Art Circles
By Holly Crawford
A Public Service Art Project for the Documentation of All Art!
New York Edition May 2004, # 0 Published by Codex Now LLC
Founder, Publisher & Editor Holly Crawford
A month ago, I had an idea. My mission is to have multiple voices comment on art in 30 words or less. I was particularly interested in all art that is not on permanent display, and particularly by living artists. I gave the writers who responded to the project free reign as to the type of review, and what and who to review. The only instruction was not to exceed 30 words. I did ask for a couple of longer reviews.
Voice Over is my way of presenting the major art museum exhibitions.
Manhattan
Frank Magnotta, "Untitled," Cohan and Leslie, 138 10th Ave, April 1 — May 1
Large scale graphite on paper. Crisp fantastical architectural drawings commenting on faith, relationships, real estate, and commercialism in the landscape. -Nicole Haroutunian
Rinko Kawauchi, "Untitled," Cohan and Leslie Project Room, 138 10th Ave, April 1 — May 1
C-prints capturing carefully composed and specific moments, a child’s silver fillings, a crack in a watermelon, a spoon of tapioca. -Nicole Haroutunian
Zwelethu Mthethwa, "Lines of Negotiation," Jack Shainman Gallery, 513 W. 20th, March 18 — April 17
C-prints of South African sugar cane harvesters. Dressed in layers of tattered clothing, the men seem to stop mid-machete swing to confront the viewer / photographer. -Nicole Haroutunian ââ¼
Voice Over–Whitney Biennial, Wed. 3/31, Thurs. 4/8, & Friday night 4/9.
I haven’t read any reviews…you need to check that bag… do you hear "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"… no… no?… you don’t?, I do…. I think it starts on this floor…this guy is so f…ked…where’s the bathroom?… your life’s a video…she gets a lot of press…cool…the artist was here yesterday…what’s downstairs?… I didn’t like the first floor…it’s raining…the layered painting…un huh…money…scary…let me just stand here…it looks like… fetish…there’s an arrow… actually …what is it?…the 60s…it’ the Beatles…same thing…did you ever read?…I write creative fiction…your too close…you can see a story progress…can’t do that yet…why not?…do you see that?…this is getting out of control…all you need is this, then you can recreate it… the experience…thirsty?…creepy…I looked at the motorcycle and thought that would be debated…let’s just walk down…that was six years ago…you know how crazy people get… I want to touch everything…I think this is really beautiful… I got out of bed this morning…let walk around it…we did…what the hell is that?…I don’t think so…this was in Chelsea… do you want me to stand in line for you?…no way…excuse me…too crowded…I’m sure it’s very nice inside…when you look at the work as a whole…some of it …compositionally …their kind of the same, look at the tattoos …anyway …I missed this whole section…this is the one…oh, no. not this…think it’s about 2 or 3 hours…where are the restrooms…you know what it is?…I’m starving…I skipped a lot of stuff on the third floor…did you see the mirrors?…I’m glad I came…I’d been wondering, how do you get to 75th and Madison? Let’s go for a soda… a cup of coffee? a hot chocolate.–Holly Crawford
ââ²
Jim Lambie, "Mental Oyster," Anton Kern Gallery, 532 W. 20th, April 1 — May 1
Transformed by incessant stripes of black vinyl tape, the gallery buzzes, revealing glittering surprises behind make-shift walls and human eyes cosied inside birds’ nests on the wall. Relentlessly original. -Nicole Haroutunian
Joe Andoe, "Out on the Perimeter," Feigen Contemporary, 535 W. 20th, April 1 — May 15
Oil on canvas. Cars, sex, drugs, and being a teenager in Tulsa. Predominantly monochromatic reductive works depict the simplicity, not the complexity, of adolescence. -Nicole Haroutunian
Carl Ostendarp, "Untitled," Elizabeth Dee Gallery, 545 W. 20th, April 4 — May 8
Acrylic on canvas. Large fields of bright candy colors sparsely marked by too-cute cartoonish squiggles, hearts, stars, and moons, recalling a series by M�ro. -Nicole Haroutunian
Group show, "Reality Check," Spike Gallery, 547 W. 20th, April 7 — May 29
