This Week's Show List

"Brush Fire" 12" x 18 " Oil on canvas. 2009

Benjamin Degen at Museum 52

Upper East Side
Marta Minujín: MINUCODEs, March 2 – April 30, 2010, Americas Society, 680 Park Ave on 68th St

2010 Whitney Biennial, through May 30, Whitney Museum

“Collecting Biennials”, through Nov. 28 at the Whitney Museum of American Art

Pablo Bronstein, THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, 1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street, October 6–April 18

“The Drawings of Bronzino,” the Met, through Apr 18

Midtown
Austrian Cultural Forum, 11 E. 52nd St., SOLACE, THURSDAY FEB 04 - SATURDAY MAY 15

"Smoke+Mirrors/Shadows+Fog", Hunter College/Times Square Gallery, 450 West 41st St, Feb 18th - April 17th

MoMA, “William Kentridge: Five Themes” continues through May 17

MoMA, Projects 92: Yin Xiuzhen, February 24–May 24, 2010, Projects Gallery, second floor

MoMA, Ernesto Neto: Navedenga, January 22–April 5, 2010, Fourth floor

Chelsea
Charles W. Hutson, ‘A Survey’, Edward Thorp Gallery, 210 11th Avenue, at 25th Street, Through March 27

WILLIAM BAILEY, Betty Cuningham, 541 West 25th Street, Through March 27

Self-Fulfulling Prophecies, Leo Koenig, Inc. 545 W 23rd, March 5 - April 10, 2010

SUPERFLEX, Flooded McDonald’s, January 22 to March 20, 2010, Peter Blum Chelsea, 526 West 29th

"Bank of Bikers", ZieherSmith Inc., 516 W 20th, Feb 25th - Mar 20th

INDEPENDENT March 4: 4-9 March 5 & 6: 11-8 March 7: 12-4, (for X Initiative location, 548 W 22nd)

Nari Ward, LIVESupport, at Lehmann Maupin Gallery, 540 W 26th St, 25 February - 17 April, 2010

Joan Jonas, Yvon Lambert, 550 W 21st, Feb 27 - April 10

\ (LEAN) (with Nari Ward), Nicole Klagsbrun, 526 W 26th St. No. 213, MARCH 12—APRIL 24, 2010

“THE VISIBLE VAGINA”, FRANCIS M. NAUMANN FINE ART (24 West 57th Street) and DAVID NOLAN GALLERY (527 West 29th Street), January 28 – March 20, 2010

Yun-Fei, "Mistaking Each Other for Ghosts", James Cohen Gallery, 533 W 26th, February 19 - March 27

Soho/Greenwich
ESOPUS SPACE, 64 WEST THIRD STREET, #210, “The Assembled Picture Library of New York City” with Jason Polan and Robin Cameron, February 16 – March 18, 2010, Closing Reception: Thursday, March 18, 6-8pm

Anti-Prow, a project by PROW, the collaborative duo Peter Rostovsky and Olav Westphalen, art in general, 79 walker street, through March 10

Tobias Madison, Hydrate + Perform, Yes I Can! The Movie: Preview, March 8 – April 24, 2010, Opening Reception: Saturday, March 6, 2010, 6 - 8 PM, Swiss Institute, 495 Broadway 3rd Floor
LES
MUSEUM 52, 4 East 2nd Street: Benjamin Degen, ends April 2

South Brooklyn
“Kiki Smith: Sojourn” continues through Sept. 12 at the Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, at Prospect Park

LIC
Flux Factory, Housebroken, 39-31 29th Street, LIC, NY 11101, on view every Saturday and Sunday from 12 - 6 pm until March 21st

NOGUCHI MUSEUM: ‘NOGUCHI REINSTALLED,’ through Oct. 24, 9-01 33rd Road, at Vernon Boulevard

Queens
Daniel Bozhkov: Republik of Perpetual Reconstruction and Rebuild” and “Duke Riley: Those About to Die Salute You”, through March 13, Queens Museum of Art, New York City Building, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park

Vitrines

Weekly Show List

Upper East Side

JEWISH MUSEUM: ‘ALIAS MAN RAY: THE ART OF REINVENTION,’ through March 14, 1109 Fifth Ave, at 92nd St

Pablo Bronstein, THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, 1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street, October 6–April 18

“The Drawings of Bronzino,” the Met, through Apr 18

‘FROM THE GOTHIC TRADITION TO THE EARLY RENAISSANCE’, Moretti, 24 East 80th Street, Through Feb. 12

‘PAINTINGS OF FéLIX VALLOTTON’, Michael Werner, 4 East 77th Street, Through April 10

Midtown

“Miroslav Tichy” continues through May 9 at the International Center of Photography, 1133 Avenue of the Americas, at 43rd Street

“Demons and Devotions”, through May 2, Morgan Library & Museum, 225 Madison Avenue, at 36th Street

Rome After Raphael”, through May 9, Morgan Library & Museum, 225 Madison Avenue, at 36th Street

Steve McQueen, Marian Goodman Gallery, 24 West 57th Street, through March 6

THE ONASSIS CULTURAL CENTER: ‘THE ORIGINS OF EL GRECO: ICON PAINTING IN VENETIAN CRETE,’ 645 Fifth Avenue, near 52nd Street, through Feb. 27

Austrian Cultural Forum, 11 E. 52nd St., SOLACE, THURSDAY FEB 04 - SATURDAY MAY 15

Chelsea

Betty Cunningham, 541 West 25th Street, PEARLSTEIN/HELD: Five Decades, November 19, 2009 – February 13, 2010

Nari Ward, LIVESupport, at Lehmann Maupin Gallery, 540 W 26th St, 25 February - 17 April, 2010 

