KARIN WEINER

Stellar Concrete House!!

2009-01-27T10:55:00.001-08:00

This is a Dave Sellars creation up in the hills beyond the hamlet of Warren VT! Made entirely out of pured concrete! Absolutely beautiful if you ask me and just about ready for habitation...Oh how I wish...

BIG PIG ROAST PART 2!!

2009-01-27T10:49:00.000-08:00

Though not as well attended as the Hair of the Dog/ Year of the Pig Party back in 2006...
The pig rocked the house and was as juicy and delicious as can be!! Raised right here on Spry Farm

Picking Wild Cranberries Down At The Bog

2009-01-27T10:34:00.000-08:00

A bunch of old friends were down for the Pig Roast Holiday Party!! So we put them to work and we all picked succulent little red berries off of the frozen vines along the shores of the beaver pond. Then we decided to make a cranberry infused vodka!! YUM

AUTUMN RESIDENCY IN IRELAND

2008-11-25T13:33:00.000-08:00

Just a few images from my 3 months in Ireland.Where I made a bit of art, read a ton of books,had time to think and wonder about the past, present and future of my art making as well as travel the country. Which is rich in history and still quite lovely behind the chunky layer of development that seems to block your view at every turn. Wonderful as it was, I'm happy to be home to my hot apartment in a cold state in an ecnomically depressed country with a newly elected democratic administration.

HOT APARTMENT!!

2008-07-13T05:44:00.000-07:00

The Farm Project

2008-07-13T05:34:00.000-07:00

Taking a small break before we head to Ireland for a 3 month residency at Belmont Mills! In the mean time we are renovating an apartment in the barn on my family's land in Maine and helping with the flora and fauna they raise on their organic farm!! Soon to be featured in the MOFGA newsletter and can be found at the Common Ground Fair in Sept. under the name Androscoggin Apple Company. Normally I would happily be there scooping shaved ice for cider syrup sno-cones but ALAS we will be in the land of muck...
Here are just a few pix of our farming adventures...
I apologixe that I can not adequately describe the taste of the goat's milk ice cream and the crisp apple cider that comes out of this place... But I bet you can imagine.

Summer of '08

2008-07-13T05:26:00.000-07:00

The reincarnation of the tornado!!
I was asked to install the Great Storm of 1971 in the gallery at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont CA.
Had a great time doing it and it maybe even looked better than the first!
We even snuck in a road trip to Joshua Tree (my favorite) and had good eats at In and Out Burger and my new heartthrob Cliftons. Hot decor and even hotter jello... in every color

The Last of the Collages Not Yet Seen on This Blog

2008-05-04T17:48:00.000-07:00

There were close to 30 collages created for this lastest exhibition and unofrtunately not all of the could make it into the show.
So here are the last few that I haven't put up on the blog so perhaps you can get a taste of the full extent of the content covered in the show.

A Closer Look

2008-05-04T17:31:00.000-07:00

Here's a peak at some of the smaller details from the show that may have been overlooked due to the large crowd at the opening.

Images from PLAN B

2008-05-04T17:20:00.000-07:00

The following pix are from the latest installation from Plan B that opened at Ziehersmith Gallery on the 17th of April and runs through the 17th of May. The following text is from the press release.

In Karin Weiner’s new exhibition, her humorous vocabulary of survival and discovery spawns a combination of large scale sculpture and works on paper. In the latter, her signature collage elements are now attended to by impositions of paint and ink. Weiner shifts between animal and human narratives, as parallels unfold wherein the natural world mimics our daily antics and vice versa. Humans grow roots and houses sprout rainbows, while animals smoke cigarettes. In her universe of hordes and hoarding, the world seems to be inundated with itself but is never devoid of visual surprise and pleasure

view images from the exhibit The artist, recently removed from the urban bustle of New York City to the quiet of a rural Vermont studio, created the works while holed up against the forces of weather and informed by the constant radio static of dramatic world events far removed. In one installation, a tottering island is littered by ridiculous dwellings clinging for dear life to precarious crystal cliffs. Created from the accumulations of imagery and actual material of past bodies of artwork, the sculpture’s massive presence, drenched in an oily black, is lifted up by a halo of spouting rainbows. It has a range of implications from the artistic growth process to a universal desire for joy and salvation in a hazardous, morally ambiguous world.

