Lester Mark's Private Art Collection

This friday I went to Houston to visit several art museums. The absolute highlight of my trip was going to Lester Mark's home to see his huge private collection of artworks.

He owns three Rauschenberg pieces, two Warhol prints, two of Kusama's painted figures, two Jean Michel Basquiat paintings as well as work by Kiki Smith, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Anselm Kiefer, John Wesley, Louise Bourgeois and the list goes on! I fell in love with his house. His house was not sparse or empty feeling like a lot of galleries are. It was extremely comfortable (although I am a fan of clutter). I really liked that he lived amongst all of this work . The work he owned was extremely diverse and he had everything on display. He said he only sells work to make room for new pieces. Below are a few pictures from his house.

The weirdest piece of artwork in his collection was made by Patricia Piccinini. It was in a small room by itself.

This sculpture is made from silicone, fibreglass, and... human hair.

GELITIN

Gelitin is a group of four artists from Vienna. My favorite of their projects is a 200 foot long pink woolen rabbit they made and installed on an Italian mountainside in 2005. It will live here for 20 years (until 2025), and can be seen from outer space. I like the idea of an object being created by artists that is utterly monumental, especially when its a large pink rabbit. I would really like to climb onto this bunny one day, or see it from outer space.

MARK GROTJAHN

Untitled (Large Coloured Butterfly White Background 10 Wings)

Colored pencil on paper, 176.8 x 130 cm, 2004

Untitled (Green Butterfly)

Oil on canvas, 122 x 86.3 cm, 2002

Untitled (Black Butterfly Dioxide Purple MPG 05)

Oil on linen, 147 x 122 cm 2005

Mark Grotjahn uses hard edge design to create very subtle complexities in his work. He makes very physical surfaces with layering paint. He employs slight hue shifts to create space and perspective.

Although I think Mark Grotjahn's artwork is really beautiful, something that bothers me about his work is the way he titles it. For example the work above is "untitled" then in parenthesis he puts a title ... (Black Butterfly Dioxide Purple MPG 05). First and foremost, I really don't like to think of these images as referencing butterflies. I also think this way of titling is pretentious. When an artist titles something as untitled and then put a title in parenthesis I feel like I'm being tricked.

MICHAEL BELL SMITH

Artist, Michael Bell Smith, recently gave a lecture at the University of Texas which he addressed topics of mass media (specifically the internet), pop culture, and nostalgia. I really responded to his video Up and Away. This video was constructed out of appropriated clips from old video game sources. I think the imagery is really beautiful. The layering and spacial progression abstracts it from the original content and makes something entirely different.

The other videos he presented were really funny, but also valid as a response to internet culture.

R.Kelly's Trapped in the Closet Synced and Played Simultaneously

Chapters 1-12 of R. Kelly's Trapped In The Closet Synced and Played Simultaneously (2006) by Michael Bell-Smith. Courtesy EAI. from Why + Wherefore on Vimeo.

I also really enjoyed this: (OONCE-OONCE) a website he created with a looping imagery and sound.

what kind of artist are you?

Looks like I fall pretty far right in the douche category with Art Blogs.

YAYOI KUSAMA

"The dot princess," is a nickname for Yayoi Kusama. Yayoi is a female Japanese artist. She produces extremely beautiful, fascinating, and compulsive work. In 2008 she sold a piece of work for over 5,000,000 dollars, this is a record for any living female artist. She has struggled with mental illness for her entire life. She references her mental instability with obsessive patterning (dots), this has become a trademark for Yayoi. The dots are from hallucinations she had as a young child. Poka dots sound like a really simple idea, but they anything but that to her. She refers to the dots as "infinity nets," they extend across every surface. She talks about dots extending so far they eventually would obliterate the world.

Here are a few images of several of her installation and sculptural work.





You can see more of her work at the Gagosian Gallery.
Yayoi Interview from 2008.

JULES BUCK JONES

Not only does Jules Buck Jones have a great name, he has outstanding artwork. Jules is a former UT graduate student. He shows at ART PALACE as well as many other places around Austin. His work always impresses me. His mark making is bold an uninhibited and daunting in scale. He fuses various animals together in a way that is disorienting and bizarre.

Coyote Serpents

Acrylic on Paper, 80 x 90 in., 2008

Saltwater Crocodile I

Mixed media on paper, 80 x 90 in., 2008

My first experience with Jules's work was a walk- in Space Ship he built from cardboard. BOOZE FOX VIDEO The entrance to the space ship was a ramp, which had large speakers underneath it which vibrated with bass. The space ship included a gun turret, which you could climb into. The gun turret had a view of a large alien (also constructed out of cardboard). I really enjoy the fact that a lot of the sculptures I've seen from Jules rely on cardboard. There is something very humble about this. These sculptures have an element of performance, he moves them or manipulates them by creating layered areas.

MY CATS

My cats are two destructive forces. They have managed to scale up everyone of my paintings, put their paws on various prints and hopped onto and broken sculptures. The advice to be learned is everyone needs an animal quarantined studio. If only I could teach my cats to paint.

WEI DONG

I have recently stumbled upon Wei Dong's work. Nicholas Robinson Gallery.

He is a contemporary Chinese painter. His work reminds me of a lot John Currin's paintings.

Game With a Fish

Playmate

LISA YUSKAVAGE

Pied

oil on linen, 11 3/4 x 9 inches, 2008

Drag

oil on linen, 12x9 inches, 2007

Scarecrow

oil on canvas, 10x 8 1/4, 2006

Half - Family

oil on linen, 16 3/16 x 13 1/16 inches, 1999 -2000