I'm excited to be working on a new series of drawings that will be installed at Highland Hospital through a commission from the Alameda County Arts Commission's small-scale
artwork commissioning program. This is my first opportunity to create site-responsive work that will be exhibited within that particlar site. The hospital has a rich history, interesting
amalgamation of architectural styles, and diverse community, so there's a lot to draw from for the series. I'll post snippets from the project and research as the work develops.
10.13.11:
My mind is still sorting through the compounded collection of ideas sparked by spending time at the
Grantmakers in the Arts conference the past several days. I'm still in the process of sorting through my notes and figuring out the best way to utilize, share and
build from all the information I gathered. The two overarching threads that ran through the conference were: 1) artists building new participatory and community building
models, whether through creative community development or finding ways to build out respectful partnerships between artists and social movement folk; and 2) the changing
demographics of the country, the inequities, blind spots, assets and opportunities that have arisen from that.
As I mentioned, I'm still mulling over where this information needs to be directed, but after hearing from artists like the amazing
Theaster Gates, I'm struck by the ways in which artists are building upon their many roles within their community. I've often talked with my colleague and occasional
collaborator Michele Carlson about what it means to have a dual-practice since we went through CCA's Fine Arts and
Visual & Critical Studies programs together and she teaches and founded the current dual-degree seminar. I haven't quite found a way to articulate the way this
past week's conversations have reframed the multiplicity of practice for me, but there's something there that needs to be communicated yet is also a very individualized come-to-Jesus
moment. In part, it's a collection of thoughts from over the past several years that have been building off of one another. There's the dual-degree thing. It also comes
from working at the Arts Commission and hearing my boss, San San Wong, talk about the Arts
& Communities: Innovative Partnerships grant as being at least in part about supporting artists as creative leaders in the community, even outside of what might be
legible as 'art practice'. It also ties back to what it seemed YBCA was trying to do earlier this year with the conversations leading up to BAN6, where they wanted artists to
have opportunities to engage with innovators in fields outside of the arts. That broader role of artist has long been discussed in frameworks like community artist, social practitioner,
artist as conceptual practitioner-slash-intentional community builder, etc. But as an artist working fairly traditionally (object-based studio practice), it has been
easy to create silos. Putting language to this revelation is difficult at least in part because it's a bit of a psychological dance, finding words to ease the transitions
between these different roles. But I'm putting this out there now, to ensure that it's something that doesn't just fall away.
On a somewhat different note, I'm very happy to be working with Carlos Ramirez for the upcoming
Working Conditions exhibition at SoEx. Carlos will be creating a process-based installation entitled "Digital
Dirt" where gallery visitors will be able to help shape the clay tiles for the sculpture or play Super Mario Brothers in the middle of the piece.
Working Conditions
November 11, 2011 - January 7, 2012
A process-based project with 9 artists selected by the SoEx Curatorial Committee:
Steven Barich
Elysa Lozano
Jennie Ottinger
Nathaniel Parsons
Carlos Ramirez
Zachary Royer Scholz
Charlene Tan
Ethan Worden
Wafaa Yasin
Opening Reception: Friday, November 11, 2011, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Closing Recaption: Friday, January 6, 2011 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 12:00 – 6:00 pm
Holiday Closures: November 21-27, 2011, December 19, 2011- January 2, 2012
9.18.11:
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts asked Kai
Hsing to create a series of videos investigating the work of a handful of Bay Area Now 6 artists. Here is the profile he admirably pulled together
from my nervous explanations about history, ghosts and the possibilities of architectural models:
The opportunity to exhibit at YBCA has been wonderful for many reasons, but my favorite moment has been listening to the profound and frenetic creative response to
my work from the brilliant writer/playwright Chinaka Hodge. As part of their Push/Play series of day-long public
programs, YBCA played host to a Literary Death Match. Four writers were asked to compose original texts to be presented in the LDM's
patented literary reading-turned-American Idol showdown. This time around the authors were asked to select a work in the BAN6 exhibit and spin off from there.
This was what she threw down:
7.17.11:
Just back from Atlanta for the Material Deposits install and exhibition at the Atlanta Contemporary Arts
Center. A very heartfelt thanks to Stuart Horodner and the rest of the crew at the Contemporary for pulling together a great show and being wonderful hosts during our
time there. In addition to the exhibition experience, Stuart helped to facilitate connections between the artists he brought out to Atlanta, including Mel Edwards who had a two-person
exhibition at the Center at the same time. Because of this, the entire experience was immensely inspiring as well as deeply humanistic.
On a related note, I was happy to learn about fellow Material Deposits artist, Elonda Billera's curatorial project down in Los Angeles:
Summercamp. She co-curates the alternative space in El Sereno with her housemates. While
I haven't had the chance to visit, judging from the roster of artists they've worked with (including On the Ground artist Gaye Chan) they're doing
interesting programming there.
Also since the last update, Bay Area Now 6 kicked off with a wild and well-attended event. Thank you
to the friends and colleagues who braved the crowds to celebrate and check out the work.
Part of the Material Deposits exhibition installation:
Artist Talk Panel (L to R): Seana Reilly, Weston, Elonda Billera, Melvin Edwards, Brion Nuda Rosch, and curator Stuart Horodner
Opening Night of Bay Area Now 6:
BAN6 signage outside of YBCA including a signage-based alteration by Tony Labat:
Here are a few preview images of the new installation debuting in the show (prior to final lighting):
Time is out of joint (or haunting the future city)
spraypaint and drawing media on paper sculpture
2011
6.12.11:
The very smart folks at Resonant
City just posted an interview they were kind enough to hold with me. Check out the rest of their site as well.
It's full of thoughtfully written critiques, reviews and essays about art, architecture and urban planning.