In the main gallery, a full-size lifeboat lays run aground. Cobbled together from found wood and designed as a home for a single survivor, the piece has personal as well as political ramifications. In the artist’s own words:

When I was a kid, we would spend the summers with my father in Maine. We lived on his boat and were left alone at a very young age to mind ourselves while Dad went to work. It sounds criminal today, but to us it proved our father’s trust. In addition, we developed this incredible sense of freedom and adventure. We had a small dingy that we would row out into the middle of the bay day or night. In complete darkness, we would be amazed with the stars and the phosphorescence in the water that sent up an eerie glow when stirred by the oars. We would float around for hours, oblivious to danger and fear which should have been very real, before attempting to navigate our way back to harbor by way of the few lights on the houses. Therefore, boats have always been symbolic vessels for me. They embody something mysterious and wonderful from my childhood and even that incongruous sense of security remains appealing…

This ship is the artist’s escape pod in an upended world and represents the notion that in the end, one is left with oneself. The vessel is about her own personal salvation as much as her hopes for the future.

Karin Weiner has exhibited widely with recent solo exhibitions in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Portland as well as group shows in Boston, New York, and Vienna. This summer, she will be artist in residence at Belmont Mill in County Offaly, Ireland. This is her third solo show at ZieherSmith.

A Few More Of The New Collages

2008-04-02T15:37:00.000-07:00

Some of the others I thought I might share with you

In The Belly of The Beast

2008-04-02T15:27:00.000-07:00

Talking on the phone while on board the ship...

Even More...

2008-03-06T17:36:00.000-08:00

Collages for Ziehersmith April 2008

2008-03-03T08:00:00.001-08:00

These six collages are the newest things to come out of the studio.Each one is around 11 inches to 13 inches square, so smaller than the recent collages shown on the west coast. The work is a bit darker than usual. Dealing with various themes having to do with natural disaster, extinction, awe and wonder in nature, human existance or dilemma, amongst other things. These works will be part of my upcoming solo exhibition at Ziehersmith in Chelsea this spring. Stop by the opening on the 17th of April at 6:00pm if you want to put back a PBR with the rest of us. Also please feel free to comment on or criticize the work, I am always open to suggestions and opposition to my ideas and images.

Latest Pictures From Camp Meade

2008-03-02T08:43:00.000-08:00

These are the latest photos of the new work being made for my show in New York in April. There are going to be two large sculptural installations and then a new group of collages to go along with the 3D pieces. Some of the collages can be seen in the newest post, but this is only a few of them.
The mountain sculpture is about 5 feet tall and is constructed out of carved foam and various found materials. All of which is then heavily coated with a homemade version of an acrylic aqua resin. The rainbows are constructed out of ply and wiggle board covered with paper mache and painted. The largest of which will appear to pierce the wall and come out on the other side in the main space of the gallery.

Pretty Yarn Lawn Chair

2008-03-02T08:37:00.000-08:00

We've been replacing the old worn out straps on our vintage deck chairs with random bits of acrylic yarn we got at the Re-Store. A great local shop that re-sells craft materials that get donated by local businesses.
Here is a close up of the variagated yarn madness that is our chair...actually now my favorite chair to drag along to knit night or to take to the beach in warmer weather.

Recycled Felted Wool Sweaters Find a New Life as Blanket!!

2008-03-02T08:15:00.000-08:00

These fabulous (if I do say so myself) blankets are made from old jumpers that have been washed and chopped and reformed as beautiful brightly colored afghans. It keeps Barry busy, he revels in the free will to shrink our laundry. Taught him how to sew too!
This is the one that we are keeping... Its perfect for those late cold cold nights in Vermont, snuggled up on the couch in Vermont.

Art on the Street in Miami

2008-02-28T09:48:00.000-08:00

Had too much work when I arrived in Miami for the Art Fair so I decided to leave a little behind.

101 California Lobby

2008-02-27T16:16:00.000-08:00

This project was curated by Kerri Hurtado of Artsource Inc. in San Francisco,
As an art consultant to many major companies and organizations in the bay area and beyond, Kerri has developed a rotating program of showing contemporary and emerging artists in the towering lobby of the building at 101 California Street in the finacial district.

