ART
Adam Ganderson
Interview with Justin Bartlett
11.22.09
Justin Bartlett draws pictures that are both complicated and primitive at the same time. The imagery is detailed but taps into unsettling, basic primeval fears that are embedded in the human psyche. Which is probably why he’s becoming increasingly in demand for metal related album cover art and merchandise. It’s sort of reminiscent of wandering alone in the woods at night and then through the branches witnessing some ancient unspeakable act that can only be communicated visually. Either that or a twisted horror version of Maurice Sendak. After this interview, I sent him an email asking if Sendak was an influence and his response was: "No, not really, I never owned Where the Wild Things Are, but I was really into this page from Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham." —Adam Ganderson
Alan Gilbert
Art in the Dark
06.21.06
Alan Gilbert launches an appeal to the Whitney Biennial curators, lamenting the overlooked Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld for his prodigious obfuscating oratory. Critique, critique, critic. Gilbert reminisces on the 2006 Whitney Biennial. Cheers.
Alyssa Bianca-Pavley
A Triennial is Born And It's Younger Than Jesus
04.16.09
Yes there is a new '-ennial' out there. A triennial - at the New Museum in New York’s (re)burgeoning bowery art scene. On inception it’s being called The Generational: Younger Than Jesus, because everyone in the show is under 33. And we wonder if they are going to keep the same title ever year? 'Younger than Jesus' that is? I mean what if all the believers out there are right and Jesus happens to come back in the years in between? Guess the Priory of Sion is not in on this one. Alyssa Bianca-Pavley, quite younger than Jesus herself, gives us the run down in brief.
Amabel Barraclough
Between The Ritz and the Gutter: Francis Bacon's Life in London
01.02.09
As a retrospective of Francis Bacon's work at Tate Britain winds down, Londoner Amabel Barraclough takes a moment to tell a bit of Bacon's more tasty history in the city the artist would call home for most of his life, while Danny Jock draws Bacon and his circle.
Amelia Saul
Interview with artist Matt Greene
02.02.06
Amelia Saul misses artist Matt Greene in Berlin, but catches his show there which left her brimming with questions. Greene, a nature lover was California dreamin' and skipped his own opening, anxious to get back to his favorite mushroom trails, girlfriend and dog. But that's okay, that's what email is for! An insightful interview on a myriad of subjects.
Darren Bader
The Programmatic Prelinary Proud Difficulties with Richard Prince
10.03.07
Darren Bader grapples with New York's Guggenheim exhibition of Richard Prince, Spiritual America. Is Prince the punk hero of appropriation art who has spiritually defined this country? Or just another Rauschenberg (et al) for Pete's sake?
Derek McCormack
God's Gaultier
09.01.06
Derek McCormack returns to Fanzine with more than a review of Dodie Bellamy's "Kathy Forest"; in no small way celebrating the life of writer / poet / performance artist Kathy Acker, who died of breast cancer in 1997.
Gean Moreno
John Russell Q & A
09.27.07
Gean Moreno corresponds with London artist/cum curator/cum publisher/cum jack of all trades mad man (in the best of ways) John Russell seeking to find an answer to the question what else can art do?
Jesi Khadivi
Inspirational Critique: a conversation with Malik Gaines and Alexandro Segade of My Barbarian
02.15.10
I first saw My Barbarian perform as the grand finale of Liz Glynn's "24-Hour Rome Reconstruction Project (or Building Rome in a Day)" at Machine Project here in Los Angeles. Compressing the 1200 year history of ancient Rome to 24 hours, participants built an impresive scale model of the city, from cardboard and hot glue until at the stroke of midnight My Barbarian arrived in the role of Visigoths to sing and perform while participants destroyed the replica they had spent all day creating. This is just one of the many historio-critical-performative-collaborative projects My Barbarian (Jade Gordon, Malik Gaines, Alexandro Segade) have been a part of. Jesi Khadivi, curator of Berlin's Golden Parachutes gallery, interviews. -BB
Jon Leon
if we were immortal: Slater Bradley at Team Gallery
11.17.09
'Much has been written about New York artist Slater Bradley since his debut at Team Gallery ten years ago. Some have sung his praises, some his pitfalls. In some cases facileness is implied, in others, eminence. No matter what or how you call it, Bradley’s youthful obsessions are always engaging, never boring, and totally worth it,' Jon Leon writes about the artist's lastest show at Team, if we were immortal.
