Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Darren Almond exhibition at Parasol unit in London


Darren Almond, Night + Fog (Norilsk) (5), 2007

Hosted by the Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art, ‘Fire Under Snow’ is the exclusive UK exhibition of recent works by British artist Darren Almond. By harnessing the symbolic power of place and object, Almond explores the themes of time, memory, exploitation and corruption.
Drawing upon his own experiences of travelling through some of the world’s most remote terrains, Almond has utilised his personal encounters to inspire this outstanding collection of works, which combined, reflect upon the over-arching human experience.
Focusing on both the plight of humankind and his own perceptions, the main body of Almond’s work is the film ‘In The Between’. Shot in China and Tibet, the film focuses on the symbolic nature of the highest train route in the world. Reaching up to 5,000 metres, and running from China to Tibet, the train line is presented as an embodiment of China’s political and cultural imperialism.
By contrasting images of the train with those of Tibetan Buddhist monks, Almond alludes to the apparent lack of awareness that the Chinese train passengers have towards the political situation that runs through their neighbouring country.
Keeping his subjects politically charged, Almond goes on to explore the exploitation of Indonesian miners in his second film ‘Bearing’. Focusing on the severe conditions under which they work, Almond has captured evocative footage of workers breathing polluted air – making the viewer ponder the environmental detriment and human cost of capitalist-based industry.
With other thought-provoking themes including the environmental damage caused by mining in Siberia and the unstoppable passage of time, ‘Fire Under Snow’ illustrates Almond’s unswerving commitment to tackling a multitude of world issues. Through film, stunning photography and suggestive sculpture, Almond has produced a collection of work that masterfully combines universal comment with a deeper personal resonance.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Bruce Nauman Chosen for Venice Biennale 2009


The multifaceted conceptual artist and sculptor Bruce Nauman, a pioneer of Post Minimalist video and performance art, will represent the United States at the 2009 Venice Biennale.

Office of the Spokesman of the U.S. State Department:
We are pleased to announce the selection of the U.S. representative to the 2009 Venice Biennale. Following the unanimous recommendation of the Federal Advisory Committee on International Exhibitions (FACIE), the Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) has selected an exhibition of the work of Bruce Nauman (b. 1941, Fort Wayne, Indiana) to be presented in the U.S. Pavilion at this noted bi-annual exhibition, held in Venice, Italy since 1895. Carlos Basualdo and Michael Taylor, curators at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, will serve as Commissioners and organize the exhibition and related publications and activities that will take place in June 2009.

In the course of a career that has spanned more than four decades Bruce Nauman has distinguished himself as a major figure in American and world art. His practice - characterized by a multi-media, strongly conceptual approach - extends from early printmaking and performance, to work in sculpture, film and video, audio and installation projects. Much of his work draws its materials and inspiration from everyday life and activities. Mr. Nauman has been the recipient of numerous awards and his work has been the subject of many exhibitions in the United States and around the world.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Martin Creed wins Duveen Commission from Tate Britain



Martin Creed has received the Duveens Commission for 2008 from Tate Britain, a site-specific installation for the museum’s spacious upper level, due to be unveiled on June 30, 2008. For some, he is the minimalist artist best known for having a light turn on and off in an empty room. Or crumpling up a piece of A4 paper into a ball. Or sticking some kneaded Blu-Tack on to a wall. On January 14, 2008, Martin Creed was named as the first artist invited to fill Tate Britain's Duveen galleries as part of what will be an annual commission. Tate Britain director Stephen Deuchar hailed Creed as an artist who questions whether there is a need for art and what impact it can have on people's lives. "Creed is one of the most engaging and thought-provoking contemporary British artists," he said. "He creates arresting works that often disrupt the norm."

