“Sense of Place” @ Cynthia-Reeves

Last week “Sense of Place,” featuring the work of six contemporary photographers, opened at Cynthia-Reeves in NYC. The exhibition, which runs through August 20th, includes works that rely upon undisguised manipulation to further communicate the “essence” of the depicted places. These images seek to bring forth emotions – rather than merely convey objective documentation.

The six photographers (Johannes Brus, Luc Demers, Elke Morris, Jeffrey Stockbridge, Paul Taylor and Shuli Sade) focus on issues of presumed transparency, but the places addressed are diverse – ranging from the unique skylines of cities around the world to the intimate spaces of the domestic sphere.

A little about each photographers’ work on display at Cynthia-Reeves:

Johannes Brus exhibits large scale photographs, like “Vorholle,” a 4-panel piece that draws the viewer into a surreal world of fantasy.  Brus’ photographs display his  innovative and signature multi-layering negative printing process in which he uses chemical, coloring manipulation. (Image, left)

Luc Demers uses an acute control of light, offering an intimate look into domestic spaces. The photographer’s series “Darkened Rooms,” is commanding, portraying a fluid interaction between darkness and light.

Elke Morris’ selectively blurred and saturated images of buildings exude an effect of miniaturization in her “Domicile” series. Through printed large-scale, viewers feel as if they are looking at models. Morris enhances this toy-like nature with intense color – placing it at odds with her subject matter (image, below).

Shuli Sade used a video camera in shooting the top of a newly constructed tower in Tel Aviv every night for two consecutive summers. The artist kept the video camera’s tripod and angle in the same position, effectively recording the changes in environment over the 2 years, as the tower and its position within the video frame remained constant. She then created “Time Units,” a multi-panel work of frozen video stills printed on transparency and fused to plexi.

Jeffrey Stockbridge’s “Divine Lorraine” series examines the once luxurious hotel, exposing the subtle beauty of the building’s decay and capturing the mystery of abandoned places. By manipulating the depth of field with camera movements and a low f-stop to shift the focal plane, Stockbridge controls where the viewer focuses in his images (image, below).

Paul Taylor created his “Images of Turkey” series using turn-of-the-century photographic techniques to develop his glass plate negative and create his prints. This process has allowed the photographer to create a dialogue between his medium and subject, the ancient hillside town of Ortahisar, evoking a unique and distinct sense of age and history (image below).

Click here to read more about the exhibition and the photographers.

Click here for more photography exhibitions going on this summer in NYC.

“American High Style: Fashioning a National Collection” @ the Brooklyn Museum

The Brooklyn Museum recently opened its “American High Style: Fashioning a National Collection,” on exhibit through August 1st. The exhibition marks the new relationship between the museum and the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “American High Style” includes renowned objects from its costume collection and consists about 85 dressed mannequins – plus a selection of hats, shoes, sketches, and other fashion-related material that reintroduces the museum’s collection to the public (which had remained in storage for a long time).

The exhibition is divided into groups – each of which represents the most important strengths of the collection. Works by the first generation of American women designers such as Bonnie Cashin, Elizabeth Hawes, and Claire McCardell are on display, as well as garments and accessories created by Charles James, Norman Norell, Gilbert Adrian, and other American designers who helped shape the nation’s fashion industry and top styles of the early-to-mid 20th century.

Many French designers’ pieces are also on exhibit – including items created by Charles Frederick Worth, Elsa Schiaparelli, Jeanne Lanvin, Jeanne Paquin, Madeleine Vionnet and Christian Dior, all of whom have played significant roles in influencing American fashion of the 20th century.

The Met’s “American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity,” on display through August 15th, is a related exhibition that celebrates the arrival of the Brooklyn Museum costume collection and the two institutes’ recent collaboration.

Hunter MFA Open Studios

This Friday, April 23rd (6pm – 10pm) and Saturday, April 24th (2pm – 6pm), Hunter College‘s MFA students will open their studios to the public and auction off their best work. “Hunter MFA Open Studios,” which occurs twice a year, provides an opportunity for art-enthusiasts to scope out some of the freshest artistic talent in NYC.

The event will contain the work of 130 emerging artists, showing everything from paintings to performance pieces. Attendees will have the opportunity to tour the studios, which in-and-of itself sounds interesting (especially for those of us curious to see where the tireless students-turned-artists spend so much of their time conceptualizing and creating their work).

