During the week of the storm I, like so many, lost electricity and water and so was displaced uptown. I also found myself (and a few others I knew) working out of the Warwick Hotel. The best thing I will say about that is that it is across the street from the MoMA. On Friday, I found some time to get over to see the New Photography exhibition featuring Zoe Crosher, Michele Abeles, Anne Collier, Birdhead and Shirana Shahnazi. I really loved this show – for more read my write up about it on Artinfo.com - http://blogs.artinfo.com/onpictures/2012/11/07/new-photography-at-moma/

Now, Sunday night moved my belated birthday dinner uptown as well. The best birthday surprise was when after dinner drinks brought us to the Carlyle we found Bono there signing with the piano player. It was a great way to end a long week!

The following week (this week) was still off kilter but started with a great class visit to the Museum of the City of New York, which I am embarrassed to say I had never been to before. The museum is housed in a beautiful building that you would think was an old mansion but was built for its current purpose. Sitting on 103rd street and 5th avenue it has a beautiful view of the park and this time of year it feels so autumnal. The two main current exhibitions are a London street photography show borrowed from the Museum of London and an accompanying New York street photography show. Both really fun and truly worth seeing.

Tuesday night of course, was the joyous re-election of the president, which I am sure to not just my surprise was an evening that I thought would be much longer. On Wednesday the snow came down hard and covered the streets and roof tops. It was eerie being so early in the year, and frightening for all the people who had been displaced last week, but it was also kind of beautiful. That evening I ventured out for the Coalition of the Homeless annual Art Walk in Soho. In light of the evening, I was immediately drawn to a Ruth Orkin photograph from 1952 of a New York City street covered in snow, but I was persuaded not to bid on it (regrettably so now!) A large mixed-media collage by Jonah Freeman and Justin Lowe completely enamored me but was sadly not in my price point. In the end the bidding went to a colorful under the sea print by Annika Connor , but alas, I left before the evening ended and was outbidded! The regrets are building!

The weekend was all about regrouping. With the weather beautiful it was finally time to get life back in order! Sunday evening though, the NurtureArt Benefit was rescheduled and so I headed over to Charles Bank Gallery. I got there a little late but was able to pick up a collaged photograph of beehives… more on that when it arrives!

Michele Abeles, 'Not So Optimal' 2012 at New Photography at MoMA

Anne Collier, 'Coulds' 2012 in New Photography at MoMA

Peter Hujar, 'DOA Halloween, 1979' from ' City Scenes: Highlights of New York Street Photography' at the Museum of the City of New York

Henry Grant, 'Street playground' April 1967 in 'London Street Photography at the Museum of the City of New York

Ruth Orkin, 'White Stoops, NYC' 1952, black and white silver gelatin print 11 x14 inches

Jonah Freeman and Justin Lowe, 'Black Acid Co-op Archive (Starchamber Cult)' 2009 mixed media collage 63 x 43 inches

Annika Connor, 'Ocean's Kingdom' 2012 Archival giclee print, 20 x 15 inches

I started this week by trying to take some downtime after traveling and with some big projects that were finally completed! That downtime meant snuggling up on the couch with the new issue of Acne Paper, issue #14, and excitingly the Manhattan Issue. As per usual there are some great interviews in the issue (not to mention my interview with Dorothy Vogel!) but I was especially blown away by two photo essays – the first being the opener of the magazine by Saul Leiter whose use of color during the fifties and the sixties is absolutely remarkable and beautiful (and sadly not often seen – the history books tell us it was only William Eggleston and Stephen Shore who were using color). The second is Viviane Sassen’s beautiful fashion spread styled by Matthias Karlsson. The colors are so vibrant and so perfect while also being so unexpected and are a nearly blissfully perfect example of a photographer using their unique aesthetic and fusing it into a fashion image.

On Tuesday, my class and I visited Danziger Projects where a selection of Robert Frank images are hung in the main gallery and and in the smaller side gallery are stills of visitors at Marina Abramovic’s 2010 MoMA exhibition, The Artist Is Present, by photographer Marco Anelli. There are lots of images of the many emotions that so famously took over those who were bold enough to sit across from the artist. Among these are images of famous faces like Sharon Stone and Michael Stipe. It’s definitely worth checking out, especially if you were one such guest. Anelli documented every moment of the exhibition, so you will be there somewhere in his film!

Sometime Tuesday afternoon I made my way over to The Hole Gallery to see their new photography show curated by Kathy Grayson and Tim Barber called Attachments. For more on that check out my artinfo blog - http://blogs.artinfo.com/onpictures/2012/10/23/looking-at-attachments/

Wednesday evening came with it the preview for the New York Studio School’s benefit auction. Yes, this time of year has started and it’s time to either start bidding or complaining on all the things I wish I had… three from last night: Philip Pearlstein’s etching, Nude on Iron Bench (1975), Richard Serra’s Level 1 (2008) AND Robert Ryman’s limited edition book, NOHOW ON by Samuel Beckett and Robert Ryman (1989).

