Zachary Wollard A Historic Evening (2004) oil and acrylic on canvas 48″ x 64″
The most remarkable thing about the paintings and drawings of Zachary Wollard now being shown at Massimo Audiello? No, not the fact that the artist is self-taught (ok, his first career was poetry, and there was some school-learning involved, at Columbia), but the fact that the work is so magnificent, and so enchanting.
He’s only about 30, this is his first one-man show at the gallery and by the time you read this all of the work may already have been sold. See, poetry does pay.
Zachary Wollard Harbor Master (2004) graphite, watercolor, gouache and silver leaf on paper 22.5″ x 30″
fantastic Japan, here in Chelsea
Osamu Tezuka, cell from “The Princess Knight”
M.Y. Art Prospects has launched a fascinating show, “Fantastic Landscapes from Japan,” curated by Taro Chiezo, one of the eight artists in the exhibition. It’s a trip, in several senses, and it certainly saves us bundles in travel costs.
In the 21st century the exotic no longer has much of a chance of maintaining its distance from the familiar. I’m not at all suggesting that the M.Y. Art show is difficult to approach, but the aesthetic merit of the work may stand out even more because it lets a European-dominated society share in the power of ancient cultural traditions very different from its own, if also woven into them at the same time. Ultimately this show provides the kind of jolt a visitor should expect in experiencing any good art, regardless of its source – only here maybe with a few more amps.
David Noonan at Foxy Production
John Waters said recently on Studio 360 that he only buys art that annoys him. It shouldn’t surprise his audiences to hear that the outrageous creator of “Pink Flamingos” and “Female Trouble” doesn’t want to be surrounded by comfortable work.
I only got the account of his NPR interview secondhand, but I think I understand what he means – or at least I can work with it. I don’t buy pretty art myself, and I don’t buy art which I pretend to understand or with which I’m totally comfortable.
This is all by way of an introduction to the current installation at Foxy Production. I don’t mean to say that David Noonan’s show actually annoys me, but I admit that even after seeing all kinds of individual pieces on previous occasions I remain more than a bit baffled by what he’s doing. At the same time I’m fascinated. What you’ll see on West 27th Street is gorgeous work, but I know there’s stuff in there of which I am only dimly aware.
Wait, I think I’m talking about all of the gallery’s work as much as I’m talking about the paintings in the current exhibition. It’s not just the charm of the two principals which brings me back for every show; it’s the heady feeling of not only being exposed to something quite new each time but also of encountering something which may never reveal itself entirely – even if it comes home with you. In a very real way, it always does.
Seriously one of the most interesting shows in Chelsea this month.
[images (paintings produced by diluted bleach applied to black saturated canvas) from Foxy Production]
Bush lies, but the Times thinks it’s all sport
Today’s NYTimes has a front page article reporting that Kerry says Bush isn’t telling the truth about Iraq. Only a close reading of the story (now buried inside the online edition) would reveal that the real news, more important even than what the contender says about it, is that a report from the administration’s own National Intelligence Council told Bush way back in July that the outlook for Iraq was gloomy at best, and that at worst it was likely to be an absolute disaster, with the balance clearly weighing closer to the latter.
The paper did report the intelligence assessment in yesterday‘s edition, but even if the editors think that incontrovertible proof that Bush is lying about the defining event of his presidency is just yesterday’s news, one could at least expect some editorial or OP-ED comment. Once again the U.S. commercial media, including here one of its most respected outlets, demonstrates that it can only cover politics, and especially campaigns for political office, as a competitive sport. Any mention of actual issues has apparently become unAmerican.
fucknewyork
Ahhh. The Underground Railroad has the dope on the wonderful little video I posted one month ago. This is from the director, Matt Lenski:
We’re both native New Yorkers – I was born in Manhattan and lived on Eldridge and Houston when I was little – and of course we were all outraged that Republicans were coming here to use the 911 incident and twist it in their favor. They’re coming to our home town and we felt like we did when we were sixteen years old and some bully was steppin to you on your block, talking shit. These Republicans are the ultimate punks. I’m a director and Sam Marks is a writer and a playwright so we said let’s come up with something.
[thanks to bloggy]
St. Elvis
untitled (Elvis in the compactor room) 2004
Some of Chelsea’s best installations are never seen by the public.
The Drawing Center
I don’t think there’s one clinker in the group included in the new show at The Drawing Center (and actually I wouldn’t mention it if I thought there was). Although some of the work is immediately seductive, some of it may have to wait a bit for the kind of recognition it’s certainly going to find. I’m thinking right now of the powerful, disturbing drawings of Zoë Charlton.
You know it’s a good group show when you find yourself wondering about the actual process of assembling a group of (in this case 14) artists you’ve seen little or nothing of before. I mean, how does it happen? And where have they been up to now?
In any event, the pictures included below offer barely a hint of the deptha nd breadth of the show, and they definitely don’t describe all of my pleasure in what I found at tonight’s opening. As usual, they are images which happened to come out the best in a few of my modest attempts to record things which attracted or provoked me. I certainly don’t always get what I want.
Sometimes it’s just the ambient light which won’t cooperate, but the work itself can be the obstacle. I really liked the gorgeous assemblies of Jonathan Herder which I had first seen at Pierrogi 2000, but it’s impossible to show them with a hand-held subminiature camera. Any reproduction of Nancy Jackson‘s extravagantly-imagined worlds probably shouldn’t be attempted, and Jennie White’s exquisite, pierced white paper samplers almost defy the eye even if you’re standing in front of them.
Tucker Nichols untitled (2004) installation detail
Ricardo Lanzarini untitled books (2003-2004) installation detail
Alejandro Diaz detail from “works from ongoing series of cardboard signs” (2003-2004) marker on cardboard, dimensions variable
blue light pink bear
untitled (end of the E line) 2004
Phoebe Washburn, Simone Shubuck
LFL was also crowded Friday night, for two openings, work by Simone Shubuck and Phoebe Washburn, but in this case an overflow crowd only intensified the impact of Washburn’s enormous and quite magical installation in the front of the gallery’s newly-enlarged space.
Two years ago LFL’s smaller, original location on 26th Street was the site of Washburn’s overwhelming (literally) first appearance with the gallery. Or was it rather that her installation was the site of the gallery for a few weeks?
Simone Shubuck, vitrine installation view
I’ll definitely be coming back for a better look at Shubuck’s gorgeous drawings in the inside room. There, because of the size and energy of the very interesting crowd, there wasn’t even space to snap a picture, but there are some images of her work on the gallery’s site. She and all of us are far better served by the room itself, so you should go if you can, and you’ll probably want more than a quick look.
Two wonderful shows.
[image of Shubuck’s work from LFL Gallery]
Chelsea SUV
They’re still bringing SUVs into the Chelsea streets lined with art galleries, but Friday night outside the Pipilotti Rist opening at Luhring Augustine we found that some of them are less monstrous than others.
Size definitely matters when it comes to parking on a busy street.
[because of the crowd inside that night we decided to go back another day to see the installation]