Art Hag

Diane Arbus & William Eggleston | Cheim & Read

Cheim & Read has two great photo exhibits happening concurrently - Diane Arbus' In the Absence of Others and William Eggleston's 21st Century.  Arbus' black and white photographs feature "empty interiors and artificial landscapes spanning the 60s" while Eggleston's recent works focus on color and composition in interior and exterior scenes shot in Cuba, California, Paris, Memphis, New Jersey, and Queens. 

Diane Arbus (1923-1971), best know for her documentary portraits of people from the margins of society like carnival performers, nudists, transvestites, and the institutionalized, created intensely intimate images infused with an air of mystery and melancholy. Her amazing works of empty rooms, unpopulated hotel lobbies, and deserted Disneyland and Coney Island attractions evoke a similar, quiet, haunting aura.  

William Eggleston's (born 1939 in Memphis, TN) vibrant photos demonstrate his "painstaking attention to formal concerns such as color saturation and pictorial composition..." (from the show's press release). Eggleston has described his technique as "applying intelligent painting theory to color photography."  This definitely seems to work for Eggleston as he somehow manages to make simple, ordinary objects appear extraordinary.

Learn more about In the Absence of Others and 21st Century at Cheimread.com.  Both shows run through February 13th.

Diane Arbus, Xmas tree in a living room, Levittown, L.I., 1963

William Eggleston, UNTITLED (BATHROOM WITH PINK CURTAIN, CUBA), 2007

William Eggleston, UNTITLED (DOOR, WHITE AND BLACK TILE, PARAMOUNT LOT), 2000

William Eggleston, UNTITLED (ROOM WITH OLD TV, LAMPS, WILDWOOD, NEW JERSEY), 2002

William Eggleston, UNTITLED (SOAP ON WINDSHIELD, CAR WASH, MEMPHIS), 2004

William Daniels | Luhring Augustine

London-based artist William Daniels is known for creating trompe l'oeil pieces that depict "famous art historical paintings."  His lengthy process begins by making models of "the source paintings out of simple materials such as paper, cardboard or aluminum foil which are then photographed to serve as models for painstaking detailed facsimiles in oil paint" (from the show's press release). These small-scale and muted works act both as still life and "a rendering of the original work."

For his first solo show in New York, Luhring Augustine presents a series of new, abstract oil paintings on board.  For this series, Daniels created original works by building "dioramas out of reflective foil" and using these as his models.  He lit the foil forms in several different ways to "achieve variations in palette" creating "complex compositions of brilliant color and pure form."  As the press release states, "every plane, fold and crease is so precisely rendered as to suggest a certain precious quality" to his foil models.

Born in Brighton, England in 1976, Daniels has created small-scale paintings that are so vivid, unique and intricate that someone may attempt to render them some day.  Learn more at Luhringaugustine.com.  Through February 6th.

Untitled, 2009

Untitled, 2009

Untitled, 2009

Untitled, 2009

Untitled, 2009

Untitled, 2009

Soo Kim | Julie Saul

Los Angeles artist Soo Kim isn't content merely photographing expansive landscapes or intimate portraits - she takes her rich, large-scale photos and cuts into them to convey "different degrees of stillness and action that [can] occupy an image" (from the show's press release). 

The Corners of the Sea, her first solo exhibit at Julie Saul Gallery, presents portraits of a woman and a man shot to suggest a "sense of intimacy, quiet, and stillness."  Kim then slices into the portraits with "'actions' taken from comic books" showering her female model with what appear to be gentle waves of water.

Her sweeping landscapes of Reykjavik, Iceland, and Dubrovnik, Croatia were "photographed to describe two different cities and ways of looking - one from a stationary position, while the other is taken by traveling along the wall that circumnavigates the city."   Densely-populated, seaside towns have sections of their architecture cut out, dramatically emphasizing shape, light, and shadow.  Two photos of a green, lofty mountain have detailed forest scenes meticulously carved into them.

Born in South Korea in 1969, Kim moved to Los Angeles in 1980 and received her MFA in critical writing, art and film from the California Institute of the Art.  The Corners of the Sea is Kim's "premier exhibition on the East Coast" but judging by her impressive, skillful works, it certainly won't be her last.  Learn more at Saulgallery.com.  Through February 27th.