On Thursday I finally got around to seeing Discovering Columbus, of which, I would recommend everyone goes to see this amazing installation before it closes on November 18th. Not only is the room designed by artist Tatzu Nishi incredible, with a combined social commentary and great sense of humor, it also provides a view of the city that is pretty remarkable. But even more impactful, is when you come in contact with this monument its size and grandeur is shocking – it makes you wonder how you never paid attention to it before and what else is lurking in this city that has also gone overlooked.

The weekend brought my birthday and on Saturday I decided to have some alone quiet time before the events of the evening took off. This meant visiting Rosemarie Trockel’s show at the New Museum. All week I had heard whispers about how this was one of the most amazing shows people had seen in a long time, and so, I made my way over at the first possible opportunity. Every inch of this exhibition holds something different while all being interconnected by this unseen but wholly present common thread. The prolificness of Trockel’s work is humbling at best and the gesture of beauty that manages to touch it all contains a certain sophistication that is at once so unassuming and powerful. But most impressive is her subject which manages to touch on all aspects of human existence by addressing real tangible things rather  than just relying on the idea of the existential.

All in all it was a busy week and in retrospect I managed to see quite a bit of art mixed in! It ended, with a premature hurricane stay-in – but we’ll see what the next few days bring!

Saul Leiter, 'Taxi', ca. 1957 from Acne Paper 14

Saul Leiter from Acne Paper 14 Portfolio

Viviane Sassen, from 'New York Minute' in Acne Paper 14

Viviane Sassen from 'New York Minute' in Acne Paper 14

Robert Frank, 'London, 1951' at Danziger Projects

Robert Frank, 'Ben James, Wales, 1951' at Danziger Projects

Marco Anelli, 'DAY 64 - 5/19/2010

Marco Anelli, ' DAY 66 - 5/21/2010

Philip Pearlstein, 'Nude on Bench' 1975

Richard Serra, 'Level I' 2008

Robert Ryman', 'NOHOW ON by Samuel Beckett and Robert Ryman' (1989).

Tatzu Nishi, Discovering Columbus

Tatzu Nishi, Discovering Columbus

Tatzu Nishi, Discovering Columbus

Rosemarie Trockel at The New Museum

installation view at Rosemarie Trockel

installation view of Rosemarie Trockel at The New Museum

Installation view of Alighiero Boetti: Game Plan at MoMA

Alighiero Boetti, ‘The Thousand Longest Rivers’, 1976 tapestry at MoMA

Doris Salcedo, ‘Atrabiliarios’, 1992-1993, installation materials timper, gyproc, cow bladder, shoes, surgical thread at MoMA

Slavs and Tatars at MoMA

Colleen Fitzgerald from Treatment series, Parsons MFA Thesis Exhibition 21 Cousins

Erwin Wurm, ‘Big Kastenmann’, 2012 at Standard Hotel Meatpacking

Victor Jeffreys II limited edition print from STIFF COTTON 2012

The Andy Monument by Rob Pruitt, Union Square – Public Art Fund

Charles Ray, quarter pounder, no color, 2010 at The Whitney

Yayoi Kusama at The Whitney

Tomas Saraceno at The Met

Ellsworth Kelly at The Met

Installation view of Ghosts in the Machine at the New Museum

Paul McCarthy at Watermill Center

Jean-Luc Mouléne at Dia Foundation Bridgehampton

Dan Flavin at Dia Art Foundation Bridgehampton

Dan Flavin at Dia Art Foundation Bridgehampton

Dan Flavin at Dia Art Foundation Bridgehampton

ALSO

http://blogs.artinfo.com/onpictures/2012/07/27/favorite-foto-friday-pau-wau-publications/

AND

http://www.paddle8.com/blog/2012/07/27/scroll-contributor-rebecca-roberts-summer-show-roundup/

Donald Sultan @ The Drawing Room

Julia Chiang @ Eric Firestone Gallery

William Sweetlove @ artMRKT Hamptons

On Thursday, after a very early morning start and a long time taking in the many works I decided it was time for a little inspiration and took an early day break by heading over to the National Portrait Gallery. Since I have only been to Washington a few times I guess its not that big of a deal that I had never been to the museum, but on the same note, I was a little embarrassed, and was not at all surprised by how much I liked it (and how much I had forgotten how nice free museums are!) First of all, the courtyard is unbelievably spectacular and breathtaking and even though I had been told that beforehand I was not expecting it to that degree. If I had more time I could have easily stayed there all day.

There were several worthwhile exhibitions including the one on the main floor, Portraiture Now: Asian American Portraits of Encounter. One stand out piece is Korean artist Hye Yeon Nam’s four-part video work ‘Eating, Walking, Drinking, Sitting’ from 2006. In the four distinct videos the artist explores these simple everyday behavoirs that have been subtelty altered to make life more difficult with no resolve in sight. Nam’s films, relatively simple in their action, signal to the constant struggle that comes with trying to adapt to, or create normalcy in a world that is in not innately your own.

The other exhibition of note, much smaller and quieter, was In Vibrant Color: Vintage Celebrity Portraits from the Harry Warnecke Studio. Mainly I was just impressed how so many of the images, taken mostly in the thirties and forties, for the pages of the New York Daily News, still look so contemporary. And vintage prints seemed to be the theme of the week…

With a little inspiration in hand it was time to hang the rest of the work and get prepared to sell! There were some good pieces in the auction including a large print by Ned Smyth, a drawing by Joan Jonas, a photograph by Terence Koh, among others. But in the end it was auctioneer CK Swett from Phillips de Pury that got the crowd going and after the live auction got the bidding on the silent auction up and running! All in all it was a good night and a good cause to raise some funds for.

