DP721W, 2016 at michaelsarff.com permanent link to this post

#unmade - report 10 (91-100)

February 1, 2017 marked the beginning of a year long painting / internet art project titled #unmade.

For #unmade, I am posting, via Twitter, 100 titles for 100 unrealised paintings over the course of 2017. A painting (most likely as an acrylic and ink on canvas) is available for each title. Each #unmade painting is priced at $100. To commission a painting, a person may contact me (DM via Twitter) the day the title is posted. If no one commissions the title on the the day of the post (midnight EST), the painting will remain unmade.

The tenth set of 10 tiles (#91-100) has generated 0 commissioned paintings with 8 likes and 0 retweets. During the tenth set, the @mriver twitter account lost 1 follower for the current total of 290. Of the 8 new likes for titles #91-100, 63% are from MTAA member emeritus @twhid

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Here are some final notes on #unmade.

Overall, #unmade has generated 0 commissioned paintings with 85 likes and 3 retweets. During #unmade, the @mriver twitter account began and ended with 290 followers. Of the 85 likes in #unmade, the majority are from MTAA member emeritus @twhid. Thanks Tim. Also thanks to @Lindsay_Howard @gregorg @dzucconi @whileseated @magdasawon @naomiclaire @ricksilva and anyone else I may have missed for the additional likes.

#unmade is divided into 10 sets of 10 titles. Each of the 10 sets, like the individual titles, developed as the project progressed. The 10 sets of #unmade are organised into the following thematic categories.

Set 1 - Long Titles Near 140 Characters
Set 2 - Three Little Words
Set 3 - Newspaper Headlines (East to West)
Set 4 - Anagrams Paintings
Set 5 - Hexadecimal Monochromes
Set 6 - Great American Landscape Painting
Set 7 - As A Selfie
Set 8 - New Nudes
Set 9 - Large Groups of People and/or Mythical Beings Doing Things Together
Set 10 - Self Portraits With or As

Of the 10 sets, the most views occurred during the first set and the most interaction occurred during the 5th set. The lowest level of views and interactions occurred during the 4th set.

Overall, the most interactions occurred with the title 46. The color not of the cold sea at night nor a warm plum at noon but the collision of the two #2E0854 #unmade (2 likes, 1 re-tweet) and the title 65. Portrait Of Young Boy With His New Drone As A Selfie #unmade (3 likes 0 re-tweets). The least interaction occurred with title 83 which was not written nor posted. No, I’m not sure why.

The documentation of the project including the 10 set reports will remain archived as a Google doc at

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qnrjK50u6IUqZqoYxQy5xlRCXor5uzpeyJdx3EkQt2g/edit?usp=sharing

At some point I hope to have the work copy edited as I am sure it is full of typos. Finally, I plan on making 10 small #unmade paintings in 2018. The goal is to produce one text based painting of the titles for each of the 10 sets. permanent link to this post

#unmade - report 9 (81-90)

February 1, 2017 marked the beginning of a year long painting / internet art project titled #unmade.

For #unmade, I am posting, via Twitter, 100 titles for 100 unrealised paintings over the course of 2017. A painting (most likely as an acrylic and ink on canvas) is available for each title. Each #unmade painting is priced at $100. To commission a painting, a person may contact me (DM via Twitter) the day the title is posted. If no one commissions the title on the the day of the post (midnight EST), the painting will remain unmade.

The ninth set of 10 tiles (#81-90) has generated 0 commissioned paintings with 9 likes and 0 retweets. During the ninth set, the @mriver twitter account lost 1 follower for the current total of 291. Of the 9 new likes for titles #81-90, 77% are from MTAA member emeritus @twhid

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90 titles done with 0 paintings made. I’d plan on wrapping up #unmade by posting the final 10 titles before January 1, 2018. At this point, the only painting genera #unmade still needs to cover is self-portrait. So, from here to the end, it’s all about self as if this was not the case from the start.As we know from art history, self can be divided neatley into two types: Self Portrait As and Self Portrait With. I think I will start with With.

