LOOK INTO MY OWL

“People,” from Gillian Wearing, is the first major NYC solo show for the artist since 2003. The exhibit encompasses a wide variety of media and fills both floors of the Tanya Bokandar Gallery on West 21st Street.

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

“Next Year in Jerusalem,” at Gagosian Gallery in NYC is a solo exhibition of entirely new work from Anselm Kiefer.

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.
(more…)