Golden Age Blog

Final Credits

Marco — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 06:51:43 +0000

The Last Day of Golden Age - November 30, 2011

Marco — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 19:49:30 +0000

Wednesday, November 30 is the last day Golden Age will be open and it's also the last day you'll be able to order from the webshop. If there's something you've been wanting to get, now is the time. I can especially recommend Reference Work, we have only 20 copies left and one of them should be yours.

At the begininng of the month when we announced we were closing we received many positive emails and visits, each individual saying how important Golden Age has been to them on a very personal level. This has been moving to me and I want to say thank you to everyone that has been with us over these five years, you've made this into an important period and the passage of time will only confirm the impact we've had. Lastly, I want to reiterate what Martine said, we've got big plans so stay with us.

Red Hook Journal

Martine — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 19:47:00 +0000

The Center for Curatorial Studies (CCS) at Bard recently launched Red Hook Journal, a web-based publication edited by Tirdad Zolghadr that aims to "discuss intelligent criteria through which curators can be held accountable by artists, audiences, and their own colleagues." Initiated in response to the rise of the curator, and the subsequent backlash to such a role, Red Hook Journal fills a critical space in the contemporary art discussion.

I was particularly amused by LA-based writer Bruce Hainley's column on composing a catalogue essay, an excerpt:

I was going to suggest that writers take back the liberties artists have for decades taken from them, but my iPad battery’s in the red, and, honestly, I’ve never met another writer—a person who tries to get words to warp space-time—who takes, for example, Lawrence Weiner seriously as a writer, although by the sheer number of publications dedicated to or by him you’d think he had contributed something to literature, to writing, as prepossessing as . . . Dave Eggers’. Graphic designers, absolutely, but not writers. There’s no liberty there to be taken, kids, that well’s run dry, which isn’t to say that the cold corpse of e. e. cummings doesn’t still cry comma tears.

Damn.

Find more at Red Hook Journal.

A Big Thank You

Martine — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 20:25:20 +0000

"So many people have helped me to come here to this night. Some of you are here, some are far away and some are even in Heaven. All of us have special ones who loved us into being. Would you just take, along with me, 10 seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are, those who cared about you and wanted what was best for you in life. 10 seconds, I'll watch the time. Whomever you've been thinking about, how pleased they must be to know the difference you feel they have made. You know they're kind of people television does well to offer our world. Special thanks to my family, my friends, and my co-workers in Public Broadcasting and Family Communications, and to this Academy for encouraging me, allowing me, all these years to be your neighbor. May God be with you. Thank you very much."

Thank you to our family, friends, collectors, visitors and everyone who we've had the pleasure to work with over the past 5 years. You are all incredible. Golden Age is nothing without you. Thank you for supporting us and believing in us. We're honored that we've gotten to enjoy the company of so many amazing people. We've got big plans for the future. Stay with us.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Marco K Braunschweiler & Martine Syms

David Hartt: Stray Light

Marco — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:43:38 +0000

David Hartt's exhibition Stray Light opens next Saturday, November 26 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, I highly recommend attending.

"David Hartt’s project Stray Light inaugurates a new series of media-based exhibitions at the MCA called MCA Screen. Hartt, a Chicago-based Canadian artist, has been working with photographs for many years, attracted to the social, cultural, political, and economic complexities of the subjects he captures, rendering them with a cool, dispassionate eye. Stray Light includes a film displayed in a room carpeted in the style of his subject, the Johnson Publishing Company building in Chicago, as well as a group of photographs in an adjacent room. Granted unprecedented access to film and photograph in this John Moutoussamy–designed building after a long process of earning the trust of the owners, Hartt earnestly records the time-capsule nature of the space, which meticulously heeds to Arthur Elrod’s original 1971 interior design. The building was purpose-built as the headquarters of this important publishing company, made famous by its Jet and Ebony magazine titles and its role as a leading arbiter of African-American taste and culture during the latter half of the 20th century. Moutoussany was an African-American partner in the firm Dubin, Dubin, Black, and the eleven-story building has an iconic presence on South Michigan Avenue with its illuminated Ebony-Jet marquee at the top of the building. The interior of the building is a clear and exuberant expression of Black taste, resolutely modern, colorful, and complex, a pure expression of founder John Johnson’s vision of what a leading, Black-owned business can be."

