Episode 258: Nathan Carter
August 8, 2010 · Print This Article
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This week: We talk to Artist Nathan Carter who has a work in the current MCA Exhibition “Alexander Calder and Contemporary Art: Form, Balance, Joy”about his work, the youth perspective, and the secret trasmissions of numbers stations.
Here is a slightly outdated bio I lifted: Nathan Carter’s wall reliefs, sculptures, collages, and hanging objects are inspired by myriad aspects of contemporary society: modes of transportation, mass communication devices, sports insignias, and architecture for mass gatherings like stadiums and parade grounds. At once gestural and reductive, his works amplify strategies first explored by modernist artists in the early 20th century. Deeply rooted in a fascination with how visual abstract codes represent a means of abbreviated, if not universal, communication, Carter’s free-form compositions are simultaneously non-objective and referential.
Playful at first impression, Carter’s art contains allusions to mundane yet foreboding engagements, such as radio transmissions, encoded transcriptions, and other electronic communications that serve not only to link us to world networks, but also to place us under surveillance and deprive us of our privacy. Often our dependence on these tools and the despair that results from their failure to properly operate is a recurring leitmotif in his work.
Nathan Carter was born in Dallas, TX, in 1970 and currently lives and works in New York, NY. He received his MFA from Yale University, New Haven, CT, in 1999. He has had solo exhibitions at Galería Pilar Parra, Madrid (2007); Casey Kaplan Gallery, New York (2006, 2004, 2001); and Esther Schipper, Berlin (2006). He also participated in Art 33 Basel, Basel, Switzerland (2002). Selected group exhibitions include Neo Baroque, DA2 Centre of Contemporary Art of Salamanca, Spain (2005-06); Greater New York 2005, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, NY; and GNS, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2003).
Top 5 Weekend Picks!
May 6, 2010 · Print This Article
Hello again!
The madness of Artopolis is over my friends, and I’m glad for it, it was a long weekend. But this by no means indicates a lack of awesome art. This weekend is surprisingly busy, and here’s what I think shouldn’t be missed:
1. Immersioni/Immersions at Johalla Projects
A primarily, though not exclusively, video based exhibition jointly curated by Anna Cerniglia and Susanna Horvatovicova, and featuring the work of Elise Blue, Ben Russell, Rakele Tombini, and Chiara Tommasi.
Johalla Projects is located at 1561 N. Milwaukee Ave., 2nd fl. Opening Reception Friday, from 7-11pm.
2. Alphabetization at Noble & Superior Projects
An exploration of language curated by Ania Szremski, and featuring the work of Brandon Alvendia, Scott Carter, Eric Fleischauer, Brookhart Jonquil and Daniel Lavitt.
Noble & Superior Projects is located at 1418 W. Superior St. Opening Reception Friday, from 6-10pm.
3. The Home Front: What You Can Do! at Pritzker Military Library
WWII motivational propaganda posters. Have you started your war garden?
Pritzker Military Library is located at 610 N. Fairbanks Ct., 2nd fl. Show begins May 7th.
4. Flat 6 at Floor Length and Tux
Experiments in spicy with Jon Bollo, Luca Scala, Jonathan Ozik, Matty Colston, Catie Olson, and EC Brown.
Floor Length and Tux is located at 2332 W. Augusta, #3. Reception Saturday, beginning at 7pm, DJ at 11pm.
5. As you pass by and cast an eye as you are now so once was I at Western Exhibitions
Creepy sculpture and flat work by Rachel Niffenegger. John Parot’s show Hobbies also opens at Western Ex.
Western Exhibitions is located at 119 N Peoria St. 2A. Reception Saturday, from 5-8pm.
Bad at Sports would like to welcome Devin King as our latest guest blogger. “Devin King lives and works in Chicago. His first book of poetry, CLOPS, is out from the Green Lantern Press and the newest production of his serial opera, Dancing Young Men From High Windows, was part of the 2010 Rhino Theater Festival.”
Before Stephen Lapthisophon moved to Dallas in 2008, he worked and taught in Chicago for over 25 years. He’s represented in Dallas by The Conduit Gallery, has shown work recently in San Antonio at Unit B, will be doing an installation soon for The Henderson Art Project and currently teaches art and art history at The University of Texas at Arlington. I spoke with him over a few weeks last summer about his installation practice.
Through this, I’ve been interested in how his installations, paintings, and text/image essays effectively erased old conceptions of relationships between objects and their histories. As you’ll see, we spend a bunch of time trying to nail down exactly what he’s getting at. Lapthisophon says its an attempt to rethink our surroundings. I’m not sure we ever answered the question.
In Graham Harman’s recent book on the French sociologist of science Bruno Latour (Prince of Networks: Bruno Latour and Metaphysics), Harman describes Latour’s philosophy as “play[ing] out amidst microbes, tape recorders, windmills, apples, and any real or unreal actors that one might imagine.” Moreover, Harman continues, “Latour has no real interest in the pathos of depth: though his actors can always surprise us, these surprises always emerge at the surface of the world, not from some veiled underworld ruled by the shades of [philosophers, theologians, or poets.]” Against Harman’s description of Latour, Lapthisophon welcomes the irrational and poetic in our own responses to his work–Lapthosophon’s work with disjunctive elements reinforces Latour’s image of actors (be they objects, ideas, pictures, or personas) and their surprising emergence at the surface of a world of shifting relations.
