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l2fmpnathan · 4 years ago

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Ruth Roots

ANDREW KREPS GALLERY22 CORTLANDT ALLEYNEW YORK, NY 10013TEL (212) 741-8849FAX (212)741-8863WWW.

ANDREWKREPS.COMRUTH ROOT Born 1967, Chicago, IL. Currently lives and works in New York City.

Education2003Yaddo1994 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture1993 MFA, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago 1990Brown UniversityAwards1996 National Endowment for the Arts, Mid-Atlantic Grant in Painting1996 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Painting Solo Exhibitions2019Forum, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA2017356 Mission, Los Angeles, CA2016Marta Carvery Gallery, Madrid2015Old, Odd & Oval, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT Andrew Kreps Gallery, Nailery Nikolaus Ruziicka, Salzburg, Austria2014The Dartmouth Experiment, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH2011The Suburban, Oak Park, IL2009Galerie Nikolaus Ruziicka, Salzburg, Austria Maureen Paley Gallery, London2008Gallery Minmi, Tokyo2007Andrew Kreps Gallery, New Yorkdale Marta Carvery, Madrid2005Galerie Nikolaus Ruzicska, Salzburg, Austria2004Maureen Paley Interim Art, LondonGaleria Marta Carvery, Madrid2003 Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York2001 Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York2000Galleria Franco Nero, Turin, Italy1999Andrew Kreps Gallery, New YorkMuseumExhibitions2018Inherent Structure, Wexner Centerport the Arts, Columbus, OH Surface/Depth, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY2015New York Painting, Kunst museum Bonn, Bonn, Germany2008Unique Act, Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane,Dublin2007Don’t Look.

Contemporary Drawings from an Alumna’s Collection Martina Yamen, class of 1958, Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA2005Extreme Abstraction, curated by Claire Schneider and Louis Gracchus, Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY2004City Maps, ArtPlace, San Antonio and TX.

ANDREW KREPS GALLERY22 CORTLANDT ALLEYNEW YORK, NY 10013TEL (212) 741-8849FAX (212)741-8863WWW.ANDREWKREPS.COM2003Permanent Collection On View, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles The ContemporaryArtProject Collection, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA2002Emotional Rescue: The ContemporaryArtProject Collection, Curated by Linda Farris, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WAS am collect –contemporary art project, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA2000Greater New York, Duplex solo installation, Curated by Klaus Eisenach and Laura Hauptman, PS1 Contemporary Art Centre, New York Group Exhibitions2019Painters Reply: Experimental Painting in the 1970s and now, curated by Alex Glauber and Alex Logsdail,Lisson Gallery, New York, NY2018Twist,fused/Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco, CA2018 Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY 2017Man Alive, Mariana Mercier, Brussels2016Looking Back, The 10thWhite Columns Annual –Selected by Matthew Higgs, White Columns, New York Life Eraser, Brand New Gallery, Milan Shapeshifters, Luring Augustine, New York The Congregation, Jack Hanley Gallery, New York 2014Les Plaisirs Démodé (The Old-Fashioned Way), Galerie Nikolaus Ruziicka, Salzburg, Austria2013Wit, The Painting Centre, New York2012To the Venetians II: Chris Martin, Matt Rich and Ruth Root, curated by Carrie Moyer and Dennis Congdon, RISD Painting Department Providence, RI2011-12The Indiscipline of Painting, Tate St. Ives, Cornwall, UK, touring to the Mead Gallery, University of Warwick, UK2009Trail Blazers in the 21st Century, The David and Ruth Robinson Eisenberg Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ Print, Mushroom Works, Newark upon Tyne, United Kingdom2008Take Me There Show Me The Way, Haunch of Venison, New York David Reed Studio, New York Gallery Minmi, Japan2007 NE integrity, Derek Eller Gallery, New York Bushels, Bundles & Barrels, Superfund Investment Centre, New York The Painting Show-Slipping Abstraction, Mead Gallery, Coventry, United Kingdom2006Untitled (for H.C. Westermann), The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, HI Ruth Root, Alex Brown, Cameron Martin, Sally Ross, Gallery Minmi, Tokyoite is, “what is it”, Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York2005The Early Show, White Columns, New York Trade, White Columns, New York2004Painting & Sculpture, Mark Moore Gallery, Santa Monica, CA2003Greetings from New York: A Painting Showalterian Thaddaeus Ropak, Salzburg, Austria20thAnniversary, Welcome Home, Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York2002Jump, Curated by Ross Nether, The Painting Centre, New York-Beam, Cynthia Brogan Gallery, New York Inheriting Matisse: The Decorative Contour in Contemporary Art, Curated by MichelleGrabner, Rocket Gallery, London Acme Gallery, Los Angeles Abstract Redux, Danes Gallery and New York.

ANDREW KREPS GALLERY22 CORTLANDT ALLEYNEW YORK, NY 10013TEL (212) 741-8849FAX (212)741-8863WWW.

ANDREWKREPS.COMState of the Gallery, Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York2001The Approximative, Galerie Ghislaine Huss not, Paris Painting show, Curated by Laura Owens, Chicago Project Room, Los Angeles2000 Fuel Serve, Curated by Kenny Schachter, Kenny Schachter/Rove, New York Salty Salute, Westing Art Space, Toronto Perfidy -Exhausted Embrace, Curated by Martyn Simpson and Daniel Sturgis, Convent Sainte Marie de La Tourette, Evreux, FranceKosmobiologie, Curated by Nancy Chaykin, Bellwether Gallery, Brooklyn, NY1999Fifteen, Deutsche Bank, Curated by Walter Robinson, New York Free Coke, Greene Naftali Gallery, New York1998Home and Away, Curated by Kirsty Bell, Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York Son-of-a-Gusto, Curated by Nina Bovisa, Clementine Gallery, New York Cambio, Part 2, Curated by Kenny Schachter, Museo Universitario Del Choop, Mexico City Sassy Nuggets, Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York New Museum Benefit Auction, Pierogi 2000 Portfolios, New York Superfreaks: Part II, Odyssey, Greene Naftali Gallery, New York1997Cambio, Curated by Kenny Schachter, 526 West 26th St., New York Wrong Place, Right Time, Curated by Giovanni Garcia-Fenech, Temporary Space, New York Vague Pop, Curated by Giovanni Garcia-Fenech, View room, New York1996The Experimenters, Curated by Kenny Schachter, Lombard-Fried Fine Arts, New York Taking Stock, Curated by Kenny Schachter, 25 Broad Street, New York Texas Meets New York, Curated by Kenny Schachter, Arlington Museum of Art, Arlington, Texas Bump, The Greene County Council on the Arts, Catskill, NY The Death of the Death of Painting, Curated by Kenny Schachter, New York1995Lookin’ Good, Feeling’ Good, 450 Gallery, New York Eat or Be Eaten/ Painting, Not Painting, Anderson Gallery, Buffalo, NYX-Sightings, Anderson Gallery, Buffalo, NY1994Crash, Thread Waxing Space, New YorkBibliography2017Gerwin, Daniel.

“Ruth Root” Artform, September2016 Hodari, Susan. “

Painting Overtakes Pixels in Aldrich Museum Exhibition.”

The New York Times, 18 February2015Biswas, Allie. “

Ruth Root: ‘I love to see how artists create such a joy from colour’ “Studio International, December 17. Campbell, Andriana.

“Ruth Root.” Artforum.com, 13 July Pfeiffer, Produce. “Ruth Root.” Artform, October Vogel, Wendy. “The Lookout: Ruth Root” Art in America Online, 2 July Vogel, Wendy. “Ruth Root” Art in America, September Hawley, Anthony. “Ruth Root” The Brooklyn Rail, 8 September Yau, John. “Two Ways of Making Painting in the 21stCentury” Hyperallergic, 19 July The New Yorker, 27 JulySchwendener, Martha.

“Review: Ruth Root, Minimal and Opulent, at Andrew Kreps Gallery, The New York Times, 2July2009James, Nicholas, “Between Painting and Sculpture,” artslant.com, 25 January 2009.

