Frank Olive: Selected Projects and Collaborations

THREE NEW BOOKS OF DRAWINGS

2012-01-13T11:19:00.000-05:00

One hundred drawings in each. Black and White. $20 each.
Contact me to purchase one: mrolive76@hotmail.com

HOT HARVEST AT GOWANUS STUDIOS IN BROOKLYN NY

2010-10-22T21:40:00.007-05:00

Hot Harvest unites a group that has worked, grown, and created together in a variety of intersecting ways. The show focuses on the self-made print, culling from a wide variety of technique, including etching, lithography, woodcut and silkscreen. Traditional uses of the medium are abundant, but several prints blur the boundaries of the expected. Inked-up Reeses Peanut Butter cup wrappers, stamped balloons and faxed pages (edition numbered by their times through the machine) prove a dedication to the idea of printmaking without the use of a press or drawn matrix.

What's Ours at The Children's Studio School in Washington DC

2009-10-23T17:16:00.023-05:00

Over the course of three months, Frank Olive and 30 fourth-grade students from The Children’s Studio School in downtown Washington DC, collaborated on over 600 drawings. Olive, known to the children as “Baba Frankie”, sent written phrases daily via fax machine, which were then photocopied and distributed among the students to be incorporated into their own drawings. The phrases and subsequent drawings focused on family, race, language and popular culture in an attempt to address topics relevant to the children’s daily lives.

A selection of the 200 collaborative drawings was exhibited in an empty classroom at the school, along with twenty drawings by Olive placed around the room on wooden signposts. These ‘signs’ directed the students and visitors to perform simple activities focused on recognizing aspects of their surroundings. Some of the signs posed questions; others suggested manipulating objects, while others voiced strong opinions.

X at Mixed Greens Gallery, NYC

2009-07-09T11:35:00.002-05:00

...Throw the First Stone with Rudy Shepherd at Chert Gallery in Berlin, Germany

2008-11-21T09:39:00.014-05:00

Frank Olive and Rudy Shepherd’s dialogue on paper is another effective way to make the invisible visible. Their faxes sent from two different places in North America to a third one in Europe overcome geography and time by composing an ongoing installation in which the two artists connect and share their conversation with the viewers. Their physical separation from themselves and the playground of their paper building prevent them to see the final result of the construction they’re building stone by stone. -Michele Robecchi

Digger Stew

2008-08-26T10:02:00.015-05:00

Inspired by the free stores of the 1960’s in both San Francisco and New York City, Digger Stew is an edition of 50 bags stuffed with a random selection of small items. Distributed as gifts each bag functions as a unique, miniature reservoir of objects... a tiny time capsule filled with a world of materials and references. The included objects' perceived cultural, historical, and material value is, and will continue to be, in constant flux. Comprised of found and donated items, Digger Stew also stands as a collection of the massive excess of manufactured goods available to consumers in the United States.

If you are interested in receiving a Digger Stew bag send an e-mail with your name and mailing address to: mrolive76@hotmail.com.

In the May 2008 Issue of Art in America

2008-05-08T08:16:00.008-05:00

Paradise Found with Khanh Le

2008-02-22T09:54:00.006-05:00

Paradise Found is a place-based project that focuses on the characteristics that give neighborhoods, communities and cities a sense of place. Khanh Le and Frank Olive have been walking, driving, taking photographs, and thinking about what defines the city of Syracuse as a place. They will produce a series of fifteen postcards that depict the people, sites, buildings, names, signs, advertisements, and businesses that make up the city’s identity. The postcards will be produced in large quantities and will be available for purchase at participating local venues. The project will then be open for local area residents in Syracuse and in other cities, nationally and internationally, to create images that represent important places, people and things that define their city to them. A selection of these images will be produced as postcards and also made available for purchase.

Visit the Paradise Found Blog

Skank Bloc Bologna w/ Rudy Shepherd published by Tart Gallery / San Francisco

2008-02-01T15:06:00.000-05:00

In February 2008 TART will launch an art and poetry journal entitled Skank Bloc Bologna. Skank is inspired by Semina a free-form journal published sporadically by artist Wallace Berman and his circle in California in the 1950's and 60's. These short bursts of contemporary avant-garde poetry, prose, photography, collage and drawing were augmented by fragments lifted from various visionary precursors, then mailed out to a couple of hundred kindred spirits. With a somewhat irreverent attitude and a DIY, ad hoc approach Berman was able to create his own culture and community.

