Different Strokes

We just had a killer weekend, and it began with our artist designed mini-golf course entitled Different Strokes(above). We won a Wyoming Arts Council grant for this, and nearly a dozen artists contributed, including Ben Roth, Zach Allen, Rachel Kunkle-Hartz, Benjamin Carlson, Jeff Brown, Travis Walker, Aaron Wallis, Ryan Bailey, Thomas Macker, and the boys at Igneous Skis. Here's a few pics of the afterparty at the Pink Garter Theatre:

ASYMBOL

Asymbol is the brainchild of Travis Rice and his creative director Mike Parillo. We recently had a chance to swap knowledge with them in our studio and on a visit to theirs. Parillo's work has been featured all over the snow sports industry, and I can see why. See below:

Time lapse video of Parillo at work:

mike parillo time lapse painting

mikey parillo | MySpace Video

Summer 2010 Arts Preview

1. Red
Golden Theater, NYC

This two man play sounds really good. Alfred Molina plays the tortured painter Mark Rothko. It only runs for a few more days, so if you are in NY be sure to try and check it out. This is the second time Molina has played a painter, his first turn being his depiction of Mexican muralist Diego Rivera in the film Frida.



2. Hipsters, Hustlers, and Handball Players: Leon Levinstein's New York Photographs, 1950–1980
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC
June 8, 2010–October 17, 2010

Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Modern Century
Museum of Modern Art, NYC
April 11–June 28, 2010

Two great photographers will be on display in NYC this summer, famed for their candid, snapshot style images of everyday people.




3. The Pitchfork Music Festival
Union Park, Chicago
July 16-18

This festival gets better every year, since the first one held in 2006. The last couple of years have seen icons like Sonic Youth and Public Enemy performing classic albums in their entirety, but this year's eschews that format for a more traditional 3 day lineup. Highlights include Broken Social Scene(pictured above), Raekwon, LCD Soundsystem, and the recently re-united Pavement. And although the $90 3 day passes sold out quick, there are still relatively cheap day passes for $40 available.




5. Twilight Concert Series
Pioneer Park, Salt Lake City
July 8 - August 26
FREE!!!!

What a novel idea: a free concert every week to unite a city. This is always a great thing. Well almost always. Here is the lineup:

July 8: Modest Mouse w/Avi Buffalo
July 15: Girl Talk w/Memory Tapes
July 22: Beirut w/Twin Sister
July 29: The New Pornographers w/ the Dodos
August 5: Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings (pictured above) w/ Jamie Lidell
August 12: Matisyahu w/ TBA
August 19: Big Boi w/Chromeo
August 26: She & Him w/Dum Dum Girls

Crossover artists

Musicians are always tapping visual artists to provide work for their album covers. Andy Warhol's Velvet Underground Cover or Takashi Murakami's work on Kanye West's Graduation. come to mind.

But Hip hop stars moving into the realm of contemporary visual art is far less common. This week however, there were two interesting stories:

Pharrel Williams on the cover of this month's Modern Painters

The RZA from the Wu-Tang clan has his recreated a painting
of George Washintgton crossing the Potomac.
See above

In other news, the new director of the LA Museum of Contemporary Art has been chosen. He is Jeffrey Deitch, founder of Deitch projects. Love the site, Check it out.

Butterfield at the Center

The Jackson Hole Center for the Art has it's first piece of sculpture on the northern Cache street side. It is by Montana artist Deborah Butterfield, who is known for her gestural sculptures of horses using wood and materials often found near her ranch/studio in Bozeman. Several of her horses graced the Art Association's gallery (JH Artspace) in 2005, and though it was a small show, many locals still talk about it as one of the best exhibitions ever shown in the valley.

Here she explains her philosophy about art and, um, why her horses have no genitals:



You'd think she had her own website, but no.

Christian Art is about torturing people and makes her sick.

More on her work here.

FIELD NOTES: Tristan sent this over the other day about the artist Jim Denevan's work in the desert:

Brochure from Peter Hinson on Vimeo.

More of Jim Denevan here.

Food as Art: The Town House

The Chilled Vegetable Minestrone

Food is an inspiration. On a recent trip this fall to the Town House in Chilhowie, Virginia, we were blown away by the 10 course dinner, a sensory experience like none i've ever had. Inspired by their hikes on the nearby Appalachian Trail, the chefs use things like nitroglycerin to change the textures and presentation of their dishes. And most of these creations DO look like something you might see on the shady forest floor; a flourescent moss, a gelatinous, glistening mushroom, a myriad of colorful wildflowers among black rocks.

Below, from top to bottom: Chorizo Boullon with various Spanish influences; Cardamon Scented Duck with pear poached in passion fruit, parsnip, and stilton wine; Cured Hamachi & Bev Eggleston's Pig Tail with pickled oyster, sea lettuce and a broth courtesy of Allen Benton; Thorntree Farms lamb cooked in ash with dried fruit and black garlic marmalade, wild rice "polenta"; Purple Mountains with latte, anise seed, black sesame oil, yogurt, fig and concord grape

A Little Field Trip

We've been on the road for about a month, and oh man is it good to be home. After enjoying a scenic drive through the thick middle section of America, we surfaced on the campus of the University of Tennessee. UT has an outstanding printmaking program. One of the things I like about it is the school's relationship with the letterpress print shop, Yee-Haw Industries. Powered by UT printmaking interns, Yee-Haw cranks out posters, cards, t-shirts, and more, all with a unique southern swagger.

