Spookishness of our Existence

I've been catching up on some reading this summer. I hope to teach a course in the fall on Modern and contemporary art so I've been reading through Volume II of History of Modern Art (seventh edition) by H.H. Arnason and Elizabeth C. Mansfield. Last night I was fascinated with the Surrealist Jean Arp's thoughts about tearing up his own works to make new collages. His ideas are eerily timely. 

“I began to tear my papers instead of curving them neatly with scissors. I tore up drawings and carelessly smeared paste over and under them. If the ink dissolved and ran, I was delighted... I had accepted the transience, the dribbling away, the brevity, the impermanence, the fading, the withering, the spookishness of our existence... These torn papers, these papiers déchirés brought me closer to a faith other than earthly.”

— Jean Arp

Jean Arp (1886-1966), Constellation According to the Laws of Chance c. 1930

From the Tate Collection

Monadnock Ledger-Transcript

In today's Monadnock Ledger-Transcript you can read more about my current show at the Sharon Arts Center in Peterborough, New Hampshire. 

"Making her Point" by Ben Conant

Everything old is new again, and nothing is permanent. Artist Jacquelyn Gleisner’s new exhibit at the Sharon Arts Gallery in Peterborough makes important statements about the fleeting nature of art and the importance of not letting things go to waste. Plus, it gets student artwork into a fine art gallery — in a manner of speaking, anyway.

Read more at the link below. 

http://www.ledgertranscript.com/brarSACInstall-ml-062917_-10959303

Staff photo by Ben Conant

More pictures from the Sharon Arts Center

The Folds of the Cloak

The Folds of the Cloak, the title of my current installation at the Sharon Arts Center, references the last line of the poem “Of the Surface of Things” by Wallace Stevens. I read this poem aloud to my students on the first day of classes last fall, and throughout the year I collected their discarded drawings and paintings to re-use. Viewers can see glimpses of color wheels and other exercises repurposed into pyramid forms.

The title also alludes to paper and textiles, two important materials for my practice as an artist. Paper, an ecological and malleable form, represents flexibility and durability. Textiles are another important source for me, and I regularly reference patterns as well as the cultural importance of fabric, embroidery, and other handicrafts. All the paper and cardboard used in this installation are found or recycled from my previous works or former students, creating a textural map of color, patterns, and time.

Sharon Arts Center Gallery | NHIA

30 Grove Street, Peterborough, NH 03458

Reception August 18, 5 - 8pm

Through September 2017

Hours: Wednesday-Saturday 11am - 6pm; Sunday 11am - 4pm

Monster Drawing Rally | Artspace 30th Reunion

Join me this Friday for the Monster Drawing Rally!

Over the course of the night, artists at all stages of their careers take shifts to draw for an hour in front a live audience, bringing their private studio practices to the public. As spectators spy on the creative process, sketches morph into full-fledged artworks. Artists will then donate works to be bought the night of the event for $50 each, all proceeds will go to support programming at the Ely Center of Contemporary Art and Artspace New Haven. We will also be having a bourbon tasting from Litchfield Distillery with Connecticut-made varieties including: Straight Bourbon, Double Barrel Bourbon, Vanilla Bourbon and Coffee Bourbon (donation $6 for a half flight or $12 for a full flight suggested). Food will be available for purchase by Farm Belly. Throughout the night Dave Coon will DJ tunes to set the mood. All art lovers, supporters, and enthusiast are welcomed to this free event.

Participating Artists:
Sarah Afrogola, Michael Angelis, Caryn Azoff, Cat Balco, Binwanka, Alexis Brown, Anna Tu Bu Lei, Leslie Carmin, Jessica Cuni, Johannes DeYoung, Dionamic, Mary Dwyer, Michael Edmundson, Danielle Eugene, Roxanne Faber Savage, Zeph Farmby, Joan Fitzsimmons, Julie Frankel, Laura Gardner, Jacquelyn Gleisner, Stephen Grossman, Larissa Hall, Clymenza Hawkins, Lisa Hesselgrave, Iyaba Ibo Mandingo, Peter Konsterlie, David Livingston, Cayla Lockwood, Eric March, Marry Ann McCarthy, Alexis Musinski, Jason Noushin, John O’Donnell, Leila Orienter, Joesph Padilla, Rashmi, Chen Reichert, Samuel Rowlett, Jaime Ursic, Michael Van Winkle, Amanda Walker, Christa Whitten, Jemma Williams Nussbaum, Amie Ziner

Friday, Jun 23, 2017 from 7:00 PM to 9:30 PM

Location: Ely House Center for Contemporary Art, 51 Trumbull Street, New Haven, CT

Installation at the Sharon Arts Center

Come by 30 Grove Street in downtown Peterborough to see my installation in the front window of the Sharon Arts Center. All these forms were made using discarded paintings and drawings from former students and old works of mine on recycled cardboard. Join me for the reception on August 18th! More pictures soon... 

