Bill Viola, The Quintet of the Unseen, 2000 (production still) All photos: Kira Perov courtesy of Blain Southern

Currently on view in London is Bill Viola’s evocative installation, Quintet of the Unseen.  As a founding practitioner in the field of New Media, Bill Viola is perhaps most famous for his large scale, multi-projection installations.  The artist interests himself primarily with fundamental notions of lived human experience, often with the inclusion of religious subtexts and references to art history.  Death, birth, rebirth, purification, and penitence are common themes.

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For art purists, Terence Koh’s Big White Cock neon sculpture can be scooped up at the Saatchi Gallery.  For the rest of us, Exhibition A’s Monochrome Set at the Ace Hotel on Tuesday night provided an egalitarian entry into the contemporary art world.  Selected prints from prized contemporary artists including Koh, Hanna Liden, Nate Lowman, Josephine Meckseper, Aleksandra Mir, Olympia Scarry, Peter Sutherland, Leo Fitzpatrick, and Purple Magazine Editor in Chief Olivier Zahm were made available.

Art Dubai 2011 – All photos by Art Observed unless otherwise noted

His Highness Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai officially opened Art Dubai for its fifth edition.  The region’s best attended art fair, this year’s Art Dubai features a total of 81 galleries from 34 countries in the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and the United States, making it one of the most diverse and strongest programs to date.  The fair witnessed a robust interest before its official opening to the public today after esteemed guests, royal patrons and international and regional art professionals attended the Jumeirah Patron’s Preview on Tuesday. The fair emphasizes Middle Eastern Art during a time of political upheaval in the region.

Landscape (2009) by Subodh Gupta

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Marc Chagall, “To My Betrothed” (1913), at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. All pictures by Art Observed.

Art Observed was at PMA’s newest show, a celebration of Marc Chagall and his Paris contemporaries. The show encompasses 70 works in various media, including paint, sculpture, and paper, by the emigré artists of Paris.  Here are masterpieces by Modigliani, Kisling, Lipchitz, and Soutine, all set against and borne of La Ruche, a jumble of art studios in this early 20th-century community. As he did with the museum’s gorgeous Picasso show last year, PMA curator Michael Taylor recreates an artists’ colony, a whiff of nostalgia threaded throughout its galleries.

Detail, Marc Chagall’s “Paris through the Window” (1913) at Philadelphia Museum of Art.

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Tom Otterness, Bear on Moneybag (2009). All images via Marlborough Gallery

If you feel a pang of loss every time you exit the 14th Street/8th Avenue subway stop for having left behind the trove of Tom Otterness‘ deceptively adorable bronzes installed throughout the station, then you should head to Marlborough Gallery for a display of about two dozen of the artist’s sculptures in an exhibition titled Animal Spirits. The exhibit features work that draws upon the same ideas that have inspired Otterness’ entire oeurve, namely money, class, and the struggle between the have and have-nots.

Tom Otterness, Cash Cow (2010)

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Bruce Nauman, Parallax Shell (1971-2000).

Currently on view at the Lehmann Maupin Gallery is The Parallax View, an exhibition curated by Manuel E. Gonzalez exploring the nature of conflict in the works by acclaimed artists Teresita Fernández, Dan Flavin, Gego, Mary Heilmann, Eva Hesse, Robert Irwin, Agnes Martin, Robert Morris, Bruce Nauman, and Robert Smithson. Centered around the notion of “parallax,” which is defined as “the apparent displacement of an observed object due to a change in the position of the observer,” the exhibition examines how each artist confronts notions of space, light, and observation in their work. Works by such stylistically disparate artists spanning the course of post-war 20th century confront each other through various shapes and forms resulting in an expression of conflict and disharmony.

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Jeff Koons, Ushering in Banality, 1988. Polychromed wood. All photos by Christian Saltas, unless otherwise noted.