(They walk a while in silence), 2009

(They walk a while in silence) close-up, 2009

Fall, 2009

Me and my brother, 2009

Teenage dreams, 2009

Untitled (Gold woods), 2008

Eero Saarinen | Museum of the City of New York

I'm a fan a mid-century design, and a major figure in that period is architect/designer Eero Saarinen.  The Museum of the City of New York has a comprehensive survey of Saarinen's work featuring models, films, photographs, documents (his high school yearbook and passport), sketches, drawings, and samples of his famous furniture designs.  Eero Saarinen (1910-1961) was a celebrated and controversial architect who lent his unique vision and space-age, mid-century style to some unlikely clients like corporate headquarters, universities, and airport terminals. 

Saarinen "sought to expand modernism's vocabulary beyond what he called 'the measly ABC'.... He also frequently moved away from simple, abstract compositions in favor of exuberant visual effects and historical references" utilizing "new materials, innovative construction techniques, and sculptural forms" (from eerosaarinen.net).  Saarinen believed in a "total environment" and through collaborations with friends and associates, his works successfully "synthesiz[e] architecture, landscape, and interior design."  Though Saarinen was surprisingly criticized for "inventing a new style for every job" (that's a bad thing?), "his diverse and sometimes unabashedly theatrical designs attracted powerful clients who played pivotal roles in trends that transformed the culture of the time."

Born in Finland in 1910, Saarinen's creative family emigrated to the United States in 1923. His father, Eliel, was a world-renowned architect, his mother, Louise, was a textile designer and sculptor, and his older sister, Eva-Lisa, was a designer and interior decorator.  Eero graduated Baldwin High School in Birmingham, Michigan in 1929.  He studied sculpture in Paris at the age of 19 and received his BFA in architecture in 3 years from Yale, graduating one year early in 1934.  After graduation, Saarinen traveled the world, visiting architectural landmarks in Europe, Egypt, and Mexico.  Early in his career, Saarinen worked alongside his father until the elder Saarinen passed away in 1950.  One of their most successful projects was their "1939 winning submission for the prestigious Smithsonian Gallery of Art to be built on the Mall in Washington, D.C." which unfortunately was never realized.  As if he wasn't busy enough, Saarinen also collaborated with designer Charles Eames and created some iconic pieces of furniture.

Saarinen understood "architecture’s value in creating a company’s image, often using new building technologies to help brand forward thinking corporations."  Eero Saarinen and Associates based in Bloomfield, Hills, Michigan (which was rumored to be open 24 hours, 7 days a week) "designed the first mirror glass curtain wall and the world’s thinnest exterior wall panel.  Saarinen also pioneered, and ultimately mastered, the development of a new office typology: the corporate campus. Occupying pristine rural settings, these business complexes reinvented the traditional country estate and the American college campus in terms of modern corporate programs, similarly evoking power and authority." General Motors Technical Center in Warren Michigan, completed in 1956 and composed of 25 buildings, was Saarinen’s first example of this model [IBM's Manufacturing and Training facility in Rochester, Minnesota (1956-58) and Deere and Company's Administrative Center in Moline, Illnois (1957-63) followed].  For college campuses, like Yale, Vassar, and Brandeis, Saarinen sought "to balance student comfort and privacy with amenities that encouraged social interaction."

Probably best known for works like the United States Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (or the St Louis Gateway Arch), JFK’s Trans World Airlines Terminal, Washington, D.C.'s Dulles International Airport Terminal, and New York City's CBS Building (his only completed skyscraper at 38 stories), as well as his pedestal tables and chairs, Saarinen has undoubtedly created some of the 20th-century's most iconic structures. His designs have stood the test of time and are still breath-taking today.  It's hard to imagine how progressive and extraordinary his works must have seemed back when they were first introduced.  Eero Saarinen was a daring, visionary, brilliant talent.  Learn much more at eerosaarinen.net (where I found most of the info for this post) and mcny.org.  Ends soon on January 31st.

