Noir Universe

Posted on April 22, 2012 by melissa

Alex Prager ‘s pulp fiction

CityArts April 18 2012

If you like your art and cinema on the pulp side, I highly recommend you cakewalk over to Yancey Richardson Gallery to see the latest Technicolor noir dreams of Alex Prager. This exhibition marks the debut of her newest film, La Petite Mort, and an accompanying exhibition of photographs entitled Compulsion.

Prager’s Technicolor world gives a wink and a nod to the films of Douglas Sirk and the stories of Jim Thompson; plus a little touch of a Cindy Sherman influence as well. There’s always a dame in trouble, though in Prager’s universe, the man who put her there is unseen and unnamed.

Trembling, fragile and on the verge of tears, the women who inhabit these films and photos are dreamlike throwbacks to a fantasy of an earlier age. They are not anti-feminist as much as they are oblivious to a world with any other possibilities. This is precisely what makes these works so fabulous and, yes, even moving; there is not a hint of irony in them.

Prager has created a perfectly logical universe inhabited by beautiful dames and broads and a supporting cast of impressively brutish extras. Because Prager’s women are the tremulous center of her universe, it is part of the logic that everyone else is a much a caricature as the heroine. They are as universally unattractive as she is universally ravishing.

The film La Petite Mort was shot by acclaimed cinematographer Matthew Libatique (Black Swan). It takes place in the split second between life and death…or does it? The production values, costumes, effects and music are those of a big-budget film and they perfectly complement the six-minute roller coaster ride.

The second part of the exhibition, Compulsion, is a series of photographic diptychs. They are large photographs, each portraying a scene of terrible human disaster with a second smaller, accompanying photo that is a close-up of an eye. They are hugely disquieting, but somehow alluring to look at.

A woman has fallen and is dangling off the side of an electrical tower that dwarfs her lifeless body. Another woman clings desperately to a car bumper as it flies through the air. The photographs are printed in the same lurid colors as the films. They draw us in and then wham—that giant eye reminds us that we are the voyeur, staring at a grisly scene. Then that tug of the beauty of the first image pulls us closer again.

This is a tremendously exciting and sophisticated show. Prager, a self-taught photographer, is hooked into a visual sensibility that is both compelling and provocative. And she shoots a swell-looking bunch of dames to boot.

Alex Prager: Compulsion
Through May 19, Yancey Richardson Gallery.
535 W. 22nd St., 3rd Fl., 646-230-9610,
www.yanceyrichardson.com.

Posted in Reviews | Tagged Alex Prager, film noir, Photography, Yancy Richarson | Leave a comment

A Deluxe Act

Posted on March 9, 2012 by melissa

Gallagher connects the dots at MoMA

Museum exhibitions curated by artists are always an interesting journey into the artist’s brain. Sometimes we find out things we really didn’t want to know, like a hidden passion for paintings of big-eyed children or a love of the color beige. Sometimes, however, we get to peer deeply into the artist’s mind and actually connect the dots of how what interests them relates to their work.

Click to enlarge. Ellen Gallagher, DeLuxe, 2004–05. © 2012 Ellen Gallagher and Two Palms Press.

Printin’, a new show in the print galleries at MoMA, is such an exhibition. It is showing concurrently with the major but unwieldy exhibition Print/Out, and trust me, you can skip the big show in favor of this superbly well-chosen, flowing and evocative collection of work. In this case, smaller is better.

Printin’ is co-curated by Sarah Suzuki, an associate curator at the museum, and the artist Ellen Gallagher. The exhibition pivots around Gallagher’s seminal suite of prints entitled DeLuxe, 60 prints that combine just about every printing technique on earth along with collage, 3-D objects and hand-painting. It is a massive and stunning work and a benchmark in Gallagher’s artistic development.

Given some amount of free rein to wander through MoMA’s collections and make the visual and conceptual connections that most interested her, Gallagher has created a startlingly beautiful and profound exhibition.

The heart of the curators’ magic is an ability to exhibit links between disparate works, either visual, thematic or temperamental. The connections that the curators make are delightful, allowing the viewer the joy of seeing and understanding those visual connections.

For example, one wall of the show is hung with an unusually sensitive, large Keith Haring woodcut. Next to that is a painted Kachina made by an anonymous Hopi Indian, then the wall bounces up into a very unusual Paul Klee piece of pigmented paste on paper and cloth. Below that is a wonderful abstract print by Canadian artist Akesuk Tudlik.

