Fawad Khan, Hood, 2009 (better image to come soon)

Smack Mellon opening in DUMBO

“Beauty Underfoot” at Smack Mellon is based on the John Cage remark, “Beauty is now underfoot wherever we take the trouble to look.” Artists include Adriana Farmiga, Petrova Giberson, Isola and Norzi, Fawad Khan, Gareth Long, Alison Owen, Mike Quinn, Yumi Janairo Roth, Jen Schwarting, Secret School and the K.I.D.S., Charwei Tsai. Above, Fawad Khan’s Hood (background) focuses on everyday objects that come to life around a car in a junkyard. This work is so unique because it mixes the use of digital media and wall painting. Parts of the car are painted directly on the wall while other parts are animated through a video projection.

Chelsea Visits (Before they close up shop for the summer)

Anne Collier, Sylvia Plath, 2009, Cibachrome print, 50 x 60 inches, ed. 3/5

Moyra Davey, Untitled (Nyro), Chromogenic color print, ed. 2/5, 24 1/4 x 2o 1/4 inches

Moyra Davey, Untitled (Speaker), Chromogenic color print, ed. 2/5, 24 1/4 x 2o 1/4 inches

There are some wonderful works on view in the exhibition White Noise, now on view through August 12th at James Cohan Gallery. As the press release states the show features “works that exist at the intersection of visual art, music and sound by artists of different generations. In the exhibition, there will be sounds to be looked at and objects to be heard. It will explore how sound can obliterate as well as elevate; how silence can involve both absence and presence.” Highlights: A new work by Simon Evans; a Tomaselli; an amazing black and white photo by Anne Collier ; and a series of four color photos of old record players and speakers by Moyra Davey which are nostalgic yet edgy at the same time.

John McCracken, Swift, 2007, Bronze, image courtesy of David Zwirner

6 works 6 rooms is a show I was not too excited about heading to for some reason. I suppose it is because it includes work by artists whose work I have seen a lot. I have to tell you that I was more than pleasantly surprised. On view are works by Richard Serra, Dan Flavin, Sol Lewitt, Fred Sandback, On Kawara and John McCracken. In each room the viewer can find one work. If you have never been to Zwirner’s space on 19th Street, it is expansive to say the least so each work gets more than its fair share of space. But with the Conceptual and Minimalistic works, that space is crucial to really appreciating the work without unnecessary distractions. As the press release states the works on view, “uniquely activate the spaces in which they are installed-for instance, through light (Flavin); reflection (McCracken); gravity (Serra); void/presence (Sandback); conceptually (Lewitt); or contemplatively (Kawara).” In some rooms, I lost myself in the work and was brought back to why I love art in the first place–it transported me. It made me stop and experience something in a true way. (The exhibition is on view through the 14th of August).

Shinique Smith, Untitled (Chunk), 2008, Fabric, clothing, binding and foam, 12 x 14 x 12 inches

There is a three-dimensional Shinique Smith work in a group show at Marianne Boesky that is affordable and small enough to place in a special spot in your home. I love her work (see a previous entry on my studio visit with her).

Iran Inside Out at the Chelsea Museum

While there was some art I did not necessarily enjoy in this exhibition, I think the idea behind it is commendable. Chelsea Art Museum’s mission is “to promote cross-cultural understanding through the arts.” This particular show, including video, sculpture, photography, and painting, strives to explore the human spirit from both inside and outside a country which has been at the center of global controversy. Often associated with the infamous “Axis of Evil,” this show “aims to promote a common humanity that binds all people together.” There is the work of 56 artists on view, half of whom still live in Iran facing restricted artistic expression and half of whom live in the Diaspora and struggle to form a new identity. Although the show is statement against misperceptions, visitors are left making up their own minds about what makes up the people of Iran. The show is broken into categories: In Search of the Axis of Evil, Stereotypes, City life, Recycled techniques and styles from Iran, and gender and sexuality.

Highlights from the exhibition:

Rock Scissors Paper

Rock Scissors Paper by Jinoos Taghizadeh. Her juxtaposition of newspaper archives documenting historical events throughout the 1979 revolution with imagery from canonical Western masterpieces of art. The Death of Marat is on the same page as a story about the death of a journalist. Lenticular prints, as the viewer moves, portions of the imagery shifts and moves. I liked it because it was not derivative–a unique and clever idea with a political punch.

