Art Hag

Larry Bell. Still Standing | Hauser & Wirth

In late February, prior to COVID-19 closures of cultural institutions and non-essential businesses in NYC, I went to check out Larry Bell's Still Standing at Hauser & Wirth in Chelsea.

A Standing Wall by Larry Bell at Hauser & Wirth

Bell is known for his reflective glass cube sculptures (example here) as well as experiments with special surface treatments that push "the optic possibilities of glass as a medium." The exhibit showcases work he created from 1970 to the present, including two recent 8-foot-high glass "Standing Walls" or icebergs. According to the press release the "exhibition charts a less explored, but seminal moment in Bell’s practice when he began to radically deconstruct his signature glass cubes into the more architecturally-scaled, fragmented, crystalline forms or what he referred to as 'standing walls.'" 

In the late 1960s Bell "found that the most interesting part of the cubes was where the corners came together. The next logical step was to focus on making big corners, resulting in the Standing Walls," according to the artist's website. He began working with a vacuum coating machine to treat panels of glass allowing "light to be reflected, transmitted and absorbed simultaneously," his website adds. "During the plating process, thin metal films are deposited onto another material, mainly glass...." This process allowed him to create his large-scale glass installations that "were rendered partly mirrored and partly transparent through the vacuum deposition procedure, thereby making the glass surfaces almost disappear and volumes become weightless. The colours which become visible are known as 'interference colour'; an illusion which results when light hits the sculptures’ surface."

Larry Bell, Griffins Fracture, 1977

A Standing Wall by Larry Bell at Hauser & Wirth

An earlier work from 1977, Griffins Fracture, creates an imposing corner in sleek dark glass. One of his two recent Standing Walls, a labyrinth of one black and three white glass panels, resembles sheets of origami paper skillfully folded into sharp right triangles. The second, composed of one pink panel and three in varying shades of blue, is lined up in straight a row—the pieces appearing to neatly nest within each other. As viewers circle each stunning work the translucent pieces interact with one another forming different shadows, hues, and forms. 

Installation view of Larry Bell. Still Standing at Hauser & Wirth

Larry Bell, Untitled, 1985, vacuum coated glass, 5 parts

Larry Bell, Untitled, 2019

Larry Bell at Hauser & Wirth

Still Standing also features a number of small-scale studies and sculptural works that illustrate Bell's process and examinations into surface, color, and reflection. He meticulously transforms glass into grand, radiant structures that offer a wonderful array of perspectives. 

Bell was born in Chicago in 1939 and attended Chouinard Art School [now CalArts] in Los Angeles where he was a student of Robert Irwin's. One of the leading artists of Southern California's Light and Space Movement in the 1960s, Bell currently divides his time between Los Angeles and Taos, New Mexico. Learn more at larrybell.com and hauserwirth.com. 

 

Noah Davis | David Zwirner

Currently on view at David Zwirner is a terrific exhibition highlighting the short but prolific career of artist Noah Davis.  

Noah Davis, Mary Jane, 2008

Born in Seattle in 1983, Davis studied painting at NYC's Cooper Union before settling in Los Angeles. The exhibition, organized by Helen Molesworth, showcases more than 20 of Davis’ paintings that depict intimate scenes inside African American homes and surreal images “that traffic in magical realism,” Molesworth says in the release. “Loneliness and tenderness suffuse his rigorously composed paintings, as do traces of his abiding interest in artists such as Marlene Dumas, Kerry James Marshall, Fairfield Porter, and Luc Tuymans,” she adds.

Noah Davis, Untitled (Moses)

Noah Davis, Single Mother with Father Out of the Picture

Noah Davis, Bad Boy for Life, 2007

Davis’ paintings are imbued with a sense of mystery and tension, lacking facial expressions and eye contact from subjects who are often placed in unusual scenarios. Untitled (Moses), a small-scale painting of Davis’ son being bathed in a sink, offers a sweet glimpse into childhood, while the distant-looking, half-dressed figures in Single Mother with Father Out of the Picture and the emotionless woman spanking a young boy in Bad Boy For Life, suggest uneasiness.

Noah Davis, The Casting Call, 2008

Noah Davis, Pueblo del Rio: Arabesque, 2014

Noah Davis, Pueblo del Rio: Concerto, 2014

The Casting Call is a straightforward look at a group of dancers rehearsing on a black-and-white checkerboard floor, while the dreamlike Pueblo del Rio: Arabesque shows six dancers in white dresses performing outdoors and Pueblo del Rio: Concerto features a lone piano player performing at night on the grounds of the Los Angeles housing project referenced in the titles. A pair rows a canoe on dark waters beneath the Hollywood sign missing its last two letters in the eerie NO-OD for Me and the confounding The Last Barbeque shows an aloof man next to a BBQ grill and a formally dressed, ghostly trio standing off to the side as a man who appears to be smoldering collapses in the background.

Noah Davis, NO-OD for Me, 2008

Noah Davis, The Last Barbeque, 2008

Along with his cryptic, moody paintings, Davis’ legacy includes co-founding The Underground Museum (UM) with his wife, sculptor Karon Davis, in the Arlington Heights section of Los Angeles in 2012. Constructed from three storefronts, the artist-run space focuses on presenting “museum-quality” artwork in an underserved predominantly black and Latinx area of Los Angeles, according to the press release.

Molesworth met Davis at UM in 2014, according to Artnet. She was Chief Curator of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art at the time and originally visited UM to meet with Davis’ brother, the filmmaker Kahlil Joseph. She became close with both artists and in 2014, agreed to a collaboration between UM and LA MOCA. Prior to this partnership, museums were unwilling to loan works to UM, so Davis exhibited his own artwork and curated shows featuring his friends and family.

Shortly after the agreement with LA MOCA, Davis was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, according to the article. He died in 2015 at the age of 32. 

