One of the most important artists of our time, Louise Bourgeois (French-born American) passed away today at age 98. Her work has spoken to me in so many ways, and I’m sure many of you were touched by her art as well.  The NYTimes has this to say.

(above: Untitled from the illustrated book Ode a ma mere)

May 28 – Micmacs opens tonight in New York!  Being a fan of Mr. Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s work (I must’ve seen Amelie more than 200 times), I am looking forward to his comeback with a French comedy twist (in the style of Delicatessen, 1991). Humor along with a visual feast to the eyes, and the incredible French actor Dominique Pinon? Mr. Jeunet’s films almost always comes with an amazing collection of sound tracks as well. Can’t ask for more this weekend. Rotten Tomatoes did a recent interview with the director. See the trailer here.

I noticed this huge ad in the back of the NY Times this morning, ran by the oil giant BP in an attempt to apologize.  Apparently they are running full-page ads on the Washington Post, NY Times, the Wall Street Journal, and USA Today, aside from all the live-feeds on the internet.  It’s disheartening to see photos of the disaster and how it is affecting our environment, animals, local people, and eventually us.  I don’t think most of us even know that the British Petroleum has been feeding its superpower by drilling the deep waters so close to our coast. The rate of acceleration of the spill is 210,000 gallons per day since April 22, according to USA Today.  For those of you who haven’t seen where the flow of oil has been taking place, here’s a nicely illustrated map. A detailed timeline of events trailing back from the explosion is explained on Treehugger.

As for the spoof stand-up comedian in your face apology (below), this hardselling strategy may stereotypically work, but as a New Yorker I think it’ll take a little more intelligence to convince.

Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present is still going on face-to-face challenging herself and the audience in this intense performance.  I still have not made it to the MoMA yet, but was so inspired and touched by these beautiful portraits of individuals who were all “present” with Marina that I wanted to share some of them here with our readers.

(photos by Marco Anelli)

Here is a comment by one sitter Paco Blancas, who went back to sit for more than 10 times.

I think Marina’s piece has a very strong magnetism. It’s hard to explain but it’s almost like you feel this force, it draws you in, like a magnet. Sitting with her is a transforming experience—it’s luminous, it’s uplifting, it has many layers, but it always comes back to being present, breathing, maintaining eye contact. It’s an amazing journey to be able to experience and participate in the piece.

Also, I love meeting people in line. I’ve met a lot of people and have made a lot of new friends, many of them artists, but really all sorts of people. I keep in touch with them and we e-mail constantly to talk about our experiences. It’s like a little community of people who come to participate in the piece.

(excerpt from P.S.1/MoMA’s Inside/Out)

Sometimes Still by Darren Almond

Although some might praise photographer and filmmaker Darren Almond for withstanding the test of time during his all-night exposure shoots, the social and political barriers of obtaining rights to document rare footage in foreign countries, and the challenges of producing his works in difficult-to-reach locations, his accomplishments are still somewhat unimpressive compared to the awe-inspiring activities and rituals of his subjects. In Sometimes Still, a six-screen video installation on view at Matthew Marks, Almond’s camera follows a monk through dark mountain trails as he trains to complete the process of Kaihōgyō.

Although Kaihōgyō is a seven-year process where the monk trains to ultimately gain Buddhahood and discover a higher state of consciousness, the camera follows one of these “marathon monks” as he performs a central ritual that involves walking extraordinary distances for hundreds of days at a time. Upon entering the gallery, one must take a few moments to adjust to the overwhelming darkness of the gallery and the contrast of the five large screens. The screens are overlapping each other in such a way that all five are viewed at once, both allowing the viewer to experience the videos fully (as the screens overcome the viewer and seem to wrap around panoramically), and also distracting the viewer (as one cannot possibly watch each screen at the same time since one will always remain in the periphery). The screens are taller than the average viewer, and rest on the ground, further bringing the viewer’s body into the video. This strange effect transports the viewer into the video; one is soon on the mountain trail following the monk on his surreal quest in the moonlight.

Uneasy at first by the darkness and imposing size of the screens, one might build up the courage to venture back behind the main screens to see what else the dark gallery might hold. In the rear, another smaller screen reveals to us a black and white video of a more mature — perhaps enlightened— Buddhist monk tending to a fire in a temple. Do not be surprised if you suddenly feel more at ease in the darkness of the gallery, or perhaps more courageous than the new arrivals who are sheepishly standing near the entrance/exit of the gallery.

When I was told that Alva Noto would be performing at the Kitchen last night, I braved it to Chelsea just in time before he started his set. Carsten Nicolai a.k.a. Alva Noto is a minimalist sound artist, post-techno electronic musician. I started following his work since his early collaborations with Sakamoto Ryuichi. What I didn’t realize is that Mr. Nicolai also produces visuals. Last night’s performance was mind-blowing, literally, the heavily broken beats, blips, and prolonged static are sounds from faxes, modems and the telephone. They were in sync with the intense visuals which was manipulated real-time by Mr. Nicolai himself. There is something quite ecstatically surreal in this work in which he uses old technologies (with recordings by poet Anne-James Chaton) that throws you off the chair. It is the art of minimal simulation to the max. The show is presented by the Pace Gallery.  More photos to come.

Liquid Door, the first solo exhibition in the U. S. by artists Hilario Isola and Matteo Norzi, has many moving parts, but a permeable membrane, the liquid door is its center piece.  The liquid door refers to the fragile interface which unites man with the sea, namely, a surface between air and water, formed by the air pressure present in an underwater dome called the Starfish House as realized by Jacques Cousteau in 1965 as an experimental underwater dwelling.

Isola and Norzi pay homage to the Cousteau and six crew members known as “oceanauts” in a multi-faceted archaeological exploration of the roles of human imagination, storytelling, and fiction in creating meaning through the Liquid Door project, rooted in a 1995 cargo ship journey the artists made to Alexandria, Egypt. While the “real show” took place at a tank in the New York Aquarium, a living, albeit fabricated environment which stands for a conceptual looking glass, Art in General recently hosted an opening for an exhibition which featured Cousteau’s documentary film Le Monde Sans Soleil, coincidentally reclaimed by the Italian artists in an East Village bookstore.  The film treats audiences to scenes of domesticity which play out in the Starfish House which include the oceanauts enjoying multi-course meals and cigarette smoking.

Additionally, the exhibition included archival, C-prints from the Coney Island Aquarium with images of Norzi submerged in the aquarium outfitted with a sculpture representational of the liquid door, an acrylic aquarium, and other “relics”.  Princeton Professor D. Graham Burnett gave a talk about the historical context of exploration in the 1960’s when there was debate about whether the future of self-contained living environments would be underwater or in space.

The New York Aquarium will feature a Liquid Door Tour on May 25, 2010 for members.  Ultimately, the art project will recreate such a door on the very site where it started, aboard the ruins of the Starfish House, situated on the floor of the Red Sea.