Kenny Scharf, Elroy Vision, acrylic on canvas, 2012.

Another chapter of the ’50s future that never happened has been added to the ongoing pursuits of this artist. It’s a hyper colored account that leaves the viewer inundated in all the right ways.

Kenny Scharf, Hodgepodge, installation view, 2012.

Magnificent sculptures have been set adrift in the neutral environment. A fully customized Cadillac and grinning mushroom cloud picnic table complete the experience that Scharf establishes on the walls.

Kenny Scharf, Spamarama, oil, acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas, 2012.

The recurrence of marketing symbols and familiar characters comes from the artist’s childhood spent “just inches away” from the then newly established glow of American television. The persistent images overlapped in his young mind and are now recalled in an effluvium of brilliantly collaged compositions.

Kenny Scharf, Spicy, found objects and acrylic, 2012.

Kenny Scharf maintains studios in New York, Los Angeles and Brazil. When in South America, he combs the beaches collecting garbage that has been weathered by the elements. The sun-bleached detritus is known as “lixo” and is also the title of this body of wall hanging sculptures. Great artists are known for working with raw material that are most readily available. Scharf collects his imagery as it washes ashore or gently laps against his retinas.

Kenny Scharf, Cosmic Cavern, mixed media installation, 2012.

Visitors to the gallery will enjoy the black-lit experience of the “Cosmic Cavern.” The first incarnation of the piece dates back to 1981. Known then as the “Cosmic Closet” it was installed in a New York apartment that Scharf shared with Keith Haring. It is a transformative experience that temporarily recalibrates the eyes and forces a magical distortion in perception.

Kenny Scharf, Blablobs, oil on canvas, 2012.

“Hodgepodge” is a journey that is felt strongly when the viewer exits the gallery. Emerging from the space sets a comfort point of nostalgia that leaves an impression akin to homesickness.

Kenny Scharf
Hodgepodge
14 April – 19 May 2012
Honor Fraser
Los Angeles

Images courtesy of Honor Fraser.

Zimoun, Volume, installation view, 2012.

Visitors to Bitforms are met with a solid wall of cardboard boxes rising nearly to the ceiling. Small muffled thuds are audible emanating from each box. The wall creates a hallway that leads the visitor around to an opening permitting access to the interior of the structure. The opening acts much like the bass port on a speaker focusing air and sound toward the listener.

Once inside, the secret origin of the sound is revealed to be small motors attached to each box surface churning a length of wire. Each spinning wire terminates in a compressed ball of cotton that taps the box in constant rhythm. The sound stage created relaxes the mind with a saturated white noise that transports the consciousness even if just for a moment. I suspect that the vibrations also stimulate the pineal gland but there is no reference that verifies this as intent.

Zimoun, 25 Woodworms, Wood, Microphone, Sound System, HD video loop, edition of 6, 2009.

The large room installation will surely make you want to continue to the pieces on the sixth floor. Some beautiful smaller sound sculptures founded on similar principles are in operation alongside a brilliant interactive visual “mirror.” Also, the video loop of 25 Woodworms, Wood, Microphone, Sound System pictured above is playing its eerie sound of specialization at work.

There are currently two weeks left in the huge exhibition celebrating Zimoun at The Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida. The video below, produced by the museum, offers excellent documentation of the work.

Zimoun
2 February – 10 March 2012
Bitforms Gallery
NYC

Images courtesy of Bitforms Gallery.

Christophe Laudamiel, Phantosmia, installation view, 2012.

The smell that hits the visitor as they enter the gallery is titled “The Remembrance of Things Lost”. The critical components that went into the production of the rich discharge were inspired by the life of Marlene Dietrich. Each tent cordoned off individual auras with the overall gallery aroma serving as a reference to recalibrate the nose.

Christophe Laudamiel, Phantosmia, installation view, 2012.