The Zwirner exhibition also features a recreation of the UM offices, complete with a sculpture by Karon Davis, furniture designed by Davis’ mother, Faith Childs-Davis, and BLKNWS, a two-channel video project by Kahlil Joseph. The room also displays architectural models of two shows Davis curated with work from LA MOCA that were posthumously exhibited at UM. Artists of Color (2017-2018) included pieces by Jeremy Blake, Dan Flavin, and Felix Gonzalez-Torres, and Non Fiction (2016-2017) showcased works by Kara Walker, Kerry James Marshall, and David Hammons.

Noah Davis, Untitled, 2015

Davis wrote out plans for the museum before his untimely passing and his family and Molesworth continue to carry out his vision for UM today. A portion of this exhibition will travel to The Underground Museum where it will be on display starting next month. Check out work by the remarkable Noah Davis before the NYC exhibit closes on February 22. Learn more at davidzwirner.com.

Noah Davis
David Zwirner
533 West 19th Street, NYC
Exhibition on view January 16 through February 22

Simen Johan: Conspiracy of Ravens | Yossi Milo Gallery

Saturday is your last chance to check out Conspiracy of Ravens, Simen Johan’s latest exhibition at Yossi Milo Gallery in Chelsea. The show features Johan’s “psychologically charged” digitally manipulated images of “animals in turbulent scenes of power play and theatrical poses,” according the press release.

Simen Johan, Untitled #198, 2019

Johan creates stunning, evocative images that are staged or constructed in Photoshop, combining multiple images of wildlife, landscapes, and backgrounds shot at zoos, safari parks, wildlife sanctuaries, jungles, and rainforests from all around the globe. “Photoshop allows me to create imaginary worlds the way a painter always could, but unlike a painter I do have to first photograph every element that I want to incorporate, so I travel a lot and over the years I’ve built an image library of different animals, plants, and landscapes,” Johan explained at a talk hosted by Red Hook Labs in December. Stephen Frailey, Director of Education for Red Hook Labs, introduced Johan at the event. Frailey was one of Johan’s professors at the School of Visual Arts in the early 90s. Johan received his BFA from SVA in 1996.

Simen Johan, Untitled #196, 2018

Born in Norway, Johan grew up in Sweden with aspirations of becoming a filmmaker. “Filmmaking to me felt like the most engaging art form there was,” he said. The artist was inspired by Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch, and David Cronenberg, whose films “reveal complex truths about life, people, and the world.”

Johan switched his focus from film to photography after he learned that he was “too broke to produce anything” and "too shy" to communicate his story ideas. “Even as a photographer I continued to have cinematic ambitions,” he said. “I wanted to construct photographs rather than document them and from the beginning I looked for ways to stage and construct my photographs. At first I would manually cut and paste my images into narratives and collages and then in my second year I discovered Photoshop which I’ve been working with ever since.”

Johan explained that he does not interact with the animals he photographs, so in order to achieve specific poses he shoots countless photos and combines different images. “I like images that have multiple layers of meaning and that speak to me about what life and the world are like: illusory, multi-faceted, contradictory, ironic,” he said. “I vaguely envision an end result but I never know how to get there. It can actually take me several years to complete an image because I keep running into roadblocks.” An example of an obstacle that might impede his process includes the need to reshoot a subject or scene in a different season for the perfect weather and lighting.

Simen Johan, Untitled #193, 2018

Simen Johan, Untitled #200, 2019

“Whenever I start with a plan, I tend to fail,” he said, recalling a trip he took to a wildlife rescue in Maine to shoot an albino raccoon. “When I got there the raccoon was in a dark area of the park and it moved too much for me to get a sharp picture, but then I saw this raven…sitting with its beak open.” The artist photographed the raven and placed multiple images of the bird into a group, “together they looked like they were arguing,” he said. The image is part of his exhibit currently on view at Yossi Milo. “I’ve come to realize [the show] has a lot of influences from the current political climate. The correct term for a group of ravens is either a 'conspiracy of ravens' or a 'congress of ravens,'” Johan noted. Along with the bickering birds, Johan’s recent work showcases battling Barbary lions, piranhas swimming in dark waters, small salmon-colored iguanas crawling over a bemused larger lizard, skunks investigating a serene panda, and a grizzly bear roaring atop a trash heap.

Johan told the backstory of a ferocious-looking wolf. “This image started with a wolf’s face which I photographed at a wolf sanctuary in California. The caretaker was rubbing its belly when it made this face. I found it fascinating that this was the wolf’s happy face.” According to Johan, he did not have a suitable photo of a wolf’s body to graft on to the original snarl and was not able to complete the image until years later after he had photographed another wolf.

Simen Johan, Untitled #195, 2018

“For me a successful image is not one I can necessarily explain or talk about, but one that generates meaning and interpretation possibilities when I look at it. Ideally, the longer I look at an image, the more meaning it should generate and this is one reason I don’t like to title my work,” the artist explained.

Earlier works that Johan showed during his talk at Red Hook Labs included several photographs of children. Johan worked with children for several years before switching his focus to animals. A nod to his former filmmaking ambitions, Johan said, “The work is not really about children or animals. They’re just actors but they exist in this primal realm that I’m interested in where behavior is guided by intuition more than intention.” He added that his subjects serve as “witnesses to the worlds” he creates and that kids and animals can engage in these environments on a “more primal and fundamental level” than adults.

Simen Johan's Untitled #203 (2019) as seen in a slideshow during his talk at Red Hook Labs on December 7, 2019

Recurring themes in Johan’s work include fog, which he sees as the “breath of nature” as well as “strange, symbiotic relationships” and camouflage. “Camouflage is really nature’s way of confusing the things we see, like our perceptions are already distorted by personal desires, fears, experiences…and nature really conspires against the possibility that we can ever see clearly,” he said.

“I like to make something that’s not real feel logical—or distort logic—because so much in life is like that,” he continued. “Things make sense until you start questioning them and you realize that things are not really what they appear.”

Learn more about Johan at simenjohan.com and click to see my posts on his past exhibitions from 2011 and 2009.

