The chair-raft. All photos on site for Art Observed by Samuel Sveen.

16 reclaimed boats make up the second summer of the Boggsville Boatel at Marina 59, an artful floating hotel in the Far Rockaways about an hour outside of Manhattan. Constance Hockaday created the project last year with the help of Flux Factory, taking a bit of loose inspiration from the 19th century floating brothel of Nancy Boggs outside of Portland, Oregon. This year Angie Kang and Orien McNeill organized 23 artists to convert an additional fleet of abandoned boats into accommodating art spaces. The artists were able to live on the boats for a two month residency, reconstructing and customizing the boats, building a community on the docks. Encouraged to be ‘adventure ready’—the suggested packing list includes sleeping bags and liquor—Art Observed was on site for the opening night, May 19.

Art adorns a hull

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Anthony McCall, You and I Horizontal, (2006),  installation view at Institut d’Art Contemporain, Villeurbanne, (2006). Photo: Blaise Adilon. All images via Hamburger Bahnhof.

Five Minutes of Pure Sculpture, Anthony McCall’s largest museum exhibition to date is on now at Berlin’s Hamburger Bahnhof. McCall’s solid light films, such as Line Describing a Cone, from the 1970s established the artist’s reputation as being part of the cinematic avant-garde. After a break of twenty years, McCall began making films again in 2003, utilizing new technologies, like digital projection. The current exhibition consists of seven such projections; five single projections and two double projections, and of these three are horizontal while four are vertical.

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Helmut Lang, Untitled (2012). All photos on site for Art Observed by Ryann Donnelly.

Helmut Lang: Sculptures is on view at 24 Washington Square North in New York City. Co-curated by Mark Fletcher and Neville Wakefield, it is the first exhibition to be shown at the townhouse turned art space, and Lang’s third solo show since exiting the fashion world in 2005. Last year, Lang’s process of reidentifying as a visual artist saw his shredding of nearly 6,000 objects from his former label’s archive for an exhibition at East Hampton’s Fireplace Project. Following that drastic, and literal destruction of his past, Lang’s new work emerges as a recontexualized exploration of his complex aesthetic.

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Ari Marcopoulos, 1.2065 (Cairo) (2012). All images via Marlborough Gallery.

Through the use of simple, repetitive processes and equipment, Ari Marcopoulos creates sparse yet complexly layered works that break down the perceived economic barriers of art production, with a vague smack of the political. His current show of new work, Wherever you go at Marlborough Chelsea, continues this tradition, exhibiting a number of prints, photographs and video using simple methods and techniques to create impressively vocal pieces. Using simple handheld cameras, Marcopoulos photographs his subjects in candid, neutral poses, then passes the images through several stages of printing onto rice paper, creating dense, complexly shaded images with their own created narratives.

Ari Marcopoulos, City Riders (2012)

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Darren Almond, Fullmoon Series (1998–2012). Images via Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire.

The arts program at Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, located 200km south of Paris, is dedicated to the artistic engagement of creativity and nature, showcasing contemporary artworks and installations in its galleries and grounds. From April 6 through November 7, British artist Darren Almond will showcase two series of photographs in the Galeries du Château and Galerie du Porc Epic. A Turner Prize finalist in 2005, Almond has participated in a host of international shows and biennials, such as the Tate London, the Venice Biennale 2003, and Charles Saatchi’s 1997 Sensation show; and is an artist of the post-YBA generation of Jay Jopling’s White Cube Gallery. Almond is represented by White Cube in London and Matthew Marks Gallery in New York.

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N. Dash, installation view. All images via Untitled

The work of artist N. Dash often operates at a raw, wordless level: simple images and objects often devoid of any qualifying forms, save the materials. Perhaps fitting, then, that Dash’s first solo show, consisting of works of cloth, dirt, and other raw elements should be held at Untitled gallery in Manhattan. Focusing on dirt and its effects on cloth and other materials, Dash’s wall hangings walk the line between more conventional wall-hung pieces and works of sculpture. The texture and color of fabrics lie on a level playing field with the three-dimensional aspects of their arrangement and their spatial relationships to their surroundings.

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Robert Longo, Untitled (Berlin Flag) (2012). Charcoal on mounted paper. All images courtesy of the artist and Capitain Petzel Gallery.

Robert Longo presents a site specific installation, Stand, as his first solo exhibition with Capitain Petzel Gallery Berlin. The show’s timing and location, intentional or unintentional, provide some extra intensity to the already political nature of the exhibition.  Stand, like much of Longo’s work engages themes of politics and power and its effects on society. The show opened during ‘Gallery Weekend’ and alongside this year’s Berlin Biennale, which also focuses on the political power of art. The gallery is located on Berlin’s Karl-Marx-Alle, formerly Stalinalle, famous for being the first “socialist” street of the DDR. Longo’s show utilizes the entirety of the gallery, inside and out, and whether to challenge or just play with the location’s history showcases in its outer windows a black and white drawing of an American flag.