I’m quite accustomed to having my senses plucked when encountering artwork but this groundbreaking effort shifted my sensitivities to a variety of pongs encountered elsewhere that evening. Gallery night is a vision quest for me but I was pleased to have Laudamiel open my nose to other possibilities. It was a surprise to feel the wildness of “The Banana and the Monkey” and pure delight to emerge from the face twisting enclosure entitled “Fear.” The installation is only in place for a few more days so move quickly to see… er, smell this one.

Christophe Laudamiel, The Banana and the Monkey, exhibition label, 2012.

Christophe Laudamiel
Phantosmia – all but the smell
25 January – 1 February 2012
Dillon Gallery
NYC

Images courtesy of Dillon Gallery.

Tiffany Carbonneau, Here and Now, unique projection approximately 20 stories tall, DVD, 22 minutes, 2011.

Tiffany Carbonneau, Here and Now, unique projection approximately 20 stories tall, DVD, 22 minutes, 2011.

Phillip David Stearns, Apeiron / Peras V & IV, DVD with bonus material, 21 minutes, edition of 500, 2009.

Nia Burks, Angry Gamers, DVD, 3:03 minutes, edition of 5 + 2 AP, 2011.

Nia Burks, Angry Gamers, DVD, 3:03 minutes, edition of 5 + 2 AP, 2011.

Nia Burks, Angry Gamers, DVD, 3:03 minutes, edition of 5 + 2 AP, 2011.

Sean Capone, High Rise, DVD, 6 minutes, edition of 10, 2011.

Paul Moakley, Balls Flying Everywhere, DVD, 30 minutes, edition of 25, 2011.

Paul Moakley, Balls Flying Everywhere, DVD, 30 minutes, edition of 25, 2011.

Paul Moakley, Balls Flying Everywhere, DVD, 30 minutes, edition of 25, 2011.

Paul D. Miller (DJ Spooky), Ice Sonification, Antarctica Project, DVD, 8:08 minutes, edition of 5 + 2 AP, 2011.

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Alex Villar, Breaking into Business, DVD, silent, 9 minutes, edition of 5 + 2 AP, 2011.

View from the Ivory Tower exhibition, 2011.

Ivory Tower
1 – 4 December 2011

Leo Villareal, Cylinder, white LEDs, mirror finished stainless steel, custom software, electrical hardware, 12 x 9 x 9 feet, 2011.

Suspended amidst small shards of mirror finished stainless steel, more than twenty thousand while LED lights have been tuned to dim and brighten in concert. The artist has likened the time based piece to a musical score. The pulsations mount frequencies through the optic nerve that can result in a light hypnotic shift.

Leo Villareal, Cylinder (detail), white LEDs, mirror finished stainless steel, custom software, electrical hardware, 12 x 9 x 9 feet, 2011.

The exhibit is titled “Volume” and contains one piece of sculpture, “Cylinder.” The space in between the edge of the lights and the surrounding walls is very important to Villareal. The light pulsing on the wall behind you and the shift to dark that happens on the others that you are with is all part of the art. Step into this thoughtful sequence and you become it while it becomes you.

Leo Villareal, Cylinder (detail), white LEDs, mirror finished stainless steel, custom software, electrical hardware, 12 x 9 x 9 feet, 2011.

Leo Villareal
Volume
4 May – 25 June 2011
Gering & López Gallery
NYC

Gillian Wearing, Me as Warhol in Drag with Scar, framed bromide print, 63 3/8 x 51 1/2 inches, 2010.

The work collected for this display includes video installations, photographs and sculptures. This diverse array blends seamlessly as the viewer is introduced to one acquaintance after the next.

Gillian Wearing, Gervais, painted bronze on plywood plinth , 15 1/2 x 4 7/8 x 6 3/4 inches, 2010.

Identity skates very thin ice in all of these works. In the shuffle, it can be easy to lose a sense of self when empathy takes root. You can’t hear it in these still images but words are the pure energy that ribbons through all of the media. The Art here is experiential, get to the gallery and make the breakthrough.

