AT World: drawing on the utopic

NEW BLOG

2012-07-18T10:45:00.000-07:00

Well, I got a new gallery and now a new blog! Please come on over to:

Pocket Utopia: "Lyrical Color" - a group show, Wed. July 25, 6-8pm

2012-07-14T10:32:00.001-07:00

Greetings!

I hope everyone is having a fun summer, below please read about Pocket Utopia's group show, featuring the work of Sam Gilliam and running through August 24th.

Our address: 191 Henry Street between Clinton and Jefferson Streets in New York City.

Opening Reception will be Wednesday July 25, 6-8pm
Gallery hours: Wednesday-Sunday, 11am-6pm. Open till 8pm on Wednesday evenings.

July 25 - August 24, 2012

Pocket Utopia is pleased to present "Lyrical Color," a group exhibition featuring the work of Rico Gatson, Sam Gilliam, Brece Honeycutt, Hildur Ásgeirsdóttir Jónsson, Jane Kent, Meg Lipke, Maggie Michael, Dan Steinhilber, and David Storey. Color has an echo and at this exhibition's center is Sam Gilliam, internationally recognized as one of America's foremost Color Field Painters and Lyrical Abstractionist artists. Around Gilliam, there's restraint, equanimity and balance.

There is the blackness of both Rico Gatson's and Dan Steinhilber's sculptural abstractions, works that are intensified by Jane Kent's overlapping musical scores, further blurred by Hildur Ásgeirsdóttir Jónsson painting upon silk threads and made distinctive by Meg Lipke's beeswax with India-inked and fabric dyed drawings.

Sam Gilliam's painting, constructed from rectangular wooden panels and covered with layers of acrylic, applied in broad strokes and diaphanous wisps, orchestrates a tone of monastic serenity. The exhibition is further articulated by Maggie Michael's sprayed paintings and tastefully displayed on the pages of Brece Honeycutt's avocado-dyed book. David Storey's painting of invented shapes with its brightly colored oranges and subtle browns reminds us that summer is a time to reflect and cloud gaze.

For further information or visuals please call Austin Thomas at 212-375-8532 or visit www.pocketutopia.com.

Pocket Utopia is located at 191 Henry Street between Clinton and Jefferson Streets in New York City. Hours are Wednesday-Sunday, 11am-6pm. (Wednesday night till 8pm)

Studio Visit: Meg Lipke

2012-06-27T13:08:00.000-07:00

Studio Visit: Meg Lipke (all images courtesy the artist)

Studio view.

Meg has a very expressive painterly technique employing hot beeswax and India-ink with acrylic paints and fabric dyes. Her surfaces are gorgeous, luminous and distinct.

See more below.

who's that cutie pie?!

Thanks Meg!

Open Late Tonight, Wednesday Nights till 8pm!

2012-06-13T14:44:00.003-07:00

Come join us Wednesday evenings during Ellen Letcher's show for dumplings and discussion.

and for:

Lego building on the floor!! We all love our floor at Pocket Utopia!

and for

Bill Murray? (You never know who might show up!)

Yes, up!!

Come inside.

See something old (how we miss the Frenchmen!)

See Paul's tattoo.

look at my sweet ride (I wish)!

This is a good idea (a beer box).

Ellen.

Yum, Ellen.

And Ellen.

Ahh, where is the sun?!

Yeah, C.G. Boerner, in gold and highly polished. (We'll do fancy cappuccinos together uptown.)

See ya later, jellyfish.

Pocket Utopia Peeps

2012-06-10T10:23:00.000-07:00

Gili Levy.

Ellen arrives, greeted by Paul D'Agostino.

Ellen, the intensely individualistic innovator (Paul in profile).

This crowd is so fashionable!

Closer inspection.

Nice.

The artist's parents.

the catalyst Jason Andrew making his selection from the exhibition list!

Sharon Butler and Karina Aguilera Skvirsky

Liz (headband) with sidewalk peeps.

