the artist is present

the marina abromović retrospective at MoMA will draw to a close in just over a month. in the featured piece by the renowned performance artist, the artist is present, abromović is seated in MoMA's marron atrium each day from shortly before the museum opens until just after closing, everyday, from march 14th - may 31st. viewers are allowed to participate by sitting across from abromović for a duration of their choosing. the viewer participation aspect is further enhanced through a live video feed on the exhibition website, available during museum hours. additionally, a book of portraits taken during the performance is slated to be released in the near future.

several artists have co-opted abromović's work into their own, challenging notions of artistic authorship; this in turn is inherent to the concept of the abromović piece from it's inception. my dear friend and new-york based visual and performance artist leah meltzer is included in this group. meltzer waits in line for up to five hours and tends to perform with abromović for around forty-five minutes.

some screen captures of meltzer from the live feed, as well as from the portrait collection:

marina abromović retrospective here

leah meltzer here

Posted by stolibolly on Tuesday, April 27, 2010 at 2:24 PM 4 comments

if you happen to be in toronto...

ellsworth kelly and richard serra: obvi. but artists jeremy jansen and niall mcclelland are creating some beautiful work, and mcclelland's specifically is extraordinarily poetic and evocative in myriad ways. an excerpt from a review of the show in the toronto star:

The show is called "Back to Black and Light," and their work here is more than just promising; at times, it's commandingly good. I'm thinking in particular of a series of pieces by McClelland called "Tapestries," in which he has taken large-scale sheaves of paper photocopied flat-black, and folded and unfolded them in systemic patterns.

The fold lines crack the ink from the page, leaving pale traces of McClelland's literal handiwork; the resultant piece is fantastically engaging and very Modern indeed: simple, handmade and pure, engaged only in its own materiality and the ordering of space.

Add in the Minimalist overtones of the throwaway – copy paper and ink, tonnes of which hit our recycle bins daily – and you've got a tight little package that nods to recent art history with such natural grace that you might think it was unintentional.

some of mcclelland's work:

gorgeous, no?

Posted by stolibolly on Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 10:31 AM 1 comments

storming the palace!

Artist, Xavier Veilhan, is using the gardens of Versailles to exhibit his contemporary sculptures. Versailles is an exceptional choice for the installations because it is already abounding with lyrical sculptures that compliment the modernity of Veilhan's installations.
Veilhan's monumental sculptures focus on the geometric value of his forms and textures, the quality of repetition (which is an obvious quality seen throughout the Palace), as well as creating an exotic view in an exceptionally traditional location.
His installation titled, "Le carrosse" (The large carriage), for example, contrasts harmoniously to the classical style of the fountain sculpture, "Apollo in his chariot."
Veilhan, a French artist, created works which are relevant to the Palace of Versailles, and presents them with a modern eye as well as introducing entirely new ideas that are so foreign, yet so fitting.

photos from theselby

Posted by Lizzie on Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at 7:31 AM 0 comments

Pipilotti Rist @ the MoMA

Peter Schjeldahl sez:

The Swiss video whizbang Pipilotti Rist’s latest be-in, “Pour Your Body Out (7354 Cubic Meters),” is the best thing to happen so far in the Museum of Modern Art’s space-splurging, pompous atrium. Go. Lounge on the huge circular pouf. Let the surrounding, wall-filling video imagery—streaming in supersaturated color—and the droning electronic music wash over you. What with evocations of touch, taste, and smell in the bucolic pans and zooms of sunstruck flowers, fruits, animals, and adorably naked bodies, a perfect synesthesia takes hold. As always, Rist advertises an extreme hedonism that smacks of hippie psychedelia, but with a serene, strange, and moving gravity—a whiff of tragedy, even. It’s as if one thinks, I have never been so happy, and then, with a chill, I will never be this happy again. The bird’s-eye views from the museum’s upper floors form a poignant, slightly scary memory: an intermittently twitching wreath of supine human beings. The work is art and, also, in its sumptuously and modestly passing way, something other and better than art. (Tune In, Turn On)

Pipilotti Rist: Pour Your Body Out (7354 Cubic Meters)

November 19, 2008–February 2, 2009 @ the MoMA

it's rare for Peter to be so enthusiastic about anything, so i feel the need to point out this exhibition, plus i know pipilotti's work and am confident that this will be dope. i watched "i want to see how you see" in film class and while the title is self-explanatory, it's impossible to articulate the visuals. can't wait to be fully engulfed by seven projectors of her work.

Posted by Madame Lamb on Thursday, January 22, 2009 at 11:25 AM 0 comments

warhol polaroids

seventy still-life polaroids of andy warhol's taken between 1977-1983 are on display at the paul kasmin gallery in new york through january 10th. warhol first purchased a polaroid big shot camera in 1970 and quickly integrated it into his artistic process by photographing all of his subjects. polaroid photos were warhol's "pencil and paper" and established themselves as the point of departure for lots of his more famous silkscreen prints and paintings. to see warhol's silkscreen subjects in these color polaroids is to catch a glimpse into warhol's world...it's like putting on a pair of his sunglasses. but don't fool yourself into thinking that warhol didn't intend for us to see these. warhol's eyes always had two money signs in them and everything of his was always for sale.

Paul Kasmin Gallery

511 27th Street ny

if you're out of the area then you have permission to see the exhibition online here.

thanks for the tip, christian.

Posted by Madame Lamb on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 4:26 AM 0 comments

spend the night in the guggenheim

from october 24-january 7th guests can reserve a room at the guggenheim designed by artist Carsten Höller starting at $259/night. the work is called "Revolving Hotel Room" and is comprised of three three outfitted, superimposed turning glass discs mounted onto a fourth disc that all turn harmoniously at a very slow speed. by day the hotel room stands on view as part of the Guggenheim's theanyspacewhatever exhibition (artists who like to "claim their exhibition is thier medium") and by night it's a luxury hotel room. here's the view from the revolving bed-i'd love to spend a night there. (via Kottke)

Posted by Madame Lamb on Thursday, October 30, 2008 at 10:04 AM 0 comments

banksy's village pet store and charcoal grill

banksy first NYC art exhibition is a graffiti-less pet shop called the village pet store and charcoal grill in the west village. banksy employed animatronics to build an irony filled pet shop where hot dogs live under heat lamps, fish fingers swim in fish bowls, and chicken mcnuggets drink bbq sauce.

check out the hot dogs (below) and visit the shop at 89 7th avenue through halloween from 10am-12am. thanks for the tip, andrew!

Posted by Madame Lamb on Friday, October 24, 2008 at 8:52 AM 0 comments

the democratic photographer

america photographer William Eggleston is best known for legitimizing the art of color photography in the early 1970s. Eggleston's bold colors bring unprecedented splendor to otherwise mundane subject matter. Eggleston is called the original "democratic" photographer because of his democratic approach to choosing his subject matter...which means he photographed everything around him. Eggleston's photographs glamorize the seemingly characterless parts of Mississippi, bringing unprecedented beauty to the American gas station, diner, or Ford truck. he is the artist who convinced the world that color photography could fit on the white walls of the art gallery.

A lot of Eggleston's work will be shown at the Whitney from November 7th-January 25 swing through. Below: some of my favorite William Eggleston photographs.

W Magazine just wrote an interesting article on a recent interview with Eggleston here.

his most famous photograph-the red is supposedly a striking blood red in person:

my favorite:

Posted by Madame Lamb on Thursday, October 23, 2008 at 11:05 PM 0 comments