Weekly Roundup

February 4th, 2013
Diana Al-Hadid. Invisibabel, 2009. Courtesy of the artist and Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York.

Diana Al-Hadid. “Invisibabel,” 2009. Courtesy of the artist and Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York.

In this week’s roundup, Diana Al-Hadid explores art history, El Anatsui has his first solo exhibition in New York, Cai Guo-Qiang travels a solo show in Brazil, Charles Atlas presents two moving-image works, and more.

  • Diana Al-Hadid opens this week at The Weatherspoon Art Museum at the University of North Carolina (Greensboro). The exhibition highlights Al-Hadid’s use of art historical references to examine sculptural and pictorial space. The work will be on view from February 9–May 5. The artist’s talk and opening reception takes place February 8 at 6pm.
  • El Anatsui‘s first solo exhibition in a New York opens this week at the Brooklyn Museum. Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui features over 30 works in metal and wood that transform appropriated objects into site-specific sculptures. Anatsui converts found materials into new works that are at the intersection between sculpture and painting. The work combines aesthetic traditions from Ghana, Nigeria, and explores the global history of abstraction. The show runs February 8–August 4.
  • Charles Atlas’ newly completed film, Exchange, will be screened at Electronic Arts Intermix (NYC). Atlas created this work from never-before-seen footage that he shot in 1978, that was only recently rediscovered by the Merce Cunningham Trust. It captures a performance by Cunningham and his company, with costumes and backdrop designed by Jasper Johns and music by David Tudor. The screening will take place February 7 at 6:30pm.
  • Charles Atlas collaborated with Bloomberg SPACE and the South London Gallery to create a 360 degree video installation using original, manipulated and found footage from a variety of sources including the Bloomberg digital archives. Charles Atlas: Glacier consists of projected images that scroll across the large windows and walls of the gallery space to create an immersive environment. The show closes March 30.

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Weekly Roundup

January 28th, 2013
Untitled (Helman Gallery Parallelogram), 1971. © 2012 Bruce Nauman / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / DACS London

Bruce Nauman. “Untitled (Helman Gallery Parallelogram),” 1971. © 2012 Bruce Nauman/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/DACS London.

In this week’s roundup, Roni Horn wins the Joan Miro International Prize, Alfredo Jaar focuses on human rights, James Turrell and Jenny Holzer explore the nature of light, and more.

  • Roni Horn has been named winner of the fourth Joan Miro International Prize 2013, one of the most prestigious art awards in the world. Horn will receive the award in a ceremony to be held January 30 in Barcelona, according to the Miro Foundation. In addition to receiving the award, Horn will be featured at an exposition to be held in the summer of 2014 at the Miro Foundation in Barcelona and, later, at the CaixaForum Madrid.
  • Rashid Johnson is included a group show at Galerie Guido W. Baudach (Berlin). Heinzmann Johnson Zipp juxtaposes Johnson’s and two other artists’ paintings that represent the continuation of various impulses drawn from modernism. The gallery highlights each artist as a solitary figure with his own unique, autonomous and incisive voice. The exhibition closes March 2.
  • Josiah McElheny: Towards a Light Club is on view at the Wexner Center for the Arts (Columbus, OH). The exhibition features works by Josiah McElheny that explore the history of modernist utopias in a series of kaleidoscopic projections, narrative films, stunning illuminated sculptures, and humorous performances. The show runs until April 7.
  • Alfredo Jaar:The Politics of Images is on view at the Ryerson Image Center (Toronto). In his works Alfredo Jaar displays covers of news magazines to analyze the lack of visibility and the visual clichés about Africa disseminated in Western culture. The artist’s most recent project on the genocide in Rwanda acts as an epilogue to The Rwanda Project, 1994-2000, a series of twenty-five artworks developed to critique the world’s indifference and inaction to this mass murder. The show closes April 14.
  • James Turrell and Jenny Holzer will present their work at the Hayward Gallery (London). Light Show explores the nature of light, bringing together sculptures and installations that use light in a variety of ways. The exhibition runs January 30–April 28.
  • Bruce Nauman‘s latest show will soon be at Hauser & Wirth London. Bruce Nauman / mindfuck features a rigorous selection of works from throughout Nauman’s career, with a particular emphasis on his iconic neon sculptures and installations. The work is on view from January 30–March 9.
  • Hiroshi Sugimoto‘s Revolution is at the Museum Brandhorst (Munich). The exhibition presents nocturnal seascapes in large format, which captured the cycle of the moon during a longer period of time. This large-sized and extensive group of fifteen works, with which the artist has been working for a long time, will be shown to the public in Munich for the first time. This work is on view through February 10.
  • William Kentridge‘s upcoming show, Poems I Used to Know, will be on view at the Volte Gallery (Mumbai). The show comprises large drawings done in Indian ink on pieced-together book pages, a film installation, a series of flip book films, sculptures, etchings, photogravures, and a large tapestry. The exhibition will run from February 6–March 20.

