12.19.2010
12.10.2010
Playing Duchamp
Scott Kildall just wrote an email to his followers that said, "I just finished a recent Turbulence commission called "Playing Duchamp" -- in which I have reprogrammed a chess computer to play chess as if it were Marcel Duchamp."
Here is the link:
This is an exciting venture that Kildall has been working on for some time. While we didn't follow the step-by-step intricacies of his programming adventure, we know the San Francisco Bay Area has lately been a hotbed of Duchampian activity with curatorial projects and recent exhibitions, such as The Seduction of Duchamp.
Marcel Duchamp is widely recognized for his contribution to conceptual art, but his lifelong obsession was the game of chess, in which he achieved the rank of Master. Working with the records of his chess matches, I have created a computer program to play chess as if it were Marcel Duchamp. I invite all artists, skilled and unskilled at this classic game, to play against a Duchampian ghost.
Kildall’s email continues, "I am inviting you … to play against this conceptual art master. As part of the ongoing project, I am doing chess analysis on selected games and I would like to include yours as well." Elegantly, Kildall provides us with selected results (from about 300 games) at this link:
http://turbulence.org/Works/playing_duchamp/results.php
It's gracious of him to let us know (in italics!), "You don't have to play chess well to play" and I'm grateful, having never mastered the game despite lifelong attempts to play beyond my father's opening gambits.
Kildall invites us to pass the announcement and link on friends and colleagues. Nice.
Scott Kildall continues to pursue some of the most interesting, art related, brainiac projects around. He can be found virtually at kildall.com.
12.06.2010
Art Basel 2010 Oceanfront Program
Art Basel Miami Beach's Oceanfront, a public nightly program organized by Creative Time, was beautiful, contemplative and exciting. Phu Hoang Office and Rachely Rotem Studio, designed an environment/pavilion using two types of rope - reflective and phosphorescent – to create an interactive environment of open-air structures that swayed and glowed in the night. The program featured four cities, Detroit, Mexico City, Berlin, and Glasgow, credited as vanguards of today’s alternative and artistic/cross-disciplinary collaboration, with invitations to four organizations to partner in creating the program - the Museum of Contemporary Art (Detroit), Museo Tamayo (Mexico City), 032c (Berlin), and Tramway (Glasgow). Spotlighting film, music, video, performance, the program featured performances by Sue Tompkins, Biba Bell, Isa Melsheimer, Aids-3d, 80*81 (Gerog Diez / Christopher Roth), Stephen Sutcliff, Martin Creed and his band, Daniel Guzman's band Pellejos, Mexico's El Resplandor, and sets by acclaimed DJs from the the four cities. Presentations and discussions were also held by various artists including Pedro Reyes, Claudia Fernandez, Raul Cardenas / Torolab, and Jorge Mendez Blake.
Pulse Miami 2010
Art Basel this year didn't disappoint. Here are our favorites:
Our first stop was Pulse, where we fell in love with Silverlens Gallery's new group of artists, such as Manila-based Geraldine Javier and her diptych, Snow (2010 diptych, oil on canvas, collage, embroidery, 54 x 45 in/137.16 x 114.3 cm each panel), pairing representational oil painting with collage and embroidery.
Our San Francisco neighbor, Catherine Clark Gallery featured Al Farrow's architecture (Bombed Mosque, 2010, guns, bullets, steel, 40 x 56 x 34 in), and video by Marina Zurkow (Elixir I-II, 2010, Single-channel digital video, custom electronics: monitor, USB drive, MPLayer, custom frame, 24 x 15 x 3 inches). Catherine Clark generously provided us with a short clip of the gallery's video program to view and consider.
Conner Contemporary Art presented Solaris (2005, light emitting diodes, custom software, circuitry, Plexiglas, edition: 3/3) by Leo Villareal, a hypnotic and beautifully-designed light sculpture.