Also be sure to check it out at night! 

FSU Sketchbook Project

As part of my show Ouroboros at the Mazmanian Gallery, I left a blank sketchbook in the gallery and asked visitors to trace their hands on the empty pages. Here are the first six spreads of the book with hands by: (-1) Inessa J. Burnell, (1) Eric Davis, (2) Alexandria Keare, (3) Trinity Infantino, (4) Hannah Ferrante, (5) Julia Wan, (6) Heather Welsh, (7) Susan Scopetski, (8) Sadie Harmon, (9) Carissa Valeri, and (10) Roy S. "Suh Dude" 

Leonardo in Bloom

The 23rd Leonardo Challenge

The theme for the The Eli Whitney Museum's annual fundraiser is "Leonardo in Bloom." Artists are challenged to create a work of art inspired by the fullest expression of a flower, the bloom, and the quintessential "Renaissance man," Leonardo da Vinci.

Leonardo da Vinci

In his notebooks and sketchbooks, the Italian artist and scientist, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), explored botany, geology, geography, cartography, zoology, engineering, anatomy, as well as countless other topics. He adamantly believed that his scientific investigations helped him become a better artist. Indeed many of his scientific illustrations are appreciated as works of art. The artist also believed that reality was fathomable only through what could be observed through the eyes—the most vital organ according to Leonardo.

Lion's Tooth

Below are a few images of my submission for the event, a freestanding sculpture made from paper, glue, turf, glitter, and sand. The shape of the sculpture recalls both an explosion and a geometric interpretation of a dandelion flower. The title, Lion's Tooth, comes from the French name for this common weed, dent de lion.

Click on the image above to see detail shots. 

"A Living Art" on Arteidolia

"The title 'realist' has been imposed upon me… Titles have never given a just idea of things; were it otherwise, the work would be superfluous… I have studied the art of the moderns, avoiding any preconceived system and without prejudice. I have no more wanted to imitate the former than to copy the latter; nor have I thought of achieving the idle aim of “art for art’s sake.” No! I have simply wanted to draw from a thorough knowledge of tradition the reasoned and free sense of my own individuality… To be able to translate the customs, ideas, and appearances of my time as I see them—in a word, to create a living art—this has been my aim."  - Gustave Courbet, 1855

The First Artist's Manifesto

I became interested in Courbet when I started searching for examples of writings by artists last fall. The quote above is from a statement that the artist wrote after two of his paintings were rejected from the Salon in 1855. Art historians have named this piece of provocative writing the first artist's manifesto, a style of straightforward writing often used by artists to codify their ideas to their critics. 

Read more about the French Realist painter Gustave Courbet and his forceful writing in my short essay on Arteidolia. 

http://www.arteidolia.com/a-living-art-courbet-jacquelyn-gleisner/

Gustave Courbet, Self-Portrait, 1844-45. 

Crown Street Window Installation at Artspace

I have an installation at the Crown Street windows at Artspace this month. Check out the windows from now until April 30, 2017. The reception for these windows, as well as the current exhibition, Laughing Skulls, will take place this Friday. The installation will also be up during the Annual Gala and Silent Auction on April 29.

Paris, Texas

Crown Street Window Installation

Work in progress shot 

A view of the installation from outside with the reflections of the city

Nasty Women New Haven Exhibition

Scroll I installed outside for the Nasty Women Show, New Haven

In honor of International Women's Day and the opening for the Nasty Women Show, I installed a 30-ft. painting, Scroll I, on the facade of the Institute Library. Over the past few weeks, this painting on paper has experienced rain, snow, and significant wind, but I'm happy to report that the painting is still standing with little damage. The paper has started to buckle in places, but overall, the vibrant colors have barely faded or bled. 

