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April IS, IMS Insight CStJF Art Instructor Charles Gaines Artist gains success by 'luck1 SUSAN MATHER Insight reporter You are likely to see words, numbers and/or graphed images arranged on a grid... based on a simple system of mathematical computations. Simple? Many people don't understand Charles Gaines' art. Gaines, a CSUF art instructor, admits that it seems confusing, and be likes that "Art is a fine line between sense and nonsense," Gaines said. "I want a major part of my work to exist in nonsense ... you really don't know what's going on ... it belies descrip- "If it doesn't meet your opinion of what art should be," be said later, "you are dealing with your own opinions and judgments, not the art work itself." Gaines, 38, has travelled much of the world participating in numerous one-man shows and group exhibitions. In October 1981, be made news in the art world with concurrent one-man shows at two internationally prominent New York galleries — the Leo Castelli Gallery (tbe most Important contemporary art gallery In the Western Hemisphere) and the John Weber Gallery. This solo double feature is scheduled to reappear next January. Not only is this highly unusual, especially for a Fresno- based artist, but Gaines may well be the first black artist to show in any major gallery. Currently, Gaines' work is affiliated with five galleries: John Weber Gallery, New York City; Daniel Weinberg Gallery, San Francisco; Young Hoffman Gallery, Chicago; Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles; and the Leo Castelli Gallery, New York City. Gaines said his art is the invention of a mathematical system: a pattern that produces output with tbe detachment of a computer. "Essentially, I devised a simple numerical calculation that created a ROBERT GAt THIKR/ln.lght Fresno artist Charles Gaines sits in his makeshift studio on Belmont Avenue. Gaines, a CSUF art Instructor, has work affiliated with five nationally famous galleries. Babies buckle up for new state law "c REBECCA JOHNSON Insight reporter In late August Utst year, a car traveling near Stockton rolled over three times then slid down tbe highway on its top after being clipped by a truck. The car carried three passengers. Awakening from the daze of the crash, two parents, sitting in the front seat, were terrified to turn around — but tbe familiar sound of a precious giggle snapped them out of their fear and tbey turned immediately. Their young daughter, though hanging upside down, sat secure in her safety seat unharmed. Stories like this are of lucky people, or as some call them, intelligent people. These people are those wbo buckle themselves and their children into seat restraints. But each year, more than 200 children in California die as passengers in motor vehicles and more than 20,000 are injured, some permanently crippled or disfigured. Up to nine out of 10 of those deaths or serious injuries could have been prevented just by buckling up, according to studies. Auto accidents are the number one preventable killer of Working toward preventing those deaths and injuries, the California Legislature passed a law (SB. 537) that became effective Jan. 1, 1983. court if a parent can show proof of purchase or rental of a safety seat after the first offense, Taylor said. "It's up to the court to decide," said The law states all children under four Taylor, years of age or weighing less than-*)—- The San Joaquin Valley Health pounds must be secured in federally Consortium is working to educate approved child safety seats when residents of Fresno County, where 228 riding in passenger cars, vans, or children, age 4 and younger, were in- pick-up trucks owned by the child's jured in auto accidents last year. nd young parents. U freeSmma^h Aram v TWt*S^>PR.N 11-1 SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING Accepting Applications For Internal Change of Majors California Resident* Only Application* Available at the Dean's or Friday, April 15 parent or legal guardian. The law also says parents, when present in a vehicle owned by someone else, must properly secure their children in either car safety seats or available seatbelts. Though the law was put into effect the first of the year, a conditioning period of 60 days was observed, during which time law enforcement officials did not issue citations. Officers did, however, issue warnings to violators of tbe new law. Jim Taylor, Fresno's California highway patrol public affairs.ojficer, said, "Our offices are still Issuing warnings though citations have been given to flagrant violators. This is still a period of adjustment and our officers are using their judgment in issuing citations. Many people, though, have been stopped and given a warning." A citation can be dismissed in Through the Child Passenger Safety Project, Health Consortium officials hope to educate drivers of their various options available for buckling up their children while traveling in a vehicle. "Though the law states only 4-years-old and younger," said program assistant Linda Mack, "our focus is to get children from birth to age 15 buckled up." I Mack said she hopes to start a " habit that will be' carried through adulthood by advocating buckling children up at birth. She also hopes parents will set good examples for their children by using safety belts whenever they are driving or riding as a passenger. Mack's project, funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety and tbe city of Fresno, is being developed with expectations of becoming a See RestralnU, page S