Lastly, Portland's Elizabeth Leach Gallery’s installation by Malia Jensen, Salty (carved salt lick and digital video, 12 minutes, edition x/10), combined mammary (yes, that's right, mammary) salt sculptures with a slightly disturbing video.
We are grateful for these artworks.
12.02.2010
Mark Leibowitz for Ruinart
Mark Leibowitz is one of ten artists featured at Ruinart Champagne's VIP reception at the Betsy Hotel in Miami's South Beach tonight.
What is Ruinart? Described as the oldest champagne house around (since 1729) and a blanc de blancs label owned by the LVMH brand, it was branded the "Art Basel Champagne" at the top restaurants in town, such as Mr. Chow, host to Larry Gagosian's party tonight. It's delicious.
Curated by Leslie King-Hammond, PhD, the Ruinart vernissage featured artists sought by an important studio based corporation in a partnership that featured the brand and created a collection for a benefit auction supporting children with special health needs. The artists were namely, Isaac Fortoul (New York), Carrie Sunday (New York), Kiki Valdes (Miami), Johnny Robles (Miami), Melissa Ayr (Dallas), Pascal (Santa Fe), Trish Williams (Chicago), Mark Leibowitz (San Francisco), Dane Storrusten (Seattle), and Elijah Blue (Los Angeles).
As a guest to Mr. Leibowitz' reception last night, I entered the Betsy Hotel from the oceanfront side of South Beach and was greeted by an intimidating blonde who asked the nature of my business. Luckily, my name was on a list and I was allowed to enter. The evening moved along at a fast clip, beautifully fueled by unending pours of wonderful champagne, that moved from the Betsy Hotel to Mr. Chow and its party of hungry, parched Art Basel powerhouse revelers.
12.01.2010
Changes
Today, on December 1, Micaela Gallery redefined its format to a consultancy in modern and contemporary art, guiding clients with expertise and access throughout the international art community.
While announcing the departure from our practice at 49 Geary Street in San Francisco via this blog may seem rather quiet, the reality of our business is that our work is best done through continued successful collaborations with our colleagues, the expert advisors who assist us in the myriad questions that arise when developing a fine art collection, as well as the artists we work with. So that our only real change is one of a physical address to a virtual address.
Micaela Gallery is a boutique gallery focused on its representation of a small, select group of artists working in the USA and abroad. Collaborating with colleagues, our program features an interdisciplinary mix of mediums that includes video, sculpture and painting, along with an extensive Flat File set featuring a carefully curated selection of works on paper and illustrated catalogs published by gallery and non-gallery artists.
Our story:
We grew from a very small, regional concern to one of the most recognized contemporary art galleries with special collections of sculpture, featuring many of the strongest talents in the San Francisco Bay Area, including David Gilhooly, Marvin Lipofsky, Pamina Traylor, and a host of wildly free-spirited local sculptors. Micaela Gallery presented the first Northern California exhibitions addressing contemporary fine art issues in the glass sculpture community, and was the first to introduce glass sculpture to the international fine art community during Art Basel Miami week in 2008. The gallery's exhibition program at art fairs includes SOFA Chicago, Bridge Art Fair New York and Miami, SCOPE Miami, SCOPE Basel, Los Angeles Art Show and the Affordable Art Fair New York.
Today, Micaela Gallery is independent of the traditional, physical gallery space, yet retains its presence in the fine art community through curated art exhibitions, exhibitions at international art fairs, publications, salons where select artists, critics and friends come together to enhance our social community, and of course, through the social network provided by the internet.
Micaela Gallery represents select collections of artwork by emerging and established international contemporary fine artists. The artwork in this collection is viewable on our website at micaela.com. If you are interested in acquiring a work from this collection, or would like more information about our program, please see our calendar, or contact us via email at info@micaela.com.
Thank you for your visit to our blog. I look forward to introducing you to our artists, their work, and, of course, to meeting you.
Micaela V. van Zwoll
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