ANDREW KREPS GALLERY22 CORTLANDT ALLEYNEW YORK, NY 10013TEL (212) 741-8849FAX (212)741-8863WWW.ANDREWKREPS.COMNickas, Bob.

“Colour and Structure.” Painting Abstraction: New Elements in Abstract Painting. London, UK. Phaedo Press. 2009Carrier, David. "Ruth Root.” aruspices 24/24 Fall -Winter2008McKeon, Belinda.

“Taking Root on Gallery Walls.” The Irish Times, March 11Maine, Stephen.

"Brand Boosters.” The New York Sun, March 6Ruth Root. The New Yorker, March 3Rosenberg, Karen.

"Ruth Root. “The New York Times, February 222007 “The Painting Show -Abstracts at Warwick University Mead Gallery.”24 Hour Museum.org. Kmart 15 Jannuzzi, Waldemar.”

The pleasures of undescriptive colour. “Times Online, February 182005Huntington, Richard. "A sampling of all things abstract—old and new.

“The Buffalo News, August 13 Flynn, Barbara. “Exhibition round-up: New York. “Artform. 546Rimanelli, David. "Greater New York 2005.” Artforum,MayColes, Alex. "Ruth Root.

“Modern Painters, May, p.112.De Chasse, Eric. "Painting (Cont'd).” art press, n310, March 2004Campagnola, Sonia.

"Ruth Root. “Flash Art, Summer Pozuelo, Abel H., "Ruth Rote Cultural, May Carpio, Francisco. "Ruth Root. “

ABC Cultural, June Pardo, Taneal. "Ruth Root. “Exit Express, June Boyce, Roger. “Ruth Root at Andrew Kreps Gallery.”

Art in America, February 2003Richard, Frances “Ruth Root: Andrew Kreps Gallery.”

Artforum,September Kerr, Merrily. “New York New York: Art Fragments from the Big Apple. “Flash Art, July-September Burton, Johanna. “Ruth Root. “Time Out New York, May 15-22“Ruth Root.”

www.flavorpill.com,May 10Smith, Roberta. “Ruth Root. “The New York Times, May 92002Pagel, David. “

Some Things Old, Some Things Mewls Angeles Times, May 102001Isé, Claudine. “Coughlan, Reeder, Root, Weatherford.” Team Celeste, September/October Schmirler, Sarah. “Gallery Beat. “

Art on Paper,July-AugustJohnson, Ken. “Ruth Root. “The New York Times, April 27Mahoney, Robert. “Ruth Root. “Time Out New York, May 10-17Naves, Mario. “These Paintings Are Watching You. “

The New York Observer, May 7Wehr, Anne. “Cigarette break. “Time Out New York, April 19-262000Cibulski, Dana Mouton. “New York. “Art Papers Magazine, November / December Conti, Tatiana. “Ruth Root. “Team Celeste, November Adult, Gary Michael. “Salty Salute at the West Wing Art Space.” The Globe and Mail, September 30Orange, Mark. “Greater New York.” Untitled,AutumnKino, Carol. “The Emergent Factor. “Art in America, July Hunt, David. “Symbiology. “Time Out New York, July 27Shave, Stuart. “Man Made.” idrapril Sumpter, Helen. “Ruth Root.” Hot Tickets, March Cook, Mark. “Ruth Root. “The Big Issue, March Cotter, Holland.

“New York Contemporary, Defined 150 Ways. “The New York Times, March 6Turner, Grady. “Beautiful Dreamers. “Flash Art, January-February 1999Cotter, Holland. “Ruth Root.”

Art in Review, The New York Times, March Pinchbeck, Daniel. “Ruth Root. “The Newspaper of New York and March.

ANDREW KREPS GALLERY22 CORTLANDT ALLEYNEW YORK, NY 10013TEL (212) 741-8849FAX (212)741-8863WWW.ANDREWKREPS.COMSchmerler, Sarah. “Ruth Root.” Time Out New York, March Sapid, Sue. “Met Life.” The Village Voice, March Turner, Grady.

“Son of a Gusto.” Flash Art, January1995“Eclectic Exhibition Opens at the Anderson Gallery. “Metro Weekend, November Huntington, Richard. “The Expected and Unexpected -A Fun Mix from Near and Far.”

The Buffalo News, July Huntington, Richard. “Nasty at Times. “The Buffalo News, December Victor, Mathieu. “Eat or Be Eaten.” Artvoice, NovemberCatalogues2015Smith-Stewart, Amy. Ruth Root: Old, Odd, and Oval.

The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum. Ridgefield, CT2014Artist-in-Residence Spring 2014: Ruth Root Paintings. Jaffe-Frieda Gallery, Hopkins Centre for the Arts, Dartmouth College.

Hanover, NH2005Schneider, Claire and Gracchus, Louis. Extreme Abstraction. Albright Knox Gallery. Buffalo, NY. The Buffalo Fine Arts Academy Reddy Young, Tara.2002Sam Collects Contemporary Art Projects.

Seattle Art Museum. Seattle, WA2001Dailey, Meghan and Gingers, Alison M. The Approximative. Mink Ranch Productions. Paris, France2000Groom, Simon. Perfidy: Surviving Modernism.

Kettle’s Yard. Cambridge, UK1999European Galleries. Art Forum Berlin. Berlin, Germany Swenson, Susan (ed.). Pierogi Press. vol. 3, New York, NY1997Schachter, Kenny. Cambio. Mexican Cultural Institute of New York.

New York, NYLectures2001Conversations with Contemporary Artists, MoMA, New York, NY Public Collections Austin Museum of Art, Austin, TX Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA Whitney Museum of American Art, New York and NY.

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simon-martin · 4 years ago

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THE DEGAS & THE SPHINX: for me one of the fascinating things about artworks in museums is not just what they represent and how they fit into wider art history, but the back story of who owned them and how. This Impressionist drawing by Edgar Degas ‘Femme se peignant’ c.1887-90 is one of the stars of ‘Degas to Picasso: International Modern Masters’ which opens at @pallanthousegallery today. It was in private ownership until it came to us in 2016 through the Acceptance in Lieu scheme from the estate of Stephen Brod. It once belonged to the American socialite Gladys Deacon, Duchess of Marlborough - the subject of a new biography by @hugovickers entitled ‘The Sphinx’ (after a statue of her at Blenheim Palace, which also has her distinctive eyes painted on the soffit of a portico - see pics here.) She was an art lover and painted by Giovanni Boldini and Sargent, and was friends with the sculptor Rodin, the painter Claude Monet and the novelist Marcel Proust, who confessed to a friend: ‘I never saw a girl with so much beauty, such magnificent intelligence, such goodness and charm.’ We assumed she had bought the drawing in 1918 from the sale of Degas’ collection by the dealer Durand-Ruel. But in fact Hugo recently found a will which revealed it was bequeathed to her in 1927 by her close friend the American lawyer and tennis champion Walter Berry, together with a Toulouse-Lautrec, a Gauguin and $20,000. She had attended the sale with Berry and they were clearly very close (he was also declared by novelist Edith Wharton to be the love of her life). Interestingly the Degas can be seen hanging in a photo of her London home Marlborough House (which features Lytton Strachey and Chips Channon). There’s so much to say about Gladys: that her father shot her mother’s lover, her rivalry with Consuelo Vanderbilt, her botched facelift that left paraffin wax slipping down her face, and her ending up in an asylum - but best to read Hugo’s book! #edgardegas #gladysdeacon #blenheimpalace #hugovickers #degastopicasso @blenheimpalace @claudia_rosencrantz (at Pallant House Gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/CIaQISfF7tZ/?igshid=1t31taeo38u0l

#edgardegas #gladysdeacon #blenheimpalace #hugovickers #degastopicasso

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micaramel · 5 years ago

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Artist: Isaac Julien

Venue: Jessica Silverman, San Francisco

Exhibition Title: Isaac Julien’s America

Date: March 15 – April 25, 2020

Click here to view slideshow

Full gallery of images, press release and link available after the jump.

