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Shortly before 3am, while checking my email, I received a notice, come press release about an artist stunt performed at the IMA. The artist, apparently as part of a nation wide "Fine Art Graffitti", where by he curates his own work into a number of the best museums across the country. In short, he sneaks a work into the museums and hangs them on the sly, along with museum styled wall labels. This is really nothing new. Most recently you may have read similar tales from the street artist known as "Banksy". It is not that the work that this artist hung is bad just not really that good or interesting.

I woke this morning and thought I would head to the IMA, first to get out of my house and away from some distractions so I could catch up on some email and blogging and I thought I would see what damage what some of the IMA staff thought about this event. I first noted that there appeared to be a lot more security guards keeping an eye on people walking around on the contemporary floor. I was carrying my laptop bag, so perhaps I gave them more cause than usual but I also over heard a small gathering of guards chatting about the incident as well. After speaking with a number of staff from PR/Marketing people, exhibition installers, and conservators, most had a similar reaction to this as I did. As one person put it "we do not want people putting stuff on our walls". I think that about sums it up.

While I am not exactly one to cry foul when artists play against the "establishment", I am not quite sure yet how I feel about this partucular instance. I must admit that I did read the press release with a good dose of skepticism. My first impression was that this was nothing more than a self serving stunt for the artist disguised as something more than what it really was. I had not yet looked at the images sent or viewed the links to the artists site when I first felt this way. What did it for me was the artists statement or at least as it was presented by his "representative".


As stated in the press release:

And his goal? To give back to these 12 museums that give the most to their communities and to show that, when applied properly, graffiti can a positive force directly benefitting the community. The IMA was the 5^th installation of the exhibition.

Seriously? "To give back to these 12 museums"? That would make one conclude that these museums actually want something of this nature from random artists. While I a confident nearly all art museums have a list of artists who they would love to get donated art from, I can pretty much guarantee this is not the case here. Especially in this manner. Perhaps the most telling part of the artists statement is the he talks about how "when applied properly, graffiti...", what exactly is the proper application of graffiti? I am actually friends with a handful of graffiti artists, most of which would state that graffiti belongs on the streets and has no real place in an institution. I think this stance can certainly be argued for and against but what is "proper" application? In this instance, did the artist hang the work with the appropriate museum hanging devices? No. Instead the artist, apparently used some sort of adhesive, yes he basically glued the piece to the wall, that when the work was taken down it managed to rip paint of the walls exposing drywall paper. Not exactly properly applied in my book. And now, like a lot f graffiti, managed to do some property damage. Now, the museum must use a portion of their staff and their time to deal with repairing the museums wall. Ok, so it will not be that hard or take much time to do such a fix, but it is after all disrespectful to them, the museum and the viewers who now get to view the marks left behind until the paint crew get to it. How is showing this artists work, who is not known to the greater art community, the museum patrons, let alone the museum staff, going to benefit the community?

From what the press release states as a quote from ABC 7:

"The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is spending over $20 million dollars to commission a piece of artwork by Jeff Koons… It is a shame that an artist would make a museum spend so much money to acquire their art.” Benote said he thinks it's a bigger shame that so much taxpayer money is being wasted in such a manner, it could be better spent helping the community. The goal of his work is to benefit museums by directly gifting artwork to them.

