What the Butler Saw

A Conversation with Fida Touma, the Deputy Director General of the A.M. Qattan Foundation, on the Occasion of the Fourth Qalandiya International, Palestine, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION The fourth Qalandiya International (QI) will take place from October 3rd - October 30th. Also known as the Palestine Biennial, it’s the largest contemporary art event in Palestine. This year's QI examines the theme of Solidarity. Exhibitions and programs will take place throughout the country. Sites include Jerusalem, Gaza, Ramallah, Al Bireh, Birzeit, and several Palestinian villages. It will feature the work of dozens of Palestinian and international artists (See below). Solidarity-themed events will... Read more →

A Conversation with Robbie Conal on the Occasion of his Exhibition "Robbie Conal’s Cabinet of Horrors" at Track 16 Gallery, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. Since the Reagan administration, Robbie Conal has made and distributed more than 100 street posters that lampoon more-than-deserving politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen, and televangelists. His themes have included the environment, censorship, war, and the Supreme Court (but, alas, not the current Kavanaugh kerfuffle). He’s been called “America’s foremost street artist,” and with good reason. His bleak, zombie apocalypse Cabinet of Horrors features almost two dozen routine abusers of power, authority and trust: Donald Trump, his... Read more →

A Conversation with Farah Khelil on the Occasion of her Exhibition “Graines de pensée” at Selma Feriani Gallery, Tunis, Tunisia, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION Farah Khelil was born in Carthage, Tunisia. She graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts in Tunis. She holds a PhD in Art and Art Sciences from Paris/Pantheon - Sorbonne. She lives and works in Paris. Graines de pensée is her first solo exhibition at the Selma Feriani Gallery, Tunis, Tunisia. Her work in the show includes installations made from documents, objects, refuse and plant elements. There is also a slide show, collages, and... Read more →

A Conversation with Reem Shadid and Yazan Khalili on the Occasion of their Exhibition "Debt" at the Fourth Qalandiya International, Palestine, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. The fourth Qalandiya International (QI) will take place from October 3rd - October 30th. Also known as the Palestine Biennial, it’s the largest contemporary art event in Palestine. This year's QI examines the theme of Solidarity. Exhibitions and programs will take place throughout the country. Sites include Jerusalem, Gaza, Ramallah, Al Bireh, Birzeit, and several Palestinian villages. It will feature the work of dozens of Palestinian and international artists (See below). Solidarity-themed events will... Read more →

A Conversation with Eltiqa & Shababek on the Occasion of their Exhibition "Toward Hope" at the Fourth Qalandiya International, Palestine, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. The fourth Qalandiya International (QI) will take place from October 3rd - October 30th. Also known as the Palestine Biennial, it’s the largest contemporary art event in Palestine. This year's QI examines the theme of Solidarity. Exhibitions and programs will take place throughout the country. Sites include Jerusalem, Gaza, Ramallah, Al Bireh, Birzeit, and several Palestinian villages. It will feature the work of dozens of Palestinian and international artists (See below). Solidarity-themed events will... Read more →

“Planet Topspin: Alexander Iskin at Track 16 Gallery, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. What the world needs now is an updated metaphor for the human condition. One that captures the anxiety, uncertainty, and glibness of a digitally-infused social media global culture that flickers furiously with zeroes and ones, signifying nothing. Enter Alexander Iskin (interview here). At times, you can barely recognize the Berlin-based artist’s figures. An arm or shin, an elbow or knee, a torso, aslant, askew, and asunder. At other times, fully-formed figures hurdle an obstacle... Read more →

A Conversation with Alexander Iskin on the Occasion of his Exhibition “Planet Topspin” at Track 16 Gallery, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION Alexander Iskin (review here) was born 1990 in Moscow. He lives and works in Berlin. His solo shows include: The Future is Neanderthal (2017) at DSC Gallery, Prague, CZ Apple Sauce in Paradise (2016) and Reality Express, (2015) at SEXAUER, Berlin His group shows include Salon der Gegenwart (2017) in Hamburg
 Below please find an interview with Mr. Iskin on the occasion of his exhibition “ALEXANDER ISKIN: PLANET TOPSPIN” at Track 16 Gallery. This... Read more →

