CAUTION: WET PAINT

Back in March, CL turned to various players in the local visual arts scene for their thoughts on surviving -- let alone thriving -- in the depressed economy, and an especially challenging creative climate of late. Some have since moved on (Greene Contemporary owner Jonathan Greene, who's about to open his gallery in New York) or are preparing to (as with artist/curator Nick Katranis, bound for New England next month), while others keep on keepin' on (artist Joseph Arnegger, who did not depart for the Big Apple as planned). A half year later and waist deep in the humid pit of offseason, we caught up with a few of the folks featured in that story -- and in artist John Sims' case, one who didn't make the page last time. Here's a sampling of what they've been working on during this time, anything but a down period for them.

Joseph Arnegger: "[This] is a time to reflect on the successes and failures of the past year and to plan the next. It is in essence my New Year ... There is the pattern of weather that dictates my time in and out of the studio and fills my head with endless inspiration. I like the beach in the morning and watching the day progress as the monsters from the east; white bilious cumulus castellanus thunderhead clouds build in the shapes of a child's imaginary zoo of friends. And I retreat indoors to ply my craft in the afternoons when it is too hot, and then back out after to bask in the beauty of the summer sunset and to prowl the nearly empty streets, clubs, and restaurants. The summer is a time to work, to create and explore and hopefully produce a new series to be shown during the season."

Tobey Albright, artist and curator/director of mack b projects: "I just went on a painting residency, which lasted three weeks, in France with Tim Jaeger [artist/gallery director at Canvas Café]. I'm also working on an exhibition entitled The Friend and The Looping End, scheduled for next June in Germany.

... Here are a few images of things I've been working on over the summer. The first image is a painting of Tim Jaeger done in France. The next image is a postcard-specific assemblage I made for an exhibition scheduled next year, in Landau, Germany. It's a large, collaborative project that interweaves personal memory, filmic memory, impersonation and the Drive-In theater in Ruskin, Fla."

John Sims: "Finishing up two major projects: 1. 13 quilts: A mathematical art manifesto featuring 13 quilts done in sponsorship and advisement with Amma Sue Quilt Shop. [There will be a] preview show at [Ringling College of Art and Design's] Crossley Galley in early October [and an] NYC exhibition at Wilmer Jennings Gallery [on the] lower east side. 2. 'Recoloration Proclamation: Final Act.'

I will be responding to the Sons of Confederate Veterans latest flag antics in Tampa with [an] exhibition/conference with Flight 19 art group in Tampa with probable features like [performance artist] Karen Finley and DJ Spooky -- March/April 2009. This will-be event will wrap up my film on the subject of the Confederate Flag, visual terrorism and the iconography of identity.

One more thing. I got the John Ringling fellowship for this year, which included time at the Hermitage Artist Retreat. I did mine in February, doing literary/art work which I finished up this summer."