“Demons, Yarns & Tales,” James Cohan Gallery, 533 West 26th, through Feb. 13

“THE VISIBLE VAGINA”, FRANCIS M. NAUMANN FINE ART (24 West 57th Street) and DAVID NOLAN GALLERY (527 West 29th Street), January 28 – March 20, 2010

“Vertically Integrated Manufacturing”, MURRAY GUY, 453 West 17th Street, January 9–February 20

Cornelia Parker, D'AMELIO TERRAS, 525 West 22nd Street, January 9–February 13

Soho/Greenwich

ROBERT BLANCHON, Tracey/Barry Gallery, Bobst Library, New York University, 70 Washington Square South, Through Feb. 26

Anti-Prow, a project by PROW, the collaborative duo Peter Rostovsky and Olav Westphalen, art in general, 79 walker street, through March 10

LIC

NOGUCHI MUSEUM: ‘NOGUCHI REINSTALLED,’ through Oct. 24, 9-01 33rd Road, at Vernon Boulevard

Queens

Daniel Bozhkov: Republik of Perpetual Reconstruction and Rebuild” and “Duke Riley: Those About to Die Salute You”, through March 13, Queens Museum of Art, New York City Building, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park

Out of Town

Philadelphia, Notations/Bruce Nauman: Days and Giorni, November 21, 2009 - April 4, 2010

Longterm

Walter de Maria (through Dia), Wednesday-Sunday, 12-6pm (closed 3-3:30pm), Admission is free, The Broken Kilometer, 1979, 393 West Broadway

Recent and random useful quotes

"Teachers of Literature are apt to think up such problems as "What is the authors purpose?" or still worse "What is the guy trying to say?" Now, I happen to be the kind of author who in starting to work on a book has no other purpose than to get rid of that book and who, when asked to explain its origin and growth, has to rely on such ancient terms as Interreaction of Inspiration and Combination -- which, I admit, sounds like a conjurer explaining one trick by performing another."
-Vladimir Nabokov from "On a Book Entitled Lolita"

"like when you open your eyes sometimes, just to look without wanting to prove anything"
-Wem Wenders from "Tokyo-GA"

"Thinking, analyzing, inventing are not anomalous acts; they are the normal respiration of the intelligence.  To glorify the occasional performance of that function, to hoard ancient and alien thoughts, to recall with incredulous stupor that the doctor universalis thought, is to confess our laziness or our barbarity.  Every man should be capable of all ideas and I understand that in the future this will be the case."
-Jorge Luis Borges quoting his fictional character Menard in "Pierre Menard Author of the Quizote"

Hands

Review of Tino Sehgal at the Guggenheim Museum, Manhattan

How to fill a giant upwardly spiraling atrium when you don't make 'things'?  Tino's answer plays with the idea of ascension and progress on a couple of levels but fails to open any previously closed doors in artistic practice. It revolves but is not revolutionary. Not that every contemporary artist who shows in the massive space has to reinvent the wheel (or spiral as the case may be), but when you display only two works and set the drama level at full tilt by emptying the space completely, one would think the gesture that the artist has contrived will be pretty damn tight.  However, at best, this work represents a polishing and popularizing of tactics introduced at least five decades previous. At worst, it comes off as a half-baked effort of an artwork referencing its environment and being excessively self aware of its audience. An effort that one might legitimately feel their $18 admission fee didn't live up to (I went during the free hours and felt I got my money's worth).

Participatory, not generous, the "larger" of the two works is most of all a victim of obviousness spread thin. Without revealing the specifics in case some readers haven't yet experienced the work, as you ascend the spiral you find that the work evolves as a play on its setting. But unfortunately, that play is less intriguing and surprising as it is expected and banal. I can say that this installation belongs in this space, but it is also squashed by it. The experience is legitimate, fun, and real. However, sculpture-killer-Sehgal could probably take lessons in efficiency and efficacy from some of the objects he deems "unsustainable" (notwithstanding the Anish Kapoor monolith nearby...).

Another potential problem that I haven't verified after my one viewing is that those who don't speak English well, which I imagine could include a great many people at an internationally famous museum in New York City, would not be able to take part in the work which absolutely depends on the act of dialogue.  Also, the work is almost useless for children, an issue that I experienced first hand. While that may seem like a reaching critique, and certainly this work is not alone as contemporary art that ignores young eyes and brains, that fact highlighted a lack of forethought as to the many types of people who would show up. (Twenty-something artsy guy? You're in. Your three year old? Try to be patient, we'll get ice cream afterwards...)

Despite these problems, I left with one very specific memorable and sharp moment. While deep in discussion with a person (who was a part of "the sculpture") about the complexities of gender identity, she suddenly disappeared and was replaced by a new person who struck up an entirely new conversation. This was a dramatically humbling moment that made me feel in a certain way very human and dispensable. The effort I had thus put into formulating thoughts and answering questions vanished along with my dialogue partner. This element of 'reset' (not surprise because it wouldn't be the second time) seems to be the most successful part of Sehgal's efforts in this and other works and the most unique to the idea of sculpture. However, even this quality broke down at the climax when my partner at that point announced in a friendly way, "Okay, I have to leave you here now. Nice to have met you." These sorts of holes in the work, like the others mentioned before, could be looked past and almost expected in, say, a startup gallery on the Lower East Side, or a grad school critique. But in the zillion-cubic-feet atrium of one of the most famous and creatively exploited structures in the world that the artist emptied completely save his own sculpture/performance? The writing is on the curved wall.

Jean-Étienne Liotard

1. Frankish Woman from Galata and Her Servant

2. Turkish Woman with a Servant