Phil Whitman, Battlefield Guides in Devil's Den, Gettysburg. 2008, graphite on paper, 12 x 13 inches. Courtesy the artist and iGavel.

Just received word from Alana Celii that iGavel Associates and Daniel Cooney Fine Art are calling for open submissions to their successful series of Emerging Artist Auctions, and are encouraging artists of all mediums (except installation) who do not have gallery or commercial representation to forward work for consideration by December 14th. The first Emerging Artist Auction curated from these submissions is slated to launch in early 2010.

iGavel is an international network of fine art and antiques professionals with regional networks that enable consignors to minimize handling and shipping expenses while reaching an international marketplace of buyers.

In participation with Daniel Cooney Fine Art and iGavel Associates, iGavel is pleased to present our Emerging Artists Auctions. These auctions include a curated selection of works of art by promising emerging talent. The auction is a showcase before an audience of collectors, dealers, museum professionals and gallery owners. To ensure equal and fair representation all works are presented with reserves set at $200.

Submissions will be accepted on a rolling basis. To submit you must meet the following requirements:

- Undergraduate student works will not be accepted
- All mediums are welcome besides installation works
- Artists cannot have gallery or commercial representation
- Some prior exhibition or publication experience is required

To submit, please go to iGavel’s submissions page to fill out an online form and upload images, or email submissions to EmergingArtists@iGavel.com.

Submit one image per work. Images must be at least 800 pixels on the longest side, jpeg saved for web, below 200kb in size, and SRGB color space. Each artist will be required to sign a contract with iGavel. Artists receive a 50% commission on all sold works. Shipping of accepted works to iGavel or the iGavel Associate is the responsibility of the artist, and the return shipment if not sold. After your submission is received, you will be contacted by email.

Tags: Alana Celii, auction, call for submissions, Daniel Cooney Fine Art, emerging artists, iGavel, open call.

Michael McConnell, Slings 1, courtesy of the artist.

Tonight: Group opening at Jancar Jones Gallery in SF- Justin Beal, Lena Daly & Kate Owens. 6-9pm.

Artist Mark Dion presents a lecture about his work around scientific presentation and methodologies. Timken Hall at CCA, SF campus. 7-9pm. Free.

Friday, October 16th: Michael McConnell’s Slings and Arrows opens at Gallery BellJar in SF. 6-9pm. 

HYPERSPACES group opening at Park Life in SF: new works by Sean Mcfarland, Paul Wackers, David Kasprzak, Orion Shepherd, and James Sterling Pitt. 7-10pm

Cutters, an exhibition of international collage curated by James Gallagher, opens at Cinders Gallery in Brooklyn. 7-10pm

Saturday October 17th: The newly renovated El Museo del Barrio celebrates its grand reopening with free admission and a day of music and activities. 11am-9pm.

The grand opening of SF’s contemporary art space Southern Exposure in its new location, with an inaugural exhibition, Bellwether. 4-10pm

Sunday, October 18th: artist Tamar Hirschl will hold an open studio event as part of Chelsea’s High Line Open Studios event, featuring tours of more than 100 artists’ workspaces in the center of New York’s gallery district.

Monday, October 19th: The Berkeley Center for New Media and SFMOMA  presents From A to B and Back Again, a photo and video presentation by artist Candice Breitz. 160 Kroeber Hall, UC Berkeley, 7:30-9pm. Free.

Wednesday, October 21st: International curators Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Jens Hoffmann, Hou Hanru, and Dominic Willsdon participate in a panel discussion at the SF Art Institute on Global Art in the Downturn. 7:30pm. Free.

Tags: BellJar, Bellwether, Candice Breitz, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, CCA, Cinders, Cutters, David Kasprzak, Dominic Willsdon, El Museo del Barrio, From A to B and Back Again, Gallery, Global Art in the Downturn, grand opening, High Line, Hou Hanru, James Gallagher, James Sterling Pitt, Jancar Jones, Jens Hoffmann, Justin Beal, Kate Owens, lecture, Lena Daly, Mark Dion, Michael McConnell, open studios, Orion Shepherd, Park Life, Paul Wackers, Sean Mcfarland, SF MoMA, SFAI, Southern Exposure, Tamar Hirschl, UC Berkeley.