Nasty Women Exhibition

Organized by Sarah Fritchey, Valerie Garlick, and Lucy McClure, the Nasty Women Show at the Institute Library is part of a movement of similar exhibitions throughout the country, following the lead of the first show at the Knockdown Center in Queens in January. 

One of the curators for the Nasty Women Show asked participants what it means to be nasty. I think that being vulnerable to the elements is one way to show perseverance. 

The Institute Library is located at 847 Chapel Street in downtown New Haven. The exhibition continues through April 9, 2017. 

Review in the FSU Gatepost

Jacquelyn Gleisner’s Cycles of Art

Here's a review of my show at FSU in the Gatepost. 

(Allie Gath)

Meriem Bennani's Holiday Headscarf

Meriem Bennani’s new artwork, Your Year by Fardaous Funjab, features the most recent hijab in the artist’s fictional line of high fashion headscarves. This thirty-second video, part of the Public Art Fund’s Commercial Break series, features an ever-evolving hijab that can be worn throughout the year. One head covering commemorates various Islamic holidays as well as secular events. As the seasons change, the hijab morphs on the Barclays Center’s “Oculus” screen into eight distinct versions, ranging from generic autumnal attire to a headscarf for Ramadan. The functional fashion of the rotating hijab offers a jocular take on the media’s portrayal of the Muslim head covering.

Read the full text on Art21 here. 

Meriem Bennani: Your Year by Fardaous Funjab will continue at the Barclays Center, playing on the “Oculus” screen (620 Atlantic Ave. at Flatbush Ave.) as part of the Public Art Fund’s Commercial Break series. The video screens once an hour on Saturdays through March 5.

Meriem Bennani. Promotional still from the video Your Year, 2017. Courtesy Meriem Bennani. © Meriem Bennani.

"Is there Racism in Heaven?"

JG: How does the question, “Is there racism in heaven?” connect to the show’s title, Until?

NC: The title comes from the phrases “innocent until proven guilty” or “guilty until proven innocent.” Both are linked to police brutality in America. This morning, the Chicago crime stats came out for the month of October. Seventy-two people were shot and killed in October. Five hundred eighty-two people have been killed so far this year. I feel called to action, and I’m trying to find a way, as a visual artist with a specific sense of responsibility, to be proactive. How can I create a project that will reach hundreds of thousands of people and raise their level of consciousness about these issues?

READ MORE from my interview with the artist Nick Cave in the "Momentum" issue of the Art21 Magazine here. 

Nick Cave, Until (2016) installation view, MASS MoCA. Photo by James Prinz, courtesy of MASS MoCA

Interview with Mary Reid Kelley on Hyperallergic

MacArthur Fellow Mary Reid Kelley on Dismantling Sexual Taboos with Humor 

Read the full text of the interview on Hyperallergic here. 

In Mary Reid Kelley’s videos, bawdy characters, performed by the artist, bewitch with complex wordplay. Produced with Patrick Kelley, the videos are set inside a black-and-white world of bespoke props and costumes where ancient Greek mythology mingles with allusions to art history and popular culture alike. The cadence of the scripts, which are written in meter, slows down the spinning narratives, as they delve into gender iniquity and sexual taboos. Last month, Kelley was named a MacArthur Fellow for her cultural contributions, especially her cerebral commentary on women’s roles throughout history.
 

*   *   *

Jacquelyn Gleisner: Your process begins with extensive research. While you were working on “You Make Me Iliad” (2010), you read accounts from soldiers and medical officers about prostitutes during World War I. In this film and others, you focus on untold stories of female trauma and working conditions for women. What is important to you about writing and narrating stories from these perspectives?

Mary Reid Kelley: Most World War I material is about the soldier experience, and is from their perspective, but there is significant scholarship about women workers. We know that women drove ambulances. We know that women worked in huge numbers in munitions factories. Women have been interviewed about their work in munitions and nursing. Yet there is an enormous difference between these women and the women who did sex work, about whom there’s almost nothing. We didn’t lose those stories through carelessness. They were suppressed. The primary suppressors were the women themselves because the personal consequences of telling that story would have been enormous.

Read more

Mary Reid Kelley: We’re Wallowing Here in Your Disco Tent with High Line Art (High Line Channel 14, 14th Street Passage, on the High Line at West 14th Street) continues through November 2.

