While out doing the galleries last night ( I do them on Thursdays ) I was glad to catch up with Rare Gallery, which is quickly becoming a favorite. Their openings typically seem to be on Saturdays but they have their doors open on Thursdays sometimes, so I was able to catch up with them. They had another great show up by Artist Johnston Foster.

I was struck by the timing of this exhibit. I am walking around, as we all are, with these horrible images brought to us by our friends at BP and feeling sick about the whole nature vs man thing and this exhibit has the same themes running through it… industrial materials that create mutant animals ,and man’s disregard for other life forms on this planet.

I also flashed on a memory I had had and shared it with the gallery director. I remember when I was visiting Shanghai I was involved in something that had most of my attention and I was rushing to get somewhere when I happened to pass a blanket on the side walk , kind of like those blankets people put out to sell their belongings , seemingly to raise drug money, and i noticed on this blanket there seemed to be a tiger paw cut off and for sale. I couldn’t be sure if I imagined that , but i thought it was strange. Turns out , that’s what it was ! and it’s not so strange !! They sell them all the time like that . It makes me so sad the way we treat out animal kingdom neighbors …. ahh sad note but go see the show at Rare – it’s worth it . Rare Gallery

It’s that time of the year again when galleries are packed with people just before it goes quiet for a while in the art world, and typically many of the shows are group themed summer shows. This is a great opportunity to see some otherwise up and coming art by newer artists. The group shows are also really good at packing galleries because everyone is going to call up their whole posse to come out. I find these kind of shows work best when there is a strong curatorial message behind the show, and of course that’s what you are going to get at Marlborough Gallery.

To be honest I wasn’t aware of the “theme” of this show when I went there, I just knew it was all working together very nicely and that I was enjoying it. There are apparently three floors of this show , I have only been to the two floors of this gallery and regret not making it up to the third to see more.

Pheobe-Washburn

There are many many works in this show and, like I say, really worth going to check out. I enjoy the above artist’s work a lot for a number of reasons and I would be curious one day to speak with her in person to see if my impressions of the work match her intentions, she is very popular especially since her huge splash at the Whitney Biennial a couple years ago. Her name is Pheobe Washburn and her work in that exhibit stopped me in my tracks. Other works of hers are more elusive to me but great never the less. I am going to leave this post with a link to the Natural Renditions page to see more of the works for your-self. Check it out – it’s very nice.

Claude Monet Paintings at Gagosian Gallery

There is something about summer in New York that makes art even more interesting to see . Something about the fact that there are so many people out of town and the city gets quieter mixed with the heat . When you are out on the street and it’s bearing down on you then you head into a museum or a gallery and you a greeted by air conditioning and some visual , mental and creative stimulation it makes for a nice afternoon. Even when i go to a gallery and it’s really hot in there , it’s almost like I am paying my dues to go see something special and I don’t mind.

Going to see the Monet Show at the Gagosian is going to go down as one of the great summer art experiences ever….

I can’t be sure if Gagosian is selling the works or if the exhibit is up in a more charitable spirit to the art  going public or a little of both , but this exhibit is very much like going to a museum. You are only allowed to walk in one door and out the other, you have to check your belongings and  I didn’t ask but I had the good sense to not attempt to get any pictures of my own. ( all pictures on this blog post are directly from their site.). To visit the show is free.

Claude_Monet_Late_Work

Claude_Monet_Late_Work

Of course , the show is beautiful. How could it not be – it’s Monet, but what this show first began to impress upon me was the fact that all of these paintings when viewed from at least 20 feet away show such an amazing atmospheric effect. Everything in them appears to be floating. Up close the paintings have a completely different look and feel.

The first couple room are almost saying “Here are some great works by Monet so you have an idea about what the next couple rooms are going to be about…” They are the kind of paintings we love by Monet , but unusual in a way. They seemed , at least to me, to be examples of a little bit more painterly approach.

The next room it is obvious that there is a different direction. Some of the works appear to be oil studies – great ones though -( like Irises was an oil study for Van Gough) They even exhibit a sort of Japanese feel like some of the other impressionist works of that time , but they also begin to incorporate something that looks a bit like German expressionism and a lot like modern abstract painting.(Sadly I do not have pictures of these later works here you will have to see the show or research these images online) It is at this point I began to think “What would Monet’s work have been like had he lived another 30 years?? ” This new direction of painting has a dark edge to it , not fully developed yet , but headed in a fascinating direction. I got the sense somehow from the works That Monet had maybe died young but this was not the case at all, I guess I just wanted to see more and more of this late work.

The paintings also really bring together some significant ideas in art:

• What is abstract ?
• What role does photography play in the development of painting ?
• Isn’t any work of art abstract even if it represents something?
• Can a painting be abstract and realistic at the same time ?

There is a lot of info and many great images by Monet on Wikipedia check it out.

I will close this post by saying that aside from the works of art Monet created during his life time, the thing that inspires me as much about Monet is that he took a trash dump and turned it into a french garden to create many of his late works, and that sums up my theory of art in a nutshell. Art is a stage of transformation. You can take even garbage and bend it to make heaven.

Surprise at P.P.O.W. Gallery and Virgil De Voldere Gallery

Artists Dinh Q. Lê and Shih Chieh Huang showing some very engaging work.