Mike Sinclair, Fourth of July #2, Independence, Missouri. 30x40 inches, Archival pigment print. Courtesy Jen Bekman Gallery

Two more days to catch the 2009 First Edition of Hey, Hot Shot!, Jen Bekman Gallery’s twice-yearly showcase for emerging photographers. The exhibition opened September 9th and features the photography of Michelle Arcila, Daniel Cheek, Mike Sinclair, Parsley Steinweiss and Kurt Tong.

With the exception of Steinweiss’ large-format details of stacks of printed material, reminiscent of some of Marco Breuer’s abstractions, the works on exhibit all seemed to touch upon each photographers’ unique relationship(s) with aspects of the natural landscape.

Here are some of our favorite images:

Kurt Tong, Guangzhou Zoo II, 2007. 32x40 inches, Lambda print. Courtesy Jen Bekman Gallery

Michelle Arcila, Faering, 2007. 16x20 inches, C-Print. Courtesy Jen Bekman Gallery

Daniel Cheek, Mercey Hot Springs, Mendota, California. 2009, 8x10 inches, Gelatin silver print. Courtesy Jen Bekman Gallery

Sinclair, Tong and Arcila’s works are also available in multiple editions at 20×200.

Tags: 2009 First Edition, 20x200, Daniel Cheek, Hey Hot Shot, Jen Bekman Gallery, Kurt Tong, Michelle Arcila, Mike Sinclair, Parsley Steinweiss, photographers.

TONIGHT, August 20th: Artists’ reception for Trains and Trips from Cement to Cemetery at Heist Gallery, featuring Peter Feigenbaum’s model-railroad-scale depiction of outer-borough NYC in the 1980s, and eerie woodland paintings by Marissa Bluestone.

Friday, August 21st: EAI Project Space at X-Initiative presents a video tribute to the late Merce Cunningham, featuring works by Charles Atlas, Nam June Paik and Shigeto Kubota. Noon-8pm, free.

San Francisco artists Lisa Rybovich Cralle and Jessalyn Aaland’s Good News opens at Painted Bird, with music by Jealousy. 8-10pm. Thru Sept. 11th.

Saturday, August 22nd: The 8th annual San Francisco Zine Fest celebrates small-press and DIY publications from the Bay Area and beyond this weekend. At the SF County Fair Building in Golden Gate Park thru Sunday, August 23rd, 11am-6pm, free.

Sunday, August 23rd:  One of our favorite storytellers, Juliet Wayne, is spinning a 40-minute tale, “The Moron Years,” about her life which is already the stuff of legend. If you haven’t seen her at various performance events around NYC or Philadelphia, don’t miss your chance this weekend. 6pm, Cornelia Street Cafe, $10. (via Jeff Simmermon)

Monday, August 24th: Your last week to catch I Don’t Believe in Miracles, a group exhibition focusing on the natural elements curated by Alana Celii at Space Womb gallery in Long Island City. Open Thursday-Monday.

Tags: Alana Celii, Cornelia Street Cafe, EAI, Good News, Heist Gallery, I Don't Believe In Miracles, Jeff Simmermon, Jessalyn Aaland, Juliet Wayne, Lisa Rybovich Cralle, Marissa Bluestone, Merce Cunningham, Painted Bird, paintings, Peter Feigenbaum, railroad model, SF Zine Fest, Space Womb, storyteller, storytelling, The Moron Years, Trains and Trips from Cement to Cemetery, video, X Initiative.

