Embedded Histories - Short And Long

Embedded Histories - Short & Long

Ro2 Art is proud to present Embedded Histories - Long & Short, a solo exhibition featuring new works by artist Brad Ford Smith.

Each postcard sized ink drawing is made en plein air, capturing seemingly idyllic landscapes around the city of Dallas, Texas. The artist contrasts these present day views with references of forgotten moments in history occurring on those same sites. Through these sometimes jarring juxtapositions, the artist questions how collective memory shapes local identity. Each ink rendering, whether of a sidewalk or a train trestle holds layers of embedded history just beneath the surface. The artist seeks the past to discover truths about the city he calls home. 

Over the last three years my artwork has shifted away from the tongue and cheek, pseudo-science of the Nomadic Fungi Institute to a stripped-down investigation of the city I live in. This shift was not a deliberate, intellectual decision on my part, but rather an attempt to disperse personal chaos generated by our current social and political climate. It became critical to me to not add more disinformation into the world.

 

I found myself asking a basic question: What the hell is true? Where do I find certainty?  The simple answer was to look under my own feet at the physical ground I stand on. This piece of earth I know to be solid and true. It is my home. But take a step and ask again. What is this piece of earth? And what about the next step?  It didn’t take long to discover just outside my door were deep layers of embedded history.

 

In order to concentrate on the history and the physical experience of creating onsite, I reduced my art medium to the simplest of drawing materials: pen, brush, ink, 4” x 6” watercolor paper and a folding camp chair.  With these tools stowed away in my backpack, I can access places near and far where the separation between history and time runs thin.

 

These thin spots at first were hard to find. There is a lot of hype in our community that I had plow through before finding these thin places. But eventually the surface debris was pushed away, and a baseball field becomes a POW camp; a corner lamp post becomes a lynching post; a golf course becomes a thriving Caddo village; an abandoned swimming pool becomes the Fort that helped push the native people out of Texas.

 

On Sunday, January 10th I sat across from three resting bulldozers. Between us are the scattered piles of logs that once composed  the GC & SF railroad trestle. For 125 years this trestle successfully spanned the Trinity River. As I draw, I am connecting to what was, what is now, and what will be no longer. The freshly splintered wood perfumes the air with creosote and cypress sap. Then the wind turns, and the pungent diesel fumes fill my nose and sting my eyes. 

 

I try to work from an unbiased viewpoint that is not influenced by politics, religion or ethnicity. Focusing on the history that drew me to that place and the experience of being in a place of history. If a Freedmen’s Town is now a dilapidated, East Dallas shopping complex, or a grassy field in the Trinity River bottoms is the first place to announce “Elvis has left the building”,  these are facts, overlooked, forgotten, swept under the rug history. It is the embedded history that I am there to connect with, and by doing so, these locations are transformed into personal icons of who we have become.

Brad Ford Smith

Embedded Histories - Short & Long

Where: Ro2 Art | The Cedars

1501 S. Ervay St. Dallas, TX 75215

When: March 13 – April 10, 2021

Opening Reception: Saturday, March 13, 12-5pm. 

www.ro2art.com

Stay out of the mud,

Brad

A Walk Is Just The Thing We Need

With all this indoor togetherness it's more important than ever to slow down and enjoy the simple things.

Cheers,
Brad

Nomadic Fungi: Germination to Propagation

In the honored tradition of State Fair sideshow barkers ...

Step right up and see giant fungi eat cars right before your very eyes! These remarkable oddities of nature will thrill and chill you with their voracious appetite for automobiles. See the future of our civilization disappear as these mutated mushrooms eat car after car after car. Will anything stop these carnivore fungi before it's too late? Are we doomed to return to the days of horse drawn wagons? Is your car at this very moment being infiltrated by this sly predator?  Or is your car already being consumed from the inside?

The Nomadic Fungi Institute is thrilled to present:

Nomadic Fungi: Germination to Propagation

Nomadic Fungi are a mutated species that have functionally adapted to feed on automobiles. They have the capacity to infiltrate cars and extract nutrients directly from them by rapidly biodegrading materials made from oil, plastic and synthetic rubber. These voracious fungi constitute a serious threat to our nation’s transportation system and ultimately to the American way of life. This exhibition at the Texas Discovery Gardens brings together the most comprehensive collection of information currently available about the growth and propagation of nomadic fungi.

For the full Press Release and photographs please visit the NFI Press Page

Press Release - Image Library

Opening Saturday Aug 11th 1:00- 4:00pm.