Simen Johan: Conspiracy of Ravens
Yossi Milo Gallery, 245 10^th Avenue (between 24th & 25th Streets), NYC
Exhibition on view through January 4, 2020

Jason Rhoades: Tijuanatanjierchandelier | David Zwirner

If you happen to check out Yayoi Kusama's Every Day I Pray For Love at David Zwirner this week, be sure to head over to the gallery's 19th Street space where Jason Rhoades' Tijuanatanjierchandelier is on view through Saturday, December 7.

The immersive installation transforms the room into a mesmerizing, seedy mess, filled with 44 of Rhoades' chaotic neon chandeliers suspended from the ceiling. The illuminated sculptures are composed of exposed wires and extension cords, taxidermied animals, Moroccan pendant lamps, and assorted tchotchkes the artist picked up during his travels. Rhoades' colorful chandeliers also feature various English and Spanish expressions for "vagina" spelled out in neon to convey "the artist's constant engagement with language and taboo," according to the exhibition notes.

Below the sculptures, mattresses and rugs are strewn across the floor. Laid out along the perimeter of the gallery are blankets displaying sombreros, maracas, whips, handbags, belts, ceramics, glassware, and other souvenirs, mirroring a marketplace while addressing "the rise of global tourism and consumerism," according to the release, and illustrating the "tension that emerges between cultural expression and identity, and cultural appropriation and stereotype."

The show's title, Tijuanatanjierchandelier, merges Tijuana, Mexico and Tangier, Morocco, two cities situated on borders "between the so-called developing world and the Euro-American West." According to the gallery, the work foreshadowed recent concerns relating to "increased free trade and globalization" and references the "targeting of Latin Americans and Muslims in the post-9/11 political climate."

Born in Newcastle, California in 1965, Rhoades was known for his large-scale, multimedia installations packed with found objects including car parts as well as his neon signs. He passed away unexpectedly in 2006 at the age of 41. Though David Zwirner has represented Rhoades since 1993, this is the first presentation of Tijuanatanjierchandelier in New York.

Jason Rhoades: Tijuanatanjierchandelier
David Zwirner, 519 West 19th Street, NYC
Exhibition on view October 24 through December 7
Learn more here. 

Yayoi Kusama, Every Day I Pray For Love | David Zwirner

I debated for weeks about whether I wanted to stand in line for Yayoi Kusama's latest blockbuster exhibit at David Zwirner, Every Day I Pray For Love. Ultimately FOMO got the best of me, so I bundled up and headed over to 537 West 20th Street this chilly morning to join the crowd.

About 30 people were already waiting outside when I arrived at the gallery at 9:35am. The early birds at the head of the queue said that they had been waiting since 8am. Once the doors opened at 10am, 25 people were ushered inside. Fortunately the line moved quickly and I made my way in at 10:15am and waited in another brief line for the exhibit's main attraction—INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM - DANCING LIGHTS THAT FLEW UP TO THE UNIVERSE (2019). 

Gallery staff led groups of four into the immersive installation for one minute at a time. Once inside the mirrored box, dozens of strings of dangling lights slowly transition from shades of cool white to warm red. Reflected in the mirrors, the orbs of light seem to go on forever, like thousands of twinkling stars. The allotted minute goes by quickly, so be sure to take a second to enjoy the experience in between taking selfies.

After exiting the Infinity Room, visitors are free to roam the rest of the exhibition which features one of Kusama's signature pumpkins, several new paintings from her My Eternal Soul series, as well as 90 floor-based stainless steel sculptures entitled Clouds (2019).

On the second level, a gallery showcases six charming, spiky soft sculptures as well as a series of cast aluminum pieces. Don't miss the side gallery where veiled behind a heavy black curtain stands Ladder To Heaven, a nearly 13-foot-high ladder illuminated by LEDs. Peering into circular mirrors placed on the ceiling above the structure and on the floor beneath it, viewers will see an illusion of the ladder extending ad infinitum.

Kusama's exploration into an "eternal unlimited universe" offers fun immersive experiences and quirky, hallucinatory works, though only die-hard Kusama fanatics will likely find it worthwhile to spend an eternity in line for the exhibit. (I waited 90 minutes for her Festival of Light exhibition in 2017.) Try going on a weekday when the wait times are shorter. Plan accordingly by visiting davidzwirner.com where there is more info about the artist, a handy FAQ section, as well as a link to the Twitter thread that provides estimated wait times for the line.

Yayoi Kusama, Every Day I Pray For Love is on view from November 9 through December 14, 2019.

INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM - DANCING LIGHTS THAT FLEW UP TO THE UNIVERSE, 2019

INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM - DANCING LIGHTS THAT FLEW UP TO THE UNIVERSE, 2019

INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM - DANCING LIGHTS THAT FLEW UP TO THE UNIVERSE, 2019

INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM - DANCING LIGHTS THAT FLEW UP TO THE UNIVERSE, 2019

INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM - DANCING LIGHTS THAT FLEW UP TO THE UNIVERSE, 2019

New paintings from Kusama's My Eternal Soul series and some sculptures from Clouds

Pumpkin, 2019

Three of Kusama's soft sculptures and works from her SOULS OF WOMEN THAT CONTINUE FOREVER (2019) made of cast aluminum and urethane paint

Kusama's soft sculptures and works from her SOULS OF WOMEN THAT CONTINUE FOREVER (2019) made of cast aluminum and urethane paint. Her painting WE WHO ARE CAPTIVATED BY THE UTMOST BEAUTY OF EVERYTHING WE KNOW AND SHED TEARS AS WE WERE MONSTROUSLY TOUCHED BY THE MYSTERY OF THE BEAUTY (2019) is displayed on the far wall.

MY LARGEST LONGING FOR HEAVEN WHICH IS SEEKING FOR LOVE AND HOPE, 2019

MY LARGEST LONGING FOR HEAVEN WHICH IS SEEKING FOR LOVE AND HOPE (detail), 2019

THE ACME OF CREATION WITH ITS INFINITE BEAUTY REALIZED WITH ALL MY HEART, 2019

I WILL LOVE WITH ALL MY HEART, 2019

Ladder To Heaven, 2019

Ladder To Heaven, 2019

 

 

 

Dan Flavin: in daylight or cool white | David Zwirner

Dan Flavin: in daylight or cool white is currently on view at David Zwirner's 537 West 20th Street location until next Saturday, April 24.

