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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: February 27, 2010 |
Andy Warhol: The Last Decade
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
February 14 - May 16, 2010
 Andy Warhol Self-Portrait, 1986
(from The Modern website)
Andy Warhol: The Last Decade is the first U.S. museum survey exhibition to explore the work that this seminal American artist produced during the final eight years of his life. Warhol entered a period of renewed vigor and enthusiasm in the 1980s that resulted in what was arguably the most productive period of his career.
The exhibition includes approximately 55 works lent by private collections and institutions such as The Museum of Modern Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Baltimore Museum of Art, and Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh. Along with an introduction to Warhol, it is divided into thematic sections based on significant Warhol series: abstract works; collaborations (featuring Jean-Michel Basquiat); black-and-white ads; works surrounding death and religion; self-portraits; camouflage patterns; and a concluding section of the artist’s Last Supper series.
Andy Warhol: The Last Decade is organized by the Milwaukee Art Museum.
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
3200 Darnell Street
Fort Worth, TX 76107
817.738.9215
http://themodern.org
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: February 26, 2010 |
Candice Breitz: Factum
White Cube Gallery (Hoxton Square Site, London)
February 12 — March 20, 2010
 Factum Kang From the series Factum 2009
(from the press release)
White Cube Hoxton Square is pleased to present 'Factum', an exhibition of new work by Candice Breitz, the artist's third exhibition at the gallery. Shot in Toronto, Canada, 'Factum' is a series of in-depth video portraits of twins - and one set of triplets - that extends Breitz's ongoing interest in doubling, portraiture and identity. Titled after Robert Rauschenberg's 'Factum I' and 'II' (1957) near-identical twin paintings, Breitz's 'Factum' explores the modes of internal and external forces that drive individuation.
Breitz has often shown an interest in the alternating modes of desire and repulsion that shift between lovers, fans and celebrities. 'Factum' looks at the intensity of these forces between identical twins. Each 'Factum' is presented as a diptych (and one triptych), with each twin or triplet beside his or her sibling, dressed almost identically and in the same setting. Breitz interviewed each individual alone for up to seven hours, asking each twin the same set of questions. The artist then transcribed and analyzed each pair of interviews before editing the material into a dynamic conversation between the siblings, with the intertwining forces of documentary and fiction constantly at play. Through candid, often emotional responses, they reveal the strangeness, joys and difficulties of living one's life in parallel to someone who shares your exact genetic code and yet who possesses a distinct identity, with desires and tastes that may differ in subtle or significant ways. While the initial interview allowed each twin or triplet to tell his or her own story unencumbered by the presence of a sibling, Breitz complicates this relationship in the finished work by introducing the other twin as an interlocutor who offers a different perspective, with the artist also implicitly present as a third 'author' to the biographies. Through this format, Breitz underlines how any biography becomes a negotiation between various relationships, circumstances and desires - not to mention one's genetic heritage.
Four diptychs and one triptych will be exhibited. In 'Factum Kang' the Kang sisters Hanna and Laurie speak about the effects of being brought up according to the strictures of a Korean-Presbyterian morality, the strain of trying to break away from this tradition, and the guilt that shaped their discovery of sexual desire. 'Factum Misericordia' features Pauline and Mary, born in 1933 in Ottawa, who seem to goad and tease one another about their vanity, intelligence and reading habits. They reveal, with different degrees of candour, their childhood ambivalence about their Italian identity, the favouritism of their difficult father, and their matching, or almost matching, cosmetic surgery. The Tangs, young triplets developing nascent careers as 'model slash actresses', speak coyly about their individual and mutual reception by the beauty industry in 'Factum Tang'.
'Factum' was commissioned by The Power Plant, Toronto, in conjunction with Partners in Art, Toronto.
Candice Breitz was born in 1972 in Johannesburg, South Africa. She lives and works in Berlin. She has participated in many major exhibitions including the Johannesburg, São Paulo, Istanbul, Kwangju, Taipei and Venice Biennales. She has had solo exhibitions at De Appel Foundation, Amsterdam (2001), Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2004), Modern Art Oxford (2003), Castello di Rivoli, Turin (2005), Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2005), Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin (2008), The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humblebaek, Denmark (2008), The Power Plant, Toronto (2009) and Kunsthaus Bregenz (2010).
White Cube Gallery
Mason's Yard Site
25-26 Mason’s Yard (Off Duke Street)
St. James’s London SW1Y 6BU
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7930 5373
Hoxton Square Site
48 Hoxton Square London N1 6PB
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7930 5373
http://www.whitecube.com
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: February 21, 2010 |
Contemplating the Void: Interventions in the Guggenheim Museum (NYC)
February 12–April 28, 2010
 Contemplating the Void at the Guggenheim Museum - proposal by Anish Kapoor
But the Guggenheim is only exhibiting the contributors' concepts as part of the exhibit, no running amok throughout the stodgy Guggenheim's historic interior: the drawings, sketches, and presentations that make up the exhibit are tucked away on the 4th floor side galleries away from the museum's signature spiral. Kudos to the DAM for actually realizing the artist's dreams in nearly every nook and cranny of the Hamilton building. - KLH
Click here for the Guggenheim's "Online" exhibition
NY Times: Take This Museum and Shape It
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: February 17, 2010 |
Gerhard Richter and the Disappearance of the Image in Contemporary Art
Centro di Cultura Contemporanea Strozzina (Florence)
February 20 - April 25, 2010
 Gerhard Richter - "Canaletto", 1990 Oil on canvas
Courtesy of Collection Böckmann, Berlin at Hamburger Kunsthalle
(from the press release)
Gerhard Richter and the Disappearance of the Image in Contemporary Art, an exhibition staged in collaboration with the Kunsthalle Hamburg, will take place at the Centro di Cultura Contemporanea Strozzina, Palazzo Strozzi, in Florence from Saturday, February 20th to Sunday, April 25th, 2010. The show’s title is a tribute to the acclaimed German painter Gerhard Richter (b.1932).
The exhibition, conceived by Franziska Nori (project director of the CCCS) and Hubertus Gassner (director of the Kunsthalle Hamburg), presents twelve works by Richter, nine of which are loaned by the Collection Böckmann, Berlin, and the Kunsthalle Hamburg, which demonstrate the range of different styles in his painting from blurred figurative photo paintings to abstract pictures.
The exhibition will also include the only video work Richter ever made, which has recently been rediscovered and has only been shown at the Videonale in Bonn and at the Kunstverein Hannover.
These works by Richter will be placed in dialogue with works by seven international contemporary artists: Xie Nanxing (China); Wolfgang Tillmans (Germany); Lorenzo Banci (Italy); Antony Gormley and Roger Hiorns (UK); and Marc Breslin and Scott Short (USA); who all share Richter’s profound distrust of the image as a guarantee of truth.
Gerhard Richter and the Disappearance of the Image in Contemporary Art follows the current CCCS exhibition Manipulating Reality (on view until January 17th, 2010), which explores the relationship between reality and representation in the medium of photography. Gerhard Richter, one of the best-known and most sought-after living painters, has made the theme of the disappearance of the image a hallmark of his work and laid the foundation for the next generation of artists.
Richter, one of the pioneers in depicting the dissolution of both the motif and the medium, paints over original pictures or uses a blurred painting technique. He deliberately selects trivial or random motifs as the starting point for his paintings. Well aware of the power of images, Richter strives to break or at least question their authority by making his pictures merge or disappear. He plays with reality and appearance and converts figurative images into abstract ones by focusing, for example, on fragmentary details. He pioneered the use of existing images as the basis of his paintings, primarily as a means of transferring the characteristics of one medium to another, and for placing different genres on an equal footing. Through his entire body of work, Richter addresses the difference between subjective perception and the objective experience of reality in which the artist can only offer possible approaches to address the difficult relationship between the object and its representation. The video also continues this theme, showing out-of-focus portraits and silhouettes of his friend Volker Bradke.
