Bartalos

For my Long View Project, I brought back several discards from Antarctica to incorporate into art pieces. I’ve been intermittently posting photos of these artifacts along with any known information about them, which in most cases is quite little.

One thing for certain however is that they’re all thought and imagination-provoking items. Their curious shapes, marks, colors and textures demand more than a plausible guess. They beg for a story.

So starting with my current post, I’ll occasionally spin a short tale to accompany the objects. These stories will combine fact and fiction in part to to address their mysteries, but more so to bring these fascinating artifacts to life.

I’m participating in the 2012 Zero1 Biennial, an international showcase of work at the nexus of art and technology. My piece, a 48 square-foot floor installation titled MELT, goes on view November 9 in San Francisco. More info on the show here.

This Friday I’ll be giving a talk titled “Visual Indeterminacy: Cage, Duchamp, and the Plexigrams” at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University. My presentation will center around John Cage’s series of eight ‘plexigrams’ collectively titled Not Wanting to Say Anything about Marcel currently on view at the Cantor. It is one of Cage’s earliest graphic works, created in 1969 in the memory of his colleague Marcel Duchamp.

I’ll be discussing the relationship between Cage and Duchamp, how and why Cage applied his method of indeterminacy to create to the artwork, and the historical importance of its production. I’ll also propose that while Cage wasn’t interested in lyricism, sentiment and ‘meaning’ in art, the plexigrams can be read as a visual poem to a dear friend.

The talk is a part of the Spotlight on Art series presented by Stanford’s Department of Art and Art History on the second Friday of each month during the academic year. It will take place alongside the artwork in the Cantor’s Lynn Krywick Gibbons Gallery on November 9 at 2 P.M.

The Cantor Arts Center is just off Palm Drive at Museum Way and Lomita Drive, Stanford CA. Not Wanting to Say Anything about Marcel is on view through November 11.

Every autumn the San Francisco Center for the Book’s annual artist-in-residency concludes with the release of a new artist’s book edition. This month the Center’s Imprint committee, which I chair, is pleased to be publishing Paolo Salvagione’s One for Each, a multi-sensory cabinet of curiosities.

Five boxes of English buckram and black leather, photographed by Heimo Schmidt.

The work is comprised of five compact drawers, one for each of the human senses. Each drawer holds a distinct, self-contained object that celebrates, titillates, and challenges these basic faculties we often take for granted. The content is enhanced by Marc Weidenbaum‘s series of short interlocking essays, letterpress-printed by SFCB volunteers with design direction by Boon Design.

Paolo describes the edition this way: “Three-dimensional projections emphasize the tactile nature of printed images. Silhouettes of leaves ask you to gauge species by contour, yet the absence of color brings attention to the visual. Talking tapes acknowledge a tangible aspect of sound. A musky, smell-based exploration summons up mental images of physical activity. A unique taste enhancer promises to temporarily bond to your receptors, making all things sour seem sweet — but first your fingers must negotiate the brittle blister pack. And all, in combination and individually, show how our senses can deceive us, and in the process yield something akin to a child’s surprise at the roles these senses play in helping us navigate the world.” 

One for Each is issued in a deluxe edition of 40 copies and a trade edition of 50. Copies are available through the SFCB website.

Nearly 250 cubic inches of sensory activity, photographed by Heimo Schmidt.

Concurrent to launching One for Each, the SFCB is hosting an exhibition of Paolo’s past sculptural and book works along with documentation of the making of his residency edition. The show runs through the end of the year.

The book preview and exhibition opening take place on Friday November 2nd from 6 to 8 P.M. at the San Francisco Center for the Book, 300 DeHaro Street (entrance on 16th Street) in San Francisco. Admission is free and open to the public.

Big thanks to studio manager Rhiannon Alpers and our generous crew of volunteers who enable production of the Imprint’s editions.