Monday, June 29, 2009

Facebook: Private Talk with Qi Peng

dear qi peng-

every now and again i see something online that catches my attention and i am curious enough to search out more.

i see you visited my gallery from the sign in book. then i peeked at your flickr photos to find pictures of your visit, which made me laugh. next time introduce yourself, i like meeting people in person more than online. i am writing you because i am working on a summer exhibit/project that may interest you. i'd like to invite you to be involved with since it has parallels to your exploration of the dynamics of the art world to individual.

i'm in the midst of launching our summer show - "SUMMER SESSION" which came into being from a Call For Entries. this particular show has taken on a life of its own and been a very interesting experience for me as a gallerist. in short, the curatorial concept was to focus time/ money/energy meaningfully into an artist's development and the creation of artwork. the show aims to promote creating something substantial and endearing beyond presentation. our gallery space would be used as the artist's studio and the artist, creation process, and progress of public/gallery/guest vip interaction over the summer would comprise an evolving exhibit exploring relationships within the art world.

i knew it would be a new learning experience for all involved. in the past few days, i'm very proud (albeit nervous) to say that the selected artist (Jerry Blackman) and i - after a tumultuous getting to know each other phase- understand each other better. we've decided to blog everything - each good, bad, "oh no" and "ah-ha" moment. every press text/ pc/ cv/ photo draft and every emailed discussion (especially) will be printed and hung as part of the exhibit. the decision to hang prints of all past and future materials relating to SUMMER SESSION exposes both the gallery and artist completely. yet this action will offer an unpredicted, unique, sincere perspective.

i'm excited to see SUMMER SESSION grow beyond its conception. instead of constricting natural growth of a project as a gallerist who stands to lose control and be seen sourly, i recognize it is more important to be apart of what this project is becoming: a true exploration of the relationship of art - artist - gallery - art world - public.

we are gearing up to launch SUMMER SESSION within the gallery space and online. as part of the project, five vips are asked to offer their input/advice/thoughts/comm
entary on developing a specific aspect of art career. i'd like very much to have you participate in the project and be our vip with expertise in social networking. having you participate as a vip guest via a virtual studio visit to the project online may prove very interesting and add another new dimension.

i'd be thrilled to talk more about you participating and appreciative to hear any thoughts on the project as a whole.

warm regards,
-Leah

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Dear Leah,

How are you doing? I appreciate and happily accept your offer to work with you online with SUMMER SESSION. As you may see, a lot of conceptual artwork deals with the holistic creation of relationships within the art world.

I hope to drop by your gallery and say hello next time I am down there in New York City. I am glad that my first solo show at envoy enterprises went rather well and it means a lot to me. For me, your gallery has been significant and much appreciated by me as you represented the work of my friends William Powhida and Loren Munk.

My flickr website hopefully is an extensive "catalogue raisonne" of my work and I am planning to execute an artist's book and exhibition based on this first solo exhibition in NYC. Yep, I'm pretty postmodern in liking to do an exhibition about how an exhibition comes into existence.

Also my series "art world baseball cards" and "documents" relate to the process of art marking as well as becoming an artist (particularly from SLC which is not noted for its contemporary art) within New York City as a displaced New Yorker.

The link to my baseball cards can be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/qipengart/sets/72157618970271835/

I hope that my work in the art world will be helpful to others as a resource and documentation of process art in motion. I appreciate your invitation and am glad to hear from you.

If possible, please e-mail me at qipengart@gmail.com or contact me via phone at (xxx) xxx-xxxx as it is easier to manage than FB (which crashes a lot on Vista).

Thanks and I hope to hear more from you soon.

sincerely, qi

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Hey there Leah,

A few things for the blog to be posted perhaps:

1) baseball cards for yourself and Jerry Blackman that I just completed
2) if possible, I would love to ask the both of you some interview questions and then upon answering, the question and answer would be posted on the blog
3) the original correspondence between you and me as well as Jerry and me would be on the blog as well.

Just some ideas for the blog and thanks again!

sincerely, qi

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i got your msgs.

we actually have a house full of food preparing for a late lunch bbq or i'd be posting them right now...! its one of the few non-work days i am obliged to spend w/ family and they call me to task on it.

i will def post everything you sent. thank you so much for your contributions!

i think it is a brilliant idea for you to interview jerry and i. i feel this makes sense to your work and could be a very interesting way to further explore the art-artist-gallery-public relationship.

i'll sneak back onto the computer late tonight and get the materials you sent posted.

with respect and excitement,
-Leah
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Hi there Leah,

Sounds good. Also just wondering whether it would be a good idea to post the emails between Jerry and me and the FB messages between you and me? I think that this would end up being a good monograph or booklet perhaps.

It's always interesting to read artist's manual on how to make it as an artist but it's much more interesting to see this process up close and personal I suppose. This blog would make for some interesting exhibition catalog I think?

Enjoy the holidays and thanks again!

take care, qi

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absolutely!
i'll post everything i've got tonight!
til then,
-L

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