MArina Abramovic

About a week before the opening of Abramovic’s retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, I went to hear her speak about her work. I am glad I gave myself that gift; it gave me a background that definitely helped me appreciate her work and the exhibition currently on at MoMA more. Abramovic, a 64 year-old Yugoslavian performance artist, was in her first exhibition at the tender age of 12. Her early works mostly had to do with sound: the sound of wind through a cardboard box, the sound of birds being projected from speakers placed in trees and so on. However, many of her early projects were never realized. In 1971 she created a work in a corridor of an art gallery. She felt that people entering a museum or gallery are never free to receive art because they come with thoughts and ideas that fill their heads. So in this corridor, screams are played that fill the viewer’s body and Abramovic felt that all thoughts escaped one as a result. By the time you go into the gallery you can receive and accept the art because there is nothing there to block it.

Rhythm O, 1974

In 1974 she created a series of works called “Rhythm.” In Rhythm O which took place in Naples she invited the audience to do whatever they wanted to her for 6 hours with objects laid out on a table. The objects included: scissors, condoms, a whip, various food items, and even a loaded gun. People cut her clothes off, stuck rose thorns in her stomach as some women wiped tears away from her eyes. The piece was about what the audience can do to the artist as she does nothing-the power that the audience has.

In 1976 Abramovic met Ulay in Amsterdam with whom she began a strong love and work relationship. She explained that for 5 years they lived in a car with a dog where they were confronted with themselves because there was nothing else to be confronted with. Each performance that they created together was about simplicity and how their bodies worked in space. Whether walking into each other; slapping each other across the face (body used as instrument); screaming as loud as possible at each other; or pushing a column toward another stationary column using only the force of their individual bodies, their work is emotionally raw and powerful and sometimes difficult to watch.

Imponderabilia, 1977

One of the works that is recreated in the MoMA retrospective is Imponderabilia in which two naked people (originally Ulay and Marina) stand in a doorway and the public has to decide which way to enter and whom to brush up against in order to pass through. Original footage shows that people were forced to get very close to the naked performers; at the MoMA there is a plaque explaining that due to museum regulations, the space between the two naked people has been increased. As a result, viewers are not forced to touch the performers as they were in the original.

Rest Energy, 1980

In Rest Energy Marina once again risked her life by placing an arrow aimed at her heart between her and Ulay. If there was a wrong movement she could have died. Microphones placed on their hearts recorded their increasing heartbeats. The performance lasted a little over 4 minutes.

Originally Marina and Ulay wanted to stage a performance where they would walk from two ends of the Great Wall in China for 1550 miles each and get married after meeting in the middle. It took 6 years to get permission from the Chinese government and by that time, their relationship was over. They performed The Great Wall Walk in 1988 but instead of marrying in the middle, they said goodbye and parted ways. Abramovic was 40 years old at the time and said of her experience, “In the end you are really alone.”

The House with the Ocean View, 2002

After that Abramovic continued to do solo performances and many of the works are on view at MoMA. In 2002 after the September 11th attacks she had a performance at Sean Kelly Gallery in NY who represents her in which she lived for 12 days in the gallery.

The House with the Ocean View, detail

In The House with the Ocean View, three separate spaces were created: a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen that were connected and raised above the floor enough so that ladders were the only access to the spaces. In order for Abramovic to have incentive to stay for the full length of the performance. The ladders were made of knives that would have cut her if she tried to come down.

Luminosity, re-performance, 1997/2010, Image courtesy of artinfo.com

In 1997’s Luminosity, also originally on view at Sean Kelly Gallery, Abramovic sits on a bike seat on a wall with her arms extended upwards and legs out as a luminous light emanates from behind her. This work is re-performed at MoMA.

With over 50 works on view spanning 4 decades and including video, performance, installation, and more, MoMA has attempted to increase the accessibility of Abramovic’s often difficult work. In my opinion, they are successful. Bravo to MoMA for such a well-done exhibition. It is hard to present the cumulation of work of a performance artist and they have done it creatively and with style. Not only is original footage used, but they have a room full of photographs and documentation as well as actors hired to re-perform some of her most poignant works.

New work on view in the atrium, The Artist is Present, 2010

Never shying away from the difficult or the painful, Abramovic has created an original work in the atrium of the museum that will be the longest duration of time a work has lasted yet in her oeuvre. For 3 months and over 600 hours, she will sit at an empty table and museum-goers are encouraged to sit across from her and engage her in eye contact-Abramovic will not speak for the duration of this work. On opening night she had a special visitor sit across from her at the table: Ulay. During his time at the table a tear fell down Abramovic’s cheek and this stoic performer showed what her art has been sharing with us for years whether we want to hear it or not–that there is often no need for words– actions speak volumes about our emotions.

Installation shot

Curated by Jeff Koons, the controversial exhibition “Skin Fruit,” on view until June 6th, 2010 at the New Museum, is the first exhibition in the US of Athens-based Dakis Joannou Collection made up of 1,500 works by 400 artists. Pulling from one of the best collections of contemporary art in the world might be intimidating for most curators, but first-time curator Koons does an excellent job of selecting interesting works that explore the theme of “the human form as a vessel of and vehicle for experience.”

Included in the show are works by Robert Gober, Nathalie Djurberg, Terence Koh, Paul McCarthy, Tim Noble and Sue Webster, Kiki Smith, Liza Lou, Charles Ray, and many more including one work by Koons, One Ball Total Equlibrium Tank from 1985, the first major artwork that Joannou acquired for his now remarkable collection. I was pleasantly surprised by this exhibition and encourage people to make the effort to see it. Highlights for me:

Paul Chan’s Orgy Before Man And Storm, 2003 had a great Matisse “Joy of Life” reference in the middle of the sex and love fest including people of all genders and colors.

