Nicole and colleague, Chris, in Mexico City (notice that the air cast is still on)

MACO and Mexico City’s Contemporary Art Scene

Well, what a trip! I was thoroughly enjoying myself in Mexico City before the insane Swine Flu virus caused everyone to don masks and flee all public places. I had no idea what a large contemporary art scene Mexico City has before my trip there. My whirlwind tour began with openings at Gallería 13 and OMR’s flagship as well as their brand new space.

Galleria 13, Suit

Gallería 13 was showing a graduate student’s thesis project which involved his wearing a suit for 365 days without ever changing or bathing. He did not shave or cut his hair or fingernails. Each month a photographer documented his appearance. These photos were on view in the first room. The second room displayed other anecdotal documentation, mostly others’ reactions to him as time went on. Upstairs his hair, nails, and the actual suit were on view. This was a very interesting exhibit in a stunning space. OMR is one of the oldest and most successful contemporary art galleries in Mexico City. Works on view included those by Pablo Vargas Lugo, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Stefan Brüggemann, and Jose Dávila. After that it was off to Covadonga, a mix between a German beerhall and a club for old men. Table of domino playing elderly gentleman were broken up by the hipsters and collectors who flooded the large space drinking tequila, eating tortas, and dancing into the wee hours of the night in the obnoxiously lit space.

Brunch at the Museo de Arte Moderno showcased new acquisitions in photography as well as an exhibition of Yishai Jusidman’s work. After that it was the VIP opening of the MACO fair which drew large crowds. After walking through the fair I determined that there were some very good deals to be found.

Plinio Avila painting

Sandra Valenzuela

My colleague, Chris, is friends with the owner of a wonderful gallery called EDS showing emerging artists. I particularly enjoyed works by Plinio Avila , wonderful paintings with unusual perspectives and in unique forms (one was painted on the inside of a paper cone), and Sandra Valenzuela’s photos of various finger puppets looking at art and holding glasses of wine as if they were attending art openings. They are $3000 a pop and in editions of 3. I really love the whimsy of these works.

Ramses R. Olaya, Los Colores de Una Sombra

Ramses R. Olaya creates beautiful cut outs from Moleskin books.

Fernandez Video

Fernandez, Video installation, 2004

A Venezuelan gallery, Faría Fábregas, had a wonderful video installation by Magdalena Fernández.

Liliana Porter, "Disguises" series

Porter, Penguin

La Caja Negra had prints by Richard Serra, Bruce Nauman, and Liliana Porter (an Argentinian artist who I have mentioned in previous posts). Porter has a concurrent one-person exhibition at the Museo Rufino Tamayo. Her work includes installations, sculptures, drawings and prints. The prints at the fair were $2200 each and are part of the series, “Disguises” in which small figurines are dressed in sombreros and boas, etc. They are playful but beautiful as well.

Candida Höfer

OMR had a wonderful Candida Höfer large-scale photograph in rich hues for $65,000. At Galeria Álvaro Alcázar there were some very interesting works on view. At first the works appear to be ceramic with Lucio Fontana-like holes, but they are really painted on cardboard with a high gloss sheen and their earth tones add to their ceramic appearance.

Marilyn Minter paintings

Galerie Laurent Godin, a Paris gallery, has some wonderful Marilyn Minter works on metal from the late 1990s.

Ozwaldo Ruiz, Office

Ruiz, Untitled

At Luis Adelantado there were fantastic large-scale portraits of red-heads by the artist, Andres Carretero.  And Ozwaldo Ruiz’s photos of abandoned spaces as night which were extremely affordable. A whole wall of them were available for $3500. I was very close to purchasing one myself.

Stingel

Stingel

An Italian gallery had a number of works by Rudolf Stingel. Red and silver paint covers a layer of tulle, some images are floral and decorative, others in the series are more abstract. They are wonderful.

Terstappen, Untitled

There was a huge photo (150 x 150 cm) of Japanese tin buckets that grabbed my attention by German artist Claudia Terstappen for 5800 euros.