Turbulent (male singer one one screen)

Turbulent (cloaked female on opposite screen)

Turbulent (female singer)

Turbulent by Shirin Neshat (probably the most famous artist in the show) from 1998 includes two opposing large video screens. On one a man in a crisp white shirt passionately sings surrounded by an audience of his attentive and supportive peers. On the opposite screen, there is a cloaked figure standing still. When the man finishes his song, the cloaked figure begins singing to an empty auditorium. The camera pans to reveal a woman’s face. Obviously a commentary on the different experiences of the different genders in Iran.

An untitled work from 2006 by Ahmad Morshedloo includes a painting of a man on a bed fantasizing about provocative postcards of women that have had burqas painted on them covering the women except for their eyes. As the wall text explains, “at the end of the day the complete revealing of women just like their veiling is the same: an objectifying of women and female sexuality.”

Farideh Lashai's work

I also like a mixed media work by Farideh Lashai in which the artist uses canvas screens on which to project her complex video that fuses traditional imagery with contemporary. She borrows imagery from Manet’s Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe which slowly morphs into three identically placed figures but they are Eastern and the woman who was naked is now clothed. She references traditional Iranian poetry and folklore in her work. It really drew the viewer in and was beautiful.

Tolerating Intolerance image courtesy of artnet

A great ink jet print by Farhad Moshiri and Shirin Aliabadi called “Tolerating Intolernce” caught my eye toward the end of the exhibition. Two Toblerone packets sit on a table, one with the word “Tolerating” on it and the other with “Intolerance” on it. It is humorous but also poignant as it points out the desensitization of the masses towards the suffering of others shown through images of mass consumption.

A cool work for a cool price:

Richard Klein’s sculpture “Blown” is a wall mounted piece made of, amongst other things, eyeglass lenses and a non-functioning outdoor lamp. The image gives you a good sense of the cascade of light coming through the eyeglass lenses and dancing down the wall. This work can be mounted at any height — eye level or high up a wall. The most important thing is that it receive a strong, well-directed light for the light reflections on the wall to be most effective. It is priced at around $9000.
Not only is Klein an artist but he also works at one of my favorite museums, the Aldrich in Connecticut.

Aernout Mik at MoMA

Cover of catalog, courtesy of Museum of Modern Art

By the time this blog is posted this exhibition will have come down but this is still an artist you should know about. He is a young internationally acclaimed Dutch artist who works in video that often appears to be documentary in nature but is really carefully staged however, there are no real characters or plot. Though the films are silent and it is difficult to determine a narrative, there are definitely underlying social and political issues in his work. He assumes that the viewer brings his/her own database of knowledge from media images to the viewings. And he requires work of his viewers; we must use our brains and imaginations to surmise what is going on. Sound might possibly interfere with our own interpretations, giving context and or emphasis where it is not meant to be which is why he chooses to make silent videos.

The show at MoMA places eight different works throughout various areas of the museum interspersed amongst other shows currently on view. The videos are on a loop and so the viewer, already puzzled as to what exactly is going on in the work, is not sure what has preceded what they are now seeing in the work. But his works, usually lasting around a half an hour truly have no beginning. They begin with the participation of the viewer.

In “Fluff,” his earliest video work on view Asian and caucasian people appear to be in a warehouse with plastic wrapped furniture and bread hanging from pallets. The figures strip down to their underwear and it is hard to determine what is going on. This is a one screen video but it is being shown in 3 different parts of the museum.

“Scapegoats” from 2006 shows men in military garb in an arena. Fires are burning, people are wounded and there is a sense of isolation and fear.

A 2009 work commissioned by the museum called ” Schoolyard” shows the varied activities of a group of bored schoolchildren who appear to be out in a parking lot after a schoolwide evacuation. This work is shown on two screens and so we get two vantage points of the same scene.

Installation view of "Vacuum Room" 2005

“Vacuum Room” from 2005 is on six screens and appears to be some sort of trial or hearing in which men beat the desks with their fists or bang it with their shoes in disagreement. I would describe it as controlled chaos.

Film still from "Training Ground" 2006

A protest of some sort broken up by authority figures is the focus of “Training Ground” from 2006. Again there are two vantage points on two different screens.

Film Still "Osmosis and Excess" 2005

A large screen hanging above the lobby of MoMA screens “Osmosis and Excess” from 2005 in which a pharmacy is shown with an excess of products as well as workers. At one point it looks like it has been looted with mud on the ground, and then the scene switches to a valley filled with thousands of abandoned cars.

