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Kunié Sugiura at Leslie Tonkonow

13 Feb

The collaged canvases incorporating photography and blocks of solid coloured paint by Kunié Sigiura’s work on view at Leslie Tonkonow really speaks to Greenberg-Benjamin discourse of what is painting and art in the age of mechanical reproduction.  I especially appreciated the preliminary sketches and colour blocks works presented alongside the final paintings, as true insight into the labourous explorative techniques of these works created in the 1970s .

Visually, it reminded me of one Ian Wallace’s works, http://artjetset.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/ianwallaceatyvonlambert23.jpg

Explosive Landscape Photography at Paula Cooper

12 Feb

Michael Sailstorfer rocket launched tree, and the breathtaking installation of waves breaking on the shore by Paul Pfeiffer.  A tranquil aesthetic show at Paula Cooper.

Michael Snow at Jack Shainman

8 Jan

It was an absolute pleasure to have met Michael Snow at the opening of his new show In the Way at Jack Shainman Gallery.

Snow is one of Canada’s greatest contemporary artist, whose ground breaking experimental films revolutionized new media and recontextualized experiencing and ways of seeing and looking.

 His new video installation remphasizes what Snow does best, creating an environment where the viewer is physically engaged in active looking.

The other video work, In the Way, was shot while filming a fleeting road below while driving.  The simultaneous conflicting sensation of standing while on the floor is projected and extraordinatry speed of movement is vertigo inducing and yet amazing.

I will never forget the first time I saw Michael Snow’s So Is This in a theatre setting.  So Is This will stand forever as one art piece that changed and influenced my life parcourse.  Here is a little youtube preview but this work really needs to be seen in a theatre setting.

Rodney Graham Phonokinetoscope at Matthew Marks

5 Aug

I first saw this video in 2003 at The PowerPlant along side a massive exhibition on Liam Gillick.  Now seeing and hearing this piece in a small draped corner at the back of the Matthew Marks gallery concretized the interplay between the film projector and the scratchy vinyl in a more engaging and profound way.

Rodney Graham’s The Phonokinetoscope is a vinyl record which once engaged launches the 5 minute film loop – a phonokinetoscope.

The film is of Graham riding his bike through Berlin’s Tiergarten high on LSD.  The vivid saturated colour of the film enhance the dreamy quality of Graham’s trip and journey through the lush gardens populated by tulips and playing cards.

Rude and Reckless: Punk/Post Punk Graphics at Steven Kasher

21 Jul

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This exhibition of punk posters from the 70s and 80s created by the most infamous and reknown graphic artists of the day, such as Peter Saville, Malcolm Garrett, Barney Bubbles, Gee Vaucher, Linder Sterling, Keith Haring, Robert Williams, and, Jamie Reid.

Christian Marclay’s The Clock

10 May

From January 21 – February 20 The Paula Cooper Gallery presented Christian Marclay’s The Clock,  24 hour video installation that garnered much acclaim during the run.

Some waited up to 3 hours in the bitter New York winter to view the piece, which is heralded as a compelling transfixing work, where Marclay edits together thousands of clips of watches and clocks from popular film.  The excerpts are supposed to illiterate the spanning of time and the importance of passage of time in cinematic narrative.  The 24 hour piece is ironically synced to the local time of the exhibition space.

Good news for those who did not get to see the showing, The Clock has been recently acquired by the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, and The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

CRG Wishing and Praying

14 Apr

CRG presented Wishing and Praying as their curated show during ADAA fair in New York, and now at their main gallery space in Chelsea.  This thoughtful and contemplative show exemplifies contemporary look at religious iconography in a variety of media.  Beautiful.

Click HERE to see the post on ADAA

Marc Séguin New Works at Mike Weiss Gallery

24 Mar

Marc Séguin is an ArtJetSet favorite, whose career we have watch since 2008.  His masterful grisaille technique combined with layering of think pigments and taxidermied animals is visually beautiful while emotionally challenging.

For Séguin’s first solo show at the Mike Weiss Gallery titled Failures, he exhibited portraits of political figures and destroyed chruches. We have seen his earlier large scale works that depicted political and religious figures (click HERE and HERE to see the other ArtJetSet posts), and now we see his portraiture scaling down in size which emphasizes the theme of failure of these iconic figures.

By contrasting personalities like Lee Harvey Oswald, the Pope, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, and Nazi soliders, the message is a persistent narrative of the failures in the hands of the powerful.

Trey Speegle at Benrimon Contemporary

11 Feb

Its Not About You is a clever pop show, which integrates paint-by-numbers sets, vintage icongraphy, and montage of frames and images with text to create a humorous narative.

The side gallery at Benrimon Contemporary hosts RePop, a popup store where buttons, prints, multiples like carved soap and catalogues can be purchased.

Alejandra Almanza Pereda at Magnan Metz Gallery

28 Sep


An amazing show with a poetic title, The Heaviest Luggage for the Traveler is the Empty One, at Magnan Metz Gallery, Pereda uses large scale sculpture set against a stunning black and white wall papered forest.