I thought I would comment on this statement as well as I believe his premise is wrong for a number of reasons. While I will admit that $20 million dollars is a lot of money, the idea that the artist should be ashamed for the price of the work. The market establishes the pricing, and in most instances with large scale works there are a number of fabricators and such that need to be paid by the artist as well. I do not know the details of this particular piece in mentioned so can not speak to it directly but a number of artists do give museums a break in price when acquiring a piece and some are even willing to donate works to certain museums. He then goes on to imply that so much of these acquisition funds come from taxpayer dollars. Now again, there is a chance I am wrong in some instances, but as I understand it, most if not all acquisition funds (from the IMA at least) come from donors (individuals, endowments, donations, and the Contemporary Art Society) and not from taxpayers at all. This type of misinformation in my opinion is already believed by and too prevalent for many of those who wish to cut arts funding, both on a local and a national level. For an artists to state something of this nature, is in my opinion not helping the situation in the least, rather establishing more of this same belief. The idea that getting random art from random artists is somehow benefiting the museum is ridiculous. Museums would be flooded with art in such magnitude that they would be overwhelmed and understaffed to handle it. Let alone that fact that he is not taking into consideration the amount of time, effort, space and money it would take to care for and manage all these "gifted" art works. Just because an artist desires to show in a museum does not mean their work should be shown there or even belong there. Let us take into account that the artist in question could as easily show his work in galleries across the country to "benefit the community", if that is his real desire. Galleries, after all are free to all and there are lot more galleries out there than there are museums. A lot of museums still charge admission fees. The IMA does not, but if the goal is to reach the people, he could reach more at free gallery shows than he could at a museum. At least one would think. But the more I write about this the more I feel that in all of this is the artists ego attempting to bypass the hurdles most of the artists he wants to exhibit next to in the museum had to go through throughout their careers before they had a piece in the museum. He simply wants a short cut.

After much thought and consideration on whether or not to even write about this act, I came to the decision that I would write about it but would not link to the artists web site or mention him by name. Why? Well, I personally felt, in the end, that this was little more than a fairly shallow PR stunt to get the artist name out there. Not on the merit of the work itself, rather for what can be viewed as nothing more than a childish act, disguised as a conceptual performance piece. Who knows. Perhaps one day the artist will become better known for better work, and could then very well be invited to show in one of the museums he now chooses to bombard with his "gift". But, for now, I do not feel that I want to help promote this approach to getting into a museum.

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Yes it's true. For those of you, who like me, rarely take the time to head to the Indiana State Museum, they have been exhibiting more and more art exhibitions over the past months. I have missed a number of them but was invited to check out their two current exhibits, the "85th Annual Hoosier Salon" and "Making it in the Midwest: Artists Who Chose To Stay", this past week. So, on a nice sunny afternoon I arrived with a friend to check out the two exhibits along with the other goings on at the ISM. This, was my first visit to the museum in perhaps a year, maybe two. 


I always enjoyed the museums space as a whole. The view of the canal makes for a great setting for a pleasant afternoon of wandering the halls of the museum. As we parked in the underground garage, which was exceedingly full, I thought, I was a bit surprised by how few people I actually saw in the exhibits themselves. Not that it all matters or impacts my experience, I was simply wondering where all those people could be hiding. I guess the canals must have been busy. 


We started our stroll on the ground level, walking through the collection of rocks and minerals, prehistoric dioramas, and early native american artifacts. I have always enjoyed this stretch of the museum. Not much had seemed to change, possibly more videos this time. [Note: There seemed to be a lot more videos around the museum, as part of most of the exhibits but there were few places to sit and watch the videos. For me, if I am expected to watch a video for more than a few minutes I prefer a place to sit and relax while doing so. Particularly in a scholarly presentation setting.] 


We made our way upstairs to check out the exhibit, "Making it in the Midwest: Artists Who Chose To Stay". 

From the ISM web site:

Making it in the Midwest is the first major exhibition to explore the challenges facing working artists in the Midwest, and brings together an important array of historical works, many of which are in private collections and have not been seen publicly for decades. The inclusion of contemporary artists showcases the extraordinary talent found throughout Indiana and the surrounding region.