Dorothy Robinson, Larry Greenberg, Meg Hitchcock, Matthew Miller, Benjamin Sutton,

Andrew Hurst and Mrs. Andrew Hurst (that's how she signed the guestbook)

Amy Lincoln, Angie Goerner, Brenda, Adam and Kianga in the background.

Ellen Letcher: Photo Still

2012-06-08T04:26:00.001-07:00

Opening on Saturday at Pocket Utopia, Ellen Letcher: "Photo Still:"

Combined Human, 2006 24 x 18 inches Collaged magazine pages &acrylic paint on board w/spiral wire

Abstract, 2002 24 x 18 inches Collaged magazine pages and acrylic paint on cardboard

Versace, 2012 24 x 12 inches Collaged magazine pages and acrylic paint on wood panel

Detroit, 2011 21 x 17 inches Collaged magazine pages and acrylic paint with acetate on paper

Big Sculpture, 2011 21 x 17 inches Collaged magazine pages and acrylic paint on paper

Funeral Pyre, 2012 15 x 4 feet Collaged magazine, newspaper, color laser prints, china marker and acrylic paint on PVC coated canvas drop-cloth

Biker Diptych, 2009 10 ½ x 8 ½ inches Collaged color laser print and acrylic paint

Muslims, 2012 20 x 16 inches Collaged magazine pages and acrylic paint with on wood panel with shelf

Hotdog, 2012 25 x 19 ½ inches Collaged magazine pages, color laser print and acrylic paint on paper

Björk, 2009 15 ½ x 11 ½ inches Collaged magazine page and acrylic paint on cardboard

Tiger, 2012 25 x 19 ½ inches Collaged magazine pages and acrylic paint on paper

Skater, 2012 25 x 19 ½ inches Collaged magazine pages, color laser print and acrylic paint on paper

Tea and Toilet Paper, 2012 25 x 19 ½ inches Collaged magazine pages, color laser print

& acrylic paint on paper

Bill, 2012 25 x 19 ½ inches Collaged magazine pages, newspaper, color laser print and acrylic

paint on paper

Heavenly Creature, 2012 25 x 19 ½ inches Collaged magazine pages, China marker and

acrylic paint on paper

Leo, Romeo & Juliet, 2002–2012, 25 x 19 ½ inches Collaged magazine pages and acrylic paint on paper

Wrestler, 2012, 25 x 19 ½ inches Collaged magazine pages, tape and acrylic paint on paper

Milla, 2002–2012, 25 x 19 ½ inches Collaged magazine pages, China marker and acrylic paint on paper

Combined Human, #3, 2012 20 x 16 inches Collaged magazine pages, color laser print

and acrylic paint on paper

Boob, 2012, 28 ½ x 24 inches Collaged magazine pages and acrylic paint on paper

Leaf, 2009, 26 x 17 inches Collaged magazine and book pages, relief printing and tape on Japanese paper

Wresting images from glossy magazines and pasting them down with paint, Letcher creates a highly idiosyncratic collection of pictorial data. She replays this device of painting and pasting, maintaining a graphic energy while carefully editing, and anything might and does happen along the way (for instance, an impression of a leaf falls outside one of Letcher’s gridded, brushed blue-glue and pink strokes). Evidence of a cup of tea is plastered by active orange paint strokes while on another one of Letcher’s pages, Muslims pray within a lattice of painted pink, orange, and blue.

Letcher doesn’t take pictures — she jags their contours with color, abutting one against another, alongside yet another within a tableau of hidden transcriptions excavated with a red, blue, pink, or orange brush. She has many influences, including her years spent in production design and more recently co-directing the now shuttered Famous Accountants gallery, thereby illustrating how visual culture gets layered and loaned sometimes from the same sources without the fidelity of precise transcription.

http://www.pocketutopia.com/

Bushwick Opening Studios (BOS)

2012-06-03T11:24:00.000-07:00

Bushwick Open Studios (BOS) presents a community of artists working and working it!

The day started with an El Camino siting.

A bold statement by Ben Godward, looking like something that might come out of my dream

El Camino ride!

Faintly written, boldly painted, Julie Torres out does herself, with an international show of facebook friends, camping out in Bushwick, making art together, and supporting each other all the way!

