Art in America articles from March 2009

Art in America archives from March 2009

Recession impacts secondary market.(FRONT PAGE)
March 1, 2009... AS THE GLOBAL ECONOMY CONTINUES ITS DOWNWARD SPIRAL, the banking crisis deepens, currency fluctuations wreak havoc and the high end real-estate market remains frozen, there's a flurry of activity for some parties in the art world: a sudden...

Revision number six addictions.(teaching art)(Essay)
March 1, 2009... IT SEEMS REASONABLE to assume that the percentage of human beings with the talent and predisposition to make good art and literature has not varied much since the Middle Ages. The opportunity to make good art and literature, however, has...

Exhibiting modernism.(Salon to Biennel --Exhibitions That Made Art History, Volume I: 1863-1959)(Book review)
March 1, 2009... Salon to Biennel--Exhibitions That Made Art History, Volume I: 1863-1959, edited by Bruce Altshuler, London and New York, Phaidon Press, 2008; 410 pages, $90. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Alfred Barr's celebrated diagram of modern art...

Hopeful disobedience: like America's new president, street artist and designer Shepard Fairey has used grassroots action to great effect. A 20-year survey at the Boston ICA traces his creative (r)evolution.(STREET)
March 1, 2009... IN A THANK-YOU NOTE written by Barack Obama to street artist Shepard Fairey for the pictorial provocateur's singular contribution to branding his campaign for the presidency, the then senator wrote: "The political messages involved in your work...

The "empty" biennial: initial plans for an artwork-free 28th Sao Paulo Bienal unleashed a storm of controversy. Compromise ensued.(BRAZIL REPORT)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] SOMETHING FAMILIAR has gone missing from Sao Paulo's sprawling urban landscape. Under a 2006 law mandating a wide-ranging cleanup, billboards have lately been stripped from their scaffolding and corporate logos...

China's immortal warriors: figures from Qin Shihuangdi's famous terra-cotta army are now touring the U.S.--to museum box-office acclaim.(SHOW BUSINESS)
March 1, 2009... IN 246 B.C., when the 13-year-old King of Qin (pronounced "chin" and believed to be the origin of "China") began the elaborate staging of his afterlife, his ambition was hardly modest. He hoped to live--and reign--forever. Deploying some...

Body and soul: Steve McQueen's debut feature film is an emotionally punishing depiction of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands.(FILM)
March 1, 2009... A YOUNG MAN IN BLUE JEANS and a denim jacket stands before a prison warden and says, "I will not wear the uniform of a criminal." He then slowly strips, is led away by an officer and receives a coarse gray blanket. Once inside a cell, he stops...

New York.(art exhibitions)(Calendar)
March 1, 2009... CHELSEA Bowery Gallery 530 W 25th St., 4th fl. New York, NY 10001 Tel: 646.230.6655 Fax 646.230.6655 Website: www.bowerygallery.org Tuesday-Saturday, 11:00-6:00 PM Thru March 21: Walter Strach, "A Landscape...

Michael Borremans: an interview by David Coggins.(Interview)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In his current exhibition at David Zwirner gallery in New York, the Belgian artist Michael Borremans is showing films that unfold at a radically slow pace. Their tableau-vivant images could be mistaken for stills but...

Imi Knoebel: Mary Boone.
March 1, 2009... NEW YORK IMI KNOEBEL MARY BOONE [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Imi Knoebel's art is born of philosophical discourse and realized with unusual materials and methods. Knoebel was a student of Joseph Beuys, and, accordingly, his work...

Matthew Monahan: Anton Kern.
March 1, 2009... MATTHEW MONAHAN ANTON KERN [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Considering the stereotypes that link big paintings, vast spaces and muscular workers with Americans, it's surprising that most of the artists attracting attention for large-scale...

Kalup Linzy: Electronic Arts Intermix.
March 1, 2009... KALUP LINZY ELECTRONIC ARTS INTERMIX FOR ONCE I'M GONNA DO IT MY WAY. This is the chorus crooned by Whitney Houston--or, rather, by the homely yet endearing Patience O'Brien, who impersonates Houston in an American Idol-type talent...

Kehinde Wiley: Deitch Projects.
March 1, 2009... KEHINDE WILEY DEITCH PROJECTS [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] By repopulating art-historical imagery with young black men, Kehinde Wiley has been infusing histrionic poses from the past with an edgy street dynamism for almost a decade now....

