Art Hag

Objets d'Art | Quick peeks into a few Chelsea galleries

*Matthew Marks on West 24th Street presents New Sculpture by Vincent Fecteau.  The eight, papier-mache works on view were completed by 40-year-old, San Francisco-based Fecteau in 2008 and were structured around a "semi-inflated beach ball which he then manipulated and removed from the cavity of each work."  The results are awkwardly shaped, vibrantly colored sculptures that remind me of kid's Play-Doh models.  See more at Matthewmarks.com.  Through October 24th.

*Newman Popiashvili Gallery on West 22nd is currently hosting Riddlin Doors, a psychedelic, sensory-overload, installation by 26-year-old, Brooklyn-based artist Raul deNieves.  Upon entering the gallery space, you are overwhelmed by the graphic black and white striped floor and matching sculptures, collages, paintings and drawings.  Off to the right corner is a closet-like space deNieves built to house an opposing, Technicolor scene of Pepto Bismol pink, sparkles, glitter, balloons, and strobe lights.  Learn more at npgallery.com.  Through October 31st.

*Over at Tanya Bonakdar's second-floor gallery is a series of folksy paintings by Swedish painter Rita Lundqvist.  The works feature simply drawn characters in minimal settings composed in flat, muted colors "that suggest hidden narratives... pulling the viewer into their enigmatic world."  Lundqvist's subtle paintings evoke a quiet, mysterious, slightly eerie vibe.  Read more at Tanyabonakdargallery.com.  Through October 24th.  

*The Jack Shainman Gallery on West 20th presents Up in Suze's Room, a series of new paintings by British-born/Las Vegas-based artist, Tim Bavington.  Bavington makes colorful, rainbow-striped abstracts inspired by album covers, musical "chords, notes, guitar necks and solos."  According to the show's press release, the artist takes these influences and "approximat[es] their equivalents in color and then spray[s] them with synthetic polymer onto canvas."  Bavington references Paul Weller (the show's title is taken from Weller lyrics), Ramones, The White Stripes, and David Bowie (yay!), along with REM and Oasis (yawn!).  Learn more at Jackshainman.com.  Through October 10th.

*Backtracking upwards to West 26th Street, the James Cohan Gallery currently has on view Lonely Miracle: Middle East Contemporary Art by 32-year-old, Chinese conceptual artist, Xu Zhen.  The Shanghai-born Zhen is a bit of a cheeky, con artist who often takes on different guises or creates alternate realities "in order to confront socio-political taboos within the context of contemporary China."  In Lonely Miracle, Zhen falsely presents "paintings, sculptures and installations by a 'new generation' of Middle Eastern artists," with the intent of provoking thought about "issues of cultural perception."  Read more at Jamescohan.com.  Through October 10th.

*And finally, Pace Wildenstein's West 25th Street space is currently displaying James Turrell: Large Holograms.  The 66-year-old Turrell, who often works with light and space, produced the 15 large-scale "transmission light works" on view here between 2007-2008.  Measuring over 5 feet in height (some are taller than 6 feet), the holograms "examine the phenomenon of light itself, capturing its normally fleeting qualities and allowing light to become the object."  See more at Pacewildenstein.com.  Through October 17th.

Vincent Fecteau, Untitled, 2008, at Matthew Marks

Vincent Fecteau, Untitled, 2008, at Matthew Marks

3 works by Raul deNieves at Newman Popiashvili Gallery

Raul deNieves at Newman Popiashvili Gallery

Rita Lundqvist, Sailors, 2009

Rita Lundqvist, Two Girls and Two Boys, 2009

Tim Bavington, Cold Fire, 2009, at Jack Shainman Gallery

Tim Bavington, Fell In Love With a Girl, 2009, at Jack Shainman Gallery

Xu Zhen, Things I see every morning when I wake up and think of every night before I sleep, 2009, at James Cohan Gallery

James Turrell at Pace Wildenstein

Uptown Gals | Barbara Kruger and Maya Lin

I made it up to The Lever House on Park Avenue between 53rd and 54th while it was still warm and sunny out yesterday.  Yay!  I went to check out Barbara Kruger's Between Being Born and Dying adhesive vinyl messages covering the entire lobby (inside and out) of the building.  Kruger used thick, white Helvetica ultra-condensed letters on a black background to write out statements regarding "power, gender roles, social relationships, political issues, consumerism, and individual autonomy and desire" (from the press release).

Emblazoned across the exterior walls and windows, the artist declares for passersby to read:  "Know nothing, forget everything, believe anything," "Plenty should be enough," and "In violence we forget who we are" (a quote borrowed from Mary McCarthy). 

On the interior walls and windows she states: "If it screams, shove it," "If it vomits, starve it," "If it sees, blind it," "If it laughs, choke it," "If it cries, drown it," "If it sighs, shame it," "If it loves, buy it," and "If it moves, fuck it." 

The three columns in the center of the lobby say: "The globe shrinks for those that own it," and "Between being born and dying."  On the floor, the artist wrote: "You make history when you do business," and "A rich man's jokes are always funny." 

Being a sucker for most 80's nostalgia, the big, bold, declarative text immediately makes me think of British designer Katherine Hamnett's "Choose Life" slogan t-shirts which inspired the "Frankie Say Relax" tees.  Kruger, who was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1945 and now splits her time between New York City and Los Angeles where she teaches at UCLA, said about her installation, "I think what I'm trying to do is create moments of recognition.  To try to detonate some kind of feeling or understanding of lived experience...  I try to deal with the complexities of power and social life, but as far as the visual presentation goes I purposely avoid a high degree of difficulty."  Check out the Lever House Art Collection's website here.

I was super psyched to see that The Lever House still has Tom Sachs' Hello Kitty Sculptures outside the building.  I saw them at the opening reception way back in May 2008 (Wow!  Time flies!) but didn't dare take pictures that night (how gauche!) in front of all the fancy-schmancy pants at the party.  So I was finally able to freely take pics of the adorable giants which are down below.  Learn more about Sachs at the artist's website Tomsachs.org.

On a separate trip I made uptown last Friday, I checked out Maya Lin's Recycled Landscapes at Salon 94.  The gallery is located on the first floor of a swank, residential townhouse on East 94th Street.  Lin's works are small sculptures made from recycled items including plastic toys, plastic bottle caps, balls, children's board books, copies of The Yellow Pages, atlases, cardboard boxes, and those plastic bubble containers that hold toys you get out of bubble-gum machines.  Lin makes perfect orbs out of the gaudy, plastic pieces, carves multi-layered craters and crevices into the phone books and atlases, and constructs mountain peaks out of the cardboard.  See more at salon94.com, read my previous post on Lin here, and see my pics below.