The exhibit was presented, for the most part in two sections, one room with the contemporary works, the other room with the historic works. Not having seen an exhibit of art at the ISM before, I had no preconceived concepts of what I was going to see. But as with most exhibits I walk into, I was hoping to be surprised and find an exhibit that really stood out to me. I think I have talked about this on a number of occasions, I miss the excitement or wow factor of walking into an art exhibit. Maybe this is best seen in contemporary museums, galleries and experimental project spaces, more so than in a setting such as the ISM offers but my first impression was that the exhibit was a bit on the understated side. I did not get that sort of energy or excitement, which for me would have made the whole exhibit stand out more. Do not get me wrong, the exhibit, as it was presented, was not bad. Rather it was fine, possibly a touch over crowded. A worthwhile show of works by a number of local regulars. There were not really any surprises in the bunch, though it was nice to see a couple new wood sculptures by David Morrison (best known for his lithographs) that seemed to play off of spiked leather collars and bracelets, along with some of his lithographs which always blow me away for their superb attention to detail and subtlety. [Though the labels were misleading to some degree listing items such as the pictured bracelet and such as part of the media which it is not. I will chalk that up to a typo or over site though.] I should say that it was nice to see a couple Jay Parnell paintings in the grouping. Not the strongest of his paintings, in my opinion but a nice addition none the less.  Possibly my favorite work in the show was a moderate size painting by Tom Keesee. I failed to take a pencil with me (professional error) so I did not take the name of the piece down, but that painting was wonderful, full of brightness, crisp spring colors, slathered onto the canvas. Just my sort of thing. I always enjoy seeing the paintings of Tom,so seeing him here made sense particularly as a more contemporary rendition to play off of the more historical works like the paintings of T.C. Steele in the adjutant room. With works by other artists such as: India Cruse-Griffin, Matthew Davey, Rob Day, James Wille Faust, Greg Hull, Tamar Kander, Charlene Marsh, Les Miley, C.W. Mundy, Cindy O’Dell, Todd Reifers, Artur Silva, Malcolm Mobutu Smith, Tom Tedrowe, Maria Tomasula, Nhat Tran and Audrey Ushenko, this show is worth checking out and as a community we should support the ISM as they reach out to the local artist community. 

The works in the historical section of this exhibition, with the exception of a couple paintings, was for me disappointing. Perhaps I am a bit spoiled by some of the quality works I've seen by some of these same artists or similar works in other venues and museums. From a historical perspective, something that I believe is a part of the mission of the ISM this portion of the show certainly has its place and I am all for the concept of the show. I feel the effort is to be applauded but something fell a short in the selection of chosen paintings. Not being fully knowledgeable of early Hoosier artists, I can not speak authoritatively on the quality of each artists work in comparison to their oeuvre, but I got the feeling that the selection of works available for exhibition was quite limited. One painting in particular was in very poor condition, looking as if it had been stored with a number of works leaning against the canvas. As a painter it made me cringe for the artist. Another work, a small dark painting of a moonlit landscape was unfortunately not lit as the single spotlight for the work was burned out. This sort of thing happens, no blame on anyone here, but I do tend to enjoy these types of landscape paintings and wish I could have seen it with a touch more light. The stand out for this batch of works was a very nice painting by T.C. Steele. Again, with out my handy pencil (professional error) I failed to take down the actual name of the painting, sorry folks. It was nice to see a range of works from this era of Hoosier painting that I had not previously been much aware of, aside from a few of the artists works.

As a whole if you are looking for a nice day of strolling around the ISM and have an interest in Hoosier art, past and present then this show is worth checking out. If you love landscape painting, plein air painting and the like, then this is most likely going to be your cup of tea, as there will be plenty of this to quench your visual thirst.

From there, on our way to the Hoosier Salon exhibit, we stopped in to check out an exhibit called Footprints: Balancing Nature's Diversity, as it is not really art related I will not go into the details of this show, but it is packed with taxidermy galore. Having grown up watching my dad do taxidermy as a hobby and having to help him out on occasion, I have a soft spot for this type of exhibit. If you too love the stuffed dead animal art form, then I do recommend checking out the show before it leaves.

I should admit that I have not been to a Hoosier Salon exhibit in more than a decade. I have long held the thought that it is the type of show I was interested in when I was in high school, where technical ability was king in my eyes. I was hoping that things had changed, evolved, or my memory of the type of works I was going to see had somehow been clouded by time. This particular exhibit is hung in the traditional salon style, where works are hung very close to each other with works above, below, diagonal to each other. I think you get the picture. All works hung down a long hallway corridor. I felt conflicted on what I should write about this portion of my visit. I really did not like it. It reminded me of the scholastic art competitions I remember from years past. Overall there was not a single work that stood out to me as being really exciting or worth a long look at. This may very well be an issue with salon style hangings. Presentation can make or break a work. In this case, I think the works have the deck stacked against them. Look I am not going into the discussion of individual works here or the artists in the show, some of which are quite talented and probably make a decent living doing what they love. For me, though, the Hoosier Salon was just boring and everything is surface level. What you see is what you get. In other words, not my type of show. My guess is you most likely saw a number of these same artists in this years State Fair art exhibit. Well, I will not drag this one out any longer. If you like the types of shows I used as comparisons, you know any of the artists in the show, or are at the ISM for any reason, by all means take a few minutes and see for yourself. Form your own opinions of it. I do feel the Hoosier Salon has its deserved niche in the local art community and is an added component, but for me this show was a bit of a sour end to my trip.