Zhang Xiaogang: Pacewildenstein.
March 1, 2009... ZHANG XIAOGANG PACEWILDENSTEIN [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A founding member of China's $1-million-plus club, Zhang Xiaogang emerged in the mid-1980s as part of the post-Mac avant-garde. He came to international attention in the 1990s...

Nathalie Djurberg: Zach Feuer.
March 1, 2009... NATHALIE DJURBERG ZACH FEUER [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] What you see is not always what you get. At least not in the case of Nathalie Djurberg's twisted fairy tales. The 30-year-old, Berlin-based Swedish artist has built an...

Olaf Breuning: Metro Pictures.
March 1, 2009... OLAF BREUNING METRO PICTURES [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] High on a wall near the gallery entrance, Olaf Breuning wrote his name five times in large black letters in various styles and then finally scratched them all out. Failing to...

Allison Schulnik: Mike Weiss.
March 1, 2009... ALLISON SCHULNIK MIKE WEISS [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] One thing you can say for Allison Schulnik: she's seriously into paint. The young L.A. artist's New York solo debut included 13 canvases, nearly all dated 2008, on which she...

Eva Lundsager: Greenberg Van Doren.
March 1, 2009... EVA LUNDSAGER GREENBERG VAN DOREN [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Although the paint handling is broad and energetic in the 16 quasi-abstract oils Eva Lundsager recently showed (all works 2008), she also means to record observed effects,...

Peter Campus: Albion.
March 1, 2009... PETER CAMPUS ALBION [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In the early 1970s, Peter Campus and others redirected the developing technology of video away from the world, turning it onto itself, its producers and its audience. Kiva (1971), a fine...

Julie Langsam: Frederieke Taylor.
March 1, 2009... JULIE LANGSAM FREDERIEKE TAYLOR [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] For the last decade Cleveland-based Julie Langsam has created naturalistic paintings that depict high-modernist buildings set in empty landscapes. This show of her recent work...

Neil Jenney: Barbara Mathes.
March 1, 2009... NEIL JENNEY BARBARA MATHES [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In this, his first New York solo in a decade, Neil Jenney presented 17 major oil-on-wood paintings from the past 12 years. The brilliant land- and skyscapes on view, mostly long...

Sebastian Lemm: Peer.
March 1, 2009... SEBASTIAN LEMM PEER [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The New York-based, German-born photographer Sebastian Lemm showed work from two related series in this small, seductive exhibition: "Schattenseite" (2005-07), which roughly translates as...

Ronald Bladen: Jacobson Howard.
March 1, 2009... RONALD BLADEN JACOBSON HOWARD [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The sculptures at the core of Ronald Bladen's career are situated between Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism. Geometric and hard-edged, but not modular or inert, the work...

Martin McMurray: Jeff Bailey.
March 1, 2009... MARTIN MCMURRAY JEFF BAILEY [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Martin McMurray's recent paintings tell stories about storytellers who aren't telling stories. The artist called his second solo show at the gallery "The Unreliable Narrator," but...

Jean-Luc Mylayne: Barbara Gladstone.
March 1, 2009... JEAN-LUC MYLAYNE BARBARA GLADSTONE [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] You don't have to know much about birds to see that Jean-Luc Mylayne's big, quietly glorious color photographs take an avian view of things. This is not a matter of an...

Olivier Meriel: Candace Dwan.
March 1, 2009... OLIVIER MERIEL CANDACE DWAN [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A building cuts across the damp cobblestones like a ship through water. Along narrow roads to either side, deserted but for parked cars, reflected light casts an eerie glow....

Jeanne Reynal and Thomas Sills: Anita Shapolsky.(Art Couple: Work of the 1950's)
March 1, 2009... JEANNE REYNAL AND THOMAS SILLS ANITA SHAPOLSKY [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Art Couple: Work of the 1950's" featured mosaics by Jeanne Reynal and paintings by her husband, Thomas Sills. The show brought viewers back to the time when...

Kes Zapkus: OK Harris.
March 1, 2009... KES ZAPKUS OK HARRIS [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A member of the generation weaned on Abstract Expressionism and so all but inevitably driven toward a countervailing conceptual rigor, Kes Zapkus has for several decades explored the...

