C-MONSTER.net » Art for stoners

Great moments in public art.

c-monster — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 20:20:23 +0000

Somewhere on the road between Nicoya and Sámara. (Photo by C-M.)

Photo Diary: Phemomenal at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.

c-monster — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 08:20:45 +0000

All kinds of whoaaaaa: Doug Wheeler’s DW 68 VEN MCASD 11 in San Diego. (Photos by C-M.)

I am belatedly uploading some of my pictures from my recent jaunt to California, where I got to poke around some of the Pacific Standard Time exhibits. I saw some true gems — among them the California light and space show at the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego, which is a total perceptual mindfuck (not to mention, totally bud-worthy). Many of the pieces were all about the experience — namely, the tricks your eyes play on you — so taking pictures was often pointless, hence the limited number of images here.

If you go, be sure to spend some quality time inside Eric Orr’s Zero Mass (at the La Jolla location), a pitch black room that requires at least six minutes for your eyes to adjust — but once they do, good lord almighty! It’s like waking up from a weird dream in which everything emerges from a fog. Other highlights that will make you say Duuuuuude are Bruce Nauman’s Green Light Corridor, which will have you seeing magenta (also at La Jolla) and Robert Irwin’s Square the Room (at the downtown branch), in which a scrim and some white paint are used to create an absolutely mind-boggling optical illusion. While downtown, do not miss the paintings by Mary Corse, which contain subtle reflective surfaces that seem to change with every move you make in front of the canvas.

If you live in Cali, this exhibit is one of the PST must-sees. And yes, it is worth dealing with the parking lot otherwise known as the 5.

Phenomenal: California Light, Space, Surface is on view at both branches of MCASD (in La Jolla and downtown) through January 22.

This photo is not blurry. This sculpture – titled May 5, 1971 – by Peter Alexander was fabricated to look as if the pillars are blurring into the wall.

This is a show where you spend a lot of time looking at your hands. Above, James Turrell’s Stuck Blue, from 1970.

Playing with transparency and reflection: ST14, 1978, by Larry Bell.

More trippy lightness: Another piece from Wheeler, from 1965.

Bizarre Coincidence: Francis Alÿs meets Cheech Marin.

c-monster — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 08:20:44 +0000

A screengrab from Francis Alÿs’s 2002 video, When Faith Moves Mountains (now on view at MoMA). In which volunteers shoveled pieces of a Peruvian dune. The line across the dune is the advancing row of shovelers. Naturally, this brought to mind…

…the 1987 Cheech Marin flick Born in East L.A. — in which all the Mexicanos storm the border to a Neil Diamond soundtrack. ¡Orale!

C-Mon Giveaway Extravaganza: 3-D Art Book edition.

c-monster — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 12:43:04 +0000

Hey Folks:

I have a little treat from Prestel for giveaway purposes: Tristan Eaton’s 3-D Art Book, complete with trippy imagery supplied by more than a hundred artists — from Ron English to Miss Van. It comes equipped with two pairs of 3-D glasses. A good way to spend a stonerrific afternoon…

Leave a comment below and this little puppy could be all yours.

xox,
C.

Flying High.

c-monster — Tue, 31 May 2011 14:43:06 +0000

I have an interview over at WNYC with art critic Ken Johnson about his new book, Are You Experienced? which chronicles the influence of 1960s drug culture on the last half century’s worth of art. Also included: tips on the best New York museum to be stoned in. (Image of the painting Rabbit, by Judith Linhares, featured in the book, comes courtesy of Prestel.)