Newsletter: August 2010
Peter M. Brant Foundation Art Study Center visit
Urs Fischer installation, "Hole" and "Dust Paintings"
The Peter M. Brant Foundation’s main building was built in 1902 and was used for apple storage at that time. Peter Brant bought it as a polo clubhouse. In the 1990s, the Brant Foundation was created and in 2009, the space was opened by the foundation. The current exhibition is a solo show of the Swiss artist Urs Fischer. The Foundation is about a 45 minute drive from Manhattan and the grounds and surroundings are beautiful. It is well worth a visit.
Urs Fischer boxes
In the first room are some examples of his chrome boxes with blown-up silkscreened images.
Urs Fischer "Hole"
Walking into a sun-filled naturally lit gallery, one comes upon the cast aluminum work, “Hole” which appears to be a mound of dirt created by digging a 10 foot deep hole. It is really an aluminum piece cast and installed in sections that extends down into the room below. In the same space on the walls hang three of Fischer’s dust paintings from 2007 in which he silkscreened photos of dust that are blown up and mounted on aluminum with hand applied drops of color.
Urs Fischer Peter
For this installation, Fischer took hi-resolution images of two rooms in Brant’s home and enlarged them making them into wallpaper. He created wax portraits of Brant, the only portrait he has ever let anyone create. One enters the space and feels a bit as if they have entered Alice’s Wonderland. As Fischer’s work is often concerned with making the viewer question scale and proportion, this show is no exception.
Urs Fischer "You", 2007
“You” was first created in 2007 at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise in Manhattan where Fischer dug up the floor of the gallery. Here, Fischer has done the same thing using pumps and systems to keep the water out. To me the work represents the insignificance of the human individual in relation to nature.
Visits are by appointment only. To visit the space contact thebrantfoundation@gmail.com
Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913-1917 at MoMA
Alvin Langdon Coburn (British, 1882-1966). Henri Matisse painting Bathers by a River, May 13, 1913. Photograph. Courtesy of George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film, Rochester, 1979:3924:0012.
This highly focused exhibition takes a look at one of the “most innovative, momentous and little studied periods in the long career of Matisse.” It begins when he left Morocco and returned to Paris in 1913 and ends when he left Paris for Nice in 1917. The works from these years are extremely reworked –abstraction reigns and darker colors begin to invade Matisse’s palette. Visible scrapes and incisions can be seem on some canvases.
Bathers with a Turtle, 1908, courtesy The St. Louis Art Museum
The first gallery looks at figurative works leading up to 1913. In 1907-1909 one can see the influence of Cezanne in Matisse’s figures. On view is the work Three Bathersby Cezanne which Matisse actually owned for himself. In the 1907-8 work, Bathers with a Turtle, you can see the evidence that Matisse was reworking his canvases.
Due to the negative reaction his works received in the 1910 Salon d; Automne, Matisse began to withdraw from the Paris art world where Cubism was taking hold. He traveled to Spain and texture, pattern, and architecture found their way into his works. He also traveled to Morocco and flat color is often juxtaposed with patterns in works from this period.
Jeanette I-V, bronze
Matisse often revisited the same subject matter and motifs in his work, especially in his sculptures. One example of this is Jeannette I-V. He reduced his carving and made more angular forms with fewer details as the series progressed.
Interior with Goldfish, 1914. Oil on canvas, 147 x 97 cm, Musée National d’Art Moderne/Centre de Création Industrielle, Centre Pompidou, Paris, bequest of Baroness Eva Gourgaud, 1965, AM 4311 P. © 2010 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Matisse’s interest in color waned upon his return from Morocco and his interest in formal structure of the composition grew. I love the beautiful work Interior with Goldfish from 1914. It shows the interior of his studio and it is clear in looking closely at this work that he revised the placement of objects a number of times. There are pink undertones that peek through, even the orange goldfish have blue-green sneaking out from behind them.
Portrait of Sarah Stein, 1916, Oil on canvas, Courtesy of SFMoMA
Due to his renewed inclusion in the art world, Matisse began making portraits of his friends, colleagues, and family members. There is a section devoted to these works in the show. Portrait of Sarah Stein from 1916 is on loan from SF MoMA’s permanent collection. The drawing next to the work allows the viewer to glean his process. The work shows just the sitter’s head. It is so simplified. One black line makes up her nose and two crescents of brown stand in as hair. The work is very abstracted and minimal.