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

ART GOES TO THE STADIUM



Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno are going to carry on the new art vogue: Spoart (sport + art). The Scottish artist - who won both the Turner Prize and the Hugo Boss Prize - and his French colleague - truly a master of collaborations - are currently preparing the sequel of the 2006 masterpiece Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait.
This video, three years in the making, could be said to have inspired a series of events between art and sports like Deep Play, a video installation by Czech Republic-born Berlin-based filmmaker Harun Farocki devoted to the last World Cup final match and which premiered at the last Documenta. The Farocki project was collaborated on together by MACBA Barcelona, DFB Kulturstiftung Berlin, and FIFA. Deep Play is going to be presented at GreeneNaftali Gallery in New York on January 10.
The new Gordon-Parreno project will feature José Tomás, the most famous matador in Spain. Tomás returned to the ring after five years of unofficial retirement that began in September 2002 without explanation. His comeback took place on June 17 at the Monumental of Barcelona confirming himself as one of the greatest toreros on the planet. As reported by The Times' Mike Wade, Gordon -- who attended the bullfight -- said: "it was the most astonishing bullfight I'd ever seen. He is an amazing character who has obviously gone against the grain in that very machoculture, and Philippe and I are very interested in him as a matador. But we can also see things from the point of view of the animal, this beautiful beast."
Great expectations attend the launch of this new effort. Zidane was premiered at Cannes; consequently it was played during Art Basel at the St. Jacob Stadium - designed by artists' frequent collaborator Herzog & De Meuron - and then at the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation in Turin, which co-produced the video, which is already part of both the MoMA and Guggenheim collection. The Turin screening was held at the prestigious Carignano Theatre and accompanied by a press conference conducted by foundation director Francesco Bonami — who co-organized in 2006 the sport culture survey "Human Game" at Pitti Immagine in Florence - and several soccer journalists.
While Parreno's last solo show closed last November at the Berlin leading gallery Esther Schipper, Douglas Gordon seems to be more and more concentrated on other aspects of his carrier. The artist - who presented his ongoing self-reflective project Pretty Much Everything about Douglas Gordon at the SFMOMA (an artist talk is scheduled on January 10) - has been recently appointed food-and-drink editor at French Playboy magazine. He is also going to opena non-profit art space in Glasgow with friend and former Dundee Contemporary Arts director Katrina Brown. (Brown founded in 2006 The Common Guild, a visual artorganization based in Glasgow.) Anna Gaskell (Gordon's ex-girlfriend) is supposed to be the artist who will inaugurate this Gordon new initiative.
Nicola Trezzi

