DISTORTED REFLECTIONS OF PERFECTION

Has it ever happened to you?

You’re invited somewhere and when you get there the people who invited you are not ready. They still have to shower, peel the potatoes and put the roast in the oven.

This was the case at the inauguration of the new Jeff Koons exhibition at the David Zwirner Gallery. The invitation read 6pm. On the door it said 6.30pm. But the anxious crowd was kept waiting outside much longer than that. A truck pulled up and everybody had to clear the way. A huge crate was handled with care and wheeled into the gallery. A last minute addition to the collection? Eventually the dismantled crate was brought out in pieces and finally people were let in, welcomed by David Zwirner who opened the door himself!

The crowd rushed in, as in a first come first served event. Surely suspense had been building up. But once inside, there was like a general feeling of “That’s it?”.

Jeff Koons has introduced a blue glass ball as the common element throughout his new collection. The glass ball is a familiar feature that Koons remembers from the front yards of his younger days Pennsylvania. It’s a shiny and fascinating object that reflects its surroundings in a distorted way. It offers a different look on reality. And at the same time a glass ball speaks to the imagination.

The blue balls are combined with white plaster Greco-Roman sculptures. The matted surface of the white sculptures stands in blatant contrast with the dark blue shine of the glass balls.

The surprise effect is there. Our eyes are not used to see classical sculpture combined with anything else. Classical sculpture is complete and does not need anything added to it. In this way, the glass balls look like foreign objects, not belonging to the sculpture, as if they were bubbles that have collided accidentally with the figures.

In some cases the balls look extremely odd. In some cases the balls are added in a most unnatural and unbalanced way (against the principles of antique sculpture!). Sometimes, and again very oddly, this off-balance seems to work. But other times the ball just seems to dangle precariously from the sculpture and risks to become a disturbing element.

The artist even adds to the surprise by incorporating a few sculptures that have nothing to do with ancient gods or mythology : a birdbath, a series of mailboxes,…a snowman. Surprise? Confusion?

What is clear is the fact that Koons is the most successful American artist since Andy Warhol. And as a living art legend, he certainly works in strange ways this time.

Gazing Ball – Jeff Koons, David Zwirner Gallery, 525 West 19th street, NYC, through June 29, 2013

FAMOUS ON TIMES SQUARE

 

If you want your moment of fame, now is the time to get your face on the biggest billboard on earth, Times Square.

The project INSIDE OUT by French street artist and photographer JR gives everybody the opportunity to have his or her portrait taken in a photo booth on the spot. You can either choose to take your picture home with you and hang it over your bed, or paste it down to the square.

Where normally Times Square is the place of fast and ever-changing images of famous people and brands, this project is all about “the man in the street”.

The famous are high up and in flashy colors. The ordinary people are down on the street, in black and white, trampled by thousands of feet.

Yes, you get to be famous, in an anonymous way, that is. But it’s an ephemeral kind of fame because in the end your face fades away, your image gets worn out and eventually ripped apart.

There’s a chance however to be lifted up to the realm of the really famous. Every night, just before midnight, a selection of faces appears on the big electronic screens surrounding the square.

But here again, you will be a short-lived celebrity. At the stroke of midnight -remember what happened to Cinderella?- the spell is broken, your image disappears and you’re back to being one of the faceless crowd.

It surely is a fun project. Tourists are having a blast and get to take a picture of their picture on Times Square. And sitting down in a photo booth has always been a hilarious thing to do. There’s the hundreds of smiles and funny faces to show for it.

So if this collage of faces makes you think of some sort of memorial, or a wall of missing people, or wanted people, the happily dotted background is there to prove you’re wrong.

But, let’s “face” it: we all want to be famous. “We can be heroes just for one day”. So “strut down the streets and have your picture took”, glue your face “where the streets have no name”, get trampled (like any other day on Times Square)…and have some fun in the process.

 

 

mane dance off the main concourse

 

This week, thirty horses are taking over Grand Central Station.

