Announcement - Invitation for the opening on September 30th

Great write-up in a Bavarian Newspaper covering the Exhibition:

​click photo above to view large image in my Flickr album - opens in separate window

The opening of this exhibition,
announced in my website blog earlier HERE went very well. 

Slide show from my Flickr album :

​Artists in this exhibition:
​Udo Winkler
​Michael Engelhardt - Wolfgang Harms - Hanno Karlhuber - Michael Maschka - Jo und Hans Niklaus - Otto Rapp - Susanne Steinbacher 
Ausstellung im Kunsthaus Reitbahn 3, Ansbach, Germany 
The majority of these photos were taken prior to the opening during installation. 

Previous blog entry on the website of Otto Rapp:  ​MAGISCHER REALISMUS - ANSBACH

​posted by Otto Rapp

WATCH VIDEO: A Lethbridge student's art piece is being called, by some, too controversial for elementary school students. The Lethbridge Public School Board asked the Southern Alberta Art Gallery to take the piece down after a parent complained.

A piece of art created by a Lethbridge high school student has been taken down from where it was hung at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery (SAAG) after someone filed a complaint about it. ..............​ Kimberly Tams from CBC has more.

My own 2 cents worth of comment:

​Is this for real? It sounds like a bad Saturday Night Live spoof about this Alberta hick town, or maybe something one would expect to happen in ISIS controlled parts of Syria. Certainly not in a modern Western Society. That the Lethbridge School District 51 would give in to a complaint by a obviously uncultured prude is astonishing; laughable if it were not such a sad reflection on what misunderstood 'political correctness' has come to dictate, forcing the moral position of one onto the general public. What next? This piece is a brillant collage by this grade 12 student, a tribute to historical art. Next would be banning any depictions of Michelangelo's work found in places such as the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. Good enough for the pope, but oh, not suitable for the morals of prudish Lethbridge. And again, Southern Alberta's Lethbridge makes it self the laughing stock of Canada and the world! Way to go!

 But it appears this made the rounds already, here is a write-up in Metro News:

A student's work has been deemed too racy for a Lethbridge school board's elementary school children after parent complaints.
The classic art remix, a collage of works including the Birth of Venus, has been whisked away to a private viewing room.  
All of the schools in Lethbridge participate in an arts program to submit student work chosen by teachers to the Southern Alberta Art Galley (SAAG) – it’s called Art’s Alive.
The works range from kindergarten-aged children to students in Grade 12.
On Wednesday of last week the Lethbridge School District No. 51 took down a Grade 12 student's work after a parent, or several parents, complained “about the content of the work.”
...... read more
by  Helen Pike Metro News

UPDATE:

I had posted the original CBC article on Facebook. One comment I found particularly fitting was by a Portuguese artist friend:

Crazyness! I would call it the "Fig Leaf syndrome". I recall the Michelangelo's David episode... but that happened in the Victorian era . Nowadays, people with such psychological disorders would make better use of their time getting adequate therapy instead of spending time in galleries. Just sayin'...

Demnächst erscheint der Kunstband von Angerer der Ältere "Die Rückkehr des Menschen in die Kunst", angelehnt an das weltberühmte Buch von Ortèga y Gasset "Die Vertreibung des Menschen aus den Kunst".
Die Gestaltung der 2 Bände mit Schuber lehnt sich auch an die Tradition des "Schönen Buches" an. Es wird das Gesamtwerk von Angerer der Ältere sein, das sich im Programm des Verlagshauses Kastner wiederfindet. Weitere Informationen werden folgen. Es ist ein großes Oevre geworden. Aber hier als Vorausschau die Titelbilder als erste Information.

Soon the art book  of Angerer der Ältere, "The Return of Humanity to Art" appears, inspired by the famous book by Ortega y Gasset "The Dehumanization of Art". The design of the 2 volumes with slipcase leans also on the tradition of "the beautiful book". It will contain the complete works of Angerer der Ältere, which again can be found in the publishing house Kastner program. Further information will follow. It has become a large oeuvre. But here as a preview, find the titel pages as a initial information.

