Ujin Lee Light Boxes

This performance project is scheduled for Friday June 11th From 10 am to 12 pm and there will be other things related to this project going on in Washington Square Park all afternoon.

On a recent visit through the galleries , I passed through a building that seems to be making a transition from studio spaces and other mixed use spaces to a space that showcases some art. I liked the roughness of the place and I always like seeking out gems in raw places like this.

I happened to pass by the studio of artist Ujin Lee and on the floor she had this work. A series of LED lighted boxes wrapped in fabric that caught my attention. I wanted to speak to her further about this work and it proved to be interesting. The works are based on a unique Korean gift wrapping tradition and magic numbers.As it tuned out the following week, while I was looking for a way to wrap something I was cooking in a banana leaf , I found this video that is on the very subject.

Ujin Lee is planning an installation / performance involving this work in Washington Square Park sometime around June 11th 2010 where she plans to give away pieces of the installation to visitors. For more information check out her blog at Ujin Lee Blogspot

It had been a couple of weeks since I had really seen anything out there at the galleries that was getting me excited, so It was like a breath of fresh air to see this Botero exhibit, but I wouldn’t expect anything less from Marlborough Gallery.

Always top notch work they show at Marlborough, they always have very nice openings and while this is , of course , a playground for the very wealthy,  I have never felt unwelcome or otherwise put off by anyone who works there, in fact quite the opposite, they are very helpful and informative.

I guess not knowing a whole lot about Botero, I assumed he wasn’t around anymore, partly because his work is so classic , it seems like it is from a much more distant era. These works are heroic, epic and the sort of works that a city buys rather than an individual. (I am sure the individuals who own them could probably own a city as well.)

Botero at Marlborough

Botero at Marlborough

His figures have always been a celebration of the robust human form. A sort of 3d Reubens mixed with  modern flare. These sculptures do not turn away from sexual references at all, in fact these works are quite sexual, but not in any kind of offensive way. There are sexual in a way as to say “we are sexual, animals are sexual, here you go.”

In addition to the terrific exhibit downstairs, Marlborough Chelsea will usually give you a second show on the second floor as well. On the second floor was one of those summer sort of group show exhibits you see a lot of through the summer when the art world gets to take a long vacation. This summer group showing had quite a bit of good things to see… here are a few images of some of the cool artworks upstairs.

Rock Sculpture Marlborough Chelsea

Drawing on Shaped Canvases

Small Acrylic Painting Marlborough Chelsea

Ok … so this exhibit already closed and I am going to tell you about how great it was. What good is that? Well, maybe he might be showing somewhere again, Daniel Rozen is definitely an artist to watch and Bitforms Gallery is definitely a gallery to visit.

Bitforms Gallery specialized in digitally influenced artworks that are really interesting. I have seen a few exhibits there and they all have been interesting. This one was amazing. Part of the reason I didn’t get to it sooner was it wasn’t on my Thursday opening schedule, and I happened to be walking by. Glad I did.

daniel-rozen-wood-looking-panel

There were three pieces on exhibit. One was this panel that was the right hand panel. You can see the outline of me on it taking a picture, but it’s not a reflection, it is a response. The micro panels turn up to make a bright color or they point down to make a dark color, they are activated by a digital camera, so as I moved the mini panels moved as well, like a kinetic mirror made of reflective chips.

daniel-rozen-wood-looking-panel2

The panel on the right side , I liked even more. It was the same idea with a more chrome looking finish that the left one, but for this installation the artist positioned the pane so it reflected 3 colored lights off the wall. It gave it a dreamy night club look.

daniel-rozen-detail

You can see in the center the lense for the camera, which is what picks up the impression to move the panel. This work was really beautiful, and so relevant to what is going on in art. It is am admixture of sculpture,digital art and photography all rolled into on beutiful neo-minimalist work.  The third work in this exhibit , I have to say, I did not understand in person. I did not know why it was there , but the video makes it clearer. It looks much better as a video somehow. It is called X by Y …

The Benrimon Gallery’s Inagural show “Roy Lichtenstein: Homage to Monet” was as impressive as it was engaging and beautiful.It doesn’t get much better than this.

Two very different artists. One who works only in hard edges and the other who works with subtle colors and softness. An unlikely pairing , but that’s what makes this exhibit so rich.

