“Red” by John Logan

Red, a play starring Alfred Molina and Eddie Redmayne, focuses on a certain period in the artist Mark Rothko’s career when he is commissioned by Philip Johnson to create a series of murals for the Four Seasons Restaurant in the Seagram’s Building in New York City. An artist driven by his passion as well as his theories and morals on art, he was regimented in his routine keeping “bankers’ hours.” He yearns to make art that moves people and makes them think—a true Abstract Expressionist in every sense of the word. His large-scale canvases made of strong colors and rectangular forms haunt the viewer. Depending on the distance stood from his canvases the patches of color recede or extend out towards the viewer causing a mesmerizing dizziness. The title of the play comes from the intense hue used in all of the works from this series—as his assistant says, the color of dried blood.

Molina and Redmayne

Whether you are a Rothko afficinado or a novice you must see this play; both actors give outstanding performances and at a short 90 minutes, this is one you can’t miss. The last two rows have $25 seats during previews so no excuses.

Cai Guo Qiang’s “Fallen Blossoms” and Bruce Nauman’s “Days and Giorni”

“Fallen Blossoms” showcases works that explore the passage of time and the theme of memory. This is the first time that this group of works has been exhibited in the United States. Light Passage includes four gunpowder paintings which include objects symbolizing each of the four seasons. It is amazing to me that using gunpowder he is able to control the medium in order to form recognizable imagery which is often abstracted down to its essence. Thankfully there was a man visiting the show who was able to read the characters written on the works identifying some of the objects. “Summer” includes lotus blossoms, dragonflies, a and a weeping willow. “Autumn” shows yellow chrysanthemums, a bird in flight, falling leaves and a setting sun. “Winter” is made up of crows, barren trees, a chicken and a plum branch. “Spring” has a koi pond and the shadowy effect of the fish with added drawn details is gorgeous. The works include a good amount of negative space so that the viewer is not inundated with imagery.

Installation shot

Above these works is 99 Golden Boats from 2002. The individual boats dangle from the ceiling in a meandering river-like pattern. This work complements Light Passage; together they create a wonderful, small installation that does gives the viewer pause as it should be.

Bruce Nauman: Days and Giorni, installation view

Bruce Nauman’s Days and Giorni is an auditorial assault that confuses the senses by having recorded men’s, women’s and children’s voices say the days of the week out of order. In the main building the days are spoken in English. The annex has the same set up but the days are said in Italian. With fewer distractions, I enjoyed the piece more in the Museum’s annex. The way the piece is configured, there are stools strategically placed in between two white squares which focus a particular voice towards the viewer while with the echoes generated because of the acoustics of the room, the other voices are audible in the background. It was probably neater to see in Venice. As the press release states Nauman, “alters and undermines the very sequence that normally measures our lives in procession.”

“Picasso and the Avant Garde in Paris” at the Philadelphia Art Museum

Braving the torrential downpours of the Nor’easter last weekend, I ventured for the day to Philly to catch some shows. “Picasso and the Avant Garde in Paris” is a good show, not a great one but with the limited funds that museums have these days, they did a nice job culling works from their permanent collection to showcase a certain period in Picasso’s life. The show was also too large and could have done without the last three rooms as it began to lose its focus. Picasso’s oeuvre is just too vast and the viewer can become overwhelmed.

Study for "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon", 1907, watercolor on paper, 6 7/8 x 8 7/8 inches

Born in 1881, Picasso moved to Paris permanently in 1904 having already established his reputation in his homeland of Spain. While you may be familiar with Picasso’s interest in African art which was visible in works like his 1907 Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, perhaps like me you are unaware of the influence the cave paintings of Altimira in Spain had on him. It is when he first encounters this work that he sees himself as changing art from its traditional standards. He begins to break all the rules that have been in place since the Renaissance in regards to perspective and representation. In Self-Portrait with Palette from 1906 his portrayal displays a self-confidence and a sense of coming into his own. It’s almost as if he knows the greatness of his impact on art history before it occurs.

Self-Portrait with Palette, 1906, oil on canvas, 36 3/16 x 28 7/8 inches

Cubism “inaugurated art of the 20th century.”From 1907-1914 Picasso and Braque worked together on a daily basis and often their styles were indistinguishable. Objects were deconstructed into overlapping planes of monochromatic muted colors showing varied perspectives unattainable by the human eye. Painting was no longer a rendering of reality but a “reordering of reality.” As the handy audioguide pointed out, the splitting of the atom occurred in 1905 and x-rays were also in use at this time which certainly had an influence on the development of Cubism.