Model of the CBS Building, New York, 1960-65

Model of David S. Ingalls Hockey Rink, Yale University, 1956-58

Model of Dulles International Airport Terminal Model, Washington, D.C., 1958-63

Photo of an interior stairway at General Motor's Technical Center, Warren, Michigan, 1949-55

Photo of one of the few residences Saarinen created, The Miller House, Columbus, Indiana, 1953-57

Photo of TWA Terminal's rear elevation viewed from tarmac, by Ezra Stoller, 1962

Rendering of lounge of TWA Terminal by Eero Saarinen and Associates, circa 1956

Model of TWA Terminal, JFK Airport, 1956-62

Rendering of an unrealized transport system for U.S. Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, no date

Photos of Eero Saarinen with model of the U.S. Jefferson National Expansion Memorial by Renyold Ferguson, circa 1958

Model of winning submission for Smithsonian Gallery of Art competition, Washington D.C., 1939, unbuilt

Womb chair and ottoman, 1964-1965

Grasshopper Chair, 1946 (front) and High-back armchair (behind) by Saarinen and Charles Eames, winner of MoMA's Organic Design in Home Furnishings Competition in 1940

Storage unit, by Saarinen and Charles Eames, 1941 (from The Future at Home: American Furniture, 1940-1955 exhibition, also at MCNY)

Knoll Associates advert for a pedestal chair

Primary Atmospheres: Works from California 1960-1970 | David Zwirner

"Light and Space" was a minimalist art movement based in Los Angeles, California during the 1960s that emphasized "surface, synthetic materials, industrial processes, and perception."  David Zwirner currently has on view a fantastic group show featuring rarely seen works by ten prominent artists of this movement.  The brilliant works presented in Primary Atmospheres: Works from California 1960-1970  are composed of unconventional materials featuring "translucent, reflective, or ethereal surfaces," (from the show's press release).  The pieces' "luminescent use of color and light characterize them as uniquely Southern Californian."  The west coast artists "were reacting to local concerns with light and atmosphere, often evoking the qualities of the bright Los Angeles sunlight and the shiny, finished surfaces of the city's ubiquitous signs and automobiles." 

Below I've summed up some of the artists' methods and techniques according to the show's press release, followed by pics of their works.  As you'll see, these amazing pieces speak for themselves.

-De Wain Valentine, Helen Pashgian and Peter Alexander "experimented with casting polyester resin in different formats, creating works which explore the material's ability to both contain and reflect light."  It's amazing to see how different each artist's results are - though they all share a definite sleekness.

De Wain Valentine, Triple Disk Red Metal Flake-Black Edge, 1966 (in background, a Craig Kauffman, Untitled Wall Relief, 1968)

Helen Pashgian, Untitled, 1968-1969 (in background, two more Craig Kauffman, Untitled Wall Reliefs, 1968)

Helen Pashgian, Untitled, 1968-1969

Peter Alexander, Blue Wedge, 1970

Peter Alexander, Green Wedge, 1969, (behind - John McCracken, Black Pyramid, 1975 and far back -John McCracken, Think Pink, 1967)

Larry Bell made a series of glass and metal cubes that "explore the relationship between the sculptural object and its surrounding environment."  He created a special "vacuum-coating technique to achieve semi-reflective exteriors" that bring viewers in by reflecting all that's around them.

Larry Bell, Glass Box with Ellipses, 1964, (behind - John McCracken, Black Pyramid, 1975 and back left - Peter Alexander, Blue Wedge, 1970)

Larry Bell, Untitled, 1969, (on right - Craig Kauffman, Untitled, 1969)

Robert Irwin, James Turrell, and Doug Wheeler all started off as abstract painters.  They "developed practices which employ light and indeterminate space to extend and disorient the visual experience."  Their "environmental installations... explore the physical, sensory, and temporal aspects of the architectural space."  These works are eerie, other-worldly, and ethereal.

Robert Irwin, Untitled, 1969 - No, your eyes aren't playing tricks.  Irwin's piece is composed of "a white convex disc mounted on the wall and lit from four points, casting numerous shadows to effectually dematerialize the object."

James Turrell, Juke Green, 1968 -Turrell's light projections somehow amazingly appear to be three-dimensional objects.

Doug Wheeler, Untitled, 1969 - Wheeler's piece is part of a group of "light paintings" called Light Encasement series which he started in 1965.  His light paintings "consist of large squares of plastic, with neon lights embedded along their inside edges that blur the distinction between the work of art and its surrounding context."

