Artist and activist Hunter Reynolds' site-specific installation Survival AIDS, currently on view at Participant Inc, features work from his key projects spanning the past twenty years. Reynolds, a member of ACT UP since 1989 and a co-founder of Art Positive which fights homophobia and censorship in the arts, has been HIV positive since 1984.
From 1989-1993, Reynolds cut out every HIV/AIDS and LGBT-related article printed in the New York Times (ie: stories about discrimination, Derek Jarman's last film Blue, Robert Mapplethorpe's banned 1989 Corcoran Gallery exhibition, and obituaries for people who passed away from AIDS-related causes) for series titled Dialogue Tables and Activist Media Installations which were displayed on tables, projected onto walls, or read aloud. After being kept in storage for the past 17 years, the newspaper clippings have reemerged in Reynolds' new Photo Weavings series. The artist scanned, laminated, grouped, and stitched the articles together into twenty 60 x 48 inch quilt-like works that document the early days of the HIV virus and the discrimination the LGBT community endured two decades ago. In the early 90s, Reynolds performed pieces in which he extracted his own blood, dripping it onto paper and "scanning it to create perfectly shaped spots of blood, reclaimed in his artwork ever since," (from the show's press release). Some of these Blood Spot works commingle with the newspaper articles in Reynolds' Photo Weavings.
Reynolds' Mummification performances involve enshrouding the artist in layers of plastic, tin foil, and duct tape which are carefully cut from his body and reshaped to serve as "reminders of the many re-embodiments of the artist over time." Reynolds' project Memorial Dress featured the artist posed on a spinning platform for hours a day whilst wearing a dress printed with the names of over 25,000 people who have died of HIV/AIDS.
Survival AIDS is a moving, powerful, and important exhibit. It's impossible to not want to read every single newspaper article chronicling the onset of AIDS and the hate and ignorance of conservative politicians and right wingers. It's hard to believe that people thought and behaved this way only twenty years ago. While we've made some progress, AIDS and discrimination still exist — we've still got a ways to go for acceptance and equality for the LGBT population. Bold, outspoken artists like Hunter Reynolds help lead the fight with compelling, indelible, evocative work. Learn more at participantinc.org and hunterwreynolds.com. Through June 5th.
Known for her intricate cut paper silhouettes depicting disturbing scenes of violence and racism, Kara Walker's new body of work consists of a series of graphite drawings and hand-printed texts on paper. Dust Jackets for the Niggerati-and Supporting Dissertations, Drawings submitted ruefully by Dr. Kara E. Walker, on view at Sikkema Jenkins, was inspired by the artist's "search for understanding of the way that power asserts itself in interpersonal and geopolitical spheres," (from the press release).
Exploring the African American experience of migrating from the south to the north, from the country to the city, Walker uncovered "a cycle of destruction and renewal that is embodied in the move... as well as the destruction of an 'old' Black identity and the emergence of a 'New Negro' identity." Of course most people experience a transition when they move to a very different and new environment, but the subjects in Walker's work also leave behind a dark, oppressive history marred by slavery and racism.
In collaboration with Sikkema Jenkins, Lehmann Maupin's Lower East Side space is screening three new video works by Walker. Fall Frum Grace, Miss Pipi's Blue Tale, the title of the exhibit and the show's centerpiece, is a shadow puppet film which follows the heroine Miss Pipi in various scenes of beauty, violence, and sex. Miss Pipi, a white Southern woman, must be protected by the Mandingo stereotype— or the "presumed hyper-sexuality of black men." The video Levee casts a long, dreamy, meditative gaze on the landscape in Friars Point, Mississippi at sunset while Bad Blues is a short film showing the artist singing a funny diddy about a black woman having "The Blues." Walker states that these works were inspired by her trip to the Mississippi Delta where she visited "thinking about the terrors of Jim Crow and slavery, yet the silent indifference of the landscape and the economic stasis, lack of mobility, and the persistence of a racist memory in the area was what stuck." Walker delivers thoughtful, intelligent, powerful works that tackle troubling themes that many would rather ignore or forget. Learn more at Sikkemajenkinsco.com, Lehmannmaupin.com and see my 2009 post on Walker here. Through June 4th.
