Untitled (2010) by Rachel Whiteread, via Gagosian Gallery

Currently on view at Gagosian Gallery on Davies Street in London is an exhibition of drawings and new sculpture by Rachel Whiteread. The sculptural work is the latest in a series created for outdoor spaces, produced in soft materials such as plaster, rubber and resin. Five cubic forms of varying size, texture, and color are positioned in a straight line. A principle theme in Whiteread’s oeuvre, the new sculptures rely on form to reflect upon the surrounding negative space.

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Damien Hirst, St. Bartholomew Exquisite Pain, 2006. Image via exhibition website.

On view at Gloucester Cathedral through October 30, 2010 is ‘Crucible,’ a large group exhibition of contemporary sculpture displaying more than 75 works of art. The show is installed in both the main building and throughout the grounds, and features work by some of Britain’s most important living artists, including Damien Hirst, Antony Gormley, David Nash, Marcus Harvey, and Lynn Chadwick. Of the participating artists, 13 are members of the Royal Academy of Arts, and 1 Royal Hibernian Academian. The exhibit opened to the public on September 1, and is organized jointly by Glouster Cathedral and Gallery Pangolin.

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I am Sad Leyla by Hussein Chalayan, via Lisson Gallery

My approach has always been interdisciplinary; the new work is an extension of this. There is a certain freedom to working in an art context that has allowed me to further explore the ideas that underpin my work.

-Hussein Chalayan

Currently on view at the Lisson Gallery in London is I am Sad Leyla (Ãœzgünüm Leyla) an exhibition presenting an installation and a film piece by Turkish fashion designer Hussein Chalayan. The designer filmed the Turkish Pop Star Sertab Erener performing the classical Turkish song “I am Sad Leyla” with the accompaniment of an Ottoman orchestra. Visitors will find a life-size sculpture of Erener dressed in Chalayan’s updated version of a traditional Turkish costume upon entering the gallery and they will hear the sound of her voice from the film of her singing playing in the next room.

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Martin Creed, Work No. 928, 2008, courtesy of The Guardian.

As part of the Edinburgh Arts Festival, Fruitmarket is honoring one of Britain’s most popular and esteemed artists, Martin Creed, in a major solo exhibition of recent and newly-commissioned work. Entitled “Down Over Up,” the show focuses on basic visual properties like the differentiation of size, proportion, and tone of everyday objects such as chairs, tables, boxes, and Lego pieces. Creed has often been criticized for the accessible quality of his materials and technique; while this aspect of his practice is visible in “Down Over Up,” the artist has also incorporated more conventional art forms such as paintings, drawings, and sculpture into the exhibition.

Creed initially won critical acclaim for his minimalistic sculptures, in which he rearranges everyday objects. He manipulates the common as a material representation of his primary preoccupation: modern culture. The artist often creates work in order to elicit particular responses from the viewer, by deploying a spectrum of motifs ranging from the absurd to the familiar.

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Kazimir Malevich, Untitled (1916) Image via Guggenheim Museum

‘The Geometry of Kandinsky and Malevich” is currently on view at the Guggenheim Museum, New York. The show, which includes only seven paintings, features the works of Russian artists Kazimir Malevich (1879-1935) and Vasily Kandinsky (1866-1944). The small scale of the exhibition permits an intensely focused look at two of the pioneers of abstract art. Although all the work is presented in one room, the representative paintings of each artist are hung in distinctly separate areas. This spatial orientation refers to the fact that, although Kandinsky and Malevich were contemporaries, and explored similar formal concepts, they did so independently of one another.

Vasily Kandinsky, In the Black Square (June 1923) Image via Guggenheim Museum

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‘Newspeak: British Art Now,’ all images are via Charles Saatchi Gallery unless otherwise noted

Currently on view at the Saatchi Gallery is ‘Newspeak: British Art Now,’ an exhibition featuring more than 30 young British artists whose work is represented in the collection of Charles Saatchi. The European premiere of the show was held at the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia in October 2009.

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Alice Neel, Andy Warhol, 1970. Image via Whitechapel Gallery.