Twice a day, they are coming to life to perform a choreography, captivating young and old.

The first part of HEARD NY is more like a parade, where the horses do their best to show off. The students of the Ailey School that have been selected to “embody” the horses, try to give each one of them a specific personality. Some do the perfect trot. Others only seem to want to wiggle their behind. The scene goes accompanied by a live harp.

And then, without warning, drums take over and lift the performance to a frantic up-beat tempo.

The horses “break up” and each dancer starts an African-like dance, synchronized, but individually.

Bizarre to see a horse shake off its rear part and become a two-legged creature. The rear of the horse, that suddenly starts to lead its own life, made me think of long-haired Cousin Itt of The Addams Family.

Nick Cave, the creator of this performance (not the musician-songwriter!), wanted to create a dreamlike vision that would stop the thousands of commuters in their rush to catch a train. It’s also supposed to be a pop-up performance that surprises by its content as well by its location. It’s true that a bunch of horses doing their routine in Grand Central is a most uncommon sight.

But the spectacle is limited to two confined areas in Vanderbilt Hall, was widely announced by the media (lucky for me!), and drew a big crowd. This way, unfortunately, the elements of “surprise” or “vision” don’t seem to come through. I would like to imagine a different scenario: I am walking through the main concourse of Grand Central, and all of a sudden I hear the rustle of raffia, I turn around and find myself eye to eye with this enigmatic creature,…

But do not hesitate! If you come anywhere near Grand Central, make sure to go and see these colorful horses. Even between performances they’re there, resting on a trestle, …yes, an easel.

 

Vanderbilt Hall Grand Central Station Daily performances at 11am and 2pm, till March 31

 

gutai and guggenheim

 

With great expectations I went to see the Gutai Exhibition at the Guggenheim. And a lot can go wrong when expectations are high.

Gutai was a Japanese avant-garde movement that was formed in 1954 and lasted till 1972. At the exhibition the term GUTAI is translated as CONCRETENESS, although some sources also speak of EMBODIMENT, and could refer to the way the body can be used as a tool.

The members of the Gutai group saw beauty in decay and had a predilection for raw materials. Very often they created with their feet or their entire body. Works were made by dancing or sliding on paint laden canvas. Or rolling and turning in a pool of mud.

In many cases, the action of art making was more important than the result itself. Some works at the exhibition go accompanied by the video. Later this art would be called Happenings, Performance, Installation and in a broader sense, Conceptual Art.

The central piece of the exhibition is WORK: WATER, by Motonaga Sadamasa. The installation of plastic tubes partially filled with colored water spans the entire rotunda of the Guggenheim. Undoubtedly the biggest eye-catcher of the exhibition, it’s maybe not the most representative piece of the Gutai movement.

As for my expectations, I can say that the Gutai exhibition is a must-see for any lover of abstract or Japanese modern art.

But here it comes: but!

I always seem to have a problem with the Guggenheim building. Let me get this straight: it’s a fascinating building. But I think that it’s not the ideal structure for showing art. The inclined spiral ramp always gives the impression that the canvases are crooked. And there is nothing more annoying than a square painting that’s not hanging straight!

The spectacular and monumental skylight allows, it must be said, some dramatic natural light to flow through the atrium. But it is never enough to duly illuminate the works that are presented on the walls along the spiral ramp. And the artificial lighting is not helping there neither!

The inside spiral and the intricate pattern of the skylight are strong architectural features that tend to avert one’s attention away from the art they embrace. At the same time, it’s these very features that allow the visitor to walk up and around the central work WATER, to view it from an infinite number of view points.

But don’t listen to me. Go and see for yourself.

 

GUTAI : A Splendid Playground - Guggenheim, NYC – through May 8

a remedy for visual overdose

 

After a week of art shows, New York is breaking up countless exhibitions.

I visited SCOPE on the last day. I expected a stampede. Especially when I noticed that I didn’t have to show my pass and that the fair was open to the general public free of charge.

