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Posted: August 01, 2010 |
 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art - Third Street Entrance - Photo by Ken Hamel/DenverArts.org
David Adjaye, the architect behind Denver's Museum of Contemporary Art at Delgany and 15th, had been in the running to design a major expansion at San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art, however on July 21st the museum announced the selection of Norwegian design house Snøhetta as the architectural lead on the $250 million project. While SFMOMA currently boasts 65,000 sq feet of exhibition space, the expansion will add 100,000 sq ft of additional gallery and public space, and also create a home for the outstanding Fisher Collection which is currently on display but only until September 19th. - KLH
Click here for the press release.
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Posted: June 02, 2010 |
 The new Mather:Kunst in Amsterdam rises from the ashes of Andenken Denver
Andenken Gallery, long a Denver underground staple is in transition: after life on 21st and Market and then 30th and Larimer, under the auspices of Hyland Mather and then Tom Horne, the gallery is more or less closed as it was. Hyland has opened "Mather:Kunst" in a "new Andenken Gallery" space in Amsterdam, and Tom has moved out of the Block Building to 555 Santa Fe Drive into the new Black Book Gallery opening this Friday June 4th. - KLH
Black Book Gallery
555 Santa Fe Drive
Denver, CO 80204
http://www.theblackbookgallery.com
Mather:Kunst
Builderdijkkade 60
Amsterdam
http://www.matherkunst.com
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Posted: May 31, 2010 |
 Leo Castelli (left) with Andy Warhol (right) 1966 - NY Times
For your summer reading list: Author Annie Cohen-Solal’s 2009 biography of NY art impresario Leo Castelli was recently translated from the orignal French into English and released in the US as "Leo & His Circle: The Life of Leo Castelli."
From the LA Times Book Reveiw by Mark Lamster: A dealer and his galaxy of art stars in 'Leo and His Circle"
Of Castelli's family history, Cohen-Solal provides more information than the average reader, especially one hoping for a gossipy art-world tell-all, may be willing to bear. Indeed, she has practically created two independent books joined at the middle, one examining the Castelli family's trials and tribulations over five generations, the second picking up in detail after Leo's arrival in the U.S. in 1941, a refugee from the Nazi extermination machine. Both, it should be said, are well worth reading.
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Posted: May 26, 2010 |
 Whitney Downtown - Rendering by Renzo Piano Building Workshop in collaboration with Cooper, Robertson & Partners
(from the press release)
In an historic decision for the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Board of Trustees has voted unanimously to break ground on a new museum building in downtown Manhattan in May 2011. Located in the Meatpacking District on Gansevoort Street between West Street and the High Line, the six-floor, 195,000-square-foot building, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano, will provide the Whitney with essential new space for its collection, exhibitions, and education and performing arts programs in one of New York’s most vibrant neighborhoods.
The fundraising campaign for downtown, currently in its leadership phase, has already reached $372 million, which represents 63% of the $590 million goal. The total project budget is $680 million, which includes $230 million for the endowment, as well as construction and land costs.
“The Board’s decision to break ground next spring is the crucial next step in the evolution of our downtown museum, one which will ensure that the Whitney can boldly realize its mission to be the defining museum of 20th- and 21st-century American art,” said Adam D. Weinberg, Alice Pratt Brown Director of the Whitney Museum. “I am thrilled by the remarkable strides we’ve made with this transformative project and am enormously grateful for the unfaltering devotion and commitment of our Board, the City and State, our downtown neighbors, the arts community, and all of our supporters.”
Robert J. Hurst, co-chairman of the Whitney Board of Trustees, said, “With this vote, the Board of Trustees has signaled definitively its commitment to realizing this immensely important and exciting new building project.” Co-chairman Brooke Garber Neidich said, “We are heartened to have reached nearly two-thirds of our fundraising campaign goal, a full year before groundbreaking. It reflects the tremendous enthusiasm for this project and the future of the Whitney.”
