The Blogger Show Opening @ Panza Frame and Gallery, Millvale.

There will be a slight hint of sadness to my activities this weekend. That's because Saturday marks the last Pittsburgh opening reception that the Digging Pitt Gallery will be involved in. The ironic thing is that the show doesn't even take place in Lawrenceville. Instead it's in Millvale at the Panza Gallery (115 Sedgwick Street) between the hours of 6 and 9PM. It's the last installment of The Blogger Show, which ran concurrently in NYC and Pittsburgh last month. I have a fair amount of work displayed for this exhibition. The binding commonality among the artists included is their involvement in blogs with art-related themes. By this definition Serendipity is a bit of an exception. Although I occasionally write conceptually about art products and process, my site isn't anywhere near as centered on these subjects as the others represented in the show. I suppose my sporadic participation in The Diggging Pitt blog worked to my favor.

If it weren't for John Morris (Digging Pitt's owner/curator), I wouldn't have established Serendipity when I did. It was through his prodding that I started writing for blogs- first for the gallery, and then for myself. I became affiliated with the Digging Pitt when local art star Bob Ziller included me in a group show that John had asked him to put together. I had expected to get a few photographs accepted for display, but it turned out that John happened to be (atypically) free of distraction when I brought my stuff in. He decided almost immmediately that he liked my work, and asked if I'd be willing to keep some of it in the flat files at the gallery. Thus started a multi-year interaction that kick-started my entry into the local arts scene. It wasn't long after that fateful day that I was planning to co-curate a themed group show at the Digging Pitt (Carnivalesque- A Grim Guignol- 2006). We had a lot of fun putting that together, and I'd have to say it was a reasonable success.

Earlier this year I had my first gallery solo at Digging Pitt Too. It included 40 photographs from a conceptual series called Regenesis. My experience with hanging (thanks, Susan C.!) and selling that show was invaluable. As time progressed I started forming a friendship with John that I hope continues when he goes back to NYC. We even tramped around Chelsea, Brooklyn, and Queens together this past summer. I have to say that I learned an inordinate amount about art from John, who was already a well-established artist before he ever showed up in the 'Burgh. Unfortunately I also had to sit through a series of lectures about urban planning, as that is another one of his obsessions. It's incredibly rare to meet people so well-versed in their passions, and so willing to share information, as John Morris.

So that's why my enjoyment of The Blogger Show has been tinged with a hint of sorrow. Soon after the show wraps up, Pittsburgh will lose a valuable asset. I guess that it's ultimately fitting that the pieces I'm showing this Saturday are from my bodies of work that John likes the best. There is a series of shots I took of an outdoor bible walk behind a Franciscan Friary in West Virgina. And there is an enigmatic collection of raw and emotional drawings I made over ten years ago. These are incredibly personal creations, and John was the first (besides myself) to see something valuable in them. In fact, he's one of the few people that has heard the full story behind the creation of this work. Despite getting to know me primarily as a photographer, John has been consistently encouraging of my return to drawing. For this I owe him a debt of gratitude.

I don't think I'm the only person in Pittsburgh who has benefited from Digging Pitt's presence these last few years. John's commitment to art and artists has always outstripped whatever negative feelings he might have had about this city. Through my participation in the gallery's activities, I have met many artists and collectors that I expect to stay in touch with. A sense of community is built from the accumulation of individual energy that people put into their passions. John Morris certainly became a part of the community, and he'll be missed when he leaves. Take the opportunity to stop by Panza Gallery tomorrow night, and wish John well in his future endeavors. Also introduce yourself to Mark Panza who remains in the area, maintainig a decades-long commitment to the Pittsburgh art scene.

A NYC Day-trip.

Thanksgiving break flew by, as I expected it might- given the fact that I dedicated much of it to what amounted to a "day trip" to NYC. As I had planned, I spent my nights at my father's house- a mere hour and forty-five minutes from Manhattan. It was a novelty to have many channels of television to browse through, but most of it is truly crap. I caught a fair portion of Snakes On a Plane, and it was about as mind-numbing as I thought it would be. I also caught a few glimpses of the cartoon Lil' Bush. When I initially saw the title, a few thoughts rushed through my mind in quick succession. I wondered whether it really was what it appeared to be. I marveled that we have reached a point when a sitting president is so truly ludicrous that he is disrespected with an animated lampoon of his foibles on national television. Finally, I realized that this president (or any reasonable facsimile) is only funny in three minute bursts, and then merely pathetic.

Saturday morning we were able to get off to a reasonably early start. My father was willing to drive me into the city, despite his reservations about potential holiday-weekend-traffic snarls. Fortified with four shots of espresso, I was ready to contend with whatever we experienced. It was refreshing to be entering the city with almost no agenda whatsoever. This was my third trip in a little over a year, and the previous two visits were regulated by a set of activities I had planned for weeks in advance. When my Dad suggested that we could drive up to Chelsea and see some of the galleries, I easily assented. For sheer availability of contemporary art, this neighborhood of former industrial buildings really can't be beat.

It seemed like many of the shows were closing when we visited. I really wanted to get inside the Jonathan Levine Gallery, but they were in the midst of an installation- so I was out of luck. But there were enough places that were open to make the browsing worthwhile. I maintained a consistently loose and informal attitude, and so I didn't document anything I saw. I simply took my time and skipped through to whatever intrigued me, without taking any notes. Suffice it to say that we got to see a lot that was to my tastes, and another large portion of work that I considered to be pretentious crap. This time around I skipped all of the boutique-ish salon galleries that specialize in stocking and exhibiting the prints of well-established legends of the Twentieth Century. I stopped for a few group shows (one in particular featured paintings by a group of Europeans influenced by German Expressionism and Surrealism), but mainly stuck to places featuring an exhibition of a single artist. There was nothing that stuck out so prominently that I would remember a name to mention here.