When talking to some exhibitors, I learned that the big crowds had stayed away the whole week. Are things going slow in the art business? Even when it’s said that now is the time to invest in art, people are still reluctant to spend their money.

Maybe the biggest event, The Armory Show, attracted the biggest part of the people who braved the cold and snowy weather this past week. The Armory is The Armory. But treasures can also be found at lesser known fairs as SCOPE.

Although this fair is of a much smaller scale, walking through its aisles can be an exercise in how much you can take. Too often, that’s the problem with any kind of fair: it becomes overwhelming and soon enough one starts to show signs of visual overdose.

So I set myself a mission. Or rather two missions. At first.

One of the first images I saw on entering the hall at the former Post Office building, was a photograph of a fat, young and naked woman. Not her most flattering picture. I won’t question the artistic value, but I was afraid I was going to see yet another show where ugliness is sublimated in the name of art. I thought for a moment this could be my focus: how ugliness, freakiness, deformity, exaggeration and violence could be lifted to the level of artfulness. But all too soon I had enough of it. I just didn’t want to burn that kind of images on my retina.

So I had to shift my attention. Backing away from violent, flashy or screaming colours, I set off to look for the subdued palette. Something to rest the eye on, instead of being dazzled by competing bold paint values. Far away from the blow-up-in-your-face provocation of religiously or sexually explicit content. I just didn’t feel like it. Not at that moment.

The moment, surely. But of course personal taste has got to do with it too.

With two eyes and one camera, I began my stroll. Shutting out the rest of the world, I let my gaze wander from one booth to another, with that very mission in mind: to give my eyes the rest they wanted. And this is the result.

 

Featured artists : Sinead Breathnack-Cashell, Francesco Sena, Monica Serra, Jean-Sébastien Denis, Miyako Suzuki, Amy M. Ho, Norman Mooney, Etsuko Ichikawa, Wendy Wolf, Matt Mignanelli, SIT

MURKY TIMES

 

Give an artist a shovel and he might dig out a hole in your gallery floor. A couple of years back, Swiss artist Urs Fischer did it at the, then new, New Museum.This time around, American artist Doug Aitken dug deep at 303 Gallery in Chelsea.

From the moment you step in, there’s no way around it (but fortunately there is!). The visitor is irremediably drawn to the big gaping hole. That’s what holes are about: they’re always “in the middle” of something and claim all attention.

When approaching the rough edge of this indoor excavation, the curious eye is naturally expecting to discover the bottom. And maybe find something down there. But Doug Aitken is not giving anything away: the hole is filled with murky, milky water. Which turns the hole into a pool. The resemblance to mud pools in Yellowstone, for example, is obvious. Only here, the mud is not boiling.

The calm surface of the pool will eventually be disturbed, but not from within, not from below, not from the deepest of the earth. A first drop from above breaks the mirroring white surface into a simple, gentle ripple. And then another. And another. What at first seems to be impromptu pulse comes together in rhythmic sound, electronically amplified and echoed by the walls.

Saying that this pool of sound did not make me think of rain may sound strange. (Because it just did!) I would prefer to associate it with the dripping of stalactites. The sound of the echo and the calcium-like substance of the water appertain more to a cavernous environment. Which brings us back to our starting point: a hole in the ground.

The other pieces that are included in this exhibition appear to be of a completely different kind. Where the central pool could be described as indoor land art, these works are graphical and more than reminiscent of pop art. The materials (plexiglass, mirrors and neon) stand in blatant contrast with the natural feel of the pool. But the themes of nature, time and rhythm tie them all together. The corroded surface of SUNSET, the bubbling rusty water and the volcanic stones of ART, the shattered mirrors of MORE, the frequency of the neons in NOT ENOUGH “TIME” IN THE “DAY” and the obvious elapsed time in 100YRS. They’re all measures and manifestations of time.

When you plan a visit, make sure you go shortly after SUNRISE, so you have the place to yourself. Make ENOUGH TIME to enjoy the ART and walk around the pool MORE than once. In a 100YRS it will all be gone.

