It’s hard to believe that in just a couple of weeks White Flag will inaugurate its fifth year of shows, and it seems similarly odd that the forthcoming exhibition by Garth Weiser is the first time we’ve presented a one-person exhibition by a painter. It’s a little interesting to see how that first-ever invitation to a painter has taken form in the current exhibition: While Weiser is earning growing attention internationally for canvases reflecting his thoughtful treatment of abstract painting’s history (FlashArt’s “Top 100 Emerging Artists” listed him at #14…in the world…), there won’t be any canvases on view. Instead, Weiser will take this opportunity in St. Louis to execute the largest painting of his career directly on the gallery wall — a 57 foot-long temporary mural that will be one of three paintings of differing form, each emphasizing “discrete intentionalities and temporal relationships to their substrates and mediums.” The other works include a momentary, monumental painting in water-soluble media on the exterior of the gallery and an installation of 150 pages torn from I wouldn’t have worn mascara if I knew I was going to be taking a trip down memory lane, an artists book reproducing Weiser’s 2008 painting of the same title. (More on the very cool Onestar Press in Paris that published it in a future post…)

We’re expecting Garth’s show here at White Flag to provoke a lot of substantive conversation, which you can be part of when it opens on Saturday, September 11 from 7-10 pm. It will be added to Weiser’s impressive record of exhibitions elsewhere, including one-person shows at Casey Kaplan in New York and Altman Siegel Gallery in San Francisco, in addition to serious group shows like “The Triumph of Painting; Abstract America,” at the Saatchi Gallery, London, and “Greater New York,” at PS1 MoMA, New York. Good for him, good for us, good for anyone else who decides to come by and see it. More updates on the installation next week.

In conjunction with the contemporary artists featured in White Flag Project’s current show, PRETHUNDERDOME, a Delicious account was created to catalog all of the websites we could find that address end-of-world subjects (delicious.com/whiteflagprojects). The result is a database ranging from science-based theories to apocalyptic predictions to straight-up crazy websites that verge on inadvertent satire. For example, one page actually cites Elizabeth Taylor’s eight divorces as proof that the end is near (http://www.raptureready.com/time/marriage.html). Others, such as a website titled “10 Disasters That Could End It All At Any Given Second” (http://botw.org/articles/endworld.html), are a bit more seriously alarming.

As we rapidly approach December 22, 2012 –  the date that marks the last day of the ancient Mayan’s cyclical calendar — you can assume that this genre of website will increase exponentially in number and popularity. On White Flag’s account, there are 54 tagged websites spanning the vast gamut of 2012 prophesies. These predictions include a shift in the earth’s magnetic poles, alien invasions and a positive spiritual awakening of the masses. Cynics who dismiss the prophesy as another empty threat a la y2k can at least look forward to some killer parties come December 21 of 2012. Even Stephen Hawking has succombed to end-of-world fever, and threw a party himself the day the Large Hadron Collider was switched on (http://scienceray.com/physics/is-it-the-end-of-the-world/).

So long as our Delicious account isn’t terminated due to suspicious activity, you’re welcome to browse the bookmarked sites at delicious.com/whiteflagprojects. Select highlights include: the choose your own apocalypse game (http://sdn.slate.com/features/endofamerica/default.htm), a photo series of personal bomb shelters (http://www.good.is/post/picture-show-waiting-for-the-end-of-the-world/), and an article about a seed vault in Norway created in advance of global crisis (http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1882288,00.html).

PRETHUNDERDOME will be on view until December 19th. You can find more information on White Flag Projects exhibitions and events at whiteflagprojects.org.