A visit to Chelsea and Christie's

This week I was intrigued by the art by Misha Kahn at Friedman Benda. The animalistic forms are rooted in earth. They are layered with organic and synthetic materials creating the feeling of outer space. This is probably what appealed to me in the first place - the push and pull of the familiar and other.

Misha Kahn Midden Heap

Bosco Sodi Caryatides

Nearby in Paul Kasmin Gallery Bosco Sodi installed these clay cubes. The simplicity of the structure complements the painterly surface. Something about their size or the warmth of colors makes one comfortable. The textured surface asks to be touched and the gaps between the cubes pose the question about their weight. Here is the structure that is heavy and levitates at the same time.

Louise Bourgeois Cove 1988

Luckily I also got to see this piece at Christie's. If you ever wonder how artist's ideas come together here is an excellent example as it is a hybrid of several other sculptures put together. It is more complex from this combination which makes it even more interesting in my eyes.

The three possible ancestors are:

 Janus Fleui 1968

Cumul 1968

 Welcoming Hands 1996

What do you think?

Leslie Jimenez Upton Windows

Leslie Jimenez exhibited several prints and this thread line artwork along with Pepe Coronado at the Uptown exhibition. She created the volume and almost sculptural feeling putting the thread through several pieces of velum. Abstracting the windows from their setting transformed into personages of its own will. Plus the use of craft material adds to the dialogue of what is art versus craft.

Beautiful workmanship.

Wasser Marsch, ein Arbeitstitel

I am very happy to be a part of the exhibition Wasser Marsch, ein Arbeitstitel 

at Reinart gallery, in Neuhausen am Rheinfall, Switzerland. 

This is a collaboration done during this summer with Tass and inspired by the magical air of Lure, France and the artists who have been very generous to share their time and artwork with me.

Join the vernissage to enjoy the artwork of:

Alexander Wolf, Frank Gabriel, Jens Titus Freitag,

Uwe Battenberg, Tass, Bernhard Hehgi, Dominik Leuenberger, Patrik Butler

If you are a fan of Bourgeois as much as I am, the visit to the MoMA exhibit An Unfolding Portrait is a must.
As any retrospective exhibit it is informative to see the connections between her earlier and later works and the circular themes we go through as artists. This exhibition is diverse in medium and covers a life-span of her works from drawings to sculptures.

This signature work of a spider, an important element in her life, also features the cell with remnants of tapestries and small, almost unnoticeable objects like keys inside. This large speciment is reflected on the wall with a smaller version.

This second spider seats high up on the wall of the atrium 

and ignores us as we shot at it with our photo lenses

Around the spider cell you will find the series of etchings from her later years. The one on the left plays with the masculine/feminine as one and yet still full of confrontational attitude. 

There are also artwork like this one that I would not have recognized to be by Bourgeois. The colors are hers but the theme and the style seem to be quite different.

From a series of unfinished work of etchings.

"Once a man was telling a story,
it was very good story too,
and it made him happy, but he
told is so fast, that nobody understood it."

Additionally dont miss the opportunity to explore online the huge collection of prints she has donated to the museum

Insects have finally taken over my imagination and have been coming out in colors and layers

A chimeric insect

Another, more colorful version

A buzzing creature

The body

Artworks representing the body in its entirety or referencing its parts has always been drawing me in.

At the White Cube exhibition in London, Dreamers Alike, and international and multi generational cohort of artists are in the conversation about surrealism. Here is a glimpse on several artworks from the exhibition.

An Japanese American artist, whom I don't know well, Kelly Akashi, creates a suspension of ideas and forms with her torn of limbs that are resending from the high ceiling and almost drag on the floor
 The bronze flesh is hanging at the wrists of otherwise highly engaged fingers that interact with each other, hold contrasting shapes and are bound by the rope itself.

Kelly Akashi, Well(-)Hung

Another pleasant discovery was an acquaintance with Berlinde de Bryuckere.
Her interpretation of the body depicts the imperfect beauty of the corpse.
Stitches into parts and town through as it is attached the junky table acting as a pedestal the form is recognisably human as it also mimics the curve of a seal with its volume almost falling off the table.