Above her work and her name inscribed on the wall, hailing from Australia, Inga Dalrymple

Collaboratively made together!

A Kristen Jensen (one of my favorite Bushwick artists) spied around the neck of some good cool guy.

Oh, it's William Powhida!!

Ellen.

Matthew at Valentine.

Another Matthew Miller.

Big red dot at Airplane's booth at Jules's Bushwick Basel

Bushwick Basel.

Cool.

Another beautiful show at Studio 10.

Mary Carlson.

Below, start..pictorial tribute Cathy Nan Quilan currently on view at Valentine:

all Cathy, above and below:

Bushwick Open Studios = Beauty.

My Thoughts on this Monday Memorial Day

2012-05-28T19:24:00.000-07:00

I flew down to D.C. for the weekend and caught a quick glimpse of Rolling Thunder, which is a gathering of vets, tens of thousands of them from all over the world, on bikes (many, many Harleys) that meet every year on Memorial Day. They ride from the Pentagon through Washington, it's really moving, even when the engines are silent. I guess Sarah Palin crashed it last year and folks were bummed, but this year it seemed like a genuine celebratory gathering. Below, a picture from today's Washington Post, which I thought so beautiful and caputured the event PERFECTLY! (I couldn't read the photo credit online, sorry because you deserve credit.)

I also had the opportunity to catch an amazing, gem of a show at Curator's Office curated by Todd Levin. It's always way worth any effort to go see what the very smart and affable Andrea Pollan is up too. Together these two upped the ante by featuring works by Joseph Cornell, Rashid Johnson, Pipilotti Rist and Haim Steinbach!

I also caught some new Chakaia Booker sculptures along New York Avenue before heading back home. I was able to relax and take it all in because before leaving I finished writing the press release for the next show: Ellen Letcher!! Glimpses of her press release below...

“Leo, Romeo & Juliet,” 2002–2012, painting and collage, 16 x 20 inches

A thoughtful Memorial Day.

Sunday Sum Up.

2012-05-20T17:19:00.001-07:00

A visit to Matthew Miller's studio:

Dorothy guest gallery sits:

Thinking about the summer show and so wanting to borrow a Sam Gilliam piece for it! I have been brushing up on Gilliam's oeuvre and watching YouTube videos of him.

While watching Sam Gilliam YouTube videos, I noticed an interesting connection between some of his paintings and Sharon Butler's:

Next up, writing the press release for Ellen Letcher's show!!

Ellen's studio!!

I have an inquiry...

2012-05-17T14:16:00.001-07:00

To celebrate the fifth anniversary of Two Coats of Paint, Sharon Butler invited me to curate a painting exhibition (with a little bit of drawing and maybe one ceramic piece) during Bushwick Open Studios.

Here's a preview (still working on all the title information...), 4 artists, 3 days, all in beautiful studio, in Bushwick and requesting you to take a look:

Lawrence Greenberg, "untitled," ink, water color, and shellac on wood, 5 1/2" X 5 1/2"

Lawrence Greenberg, "untitled," ink, water color, and shellac on wood, 6 1/2" X 5 1/2"

Lawrence Greenberg, "untitled," ink on marble, 6 1/2" X 5 1/2"

Guy Corriero...

Guy Corriero

Edie Nadelhaft, "Untitled (on lightness) No. 10," colored pencil on Arches, 22" x 30"

Edie Nadelhaft, "Untitled (on lightness) No. 11," colored pencil on Arches, 30" x 22"

Edie Nadelhaft, "Untitled (on lightness) No. 13," colored pencil on Arches, 22" x 30"

Meg Atkinson

Please stop by on Saturday, June 2, 4 pm, for an artists' reception and conversation about painting.

Event dates: June 1, 6-8pm, June2-3, 12-7pm.

Pocket Utopia (recently reopened,191 Henry St., LES)

xoxoxo

The past 13 days

2012-05-13T12:19:00.003-07:00

Here it all is....a pictorial day at this Pocket Utopia:

The quiet parade of people on Henry Street is amazing, the ebb and flow so peaceful and the birds chirp all day!