Paul Theobald and Company: Images

Marco — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 18:23:16 +0000

Installation view

Lauren Anderson, Untitled, 2011, Collage and sandblasted glass in artist’s frame, 14.75 x 11.75 inches

Robin Cameron, Self-Portrait Abstraction, Oil on mirror, 21 x 17 inches

Paul Stoelting, Full Save, 2011, Wood and photographs, 46 x 28 x 6 inches

Lauren Anderson, Untitled, 2011, Collage and sandblasted glass in artist’s frame, 21 x 19 inches

Robin Cameron, Golden Section, Soldered steel, 9.75 x 6.75 inches

Robin Cameron, For Jan, Digital inkjet print, 17.25 x 26.25 inches

Lauren Anderson, Untitled, 2011, Collage and sandblasted glass in artist’s frame, 17 x 13.25 inches

Lauren Anderson, Untitled, 2011, Collage and sandblasted glass in artist’s frame, 15 x 12 inches

Lauren Anderson, Untitled (Clown Tears), 2011, Collage and sandblasted glass in artist’s frame, 18.5 x 23.75 inches

More information and images.

Barbara Kasten: Experimental Photography from the 1970s

Marco — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 06:51:57 +0000

If you're in Los Angeles this Saturday I highly recommend Barbara Kasten: Experimental Photography from the 1970s at Gallery Luisotti:

"Gallery Luisotti is pleased to announce its upcoming exhibition, Barbara Kasten: Experimental Photography from the 1970s, opening November 19th. Kasten’s early concern with the interplay between sculpture, light, and installation in her art mirrored the greater interest of the then burgeoning California light and space movement arising in the 1960s. Formally trained as a painter, and rooted in the visual dialogue of Constructivist art, Kasten’s work has been a continual practice of mediating and reconciling opposing ideas, from sculpture to photography, light and shadow, and objects to immateriality. The exhibition marks Gallery Luisotti’s contribution to Pacific Standard Time: Art In L.A. 1945-1980."

Barbara Kasten: Experimental Photography from the 1970s
November 19, 2011 – January 7, 2012
Opening: Saturday, November 19th, 6-8 pm

Gallery Luisotti
2525 Michigan Ave # A2
Santa Monica, CA 90404-4031
(310) 453-0043 ‎

I Can Read

Martine — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 22:27:25 +0000

Dossier: Hirsch Perlman

Martine — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 20:54:46 +0000

All images copyright Hirsch Perlman.
View Hirsch Perlman: the Renaissance Society in the webshop.

HIMAA Work 3681

Martine — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:53:36 +0000

Masanao Hirayama, 3681, 2011, Plastic bottle, dry ice, water, wood, cup, acrylic, dimensions variable.

Food Crypt at Nite Market

Martine — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 17:56:33 +0000

Earlier this year we posted about Nite Market, a venue for culinary experiments happening in small kitchens across the city. The first Nite Market was held in Pilsen and it was a huge success. I had a lot of fun indulging in sweet, sour and savory artisan treats at street food prices. This Friday, Nite Market is back and Foodcrypt (the coolest food blog on the interweb) will be participating!

Foodcrypt (Sam and Chris) will be frying up “Oliebollen.” Oliebollen are Dutch doughnuts that are traditionally served on New Years, but become available from food trucks (often called “gebakraams”, or “bakery windows”) as soon as the weather gets cold. I've never eaten Oliebollen, but Chris said they're like beignets—that's all I need to hear. I'm there.

To enjoy food from unlicensed vendors, you will need to RSVP on the Nite Market website.

Exit Interview with Jason Foumberg

Martine — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:25:00 +0000

In case you didn't see it, we did an "exit interview" with Jason Foumbeg for New City. We talk about why we're closing, what's happening next and give a little bit of advice for young guns who want to work for themselves.

And if you haven't made it to see Paul Theobald & Co., the exhibition will be on view until November 30. Don't sleep on it.

Dossier: Harold Mendez

Marco — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 20:09:38 +0000

all images © Harold Mendez

Texts for Nothing now in the webshop.

Absolute Classic Masterpieces

Marco — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:34:04 +0000

Finally, refined smoking accessories. Enter Absolute Classic Masterpieces, hailing from Philadelphia they create objects that are designed to last forever, and in true Pennsylvanian tradition, they'll only look more refined with age.

UIC MFA Open Studios

Marco — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:46:49 +0000

Tomorrow, you'll definitely want to visit the UIC MFA Open Studios. I recommend heading directly to the 4th floor to see what Lauren Anderson (see Paul Theobald and Company) and Paul Cowan are currently working on. The UIC MFA Open Studios coincides with the Gallery 400 Archival Impulse opening.