Tauba Auerbach. Crumple VI, 2008, acrylic and inkjet print on canvas

Tauba Auerbach whose work I adore and am now seeing everywhere (Armory, Whitney Biennial).

Liza Lou, Super Sister, 1999, Cast polyester, resin and glass beads

Liza Lou’s Super Sister is a human figure made of glass beads, not the type of work I am used to seeing by this artist. Usually working with beads she creates patterns and abstractions in her three-dimensional works but I have never seen her create a human form; it is pretty fabulous way to enter the space.

Charles Ray’s Carousel plays with perception and scale. A piece he created in 1990 but was never pleased with, he has reworked the piece in gray versus its original bright colors. The horses move but never seem to be making any progress.

Four gouaches on paper by Kara Walker are a nice addition and complement the ginormous sculptures that fill the space.

Terence Koh, Untitled (Chocolate Mountains), 2006, Mixed media: styrofoam, fiberglass, and white chocolate icing

Terence Koh made Untitled (Chocolate Mountains) in 2006. Made of styrofoam, fiberglass and white chocolate icing the work is an interpretation of the twin towers. Often working in white, the color that symbolizes death in China, the mountains are elegant, messy, and olfactory all at the same time.

Kiki Smith, Untitled (Bowed Woman), 1995

Kiki Smith’s Untitled (Bowed Woman), 1995 hangs high on the wall leading to the stairway. Made of brown wrapping paper, cellulose and horse hair, the figure reminds one of a crucifixion.

Two Nathalie Djurberg videos are on view in the hall niche. Djurberg is an artist I first became introduced to at the Venice Biennale. The more interesting of the two works is It’s the Mother. A claymation video in which a saftig woman embraces and says goodbye to her five children as each one climbs back into her vagina one by one. It is obviously both physically and emotionally painful for her as tears roll down her cheeks. The frightening faces on the children and the disturbing nature of the scene are juxtaposed with a tenderness between the mother and her offspring.

Gillian Wearing, Signs That Say What You Want Them to Say..., 1992-93, c-print

Gillian Wearing’s c-print from her “Signs that Say What you Want Them to Say” series from 1992-3 is great and speaks for itself (no pun intended).

Janine Antoni, Saddle, 2000, Full rawhide

In Janine Antoni’s Saddle from 2000 it appears as if a figure looms under a cloth but it is simply the form of a figure molded into a large rawhide piece.

Chris Ofili, Rodin...The Thinker, 1997, Acrylic, oil, resin, glitter, map-pins, and elephant dung on canvas

Chris Ofili has a painting in the show based on Rodin’s The Thinker. This is the work by Ofili that I am drawn to with its sparkle, repetition of dots, curving, sensuous lines, and bright orange and yellows.

Pawel Althamer, Schedule of the Crucifix, 2005

Schedule of the Crucifix is a performance work by Pawel Althama from 2005 in which a real human precariously hangs from a cross. Held by two leather straps under his shoulders his feet are supported only by a tilted platform at an uncomfortable angle and a small strap.

Elliott Hundley, Garland, 2007, wood, plastic, paper, pins, porcelain, ceramics, wire, string, glue, primer, spray paint, silk, etc.

I very much liked a work called Garland by Elliott Hundley which hung out from high on the wall and was made from many found objects. There is a delicateness and sweetness to the piece and the viewer can’t help but see something new with every glance.

Of course there were the obligatory Cindy Sherman works which did, in fact, add to the show.

Maurizio Cattelan was well represented and his work Now from 2004 is in its own room. JFK’s life-like body can be found barefoot in a casket. Quite a creepy work.

Jeff Koons, One Ball Total Equilibrium Tank, 1985, glass, iron, water, and basketball

On Floor 2 the one Koons work confronts the viewer immediately after exiting the elevator.

Maurizio Cattelan, All, 2007, White Carrara marble

A work by Cattelan called All from 2007 that was also on view at the Punta della Dogana last summer is on view here. Tino Seghal’s 2002 work This is Propaganda is recited by a security guard.

One artist wose work I was pleased to see but that I did not understand why it was included in the show was Mark Grotjahn’s. I love the textures and layers and softness in his work but what does it have to do with the body per se?

Tim Noble and Sue Webster, Black Narcissus, 2006, rubber, wood, and light projector

Tim Noble and Sue Webster’s Black Narcissus from 2006 is made up of black rubber hands, fingers and penises that when configured a certain way cast a shadow of two head in profile projected on the wall.

Kiki Smith, Untitled (Skin), 1992, cast aluminum

And an interesting Kiki Smith called Skin from 1992 that reminded me of a Jasper Johns sculp-metal work.

The show has a lot on view and some artists have more than work in the show: Gober, Kiki Smith (perhaps because all of her work deals with the human body), David Altmejd, Paul McCarthy, and Chris Ofili to name a few. I actually enjoyed this as it affords the viewer an opportunity see a wider range of some artists’ work.

Otto Dix, Self-portrait with Muse (looks like Helena Bonham Carter doesn't it?), 1924

Openings at the Neue Galerie are always a treat. Not only do you get to see magnificent works of art, but you see them in a gorgeous and sophisticated environment while nibbling on tasty Austrian treats like baby Weinerschnitzel. What’s not to like?

Otto Dix, Portrait of the Lawyer Dr. Fritz Glazer, 1921, image courtesy of Neue Galerie

The Otto Dix show (on view through August 30th) that opens today includes some wonderful works on loan from European collections that have never been seen before. And, this is the first solo exhibition of Dix’s work ever put on in the United States. His work is the most graphic visual representation of the Weimar Republic. Most of the work on view is from the 1920s and 1930s.

