February 4th, 2010
By JRS
DENIM – Curated by David Rimanelli
I once asked shuttle loomer and denim aficionado Matt Weintraub to explain, in as few words as possible, what was behind the complex mystique fueling the denim craze. He wrote me, “I prefer my denim raw, thick, and selvage. Raw means the denim has not been pre-distressed. It’s going to get beat up over time. Every crease, bend, and crinkle is going to reflect your personal story. Whiskers will build, honeycombs will form, and edges will wear. But this is exactly as it should be, as each fade and tear will remind you of where you’ve been.”
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80WSE,
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Charlie White,
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Kenneth Anger,
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NYU,
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Valie,
William Friedkin Posted in
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Photography
February 3rd, 2010
By Kiša Lala
François Pinault with the architect Tadao Ando on the Grand Canal. Photo: Graziano Arici
At the entrance to the city of Venice, parting the waters between the Giudecca and the Grand Canal like a ship’s prow, is the Dogana di Mare, the Sea Custom House from 1677. The Dogana was the port of entry policing the lucrative trade from the Silk Road of exotic cargo from the Orient and a beacon of medieval power, like the Lighthouse of ancient Alexandria. Long neglected, this crumbling decaying watchtower reclaimed attention when it was sought by the Guggenheim Foundation,which with Zaha Hadid as architect, coveted its premises to host its own collection. But in the end, Venice favoured François Pinault’s plans, who, having dropped the Île Seguin project on the Seine, was looking for a second home for his private collections, already installed in the Palazzo Grassi across the canal.
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Alison M. Gingeras,
Bourgeois Bust,
Chapman Brothers,
Charles Ray,
Felix Gonzalez-Torres,
Francesco Bonami,
François Pinault,
Jake and Dinos Chapman,
Jeff Koons,
Kisa Lala,
Maurizio Cattelan,
Maurzio Catellen,
Palazzo Grassi,
Paul McCarthy,
Punta della Dogana,
Tadao Ando Posted in
Architecture,
Art
February 2nd, 2010
By Michelle Cheung
I went uptown on what seemed like the coldest day this winter to find out exactly what it is that Tino Sehgal is doing as part of the museum’s 50th Anniversary celebration. You will not find any photographic or videographic evidence of Tino Sehgal’s latest exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York but, trust me, I saw it and it is there. His latest mise-en-scéne promises to yet again push the boundaries of artwork through performance and participation. After going through his highly personal exhibition, I can attest that this London-born, Berlin-based artist has kept his promise. We, as spectators and participants, go with zero expectations, not even knowing the title of his piece, and leave with an invaluable experience. Any prior knowledge of his work will just taint one’s takeaway, and this is why I hesitate to say more. The existentialist in anyone will find inspiration and meaning in his work. If you can take my word for it, then you should stop reading this now.
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February 2nd, 2010
By JRS
Joseph Ari Aloi, aka JK5. Photo by Bryce Ward.
The early twentieth-century house stands like a beacon in the middle of the block on a quiet Fort Greene, Brooklyn street. Ornate cast-iron columns elucidate austere architectural integrity. Shadowing the archetypal structure, a mass of concrete, glass, and, undoubtedly, new stainless steel appliances for marketing brokers to crow about in the Sunday real estate section of the Times lurches upward out of the earth, seemingly to overpower its predecessor. I ask my host if he’s ever seen the film Up. He laughs and nods, saying that he watched it the previous night. His glance travels across the rubble-strewn lot with a look sentimental despondency before it dies on a piece of modern machinery; he’s an old soul in a young and intricately adorned body, which he refers to as his “Jedi Knight-flight suit.”
Joseph Ari Aloi, aka JK5, is a modern-day Baudelaire; a strange flower offering a vestige of color in a barren and cragged winter field. When he speaks directly to you, it’s nearly impossible to break the gaze of his Husky-esque eyes, fearing one sidelong glance will deter this fiercely unique conversation. It seems quite possible that no one has ever strung together a sentence in such a beautifully congenital and elaborate web. Perhaps that’s what makes discussing his art in close-cropped, minute detail such an undertaking. When it comes to his work, he’s as articulate as he is loquacious.