My pictures don't do these works justice.  As minimal and simple as these works may seem, they make bold and elegant statements.  This is an extraordinary show.  Check it out if you can.  Learn more at Davidzwirner.com.  Through February 6th.

Alex Prager | Yancey Richardson

Self-taught, Los Angeles-based photographer, Alex Prager's current show Week-End at Yancey Richardson features "constructed narratives and dramatic portraits" through which "Prager explores a range of female types from vulnerable to powerful, from tragic to tender and from coolly detached to literally playing with fire," (from the show's press release).  Finding inspiration and setting her works in her hometown of Los Angeles, the artist has described the city as “A strange picture of perfection… with a sense of unease under the surface of all this beauty and promise.”  Her photos can be described in the same exact way.

Prager casts her friends as models and dresses them up in "wigs, makeup and retro costumes."  Her subjects look deliciously camp and over-done in polyester outfits, fiery red hair, garish lipstick and nail polish, and spidery eyelashes heavily caked in mascara.  The highly stylized and cinematic images depict Prager's subjects "acting" out roles, "most often [as] a solitary figure absorbed in a personal drama" that is happening outside the frame.

Prager's rich, mysterious images are like a sort of technicolor film noir that can have viewers forever speculating what sinister activities her glamorous protagonists are up to.  Learn more at Yanceyrichardson.com and at the artist's website alexprager.com.  Through February 20th.

Deborah, 2009

Rita, 2009

Beth, 2009

Barbara, 2009

Wendy, 2009

Rachel and Friends, 2009

Justin Samson & Haejin Yoon | John Connelly Presents

John Connelly Presents currently has a joint show featuring two artists in their early thirties who create energetic, colorful works that hint slightly at childhood, innocence, and naivety.

Connecticut native currently based in Philadelphia, Justin Samson "presents new paintings and sculpture that continue to use science, humanity and minimalism as an influence," (from the show's press release).  Samson often employs "found images as source material for his collages and paintings" and simple, crafty-type items, or "mundane materials such as wire, wood, plastic, spray paint and hot glue" to create vibrant sculptures.

Parsons alum, Haejin Yoon "creates lively paintings and sculptures that combine elements of abstraction and figuration."  In her current series, "she uses an ambiguous figure that is neither human nor animal.  In each work the figure is ominously or playfully suggested by a pair of eyes or hint of limb."  The cute and mysterious creature peers at viewers from canvases or in the form of an extra tall and extra slim, green, hand-sewn stuffed figure.  Yoon's Green Monster along with Samson's sculpture Jimmy, composed of wood, faux fur, fluorescent lights and a rubber ball, make the gallery space almost feel like a cool and surreal playroom.  According to the show's press release both artists' "new sculptural works... further illuminate the balance between the physical, theoretical and emotional states of creativity."  Samson and Yoon's fun, colorful, youthful works are a perfect match.  Learn more at Johnconnellypresents.com and check out Yoon's cute yet somewhat perplexing website gaegae.com.  Through February 13th.

Justin Samson, Jimmy, 2010

Justin Samson, Untitled, 2009

Justin Samson, Untitled, 2009

Haejin Yoon, Green Monster (left), 2010 and Untitled (right), 2009

Haejin Yoon, Untitled, 2009

Haejin Yoon, Jump, 2009

Demons, Yarns & Tales: Tapestries by Contemporary Artists | James Cohan

London-based art organization, Banners of Persuasion, commissioned 13 international artists to venture out of their comfort zone and veer away from their usual mediums to create hand-woven tapestries.  "This exhibition actively invites viewers to re-think and re-address this rich and complex historical medium in the realm of contemporary art practice," (from the show's press release).  The artists "translated their familiar languages of paint, paper, drawing, collage, ceramics into that of silk and wool and the hand-woven stitch, thus transforming their unique visual language."  They tackle subjects ranging from "fictive landscapes, architectural abstraction, fashion and flora and the politics of race, gender, international conflict and the environment."  The images range from lush, stylish, and abstract, to thought-provoking and heartbreaking.  