The visual themes dance across this wall in a giddy flash of discovery. You get it. You are able to see what Gallagher sees and presumably loves in these pieces.

A 1921 photograph of the black vaudevillian Bert Williams dressed incongruously in both tuxedo and chicken suit hangs above a print by Otto Dix entitled “American Riding Act,” which depicts horse-borne men in elaborate feathered headdresses shooting at something beyond the picture plane. The connections are both funny and chilling.

As opposed to the conceptually dense and overly hip showcase exhibition Print/Out, Suzuki and Gallagher have mounted a show that is intellectually accessible, artistically illuminating and a sheer joy to visit.

Printin’
Through May 14, The Museum of Modern Art, 11 W. 53rd St., 212-708-9400, www.moma.org.

Posted in Reviews | Tagged MoMA. Ellen Gallagher, prints and drawings | Leave a comment

The Talking Cure- whose talking???

Posted on February 6, 2012 by melissa

Hello Campers!

This merry prankster project just keeps getting wilder and more fun. Two new writers have jumped aboard, bringing the total to an even dozen voices speaking from the minds of my sculptures. I’m blown away by it all. Here is the list of who is participating ( in alphbetical, not alpha order)

Larry Fessenden— Max Friedlich— Janet Grillo— Susan Lewis—

Valeria Luiselli—Sarah Langan— Arthur Mednick— Annie Nocenti—Paula Sharp

Danielle Truscott— Robert Burke Warren—-Anthony Weintraub-

Extraordinary writers, each with quite a different vision and voice.

very cool.

Posted in Rants and Raves | 2 Comments

From Id to Paper: Dubuffet intros art brut

Posted on February 2, 2012 by melissa

Feb 2, 2012

The year starts off with quite a bang at Ricco/Maresca Gallery. The current exhibition, Dubuffet and the Art Brut, is a museum-quality exploration of Jean Dubuffet, as well as the circle of artists that he admired and in some cases collected. Undoubtedly these had a profound effect on Dubuffet’s own artistic development. The connections made in this show between Dubuffet’s work and that of his peers is both visually stunning and historically illuminating.

Dubuffet coined the term “art brut” to describe art made by nonprofessionals, those living outside of the boundaries of mainstream society in one form or another. Today, we refer to this genre as outsider art, and a lively universe of academics, collectors and galleries have sprung up to support and occasionally exploit these self-taught outsiders.

This exhibition, co-curated by the gallery and Jennifer Pinto Safian, is painstakingly precise in its curatorial choices. The show is jam-packed with 35 works of art, and each one is significant. It includes four exquisite drawings by Adolf Wölfli (1864–1930), a mentally ill Swiss artist who is often cited as one of the first recognized art brut artists.

Wölfli’s work is dense, deeply drawn with crayon and graphite. The images go to the very edge of the paper and seem as if they could spill out into our world if not for their tightly constructed borders.

My favorite of his works on display here is entitled “Picture Puzzle: Where is the Little Bernese Woman?” She is, of course, upside down, nestled in the crotch of another androgynous figure. Imaginary words float up and down and throughout the drawing like music. The three figures are locked in an eternal puzzle of psychological and pictorial complexity. You can see immediately why Dubuffet fell in love with this work.

Other pieces by what are now considered “blue chip” art brut artists—Madge Gill, Scottie Wilson, Carlo Zinelli and Dubuffet’s friend, the surrealist painter Alfonso Ossorio—turn this show into a dance of color, line and emotion.

Dubuffet’s work is strongly represented here by some of his early, raw drawings. “Corps de Dame” is classic early Dubuffet. The naked female form is drawn as a child perceives its mother or perhaps as man sees woman in the depths of his psyche. She is a great flattened shape, a delicious mass of hips and tummy. She has tiny little arms, a mat of curly hair, a delighted grin and funny little bosoms that have migrated to somewhere near the sternum. I find this drawing hilarious, sexy and unabashed in its love of women.

Though many of the other artists in the show may have been compelled to make art by darker motivations, Dubuffet shares their freedom to break the rules and paint directly from id to paper. It is a joyful journey, and we are lucky to share in it.

Dubuffet and the Art Brut
Through Feb. 18, Ricco/Maresca Gallery, 529 W. 20th St., 212-627-4819, www.riccomaresca.com.

