And So On...

Kimberly Witham selects...

2008-06-20T06:16:00.000-07:00

Chad States, Bill, 2007

Kate Pollard, Untitled from This Woman's Movement, 2007

These artists turn their cameras outward and inward to define and question traditional gender roles. Chad States' work explores masculinity, revealing a broad and disparate array of interpretations. Kate Pollard's work expresses the tension between traditional notions of femininity and contemporary feminist ideals. - Kimberly Witham

Dan Schank selects...

2008-06-18T07:07:00.000-07:00

Rubens Ghenov, By the Rivers of Babylon, 2007, charcoal, graphite, sumi ink and xerox transfer on paper

Lawrence Wells, Victory, 2007, acrylic

In both of these images, personal and historical narratives collide. Lawrence Wells' Victory stresses the historical. Through dynamic contrasts and an ashen palette, I sense my own distance from the motion of modernist Europe. There's a nostalgia to Wells' brushwork, and it's mirrored in the monument depicted. It feels as if I've found it in a photo album. The central figure suggests an eroding, Utopian confidence. As melancholy and wonder overlap, I'm reminded of the ideological phantoms that undoubtedly inhabit my world.

In Rubens Ghenov's By the Rivers of Babylon, there is greater emphasis on gravity. His strange landscape of objects is solid and heavy, but his touch is ephemeral. My eyes become nomadic; they pass through the image. As Ghenov gathers artifacts from the cultures that define him (Brazilian, American), I sense him passing through this landscape as well. His approach is more metaphysical than Wells' (maybe?), but it finds its expression in things. A drum-set, a bird, a soccer ball-- as these objects merge, a portrait arises. In a sense it's a scavenger's image. But it's one with the grace of a monument. - Dan Schank

Megan Sullivan selects...

2008-06-18T06:53:00.000-07:00

Scott Jackson, New Orleans, LA, 2005

Tiffany Matula, Venetian Hurricane Katrine Scene, 2007

I picked these two pieces by these artists because of the similar theme of New Orleans, but I like them for very different reasons. I think Tiffany's piece on Hurricane Katrina is very smart and I love to see it next to Scott's beautiful photograph of an abandoned strip mall in New Orleans. - Megan Sullivan

JJ Pakola selects...

2008-05-27T08:13:00.000-07:00

Kit Rosenberg, Anchor, 2008, umbrella frame, emergency blanket, industrial fan, wood and monofilament

Vera Kachouh, Untitled #3, 2008, video projection, bench

The explorations of natural phenomena and ephemera by Kit Rosenberg's "Anchor" and Vera Kachouh's "Untitled #3" summon memories of the observer's individual memory, and question their connection to a collective conscience. Kachouh's video installation brings to mind the questions of "What am I watching?" or more specifically "Is it snow, falling ash, or actually nothing but a computer animation of shapes in motion?" and Rosenberg's "Anchor" can remind one of a trivial occurrence such as trying to use an umbrella on a windy day. While the immediacy of these thoughts can be important as an entry into the work, with a little more time viewing they seem insignificant. After leaving the realm of nostalgia, these pieces remind me of the importance of the experience of looking at or into art and become the sensuous embodiment of something more profound that is at once silly, elegant, and poetic. - JJ Pakola

Carl Baratta selects...

2008-05-12T10:38:00.000-07:00

JJ Pakola, Is it hot in here or am I just sweating? (Overconfidence), 2008, gouache and watercolor on paper

Dan Schank, Heads Up, 2008, watercolor, gouache, conte crayon, cut paper collage on board

Both JJ Pakola and Dan Schank use personal and art historical moments as tools for divining the future: a future heaped with twisting chaos and magical turmoil. Using a mix of humor and sincere concern for humankind, these artists set their worlds spinning and reeling before us. If you stare through their elemental swarms, you glimpse something no one thought could happen. It's cold outside. Their fires offer no warmth, none at all. They burn. - Carl Baratta.

Isak Applin selects...

2008-05-09T13:05:00.000-07:00

Carl Baratta, The Faithful Protector (After Nick Englebert), 2008, egg tempera on board

Jeremy Somer, Bacchanale Scene III, animation

I cannot think of any other artists whose work is so intensely curious, fantastic and free of reservation. While fantasy is often employed by artists to represent an exotic, otherworldly universe, Carl Baratta and Jeremy Somer's work manages to retain a tenuous, vital, even mythic link with our own experiences and world. Logically, such a cacophony of monstrosities, Venutian foliage, electric reptiles and Pleistocene insects should be content to reside in a habitat far from the concerns of 21st century. However, in the hands of Somer and Baratta the creatures and environments are somehow analogies, allegories or even explanations for what resides beneath mundane existence. - Isak Applin

Kim Hoeckele selects...