Images:

Images courtesy of the artist, Victoria Miro, London and Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco

Press Release:

Jessica Silverman Gallery is pleased to present Isaac Julien’s America, a solo show of new and historic works about the struggle for freedom and equality in a globalized world. The show is inspired by three pioneers: Frederick Douglass, an ex-slave, orator and the most photographed man of the nineteenth century; Matthew Henson, the African-American explorer who discovered the North Pole; and Angela Davis, the radical feminist and former Black Panther turned social justice activist. The photographic works in the exhibition interrogate and “creolize” the genres of portraiture, landscape, costume drama and Blaxploitation film. Together, they explore an imaginary country with expansive borders, a cluster of historical subcultures that are united by their desire for pride and self-possession, a diaspora vision that seeks to infiltrate contemporary America’s sense of itself.

Julien’s perspective on America has its roots in long personal letters written by his grandfather, who lived in Brooklyn, NY, to his mother, who resides in London, England. Throughout his childhood, Julien’s St Lucian parents regularly discussed the prospect of re-uniting with family and pursuing a better life by migrating to North America. However, the artist didn’t end up stepping foot on American soil (or meeting a grandparent) until he was 24 years old when he attended an independent film conference in Manhattan. Since 1984, Julien has lived in the US on and off and, in 1989, set Looking for Langston in Harlem.

Lessons of the Hour* (2019) re-imagines significant moments in the life and work of Frederick Douglass. Created in consultation with Professor Celeste-Marie Bernier, the work is informed by three prophetic speeches by Douglass – “What to the Slave is the 4th of July?,” “Lecture on Pictures” and his final talk, “Lessons of the Hour.” Shot in Washington, D.C., England and Scotland, Lessons of the Hour has an intriguingly ambiguous geography and features a range of historical figures committed to human rights, including: J.P. Ball, the African-American photographer; Anna Murray and Helen Pitts, Douglass’ wives; Anna and Ellen Richardson, the English Quaker sisters who purchased Douglass’s freedom; and Susan B. Anthony, the suffragist who was his longtime friend.

Isaac Julien’s America features large scale color photographs from Lessons of the Hour and small black-and-white tintypes, titled Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow after a poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar, one of the first African-American writers to acquire an international reputation, who Douglass once described as “the most promising colored man in America.” Lessons of the Hour is also comprised of a ten-screen film installation, which premiered at Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, New York, and will open at the McEvoy Foundation for the Arts in San Francisco on May 29th.

Julien’s Baltimore (2003) was shot outside in the city’s streets and inside three of its museums – the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum, the Peabody Library and the Walters Art Museum. These works pay homage to the style, language and iconography of 1970s Blaxploitation films (particularly Melvin Van Peebles’ 1971 classic, Sweet Sweetback’s Badassss Song) and offer surreal allegories of race, class and cultural history. The project bears witness to Julien’s desire to “put the future, the past, and the present in the same time frame” and to see beauty in Afrocentric culture.

One of the Baltimore photographs features a waxwork of Ida B. Wells, a journalist and black suffragette who led an anti-lynching crusade in the 1890s, which has been transported two miles from the Great Blacks in Wax Museum to one of the Baroque rooms of the Walters Art Museum. Julien creates an amusingly unconventional image wherein the viewer looks over the shoulder of Ida, whose gaze is directed at a painting of the naked white torso of Saint Paul the Hermit.

True North (2004) is a mediation on the sublimity of diaspora, loosely inspired by the story of the black American explorer, Matthew Henson, who went to the North Pole with Robert Peary and four Inuit and later wrote an account of his experience. In this body of work, black faces are set against white snow in the midst of a vast landscape and an endless journey. The trek is both existential, universally human as well as political and community-specific. Sisyphus, who can never escape Hades, meets the slave, who has a chance of fleeing the South. Or the Book of Job meets Booker T. Washington’s Up from Slavery (1901). In many cases, the role of the intrepid explorer is occupied by an Amazonian beauty or noble warrior, a gender shift that begs many questions.

Evoking different times and spaces, Isaac Julien’s America probes the symbiotic relations between identity and land, blood and country, growth and travel. Ever hopeful and constructively critical, Julien focusses on the positive lessons relevant to our hour.

Isaac Julien (b. 1960, London UK) splits his time between London, England, and Santa Cruz, California. He has had many solo shows at museums, including: the Museum of Modern Art, NY; Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; Art Institute of Chicago; Milwaukee Art Museum; Bass Museum of Art, Miami; Saint Louis Art Museum; Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover; SESC Pompeia, São Paulo; and the Aspen Art Museum. Julien was awarded the title Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Queen’s Birthday Honors, 2017. Julien is Distinguished Professor of the Arts at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he and Professor of the Arts Mark Nash teach within the Isaac Julien Lab.

*Lessons of the Hour was commissioned by the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester with the partnership of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond.

Link: Isaac Julien at Jessica Silverman

from Contemporary Art Daily https://bit.ly/2yl6hBe

#micaramel

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caveartfair · 6 years ago

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Inside the Eccentric World of Ethical Taxidermy Art

When looking at something like a taxidermied Janus kitten—that is, a tiny feline with two faces—one might assume that its maker had a rather dark view of animal life. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“Being able to give something another life, elevating it into something beyond death—that gives me chills,” said Divya Anantharaman, one of New York’s best-known practitioners in the modern taxidermy movement and the maker of the taxidermied Janus kitten, which was a special commission for the person who cared for the animal during its short life. “[Taxidermy] is very emotional and humbling,” Anantharaman added. “The thing I think the most often is: Don’t mess it up.”

Courtesy of Divya Anantharaman.

This reverence for the deceased is common among a contemporary breed of taxidermists. Far from the traditional profile of gruff men in rural areas mounting animals they hunted to display as trophies, today’s innovative taxidermists are younger and more diverse, and they tend to live in urban environments and skew heavily female. They often work with small creatures like birds and rodents rather than hulking deer or bears, and they’re pursuing their craft ethically—acquiring animals that have died naturally, and thus distancing the art of taxidermy from the pursuit of hunting. And while they’re often trained in traditional practices, many favor turning out artistic creations that depart from the way the animals looked while alive. They’re breathing new life into a centuries-old discipline, pursuing it with joy, respect, humor, and heart.

Taxidermy’s weird and wild Victorian roots

Victorian stuffed animals created by taxidermist Walter Potter at Potter’s Museum of Curiosity in Bolventor, Cornwall. Photo by Graham French/BIPs/Getty Images.

The word “taxidermy” comes from the Greek taxis, meaning “arrangement,” and derma, “skin.” The art form as we know it today—animal skins stretched over wooden or foam forms, either in imitation of or deviation from the way the animals looked when alive—dates back to the Victorian era. At that time, scientists and explorers began preserving unusual creatures found far afield for education and research, and aristocrats started to display stuffed exotic animals in their homes to flaunt their wealth.

Through early museums and international fairs, taxidermied creatures began to gain popular favor. In London in 1851, the Great Exhibition (the precursor to the World’s Fair) boasted extensive taxidermy installations. Many of them were inaccurate pastiches cobbled together from a motley assortment of faraway beasts and birds. Stateside, naturalist and explorer Henry Augustus Ward achieved renown for preserving buffalo heads for Buffalo Bill and elephants for P.T. Barnum. He founded Ward’s Natural Science, which is still open today, to showcase taxidermy collections made by himself and others; it was there that the Society of American Taxidermists was founded in 1880.

Hermann Ploucquet, The Kittens at Tea — Miss Paulina Singing, 1851. Via Wikimedia Commons.

The seeds for today’s alternative taxidermists were laid in the Victorian era, as well. One of the most popular attractions at the Great Exhibition was Hermann Ploucquet’s anthropomorphic tableaux—in which the animals were posed in human-like attitudes and situations—featuring fanciful scenes like hedgehogs ice-skating and a weasel teaching a classroom full of rabbits. Walter Potter, the Victorian age’s best-known anthropomorphic taxidermist, opened a private museum in 1861 to showcase his creations; he’d taxidermied 10,000 animal specimens by the end of his life. His elaborate displays included scenarios like kittens drinking tea and playing croquet at a garden party, squirrels smoking cigars and playing poker, and rabbits studying in a classroom.

