M The New York Art World ®"All You Need To Know."
M The New York Art World ®"All You Need To Know."
 

art reviews

 

 

Modernism
The Victoria & Albert Museum, London
>>
By Ola Manana

Hajime Sorayama and Seiju Toda
Artspace Gallery
>>
By Nicollette Ramirez

Ali Kazim
Ethan Cohen Fine Arts
>>
By Natane Takeda

Time Capsule
The Greenhouse>>

By Ola Manana

"!@#$%" Selected Group Show
The:Artist:Network>>

By Mary Hrbacek

The Culture of Queer, A Tribute to J.B. Harter
Leslie/ Lohman Gay Art Foundation
>>
By Chris Twomey

              


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Modernism
The Victoria & Albert Museum, London

By Ola Manana

 

In Wenzel Hablik’s opulent painting Cantilever Cupola with Five Bases from 1926, one is transported into the propitious realm of the transcendent apartment complex. The building, designed as a utopian example of communal living, seems at once to be burgeoning from the jutting rocks beneath and ready to launch directly into the sky. The geometric variations form a dome, whose conformation mirrors the mountain, a prismatic cascade of solid shapes fills out the ecstatic architecture. The eye moves upward to the light-halo that surrounds it, and down again to the humble path which zig-zags up from the foreground and invites the viewer to walk in.

This painting visually describes a core paradigm of Modernism, the desire for social change in the form of utopia, in a remarkable retrospective of Modernist design that focuses on Europe, specifically Russia, and also the United States. The work here depicts the onset of Modernism as a utopian dream which, even in its failure, has left a lasting imprint on our culture. It is easy to understand when viewing Georgii Krutikov’s Flying City Apartment Complex the utopian appeal of these. Just imagine, housing projects that float above the landscape, inclusive to everyone, with lots of free space. What’s not to like? This show successfully illustrates how Modernism converged social and artistic concerns and eminently produced a lasting change in the visual landscape. From a stunning array of Le Corbusier’s architectural drawings to a photographic essay about the advent of the public swimming pool, the advances made in architecture and way of life through Modernism are made stunningly clear.

This exhibition takes a look at the international influences surrounding Modernism, including the shift in visual language towards linearity and abstraction in design. It shows how design was stripped down visually to encourage efficiency and utility in mass production. The point is not lost when viewing the wall of sleekly designed chairs; they appear somehow new even today, their lines still pure and beautiful. They seem familiar, contemporary; but they’re eighty years old. Indeed, the roots of the pixilated world, the aesthetics of computer generated design programs, trace back to here. Everything is calibrated with mathematical precision to serve a demand for millions of cars and billions of potato chip wrappers.

From the dynamic Futurist "outfit" a one-size-fits-all beige uniform with large red shapes sewn here and there on the fabric, to the comparatively dull albeit more comfortable looking Russian worker’s uniform, the push for unified society is obvious. The show also charts the rise of exercise machines and physical education programs, urban planning, programs promoting hygiene and the study of human sexuality.
If Wenzel Hablik’s paradisiacal projects are an awe-inspiring blueprint for utopia, then The Frankfurt Kitchen is the idea made real. Its organization, clean lines and colors, promote order and efficiency. Designed in Germany by Margarete Schutte-Lihotzky for a public housing project begun in 1925, this is a kitchen anyone would love. Over 10,000 copies in three variations were built between 1925 and 1930. The example on view here has retained its glowing countertops and cheerful atmosphere nearly a century later, still giving the impression of attractive efficiency. If only the descendent of this cultural phenomenon, the project kitchen of the American public housing unit (on view in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan) could have retained that wonderful design.

4/6 through 7/23.

 


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Hajime Sorayama and Seiju Toda
Artspace Gallery

By Nicollette Ramirez

 

T he term, Heian, describes a time in Japanese history from about the 8th to the 14th Century when its culture had evolved to a point where architecture, painting and poetry celebrated the inherent harmony in nature. In this two-person show, by Hajime Sorayama and Seiju Toda Seiju, Toda references this concept of harmony in his work, incorporating elements of plain wood, air, light and water, while Sorayama focuses on the idea of spiritual, heavenly bliss.