Henrique Oliviera installation

One of the oddest but most eye-catching works was an installation at Brazilian gallery Baro Cruz by the artist Henrique Oliviera.

Ivan Puig, Hasta las Narices

My absolute favorite work is by Ivan Puig. It is a photograph that documents an installation he did in 2008. It is called, “Up to the nose” and it involves a Volkswagen bug partially hidden in white liquid that fills the room. Visually, it just sucked me in. There is only one of the edition of seven left. The artist did not create it as a photo but simply as documentation of his installation but his gallerist convinced him to print it in an edition because it is such a strong work. For $2200, it is a steal. If I had the money I would buy it in a heartbeat.

Hidden Habita Bar at the MACO fair

Nicole at Jumex Party

That night it was off to the party of the year at the Jumex Collection. Curated by Shamim M. Momin, Nothingness and Being includes works by Latin American and International contemporary artists. It is hard to imagine that in the middle of this industrial area an hour away from Mexico City lies storage and display buildings housing some of the most amazing artwork in all of Mexico. The party went until the next morning and tequila, food, and music were plentiful. It was a great opportunity to meet people, connect with people you had met earlier at the fair and see tremendous art.

Frida's House

Frida's House Gardens

Next on the agenda was a visit to the Frida Kahlo museum. It is actually the house in which the artist was raised as well as where she and Diego Rivera lived for a number of years during their relationship. No pictures were allowed inside so the photos show the lovely gardens. I was a little disappointed to be honest. Inside some of Frida and Diego’s work was on view but it only whet my appetite. I was also sad that the video on view had no English subtitles. There was an emphasis on contacts and friends that Diego and Frida had both in, but more importantly, outside of the artworld. The room which housed Frida’s easel with a view of the gardens made the trip worthwhile.

After Friday’s Swine Flu scare people chose to drink and eat their cares away at a lovely cocktail party at Julio Serrano’s private collection. Sadly I left the following morning missing Gabriel Orozco’s opening at a local gallery called Kurimanzutto but better to be safe than sorry.

Phew! Glad to be back in the USA and a little sad that my trip was tainted. But I would definitely go back to Mexico City, just not until this flu has been contained.

Martin Kippenberger: The Problem Perspective at MoMA

Spiderman Studio, 1996, Courtesy MoMA

Though he died in 1997 at age 44, Martin Kippenberger created a broad variety of works ranging from the poster designs for his exhibitions to paintings, drawings, and large 3-dimensional installations. Born in 1953 in Germany, he moved to Florence in 1976 in hopes of becoming an actor. After 3 months he switched to painting. His goal as an artist seemed to be questioning the nature and purpose of art. No subject was sacred; his work was in part a reaction to the art market boom of the 1980s. He rebelled against “easy” art. He seemed to use humor to distance himself from the seriousness of his subject matter and the questions he raised. This exhibition left me with a desire to learn more about him and his work.

The first work in this first American retrospective of Kippenberger consists of 55 paintings that he created every morning and every afternoon for a number of consecutive days. His goal was to paint the number of canvases that when stacked, equaled his height, 6’2”. The works were based on snapshots and newspaper images and were painted as such in only black, white and shades of grey.

Untitled from the series, "Painter Paint for Me", 1981, Courtesy MoMA

In 1981 he had his first solo show in Berlin. He hired a sign painter to create large-scale works. This series raised questions about the artist as sole author of the work. In the mid 1980s architecture became a subject that Kippenberger became interested in. One of these works is reminiscent of Rauschenberg’s assemblages with paper bags and other items attached to the canvas. Not to perpetuate the myth of artist as genius– but it is clear looking at his work that his brain seemed to work on a different level than your average person.

Martin, Into the Corner, You Should Be Ashamed of Yourself, 1989, Courtesy MoMA

One work that stood out amongst the rest was the life-sized figure made of clear resin filled with cigarettes that faces the corner of the gallery. “Martin, Into the Corner, You Should be Ashamed of Yourself” from 1989 was made in response to a critic’s article which focused on the bad habits of the artist. Six versions of it were created all in different materials. I found it interesting not only for its aesthetic qualities but also because it gives us a glimpse into the mind of the artist.