This exhibit focuses on some of Flavin's more subdued light installations, or "situations," as the artist referred to them, showcasing a series of works from 1963 through the early 1970s composed of different variations of commercial, fluorescent white lights (cool white, daylight, warm white, and soft white).

"The works from this pivotal first decade of his exploration of ready-made, commercially produced lamps exemplify and distill—in this restricted palette—his minimal and conceptual approach," the exhibition's press release states.

Included is a rare curved piece, untitled (1964), consisting of seven two-foot-long light fixtures snaking  across the floor and forming a subtle arc.

Though these works focus on white light instead of the vibrant hues Flavin's works are typically known for, they are still powerful—exuding a cool, quiet, ethereal quality that transforms their surroundings.

Dan Flavin: in daylight or cool white is on view at David Zwirner, 537 West 20th Street through Saturday, April 14. Learn more at davidzwirner.com.

the diagonal of May 25, 1963 (soft white fluorescent light), 1963

untitled (cool white deluxe fluorescent light), 1964 (front); the nominal three (to William of Ockham) (daylight fluorescent light), 1963 (rear); alternate diagonals of March 2, 1964 (to Don Judd) (daylight and cool white fluorescent light), 1964 (right)

alternate diagonals of March 2, 1964 (to Don Judd) (daylight and cool white fluorescent light), 1964 (left) and untitled (to Helen Winkler) (cool white and warm white fluorescent light), 1972 (right)

untitled (to Helen Winkler) (cool white and warm white fluorescent light), 1972

untitled (cool white fluorescent light), 1966 

untitled (to Cy Twombly) 2 (cool white and daylight fluorescent light), 1972

untitled (to Cy Twombly) 2 (cool white and daylight fluorescent light), 1972

"monument" for V. Tatlin (cool white fluorescent light), 1964

 

Yayoi Kusama, Festival of Life | David Zwirner

Hoping to avoid an hours-long line, I took the day off from work a couple of weeks ago to check out Yayoi Kusama's Festival of Life exhibition at David Zwirner.

I arrived at the gallery just before its 10am opening on a Wednesday morning and found a queue snaking from the gallery's entrance at 525 West 19th Street down to 11th Avenue and around the corner about a third of the way up the block. Fortunately, I chose an unseasonably warm day to play hooky, so the 90-minute wait was bearable.

Once inside, visitors are shuttled into another short queue to wait to enter Kusama's three mesmerizing installations, starting with one of the artist's two new Infinity Mirror Rooms. For sixty seconds, groups of six people are allowed inside the first installation, a small room lined with mirrored walls and filled with reflective stainless steel orbs dangling from the ceiling and neatly piled on the floor. A column in the center of the room offers another mirrored environment viewers can peek into through peepholes. Given the short amount of time inside the room, and other visitors quickly moving about trying to snap as many photographs as possible, it was difficult to fully experience and enjoy the work's "sense of infinity."

Yayoi Kusama, Festival of Life, Infinity Mirror Room

Once that quick minute is up, gallery-goers are then directed into a dark room featuring a second Infinity Mirror Room—this one a large black box outfitted with three large peepholes that reveal a dazzling scene composed of miniature, multi-colored light bulbs laid out in a hexagonal pattern that is mirrored infinitely.

Yayoi Kusama, Festival of Life, Infinity Mirror Room

The last room showcases Kusama's With All My Love For The Tulips, I Pray Forever (2011), a sculptural installation with three large-scale potted tulips painted in the same graphic red polka-dotted pattern as the room's ceiling, walls, and floor, creating a vibrant and dizzying visual experience while "diminishing the appearance of depth." This room was selfie central, with visitors excitedly snapping photos of themselves—once again hampering the experience and enjoyment of the work—in Kusama's polka-dotted dreamscape.

Yayoi Kusama, With All My Love For The Tulips, I Pray Forever (2011)

Don't forget to stop by the gallery next door at 533 West 19th Street to check out new large-scale stainless steel flower sculptures by Kusama as well as sixty-six paintings from My Eternal Soul, an ongoing series the artist started in the late 2000s. The dense abstract compositions feature faces, eyes, and flowers mixed in a flurry of colors, shapes, and forms in these feverish, psychedelic works.

Yayoi Kusama, My Eternal Soul and new flower sculptures on view at David Zwirner, 533 West 19th Street

Hurry! Yayoi Kusama's Festival of Life closes on Saturday, December 16. Due to the massive crowds flocking to the exhibit, the gallery has put together a FAQ list to help visitors plan their visit. 

A concurrent exhibition featuring the artist's Infinity Nets paintings is on view at David Zwirner's uptown space at 34 East 69th Street through Friday, December 22.  

 

Lee Bul | Lehmann Maupin

South Korean artist, Lee Bul, continues her beautiful exploration into utopian ideals with her latest exhibition Lee Bul: LMG Show 2017 currently on view at Lehmann Maupin in Chelsea.

Entering the exhibit via Souterrain, a disco-ball-like tunnel composed of mirrors, it doesn't take long before visitors have to crouch down in order to successfully pass through its dramatically lowered ceiling. The once grandiose entryway quickly gives way to discomfort and claustrophobia, implying all that glimmers is not so perfect.

Once inside, visitors can gaze upon Untitled: In This New..., a sleek mirror suspended by steel chains featuring a network of flickering LED lights resembling an intricate cityscape at night. A series of lushly colored abstract works composed in acrylic paint collaged with mother of pearl, human hair, dried flowers, acrylic panels, and crystals on leather or velvet explore "aspirational and optimistic impulses" associated with "utopian idealism" while simultaneously hinting at "ruin, fragmentation, and destruction" (from the show's press release). The elegantly "unfinished state" of these works reference the "persistent human drive to find a sense of 'completeness.'"