Contrasting light and dark, strong and fragile, massive cinder block sculpture mirrored by ghostly pencil on paper drawings of cinder blocks – leave the viewer questioning the ideas of what we occupy and the limits of weight and space consumed around us.

Pace, 50 Years of Pace

27 Sep

Celebrating their 50th anniversary, Pace Gallery presents a multi-venue retrospective highlighting some key pieces that have passed through their doors.

Thematically divided by Pop art, Abstract Expressionism, Minimalist, Post Moderns and contemporary, this blockbuster show exemplifies the power house artists and the major collections that have acquired the works.

My favorites include Chuck Close portrait of Zhang Huan, Kiki Smith sculpture, Michal Rovner, amazing Clifford Still, Zhang Huan airplanes.

Pipilotti Rist at Luhring Augustine Gallery

24 Sep


Heroes Of Birth, at Luhring Augustine presents new works by Swiss installation artist Pipilotti Rist layers light sound and video into a naive childhood memory dividing the corporal and the spiritual bodies.

Sarah Sze at Tanya Bondakar

23 Sep

Sarah Sze uses bottles, cartons, found objects, and constructed objects that resemble everyday objects to build an intricately ornate installation at Tanya Bondakar Gallery.

The Uncountables (Encyclopedia) is a structural labyrinth. Sze obscures the familiar by wrapping milk cartons, and whitewashing bottles. She effectively blurs the cognizance of our relationship with details of the everyday things that surround us.

I really loved the abstract film created by the flickers of light reflecting off a styrofoam plate filled with water, and the pill and vitamin dispensers come plant pots.

Jennifer Steinkamp at Lehmann Maupin

22 Sep

Jennifer Steinkamp recreates nature using 3-dimension animation in her wall projections.

This projection was stunning and captivating. Staring up from under a massive tree, Steinkamp skillfully recreates the passage of time through the seasons. With blooming leaves and bursts of colourful flowers — then petals rain down on the viewer as summer moves to autumn, until there are only bare tangeled branches stretched out towards you. The seamless snaking arms of the tree loop back into each other and then back to spring and summer.
http://www.youtube.com/get_player

Zilvinas Kempinas Ballroom at Yvonn Lambert

21 Sep

Lithuanian installation artist Zilvinas Kempinas uses magnetic tape film, fans, reflective panes of mylar to create this cool and visually striking space. Red and Blue coloured lightbulbs hanging by their wires circle and spin around in localized confinement while noisey fans push the bulbs and the loops of magnetic tape. The experience is an overwhelming sensation of chaotic and static at the same time.

Marc Newson at Gagosian

20 Sep


A brilliant showcase of Australian designer Marc Newson’s reinterpreted designs for different modes of transportation. Newson’s fluid aesthetics of design and the buoyant functionality of the machines stirs a desire for a James Bond-esque Mediterranean vacation.

Dan Colen at Gagosian

2 Sep

Dan Colen is quoted as saying that this current show at Gagosian is about “failure and potential, accident and intention, most minute and most infinite.”
Colen creates a transitionary space using an inverted skateboard half-pipe, and installation of knocked over customized Harley Davidson motorcycles, and massive canvases with abstract patterns painted with chewing gum. A self-reflective self-indulgent show.

Other Spaces at the Lieu Center 548

29 Jul

The Dia:Chelsea come X-Initiative Space in its newest incarnation as the Lieu Center 548.

Other Spaces, curated by Jayne Dorst, is a poignant show based on Michel Foucault’s theories on the psycho-spatial experience. The concept works will with this space, since the Lieu is as well a transient space where information is shared, ideas are created and transformed by those who pass though it.

Enjoyed Palma Blank’s optical abstract paintings, Sam Falls’ photos. The video piece by Left Coast ( the collaborative formed by Sarah Kuhn, Lane LaColla, and David Shull) silohetted woman doing yoga in the Lieu’s frieght elevator.

The Evryali Score at David Zwirner

29 Jun

The Evryali Score on view at David Zwirner is curated by Olivia Shao, who also curated The Baghdad Batteries Rotating Gallery show at PS.1.

Evryali Score is a dialogue responding to the works in the Baghdad Batteries, the press release a (love) letter to Klaus Biesenbach from David Zwirner, requesting the collaboration to reinstall Baghdad Batteries and then use the second gallery space as a point of departure to continue the dialogue.

ArtJetSet favorites Nick Mauss (wall mural), Robert Breer (moving rug sculpture), John Knight,

Laurie Parsons (sink sculpture) Gordon Matta Clark, Joe Jones Jazz Machine, Mary Ellen Carol Alas, Poor Yorkick

Mike Weiss The Reflexive Self

28 Jun

The current exhibition, The Reflexive Self at Mike Weiss Gallery features two of my favorite Canadian artists.


Marc Séguin uses human ashes to create dark ephemeral portraits.

Kim Dorland’s bright vivid forests of thickly layered painted canvases.
The show as a whole is a bit incongruent, bringing together young artists working in a variety of media and themes.

The Mass Ornament at Barbara Gladstone

23 Jun

Curated by John Rasmussen, The Mass Ornament comes from a collection of essays by German writter Siegfried Kracauer, which discuss topics of arcades, film, photography and boredom.