THEORY OF THE MARKET

Painter Charline von Heyl recently described American’s disconnect between the personal and the political this way: “While almost everything in the outer world feels messed-up, our inner lives aren’t altogether messed-up.” The current art world, awash in money and success, is shot through with a similar disconnect. To some, the art market is a self-help movement, a private consumer vortex of dreams, a cash-addled image-addicted drug that makes consumers prowl art capitals for the next paradigm shift. This set seeks out art that looks like things it already knows: anything resembling Warhol, Richter, Koons, Tuymans, Prince and Wool could be good; any male painter in his 30s could be great. To others, the market is just a happy popularity contest, or as New York Times reporter David Carr put it about having his own blog, it’s like “a large yellow Labrador: friendly, fun, not all that bright, but constantly demanding your attention.”
For many, the art market is a communal version of the Primal Scene — a sexed-up site that offers a peek into the bedroom of the creative act. Art advisors and collectors now treat art fairs and auctions like Warhol’s Factory: Places to flaunt junkielike behavior while hoping one’s creative potential might bloom. In this global circus, mega-collectors like Charles Saatchi and François Pinault are the art world’s P.T. Barnums: showmen who have become part of the show — moguls who understand that the market is a medium that can be manipulated. Once upon a time, the market and the scene (clubiness, chicanery and profligacy notwithstanding) were joined and reflected social, political and sexual change. Now the market is only in service of itself. The market is a perfect storm of hocus-pocus, spin and speculation, a combination slave market, trading floor, disco, theater and brothel where an insular ever-growing caste enacts structured rituals in which the codes of consumption and peerage are manipulated in plain sight.
Consider the lame-brained claim made by Sotheby ’s Worldwide Head of Contemporary Art, Tobias Meyer, who recently effused, “The best art is the most expensive because the market is so smart.” This is exactly wrong. The market isn’t “smart;” it’s like a camera — so dumb it’ll believe anything you put in front of it. Essentially, the art market is a self-replicating organism that when it tracks one artist’s work selling well craves more work by the same artist. Although everyone says the market is “about quality,” the market merely assigns values, fetishizes desire, charts hits, and creates ambience. These days the market is also too good to be true. Still, the slap-happy assertions keep coming. Last season, Amy Cappellazzo, International Head of Christie’s Post- War and Contemporary Art, crowed that auction houses were “the big-box retailers putting the mom-and-pops out of business.” Then she gushed of her clients, “After you have a fourth home and a G5 jet, what else is there?” After wondering, “What’s a G5 jet?” you may well ask how the current super-heated art market is changing the ways we see and think about art. These days no one knows. The market is now so pervasive that it is simply a condition — as much a part of the art world as galleries and museums. Even if you’re not making money — as is the case with most of us — that’s your relationship to the market. To say you won’t participate in the market is like saying you refuse to breathe the air because it’s polluted. The current market feeds the bullshit machine, provides a lot of cover for a lot of vacuous behavior, revs us up while wearing us down, breeds complacency, and is so invasive that it forces artists to regularly consider issues of celebrity, status and money in their studios. Yet, it also allows more artists to make more money without having to work full-time soul-crushing jobs — and it provides most of us with what Mel Brooks called “our phony-baloney jobs.” Last December more than 400 New York art dealers representing more than 5,000 artists paid for booths in one art fair or another in Miami to participate in this market. Everyone is trying the best they can. For critics to demonize the entire art world as somehow unethical or crass is selfrighteous, cynical and hypocritical.
Much confusion stems from there being no new cogent Theory of the Market, no philosophy that addresses he ways in which the ongoing feeding frenzy is affecting the production, presentation and reception of art. Nothing we say about the market adds-up, partly because “the market” isn’t really an autonomous subject. It’s a diversionary tactic. Essentially, it’s a blend of economics, history, psychology, stagecraft and ifestyle, an unregulated field of commerce governed by desire, luck, stupidity, cupidity, personal connections, connoisseurship, intelligence, insecurity and whatever. Yet we can’t ignore the market or just sit back and drink the Kool Aid. Maybe we should be asking questions such as: Are we sometimes liking things because we know the market likes them or are we really liking them? Do people really believe the icky kitschy pictures of naked girls with pussy cats by German painter Martin Eder are any good or are buyers simply jumping on the bandwagon because his prices have reached $500,000? When we learn that a newish painting by the second-rate latterday fuzzy Neo-Expressionist Marlene Dumas sold for over three million dollars, does it alter how we think of her work? Does it alter the ways magazine editors or curators think about it? The curator of Dumas’ upcoming Museum of Modern Art exhibition, the otherwise excellent Connie Butler, recently responded to one of my public hissy-fits about the overestimation of this artist by saying, “Dumas has been making portraits of terrorists,” as if to suggest that certain subject matter exempts art from criticism. In fact, this subject matter is not only predictable and generic, and in that sense utterly conservative, it’s perfect fodder for a culture in disconnect. It’s wonderful that mediocre women artists
like Dumas now command the same astronomical prices for their art that mediocre male artists always have. But do artists who don’t sell for high prices have less of a chance to ever make money? Are Vito Acconci and Adrian Piper fated to forever being “Lifestyles of the Poor and Famous” artists? If you’re unknown and over 35 do you have a shot? In this era of the 30-month career, what happened to the 30-year career? Will there one day be a Larry Gagosian Gallery in every major art capital?
In the 1970s, conceptualist Joseph Kosuth said, “The only people who care about art are artists.” That’s obviously changed. The art world is big business. Vanity Fair and W have launched annual “Art Issues;” we have “Power lists” and “Top Ten” issues galore. In January three young male art stars canoodled together in bed in their underpants on the cover of New York Magazine. Inside the magazine we read about their rising prices and that one of them is “well-endowed.” That’s fine, although the all-white-maleness of many of these things is only more proof of the unexamined agenda-driven blindness of the art market. But, is the art world of greater interest to people outside it because art has become more interesting or because art is a hot property? Is the market creating a competitive atmosphere that drives artists to produce better work or is it mainly fostering empty product?
If there’s a silver lining to this golden cloud it’s that despite how professional and “smart” it is made out to be, the market is still inherently blinkered, erratic and insecure. As such it is simultaneously vulnerable and a force of chaos. As almost everyone in the art world knows, chaos is almost always good for art. In addition, the disconnect between our public and personal lives is so unstable that it too is a site of chaos, albeit an internal one that could be exploited. Finally, at the end of the day art still has a private inside and a public outside. It still exudes an alchemical otherness. In our studios and before artworks we still experience moments of authentic serenity, passion and meaningfulness — places on the edge of language that the market can’t strip away. In this imperfect realm we can intuit the elemental feeling that sometimes, just by making or looking at art, we might glimpse the full range of human possibilities. The market is art minus otherness. “The rest,” as artist Anat Elberg recently wrote, “is gossip.”