UIC MFA Open Studios
Friday, November 4, 6-10pm
University of Illinois at Chicago, Art and Design Hall
400 South Peoria Street
Chicago, IL

Including works by: Mark Aguhar - Sebastian Aguirre - Joshua Albers - Lauren Anderson - Nina Barnett - George Benedict Murray III - Daniel Bennett - Jeremy Bolen - Gwendolyn Zabicki - Jon Chambers - Mary Helena Clark - Paul Cowan - Ian Curry - Lauren Edwards - Chaz Evans - Cameron Gibson - Kasia Houlihan - Ben Keddy - Mark Kent - Anthony Koerner - Kera Mackenzie - Marianna Milhorat - Andrew Mausert-Mooney - Courtney Prokopas - Alex Rauch - Andrew Reinke - Macon Reed - Daniel Shea - Tina Tahir - Daniel Tucker - Neal Vandenbergh - Tiffany Funk

New and Restocked Titles

Marco — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 19:00:34 +0000

Liam Gillick - Stories

Dora Garcia - Mad Marginal
Kesselskramer - Amateurism

We received many new and restocked titles last week, they'll be going up in the webshop over the next few days–stay tuned.

Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation

Marco — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 17:31:47 +0000

We highly recommend attending the 2011 Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation, starting next Saturday, November 5 & 6 at the DePaul CDM Center:

Eyeworks is a festival focusing on abstract animation and unconventional character animation. Festival programs showcase outstanding experimental animation of all sorts: classic films, new works and rare masterpieces.

The Eyeworks programs showcase a range of animation techniques, including paper cutouts, stop-motion, 3D computer animation, and a wide variety of hand-drawn methods. The content of the films is even more varied, and includes cosmic abstraction, psychedelic characters, geometric patterning, and surrealistic narratives.

Eyeworks celebrates animated moving images that express unusual vision, unusual approaches, and unusual style.

November 5 & 6, 2011
DePaul CDM Theater, 247 S. State Street, basement level
Jackson stop, Red Line
Chicago, USA

Festival organizers: Alexander Stewart and Lilli Carré

We'll be attending Saturday's 6:00 pm program with Lori Damiano for a special preview screening of her hand-drawn animation Lord I: The Records Keeper. More information is available here.

Haunted Corn Maze

Martine — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 21:21:16 +0000

Halloween is just around the corner and I hope you've already planned your costume. Last year I went to Haunted Corn Maze at Richardson Farm in Spring Grove, Illinois. My companion was too scared to be terrified by local firefighters, so we ended up doing the scavenger hunt instead, but we heard screams from the other side all night. If you have what it takes, I highly recommend this Chicagoland attraction. If that isn't enough, it's the world's larget corn maze AND all proceeds go to local charities.

Visit richardsonadventurefarm.com for more information!

American Graffiti Credits

Martine — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 20:52:40 +0000

We announced our final exhibition today and have received at least ten emails reading either "Final exhibition?," "Final exhibition?!?!" or "Final? Exhibition?"

To answer those questions (?): YES, Paul Theobald & Company is our last exhibition. Golden Age is closing permanently on November 30. Please celebrate the future with us this Friday, October 28th at the opening of Paul Theobald & Company, featuring work from Lauren Anderson, Robin Cameron and Paul Stoelting.

And while we're on the topic of endings, I've been obsessed with the credits from American Graffiti. They're incredible.

Dossier: MDW Fair

Marco — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 18:12:20 +0000

Paul Cowan and Michael Hunter at Document

Sol Hashemi at LVL3

Michael Hunter at Document

Adi Goodrich at Reuben Kincaid

At Nudashank

All images from the MDW Fall Showcase in Chicago today and tomorrow. Visit Martine at our table on the third floor.

MDW Fall Showcase
October 21- 23, 2011 at The Geolofts 3636 S Iron St.

Saturday 12pm - 6pm
Sunday 12pm - 6pm
$5 admission

MDW Fair

Martine — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 17:39:50 +0000

We'll be participating in the MDW Fair this weekend!

MDW Fall Showcase
October 21-23, The Geolofts (3636 S. Iron St.)

Opening: TONIGHT, 8-11pm
Saturday, 12-6pm
Sunday, 12-6pm
$5 admission

Featuring solo and duo exhibitions curated by small not-for-profits, artist-run spaces, independent galleries, collectives and curators from around the country. Including 65 Grand, Alderman Exhibitions, Devening Projects + Editions, LVL3, Western Exhibitions, threewalls, Soberscove Press and many others.