The CCCS has invited seven contemporary artists who also use the dissolution of the image to engage in a dialogue with Richter’s work. To maintain their own artistic identity, the work of each artist will be presented in its own space. Xie Nanxing (b.1970) uses video and photography as intermediate media for his reflections on painting and the human condition; Lorenzi Banci (b.1974) investigates the boundaries between representation and abstraction by painting dissolving shapes in which mere light is the object; while Scott Short’s (b.1964) conceptual work is based on photocopying a blank sheet of paper hundreds of times until incidental marks create an accidental image which then becomes a painting. Roger Hiorns (b.1975), one of the four artists shortlisted for the 2009 Turner Prize, works with chemical components and choreographs planned incidents to create his sculptural work. Marc Breslin (b.1983) uses the pictorial surface like a palimpsest, scratching signs and graffiti into the many layers of paint, thus creating a metaphor for mental processes, memory and oblivion. Wolfgang Tillmans (b.1968) treats the photographic paper as canvas. He started by representing everyday subjects and from there he went further into abstraction, following the logic of the medium itself. Antony Gormley (b.1950) will produce a site-specific installation for the exhibition, that further develops his research for a new social art where the interplay between abstraction and figuration is the result of a process of dissolution of the human figure.
Meanwhile Richter remains true to the medium of painting, yet questions its possibilities against a backdrop of the “end of painting” declared by Duchamp. The other seven artists take as their theme the absence (and sometimes impossibility) of making a clear statement by means of a picture today.
Gerhard Richter and the Disappearance of the Image in Contemporary Art will present visitors with a display of works by a fascinating group of internationally-known artists that are both intellectually stimulating and visually beautiful.
Centro Di Cultura Contemporanea Strozzina - Palazzo Strozzi
Piazza degli Strozzi, 1-red
50123 Firenze, Italy
055.277.6461
http://www.strozzina.org
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: February 10, 2010 |
The Devil Made Me Do It: A Group Exhibition Curated by Industrial Squid
WWA Gallery (Los Angeles)
February 12 - March 20, 2010
- Featuring Denver artist Tracy Tomko
- Opening Reception: Friday, February 12th from 7-10pm
 Lily Mae Martin - Me Myself
(from the press release)
WWA gallery is proud to present, The Devil Made Me Do It, a group exhibition curated by Industrial Squid, featuring new works by 34 established and emerging artists from the Los Angeles area and around the world.
Encompassing themes from the darkest corner of the creative mind, to the force of evil that can take over and control someone to create anything from mayhem to murder, the show will ultimately be defined by each artist’s interpretation. Open to the public, The Devil Made Me Do It gallery reception is from 7- 10pm on Friday, February 12th. The exhibition will be on view until March 20th, 2010.
Upon accepting the invitation to participate, artist Frank Kozik stated, “I will make a fucked up painting!” London based artist, Lily Mae Martin, notes “My work is often described as 'grotesque', 'dark' or 'aggressive'; which is not what I intended, but I find it interesting that people have that reaction.” And San Francisco artist, David M. Ball, adds “The internal voice becomes external in my work. I'm typically compelled to create art when I have a problem that needs solving. This is where I hash it all out.”
The Devil Made Me Do It show features a diverse line-up of artists including: Justin Aerni, David M. Ball, Dan Barry, Bora Baskan, Eric Thomas Bostrom, Julian Callos, David Chung, Dave Cooper, David Cooper, Rob Corless, Edward Robin Coronel, Jason Cullison, Alex Curtis, Deadly Daisy, Bob Dob, Thomas Fuchs, Dan Harding, Frank Kozik, Kristy Anne Ligones, Jacob Livengood, Thomas Lynch III, Jon MacNair, Lily Mae Martin, Lee Misenheimer, Josie Newman, Rey Ortega, Gary Palmer, KRK Ryden, Dylan Sisson, Jason Smith, Jared Stumpenhorst, Tracy Tomko, Ori Toor, and Adam Werther.
Industrial Squid is a curatorial project comprised of Stephanie Chefas, Rob Faucette, and David Radford of WWA gallery. Industrial Squid is a labor of love born out of a passion for contemporary art and those who bring it to life. Their aim is to curate inventive group shows, with themes that give artists a veritable playground to work within.
Located in the Culver City Art District, WWA gallery's goal is to present contemporary artists, both established and unknown, who have an individual perspective and clear vision and aesthetic. In 2010 will present an array of shows with a wide range of established and emerging artists such as Bob Dob, Frank Kozik, KRK Ryden, Miss Mindy, CJ Metzger, Rey Ortega, Rob Corless and Lily Mae Martin. For more information and an upcoming exhibition schedule, please visit WWAgallery.com
WWA Gallery
9517 Culver Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
310.836.4992
Tuesday to Saturday: 11-5pm
http://WWAgallery.com
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: February 08, 2010 |
Cy Twombly
Portland Art Museum
February 6 – May 16, 2010
 Cy Twombly - Untitled, 2007
(from the PAM website)
Among the most important and influential artists of his generation, Cy Twombly has used mark-making and written language as the core of his artistic practice since the late 1950s. Twombly’s work has come to define an important branch of gestural abstraction that conflates painting and poetry, line and word.
The exhibition showcases three recent works—two virtuosic paintings and a bronze sculpture—that illuminate the artist’s continuing engagement with process and content, the immediacy of materials, and the continuum of history. Physical and emotional effects converge in the saturated color and vigorous surfaces of these recent paintings to suggest the transience of pleasure and life. The artist’s instinctive and intuitive brushstrokes coax poetry from the interaction of the pull of gravity and the liquidity of paint, dazzling the viewer’s senses.
Living and working in Gaeta, Italy and Lexington, Va., the 82-year-old Twombly continues to create challenging new bodies of work in painting and sculpture. His work has been the subject of two recent retrospectives at Tate Modern, London, and the Art Institute of Chicago, and is in private collections and public institutions internationally.
Curated by Bruce Guenther, curator of modern and contemporary art.
Portland Art Museum
1219 SW Park Avenue
Portland, OR 97205
503.226.2811
http://pam.org
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: February 03, 2010 |
John Gerrard
Thomas Dane Gallery (London)
February 2 - March 6, 2010
 Video artist John Gerrard will exhibit two new works, Sow Farm (near Libby, Oklahoma) and Lufkin (near Hugo, Colorado)
My notes from the Hirshhorn exhibit in Dec 09: "Of note was an hypnotic trio of videos by Irish artist John Gerrard that defy categorization; they are moving still lifes of the American prairie and his 2007 "Dust Storm (Dalhart Texas)" is a computer generated 360 degree motion study of a swirling dust cloud subtly emerging and disappearing from the horizon creating a slow motion narrative that was for me as engrossing as any Hollywood suspense picture." - KLH
(from the press release)
Thomas Dane Gallery is pleased to announce the first London exhibition of Irish artist John Gerrard.
Extending from Animated Scene, his critically acclaimed presentation at the 53rd Venice Biennale, the artist will exhibit two new works, Sow Farm (near Libby, Oklahoma) 2009, which depicts a sprawling, unmanned, computer-controlled agricultural complex on the American Great Plains, and Lufkin (near Hugo, Colorado) 2009, a portrait of an oil derrick in the same region.
The works, painstakingly constructed by the artist and a group of collaborators over periods of up to eighteen months, employ the new temporal medium of realtime 3D. Since his discovery of it in the late 1990s, the artist has pursued a unique engagement with this form, creating eerily compelling virtual portraits, which extend and develop traditions of painting, photography, cinema and sculpture.
Principally used in video-gaming, realtime 3D is particularly well-suited to depict the desolate agri-industrial landscapes that make up the exhibition, as they themselves are constructed upon a wholly synthetic set of power and energy relationships. From the vantage point of an orbital camera, the viewer is invited to follow the two projected scenes through the slow passage of a three hundred and sixty degree circumnavigation, within a representation of the twenty-four hour day, set in a three hundred and sixty-five day year. Three contemporaneous orbits fold into one, the frozen instant of a photograph extended into a continuum.