Film still from "Middlemen" 2001

Also in the lobby next to the MoMA store is “Middlemen” from 2001. The scene looks like a trading floor but nothing seems frantic, it is almost in slow motion. People read papers and seem to be looking off into space.

The only video on view that includes noise can be seen outside the Titus 1 theater in the basement. “Raw Footage” from 2006 appears to be just that. The noises are of gunfire and the imagery includes people in camouflage shooting machine guns. Tanks and weapons in the wilderness look like scenes from militia meetings but Mik uses actual footage from the wars that occurred in the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. There are women, men and children with guns. The children mimic the older people and it is quite disturbing.

Reconfiguring the Body in American Art

The National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts has an interesting exhibition up until November 15th which includes works from 1820-2009; the common theme being an examination of the critical role the human form has played in American Art. There are 150 works from the National Academy’s collection in the show which is broken into three sections spread across a number of galleries. The first section includes early works which explore the nude form, sculpture and early portrait paintings. The break down and reconstruction of form as well as self-portraiture (which for many years was a requirement that needed to be submitted by all members of the academy) are highlighted in the second section. The third section entitled, Next: The Figure Now shows work by the newest generation of artists who have returned to figurative work even though at times it has not been all that popular with contemporary artists. It took me an hour to walk through and I had the entire museum to myself for the majority of my visit, a nice respite from the chaos of the major museums with their summertime crowds.

Highlights from the show:

Robert Frederick Blum, Two Idlers, 1888-89

“Two Idlers” by Robert Frederick Blum from 1888-89 depicts two thoroughly contented upper class people dressed in their finest enjoying life and lounging on the porch–she in a hammock and he in a rattan chair smoking a cigarette. On the table a carafe and two half-empty glasses sit. The landscape behind the couple is done with Impressionistic brushstrokes which is not surprising since at that time exhibitions would have introduced that style to American artists.

“Little Marion” by Stephen Arnold Douglas circa 1895 is a depiction of the artist’s daughter in a white dress, black boots, and a black bow in her hair sitting in nature playing. His rendering of natural light with dapples on her dress is magnificent and is only surpassed by the sweetness of her angelic face.

“Charles Courtney Curran” by his friend William James Whittemore is a depiction of the artist painting the Venus de Milo in the Louvre. The attention to detail as well as the smooth surface is mesmerizing. Just imagining a man painting in a bowler hat and suit is quite amusing though it was typical of the time.

Andrew Wyeth’s “Self-Portrait” from 1945 made me do a double-take. It could be mistaken for a film still from an Alfred Hitchcock movie. The ominous sky and lone individual walking in a field on a cold and windy day as evidenced by the zipped up jacket with the collar up, as well as the muted palette is intriguing. The detail in the face of the man is exquisite, only able to be captured by the artist’s choice of medium, tempera on panel.

Ridley Howard, The Charm of 5:30, 2009, Oil on linen, 30 x 36 inches, courtesy of Leo Koenig Inc.

The newest section contained works by Kehinde Wiley, Natalie Frank, and an artist whose work I was unfamiliar with but found interesting, Ridley Howard. Howard’s work combines flattened figures and the bulk of Italian Renaissance forms with a Pop sensibility.

Keep Your Eyes Peeled for Bill Viola at St. Paul’s

St. Paul's Cathedral from the Millennium Bridge

In 2011, St. Paul’s Cathedral in London is going to install two video installations by the US artist, Bill Viola. The treasurer of the cathedral is hoping that some of the five million Tate Modern visitors per year will cross the Millennium Bridge to see Viola’s work as well.

He believes that “art today captures people’s imagination in a way that perhaps narrative dscourse doesn’t.” So true. Way to think outside the box, St. Paul’s.

Antony Gormley and the Fourth Plinth

Fourth Plinth, Trafalgar Square

From July 6th-October 14th, One and Other, the highly- anticipated public work by Antony Gormley will be on view in London’s Trafalgar Square. The plinth was originally designed by Sir Charles Barry and built in 1841 to display an equestrian statue. There were not enough funds available at the time to create a statue and so the plinth was sometimes referred to as the ‘empty plinth’. In 1998 the RSA commissioned a series of three works by Mark Wallinger, Bill Woodrow, and Rachel Whiteread to be temporarily displayed on the plinth. Ever since, the ‘empty plinth’ has been home to a number of temporary works of art commissioned from leading national and international artists.