Returning to NY late Friday afternoon it was straight to meet with Rob Pruitt and finalize his project for the Public Art Fund’s Spring Benefit… I wont reveal to much but it will be very colorful, a little messy and extremely fun! The benefit is quickly approaching… April 17th, and now that we have officially moved into the new month its crunch time!

By Sunday I finally got a chance to check out the AIPAD fair. However, I have to admit I was a little disappointed. There was so much vintage work and whereas there is no question that work is consistently amazing to see in person I was shocked at how little new contemporary work was being shown. Yossi Milo’s display of Tim Hetherington’s images of soldiers was powerful as always and the fact that it framed the entranceway and was the first thing you saw definitely added to the impact. Also at Yossi Milo was a large color photograph manipulated by water by Matthew Brandt whose work also showed up at M+B gallery from Los Angeles a little bit later on. But it was at the back of the fair that one of AIPAD’s newest members, David Zwirner, gave a great display of contemporary work by showing relatively new images by Philip-Lorca diCorcia. Among these were large landscapes, interior portraits and some of my favorites (as I had mentioned before when referencing Zwirner’s Armory booth a few years back) polaroids.

It was dark and crowded at AIPAD and when I finally emerged I thought I was done for the night! Sunday’s are so much better now that Mad Men is back on… but then a last minute call brought me out for Sunday night Sake where among other good company and conversation I got a peak at Dutch photographer Charlotte Dumas’ new book – really beautiful! Quite looking forward to her show opening at the Corcoran this summer… I guess its an earlier return to DC than expected!

Hye Yeon Nam, 'Eating - Sitting - Drinking - Walking (Still Compilation)', 2006

Harry Wernecke, Lucille Ball, 1944

Harry Wernecke, Irene Dunn, 1944

 

Some Selections from AIPAD:

 

Joel Meyerowitz, 'Red Interior, Provincetown' 1977

 

Ralph Eugene Meatyard, 'Untitled' 1962

 

Irving Penn, 'Nude 119, New York', 1980

 

 

Tim Hetherington, 'Alcantara, Korengal Valley, Kunar Province, Afghanistan', 2008

 

 

Matthew Brandt, 'Marys Lake MT 2', 2011

 

Philip-Lorca diCorcia, 'Sylmar, California', 2008

 

And then…

 

Charlotte Dumas, 'Untitled' 2007

 

On the topic of talented women, the article in last week’s New Yorker on the upcoming exhibition at the Met’s Costume Institute, ‘Imaginary Conversation’, on the work of Elsa Schiaprelli and Miuccia Prada got me very excited. I am not overly knowledgeable on Schiaparelli, however as the woman who foraged the now ever-so-popular collaborations between artists and designers, working with many of the surrealists most notably Dali, the exhibition is sure to be great. And not to mention Prada, one of my all time favorites for her profile, her clothes and her own careful and thoughtful relationship to art. (During my time in London I spent  an unproportionate amount of time in Carsten Höller’s Double Club which was orchestrated by the Fondazione Prada).

There were other things this week as well but the still premature glimpse of Spring made most of it hard to focus on!

Francesca Woodman, Untitled, Providence, Rhode Island, 1975-1978

Francesca Woodman, Polka Dots, Providence, Rhode Island, 1976

Francesca Woodman, On Being an Angel, Providence, Rhode Island, 1976-1978

Elsa Schiaparelli and Dali Shoe Hat, 1930's

Tuesday evening the Swiss Institute became the meeting place to reunite with friends in town showing at the fairs. Three exhibitions filled the giantic space. I initially came to see the exhibition Heart to Hand featuring the work of Zoe Leonard, Adam Pendleton, Klara Liden and Oscar Tuazon/Elias Hansen, but it was Nicholas Party’s brightly designed wallpaper covering the entire front room and floor placed sculptures, which in the enormous space filled with people practically got lost, that I was taken by. The juxtaposition of the scale, dimension and material of these two elements challenged the ideas of personal and public space in such a subtle and minute way that I almost felt uncomfortable (in the best way possible!).

Wednesday night was the opening of the Armory Show, which felt more manageable and concise this year (not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing). Even though reports stated that sales at the fairs have been pretty good across the board, times are tough and have been for awhile and so I guess its no surprise at this point to not see anything totally revolutionary. Nonetheless  there were more than a few things I was happy to see. Usually my preference is one artist booths (a previous booth by David Zwirner’s which consisted only of Philip Lorca di Corcia polaroids was one of my favorites) but sometimes more isn’t a bad thing. I loved seeing the work at Jack Shainman. Among other pieces they featured a fantastic aluminum and copper tapestry by El Anatsui, two wall hung sculptures by Nick Cave, a photograph by Richard Mosse, and a sculpture by Claudette Schreuders. At Paul Kasmin I was intrigued by two very different works using oil paint, that of japanese artist Makoto Saito and Israeli artist Nir Hod. The London based gallery Corvi-Mora showed Anne Collier’s Smoking (Porfolio). Green Naftali’s booth was filled with large paintings by Bjarne Melgaard.

