Category: Culture

Some highlights from a weekend of visits to galleries in Chelsea and Williamsburg:


Kota Ezawa The Simpson Verdict 2001 DVD still in installation view
Murray Guy (unfortunately the site hasn’t been updated) has a very smart group show, “in words and pictures,” which includes several of the gallery’s own artists. The wrapper refers to the common thread of various dramatic texts, whether printed or spoken, which runs through the two exhibition spaces.


Dasha Shishkin Ham Inspector 2005 acrylic and marker on wall dimensions variable [pretty large – ed.] detail

Mike Paré Together We Can Do This 2002 graphite and egg tempera on paper 22″ x 30″

Cohan and Leslie has quietly become more and more a gallery which just can’t be ignored. The current show. “Much Madness is Divinest Sense,” is a knockout, distinguished by work both subtle and definitely not-so-subtle.


Tony Feher Super Happy Special Group II (Green Bow) 2004 mixed media 11.5″ x 13″ installation view
D’Amelio Terras has hit something of a jackpot with “One-Armed Bandit,” which uses the conceit of the eponymous gaming robot to feature work by Polly Apfelbaum, Tony Feher and Joanne Greenbaum, three of the gallery’s artists. Once again I found it hard to look at anything else when Feher has is showing his stuff.


Don Doe Three Friends 2004 oil on linen 60″ x 48″ large detail

Oliver Kamm (Gallery 5BE) is showing the work of Don Doe. Don’t let the scary drama of the images in (any) reproduction put you off. If you get up to the second floor of the gallery you’ll find these outrageous pirates have real staying power. The effect is somewhere between Rubens and Mad Magazine, with the Antwerp master holding the balance. When you get there, look at those gorgeous highlights, especially on the prominent gelatinous telescopes.


Betty Woodman Aztec Vase #1 (V.B) 2004 glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer and paint 35″ x 28″ x 20″

Max Protetch is showing new work by the magnificent sculptor Betty Woodman. Nothing I can show here can do justice to the quality of what you will see in the gallery. I think this is the best work she has ever shown, and the timing is perfect, since I understand the Metropolitan has scheduled an important retrospective for 2006.


James Hyde Equivalent 2004 wood on chromed steel 49″ x 68″ x 4.5″ installation view

Rachel Berwick Lonesome George 2005 still from video in installation

Brent Sikkema is showing James Hyde in the space recently vacated by American Fine Arts, thus doubling the gallery’s exhibition area. Hyde continues to confound whatever boundary might still exist between painting and sculpture, and he always does it with a smile. With her own sculptural installations in the space to the west, Rachel Berwick and Lonesome George encourage the sober contemplation of great loss.


Aaron Spangler The Sniper’s Home 2004-2005 carved maple, black gesso, graphite 32″ x 36″ x 4″ detail

Ryan Johnson Ghosting 2004 paper, acrylic paint, epoxy, color-aid, matte medium, aluminum rod, wire 74″ x 22″ x 22″ detail of installation
The Zach Feuer Gallery opened two shows on Saturday. Zach mentioned to us that it was his “war show.” At first I didn’t understand what he meant. Sure, there was violence in the imagery shown by both of these artists, but it seemed to be pretty much a homemade violence. Then I managed to remember that in democracies wars are always homemade by definition. So there we are.
Aaron Spangler shows elaborate faux-naive carved-wood dioramas which have been totally blackened, suggesting, at least to me, monumental bronze castings. They reward a thorough inspection, both for their details and their larger significance.
In the gallery’s other space Ryan Johnson has assembled three amazing sculptures composed largely of colored paper. At least two of these painfully frail and incredibly exacting forms describe the fragmentation of physical time.


William Lamson Irving Pointing to God 2003 digital C-print 24″ x 36″
Pierogi 2000 is presenting large photographs by William Lamson in the smaller gallery space. I’ve seen examples of Lamson’s work one at a time in various venues for a year or more. My early interest is reinforced by this strong show of images of what can still best be described as the American heartland. Lamson’s camera seems to love this world, even if it refuses to accept it on its terms alone.


THE SOUTHFIRST SECTION HAS BEEN UPDATED AND CORRECTED [February 3]

Ellen Takata Sleeper 2005 fabric sculpture, aproximately 20″ x 14″ x 11″
At Southfirst Maika Pollack and Florian Altenburg are showing paintings and drawings by Rebecca Bird and new sculpture and watercolors by Ellen Takata.
When I first posted this item there was very little information available about either artist, on the site or in the gallery, but I was intrigued by a number of small, soft works by Takata, a larger example of which appears in the image above. Maika had been suffering both from the flu and her exceptional absence from this excellent gallery – and its data manufactory – but today (Thursday) she wrote that she is now fully recovered. The show can be seen until February 13.
Excerpts from Maika’s intriguing notes on these sculptures:

[The show, “Winter Indoors,” is named] for an artist’s book by Takata that features the adventures of a sock cat and an ex-samurai in a New England home during the wintertime coupled with haikus . . . .
Ellen Takata’s soft sculpture figures are small creatures conjured from scraps of fabric taken from the artist’s own closet. The Scholar’s Rocks refer to the Chinese meditation tool and status symbol of the literari; other sculptures resemble animals (“Octopus on Rock,” “Fox,” Spiderbaby”) or human-ish figures (“Aristocrat,” “Topknot,” “Ghost”). These gently animate things seem to refer to the Shinto belief that nature is littered with small gods; they might be the population of a child’s winter toy chest, or a collection of imaginary companions made real. A series of eight companion watercolors evoke natural scenes and creatures. The exhibition seems to create a family of slight, somewhat ephemeral beings.

