Global contemporary art events and news observed from New York City. Suggestion? Email us.

New York – Ragen Moss: “8 Animals” at Bridget Donahue Through January 26th, 2020

January 16th, 2020

Ragen Moss, Senior Borrower (with Mezzanine Borrower) (2019), via Bridget Donahue
Ragen Moss, Senior Borrower (with Mezzanine Borrower) (2019), via Bridget Donahue

Currently on view at Bridget Donahue, artist Ragen Moss has hung an octet of peculiar hanging sculptures.  Referred to at points as “couples” and as “animals,” the show seems to take on the atmosphere of animals moving about an enclosure, watched closely by the viewer to glimpse moments of personality and persona. The works, on view through the end of the month, offer a particularly impressive chance to observe and explore the nature of viewing, and the concept of nature itself.    Read More »

New York – Lothar Baumgarten: “The Early Years” at Marian Goodman Through February 15th, 2020

January 15th, 2020

Lothar Baumgarten, Tropenhäuser (Guayana), Conservatorie (Guayana) (1969-1972:2012), via Marian Goodman
Lothar Baumgarten, Tropenhäuser (Guayana), Conservatorie (Guayana) (1969-1972:2012), via Marian Goodman

Currently on view at Marian Goodman in New York, artist Lothar Baumgarten is the subject of a posthumous show focusing on a body of work he helped compile before his passing.  “The Early Years” focuses on the formative works that shaped his oeuvre, and functions as an homage to one of the most important German artists who influenced a subsequent generation, not to mention an artist who has worked with the gallery since the 1980’s.

Lothar Baumgarten, Kosmos (1968), via Marian Goodman
Lothar Baumgarten, Kosmos (1968), via Marian Goodman

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New York – Lee Bul: “Interlude: Perdu” at Lehmann Maupin Through January 18th, 2020

January 14th, 2020

Lee Bul, Perdu XX (2019), via Lehmann Maupin
Lee Bul, Perdu XX (2019), via Lehmann Maupin

On view through January 18th in New York, the South Korean artist Lee Bul presents a selection of new works unified under the title Interlude: Perdu at Lehmann Maupin, a solo presentation that  features recent mixed media paintings from the artist’s Perdu series that blend biomorphic and cybertronic forms, vividly yet delicately rendered in acrylic paint and mother of pearl.  The artist’s work, which incorporates these divergent forms into a new formal language, makes for an expressive wrinkle in her broader body of work. Read More »

New York – Sophie Calle, Bruce Conner, Paul Pfeiffer: “Documents & Recitations” at Paula Cooper Through February 8th, 2020

January 13th, 2020

Sophie Calle, Exquisite Pain (Count Down - 22) (2000), via Paula Cooper
Sophie Calle, Exquisite Pain (Count Down – 22) (2000), via Paula Cooper

Exploring divergent concepts and bodies of work in exchange over the course of a show currently on view at Paula Cooper Gallery in New York, photographers Sophie Calle, Bruce Conner and Paul Pfeiffer have gathered together under the title “Documents & Recitations.”  The show, which features a range of different images and works from each artist’s oeuvre, explores the format of the series to construct new narratives, and engage notions of individual memory and collective perception as translated through the medium of photography. Read More »

New York – Rachel Harrison: “Life Hack” at the Whitney Museum Through January 12th, 2020

January 9th, 2020

Rachel Harrison, Hoarders (2012), via Whitney
Rachel Harrison, Hoarders (2012), via Whitney

Combining sculpture, readymades, drawing and a playful conceptual bent, artist Rachel Harrison’s work over the past 30 years has challenged easy readings of consumption, commercialism and modernity, imbuing her lumpy, peculiar objects with a sense of wry humor and situational irony.  Opening a major retrospective at The Whitney this winter, the artist’s work gets ample room to breathe, to striking result.    Read More »

New York – Rashid Johnson: “The Hikers” at Hauser and Wirth Through January 25th, 219

January 8th, 2020

Rashid Johnson, The Hikers (Installation View), via Art Observed
Rashid Johnson, The Hikers (Installation View), via Art Observed

On view this fall in New York, Hauser & Wirth presents The Hikers, an exhibition of recent works by Rashid Johnson that unites ceramic tile mosaics, collaged paintings, and a large-scale sculpture that work together to address Johnson’s recurring interest in currents of anxiety and escapism created by the political and social turmoil felt across the United States and around the globe. Read More »

London – Jessi Reaves: “Going Out in Style” at Herald St Through January 25th, 2020

January 7th, 2020

Jessi Reaves, Going Out in Style (Installation View), via Herald St
Jessi Reaves, Going Out in Style (Installation View), via Herald St

Currently on view at Herald St Gallery in London, the New York-based artist Jessi Reaves has opened a new show of work, ‘Going out in style,’ which marks a continued evolution in her practice and her second exhibition with the London space. Presenting works that are contradictory in their forms and perceived functions, often oscillating between sculpture and furniture while never quite fitting squarely into either category, the artist’s work underscores a particularly resonant series of concepts and conundrums in the landscape of the present. Read More »

London – Merlin Carpenter at Simon Lee Through January 18th, 2020

January 6th, 2020

Merlin Carpenter, Untitled (2019), via Simon Lee
Merlin Carpenter, Untitled (2019), via Simon Lee

Artist Merlin Carpenter is a relentless shapeshifter, continuing a critique of modern art through a boundless series of projects and practices that often delve into ruptures and problems with the language of modern art. Exploring problems not of understanding, but of functionality in terms of art’s presentation and use, the artist explores just how aesthetics and value systems can be extended over the canvas. Emphasizing new levels and layers of observation intended to focus not only within the world of art-viewing, but in the world more broadly, the artist’s work makes a striking visual impact. Read More »

RIP: John Baldessari, Landmark Voice in Conceptual Art, Has Passed Away at Age 88

January 5th, 2020

John Baldessari
John Baldessari

Artist John Baldessari, who pioneered a uniquely humorous and challenging approach to painting and conceptual art making over the past half century, has passed away at the age of 88.  A leading voice in the development of conceptualism, his interest in ideas and their functioning over the image itself would make him an influential and dynamic voice for post-war art. Read More »

Los Angeles – Calvin Marcus: ‘GO HANG A SALAMI IM A LASAGNA HOG’ at David Kordansky Through January 11th, 2020

January 3rd, 2020

Calvin Marcus, City Pig/Wild Boar (2019), via David Kordansky
Calvin Marcus, City Pig/Wild Boar (2019), via David Kordansky

Opening his second exhibition at David Kordansky in Los Angeles this winter, painter Calvin Marcus returns to his enigmatic, always challenging body of work, turning his approach towards painterly composition towards increasingly complex, and increasingly nuanced compositions. Titled GO HANG A SALAMI IM A LASAGNA HOG, the show features four bodies of work—including paintings, sculpture, and photography across its three exhibition spaces. Read More »