Jerry Saltz is the Senior Art Critic for the Village Voice. He is a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Criticism. The Good, The Bad and The Very Bad is a new Flash Art column by Jerry Saltz.

Thom Mayne to design Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, TX



Pritzker Prize winner Los Angeles architect Thom Mayne will design the new Museum of Nature & Science, joining the local Pritzker Prize parade that includes I.M .Pei, Renzo Piano, Sir Norman Foster and Rem Koolhaas. These four winners of architecture's highest award all have buildings in the downtown Arts District.

"Historians will look back on the 20th century as a second renaissance, especially in the sciences," he said. "Every day our understanding of our world changes, so I want the museum to be part of that, to be explicit in its ideas, but also to a welcoming civic place."

Yet if history is any guide, the new museum will also be formally complex and unarguably iconic. Mr. Mayne is not a tentative, hedge-your-bets architect. In his embrace of technology, aggressive use of materials and eye-popping structural inventiveness, he and his firm, Morphosis – a synonym for change and transformation – focus on what it means to be contemporary, "on that which is difficult, because it is difficult, and by its difficulty worthwhile."

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

DOUBLE ALBLUM: NEW MUSEUM


LEFT: Daniel Guzmán, Sigue siendo rock and roll para mí, 2005
RIGHT: Steven Shearer, Activity Cell with Warlock Bass Guitar, 1997

Double Album: Daniel Guzmán and Steven Shearer April 23 - July 6, 2008

This exhibition is a dynamic visual conversation between Mexican artist Daniel Guzmán and Canadian artist Steven Shearer.

The show’s title, “Double Album,” refers to the exhibition’s related yet separate taxonomy and the bridge that music and a shared generation builds between Guzmán and Shearer’s work.

Both Guzmán and Shearer were born in the 1960s, and their work is rooted in their adolescent aspirations and anxieties; each artist, in his own way, investigates the pitfalls and appeal of prolonged male adolescence. While their respective nations are essential to their identity, Guzmán and Shearer’s work confirms the existence of the international language of popular culture.

Both artists are masters of emblematic autobiography, and their personas inhabit their work as stand-ins for a generation that came of age and shaped their lives with heightened awareness of certain bands, lyrics, posters, and celebrities.

“Double Album” is curated by Richard Flood, Chief Curator.

STEVEN SHEARER


Steven Shearer, Sorry Steve, 1999, ink in paper.
Collection of the artist.

Vancouver’s Steven Shearer is celebrated for his works that investigate the cultures of, and links between, youth, Heavy Metal, and the avant-garde. His sculptures, prints, collages, paintings, murals and drawings approach class, gender, and alienation with a keen sense of absurdity that is rarely applied to such subjects. The first major survey of Shearer’s work is in Toronto, at the Power Plant through February 10, 2008.
The raw material for Shearer’s works comes from his image bank of some 36,000 JPEGs, clippings, Xeroxes, reproductions, and found snapshots. As he recycles these pictures, Shearer looks for visual rhymes and puns, formal and thematic associations that reveal unexpected, frequently hilarious, affinities. The results revel in the anger, aggression, and creative opposition that bubble beneath polite society’s surface. Shearer’s fascination with the art historical resonances in contemporary life emerges in works throughout the show, from collages and sculptures to portraits of long-haired androgynous men and 1970s teen idols.

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

IMAGINE PEACE: HAPPY NEW YEAR

To our clients, colleagues and dear friends:
Happy New Year from Barbara Balkin Inc.