“The museum will be a dynamic new presence downtown,” said Neil G. Bluhm, president of the Board of Trustees, “both as an architectural landmark designed by the great Renzo Piano and as a vital resource that engages the neighborhood, enlivens the cultural dialogue, and welcomes the people of New York and beyond.”
The vote to break ground on the site is the latest in a series of major project milestones. Last year, the Whitney entered into an agreement with the City of New York to purchase the site; the museum has completed the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) zoning process, and demolition of the site has begun. The building is projected to open to the public in 2015.
The Board also has agreed that the Whitney will continue discussions with The Metropolitan Museum of Art regarding the potential use of the Whitney’s uptown building on Madison Avenue. The boards of both institutions have authorized the discussions to determine the scope and timing of this potential collaboration.
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Posted: May 02, 2010 |
 Architect Daniel Libeskind - photo by Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
Vivian Marino of the NY Times interviews Daniel Libeskind, architect of the Denver Art Museum's 2006 expansion at 13th and Acoma and master plan architect for the reconstruction of the NYC World Trade Center complex post 9/11. From the interview:
Q: Many call you a “starchitect.” How does that make you feel?
A: I couldn’t care less. But the truth is people have rediscovered architecture. Ground zero had a lot to do with raising expectations, because it was a public process and people were very involved and there was an emotional resonance. I consider this a renaissance: a rediscovery that architecture isn’t just a bunch of concrete slabs, that it’s cultural and has to have a sustainable idea to it.
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Posted: March 17, 2010 |
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There's something incredibly ironic about taking art known for its bold scale and shrinking it down to a postage stamp, but these new stamps from the USPS will no doubt add a nice touch to your next bulk mailing... - KLH
(from the press release)
United States Postal Service Honors Abstract Expressionists
The U.S. Postal Service honors the artistic innovations and achievements of a group of artists who moved the United States to the forefront of the international art scene with the release of the Abstract Expressionists commemorative postage stamps. The vibrant stamps feature works by Hans Hoffmann, Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still, Barnett Newman, Robert Motherwell, Adolph Gottlieb, Arshile Gorky, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock and Joan Mitchell.
“These bold artists used art to express complicated ideas and primitive emotions in simplified, abstract form,” said Linda Kingsley, USPS senior vice president, Strategy and Transition. “Although these stamps can’t compare in size to their real-life canvases, they bring the passion and spirit of abstract expressionism to an envelope near you. The Postal Service is proud to pay tribute to the legacy and unique perspectives of these revolutionary artists.”
Abstract expressionists believed that art no longer depicted experience but became the experience itself. They emphasized spontaneous, free expression and allowed personal intuition and the unconscious to guide their choice of imagery. Other shared traits include the use of large canvases and an emphasis on paint texture and distinctive brushstrokes.
"The abstract expressionists began one of the most important art movements in the last century, placing New York and American art at the very center of the art world for the first time,” noted Louis Grachos, director of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, NY, home of four of the works featured on the stamps. “The Albright-Knox Art Gallery was one of the first museums to begin collecting abstract expressionist paintings, and we are very proud that work from our collection was chosen by the Postal Service as some of the finest examples of the period.”
One of the most influential art teachers of the 20th century, Hans Hofmann (1880-1966) pioneered a method of improvisational painting that helped shape the development of abstract art after World War II. The Golden Wall (1961) features his trademark “push and pull” technique: geometric shapes that animate the canvas by seeming to shift and overlap.
Adolph Gottlieb (1903-1974) created a uniquely American blend of inspiration from late medieval and early Italian Renaissance masters, European cubism, and the freely expressive line of surrealism in his innovative “Pictographs” of the 1940s. Romanesque Façade (1949) brings together his aspiration to be intuitively understandable to everyone and to convey a universal emotional reality.
Mark Rothko (1903-1970) is best known for his monumental paintings of two or more rectangles floated within a field of color. Orange and Yellow (1956) features two rectangles painted in the vibrant tones that Rothko favored. Far from static, the rectangles seem to stretch and contract, while translucent, luminous colors bring them to life.
