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ARTLANTIC 2013
Three New Commissioned Artists
ATLANTIC CITY

ARTLANTIC 2013 plan for new installations on 1700 Pacific Ave. between Dr. MLK Jr. Blvd. and Indiana Ave.

Artist Organized Art

In November, 2012, curator Lance Fung successfully opened Atlantic City’s art parks, which famously dodged Hurricane Sandy’s wrath and were dubbed ARTLANTIC in The New York Times. It’s not Lance Fung’s first brush with luck. As curator of 2008’s Site Santa Fe Biennial, he titled the exhibition “Lucky Number Seven.” I’ve always liked the positive metaphysics of that title. Likewise, ARTLANTIC’s 2012 soft opening brings to mind the collective healing of which this special public art campaign has proven capable. So it is with ARTLANTIC 2013. In a storm of austerity and a flood of volunteerism in the arts, a veteran curator of world class culture uses wizardly know-how to invoke public art commissions with staying power.

ARTLANTIC is a series of temporary art exhibitions for vacant outdoor spaces in the heart of Atlantic City. The sites were selected based on location and inspirational qualities for the artists to explore. The ambitious, five-year, outdoor, public-art project is curated by Lance Fung and funded by the Atlantic City Alliance(ACA) and the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) and is helping to re-imagine Atlantic City as a vibrant, dynamic, cultural destination. In 2012 ARTLANTIC launched by engaging some of our most influential contemporary artists Robert Barry, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, John Roloff and Kiki Smith.

I find it astonishing that in a relatively small city there is an exceptional opportunity by way of investment in public art commissions on a grand scale. Where the ocean meets the land, the second phase of ARTLANTIC offers a seasoned take on the value of artists, infrequent in today’s arranged creative economies. While most gateway and resort city stimulus programs shift the function of art and design to tidying up Main Street, Atlantic City is investing in major works via one of a kind commissions. In Atlantic City, the five year campaign to elevate the soul through cultural destination channels a mix of historic and emerging artists while merging the role of curator and impresario.

Peter Hutchinson demonstrates planned thrown rope installations

Enhancing these robust artworks, the park, which opened in April and stays open year round, offers free admission to the public. ARTLANTIC is the first public artwork for Ilya and Emilia Kabakov in the US, the largest outdoor installation for Robert Barry, the most important commission for John Roloff and allowed Kiki Smith to realize her dream proposal of a red garden from the 1980’s. ARTLANTIC also commissions Peter Hutchinson’s largest thrown rope piece to date which will be installed on May 6th. For 2013, ARTLANTIC provides the first public commissions for New Jersey based artists Robert Lach and Jedediah Morfit. In fact, it is the first time either artist has created public art.

What distinguishes a true curator is a constant cultivation of value in and around the work of a variety of artists. The 2013 phase of ARTLANTIC is about seeking out and discovering new artists from New Jersey. About this, Lance Fung says “Now I have the opportunity of commissioning two emerging artists whose work will be placed alongside our 2012 icons. Recognizing the talent that already exists in New Jersey is vital. I feel a responsibility to help evolve a young artist’s career by facilitating their work. After an exhaustive search of six months I am delighted to present new commissions by Robert Lach and Jed Morfit. I am also delighted to work with land artist Peter Hutchinson again.” Peter Hutchinson, a seminal artist whose earth works of the 1970’s changed the art world, will realize his largest thrown rope commission in the United States. About the ARTLANTIC commission Peter Hutchinson says “It is a year long work of four seasons which includes the riot of spring, the dazzle of summer, the calm of autumn and the frozen sensibility of snow with the fecundity of rain, plus the energy and randomness of the thrown rope.”

Public art strikes a chord with curators, officials and artists. Yet, in practice, its art forms and its definition of public space evolve with each new commission. Today’s works tend to intervene by creatively boosting the community’s sense of place and well-being. Though many commissions result in permanent artworks, sculptures and applied arts, they also include process, action and research based forms.

Refuge Nest Colony process image. Courtesy Robert Lach

Commissioned artist Robert Lach, says “I want visitors to be like a bird by sitting in my nest colony installation and viewing the world from a bird’s perspective. This series of interactive sculptures will serve as a place for play, observation and contemplation by combining public art and the playground. By building the nest colony in Atlantic City, it will remind the local residents and the visiting population that nature is abundant here, and will serve as a symbol of rebirth and renewal. Through this project, I’d like to encourage people to contemplate what home means to them by providing a place to think about nature.” His seven cast fiberglass nests will be illuminated by night, and are four feet in diameter so that children can enter, sit, play and imagine.

Monuments, memorials and statues are the older forms of official public art, however, today architected-sculpture and pure architecture are included. Almost everything in the public environment is being deployed by public art. Public benches and retaining walls, street lights, bicycle racks and commissioned graffiti offer a variety of adaptations. Even ephemera and time based forms like dance, parades, concerts and street events occur within commissioned public art. However what many of the works have in common is an attempt to go beyond the scale of gallery art. Richard Long famously presented a three week walk, called “The Path is the Place in the Line”, as a form of commissioned public art.

The Flood Suite process images. Courtesy Jedediah Morfit

Commissioned for ARTLANTIC, Jedediah Morfit’s aluminum castings relate to the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and man’s relations to nature. These unique aluminum sculptures also function as furniture. His figurative sculpture also graces the entrance as the main gate into the art park. Lach’s and Morfit’s new commissions will be installed in the summer when there are a maximum of the annual thirty million visitors to Atlantic City’s boardwalk. Fortunately the boardwalk itself and the iconic Steel Pier amusement park are in perfect shape and were not affected by Hurricane Sandy. Individuals are welcome and any school or organization can arrange for a free guided tour by Project Director, Layman Lee, no fee required.

About the 2013 commission Jedediah Morfit says “I’m tremendously excited to be part of this project. Fung Collaboratives and the Atlantic City Alliance have given me the opportunity to create new work in a new medium and a new genre, as well have one of my existing sculptures realized in an entirely new context.

The commissioned pieces, “The Flood Suite”, will be a comprised of three identical sets of highly sculpted garden furniture. These pieces are inspired by the ornamental cast iron garden furniture that were particularly popular in the early 20th century, and which continue to be in production today.

Each set (three sets of two chairs and a love-seat) will be connected by a visual through line, or a ‘high water mark,’ flooded with the jumbled detritus of daily life. This disorderly motif was, of course, inspired by Hurricane Sandy, as well by the images of upheaval and confusion that have become familiar in the wake of the latest hurricane, flood, tornado, or tsunami.

As furniture, this project will provide a place to sit down and enjoy the city, the park, and the view. As sculpture, these pieces will offer a commentary on how our perception of our relationship to nature has shifted from one of bucolic pleasure and harmony to that of anxious anticipation and imbalance.

