Posts archive: April 2002

Not tomorrow, you won’t be, as Net radio stations hush in protest of new royalty fees. USA Today has the story.

- Meredith Tromble [Tuesday, April 30th, 2002]

Forecasting SFMOMA’s future for the New York Times, Tessa di Carlo polls local opinion-makers. Her most surprising finding: “The museum’s membership, which is 42,000 - 2,000 more than the Modern in New York - has remained steady even during the last few difficult months.” More on the story (free registration required to read article.)

- Meredith Tromble [Friday, April 26th, 2002]

Find out what a bunch of pissed off geeks are planning to do. Go, Geeks!

- Ella Delaney [Monday, April 22nd, 2002]

Don’t miss Retrofuturist, one of spring’s best exhibitions, now on view at New Langton Arts. Curator (and occasional Stretcher contributor) Berin Golonu put together a congeries of artists using 1950s-flavored graphics to depict our imagined future; all the artists are strong and all the work is good-looking. Exquisite drawings by Adam Ross, sci-fi flavored gouaches by Russell Nachman, a Flash animation by Leona Christie, plus contributions from Yorgo Alexopoulos, David Huffman, Luisa Kazanas, and William Swanson act together to make the show much bigger than the sum of its parts. Up through May 3 at New Langton Arts, 1246 Folsom St. in San Francisco. For more information call (415) 626-5416.

- Meredith Tromble [Monday, April 22nd, 2002]

Economist David W. Galenson applied statistical analysis to avant-garde painting and reported the results in Painting Outside the Lines: Patterns of Creativity in Modern Art (Harvard University Press). An intriguing proposition, one would think, but “if he were dropped into a crowd of art historians, Mr. Galenson could not get arrested,” says Scott McLemee in this entertaining review.

- Meredith Tromble [Saturday, April 20th, 2002]

“only 20 percent of American films made in the 1920s still survive; for the 1910s, the figure drops to 10 percent. Just 174 books out of 10,027 published in 1930 remain in print.” Read more about the fight for a “creative commons”.

- Ella Delaney [Wednesday, April 17th, 2002]

Check out this fascinating rundown of “laptronica” - artists who use laptops to compose and perform new music - by one of my favorite writers, Eric Davis.

- Ella Delaney [Monday, April 15th, 2002]

Not sure exactly what your first amendment and intellectual property rights are? This resource, a project of Stanford, Berkeley, Harvard and the EFF, is for you.

- Ella Delaney [Monday, April 15th, 2002]

Art fans will find much to enjoy at the fiber/DIMENSIONS show of mixed media works by Bay Area artists in the Herbst International Exhibition Hall in the Presidio. The level of work ranges from design exercises to deconstructive one-liners to world-class conceptual pieces. Standouts include Shoko Kageyama Klyce’s riff on the varieties of female genitalia and Stuart Wagner’s witty sculptures. Hours: Wednesday-Sunday 11 a.m.-5 p.m., April 10-May 19th. The Herbst International Exhibition Hall is at the corner of Moraga and Montgomery Streets in the Presidio. There is ample free parking nearby.

Herbst Hall will also host an “Intersections Symposium” at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 21, featuring four different perspectives on contemporary art. Scheduled panelists include Catherine Clark, owner of the Catherine Clark Gallery in SF; Rene De Guzman, Visual Arts Curator for the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; Deborah Valoma, artist and Professor at the California College of Arts and Crafts; and Steven H. Oliver, art collector and founder of the Oliver Ranch Artist-in-Residence program.

—Barry Willis

- Meredith Tromble [Saturday, April 13th, 2002]

If rumors are to be believed, a dream team will be taking the helm at the San Francisco Art Institute following last week’s resignation of President Ella King Torrey. The talk is that Lorne Buchman, who led the California College of Arts and Crafts through a major growth spurt, will become CEO and Dean Larry Thomas, who had been scheduled to retire, will continue at the school as Acting President. Both men are highly regarded; a collective sigh of relief may be heard echoing through the school where nerves have been on edge following reports that budget difficulties led to Torrey’s resignation. Watch for an upcoming story by Jesse Hamlin in the San Francisco Chronicle for details on the changeover.

- Meredith Tromble [Saturday, April 13th, 2002]

We can’t be surprised that the 9/11 attacks are still generating new works of art (if anything, we should assume this is just the beginning). Jody Zellen created a mesmerizing tribute to NYC in her Web art piece, Ghost City, featured in this year’s Sao Paulo Biennial. Dive in, poke around, get lost.

Hunted houses…take a drive with Bay Area artist Todd Hido as he photographs the lonely souls of real suburban homes.

The Internet is not a waste of time. The Internet is not a waste of time. For proof, invest a little at Web artist Chiaki Watanabe-Darcy’s piece, nicknack. It’s like interactive abstract television. You can also bring her hypnotic groove with you on your PDA, at meta griz.

—Tucker Nichols

- Meredith Tromble [Friday, April 12th, 2002]

“Oakdale Days” on page 64, about
Hogan Sheffer, head writer of the soap opera “As the World Turns.” Perhaps
the best opening paragraph I’ve ever read; Larissa MacFarquhar sustains the
quality right to the end. Simply superb.

—Barry Willis

In the same New Yorker, Calvin Tomkins reports on the real live soap opera in Harvard’s art department. It’s a disappointing article if you wanted thoughts on the title question, “Can Art be Taught?” but he dishes some entertaining dirt.
—Meredith Tromble

- Meredith Tromble [Friday, April 12th, 2002]

If you don’t like to read on screen, and dig into American Art‘s thoughtful package of articles on http://nmaa-ryder.si.edu/journal/criticspkg.html">the state of art criticism, with contributions from Arthur Danto (Nation), Eleanor Heartney (Art in America), Mario Naves (New Criterion), and Peter Plagens (Newsweek). Agree or disagree with what they have to say? Stretcher wants to know. Talk to us, baby. Our address is info@stretcher.org.

- Meredith Tromble [Thursday, April 11th, 2002]

His cathedral is nearing completion and Barcelona’s fantastic architect is on the fast track for beatification.

- Meredith Tromble [Wednesday, April 10th, 2002]

Money’s no good at Burning Man but the $20,000 in grants announced tonight by the new Black Rock Arts Foundation was eagerly accepted. Recipients include Jeremy Lutes, for a work called The Lily Pond, a “27,000 square foot aggregation of 300 copper lily pads that respond to people with light and color;” Baruka Theatre, for August events in their Reno, Nevada theatre; Roger Carr, for Dances with Lights, his first work of art; and Jenne Giles for a new media work, White Noise Shower.

- Meredith Tromble [Sunday, April 7th, 2002]

for Big Idea: the Maquettes of Robert Arneson,, but lingered for In Toon with the Times, a concisely curated selection of comic-related work from the Bay Area. In contrast to their compatriots in LA, toon-full Bay Area artists put the beautiful before the bratty. Personal favorites: David Hannah’s roiling take-offs on Popeye characters and Mary Snowden’s kitchen fantasy featuring the Morton Salt girl. Both exhibitions are on view through April 28.

- Meredith Tromble [Monday, April 1st, 2002]

From the editors