6.04.11:
Bay Area Now 6 is quickly approaching so I've been in full studio production mode. Here are a couple of peeks at work-in-progress. As always, paper sculpture with spraypaint (and acrylic medium in the case of the lenses).
3.09.11:
design by Christine Wong Yap
This Friday a show I curated at Southern Exposure
will be kicking off. It's been a wonderful to work with this very smart group of artists. Right now we're in the midst of the grind of
installation but it's almost here!
As others have pointed out to me, the theme of the show has recently taken on an interesting resonance because of the recent revolution
in Egypt--particularly because of Taha and Malak's work in the exhibition. Taha was in the midst of things on the ground there, so the
optimism of his project and its imagining of a new, thriving Cairo community is quite moving. I think that sense of hopefulness is an
undercurrent to all the work in the show that I didn't necessarily anticipate when I first started planning the show, or even when I
wrote the curatorial statement a few months ago. But that examination of possibility reaffirms for me the role that engaged artists play
both directly and indirectly in shaping the course of cultures and communities.
On the Ground
A group exhibition curated by Weston Teruya
March 11, 2011 - April 23, 2011
Opening Reception: Friday, March 11, 2011, 7 - 9 pm Artists: Taha Belal, Gaye Chan,
Sofia Cordova, Sergio De La Torre, Malak Helmy, Juan Luna-Avin, Jerome Reyes, Rene Yung
On the Ground presents new work arising from artists’ relationship to particular localities.
San Francisco. O’ahu. Cairo. The North coast of Egypt. Tijuana. Puerto Rico and its diaspora. Mexico City, Puebla, Monterrey and Queretaro.
The artists in On the Ground build from the specific codes and nuances of these places, creating their own narratives and gestures that
begin to reveal or reimagine their communities. Whether through community engagement, historical research, musical performance or language,
each artist delves into a specific facet of a site’s cultural structure. While each artist has taken his or her own approach to interpreting
and dissecting a locality, all of their projects emerge from an honest reflection on the terms and textures of their respective sites. From
the particularities of each community, they help to build a sense of differences and shared dynamics globally and locally.
Taha Belal presents Advertisements: a series of Arabic exhibition announcements modeled after those found in prominent art world
magazines to imagine a thriving and high-profile arts scene in Cairo.
Gaye Chan’s installation, Free Grindz, extends her ongoing Eating In Public project on O’ahu by documenting the freely available
edible weeds through the island.
Through her performative alter-ego, Chucha Santamaria, Sofia Cordova creates an installation and debut LP that hints at the
complications of Puerto Rican diasporic identity, the history of colonialism in the region and the liberating possibilities of club music.
In a mysterious but foreboding sequence, Sergio De La Torre’s Nuevo Dragon City depicts six Chinese-Mexican youth slowly barricading
themselves in an empty Tijuana storefront in an act that hints at the historic marginalization and underground survival of the Chinese
community in Mexico.
Malak Helmy’s Statements from the Compound draws on both location (the North Coast of Egypt) and language, capturing the changing
character of a place through a multi-stage translation into a sculptural installation.
Juan Luna-Avin’s exploration of punk music maps a chronological timeline of bands from Mexico City, Puebla, Monterrey and Queretaro
complemented by the deejay/selector’s interwoven mass of loving details including imagined album covers, a custom playlist and gig flyers.
Jerome Reyes excavates the ghostly histories tied to the former Mabuhay and Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco to create Flash Mab,
a pair of drawings and accompanying audio piece that explore the social and political movements surrounding both spaces.
In Whereas: A Declaration of Place, Rene Yung uses the language of legal documentation to engage the neighborhood around Southern
Exposure in creating collective statements of belonging and to negotiate a future together.
2.25.11:
An interview
conducted by the multi-talented Michele Carlson regarding the 2x2 Solos
show just went up on Art in America. She did a remarkable job in corralling my ramblings into something coherent.
2.07.11:
Danielle
Sommer wrote a thoughtful
review of my 2x2 Solos show at
Pro Arts for KQED.org. I particularly enjoy her opening
question, "Just how many landscapes can exist in one space at one time?" and the way it neatly summarizes so much of what
has driven my inquiry for many years.
1.29.11:
Happy New Year!
The 2x2 Solos show is up at Pro Arts. I'm excited about
the new work in the exhibition. I've had some good conversations with
friends about what the sculptural turn means for how I've been thinking
about the ongoing series of work. I'm not sure that I have a completely
statisfying answer for that question yet, but I do know that I'm very
happy about delving back into specific site research and grappling with
particular histories. Switching formats has been a chance to re-orient
myself and perhaps find a more satisfying balance of real references
and my own speculative arrangements.
I'm also very happy that the catalogue essay for the show is going to
be written by the ever brilliant Shana
Agid. I've been hoping to find a way to invite Shana to write about
my work ever since I saw his
thesis presentation at CCA's Visual Criticism(now Visual & Critical
Studies) symposium.
2x2 Solos: Weston Teruya
curated by Michelle Mansour
January 25-February 25, 2011
opening reception: February 4, 2011, 6 pm Pro Arts
150 Frank Ogawa Plaza
Oakland, CA (@ the Oakland Arts Gallery)
2 x 2 Solos is a series of solo exhibitions featuring new work commissioned
from four accomplished emerging artists based in the Oakland/Bay Area.
The program recognizes artistic excellence and supports the freedom
to create challenging and noncommercial work.
- - -
Yuken
Teruya was kind enough to curate me into an upcoming group show
at Hiromi Yoshii
Gallery in Tokyo. He is one of four curators bringing together artists
from their region (Okinawa, Taiwan, Korea and China) or as the case
may be, from their respective diasporas (as in my case).