The works are striking and vibrant and are definitely not the old tapestries you typically see in cold, dark, musty museum galleries. Demons, Yarns & Tales: Tapestries by Contemporary Artists took three years to bring together and has been shown in London and Miami Basel.  The current show at James Cohan is its premiere presentation in New York.  Learn more at Jamescohan.com and bannersofpersuasion.com.  Through February 13th.

avaf, aaxe vatapa alegria feijao, 2008

Gary Hume, Georgie and Orchids, 2008

Beatriz Milhazes, Carioca, 2008

Fred Tomaselli, After Migrant Fruit Thugs, 2008

Kara Walker, A Warm Summer Evening in 1863, 2008

Shahzia Sikander, Pathology of Suspension, 2008

Julie Verhoeven, Far from The Madding Crowd, 2008

Jaime Gili, Zelada, 2008

Grrrr | Swiss Institute

While you're checking out Latifa Echakhch's show at Swiss Institute, be sure to have a look at the exhibit in the gallery's foyer as well. Grrrr, or Ingo Giezendanner, travels around the world and documents his journeys with "detailed drawings, animations, and public murals," (from the press release). Currently at Swiss Institute are drawings on paper and on the walls that document the artist's travels starting with the railroad tracks in his native Switzerland and then moving on to the former Yugoslavia, Turkey, Georgia, and Azerbeidjan in Southwest Asia. Grrrr's drawings feature cityscapes, high rises, store fronts, outdoor cafes, traffic, as well as a few serene images of trees and nature. The Zurich native has certainly filled up his passport with many adventures around the globe, and his intricate, almost picturesque drawings are certainly better souvenirs than any old, ordinary postcard. Learn more at swissinstitute.net and see the artist's website at grrrr.net. Through February 13th.

Latifa Echakhch | Swiss Institute

French-Moroccan artist Latifa Echakhch creates sculptures and installations that address "nationality, culture, and history" and explore "society in an increasingly globalized world," (from the press release).  Her current show at Soho's Swiss Institute, Movement and Complication, references the science of measuring time.  "Movement" refers to "a simple watch," while "complication" refers "to any feature beyond the basic display of hours, minutes, and seconds.  The more complications, the more difficult it is to design, create, assemble, and eventually repair the watch." 

Echakhch's sprawling work Plaintes ("complaints") was inspired by a system of measurements created by Le Corbusier called The Modular. The artist used charcoal to meticulously apply Le Corbusier's eight measures directly  onto the walls, resulting in "hand made black strips, at varying heights [that] create an obscure pattern throughout the gallery."  For Globus, Echakhch crumpled up three flat maps into round globes and placed the balls on the floor like litter, demonstrating the act of "man manipulating theory into object."  Her small wooden sculpture series, HLM, feature brainteaser games "shown in various stages of completion."  The title HLM, refers to the housing development in the banlieue of Aix-les-bains where the artist grew up.  The small, complex sculptures refer to "the inadequacy of modernism all the while highlighting a near-unsolvable riddle of urbanism." 

You can watch Echakhch discuss some of her works in this video from the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art's March 2007 opening group exhibition, Global Feminisms.  In the clip, Echakhch explains how she uses "cliche" and "banal" materials like couscous, sugar, carpet, tea glasses, official documents, and airmail envelopes, to create pieces that address her cultural heritage.  Born in El Khnansa, Morocco in 1974, Echakhch currently lives and works in Paris and Martigny, Switzerland.  Learn more at swissinstitute.net.  Through February 13th.

Globus (c), (d), (e), 2009 and Plainte 183, Plainte 43, 2009

HLM series: Le Grand-Pavois - L'Artimon, 2009

HLM series: La Misaine - La Vigie - La Carene - Le Beaupre, 2009 

HLM series: La Misaine - La Vigie - La Carene - Le Beaupre, 2009

Robert Williams | Tony Shafrazi

"Boy art."  That's how someone once described to me the kind of art Robert Williams pioneered - macho, psychedelic, "lowbrow" works prevalent in "underground comic books, science fiction and horror films, trashy or populist movie posters, trading cards, tattoo iconography, girlie magazines, surfer art, hot rod illustration, and outlaw culture in general," (Barret S. Bingham from the show's notes/intro).  Though the description was used with disdain, Williams proudly paints in his garish, perverse, non-conformist style, producing scenes featuring space aliens, robots, zombies, and scantily-clad babes in distress.  He calls the style Conceptual Realism.  Williams' underground, sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll style and sensibilities proved to be a perfect match for Guns N' Roses, who used his 1979 painting Appetite For Destruction as the cover art and title for their 1987 album.

