardtists Jim Dault and Shala Dobson have had a lengthy and
productive artistic collaboration including stints as educators and gallerists and
providing several Alaskan communities with memorable public art. In their combined
show at the Grant Hall at APU this month, they provide a 3-D exploration of a biblical
notion, the Forbidden Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Tradition has it as an apple, and Dobson and Dault allowed their imaginations to provide
other temptations. Using a rubber molding process to create epoxy resin casts of
clay originals, the suggestively corona capped banana is a sample of their humorously sexy
approach to the subject. An oversize peach pit and a huddle of pears fill out the show, with custom plinths featuring side lit cuts of acrylic on top provided a bit of motion and color to other pieces in the installation. |
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FOSSIL FIG: VAY JAY JAY At
the far end of the gallery, a viewer may be flabbergasted at the Fossil Fig, shown at
left, and Dobson claimed surprise at the resemblance to certain female anatomical
characteristics. Uh-huh. The retired school teacher can be the soul of
discretion and is still in demand by school districts statewide for her unique way of
engaging children in the principles of art. Curator Jannah Atkins has been teaching a class in art appreciation at UAA the last several years and as part of the class requires students to attend and review exhibitions. With the persistence of the Vagina Monologues and the cover of current Cosmos headlining "Your Vay Jay Jay", the object of Dobson/Dault's close inspection is still not completely commonplace. "Here are some ideas about fruit and what's essentially left after superior beings are done messing with it." |
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BABOON BLOCKS: GORMLEY A recent current of outside artists have been sweeping through Anchorage with the spending of the Museum expansion money, and Alaska Design Forum members were treated to experts in website and video making from New York who will be prime subcontractors for display, accompanied by a 'sound artist' who convinced a large part of the audience to let him assault them sonically. The curator of the Kiasma Museum in Helsinki explained how the best photography had the qualities of landscape painting, a forgotten art form. The Museum also announced that they approved of the blue foam model provided by Antony Gormley for a feature sculpture. ArtSceneAK publisher Donald R Ricker quickly gussied up the Baboon Greeting Dawn shown at left to confirm the aesthetic appeal of squatting simians made of cubic forms. Public reaction to the news has been insulted and insulting, and the notion of having a fashionable British sculptor add the finishing look to the British architect's efforts in Anchorage should please the Queen and her oil company's other shareholders. Anchorage artists meanwhile are left baying at daybreak. | |||
- ARTIST OPPORTUNITIES- 3/25/08 deadline MOA % for ART FIRESTATION #4 seeks to buy a table with their art money. Budget $18,000. Contact Jocelyn Young 343-6473 3/28/08 deadline KVCC ALASKAN LIGHT invitational delivery 3/27/08 deadline IGCA JURORED ART SHOW seeks entries at $15 each for review by Mariko Munro. Two stage process. Mail or hand deliver CD jpgs to 427 D Street, Anchorage, 99501 4/9/08 deadline ALASKA STATE MUSEUM ALASKA POSITIVE seeking entries from photographers statewide. Details online. Contact Bob Banghart 907-465-2976 4/18/08 deadline ALASKA BOTANICAL GARDEN seeks consignments for garden art show in mid-June. Details online. Contact GregLyallATgci.net 4/25/08 deadline PORT OF LOS ANGELES Cabrillo Way Marina call for artists. Budget $250,000 RFQ online. San Pedro, CA open deadline MOA % FOR ART and MAT-SU BOROUGH SCHOOL DISTRICT invite artists to register with a new public art registry. Application and details online . ASCA Art In Public Places with over $19 million dollars in commissions required by AK Statute 35.27 from the last three years' capital projects budgets alone. Print out ArtSceneAK's select list from this link.
THE PAINTER OF BATTLES: A NOVEL by Arturo Pérez-Reverte translated by Margaret Sayers Peden This book examines the thought processes of a photojournalist and war correspondent who abandons the camera to return to painting. The author's life history suffuses the fictional narrative, replete with understanding, and the whole thing slams to a stop with an intensity that matches or exceeds the worthiness of Zola's classic L'Oeuvre. ArtSceneAK recommends reading this one at night up in your tower. NEXT: APRES L'ARTS CONTACT ArtSceneAK: Aggravated again?! Ecstatic?! Let us know you love us or hate us. Help correct attribution errors that you suspect. Tell us about your upcoming event or artist opportunity. Let us know about your website.
cf also ART IN ALASKA
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DEAR ARTIST:
CHARITY AUCTIONS  KNBA, KSKA, AMRC, and a number of smaller players all appeal to artists
at this time of year for items to auction off in fundraisers. The Museum, which will
reluctantly award a donor with a quarter share of half the market value if bid on, makes
an argument that a minimum investment in the arts would be $800, an amount allowing the
participating artist to attend the Gala at half price and pay for cab fare home.
Others in the charity auction game are less generous, asking for 100% donations, leading
to the squirm inducing record bids for some artist's work that results in NO material
improvement in that artist's financial position.It can become difficult to reconcile the combined rejection notes from the Museum's Exhibition Committee, the Acquisition Committtee, and the All-Alaska show juror with the passionate injunction to provide 'valuable artwork' that the Gala committee can use to raise money. Unable to face his own hypocrisy, ArtSceneAK publisher again meekly provided, making his Pinot Noir, shown above right, available to Museum supporters looking for new wall racks. Other works from local artists for the Gala will be previewed at the April First Friday gallery walk. Support administrators over artists in the BACK ISSUE Index .
Thank you and Welcome to a new subscriber in Fairbanks. No, Thank You to an reader in Talkeetna: "Just wanted to say thanks for the blurb. My show will be up for the month of March, give Sheldon Hangar a call 733-7929 Come by if you can." --- Tony C From the Trailer Art Center in Mountain View: "The Anchorage Community Land Trust recently received a planning grant from the Department of Commerce. They have partnered with the TAC non-profit and the Rasmuson Foundation to develop a feasibility study of the multi-disciplinary art center concept. A team of local and national consultants has been assembled to study the economic viability of this unique project." From Palermo Sicily: "Angel Orensanz is a Spanish/American artist educated in Paris who carries his art practice throughout the world; an ongoing encounter between East and West. I believe that art affirms the value of instability against all dogmatism in a time like ours. ... This is a message of liberation and incitement to personal freedom, these works suggesting in substance interactivity and lightness." --- Achille Bonito Oliva in opening remarks at Orensanz' Joyous Instability of Art. From Anchorage: "Every year they ask us to donate our artwork to help them raise money, while our artwork may not be good enough to be considered for permanent installation, it is good enough to help pay for a non-Alaskan artist. Huh." --- CM Congratulations to Alaskan residents David Boxley, Steven Alvarez, Jack Dalton, Stephen Blanchett, and Emily Johnson named among the artists receiving the first Visual and Expressive Arts Grants from the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. A total of $145,000 was awarded nationwide in 13 grants selected from 83 applications.
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text & photos © 2008 Donald R Ricker ; artist's works pictured ©2008 to artists credited.
ArtSceneAK is published by Donald R Ricker and sponsored by
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