For further details on the Indiana State Museum and its current exhibitions please visit their site: click here.

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Jason Myers premiered his show "Disintegration" on First Friday for August at his own gallery, ArtBox. My first impression before attending and seeing web images was that Francis Bacon had to be a major influence and that his figures were a little off. But when I got to the show I was reminded just how important it is to see art in person. The complex texturing was controlled as metallic masked shapes transformed from negative to positive spaces.

Talking to Jason during the opening convinced me that coming back later to spend some time with him would be worthwhile and interesting.

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The Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art and Gen Con, a yearly gaming convention hosted in Indianapolis, are partnering to present "The Cursed Chateau", August 14 through September 26, with an opening reception Friday, August 14 from 6-9 pm.

Artist/curator Timothy Hutchings has collected a disparate band of contemporary artmakers, including performance artists, digital artists, sculptors, painters, musicians and various in-betweens, all united by a direct or indirect relationship to role playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons. Hutchings has shoved these artists into the unaccustomed role of illustrators for "The Cursed Chateau" a role playing game adventure book written by James Maliszewski.

The participating artists include Chris Bors, Olaf Breuning, Kadar Brock, Jeffrey Brown, Kitty Clark, Alexander DeMaria, Don Doe, Giovanni Garcia-Fenech, Andrew Guenther, Ketta Ioannidou, Josh Jordan, Matt Lock, Fiona Macneill, Chris Patch, Jason Phillips, Owen Rundquist, Rebecca Schiffman, Siebren Versteeg, Todd White, Sherry Wong, and Steve Zieser. Also contributing are the old school game illustrators Pixie Bledsaw and the renowned Erol Otus.

Concurrent with the exhibition at the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art will be a related booth at Gen Con Indy. Gen Con is the most important game event in the world, attracting tens of thousands of visitors and acting as a platform for major industry releases and premieres. This year, Gen Con runs August 13 - 16, more information on the convention is available at www.gencon.com.


Located at 340 N. Senate Avenue in downtown Indianapolis, iMOCA is free to the public and open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. every Thursday through Saturday. For more information on current and past exhibitions, please visit www.indymoca.org.

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Performative is a night of performance art both live and broadcast via the internet and cell phones. In the middle of Fringe Festival but in a visual art setting, Performative explores the overlap between the arts disciplines and the intersections between live and tele-presence performance art.Saturday, August 8th
6:00pm - 7:30pm
Big Car Gallery
(in the Murphy Arts Building)
1043 Virginia Ave. Suite 215
Indianapolis, IN

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Cindy Hinant: Heart Attack


Heart Attack will be an exhibition of recent heart work by Cindy Hinant and will include recent drawings and collaborative work. It explores themes of love, loss, obsession, and desire.


Heartland Insecurity is an installation made in collaboration with employees of Homeland Security. It parallels threats of national security with threats to emotional security by using paper hearts cut by Homeland Security employees and arranged by Hinant to create threat level spectrums.


Paper Cuts is a collaborative series with local artist Greg Ajamie. Paper Cuts explores the tension between violence and affection in large-scale wall installations made out of hand-cut paper hearts. These site-sensitive installations are brightly colored and are both menacing and playful, often using scissors or knife imagery.


Cindy Hinant is a mixed media visual artist living in Indianapolis whose work explores themes of nostalgia, distance and romance. She received her BFA in Sculpture and Ceramics from Herron School of Art and Design. Her work has been shown both locally and internationally. Hinant is a member of Big Car Collective.


This is her last exhibition in Indiana before moving to New York at the end of the year. More examples of her work can be viewed at cindyhinant.com.