In addition to the newly commissioned work, “Mama’s in the Arbor” (2013), will be adapted to serve as the gateway to the park. In many ways, this piece was created as a personal response to the Late Gothic sculpture that has fascinated me since I was a child. As a sculptor, I wanted to try my hand at creating something that complex, overwhelming, and mysterious, without succumbing to nostalgia, or anachronism. In a very direct way, my goal was to create in viewers the same feelings I have standing in front of a carved wooden altarpiece from the Middle Ages; that powerful frisson between the seductive pleasure of the image and the profound, and potentially unsettling, implications of the narrative.”

Left: Robert Lach, Right: Jedediah Morfit

Of the 2013 participating artists here is what we know. Chosen artists are Peter Hutchinson, Robert Lach and Jedediah Morfit. While Peter Hutchinson was born in England and lived in the United States for over fifty years, Robert Lach and Jedediah Morfit are USA nationals both living in New Jersey. Hutchinson began as a geometric painter, his close contact with minimal artists in New York such as Sol LeWitt and Tadaaki Kuwayama exposed him to conceptualist thinking at its inception. Yet, he veered from minimalism and conceptualism to follow a poetic and nature-oriented path. This places him squarely in a British tradition we associate also with artists like Richard Long. His public art installation for ARTLANTIC will be his largest “Thrown Rope” piece to date.

By contrast, emerging artist Robert Lach works with sculpture, found art assemblage, photography, and installation. His photography, in particular, works with New Jersey’s industrial landscape and decay. He studied at the Visual Arts Center in Summit, NJ, the International Center for Photography in New York City, and this past year received his BFA in sculpture from New Jersey City University.

Also participating as an emerging artist based in New Jersey, Jedediah Morfit, who lives in Collingswood, NJ with his wife and three children, received his MFA in sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2005, and joined The Richard Stockton College the following year. He was a Fellow at the Center For Emerging Visual Artists, in Philadelphia, from 2007­2009, awarded a New Jersey Council On the Arts Fellowship for sculpture in 2009, and won the Dexter Jones Award for Bas Relief from the National Sculpture Society in 2011 and 2012.

Curator Lance Fung, of Fung Collaboratives, has a reputation for ambitious, innovative approaches to public art. He is perhaps best known for The Snow Show, a series of exhibitions that teamed world-renowned artists with cutting-edge architects to design ephemeral, large-scale installations from ice and snow in Lapland, Finland in 2004 and then at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Following the The Snow Show, Fung curated Lucky Number Seven for the seventh SITE Santa Fe International Biennial in 2008 and Wonderland, a public art exhibition in San Francisco in 2009.

Open Space Partners, Ace Gaming, LLC and California Avenue Ventures, LLC, are private companies who have agreed to make their previously empty spaces available to ARTLANTIC for community enjoyment. As of 2013, ARTLANTIC remains on track to be one of the most promising public art campaigns of the decade. Visit www.fungcollaboratives.org

About The Atlantic City Alliance (ACA)
The ACA is a recently established New Jersey not-for-profit corporation whose primary mission is to develop and implement a full-scale, broad-based, multi-year marketing program for Atlantic City. The ACA works in partnership with the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) to market and promote the Atlantic City Tourism District via a public/private partnership. The ACA also works with local and state government, the private sector and other organizations to further enhance the marketing program. Visit www.doatlanticcity.com

About The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA)
Established in 1984 by the State of New Jersey, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority provides capital investment funds for economic development and community projects that respond to the changing economic and social needs of Atlantic City and the State of New Jersey. It encourages business development and permanent job creation, promotes opportunities for business expansion, and commits to facilitating a vibrant economic investment and employment environment for New Jersey. Visit www.njcrda.com

LEAH POLLER at Jiangxi Tongqing
Metal Handicrafts Company
Nanchang, China

SUPERSIZE – MY SCULPTURE
A Chinese Puzzle Solved

Leah Poller

As adjunct to my participation in the Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair (AOA November 2012), I scheduled a two-day side trip to Nanchang to get a up-close view of the Jiangxi Tongqing Metal Handicrafts Company in the hopes of finding a solution to escalating casting costs in the US. Like many sculptors, I had become frustrated seeing my market shrink as the price for small works out-paced the economic environment, and the possibility of large-scale competitive projects faltered as fabrication costs collapsed available budgets.

Accompanied by Paul Cavanaugh, a Rhode Islander with years of foundry experience and representative of Jiangxi, I left Shanghai for the Nanchang ChangLeng Foreign Investment Industrial Zone, a 1.5 hour plane ride from Shanghai. A much-appreciated and necessary translator, Dr. Wei Chan, a US educated industrial engineer, joined us. Upon arrival at the newly opened Nanchang Airport, we were met by a car and driver from the foundry. The half hour ride on an under-exploited super highway traversed numerous construction projects and the sensation of seeing a region poised for explosive growth “a la China” was unavoidable.

Courtyard: to appreciate scale, note the workers inside the Buddha heads on the roof

As I descended from the car, my first glimpse of Jiangxi was a super-sized industrial complex, the entrance framed by a sculptural world populated by Amazons. From the get-go, Jiangxi offers more than an eyeful. The grounds are peopled with 2-8 meter tall sculptures ranging from Seward Johnson’s “Mariachi’s” to a multiple size range of Buddha’s or paired dragons ready for pick-up to instantly adorn a temple, restaurant, garden or doorway.

I was escorted to my room in the “hotel” , accommodations provided gratuitously by the foundry for visiting artists and clients; I dropped off my bags and began my official visit with a greeting from both the Foundry director and the Party representative who double-checked my passport to assure my identity.

My first activity was a multi-hour walking tour of the premises that barely revealed the complexity and capacities of this foundry. The foundry consists of 450,000 square feet of workshops (some as long as two foot ball fields and 4 stories high), sprawling over 105 acres, and staffed by more than 700 employees.

Suffering from a feeling of irrelevancy before such massive capabilities, I was nonetheless buoyed by their gracious treatment of me as if I were a visiting dignitary. In each work area I was introduced to the studio manager and given a thorough introduction to their activities and capabilities.

Gallery display: larger than life size bronze and cloisonné Buddhas

Having barely caught my breath from a power-walk through their indoor gallery of 4 floors, and a quick tour of their offices, I was personally greeted by Mr. Chen ZhenBo, President and Chairman of the Board of Jiangxi.

We were ushered into a dining room reminiscent of the settings from my days of diplomatic luncheons with African Ministers of State. A dozen men (I was the only woman present), including 3 visiting Buddhist monks and the top managerial staff of the foundry, were seated at a round table with the prerequisite Lazy Susan on which an assortment of local dishes turned graciously for the next hour.

At each place setting, a local brew that makes vodka seem like fruit punch provided the basis to toast our host and each other in a choreographed tour de role of “Campay” (“bottom’s up!”) of this firewater, punctuated by bursts of camaraderie, joking and shared cigarette lighting. This warm-hearted bonding is a necessary rite of passage for foreigners and fortunately for me, Mr Zhen Bo was kind enough to drink the first ¾ of my glass each time to assure I would remain conscious for the post-lunch program!

