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Charlie Schultz
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Reflections from the East
by Charlie Schultz
Double Fly Art Center, Cheng Ran, Zhou Tiehai, Chen Wei, Hu Xiangqian, Sun Xun, LIANG Yuanwei, Zhao Zhao at James Cohan Gallery
June 16th, 2011 - July 29th, 2011
Posted
6/26/11
'Tis the season of the MFA group show, in my opinion the most democratic of art exhibitions. Why? Because the artworks are supremely individualized, the only binding relationship being one of relatively minor consequence: these artists are fellow graduates; they are peers. And that’s it. There are no key themes or hot topics. If conceptual or aesthetic linkages occur it can generally be chalked up to coincidence or perhaps early signs of a possible zeitgeist. These shows are about individual artists... [more]
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Back Back Story
by Charlie Schultz
Jimbo Blachly & Lytle Shaw (editors, Chadwick Family Papers) at Winkleman Gallery
June 16th, 2011 - July 29th, 2011
Posted
6/26/11
When Bob Dylan sang, “Everybody is building big ships and boats, some are building monuments and some are just jotting down notes,” he might as well have been singing about Jimbo Blachly and Lytle Shaw. These two—an artist and a poet, respectively—are the editors of the Chadwick Family papers. Who are the Chadwicks? Kin with an extensive collection of nautical artifacts, the core of which has been brought together for this very exhibition.
Furling the Spanker: Masterworks from the Chad... [more]
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Interview with David LaChapelle
by Charlie Schultz
2011-06-05
New York, May 2011 – In 2006 David LaChapelle did something he never imagined he would do: say no to Madonna. It was a decision that would trigger a profound and positive change in his life. After that the legendary photographer of celebrities stepped away from the commercial world and moved off the grid to a retreat in Maui with visions of farming. There were more pictures in him, he knew, but he didn’t think galleries and museums were an option.
That changed when his long-time friend and production manag... [more]
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Cigarettes, Hold the Coffee
by Charlie Schultz
Wang Tiande at Chambers Fine Art
May 5th, 2011 - June 25th, 2011
Posted
5/15/11
The great Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges once imagined a library filled with books of every language, written using all possible combinations of words and letters, which added up to a lot of indecipherable texts. Borges called the story “The Library of Babel” and sitting in the reading room of Wang Tiande’s exhibition, 3,720: Recent Works by Wang Tiande, I had the feeling I was in a wing of Borges’ library. A nice wooden table sat in the center of a well-lit, noiseless room. Wooden bo... [more]
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A Painter's First Breaks
by Charlie Schultz
Li Songsong at Pace Gallery - 25th St.
May 6th, 2011 - August 5th, 2011
Posted
5/15/11
As a general rule I avoid absolutes because there simply are very few artists creating work that is truly and completely unlike the efforts of their peers. However the young Chinese artist Li Songsong has cultivated a style that is so utterly his own that I feel capable of writing the forbidden sentence: Nobody paints like Li Songsong. It’s not his subject matter that distinguishes him. Many painters work with imagery that is representational and largely historic. Nor is it his process; he works... [more]
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Act III
by Charlie Schultz
Posted
2/20/11
Josh Smith: Stage PaintingsLuhring Augustine 531 West 24th StreetNew York, NY 10011
The stage is not just for theatre anymore. In between Koh’s calming salt mountain and the violent onslaught of color and cult symbolism that is Hermann Nitsch, check out Josh Smith’s “Stage Paintings” at Luhring Augustine. They provide a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor that is the perfect compliment to a pair of extreme and intense performance-based exhibitions.
~Charlie Schultz
Image: Josh Smith, “Stage... [more]
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Maestro in Action
by Charlie Schultz
Hermann Nitsch at Mike Weiss Gallery
February 19th, 2011 - March 19th, 2011
Posted
2/20/11
Hermann Nitsch, the septuagenarian Austrian artist, is known for some pretty grisly performance art. His most famous work (performed in a variety of ways over one hundred times), Orgies Mystery Theatre, features freshly slaughtered animals and entrails on display. This sets the stage for Nitsche pouring blood over the naked bodies of people tied to crosses. The art world celebrates this gore, and holds it up as evidence that artists are not too timid to deal frankly with the visceral nastiness of ma... [more]
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Life in the Fast Lane
by Charlie Schultz
Terence Koh at Mary Boone Gallery - 24th St.