Lisa DiLillo This Call May be Monitored 2004 still from video installation
Finally, I confess to being more charmed than ever by repeated visits to Lisa DiLillo’s sensitive little video, “This Call May Be Monitored,” currently installed at Momenta Art. Barry and I had first seen it at Fish Tank Gallery last summer where we thought we had the basic conceit down, but it was during the opening reception so we missed much of the audio. It’s those recorded sounds which really put the piece over the top.

[Paré image from Chan and Leslie; Woodman image from Max Protetch; Berwick image from Brent SIikkema; Lamson image from Pierogi 200; DiLillo image from Momenta Art]

Beeoff Tentacle TransatlanticReverb 2004-2005 installation detail

neuroTransmitter Offshore 2004-2005 installation detail

Mariam Ghani Kabul: Constitutions 2003-2005 installation detail

I was a little scared. Would I understand it? What would I say to those smart people? It seemed to be very much about technology, and I’m barely able to function as a basic blogger, even with my partner/webmaster’s kind and regular ministrations. But Barry really thought we should go, and I have to admit I thought that even this klutz really shouldn’t miss tonight’s reception at EYEBEAM.
The event was described as an evening of tours and talks with the artists of their current installation, “Work In Process.” It turned out to be great fun, and it really was a revelation. Maybe our first exposure to the six projects wouldn’t have been so worthwhile without the extra help of the artists’ guidance, but I know I’m going back, whether or not they’ll be there next time. You don’t really have to know much about what’s going on behind the curtain.
The works were all beautiful, but if some were less so in what many would call a conventional sense there were great compensations in the success of some very original concepts.
Jenny Marketou uses a tiny spotter camera suspended from a red balloon to confound a world fettered by the machinery of surveillance. NeuroTransmitter investigates the history of extra-territorialism and its popular voices. The Swedish collaborative Beeoff creates tethered overhead sculptures lit beautifully from within by projectors which communicate with each other over the internet. Bec Stupak has installed her own beautiful and wacky three-dimensional concept of a DVD zine with the collaboration of more traditional paper zine artists; here technology is totally in the sevice of creative and exceptional individualities. KnoWear’s attractive and very minimal installation was disturbing for its dramatization of the ineluctable personal impact of a corporate futureworld. The unfolding of a more elementally-human contemporary world, specifically the complex process of building a national constitution documented in Mariam Ghani’s space brought tears of joy to my eyes; I found it almost impossible to step away from the wizardry which had recreated Kabul’s 2003-2004 Loyal Jirga in a former garage on 21st Street last night.

For more information on the work of the six artists or collectives in residence who contribute to this show, see the exhibition link on the EYEBEAM site.

Gwon, O-Sang On the languishment of 340 pieces 2000 C-prints, mixed media 79″ x 25.5″ x 12″

Los Angeles’s 4-F gallery (unfortunately the site hasn’t been updated for quite a while) has opened a solo show, “Deodorant Type & The Flat,” of work by Seoul-based artist Gwon, O-sang.
I originally knew nothing more than what the press release told me and I’m on the other side of the country (of the world?), but the image at the top of this post has haunted me since I first saw it one week ago. I don’t know much more now, but the only other work I’d seen then definitely didn’t discourage my interest. I’ve included it below.
Some clues from the gallery’s scented statement:

[The show] will consist of floor-bound sculpture that embodies his notion of deodorizing photography’s historical odor by filtering it through the third dimension, and large-scale photographs (jewelry, watches, cosmetics) taken from advertisements that have been collaged in real space and re-photographed to flatten the viewing field

There’s a peek at his studio here, via crazyseoul.


Gwon, O-sang The Flat 6 2004 Lambda Print mounted on Sintra with UV laminate 71″ x 90″

[images from 4-F]

As I indicated he might, Barry has now done a post explaining what Luke Murphy actually does to create his computer art and enthusing about its wonderful painterly animation.

A lot of artists are working with technology and art, but I don’t think that many of them pull off using the strengths of technology, such as writing a program which then generates the art (possibly in random ways like a high-tech bow to John Cage), rather than just using it as a useful animation or painting tool. I think Luke Murphy does pull off that feat. The works are engaging and beautiful, plus there is an intelligence to them that one can appreciate.

In a subsequent post he has some good words specifically addressed to the artist’s very accessible web site.