In the late 60s, the Californian artist helped form Zap Comix along with R. Crumb and several other non-mainstream, unconventional artists.  In 1979, Williams published The Lowbrow Art of Robert Williams, a book of his art that introduced the art world (and pop culture) to the concept of "lowbrow."  In 1994, WIlliams founded the great art magazine JUXTAPOZ, which showcases the work of many emerging artists.  JUXTAPOZ has the highest circulation of any art magazine (according to David Dalton who wrote a piece on Robert Williams and Conceptual Realism for the show's notes)!

Based in the San Fernando Valley, Williams still creates unapologetic, sensory-overload works and is collected by the likes of Ed Ruscha, Debbie Harry, Yoko Ono, and Leonardo Di Caprio.  As Dalton sums it up, Williams and his admirers, "know sublime trash when they see it."  Check out some of his recent paintings and sculptures at Robert Williams: Conceptual Realism, In the Service of the Hypothetical  at Tony Shafrazi.  See the artist's website at Robtwilliamsstudio.com.  Through January 23rd.

Brute Waste (This, An Irresistible Impulse To Leave No Sanctum Unspoiled), 2009

Diamond in a Goat's Ass (A Lyrically Poetic Euphemism for Pretension), 2009

Homey Puppy-Biter Chills in the Hood, 2007

Confluence Between Corsairs, 2006

Instant Sanctity, 2007

Mythical Benevolence Via Ice Cream, 2007

Skulldy Dumpty, 2007

The Persuasion of Right Angles, 2007

Annette Lemieux | Paul Kasmin

Moo!  Cute (and sadly, probably doomed) cows feature prominently in Annette Lemieux's The Last Suppa currently on view at Paul Kasmin's West 27th Street space.  The Last Suppa is Lemieux's latest study of "folklore and symbolism of the American farm" (from the show's press release).  "In these new works, golden calves, angelic milkmaids, and holy straw hats playfully invoke the iconography of religious traditions."  Lemieux reinterpreted various images she found in 1950's livestock books, associating adorable cows and wholesome farm gals with "religion, art history and popular culture."  

The Last Suppa continues a theme Lemieux started at the 2008 Armory show, where the artist created a booth "that moved from art fair to country fair.  Playing off the context of the event, Lemieux's installation employed such elements as best-in-show cow, walls made from old barn boards, vernacular signage, and fresh apple pie."  In subsequent works, Lemieux featured images of pigs, referencing George Orwell's Animal Farm as well as the "homespun rhetoric of the campaign trail."    

Born in Norfolk, Virginia in 1957 and receiving her BFA from the Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford in Connecticut, Lemieux seems fascinated and/or preoccupied with farm life.   Perhaps it's the city girl in me, but I don't relate to her symbolism.  I know cows are sacred in some cultures, but come on!  It seems a bit of a stretch to have a poor cow wearing a goofy hat posing for a hokey picture represent something holy.  While the message may be lost on skeptical me, I do like the pop and campy feel of Lemieux's works — and I probably won't order beef anytime soon.  Learn more at Paulkasmingallery.com.  Through February 6th.

HOLY COW!, 2009

Mary with Holy Figure, 2009

Twelve, 2009

Gabriel Orozco | MoMA

Multi-media artist Gabriel Orozco recently told the New York Times,  “I want to disappoint the expectations of the one who waits to be amazed.”  With the 20-year survey of his work currently at the Museum of Modern Art, Orozco both succeeds and fails at disappointing his audience.  Orozco's second solo exhibition at MoMA wows crowds with his sculptures made from found objects, like Mobile Matrix (2006), a hanging whale skeleton excavated from a Baja, California beach, embellished with a graphite, circular pattern; La DS. (1993), a silver Citroën sports-car cut lengthwise into threes and reassembled without its middle section; Black Kites (1997), a human skull purchased in NYC and covered in a graphite, harlequin pattern; Four Bicycles (There Is Always One Direction) (1994), four Dutch bicycles fused together into a confusing, freestanding form supported by one kick-stand; and Eyes Under Elephant Foot (2009), a large cactus resembling an elephant's foot creepily dotted with glass eyes on the bottom.  Orozco's photography is also a standout in the show, especially his photos of puddles taken in the early 90s featuring a giant one on a rooftop (From Roof to Roof, 1993), one collected inside a deflated soccer ball (Pinched Ball, 1993), or two side by side on the pavement joined by tracks left by his bicycle tires (Extension of Reflection, 1992).  They are beautiful in the most simple, minimal way.  