Clockwise from top left: A Dream Deferred; Kiss; The moral arc of history ideally bends towards justice but just as soon as not curves back around toward barbarism, sadism, and unrestrained chaos, 2010
Eternally Displaced Persons, 2010, The Daily Constitution 1878, 2011
N-word, 2010, Up From Slubbery, 2010
Clockwise from top left: No Negro, the, 2010, Urban Relocator, 2011, Showroom, 2010
Dissertation 1, 2010
Changing Spots with a Leopard (another Jazz aficionado), 2010
Wrapping up my week of posts on genuine fashion icons is Kate the Great, or Kate Moss, the most super of all supermodels. With her slight frame, unconventional beauty, undeniable sex appeal, inimitable style, and effortless cool, the 37-year-old Moss has been a favorite of many of the world's top fashion photographers and artists throughout her 23-year(!) career.
Moss collaborated with Danziger Projects in creating an uber-deluxe, limited-edition portfolio featuring eleven 30 x 24 inch prints of her titled The Kate Moss Portfolio (only 30 were created with a starting price of $75,000 each). The images selected for the book were taken by photographers Chuck Close, Annie Leibovitz, Glen Luchford, Mert & Marcus, Terry Richardson, David Sims, Mario Sorrenti (who shot her famous Obsession ads), Juergen Teller, Mario Testino, Inez Van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, and Bruce Weber. The photos are currently on view at Danziger Projects' new space on West 23rd Street along with additional rarely-seen works by Peter Blake, Herb Ritts, Gene Lemuel (whose 9 images on view show a pre-fame, 14-year-old Moss), Glen Luchford, and Mary McCartney.
This isn't the first time Moss has had portfolios devoted solely to her—W Magazine featured a special Kate Moss tribute issue back in 2003 with nine different covers featuring the supe and the current May issue of Vogue Brazil boasts a 60-page spread starring Moss shot by Mario Testino. Among the artists who have immortalized the model are Lucian Freud whose portrait of a pregnant Moss sold for over 4 million dollars at auction in 2005, Marc Quinn who has created sculptures of Moss in bronze and gold, and Banksy.
Perhaps, as seen in some of the works at Danziger, the secret to Moss' success and longevity is her ability to convey so many different personas. She can be the glamour puss, the sex kitten, the rocker chick, the hippie, the ingenue, the waif, the tomboy, the muse, the every woman. Always confident, cool, and elegant, she can't seem to take a bad picture. Moss clearly possesses a superstar quality, that je ne sais quoi, that makes her the perfect muse for photographers and artists. Learn more at Danzigerprojects.com. Through June 30th.
During his 45-year career as one of the world'smost iconic and influential fashion designers, Yves Saint Laurent (1936-2008), who brought the world Le Smoking, the Safari look, the Mondrian dress, and Opium, assembled a massive and extraordinary collection of art. Pierre Thoretton's documentary L'amour Fou, follows the late designer's life and business partner, Pierre Berge, as he readys to auction off the couple's 700+ piece art collection in 2009. Through various interviews with Berge discussing his relationship with Saint Laurent and their extensive collection, as well as long, lingering shots of the couple's uber luxurious homes in Paris, Marrakech, and Normandy - jam packed with fine art and objets d'art, viewers get a sneak peek into the fashion power couples' private life.
Whereas Berge glosses over Saint Laurent's depression, alcohol and drug abuse, and dismissal from Christian Dior (where at the age of 21 he was appointed head designer after Dior's death in 1957 - a decision made by Dior himself shortly before passing away), he talks about the art in detail. The couple started collecting in the 1950s, starting with a bird sculpture from West Africa, a pair of vases, and a Brancusi. The collection kept growing, and growing, and growing to include works by Picasso, Mondrian, Degas, Leger, Matisse, Ensor, Warhol, and many more. Interspersed between Berge's stories and glimpses of the collection are clips from Saint Laurent's runway shows (some of the first to feature models of color) and interviews with two of his muses and besties, the boho-fab Loulou de la Falaise and the impossibly cool Betty Catroux. Constant companions of Saint Laurent's, the two fondly reminisce about their friend, his work, and their hard partying days of yore.