2008-04-29T07:10:00.001-07:00

Beth Moon, Untitled, 2005, acrylic on fabric

Kimberly Witham, Luxe, 2007, digital collage

Both artists explore the relationship between animals and humans in their current work. They approach this complex subject with sensitivity, but it is their senses of humor that challenge the viewer to address human-animal interactions with seriousness. - Kim Hoeckele

Vivienne Griffin selects...

2008-04-28T08:12:00.000-07:00

Stephanie Hough, Action Movie

Cian McConn, Awesome, 2008, poster and diamantes

Cian McConn and Sticky both have independent practices and have collaborated over the past six years. They use humor and absurdity in performance, video, photography and drawing. For their collaboration as Margaret and Jim, a dysfunctional married couple, they have built sets and have gone on numerous trips around Europe in character for their 24 hour tourist photo series. For the works above Sticky has put herself in the typical roll of an action movie star "attempting to revert popular cultural symbols…gender bending or switching the role of the protagonist in a genre which has generally depicted very machismo characteristics". Cian found this poster in a gun store in New York, the scene depicts a real life scenario and he has glued on diamantes to spell out the text AWESOME. - Vivienne Griffin

Jenny Kendler selects...

2008-04-22T12:55:00.000-07:00

Isak Applin, Archipelago Dawn, 2006, oil on canvas

Lee Lee Chan, Untitled, 2008, enamel and acrylic on aluminium

Both artists paint landscapes which hint at interior or fantasy spaces. Chan appropriates images from contemporary advertising which she deftly collages into her dreamspaces, while Applin draws on past experience to depict languid summer-worlds of harmony and possibility. Both artists may be noted for their unusual and skillful use of color, which serves to draw the viewer into an intimate and sensual experience with their work. - Jenny Kendler

Summer McCorkle selects...

2008-04-14T13:18:00.000-07:00

Paul Clipson, I-94, 2007, DVD, paper

Liza McConnell, Drawing Projector: Colorado Front Range, 2003, vellum, fluorescent blubs, clip lights, extension cords, spring clamps, magnifying lenses

Both of these artists use elements of the projected image and raw materials to create illusions that challenge the viewer's perceptual space. - Summer McCorkle

Amy Finkbeiner selects...

2008-04-08T08:12:00.001-07:00

Jen Nelson, Forced Landscape (7), 2007, photo collage

Johanna Bystrom Sims, Farmland, 2005, ink on paper

Working in entirely different mediums, Johanna Bystrom Sims and Jen Nelson each transform experienced movement through real landscapes into intuitive organic worlds. - Amy Finkbeiner

Joy Drury Cox selects...

2008-04-07T07:02:00.001-07:00

Kim Hoeckele, Big Star, 2003

Ronnie Wright, Brown Mountain Elementary School, Surry County, North Carolina from The Former Colored Only Schools of North Carolina F.C.O.S.N.C (2006-present)

"Both Kim Hoeckele and Ronnie Wright photograph the South as it continues to develop beyond and away from its agrarian roots. Their images point to a forgotten and overlooked history that sometimes manifests itself in the architecture of rural and suburban areas." -Joy Drury Cox

David Colagiovanni selects...

2008-03-20T08:36:00.001-07:00

Lydia Moyer, jonestown (work in progress), video

Owen Smith, Photo=Performance No.2, Every Mac Donald's, 2006

Both artists position themselves in the landscape in search of personal and cultural memory; Lydia with our society's desire to forget tragedy as landscapes are left to grow wildly over infamous sites of tragedy and Owen through a futile performance to catalogue our culture of sameness and uniformity. - David Colagiovanni

Amy Talluto selects...

2008-03-14T10:34:00.000-07:00

Amy Finkbeiner, Sexy Jesus, 2005, pencil on paper

Summer McCorkle, Perpetual Adoration Series: No. 21, 1:05am, 2006, C print

Catholic nuns entering a convent consider themselves to be the literal brides of Christ. During life, most dedicate themselves to prayer, contemplation and charitable service, and then upon death, they believe they unite finally with Jesus as a wife would her husband. Amy Finkbeiner and Summer McCorkle both explore facets of this belief in their works. - Amy Talluto

Christopher Reiger selects...

2008-03-13T08:00:00.001-07:00

Amy Talluto, Thicket, 2007, oil on canvas

Josh Keyes, Creeping Hours #2, 2008, acrylic on panel

Josh Keyes and Amy Talluto use very different lenses, but explore the same territory. Keyes' pictures are emblems of our contemporary displacement, with particular regard to our evolving comprehension (or lack thereof) of the "natural" world. Talluto's sensitive drawings and paintings might be considered records of her "deep looking," and serve to animate the connection between self and landscape (and the melting of that distinction.) – Christopher Reiger

Jenny Laden selects...

