I only just discovered that Andrée Putman was the interior designer of Morgans Hotel, where I stayed on my first visit to New York. I thought the design was so cool . Making a note of it for further reference.
AI and performance art
Prometheus Firebringer was an interesting hybrid performance-lecture at Theater for a New Audience in NYC. The AI theater demo was flat, the art was banal, but the ideas in the lecture were interesting in their application to artists. The text for this lecture was all quoted from the internet - to bring an interesting twist. The performer and director was Annie Dorsen. A review here
Franz West
This is an artist with an interesting approach. His gallerist describes his work as follows:
“West is known for creating objects that serve to redefine art as a social experience and calling attention to the way in which art is presented to the public and how viewers interact with works of art and with each other”
Painting as a "window"
This painting by Yinka Shonibare was the most striking work at the Royal Academy 2023 summer show. So was the framing: canvas with glass covering in a 3-sided box frame. The frame gave the canvas painting subtle depth and power and realism. it felt like looking through a window at history.
Painting variation
This exhibition at White Cube in London is of interest for paintings with sculptural textures. The artist is Anselm Keifer.
Texture and line
The New York retrospective of work by Wangechi Mutu was the most exhilarating exhibition I’ve been to in a long while. It felt like a totally new feminine aesthetic.
Tacita Dean image
A sublime pic from Tacita Dean at Bourse du Commerce - Pinault Collection - in the “Before the Storm” exhibition.
Lucio Fontana
Some of the artist’s sculptures were on display in New York recently. A whole range of materials (bronze, ceramic, glass), much delicacy, and some figuration which was a surprise. My main interests in his work are his textures and his contrasts.
Cy Twombly
Some abstracted works on view in New York by the artist. Beautiful colors and juxtapositions. The sculptures may talk to the ancient Roman works he came across living in Italy. The catalogue includes a convo with filmmaker Tacita Dean about the artist - a note to myself in case I want to track this down later. I have a fascination with both artists - perhaps because both are outsiders.
Cerith Wyn Evans
Neon works by this artist are on display in New York. The neons “drawing in space” are arranged in space so they layer over each other and create interesting patterns which vary depending on where you stand in the room. All the neons were white to the naked eye but colors varied in the photographs. A very interesting addition was sound through tiny speakers on a glass plate described as follows
1 piece of toughened low iron glass, 1 stainless steel hanging basket, 1 channel audio, 1 speaker (audio exciter, 32 mm type, 30 W, 4ohm), 1 amplifier (smsl), 1 audio player, clear audio wire and 1 mm stainless steel cable)
The artist says the neons are inspired by Frank Stella’s black paintings (one example in gallery below).
Sichuan opera
A stylized film called “a New Old Play” screened recently in New York. It traced the history of Sichuan opera through the eyes of one of the actors, whose career straddled the early 20th century. The sets, colors, and lighting, and choreography were especially striking. A gorgeous, uplifting, thoughtful film, with the human spirit showing up stronger than than political currents.
Elegance and depth
The New Museum in New York had an exhibit of selected works by Theaster Gates: mainly archival installations and ceramics. The works had a simple elegance that amplified their depth. The ceramic colors - shades of brown and black mostly - and even more so the textures, were delicate, ambiguous, and strikingly absorbing. The wood sculptures were on the surface, simple and elegant but on closer inspection, ambiguous. They were made of wood from the old flooring to the Park Avenue Armory, and therefore full of ghosts.
In the notes for one of the archival installations, Art Histories 2019, the slides of art works in the archive "show how art history needs to come to terms with its own exclusionary biases."
Sonic landscapes
I attended a beautiful improvised percussion "concert" by artists Camille Norment and Craig Taborn. Taborn uses the piano, both keys and strings, and electronics. Norment plays an array of electronics and percussion instruments including a glass armonica. Not sure what to make of the process but a lovely sonic landscape to immerse myself in. I’d love to have a soundscape like this in a video installation.
Transparency
I'm wrapping up a project on our digital lives, probing issues of surveillance and control, and how the combination affects our perceptions of reality. The project was done during my recent program at the Royal College of Arts (see RCA blog at right). In the earlier sculptural works, I laser cut algorithmic code into acrylic sheets. Now I'm working in glass, cutting the code using a process which begins with 3D printing of a sculptural model and working through positive and negative casts to finally cast the glass in a kiln. In the end a little cold shopping to remove the sharp edges.
Pacifiction
This was the year's most memorable and original film for me. It follows a French diplomat's interaction with locals in Tahiti. There’s a vague plot about a rogue French Admiral restarting nuclear bomb tests. In a Q&A after the film, the director Albert Serra talked about his method with the actors. Basically he used improvisation. He would give one actor in a scene the script and the others would have to improvise a response without really knowing what the scene was about. Remarkably, it captures the body language of culture clash so well. The cinematography with long takes and a mostly still camera frame was claustrophobic. But the film was lush with wildly oversaturated colors. Overall, a cross between Dr Strangelove and the Rainbow Warrior bombing story.