For Los Angeles drivers tired of having their visual space indentured to ads for lap bands, beer, Vegas hotels and grinning automobiles, here, finally, is a breath of fresh paint – actual art on billboards. Thanks to the MAK Center for Art and Architecture , 21 newly commissioned works by established artists will go up at locations around Los Angeles. More info, maps, and images of many of the works are on the exhibition website at http://www.howmanybillboards.org

Congratulations in particular to artists James Welling, Kerry Tribe, Daniel Joseph Martinez, and Alan Ruppersberg, whose works we have handled over the years for storage and/or for the Whitney Biennial. Nice to see them up in such a public format. At some 35,000 possible “visual impressions” a day, that’s a big audience whizzing by. Or crawling, depending. Each will be on display for only a month or two, so get your map and head on out. Probably best with a designated driver, leaving you free to crane and thrall and snapshot without causing undue risk to those actually trying to get somewhere.

Betsy Dorfman

We get inquiries regularly from customers looking to gift their empty crates to us. With the implication that, of course, the crates are valuable and it is really the donor who is making the sacrifice. So the least we can do is pick them up for free, how about Tuesday? In the past, waaay in the past, we said yes. No longer.

Having accepted and stored an inventory of “used crates” some years back, we licked our chops and waited for the perfect fits to show up. The caller who would need a crate of a certain size, one we could pluck right out of our inventory, spruce up a bit and maybe re-fit the foam interior, and essentially sell again. Thus offering the customer a reduced rate and creating a happy transaction all around. Except that, it rarely happened. It so rarely happened, in fact, that we ceased for the most part storing empty crates.

Why? Well, first, it just wasn’t economical. Crates are built to house a particular artwork or set of artworks. To fit a smaller work into an existing crate, the interior has to be re-done, old materials stripped away, new foam added etc.– this is both labor intensive and involves the cost of new materials. Even removing old labeling and covering outdated stenciling takes considerable time. Often the “feet” of the crate were loose and had to be replaced, or other wood elements in the crate required reinforcement. In addition, the customer has to pay higher shipping rates for a larger crate, so that has to be considered in the trade off re pricing. Customers do not like to see wasted space within crates — and it is very clear to professionals when crates have been padded to excess.

The bottom line turned out to be that the expense in time and materials to refit an existing crate was substantial, and often building a new one was a better deal for the customer, especially when shipping costs were factored in. And on our side, the costs to pickup, handle, store, inventory and inspect crates to find possible matches was not worth the meagre return.

For many sculptures, installation pieces and other dimensional artworks, a retrofit crate was out of the question. With such artworks the interior of the crate is actually the expensive part, as custom supports have to be designed, fabricated, and secured in the crate to hold all elements of the work in place. To start with an existing crate would be a complication to be overcome, not a short cut.

Finally there can be quality issues with a used crate, particularly one that has been stored for a long time or that has been subject to repeated shipping adventures. Screws can work loose, wood dry out, glued elements come unglued, and the stresses of shipping can work loose formerly tight joints, gaskets, and seams.  Some of the crates donated to us way back when were, upon inspection, trash. Some looked new, but upon handling proved rickety and unlikely to survive further freight journeys without substantial refurbishing. Some had spiders and worse, having been stored out of doors — not recommended.

So our rule has become: empty crates? Thanks but, no thanks. There are exceptions to every rule, and here and there we are able to re-use a recently arrived crate if the stars are in proper alignment. If a really amazing crate comes our way we might keep and admire it for awhile, and have our craters learn from it’s design, but sooner or later out it goes. The only empty crates we store now are those held in storage accounts for our customers. These are typically high end crates built for specific artworks that clients have in their collections, or crates being held for artworks temporarily in town on exhibition. Normally only the most expensive museum quality crates and cases are stored long term; it makes economic sense to store these rather than build new ones. In that case, crates are carefully inspected prior to re-use, and any elements that have degraded are replaced, so they are in “as new” condition when released into the arms of the shipping gods.

 Betsy Dorfman

During the course of a work week we pack and crate a wide variety of objects. But I have to say that in 26 years of operation I think this is our first…(pause for effect) …urinal. We did have a large litter box for the Whitney Biennial last year, but this one takes the cake. (OK, sorry.)

Below is a series of photos documenting the preparation and crating of this beast. Made of resin and steel and measuring 16 x 16 x 288″ !! — this is an undertaking to be sure. No prefab slat crate from the plumber’s supply outlet, but a custom pack and crate job all the way.

The artwork is by Bejing born artist Terence Koh, “To be titled (Urinal), 2009″. Permission to use the photos is courtesy of Mary Boone Gallery – many thanks.

Sometimes the most difficult objects to store or ship are those which look like everday things and could be mistaken for same. That litter box, for example, or the artist whose artwork was a crate and, in another case, a light pencil drawing on a ragged piece of cardboard. In a working warehouse, such items must be isolated, draped with caution tape, and severely labeled so as not to be confused with supplies or trash.

In this case, it wasn’t likely that anyone was going to use the appliance, but still the sooner crated the better!

Be sure to check out the exhibition opening April 4th at Mary Boone Gallery, curated by Javier Peres and also including works by Mike Kelley and Jeff Koons.

Betsy Dorfman

Here’s a wonderful review of Daniel J. Martinez’s animatronic contribution to the California Biennial Exhibition at the Orange County Museum of Art.

FINE ART SHIPPING has had the pleasure, and challenge, of crating and shipping many of Daniel’s works over the years. Not only are they sculptural works often with pliable parts, but they are mechanical and, obviously, need to arrive in functional form at the other end.

Also included in the show are works by Amanda Ross Ho and Jedediah Caesar, both artists whose work we handled last winter for the Whitney Biennial. 54 artists in all are included in the exhibition so there is surely something for everyone.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-ocma4-2008nov04,0,7367638.story

Posted by: Betsy Dorfman/ FINE ART SHIPPING

Artist Robbie Conal and Track 16 Gallery, both incidentally customers of FINE ART SHIPPING, have teamed up to present a retrospective of the artist’s gloriously politically incorrect work. A seriously trained artist, Conal is best known for his takes on right wing icons who are treated with the attention to satiric detail they so richly deserve. To confront Conal’s Nixon or Phyllis Schlafly on a dark evening in the warehouse is a must stop and shiver moment not to be forgotten. For the younger set, there is plenty of George W and Cheney to go around, as well as a foray into positive depictions of “good guys” painted in the wake of 9/11.

Here’s a link to the recent Los Angeles Times article on the show, which opened October 19th and runs through November 22nd.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-et-robbieconal13-2008oct13,0,1778852.story

Although the timing of this exhibition to coincide with election fever couldn’t be better, there is a range of works on offer and not all are political.

FINE ART SHIPPING salutes Mr. Conal for 30 plus years of speaking truth to power. And congratulations also to Track 16 Gallery for another “must see” exhibition. Before Jon Stewart there were these folks, and they are still at it when and where it counts.

Betsy Dorfman / FINE ART SHIPPING