Runs from Aug 11th - Oct. 28th, 2018.

Texas Discovery Gardens

Fair Park

3601 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd
Dallas TX. 75210

214-428-7476

Roadside Snacks Opens at the Art Car Museum

As part of their twenty year anniversary celebration, the Art Car Museum has asked NFI to install a new exhibition in their gallery. Below is the press release:

The Nomadic Fungi Institute presents, Roadside Snacks, a survey of eyewitness accounts and laboratory tests pertaining to the proliferation of nomadic fungi. The Nomadic Fungi Institute is a pseudoscience based "Institution" established to investigate and document sightings of giant mushrooms growing on automobiles.

NFI also conducts laboratory experiments to ascertain the probability and rate at which these parasitic fungi will spread and inevitably impact the American transportation system. Dr. Brad Ford Smith founded the Nomadic Fungi Institute in 2013 and has been fastidiously pursuing all leads pertaining to these mutated fungi.

Drop by and find out if you should be concerned about that knocking under your hood.

For more information on the exhibition visit the World Of Nomadic Fungi

Opens June 3rd
Runs from June 3rd -  November 23rd 2018

Art Car Museum
140 Heights BLVD
Houston Tx. 77007

713-861-5526

Hanging with Santa Fe Modern

I'll have several works on paper and a few sculptures nestled among the sophisticated contemporary furnishings at Santa Fe Modern.

Alone with a Bottle of Ink

Over the last month I have been spending time at the house/art immersion of the two artists known as Chuck and George. They gave me a key so I was able to drop by whenever I pleased. The result is 14 ink drawings of the visually overloaded interior of the world they live in.

Their house from the front porch to the back gate is overflowing with artwork, artifacts and curiosities. All of the walls and even some of the floors are custom painted and just about every surface has artwork on it. Not only with Chuck and George's artwork but also the works by hundreds of other artists too. It's safe to say this is the biggest collection of slightly demented regional art in Texas. You can understand why I was excited about the opportunity to draw in this environment.

On May 20th the Chuck and George house will be part of the Visual Speed Bump Art Tour. I recommend you earmark the day to spend time at this wonderful house as well as visiting the other 13 studios on the self guided tour.

Interior Views of Chuck and George

There's nothing like spending time at a friends' house, and when they loan you a key so you can come and go as you please, it's only natural to take full advantage of the kindness by dropping by when they are not home and drawing pictures of their living room, dining room, den, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom too, sure, why not!

And just to show that Chuck and George harbor no hard feelings towards my intimate doodlings they are displaying all 14 drawings during the Visual Speed Bump Art Tour. The VSBAT is one day only, May 20th, so grab some snacks and go see some art.

Nomadic Fungi Lab Samples Develope Red Dots

The Nomadic Fungi Institute was very honored to have two NFI Lab Samples on display with Ro2 Art at this years Dallas Art Fair. The two samples were fresh from the NFI incubator, and
still damp with the pure spring water we use to sterilize all our lab samples with.

With the Dallas Art Fair drawing in thousands of people, these two NFI lab samples was set to receive a lot of exposure. The NFI hot line started ringing Friday afternoon with people saying there were red dots on the wall next to the lab samples. Of course the NFI staff was very alarmed. Had something gone wrong with our sterilization process and the nomadic spores found the latex wall paint irresistible. With a quick call to Jordan at Ro2 Art we were informed that the red dots were actually sold stickers!

Postcard Shout Out by Art and Seek

One of my favorite online cultural resources Art and Seek posted an article about the postcards I've been drawing. Brad Ford Smith Sketches the (Art) News 

Nomadic Fungi Institute Now Represented at Ro2 Art

the Nomadic Fungi Institute is very happy to announce that Ro2 Art in Dallas Texas has asked to represent the Institute.

Consumed By A Nomadic Fungus

Over the last year I have slowly shifted my focus over to developing the Nomadic Fungi Institute. This has become a very personal project for me. One that I am enjoying and learning from. It has opened up doors to new experiences and new areas of personal growth. Just what you would expect when working around mutated fungi that feed on various automobile components.

So my BFS Art Blog will be put on the shelf. It has been fun and rewarding to write this blog which I started on my first trip to the Yucatan on December 28, 2007. I do hope you will all follow me over to The World Of Nomadic Fungi. There are things developing there that are quite extraordinary.