Bul's installation Civitas Solis IV is a complex, miniature city consisting of silver architecture and mirrored streets dotted with light bulbs framed by two-way mirrors referencing a "futuristic vision imagined through utopian ideology and aesthetics." Inspired by Tommaso Campanella's City of the Sun, Bul recreates the novel's "city formed of concentric walls housing an egalitarian community" with a "quadrant-shaped structure" that becomes a complete circle in the reflection of the mirrors. The reflective surfaces of the mini city challenge "the boundaries between the real and the imaginary" and suggest "the infinite possibilities of human will and imagination."

With the current political climate, Bul's examining the pursuit of an idealistic world couldn't be more timely and compelling. Learn more at LehmannMaupin.com and see my May 2010 post on Lee Bul (where I regrettably misspelled her name in the title) here. Through February 11th.

Souterrain, 2012-2016

Left to right: Untitled: In This New..., 2016; Study for Civitas Solis IV (Object #18), 2016; Study for Civitas Solis IV (Object #16), 2016

Untitled: In This New..., 2016

Untitled (Willing To Be Vulnerable - Beige Leather #1), 2016

Untitled (Willing To Be Vulnerable - Red Velvet #1), 2016

Untitled (Mekamelencolia - Yellow Velvet #1), 2016

Untitled (Willing To Be Vulnerable - Red Velvet #2), 2016

Untitled (Willing To Be Vulnerable - Red Velvet #2), Detail, 2016

Civitas Solis IV (foreground), 2016; Perdu I (left), 2016, Perdu III (right), 2016

Civitas Solis IV, 2016

Civitas Solis IV, Detail, 2016

Ai Weiwei | Mary Boone and Lisson Galleries

Two additional Ai Weiwei exhibits can currently be seen in Chelsea at the Mary Boone and Lisson galleries, both on West 24th Street.

Roots and Branches, at Mary Boone features Tree, a 25-foot-high tree Frankensteined together from sections of multiple dead trees collected from mountains in Southern China. The various tree parts were bolted together to create one massive tree complete with twisted roots and sprawling branches. The imposing piece is displayed before a wall covered in wallpaper specially designed by the artist.

According to the exhibit’s press release, Tree is a “totem that may be seen as a comment on the strength of modern China built from many ancient ethnic groups, or a determined attempt to create something new and vital from what is irrevocably lost.” The show also includes Treasure Box, a large-scale puzzle-box made from ancient reclaimed huali wood, as well as portraits of Ai composed in LEGOs, including a reproduction of his triptych Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn.

Roots and Branches continues at Lisson Gallery where cast-iron tree trunks and iron root sculptures “create a forest of displaced objects and reveal the artist’s interest in tradition and contemporaneity as well as the prevalence of displacement in post-modern societies.” This theme directly relates to Ai’s exhaustive work in Laundromat which focuses on the global refugee crisis (see my previous post) and the current displacement of millions of individuals around the world.

Learn more about Ai Weiwei 2016: Roots and Branches at maryboonegallery.com and lissongallery.com. Both exhibitions are on view through December 23, 2016.

Mary Boone Gallery’s uptown location at 745 Fifth Avenue is showing a fourth concurrent Ai Weiwei exhibit through December 23rd. Learn more about it here.

Tree at Mary Boone Gallery

Tree at Mary Boone Gallery

Detail of wallpaper design at Mary Boone Gallery

Self-Portrait composed in LEGOs and Treasure Box at Mary Boone Gallery

Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn composed in LEGOs at Mary Boone Gallery

Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn (detail)

Iron Root, 2015, at Lisson Gallery

Iron Root, 2015, at Lisson Gallery

Iron Root, 2015, at Lisson Gallery

Iron Tree Trunk, 2015, at Lisson Gallery

Iron Tree Trunk, 2015, at Lisson Gallery

Iron Tree Trunk Fragments, 2015, at Lisson Gallery

Installation View at Lisson Gallery

Detail of wallpaper design at Lisson Gallery

 

Doug Wheeler | David Zwirner

Another spectacular exhibition by artist Doug Wheeler is currently on view at David Zwirner at 537 West 20th Street.  The artist's third solo exhibit with the gallery, Encasements showcases five works composed of acrylic and neon lighting. 

First conceived between 1967 - 1969, Wheeler created only twenty "light encasements."  Four of the works on view here consist of 90.5" x 90.5" vacuum-formed plastic panels mounted onto a wall with neon lighting lining the edges from behind.  The artist created only two, rarely seen variations featuring the illumination at the center of the panels—one of these works is included in this exhibit.

Each piece is displayed on its own, in a white room with all architectural detail—lines, edges, corners, and surrounding light obscured or omitted, immersing viewers in an ethereal, hazy aura.  With slight alterations in color and tone, each work emits a different sensation.  As with his larger installations, Wheeler's Encasements envelop viewers in a celestial-like atmosphere, causing them to question their perception. 

Wheeler's artwork is always an exciting treat for the senses.  Experience Encasements yourself before it closes 05 March 2016.  Learn more at davidzwirner.com.  See my posts on Wheeler's previous shows from 2012 and 2014.

Untitled, 1968/2015

Untitled, 1968/2014

Untitled, 1969/2014

Dan Flavin | David Zwirner

It's been quite a while since I've checked out the galleries in Chelsea, so I was happy to return Saturday to catch the final day of the exhibition Dan Flavin: Corners, Barriers, and Corridors at David Zwirner's West 20th Street location.  When I arrived, I was surprised to find a queue waiting to get into the exhibition.  Fortunately the line moved quickly and we were soon inside experiencing Flavin's beautiful light installations (or "situations," as he called them).  Created between the late 1960s and early 1970s using commercially available fluorescent lamps, each piece is constructed within a corner, corridor, or as a barrier, filling its surrounding architecture with light, color, and atmosphere.  The results are mesmerizing.