"The Twentieth-Century Way," Long Beach Playhouse Studio Theatre, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. In 1914, the city of Long Beach hired two men to work as bounty hunters. Their pay? $15 a head. Their quarry? Social vagrants, i.e., gay men. Exposure for these social vagrants meant humiliation, a fine, prison, exile, or, in one case, suicide. This true story inspired The Twentieth-Century Way, written by Tom Jacobson and directed by Reed Flores for the Long Beach Playhouse Studio Theatre. The premise, direction, and acting are top notch.... Read more →

"Greg Mocilnikar: Short Stories", at Walter Maciel Gallery, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. In the beginning was the Word. Or was it the Light? Nevermind. Greg Mocilnikar’s work bristles with ambiguity, with trying to work through a moment’s feeling and the appropriate way to express it. Each piece represents a skirmish of formal elements. The combatants: meaty, organic black lattice-swaths of black versus a legion of colorful pastel-toned geometric confetti shapes. The action takes place in a pictorial equivalent of a dojo, seen from above. The space... Read more →

A Conversation with Rachel Dedman, Curator of "Labour of Love: New Approaches to Palestinian Embroidery", The Palestinian Museum, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. Labour of Love: New Approaches to Palestinian Embroidery at The Palestinian Museum features 80 dresses and accessories. Archival photographs, posters, paintings, music, and a video place these objects in their historical context. Below follows a generous and thoughtful conversation with Rachel Dedman, the exhibition’s Curator. In it, she discusses the show's origins; expands on its themes; offers insights into the economic and social conditions of the otherwise anonymous embroiderers; and expands on the aptness... Read more →

"Points of View”, Caitlin Lonegan at Susanne Vielmetter Gallery, by James Scarborough

“Style is a very simple matter; it is all rhythm. Once you get that, you can't use the wrong words. (…) Now this is very profound, what rhythm is, and goes far deeper than any words. A sight, an emotion, creates this wave in the mind, long before it makes words to fit it.” Virginia Woolf INTRODUCTION. Caitlin Lonegan’s paintings riff on Abstract Expressionist marks and gestures. She orchestrates these riffs into atmospheric epic poems... Read more →

A Conversation with Kathleen Weyts, Curator of “Somewhere in Between: Contemporary Art Scenes in Europe”, Bozar Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels, Belgium, by James Scarborough

Until August 19, Brussel’s Bozar (Centre for Fine Arts) will stage “Somewhere in Between: Contemporary Art Scenes in Europe”. Curated by Kathleen Weyts, the exhibition reflects the sum efforts of five separate artistic players. These players include Etablissement d’en face; Komplot; La Loge; Prague curator Michal Novotný; and Kunstenbibliotheek/ Students Curatorial Studies KASK, School of Arts Ghent. Each player will configure their portion of the Centre for Fine Arts as they see fit. Coordinated by... Read more →

A Conversation with Elyse Pignolet and Sandow Birk on the Occasion of their Exhibition, "American Procession", at Track 16 Gallery, by James Scarborough

Please find below a conversation with Elyse Pignolet and Sandow Birk on their American Procession exhibition at Track 16 gallery (reviewed here.) Also check the above link to visit equally compelling recent work by Pignolet and Birk, including Birk's Trumpagruel series. -------------------------------------------- JS: The Procession of Princes on Dresden Castle’s exterior wall inspired the piece. Was it something either of you had seen in person, or was it something you saw in reproduction? Either way,... Read more →

“Mitosis: Felicity Nove at CMay Gallery”, by James Scarborough

"If you are only moved by color relationships, you are missing the point. I am interested in expressing the big emotions - tragedy, ecstasy, doom." Mark Rothko INTRODUCTION. 11 poured pigment and resin on aluminum paintings and one site-specific installation. The paintings are large; they engulf the viewer. Everything’s red. Everything quivers, pulsates, and throbs. Gravity would continue the shapes’ voyage down the wall, but they seem frozen in a moment of arrested flux. Smooshed... Read more →

"Sandow Birk and Elyse Pignolet: American Procession," Track 16 Gallery, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. Elyse Pignolet and Sandow Birk modeled American Procession after The Procession of Princes at Dresden Castle in Germany. The original image began as a painting in the 1870s. It commemorated the ruling family’s 800-year rule. It featured images of 35 monarchs, each following in the footsteps of the one before. This implied an orderly and peaceful transition of rule. The piece was transferred to a 335-foot-long series of ceramic tiles when the original began... Read more →