Liebe Freundinnen und Freunde, liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen der Galerie "callas" in Bremen
Hier ist ein schöner Bericht über die Arbeit und aktuelle Projekte des Kunst- Kultuvereins callas-bremen e.V. geschrieben worden.
Die Titelseite ziert die Arbeit "Madame de...befragt ihren Astrologen" von Nikolas Felly, dem Surrealisten aus Hamburg.

this is a article in the German language magazine  Morgen (Kulturzeitschrift aus Niederösterreich) written by Verena Kienast

Auf den ersten Blick haben sie denkbar wenig gemein, die Werke der barocken Meister und die Jahrhunderte später ent­standenen Arbeiten eines Rudolf Hausner, eines Ernst Fuchs oder eines Arik Brauer. Auf den zweiten Blick hingegen stellen die Üppigkeit von Phantasie und Formen und die geradezu traumhafte Verkettung von Objekten und Ereignis­sen durchaus verbindende Gemeinsamkeiten zwischen den zwei Kunstrichtungen aus zeitlich recht weit voneinander entfernten Epochen der europäischen Kulturgeschichte dar. Und so gehen auch die Werke phantastischer Kunst der vergangenen Jahrzehnte in ihren unter­schiedlichen Ausprägungen mit dem barocken Umfeld von Schloss Riegersburg im Waldviertel eine reizvolle, spannende Symbiose ein.
..................read more

Post by Otto Rapp

A expanded version from my blog essay originally published April 2011, with additional material and links.

Info about castle Hochosterwitz 

Find below the text from the original e-mail I received  in German, and to the right the translation in English

The contentious and defamatory article is on page 62 in the German magazine STERN, issue Nr. 21, 13.5.2015.
the magazine is available in news outlets throughout Europe, primarily in German-speaking countries.
 

Here are the reactions of Austrian newspapers:

Below find links to the Newspaper articles of the "Kurier", "Österreich" and the "Kronenzeitung"
Articles are in German, pdf files open in separate window

wishing everyone a happy and prosperous New Year!

World Bodypainting Academy Camouflage workshop with  Bella Volen
www.wb-production.com/en/
www.bella-volen.com
Vienna, November 8th 2014

Artists and art lovers, get ready to celebrate Museum and Galleries month at the 2014 ManilART fair from October 16 to 19 at the SMX Convention Center-Taguig and SM Aura Premier.

The longest-standing art fair in the country, ManilART's theme this year is "Crossing Borders," referring to the diversity both of the artworks and the artists participating.

ManilArt will be happening in tandem with the Department of Industry's CITEM (Center for International Trade Exposition and Missions)'s Manila FAME, a design and lifestyle event that will be showcasing furniture, fashion accessories, and the like.

International art will also be on display. The featured group exhibition "Endangered Visions," curated by Cabanatuan-based artist Gromyko Semper, will showcase the works of 23 foreign artists and 18 local artists.

READ MORE

Update 10/05/2014

check this news article here in the Inquirer Lyfestyle section
by Alyosha J. Robillos published Monday, September 22nd, 2014:

“Endangered Visions” aims to invigorate art with the unique, the rare and the original: exploring the innermost exotic, mystical and magical recesses of the mind. The title reflects how rare the visions of these artists are and how endangered they are by broader contemporary fashions in international art.

Cabanatuan-based artist Gromyko Semper curates the exhibition, while New Zealand-based writer, poet, critic, curator and art historian Andrew Paul Wood writes the “Endangered Visions’” exhibition note.

“Endangered Visions serves one major purpose: as an analogy of the possibilities, communications and translations inherent in the way imagery is manipulated, transmitted, unconsciously inherited and reiterated. Despite the geographical distance involved, these rare and vulnerable visions converge here out of some Jungian collective reservoir of archetypal images that every human being has access to,” Wood writes.


READ MORE

additional update October 10. 2014

Are you an art lover craving sumptuous paintings on which to feast your eyes?

"Endangered Visions," a 41-artist exhibit curated by Cabanatuan-based artist Gromyko Semper, will be showcasing interpretations of rich mindscapes from Oct. 15 to 19 at the SMX Convention Center, SM Aura Premier, as part of the ManilART 2014 Art Fair.

READ MORE

In its bid to support the National Commission for Culture and the Arts’ (NCCA) duty to carry out activities in the spirit of this celebration of art, culture and heritage, SMX Convention Center-Taguig and SM Aura Premier is home once more to ManilArt, the country’s longest-standing art fair, this October.

Now on its sixth run, the annual art fair aims to diversify through this year’s visual spread themed “Crossing Borders”. ManilArt 2014 also continues to foster solidarity between the private and public sectors by bridging the two in its lineup of events, which shall run from October 16 to 19.

I found this posting below by fellow artist Susannah Martin on Facebook. I also remember sharing the post from the Huffington Post Arts & Culture article and am equally upset by this censorship, so I decided to share this via my blog. 

The Huffington Post, Arts & Culture Section, September 26th 2014

Think about the history of nude portraiture. Which paintings come to mind? Manet's "Olympia," Goya's "Nude Maja" or perhaps Courbet's "Origin of the World" if you're getting real? Whatever impromptu string of scantily clad portraits spring to mind, odds are most were painted by men.