Here are the various links to the Nomadic Fungi Institute:

The World Of Nomadic Fungi
Nomadic Fungi Institute on Facebook
Nomadic_Fungi on Instagram

And of course you can always follow me on:

Brad Ford Smith on Facebook
Brad Ford Smith Pics on Instagram

I'll see you on the streets and in the galleries,
Brad

Real World Time Chunk Spent

Click, Connect, Sign up, Subscribe, Like, Friend, Follow, Applaud. Send...

I have spent the last several chunks of real world time working on some of the blogs I help manage;
BFS Art Blog, The World Of Nomadic Fungi Blog, Studio Six Art Conservation Blog, and the NTAAC Blog (North Texas Association for Art Conservation). There was also the related Facebook Pages, Instagram, Pinterest, and Flickr links that required a little tickling as well.

This was all because Google pretty much stopped updating Feedburner the subscription management program for Blogspot. Google also does not fully support it's Google Friend Connect sign up program anymore either. There is also the Networked Blogs sign up program for Facebook that has become like hunting rabbits. You never know when or how the posts will show up on your Facebook page.

Anyway, I'll stop bellyaching about programing issues as it is as interesting as listening to people talk about their dreams.

Enjoy the above photo of Stanley and I hanging out in the studio.

A Bee Line To Your Mail Box

Here is a sad photo of a bee's nest inside a tree that has been cut down. I do hope the man with the chain saw got a sting or two for his troubles.

This is also a test posting to see if the new BFS Art Blog MailChimp subscription program is functioning correctly.

Blame The Lag Time On The Mushrooms

Being a long time blog reader and blogger I have read this sad phrase a number of times Sorry so long between posts... It's usually the last post you ever see on that blog.

Well, here I am writing that phrase in a way that looks like a commentary on blogging. But in fact it has been a long time, and I do feel bad about the long lag time. I have over a dozen posts waiting as drafts. Some just needing a good proofreading before posting.

So what has me so distracted? Well, about a year ago I started working with the Nomadic Fungi Institute as their archivist. I know, a hopeless dyslexic as an archivist? Just shows how desperate they are for any kind of help.

Anyway, I have become more involved with NFI than I would have ever thought. There is so much work to be done, and it seems the more that gets done the more there is to do. But I do believe strongly in what NFI is working towards so all the time and effort feels good. It feels important.

NFI has a blog that I hope you will visit. It is filled with photos, lab reports and even a few interviews. If you read any posts with lots of grammatical mayhem then you'll know its one I wrote.

There is also an NFI Facebook page and an Istagram feed. Here are the links to each.

www.WorldOfNomadicFungi.com
Nomadic Fungi Institute Facebook
Nomadic Fungi Institute Instagram

Okay, let me get back to proofreading...
Brad

Morning Light

Starting the weekend with a cup of coffee in the studio. So many fun things to play with.

Fun With Snow Globes

Having some fun in the studio playing with snow globes. They seem pretty start forward at first but then you have to think about what materials you are using, and will they hold up to being submerged in water from now until the end of time.

For my snow globes I made small glazed ceramic sculptures that I epoxied to the inside lids of varies jars I've been collection over the last few months.

One of the key differences between a good snow globe and a less than satisfactory snow globe is the air trapped inside of the jar. If there is an air bubble at the top, you have a substandard snow globe.

The best way to prevent this bubble is to submerge all the parts in a bucket of water while putting the snow globe together. I was amazed at all the Youtube videos that skipped this detail. In fact I was amazed at all the videos that simply guaranteed the end product would be all round crappy.

In the photo above you will notice the green algae. This is due to the fact that I used egg shells instead of plastic confetti for my snow. Egg shell and mother of peal where common in Victorian snow globes, but the Victorians also tended to use oil instead of water... I did boil the egg shell first, but there was still enough proteins left to grow a very nice microcosm. Perhaps next time I'll add a few sea monkeys.

Dallas Art Fair Promo Code for Professionals

The Dallas Art Fair starts this week! There are lots of great events at the art fair and all around the city all week long.

The Dallas Art Fair is the one show that brings hip, contemporary art galleries directly to Dallas. It should not be missed! AND for the Second year in a row Dallas Culture Map is sponsoring free day passes to all professionals. I am assuming you are all professionals of some sort.