Chasing studio: note the organization and spaciousness

The remainder of my afternoon was spent hiking through cavernous mold-making, casting and chasing workshops, and then through the smaller ateliers specialized in enlargements, wax molds, ceramic shell, gilding, cloisonné, box making and woodworking, (the latter in-house activities support packaging and the display of finished works). In fact, the foundry is equally skilled in small works as well as large and maintains an on-going business in cloisonné clocks, traditional figurines and Buddha’s.

Prepared for casting: 500 larger than life Buddhas

I was left speechless as I viewed a seemingly endless line of massive works in progress that are commonplace to this foundry. As an example: 500 larger than life-size, individually sculpted Buddha’s for a temple. I walked under the legs of an 8 ton, single-pour tripod destined for a town center, which apparently is dwarfed by a smaller version of a previously cast 50 ton, single pour, 10 meter high tripod.

Me (Leah Poller) in relation to an 8 ton, single-pour, enlarged 12th Century tripod

Jiangxi also holds the record for the largest ever Chinese bronze project: a war memorial in Beijing consisting of 38 cylindrical bronze sculptures each weighing 6 tons, not to mention the world’s record for the largest copper/nickel alloy bas relief measuring 39,000 square feet. Super-size me – without a doubt!

The visit concluded in the late afternoon with tea in the President’s office and a very gracious explanation of the foundry’s desire to reach a larger foreign market. Presently, 30% of their $600 Million annual gross is from exports to the US, Europe and Southeast Asia. As they retool for digital enlargement capability and technology driven services, they are excited about expanding their repertoire with new, challenging work from foreign artists.

During the discussions, it felt like my human – size, intimate work had become Pinocchio’s nose, growing and growing with each successive conversation. And suddenly, the “Why not me?” question was answered. This was how and where a scale of 1:10 could be executed cost effectively and expertly.

Day Two I spent working side by side with a dozen lovely young ladies correcting waxes of my work that would be cast for my participation in the Hong Kong Contemporary Art Fair in May, 2013 (www.asiacontemporaryart.com).

Correcting waxes of my first project with Jiangxi

The compelling opportunity offered by the Asian marketplace had started to come together.

My visit concluded with a farewell luncheon identical in form if not in guests (this time, friends of the President and a sculptor from Thailand) and then I was back to Shanghai in time for dinner.

For the first time in my artistic career I find myself envisioning my works in public places, 12 feet high, brought in under budget, on time and executed effortlessly. And because I can now see this possibility, I am able to dialogue with an audience for them as well. The visit to Jiangxi has opened up a floodgate of creativity and for me, “build it, they will come” has become a reality.

Leah Poller was born in Pennsylvania. She received classical training in sculpture at the prestigious Ecole Nationale Superieure de Beaux Arts, in Paris, France where she resided for 20 years.  Partaking of a rich, multi-cultural environment, Poller interacted with foremost members of the international arts communities of France, Spain, Italy, Mexico and Latin America, through her art and from her collaboration on the facsimile re-edition of the major Twentieth Century Art Publications (Revolution Surrealiste, Dada, Cercle et Carre, Cobra, etc.).  Returning to the United States in 1992, she established her studio in Soho and began the  “The 101 Bed Collection” which has been exhibited in galleries and institutions in Europe, Mexico, Asia and throughout the United States. Her figurative work, notably ‘Women Warriors” and the newest series “Sung Heroes” unites the classical and the surreal with a uniquely modern reinvention of the portrait.    She has been featured on CNN, Fox Television and in numerous art publications.   She has lectured extensively and held workshops on creativity. In 2002, she was named Director of “Intercambios de Arte y Cultural Internacionale”, a Mexican/American association furthering cultural exchanges between the Americas and spearheading the restoration of a major twentieth century mural from 1935, recently discovered to be the work of Philip Guston. Poller lives and works in Harlem. www.leahpoller.com

Jiangxi Tong Qing metal handicraft Limited company ( formerly: Jiangxi metal crafts factory ) is located in Nanchang long barrow Foreign Investment Industrial Zone, covers an area of 79200 square meters, the plant area of 41000 square meters. Since the establishment of the company, in under the leadership of chairman Chen Zhenbo, from scratch, from small to large, from weak to strong, continuously improve economic efficiency of expanding the scale of production, is the world’s largest art casting in one of the Professional Company. At present my company set up a mold, wax mold, casting, finishing, repair, maintenance, with painted gold, welding center workshop. Our advanced production technology, in the original large plaster pottery pattern lost wax casting process, 6 tons of weight, height of 6 meters below the statue can be one-time overall precision casting success. The development of gold, gold, gold and other products, its technology in the same industry in a leading position. Improve the quality management system, products of good quality, standardize enterprise management.In recent years, my company’s products spread all over the world, 38 meters high martial god of wealth ( Taiwan county ), 20 meters high land public bodhisattva ( Taiwan Taichung City ), 20 meters high sided xenia a Buddism godness Guanyin ( Hainan Boao Temple ), 18.8 meters high statue of Sun Zhongshan ( Guangxi Qinzhou). The world’s largest bronze tripod, Deng Xiaoping home and seek truth from facts, Hunan Heng Mountain Wanshou tripod ( pass 10 meters high, weighs 50 tons, overall casting success ), UN bonding Zhongxin century anniversary of the return of Macao, Hongkong, Baoding, by our company for the system; China ’s largest art cast copper project — the Chinese people’s anti-Japanese war memorial sculptures, the domestic first set of five hundred Luo Hanzhu copper gold project, high-quality completion; the world’s largest copper art relief project, Taiwan Tzu Chi meditation hall 3900m2 white copper flying relief. www.jx-yf.com/en | www.jx-yf.com

GAIA & NANOOK IN BUENOS AIRES
Meeting of Styles Argentina: Ghelco Factory

I’m attaching a wall that Nanook and I just finished in Buenos Aires
for Meeting of Styles Argentina on a Ghelco factory.

Field Report By GAIA

much love guys

Barracas is a barrio, or district, in the southeast part of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located between the railroad of Ferrocarril General Manuel Belgrano and the Riachuelo River, and the streets Regimiento de Patricios, Defensa, Caseros, Vélez Sársfield, Amancio Alcorta, Lafayette, and Lavardén. The name Barracas comes from the word barraca, which refers to a temporary construction of houses using rudimentary materials.

Argentina’s fábricas recuperadas movement, which emerged in response to Argentine’s 2001 economic crisis, is the current most significant workers’ self-management phenomenon in the world. Worker self-management (sometimes called workers’ control or autogestion) is a form of workplace decision-making in which the workers themselves agree on choices (for issues such as customer care, general production methods, scheduling, division of labour) instead of an owner or traditional supervisor telling workers what to do, how to do it and where to do it. Examples of such self-management allegedly include the Paris Commune, the Russian Revolution, the German Revolution, the Spanish Revolution, Titoist Yugoslavia, Algeria under Ahmed Ben Bella, the fábricas recuperadas movement in Argentina, the LIP factory in France in the 1970s, the Mondragón Cooperative Corporation which is the Basque Country’s largest corporation, AK Press in the United States, etc.