More Printmaking Videos

One of the best screenprinting demos ever! With a few amazing twists at the end.

More Printmaking Videos

With class in session here at the lab, it is time to post some more tech videos.

Woodcuts for T-shirts



Screenprinting and you!

Banksy is everywhere

The British artist known only as Banksy is one of the world's most influential artists, although no one has ever seen his face. Locally, we've seen echoes of his style in the work of Tristan Greszko and other young artists. Internationally, he is an icon, turning up recently in a music video by Radiohead's Thom Yorke (directed by Raymond Salvatore Harmon).

I almost had a seizure watching this, and it isn't one of Yorke's finest songs(these are better), but the video is interesting nonetheless, especially when paused frequently:

Cotton Jones / JH Fart Festival

It's Fall Arts Festival time in Jackson Hole, and that means less families and more art collecting couples and culture starved locals converging on downtown Jackson.

Surprisingly the best cultural event this week doesn't have a thing to do with the FAF. One of my favorite indie bands, Cotton Jones, will be playing here on Monday the 14th at the Bait Shop.

Check them out:



Affectionately called the Fart Festival by many good humored locals, the 2009 FAF runs from September 10-20. For those of us who live here year round, this is our favorite weekend of the year, a few days to enjoy the sunshine (hopefully) with your friends, sample incredible food, and reclaim the downtown from the gapers. And, uh, see some art.

Tammy Christel has a brief guide to several key events here.

And Robyn Vincent's playbook is here.

Also, some great local writing about Jackson's most famous homeless resident, Ms. Hill.

Goonies Bike-In

HEY YOU GUYS!!!

Tomorrow night we are co-hosting a bike-in movie with Fitzgerald's Bicycles at the Center for the Arts Ampitheater. This space has been itchin for use and what better way than chilling out with a few hundred folks in front of Snow King, tossing back a few beers and watching the Goonies.

A short biking film will be screened to open things up, then sit back in your chair(don't forget a blanket too) and enjoy the movie. $3 suggested donation plus $4 beers from the Snake River Brewing Co, Tacos from Pica's, and killer merchandise from the Artlab.

A silent auction will also be held to help raise funds for the lab's studio. Great items including lift tickets to JHMR, Smartwool gear(donated by Rendezvous Event Management), dinner at Teton Thai, Thai Me Up, Cafe Ponza, and Pearl Street Bagels.

Special shout out to Cam and Hughes Production as well as Aaron Wallis and Andy Zimmerman for making this thing happen!

Residency Programs

Artist residency programs, such as Teton Artlab's, play a vital role in the growth of an artist, providing time, space, and often meals and modest stipends to pursue new bodies of work in a nurturing environment.

There are hundreds of quality programs, from one artist in a cabin, to hundreds of artists working in sprawling studio centers. Our Rocky Mountain neighbor and one of the larger residencies, Anderson Ranch, has a great residency program and created this interesting video about it:

An Evening At Neverland Ranch

Like Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley before, Michael Jackson (1958-2009) has inspired generations of artists, and will reach many more as his legend grows. Short, sweet summary of his life here.


Long live the King:



Jeff Koons (American, b. 1955)
"Michael Jackson and Bubbles"
Ceramic, 1988



Andy Warhol (1928-1987)
"Michael Jackson"
Oil on silkscreen on canvas, 1984
Time cover, March 19, 1984
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Gift of Time magazine

Christo's "Over the River"

News today from Colorado. More on this from the artists themselves.

Avett Brothers live in the Gondola!

Thomas Stimpson gave us the heads up on this beautiful video, filmed during last year's Jackson Hole Music Festival.

Ok, Cowboy

Here is a special training video for the upcoming exhibit at Teton Artlab.

Day in the Life

Looking out from Bland Hoke's snow sculpture.



Making the initial approach



View of Hoke's piece from the valley floor



Top of Josie's ridge



On Josie's ridge



Mike Tyson cross-stitch!



The $4 lunch special at Shades. mmmmm...



Getting Tyson started. The first of many, many hours.
Can you beat Mike Tyson? Give it a shot at Teton Artlab on June 5th and win big!

SF Graffiti

Mindblowing group project in the Mission district of San Francisco.  We need an alley like this in Jackson! 

Snow-nut

No, it isn't a ski jump.  Bland Hoke and the Center of Wonder are creating a large snow sculpture on the side of Snow King Mountain.   The temporary installation will last through the summer, protected from heat and UV radiation by snow blankets designed to preserve glaciers from melting.   So much for global warming.  Go to www.artspotinfo.org to comment or suggest a name for the work.