Sturmtruppe, 1924

From the imagery of horrors of his time spent serving in World War I to the grit of

Puffmutter, 1923

Puffmutter, a work on paper portraying a brothel matron who has seen better days,

Portrait of the Dancer Anita Berber, 1925, image courtesy of Neue Galerie

to the sensuousness of the painting of Anita Berber, a dancer in brilliant red, Dix manages to capture the personality of his subjects in his portraits through color, form, or pose–and they are not always flattering. A great exhibition worth your while.

Brucennial opening night

This show, the non-establishment alternative to the Whitney Biennial, organized by Vito Schnabel, and housed in a space on loan from Aby Rosen has some heavy hitters: David Salle, Julian Schnabel, Dan Colen, George Condo mixed in with emerging artists. Some good stuff on view:

Dan Colen

Dan Colen’s easily identifiable canvas.

Nicole Stone

Nicole Stone’s tripartite work has repetition of text on the left juxtaposed with three different types of texture on the right. There is an added dimension to the text with a meaning I didn’t have time to investigate as there were so many people there. A very cool piece.

Daniel Oh

Daniel Oh had an acrylic box with compartments filled with b/w distressed photos on view.

installation shot

I was intrigued by this work that heaved as if breathing with life. Due to the text surrounding it, it seemed to be an active statement against the art establishment.

Jolynn Krystosek

Jolynn Krystosek, who just happens to be a colleague of mine, is also an amazingly talented artist who works in paper and wax. Her work on view in the Brucennial is an intricately carved wax piece.

Chelsea Gallery Visits

With the Armory fast approaching I needed to get out to see some shows since this upcoming week of fairs will monopolize my time.

A sampling of what is on view:

SUPERFLEX, Flooded McDonald's, 2009

“Flooded McDonald’s” at Peter Blum is an exhibition including three videos: Burning Car (2008), TheFinancial Crisis (I-IV) (2009) and Flooded McDonald’s (2009) by the Danish collective, SUPERFLEX. Founded in 1993 these artists create projects that deal with the environment, politics, and questioning power structures. Flooded McDonald’s is the centerpiece of the show and though 21 minutes long, just spending 5 minutes with this work can give you the gist. In it, an exact replica of a McDonald’s slowly fills with water. Sounds of gurgling and rising water complement simple yet potent images of fries floating, a Ronald McDonald statue toppling, and cash registers shorting out. This work is an examination of the “consequences of consumerism.” The other two works are also worth a peek.

Nari Ward, Sick Smoke

Nari Ward at Lehmann Maupin is worth a visit as well. This is Ward’s first solo exhibition at the gallery and it includes sculpture, works on paper, and video works. As the press release explains Ward is interested in the “idea of support—physical, spiritual, social, and judicial–while introducing contemplation of everyday objects.” As one enters the gallery he is confronted with Sick Smoke an ambulance filled with smoke whose black lettering is obscured with white vinyl.

Nari Ward, Riot Gates

Ward also has large scale x-ray images of the human skull surrounded by shoe tips (which often represent the human body in the artist’s work). On March 6th at 1:30 there will be an exhibition walk-through with the artist and the Assistant Curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem.

Ken Price, 2009

The Ken Price show at Matthew Marks is brilliant. All of the works on view are from 2009. The main gallery has three larger-scale works which are relatively new for him. The other three galleries house his smaller works. The first time I was introduced to Price’s work, I did not like it. Now, however, I am able to appreciate the hand-finished process of layers and layers of paint sanded to give the complex and smooth surface to each of his works.

Ken Price, detail

I really find his work, made of painted bronze composite, sensual and stunning.

Jay DeFeo, Untitled, 1973, Gelatin Silver print

Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery has a wonderful show of works on paper and photographs by the late California artist Jay Defeo. The works are delicate and intricate requiring close viewing. The works in the main gallery by Mitzi Pederson are a lovely complement to DeFeo’s works. Pederson’s sculptures are made up of fragile materials but the composite of them create energetic and powerful pieces.

Calder at Gagosian

Calder installation view

In one Gagosian space in Chelsea there are monumental sculptures from the 1960s on view, in the other there are five David Smith works. He sure does know how to fill a gallery with amazing works and pull out the big guns.

El Anatsui installation view

I have written about El Anatsui many times before. I am enamored by his work. Jack Shainman continues his excellent program with an Anatsui show. The gallery fills with yellows, blacks, reds and gold.

Sterling Ruby at Pace Wildenstein

Sterling Ruby has created two large-scale works for Pace’s 22nd Street space. One is a hollowed out and reconfigured bus with individual locked cages replacing the normal bus seating. In the back is an area filled with subwoofers. I am still trying to figure out exactly what these works were all about but they are interesting to see.

Mike Norton at 303

Mike Norton at 303 has his first solo show with the gallery which consists of four trailers connected together filling the enormous space. The viewer is invited to enter the space where knicknacks and various items such as cigarette butts are left making the space look recently occupied. It reminded me of Hello Meth Lab in the Sun by Jonah Freeman, Justin Lowe and Alexandre Singh on view at both Ballroom Marfa in 2008 and Jeffrey Deitch last year.

interior view

But that work had more power and the element of surprise and shock where this simply seemed a bit hollow. I wasn’t quite sure what message the piece was trying to convey.

Installation view, Size DOES Matter, FLAG Art Foundation

“Size DOES Matter” at The FLAG Art Foundation is a heavily marketed show. The fact that it was curated by Shaquille O’Neal only adds to the hype. Most people probably don’t think of Shaq as an art expert. In fact, his interests are quite varied and he has been successful in many endeavors outside of basketball. But it is a bit of stretch to say he “curated” this show. He was shown a variety of works by the heads of the FLAG, and he selected the ones that spoke to him. As a bit of a freak of nature standing at 7′1″ and weighing 320 pounds, size has always mattered to Shaq and the works he selected speak to that. While there are some great works on view by excellent artists, the show feels disjointed and did not speak to me as a cohesive concept.