If this all sounds a bit convoluted - it is. Thoretton should have chosen to focus either on YSL's life or the art collection and stuck with it. For a more focused documentary on the life and career of YSL, check out David Teboul's Yves Saint Laurent: His Life and Times or read Alicia Drake's The Beautiful Fall: Lagerfeld, Saint Laurent, and Glorious Excess in 1970s Paris. That being said, L'amour Fou is still worth checking out. The access into Saint Laurent and Berge's homes, the archival footage of the designer, and the old photographs are fascinating. The amount and quality of the art the two collected over the years (like very elegant pack rats) is staggering—their homes were like museums. It was sad watching the appraisers value the pieces and then see the art handlers haul them away leaving big, gaping, empty spaces in their Paris home. (There's a quick, blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene of the handlers packing away the looted, 18th-century rabbit and rat head sculptures from the Yuanming Yuan gardens that inspired Ai Weiwei's Zodiac Heads.) It was exciting to watch the auction and see the intense bidding skyrocket straight through the roof. The multi-millions the auction brought in was said to go towards AIDS research.
While I can't imagine parting with such magnificent, meaningful items, the 81-year-old, non-nostalgic Berge seemed very calm and intent on selling it all off—to move on and close that chapter of his life. Playing at IFC Center.
"I want to empower women. I want people to be afraid of the women I dress."—Alexander McQueen
Lee Alexander McQueen was born in 1969 in London. The youngest of six children, McQueen grew up on a council estate with a taxi driver father and school teacher mother. Leaving school at 16, the young McQueen apprenticed for two Savile Row tailors where he learned the meticulous art of cutting and constructing menswear. After stints working for theater costumers and designers Koji Tatsuno and Romeo Gigli, McQueen attended the legendary Central Saint Martin's where he earned his Masters degree in Fashion Design. In 1992, his entire graduate collection was bought by the fabulous, iconic fashion editor Isabella Blow, who is credited with discovering and mentoring McQueen and launching his career.
In October 1996, McQueen was selected by the president of LVMH, Bernard Arnault, to be John Galliano's replacement as Chief Designer at Givenchy Haute Couture. While at Givenchy McQueen learned to successfully combine his razor-sharp, bespoke tailoring skills with the fine craftsmanship of haute couture. During McQueen's five years at Givenchy, the designer delivered beautiful, dramatic collections with a distinctive dark and edgy side. Developing his reputation for dramatic and lavish runway shows while at Givenchy, McQueen featured robots spray painting a white dress worn by model Shalom Harlow in one show, and double-amputee model Aimee Mullins (who is also featured in Matthew Barney's Cremaster 3) walking down the catwalk on specially carved wooden prosthetics in another. After leaving Givenchy due to creative differences, McQueen focused on his own line (which 51% of was acquired by LVMH rival the Gucci Group) and continued his ascent to be one of the industry's most daring, renowned, and respected designers. It's no surprise then that the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute is honoring Alexander McQueen with Savage Beauty, a fantastic retrospective of the late designer's illustrious and sadly truncated career.
Featuring approximately 100 looks and 70 accessories spanning McQueen's nineteen-year career, the pieces were culled mainly from the Alexander McQueen Archive and also features a handful of his ensembles from the Givenchy Archive. A number of pieces are loaned from collectors including stylist Katy England (whose wedding dress McQueen designed) and Daphne Guinness, the heiress and couture collector who famously purchased Isabella Blow's covetable fashion collection after Blow took her own life in 2007. Signature McQueen designs on display include his infamous "bumster" trousers (which changed how high -or low- we wear pants), kimono-inspired jackets, and his three-point "origami" frock coat.
The exhibition is organized into six sections: The Romantic Mind; Romantic Gothic and Cabinet of Curiosities (highlighting the designer's references to the nineteenth century Victorian Gothic); Romantic Nationalism (displaying McQueen's Scottish pride); Romantic Exoticism (featuring works inspired by the cultures of Japan, China, Africa, India, and Turkey); Romantic Primitivism (displaying McQueen's contradictory take on primitivism "contrasting 'modern' and 'primitive,' 'civilized' and 'uncivilized'"); and Romantic Naturalism (exhibiting nature's strong and consistent influence on the designer). The talented creative team who produced McQueen's elaborate runway shows were enlisted for the exhibition's design. The Cabinet of Curiosities they created features shelves and nooks showcasing the various accessories, shoes, and headpieces McQueen created throughout the years alongside notable collaborators, including two of my favorites Shaun Leane (who creates gorgeous and disturbing metal pieces, ie: his rib cage corset) and well-known milliner Philip Treacy (whose hats Isabella Blow regularly wore and who recently gained notoriety for designing Princess Beatrice's "pretzel" hat for Kate and Wills' royal wedding). Unfortunately, the pieces in the upper cases were only visible from afar—and in the over-crowded, grid-locked room, it was pretty impossible to find good vantage points.