John Gerrard was born in Dublin in 1974 and lives and works in Dublin and Vienna. He recently completed a guest residency at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam. A solo presentation of his work is currently on show at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C. In late March 2010, Oil Stick Work , a major long-term public projection, will be unveiled at Canary Wharf underground station as part of Transport for London’s 'Art on the Underground' programme.
Gerrard received a BFA from The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford University, and completed postgraduate studies at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago and Trinity College, Dublin. Recent solo presentations of Gerrard’s work include John Gerrard: Animated Scene, a collateral project at the 53rd Venice Biennale (2009), Oil Stick Work at Simon Preston Gallery, New York (2009) and Dark Portraits at Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin (2006). Recent group exhibitions include John Gerrard / Glenn Ligon at the Alberta College of Art & Design (2009); Infinitum at Palazzo Fortuny, Venice (2009); Equal, That Is, To the Real Itself at Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, (2007); and Existencias at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León (2007).
Thomas Dane Gallery
First Floor
11 Duke Street
St James's
London SW1Y 6BN
Tel: 020 7925 2505
http://thomasdane.com
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: January 28, 2010 |
William Betts: Surveillance
Holly Johnson Gallery (Dallas)
January 9 – February 13, 2010
- Plus Gallery artist William Betts brings works from his Surveillance series to Dallas
 William Betts - US-54 @ Dyer-26 (2008) - Acrylic on canvas - 45 1/2 x 60 1/4 inches
Holly Johnson Gallery
1411 Dragon Street
Dallas, TX 75207
214.369.0169
http://hollyjohnsongallery.com
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: January 18, 2010 |
Vik Muniz
Sikkema, Jenkins & Co. (NYC)
January 30 - March 6, 2010
- Opening Reception: Saturday January 30th from 6-8pm
Sikkema, Jenkins and Co.
530 West 22nd Street
New York, NY
http://www.sikkemajenkinsco.com
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: January 04, 2010 |
Nick Cave: Meet Me at the Center of the Earth
Fowler Museum at UCLA
January 10 – May 30, 2010
- Exhibition features 35 of artist's 'Soundsuits,' wearable mixed-media sculptures
- Organized by the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco
 Untitled, 2009 (Photo of Soundsuit by Nick Cave) One of artist Nick Cave's "Soundsuits" featured in the exhibition (courtesy of the artist, Jack Shainman Gallery, and Fowler Museum at UCLA)
Fowler Museum at UCLA
UCLA North Campus
W Sunset Blvd & Westwood Plaza
Los Angeles, CA 90077
Wed-Sun: Noon to 5 pm (Thu until 8 pm)
http://www.fowler.ucla.edu
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: November 27, 2009 |
Damien Hirst: Nothing Matters
White Cube Gallery (London)
November 25, 2009 — January 30, 2010
- Exhibit spans both the Hoxton Square and Mason's Yard galleries
Damien Hirst - The Crow (2009)
If you're missing the MCA's Damien Hirst exhibit which closed earlier this year, his London gallery just kicked off a 2 month exhibit of new works on display until January 2010. - KLH
(from the press release)
At White Cube Hoxton Square, Hirst will present a group of paintings, which include three triptychs from 2007-09, each depicting crows shot in mid-flight against blue skies, with outspread wings and violent splatters of red paint across their bodies. In the four triptychs on show in the lower ground floor at White Cube Mason's Yard, these crows reappear, as omens of bad news. They often share the space with ghost-like figures, skeletal forms and objects, including chairs, lemons, knives, animal skulls, wine glasses or a scorpion.
Rudi Fuchs begins his essay with the following reading of these paintings: 'When I try to pinpoint what the visual mood is in Hirst’s new images, I am constantly reminded of Beckett – not of any one story in particular, though subject matter is important, but of the austere dryness of the language. Sentences are interrupted, lines are broken, observations are fragmented in order to direct us slowly towards a clearer perception of the real.'
Damien Hirst was born in 1965 in Bristol, UK. He lives and works in London and Devon. He has participated in numerous group exhibitions including ‘Into Me / Out of Me’, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York (2006), ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’, Tate Britain (2004), the 50th Venice Biennale (2003) and ‘Century City’, Tate Modern (2001). Solo exhibitions include ‘No Love Lost’, The Wallace Collection, London (2009), ‘Requiem’, Pinchuk Art Centre, Kiev (2009), ‘For the Love of God’, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (2008), Astrup Fearnley Museet fur Moderne Kunst, Oslo (2005), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2005) and Archaeological Museum, Naples (2004). He received the DAAD fellowship in Berlin in 1994 and the Turner Prize in 1995. An exhibition of the artist’s private collection, ‘Murderme’, was held at Serpentine Gallery, London in 2006.
White Cube Gallery
Mason's Yard Site
25-26 Mason’s Yard (Off Duke Street)
St. James’s London SW1Y 6BU
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7930 5373
Hoxton Square Site
48 Hoxton Square London N1 6PB
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7930 5373
http://www.whitecube.com
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: November 12, 2009 |
FENONEM IKEA
Museum fur Kunst und Gewrbe (Hamburg)
November 6, 2009 - February 28, 2010
 Thomas Schütte, Ikea Variations: Kindergarten, 2007
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg
Steintorplatz, 20099 Hamburg
http://www.mkg-hamburg.de
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: November 10, 2009 |
DenMi
Wynwood Art District (Miami)
December 2 – 6, 2009
- Gallery Reception: Friday, December 4, 6:00-9:00 pm
Homare Ikeda
Denver's 2010 "Biennial of the Americas" is getting a December sneak preview in of all places, Miami as part of a brief Art Basel Miami Beach 2009 side show exhibit titled "DenMi." Featuring some of Denver's top artists including Clark Richert, Homare Ikeda and John McEnroe (along with 12 others) this is definitely something to look forward to next summer when the exhibit winds its way back north. - KLH
(from the press release)
DenMi is about living in one place and longing for another. It is a pioneering exhibition to find out if the grass is greener over there. Is the East the land of high rollers, and is the West still a wild frontier? Miami is home to great contemporary art, tropical sun, hurricanes and raucous nightlife. Denver is known for its snowy peaks, radical architecture, big league sports and real cowboys. For the artists, these are familiar things and thoughts arise of distant possibilities.
Artists from Denver and Miami will exhibit side-by-side in two exhibitions. They are divided only by 1720 miles: the first exhibition will be taking place in Miami during Art Basel 2009, December 2 - 6. The second exhibition will take place in Denver during the 2010 Biennial of the Americas from June to August. DenMi is a cooperative cultural exchange between Denver Office of Cultural Affairs, RedLine Denver, the Artists of DenMi in Colorado, Kobi Karp Architecture & Interior Design, The Miami Office of Film and Cultural Affairs and the Artists of DenMi in Florida.
Denver based artists in this exhibition include John McEnroe, Rebecca Vaughan, Viviane Le Courtois, Homare Ikeda, Susan Meyer, Nicholas Silici, Patti Hallock, Matt Larson, Bruce Price, Clark Richert, Rayna Manger Tedford, Steve Altman, Amanda Gordon Dunn, Erick Paddock and Christopher R. Perez. Miami based artist John Mack is also included.
The exhibition is free and open to the public from Wednesday December 2nd to Sunday December 6th, 2009, from 11 am to 7 pm with a reception Friday December 4th from 6 to 9 pm. The exhibit is located at 2915 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami FL 33137.
