May 2012 | Limited Edition of 250
LINDA NAGAOKA
YELLOW PERIL GALLERY 17 May - 10 June 2012
fire sand designs.com
Publisher: V Souvannasane Editor: Robert P. Stack Art Director: Marcel McVay Advertising Executive: Jen Young COLLECT is a monthly limited edition magazine published by Yellow Peril Gallery to promote art and design for the curated lifestyle. COLLECT highlights the current exhibition at the Gallery and provides artists with a unique platform to share not only their work, but also the people, places and things that have shaped their world. COLLECT Yellow Peril Gallery 60 Valley Street #5 Providence, RI 02909 +1.401.861.1535 collect-magazine.com
CONTENTS LOVE LANDS / 02 REDISCOVER RUTH ASAWA / 04 MEET LINDA NAGAOKA / 07
VOTE FOR PROVIDENCE ARTIST! / 08 FRIEZE IS COLD... BUT THE NIGHT IS YOUNG / 12 THE EARTH SCHOOL / 15 EVERYTHING IS FOR SALE / 17 To advertise in COLLECT , please contact Jen Young at jen@yellowperilgallery.com.
David and Dale, Natalie Gruppuso
NEXT: LOVE & EQUALITY Our June 2012 issue will feature LOVE AND EQUALITY, a photo series about the faces of same-sex marriage by Natalie Gruppuso. We’ll meet some of the faces behind the portraits and hear their stories about life as everyday people. COLLECT is available at Yellow Peril Gallery and other fine establishments in Providence, Newport and New York. Read COLLECT magazine online: http://issuu.com/yellowperilgallery
May 2012
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LOVE LANDS Working within the tradition of Landscape art making, Linda Nagaoka’s drawings and paintings in LOVE LANDS are interpreted through a contemporary feminine perspective. Inspired by Exquisite Corpse, the surrealist ruse in which a piece of paper is folded in thirds and three different artists are requested to draw in turn — a head, a torso and legs — without the benefit of seeing the other two parts of the drawing, Nagaoka’s never-ending landscape drawings are a solitary take on the classic art game interpreted through her unique perspective. With no true beginning and no foreseeable end, the drawing project runs from page to page, the next taking up where the last left off. Remove one panel and another, new interpretation will take its place. Nagaoka was born to Japanese immigrants whose confinement in Internment Camps didn’t hinder their love for either their native culture or their adopted one. Growing up in Southern California during the mid-twentieth century when rural farms were still prolific, having a Landscape Designer as a father, and exposure to traditional Japanese landscape art were all strong influences on Nagaoka’s aesthetic. This long standing involvement in Landscape painting took a further turn when Nagaoka became a mother and started including images of her daughter in her work: taken along on the journey so to speak. LOVE LANDS taps into a primal source of wonder as seen through a world positively altered by motherhood and cultural expectations and driven by nature, mystery and spirituality. Robert P. Stack Editor, COLLECT / Curator, YELLOW PERIL GALLERY
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Yellow Peril Gallery sincerely thanks the following local businesses for their generous support of LOVE LANDS:
We would like to acknowledge the following organizations for their help promoting LOVE LANDS locally and regionally: Fire Sand Designs Gallery Night Providence Philip Sawyer Designs Providence Arts, Culture + Tourism Providence Monthly The River’s Edge Flowers & Gifts If your business would like to sponsor an upcoming exhibition at Yellow Peril Gallery, please contact us via e-mail: info@yellowperilgallery.com.