Influencing much of the American abstract art that followed, Arshile Gorky (1904-1948) developed an original style that combined cubism and surrealism with his own disguised imagery. The Liver Is the Cock’s Comb (1944) — one of his largest and greatest pictures — uses abstract forms to camouflage a deeply personal portrait of his family at home.
Clyfford Still (1904-1980) painted ponderous, abstract canvases to convey universal themes about the human condition. 1948-C (1948) illustrates his signature style of richly textured surfaces, expressive lines and shapes, and sublime color in an expansive field. Still kept tight control of his work, much of which has never been seen.
Willem de Kooning (1904-1997) transformed the traditions of European art to create his own energetic and unconstrained style. While much of his work was entirely abstract, de Kooning’s best-known paintings blend abstraction and figural representation. Skittering black lines, shifting shapes, fragmented body parts, and flashes of color fill the surface of his 1948 work Asheville.
Barnett Newman (1905-1970) created deceptively simple works often characterized by large, even expanses of a single color punctuated by one or more vertical lines, which he called “zips.” One of several works based on ancient Greek mythology, Achilles (1952) does not feature a zip but rather a swath of red paint that moves down the canvas to end in a ragged edge.
Best known for his poured paintings, Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) created spontaneously painted works that marked a break with artistic tradition. For Convergence (1952), he laid blue and white clouds and loops of red and yellow atop a black-and-white base. The expressive color and drawing are so fresh that the paint still looks wet.
Robert Motherwell (1915-1991) viewed literature and philosophy as integral components of his art. He is best known for the “Elegy to the Spanish Republic” series, an ambitious group of somber abstract paintings. Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 34 (1953-1954) features black bars and ovals and vertical white stripes that partly obscure colors that refer to the flag of the Spanish Republic.
Joan Mitchell (1925-1992) created expansive paintings with an energetic style distinguished by large gestural strokes, driving brushwork, and emotional intensity. She is perhaps best known for her ability to communicate the visual sentiments of nature — or, in her own words, “to convey the feeling of the dying sunflower.” La Grande Vallée 0 (1983) is one of 21 opulent French landscapes.
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Posted: January 21, 2010 |
Daniel Libeskind's "Crystals" at the Las Vegas City Center (bottom left) - photos by Ken Hamel/DenverArts.org
At one time, Las Vegas was known primarily for smoke filled casinos, gaudy neon buffets and Wayne Newton-esque entertainment, but that was then; the new Vegas is "CityCenter," a 21st century mélange of glass and steel smack dab in the heart of "the Strip." The project brings together world renown architectural superstars including Rafael Vinoly (Cleveland Art Museum expansion), César Pelli (Kuala Lumpur's Petronas Twin Towers), David Rockwell (London's "Glass Gherkin"), Helmut Jahn (the architect for the local Auraria campus library among other significant structures worldwide) and Daniel Libeskind (of the DAM's Hamilton Building.) The starchitects' projects are chock-full of contemporary artwork from the likes of Frank Stella, Julian Schnabel, Henry Moore, Maya Lin, Jenny Holzer and Robert Rauschenberg, giving the entire complex the urban vibe of an art museum (which is incredibly ironic given that the local Las Vegas Art Museum is on temporary hiatus until the "economy turns around.")
Regardless of CityCenter's Hail Mary financing and Green-ness (or lack thereof, per Adobe Airstream's Leanne Goebel), the project is a site to behold and a must see for any fan of art and architecture passing time in Sin City. And the rank-and-file focal point is undeniably Daniel Libeskind's "Crystals" (aka the shopping mall component of the project) as only a press release can summarize: "showcasing an unparalleled array of the world’s most exclusive retailers and forever redefining the Las Vegas retail experience."
As staunch a critic of Libeskind's DAM experiment as any, I have to say I was impressed with Crystals and found Libeskind's hand much lighter in service to commerce as opposed to art. The interior spaces are open and light filled, soaring up into a variety of obtuse steeple like expanses. In spite of CityCenter's provenance on the Strip, Libeskind's exterior commands attention in a very sophisticated, one might argue understated manner, given the world of pyramids, castles, faux-Paris/NY City-scapes and shipwrecks that abound nearby.