The Argentine economic crisis (1999–2002) was a major downturn in Argentina’s economy. It began in 1999 with a decrease of real Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The crisis caused the fall of the government, default on the country’s foreign debt, widespread unemployment, riots, the rise of alternative currencies and the end of the peso’s fixed exchange rate to the US dollar. Argentina’s many years of military dictatorship (alternating with weak, short-lived democratic governments) caused significant economic problems. During the so-called National Reorganization Process (1976–1983), the country went into debt for never-finished projects, the Falklands War, and state takeover of private debts. The Neoliberal economic platform was introduced during this period. By the end of the military government the country’s industries were severely affected—unemployment, calculated at 18% (though official figures claimed 5%), was at its highest point since the Great Depression.

Neoliberalism is a form of corporatocracy, the rule of a country by and for the benefit of large corporations. Since large corporations tend to fulfil all the conditions of a wealthy entity, they accrue many of the same benefits over smaller businesses. In addition, multinational corporations enjoy the benefits of neoimperialism on the international stage and can also move their base of operations from a country if that country pursues policies that it deems to be unfriendly to business, a threat which they provoke governments to enact upon. Although classical neoliberalism rests on the free flow of information, the neoliberal era has been marked by an unprecedented expansion of intellectual property and copyright, an expansion of libel laws to silence criticism (e.g. libel tourism) and expanding corporate secrecy (e.g. in the UK corporations used contract law to forbid discussion of salaries, thereby controlling labour costs), all of which came to be seen as a normal part of neoliberalism, but are wholly against its spirit. Finally, the fact that many media outlets are themselves part of large corporations leads to a conflict of interest between those corporations and the public good.

Gaia, a Baltimore-based street artist, whose name stands for Earth Goddess, is known for using animal imagery to convey nature’s voice in urban landscapes, often evoking a sense of mythical feedback as an omen from global warming. Other subjects include portraits of urban developers Nelson Rockefeller, Robert Moses, Henry Flagler, James Rouse, Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe. Gaia recently curated the multi-site mural project Open Walls Baltimore (OWB) which was scheduled to include fellow artists Maya Hayuk, Swoon, Chris Stain, MOMO, Freddy Sam, Jaz, Jetsonorama, Overunder, Vhils, Nanook, Mata Ruda, Specter, Interesni Kaski, Ever, Doodles, John Ahearn and Sten & Lex. “The carrier pigeon perched within a hand is an image that I have revisited many times in the past year. Much like the hybridized creatures I have produced in the past, this gesture displays a moment of domination and submission but also of steward and nature. Pigeons are beautiful creatures and one of the few that can tolerate the city. This print is a celebration of a dying urban sport and of an unsung animal.” – Gaia

http://posterchildprints.com/Carrier-Pigeon/
Purchase Gaia’s limited edition print “Carrier Pigeon.”
Size 22 x 28 inches, Edition Limited Edition of 135, Materials: Three Color Hand Pulled Silk Screen on Coventry Rag, 100% Cotton Archival Paper

http://www.artbma.org/press/documents/Nov_Dec.pdf
Gaia was recently commissioned by the Baltimore Museum Of Art

Open Walls Baltimore is an unparalleled street art project managed by and located in the Station North Arts & Entertainment District and curated by Gaia. The finest and most widely recognized street artists from around the world mounted an outdoor exhibition of extraordinary murals that enliven public spaces, stimulates community revitalization and national dialogue, and attracts visitors and investors to Station North with the installation of over twenty murals.

Map Of Mural Locations
Artists include: Gaia (Baltimore) – 1 W North Ave, Momo (New Orleans) – CIty Arts, 440 E Oliver St, Doodles (Port Townsend, WA) – 1539 N Calvert, Maya Hayuk (New York City) – 1715 N Charles Street, Ever (Buenos Aires, Argentina) – 10 E North Avenue, Overunder (Reno, NV) – 329 E Lafayette Street, John Ahearn (New York City) – Installation at Station North Arts Cafe, Specter (Montreal) – Joe Squared (North Avenue and Howard), Mata Ruda (Baltimore) – 1700 Latrobe, Josh Van Horn (Baltimore) – Guilford and North Avenue, Jessie Unterhalter & Katey Truhn (Baltimore) – St Paul St at Lafayette Ave, Freddy Sam (Capetown, South Africa) – Lafayette Ave at Charles St, Intersni Kazki (Kiev, Ukraine) – Complete (Maryland Ave at North Ave), Gary Kachadourian (Baltimore) – Barclay St at Lanvale Street, St Paul and North Avenue, Chris Stain (New York City) – 1701 Latrobe, Jetsonorama (New York City) – Barclay and Bowen Alley, Swoon (New York City) – Pittman Place, Sten and Lex (Italy) – Barclay and McAllister, Nanook (Baltimore) – Barclay and Lanvale, Jaz (Buenos Aires, Argentina) – Barclay St at E Oliver St, Vhils (Portugal) – 1539 N Calvert St

Leah Poller At 16th Annual
Shanghai Art Fair
November 2012

Shanghai Art Fair Entrance, 2012

Leah Poller

Dateline: Shanghai, November 6, 2012

A confetti strewn red carpet and the appropriate official lineup of government dignitaries ushered in the 16^th Annual International Shanghai Art Fair (October 31-November 4, 2012) at the Shanghai Mart. A slowdown in the general economy, coupled with a recent crackdown on illicit valuations of art acquisitions on tax declarations may have dampened the marketplace, but from my perspective as a newcomer to the fair, it looked surprisingly healthy, with over 50 000 visitors. For established Asian artists, selling works 6 to 10 deep was considered business as usual on opening night, with a clear disparity in the lesser fortunes of “new to fair”,  “new to Asia” and foreign talents who waited for the final hours to tally up their success.

Opening Ceremonies of the 16^th Annual International Shanghai Art Fair
(October 31-November 4, 2012) at the Shanghai Mart

The big question to ask as an artist: Is this fair for me, or not?

First, the monumental scale of the country and its massive population is singular. Everything comparable feels smaller in comparison. Like the city map, where 1/2 inch = an hour trot at a brisk pace, the 4 x 4 inch program for the Shanghai Art Fair is a marvel of small print that barely suggests the participation of approximately 160 exhibitors and thousands of square meters of exhibition space. The Fair is divided into 4 categories on 4 floors: top tier/international, ancient/ceramic arts, emerging Chinese artists (government supported), and finally, the international/mixed/mid range, where, if you are reading this article, you most probably would be.

Attendance both at the opening and during each successive day was non-stop and voluminous. Well dressed and well heeled (I love those outrageous shoe fashions!), the burgeoning middle and upper class audience exhibited interest and patience in studying works up close.   Shanghai shutterbugs – with the latest in obviously expensive photographic “neckwear”, incessantly took pictures.  One of my sculptures attracted a snapshot almost every 3 minutes.  More time is spent saying, “No pictures, please” than “Are you interested in knowing more about this work?”

