art

Florian Sussmayr:OK Girls I 2007 :Oil On Canvas 59 X 47.5

I don't know what possessed me today, but after a late breakfast I drifted into the Nicholas Robinson Gallery on 20th Street and peeped this show of paintings by Munich based artist, Florian Sussmayr. Sussmayr's imagery covers an era, that of 80's German youth culture. That would be "a world of punk rock, drinks, drugs, soccer matches, underground movies, libertarian expression and leftist political thinking" . Well I love imagery from a man obsessed and what made me stop my fast-forward motion through the show was a series of portraits based on (and I think I'd best use the gallery's words here) " the bland depictions of haircut possibilities displayed in cheap salons".Well I know mine can be a vapid eye sometimes, but how editorially perfect are these images? If I were a latter day blue chip photographer I'd mop em, blurred eyes and all.

Lars Tunbjörk’s : caught up in the existential parsimony

Recently I've been really enjoying the photographs of Swedish photographer Lars Tunbjörk via his book "Office" which captures beautifully the soul destroying sterility of the typical modern workspace. Or as his galley, Cohen Amador termed it, "Falling between humorous social commentary and deprived commercial banality, Tunbjörk’s work captures the existential parsimony and melancholic absurdity of modern-day office life and puts in relief the personal struggle of the individual against corporate homogeneity." Fight the good fight Lars!

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Detail from MK Guth's "Ties of Protection and Safekeeping" via whitney.org

Well I know how I'll be spending my Sunday. I'll be crashing thru the latest Whitney Biennal. All my art fiend friends have already cruised by and with the predictable mixed reactions pouring out I can't wait to see for myself. Word is curators Henriette Huldisch and Shamim M. Momin have put together a tough and "unaccommodating" show. If any of you imagists out there do see the Biennal please let me know what you think. I'll be posting my thoughts in the comments section on Sunday. The Whitney website also has a briliant blog that allows you to see the process of the show as a work in progress. Fascinating!

TED RIEDERER: HELLAS: Goff+Rosenthal

Back in America and thanks to my pal , artist Jayson Keeling I've found a great new American artist to process. Ted Riederer staged a show at the Goff+Rosenthal Gallery in Berlin earlier this year that sparked up a lot of buzz. Titled "Hellas" the show combined two installations. The first feautured a suit of body armor molded from vinyl punk rock records posed in opposition to a pile of skulls molded from records off the 1986 Billlboard Top 200 Chart. The second installation was projected video of Riederer's band "The Ressurectionists" smashing their instruments at a performance. That video was the background to a forground staging of a destroyed drum kit reconstructed in the confines of the gallery. I love the mix of pop colors, comic book antics, music culture and stability of execution on the part of the artist. Its easy to lump Riederer into that group of artists like Adam Helm, Kendell Geers and Banks Violette but I think the accessibility as well as the control of the ideas presented here makes him very unique and quite stand alone.

Humor, Sexuality and a perfect understanding of form from Elmgreen and Dragset

How odd! Most of my interaction this Paris Fashion Week has been built around breakfasts/lunches/dinners in these places of conspicious social display. Which is why it was such a relief to escape to the Emanuel Perrotin Gallery and peruse a really brilliant exhibition of work by Elmgreen and Dragset, the duo known for their provocative installations and performances. I've been hearing the buzz on "Side Effects" since the men's shows, but seeing it in person gives you a good laugh, even as you admire the quality control the artists muster. This exhibition features, as the press release explains, " a new series of abstract, human sized sculptures, dressed according to the following famous fashion designers Vanessa Bruno, Alberta Ferretti, Antonio Marras for Kenzo, Sonia Rykiel, Henrik Vibskov and Gaspard Yurkievich." What makes the work even more fashion ironic is that Sofia Sanchez and Mauro Mongiello have photographed the sculptures in various settings such as parks, clubs, and the streets. And I must say the sculptures do make for fantastic models. The show runs until March 8th and when the monograph comes out, I'm first in line.

Chiharu Shiota: Waiting: Goff + Rosenthall

Before leaving NY, you always want to take a deep intake of that Manhattan air before switching channels to another city. A great way to do this is to go off the beaten gallery path and try to find something new. My pal, Jayson Keeling turned me on to this amazing solo show at the Goff + Rosenthall gallery. The artist is Chiharu Shiota and the show is called "Waiting." It has to be encountered in person to be believed. The show runs until March 10th.

Specialten Magazine is breaking new ground

TI would like to welcome Specialten magazine to our growing group of friends and family. The concept of a bi-monthly publication on DVD is seriously brilliant and is a really efficient way to crash course through current art/design/fashion and music culture. Here's the official words straight from the mag. Check out the current issue at specialten.com.

‘Specialten’ the bi-monthly publication on Dvd, was founded in 2002 by Marcus Black and Fabio Sebastianelli.

The magazine itself is a unique format made up of a heavy card gatefold cover that in one side holds a colour booklet of 24 pages, displaying artwork and illustration relevant to the issue. On the other side, the cover holds a print on A4 card that is submitted by a designer, illustrator, photographer or artist. Each of these prints is exclusive to Specialten and has previously included work from Jamie Hewlett, Obey, Terry Gilliam, Sssr, among others. Together with this print is the Dvd itself.

At around 2 hours in length, each issue includes music video, interviews, documentaries and short films. These have covered artists and musicians ranging from Bonnie Prince Billy, to Be Your Own Pet, from Don Letts to Cat Power. There have been features with directors such as Terry Gilliam, actor Samantha Morton, award-winning films from Cannes, Sundance, Bafta, Berlin and Toronto festivals.

St Margeret: Francisco Zurbaran

In hunting for clues as to where a certain directional Paris designer will turn next, TI has been encouraged to get into the work of Francisco Zurbaran, a 16th century Spanish painter known for his depictions of monks, nuns and martyrs. Well you can totally see how all this interesting layering could be modernized. Severe...Spanish...martyr...hmmmmm.

Seth Price at Friedrich Petzel

Artist Jayson Keeling is one TI's key tipsters for filtering which shows to see in NY.

David Claerbout : Shadow Play: 2005

TI is intensely obsessed with the art of David Claerbout at this point in time. Claerbout's work is highlighted by video installations that play with the idea of time passing and time captured by the still and video camera. As Stephan Berg explains in the monograph " Claerbout removes from the photograph a piece of its static quality that is oriented towards fixation and takes from films its impulse of movement". In other words we are treated to photographs that move unexpectedly and films that freeze for significant periods of time. What I love about the work is the detail and the texture of the images. It is as if a dark shadow has fallen on the banal scenes of the modern landscape. An example of the rigor and technical complexity of Claerbout's work is in my favorite art work of his ,"Shadow Piece" . That black and white video, inspired by an archival 50's photograph, features a series of figures (in this frame a man and a woman) vainly attempting to open the doors of a modernist house. Its very Antonioni film meets Vogue Italia spread if I were to be simplistic about it. But in his depictions of a Bauhaus world that has been sold to us as an ideal of geometric perfection, Claerbout captures the frustration and sense of futility that comes with that world. The tension thereof drives to me adore David Claerbout. The book too is beautiful. Black, gray, sepia with the pages edged in black. Must buy!