Currently on view at Whitechapel Gallery is “Painted Truths,” the first major European exhibition of work by American artist Alice Neel (1900-1984).  Featuring more than sixty paintings produced over the course of her artistic career, the show focuses upon the psychologically insightful and expressive portraits for which she is best known. Also included are a number of Neel’s cityscapes, in which the anonymity and exteriority of New York City are shown alongside the artist’s intimate depictions of its inhabitants.

Alice Neel, Ninth Avenue El, 1935. Image credited as above.

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Installation View. Carol Bove, Sterling Ruby, Dana Schutz. Andrea Rosen Gallery, 2010. All images courtesy of Andrea Rosen Gallery.

Open until Friday, August 20 at Andrea Rosen Gallery is a group exhibition featuring artists Carol Bove, Sterling Ruby, and Dana Schutz. Each of the works on view in this summer show explore themes of confinement, disaster, and violence, uniting the disparate styles and material approaches of the three participating artists.

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Tauba Auerbach, Quarry, ‘Whitney On-Site: New Commissions, 2010.’ Photograph by Danielle Canter, via The Whitney.

Currently on view at the corner of Gansevoort and Washington streets is Tauba Auerbach‘s Quarry; an installation at the South-end of the High Line, where the Whitney Museum expects to open their downtown branch in 2015.  The exhibit, which runs from July 18 though August 29, 2010, is the second installment of the three-part series ‘Whitney On-Site: New Commissions,’ a project anticipating the start of construction on the museum’s new building, currently scheduled for next Spring.

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Otto Dix, Portrait of the Lawyer Dr. Hugo Simons (1925) All images via Neue Galerie

Currently on view at the Neue Galerie is an exhibition featuring the work of German artist, Otto Dix (1891-1969). The show was organized by Olaf Peters, Professor of Art History at Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. Following its run at Neue Galerie, the show will travel to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The exhibition is the first solo museum show of Dix’s work in North America. Although widely regarded as one of the most important artists of the 20th century in Europe, Dix has been slower to attain widespread appreciation among American audiences. The 100 plus works featured in this exhibition, which include drawings and paintings, emphasize Dix’s ability to portray the often brutal realities of his time, with the cynicism and satire which characterized the “New Objectivity” movement.

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Horizon Field (2010) by Antony Gormley, via The Guardian

Currently on view is a unique project in the mountains of Vorarlberg, Austria produced by British artist Antony Gormley (b.1950) in collaboration with the Kunsthaus Bregenz. Entitled Horizon Field, the project consists of 100 life-size solid cast-iron figures of the human body, dispersed over an area of 150 square kilometers in the Austrian Alps. The positioning of the figures in such a special location addresses the relationship between human beings and life on earth.

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Picture Industry (Goodbye to All That), Installation view, Regen Projects II, Los Angeles. All images courtesy of Regen Projects.

Currently on view at Regen Projects, Los Angeles, is the group show Picture Industry (Goodbye to All That), curated by artist Walead Beshty. ‘Picture Industry’ refers both to the physical setting and the conceptual pretext within which the show is presented, with Los Angeles as the focus in terms of both place and content. Included in the exhibition are works by Tauba Auerbach, Thomas Barrow, Carol Bove, Troy Brauntuch, Tony Conrad, Abraham Cruzvillegas, De Rijke / De Rooij, Liz Deschenes, Isa Genzken, Wade Guyton, Robert Heinecken, Karen Kilimnik, Imi Knoebel, Michael Krebber, Glenn Ligon, Erlea Maneros Zabala, Albert Oehlen, Manfred Pernice, Seth Price, Richard Prince, Josephine Pryde, R.H. Quaytman, Eileen Quinlan, Miljohn Ruperto, Michael Snow, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Charline Von Heyl, Kelley Walker, James Welling, Christopher Williams & Christopher Wool.