In fact, the language barrier is the over-arching challenge. I found the inability to communicate, to translate ideas and values from one language to another, or to find a common ground on which to base an exchange of ideas or understandings quite painful. The vast majority does not speak English, plain and simple.  A non-familiar iconography (abstraction, non-Asian subject matter, or contemporary Western style expression) is as much a challenge in visual translation as is the challenge of a linguistic translation.

Less than 1% of the visitors speak any English at all – repeat – any at all …so what you show… is what you show.  No marketing embellishment, no glorious track records at auction, no taglines of enriching stories will help raise the level of engagement unless you have a highly qualified, Chinese origin, multi-lingual, art aficionado translator/sales person (a rarity).

Shanghai Art fair : Large Scale sculpture display

Add the inscrutable faces and there is not much you can do except wait to be approached with earnest interest. There is no note taking, no sign of desire and yet, come the weekend, the serious bargaining on second round visits is guaranteed. Work sells, consistently, surprisingly, and most non-Asian participants have no way to predict what works, what doesn’t.  Corinna Steiner (Steiner Gallery, Vienna) said ”there was no way of knowing or predicting that a 25 year old visitor would select a work for $25 000 without any commentary.” With a final tally of $20 000 000/US in sales, this was undoubtedly happening often.

Without question, no matter what the origin of the artist, themes or references,  leaning towards Asian sensitivities and cultural roots will help bridge the gap. The Chinese know their culture deeply and well. (Ex. Of the 7 sculptures I selected to exhibit, 4 had specific Asian references, 3 did not. The former were photographed constantly, and received enthusiastic smiles and “2 thumbs up”, while the latter were received indifferently).

Though the fair is international (45 galleries were foreign), the overwhelming presence is of galleries that are Chinese, or of mixed Asian/foreign ownership, or located elsewhere in Asia.  Amongst the 200 exhibiting artists, about 90% were Asian or working in Asia, and the audience was visibly Asian. Sandy’s agitation of travel on the Eastern seaboard may have impacted the US presence of museums, critics, or galleries looking for exportable talent  (apparently they flock to the Beijing fair) – but there was no way from my vantage point to confirm this. Do I believe they should be there…yes, and they will come. What is going on at the Shanghai Art Fair will gain ground so rapidly that heads will spin as this amazing marketplace (24 million inhabitants in Shanghai alone) joins the list of “must see” fairs for the global aficionados.

Rumor has it that Art Basel is in negotiations to purchase Shanghai Art. I trust they have crunched the numbers, even if the works offered fall far short of today’s international standard. And if this happens by next year (things move fast), then a replica of Beijing’s fair won’t be far behind.  Discounting the free pass distribution to students and retirees (non buyers), the proportion of able buyers once again is not to be underestimated.

Overall, the artistic content reminds me of the early art fairs in the US. Safe, traditional paintings:  still-life, landscapes, animals, and classic realism. For sculpture, figurines, oversized fruits or abstract drippy metal sculptures abound, while cutting edge, video, installation or avant-garde work just isn’t to be seen. That said, it wouldn’t be long till the full gamut of contemporary Western art is covered. Whoever risks getting into this burgeoning marketplace, with what chance for success, and at what cost, can be as arbitrary as the risk of participating in any other fair in the world. Except, “too late” may be just around the corner (Art Basel would assure that outcome).

Shanghart Gallery, Morgenshan Gallery District : Shanghai art fair – (most avant garde work)

The Asian artist Boun, the multilingual, multi-cultural nephew of a renowned Chinese artist, was decked out as a rare bird of paradise in rainbow allure, double rimmed, square, yellow spectacles and a plumed hat (the only “artsy” outfit I saw). Boun  has done 9 successive Shanghai Art fairs. He has no problem selling expensive artwork at 10 – 15 pieces at a clip. Possessing the language, the culture, a leg up with business smarts, he was paired with Argentinean sculptor Beatriz Gerenstein (now based out of Miami) and once again, had blockbuster success  “according to my own terms now”, Boun states. For Gerenstein  “reaching the human emotion transcends the barriers of language”, and credits her success to the intuitive ability of the Chinese to recognize the authentic and sincere.

Dan Gerbo, a newcomer to Shanghai Art but otherwise a successful French entrepreneur with years of Asian business experience is taking a shot as a self- represented artist, who nonetheless felt abused by paying heftier transport costs from Shanghai to the Fair then from Paris to Shanghai. His work, totally outside the acceptable vernacular (nudes, geometric sculptures) is hoping for a pleasant surprise.

Denis Ribas, a type – A personality from the South of France, has traveled extensively with his art throughout Asia,  and has sold more than 1800 paintings, since his beginning “on a lark” with the  Hong Kong Artfair in 2000. He offers Raoul Dufy style, colorful familiar scenes with thick impasto and plenty of bravura.

Shanghai’s Purple Roof Gallery, founded by the mundane Peter Zhao is probably the rock star gallery of the Fair. Politically wired to the point of masterminding Jing’An, the first public, municipally financed international sculpture garden in Shanghai, Zhao has brought together a roster of world-class participants in the first inaugural event, soon to be followed by Part II. His next destination: Art Basel Miami to “shop for new artists.”

Julia Mao, director of the Jing’An project, who confides that it took enormous expense, effort and unimaginable collaboration in dealing with vetting by government committee, was not familiar with the US 1% program, but did mention that “plop” art in China is described as “the flower blossom that adorns the gravy portion of most traditional Chinese dishes.” Unquestionably, they are poised for the next big gesture in bringing international art to the Chinese public.

So how do you, as an artist, weigh the pros and cons of playing the Chinese card? It might depend on what you already have in your hand. First, don’t expect collaboration with other artists; it’s every man for himself here.  Second, as a foreigner, you will fare better with a gallery representing mixed nationalities or with a geographic presence at home and in Asia. If you hit the lotto, you will hit it big. And what goes on here may not even matter to your home audience. You will get to travel far, learn a new culture, and grope your way through the new and under-explored to unearth the universal in your work. Not a path for the weak, fool hardy or short of vision dilettante.

Leah Poller - “Bed Pillow,” from the 101 Bed Collection, exhibited Shanghai Art Fair, 2012

The end result of venturing so far from home can be an unexpected combo of possibilities, which I experienced myself as a first time participant in the Shanghai Art Fair. It included front page billing in the catalogue, 2 major video interviews, thousands of photos of my work in circulation, a deepening relationship with my gallery, a financially advantageous relationship with a foundry capable of enlarging work to meet the demand expressed at the fair (represented in the US by a Rhode Islander who has been in Asia for 20 years), discussions of possible exhibitions in Chengdu, France, Shanghai, and Hong Kong,  including the  execution of a large scale work, and potential sponsorship for a public project.