Juan Gris, Still Life Before an Open Window, Place Ravignan, 1915, oil on canvas, 45 5/8 x 35 inches

Cubism is broken down into two types: analytic and synthetic. Analytic was when artists broke down 3-d objects into fragments and synthetic took that a step further reassembling the fragments of analytic Cubism into a new kind of reality where bright color was used as well as illusionistic devices like wood grain, etc. Collage as an added element “highlighted the physicality of the artwork and its artificial nature, while radically rejecting traditional fine art notions of originality and purity. Juan Gris came into Picasso’s life at this time in the early 1900s. Gris added a great deal to Cubism –a heightened sense of color and an exploration of the relationship between interior and exterior spaces. Sadly, he died at 40 years of age. I really liked a small work on paper by Gris called The Table from 1916. It is an 8 x 10 inch work with wood grain, a glass, and newspaper on a table with a diagonal line dissecting the top left part of the paper with a seafoam green wave decoration, perhaps representing wallpaper or an awning. It is sweet and intimate and begs the viewer for close inspection.

Preston Dickinson, Cafe Scene (Portrait of Charles Demuth), c. 1912-1914

Also at this time American artists were flocking to Paris to be part of the art world there. The epicenter of this world were the salons of Leo and Gertrude Stein, patrons and devotees of emerging artists. An interesting work in charcoal and chalk on paper is Cafe Scene (Portrait of Charles Demuth) 1912-1914 by Preston Dickinson. It shows a typical cafe scene in Paris and conveys what it was like to be an American in Paris at that time.

Charles Sheeler, Pertaining to Yachts and Yachting, 1922

Another great work by an American artist on view is Charles Sheeler’s Pertaining to Yachts and Yachting from 1922. This work has the same crisp lines and flat planes that Sheeler is known for, but instead of painting industrial scenes, he uses this technique to depict a seascape with abstracted sails that merge into one another. It simply becomes a mass of form with highlights of blue, brown, and cream.

Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Staircase, 1912, oil on canvas

Salon Cubism did not include works by Picasso and Braque because the dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler did not think they were as marketable as work by their contemporaries. The works on view are hung as they were in the Salon d’Automne of 1912 from floor to ceiling with sculpture placed at varied intervals. In this room one can see Marcel Duchamp’s famous Nude Descending a Staircase 2 which was infamous at its showing in the 1913 New York Armory Show. It garnered a great deal of attention due to the negative press it received internationally. It was rejected by the Paris salon because, “a nude does not descend the stairs, a nude reclines.”

Francis Picabia, Dances at the Spring, 1912

I loved a small Roger de la Fresnaye work Pitcher, Books, and Bottles form 1911-14, a crayon and charcoal on paper. This is a gorgeous work with simple abstracted geometric forms rendered in the most simplified fashion, however, the artist still uses shadowing on the pitcher so objects are indentifiable but not broken into planes; it is almost pre-Cubist. I also liked a Francis Picabia work made up of vibrant orange, browns, and peaches. Dances at the Spring from 1912 was based on a peasant dance Picabia saw in Italy on his honeymoon and it drew me in.

Fernand Leger, The City, 1919, 91 x 117 1/2 inches

There is a Leger room (odd in a show on Picasso, no?) which displays the monumental painting The City from 1919. It was shown in 1920 at the Salon des Independent when people believed that Cubism was a prewar concept that had died. This painting with its large size and bright colors emphasized that Cubism was indeed alive in full force.

Picasso, The Three Musicians, 1921, oil on canvas

The Three Musicians is one of Picasso’s most well-known works. He painted it in 1921 at a villa he rented in Fountainebleu. One of two versions it uses the idea of collage from Picasso’s earlier works. The figures and objects are rendered in flat overlapping planes.

One of my favorite works in this exhibition is a small gem of a work with a reduced palette of red, peach, light blue and white called Still Life with a Glass and a Pipe by Amedee Ozenfant. The composition is divided in half by a diagonal line leading the eye downwards to the right. A glass, which we see from the side and above at the same time casts a shadow on the stark white wall behind it and is outlined in a rusty red line which matches that of the table the objects rest on. A delicate representation of a pipe lays next to the glass; its curves contrast with the stark lines in the rest of the work. Stunning in its simplicity.

Salvador Dali, Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War), 1936

There is a section on the “Call to Order” movement in which artists wanted to return to more traditional techniques after World War II. The next room shows works by Surrealists whose work Picasso entered into a dialogue with in the 1920s and 30s; works by Miro and Dali are on view including Dali’s Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War) from 1936. This intense work shows Dali’s frustration with the Spanish Civil War. The figure in the work is literally tearing itself apart. His attention to detail is perfection in its protest of the horrors of war.

Constantin Brancusi, Mademoiselle Pogany III, 1931

There is an exquisite Brancusi in the show, Mademoiselle Pogany III from 1931. The contrast between the smooth surface of the woman and the rough hewn texture of the wooden oak base gives the work “an electric charge.” In the same room is a sweet Sonia Delaunay work painted on a poem on Japanese paper. It includes her typical lovely bright colored arcs and interlocking forms.

Marina Abramovic at MoMA

MArina Abramovic

About a week before the opening of Abramovic’s retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, I went to hear her speak about her work. I am glad I gave myself that gift; it gave me a background that definitely helped me appreciate her work and the exhibition currently on at MoMA more. Abramovic, a 64 year-old Yugoslavian performance artist, was in her first exhibition at the tender age of 12. Her early works mostly had to do with sound: the sound of wind through a cardboard box, the sound of birds being projected from speakers placed in trees and so on. However, many of her early projects were never realized. In 1971 she created a work in a corridor of an art gallery. She felt that people entering a museum or gallery are never free to receive art because they come with thoughts and ideas that fill their heads. So in this corridor, screams are played that fill the viewer’s body and Abramovic felt that all thoughts escaped one as a result. By the time you go into the gallery you can receive and accept the art because there is nothing there to block it.

Rhythm O, 1974

In 1974 she created a series of works called “Rhythm.” In Rhythm O which took place in Naples she invited the audience to do whatever they wanted to her for 6 hours with objects laid out on a table. The objects included: scissors, condoms, a whip, various food items, and even a loaded gun. People cut her clothes off, stuck rose thorns in her stomach as some women wiped tears away from her eyes. The piece was about what the audience can do to the artist as she does nothing-the power that the audience has.

In 1976 Abramovic met Ulay in Amsterdam with whom she began a strong love and work relationship. She explained that for 5 years they lived in a car with a dog where they were confronted with themselves because there was nothing else to be confronted with. Each performance that they created together was about simplicity and how their bodies worked in space. Whether walking into each other; slapping each other across the face (body used as instrument); screaming as loud as possible at each other; or pushing a column toward another stationary column using only the force of their individual bodies, their work is emotionally raw and powerful and sometimes difficult to watch.

Imponderabilia, 1977

One of the works that is recreated in the MoMA retrospective is Imponderabilia in which two naked people (originally Ulay and Marina) stand in a doorway and the public has to decide which way to enter and whom to brush up against in order to pass through. Original footage shows that people were forced to get very close to the naked performers; at the MoMA there is a plaque explaining that due to museum regulations, the space between the two naked people has been increased. As a result, viewers are not forced to touch the performers as they were in the original.

Rest Energy, 1980

In Rest Energy Marina once again risked her life by placing an arrow aimed at her heart between her and Ulay. If there was a wrong movement she could have died. Microphones placed on their hearts recorded their increasing heartbeats. The performance lasted a little over 4 minutes.

Originally Marina and Ulay wanted to stage a performance where they would walk from two ends of the Great Wall in China for 1550 miles each and get married after meeting in the middle. It took 6 years to get permission from the Chinese government and by that time, their relationship was over. They performed The Great Wall Walk in 1988 but instead of marrying in the middle, they said goodbye and parted ways. Abramovic was 40 years old at the time and said of her experience, “In the end you are really alone.”

The House with the Ocean View, 2002

After that Abramovic continued to do solo performances and many of the works are on view at MoMA. In 2002 after the September 11th attacks she had a performance at Sean Kelly Gallery in NY who represents her in which she lived for 12 days in the gallery.

The House with the Ocean View, detail

In The House with the Ocean View, three separate spaces were created: a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen that were connected and raised above the floor enough so that ladders were the only access to the spaces. In order for Abramovic to have incentive to stay for the full length of the performance. The ladders were made of knives that would have cut her if she tried to come down.