Skank Bloc Bologna will offer a loose leaf collection of works with each piece able to stand on its own or be re-configured within the collection. Rather than offer a thematic framework the collection will be open to interpretation. This is the first in a series of issues with a view to Skank becoming an extension of the TART program.

BEARDS with Rudy Shepherd

2008-01-01T14:30:00.000-05:00

(9/1/07 - 1/1/08)

Our beards are a marker of time, a rebellious gesture, and a way of remembering both the significant and banal events of our daily existence. At the same time they disappear into everyday life, slowly emerging and changing our appearance. Our beards are a social experiment that modifies our identities and how we are perceived by our peers and strangers.

With our beards we enter the world of history; we are Civil War soldiers, hippies, and colonial settlers. We associate with mass murderers, Santa Claus, Walt Whitman, lumberjacks, academics, Shel Silverstien, and terrorists. Our beards exclude us from contemporary politics, corporate business, and the military.

Most importantly our beards serve as a connection between friends and a physical representation of each others absence. They are an everyday reminder of the other... sometimes itchy and nagging, sometimes comforting, but always present.

Blows Against the Empire for Dispatch, New York

2007-12-02T21:41:00.001-05:00

Mapping the Self at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

2007-11-03T15:17:00.001-05:00

In this age of information, the map--an image long associated with information--has increasingly become a means of expression for artists to organize and disseminate information. Drawing primarily from the MCA's collection and extensive holdings of artists' books, Mapping the Self explores how artists use maps to understand and explain themselves and the world around them.

Presenting a variety of media including photography, drawing, video, and sound, Mapping the Self is not a show about maps. Rather, the exhibition investigates how artists use geographic or conceptual space for personal exploration, artistic expression, communication, and social change. Maps can communicate highly complex ideas such as identity, politics, and culture. As a medium, maps allow artists to address socioeconomic and geopolitical issues and filter ideas of space and time through personal, local, and global perspectives.

This exhibition is organized by Tricia Van Eck, Curatorial Coordinator and Curator of Artists' Books.

Crosswords with Rudy Shepherd at Analix Forever in Geneva, Switerland

2007-11-02T13:03:00.003-05:00

Useful Things in Downtown Syracuse, NY

2007-10-09T18:14:00.001-05:00

For this adaptation of the Useful Things Project the collection finally makes it outside. Located on the corner of Washington and State in downtown Syracuse NY, the project resides under the cantilevered overhang of an abandoned corporate building. The site was chosen due to its obvious need for useful things, the protection it provides from the elements, and the backdrop of desperate messages written on the dirty windows. A full set of one hundred practical objects are available to passersby for the taking. The missing objects are recorded and replenished daily. As is evident in the photos, the project is subject to the specific needs of the public, which in some cases subvert the original intensions of project.

Useful Things Explorer Special Edition for Micro Explorers Club

2007-02-26T12:49:00.002-05:00

The Research Collections Department of the Explorers Club is devoted to historical material including art, film, photos, maps, manuscripts, memorabilia, and a rare-book library. The main subject areas represented are science and scientific investigation, terrestrial exploration in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the institutional records of The Explorers Club and its members. In late 2005, the Research Collections began its first Artist-in-Residence Program and selected Ellie Ga to become its inaugural A-I-R. In turn, Ellie Ga and David Adamo founded the micro explorers club--a club within the club to foster the charting of alternative territories.

http://www.explorers.org/

The Magetti with Rudy Shepherd at Mixed Greens Gallery, NYC

2006-07-01T11:23:00.002-05:00

An exhibition done in collaboration with Rudy Shepherd including 400+ drawings, sculpture and video

See more at the Mixed Greens Website

One Day Its Really Gonna Be Over, Article in Contemporary Magazine Issue 83

2006-05-01T09:39:00.003-05:00

http://www.contemporary-magazine.com/1024x768.htm

Useful Things for Affair at TART, San Francisco

2006-04-06T17:57:00.000-05:00

For Affair ten artists share their projects, none of which are for sale and most incorporate elements that are given away.
Frank Olive's 100 Useful Things are laid out for all to see and take no strings attached, a simple exercise in gift-giving.