My only complaint about my visit—the hordes of visitors clamoring to take selfies with the artwork—going so far as taking hold of the larger works to steady themselves as they crawled behind the installations to snap duck-faced self-portraits.  Seriously?  WTF?!  Please bask in the glow of Flavin's extraordinary work without touching the art!  Learn more at davidzwirner.com.  Closed October 24th.

untitled (to Barnett Newman) two, 1971

untitled (to Barry, Mike, Chuck, and Leonard), 1972-75

untitled (to a man, George McGovern) 2, 1972

untitled (to Sonja), 1969 (detail)

untitled (to Sonja), 1969

Doug Wheeler | David Zwirner 537 West 20th Street

Extraordinary light and space artist Doug Wheeler returns to NYC—this time at David Zwirner's 537 W 20th Street space.  Occupying the ground floor of the gallery, Wheeler's "rotational horizon work" is similar to the artist's awe-inspiring 2012 installation SA MI 75 DZ NY 12 (see my post from February 2012 here), but not exactly.

For starters, instead of waiting in long lines, visitors can call the gallery in advance and make a reservation for a 15-minute time slot for the current exhibit.  Smaller groups of people viewing at once provide a more relaxed, experiential atmosphere.  After putting on disposable booties to ensure the viewing platform remains white and spotless, viewers walk through a short, tight corridor and enter the installation via a narrow opening.  Like SA MI 75 DZ NY 12,  the installation feels ethereal, vast, and disconcerting (especially with the slightly convex floor), but this time the space is round, like a globe.  A line of LED lights circle the perimeter of the room at foot-level, creating a horizon that subtly changes hues from violet to blue in short intervals traveling left to right.  Standing on one side of the installation and looking at people on the other side, they seem far off in the distance, as if teetering on the edge and about to fall off into the mysterious horizon.  Looking above, there are no discernible seams or corners indicating a ceiling, so it's like gazing upon an endless white haze.  While SA MI 75 DZ NY 12 felt like being inside a cloud, this feels like being atop a giant glacier on a misty day.

Wheeler's installation is another astonishing immersive work that will make you experience space, light, and perception in a truly memorable way.  Learn more at davidzwirner.com.  Through March 29th.  Call 212.517.8677 for reservations.

Doug Wheeler | David Zwirner

I'm an impatient person.  I hate to wait.  So when I first tried going to the Doug Wheeler exhibit at the David Zwirner gallery three Saturdays ago and saw the long line outside, I was discouraged.  When a gallery employee came out after a few minutes to inform all of us on line that the wait would be at least two hours, I immediately gave up and fled.  The following Saturday I returned thinking if I got to the gallery a few minutes before they opened, I would out-smart all the other gallery goers.  I was mistaken. Arriving at 9:45 that cold and wet morning granted me a two hour wait in line—about an hour and a fifteen minutes standing outside in the rain/snow, and another forty-five minutes waiting inside the front of the gallery with approximately thirty others. The gallery allowed groups of ten people into Wheeler's installation at a time for 15 minute intervals.  Before entering, everyone must take off their shoes and put on white paper slippers with elasticized ankles.  All the long lines, the waiting, and the footwear changing was totally worth it. Wheeler's new work, SA MI 75 DZ NY 12 (2012), is an amazing, breath-taking experience.

This is only the fourth "infinity environment" Wheeler has ever exhibited in public (the first was at a gallery in Milan in 1975, the second at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles in 1983, and the third at the Guggenheim Bilbao in 2000).  Like the first three installations, his current work "manipulat[es] architecture with neon and fluorescent lighting, creating entire luminous rooms in which the viewer experienced the sensation of entering an infinite void," (from the show's press release).  It "explores the materiality of light while emphasizing the viewer's physical experience of infinite space."

When I finally got to approach the installation, my eyes were immediately challenged.  I initially thought the wide entranceway was a wall, and hesitated walking through it.  Inside the installation, the large, empty, white space has no corners or edges.  The lighting, which slowly transitions from day to night, creates an ephemeral, hazy effect.  Looking at the work straight on is like looking into a white abyss—never-ending whiteness.  My first impression was of being inside a cloud, and then I thought of all the scenes in movies where characters walk into a magnificent white light symbolizing death.  I heard others describe Wheeler's work like being inside a spaceship or what they'd imagine heaven to be like.

Wheeler was born in 1939 and started off as a painter while attending what is now the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles.  Like his current work, his paintings explored space, light, and perception.  He was a part of the "Light and Space" movement in Southern Californina in the 1960s and 1970s and his work was featured in the terrific Primary Atmospheres: Works from California 1960-1970 exhibit at David Zwirner in 2010.  

While I may be impatient, I did not mind waiting to see Wheeler's SA MI 75 DZ NY 12.  In fact, I went back a third Saturday and waited a mere hour and a half to see it again.  The second viewing was no less effective or awesome. It is definitely worth the effort to see Wheeler's work at Zwirner.  It is a unique sensory experience.  Go see it before it closes this weekend!  Learn more at Davidzwirner.com. Through February 25th.

SA MI 75 DZ NY 12, 2012

SA MI 75 DZ NY 12, 2012

Nan Goldin | Matthew Marks Gallery

Scopophilia, the title of photographer Nan Goldin's latest exhibit at Matthew Marks, means "the love of looking."  In 2010, Goldin was given permission to photograph throughout the Louvre while the museum was closed.  Consisting of over 400 images, Scopophilia juxtaposes famed artworks from the Louvre's collection alongside autobiographical pictures of Goldin's friends and lovers. New photographs of paintings and sculptures from the institution and photos taken throughout Goldin's prolific career are grouped together into a mesmerizing 25-minute slide installation.

Organized into themes of love and desire, Goldin explains, "Desire awoken by images is the project's true starting point.  It is about the idea of taking a picture of a sculpture or a painting in an attempt to bring it to life," (from the show's press release).  Goldin succeeds spectacularly -- her photographs of sculptures look alive, her pairings of classic paintings with her contemporary portraits are striking, and her slide-show is compelling (I watched it twice).  Goldin's Scopophilia will give you "the love of looking" too.  Learn more at Matthewmarks.com.  Through December 23rd.