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Avenza Revisited II (1968-1969) by Louise Bourgeois, via Museum of Cycladic Art

Currently on view at the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens, Greece is an exhibition featuring the work of late artist Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010). The exhibit highlights a body of the artists sculptural work known as the “Personages,” which Bourgeois produced between 1947 and 1953. These totem-like objects have Surrealist origins, and explore the subconscious human sentiments of anger, sexuality, fear and suffering. Eight of these “Personages” are displayed alongside the artist’s most recent series of gouaches.

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Above: Karen Kilimnik, Me Corner of Haight & Ashbury, 1966, 1998.
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Below: Joseph Cornell, Untitled, c. 1953.
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Image courtesy of the Artists, 303 Gallery New York and Sprueth Magers Gallery Berlin London.

Currently on view at Sprueth Magers London is “Something Beautiful,” a collaborative show by American artists Joseph Cornell and Karen Kilimnik. Curated by Todd Levin, the exhibition features paintings, collages, and mixed-media installations that reflect the influence of the Romantic-era ballet on both artists.

Joseph Cornell (1903-1972) was an American artist known for pioneering the art of assemblage. Created from found objects, Cornell’s boxes often read like three-dimensional Surrealist paintings. He admired the work of Max Ernst and Rene Magritte, but claimed to have found their work to be too dark.  His work was also inspired heavily by his beliefs in Christian Science, which he adopted in his early twenties. He never received formal training as an artist, but was influenced by American Transcendentalist poetry and French Symbolist painters, such as Mallarme and Nerval. Another motif of his work, 19th century European ballet dancers, comes to life in this exhibition.

Similarly, Karen Kilimnik’s work redeploys discreet objects in a quest for the romantic sublime. Theater and stagecraft have figured strongly in her installations, and her use of particular materials suggests the influence of Cornell. Often making direct references to Degas and other Impressionist painters, Kilimnik’s subjects occupy a nineteenth-century world: one of mystery, drama, and romance.

Anthony Byrt, in his review for Art Forum, refers to Levin’s conceptual approach here as a “bold curatorial statement,” suggesting that the premise upon which the two artists are connected is a precarious one. However, “Ballet aside,” says Byrt, “tangible links do emerge, such as theatricality, quiet spectacle, and ideas of feminine beauty, which both artists explore.”

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Karen Kilimnik, Paris Opera Rats, 1993. Image credited as above.

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Sophie Calle, Photograph from the “North Pole” series, courtesy of Arndt.

Currently on view at Arndt in Berlin is a solo exhibition by Sophie Calle entitled “North Pole,” in which the artist combines objects created in a variety of media to illustrate a narrative of personal significance. Born in France in 1953, Calle is known for her work as a writer, photographer, and conceptual artist. In “North Pole,” she examines the perception and creation of human identity through an abstracted portrait of the life of her mother.

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Jorge Pardo, “Bulgogi” Installation View (2010) All images via Gagosian Gallery

“Bulgogi,” a solo exhibition featuring artist Jorge Pardo, is currently on view at Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills. The show’s title is derived from the name of a traditional Korean dish which translates as “fire meat.” Given the strong Korean presence in Los Angeles, Pardo uses this title as a metaphor for the cultural assimilation of Korean immigrants in this Californian city. The exhibition includes a variety of mixed media pieces, and features a range of objects including furniture, jewelry, and scrapbook images transformed into wallpaper.

Image from Bulgogi Installation.

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Henri Matisse The Moroccans, 1916. Image via MoMA.

Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913-1917, at the Museum of Modern Art, features almost 120 paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures completed by Henri Matisse within the span of four years.  1913 marks a turning point in Matisse’s evolutionary career: in the twilight of WWI, the artist made a profound move toward conceptual distortion.  He worked in German-occupied France while his brother was in a prison camp and his mother was behind enemy lines–conditions he deemed the “methods of modern construction” that altered the course of his artistic and personal development.

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Artist Jenny Holzer, via Artnet

Currently showing at the DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art in Montreal is an exhibition of works by Jenny Holzer, an American artist. The exhibition covers a variety of works by Holzer, ranging from the 1990s to the present, and highlights her ability to use text in her art. Holzer was an abstract artist who turned to painting and finally to including language and words in her art. She is well-known for her large LED art.