http://tartsf.com/affair/affair.html

Viva La Marriage Book with Rudy Shepherd / Published by Swiss Institute

2006-01-01T21:56:00.002-05:00

Frank Olive and Rudy Shepherd have been faxing drawings to each other for the last few years. The drawings are usually roughly based on conversations that they have during their daily lunch together. Two artists, two gallery managers, two husbands, two friends, two fax machines…two drawings. A furtive dialogue between artist-colleagues from grad school to gallery work in New York City: inside jokes and collective dissatisfaction to worthwhile exchanges of art and ideas, and the occasional stroke of genius. Usually jammed with fax spam (Cheap Holidays to Disney Land, Low Mortgage Rates), the fax machines at the Swiss Institute and the Drawing Center have been re-activated by Olive and Shepherd as an implement of their artistic exchange. And the fax machine is still an excellent little piece of technology. An utterly efficient tool for sending sketches – no scanners, no stamps, just a local call – the machine leaves an electronically signed and dated record of its purposeful mechanical reproduction on each page, neatly cataloging the collaboration. The drawings run the gamut, flowing from simple comments about the working day and the artists’ daily lives, to jokes about popular culture and word plays, spelling mistakes and complete nonsense… Masked as a furry bear and a tinny robot we follow Olive and Shepherd through their daily work; an oscillataion between fiery exasperation and elegant triumph.

Excerpts taken from Gabrielle Giattino’s essay It Takes Two in Viva La Marriage

http://www.swissinstitute.net/shop/books.html

Useful Things for Do You Like Stuff at Swiss Institute Contemporary Art

2005-09-01T09:44:00.000-05:00

Art in Review
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: October 14, 2005

"Do You Like Stuff?" is various and understatedly humorous. Exemplifying a growing trend in art about eBay, Barb Choit presents a surprisingly interesting photographic archive of banal things that have been put up for auction on eBay. David Adamo has installed a forensic study table documenting his surveillance of an acquaintance named Macgregor. Frank Olive's "Useful Things" presents 100 cheap items, including toothpaste, tape and a pencil; he invites you to take one free.
Expanding the concept of stuff, four thin books by Beth Howe narrate her brief investigations of apparently random subjects following an eccentric, self-prescribed procedure, and Mike Bouchet presents a computer on which the scripts of more than 100 Hollywood movies continuously scroll. KEN JOHNSON

http://www.swissinstitute.net/2001-2006/Exhibitions/2005/stuff_inst.htm

Condition Report: Amy Lau Olive

2005-04-01T17:51:00.001-05:00

Event Horizon with Boris Samarov

2005-03-01T21:08:00.000-05:00

Excerpt from the Uniform Letter:

...She said the current project for the Upton lab was to smash gold particles together, which would create a kind of explosion similar to a miniature big bang. Some scientists theorized that these series of experiments could create a black hole. Can you imagine if they did? The entire world would be sucked into Long Island.

I wonder if scientists who think they might create a black hole act differently before they go to work at the lab every morning? Do they say good bye to their family, thinking that this may be the last time they will see them? I wonder if any of them are sad and just want to create a black hole and kill everybody. I wonder how long it would take for the black hole to swallow the earth. Would there even be time to broadcast it on the news and could we even know what was happening?

I wonder if it would hurt when we got sucked in. Which reminds me; I got a new vacuum cleaner for Christmas from my mom. She was going to get me Broadway tickets but I told her I wanted a better vacuum and it was on sale. She got a little mad because she gave me a vacuum for Christmas last year but this one is a lot stronger and quieter. You can see it the next time you come for a visit.

The Receptionist with Lori Waxman for Dumbo Art Fair, Brooklyn, NY

2005-02-01T10:25:00.000-05:00

Receptionist for 60 wrd/min project by Lori Waxman

The 60 wrd/min art critic provides efficient, on-demand art reviews to artists who would otherwise go without. Installed in an easily reached public location (e.g., museum lobby, institutional project space, bookstore alcove, store window, gallery district sidewalk), the critic works set hours, at a desk furnished with a laptop computer and printer. Artists are invited to submit their work for review between the specified hours. Submissions should include adequate materials, such as reproductions of artwork, an artist statement, and a brief biography. Time-based art is nevertheless welcomed as a challenge. Reviews are ready for pickup at a given hour.

Brooklyn Blackjack for Borne of Necessity at Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC

2004-05-01T10:30:00.000-05:00

In 1972 my father, Frank Olive Sr., was an employee of the New York Telephone Company. At some point during the year another employee of the company was transferred from a Brooklyn office to my father’s office in the Bronx. Afraid of being mugged in the street or on the subway, the man from Brooklyn carried a homemade protective device similar to what is known as a “Slap Jack” or a “Black Jack.”

