LOOK INTO MY OWL

Traditionally, the art world “shuts down” for the Summer. It is a broad market perspective that sends the art collector for a well deserved ocean respite. It’s also a good time for art world transitions.

I’ve been involved in several off-season moves that will intensify my career as artist, dealer and art writer. New York City is on the very near horizon and I should be in position soon to conduct more studio visits, museum previews and exhibition reviews.

The Summer has also brought about the founding of my personal artist website. I’m offering up a new signed and numbered, archival, limited edition pigment print seven days a week. All of my artistic pursuits are updated daily on the site. Check in regularly to examine progress on my portfolio, ongoing projects and store. Please sign up here to receive a weekly digest via email highlighting all of the action.

Scroll down for a small selection of my work from this year. Two prints, a pair of photographs, a couple of projects, some paintings and now, yes, I have been branded with my own logo.

Scott Lickstein, Spectrum Sipper, archival pigment print on 300 gsm, 100% cotton, acid & lignin free paper, 20.25 x 17 inches, 2011.

Scott Lickstein, The Hawk, archival pigment print on 300 gsm, 100% cotton, acid & lignin free paper, 17 x 17 inches, 2011.

Scott Lickstein, Life and Death in the Forest, c-print, 2011.

Scott Lickstein, Mystics and Tides 014, c-print, 2011.

Scott Lickstein, When I’m Gone 036, 2011.

Scott Lickstein, When I’m Gone 044, 2011.

Scott Lickstein with Ian Gamache, Let’s Play Hostage, 2011.

Scott Lickstein with Ian Gamache, Boring Summer Movie, 2011.

Scott Lickstein, Speechless, 2011.

Scott Lickstein, Moonwolf, 2011.

“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

The Barbara Gross Galerie in Munich is currently holding their first exhibit with Finnish photographer, Anni Leppälä.

Anni Leppälä, Shirt (hand), pigment print on aluminum, 12 x 17″, 2010.

The recent imagery coming from Anni Leppälä has been carefully stripped of identity. These anonymous portraits are solemn investigations into the objectification of the body. The removal of distinguishable traits enables the viewer to commune with the models on a level that recalls personal experience more than an external voyeurism.

Anni Leppälä, Garden, c-print on aluminum, 24 x 33″, 2007.

An uneasy feeling rolls over those that witness these small scale photographs. The fragmented anatomy plays with our desire to complete. Our eye follows leading lines that cause the mind to exhaust contextual possibilities, for better or worse.

Leppälä is a member of the Helsinki School, a strong selection of young artists from the region that has gathered some attention through their collective. Be sure to click on the link and check out her comrades.

Anni Leppälä, Two Daughters (in a boat), pigment print on aluminum, 12 x 17″, 2010.

Anni Leppälä
1 April – 14 May 2011
Barbara Gross Galerie
Munich