Oil on canvas. An uneven showcase by emerging and established artists. Martin Mull’s nostalgic family scene is a highlight amidst the haphazard collection. -Nicole Haroutunian
Vincent Szarek, "Untitled," Sandra Gering Gallery, 534 W. 22nd , March 30 — April 27
Fiberglass sculptures, one installed with a car radio. The color, chrome, and music of a sports car without the functionality; vehicles reduced to their most fetishistic forms. -Nicole Haroutunian
Stephen Prina, "Homo Faber and the Exquisite Corpse," Frederich Petzel Gallery, 535 W. 22nd, April 3 — May 1
Three diptychs and six double-sided wall mounted compositions on delicately fibered paper. Connections and allusions are oblique. -Nicole Haroutunian
Group show, "Uncharted Territory: Subjective Mapping by Artists and Cartographers," Julie Saul Gallery, 535 W. 22nd, March 5 — April 10
Maps painted into, meticulously drawn, collaged, and humorously rendered. Highlight is the satirical "New Yorkistan," a recent New Yorker cover by Maira Kalman and Rick Meyerowitz. -Nicole Haroutunian
Tracey Baran, "Red," Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, 535 W. 22nd, March 6 — April 22
Photographs exploring the power of the color red, mostly through the red of hunters’ protective gear and the red blood of the deer they kill. -Nicole Haroutunian
Jean Shin, "Untitled," Frederick Taylor Gallery, 535 W. 22nd, March 19 — April 17
Brilliant installations of decontextualized everyday objects; bifocals embedded in the wall become windows to the outside, flayed leather shoes form hanging lattices. -Nicole Haroutunian
Stephanie Pryor, "New Paintings," CRG Gallery, 535 W. 22nd, March 27 — May 1
Ink and acrylic on paper; paintings’ small scale renders grand scenes from the opera, symphony, and theater jewel-like yet not at all precious. -Nicole Haroutunian
Group show, "Art History: Photography References Painting," Yancey Richardson Gallery, 535 W. 22nd, March 25 — April 24
Photographs draw on works by painters ranging from Thiebaud to Velasquez to Ingres to Eakins to Rothko, some more successful than others but all visually captivating. -Nicole Haroutunian
Martin Honert, "Untitled," Matthew Marks Gallery, 522 W. 22nd, March 6 — April 24
Multi-media sculptures based on drawings by the artist when he was a child. The craftsmanship is more spectacular than the final product. -Nicole Haroutunian
Thomas Kiær, "Double Paintings," DCA Gallery, 525 W. 22nd, April 1 — May 1
Serigraphics applied to canvas and painted over. Each work imbued with a narrative and a strong sense of mood. -Nicole Haroutunian
Group show, curated by Victor Zamudio-Taylor, "Finnish Tango Show and Finland Station," White Box, 525 W. 26th, March 19 — April 17
A strong cohesive show of film and photography. Jari Silomaki overlays photographs with personal and international current event captions, Sari Tervaniemi’s photo poem tells an edgy painful love story. -Nicole Haroutunian
Catherine Opie, "Surfers," Gorney Bravin + Lee, 534 W. 26th, March 13 — April 10
Photographic seascapes of the Malibu coastline, demographically diverse subjects share the common context of their surfing community. -Nicole Haroutunian
Rosemary Laing, "One Dozen Unnatural Disasters in the Australian Landscape," Gallery Lelong, 528 W. 26th, March 25-May 1
Large scale landscape photography, devoid of humans but replete with their influence. Artificially brilliant orange colored furniture and natural rock formations of the same hue unite the images. -Nicole Haroutunian
Shava Mogutin, "No Love," RareArt Properties, Inc., 521 W. 26th, April 3 — May 8
C-prints, color-saturated homoerotic scenes involving bondage and pornography reveal humor and irony as well as aggression and lust. -Nicole Haroutunian
Bronx
AIM 24, Bronx Museum, April 15-June 30
Group show at the Bronx Museum consisting of paintings, sculptures, videos, photographs, and installations by participants of the Artist in the Marketplace program. Highlights of over 30 works include: Alfonso Cantu’s "Zabriske Point", enamel painted on chip board in fragments which evoke the explosion from Zabriske Point; Kris Sabetelli’s humorous single channel video of awkwardly choreographed cars with plants on their hoods; and Haegene Kim’s installation of exquisitely rendered graphite portraits on ping pong balls.-Chris Kasper
