Monkdogz Artblog

One of the treats at the Armory Show this week was a collection of ink drawing portraits by Elaine de Kooning, of her naked husband exhibited by Mark Borghi Fine Art.

It’s not that common to see drawings of the male form by female artists. They are elegant drawings and I feel blatantly show Elaine’s love for Bill early on in their marriage.. She first met him when he was teaching art, becoming his student. Five years later in 1943 they married. Although they were married for 46 years, they did spend much of their time apart and were known to each have had several affairs. However eventually they did reconcile.

She was part of the New York school of abstract expressionists and continued to draw but also worked as an art critic for Artnews and also taught. She developed her work as an abstract expressionist but interestingly she also gained a good reputation as a stylized portrait painter which resulted in her being commissioned to create a portrait of John F. Kennedy for the Truman Library.

De Kooning was a very thorough artists and often created hundreds of sketches and several canvases to produce her finished paintings. To see her drawings is to see part of her thought processes and her work in progress which is a treat with any artist.

See more drawings here…

I wondered into Galerie Lelong on 26th street, this week and found myself entranced by an exhibition of very simple but elegant drawings. It was a graceful lesson in modern minimalism.

The shapes were very structured and balanced, strictly defined yet exhibiting a lightness. The colors were muted but showed a real understanding of the impact of colors on their own and juxtaposed with others creating extra dimensional impact.

Having seen several other geometrically based shows in Chelsea, I mentioned that it was a surprisingly daring exhibition of minimalism in this day and age. It was clean and refreshing, yet had high impact with its deep spatial awareness. I wondered who would be doing work like this now.

I also wondered why the drawings were so poorly lit. Were they saving electricity?

I went to ask. The very nice person at the desk told me very sweetly and without being condescending at all, “it’s to protect the work from fading”. And then I looked up and saw on the wall “Hélio Oiticica: Drawings, 1954-58.” Finally it all made sense, but I did feel a little foolish.

This wasn’t some young emerging artist going back to the roots of minimalism and getting it right. This was over twenty rare works by the Brazilian artist who lived 1937-1980 and was a pioneer of Modernism. These works are excellent examples of his formal geometric abstractions that he executed early in his career. What made him stand out was his ability to create the spatial 3rd dimension with his juxtaposed colors and lines. He then later went on to develop these ideas into sculptures, installations, interventions, performances and spectator participation.

The exhibition continues until February 6th at Galerie Lelong who manage the artist’s estate in New York.

Today, I wandered up the wide stairs of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and into the hallowed entrance hall of this behemoth. With the afternoon stretching in front of me, without any commitments for the day, I felt an excitement akin to a child walking into a toy or candy store.

I had come ostensibly to see the “Art of the Samurai” before it closes on Saturday. However wondering around the museum trying to find my way there, I wondered through a history book of art starting with the Byzantine section, then the Medieval, The sculpture garden, The Renaissance, Art Deco, Modern and Contemporary. I passed through these rooms, thinking only of getting to the Samurai exhibit first and then spending time in the other rooms which housed the permanent collection.

The Met is a wonderful collection of art from all period and around the world, but this is also a double edged sword. The density and proximity of many of the rooms and artifacts are so intense that I tend to find myself over whelmed and over stimulated when I try to cover too many rooms. I tend to find myself with brain freeze. The other problem is that many of these rooms are like being given a small taster spoon and then finding that even if you like it, there is no more. It leaves me with a hunger that cannot easily be satisfied. So perhaps that is why I tend to go the Met only for the special exhibitions or to study very specific single pieces of art.

The ‘Art of the Samurai’ was a blockbuster. It was an amazing collection of swords, armor and other war paraphernalia that was brought together from over 65 institutions and private collections in Japan. A feat that has not even been attempted in Japan itself. The beauty and soul of these impeccably created swords which required amazing skills and technological expertise and understanding was awe inspiring. I stood mesmerized in front of many a “national treasure”. Personally and probably because of my Japanese heritage, I found the exhibition humbling.

So it was with not a little relief that I came across a very refreshing and clever exhibit “Pablo Bronstein at the Met” on the mezzanine level attached to the contemporary section. It’s the artist’s first solo show in New York. WOW! What a way to start. Admittedly he has been in the Tate Triennial and has had solo shows in Italy, Britain and Germany, but still! He was born in 1977 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, but currently lives and works in London, having graduated from Goldsmith College and The Slade School of Fine Art, University College London.

Bronstein’s work is architectural and in this exhibit he creates blueprints of the Met’s 5th Avenue façade and several specific galleries in the museum which suggest mythical histories and hypothetical futures. One example is a rendering of the façade that shows the Met converted into a residential condominium. He implies that power and politics play an inevitable role in the creation of all great constructions. The exhibition continues until February 21st 2010.