2008-03-11T09:09:00.000-07:00

Elbow-Toe, I Cannot Recognize You As Any Other Age, portion of 20+ foot tall woman

Jonathan Burstein, Black T #1, collage, pencil on paper

Both artists are intensely involved in the arduous process of building their work from very small pieces, creating larger than life sized figurative works which transform the original photographic images, the materials used and the space they finally occupy. - Jenny Laden

Austin Willis selects...

2008-03-10T07:18:00.001-07:00

Joy Drury Cox, State of Georgia Certificate of Live Birth, Filed Nov. 21, 1978, 2007

Vivienne Griffin, House on Stilts 043, 2007

Both drawings share the same delicate but caustic formal touch and address a similar kind of systemic social architecture with a sense of honest humor. - Austin Willis

Molly Schafer selects...

2008-03-06T14:41:00.000-08:00

Christopher Reiger, a cruel and beautiful faraway place, 2007, watercolor, gouache, sumi ink and marker on Arches paper

Jenny Kendler, Relic from Wunderkammer, 2007, found deer skull, hand-sculpted polymer clay, micro-beads, iridescent ink, acrylics and glue under bell jar

Both Kendler and Reiger are curious about humankind's place in (or out) of nature; their works evoking a lush & verdurous sense of hope. - Molly Schafer

Hekla Dogg Jonsdottir selects...

2008-03-05T10:14:00.001-08:00

Asdis Sif Gunnarsdottir, The Performance Call Girl, 2007

Monika Frycova, Za Usima Cokoladu, 2007

Both artists do performances where they succeed to make the moment magical and illusive. - Hekla Dogg Jonsdottir

Tory Wright selects...

2008-03-03T07:21:00.000-08:00

Molly Schafer, Olympiad, 2006, swimsuit liner, fur, ferrules, plastic grapes & foliage, trail marking tape, thread

Megan Sullivan, Building - New Orleans, 2005, cotton and polyester

Both artists engage with craft as a strategy for creating two very different narratives. - Tory Wright

Jerstin Crosby selects...

2008-02-22T09:35:00.001-08:00

David Colagiovanni, Highlighter Star Drawings, 2007, DVD

Josh Rickards, Guru, 2007

I chose these works because they approach the psychedelic condition similarly through different media. - Jerstin Crosby

Bill Thelen selects...

2008-02-19T06:59:00.000-08:00

Jerstin Crosby, Rabbit Clone Rescue, 2007, graphite on paper

Tory Wright, 2007

Both artists begin with appropriated images that lead to two very disparate outcomes. - Bill Thelen.

Laura Sharp Wilson selects...

2008-02-17T20:37:00.001-08:00

Jenny Laden, Shiver, 2007, pencil on paper

Bill Thelen, Biscuit King

While both images are quite different stylistically and in medium they both appeal to a childhood nostalgia, for all things miniature and the drop dead fabulousness of early film stars. - Laura Sharp Wilson

Fernando Mastrangelo selects...

2008-02-12T11:33:00.000-08:00

Rosemarie Padovano, Nocturne (detail), 2007, wood, bronze, epoxy, pigment, Laotian cotton, linen, c-print

Hany Armanious, Year of the Pig Sty, 2007, installation view

Both of these artists have a relationship to archeology which involves their personal mythology and the mythology they are building around their sculptures. - Fernando Mastrangelo

Thordis Adalsteinsdottir selects...

2008-02-06T06:16:00.000-08:00

Hekla Dogg Jonsdottir, Fire Fire Fire, Fire Fire Fire, 2006

Felix Esquivel, The Visit of Evil, oil on canvas

These two artists keep the fire alive, which makes me warm inside.- Thordis Adalsteinsdottir

Ryan Pfluger selects...

2008-02-05T07:23:00.000-08:00

Ye Rin Mok

Noah Kalina

I choose these two because I love photographers who can work editorially and in the fine art world. Both deal with female subjects in a very engaging way, but for a different way. Ye Rin Mok is sensual with her natural light and muted tones, while Noah is more sexual with darker tones and artificial light. The deal with eye contact or in a lot of cases, the lack there of, perfectly. - Ryan Pfluger

Michael Lease (Sametime) selects...