The Black Power Mixtape 1967 - 1975

Martine — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 18:14:18 +0000

Last night we saw The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 at the Music Box Theatre and I can't stop thinking about it. The film is a compilation of footage found in the basement of a Swedish television station that follows the evolution of the Black Power Movement in the United States. Each year in the mixtape presents a series of interviews, ethnographic images of the black community and commentary from present-day black thinkers like writer Robin Kelley and musician Talib Kweli.

My only complaint about the film is that—like every black-themed film you'll see in theaters—it characterizes the black American experience by trauma and uplift. I was hoping the unconventional structure of the film would lead to a more imaginative, nuanced view of the black radical tradition. That being said, it's a good film and I recommend checking it out.

The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 is playing at the Music Box Theatre through Sunday.

Paul Theobald and Company

Martine — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 18:12:58 +0000

Paul Theobald and Company
Lauren Anderson, Robin Cameron and Paul Stoelting

October 28, 2011 - November 30, 2011
Opening October 28, 2011 6-9pm

Golden Age is pleased to announce our final exhibition, Paul Theobald and Company, featuring painting, photography and sculpture from Lauren Anderson, Robin Cameron and Paul Stoelting—three young artists hinged together by an interest in anachronism.

The exhibition takes its name from the forgotten art bookshop cum gallery cum publisher located in downtown Chicago from 1936 to 1988. Paul Theobald and Company Publishers began during World War II when the supply of European art books was severed due to the ongoing international conflict. In response, Paul Theobald and Lolita Cruz Theobald began to publish works from the now-legendary artists, architects and thinkers that frequented their shop.

We invoke the legacy of Paul and Lolita Theobald, the New Bauhaus émigrés they championed–Moholy-Nagy, Kepes, Hilberseimer, Gropius, and Malevich–and the distinctly American modernism they celebrated. While Chicago can claim this history, most of the creative community would prefer that it die. Golden Age proudly adopts this legacy because death—in the way that painting is “dead” or books are “dying”—is decidedly more interesting than novelty.

With tradition, datelessness and the “anti-novel” in mind, the artists in Paul Theobald and Company use dead forms stripped of time, technique and function to communicate the experience of living in the present moment. Cameron considers the truth of presentation with palpably modern marks that conjure a sense of beauty similar to Alma Thomas, Hans Hoffman and Stuart Davis. Anderson presents a series of sandblasted glass drawings that recall the paintings of Ray Eames while resisting any easy classification. Finally, Stoelting directly links 1945 to 2011 by introducing one open, angular, three foot sculpture that contains a digitally created AbEx painting.

For us, modernism means having the authority to pick and choose from all of history, regardless of convention, and using what is most appropriate for each new project. When history is so readily available and flattened by the immediate forms of reception, anachronism characterizes our current day. We enjoy the “misplacing” of customs, people, and objects. Instead of fantasizing about traveling to 1750 with a computer, we disrupt the contemporary with books. As Golden Age comes to a close, we invite you to look to the future, by acknowledging the past.

Soner On

Marco — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 21:26:36 +0000

More hits from the New York Art Book Fair; here's a fresh batch of publications from Soner Ön that deal with race, transcendence and the urban environment. Have a look.

A Stack of Books As Well As It Is A Book of Stacks

Martine — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 18:03:42 +0000

The cover of Triin Tamm's recent publication A Stack of Books reads, "This book is a part of a stack of books, as well as it is, a book of stacks." Indeed. This artist book, published as a contribution to the exhibition "If it's part broke, half fix it." at the CAC Vilnius contains excerpts from other books, imaginably stacked in Tamm's apartment. A Stack of Books is a reader of a working library where the theme is reading itself.

Purchase A Stack of Books

Alpha's Bet Is Not Over Yet

Marco — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 19:00:04 +0000

Alpha’s Bet Is Not Over Yet is an exhibition, reading room, and discussion space inspired by the energy and politics of radical, independent Black periodicals published during the first half of the twentieth century. Borne out of “Book Club” (2010), a think tank and reading group organized by artists Steffani Jemison and Jamal Cyrus for Project Row Houses, Houston, Alpha’s Bet investigates approaches to language, the written word, self-education, and democratic distributions of knowledge.

