Less well known are the exquisitely rendered spider drawings of French artist Odilon Redon (1840-1916) which takes on a friendly anthropomorphic view of the spider. In Smiling, an 1881 lithograph described by J.K. Huysmans in his classic novel of decadence A Rebours (1884) – translated Against Nature – a grinning spider, with ten legs rather […]

The painted “Narcissus”, attributed to Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio ca 1599, is the focal image of Francine LeClercq’s installation, whereas the erring gaze of Narcissus, the visual echo reverberating between the illusionistic picture plane and the actual gallery setting, the existential reciprocity between the subject and object, form and content,… are parallel notions and traits […]

dOCUMENTA 13 was extensive and manifold in its vision. The emphasis was not on “art” per se but on the act of creation in its myriad forms. dOCUMENTA is held every four or five years in the out-of-the-way German city of Kassel. dOCUMENTA 13 was ambitious in its scope both in content and geographical spread. […]

September 5th marked the 100th birthday of the late, great avant-garde musician, composer, wrtier, and theorist, John Cage. In honor of this momentous centennial organizations, symphonies and arts foundations all across the globe are throwing month-long events to celebrate not only the legend Cage left behind, but the man himself. “The usefulness of the useless […]

Two new exhibits opened this week in Chelsea dealing with themes of mourning, loss and searching. At Mixed Greens, Searching: Bas Jan Ader, Arianna Carossa & Mie Olise is a meditation on the search for meaning. The gallery is hosting some major works. Notably Ader, who is most famously known for works such as I’m […]

This September, over one dozen American artists will come together in Brooklyn to share what “Wildlife in the Post-Natural Age” looks like. The works range from drawing to painting, video animation, sculpture, and photography. The show focuses on work that addresses the interplay between wildlife and our domesticated selves and spaces. “It probes the persistence […]

In Between & Outside is a series of portraits by Sara Swaty exploring gender identity and the body across a broad spectrum of individuals. The works were created with an interest in how cultural preconceptions about gender have created unattainable ideals about masculinity and femininity. Subjects range from those born into a gender they do […]

  In his book, Green Metropolis, author David Owen makes a convincing argument that New York City is the most sustainable city in the U.S. Smaller residential units, higher densities, fewer households owning automobiles, fewer miles traveled for those who do own automobiles, all contribute to a more sustainable environment. Essentially, less energy is used […]

The Price of Sex is a documentary film and photo exhibit about women in Eastern Europe who fell through the cracks of migration. With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Eastern Europeans finally had a chance to taste raw capitalism. The unfortunate reality was that the vulnerable and uneducated lacked the necessary skills […]

Pierogi’s latest exhibit presents recent drawings by Hugo Crosthwaite. Included in this exhibition is a series of small notebook-size drawings in ink and wash that explore the artist’s process of visually consuming his surroundings like a predatory carnivore. He stalks images and feelings with a wryly humorous bent. He then recomposes them into a personal […]