Nam June Paik, Reclining Buddha (1994), via Art Observed

Nam June Paik’s ongoing retrospective, Becoming Robot at the Asia Society is considerably minimal in execution.  The exhibition takes up only a few small rooms in the uptown museum, including a full room dedicated to his (color feedback work) and another dedicated to his continued collaborations with cellist Charlotte Moorman.  But the selection of works on view make up for their spare arrangement with their depth and multi-textual possibilities, not to mention their strong correlations to the tech-centered art of the present day. (more…)

Artist Marina Abramovic will be the subject of a 3-D portrait by artist Matthu Placek, set to be unveiled next month at the Art Basel Miami Beach fair.  Featuring Abramovic, standing in the center of her currently under-construction arts center in the Hudson, the work will screen at the”Jewel Box” pavilion in Wynwood, and will screen for free, every fifteen minutes from 6PM to late in the evening.  “I originally wanted it to be from dusk until dawn,” Placek says, “but we’ll probably have to shut it down a little earlier — maybe 3am.” (more…)

Jeppe Hein, 360Ëš Illusion III (2007), via Sophie Kitching for Art Observed

Currently on view at Saint Agnes in Berlin, Gallery Johann König presents YOU, a striking selection of new works by Danish-born, Berlin-based artist Jeppe Hein, continuing the artist’s unique exploration into the phenomena of the human visual system, and its role in defining a body in space.

Jeppe Hein, YOU (Installation View), via Sophie Kitching for Art Observed

Concerning himself with the perceptual investigations of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Hein’s work is an investigation into the act of “embodied experience,” expressed not merely through a series of trompe l’oeil  trickeries, but rather in complex optical illusions that force the viewer into a visual and physical relationship with space itself.  Best expressed through his enormous mirrored projects, the body is as much a part of the work as the eye, using its physical presence and the perceptual inputs tied to the brain as a way to subvert an easily codified version of reality.

Jeppe Hein, 360Ëš Illusion III (2007), via Sophie Kitching for Art Observed

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Paul McCarthy, WS (2013), via Park Avenue Armory

There’s a lot that can be said about Paul McCarthy’s WS installation, which opened this week at the Park Avenue Armory in upper Manhattan.  One could note the full spectrum of sexual atrocities committed on-screen during his numerous filmic works, or the bizarre references to Walt Disney and his fantastic empire of entertainment, or even to the prosthetic noses he seems to put on all his characters of late.  No matter the line of discussion, McCarthy’s show, presented by curator Hans Ulrich Obrist and Armory artistic director Alex Poots, is a dizzying and difficult immersion into McCarthy’s powerful body of work.

Paul McCarthy, WS (2013), via Park Avenue Armory”

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A scheduled Kanye West video projection at Houston’s Rothko Chapel was shut down last week by police, closing down the event before it started.  Another screening was also closed down by police after technical difficulties later that night.  The video projections, done by West for his new single “New Slaves,” is part of a worldwide series of projections to promote his new album, Yeezus. (more…)

Anthony McCall, Face to Face (2013), via Sean Kelly Gallery

Anthony McCall’s body of work is punctuated by decades of silence.  Withdrawing from the art world in the late 1970’s after a number of promising exhibitions and installations around the globe, the artist completely ceased his artistic production until 2003, when he began experimenting with digital film projectors.  10 years later, the artist is presenting Face to Face at Sean Kelly Gallery, showing two works from the opposite ends of the artist’s career.

Anthony McCall, Face to Face (2013), via Sean Kelly Gallery

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Daniel Buren, “Electricity” at Petzel Gallery (Installation View) Photo by Elene Damenia

This January, Daniel Buren presents his third solo exhibition across two New York gallery venues; his work will be showcased at the Bortolami Gallery at 520 West Street and Petzel Gallery at 537 West 22^nd Street. The galleries will simultaneously exhibit works from the series Electricity, Paper, Vinyl – WORKS IN SITU & SITUATED WORKS. Bortolami is showing Buren’s recent works from 2012, while pieces from 1968 – 2012 will be on view at Petzel through February 16th.

Daniel Buren, Projection, travail in situ (2012) at Petzel Gallery, Photo by Elene Damenia

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