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: October 14, 2009 |
Malcolm McLaren: Shallow
Damien Hirst: Pharmacy
BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art (Gateshead, UK)
- McLaren: October 16, 2009 - January 10, 2010
- Hirst: October 24, 2009 - February 7, 2010
- An Evening with Malcolm McLaren: Friday November 13, 7:30 - 9:30
- Malcolm McLaren's Shallow Party: Friday November 13, 7:30 - late
 Malcolm McLaren - still from one of the films in the installation "Shallow"  Damien Hirst - Pharmacy (1992)
For those of you who missed the outstanding Damien Hirst exhibit at the MCA, here's a chance to see a much larger version of the pharmacy cabinets that were alongside Hirst's famous butterfly paintings and massive formaldehyde carcass "St. Sebastian" as part of the MCA's 2009 mini Hirst retrospective. Unfortunately you'll have to hightail it to the UK and easyJet over to Newcastle to catch Hirst's wall to wall, meticulously organized take on the mundane world of medication at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art. For the adventurous souls making the trek, you'll be rewarded with not only DH, but music impresario Malcolm McLaren is also on display with an interesting series of films based on reappropriated footage highlighting the moments before sex. - KLH
BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art
Gateshead Quays South Shore Road
Gateshead NE8 3BA UK
Tel: +44 (0)191 478 1810
Open Daily 10.00-18.00 except Tuesdays 10.30-18.00. Last entry 15 minutes before closing
http://www.balticmill.com
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: September 09, 2009 |
Omer Fast: The Casting
Indianapolis Museum of Art
September 11, 2009 - March 14, 2010
 Omer Fast - The Casting, 2007; production photo from the 4 channel video projection
I wrote about Omer Fast's "The Great Message" during it's run at the MCA and was so impressed by it's looping, hypnotic narrative that when I saw Fast's name listed as part of a group exhibition "On the Subject of War" at London's Barbican Centre during my 2008 European sojourn, I made a point of stopping in to see the exhibit just to see Fast's 2007 video "The Casting," a chilling, unconventional tale that seamlessly weaves two stories—one about an ill-fated Iraqi civilian confrontation, the other about a fling with a psychotic German woman—from the memory of a young soldier being interviewed as part of what becomes a fictionalized casting call.
The audio interview in itself is enough to keep the audience fully engaged, but Fast creates a unique visual tableaux of "still" motion picture images based on various characters re-enacting the scenes without moving. The combination of heart-wrenching voiceover against the plodding video stripped of emotion through it's lack of motion creates incredible tension that keeps the viewer wrapped around the story until it's end.
Fast's The Casting is coming to the Indianapolis Museum of Art, unseen in the US since it earned the Bucksbaum Award as part of the 2008 Whitney Biennial. If by chance you are Indianapolis bound later this year, do not miss the chance to see this outstanding work by an innovative storyteller and visionary video artist. - KLH
Click here for a YouTube interview with Fast discussing The Casting...
Indianapolis Museum of Art
4000 Michigan Rd
Indianapolis, IN 46208
317.920.2659
http://www.imamuseum.org
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: September 01, 2009 |
Vik Muniz
Museu Inimá de Paula (Belo Horizonte, Brazil)
August 21 - November 2, 2009
 Vik Muniz - Medusa Marinara (1998)
From the US announcement: "This is the largest exhibtion of Vik's work, spanning the late 80s through today. It has travelled to the USA, Canada, Mexico and Brasil."
Museu Inimá de Paula
Rua da Bahia, 1.201
Centro CEP 30160-011
Belo Horizonte, MG
http://inima.org.br
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: August 26, 2009 |
Chuck Close: A Couple Ways of Doing Something
Austin Museum of Art (Texas)
August 22 - November 8, 2009
(from the press release)
A Couple Ways of Doing Something features Chuck Close's intimate portraits of leading contemporary artists, paired with Bob Holman's witty and beautifully typeset poems. The daguerreotypes offer an immensely revealing study of the subjects, extending the hyperrealist tradition of portraiture for which Close is renowned. In keeping with the exhibition title, Chuck Close has included examples of his other works taken from each daguerreotype in a variety of media, including photogravures, digital pigment prints, and large-scale tapestries. In an additional departure for Close, many of the portraits were produced in tandem with praise poems by Bob Holman, founder of the Bowery Poetry Club. Together, they form composite portraits of their subjects—an influential and highly creative circle of friends and colleagues—from Andres Serrano to Cindy Sherman.
Throughout a career of more than four decades, Chuck Close has consistently sought to test the limits of the media in which he has chosen to work. “I have always been fascinated by how one way of doing something can kick open a door to another way,” he has remarked. “For me, the original image serves as a matrix, from which I can explore issues of scale, information, and perception.” In the 1960s, Close was one of the earliest and most influential artists to use photography as the foundation of his painting. He developed a gridded painting system, which enabled him to scale up his portraits to colossal size.
Since the late 1990s, Close has expanded his interests to include daguerreotypes, an early form of photography, and these, in turn, have been the basis for a series of digital pigment prints, tapestries, and photogravures. To achieve the effects he desires, Close collaborates on the development of techniques that often expand the capabilities of the particular medium. And although his experiments in each process are dependent on precise control of the output, Close is in constant pursuit of surprise and the unexpected.
Aperture, a not-for-profit organization devoted to photography and the visual arts, has organized this traveling exhibition and produced the accompanying publications.
Austin Museum of Art
823 Congress Avenue (at 9th Street)
Austin TX, 78701
512.495.9224
Tues, Wed, Fri 10-5
Thurs 10-8, Sat 10-6, Sun Noon-5
Closed Mondays and Holidays
http://www.amoa.org
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: August 19, 2009 |
Andy Warhol: The Last Decade
Milwaukee Art Museum
September 26, 2009–January 3, 2010
 Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Francesco Clemente - Alba’s Breakfast - 1984
Milwaukee Art Museum
700 N. Art Museum Drive
Milwaukee, WI 53202
414.224.3200
http://www.mam.org
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: August 12, 2009 |
Fang Lijun: Sea and Sky
Kunsthalle Bielefeld (Germany)
August 30 – November 8, 2009
 Fang Lijun, 1993. Acrylic on canvas, 180 x 230 cm. Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong
Chinese artist Fang Lijun had his first solo American show at the now defunct Lab at Belmar back in 2007, and German museum Kunsthalle Bielefeld (about 60 miles from Hannover) will be hosting a retrospective of the artist's work opening later this summer. Click here for some pictures from the Lab's exhibit...
(from the website)
Among the young Chinese artists of international repute, Fang Lijun (born 1963) stands out for his philosophical self-portraits in water, and his repeated use of the motif of floating in the sky. Fang began in 1984 as a so-called Cynical Realist, creating paintings of numerous bald men waiting, some of them apparently drowning. They look and breathe. They yawn and are silent. Or they are crying out. They can be seen as his alter ego and as the Chinese man of today. For the generation of Mao Goes Pop (the title of a 1993 exhibition in Sydney) Fang acknowledged, like no other, the political oppression in China before and after 1989 with Buddist equanimity. Fang made his European debut in 1994 with his exhibition Welt-Moral at the Kunsthalle Basel, and since 1995 he has been honored with many solo shows in the Netherlands, France, Japan, and New York. Large exhibitions in China in 2006 and the presentation of his wonderful woodcuts at Berlin’s Kupferstichkabinett have recently shown to what extent Fang has become one of the most influential artists in China.
In cooperation with the Museum of Fine Arts in Taipei, the Kunsthalle Bielefeld is presenting a retrospective of the artist’s work, with about 50 paintings and sculptures, some of them very large. The show starts with Fang’s earliest works of isolated men walking across inhospitable landscapes, or anonymous-looking groups of people whose themes are society and work. Later, the space is opened up, so that his figures float in water or the sky. Birds, babies, flowers, and insects appear as allegories in these works.
Over the course of fifteen years Fang has developed a kind of contemporary historical painting in which he portrays Chinese society as being marked by equal amounts of hardship and good cheer, or gloomy emptiness and vibrant ease.