Now the task is mine to bring these opportunities to fruition, and if I do, it will surpass anything offered to me Stateside…confirming that the definition of a genius is someone of talent far from home. Four days and possibly a life-changing moment…or not. There is something to be said for becoming the “rare-bird”, alighting in someone else’s far away garden. The hard work is only just beginning.

Leah Poller was born in Pennsylvania. She received classical training in sculpture at the prestigious Ecole Nationale Superieure de Beaux Arts, in Paris, France where she resided for 20 years.  Partaking of a rich, multi-cultural environment, Poller interacted with foremost members of the international arts communities of France, Spain, Italy, Mexico and Latin America, through her art and from her collaboration on the facsimile re-edition of the major Twentieth Century Art Publications (Revolution Surrealiste, Dada, Cercle et Carre, Cobra, etc.).  Returning to the United States in 1992, she established her studio in Soho and began the  “The 101 Bed Collection” which has been exhibited in galleries and institutions in Europe, Mexico, Asia and throughout the United States. Her figurative work, notably ‘Women Warriors” and the newest series “Sung Heroes” unites the classical and the surreal with a uniquely modern reinvention of the portrait.    She has been featured on CNN, Fox Television and in numerous art publications.   She has lectured extensively and held workshops on creativity. In 2002, she was named Director of “Intercambios de Arte y Cultural Internacionale”, a Mexican/American association furthering cultural exchanges between the Americas and spearheading the restoration of a major twentieth century mural from 1935, recently discovered to be the work of Philip Guston. Poller lives and works in Harlem. www.leahpoller.com

The “101 BED COLLECTION” is a conceptual “oeuvre” of inter-related sculptures referencing common words with “bed” in them. While baroque, multi-layered and dense when examined individually, with each work acting as a mental jog to provoke an examination of our relationship to the bed, the whole is a provocative statement of “presence” of a largely ignored subject of intimacy and personal identification in the human landscape. Aesthetically connected to Judy Chicago’s “Dinner Party” by virtue of the complexity of its components, Poller’s “101 Bed Collection” is nonetheless an ambitious representation by a single artist. Triggered by an accident in her studio from which Poller was relegated to bed for an extended period of time, she began an extensive study of the bed in all its historic, cultural, aesthetic, visual, literary and narrative forms. While observing that more than a third of our lives are spent in bed, Poller is the rare artist to examine this icon extensively through a multi-faceted work of art, a 3 dimensional  expression of her sense of humor, pathos, whimsy, sarcasm, tragedy and passion. Poller has invited a viral audience into a very personal theater of shared intimacy by creating the UNMADE BED PROJECT, a collection of photographs of unmade beds posted anonymously online from around the world, constituting the first  anthropological/sociologic vision of this otherwise off limits and “absent” space (www.unmadebedproject.com).

Art Wins At ARTLANTIC: WONDER
The Art Of Survival Through The Survival Of Art

Joshua Selman

I read the news today.. and despite all odds, and an 800 mile wide superstorm, this special week teaches me much about artists, communities and the art of survival through the survival of art.

On November 9th, in Atlantic City, an amazing connection between people from distant points is re-affirmed, in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, when five internationally recognized artists make their way to one of Sandy’s hardest hit sites on the east coast, the Atlantic City Boardwalk, in a show of solidarity with the local community. Together, Robert Barry, Ilya & Emilia Kabakov, John Roloff and Kiki Smith meet with the Atlantic City Alliance, local artists, architects, designers, labor unions, landscapers, local businesses and business associations, city agencies, universities, public schools, their teachers and others out of collective celebrations and concern for Atlantic City’s shared cultural asset and public art project, ARTLANTIC.

Despite the facts and the hardships wrought by Hurricane Sandy, the outpouring of unity over the public art project to transform large, underused parcels of land into public art spaces that will be available for the local community and visitors to enjoy year-round, showed astounding resilience. Hundreds of inquiries about the fate of the works and workers have come roaring in from Artlantic’s local communities, many themselves experiencing hardship, or temporarily displaced. Nor did the storm spare the international artists. Kiki Smith’s studio was flooded. Robert Barry lost power and had to relocate to his son’s house. Ilya and Emilia Kabakov live in Long Island and were without power and unable to get any gas for their car. John Roloff, who is flying in from California, had to watch from the West Coast as the superstorm tried unsuccessfully to degrade his entire work.

“With my return to Atlantic City following Hurricane Sandy, I feel an even stronger need to give back to this city than ever before.  Despite the fact that the Tourism District appears as if a storm never passed, one can feel a heaviness in the community. Homes were damaged and many lives were displaced by the storm. However, it never ceases to amaze me that despite this catastrophe, many neighbors, friends and strangers alike have approached me.  Their hopes that the art parks were unscathed and the notion of using them when the weather warms is reassuring. They are glad that a vacant lot is being turned into a free open space that will have a positive impact on this city.

I hope that as we all heal and recover, these new public spaces grow and help nourish all visitors and that they experience a new kind of community spirit in Atlantic City.” —Lance Fung November 2012

Aerial view of John Roloff’s elaborate illusionistic space, Étude Atlantis, on an 8,500 square-foot site.

Simply put, the survival of the works in Atlantic City, which is so eloquently detailed in this week’s New York Times Art & Design section (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/05/arts/design/artlantic-weathers-hurricane-in-atlantic-city.html), is emblematic of the strength of community in the face of the super threat, the superstorm, the super PAC and all kinds of distortions and outside pressures which, without value placed on our societies, leads to careless projects of human warehousing in place of the amazingly positive effects art seems to have on communal well being.

“With each project, new and exciting opportunities arise. I try to have contingency plans for unpleasant surprises, but I am always caught off guard by the positive ones. I never expected that by working in Atlantic City, I would find a renewed sense of purpose and inspiration. It seems as if the stars have aligned for ARTLANTIC: WONDER. Local artists and groups, business leaders, government officials, the school system, and the trade unions have all done their part to make this project succeed. I imagine that they, too, see the need to transform empty lots into beautiful, living public spaces though art and architecture. I foresee many activities taking place in the Artlantic spaces, but more importantly, I hope to see the emergence of a greater sense of community. Working in Atlantic City, we have met many wonderful people who see this collective action as a catalyst. There is almost a sense of euphoria when someone offers ideas or volunteers. I hope that Artlantic illustrates how great art goes beyond the gallery, museum, or auction house. It must begin in the heart and remain there to truly transform people through experience.” —Lance Fung November 2012

John Roloff’s elaborate illusionistic space, Étude Atlantis, under construction in Atlantic City
photo: Peter Tobia

Though the 5 year public art project was announced only last June, in this special congress, the preview on November 9^th (affectionately referred to as the “Sneak Peak”) the central medium is the artists meeting. Yet, the odds on having a preview of this ambitious project, by November 9^th, were nearly impossible, even without the superstorm.