There are a lot of cute children.

Balloons and painted faces.

A quick peak at Frieze - the art fairs not to end all art fairs, but to just add another art fair.

Benay Brotman, gallery manager, inside the Pocket.

Benay.

Brent.

Our energy efficient compact flourescent lighting!!

The collar and the hair of Guillaume de Brisacier (Secretary to Queen), 1664, one blending into the other. Engraving by Antoine Masson, 1636-1700

Three game-playing boys under three frenchmen!

The lines of Nanteuil. (A gallery visitor said she could see Agnes Martin in some of these lines on the various prints on the wall.)

Pocket Utopia, continues as a new neighborhood hang out.

Soon to be a bathroom.

Sharon Butler, rockin' a Patti Smith look!

Sign.

Villion's etching of Baudelaire.

Virginia Vouet by Claude Mellan, 1626

the text under Virginia as translated by Paul D'Agostino:

A knowing hand has here captured Virginia's

Eyes, her forehead, her hair with her other features:

But if you want to admire her art and her spirit,

Look to her paintings rather than at her face.

And...OUR NEW TOILET (sink on top and all)!!!

Peeps and Pics at Pocket Utopia's first official opening

2012-05-01T07:44:00.000-07:00

Donald Steele, Pocket Utopia's resident playwright, sent us these pictures (below) from our recent opening. I'll be adding to these over the next few days:

Through the glass I see Bruce Edelstein talking to Tom Gardner with the backs of Benay Brotman and

Ryan Michael Ford.

Conferring with Larry Greenberg from Studio 10, Julie Torres and Ryan again (our resident bartender and amazing artist).

Closer consultation.

Loren Munk in the background, with the hand of photographer John Kenny.

Ok, me and Larry again, with Paul D'Agostino.

The Frenchmen Arrive at the NEW Pocket U!!

2012-04-28T14:54:00.000-07:00

Armin Kunz in yellow conferring with me on who's who in engraving in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Paul Shore in the foreground determining the hanging height.

Armin, "Ok, we've got a portrait of King Louis XIV ca. 1644, age 6, next to two etchings of Baudelaire by Jacques Villon."

Paul standing beside the "wall of artists" with a portrait of the painter Charles Coypel visible along side a portrait of the sculptor Guilleaume Coustou the Elder.

Pictured above a portrait of the engraver Gerard Edelinck with the drapery falling out of the oval frame (which is a common theme).

Hmmmmmmm.

Villon's (born Gaston Emile Duchamp) etched Baudelaire, 1920

Everything narrow, etched, engraved and contemplative.

Perches Placed (Done)

2012-04-21T18:06:00.001-07:00

Ten years ago, after having a show of my Personal Perches at Diane Pruess Gallery in Chinatown, downtown, LA, I put my work into storage.

The personal perches, above.

And the perches sat in storage until Jason Andrew and I went to get them. Jason was the only man for the job, for he is the "ultimate collaborator" and "art super-hero of Bushwick," if I do declare!

We rented a truck and stopped at the ocean for a quick dip.

Purged and prepared ourselves for the journey ahead.

We picked up the perches from storage. They were nicely packed, but dusty!!

I was relieved that the perches were there because I had put them on Craigslist in the "free stuff" category. I had some takers, about 50 of them, but it was too hard to coordinate from afar. I even sent someone the keys and pass code to the storage unit.

Jason, doing the heavy lifting!

Jason, realizing what he's gotten himself into gets on the phone and starts emailing folks, we get directions to our first stop: Joshua Tree, California.

The milage - 1901.8

We arrive in Joshua Tree at BoxoOffice and peer a small gathering through Gosia Wlodarczak's "Frost Drawings" that appear veil-like on the windows.

We gather and discuss where the perches might go and I look serious, but I am liking this group-think. Shari Elf is in pink next to me, she is an artist and runs a gallery and "The World Famous Museum of Crochet!" Everyone has good ideas, including the host Bernard Leibov, to my left.