Gillian Wearing, Secrets and Lies, video for monitor with sound, 53 minutes, 16 seconds , 96 x 69 x 97 inches, 2009.

Gillian Wearing
People
5 May – 24 June 2011
Tanya Bonakdar Gallery
NYC

Anselm Kiefer, Flying Fortress, airplane engine, steel, photographs, lead and oil, emulsion, acrylic, shellac on clay on canvas in inscribed glass and steel vitrine, 2010.

The mixed media show inhabits the walls and floors of the gallery filling the space much like a natural history museum display. The glass vitrines contain precious artifacts that appeal to a sense of external discovery and internal moments.

Anselm Kiefer, San Loreto, oil, emulsion, acrylic and shellac on canvas, 2009-2010.

Anselm Kiefer is known to work on a larger than human scale and this series of new work is in line with his history. The near monumental size has on occasion been mistaken as a crutch that artists rely on to overwhelm the viewer but it is important to remember that weakness can also be magnified at this scale. The foundation of these compositions and the structure of these thoughts are sound.

Anselm Kiefer, Winterwald, oil, emulsion, acrylic, shellac, ash, torn bushes, synthetic teeth and snakeskin on canvas in glass and steel frames, 2010.

Kiefer has completed an amazing body of work throughout his career. The tremendous quality of his previous efforts often make it difficult to imagine pleasing new directions and yet it is exactly this that we should expect. He remains a cunning manipulator of material and a master of entangling history and dream to engage more than his generation.

Anselm Kiefer, Ararat, oil, emulsion, acrylic, shellac, ash, torn bushes, synthetic teeth and snakeskin on canvas in glass and steel frames, 2010.

Anselm Kiefer
Next Year in Jerusalem
6 November – 18 December 2010
Gagosian Gallery
NYC

Today, the Whitney Museum of American Art has thrown the doors open on “Diver” a retrospective exhibition highlighting the wide scope of work generated by artist Paul Thek in his short lifetime. Yesterday, the museum let us in to preview the work on display and we have some photos to share.

The retrospect is thoughtfully curated. Each room folds out another aspect, time period and location change from the career of the artist. It’s a sensation that is felt by the viewer as avenues that appear as growth from change rather than linear progress. To experience the work contained in “Diver” as it is laid out is to get a surreal sense of the life of Paul Thek.

The last room of the exhibit contains work produced shortly before Thek submitted to complications from AIDS. The paintings are hung very low in this room. The audience is forced to bow or kneel to engage the work closely. Thek’s sentiments, knowing he was going to die, unearth a beauty of spirit and directness that reorganize his life’s effort into new clarity.

Paul Thek was a man that knew the history of his trade well, this is evident from getting to know his work. Another thing that jumps out is that he became, himself, an influence to countless artists. It is the first major examination of his work in the United States. If time and space are against you and you can’t get to New York, pick up the 304 page catalogue, here.

More photos after the break.

Paul Thek
Diver, A Retrospective
21 October – 9 January 2010
Whitney Museum of American Art
NYC

A piece of Big Bambú engaged a large part of the studio. The huge sculpture is comprised of more than 2500 strips of bamboo lashed together with nylon mountain climbing rope. The piece changes often as lengths are unattached and reattached elsewhere moving the behemoth structure in a slow, cascading manner. The rest of Big Bambú is currently occupying the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art overlooking New York City’s Central Park through October 31st. This is one artwork that you must see.

There is a constant buzz of activity that envelops visitors to this place. The inherited space has a raw, industrial feel that is completely overshadowed by the warmth of creativity and workspace ingenuity. The harsh warehouse lighting has been dispersed by hanging large white semitransparent textiles. This sort of handmade feel to the functional furnishings pervade the interior design and predicate a sense of the practical genius that is at work. We took tons of pictures so that you may share in the amazing experience.

Be sure to click through for many more photographs.

Be sure to click through for many more photographs.

Ron English
Status Factory
12 September -29 October 2010
NYC