Also, just to note, with only a few Sundays and Mondays left before the end of the year and 10 titles to go, I will need to add a few random posting times. permanent link to this post

#unmade - report 8 (71-80)

February 1, 2017 marked the beginning of a year long painting / internet art project titled #unmade.

For #unmade, I am posting, via Twitter, 100 titles for 100 unrealised paintings over the course of 2017. A painting (most likely as an acrylic and ink on canvas) is available for each title. Each #unmade painting is priced at $100. To commission a painting, a person may contact me (DM via Twitter) the day the title is posted. If no one commissions the title on the the day of the post (midnight EST), the painting will remain unmade.

The eighth set of 10 tiles (#71-80) have generated 0 commissioned paintings with 10 likes and 0 retweets. During the seventh set, the @mriver twitter account gained 1 follower for the current total of 292. Of the 10 new likes for titles #71-80, 80% are from MTAA member emeritus @twhid

13 dine in da Vinci’s Last Supper. 11 ride a boat in Leutze’s Washington Crossing the Delaware. Some vast number of humans and other things that I’m frankly too lazy to count right now are doing whatever the hell they are doing in Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights. In the final chapters of #unmade, I have turned my attention to figure painting. So far, the subjects have only been isolated figures or couples. I’d like to now take on the category I like to think of as large groups of people and/or mythical beings doing things together. Like paintings of horses, mountains and roman gods, I feel crowds are quickly disappearing as a subject. With Dana Schutz’s brawl elevators and Nicole Eisenman’s freaky flaneurs being some needed exceptions. So, up next, a few new mob scenes. permanent link to this post

#unmade - report 7 (61-70)

February 1, 2017 marked the beginning of a year long painting / internet art project titled #unmade.

For #unmade, I am posting, via Twitter, 100 titles for 100 unrealised paintings over the course of 2017. A painting (most likely as an acrylic and ink on canvas) is available for each title. Each #unmade painting is priced at $100. To commission a painting, a person may contact me (DM via Twitter) the day the title is posted. If no one commissions the title on the the day of the post (midnight EST), the painting will remain unmade.

The seventh set of 10 tiles (#61-70) have generated 0 commissioned paintings with 9 likes and 0 retweets. During the seventh set, the @mriver twitter account lost 2 followers for the current total of 291. Of the 9 new likes for titles #61-70, 66% are from MTAA member emeritus @twhid

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As mentioned in #unmade report 6, I would like to move #unmade outside my artistic norms in the second half of the project by inhabiting the role know as “figure painter”. If you are a figure painter, sooner or later you end up painting a nude. I do not know who made this rule up. I’m just trying to follow the script.

Way back in the late 80s, I went to art school. This art school required students to spend hours and hours drawing and painting nude models. I wouldn’t say I liked it. Although compared to most of my life in High School, I was at least doing something I was somewhat mentally engaged with. On the other hand, I was happy when I could move on to painting subjects of my choice. I don’t think I’ve made a nude since then. Quite frankly, I was never really good at it. Somehow, a foot or an eye or a hand would end up slightly grotesque without my intention. So, I moved on.

30 years later, for the eighth set of #unmade, I like to propose some new nudes. permanent link to this post

#unmade - report 6 (51-60)

February 1, 2017 marked the beginning of a year long painting / internet art project titled #unmade.

For #unmade, I am posting, via Twitter, 100 titles for 100 unrealised paintings over the course of 2017. A painting (most likely as an acrylic and ink on canvas) is available for each title. Each #unmade painting is priced at $100. To commission a painting, a person may contact me (DM via Twitter) the day the title is posted. If no one commissions the title on the the day of the post (midnight EST), the painting will remain unmade.

