New York City Art Fairs: Armory Week 2012

I just remembered I never posted about my week-long trip to New York for a pan-continential art excursion. I was searching for inspiration and I feel it is necessary to see all the new artists being included in the fairs these days. There was no lack of options to fulfill the needs of either I or my mother, who joined me on my quest.

Our first stop was Pier 92, part of the Armory Show that focused on Modern Art. There was no shortage of abstract expressionism and representational paintings, paintings, paintings. Of course, the Modern period, would not be complete without several fantastic Louise Nevelsons to adore. How I cherish her! I was also fortunate enough to see one of her miniature works in the home of a friend. He had casually placed it on top of his stereo receiver. I will have to remember to take a photo of it next time I visit.

Louise Nevelson

After Pier 92, we headed for Pier 94. The contemporary section of fairs are usually my forte and please me the most. Sadly, I was dissapointed. It may have been because we were there for the VIP opening day- It was remarkably crowded. I was also let down by the Nordic section of the fair. I felt I was stepping over piles of posters, books and navigating my way through hanging fabrics and lightbulbs. Was it just me or did it seem that all of the galleries had brought work that had been curated by the same person? My mother did manage to leave with a roll of toilet paper printed with the word ANGST in red lettering. And I escaped with a pen that says something about "pay attention to poetry".. Who really knows at this point. My suitcase is still packed with tear sheets and flyers indicating dates for upcoming shows, and artist resumes.

My favorite fair was the Independent located in a quaint building in Chelsea. The building was at least three stories tall and viewers were required to climb a very steep and narrow stairway if they were not patient enough to wait for the elevator which was the side of a small public restroom stall. The layout of the Independent was a nice change to the grid pattern booths of temporary walls we so commonly see at massive art fairs. Instead, each gallery was allocated an area or corner on each level. This method of display allowed viewers to meander through and around artworks and between booths without feeling like they have to greet everyone who is patiently waiting for a sale.

For me, the gems of the fair were a series of small white on white paintings by Sam Windett which I absolutely adored but were already sold!!!

I really enjoyed Scope, it was a manageable size and had many artists that were playing with

Under The Sun (white on white), 2012Oil on canvas, 62x43cm

I really enjoyed Scope, it was a manageable size and had many artists that were playing with installation and and a variety of media as opposed to strictly painting. There were however, some galleries and "wanna-be galleries" I felt lowered the quality of the the fair as a whole.

By chance, as I was attempting to navigate my way out of Scope, I got trapped in a corridor of mirrors and a young woman made eye-contact with me and herded me towards a door in what appeared to be a wall. She asked me "Do you want to go in?" I agreed, as I have learned to do when attending art events, although I had no idea what I was agreeing to. Sometimes, it is not something I would like to see or in the worse case scenario it can be a performance piece I would not like to participate in (yes, this has happened on one or two occasions). I walked in to find a mirrored room, full of trophies. I must say I am a big enthusiast for site specific installation. This one was by Kenton Parker. You can read about the piece by clicking the hyperlink below.  Interesting effect, and yes, it has been done before in way more interesting ways, but it did make for a good instagram photo. 

Infinity Trophy Room | A installation from Kenton Parker on view at the entry to Scope New York | March 7 – 11, 2012

Ace Gallery- Los Angeles, Opening Reception for Carl Andre, Ed Moses, Mary Corse, John Millei: Review

Last weekend I attended the opening reception at Ace Gallery with some gallery associates to see what we thought would be a show of Carl Andre's work. Having written my senior thesis at Berkeley on Ana Mendieta, I was curious to see some of his work-with the intention of walking all over it with my boots. After we entered a crowded entryway and managed to maneuver the old-school elevator we walked into a gallery space which soon revealed itself as a cacophonous vault of nooks and crannies jammed full of art and the art-elite on-lookers of Los Angeles. 

It is important to note, that although we received invitations to Carl Andre's opening, we also received separate e-vites for shows of the other artists mentioned in this review. Well played ACE- you tricked me into believing I would be able to see more than one Andre work in one place. 