In five month’s time the collectivity has achieved something massive. The Barry, Kabakov and Smith installation is on a seven-acre site that will have two open spaces with two sculptures walled by 14-foot-high undulating terraces covered in indigenous grasses and wildflowers. Today, the Kabakovs are recognized among the most important Russian artists to have emerged in the late 20th century. The Kabokov sculpture is a large, plywood pirate ship. The half-submerged ship is at the center of ARTLANTIC: WONDER. Opposite the ship is a life-sized version of “Her,” a self-portrait in bronze by Kiki Smith surrounded by a red-themed garden. “Her” depicts a woman tenderly embracing a doe and alludes to an embrace between humanity and the natural world. Embedded in the landscape surrounding both open spaces is Robert Barry’s illuminated text piece in a landscape design by New York-based Balmori Associates. Robert Barry is a conceptual artist whose work is concerned with the immaterial nature of ideas. He is best known for “Carrier Wave,” in which he used the carrier waves of a radio station as an object. His illuminated text piece will be embedded in a grass mound that mirrors the roller coaster on the Steel Pier. Mr. Barry has connections to Teaneck, New Jersey.

In five month’s time the collectivity has achieved something massive.
The Barry, Kabakov and Smith installation is on a seven-acre site

John Roloff is known primarily for his outdoor kiln/furnace projects done from the late 1970’s to the early 1990’s as well as other large-scale environmental and gallery installations investigating geologic and natural phenomena. His work, Étude Atlantis, on an 8,500 square-foot site, is an elaborate illusionistic space. Bold linear stripes converge into a spiral pattern that leads to the center of the space, where an embedded cistern appears to be alive and weeping suggesting a pathway into the Indian Ocean. He hopes to create a reciprocal piece in Australia completing the link between the two works and the two hemispheres. The landscape design is by Philadelphia-based Cairone & Kaupp, Inc.

If not for the human connection behind these works, the project would have been seen as wild eyed. However, the numerous inputs by, from and for the local community have created a welcoming context for the ambitious project.

ARTLANTIC: WONDER is the first curated public art installation that will open on the Atlantic City boardwalk at two different sites as part of the five-year, multi-phase public art installation that is being undertaken as part of a partnership between the Atlantic City Alliance (ACA), the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) and Lance Fung of Fung Collaboratives. It will promote positive social interaction by creating unique public spaces where families, tourists, and members of the local community can come together in playful and imaginative ways while adding quiet, green spaces in a city where there are very few.

The Kabakovs’ half-submerged ship is at the center of ARTLANTIC: WONDER under constuction
photo: Peter Tobia

Miss Audrey, President of The Atlantic City Business and Community Association (ACBCA) offers the following statement with regard to a presentation in Atlantic City by Fung Collaboratives: “I always visualize the world belonging to everybody, not just people who are sitting at the top. We all dream and we look out here and we see empty space and what we could do with these empty spaces and here he (Lance Fung) comes along with his vision which he’s already been all over the world doing. So I think it’s a wonderful thing. It gives hope to the residents to be part of something. Artists come into an urban city and what they see is different from what is normally seen. That’s the artist’s eye, now you can transform that.”

M.K. Thomas, Chairman of the Arts Commission, offers his community point of view: “During their presentation they brought everyone in the community together and people were there from all levels. Fung Collaboratives saw the necessity to bring us in on this. I’m involved with the Arts Commission, but I’m also part of the ACBCA which is a grassroots organization.

I am the Economic Development Advisor of the ACBCA. Rutgers recently did a 6 year study and they identified how the arts in economic development are one of the latest trends to revitalize community. They called it creative placemaking. Once we get the community, business leaders, city government and the children in the schools involved that’s going to have an impact towards tourism and a happy community.  So I think it’s a good thing for Fung Collaboratives to identify with the community and to realize that we are a stakeholder.

When you bring together artists like John Roloff with the participation of resident arts people this will bring them back to the site, because they have something to do with it. It will do wonders for this city.”

Visit ARTLANTIC’s website at http://artlanticblog.com to enjoy unbelievable slide shows, videos, make contact, meet the community, watch live web-cam feeds and learn more about this fantastic project. The conversation also continues on Facebook at http://facebook.com/fungcollaboratives get updates without leaving Facebook by clicking the LIKE button. To find out more about the Curator, Lance Fung, and about past projects with Fung Collaboratives go to http://fungcollaboratives.org

About Lance Fung
Curator Lance Fung has a reputation for ambitious, innovative approaches to public art. He is perhaps best known for The Snow Show, a series of exhibitions that teamed world-renowned artists with cutting-edge architects to design ephemeral, large-scale installations from ice and snow in Lapland, Finland in 2004 and then at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Following the The Snow Show, Fung curated Lucky Number Seven for the seventh SITE Santa Fe International Biennial in 2008 and Wonderland, a public art exhibition in San Francisco in 2009. He has created important exhibitions such as Crossing Parallels at the SSamzi Space in Seoul, Korea; Going Home at the Edward Hopper Historical Museum in Nyack, New York; Revisiting Gordon Matta-Clark at Next: The Venice Architectural Biennale in Venice, Italy; The Ship of Tolerance by Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, in Siwa, Egypt; and The Snow Show: Venice at the 50th International Art Exhibition/La Biennale di Venezia; and Dreams and Conflicts–The Viewer’s Dictatorship, in Venice, Italy. Fung is also developing a cultural village in Bali as well as “Sink,” an exhibition about marine conservation.

About The Atlantic City Alliance (ACA)
The ACA is a recently established New Jersey not-for-profit corporation whose primary mission is to develop and implement a full-scale, broad-based, multi-year marketing program for Atlantic City. The ACA will work with the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) to market and promote the Atlantic City Tourism District via a public/private partnership. The ACA also works with local and state government, the private sector and other organizations to further enhance the marketing program. Visit www.doatlanticcity.com About The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) Established in 1984 by the State of New Jersey, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority provides capital investment funds for economic development and community projects that respond to the changing economic and social needs of Atlantic City and the State of New Jersey. It encourages business development and permanent job creation, promotes opportunities for business expansion, and commits to facilitating a vibrant economic investment and employment environment for New Jersey. Visit http://www.njcrda.com

Press Contacts
Dan Schwartz/Michelle DiLello
Susan Grant Lewin Associates 212/947-4557
dan at susangrantlewin.com
michelle at susangrantlewin.com

Gaia in Center City Philadelphia
New Mural Portrait of Edmund Bacon
Goldman Properties and Mural Arts
Tuesday, October 23, 2012 6:52 AM

Gaia takes un-planned advantage of a lift  around the corner from his portrait of Edmund Bacon
Center City Philadephia

by Gaia

Gaia New Mural Portrait of Edmund Bacon
Tuesday, October 23, 2012 6:52 AM
From: “gaia art”
Message contains attachments 5 Files (3718KB)

Gaia, A portrait of Edmund Bacon, the Executive Director of the Philadelphia
City Planning Commission from 1949 – 1970

Hello hello again.