The sixth set of 10 tiles (#51-60) have generated 0 commissioned paintings with 6 likes and 1 retweet. During the sixth set, the @mriver twitter account gained 1 new follower for the current total of 293. Of the 6 new likes for titles #51-60, 83% are from MTAA member emeritus @twhid with @gregorg pulling in 100% of the 1 retweet

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I’ve been called a net artist but I have always considered myself a sculptor. Although I self-define as a sculptor, I would like to confess I have been working in the role of a landscape painter in #Unmade. I say this with full understanding that landscape painter might be a pejorative in the artworld. For some, I might as well call myself a Sunday painter (which technically I half am as I only post #Unmade on Wednesday and Sundays).

At this point in #Unmade, I have only made hypothetical painting titles. Although the project exists only as titles so far, I feel #Unmade falls in the tradition of a person out in the field with tubes of paint trying to capture the light through fleeting clouds over the river at sunrise as a large ship burns in the foreground.

Yes, Landscape paintings. Georgia O’Keefe and I, out in the world staring down skulls and mesas.

Although I have built #Unmade within the realm of landscape, I feel it is now time to work outside my default settings. I feel it might be time to switch gears and take on the terrifying role know as “figure painter”. So, for the next set (61-70), I would like to propose some new portraits. permanent link to this post

#unmade - report 5 (41-50)

February 1, 2017 marked the beginning of a year long painting / internet art project titled #unmade.

For #unmade, I am posting, via Twitter, 100 titles for 100 unrealised paintings over the course of 2017. A painting (most likely as an acrylic and ink on canvas) is available for each title. Each #unmade painting is priced at $100. To commission a painting, a person may contact me (DM via Twitter) the day the title is posted. If no one commissions the title on the the day of the post (midnight EST), the painting will remain unmade.

The fourth set of 10 tiles (#41-50) have generated 0 commissioned paintings with 13 likes and 1 retweet. During the fourth set, the @mriver twitter account lost 1 follower for the current total of 292. Of the 12 new likes for titles #41-50, 58% are from MTAA member emeritus @twhid with @gregorg pulling in 100% of the one RT

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Here we are at halfway through. 50 down and 50 to go.

I was recently asked by a colleague a cocktail reception if I was still making art. These days only a few people I know, let alone people I work with, seem to know that I am an artist. For me, this is not a problem. It is more of a self fulfilling prophecy. It is a prophecy based on a decade old choice to make work in what was then and probably still is an obscure and financially unfeasible media (Internet Art). I made this work in a collaborative (MTAA) under a pseudonym (M.River). Really, I only have myself to blame. So, when the fellow museum professional politely asked, I found myself making an awkward explanation of #unmade. I do not think my explanation moved past the work is built twice a week for a year on Twitter before the conversation shifted to other thoughts. Yes, my cocktail chatter is as captivating as this sounds.

I did note something in the off the cuff description of #unmade that has been bouncing around my head. When asked, I called #unmade a net art project but I am not quite sure it is. In my heart it is a painting project but with 0 works produced after 50 titles, I need to let that go. #Unmade does live on the net on Twitter and in Google Docs but for some reason I’m not sure if this counts. It does fits in the model of The Simple Net Art Diagram if the CRT’s are replaced with smart phones. Overall, I’m not sure what #unmade is at this point, just that it is and that I plan to finish all 100 titles by the end of the year. Calling #unmade Net Art functions only as shorthand at this point.

Next up Titles 51-60 - Titles for possible Great American Landscape Paintings. permanent link to this post

#unmade - report 4 (31-40)

February 1, 2017 marked the beginning of a year long painting / internet art project titled #unmade.

For #unmade, I am posting, via Twitter, 100 titles for 100 unrealised paintings over the course of 2017. A painting (most likely as an acrylic and ink on canvas) is available for each title. Each #unmade painting is priced at $100. To commission a painting, a person may contact me (DM via Twitter) the day the title is posted. If no one commissions the title on the the day of the post (midnight EST) , the painting will remain unmade.

