Artipedia - Arts News

Ballroom Marfa

The Marfa Sessions
27 September 2008 - 1 February 2009

Curated by Regine Basha,
Rebecca Gates, and Lucy Raven

http://www.ballroommarfa.org

Artists: Emily Jacir, Nina Katchadourian, Christina Kubisch, Louise Lawler, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Kaffe Matthews, neuroTransmitter, Dario Robleto, Steve Roden & Stephen Vitiello, Steve Rowell & Simparch, Deborah Stratman & Steven Badgett, Julianne Swartz

With special performances and programs throughout the opening weekend, including a collaborative performance by Steve Roden & Stephen Vitiello and a discussion with authors David Toop and Josh Kun.

Issue no.59
July - August 2008

http://www.aapmag.com

This summer is China’s moment in the international limelight, for the Beijing Olympics coincides with an ever-growing interest in Chinese culture and, in particular, contemporary art. With the grandiose spectacle of the Olympic Games in sight, ArtAsiaPacific no. 59 looks at artists from around the world whose oversized work and ambitions are triumphant, majestic and yet deeply personal.

In the July/August issue of AAP, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s curator Christine Starkman looks at the massive installations and sculptures of Do-Ho Suh—from the tiny figurines, chronicling the plight of the individual in the face of enormous social forces, to his most recent architectural series of scaled-down recreations of his home in Korea colliding with a former home in New England. Likewise, the personal and political come together with an astonishing formal elegance in the sculptures of Mona Hatoum. AAP managing editor HG Masters examines Hatoum’s oeuvre and explains how she began her career as a performance artist before moving onto large-scale installations and objects. Devika Singh writes on the films of Delhi-based Amar Kanwar as he looks at the historic human tensions generated from differences between cultures. Features editor Andrew Maerkle puzzles through one of Japan’s best-kept secrets, Makoto Aida, whose work brims over with convoluted political positions
and misogyny, constantly creates un-resolvable contradictions. Finally, Angie Baecker and Graham Webster ruminate on a pre-Olympian Beijing and the current state of its of its exploding art scene.

Drawing on the thread of monumental projects, Australia desk editor George Alexander profiles Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev’s ambitious Biennale of Sydney, “Revolutions – Forms that Turn,” the first event of the Art Compass suite of mega-festivals in Asia later this year. Ian Driscoll meets Arne Glimcher to discuss his legendary PaceWildenstein gallery and their ambitious move to Beijing’s 798 district. And Harvard historian Cecelia Levin provides an overview of Indonesian modernism.

In a Special Section, AAP presents curators’ texts for the non-commercial Best of Discovery exhibition over 30 artists from across Asia to be presented at ShContemporary 08 in Shanghai this September. A special Projects in the Making examines what might be a life-long endeavor for conceptual artist Zheng Guogu and his real-life recreation of his favorite computer game, Age of Empires. Returning to real life, Swiss collector Uli Sigg argues against a proposed boycott of contemporary Chinese art fired up by the political debates surrounding the Olympic games. Bearing in mind the ideals of the Olympics, where nations come together and the victors are rewarded a crown of olive leaves, ArtAsiaPacific similarly celebrates the achievements of artists who constantly strive for dialogue, hope and peace.

Portland Art Museum

Arlene Schnitzer Prize
Portland Art Museum
1219 SW Park Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97205
USA
503.226.2811

http://www.portlandartmuseum.org

The Portland Art Museum is proud to announce that Seattle artist Whiting Tennis was awarded the first Arlene Schnitzer Prize during the opening celebration for the inaugural Contemporary Northwest Art Awards on June 14. Dedicated to recognizing the accomplishments of emerging and under-recognized contemporary artists based in the Northwest, this exhibition includes new and recent work by Tennis, who is one of five awards artists presented. The exhibition is on view through September 14, 2008.

Tennis’s recent paintings and sculptures combine formal strategies with a funk aesthetic that calls attention to the accumulation of neglected objects and the detritus of the American experience. Tennis was selected from the five featured artists to receive this unrestricted 10,000 USD cash prize by a panel composed of the Museum’s executive director and its six curators. Named in honor of philanthropist and longtime Museum patron Arlene Schnitzer, the Prize acknowledges Tennis’s accomplishments and the innovation of his work in this exhibition.

Tennis was born in 1959 in Hampton, Virginia. From 1979 to 1981, he studied at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg before undertaking independent studies with Jacob Lawrence at the University of Washington, Seattle. He received a BFA from the University of Washington in 1984. His work has been featured in museums and alternative spaces such as the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut; Chicago’s Artists Space; the Tacoma Art Museum, Washington; and Seattle’s SOIL and Wright Exhibition Space. Tennis has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions at galleries, including Derek Eller Gallery in New York and Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle. He received a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in 1993 and the 2007 Neddy Artist Fellowship. His work is included in public collections including those of the Seattle Art Museum and the Tacoma Art Museum.

About the Contemporary Northwest Art Awards
Expanding the Museum’s 116-year commitment to celebrating and exhibiting the art of the region, the Contemporary Northwest Art Awards is a new biennial program dedicated to recognizing emerging and nationally under-recognized artists living in the Northwest. Regional arts professionals from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming nominated more than 250 artists based on the quality of their work, innovation, continuity of vision and relevance to community or global issues in contemporary art. Portland Art Museum Curator Jennifer A. Gately reviewed the nominees’ materials and selected 28 finalists with guest curatorial advisor James Rondeau, Curator and Chair of the Department of Contemporary Art at the Art Institute of Chicago. Gately then conducted extensive studio visits with each finalist before announcing the 2008 Contemporary Northwest Art Award recipients: Dan Attoe, Cat Clifford, Jeffry Mitchell, Whiting Tennis and Marie Watt. Their achievements are recognized w
ith an award, an honorarium and an in-depth presentation within the special exhibition. The artists and their work are also featured in the accompanying full-color catalogue and related educational programming.