While it's painless to stroll right into Crystals ground level from the Strip, I recommend starting at the Bellagio (an event in itself, with the magnificent Dale Chihuly glass lobby and Conservatory currently decked out for the Chinese New Year) where the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art is hosting an exhibit highlighting the work of the "Artists and Architects of CityCenter," a worthwhile gallery overview of the talent crammed into CityCenter (on display until April 2010.) But visiting the Crystals via the Bellagio more importantly lets you enter from the Monorail stop that connects the Bellagio to the Crystals and drops you off at the building's top level allowing you to wind your way into the belly of the building, much like descending from the 4th floor of the DAM's Hamilton building (albeit without the dread and vertigo.) Also be sure to pick up the "CityCenter Fine Art Collection" pamphlet at the mall's information desk which features a guide to the 17 major artworks on display throughout the CityCenter complex.
Crystals is not without it's own Libeskind controversy: Torontonians have aptly pointed out that Libeskind sold them a design based on the Royal Ontario Museum's gem and mineral collection and have now found their local ROM Crystal recycled Vegas-style (David Fleischer: "Anything but Crystal Clear") while LA Times critic and Libeskind hater Christopher Hawthorne posits: "What to say, really, about an architect who has now recycled the same mournful, jagged forms that he deployed in the deeply moving Jewish Museum in Berlin and in his design for the World Trade Center site for use in a high-end shopping mall on the Las Vegas Strip?"
Click here for additional pix of the Crystals interior...
Additional CityCenter news:
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Posted: December 09, 2009 |
 Frank Stella " Damascus Gate Variation I" (1969) behind the reception desk at the Vdara Hotel & Spa in Las Vegas - Las Vegas Sun/Steve Marcus
When in Vegas wandering through the casino cacophony and general excess, be sure to take a diversion through the newly opened CityCenter to view "one of the world’s largest and most ambitious corporate art collections in existence today" with works by Maya Lin, Jenny Holzer, Nancy Rubins, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Frank Stella, Henry Moore and Robert Rauschenberg, amongst others on display throughout the sprawling 67 acre complex of hotels and casinos. Some back of the napkin math: $11 billion construction budget, take, oh, .5% for public art giving us a shopping spree in the $55 million-ish range. That should buy at least a dozen or so decent works or perhaps a downpayment on a nice Damien Hirst. - KLH
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Posted: November 29, 2009 |
BECA Benefit Art Auction
November 29 - December 5, 2009
The BECA folks have been fueling the participation of the Denver arts community in the upcoming Biennial of the Americas next summer through "Curate This!"; here's a chance to help them out by buying something or making a donating during their online Art Auction and fundraiser.
 S.J. Hart - Companion Animal; one of the many works of art up for auction
(from the press release)
Although it's been a tough year for many art galleries and arts organizations throughout the United States, The BECA Foundation, a non-profit arts organization with offices here in New Orleans and Denver, CO, is hopeful that for 2010 it will be able to keep the gallery doors open to a vital physical gallery space here in New Orleans. For the past 2 years the gallery space at 527 St. Joseph Street in the Warehouse Arts District across from the Contemporary Arts Center has been one of very few spaces in the Warehouse Arts District dedicated to exhibiting works by emerging artists + designers. From January 2008 - June 2009 the gallery space held well received and many times critically acclaimed international group exhibitions with artist participants from over 25 countries.
Beginning today through December 5, 2009 The BECA Foundation has embarked on a fundraising drive to raise a minimum of $36K which will cover one-half of the gallery's expenses in 2010. The other one-half of the 2010 operating costs will come from artist submission fees that contribute to the realization of monthly group exhibitions. Those interested in making a direct donation may do so online via The BECA Foundation's 501-c-3 fiscal sponsor by visiting https://www.fracturedatlas.org/site/contribute/donate/2073. Contact the gallery at 504.566.8999 or email:
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regarding donations by personal check.