Installation view

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Los Carpinteros, Cuarteto Rebelde (2012). All images courtesy of Kunstmuseum Thum.

Los Carpinteros, the Cuban artist duo, are currently showing Silence Your Eyes at the Kunstmuseum Thun as their first show in Switzerland. The pair consists of Marco Castillo and Dagoberto Rodríguez, and formerly had a third member, Alexandre Arrechea. They studied at the Art Academy in Havana, earning their name (carpenters) by creating large wooden sculptures from the readily available material. Many of their works employ architectural and design oriented themes, such as urban buildings and furniture, which are then shown in an exaggerated manner. Such themes are used to highlight the overlap between the private and the public and political realms. The inventiveness of the works belies their engagement with “politically charged” topics.

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Charles Ray, installation view. All images courtesy of Matthew Marks

New works by Charles Ray are currently on view at Matthew Marks Los Angeles through June 23. Two stainless steel figures inhabit the gallery space; Sleeping Woman is perched on a bench with her head resting on a blanket while across the gallery Young Man stands nude, his body aligned with the sleeping woman. Ray asserts a calculated tension of space with nuanced attention to perception that has been the essence of his sculptural practice for decades.

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Do-Ho Suh, Reflection (2005–2011). Images via Leeum Samsung Museum of Art.

Korean-born multi-media artist Do-Ho Suh exhibits Home Within Home at the Leeum Samsung Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea through June 3. The show assembles sculptural works produced over the last seven year years, which recreate interior and exterior spaces in fragile unions between skeletal metal armatures and diaphonous silk and polyester fabrics. Through his magnificent and acutely embellished domestic shells, Suh delivers fragile and impermanent representations that toy with our understanding of the home as physically and ideologically sacred and safe.

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Alighiero Boetti, Mappa (1971–72). All images via Tate Modern

Alighiero Boetti‘s retrospective, Game Plan is on view at London’s Tate Modern through May 27. Considered a pioneer of Italy’s Arte Povera movement in the 1960s, Boetti sought to transcend the traditional limits of high art. His efforts produced a broad mix of media, aligned by simple materials and often playful concepts, resonant in the title of the show. Tapestry, sculpture, painting, and carefully assembled collages made of parcels and postage comprise some of the varied array of  work from his career spanning nearly three decades.

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Kenny Scharf, Americana (2012). All photos courtesy Honor Fraser.

Hodgepodge aptly describes the nature of Kenny Scharf’s current solo exhibition, on view now at Honor Fraser.  Since the 1980s, Scharf has created realms of fantasy fueled by his fascination with television, nature, and outer space that are manifested in all of his work. Hodgepodge is thoroughly imbued with this funfair, while the critical undertones that are present in all of his paintings seep closer to the surface.

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John Baldessari, Double Bill (2012), installation view. Images courtesy of Galerie Marian Goodman.

John Baldessari showcases his wit and playfulness with Double Bill at the Galerie Marian Goodman in Paris. In a series of seven new paintings, Baldessari juxtaposes two iconic works of art on one canvas. By naming only one of the artists whose work he has appropriated in each piece, Baldessari asks the viewer to tap in to one’s own memory to find the name. In this way, Double Bill functions as a kind of art historical name game.

John Baldessari, …and Balthus (2012) (more…)

All photos on site for Art Observed by Rachel Willis.

New York-based painter Will Cotton’s most recent body of work is currently on display at the Mary Boone Gallery on Fifth Avenue. The show consists of multiple large-scale paintings and one sculpture, all of which feature the imagery of Cotton’s signature candy-filled landscapes. Cotton comments on Western consumerism by creating an aesthetic world inhabited by two hallmarks of American overindulgence: attractive women and trans fat goodies. Featured in this exhibition is Crown, the first of a series of paintings that depict pop singer Katy Perry surrounded by a world of ornately decorated cakes.

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All photos on site for Art Observed by Samuel Sveen.

Karen Kilimnick is showing at the Brant Foundation in Greenwich, Connecticut. The opening event occurred this Sunday with a preview by founder Peter Brant and a list of other art world notables such as Jeffrey Deitch, Gavin Brown, Julian Schnabel and May Anderson, John McEnroe, Dan Colen, Nate Lowman, Hanna Liden, Elias Hanson, Rikrit Tiravanija, and Elizabeth Peyton amongst other collectors and members of the press. Backing up to the expansive Greenwich Polo Grounds, the event mostly took place outdoors, under and around a tented table area where visitors snacked on steak frites and lamb roasted within view.

Cell phone video of the festivities

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Cy Twombly, The Last Paintings installation view. All photos on site for Art Observed by Megan Hoetger.