Nasreen Mohamedi: Talwar.(Documenta 12)
March 1, 2009... NASREEN MOHAMEDI TALWAR [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] One of the highlights of Documenta 12 was the refined presentation of drawings and photographs by Indian artist Nasreen Mohamedi (1937-1990) alongside works by Agnes Martin...

Brian Rutenberg: Forum.
March 1, 2009... BRIAN RUTENBERG FORUM [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The mural-scale, oil-on-linen abstractions in Brian Rutenberg's 2007-08 "Palmetto" series are as concrete as they are indexical, drawing the viewer's attention to their variously...

Park Seo-Bo: Arario.
March 1, 2009... PARK SEO-BO ARARIO [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Since the early 1950s and the divisive war on the Korean Peninsula, Park Seo-Bo (b. 1931) has remained at the vanguard of Korean art. Based in Seoul, he is a progenitor of Korean abstract...

Terry Haggerty: Andreas Grimm.
March 1, 2009... TERRY HAGGERTY ANDREAS GRIMM [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The illusions in Terry Haggerty's recent hard-edge abstract paintings in this exhibition conjure the dynamic effects of 1960s Op art. However, the New York-based painter, born in...

Lisa Hoke: New Britain Museum of American Art and Elizabeth Harris.(The Gravity of Color, New Britain)
March 1, 2009... NEW BRITAIN AND NEW YORK LISA HOKE NEW BRITAIN MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART AND ELIZABETH HARRIS [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Pure color and pure joy are seldom as close as they are in Lisa Hoke's The Gravity of Color, New Britain (2008)....

Holly Farrell: Chase.
March 1, 2009... BOSTON HOLLY FARRELL CHASE [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Born in North Bay, Ontario, and currently based in Toronto, Holly Farrell has exhibited her realist paintings across Canada and in a variety of venues in the States. In her...

Rob Wynne: Locks.(Locks Gallery)
March 1, 2009... PHILADELPHIA ROB WYNNE LOCKS [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Rob Wynne is not afraid of beauty and its seductive shimmer, albeit beauty of a somewhat tongue-in-cheek sort, spiked with a shot of self-awareness. In his latest solo show,...

Anthony Palliser: Telfair Museum of Art.
March 1, 2009... SAVANNAH ANTHONY PALLISER TELFAIR MUSEUM OF ART [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The particular pleasure in tracking the evolution of a painter's oeuvre was abundantly indulged by this retrospective of Anthony Palliser's work. His...

Ellen Lanyon: Valerie Carberry.
March 1, 2009... CHICAGO ELLEN LANYON VALERIE CARBERRY [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Like a number of seasoned women artists, such as Louise Bourgeois, Lois Dodd, Nancy Spero and Jane Freilicher, Ellen Lanyon, at 82, is still going strong. She began...

Jeffrey Silverthorne: Photographs Do Not Bend.
March 1, 2009... DALLAS JEFFREY SILVERTHORNE PHOTOGRAPHS DO NOT BEND [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Jeffrey Silverthorne describes himself as a photographer "interested in mortality." He made a name for himself with a series of still-controversial...

Gunther Forg: Zane Bennett.
March 1, 2009... SANTA FE GUNTHER FORG ZANE BENNETT [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This recent exhibition, which featured over 30 large-scale abstract paintings, was German artist Gunther Forg's first U.S. show in nearly a decade. Mostly from 2008,...

Catherine Borg: Contemporary Arts Center.
March 1, 2009... LAS VEGAS CATHERINE BORG CONTEMPORARY ARTS CENTER [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Much art out of Las Vegas is about Las Vegas, reflecting, perhaps, the challenge of adapting as a permanent resident to a place built for...

Joan Backes: L.A. Contemporary.
March 1, 2009... LOS ANGELES JOAN BACKES L.A. CONTEMPORARY [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The ostensible subject of Joan Backes's paintings and multimedium installations is trees. During the last decade she has made rubbings from actual trees,...

Thomas Houseago: David Kordansky.
March 1, 2009... CULVER CITY THOMAS HOUSEAGO DAVID KORDANSKY [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Thomas Houseago's first U.S. solo exhibition, "Serpent," was a promising start for David Kordansky's new digs in Culver City. Offering partial, exploded views...

