W Magazine January 2011!!!!!!!

Page 16!!!!!!!

New Times Miami -profile. November 2010.

IFC shows love to our project!!! We make the 'Ten Greatest Music Videos Of 2010'

Lucas Leyva and I made Rachel Goodrich's, "Light Bulb"


Rachel Goodrich's vaudeville indie pop tune "Light Bulb," featured in "Weeds," was the subject of a video contest held by Miami's Sweat Records.


IFC's Ten Greatest Music Videos Of 2010

Catch my work at Basel time in Miami

De La Cruz Collection

23 NE 41ST STREET, MIAMI, FL 33137
305-576-6112

and at David Castillo Gallery!

2234 Northwest Second Avenue
Miami, FL 33127
(305) 573-8110

The Maginot Line Curated by Dennis Scholl December 1, 2010- January 29, 2011 Reception December 4, 7-10pm

David Castillo Gallery is proud to present The Maginot Line, curated by Dennis Scholl, with works on paper by Daniel Arsham, Ben Berlow, Michael Berryhill, Willem de Kooning, Jean Dubuffet, Mark Grotjahn, Marie Lorenz, Pepe Mar, Jillian Mayer, Kirsten Nash, Kori Newkirk, William J. O'Brien and Claes Oldenburg.

The Maginot Line illustrates the variety of drawing practices artists use to explore the narrative nature of the line as the vehicle for creating shape, depth and form. For some, drawing is their primary mode of working, but for others drawing is a preparatory practice for other mediums.

The "Maginot Line" refers to an organizational grid invented by the French military during the inter-war years to protect their forts from foreign attack. While each of the buildings within the Maginot Line were diverse in size and function, their symmetrical organization transformed them into a singular protective unit.

Mimicking the symmetrical system of the "Maginot Line," each body of work is arranged in its own compositional grid on the gallery wall. Creating a symmetrical network of drawings, the exhibition transforms the group installation into a multifaceted visual experience that can be viewed through any multitude of trajectories emanating from the line.

Ben Berlow, Mark Grotjahn and Kirsten Nash use drawing to complicate the relationship between abstraction and figuration. Berlow's colorful compositions are explorations into an ambiguous architectonic space. Grotjahn's black and cream butterflies evoke the artist's interest in the "meditational" experience of both making and viewing art. By toying with a variety of vantage points and compositions, Kirsten Nash's works become the hard-lined minimalist ghosts of an urban landscape.

In the works by Daniel Arsham, Michael Berryhill, Jillian Mayer and Claes Oldenburg, drawing shares an affinity with illustration and is used to explore important observations of the modern world. A product of his contemplative architectural studies, Arsham's works emerge from his observations during the rehearsals of the modern dance troupes he collaborates with. Oscillating between the abstract and the representational, Berryhill's drawings depict a surreal world populated with hidden emblems of popular culture. Jillian Mayer's Practice Babies series is a meditation on the psychological disposition of women who react to the societal pressure of enforced gender roles, using small animals as surrogates for children, fashion or lovers. Oldenburg's Giant Balloon in the Shape of a Screw is representative of the artist's dramatization of mundane objects into larger-than-life monuments.

Guggenheim Madness

Wow, So I got selected to be screened at the Guggenheim in NY, Bilbao, Venice and Berlin as part of PLAY: Creative Video Biennial.

Thank you to Google/You Tube/ & HP!

Most recently, I was interviewed by Hunter Stephenson of Interview Magazine

Here it is:

FILM

How Jillian Mayer Made YouTube Art

By HUNTER STEPHENSON 10/26/2010 03:55 PM

JILLIAN MAYER. PHOTO COURTESY OF LUCAS LEYVA.

Last week, the walls and rotunda inside the Guggenheim were splashed with a number of the top 25 selections for the first-ever "YouTube Play: A Creative Video Biennial." Billed as a milestone for the vid-sharing web behemoth, the exhibited shorts were chosen by celebrated jurors that included Darren Aronofsky, Ryan McGinley and (semi-recent Guggenheim appointees) Animal Collective, from an open call this summer that topped 20,000 international submissions. In the days since, The New York Times has stirred a mini-controversy, suggesting that the presentation and selections failed to capitalize on or refer to the oft-zany power, however accidental, and unabashed outsider populism of the medium. It's both to the jury's credit and to its handicap that among the highlighted entries—which averaged under five minutes in length—not one featured groin-shot laffs or the puppy-eyed hysterics that make the website a mindless sanctuary from mindless office droning.

"The [Times] article seemed surprised that videos submitted by amateur and professional filmmakers would rise to the top," said Jillian Mayer, a twentysomething performance artist who was flown in from Miami to attend the event after her video made the final cut. "It almost seemed like the writer thought filmmakers didn't deserve to take spots away from videos sent in by, I dunno, doctors—which is bullshit." Mayer's video, "Scenic Jogging," is just over a minute in length and features her sprinting down a desolate Miami street at night, racing to keep up with naturalistic imagery projected onto passing buildings. Unlike most YouTube clips, it's hard to explain the appeal of "Scenic Jogging" in less time than the clip itself. This weekend, we talked with Mayer about how she came to participate in YouTube Play, and the state of art and culture in her native Miami.


