Brandon Lattu’s installations do not give obvious answers. They rather make a statement through more ambiguous gestures, at least on first impressions. Based in Los Angeles, Lattu is an artist with multiple practices including a sculpture that was created from time-based photographic operations, which resulted in an abstraction of physical form. Lattu’s perspective allows us to investigate and pry into our surroundings and current events and is provocative yet slightly understated. I recently saw his solo exhibition “Reciprocity of Light” at Leo Koenig, and was especially drawn to the minimal aesthetics of the “Random Compositions“. After our brief chat over the telephone and the following answers, I got a better perception of the artist’s theoretical practice. I highly recommend experiencing the unique installation Reciprocity of Light while it is still up.
Last week the Park Avenue Armory was buzzing with activity. A fantastical building, it was made even more enticing by the IFPDA Print Fair. In its 20th year, this fair has become the primary destination for all lovers of prints. The selection of dealers, and represented artists was varied. Among the international galleries were New York powerhouses Pace, Marlborough, and the ubiquitous Jim Kempner who was proudly touting his recent web series The Madness of Art. There was an abundance of high quality portfolios from international superstars like Chuck Close, Wayne Thiebau and Richard Serra. While the fair was full of incredibly beautiful art I would be lying if I said the air didn’t feel a little stuffy. This only served to heighten the impact of those booths dedicated to work by contemporary artists. About halfway through my visit to the fair I stumbled into the booth of San Francisco based Arion Press. This was my first introduction to the print/publishing house. Arion’s mission is to combine the work of contemporary artists with classic works of literature. The resulting collaborations are often spellbinding. Arion will soon publish Jim Thompson’s South of Heaven in collaboration with Raymond Pettibon. For the project Pettibon provided 40 illustrations in his signature style. It is encouraging to see a print house collaborating directly with an artist, in order to create a new, vital body of work. I am already looking forward to Arion’s next collaboration with Julie Mehretu who will provide a series of illustrations for a new translation of Sapho.
Andrea BowersEducate, Agitate, Organize, 2010 Gallery Andrew Kreps, New York Courtesy MCH Swiss Exhibition (Basel) Ltd.
The buzz is in. We have all been working up to this for months. Art Basel Miami, in its ninth edition annually draws in artists, gallerists, collectors, and other cultural figures of the ever-changing art world. The Artcards team is heading down to cover this exciting event for our readers, so keep checking back for updates. We have a booth in NADA, details to come soon. So far we have compiled 19 fairs, with countless art events flooding in. To make it easier for you to navigate through all the art happenings, create your personalized map on Artcards Miami and just email it to yourself. In the meantime, Morgan already created a quick art fairs google map.
Ryan Frank’s work borrows from objects that we normally take for granted. Mailboxes, wooden fences, cinder blocks, shipping pallets, and, this one is my favorite, industrial PVC strip curtains. If you have seen Ryan’s photo curtains, you would probably never look at these industrial plastic strips the same way again. Last month, I was invited to do studio visits at the Wassaic Project, and although I completely missed my last appointment, which was Ryan’s, his work definitely caught my attention. At the recent opening of “What is the Where” a group exhibition at the Invisible Dog, I had a chat with the artist standing next to his latest pieces – stage-like mailboxes and a door. Continue Reading More »
Using scent as an inspiration for making a film is not something you would normally hear. Commissioned by Six Scents, a group of filmmakers and artists collaborated with the perfumers Givaudan to create short films based on their childhood memories involving their sense of smell. I had a brief chat with Kaya Sorhaindo, one of the founders of Six Scents, during the Series Three launch party, where he expressed a profound interest in “figuring out new ways for people to engage with fragrance on a more personal level.” Film is definitely a very personal experience, but even more interesting are the bundling of an eclectic group of creatives including designers, perfumers, taste-makers, and artists (Robert Knoke, whom we featured previously, did the packaging art). The selected filmmakers for series three are Alia Raza, Lucas Michael, Olaf Breuning, Sue de Beer, Rainer Judd, Tim Richardson, Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard, Heather Sommerfield, and James Widegren.
Upon entering the MoMA’s Abstract Expressionist New York I immediately felt at home. As cliché as it may sound, MoMA’s most recent exhibition, which takes up the entirety of the fourth floor painting and sculpture galleries, is full of old friends. The show combines hundreds of paintings, sculptures and works on paper from the permanent collection, in an exhaustive effort to showcase New York postwar painting. Many of the paintings in the exhibition are gems usually on permanent display. Re-configured into a new narrative structure, the exhibition has shined new light on old favorites. Barnett Newman’s The Wild, Jackson Pollock’s Echo: Number 25, 1951 and Franz Kline’s Chief are among the most iconic of these examples. Continue Reading More »
Artists and fashion designers collaborated last month to create a remix of pre-Halloween fun at PS1 MoMA. A nice and unexpected mix of crowds showed up, especially for the free hair, make-up, and clothes sponsored by a whole chain of brands. My favorite show was the Olaf Breuning X Cynthia Rowley collab. It’s nice to see the entire creative process as the stream of audience moves along. From outfit selection and being dumped with a bucket of paint by Olaf, to being photographed and displayed instantaneously on the walls, to finally reaching the hallway where the painted collection is displayed neatly in a row. Continue Reading More »
RSS