Traditional taxidermy goes rogue

Courtesy of Amber Maykut.

By the end of 20th century, taxidermy had become a fairly rural folk art that enabled (mostly) men to show off the animals they had hunted. New practitioners learned techniques through books and apprenticeships, and state organizations occasionally offered classes to the public. “It was something of a guarded mystery,” said Anantharaman. Taxidermy instruction was found in books, she explained, and if you didn’t have them, you were hard-pressed to gain the necessary knowledge.

Even a decade ago, when Anantharaman was finding her way into the pursuit, it wasn’t easy to get a lot of practical advice. She sought out instructional manuals and videos, but her early attempts weren’t very successful, so she began to attend state shows and events hosted by professional organizations. Through those experiences and the people she met, Anantharaman’s confidence and ability grew.

Amber Maykut, who runs the Greenpoint-based Brooklyn Taxidermy and teaches classes in both anthropomorphic and traditional taxidermy, had similar difficulties when she was starting out. “Years ago, I had to drive to Rochester to learn how to mount a deer head, or fly to California to learn how to mount a bird,” she said. Eventually, she found a mentor, Mark Van Leuven, owner of Buckshot Taxidermy in New Jersey.

“They don’t teach how to make a mouse look like a ballerina; they teach how to mount a deer.”

“On paper, you’d think we’d never get along,” Maykut said. “He’s an older, rural, traditional taxidermist and hunter. He loves Trump, God, [and] guns, and he hates New York City and anthropomorphic taxidermy. But he’s a fantastic teacher; he treats me like one of his daughters, and we have a mutual respect for our different clientele. I think he’s happy to [pass] on taxidermy to someone who cares.”

Maykut is now well-known for her alternative taxidermy: Her Etsy shop has featured a chipmunk paddling in a canoe, frogs playing with a Ouija board, and a punk-rock mouse sporting a mohawk and standing atop a pile of tiny records. But at first, this kind of experimental work was driven by mistakes. “I’d often be ‘inspired’ to dress up [the animals] due to covering up damage or slippage (like hair falling out), letting the clothes or props serve as Band-Aids for ‘happy accidents,’” Maykut explained. She’s come a long way since those early days, having had her work featured everywhere from the New York Times and National Geographic to shows on Oxygen and Discovery. She’s also made custom pieces for the likes of John Waters and Neil Patrick Harris.

Courtesy of Amber Maykut.

Anantharaman, who now works mostly with birds and small animals (like mice and squirrels) at her studio in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, also benefited from traditional training. “State associations don’t teach how to make a mouse look like a ballerina; they teach how to mount a deer,” she explained. “But the techniques are similar—once you learn how to do it with a deer, you can figure out how to do it with a chipmunk.” Today, her clients include the Audubon Society, the Walters Art Museum, and a number of galleries. She’s written a how-to guide to modern taxidermy, and has won national awards in both traditional and alternative taxidermy.

Around the time Anantharaman and Maykut were honing their skills, another woman’s passion project arrived to help spread interest in and attention to the taxidermy movement in New York City. Joanna Ebenstein started a small research library in an arts incubator in Gowanus, Brooklyn, in 2008; it was filled with her personal collection of books and esoterica concerning things like death rituals and medical oddities. She began curating an event series across Brooklyn with esoteric lectures and classes, including anthropomorphic taxidermy workshops.

Courtesy of Divya Anantharaman.

The workshops—where both Maykut and Anantharaman were teachers—were a huge hit among curious hipsters and crafters, often with as many as 600 people on the waiting list. In 2014, Ebenstein brought her library and events together under one roof when she opened the Morbid Anatomy Museum in Gowanus. That same year, she co-authored Walter Potter’s Curious World of Taxidermy, which helped to disseminate whimsical Victorian taxidermy to a young, modern audience. In 2016, she was able to mount the exhibition “Taxidermy: Art, Science & Immortality Featuring Walter Potter’s Kittens’ Wedding” at the Morbid Anatomy Museum—yet, sadly, it was the museum’s final show before it closed.

The loss of Morbid Anatomy didn’t slow the demand for alternative taxidermy classes in Brooklyn. Anantharaman still teaches them regularly at spots like the quirky House of Wax museum and cocktail bar in downtown Brooklyn, and she has become something of a figurehead for New York City’s alternative taxidermy movement. Her whimsical creations include a pigeon adorned with a plethora of pearls, a deer head encrusted with multicolored flowers, and a fawn being overtaken by vines and butterflies. She also curates events to bring alternative taxidermists together, like the recent Wunderkammer showcase and competition held at the Bell House in Gowanus.

Anantharaman has also designed and built several taxidermy pipes for the Bronx Pipe Smoking Society’s annual Small Game Dinner. The pipes are inspired by founder Justin Fornal’s studies of animal totems around the world—particularly those from the Tremper Mound in Ohio, which were carved in the shapes of animal heads, “so that when you’re smoking, you’re seeing through that animal’s eyes, harnessing that animal’s spirit,” Fornal has explained. One of Anantharaman’s favorites was a bobcat pipe. “The cat is in an exaggerated roar with gilded teeth and eyes, framed by antique metalwork, looking partly like taxidermy and partly like a temple sculpture,” she described.

Courtesy of Divya Anantharaman.

These sorts of assemblages put her in line with the outer fringes of “rogue taxidermy,” the movement begun by Sarina Brewer, Scott Bibus, and Robert Marbury, who founded the Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists in 2004. The artists classify their work not as a subcategory of traditional taxidermy, but something else altogether: “A genre of pop-surrealist art characterized by mixed-media sculptures containing conventional taxidermy-related materials that are used in an unconventional manner.”

Artists around the world are pursuing this eclectic art form, like Ave Rose, who devises sculptural automata incorporating intricate metalwork and taxidermied elements, and Brooke Weston, who creates tiny dioramas inside the throats or bellies of taxidermied deer, cows, rams, and other animals.

Navigating taxidermy’s technical and legal shifts

In the very early days of taxidermy, it was a crude affair. Animals were sliced open, gutted, stuffed with straw or cotton, and sewn up. Decay and infestation were widespread problems until bird skin collector Jean-Baptist Bécœur developed an arsenic-based soap that worked as an insecticide. This was used throughout the Victorian era, despite knowledge of arsenic’s toxicity.

Stuffing went out of favor in the 1970s, and these days, animal skins are removed before being tanned or treated with safe chemicals or salt, then mounted on forms made of foam or very light wood. The forms can be shaped into different positions and cut down to just the right size. A similar process is used for birds, though the skins are only cleaned, not tanned. “A bird’s skin is just like leather,” Anantharaman explained. “You groom it with tweezers, feather by feather.”

Artist Kate Clark, whose sculptural work involves a great deal of taxidermy, has mastered the process of working with large animals. “You put the hide on [the form] and it’s like this huge wet carpet—it’s so heavy,” she explained. “You stretch it, you take it off, you gently carve the form down, then you do it again and again until it fits.”

Kate Clark, Licking the Plate, 2013. Photo by Nicole Cordier. Courtesy of Kate Clark.

Kate Clark, She Gets What She Wants, 2013. Photo by Nicole Cordier. Courtesy of Kate Clark.

Clark does this in her studio in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Her main body of work consists of huge taxidermied animals, from antelope to zebras to coyotes, with human faces sculpted onto the bodies. She sources the animals’ skin from hide dealers, often looking specifically for those that have been damaged or “shelved,” meaning they can’t be used for traditional taxidermy. Clark’s work, which has been shown locally and internationally since 2008, has broad cultural reach: Photos of her pieces appear in MacArthur Fellowship–winning essayist Claudia Rankine’s book Citizen, and Kanye West’s production team commissioned her to make a mask for Desiigner to wear in his music video for “Panda” a few years ago. “Of course, it’s not really panda hide, which would be illegal,” Clark said. “It’s black bear and white antelope.”