I just finished this nice wall with Goldman Properties and Mural Arts in Center City Philadelphia.
And also took advantage of the lift to put up this one piece right around the corner.

Gaia, A portrait of Edmund Bacon, the Executive Director of the Philadelphia
City Planning Commission from 1949 – 1970

“A portrait of Edmund Bacon, the Executive Director of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission from 1949 – 1970 on the last day of work. Under his supervision, Philadelphia became fully adapted to the era of the automobile and struggled to maintain its dwindling middle class. Edmund Bacon’s face is flanked by a model of Society Hill and of Center City with the Vine Street Expressway sketch from his book, The Design of Cities, flows through the entire composition.”

very best

G

Gaia, A portrait of Edmund Bacon, the Executive Director of the Philadelphia
City Planning Commission from 1949 – 1970

Edmund Norwood Bacon (May 2, 1910 – October 14, 2005) was a noted
American urban planner, architect, educator and author

Edmund Norwood Bacon (May 2, 1910 – October 14, 2005) was a noted American urban planner, architect, educator and author. During his tenure as the Executive Director of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission from 1949 to 1970, his visions shaped today’s Philadelphia, the city in which he was born, to the extent that he is sometimes described as “The Father of Modern Philadelphia.” Bacon was the father of six children: two sons, actor Kevin Bacon, musician Michael Bacon, and four daughters, Karin, Elinor, Hilda and Prudence (later Kira). His wife was Ruth Hilda Holmes, a teacher and liberal political activist. His friends included Buckminster Fuller, Steen Eiler Rasmussen, James Rouse, and Konstantinos Apostolos Doxiadis.

Center City, or Downtown Philadelphia includes the central business district and central neighborhoods of the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. As of 2010, its residential population of over 57,000 made it the third most populous downtown in the United States, after New York City’s and Chicago’s. Center City is home to most of Philadelphia’s tallest buildings, including Philadelphia’s City Hall, the second tallest masonry building in the world and until 1987 the tallest in Philadelphia, as well as the tallest building in the world for seven years. Across the street from City Hall is the Masonic Temple, the headquarters of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, a legacy of the Founding Fathers and signers of the Declaration of Independence, many of whom were Freemasons; such luminaries include George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.

Design of Cities, first published in 1967, is an illustrated account of the development of urban form, written by Edmund Bacon (1910–2005). The work looks at the many aspects that influence city design, including spatial form, interactions between humans, nature and the built environment, perception of favorable environments, color, and perspective. Bacon also explores the growth of cities from early Greek and Roman times to Philadelphia’s design in the 1960s. It is considered a seminal text on urban planning.

The Goldman Properties Company (http://www.goldmanproperties.com/) was founded in 1968 by Tony Goldman, with his daughter Jessica and son Joey. Tony Goldman was a modern American real estate based pioneer of urban revitalization who brought renewal and prosperity to blighted real estate with fresh originality. The Bowery Mural is an outdoor long run temporary mural exhibition space in Manhattan owned by Goldman Properties since 1984. Tony Goldman started the Bowery Mural, at the corner of Houston and Bowery, with Jeffery Deitch. Goldman’s goal was to use the wall to present the top contemporary artists from around the world with an emphasis on artists who work on the streets.

The Mural Arts Program (http://www.muralarts.org/) is currently one of Philadelphia’s largest employers of artists, employing over 300 artists a year. It also hires prosecuted graffiti vandals at a rate of over 100 per year and involves them with the creation of murals around Philadelphia. The Mural Arts Program is an anti-graffiti mural program in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania founded in 1986 and directed by Jane Golden as a division of the Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Network. The average mural painted by the program is approximately the height of a three-story row house and 35 feet (11 m) wide.

Gaia, a Baltimore-based street artist, whose name stands for Earth Goddess, is known for using animal imagery to convey nature’s voice in urban landscapes, often evoking a sense of mythical feedback as an omen from global warming. Other subjects include portraits of urban developers Nelson Rockefeller, Robert Moses, Henry Flagler, James Rouse, Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe. Gaia recently curated the multi-site mural project Open Walls Baltimore (OWB) which was scheduled to include fellow artists Maya Hayuk, Swoon, Chris Stain, MOMO, Freddy Sam, Jaz, Jetsonorama, Overunder, Vhils, Nanook, Mata Ruda, Specter, Interesni Kaski, Ever, Doodles, John Ahearn and Sten & Lex. “The carrier pigeon perched within a hand is an image that I have revisited many times in the past year. Much like the hybridized creatures I have produced in the past, this gesture displays a moment of domination and submission but also of steward and nature. Pigeons are beautiful creatures and one of the few that can tolerate the city. This print is a celebration of a dying urban sport and of an unsung animal.” – Gaia

http://posterchildprints.com/Carrier-Pigeon/
Purchase Gaia’s limited edition print “Carrier Pigeon.”
Size 22 x 28 inches, Edition Limited Edition of 135, Materials: Three Color Hand Pulled Silk Screen on Coventry Rag, 100% Cotton Archival Paper

http://www.artbma.org/press/documents/Nov_Dec.pdf
Gaia was recently commissioned by the Baltimore Museum Of Art

Open Walls Baltimore is an unparalleled street art project managed by and located in the Station North Arts & Entertainment District and curated by Gaia. The finest and most widely recognized street artists from around the world mounted an outdoor exhibition of extraordinary murals that enliven public spaces, stimulates community revitalization and national dialogue, and attracts visitors and investors to Station North with the installation of over twenty murals.

Map Of Mural Locations
Artists include: Gaia (Baltimore) – 1 W North Ave, Momo (New Orleans) – CIty Arts, 440 E Oliver St, Doodles (Port Townsend, WA) – 1539 N Calvert, Maya Hayuk (New York City) – 1715 N Charles Street, Ever (Buenos Aires, Argentina) – 10 E North Avenue, Overunder (Reno, NV) – 329 E Lafayette Street, John Ahearn (New York City) – Installation at Station North Arts Cafe, Specter (Montreal) – Joe Squared (North Avenue and Howard), Mata Ruda (Baltimore) – 1700 Latrobe, Josh Van Horn (Baltimore) – Guilford and North Avenue, Jessie Unterhalter & Katey Truhn (Baltimore) – St Paul St at Lafayette Ave, Freddy Sam (Capetown, South Africa) – Lafayette Ave at Charles St, Intersni Kazki (Kiev, Ukraine) – Complete (Maryland Ave at North Ave), Gary Kachadourian (Baltimore) – Barclay St at Lanvale Street, St Paul and North Avenue, Chris Stain (New York City) – 1701 Latrobe, Jetsonorama (New York City) – Barclay and Bowen Alley, Swoon (New York City) – Pittman Place, Sten and Lex (Italy) – Barclay and McAllister, Nanook (Baltimore) – Barclay and Lanvale, Jaz (Buenos Aires, Argentina) – Barclay St at E Oliver St, Vhils (Portugal) – 1539 N Calvert St