Posted in Reviews | Tagged Adilff Wolfii, Art Brut, Jean Dubuffet, outsider art, Ricco Maresca Gallery | Leave a comment

The Talking Cure #1

Posted on January 27, 2012 by melissa

Hey there buckaroos-

I am deep deep into my giant installation project- The Talking Cure. I’ve launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to help fund the project. The response has been extraordinary, humbling, empowering- freakin’ great!!!!

Tomorrow I’ll post the list of extraordinary writers who I am working with. Tonight, just a few snaps from the studio…..

a scene of total madness!!

A happy day in the studio.......

Posted in Rants and Raves | 1 Comment

The Man in the Broad Brimmed Hat

Posted on January 16, 2012 by melissa

Broad Brimmed Art-Bob Thompson Revived

Dec. 19, 2011

Painter Bob Thompson (1937–1966) straddled several artistic worlds. From Old-Master Europe, to hipster 1950s Provincetown, to the Beat poetry and bebop jazz scene of New York City, he was there, absorbing all that he could of these seemingly disparate universes. His artistic mentors and friends ranged from Red Grooms and Lester Johnson to LeRoi Jones and Charlie Haden. Thompson lived and worked in that most interesting transition period in American art: from post-WWII to the very beginnings of Pop Art.

Europe was still the primary influence on American painters, but along with the evolution of jazz and Beat poetry, a unique and totally American visual vocabulary was developing. Thompson played an underrated but crucial role in this journey. Traveling from hipster Provincetown to Europe, Thompson remained rooted in the present but immersed himself in great art of the past, and developed his unique vision and style.

I was thrilled to hear of the current show of Thomson’s work at Steve Harvey Fine Art Projects on the Lower East Side. This show consists solely of Thompson’s drawings, most of which have never been shown before. The wait, though far too long, was worth it. This illuminating and serious exhibition provides a view into Thompson’s development from brilliant novice to self-assured master. Images that were to become iconic for Thompson as a painter—the artist as shadow observer in a broad brimmed hat, the nude in a primeval forest—show their genesis in these drawings.

There are some stunning beauties: “Untitled (Figure with Balloon)” is the simplest of compositions and executions, yet it is as rich and moving as a drawing can be. Loose, but not casual, swaths of watercolor define the figure in a classical but wholly original way. “Portrait of Nina Simone,” a simple pen and ink line portrait of the singer, conveys all the complexity and richness of both artists, the portrayed and the portrayer.

This exhibition begins to fill in the gaps of what we know about Bob Thompson. Seeing his drawings and preparatory sketches for future large paintings rounds out our understanding of how this brilliant painter approached his work. The exhibition whet my appetite for a full-scale retrospective of Thompson’s work, painting and drawings. For fans of Thompson’s work and those interested in mid-century painting, this is a critical exhibition to see.

Bob Thompson Drawings
Through Jan. 8, 2012, Steve Harvey Fine Art Projects, 208 Forsyth St., 917-861-7312 or 212-281-2281, www.shfap.com.

Posted in Reviews | Tagged 1950's, Beat poetry, Bob Thompson, Fine art, Jazz, Lester Johnson, New York City, Old Master, Painting, Provincetown, Red Grooms | 2 Comments

Neo Rauch- International Man of Mystery

Posted on December 12, 2011 by melissa

Secrets and Art: Neo Rauch’s Narrative Enigmas

by Melissa Stern on Dec 2, 2011 • 10:22 am

I have long been fascinated by the work of the German artist Neo Rauch. From his strange, strained color palette to the scenes of modern dislocation that spill forth from his mind, he is consistently one of the most interesting contemporary painters in Europe or the U.S. His current show at David Zwirner Gallery shows Rauch painting some of his best work in years, exploring themes of both personal and political dissonance.

The exhibition, aptly entitled Sanitarium (Heilstatten in German), is a hallucinatory tour through Rauch’s universe. Enigmatic figures emerge from architectural landscapes that are at once improbable and evocative of a mythological German past. Bits and pieces of narrative taunt the viewer to decode the paintings, only to be thwarted by twists and turns of visual plot that lead anywhere and nowhere. Neo Rauch, born and raised in the former East Germany, has always combined a sense of the social realist style of Soviet art matched by a Western psychological sense of urgency.