Anselm Kiefer, Untitled Young Mao

There was a beautiful Anselm Kiefer called Untitled, Young Mao from 2000,

Robert Thierrien

a Robert Thierrien No Title (Table and Six Chairs) from 2003 and works by Hawkinson, Koons, and Kehinde Wiley as well as many others.

Whitney Biennial 2010

No need to worry, you have until May 30th to go check out the 75th incarnation (sans theme) of the Whitney Museum’s signature exhibition. Curated by Francesco Bonami and Gary Carrion-Muravari, the layout of the show is very viewer friendly; it is a very manageable show with a strong selection of artists–and female artists are heavily represented finally. With fewer artists selected for this year’s show, one is able to digest the work on view without being overwhelmed and that is refreshing. The one thing that I did find a bit annoying was the bulk of video work on the 3rd floor. After awhile, one gets numb to too much video so to put it all on one floor was a bit too much for this viewer. I will say that now that I have found my favorite works in the show, I will definitely be making a return visit in order to take more time with them. Overall it is a very enjoyable biennial.

Highlights for me:

Bruce High Quality Foundation, We Like America and America Likes Us, 2010

Bruce High Quality Foundation’s “We Like America and America Likes Us” is a cool piece found on the fourth floor. A voiceover plays in a loop commenting on society while images from pop culture are projected onto the windshield of a white ambulance/hearse with glaring lights. Thought provoking.

Tauba Auerbach was born in San Francisco but lives in NYC. She manipulates largescale pieces of raw canvas by folding or rolling them. After flattening them she paints with industrial spray paint creating a tromp l’oeil effect. I had to actually go up to the canvas and look at it from the side to prove to myself that the work was indeed two-dimensional. On view are three paintings that fill one wall of the gallery in shades of salmon, maroon, and purple.

Lesley Vance, Untitled (12), 2009, oil on linen

Lesley Vance works in Los Angeles. Her abstract paintings are based on the still life tradition. Her process involves arranging a still life, photographing it and using those as the basis for her abstract paintings. She manipulates the paint with a palette knife creating compositions in which very little is recognizable but they somehow, “retain the intimacy and refinement of a traditional still life.”

Pae White, Untitled, 2010

On the third floor I enjoyed Pae White’s tapestry that fills the entryway. She creates works that manifest themselves as, “cotton’s dream of becoming something other than itself.”

Kate Gilmore, Still from Standing Here, 2010

I liked the work by Kate Gilmore that explores issues of female identity and displacement. She builds environments and then documents her attempts to conquer the obstacles they present. In high heels and a polka dot dress she attempts to climb out of a sheetrock box. This box is on display in the gallery in which the video is shown. Gilmore had another work on view at the Brooklyn Museum with a similar theme that I enjoyed and wrote about in a previous blog. Certainly a name to watch.

Rashaad Newsome is fascinated with the dance craze from the early 90s–voguing. In this work, he separates it from the cultural and historical background of its rise from underground clubs to pop culture by removing all sound and context from the viewer. In a color video a dancer moves throughout the space on a wooden floor against a white wall. Newsome sees the work as abstracted movements, not a dance performance. “I view these videos as drawings, with the dancers acting as my pen.”

Josephine Meckseper, Mall of America, 2009, video

Jospehine Meckseper’s “Mall of America” is a very interesting video work. She uses documentary footage from shop windows and rides at the Mall of America in Minneapolis and manipulates it by using red and blue filters and adding haunting music. This manipulation results in an abstraction of the known entity into a “hostile, dangerous place.”

Roland Flexner, Untitled, 2008-9, sumi ink on paper

Probably one of my favorite works is by Roland Flexner, an artist from France who lives and works in NYC. “Untitled” 2008-2009 consists of 30 sumi ink on paper drawings. The process is one used by Japanese decorative artists in which paper is laid upon the top of ink floating in water which creates a marbled effect. Flexner alters the composition further by tilting, blowing or blotting the moment before the ink is absorbed by the paper thus creating abstract compositions that often look like fantastical landscapes. I love these images.

Storm Tharp, Jodie Jill, 2009, ink, gouache, and colored pencil on paper

On the second floor I enjoyed works by Storm Tharp. He draws contours for characters on paper using water and adds mineral ink before it has a chance to dry which causes the ink to bleed creating uncertain forms and shapes. He fills in the missing pieces using paint, colored pencil, erasers, etc. He creates detailed narratives of the characters he creates including names and histories. The works are really interesting.

Aurel Schmidt, Master of the Universe: FlexMaster 3000, 2010

Aurel Schmidt is an amazing draftsman. Her intricately detailed drawings are beautiful, however, her subject matter is often ugly. This work includes flies, condoms, beer cans, and cigarette butts which all add up to a representation of a Minotaur. She questions conventions of beauty in her work and the “cyclical process of renewal and decay.”

Dawn Clements, Mrs. Jessica Drummond's, 2010

Dawn Clements has a remarkable large-scale ballpoint pen drawing on view of an interior scene. Her work is always created from real life scenes or from movies from the 1940s or 1950s, but she draws on separate sheets of paper and then combines them altogether to create what appear to be seamless but upon closer examination, are often unnatural looking environments.

A quick visit to the Van Gogh Museum

Self-Portrait with Straw Hat, 1887, oil on pasteboard, courtesy of the Van Gogh Museum

I wish I had not been so jet lagged and sleep deprived for my visit to this museum which has been on my to do list for at least the past 17 years. But what a tremendous opportunity to see Van Gogh’s work in such breadth!