There wasn’t a whole lot going in out there this last week. Maybe the art world people had to take a rest from all the art fairs the week before. I didn’t get to any of the art fairs this year but that was fine, really, because they can really get exhausting. It all just turns into a bunch of mush and I get very tired and I get a headache and I am not sure what I am supposed to be looking at, or feeling by the end of it. It’s a mixed bag. I will go this next year. It’s not like I’m not out looking at art the rest of the year.

I didn’t have a big list this week but that doesn’t always matter , I found a couple worth while exhibits and here they are…

First up, Pepe and Popcorn, two new works by artist Shih Chien Huang. They are like chandeliers only they are like robots and they breathe . What are they ?? They are art. They are like something maybe from outer space , something organic. Like sweet tarts for your eyes . One thing that I really like about Virgil De Voldere Gallery is that they very often black the gallery out to present works of light in a more dramatic fashion, which I think is great, and something more galleries should think like. Art isn’t just something to cover up a wall, it’s an experience and why should it be limited to just sitting on a floor or hanging on a wall ?  Here are some images from their site and a couple very low res video I took to try to capture how they move. ( the last two images are from the next exhibit)

I have been to several shows over the months at P.P.O.W. Gallery and too often they are lacking in something that I can’t quite put my finger on. A certain consistency , an eye , I don’t know but something, so when I saw them on my list for this week , I thought that if there was nothing else going on this would be worth a drop by. I have to say this video projection by Dinh Q. Lê was really great. The rest of the exhibit I didn’t spend a lot of time with but this video projection was fantastic. Based in the history of the Viet / US conflict I was really taken by this digital animation film .The above two images in the photo gallery are images from this project as well.

The thing I was curious to see was the Fuck Luck show at Claire Oliver Gallery but , while I usually am crazy about what they show at Claire Oliver, one of my favorite galleries, this exhibit left me cold and unimpressed. Anything that has to resort to Swarovski Crystal to make it’s point just seems pretentious to me . To make things worse , the art seemed to have some stupid fake optimistic message that bugged me as well. Maybe it’s me and I didn’t get what it was about, but it just wasn’t my thing.

fuck luck image

Carsten Nicolai: moiré at Pace Wildenstein Gallery

I am a week or two behind getting some of my New York City art travels to galleries etc.. onto my blog – but I am out there never the less. This visit to Pace Wildenstein had to be at least two weeks ago, and was a fantastic opening. Below is a video I took at put up on Youtube of a kinetic sculpture in the show. It took me a while to figure out what it was even but it looked and felt like some very hi-tech sort of technology from the 1960′s. In a room of it’s own , this work really got my attention.

[wp-tube vid_id="LFZMiIYTRN8" /]

Carsten-Nicolai-moiré1glass-2010

There are a few large works in this show , but it is more than enough to keep your interest. These works are a fusion between minimalism and op art. Spare and austere but entertaining. This large sculpture in the middle of the first room really draws home the beauty in industrial/commercial materials.

Carsten-Nicolai-moiré1glass-2010

Pace Wildenstein certainly knows how to have a great opening and this was no exception. Packed with the Chelsea art crowd they always have enough room , wine , and glasses to go around – and then some. I always enjoy an opening here.

Carsten_Nicolai_moiré_schatten_2010

This third work I am showing in here seemed to be a minimalistic landscape , installation piece. It seems like heavy piano wires mounted to the wall. Across from this is a projector that is ever so slightly moving up and down which created shadows on the wall from the strings that give the impression of a living seascape, only in black and white. Definitely worth a visit .

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

Jessica Wild RuPaul's Drag Race Season Two

Cock-a-Doodle-Do…. Sashay Away – Love You Jessica Wild

Okey she is not the prettiest girl at the party… but i fell hard for her , both as a girl and a boy.

I think of all the people on Drag Race so far in both seasons , Jessica Wild was by far , for me , the most likable contestant. Struggling with the language only seemed to make her just that much more likable.

It is a drag .. (okey pun intended ) that we don’t get to see her do the same thing , but on a spanish show , because I am sure we would all have seen a truer version of what she can bring, even so , she brings it hard.

Such a interesting person, I mean not at all the typical person you find doing drag. Let’s face it , a lot of drag queens out there are not so cute as boys and drag gives them another chance to be be glamourous and get a lot of attention. I have seen this to be true of older gay guys as well. (I am so not judging , I might even do it my-self one day but I am waiting to see how I hold up as a boy until at least 50). A little known fact out there is that drag queens get a lot more sex than you might think, and there is a whole group of guys out there who are definitely not gay in the way that most gays are , that really go for guys in drag. A lot of these guys are kinda macho too. There was a great club in LA called Club Illusions that brought together men in drag and their admirers. It was rumored that anyone could get laid in there by just making even the slightest attempt at being a lady. It was a gold mine for a lot of people.

Jessica, even with the language barrier , knew when to hold her cards to her chest, which was most of the time, and knew when to speak her mind. I don’t recall but maybe once any of the other contestants coming for her, and in many ways , in the typical sense of the competitions, she would have been in the bottom. The thing that saves her each and every time is her ability to take the situation and bend it to make it her own. The only time this didn’t work was when she had to ” lip sync for her life”. A part of this has to do with the fact that the song was an American song that she really had no context for, so it wasn’t hard for Tatiana to win. At this point of The Race , the good people start going home, and it is just as much about luck as all the other things. I’m really hoping to see Jessica do a rock or heavy metal, Marilyn Mansonesque kind of thing . That would be something to see. We will miss you Jessica , but I am sure we will see you again.