Clark has to be very careful about paperwork and licenses, because state and federal organizations track the sale of animal hides. Many years ago, she made a piece from two wolves, but now, the sale of wolf hides has become illegal. “Animals come in and out of being allowed for sale, so I may own this piece forever,” she explained.

Taxidermy’s evolving ethics

Ethical issues are at the forefront of most modern taxidermists’ minds. “There’s certainly a new perspective on taxidermy that stems from urban demographics and sensibilities,” Maykut noted. Practitioners want to show “that the taxidermy is ethical, that the animals’ deaths are not related to the art.” There are many ways to ethically source animals, primarily from zoos, aviaries, and wildlife refuges, where animals die naturally. Anantharaman noted that many urban taxidermists collect roadkill where it’s legal to do so, or acquire smaller critters from pet shops where they are sold, already deceased, as food for larger animals.

As with most other modern practitioners, both Anantharaman and Maykut have sections on their websites explaining their sustainable sourcing. These considerations become so prevalent that vegans and vegetarians are becoming involved in this work, like Julia DeVille, a vegan who makes taxidermy jewelry and states clearly that she will not work with any parts or bones of an animal that she cannot personally verify died of natural causes. “As long as it matches their ethics, they’re okay with it,” Maykut said. This is a testament to the new understanding of taxidermy art as a pursuit that’s separate from hunting.

Practitioners want to show “that the taxidermy is ethical, that the animals’ deaths are not related to the art.”

Anantharaman regularly meets vegans and vegetarians in the classes she teaches. “They understand that this is a death that was part of the natural lifecycle,” she said. “It’s not something that has been tortured or cruelly attained.”

But there are ethics and then there are emotions. Having a rational understanding of the circumstances of an animal’s death is not necessarily enough to get someone ready to make art out of its remains. In her classes, Anantharaman is very sensitive to people’s reactions to what is typically their first attempt at this kind of craft. “People definitely get emotional about it,” she said. “I say, ‘Go nice and slow. Take a break. Sit with that emotion for a bit.’”

The emotional power of taxidermy close to home

Portrait of Kate Clark with Behaving, 2016. Photo by Frank Marshal. Courtesy of Kate Clark.

For Clark, the emotional resonance is part of the power of her work. “If I could use something other than hide, I would,” she explained, “but there is nothing else that has this kind of energy.” She uses human models for her sculptures’ faces and has made pieces modelled after both of her young daughters: a zebra called She Gets What She Wants (2013) and a bear cub called Behaving (2016). “The younger animals are just so lovely, with these huge paws and gentle faces,” she reflected, noting that she cherishes the memories of her daughters sitting for the works. She Gets What She Wants is now in a museum in Miami, and Clark recently sold Behaving to a collector in New Jersey. “As we put it in my car, my whole family was like, ‘Oh no, goodbye sweet piece!’ They were really attached to it,” she recalled.

Although taxidermy is something she does all day long, Anantharaman says she would not be comfortable using taxidermy to preserve one of her own pets. An animal lover who volunteers with conservancy groups, she cares for her own (living) menagerie: three cats, two birds, a snake, and a colony of dermestid beetles. “I know myself and my own way of processing things, and it’s not for me,” she said. “But it’s so personal. Lots of people want a grieving tool, like a clean skull or a preserved paw.” Pet taxidermy is not something she advertises, but she has done it on occasion. “I’ll do it for people sometimes, after talking to them for a long time about death and animals and how they impact us,” she explained.

“Lots of people want a grieving tool, like a clean skull or a preserved paw.”

All of this gets at the uneasy relationship we as humans have with death, and where we draw the (often arbitrary) line between what is and isn’t an acceptable use of something that was once alive. “Some people think it’s messed up to use animals as decoration, and I’m like, ‘Okay, I hope you get rid of all your leather purses,’” said Anantharaman. “Christian Louboutin uses tons of dead animals in his work—they’re leather shoes! But no one cares about that. People are just uncomfortable with dead [animals] if they have a face, because that reminds you of what it once was. To me, that reminder is much more respectful, as opposed to getting [so far] away from its natural form.”

Clark has had similar frustrations. “I think it’s a lot like what we do with eating meat,” she said. “You get your chicken breast wrapped in plastic, but then if you buy one and it has a feather, there’s this jarring moment. The world of taxidermy is just a stepping stone in a much bigger conversation about our relationship with animals.”

The future (of taxidermy) is female

Interview view of the Evolution Store. Courtesy of the Evolution Store.

Julianna Stevens, the president of the Evolution Store in SoHo, has witnessed the changing demographics of the taxidermy community. The shop has sold collectibles and artifacts like skeletons, mounted specimens, and preserved fossils since Stevens’s father, William, opened it in 1993. “My dad always had a really dedicated following,” she said. “Mostly older white men: collectors, people really interested in this esoteric natural-history world. And then it changed. Instead of the stuffy professor we’d always seen, nowadays, our demographic is much younger, more diverse, and much more female.”

It may seem surprising that women are charting the future of taxidermy, but there’s historical precedent for it. At the turn of the 19th century, both fashion and leisure led many women to craft with animal parts. Victorian housewives and aristocratic ladies spent much of their downtime on “fancywork,” which is commonly understood to mean needlepoint or ornamental crocheting, but it often included using materials that allowed urban women to engage with nature, such as shells, mosses, feathers, and insects. Magazines and books from the late 1800s encouraged women to try their hands at bird and bug taxidermy in order create decorations for their homes, bonnets, and frocks. It was not uncommon to see stuffed hummingbird earrings, gowns embroidered with fish scales, and hats adorned with shiny, multicolored beetles.

There were famous professional female taxidermists of the era, as well. “It’s like every other part of history,” said Anantharaman. “Women have been there. You just don’t hear a lot of their stories.”

Australians Jane Catharine Tost and her daughter Ada Jane Rohu were pioneers in both taxidermy and female entrepreneurship. Together, they exhibited their award-winning work internationally, and in 1872, they opened their own establishment, later named Tost & Rohu, which was called “the queerest shop in Australia.” There, they sold their pieces along with historical artifacts and curiosities.

Images of Martha Maxwell in 1876. Via Wikimedia Commons.

In America in the 1860s, Martha Maxwell was a trailblazing field naturalist: the first woman in the profession to collect her own animal specimens. Over two decades, she developed new techniques in taxidermy and created hundreds of pieces—including an unprecedented habitat of live and taxidermied animals at the World’s Fair in Pennsylvania in 1876. She was met with such incredulity and hostility from visitors, who couldn’t believe these creations hadn’t been made by a man, that she added a sign to the exhibit, calling it “Women’s Work.”

“The questions she got asked are the same questions people troll me with,” Anantharaman remarked—questions like “‘How can a woman do this?’ ‘What kind of woman does this?’ ‘How could you kill that animal?’” she continued. “People say the exact same things to me, except they type them on the internet.”

“Some people might think it’s morbid, but it’s about coming to terms with death.”

There are women everywhere at the Oddities Flea Market in Brooklyn—an eclectic pop-up marketplace featuring medical history ephemera, anatomical curiosities, osteological specimens, and plenty of taxidermy art and accessories. “We have a huge female demographic,” said Ryan Matthew Cohn, the market’s curator. “I’d say it’s close to 80 percent—both customers and vendors.” His wife and business partner, Regina, added that it isn’t just the people who physically attend the markets. “Last I checked, 79 percent of our Instagram followers are women, too,” she said.

The internet and social media have also made these kinds of pursuits much more accessible to a broader audience. These days, ��taxidermy isn’t something you have to go to school for or encounter for the first time in a library or lecture hall,” Stevens explained. “It’s something you can see on Instagram or at the flea market.” And it’s not only in the alternative taxidermy world that women are ascendant: “At the New England Association of Taxidermists, our president is a woman,” said Anantharaman, referring to Cathy Gearwar. “She’s a badass, incredibly talented, and she does really cool work. And you see more young women coming to the association all the time.”

Courtesy of Amber Maykut.