Sterling Ruby Geometric Study 2005 inkjet print with red pen on paper 13″ x 19″

Sterling Ruby 90-Degree-Cryer 2004 Lambda print mounted with sintra and plexiglas 20″ x 25″

I’ve seen Sterling Ruby‘s work in Foxy Production‘s rooms before, and it pulls me in every time. I can’t explain why. Even once inside, there seem to be so many questions unanswered; in fact I think that includes most of the questions, but you can tell he’s very serious about asking. While I admit his investigations are of a kind which wouldn’t occur to me, or perhaps to most any viewer, they manage to give his unique aesthetic an extraordinary intensity just for their being posed.
Yeah, I really like them.
One caution: The two images above don’t manage to do justice to the actual work, on view in the gallery as part of a very good small group show, “Geo,” until February 12.

[both images from Foxy Production]

Julia Scher Security Landscape of the Year 2004 metal, monitor, Styrofoam, camera, knife, string, metal frame 24″ x 47.75″ (dimensions vary with installation) installation view

In spite of their other, more social pleasures, opening receptions are never a good time to see a gallery or museum show, so I will have to suspend most of my usual (innoxious) judgments about the new Artists Space exhibition, “Log Cabin.” The name of the show is a reference to the scary national right-wing gay organization (and much-abused victim of unrequited elephant love), the Log Cabin Republicans, and it aims to examine the impact of reationary politics on representations of the queer experience and on the creative expression of queer artists.
Jeffrey Uslip, the young curator, has assembled an interesting group, and I’m delighted that it includes a number of names with which I’m totally unfamiliar.
But of course some were more than recognizable. I’ve written about Scott Treleaven several times in the past and I think I’ve watched the fluid development of his collage work almost from its very beginnings with a zine and a brilliant video. Because of that and because it is installed very smartly in a separate room in the Artists Space environment his contribution (which is actually something of a mini-retrospective, although that seems ludicrous, since the artist looks barely out of his teens) came together and really stood out, at least for me, even in the midst of the large enthusiastic crowds which came out of the cold on Tuesday, the night of the opening reception.
I will definitely go back for a better look at each of the other artists’ work, much of which I confess was pretty baffling without enough room to see it or a proper scorecard. Among many other pieces only half-seen that night, I’m curious about Allison Smith’s sculpture installation, “Flagging Stack Arms,” Terence Koh’s “29 seconds of attraction,” K8 Hardy’s “Trying to Talk,” Paul Pfeiffer’s video “Empire,” which is described as of three-month duration, Julia Scher‘s “Security Landscape of the Year,” and the very un-Republican imagery of Ken Gonzales-Day.
Andrew Solomon managed to garner two separate, modest-size spaces with two very different works, and he deserved both of them. We love Dave Burns! I hardly had more than a glimspe of the various video works spread throughout the rooms. Dean Sameshima’s photographs are always sexy (even when they include no human figure) but that’s always only where they start. Any show in which Glenn Ligon’s work (here, one piece descibing four wonderful texts* on canvas) is among the most accessible is definitely worth some serious visiting time.

*

Glenn Ligon Especially If it’s a Girl #1 2004 oil and acrylic on canvas 30″ x 30″ detail

the complete text of this section of the piece reads:

You can’t talk about fucking
in America right? People say you
dirty. But if you talk about killing
somebody that’s cool. I don’t
understand it myself. I’d rather
come. I’ve had money never felt as
good as I felt when I came.
Don’t nothing matter when you
getting a nut – especially if it’s
a girl, especially if it’s a girl.

where the magic lives

Last night’s opening at Deitch was an almost ecstatically-happy sorta-rave made up mostly of artists and computer nerds. The output of this little machine, an altered vintage Nintendo cartridge, sitting on a black platform in the corner of the room, was what attracted the overflow crowd. The machine itself was the product of a particulary felicitous collaboration between Paper Rad and Cory Arcangel.
Tom Moody describes the work – in two posts.


impression of the scene of the “Super Mario Movie” projection, unfortunately minus even a hint of the great soundtrack

a view of some of the pleasures of the Cory Arcangel opening at Team Gallery last Thursday

He’s a creative genius and a master with the modern tools he has chosen. Cory Arcangel is also one of the nicest, most likeable, winsome, and approachable people I’ve ever met. All of this just makes his genuine modesty pretty incredible.
His happy art (can I say that?) speaks for itself, and it will speak to just about anyone. In New York we’ve gotten used to thinking of Cory as our own, although beginning next week he will be showing work in Vienna, Salzburg, Zurich and London. Fortunately, both because of his fecundity and the nature of his chosen media, there will always be plenty to go around.
Arties in Europe should see the Galerie Lisa Ruyter site and click onto “project space” for information on his appearances.
Anyway, he’ll be in our town for another few days. Enjoy the show which opened at Team Thursday night, “Welcome 2 my Homepage Artshow,” and visit his collaboration with Paper Rad at Jeffrey Deitch in Soho anytime between tonight’s opening (it’s sure to be a wonderful zoo) and February 26, when it closes. The show at Deitch is called “Super Mario Movie.”
Oh yeah, there’s also a performance scheduled at the Swiss Institute – Contemporary Art on Tuesday, February 1, at 7pm, so our boy won’t be staying long in Vienna.
On the screen in the image at the top is a projection of what the Team Gallery press release describes simply as “an absurdly slowed down version of Tetris®.”
For more on the Team show, see Tom Moody’s notes.