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REDISCOVER RUTH ASAWA Robert P. Stack, Curator, Yellow Peril Gallery Early twenty-first century love of mid-twentieth century design continues unabated, with light shone on some noted Japanese American designers like Isamu Noguchi and Minoru Yamasaki. So it should be no surprise when focus is pointed toward prolific artists like Ruth Asawa. Asawa was born in Southern California in the early twitieth century to Japanese immigrant farmers. The family was interned in a camp for several years before Asawa sought her education at Black Mountain College. After marrying an architect, Asawa continued to pursue art while raising her children, sometimes incorporating their image in her work. During the 1950s, her experiments with crocheted wire sculpture inspired by traditional weaving technique found on travels to Mexico, gained Asawa increasing attention and admiration. By the latter half of the century, Asawa is dividing her time between producing public sculpture (mostly fountains in San Francisco plazas) and co-founding the Alvarado Arts Workshop, where her children are also some of the first students. This eventually leads to her formation of SOTA, San Francisco’s first public school for the arts, as well as increased arts activism. Rediscovered Asawa’s work has been included in several recent museum exhibitions in New York, Boston and Los Angeles Asawa’s sculptures are instant classics, as lively and fresh today as when she first conceived them. Like so many multi-cultural artists, Asawa was influenced by her heritage while creating uniquely American work.
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Ruth Asawa
“Asawa’s sculptures are instant classics, as lively and fresh today as when she first conceived them. Like so many multi-cultural artists, Asawa was influenced by her heritage while creating uniquely American work.” May 2012
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MEET LINDA NAGAOKA Where do you live? I wonder. On a mountaintop, in a cave, in the forest or underneath a pile of rocks. Maybe it’s prehistoric. The past, present, and the future, all at once. A neverending horizon line planted with flora, fauna, and children. The architecture is high and low. It’s all in your head and in your heart. - Linda Nagaoka (2012) LINDA NAGAOKA is a Brooklyn based Artist working in a variety of mediums to produce two- and three-dimensional works. A native of Santa Monica, California, Linda received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from University of California at Berkeley, and later studied Painting and Sculpture at Alfred University.
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VOTE FOR PROVIDENCE ARTIST! Jen Young, Gallery Assistant, Yellow Peril Gallery
If you are a Providence local, you have probably seen a “WEST FOR ARTIST” sticker or poster somewhere around town. Tom West is inundating our city with propaganda to be elected as Providence’s next Artist. He is calling on other artists to join in on the fun and run against him. Do you get it? Spearheading the Providence Artist 2012 Campaigns, Tom West, along with up to 20 other local artists, will compete, debate, and smear campaign against one another to be elected Artist by the people of Providence. “Their approach will mimic that of the average campaigning politician, but focusing on creativity, ingenuity and a dose of subversion,” declares Tom, who has created a satirical game of shameless self-promotion — and a clever way to stimulate the Creative Capitol by bringing its artists out of hiding. In each subsequent issue of COLLECT, we will update you on the whereabouts of debate events as well as feature one of the Artists-in-running. This month we are pleased to present the ideals and values of the first candidate for Artist: Tom West.
DO STUFF westforartist@gmail.com
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What is your campaign slogan and why should we care? “DO STUFF” because it is the opposite of being lazy. We live in a world where you LIKE something by pushing a button instead of getting out there and doing stuff. A world where people spend their days of unemployment playing video games while passing up a real opportunity to chase the American dream (DOING something they like and turning it into a career based on passion). DO STUFF is the answer to depression, health, boredom, getting into trouble (in my case). Get up and DO STUFF and the rest will take care of itself. Throw away your television and limit yourself on the internet. Find a passion. Help a neighbor. DO STUFF. ‘nuff said. What bothers you about the Providence Art scene, and why did you choose to live and make art here? Right now it is the Recession. I’m finding it really hard to find people with expendable income to purchase my IN YOUR FACE art. I feel the folks with that income either don’t gravitate towards my stuff, or no gallery in Providence (with the exception of the newly established Yellow Peril Gallery) has had the balls to tell them that they should. That and the contemporary art scene is saturated with mediocre landscapes and boat dock paintings. Another thing that bothers me is that the first question I get asked at art shows is “Did you go to RISD?” As if that is what really matters to buyers. The moral to the story, again, is to DO STUFF. May 2012
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“I live in the city of HOPE. Obama can’t take that from us. Hope is the anchor of the soul. Providence is a wonderful training ground for artist. I really want to be part of that and help shape the mechanism to keep the talent HERE. So the nation comes to us for style. ”
— Tom West
I chose to live and make art here in Providence because this is my home. I am a Rhode Island native, born and raised. We call ourselves Swamp Yankees (families that have long historical ties to RI). I really enjoy living here. I am invested in making the future brighter for everyone through the arts. I want to see Providence and Rhode Island become the next Artistic hub of the United States and the world.