ARTBOX Gallery:

POWER OVER POVERTY

exhibit opening at StutzArtSpace benefitting Gleaners Food Bank

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Opening reception with the artists: Friday, August 7, 5-9pm at StutzArtSpace Gallery, 212 W. 10th Street, B-110 (enter from Bearcat Alley).

Call 317.503.6420 (M-Th 9-5pm) for more info.

Two local artists are challenging common perceptions of poverty - and fighting poverty by stocking food bank shelves - with an exhibition of new work at Stutz Art Space Aug. 7 to Aug. 28.

In creating the new work for the exhibition, Derek Powell and Kevin Smola asked themselves what "poverty" truly means. Who are the poor among us? How is poverty different today than in the past? How can we as a community help those affected by poverty? Powell and Smola's abstract oil paintings and drawings play on concepts and stereotypes surrounding wealth and poverty.

"Power over Poverty" opens August 7 with a reception featuring a silent auction benefitting Gleaners Food Bank.

Many artists at the Stutz have open studios on the first Friday of every month from noon to 5 p.m., and Stutz Art Space is open as well. The "Power over Poverty" opening reception and silent auction will follow at 5 p.m. The event runs until 9 p.m., though the silent auction closes at 8 p.m. Guests are encouraged to bring donations of non-perishable canned food items for Gleaners on Aug. 7.

AV Framing Gallery:

“Life Has Moments”

work by John Crowe & Joslyn Virgin Crowe

Celebrating the opening of Crowe's Eye Photography's new studio

Historic Fountain Square, AV Framing Gallery, 1139 Shelby St.

Artist Reception in the Gallery on Friday August 7, 2009, 5-9pm.

AV Framing Gallery welcomes our new neighbor…a really close neighbor. Crowe’s Eye Photography has moved in! We are sharing our lovely space together. As a celebration, the gallery walls will display the photography of John Crowe and Joslyn Virgin Crowe!

This exhibition will feature a mix of intimate and client based work,

and all within the vein of capturing that just-right, fleeting moment in life, when the photo was taken. It’s a 2-month open house, showcasing their artistry, both as individuals and as a business (photographing for others).

The Crowes share their unique vision with each of their clients. You will see the overwhelming constant between the work, personal and public.

Their favorites convey something special about life, about living, the moments within it…the sun, the spontaneous shots.

Join us in welcoming John and Joslyn to Fountain Square, and see how unique personal photography can be!

Please go to www.avframinggallery.com

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48 Hour Film Project returns to Indianapolis

Big Car Collective is producing the 2009 Indianapolis portion of the 48 Hour Film Project, an international competition of short films made in 48 hours. While 30 teams made their movies July 31-Aug. 2, more big fun is still to come on Thursday, Aug. 6 at The Toby when we screen the locally made shorts. Tickets are only available at the door and are $10 for each screening group or $15 for both.

Screening group A is at 7 p.m. and screening group B is at 9 p.m.

Find out more here: www.48hourfilm.com/indianapolis.

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As a kick off to a new show, I have curated, or rather supervised would be more appropriate, I thought I would post a brief interview with Ohio based artist, Jeffrey Cortland Jones, to introduce many of you to his work and process. I first came across Jones work when I stumbled upon his blog a number of years ago. In the months and years that followed, we had exchanged the occasional correspondance and kept up with each other via our blogs and web sites, that was until recently when Danielle Riede and I made a trip to Cincinnati to see a show of his, where by we had the opportunity to finally meet in person. Needless to say I have been a fan of his work for some time and have been wanting to show his work in Indy when an opportunity presented itself. Well, this First Friday you will have that opportunity to check out his paintings at Mt. Comfort (a space for champions), the project space brought to us by Casey Roberts and Jessica Sowls. I hope to see you all come out see these new paintings up close and in person Friday and take the opportunity to meet the artist.

[Note: Images shown are a random assortment of works from Jeffrey Cortland Jones web site.]

Interview:


OtC- Where were you raised and when did you first decide you wanted to be an artist?

JCJ- I was born in the south and grew up in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. As a child I didn’t draw or paint a lot like and never thought of becoming an artist. I loved to skateboard, and for most of my childhood and teenage years, that was life. I took a few art classes in junior high and high school, but it wasn’t until a few semesters into college that I started to think about becoming a painter. I had also always been involved in musical theater and thought that I might make it to Broadway someday. So, I started college as a theater major and through some twist of fate I found myself in a painting class. Needless to say, a few weeks into the semester, I dropped all my classes except painting.