Not in Fashion c. Mark Borthwick

There are photographers who document and photographers who create. Meaning, a photographer either chooses to make images of an event that is already happening or chooses to make images of an event that either he or someone else has created specifically for the image-making purpose. There are exceptions to every rule of course and photographer Mark Borthwick certainly qualifies as an exclusion. Mark’s work does both (documents and creates) and his subjects seem found yet casually staged through discovering and uplifting informal moments. His new book, titled “Not in Fashion,” a contradiction to the fact that he came to prominence as a fashion photographer, illustrates Mark’s insistence of working outside of fashion’s guidelines. There is nothing elaborate about Mark’s fashion work - a plain wall or a park provides the backdrop, light makeup and hairstyling or none at all and few or no clothes round out the atypical (fashion) photograph.

I first came across Mark’s work in the late 90’s when I had just become interested in fashion photography. Images of Angela Lindvall leaning over into a sink which appear in the book depicted the model wearing one of Comme des Garcons’ infamous bump dresses gave me the assurance I needed that fashion photography was not singularly about pretty models and unattainable luxury. Here was a photo of a girl sticking her head into a kitchen sink and not a designer stainless steel one either - a very ugly suburban kitchen sink. Not in fashion, certainly. Mark clearly played a role in a certain type of late 90’s conceptual fashion photography, the anti-flash, the refusal to actually photograph clothes, and the denial of celebrity and glamour in general which magazines like Purple and i-D championed.

Fast forward a few years, I had the great fortune to work briefly for Mark and enter his vastly interesting world. I was never privy to seeing him shoot, though at the time Mark was peculiarly fascinated with sidewalks and their cracks, many of which are shown in his new book. I was presented however with the task of editing his writings (Mark also writes to accompany his work occasionally). Though what Mark had intended as poetic, off-kilter ramblings with made up or strangely spelled words, the computer mistook as typos, sending angry red underlines throughout most of the pages. Again, misspelled words were certainly not in fashion, but were very integral to Mark’s work and creative process.

Mark Borthwick from Not in Fashion c. Mark Borthwick

There are people who Mark photographs regularly and counts as close friends - Kim Gordon, Chan Marshall of Cat Power, Bjork, his wife and two children and anyone who enjoys sitting out in the sun and lolling in the grass. Mark’s work has always been a celebration of the outdoors, powerfully joyful and therapeutic in their bursts of sunlight and greenery. Recently, a technique sprung up where Mark would open the back of his camera to let light in which would leave the impression that a rainbow was trying to sneak its way into the image. What Mark possesses is a true reverence for his subjects and this is obtained by photographing them over and over - trees, sidewalks, lakes, his friends and family. His moments are curiously repetitive though soothing as is the way the book is laid out. Small images float on the pages forming stories, polaroids scatter and writings are in abundance. The collection of all of these ingredients illustrates in a deeply personal way a truly singular point of view of this casually staged life.

Not in Fashion is available through Amazon

Tags: anti-fashion, Bjork, Cat Power, Chan Marshall, fashion photography, i-D, Kim Gordon, Mark Borthwick, Not in Fashion, Photography, Purple, sunlight.

It’s the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, and I just found this very interesting post from artist Michael Mandiberg about his request to a number of reproduction painters in Shenzhen to copy Jeff Widener’s iconic photo of a man in front of PLA tanks during the Tiananmen Square protests.

Courtesy Michael Mandiberg

Mandiberg posted images of some of the finished paintings, all done in an almost uniform, bland illustration style, along with a quote from the negotiations for the making of the works. The suggestions about composition were funny, but it was most compelling to find that at least one painter outright refused to recreate the image:

Courtesy Michael Mandiberg

I remember going to rallies with my dad in support of the student demonstrations at Portsmouth Square in San Francisco’s Chinatown as a kid, and the ubiquity of the tank image in the newspapers and on TV at the time. To Chinese around the world, it seemed the tank photo and reproductions of the Goddess of Democracy were cherished symbols of a freedom worth defending. It was surprising to learn from Mandiberg’s post that this photo has been virtually eliminated from the Chinese media, but not surprising that the Chinese government continues to censor any hint of negativity in all incoming and outgoing communications. I wonder if this will ever improve.

