Jean Arp used seashells and blood; Jean Dubuffet, butterfly wings and glue; Bruce Conner, nylon hosiery and nails.  Joseph Montgomery uses nonesuch provocative materials in his assemblages, part of the show Velveteen, now on view at Laurel Gitlen, the polished, new gallery on the Lower East Side.  Instead, he uses what one would find in the garage of the average do-it-yourselfer–canvas, clay, lacquer, oil, sheet metal, and plastic—weaving, painting and affixing them on panels averaging 12.5”x 10.5” x 3” deep. Less noteworthy than the use of found, masculine materials, is the skill with which the artist successfully unifies disparate textures using high value colors.  His work solicits a calm and restrained response uncharacteristic of a medium which has been disturbing audiences for a century since the advent of the first modern collage by Picasso in 1912 and “God”, the first modern assemblage by Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven in 1918—a work which featured plumbing fittings. Continue Reading More »

Perspectives 2012, opening on January 20 at the International Center of Photography (NY), is the second installment of an exhibition series that focuses on innovative artists working in photography and video. These small group exhibitions highlight the individual ideas and achievements of an engaging and eclectic group of talented artists. The aim of the series is to stimulate conversations about contemporary art and to showcase outstanding artworks that might not otherwise come to wide attention.

Perspectives 2012 includes works by three artists—Chien-Chi Chang, Greg Girard, and Anna Shteynshleyger —who explore what happens when tight-knit cultural communities are transplanted to unfamiliar geographic locales. Each artist is represented by a group of prints selected from a much larger body of work. Continue Reading More »

Last winter I stood on a cold subway platform and told Y about my new crush: David van der Leer. “Who is he?” she asked, distracted. She was peering down the dark tunnel, hoping to see train lights headed our way. It was one of those very snowy late nights in New York, and we had fallen victim to the slow timetable of weekend trains. I don’t know, I said. Some curator at the Guggenheim. Y turned her gaze on me. “You don’t even know who this dude is?” she asked. I shrugged and told her I liked what he’d been curating. She shook her head. Who falls for someone’s curation? Continue Reading More »

Whereas Man Ray and László Moholy-Nagy famously eliminated the camera altogether to make photograms by capturing light directly, Brad Farwell retains the camera, but not the lens for his ongoing series Die Transfer Process. The artist was one of twenty artists-in-residence showing at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Final Open Studios in Building 110 on Governors Island on December 9, 2011. The wall installation features about a dozen unique, 35mm transparencies shown with Polaroid slide mounts, atop custom light boxes staggered on a white wall covering approximately 6’ x 8’. White extension cords were in plain sight. Farwell gives viewers the physical object, but the images are not much more than the color field. Irresolvable in their lack of focus and reminiscent of the painterly effects associated with Helen Frankenthaler, the artist offers, “what is being photographed is not the subject of photography”. Continue Reading More »

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In the 1970’s, a typical suburban youth wouldn’t conceive of declaring a new art movement. A more natural mode of rebellion would be to start a band. At Prism Gallery in West Hollywood, Mike Kelley curates the first retrospective of work by the original artists in Destroy All Monsters. “Return of The Repressed: Destroy All Monsters, 1973-1977,” presents Mike Kelley, Cary Loren, Niagara and Jim Shaw as members of an experimental band and art collective. This expansive exhibition highlights a rich archive of prints, drawing and photography, including several mural-sized paintings, which commemorate influential figures in their collaborations. Continue Reading More »

Images from Basel, Scope, Nada, Seven, Fountain, RiffRaff, Rubell Collection, de la Cruz Collection, Locust Projects, Primary Projects, Spinello Projects, Salem at the Delano, and one director getting her gallery ink. Click images to enlarge.

Artcards London Presents is an evening of performances, video and music by London based artists, curators, writers and performers. The event will showcase a presentation by Incognitum Hactenus and will be documented through a live broadcast that will be streaming on This Is Tomorrow’s website.

Event date: Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Location: Netil House, 1 Westgate Street, London E8 3RL
Time: 7:00pm – midnight
Organizers:
Sonel Breslav, Editor, Artcards London
Tom Trevatt, Editor, Incognitum Hactenus
Admission: BYOB, £2 suggested donation

The programme includes:
INCOGNITUM HACTENUS presents:
Lions
Simon Clark
Gandt
a/tt(a)c
and a screening of Re-Animator, 1985, dir. Stuart Gordon – based on a ‘Herbert West, Re-Animator’ a short story by H.P. Lovecraft

Incognitum Hactenus is a new quarterly journal featuring writing on art, horror, and philosophy. Conceived as an ongoing investigation into each sphere and its crossovers, the journal publishes new work by leading international scholars, artists, filmmakers, curators, musicians, and designers. With a focused interest in that which finds an affiliation with horrific contemporaneity and the exposure to radical thought, Incognitum Hactenum reveals the twisting of contingency (that which comes from outside) as it produces new monstrosities. We aim to tear asunder the fleshy belly of the established and expected. Editors: Caryn Coleman and Tom Trevatt.

THIS IS TOMORROW
Online Magazine and comprehensive archive of contemporary art based in London. International contributors review exhibitions in London, New York, Venice, Berlin, Paris, LA, and Vienna.

LIME HEADED DOG

ALASDAIR DUNCAN

LAURIE INNES
Spoken/sung monologue from his work in progress; ‘Alan Turing Did Not Die In Vain