Barbara Kruger, The Lever House exterior, Park Avenue side

Barbara Kruger, The Lever House 54th Street entrance

Barbara Kruger, "If It Vomits, Starve It"

Tom Sachs (Hello Kitty)

Tom Sachs

Tom Sachs (Hello Kitty fountain)

Tom Sachs (My Melody)

Maya LIn

Maya Lin

Maya Lin

Maya Lin

Gagosian! Gagosian! Gagosian!

Larry Gagosian is the king of the art world.  Along with his multi-million dollar wheelings and dealings, all-star artist line-up (Ed Ruscha, Richard Serra, John Currin, Cecily Brown, Damien Hirst, and many, many, MANY more), slew of international galleries (3 in New York, 2 in London, and one each in L.A., Rome, and Athens, with more to come), the master art-world businessman recently added a luxury retail boutique to his empire.

Gagosian, located at 988 Madison Avenue, just downstairs from his Madison Ave. gallery, is a 2,500-square-feet storefront stocked with countless art books, magazines, prints, posters, and limited edition items by the gallery's eye-poppingly impressive roster of talent.  The Gagosian store reminds me a lot of Moss in Soho, the high-end design mecca, but with far more connections to blue-chip artists.  A gazillionaire could artfully redecorate a residence with Gagosian's selection of limited edition, artist-signed prints; the Richard Prince Nurse Hat Chair ($175,000); the Damien Hirst wallpaper ($300 for a flower print or $1,000 for pills or butterfly prints); a Marc Newson table; and adorable Jeff Koons Puppy Vases ($7,500).  Even if your wallet lacks the buying power, this is a fun shop to visit and browse.  Read more at flavorwire.com.  Learn more about Larry Gagosian from this March 2009 NYTs article.

Upstairs at the galleries is Eight Sculptures, featuring 8 new, bronze, historically and architecturally referential sculptures by 81-year-old Cy Twombly; a series of collages by Richard Prince which each consist of four, numbered, cut-and-paste images showing models (Stella Tennant, Kate Moss), bands (Sex Pistols, Joy Division, Talking Heads), and various other cultural figures; and Proud Flesh, showcasing intimate, black and white, nude portraits Sally Mann lovingly shot of her husband of forty years, Larry, who has Muscular Dystrophy.  The moving, grainy, imperfect photos (Mann developed them using a tricky "wet plate" process which easily cracked and marred her images) make her husband's aging, weakening body appear statuesque.  Read an interview with Mann regarding these photos at Guardian.co.uk.

Over at Gagosian's West 24th Street gallery space is Monochrome Age, a solo exhibition featuring 39-year-old, German artist Anselm Reyle's large-scale, monochromatic, reflective and shiny sculptures and paintings made from found objects. 

Also on view is a new, four panel canvas by Japanese art superstar, Takashi Murakami titled, A Picture Of The Blessed Lion Who Stares At Death, 2009.  Featuring a maniacal, Cheshire Cat-looking lion and some little, baby cubs peering down a bridge made of human skulls. The trippy painting depicts an allegory about cubs being thrown off cliffs by their parents in a test of strength and survival.  Now that's tough love!

Learn more about all the above exhibitions at Gagosian.com.

A Damien Hirst corner downstairs in the Other Criteria section of the Gagosian Store

Tom Sachs, Kelly Bag, 2009 ($12,000) at Gagosian Store

6 of Eight Sculptures by Cy Twombly

Another angle of 6 out of Eight Sculptures by Cy Twombly

Sally Mann, David, 2005

Sally Mann, Was Ever Love, 2009

Objets d'Art | Photography

*Taxter & Spengemann on East 12th Street (btw 3rd & 4th Aves) presents photo works by Adam Putnam.  According to his 2001 Artist Statement, the 36-year-old, New York City-born Putnam is 6'8".  Living in such a confined city and being so tall has given the artist "a hypersensitivity to space."  Physical space and his body are often subjects in his work.  Standing in the center of the gallery space is a tall, brick tower which, according to the exhibit's convoluted press release, "stands erect as a marker of time" representing presence, being, and other concepts I just couldn't understand.  Putnam's dark photos show his face behind a mask of tape or wrapped in wires, his leg freakishly disfigured by an attached prosthetic arm.  His images give a sense of restrictiveness and uneasiness.  See taxterandspengemann.com.  Read Putnam's Artist Statement here, and read his 2008 Whitney Biennial bio at Whitney.org.  Through October 17th.

*Currently on view at Yancey Richardson is Tout va disparaitre (Everything will pass), a selection of works by Dutch photographer Hellen van Meene taken between 2007-2009 in New York City, the American South, Russia and the Netherlands.  Born in 1972 in Alkmaar, Holland, van Meene primarily focuses her lens on children capturing them in documentary type shots (like her photos taken in America during a road trip from Florida to New Orleans) or in fictional worlds (like her works taken in Holland and Russia).  Her series Pool of Tears shot in 2008 in an abandoned house in Holland shows some ghostly, creepy looking kiddies.  Though her approaches are vastly different, all her results come out cinematic and narrative.  This exhibit coincides with the release of her new, eponymous book.  Learn more at Yanceyrichardson.com.  Through October 31st.

*The Matthew Marks space on West 22nd Street is currently exhibiting Peter Hujar: Photographs 1956-1958.  Taken while Hujar (1934-1987) was 22-24 years-old in four locales - New York City, Southbury, CT, Key West, FL, and Florence, Italy, the photos focus on developmentally disabled children. 

These beautiful, candid, black and white photos show the children at play, and Hujar's affection and respect for them is strongly felt in every frame.  As the press release for the exhibit so aptly states, "Highly emotional yet stripped of excess, Hujar's photographs find beauty in the unconventional."  See more at Matthewmarks.com.  Through October 24th.

Hujar was a prominent figure in New York City's downtown art and music scenes in the 1970s and 80s and was greatly admired by his peers.  He left behind an immense and powerful collection of work before succumbing to AIDS in 1987.  Two extra samples of Hujar's intimate and evocative style are his gorgeous and haunting pictures of Candy Darling on her deathbed taken in 1974 that recently appeared as cover art for Antony and the Johnsons' debut album I Am A Bird Now and EP The Lake.

*Danziger Projects presents Weston's Westons, a collection of rare and iconic photographs taken by the legendary American photographer, Edward Weston (1886-1958), and printed by his son Cole Weston.