Cupid with his wings on fire, Le Louvre, 2010

Pygmalion and Galatea, Le Louvre, 2010

Young hermaphrodite sleeping, Le Louvre, 2010

Swan-like embrace, Paris, 2010

Silence, 2011

Crazy Scary, 2011

Installation view

St. Apollonia, Zurbaran, 2011 (above) and Kathleen, NYC, 1993 (below)

Half Length Portrait of a Girl, Guerin, 2011 (above) and Siobhan, Berlin, 1994 (below)

Portait d'un graveur en pierres fines, Pontormo, 2011 (above left); Pawel, NYC, 1996 (below left); St. Sebastian, Puvis de Chavannes, 2011 (above right); Clemens, Paris, 2005 (below right)

Simen Johan | Yossi Milo

Until the Kingdom Comes is an ongoing photography project by the New York-based artist Simen Johan.  Currently on view at Yossi Milo, Johan's photos digitally amalgamate images of plants and animals shot "in natural preserves, zoos, farms, museum dioramas or his own studio" (from the show's press release) with new backgrounds often creating tension and/or unsettling scenarios.  For instance, a rhinocerous sullenly lies in a sandy, barren landscape; an ice-covered stag is uncomfortably propped against a tree; a palm tree stands uprooted by the edge of the ocean; two flamingoes share an awkward, possibly strangling embrace; and an unfortunate frog hangs limply out of a tropical bird's beak.

Johan's photographs fascinate as they toy with our notions of the natural world, depicting nature and wildlife in surreal or nightmarish scenes, blurring "the boundaries between opposing forces, such as the familiar and the otherworldly, the natural and the artificial, the serene and the eerie."  As the artist states, "I depict 'living' as an emotion-fueled experience, engulfed in uncertainty, desire, and illusion."  Learn more at Yossimilo.com and see my post on Johan's October 2009 exhibit here.  Through December 23rd.

Untitled #163, 2011

Untitled #168, 2011

Untitled #159, 2011

Untitled #170, 2011

Untitled #162, 2011

Untitled #167, 2011

Untitled #169, 2011

Jim Lambie | Anton Kern

Glaswegian artist Jim Lambie's current exhibition, Spiritualized, at the Anton Kern Gallery delivers an eclectic group of rainbow-colored, musically influenced works composed of unconventional materials. Zippers slash across white canvases in a punkish sort of way.  Giant, rolled up, colorful belts made from steel and spray paint hang in various spots throughout the gallery whilst a long, loop-de-looped blue one sits atop a group of chairs with seat cushions made of cinder blocks.  Pieces of a dismembered suit of armor poke out of a large installation made of stacked blocks of cement and sheets of steel and aluminum.  A series of reflective aluminum squares with folded-over corners resembling sheets of construction paper line an entire wall. Rainbow-colored vortexes shoot straight through the gallery walls -- one vortex is flanked by black-and-white images of Bob Dylan while another pierces a photo of Mick Jagger's face.  In one corner, glass jars, each filled with a brightly-colored t-shirt, neatly dot the white walls.

A former rock musician, Lambie's vibrant, colorful work is influenced by synethesia, "an analogous experience between music and the color spectrum in which the stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway," (from the show's press release).  This would help explain the musical references the artist uses in several titles of his works as well as the images of rock icons.

While all the works in Spiritualized are vibrant and fun, the larger-scale, seemingly more complicated pieces made of industrial materials are overshadowed by the simple, low-tech, arts and craftsy wall sculpture, Digitized, made of jars and t-shirts collected from a charity shop.  Learn more at Antonkerngallery.com.  Through December 17th.

 

Installation view.  Spiritualized, 2011 in foreground.

Sun Orchid, 2011

Top to bottom:  Vortex (Hoochie Coochie), 2011 and Belt Buckle (Misirlou), 2011

Close-up of Vortex (Hoochie Coochie), 2011

Digitized, 2011

Close-up of Digitized, 2011

Vortex (Sticky Fingers), 2011

Belt Buckle (Voodoo Ray), 2011

Metal Box (I've Been Lovin' You), 2011

Zip Code, 2011

Top to Bottom:  Vortex (Bringing It All Back Home), 2011 and Belt Buckle (Subterranean Homesick Blues), 2011

Installation view.  Metal Urbain (Monochromatic), 2011 in foreground.

Lisa Yuskavage | David Zwirner

For over twenty years, Philadelphia-born Lisa Yuskavage has been painting female nudes in her own unique, innocent/erotic/caricaturish sort of way.  David Zwirner currently has on view an exhibition of new works by the artist.  Set against lush, gorgeous colors and dramatic, hazy, golden light, her subjects possess angelic faces and pornstar bodies.  Often posed in dreamy, bucolic scenes, Yuskavage's women appear equal parts earth mother and lascivious vamp.  Barely clothed and exposing pendulous breasts, the Yuskavage female often paradoxically looks sweet naif and wanton woman.

On display is Triptych, the artist's first three-part painting featuring a group of women on a hillside.  In one panel, a young girl lies seemingly innocently on her stomach with her socked feet playfully up in the air.  The center panel features another young woman with her legs spread eagle, uninhibitedly exhibiting her goodies for all to see.  In the last panel, a group of severe-looking, babushka-wearing woman approach -- as if to reprimand the two free-spirited, sexually liberated, scantily clad lasses.

Yuskavage's gorgeous, dreamlike canvases feature a cast of female characters who seem either unaware of their overt sexuality or who completely own it and control it.  Learn more at Davidzwirner.com.  Through November 5th.