Recent Work!! Still in the Studio

2008-02-27T09:00:00.001-08:00

The following shots are of work in progress at the Camp Meade studio... This will all be installed in the gallery in NY for the opening on April 17th. No show title or press release yet but I will post it ASAP along with more pictures as the work develops

Craz y mountain thing with rainbows exploling out of the top... Not unlike the image from the show in Los Angeles titled Planned Community

Just another view of the sculpture this time through the rainbow and catches a glimpse of the beginnings of a rainstorm of blue gods eyes
Now with a base of crystals and blocks... All carved out of foam and then it will get covered with what is called 'scenic dope' in the business... the dope is a homeade version of an aqua resin. Water based so that it doesnt eat away at the foam but then sturdy enough to seal the foam and give it a rigid shell.
Just one more
Barry the faithful assistant (and boyfriend) in the studio at Camp Meade

So Many Daunting New Complexities

2008-02-27T08:16:00.000-08:00

The following images are from and exibition at Sixspace Gallery in Culver City, CA that opened in May of 2007. The installation of the tornado called the Great Storm of 1971 is an approx. 15 foot tall soft sculpture and is suspended from the ceiling. There were then strobelights lowered into the piece so that the flashes could be detected through the fabric and reflected onto the ceiling.

Deer In the Headlights 38 x 50" 2007 Collage, Color Pencil and Watercolor on Paper

Digging In 38 x 50" 2007 Collage, marker, pastel on paper

Installation View of The Great Storm of 1971 Fabric, yarn, lace, strobelights and paint installed at Sixspace Gallery LA

Planned Community 38 x 50" 2007 Collage and marker on Paper

The Year of Many Heavy Snowfalls 38 x 50" 2007 Collage, pencil and paint on paper

The following is the press release from the show...

Karin Weiner's collages in So Many Daunting New Complexities reflect the contemporary experience by dealing with the reality and uncertainty of the present moment. The works depict various dissected and re-arranged situations and speculations about the future (whether that be utopian and/or apocalyptic) that act as evidence of the artist's questioning of convictions and strategies. The title of the exhibition comes from Weiner's relationship with society and nature by dealing with current affairs, environmental concerns, and the moral dilemma of living the way one desires without wanting to make an indelible mark. In particular, this new body of work stems from the her recent move from the urban environment of New York to the natural landscape of Vermont. While Weiner's previous work dealt with her pining for nature, her current work has become a response to being overwhelmed and surrounded by nature as she views it through her "city eyes."
The centerpiece of the exhibition is a large-scale installation of a tornado in the gallery; a vortex of fiber arts complete with streaming rain-showers and elements of debris. The traditionally viewed domestic/feminine craft materials she uses symbolize domestic security, bliss, and a sense of stability as well as represent the false sense of domestic security. By combining the concept of these materials with the destructive and mysterious nature of this natural disaster, one of the most powerful and uncontrollable, Weiner attempts to harness the power of craft and redirect its purpose.
Karin Weiner received her MFA from Hunter College in 2003 and recently relocated from Brooklyn, New York to Vermont. She has held solo exhibitions at ZieherSmith in New York, including the gallery's project for Art Rock 2006 at Rockefeller Center, and Lisa Boyle Gallery in Chicago as well as group exhibitions in New York, Boston, Chicago, and Vienna. Publications featuring reviews of her work include Frieze 101, The New Yorker, The Boston Globe, The New York Sun, The New York Times, and Artforum.com. So Many Daunting New Complexities marks Weiner's second showing with sixspace, the first being her Los Angeles debut in 2005 with the two-person exhibition Forecast and Conditions.

Art Under Glass At Macy's NYC

2008-02-26T06:36:00.000-08:00

Text and Title etc. on the window
View from the street!

View from inside looking out

CLEAR CUT Portland Oregan October 2007

2008-02-26T05:48:00.000-08:00

At The End of the Day 38x 50" 2007
Ship os Fools and It's Come to This w/ sculptures

Press Release

For her exhibition CLEAR CUT, Karin Weiner has created sculpture and large collaged works on paper, which focus on the creation of utopian environments within a world of suburban expansion. Weiner compiles images found in sources ranging from real estate catalogs to National Geographic and field guides purchased on Ebay, and combines them with her own drawing and painting techniques. Weiner's nostalgia for the handmade objects of her youth coalesce with the informed social concerns of her adult life, resulting in a series of playful sculptures and collages portraying a nameless Eden.
Karin Weiner recieved her MFA from Hunter College in 2003 and recently relocated from Brooklyn, New York, to rural Vermont. She has held solo exhibitions at ZieherSmith in New York, and Lisa Boyle Gallery in Chicago as well as group exhibitions in New York, Boston, Chicago, and Vienna. Publications featuring reviews of her work include Frieze 101, The New Yorker, The Boston Globe, The New York Sun  The New York Times, and Artforum.com. 