 

Doug Aitken

303 Gallery

Chelsea, New York City

till March 23

 

5POINTZ : confined expression?

Normally, to see the guys do what they do so well, you’d have to stay up late and go wandering the streets. And even then, the chance that you would catch them “in flagrante delicto” is small, their actions being as furtive as the very creatures of the night.

Graffiti is still an illegal activity in New York, so the art pops up overnight on a given street corner.

The reason why “wild spray painting” is illegal, can sometimes be very obvious. Who wants  to wake up to find his freshly painted garage clad in streaks of electrifying spray paint? If the NY subway looks better with or without the graffiti, is food for discussion.

But I think everybody must at least have been wowed once when coming across a vast piece of graffiti.

45-46 Davis Street in Long Island City, Queens is the mecca for graffiti artists. Here, aerosol artists, as they prefer to call themselves, don’t have to be constantly on the look out for police cars patrolling the neighborhood. Here, they don’t have to trespass old decrepit warehouses and risk stepping on rusty nails. And here, they can do their thing in broad daylight. It also gives us, the onlookers, the chance to see them at work, without having to go out there in the wee hours with a torch.

This block, called 5Pointz, is a meeting place for aerosol artists from the five boroughs of New York City.

Since 2002, Jonathan Cohen, alias Meres One, has been running and organizing the 5Pointz Aerosol Art Center, Inc.

Artists have to apply and get permission to work on a wall. And all this under the watchful eye of the owner of the warehouse, Jerry Wolkoff. At no charge. An accident inside the building in 2002 has led to its closure. The place is old and not in good shape. For some time now, it is said that the warehouse is to make place for new developments. The latest rumor says this would happen this summer!

Organizers and artists are raising their voice to preserve this shrine for underground art. It’s a very special and unique place indeed. Well informed people (like you), come from far to see for themselves. But is that enough to keep the bulldozers from pulling up one day and tear the place down? Money rules the world, and I guess 5Pointz is not to become the exception.

Basquiat started out painting on walls and doors, till one day someone gave him old doors from demolished houses and canvases to paint on. Now he hangs in the world’s most prestigious museums. That’s the undeniable proof graffiti is rightfully accepted in the realm of art forms.

That graffiti has made it to galleries and our living rooms, is a great thing. But we must never forget where it comes from: the streets…with that wonderful and exciting illegal edge.

SMOKING KIDS

 

Make a portrait of a young and adorable child. Most probably, the picture will be adorable. Make a portrait of the same child smoking a cigarette. The result will be less adorable.

To some it may seem absurd: a child doing what normally is done by adults. To others it will be offensive, unacceptable and shocking: a child should not be allowed to smoke.

Although the series of photographs by Belgian artist Frieke Janssens was inspired by a real Indonesian kid smoking, “Smoking Kids” is not really about kids smoking.

Whimsical and volatile as smoke itself, the smoking culture in western society is undergoing constant change. Until recently, smoking has always been widely and socially accepted. There were times when actors and actresses had a cigarette in their hand all the time. Like in American Indian cultures, where a pipe is passed around and brings a sense of community, smoking is like a ritual, a form of communing. In spite of the ban on smoking in bars and restaurants, this ritual, although shifted to porches and sidewalks, still survives. It remains a way of making contact.

The kids in Janssens’ images look like little adults, just because of the act of smoking. But also because they have been depicted as famous people of long ago. Also the format refers to old school medallion style portraiture. Without placing them in a too specific era, it is clear that the photographs refer to a time gone by. A time when smoking was the norm, and where kids doing so would only have been laughed at, and not scolded or punished.

By showing the act of smoking in an unconventional way, the artist is only trying to draw the attention to the meaning of smoking, then and now. Kids love to imitate adults and do what is forbidden. For adults, in present society, very often, lighting a cigarette becomes like a rebellious act, defying the socially accepted norm. For decades smoking was a way to belong to the mainstream. Now smoking is seen by many as underdog behavior.