Enrique Martinez Celaya: L.A. Louver.
March 1, 2009... VENICE, CALIF. ENRIQUE MARTINEZ CELAYA LA LOUVER [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Enrique Martinez Celaya has long treated landscape as a site of soulful reckoning. His starkly beautiful new paintings (all 2008) follow suit. In them,...

Cheryl Ann Thomas: Frank Llyod.(exhibition entitled 'Relics' at the Frank Lloyd Gallery)
March 1, 2009... SANTA MONICA CHERYL ANN THOMAS FRANK LLOYD [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The ancient ceramic form of the coiled pot would not seem to lend itself to profound meditations on the fragility of art and life. However, in the tradition of...

Sherry Markovitz: Bellevue Arts Museum.(Shimmer: Paintings and Sculpture, 1979-2007)
March 1, 2009... SEATTLE SHERRY MARKOVITZ BELLEVUE ARTS MUSEUM [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Shimmer: Paintings and Sculpture, 1979-2007," a midcareer survey of more than 40 works by Sherry Markovitz, revealed the extraordinary depth and range of...

Sterling Ruby: Spruth Magers.(Spectrum Ripper)
March 1, 2009... LONDON STERLING RUBY SPRUTH MAGERS [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A primary tension between repression and expression runs throughout L.A.-based Sterling Ruby's multifaceted practice, at least as a jumping-off point. If for Ruby...

Laurie Simmons: Erna Hecey.(Erne Hecey Gallery)
March 1, 2009... BRUSSELS LAURIE SIMMONS ERNA HECEY [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] It was 1959 when Richard Nixon and Nikita Krushchev demonstrated that the kitchen is a place perfectly suited to the discussion of values and ideologies. Some 15 years...

The 15th Quadriennale: The Palazzo Delle Esposizioni.
March 1, 2009... ROME THE 15TH QUADRIENNALE THE PALAZZO DELLE ESPOSIZIONI [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Quadriennale, like the Whitney Biennial, has come to provide a checklist of names to watch in contemporary art. And it can be a...

Gotz Diergarten: Kicken.(METROpolis)
March 1, 2009... BERLIN GOTZ DIERGARTEN KICKEN [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Gotz Diergarten studied with Bernd and Hilla Becher late in their tenure at the Dusseldorf Art Academy, and his recent exhibition of new work at Kicken proved him to be...

Mark Aerial Waller and Giles Round: Rodeo.('Children of the Revolution' at the Rodeo Gallery)
March 1, 2009... ISTANBUL MARK AERIAL WALLER AND GILES ROUND RODEO [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Children of the Revolution," a two-person show by Mark Aerial Waller and Giles Round, brought together a series of individual and collaborative works....

Art schools.(Directory)
March 1, 2009... NEW ENGLAND The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University Office of Admission, 700 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02215 617-585-6710 or 800-773-0494 x6710 www.aiboston.edu/info/art * admissions@aiboston.edu Professional...

Coosje Van Bruggen 1942-2008.(ART WORLD)(Obituary)
March 1, 2009... Coosje van Bruggen, 66, artist and writer, died of breast cancer on Jan. 10 in Los Angeles. Best known for collaborating with Claes Oldenburg on monumental public sculptures, van Bruggen was also an accomplished art historian and critic. Born...

Andrew Witkin is the winner of the 2008 James and Audrey Foster Prize, given to a Boston-area artist by the Institute of Contemporary Art.(AWARDS & GRANTS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Andrew Witkin is the winner of the 2008 James and Audrey Foster Prize, given to a Boston-area artist by the Institute of Contemporary Art. The biennial prize includes a $25,000 award. --Artworld is compiled by Stephanie Cash

Creative Capital.(AWARDS & GRANTS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Creative Capital has announced the recipients of its 2009 grants, which include initial awards of $10,000. Each project--in emerging fields, innovative literature and performing arts--becomes eligible for up to $50,000 in additional funds....

Art Matters.(AWARDS & GRANTS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... The Art Matters foundation has presented 16 grants ranging from $5,000 to $10,000 to U.S. artists whose projects focus on communication and collaboration across national borders. The winners are: Mathieu Borysevicz, Matthew Buckingham, Nicole...

The Prado in Madrid has made it official.(MUSEUM NEWS)(Francisco de Goya's 'Colossus')(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... The Prado in Madrid has made it official. Goya's Colossus was not, in fact, painted by the Spanish master. Word of the potential reattribution leaked in 2007, setting off a controversy, but the final decision was made following Prado curator...