Roy Lichtenstein is known for his large paintings that appropriate comic book and silkscreened images, making a statement about pop culture and remaking on the beauty of the a machined and manufactured world that we came to know in the sixties and seventies. This seems, to me, even further away in time than it really is as our minds and eyes are now trained to the spectacular world of digital images and animation. Here are a few examples of Roy’s work…

Even further away is the timeless world of Monet. (14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) . Read more about Claude Monet . This is a man who was obsessed with light, and during the time of his work had the early development of photography to inspire his vision. Monet would paint the exact same thing over and over again to study the effects that light had on them. Sometimes haystacks , other times cathedrals. Science and art mingling together in beauty. Towards the end of his life he painted the “Water Lilies” series of paintings which really are some of the greatest works of art I know of. Perhaps the most touching thing I know about Monet is that the pond where the lilies were was actually a trash dump at one point he purchased inexpensively and transformed into a water lily pond and garden, and then used this place to create this set of masterpieces. Can I just say – I love Monet. If you are in New York , you have to se the “Water Lilies” Three part painting at The MOMA.  Here are some Monet Images.

monet_haystack	monet_rouen-cathedral	monet-water-lilies	water-lilies2

So what happens when they are fused together in an homage like this one….??? The result is a series of artworks that speak to generations of the human condition. I would say this is some highly collectable art, certainly  if I had the money to invest in this work , I would. This fusion says that an artist like Roy Lichtenstein had mastered his own work to a point where he can use the limitations that every artist must place on their own work to identify them-selves, to create just about anything. I love to see art that challenges not only the viewer , but the artist as well.

japanese-garden	Roy Lichtenstein: Homage to Monet	Roy Lichtenstein:_Homage_to_Monet_Oval

A couple notes on the gallery…

• great space soon to be expanding into the space next door
• very chic without being pretentious
• friendly gallery people

I am looking forward to visiting there again – G

Benrimon Gallery   514 West 24th Street New York City

Art is Entertainment and so it should be.

Very often when I put my map together of art I am going to see , I find that the things that I really want to see can turn out to be less than exciting and then while wandering to the next place I often come across the very thing I was looking for …. something exciting and entertaining and on this run of the Chelsea galleries…..    Microcosm was that very thing.

I have visited Arario Gallery a couple other times and each time when I walk in I think to my-self “oh yes , this is that gallery I like”. There is something about their schedule and actually finding the gallery that seems a little tricky but once in, it is well worth it . It’s a huge space with one huge room after another and beautiful Pergo dark wood flooring. It’s really what I think a gallery should look like, and classy too.

I have my own feelings about this wave of Chinese and Islamic Art seen in the  New York art world, maybe I am prejudiced , and I won’t go into those issues right now ( they are my own personal issues more than anything) but suffice it here to say that if you are a gallery specializing in these genres of work, I feel it should say much more than novelty and PC. Microcosm was amazing. The above image is one of the digital art pieces from the show which mixes some very intense digital animation with other forms of European art like Hieronymus Bosch and later period of 18th and 19th century styles. (below , a famous image by Hieronymus Bosch 1504 )

Hieronymus-Bosch-The-Garden-of-Earthly-Delights

I am not always a fan of sitting down and watching projected materials unless they are very engaging , and this was . This is perhaps not the best video clip of this, but it may give you a sense of what this is like , enough to make you go check it out…( I should mention that the music with this clip has nothing to do with the art what so ever.) The size of this installation I would estimate at 10 ft tall by at least 30 ft long.

John Gerrard Oil Field Digital Animation 2007 Winston Wachter Gallery

Just Prior to my visit to Araio Gallery I had stopped into Winston Wachter Gallery , and while I wasn’t crazy about the feature show they had there, I was quite taken by yet another digital piece of this oil pump. ( sorry no video just a still ) . I am beginning to see a trend towards fine digital art , that I like . It’s funny , digital media has been around for so long now , and it seems just now to be making a real appearance out there in the fine art world.

The final exhibit I am going to include in this ( somewhat tardy) post is the Dan Ingram exhibit at Barry Friedman. Really terrific detailed drawings , I’m sure , with some very personal narrative. The sort of drawings that when you look at them you just can’t believe they are graphite ( or whatever other media is listed )

IAN INGRAM THE ALL MOST 2009	IAN INGRAM
IAN INGRAM: DIVINING	IAN INGRAM FATHER 2008

Very cool is the Gigantic incense burner at Pace Wildenstein here is the link…

http://www.pacewildenstein.com/Exhibitions/ViewExhibitionWork.aspx?title=Rulai&type=Work&guid=1d1ef0e8-5715-49fe-99d7-244e7cb10103

So I took these three pics with my phone camera. One thing I noticed right away about going into this gallery is that, say what you want, it felt nice in there. So often a big fancy blue chip gallery can seem so intimidating and unfriendly but the energy in this place was nice and friendly. There is a lot said over the ages about the power of smoke and incense to dispel negative energies and in this case it really seemed to be working. This thing is at least two stories tall and smoke comes out of every crack in this thing. The guy has to go back in there through a door in the back to refill it.

Pace Wildenstein Gigantic Incense Burner 1	Pace Wildenstein Gigantic Incense Burner 2	Pace Wildenstein Gigantic Incense Burner 3