German-based artist Susannah Martin  is doing her best to uproot this rather uniform trajectory, painting the female body from a -- wait for it -- female point of view. Her contemporary takes on the classical nude imbues female forms with an independent spirit removed from male judgment or approval. These women aren't on display; they're simply doing their thing in the great outdoors.

Feel free to add your comments to this blogpost:

Post by Otto Rapp

Thank you Scott for including one of my works and a short text contribution in your excellent article. 

One of your lead sentences that summed it all up was:

"The idea that you might train a surgeon to be clumsy, or an engineer to build poorly, or a lawyer to ignore law, would be patently absurd. In the arts, however, you will find an occasional musician who purposely plays badly, or a writer who ignores grammar, but only in the visual arts is training in the traditional skills of the profession systematically and often institutionally denigrated."

Allow me to elaborate a little on my contribution to this article. The teacher I spoke of, lets just call him Professor B, was also a ardent follower of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, the art school that was first introducing Conceptual Art into Canada, and the first to eliminate traditional art classes, almost a decade prior to my student days at the University of Lethbridge.  While studying at the UofL I also worked part time as a Gallery Assistant to Professor B, the Gallery Director, who was also my printmaking teacher. The story about his classes is retold in your article, so I won't elaborate here. I would like to state however that I found that the UofL Art Department, then chaired by Professor H who was my painting teacher, had resisted the new trend of eliminating traditional courses, and my best and most useful classes were in Figure Drawing. It was only some time after I graduated when the Conceptual trend took over and I was shocked on subsequent visits to my old Alma Mater how misused and mistreated the studios and equipment in the former Printmaking, Sculpture and Ceramic Studios were.

But lets rewind to a specific event. I believe the year was 1979 when through the visiting artists program Garry Neill Kennedy was invited for a guest lecture. These were usually combined with a exhibition at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery. Kennedy employed art students to apply successive layers of different colored paint onto the exhibition space, ending up with the final color rust-brown. Just prior to the opening he scraped an area off a outside corner with a knife to show the underlying layers of paint. This installation was called 'Revealing'.
A throng of admiring students gathered around him (he was by then already a celebrity) and I joined the question and answer session. At one point Kennedy stated that "in this world there are only about a half dozen people that understand my art", to which I replied "if visual art is a form of communication, and as the saying goes, a picture speaks a thousand words, then I would think if only six people understand you, you fail to be a good communicator". After a short spell of silence he said something like that I am funny, haha; and his body language excluded me from the circle of sycophants.

A year passed, and my Professor B went on sabbatical. The Art Department squeezed by, by not replacing him but dividing his course load among the other faculty. I was Gallery Assistant at that time and for that year, entrusted with running the University Art Gallery. The department Chair, Professor H, had signing authority, but he basically handed me the keys and named me Assistant Gallery Director. This also included looking after the UofL Art Collection during that time. Ironically, the local phone extension to my little office space I was given was 666. I found this extremely funny!

One of the first things I did that year was to change the scheduled Student exhibition from the Saturday Afternoon Pop and Donuts opening to a formal Friday Evening Wine and Cheese reception, like all other shows received. I then got in touch with Prof.B at his sabbatical hide-out in sunny California and asked about the schedule for the following year, since there was none, but needed to be published. No answer. I discussed this with the Department Chair Prof.H and he said to 'go ahead and make your own'. There were some Provincial Artists I scheduled and displayed. At that time the new Fine Art Wing had been built and we moved. To celebrate the opening of the Fine Art Wing it was suggested that it should coincide with the opening of a International Exhibition. Since I scheduled travelling to Austria at that time already I suggested the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism. I got in touch with Rudolf Hausner in Vienna, and he invited me to his home. Laden with information he gave me - and he also sent me more books and catalogues after - I then wrote a  essay for this proposal once I returned to Canada. Long story short, I was shot down. The 'Nova Scotia' connection had gotten stronger by then in our far flung Western Province, and to suggest pure and highly skilled painting for a exhibition that was supposed to be also the opening of the new Fine Art Wing was considered sacrilege.
And that, at least in my mind, was the beginning of the end. Cultureburg  had finally taken over the rest of Canada.

To put this into perspective, check out the background of the main-player in this development in Canada, the afore mentioned Garry Kennedy, at that time president of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design .
Tim Zuck recalled about his student years, "I didn't paint at all there. In fact, that wasn't even an option. I think if you painted in Nova Scotia at the time you would be tarred and feathered." (Abstract Painting in Canada, Roald Nasgaard, page 338)
In retrospect I now understand the question put to me by the curator of the Edmonton Art Gallery (now called the Art Gallery of Alberta) when I submitted a painting to a show called "What's New" (October 1976).  He mockingly said "What, you still paint?" (but they did take it, I might add).