The first thing I wanted to talk about was arrangement. You have an intuitive installation technique: you start with a small number of found objects/photocopies and build out into more materials–finding resonances through addition.
I think this is the result of an interest in limits and boundaries between art and everyday life experiences. I enjoy testing the tolerance level of a situation to see how much or how little can be added or changed while still living in the world of art. It is very much process oriented and, I hope, an open process–embracing flux and change: an open process reliant on intuition and chance operations. However, the method of working additively is neither sequential nor additive itself. I am guided by willful irrationality, chance, accident and mistake. I want to challenge accepted ideas concerning causality and intention.
Can you talk a bit about your idea of a “tolerance level of a situation” and how it manifests in your installations? [Read more]
Top 5 Weekend Picks
February 18, 2010 · Print This Article
It’s that time again. This was another week full of many worthy options for viewing. I’ll be going to quite a bit more than just these five, but these looked particularly interesting:
1. You Can Lose Your Balance at 65 Grand
I’ve been a fan of 65Grand for quite a while. I am not terribly familiar with Scott Wolniak, but I took a trot over to his website, and it looked like interesting stuff. Corbett vs Dempsey or Noble and Superior are both close by, so why not go for a two- or three-for-one? See ya’ll at the top of the stairs.
65Grand is located at 1378 W. Grand Ave. Reception is Friday from 7-10pm.
2. Sarah Best: Daily Photos at Antena
There are two shows opening at Antena this Friday, and this is actually the smaller of the two. The premise involves cell phone pictures, a medium that I still find dubious, but which I need to see more of, so as to fully form my opinion. The one image available is beautiful, as you can see.
Antena is located at 1765 S. Laflin St. Reception is Friday from 6-10pm.
3. UnCommon Territories at Heaven Gallery
A group show of (primarily) SAIC sculpture kids, including: Marissa Benedict, Christopher Bradley, Scott Carter, Lauren Carter, Younghwan Choi, Colleen Coleman, Allison Fall, Elise Goldstein, Katya Grokhovsky, Samantha Hill, Holly Holmes, Scott Jarrett, Selena Jones, Maya Mackrandilal, Lisa Nonken, Luis Palacios, Ben Stagl, Stephanie Victa, Andrew Norm Wilson. Come spend an evening in Heaven.
Heaven Gallery is located at 1550 N Milwaukee Ave. Reception is Friday from 7-11pm.
4. Duncan R. Anderson at Kasia Kay Gallery
The best exhibition I ever saw at Kasia’s place was Anderson’s previous exhibition. I’m super excited to see that he’s back, and I can’t wait to see what new craziness he has on display. This dude’s work is friggin’ awesome.
Kasia Kay Gallery is located at 1044 W. Fulton Market. Reception is Friday from 6-8pm.
5. Room-a-Loom at Swimming Pool Project Space
Come see the spectacular culmination of the Room-A-Loom! People have ween donating their blue weaveable material for almost a month now. It is time now to experience what a giant loom and a giant room can make together! It’s gonna be fort-tastic!
Swimming Pool Project Space is located at 2858 W Montrose Ave.Reception is Saturday from 6-10pm.
Top 3 – Halloweenie
October 30, 2009 · Print This Article
This week you are getting a Top 3. Why? Well, do you want the truth or a lie? Too bad, this is what you get: these are the shows I think are absolutly worth going to this weekend. All three at new (in one way or another) spaces, and all three (we’ll ok, the first two, I don’t know anything about what is actually showing in the parking lot) feature awesome work. This is my chosen route, perhaps I’ll see you out there. If you see two people dressed like bats, I’m one of ‘em.
1) Means Without End at The Chicago Cultural Center
This is where I’m going tonight. Means Without End is an ongoing project by local photographer Shannon Benine. I’m pretty bad at describing work, so here’s a quote from the CPC website, “Means Without End, 2009 consists of hundreds of 10” x 10” unfolded photograms of peace cranes tiled together to form a large installation. The number of color analog photograms represents the number of American deaths in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom on March 19, 2003.” I’ve seen these things in real life, they’re friggin’ awesome. The opening reception is tonight, Friday, from 7-9pm.
The Chicago Photography Center is located at 3301 N. Lincoln Ave.
2. Stone on Stone at ebersmoore
Formerly ebersb9, ebersmoore is featuring the work of Rob Carter for their first exhibition (their first exibition was actually the second half on and exhibition that opened at the old location, so I’m calling this their first). I went to the new space last week, it’s friggin’ beautiful, and I’m into this work. If you check out their website, be sure to wait for the video to load, then watch it. Opening reception is tonight, Friday, from 6-9pm.
ebersmoore is located at 213 N Morgan St., #3C
3. Helter Sculpture at Parking Space
Ok, so this is totally not Parking Space’s image. I made it because I went to their site and all they had was a show card with text, and this image instantly popped into my head. Regardless, this is another new space (not sure if it’s even going to have a second show, seeing as it’s operating in a abandoned parking structure, or so they say), and I have no friggin idea what the work is going to look like. Take a chance, I bet it will at least be weird. Helter Sculpture is the curatorial project of Andrew Greene, E.J. Hill, and Matthew Schaffer, and is hosting a reception Saturday from 4-7pm.
Parking Space is located at 1448 N Leavitt St.