February 12th, 2011 - March 19th, 2011
Posted
2/20/11
Mary Boone’s bookshelves, usually occupied by a panoply of big art books, are barren. In fact, the only object in Mary Boone’s Chelsea gallery, besides the gallerist’s desk and phone in the anteroom, is a heaping mound of sodium chloride. It’s not the refined table variety, but the kind of industrial looking salt you’d expect to be stored in a highway maintenance facility. The salt pile, which peaks out around six feet, has a conical shape as if it had been poured in the center of Boone... [more]
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The Case of Capa
by Charlie Schultz
Posted
1/23/11
The Mexican Suitcase: Rediscovered Spanish Civil War negatives by Capa, Chim, and TaroSeptember 24, 2010–May 8, 2011
International Center of Photography (ICP)1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rdNew York, NY 10036
The walls on the ground floor of ICP are full of contact sheets and old school black and white prints—the kind that come out of a dark room stinking like chemicals. These are the finds that came out of Robert Capa’s infamously lost “Mexican suitcase.” This historic exhibitio... [more]
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Violent Impact
by Charlie Schultz
Wang Qingsong at International Center of Photography (ICP)
January 21st, 2011 - May 8th, 2011
Posted
1/23/11
It’s an open secret that in China creative liberties are extended at the behest of the government. In the confines of the studio anything goes, but outside those sacred walls it’s a different story. For many artists the trick to avoiding the authority’s paranoid scrutiny is to simply keep a low profile. Freedom of the unseen. Wang Qingsong (pronounced: Wong Ching-song) can’t stay out of sight. Wang works like a film director, creating elaborate stages and employing dozens of actors. On s... [more]
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Here, There, Wherever
by Charlie Schultz
Hai Bo at Pace/MacGill Gallery
January 20th, 2011 - February 26th, 2011
Posted
1/23/11
In Samuel Beckett’s classic play Waiting for Godot, Estragon and Vladimir do their best to kill time while they wait for someone whom they wouldn’t even recognize if they saw him. It’s absurd, of course, but it can also be understood as a life-affirming allegory: it doesn’t really matter if you take an active or passive approach to life, either way will work. The photographer Hai Bo (pronounced: High Bo) employs both strategies. He creates scenarios in which old friends and acquaintances inte... [more]
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Americanana
by Charlie Schultz
Posted
12/12/10
Bertha & Karl Leubsdorf Art Gallery68th Street & Lexington Ave.West Lobby New York, NY 10021Hours: Tues. - Sat., 1 - 6pm
Americanana, curated by Katy Siegel, brings together an interesting selection of American art from Charles Sheeler to Donald Judd to Kara Walker. The exhibition also takes a look at pervious efforts at establishing American identity such as installation shots of “Americana” from the 1985 Whitney Biennial as well as photographs of the art colony in Ogunquit, Maine. It’s a conc... [more]
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Super Supper
by Charlie Schultz
Peter Greenaway at Park Avenue Armory
December 3rd, 2010 - January 6th, 2011
Posted
12/12/10
Almost anyone in tune with western pop culture can imagine Leonardo da Vinci’s painting “The Last Supper.” What one thinks of the famous fresco is a matter totally unrelated; the image is there in our collective psyche as if it were contemporary with our age. To further enhance with high def rigor is the goal Peter Greenaway, filmmaker and artist, set for himself when he began Ten Classic Paintings Revisited with Rembrandt’s “Night Watch.” The project brings cinematic life to classic... [more]
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Carnal Home
by Charlie Schultz
JOHN CURRIN at Gagosian Gallery - Madison Ave.
November 4th, 2010 - December 23rd, 2010
Posted
12/12/10
One reason pornography is a pleasure enjoyed more in privacy than amongst one’s peers is because one simply can’t get the same thrill in public. Satisfying the old carnal appetites is like being gay in the military; everyone is fine with it so long as it’s not out in the open. Shame seems to be part of the equation, but who exactly is ashamed is less obvious. This is the major hurdle to be overcome for anyone who wants to get more from John Currin’s paintings than perverse libidinal titillat... [more]
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Seven
by Charlie Schultz
Posted
12/8/10
SEVEN2214 North Miami AvenueMiami, FL 33127
What began in 2006 with a trio of galleries opting out of the ubiquitous ice cube tray format of art fairs has this year matured into a full-fledged exhibition no longer playing second fiddle in the orchestrated hullabaloo of Miami’s Art Basel. Seven, spear-headed by Joe Amrhein of Pierogi Gallery, occupied a sprawling warehouse in the Wynwood art district. With 24,000 square feet of space and only seven participating galleries—by far the shortest list... [more]
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Undraftsmenlike Conduct
by Charlie Schultz
Posted
11/7/10
The Drawing Center35 Wooster StNew York, NY, 10013
A double-header exhibition at the Drawing Center is an ideal spot to pause and consider the good old tradition of pencil on paper. Just don’t expect anything traditional. Gerhard Richter presents a series of loose sketch work spanning four decades of productivity, while Claudia Wieser offers a sight specific installation that uses mirrors, gold leaf, glazed ceramic tiles, and lots of photocopies to a dizzying sensational effect.