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January 28th, 2010
By JRS
"Monument 8" by Lin Yan
In the tradition of Isabelle de Borchgrave’s paper-based artistic musings is Yin Lan, the Chinese-born artist currently residing in New York with her husband and partner, Wei Jia. While de Borchgrave focuses primarily on high fashions from the courts of the Medici in the Renaissance to the legendary Fortuny silks of the early 20th century, using her workshop to cut, fold, and paint the paper she uses, Yin Lan uses Xuan paper to manipulate the contour of her creations.
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January 22nd, 2010
By JRS
"Howl" by Josh Keyes
The perpetually dystopian Pacific North-westerner Josh Keyes is now participating in his first solo show at Chelsea’s Jonathan Levine Gallery. Through February 13th, Fragment is showcasing the most recent efforts of the artist as a statement of metropolitan and contemporary society’s large disconnect from nature. Keyes says of the show, “Through my work I attempt to examine the phenomenon of transformation, in a metaphorical interpretation of both biological and psychological change. These paintings embody an idiosyncratic vision, yet the familiar imagery allows for a connection to collective concerns, shared globally. The animals I paint personify unconscious drives and energies. The tension created when unconscious elements meet the conscious landscape is something that holds tremendous mystery and fascination for me. It is in this space that I feel free to explore the depths of archetypal and mythical potentiality. What began as a personal journey has (I hope) translated into images with emotional impact that resonate with others to question their own temporality.”
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January 21st, 2010
By Michelle Cheung
Todd James, Don't Stop Get It Get It, 2009. Courtesy of Gering & López Gallery, New York.
There’s beauty in deciphering a stranger, but I didn’t expect to find it from Todd James. Also known as the graffiti writer REAS, James is recognized for his sexually and violently charged illustrations with comical overtones. When he called me last week, a few days before the opening of his first Stateside solo show, Make My Burden Lighter, I had expected a Todd James that personified his work, one that was funny and maybe even a little bit crude. He was neither. Instead, he showed genuine wisdom that, with no exaggeration, moved me. I carried this wisdom when I visited his show a day later.
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January 21st, 2010
By JRS
"Polarized" by Donna Cleary
Manhattan’s Leo Kesting Gallery has something that all galleries in New York have been striving for as of late. It’s not just their pristine location (812 Washington Street at Gansevoort, right on the cusp of the Meatpacking District in the West Village), and it’s not only their preternatural artist-scouting (Daniel Edwards, sculptor-extraordinare responsible for “Paris Hitlon Autopsy,” among others). Leo Kesting is a very wide stride ahead of the pack because of the panache they inject back into the art world, making it young and fresh and enjoyable to immerse oneself in. On this tree-lined Village street, the gallery that reins supreme is that which doesn’t pander to a collector who graces the opening, rather, it is the artist who is the center of attention. It’s hard to imagine this ever not being the case.
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January 21st, 2010
By Kiša Lala
Antony Gormley, Amazonian Field, 1992, Terracotta, Courtesy of the artist and White Cube, London
One way to combat the unusual winter cold in London, while griping about climate change, is to curl up under a handmade rug and a hot water thermos in the portico of the Royal Academy of Arts at 6 Burlington Gardens, where Sketch has opened a pop-up café to coincide with the exhibition Earth: Art of a Changing World funded by GSK Contemporary. Above me – while I nibble oysters and sip champagne, seated on recycled cardboard chairs - is CO2morrow, an LED-lit, virus-like installation clinging to the façade of the building, showing the fluctuating levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. The display (by Lutyens and Marianantoni) is fed by data from external monitoring systems, and inspired by the idea of a zeolite, a scrubber molecule that “scrubs” CO2 from pollutants, which may be yet another engineered hope for our future.
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Ackroyd & Harvey,
Antony Gormley,
Joesph Beuys,
Kisa Lala,
Mariele Neudecker,
Royal Academy of Arts,
Sketch,
Tomas Saraceno,
UVA Posted in
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