Those in the New Orleans' community and beyond who wish to support the continuance of the New Orleans gallery space for the benefit of emerging artists, designers and the public, may join them online at http://www.becagallery.com beginning November 29, 2009 and also in person on Saturday, December 5, 2009 from 4pm - 10pm at the gallery at 527 St. Joseph Street for a BECA Fundraiser + Art Auction to help save the New Orleans gallery space. For the Art Auction, works of art + design will be available by a wide array of talented artists, many of whom have exhibited at the gallery space. Other works are being contributed by artists who may have not exhibited there but value the contributions thus far made by the BECA international emerging artist exhibition program. Artists + designers interested in participating may contact The BECA Foundation at
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For more information on The BECA Foundation, please call 504-566-8999, email:
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or visit one of its many project and art services websites: www.thebecafoundation.org , www.CurateThis.org, www.BECAregistry.org or www.TheProjectBridge.org.
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Posted: November 26, 2009 |
 The National Gallery of Art, East Building - photos by Ken Hamel/DenverArts.org
There really is no place like DC for art: a strong set of legs plus a few hours can bring you in touch with some of the greatest names in the history of painting and sculpture. Here's a quick cheat sheet to the must see institutions for modern and contemporary art on and around the National Mall.
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden - Joseph Hirshhorn had an eye for art, and his namesake museum is pretty much perfection: the floorplan of levels 2 and 3 are giant circles, meandering through rooms dedicated to abstract expressionist masters including Clyfford Still and Willem de Kooning as well as rotating exhibits and a diverse collection of modern masters. Of note was an hypnotic trio of videos by Irish artist John Gerrard that defy categorization; they are moving still lifes of the American prairie and his 2007 "Dust Storm (Dalhart Texas)" is a computer generated 360 degree motion study of a swirling dust cloud subtly emerging and disappearing from the horizon creating a slow motion narrative that was for me as engrossing as any Hollywood suspense picture.
Also do not miss the out of the way basement level which typically displays contemporary work from the last 30 years on a rotating basis, as well as the outdoor sculpture garden. The Hirschhorn is an ideal place to start the day as it's simply the highlight of any DC art trip and might as well take it all in on a fresh visual palette. (recommended detour: if you have the stamina, sneak in to the nearby Sackler (Asian) and Freer (19th century painting) galleries, but not at the expense of the agenda below...)
The National Gallery of Art, East Building - The I.M. Pei designed East Building is as much an attraction in itself, with the structure playing graceful, spacious host to an outstanding permanent collection focused on 20th Century art. The building features an unusual "tower gallery" that when I visited was host to a Phillip Guston retrospective. The East Building is connected via an underground tunnel to the historic and grand West Building, which while impressive, is easily skipped if you're short on time.
Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery - both these museums are basically linked together and to give them justice would take the greater part of a full day, so put on the blinders and march directly to the 3rd floor of the American Art Museum to take in the Lincoln Gallery which is not only a wonderful space, but plays host to an eye-popping collection including epic works by Duane Hanson, Nam June Paik and David Hockney. Everywhere you look is a treat, I was thrilled to see a work by artist and filmmaker Bruce Conner (his 1959 "Arachne"). The 3rd floor also has a large space dedicated to rotating exhibits and I was fortunate to see "What's It All Mean: William T. Wiley in Retrospect," a very thorough look into the artist's work.
As time allows, take in the rest of the American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery collections but be warned, there seems to be an endless supply of sub-galleries as well as "stacks" of paintings much like a library, so budget your legs wisely.
If you have the time and stamina after the American Art Museum, it's a short walk over to the White House which is an international perennial favorite, and if you make it that far, absolutely do not miss the wonderful Renwick Gallery which features a "Grand Salon" that is itself a spectacle up and above the hundreds of paintings adorning the walls. - KLH
Click here for pictures from the various museums...
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Posted: November 26, 2009 |
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The Miami Art Museum recently unveiled the design for a new building by the Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, and the NY Times Nicolai Ouroussoff asks an interesting question that ties in to the recently opened "Embrace!" exhibit at the DAM:
Why is it so hard to design a great contemporary-art museum? This question has been bothering art lovers for a while. One institution after another has embarked on vast new building projects over the last decade, and in nearly every case the museum and its architects struggled to figure out the right balance between architectural expression and the need to showcase art. Yet after all this time and all those buildings, the question is still being asked.