Ultimately, each person’s understanding of and ability to appreciate taxidermy will be deeply personal. “Some people might think it’s morbid, but it’s about coming to terms with death,” Anantharaman said. What seems to link all the modern practitioners of this art together is an abiding respect for the cycle of life, a reverence for their craft, and a deep desire to honor animals.

“The thing about my work is taking something that’s dead and bringing it back to life,” said Clark. “I’m done with the piece when it has magically transformed, when it actually has the life I want it to have.”

from Artsy News

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arthisour-blog · 8 years ago

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The Beheading of Saint Paul Vincenzo Foggini, Alessandro Algardi (after)originally modelled 1643-1647; this example before 1753 From the collection of Los Angeles County Museum of Art Details Title: The Beheading of Saint Paul Creator: Vincenzo Foggini, Alessandro Algardi (after) Location: Italy Physical Dimensions: Diameter: 19 in. (48.26 cm); Depth: 1 3/4 in. (4.45 cm) Medium: Wax on plaster base-layer Object Classification: Sculpture Full Title: The Beheading of Saint Paul Curatorial Area: European Sculpture Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by Neal Castleman and Ellen Hoffman-Castleman by exchange, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Zifkin, Suzanne Deal Booth and David G. Booth, and Mr. and Mrs. Alexander L. Cappello Chronology: 1751-1800, 1701-1750 Artwork Accession Number: M.2001.149

Los Angeles County Museum of Art Los Angeles, United States

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is the largest art museum in the western United States. A museum of international stature as well as a vital part of Southern California, LACMA shares its vast collections through exhibitions, public programs, and research facilities that attract over a million visitors annually. LACMA’s collections encompass the geographic world and virtually the entire history of art. Among the museum’s special strengths are its holdings of Asian art, housed in part in the Bruce Goff-designed Pavilion for Japanese Art; Latin American art, ranging from pre-Columbian masterpieces to works by leading modern and contemporary artists including Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and Jose Clemente Orozco; and Islamic art, of which LACMA hosts one of the most significant collections in the world.

Alessandro Algardi Jul 31, 1598 – Jun 10, 1654

Alessandro Algardi was an Italian high-Baroque sculptor active almost exclusively in Rome, where for the latter decades of his life, he was, along with Francesco Borromini and Pietro da Cortona, one of the major rivals of Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

The Beheading of Saint Paul Vincenzo Foggini, Alessandro Algardi 1643-1647 was originally published on HiSoUR Art Collection

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nofomoartworld · 8 years ago

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Hyperallergic: Art Movements

Opening of “Monument,” a temporary art installation by Manaf Halbouni on the historical Neumarkt in Dresden, in front of the Church of Our Lady, Tuesday 7th of February (photo by David Brandt, courtesy Kunsthaus Dresden)

Art Movements is a weekly collection of news, developments, and stirrings in the art world.

Around 150 anti-immigration protesters gathered in Dresden to disrupt the unveiling of Manaf Halbouni‘s “Monument,” a public sculpture dedicated to the people of Aleppo. The sculpture, which consists of three upturned buses fastened together with wire, refers to a photograph of a barricade built on the streets of Aleppo in 2015. According to Christiane Mennicke-Schwarz, the artistic director of the Dresden Kunsthaus, the opening was disrupted by chants of “traitors” and “get lost.”

Sotheby’s filed a second lawsuit over the sale of a group of Old Master paintings that it believes to be forgeries. The auction house filed a lawsuit against art dealer Mark Weiss and collector David Kowitz in order to recover the profits of the 2011 private sale of “Portrait of a Man,” which Sotheby’s attributed to Frans Hals at the time. In a statement, Weiss said that he “intends to contest the claim vigorously.”

The Louvre Museum was reopened less than 24-hours after a man attacked a French soldier with a machete. An Egyptian Interior Ministry official identified the attacker as 28-year-old Abdullah Reda Refaie al-Hamahmy.

German prosecutors announced that a 36-year-old Tunisian man arrested on terrorism charges is also being held for his suspected involvement in the 2015 attack on the Bardo Museum in Tunis.

The Bombay High Court rejected Chintan Upadhyay‘s bail application. The artist stands accused of murdering his wife Hema and her lawyer Haresh Bhambani.

Pontormo, “Portrait of a Young Man in a Red Cap” (1530) (courtesy DCMS)

American hedge fund manager Tom Hill rejected a £30.7 million ($38.4 million) matching offer from London’s National Gallery for the purchase of Pontormo’s “Portrait of a Young Man in a Red Cap” (1530), a decision he attributes to the fall in the pound’s value. The UK government is likely to refuse a permanent export licence as a result. An export bar was placed on the work in 2015.

Hundreds of artists, dealers, critics, and curators signed an open letter opposing President Donald Trump’s executive order banning non-US citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries.

A report by Bloomberg identified Oprah Winfrey as the former owner of Gustav Klimt’s “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II” (1912). The work was privately sold to an Asian buyer last year for a reported $150 million. An unnamed source told Bloomberg that it was Winfrey who purchased the work at Christie’s for $87.9 million in 2006.

The New Art Dealers Alliance announced that it will donate half the ticket proceeds from its upcoming New York fair to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Tracey Emin and gallerist Xavier Hufkens are two of five benefactors funding a four-year scholarship for three Syrian refugees at Bard College Berlin. The scholarships are part of the Program for International Education and Social Change.

A book of Tahitian photographs taken by Jules Agostini is thought to contain images of Paul Gauguin and his mistress Pahura. Two albums of Agostini’s photographs — a friend of the artist — were sold at auction in July 2015, one of which was acquired by art dealer Daniel Blau.

A group photograph by Jules Agostini allegedly showing Gauguin in Tahiti (© Daniel Blau, Munich)

Archaeologists discovered a cave in the Judean desert that is thought to have housed a collection of Dead Sea scrolls.

The FBI repatriated Franse Verzijl’s “Young Man as Bacchus” to the Max and Iris Stern Foundation.

A search of the State Hermitage Museum’s Staraya Derevnya restoration and repository center by the Federal Security Service (FSB) was part of an investigation into “operational procedures” according to the museum’s director, Mikhail Piotrovsky. As noted by the Art Newspaper, the FSB’s search coincided with Piotrovsky’s criticism of the Russian government’s decision to transfer control of St Isaac’s Cathedral from museum officials to the Russian Orthodox Church.

A portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by photographer David Bailey was reissued to mark the monarch’s sapphire jubilee.

Attendance to the UK’s major museums and galleries fell by almost 1.4 million last year according to a report by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport — the first decline in almost a decade.

A collection of water-damaged recordings of Bob Marley‘s concerts were restored following a $31,200 project. The 13 tapes — two of which were blank and one ruined — were discovered in the basement of a run-down hotel in Kensal Rise, London.

Transactions

Jacob Lawrence, “Builders #1” (1968), gouache and tempera on paper, 29 x 21 1/2 in, Colby College Museum of Art, the Lunder Collection (photo by Peter Siegel, Pillar Digital Imaging LLC. © 2017 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society, ARS, New York)

Peter and Paula Lunder donated over 1,100 artworks to the Colby Colby College Museum of Art.

The Canadian government allocated $5.1 million from the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund to the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada.

Jeanne and Michael L. Klein donated 28 video works to the Blanton Museum of Art. The gift includes works by Tania Bruguera, Isaac Julien, Pipilotti Rist, and Javier Téllez.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation donated $400,000 toward the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver‘s “Animating Museums” program.

MCH group acquired a 25.1% stake in art.fair International, the organizer of Art Düsseldorf. The Swiss conglomerate acquired 60.3% of the shares in Seventh Plane Pvt. Ltd in New Delhi, the organizer of the India Art Fair, last September.

The Columbia Museum of Art acquired works by Bing Davis, Renée Cox, Michaela Pilar Brown, and Colin Quashie — all of whom took part in the museum’s 2016 exhibition REMIX: Themes and Variations in African-American Art.

Renée Cox, “Liberation of Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben” (1998), dye destruction print, Diasec mounted, 8 1/2 x 61 1/2 in, museum purchase (courtesy Columbia Museum of Art)

Transitions

Peter Keller was appointed director general of the International Council of Museums.

