Author: jameswagner

Shih Chieh Huang Rise and Fall of Civilization 2006 mixed media, dimensions variable in time and space [three views of installation]

Shih Chieh Huang‘s beautiful kinetic sculpture dominated Virgil de Voldère’s booth at Pulse, and that’s quite an accomplishment, since this dynamic young gallery’s choices always seem to deliver both surprise and delight – if not simple amazement.
The artist was also represented by a smaller but equally lively piece suspended behind a partition, this one driven by two small computer fans:


In this week’s Village Voice R.C. Baker’s mini-review of Huang’s show in the gallery space (ends Saturday) manages to describe what the proverbial “mixed media” means this time:

Awash in black light and bristling with wires and cable ties, robotic creatures spring to life when motion and light sensors—some of the latter suction-cupped to huge blinking eyes on video screens—trigger computer fans that fill flaccid plastic tubes with air, creating wriggling tentacles and flapping wings. More fans, hung from the ceiling, and random radio scans add to the sensory overload of this Taiwanese-born artist’s techno-geek fun house.

Jacobs Jeroen Ka De We 2005 sculpture in concrete 12.25″ x 11.75″ x 10.25 [installation view]

I’ve decided I’m a sucker for concrete sculpture, and not just when it’s a real building, but the pieces by the Dutch artist Jacobs Jeroen displayed by Berlin’s Galerie Magnus Müller at Pulse make my weakness easy to explain.

A fascinating booth, good people, great chocolate, and Simon English drawings. A great way to end our visit to Scope Saturday night, inside the Zürich gallery with the wonderful name and the great facade, Römerapotheke.
Bought the book; maybe a small drawing next time.

The world unfortunately continues to grind out a rich load of subjects for Carter Kustera’s singular art. This piece, exhibited by Atlanta’s Solomon Projects at Scope, pretends to offer fashion advice, but it’s really about the fashion of violence. Unfortunately the text is not legible in this picture, but you can use your imagination if you check out one an earlier, New York show, and this excerpt from the Atlanta gallery’s press release:

At once poignant and witty, “Fabulous Anger” is a provocative body of work that explores the commodification of violence. Combining image and text in a format familiar to advertising — the fashion layout — Kustera takes a critical look at the way violence is presented through the media.

James Rieck Something Special 2006 oil on canvas 82″ x 74″ [installation view]


Lyons Weir Gallery showed something new from James Rieck at Pulse, a luscious color version of his party dress oils.
While visiting the gallery itself several days before the fair, I had shot this image of one of his pieces in the beautiful solo show* which closed last weekend:

James Rieck Girl’s Satin Gloves (2) 2006 oil on canvas 63″ x 63″ [installation view]

*
the paintings both shine and glisten when seen in person, but in the meantime there are great images on the gallery website

Melissa Pokorny Drag (Double Goer) 2005 MDF, laminates, polyurethane resins, polar fleece and fabric 38″ x 41″ x 74″ [installation view]

Melissa Pokorny You and Me and Bird Shit 2005 MDF, laminates, polyurethane resins, bogus bricks, fabric 33″ x 28″ x 49″ [installation view]

Oh yes! But I think my favorite is the piece on the artist’s home page.
Prominent highlights of the Fountain fair across the highway from Armory were Melissa Pokorny’s two wonderful/weird sculptures on the floor just inside the door. They were part of The Front Room‘s contribution.
Pokorny was part of the gallery’s January/February group show.
From her site:

Forget meaning. This work functions like some sort of homemade cultural probe. Think of a kid poking a stick into swamp water and removing it to see what lies beneath. Pokorny’s creative imagination seems to work that way.
People have a hard time imagining living with Pokorny’s sculpture, but in a sense we all do already.
— Kenneth Baker

Tim Hawkinson Bike Spin 2004 [view of installation]

But it still rolls, er, spins.
This was just about the very first work I saw at my initial stop during a long weekend of art fairs. What looks like just another stripped bike frame is actually a complex, moving (in both senses) sculpture. Every section of the frame is geared to turn continuously and silently, in a direction opposite from its neighbor.
I saw Tim Hawkinson‘s sad, defiant piece in a corner of one of the rooms of the Pace Wildenstein booth at the press preview of the Armory Show.

Robert Mapplethorpe Star (gold) 1983 stained wood and gold mirror 47″ x 49″ [large detail of installation, including reflection]

STAR

I’ve always preferred Mapplethorpe’s 1980’s cold, minimal sculptural work, with or without the photographs, to anything else he ever did, and now I can say that he would never have been able improve on a “Star (gold)” which managed to include Barry, seen here in the Alison Jacques Gallery booth at the Armory show.

Heather Rowe Untitled (screen #1) 2006 metal studs, wood, tape and glass 42″ x 28″ x 82″ [installation view]

Dynamite. Couldn’t walk away. Don’t know why. Want to know where it’s going now. Can I visit?

Heather Rowe‘s sculpture in the middle of the D’Amelio Terras booth attracted almost everyone’s attention.


untitled and friends

Eigen + Art Berlin showed drawings by the German artist Birgit Brenner at Armory. I felt like I was barely shown the tip of a very large iceberg; I’d like to see more. I would also like to have shown more here, but the light was difficult.