The Foundation of Arts for a Contemporary Europe (FACE) is a collaboration between five non-profit art foundations: the Deste Foundation in Athens, Greece; the Ellipse Foundation in Cascais, Portugal; the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin, Italy; La Maison Rouge in Paris, France; and Magasin 3 Konsthall in Stockholm, Sweden. Established in 2008, the FACE alliance is dedicated to the promotion of emerging international artists by supporting the production and exhibition of new works. Their first initiative takes the form of a traveling exhibition entitled “Investigations of a Dog.”

Bruce Nauman, Untitled (Suspended Chair, Vertical III), 1987.

The exhibition draws its title from a 1922 short story by Franz Kafka, and the selection of works take up the existentialist themes present in Kafka’s work: disillusionment, humanity, and marginalization. Among participating artists are: Maurizio Cattelan, Roberto Cuoghi, Mark Dion, Gardar Eide Einarsson, Urs Fischer, Fischli & Weiss, Claire Fontaine, David Hammons, Thomas Hirschhorn, William Kentridge, Kimsooja, Jeff Koons, Sherrie Levine, Mark Manders, Paul McCarthy, Bruce Nauman, Martin Parr, Aurel Schmidt, Santiago Sierra, Lorna Simpson, and Kara Walker.

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Circle of Animals/ Zodiac Heads by Ai Weiwei at the Sao Paulo Biennale, via Artdaily

One of China’s most controversial and celebrated artists, Ai Weiwei will exhibit Circle of Animals/ Zodiac Heads, his first major public art installation in Central Park from May 2nd- July 15th confirmed Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg yesterday.  The sculptural works are comprised of 12 monumental bronze animal heads inspired by the fountain clock at the 18th century Chinese imperial retreat of Yuanming Yuan just outside of Beijing. The heads will be placed at the historic Pulitzer Fountain in Grand Army Plaza in front of the Plaza Hotel on 59th Street and 5th Avenue.

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Martin Kippenberger, Eifrau die man nicht schubladieren kann
(Egg woman who defies categorization) (1996). Via Skarstedt Gallery.

You may remember MoMA’s “Martin Kippenberger: The Problem Perspective,” of 2009 (brought to New York after success at LACMA), which was a comprehensive and exciting look at the work of a relatively underappreciated 20th century icon.  Now, two years later, Martin Kippenberger “Eggman II” at the Skarstedt Gallery on the Upper East side reminds us again that, despite the extreme lessening of scale and comparatively sparse presentation, the German artist’s work is the result of an obsessively productive energy and wit whose motto seems to have successfully been “more is more;” more color, more humor and more personality are evident in this work than most.

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Kazimir Malevich, Rectangle and Circle (1915). Via ibiblio

Through a collaboration with the heirs of Kazimir Malevich, the Gagosian Gallery is displaying six of Malevich’s paintings as the centerpiece in their current show, ‘Malevich and the American Legacy.’ Surviving paintings by this trailblazer in geometric abstract art are a rarity, and it is uncommon to see them on display outside of a museum. ‘Malevich and the American Legacy’ affords viewers some intimacy with these influential paintings while displaying works by a sampling of the artists Malevich inspired, including Carl Andre, John Baldessari, Alexander Calder, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Ellsworth Kelly, Agnes Martin, Barnett Newman, Ad Reinhardt, Ed Ruscha, Robert Ryman, Richard Serra, Frank Stella, James Turrell, and Cy Twombly.

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Nan Goldin, Amanda in the Mirror (1992). Via Matthew Marks Gallery

The Berlinische Galerie is showing a relatively unseen set of photographs by Nan Goldin. The show consists of around 100 color photographs that reveal an intimate portrayal of Goldin’s time spent in Berlin between 1984 and 2009. This acclaimed American photographer rose to popularity in the 1980’s as a leading figure in the movement of subjective photography. Goldin professed that photography was a stand in for memory, she unabashedly photographing drag queens, drug addicts, and night time lurkers that made up her circle of friends. Goldin created a voyeuristic world that held her firmly in the place as a cult icon to generations of photographers.