Berlinde de Bryuckere, Animal

It was a joy to meet again Rachel Kneebone's ceramic cacophony of body pars that project out of the collage of flowery and serpentine forms. The piece interlaces the limbs of both genders in a confusing interlacing

Rachel Kneebone, Shield IV

Belgium's oldest psychiatric hospital

Creativity is a magical mix of ideas that might not obviously belong together. I have had a chance to visit the exhibition and see art that has brought me surprise and joy.

First, I was surprised to see the work of US artist Tim Brown. Surprised, because it reminded me of one my favorites, Bill Taylor. Here compare them:

Tim Brown

Bill Taylor

Both artist are form the south and obviously the stylistic similarities make me wonder of their origins/ influences.

Next I was captured by the intricate world of the Jean-Pierre Nadau world.

This one needs a closer view.

Finally another version of the famous Ghent altar piece that is still being restored.

A nice selection all together to explore and don't ignore the history of the hospital exhibition while you are there.

Art fairs is this crazy attempt to dunk oneself into current  market scene by  I looking at the insane quantity  I and quality of art. Besides the horror of They fair it was pleasant to see the fair with a little less American flavor.

 Some pieces caught me. 

The first one are baby heads stuck into everyday objects as if they can decorate and add value to them. Yes, the feelings vacillate  between kitsch cuteness and seeing the inappropriateness of it.

This is sort if a life giving creation that grows from the little carcases of parakeets and other birds. The revival is eery and beautiful at the same time.

The whole art work is made of paper. All of it.  The moths. The bugs. The body. The pigment is created by burning it into the paper before converting it into not-flying insects.

The technique is unbelievable.

Sophie Calle twice

Sophie Caller

Over the past month Sophie Calle has been on my mind a lot. I have stumbled upon her book "Double Game" that describes several projects, including the mise-en-abyme play with Paul Auster.
Last weekend Sophie Calle, in the steps of Marina Abramovich performance of Artist is Present, was greeting visitors at the Green Wood Cemetery. The visitors shared their secrets with the artist and entombed them in the obelisk, that is placed for the next 25 years on the hill with an amazing view.

View from the hill

   

Lay your secrets to rest here.

Later this week I have caught a glimpse of her other work at Frieze.

In this box she expresses her communication with her father past mortem. If you are not familiar with her work look up the "Address Book"

David Altmejd

Another artist that captured my attention at Frieze was David Altmejd. His work pulled me in with the mix of the materials and exploration of the familiar face while deforming it into a half mask and half upside down portrait. I wish I knew where did he take inspiration for his adventures

Robin Hill, Kevin Francis and Robert Therrien

During a recent Chelsea walk I have enjoyed these.
Robin Hill's bricks that camouflaged as sponges with the help of the waves from Nova Scotia created the visual confusion that is unanswered until you come right up to the installation.

 Robin Hill

 

Kevin Francis transformed the stone onto a subtle white clay. We can see how he has dragged his fingers to shape the lumps and smooth out imperfections. Only all this effect is actually an illusion and he carved the marble to a perfect deception.

 Kevin Francis

 

Robert Therrien piece or more accurately a room with the doors made me nostalgic of seeing an older hospital in a town of Italy some twenty years back. Even though this one is strike and has never had nor will it have people walk through the doors. His work leaves volumes for imagination. The absence here is what makes the work so strong.

Robert Therrien

Louis Bourgeois

Louise Bourgeois is one of the artists who doesn't stop to surprise me. Yes, I am a total fan, I admit, but when I encountered her holograms it was an invigorating experience. The work is small, projecting away from the wall into bright red hologram. It is simple, rough, even crude and very poignant. My favorite is the chair in the corner that I have anthropomorphized in my mind into an isolated individual from a Becket play.

If you have a chance see it, this has to be viewed in person for the full experience.
The work is on view at Cheim & Read until February 11