 

For anyone who’s worried about the children’s health during the making of these photographs: the kids have never been exposed to cigarettes nor cigarette smoke.

 

SMOKING KIDS by Frieke Janssens

VII GALLERY, 28 Jay Street, DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY 11201

 

 

FOLLIES AT BERGDORF GOODMAN

 

 

Every year, when this season is approaching, New York is anxiously awaiting the reveal of Bergdorf Goodman’s holiday theme.

Described as the most luxurious department store in New York, Bergdorf Goodman spares means nor effort to magically transform its windows into the most exuberant festive display.

A far cry from the traditional end of year decorations, Bergdorf Goodman brings dreams in a completely different way.

Like Christmas itself, the shop windows of BG have become a tradition in their own right. And they know how to tease, and please.

Expectation starts building up when all of a sudden somewhere in November white sheets are covering the windows. Nobody is allowed a sneak preview, but it’s clear that behind the scenes frenetic activity is taking place.

The morning the “curtain” is raised, crowds are already flocking on the corner of 5th Avenue and 58th Street.

This year Bergdorf Goodman ‘s theme is FOLLIES OF 2012, a tribute to the multiple Award winning Broadway show. No place for carols or silent nights here. The windows burst with glamour and abundance. The sidewalk on Fifth is always packed with people blocking thoroughfare. Everybody wants to see the show. Everybody wants to dream.

THE TENT OF TOMORROW

 

- a creepy reminder of yesterday’s attraction -

 

Walking around the Tent of Tomorrow you would never think that this structure once embodied a stubborn optimism in the future.

Although it looks like a futuristic construction, it’s clear it has had better days. Could it be the set for a science fiction movie where Mr Spock and Scotty have been beamed to an unknown planet where the humanlike inhabitants have been wiped out by some toxic meteor gas, leaving behind the remnants of a highly advanced civilization?

It’s not a far off future. It’s pure twentieth century.

The Tent of Tomorrow was built for the 1964 World Fair in Queens, New York City, better known today for its US Open tennis courts. I am sure that most of the Serena and Venus fans – I’m talking stars here, not planets – don’t know what this strange building is. I didn’t know. The policeman I asked didn’t have a clue neither.

The mere existence of the World Fair was questioned by other nations and it’s not clear if its organization was rightfully granted to New York. But New York was the leading force back in those days and had quite a dime to spare.

In spite of this fact, the two year fair was not a success and got entangled in economic brawls and organizational complications already before the opening.

Fairs and their tales speak to the imagination, and the Tent of Tomorrow was one of the biggest attractions. Also known as the New York State Pavilion, it was a showcase of what technology of the sixties was capable of. The exhibitions and shows transported the visitors into the future.

Designed by Philip Johnson (see previous post THE GLASS HOUSE), the main rotunda was covered with thousands of colorful translucent fiberglass panels. Elevators took the fairgoers up to the towers and offered a stunning view of the complete grounds.

Those days are gone.

The nearby Unisphere fountain, another of the few World Fair survivors, has been completely restored. The Tent of Tomorrow though, in spite of its national landmark status, finds itself in a horrible and harrowing state of decay. Since the seventies crisis it has been abandoned. Where nature and the elements have not yet taken over, vandals have destroyed everything within reach.

And still, the Tent of Tomorrow keeps speaking to the imagination, even today. The hordes have long gone, but the park hasn’t lost its attraction. A little browsing on the internet will get you to testimonies of anonymous daredevils who, like thieves in the night, cut their way through the chained up fences. Their stories are creepy and filled with night creatures. They tell how they use ropes and hooks to climb to the holes in the base of the towers. How their hands burn on the rope, how ankles get sprained. On what is left of the rusty and precarious staircases, they crawl all the way up to the top. The light and noise of the bustling fair are gone. But from up here, during these long winter nights, you can see Manhattan, like a long and glowing snake, in the distance.