Boy shows you his... Boy travels Uncategorized: abcd collection Adolf Wolfli Aloise Corbaz Art Brut Japonais II Barbican Bruno Decharme Collection de l'Art Brut diary drawings Egon Schiele Fondation Louis Vuitton Galerie Atelier Herenplaats Galerie d'un Livre l'autre Galerie Du Marche George Widener Guggenheim Bilbao Halle Saint Pierre Jean-David Mermod Jean-Michel Basquiat Jennifer Lauren Gallery Julia Sisi L'Envol La Gazette Drouot La Maison Rouge Little Nemo in Slumberland Lucienne Peiry Madge Gill Maison Savant Norimitsu Kokubo Outsider Art Fair Outsider Art Fair New York 2019 Outsider Art Fair Paris 2018 Philippe Eternod squirrel Tim Ter Wal Wellcome Collection Winsor McCay
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Time is the whirlwind (part 1)
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Outsider Art Fair Paris, 18th-21st October, 2018
It came and went. And a lot has come and gone since. I haven’t managed to post in the blog here, and it’s all piled up and fragmented now. I’ll see what I can recollect and hope not to leave anything ‘significant’ out. I recently returned from New York, where I experienced the Outsider Art Fair there, which was certainly a whirlwind. I use this metaphor a lot. In the end, time is the whirlwind!
Paris in October was destined to be an unparalleled moment for me, due to having the calendar-diary I’d spent a year and a half accumulating over 50,000 words within in response to becoming a father and detailing every day of that until the page was filled, shown. The weekly magazine of auction sales, La Gazette Drouot, must have caught wind of this and in turn mentioned me in their ‘Vous Avez Dit <<Outsider Art>>?’ article, published in No.35 on 12th October. (note: click on images to enlarge)
People, L-R (me, Marilena with sleeping Nemo, Philippe) Art works L-R (my calendar-diary containing 1st jan 2017- 8th May 2018, a stunning work by Madge Gill)
Lucienne Peiry, former director of the Collection de L’Art Brut (2001-2012) and still working as Director of Research and International Relations there, found my drawings interesting and we had a chat. The museum have since acquired one of my diary drawings, which leaves me somewhat speechless.
Lucienne Peiry observes ‘The Disadvantages of Time, part 1: Grandfather Clock’
My diary efforts, sandwiched in between works by Aloise Corbaz and Madge Gill
Of note at the fair, was encountering Tim Ter Wal (represented by Maison Savant at the Galerie Atelier Herenplaats (Rotterdam, Netherlands) booth in a moment of working on his drawing. I noticed people just photographing him without actually speaking to him, which I found quite unsettling. I didn’t want to interrupt him though, but got talking to the gallerist whom I’d had contact with in the past, and in an opportune moment I got to speak with the artist and ask him if he minded me taking any photos while he is working. He said he didn’t mind. So, here are a couple of photos below.
Tim Ter Wal
I took the opportunity to visit some other exhibitions while I was in Paris and was glad to catch my friend Julia Sisi‘s solo show ‘Hypnagogies’ at the Galerie d’un Livre l’autre which had been extended, making it possible for me to see it. I don’t have any photos but spent quite some time absorbing all the energy and wonder. I also managed to see La Maison Rouge’s final exhibition, ‘L’Envol’, which was an inspired and enjoyable exploration of (some of) our collective desire to fly, physically and metaphorically.
Fun flying
An incredible Adolf Wolfli drawing
Detail from the George Widener piece. He strongly advises you not to fly on these dates. Pass it along.
Bruno Decharme (abcd Collection), who co-curated the exhibition, tells a wonderful story about this art/artist which I’ve by now managed to lose from my memory. But you can see people were entranced.