Mary Reid Kelley, "The Thong of Dionysus," 2015. HD video, black-and- white, sound; 9 minutes, 27 seconds. Courtesy of the artist, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects and Fredericks & Freiser Gallery, New York

Places Within Us: Jesse Chun’s On Paper Series

“When we say we are in a place, we make it seem like we are inside of a particular place, but those places are within us, too.”

— Jesse Chun

Art21, "New Kids on the Block" - Places Within Us: Jesse Chun's On Paper Series

Jesse Chun. Form #2, 2016, Archival Pigment Print, 22 x 17 inches. Courtesy Jesse Chun and Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York. © Jesse Chun.

Last month I met up with the Brooklyn-based artist Jesse Chun to talk about the work at her recent show, On Paper. In her recent show at the Spencer Brownstone Gallery in New York City, Chun exhibited three categories of works: landscapes, blueprints, and poetry. Each category begins with the appropriation of immigration paperwork and passports. The landscapes have been digitally manipulated, culled from imagery found inside passports from different countries, while the blueprints and poems result from editing and purging texts on immigration forms. Together the works visualize the collective transit of an increasingly mobile population.

You can read more about Chun's work here. 

 

Dr. Moseley Answers Your Questions

A belated update! Last month I wrote about the fictional character, Dr. Howard Moseley, who opines on securing gallery representation and the mysterious nature of creative expression. 

Read more from the Art21 Magazine here.

Paul Gagner. Don’t Fuck it Up, 2015. Oil on canvas, 9 x 12 inches. Courtesy of the private collection of Rod Malin. © Paul Gagner.

"THEY ARE A SHREWD AND WILY BUNCH AND SHOULD NOT BE UNDERESTIMATED, NOR SHOULD YOU STARE THEM DIRECTLY IN THE EYES."

Read more from my satirical piece with Brooklyn-based artist, Paul Gagner:

Q: I am very upset by the haughty, superior attitudes of gallery owners in my area. I want to get my art into a gallery, but do I need to crawl on my knees to get someone to show my work?

A: Galleries are often difficult to approach, and their owners can be cold and even hostile to the public. This is because gallery owners are, in fact, a super-high-functioning alien race with highly evolved powers of observation. Did you know that they see three million more colors than we can? Who better to set the standards of taste than an alien that also has the power to persuade collectors with a hypnotic gaze?

Art in Embassies Exchange Description!

I love this photo! The Art in Embassies website has updated my profile with information about our time last October. 

Read more here. 

Peter Clouse and myself, painting a mural at the Ambassador's residence in Gaborone, Botswana last October. 

Botswana's Dust

I’m in a helicopter. Below me, the mouth of the Okavango Delta in Maun, Botswana. I see two giraffes, their tall silhouettes blending into the trees. A zeal of zebras emerges from the grass. Then hippos, elephants, and a field full of wildebeests come into view. Dust clouds follow the frantic hooves of a wildebeest running from the herd. Finally, I see three gray baboons moving slowly into the shade.

I wrote a personal essay about my time in Botswana last October through the Art in Embassies Program. I also wrote about a few of the frustrations and joys of creating a career as an artist. 

READ MORE:

http://www.arteidolia.com/botswana-dust-jacquelyn-gleisner/

Sculptures at the Molepolole College of Education in Molepolole, Botswana 

Caitlin Berrigan's Unfinished State

“I wanted to envision a different narrative for these unfinished projects outside of the micro-histories of conflict and capitalism in Lebanon,” said Caitlin Berrigan. 

Today in the Art21 magazine, read my article about artist Caitlin Berrigan and her project Unfinished State, an exploration of science fiction and forgotten environments, complicated by present systems of power. This article was published on the 41st anniversary of the Lebanese Civil War. 

http://blog.art21.org/2016/04/13/caitlin-berrigans-unfinished-state/

Caitlin Berrigan. Helicopter Pad, Rachid Karami International Fair Park, from Unfinished State, 2015. Postcard from series; 14.8 x 10 cm. Courtesy of the artist. © Caitlin Berrigan.

Purchase the book here.

New Sketchbook pages!

Six new sketchbook pages... nearing the end of my moleskin sketchbook, the third book in the series.