"JORDI ALCARAZ: defying boundaries", Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. Frame it as you might, you can’t help but delight in the disorder of Jordi Alcaraz’ work. It frets with purposeful indecision. Formal elements - jagged lines (literal, implied), amorphous shapes, hesitant modeling, ambiguous space (literal, implied) – attest as much. It brims with low-level anxiety, with backstage tentativeness. Is this particular piece a painting, a drawing, or a sculpture? How about a wall-hung installation? Could be all four, depending on what the Catalan... Read more →

"The Lover", directed by Allen Sewell for the Found Theatre, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. Can a bed be a red herring? It can in Harold Pinter’s The Lover. House right, there’s a bed. A single bed. It’s there, but not really. On a small stage, it represents the bedroom. House left, the living room. Thing is, as the story develops, and you realize what’s going on, that bed, so full of possibility, literally and metaphorically, never gets used for the purpose for which the story’s title implies it... Read more →

A Conversation with John Valadez on the Occasion of his Residency at Fine Art Solutions, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. Listening to John Valadez hold court at the studio in which he worked during his recent residency (review here) at Fine Art Solutions is like hanging out with someone who used to paint Renaissance Popes in his youth and now, mellow and philosophical, follows his own idiosyncratic pursuits. He’s led a full, active life, which shows no signs of slowing down. He still works in his home studio, where he continues to experiment and... Read more →

A Conversation with Teresita de la Torre on the Occasion of her Exhibition at Eastside International (ESXLA), by James Scarborough

My psyche was forever impacted by the conditions I grew up experiencing on the US/Mexico border in Laredo, Texas. Words like el norte, el otro lado, and la migra formed part of my everyday lexicon. I witnessed, firsthand, the separation of friends, family, and loved ones–while personally dealing with an internal identity crisis (or more commonly known as the Chicanx mantra, of “Ni de aquí, Ni de allá.” My experience on the border fueled my... Read more →

"Anonymous 616", written and directed by Mike Boss, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. Google something and you can feel omniscient, like a god. You can feel the same way with gnarly pharmaceuticals, with or without the imprimatur of a religious practice. Finally, mental maladies can make you think that God speaks to you and you alone and that you must enforce anything that He commands. Anonymous 616, written and directed by Mike Boss, reminds us how these delusions of omniscience actually go way, way back. The film... Read more →

"End Days", directed by Beth Lopes for Cal Rep, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. A few years after moving, a family has yet to unpack their stuff. This doesn’t suggest laziness as much as it represents emotional baggage. Each character in Deborah Zoe Laufer’s black comedy unpacks emotional baggage in their own peculiar way. WHAT'S IT ABOUT? 11th grader Rachel Stein’s (Tara Coffey) attitude towards life stems from events on 9/11. Her father, Arthur (Chris Bange), only just escaped from one of the Towers. Sixty-five of his financial... Read more →

"Teresita de la Torre: Hilando Relaciones", Eastside International (ESXLA), by James Scarborough

There will be time, there will be time/To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, by T.S. Eliot INTRODUCTION. With sweet, effective understatement, Teresita de la Torre’s installation, Hilando Relaciones, shows how social media devalues the verb, to share. (Art, of course, encourages it.) Picture this scenario. You learn something about yourself. Something profound, something anecdotal, just something. A building block of identity. You want... Read more →

"The Silent PLAY Experiment", conjured up by the creative team of Olivia Hamilton, Kyle Kaminsky, and Ross Wyngaarden, by James Scarborough

"Play is the highest form of research," attributed to Albert Einstein INTRODUCTION. Under normal circumstances, I would never paint a design on a stranger’s face, much less let her paint one on mine. I would never play charades. Do pantomime. Dance with abandon, sober, during the day. Singly; with someone else; or together with an entire room of strangers. I would never fill in sentence blanks on walls. Paint something based on a wall prompt.... Read more →

The Constant Gardener Tends To His Painted Flowers: Roland Reiss’ “Unapologetic Flowers and Small Stories”, Claremont Museum of Art, and “Unrepentant Flowers and New Miniature Tableaux”, Diane Rosenstein Gallery, by James Scarborough

Plutôt la vie que ces prismes sans épaisseur même si les couleurs sont plus pures (Choose life instead of those prisms with no depth even if their colors are purer.) Andre Breton, Plutot la Vie, 1923 NOTE: Both shows include selections of the artist’s Flower Paintings and Miniatures work. This piece will focus on the Flower Paintings. INTRODUCTION. Roland Reiss’ Flower Paintings answer the question, How does one make paintings in a digitalized culture? They... Read more →