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Ed Ruscha, Psycho Spaghetti Western #5 (2010). All images via Gagosian Gallery

Currently on view at the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills is a series of ten paintings by Ed Ruscha in an exhibition titled Psycho Spaghetti Westerns. The show opened with a star-studded evening gala on February 24th and is up through April 9, 2011. The ten large paintings each have a ground, most often natural and diagonally sloping across the canvas, on which realistically painted detritus is resting. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Ruscha explains that the title has little to do with “Spaghetti Western” films and more to do with the meaning of the three words themselves: “‘Spaghetti Westerns’ says it all: tangled up messes like spaghetti, and we’re living out here in the West, and we’re all psycho.”

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Ed Ruscha, Psycho Spaghetti Western #7 (2010)

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March 5th ‘Spirituality” opening and installation view at P.P.O.W. All photos by Daniel Terna of Art Observed

This Saturday, P.P.O.W held the opening reception for their most recent exhibition: Spirituality, Works by David Wojnarowicz.  The show was curated almost as a retrospective, which included video pieces and a selection of personal letters written by the artist.  Work was displayed in all media, including sculptures, collage, photographs, and two videos.

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A view of the exhibit at Gavin Brown Gallery. All photos by L. Streeter, Art Observed.

On Saturday night, Rirkrit Tiravanija opened a new exhibition at Gavin Brown Enterprise in the West Village, completely redesigning the gallery space and re-purposing various rooms in order to host a dinner party of sorts. The show, entitled “Fear Eats the Soul” was named after the 1974 Fassbinder film “Ali – Fear Eats the Soul” which portrayed the story of two lovers together in Germany, who live in opposite worlds and fight to protect their love from racial tension and the scrutiny of others. Tiravanija himself comes from a widely diverse background; he was raised in Thailand, Ethiopia, and Canada and currently divides his time between New York, Berlin, and Bangkok. His acute global awareness certainly has an influence in this exhibition, which features a T-shirt printing factory producing shirts with equally politically-aware and nonsensical slogans in block print. The slogans feature a range of phrases, from solemn ones such as “BEHOLD YOUR FUTURE EXECUTIONERS” to silly word games and statements like “BRING ON THE LOBSTERS” which are hand-screened onto plain T-shirts.

A view of the silk-screening workshop.

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Hotel Diaries 2001-2007, John Smith. Tanya Leighton Gallery. All photos courtesy of Art Observed, unless otherwise noted.

The second annual Independent art fair took place on Thursday March 3rd to Sunday 6th on 548 W 22nd street during New York Art Fair Week.  The award winning temporary exhibition forum was created last year as an alternative to the Armory Fair and featured forty five galleries from across the globe.  Participants included New York’s White Columns, Anton Kern, and Feature, INC., London’s Hotel Gallery and Studio Voltaire, as well as China Art Objects from Los Angeles and Rodeo, an Istanbul based gallery.

Installation view of work by Jon Pylypchuk, China Art Objects, Los Angeles.

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AO Interviews with curators Meg O’Rourke, Caris Reid and artists Tony Oursler and Rachel Garrard.

A large-scale group show opened last Friday night in Greenpoint at Allan Nederpelt, showcasing 17 new artists such as Tony Oursler, N. Dash, Rachel Garrard, and Matthew Stone in the colossal space on Freeman Street on the very north-east tip of Greenpoint. The recently opened Allan Nederpelt exhibition space housed a large number of works all concerned with the idea of “Art addressing Metaphysics” and the artist’s relationship to the external world, the exhibit titled “All That is Unseen.”  Curators Meg O’Rourke and Caris Reid believe that this interest in the ethereal and otherworldly is partly a reaction to the mounting scientific complexity of our time, and marks the beginning of a transition in creative attitude. O’Rourke states in the press release, “Just as delving into spiritualism (along with shifts in science and technology) led to the birth of abstract art at the beginning of the last century, we feel we are currently at the edge of a collective shift.” Works ranged in a variety of mediums, from wooden sculpture to new media to electrical design.

Tony Oursler, Occult (untitled) for Cage (2011). Photo by Daniel Terna, Art Observed.

