Chris Martin, Untitled (2012), via The Journal Gallery, New York

The Journal Gallery has organized a summer group show whose impact exceeds the expectations of such a reference. Home Again, Again features nine distinctive contemporary works which, crowded together in the tiny Williamsburg space, form another, unique whole. In a lovingly critical homage to art after 1950 – from the Greenbergian picture plane to the strigency of minimalism – the works on view here are flat, angular, and imposing. Yet, their initial starkness is deliberately thwarted by their use of material and content, offering a lively contemporary perspective on the legacy of postwar American art. (more…)

Curators Jason Alexander, “That’s not actually part of the show, we just liked the way it looked.” All photos on site for Art Observed by Samuel Sveen.

The duo Jason Alexander—Jason Lee and Alexander Shulan—have set up a two-floor pop-up show in a former Chinatown sewing machine repair shop, Ten Ten, from which the show draws its name. The DIY exhibition of 17 young New York based artists includes Peter Demos, Debo Eilers, Ryan Foerster, and Ben Schumacher, as well a curator himself, Jason Lee—the self-inclusion an admitted faux pas. According to co-curator Shulan, the collection is unrestrained, loud, politically incorrect, non-AbEx (Abstract Expressionist), messy, with parts of it that “just don’t even work.” The diverse sculptures and images, a Porsche seat and chained pineapples, are set in dialogue amid wooden crates, broken sewing machines, and other remnants of the shop. The press release is a brief history of the sewing machine, providing something of a context of the space, while the curators otherwise chose to let the work speak for itself. Shulan said each of the young artists are either currently showing at galleries “or should be.” A few of the artists were also current or former assistants to more established artists; Jared Madere to Jenny Holzer, and Valerie Keane to Olaf Breuning and Ryan Sullivan.

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All photos on site for Art Observed by Caroline Claisse and Samuel Sveen

The New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) art fair explores “new or underexposed art that is not typical of the ‘art establishment.'” Posting up nearly 50 blocks north of the main fair—Art Basel Miami Beach—the satellite fair moved to its Deauville Beach Resort location in 2009 to cut costs, making it a more affordable venture for the younger galleries while remaining a non-profit organization. Since first launching in 2003, the fair has clearly demonstrated the demand for emerging artists and their work, many of the galleries consistently selling out their booths within the first few days of the fair, if not hours. And despite this year’s questionable global economic environment, the fair proved a success once again, with galleries like Lisa Cooley, Kate Werble Gallery, The Hole, The Journal Gallery, Leo Koenig Inc., and White Columns all pleased with the results, prices topping out around $50,000. Also at the fair, multimedia artist Jayson Musson A.K.A. Hennessy Youngman lectured/performed “His History of Art” Thursday evening.

Kate Werble Gallery

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February 22nd opening and installation view at The Journal Gallery. All photos by Daniel Terna of Art Observed unless otherwise noted

Immediately following his two simultaneous exhibitions at CANADA gallery and Gavin Brown Enterprise, the all-pervasive Joe Bradley crops up once again with a solo exhibition at The Journal Gallery. This exhibition of thirteen small drawings quietly accompanies his large-scale paintings on view at Gavin Brown and CANADA earlier this month, and provides a subtle glimpse at the artistic process behind Bradley’s larger work. Ranging from the purely abstract to the purely absurd, the drawings in this exhibition feature suggestive profiles, curious lines, and pseudo-juvenile pictography that is characteristic of Bradley’s oeuvre.

Joe Bradley, Untitled (2010).

More text and images after the jump…

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Artist Ida Ekblad with Michael Nevin, editor-in-chief, and Julia Dippelhofer, managing editor of the journal. Photo courtesy Kathy Lo of the journal.

ArtObserved was on hand last Wednesday, September 9, 2009 for the opening of Ida Ekblad’s ‘Salty Sap Green Black’ at The Journal Gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The exhibition features a number of sculptural works collectively titled ‘The Gold Bug Drift (NYC),’ which take their title, and process, from Edgar Allen Poe’s story ‘The Gold Bug,’ in which the main character is bitten by a gold bug and goes searching for treasure. Ekblad’s sculptures are made of “gems and treasures” she found while on “drifts” throughout New York City, which are placed in vessels of concrete as they are discovered and carried around the city until completion.

the journal/The Journal Gallery
Ida Ekblad
Europäisch-Amerikanische Freundschaft (featuring Ida Ekblad) [Gavin Brown’s enterprise]
Ida Ekblad at The Journal Gallery [Existing Visual]
Ida Ekblad Solo Exhibition [Norway]

Ida Ekblad’s ‘Salty Sap Green Black’ via the journal/The Journal Gallery

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the journal entry 27, all images courtesy the journal

Last night the journal released its ten-year anniversary issue at the Rodarte show at Gagosian Gallery. Started by Michael Nevin with some friends at art school in California as a xeroxed zine that focused on skateboarding and snowboarding, the journal has evolved into a glossy affair, counting William Eggleston and Richard Prince among its contributors. The journal is like a personal journal, with each issue carefully curated, including drawings and photographs, interviews, ramblings, and now for the first time, fashion spreads. Five years ago the journal moved with Nevin to New York, and through luck and happenstance, expanded to include a gallery, then in a building in the East Village. That space saw a number of exhibitions as well as parties to pay the rent. The Journal Gallery continues in Williamsburg, with its current exhibition featuring sculptural work by Norwegian artist Ida Ekblad.

Cover of William Eggleston’s supplement to the journal entry 27

The new issue, entry 27, is the premier of the journal‘s new design by Peter Miles. ArtObserved talked with Nevin about the evolution of the magazine and gallery, and has a preview of the issue, featuring Jonathan Meese, Walter Pfeiffer, Ida Ekblad, and a supplement by William Eggleston

the journal

Interview and images after the jump

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