The show combines Toda’s meticulous construction of wooden objects with the vitality of living creatures placed in these objects. For example, in Fanlight Toda constructed a beehive out of thin strips of unprocessed Japanese cypress called Hinoki, which were bent into the shape of an upside down teardrop. This shape evokes the spatial design of a traditional Japanese home. As with the special handling of this fragile wood, Toda had to manipulate the environment by cooling the room in order to keep the bees passive. In another version of Fanlight, thin strips of Hinoki wood set against a black backdrop are weighed down in the middle by a mass of living green worms. Silk worms are also part of the composition of Folding Screen, in which wooden structures are etched with notches in their surface where the silkworms lie.

The act of "subtraction," or taking away, is central to the Japanese concept of beauty. Toda leaves out the "unnecessary" so as to refine the beauty found in nature. This is not unlike the western Renaissance notion of the artist’s role as releasing the perfect forms that are inherent in the sculpture’s stone.

Utilizing a meticulous painting process that gives his work an airbrush quality, Sorayama’s sexy robot once served as an album cover for a 1970’s rock group (in the 1990’s), and his pin ups of mythological subjects harken back to the pre-AIDS era of the 1960’s and 1970’s when women were gaining ground in leveling the playing field in sexual openness. Pin ups of "regular women" and icons such as Betty Page, created in 2005 and 2006, have the same defiant edge of vintage pin ups, but here the girls are set against the backdrop of huge 1940’s WWII planes.

This unlikely pairing of Sorayama and Toda heightens the contrast between these two very different artists, whose work references classical and pop icons from a largely ahistorical perspective

Through 9/30.

Ed Note: The Artspace Gallery is located at West 29th between 7th and Ave. Tel: 212.736.4060. By appointment.

 


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Ali Kazim
Ethan Cohen Fine Arts

By Natane Takeda

 

In a work titled, Man with Imam Zamin, we see a naked man with a white flower in his ear and Imam Zamin (Pakistan amulet for a traveler) at his left, set against a blue background. Leaning forward with a sideways glance, he looks as mysterious and seductive as the Mona Lisa, yet as peaceful as Buddha. Portraying local people in Lahore, Pakistan, Ali Kazim’s Sacred Souls, Secret Lives, offers a meditative and enigmatic glimpse into another world. The show takes the viewer to different place, quietly pulling us down to an unfathomable abyss where an unexpectedly warm light is waiting.

These paintings require patience and contemplation. On a technical note, Kasmi uses powder pigments and watercolors on Wasli paper; each painting is created from 40 to 60 layers of washouts that are drawn on and painted over. The thickness of the colors is apparent when looking closely. In Lava, a naked man floats on his back in an immense color field of blue, holding his arms over his face, while a small eruption-like mark is depicted over his body, casting out dim light. The subtlety of orange in the composition suggests something Divine.

Naked men predominate in many of these paintings. In the diptych, Untitled, Kazim depicts a man’s face, saturated in dark purple and gray; the monk-like figure seems unreal, dissipating into a haze of colors, yet his eyes jump out. His dead serious expression only adds to the effect of his nakedness.

The mix of unreal elements and an exaggerated reality underscores the spiritual quality of this work; the depth of the colors pulls the viewer into a world of multiple dimensions where the subtle voice is heard above everything else. The show works like an invitation to return to one’s point of origin, quietly nudging the viewer back to an uncannily familiar place.

8/16 through 9/23.

 


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Time Capsule
The Greenhouse

By Ola Manana

 

The Greenhouse, a ground floor artist haven located in a landmark building at 75 Greene Street in Soho, has remained virtually untouched since the building was erected in 1877. Except for an elevator which was added in the 1930’s, the building which sports huge windows and a cast-iron facade is one of some 250 buildings from the cast-iron era that remain in New York. That short-lived but grand period of architecture that defined the industrial age is not difficult to imagine, when walking between the cast iron pillars into the building’s huge first floor; its history as a carriage house and eventually as a fabric warehouse is evident. The building came into the family of the current owner, Sue Stein, through her grandfather, who worked in the rag business. Today it stands out on this hyper-gentrified Soho block as a beautiful relic that somehow missed the eye of developers and real estate speculators over the years. Stein says she wouldn't mind if it was fixed up a bit, but when asked if she could see it as a commercial space, she insisted "that will never happen."