Expanding upon ideas explored in the periodicals on display, Jemison and Cyrus have invited artists to create posters inspired by the American Library Association’s READ campaign. Contributing artists include: Regina Agu, Firelei Báez, Jamal Cyrus, Nathaniel Donnett, Chitra Ganesh, Tia-Simone Gardner, Steffani Jemison, Nikki Pressley, Robert Pruitt and Autumn Knight, Bobby Ray, Martine Syms, and Ginger Brooks Takahashi. These posters are joined by a collection of contemporary chapbooks, zones, and self published volumes, which explore the potential of the publication form today, offering perspectives by: Terry Adkins, Adebukola Bodunrin, Nsenga Knight, David Leggett, Eliza Myrie, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Mitchell Squire, Martine Syms, Greg Tate, and LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs.

The project is accompanied by an illustrated publication that borrows the form of a reader—a compendium of essays, interviews, and selections from the periodicals and posters on display. Edited by Steffani Jemison and designed by Nikki Presley, The Reader includes contributions from Adebukola Bodunrin, Jamal Cyrus, Egie Ighile, Mitchell Jackson, Steffani Jemison, Ryan Inouye, Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts/The Freedwoman’s Bureau, Ethan Swan, and Greg Tate.

Alpha’s Bet Is Not Over Yet opens to the public today at the New Museum!

Mas Context: Analog

Marco — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 20:05:07 +0000

Please join us next Saturday, October 15th for a pop-up bookshop from Golden Age and a series of presentations from emerging and established designers as part of MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG.

MAS CONTEXT : ANALOG will gather a group of emerging and established practitioners within the field of design who will discuss their work based on proposed themes. The event will include presentations by photographers, filmmakers, architects, urban designers, graphic designers and industrial designers. Speakers include Lee Bey, David Schalliol, Jessica Rodrigue, John Szot, Andrew Moddrell and Christopher Marcinkoski, Sarah Dunn, Stewart Hicks and Allison Newmeyer, Brian Strawn and Karla Sierralta, Jeremiah Chiu, Karen Semone, Cheryl Towler Weese, Jason Pickleman, Caroline Linder and Lisa Smith, Cody Hudson, Craighton Berman and Rick Valicenti.

Plural, the Chicago-based creative studio will exhibit their work during the event.

More information and schedule

New Titles from the NY Art Book Fair

Marco — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 19:20:56 +0000

In the coming few days we'll be posting some of our choice finds from the NY Art Book Fair, for now let's start with a brand new import, issue 1 of A Circular, a publication focused on art, design and literature.

A Circular features a range of different short works, of note is Nathanael West 1930's story entitled The Imposter which deals with a failed sculptor named Beano Walsh who claims he cannot create his art since the anatomy books are all wrong. Rigorous, funny and a great read all the way through, I heartily recommend you get it now before it sells out.

Tisch Abelow and Orion Martin

Marco — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:58:01 +0000

Two simple reasons to see this show: I met Tisch last weekend at the NY Art Book Fair and Orion used to be my studiomate.

Tisch Abelow / Orion Martin
October 8th, 7-10pm
Manifest Exhibitions

Light Industry at Cabinet: Oscar Micheaux's "The Exile"

Martine — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 14:29:39 +0000

Light Industry at Cabinet:
The Exile
Oscar Micheaux, 16mm, 1931, 93 mins
Introduced by Martine Syms

On Tuesday, October 4th, I (Martine) will be presenting The Exile, Oscar Micheaux's first sound picture, a sensationalist melodrama of illicit desire that shifts from a Windy City whorehouse to the South Dakota homestead and back again. In addition to constituting a vital chapter in the history of independent film distribution and Black entrepreneurship, Micheaux's movies have also long been admired by some of cinema's most adventurous practitioners for their invigorating, sui generis narrative logic—one of the rare prints of The Exile is being provided courtesy of Ken Jacobs.

In his seminal essay "Bad Movies," J. Hoberman describes Oscar Micheaux as the "Black Pioneer of American film—not just because he was a black man, or because in his youth he pioneered the West, or because he was the greatest figure in 'race' movies and an unjustly ignored force in early American cinema. Micheaux is America's Black Pioneer in the way that André Breton was Surealism's Black Pope. His movies throw our history and movies into an alien and startling disarray."

Light Industry at Cabinet
300 Nevins Street, Brooklyn, NY
Tuesday, October 4, 2011, 7:00PM - 9:00PM
Tickets $7 suggested donation