La Carte d’Apres Nature at Matthew Marks
One of the meatiest exhibitions currently on view in New York. Curated by German photographer Thomas Demand, it takes its title from a journal published by painter René Magritte, and the painter acts as a kind of fulcrum for the show. Three Magritte canvases from the Menil Collection in Texas are on display, as well as sculpture, photographs and films from several artists. Italian photographer Luigi Rimini’s color images from the 70s brilliantly chronicle the world and man’s troubled but dogged relationship to it.
Through October 9, 2011
Glen Fogel, “Goldye” at Callicoon Fine Arts
For the inaugural exhibition at its new, Lower East Side space, Callicoon Fine Arts, under the savvy direction of Photios Giovanis, has selected Glen Fogel’s light and sound sculpture named for his grandmother. Fogel is a multi-media artist whose work demonstrates heart and smarts in equal measure. Sentiment takes on unexpected weightiness in this artist’s practice. Arising from his grandmother’s near death experience, the installation promises to be intensely personal, even as Fogel continues to traffic in universal emotional truths. This is the show I’m most looking forward to this month.
Opens September 7th.
Cy Twombly: Sculpture at The Museum of Modern Art
Many people hate this show, but for whatever reason I’ve been compelled to return to the mini exhibition several times. The seven sculptures by the well-known scribbler and closet case are new to MoMA’s collection, and they’re often coated in ghostly white paint and layers of history. Seen as a group, the found object constructions tell a frozen, dream-like story, with their small scale and boxy platforms solidifying the dramatic effect.
Through October 3rd, 2011
Lisa Kirk at Invisible Exports
No nonsense artist Kirk can always be counted on to conflate the political with the fiercely feminine. Her abstract paintball paintings are created from burned make-up that has been shot at a canvas. I’m anticipating her newest piece of political theater, entitled, “If You See Something…” (The titled is taken from the ubiquitous New York Subway system message from Big Brother, which extolls the virtues of pointing out suspicious packages/parcels/pocketbooks in the transit system.) The show contains sculpture, video and a sound installation in addition to her memorable paintings.
Opens September 7th.
“The Women in Our Life” at Cheim & Read
Subtitled, “A Fifteen Year Anniversary Exhibition,” this show highlights heavyweights past and present such as Alice Neel, Louise Bourgeois, Jenny Holzer, Chantal Joffe, Ghada Amer, Pat Steir and Diane Arbus. Despite the exhibition title, which is self-serving at best, the gallery has put together a powerhouse show of unexpected works from these great artists. Only Louise B. can make marble seem flesh-like; her Nature Study No. 5 (1995) depicts a crowded group of hungry, smothering breasts that gives new meaning to the word “motherly.” While not the showiest Alice Neel portrait, Marxist Girl (Irene Peslikis) (1972) is memorable for its intensity that masquerades as casual intimacy. Jenny Holzer’s early enamel text piece proclaims a lasting and inescapable truth: “SOMEONE WANTS TO CUT A HOLE IN YOU AND FUCK YOU THROUGH IT, BUDDY.”
Through September 17th.
Jenny Saville, “Continuum” at Gagosian
Saville’s portraits and drawings are life-sized or larger and utilize harsh, almost abstracted brushstrokes. Flesh is a multi-faceted and fragile kind of armor and life for her subjects is a taxing thing. The gallery promises that “intense pinks, reds, and blues erupt through pale skin tones, disclosing the internal workings of the painting like the flesh and blood of a living organism.” Reported references to da Vinci within this particular exhibit make me all the more intrigued for the opening.
Opens September 15th.
Sterling Ruby, Lucio Fontana at Andrea Rosen
I’ve heard only rumors about what the brilliant Sterling Ruby is up to for this exhibit, but it’s a safe bet that his allegiance to Lucio Fontana has a lot to do with the destructive, inherently anti-minimal gestures of the Spatialist painter. Just as Ruby festoons sculptural forms in messy drips and scratches graffiti onto pristine white monoliths, Fontana invented the wound-like slash.
Opens September 9th
Zipora Fried at On Stellar Rays
An artist whose diaristic practice has allowed her “self” to hide in plain site. Photographs with spider webs of wool stitched onto them reveal as much as they obscure as to the artist’s sense of how the past can usurp identity. The title of the exhibit is “Salon Noir,” which we’re told refers to the site of Paleolithic cave drawings in France.
Opens September 7th.
Tris Vonna Michell at Metro Pictures
The UK born artist is known for his performative and installation work using slide projection and other obsolete technologies. For the upcoming show at Metro Pictures, he presents a monologue that references late 20th-Century German politics, while signals and pulses and repetition in the recording correspond to the slide sequences displayed on his anachronistic projectors.
Opens September 15th
September 11 at MoMA PS1
Like most New Yorkers, I’m dreading the ten-year anniversary of the September 11th attacks. The posturing, demagoguery and sympathy-wringing will certainly be as empty and insulting as it has been from the beginning. Although we who live in the post-9/11 world don’t need to be reminded of our collective sorrow, curator Peter Eleey has brought together over 70 works by 41 artists, many created before the attacks, as a tribute and reminder. As opposed to making us bristle, the artwork might just make us reflect differently on the events. Any show that includes Stephen Vitiello, Yoko Ono, Cady Noland, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Fiona Banner, Jeremy Deller, Shannon Ebner and William Eggleston is well worth a visit.
Opens September 11th
Howdy Doug,
My name is brad bixler from Miami. I will be in New York next month for a couple of interviews and meetings, do you yourself do any consulting for emerging Artists?