The Last Paintings and Photographs of legendary 20^th century artist Cy Twombly, currently on view now at Gagosian Gallery, include some of the final paintings by the artist, as well as a large collection of photographs amassed over nearly 60 years.

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Gavin Brown and Mark Ruffalo cooking sausages. All photographs by Aubrey Roemer for Art Observed.

The always fresh but now venerable Frieze Art Fair of Regent’s Park, London, has successfully completed its maiden voyage to this side of the Atlantic. The pavilion, designed by Brooklyn-based SO-IL Architects, places Frieze New York on Randall’s Island Park from May 4-7, 2012. The fair is being held in a distinctly snakelike structure that houses 180 leading contemporary galleries presenting works by more than 1,000 artists. There are a number of culinary options as well: Roberta’s, The Fat Radish Café, Frankie’s Spuntino Restaurant, Sant Abroeus Café and the Standard Biergarten.

Entrance to the Frieze Art Fair

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Jonathan Meese, Mona Lisa (2006-2007). All images via the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna.

German-born multimedia artist Jonathan Meese is showing a new series of his politically and philosophically radical work at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. Seeking “maximum precision” Meese offers a graphically reduced but highly alert perspective; mythology, history, characters, symbols, and figures all exist within an exploded sociological determinism. The artist has been producing these approximately 100 large scale lithographs since 2003, based largely on Meese’s desire to work fast, and display his morbid, melted lexicon quickly.

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Marlene Dumas, Gravita (2012). All images courtesy of Fondazione Stelline.

This spring at the Fondazione Stelline in Milan, Marlene Dumas celebrates the Christian season’s Resurrection by examining what came before: the crucifixion. Sorte, Dumas’ exhibition, consists of 22 works—15 of them new—plus an additional 15 historical drawings and watercolors. Per the exhibition’s press release, “[Dumas’] Milan exhibition will portray some of the themes most dear to the artist: the crucifixion, famous people linked to dramatic events, and those ‘people in extreme suffering’ who represent the humanity that is the focus of her painting.”

Installation view
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Averroes (1960), Marquis de Portago (1960). All photographs courtesy L + M Gallery.

15 of Frank Stella‘s important early works are on display in Black Aluminum Copper at L&M Arts in New York City’s upper east side. With a heavy sense of history, the show moves from the stark, post-war attitude of works such as Die Fahne hoch! (‘Raise the flag’) & Arbeit Macht Frei (‘Work Liberates’, the sign hung on the gates at Auschwitz) to the more spacious pre-minimalism of Avicenna or Telluride. These works were completed between 1958–61, the period immediately following Stella’s graduation from Princeton and move to NYC.

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Ron Mueck, Drift (2009). All images via Hauser & Wirth

Sculptor Ron Mueck‘s first show with Hauser & Wirth is on view now at the gallery’s Saville Row location in London. It is the artist’s first major solo exhibition in the city after more than a decade. Mueck is known for his brand of realism that might be considered graphic or grotesque, and habitually works with surprising scale to compound the power of the work. Mueck’s current show includes four sculptures that sharply contrast from each other, but share a poignant sense of the human condition.

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Nate Lowman, Swiss Cheese and The Doors: A One Night Stand (2012). All installation images via Massimo De Carlo and the artist.

Massimo de Carlo is showing 40 new works by NYC-based artist Nate Lowman. The press release states that ‘drawing on histories of collage, appropriation, and assemblage since the 1960s,’ Lowman aims ‘to craft a formal and strategic approach around a personal and cultural identification with images.’ A varied body of works, ranging from alkyd and oil rendered pointilist paintings to the more ‘theatrical’ lighting installations meant to evoke dusk and dawn, Swiss Cheese and the Doors: A One Night Stand is preoccupied with the ‘shift between narrative themes and experiential space.’

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George Condo, Ghost Figure (1991). All images via PRISM LA.

Fresh on the heels of the large-scale solo exhibition at the New Museum last year titled George Condo: Mental States, the work of George Condo has traveled to the west coast and is currently on view at PRISM. A survey of the artist’s paintings, drawings, and sculptures, the exhibition gives those in Los Angeles a rare chance to see the “fake old masters” for which Condo is so well known. Through gestures of the paint, of the body, and of the expression, Condo finds a means to investigate psychological space and the archetypal symbols connecting the human experience.

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Jorinde Voigt, Installation view (2012). All images via Lisson Gallery.

Lisson Gallery is currently exhibiting the work of German artist Jorinde Voigt, awarded the 2012 Contemporary Drawing Prize of the Daniel & Florence Guerlain Art Foundation. Voigt’s drawings emerge from a sophisticated interweaving of disparate quantitative and qualitative imagery of the everyday life, resulting in a visually arresting analogical fanfare; a glimpse into an entire universe of synchronous possibilities, somewhat—ironically—abridged by the painstakingly minute notations that attest the artist’s experience of production, but so exponentially vast as to be almost completely devoid of fixed meaning.

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