Mark Ryden Solo Show, LA

NOTE: This is a reposting, as the opening is now less than a week away. If you’re in LA, make time to be there.

This may be a bit early for announcement, I’ll try to remember to post a reminder. Mark Ryden is having a solo exhibition at the Michael Kohn Gallery from March 10th-April 28th. Mark your calendar. The Opening Reception will be held on Saturday, March 10, 12pm-6pm.

On a Thursday?

In spite of the weather, last night Holly and I made it over to the Jason Hackenwerth installation at the Lyons Wier • Ortt gallery.

We skipped out on the Mooney Suzuki show at Rebel, and an invite from Al to see Saxon Shore over at Mercury Lounge because we’re old people, and can’t make it out to more than one event on a school night, don’t you know.

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Michael reminded me to have a look at Heidi Cody’s website, a designer/pop-artist who’s work is inspired by corporate logos and gas station signage.

Last night I wanted to get a posting up here about Wessel Westerveld, but haven’t got to it yet. I’ll have to do that this weekend.

Ryan McGinness on eBay

I found this limited edition, signed and numbered 2006 silk screen print by Ryan McGinness on the eBay store, The Artery Fine Art. The 11-3/4” x 8-3/4” print is on 1/4” thick cardboard. It was printed in an edition of 50. Ryan McGinness is a nationally and internationally exhibited artist with pieces included in the collection of the MoMA, New York. At $2200, it is very attractively priced.

The eBay store of The-Artery-Fine-Art carries a large collection of limited edition contemporary art mostly from well established artist, including Marc Quinn, Willian Wegman and Roy Lichtenstein. Many bargains can be found.

Constructivist Design Books

Oh serendipity. I was looking through a box of leave-behinds and takeaways— the miscellaneous detritus of functions invited or attended, looking for the handbill from a 1990s Miami Beach arcade. I never found it. But I did come across a more recent stack of exhibition pamphlets, including the one shown above from the 2002 MoMA exhibit of Constructivist book cover designs: The Russian Avant-Garde Book | 1910-1934.

In my usual stream of conscious, it made me think of a book that I’ve been watching for some time on eBay- debating a purchase. There is a bookseller in Moscow named yellowcaptain. He has many fabulous books on Soviet era art and design. I don’t know his relationship with the publisher, but he sells the same list of titles over and over. This one is on book cover design:

Borr: Book Cover Design of Bor-Ramensky

Excerpt from the description: The book tells the story of quite forgotten extraordinary self-taught designer, Konstantin Georgievich Bor-Ramemsky. His truncated signature, Borr (or BorR), has gone down as a kind of pseudonym. He was born at the turn of the century and died in action in 1943. He worked as graphic designer, stage designer, interior designer and worker’s club decorator in Siberia, Georgia and Moscow. In the Western and Russian literature, only one of his works is referred to, but attributed incorrectly.

After finding the pamphlet (up top) from the 2002 Constructivist book cover exhibit at MoMA, I looked into whether an exhibition catalog had been published, and if so, was it still in print. It was, and it is:

The Russian Avant-Garde Book 1910-1934

Excerpt from the description: This richly illustrated catalogue accompanied the 2002 exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art of a major collection of Russian avant-garde books. Often hand-made and hand-printed in limited editions, these books were, in many instances, the result of collaborations between poets and painters. Among the well-known artists represented are Natalia Goncharova, El Lissitzky, and Aleksandr Rodchenko.

The book cover designs concentrate more so on the typography. This is what interests me. I have one book on this era in my home library, but it is focused on advertising posters, not book covers:

Soviet Commercial Design of the Twenties

Excerpt from the description: A richly illustrated account of one of the most original, influential and exciting aspects of post-Revolutionary art: commercial graphic design, during the short-lived period of Lenin’s New Economic Policy.

Post-Wall German Art

Rudolf Herz, from the series Dachau, Museumsbilder, 1996

Reality Bites: Making Avant-garde Art in Post-Wall Germany

Reality Bites, is the the labor of Sabine Eckmann, curator of Washington University in St. Louis’ Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum. The thrust of the exhibit, is that the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the subsequent reunification of East and West Germany has caused a reinvigoration of the German art world, and this exhibit aims to showcase the artists at the center of this art scene. The University’s website states:

[The exhibit] will feature approximately 70 artworks created since 1989, by both German artists and international figures living in Germany. The vast majority of the artworks have never been exhibited in the United States. They range from video and photography to sculpture, installation, assemblage and new media art.

One effect of German unification has been a new emphasis on experiential reality. In contrast to the abstract, simulated aspects of post-modernity, the historical realities of post-Wall Germany continue to influence the daily experience of its citizenry. Artists have reflected this in a number of ways: by employing pop-culture imagery and integrating the viewer into the creation of aesthetic experience; by creating visual spaces that compete with social environments; and by mimicking the rhetoric of globalization through the use of mapping and networking tools. Such strategies highlight the dissolution of established artistic forms – such as painting, sculpture and photography – while blurring the distinctions between art and everyday life.

