LOOK INTO MY OWL

“You’re My Favorite Kind of American”, a survey of recent photographs, video and sculpture by Luis Gispert is on view at the Rhona Hoffman Gallery in Chicago. The display forwards Gispert’s absorption with shared obsession.

Luis Gispert, Untitled (Scion), c-print, 2009.

The photographs glorify the customization of transportation. Fashioning one’s environment is a natural activity that is celebrated in these detailed compositions. The sci-fi landscapes exaggerate an endless search for the impossible ideal.

Luis Gispert, Greengrocer’s Apostrophe, wood, fiberglass and audio components, 2009.

An addiction to depletion is examined in the sculptures. The urban desires of menthol cigarettes, high-end footwear and crack cocaine are mashed up into a romantic pitfall. The heart shaped woofer set into the piece literally crowns the enchantment.

Luis Gispert, René (installation view), three-channel hd video, 2008.

“René”, a three channel video projection is also being screened in the middle gallery. The work immerses the viewer in the daily tasks of the artist’s close friend. René’s mechanical occupation is dramatized through careful editing and time compression. It is this heightening of simplicity that runs through the art in it’s various media. More than a wholeness of design, these works bond in possibilities available to the familiar.

Luis Gispert
You’re My Favorite Kind of American
11 September – 17 October 2009
Rhona Hoffman Gallery
Chicago

The west coast premiere of Doug Aitken’s twenty five minute film “Migration” is being screened at Regen Projects in Los Angeles. Simultaneously, the gallery is presenting a new series of light boxes created by the artist.

Doug Aitken, Migration, single video projection with billboard (steel and PVC projection screen), 2008.

“Migration” is an ambulatory journey across the United States staged in hotel and motel rooms along the way. The interaction of the animals with these enclosures was caught on film, each stop adding a unique experience to the phantasmagoria.

Doug Aitken, Migration, single video projection with billboard (steel and PVC projection screen), 2008.

Two distinctly different presentations of the film are being offered by the gallery. From sunset to sunrise, a silent version will be projected in the courtyard of Regen Projects II on Santa Monica Boulevard. Concurrently, the North Almont space will exhibit the piece indoors on a large billboard complete with original soundtrack. I recommend seeing the piece inside first and then wandering westward for the outdoor loop.

Doug Aitken, Migration, single video projection with billboard (steel and PVC projection screen), 2008.

Images courtesy of 303 Gallery, New York; Victoria Miro Gallery, London; Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich; Regen Projects, Los Angeles.

Doug Aitken
12 September – 17 October 2009
Regen Projects
Los Angeles

Mary Reid Kelley recently opened her first solo show in NYC. Two videos are being shown at Fredericks & Freiser on W. 24th Street. Both of these pieces utilize live action performance in combination with stop motion animation. The effect, along with the heavy World War I era influence are a visual banquet.

Mary Reid Kelley, Sadie, The Saddest Sadist, still from video, 2009.

The speech in her videos is broken down into sets of consonantal and vocalic alliteration that further disfigure the principals of the exchange. In “Sadie, The Saddest Sadist”, rhyming patterns of speech overlay a story of destroying to consume.

Mary Reid Kelley, Sadie, The Saddest Sadist, still from video, 2009.

“The Queen’s English”, a previous video will be running parallel to the headliner. Language again is the catalyst to a visual breakdown. The beauty in deterioration is explored through an anecdote of bereavement.

Mary Reid Kelley, The Queen’s English, still from video, 2008.

Mary Reid Kelley
Sadie, The Saddest Sadist
1 September – 3 October 2009
Fredericks & Freiser
NYC

More than three decades of multiples from Bruce Nauman are on view at James Kelly Contemporary in Santa Fe.

Bruce Nauman, Normal Desires, lithograph, 1973.

Four types of printing techniques are on display. The lithographs and serigraphs were utilized to reproduce some of the wordplay found in Nauman’s neon work while drypoint and etching approaches were used to execute his drawings for sculpture.

Bruce Nauman, Untitled (Ring), cast iron with grit blast surface, 1986.

Two sculptures and a video are also included in “Pay Attention”. The artist has resided in New Mexico since the 1980’s, it is good to see him giving the locals a broad view of his work.

Bruce Nauman, Setting a Good Corner (Allegory & Metaphor), still from video, 1999.

Bruce Nauman
Pay Attention: Prints and Multiples 1971-2007
31 July – 12 September 2009
James Kelly Contemporary
Santa Fe, New Mexico

It is safe to turn off the television for the next few months as there is a constant sideshow on stage in London’s historic Trafalgar Square. Antony Gormley has invited 2400 people to occupy the fourth “empty” plinth for one hour each over the course of 100 days. The entire spectacle is being broadcast via live streaming video at One & Other.