 

John Millei 

Ace Los Angeles is more than a gallery; it is a museum space. There are multiple rooms and hallways, each with small chapel-like rooms that were each filled with smaller works by John Millei. Although the paintings were efectively executed and were curated well, we could not get past how Willhelm de Kooning they were in their rendering of women. Also, my assistant felt torn between Picasso and de Kooning. There is nothing more annoying than a derivative work, especially when there is so much of it.

Carl Andre

Carl Andre's installation of Rise however, lived up to our expectations and left us wanting more. Each panel was slightly displaced from it's surrounding pieces so that a sense of disorder was injected into a piece that appears at first to be completely homogeneous in design. Gallery attendees were allowed to walk behind the wall and find that the metal continued onto the floor in large L-shapes. The pieces were tall enough so that people looking at the work from the front could not see who was behind. The work speaks to Andre's interest in utilizing materials of the common laborer and mass produced industrial objects. We were in awe.

 

Ed Moses

We did not feel the same however about the endless work of Ed Moses which seemed to be caving in on us in all directions. Although I have never understood his work, this time I felt a strong aversion to the ceaseless rendering of shapes and colors I can never separate from textile designs. Don't get me wrong; I love fabric, but everything just seemed to look so tacky after experiencing the minimalist bliss of Andre's work. The rest of the night I felt like I was running from garage sale militants because my husband commented that the work reminds him of camouflage. He hates camouflage and always has. Moses' work will never look the same to me again. Nonetheless, it would have been a shame if in the crowded hallways of Ace someone were to spill their wine on one of the works while trying to squeeze past the crowds- or would it?

 

Mary Corse

The unexpected star of the show turned out to be Mary Corse, with her white-on-white glass bead paintings. Upon entering the room, my husband warned us that he found this room to be "extremely boring". Of course that got my attention, but after years of examining images everyday I have become a true fan of white-on-white works. Maybe it is because they offer a sense of space and clarity in my visual world. Each work appeared to be identical at first look. After spending a great deal of time in front of one piece, we began to notice differences in the strokes that shone through the glass beads. The works look different from each angle and in different light. How I would love to see one of these at home, as my orange curtains cast their pinkish glow upon my room in the morning. I can really appreciate a work that tricks my eye as I pass it, or appears totally new with each hour of the day. Also, in the past I have found that the use of these glass beads on a surface of a work can make a piece appear rather tacky and cheap. Finally, an artist has employed these beads as a medium of their own, allowing light to play freely across thier surface so that the viewer is drawn in. I love art that makes me want to understand it, yet is smart enough to deceive my understanding.

The Edge of Collapse-A Photographic Opus by John Reiff Williams at Thomas Paul Fine Art

I was recently promoted to Associate Director at Thomas Paul Fine Art in Los Angeles. Here is the first press release for the   show of an emerging artist which opens next week at our gallery. 

Los Angeles, CA– February 4, 2012 thru March 17, 2012– Thomas Paul Fine Art proudly presents the photographic work of John Reiff Williams in the upcoming show: The Edge of Collapse.

The gallery will debut fifty-four photographs by Williams which challenge our understandi ng of what the photographic medium is and what it is not. Williams’ work presents us with photographic observations of humanity that covey a visceral emotional resonance to the viewer. Focusing on social settings such as La Jolla Beach or Hollywood Boulevard, and Mexico City, Williams’ work explores the shifting perspectives occurring in-between the frozen moments photography was created to capture. Through his unique use of digital exploration, mutations and interpretations, Williams reveals the motion, activity and chaos that we all experience in our ever accelerating world.

In his photographs, Williams’ is on a constant search for what he does not know, and part of his search relies on the chance discovery of a recombination of elements through continuous play. This search reveals images to us which engage our curiosity and explore realms beyond the photographic quest for perfection and specific clarity. Williams’ process relies on a dynamic sense of flux existing between the world and its inhabitants. He extracts his subjects from a society in perpetual motion but responds with a camera and point of view that is also in motion and ever-changing. This technique of employing chance draws from a palette of gesture, motion, shape and time to piece together and redefine the sculptural qualities of form and color. This approach provides his viewer with portraits and images-through-time, which act as multidimensional reveals of our everyday life.