Manuel de Santaren was appointed president of the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation.

Jock Reynolds will stand down as the director of the Yale Art Gallery next year.

The New York Times reported that Michelle D. Gavin stepped down as the director of The Africa Center over three months ago.

Karen Hindsbo was appointed director of Norway’s National Museum.

Laurel Ptak was appointed executive director of Art in General.

Silvia Filippini Fantoni was appointed director of programs and audience engagement at the North Carolina Museum of Art.

Dirk Boll was appointed president, Christie’s Europe, Middle East, Russia and India. Bertold Müeller was appointed managing director, Christie‘s Continental Europe, Middle East, Russia and India.

Sotheby’s appointed Adam Chinn as its chief operating officer.

Harry Dalmeny was appointed UK chairman of Sotheby’s.

Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro was appointed curator of the 2018 São Paulo Biennial.

Jen Graves resigned as art critic for The Stranger.

The 2017 Spring/Break Art Show will take place over two floors at 4 Times Square.

Tim Youd is now represented by the Cristin Tierney Gallery.

Washburn Gallery will vacate its space at 20 West 57th Street amid speculation that the building will be demolished for redevelopment.

Christie’s announced that it will open a new, 5,400-square-foot space in Beverly Hills, California.

Accolades

Hans Haacke, “Gift Horse” (2014), horse: bronze with black patina and wax finish stainless steel fasteners and supports, bow: 5mm flexible LED display stainless steel armature polycarbonate face, 15 ft 3 in x 14 ft 1 in x 5 ft 5 in (© Hans Haacke / Artists Rights Society, ARS, New York, photo by Hans Haacke, courtesy the artist and Paula Cooper Gallery, New York)

Hans Haacke was awarded the 2017 Roswitha Haftmann Prize.

Günter Herzog was awarded the 2017 Art Cologne Prize.

Opportunities

The Lower East Side Printshop is accepting applications for its one-year, Keyholder Residency program. Emerging artists have until March 1 to apply.

Obituaries

Marta Becket (1924–2017), dancer. Founder of the Amargosa Opera House.

Annette Cravens (unconfirmed–2017), artist and arts patron.

Henry-Louis de la Grange (1924–2017), musicologist and critic. Biographer of Gustav Mahler.

Buchi Emecheta (1944–2017), writer.

Gwendolyn Gillen (1941–2017), sculptor.

Walter Hautzig (1921–2017), pianist.

Dame Jennifer Jenkins (1921–2017), former chair of the National Trust.

William Melvin Kelley (1937–2017), novelist.

Harry Matthews (1930–2017), writer.

Howard Frank Mosher (1942–2017), novelist.

David Shepard (1940–2017), film preservationist.

Rob Stewart (1979–2017), filmmaker. Best known for Sharkwater (2006).

Tzvetan Todorov (1939–2017), literary theorist and historian.

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missopalvega · 8 years ago

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Black History Month Events | Baltimore

There is no better time to explore Baltimore’s African American history than in February, when the city – an epicenter of black culture and heritage – hosts an array of events and exhibitions in honor of Black History Month. Even though I am an Atlanta based blogger I am aware that a large portion of my audience is in Baltimore so I am happy to share this list of Black History Month events happening in Baltimore!

Black History Month Events | Baltimore

A highlight of Baltimore’s Black History Month events will be Visit Baltimore’s inaugural Legends & Legacies Jubilee on February 18 from 12 to 4 p.m. at the Baltimore Visitor Center. The free family-friendly event celebrates Baltimore’s African American heritage and culture, while encouraging inclusivity and community engagement. The city’s top cultural attractions – the Maryland Zoo, National Aquarium, National Great Blacks In Wax Museum, Port Discovery Museum, The Reginald F. Lewis Museum, The Walters Art Museum and The Maryland Historical Society – will be present and offer experiential activities, such as exploring the Civil Rights movement through story-telling. Attendees can also enjoy food, music and historical reenactors.

Those looking to delve into Baltimore’s black history year-round can take advantage of the Legends and Legacies Heritage Pass, which offers reduced admission to the city’s most popular African American attractions. Guests who visit The National Great Blacks In Wax Museum, The Reginald F. Lewis Museum and the Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park with the pass save 20% on ticket prices.

Black History Month events and exhibits in Baltimore include:

Every Saturday and Sunday in February, Historic Ships in Baltimore will offer its To Catch a Thief Tour, aboard the USS Constellation. Shortly before the Civil War, the ship fought against the international slave trade, and even pursued and captured the slave ship Cora, rescuing more than 700 captive Africans. The tour is available for all visitors and is included in regular admission to Historic Ships.

Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park, an educational and national heritage site that highlights African American maritime history, will offer free tours every Saturday in February, from noon to 4 p.m.

Baltimore Black Memorabilia Fine Art & Crafts Show will be held at Reginald F. Lewis Museum on Saturday, February 11 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The show will feature black memorabilia, fine art and crafts, as well as a book signing by Ilyasah Al-Shabazz, Malcolm X’s daughter.

Baltimore artists and entrepreneurs will participate in a discussion about the intersection between black artists and black-owned businesses at the Baltimore Museum of Art on Saturday, February 11 from 12 to 5 p.m. In addition to the panel, attendees are invited to a networking reception, vendor fair and free creative business skills workshop. Tickets must be reserved at www.artbma.org.

Kids can learn about the history of slavery during an interactive Tea and Tour at Mount Clare Museum House with American Girl Doll Addy Walker on February 25. The character of Addy was an enslaved girl who sought freedom with her mother in Philadelphia, and attending children ages 4 to 12 will learn about the difficult decisions Addy had to make, as well as her adjustment from slavery to freedom.

On display through February 28 is the “Makers of the Railroad: African Americans on the B&O” exhibit at B&O Railroad Museum. The exhibition explores the history of African Americans who served as porters, waiters, chefs and innovators on the railroad.

“Sons: Seeing the Modern African American Male” at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum is a photographic examination of African American men and how they’re perceived. Black History Month is a timely reason to visit the exhibit, which invites visitors to compare their perceptions to reality and learn of some of the challenges facing African American men today.

If you are a Baltimore resident please don’t let this be your only resource for Black History Month activities. There were too many to list so these are just highlights. No matter what city you are in with just a little bit of research you can find events and activities that are there just for you! Happy Black History Month!

How do you celebrate Black History Month?

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#Black History Month Events | Baltimore

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caveartfair · 6 years ago

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These Painters Abandoned Brushes for Sledgehammers, Chainsaws, and Blowtorches

Artists aren’t fans of rules. After studying art history and theory for years, many creative practitioners subvert all they’ve learned in order to make something that feels fresh and new. Painters, in particular, wrestle with age-old ideas about their craft—which can be traced all the way back to when the Neanderthals brushed pigment on cave walls. Naysayers have been purporting that “painting is dead” since photography gave society a new way to freeze momentary images into everlasting art. How, then, to keep it exciting?

One way that artists address this quandary is through innovative materials and processes. Abandoning that most traditional painting tool—the brush—allows for greater experimentation and radical new gestures (though it can often run the risk of seeming gimmicky). Many of the following artists transform the physical act of painting into a violent act, often literally destroying to create.

Niki de Saint Phalle

Niki de Saint Phalle is probably best known for her “Nanas”—totemic, colorfully patterned sculptures of female forms. While these are giant celebrations of women, de Saint Phalle also defied 1960s conventions of femininity as she decided to use a most unusual device to make paintings: a gun. Early in the decade, she began a series of “Tirs,” or “Shooting Pictures.” To make these, she affixed paint-filled plastic bags to canvases, then shot them so they’d explode and drip pigment down the linen. Bullet holes remained, lending a rough violence—and a sense of randomness and chance—to the surface. De Saint Phalle left the plastic bags on the surface and often incorporated other elements (mesh, a metal seat, leaves) into her strange assemblages. The artist began wearing a white suit during her shootings and inviting other prominent artists, such as Robert Rauschenberg, to wield the gun themselves; her artmaking became a communal event.