This is not easy work to read. Rauch’s work never has been—and that is part of its appeal. We desperately want to know what he is trying to say; that is inherent in the appeal of narrative art. What, precisely, is the story? But time and time again, Rauch’s paintings refuse to give it up their secrets.

This recent work employs a color palette that is typical of Rauch but pushed in new, more extreme directions. The colors are acid drenched, worn out and semi-industrial. The essence of the faded “glory” of East Germany is contained in these colors. The difference between this and much of Rauch’s previous work is the use of recurring hits of a toxic green and a brilliant purple. This refreshed and striking use of color is perhaps the unifying element of this show. The imagery—birds of prey, men digging holes, a fall from grace—are not new to Rauch’s world. The inhabitants of this world are forever busy, yet the goal for which they labor is always elusive. These narratives are mystery stories that the viewer never solves. I find these endless mysteries intoxicating. Neo Rauch provides all the clues, but it is the viewer who completes the story.

Heilstatten

Through Dec. 17, David Zwirner Gallery, 525 W. 19th St., www.davidzwirner.com.

Posted in Reviews | Tagged Contemporary painting, David Zwirner, David Zwirner Gallery, East Germany, enigma, Neo Rauch, Painting, Palette (computing), politcal art, Rauch, Soviet art | Leave a comment

Rauchenberg’s Delights

Posted on December 8, 2011 by melissa

An artist shows off his collection
By Melissa Stern

Nov 29, 2011 • 2:51 pm

One of the most fun things an art lover can experience is a glimpse into the private collection of a beloved artist. The current exhibition at Gagosian uptown featuring Robert Rauschenberg’s private collection leaves one giddy with delight and reeling from the sheer volume and quality of collected work.

The show has 200 works in it—a mere sampling of Rauschenberg’s 900-piece collection. Everything and the kitchen sink appears in this show, from a 3.5 x 2.5 inch portrait of Abraham Lincoln by Civil War photographer Matthew Brady to numerous and stunning paintings and drawings by Rauschenberg’s close friend Cy Twombly. Trades, purchases or gifts from friends and lovers, the pieces take over three floors of Gagosian’s flagship Madison Avenue gallery, and each room brings new revelations into the life and mind of the man who collected it all.

Many of the works in the show are by Rauschenberg’s contemporaries, and one can easily see the connection between their artistic sensibilities. Then there are the surprises: A small ink drawing, “Study of a Chicken,” by Alexander Calder, is a delightful, almost throwaway “portrait” of said chicken. A wonderful collage from 1964 made by chorographer Steve Paxton, Rauschenberg’s friend and collaborator, is a revelation into the nature of improvisation and artistic connection between men. A series of photographs by Grant Mudford of abstracted pieces of street paving relate directly to Rauschenberg’s own fascination with the connections between seemingly disjointed images.

There is a particularly delightful painting by James Rosenquist entitled “Waiting For Bob.” The story goes that it was to be a collaboration between the two artists. Rosenquist went first, painting a partial door and leaving a big empty space in the middle, presumably for Rauschenberg to do his thing. When the canvas arrived at his studio, however, he pronounced it “perfect” and refused to lift his own brush to it. The show abounds with such pleasures.

It takes time to walk thorough the collection, and there are certainly some misses; I did not feel passion for the musical scores of John Cage and Morton Feldman amassed here. But there are those for whom these works will be the best in the show. The diversity of vision is astounding. There is a wonderful mural-sized photograph on the fourth floor of the gallery showing Rauschenberg in his studio with many of the pieces in the show hanging behind him.

The opportunity to see these works brings us closer to this brilliant artist, whose restless energy and ever-evolving personal work brought him closer to the things he truly loved. It’s inspiring.

The Private Collection of Robert Rauschenberg
Through Dec. 23, Gagosian Gallery, 980 Madison Ave., 646-453-1050, www.gagosian.com.

Posted in Reviews | Tagged 1960's, Abraham Lincoln, Cy Twombly, Gagosian Gallery, Grant Mudford, James Rosenquist, John Cage, Madison Avenue, music, Pop Art, Rauschenberg, Robert Rauschenberg, Steve Paxton | Leave a comment

Out of the Past: Peter Sekaer’s signs trace history at ICP

Posted on October 30, 2011 by melissa

CityArts on Oct 25, 2011

The stunning new exhibition at The International Center of Photography forces you to slow down, ignore the hustle of the city outside, take a deep breath and dive into a world long gone. Signs of Life: Photographs by Peter Sekaer presents the Danish-born photographer’s now obscure work chronicling America under the New Deal, portraying a land of poverty, segregation, hope and utter beauty. Like his better-known colleague Walker Evans, Sekaer traveled both the rural and urban roads of America for his photographic subjects. He created a poetic elegy to the period.