His photographic remnants of our society become both discoveries of catastrophe and the coalescence of memory and motion. Acting as photographic combines of time, space and gesture, the work presents us with a depiction of our world that is both new in form and familiar in spirit. Each image invokes a subjective relationship between the viewer and Williams’ cues and glimpses into our societal experience. His work is not about the documentation of objects, capturing frozen moments, or bombarding his viewer with literal figurative details. Instead, Williams creates images which are evocative of questions, which reflect our collective dreams, fears and imaginations, and which allude to something inexplicable. They are explorations of a world in the midst of exploring itself—they are images of our world on the edge of collapse.

Williams studied closely under Jack Welpott and Don Worth at SF State and worked closely with Ruth Bernhard in portfolio production and as a teaching assistant to Al Weber during the early stages of his career. While on full scholarship at USC, Williams also taught photography as part of his curriculum. Williams’ work has been reproduced in various publications including Flatiron: A Photographic History of the World's First Steel Frame Skyscraper, 1901-1990.

Opening night for Edge of Collapse is Saturday February 4th 2012, 6-9pm.

Thomas Paul Fine Art is located at 7270 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036.

24,000 LED Dress! Technology meets Fashion in the Galaxy Dress

 Attention fashionistas and technological junkies; finally something that utilize the fantastic power of LED technology and the desire for women to express themselves through fashion. This dress is on permanent display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago Uses the same electricity as two household light bulbs and can run continuously for about a half hour. 

Watch a video of what this dress can do!

Shozo Shimamoto : Gutai Performance Recreated in Italy

A recreation of a Gutai performance by Shozu Shimamoto. He creates a painting by throwing bottles of paint. Gutai art from Japan was highly influenced by the works of Jackson Pollack. Paintings are considered the result or remnant of the performance that entails the artist coming into contact with the medium or materials used.

 Another member of the Gutai group was female artist Atsuko Tanaka who created and wore a dress made entirely of hand painted light bulbs. She risked electrocution every time she wore it.

Do-Ho Suh : Artist to Watch

Transportable environments made entirely of fabric! The idea of site-specific installation is really challenged here because the works of Do-Ho require us to relate to the temporary environment in a similar manner to the way we inhabit every day spaces. Do-Ho Suh is a Korean born artist. Read an interview about his House Project here. Below are some more images of his other works just to give you a taste of the talents he brings in his artistic visions.

And Some of His other work

Kinetica Art Fair 2011 : London

Check out these works and artists that fuse the difference between technology and art. Kinetica Museum hosts an exhibition space in London that features kinetic, technological, and electronic artworks. Links to artists web pages are below!

Neon Works by Diane Harris

Diane Harris 

Photo By Alex Robertson

Dianne Harris is co-founder and artistic director of Kinetica Museum.

                                Whistling Sea 2009 by Jun Ga Yung at the Kinetica Art Fair 2011

Jun Ga Young

Photo by Alex Robertson

Jun Ga Young

I take motifs and principles for my work from music. I produce visible music and audible colour by visualizing the sense of hearing and auralising the sense of sight. I combine sound with colour, creating conditions by which music and colour can communicate. The squares filling The Whistling Sea installation refer to musical measure. When the colour changes, notes can be heard, and melodies bring forth harmony when these notes link together.

Ga Young Jun, South Korea 2010

Fiber Optic Drawing By Carlo Bernardini

Progressive Code 2010

Paper is simply paper as long as it is white, but once you draw on it, it becomes ‘a drawing’. A design in light is a mental drawing that uses dark space.

Fibre optic drawings are in harmony with the place itself, the light creating an interrelation by overcoming the physical walls and transforming the environment in a deceptive way, pushing it to the limits of an illusionary dimension.

An imaginary drawing, executed with the light of optical fibre, can go beyond the walls, where the wholeness can only be reconstructed as a puzzle in the viewer’s mind. The installation takes over the space and incorporates it.

Spatial forms develop a challenging relationship within the space as the optical fibre line passes from room to room piercing the walls and the floors, combining the external environment with the internal one: ‘Permeable space’, the place where light generates space.

Carlo Bernardini, Milan 2009