Now that we are truly in the grip of the holiday season it’s time to celebrate what our fine city has to offer; this year it’s gifting us all sorts of marvelous ART!
Peter Fischli and David Weiss have a new exhibit showing at the Matthew Marks Gallery until Jan. 16th:
Sun, Moon and Stars is an encyclopedic accumulation of 800 magazine advertisements culled from hundreds of international periodicals. Begun as a project commissioned by a Swiss corporation for its annual report, the finished project is displayed in thirty-eight wood and glass tables, totaling 330 feet in length. A dizzying redaction of late capitalism in various chromatic and themed groupings, the ads are shown in a specific order that exploits the formal, narrative and color similarities between advertisements. Among the hundreds of paired ads, the viewer will discover the curious association between the color schemes in an ad for private airplanes and another for cat food. These juxtapositions guide the viewer toward many interpretations, following a specific narrative.
The Brooklyn Museum’s excellent photography exhibit ‘Who Shot Rock and Roll‘ is up until Jan. 31st. Here’s a taste of the iconic images in store for visitors:
Michael Putland (British, born 1947). Mick Jagger, Philadelphia, 1982 (printed 1990s). Gelatin silver print. Collection of Michael Putland
NPR also did a nice story on the exhibit if you want a bit more background going in…
For anyone who didn’t experience NYC in the ’90s, you have a chance to see a fragment of the past with two exhibits exploring the work of Stuart Sherman, the performance artist who died of AIDS in 2001. The New York Times describes both exhibits in detail in this article; after you have the back story see the art for yourself at the 80WSE Gallery and Participant Inc.
Though it’s never become a separate category of art (like photography), lithography has been hugely influential over the years. Now until Dec. 12th you can see how a broad range of artists used the medium at FIAF. Their exhibit, The Great Masters of Lithography: Vintage Posters of Calder, Chagall, Dufy, Léger, Matisse, Miró, Picasso, and Others, explores the way “unique and visually striking lithographs, which were beautifully used as posters to promote the artists’ work.” Here’s one stunning example:
Picasso Lithograph
For a look at NYC through someone else’s eyes head over to Fuse Gallery to see Joshua Wildman’s beautiful photographs of the city that never sleeps. His strangely personal images of NY nightlife make the city seem at once wilder and also more vulnerable. Here’s one lovely shot:
Joshua Wildman Photo
For a more intimate set of images you can see Margaret de Lange’s Daughters at the Foley Gallery:
The images depict the two girls enjoying their summers out of doors, barefoot and often bare-bodied, in a dark and grainy, high-contrast style. In the photographs, the children seem to be a part of the nature around them, with dirt and grass clinging to knees and feet, with hoods of animal skin; they become like the creatures of Scandinavian folklore that, as de Lange explains, “were said to appear at twilight, and were always beautiful, but often evil as well.” And so we view the daughters, captured as they linger in a hazy half-darkness, in that time between day and night and an age between child and adult, exploring, discovering, and experiencing all of those little adventures which amount to growing up. These “creatures” exhibit their initiated ways through various little clues: dead birds hanging from string, bold stares from beneath fury capes. All together, the effect is unabashedly dark and earthy, yet calm and elegantly matter-of-fact.
Finally, it is perhaps unnecessary for me to mention the biggest retrospective of the season: Tim Burton at the MOMA. I doubt I need to say more so I’ll simply include this fun image:
Tim Burton
On that note I will sign off but stay tuned for news of upcoming events, etc. Also remember to follow me on twitter for the latest!