The fourth set of 10 tiles (#31-40) have generated 0 commissioned paintings with 4 likes and 0 retweets. During the fourth set, the mriver twitter account gained 3 new followers for a total of 294. Of the 4 new likes for titles #31-40, 100% are from MTAA member emeritus @twhid.

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The fourth set of #unmade titles came from anagrams for classic paintings. I considered having the title contain both the original painting title as well as the anagram but thought it more interesting to let the anagram stand alone. For the few true hardcore #unmade fans, who at this point may only be @twhid if anyone at all, here are the answers to the last 10 titles.

31. Mona Lisa / A Snail Om
32. Whistler’s Mother / Whether Slims Rot
33. The Starry Night / Thy Shit Granter
34. Olympia / Pay Limo
35. Guernica / Ruin Cage
36. American Gothic / Chaotic Reaming
37. Luncheon on the Grass / A Honor Shuns Neglect
38. The Night Watch / Tight Hat Wench
39. A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte / Fantasy Undone Or Data Leg Ran A Donation Shelf
40. The Scream / Cash Meter

…and next up, #unmade adds color with a Monochrome set. permanent link to this post

DOT.ART

6 MAY – 27 MAY 2017, THURSDAY-SATURDAY 12-5

Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries, Heath Bunting, MTAA, Rafaël Rozendaal, Critical Art Ensemble, Lorna Mills and Ryder Ripps.

Dot.Art is is an exhibition and events programme presenting artworks from the first wave of Net.Art alongside more recent projects produced since the rise of web 2.0, social networks and easily accessible search engines. Taking place in Vivid Projects’ physical space as well as occupying hyperlinks on its website, the Dot.Art season explores the internet as a medium and site for art from the 1990s through to the present day and includes an events series incorporating a weekly reading group, talks, performances and workshops. permanent link to this post

#unmade - report 3 (21-30)

February 1, 2017 marked the beginning of a year long painting / internet art project titled #unmade.

For #unmade, I am posting, via Twitter, 100 titles for 100 unrealised paintings over the course of 2017. A painting (most likely as an acrylic and ink on canvas) is available for each title. Each #unmade painting is priced at $100. To commission a painting, a person may contact me (DM via Twitter) the day the title is posted. If no one commissions the title on the the day of the post (midnight EST) , the painting will remain unmade.

The third set of 10 tiles (#21-30) have generated 0 commissioned paintings with 7 likes and 0 retweets. During the third set, the mriver twitter account remained at 290 followers. Of the 7 new likes for titles #21-30, 100% are from MTAA member emeritus @twhid. Thanks @twhid

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I’ve been to art fairs, galleries and museums since #unmade began. In the physical world and world online, I see paintings. Remember the little boy who whispers “I see dead people.”? I feel like this now. I feel it but not in the worn “painting-is-dead” way. It’s more of a feeling of seeing something pass before me and I’m not sure it is real. I’m not sure if others see what I am seeing. I’m not sure if I am afraid. Can these visitations harm me? Should I voice my concerns to adults?

With #unmade, I see each painting as I write each title. Each painting fades as they become unmade. I look back at the titles. I try to remember how I was going to produce each one. They tell us history is the objects we keep. As the images fade and only the the titles marking the spent opportunity remains, I wonder what becomes of all of this.

Speaking of the undead, the next 10 titles (31-40) are appropriated from classic paintings. They are from paintings that seem to appear just by their names. For unmade tiles, I have renamed them with anagrams. Yes, the names of the next ten possible unmade paintings are anagrams of famous made paintings. Yes, I know this cringe worthy and nerdy. I know. I know. You see dead people. I see paintings. First with anagram answers in the comments win bragging rights. permanent link to this post

February 1, 2017 marked the beginning of a year long painting / internet art project titled #unmade.

For #unmade, I am posting, via Twitter, titles for 100 unrealised paintings over the course of 2017. A painting (most likely as an acrylic and ink on canvas) is available for each title. Each #unmade painting is priced at $100. To commission a painting, a person may contact me (DM via Twitter) the day the title is posted. If no one commissions the title on the the day of the post, the painting will remain unmade.

