Engineer's Daughter

national gallery of jamaica 2012 national biennial

Jasmine Thomas-Girvan

Andrea Chung

Oneika Russell

I can easily think of many excellent reasons to visit Jamaica, but here's another one to add to the list: the National Gallery of Jamaica's Biennial.  The 2012 iteration featured work by 86 artists (including those pictured above) who were both invited and chosen by jury.  From the Gallery website:

To qualify for inclusion in the Biennial – and for this exhibition to be representative of recent developments in Jamaican art – works of art must have been created in the last two years. At present, the Biennial format is being reviewed, in preparation for its conversion in what we hope will be a multi-site, international Kingston Biennial by 2016, and some modifications have already been made: the definition of “Jamaican artist” was expanded to include artists of Jamaican parentage – previously artists had to be resident in Jamaica or Jamaican born. This was done in recognition of the significant role played by the Jamaican Diaspora in the development of what can be considered Jamaican culture, which is itself an increasingly diverse and transnational field.

See also:

• National Gallery of Jamaica Blog

miguel arzabe

Miguel Arzabe

Miguel Arzabe

Miguel Arzabe

I have been avidly following the work of Miguel Arzabe since I first glimpsed it at his MFA exhibition at the Berkeley Art Museum several years ago, and I was delighted to find these evocative images on his website that were taken during his residency at the Santa Fe Art Institute last year.  From an article in Santa Fe New Mexican:

Arzabe holds a degree in environmental fluid dynamics from Arizona State University.  While science and art making both involve experimental processes, Arzabe is not interested in categorical distinctions.  "Science is another way for understanding the world, and my art uses aspects of that method -- creating idealized models of systems by reducing the number of variables, inserting an intention into the physical world and eliciting feedback, trying to repeat results," he said.  "It's more important that there is poetry in the process, whether it asks interesting questions, than whether it is science or art."

See also:

• "The Art of Miguel Arzabe"
• Miguel Arzabe

one for each

 

Frequent visitors to Headlands are almost certainly familiar with the work of Paolo Salvagione, aka the man who put the magical swings in their gym several years back.  He also created quite the unique edition when he was a resident at the San Francisco Center for the Book last year.  From the SFCB website:

San Francisco Center for the Book and 2012 Imprint Artist in Residence Paolo Salvagione invite you to the preview of One for Each: a sensory Wunderkammer. This elegant cabinet of curiosities contains five drawers, one for each of the human senses. Each drawer holds a distinct, self-contained object. Paolo Salvagione is striving for the playful manner that, he hopes, is seen as routinely characterizing his work — and if it all works, the senses will mingle in unexpected ways.

Watch the video above for a guided tour through the "book" and for some beautiful shots of Salvagione's studio at Headlands.  Though the swings aren't in there, alas.

See also:

• San Francisco Center for the Book
• Paolo Salvagione

jeremy mende

The fabulous Kalup Linzy interviewed fellow artist Jeremy Mende about his artwork "Narcissus" after their time at Headlands coincided last year, and I remember that piece Mende created in the Headlands Project Space (pictured above) quite well myself.  Visitors were invited to don a sensor that tracked their heartbeat and then stand before a long tray filled with petroleum as animated words triggered by said heartbeat appeared on the surface.  Mende explains further:

The reflective nature of the petroleum makes the animations appear to swim across the black surface. The oil is a significant part of the installation because it is both a critical factor in our globalized economy as well as a natural byproduct of carbon-based life. Petroleum is concentrated carbon, the resting state of living organisms that died a million years ago. When the viewer sees their metaphoric reflection in the pool, they are essentially looking back in time, seeing themselves within the larger contradictions of life/death, organic/toxic, purity/contamination.

Read the whole interview here and visit Mende's website here.