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Zerek Kempf, Weight of Fall (Waltz) (2011) at 2-UP Gallery.
All images Nicolas Linnert for Art Observed.

Friday evening’s Dependent Art Fair opened its doors for a one-night-only event showcasing the works of various galleries and artist groups. The newest addition to 2011’s growing roster of fairs, the Dependent was held on the 12^th and 14^th floors of Chelsea’s Sheraton Hotel. Fifteen exhibitors filled their respective hotel rooms with works for sale. Some revealed highly curated installations while others presented a collected showcase of individual works. The fifteen groups were given  60 minutes to install, with the fair beginning its preview hour at 4pm and closing altogether at 9 that evening. What began as a scattered number of curious collectors and onlookers grew quickly to a sizable throng of attendees navigating from room to room through the hotel’s packed hallways.

A sculpture by Barkev Gulesserian at CANADA (bathroom 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).

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All photos by L. Streeter, Art Observed.

The Armory Show opened Wednesday for professional previews and began with an 11:30 AM press conference detailing the cultural and economic importance of the event.  “This is going to be a spectacular week of art. Our conservative estimates predict that the events this week will draw more than 60,000 attendees and generate more than 40 million dollars in economic activity,” stated Mayor Mike Bloomberg during the opening ceremony.  Later in the evening, swarms of art-enthusiasts flocked to the Armory in order to witness the newest works of established artists from across the globe. Pier 94 was host to a vibrant crowd last night, with various art-world celebrities strolling down the aisles filled with artwork.

Installations at Galerie Ron Mandos.

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But, What Ends When The Symbols Shatter (2009); Caligula (2010). All images courtesy Bonniers Konsthall unless otherwise noted.

Gardar Eide Einarsson is one of the fastest rising Scandinavian contemporary artists, and his exhibition Power Has a Fragrance currently on view at Bonniers Konsthall in Stockholm is a testament to his momentum. Addressing themes of violence, authority, power, paranoia, and alienation, Einarsson draws heavily on graffiti and street culture, transforming appropriated imagery into sophisticated installations that land like spaceships in a minimalist’s paradise.

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This week the Armory Show is being held once again on the west side at piers 92 and 94. In just 12 years, the Armory Show has developed into one of the most important and determining shows for the global art market, offering an array of the world’s foremost galleries and a program of art events and exhibitions only to be found during this dynamic week in the city.  In recent years however, more and more satellite fairs have emerged near the Armory Show and even farther afield in the Lower East Side or Brooklyn.  Many of these fairs seek to claim the status as the alternative art fair to the Armory Show and many of the migration of certain galleries from the main fair to these new upstarts substantiates their impact and relevance.  In the end, though the dispersion of the center of gravity for Armory Week can be daunting, or as the Financial Times recently wrote of the week, “Manhattan feels fragmented as a fair destination.”  However, if one has the time, the offerings of the week overall are impressive.  Below is a summary of some of the goings on, along with certain highlights from art openings and events of the week.

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Donald Judd, Untitled (1989), Cor-ten steel

Thirteen wall and floor pieces by Donald Judd are on display at the Pace Gallery. A sampling of the work from the last two decades of his life, the exhibition covers a wide range of materials Judd had not previously explored. The thirteen pieces demonstrate the artist’s use of space, materials, and color in his work, which revolve around his iconic box structure. Even before he began working with sculpture, his work has focused on stacks and repeated shapes, mostly with straight edges and right angles.

Donald Judd, Untitled (1978), granite

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Ed Ruscha, Give Him Anything and He’ll Sign It (1965)

Collector Emily Fisher Landau made a gift of about 400 works of art to the Whitney Museum. Estimated to be worth between $50 and $75 million, the works of almost 100 artists range in date from 1950 to 2006—the earliest being a Robert Rauschenberg photograph of Jasper Johns in his studio, and the latest a 2006 Lisa Yuskavage etching. To commemorate this remarkable donation, the Whitney is showing eighty of the works in an exhibition titled Legacy on the fourth floor of the museum, which was named for Landau in 1995.

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