Category: Culture

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.

Louise Fishman Rock and Ruins 2005 oil on linen 60″ x 70″ [detail*]


Louise Fishman The Arto of Losing 2003 oil on linen 80″ x 60″ [view of installation]


Louise Fishman The Moon in My Sky 2005 oil on canvas 56″ x 46.5″

I don’t suppose anyone would think I could be objective about the art of Louise Fishman if they knew my connection with the artist, but if it meant having to give up that connection I wouldn’t really want to be in a position where I could be objective.
I do love her work, but I’m obliged to make this disclosure:
A friend told us around five years ago that a real artist (we understood “painter”) had bought the beautiful apartment across the hall from us. We were delighted, especially since this would be virtually a first in our building, even though it may house 200 people. This is Chelsea, after all, so we had never really expected artist neighbors.
I confess that at first Barry and I didn’t know who she was, even after we were told her name about a week or two later. While “Louise Fishman” sounded pretty familiar, even though we had generally been immersing ourselves in the work of emerging artists, neither of us could pull up an image in our heads. We ran to a search engine where we were very excited to find that we really liked what we saw. It was also clear that she was very well known and respected, so we should have been pretty embarassed about our ignorance. In fact, that just made us a little more shy than we would otherwise have been once she moved in.
We came to know her even before we had actually seen her work other than in reproduction. In her case the difference is staggering and for any one interested in grown-up painting her shows remain one of the best arguments against depending upon the image of the thing rather than the thing itself.
Oh yes, about the no-regret-for-subjectivity thing: Louise is a truly great artist, but she is also a great intellect, an activist, a good heart, dynamite company and a wonderful friend and neighbor. Barry and I wouldn’t have the pleasure of most of those things if we knew only her art.
Her current solo exhibition is at Cheim & Read right now. Of course it’s a beauty, but you don’t have to take my word for it; it continues until March 25.

*

Rock and Ruins
[click for full image]

Jimmy Robert Untitled 2005 15.75″ x 15.75″ print [view of installation]


Jimmy Robert Untitled 2005 mixed media [view of installation]

The Amsterdam gallery Diana Stigter showed beautiful work at the Armory by the young French (Guadaloupe) artist and performer Jimmy Robert.

and with Rhona Hoffman at the Armory

Kehinde Wiley Willem van Huythuysen 2006 oil and enamel on canvas 8′ x 6′ [large detail of installation]

Gosh, he just gets better. This magnificent painting was offered by Roberts and Tilton at LA ART. Two days earlier I had seen the equally impressive dual portrait below at the Armory, with Rhona Hoffman.


Kehinde Wiley Albert and Nikolaus Rubens, the Artist’s Son 2006 oil and enamel on canvas 106″ x 95″ x 4.5″ framed [large detail of installation]

Jacques Louis Vidal Hurricane Machine 2004 digital video [still from video installation]
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Jacques Louis Vidal Tower of Light 2004 digital video [still from video installation]

Jacques Louis Vidal Air Filter 2004 digital video [still from video installation]

At Scope this week D.C.’s Curator’s Office gallery exhibited some delightful 3-4 minute videos by Jacques Louis Vidal, along with one very good drawing. For the performance videos think of a slightly more serious John Bock collaborating with an almost wacky Chris Burden.


Jacques Louis Vidal Coaster Face 2005 watercolor on paper [large detail]

Coaster Face [detail]

THE NEW YORK ART SHOWS

If the Armory Show was the slightly stuffy grown-up, Pulse was the younger sibling who wanted to be liked as much as respected, and Scope was the sassy kid who decided to ignore the rules.
Fountain was the scrappy youngster from the other side of town (the other sided of the tracks?) who just refused to accept being written off, and LA ART was the interesing visiting cousin.
DiVA is like that brilliant but weird family member no one knew quite what to do with.
You won’t find any “fair” rating system here; there was good work everywhere this week, and each of the venues displayed its share of clunkers.
Starting tonight or tomorrow, what I will do, until I run out of steam, is upload images in no particular order from each of these shows, excepting DIVA. Unfortunately while we really enjoyed it last year we didn’t plan well enough to get downtown before the digital and video fair closed tonight. I’ll try to include at least some basic details for each artist’s work, but there probably won’t be much more.

[details on these images to follow soon]

Not to take away anything from the other “major” art fairs going on in New York this weekend, but if you’re only going to hit one of the shows, make it Scope New York.
We saw great stuff at the Armory Show and at Pulse, and our encounter with the outsider assembly, or Salon de Refuse, Fountain will make it very hard to ever look at an art fair in the same way again, but for three full hours we both had so much fun in the big colorful maze on 11th Avenue that we decided we’ll have to go back.
The art fair thing had begun to feel like work until we walked into Scope, where absolutely everyone was smiling – when they weren’t actually laughing. The whole show is hugely entertaining. I can’t begin to explain why, especially since the organizers have been plagued with so many headaches and threats to its survival.
We still have to visit DiVA and LA ART, and we hope to make it to Williamsburg tomorrow night, but I think I could retire for a few days with a smile on my face if I were to break a leg first.

Art is elitist only for those who say it is.
This was what the Artists Space installation of several Charles Goldman pieces looked like yesterday afternoon during the press and privileged-collector preview for the Armory Show. Since there was still some tidying-up to be done by pier workers before the 5 pm VIP reception, some members of the works’ interested public were part of neither constituency.
Since we’ve been pretty diligent about making all six or so fairs in the few days available, I haven’t had time to do any posting yet. But soon.

Marilyn Minter Splish Spash and Runs 2005 billboard [view of installation]

This is a shot of one of four huge billboards installed in Chelsea by Creative Time as a tribute to the wonderful New York photographer and painter Marilyn Minter.

Now I’m ready for my close-ups. But please let me stay behind the camera.