OtC- I am always interested in an artists studio practice, how they go about making a work, do they work in series or on a single piece until it is finished... Could you walk us through your practice? How do you approach creating a new work?

JCJ- First off, my studio is a small, about 10 x 11 feet, unheated/uncooled out-building in my backyard. It is in a constant state of disaster, which I am sort of embarrassed of, but frankly, I think I work well in that environment. I am always working on several paintings at once, most related, but there is always one that floats around by itself in search of something. I am never sure about what is going to happen to a work, due to the inconsistencies of the material, and I don’t work from studies. Most of the time I start new work by either pouring or spraying several layers of color to build up the surface and density of the support. From there it is about working back down into those layers, sanding and smoothing, and repainting until interesting relationships develop among the layers. In the end, I see painting as a physical activity and a material process rather than as a language that conveys narrative meaning.



OtC- I personally love, what I see, in your work as this personal battle between the layered, gestural portions of the works, against the more minimal, what I would describe as "screens" of color. Perhaps I view this a personal battle because of my own love/hate relationship with minimalism. How do you approach this balance when painting? And, how do you know when a piece is finished?

JCJ- I, too, have a love/hate relationship with minimalism…I love seeing the hand of the artist in the work, so Ryman is in while Judd is out. I’m more interested in the inherent concept of conflict within the works. That “battle” is the result of my interest in geometric versus organic, controlled versus spontaneous, and how the painting is physically built versus reducing it back to where it started. What is left is simply this accumulation. Honestly, I’m never sure when a painting is done…I guess it’s when I get to the point that I know if I do anything else to it I’ll mess it up.

OtC- Your audience, the viewer... At what point in your practice do you become aware of your audience? And what of how would you like to see people approach and view your work? Is the viewer experience important to you?

JCJ- Truthfully, I really don’t think about the viewer too much in my process. Again, my concern is the process of painting, not the end result of the act of painting.


OtC- What have been some of your artistic influences over the years? What shaped your current practice?

JCJ- At first it was skateboard/punk/graffiti culture, became that’s where I came from. Then as a formal visual art student, it became the standard cannon of abstraction…Ryman, Rothko, Marden, Martin, Stella, Scully, Mangold, Marioni, Palermo, Twombly, etc. I tried, and failed, to make paintings like theirs, in my attempt to understand how they constructed an image, how they handled their mediums and supports. I then became interested in how graffiti was painted over or covered by law enforcement. I saw these big “paintings” of industrial grays and beiges as beautiful, lush, and unintentional Rothko’s...and in most cases, more honest than any painting he, or the above, ever made. There is something about the energy of the graffiti, the clumsiness of the covering, the slight variation in the original wall color verses color of the over paint in these found monochromes.

OtC- As of late, you seem to have been quite busy on all fronts. How have you managed to balance teaching, painting, curating, exhibiting and on top of that a family?

JCJ- Late nights! It’s certainly not easy but I have an amazing wife who puts up with more than anyone should! I couldn’t do any of this without her support and guidance. She sees what I don’t and keeps me grounded. Also, teaching, painting, curating, and exhibiting all seem to go hand in hand and tend to balance one another. They inform each other in a way, and I don’t think they could survive on their own…nor would I want them to.

OtC- You and I became aware of each other and eventually met because of our presence on the internet, particularly through each of our blogs. Do you feel this aspect of artist web sites, blogs, social networking sites, etc. have had an impact on your art practice? If so, in what ways? And, do you feel that more artists these days should consider and/or take advantage of these sort of things as an extension of their practice?

JCJ- Sure! I’ve “met” tons of artists throughout the country and abroad that I never would have without the internet. I’ve also been in a number of exhibitions as a result of networking with my contacts. I have instant access to what other people are making, as well as their studio practices. I can ask someone for feedback and it’s like a mini critique. I definitely think other artists should take advantage of all there is out there on blogs and other websites if they aren’t already.