A Black Jack is a leather-covered bludgeon (usually a lump of lead) with a short, flexible shaft or strap, used as a hand weapon. According to my father the Brooklyn man’s version had been made by simply sliding a bar of Life Boy soap inside one of his dress socks. When used to defend oneself the sock would be held at the open end and swung around in a whip-like motion. This is done as to strike the attacker with the bar of soap inside the closed end of the sock

The Inclusivity Apartment Project in Brooklyn, NY

2004-03-01T09:44:00.001-05:00

The Inclusivity System is an ever expanding, poorly built collection of moving parts, rickety support structures, ad-hoc fasteners, leaky water and air conduits, and discarded household appliances. The project has been built in a number of unique environments, each time adapting to and referring to the character of it’s surroundings (in this example my neighbor’s living room.) Although the system has no practical purpose it does support a number of mundane activities such as waving a surrender flag, watering a plant and making a toy dog cry.

Breath Dispenser for Selfish Exhibition at Gallery 128, New York NY

2004-01-01T21:55:00.000-05:00

The Walking Targets say this about their self portrait:

If spit is not water and breath is not air, then exactly what are we are sharing with you? Right now our dispenser is filling the world with our breath, collected from each member of our gang across several U.S. states and many, many countries.

You cannot see us but we are present.

everyone@hotmail.com

2003-10-01T16:35:00.003-05:00

At the end of 2003 I registered the e-mail address everyone@hotmail.com and immediately started receiving e-mail from individuals attempting to simultaneously contact everyone who has a hotmail account. Some of the messages are cries for help (legitimate or not) others include vulgar insults, random messages, and in-depth opinions. Some of the e-mails are semi-personal, meant only for everyone on the person’s address list. Still others are requests for information, bids for companionship, and declarations of love. This is one example of the hundreds of e-mails meant for everyone.

Utility Table for My Mother's An Artist at Educational Alliance, NYC

2003-03-01T21:27:00.000-05:00

Part of the “My Mother’s an Artist” exhibition at the Educational Alliance in Manhattan, this project consisted of a table on which different useful items were displayed. These items included Band-Aids, paperclips, batteries, fruit, money, soap, pencils, etc. In an attempt to act as a surrogate mother and honor the generosity of my own mother, I invited the members of the community center to take the items, which I replenished daily.

This exhibition includes artwork by established and emerging artists along side the artwork of their mothers. Including: Linda Benglis, Robert Krushner, Alison Saar, Betye Saar, Harriet Schorr, Mira Schor, Yvonne Jacquette, Tom Burkhardt, Polly Apeflbaum and 25 other artists and their mothers. Shelia Pepe, curator

Question Action with Ron Song for Dia Del Mar at PS1 Contemporary Art Center

2002-08-01T07:43:00.001-05:00

The audience was invited to choose from a selection of cards each of which had a question and an activity. The questions and activities made direct and indirect references to the ideas and goals inherent in the Dia del Mar event. The project was designed to appear to have a political edge in regard to asking critical questions, but this was offset with activities focusing on silly games.

Question: Who do you think you are? Activity: Shoot Philip Johnson’s Glass House (Small Black Item) with rubber bands.

Question: What time is it? Activity: Take the clock (set 2 hours ahead of time), show it to the people you meet and tell them you live in the future.

Participatory Populism Article by Lori Waxman for New Art Examiner

2002-03-01T09:19:00.000-05:00

The Art of Making Friends

Ron Song and Frank Olive have been making art in tandem since they met while doing graduate work at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Their various, idiosyncratic projects have ranged from their two-part thesis show, when they pitched an air-conditioned, furnished visitors tent in the notoriously sweltering SAIC thesis galleries and provided audio guides and maps to those who wanted to tour the exhibition, to Exhibition Space: The Arcades Project, when they rented a booth at the Borkholder Dutch Village arts-and-crafts mall, in Nappannee, Indiana, and hung it with an ever-changing group show of art that referenced craft.

"From the very beginning we were both interested in asking questions about audience and the context in which art is experienced," explains Olive. "We also both want to be friendly to our audience and collaborate with them and confuse who is the audience and who is the artist."

With The Arcades Project, "we wanted to learn about contextual value from the audience at Nappannee." What would a Sunday shopper out to buy painted wood ducks and crocheted armchair cozies think about Lisa Norton’s empty-bleach-bottle-cum-piggybank? Not much, as it turned out: one man was impressed with the craftsmanship of Ronnie Wright’s photographs but disinterested in his subject matter of used cars; another thought Jessica Bader’s box of porcelain packing popcorn was clever, but wondered what she could possibly do with it. Relocating artworks normally received in a gallery setting to an environment where objects are judged according to a set of values based on functionality, craftsmanship, and cost led to an inevitable revaluation (and devaluation) of the exhibited art, but this was integral to the project’s conceptual framework and completely dependent on the audience of passers-by. It also gave Song and Olive a chance to talk to people they wouldn’t otherwise have met.