According to the exhibit's press release, Edward Weston typically and painstakingly made his own prints, "noting on each negative envelope the various idiosyncrasies of each picture."  After he'd gotten older and Parkinson's Disease had affected his mobility, Weston's sons (initially Brett, but then Cole took over completely) began printing for him "under his strict supervision."  What pressure!

Weston passed away in 1958 after a decade of working with his son, but Cole continued printing his father's work for 30 years.  In 1988 he decided to focus on his own photography.  Edward Weston had stated in his will that no one else could print from his original negatives which are now stored away at The Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, Arizona.

The prints on view at Danziger were picked from the Cole Weston Trust and have never been up for sale - some have never been published!   Some familiar nudes, peppers, shells, and  sand dunes, accompanied by some never-before-seen works, still look sleek, elegant, and contemporary.  Learn more at Danzigerprojects.com.  Through October 24th.

*Milk Gallery is featuring the works of long-time photographer, Sam Haskins, perhaps best-known for his influential, "style defining," 1964 book, Cowboy Kate which according to the exhibit's press release "remains to this day one of the most important black and white books of post war creative photography."  This claims seems pretty accurate considering the tome is always prominently displayed in every bookshop's art section. 

Born in South Africa in 1926, Haskins' illustrious career started in Johannesburg where he produced Cowboy Kate along with three other creative black and white books - Five Girls, November Girl, and African Image.  In 1968, Haskins moved to London where he had a studio for 35 years.  Now living in Australia, Haskins still shoots for fashion magazines and releases his first book in 25 years, Fashion Etcetera, this month.  As the press release sums up his work, Haskin's "photography is unapologetically celebratory of women, beauty, art, nature, graphics, illustration, design and photography itself."  See Milkstudios.com.  Through October 26th.

The New York Times' The Moment Blog has a short video featuring Haskins and his work.  According to the Times' Horacio Silva, Haskins, who is in NYC to promote Fashion Etcetera, suffered a stroke on Sunday and is still in hospital.  Get well soon, Sam!  Watch the video at Themoment,blogs.nytimes.com.

Adam Putnam

Hellen van Meene, Untitled #294 (from Going My Own Way Home), 2007

Hellen van Meene, Untitled #308b (from Pool of Tears), 2008

Peter Hujar, Girl Throwing Ball, Southbury, 1957

Peter Hujar, Girl Sucking Her Thumb, Florence, 1958

Edward Weston, Nude, 1923

Edward Weston, Charis Wilson (Charis in Beret), 1935

Sam Haskins

Sam Haskins

Sam Haskins

Objets d'Art | News

*The second edition of the Guggenheim's It Came From Brooklyn is happening tonight from 8:00pm-12:00am featuring Julian Plenti (aka Paul Banks, the singer from Interpol).  As a part of celebrating its 50th anniversary, the museum is hosting the monthly music and literature series featuring artists from Brooklyn.  Also part of tonight's line-up is opening band I'm In You (nice to see they're keeping up with the current trend of HORRIBLE band names); writer/director and Brooklyn Heights resident, Hampton Fancher, who will read a selection by former Brooklynite, Henry Miller; Fancher's neighbor, novelist Rivka Galchen; and comedian/actor Eugene Mirman who will be on hosting duty.  Last month's inaugural show featured bands The Walkmen and High Places and writer Colson Whitehead.  Learn more at Guggenheim.org.

*The 13th Annual DUMBO Art Under the Bridge Festival is happening  this weekend - September 25th-27th.  Alongside open studios and outdoor activities, there will be "touchable, accessible, and interactive art, on a scale that makes it the nation's largest urban forum for experimental art."  Learn more at dumboartfestival.org.

*The Kitchen, a non-profit, artist organization that "identifies, supports, and presents emerging and under-recognized artists" is hosting a block party on Saturday, Sept. 26th from 12-5 on West 19th between 10th and 11th Avenues.  This free, family-friendly event will feature live performances, artist-led activities and crafts like face-painting, puppet and mask-making, temporary tattoos, cookie decorating, hula-hoop (!) and drum workshops and more.  Learn more at thekitchen.org.

*David Zwirner will exclusively represent the estate of late artist Dan Flavin (1933-1996).  Zwirner launched a website on September 18th that, as the NYT's Carol Vogel explains, "is intended as a practical resource for Flavin aficionados, covering issues of conservation and installation as well as the artist's exhibition history and examples of his work," (from Inside Art, Sept. 18, 2009).  David Zwirner Gallery will present Dan Flavin: Series and Progressions in November 2009, showcasing the artist's work spanning his 40-year career.  Learn more at Davidzwirner.com. And see Zwirner's website for Flavin here.

*Los Angeles artist Mark Bradford has won the prestigious John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship!  According to the foundation's website, "The MacArthur Foundation supports creative people and effective institutions committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world."  This means Bradford, and fellow recipients, will receive $500,000 over the next five years.  Congrats!
See all the 2009 Fellows at macfound.org and read more at latimesblogs.com.  Remember, you can see Bradford's work alongside former MacArthur Fellow, Kara Walker's, at Sikkema Jenkins & Co.  Read my post here.

*Philippe Starck - reality star?  The world renowned French product designer will take on the Donald Trump role a la The Apprentice (or Tim Gunn on Project Runway, if you prefer) in his new reality series Design for Life, which premiered on September 14th on BBC2.  The show pits 12 young British designers against each other, competing in weekly challenges until one by one they get eliminated and the winner gets to work for six months at Starck's Parisian design company .  Each contestant was personally selected by Starck, not the show's producers, based on drawings they submitted.  According to the Independent, "he did not even want to know their names or genders.  He wanted to select ideas that were not necessarily great but that he felt had potential... people who think freely and differently."
Now this is a reality show I'd actually watch!  Argh!  I wish I had BBC2.  Read more at independent.co.uk.

*Ed Ruscha - movie star?  American artist Ed Ruscha will star in a film directed by Los Angeles-based video artist Doug Aitken which will debut on October 23rd on Tiberina Island in Rome.  Read more at theartnewspaper.com.

*And lastly, another of my favorite fashion designers, Martin Margiela, is publishing his first book.  It will document the Paris-based, never-before-seen designer's work including fashion, art, design, and performance.  Originally from Antwerp, the enigmatic Margiela founded his own label in 1988.  His clothing designs range from completely wearable and minimal, to subtle, edgy touches like exposed stitching and deconstruction, to way more out-there ideas like cloven-toed shoes (which I love), glass  slippers (which I don't love), over-sized shoulders, visible nude padding, and a hair coat.  The book, retailing for $100, is published by Rizzoli and will be released in October 2009.  Have a peek inside at hypebeast.com, wallpaper.com, and rizzoliusa.com.

