FAAN opening Friday

Pocket Utopia presents The Fine Art Adoption Network (FAAN): January 4- 27, Opening Jan. 4th 6:00 - 10:00 pm

Artists selected from the online network where all of the artworks on view are available for adoption:

Matt Davis

Laura Devendorf

Danielle Dimston

Marcy B. Freedman

Ben Godward

Jill Henderson

Matt King

Dave Krueger

Jacob Rhodes

Analia Segal

Jason Simon

Tattfoo Tan

January 4 – January 27, 2008

OPENING, Friday January 4 6:00 – 10:00 pm

POCKET UTOPIA

1037 Flushing Avenue

[Just off the Morgan L, Bushwick]

Open Saturdays and Sundays 12-6 and by appointment

Call: 917-400-3869

Pocket Utopia is pleased to present an exhibition of the Fine Art Adoption Network (FAAN). FAAN is an online network that uses a gift economy to connect artists and potential collectors. Pocket Utopia will function as a clearinghouse and will facilitate the adoption process. Post-studio artist and Pocket Utopia intern Audra Wolowiec selected the works on view. The adoption of artworks between the artist and collector will be finalized through the website (http://www.fineartadoption.net/); no purchases will be made.

"Ideally, the work is going to people who would not otherwise own the artwork," says Adam Simon, the Brooklyn, N.Y. artist who set up Fine Art Adoption Network (FAAN) with the support of Art in General. Adopters might be institutions with no art budget, individuals with little disposable income, or families who haven't considered making art a priority.

One of the goals of FAAN is to help increase and diversify the population of art owners and to offer artists new means for engaging with their audience. The artist determines who can adopt the artwork.

Adam Simon got the idea for FAAN when his mom moved from a house to an apartment, and he found himself regaining possession of two large paintings he had made years before. That’s when the light bulb went on: Artists have more art than they can store, while plenty of people who love art have no way of owning it. So why not use the Internet to facilitate art adoptions?

This exhibition of FAAN is the third in a series examining creative pocket utopias that began by opening a file at Pierogi (The Pierogi Show at Pocket Utopia in September 2007). Then in December 2007 with a show titled “Etsy,” Pocket Utopia ventured into the crafty commerce of the online place to buy and sell all things handmade with the same name (http://www.etsy.com)

There will be a salon discussion held on Wednesday, January 23rd at 6:00pm where Adam Simon and FAAN artists will talk about money and its role in the art world. Refreshments will be served. This discussion is a part of Austin Thomas’s salon series titled, “Excuse me, you have art in your teeth.”

Pocket Utopia is an away-from center, off-center, exhibition, salon and social space run by artist Austin Thomas.

The next exhibition will feature work by Rico Gatson (opening 2/01/08). For this occasion, a limited edition Gocco print will be produced.

Pictured above: David Krueger

(This piece is from the Journeys, States & Locations show waaaay back at Joel Beck & Jessica Murray's Salon 75 on Roebling. This was the first showing of my work which blended murky pop colored liquids and surreal light sources, with landscapes, portraits and psychologically loaded objects. #1 of 5, cibachrome mounted to plexi. It's a til-a-whirl. Or is it? Roll up for the chemical carnival tour.)

Additional Information
Photograph
Completed in: 1996
28 x 20 inches
Near or in New York, NY / United States

Intern Appreciation Day

Today is intern appreciation day! Here's to Audra Wolowiec, out there collecting posters of Lawrence Weiner's (before they are pasted over) Whitney retrospective from blue walled-in construction sites, and to Matthew Miller who's giving and receiving his final critic of the semester right now!

I love both of you! Team Pocket Utopia rocks! We've eaten enough egg rolls to last a lifetime! Thank you for supporting this post-studio, post-gallery, and now post-curatorial salon space. There's a lot coming up. We've got more tours of all kinds (studios, galleries, and collectors homes), prints to produce, shows to hang, pack, ship, and talk about.