Bowl of Oranges, 1916, oil on canvas
In 1914 during the outbreak of WWI Matisse returned to the familiar subject matter of still lifes and portraits. But by 1916 Matisse had loosened his approach and showed repeated workings, scraping, and impasto. A perfect example of this is Bowl of Oranges from 1916 which looks almost van Gogh like in texture in some parts of the canvas. He also used “pure black as a color of light and not as a color of darkness.”
Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954). The Moroccans, 1915-16. Oil on canvas, 181.3 x 279.4 cm, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel A. Marx, 1955. © 2010 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
The Moroccans dominates the second to last gallery. The three zones of the canvas are given to figures, architecture, and melons. Black is the predominant color. This work is the perfect example of his experimentation and ambitious work from this period–a departure from previous subject matter and palette.
Bather by a River, 1909-1916, oil on canvas, 259.7 x 389.9 cm, courtesy Art Institute of Chicago
In the final gallery one finds The Piano Lesson and Bathers by a River. Both are large canvases that confine forms to abstracted, geometric structures. Matisse worked on Bathers for seven years, tweaking and altering the composition until it met his satisfaction.
Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954). The Piano Lesson, 1916. Oil on canvas, 245.1 x 212.7 cm, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund, 1946. © 2010 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
In this time of cutbacks and lack of blockbuster exhibitions, MoMA does it right. They focus in on one aspect of a master’s career and enlighten their audience. A very good exhibition worth visiting.
Storm King: Celebrating 50 Years
Robert Grosvenor, Untitled, 1970
This was my second visit to Storm King and it certainly lived up to the memory I had of my first experience. Though it was extremely hot out, I managed to cover all of the grounds and see some of their newest additions. If you have not been, you must make the trip. Only an hour away from NYC in the Hudson Valley, it feels like another world. Its 500 acres provides a respite from the concrete jungle of Manhattan. And the harmony of the art and surrounding landscape transports viewers into a place where time stands still.
One of my favorite pieces at the Art Center is Grosvenor’s metal work that cuts across the meadow. It seems to seamlessly blend in with the hills behind it. Commanding and serene at the same time, I am always amazed at the thinness of the work when looking at it from the side.
Grosvenor, side view
A new addition to the center as of last year is Maya Lin’s Storm King Wavefield, 2007-8. My photos do not do the work justice. The rolling hills are in perfect alignment and echo the topography of the area. Lin did not just dig out these hills but leveled the ground and then added to the space to achieve her desired effect.
Maya Lin, Storm King Wavefield, 2007-8
Unbeknownst to me the weekend I visited, a Zhang Huan sculpture had just been installed and I was lucky enough to get to see it.
Nicole and Buddha foot
Inspired by a trip to Tibet, the steel and copper work weighs 12 tons yet the legs precariously balance on the buddha’s head. A similar work is on view as a public sculpture in San Francisco. Huan hopes that this work which has already been on view in two other sites will remain at Storm King indefinitely. The work is a gift to Storm King from the artist and Pace Gallery who represents him.
Zhang Huan, Three Legged Buddha, 2007
After seeing Ursula von Rydingvard speak earlier this year, I was thrilled to see a piece she had mentioned that is another new addition to the center. As the artist told her audience, Luba, 2009-10, is the first work that has had such a thin element reaching towards the ground. In fact, it is so fragile that that portion of the sculpture had to be made of bronze (the rest is cedar which gives off a fabulous aroma). It was treated to look like the gray that the rest of the sculpture will turn after it is has weathered a bit.
Ursula von Rydingsvard, Luba 2009-2010
Part of the exhibition: 5+5: New Perspectives in which twelve works are dispersed throughout the grounds, is Alyson Shotz’s Mirror Fence. So subtle, I almost walked right by it until I read about it in the brochure and forced my friend to backtrack to go see it with me. From the front it looks green as it reflects the grassy patch that lay before it. Front behind it melts away, barely noticeable. I love that it will change depending on the time of day, the amount of sunlight, and the season. What a terrific work that will be new upon each viewing.
Alyson Shotz, Mirror Fence, 2003
Jerome Kirk’s 1972 work Orbit could be seen from the bottom of a path that meandered through the gorgeous, lush ferns.
Jerome Kirk, Orbit, 1972
I took a much needed break in Siah Armajani’s Gazebo on the way back to the parking lot. I was so lucky to visit on a day when Storm King wasn’t very crowded. It was if I had the Calder’s and di Suvero’s all to myself. What a wonderful way to spend a day.
Ooh, I need to rest. Could it be any hotter out?
Marc Swanson Studio Visit
Marc Swanson, Untitled (Crystal Ram), 2009, polyurethane foam, crystals, adhesive, 27 x 18 x 22 in, image courtesy of www.marcswansonstudio.com
I entered the spacious and sunny studio and first met Matthew, Marc’s studio manager and then the man himself. Both men were extremely friendly and engaging. As Marc and I began speaking, Matthew got down to work donning his latex blue gloves and adhering individual rhinestones to elk antlers. Hard to believe that this labor intensive process is done for the even bigger projects like seated bucks and ram’s heads. But that was just one of the many projects Marc has going on.
At the age of nine he saw a Calder exhibition which confirmed his desire to be an artist. His influences are many: Rauschenberg, Gober, Bruce Conner, Koons, Kiki Smith, Jasper Johns, Joseph Cornell and Cy Twombly to name a few.
A Place in the Sun, 2008-9, wood, chain, paper, paint, polyurethane, 36 x 24 x 8 in , image courtesy of wwwmarcswansonstudio.com
The first pieces we discussed were Marc’s wooden boxes which include images veiled by chains hung at the front of the boxes. He has used movie stills from classics like “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”, but has also experimented with imagery from gay publications from the 1950s. When using the film stills, he selects films that for their day seem to be addressing important issues. However the chains can be interpreted as the viewers’ way of seeing right through the facade that the Hollywood studios presented. The boxes are beautiful but also deeper than the images used suggest. Like Jasper Johns whose work he admires, Swanson’s works are easily recognizable and relatable but are also imbued with a deeper meaning which makes the art accessible to all.
Untitled (Black Antler Pile), 2008, antlers, adhesive, jet crystals, 32 x 32 x 32 in, image courtesy of www.marcswansonstudio.com
Marc’s rhinestone works which I mentioned earlier are dazzling. Created in both silver and black he meticulously and tirelessly affixes each rhinestone to real antlers or polyurethane foam deer or ram’s head’s. These happen to be the works that he is probably best known for. When I asked why he began creating them he explained that they were very simply a blending of his two worlds in San Francisco and New Hampshire. Having grown up in new Hampshire with an ex-Marine father who hunted, Marc questioned his identity as a gay man. San Francisco and its gay community helped Marc to begin to feel comfortable with who he was. Perhaps NYC, where he now lives, is the best of both worlds.
Four unfinished assemblages stand in the center of the studio. Marc adds and removes elements until he feels a piece works. Swanson’s works typically go through many iterations before he is satisfied. One concept might take a long time to get right, but then once he gets it, he can do a few works within that same vein. People have sometimes told him to narrow his focus of creation, but Marc likes exploring different media– it keeps it interesting for him.
Marc enjoys looking at sculpture as conceptual. He told me that one can always create an installation that is liked people–the challenge for him is to do the same with a piece–one piece of sculpture.
One project that is an example of this challenge is a bronze Bison skeleton he has been working on for the Kemper Museum of Art in Kansas City. Approached by the museum to create a public sculpture, Marc proposed a memorial for the bison population that were slaughtered, decimating their 80 million population to that of 100 in a 50 year time span. Marc has created a public sculpture that will be placed in downtown Kansas City and will become part of their permanent collection. As Marc explained to me, public art is tricky because someone is always upset by what you do. But in this case, this work will help us to face what was done in order to ensure that nothing like that ever happens again. In conjunction with that work, there will also be a show on view at the museum. Visit their website for more information: http://www.kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu/
His newest work, also begins with wooden boxes. Inside he drapes plaster creating a textured three-dimensionality invoking a sense of drama and theatricality. But the negative space and void created as well as the monochromatic white of the works is also imbued with a longing and loneliness that is hard to ignore. The work is beautiful and reminds me somewhat of Piero Manzoni’s white works in its texture, size and form. However, Marc’s interest in the drape of the form makes it his own. I look forward to seeing where Marc’s work will head next.
Marc Swanson was not only generous with his time and a pleasure to talk to, but he is a wonderful and talented artist who continues to challenge himself in his craft.
Check out his website: www.marcswansonstudio.com
Christian Marclay at the Whitney
Chalkboard, 2010
For 30 years, Christian Marclay’s work has explored music in all its facets. He is an artist, musician and composer. “Sound an image are very closely intertwined in my work,” he says. At the Whitney, he invites visitors to participate in the exhibition. Viewers are asked to write notes on the large chalkboard which performers will later play. In fact, during the show’s run, Marclay’s scores will be performed by 50 celebrated musicians.
Marclay, Memento (The Rolling Stones), 2008
One of my favorite works of his are cyanotypes with cassette tapes. They are made by unspooling tapes across the surface of the emulsion and exposing them to sunlight. This work pays homage to the disappearance of the audio cassette.
Zoom Zoom, 2007-9
One room projects photos taken of signage in which Marclay captures words that are examples of onomatopoeia such as “snap.” He believes in the power of images to evoke sound.
Marclay’s exhibition includes installations, performances, video, interactive elements and two-dimensional works. One example is his collection of 64 glass, porcelain, and metal bells on view which are meant to be used in performances.
This is a show worth experiencing; for me to write about it does it no justice. Go see this one for yourself. It is worth a visit.
Mary Ann Unger Estate
Installation shot, Mary Ann Unger Estate
An artist of whom you have probably never heard but definitely should know about is Mary Ann Unger. Born in New York City in 1945, she died prematurely of breast cancer in 1998. A contemporary of female sculptors such as Kiki Smith, Petah Coyne, and Ursula von Rydingsvard, whom she knew and exhibited with, she received her MFA from the School of the Arts at Columbia University in 1975.
Pieta/Monument to War, 1990, Hydrocal over steel with pigment, wax, graphite, 85" x 61" x 54"
Unger’s earlier work has a playful quality about it. It is geometric, focusing on pattern, repetition, structure and mathematics and is less emotional and personal than works in her oeuvre from later in her career. After she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1985, however, her work became more expressionistic and organic addressing issues of the body and mortality. Unger leaves parts of works “unfinished” or exposed so the surface looks worn. Her work implies a deterioration of the body in the way she shows hidden layers under the surface. By using hydrocal, a type of plaster that can be layered and sanded over wire/steel armatures, she was able to intimate wounds and bandages without specifically representing them. She would dip cheesecloth into the hydrocal which helped to create a great deal of texture. Her works from the years right before her passing seem to indicate a more peaceful relathey are so colorful and are similar to those she created at the beginning of her career. She appeared to have come full circle.
Mytosis I and II, 1998 and Benchmarks (detail,) 1977
You can easily see the hand of the artist in most of her work. Works such as Mitosis Series no. 2 are very cellular and along with the recurring themes of the female body, layering, and bandaging, Unger has often been compared to Eva Hesse and Louise Bourgeois. However, she definitely has her own style and the emotion that the works convey to the viewer is intimate though many of her works are large-scale–not a terribly easy task to achieve.
Fishbone (Skeleton), 1998, Hydrocal over steel with pigment, wax, graphite powder, 58" x 100" x 8"
Fishbone (Skeleton) from 1998 includes spine shapes, bulbous forms, bones, and insides; I am reminded of Giacometti’s Surrealist work from 1932, Woman with her Throat Cut.
Though a sculptor first and foremost, the estate has flatfiles holding a cache of Unger’s drawings and water colors. Her drawings remind me of the work of the sculptor Martin Puryear.
Shanks, 1995-7, Hydrocal over steel with patina, 66 1/2" x 50" x 6"
Mary Ann Unger had multiple solo exhibitions including shows at the Trans Hudson and Klarfeld Perry Galleries in NYC. She was very active at Sculpture Center and her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions Fellowship and in both 1989 and 1995 she received grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation. Her work can be found in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. as well as many private collections.throughout the United States at locations such as Socrates Sculpture Park, P.S. 1, and the Grey Art Gallery at New York University,. A number of permanent, outdoor, site-specific sculptures were commissioned during her career, including works on view at Queens College, Lehigh University, and Ursinus College. In 1992 she was awarded a Guggenheim
You can learn more about her work by visiting the estate’s website at www.maryannunger.com
Unger maquettes, Fragment series, 1986-1993
Coulon at the Blue Note
Rozz and Neil
On Saturday late night I had the pleasure of going to see and support a very talented woman whom I went to high school with. Her name is Rozz Nash and she is the lead vocalist and songwriter of a group called Coulon. I have been wanting to see a show of theirs for awhile but never could make it. When I received the email about them performing at the famous jazz club “The Blue Note” I could not pass the opportunity up and I was not disappointed. Rozz’s voice is used as its own instrument—soft and sweet at times and sultry and powerful at others. In fact, I enjoyed the show so much I bought their cd. For more information please visit their facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Coulon/88640115594
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