Happy weekend!!!

Andy Yoder at Winkleman | Virginia Martinsen at ATM

Located on an oft overlooked block on West 27th Street between 11th and 12th Avenues stands Winkleman Gallery, alongside at least a half dozen or so more contemporary art galleries.  Currently at Winkleman is Man Cave (giggle), a solo exhibition featuring the fun, quirky, and campy work of 52-year-old, Vermont-based sculptor, Andy Yoder.

Exploring the conflicts that stem from "human domestication, via cultural expectations of conformity and assimilation,"  Yoder addresses typical gender stereotypes by taking traditionally "masculine" objects and feminizing and glamorizing them.  He covers a garage door and a giant, nine-foot-tall bowling pin in pink, silk flowers; gilds another normal-size bowling pin in 23-carat gold leaf; covers a life preserver in coyote fur; and casts and engraves a series of pastel- hued hubcaps in lead crystal. 

According to his artist's statement on his website, Yoder says, "I use domestic objects as the common denominators of our personal environment.  Altering them is a way of questioning attitudes, fears and unwritten rules which have formed that environment and our behavior within it."  By prettifying and giving the normally manly items in Man Cave a feminine twist, Yoder raises interesting thoughts regarding some rather old-fashioned (yet still alive and kicking) gender associations.  See more at Winkleman.com and at the artist's website Andyyoder.com.  Through October 24th.

A few doors east on the same block is ATM Gallery which is currently hosting A Face on Mars, a solo show featuring the work of 28-year-old, New York-based artist Virginia Martinsen.  The title of the exhibit refers to images taken from NASA's Viking 1 in 1976 which showed what appeared to be a human face on the surface of Mars.  The face actually turned out to be just shadows but as the show's press release states, the assumption that it might have been a face "reveals our desire to know that we are not alone and also to identify something familiar in the unknown." 

By pouring paint and dry pigments onto large canvases lain flat on the floor and leaving them to dry and settle, Martinsen creates abstracts that slightly resemble flowers, cells under a microscope, ink blots, or celestial formations.  They explore "the human need for companionship and search for a higher power."  She likens her paintings to the images of Jesus people find in random objects like a slice of burnt toast or in the markings of a tree.  Read more about A Face on Mars and see Martinsen's dramatic paintings at ATMgallery.com.  Through October 17th. 

Andy Yoder, Golden Boy, 2009 and Preserver, 2009

Andy Yoder, Mister D, 2009

Andy Yoder, Hubcaps, 2008-2009

Andy Yoder, Door Number Four, 2008

William S. Burroughs | Stellan Holm Gallery

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the publication of Naked Lunch, the Stellan Holm Gallery presents The Sky Is Thin As Paper Here, an exhibition of paintings, "shotgun" paintings, and drawings by the book's influential, Beat writer, William S. Burroughs (1914-1997).  The pieces included in the exhibit were created between 1982-1995, a very prolific period for Burroughs in terms of visual art.

Burroughs was not formally trained as an artist and came upon the craft late in his life.  He created with various tools - brushes, spray cans, printing brayers, even guns, "allowing his unconscious to direct the action."  The show's press release provides a quote from Burrough's made in 1989 which helps in understanding his painting technique, "There must be a random factor: drips of paint down the canvas, setting the paint on fire, squirting the paint.  Perhaps the most basic random factor is the shotgun blast, producing an explosion of color into unpredictable, uncontrollable patterns and forms.  Without this random factor, the painter can only copy."

The "random factor" in his painting is echoed in his writing as he often employed a "cut-up" technique which entailed cutting up various fragments of text written by himself and other authors and piecing them together randomly.  Cutting and pasting can also can be seen on a few of his canvases on display that have cut-out photographs of animals affixed on to their surfaces.  Burroughs' writing (particularly Naked Lunch) is known for its heroin-fueled, trippy, nightmarish scenarios.  His child-like scribbles and colorful swirls on view here are a pleasant and non-disturbing peek into his enigmatic, drug-riddled mind. 

Learn more about The Sky Is Thin As Paper Here at Stellanholm.com.  Find out what else is happening to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Naked Lunch at Nakedlunch.org.  Through October 31st.

Square Cop, 1992

Untitled (3 lemurs), 1987

Cigars... cigarettes, 1992

Mauve youth, 1989, Mauve forest, 1989, Rub Out The World, 1987

Untitled (homunculus), 1991

Yigal Ozeri | Mike Weiss Gallery

The Mike Weiss Gallery in Chelsea is currently showing Israeli painter Yigal Ozeri's Desire for Anima, a recent group of ethereal, photo-realistic oil paintings that capture the beauty of youth, femininity, and nature.  According to the show's press release, Ozeri titled the exhibit "Desire for Anima" in reference to psychologist Carl Jung's concept of "the unconscious or true inner self of an individual.  His models, at the transitional age between youth and maturity, are vulnerable and at the same time real in an almost dreamlike way."

Ozeri's paintings feature young, natural, red-headed females, either solo or paired up, semi-dressed, out among fields of grass, trees, or shrubbery, basking in sunlight and breezes.  Ozeri does not use professional models.  He places his subjects "in their natural environment" and "using a big lens from somewhere near, he captures the spontaneous."  Ozeri often uses Photoshop to tweak light and colors in his photos before printing them out large-scale and recreating the images by drawing (not tracing) them on to paper.

According to Ozeri, "in a world of violence, romanticism and freedom are the answer," and that's exactly what emanates from his lush works.  The 51-year-old artist, who has lived and worked in New York for the past twenty years, was at the gallery at the time that I dropped by on Saturday and seemed like a jovial man, very happy that all of his paintings had sold.  It shouldn't have come as a shock to the artist - all his paintings in Desire for Anima are gorgeous!  Read more at Mikeweissgallery.com.  Through October 24th.

Untitled: Jana in the Field, 2009

Untitled: Jessica in the Park, 2009

Untitled: Jessica with Vines, 2009

Untitled: Jana and Jessica in the Field, 2009

Untitled: Megan in the Park (x2), 2009 (left) 2008 (right)

Dennis Hopper | Tony Shafrazi

I traveled to Chelsea Saturday afternoon with the intention of visiting only three galleries.  As I do with pretty, shiny objects, I kept getting distracted and lured into additional galleries.  I was usually pleasantly surprised and pleased with my serendipitous trips - especially when I wandered into Tony Shafrazi's super-chic gallery and super-fantastic exhibition Dennis Hopper Signs of the Times: Photographs, Billboard Paintings & Films.  For fans of Hopper's and fellow icons from his generation - Hollywood celebrities (ie: Paul Newman, Jane Fonda, Roger Vadim, Tuesday Weld, Bill Cosby, Dean Stockwell), music stars (Phil Spector, Tina and Ike Turner, Brian Jones), and modern art masters (Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Ed Ruscha, James Rosenquist, Roy Lichtenstein) this show is not to be missed!

