My 2012 Summer of MFA Reading List

Cover for Only Skin Deep,
edited by Coco Fusco and Brian Wallis

This is my first Summer off since graduating college 13 years ago! It's been nice to have no specific agenda each day and when I'm not busy chasing after my very active toddler, I am trying to keep up on my self-assigned Summer reading list.

While the second year of my MFA program doesn't start again until this Fall, I've assigned myself this list of books to keep my critical mind fresh and engaged.

Interview with Artist and Book Dealer Victor Sira

I met Victor Sira this past year during my ICP-Bard MFA studies when he taught his infamous and very popular course, "The Book: Imaginary Studio, A Non Stop Process". All of the students in my class raved about his cool demeanor, invigorating teaching style, deep knowledge of the independent bookmaking and general wisdom as an artist.

Through Victor's class I began to think about presenting my own work within traditional and non-traditional book forms, something I'd never done before. I hope you enjoy my interview with this Venezuelan-born artist and book dealer. Follow Victor Sira's Tumblr blog The Book Studio and on Twitter via @victorsira.

D&B: What inspired your love of books - was it photography?
VS: I came to photography and books because of the necessity to explain both my life at home in Venezuela and in the outside world. Unlike Europeans or US photographers I had neither a developed photography tradition nor a vast complex of cultural institutions that supported my work.

Interview with Art Dealer Charles Guice - Part 2

If you missed it, read part 1 of my interview with art dealer Charles Guice.

D&B: What kind of art collectors do you work with?
CG: I work with both public and private collections. Obviously; it’s essential to sell work into public collections; I was thrilled to place the first pieces that the J. Paul Getty Museum acquired by Carrie Mae Weems. Even though she was the first living artist who had exhibited at the museum, they did not own any of her work. In addition, I’ve placed works in prominent collections throughout the United States and abroad, including The Brooklyn Museum of Art, The High Museum of Art, The International Center of Photography and The Williams College Museum of Art.

But, for me, placing work in a private collection can be just important as a public one. A number of years ago, I met a private collector from Birmingham, Alabama. He purchased several works from me, and then invited me to come and visit him. So I did, and I took several artists with me. I returned later, with more artists in fact, but that first trip led to countless opportunities for me as well as for my artists, including a significant endowment for a major body of work.

The most important aspect, however, are the friendships you can establish with private collectors. They’re truly one of the benefits of the job.

Max de Esteban

from the series Proposition One, 2010

Courtesy the artist and Charles Guice Contemporary, New York

Interview with Art Dealer Charles Guice

D&B: Tell us about the trajectory that led you to become a contemporary art dealer.
CG: The trajectory that led me to become a contemporary art dealer is a relatively easy one to follow. I was always interested in art; my parents collected and, even as a child, I went to a museum at least once a week. As it happened, my father’s avocation was art. He drew, painted, played guitar, sculpted and photographed. He even learned to play the cello in his mid-life, which he continues to play now aged 80.

I also drew, played musical instruments and photographed from an early age. I was encouraged to go to art school when I was younger, but I eventually did my undergraduate work in Psychology, English and Sociology before obtaining my MBA.

As an adult, I held senior and executive management positions in the healthcare industry, which afforded me the opportunity to collect, chiefly photography, but also sculpture, painting and works on paper. Eventually, however, I became disenchanted with the healthcare industry, and decided that I wanted to work in a field that I loved: art.

FOTO/GRÁFICA: A New History of the Latin-American Photobook

Selection of book covers from the "Foto/Grafica" exhibit

The first stop in this traveling exhibition titled "Foto/Grafica: A New History of the Latin-American Photobook" was at Le Bal in Paris which ended in April 2012. After Paris, the exhibition will travel to Ivory Press in Madrid (June 5 - July 14, 2012), Aperture in New York (dates unknown) and the Museo del Libro y de la Lengua, in Buenos Aires, Argentina (dates unknown).