Unfortunately Orozco lives up to his statement and slightly disappoints with his repetitive, unexciting abstract paintings of circles.  The artist once gave up painting because as he told the NYTs, "I was against the way that people were painting because I thought it was very boring.”  How ironic!  Undoubtedly Orozco baffles some museum visitors with his cheeky works like Shoes (1993) a pair of men's oxford shoes lying sole to sole on the floor; Empty Shoebox (1993) an open, empty, cardboard shoebox lying on the floor; Yogurt Caps (1994), four clear, blue-trimmed, Dannon Yogurt lids pinned to the wall; and First Was the Spitting I-IV (1993), a series of drawings on graph paper each featuring a pattern started by a splotch of toothpaste the artist spat onto the paper.

Born in Xalapa, Mexico in 1962, Orozco is considered by many to be Mexico's most well-known, living artist.  In 1993, at the age of 31, Orozco had his first solo exhibition at MoMA.  Now, 16 years later, the museum presents a 20-year survey of his sculpture, photography, paintings and drawings, demonstrating once again the artist's wit, keen eye, and uncanny ability to find and reveal the beauty and poetry in the ordinary.  Learn more at MoMA.org.  Read the full NYTs article from December 11th here.  Through March 1, 2010.

Audrey Kawasaki | Jonathan LeVine

The sensual, sloe-eyed creatures with heart-shaped faces, pillowy lips, tousled hair, lithe figures, and perky breasts appearing in the paintings in Hajimari—a prelude at Jonathan LeVine Gallery are what a typical anime/Asian pop culture fanboy's fantasies are made of.  So it surprises me that this exhibit features the work of Audrey Kawasaki, a Japanese-American, woman artist born, bred, and based in Los Angeles.  These images of "innocence and eroticism" (from the show's press release) are what I'd expect from an otaku nerd, not a young, Asian, female artist.  I can't quite understand why she chooses to play up the Cio-Cio San cliche, the "exotic" and "sexual" stereotype of Asian women that men so often employ (though to be fair, the male subject featured in 4 of her works here is awfully effeminate and girly too).

Hajimari—a prelude features a series of paintings on wood panel that Kawasaki created by "applying thin washes of oil paint onto wooden panels, accentuated by organic lines drawn with graphite..." by allowing "the natural grain of the wood surface to show through her imagery which adds translucency to the subjects and a warm glow to every curve and contour of the female form," Kawasaki creates a light, "ethereal effect".  Influenced by Japanese Manga (duh!) and Art Nouveau, Kawasaki explores themes of "coming of age, social pressure, inner-conflict, innocence, sexual maturity, idealizing, idolizing, femininity and desire."  "Hajimari" means "beginning" in Japanese.

While Kawasaki clearly has the skill and talent to create beautiful images, I am disappointed that she does not depict a strong, Asian female image and instead indulges a boring myth by representing Asian women in an over-used way - as fragile, girlish, sexualized objects.  Judge for yourself with my pics below.  Learn more at Jonathanlevinegallery.com.  Through January 9th.

Kazamachi (Waiting), 2009

Migawari (To Give Oneself), 2009

Yuugure no Houkago (Afterschool), 2009

Hyakki Yakou (Night Parade), 2009

Two Sisters, 2008

Boy 3, 2009

Vasily Kandinsky | Guggenheim

I finally made it up to the Guggenheim to see the Kandinsky exhibit before it closes on January 13th.  Unfortunately, I stupidly chose to be a cheapskate and go on the "pay-what-you-wish" night right after New Year's, so I was stuck for about 45 minutes with hundreds of tourists standing in a long, snaking line on East 88th Street over half a block away from the museum's entrance on an absolutely arctic and frigid Saturday evening.  I wish I could say the exhibit made the long wait in the freezing cold worth it, but it didn't really.  While featuring over 100 canvases and works on paper arranged chronologically, the show is certainly thorough and well done, but the works quickly started to blend into a big, fuzzy mix of shapes and colors in my head (though brain freeze may have contributed to this).