…[The exhibit] consists of three thematic sections: “Re-dressing Germany,” “Traumatic Histories” and “Global Spaces.” Each explores a particular manifestation of change either initiated or accelerated by unification and its aftermath.

The show is also significant as the first major exhibit since the completion of the museum’s new digs. If the exhibit is meant to showcase the reemergence of Germany as a major cultural force in Europe and the World, it is also a nod to St. Louis and its own reemergence as a culturally significant city worthy of hosting such a conceptually inspired exhibit.

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Another trophy building in St. Louis

Many middle American cities have a new strategy to lure tourist- bring in an internationally award winning architect to build a modern art museum, and they will come. The addition of the Pritzker Laureate, Fumihiko Maki designed Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University is now bringing in the kind of major international exhibits one would generally expect to find on the East or West coast. For St. Louis, this is their second Pritzker Laureate designed museum. The Pritzker Laureate, Tadao Ando designed Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts was completed in 2001. And this doesn’t include the copycat designed Contemporary Art Museum, right next door. In 1900, St. Louis was the fourth largest city by population in the United States, behind only New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia and the largest city West of the Mississippi River. In 1966, it became home to the Eero Saarinen designed Gateway Arch. Since then it’s growth has not matched that of other American urban centers. None the less, it is an older established American city already boasting a large collection of architecturally significant buildings, and its recent flurry of modern art museum construction by such prominently recognized architects has reasserted itself as a major cultural hub in middle America.

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The “urbane”-ing of middle America

Other cities following this trend include Cincinnati and Milwaukee. Cincinnati, with its newly constructed, Pritzker Laureate, Zaha Hadid designed Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art, has been hosting shows worthy of its acclaim, including the current video exhibit by New York artist, John Pilson, titled Skyscraper Souls. In 2001, Milwaukee had the vision to commission Santiago Calatrava for his very first building in the United States, the Quadracci Pavilion at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Their current exhibit, Francis Bacon: Paintings from the 1950s, is worthy of any major New York establishment.

Shown L to R: The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, St. Louis, MO; The Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art, Cincinnati, OH; The Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI.

Jason Hackenwerth Exhibit

Jason Hackenwerth / “Liminal Space”

Jason brings balloon art to a higher level than ever before imagined. If not so whimsical, it would seem an insult to call it balloon art.

No stuffy establishment, the Lyons Wier • Ortt gallery, (formerly Lyons Wier gallery) can always be relied upon to bring New York some of the best in conceptual contemporary art, and their openings are always a fun event.

I highly recommend making it to this opening on February 15th. In fact, so you don’t forget, click here to email Michael Lyons Wier & Anna Ortt, and request to be added to their mailing list so you will receive a reminder.

The gallery is located at 511 West 25th Street, #205, in the Chelsea gallery district.

Sergio Prego Exhibit

I’ve been meaning to make it over to Lehmann Maupin to see the current Sergio Prego exhibit for weeks. In fact, it’s been running for so long, that I didn’t bother posting it, because I thought it was too late to bother. Now I will promote it in it’s closing week! Go figure.

The exhibit includes both kinetic sculpture, and two video pieces, one said to be inspired by the car ride sequence from Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1972 cult classic Solyaris.

The Lehmann Maupin Gallery is located at 540 West 26th Street. They are open to the public Tuesday - Saturday, 10:00 am - 6:00 pm. The Sergio Prego exhibit runs through February 10th.

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REVIEW: On Feb. 3rd, my friend James and I caught several exhibits in the West Chelsea gallery district, including this Sergio Prego exhibit. Tragically, the kinetic sculpture, “Sunoise,” had technical difficulties that left it unable to… perform (eh-hem). In its stationary position, it looked like, well, a cross between an outrageously oversized sleek designer tasklap, and some sort of factory assembly robot. What a shame. We were told that it had performed fabulously for many continuous weeks, but about two weeks before our visit it broke down due to a technical malfunction. We asked if we’d be able to see it in full form at a later date, but were informed by museum staff that it would remain out of commission for the duration of the exhibit. There was a second piece in the front room— a large stainless steel wall errected on a sort of stylized scaffolding. Like a badly keyed DeLorean, it had a major gash running the length of the wall, that finally pierced the metal sheet, just a few inches from the edge. While somewhat visually intriguing, this piece stood up less on it’s own merits (actually it was assisted by sand bags), and performed more as a set-piece or backdrop for “Sunoise,” the mechanical arm.

