Bartalos

This month I’m participating in Cutters Edges, an exhibition of contemporary collage at Gestalten Space in Berlin. The show is the latest installment of the ‘Cutters’ series curated
by artist James Gallagher, editor of the book Cutting Edges: Contemporary Collage published by Gestalten.

Exhibition installation view photographed by Constantin Falk.

Cutters Edges is the inaugural exhibition at Gestalten Space and extends through May 28, 2011. The gallery is open Wed-Mon 10:00-20:00 and located at Sophie-Gips-Höfe, Sophienstrasse 21, Berlin 10178.

Exhibition installation view photographed by Constantin Falk.

Featured artists:
Rubén B (Spain), Michael Bartalos (USA), Melinda Beck (USA), Brian Belott (USA), Hisham Akira Bharoocha (USA), Stephen Brandes (Ireland), Paul Burgess (UK), Dennis Busch (Germany), Hollie Chastain (USA), Alejandro Chavetta (USA), Cless (Spain), Barrett Cook (USA), Liam Crockard (Canada), Valero Doval (Spain), Jesse Draxler (USA), Lukas Feireiss (Germany), Tatiana Echeverri Fernandez (Germany), Erik Foss (USA), James Gallagher (USA), April Gertler (Germany), Jason Glasser (USA/France), Kate Hate (Germany), Sean Hillen (Ireland), Ashkan Honarvar (Netherlands), Jordin Isip (USA), Eva Lake (USA), Greg Lamarche (USA), Dani Leventhal (USA), Leif Low-beer (USA), Max o Matic (Spain), Jeffrey Meyer (USA), Vincent Pacheco (USA), Melissa Paget (Canada), David Plunkert (USA), Garrett Pruter (USA), Kareem Rizk (Australia), Javier Rodriguez (UK), Jenni Rope (Finland), Jason Rosenberg (USA), Valerie Roybal (USA), Joe Ryckebosch (USA), Cay Schroder (Netherlands), Baby Smith (USA), Kerstin Stephan (Germany), Katherine Streeter (USA), Sergei Sviatchenko (Denmark), Alejandra Villasmil (Venezuela/Chile), David Wallace (USA), Jessica Williams (USA), Oliver Wiegner (Germany), Lulu Wolf (USA), Bill Zindel (USA), and Anthony Zinonos (Germany).

Long View Study No. 16 is inspired by Earth observation satellites whose remote sensing technology helps scientists monitor environmental changes over time. In Antarctica, the focus is on the break-up of the Peninsula’s ice shelves as a result of rapid warming in that area over the last 50 years. Read more about satellites’ role in climate study and polar research on my latest CalAcademy blog post.

The artwork was created with cut paper, graphite and wood. It will be on view and available at Southern Exposure’s Annual Fundraiser and Art Auction this Saturday evening, May 7 at SoEx, 3030 20th Street in San Francisco.

I’m pleased to be included in the book Cutting Edges: Contemporary Collage, published recently by Gestalten. The volume was edited by artist James Gallagher who curated the ‘Cutters’ series of exhibitions in New York, Berlin, and Cork, Ireland over the past three years.

The full-color hardback book features works from more than 75 international artists, over half of whom participated in the recent Cork show. The contributors are represented by multiple examples of their work for a stylistically and technically diverse collection ranging from manual assemblage to computer montage.

The introductory essay by curator Dr. Silke Krohn puts the current practice of collage into an art-historical context while many of the works themselves (including mine) allude to Surreal-ism, Dada and Constructivism. These references add a pleasant whiff of nostalgia to the book but more importantly, they’re shown to be the means by which artists re-examine the collage tradition in order to find departure points for fresh innovation.

In this way, the book reveals modern collage to be as much an appropriation of concept and intent as it is of material. Or rather, a re-invention of concept and intent, given the impres-sively original results.

My interior spread in Cutting Edges.

This 224-page compendium reminded me of why I love collage: It offers creative flexibility, spontaneity, unpredictability and possibility like no other medium. The process is unique, liberating and expressive. It functions across multiple disciplines and perennially evolves as it feeds on old and new sources alike.

I was excited to read a review of Cutting Edges on the Design Observer OBlog by graphic designer Jessica Helfand, the Yale art lecturer and author of Scrapbooks: An American History. Her post’s insights about collage as art form and about Cutting Edges concludes with the statement: “This book is a knock-out.” I concur.

Handle With Care is my latest project with the California Academy of Sciences. Completed last Thursday in the museum’s Piazza, it takes the form of a 16-foot high cardboard tree populated by cardboard animals representing a variety of species threatened by deforest-ation.

The objective of the Earth Day-themed project is to promote the protection of forested ecosystems worldwide and to inspire museum visitors to re-use and recycle paper in creative ways.

The sculpture was constructed over a three week period with the help of many generous volunteers and assistants, and by museum staff who donated much of the cardboard.

Visitors were also invited to bring paper with which they created leaves for the tree at tables set up alongside my work area. Participation was overwhelming with over 3,000 leaves made, mostly by children.

Handle With Care was unveiled at the CalAcademy’s April 21 NightLife event to great response and remains on view in the museum’s Piazza through April 29.

The tree will be recycled afterwards and the animals will be available for purchase. The leaves, creatively embellished with Earth Day drawings and messages, will be retained by the CalAcademy.

This collection of Instagram and ShakeIt photos by Lili Ong documents some highlights of the project’s process.

My thanks to the CalAcademy and everyone who made this project possible.

The California Academy of Sciences is at 55 Music Concourse Drive in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. (415) 379-8000. Visitor info here.

My latest Long View composition is about climate change research in Antarctica. It references scientists’ efforts to better understand global warming and attempt predictions despite an inexact science. Read all about it on my Antarctic project blog hosted by the California Academy of Sciences.