The Potato Eaters, 1885; Oil on canvas, 81.5 x 114.5 cm; Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam

From his earliest work like The Potato Eaters to his many self-portraits, his sunflowers painted while in Arles, his landscapes from San Remy to his last works from Auvers–there is so much to see. I enjoyed seeing the studies for some of his better-known works. Wish I had had more time to soak it all in and digest it properly. I will definitely return on my next visit to Amsterdam. This is a museum you can’t afford to miss!

Sunflowers, 1889, oil on canvas, 95 x 73 cm, Courtesy of Van Gogh Museum

The Origins of El Greco: Icon Painting in Venetian Crete

During this time El Greco’s works were filled with sumptuous color not usually associated as a defining element of his work. An interesting look into the varied influences and their impact on the work of a well-known artist.

Alias Man Ray: The Art of Reinvention at the Jewish Museum

Self-portrait with Half-Beard, 1943, Gelatin silver print, 7 1/8 x 5 1/8 inches

A quintessential modernist, Man Ray recast the concept of artistic identity by working as a painter, photographer, sculptor, printmaker, filmmaker, poet, and essayist. He utilized techniques not normally associated with fine art: airbrushing paintings, exposing objects on light-sensitive paper to create “rayographs.” Looking back in history, his fame as a photographer overshadowed his accomplishments as a painter. Born Emmanuel Radnitzky he wanted to escape the limitations of his Russian Jewish immigrant past. He moved to Paris in 1921 and was the only American living among the European avant-garde. He created a public persona that assisted him in his desire to gain notoriety while also shrouding himself in oblivion. While living in Paris he photographed other artists to make money as he could not survive on his own painting.

It was wonderful to see the scope of his work (The Jewish Museum curators do an amazing job with their manageable and well-executed shows). In 1913, Ray attended the Armory Show in NY and it had a profound effect on him. He did not create art for 6 months because, he claimed, it took him that long to digest what he had seen. Early paintings on view include a Madonna, a work called Man Ray 1914, andworks from his “Revolving Door Series” from 1916-17. Man Ray 1914 was painted at the time he had met the Belgian avant-garde poet Adon Lacroix who introduced him to a new set of artists and ideas. It was also at this time that he moved to an artists’ colony in Ridgefield, New Jersey.Though small, this painting is hugely important as it marks a shift for Ray in which he moves into creating works that are drastically different than his American peers. There are Cubist elements to the work, but the letters M-A-N  R-A-Y are clearly written in the center of the composition filled with pinks, blues, yellows, and grays.

Revolving Doors is made up of collage elements and stamps in earth tones of red, oranges, sepia, and taupe and these are lovely intimate works. In 1926 he created the works as a series of prints and in the 1940s as oil paintings.

Moving Sculpture, 1920

An interesting pairing of works is a painting called Flying Dutchman from 1920 hanging next to a photograph called, Moving Sculpture also from 1920. In the black and white photograph, sheets hang from clotheslines blowing in the wind. The colorful painting transforms the sheets to abstracted white forms (clearly based on the photo but without which the viewer could not recognize that they are actual objects).

Interior, 1918

In Interior Ray challenges the notion of conventional painting technique by using airbrushing. The work is a stylized depiction of his studio including his early Madonna painting in the background as well as a dressmaker’s dummy which is a nod to his father, a tailor.

In 1921, by moving to Paris Man Ray was welcomed by Dadaists and embraced by Surrealists but never officially aligned himself with either group. By the 1930s he was very successful as a commercial photographer which few artists did at that time. His photos graced the pages of Vogue and Vanity Fairmagazines and this was how he earned a living. As Man Ray in his own words expressed his photos, “deform the subject as almost to hide the identity of the original, and create a new form.” He cropped, used multiple exposures, and created rayographs in which he placed objects on a sheet of paper and turned on the light. Shadowy forms appeared and everyday objects were rendered mysterious and ambiguous in form. Ray liked them because they offered a more direct relationship to subjects than traditional photography. They almost look like x-rays but instead of seeing more, things are made less clear. I love the small photo Self-Portrait in His Studio at 31 bis rue Campagne Premiere, Paris from 1925. The viewer sees Ray, his image a bit blurred due to his movement at the time of exposure, but every detail of his studio is crisp and clear–paintings, camera, staircase, hat, rug. It is a view into his most personal world.

Stills from Le retour a la raison

Le retour a la raison is a black and white 2 minute silent film from 1923, Ray’s first. He does not use a movie camera to create the work but cut unused film into strips, sprinkling it with salt and pepper, pins, thumbtacks, and developing it as a rayograph. It outraged viewers at the time but it is a mesmerizing and titillating piece of moving abstracted forms.

Anatomies, 1929

Anatomies from 1929 captures a woman’s neck as she leans back. Her chin becomes the top of the composition, a shaded line runs down her throat to her clavicle. It is abstracted but recognizable. It is sensual and erotic but also graceful and stunningly simplistic.

In Hier (part of a photo collage triptych) from 1931, Kiki de Montparnasse (a lover and muse of Man Ray’s) is the model. The small colored circles that are placed in strategic places on her  body remind me of John Baldessari’s circles that cover the faces of found film stills in some of his work.

Gertrude Stein portrait

There is a wall of portraits that Ray took in the show that is wonderful. It includes images of Gertrude Stein (siting in front of Picasso’s painted portrait of her), Marcel Duchamp, Lee Miller, and Andre Breton to name a few.

La Fortune, 1938

By June 1940, Ray had fled to the United States and moved to Hollywood to get as far away as he could from NYC. At this time due to what was happening in Europe, Ray had to face his Jewishness and felt exposed during this time of his life which was very uncomfortable for him. This manifests itself in his paintings from this period. La Fortune from 1938 shows a massive billiard table on an awkward slant surrounded by storm clouds in primary colors.

