F M* [Paperback]

Gene Ogami (Photographer), Lisa Adams (Photographer), Alan Shaffer (Author), Sari Anderson (Author), Rachel Benoff (Author), Jack Birdsall (Author), Annette Cutrono (Author), Rachel Grynberg (Author), Lynn Hanson (Editor), Lauren Hartman (Author), Kate Hungerford (Author), Marion Lane (Author), Nancy Levy (Author), Maritza Mazariego (Author), Louisa M. Miller (Author), Leslie Nuesca (Author), Elizabeth L. Pence (Author), Leigh Salgado (Author), Steve Siegrist (Author), Ralston Fox Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1999

FM* is an extraordinary document of artist and teacher Lisa Adams' transformative approach to developing the contemporary painter. Replete with high-quality reproductions of paintings and drawings by Adams' students, now emerging Los Angeles artists, this accessible hook is one of the first to introduce meaningful philosophical and perceptual concepts in painting to painters of all levels, allowing even the novice artist the opportunity to create deeply personal, moving works of art by following the assignments. Readers will also note the lasting and inspiring rapport between a respected instructor and her students.

The art market is booming in Los Angeles and New York. Not since the early eighties has interest in art and art-making been this significant. People of all walks of life are entering art school programs in droves. In short, people want to know about and to make art. FM* stands miles apart from all the "how-to" books on painting and drawing that crowd the shelves in art stores and book stores as its thoughtful exercises allow the artist to bypass dreary technical repetitions to make wholly unique work by tapping into uncharted psychological territory.

FM* is already available in Los Angeles museums and independent bookstores, including the Getty Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), UCLA at the Armand Hammer Museum and Culture Center, the Midnight Special Book Store, and Patricia Correia gallery at the Bergamont Arts Complex in Santa Monica where Adams had her recent one-person show.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Lisa Adams is an internationally acclaimed painter and a recipient of a 1996 Fulbright Senior Scholar Award and the creator of a BMW ArtCar. Her work is in the collections of Eli Broad and the Frederick R. Weissman Museum of Art. She was a recent artist-in-residence at the Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art in Helsinki and will be representing the United States at the World Design City Gifu 2000 in Gifu prefecture in Japan. She has taught at the University of Southern California, the Claremont Graduate University and the University of California, Riverside. Her work can also be seen at the Patricia Correia website.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From Chapter 8: Material From The "99 Cent Only" Store

You were asked to collect ten items that resonate with you from the 99 Cent Only stores and then to write an essay on your experience and on your relationship to the items. Now for the painting.

Since the time of Duchamp, one could legitimately use any ready-made object and contextualize it into art by intending its function to be "art" and/or by literally placing it in an art world framework. But if we can agree that art does not seek to mimic or represent at this point in history, then we have to ask ourselves why it is that we cannot not just use or represent these appropriated objects per se and call them art? For me, it's not enough to know that there is some interface between art and life. My focus is on a far more sublime understanding of this connection.

There is a brilliant passage in Arthur C. Danto's "Transfiguration of the Commonplace" (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1981) that I would like to quote here:

".... say the Polish Rider of Rembrandt was not painted at all but is the result of someone's having dumped lots of paint in a centrifuge, giving the contrivance of a spin, and having the result splat onto the canvas, 'just to see what would happen.' And what happened is that by a kind of statistical miracle, the paint molecules disposed themselves in such a way as to produce something to all outward appearances exactly like one of the deepest paintings of one of the deepest artists in the history of the subject. Now the question is whether, knowing this fact, we are prepared to consider this randomly generated object a work of art."

Might this be an argument for transformation?

Think about the premise from which you operate, aspects of literalness or transfiguration in your work, your relationship to aesthetics, metaphor and expression. These are big issues that cannot be addressed in a single painting. But I am hoping that you can create one or more paintings with an awareness of such new, expanded limits. You will be asked to present sketches and ideas about your process from class to class.

Product Details

• Paperback: 56 pages
• Publisher: Peeps' Island Press (September 1, 1999)
• ISBN-10: 0966943406
• ISBN-13: 978-0966943405
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 8.3 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,970,011 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Refreshingly Authentic, May 9, 2000

By 

Sharon Nesselle "Oshi" (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: F M* (Paperback)

In this day and age where what seems to make it in this worldis that and those people who conform to the do's and don'ts ofcorporate America, or perhaps I ought say america with a small"a", FM is a most refreshing change that renews my belief that there are still original thinkers out there making personal and important statements that are not only artistic, but personal, cultural, politically relevant, psychologically astute and desperately needed. It is hard to hold onto the hope that individuals can grow up in this world, develop and hold onto and feel good about an authentic sense of self - so kudo's to Lisa Adams for creating this book, and for those whos work appears. I am always impressed by the work of Lauren Hartman who seems to really have found a path to her authentic self - may she never lose that, and may this book inspire others to find theirs.