HUNTER STEPHENSON: How did you initially find out about YouTube Play? And how were you notified that your video had been selected from over 23,000 submissions?

JILLIAN MAYER: I work with Lucas Leyva of the Borscht Film Festival in Miami, and he informed me about the contest and encouraged me to enter. And we work together a lot. We're working on a short film in Miami now, where we live, and we have another in the planning stages. A little over a month before the Guggenheim event, I received an email that I had been selected. It was confidential at the time, but I was told the video had qualified for both the top 125 and that it was one of the 25 final selections. And the actual presentation at the Guggenheim, it was much more extravagant than I had expected. We equated it to the Video Music Awards. [LAUGHS]Seeing the film projected on the rotunda was cool, and from New York, the video goes to the Guggenheims in Berlin, Bilbao, and Venice. There is a Guggenheim in Abu Dhabi too, but they are not participating. I don't think they have YouTube.

STEPHENSON: Why do you think "Scenic Jogging" stood out and spoke to the jurors at YouTube Play?

MAYER: Whenever you enter a technology-based contest, I think it's safe to believe a number of the entries will be incredibly technical. So I decided to focus on a basic concept, one idea that was really strong, almost as an alternative. And I chose to work with a green screen because it was rudimentary. I think the end result is as much about the creation of the imagery as the imagery itself. And I knew—well, I visualized—that people would be watching the video sitting down, or standing around at an event or mingling at a party. So, I wanted the video to be both an expression of movement and exertion, and a documentation of it. If that makes sense.

STEPHENSON: One observation about your video is that it juxtaposes a dull cityscape at night with a bright rush of nature imagery. And this contrast between nature and concrete is often attributed to Miami...

MAYER: Yeah. And for the nature imagery, I specifically chose to jog against nature screensavers made for computers. It's common for a city dweller to desire nature. There's a primal desire inside to be outside, or to be outside of a cubicle and away from the office. And to me, "Scenic Jogging" is also a comment on how screensaver images are chosen, how for years they have played into office escapism. I've always wondered if the designer, or the engineer—whoever is responsible for those images being on your computer—thinks those images are simply nice, or believes they appeal to all people. Or, if the person finds them absurd or funny, and is aware of their kitsch. And there's the idea that you walk through a forest to enter your mundane work files. But the screensavers aren't snapshots of forests, the images are themselves made on computers, or enhanced by them. Nature has to be beefed up. So, when I'm running against these images in the video, it's like, even if I reach the imagery or become a part of it, even if I'm quick enough, it's futile. Those places do not exist. It's kinda sad. [LAUGHS] And it's different from a lot of my work, I should say that. My work tends to have more of a comedy element. My friends and I decided that "Scenic Jogging" has a more serious tone because it was shot at night.

STEPHENSON: Right. A young girl running down an empty city street at night, it has a certain predatory aspect...

MAYER: Yeah. I could be running from a rapist... or I could be running from cheesy people in Miami, or Snooki from Jersey Shore. [LAUGHS] I would say I'm inspired by a few of Miranda July's projects and by Sarah Silverman. She likes to combine her sense of humor with a physicality that's not entirely sexual. And it's practically a given, but Yoko Ono's Grapefruit book is a big influence on me as well.

STEPHENSON: In the presentation at the Guggenheim, I noticed that your pet was featured. And it seems to play a muse-like role in your life and work.

MAYER: I think having an animal in your house is a great way to encourage imagination. You have invited an animal to come live with you, and it changes the dynamic and affects your personality. And personally, I invited a Chihuahua to live with me some time ago, a Chihuahua named Shivers. Shivers is always there with me. Casting her in my work, it just seems like the best thing to do no matter what. [LAUGHS] She is a very curious animal and unlike people, she does not object to ideas or make judgments about what is art. Food? That's different. I would say Shivers has become a second conscious for me in my work.

STEPHENSON: Okay. [LAUGHS] Do you think incorporating a pet into your performance art and video projects lends itself to the Internet's never-ending obsession with small animals?

MAYER: I think it's connected to that trend, sure. This may be why people respond strongly to Shivers in my work. But I don't think the Internet has made puppies any cuter. I think puppies have been cute from day one and now they are getting the cute recognition they deserve. I am also fascinated by how celebrities' pets, for a while at least, they were getting smaller and smaller in the tabloids. And cuter and cuter until they were no longer cute. They were gross. Like little gremlins. Shivers is sort of like that. She has lost a few teeth on one side of her mouth as she's gotten older. So, only one side of her face is cute now. I like to call her Harvey Dent.

STEPHENSON: What is going on right now in Miami, as far as youth culture and film, that people should look out for online or if they visit?

