(courtesy: Park Avenue Armory)

Christian Boltanski’s No Man’s Land is a mixed bag. Something more could have been said and accomplished given the space and resources allotted, albeit there are some powerful moments.

Walking into the armory is always a welcome visceral charge. This feeling carried over as I approached Boltanski’s wall of rusted biscuit tins. If you are familiar with his work, you know life and death is his motif. I was prepared for heavy-handed death metaphors, yet succumbed to this first sculpture and let go of my pre-conceived baggage. The placement in this engulfing hall was superb. Through repetition, scale, and the aesthetics of rust, Boltankski delivers this “best in show.”

As you pick which side of the tins to walk around, you enter the remainder of the 55,000 square-foot Drill Hall. Thousands of pieces of used clothing are orderly placed on the ground in numerous square formations. This is where the art goes flat. Rather than lost souls the artist is attempting to reference, it feels more like an outdated thrift store. The systematic placement of the clothes stole any organic relationship to the human body. These clothes do not act as substitutes for people and feel like they never had anyone present. Nobody died; they simply traded in their harvest gold and avocado green wardrobe at Beacon’s Closet and went to American Apparel.

The epicenter of this installation is the 5-story crane going up and down over a 40-foot high mountain of clothes. The operator from the construction claw company estimates he hoists and drops clumps of clothes 800 – 900 times a day. This is a beautiful meditation on life. Boltanski compares the claw to “chance” or life “as a game of dice.” While it seems more poetic than direct like the artist claims, the fluttering of clothes is hypnotic.

Another element, not hypnotic enough is the individual heartbeats playing through speakers throughout the floor. This should have been amped up a few notches. Although Christian Boltanski is more interested in genocide than vibrant colors and childish joy. It’s hard not to think of recent clothing sculptures by Guerra de la Paz or the claw arcade game while in No Man’s Land. You have until Sunday to see for yourself.

No Man’s Land is on view at Park Avenue Armory until June 13, 2010.

At first, I wasn’t sure why I thought of the nineteenth century painter Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema as I viewed the opening reception of Philippe Vasseur at Axelle Galerie in Chelsea. For both in terms of style and content the artists differ enormously. Alma-Tadema, of course, depicted with mythical clarity and discipline, scenes of grandeur and repose of the classical Roman Empire. Philippe Vasseur, on the other hand, with impressionistic freedom, displays humble views of a more everyday world.

But both, it seems, follow one rule with their painting: they succeed in creating sublime grace with scenes that are not dominated by natural landscapes. Instead, their works focus on settings created or woven with the lives of humans and portray a potential for beauty.

That beauty is not without its eeriness. Just as darkness lurks behind the stories in Alma-Tadema’s paintings (i.e., who could forget, those lovely roses petals in the Roses of Heliogabalus actually smother people), a certain melancholy haunts Vasseur’s works. Cafe bleu – which is nothing short of mesmerizing in both its depth, glow, and color – depicts a loneliness as all the patrons in the room sit alone at their tables. One hopes that they are able to appreciate the peace that exists in that moment of time.

Vasseur’s melancholy is one we can live with. Indeed, it makes his flashes of experience and light in life (often that come combined with the most unassuming seconds) so much more appreciated.

Vasseur is, fortunately, not alone in his successful style of merging impressionism with a strong awareness of physiological depth. Axelle Fine Arts Gallerie hosts other such fine artists. Also, recently, I reviewed a work by the elusive Jerilyn Jurinek who displayed similar skill. These artists and their galleries should be commended for their vision of art that respects classical traditions, while at the same time enables the development of work that is wondrous and new.

And Philippe Vasseur succeeds marvelously at creating awe in this show. His work is grand in that it evokes in awareness that life can be so extraordinary beautiful, yet at the same time these moments are not of a past time or society that we cannot attain. Though they are mythical, they are real: two men in silence in a room at sunset (Sans titre); an old weathered boat on a grey beach (Epave); a man sitting on the ground near a hound dog (Sur le trottoir). These are not the false legends which Alma-Tadema teased us with, but scenes of life that we live. And – though they may be without opulence – these “ordinary” times of our lives are filled with sensational beauty. We just have to make a choice in opening our awareness. And Vasseur inspires us to awaken our souls to the delicacies of our simple human world.

Philippe Vasseur is on view from June 3 – July 3, 2010 at Axelle Fine Arts

Elephant by Chris Barreto, 2010 (7:30pm auctioned at $35)

Untitled (Water Towers) by Harry Gold, 2010 (7:30pm average bid $150 each)

It’s Thursday. And people are swarming to gallery openings everywhere here in Manhattan.  There seems to be an early summer fiesta happening in the art world this weekend. Normally I would’ve done my Chelsea to Lower East Side gallery hopping routine, but tonight I skipped both entirely and went into Dumbo, Brooklyn instead. It’s the 1st Thursday of June, which kicks off the Dumbo Gallery Walk event of the month.  It’s a little haven for the young and emerging, but nonetheless there is a small auction scene happening underground at Rabbit Hole Gallery. I really enjoyed the works, which was installed in non-traditional ways, and mostly in small scale (see above), with an all encompassing silent auction going on. Which means the bidder marks his or her bid on a hanging piece of note-paper taped alongside the artwork. It’s fun and engaging; brilliant! This also gives average folks a chance to collect original works of art.

Two other shows worth noting are the Syracuse University MFA exhibition housed in DAC (Dumbo Arts Center, above) and Cinema 16 hosted by Smack Mellon.

The streets in Dumbo tonight were a mixture of amiable visitors from out of town, local artists, art school graduates, professionals, yuppies, and of course the indie crowd. Not that I want to categorize, but just to give you an idea of the scene, which wasn’t rowdy and hyper as in Chelsea openings, but laid-back and mellow.  By closing time and as darkness fell most people either meandered into nearby bars and restaurants or went to sit by the water.

Dumbo Gallery Walk will be happening every first Thursday of the month throughout the Summer. So get out there and experience the Brooklyn alternative arts culture!

July 12, 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau  inaugurates “The Census Project,” organized by the General Services Administration’s Art in Architecture Program, which commissions public art projects in new federal buildings.

Spanning over 7 acres across the Census Bureau Headquarters in Suitland, Maryland, the project appears to be best seen from an aerial view.

Artist Anita Glesta has done a fine job with the project; however, it’s hard not to imagine what other artists would have done:  Mel Bochner, Sol Lewitt, Loren Madsen, Keith Tyson…

On a side note, the Census Bureau employed many artists for the actual door-knocking and collection of data in NYC, so hats off to the organization for their direct and indirect support of the art community.

(The Census Project can be seen by appointment only. Contact Christine Ewing, NCR Regional Fine Arts Officer, GSA Art in Architecture Program christine.ewing*at*gsa.gov.)

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.