The next show will delve into another pocket utopia, the Fine Art Adoption Network. Everything in the show will be available for adoption. Next up will be Rico Gatson's show. Pictured above, are test prints for the edition he will produce for us. Then there's Danielle Rubi, artist extraordinaire from California, Libby Hartle will show the fruits of her post-studio residency in April, followed by a service-oriented exhibition by our Audra and spring, post-studio artist in resident Brece Honeycutt, and then we'll finish up with a summer photography show.

Preview photos are as follows, representing the FAAN show: Tattfoo Tan
Rico Gatson working on his edition for Pocket Utopia, titled "Nina Simone"
Danielle Rubi's example of a cyanotype process and Audra cutting Brece's hair!!

Salon space of a gallery

Last Sunday turned saloning when Fred Gutzeit (his photo above) walked in with old time art school pal Dick Immarino.  Sal Randolph and Libby Hartle chimed in and the night continued long after the gallery closed.

Easy Etsy

Weekends at Pocket Utopia have been filled with folks reading zines and buying butterflies .

Etsy is installed, even if it's missing a piece...

It's not just a show about craft or craft-based artists, it's a show about Etsy! I'm trying to shake it up a little bit. Last month it was high concept with a salon organized in Lawrence Weiner's honor and now it's origami butterflies and ceramics.

The artists are from all over; Philadelphia, and smaller Pennsylvania towns, towns in California, some place in Tennessee, Montreal, Maine, California, Cambridge, UK, and Chicago.

In a not so specific order here are the artist stores to check out and some images of the show above.

Erin Partridge
Janice Lagard
Abby Glassenberg
Corey Ramsey
Irene Suchocki
Megan Bogonovich
Cathy Nichols
Karen Switzer
Kim Westad
Shannon Rankin
Xusah
Susan Angebranndt
Tiina Burton
Dan Grzeca
Peter Cunicelli
Hal Hahn

It's also Arts in Bushwick Day tomorrow and our Audra is doing a project!! It's titled "Instruction Sites" and you'll find it around Bushwick, you'll have discover something to do.

Sal Raldolph "texts" the context of instructional art and Lawrence Weiner

Yesterday, Sunday Pocket Utopia held a closing party for Lawrence Weiner and an "Excuse me, you have art in your teeth" salon with Sal Randolph.

Sal Randolph read from Lawrence Weiner's statements and those of other artists including Robert Barry, Alan Kaprow, Ben Kinmont, Alison Knowles, Lee Lozano, Yoko Ono, and La Monte Young. She opened with a discussion on the relationship of text statements to physical embodiment in conceptual and performative artwork with the Pocket Utopia's re-creation of ("A 36" x 36" Removal to the Lathing or Support Wall of Plaster or Wallboard From a Wall,"1968) as the star example. We served Pernod and Fig Newtons.

Sal presented parts of her gathered anthology of instructional based artworks and antedotes of actually "doing" an instructional artwork or just reading about doing it, and all that it implies. The afternoon was liberating in that, yes, life sometimes (and art) comes with instructions. Thanks Sal!

A collector's utopia

While in Chicago I visited an art collector's home utopia and admired this newspaper collage by Jean Dubuffet in the bedroom. All the other pictures I took didn't really come out right; the pieces Richard Tuttle made especially for the entrance way were to blurry, the Maya Lin custom stools I chopped short, the Sol Lewitt coffee table picture had too harsh a reflection from the flash, and the Klint came out too dark (I should have used a flash).

Nothing quite captured the home or the artwork just right because there was little distinction between the two.  The house was built around the art and the art was installed perfectly in it's home.  It was an experience.

I returned to my home last night to find a package from Lawrence Weiner waiting for me.  A little utopia of my own in an envelope.