MAYER: There are a lot of interesting subcultures in Miami that are surfacing, but that has been the case for years. The difference now is that funding is becoming more available, and the more experimental, younger artists, the city's older art community is beginning to pay attention. Without help from the Knight Foundation, a lot of what is happening might not be. We really need a platform to reach new audiences beyond the young people involved there. Sweat Records is the indie hub of Downtown, and as I mentioned, there's the Borscht Film Festival, which develops and promotes the work of young filmmakers. Local filmmakers are so important, because Miami is still defined by Miami Vice, and whatever imagery MTV pumps out. And there is also Morphologic Studios. What's great about them, they are facing the same dilemma and hesitation from art galleries here that video art faced the previous decade. They study marine biology and cloning, and present organisms—um, sea critters, to be technical—in the context of art and visual aesthetics. Miami's culture is still snagged in a weird limbo between new and old, and now marine biologists have slithered their way into it.[LAUGHS]

People & Statistics

Since I made my art website in September 2008, www.jillianmayer.net, 23,336 people have viewed it. I mean, I am sure some of those people are repeats or my mom, but ya know.


When I was 10, I threw this awesome Laser Tag birthday party but I could only have a max of 10 guests. Only maybe four people showed up.

I am not sure if that relates, but I feel it may.



Also,
my video Scenic Jogging on youtube has been viewed by 4,000 people in the last 30 hours since being put on the Guggenheim short list. 17 people like it, 6 people dislike it.

Check my video out at the Guggenheim in New York; Berlin; Bilbao, Spain, and Venice, Italy.

Wow, I have been curated into a show at the Guggenehim.

CBS NEWS

"YouTube Play: A Biennial of Creative Video," the first curated search for videos of a higher brow on the popular Google Inc.-owned website. From among more than 23,000 submissions from 91 countries, 125 videos were shortlisted for the inaugural biennial.

A curatorial team from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York selected the videos, which will play at kiosks in Guggenheim museums in New York; Berlin; Bilbao, Spain, and Venice, Italy, beginning Monday.
A jury that includes filmmaker Darren Aronofsky and visual artist Takashi Murakami will whittle the results down further to about 20 videos. Those will be presented at the Guggenheim in New York on Oct. 21.

"It's become increasingly obvious that this kind of creative video is completely core to YouTube," said Anna Bateson, director of marketing for YouTube. "It's a fundamental part of what the site is doing, and yet it wasn't really being celebrated."

The chosen videos vary wildly, from well-known YouTube hits to little-seen works by students and amateurs.

More familiar selections include the OK Go music video "This Too Shall Pass," which features a Rube Goldberg apparatus, a complicated machine designed to perform a simple task, and the "Human Mirror" video, in which a subway car is lined by apparent twins mimicking each other's movements, by the comedy troupe Improv Everywhere.

Others are less heralded, like a jogging video by multimedia performer Jillian Mayer, in which rural video is projected against the urban landscape along her path."

I am in the Huffington Post's Top 10 picks out of the Guggneheim's top 125 out of over 23,000 Submissions!

Here is a write up from the New Times by Amanda McCorquodale

Working on a spread for Faesthetic #13

I had first come across an issue of Faesthetic when in NY several years back. Three weeks ago, I was contacted to be in it! The theme for the lucky #13 issue is LUCK. Cover art will be done by Mike Giant, and submissions by awesome people like Mark Mothersbaugh.

Be sure to order your issue if you don't live in a city where you can pick it up.

http://www.faesthetic.com/


Sadly, I am awful at photoshop. Its taking me 2 hours to do something that would take the average 5 year old 2 minutes to do in Adobe CS5. I wish I was a tech savy kiddie.

I have to turn this bright image of parrot colors into a black, white and purple image.Oh goodness.
While doing research for this project, I found out it's only $20,000 to buy a hot air balloon.

Ready Made Magazine write up!

Check it out! Ready Made Magazine LINK.

Friday the 13th, go away.

Right now, I am really fired up.
today is Fri the 13th. I am an aerial acrobat by latest hobby/semi career.
I learned a new 2-story vertical drop today, which doesn't really make sense yet to my brain, all i know is
that i hold on tight, hope everything is wrapped correct, and then let go and fall. I open my eyes when its all over and feel
like a good student for not dying.
i also rear-ended an old lady today while driving to a dinner i did not want to attend.
my mother got mad at me because all she wants to talk about is emotions, which are not real.
she is unreal.

i walk my little dog on poop journeys around the neighborhood that are too rushed for her to get to enjoy her
bathroom break, i even feel how rushed they are and i have much less of an agenda than she.
I am not sure if she even gets to poop. I actually haven't seen her do it in days.

We used to live with a dog named Basil. Basil got a letter from the president. Above is a picture.

today my dog, Shivers, met her new neighbor and boyfriend, his name is Nacho and he is studly.
my dog and I are in love simultaneously with others and each other. its a special day.