ADAM PENDLETON
Black Dada flags, 2011
16 vinyl flags, 5 x 7 feet each, courtesy the artist and Shane Campbell Gallery
Photo: James Ewing, Courtesy Public Art Fund

Completely captivated by A Promise Is a Cloud, the new Public Art Fund exhibition in Brooklyn. It stars four young artists, including two Ballroom Marfa alum: Erin Shirreff (read about her piece here) and Adam Pendleton, who was in the very first Ballroom show, Optimo, way back in 2003. Pendleton’s piece, Black Dada flags, furthers his “Black Dada” project, which pairs two concepts: Dada, and the notion of “black” (read more about “Black Dada” project in this interview with Pendleton in BOMB). The work features 16 large, silver, black, and white flags along the Myrtle Promenade, and each flag features a unique and (increasingly) abstract design derived from the visual language of Pendleton’s “Black Dada” (which is in turn derived in part from reproduced images of Sol LeWitt’s series of sculptures Incomplete Open Spaces). Glad it’s a year-long exhibition.

p.s. Check out YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES’ piece — which appears on a screen in the MetroTech Commons plaza. It’s a modified version of this, which I saw a few years ago online.

In store mobile payments will (finally) gain momentum The end of 2015 will mark the tipping point for the use of mobile phones for NFC enabled in store payments in Canada

After the ceremony, the Mississauga, Ont.
“Dad, will you make us a snack.
Plain and simple.
But the truly craziest part of all was that the WSJ’s source was allegedly a spokesperson for the government, a Mr.

“Jack’s a freak, you could put him in the back line anywhere, even at lock, and he’d do an outstanding job.
No one really cares about your six pack.
He taught at, and was also Principal of Public School, North Stormont District High School, Cornwall Collegiate and Vocational School and retired in 1981 from Seaway District high School in Iroquois after a 42 year career in education.

ERIN SHIRREFF
Sculpture for Snow, 2011
Painted aluminum
Courtesy Lisa Cooley Fine Arts
Photo: James Ewing, Courtesy Public Art Fund

Just heard from artist and pal Rosy Keyser about Public Art Fund’s new exhibition, publicartfund.org/apromiseisacloud/about/” target=”_blank”>A Promise Is a Cloud, which features work by four artists: Ohad Meromi, YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES, Ballroom alum Adam Pendleton (who was in our very first show, Optimo), and finally, our great friend and Immaterial alum, Erin Shirreff

Erin’s work, Sculpture for Snow (2011) — her first public artwork — expands upon her 2006 video, Sculpture Park (Tony Smith), in which she filmed a scale-model of a Tony Smith sculpture constructed from a photograph

As Public Art Fund explains, “In situ, the dimensionality of the sculpture shifts with the viewer’s perspective — from one angle the sculpture shows a verisimilitude to Smith’s iconic work, Amarylis (1965-1968), yet at another angle, it can be likened to a drawing, or a large-scale folded piece of paper, weightless, and airy

” If you live in New York or are visiting, you must go see it (and see it again, as the experience will change as the sculpture gathers snow and rain)

The exhibition runs from November 5, 2011 – September 14, 2012 at MetroTech Center, in downtown Brooklyn between Jay Street and Flatbush Avenue at Myrtle Avenue

For more information, visit Public Art Fund

Esther Kläs
Hero heat hallo, 2010
Aquaresin pigments, wood
52.8 x 32.4 x 60 in.(140 x 83 x 152 cm)

The great Esther Kläs, whose sculpture Llena was in our 2010 fall exhibition, Immaterial, will have her own show, Nobody Home, at Peter Blum Chelsea in New York, running from 17 November 2011 to 7 January 2012. The exhibition opens this Thursday, 17 November 2011, with a reception from 6 to 8pm. Eric Bryant of Artlog says of Kläs: “The young German artist fill[s] her abstract pieces with unexpected and sometimes startling juxtapositions of material, form, color, and texture…Prepare to be surprised and seduced.” Read more.

I have been looking for goggles that are kind to the delicate skin around my eyes and that also don’t leakBostic missed three games in the middle of last season with a back injury, but at this point it’s unclear if that injury is related.
Says Roper: “He describes himself as a ‘right leaning’ independent, and his policy views largely align with the Republican Party.
There is evidence that the pilot was killed a month earlier on January 3, while prisoner swap negotiations were taking place (Jordan Pilot Hostage Moaz al Kasasbeh, 2015).
But research is not included in the FOIA act concerning fees.
Notably, Jordanians also dominate the Nusra Front.
They presumably want to keep many of these players.

Just got the photos back from Tinariwen — so great. You can check them all out here. Special thanks to Fred Covarrubias for his concert photos (Fred dragged out ladders mid-show to get some of the shots), and Alex Marks, who continues his amazing musician Polaroid series for us (the rest of which you can see here, here, here, here, here, and here).