OtC- What would you describe as the pros and cons of working as an artist in the Midwest?

JCJ- I don’t see many cons of the Midwest...remember I grew up down south. I hear people talk negatively about it but I think it’s fantastic. I think the people here are sincere, kind, and helpful. The location is great, too. You can jump in the car and be in Chicago, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Nashville, Louisville, Detroit, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, etc., in just a matter of hours.

OtC- What question, if any, do you get asked about your work that you simply hate answering and why?

JCJ- Honestly none come to mind. I think I am pretty open about the work and if someone is interested enough to ask then I’ll tell them. Also, people don’t tend to ask many questions about my work.

OtC- Aside from the show you have opening here at Mt. Comfort (a space for champions), what shows do you have coming up that you are excited about?

JCJ- There are three coming up in September that I am excited about.

The first is a solo show at Some Walls in Oakland, California, organized by Chris Ashley. It is my first solo on the west coast. It is brand a new space, and I’m honored to be it’s inaugural exhibition. Next is a three person exhibition at Northern Kentucky University, with Cincinnati painters Kim Krause and Frank Herrmann. Lastly is a four person show at the Marx Gallery in Covington, Kentucky, that I have put together of painters who I admire and wanted to exhibit with: Douglas Witmer, Joe Sanders, and yourself.


If you like the painting directly above, then you should be aware that a limited series of prints of this work can be purchased from 246 Editions. They are available in two sizes and costing a mere $20 to $50 respectively. A great price from a new publisher that is worth keeping your eye on.

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On the eve of closing Ruschman Gallery after 25 years, Mark Ruschman talks about his long relationships with the artists he represents and how arts activism came naturally from being in the gallery business.

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The past year has seem a number of changes and shifts in the local arts community on all fronts. From cut backs at the IMA, to the closing of Ruschman Gallery. For those who have been paying attention, things over the past several months have been shifting at iMOCA (Indianapolis Museum of Contemporart Art) as well. iMOCA had been struggling with funding for a couple years, creating some delays in remodeling and a cut back in the number of annual exhibitions scheduled. I have long been a fan and supporter of iMOCA and a number of the shows that curator Christopher West had put on in the space. But the past year in particular was tough. There seemed, to me at least, a bit of a dark cloud looming. Was iMOCA going to survive or go under?

Well, some major shifts have taken place at iMOCA this summer in what I hope will be a rebirth of sorts. I hope to see a return to some of the energy and vitality that iMOCA had a couple years ago. With some major staffing changes and possible a new mission, perhaps we will get a new and improved venue. As an art lover, all I really want is to have the opportunity to see some quality, well conceived, well executed and creative exhibitions in Indy. Doesn't sound like to much to hope for, but I think most of us would probably agree that shows that hit home on all these aspects are few and far between. I hope these new changes will offer us more of the quality shows we all hope for.

These past several days I have been able to corresepond with Jeremy Efroymosn about many of the changes at iMOCA and what we can expect to see in the coming months.

iMOCA Interview with Jeremy Efroymson:

OtC- As I understand it, iMOCA has gone through some internal changes, both with its staffing and with its programing. How has the staffing changed and what sort of changes might we expect to see in iMOCA's mission?

JE- Kathy Nagler, our former Executive Director left iMOCA earlier this year and has since taken a position at the IMA as Director of Donor Relations. Christopher West, our former Curator, was let go for financial reasons shortly before I took over as Executive Director at the end of May. As far as our mission, it remains the same, to bring contemporary art to the people.

OtC- The economy has had a harsh impact on the arts in Indy and we are seeing more and more cuts to arts funding by the local government. How have these changes affected iMOCA and is there hope that iMOCA will survive the coming months/years?


JE- We are affected like everyone else by the down economy. One funder told us that art is important, but people need to have food and shelter first, so they weren’t sure they’d be able to fund us. I’ve come up with my own pitch line, that is that we need to maintain the “cultural fabric” of Indianapolis even in an economic downturn.

OtC- I believe at one point we talked about the early days and concepts of iMOCA, where as it would be more mobile or shall I say spontaneous in its exhibitions and projects, exhibiting in spaces outside of the walls of iMOCA's current space along with holding shows in a more traditional sense. Might we see iMOCA operating in this way more in the coming months?