Thursday began with a trip to the Volta Show which also had a lot of painting. I was specifically drawn to Romanian artist Razvan Boar’s paintings at Ana Cristea Gallery. I also checked out brooklyn-based CultureShock’s installation but missed the break dancers which seemed to have a big draw. Thursday evening I took a hiatus from seeing art and instead had dinner with friends. The night ended with a trip to Marie’s Crisis for a much needed release and the reminder of two things we take for granted in New York: there is neighborhood camaraderie, its just not in your face, and the recognition of an incredible amount of unseen talent.

By Friday it was necessary to do some serious work but on Saturday I went to the Independent Fair. At the Independent I once again encountered Nicholas Party’s sculptures paired with photographs by Luke Fowler at The Modern Institute which I thought was a great combination. I also really loved the monochramatic paintings by Scott Lyall at Campoli Presti.

That afternoon, with good intentions to clean the apartment I quickly got distracted during my attempt to clear away the massive pile of magazines that was starting to take over, and read the article on Christian Marclay in this week’s New Yorker. A short while back, when I was in line at David Zwirner to see the Doug Wheeler exhibition, I began talking to an elderly woman on the three hour line behind me. She began telling me that waiting on line was worth it and that she waited on four hours the previous year to see Marclay’s ‘The Clock’ at Paula Cooper Gallery. She continued by saying she couldn’t believe that  MoMA, who has purchased the work, had yet to shown it. My initial reaction was – give them some time! But after reading this profile on Marclay, and specifically ‘The Clock’ – I agree! Supposedly they will be showing sometime this year and talks about it being shown at Lincoln Center this summer are definitely adding to the excitiement of the longer days!

Nicholas Party installation view at Swiss Institute

El Anatsui, 'Bukpa Old Town', 2009 at Jack Shainman Gallery

Nir Hod, 'The Night You Left' at Paul Kasmin Gallery

Bjarne Melgaard, 'Untitled' at Green Naftali

Scott Lyall at Campoli Presti

Razvan Boar at Ana Cristea Gallery

This week, without even really trying, became mostly about seeing photography, a lot of really great photography and a lot of really diverse work. Here’s a bit about the shows I saw and loved, in no particular order..

Paul Graham’s show at The Pace Gallery on west 22nd street, The Present. For reasons I am not fully aware of, Graham’s spectacular work has never garnered quite the level of visibility and inclusion into mainstream conversations about contemporary photography that it most probably should. It could be argued that that may be a good thing. But his exclusive representation by Pace, and new show at their large gallery will surely change that. This current exhibition, taken on the streets of New York, is very impressive on its own and the installation, placing nearly life-size images of people walking on the street at street level only adds to the uniqueness of Graham’s images which so very subtlely combines intimacy and isolation.

Alec Soth’s show at the Sean Kelly Gallery Broken Manuel, which closes next week, was also fantastic. Soth has the rare quality to photograph places and subjects that are at times more than slightly off, but never do his images even somewhat suggest that he is exploiting his subjects. The documentary of Soth traveling across the country and taking pictures in the front gallery Somewhere to Disappear, only adds to the intrigue to Soth’s work and his vision and demeanor as a photographer

At Von Lintel Gallery is Melanie Willhide’s new show to Andrian Rodriguez, with Love. This body of work came about when her computer was stolen, although, miraculously, the police were able to recover it. Willhide soon discovered that the harddrive had been erased and in her efforts to recover the data she found that her photographs had been greatly altered. Willhide’s images so simply and beautifully deal with one of the biggest issues of photography; authenticity. The photographs in this exhibition are sliced, turned upside down, have inexplicable markings, in some ways they remind me of early Rauschenberg lithographs. As much as they seem accidental, they are beautifully composed. They also address the issue of chance, something that was so uniquely interesting to analogue photography and so blatantly lost in digital. In Willhide’s images she uses this rare encounter with chance to her advantage… something we do not see enough of anymore.

A completely different body of work is on view at Steven Kasher Gallery where they are showing a large exhibition of vintage prints by George Platt Lynes made between 1933 and 1953. This show is filled with beautifully rich black and white prints that range from surrealist images, to studies of nudes, to photographs that just about touch on fashion.

Also worth checking out at Galerie Lelong is a film by British artist Catherine Yass titled Lighthouse. Beware of the large screen in the back gallery if you get seasick!

And then of course, the week couldn’t end without seeing the Cindy Sherman exhibition at MoMA. Sometimes seeing a retrospective of an artist whose work you are so familiar with and has lived so easily and affluently in the public realm can seem a bit boring, nice to see, but more of a review than offering something new. Sherman’s show does just the opposite. Even though you are familiar with a lot, if not all the work, you will be surprised at how much of it you had only thought you had seen in person, or had not seen in a very long time. In addition, entering each gallery and seeing each series only made me progressively more and more in awe of her work, of her impeccable attention to detail which allows all of her characters to become their own and her ability to allow essentially one subject to surive nearly four decades. As no matter who she transforms herself into, the subject is always Cindy Sherman.