Winter, 1944

Winter from 1944 was inspired by an Italian Renaissance master and by making a figure from other things, he was able to hide on some level. Masks were a common subject for Ray during the 1940s. At the end of his career he returned to perspectival drawings that he had done at the very beginning of his schooling.

Ray said, “Anybody who does creative arts is a sacred person.” This show on view until March 14th highlights his contributions to art history and his sacredness.

Brucennial opening night

This show, the non-establishment alternative to the Whitney Biennial, organized by Vito Schnabel, and housed in a space on loan from Aby Rosen has some heavy hitters: David Salle, Julian Schnabel, Dan Colen, George Condo mixed in with emerging artists. Some good stuff on view:

Dan Colen

Dan Colen’s easily identifiable canvas.

Nicole Stone

Nicole Stone’s tripartite work has repetition of text on the left juxtaposed with three different types of texture on the right. There is an added dimension to the text with a meaning I didn’t have time to investigate as there were so many people there. A very cool piece.

Daniel Oh

Daniel Oh had an acrylic box with compartments filled with b/w distressed photos on view.

installation shot

I was intrigued by this work that heaved as if breathing with life. Due to the text surrounding it, it seemed to be an active statement against the art establishment.

Jolynn Krystosek

Jolynn Krystosek, who just happens to be a colleague of mine, is also an amazingly talented artist who works in paper and wax. Her work on view in the Brucennial is an intricately carved wax piece.

A sampling of what is on view:

SUPERFLEX, Flooded McDonald's, 2009

“Flooded McDonald’s” at Peter Blum is an exhibition including three videos: Burning Car (2008), The Financial Crisis (I-IV) (2009) and Flooded McDonald’s (2009) by the Danish collective, SUPERFLEX. Founded in 1993 these artists create projects that deal with the environment, politics, and questioning power structures. Flooded McDonald’s is the centerpiece of the show and though 21 minutes long, just spending 5 minutes with this work can give you the gist. In it, an exact replica of a McDonald’s slowly fills with water. Sounds of gurgling and rising water complement simple yet potent images of fries floating, a Ronald McDonald statue toppling, and cash registers shorting out. This work is an examination of the “consequences of consumerism.” The other two works are also worth a peek.

Nari Ward, Sick Smoke

Nari Ward at Lehmann Maupin is worth a visit as well. This is Ward’s first solo exhibition at the gallery and it includes sculpture, works on paper, and video works. As the press release explains Ward is interested in the “idea of support—physical, spiritual, social, and judicial–while introducing contemplation of everyday objects.” As one enters the gallery he is confronted with Sick Smoke an ambulance filled with smoke whose black lettering is obscured with white vinyl.

Nari Ward, Riot Gates

Ward also has large scale x-ray images of the human skull surrounded by shoe tips (which often represent the human body in the artist’s work). On March 6th at 1:30 there will be an exhibition walk-through with the artist and the Assistant Curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem.

Ken Price, 2009

The Ken Price show at Matthew Marks is brilliant. All of the works on view are from 2009. The main gallery has three larger-scale works which are relatively new for him. The other three galleries house his smaller works. The first time I was introduced to Price’s work, I did not like it. Now, however, I am able to appreciate the hand-finished process of layers and layers of paint sanded to give the complex and smooth surface to each of his works.

Ken Price, detail

I really find his work, made of painted bronze composite, sensual and stunning.

Jay DeFeo, Untitled, 1973, Gelatin Silver print

Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery has a wonderful show of works on paper and photographs by the late California artist Jay Defeo. The works are delicate and intricate requiring close viewing. The works in the main gallery by Mitzi Pederson are a lovely complement to DeFeo’s works. Pederson’s sculptures are made up of fragile materials but the composite of them create energetic and powerful pieces.

Calder at Gagosian

Calder installation view

In one Gagosian space in Chelsea there are monumental sculptures from the 1960s on view, in the other there are five David Smith works. He sure does know how to fill a gallery with amazing works and pull out the big guns.

El Anatsui installation view

I have written about El Anatsui many times before. I am enamored by his work. Jack Shainman continues his excellent program with an Anatsui show. The gallery fills with yellows, blacks, reds and gold.

Sterling Ruby at Pace Wildenstein

Sterling Ruby has created two large-scale works for Pace’s 22nd Street space. One is a hollowed out and reconfigured bus with individual locked cages replacing the normal bus seating. In the back is an area filled with subwoofers. I am still trying to figure out exactly what these works were all about but they are interesting to see.

Mike Norton at 303

Mike Norton at 303 has his first solo show with the gallery which consists of four trailers connected together filling the enormous space. The viewer is invited to enter the space where knicknacks and various items such as cigarette butts are left making the space look recently occupied. It reminded me of Hello Meth Lab in the Sun by Jonah Freeman, Justin Lowe and Alexandre Singh on view at both Ballroom Marfa in 2008 and Jeffrey Deitch last year.

interior view

But that work had more power and the element of surprise and shock where this simply seemed a bit hollow. I wasn’t quite sure what message the piece was trying to convey.

Installation view, Size DOES Matter, FLAG Art Foundation

“Size DOES Matter” at The FLAG Art Foundation is a heavily marketed show. The fact that it was curated by Shaquille O’Neal only adds to the hype. Most people probably don’t think of Shaq as an art expert. In fact, his interests are quite varied and he has been successful in many endeavors outside of basketball. But it is a bit of stretch to say he “curated” this show. He was shown a variety of works by the heads of the FLAG, and he selected the ones that spoke to him. As a bit of a freak of nature standing at 7′1″ and weighing 320 pounds, size has always mattered to Shaq and the works he selected speak to that. While there are some great works on view by excellent artists, the show feels disjointed and did not speak to me as a cohesive concept.

