Recommended sights to see.
After nine months in NYC, I’m really missing California. So when this image popped up in my inbox, it was perfect. Robert Bechtle—whose station wagon painting in the SFMOMA collection impressed me as a young artist—has updated the suburban blandness with a new print from Crown Point Press. Strong California sunlight on immaculate, impersonal Sunset district houses. So familiar, yet so far off in the outer avenues.
Robert Bechtle, Three Houses on Pennsylvania Avenue, 2011
Digital art books?
In “Off the Page” (Frieze Magazine, Issue 139), Sarah Hromack reviews Paul Chan’s Badlands Unlimited publishing venture. It’s an opportunity for readers to consider the future of digital artist’s books. It’s an interesting read—have a look!
Psychology in art
I was recently introduced to the work of Risa Puno, a NYC based sculpture/installation/media artist. Many of her themes (such as pseudo-scientifically addressing and registering emotional states, offering sensations targeted at psychological responses) and media (spotlights!) really resonate with me and my work. You can see lots of Risa’s past projects at her website.
Michael Velliquette, Lil' Orphist, 2010, paper, acrylic, gator board, glue, 13 ½ x 10 x 3”; 15 1/2 x 11 1/2 x 3 3/4" mounted. Source: DCKTcontemporary.com.
By luck, I caught the penultimate day of Michael Velliquette’s solo show, Awaken and Free What Has Been Asleep, at DCKT Contemporary.
Daniel Muñoz, AKA SAN. From the Don Gallery, Milan. Source: FecalFace.com.
Balloon human and a balloon in a potted plant to boot!
Daniel Munoz, AKA SAN, El Arbitro. From the Don Gallery, Milan. Source: FecalFace.com
Mylar balloons and triangular flags. Love it.
Wedgewood Bucket by Simone Leigh, current artist in residence (AIR) at the Studio Museum of Harlem. See her work, along with works by fellow AIRs Kamau Patton and Paul Sepuya, on exhibit at the Studio Museum this summer.
[I’m reluctant to cop to clichés, but the truism that the pace of life in New York is terribly fast seems to have some grains of something-or-other to it. I offer Sights, a series of Tumblr-style impressions I like, and think you might enjoy too.]
Installation by Heather Ramsdale.
I’m looking forward to two openings for old and new friends this week.
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March 25 – April 30, 2011
Lordy Rodriguez: The Map Is Not the Territory
Reception: Thursday March 24, 4-6pm
Hosfelt Gallery, 531 W 36th Street (b/10 & 11th), New York, NY 10018
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In “The Map Is Not the Territory,” Filipino-American artist Lordy Rodriguez presents three bodies of new work, comprised of more than 400 drawings. This, his fourth exhibition with Hosfelt Gallery and his first one-person show in Hosfelt Gallery’s New York space, is the most ambitious exhibition of his career.
I know Lordy from the San Francisco art scene. He’s hilarious and giving, and his drawings are wonderfully colorful and beautifully executed. His shows are often dense with pattern and sheer production. Have a look.
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March 25 – May 7, 2011
Emily Roysdon: Positions
Ioana Nemes: Times Colliding
Marie Jager: l’heure bleue
STUDIO SM
Opening: March 25, 6-8pm
Art in General, 79 Walker Street (just off Canal @ Broadway), New York, NY 10013
A · C · E · N · R · Q · J · Z · 1 · 6
I’ve been helping out with these shows the past few weeks, and I’m really impressed with Art in General and the artists’ forthcoming exhibitions. First, Art in General is dedicated to exhibiting and commissioning new work, so they’re a non-profit alternative art space that functions much like an ICA. And as I’ve been seeing the galleries come together, the shows look really interesting and clean and thought-provoking. The first-floor project space will house publications and more by a Swedish design team that collaborates with Roysdon and other artists. In the elevator will be a audio-visual project about birdsong and silence. The sixth floor galleries will feature solo exhibitions by Emily Roysdon (who recently exhibited at the Berkeley Art Museum’s MATRIX Program, and was interviewed by Patricia Maloney for Bad at Sports), and Ioanna Nemes, whose works feature diaristic, psychological snapshots that I’m really interested in. I’m completely onboard with the fantastic curatorial work of Andrea Hickey and Courtenay Finn.
Please come by and see for yourself.
Please excuse my previous griping post and have a look at this:
1. Brendan Fernandes and Ohad Meromi at Art in General
I helped to install these two artists’ shows, and I’m very excited about the quality and experimentation in both of them. I feel very fortunate to work with wonderful staff and interns at Art in General in the production of shows by really kind, thoughtful artists.
Brendan Fernandes’ exhibition, From Hiz Hands, opens in the ground-floor Project Space tomorrow, Friday, December 10 at 6pm. In addition to a massive wall text and audio piece, there are three super neon signs you can see from the street.
Ohad Meromi contribues Rehearsal Sculpture, a likably obscure set of sculptures, props and setting for participatory action. Ohad’s prior work (see Harris Lieberman Gallery, of the sweetly ligature’d logo, for pics) are really fun combinations of formal and vernacular design with social overtones, so I’m really interested in this more explicitly performative and experiential work.
2. Mark Bradford, artist, MacArthur Genius, and artist-philanthropist-role model.
Bradford, who exuded articulateness, integrity and rigor in his talk at SFAI, is a role model. His most recent feat of fearlessness is committing to donate $100k to support other artists in the pursuit of their own projects that might not be otherwise funded. How awesome is that?
3. Via HWT, this image by Frances Twombly, found on ArtNet:
Frances Twombly, Balloons, 2004
R+D 