Paul Graham, 'Vesey Street, 25th May 2010, 5:51:05 pm'

Paul Graham, 'Fulton Street, 11th November 2009, 11.29.10 am'

Alec Soth, 'The Arkansas Cajuns Backup Bunker', 2007

Alec Soth, '2008_08z10215', 2008

Melanie Willhide, 'Trick #2 and Trick #4, Palm Springs, June, 2011'

Melanie Willhide, 'Untitled (The Steve McQueen House), 2011

George Platt Lynes, 'John Tichenor, Dora Maxwell & Edward Lennox Bigelow,' ca. 1943

George Platt Lynes, 'Bill Miller', ca. 1944

Cindy Sherman, 'Untilted #470', 2008

Cindy Sherman, 'Untitled #94' 1981

This week was very productive on that front though! The week began with a class visit to Pace/MacGill where we both got a great talk from Peter MacGill and also a look at their current show by photographer Tono Stano White Shadow. I had never heard of the fifty-one year old Czech photographer before and felt better when I learned this was his first New York (and I believe state-side) show. Completely produced in camera and shot in his studio, he turns positives into negatives and negatives into positives by painting the white portions of his models bodies black and vice versa. This process may sound kitschy but the result is visually remarkable, haunting, graphic and unlike anything I had ever seen before. The photographs aren’t overly large so there are quite a few in the show. My favorites were the smallest and newest and seemed more like studies than finished works, but I loved the stillness of them. The show is up until March 17th – so no excuse not to go! Peter MacGill also gave a great talk to my class and I think installed some very needed assurance that not everything has been done, that’s its okay to move past lamenting over the loss of celluloid and not to get caught up in the nostalgia of the medium (hard lessons in the age of the instagram!)

Seeing a great show like White Shadow motivated me and on Wednesday I went to see The New Museum’s triennial ‘The Ungovernables’. I was very excited by this show. It was great to be exposed to so many artists whose work I had never seen or heard of before. On the fifth floor of the museum I was initially struck by Brazilian artist Jonathas de Andrade’s Ressaca Tropical (Tropical hangover) an installation of over a hundred photographs and diary entries from a found diary displayed out of sequence. This assumed romantic vision of a city plays with the idea of what is fiction and what is real, how we manipulate truth with or without trying, what stands for the past, and how true a narrative can ever really be. This genre of work has been done before and can risk the danger of being caught in the nostalgia of the imagery and the tales being told, but de Andrades’ work somehow surpasses that and draws you in while keeps you questioning. A few floors down de Andrades again impressed me with his flicker-like film 4000 shots which quickly moves through 4000 images of men he shot in the street in sixty minutes.

Other stand-out works were Danh Vo’s WE THE PEOPLE  a replication of the skin of the statue of liberty that seems to simultaneously melt into and float on the gallery’s floor and walls. Another Brazilian artist, Cinthia Marcelle had a film called O Sécula (The Century), which for about ten minutes debris is being thrown into an empty street. As the debris grows, and remnants start to move, and get thrown into the air the result is a fighting back of sorts, the trash starts to revolt back and tries to exit the viewers frames just as it had entered. Although I was glad to see that show was not over-run by film and video another amazing piece was Pivli Takala’s video installation depicting her time working in an accounting firm and completely disregarding any work ethic.

On Friday I went to check out Yinka Shonibare’s new show at James Cohan Gallery. Shonibare is one of those artist who while I was living in London name was all around (partly because had the 4th Plinth commission in Trafalgar Square) but sadly in New York his work or name is not as common. Assumedly this is in large part because the issues of colonialism that drives so much of his work just aren’t as sexy here.

After James Cohan I attempted to go to David Zwirner to see the Doug Wheeler show. It was a three hour wait and unfortunately didn’t have three hours. The show is closing on the 25th so it is a must-do this coming week.

One last great thing to this week – the long weekend allowed me to see an extremely large expanse of water – incredibly invigorating!

Tono Stano 'White Shadow 7', 2011

Tono Stano 'White Shadow 162', 2011

Still from Jonathan de Andrades '4000 Disparos (4000 Shots)', 2010 from 'The Unogovernables'

Danh Vo 'WE THE PEOPLE' installation image at the New Museum

Yinka Shinobare, MBE 'Fake Death Picture (The Suicide - Manet), 2011 at James Cohan Gallery

Tuesday, again, was a great class with a visit from Alice Zimet talking about her photography collection. Afterwards I met with artist Ohad Meromi to discuss his project for the Public Art Fund’s Spring Benefit, which, especially now, after hearing more about Ohad’s project, I am so excited for! Buy your tickets now at publicartfund.org and save the date – April 17th! You can see Ohad’s work currently in the Public Art Fund’s exhibition A Promise Is A Cloud at the Metro Tech Center in Brooklyn along with artists Adam Pendleton, Erin Shirreff and Young-Hae Chang.

