Art in One Form or Another

The $100 T-shirt is fine with me

Well done, Whitney Museum membership team. As part of Jenny Holzer’s retrospective PROTECT PROTECT, t he Whitney has partnered with Holzer to commission a limited-edition "members only" t-shirt featuring one of her signature Truisms: GOOD DEEDS EVENTUALLY ARE REWARDED. We couldn't resist purchasing the SECRET after seeing the show to make for a perfect souvenir.

I (heart) Landscapes

I am always on the hunt for landscape photography in a very large format. Even though I have absolutely no wall space for something as large as I want, there is just nothing as impressive as walking into a room to see a massive image of somewhere you want to be (or want be doing).

 

Reading Danzinger Projects blog this weekend, I came across Sze Tsung Leong who is showing at Yossi Milo Gallery right now. Leong's second show at the gallery, called Horizons, is an ongoing series of photographs, begun in 2001, that depict expansive but detailed views of a broad spectrum of environments throughout the world. No idea where it will go but the above photograph, called Dead Sea II, will be on my wall one day!

Walking on Broken Glass

My first trip to the Contemporary Museum in Barcelona was also the first time I've ever had to sign a release to see an art exhibit. And it was worth it! Conceptual artist Cildo Mierles created fun and interactive experiences where personal injury was always a possibility.

Putting a surprising quantity of one particular element into his works is also something of a signature of Mierles. From walking on a sea of broken glass to putting on a mask to walk into a pitch dark room only to realize that you are a foot deep in powder (I think it was flour), Mierles created an unsettling and a unique exerpierence that I won't soon forget. P.S. We got into the Museum usuing Starwood's Unlock Art Program.

Blah Blah Blah

Before there was Holzer there was Bochner. Conceptual artist Mel Bochner has a way with words and what he has to say can stop you in your tracks.

Bochner takes a theme and runs with it. Whether its money, superficial or even amazing, Mel plays with all of the words that comes to his mind, no matter how far out there they may be. His process is interesting. Each piece is individually made and the Monoprint is engraved and embossed on hand-dyed Twinrocker handmade paper. If you are a paper geek, check out Two Palms Press.

The Sartorialist

The Sartorialist has been a long time fav of mine (along with everyone else). A site dedicated to fashion on the streets, photographer Scott Schuman's ability to create a fashion show on the streets is pretty incredible.

Only recently did I learn that Danzinger Projects represents The Satorialist! If you don't know about DP, you should. Not only do they handle an interesting range of artists, but their blog is a great site that I love to frequent.

Jacqueline Hassink's Car Girls

Jacqueline Hassink popped up on my radar at Art Basel last December and my interest in her work has only grown over the last few months. Her latest, Car Girls, is a body of work that Hassink created over five years, photographing “car girls” during major car shows in seven different cities on three continents.
Car Girls, Jacqueline Hassink from Aperture Foundation on Vimeo.

As she describes it, Hassink uses these sites to reflect on “differing cultural values with regard to their ideal images of beauty and women. The series captures the moments during the women’s performances when they become more like dolls or tools than individuals.”

The Next Banksy?

Looking through the latest Philips Auction, we came across street artist Ben Eine and a few searches later, have come to enjoy and respect his street art. It's official. I'm going to stop searching for Banksy and start my street hunts for Eine!

Among my favs is Eine's "Emergency,"  a great spray paint and black gloss piece on canvas. And almost the perfect size at 36" x 36". From works on canvas, stencils, posters, stickers and even, straight up vandalism, Eine's work is sticking in my head and that only means that his work will one day make it to my living room wall.

I Thought it was Google Earth, too

During a recent trip to Cohen Amador Gallery we were introduced to photographer Taiji Martsue and his new series called Cell, and I'm hooked.

Matsue has enlarged specific parts of his photographs, cropping them into tiny glimpses of people and details. Individuals and places appear pixilated and isolated: as though the images were taken from a satellite in space. That detached sense of surveillance heightens the unique formal characteristics of the photos, but by focusing more closely on people, the varied dimensions of human life are presented in a manner that feels largely free of manipulation or mediation, as though Matsue is happy to provide us with a view of the activities of human life, without trying to heroize or vilify the individuals or activities presented.

Salon 94's Marilyn Minter Show

I am OCD for Marilyn Minter which automatically makes me a fan of Salon 94 gallery in NYC, who represents her and will be presenting Green Pink Caviar at the end of April.

 

This is the artist’s second solo exhibition at the gallery. Continuing her examination of glamour and its underbelly, Minter juxtaposes photorealistic paintings and painterly photographs, which hone in on the moment where clarity becomes abstraction and beauty commingles with the grotesque. In Minter’s world, the body is cast as a site of aggressive desire. Tongues covered in glittering candy attempt to push beyond the picture plane and enter the viewer’s space. An androgynous nipple is menaced by a snake tattoo and adorned with pearls, and a freckled, made up model blows a bubble that is about to burst.

Marilyn Minter Shines in Times Square

I've finally found a reason to be excited about visiting Times Square, thanks to Marilyn Minter.

As part of Creative Times's ongoing program of video art, At 44 1/2, shown on MTV’s gilded, outdoor, HD billboard in Times Square, Marilyn Minter has curated an exhibition that investigates what she calls “the pathology of glamour." Chewing Color strikes a delicate balance between beauty and disgust with Patty Chang’s Fan Dance, (2003), Kate Gilmore’s Star Bright, Star Might, (2007), and Marilyn Minter’s Green Pink Caviar, 2009.