November 28th, 2009 — Uncategorized
Santiago Esparza of The Detroit News came out to see the Detroit performance and followed along a bit down Woodward Avenue while Robin Buckson documented the event with her camera. Click the image to see a large image of the article and to read the text.
The Detroit News link:
http://www.detnews.com/article/20091128/METRO/911280331/1409/METRO/Pair-don-giant-inflated-suits-to-lighten-things-up-on-Woodward
November 27th, 2009 — Uncategorized
After finding a parking space near Woodward and Warren Avenue, I unpacked two inflatable suits. In the morning Santiago Esparza of The Detroit News contacted me about coming to the performance with a photographer. I waited for him and Mary Beth Carolan to show up. Mary Beth saw some of the publicity for the Detroit performance and contacted me earlier in the month. She said that she was coming to the performance with some friends and was interested in wearing one of the suits.
Everyone arrived on time and bundled up against the chilly wind. I say chilly since at 36 degrees it was not really cold by Michigan standards. I inflated Hello. Bye. for Mary Beth to wear and I wore Your Wear What I Wear. We headed down the street bumping into fast food restaurants, banks, abandoned buildings and city buses. I really enjoyed the performance since I to not normally have two suits inflated at the same time.
The next performance is scheduled for December 4th in Chicago. It will start at 12:00 noon in Grant Park and then wander up and down Michigan Avenue. Hope to see you there.
November 27th, 2009 — Uncategorized
I spoke with Jason Carr of the FOX 2 Detroit Morning show at the FOX 2 studios. The interview went fine except for the fact that large inflatable suits do not fit well inside television studios. The suits banged into the lighting rigs a bit, but no damage was done.
Getting the suits out and inflated before the performance got me pumped for what I knew was going to be a cold performance on the streets of Detroit. I stopped by a diner before that performance to grab a burger and to top off the air blower batteries. As I entered the building a woman exiting asked me if I was on the news that morning. I replied, “Yes, and I will be bouncing down the street in a few minutes.” That is the kind of accessibility and audience scope that I seek with my performances.
November 25th, 2009 — Uncategorized
William Mayer of Hope College in Holland, Michigan invited me to jury the student show there this fall. I accepted the invitation and traveled to Holland jury the work, give an artist talk, and of course to bounce around town in an inflatable suit. At 12:00 noon the doors of the gallery were locked and the slaughter began. Actually, since this was my first time serving as the juror of a show I approached the first cuts cautiously to avoid making a mistake. After eliminating the obvious ones the real work began. I wanted to have about 40 – 60 pieces in the final show in order to be somewhat inclusive yet selective. Throughout the process I took strolls through the reject room and only two pieces made it back into the show.
The judging began at noon and I gave a juror’s statement to the students at 3:30. The students asked lots of questions about why a work was in or out and I enjoyed discussing my reasoning with them. After the exchange we moved to the auditorium where I gave a talk about my work. Overall the experience was great and I look forward to serving as the juror in other shows in the future.
The next day I busted out You Wear What I Wear to take a spin around town. I marched through campus and along the shops lining downtown. People came out of the stores to find out what was going on while Billy told them that it was the H1N1 virus.
November 22nd, 2009 — Uncategorized
The Office of Communications at Albion College contacted me in October about wanting to get a photo of one of my inflatable suits. We scheduled a photo shoot and You Wear What I Wear ended up on the back of Io Triumphe! the alumni magazine. It came with the caption “A 21st-Centruy Pied Piper.” David Trumpie took the photo.
Text blurb:
Wherever artist Jimmy Kuehnle goes, the curious are sure to follow. Currently the Philip C. Curtis Visiting Artist at Albion, Kuehnle most enjoys the reactions he gets to his inflatable creations, like this one entitled “You Wear What I Wear,’ that he dons for public performances. He recently told a reporter, “If I’m in something brightly colored, I look behind me, and I’ll see all these children. Eventually, you’ll see some adults running and realizing their children are following a balloon down the street.” Kuehnle participated in this fall’s Grand Rapids ArtPrize competition with this same work.
November 12th, 2009 — Uncategorized
After a successful series of inflatable suit performances in central Michigan, I am expanding the list of cities to include Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit and St. Louis. Since it is getting colder up here I am planning to confront the weather head on to find out what happens. These performances will occur in the end of November and the beginning of December. Hello. Bye. and You Wear What I Wear will both be used during the performances.
Detroit – Friday, November 27th – 12:00 p.m.
Begins at Woodward and Warren Avenue and spreads out to the surrounding area
Chicago – Friday, December 4th – 12:00 p.m.
Begins in Grant Park and then heads down Michigan Avenue
Cincinnati – Friday, December 11th – 12:00 p.m.
Begins near Washington park and heads toward the river
St. Louis – Friday, December 18th – 12:00 p.m.
Begins under the Arch and heads into downtown
November 1st, 2009 — Uncategorized
Fall is letting me know that winter is right around the corner. Although I am not looking forward to the lower temperatures as my show title, I Don’t Like Cold Weather, suggests, the colors sure are beautiful.
October 30th, 2009 — Uncategorized
I wrapped up the central Michigan performance tour in Kalamazoo. Hello. Bye. took strong winds in stride and attracted the attention of a couple reporters. As I walked by the Kalamazoo Gazette building during my performance, two journalists from the Business Review came out to see what was going on. Candace Beeke wrote a piece on the West Side Story blog and mentions Super Mario Brothers, which is always cool.
I continued on my way after posing for a couple pictures. Toward the end of the performance the wind picked up and I began to head back to my car. The only problem was that in the midst of choosing a spontaneous route through the city, I did not remember precisely where I parked my car. As I wandered around the general area of where I figured my car was I bumped into Aaron Aupperlee of the Kalamazoo Gazette. He came over to ask what I was up to and asked me to pose for a couple pictures for a story he posted online.
It was great fun performing in Kalamazoo and it was nice to run into a couple members of the media along the way. There were smiles all around.
October 27th, 2009 — Uncategorized
The rain stayed away for the performance in Jackson. I started in the mall parking lot and then headed down Michigan Avenue toward downtown. Along the way car horns kept pace with their always ambiguous messages. Since I performed during the lunch hour, many people were dining in storefront cafes. This provided ample opportunity to use my big yellow letters to say, “Hello.”, followed by smiles, an about face and a friendly, “Bye.”
October 25th, 2009 — Uncategorized
The Battle Creek performance lost out to the rain on Friday. I rescheduled for the next day with decent weather, which ended up being Sunday.
What have I been doing in the studio during my residency? I made a new inflatable suit. This suit, Hello. Bye., sports big yellow letters and of course big red arrows. An inflatable suit must have lots of fun protrusions and this time it has arrows. The front of the suit greets pedestrians with the friendly greeting, “Hello.” with a period. The red arrow make sure that the message cannot be missed. After a smile is on their face and I am moving on, a smaller “Bye.”, also with a period, bids them farewell.
I put the suit through its paces and I look forward to the upcoming performances in Jackson and Kalamazoo.