So, follow this link, copy the promo code and past it in at the Dallas Art Fair ticket page.

http://dallas.culturemap.com/news/arts/03-26-14-dallas-art-fair-professionals-day-free-admission/

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dallas-art-fair-2014-tickets-10403780989

See you at the art fair,
Brad

Zona Moca Art Fair Mexico City

I am a nut for art fairs. For me, art fairs are the best way to see firsthand the artwork that is driving the cultural head lines. So when American Airlines ran a ridiculously low airfare to Mexico City that coincided with the Zona Maco Mexico Art Contemporaneo I booked it.

Living north of the Texas/Mexico wall I soon found that information about Zona Maco was very limited. Most of it was in spanish, a language that I don't speak, read or understand unless it addresses the topic of food.

The Zona Maco website has an english version that includes most of the basic information but fell short on full functionality. But I was able to gleam that over its ten years of operation it has become quite big with galleries from all over the world exhibiting a wide spectrum of artistic styles and price points.

The art fair was laid out in three zones contemporary art, modern art and design. These zones were not hard set and it was a pleasure to see how they conversed with each other. It was interesting too that sunday appeared to be family day, with large groups of parents, kids, grandmothers, aunts and uncles long lines at the food stands.

Material Art Fair Mexico City 2014

Seeing the Material Art Fair was a case of being at the right spot at the right time. I was in Mexico City because American Airlines was running an airfare that was so cheap I couldn't find any excuse not to fly down to see the Museo Soumaya and the Museo Jumex. Plus there was the super sized Zona Maco Art Fair (more on all that in the next post)

Over breakfast at Casa Comtesse I noticed a listing in the local paper for the Material Art Fair, and it was going on just down the street from where I was staying!

This was the first year of the Material Art Fair with just forty galleries in attendance. The focus of the fair was on "Emerging Practices"(!?)  A little over half of the galleries came from outside of Mexico. Several exhibitors were actually artists co-ops such as the Neter, which isn't so much a gallery as a group of artists that are committed to promoting their artwork by promoting the gallery. These groups work together, pulling from the groups resources to build bigger and better events, exhibits, opportunities, and artwork. These groups with their can do attitude added a lot to the optimistic atmosphere of the art fair.

The Neter used customized pizza boxes to create portfolios that included limited edition prints by twelve of their artists. Very nice work at a very reasonable price.

Printed Matter Inc.

This art fair was more about making new discoveries than perusing the walls for well known signatures. The galleries represented mostly under recognized artists, in fact I would say that the galleries themselves were mostly under recognized. That element infused the art fair with an air of excitement, optimism and rebellion that the bigger, blue chip art fairs are too mature/tainted to generate.

I was very surprised and happy to see Dallas represented by artist Ricardo Paniagua at the DAI Gallery...

Kevin Jacobs Director of the Oliver Francis Gallery

And Dallas's own emerging practice gallery, the Oliver Francis Gallery . 

Over all, the Material Art Fair was a great opportunity to see how artists, co-ops, and galleries are approaching the art market with new alternatives in the hopes of making big waves. Hopefully next year MAF will make a bigger splash by spending more time on promoting the art fair, and perhaps finding a better location than the fourth floor of the Hilton.  

Wols At The Menil Collection

I first saw Wols artwork at the Barnes Foundation in 2009, three small watercolors nestled amongst the vast collection of Post Impressionist masterpieces. I noted his name in my sketch book but never followed up on him.

This past fall I flew up to Philadelphia to see the Barns Foundation in its new home, and there were those three little scribbles on torn out book pages. Again I noted down his name. When I got back to Dallas I saw that the Menil Collection in Houston was having a Wols retrospective. And so, after a few false starts I made the three and a half hour road trip from Dallas to Houston.

Was it worth the drive? Yes!

Wols (1913- 1951) is one of those artists who made a great impact while he was alive, and in Europe he maintained a high profile after his death. But he quickly disappeared from the annuals of art history as seen from the American vantage point. Talking with the book buyer at the Menil Book Store I learned that there are only two books on Wols written in english, one being the must have Wols Retrospective catalogue published by the Menil Collection.

I am a sucker for artists such as Paul Klee, Max Ernst, Hans Bellmer, and Joan Miro. Artists who function on that edge of subconscious abstraction and the exploration of lush materials.

This retrospective of Wols artwork is like finding new chapters to your favorite book. It brings a new perspective to art history, and makes you question how much Wols was influenced by his comrades and how much they were influenced by him.

I don't know much about Wols' life other than a few intriguing hints of drama such as being imprisoned in France with Max Ernst and Hans Bellmer for 19 months, dieing of food poisoning, and that his wife continued to create and sell his paints long after he was dead. Sounds like this catalogue is going to be a good read.