What is happening is that instead of being offered to the highest real estate bidder, Stein lets street artists work and live in its raw, very raw ground floor space, which looks like a time capsule from New York’s wild frontier days of the 1970s. She says that she wanted to bring life into the building, and that young people were the key. She apparently sees her role as offering an environment where largely unknown artists could have a place to work and also hold exhibitions.

Jerry Foust was the first such artist to make Stein's acquaintance almost two years ago, and he has since become an unofficial spokesperson for the seven or eight artists who come and go on a regular basis. Many other artists show their work in the space and collaborate on pieces for themed art. The latest collaboration, a sculpture by Foust, Alfredo Martinez and Frank Carrero, is a large tent object constructed of recycled steel and other found objects, including foam and plastic to create a giant, walk-in "vagina." Perhaps not surprisingly, a penis lurks nearby, made from a bench, skateboard wheels and foam, all painted in a salmon colored pink. Behind the walk-in vagina there is a cockpit, made of steel, with a computer inside. "My father always said, remember where you came from, and we're doing that with this piece," quips Foust.

Unofficially designated as a place where artists can work and live, there are usually six or seven artists around at any given time. Their work, as well as an accumulation of work from previous denizens of the space, hangs from twenty-foot walls, salon style. There are also easels and sculpture works in progress here and there. Other paintings are on boards, doors, windows, Plexiglas, made from found construction materials, including latex house paint. There’s even a set of drums and some musical instruments that are put to use occasionally. "They're sometimes crazy, sometimes profane, but they're hard working," Stein explains when discussing the people she lets use the space. Much of the building’s gritty, original brickwork is visible through the unfinished walls, and the tin ceiling overhead forms a canopy that reinforces the sense of stepping into a cocoon that time left behind.

Given the astronomical prices of real estate in Soho, where even high-end commercial galleries can no longer afford to stay, it is difficult to grasp the motivation behind Stein’s patronage. She seems nevertheless content to offer this unconventional safe haven, dubbed The Greenhouse, to artists in exchange for their keeping things lively, at least for now. The space carries an echo of the building’s physical history as well as the pioneer spirit of the art communities that long ago thrived in the neighborhood. It’s a welcome echo that even today inspires creative spirits.

Ed Note: The Greenhouse is located at 75 Greene Street, in Soho.

 


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"!@#$%" Selected Group Show
The:Artist:Network
By Mary Hrbacek

 

Surprises abound in this lively arrangement of mostly works on paper, curated by Mariko Tanaka and Alredo Martinez, where the unexpected seems to be the rule. Even a manual elevator which stops on the gallery floor is outfitted with audio art by Hong Kai Wang. In all, twenty artists are included in the show.
Standouts include a wall installation by Yuko Oda, swarming with delicately cut paper flowers whose petals double as tentacles; hanging butterfly by Oda, with tissue paper wings made from q-tips hovers nearby, and Ben Ruhe's Divine Daze of Deathless Delight; a painted and collaged sketchbook that features a busy cartoon-like hero is a wonderful work of book art. Another is Damon Shair’s pyramid-shaped installation of poetic drawings executed on printed pages, pinned loosely to the wall. This installation succeeds as a unified whole; but each page is also a complete work unto itself that echoes the playful approach of Paul Klee’s imaginative works.
Collage informs three predominately pink colored multi-media works on canvas, with personalized Mexican imagery by Tamara Gonzalez. A group of dramatic paper-works rendered in acrylic, ink, collage and magic marker by Jacob Williams brings a somber tone to the proceedings, with Japanese pop-culture-based horror images of free-flowing forms and over-lapping figures. These robust pieces contrast with Emily Noelle Lambert's very personal works, in which images of young girls interacting with their friends trail off the page. These pictures team with imagery.
Digital photography, as a distinct medium, is represented here in an installation of photographs by Olimpia Dior and J. Miller depicting stages of graffiti as it appears on urban buildings. This ironic series succeeds in immersing the viewer in a hands-on "do it outdoors" art-making adventure that mimics a wall of graffiti. In a similar vein, Niki Kelce uses mostly red marker, paint pen and pencil, to create overlapping circles within spheres, dotted lines, spirals and funny dolphins in a semi-abstract diverting array of forms and images.
Most of these works are sophisticated and hip, characterized by their free form style and a fresh use of materials; there is also an added excitement in the way the show’s curators have managed to reinterpret prevailing art trends with an emphasis on surprise.

