Steve Aishman Photography

There once was an artist from Boston
Who searched all the way to Austin
“Where is the art?”
He said with a fart
“If this country had balls, we have lost them!”
-A limerick by Steve Aishman

You shouldn’t be reading this in front of your computer.
People have a tendency to keep their computers in clean rooms like offices or on desks with flowers and potpourri.
This article should be read in your basement or in the archive section of the library.
Somewhere where dust mites thrive.
This article should be read somewhere that people try to avoid or cover up with a Glade plug-in.
Somewhere with history you can smell, but not nostalgia.
I’m not talking about nostalgia.
In the 19th century, nostalgia was considered a disease and its “symptoms” included despondency, melancholia, bouts of weeping, anorexia, and suicide attempts.
There is enough nostalgia and more than enough articles discussing how smell links us to the past.
I’m talking about a smell that snaps you into the present.
Like when you enter a room and you just know it is full of newspapers.
Or that it used to be a gym.
These are smells that make us hyperaware of our senses and more grounded in the present while simultaneously informing us about the past of a place.
Very few artists work with smell and I’m not sure why.
This weekend I saw Radcliffe Bailey’s piece “Storm at Sea, Chapter Three” at Solomon Projects in Atlanta. The piece is comprised of thousands of piano keys, a plaster bust, glitter, and silver candelabra. The problem in describing the piece on the Internet is that only a small part of the piece is visual. It’s easy to write about the intellectual elements of the piece like how the piano keys read as a link to jazz music while visually mimicking a wrecked ship in the gallery. It’s easy to write about how Radcliffe Bailey’s work is multi-layered examination of African American cultural history that reveals a deep understanding of how the past influences the present. What is hard is to evoke the visceral feeling of the piece that is only experienced when the piece is seen, smelled and heard.
Thousands of piano keys in a room have an overwhelming smell that is the grounding smell I am trying to describe. They also produce a palpable silence as the piano keys that were originally intended to make music, have been rendered eternally mute.
The smell of the gallery immediately makes the viewer’s senses hyper aware in the present, but the musty smell of the keys also speaks about the past. Radcliffe Bailey’s work is perfectly represented in this piece because his work deals with issues of African American history, but ultimately, the work is about providing an awareness of the present.
Because of the multi-sensory nature of the piece, it requires viewing in person. Hopefully, Radcliffe Bailey’s work will come to New England soon for more people to experience.
Radcliffe Bailey
Storm at Sea, Chapter Three (detail), 2009,
piano keys, plaster bust, glitter, silver candelabra

So the other day, I was at the Museum and I overheard two people talking about a Georgia O’Keefe.
“Oh they are clearly vaginas,” said one person.
“No, they’re just beautiful shapes and colors based on flowers, you’re imposing something that’s not there,” said the other.
“Well, flowers are sex organs, so work based on sex organs will always be suggestive, right?”
So I decided to try and find as many suggestive nature pictures as I could find on the Internet.
As usual with my column, I’m not sure if what I have compiled is an art piece made from appropriated materials, an editorial commentary, or just a form of pornography.
Enjoy.

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I'm often reminded of artist George Vlosich's work.
You're not familiar with his work?
He's one of the most written about artists of our generation.
The You Tube video of him making his work has been viewed over 1,600,000 times.
His art work has been featured in national press reports on CNN, World News Tonight, BBC, etc.
He even got to meet President Clinton and VP Gore while they were in office.
George was also featured on Ripley's Believe It Or Not.
You see, George Vlosich makes celebrity and sports drawings with an Etch-A-Sketch.
The first time I saw his work I was at a party held at a friend-of-a-friend's house when a report on his work came on. Everyone stopped in amazement to watch him make an Etch-A-Sketch drawing of a basketball player. When it was over, someone said, "Now that's real art. You know, something that takes skill and hours of labor. I know I couldn't do that because I don't have the patience."
I think I evaluate George Vlosich's work as a balanced between the questions of "how hard was it to make" versus "how much of this is just media sensation"?
Here are some other pieces for your judgment:
1. Santiago Sierra's 21 huge blocks of human feces that were shown at Lisson Gallery in 2007.

2. World's largest photo

3. CNN report on a college student who used post-it notes to make a portrait of Ray Charles

4. Micro-sculptor Willard Wigan who made sculpted the Lloyd's Building so it fits on top of a pin.

5. Justin Gignac's New York City Garbage

6. César Saez' Banana Over Texas work.

7. Scott Wade's Dirty Car Art

8. Tim Knowles tree drawings.

9. Steven J. Backman's toothpick art.

10. and finally, George Vlosich's work.
Please feel free to post your opinion on any of these artist's works in the comment section: