Installation shot

Eero Saarinen had architecture in his blood. He collaborated with his father, a famous architect in his own right, in the 1930s and 1940s and that helped Eero develop a name for himself. Not only was he one of the most celebrated architects of his time but he had his share of controversy as well. Rising to prominence after WWII he is most famous for the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the TWA terminal at JFK in New York. Most of the work he created was for the Midwest, but he did have some major projects in NY such as a pavilion he designed for the 1939/40 New York World’s Fair, CBS’s corporate headquarters in midtown, a theater in Lincoln Center, and furniture that he designed which was included in a competition at MoMA. Through various periodicals such as Vogue and The New York Times, he attained celebrity status. He died at age 51 in 1961 but left behind a tremendous body of work that “represented the ascendance of American culture and optimism after WWII.”

model of CBS building, midtown Manhattn

He was a world traveler studying sculpture in Paris at 19 and traveling to Europe, Egypt, and Mexico to study the great monuments of architectural history. He earned his BFA fro Yale in three short years and served in the military during World War II. From 1960-65 he worked on the CBS building, the first reinforced-concrete skyscraper in NY at that time. One of his most famous ideas was that of a “corporate campus.” The idea that a business could be set up much like a country estate or a college campus helped with his belief that an architect had an ability to create a company’s image–help develop their branding. One example of one of these “compounds” can be found in Warren, Michigan at the General Motors Technical Center built from 1948-1956. Another was the Time, Inc. office designed for Rye, NY but never built. It was essentially a skyscraper laid on its side and spread out into the surrounding environs.

chairs designed by Eero Saarinen

An example of the breadth of scope of buildings he worked on was the design of the Cow Island School in Winnetka, Illinois. The school, based on the ideas of the educational philosopher John Dewey, had 12 classrooms, each functioning as its own independent one-room schoolhouse. In his teens Saarinen designed furniture for Cranbrook Academy, but it was not until 1940 when he and Charles Eames won prizes in MoMA’s competition for home furnishings design that his work became known. His “womb chair” is an icon of postwar design as is the “pedestal series” he created with Knoll in 1954. His Bloomfield Hills office was abuzz with activity 24/7 and there is a great deal to show for all of his efforts.

Unfortunately this show has ended, however, I do encourage you to go the often-neglected but never disappointing Museum of the City of New York. It’s on Fifth Avenue at 105th (not that far away).

Pablo Picasso, The Actor, 1904-5

On Friday a visitor to the Metropolitan Museum of Art fell and accidentally tore a six inch gash in the 1904-5 Picasso painting “The Actor.” To read more go to:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/arts/design/26picasso.html?th&emc=th

So after a brief hiatus (sorry I have been lacking on posts recently), I managed to get out gallery hopping on Saturday and wanted to share some highlights.

Alan Turner, Box House, 2006, Graphite and tape on paper, 23 1/2 x 18 inches

Danese currently has a wonderful show up until February 6th of works on paper by some artists in their stable as well as big names like Richard Serra and John Chamberlain. I have included an image of a small work by Alan Turner that I loved. Other works of notice were a charcoal by April Gornik, a delicate ink on paper abstraction by Theresa Chong, and a work on velum by Emily Eveleth. Some real treasures in this lovely show.

Steven Parrino, Glamracket

Another group show worth checking out is “Stripped, Tied and Raw” curated by Serra Pradhan at Marianne Boesky Gallery. On view through February 13th are works by Donald Moffett, Steven Parrino, Salvatore Scarpitta, David Noonan, and Jorge Eielson. As the press release explains, these are artists who have been “pushing the definition of painting” since the 1950s and the work on view is varied and impressive.

Doug Wheeler, Untitled, 1969, Acrylic, neon tubing, and wood

“Primary Atmospheres: Works from California 1960-1970″ can be seen at David Zwirner until Feb 6th. The focus of this show is on minimal work with an emphasis on color and light by a group of Southern California artists including: Larry Bell, Robert Irwin, John McCracken, James Turrell, and others. Doug Wheeler’s “Untitled” work from 1969 is spectacular. Made of acrylic, neon tubing and wood, at 91 x 91 inches, the work draws you in to investigate the halo-like, pristine, white light emanating from the square affixed to the wall.

James Turrell, Juke Green, 1968, Light projection

The two James Turell works appear at first to be sculptural forms made of light but are in fact, a convincing optical illusion of colored light cast into the corner of a room. Peter Alexander’s “Blue Wedge” from 1970 made of cast polyester resin is a freestanding triangular piece whose blue hue gets more intense the thicker the resin gets. There is a beautiful subtleness and delicateness to this work.

Installation view

Thomas Erben Gallery has a group show as well highlighting “New Art from Pakistan” that raises questions about the creation of art in areas of sociopolitical unrest.

Beatriz Milhazes tapestry

James Cohan Gallery’s “Demons, Yarns, and Tails” showcases beautifully crafted tapestries by 13 artists. Working in a medium unfamiliar to these artists provided a challenge but many of the works on view are quite stunning. Beatriz Milhazes, Kara Walker, Fred Tomaselli, and Paul Noble all have work that translates particularly to this medium.

Richard Misrach, Untitled, 60 x 80

Pace on 25th Street has photos by Richard Misrach on view. These large-scale nature scenes are at once disconcerting in that they are created using digital photography in “reverse color spectrum” —seas become pink and mountains appear as icebergs creating an “almost hallucinatory alternate reality.” The viewer recognizes that these are photos of the natural world, but can’t quite figure out what exactly they are looking at. The works are ethereal, gorgeous and haunting.

Jon Pylpchuk, Installation shot, Friedrich Petzel Gallery

On view through January 30th is a whimsical show at Friedrick Petzel with works by Los Angeles artist Jon Pylypchuk. The installation, entitled “The War,” pits sculptures on walls opposite one another. The sculptures, made of found objects including resin, foam, and steel, resemble tribal masks but with the illumination in each, there is a “fun” quality to the work. They made me smile and are worth checking out.

Rulai, 2008-9, ash, steel, and wood, 18' x 14' x 10', courtesy of Pace Wildenstein Gallery

“Neither Coming Nor Going,”  Zhang Huan’s second solo show at Pace Gallery is on view through January 30th. It features the monumental buddha sculpture, “Rulai,” made of ash as well as some beautiful large-scale works on paper.

Detail of Rulai

Walking closely around the Buddha, the viewer is able to make out small porcelain figures as well as bright red envelopes and papers which contrast with the stark gray hue of the ash. As the press release states, “Burning incense pours out from the Buddha’s head, activating a traditionally static art form with performative aspects, one of the artist’s hallmarks.”

Ink and feathers on handmade paper

In the works on paper series from 2006-8, Huan creates animals and landscapes in his reference to a 17th century Chinese painter as well as a seventh-century Tang Dynasty book called Tui Bei Tu which looked into China’s future through a series of sixty specific events. The works are roughly 12 x 8 feet therefore engrossing the viewer with their size but their beauty and simplicity are also paramount.

Installation shot, Roni Horn show at Whitney

This show ended on January 24th but I encourage you to definitely become familiar with her work as it is amazing. Born in 1955 Horn has created work of  “concentrated visual power and intellectual vigor” in a variety of media–sculpture, drawing, photography, installation and books. Once you see the show you begin to realize how Horn cannot be placed into one particular category as a result of the diversity and range of her work. She investigates relationships, identity, memory, location, etc. Coming into her own in the 1970s, she moved past the bases of conceptualism and Minimalism and made something of her own. She most often paris seemingly identical subjects causing the viewer to look more carefully and methodically at each member of the pair. This exhibition is not organized thematically or chronologically but was laid out in order to create a unique dialogue between the pieces. Her work “offers ample rewards to those willing to take the time to become a part of it.” She asks us to slow down and take time to really look. She believes that “it is the viewer’s experience that creates the ultimate meaning of the work.”

This is Me, This is You, 1998-2000, detail

As one steps off the elevator on the fourth floor, one is greeted by 48 photographs of an adolescent (Horn’s niece) at various stages of her life. Though her expression, hair, clothes, etc. change, one constant is her stunning ice blue eyes. Her affect is also remarkable similar in many of the photos. The shots are all very different but all very much the same–the same child, the same personality. The same shots greet the viewer on the second floor in exactly the same order, but the image which appears identical is actually taken seconds apart. One’s memory is required to compare the works on the two floors.

Walking in to the first gallery one is immediately sucked into a work called Pink Tons from 2008. The huge solid pink cast glass work is wonderful. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it and wanted to experience it from every angle, even asking the security guard to move. The frosted sides hinder the view therefore one must look down from the top. The infinite depth of the reflective cast glass “functions as a portrait of the viewer.” It was like looking into an ice cube, clear with visible cracks. Each viewpoint provides a new angle with hidden treasures, a line here, a fissure there.

You Are the Weather, detail

In You Are the Weather in the next room 36 prints in both black and white and color greet the visitor. The photographs are of the same female subject over and over. with slight changes, alterations, and adjustments that are almost imperceiveable such as a slight parting of the lips, a squinting of the eyes.

Asphere X, 1998/200, solid forged stainless steel

Asphere, detail

Asphere X is a solid forged stainless steel object that rests in the middle of the floor of the gallery. It is not quite a perfect sphere but has rounded edges so again, the viewer knows that something is off and that he/she must investigate further and take more time with the work.

a.k.a., 2008-9, 30 photos

a.k.a.

The following gallery has self-portraits placed in pairs around the space. Most often one is a photo of Horn from childhood juxtaposed with a shot of her as an adult. It is clear from this work that this was an expression of her identity as a gay woman since many of the photos of her as a young girl include typical girl stereotypes, frilly dresses, pigtails, etc. The shots of her as a woman show her with short hair and often “butch” clothing.

Still Water, 1999, 15 lithographs on paper

Still Water (The River Thames, For Example) includes 15 lithographs on paper of various images of water. At the bottom is text which appears to be a stream of consciousness ranging from ideas about the Hitchcock movie “Psycho” to the question, “Is water sexy?” Her rambling thoughts mimic those that one might have when getting lost in looking out at a body of water for a period of time.

A large gallery on the fourth floor has huge works on paper on display. Powdered pigment is used by Horn to create patterns by cutting and re-placing  sections of the color creating new compositions. Each work has only one color–green, red, blue. The works can include what appear to be random numbers or word associations written in pencil (e.g. wool,drool, pool), part of the working process of Horn which is not hidden but on display for the viewer.

As IX, 1987-88, ink on paper

Damien Hirst, detail from Judgment Day, 2009, Gold plated, glass, manufactured diamonds

“End of an Era” is a show of works by Damien Hirst at Gagosian Gallery on Madison Avenue (on view through March 6th); it highlights recent paintings of jewels done by Hirst as well as a “blinged out” gold-plated shelf lined with fake diamonds entitled Judgment Day (a la his Pharmacy series in which did the same thing with pills). In the center of the main gallery is a severed cow’s head with gold horns and a golden disc. A smaller gallery has four works from “The Golden Jubilee” series on view with gems in four colors (white, green, red, and blue). In some ways these look like works you could get at a bad art fair, yet there is also something pretty about them. The surface that the gems rest on remind me a bit of Ben Weiner’s hair gel and pearl works (no offense Ben, your surfaces are much richer and sumptuous). That surface is what interests me about these works. However, I prefer the simpler paintings of multi-faceted diamonds against a stark black background on view in the main gallery to “The Golden Jubilee” works.

De Beers, 2007, oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches

In fact, The Centenary and De Beers are actually quite beautiful. It is interesting that Hirst picks diamonds, a universal symbol of wealth and excess, to showcase at a time when the world, and America in particualr is still reeling from economic turmoil.

Damien Hirst, End of an Era, 2009, Bull’s head, gold, glass and formaldehyde solution with a Carrara marble plinth

End of an Era is the piece de resistance in the center of the room. With its gold horns and circular disc upon its head the work is decadent. If you walk around the work, however, you can see the innards of the cow’s head. The fur is so soft looking you wan tto reach out and touch it. Looking closely, the cow’s tongue sticks out of the side of its mouth almost in jest as if to make fun of art and the people who buy into the fame, glitz, and glamor so often associated with it.

Don’t neglect to head down to the fifth floor to see a bright blue and glossy red triangular butterfly works by Hirst; a Lichtenstein frieze painting; a Richard Prince car hood and a Walter de Maria work from the “Large Rod Series” of 1986.

Wolfgang Tillmans at Andrea Rosen Gallery is on view through March 13th. This is a terrific show that captures basic moments of human existence and everyday objects as subject matter, but somehow Tillmans manages to transform the banal into the magnificent. As the press release states pictures are all around us but we are so inundated with imagery that we do not often take the time to really look at anything. “Art suggests that when we do that we deny ourselves both knowledge and pleasure.” So true. And it is this careful looking that Tillmans wants to renew in us. There is an immediacy to the works due to the fact that they are printed in three different sizes, unframed– hung on binder clips all over the gallery walls. Unlike Hirst, Tillmans is not showing a glamorous world but a world of truth that some of us never bother to see, to stop and notice. The art critic Jerry Saltz was there when I went to see the show. It will be interesting to hear his take on the work.

CLC1100, 2007, c-print

Yunxiu Nunnery, 2009, c-print

Met Blue, 2010, inkjet print mounted on aluminum, 30 x 30 inches

A small show of photographs by Joe Pflieger at Monya Rowe Gallery is a treasure. I continue to be impressed by the works shown here; they have consistently solid shows. The jpegs do not do the works justice at all; they must be seen in person in my opinion.

Philly Grid, 2010, 18 x 27 inches

The photos are of rooms of historically accurate reconstructions of interiors taken in museums in St. Petersburg, New York, Venice, etc. and are very reasonably priced.

Philly Candle, 2010, 18 x 27 inches

Each photo, taken digitally but not at all altered, has a matte surface which gives the work a painterly quality. As the press release explains, he references the period of Romanticism in his work. “The composition and dark hues suggest a quiet, reflective and mysterious tone.” He utilizes light, mirrors, windows and doors to create his effects.

Leonardo Drew, Number 127, wood and mixed media

Leonardo Drew at Sikkema Jenkins was an exhibition I had not heard any hype about. So, as I was making my way through Chelsea on a frigid Saturday afternoon, I was pleased to step into his world. I was familiar with his smaller works most often encased in acrylic boxes that I have seen at art fairs over the years, but this show is filled with enormous works spanning the length and height of the gallery walls. InNumber 127 the wood reaches out to the viewer, exploding into our space but also reaching up and away towards the ceiling. Flat panels of burned board are carefully arranged in patterns juxtaposed with twigs and limbs that appear freshly plucked from trees creating a dynamic composition.

Number 134, 2009, wood and mixed media

There are elements of Louise Nevelson’s influence in some works such as Number 134 which appears to be a mixture of burned wood and found wooden scraps. The striking ebony color grabs the viewer immediately upon entering the gallery space.

Number 136, wood and mixed media

Number 136 is reminiscent of an Allan McCollum work with the repetition of black abstract shapes set in uniformly-sized white frames. This show is a nice break from the same old same old of Chelsea.