Twenty years have passed since that violent government crack down on the twenty-something college students occupying the public square in pro-democracy protest. Enough time for the protestors’ children to grow up without ever seeing this famous image that was eradicated by the media. It lies cloaked lies cloaked in Google searches, behind the Great Firewall of China.

This famous image did not exist. This was one manifestation of China’s pattern of Internet censorship. Another pattern was that if a scandals breaks out in China, all webpages outside of China are temporarily disabled. During my month there, two regional politicians were caught in corruptions investigations. One of them was sentenced to death, and the other killed himself. The official reports glossed over the details, and focused on the new appointee. The New York Times, on the other hand, did an in-depth analysis, which I happened to read, as I was up at a strange jet-lagged hour. It was gone the next day.

Just yesterday the New York Times published a small series of editorials about the anniversary. And just now they are reporting on extensive shutdowns of most major communications platforms, from the NYTimes.com to Twitter. Ironically, that article will not make it through the firewall either.

Michael Mandiberg is an Eyebeam Senior Fellow and an Assistant Professor at the College of Staten Island/CUNY. Drawing Contemporaries, an exhibit curated by Mandiberg and featuring some of his laser drawings, is on view at Eyebeam until June 9th.

Mandiberg.com

Tags: 1989, censorship, China, Eyebeam, internet, Jeff Widener, June 4th, media, Michael Mandiberg, painting village, paintings, photograph, reproductions, Shenzhen, student demonstrations, tanks, Tiananmen Square.

Daniel Salemi, Ikea vs. Beuer, 2009, c-print. Courtesy of Kris Graves Projects.

Not able to see Swoon’s Swimming Cities, or Bruce Nauman’s pavilion at the Venice Biennale in person this year? Well, you could opt to visit what is being touted as the Biennale’s “largest pavilion” here, or just take advantage of an abundance of homegrown activities this weekend and beyond:

TONIGHT: Honey Space hosts a benefit and celebration for Swoon’s Swimming Cities of Serenissima, with a silent auction that includes works by many of the artists on the boats’ crew, and a raffle for original artwork by Swoon and Thomas Beale. 7-9pm, $10 admission.

Artists Daniel Salemi and Austin Thomas have concurrent openings of their work tonight in the main and project spaces of Kris Graves Projects. Salemi’s photographs and Thomas’ drawings and collages share an affinity for architectural forms. 6-9pm

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in SF presents Big Idea Night, featuring the delicious stylings of Mission Street Food. 9pm-3am. FREE, RSVP recommended.

Friday June 5th: Varnish Gallery hosts a party to raise awareness about eminent domain issues with guests Jello Biafra, Matt Gonzalez, etc. The gallery is one of over 30 local businesses and residences being evicted by a San Francisco city agency under the property law. 7-Midnight, 21+. Free.

Saturday June 6th: As part of Michael Cataldi and Nils Norman’s The University of Trash at Sculpture Center in Long Island City, guest artists McKendree Key and the neuroTransmitter collective have been invited to give public courses at the museum. Key will teach a family workshop on making recycled paper and paper-pulp sculptures, and neuroTransmitter will lead a radio transmitter building workshop. 1pm. Courses available with $5 admission to museum. ($25 materials fee and a reservation for the transmitter class is recommended.)

Your last chance to see Sophie Calle (and 107 other women)’s collaborative breakdown of a breakup, Take Care of Yourself at Paula Cooper Gallery.

Saturday & Sunday, June 6th & 7th: Oakland’s Pro Arts Gallery presents the 2009 East Bay Open Studios. Over 400 artists exhibit their work this weekend and the weekend of June 14th-15th. Visit site for more info.