The exhibition displays countless, beautiful black and white photographs taken by Hopper throughout the 1960's including subjects as diverse as celebrities; big-name artists; the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama including a photo of Martin Luther King, Jr.; Warhol's Factory; bikers; Mexico; and New York City.  The photos of celebrities are terrific and the subjects appear relaxed and natural in front of Hopper's camera, perhaps because the photographer himself is a celebrity.  His non-celebrity pictures are wonderful as well and are concise, vivid visual documentations of culturally significant places, people, and events.  I never knew the famous photo of the Biker Couple from 1961 (see my pic below) was taken by Hopper.

Along with showing excerpts from Hopper's films, the gallery is also displaying twelve large-scale, never-before-seen "billboard paintings."  The huge oil on canvas reproductions of photographs Hopper took of his artist friends are my favorites in this collection.  They show the legendary modern artists young, attractive, cool, and in their prime.

I knew the 73-year-old Hopper was an artist, but not being familiar with his work, I never realized how talented an artist he is!  I'm so glad I happened upon this exhibit.  The exhibition coincides with the release of a large-scale (17.3" x 13"), 546-page tome Dennis Hopper Photographs 1961 - 1967 published by Taschen.  The book, 18-years in the making, compiles 400 of Hopper's ten thousand photographs that he took between 1960-1967 (before he directed and starred in Easy Rider) - no small task for Tony Shafrazi who edited the book and wrote its introductory essay.  I had trouble myself just editing down the photos I took from the exhibition for this post!  Learn more about the exhibit, Dennis Hopper Signs of the Times and the book, Dennis Hopper Photographs 1961 - 1967 at Tonyshafrazigallery.com.  See more of Hopper's work at Dennishopperart.com.

Irving Blum and Peggy Moffitt, 1964, photo of the art dealer Blum and model/muse Moffitt

Photos of civil rights march in Alabama, 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr., 1965 (right row, center photo)

Photos of bikers, Biker Couple, 1961 (center)

View of photos in Gallery 1

Andy Warhol (with flower), 1963, 2009, oil on canvas 120" x 81 1/4"

Ed Ruscha, 1964, 2009, oil on canvas 79.5" x 120"

Jasper Johns, contact sheet, 1964, 2009, oil on canvas 120" x 83 1/4"

Robert Fraser, Tijuana, 1965, 2009, oil on canvas of ultra-cool, British gallerist also known as "Groovy Bob" during the Swinging Sixties, 83" x 120" 

Robert Rauschenberg with his tongue stamped "Wedding Souvenir, Claes Oldenburg," 1966, 2009, oil on canvas 81.5" x 120"

Maya Lin | Pace Wildenstein

Perhaps best known for designing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., artist, architect, environmentalist, Maya Lin is an amazing woman of many achievements.  Skimming her list of accomplishments makes me feel ridiculously and hopelessly inadequate.

Currently based in New York, Lin was born in 1959 in Athens, Ohio to two academic parents from China (her father was the dean of fine arts and her mother a professor of literature both at Ohio University).  Lin received her Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude in 1981 and her Master of Architecture in 1986 both from Yale University.  In 1981, while still a senior at Yale, she won a national competition to design the Vietnam Veterans Memorial!

According to Wikipedia, when Lin's Asian background was revealed (submissions to the competition were "blind" - designated by a number and not the designer's name), a bit of a controversy erupted.  It seems some believed that someone of Asian decent was not an appropriate choice to design the memorial dedicated to the fallen soldiers of a war fought in Asia.  (Yes, sadly these people were right here in America, and considering how things are currently going with our new president, seem to still slither amongst us.)  Lin was harassed and even that big-eared, wacky (cough) presidential candidate, Ross Perot, allegedly called her an "egg roll" after he learned she was Asian (again, my source on this is Wikipedia).  As we all know now, her majestic design was fortunately realized - after an ultimatum was reached - that a bronze statue of three soliders (The Three Soliders by Frederick Hart, who came in third in the competition) be placed nearby.

Anyhoo, that's all history now.  Today, you can see three magnificent installations by Lin at Pace Wildenstein's West 22nd Street location.  Three Ways of Looking at the Earth consists of three massive, environmental installations pulled from her current traveling exhibition Systematic Landscapes.  The three works recreate different topographies that viewers are allowed to walk around, through and under. 

According to the show's press release, 2 x 4 Landscape "was initially conceived by Lin as a way to bring landscape into an architectural setting," and does it ever.  The 10-foot-high (at its highest peak) hill, or wave, is made of over 50,000 vertical two-by-fours of Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) certified wood (Lin often uses sustainable and recycled materials in her work).  The piece takes over the front room of the gallery occupying 1,900 square feet!

Blue Lake Pass was modeled after terrain from the Rocky Mountains.  Twenty individual units made from thousands of sheets of duraflake particleboard "form narrow passageways through the mountain pass."  The curvy way that the boards are cut give it a wavy look and the appearance of sand dunes.

Working with scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts, Lin created Water Line, a topographic rendering based on the "ocean floor along the Mid-Atalantic ridge as it ascends to Bouvet Island, one of the most remote islands in the world."  Water Line consists of "a 19' x 34' 8" x 29' 2" suspended, painted aluminum wire line drawing that invites viewers to pass underneath and around a landscape hidden miles beneath the ocean."

Each of the three works is made from one, single material (though with lots of it) and are simple, elegant, intelligent, and thoughtful studies of the earth.  Lin is committed to focusing attention on environmental concerns through her art and promotes sustainable building design in her architecture. 

Salon 94 (94th Street between Madison and Fifth) will present Maya Lin: Recycled Landscapes, some smaller sculptures made from recycled materials starting September 25th through November 13th.

Lin's Bodies of Water exhibit is currently on view at Storm King Art Center (Mountainville, NY) in the ground floor of the museum until November 15th.  Her site-specific piece, Storm King Wavefield, a four-acre earthwork, can be seen at the southwest edge of the sculpture park.  Later in the fall, What is Missing?, Lin's final public memorial, will debut at Storm King.

