6 posts tagged “art”

One of the current exhibits at the Rose Art Museum is Tom Sachs's Logjam.  Sachs is a bricolage (do-it-yourself) artist, manufacturing objects out of ordinary materials like tape, cardboard, plywood, and foam core.  The exhibit features items used in his workshop, like a table saw incorporated into "Million Dollar Desk", a drill press titled "Outstanding Service Every Time" that incorporates tools used by his father and grandfather, and a "Resin Kit" built out of necessity to make it easier to work with industrial-grade resin.  Also featured are "Vader," a working refrigerator made out of plywood, glass, and metal; "Lav A2," a functional reproduction of an airplane lavatory made out of foam core and coated with resin; and "Nutsy's Tableau," a large-scale race track for racing Mini-Z remote controlled cars.  The track, used by Sachs and his assistants to relax after long days in the studio, has several stations throughout the course, including a repair station, music center, refrigerator stocked with beer, an "Altitude Generator" spiral ramp, a Weber grill transformed into a propane "Ring of Fire" for the cars to jump through.  Cameras throughout the course transmit scenes from the race to the "Wall of Surveillance," a giant wall of old television monitors.

Also on exhibit at the museum are Steve Miller's "Spiraling Inward" and "Tiger by the Tail!," videos by Indian female artists.

Took a long weekend last weekend to visit some friends who live about 30 miles north of New York City. It was a weekend full of friends, food, and exploring.

Saturday got off to a relaxing start with cinnamon bread french toast.  The plan was to head into the city to meet up with some friends, and we decided the train would take too long and limit our options, so we undertook the adventure of driving into the city.  There were no problems and we found a parking space in the Lower East Side conveniently located near Katz's Deli, where we were going to have lunch with friends.  We had some time to kill, so we got a blueberry and cheese knish at Yonah Shimmel's Knish Bakery before taking a cab to Union Square and explored ABC Carpet & Home and the Greenmarket, where we met our friends and headed to Katz's.  Parting company after a wonderful lunch, we drove toward the Brooklyn bridge.  We thought about walking across, but it was very hot, so we drove over and first explored a few shops in the DUMBO area, which, for those of you who don't know, is an acronym for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass.  Wending our way toward Park Slope, we happened to pass the Downtown Atlantic Bakery, which had an array of cupcakes beckoning from the window (and a review claiming they were the best cupcakes in NYC), so we had to try the chocolate cupcake with Callebaut icing.  Yum!  From there we parked in Park Slope and explored lots of wonderful little shops before having dinner at Press 195.  We started with the grilled asparagus appetizer, which comes with tomato and fresh Mozzarella in maple syrup basil pesto.  As a fan of maple syrup, I'll definitely be using some the next time I make pesto.  They also make knish sandwiches, using grilled potato knishes instead of bread.  The pastrami knish sandwich was delish!

It took a while getting out of the city.  There was massive gridlock crossing Delancy, and even once I got to the intersection I had to wait a couple light cycles before I had the opportunity to make my move.  I managed to convince a taxi to give me the right of way (after all, I did have a green light and he was just trying to block the intersection) and miraculously a path opened up all the way through.  Traffic was fine heading north, but I took the wrong direction once we got to the thruway, and the next exit wasn't for 20 miles.  On top of that, I had to pay a toll twice to get off and on at the same exit!  Oops.

The plan for Sunday was to head up to the Storm King Art Center with our hosts.  It's a museum and sculpture park on 500 acres of lawns, fields, and woodlands.  I'd been there several years ago when they had an exhibition of Andy Goldsworthy's work (including the stone wall he designed that is part of the permanent collection).  It was wonderful seeing the wall again.  It's such a beautiful work as it winds its way through the forest and into the pond.  Nearby is the 1995 America's Cup yacht with graphics created by Roy Lichtenstein.  The current exhibit at the museum features works by Louise Bourgeois (whose work is also currently on display at the ICA in Boston), so I got to see another one of her Spiders.  I hope they don't think I'm a groupie, since I've now seen them on display at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, the ICA, and now Storm King.  We ended the afternoon wandering through the open fields and exploring some of the artwork before heading back to where we were staying (no wrong turns this time).

I finally got to the Rose Art Museum this afternoon for the gallery talk about John Armleder's exhibit, Too Much is Not Enough (through June 30, 2007).  The title of the exhibition refers to the multi-layered presentation of the work and experiencing sensory overload.  Most of the walls of the museum were painstakingly stenciled by museum staff with designs of Armleder's creation before hanging additional works, many of which are made up of layered or mirrored materials that provide even more depth and interaction.  To reinforce the fact that the walls themselves are part of the art, the traditional placards describing pieces provide names and information about the stencil patterns.

