Author: jameswagner

Otto Muehl Wehretüchtigung 1967 film [two stills from installation video]



Nathalie Djurberg Dumstrut 2006 DVD [two stills from installation video]

Joao Ribas and Becky Smith have together curated a third, and unfortunately the final, show at Smith’s gallery Bellwether (the complete series was titled “The Mallarmé Propositions”). The exhibition is as original and compelling as each of their earlier outings, last October and this past February. “In Defense of Ardor” presents work by Julieta Aranda, Johanna Billing, Colby Bird, Nathalie Djurberg, Dana Frankfort, Jutta Koether, Jonathan Meese, Otto Muehl, Michael Queenland, Jacob Robichaux, Jessica Stockholder and Kirsten Stoltmann.
If I were to make anything of the fact that I singled out images of the Muehl and Djurberg’s videos for this post, I’d have to say I had some kind of affinity with what the curators describe as their “transgressive states of Dionysian or ‘id-ridden’ intensity”, but actually my shots of these two videos merely happened to be more successful technically than any of the others I attempted.
Almost any of the other works alone might have been worth a visit to a show heroically designed to “contrast the corrosive, enervation effect of cynical reason” [from the last line of an intense press release which describes these pieces as serious alternatives to irony, cynicism and detachment].

Barry and I had to see what Austin Thomas was up to now, so we headed out to further Williamsburg (the Morgan stop on the L) for Jonathan VanDyke‘s installation/homage to the abandoned hair salon which has/will become Pocket Utopia. This rather ephemeral set-up, “The Salon of the Covered Bride,” was inspired at least in part by a press image of “the runaway bride,” Jennifer Wilbanks (who staged her own kidnapping in 2005 to prevent her wedding).
The exhibition represented phase one in the storefront’s transition to full gallery mode, and it was granted barely ten days of life. The end came at sundown today, but I think I was able to capture and preserve a hint of VanDyke’s weird genius in these photographs.
I have to admit that when I first walked into the space I had more than a little difficulty distinguishing the relics from the art, since so much of the hair salon environment remained, but by the time we had to leave I was finding dynamite subjects everywhere my eye would rest.
I’m very sorry it’s all gone now, but on its evidence alone I wouldn’t want to miss anything else Thomas might invite into this terrific new space.

tHe FinaL rUn iNs [detail of installation, including a bit of “unique miscellany”]


Kalup Linzy The Pursuit of Gay (Happyness) 2007 digital black and white video with sound [still from installation]

We were at Taxter & Spengemann this afternoon, but we had totally missed the excitement of the opening, a performance by the random hardcore band “tHe FinaL rUn iNs” (Ben Brantley, Nathan Carter and Matthew Ronay), whose sets, instruments, glitter and ragged concert remnants (including the semi-trashed fish tank above) now line the walls of the main space at the gallery. After a look around at this very site-specific installation we headed upstairs, where currently there’s a lineup of four artist films in the gallery’s self-described “Blockbuster Summer” exhibition.
Confession: We picked out one of these four shorts on the remote mounted on the wall, Kalup Linzy‘s “The Pursuit of Gay (Happyness)”. I glued myself to the screen all the way to the end of this delicious little love story, starring the artist and Joshua Seidner (pictured). My favorite line was Seidner’s woebegone response, as ‘hero’, correcting ‘lady in distress’ (Linzy) when she refers to important parts of her lover’s anatomy, ” . . . our cottontail . . . our peter!”, while the voice of Bernice Edwards sings “Butcher Shop Blues” in the background. But in spite of their serious temptations it was a bit too warm inside to stay for the others* today. Absolutely must return.
For the first quarter of Linzy’s piece, see this one-minute-plus excerpt on YouTube:


*
including two 1964 films by Lance Richbeurg and Pete Broadrick

Peter Fox SOME WORLD 2007 acrylic on canvas 34″ x 54″

[detail]

[oblique detail]

Williamsburg’s The Hogar Collection, which was located on lower Grand Street, west of Bedford for several years, has moved a number of blocks up-island, to new quarters on the other side of the street*, just west of the BQE. It’s a neat space, and on our first visit there last weekend we walked into a beautiful two-person show, a collaboration with eyewash.
I had seen the work of both Peter Fox and Jeanne Tremel before, and both of them are looking more interesting than ever.
Hmm. More abstractions showing up on this site: Is it me, or is this a trend?

*
luckily it’s on the south side, which means work can be hung (to great advantage here) on a secondary white wall facing the street, just inside the large and handsome four-square front window

Jasper Johns Green Target 1955 encaustic on newspaper and cloth over canvas 60″ x 60″

What can I say?

Ad Hunt The Ambassador 2007 oil on canvas


Beth Letain Every knee shall bow 2007 oil on canvas

A show called “Place Setting”, of work by students at the MFA program at SUNY Purchase College was installed at Williamsburg’s Supreme Trading, for only one week unfortunately (apparently an academic tradition for graduate shows). It closed this evening.
The paintings of AD Hunt and Beth Letain stood out in particular, but the larger group would have done any number of schools proud. The other artists, going down the checklist, were Chris Kaczmarek, Andrew Small, Parsley Steinweiss, Jeff Pash, Paul Bernhardt, Melissa Skluzacek, Kristen Gavin, Alec Spangler, Ali Dell Bitta and Sarah Sharp.
The show, of works in many media, was curated by Thom Collins, Director of the Neuberger Museum of Art at the college.

large detail of a fragment of a Byzantine floor mosaic (circa 500-550) with a representation of Ktisis, “a personification of generous donation or foundation”, according to the plaque which accompanies this piece in the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sharp viewer/readers will have noticed by now that an advert has appeared on my site for the first time, on the upper left corner of each page.
I thought that if I were ever to start this sort of thing, this would be the perfect time to break a five-year tradition of private publishing.
The spot is for NURTUREart’s benefit tomorrow evening, and yes, Barry and I are being honored at the occasion. It’s all a bit embarassing, and to mention it again would be even more embarrassing if the institution wasn’t such a great cause.
There are still tickets available, starting at $75, and the event is conveniently located in the Chelsea gallery district (although I imagine many Williamsburgers will argue about the convenience of Chelsea).
Hope to see you there.