I also met a wonderful Metropolitan Museum guide, Barbara Etra who was taking visitors around the contemporary art collection. She was knowledgeable not only of the works on display, but her well rounded knowledge of the history of art and the many other contemporary artists not yet displayed at the Met, was significant. More than anything, I was impressed at her ability to match her tour and explanation to the group who gathered around her, with the members ebbing and flowing as people dropped away or joined along the way. She was very patient with questions and encouraging. It was a pleasure to listen to her.

I have to mention that I did walk passed Damien Hirst’s shark titled “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living”, Jackon Pollock’s “Autumn Rhythm”, and Warhol’s Mao, Jackie (Kennedy) and self portrait. It’s always good to see iconic work up close and personal.

All in all, it was a great day at the Met.

At Lehmann Maupin gallery on 26th Street in NY, Teresita Fernández’s latest solo show is in it’s last week. Using graphite she has “drawn” sculptures and installations in the gallery.

Walking in, I was drawn to a waterfall of graphite “Drawn Waters” in the center of the main gallery that pours from the ceiling onto the floor with lightness and coolness that is palpable.

On the walls, what looks like swarms of movement are captured for an instant ready to be on the move any time now. The thousands of small gem-like pieces of graphite are attached to the wall and appear to be casting a shadow which is actually hand drawn in painstakingly under each piece.

Fernándezis an American born in Miami but now living and working in Brooklyn, New York. If you’re in the city over the next few days adding a stop to the gallery may be an idea. The exhibition continues until Saturday, December 19th.

I walked into the Nicholas Robinson Gallery this week which is exhibiting their second show of German artist Florian Süssmayr. He creates monochromatic photorealism with oil on canvas with intriguing skill.

The first works I saw appeared to be politically or socially driven images which I thought I would initially dismiss but strangely pulled me back. It was then that I saw “Interieur – Lindwurmstuberl”, a large canvas (71 x 70 inches /178cm x 180.3cm) depicting a dining room of perhaps a casual local restaurant.

I had to look twice to make sure that it was a painting and not a photograph. The gallery’s press release says “Süssmayr’s interiors create an evocative atmosphere that is simultaneously disquieting, banal and even on occasions, gloomy or sinister.” Curiously, I found the painting very warm and anticipatory of an imminent evening of gregarious camaraderie; the kinetic power within the painting was very powerful.

Further into the gallery, self-portraits in various forms are exhibited. Plus the real bonus was Lee who works for Nicholas Robinson Gallery. He provided a very friendly but un-obtrusive presence at the reception desk – a rare treat!

I found this an intellectually stimulating show; on view until December 19th 2009 at 535 East 20th Street, Chelsea, New York.

Touhami Ennadre is a Moroccan-born French photographer. He is a rare artist in this medium that has become so common place that everyone can own a camera and be a photographer. Ennadre works without a viewfinder on his Hasselblad, suggesting his approach prevents him from being a “voyeur”. He develops all his own film and creates his black and white prints that become one of a kind works, as he experiments with masks and exposures. His mastery of light and darkness adds the palpable depth and power to his prints.

His process skills however are only the tools with which he works his magic. In his first solo show with Priska C. Juschka Fine Art, Ennadre explores the darker side of New York, whether they be nocturnal activities or the seamier side of life, depicting the homeless, dancing couples, transvestite clubs and those asleep. Many of these situations could be unpalatable images for most, scenes that many would tray and walk past a little bit faster than normal. Ennadre however manages to achieve a wonderful dignity and beauty to these people that allows the viewer to feel a compassionate intimacy.

The exhibition is open until January 2nd 2010 at Priska C. Juschka Fine Art, 547 West 27th Street, 2nd floor, New York.

They say that there is no such thing as coincidence, but it’s intriguing that many of the new shows in Chelsea are much more dynamic, colorful and in some cases whimsical. After the dark somber works in many of the season openers, it’s quite refreshing to see these new exhibitions which match the first glimmers of hope and recovery that I sensed today.

Gallery programs and schedules are determined at least 8 to 12 months ahead and in some cases up to 2 or 3 years ahead. So nobody could have timed these shows to purposefully coincide with the financial recovery, or if they did, I want to know where they bought their crystal ball!

One of the first shows that caught my eye was Andreas Kocks: Current Events at Winston Wächter Fine Art gallery on 25th Street. At first glance, it looks like someone has thrown water balloons filled with grey paint at the walls. The splatters look spontaneous and dramatic; as if you’ve just walked in at the moment the perpetrators have struck. My amazement turned to awe, as I realized that these very fluid and explosive splatters are created by cutting, folding, curling graphite covered watercolor paper resulting in an architectural structure of a splatter in an instant of time. It seems to allow the viewer luxury to examine movement frozen in time, at the leisure.

The work is very meticulously designed and constructed, yet it has a wonderful feel of frivolity and excitement. It helps to underline a concept in fine art that is often neglected or dismissed; it’s ok to have fun with art!

The show continues until November 28th, 2009.  Andrea Kocks also is featured at the Museum of Art and Design New York in a group show entitled Slash: Paper Under the Knife which continues until April 4, 2010.