Posted by Otto Rapp with info from France Garrido

Prophesier/prophet/oracle/seer/beholder/percipient/perceiver/observer/
Illusionist/soothsayer/forcaster/intellectual/diviner/futurist/mystical/occult/mysticism

All these words conjure up their own imagery…however the seer - visionary supersedes any of the definitions these words hold. The artists delve into the subconscious and/or dream and glean, meditate, intuit, and from that space create from a base that goes equally inward and outward. In essence a mandala, that begins with a center and emanates out. The process may begin with sound, word, thought, visions, dreams and/or nature…no matter what the source, what is manifested is a sincere deep interchange with our most inner voice…This voice rings softly and gently perceptible by those who listen intently, in the creation of artworks.
There are visionaries, Seers of the Soul, that walk down every path. This exhibition hails artists who dive deep, and emerge with new insights and vision. They, with fear or not, tread deeply into other worlds.

France Garrido [email protected]  201.319.1504
http://bluedoorartcenter.org/gallery/visionaries-seers-soul

Exhibition Dates: 
September 6, 2014 to October 11, 2014
More about the exhibition: 
VISIONARIES: Seers of the Soul
Checklist/Calendar:

1. Deadline for online submissions:  July 26, 2014     
   Please submit images through our online submission form HERE.
   No ENTRY FEE – Artists may submit up to 6 entries. 
   There is a $20 installation fee PER accepted work, payable online at time of notification.
   SIZE RESTRICTION  60”H x 40”W and no heavier than 100 lb       
2. Notification of acceptance:  August 3rd , 2014 
3. Hand Delivered Works: August 30th between 10 am & 2 pm
4. Shipped Works:  Due Dates:  August 25 – August 28, 2014
5. Pick up:  October 11, 4pm – 6pm      
6. COMMISSION: Blue Door Gallery receives 35% commission on all sales

The curator will not view files, which are mislabeled!
Curator has the right to refuse work that is misrepresented at the time of drop off.
All works must be ready to hang.
No Saw Tooth Hardware!  The size given for works should be the framed size.

For Installations:  Multiple images required

Failure to follow instructions may result in the nullification of your entry.

Delivery/Pickup of work:

1. Hand Delivery:  Hand-delivered work. Packaging must be removed from the gallery at the time of delivery.  Some pedestals are available. SPECIAL installation mounting hardware, fasteners, supports etc, must be provided to be installed.
2. Consignment Forms:  Each accepted artist will be sent, by email, a consignment form.   These forms should be filled out, signed and returned.
3. Labels:  Work must have temporary label attached to the front of the piece of artwork, with Artist Name, Title, Media, PRICE
4. In Person Pick Up:  Artist is responsible for pick up. The gallery accepts no responsibility for work not retrieved on pick-up date.  A fee of $5.00 /day will be charged to the artist thereafter for storage. After 30 days the gallery may dispose of the work.
5. Shipped Work:  ALL Shipped works MUST be PREPAID and delivered WITH RETURN POSTAGE!  THIS MEANS A PREPAID SHIPPING LABEL. 
   ***USE ONLY FED EX OR UPS.  DO NOT USE USPO.  SEPARATE SHIPPING ADDRESS WILL BE PROVIDED TO ACCEPTED ARTISTS 

Liability: Great care will be taken with all works, but artists are responsible for insuring their own pieces. Blue Door Gallery and its volunteers/members are not responsible for any loss or damage to work while on the premises or in transit to or from the gallery. The submission of a work of art to this exhibition and a signed waiver shall be understood to constitute an agreement on the part of the artist to the conditions set forth in this prospectus.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR WORK FOR CONSIDERATION

You must have a user account on this website in order to submit your art to our calls for artists or to our webstore. To create an account or to log in please go here.

You will receive an email from us with a link to authenticate your account. You must use this link to log in for the first time.

Once logged in, you will see the "My Workbench" menu in a black bar across the top of your browser window. You will see further instructions once you do this step.

Report by Otto Rapp

High resolution and prints available here:
http://artbysimon.com/images/art1/sanct/spirit-bear.html

Simon Haiduk is a member of the Visionary Art Network

The "Spirit Bear" is a actual subspecies of bears living in the northwest rain forests of British Columbia. Their ecosystem is under threat from the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline which aims to bring tar sands oil from Alberta to the Coast. This project is high risk and could lead to environmental devastation. Please let your voice be heard if you're in opposition by following this link: 
http://www.savebiogems.org/save-the-spirit-bear/