Social Saturday with Libby's "Beeramid"

These pictures of building the "beeramid," one can at a time are courtesy Joy Garnett since I somehow deleted all of mine. Violet, Libby Hartle's daughter, helps stack a form then used to gather a group to drink and talk. That's what we do at Pocket U., build pyramids of color coded beer cans!

Worth repeating (from today's NYT, weekend arts section)

Lawrence Weiner: As Far As The Eye Can See This retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art consists mainly of phrases in large letters. Also above, a work in which spray paint was applied directly to the floor

By ROBERTA SMITH
Published: November 16, 2007

So here we are. Just about any scrap of canvas or even paper by Andy Warhol is worth at least a million dollars and usually several. Richard Prince’s retro “Nurse” paintings have cleared $6 million less than five years after they were made. And Jeff Koons’s least-interesting baubles, despite glimmers of anti-bauble intent, go for as much as $23 million.

Be grateful, then, for Lawrence Weiner’s mind-stretching 40-year retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art, which is respite, wake-up call and purification rite all in one. It should be required viewing for anyone interested in today’s art, especially people who frequent contemporary art auctions.

A Reading Show

People walk in and read. They might be graduate students from Columbia, neighbors, Lawrence Weiner fans or those who are soon to be fans.

Ebay and beyond

In a fit of commerce last week, I put the entire show on ebay. We'll see what happens for the auction ends tomorrow.

A collector called from Texas requesting any Lawrence-related ephemera from the show, which we don't really have but we are thinking about making a zine. I've never made a zine so Audra is researching the artform. Now it's time to start organizing the next installment at Pocket Utopia, the Etsy Show.

Reading and working on Sundays at Pocket U.

Libby Hartle worked at her residency station on Sunday while visitors read about Lawrence Weiner. Libby and Lawrence make a good pair.

The opening featured an awesome, very funny performance by Andrew Hurst. Could it be that it was the best opening because their was no "official" artist there to measure oneself against?? Everyone just thoroughly enjoyed themselves. There wasn't an ego to negotiate around. There was the art and the performance and a good time.

When I spoke with Lawrence Weiner about the salon, he said, "...thanks," and "I'm honored..." But really I'm the one that's honored to present his work and the other things that go on at Pocket U, and I'm the one that is thankful.

A Lawrence Weiner Salon opens

A Lawrence Weiner Salon opened Friday night with a reading room, a re-creation, and a text piece. Special guest artist Andrew Hurst performed brillantly. Lawrence would have been pleased.

The show presents an installation of books by and about Lawrence Weiner, a re-creation (“A 36” x 36” Removal to the Lathing or Support Wall of Plaster or Wallboard From a Wall,” 1968) and a text piece. Weiner has long pursued inquiries into language and art-making and posits a radical redefinition of the artist/viewer relationship and the very nature of the artwork. Here too, the venue or gallery and its relationship to the artist also gets redefined.

By transporting his investigations to Bushwick's Pocket Utopia, the viewer will discover a comfortable and unobtrusive means to read and experience Weiner's work and make their own assumptions about the nature of the art object. Working with the Weiner's grateful acknowledgment, Pocket Utopia democratizes access to his work. Although the artist here is all but invisible, the viewer will be able to see even farther, think a little more and read a lot.

Re-creating a Lawrence Weiner

Using the helpful instructions provided by Temporary Services, Mike and Audra went to work the other night re-creating a Lawrence Weiner "removal piece." Temporary Services is an amazing organization based in Chicago and working world-wide.

Above is the process of removal in pictures!

Lucas and now Lawrence

Lucas Reiner spoke at his closing salon yesterday to an intimate grouping. Then we took down the show and now are batteries (for the drill) are charging to install "A Lawrence Weiner Salon" with reading areas, a re-creation of a piece from 1968, and a text "drawing." And...an opening performance by Andrew Hurst that will suprise us all!