Weekly Roundup

January 7th, 2013
Fred Wilson. "To Die Upon a Kiss," (2011). © Fred Wilson, courtesy Pace Gallery. Photo: G.R. Christmas, courtesy Pace Gallery, New York.

Fred Wilson. “To Die Upon a Kiss,” (2011). © Fred Wilson, courtesy Pace Gallery. Photo: G.R. Christmas, courtesy Pace Gallery, New York.

In this week’s roundup Fred Wilson questions museum practices, Gabriel Orozco is inspired by throwing boomerangs, and more.

  • Fred Wilson has work on view at the Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, OH) in Fred Wilson: Works 2004 - 2011. The exhibition explores how the artist has addressed critical questions, about museum practices in particular, through his site-specific interventions done in collaboration with cultural institutions. Presented here are four different works, including The Mete of the Muse (2006) that juxtaposes contradictions that reveal the blind spots in a hegemonic understanding of culture and history; and To Die Upon a Kiss (2011), which speaks to the realization that culture is almost never homogenous and that cultural history seldom takes a linear course. This exhibition closes May 5.
  • Gabriel Orozco discusses how throwing boomerangs inspired his current exhibition at the Guggenheim (NYC). Titled Asterisms, the show is a unique assemblage of photos and sculpture drawn from collecting detritus at two sites. Sandstars responds to the unique environment encountered in Isla Arena, Mexico, a wildlife reserve. Astroturf Constellation explores taxonomic classification of debris left on the playing field’s at New York City’s Pier 40. The show is on view through January 13. A new video has been posted on the Complex magazine website. Watch it here.
  • Jeff Koons has been commissioned to design a new wine label for Chateau Mouton Rothschild vintage. He is the latest in a lineage of artists annually commissioned by Baroness Philippine de Rothschild. For his label, Koons has used Botticelli’s Birth of Venus as his base and added an illustration in silver ink. The design will bee seen on bottles for sale in the near future.
  • Alfredo Jaar will speak at the Denver Art Museum (Denver, CO) as part of the Logan Lecture series. Jaar will discuss how his seminal projects on the working conditions of Brazilian gold miners, the detainment of Vietnamese boat people by the Hong Kong government, and the slaughter of Tutsi by Hutu death squads in Rwanda have simultaneously asserted and questioned art’s ability to raise awareness, change social norms, and advance social justice. The lecture will take place on March 20 at 7 pm in the Sharp Auditorium at the Museum’s Frederic C. Hamilton Building. Doors open at 6:15 pm.

Weekly Roundup

December 31st, 2012
Alfredo Jaar. "The Geometry of Conscience," (2010). Courtesy of the artist and the Museum of Memory and Human Rights.

Alfredo Jaar. “The Geometry of Conscience,” (2010). Courtesy of the artist and the Museum of Memory and Human Rights.

In this week’s roundup, Alfredo Jaar reconnects the dots of a collective memory, Cindy Sherman presents early work, El Anatsui showcases his pot of wisdom, and more.

  • Alfredo Jaar created a memorial for the victims of the 17 years long Pinochet military rule and dictatorship. The Geometry of Conscience is installed in a plaza next to the Museum of Memory and Human Rights (Santiago, Chile). The installation offers an intimate opportunity for Chileans to unearth history and reconnect the dots of a still half-buried collective memory. Located underground, the exhibit is a silent three minute experience that can only be shared by ten people at once.
  • Cindy Sherman: Early Works will be unveiled at the Gucci Museo (Florence, Italy). Following her graduation in 1976 Cindy Sherman, together with a group of artists, created works and organized numerous exhibitions. The show includes three bodies of work, Murder Mystery (1976), Bus Riders (1976) and Doll Clothes (1975), from these early years. The exhibition runs from January 10 until June 9, 2013.
  • El Anatsui‘s third solo exhibition in a NYC gallery is on view at the Jack Shainman Gallery. Pot of Wisdom showcases the artist’s continued use of found metals and copper wire. This body of work explores new formal approaches to color, composition and line. The show closes January 19, 2013.
  • El Anatsui‘s first solo exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum will feature over 30 works in metal and wood that transform appropriated objects into site-specific sculptures. Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui includes twelve recent monumental wall and floor sculptures, widely considered to represent the apex of the artist’s career. The exhibition will run February 8 – August 4, 2013.
  • Bruce Nauman, Mark Bradford, and Jenny Holzer present works as part of the Tenth Anniversary Acquisitions exhibition at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (Texas). Kingdom Day (2010) by Bradford consists of four 10-by-10-foot canvases, as an homage to the Kingdom Day Parade in Los Angeles. Studio Mix (2010), a new video and sound installation by Nauman, is inspired by a set of finger exercises that the composer Béla Bartók wrote for children learning the piano. Holzer’s signature, kinesthetic light-emitting diode (LED) signs deliver texts in ‘Ando blue.’ These works are on view through August 18, 2013.