Imag... [more]
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Free Your Aesthetics
by Charlie Schultz
A.K. Burns & Katherine Hubbard at Recess Activities, Inc.
October 13th, 2010 - December 11th, 2010
Posted
11/7/10
Oscar Wilde famously said that it is only shallow people who don’t judge by appearances. If he was wrong why would dress codes exist? The fact is we all know this, how we look is for many the crux of expressing who we are. We read people’s choices of hats, haircuts, shoes, etc. as a kind of visual language, a code that reveals some qualities of their wearer’s personal identity. We do this naturally, almost without thinking, which is why it’s important to acknowledge it.
In... [more]
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Death Does Its Part
by Charlie Schultz
Matthew Day Jackson at Peter Blum Gallery- Soho
September 17th, 2010 - November 13th, 2010
Posted
11/7/10
From the perspective of the empiricist, it’s not often once finds oneself walking underneath an artwork, neck craned back for an upward gaze, shoulders brushing hulking wooden sculptures. Even in the realm of installation art the narrow corridor isn’t a common spatial creation, but it’s precisely what Matthew Day Jackson evokes in his new large-scale work, The Tomb, at Peter Blum’s Soho Gallery.
The Tomb is more than just a passageway; it’s a freestanding sculptural piece large and complex enou... [more]
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Book Warm
by Charlie Schultz
Posted
10/17/10
McNally Jackson Books52 Prince StreetNew York, NY, 10012
This excellent outlet of literature and hot drinks is a great place to kill time, warm up, read up, and check emails. Apart from two floors of well-stocked bookshelves, McNally Jackson has a superb magazine section that gives such low profile topics as contemporary poetry a full rack. Plus the staff is intelligent and helpful pretty much across the board. It seems like everyone knows where everything is and if they don’t th... [more]
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Truths and Dares
by Charlie Schultz
Daniel Joseph Martinez at Simon Preston Gallery
September 12th, 2010 - October 31st, 2010
Posted
10/17/10
For those whose artistic credo follows the isolationist thinking of “art for art’s sake,” be warned, Daniel Joseph Martinez’s recent work obeys no such boundaries. In his first solo show at Simon Preston Gallery Martinez installed four pieces made in the last two years, the sum of which amounts to cyclical dialogue connecting thoughts on religion, politics, and nature, through a consideration of violence.
Standing amidst the three works in the main room is both disturbing and d... [more]
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Stitching Finds
by Charlie Schultz
Tony Cox at 211 Elizabeth Street
September 12th, 2010 - October 31st, 2010
Posted
10/17/10
Writing about surrealism in the 1920’s, Walter Benjamin coined the term “profane illumination” to describe the process through which one found an element of the uncanny in the most mundane objects. The Kentucky-born artist, Tony Cox, is no surrealist but he does have a particular knack for transforming everyday debris into otherworldly objects.
White Trash Mystic, Cox’s debut solo exhibition in New York, combines two practices in contemporary art that rarely enjoy one another’s company... [more]
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Tomme in the Room
by Charlie Schultz
Posted
9/12/10
Project Room in Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery526 W 26th St. #213New York, NY, 10001
When you’ve just about had enough of found objects being turned into sculptures and are starting to see artistic potential in everything from your shoe to your phone, poke your head into the Project Room. Jason Tomme has filled it with some rather witty work. Teaser: “Alone on the dock with a clock and a rock. A clone on the dock with a clock and a rock.”
--Charlie Schultz
Image: Jason Tomme. Courtesy N... [more]
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From Hostility to Humor
by Charlie Schultz
Melvin Edwards at Alexander Gray Associates
September 8th, 2010 - October 16th, 2010
Posted
9/12/10
Melvin Edwards makes unsettling sculptures for unpleasant realities. From America’s legacy of lynching to our drawn-out war in Iraq, Edwards is an unflinching artistic responder. He’s also kind of funny from time to time, entirely resourceful, and deeply connected to his African roots.