An original page of Winsor McCay‘s ‘Little Nemo in Slumberland‘ (1910), which to my amusement is focussed on the moon simultaneous to a time when my son Nemo is constantly expressing his fascination with the moon
I also managed to see the Jean-Michel Basquiat and Egon Schiele exhibitions at the Fondation Louis Vuitton. It took an hour to get in and was very busy, but the Basquiat was well curated, unlike the recent Barbican show in London. A few years ago I saw a refreshingly unpretentious Basquiat retrospective at the Guggenheim in Bilbao, which was exciting. It was also the first time I’d managed to see an exhibition of his work. The Paris show possibly had the right balance though, overall.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Finally, I caught the dynamic and rich Halle Saint Pierre exhibition ‘Art Brut Japonais II’ which featured all manner of work by many interesting and intriguing artists whom I sadly cannot do justice to here due to time restrictions but the catalogue looked quite fantastic, so perhaps seek that out. One highlight was this epic piece (seen below) by Norimitsu Kokubo, who’s work I think I first saw at an exhibition at the Wellcome Collection in London a few years ago. Incidentally, we were both represented by the Jennifer Lauren Gallery at the Outsider Art Fair in New York last week (at time of writing this). More on that in the next blog entry…
Norimitsu Kokubo
Yes, so all of the above should have been put together and posted months ago. The writing would have most likely been more detailed, precise, and poignant.. but even in these short months, things fade with time.. I was going to write about the New York Outsider Art Fair now, but certainly 1) do not have enough time 2) I would use up way too much space, which also means you’ll most likely not have enough time to read it all either. I really hope to post it very soon. In the next few days.. or.. next week?
Meanwhile, if I’d managed to get my phone out to film it a bit sooner, you’d get a better view but if you watch this on a loop a few times, here is a squirrel down my road, getting confused by some fake 2D trees. I guess the designers didn’t think that through, or they simply did not care, or were curious to see what would happen, etc.. Anyhow, here it is, from around the same time as all the above (according to my phone)..
Boy shows you his... Boy talks Boy travels: abcd collection Carlo Keshishian Chomo Circus Terminal David MacLagan diary drawings Halle Saint Pierre La Maison Rouge Outside In Outsider Art Fair Outsider Art Fair Paris Raw Vision Raw Vision Magazine Stephanie Lucas Uncooked Culture
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What’s new and still old…
In this entry of my seemingly biannual blog I have little to say that isn’t said elsewhere but I have a couple of links to throw at you containing masses of information, should you be interested. Firstly, I’ll draw attention to the latest diary page completed a couple of months ago. Click on it to see it in more detail. It may take a moment to load. And click on it again to see it in more detail:
I’m currently working on the next diary drawing, which unlike previous diary drawings which have more of a stream of consciousness based approach in terms of structure, even though there are in depth and thorough explorations into ideas, topics and experiences, the new diary is a continuation of the one illustrated here, focussing on just one topic, an in depth analysis which I feel will most likely even carry through onto a third page.
In other news, I’ve recently gotten back from a trip to France. Mainly Paris. I was there for the Outsider Art Fair. Quite an indulgent affair. There was a lot going on in terms of exhibitions and I saw more art than I would usually see in at least half a year. I documented some of my experience of being there for the Outside In blog which you can read here: click here
Ah yes, also, a well rendered image of mine is used in the David Maclagan article Beyond the Doodle, printed in Raw Vision magazine issue #82. You can read an extract from the article here and/or buy the magazine which features the full article with the glorious accompanying images and rest of magazine full of fascinating art to ponder on, HERE.
Finally, something that I received a few days back, which terrified me (fittingly, for Halloween), was an eleven minute video interview that I did for Uncooked Culture TV. I’d almost forgotten about it and then it just appeared out of nowhere. I still don’t understand how it spans eleven minutes but it does. Should you be interested in viewing this, you can find it below and it may be an idea to view it full screen if you want to see more clearly. That’s all for now.
Until next time..
Carlo.
Uncategorized: Cathy Ward Christian Berst Christine Sefolosha David MacLagan Eugene von Burenchenhein Halle Saint Pierre John Maizels Julia Elmore Laurent Danchin Line Let Loose Ody Saban Outside In Outsider Art Fair Raphael Lonne Raw Vision Magazine The Running Horse Contemporary Art Space
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Whirlwinds and Portals
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‘Line Let Loose’ by David Maclagan
It has happened again. Things Have accumulated and I have not blogged them. I will try to keep it concise! Firstly, as I mentioned earlier in the year, a book called ‘Line Let Loose‘ featuring some of my creations on the cover and pages within, exists and is pretty exciting for me. It was meant to come out quite a few months back but there were some delays. As you can see in the photo below though, it actually exists now. I have this advance copy, and the rest should be out in November. I have finished reading it and while it is relentlessly on topic, exploring all sorts of angles, I like that and it certainly makes for an interesting account in regards to the history of scribbling, doodling, mediumistic/automatic-drawing, and examines crossovers and various aspects of these forms of expression. target=”_blank”>David Maclagan has written a fair bit over the decades, as well as being an artist in his own right, having given lectures and is also a retired art therapist. It’s an honour to have my drawing on the wraparound cover of this book!
