January 2006 Archive

Weekly Update – Whisper and Challenge 3

iglerlessarddet.jpg Originally uploaded by sokref1. This week’s Weekly includes my review of “Whisper Down the Lane” at Klein Gallery and a sketch of the Fleisher Challenge 3. Here’s the link to the art page and below is the copy with some images. For more pictures see my Whisper set and Fleisher set at flickr. And here’s Libby’s Fleisher post Working on the Chain GangAn unconventional method of curation has excellent results. “Whisper Down the Lane” at Klein Gallery is a show with a curious premise: Grow an exhibit by chain reaction, asking one artist to select another, who will select ... More » »

"Mix" talks

Rock-star-status video artist Cory Arcangel, who has work at the Temple Gallery’s “Mix Show,” will be talking at the Arden Theater tonight at 6 p.m., to be followed by a reception for the artist. “Mix,” a show of recent videos by six artists with strong music influences (see Roberta’s post here), is one of those rare shows in which the whole is greater than the parts. And one of the best parts is a collaboration between Arcangel and Frankie Martin that had me laughing out loud (top image from Arcangel and Frankie Martin’s video, “414-3-RAVE-95″). . The talk is the ... More » »

My Challenge challenge

I was going to hold off writing about this year’s Challenge 3 exhibit at Fleisher. Oh, I have a reason–it’s part of a discussion-group project that I didn’t want to weigh in on in advance of the discussion. But I my enthusiasm has gotten the better of me. As usual at Challenge shows, I find the three artists–portrait artist Phyllis Gellmin Laver, installation/performance artist Roxana Perez-Mendez and photographer Susan Bank–seem to be having a conversation with eachother although their work is wildly different. Who are we as human beings and what is it that we are doing in this world? ... More » »

Phong Bui and Holiday Home…

Phong Bui Originally uploaded by Bromirski. Separated at birth? This image on Martin Bromirski‘s flickr page (click the image to see bigger and to get to Bromirski’s photos) is very like the architectural paper airplane made by Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos at the big cave, the Philly ICA. How can you not ask the question? Mark Barry wrote about Phong Bui on ionarts last summer. Bui, is an artist, curator and publisher of the Brooklyn Rail. Bromirski’s photo doesn’t say where the picture came from*, but I assume Bui’s installation lives in the real world right now in ... More » »

Pink elephant 2

Having nothing to do with pink elephants of the hiccup variety of Roberta’s post, the ICA’s upstairs installation, “Holiday Home,” by architects Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos was a pink elephant of another sort–not to mention a white elephant (image, door to “Holiday Home”). And for these reasons and more, everyone there seemed to love it, wanted to touch it, craned their necks to look at the inside from the outside and the outside from the inside, rushed to pull of their shoes to tread the pink prismatic planes of the floor (image, the chimney–or perhaps the skylight–to “Holiday ... More » »

Visions of pink elephants and McElhenys dancing in my head

2005_093_28 Originally uploaded by chuckp. When I saw this photo by my friend Chuck Patch the first thing I thought was…this must be the inspiration for Josiah McElheny‘s infinity and modernity pieces. (This or something like it in some other bar somewhere. Shiny glass, amber lights, and the hint of stupifaction in all that liquor.) Anyway, it got me thinking about McElheney whose work Shelley Spector encountered recently at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco. See post. I’ve seen two McElheny’s live (one in MoMa) and one at Milwaukee’s Art Museum. Now we hear there’s a third (similar) piece at ... More » »

Stalking Rob: Major NY art alert

I feel like we stalk Rob Matthews, but the truth is, he’s stalking us (oh, stalkee Zoe Strauss also confessed it was a two-way street with her). This time Rob has a great reason. Check out the gallery link. Amazing. Here’s his funny email alert: I’m going toe-to-toe with Picasso in a cage match fight to the death. Show up to see who wins. Tell a buddy. Bring a friend.Last time I checked the link, there were, uh, issues with my piece: incomplete title, missing dimensions, broken link to seeing the enlarged image. Sorry about that. It’ll get fixed. If ... More » »

Seen in Old City

Drizzle Two photo-collagers at Drizzle are a reminder that everyone’s doing it but not all photo collages are equal. Jaison Crockett’s collages are seamless narratives that suggest surreal and paranormal happenings, the more mysterious the better (image, Crockett’s “DNA Cocktail”). “Starward” uses scale to knock figures and a collection of toys into deep space. Is it a fairy tale? Is it a joke? Is it part of a weird story about parallel worlds? I didn’t care. It was fun. When the narratives are too clear, they’re less successful as such. But the ultraclear “DNA Cocktail” still manages to charm. A ... More » »

Presepio mundi at Fleisher

presepioangelsputi.jpg Originally uploaded by sokref1. I was at Fleisher Art Memorial yesterday to see the Challenge 3 exhibit, which I recommend, and ran into Fleisher’s Warren Angle who said had I seen their Presepio yet. “Say what?” The art memorial has an installation of a Neapolitan Presepio (an over-the-top nativity creche scene) with more than 100 pieces including everything from shephards to the ruins of classical buildings, some puti, angels — and fruit vendors. Angle said he loved the Italian market aspect of the scene but I better hurry to see it because it was coming down any day now. ... More » »

Uncool miniatures, sweet as pie

Folk gems of reverse-glass paintings visiting here from Poland glow on the walls at PII Gallery, the little place on Race Street that more often carries European expressionist work, not folk art. The little religious images of angels, saints and bible stories sparkle with color and careful craftsmanship, further enhanced by the hand-carved frames. The exhibit includes work by Zofia Fortecka, who does the complex saints and stories, the imagery and forms inspired by medieval and renaissance church art. The work is spectacular, and self-taught. Her daughter Magda Fortecka, who is not self-taught, is the angels expert, the little figures ... More » »