Anselm Kiefer, Untitled Young Mao

There was a beautiful Anselm Kiefer called Untitled, Young Mao from 2000,

Robert Thierrien

a Robert Thierrien No Title (Table and Six Chairs) from 2003 and works by Hawkinson, Koons, and Kehinde Wiley as well as many others.

Highlights for me:

Bruce High Quality Foundation, We Like America and America Likes Us, 2010

Bruce High Quality Foundation’s “We Like America and America Likes Us” is a cool piece found on the fourth floor. A voiceover plays in a loop commenting on society while images from pop culture are projected onto the windshield of a white ambulance/hearse with glaring lights. Thought provoking.

Tauba Auerbach was born in San Francisco but lives in NYC. She manipulates largescale pieces of raw canvas by folding or rolling them. After flattening them she paints with industrial spray paint creating a tromp l’oeil effect. I had to actually go up to the canvas and look at it from the side to prove to myself that the work was indeed two-dimensional. On view are three paintings that fill one wall of the gallery in shades of salmon, maroon, and purple.

Lesley Vance, Untitled (12), 2009, oil on linen

Lesley Vance works in Los Angeles. Her abstract paintings are based on the still life tradition. Her process involves arranging a still life, photographing it and using those as the basis for her abstract paintings. She manipulates the paint with a palette knife creating compositions in which very little is recognizable but they somehow, “retain the intimacy and refinement of a traditional still life.”

Pae White, Untitled, 2010

On the third floor I enjoyed Pae White’s tapestry that fills the entryway. She creates works that manifest themselves as, “cotton’s dream of becoming something other than itself.”

Kate Gilmore, Still from Standing Here, 2010

I liked the work by Kate Gilmore that explores issues of female identity and displacement. She builds environments and then documents her attempts to conquer the obstacles they present. In high heels and a polka dot dress she attempts to climb out of a sheetrock box. This box is on display in the gallery in which the video is shown. Gilmore had another work on view at the Brooklyn Museum with a similar theme that I enjoyed and wrote about in a previous blog. Certainly a name to watch.

Rashaad Newsome is fascinated with the dance craze from the early 90s–voguing. In this work, he separates it from the cultural and historical background of its rise from underground clubs to pop culture by removing all sound and context from the viewer. In a color video a dancer moves throughout the space on a wooden floor against a white wall. Newsome sees the work as abstracted movements, not a dance performance. “I view these videos as drawings, with the dancers acting as my pen.”

Josephine Meckseper, Mall of America, 2009, video

Jospehine Meckseper’s “Mall of America” is a very interesting video work. She uses documentary footage from shop windows and rides at the Mall of America in Minneapolis and manipulates it by using red and blue filters and adding haunting music. This manipulation results in an abstraction of the known entity into a “hostile, dangerous place.”

Roland Flexner, Untitled, 2008-9, sumi ink on paper

Probably one of my favorite works is by Roland Flexner, an artist from France who lives and works in NYC. “Untitled” 2008-2009 consists of 30 sumi ink on paper drawings. The process is one used by Japanese decorative artists in which paper is laid upon the top of ink floating in water which creates a marbled effect. Flexner alters the composition further by tilting, blowing or blotting the moment before the ink is absorbed by the paper thus creating abstract compositions that often look like fantastical landscapes. I love these images.

Storm Tharp, Jodie Jill, 2009, ink, gouache, and colored pencil on paper

On the second floor I enjoyed works by Storm Tharp. He draws contours for characters on paper using water and adds mineral ink before it has a chance to dry which causes the ink to bleed creating uncertain forms and shapes. He fills in the missing pieces using paint, colored pencil, erasers, etc. He creates detailed narratives of the characters he creates including names and histories. The works are really interesting.

Aurel Schmidt, Master of the Universe: FlexMaster 3000, 2010

Aurel Schmidt is an amazing draftsman. Her intricately detailed drawings are beautiful, however, her subject matter is often ugly. This work includes flies, condoms, beer cans, and cigarette butts which all add up to a representation of a Minotaur. She questions conventions of beauty in her work and the “cyclical process of renewal and decay.”

Dawn Clements, Mrs. Jessica Drummond's, 2010

Dawn Clements has a remarkable large-scale ballpoint pen drawing on view of an interior scene. Her work is always created from real life scenes or from movies from the 1940s or 1950s, but she draws on separate sheets of paper and then combines them altogether to create what appear to be seamless but upon closer examination, are often unnatural looking environments.

Self-Portrait with Straw Hat, 1887, oil on pasteboard, courtesy of the Van Gogh Museum

I wish I had not been so jet lagged and sleep deprived for my visit to this museum which has been on my to do list for at least the past 17 years. But what a tremendous opportunity to see Van Gogh’s work in such breadth!

The Potato Eaters, 1885; Oil on canvas, 81.5 x 114.5 cm; Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam

From his earliest work like The Potato Eaters to his many self-portraits, his sunflowers painted while in Arles, his landscapes from San Remy to his last works from Auvers–there is so much to see. I enjoyed seeing the studies for some of his better-known works. Wish I had had more time to soak it all in and digest it properly. I will definitely return on my next visit to Amsterdam. This is a museum you can’t afford to miss!

Sunflowers, 1889, oil on canvas, 95 x 73 cm, Courtesy of Van Gogh Museum

The Dormition of the Virgin. Before 1567. By Domenikos Theotokopoulos (El Greco, 1541–1614). Egg tempera on wood, priming on textile. 62.5 x 52.5 cm. Courtesy of the Church of the Dormition of the Virgin, Ermoupolis, Syros.