The second set of 10 tiles (#11-20) have generated 0 commissioned paintings with 9 likes and 0 retweets. During the second set, (03-15-2017 to 04-09-2017), the mriver twitter account gained 2 new followers and lost 1. This brings the account total to 290 followers. Of the 9 new likes for titles #11-20, 88.9% are from MTAA member emeritus @twhid.

To help compare the two title sets, twitter tells me title #5. I Can See No Greater Beauty, In All the American Landscape, Than Winter Fields and Streets Full Shoulder 2 Shoulder in Resistance #unmade received 192 impressions and 2 engagements and title #15. If The Trees #unmade, received 94 impressions and 1 engagement.

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After the first set of Unmade posts, I decided to write a brief report every 10 tiles. Each report looks at the Unmade data (or lack thereof) as well as documents some of the project’s ideas and processes (or lack thereof). Now that we are done with the data section, let’s turn our thoughts to names.

Although I think of Unmade as a performance with painting, it is also of project of naming. It is naming without the object to be named. Unmade is built with the understanding a painting may or may not appear. “TBD” as I like to say about most things these days.

Let’s talk about names. William tells us a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Gertrude adds Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose. In general, I have to go with Gertrude on this one. Although, with the nature of Unmade, a name might be best expressed as “Rose?”. This name might be best vocalized as Stanley calling Stella.

Along with titles for possible paintings, the overall project needed a name as well. Unmade, or #unmade in Twitter lingo, was the choice. As the common usage for unmade refers to the state of a bed, it seemed right for the project. I felt the image of crumpled sheets and dented pillows worked well with my thoughts on painting, labor, language and the internet.

For the first set of 10 post in the project, I wrote long and unwieldy names. The second set was short three word titles. For the next set of ten names over the upcoming 5 weeks, I will use the proven Warhol method of appropriated news headlines. The first title (#21) will be from New York. The rest will be from newspapers across the globe with online translation help via Google. With the ugly state of the world these days, I fear the next set of painting titles might trigger a significant drop in likes and followers. Then again, I might get lucky and hit impeachment week. TBD. permanent link to this post

#unmade - report 1 (1-10)

February 1, 2017 marked the beginning of a year long painting / internet art project titled #unmade.

For #unmade, I am posting, via twitter, titles for 100 unrealised paintings over the course of 2017. A painting (most likely as acrylic and ink on canvas) is available for each title. To commission a painting, a person will need to contact me (DM) the day the title is posted. Each #unmade painting is priced at $100.

The first 10 tiles have generated 0 commissioned paintings with 11 likes, 1 retweets and 2 new twitter followers. This brings the account to a total of 289 followers. Of the 11 likes, 64% are from MTAA member emeritus @twhid.

My practical art side suggests I should just stop speaking about the workings of #unmade at this point. I should post the titles, report the results and leave the work alone for people to consider. It tells me statements around #unmade may muddle things up.

As I believe only three people in the world are looking at what I make these days, I might as well enjoy the advantage of isolation. I might as well make myself, and you, at home. So, to help us get comfortable with #unmade, I would like to tell you a story.

I closed my North 6th Street Williamsburg studio of 11 years in October 2015. Tim, my partner in MTAA, had already tossed in the towel on the artworld in 2011. A few years later, the financial burden of keeping a solo studio space was taking a toll. I was happy to show some work (link) in my post-MTAA era but lately no museum, gallery or collector was knocking at the door. I seemed to be making work only to make work. With my first child on her way in 2016, I packed up the studio and moved the small mountain of archived MTAA works to a 10x12 storage space in Long Island City. I was now both free of the space and completely restless without it.