Brooklyn
Open House: Working in Brooklyn, curated by Charlotta Kotik and Tumelo Mosaka, Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, April — August 15, 2004
Coinciding with the inauguration of the Brooklyn Museum’s new fa�ade, this show is a sampling of art being made in every facet of the borough. Works by two hundred Brooklyn artists – from recent art school grads to the legendary Louise Bourgeois – are displayed in two main galleries and throughout the museum in conversation with the permanent collection. Within the extraordinarily diverse exhibition, several themes emerge as particularly salient to Brooklyn’s contemporary artists. A current of political dissent runs from Marc Lepson’s mediation on an INS detention center to Wendy Giu’s stunning stairwell installation "United Nations — United 7561 Kilometers," woven of human hair from around the globe. Technology is a presence both conceptually and in the prevalence of video and multi-media installations such as Perry Hoberman’s "Your Time is Valuable," which is equipped with a sensor to tabulate how effectively the work holds a viewer’s attention. The art world, the prison system, the family, race, and gender issues are also frequent subjects of examination. Not surprisingly, the lived experience of Brooklyn infuses the entire show, from David Shapiro’s re-imagining of "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" to Chris Doyle’s large scale watercolors of himself in his art studio. Hoberman’s installation would agree that "Open House" is a thoroughly captivating show. -Nicole Haroutun
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Voice Over–Dieter Roth, MOMA and P.S. 1, Thurs., 4/15.
(cough)
…
what
…
there’s a
…
it looks like
…
they took it
…
(cough)
…
this is just too much
…
sorry
…
I know
…
nice
…
that’s good
…
(laugh)
…
hmm
…
hmm
…
Scheisse
…
ya
…
ein
…
Scheisse
…
zig
…
Scheisse
…
nein
…
dede dede dede
…
who knows
…
no?
…
no. —Holly Crawford
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Queens
F*ck Mother Nature — King Fisher Projects-17-17 Woodbine St., Ridgewood Queens, April 16-18.
King Fisher Projects, the curatorial project by New York painter, Matt Fisher presents their third group show "F*ck Mother Nature", exhibiting paintings, drawings and sculptures by 11 artists From April 16th through April 19th. Works examine a contemporary relationship with nature rather than the traditional idealized notion of Romantic landscape. Highlights include, James Davis’s "rock" sculpture is subtly humorous behind a veil of blunt pathos, manifested in a rock painted with grey enamel to look like a rock. Peter Teaberry’s painting "angler" is an odd psychological portrait of a middle America fisherman.
Kingfisher Projects is moving to Williamsburg in September. Be sure to check out the next show in Queens "Happy Endings" on May 28.–Chris Kasper
Copies are available at:
The Bronx Museum
1040 Grand Concourse
Bronx, NY 10456
The White Box
525 W 26th Street
New York, NY 10011
Contributors:
Nicole Haroutunian recently graduated from Vassar College. She writes in the mornings and works with children at the Henry Street Settlement in the afternoons. She lives in Willamsburg, Brooklyn with her roommate, her easel, and a lot of oil paint.
Chris Kasper is an artist working and living in New York. He has an MFA from Yale, and a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth. He recently completed an appointment as a Visiting Professor of Art at Wesleyan University. His current work consists primarily of fastidiously fabricated sculptures, which employ a wide array of random and disparate materials.
Holly Crawford is a artist, poet, and art historian, who now lives in New York. More– www.art-poetry.info
Letters should be addressed to Holly Crawford at hc@artcircles.org
Art Circles and Voice Over© Holly Crawford, 2004.
Please do not quote without permission.
We apologize for any errors of omissions.
ISSN 1549-9073