Wednesday night I went by Marian Goodman Gallery where it was the opening for Tony Cragg’s new amazing sculptures that are unbelievably more than worth seeing. Also at the gallery was the preview for the second edition of the Elton John Aids Foundation Photography Portfolio. The portfolio has ten original photographs with some unbelievable artists in it ranging from legends like Ed Ruscha to young hot artists like Alex Prager. My favorites (for those interested!) are Hedi Slimane’s image, whose photography I am such a huge fan of, Frank Thiel’s beautiful detail and Tina Barney’s great picture from 1999, The Lipstick. If only I had $25,000… After Marian Goodman I headed downtown to Momofuku Ssäm Bar. I had never been to any Momofuko (except for the Milk Bar) so was very excited to find out what all the talk was about. Since pork buns aren’t my thing I had to find something else to be wowed by… success was found in the spicy pork sausage and rice cakes… and Japanese whiskey!

Thursday evening brought with it the opening of the New York Fashion Film Festival. With the everyman becoming photographers and filmmakers these days and the demand for nearly all photo shoots, either editorial or advertising, to have a film component there is a lot of bad work out there! But apparently there is some really good work as well. I wasn’t impressed with everything shown but there were some great films. A few I was already aware of like Steven Meisel’s absolutely amazing Lanvin Fall 2011 video and Inez and Vinoodh’s film for Balmain Spring/Summer 2012. Two films that I had never seen, or heard of for that matter, were the beautiful, surreal, romantic and dream-like Vanessa Bruno Spring 2012 piece starring Kate Bosworth and directed by Stephanie di Giusto. The second, much shorter and imbued with a sense of humor rather than romanticism (which is usually what I go for) was the Marc Jacobs Resort 2012 forty-five second spot. Regardless of my favorites, fashion films are usually something you look at on your laptop not on a big screen with loud music so it was interesting to see these films in a different context at least. I was unable to stay for the panel discussion moderated by Glenn O’Brien as I had to run downtown to a birthday dinner at La Esquina… I will blame La Esquina’s abundance of food and margaritas for the rest of the weekend…

Tony Cragg installation view at Marian Goodman Gallery

Frank Thiel, 'Stadt 14/02 Berlin' 2009 from the Elton John Aids Foundation Portfolio

Tina Barney. 'Lipstick' 1999 from the Elton John Aids Foundation Portfolio

Full line up of films... also check out Matthew Donaldson's, the trailer and film for AMS and Nick Knight's 'To Lee Love Nick'...

Other than that the beginning of the week dragged on until finally I decided to break the humdrum of the computer and emails and went to see HIDE/SEEK at the Brooklyn Museum. This had been on my agenda since it opened and I was slightly annoyed at myself that it took me so long to get there. This is one of those shows that has gotten a lot of talk so perhaps it is not necessary to repeat much of the same rhetoric that has already been put out there, but I will say this: Throughout the exhibition there is a lot of amazing work. The show has a slightly slow progression that picks up greatly towards the end (this is partly because of contemporary image-making and because of the emotional impact of so many of the later works that deal directly with the AIDS epidemic) and leaves you with the overwhelming realization of how long the struggle for true self-identification has been, how the images and portraits that we take so much for advantage now were great challenges both to the system and to the individuals who made them and inhabit them, and how important image-making is to this discussion that has still not been nearly resolved. It is an extremely powerful exhibition that closes soon – so go see it!

That evening, already on a motivational kick, with a quick wine break in between, I headed off to Lombard-Freid Projects for the opening of Motoyuki Daifu’s exhibition Lovesody whose book of the same name was released the night before at Dashwood. The exhibition follows the photographer’s six month love affair with a young woman and mother and takes you through his journey of initial infatuation through the point when the reality of what the love and relationship becomes sets in. The show is great and the work, even though is someone else’s story is poignant and strangely intimate. However, when I met Daifu at the opening I was amazed at how young he was, and I am not sure how or why, but for some reason I can not get his age out of my mind… The exhibition was really great though and I ran into lots of old familiar faces which is always a nice way to begin an evening!

Friday night I stopped by the opening of Thomas Ølvison’s show Tomato at Klaus Von Nichtssagend Gallery. I hadn’t been familiar with Ølvison’s work but had yet to visit Klaus Gallery’s new location and on the relatively warm evening was worth checking out. The scale and texture and color of the sculptures in the show were certainly something to be reckoned with! Also, if you haven’t yet checked out klausgallery.net – take a look! Great online exhibitions of artists dealing directly with the medium itself.

Speaking of work that deals with the internet… This coming week is all about going to see current exhibitions on my must see list. One of which is Sandro Kopp’s new exhibition at Lehmann Maupin in conjunction with Instanbul ’74 There You Are only up until February 4th, in which the artist paints portraits, many of well-known faces, derived from conversations over skype. Even though I haven’t seen the show yet I did make it to Pulqueria Saturday evening for the party celebrating the opening of the show!

Sunday came around and I had high hopes of going to PS.1 for their winter open house but being Sunday and all it seemed more realistic to keep it closer to the neighborhood. Instead I closed off the week with a drink at The El Quijote and a trip to the cinema to see ‘The Artist’. A beautifully quiet way to the end the week!