NY Times: Matching Architecture to the Art in a New Miami Museum
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Posted: November 25, 2009 |
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(from Christo and Jeanne-Claude's website)
Jeanne-Claude, 74, American artist and resident of New York City, died suddenly November 18, 2009 as a result of of complications due to a ruptured brain aneurysm.
Christo is deeply saddened by the passing of his wife, partner and collaborator and is committed to honor the promise they made to each other many years ago: The art of Christo and Jeanne-Claude will continue.
Christo is dedicated to completing their current works in progress: Over The River, Project for the Arkansas River, State of Colorado, and The Mastaba, Project for the United Arab Emirates, as Jeanne-Claude would wish.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude met in Paris, France in November, 1958, sharing the same date of birth and have worked together for 51 years creating temporary works of art.
It is Jeanne-Claude's wish that her body be donated to scientific research.
A memorial will be announced at a later date. Christo requests that flowers not be sent. Memorial gifts may be made to the charity of your choice.
Obit Links:
DenverArts Links:
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Posted: November 11, 2009 |
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 The Cleveland Museum of Art's new East Wing - photos by Ken Hamel/DenverArts.org
- A room full of Picassos including the major "Blue Period" piece "La Vie"
- A Richard Serra sculpture playing rolled iron on an angled and balanced iron base, a slight departure from his well known and often much larger steel works
- A massive Lee Krasner painting "Celebration" upstaging a much smaller (and arguably less interesting) work across the aisle from her husband Jackson Pollock
- Works by two of my favorite German artists Anselm Kiefer ("Lot's Wife") near one of Gerhard Richter's paint swatch samples formally arranged in a grid based on random colors
- In spite of the convention of institutions checking off name brand artists for their permanent collections, you can never see too many works by Cy Twombly
- Click here for some pix...
A visit to the CMA offers a bonus in that the museum's University Circle neighborhood is home to a variety of cultural institutions including the local botanic gardens and natural history museum, alongside the Cleveland Institute of Art, and a classic work by Frank Gehry on the nearby Case Western Reserve campus (the Peter B. Lewis Building, 2002.) Plan a full day for sure and squeeze in dinner at the nearby (and highly rated) French bistro L'Albatros.
If you can't make the Cleveland trek, do be sure to take advantage of the museum's first rate website including a detailed index to the collection—a bold and patron-friendly move one can only hope our home town institution might some day emulate. - KLH
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Posted: July 13, 2009 |
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Posted: July 01, 2009 |
  Rex Ray at Conduit Gallery in Dallas TX
While Denver has DADA (the Denver Art Dealers Association, our neighbor one letter down the web at http://denverart.org) Dallas has their own DADA, and a CADD as well, the Contemporary Art Dealers of Dallas who have an interesting gallery in downtown Dallas that I had the chance to visit last month. The gallery serves as a central space for each of the member galleries to highlight the artists in their respective stables, but of interest to me was the stack of Rex Ray books by the main entrance. Turns out that Rex Ray, with recent shows at Denver's Gallery T and the MCA Denver is on display at CADD member gallery Conduit until July 18. If you make it down, also check out the current exhibit at the CADD gallery ARCHITECTONIC on display until July 9. - KLH
Conduit Gallery: http://www.conduitgallery.com
Contemporary Art Dealers of Dallas: http://www.caddallas.net
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Posted: June 14, 2009 |
More and more museums are offering audio tours via cellphone, but the National Gallery in London, in partnership with Antenna Audio has developed an iPhone app that takes viewers on a virtual tour of the museum's vast collection. The app is free for a limited time and I'm wondering if this is the death-knell for specialized devices that so many museums rent to visitors for special exhibit guided tours: museums would just post their exhibit tours at the iTunes store and point patrons to download the app for a few bucks. For the iPhone deprived, just keep a stash of ipod touch devices on-hand pre-loaded with the tour.
