by Artcards Review on December 14th, 2010
Isa Genzken's 28-foot "Rose II" on the Bowery
December is a time to get cozy with family and friends, and to give. With holiday season in the air, even workaholics need to take a break and enjoy what the city has to offer. We decided to share our wish list to help you start your holiday art hopping journey. Below are some of our quick picks, but you can see a full listing of shows and events here.
by Helen Homan Wu on December 13th, 2010
Jerry Saltz and David Maupin
The Foundation of Contemporary Arts benefit show that just opened last week is phenomenal. Not only for the fact that there are nearly 200 pieces of artwork, but also for the rare occurrence that superstars like Damien Hirst are housed in the same gallery as young bloomers like Sarah Crowner and Justin Adian. With the funding that is raised from sales of the pieces, paintings and sculptures donated by the artists, the foundation continues to support individual artists, groups, and organizations. Mr. Jasper Johns (being one of the organizers) hung the artworks himself, allowing us to see the significance of the curator’s eye, in the otherwise overwhelming amount of art.
by Amanda Schmitt on December 13th, 2010
Pam Lins, installation 2010
If you’ve been on an LES art crawl in the past few years, chances are you’ve been down Orchard Street. Galleries on this stretch include On Stellar Rays, Miguel Abreu, and Lisa Cooley, as well as recent neighbors like Untitled, who relocated from around the corner. It’s no secret that the LES gallery scene has been growing exponentially in the past five years. In fact, the neighborhood has produced a number of groundbreaking, must-see shows featuring emerging and established artists alike.
Rachel Uffner Gallery has been a mainstay at 47 Orchard Street since 2008, after taking over the space formerly occupied by cooperative gallery Orchard. I appreciate the gallery’s curatorial program and am enthused by the range of artists and media represented. Opening with a solo exhibition by painter Roger White on September 20, 2008, Rachel Uffner Gallery celebrates a second solo exhibition by the same artist, on view through December 19, 2010.
Roger White, installation view
by Artcards Review on December 12th, 2010
photo: KW Institute for Contemporary Art
(Berlin) The exhibition series KW69—situated in the front building KW Institute for Contemporary Art—provides a space for dialogue for artists, a kind of experimental stage that for one year will be the home to a number of artistic projects in quick succession. Moving on from one project to the next, the participants will shift roles, as the artists exhibiting then invite the next project. This dynamic interplay will enable unconventional points of reference, continuous shifts in perspective, and uses of the exhibition space that refer to and build on one another.
KW69 #2
cactus craze by Jean-Michel Wicker in collaboration with Gregorio Magnani
12.09,2010 – 01.09,2011
Artist: Judith Hopf
With works by: Emanuel Rossetti, Simon Popper, Sara MacKillop, Janice Kerbel, Karl Holmqvist / Ei Arakawa
by Artcards Review on December 9th, 2010
image courtesy of Blackston
(from the Press Release)
Blackston is pleased to present Music in CMYK, an exhibition of posters by Mark Ohe. An opening reception for the exhibition will be held on Saturday, December 11th, 2010, from 6 to 9 p.m. The show will run through January 7th, 2011.
by Gabriella Radujko on December 9th, 2010
Take a leap, 2009. Photo by David Allison © 2010 Sheila Makhijani
Agnes Berecz’s December 2, 2010 lecture/slideshow On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century, coinciding with the MOMA exhibition through February 7, 2011 and part of the Brown Bag Lunch Series gave maximum attention to the most minimal unit of drawing—the line. On Line, explores the radical transformation of the medium of drawing.”
by Cielo Lutino on December 7th, 2010
Priscilla (from the series The Last Days of W). Courtesy of the artist.
In 2004, visitors to the Whitney were greeted by “Charles,” a large-scale color photograph of a bespectacled man in coveralls standing in the wintry outside beside a house. In each of his gloved hands, he held miniature biplanes, and he did not smile. The image introduced museum-goers to that year’s biennial, but it also heralded the arrival of photographer Alec Soth (pronounced “Sōth”) to a larger public.
The art world welcomed him enthusiastically, heaping praise upon Sleeping by the Mississippi (Steidl, 2004) from which “Charles” was pulled. The book featured 46 photographs taken during a series of road trips along the Mississippi River and which were notable for their sumptuous detail and elegiac documentation of an iconic American byway. Niagra (Steidl, 2006); Dog Days, Bogota; and Paris/Minnesota followed soon after and, in the jittery election year of 2008, The Last Days of W, which Soth, tongue firmly in cheek, labeled his “Big Political Commentary.”
The young talent doesn’t restrict his work to photography books alone, however. He also shoots for the prestigious agency Magnum Photos, traditionally a photojournalist cooperative, and oversees Little Brown Mushroom (LBM), a blog and small press. (The modest initiative was represented at the New York Art Book Fair at PS1 in November.) Today Soth produces the Continental Picture Show series for the New York Times and is promoting Broken Manual, a collaboration with Lester Morrison that explores the places to which monks, survivalists, and the like retreat. The first U.S. survey of his work is also being shown at the Walker Art Center through January 2, 2011, and on Wednesday, December 8, he travels to New York to speak at FIT. New Yorkers can also catch Soth at The Strand on Thursday, December 9, when he’ll be signing books.
The man is busy, but he graciously took the time to talk to me last month over the phone. I was nervous beforehand, but he’s easy to talk to and we had a good time. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.
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