Antony Gormley, One & Other, still from video, 2009.

The Fourth Plinth was constructed in the 1840’s to support an equestrian statue. Owing to financial shortcomings, the statue was never erected and the plinth has stood vacant. In 1998 commissioned works from contemporary artists began to appear atop the structure and Gormley’s project is the latest installment.

Antony Gormley, One & Other, still from video, 2009.

The democratization of space in one of the most recognizable spots on the planet is a moving gesture. The intent of the artist is for the public to encounter ideas that their neighbors feel are important. These living statues may choose to forward a cause, express personal issues or just spend an hour doing nothing. The experiment promises a current portrait of the United Kingdom. I’m hoping that the exhibit grows into a traveling show.

Antony Gormley, One & Other, still from video, 2009.

“One & Other” is a fitting title for this brilliant piece. There is a strong draw to find out how the “plinthers” will use their hour in the spotlight. At the same time, Gormley incites us to ponder the things that we cherish. What would you do?

Applications for time slots are still being taken. Head to the website for details. Below you will find a video where Antony Gormley describes his project in detail.

Antony Gormley
One & Other
6 July – 14 October 2009
Trafalgar Square
London

The mysterious British Pop icon Banksy is opening a new museum show in his hometown of Bristol. This is not the first time that Banksy’s work has hung in a museum but it is his first exhibit with consent from the house.

Banksy Versus Bristol Museum, 2009.

The exhibition titled “Banksy Versus Bristol Museum” was installed in near complete secrecy. Museum staff and visitors were told that a movie was being filmed in the space while a stencil on the front door claimed, “CLOSED for essential maintenance work.”

Banksy Versus Bristol Museum, 2009.

This is the artist’s largest installation to date. It is a multimedia extravaganza with remnants of “The Village Petstore and Charcoal Grill” covered here last year. Several of the animatronic works appear as they did for the New York show but many have been revisited alongside an impressive body of new work.

Banksy Versus Bristol Museum, 2009.

Most of the three story Edwardian Baroque building has been appropriated for the exhibition. It should be an ironic clash of art and space but the new pieces in particular do not seem out of place.

Banksy Versus Bristol Museum, 2009.

For more info see the trailer below. The video features a walktrough of many of the major elements and some clips from the process.

Banksy Versus Bristol Museum
13 June – 31 August 2009
Bristol’s City Museum & Art Gallery

“Fever Dreams at the Crystal Motel” is the current show at Leslie Tonkonow in NYC. Laurel Nakadate has put together a selection of short videos and photographs for this exhibition.

Laurel Nakadate, Exorcism in January, 2009.

The videos are both projected and displayed on monitors throughout the gallery. These moving images feature the artist performing ritual exorcisms on her cast of neophyte thespians. The scenes vary from small, dark motel rooms to the outdoor expanses of the Western United States. Excerpts from these videos are available for download at the gallery website.

Laurel Nakadate, Lucky Tiger #3, 2009.

Alongside the video work are two series of recent photographs, “Fever Dreams” and “Lucky Tiger”. For the “Lucky Tiger” project, Nakadate enlisted the help of anonymous middle-aged men, volunteers from an ad on Craigslist. The group covered their fingers with ink and sat in a circle passing around photos of the artist in suggestive poses reminiscent of 1950’s pinups. “Fever Dreams” is a collection of stills shot during the production of Nakadate’s videos.

Laurel Nakadate, Farther from Home than I’d Ever Been, 2009.

Laurel Nakadate also recently premeired her first feature film “Stay the Same Never Change” at the 2009 Sundance Film festival. Here’s the trailer.

Laurel Nakadate
Fever Dreams at the Crystal Motel
7 May – 24 July 2009
Leslie Tonkonow
NYC

“Surveillance from the Doll House” is a group show with work from Nathania Rubin, Cindy Sherman, Laurie Simmons and Karen Yasinsky. Mireille Mosler Ltd. is hosting this exhibit that focuses on contemporary animation and puppetry.

In Nathania Rubin’s rattletrap drawn animation, “My Girl: A Case Study” (above) caricatures of Anne Frank and Sigmund Freud act in proxy for the artist’s personal proclivities and as signifiers for something larger.

“Still Life with Cows” (above and below) from Karen Yasinsky is a study of a tiresome existence. The nonlinear piece tells the story of a paralyzed doll and her consort. Animation for children runs at a frenzied pace, when this gait stagnates, the attitude of the medium is transformed.

Nathania Rubin, Cindy Sherman, Laurie Simmons, Karen Yasinsky
Surveillance from the Doll House
15 April – 23 May 2009
Mireille Mosler Ltd.
NYC