These two Painted Ladies were very busy in the 28th Street flower market this afternoon. They ignored me entirely, but I can totally understand the reason for their concentration: They have only two weeks to live and to reproduce, once they acquire those fabulous wings.
Author: jameswagner
WTC, almost six years on
untitled (the ramp) 2007
This is a view of the hole, taken from a chink in the fabric of the temporary Vesey Street bridge late last night, although it looked to me more like the construction site of a moon base, especially since there were no human figures visible, and no sound. The starry night effect in the left background is produced by the work lights on the Deutsche Bank Building which is slowly being demolished.
Joel Longenecker at Sideshow
Joel Longenecker And Then You Die 2007 oil on canvas 90″ x 96″
[detail]
Joel Longenecker Float Theory 2007 oil on linen 62″ x 54″
Joel Longenecker Get Drift 2007 oil on canvas 78″ x 74″
When I first saw these paintings I didn’t know how to fit them into my accustomed ideas about how art should ideally provoke and re-draw my world in some way when I initially encounter it. Joel Longenecker‘s paintings in his solo show, “Ignorance and Bliss“, at Sideshow are both powerful and beautiful, but they do not capture new territory. In fact while they were all finished this year, they would not look anomalous (although they’d probably have been stars) in a Manhattan gallery show years ago.
But to say this is not to dismiss what Longenecker has accomplished. I still like to visit the work of the iconic abstract expressionists, even when it’s become very familiar, and when an artist speaks in the same language today, but to tell new stories, why should I refuse to listen?
I knew I would end up appreciating this work more if I hung around a bit yesterday, and I did. I didn’t however expect to become as attached to it as I am now, the result of an increased familiarity from having spent an absurd amount of time today trying to adjust the colors on the images I shot during my visit. I had to revise my adjustments over and over to see that the colors were neither too bright and transparent nor too dark and smudgy. I hope I’ve come close to the originals but, especially with painting, there’s no substitute for being able to stand in front of the canvas itself.
shy Williamsburg low-rise with tall, aggressive neighbors
untitled (antennae) 2007
Didn’t anybody notice this triangular lot when these two buildings were going up?
“Ceci n’est pas… (This is not…)” at Sara Meltzer
Alejandro Diaz (selection from “Ongoing series of Cardboard Signs” 2003 – present) [installation view]
[additional signs from the series]
Guy Richards Smit study for front cover of “Grossmalerman Adventures” 2007 gouache on paper 30.25″ x 22.75″ [installation view]
Terrence Gower Display Modern II-1 (Hepworth) 2006-2007 Paper m�ch� 49.75″ x 38.25″ x 9″, Display Modern II-2 (Hepworth) 2006-2007 paper m�ch� 46″ x 18″ x 15″, and Display Modern II-4 (Hepworth) 2006-2007 paper m�ch� 48.5″ x 18″ x 15″, with Display Modern I (Hepworth) 2006-2007 12 Piezo pigment prints on phot rag 11″ x 14″ each (unframed) on wall to the rear [installation view]
Rachel Gugelberger and Jeffrey Walkowiak, co-directors of the gallery, are the curators of the current Sara Meltzer show, “Ceci n’est pas… (This is not…)“, featuring work by Tamy Ben-Tor, Cary Leibowitz, Peter Coffin, Michael Lindeman, Jennifer Dalton, Pam Lins, Alejandro Diaz, Reynard Loki, Charley Friedman, Edgar Orlaineta, Neil Goldberg, Laura Parnes, Terence Gower, Danica Phelps, Pablo Helguera, Jude Tallichet, Christopher K. Ho and Troy Richards, Guy Richards Smit, Nina Katchadourian, Michael Smith and David Kramer.
The press release is almost as amusing as this very amusing show itself. It begins with a statement warning us about what the installation is not:
Ceci n’est pas… (This is not…) an exhibition about painting. This is not an exhibition that defines a moment or a trend. This is not an exhibition that celebrates the emerging artist or the mid-career artist or those who have passed. This is not an exhibition about appropriation, subversive strategies or architectural interventions. This is not an exhibition about global warming, the war in Iraq, government corruption, Lindsey Lohan or Knut the polar bear.
And it goes on to describe what it is, in an explanation excerpted here:
The group exhibition Ceci n’est pas… (This is not…) presents works that approach various facets of the art world with irony and humor. Culled from artist’s observations and experiences as well as art world mythology, the far-ranging styles include self-deprecating anecdotes, commentaries on art and exhibition practices and critiques of art market trends.
“Famous Adults as Children, . . . ” at Monya Rowe
Mark Schubert Merry-Jo 2007 epoxy resin, plastic lawn ornaments, chrome table, foam and enamel, approx. 69″ x 40″ x 42″ [installation view]
[detail]
Joey Fauerso If I’m Thinking I’m Probably Feeling 2006 video: 35-second looped animation made from 454 oil and acrylic paintings [two stills from installation]
I’m not surprised that one of my favorite things in the show is Mark Schubert‘s piece, or that it was already marked sold when we arrived at the gallery one week after the show opened. I’m talking about “Merry-Jo”, Schubert’s large sculpture occupying the physical center of the current exhibition, “Famous Adults as Children, Famous Children as Adults“, at Monya Rowe. Maybe it’s spoiler, but I’ll tell you anyway: The major elements of this sculpture started life as a plastic Mary and Joseph.
I was also fascinated by Joey Fauerso‘s “If I’m Thinking I’m probably Feeling”, a half-minute video animation assembled from hundreds of individual paintings.
The show was curated by José Lerma, and besides these works by Schubert and Fauerso there are excellent pieces by Evan Gruzis, Christopher McNulty, John McKinnon, Brendan Mulcahy, Jesus Bubu Negron, Joe Pflieger, Andrew Rogers and Chemi Rosado Seijo.
