Burn Away

I'm sure those of you who actually read this have been wondering where the hell I have been. Well, myself and fellow Atlanta art bloggers are starting something big:

Burn Away is a visual arts website based in Atlanta, GA. Through weekly reviews and columns, as well as studio visits with local artists, Burn Away attempts to answer the famous challenge issued by William Faulkner:

So limitless in capacity is man's imagination to disperse and burn away the rubble-dross of fact and probability, leaving only truth and dream.

To "disperse and burn away"—a statement about the nature of creativity that compels us to look beyond what merely is and envision what could be.

Click here to subscribe to our RSS feed. Expect regular content: loads of articles and local art reviews are on the way, so definitely keep an eye on this space!

Playlist

In light of distractions at work I have decided to make you all a list of my current playlist at work. Just for kicks.

Sun Kill Moon, Carry Me Ohio
Caetano Veloso, Maria Bethania
Lungfish, Wailing Like Dragons
Townes Van Zandt, Marie
Blame Game, Lemon Drops
Captain Beefheart, Pachuco Cadaver
Secret Chiefs, Exodus
Ennio Morricone, Giorno di Notte
Jim O'Rourke, Therefor, I am
Medicine Shows, Chevrolet Car
Cat Power, I Found a Reason
Shipping News, Axons and Dendrites
T Rex, Jeepster
Smog, Dress Sexy at my Funeral
John Fahey, Desperate Man Blues

Since I am still not able to make a good post

I thought I would share this article on the disappearing critic with you. You may remember Cinque's discussions on this a few months back (I will link to these later) and thought this was a nice supplement, although belated.

The Disappearing Critic from Big Red & Shiny.

Bloggers, now is your time.

The Contemporary has certainly been a punching bag for the Atlanta art's community for quite some time now, and I must say with reason. Not to harp on the "good ole days", but the programming has not a fraction of the old exuberance and intelligence that once reigned during the Nexus years.

Local artist, curator, director, founder, activist, general bad-ass, Ms Julia Fenton has taken on quite a campaign against the tailspin that The Contemporary is caught in. After many shove-offs from board members, she has taken the matter to a higher level: the press. Cathy Fox will be doing a story on the institutions current changing of the guard. If you would like to comment or provide your opinion for this story either on or off the record, please make sure to do so before the 14th of August when Cathy leaves for China. If you are interested and do not have her information already, please leave me a comment and I will get you her information.

Below you can read a snip of the much lengthier letter sent by Julia Fenton to the Contemporary.

As I see it, The Contemporary has pretty much reduced its programming to exhibitions, and a minimal number of education programs. I feel the concensus of people I talk to here in Atlanta is that the exhibitions are marginally aceeptable, generally neither current nor cutting edge, composed of the smallest possible number of Atlanta participants and more often than not of out of town artists represented by Stuart’s fairly small circle of gallery friends. I see no evidence of sound research in putting together exhibitions, no evidence of any long range plans on the part of the gallery, no evidence of any coherent exhibition design. It has been my experience that successful programming of the kind that not just I but a number of The Contemporary’s former Gallery Directors put together took full time research, lots of legwork, and broad involvement in Atlanta’s and other major arts communities. It is not possible to run a successful, exciting, stimulating gallery schedule on a part-time basis...

Artists on the whole are rather astute about their profession, and there is a very large number of well respected artists in this community and beyond who are offended by their treatment at the Contemporary. Most professionally run non-profit galleries schedule their programming at least two years in advance. Last minute invitations to exhibit are on the whole professionally offensive. And, unfortunately, the word I hear most often used to describe Stuart is arrogant; the second most frequent comment is that the Contemporary is haphazard at best, if not sloppy, in its programming content. I believe the community also has a vague, unsettling sense now of having been used rather than served. Many of the artists in the last Biennial were embarrassed both by the look of their work in its installation and in the general content of the show. These are comments I am now also hearing from some of the Portland arts community.

Light at the end of the tunnel.

To anyone who may actually read this blog, I assure you that I will be back soon enough. I am currently finishing the last of those irritating core classes that I never quite got around to when I was instead packing my schedule with philosophy and film classes in college. But, luckily enough, the hell also known as online classes a year and a half after your intended graduation date will be over August 20th. Until then, enjoy the dog days everyone.

now that your thighs are probably sticking to the seat of your car by the end of your commute, and there is no point in even drying off after you get out of the shower becuase you start sweating again, i figured you migth want a refreshing image to forget about the heat for a minute.

Schedule

I know that I have had more than a difficult time trying to compile all of the loose schedules being circulated through emails and the like. For sake of your ease, I wanted to post the schedule for A (new) Genre Landscape.

June

6.8 Ruth Stanford- Grant Park 2-3.30 pm

6.10 Last Stand Collaborative- Grant Park 6-7.30 pm

6.11 Avantika Bawa- East Lake Park 6-7.30 pm

6.12 Angus Galloway- Lake Claire Park 6-7.30 pm

6.13 Tristan Al-Haddad- Brownwood Park 8-9.30 pm

6.14 Public Art Safari Bike Tour- Grant Park 9.30-1 pm
Michael Reese- Grant Park 2-3.30 pm
Matt Haffner- Coan Park 4-5.30 pm
Danielle Roney- Adair Park II 8.30 - 9.30 pm

6.16 Steve Jarvis and Susan Kraus- Pekerson Park 6-7.30 pm

6.20 Sheila Pree Bright- Mozley Park 6-7.30 pm

6.21 Van Tour - All Parks 10-1 pm
Michael Reese- Grant Park 2-3.30 pm
Joe Peragine, Pam Longobardi, and Craig Dongoski- Sunken Garden Park 8-930 pm

6.23 Nat Slaughter- East Lake Park 6-7.30 pm

July

7.14 Van Tour - All Parks - 10-1 pm

7.19 Public Art Safari Bike Tour - 9-1 pm
Michael Reese- Grant Park 2-3.30 pm

7.26 Danielle Roney - Adair Park II 8.30-9.30 pm

8.16 Van Tour- 8.30-9.30 pm


I think this is one of the most important things that has happened in Atlanta in quite sometime. In the same way that Shed Space was able to evoke energy becuase of all of the parties it drew in, this project will be able to function very similarly. I hope that everyone can make it out to a few of these lectures. I will be trying to attend as many as possible.