Next morning, up with the sun.

We start installing a personal perch for Bernard! (Feels like it was just yesterday that I made them in Bushwick and put them together.)

Jason Andrew, "art super hero," again doing the heavy lifting!

Standing aside, the perch is really for the percher.

In the shadows and a dappling of light.

The perch alone. It seems like the perch was meant for this spot.

Bernard alone perching.

This isn't a my perch, but a nearly complete place to stay at the Rattler Ranch Cabins, a spot for contemplative cabins in the desert. They will take a perch.

Bernard and Diane Best of the "Rattler" talk about a spot for the perch.

A desert tortoise comes out to inspect the spot and I consider this a very good omen.

Diane, her studio above, will install the perch with partner Christopher. They will pour footings, attach the hardware and re-christen the perch "Quail Perch" for a flock of quail that come around twilight and delight their guests, which I will definitely be in the future (who's coming with me).

Another shot of Diane's studio. She just broke ground on a new studio. These are her source photos.

Diane gives us a desert "bird cage" and if you look closely you can see her in the distance with the perch and its parts.

This PERCH BLANKET made especially for the soon to be "Quail Perch" by artist Laura Watt. This crochetted blanket will go to the "World Famous Crochet Museum!!!" Thanks Shari and Laura!

Casting a shadow (yes this picture has been taken before)...back to the road, for we have a dinner date in Tucson, AZ.

Gas in the desert.

Our Tucson, AZ hosts Aurelie Sheehan and Reed Karaim whom I met at the Ucross Foundation. They served up the best meal of the trip! They tucked us in, filled us up with stories of their lives, patted us on the back and waved good-bye. I love them!

The sign to Marfa, TX our next stop. We still need a home for the last perch...but I decide not to worry about not worrying about it.

The sign to nowhere.

In Alpine, TX around 10:00 p.m. we decide to eat and drink and after a few beers I tell the proprietor of the Saddler Club about the perches. Well, the proprietor gets super excited because there's a Montessori School in town and she thinks they would love a perch! We get excited, I order another beer, phone calls are made and tomorrow it looks like the perch will have a home!!

Good morning, Alpine, Texas.

We hit Marfa for a tour of the JUDD Foundation. Here is Jason strolling down main street.

Reflected in Judd.

Our very capable tour guide, Hope. We drill her with our questions, particularly, "why did Judd go to Marfa in the first place?" Hope gives us an A++ tour.

No pictures allowed at the Judd, but this is the place to eat. It looked to me as the only place to eat - Food Shark.

Our truck outside the Judd.

Chianti, the other Judd - "a contemporary art museum in Marfa, TX, based on the work of

Donald Judd" (from the website).

Sky and land reflected here at Chianti Foundation.

We head to the montessori school in Alpine to set up the perch!

The outside of the school.

The perch spot.

The perched...

The first perchers take to the ascent.

Perching.

Hey, we can see our neighbors!

Back to the truck, now empty.

Roger Hodge, Texas native, tells us to stop at the Pecos Bridge River Overlook.

Jason decides to SWIM across the river, I put my toe in and pray he doesn't drown! A flame-colored tanager comes to perch and watch the swimmer.

Jason after the swim!

Our hotel in downtown San Antonio.

And our truck.

Let's call that 3453 for a total of 1553 miles of perching!

So far from the road

2012-04-18T07:27:00.001-07:00

Sorry to be out of touch, I'm driving across the west, In Arizona, now and on my way to Texas in about a half hour! I am setting up my old perch sculptures thus far around the west!

I had these sculptures in storage for 10 years after I showed them in LA. En route to Texas, in pictures below:

It's about 6:45 am and we are at friends Aurelie Sheehan and Reed Karaim (writers who fell in love at a residency we were all at together). Today we drive to Marfa and install Perch Three!!!)

from the Storage Unit Where they have been for 10 years!

Loaded Up, Jason Andrew doing the heavy lifting!!!

The truck - 1901.8 miles - begin

The passenger, installer, assistant

setting one up in Joshua Tree

Bernard Leibov sitting a top.

