Zak Smith's Blog, page 5

(detail)(Vivka)(acrylic on paper)

(detail)(Vivka)(acrylic on paper)

(museum with 4 girls, 2 of whom look at you)(detail)(acry...

(museum with 4 girls, 2 of whom look at you)(detail)(acrylic on paper)

(look to your orb for the warning)(acrylic on paper)

(look to your orb for the warning)(acrylic on paper)

(museum with 4 girls, 2 of whom look at you)(acrylic on p...

(museum with 4 girls, 2 of whom look at you)(acrylic on paper)

(pixie pearl again)(acrylic on paper)

(pixie pearl again)(acrylic on paper)

(pixie pearl again)(acrylic on paper)

(pixie pearl again)(acrylic on paper)

(This is the final draft.)FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:Zak Sm...

(This is the final draft.)


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:



Zak Smith

A Show About Nothing

October 7 through November 6, 2010

Opening reception: October 7, 6 to 8 pm



Fredericks & Freiser is pleased to announce an exhibition of paintings and drawings by Zak Smith. Unfortunately, he has once again refused to make art about anything, which does make it rather difficult to write a traditional press release.



We keep asking "Hey Zak, is this 20-foot drawing you made intended to
subtly undermine normative assumptions about the relationship of public
to private spaces in our increasingly de-centered psychosocial
environment?" and he keeps saying things like "No." Or we say, "Zak, are
these paintings of porn actresses that you know meant to offer a
critical counter-narrative to popular depictions of gender?" and he
says, "Nope. Maybe you could fill out the press release by using one of
those on-line postmodern text generators."



"We tried that, and got: 'Debord's critique of the structural paradigm
of discourse suggests that sexual identity has objective value. Several
deconstructivisms concerning nihilism may be revealed.' But Zak, our
attachment to outdated Judeo-Christian cultural assumptions demands that
we can't allow ourselves to accept pleasure unless it has meaning. Plus, y'know, we need a paragraph where we quote you saying something smart."



"How about: 'Meaning is the most interesting thing about a bad painting
and the least interesting thing about a good painting'? Can I go now? I
have a lot of work to do."



We do find some consolation, however, in the fact that the pictures are excruciatingly beautiful.



About The Artist

Zak Smith was born in 1976 and lives in works in Los
Angeles.  His work is, somewhat surprisingly, included in several public
collections including The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Walker
Art Center, Minneapolis; The Saatchi Gallery, London; and The Whitney
Museum of American Art, where his work was included in the 2004 Whitney
Biennial.  His work has also been exhibited at The San Francisco Museum
of Modern Art; The Contemporary Museum of Art, Baltimore; The National
Portrait Gallery, Washington DC; and The Carnegie Museum of Art,
Pittsburgh. In addition to his recently published memoir We Did Porn, two books of his art work have been published--Pictures of Girls and Pictures Showing What Happens on Each Page of Thomas Pynchon's Novel Gravity's Rainbow. This is his fifth show at Fredericks & Freiser.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:Zak SmithA Show About NothingOc...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Zak Smith

A Show About Nothing

October 7th through November 6th, 2010



Fredericks and Freiser Gallery is distressed to have to announce that
Zak Smith keeps refusing to make art about anything and we don't know why.



We keep going "Hey Zak, is this 20-foot drawing you made intended to subtly
undermine normative assumptions about the relationship of public to
private spaces in our

increasingly de-centred psychosocial environment?" and he keeps saying things like "No."

Or
we say "Zak, are these paintings of porn actresses that you know meant
to offer a critical counternarrative to popular depictions of gender and
sexuality?" and he goes "Nope."



And we keep saying, "Hey, come on, make some conceptual art. That's what
everyone's doing and it's terribly thought-provoking--haven't you
noticed how much more thoughtful

people are these days? And we know you're into, like, politics and stuff, conceptual art is really progressive--look at all this progress we're constantly seeing thanks to the phenomenal impact conceptual art's

had on everyone."



But he doesn't listen, he keeps just making pictures that are pretty.
Well, beautiful. I mean, ok, we have to admit the pictures are truly gorgeous and more visually absorbing than anything

we've ever seen. But, really--come one--this is a side issue.
Unparalleled and visceral sensual pleasure--is anybody really
interested in that? These are difficult times and we keep trying to

explain to Smith that the only way to tackle them is to hire some
assistant to make something extremely boring and give it a title that sounds like
some stoner trying to remember something Nietzsche said.  But

Zak Smith just keeps not making conceptual art.



"But it's so subversive and sophisticated!" we say "And it makes money!"



"No," he says "I have to stay here at my desk and finish making this look pretty."

"But
our attachment to outdated Judeo-Christian cultural assumptions demands
we can't allow ourselves to accept pleasure unless it has some meaning."

"Sucks to be you, I guess."



"What about that thing Roland Barthes said--'Everything has a meaning,
or nothing has. To put it another way, one could say that art is without
noise'. I mean the pictures must mean something, right?"

"Maybe. Who cares?"

"But
it's ok if we tell people they mean something, right? Like they might
be able to put their own meaning in there if they want?"

"Sure, whatever."

About The Artist:



Zak Smith was born in 1976 and lives in works in Los Angeles. His
work is, somewhat surprisingly, included in several public collections including The Museum of
Modern Art, New York and The Whitney Museum of American Art. His
work has been exhibited at The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The
Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, The Contemporary Museum of Art, Baltimore;
and The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, where he was included
in the 2004 Whitney Biennial. In addition to his
recently published memoir "We Did Porn" about his experiences "acting"
in adult films, two books of his artwork have been published--"Pictures
of Girls" and "Pictures Showing What Happens
on Each Page of Thomas Pynchon's Novel Gravity's Rainbow".

(in progress)(acrylic on paper)(2/3rds of it visible here...

(in progress)(acrylic on paper)(2/3rds of it visible here)(show's up in a week and a half)

still working hard for my show, but here's a toy to play ...

still working hard for my show, but here's a toy to play with while you wait:

alphabetize all your music by song title (it's easy if you've got itunes or whatever) then read off the songs starting with the word "I". You get a little poem.  Here's Mandy's:

i am the gestapo
i am the walrus
i can see you
i don't give a shit
i don't know where I'm bound
i don't mind
i felt the luxury
i fought the law
i found the reason
i got stripes
i got stripes
i hate myself and i want to die
i hate you
i just want to make lo...