Michelle Rothman's "Egoless" at Femina Potens

A friend of mine, who has long worked in one of San Francisco’s premier museums, likes to refer to her place of work as the Mausoleum: the place where art goes to die. Femina Potens is once again quickening the pulse of the SF art scene, and ensuring that creativity and imagination are alive and well with its new show “Egoless.” I speak with the fiery master- mind behind this exhibition, FP curator Michelle Rothman, about this challenging and introspective show.
Francesca Ochoa, ArtXX Magazine

Hi Michelle! Could you start us off by explaining your position at Femina Potens?

I’m the visual arts director of Femina Potens. That entails the in- gallery visual arts program as well as FP Edge, which is our outreach program. I have been with the gallery about a year now, and I absolutely love it.

In a nutshell, what is this show “Egoless” all about?

We asked 15 different artists in an array of different medias to come together. We put them in groups of three, which were chosen out of a hat, and gave them three months to complete this project, and in doing so, give up their ego…

This is artists we are talking about. Did they really give up their ego?

They’ve really had to. Trust me, it’s been quite an experiment. The first month, each of the fifteen artists were asked to create a piece using whatever medium they wanted. Then, they switched with someone else in their group. Everyone swapped a piece, and then came back and swapped with the other person in their group. At the end of the three months, there are fifteen works, but each piece has had three artists work on it. Within each group, each artist will have worked on the beginning, middle, and end of a piece.

What inspired you to create “Egoless”?

Firstly, I have always been inspired by the exquisite corpse. Probably what inspired me the most, was a show started in New York about 10 or 11 years ago at the Guggenhiem. It was composed of a number of Robert Rauschenberg’s panels, and traveled to maybe twenty different cities in the states. Everytime the show went to a different city, different curators, celebrities, or personalities would be invited to take several of the panels and create their own piece with them. So, everytime the show went somewhere else, the end result was going to be markedly different. To me, it is really important that artists are kept stimulated. I think that a gallery shouldn’t just display work, it should inspire work. My goal in being a curator is to always be a muse, getting artists to create new work, and push boundaries.

What has the reaction of the artists been like?

It’s been very interesting, because no one knows what is happening to their piece. Every person who has been involved has had a different reaction. Some people have kept it really minimal, knowing that other people will add, and some people really went for it. Some people have been really upset with what has happened with their work, and others have loved it. But all the pieces have gone through a huge transformation, and the one’s that I’ve seen so far, are really spectacular.

Is this a project that you plan to continue at Femina Potens?

Definitely. We will keep this as an annual show. We’ve had such a great experience. So much of it is the trust of the people you are working with. We went into this blind. Some of the artists I knew, some of them I didn’t, and I have to say, I have worked with fifteen phenomenal artists. They all really let go, while at the same time really engaged emotionally, physically, spiritually- it’s been incredible.

We're Back!

Art XX Radical Arts Magazine is getting ready to release its second issue. Though it has been nearly a year since our first issue, in theory we are a bi- annual publication.... Art XX is the project of three working artists who drink to much, have to much sex, are prone to long unproductive bouts of angst and utter nihilism, etc. (Don't you feel bad for us?) So, excuses aside, we promise to try and stay focused, get organized, and give you two issues a year. You want two issues a year because they are so damn great!
In this and in future issues we have wrangled some super hot columnists:
Rhiannon Argo
Jiz Lee
Ill Nippashi and
Cristy Road

Issue 2 features writing by
Eileen Myles
Meliza Banales
Michelle Tea and
Choung- Dai Vo

And interviews and artwork by:

Katie Bush
Umayyah Cable
Mary Coble
Mia Nakano
Monica Majoli
Hong- An Troung
Laura Splan
and many more....

VOLUNTEER WITH US!

Hi All
We need your help!
Things are cooking here and we are lacking women power to distribute flyers and promo materials for various up and coming events in the Bay Area.

All we need is an hour or two of your time to visit various venues and events and place a stack or two, and if you're feeling brave, hand them out to folks.

If you're up for the task, email artxxmagazine@yahoo.com. LOTS OF PERKS FOR THOSE WHO ANSWER!

Thanks
Best
Art XX

CALL FOR ART- FUNDRAISER ART AUCTION

Hey Everyone
I need a favor to ask...we are throwing a series of fundraisers in the Bay Area and one of them is an art auction/dance party. We would like you kind souls to support us by submitting some art to be auctioned off, and to come and hang out with us at a party, if you can't come, that's cool too, but we would love if you could help out.