Unlike other artists who have been asked to create work for the plinth over the past few years, Gormley has left the plinth empty only to be filled for 100 days and nights by Brits who are to be forklifted onto the 7 meter high structure every hour. So many people applied for this public event that a lottery system was put into place. Though some celebrities have been selected (they are keeping mum about who they are and when they will be on the plinth), others such as Dame Judi Dench were rejected for the project. It seems fitting that real everyday people should be honored and are the best means to represent their country and all of humankind. If selected, one is allowed to do whatever they like on the plinth, of course within reason. Way to go Antony, expanding our notions of what art is!

Here is a live stream to the plinth:

http://www.oneandother.co.uk/

Dan Graham at the Whitney

Dan Graham, Triangular Pavilion with Circular Cutouts

One of contemporary art’s most influential figures, Dan Graham has been at the forefront of many developments such as conceptual, video, performace and musical collaboration. This survey, the first of its kind in the United States, explores work from the mid-60s onward. He got into art when he opened a gallery which showed Minimalist artists: Donald Judd, Sol Lewitt, and Robert Smithson. He rejected the “high seriousness of modern art.” One of the rooms in the exhibition lists his influences and has a slide show of the works he mentions. He was influenced by Oldenburg’s notion of “mock monumentality;” Lichtenstein’s ironic humor in regards to media culture; Flavin’sinvestigation of light, though in Granham’s case it was natural light and how it functions in his outdoor pavilions; Bruce Nauman’s use of his own body and the influence of literature in his work; Graham’s curved and elliptical pavilions emulate Mangold’s paintings; Larry Bell’s use of two-way mirror glass; and Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona pavilion which was a prototype for Graham’s pavilion projects.

Guard House, image courtesy of Den Haag Sculptuur

Graham makes changes to existing things in order to create an alternate reality. The focus of his work since the 1980s are architectural installations he calls pavilions, usually utitlizing glass and two-way mirrors. He made models for many pavilion projects including a children’s pavilion and a suburban home in which a glass sheet replaced the exterior wall so that people walking by could look inside. These pavilions alter our experiences of physical and perceptual space.

Bisected Triangle, Interior Curve, 2002, Installation in Madison Square Park

Still from "Rock My Religion", 1982-1984, Courtesy of the Whitney Museum

Graham was fascinated with youth and music and one example of this can be found in a video called “Rock my Religion” in which pop culture imagery of Elvis and screaming teens is merged with Shaker beliefs and commentary. It is powerful and amusing at the same time.

Writing was also a large part of Graham’s practice. He really began to push the envelope of what art was. In 1966 he created “Schema,” a conceptual work in which magazines were inserting his work but its form changed everytime depending on how the magazine editor wanted to layout and design the piece. Like Sol Lewitt’s wall drawings, the instructions were given but there was the freedom and interpretation of the person who was seeing the piece through that could change it from iteration to iteration. For example, “Schema” asked the editor to determine x number of adjectives be included, adverbs were to take up x % of area not occupied by type, and x number of columns could be chosen, etc.

The show is very interesting and has a nice mix of pavilions with which the viewer can interact, videos to watch, and text works that help one gain a more solid understanding of Graham’s incredible psyche. Take some time with this show and you will then begin to appreciate his continnued influence on younger generations of artists.

The Female Gaze at Cheim and Read

Katy Grannan, Nicole, Potrero Hill, 2006, Archival pigment print, 40 x 50 inches

This exhibition which runs through September 19th provides an interesting take on artists’ look at women. As opposed to the more often presented “male gaze” towards women as objects of….lust, art, sex, etc., this show investigates how women are looked at differently (or perhaps not) when the observer is another female.

Vanessa Beecroft, Blonde Figure Lying, 2008, Water resin, coated with beeswax, human hair, 77 x 36 x 10 inches

Works by a multitude of artists are on display in a variety of media. Some of the artists on view are: Mickalene Thomas, Kara Walker, Berenice Abbott, Diane Arbus, Sarah Lucas, Louise Bourgeois, Katy Grannan, Vanessa Beecroft, and Ghada Amer. Definitely one to check out.