Weekly Roundup

December 10th, 2012
Jeff Koons. "Coloring Book 1997–2005," 2012. Photo by Kenzo. Courtesy of the artist.

Jeff Koons. “Coloring Book 1997–2005,” 2012. Photo by Kenzo. Courtesy the artist.

In this week’s roundup Jeff Koons presents colorful sculpture, New York Close Up is at the SoHo Apple Store, William Kentridge creates a new flipbook, Gabriel Orozco is inspired by games, several artists are honored, and more.

  • Wesley Miller and Nick Ravich – co-creators and co-producers of New York Close Up, Art21′s web-original documentary series – will be participating in events at the Apple Store SoHo (NYC) this Tuesday, December 11 at 7:00 pm. Creating the Portrait of an Artist: New York Close Up includes a screening from New York Close Up and a discussion to be followed by an audience Q&A. The event is free and open to the public.
  • Jeff Koons opened a new exhibition at Gagosian Beverly Hills. Coloring Book 1997–2005 is a sculpture that consists of highly reflective stainless steel with a surface decoration of brightly colored swirls. This work is on view through February 14, 2013.
  • Allora & Calzadilla screens video that celebrates the end of missile testings run by the U.S. Army in the island of Vieques in Puerto Rico, at the Oudeis museum (Le Vigan, France). Included in the Green Silence roundtable exhibition is Returning a Sound (2004), which features a trumpet attached to the pipe of a motorcycle, producing  sounds that change with the accelerations. The video plays Monday to Friday, 3:00pm – 7:00pm until December 15.
  • Josiah McElheny unveiled a site-specific conceptual art project at the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in time for Art Basel Miami. The Light Club of Vizcaya: A Woman’s Picture  is a thirty-minute film that references a little-known short-story by German writer Paul Scheerbart, The Light Club of Batavia, written in 1912. McElheny combines footage of historical and archival documents along with current images of Vizcaya. The film is on view through March 18, 2013.
  • William Kentridge presents an exhibition of recent work at Goodman Gallery Cape Town (South Africa). NO, IT IS sets elements from various projects together with new work made especially for the exhibition – allowing the gallery to be the space where different bodies of work collide and make new connections. The flipbook, NO, IT IS, was the start of a new project of making flipbooks and flipbook films. The show runs December 18 – February 2, 2013.
  • Jenny Holzer will unveil her latest site-specific work at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (Texas). Kind of Blue will feature seven channels of lighted text running through the central gallery looking out onto the pond.
  • Judy Pfaff presents her work as part of a group show at Robischon Gallery (Denver). Judy Pfaff, Katy Stone, Ana Maria Hernando includes eleven sculptures and thirteen framed assemblages by Pfaff that are predominantly inspired by the unique culture of place – reflecting the artist’s travels to India, China, and Japan. The exhibition closes December 22.
  • El Anatsui has an exhibition at the Denver Museum of Art (Colorado). When I Last Wrote to You about Africa is the first retrospective of the artist’s work, including sculptures in wood, ceramic, and mixed media.  The 61 works cover all phases of the artist’s career, from his early work in Ghana utilizing traditional symbols, to found driftwood works made in Denmark, to sculptures made using the chainsaw as a carving tool. The show closes January 6, 2013.
  • Gabriel Orozco is among several artists whose works are inspired by the structure and aesthetics of games. Game Room on view at the Hammer Museum (Los Angeles) and presents work that explores human interaction as a central aspect of game play. The exhibition runs through February 17, 2013.
  • Alfredo Jaar will represent Chile with a major new site-specific installation at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013. This work will be on view at the Giardini in the Arsenale June 1 – November 24, 2013.

Weekly Roundup

December 3rd, 2012
Ai Weiwei. "Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads," 2012. Photo courtesy the artist.  © 2012 Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

Ai Weiwei. “Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads,” 2012. Photo courtesy the artist. © 2012 Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

In this week’s roundup Ai Weiwei’s Chinese zodiac heads, Erin Shirreff’s light works, Laurie Anderson’s book collection and more.