As to the press release claim of "first app" status, a quick google search on museum iphone tours sheds some light on prior art. - KLH
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Posted: June 08, 2009 |
 "Galaxies Forming Along Filaments, Like Droplets Along the Strands of a Spider’s Web" by the Argentine artist Tomas Saraceno - Todd Heisler/The New York Times
NY Times on the Venice Biennale and Art Basel
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Posted: June 01, 2009 |
 Magritte Museum in Brussels under construction - photo by Ken Hamel/DenverArts.org
This recent press release detailing the grand opening of a new Rene Magritte museum in Brussels gives me an excuse to post some photos I caught of the musuem under construction, as well as some photos of a few Magritte pieces from the Musées Royaux des Beaux Arts de Belgique.
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Posted: May 26, 2009 |
While the city of Denver hashes out plans for an unconventional biennial that attempts to redefine the concept, here's news of the Mercosul Biennial's decidedly mainstream contemporary art extravaganza with a nonetheless ambitious curatorial goal: "Screaming and Hearing." - KLH
(from the press release:)
The 7th Mercosul Biennial runs from October 16 to November 29 2009 in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The exhibitions will be open to the public for 45 days in three exhibition spaces – The Quayside Warehouses, Santander Cultural and MARGS – The Rio Grande do Sul Museum of Art – together with other public spaces in the state capital. Approximately 70% of the works will be produced by the artists especially for this Biennial. The full list of artists taking part in this edition will be released in early July.
This edition proposes a series of methodologies and actions which demonstrate contemporary art’s diversity of approaches and functions. The curatorial concept is therefore organised into seven exhibitions, an education programme, a publishing and communication programme, a radio system (Radiovisual) and several cultural programmes running throughout the Biennial inside and outside the exhibition spaces.
Mauro Knijnik, president of the 7the Mercosul Biennial, believes that organisation of the event puts Porto Alegre and the state of Rio Grande do Sul in a privileged position, occupying a key place in the international art scene: “The Mercosul Biennial’s characteristics of quality and relevance have made it a reference point for excellence of concept and organisation. Part of this development is certainly the result of hard work and care for all the inherent detail of the arts, especially in terms of its curatorial concept.”
The 7th Mercosul Biennial’s curatorial concept affirms the meaning and importance of artists as social players and constant producers of necessary critical meaning. Entitled Screaming and Hearing (Grito e Escuta), the 7th Mercosul Biennial aims to explore multidirectional communication – between a world in conflict and an artist who listens and responds; between an artist who produces meaning with the aim of a world that listens – through multiple languages. The project addresses sound, movement of the body, social interaction and educational interaction as integral parts of experiencing art today.
In this way the artists in the 7th Mercosul Biennial occupy the role of curators, developing the exhibition programme and education programme, devising and coordinating the editorial programme and its publications, the image and communication of the Biennial as a whole.
Under chief curatorship of Victoria Noorthoorn, from Argentina, and Camilo Yañez, from Chile, the curatorial team for the 7the Biennial includes the following artists: Education curator: Marina De Caro (Argentina); Adjunct curators: Roberto Jacoby (Argentina), Artur Lescher (Brazil), Mario Navarro (Chile) and Laura Lima (Brazil); Editorial curators: Erick Beltrán (Mexico) and Bernardo Ortiz (Colombia); Co-curator of the Radiovisual programme: Lenora de Barros (Brazil).
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Posted: February 28, 2009 |
 Alexander Calder's "Eagle" at the Seattle Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Park - photo by Ken Hamel/DenverArts.org
A Sunday afternoon in Seattle is an excellent opportunity to take in the wonderful collection at the Seattle Art Museum as well as something in short supply here in Denver: water! While I was impressed with the SAM's wide array of modern and contemporary works, anyone with some extra time simply must walk the extra mile northwest on Alaskan Way to SAM's bayside Olympic Sculpture Park.