"Peter" series, late 1980s

In the mid-1980s Kippenberger did many drawings on hotel stationery (many of which he had never been to) demonstrating his prolific output, his refusal to maintain one style of creation, and his interest in raising questions about the autobiography that the viewer often ascribes to an artist’s work. Some of these drawings on hotel stationery were models for installations and sculptures. In this exhibition, the “Peter” series is on display. It was his first body of 3-d work that was shown in 1987 in Cologne. These works are a combination of readymade and constructed objects.

Kippenberger, Untitled

In his work there are obvious references made to modern masters who preceded him such as Picasso, Matisse, Richter and Beuys. He is neither paying homage nor degrading these artists but raising questions about their “mythic personae.”

“Now I Am Going Into The Big Birch Wood, My Pills Will Start Doing Me Good” was another piece that I found quite interesting and whimsical at the same time. 29 artificial birch trees, metal stands, and giant pills made of wood come together to create a hallucinogenic walk through a self-actualized creation.

Fred the Frog, 1989

“Fred the Frog” was his alter ego and began to appear in works after he moved to Los Angeles in 1989.

Raft of the Medusa drawings, 1997

The last room of the show displays works he made that were inspired by the famous 1819 Gericault painting, “The Raft of The Medusa.” He places his own portrait in every pose of every figure that Gericault dramatically depicts clinging to life, struggling for survival. It seemed to foreshadow his death within the year that he completed these eerie works.

El Anatsui: Process and Project exhibition and lecture at BRIC Rotunda Gallery in Brooklyn

Anatsui, Dusasa I, Installation View, 52nd Venice Biennale, Courtesy Jack Shainman Gallery

I was first introduced to Anatsui’s work in 2006 at Jack Shainman Gallery in New York. But it was in the Arsenale at the 2007 Venice Biennale where I fell in love with the majestic shimmer and grandeur of his metal wall sculptures Dusasa I and Dusasa II. I am speaking of his bottle cap installations (he refers to them as metal wall sculptures) for which he is best known that often cover entire walls. Little did I know that his oeuvre includes so much more until I stumbled upon a small show of his work in Brooklyn.

Born in Ghana, he now lives and works in Nigeria. He buys the bottle tops from local Nigerian distilleries but used to collect them and so earlier works were covered in red dust from his local town in Nigeria giving the works an added element of mystery. Since the bottles can be recycled it is simply the labels which remain leading Anatsui to  investigate the notion of consumption. Not only are these works political statements but beautiful folding, sensual fabric made out of metal.

Anatsui, Signatures, 2005

It turns out Anatsui has always used humble materials to create works with a monumental presence. In a work called “Signatures” he simply uses paint and wood but the work is amazing and takes on another life in its finished form. He was inspired by the paint that merchants use to identify the stacks of wood that they have cut down in Nigeria. He used discarded logs and painted the ends in his own linear patterns using blues, yellows, and reds.

Anatsui, Sketchbook drawings

Earlier in his career in the 1970s he played with graphic writing symbols in wooden carvings and on wooden ceremonial trays. He began to experiment with ceramics in the late 1970s. In his broken pot series he used shards and made them whole again giving them a rebirth. His sketchbook contains hundreds of drawings for public sculptures and works which were eventually realized in 3-D form. Made of vertical slats which can be arranged in any order according to the artist (though he numbers them on the back and obviously has an idea of how they should be placed), he used a chainsaw to carve the imagery in these wooden works. He was meticulous about the types of woods used for certain pieces. Later he added color to these works using reds, yellows and blues similar to those found in the bottle top works.

Peak cans used for work

The most interesting work in the exhibition are the Peak Project works which are just a small sample of a very large installation consisting of over 200 individual segments of which 25 are on view. The peaks are made of rusted lids from Peak Milk cans held together with copper wire. Again, Anatsui is examining the theme of consumption and trade.

Anatsui. Peak Projects, 1999

The coolest thing about these works is that the rectangular sheets are folded into mountain-like peaks but they change shape and form with each installation. They are not frozen as one might expect.