The press release states simply that the installation “examines themes of repetition, replication and the reformulation of existing works and ideas”. What a strange idea: a curatorial concept which doesn’t end up stuck in the ordinary art fan’s throat.
“Circumventing the City” at D’Amelio Terras
Sarah Braman Step Out 2007 found furniture, Plexiglas, paint 46″ x 53″ x 32″ [installation view]
Nicole Cherubini Amphora 2007 ceramic, terracotta, porcelain, luster, yellow crystal ice, wood, enamel and fake gold and silver chain 70″ x 64″ x 30″ [installation view]
Jacob Robichaux Concrete/Abstract 2007 color pencil, enamel, felt, glue, linen, parquetry tablets, string, wood 27″ x 25″
Ian Pedigo Temporary Image of the Exterior 2007 wood, counter top, Plexiglas, decals, found printed image 64″ x 63.5″ x 1.75″ [installation view]
The other reason of my excitement about D’Amelio Terras is the show in the larger space, “Circumventing the City“, curated by Rachel Uffner, with work by Sarah Braman, David Brooks, Jedediah Caesar, Nicole Cherubini, Valerie Hegarty, Yuri Masnyj, Ian Pedigo, Jacob Robichaux, Sterling Ruby and Erika Vogt.
Like “Heralds of Creative Anachronism”, this is a show of abstraction, and everything in this room too was created within the last year or so, but four of the ten artists are not men, and their medium is not just paint on canvas. In fact, there really isn’t anything here which might be called straight painting at all.
It’s a beautiful show.
I was already familiar with and enthusastic about the exciting work of Braman, Cherubini, Hegarty, Pedigo, Robichaux and Ruby, and now I’m also going to be watching for Brooks, Caesar and Masnyj.
This smallish piece on paper by Robichaux is not actually part of the show, but I saw it hanging in an office inside the gallery and I couldn’t resist sharing it.
new abstraction at D’Amelio Terras
Roger White Cloth 2006 oil on canvas 54″ x 38″
Chris Martin Mother Popcorn 2006-2007 oil and collage on canvas 64″ x 59″
D’Amelio Terras has two dynamite shows up at the same time, and they will both be running for almost four more weeks, until August 10. “Heralds of Creative Anachronism“, which occupies the gallery’s smaller space, includes five abstract works by four artists, Joe Bradley, Daniel Hesidence, Chris Martin [see also my July 17 post], and Roger White.
The gallery describes the choice of four male painters for this show as a deliberate reference to the 60’s art group known as BMPT (Daniel Buren, Olivier Mosset, Michel Parmentier, Niele Toroni), but admits that the exhibition is “a light-hearted attempt to create a movement, even a temporary one, for the duration of this exhibition”. In fact I think what they’re saying is that the idea here, very unlike BMPT’s, is to question the whole notion of movements or “schools” in the practice of contemporary abstract painting.
Whatever the show’s conceit, the work is terrific.
No curator is credited.
our friendly press, on the future of art blogs
I wasn’t going to single out this one article in one periodical for a post here on my site, thinking it would appear too self-serving, but then I realized that people were already reading the provocative piece by James Kalm, “Gangs of New York“, in the latest Brooklyn Rail and my not saying anything might look like a statement itself. Besides, it’s about much more than art blogs, and I would definitely have wanted to be told about it myself, and read it, even if I didn’t already know some of the names involved.
Bloggy already did a small post about Kalm’s piece and there he referred to the broadsheet’s accompanying photo as broadly “horrific” (he was being kind, since although he didn’t single out my own appearance I swear I’ve still never seen a bad picture of Barry!).
The article is about the future of art criticism, the growth of online art communities, the disintegration of older art authorities, etc., and it includes interviews with PaintersNYC, Barry and myself.
“Unfathom” at Max Protetch
Mira Dancy Burning Flame 2007 oil on canvas 16″ x 16″
Mira Dancy Tall Table 2007 oil on canvas 42″ x 24″
Chris Martin Untitled 2005-2007 mixed media, insulation foam on wire mesh 32″ x26.75′ [installation view]
Eric Heist The Kingdom is Inside You and Outside You (From Interfaith Center) 2005 mixed media 40″ x 20″ x 26″ [installation view]
Aaron Williams Are We Dead? 2007 watercolor, enamel and spray paint on paper 27″ x 34.5″ [installation view]
Mike Cloud Chicken with Two Stars of David 2005 oil on linen with toy from children’s game 39.25″ x 37.75″ x 40″ [installation view]
Andrew Guenther The Slap of Bird Shit on Wet Pavement (green and yellow) 2006 acrylic and oil stick on paper 30″ x 22.5″ [installation view, of work inside frame]
It’s been a while since Mid-Chelsea looked as exciting as it does right now. I just counted nine “TOP PICKS” on ArtCal, and seven of them are Chelsea galleries; that may be a record. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that a number of artists are currently making an appearance there who have not previously been associated with our far-west-side, grown-ups-art scene. Barry and I headed west for a few hours this afternoon and much of the time it felt like we were actually visiting Williamsburg or the Lower East Side – except that our local big-deal galleries can afford excellent air conditioning, their market being rather demanding.
We encountered our first stash of treasures at “Unfathom“, the beautiful Max Protetch group show curated by the artist Aaron Williams and Stuart Krimko, the gallery’s Director of Exhibitions. The artists are Cameron, Nicolas Rule, Saul Chernick, Gary Stephan, Jessica Dickinson, Chris Martin, Byron Kim, Andrew Guenther, Alfred Jensen, Mira Dancy, Rico Gaston, Marc Handelman, Eric Heist, Katherine Keltner, Mike Cloud, Ed Blackburn and Aaron Williams.