Luminosity, re-performance, 1997/2010, Image courtesy of artinfo.com

In 1997’s Luminosity, also originally on view at Sean Kelly Gallery, Abramovic sits on a bike seat on a wall with her arms extended upwards and legs out as a luminous light emanates from behind her. This work is re-performed at MoMA.

With over 50 works on view spanning 4 decades and including video, performance, installation, and more, MoMA has attempted to increase the accessibility of Abramovic’s often difficult work. In my opinion, they are successful. Bravo to MoMA for such a well-done exhibition. It is hard to present the cumulation of work of a performance artist and they have done it creatively and with style. Not only is original footage used, but they have a room full of photographs and documentation as well as actors hired to re-perform some of her most poignant works.

New work on view in the atrium, The Artist is Present, 2010

Never shying away from the difficult or the painful, Abramovic has created an original work in the atrium of the museum that will be the longest duration of time a work has lasted yet in her oeuvre. For 3 months and over 600 hours, she will sit at an empty table and museum-goers are encouraged to sit across from her and engage her in eye contact-Abramovic will not speak for the duration of this work. On opening night she had a special visitor sit across from her at the table: Ulay. During his time at the table a tear fell down Abramovic’s cheek and this stoic performer showed what her art has been sharing with us for years whether we want to hear it or not–that there is often no need for words– actions speak volumes about our emotions.

“Skin Fruit” at the New Museum

Installation shot

Curated by Jeff Koons, the controversial exhibition “Skin Fruit,” on view until June 6th, 2010 at the New Museum, is the first exhibition in the US of Athens-based Dakis Joannou Collection made up of 1,500 works by 400 artists. Pulling from one of the best collections of contemporary art in the world might be intimidating for most curators, but first-time curator Koons does an excellent job of selecting interesting works that explore the theme of “the human form as a vessel of and vehicle for experience.”

Included in the show are works by Robert Gober, Nathalie Djurberg, Terence Koh, Paul McCarthy, Tim Noble and Sue Webster, Kiki Smith, Liza Lou, Charles Ray, and many more including one work by Koons, One Ball Total Equlibrium Tank from 1985, the first major artwork that Joannou acquired for his now remarkable collection. I was pleasantly surprised by this exhibition and encourage people to make the effort to see it. Highlights for me:

Paul Chan’s Orgy Before Man And Storm, 2003 had a great Matisse “Joy of Life” reference in the middle of the sex and love fest including people of all genders and colors.

Tauba Auerbach. Crumple VI, 2008, acrylic and inkjet print on canvas

Tauba Auerbach whose work I adore and am now seeing everywhere (Armory, Whitney Biennial).

Liza Lou, Super Sister, 1999, Cast polyester, resin and glass beads

Liza Lou’s Super Sister is a human figure made of glass beads, not the type of work I am used to seeing by this artist. Usually working with beads she creates patterns and abstractions in her three-dimensional works but I have never seen her create a human form; it is pretty fabulous way to enter the space.

Charles Ray’s Carousel plays with perception and scale. A piece he created in 1990 but was never pleased with, he has reworked the piece in gray versus its original bright colors. The horses move but never seem to be making any progress.

Four gouaches on paper by Kara Walker are a nice addition and complement the ginormous sculptures that fill the space.

Terence Koh, Untitled (Chocolate Mountains), 2006, Mixed media: styrofoam, fiberglass, and white chocolate icing

Terence Koh made Untitled (Chocolate Mountains) in 2006. Made of styrofoam, fiberglass and white chocolate icing the work is an interpretation of the twin towers. Often working in white, the color that symbolizes death in China, the mountains are elegant, messy, and olfactory all at the same time.

Kiki Smith, Untitled (Bowed Woman), 1995

Kiki Smith’s Untitled (Bowed Woman), 1995 hangs high on the wall leading to the stairway. Made of brown wrapping paper, cellulose and horse hair, the figure reminds one of a crucifixion.

Two Nathalie Djurberg videos are on view in the hall niche. Djurberg is an artist I first became introduced to at the Venice Biennale. The more interesting of the two works is It’s the Mother. A claymation video in which a saftig woman embraces and says goodbye to her five children as each one climbs back into her vagina one by one. It is obviously both physically and emotionally painful for her as tears roll down her cheeks. The frightening faces on the children and the disturbing nature of the scene are juxtaposed with a tenderness between the mother and her offspring.

