Elle Varner

Elle Varner on Center Street  

Late the other night I was walking home from a nightclub in Nolita and I met Elle.  She was looking in the window of a photo gallery and talking about a portrait of a woman with her friends.  I interjected just because I'm always one to talk with people about art.  We spoke for a little while and I learned she is a musician.  I love chance run ins like this and it's partly why New York is a great place.  She is as nice as her smile suggests and I kind of think she might be one of the next big starts.  Granted I am not much of an expert on pop music but she glows. 

http://www.ellevarner.com/

Daniel Dimin, Dinner & Dancing

We went to Chinatown for my cousins 31st.  The place was called The Golden Unicon It was a large group, Jamie Burke just got back a from a few shows around the country I haven't seen him in years.  Biden was there and May, after dinner we chilled for a bit on a roof top on Orchard St. before we went out to SouthSide.

The Ungovernables at the New Museum

http://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/448

Danh Vo at the New Museum

  We The People, a work by Berlin based Vietnamese artist Danh Vo, is a great example of a very successful contemporary work.  The piece is strong in its formal aesthetic properties allowing even the most skeptical of contemporary practices a place of comfort in viewing.  We The People is made of copper and was constructed by a group of craftsmen from China.  The sculpture although seemingly abstract is a full scale reproduction of the exterior skin of the Statue of Liberty.  Thus beyond the works beauty and formal elegance it is deep with social and political discussion.

Jewel

Hassan Khan, British artist based out of Cairo, had what believed to be the    strongest work in the New Museums       Triennial, The Ungovernables.  

Jewel is an original Shaabi music composition with a video installation of two men dancing.  The dance is emblematic of power structures as understood and witnessed by the artist.  This work alone makes the exhibition a must see. 

Never forget to respect those that support us

I was at an event at the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund and it was very humbling.  For those of you that are not aware of the Illumination Fund it was "Founded in 2007 by philanthropist Laurie M. Tisch, the Laurie  M. Tisch Illumination Fund supports innovative strategies to address long-standing problems in New York City." One of the main ideals of this foundation is that they believe "that an essential part of grant making is to encourage continuous learning and sharing of knowledge."  The Foundation understands the role of the artist as creative problem solvers and as people who engage with the sharing of knowledge. The arts couldn't help in the progression of society without Foundations like this.  


A question I struggle with is how do we make more people aware that this is one major role of the artist? 

       

http://www.lmtilluminationfund.org/

Art Season

This time of  year is when the global art market comes to New York.  They come for the Armory Show, Volta, the Independent and all sorts of open studios. These annual events are held in tandem this year with The Whitney biennial, and the New Museum Triennial making New York filled with contemporary art. New York Magazine/Work of Arts Jerry Saltz gives a whats up as he leaves the Independent in the old Dia building. The below posts I share some thoughts on the fairs focusing on international galleries as its a treat to see what people out side of New York are looking at in there art worlds.   

David Salle

I was not expecting to see a painting by David Salle at the Independent but it proved that the greats are simply that and stand out where ever they are placed. No Hard Feelings a painting made in 2011 exhibited by Maureen Paley from London shows his masterful and delicate hand and what I find so interesting is one can see even in this work he is student of John Baldessari.



www.maureenpaley.com

Turkish Figure Painting

There was limited figural painting and I most likely wouldn't write about it but Turkish Artist Yesim Akdeniz Graf paintings shown by Dirimart a gallery out of Istanbul have compelled me to share a bit of what they brought to New York this year.  She paints her self in "fantasy settings", I can't say being lashed by a pimp with to many hats (perhaps a reference to Max Ernst)in a obscure landscape sounds like a fantasy but the work above is ripe with art historical references and perhaps a bit of personal  and Turkish allegory.



www.dirimart.org

Olafur Eliasson

He is known for his large public installations like his Water Falls through out New York and his Weather/Sun piece at the Tate Modern in London.  This year when there was a focus on Scandinavian  artists at the Armory, the show would not be complete with out a work by him.  This piece a large piece of drift wood and a mirror is a resent example of works he is making for the market. Honestly the work first made me smile before I was aware it was a work by Eliasson as I am working with drift material a bit in some of my resent sculptures.  When I learned it was an Eliasson I was even happier as I often look to his work as being some of the best works of our time but I never thought of him as a market artist, just really a public/ museum artist.  Navigating what the this means is something I contemplate often and seeing that even Eliasson makes work for the collector makes me understand that there are no clear cut lines to what kind of works an artist makes and who the works are for.

"For Someone Who Nearly Died But Survived"

The installation by Bore Saethre  presented by Loevenbruck a gallery out of Paris I believe stood out as one of the highlights of The Armory Show.   Hollowed out and painted black Arcade Games from the 80's and sound proofing materials filled the exhibition space. Artists have often explored gaming but I believe Saethre used them in way that questions our present time being very aware of our resent past, both in an art context and in the real world.


www.loevenbruck.com

A great gallery on Orchard Street

On the Lower East Side often the galleries show post "UnMonumental" works making it difficult to navigate who is making an honest attempt at an art practice and who is exploiting the expected and excepted practices of todays hipster aesthetics.  Y Gallery on Orchard is a example of a gallery outside of Chelsea  showing strong work.  I was at the gallery just before the exhibition The Execution of Maximilian with works by G.T. Pellizzi and Ray Smith was taken down.  This show was both socially engaged as well as pleasurable to view.  The gallery has a roster of international artists and should be a place to visit when looking for a good show.


www.ygallerynewyork.com  

Really... Jeff Koons?

I was walking in front of Bloomingdales the other night and looked in the window and need to share what I learned. Jeff Koons in now collaborating with Bloomingdales making a limited addition shopping bag.  Cool that he is encouraging the use of reusable bags for a place where the bag itself is an Icon, but is it really setting a good precedent for contemporary artists?  In the past many very successful artists did this kind of duel branding, and granted it is Koons but really do a in store signing right in the midst of art season.

Mia in Chelsea

My dear friend Mia Berg has a solo show Woman: Camera up in Chelsea at gallery 151 on 18^th street for the month of March. I go back to undergrad with her at Parsons where we took a few classes together one a class that dealt with the body / sexuality and photography. In this class years ago she really began to developed the visual langue she uses in the beautiful self-portraits in nature that fill the space now.  It is really exciting to see this show for me as In the past I have included her in group shows and just love to see her succeed. For this show accompanying the large photographs Mia delves into video offering a very fun and animated experience of viewing her shots.  There is also a wall of documentation of her process photographed by renowned photographer Spencer Tunic who is also somewhat of a mentor to Mia. In the photo for with this post Mia, Spencer, the Gallery owner and their Pr women pose for a photographer; I have always enjoyed taking shots like this.