JE- Definitely. I think the mobile museum concept made us unique. We’re planning a show in the Murphy Building in conjunction with Big Car on October 2 around the theme of Bigfoot/Sasquatch/UFO’s. I’d love to rent a theater again since we had so much success early on with the Cremaster Cycle by Matthew Barney. Unfortunately, Key Cinemas on the Southside has closed, so we’ll have to find somewhere else. If anyone has any good ideas for installations or whatever, let me know.

OtC- As far as the upcoming season of exhibitions at iMOCA, are we going to see a return to a fuller exhibitions schedule that we have seen in the last year or more? If so, how many shows a year might we expect?


JE- Yes. We are going to be doing at least six shows a year. I think we need to keep busy.

OtC- If what I hear is correct, we can expect to see more exhibitions by guest curators at iMOCA. Is this the current plan and if so, can we expect to see exhibitions by curators from outside of Indy? Any curators already lined up?


JE- We will be having guest curators. I have talked with several people. Paula Katz, the Gallery Director at Herron is scheduled tentatively to curate our January show. I’ve talked with Maiza Hixson, formerly of the CAC in Cincinnati about curating a show. I’ve also talked with Jay Jordan, formerly of the New Center for Contemporary Art in Louisville, but he’s moving to Vancouver, so we’ll see. Though I haven’t spoken with him, I think Sam Lee of the Sam Lee Gallery in LA could curate a good show. In the meantime, we have a show from Tim Hutchings of New York which will open at iMOCA August 14 in conjunction with GenCon.

OtC- iMOCA for the most part has, in the past, exhibited mostly artists from outside of Indy. Any plans to exhibit more local artists in coming exhibitions?


JE- This is one area where I think we can improve. I have scheduled two shows with artists from Indianapolis. On October 9, we will have a show with Casey Roberts and Lori Miles at iMOCA around the Sasquatch/UFO theme. Our December show will be Brose Partington and Jeff Martin in an installation and kinetic sculpture show. I really felt like we needed to reconnect with the local community. We’re also going to have an Evans Woollen (architect originally from Indianapolis) retrospective show in March 2010 and we’ll be conducting tours of his buildings and residences in conjunction with Historic Landmarks of Indianapolis.

OtC- Any chance we will see the web site get a makeover, something that perhaps can be updated regularly by in house staff?


JE- The website was supposed to have been updated already. It kind of got lost in the shuffle. After the GenCon show in August, the website will be a priority. Fortunately, Stephen Schaf, our former Board President, is a designer with website capabilities at his company, HotBed Creative.

OtC- When is the first upcoming exhibit at iMOCA and what can we expect to see?


JE- August 14, “The Cursed Chateau” curated by New York artist and curator Tim Hutchings. It will feature works from 22 artists who are also gamers, and will open in conjunction with the GenCon Convention.

OtC- The last bit of news I had heard about iMOCA, a number of months ago, was that they were in the works to get a new, much larger space in a new building going up in the Fountain Square region. What can you tell us about this news and is it still in the works? And if so, when might we see this all take place? What can you tell us about the plans for the space, what size are we talking?

JE- We have been in negotiations for quite a while for a space in Fountain Square. Local Architect Craig Von Deylen is building a 56 unit apartment building at the Corner of Virginia and McCarty and has presented iMOCA with the opportunity to design and occupy a space on the second floor.

The building will be called the iMOCA Building. Our new space will be 6,500 square feet (five times the size of our current space) with a 2,000 square foot artsgarden/patio. It will have 20 foot high ceilings.

The building will serve as a connector between Downtown and Fountain Square. It will be visible from the interstate. We’re hoping to be able to use a lot that’s next to the interstate for a sculpture garden.

If all goes well, we could move in as early as Spring 2011.

OtC- With the new space in the works, what will be the role of, or rather what will happen with the current space that iMOCA has inhabited for all this time? Will iMOCA operate out of both or simply move to the larger space?

JE- We haven’t really decided about whether we’ll continue to operate in our current space. It’s possible we’ll keep the space open. I would like to thank Katz and Korin, who has donated the space to us, for their support.