Parisian Whirlwind
I’m in Beirut right now, counting the hours until the opening of my solo exhibition ‘Portals‘. More about that later. On my way to Beirut, I came through Paris and stayed there for four nights so that I could check out the first ever edition of the Outsider Art Fair to be hosted in Paris (after something like 20 years of it taking place in New York). I had a great time and while I don’t really ever speak to anyone during these things, or if I do it tends to be in somewhat of a subdued manner, but this time even just being myself and acting natural, there was a fluidity at times which was really pleasant. I met some interesting people and had an altogether different experience. There was still strange stuff in the air, sure, but that’s to be expected. But anyhow, I arrived on the Eurostar (£34 ticket!) at 6pm and then had just an hour to go drop off my luggage and find my way to a 2 hour conference on Art Brut from America.. It was a great way to start the trip, going head on into re-configuring my mindset to listening and trying to understand French. I got at least half of it. Having a French eduction until the age of 9 or so, my vocabulary is limited but I do ok. I spotted two people in the audience that my eye returned to a few times. One I was quite sure is Ody Saban, an artist I have admired for many years and have had a little correspondence with over the years. The other, I felt was Christine Sefolosha, though I’d only seen a couple of photos of her before and so couldn’t be sure, but she did glance over at me a couple of times, and we had also corresponded a little bit. I love Christine’s work also. Magical stuff. It felt funny to start the trip in the presence of two such ‘heroines’, neither of which I’d never met before. I chatted with Christine a bit and we took the train.. The following day was the opening of the fair, which interestingly took place at a hotel that had been hired in its entirety. Each guest room was used by a different gallery, with art works propped up in bathtubs and folders of drawings spread out on beds, stuff hung on the walls, etc.. Some of the gallerists even slept in the beds (at night)! I liked it in theory, but it wasn’t very practical at the opening with the narrow corridors etc.. Naturally some great works were on show. I was particularly pleased to see this small Raphael Lonne drawing kind of hidden at the bottom of a wall.. I showed John Maizels from Raw Vision magazine the advance copy of David Maclagan’s Line Let Loose that I had with me, and he agreed that it was beautifully printed and proceeded to show it to a few people in the surrounding area. I also showed it to Ody as she had an image in the book also, and of course hadn’t seen it yet. I went from there with my friend Julia Elmore to another gallery where a group exhibition was taking place, featuring works by Christine Sefolosha and it was an absolute joy to have Christine give us a tour of the show and to talk about her work. It meant a lot to me that Christine liked my work when I showed some of it to her. To get a genuine positive reaction from someone you look up to, there’s nothing quite like it. Both Christine and Ody were very friendly and supportive. I had a nice time chatting with Ody over a coffee the following day and then we went for some lunch with Laurent Danchin, which was very pleasant indeed. We spoke on various topics and it was a rather insightful experience. The following night my friend Anne-Cecile and I checked out the party at the Halle st.Pierre celebrating the Raw Vision exhibition which was spectacular (and will be on until next August I believe!), and then on my last night I went to the party at the Christian Berst gallery and caught up with artist Cathy Ward and Jennie from Outside In while the Eugene von Burenchenhein photography show was in effect. I’ve got to send a special shout out to Rebecca Hoffman for making this great trip possible! Here’s a photo of Ody Saban and I.. and one I took of her with Laurent Danchin..
Portals
My solo exhibition at The Running Horse in Beirut. I’ve been working on spiral-based paintings for this show since last year, and I’ve been painting spirals for long enough to forget when that all began. I’ve been jotting down a lot of reflections on how this show came to be, what making spirals means to me, various observations about the spiral in nature, life, ‘art’, and in history in general. So, I really don’t feel like writing more about it right now! I could copy my notes into here.. it might make for excruciating reading. I will spare you for now I think. So the show opens very soon, what I’ll do is, I’ll write a next post all about it then..
Cashew soon..
Carlo.
Boy talks Boy travels Uncategorized: Amsterdam Outsider Art Gallery Carrousel du Louvre Christian Berst Circus Terminal Creative Growth David MacLagan Drawing Now Paris Eight Arms of Inspiration emi miyashita Halle Saint Pierre Hey! magazine ICA James Brett Jarvis Cocker Jinxi Caddel Line Let Loose Outsider Art Running Horse Contemporary Arts Space Spiral 5th World The Museum of Everything
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Entering the Spiral 5th World…
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2013..
