As New York wilts under May’s overripe humidity, Simon Preston Gallery’s latest show carries an appropriately strong whiff of decay. A solo exhibition by Josh Tonsfeldt, the eponymous show is split between Simon Preston and GalerieVidalCuglietta, in Brussels. The two spaces are united by a process of architectural superimposition; Tonsfeldt’s multifaceted installation strews both spaces with structural elements and material ephemera, all of which originated from an abandoned Iowan farm hom... [more]
I remembered my desire to meditate more often when I visited “Cui Fei: Tracing the Origin” at Chambers Fine Art. The moment I ducked into the gallery I was overcome with a sense of quietude. I muttered aloud to myself: what is the Chinese equivalent to the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi? As I scanned the twisted metal and vine that makes up much of the work of this young Chinese artist, I remembered that the origins of “Wabi” (despondence) and “Sabi” (solitude) are distinctly Chinese.... [more]
THE AUDIENCE, REMIXED
Haroon Mirza at Frieze Sounds, by Ryan Wong
Haroon Mirza has made his reputation as an artist of the remix. He structures the unglamorous beeps and buzzes of antiquated audio technology into beats and melodies. But he also appreciates those machines for their sculptural qualities, synchronizing their sounds with lights and moving pieces – as if Kraftwerk were building a Rube Goldberg machine. Part music, part sculpture, part architectural intervention, Mirza... [more]
ART AND LITERATURE
Lydia Davis at Frieze Talks prompts James Thompson to compare the visual and the literary
The art fair as cultural event is pretty well established now. It makes sense to use the pretext of the weird art supermarket that forms the body of the fair as an excuse for a wider programme; it adds interest and tempers the slightly distasteful frenzy that makes it so difficult to actually see the art everyone's here for.
As part of this year's Frieze New York we have the... [more]
This year’s Frieze New York fair sees the Projects portion of its programming celebrating FOOD, the historic restaurant-artwork hybrid most associated with artist Gordon Matta-Clark. While the Projects’ inaugural theme was turning Randall’s Island into a “fantasy world,” according to curator Cecilia Alemani, its second year focuses on “basic actions such as eating, drinking, speaking and praying… [engaging] the ritualistic dimension of the fair and the unique landscape of the island.”... [more]
Haroon Mirza has made his reputation as an artist of the remix. He structures the unglamorous beeps and buzzes of antiquated audio technology into beats and melodies. But he also appreciates those machines for their sculptural qualities, synchronizing their sounds with lights and moving pieces – as if Kraftwerk were building a Rube Goldberg machine. Part music, part sculpture, part architectural intervention, Mirza remixes not just sounds but the spaces they inhabit.
For his Frieze Sounds commission... [more]
The art fair as cultural event is pretty well established now. It makes sense to use the pretext of the weird art supermarket that forms the body of the fair as an excuse for a wider programme; it adds interest and tempers the slightly distasteful frenzy that makes it so difficult to actually see the art everyone's here for.
As part of this year's Frieze New York we have the opportunity to attend a reading and Q&A session with Lydia Davis. For those of you who aren't familiar with her, as well as b... [more]
New York, May 2013: In conjunction with the release of the monograph Sorted Books, the latest installment of Nina Katchadourian’s ongoing series of organized bookspines and covers, Once Upon a Time in Delaware/In Quest of the Perfect Book will be on display at Catharine Clark Gallery, New York as of May 10th, coinciding with the Frieze New York art fair. In her Sorted Books project, which has spanned two decades, the artist re-organizes books of various global collections and libraries into ne... [more]
When Joan Linder draws something she tends to do it with such intensity that the image on the page makes a monument out of whatever her subject may be. For her fifth solo show at Mixed Greens Linder’s subject is her kitchen sink: a standard double-bowl fixture in stainless steel with a single-headed faucet that has a pullout spray option and a drying rack in one bowl. She’s depicted it three different ways in eleven new works that collectively invest this sink with the status of an icon. In... [more]
Translating politics into art is tricky. One false move, and a poignant statement can become overreaching or worse, preachy—its message trounced by the annoyance of the opposition or apolitical. It is a magic moment when an artist brings politics into art in a manner that is both visually stunning and conceptually provocative, which is the case with Molly Crabapple’s exhibition of new paintings. "Shell Game" does this beautifully. In these works inspired by the birth of Occupy Wall Street,... [more]
This is a tale of unparalleled devotion. This is a tale of inspired vision. This is a tale of heaving beauty, of divine obsession, of possession, of cosmic light embodied.