2008-02-05T07:14:00.000-08:00

Laura Sharp Wilson, We Got Too Comfortable, 2007, acrylic and graphite on Indonesian printed paper mounted on wood

Charles Gustina, AK Garden, 2006, archival color prints

Although their processes and end results are really quite different, both of them do a bang up job of using the metaphors, patterns, tones and lines of plants, flowers, vines, and trees to control, categorize, interpret and satisfy all that is intractable, unclassifiable, unrecognizable and unattainable. - Michael Lease

Rune Olsen selects...

2008-02-04T10:29:00.000-08:00

Thordis Adalsteinsdottir, Man, cat and cocktail shaker, 2007

Fernando Mastrangelo, Kumite, 2007, sugar, coffee, rice, rope, shovel, oil-based synthetic

Both of these artists have a strange realtionship to the narrative, which I find fascinating. - Rune Olsen

Amy Elkins selects...

2008-02-01T10:06:00.001-08:00

Michal Chelbin, Sasha & Marina, Ukraine, 2006

Carrie Levy, Untitled from the series Domestic Stages, 2005

Michal Chelbin and Carrie Levy are both female photographers working in portraiture in a way that intrigues me. Levy's images are stripped of environments and the anonymity of her subjects charges the meaning of the image for me. Chelbin's images are more documentary by nature, but also tend to isolate the subject from their working environments. By getting her subjects alone, she is able to take formal, yet intimate, portraits. - Amy Elkins

Langdon Graves selects...

2008-01-31T21:59:00.001-08:00

Sametime (Michael Lease & Brad Walker)

Austin Willis, 5-Day-Walk, video

For Sametime, Michael and Brad each take a photograph at exactly the same time, 7:15pm each day, and provide a caption for the photo. Brad lives in Baltimore, MD and Michael lives in Richmond, VA. Some days the serendipitous connection between the two photos is amazingly beautiful. Other days are reminders of the 100+ miles between them. Their year-long collection of photos is poetry.

Willis' piece is composed of 5 videos of him doing the exact same thing on five different days. But they don't line up perfectly and after a while some of the videos fall out of sync, they don't even appear to be taken in the same place. But like Michael and Brad's photos, when they do align and the timing is perfect, it's hard to believe you're watching separate events.

Overall, the connection between Austin's video and the Sametime project is their dependence upon time, place and chance. - Langdon Graves

Sarah Sudhoff selects...

2008-01-21T14:05:00.000-08:00

Melanie Bilenker, Hairpin, 2006, broach, gold, sterling silver, boxwood, epoxy resin, pigment, hair

Langdon Graves, Monstrae No. 3, latex, plastic, aluminum, salt, artificial hair, wool, cowhide, enamel

Inspired by Victorian mourning jewelry, both artists create containers securing an artifact, in this case hair, of themselves or others in the form of a small sculpture or brooch. - Sarah Sudhoff

Shen Wei selects...

2008-01-17T12:55:00.000-08:00

Amy Elkins, Jordan, Brooklyn, NY, 2006, c-print

Ryan Pfluger, Jake & Nathan, 2006, c-print

Both photographers explore the intimacy, seduction, sensuality and romanticism of manhood. - Shen Wei

Amy Stein selects...

2008-01-14T12:21:00.001-08:00

Image courtesy of Sarah Sudhoff

Image courtesy of Shen Wei

I chose Sarah Sudhoff and Shen Wei because their work both deals with the body, self and society. - Amy Stein

Dan Halm selects...

2008-01-11T13:38:00.000-08:00

Amy Stein, Watering Hole, 2005, c-print

Rune Olsen, For Everything I Long To Do, 2005, Graphite, masking tape, blue mannequin eyes, newspaper, steel, wire and acrylic medium

_____________________________________________________
I selected the following two artists because both deal with nature and man's interaction with it.

Amy's work I am very familiar with as she is a dear friend, while Rune's work I am only familiar with it because we both have a website hosted by the same company.

So let the game begins.

The Rules of the Game

2008-01-11T11:44:00.000-08:00

So I got to thinking about if there is any correlation between inspiration and the network of artists who we choose to associate ourselves with. Which got me thinking about networking, which then reminded me of that old Breck shampoo TV commercial where "she tell two friends, and so on and so on...". Hence the birth of this curatorial project.

The rules are pretty simple and are as follows:

1- The maximum number of artist is 100 for the first round of And So On..., in order to keep that number I have started a database of artists asked to partake. Before you decide to invite anyone, please email me the names.
2- Each artist selected recommends two works from two additional artists for the project, hence the idea of creating a network of artists.
3- When selecting artists for this project, pick images that work curatorial together whether by theme, medium or style. (You will be asked to write a one line description of why they work together).
4- Send digital files with all caption information, web address and contact info of your selected artists to my attention at danhalm@yahoo.com.

Finally, please feel free to copy and paste the rules when inviting the next group.

Look forward to seeing where this leads.