Several works are on display covering the abstract art pioneer's favored themes: a horse and rider, the apocalypse, landscapes, music, geometry, and scientific images.  Kandinsky often employed spiritual and religious visuals into his work.  The horse and rider(s) and apocalyptic imagery that appeared in many of his early works seem to explore a "path to salvation" or redemption and express the artist's "desire for a renewal of spiritual values," (from the exhibit's notes).  

An intellectual man of many interests, Kandinsky was highly influenced by music.  According to the show's notes, Kandinsky was partially inspired to become an artist after attending a performance of Wagner's opera Lohengrin.  The artist found music to be "the purest and most advanced art" and sought to "unite painting and music."  Kandinsky believed abstraction could "give painting the freedom from nature that he admired in music" and strove to use abstraction to elicit feeling and emotion the way music can do.  Kandinsky was interested in "synesthesia" and "aimed to imbue this phenomenon of the simultaneous experience of more than one sense (such as hearing a note of music when seeing a color) in his work."  Being a philistine, I didn't experience this from any of the paintings, but how cool would that have been?! 

During his time teaching for the Bauhaus (1922-1933), Kandinsky's work took on a more geometric style.  He created a "vocabulary" of "circles, half circles, triangles, straight lines, curves, diagonal planes, and black-and-white grids, offering new aesthetic illusions and perceptions of time and space."  For the artist, a triangle "embodied active and aggressive feelings," while a square "represented peace and calm" and a circle "suggested the spiritual and cosmic realm."  Unlike many of his colleagues at the Bauhaus who stressed "mechanical functionalism," Kandinsky emphasized "spiritual and psychological values in art."

Born in Moscow in 1866, Vasily Kandinsky studied and taught law and economics at the University of Moscow before moving to Munich in 1897 to study art.  He founded Der Blaue Reiter with a small group of artist friends in 1911.   Kandinsky taught at the Bauhaus from 1922 until 1933 when the National Socialists shut down the school and branded Kandinsky a "degenerate" artist and seized 57 of his works.  Kandinsky then relocated to Neuily-sur-Seine, France in 1933 with his wife where he continued to paint in softer, pastel colors "applied with a certain lightness of touch" until his death on December 13, 1944. Learn much more about Kandinsky and see several samples of his paintings at the Guggenheim's terrific micro-site created for the exhibition here.  Ends soon on January 13th. 

Francis Picabia | Tibor de Nagy

Self-professed "Funny Guy" Francis Picabia (1879-1953) rarely met an art movement that didn't interest him.  The Paris-born painter is known for successfully working in many of the artistic movements of his time, from Impressionism, Fauvism, Futurism, Cubism, Dada-ism and Abstraction.  As the artist once declared, "One must be a nomad, pass through ideas like one passes through countries and cities,” (from Picabia.com).

François Marie Martinez Picabia was born an only child in Paris, January 22, 1879 to a Spanish-Cuban Father who was the chancellor to the Cuban Embassy, and a French, bourgeois mother who died when the artist was 7. Picabia began drawing at an early age and studied at the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs.  Picabia went on to become a prolific artist who helped introduce Modern Art in the U.S.  He collected a number of famous and influential friends throughout his career including Marcel Duchamp, Alfred Stieglitz, Andre Breton, and Gertrude Stein. Though Picabia seemed busy enough painting, partying, and womanizing, he still found time to write poetry, produce Dada magazine 391 from 1916-1924, and write a "fictionalized autobiography" titled Caravansérail in 1924.

Tibor de Nagy Gallery at 724 Fifth Avenue currently has on view Funny Guy, a collection of paintings and drawings by Picabia that illustrates the artist's diverse talents.  Picabia once said, "The paintings are the shadows of my adventures," (from Picabia.com).  He must have had some adventures!  Learn more at Tibordenagy.com and learn more about the artist at Picabia.com.  Through January 23rd.

French Can-Can, 1942-1943

Femme nue, 1938

Les Oliviurs, 1938

Angelot, 1926-1927

Untitled, 1949 

Villejuif, 1951

Auld Lang Syne

Should old acquaintance be forgot and... ???

Well, you get the idea.  Out with the old, in with the new.

Happy New Year, all!