Sit Back And Get Comfortable, This Will Take Awhile

Back Side
A collaborative exhibition featuring:
Chris Coffin, Michelle Jaffe', Kristine Robinson, Chris Walsh



image (c) Chris Coffin and Jeremy Slater, Video Stills "Hudson River, Bump and Grind".

Sit Back And Get Comfortable, This Will Take Awhile...

In an age of one minute to feel anything, sound byte moments, and short attention spans, artist Chris Coffins’ (sound component by Jeremy Slater) DVD and sound installation Hudson River Bump and Grind, does not adhere to the notion that the public is said to only spend five minutes or less viewing a work of art. His work is the exact opposite, requiring your attention with all senses ready…

The black and white video of frozen ice on the Hudson River moves from large over view angles to close up shots of particular pieces. Large broken forms of ice become abstract, bumping up against each other by the natural rhythm of water. In a macro view they are a collective of shapes reminiscent of cells, or a carapace protecting the fluid underneath. It is as if one is watching something so tremendous it is impossible to comprehend its scale, breathing, watching, waiting, and sleeping an ancient guardian of the ocean. Moving slowly into close up shots of individual sections, the bumping and grinding against each other take on living characteristics, nudging, sliding, flickering lines of light surrounding the forms where the water catches light are a silent communication. An alien pattern seemingly rooted in mathematics or musical composition. The nervous system or brain’s electrical flickering also comes to mind. Natural sounds of the environment surround you, wind, water flowing and lapping up against the ice forms…. Crackling sounds repeat… and you move in for an even closer view, now of two forms. Their edges rounded by centuries of movement, your sense of time slows down, and you’re in a prehistoric realm observing the earth shift. One piece, bobbing in the water, nudging the other as if it is its soul mate appears tender and lamenting. The second form appears still, floating in the water, life-less. They are like a pair of large orca’s or hump back whales, in the vast ocean, and you are a voyeur within the most private intimate moment between them, hoping for the forms to somehow connect. The depth of the water, smaller piece’s submerged, their weight and thickness throw you off kilter, questioning, contemplating the relationship and responsibility between human-kind, the environment and the universe itself. After a deep breath, I emerge from the small room into the bright, large expanse of the warehouse space, changed, affected, emotions laid bare.

45-46 21st Street second floor
Long Island City, NY 11101

Exhibition Dates: Sat. Jan 5th 3:00pm to 6:00pm
Sunday Jan 6thopening 3:00pm to 6:00pm
*Monday Jan 7th 3:00pm to 6:00pm
Sat. Jan 12th 3:00pm to 6:00pm
Sunday Jan 13th 3:00pm to 6:00pm

Contact: Chris Coffin: http://www.chriscoffin.com/

John Moores 25 Prize call for entries

LIVERPOOL, UK.-The launch of the call for entries this year marks the 50th anniversary of the John Moores prize. First held in 1957, it is the UK's best-known competition for painters and is named after Sir John Moores (1896 - 1993), the founder of the competition.


The exhibition is held every two years at the Walker Art Gallery in partnership with the John Moores Liverpool Exhibition Trust. Next year the John Moores exhibition coincides with Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture 2008 when it forms a key strand of the well established Liverpool Biennial. The John Moores exhibition showcases the best new paintings produced in the UK today and attracts a broad spectrum of artists. No preference is given to levels of experience or particular practices of painting. The work is selected anonymously from an open submission by the jury, who also award the main prizes. There is a first prize of £25000 along with four further prizes, each of £2500. In addition, in celebration of Liverpool’s year as Capital of Culture, our popular visitors' choice prize is increased to £2008. This prize will be announced towards the close of the exhibition. Entrants from the last competition said: "It is the premier painting competition in the UK" "Having been selected has already opened doors for me" "Highly regarded forum for emerging and established artists" “Most of the contemporary British artists I admire have been in a John Moores exhibition" “Widely regarded as the best showcase for British contemporary painting" Jury 2008: Jake and Dinos Chapman, artists; Sacha Craddock, art critic / curator; Graham Crowley, artist; Paul Morrison, artist.

Entry: The competition has a two-stage entry procedure. Stage 1 – submission by image (one painting per artist). Stage 2 - sending in shortlisted paintings for final judging. Key dates: 15 February 2008 - Deadline to register. 29 February 2008 - Deadline for submission of images. 27 to 30 May 2008 - Sending in shortlisted paintings. 20 September 2008 to 4 January 2009 - Exhibition Prizes: First prize £25000. 4 prizes £2500. 1 visitors’ choice prize £2008.

Contact: http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/

Happy New Year !

A dawn, a new day, time to begin again...
Looking foward to a whole new ball of wax
maybe the impossible becomes possible,
the perfect understands perfectly - imperfect
a gaunlet is thrown
trick will be played
a laugh will be had

the shows will spill out into the winter streets
and I'll be out and about freezing my....
pencils.

If you see some great shows this season
email me, scream, rant, rave, gafaw, excite, break down in tears
enjoy, support this crazy thing we call art in all it's forms.

best wishes to all

Catherine Lee - The Mark Paintings 1977-79 at Galerie Lelong, NYC

A simple mark in graphite or ink on primed canvas or paper set in a grid pattern reflects both the perfection and imperfection of the human hand. A drawn lower Case u mark is repeated loosely held within the lighter shade grid. It is gestural - free flowing within the constraints of lines. Darker in color, the marks at a distance merge into a pattern similar to the texture of the canvas while grommets across the top play into the diagram. An abstract shading appears forming nuances of forms. Maybe this is my eyes and mind involuntarily searching for familiar shapes... The pristine perfection lures you in for closer examination revealing the human hand.

for more information
contact;
Galerie Lelong
528 west 26th Street
NY NY 10001
http://www.galerielelong.com/

Breathscapes by White Rabbit Culture

A one night multi-media performance "Breathscapes"
by White Rabbit Culture
Agni Gallery
170 E. 2nd. Street
NYC NY

The universe in the process of becoming makes its first sounds.
In one breath, the origins of life are heard.

Breathscapes by White Rabbit Culture was a multi-media performance, which transformed Agni Gallery at 170 E. 2nd. Street into an environment of multi dimensions. Opening with Professor Ristic playing his original compositions on the sitar, set the tone for the audience. You are now relaxed, swaying to the music, feeling it run through your body. Cultures’s piece began with “Invocation – The first act of our existence is inhalation and the last act of our existence is exhalation.” Combining sound, lights and video produced with iTUNES, White Rabbit Culture moved the audience through the dimensions of existence. Using his voice his breath invoked the first sounds of the universe, the video shown on white sheets covering the wall reacting to the sound, a strobe light flickers in time, your eyes are open yet you are now in the place where the unconscious and the conscious converse. The audience surrounds the work, standing or seated in chairs or pillows on the floor, they no longer care, they are caught within the metamorphosis of the space and the collective journey with each other. It is a spiritual awakening, taking you from the hustle and bustle of the street to the center of our true selves. With every breath, a chant, you feel your transformation. The crowd applauds, the lights are raised and on this night you are weightless within your body. Draks work has flowed through you within your cells, through your soul, leaving a memory to carry with you.
Speechless, all you can do is breath deep and “be” within the moment, blessed – exhaling gratitude.