The comprehensive exhibition features pieces from McQueen's graduate collection titled Jack the Ripper Stalks His Victims up through his final collection for A/W 2010 that was shown posthumously to rave reviews. McQueen's design assistant of fourteen years, Sarah Burton, who was appointed Creative Director after the designer's suicide, has shown two well-received collections for the label and has made quite a name for herself in sartorial history by designing Kate Middleton's princess-appropriate wedding gown and her sister's much-loved and unforgiving bridesmaid dress. I wondered how McQueen would have felt about his namesake brand being associated with the pomp of the royal wedding since legend has it while working on Savile Row, the designer with the bad-boy reputation embroidered "I am a cunt" into the lining of a jacket for Prince Charles.
Savage Beauty exhibits fashion at its finest—the oeuvre of a unique designer whose clothing was artistic, innovative, and evocative. This is by far the best Costume Institute exhibit I've seen. Though it's a shame he isn't here to receive the honor, I'm relieved that McQueen is represented in a stylish, tasteful, and elegant manner. I cried when I read the news of McQueen's suicide on February 11, 2010 (a mere nine days after his mother succumbed to cancer). Growing up, I followed his career and was a huge fan of his beautifully dark and daring work and rebellious "don't give a fuck" attitude. After fashion weeks, his would always be the first shows I'd look for in magazines, and later online, to get a glimpse of his stunning clothing as well as the excitment of his shows—shows inspired by the film They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, shipwrecks, asylums, Scottish history, and much more. His human chess game show for Spring 2005 was inspired by a scene from Harry Potter and his Fall 2006 show closed with a ghostly, life-size hologram of Kate Moss floating in gossamer fabric (see below - a small version of this is on view at the exhibit). Insightful, articulate quotes by the designer are featured throughout the exhibit, and it's disheartening to read the many references he made to death. One quote reads: "I oscillate between life and death, happiness and sadness, good and evil." Sadly, now that he's gone, it seems that he wasn't just referring to his work. Another quote near the beginning of the exhibit states: "I want to be the purveyor of a certain silhouette or a way of cutting, so that when I'm dead and gone people will know that the twenty-first century was started by Alexander McQueen." Long live McQueen! Learn more at metmuseum.org and at Alexandermcqueen.com. Through July 31st.
(Sorry, photography was not allowed inside the exhibit.)
Burning Down the House, David LaChapelle, 1996, featuring Alexander McQueen and Isabella Blow
SHOWstudio/Nick Knight's tribute to McQueen, 2010
Pepper's Ghost, A/W 2006, hologram by Baillie Walsh featuring Kate Moss
I loathe the subway. I will literally walk miles to avoid having to descend into the dismal depths of the vile underground. Chris Marker's Passengers, currently on view at Peter Blum in both Soho and Chelsea, features over 200 photographs of unwitting commuters on the Paris Metro. Marker, also a filmmaker who produced documentaries in the 70's, frankly and vividly captures private moments of ordinary Parisians in public venues — crowded subway cars, stations, and platforms.
The photos, primarily of women (which I find slightly creepy and stalkerish and which reinforces my unease with public transport), show the subjects asleep, annoyed, lost in thought, crammed together like sardines, typing away on their mobile phones, and just going about their daily business. The series "illustrates the various ways in which people create invisible walls and boundaries in order to cope with modern urban life," (from the press release). The 90-year-old photographer, writer, director, and multimedia artist clearly finds and exhibits the beauty in his subjects and their actions. Digitally tweaking and enhancing his images, Marker gives the scenes an added sense of tension and surrealness — further convincing me to put away the Metro Card and put on my walking shoes. Learn more at Peterblumgallery.com. Through June 4th.
Since Ai Weiwei's whereabouts are still unknown after being detained by Chinese officials in early April, the world-renowned artist and human rights activist was not able to attend the unveiling of his first major public sculpture installation, Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads, last Wednesday at Grand Army Plaza (at 58th Street and 5th Avenue - across from Central Park, the Plaza Hotel, and Bergdorf Goodman). New York City is the first stop of the exhibition's official world tour which will be traveling across the U.S. as well as Europe and Asia.