Sunday June 7: The Exploratorium hosts a talk, reception and book signing by scholar Edward Shanken, author of the new book Art and Electronic Media, interviewed by arts commentator Dorka Keehn. Innovative Bay Area electronics artists Lynn Hershman Leeson, Paul DeMarinis, Ken Goldberg, Jim Campbell, Survival Research Labs, and Alan Rath are among the over 200 artists featured in Shanken’s book. 3pm. Free with Exploratorium admission.

Monday June 8th: David Byrne will perform a selection of music created with Brian Eno at the Prospect Park Bandshell as part of BRIC Art’s Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival. Other performers this summer include Femi Kuti, Blonde Redhead, Big Daddy Kane and They Might Be Giants. 8pm, gates open at 6:30pm. FREE, first come first served.

Tags: Alan Rath, artists, auction, Austin Thomas, benefit, Big Idea Night, Brian Eno, BRIC Arts, Bruce Nauman, Celebrate Brooklyn!, Daniel Salemi, David Byrne, Dorka Keehn, East Bay Open Studios, Edward Shanken, eminent domain, Exploratorium, festival, Honey Space, Internet Pavilion, Jello Biafra, Jim Campbell, Ken Goldberg, Kris Graves Projects, Matt Gonzalez, McKendree Key, Michael Cataldi, Miltos Manetas, Mission Street Food, Nils Norman, Oakland, paper, Paul DeMarinis, Paula Cooper Gallery, Prospect Park Bandshell, radio transmitter, Rafael Rozendaal, recycled, Sculpture Center, Sophie Calle, Survival Research Labs, Swimming Cities of Serenissima, Swoon, Take Care of Yourself, University of Trash, Varnish Gallery, Venice Biennale, workshop, Yerba Buena Center,  Art and Electronic Media,  Lynn Hershman Leeson,  neuroTransmitter.

Brian Ulrich, Circuit, Ponderosa. Image via www.notifbutwhen.com

Interesting work by artists working with photography and video opening in NYC this weekend:

TONIGHT: Brian Ulrich at Julie Saul Gallery, 6-8pm. Ulrich photographs consumer culture, from the boom of post-9/11 spending to the shuttered storefronts and interiors of recent years.

Friday, May 29th: William Lamson at Pierogi 2000, 7-9pm. Lamson documents three interventions within urban, natural and gallery contexts, including the exchange of his shoes for ones shot down from Brooklyn power lines with a bow and arrow. 

Saturday, May 30th: Leo Fitzpatrick at Fuse Gallery, 7-10pm. The snapshot quality of Fitzpatrick’s photos of “the deterioration of America at the turn of the century,” taken on a series of cross-country road trips, are an interesting complement to Ulrich’s deliberately observed images of suburban decline.

ALSO: William Kentridge closes at the SFMOMA this Sunday May 31st; last chance to catch Kentridge’s masterful films, drawings and mechanical theater works.

Tags: Brian Ulrich, Fuse, Gallery, Julie Saul, Leo Fitzpatrick, Pierogi 2000, SF MoMA, William Kentridge, William Lamson.

In celebration of the extraordinary range of artistic expression in the Muslim world, Asia Society, BAM, and New York University Center for Dialogues proudly present Muslim Voices: Arts & Ideas. Muslim artists and speakers from as far away as Asia, Africa, and the Middle East and as near as Brooklyn will gather for an unprecedented ten-day festival and conference, offering New York audiences the opportunity to experience the cultural diversity and multiple perspectives that represent the Muslim world.

Official festival events will take place at the Asia Society, BAM, and the American Museum of Natural History, with a 2-day, 150-vendor outdoor souk at BAM during the opening weekend. There will be related events and programming around the city and on public television at WNET Channel THIRTEEN, and in celebration, the Empire State Building and Brooklyn Borough Hall will be lit green from June 5—7.  

Our top picks include:

Thursday, May 21st (Festival Partner Event): The Seen and the Hidden: (Dis)covering the Veil- 14 contemporary artists from the Middle East, Europe, and New York, including celebrated graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi, present approaches to the ideas that surround both the literal and metaphorical meaning of the veil. Opening reception from 6-8pm at the Austrian Cultural Forum. Free, through August 29th.