  • Ai Weiwei‘s first U.S. retrospective is on view at the Hirschhorn Museum (D.C.). Ai Weiwei: According to What? occupies the museum’s entire second level and part of the third with installations, sculpture, photography and video and audio works. A catalog featuring his most significant works since 2000 can be downloaded here. The show closes February 24, 2013.
  • Ai Weiwei‘s outdoor sculpture Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads is on view at the Hirschhorn. The installation, which features twelve bronze animal heads representing the signs of the Chinese zodiac, each of which stand approximately ten feet high, will be displayed around the perimeter of the fountain in the Museum’s central plaza. This work is on view through February 24, 2013.

  • Erin Shirreff: Available Light is the artist’s first solo exhibition in Canada, on view at Agnes Etherington Art Centre (Kingston). The show is an investigation of how light and form unites Erin Shirreff‘s approach to different media. The show is on view until January 27, 2013.
  • To Beauty: A Tribute to Mike Kelley, an exhibition featuring the late Mike Kelley‘s work, is on view at the Frost Art Museum (Miami). The pieces are mostly from a local collection and gives visitors a chance to study some of the more subtle art in the artist’s spectrum. The exhibition runs through February 24, 2013.
  • Collected Stories: Books by Laurie Anderson, now on view at the Henry Art Gallery (Seattle), samples Laurie Anderson‘s collection of publications, ranging from a 1971 wordless picture book about a mysterious package to a more recent illustrated dream journal. This exhibition closes February 3, 2013.
  • Kimsooja and John Baldessari have works on view in Now Here is also Nowhere, Part I at the Henry Art Gallery (Seattle). The show is billed as a survey of how “artists continually question and destabilize the nature of the art object.” The exhibition closes January 6, 2013.

Weekly Roundup

October 22nd, 2012
Judy Pfaff. Humming in 5 Parts, 2012. Photo courtesy of the artist and Ameringer McEnery Yohe.

Judy Pfaff. “Humming in 5 Parts,” 2012. Photo courtesy of the artist and Ameringer McEnery Yohe.

In this week’s roundup Eleanor Antin reads from her memoir, Judy Pfaff presents her work, Cai Guo-Qiang to appear at the NY Public Library, Rashid Johnson explores new typologies and more.

  • Eleanor Antin will be “taking over” Art21′s Twitter account on Friday, October 26 at 2:00 p.m. EST. Through posts of 140 characters or less, the artist will ”read” stanzas of a story from her memoir, Conversations with Stalin, before embarking on four New York-based performances (see below). The artist encourages audience participation throughout, and will respond to questions submitted by audience members following the live Twitter “reading.” The event will take place from 2:00–3:00 p.m. EST on Twitter. Follow along with@Art21 and the hashtag #AntinCWS, ask questions, and see what else Eleanor Antin has to say.
  • Judy Pfaff is showing her work at Ameringer McEnery Yohe (NYC). This exhibition highlights the artist’s use of steel, glass, florescent lights, found objects, root systems of trees, paper and other materials. Her work is “ordered in the way that nature is ordered, without boundaries.” This show is on view through November 10.
  • Cai Guo-Qiang will participate in a discussion and book signing for Cai Guo-Qiang: Ladder to the Sky at the New York Public Library. The book features a rich sampling of Cai’s diverse oeuvre, from never-before-published early works to new works commissioned for a major exhibition at The Museum of Contemporary Art. This event will take place October 30, 6pm–8pm. This event is free and open to the public.
  • Rashid Johnson presents new work at the David Kordansky Gallery (Los Angeles). Coup d’état, Johnson’s second solo exhibition at the gallery, features new works in a variety of materials, in which wood, mirrored tile and wax are used as grounds for a series of mark-making strategies; as well as a series of floor-based works that use rugs as supports for further gestures. Among these are several works that represent new typologies for the artist. The show closes November 10.

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Weekly Roundup

October 15th, 2012
Alfredo Jaar. Muxima, 2005. Video, color. 36'. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Lelong, NY.

Alfredo Jaar. “Muxima,” 2005. Video, color. 36′. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Lelong, NY.

In this week’s roundup Alfredo Jaar addresses human rights, William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible screens in Strasbourg, Mark Dion presents two lectures and more.