And finally, check out the new space for the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) designed by Lin with its grand opening on September 22nd.  MOCA is located at 211-215 Center Street just north of Manhattan's Chinatown.

Lin is an extraordinarily busy and extraordinarily gifted artist.  Be sure to see some if not all of these works by her.  She rocks!  You won't be disappointed!  Read more about Three Ways of Looking at the Earth at Pacewildenstein.com and learn more about Lin at her website Mayalin.com.

2 x 4 Landscape, 2006

Blue Lake Pass, 2006

Water Line, 2006

Kara Walker and Mark Bradford | Sikkema Jenkins & Co.

Since I'm still kicking myself for missing Kara Walker's My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love exhibition at the Whitney (October 2007-February 2008) I was thrilled to learn that Sikkema Jenkins & Co is hosting a two-person exhibition featuring work by her and Mark Bradford.

Born in 1969 in California and growing up in Atlanta, Georgia, Kara Walker knew at a very early age that she wanted to follow in her father's footsteps and become an artist.  She graduated from the Atlanta College of Art where she focused on painting and printmaking and received her MFA from RISD in 1994.  In 1997, Walker became the youngest recipient of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Achievement Award at the age of 27.  Walker employs the traditional practice of cutting paper silhouettes to create large canvases, sculptures, even videos featuring her silhouette puppets, showing what initially appear to be pretty, pleasant images, but after closer inspection, actually depict graphic and disturbing "scenes of misogyny, racism, and violence."  According to the show's press release, "Walker's imagery references the history of slavery and race in America."

I love cut paper silhouettes and am often wowwed by the intricacies and handiwork of well-executed cut paper pieces.  I also love works that appear to be innocuous and inoffensive (whether visual art or music) but actually camouflage a deeper more sinister and troubling meaning.  Kara Walker's works achieve all these points with tremendous effect. Her vivid and powerful art focuses on important issues and leaves a lasting impression.  Learn more about Walker at Walkerart.org (where My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love was also exhibited) and at Whitney.org.

Mark Bradford also had a solo show at the Whitney in 2007 titled Neither New nor Correct.  Born in 1961 in Los Angeles, California, where he is still based, Bradford worked at his mother's beauty shop until he got his big break just a few years ago.  He received both his BFA (1995) and MFA (1997) from CalArts.  Like Walker, Bradford explores "societal and cultural issues" through his intricate, abstract works made from "found paper from billboards, posters, and magazines that he finds on the streets around his Los Angeles studio, which he then layers and manipulates to create painterly compositions."  While Walker's work primarily focuses on historical references, Bradford finds inspiration from his contemporary Los Angeles neighborhood.

After an unsatisfying first show at the Whitney's Altria space in 2003, Bradford was not invited to contribute to the museum's 2004 Biennial.  After encouragement from Eungie Joo, the curator for the Bounce exhibition at Redcat Gallery that featured his piece Los Moscos, that painting and others by Bradford were featured in the 2006 Whitney Biennial where he received the Bucksbaum Award - "a $100,000 prize given to one Biennial participant" (New York Magazine).  Bradford will receive the mid-career retrospective treatment in the spring of 2010 starting at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Ohio. The retrospective will travel to various institutions so be sure to catch it if you can.  Learn more about Bradford at Nymag.com and see more samples of his work at saatchi-gallery.co.uk. 

Read more about both artists and their joint exhibition at Sikkemajenkinsco.com.

Kara Walker, Thicket Parts 1 & 2, 2009

 

Kara Walker, 10 Years Massacre (and its retelling) #2 (of 3 panels), 2009

 

Kara Walker, 30 Strokes (four of eight), 2009

 

Kara Walker, Every Painting is a Dead Nigger Waiting to Be Born (set of 20), 2009

 

Mark Bradford, Untitled, 2009

Chris Ofili | David Zwirner

David Zwirner is currently presenting Afro Margin, eight pencil drawings by the Tate Gallery's 1998 Turner Prize winner, Chris Ofili.  While intricate and detailed, these pencil works are a departure from the artist's signature large, colorful, almost psychedelic canvases. 

Ofili began working on Afro Margin in 2004 whilst still living in London and continued the series after moving to Trinidad (where he still lives) in 2005 and completed it two years later.  According to the press release, "Ofili employs his distinguished 'afro heads,' a signature motif he began working with in the early 1990s.  Here the 'margin' - created by darkened 'afro heads' piled vertically into columns and varying in size - suggests gothic towers and aboriginal totems."  With each piece in the series, Ofili began by "consciously considering the width of the column, discovering and breaking the tension of the blank page.  As the series progressed, conceptions of blackness also figured as a way to understand the margin."  In an essay in the show's accompanying catalogue, Cameron Shaw states,"his [Ofili's] intention was to disappear into the action, while simply maintaining awareness of its natural direction."  Through October 24th.  See more at Davidzwirner.com.

You may remember Chris Ofili from the stir he caused back in 1999 during the Sensation exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum (and the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 1997) that featured Charles Saatchi's vast collection of works by the hot Young British Artists (YBAs) at the time.  Ofili's The Holy Virgin Mary painting, which features an African Madonna partially made from elephant dung, got then mayor Rudolph Giuliani's panties into a twist and outraged religious groups.  Born in Machester, England in 1968, Ofili is of Nigerian heritage.  He says that his use of dung in his art (which he's been working with since 1992) references his African roots and traditional rituals that employ poop (my word, not his).  The artist typically references African art, black exploitation movies, and rap/hip-hop in his work.  Learn more about Ofili at cmoa.org and see more of his work at artnet.com.

Rizzoli has published the first major monograph on Ofili encompassing his entire career and including over 200 color images of his work.  Learn more about it at Rizzoliusa.com.

Afro Margin Six, 2005

 

Afro Margin Two, 2004

Juergen Teller | Lehmann Maupin

If you've flipped through a fashion magazine in the past decade, you've likely seen Juergen Teller's work.  Aside from shooting fashion editorials, Teller has been the sole lensman for Marc Jacobs' advertising campaigns for the past eleven years.  Early ads featuring Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon playing onstage and a topless Sofia Coppola wading in a pool, to more recent campaigns starring fellow photographer Cindy Sherman in costume and doing her schtick, Dakota Fanning all gussied up and adult-like, and Victoria Beckham's stick-figure legs poking out of a Marc Jacobs shopping bag, were all shot by the German photographer and feature his signature washed-out lighting and spare, naturalistic surroundings.  Marc Jacobs Advertising 1998-2009 by Juergen Teller, a survey of the pair's eleven year collaboration and compilation of all the ads was published by Steidl and retails for $120.