George Platt Lyons, 'Marsden Hartley', 1942 from HIDE/SEEK

Alice Neel, 'Frank O'Hara', 1960 from HIDE/SEEK

Felix Gonzalez-Torres, 'Portrait of Ross' from HIDE/SEEK

Motoyuki Daifu, 'Bath' 2011 from Lovesody

Motoyuki Daifu, 'Love Hotel and Karaoke', 2011 from Lovesody

Installation view at Klaus Gallery

That evening was Enrico David’s opening ‘Head Gas’ at 231 Bowery, the New Museum’s new project space. David’s large ethereal paintings looked so beautiful in the space and seemed really different from the work I usually associate with him, bolder colors and more defined shapes, so it was nice to be totally surprised when I walked in. The space had also been transformed since their inaugural show with Spartacus Chetwynd at the end of last year. The opening was followed by dinner at Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria, which I had wanted to try for awhile now. Apparently when you ask the waiter to order for you you get everything on the menu!

I was introduced to the work of three new photographers this week, all of which I was excited to find out about. The first came via the recommendation of former employer, dear dear friend and Photo Agent extraordinaire, Julie Brown, who suggested I check out the blog of photographer Dimitri Kasterine. I liked the blog but what really got my attention was his portraits of artists, writers, directors, actors and the such, all mostly from the seventies and eighties. Kasterine is an English photographer who has spent most of his life living in the states (he was born in 1932). His portraits, which include the likes of Jasper Johns, Philip Johnson, Keith Haring, Cindy SHerman, Arthur Miller, Graham Greene, Johnny Cash and Richard Gere, to name but a few, have that rare ability to capture known personalities with a slight amount of spectacle and a large amount of intimacy without the image feeling tried or staged. They are really beautiful!

The second was also sourced from across the Atlantic and is the work of the young Swiss photography team Taiyo Onorato & Nico Krebs. Onorato and Krebs are currently part of the group show ‘Annual’ at Bruce Silverstein Gallery so I decided I should go see their work in person. This annual exhibition at the gallery invites ten curators each to include the work of emerging photographers. Onorato and Krebs work was included by Independent Curator Kevin Moore. When I first looked at the duo’s work on line the thing that struck me was their interest in photographing Americana, something so many artists are interested in – however, their travels and documentations felt different, felt exploratory beyond just photographing the quirky things that make America distinctly America, or so we have come to believe through the redundancy of so many of these projects. Read Moore’s statement from the exhibition below:

What to do as a young photographer, trained in, enamored of, yet burdened by the weight of certain American photographic icons: Robert Frank, Stephen Shore, William Eggleston, William Christenberry, Robert Adams, Joel Sternfeld? Team up, go on a road trip across America, and take the piss. Taiyo Onorato and Nico Krebs (both Swiss and born in 1979) made a series of trips between 2005 and 2008, during which they photographed the clichés: desert landscapes, tract houses, funny signs, motel rooms, and the road itself. Yet instead of generating a subjective vision of America through documentary photographs, honoring that sacrosanct tension in art photography, the Salingerian duo has desecrated their own work, manipulating, splicing, puncturing, montaging, spattering, and rephotographing the original prints, as if in an effort to make the photographs emote more, to insert (or doubt?) the romantic loneliness of that other Swiss roadster Robert Frank; to enhance (or make fun of?) the deadpan humor of Stephen Shore; to augment (because maybe one just couldn’t quite feel it at the time?) the sense of revelation of William Eggleston. The Great Unreal asks how true photography is and goes further: are we—were we ever—capable of authentic experience?

The show is up till the end of February – definitely worth checking out. Also while there make sure to check out the work of Russian photographer Ivan Mikhailov, also an interesting new discovery.

The weekend got colder and when the snow came on Saturday I popped by Pier 59 Studios and saw a bit of Summer as Summer collections are already being shot – which is scary because I still haven’t bought any winter clothes! But at least among the bitter cold I got a glance of what the warm weather holds in store for us!

But the real guilty pleasure this week came when I finally had a night in and watched Almodovar’s ‘Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down’, which I hadn’t seen in so long. I forgot how amazing the music is in that film is! Anticipating ‘The Skin I Live In’ coming out on Netflix! Oh… second guilty pleasure was realizing that watching the football game can be really fun!

From 'Back to Mystery City' by Andreas Laszlo Konrath

Enrico David at 231 Bowery

Cindy Sherman, NYC 1985 by Dimitri Kasterine

'Kurt Vonnegut, London 1982' by Dimitri Kasterine

'Shot Car', 2005 by Taiyo Onorato & Nico Krebs

'Leadville', 2008 by Taiyo Onorato & Nico Krebs

And ending with this!

One horrible picture I was able to get before being warned!