Rudolf Baranik talk at Santa Fe Art Institute

After attending this lecture I have become convinced that Santa Fe is where people in the art world come to die. I was the youngest person in the audience by a long shot. It is actually quite interesting because the art community there is very tight and well-respected. In fact, the reason I attended the lecture is because a long time New Mexico resident, Lucy Lippard, was one of the speakers. Sadly, the lecture went long and I missed her colorful commentary and anecdotes about Baranik. However, Mae Stevens, Baranik’s widow, spoke first and showed slides of her late husband’s work. She was a treat to listen to.

Baranik, Untitled

Born in Lithuania in 1920, Baranik grew used to dark and cold winters for 18 years before being sent to Chicago at the beginning of the German occupation. He found the winters beautiful and peaceful and that was reflected in his art. Also a deep part of Baranik’s art was the melancholy felt when all but one brother who had stayed behind were killed by local fascists. As Mae explained, Baranik refused to choose between making work that was political or beautiful and perhaps it is for this reason that he is missing from the art historical canon.

Baranik, Untitled

The slides certainly do not seem to do Baranik’s work justice–they are full of texture and depth. Certain works remind me of Rothko’s in the fact that certain blocks of color recede and jump out at the viewer which is surprising as his color palette was often limited to grey, black, and white. His work is both expressionist and minimalistic. With heavy subject matter as the starting point for the creation of some paintings (the Vietnam War and his son’s suicide), the works are dark but at the same time hopeful. One sees his optimism and the beauty he creates on the canvas.

Baranik, Naplam Elegy 2, 1982

An upcoming show at Dwight Hackett Projects in Santa Fe is worth the visit if you happen to be in town then. I am sorry to miss it as I am now anxious to view his intriguing and large-scale paintings in person.

Siddiq Khan Studio Visit

Red Fold, mixed media on canvas

While in Santa Fe I was lucky enough to get to do a studio visit with a friend of mine, Siddiq Khan. Born in Guyana, his family moved to Canada where he grew up. His artistic career began at an early age when he convinced his parents to buy him a paint by numbers kit. By 12 years of age he got a permit to sell his works at the National Arts Center in Ottawa in order to buy more kits. Before coming to Santa Fe twelve years ago Siddiq spent time in the interior of British Columbia and Austin, TX. Santa Fe is a good fit for him because it allows him to make a living as an artist.

Standstill, 2008, wood steel, paint

Cipher, ceramic

In addition to mixed media works Siddiq is also a sculptor and teaches a ceramics class at St. John’s College. He enjoys teaching because it allows him to observe and become more aware of his own process by having to verbalize techniques. Initially he took a ceramics class to get more physical with his work and to see how far he could push the medium. He utilizes ceramics in order to create a combination of painting and sculpture. The ceramic works are constructed on their sides so he never knows where their balancing points will be until they are completed. For him the process is much like drawing –but in clay. He has loose ideas about what he will make but by moving line around, the works come together organically, especially because he completes them all in one day. They take about one month to dry and then he fires them 3 or 4 times, adding color and lines with each subsequent fire. It has taken him 6 or 7 years to get to where he wants to be. He has now moved from table top works to larger scale pieces made of wood. He uses the wood in the same manner in which he uses slabs of clay. For his upcoming show in September he wants to wrap one of these larger wooden sculptures in canvas.

Live model drawing

More live model drawings

Siddiq’s mixed media works are also explorations in line. He begins by attending a live model drawing class once a week. Using charcoal, oil pastel and conte crayon he draws overlapping images and figures. These drawings in and of themselves are wonderful. But they are not studies for larger works, nor are they completed works themselves. They become part of the fabric of Siddiq’s larger works on canvas. He tears these drawings up, deconstructing the body into separate entities that are sometimes barely discernable.

