Edward Hopper (1882-1967) was born to a family with Dutch ancestors in the sate of New York and spent most of his life in Manhattan . Reason enough, it seems, for the Kunsthal Rotterdam in the Netherlands to tag his name to an exhibition which accompanies the cultural program celebrating the 400 th anniversary of the Dutch ‘discovery' of New York .

The exhibition Modern Life. Edward Hopper and his time , assembled from the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York , was shown in the Bucerius Kunst Forum in Hamburg last summer and might travel on to Florence .

A very useful chronological overview of political, social and artistic developments in America during the first half of the 20 th century serves as prologue to the show, followed by a room dedicated to photography, including works of Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, Margaret Bourke-White and others. In addition, the 1931 short film Manhattan Medley introduces the visitor to a panorama of life in New York in the 1930's.

A selection of eight Hopper paintings of different periods, including a self portrait of 1925-1930, literally forms the center of the exhibition. One of the paintings shows the secret view into a young woman's apartment, seen from the riding train - a manifestation of the melancholy of urban life that Hopper was able to capture so convincingly. South Carolina Morning , on the other hand, represents the isolation a lonely person in the endless width of an American landscape, also very typical for Hopper's work.

Hopper's works are surrounded by a number of thematically structured cabinets. Modern Life and the Ashcan School presents works by this group of artists that mainly consisted of illustrators who gathered around Robert Henri at the beginning of the 20 th century. An impressive painting by the latter is his portrait of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, founder of the Whitney Museums .

The American belief in the progress of industry is the subject in The Machine Age , where Man Ray's chromed metal plates become the sculpture of a skyscraper and where the precisionist Charles Sheeler portrays the Ford plant River Rouge like an industrial cathedral.

American Scene summarises the artistic search for an American identity in representations of every day life and leisure, including the pictorial account of a Kansas baptism by the regionalist John Stewart Curry and Paul Cadmus' satirical painting of drunken sailors and their darlings.

While Hopper's oeuvre remained realistic throughout his lifetime, other American artists did experiment with more innovative forms of expression. Fascinating among these are for instance Georgia O'Keeffes Summer Days of 1936 and an early example of American non-realistic painting by the synchromist Stanton Macdonald-Wright.

Last but not least watercolours, drawings and prints are shown – a useful complement to the paintings, considering the roots of many American modernist artists in the illustration business. Among the works shown here are some by Hopper, Grant Wood's thorough depiction of a celebration meal in a farm house and Paul Cadmus' poignant drawing of a lynching.

If you visit this exhibition mainly for Edward Hopper, you might end up disappointed, caused by the limited number of his works on display. But for the first time a comprehensive overview of this period of American Art is shown to the Dutch public, and the potential lack of Hopper-experience is well compensated by the many different glimpses into the kaleidoscopic facets of art production of his time.

The Kunsthal exhibition integrates Hoppers work into the broad spectrum of art of America 's modern life that ranges from representations of contemporary dissolute lifestyle to socio-critical comments on poverty, from the glorification of industry to a homo-erotic portrait of an athlete and to the minute homage to rural traditions. This way, the exhibition indeed helps to define the position of Hoppers work within his time.

Until January 10, 2010, Rotterdam (The Netherlands ), Kunsthal

http://www.kunsthal.nl/en-22-606-Modern_Life.html

Claudia Schipper 

Call for projects on digital facades

Deadline: December 10, 2009
Dates of the workshop: February 9 through 23, 2010
Venue: Medialab-Prado in Madrid (Spain).

Worskhop tutors: Jordi Claramonte, Chandler McWilliams, Casey Reas, and Víctor Viña . Directed and coordinated by Nerea Calvillo .

Open Up is a workshop for the development of projects for the digital façade in Medialab-Prado's building. This call is addressed to the presentation of proposals to be collaboratively developed during the workshop-seminar taking place in Madrid from February 9 through 23, 2010.

The goal is to explore the relation between the urban screen and public space, to experiment with the screen's communicative, narrative and visual capacities and to investigate its potential to offer new forms of participation such as receiving and participating in the different phases of content production. Selected projects will be developed under the supervision of teachers, technical assistants and an extensive group of collaborators.

Projects presented in this call will have to explore aspects such as: development of strategies for public participation, activation of urban space through the screen, foster public visibility of agents that normally have none, visualization of public collectives; interaction with portable devices, etc.

All those interested in collaborating in one of the selected projects can sign in from January 5 through February 8, 2010 .
Check the call guidelines and submit your project before December 10, 2009

No entry fees.

http://medialab-prado.es/article/open_up

More information and call guidelines:
medianeralab (at) medialab-prado.es

Venue:
Medialab-Prado
Plaza de las Letras
Calle Alameda, 15
28014 Madrid (Spain)

Name and surname:
Marita Gootee

Personal website:
Maritagootee.com

Maritagooteephotography.com

1When did you start to make art?
At a very young age I started creating artwork. I colored rocks with crayons and sold then to the neighbors.