Perch One

Location of Perch Two.

Perch Two will get set later after the site is prepared and it will be renamed "Quail Perch"

a desert visitor to Perch number Two

Back on the road!!

One more Perch sets set up today in Marfa!!!

xoxox, see you next week,

Austin

Roger Hodge takes to the road

2012-04-13T07:10:00.000-07:00

While I put the finishing touches on my journey behind the wheel of a Budget Rental Truck, loaded up with Perches, Rodge Hodge has just returned from his most recent road trip through the Texan and Arizona deserts. Roger's recent excursion is just one of several planned as he researches the whereabouts of his family history set within a more ancient and known landscape.

Roger's pictures below (wide views, reflections, close-up cave shots, and touches of blue with hints of discovery):

All of the photos below can be better viewed bigger on http://sombrero.net/.

Painted Shelter, near the Pecos River.

Devils River.

Devils River, downstream view.

Painted Shelter, red monochrome style.

Cedar Springs Canyon.

Cedar Springs Shelter, approach. (Roger Hodge, going where Google does not.)

Cedar Springs Shelter.

Cedar Springs Shelter, Pecos River style.

Close-up. Cedar Springs shelter, red linear style.

Halo Shelter, Pecos River style.

Descent to Halo Shelter.

Approaching Halo Shelter.

Halo Shelter, left.

Halo Shelter, center.

Halo Shelter, right.

Halo Shelter, detail.

Halo Shelter (see more at http://sombrero.net/)

The last Halo Shelter, for now.

Roger: we look forward to seeing more from the road.

Peering at a scenic overlook

2012-04-07T06:11:00.001-07:00

A quick post on Dorothy Robinson's showing at Schaefer Landing:

A Epic Journey...

2012-04-04T10:48:00.002-07:00

Now for the next epic journey, aah...not the new Pocket Utopia journey, that's an easy one, you just take the F train to East Broadway. No, I'm talking about the PERCHES IN STORAGE IN LA. Yes, I am going to get them! The plan is to fly to LA and pick them up.

Hopefully they are still there because I tried to give them away on Craig's list a few years ago, but the nice people decided not collect them. They didn't really want to perch, they just wanted to know how to show their work in New York.

So off I go with a truck or trailer and Jason Andrew. First stop: Joshua Tree (hello and goodbye LA). In JT, we will go to Bernard Leibov at "BoxoHOUSE." There we will fuel-up on vegetarian chili and set-up a perch for Bernard and his ever expanding art outpost. At BoxoHOUSE in Joushua Tree and at BoxOFFICE in NY, Bernard is engaged in an interesting artistic dialogue concerned with the idea of frontiers, freedoms, and various creative conduits.

After Joshua Tree, we will head to Marfa, for more perch placement, details to come, and then finally to San Antonio for the final perch drop-off, and then back home perchless. I'll have to make another perch when I get back, oh, wait, I'll just take the F train to East Broadway!!

Perch pics below:

A Quick Step Out to Michele Aruajo's show

2012-03-30T04:01:00.002-07:00

Featuring Michele's paintings with Lisa Sigal and Elana Herzog. This show is a beauty!

My girl Judith Braun (always introducing visiting artists around.)

And my man Ben, helping out behind the bar!

Michele's paintings above and below:

Elana's sculpture above.

Michele with Mary Carlson, I think that is her...

Final crowd shot, beautiful space and show!

Thanks Larry!!

Tonight!!

2012-03-28T11:01:00.000-07:00

Pocket Utopia

Grand REOPENING!

The Queen and I
a one night exhibition of royal photographs
by playwright
Donald Steele

March 28th

6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m
191 Henry Street, between Clinton and Jefferson on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

By subway, F train to East Broadway.

A quick walk in Washington

2012-03-26T21:03:00.000-07:00

A quick walk around the block:

petals aplenty!

Come to Norte Maar's Benefit with me!

2012-03-25T21:11:00.000-07:00

Come to Norte Maar's Benefit with me!