Work in progress

In his earlier works he planned out a geometrical shape for his canvas and then from there he instinctually added etchings, drawings in oil stick, charcoal, elements of the ripped up drawings to his work until multiple layers were created. The layers are placed on canvas which is then affixed to another canvas adding to the texture of the work. He explained that he puts the drawings on canvas to contain the spontaniety and energy of the life drawings. Recently, his geometric planning has occurred less frequently and Siddiq lets the organic and instinctual process guide his work. I am drawn not only to the color and line in his works, but also the multiple layers. I see something new and interesting everytime I take another look at a piece.

Study 2, 2008, mixed media

He told me that he works in series so that a number of works might play with the same color variations or ideas. Some of the work I saw in the studio had incorporated letters in this layering process. Text added a whole other element to the work. The two works he was currently working on had left letters behind and were more geometric.

Longing, mixed media

Though he does not have a regular routine for working, he estimates that art is at least a 2-3 hour process for him every week. It is a way of life and he loves the organic process and the chance elements that occur as a result. For him the most important thing is to keep doing the work. He is not trying to create something in order to sell it. He has been successful and had a market for his works because he is a wonderful person and is very interesting to talk to. He told me that he loves meeting people and if they are gallerists or collectors, that is great but building relationships with people is really what is important to Siddiq.

Mixed media

I asked him how he knows when a work is done and he explained that it is done when he feels separate from it, when he can be surprised by something in the work that was unintentional.

One of my favorite pieces is a 36 x 24 inch mixed media work that incorporates the life drawing collage as well as circles made up of what looked like beans. I asked him what they were. He said no one had ever asked him that before. They are prayer beads given to Siddiq by his father who received them from his Sufi teacher. Siddiq’s father studied Sufism and it is where he got his name which means wise and honest one. He is both of those things and I thank him for a lovely visit.

His works range from $1200-10,000. Please contact me if you are interested in anything. His upcoming show is in September at Chiaroscuro Gallery in Santa Fe. The link to their website with more of his works is: www.chiaroscurosantafe.com

Judy and Steve Gluckstern’s Private Collection

Judy and Steven Gluckstern

On the last night in March, Judy and Steve graciously welcomed members of the MoMA Junior Associates into their home to view their collection. They spoke to the group answering questions and telling anecdotes about their ecclectic art collection which includes photos, chairs, tables, sculptures, paintings, folk art and much more. Their home itself is a minimal work of art with a metal staircase and huge glass windows that look out over Soho and Tribeca. Judy said that her architects wish the couple would have retained the sparse minimalist look, but they love color and art too much not to fill every space in order to create a vibrant and energetic environment in which to live.

They could have not have been more friendly and down to earth explaining that they love living with their art, appreciating it, and using it–not worrying about its fragility or preciousness as many collectors do. They told us that they view themselves as accidental collectors who started by collecting posters back when Judy was a graphic and book designer. In their collection is a table by John Chamberlain.

John Chamberlain, table

In fact, it is supposedly the only one he ever made and the Gluckstern’s got it for well below what it is worth now. Lucky them. In the living room a Dale Chihuly piece hangs from the ceiling while little pieces of the glass sculpture can be found in windowsills or tables throughout the space. Apparently the sculpture is configured for whatever space you would like it to go in and so there are inevitably extra pieces that are not used.

Dale Chihuly

In the dining room looms a huge self-portrait by Julian Schnabel. I am certain that I wouldn’t want to look at that artist as I eat my meals, but they happened upon it and couldn’t pass it up. My favorite works in their collection are 28 photos by a former LIFE magazine photographer named Dan Budnick. Many years ago he was commissioned to take photos of the country’s best artists in their studios. He did not print them for 30 years but Steven found someone to print them in Colorado and Judy and Steven got 28 of them all at once. Some of the artists included are Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Ad Reinhardt, Claes Oldenburg, and Georgia O’Keeffe.

Pretty is as Pretty Does at SITE Santa Fe

David Leigh, I’m not gay, I just really love rainbows, 2009

While this exhibition did not exactly rock my world, I always enjoy seeing how the curators at SITE Santa Fe transform the space for each new show they have. In the lobby is a colorful and whimsical installation of wall drawings by David Leigh. Through the use of color, Leigh prettifies “subjects that are otherwise seen as flawed, ugly, or even violent.” My favorite thing about this piece is its title which comes from a bumper sticker: I’m not gay, I just really love rainbows.

