Building Barriers: Read in Peace

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Finally gotten the time to enjoy that book you've been meaning to read, only to be interupted?  Follow the steps in this easy how-to and you'll be able to read in peace.

LA Fluxco Show

This past weekend I was in LA for a group show at Fluxco Gallery. The show featured five artists from the west coast and five from the east coast and was pretty cool since it ended up that each artist shared a room with an artist from the opposite coast. I was in a room with an artist from LA named, Mike, who is responsible for the wooden extentsion cord reaching towards splat. It was a fun show and owner of the gallery, Ford, said that this was one of his favorite things that he has put together in the space. It should be open for a few more weeks (till mid June) so if you are gonna be in town email me and I'll put you in touch with Ford since it's by appointment only.

Enjoy the pics - there's Michael Eudy posing with Ford's golden words in the background (and then Michael's paintings in the shot above). I am also there with my friend Kabira who I have know since birth and who was my fabulous hostess for my time in LA. Then there are some gallery shots including some details of the architectural oddities that I really enjoyed responding to in the art. Letting the works creep out into and under the enviroment more that before....Pictured below is Joe's video again in another context - this time it was in a room with his drawings and then photos of buildings by another artist - the two cities coexisting together. It was cool to see Joe's work small kind of like a little painting at that scale.

Good Intentions at Temple Gallery, April 9 - 13, 2007

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So I finally got it together and finished the video documentation of the gallery show Good Intentions that was on view at Temple Gallery from April 9 - 13, 2007. Walking through the gallery with a camera captures the intricate nature of many of the works on view. The only thing some people may notice is that this video documentation was taken before all of the changes in the show occured - so the tables are still there and the yarn graffiti over the fire alarm isn't there yet. Enjoy the evolution! By the way if you want to see this documentation in a larger viewer that you can read titles on - go to www.blip.tv and search jahjehan bath ives.

H-Town and OFFsite

Joe and I just got back from our whirlwind weekend in Houston of friends, food, and art. We are already missing all our Houston peeps and are currentely working on a transporter to beam us there whenever we want mexican food and great people. The show The Distance between Two Points: Joe Ives and Jahjehan Bath Ives with Mackey Gallery OFFsite was awesome. We had a great time flying in with our art and setting up for a cinco de mayo opening. It was so fantastic to see everyone and we had such a great time that we basically forgot to take pictures - so believe us more than two people showed up. So imagine lots of folks in front of the art and enjoy the shots. Also if you didn't get there to watch the videos you can see them here on the blog - click on March posts and watch centering. Then go to Joe's blog at www.joeeives.blogspot.com and you can watch his video too.

This piece is called "expectations are hard to keep". It just started one morning with the idea of trapping space and grew into something that I think may be very tied to the fact that every time I turn around it seems like another friend is pregnant. In case you'd like to know it's gouache on paper and is 16x20 inches.

Creating Objects in a Blank White Space

These works are all gouache on paper and are 9 1/2 x 13 inches. They all start with me thinking about the objects I have been making or am wanting to make or sometimes just a mood I am in. Then I pick up a brush and see what happens.

It's Time to Partaaay

The show is finally up. Joe and I spent most of the day today setting up and here are a few shots of the results. To see more please check back later in the week, once I get someone with a good camera in there OR come to the opening this Friday from 6 to 8:30 at Temple Gallery in Philadelphia. The address is 259 N. 3rd St and there will be cookies and art!

Building Barriers at the Dining Table

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Tired of being interupted by pesky people wanting to share thier days with you when all you want to do is enjoy a few moments alone with a cup of tea? Follow the easy steps in this how-to film and build new barriers.

Building Barriers Using a TV

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Tired of being interrupted by other people wanting to talk while you simply want to zone out and watch TV in peace. Follow the easy steps in this how-to film and build new barriers.

The Final Countdown

I am now narrowing down the works for the show and these are two shots of my studio currentely. The piece that has it's own stand is called "waiting for you" and the work next to it is still waiting for a name (if you have any suggestions feel free to email). The other work which looks like a backwards J is called "this is all that was left". A moment of reflection if you will allow... I've noticed that the work is really becoming quite figurative lately. Maybe that's coming from the gesture of taking materials that are commonly found around the house for kitchen table crafts to create backyard magic. I am transforming my surroundings into little meditations with yarn and house paint.

Two weeks to keep on trucking

These are some of the newest pieces in my studio which I thought I would share. The little puddles came first and the chair cozy came second. Enjoy.

Teaser

Here's a sneak peak of my postcard image for my upcoming show. This is a detail of the new large piece that I just completed in my studio. To see the full thing you'll have to wait for my show which opens Friday April 13 from 6-8:30pm at Temple Gallery in Philadelphia.

Painting myself a new game

So lately I have been doing a bunch of little gouaches inspired by the objects that I have been making. I have been making some of these in response to the general tone of my day and using them to envision objects that I haven't made yet so there is a kind of back and forth between the objects and the paintings. The last one I did is called "stop hanging your shit on me"; that was a bad day but it made a pretty little painting. See if you can guess which one that is. Another one is called "i will shelter you"; that was done for Joe when he was having a bad day. I hope you enjoy.

Centering - Whirling Dervishes and Headbangers

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merging whirling dervishes and headbangers

This video is a new investigation using clips pulled from videos on the internet. I reconstructed a piece that draws lines between the meditative acts of the whirling dervishes and the headbangers. Joe helped me composed the mashed up music.

Video- Patterns

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A visual investigation of shadows and patterns with an interview about the patterns that one individual sees in the world

This is a video that I recentely completed. It started with an investigation of shadows that I found one day and I built the final piece in layers of audio and video. Enjoy!

LaLa Land

Since this is my last official spring break and Joe and I are still recovering from not travelling all over europe this year, we decided to head for LA this past week. We flew away from Philadelphia just in time to escape the plunge from the 50s into the 20s and arrived in LA for the "nicest week in months" according to my friend Kabira who lives in Silver Lake. We utilized the sunny days with temps in the 70s to go around and see alot of art and some beautiful landscapes. Here are a few of my favorite moments - I loved the tagged palm trees at Venice beach.



I also really dug the faux wood grain at our hotel - it was silver and blue, a totally flashy LA kind of look. Anyhow we had a great time and now I am thinking of how tagged palm trees and flashy faux wood grain can translate into the work....time will tell. My show is in a month so now is the nose to the grindstone time.

SwapMeet in Providence

At the start of February the Tyler Painting Grads were up in Providence to do a show called SwapMeet at the ISB Gallery. We got together with the RISD Painting Grads to organize a show of our work up there and then they are going to be bringing a show of thier work down here in March. I brought the piece "Kick It' to show and then when we arrived on site my fellow grad, Brett John Johnson pulled out a pink shower curtain that he used to keep his piece clean. Well needless to say I was really enamored of that pink plastic and so when my friend Erin challenged me to make a piece on site I begged Brett for the pink stuff. Armed with a pair of scissors and some white yarn that I had knotted on the way up I proceeded to make the piece on-site called "It's a Girl!" I hope you enjoy these little snap shots of the product of this "designer challenge".