Ghada Amer, The Woman Who Failed to be Shehrazade, 2008, Acrylic, embroidery and gel medium on canvas, 62 x 68 inches

Waste Not at MoMA–don’t miss this one

Song Dong, Waste Not, 2009, image Courtesy of MoMA

Song Dong, whom I wrote about recently, has an installation up at MoMA right now that absolutely should not be missed. Running until September 7th, Waste Not takes up 3000 square feet and includes items shipped to New York in 50 crates. It is a massive installation that provides a portrait of an individual as well as a culture. In the center stands the frame of Song Dong’s mother’s house. Surrounding it is everything the artist’s mother had collected over 50 years. This stemmed from the Cultural Revolution, a time when everything had to be saved, preserved, and reused.

Song Dong’s father passed away in 2002 and that is when the idea for this work began. After his father’s death his mother started to live an isolated life and she began to fill the house with things she had accumulated over the years. She hoped to fill the emptiness with the things she had collected. After much discussion and coersion, Song’s mother agreed to collaborate with him on this project and it took three years to sort through the items she had collected over the past 50 years. This artwork provided a rebirth for his mom, getting her out of the house and speaking to people. She died this past January and this work is a tribute to her.

There is an excellent video on MoMA’s website of the installation process. Visithttp://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/961 to see it.

PLOT/09: Creative Time’s quadrennial on Governor’s Island

View of Manhattan from Gov's Island

It is unbelievable to me that there exists, just a five minute ferry ride from downtown Manhattan, an island paradise of 172 acres with trees, expansive grass, cool old military buildings and streets without cars. I’m talking of course about Governor’s Island and it took me three and a half years to make it over there. Leave it to an art exhibition to be the impetus for my trip. This World and Nearer Ones features 19 commissioned work by 19 artists organized by the nonprofit organization, Creative Time.

Waiting for the ferry

Some of my favorite works were:

Shot Up Wall

Shot Up Wall by Teresa Margolles which is an actual wall found in the artist’s hometown in Mexico that has been shot up by drug lords. The wall was removed and reinstalled on the island. It is a powerful reminder of the daily acts of violence that occur around the world.

Between You and I by Anthony McCall is an instllation not dissimilar to many I have seen before. The artist uses light and mist to create haunting cones that reach to the ceiling. What was so special about this installation is that it was in a chapel.

Tritone Westy

Tritone Westy by Klaus Weber is an oversized windchime tuned to a dissonant tone which was thought to arouse the devil in the Middle Ages. It is not the soothing and peaceful sound one expects from a windchime but the artist is known for manipulating banal objects.

La Tierra de los Libres by Judi Werthein is a wonderful piece–maybe my favorite in the exhibition. She worked with Colombian musicians who make their living performing in restaurants. She gave them an overly literal translation of The Star-Spangled Banner and asked them to reinterpret the words to come up with an original song. The artist then recorded their performance and translated their lyrics back into English. The work is inventive when looking at the video from the front, but an element of humor and cleverness comes out when the viewer walks behind the screen. I loved it!

Krzysztof Wodiczko presents a more somber piece with Veterans’ Flame. One enters a tunnel to a dark and damp room in which a projection of a candle flame flickers on a wall in tune with the sound of voices. The voices are those of soldiers sharing their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.

If you don’t head to Governor’s Island for the art, at least go for a picnic, an escape from the city. It feels like a world away from the hustle and bustle of Manhattan.

Nic and Suz on the island

Parkett Celebrates 25 Years

Anish Kapoor

Carolina Nitsch Project Room currently has many of Parkett’s wonderful available editioned works by a variety of artists on view. As I have stated before. These editioned works are a wonderful opportunity to obtain high quality work by excellent ingternationally recognized artist at affordable prices. To date, Parkett has published 200 artists’ collaborations and editions. If you are in the art world and do not subscribe to Parkett magazine, I highly recommend it. Works on view that I would recommend for purchase are: Ross Bleckner’s Untitled, 1993, ed. 100 unique pieces, 11 x 9 inches, Anish Kapoor, Untitled, 2003, ed. 60, Andreas Gursky, Centre Georges Pompidou, 1995, ed. 60, Carol Bove, Untitled, 2009, ed. 35 (each work is unique), Gerhard Richter, Green Blue Red, 1993, ed 115, Christian Marclay, My Bad Ear, 2004, ed. 60, bronze cast and Yan g Fudong, Ms. Huang at M. Last Night, 2006, 19 x 29 inches, ed. 60.

Gerhard Richter

Christian Marclay

Yang Fudong

Check out their website for more detailed information:

http://www.parkettart.com/index3.htm