Lehmann Maupin Gallery currently has on view Paradis, a series of large-scale photographs taken by Teller for the French magazine Paradis.  Featuring Brazilian fashion model Raquel Zimmermann and British actress Charlotte Rampling (a longtime friend of Teller's who also starred alongside the photographer in a Marc Jacobs' ad campaign several seasons back) completely nude with little to no make-up posing amongst the masterworks in the Musee du Louvre.  As the show's press release states, "Shot alone one evening at the Musee du Louvre in Paris, this nude study... captures the intimacy between photographer and subject... Teller removes the artifice between photographer and subject, leaving only the purity of each image, and unlike the sculptures in the museum's collection, his photographs do not present a standard of beauty but are more akin to a tribute to women and the human form." 

While I ordinarily love Teller's fashion work, and his oftentimes quirky self-portraits, as well as many of his other nude portraits, this show left me wanting more.  I like the idea of presenting the two female nudes next to the classic sculptures and beside Leonardo's Mona Lisa (see my pic below), but their sullen faces and wooden poses seemed awkward and cold.  And while I appreciate Teller's use of two models from different ends of the age spectrum (Zimmermann is 26 and Rampling is 63), the fact that both women look much better naked and sans make-up than your average, everyday woman makes me doubt his intended "tribute to women and the human form" includes all women.  You have until October 17th to judge for yourself at Lehmann Maupin.  Also, these photographs will appear in a limited-edition, leather-bound book available at the end of September.  Learn more at Lehmannmaupin.com and read a Q&A with Teller at Themoment.blogs.nytimes.com.

Paradis, 2009

 

Paradis, 2009

 

Paradis, 2009

Zane Lewis | Mixed Greens

Mixed Greens presents Watch Me Slowly Death, an amazing solo exhibition featuring the work of 28-year-old, Texas-born/Bushwick-based artist Zane Lewis. In 2006, Lewis was listed as one of Wall Street Journal's "23-Year-Old Masters."

Lewis creates cultural icons and religious imagery by meticulously cutting pages and pages of fashion advertisements and layering and piecing them together collage-like. When the cut images are completed, Lewis then drips and pours rosy-hued paint on to them to "react like bodily fluids and humanize his subject again." Though it took a moment for my eyes to focus in, the image of Jesus wearing a crown of thorns could be seen within the paint smears, designer logos, and models' faces. It's an interesting juxtaposition of superficial, commercial, and dare I say, trivial images merging to create a larger, religious figure that is meaningful and spiritual to so many.

Lewis examines death and eternal youth with his disturbingly beautiful skulls made from cut acrylic or vinyl mounted on to mirrors or plexiglass. He addresses decay with his Chanel fragrance posters which he hangs upside-down in their frames, tatters their edges, and streaks with paint, . "Their sexy, slick images are crumbling and defaced by Lewis' hand."

Watch Me Slowly Death is Lewis' second solo show at Mixed Greens and ends on October 3rd. It's definitely worth checking out this young, talented artist's innovative interpretations of still lives and portraits. Learn more at Mixedgreens.com and read an interview with Lewis at Examiner.com.

 

Chanel Jesus, 2009

 

Untitled, 2009

 

Mirror, Mirror, 2009

 

Paradise Regained, 2008

 

The Flayed Face of Jesus Christ, 2009

 

Why Have You Forsaken Thee-(Death and the Importance of Eternal Youth), 2009

 

Why Have You Forsaken Thee-(Death and the Importance of Eternal Youth), close-up

Tauba Auerbach | Deitch Projects

Also on view at the larger Deitch space on Wooster Street is Tauba Auerbach's Here And Now/And Nowhere (Look!  The title's an anagram!).  Featuring works that are "structured around the threshold between order and randomness," Auerbach explores the state between two and three dimensionality, the past and present, being here and there and both simultaneously, and randomness versus determinism.

Auerbach's works include two large-scale, white canvases covered in black dots. Though dizzying, if studied from afar, the Crumple Paintings give the illusion of a crumpled surface.  The artist's Fold Paintings consist of six canvases varying in color and size painted with an industrial paint sprayer that gives the effect of creases and folds on the canvas and "explore the merging of a past three-dimensional state with a present two-dimensional state."  

The central piece in the show (and my favorite) is The Auerglass, a massive, wooden, two-player, pump organ designed by Auerbach and Cameron Mesirow from the band Glasser.  "The instrument cannot be played alone.  It requires two people to play.  One player has to pump in order for the other to play and vice versa. "  Auerbach and Mesirow played a specially created composition on The Auerglass at the opening of Here And Now/And Nowhere on September 3rd, and Glasser will perform at the gallery on September 11th at 8:00pm, and at 5:00pm daily from Tuesday - Saturday until the exhibit ends on October 17th.  Learn more at Deitch.com.

Fold Paintings, 2009

Untitled Fold Painting III, 2009

 

The Auerglass

 

The Auerglass close-up

Kehinde Wiley | Deitch Projects

Deitch Projects on Grand Street currently has on view 17 glorious photographs by Los Angeles-born/New York-based artist, Kehinde Wiley.  Black Light showcases Wiley's highly stylized photographs which "thrust[s] the black male image, captured by means of light manipulation and digital technology, into focus." 

Wiley's subjects are distinctly contemporary and all (except the subject in Sleep) don hip-hop/urban wear (LOVE the Etch-A-Sketch and Lego belt buckles!) whilst reenacting poses from classic, historical paintings.  Using vibrant and busy patterns pulled from 1950's home decor magazines and Martha Stewart's 1999 home collection as backdrops and/or borders for his otherwise serene and regal portraits, the photos are given a slightly campy twist.  The juxtaposition of the stately subjects with the colorful, flowery patterns is jarring but better illustrates what the show's press release says the works convey, "an intimate study of embattled psychologies whose adherents are at once flawed and majestic, canonized and misunderstood."

Wiley successfully reinterprets historical portrait painting by "imposing the contemporary black male figure onto an awe-inducing pictorial heritage replete with narratives of power, wealth and hierarchy," creating powerful and memorable images.   See more at Deitch.com.  Through September 26th.

After Sir Anthony van Dyck's King Charles I and Henrietta Maria, 2009 - See the inspiration here.

 

After Albrecht Durer's Self-Portrait, 2009 - See the inspiration here.

 

After Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres' The Virgin with the Host, 2009 - See the inspiration here.

 

After Jean-Bernard Restout's Sleep, 2009 - See the inspiration here.