Anna Gaskell at Yvon Lambert

16 May

Known for her eerie saturated colour portraits of Alice in Wonderland styled young girls, Anna Gaskell’s new show at Yvon Lambert show a strong maturation in a new direction.

Monochrome photos of boys in winter landscape, with their heads and faces cropped or obscured, clothed in oversized suits creating a tense narrative of religious ritual and disaffection.

TwentyFive at Luhring Augustine

12 May

Luhring Augustine celebrates their 25th anniversary with an amazing show titled TWENTY FIVE.

This group exhibition celebrates their history with a stellar show including works by: Nobuyoshi Araki, Larry Clark, George Condo, William Daniels, Günther Förg, Zarina Hashmi, Johannes Kahrs, Jon Kessler, Martin Kippenberger, Ragnar Kjartansson, Luisa Lambri, Glenn Ligon, Paul McCarthy, Yasumasa Morimura, Daido Moriyama, Reinhard Mucha, David Musgrave, Cady Noland, Ed Paschke, Jack Pierson, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Stephen Prina, Josh Smith, Joel Sternfeld, Tunga, Guido van der Werve, Rachel Whiteread, Christopher Williams, Steve Wolfe, and Christopher Wool.

TWENTY FIVE is a look into Luhring Augustine’s past and present, with important works from significant exhibitions at the gallery as well as new ones.

Loved Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller work Feedback, viewer must step down on the pedal which triggers Jimmy Hendrix’s Star Spangled Banner , Albert Oehlen,


Janine Antoni, Pipilotti Rist, Gregory Crewdson,

David Salle at Mary Boone

11 May

Mary Boone Gallery is showing Some Pictures from the 80′s, a collection of works by David Salle.
The 80′s was the height of Salle’s signature style, the works in this show embody and amazing collection of Salle’s best works.

Heather Rowe talks about Trouble Everyday at D’Amelio Terras

10 May

One of the many New York Gallery Week events was artist Heather Rowe in conversation with Jacob Proctor, Associate Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art at the University of Michigan Museum of Art at D’Amelio Terras Gallery.


Rowe inverts the construction of the interior space using materials in house construction like drywall, carpet sponge, laminate, and ornamental cornices.

Rowe spoke about the structures calling to scaffolding, and the mirrors creating a disjuncture between the visual perception of the piece and how one moves through and around it.

James Welling at Zwirner

23 Apr

James Welling’s Glass House is an exhibition exploring the iconic Glass House built in 1949 by Philip Johnson. Welling uses a variety of coloured filters between the lens and the subject to create this intensely saturated effect.

Janet Cardiff at Luhring Augustine

14 Apr

 

Luhring Augustine present the 3rd solo show by Canadian duo Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller create immersive multimedia works, combining film sound space and quintessential element of sound. The result is a multisensory immersion into a complex and monotone narrative decorated by a whirlwind of lights and layers.
Telephones hooked up to iPods with titles like We’re in some strange country, Wallet, I can’t remember (World turning), I was a blond man.

The Carnie is a carousel that cranks up in speed as the thundering music fills the dark space. The soundtrack of carnival music played backwards is amped through various speakers at several points on the sculpture creating an encompassing resonance of sound.

View a brief clip of the carousel in motion above, note the intensity and bravado of the sound.

Stefan Bruggemann Headlines & Last Line in the Movies at Yvon Lambert

2 Mar

ArtJetSet has been a long time fan of Yvon Lambert, after the many Parisian afternoons spent in his gallery.
Current show running in tandem with Joan Jonas Reading Dante III, is Stefan Bruggemann installation which covers the walls with mirrored panels. On the mirrors the artist has painted final dialogue of dramatic films. The text is brief, sharp, poignant and affectionate.

Mike Nelson’s Quiver of Arrows

1 Mar

The current installation at 303 Gallery is Mike Nelson’s Quiver of Arrows.
Nelson conjoined four vintage mobile home trailers forming a dilapidated vacantly inhabited space.

Walking through the interconnected spaces feels part somewhere between the Black Acid Co-Op at Deitch Project, is a collaborative project by Justin Lowe and Jonah Freeman and a vacant refugee housing of the future’s past. The title is gorgeously poetic.

Shaq Curates Size Matters at Flag Foundation

26 Feb

A blockbuster show filled with bluechip artists like Don Bruown, Maurizio Cattelan, Chuck Close, Andreas Gusky, Brian Jungen, Anselm Kiefer, Jeff Koons, Inez van Lamsweerde, Ron Mueck, Cindy Sherman, Kehinde Wiley, Lisa Yuskavage, amongst others, Size Does Matters is a BIG show.

Taking celebrity endorsements to a whole new playing field, Flag Art foundation has contracted basketball legend-come-rapper-actor-baseball player and now Curator in a show that negotiates size and scale.

James Frey, the other heavy weight name, known for the massive success of this book A Million Little Pieces as well as being part owner of The Half Gallery, wrote the comprehensive catalogue for Size Does Matters.

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