Actually... I take that back. I was surprised (and pleased) to walk into the Charles Cowles Gallery and discover the gigantic photographic prints of Edward Burtynsky. This was a bit of a coincidence, as I had recently wish-listed a documentary featuring his work over at Amazon. Burtynsky took shots of mammoth stone quarries with a large format camera. The results show the full extent of ecological devastation that such industry has caused. But at the same time the vast scale of his shots allows them to assume a troublesome beauty. The brain-twisting enormity of the project sites he depicts allows Burtynsky to play with viewer perception. Only when one notices the (seemingly) tiny presence of people and machinery can he/she appreciate the ramifications of the imagery. It is a truly sobering show.

I couldn't resist an inspiration to take out my own camera as I walked admidst the galleries. There's something about the quantity and quality of work, all packed into a rather limited geographical area, that compels me to engage in the process of manufacturing art. Of the vast amount of sensory data offered by NYC, there is much worthy of partition and apprehension. For an extended period of time, I felt I found my zone. It was a nice warm-up for my talk at the Agni Gallery. It's too easy to forget how invigorating creation can be, when you are involved with trying to represent and sell your work. I had a good time among the few who showed up to hear us pontificate on the process and value of our art. Attendance was modest, but the people who showed up seemed to be interested in what John and I had to say. After we were done, we didn't linger. Our day in the city was happily concluded.

Artist talk @ Agni Gallery, NYC this Saturday.

So I've decided (somewhat belatedly) to take a trip up to Agni Gallery to see The Blogger Show. You might remember that I mentioned considering going for the opening reception a couple of weeks ago. After all, this is the first time that I've had a piece in a show in a NY gallery. I didn't go, and ended up second guessing myself during most of that weekend. Still there were multiple reasons that I decided to skip it. My car needed a heck of a lot of repair work. There were several things that I wanted to see in town. Most convincingly, I had no one to travel with. I didn't relish the idea of driving into the big city by myself. I had asked my father if he was interested in going with me, but it turned out that he had other plans for the weekend. I could have crashed at his house that Friday night, and took a bus into Manhattan- but this seemed like more trouble than it was worth. After all, it wasn't like it was a solo exhibition.

But things have changed dramatically over the last week or so. I discovered that I would have this Friday off. I had already decided that I would go this upcoming weekend, but this fortuitous development makes the travel plans much more convenient. My father is going to be around, and he has generously offered his house as a way station, and suggested that he would accompany me on Saturday. I have also gotten my car fixed. M. had no problem with me going, so it was pretty much a no-brainer. I called John M. and let him know that I would be coming. I even said I'd do a gallery talk if he had any interest in planning one. He seemed excited because he had envisioned having other events during November at Agni, and he decided that he would do the talk with me.

I've given this type of talk before, and indeed the first time was at the Digging Pitt in Pittsburgh. I had co-curated a carnival-themed show, and was happy to speak about the way the concept had developed. Incredibly there were about 50 people in attendance. I provided a lot of historical context into the traveling carnival and sideshow phenomena in mid 20th century America. I explained why I felt personally connected to that aesthetic. Not surprisingly (for people that know him) John had a lot to say as well. It turned into a lively discussion, and a bunch of folks joined in. While I may have been a bit anxious when I started talking, by the end of the event I was rolling along pretty smoothly. The only disruption occurred when one of my more colorful friends interrupted me mid-sentence so he could get my car keys. Somehow that seemed to be in keeping with the carnival spirit I was attempting to convey.

I have no expectations that this Saturday will be anywhere near as successful as that previous event. This is Manhattan, USA for god's sake- the center of the western art world. And here's this little gallery in the Lower East Side, miles away from the centrifugal force of Chelsea. Is anyone likely to care about a completely anonymous artist from Pittsburgh, PA appearing at Agni? Not really. Even if we had any level of advertising and publicity, there is just too much else to do on the island (like taking an extra long shower, or getting a haircut). If you can make it, I guarantee there will be plenty of elbow room despite the gallery's modest size. Furthermore I'm not exactly sure what to say. I had supposed that I would speak about blogging, as that is the theme of the show. I could make quite a fool out of myself oin that topic.

Apparently I'm going to talk about my ongoing project- The Book of Life. At least that's what it says on the Digging Pitt blog. Yes, I have a blasphemer's audacity that allows me to form the conceit that I am actually re-creating that holy tome of judgment. Still I'd be remiss in my duties if I didn't point out that I haven't done this with any direct spirit of irony. I've been living with the creation of this piece for about a year-and-a-half, and the joke would wear thin quickly if I wasn't serious about it. The new work certainly relates to the piece I submitted for the Agni show. It's a bit odd to trace the evolution of my thinking since I completed the component drawings of Separation of Sinner and Saint over ten years ago. We lose sight of the long view so easily while we are obsessed with being "in the present". Even so, I'll probably make shit up as I go along.

The talk is this Saturday, November 24th at 5PM. Agni Gallery is located @ 170 East 2nd Street - New York NY 10009 - 412-389-0288.