Comme des Garcons gets Critcally Shopped by NYTs

The New York Times' Cintra Wilson wrote about my favorite store/brand in the paper's Critical Shopper column today.  Nestled on West 22nd Street in a former automotive garage (Heavenly Body Works) smack in the middle of Chelsea's gallery district, the Comme des Garcons shop is arguably the most artistic place in the neighborhood - in terms of the store's merchandise, design, philosophy, and possibly even its staff. 

Since first showing in Paris in the early 80's, CDG's designer, Rei Kawakubo, has never shied away from provocative, avant-garde, and challenging shapes, styles, and looks which give her designs a certain je ne sais quoi, a defiant boldness, and a bit of a jolie laide (unconventionally pretty) vibe.  As Wilson aptly states, "Are Comme des Garçons creations wearable? Are they realistic? Are they cute? Comme des Garçons does not answer these questions. Your approval is not its raison d’être — and this is what makes Comme des Garçons so incredibly great."

Kawakubo often collaborates with and/or supports fellow artists (though she herself claims not to work in art).  For instance, the adorable, shifty-eyed heart logo for the label's Play line was designed by Polish artist Filip Pagowski.  American artist Raymond Pettibon has collaborated with the brand.  And the new CDG store in Osaka is hosting an exhibition by Japanese artist Yayoi Kasuma titled Room to Grow. 

Learn more about Rei Kawakubo and Comme des Garcons at Nymag.com and Interviewmagazine.com.  Read the NYT's piece here.

The inconspicuous front of the Comme des Garcons shop on West 22nd Street

I Stepped Into The Room | Tina Kim Gallery

I must have been an angsty college student when I read Sylvia Plath's 1963 novel, The Bell Jar, so I'm going to have to take their word for it when the Tina Kim Gallery says that its current group show is titled after the last line from the novel.  I Stepped Into The Room presents works by six New York-based artists that consider "the intersection and interplay of the psychological and the spatial." 

It is never clarified in the book whether or not the central character (Plath) is in fact mentally ill  (my guess is - yes) or if she "is assigned this label as a result of her rejection of social norms and gender expectations."  Her stepping into the room "becomes a metaphor for the confrontation of this duality."  The novel touches upon the notion that "sensitivity to one's physical environment is linked to and implicated in psychosis," and the artists' works in the exhibition explore the restrictiveness and/or liberation of physical space and gender.

Spanish artist, Rocio Rodriguez Salceda's three claustrophobically cropped photographs show a person wearing a pink, pleated, pussy-bowed dress and heels with a mass of black hair forming a mask or helmet over his/her face, obscuring it as well as keeping his/her identity and gender a mystery.  Jersey City-born Kyung Jeon's Bandage/Bondage shows a series of girls within a large, black splotch of ink all restricted, bound, gagged, blind-folded, and wrapped in bandages.  Polish artist, Joanna M. Wezyk's two oil paintings show close-up views of beds in tight, confined corners.  See my pictures of these works below.

It was interesting to see how each artist interpreted the phrase and the theme of the show in their own personal way.  It definitely makes me want to dust off my old copy of The Bell Jar and  give it another read.  Works by Tracey Goodman, Shiri Mordechay, and Habby Osk are also on view. Through September 12th.  Learn more at Tinakimgallery.com.

Rocio Rodriguez Salceda, Agujero Negro 2, 2008

 

Rocio Rodriguez Salceda, Agujero Negro 3, 2008

 

Kyung Jeon, Bandage/Bondage, 2003

Joanna M. Wezyk, Pink Pillow's Room, 2009

The Common Mind | Cueto Project

Cueto Project presents The Common Mind, a group show featuring the works of four, female, New York-based artists.  The title of the show comes from an article of the same name from Frieze Magazine wherein art critic/curator Greg Hilty says of British artist Eric Bainbridge's work - "We don't all choose our neighbors but they affect us.  We don't always choose our thoughts but they also have a bearing."  This statement "encapsulates all that simultaneously links and distances the four artists" who contribute to this exhibition, including Elinor Milchan, Christina Kruse, Tatyana Murray, and Eve Bailey.  Their work "fuses the collective subconscious with the personal subconscious." 

I wasn't sure what to expect upon entering the gallery with such an abstract description, but the works on view are great.  I especially liked Tatyana Murray's Perspex and LED light Ghost Trees and Elinor Milchan's photographs that she prints on clear paper and mounts and laminates on to Plexiglass.  Murray's lit pieces as well as her embroidered cardboard work depict memories from the artist's childhood and help her create "a memoir of the natural world." Milchan developed her own photographic technique that enables her to display colorful and vibrant abstract "LightLands" and/or "UrbanLands."

Formerly a very successful fashion model, Christina Kruse now photographs herself and detaches her body parts and superimposes her limbs and torso with lined graph paper and/or diagrams.  Eve Bailey's piece is a sculpture that responds to her body's being "confronted by the city and its industrial architecture."

The Common Mind is on view at Cueto Project until September 10th.  Read more at Oneartworld.com and see Cuetoproject.com. 

Tatyana Murray, Ghost Tree #26, 2009

 

Tatyana Murray, Ghost Tree #28, 2009

Tatyana Murray, Untitled #11, 2009

 

Elinor Milchan, Independence Way #1, 2008

Elinor Milchan, The Edge, 2004

 

Christina Kruse, s.p.i.o.n.e, 2009

 

Christina Kruse, Kurperarbeit #2, 2009

Parsons 2009 MFA Photography Thesis Exhibition

Parsons is currently hosting an exhibition of MFA Photography thesis work from the class of 2009.  Fifteen graduates display the fruits of their labor after completing 3 intensive eight-week summer residencies and 2 years of independent studies. 

The works on view are impressive and definitely display fresh and exciting talent.  Some of my favorite pieces include Lauren Pascarella's Photographic Sculpture, Daniel Durtsche's T.F. (Rotated 3,600 times) and Spectrum (Moved, scaled, and rotated 4,096 times), and Erik Madigan Heck's Fur Dries Van Noten.  See my pics of these works below.

Head over and have a peek at the works from this fresh crop of talent so you can say you "remember them when" after they've established themselves as photography world darlings.  Learn more at newschool.edu.  At the Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries (66 Fifth Avenue) through September 11th.

 

Lauren Pascarella, Photographic Sculpture

 

Daniel Durtsche, Spectrum (Moved, scaled, and rotated 4,096 times) on left, T.F. (Rotated 3,600 times) on right

 

Erik Madigan Heck, Fur Dries Van Noten