This is the ballad of Jay DeFeo.
Jay DeFeo in the old country saw color and light, in cruciform, in carmine and ochre and earth. She traveled in the footsteps of monks, perhaps not knowing, yet with her she brought back vivid memories of primal shapes and magic circles, spirals, stars, crosses.
She painted Mountains, Origins,... [more]
"Blues for Smoke": Ambiguity and Duality, Arpeggios and Be-bop Changes by Lee Ann Norman Jean-Michel Basquiat, Romare Bearden, Roy DeCarava, Jeff Donaldson, Melvin Edwards, Renee Green, David Hammons, Martin Kippenbenger, Zoe Leonard, Glenn Ligon, Mark Morrisroe, William Pope.L, Lorna Simpson, Bob Thompson, Wu Tsang, Carrie Mae Weems, Jack Whitten, Martin Wong at Whitney Museum of American Art
February 7th - April 28th
Posted
4/1/13
“The blues self is an improvised self. It doesn’t shy away from the difficulty that that entails. When you improvise yourself in culture, you may get some blowback.”[1]
Halfway through the exhibition, a nondescript listening station for John “Jaki” Byard’s 1960 release Blues for Smoke hangs on the wall facing Glenn Ligon’s oil and acrylic text-based reflections and Zoe Leonard’s vintage blue suitcases. When you wander through the exhibition, don’t forget to look for it—yo... [more]
The Promise of the Image by Noah Dillon David Baskin, Jennifer Bolande, Antoine Catala, Katarina Elven, João Enxuto, Erica Love, Virginia Overton, Lewis Stein, Fischli and Weiss at carriage trade
March 9th - May 19th
Posted
3/25/13
Every product suggests itself first as an imagistic extension of one’s body and mind: consuming, being clothed, experiencing a situation, being enhanced, or encountering pleasure. Even an ergonomically designed shampoo bottle is the anthropomorphic picture of an imagined hand. Critical viewers typically regard such representations with conscious skepticism and probably as often with unconscious approval. “The Pathos of Things,” at Carriage Trade, puts such contradictions under scrutiny. The show... [more]
White Columns in New York just opened the first solo exhibition in the United States by the New York-based Norwegian artist Sverre Bjertnes. The show is titled If you really loved me you would be able to admit that you’re ashamed of me, and has been developed by Sverre Bjertnes in collaboration with the artist Bjarne Melgaard. The exhibition presents new paintings and works on paper by Bjertnes, as well as earlier works. Furthermore, the show includes collaborative works made with both Melgaard and the artist’s mother Randi Koren... [more]
“If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive.” —Audre Lorde
One might assume that the power of the artist lies in his ability to create his subjects. The series of portraits shown in Barkley L. Hendricks’ Heart Hands Eyes Mind, however, finds its unique authority in the artist’s capacity to allow his characters to define themselves. Rather than dictating the terms of their appearances, Hendricks seems to paint his su... [more]
In the last forty-eight hours I’ve walked through six fairs, looked over the presentations of more than 350 galleries, and seen the work of more than 1000 artists. If pressed to put an adjective to the experience, I’d choose enthusiastic, because when you attend these sorts of events in the first few days of the run everyone is pretty hopeful. Everyone smiles, and if you can keep your tradeshow cynicism at bay, you can soak up some of the excitement and be energized. The trick is to not take... [more]
add to mylist
forward by email
print this page
subscribe