Babushkas, 2011

The Mound, 2011

Triptych, 2011

Afternoon Feeding, 2011

Outskirts, 2011

Pieter Hugo | Yossi Milo

Have you ever wondered what happens to your old computers, laptops, Blackberries, and iPhones after you've finished with them and moved on to the latest model?  Photographer Pieter Hugo's Permanent Error, currently on view at Yossi Milo, sheds a bleak light on the afterlife of our electronics.  Documenting Agbogbloshie, a technological wasteland in Accra, Ghana, Hugo introduces us to the locals who root through the discarded electronics and "burn down the components to extract bits of copper, brass, aluminum, and zinc for resale," (from the show's press release).  Tons of outdated "e-waste" from the West is donated to Ghana "to bridge the digital divide" and provide "technology to developing countries."  Instead, the electronics are destroyed and stripped for their valuable parts.  The burned electronics are "transformed into noxious trash" that contaminates the land, air, and water surrounding the dump site, creating health hazards for those searching for parts as well as those living nearby.

The workers predominantly consist of young men, sent to work the electronic graveyard by their impoverished families.  Hugo's moving portraits document his subjects' despondent expressions against clouds of dark, toxic smoke, grey skies, and barren land -- a surreal, disturbing, purgatory-like backdrop.  Hugo's powerful and poignant images show the workers' desperation and determination -- in a land where purchasing the new iPhone 4S is not the main priority.

Learn more at Yossimilo.com and see my March 2010 post on Pieter Hugo's Nollywood exhibit here.  Through October 29th. 

David Akone, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2010

Left to right:  Al Hasan Abukari, Agbogloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2009; Abdulai Yahaya, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2010

Naasra Yeti, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2009

Yakubu Al Hasan, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2009

Untitled, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2009

 

Do Ho Suh | Lehmann Maupin

Artist Do Ho Suh moved from his native Korea to Providence, Rhode Island in 1991 to study at RISD.  Feelings of displacement made the artist measure spaces "in order to establish relationships with his new surroundings," (from the press release).  This obsessive-compulsive habit came in handy a while later when Suh used the measurements to "replicate and transport spaces" in his artwork.  Home Within Home, currently on view at Lehmann Maupin, features a series of works by Suh that examine "cultural displacement and the co-existence of identities, as well as the perception of our surroundings and how one constructs a memory of a space."

Suh meticulously "constructs a memory of a space" with painstaking detail as evidenced in the centerpiece of the exhibition, Fallen Star 1/5.  The dollhouse-like piece represents the artist's experience relocating from Korea to New England, which he's described like being "dropped from the sky."  The work's narrative has a tornado carrying Suh and his childhood home in Korea to Rhode Island, dumping the artist, the house, and its contents onto his new home in Providence, merging the two houses and Suh's two worlds.  The catastrophically remodeled, miniaturized Rhode Island home is perfectly dissected in two, as if a giant took a chainsaw to the quaint New England dwelling and hacked it in half.  Viewers can easily be looky-loos and peer into the various rooms of the house.  Suh spared no detail in his scaled-down dreamhouse with the unconventional addition, showing fully furnished living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchens with stocked refrigerators and cupboards.  There are Lilliputian bicycles in hallways waiting to be ridden; band posters hanging on the walls of a teenager's messy bedroom; cleaning products waiting to be used; newspapers and catalogues strewn on coffee tables; paperwork cluttering desks; as well as the debris and wreckage caused from the Korean home's crash-landing Wizard of Oz style onto the Rhode Island house.  Instead of a crushed wicked witch's stripey socks poking out from underneath, a released parachute lying flaccidly on the gallery floor provides evidence of the abode's airborne journey.

Along with fabric reproductions of random household items (a thermostat, a door knob, holiday lights, and more) around the artist's current home in New York, Suh presents the ghost-like Home within Home, another merging of his two homes -- this one a cleaner, conjoined model made of translucent resin and cut into four parts.  Suh, who now divides his time between New York, London, and Seoul, presents personal works that invite viewers into his homes, revealing hints of his past and his psyche.  Learn more at Lehmannmaupin.com.  Through October 22nd. 

Fallen Star 1/5, 2008-2011

Fallen Star 1/5, 2008-2011

Fallen Star 1/5, 2008-2011

Fallen Star 1/5, 2008-2011

Fallen Star 1/5, 2008-2011

Fallen Star 1/5, 2008-2011

Fallen Star 1/5, 2008-2011

Fallen Star 1/5, 2008-2011

Fallen Star 1/5, 2008-2011

Fallen Star 1/5, 2008-2011

Home within Home, 2009-2011

Home within Home (detail), 2009-2011

Vik Muniz | Sikkema Jenkins & Co.

Sikkema Jenkins currently has on view Pictures of Magazines 2, a series of new, large-scale, color photographs by Brazilian artist Vik Muniz.  Muniz is perhaps best-known for his Pictures of Garbage and the work he's done with the waste pickers in Jardim Gramacho, Brazil as documented in the Oscar-nominated film Waste Land (2010).

Muniz's latest series features recreations of famous works of art composed of thousands of scraps of images and text torn out of various magazines and books.  A close inspection of the works reveal diverse collages that include pictures of starlets, supermodels, celebrities, kittens, food items, porn, as well as images of other famous artworks and lines of text.  As the show's press release states, much like rapid-fire channel surfing or web browsing, the series "reflects modern life with its incessant influx of information... Western culture's continuous iteration of updating, overwriting and replacement leaves an endless stream of garbage in its wake."  Whereas Muniz's Pictures of Garbage were created with actual trash, in Pictures of Magazines 2 the artist "draws from the endless media onslaught of our culture, a recycling of mental 'garbage'." 

Behind his incredible, meticulous recreations of Courbet, Degas, van Gogh, and more, Muniz delivers scathing commentary regarding the West's ever-growing obsession with trash culture.  Learn more at Sikkemajenkinsco.com and see my February 2010 post on Muniz here. Through October 15th.

The Crucifixion, after Thomas Eakins (Pictures of Magazines 2), 2011

The Butcher's Shop, after Annibale Carracci (Pictures of Magazines 2), 2011

La Bacchante, after Gustave Courbet (Pictures of Magazines 2), 2011

New York City, after George Bellows (Pictures of Magazines 2), 2011

Wheat Field with Cypresses, after van Gogh (Pictures of Magazines 2), 2011

Detail of After the Bath, after Edgar Degas (Pictures of Magazines 2), 2011