This left the second room with the two videos. The Tarkovsky inspired “10 to 0 Degrees,” though interesting, did not live up to its antecessor. However, shown on the adjacent wall, it played a good wing-man to the more inspired “Black Monday”. By staging an explosion in a large open studio within a ring of synchronized cameras, Prego achieved an effect similar in its essence to digital photogrammetry, though accomplished by more mechanical methods. Various stages of the blast and subsequent plume were captured at fixed moments in time, through a full 360° rotation. Unlike a movie special effect where we’re invited to suspend disbelief, Prego left the methodology naked for the viewer to see— At any point in the film one can observe the cameras on their tripods on the opposite side of the ring. Furthermore, a zoom in and zoom out occurs through each rotation that appears incorporated to compensate for some obtrusively located structural columns in the studio space, yet has the consequence of amplifying the visual impact of the rotation. The film is fantastic and beautifully fixating. What I found, both by my own actions and observing others, was that to overcome the dizzying sensation, people were inclined to move their gaze for a moment over to “10 to 0 Degrees,” just to get their bearing. To think, a driver’s POV film traveling japanese tunnels and highways was the stabilizing vantage point. Leaving the room brought on a moment of vertigo, and you wish to balance yourself against the wall.

Both literally and figuratively, “Black Monday” was the bomb! With the parallax effect from the multiple adjacent camera views, I would suggest that the film could even have been heightened by viewing it in duplicate, one frame out of sequence, in stereoscopic projection… but now I’m noodling.

In short, the show was comprised of four works, of which two were main attractions, and two were support pieces. Of those, one of the main attractions was disabled, which put the front exhibit space out of commission. The presence of “Sunoise” in the room and the video clip from the exhibit’s promotional on the website teased at what it could have been, which only added to the disappointment. Fortunately, in the movie room, things were running on all cylinders, and it was a great success. If you’re in the neighborhood during the show’s final run, you should make the effort to see it. If you’re not, don’t make a special trip. The star of the show is not performing. Should “Sunoise” be repaired, and live to dance another day, I’d make the special trip, maybe even twice.

Lehmann Maupin is among my favorite galleries in the city. Regularly supporting artists of merit in the realm of contemporary installation work, with a penchant for the high-tech. I regret that they had a technical malfunction cripple this otherwise exceptional exhibit.

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IN ADDITION: If you do find yourself in the Chelsea gallery district before this show closes on February 10th, you should also take the time to cross the street to 511 West 25th, and visit the Margaret Thatcher gallery on the fourth floor, and the final days of the Joie Rosen, Heidi Van Wieren two artist show.

Jacob Hashimoto

This weekend I hope to make it to the Mary Boone Gallery to catch the Jacob Hashimoto exhibit. It opened on January 5th (guess I missed that) and will be running through February 10th. Mary Boone Gallery, 745 Fifth Avenue, New York City.

I already have plans to catch the premiere of MoMA’s newly restored release of David Lynch’s Eraserhead.

I also have a birthday party for my cat, that I must attend.

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COMMENTS: I finally made it to the Jacob Hashimoto show on February 3rd. I went by myself. 5th Avenue on the East side has a very different vibe than the West Chelsea gallery scene that I had just departed from. Ensconced on the fourth floor of 745 5th Avenue, the Mary Boone Gallery is an impeccable space, and showed Hashimoto’s work well.

These refined pieces of paper and wood kite construction have the appearance of thousands of man hours of delicate precision craftsmanship. While they are exquisite to the eye, they also project a sense of temporariness that, to me, made them at once also saddening. In all of their toiled intricacy, I couldn’t help but visualize in my mind a time lapse of their disintegration. I can imagine even a modern established museum being put to serious task keeping all the miniature components of these works free of dust, and cleaning them without causing damage. This sadness was heightened by the fact that they chose not to produce an exhibition catalog, leaving very little after the fact to document that this event ever took place or that these works ever existed. On my departure I had a parting conversation with Seth Sgorbati who assured me that, in spite of the works delicate appearance, the pieces were more durable than appearance would suggest, and that the works were coated with some kind of product to protect them from collecting dust. With all his best intentions, I’m still skeptical. Furthermore, when I inquired about the exhibition card/pamphlet, he informed me that they ran out almost immediately, that the small document was a very big hit from the start. A good sign that an exhibition book would have been a wise business decision, sure to fly off the shelves just as fast.

The on site installation was tranquil, and all of the work very moving. I look forward to seeing more of Jacob Hashimoto’s work.

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NOTE: I am pleased now to learn that the Italian gallery, Studio La Città has four different exhibition catalogs in stock from their past shows of Hashimoto’s work. I have inquired with them about purchasing the catalog from September, 2006, shown here.

Mark Ryden Solo Show, LA

This may be a bit early for announcement, I’ll try to remember to post a reminder. Mark Ryden is having a solo exhibition at the Michael Kohn Gallery from March 10th-April 28th. Mark your calendar. The Opening Reception will be held on Saturday, March 10, 12pm-6pm.

Ryan McGinness in Cincinnati

The work of Ryan McGinness is featured as part of the group show Graphic Content: Contemporary and Modern/Art and Design at Cincinnati ‘s Contemporary Arts Center, running thru February 11, 2007.

Which also gives a perfect excuse to see the Pritzker Prize Laureate Architect Zaha Hadid designed Lois and Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art.