If you have any sort of passing interest in the work of Domenikos Theotokopoulos, better known by his nickname, El Greco, this interesting exhibition on view at the Onassis Cultural Center through February 27th is worth a quick visit. The show “explores the artistic context from which El Greco emerged and displays the various eways in which he and his Cretan antecedents and contemporaries responded to visual influences from other parts of Europe.” While predominantly creating works in a Byzantine style, they also added elements of Late Gothic as well as Venetian painters as a result of the multiculturalness of Cretan society. El Greco was highly influenced by the Byzantine tradition but surprisingly, also influenced by Italian Mannerism as well as Venetian masters such as Titian and Tintoretto.

Self-portrait with Half-Beard, 1943, Gelatin silver print, 7 1/8 x 5 1/8 inches

A quintessential modernist, Man Ray recast the concept of artistic identity by working as a painter, photographer, sculptor, printmaker, filmmaker, poet, and essayist. He utilized techniques not normally associated with fine art: airbrushing paintings, exposing objects on light-sensitive paper to create “rayographs.” Looking back in history, his fame as a photographer overshadowed his accomplishments as a painter. Born Emmanuel Radnitzky he wanted to escape the limitations of his Russian Jewish immigrant past. He moved to Paris in 1921 and was the only American living among the European avant-garde. He created a public persona that assisted him in his desire to gain notoriety while also shrouding himself in oblivion. While living in Paris he photographed other artists to make money as he could not survive on his own painting.

It was wonderful to see the scope of his work (The Jewish Museum curators do an amazing job with their manageable and well-executed shows). In 1913, Ray attended the Armory Show in NY and it had a profound effect on him. He did not create art for 6 months because, he claimed, it took him that long to digest what he had seen. Early paintings on view include a Madonna, a work called Man Ray 1914, and works from his “Revolving Door Series” from 1916-17. Man Ray 1914 was painted at the time he had met the Belgian avant-garde poet Adon Lacroix who introduced him to a new set of artists and ideas. It was also at this time that he moved to an artists’ colony in Ridgefield, New Jersey.Though small, this painting is hugely important as it marks a shift for Ray in which he moves into creating works that are drastically different than his American peers. There are Cubist elements to the work, but the letters M-A-N  R-A-Y are clearly written in the center of the composition filled with pinks, blues, yellows, and grays.

Revolving Doors is made up of collage elements and stamps in earth tones of red, oranges, sepia, and taupe and these are lovely intimate works. In 1926 he created the works as a series of prints and in the 1940s as oil paintings.

Moving Sculpture, 1920

An interesting pairing of works is a painting called Flying Dutchman from 1920 hanging next to a photograph called, Moving Sculpture also from 1920. In the black and white photograph, sheets hang from clotheslines blowing in the wind. The colorful painting transforms the sheets to abstracted white forms (clearly based on the photo but without which the viewer could not recognize that they are actual objects).

Interior, 1918

In Interior Ray challenges the notion of conventional painting technique by using airbrushing. The work is a stylized depiction of his studio including his early Madonna painting in the background as well as a dressmaker’s dummy which is a nod to his father, a tailor.

In 1921, by moving to Paris Man Ray was welcomed by Dadaists and embraced by Surrealists but never officially aligned himself with either group. By the 1930s he was very successful as a commercial photographer which few artists did at that time. His photos graced the pages of Vogue and Vanity Fair magazines and this was how he earned a living. As Man Ray in his own words expressed his photos, “deform the subject as almost to hide the identity of the original, and create a new form.” He cropped, used multiple exposures, and created rayographs in which he placed objects on a sheet of paper and turned on the light. Shadowy forms appeared and everyday objects were rendered mysterious and ambiguous in form. Ray liked them because they offered a more direct relationship to subjects than traditional photography. They almost look like x-rays but instead of seeing more, things are made less clear. I love the small photo Self-Portrait in His Studio at 31 bis rue Campagne Premiere, Paris from 1925. The viewer sees Ray, his image a bit blurred due to his movement at the time of exposure, but every detail of his studio is crisp and clear–paintings, camera, staircase, hat, rug. It is a view into his most personal world.

Stills from Le retour a la raison

Le retour a la raison is a black and white 2 minute silent film from 1923, Ray’s first. He does not use a movie camera to create the work but cut unused film into strips, sprinkling it with salt and pepper, pins, thumbtacks, and developing it as a rayograph. It outraged viewers at the time but it is a mesmerizing and titillating piece of moving abstracted forms.

Anatomies, 1929

Anatomies from 1929 captures a woman’s neck as she leans back. Her chin becomes the top of the composition, a shaded line runs down her throat to her clavicle. It is abstracted but recognizable. It is sensual and erotic but also graceful and stunningly simplistic.

In Hier (part of a photo collage triptych) from 1931, Kiki de Montparnasse (a lover and muse of Man Ray’s) is the model. The small colored circles that are placed in strategic places on her  body remind me of John Baldessari’s circles that cover the faces of found film stills in some of his work.

Gertrude Stein portrait

There is a wall of portraits that Ray took in the show that is wonderful. It includes images of Gertrude Stein (siting in front of Picasso’s painted portrait of her), Marcel Duchamp, Lee Miller, and Andre Breton to name a few.

La Fortune, 1938

By June 1940, Ray had fled to the United States and moved to Hollywood to get as far away as he could from NYC. At this time due to what was happening in Europe, Ray had to face his Jewishness and felt exposed during this time of his life which was very uncomfortable for him. This manifests itself in his paintings from this period. La Fortune from 1938 shows a massive billiard table on an awkward slant surrounded by storm clouds in primary colors.

Winter, 1944

Winter from 1944 was inspired by an Italian Renaissance master and by making a figure from other things, he was able to hide on some level. Masks were a common subject for Ray during the 1940s. At the end of his career he returned to perspectival drawings that he had done at the very beginning of his schooling.

Ray said, “Anybody who does creative arts is a sacred person.” This show on view until March 14th highlights his contributions to art history and his sacredness.