To shed some light on Fang Lijun’s work, a companion film, featuring an interview with the artist, will be shown.
Kunsthalle Bielefeld
Gemeinnützige Betriebsgesellschaft mbH
Artur-Ladebeck-Straße 5
33602 Bielefeld, Germany
Tel. 0049.521.3299950-0
http://www.kunsthalle-bielefeld.de
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: June 22, 2009 |
Banksy Versus Bristol Museum
Bristol Museum (UK)
June 13 - August 31, 2009
Open daily, 10am - 5pm
 The Banksy UK Summer show features more than 100 works of art, including animatronics and installations. Photo: EFE/ Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery
There was a time when London artist Banksy was using stealth as his primary method for getting his work into a variety of major institutions, and then timing how long until they were discovered and removed. The city of Bristol will be going with the flow and playing host to a major Banksy show this summer, and highlighting the twist, Banksy notes "this is the first show I've ever done where taxpayers' money is being used to hang my pictures up rather than scrape them off." So if your summer plans have you visiting the UK, this is a must-see show. - KLH
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: June 14, 2009 |
Jonathan Borofsky: Five Large Paintings
Deitch Projects - NYC
May 8 - June 20, 2009
 Artist Jonathan Borofsky "Five Large Paintings" at Deitch Projects
Check out art video blogger James Kalm's youtube video with Jonathan Borofsky at the opening of his latest exhibit Five Large Paintings at Deitch Projects SoHo gallery.
Deitch Projects
76 Grand Street
New York, NY 10013
212.343.7300
http://www.deitch.com
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: May 26, 2009 |
Gerhard Richter: Paintings from Private Collections
The MKM (Museum Küppersmühle of Modern Art, Duisburg, Germany)
May 21 - August 23, 2009
If summer has you traipsing through Europe, do not miss Gerhard Richter's "Paintings from Private Collections" at the MKM in Duisburg, Germany, a mere 2 hours from Brussels. And if Deutschland is not on your itinerary, you can always compromise with a recent book of the same title from Amazon "Gerhard Richter: Paintings from Private Collections" - KLH
Artist Gerhard Richter
(from the MKM website)
From May 21 to August 23, 2009, the MKM is showcasing one of the most important and influential artists of our time: Gerhard Richter. Entitled “Paintings from Private Collections”, this exhibition features some 80 paintings which originated in the years from 1963 to 2007, and comprises some of artist’s key works, drawn from the Böckman (Berlin), Burda (Baden-Baden) and Ströher (MKM / Darmstadt) collections. Among the paintings on loan from the Ströher Collection are early masterpieces such as “Family at the Seaside“ or “Cow“. In addition, Gerhard Richter is also making available to the exhibition works in his own possession.
The exhibition is presenting Richter’s groundbreaking oeuvre in all its complexity, including works rarely accessible to the general public. On view are canvases charting the artist’s major periods, ranging from his early photo-paintings to the large-scale abstracts of recent years. Essentially Gerhard Richter’s primary interest is the medium of painting and the exploration of its possibilities and limitations, of determination and chance, and of the impact of colour. The presentation of his oeuvre in the rooms of the Küppersmühle Museum, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, was planned by Gerhard Richter himself using a model, and, in collaboration with museum director Walter Smerling, he has supervised the hanging. As a complement to the exhibition, the MKM’s collection room, boasting other key works by Richter from the Ströher Collection, will remain open to visitors.
Götz Adriani has designed the exhibition and the accompanying catalogue, which is published by Hatje Cantz. Featuring minor variations, the exhibition has already been on tour at the Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, Edinburgh’s National Gallery Complex and at the Albertina, Vienna.
The exhibition has been made possible with the generous support of the National-Bank AG, the GEBAG Duisburg and Willis GmbH & Co. KG. Responsible for the organisation is the Stiftung für Kunst und Kultur e.V. Bonn. The show will be opened on 20 May at 7 pm by the President of the German Bundestag Prof. Dr. Norbert Lammert.
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: April 07, 2009 |
Mark Amerika's Immobilité
Streaming Museum
April 8 - May 9, 2009
 Film still from Immobilité, 2009, by Mark Amerika, courtesy of the artist
Reception, April 8, 7:00 – 9:00 PM in The Project Room for New Media at Chelsea Art Museum 556 West 22nd St., New York City On view through May 9, 2009 Artist talk May 7, at 6:30 PM
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: February 25, 2009 |
Takashi Murakami
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
February 17 - May 31, 2009
It's a bit of a hike, but if you did not have opportunity to see the Takashi Murakami retrospective at the LA MOCA or the Brooklyn Museum, here's another shot: the Guggenheim Bilbao will be playing host to the Murakami exhibit until May 31. Look for cheap fares to London and then easyJet or Ryanair over to Bilbao for a day or so to take in the walls of color and over 90 pieces in the exhibit. And as long as you're in London, stop by Gerhard Richter: Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery also on display until May 31. - KLH
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: February 03, 2009 |
Kehinde Wiley: The World Stage: Africa, Lagos ~ Dakar
Artpace San Antonio - Hudson (Show)Room
San Antonio, Texas
January 15 – May 03, 2009
 Kehinde Wiley: The World Stage: Africa, Lagos ~ Dakar at Artpace San Antonio
With the recent news that Patty Ortiz of the Museo de las Americas is moving to San Antonio, the time is ripe to offer Denver locals a good reason to visit and say hello: Artpace San Antonio is hosting an exhibit by Brooklyn based artist Kehinde Wiley, one of the hottest young painters on the contemporary scene, and whose work can be seen on the 3rd floor of the DAM. His style stands in stark contrast to the noteworthy German painters who have made their way through Denver recently, including Daniel Richter, Jonas Burgart and Suzanne Kuhn: Richter and Burgart create twisted worlds full of bizarre characters from dystopic futures, with bold colors on rough surfaces. Wiley's portraits are elegant, his characters stoic, even noble and his colors, while bold are subtly harmonious. On display until May 3rd, so plenty of time for a Texas sojourn. - KLH
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: January 04, 2009 |
Devon Dikeou: "Marilyn Monroe Wanted to be Buried in Pucci"
The Galleries at Moore at the Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia PA
January 30 - March 14, 2009
Opening reception: Thursday, January 29 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm
 Deven Dikeou with flowers at the opening of the Vik Muniz exhibit at the Museo back in 2007
Denver's Devon Dikeou of the downtown Dikeou Collection is having a solo show at Philadelphia's Moore College of Art and Design on the theme of Marilyn Monroe's request to be buried in an Emilio Pucci dress. Sounds like it would have fit right in with the offbeat and entertaining "Life as Legend: Marilyn Monroe" exhibit at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center back in July.
The exhibit "InSights: Devon Dikeou – Marilyn Monroe wanted to be Buried in Pucci" is part of the Moore's 160th anniversary celebration making the Moore the oldest women's art college in the US. If you make it to Philly for the exhibit, be sure to hit the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in addition to the better known Philadelphia Museum of Art which are both nearby the Moore; info at http://www.moore.edu.
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: November 16, 2008 |
Louise Bourgeois
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
October 26, 2008 - January 25, 2009
 Louise Bourgeois in 1990 with her 1970 marble sculpture, Eye to Eye - Photo by Raimon Ramis
If your travels take you westward to LA, do not miss the opportunity to take in this major retrospective spanning the career of artist Louise Bourgeios at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (Grand St. location). Bourgeios, at age 96 continues to work daily, and the LA exhbit (which is part of a 3 city US tour including the Guggenheim in NYC and the Hirshhorn in DC) will include at least one of her recent works in addition to some LA based works that will not be making their way back east and will only be shown as part of the MoCA exhibit.