So, it appears this is my first post of 2013?! Where does the time go?!! Well, I guess all the 12 hour days of painting I’ve been doing is where. It’s not too out of control though, or ‘too in control’ should I say. I don’t need to put reminders in my phone about eating and showering, at least.. anyhow, art. Yes.. I am normally backed up 2-3 years as it takes time to execute projects and when I have an idea I want to do, I am uncompromisingly stubborn about doing it, regardless of when it will be, and I do things in order, so if I have an idea and it takes 3 years to reach an available time, that’s when I start. One such project is my next solo exhibition which is set for the end of this year. I’ve been wanting to do it for almost 5 years I think. It is focussed on a series of spiral-based works. Incidentally, this mix up about the end of the world/December 2012/the supposed Mayan prophecies that were actually a misconstrued version of Sumerian ideologies, brought to light something that the Mayans do have in one of their calendars, and that is the Spiral 5th World, what we are entering in 2013. I’ve been drawing spirals since I was an early teen or further back than that. That this Spiral 5th World is meant to be this year and it coincides with my solo exhibition of spiral based works is at the very least amusing to me, or maybe there is something to it, who knows!? Anyhow, as I’ve not written in this news blog for some time, I should address a few current on-goings…
My Website, Updated!
Thanks to sleepless Noel putting the time in (I owe him some fine dining), my website now contains a few additional images for you to peruse, so please go and zoom your hearts out! Also, the bio has been brought up to date. www.carlokeshishian.com
DRAWING NOW PARIS at the Carrousel du Louvre
From 11th-14th of April (next week!), the Drawing Now Paris art fair will take place, and I’ve got something showing with The Running Horse Contemporary Arts Space. Very happy to be shown alongside the wonderful work of Emi Miyashita. I’m very excited about this as I love Paris, and I love that there is a whole art fair dedicated to drawings with galleries from around the world showing. There’s a couple of other galleries/organisations showing that I admire a lot also, so looking forward to seeing their stands especially too.. The Parisian gallery Christian Berst, and the Creative Growth group from California are of note. I don’t believe in coincidence but for lack of a better word, one is occurring in the form of the Hey! Part 2 exhibition at the Halle Saint Pierre‘s coinciding with my being in Paris due to being shown in an art fair. I was there for the Hey! exhibition in late 2011 and absolutely loved the show and the gallery/museum, and somehow the stars have aligned or something.. looking forward!
Books
Yes, people still read these things, and people still publish them. I am in a couple that are both available to buy! Well, one is out and the other is available for pre-order.. hmmm.. Maybe I will give them both individual attention, look:
Eight Arms of Inspiration: The Octopus Art Project
This is a big hardback book by Jinxi Caddel with the works of over 440 artists paying hommage to that cephalopod I am especially fond of, the octopus. Naturally, I have an image in there. Page 147, I believe. There’s a section for tattoos, a section for fine art, digital art, jewellery, any art form you can think of. Unfortunately it is difficult to get this book outside of the U.S.A. so I’m gonna have to wait a while before getting my hands on one, but if you can’t live without it or live in the USA, you can order it here or here. Here’s a photo of the book, and a short video:
Line Let Loose: Scribbling, Doodling and Automatic Drawing
I’m super excited about this book. I’d read David MacLagan’s Outsider Art: From the Margins to the Marketplace book a few years back, and so to be contacted by him asking if he could include a couple of images of mine in his new book was a pleasant surprise considering I’d never met him or anything. Eventually, it also came to be that one of my images is being used for the cover of the book as can be seen in the image below. This one isn’t quite out yet but can be pre-ordered from here or here or here or various other book stockists that your search engine will lead you to, if you are in other parts of the world etc… below the image of the book, I’ve put a lengthy video of Mr.MacLagan speaking with James Brett of target=”_blank”>The Museum of Everything and Jarvis Cocker of Pulp, on the topic of Outsider Art at the ICA in London.
Circus Terminal in Amsterdam
Well, that’s enough for you to chew on for now.. Next update will most likely be about the Circus Terminal exhibition that will take place in Amsterdam in July. I’ll be showing with them, and hopefully taking part in some live art action. It should be a lot of fun, so if you are in Amsterdam, please come and join! More details to follow..
Take care,
Carlo