A PLAYful Conversation with Olivia Hamilton, Co-Conjuror of The Silent PLAY Experiment, by James Scarborough

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Valadez in Vernon, East 26th Projects, by James Scarborough

Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood. T.S. Eliot INTRODUCTION. Having achieved a solid reputation as a purveyor of art presentation, Fine Art Solutions also awards artist residencies and then mounts exhibitions of the work produced. Such is the context of John Valadez’s Valadez in Vernon, an exhibition at East 26 Projects, a site located on the FAS compound. You can talk about the gritty industrial aesthetic of a museum like the Pompidou. As... Read more →

A Conversation with Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk, Artistic Director, POPPOSITIONS Art Fair, Brussels, Belgium, by James Scarborough

POPPOSITIONS 2018 focuses on diagnosis, articulation, prescription, and, lest we forget, discovery. It feels more like a World’s Fair than an art fair. Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk provides artistic direction. The show encourages a discussion between people with strongly held convictions about the state of the world and the role of art. It’s idealistic (what should be), pragmatic (what is), cautionary (man has made a mess of things…), and visionary (… but that doesn’t mean there... Read more →

A Conversation with Amanda Fruta, University Art Museum’s Public Affairs and Communications Specialist, on the occasion of the Museum’s Robert Irwin: Site Determined exhibition, by James Scarborough

Amanda Fruta is the Public Affairs and Communications Specialist at Cal State Long Beach's University Art Museum. She has a B.A. in Art History and Visual Arts from Occidental College. She knows a lot about art in general and about this exhibition in particular. She shares this knowledge without recourse to academic artspeak. She wants to create meaningful connections and partnerships, foster new discourse, and support a culture of access, equity, and public service. Her... Read more →

"Graffiti Palace: A Novel," by A.G. Lombardo, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. You can situate the book as a cross between Homer’s Odyssey and Thomas Pynchon. You can also think of it is as Charles Bukowski retelling the story of Theseus' escape from the Labyrinth. (“…her final record spinning closer to the center, like an invisible thread that gently draws him down to her, down to Karmann” (Italics, this writer). An extraordinary backstory, Theseus and the Minotaur. Read it here in Bullfinch’s Mythology. For our purposes,... Read more →

"Baaghi 2," directed by Ahmed Khan, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. Directed by Ahmed Khan, “Baaghi 2” is a hot mess. This cinematic equal of a strobe light is just too much, too often for an otherwise so-so script. When Neha (Disha Patani) meets Ranveer Pratap Singh (Tiger Shroff), she notes his arrogant brashness. He’s loud, energetic, and passionate. This plays well when he’s in love (it makes him adorable). It also works when he helps her with a favor that becomes biblical in scale... Read more →

"Adrian Villar Rojas: The Theater of Disappearance", Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, by James Scarborough

A shipwreck on the ocean’s floor. An octopus’ garden. A surreal grotto. Such are the first impressions of Adrian Villar Rojas: The Theater of Disappearance at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA (October 22, 2017 – May 13, 2018). Careful how you navigate the site-specific installation, a total makeover of the Geffen's exhibition space. A spacious room, unrecognizable from its original white box configuration. Except for a few lit display cases (see below), the lights are... Read more →

A Conversation with Tato Akhalkasishvili, participant in Art Dubai 2018’s Inaugural "Residents" program, by James Scarborough

Tato Akhalkasishvili was born in 1979, Tbilisi, Georgia. He graduated from Tbilisi Academy of Arts in 2003. Afterwards he moved to Germany where he lived and worked in Cologne. In 2008 the artist decided to go back to his country. Nowadays he is based in Tbilisi, Georgia. He works in painting, in addition to making objects, installations and collages. Akhalkasishvili expresses important issues and concepts with the help of different metaphors. Childhood is one of... Read more →

It’s about time: Jack Persekian and Jerusalem’s eternal present, by James Scarborough

(Jerusalem) is an oxymoron, chockfull of contradictions and schizophrenic realities, which we embrace in this seemingly blessed, but so easily deadly, potent formula of persistent animosity and violence. Jack Persekian, After Matson For the Middle East in general and Palestine in particular, 2018 is a landmark year. A hundred years ago, the Balfour Declaration and Jerusalem’s occupation by British forces. Fifty years ago, the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem. Enter Jack Persekian, to remind us,... Read more →

A Conversation with Jose Lerma, participant in Art Dubai 2018’s Inaugural "Residents" program, by James Scarborough