  • Alfredo Jaar presents Let There Be Light at the ING Culture Center (Brussels). The focus of this show is the issue of human rights and the problem of representation: the dichotomy between photography and violence, suffering and pain. It also includes a selection of photographs and films that are related to the African continent. The exhibition runs through December 12.
  • Barbara Kruger joined the ForYourArt arts education initiative in Los Angeles. The program, dubbed Arts Matter, launched this week with a fleet of 12 buses wrapped in text by Kruger who is making two additional works for the program that will adorn bus shelters, billboards, and other outdoor spaces.
  • Mark Dion will present another lecture, sponsored by the Department of Art and Design at Loyola University (New Orleans, LA). The event will take place at Miller Hall, Room 114 on Tuesday, October 23 at 6:30pm. This event is free and open to the public.
  • Janine Antoni and Mira Schor will participate in the Annual Artists’ Interviews, taking place in ARTspace during the 2013 College Art Association Conference in New York. Klaus Ottmann, director of the Center for the Study of Modern Art and curator at large at the Phillips Collection, will interview Antoni and Stuart Horodner, artistic director of the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, will interview Schor. The talks will be held on Friday, February 15, 2013, from 2:30 to 5pm at the Hilton in New York.
  • Pepón Osorio was honored with the Faculty of the Game award during a Temple University football game. He is the third faculty member nominated by Interim Provost Hai Lung Dai to be honored by Temple’s Department of Athletics with the award.

Weekly Roundup

September 24th, 2012
Walton Ford. The Rolling Stones, Grrr! 2012. Image courtesy of rollingstones.com.

Walton Ford. "The Rolling Stones, Grrr!," 2012. Image courtesy rollingstones.com.

In this week’s roundup Cai Guo-Qiang is a 2012 prize laureate, Barbara Kruger and Cindy Sherman are honored, Laurie Anderson performs in Albuquerque, several artist celebrate Warhol, Walton Ford designs the Stones’ album cover and more.

  • Cai Guo-Qiang won the Praemium Imperiale, an international arts prize patronized by Japan’s ruling dynasty, worth 15 million yen ($192,600). This is a global arts prize awarded annually by the Japan Art Association.
  • Barbara Kruger and Cindy Sherman will be honored at the Hammer Museum’s 10th anniversary Gala in the Garden, which will include a performance by singer Katy Perry. Actor Steve Martin will present the tribute to Sherman and MSNBC host Rachel Maddow will make the presentation for Kruger. This year’s Gala is set for October 6.
  • Carrie Mae Weems is having her first comprehensive retrospective, which opened at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts (Nashville, TN). Carrie Mae Weems: Three Decades of Photography and Video includes some 225 photographs, videos and installations, from her earliest, never-before-published ’70s documentary photographs to brand-new pieces. It will travel to the Portland Art Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cantor Center for Visual Arts and the Guggenheim Museum. The Frist show is on view through January 13.
  • Walton Ford joins a list that has included Andy Warhol, Guy Peellaert and Peter Corriston by designing the Rolling Stones’ 50th anniversary album. For the cover of The Rolling Stones, GRRR!, the compilation album due out in November, Ford recontextualised John Pasche’s iconic lips-and-lolling-tongue logo.

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Weekly Roundup

July 16th, 2012
Kara Walker. Exodus of Confederates from Atlanta. Courtesy of Kara Walker and the Museum of Modern Art, New York City.

Kara Walker. "Exodus of Confederates from Atlanta," 2005. Courtesy of Kara Walker and the Museum of Modern Art, New York City.

In this week’s roundup Kara Walker sources work from Harper’s, Cindy Sherman arrives in San Francisco, several artists address political and aesthetic urgency in Minneapolis, and more.

  • Kara Walker‘s series Works from Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated) is featured in the July 2012 issue of Harper’s Magazine. The series, which was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art last spring, consists of fifteen lithographs and prints created using enlargements of woodcut prints from the book. Four images, all named after their source images’ captions, are featured: Exodus of Confederates from Atlanta, Cotton Hoards in Southern Swamp, Occupation of Alexandria, and Pack-Mules in the Mountains.
  • Robert Adams and An-My Lê are on the shortlist for Prix Pictet. This international photography competition seeks to promote sustainability, and this year’s theme is power. Portfolios tackle subjects such as Lê’s training maneuvers at a Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center. This work will be part of an exhibition set to open at Saatchi Gallery (London) following the award announcement on October 9.
  • Cindy Sherman opened at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. In the exhibition Cindy Sherman draws from many sources and she has produced series of works – consistently untitled – known by nicknames such as “head shots,” “clowns,” “centerfolds” and “society pictures.” In the process, she has taken the artifice of photography to new levels of scale, complexity and intensity. The show closes October 8.
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