The 800-pound, bronze sculptures represent the twelve animal signs of the Chinese zodiac (rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, pig). The work was inspired by the 18th century water clock-fountain built in the gardens of Yuanming Yuan by two European Jesuits for Emperor Qianlong of the Qing dynasty. The Yuanming Yuan gardens were raided in 1860 by British and French troops and the original animal head sculptures were looted. While only seven of the original twelve heads have ever been recovered, Ai recreated the full dozen in charming, large-scale renditions that question issues of "looting and repatriation" and explore "fake" or copied works of art (from zodiacheads.com).
The exhibition is organized by AW Asia, and while Ai could not be at the opening last week, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was joined by a number of artists, curators, and members of the arts community to honor the artist and read aloud some of his eloquent and rousing quotes. Mayor Bloomberg noted, "Artists risk everything to create, but artists like Ai Weiwei, who come from places that do not value and protect free speech, risk even more than that."
New York City seems an appropriate choice to kick off Wei's Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads tour as the artist attended Parsons and lived here for more than ten years. The artist states that the zodiac sculptures are works that can be enjoyed and understood by all - including children, people not in the art world, and casual passers-by. The stunning, playful sculptures were certainly getting lots of attention when I visited. Now if only those imprisoning Ai could understand and appreciate the artist, his artwork, and his politics as well. Learn more at zodiacheads.com and artdaily.org. Through July 15th.
Having helped establish the Feminist art movement in the 1970s, Joan Semmel has worked in figurative painting for more than forty years. Seven recent self-portraits, currently on display at Alexander Gray Associates, continue the artist's long-time examination of female identity. Semmel's paintings show the artist's face or body "doubled, fragmented, and in-motion" (from the exhibit's press release). While blurred, transparent, or "double exposed," the images still expertly and honestly show the artist's figure and features in vivid, life-like detail.
Born in New York City in 1932, Semmel attended the Cooper Union and Pratt and lived in Spain for seven years in the 1960s where she started her art career. Regarding her work, the New York-based artist states: "I have tried to find a contemporary language in which I could retain my delight in the sensuality and pleasure of painting, and still confront the particulars of my own personal experience as a woman. My intention has been to subvert the tradition of the passive female nude. The issues of the body from desire to aging, as well as those of identity and cultural imprinting have been at the core of my concerns. Sexuality has changed radically in the last century and the possibility for female autonomy is connected to these changes." With these open and frank paintings displaying the artist's bold, direct gaze and uninhibited poses, Semmel presents a strong, independent, and confident, contemporary woman. Learn more at Alexandergray.com and at the artist's website Joansemmel.com. Through May 21st.
Transformation, 2010
Moving, 2009
Left to right: Self-Portrait #4, 2010; Self-Portrait #2, 2010
Operation Harmony was the hopeful and optimistic name Canadian forces coined for their peace-keeping mission when deployed in Bosnia in 1992. Dutch artist, Folkert de Jong has borrowed the name for his current and third exhibition at James Cohan featuring unsettling, narrative sculptures made from Styrofoam and polyurethane. Three grinning, shady figures in The Balance II (2010) greet visitors in a gallery to the left of the entrance. The figures represent the Dutch traders who swindled naive Native Americans by purchasing Manhattan with beads and whiskey. The cheap, sneaky bastards' creepy eyes and smiles twinkle as they display strands of beads while doing happy, lil jigs atop oil barrels and shipping pallets - trademark motifs of de Jong's.
The main gallery displays the show's centerpiece, Operation Harmony (2008), a 23-foot-long work inspired by Dutch painter Jan de Baen's chilling 1672 workThe mutilated corpses of the de Witt brothers, hanging on the Vijverberg in the Hague, as well as by "the 'harmonious' grid structure found in Piet Mondrian's modernist paintings" (from the press release). Hacked up bodies are strung up to a grid-like, Pepto Bismol pink scaffolding while decapitated heads are displayed on pikes above. The grisly, dramatic work is cartoonishly macabre and gruesome. In a corner across from Operation Harmony is The Tower (2008) - a totem pole of three wise monkeys who see, hear, and speak no evil in regards to the atrocities happening directly across from them.
With his compelling and disturbing works, the Amsterdam-based de Jong unearths and reintroduces unpleasant moments in Dutch history. Learn more at Jamescohan.com. Through May 7th.
Left ot right: Trader's Deal 8, Trader's Deal 7, Trader's Deal 6, 2010