José Lerma was born in 1971 in Seville, Spain and grew up in Puerto Rico. He was recently named Chair of the Painting Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His solo exhibitions include Kemper Museum of Art, Andrea Rosen Gallery, Galería Roberto Paradise, Galerie Xavier Hufkens, Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Green Gallery, Gallery Loock, Galería Marta Cervera, Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh, NC, Arario Gallery in Seoul, Galleria Il... Read more →

A Conversation with Iabadiou Piko, participant in Art Dubai 2018’s Inaugural "Residents" program, by James Scarborough

Iabadiou Piko (Piko Sugianto) was born in 1984 in Prabumulih, South Sumatera, Indonesia. In 2005, he graduated from the Academic Design of Vision Yogyakarta Department (ADV) with a major in Diploma of Art Photography Design. He is a self-taught painter who now lives and works in Yogyakarta. He participated in Art Dubai 2018’s inaugural Residents program. New to Art Dubai programming, Residents 2018 invited 11 international artists to spend 4 to 8 weeks in a... Read more →

Antigone X, directed by Jeff Janisheski for Cal Rep, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. I’ve always wondered why the story’s called Antigone and not Creon. Or at least why Creon’s not given equal billing in the title. Antigone must choose between death and the mourning and burial of a dead brother. She's the visceral one. Creon is the administrative one. He has to rule a kingdom, nepotism be damned. He’s not evil. He’s just put in the position of pushing the boundaries of decency that his law and... Read more →

A Conversation with Pablo del Val, Art Dubai Artistic Director, by James Scarborough

Art Dubai 2018 opens this week. It will showcase the work of 500 artists. It will also offer talks, performances, tours, and workshops. Programming includes: Contemporary and Modern. This will feature work from 105 galleries based in 48 countries. The inaugural Residents program. This will feature 11 global artists whose work reflects their experience in the UAE. The Global Art Forum. Titled “I Am Not A Robot”, it will discuss the impact that automation has... Read more →

Robert Irwin: Site Determined, University Art Museum, Cal State Long Beach, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. When you hear intervention, you think something’s wrong and needs to be fixed. For Robert Irwin, that something was art; it needed to be hacked. Beginning as an abstract artist, Irwin questioned painting and found it wanting. In one of those eureka moments by which something seems to come from nothing, but which makes sense in retrospect, he turned to the environment as both his medium and his Muse. Thus was his site-specific work... Read more →

Relational Undercurrents: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Archipelago, curated by Tatiana Flores, Museum of Latin American Art, a component of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, by James Scarborough

INTRODUCTION. There’s a rhythm to the show, a vibe. It stays with you long after you leave the Museum. Makes sense, doesn’t it? The Caribbean – you think of West Side Story and reggae, merengue and bachata, mambo and calypso. Makes you want to dance through the galleries or at least lilt as you read aloud the wall panels and labels. This rhythm carries you through the tropical installation, through the thematic groupings - Conceptual... Read more →

The Florida Project, directed by Sean Baker, by James Scarborough

What’s wrong with a little Disney fantasy if it lets a 6-year-old girl for a moment escape her ironically named slum motel, The Magic Castle? That’s the question answered in the last minute of Sean Baker’s magical The Florida Project, a film included in Art Dubai’s year-round film programming in partnership with Front Row Filmed Entertainment and screened at Roxy Cinemas at Dubai's City Walk. It’s the story of Moonee (Brooklynn Kimberly Prince), 6 years... Read more →

“Black Coffee,” Long Beach Mainstage Theatre, by James Scarborough

It’s a domestic squabble with global implications. Though it deals with international intrigue, the tone is domestic and intimate. 1930, a distinguished physicist’s library, 25 miles outside London. A stolen formula for – gasp! – an atomic bomb. The murder of said physicist. Leads abound. An Italian doctor, a suspect because he’s foreign. The physicist’s son, low in self-esteem and desperate for cash. His wife’s up-to-now unknown connection with international espionage. The physicist’s personal secretary,... Read more →

The Banality of Conversion: "Also Known as Jihadi," directed by Eric Baudelaire, by James Scarborough

Without the context its title provides, Eric Baudelaire’s latest film, Also Known as Jihadi, now showing at Art Basel, would be the cinematic equivalent of a butt-dial; the difference being you accidentally turn on the video camera, not dial the phone. We see passages of what appear to be random, unrehearsed scenes (a nice metaphor for life, by the way). We hear ambient noise - the sound of voices and motor vehicles, but nothing by... Read more →