2 How did you evolve into an artist?
I was inspired by my mother. I remember her always painting and making things. I had some fantastic teachers in grade school who encouraged my work. In college I majored in Art and that is when I discovered photography. I followed the excitement of photography into Graduate school where I received a MFA.

3 What drove you to make art as a professional activity?
It was my undergraduate professor, Edward Betz who asked me about my life goals. It was then I started to consider graduate school verses a professional studio option. In graduate school I was introduced to teaching and discovered that I enjoyed the sharing of knowledge about photography – an area in Art that I love.

4 Could you explain your inspiration?
Fragmented – I am inspired by the images around me and memories associated with them

5 In what way does your inspiration transform into ideas?
I start photographing and I let my ideas flow – I am responsive to my emotions as I work and open to the process of creating.

6 From Ideas to production of art – how? And why?
I feel I work like a volcano. I see items and ponder them. I let ideas and perspectives grind away in my mind until one day it all explodes and the work must be created. Then I will spend hours upon days in the studio or out on location gathering the images.

7 Could your ideas be portrayed in any other medium? If so which?
I do not see why not – I do know the photograph reads differently than a painting and thus the response would be different but I do not feel it would reduce the basic elements of memory and reflection.

8 What does being an artists mean to you?
It means that I am creating using a visual language. My voice is in imagery. I am responsible to share my vision with others and maybe provide an new perspective for the viewer. As an artist – I am many things from a craftsman to a philosopher and all in between.

9 How important is the internet/social media for the world of art today?
It is the Paris cafés of 1888 on a much larger scale. Artists thrive with networking. Exchange of ideas, images, approaches and more that are so valuable. It provides artists the visual portability that was once impossible.

10 How important is the internet for you in your art activities?
The Internet has been extremely important – I feel I have not tapped all it's possibilities. I would not be writing this right now without the Internet.

11 Are you happy with your reasons for making art? i.e Are there any trade offs that make life hard?
I love making art – I wish I could do it 24/7 but I still have a job and have to pay bills.

12 When does your art for you become successful?
When I look at a finished work and composition blends with the concept seamlessly. It is as if I could hear a sigh from the work of art.

13 What is art?
A created object that has both concept and form. Imagery with a soul.

14 How do you start the process of making work?
I collect elements or start exploring a location. I use the camera as a tool for collecting and exploring. I take the images and ask myself how I can push the image further and give it a new life outside of the expected.

15 Who prices your work? And how is the price decided upon?
I price the work. Wish someone else would. My pricing is based on materials, time and ability to be recreated.

16 What is your next; move, project, show etc?
I am in between projects right now and that is always stressful. I created some exciting images at the 20x24 Studio in NYC in July and it would be great to secure more funding to return and use the camera again. For those fine art photographers who loved Polaroid you must contact John Reuter at the 20x24 Studio! It is instant and large!

17 What are the pros and contras of the art market?
Marketing is not my strength at all – wish I had an art agent! I know my work has great marketing possibilities. I find time to be my biggest issue to over come and the up front cash for the self-promotion.

18 How many artworks have you given away and to whom?
I try hard to a avoid giving my work away. There are times I trade my work for another. Years ago I was very broke and I gave my brother an image for Christmas – my older sister was outraged and told me never do that again – it was more valuable that gift exchange limit. I knew she was right but it was still hard for me to comprehend. I admit I have not done that again, just the same. Sometimes I would rather give my work away just so someone share it with others but I also hate being broke.

19 Any routine in making your artwork? If so what?
No – I tend to be all over the place. Once I am focused I just produce until all the paper is gone.

20 Does the country you are from (your culture) play a role in your art?
My work is responding to my childhood and the fragmentation of memory which could be referred to as a search for Americana . I would love to go to another country and spend time creating work and see if there is a change in approach. I do become inspired by my surroundings.

21 Who has been the biggest influence on you?
Jerry Uelsmann,[the permission to play] Aaron Siskind,[the self reveling texture] Friedrich Nietzsche, [the existence of the abstract]

22 Which pieces would you like to be remembered for?
I have not made it yet. I am not saying that as a cop-out but I get bored easily and am always changing and moving forward. I have done some cool things but I know there is much more to come.

23 Anything else you like to say to the Noenga community?
Networking is vital – both connecting with others and seeing a variety of images so to be challenged / inspired.

Save My Wretched Soul

2 minute art series

AAAHHHH DONT HIT ME

Untitled (sea-people no.1)

El viejo sabio

nature

Bajo la Luna

Cow Chow

Himba Girl