Julie Perini
Review: Carolee Schneemann at CEPA, Buffalo, NY
05.05.07
Artist Carolee Schneeman has a retrospective at CEPA in Buffalo, NY. Julie Pereni visits and comments on this thematically arranged show and the artist who for 40 years has made work "that keeps one finger on the pulse of humanity, addressing the brutal reality of war, and another finger on the collective clitoris, emphasizing female agency and embodiment."
Kevin Killian
I Think You're Great: OVERUNDERSIDEWAYSDOWN
04.17.06
Kevin Killian's essay for the San Francisco group show at Queen's Nails Annex that includes work by David Hatcher, Mitzi Pederson and Wayne Smith.... Fruit Stripes, Blotter Paper, Doorskin, Surfing and Johnny Carson.
Matthew Ronay
We Was Voodoo: a Conversation with Karsten Krejcarek
11.23.09
Fanzine hosts a conversation between New York based artists Matthew Ronay and Karsten Krejcarek framed around the latest work of Krejcarek's - specifically a new video he's wrapping up that's a kind of personal spiritual cleansing, a revelatory fiery purging of heavily signified studio objets d'art turned detritus, such as a casket, in cathartic response to a ritual psychedelic experience in the jungles of Peru, and further exploration into the hallucinatory visions he had there. Sound heavy? Well maybe that's the point, but there's also good play to be had in this dialogue between two friends and contemporaries.
Paddy Johnson
Hacking Art: Interview with Cory Arcangel
03.27.06
Paddy Johnson raps with new media artist Cory Arcangel about hacking video game cartridges, teaching people how to make bad websites, and muses about his constancy in fashion sense.
Richard Parks
Sailing With Artist Charles Ray
01.05.06
Richard Parks purposefully tacks off course in an intimate interview with artist Charles Ray, talking all sailing (and nothing about art), but then who's to say this isn't the best approach?
Rob Tennant
Self-Erasure: Banksy Hunting in Utah
02.25.10
As Salinger's recent death reminded us, a quest for invisibility magnifies a certain type of public fascination. During the lead-up to this year's Sundance Film Festival –– where Exit through the Gift Shop, a film by/about British graffiti artist Banksy was set to premiere –– there were rumors he would unveil his identity, and then works resembling his began to appear around Salt Lake City and adjacent areas. Rob Tennant tells the story with an eye for the role of new media as an archive of ephemeral street art and with the patience to psychoanalyze his hometown. Photos by the author.
Thom Donovan
Devotional Materialisms: on Thomas Hirschhorn's Superficial Engagement...
03.28.06
We hardly ever see what really is going on in war, especially filtered intelligently through art. At a recent show at Barbara Gladstone's Gallery in New York, Thomas Hirschhorn came as close to any artist in recent memory to bringing home the horrors happening in the middle east currently. If you missed it, read Thom Donovan's insightful take.
Yvonne Olivas
Desire in Syracuse: the 'Come On' Controversy
11.07.07
This piece shouldn’t require a subtitle with the word “controversy” in it; it should simply be about three talented artists’ work. But alas, the exhibition in Syracuse titled "Come On: Desire Under the Female Gaze" recently drew headlines when its curator Astria Suparak was fired following the show’s opening (and huge success). Yvonne Olivas talks to artists Juliet Jacobson, Rachel Rampleman, Jo-Anne Balcaen, and curator Astria Suparak about the art involved and what exactly happened in the wake of their recent exhibition.
Zoey Mondt
Robert Rauschenberg's Combines at MOCA Los Angeles
09.18.06
Zoey Mondt wanted to title this piece My Boyfriend's Back: A Portrait of the Artist in Sweaters. Well that was a bit long... and while Rausch can strike a handsome pose when donning a sweater, this retrospective is about his groundbreaking Combines. Mondt takes some issue with the museum's handling of the exhibit.