Of note for Denver locals, the Michele Mosko Gallery on 12th Avenue by the Denver Art Museum actually has some of Bourgeios recent prints which combine elements of sculpture with silkscreen, and her work can also be seen as part of the DAM's permanent collection. - KLH
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: October 22, 2008 |
 Jeff Koons "Sacred Heart (Red/Gold)" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC - photo by Ken Hamel/DenverArts.org
Click here for some pictures of the works on display
And if you can't make it out to NYC, Ron Judish's Gallery T will be kicking off on Santa Fe Drive this November with an inaugural show featuring prints by Koons.
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: October 14, 2008 |
 Christo - "Over the River, Project for the Arkansas River, State of Colorado" - 1999
Christo and Jeanne-Claude's latest major project will be close to home: "Over the River" will feature miles of fabric suspended over the Arkansas River near Salida. The date continues to push out (2012 is the latest ETA) as the artists' tackle the plethora of hurdles that have become de rigueur for the large scale outdoor installations which have made them famous throughout the world. We are very lucky to have a world class retrospective of the artists' work right here in Denver at the Center for Visual Art in LoDo, however if you can't get enough Christo, make a trek to DC where the exhibit "Over the River: A Work in Progress" opened last week at the Phillips Collection, on display until February 12, 2009. - KLH
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: July 22, 2008 |
 Victor Vasarely - "Vega-Nor" 1969 (Collection of the Albright-Knox)
Unfortunately I'm not planning summer travel to any part of NY above the UES, but the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo will be hosting what looks to be an incredible collection of Op Art masterpieces that they have been quietly collecting over the last 50 years from such luminaries of the medium as Richard Anuskiewicz, Julian Stanczak and Victor Vasarely. The show is on display until January 25, 2009, plenty of time for a trip north later in the year.
From the press release for the exhibit:
The Op Art movement began in the 1950s only to peak in the mid-1960s and fade from the scene due to a lack of critical interest. More recent works by contemporary artists Tim Bavington, Olafur Eliasson, and Susie Rosmarin are also included in the exhibition to illustrate a resurgence of interest in Op Art. Olafur Eliasson’s work Triple ripple, 2004, a spectacular and elegant installation that uses reflective light to interact with both architectural space and the viewer is being exhibited for the first time.
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: July 01, 2008 |
 Jules Olitski - Cleopatra Flesh, 1962
So you missed the excellent Color as Field show at the DAM? Fret not, just jet on out to Nashville TN to catch the exhibit at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts before the show closes September 21, 2008. More info at the Frist website: http://www.fristcenter.org.
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: June 17, 2008 |
 Cy Twombly "Ferragosto V" (1961) - Oil, wax crayon and lead pencil on canvas
I'm sure some lucky Denverite arts traveler will be out in London this summer, and if that happens to be you, please do stop in to the Tate Gallery and check out the fantastic upcoming Cy Twombly retrospective "Cycles and Seasons" billed as "a unique opportunity to examine paintings, drawings and sculpture across [Twombly's] long and influential career." Twombly's frenetic scribbles are among my favorite works of art and while I doubt I'll be London bound this summer, I will have opportunity to take solace in the excellent Twombly room at the Philadelphia Museum of Art which I'm planning on revisiting next week.
The press release also states that "a fully-illustrated colour catalogue will accompany the exhibition and will present contributions by established scholars of Twombly’s work alongside fresh research from younger writers," so that might be the cheap thrill version of the exhibit. Or if you can't wait for the catalog, check out the Tate's excellent website with information on the artist's works in the permanent collection.
After the show's June 19 to September 14 London run, it travels to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao from October 2008 through February 2009 and onto the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna in Rome from February 25 to May 17 2009, where you'll not only get to see Twombly, but an excellent collection of works by Italian artists Alburto Burri and Mimo Rotella as well.
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: May 06, 2008 |
 Willem de Kooning’s “Gotham News” (1955), and Jackson Pollock’s “Convergence” (1952): photo from NY Times
If you get a chance to visit NYC this summer, be sure to stop by the Jewish Museum on the upper east side to check out "Action/Abstraction: Pollock, De Kooning and American Art, 1940-1976" featuring an outstanding slate of Abstract Expressionist artists including Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still and Barnett Newman. From the NY Times review of the show:
Also on view are the delusional letters that Clyfford Still wrote to [seminal NY School art critics Harold] Rosenberg and [Clement] Greenberg denouncing their (favorable) ideas about his painting, proving that a smaller art world was not always a friendlier one. The artworks and ephemera assembled here rub salt in all kinds of old wounds, even if the wounded are long gone.
The exhibit runs until September 21st, 2008 at the Jewish Museum, 1109 Fifth Avenue, at 92nd Street, (212) 423 3200. And if you can't make it to NYC, check out this slideshow from the exhibit, and keep an eye here for more info as the show makes its way to the Saint Louis Art Museum, a little closer to home.
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: February 26, 2008 |
 Carlos Amorales, Dark Mirror, 2005, Two channel video projection over floating screen
Mexican artist Carlos Amorales beautiful "Faces" video projection and sound piece was recently on display as part of the "Star Power" exhibit that kicked off the opening of the new Museum of Contemporary Art, and his work "Dark Mirror" is opening Wednesday February 27th at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin.
Click here for the press release.
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: February 25, 2008 |
If you didn't get a chance to see the excellent Color as Field show at the DAM, you're in luck... assuming you don't mind the trek to DC. The show moves on to the Smithsonian American Art Museum and will be opening on February 29th. In addition, artist Larry Poons has collaborated with curator Karen Wilkin and the American Federation of Arts to record an extensive video interview covering his thoughts on his career and the color field movement.
The podcast with Poons is available at http://www.afaweb.org/education2/podcasts2.php
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: January 28, 2008 |
Gordon Matta-Clark was a visionary artist known for his architectural statements involving the demolition and modification of abandoned structures, and the photographic/cinematic documents of his deconstruction are the crux of the Whitney Museum's "You Are the Measure" which will be making it's way to Chicago from February 2nd to May 4th, 2008. I was fortunate to see the show at both the Whitney and the LA MoCA and was instantly captivated by "Days End, 1975" featuring photos of an abandoned factory on NYC's west side with an abstract cut through an exterior wall, strategically illuminating the hollow interior. Plus, per the MCA Website, the Chicago presentation will feature exclusive work from the MCA permanent collection. If you make your way up to Chi-town, this is a show well worth taking in. - KLH
Click here for the NY Times review of the Whitney show "Timely Lessons From a Rebel, Who Often Created by Destroying" by Nicolai Ouroussoff
 Gordon Matta-Clark "Hair" 1972 photograph by Carol Goodden
(from the MCA Chicago website)
The MCA presents the first full-scale retrospective in twenty years of the work of Gordon Matta-Clark, organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art and curated by Whitney curator Elisabeth Sussman. During the brief but highly productive decade that he worked as an artist -- and even more so since his early death -- Gordon Matta-Clark (1943-1978) has exerted a powerful influence on artists and architects and has emerged as a key figure of the generation that came after Minimalism.
This retrospective celebrates the brilliance and radical nature of his work in a number of different media: sculptural objects (most notably from building cuts), drawings, films, photographs, notebooks, and documentary material. Matta-Clark's work has particular relevance for Chicago because he created his last major work at the MCA in 1978. Circus or The Caribbean Orange took place on the site of the former MCA, consisting of massive cuts into a townhouse before its annexation and renovation.