Tanyth Berkeley, Grace in the Window, 2006, Courtesy the artist and Bellwether, New York

In the first gallery the photos of Tanyth Berkeley fill the perimeter walls. Portraits of women who would not conventionally be considered beautiful are displayed and that is exactly the point. Through these subjects Berkeley asks us to revisit our conventional notions of what exactly it is that constitutes “pretty.” While I appreciate her intent, the works simply felt too derivative of Nan Goldin’s for me.

Kathy Butterly, Between a Rock and a Soft Place, 2006-2007, Courtesy of Tibor de Nagy, New York

In the same room ceramic sculptures by Kathy Butterly fill vitrines in the center of the space. To me the abstract forms with a hint of the familiar are a combination of the influences Judy Chicago and Ken Price. Price in the meticulous layering and creation as Butterly fires her works as many as thirty times to achieve the result she is looking for. They are reminiscent of Chicago’s scultpures in their corporeal nature.

Rina Bnerjee, I’ll get you my pretty!, 2009

One cannot help but be sucked into the next gallery by the site specific installation in the center of the space by Rina Banerjee. I’ll get you my pretty! is made up of a cow skull (very Santa Fe) with what could be described as a hot air balloon structure above it. On the floor below is a map of the world in white sand that incorporates stones and steel figures trekking across the areas we would normally associate with water. I think Banerjee wants to leave it up to the viewer to create their own narrative about the work.

In the same darkened room as the Banerjee are a number of stained glass lightboxes by Judith Schaechter. While the impressive craftmanship seems not to have been drastically altered from that found in windows created for Gothic churches, Schaechter’s subject matter is contemporary and relevant, exploring the darker aspects of the human condition. While I would not necessarily want to hang her work in my home due to its haunting nature, the beautyand skill in the creation of the colorful patterns and imagery is undeniable. I would venture to guess that her stained glass has just as much impact on its 21st century viewers as that found in the windows at Chartres Cathedral had on its visitors back in the 12th and 13th centuries.

Chiho Aoshima, City Glow, 2005

Chiho Aoshima’s video in the next room is quite obviously heavily influenced by Japanese amine. And, it turns out, superstar artist Takashi Murakami is her good friend. Though the work is very flat and two-dimensional, she somehow creates a real sense of depth in the work. The bright colors are whimsical but there is a deeper meaning to her work  in the exploration of the relationship between nature and the manmade.

Marilyn Minter, Soiled, 2000
C-print
86 x 60 inches
Courtesy of the artist and Salon 94, New York

The Marilyn Minter room was of course my favorite as she is an artist that I have raved about in the past. Her exploration of and commentary on beauty fits in perfectly with the rest of the show. Juxtaposing her photo-realistic large-scale paintings with actual photos, she exposes the artifice that glamour and beauty in our society actually are. She shows the gritty and often unattractive underbelly of fashion and highlights its impermanence.

Angelo Filomeno is an Italian artist living and working in NYC. His large-scale embroidery works on silk are astounding. His craft, no doubt, stems from his background as a costume designer. At first the pieces reminded me of Raqib Shaw’s glamourous rhinestone filled works of often difficult subject matter. But Filomeno’s works are much subtler in tone and subject than the often gory Shaw works. Due to their subtle nature, I found that I wanted to spend more time looking at the works in order to appreciate the beauty that gradually reveals itself upon closer examination.

Ligi Bouton, Pretty Is as Pretty Does: Installation Study #6

As I walked throughout SITE Santa Fe’s space I would catch glimpses of fur and teeth coming out of cracks in the walls and floor. These installations are the work of Ligia Bouton, a Santa Fe artist who has worked in a variety of media. For this show she painted a decorative pattern on the walls of all of the galleries which would be ruptured by randomly placed cracks with fur or teeth protruding leaving the viewer to wonder what exactly was going on and what horror might lie beneath the beautiful surface.