Hunter MFA Open Studios promises “Two Nights of fresh art, artists, socializing, and surprises,” and while I’m sure there will be some flops, at the very least, the two-day event looks like it will give some uncommon insight into Hunter’s MFA program -  known to draw a diverse and excited crowd of budding artists.

Click here for more details (via NY Magazine)

Click here to read more about Hunter’s Studio Art MFA Program

Click here to learn more about MFA programs and associated careers

Jacob Lawrence at the Hudson River Museum

Jacob Lawrence, one of the most influential African American artists of the 20th Century, is exhibiting dozens of his brilliantly-colored prints at Yonkers, NY’s Hudson River Museum. The exhibition, titled “Jacob Lawrence Prints, 1963 – 2000,” runs through June 6th and includes both individual prints and three print series that show the artist’s multifarious talents as an artist and storyteller.

These series include “The Legend of John Brown,” based on the deeply religious abolitionist John Brown; “the Eight Studies for the Book of Genesis,” which focuses on Lawrence’s memories of the Baptist ministers of his youth, and “Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture,” depicting the Haitian slave who became the commander of the revolutionary army that fought France and England for Haiti’s freedom.

Lawrence also focuses on the theme of struggle throughout his prints – as both a black symbol as well as a symbol of man’s capacity to endure and triumph.

The talented painter and illustrator is also an educator. He was the first African American to be represented by a major New York gallery and received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1946, at which point he began his teaching career. Lawrence has taught at Black Mountain College, the Pratt Institute, Brandeis University, the New School for Social Research and the University of Washington in Seattle.

Click here to read more about the exhibition and Jacob Lawrence.

Click here to see what’s going on at NYC’s art museums.

“Week-end” Photography

The Yancey Richardson Gallery is currently displaying “Week-end,” a solo show of LA based artist, Alex Prager‘s photographs. The exhibition, which is simultaneously on display at M + B Gallery in Los Angeles, presents the artist’s third installment of staged female portraits, which concludes Prager’s dynamic photographic trilogy on the topic.

Inspired by (and set in) her Southern California hometown, the photographed subjects in Prager’s current exhibition wear wigs, makeup and retro costumes. Described as “cinematic and darkly playful,” the pictures, which usually portray solitary figures absorbed in personal drama, point to narratives occurring just outside the frame.

Prager shoots her images from unexpected angles, using dramatic lighting. She states that “all women are actresses,” and appropriately, her photos are enigmatic and intriguing, much like the charm and mystery associated with old Hollywood.

“Week-end,” which opened in mid-January, is on display through February 20th.

African Americans as Artists and Subjects

Beginning today, Babcock Galleries is displaying “African Americans: Seeing and Seen, 1766 – 1916.” This exhibition, which runs through April 2, 2010, contains an array of images that include African American subjects as well as the work of many African American artists. Images include fine art and pop-culture pieces and range from positive portrayals to cruel caricatures of African American people, culture, history, and events.  The exhibition represents both challenges of the past and current struggles that African Americans continue to face.

The Assistant Director at Babcock Galleries and curator of “African Americans: Seeing and Seen, 1766 – 1916,” Tess Sol Schwab, recently commented on the exhibition, stating,

“African American history can be catalogued by the racist and derogatory images across the centuries that have mirrored popular views while at the same time shaping and reinforcing them. Yet, sensitive portrayals of blacks by whites also exist alongside them, as well as inspiring and successful careers by African American artists.”

To read more about the exhibition and Babcock Galleries, click here.

Spotlight on Soho

There’s always a lot to do in the New York City art world, so much that it can be overwhelming. Here’s a guide to the current and upcoming exhibitions in Soho. Take a look!

One Part Human @ Ronald Feldman Fine Arts – An exhibition of work by various artists exploring the tension between human and technological capabilities of today’s scientific world (Image, left)

Richard Tuttle : Renaissance Unframed @ Carolina Nitsch Contemporary Art – A series of 25 encaustic drawings on muslin with companion sculpture

Bryan El Castillo : Wired @ Westwood Gallery – A display of the artist’s works, crafted through deconstruction and reconstruction, creating various layers of photography and painting whose outcome is unique and emotional

Guy Benfield, Shannon Moulton, and Rancourt / Yatsuk : Erratic Anthropologies @ Art in General – The gallery presents three performance installations that mirror the visual culture of two influential (yet inherently flawed) community structures: the hippie commune and the American suburb (Image, below)

Sol Lewitt : Wall Drawing # 481 : Two-Part Drawing Multiple Asymmetrical Pyramids with Color Ink Washes Superimposed @ Brooke Alexander Editions – Take a look at the famed artist’s boldly colored geometric wall paintings.