The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York has begun its long-awaited expansion and renovation.(MUSEUM NEWS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York has begun its long-awaited expansion and renovation. The museum is carving out new space by reconfiguring its main building, the former mansion of Andrew Carnegie, and two adjacent townhouses...

The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor reopens on Mar. 28 after a three-year renovation and expansion designed by Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture.(MUSEUM NEWS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor reopens on Mar. 28 after a three-year renovation and expansion designed by Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture. With a construction budget of $41.9 million, the two-story...

Obituaries.(ART WORLD)(Obituary)
March 1, 2009... Andrew Wyeth, painter of iconic American scenes that captured the popular imagination, died Jan. 16 in Chadds Ford, Pa., age 91. With an earthy, unadorned palette in his preferred mediums of watercolor and egg tempera, Wyeth depicted rural,...

U.S. critics pick 2008 favorites.(ART WORLD)(United States chapter of the International Association of Art Critics)
March 1, 2009... Some 400 members of the U.S. chapter of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA) recently voted on their favorite shows of 2008. "Jasper Johns: Gray," organized by the Art Institute of Chicago with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in...

Prints boon for Washington, D.C.(ART WORLD)(acquisitions of collections of National Gallery of Art and Library of Congress )(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Two acquisitions by Washington institutions have made the city a prime destination to see 20th-century American prints. The National Gallery of Art has acquired a collection of 5,250 prints from the private holdings of Reba and Dave Williams...

Contemporary Arts Museum.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, has selected Bill Arning as its new director, effective Apr. 6. Curator at the MIT List Visual Arts Center in Cambridge for nine years, he replaces Marti Mayo, who resigned in...

Kimbell Art Museum.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Eric McCauley Lee is the new director of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, effective Mar. 23. He has been head of the Taft Museum in Cincinnati for two years, and prior to that was director of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the...

Princeton University Art Museum.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... James Steward has been appointed director of the Princeton University Art Museum. He has been a faculty member at the University of Michigan and director of its museum since 1998. --Artworld is compiled by Stephanie Cash

Blaffer Gallery.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Claudia Schmuckli is the new director of the Blaffer Gallery, the Art Museum of the University of Houston. Schmuckli has been with the Blaffer since 2004, when she joined the staff as head of public relations and membership. She was appointed...

Harvard Art Museum.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Jose Ortiz, deputy director and chief of finance and administration at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., has been appointed deputy director of the Harvard Art Museum. --Artworld is compiled by Stephanie Cash

Rutgers University.(PEOPLE)(Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Suzanne Delehanty, founding director of the Miami Art Museum and an independent arts consultant since 2006, has been named director of the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, effective Apr. 1. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]...

Phillips Collection.(PEOPLE)(appointment of Vesela Sretenovic as curator for modern and contemporary art)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Vesela Sretenovic has been appointed to the newly created position of curator for modern and contemporary art at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. She was curator at the David Winton Bell Gallery at Brown University for the past 10...

Milwaukee Art Museum.(PEOPLE)(appointment of Brady Roberts as chief curator)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... The Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) has appointed Brady Roberts as chief curator. From 2001 to 2006, he served as curator of modern and contemporary art at the Phoenix Art Museum and was recently curator of EVO Gallery in Santa Fe. MAM has promoted...

Maria Lind, director of the graduate program at the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, has won the $15,000 Walter Hopps Award for Curatorial Achievement.(AWARDS & GRANTS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Maria Lind, director of the graduate program at the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, has won the $15,000 Walter Hopps Award for Curatorial Achievement, given biennially by the Menil Collection. --Artworld is compiled by...

Architect Steven Holl is the first recipient in the arts category of the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award.(AWARDS & GRANTS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Architect Steven Holl is the first recipient in the arts category of the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award. The approximately $515,000 prize is given by the Madrid-based financial services firm BBVA. --Artworld is compiled by...

Charles McGee is the inaugural recipient of the $50,000 eminent artist award, to be given annually by the Kresge Foundation through its new Arts in Detroit program.(AWARDS & GRANTS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Charles McGee is the inaugural recipient of the $50,000 eminent artist award, to be given annually by the Kresge Foundation through its new Arts in Detroit program, administered by the College for Creative Studies. --Artworld is compiled...