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE:

Pocket Utopia presents A Lawrence Weiner Salon; a reading room, a re-creation, and a text piece, Opening Fri. Nov. 2nd, 6:00 - 10:00 pm

with opening performance by Andrew Hurst

POCKET UTOPIA, 1037 Flushing Avenue (Bushwick), Brooklyn, NY 11237

Please join us for the opening of A LAWRENCE WEINER SALON
OPENING: Friday, Nov. 2, 6-10pm
DATES: 2 November- 25 November, 2007
DIRECTIONS: Take the L train to Morgan Ave. Exit from the front of train, leave the station on the right and you will be at the corner of Morgan Avenue and
Harrison Place. Walk south on Morgan Ave. crossing Grattan, Thames, and Rock Sts. Turn left at the light onto Flushing Ave. 1037 Flushing is the 4th building from the corner of Morgan Ave. and Flushing Ave.

Open Saturdays and Sundays 12-6 and by appointment, call, 917-400-3869

A LAWRENCE WEINER SALON; a reading room, a re-creation, and a text piece


Pocket Utopia is pleased to organize an experimental salon of conceptual art's key figure Lawrence Weiner. The salon will feature a reading room, a re-creation (“A 36” x 36” Removal to the Lathing or Support Wall of Plaster or Wallboard From a Wall,” 1968) and a text piece. Weiner has long pursued inquiries into language and art-making and posits a radical redefinition of the artist/viewer relationship and the very nature of the artwork. Here too, the venue or gallery and its relationship to the artist also gets redefined.

By transporting his investigations to Bushwick's Pocket Utopia, the viewer will discover a comfortable and unobtrusive means to read and experience Weiner's work and make their own assumptions about the nature of the art object. Working with the Weiner's grateful acknowledgment , Pocket Utopia democratizes access to his work. Although the artist here is all but invisible, the viewer will be able to see even farther, think a little more and read a lot.

"Excuse me, you have art in your teeth" Closing Salon/Lucas Reiner Talk October 28th @ 4pm

"Excuse me, you have art in your teeth" Closing Salon/Lucas Reiner Talk October 28th @ 4pm

Please join artist Lucas Reiner at Pocket Utopia as he discusses his on-going fascination with trimmed trees -- and the photographs, paintings, drawings, and film that have resulted from this, refreshments served.




above Lucas Reiner, installation view



Directions to POCKET UTOPIA

1037 Flushing Avenue, Brooklyn, ground floor.

Directions:

Via subway:

1. Take the L train to the Morgan Ave. stop (board the first car in the front of the train).

2. Exit the platform at the front of the train and exit the station on the right and you will be at the corner of Morgan Avenue and

Harrison Place.

3. Walk south on Morgan Ave. crossing Grattan, Thames, and Rock Sts.

4. Turn left at the light onto Flushing Ave.

5. 1037 Flushing is the 4th building from the corner of Morgan Ave. and Flushing Ave.


Via car from Manhattan:

1. Take the Williamsburg Bridge (inside lane) to the Humboldt Street exit.

2. Turn right onto Humboldt Street, go 7 blocks and turn left onto Metropolitan Avenue.

3. Go several blocks and turn right onto Morgan Avenue.

4. Follow Morgan to the point where it become a V, stay to the left, and turn left at the light onto Johnson Avenue.

5. Turn right onto Porter Avenue. Go 5 blocks and turn right onto Flushing Avenue.

Pocket Utopia gets another post-studio artist in resident

I arrived at Pocket Utopia to find Libby Hartle, our artist in resident, hard at work. I sat near her in the back and began emailing out notices for Lucas Reiner's upcoming closing salon that will happen next Sunday, October 28th at 4:00pm.

I finished emailing just in time to welcome Christine Catsifas our other fall post-studio artist in resident on her first day. Christine and Libby will share the small table, the floor, the chairs, a tea, and ideas.

I had to leave the artists at their table and dash off to the lower east side for a Pocket Utopia gallery tour. Pictured above are tour participants at gallery Number 35 and at Orchard. Also pictured is a shot of the sand from Mike Nelson's installation at Essex Market. Mike Nelson's piece definitely set the tone for the tour, which ended with a group visit to Fred Gutzeit’s studio.