form, eliminating tbe will and intuition involved in conventional art," said Gaines. "It's based on the Tan- trie diagram Illustrating tbe idea that tbe system generates its own image." Tbe Tantric diagram, according to Gaines, snows the planet's relationship to each other based on mathematic computation — a drawing with an intellectual Idea. Gaines doesn't believe that his success was predistined or due to any special genius. Instead, he attributes it mostly to luck. "I believe that if you want to do something, you have to work very hard and be ready for opportunities when they present themselves. A lot of people work hard and some people are successful at their work. The thing that determines who's successful at their work is luck. "The most lucky thing that happened to me was running into Sol Le Witt in 1975. He's a very important, very significant artist. I was in Los Angeles taking my work around to galleries and I was at one gallery showing the dealer my work and had it all spread out. Le Witt had a show there the month before, so he'd come to talk business with the dealer. "He saw my work and liked It, and has kept contact with me ever since. That was a break because through him I was able to have my work looked at by people wbo otherwise wouldn't have bothered. In addition to that, he made it possible for me to participate in some shows that turned out to be very important...." Gaines spoke of his education in New Jersey and how schooling in tbe 50s omitted any mention of black artists or other significant black role models. *■ "I didn't have any art idols ... from tbe social culture,4jarticularly those who were black," saiaGaines. "When I was in school, we were told that there was no such thing as a black history. We did study people like George Washington Carver, but the way he was presented ... well, it was tough to see him as an idol. We didn't study Du Bote (U.S. historian, educator and black leader, 1868-1963), so we didn't know he existed. We didn't know that there were any civilizations in Africa ... so there was no way to build up any idols that had to do with my tacerMy fourth grade teacher told my another that I would be the first black artist in the world. She was trying to convince my mother to let me continue in art." Gaines did pursue an education and art, and although be wasn't the first black artist in tbe world, he was the first in his family to obtain a college degree. In 1969, he enrolled in Arts High School in his hometown, Newark, N.J. There he studied art for fodr years and, also, began to play the drums. "I grew up in a very strong music environment... a lot of jazz musicians came from there. Everybody, at Arts High School was either an art major or a music major. I was an art major, of course, but you couldn't help but be closely tied to music majors too — there were only 700 students in tbe school. A lot of jazz musicians came from that school ... Woody Shaw, Tyrone Washington, Wayne Shorter, Sarah Vaughan — but that was before my time," laughed Gaines. "It was this environment that got me interested in music. I started in nightclubs and supported my way through undergraduate school that way." Gaines received his B.A. from Jersey City State College, a liberal arts education that he Said was "not a particularly good education" and >«eae«eii«coupon»ne«esien Uniforms •Garment Lettering*Silk Screening T-Shirts • Sweatshirts • Caps VINTAGE DAYS T-SHIRTS! 485 N. Fulton — Just South of Belmont (209) 485-4670 Calzoni Dinner $3.50 with coupon 391 W. Shaw Ave. Clovis 299-0485 Open 7 days a week 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Take out or eat here. 25 ' extra for take out. "generally a waste of time." Upon graduation he had a choice to make: either be a drummer in a traveling band or pursue a graduate degree at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He choose school and has stuck with it ever since, but be still plays the drums in a band that appears occasionally at the Tower House, a bar/i»taurant in the Tower District. Gaines sat in his small windowed office in tbe Conley Art Building - a dusty space cluttered with papers and posters. Above his desk was a picture of his nine-year-old son, Makil. Gaines spoke briefly of recent divorce proceedings that have made it financially impossible for him to operate a studio or generate any art for over a year. He has recently acquired a new studio and is in the process of remodeling. In addition to taking care of his son on alternating weeks, Gaines finds the time to play tennis a few times a week. But tbe majority of his time is in the classroom teaching painting, drawing, philosophy of visual arts, contemporary art and Nexus class — Space and Time. In addition, he teaches Content and Form, a class that Gaines invented in which he provokes students into thinking about the limiting attitudes and assumptions usually associated with art. Gaines said that except for the salary, be doesn't get much out of teaching, but he goes through the tou- ble of setting up class situations that are ccaaducive to growth — for hfaa and the students. Basically, be sets himself as providing a service. "I provide students with the same kind of insecurity that everybody experiences In life. Insecurities are really important. Students shouldn't know what tbe answers are ... student* should know that there are no answers." Gaines spoke of his own experience as a student; how be thought that school would provide irrformabon about what is involved in being an artist. He learned that making art is a serious business. But he didn't gain