The NY Times review today of the 2010 Whitney Biennial features a photo of the Thomas Houseago work “Baby.” Nice to see it in it’s NYC resting place. For awhile there, we had our doubts.

As one of the packing & crating suppliers for the Biennial, FINE ART SHIPPING had the challenge of figuring out how to deal with this artwork, which was originating at the artist’s studio here in Los Angeles.

Among the challenges:

• too big to fit in our local trucks
• too large for normal handling via the Whitney elevators
• a piece that was both delicate AND heavy
• and most fun of all, changing dimensions as the artist continued to work on the piece

After much back and forth with the studio and the Whitney curators, it was decided to prebuild a slat crate structure for the piece, rather than fabricate a full museum standard crate. The slat or “skeleton” crate would save crucial inches off the height and width, and every whisker of an inch counted.

OK, so we will deliver the prebuilt crate to the studio, and pack the work there and then…but wait. Once crated it turns out the packed crate will be too large to exit out of the studio doorway. And if packed outside, it won’t fit back in. “Baby” can’t be left in the street!  More phone calls and emails.

In the end we used the studio lift (thank goodness for their help!) to get the piece into the base of the slat crate, then finished packing the crate outside the studio, on the pavement beyond the studio doors. Luckily, a quiet street. Luckily, not raining. Only a bit of sawing and repositioning of braces was required due to the artist adding a couple of hundred pounds of concrete to the thing since we had last seen it… All in a day’s work. Then on a preplanned “just in time” basis the Whitney’s climate controlled trailer, with larger clearances than our local trucks, stopped by and we loaded “Baby” into the trailer. Very carefully.

In the best possible way, we were happy to see him go. That’s one big baby.

Betsy Dorfman

 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

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