Sol LeWitt, Wall Drawing #1271 Scribbles 12 (2007), all photos via Quincy Childs for Art Observed

The Drawing Center in New York is currently presenting selections from the collection of Sol LeWitt, offering a glimpse into the creative inspirations of one of the Post-War era’s central figures.  Showcasing an array of memorabilia and art including Japanese woodblock prints, hand-colored tourist photographs, and letters from his contemporaries, the show traces a lifetime of intellectual exchange and exploration by the pioneer of minimalist and conceptual practice. (more…)

Alighiero Boetti, Oggi Ventiduesimo giorno dell’ottavo mese dell’anno millenovecentootantotto (1988), via Art Observed

There’s a tangible spirit of enthusiasm in the opening exhibition for Totah Gallery in the Lower East Side, a dual exhibition exploring the work of Alighiero Boetti and Mel Bochner in concert.  The pairing, at face value, seems obvious; a pair of artist’s whose roughshod textual inversions made established their roles in the language and semiotic turns in art during the 1970’s.  Yet proprietor and principle curator David Totah’s investment in the broader material aspects of both artist’s careers unfolds here into a nuanced exhibition that rewards deeper readings and lingering views on each composition.  It’s a point of focus that he will continue at the space, driving research-heavy installs that blend history with personal encounter, always emphasizing exchanges between the artists and his own relationships with them.

Mel Bocher and Alighiero Boetti, Verba Volant Scripta Manent (Installation View), via Art Observed (more…)

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Bruce Nauman, Self Portrait as a Fountain (Eleven Color Photographs) Courtesy of Whitney Museum

Investigating photography in the Whitney’s collection, Photoconceptualism 1966-1973 is the last in a three-part series of installments. The recognition of the mediums of video and photography as fit for Conceptual artwork was at its height in the 60s and 70s. Works are being shown on the mezzanine level of the Whitney Museum in a small one room gallery. Some of the artists presented are Adrian Piper, Bruce Nauman, Ed Ruscha, Gordon Matta-Clark, Mel Bochner and Michael Heizer. The show will be over September 20, 2009

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Edward Ruscha, Universal Studios, Universal City (Thirtyfour Parking Lots in Los Angeles) courtesy of Whitney Museum of American Art

Related Links:
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Photoconceptualism 1966-1973 [Whitney Museum]
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Photoconceptualism 1966-1973 [DLK Collection]
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Now at the Whitney: Photoconceptualism, 1966-1973 [Fanzine]

More text and pictures after the jump… (more…)

Dan Graham, Girls Make-up room, 1998-2000. Via Whitney Museum of American Art

Dan Graham’s first U.S. retrospective is currently on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art. The artist’s work has been highly influential since the 1960’s.  He has close personal and professional ties with Sol LeWitt, Dan Flavin and Mel Bochner and as of yet his work has been seldom collected or recognized in the U.S. The show features a comprehensive sampling of his body of work in media including installation, text pieces, performance and site specific sculpture. At the core of his work, Graham is investigating public and private cultural systems and the extent to which his playful, often comic, interference can alter the way individuals relate to their surroundings, themselves and others.

Dan Graham: Beyond [Whitney Museum of American Art]
Dan Graham: Be My Mirror [Art in America]
Retrospective of Pioneering Artist Dan Graham Opens at Whitney Museum [ArtDaily]
Dan Graham: Artist’s Talk 2007 [Tate Modern]
Interview with Dan Graham [Museo Magazine]
Dan Graham: A Round Peg [NY Times]
Dan Graham – Whitney Museum of American Art [ArtForum]

Dan Graham, Figurative,1965; published March 1968 in Harper’s Bazaar. Via Whitney Museum of American Art

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