Peter Sekaer,

With an outsider’s objectivity, using his background in commercial art, Sekaer brings an elegant sense of design as well as a great love for signs and typography to his work. It struck me how many of these “sign” photos presage later 20th-century artists like Ed Ruscha and Barbara Kruger. Delightful calligraphic swirls spell out “Jones Barber Shop.” A solid art deco font marches up a staircase labeled ”Colored.”

I think, however, that the curator has used the word “sign” in a broader context. In Sekaer’s quiet and often empty urban landscapes, these signs, posters and bits of advertising are a reminder that these were once vibrant communities.

Sekaer’s portraits of people, though posed, capture a quiet sense of loss and despair. There are not a lot of smiles in these photos, but their masterful composition and beauty dispel any sense of gloom. Most of the photos in the show were commissioned by the government to document the Great Depression. A stoic populace stares into the camera, refusing to give up or give in. Sekaer’s lush silver prints—an older, but arguably subtler photographic technology—is a reminder of just how much is lost in contemporary digital prints.

This is a powerful political exhibition. Its juxtaposition with a fluffy retrospective of photos from Harper’s Bazaar in ICP’s next room may be a sly comic statement about the medium’s diverse use. And as Occupy Wall Street marchers passed by the museum, I thought about how Sekaer’s photographs comment on the world of the haves versus the have nots from long ago.

Signs of Life: Photographs by Peter Sekaer Through Jan. 8, 2012, International Center of Photography, 1133 6th Ave., 212-857-0000, www.icp.org.

Posted in Reviews | Tagged 1930's, Barbara Kruger, Denmark, Great Depression, ICP, International Center of Photography, New Deal, Occupy Wall Street, Peter Sekaer, Photography, rural America, The Great Depression, urban America, Walker Evans, WPA photgraphs | Leave a comment

TRAVELING LIGHT

Posted on October 30, 2011 by melissa

Traveling Light

Oct 26, 2011

Curious Matter in Jersey City

Should we all move to Jersey City? That’s all I could think after an efficient 15 minute PATH train ride to a place that I confess I had never ventured before. A short walk through a street teeming with shops out of a time warp, and I found myself on a tree-lined avenue of Victorian brownstones so beautiful that they would make a Brooklynite weep.

It’s a perfect setting for Curious Matter, an artist-run gallery dedicated to the exploration of ideas and visual art. This eccentric and rarified little gallery is home to some of the most intellectually rigorous shows in the area. Co-founders Arthur Bruso and Raymond E. Mingst consistently curate shows that address their deep interest in science, nature, beauty and consciousness. Related to the “cabinets of wonder” from other centuries, these shows span the artistic landscape showing work of any and all materials that attempt to address these big questions.

The current exhibit, Dividing the Light Measuring Darkness, is an investigation into the properties of light and dark. According to the exhibition catalog, “from ancient myth to modern science light comes out of darkness. Light and darkness are separate entities, but dependent upon one another.“ Heady stuff coming from the ancestral home of Nathan Lane and Shaquille O’Neal. Not every piece in the show is successful—the very nature of art addressing these kinds of questions ensures that not every piece will hit the mark. But the pieces that do strike the theme are true winners.

A cardboard and drawn sculpture made by Hyun-Joon Yoon is a standout. The piece in two sections consists of layers and layers of board cut to form the silhouettes of several men receding into what seems to be infinity. Intricate tiny white writing swirls around the cutouts, like miniature galaxies. The overall effect is astounding, especially for a piece that is all of 9 by 20 inches in size.

Another bright light in the show is a luscious black and white photograph by Ken Collins. A slightly fuzzy round object sits quietly on what looks like a tabletop. A brilliant band of light delineating the horizon highlights the questions, “Is the light approaching or receding?” and “Are we about to be plunged into darkness or bathed in the light?” This fascinating exhibition sheds light on New York’s outskirts and illuminates the trek to Jersey City.

Dividing Light Measuring Darkness

Through Nov. 6, Curious Matter, 272 5th St., Jersey City, N.J., www.curiosmatter.blogspot.com.

Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Speaking in Tongues