It's difficult to tell whether the two-story main gallery is dominated by the large scaffolding installations (one of which has stairs so you can climb it), the large wall of flashing neon lights shaped like targets (a recurring theme), or the planters made out of giant truck tires.  Also vying for your attention are more stenciled walls, large works hung on the walls, several televisions playing both Armleder's original work and Hollywood "B" movies, and Hawaiian music coming from CD players scattered around the room.

The small side gallery space has an installation with a pile of 52 silver tinsel Christmas trees and deuling 60's living rooms.

If you follow the pictures from first to last, there's usually something that connects from one picture to the next in the series.  Enjoy the trail.

I was back at the ICA for the Streb performance (which was amazing -- such a display of creativity and strength) and managed to snap a picture of the piece I tried photographing the last time I was there, Josiah McElheny's work entitled Czech Modernism Mirrored and Reflected Infinitely.  I've also included the artist's audio commentary associated with the piece.

Founded in 1961, The Rose Art Museum on the campus of Brandeis University is New England's museum of modern and comtemporary art.  Its permanent collection numbers between 6000 and 8000 objects.

Yesterday the museum's chief curator, Raphaela Platow, gave a gallery tour for two of the current exhibitions.  RoseArt: Works from the Permanent Collection showcases dozens of artists through nearly 80 works from the museum's permanent collection.  The exhibition spans works from many 20th-century modern masters, inlcuding paintings from Philip Guston, Willem de Kooning, and Robert Motherwell; works from Andy Warhol; and sculpture and performance art from artists like Nam June Paik and Charlotte Moorman.  Throw in some a mix of newer stars like painter/graffiti artist Barry McGee and a postmodern great like Cézanne and you've got yourself quite an exhibition.  The gallery talks are always interesting, because they shed some light on the influences and collaborations among the various artists and their works.

The tour also included a brief introduction to another exhibition currently on display, Paper Trail 1: Artists Explore Unseen Works on Paper from the Collection of the Rose Art Museum.  The exhibition is the first of a series in which artists integrate their own work with pieces they select from the museum's works-on-paper collection, and features the work of Louisiana-born but now New York based artist Margaret Evangeline.  She's selected a wide range of pieces that span the centuries, with works from artists including Edouard Manet, Francisco De Goya, Rembrandt, Degas, Joseph Cornell, Modigliani, Alexander Calder, and Andy Warhol (to name a few).

Margaret Evangeline will be discussing her exhibition at the museum on February 7, 2007 at 7pm.  There's a good chance I'll be there.  (See the museum calendar for info on upcoming events.)

Also on exhibit (although not featured on the tour) are works from Clare Rojas.  Rojas's work is influenced by American folk art and features a large-scale installation specifically created for the exhibition.  There are also a number of smaller works that combine painting, installations, film, printmaking, quilting, and music.

The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in Boston was founded in 1936 as The Boston Museum of Modern Art. It was the first museum in the United States dedicated solely to contemporary art.  Renamed to the ICA in 1948, the museum has presented contemporary art in all media and created educational programs that encourage an appreciation for contemporary culture.  On December 10, 2006, the ICA unveiled its new home on Boston's waterfront in a landmark building designed by award-winning architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro. 

The new 65,000-square-foot building features gallery space that cantilevers 80 feet from the building's base, a 140-square-foot elevator with glass walls on two sides, and a digital media center on the underside of the cantilever that provides a view of the water with neither land nor sky in sight.  The museum is situated on 3/4-acres of land, with a 99 year lease at $1 per year.  The cantilever design allows the museum to extend over Boston's public HarborWalk (excuse me, HabbahWok -- a 47-mile continuous public walkway along the water's edge), thereby increasing the available gallery space.

Since re-opening, 65,000 people have visited the museum and 7000 have become members (compared with 1000 members last year).  Needless to say, museum staff are ecstatic.  One of the reasons I became a member was so I could get invited to special events, like tonight's New Member Orientation.  Sharing the museum with 100 people and getting a docent-led tour of the gallery space makes for a much more civilized and informative visit.

Pictured below are Anish Kapoor's Turning the World Inside Out and part of Sergio Vega's Tropicalounge, "a room-scale installation inspired by a 17th-century manuscript purporting to map the 'New Eden' of South America."  Please note that photography is not permitted in the galleries, theater, or mediatheque (the digital media center), which is why I don't have more pictures to share.

 

 

 

  

References:

• ICA History
• Design Highlights of the new ICA building
• arcspace article on the new ICA building
• Audio tours of current exhibitions

A couple other interesting scenes from the evening were taken at the Courthouse MBTA stop along the Silver Line.  Catenary?  This is a word that is appropriate for a sign warning you from life-threatening danger?  Watch out for the cross-bred Cat/Canary overhead.  The wires are alive.