Seed Bombs Explode

Megan Whiteford's Green Bomb is exploding! Neighborhood kids stopped by thanks to a planting effort by Trees Not trash lead by the unstoppable Kate Gilliam. I can't wait until spring (even though it feels like July now)!

A visit to Fred Gutzeit’s Studio

On Friday, I visited Fred Gutzeit’s studio where he has been making art since 1970. He also lives there and has remained very engaged in the art community around him while continuing to mine his imaginary worlds. I will lead a tour to his studio after we make our way around some lower east side galleries. We might stop for Chinese food and catch Mike Nelson's installation at Essex Market.

My weekend has been spent at Pocket Utopia listening to the Leaves of Grass passage that accompanies Lucas Reiner's film "Trees." At the moment this is my favorite line, "Long have you timidly waded, holding a plank by the shore, now I will you to be a bold swimmer, to jump off in the midst of the sea, and rise again and nod to me and shout, and laughingly dash with your hair."

Matthew Miller reviews Lucas Reiner

Matthew, Pocket Utopia's intern and the "post-studio" artist in resident coordinator and curatorial assistant, has written a review of the current show, Lucas Reiner, below:

At the second ever Pocket Utopia show in Bushwick, a mid-career L.A. artist sheds light on the heavy-handed habits of his city’s municipal tree-trimming efforts.

Over the course of the past few decades, an wide assortment of trees have been imported from exotic international locations to the star-studded concrete desert of L.A. Lucas Reiner, a painter and photographer, takes note of the peculiar, if somewhat perverse, nature of the program. These adopted trees are nourished by the city’s acid rain and limited fertile soil. However, Mother Nature has never been much of a pushover, so many of the exotic transplants blossom into a gorgeous height and fullness despite the poor conditions of city living. Go trees.

Of course, city municipal workers - green thumbs with chainsaws – occasionally roll around pragmatically hacking the hard-nosed trees into overgrown bonsai formations. Reiner is satisfied to document the curious spectacle and integrate it into his art practice.

The show takes a contemporary multi-media format: a short film, a wall-sized computer print, a painting, and an editioned series of small hand-worked gocco prints. Reiner takes up the documentary role in the film (a survey flick of short clips dubbed over with elegant Walt Whitman prose) and the wall print (a banal shot of a tired tree pinned to a neighboring industrial building). The editioned print depicts a tree in litho-black silhouette against the atmospheric backdrop of hand-painted blue and gold hues. However, the centerpiece and strength of the exhibit is the large painting.

The painting is as puzzling as the phenomena of the city’s tree project. Most of the large-scale panel is rigorously worked up from it’s slightly visible underpainting into a texture which nearly evokes a sublime bluish ether, but is upstaged by the decorative surface resolution. The deftly painted tree with its thick branches—slashed and overgrown with new spring leaves—appears stamped onto the stylized ground. The collage idiom and the paint handling create a potent visual tension central to the work. Reiner mediates the molested tree with a setting in which it remains fundamentally displaced. Maybe the city is the only suitable habitat for this exiled tree. Or perhaps this tree is a metaphor, a sort of delegate, for our negotiations with the natural world. Go trees.

The post-studio artist begins her residency

After securing the perfect table at a nearby junk shop, Libby Hartle, Pocket Utopia's first post-studio artist in resident got down to work. I think I was more excited than she was after screwing the legs into the bottom of the table and then watching her make art.

I was also pleased with the response that Megan Whiteford's Green Bomb public art piece was getting, with folks picking up their seeds and planting them. Lucas Reiner stopped in and all was perfect at Pocket Utopia until it became a little more perfect when Jerry Saltz and Roberta Smith walked in and paid us an enthusiastic visit. For a short time my Pocket Utopia looked a little bigger then my pocket.