Gillian Wearing, Signs That Say What You Want Them to Say..., 1992-93, c-print

Gillian Wearing’s c-print from her “Signs that Say What you Want Them to Say” series from 1992-3 is great and speaks for itself (no pun intended).

Janine Antoni, Saddle, 2000, Full rawhide

In Janine Antoni’s Saddle from 2000 it appears as if a figure looms under a cloth but it is simply the form of a figure molded into a large rawhide piece.

Chris Ofili, Rodin...The Thinker, 1997, Acrylic, oil, resin, glitter, map-pins, and elephant dung on canvas

Chris Ofili has a painting in the show based on Rodin’s The Thinker. This is the work by Ofili that I am drawn to with its sparkle, repetition of dots, curving, sensuous lines, and bright orange and yellows.

Pawel Althamer, Schedule of the Crucifix, 2005

Schedule of the Crucifix is a performance work by Pawel Althama from 2005 in which a real human precariously hangs from a cross. Held by two leather straps under his shoulders his feet are supported only by a tilted platform at an uncomfortable angle and a small strap.

Elliott Hundley, Garland, 2007, wood, plastic, paper, pins, porcelain, ceramics, wire, string, glue, primer, spray paint, silk, etc.

I very much liked a work called Garland by Elliott Hundley which hung out from high on the wall and was made from many found objects. There is a delicateness and sweetness to the piece and the viewer can’t help but see something new with every glance.

Of course there were the obligatory Cindy Sherman works which did, in fact, add to the show.

Maurizio Cattelan was well represented and his work Now from 2004 is in its own room. JFK’s life-like body can be found barefoot in a casket. Quite a creepy work.

Jeff Koons, One Ball Total Equilibrium Tank, 1985, glass, iron, water, and basketball

On Floor 2 the one Koons work confronts the viewer immediately after exiting the elevator.

Maurizio Cattelan, All, 2007, White Carrara marble

A work by Cattelan called All from 2007 that was also on view at the Punta della Dogana last summer is on view here. Tino Seghal’s 2002 work This is Propaganda is recited by a security guard.

One artist wose work I was pleased to see but that I did not understand why it was included in the show was Mark Grotjahn’s. I love the textures and layers and softness in his work but what does it have to do with the body per se?

Tim Noble and Sue Webster, Black Narcissus, 2006, rubber, wood, and light projector

Tim Noble and Sue Webster’s Black Narcissus from 2006 is made up of black rubber hands, fingers and penises that when configured a certain way cast a shadow of two head in profile projected on the wall.

Kiki Smith, Untitled (Skin), 1992, cast aluminum

And an interesting Kiki Smith called Skin from 1992 that reminded me of a Jasper Johns sculp-metal work.

The show has a lot on view and some artists have more than one work in the show: Gober, Kiki Smith (perhaps because all of her work deals with the human body), David Altmejd, Paul McCarthy, and Chris Ofili to name a few. I actually enjoyed this as it affords the viewer an opportunity see a wider range of some artists’ work.

Otto Dix at Neue Galerie

Otto Dix, Self-portrait with Muse (looks like Helena Bonham Carter doesn't it?), 1924

Openings at the Neue Galerie are always a treat. Not only do you get to see magnificent works of art, but you see them in a gorgeous and sophisticated environment while nibbling on tasty Austrian treats like baby Weinerschnitzel. What’s not to like?

Otto Dix, Portrait of the Lawyer Dr. Fritz Glazer, 1921, image courtesy of Neue Galerie

The Otto Dix show (on view through August 30th) that opens today includes some wonderful works on loan from European collections that have never been seen before. And, this is the first solo exhibition of Dix’s work ever put on in the United States. His work is the most graphic visual representation of the Weimar Republic. Most of the work on view is from the 1920s and 1930s.

Sturmtruppe, 1924

From the imagery of horrors of his time spent serving in World War I to the grit of Puffmutter, a work on paper portraying a brothel matron who has seen better days,

Portrait of the Dancer Anita Berber, 1925, image courtesy of Neue Galerie

to the sensuousness of the painting of Anita Berber, a dancer in brilliant red, Dix manages to capture the personality of his subjects in his portraits through color, form, or pose–and they are not always flattering. A great exhibition worth your while.

Puffmutter, 1923