There may not be much more to say on the Damien Hirst Spot Painting Gagosian extravaganza then has already been said. But I will add this… at last night’s opening of the show at the 21st street location my reaction had nothing to do with the art, the crowd, or the effort to process all I had already read on the show. But rather, it was the men in black. In between every third painting or so was a very serious looking security guard. They were also dispersed throughout the room. If it turned out there was some security in plain clothes roaming among us common people I would not be surprised! When I tried to take a picture with my little old iphone (3G no flash), out of nowhere three security guards immediately came towards me and told me I was not allowed to take pictures. I wondered if because this happened immediately when walked into the gallery my experience was unfairly tainted. But then, just as I was thinking maybe I had overreacted, NP London sent me the following email after attending the Davies Street opening last night. ‘They hired out some crazy women who banned us from taking pictures!! The guy next to me tried to take a picture of his two friends and the woman literally sprinted across the gallery and snapped the iPhone out of his hands!!!’ Made me feel a little better! I wasn’t the only one! Are these pictures worth a lot more than I can imagine? Have there been threats against the safety of the Spot Paintings? Are these guards actually performance artists? Whichever it is I am glad to know similar people were inhabiting the gallery in at least one other city. Yesterday in her article in The New York Times about the show, Roberta Smith suggested in order to further the ‘collective experience’ of this eight city exhibition Gagosian should consider keeping the galleries open twenty-four hours. I would like to suggest mandating the security guard – viewer interaction as an integral part of the show. It was certainly memorable for me!

DECLARATION OF WAR – Official HD trailer-1

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the viewing of the new French film ‘Declaration of War’ at the wonderful screening room at The Crosby Street Hotel. This film, which is France’s entry for Best Foreign Film for the 2011 Academy Awards is about a young French couple. Both equally beautiful and sexy, they coolly smoke cigarettes in the way only the French can, fall in love, dance at parties, roam around Paris and redo their apartment (basically you want to be them), until they find out that their young son has a rare and complicated form of cancer and their declaration of war, of survival begins. This film is both beautiful and sad but amazingly not depressing. Obviously they left out a lot of the darkness that can accompany such a sickness. But that is the beauty of the film. Instead of bringing the viewer into heart-wrenching pity, they choose to tell their story as an affirmation of life, of the moments we chose to persevere, to find bravery where we thought it could not exist. What makes this film even more amazing is that it is the real life story of the director, writers and co-stars of the film who play themselves. This is an intimate film told with honesty and beauty. Added bonus is the music is great and there is sense of whimsy despite the subject matter that is truly French. ‘Declaration of War’ is off to Sundance next week and then back in New York at the end of the month for its official release. More than worth seeing!

Gesamtkunstwerk = total, ideal, universal work of art/synthesis of different art forms into one all-embracing unique genre.

NP’s top picks from the current show on at the Saatchi gallery (London) include Iza Genzken’s paintings, Georg Herold’s elongated scuplutres, Jeppe Hein’s vibrationg mirror and Stefan Kurten’s architecture based compositions:

Isa Genzken

Georg Herold

Jeppe Hein (Aluminum box that starts to vibrate when a visitor goes near it)

Stefan Kurten

Stefan Kurten (detail)

Bringing in the New Years surrounded by great shows of the past! Thank you Blaue Gans. Exhibition posters – my favorite ephemera!

I love a sculpture garden. Especially one you don’t know that much about. Every turn is a surprise and just when you think you are content walking through nature some amazing (and large) piece of art appears and changes your perspective. I have said this before, but I love public art as well. Its one of my favorite ways to experience art and in many ways sculpture gardens act in the same way.

Among the highlights were Calder’s ‘Hats Off’ which greets you, Henry Moore’s ‘Sheep Piece’, Miro’s ‘Personnage’ and David Wynne’s ‘Grizzly Bear’. But my favorite piece, which was such a lovely surprise when I turned the corner around the main building in the middle of the garden, was George Segal’s ‘Three People on Four Benches’. Ever since I was asked to give a ten minute discussion on one of Segal’s sculptures on the spot during a trip to the Ludwig Museum in Cologne while I was in grad school, Segal’s work has touched me in an inexplicable way. Knowing his work only slightly up until that point, I used one of those ten minutes to intensely look at the work and then the work surrounding it. The remaining nine were filled with words I couldn’t get out of my mouth soon enough. I suggest going to this sculpture park. Everyone is bound to stumble across at least one piece that will make the trip more than worth it.

My cohorts trying to exude excitement despite the cold!

Even though I was supposed to be the tour guide I finally had to admit that I am awful at maps and let someone else take over!

Alexander Calder

George Segal

Great Abstraction show that opened last night at The Hole Gallery featuring Matt Jones, Kadar Brock, Scott Reeder and Sam Moyer

Fourth & Main

Launched by London based Jamie Wright and Nikhil Adwalpalkar this clothing & contemporary lifestyle brand also comes with a magazine – which is a MUST READ. Great articles, beautiful shoots and the feel – oh the old school style of the magazine!

The clothes are also a hit, subtle colors and the elegancy of an East End hipster meets British preppy tailoring. Keep an eye out for their website going live soon….

www.fourthandmain.com

On a perfect sunny, crisp day in the early Spring of 2009 I was wandering around Berlin in a slight haze (a German friend had taken me to her local hole in the wall the night before). I happened by the Hamburger Bahnhoff which had been on my list to do, but now appeared in front of me by mere chance. In the light filled historic hall was Janet Cardiff and Georges Bures Miller’s sound installation ‘The Murder of Crows’. On this particular day it was the perfect discovery. Finding myself in Long Island City this past Sunday morning I decided that since I hadn’t been to PS. 1 since the book fair it would be irresponsible to not go by. The unseasonably warm day, the light, my state and Janet Cardiff’s ‘Forty Part Motet’ in the exhibition ‘September 11′ made for a re-enactment of that perfect day in Berlin.