Eddie Martinez, Untitled (2013), via Art Observed

Based in Williamsburg, The Journal has carved out a unique path for itself in the contemporary discourse, representing a group of young artists that share a particular interest in the capacity for intersections of painting, printmaking, and conceptual practice.  Sharing techniques rooted in repetition, abstracted figuration, humor, and an occasionally visceral approach to the painterly mark, the artists embraced by The Journal have come to represent a markedly cohesive school of practice in New York over the past years. (more…)

Francesco Vezzoli’s planned installation of an Italian church in the courtyard of MoMA PS1 in New York has been cancelled after Italian authorities intervened to block the artist’s export of the ruins.  Vezzoli is now under criminal investigation for the deconstruction of the church, despite the prior blessing of the Mayor of Montegiordano, where the church was located.  Vezzoli is searching for a new way to show his work at MoMA, but has yet to fully commit to a new plan.  “It’s like love — if this church turns you down, you can’t fall in love again right away,” he said. “My Juliet is being kept captive.” (more…)

Robert Indiana, Red Gold Alphabet, (2011), via Woodward Gallery

On view at Woodward Gallery in New York is American pop artist Robert Indiana’s most recent series on paper and canvas entitled “A – Z,” serving as a fitting accompaniment to the artist’s current show at The Whitney Museum.  Born Robert Clark in New Castle, Indiana in 1928, Robert Indiana is best known for his iconic LOVE series. He has also created similar works in the same style with short words such as EAT, HUG, and more recently, HOPE, from which all proceeds were donated to Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008. (more…)

Luigi Ghirri, Bastia (1976), via Matthew Marks Gallery

In 1978, photographer Luigi Ghirri first published his manifesto on avant-garde photography, Kodachrome.  Locating the image as both a problem and solution in the increasingly complex interrelations of image, identity and object created through a technologically advancing world, the book sought to use the camera as it was, a machine for generating reproductions, to, in his words “be able finally to distinguish the precise identity of man, things, life, from the image of man, things, and life.” Recognizing the artist’s immense contributions to both photography and conceptual thought, Matthew Marks Gallery is currently hosting a show of 25 of Ghirri’s photographs in New York City, taken from the artist’s landmark book.

Luigi Ghirri, Urbino (1975), via Matthew Marks Gallery

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