any knowledge of tbe art world itself. "School gives you tbe impression that making art, showing art, getting involved in art dialogue is a rather organized experience that makes sense. But tbe art world doesn't make any sense at all ... It really doesn't make one inch of sense," be said laughing. "I didn't get any information on tbe significance of New York as a place where artists go. And if you go to New York, there's tbe problem of finding a studio, living in it, finding 'Art is a fine line between sense and nonsense.' —Gaines i~i :• ' JLy >§-«-£.; "It's one of the few classes in the department that requires that students think about what making art is about. And most students think that that is not an important thing to do... to think. Or they're afraid to think. Or tbey have an attitude about art... that it's essentially a craft —a skill." Gaines said that students are intimidated by this class, which often results in defensive, argumentative behavior. Much of the difficulty, according to Gaines, arises because people in Fresno' are isolated from the issues and ideas of the art world. "If tbey were more familiar with what's going on in art, they'd be less hostile to this kind of class. Most of my student's ideas about art are the same ideas that people in the 1850s had about art. So, I'm saddled with tbe responsibility of making them grow 130 years inside of 14 weeks...." A few moments later, he added. "I think it's really critical that students don't think that they're going through an educational experience, but that they're going through a life experience. This stuff is real that they're dealing with. It's important. It's not <i circumstanee where it's not available because they're not ready for it. I dump as much of it on them as I can and it's up to them to swim around and do something with it." work to supplement your income while you're working. "There is this family of artists and they're all trying to do the same thing. They support each other emotionally, intellectually and sometimes, financially. I didn't know about that kind of structure. It's a community." - So, if New York is the place to be, why has Gaines been living in tbe. agricultural center of the world since 1968? ,< "Because of the job. I don't think there's any other reason to live in Fresno. People aren't going tojaUke this, but Fresno is a culturally depressing environment." Later he said, "Some people are involved in trying to provide cultural activities ... but among the few, there's only a tiny percentage doing anything interesting. There is just not enough to constitute food, so that you can feel . that you're living." Gaines quickly . added, "I want to put in a plug for the Fresno State radio station. I can not praise that thing too much. It is a great station ... they play music that nobody else will play ... as good as I've heard in the big cities... just little things like that are here ... and it's just not enough. But that's the consequence of the town in which we live." - According to Gaines, little economic support is given to artists. See Gaines, page 7
Object Description
Title | 1983_04 Insight April 1983 |
Alternative Title | Insight (California State University, Fresno) |
Publisher | Dept. of Journalism, California State University, Fresno. |
Publication Date | 1983 |
Description | Weekly during the school year. Vol. 1, no. 1 (Oct. 8, 1969)-v. 29, no. 23 (May 13, 1998). Ceased with May 13, 1998, issue. Title from masthead. Merged with Daily collegian. |
Subject | California State University, Fresno Periodicals |
Contributors | California State University, Fresno Dept. of Journalism |
Coverage | October 8, 1969 – May 13, 1998 |
Format | Microfilm reels, 35mm |
Technical Information | Scanned at 600 dpi; TIFF; Microfilm ScanPro 2000 “E-image data” |
Language | eng |
Description
Title | Insight Apr 13 1983 p 4 |
Alternative Title | Insight (California State University, Fresno) |
Publication Date | 1983 |
Full-Text-Search | April IS, IMS Insight CStJF Art Instructor Charles Gaines Artist gains success by 'luck1 SUSAN MATHER Insight reporter You are likely to see words, numbers and/or graphed images arranged on a grid... based on a simple system of mathematical computations. Simple? Many people don't understand Charles Gaines' art. Gaines, a CSUF art instructor, admits that it seems confusing, and be likes that "Art is a fine line between sense and nonsense," Gaines said. "I want a major part of my work to exist in nonsense ... you really don't know what's going on ... it belies descrip- "If it doesn't meet your opinion of what art should be," be said later, "you are dealing with your own opinions and judgments, not the art work itself." Gaines, 38, has travelled much of the world participating in numerous one-man shows and group exhibitions. In October 1981, be made news in the art world with concurrent one-man shows at two internationally prominent New York galleries — the Leo Castelli Gallery (tbe most Important contemporary art gallery In the Western Hemisphere) and the John Weber Gallery. This solo double feature is scheduled to reappear next January. Not only is this highly unusual, especially for a Fresno- based artist, but Gaines may well be the first black artist to show in any major gallery. Currently, Gaines' work is affiliated with five galleries: John Weber Gallery, New York City; Daniel Weinberg Gallery, San Francisco; Young Hoffman Gallery, Chicago; Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles; and the Leo Castelli Gallery, New York City. Gaines said his art is the invention of a