True, the Museum has stocked the park with outstanding work from some of the worlds greatest sculptors—Louise Bourgeois ("Eye Benches"), Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen ("Typewriter Eraser, Scale X" reminiscent of the DAM's broom and dustbin), Alexander Calder ("Eagle") and the highlight, Richard Serra's "Wake"—but it doesn't really matter, as the dramatic setting on Elliot Bay, with the works seemingly floating in the languid tide, is really enough to set the spirit soaring for this high-desert, moisture depraved soul.
Of course rain will be a part of any NW Winter afternoon, so try to time your walk to the sculpture park between showers and take in the SAM's main building when things are looking wettest. Some highlights from the collection include "Mann und Maus" by Katharina Fritsch—an artist featured in the Denver Art Museum's RADAR exhibit, a stunning Jackson Pollock work from 1947 "Sea Change" featuring the classic stylings of the artist along with glistening black asphalt and pebbles, beautiful pieces from Willem de Kooning, Ellsworth Kelly, an untitled Joseph Cornell collage from 1966 (a departure from his classic boxes), an early non-color field Mark Rothko work "Number 11" from 1947, etc, etc... Click here for some pix, and check out the SAM's first rate website featuring tons of images and information about the collection, something sorely lacking on so many museum websites.
I think the biggest surprise was an exhibition of beautiful contemporary painting by Australian Aboriginal artists in the John McCone Gallery; the abstract works were striking in their meticulous detail, and while totally non-representational, the various paintings use thousands of points to create colorful lines and shapes that weave and flow, building up a meditative reflection on the barren, infinite landscapes of the Australian outback.
If you simply don't have time to take in the entire collection, you can glimpse the kitsch Cai Guo-Qiang installation of hanging cars "Inopportune: Stage One" in the lobby and Jonathon Borofsky's "Hammering Man" at the First Avenue and University Street entrance without even paying admission.
And if you cannot handle the walk from the museum to the sculpture park, make your way down the hill through the famous Pike Place Market and you'll find yourself on Alaskan Way where the 99 bus runs frequently (and free) on Alaskan Way between Chinatown/Pioneer Square and the park. After the park you can take the 99 back to Chinatown and take in the Wing Luke Asian Museum which is open on Sunday until 5:00 pm. - KLH
Seattle Art Museum
1300 First Avenue
Seattle, WA 98101
206.654.3100
http://www.seattleartmuseum.org
Olympic Sculpture Park (part of the SAM)
2901 Western Avenue
Seattle, WA 98121
Wing Luke Asian Museum
719 S King St
Seattle, WA 98104
206.623.5124
http://www.wingluke.org
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Posted: February 09, 2009 |
Mannie Garcia's photograph formed the basis of Shephard Fairey's ubiquitous "Hope" poster
It's been a very busy week for artist Shepard Fairey: first his defining "Hope" poster featuring Barack Obama is entered into the National Portrait Gallery, then it's on to Beantown for a retrospective of his work at the Institute for Contemporary Art, pause for a preemptive lawsuit against the Associated Press who has been haranguing him over the appropriation of Mannie Garcia's Obama photograph, and then cap it off with getting nabbed by the Boston police on an outstanding arrest warrant for tagging Andre the Giant around town back in January. Ah, the life of a humble street artist... - KLH
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Posted: January 27, 2009 |
 Jewel Samad/Agence France-Press — Getty Images
The NY Times has an interesting article on street artist Shephard Fairey's ubiquitous portrait of Barack Obama finding its way into the National Portrait Gallery. From the article:
For a street artist — who, like many, exults in the essential slipperiness of outlaw work — it’s undoubtedly all the more gratifying when you finally make it into a big museum to do so by such epically serpentine means: an oft-arrested political street artist who’s also a highly paid commercial artist offers on his own initiative to make a vaguely Soviet-looking poster for the campaign of an anti-establishment politician (who, interestingly, can’t officially claim the poster because of rights concerns about the news photograph it was based on, snagged by the artist from the Web) and then the politician, surprisingly, sweeps into the establishment with vows to shake it up, taking the outlaw’s non-outlaw poster into the establishment with him.
NY Times: Outlaws at the Art Museum (and Not for a Heist) by Randy Kennedy
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