On Monday, April 2nd, Bushwick's non-profit art organization is holding a fundraising cocktail party at Mitchell-Innes & Nash.
If you've already bought a ticket, thank you!

If you can buy another ticket, an artist or friend from the neighborhood who might not be able to afford a ticket can go, just let me know and I will coordinate it!

On most days Norte Maar is nurturing artists young and old, exhibiting our work and in the summer of 2010 Norte Maar collaborated with me to bring us Camp Pocket U!

But, next Monday evening, Norte Maar will be doing something a little different, they will be honoring Julie Martin who works with E.A.T. (Engineers, Art and Technology). Ms. Martin filmed the legendary 9 Evenings: Theatre & Engineering - a series of theater, dance, music and performances at the New York 69th Regiment Armory in 1966 by: Robert Rauschenberg, John Cage, David Tudor, Yvonne Rainer, Deborah Hay, Robert Whitman, Steve Paxton, Alex Hay, Lucinda Childs and Öyvind Axel Christian Fahlström,
In addition, on Monday evening there will be a sound and dance performance!

Here's a link: http://nortemaar4.eventbrite.com/ for buying tickets

And lastly Thank YOU!!

event location:
Mitchell-Innes & Nash
534 West 26th Street
NYC

Artist Hermine Ford teaching drawing at the Bushwick Library, part of Norte Maar's Artists and Writers program,

Love Note....

2012-03-23T07:15:00.000-07:00

In the "new" demolished Pocket Utopia space with Benay, me and Donald discussing the installation of the "Queen and I."

I met Donald Steele in Hudson, New York while co-organizing a show called Pop-up Gallery Portraits with Scot Cohen. Donald is a playwright. He sent me one of his photographs of the Queen.

Donald Steele, 2012 "The Queen and I"

I liked it and sent it to Hrag Vartanian. Hrag also liked the images of the Queen.

Donald's Queens from Hrag's tumblr.

Donald is a swimmer and so am I. I ran into him (I did not swam into him) in the slow lane 4 days a week. I saw a few of his plays. I met Roger, below:

Roger, me and Benay planning out next week's one night grand reopening of Pocket Utopoia. There's a little bit of John Kenny on the left-hand side.

We all talked about art; Weegee, the current Paul Graham show at Pace, and the Renaissance Portraiture show at the Met. More Queens came into my inbox. I decided to reopen Pocket Utopia although some argue it never closed. We decided to have a show, "The Queen and I," which opens next week, Wednesday, March 28, from 6pm to 8 pm!! God save the Queen!

Roger's mock-up by for the window.

More planning pics below, which were beautifully shot by Cat Kenny! Thanks Cat!!

As Donald says, we're having "fun with Her Highness."

Pocket Utopia is Reopening!

2012-03-14T10:49:00.000-07:00

Pocket Utopia is reopening this time to deepen the dialogue and in collaboration with C.G. Boerner, located at 191 Henry Street, between Clinton and Jefferson on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

By subway, F train to East Broadway.

Gallery Hours: Wed. - Sun. 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

On Wednesday, March 28th, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., there will be a one night exhibition, before the space in renovated, of royal photographs by playwright Donald Steele: “The Queen and I."

Donald Steele “The Queen and I,” 2011 - digital c-print

Pocket Utopia will officially reopen on April 29th with the exhibition, in collaboration with C. G. Boerner, Portraits of Artists: 18th Century French Engravings.

For further information please contact Austin Thomas, 917-400-3869

Junk Draw

2012-03-13T16:10:00.000-07:00

I have several junk drawers, which I clean out every 6 months or so, and so here is another type of "junk drawer." I'm cleaning up and then I'll get ready to fill it up again.

new sketchbook, shot by Jeffrey Sturges

Georg Baselitz at C.G. Boerner

Goya at C.G. Boerner

More Baselitz at C. G. Boerner

a detail of an etching at C. G. Boerner

Baselitz, Goya and French etchings at C.G. Boerner

Baselitz.

Overpass.

Another one of my sketchbooks at Norte Maar

Jason and I looking up.

Rafael Barrios

Pink Clouds.