mathematical system: a pattern that produces output with tbe detachment of a computer. "Essentially, I devised a simple numerical calculation that created a ROBERT GAt THIKR/ln.lght Fresno artist Charles Gaines sits in his makeshift studio on Belmont Avenue. Gaines, a CSUF art Instructor, has work affiliated with five nationally famous galleries. Babies buckle up for new state law "c REBECCA JOHNSON Insight reporter In late August Utst year, a car traveling near Stockton rolled over three times then slid down tbe highway on its top after being clipped by a truck. The car carried three passengers. Awakening from the daze of the crash, two parents, sitting in the front seat, were terrified to turn around — but tbe familiar sound of a precious giggle snapped them out of their fear and tbey turned immediately. Their young daughter, though hanging upside down, sat secure in her safety seat unharmed. Stories like this are of lucky people, or as some call them, intelligent people. These people are those wbo buckle themselves and their children into seat restraints. But each year, more than 200 children in California die as passengers in motor vehicles and more than 20,000 are injured, some permanently crippled or disfigured. Up to nine out of 10 of those deaths or serious injuries could have been prevented just by buckling up, according to studies. Auto accidents are the number one preventable killer of Working toward preventing those deaths and injuries, the California Legislature passed a law (SB. 537) that became effective Jan. 1, 1983. court if a parent can show proof of purchase or rental of a safety seat after the first offense, Taylor said. "It's up to the court to decide," said The law states all children under four Taylor, years of age or weighing less than-*)—- The San Joaquin Valley Health pounds must be secured in federally Consortium is working to educate approved child safety seats when residents of Fresno County, where 228 riding in passenger cars, vans, or children, age 4 and younger, were in- pick-up trucks owned by the child's jured in auto accidents last year. nd young parents. U freeSmma^h Aram v TWt*S^>PR.N 11-1 SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING Accepting Applications For Internal Change of Majors California Resident* Only Application* Available at the Dean's or Friday, April 15 parent or legal guardian. The law also says parents, when present in a vehicle owned by someone else, must properly secure their children in either car safety seats or available seatbelts. Though the law was put into effect the first of the year, a conditioning period of 60 days was observed, during which time law enforcement officials did not issue citations. Officers did, however, issue warnings to violators of tbe new law. Jim Taylor, Fresno's California highway patrol public affairs.ojficer, said, "Our offices are still Issuing warnings though citations have been given to flagrant violators. This is still a period of adjustment and our officers are using their judgment in issuing citations. Many people, though, have been stopped and given a warning." A citation can be dismissed in Through the Child Passenger Safety Project, Health Consortium officials hope to educate drivers of their various options available for buckling up their children while traveling in a vehicle. "Though the law states only 4-years-old and younger," said program assistant Linda Mack, "our focus is to get children from birth to age 15 buckled up." I Mack said she hopes to start a " habit that will be' carried through adulthood by advocating buckling children up at birth. She also hopes parents will set good examples for their children by using safety belts whenever they are driving or riding as a passenger. Mack's project, funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety and tbe city of Fresno, is being developed with expectations of becoming a See RestralnU, page S form, eliminating tbe will and intuition involved in conventional art," said Gaines. "It's based on the Tan- trie diagram Illustrating tbe idea that tbe system generates its own image." Tbe Tantric diagram, according to Gaines, snows the planet's relationship to each other based on mathematic computation — a drawing with an intellectual Idea. Gaines doesn't believe that his success was predistined or due to any special genius. Instead, he attributes it mostly to luck. "I believe that if you want to do something, you have to work very hard and be ready for opportunities when they present themselves. A lot of people work hard and some people are successful at their work. The thing that determines who's successful at their work is luck. "The most lucky thing that happened to me was running into Sol Le Witt in 1975. He's a very important, very significant artist. I was in Los Angeles taking my work around to galleries and I was at one gallery showing the dealer my work and had it all spread out. Le Witt had a show there the month before, so he'd come to talk business with the dealer. "He saw my work and liked It, and has kept contact with me ever since. That was a break because through him I was able to have my work looked at by people wbo otherwise wouldn't have bothered. In addition to that, he made it possible for me to participate in some shows that turned out to be very important...." Gaines spoke of his education in New Jersey and how schooling in tbe 50s omitted any mention of black artists or other significant black role models. *■ "I didn't have any art idols ... from tbe social culture,4jarticularly those who were black," saiaGaines. "When