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: January 23, 2008 |
Tim Hawkinson and Carl Andre
Arizona State University Nelson Fine Arts Center
January 26 to April 27, 2008
I was introduced to the sculpture of artist Tim Hawkinson at a Whitney Museum show highlighting 2 decades of his work, and I was mightily impressed with his twisted vision, from his massive, pulsing, kinetic pieces that mimic living organisms, to his music boxes made of rusted nails and old silverware, to his miniature clocks constructed of hair and other unexpected materials. I caught 2 of his works at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center as part of their excellent "Eclectic Eye" show last year, and wanted to pass along a press release for an upcoming show of his in Phoenix at the Arizona State University's Nelson Fine Arts Center . With some luck I'll be able to stop by in February and get some pix (security guards willing...), but here's a pic from one of his pieces I caught while in Philly last year at the University of Pennsylvania's Institute for Contemporary Art (below). - KLH
 Tim Hawkinson "Music Box - Time in a Bottle" 1994 - Photo by Ken Hamel/DenverArts.org
TEMPE, AZ.- Arizona State University Art Museum presents Carl Andre / Tim Hawkinson, on view January 26 through April 27, 2008. This exhibition compares work by two of the most important contemporary American sculptors – Carl Andre and Tim Hawkinson. Both artists are actively working today but they are a generation apart. Carl Andre was beginning his career when Tim Hawkinson was born. Andre was one of the founders of the minimalist movement in American art in the 1960s; Tim Hawkinson studied the minimalists at university. While the differences between their sculptural styles and philosophies are stark, there are fascinating similarities as well.
Carl Andre, represented in the exhibition by the monumental Glarus Steel Slant, made his first metal plate floor piece in 1967 and invited viewers to walk on it. Along with other minimalist artists, including Donald Judd and Robert Morris, Andre championed a style that was characterized by multiple units making up a larger whole, industrial materials, and de-emphasizing personal and emotional content. His floor pieces revolutionized the way that viewers interacted with sculpture in a museum or gallery setting, adding a physical, tangible experience. Minimalism would dominate much of American sculpture through the 1970s.
Tim Hawkinson was born in 1960 and his idiosyncratic and inventive work cannot be linked to a distinct movement. He prefers representational forms, like the human body, and recognizable materials, like string and plastic detergent bottles. Illustrated by the three works in the exhibition, his work ranges in scale from miniatures to warehouse-sized installations. Hawkinson’s favorite subject is the human body, explored from the inside out. He has created huge internal organs out of balloons or tiny works cast from his body or literally made from his body with his fingernail parings and hair. His work has a distinctive handmade quality due to his unusual materials and his willingness to learn and use whatever process is necessary for his idea. Unlike Andre, Hawkinson patently explores the individual’s place, his own place, in the universe.
This exhibition is an opportunity to explore two poles of contemporary American sculpture, and in the process consider larger societal influences and art movements. ASU Art Museum Presentation - Organized by Heather Lineberry, CARL ANDRE / TIM HAWKINSON will be installed in the Arizona State University Art Museum’s Nelson Fine Arts Center location. This exhibition was supported in part by the Ovitz Family Collection and PaceWildenstein Gallery, New York.
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: January 16, 2008 |
Vicki and Kent Logans' largess is moving east, to Poughkeepsie NY and the well endowed Vassar College Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center (Vicki is class of '68). The show is titled "Out of Shape: Stylistic Distortions of the Human Form in Art from the Logan Collection" and runs from March 14 – June 8, 2008 (plenty of time to make travel plans.)
The show features artist Francisco Clemente whose portrait of the Logans graced the entrance of the Radar show (until it was mysteriously replaced by a portrait of the pair by Eric Fischl) as well as (surprise) Gottfried Helnwein who was part of the Logan Lectures at the DAM last year.
 Francesco Clemente "Fifty One Days on Mount Abu: XIII" (1995)
From the press release:
Exhibitions of works from the Logan collection have previously been organized by and presented at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Denver Art Museum, the Aspen Art Museum, and The Victoria H. Myhren Gallery at the University of Denver. But Out of Shape is the first exhibition of the Logan collection to highlight the theme of figurative distortion and focus exclusively on the works on paper in the collection.
Thirty-five works on paper by 27 artists are presented in the exhibition, many of which have not been displayed publicly since they entered the Logan collection. Out of Shape will be shown Friday, March 14, 2008 through Sunday, June 8, 2008 at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, and will be exclusively exhibited at Vassar. One of the exhibiting artists will lecture at the museum's reception on Friday evening, April 25.
Artists on display include Kim Dingle, Nicole Eisenman, Fang Lijun, Moyna Flanagan, Antony Gormley, Gottfried Helwein, Kurt Kauper, Kelly McLane, Jason Middlebrook, Bruce Nauman, Manuel Neri, Richard Phillips, Mel Ramos, Thomas Schütte, Andy Warhol, John Wesley, and Su-en Wong.
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: January 03, 2008 |
 Alberto Burri - Rosso Plastica L.A. (1966) I had the chance to see a variety of works by Alberto Burri last year on a trip to Rome and was immediately drawn to his melted plastic and stitched burlap. The NY Times has a brief review of a Burri exhibit which will be on display at Mitchell-Innes and Nash Gallery in NYC until 1/19. Click here for the gallery's website which features 20 excellent images from the show.
Also, here's a link to the Fondazione Palazzo Albizzini "Collezione Burri," a renassaince mansion in Città di Castello Italy which contains a large body of his work.
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: November 14, 2007 |
 YouTube video review of "George Condo Paintings, the Last Ten Years" at Nicholas Robin by James Kalm
George Condo was here in Denver a few weeks back as part of the DAM Contemporaries Logan Lectures, and if you simply can't get enough Condo, check out video blogger James Kalm's YouTube post covering Condo's latest show "George Condo Paintings, the Last Ten Years" at Chelsea gallery Nicholas Robin.
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: November 12, 2007 |
Roy Lichtenstein Prints at the Austin Museum of Art
 Crying Girl (detail), 1963, Offset lithograph, edition of approx. 300, 18 X 24 inches, Collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer, Courtesy AMOA
Here's some info on a Roy Lichtenstein exhibit at the Austin Museum of Art (TX) opening this weekend... I think I might have a chance to get down to Austin while this show is in effect and am looking forward to checking it out.
(from the website)
It is impossible to imagine Pop art without the work of Roy Lichtenstein. His comic book-inspired paintings of 1961, along with Andy Warhol’s concurrent work, are generally considered the first true Pop art. Although best know for his cartoon imagery, Lichtenstein took on a wide range of subject matter that included portraiture, still life, landscape, and modern art history, all brought under the crisp, clear look that defined “ Lichtenstein”—primary colors, Benday dot patterns, stripes, and strong outlines. He was not only Pop’s greatest stylist but also one of the most accomplished printmakers of al time, working in nearly every print medium and collaborating with many of the master printers and workshops of his time. Roy Lichtenstein Prints, 1956 97 surveys the printmaking career of this seminal artist—from his first proto-Pop image made in 1956 to the print he was working on at the time of his death in 1997—and provides both an introduction to his imagery and a fresh appraisal of the many-layered meanings in his work and its lasting impact. Organized by the Museum of Art, Washington State University and the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation.
Roy Lichtenstein Prints, 1956-97
Austin Museum of Art
November 17th, 2007 - February 3rd, 2008
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: November 09, 2007 |
 Here's some news that brings together a pair of names that have recently graced Denver: Korean gallery owner and art collector C.I. Kim is opening a branch of his Arario Gallery in NYC's Chelsea district today (November 10th), housed in a space designed by (I'm quoting ArtInfo.com here) "architect of the moment" David Adjaye. Further, the inaugural show is titled Absolute Images II and features work by a variety of name-brand contemporary Chinese artists including Fang Lijun whose first solo US show recently wrapped up at the Lab at Belmar. Click here for an excellent interview from ArtInfo.com with Arario founder C.I. Kim on the new gallery. From the interview:
I understand that you’re also planning a new museum in Korea, which is to be designed by architect David Adjaye and will house your collection. I read that it will be called Another Museum. Is that true?
It used to be called Another Museum and now it will be called A Museum.
How did you choose David Adjaye to design both A Museum and the Arario space in New York?
I heard about him from many of my friends in the art world, and also saw some of his work five years ago in London. That’s when we started the relationship.
