College Ruled and Graph Paper in the Mike Kelley Retrospective

The following three photographs were taken of Mike Kelley's drawings and photographs at PS1 MoMA. Thank you PS1 for changing your photography policy!

One of my favorite details of the Mike Kelley Retrospective was his use of paper - both handmade and found. They were painted and photographed with text written in block letters, neatly and sloppily.

Around the same time I saw this, I finished an entire page of "Names People Think I Am Called" that begin in 1999 while working for the Houston Center for Photography. I have struggled with how to present it (currently it's written in a spiral notebook from Archaeology class in undergraduate school). I am now brainstorming whether or not I want to apply some techniques other than "found."

There is a growing pile of cardboard notebook backing in my studio. With school and work combined, I produce a great number of these over the year. They might make an appearance in the resolution of a few lists.

It doesn't hurt that I take a great deal of notes that look like this in faculty meetings (grow cardboard pile, grow).

Belated NYC Post (quickest trip yet)

Winter Break ends so early this year that I have been inundated with syllabi, handouts, committee work and powerpoints since the day after Christmas. Wishing I could write more about this post but before it gets lost in the wayside, here are some images.

Mike Kelley's retrospective at PS 1 was first and foremost on the list. Another post is in the works featuring a handful of his drawing but this cartoon like signature was a favorite.

Mike Kelley at PS 1

Mike Kelley, Deodorized Central Mass with Satellites (and detail of hanging tails), 1991/1999

Most chaotic / crazy / can't imagine being a museum guard working this room all day / didn't get enough of installation: Day is Done.

 

Entry installation and video to Day is Done.

  

In light of a recent visit to Kelley's Mobile Homestead in Detroit, photographing this model of all the artist's schools he attended (and family home) was essential.

Another must-see was Scott Reeder's People Call Me Scott at Lisa Cooley Gallery (installation view). Who doesn't like witty text paintings and spray-painted pasta?

 Scott Reeder, Alternate Titles... (spent the rest of the day thinking of additions).

Some Chelsea gallery highlights:

Tony Feher at Sikkema Jenkins Co., Untitled, 2013 (glass bottles with water, food dye and aluminum caps)

Tony Feher encore, Parlor Trix, 2013 (loved the suspension of glass work)

Richard Serra at Gagosian Gallery

Most sought after and appreciated souvenir: any brochure from David Zwirner Gallery especially if it features an exhibition like Ad Reinhardt's "black" paintings and comics.

Julie Cockburn's hand embroidered found photographs at Yossi Milo.

Finally, a visit to MoMA during a snow storm. I had the great fortune of seeing the last two versions of New Photography and was particularly interested in this year's because of the dominant use of analog processes. It did not disappoint.

Anna Ostoya used all the overlooked corners at heights far greater than centered at 60".

Brendan Fowler's "crash pieces" combined multiple picture frames.

Mariah Robertson's 11 from the XL: 19 New Acquisitions in Photography exhibition (using all 100' of a roll of photo paper)

Reflection in a detail of John Baldessari's Throwing Four Balls in the Air to Get a Square with gallery lights interfering with the shape in Ileana Sonnabend: Ambassador for the New.

Jeff Koons, Pink Panther in the Sonnabend exhibition

Detroit Part 2: Mike Kelley's "Mobile Homestead"

I was pleasantly surprised to see Mike Kelley's Mobile Homestead at MOCAD. The painted blue wall behind the recreation of his childhood home, combined with the gray sky, made my photographs look even more unrealistic.

From MOCAD's website:

"It's both a public sculpture and a private, personal architecture – based on the artist's childhood home on Palmer Road in Westland, a neighborhood which primarily housed workers for the Big Three auto makers: Ford, Chrysler and General Motors. In a largely disinvested city with many abandoned houses and dilapidated buildings, Mobile Homestead enacts a reversal of the 'white flight' that took place in Detroit following the inner city uprisings of the 1960s. It does so at a time when the city is exploring new options of renewal by assessing its singular post-industrial conditions in an attempt to articulate a new model for American cities."

The porch was not wider than two feet (= loose translation of the original).

The yard was perfectly manicured and everything was so new and shiny, it accentuated its oddness.

The metal bar running through the middle of the photograph (beneath this fabulous couch) is where the house can be separated for travel.

Fake plants congregated in a room that was possibly a dining area. My photograph of the garage is blurry and we were unsure if the contents were MOCAD storage or there to simulate a real garage.

The living room is full of books that we were able to check-out permanently. I spent a great deal of time looking at every single title. I couldn't find the perfect volume but settled on this  because it reminded me of New Zealand.

I don't particularly want to read or keep this book but I love where it came from as signified by the stamp below.

Looks like a photograph in the making before the book heads to another home.

Ode to Mike Kelley

Mike Kelley, Catholic Birdhouse, 1978

Dreaming of seeing his retrospective. I will settle for hunting down the exhibition catalog.