The Contemporary Northwest Art Awards is presented in part by the Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Endowments for Northwest Art and The James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation.

About the Portland Art Museum
The seventh oldest museum in the United States and the oldest on the West Coast, the Portland Art Museum is internationally recognized for its permanent collection and ambitious special exhibitions drawn from the Museum’s holdings and the world’s finest public and private collections. The Museum’s collection of more than 42,000 objects, displayed in 112,000 square feet of galleries, reflects the history of art from ancient times to today. The collection is distinguished for its holdings of arts of the native peoples of North America, English silver and the graphic arts. An active collecting institution, dedicated to preserving great art for the enrichment of future generations, the Museum devotes 90 percent of its galleries to its permanent collection. The Museum’s campus of landmark buildings, a cornerstone of Portland’s cultural district, includes the Jubitz Center for Modern and Contemporary Art, the Gilkey Center for Graphic Arts, the Schnitzer Center for Northwest Art, t
he Northwest Film Center and the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Center for Native American Art. With a membership of over 23,000 households and serving more than 350,000 visitors annually, the Museum is a premier venue for education in the visual arts. For information on exhibitions, programs, hours and admission, please call 503.226.2811 or visit http://www.portlandartmuseum.org

Image above:
On view in the Contemporary Northwest Art Awards, left to right: Whiting Tennis, The New Green, 2007, Lumber, plywood, paint, and visqueen, Courtesy Derek Eller Gallery, New York; Bitter Lake Compound, 2008, Acrylic and collage on canvas, Courtesy Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle; The White Nun, 2006, Lumber, plywood, paint, and asphalt shingles, Collection of the artist.

New Museum

Maurizio Cattelan, Untitled, 2007
Taxidermied horse skin and fiberglass resin
118 1/8 x 66 7/8 x 31 1/2 in
(300 x 168.5 x 80 cm)
Courtesy Marian Goodman Gallery, New York.

“After Nature”
July 17 - September 21, 2008

Opening reception July 16

New Museum
235 Bowery
New York, NY 10002
212.219.1222

http://www.newmuseum.org

Departing from the fictional documentaries of Werner Herzog and drawing its title from W.G. Sebald’s visionary book of the same name, “After Nature” unfolds as a visual novel, depicting a future landscape of wilderness and ruins. Bringing together an international and multigenerational group of contemporary artists, filmmakers, writers, and outsiders, many of whom are showing in an American museum for the first time, the exhibition is a feverish examination of humankind’s relationship to nature. Organized by Massimiliano Gioni, Director of Special Exhibitions, the show spans three floors and includes over ninety works.

Part dystopian fantasy, part ethnographic museum of a lost civilization that eerily resembles our own, “After Nature” brings together artists and artworks that possess a strange, prophetic intensity. When seen in this context, Zoe Leonard’s giant sculpture of a crippled tree, Maurizio Cattelan’s fallen horse, Reverend Howard Finster’s delirious sermon cards, and Eugene Von Bruenchenhein’s apocalyptic finger paintings resonate like a requiem for a vanishing planet.

Artists such as Fikret Atay, Roger Ballen, Robert Kusmirowski, Diego Perrone, and Artur Zmijewski seem fascinated by mystic apparitions, arcane rites, and spiritual illuminations, while Allora and Calzadilla, Nancy Graves, and William Christenberry depict a universe in which the traces of humans have been erased and new ecological systems struggle to find a precarious balance.

The works of Huma Bhabha, Berlinde De Bruyckere, and Thomas Schütte share an archaic quality. Their magic realism transforms sculpture into myth-making and gives birth to a cast of fantastical creatures, including sylvan beings, totemic figures, and neo-primitive idols. These elements also find life in Tino Sehgal’s intricate choreographies: for the duration of the exhibition dancers carry out gestures that could be seen as mysterious rituals and states of ecstasy. Recuperating ancient techniques, Pawel Althamer uses grass and animal intestines to produce vulnerable sculptures and puppets to arrive at a new form of storytelling. Other works, like the animations of Nathalie Djurberg, the imaginary maps of Roberto Cuoghi, or the video travelogue of Erik van Lieshout, guide viewers to the edge of the earth, taking us for a walk in the fictional woods of our near future, while expressing a sincere preoccupation for the world as it is now.

The exhibition will include work by Allora and Calzadilla, Pawel Althamer, Micol Assaël, Fikret Atay, Roger Ballen, Huma Bhabha, Maurizio Cattelan, William Christenberry, Roberto Cuoghi, Bill Daniel, Berlinde De Bruyckere, Nathalie Djurberg, Reverend Howard Finster, Nancy Graves, Werner Herzog, Robert Kusmirowski, Zoe Leonard, Klara Liden, Erik van Lieshout, Diego Perrone, Thomas Schütte, Dana Schutz, Tino Sehgal, August Strindberg, Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, and Artur Zmijewski.

“After Nature” is made possible by the Leadership Council of the New Museum. Major support provided by David Teiger. Additional support provided by Kati Lovaas, Randy Slifka, and the Toby Devan Lewis Emerging Artists Exhibitions Fund.

ABOUT THE NEW MUSEUM
Founded in 1977, the New Museum is Manhattan’s only dedicated contemporary art museum and among the most respected internationally, with a curatorial program known for its global scope and adventurousness. With the inauguration of our new, state-of-the-art building on the Bowery, the New Museum is a leading destination for new art and new ideas.