In the next few weeks leading up to Earth Day, I’ll be at work on an exciting sculptural project at the California Academy of Sciences. I’ll be giving new life to used cardboard by creating a 16-foot tall tree from recycled material in the museum’s central piazza. The piece, titled Handle With Care, will encourage visitors to reflect on the role recycling plays in protecting forested ecosystems. Read my full project statement here.

An early cardboard maquette for Handle With Care. Photo by Andrew McCormick.

The project kicks off on March 26 when visitors can watch me work and see the artwork grow and change over time. Guests are also encouraged to participate by bringing in specific recycled materials for me to use in the artwork. Activity details and a list of what material to bring are on the Academy’s programs page.

Come by, say hi, and see the piece take shape. My on-site work hours are:

· March 26, 27, 29, 31: 11 AM – 2 PM
· April 3: 10 AM – 2 PM
· April 5, 7, 9, 12, and 14: 11 AM – 3 PM
· April 16, 17, 19, 20: 10 AM – 2 PM

The completed piece debuts at the April 21 NightLife, or join me for a Q&A on Earth Day weekend, April 22 & 23. Times and details to be announced.

The California Academy of Sciences is at 55 Music Concourse Drive in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. (415) 379-8000. Visitor info here.

My latest Long View study takes bdelloid rotifers for its theme. These tiny animals’ presence in Antarctica was noted by Shackleton’s crew in 1908 and described by biologist James Murray in the expedition’s book, Aurora Australis. Murray was captivated by the creatures’ resilience to environmental stresses, but he didn’t know half of it. New discoveries about bdelloids have further astounded scientists, turning long-held assumptions about evolutionary processes on their head.

Get the details over at my full post on the Long View blog hosted by the California Academy of Sciences.

This week over at my Long View blog, I’m posting more discards I brought back from Antarctica. This set has a military theme to it — specifically that of colored smoke grenades. I’ll look at the military’s presence on the Ice and how devices such as the Army/Navy Model 18 (shown above) are used in the framework of the Antarctic Treaty’s prohibition of military activity on the continent.

These discards will be incorporated into my Long View Project artwork along with the the other found items being cataloged in the Waste Stream Reclamation category of the LV blog.

This triptych pictures Ernest Shackleton and his 1907-09 ‘Nimrod’ Expedition crew who produced Aurora Australis, the first book edition published in Antarctica. The edition’s production — and the expedition’s success in general — relied on resourcefulness and
re-use, central themes to my Long View Project.

Nimrod Shore Party is included in Cutters/Cork, the latest in the Cutters series of international contemporary collage exhibitions curated by James Gallagher. The show
runs through March 12 at West Cork Arts Centre in Skiberdeen, County Cork, Ireland.

From the gallery’s press release:

Cutters/Cork has already being flagged by the Sunday Times newspaper as a ‘must see’ exhibition and is certainly one of the most exciting exhibitions at West Cork Arts Centre in 2011. It is a showcase for the exhilarating and newly invigorated art form of collage. Featuring the work of more than 50 international artists and possibly up to 300 artworks, American artist James Gallagher has brought them all together in Cutters/Cork to illustrate the range and depth of collage taking place today.

Cutters/Cork will also link to a series of lens-based exhibitions and events taking place in Cork city and county over the same period.

Exhibiting artists: Rubén B, Michael Bartalos, Melinda Beck, Brian Belott, Hisham Akira Bharoocha, Stephen Brandes, Paul Burgess, Dennis Busch, Hollie Chastain, Alejandro Chavetta, Cless, Barrett Cook, Liam Crockard, Valero Doval, Jesse Draxler, Tatiana Echeverri Fernandez, Erik Foss, James Gallagher, April Gertler, Jason Glasser, Eva Han, Sean Hillen, Ashkan Honarvar, Jordin Isip, Eva Lake, Greg Lamarche, Dani Leventhal, Leif Low-Beer, Max o Matic, Jeffrey Meyer, Vincent Pacheco, Melissa Paget, David Plunkert, Garrett Pruter, Kareem Rizk, Javier Rodriguez, Jenni Rope, Jason Rosenberg, Valerie Roybal, Joe Ryckebosch, Cay Schroder, Baby Smith, Kerstin Stephan, Katherine Streeter, Sergei Sviatchenko, Alejandra Villasmil, David Wallace, Jessica Williams, Oliver Wiegner, Lulu Wolf, Bill Zindel and Anthony Zinonos.

I’m pleased to be in RRR.002 / STRRRIKE Two, the RRR Project’s second collection of collage-driven recycled art by international artists. The book is 100 pages, 6×9 inches, printed CMYK plus one spot, and published in an edition of 3000 by curator Scott Massey.

Copies of the RRR books and a limited edition of 3-color screen prints are at the gallery. Photo by Scott Massey.

I’m also participating in the current RRR exhibition up through January 6 at the Simple Space in the NY Gallery Building, 24 West 57th Street, Suite #601, New York NY 10019.

Other contributors include Alex Weinstein, Anthony Zinonos, Andrew Holder, Chad Kouri, Greg Lamarche, Will Bryant, Masato Nakada, Laura Bernstein, Peter Skvara, Michael Coleman, Mike Perry, Ryan Tatar, Ed Fladung, Mark Kane, Steph Walker, Stephanie Hosmer, Peter Kaplan, Kassia Meador, Paul D’Elia, Brookes Reeder, Scott Massey, Bijan Berahimi, Jason Murray, Chris Burnett, Jonathan Sandridge, Mike Afsa, John Esguerra, Steven Harrington & Justin Krietemeyer.