We would love some drawings, some crafts, anything you can.
We will have:
an art auction
a raffle,
some beer,
homemade food
a drag show
and a good ole dancing time....what do you say?

The email is artxxmagazine@yahoo.com
(because stupid mail server is down....so we have an alternative email address for now)

So just email us or mail actual submissions to
art xx magazine
Paulina Mcfarland
PO BOX 22474
Oakland, CA 94609

Thanks!
Best
ArtXX

OUR FABULOUS WEBSITE IS HERE

We are officially online, in a serious way.
On our website artxxmagazine.comyou can check out a preview of whats coming to you in our 1st ISSUE OF ART XX. We have a few samples of interviews and submission guidelines, how to donate, a bit about the artists we feature and more...good stuff..

We will be posting as much art on the site as we can, so keep it coming. Send us submissions for Emerging artists and DIY section, we need to fill it!

We are now closed for submissions for the print issue, but again, the site will be expanding to include submissions by writers, poets and artists, we also keep accepting artwork for future issues, but let me reign it in a bit.

To all those who contributed to this issue - Thank you for your time and belief that this is a valid and important project...you have done an amazing job!

xox
Art XX Staff

YOUNG, EMERGING ARTISTS -WE WANT YOUR SUBMISSIONS

All of us here at Art XX believe that young, emerging artists should get their lucky breaks and help from sources like us, in order to make their work available and visible nationally (and globally). We love submissions, that’s why we decided to give some space in our magazine for submissions from young, developing artists. It won’t be a huge section, and only five or six artists will make it per issue due to space constraints, but its worth a shot . We will include a short bio (a paragraph) and a website name so the readers can check more of your work out. If that sounds like a good deal to you, please SUBMIT your artwork, we can’t have this without YOU.


Remember about the size issues:

1. nothing larger than 10 MBS ,
2. only jpg, pdf, gif, small tiff, ai and flattened files (rasterized or outlined fonts with digital work)
3. no layered Photoshop or InDesign files please.
4. Include a short bio or something interesting about you, likes, dislikes, things you find important and where we can find your artwork on the web (if you have a site that is)
6. Please email us at artxxmagazine@gmail.com with Emerging Artist Submission in the title field.

We would love to promote young and lesser known artists so don’t hesitate you will be in good company.

xoxox
Art xx

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Art XX is proud to announce that our first issue will be coming together this Summer 2008. we will treat you to some amazing interviews and mind-blowing artwork, but we are still accepting art submissions and writing pieces.

As far as articles and written pieces we are looking for :
1. Short stories
2. Art related articles, critiques, words on important issues

The first one is self explanatory, send us interesting pieces and we will publish them with some of our amazing illustrations or you can illustrate them yourself and send us a wonderful package like that:)
2. If you want to tackle a subject matter in an article form, and turn your critical eye onto artitstic matters please send us samples and thoughts to artxxmagazine@gmail.com. Please use exact quotes and citations, all articles must be edited and spellchecked for any errors.

remember this is not just our magazine, its yours so you can be our contributing writer for reals. so if some good piece of writing is collecting dust in the bottom of your drawer, please let it out...if you need to write to complain, straighten things out or express your point of view....send it to us with Article Submission in the title.

hope to hear from you soon.
xox
art xx

PROMO CARDS SUBMISSIONS

Dear XX Artists
Since we want to promote the hells out of this magazine— we are announcing a little side project.
We would like YOU artists and collaborators to create some Art XX logos/visual representations. The designs (be it paintings, drawings and other media of your choice) will than be printed as a card with our info on the back side (and your name of course and a website) and be distributed as a promo piece in SF and beyond. Get creative with type, color and materials, we want to see a variety of styles and hands at work.

We are eating the costs of print so technically it is a free ad for you as an artists and for us as a magazine. We sort of comission you...kind of, but it has to somehow say our name ( please recreate our logo in your own way, it doesn’t have to be ours, do your own take on artxx).:)

There will be more than one print run so we will chose more than one artwork, so submit, submit, submit artwork to artxxmagazine@gmail.com. (with "art XX postcard submission" in the title field)

As a chosen artists you will receive a share of postcards to distribute in your area and to put in your portfolio. Maybe one day these will turn into more than just postcards......

Art Specs:

1. nothing larger than 10 MBS , 5x7 at 300 dpi
2. only jpg, pdf, gif, small tiff, ai and flattened files (rasterized or outlined fonts with digital work)
3. no layered Photoshop or InDesign files please.
4. Include website address if you have one

So keep them coming and have a happy productive Summer!

Art
xx