(Fang Lijun, right, photo by Ken Hamel/DenverArts.org)
About the inaugural show (from ChelseaArtGalleries.com):
Absolute Images II
Fang Lijun, Ji Da chun, Liu Jianhua, Sui Jianguo, Wang Du, Yang Shaobin, Yue Minjun, Zeng Hao, Wang Guangyi, Zhou Tiehai , Zhang Xiaogang
November 10, 2007 - January 13, 2008
Arario Gallery 521 W. 25th St., 2nd fl., NYC
Absolute Images II, a group exhibition featuring the gallery’s major Chinese avant-garde artists, is curated by Arario Gallery’s Executive Director, Cheagab Yun, and follows in the footsteps of the original Absolute Images. This second incarnation, however, features several artists in addition to the original nine, almost all of whom are creating new works for this inaugural exhibition in New York. Participating artists are: Fang Lijun, Ji Da chun, Liu Jianhua, Sui Jianguo, Wang Du, Yang Shaobin, Yue Minjun, Zeng Hao, Wang Guangyi, Zhou Tiehai, and Zhang Xiaogang. Drawing from the vast political, economic, social, artistic and cultural shifts that have shaped the last several decades globally, and particularly in China where socialism and capitalism conflict yet coexist daily, these artists explore the scars and triumphs of the 20th century to which they have all been witnesses.
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: October 31, 2007 |
Perhaps the most provocative work at the DAM's Radar show earlier this year was Japanese superstar artist Takashi Murakami's anime nymph spewing breast milk in all directions (1997 "Hiropon"). Murakami is the subject of a recently opened retrospective at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art featuring over 90 works in various media spanning the early 90s to the present. I'm planning on a trip to see it in December so hopefully I can get some pix (barring museum policy), but until then, the MOCA LA website has a variety of videos you can check out.
And if you've got a spare $875, you can pick up one of Murakami's Louis Vuitton handbags for sale at the controversial Vuitton boutique on-site at the museum as part of the exhibit. The show is on display until February 8th, 2008.
 Murakami's cover for Kanye West's CD "Stronger"
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: October 21, 2007 |
One of my favorite Denver exhibits this year was William Betts at Plus gallery, which highlighted Betts' pointillist creations based on still images from security cameras. Most intriguing was that Betts brought the pieces to life via a home made custom painting machine. I'm fascinated by the concept of machine painting as well as assembly line creation of art in China (something else Betts has explored in his work), so I couldn't resist posting this blurb on the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt's newly opened exhibit "Art Machines Machine Art."
From the press release:
We generally assume that artists make art. But what happens when machines produce art? Do
artists then become engineers? What does the artist’s apparent withdrawal from the creative act
signify, and what are the consequences of that action for the originality and uniqueness of the
artwork? What is then the work of art: the machine, the product, or the act of producing it?
The curators have assembled a rich history of art machines going back almost 50 years from French artist Jean Tinguely right up to bad boy Damien Hirst (pix below, guess which machine goes to which artist). Plus attendees even get to take home sample artwork churned out from several of the working devices on display. It would be great to see a similarly themed show right here in Denver, sans history and big name artists given the prohibitive cost of course.
Click "read more..." at the lower right for the press release
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: October 06, 2007 |
 Vik Muniz - "Double Mona Lisa (Peanut Butter and Jelly, After Warhol)", 1999
Click here for pictures from Denver's Museo exhibit...
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: September 24, 2007 |
 Yue Minjun, "Hats" series at the Queens Museum of Art
Chinese artist Fang Lijun broke ground in the US with his first major solo show right here in Denver at the Lab, and fellow countryman, artist (and Radarian) Yue Minjun will also be having his first solo US exhibit this year, but a little farther from the Lab, at the Queens Museum of Art, NYC (Yin Minjun and the Symbolic Smile, October 14, 2007 - January 6, 2008). - KLH
From the press release:
One of the self-styled, Beijing-based artists who emerged in the early 1990’s, Yue Minjun has since gained international recognition. Yue Minjun has successfully parlayed his iconic smiling self-portrait into his signature motif, and is widely considered a pioneering figure in Chinese contemporary art. Yue’s laughing faces are at once exuberant and eerie. Placed against various recognizable backdrops, the tirelessly optimistic faces compel the viewer to question the larger social context portrayed in each painting.
Yue Minjun began his career as a founding member of the “Cynical Realism” school. This group emerged in the early 1990’s, in the wake of the Tiananmen Square incident and the subsequent crackdown on artistic freedom imposed by the Chinese government. From the founding of the PRC in 1949, through the decade long Cultural Revolution that ended in 1976 with the death of Chairman Mao Zedong, art was solely created to promote Communist Party ideology. All of China’s artistic production was framed by a system of government-imposed directives.
In the current art world, Yue Minjun and his renowned contemporaries, including artists Zhang Xiaogang and Fang Lijun, are making artworks that reflect a social consciousness relevant to China’s changing political and economic climate. China’s avant-garde artists, many of whom are based in Beijing’s booming art scene, enjoy a surprising degree of creative liberty in utilizing parody and critique to comment on the state of their country. The attention these artists have received from the West also makes them less vulnerable to censorship by the central government.
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: September 04, 2007 |
The Colorado Springs Fine Art Center had an interesting and in depth Peter Max retrospective in 2005. Max fans might want to make the trek out to San Fran for the de Young museum's "Peter Max and the Summer of Love" exhibit celebrating the 40th anniversary of the famous be-in. Click Here for the museum's press release...
 New Poster by Peter Max celebrating the 40th Anniversary of "the Summer of Love" |
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: August 06, 2007 |
Richard Estes photo realistic paintings of Manhattan have always been a draw for me, and I couldn't resist the chance to post his classic "Telephone Booths" (below) as part of the press release for an Estes retrospective at Madrid's Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. Only on view until September 16th 2007, however why not take this "virtual visit"...
 Richard Estes, Telephone Booths, Acrylic on masonite, 122 x 175 cm - Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: July 12, 2007 |
Kiefer, Polke, Richter
Philadelphia Museum of Art
July 21 to November 25, 2007
 180 Colors (180 Farben) - (1971) Gerhard Richter; Enamel paint on canvas, 200 x 200 cm
I am a massive fan of Gerhard Richter's work and have been very fortunate to see many of his pieces on trips to DC, NYC and Philly (where I've taken in "180 Farben" pictured above), so I was thrilled to learn that the Philadelphia Museum of Art will be hosting "Kiefer, Polke, Richter" from July 21st to November 25th. I will make a point of visiting and getting some pix for the site.
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Written by Ken Hamel
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Posted: July 05, 2007 |
 The Hirshhorn in DC is one of my favorite places to see art and I try to visit at least once a year. On my last trip I was fortunate to catch 3 short films by Takeshi Murata in the "Black Box", a small exhibition space on the basement level, alongside a show curated from the permanent collection by artist John Baldessari ("Ways of Seeing: John Baldessari Explores the Collection")
There is a rich history of filmmakers appropriating cinematic sources as part of their work, from Joseph Cornell's Rose Hobart, to Bruce Conner's Cosmic Ray, and more recently, an endless stream of mashups featuring footage from anything and everything. Murata's films stood out for me: his cinematic root creates an hypnotic, abstract progression that feeds off of and grows out from the source material. Just as Cornell peered into the soul of actress Hobart, Murata's cinematic creations become stunning, pulsating icons, reminiscent of, but totally eclipsing any semblance of the original clips.
From the Hirshhorn website:
Murata takes “found-object” images from feature films and digitally re-works and re-joins them in a technique that might be called electronic painting. Each short hallucinogenic film involves thousands of individually rendered alterations and can take up to a year to complete. The effect is like visual quicksand—as viewers sink in deeper and deeper, they cannot recall what visual shifts led from one to the next.
Kind Netizens, let me know if you spot a copy of Murata's flix online. In the meantime, I snapped a few stills from the video to keep the memory alive...
(Monster Movie, 2005, Courtesy of the artist)
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