Friday, June 5th: Opening reception for New York Masjid: The Mosques of New York City. Photographer Edward Grazda and CUNY Professor of Architecture Jerrilynn R. Dodds not only documented the mosques and analyzed their architectural forms, but conducted interviews with community members, revealing an alternative image of American Islam in the process. Natman Room at BAM’s Peter Jay Sharp Building, though June 28th.

Monday, June 8th: Shirin Neshat presents a rare screening of Iranian poet Forough Farrokhzad’s landmark short film The House Is Black (1962), which has had a profound influence on the New Wave in Iranian cinema as well as Neshat’s work. Neshat will also screen excerpts of her own films. At BAMcafé. 7pm, $10 ($5 for members), reception follows. 

Friday, June 12th & Saturday, June 13th: BAMcafé Live presents contemporary Muslim musicians in concert- Brahim Fribgane and zerobridge perform on Friday night, and Saturday night features global hip-hop by Muslim-American artists such as Dr. Fawzia Afzal-Khan, Kenny Muhammad The Human Orchestra, and Nihan Devecioglu, selected by the fantastic beatboxer and composer Adam Matta. 9:30pm both nights, FREE.

Tags: Adam Matta, American Museum of Natural History, artists, Asia Society, Austrian Cultural Forum, BAM, BAMcafe, beatbox, Brahim Fribgane, Brooklyn, concert, Dr. Fawzia Afzal-Khan, Edward Grazda, Forough Farrokhzad, Iran, Islam, Kenny Muhammad The Human Orchestra, Marjane Satrapi, mosques, Muslim Voices: Arts & Ideas, New York Masjid, Nihan Devecioglu, Shirin Neshat, souk, The House Is Black, The Seen and the Hidden: (Dis)covering the Veil, zerobridge.

Emma Wilcox, Eminent Domain No. 5, 2006, silver gelatin print, 20x24". Courtesy of the artist and Gallery Aferro

TONIGHT Friday, April 24th: The Secret of the Ninth Planet opens concurrently at at Queens Nails Projects and Photo Epicenter in San Francisco. The group exhibit of sixteen artists whose works deal with space, time or travel is presented by graduate students in the Curatorial Practice program at California College of the Arts. 7-11pm, thru May 24, 2009

Saturday, April 25th: Symposium on the Super-8 films of Derek Jarman at the new nonprofit X Initiative (the former Dia space) in Chelsea, with Ed Halter, Chrissie Iles, Gerald Incandela and James Mackay. Moderated by Stuart Comer. 5pm, free, RSVP required.

Wednesday, April 29th: The Guggenheim presents a reception with artist Julieta Aranda in conjunction with her new camera obscura installation, part of the museum’s new Intervals emerging artists series. 6:30-8pm, $5 tickets or free for students/members with RSVP. 

Thursday, April 30th: DON’T MISS: Artist talk with Emma Wilcox as part of her solo exhibition Salvage Rights at Real Art Ways in Hartford, CT. Long shadows in Wilcox’s carefully considered, desolate aerial photographs of rooftops and vacant lots seem a literal manifestation of the dark, gray area surrounding land rights issues. Mysterious text-marks upon her landscapes add to a general feeling that the artist is an archaeologist who has discovered evidence of the death-rite of a fallen civilization. Catalog available. 6pm, $3 suggested donation.

Tags: California College of the Arts, Chrissie Iles, curatorial studies, Derek Jarman, Ed Halter, emerging artists, Emma Wilcox, Gerald Incandela, graduate, Guggenheim, Intervals, James Mackay, Julieta Aranda, Photo Epicenter, photographs, Queens Nails Projects, Real Art Ways, Salvage Rights, Stuart Comer, symposium, The Secret of the Ninth Planet, X Initiative.