DO STUFF
What inspires you to make art?
The fact that I can make a living of it. Not because I am ego driven. On the contrary, I am spirit driven. The notion of being able to feed and house myself by pursuing a passion and inspiring positive forward thinking around me is the westforartist@gmail.com American Dream. The vibe in this town is magical. I love working with creative people. Being creative is like fuel to me. It makes me feel alive. It gets my Art Machine running at full speed. If you were rich and powerful like Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey, what single thing would change about The Creative Capitol? I would collect art here. I have seen more pound-for-pound raw talent here than anywhere in the world. Yes, I have been around the world. And I have lived all over the US. I would then form the highest end gallery / museum showcasing underground heavy-hitting art in hopes it would launch artists (who really deserve and need it) into the cosmos. Basically I would hold to my mantra.....DO STUFF.” Any artist with the “guts” to stand out and make some noise, feel free to contact westforartist@gmail.com.
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PROVIDENCE ARTIST CAMPAIGN MAGAZINE AD DESIGN westforartist@gmail.com
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FRIEZE IS COLD... Marcel McVay, Manager, Yellow Peril Gallery Approaching the inaugural Frieze NY was something of a journey. Firstly, although the fair is staking its flag in New York in attempt to oust the dominating Armory Show (just weeks after the Armory’s traditional art fair week) — Frieze drastically separated itself from the island of Manhattan. It was a nice break from the bustle of the city but, honestly, it could have been anywhere.
Hans Kotter, Tunnel View and Tunnel View
As I boarded the Ferry at 33rd street and the East River, I couldn’t resist breaking out a digital version of the Village Voice’s article exposing what is clearly a radical mistake on Frieze’s part. The symbolic “biggest freestanding tent ever” refused to co-operate with labor unions and Occupy activists on the heels of May Day, deciding to cut costs by hiring cheap labor with no benefits. This decision left a somewhat rotten taste in my mouth, resisted only by the rocking of the ferry on the quarter-hour charter to Randall’s Island. It’s too bad that organizers couldn’t have crafted a better symbol through better supporting the workers who made the event possible — the iconic nature of the Big Tent as well as the fair’s first footsteps in the States lend a strong symbolic sense to Frieze. Viewing the tent from the ferry and walking under it’s monumental, slotted awning would have been much more satisfying had it been built with a supportive backing. Contradictions aside, the Fair as a whole didn’t venture too far from the ordinary. Overwhelmingly white booths filled the enormous, snake-like structure. But the traditional display has its place, and this was certainly it. The experienced gallerists at Lisson Gallery (London, Milan) put together a spectacularly presented and beautifully curated booth, harnessing a trio of titans; Anish Kapoor, Ai Wei Wei and Haroon Mirza’s works worked together to be at once gargantuan and intimate —Mirza’s sound-based installations filling not only the booth but most of the surrounding tent as well. 12
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...BUT THE NIGHT IS YOUNG The highlight for me, though, was a booth exhibiting innovative installation; a young gallery displaying an inspiring solo project: Squeezed in along one of the horizontal cross-roads of the tent-snake, Night Gallery (Los Angeles) caught my eye before I could continue on my first-impression fly-through in the Big Tent. The half-drawn venetian blinds hung across the entire entrance of this stand created a visual distraction and pull that I experienced nowhere else in the fair.