Lucien Smith

A Simple Twist of Fate 1, 2012. Lucien Smith Phillips

Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered 3, 2012. Lucien Smith Phillips

After Lucien Smith graduated from the Cooper Union in 2011, he began using a fire extinguisher to apply paint to canvas. The results, his “Rain Paintings,” are lightly speckled with blue, black, yellow, and red drops. Collectors immediately caught on, and by 2014, a single work could achieve six figures at auction. Critics were not so keen: In a now-iconic 2014 article for Artspace, Walter Robinson coined the term “Zombie Formalism” to describe an emerging style of painting in which artists use “a straightforward, reductive, essentialist method” that “brings back to life the discarded aesthetics of Clement Greenberg, the man who championed Jackson Pollock, Morris Louis, and Frank Stella’s ‘black paintings,’ among other things.” These artworks, Robinson claimed, sell well, but are ultimately vacuous. Smith, he alleged, was one of the main offenders—just because he was the first artist to use a fire extinguisher doesn’t make his work any good.

Abby Leigh

Competitive Skies 1, 2018. Abby Leigh Johannes Vogt Gallery

At first glance, Abby Leigh’s paintings look like lovely constellations of flowing lines and circles. Step closer, and the surfaces appear severely distressed—Leigh smashed them with a sledgehammer. The artist likens each mark to a scar, and the painting’s surface to a skin. To make the works, she layers wax, oil, pigment, and paint atop dibond, then pierces, sands, and otherwise assaults the material. Competitive Skies 2 (2018), for example, features intimate curlicue scribbles and stick figures alongside craters where the silver dibond peeps through—evidence of trauma, with displaced paint gathering around the edges. In Sand (2018), Leigh makes red marks against a light yellow background. Tracks and arrows suggest some kind of map, likening painting to cartography and placemaking. “Sledgehammering is an infliction of pain,” Leigh told Artsy. “But when I’m finished with the work, the end result can be much more delicate.”

Andy Warhol

Piss Painting, 1977-78. Andy Warhol Phillips

In the late 1970s, Andy Warhol brought abstraction into his practice, with the same cheekiness that had already made him a star of the Pop scene. To make his “Oxidation” series (1977–78), he first primed canvases with copper metallic paint. Then, he or his associates at the Factory urinated on the wet surface. The mixed materials catalyzed a chemical reaction: The surfaces developed a greenish, speckled topography. Warhol’s assistant, Ronnie Cutrone, later described how painting itself became a transgressive performance. “The studio would become like a toilet, a giant urinal,” he said. (Cutrone’s own vitamin B binges allegedly enhanced the colorof the surfaces he helped soak for Warhol.) The Whitney Museum’s current Warhol presentation situates the “Oxidation” series alongside Jackson Pollock’s own paint-splattered works—as a wry, bawdy interpretation of the Abstract Expressionist’s macho gestures.

Chuck Arnoldi

Charles Arnoldi, For Beauty Passed Away, 1982. Courtesy of the artist.

Charles Arnoldi, Scorched Pistons, 1988. Courtesy of the artist.

If there’s an a polar opposite of Agnes Martin’s whisperingly gentle marks on linen, it’s Chuck Arnoldi’s chainsawed cuts. In the 1980s, the artist stacked sheets of plywood together, then carved into them. The results make for some of art history’s most jagged, splintering works. Sometimes, Arnoldi eliminated large chunks of the wood, leaving gaping holes. He mounted the works on the walls, and sometimes painted on the plywood before revving up his chainsaw—efforts that blurred the line between painting and sculpture. Arnoldi once described the dance-like nature of his practice: “You start cutting in references and you are making hundreds of decisions a second, but it’s a physical thing, you’re actively engaged in it.”

Howardena Pindell

Untitled #20 (Dutch Wives Circled and Squared) (detail), 1978. Howardena Pindell MCA Chicago

Howardena Pindell brought Pointillism back from the dead with buoyant, celebratory canvases. Starting in the 1970s, she scattered hole-punched, colored dots across her paintings. The results often look like fallen confetti, with an underlying grid peeking from beneath the paint. Pindell eschewed paint completely in some works, coating boards with multi-hued, multi-sized hole punches. Sometimes, she piled on the rectangles of paper from which dots had been punched—creating a sense of presence and absence; of positive and negative space. In the 1980s, Pindell worked on irregularly shaped, unstretched canvases that similarly incorporated the hole-punch motif. When exhibited, they lie flat against the wall, recalling nubby, textured quilts or blankets. Earlier this year, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago mounted Pindell’s first major survey. Her shimmering, unapologetically beautiful works are finally finding a place in art history.

Richard Jackson

Many artists worry that their exhibitions will end up as disasters; meanwhile, Richard Jackson once made art that was a literal plane crash. In 2012, for Los Angeles’s Pacific Standard Time Performance and Public Art Festival, he flew a remote-controlled, paint-filled drone into a wall inscribed with the words “Accidents in Abstract Painting” (the title of the performance). Situated in a large Pasadena field, the “canvas” acquired new red, yellow, and blue splatters. A crowd cheered, many filming the incident on their phones. In the Los Angeles Times, Christopher Knight called the work a “raucous lampoon of Abstract Expressionist painting” that “recalls the post–World War II era that saw America emerge as an international artistic powerhouse while Europe smoldered in ruins.” There’s something arrogant and buffoonish about destroying a plane to make art—the piece functioned as good satire. After the incident, the wreckage went on view at Pasadena’s Armory Center for the Arts.

Yves Klein

Peinture de feu sans titre (F 80), 1961. Yves Klein Gagosian

F 87 "Body imprint made with water and fire", 1961. Yves Klein Galerie Gmurzynska

Prometheus stole fire from the gods to give light to humans; phoenixes burn and rise from the ashes. In the 1960s, Yves Klein integrated such mythology into his practice by charring cardboard and plywood. With Bunsen burners and flamethrowers, he created dark rings, splotches, streaks, and shadows across his surfaces. Bodily elements appear—no surprise, given that Klein’s most-famous series (“Anthropometries”) required women to roll around in blue paint and then press themselves against canvas. To make some of the “Fire Paintings,” Klein sprayed nude women with water as they briefly rubbed against fireproof cardboard. They left the staging area and the artist sprayed the material with fire. These assistants’ corporeal traces—which resemble holes, hills, and valleys—remain.

Evan Robarts

Evan Robarts painting with a mop. Photo by Elena Parasco. Courtesy of the artist.

After graduating from Pratt Institute in 2008, Evan Robarts supported himself, in part, by working as a superintendent for several years. Sweeping and mopping hallways, he said, “became muscle memory.” When he was finally able to afford a studio, he integrated the tools from his old job into his practice, mopping plaster across tiles to create lush, gridded paintings. Sometimes, he scraped away at the surface with a trowel, creating texture and a sense of layering. Boot marks often remained, leaving traces of his labor. “It’s important to have a fingerprint in the work,” he told Artsy. “It was a personal narrative that I could expand on that spoke to art history.” One such precedent: Janine Antoni’s 1993 performance Loving Care, in which she mopped a floor with her hair.

Ahmet Civelek

Installation view of Ahmet Civelek “Number 3: Grit.” Courtesy of the artist and Pi Artworks Istanbul.

Starting in the 1970s, Julian Schnabel began shattering plates and affixing them to canvas. His bombastic, fractured picture planes neatly aligned with his self-mythologizing, larger-than-life personality. Turkish-American artist Ahmet Civelek is taking a page from Schnabel’s book—and that of ancient vase–smashing Ai Weiwei—by breaking plates and other objects for the sake of art. Civelek once filled an entire floor with dishware shards, making the gallery floor into its own colorful painting. He’s also taken apart sunglasses, hedge shears, sieves, and pitchers, then mounted the separate pieces on canvas. “I grew up in Istanbul, living with terrorist attacks, a big earthquake in 1999, lots of destruction,” he told Artsy. He began thinking more deeply about how “destruction” could simply mean “a change of form.” In his own practice, he’s both ruining objects and preserving them, on canvas, for posterity.

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