In fact, working as a pair has been an intense, localized version of just that. In no particular order, Song and Olive met, found adjacent studio spaces, shared an apartment, and dated two women who were also roommates. They are each other’s audience. "We become a bit more bold as a collaboration," says Song. "We are not afraid to do things. Rejection is bad, but odd situations seem to be handled better just by having someone else look." And, adds Olive, "collaboration is a step away from being able to point directly to who is responsible for what idea or activity." Less an eschewing of accountability than a willingness to share and cooperate, their philosophy opens up the creative process to participation from unexpected parties of all sorts.

Exhibition Space: The Arcades Project with Ron Song in Nappannee Indiana

2001-04-20T12:35:00.001-05:00

For the Arcades Project Ron Song and Frank Olive rented a booth at the Borkholder Dutch Village arts-and-crafts mall in Nappannee, Indiana. Asking questions about the differences and similarities between art and craft, they filled thier booth with an ever-changing group show of art that referenced craft, craft that referenced art, and everything in between, above and below.

From Participatory Populism by Lori Waxman:

With The Arcades Project, "we wanted to learn about contextual value from the audience at Nappannee." What would a Sunday shopper out to buy painted wood ducks and crocheted armchair cozies think about Lisa Norton’s empty-bleach-bottle-cum-piggybank? Not much, as it turned out: one man was impressed with the craftsmanship of Ronnie Wright’s photographs but disinterested in his subject matter of used cars; another thought Jessica Bader’s box of porcelain packing popcorn was clever, but wondered what she could possibly do with it. Relocating artworks normally received in a gallery setting to an environment where objects are judged according to a set of values based on functionality, craftsmanship, and cost led to an inevitable revaluation (and devaluation) of the exhibited art, but this was integral to the project’s conceptual framework and completely dependent on the audience of passers-by. It also gave Song and Olive a chance to talk to people they wouldn’t otherwise have met.

Hidden Exhibition with Ron Song at Columbia College, Chicago

2001-03-15T13:48:00.000-05:00

Exerpt from Participatory Populism by Lori Waxman:

Last year Song and Olive created The Hidden Exhibition, organized by the Center for Asian Arts and Media at Columbia College Chicago. For the duration of the show the artists occupied a conference room, which was open for use by anyone who wanted it. Through being the conference room’s facilitators, Song and Olive took on their most remarkably unpredictable group of collaborators yet. The college’s Development Office, the room’s primary user, took ownership of the space’s décor, displaying a show of student artwork and two months of unopened office mail. The Windy City Gay Naturists and the Chicago Area Naturist Sons held a meeting in the conference room, as did the Women Associates, a social group of diplomatic wives. Local businesses donated food and other sundries. Song and Olive attended all meetings and acted as administrators, butlers, busboys, conversationalists, janitors, and archivists—whatever was called for. They encountered people they had never met before, as did the people that were brought together in the room. The result was the transformation of an otherwise invisible and nondescript space into a crossroads of communities, activities, purposes, and aesthetics, none of which Song and Olive could ever claim as their own. Friends share and share alike.

You Can Do It! with Ron Song at Gallery 2 in Chicago IL

2001-01-01T20:47:00.000-05:00

Visitors to the gallery were invited to play 9 different simple children's games. However each of the games had to be modified to adhere to the safety and health policies of the gallery. Protective clothing had to be provided and in most cases a waiver had to be signed by the participant and a staff member. A list of legal stipulations and subsequent modifications were provided as a guide to the exhibition.

The Provinces Project at Gallery 2 in Chicago, IL

2000-05-01T07:57:00.000-05:00

This project consisted 1,295 labeled objects available to be manipulated by the audience via personalized instructions. The instructions were created using information the visitors had earlier provided. The project encouraged multiple visits to the space, allowing visitors the chance to see the project change over time.

The Inclusivity Studio in Chicago, IL

2000-03-01T11:09:00.003-05:00

Crying Duck

2000-01-01T10:17:00.000-05:00

1000 School Lunches for The Feces Project at Herter Gallery in Amherst MA

1999-01-01T16:46:00.001-05:00