Edwards’s solo exhibition at Alexander Gray Associates spans a forty-six year period—essentially a condensed retrospective—of the sculptor’s laudable career. Trained in LA, Edwards hit... [more]
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The Glass
by Charlie Schultz
Patrick Jackson at Nicole Klagsbrun
September 10th, 2010 - October 23rd, 2010
Posted
9/12/10
A thirsty man in a lounge chair once asked, “if you throw an empty glass into a swimming pool, is it still an empty glass?” He was an artist, and what he was getting at was the question of content. Posed slightly differently, if you make an artwork with random and/or largely unconsidered subject matter but concentrate heavily on the process of making the work, will the work be devoid of content?
The Los Angles based artist, Patrick Jackson, just opened a solo exhibition at Nicol... [more]
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Next Door Neighbors
by Charlie Schultz
Posted
8/9/10
Verb Café and Spoonbill & Sugartown
218 Bedford Ave,
Brooklyn, NY
Half way between Capricious Space and Causey Contemporary you might need to stop for an iced coffee, and if you’re like me you won’t be able to walk by one of Williamsburg’s finest independent bookstores. Fortunately Verb Café and the Spoonbill are next door neighbors!
--Charlie Schultz
(Image: Courtesy of Charlie Schultz) [more]
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Fleeting Moments of Relief
by Charlie Schultz
Mara Baldwin, Alana Celii, Chris Domenick, Zack Genin, Dana Gentile, Aisling Hamrogue, Emily Klass, Lauren Maresca, Erin Jane Nelson, Jessica Olm, Jessica Williams, Grant Willing at Capricious Space
July 14th, 2010 - August 21st, 2010
Posted
8/9/10
As far as mental escapes from life’s various grinds go, I think it’s safe to say that most people turn to music. It’s accessible, direct, and intimate in a way that visual images simply can’t be. As an example I’d cite subway riders, those tuned into their headphones always appear far more transported than magazine or newspaper perusers.
Curated by Karen Codd, Saturday Sun at Capricious Space offers a spread of works—primarily photo-centric—that focus on these fleet... [more]
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Condition of Dualities
by Charlie Schultz
Shen Chen, R. L. Croft, Michel Demanche, Jordan Eagles, Cui Fei, Young Kim, NORMAN MOONEY, Zane York at Causey Contemporary
July 16th, 2010 - August 23rd, 2010
Posted
8/8/10
Coincidental Opposites, the summer group show at Causey Contemporary, takes the condition of dualities as its curatorial platform. But don’t think the exhibition’s strength emanates from the old yin-yang philosophy. Rather like a fine meal, it’s the pairing of eclectic yet complimentary elements that gives cohesion and vitality to the show as a whole.
There are eight artists in the exhibition and each has contributed fully matured work. Perhaps the most spectacular is Jordan Eag... [more]
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Well Staffed
by Charlie Schultz
Posted
7/18/10
BES ~ Boutique Eat Shop599 West 22nd St (at 11th Ave)New York, NY 10011 Telephone: 212-414-8700
Inspired by the artist Gordon Matta Clark’s restaurant “Food”, the Boutique Eat Shop is a “by artist for artist” establishment. Everyone on the staff is an artist, literally, and the place is decked out with eye stopping contemporary art works. BES is brand new in the neighborhood, definitely worth checking out.
Image: “The House at the Counter” of BES.
--Charlie Schultz [more]
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Magic Kingdom
by Charlie Schultz
Adam Cvijanovic, David Humphrey at Postmasters
June 29th, 2010 - August 6th, 2010
Posted
7/18/10
Salvador Dali once said of Disney that he was the only true surrealist in America. Were Dali to rise from the dead and peruse Adam Cvijanovic and David Humphrey’s exhibition, Defrosted: a life of Walt Disney, I think he would wholeheartedly approve. A large mural presents the arc of Disney’s life as a highly refined spectacle; an installation evokes the melee and slapdash associations of artistic collaboration. And then there is a crypt with a low-fi remake of the Disney classic ... [more]
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Where Art Thee
by Charlie Schultz
Einat Amir, Daniel Bozhkov, Xavier Cha, Eteam, Hope Hilton, Nancy Hwang, Dave McKenzie. at The Kitchen
June 25th, 2010 - August 7th, 2010
Posted
7/18/10
There’s something like six billion people on the planet, so it would seem like an art form engineered to engage strangers would have the potential for a very broad impact. It might—I can’t speak for all six billion of us—but I can say for sure that such work draws its energy from public interaction. And if you happen to be the one interacting with the work, it always somehow seems that it is there just for you.
In The Absolutely Other, a group show of New York based artists curated by Miria... [more]
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