Samara Golden, Bad Brains, 2012, Frieze Frame New York
The featured installation was what I was hoping to find in NY’s inaugural Frieze fair. As a part of Frieze Frame — a program open to galleries no older than six years – Night is young. It is an up and coming gallery with a chance to play with seasoned vets such as Lisson and many others in Frieze’s normal roster. And it did so boldly. Bringing just one artist with them, Night blew many of the other Frame contenders out of the water. Samara Golden’s BAD BRAINS exhibited what Night Gallery director Davida Nemeroff described as “vulture sculpture” — a crude and visually haphazard installation that incorporated nearly every inch of the provided booth, leaving only enough thickly carpeted floor for a few to stand. The dark and chaotic space created a visceral tension — multiple video screens pointed away from the viewer and into strategically placed mirrors, only to reveal the video in virtual image; piles of enameled, dark portraits scavenged and presented again on the booth’s walls; a symmetrical set of stairways contrasting the utter asymmetry of the scattered work. May 2012
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FRIEZE IS COLD...BUT THE NIGHT IS YOUNG [continued from page 13]
The installation was littered with references to “visual regurgitation” —a term used by Night’s gallerists to describe a cyclical process of viewing incorporated by the mirrored videos, the repeated dark portraits, and the stairway centerpiece whose path led up, across and down — only to leave the viewer to visually climb back up the stairs they started with. If Frieze is to contend with the long-standing Armory Show for New York’s premiere art fair, there are two items on my suggested agenda: (1) Frieze should embrace installations with Night Gallery’s vision and unique execution — Frieze Frame is a promising program in this vein. (2) Frieze should certainly render an example for any and all art-world symbols when in this type of all-eyes, public spotlight: provide the workers who make events like this possible with decent wages and benefits.
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THE EARTH SCHOOL
A portion of the sales from LOVE LANDS will be donated to The Earth School to support its dream: to create a peaceful, nurturing place to stimulate learning in all realms of child development–intellectual, social, emotional and physical. Earth School educators believe that children have different styles of learning and flourish when their individual needs and abilities are respected.
Zen Mensch Accountant
While hewing to rigorous academic standards in literacy and math, Earth School students are encouraged to explore, experiment, and even sometimes make a mess in the pursuit of their own particular interests as well as the educational goals set for them. The Earth School’s mission is to support children’s inherent love of learning through curriculum that is active, playful, socially-conscious, and rigorous. For more information about The Earth School, its mission and guiding principles, please visit theearthschool.org »
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EVERYTHING IS FOR SALE Price List for Works of Art for Sale at LOVE LANDS
TITLE
PRICE
Mixed Media on Paper, 22” X 15” (2012)
$340
Tent
Acrylic on Canvas, 12” X 16” (2011)
$400
Yum Yum Tree
Acrylic on Canvas, 24” X 28” (2011)
$1,250
Hide and Peek
Mixed Media on Canvas, 30” X 30” (2009)
$2,250
Walk About
Mixed Media on Canvas, 96.5” X 24” (2009) $4,000
Island
Acrylic on Canvas, 12” X 12” (2008)
Hive
$400
Neverending Landscape, Topos 1-18 Mixed Media on Paper (2009-2012)
$280 - 600
The Buddha Wears Glasses (Surviving Irene) Mixed Media Wall Drawing (2012)
Upon Request
If you are interested in purchasing any original works of art from LOVE LANDS, please contact Yellow Peril Gallery to set up an appointment for a private viewing: +1.401.861.1535. May 2012
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JAMES STARKMAN 16 AUGUST - 9 SEPTEMBER
60 Valley St #5 | Providence, RI yellowperilgallery.com
LINDA NAGAOKA
RODRIGO NAVA NATALIE GRUPPUSO 19 JULY 12 14 JUNE - 15 AUGUST JULY
LOVE LANDS | 17 MAY - 10 JUNE
NATALIE GRUPPUSO 14 JUNE - 15 JULY