And if you’re in New York, please head to C L E A R I N G to see “Great Desks and Chairs,” featuring new works by Ballroom alum and awesome friend, Linda Matalon, as well as Ryan Foerster and Viola Yesiltac. The exhibition runs from 9 November 2011 – 8 January 2012, and is open by appointment at 505 Johnson Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, 11237. Call 1 347 383 2256 for more details.

If you’re in Los Angeles: Jonah Freeman and Justin Lowe, of Hello Meth Lab in the Sun fame, are showcasing a new performance tomorrow night at LA’s Museum of Contemporary Art, Shadow Pool: A Natural History of The San San International. The cocktail reception begins at 7pm, the performance at 8pm, with special guest Jennifer Herrema (of Royal Trux fame) and her band Black Bananas. All at the Hollywood Forever Masonic Lodge (!), tomorrow, 9 November 2011. More info here.

Artist and friend Maria Jose Arjona, who performed her piece Vault at Ballroom Marfa in 2003, will be featured in the Quadrilateral Biennial, which focuses on contemporary art practices in Croatia, Italy, Hungary and Slovenia. The title of this year’s exhibition — Out of Left Field — invokes the American idiom, and seeks to evoke this element of surprise while alluding to political and ideological spheres. The Biennial runs November 11 – December 23, 2011 at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka, Croatia.

At Performa 11’s Opening Night Benefit on November 1, the artist duo Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset, who designed the Prada Marfa installation, will present Happy Days in the Art World, a dark comedy about the two artists, which slyly references Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days and Sarah Thornton’s Seven Days in the Art World. Commissioned by Performa, the play tells the story of two main characters, played by actors Joseph Fiennes (!) and Charles Edwards, who unveil their personal history together, their experience of being a “single work of art,” and their fears about what will happen to their substantial art careers when they break up. For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit Performa 11. (And you can read a great article about the pair in the Times Style Magazine.)

Happy Days in the Art World will premiere 1 November 2011, at 7:30 pm, at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, 566 LaGuardia Place (at Washington Square South) in New York.

Ballroom alum and good friend Maria Hassabi — who performed her dance piece, Gloria, at Ballroom in 2007 — has a new installation-based performance piece, SHOW, premiering at The Kitchen in New York on November 3-5, 2011. Alex Waterman, who performed at the Ballroom Benefit 2011 and with whom we’re presenting Vidas Perfectas, Waterman’s version of Robert Ashley’s opera, Perfect Lives, is doing the sound. Small world. If you’ll be in NY during these dates, please check it out!

Photo by Justina Villanueva, 2011.

“There are a lot of photos in this post that can describe my visit to Marfa, but this is one of my favorite moments. Ballroom Marfa flew Mick out to play the opening of ‘Autobody’. There were a lot of back and forth emails. There was planning of flights and hotel rooms. There were press releases and posters. But on Friday 9/30/11, all the things that go into preparing an art opening and music performance were outshined by the most strategic and intense game of tag played by the youth of Marfa. Man, that game was intense. So intense that the kids had no idea there was a dude incessantly playing metallic solos for 30 minutes. Towards the end of Mick’s set, one of the girls found a spider. So there was a lot of running back and forth while holding a spider in two cups. I had a lot of big chuckles throughout the weekend. This picture really does just sum it up.”

— Justina Villaneuva, from her blog, describing her and performer Mick Barr‘s weekend in Marfa as part of the AutoBody opening, 30 September 2011

More amazing photos here. Thanks to Justina and Mick and all the artists — Liz Cohen, Jonathan Schipper, Meredith Danluck, and Neville Wakefield — for being such awesome guests. It was an honor to have them.

SARAH CAIN
Untitled (Marfa), 2011
spray paint, acrylic, gouache, silver leaf, gold leaf, dresser, butterfly, toy car, glass bottle, grass, geode, plastic, bells, on wall and dresser

So much going on here in Marfa with Chinati Open House weekend! But just wanted to give a shout out to Sarah Cain’s exhibition, Forget me not, which opens officially today, and runs through 4 December 2011. Part of LAND‘s multi-site, multi-artist exhibition Nothing Beside Remains, happening throughout 2011 and 2012 throughout Marfa, Cain has created a site-specific installation for the first floor of the former Masonic Lodge (generously provided by Jeff Fort). In a series of new paintings, this installation explores, in both concept and imagery, the forget-me-not flower — a Masonic symbol later co-opted unknowingly by the Nazis. Conceptually, Forget me not deals with themes such as belief systems and doubt, double meanings and faith, and investigates physical, emotional, and psychic space. For viewings, please contact LAND to make an appointment.

And people of New York: Come to our first public performance in New York: Atom Fables, a performative work of experimental filmic sequences by artist Laleh Khorramian set to live soundtracks by Shahzad Ismaily. It’s all happening Monday and Tuesday, 10 and 11 October, at 8 pm at the 14th Street passage of the High Line. It’s free, so there’s really no excuse. The program is presented in collaboration with Friends of the High Line, and it’s going to be amazing! More details here and here.