I was in school, we were told that there was no such thing as a black history. We did study people like George Washington Carver, but the way he was presented ... well, it was tough to see him as an idol. We didn't study Du Bote (U.S. historian, educator and black leader, 1868-1963), so we didn't know he existed. We didn't know that there were any civilizations in Africa ... so there was no way to build up any idols that had to do with my tacerMy fourth grade teacher told my another that I would be the first black artist in the world. She was trying to convince my mother to let me continue in art." Gaines did pursue an education and art, and although be wasn't the first black artist in tbe world, he was the first in his family to obtain a college degree. In 1969, he enrolled in Arts High School in his hometown, Newark, N.J. There he studied art for fodr years and, also, began to play the drums. "I grew up in a very strong music environment... a lot of jazz musicians came from there. Everybody, at Arts High School was either an art major or a music major. I was an art major, of course, but you couldn't help but be closely tied to music majors too — there were only 700 students in tbe school. A lot of jazz musicians came from that school ... Woody Shaw, Tyrone Washington, Wayne Shorter, Sarah Vaughan — but that was before my time," laughed Gaines. "It was this environment that got me interested in music. I started in nightclubs and supported my way through undergraduate school that way." Gaines received his B.A. from Jersey City State College, a liberal arts education that he Said was "not a particularly good education" and >«eae«eii«coupon»ne«esien Uniforms •Garment Lettering*Silk Screening T-Shirts • Sweatshirts • Caps VINTAGE DAYS T-SHIRTS! 485 N. Fulton — Just South of Belmont (209) 485-4670 Calzoni Dinner $3.50 with coupon 391 W. Shaw Ave. Clovis 299-0485 Open 7 days a week 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Take out or eat here. 25 ' extra for take out. "generally a waste of time." Upon graduation he had a choice to make: either be a drummer in a traveling band or pursue a graduate degree at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He choose school and has stuck with it ever since, but be still plays the drums in a band that appears occasionally at the Tower House, a bar/i»taurant in the Tower District. Gaines sat in his small windowed office in tbe Conley Art Building - a dusty space cluttered with papers and posters. Above his desk was a picture of his nine-year-old son, Makil. Gaines spoke briefly of recent divorce proceedings that have made it financially impossible for him to operate a studio or generate any art for over a year. He has recently acquired a new studio and is in the process of remodeling. In addition to taking care of his son on alternating weeks, Gaines finds the time to play tennis a few times a week. But tbe majority of his time is in the classroom teaching painting, drawing, philosophy of visual arts, contemporary art and Nexus class — Space and Time. In addition, he teaches Content and Form, a class that Gaines invented in which he provokes students into thinking about the limiting attitudes and assumptions usually associated with art. Gaines said that except for the salary, be doesn't get much out of teaching, but he goes through the tou- ble of setting up class situations that are ccaaducive to growth — for hfaa and the students. Basically, be sets himself as providing a service. "I provide students with the same kind of insecurity that everybody experiences In life. Insecurities are really important. Students shouldn't know what tbe answers are ... student* should know that there are no answers." Gaines spoke of his own experience as a student; how be thought that school would provide irrformabon about what is involved in being an artist. He learned that making art is a serious business. But he didn't gain any knowledge of tbe art world itself. "School gives you tbe impression that making art, showing art, getting involved in art dialogue is a rather organized experience that makes sense. But tbe art world doesn't make any sense at all ... It really doesn't make one inch of sense," be said laughing. "I didn't get any information on tbe significance of New York as a place where artists go. And if you go to New York, there's tbe problem of finding a studio, living in it, finding 'Art is a fine line between sense and nonsense.' —Gaines i~i :• ' JLy >§-«-£.; "It's one of the few classes in the department that requires that students think about what making art is about. And most students think that that is not an important thing to do... to think. Or they're afraid to think. Or tbey have an attitude about art... that it's essentially a craft —a skill." Gaines said that students are intimidated by this class, which often results in defensive, argumentative behavior. Much of the difficulty, according to Gaines, arises because people in Fresno' are isolated from the issues and ideas of the art world. "If tbey were more familiar with what's going on in art, they'd be less hostile to this kind of class. Most of my student's ideas about art are the same ideas that people in the 1850s had about art. So, I'm saddled with tbe responsibility of making them grow 130 years inside of 14 weeks...." A few moments later, he added. "I think it's really critical that students don't think that they're going through an educational experience, but that they're going through a life experience. This stuff is real that they're dealing with. It's important. It's not |