Without a physical space in 2016, I decided to quietly return to making online art (link) (link). I was happy with building online work again and wanted to start something new. In early January 2017 I was scratching my head on what to do next when @wagnerblog randomly posted an old painting of mine on Twitter (link) . With this post, an idea and an agreement with myself appeared. Returning to early MTAA working method (link) (link) , I decided I would make a painting only if someone wanted it. If no one really wanted it, then I would at least have a year long text based net artwork to show for the effort.

So here we are, 10 titles into 100. To be honest, I am still thinking of how to work with some details for the project overall. As the delivery method is twitter, I’ve been thinking about character count, hashtags and how immediate the text should be to the moment in time. For process, I do think I will try to bundle the titles into sections of ten. I also think I will keep up with a reporting on the overall project after every 10 posts. For the first 10 titles, I just went with long and unwieldy. I think I will go short for the next 10.

More soon. permanent link to this post

@mriver
#unmade
2017

Over the next year, titles for 100 unmade paintings will be posted on twitter from the account @mriver. Each title will be followed by the hashtag #unmade. Only one title will be sent out per day.

An original painting is available for $100 (payable via paypal) for each of the 100 #unmade titles. If a person would like to commission and acquire an #unmade painting, they may Direct Message @mriver before midnight EST on the day of the post. If no contact is made before the end of the day, the painting will not be produced and the title will no longer be available. If more than one person contacts the account, the work will be sent to the first person who DMed. All works will be shipped by mail.

The title, collector and an image of each painting produced, as well as a list of the #unmade titles, will be posted on the #unmade Google Doc. permanent link to this post

permanent link to this post

MTAA - Music 4 Music 4 Airports, 2015

One day in the mid-1970s, Brian Eno was waylaid in the Cologne Bonn Airport. Annoyed by the airports soundscape, Eno develops a plan to build a sound installation for the space. Eno works out the framework for the installation in his groundbreaking 1978 album - Ambient 1 - Music for Airports. Eno built the album, consisting of only 4 tracks, by manipulating phasing tape loops. The resulting work moves between music, soundscape, and audio wallpaper.

Some time has passed since the 70s. Tape loops have been replaced by computer algorithms. Our airports now function under the watchful eyes of the TSA. Although travel has changed, being stuck in an airport today might be the same drag as it was in the 70s, but with slightly better coffee. As technology skips happily along and our air travel becoming both trauma inducing and mind numbly dull, 2015 felt like a good moment to revisit Eno’s score.

In the work, I live captures four session of online surfing to combine Eno’s tracks (via youTube) with explorations of two European airports - Paris Orly, Cologne Bonn and two American airports - LGA, JFK. Each of the track/ airports is surfed on the internet using a different default web search method. Track 1 / 1 explores Paris Orly by Google street view, 1 / 2 looks at Cologne Bonn’s via the airports live webcam, Tack 2 /1 works with image searches of LGA and Track 2 / 2 sees JKF within You Tube.

The work joins with and pushes against the passive sounds of a bygone ideal for world travel. It plays with and against the sounds not only in the subject of what airports have become decades later but with the medium of the web in which the site and sounds are performed. permanent link to this post

2 New MTAA works in a weekend group show of recycled pedestals opens Friday as part of Bushwick Open Stuidos





Further and Further Away from the Flock Slowly Spinning Slightly Hovering, 2016



Stay Frosty Stay (The New Sprit of Capitalism), 2016 permanent link to this post

The Queens CorrespondAnce School [did not die]

Academic in LIC
September 2- 24, 2016
curated by Emily Peterson Dunne




At the opening a friend who I had not seen in some years noted that MTAA does not make art anymore. This is almost true. MTAA does not make art anymore except when it does. permanent link to this post

In which onKawaraUpdate is the subject of scholarly analysis permanent link to this post

MTAA
Untitled Dummy Image, 2016
website generated 600x 400 jpeg
http://dummyimage.com/600x400/000/fff.jpg&text=MTAA+2016

embedded here via Flickr at 320x213



Untitled Dummy Image’s pubic Google Doc page permanent link to this post

permanent link to this post