Other exhibitions include:

Ma Bing : Floating Serenely @ Eli Klein Fine Art

Iannis Xenakis : Composer, Architect, Visionary AND Selections Spring 2010 : Sea Marks @ The Drawing Center

Enjoy!

Tim Burton at the MoMA

 

Tim Burton is notorious for his creepy movies and perplexingly intriguing characters. The famed director/ producer/ artist, best known for films like Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns and Batman Forever, Sleepy Hollow and Sweeny Todd, is more than a film-world maven (although that would be enough to categorize him as an inventive genius).

Burton has spent years creating his masterpieces, and he has an abundant collection of self-created art work to prove it. As such, the MoMA is currently exhibiting over 700 photographs, paintings, doodles, storyboards, stories, sculptures, sketches, books, models, and movie props dating back to Burton’s days as a student at the California Institute of the Arts in its aptly named exhibition ”Tim Burton.”

The exhibition, which opened on November 22nd (over 10,000 visitors streamed through on day #1) and runs through April 26, 2010 has already obtained extremely positive reviews.

Click here to read more about the creepy – yet delightful display of Burton’s artwork.

Mike Kelley at Gagosian Gallery

Detroit-born artist Mike Kelley, known for his creative incorporation of obscure textures and objects  - along with his depictions of deformed figures and themes, is exhibiting his first show devoted solely to painting at New York’s Gagosian Gallery (West 24th Street location).  

Kelley frequently creates works in the style of Abjection,  a vulgar art form that often includes the use of bodily fluids (like blood) and grotesque images. His creations are wildly unique and diverse: Kelley has created everything from collages to performances and video installations.

In his newest show, Kelley displays his boldly colorful reliefs, whose subjects are culled from a wide variety of sources. These include elementary school textbook illustrations, New Age painting, comic strips, and science-fiction. The images seem a little less grotesque than his usual work – but are equally as delightful.

The artist’s newest exhibition is a must see for art enthusiasts looking for something eccentric and bold to gawk at.

Click here  to read more about Kelley’s exhibition at Gagosian

Above image, Mike Kelley’s “Naked Majas” via Gagosian Gallery

Urs Fisher at the New Museum

Urs Fischer is known for his crazy installations, which are usually destructive, huge, and barbaric. However, he has truly outdone himself this time.  For the artist’s newest exhibition, he lowered ceilings, added lights and closed off certain entrances/ exits in order to obtain an austere and cold exhibition space. Fischer’s three floor exhibit, while enchanting, is not a “drop-dead moment,” according to NY Magazine. The article states,

There’s bravura work but no drop-dead moment here. Each of Fischer’s three floors is beautiful, and each has an elfin elusiveness and deep material intelligence. They also have dead spots and duds. Fischer is weakest at smaller discrete sculptures and best when he’s taking over entire spaces or reacting to other artworks nearby. (Also, at a rumored $330,000 to stage, the show is another example of an art world that doesn’t know when to say no.) Had Fischer made a swashbuckling statement by (let’s say) demolishing the museum’s second and third floors, he would have wowed everyone. Instead, thankfully, he took the hard way, putting together multiple ideas: exploring the sculptural-philosophical-experiential qualities of fullness on the fourth floor, emptiness on the third, and a mixture of both on the second floor…

…Step out of the elevator on four, and you’re in a gigantic otherworldly nursery. Five enormous molten-looking amorphous ectoplasmic excrescences fill the space, dwarfing viewers. Fischer makes these sculptures by squeezing clay, computer-scanning the shapes, making molds, and casting them in aluminum at monstrous proportions. They’re where de Kooning, Rodin, and Lynda Benglis meet Frankenstein, Warhol’s floating silver pillows, and the hatchery from Aliens. Gigantic fingerprints are visible; humongous thumbnails protrude…

As certain pieces stand out (for both good and bad reasons), the show is an eclectic mix of whimsical artwork that should not be missed.