5/23 Through 6/6.


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The Culture of Queer, A Tribute to J.B. Harter
Leslie Lohman Gay Art Foundation

By Chris Twomey

 

J.B. Harter is the featured talent around which this ambitious group show is centered. An artist who also held a position as Director of Collections at the Louisiana State Museum, Harter was murdered in 2002. Like many of the artists presented here, his social, political, and philosophical conventions are filtered through his work and the growing awareness of his own identity. For example, his early 1970’s figurative drawings of Bob Bowers suggest a repressed subtext of eroticism. His later self-portraits and homoerotic portraits of young men reflect the acceptance of his sexual identity and an embrace of gay culture.

Under the section entitled, Gay Male Identity: Stereotypes, Icons, Notions of Masculinity, the self portrait, J.B. Harter in Hardhat (1978) recalls an era of machismo culture coding where "men seeking men" wore blue jeans and plaid shirts to signify their sexual preference without detection. Future Icons: Construction worker (1985) by John Lesnick, Keys on the Left (1976) by George Dudley, and Joe and Bobby Dallesandro (1970) by Jack Mitchell all contain imagery incorporating these coded signs.

In another section dubbed Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, more recent art work indicates broader acceptance of once underground gay culture; the coded messages are gone. Ralph Bourque’s Troy and I Hugging (2005) expresses complex realities with a simple silk-screened line drawing. Down the Aisle 2005 openly portrays same sex marriage.
Audra Kahout’s Hans Bellmer inspired assemblages are fascinating, though the work comes precariously close to appearing as Bellmer knock-offs. Michael Meads’ For St. George, Patron Saint of Boys Scouts also suggests adolescent sexual awakening.
Unrequited longing is the theme in Tom Strider’s series, A Job to Do, A Brokers Tale (1998-2000), an installation of thirty-two small paintings. Depicting the mundane routine a businessman going to work, working out at the gym, shaving and undressing, the work suggests an imagined narrative about an ideal man, perhaps Mr. Right for the marriage-minded male seeking male.

Maxx Sizeler, who changed his/her name from Max with one x, to Maxx with two x’s, signifying the female xx chromosome, plays with the ambiguity of sexual gender definitions. Sizzeler’s installation here combines high heel shoes with toy cars and trucks, using blue and white to specify social gender tagging. The apparent point is to challenge definitions of "normal" male and female signifiers.

Beyond the complexity of issues surrounding gender identity, this show serves as a history lesson, if you will, that sets down cultural markers pointing the way forward. Framing the exhibition in the context of J.B. Harder’s evolution both as an artist and as a gay man, gives the work a helpful narrative. Harter’s final work consists of small portraits of personal friends and people he admired who were either HIV+ or who had passed away. If one of his subjects was no longer living, he painted a small coffin next to his signature.

5/2 through 7/1.

Ed Note: This exhibition, curated by David S. Rubin for The Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans, originally opened and closed in New Orleans after two weeks, due to the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina. In New York, the show inaugurates the new street level location of the Leslie Lohman Gay Art Foundation Gallery. The term "Queer" in the exhibition title refers to all non-normative gender presentations, including homosexual, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, metro sexual and gender queer.


 

 

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