Redaction Paintings (2008) by Jenny Holzer, via Art21

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Anish Kapoor with his work, Vertigo (2008), via Guggenheim Bilbao

Currently showing at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain is an exhibit of works by Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor. Kapoor is known for his simple, large, monochromatic pieces. His work has been shown internationally and is featured in many large cities around the world. According to the gallery’s website, this show is the first large-scale exhibition of Kapoor’s work shown in Spain.

Shooting into the Corner (2008-09) by Anish Kapoor, via A World to Win

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Loved Despite Great Faults (2008) by Andrea Da Corte, via Yvon Lambert Gallery.

Currently on view at Yvon Lambert in New York is “Christmas in July,” a group show which features the work of John Baldessari, Lynda Benglis, Michael Brown, Alex Da Corte, Douglas Gordon, Christian Holstad, and Katja Strunz among others. The exhibit also includes a section of the gallery designated to artist Jonathan Horowitz who creates a “Free Store” where visitors can drop off their belongs and take things if they please. The work displayed reveals the multiple meanings of the spirit of Christmas.

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Darren Almond, Fullmoon@Eifel 2, 2010, c-print, 180 x 180 cm. All images via Galerie Max Hetzler.

From July 31 to August 1 Galerie Max Hetlzer, Berlin will present a show by London based artist, Darren Almond. The exhibition contains several large scale photographs all of which the capture moonlit landscapes. To achieve the surreal effect of these half light half dark nature scenes, Almond uses a lengthy exposure time to photograph a landscape illuminated solely by the light of the moon. The artist has been experimenting with this technique since 1998 when he created Fifteen Minute Moon. Almond has traveled extensively to attain new scenes for these Fullmoon photographs. The first location, Montagne Saint-Victoire in Provence, evoked Cezanne’s impressionist explorations in the same region, while the Rwenzori Mountains in Uganda and South East China’s Yellow Mountains have been the focus of more recent series. All seven photographs included in Fullmoon@Eifel were taken in 2010 and feature the landscapes of Weidingen (Eifel), Germany.

Fullmoon@Eifel 7

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Rineke Dijkstra, Still from The Krazy House, Liverpool, UK, 2008-2009, 4 channel video HD installation, color, sound, 32 minutes, loop. All images courtesy of Marian Goodman Gallery.

Currently on view at Marian Goodman Gallery, New York is a solo exhibition of recent works by Dutch artist, Rineke Dijkstra. Three video installations and a number of photographs are on display. Dijikstra frequently takes adolescents and teenagers as her subject, and these works are no exception. Her emphasis on youth never feels exploitative or overly voyeuristic, rather it invites the viewer to recall the feelings associated with nascent adulthood – a mindset focused on escapism, self-consciousness, and a burgeoning sense of identity.

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Still from The Krazy House, Liverpool, UK, 2008-2009.

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Gary Hume, Big Bird, 2009. All images courtesy of Sprueth Magers.

Gary Hume’s first solo exhibition in Berlin in over 15 years is currently on view at Sprueth Magers. The show consists of a selection of new works, including Big Bird (2010), a major large-scale six-panel painting, in addition to a group of six paintings, four sculptures and five works on paper. Painted in Hume’s trademark bright palate, the series of six paintings relate to his earlier American Tan series which explored cheerleaders as an emblem of American society. Elegantly simplistic in appearance, yet endlessly complex in its meaning, Hume’s imagery conveys a potent sense of discontinuity at the heart of representations of beauty.

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Atrial Flutter (2010) by Polly Morgan, via Haunch of Venison

Currently on view from today until September 25^th, 2010 is an exhibition of works by Polly Morgan, a British artist known for her fascination with taxidermy. The exhibition is Morgan’s first solo show at  Haunch of Venison in London. Morgan has been interested in animals since a young age; after college, she experimented with films and sculpting before she finally turned to taxidermy. Her animals are well-known because she often places them in unusual and unrealistic situations.

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