I heart Los Angeles

When asked why I love Los Angeles, I have a new answer.... 
"this is the city in which Bruce Nauman once famously turned his body into a sculpture, Ron Athey first used piercing and onstage bloodletting as part of his artwork, and Chris Burden once had himself nailed to the hood of a car" -Guy Trebay for the New York Times 


The full article on MOCA's 2011 Benefit Gala can be found here

Chelsea Late Fall 2011 - Part One

Trying to hit 32 galleries in one day was somewhat ambitious even for me but here is where we got and what we thought part one - 

AJ Fosik and Josh Keyes at www.jonathanlevinegallery.com 

Both these exhibitions were great. We went to see AJ  Fosik's beautiful fairytale monsters but really fell in love with Josh Keyes drawings and paintings in his "Migration" exhibition. And we weren't the only ones as every work by Josh had sold. The paintings were wild animals that normally wouldn't be together, hanging out in the urban jungle. The works were engaging and comical and beautifully conceived. 

Cedric Christie at www.flowersgalleries.com
For this sculptural exhibition, Christie created whimsical sculptures that created effervescent 3D scribbly lines. I was excited to see these works, but was most taken by two works that stood out from the rest made with billards balls. The one was very Donald Judd-inspired - two long black metal rods sandwiched about 12 different colored balls. The piece was very simple, yet striking in its visual impact.

Marcos Zimmermann at www.hpgrpgallery.com 

This show was a collection of all black and white photographs of nudes, all men, in South America. It was a solid start to the day but I didn't feel the raw exposure of these men really made the point. It felt more exploitive than engaging. 

Carsten Holler at www.carolinanitsch.com
I wasn't expecting much from this show. Holler is also on view at the New Museum - having installed a enclosed slide that cuts through the museum. This show was a collection of photogravure (which is to my understanding a complex way to make editions from an artist's proof - more info can be found here) of birds and mushrooms. The bird prints were simply amazing. The artist allegedly crossbred birds to make new species and the result is fascinating. Not only is the work a dialogue about human nature and our ability to breed new species (my mind immediately went to labradoodles, etc) but some of these new birds are adorably photogenic. The show iss small and simple enough not to take itself too seriously.

Nan Goldin and Charles Ray at www.matthewmarks.com
Marks is hosting three art world darlings right now. In addition to Goldin and Ray, in his third gallery are photographs by the late artist Peter Hujar. We didn't make it to 24th Street for these photographs but the show is up until Christmas so hopefully we'll make it back. The Nan Goldin exhibition was amazing and it was my cohort's first experience with her work and he was totally taken with the sheer power of her photographs. If it wasn't for his reaction, I would have lasted three minutes in this gallery. While I am a fan of Goldin's work and always appreciate the emotion in her photographs, I was disappointed in the way these works were displayed. Some of the works were one piece with a grouping of 8 - 16 photographs and while they worked to tell a story or a theme, they style of the grouping reminded me of a high school girl's bedroom pin-board. I felt as a grouping they detracted from the power of the individual photograph.
The Charles Ray exhibit was just one sculptural piece - a shoe that morphed into a mushroom-like head with a money bag on one side. For an artists I usually love, I was not getting this piece and the absence of a press release coupled with a gallerist on the phone left me clueless. 


Andrew Borowiec at www.sashawolf.com
"Along the Ohio" is a collection of black-and-white photographs from the 1980s and 1990s of the Midwest landscape. The collection includes both profiles of structrues - homes, gas stations, carports - as well as landscapes both of valleys and flooded streets. The style of the pictures and the absence of any people gave the photos a more historical feel - say mid 1950s. The photos are a mix of both the obvious that hit you over the head and simple landscapes that are beautiful in their simplicity. The obvious came in "Moscow, Ohio 1997" showing a classic Americana backyard, complete with lawn ornamentation, and in the background a large nuclear power plant pumping out smoke.  The simple came with the raw beauty in the urban decay landscapes such as "West Market Street, Akron, Ohio, 1985 #1" showing a long abandoned building with weeds making their way through the cement. Mother Earth's fuck you to man's alleged advancement.

Another favorite from Sasha Wolf was this piece part of a group show. Still tracking down the artist info.  

Tomorrow's Chelsea Line up - only 32 galleries to hit

Skylight Gallery 538 W 29th Street – might be interesting
Sasha Wolf 548 W 28th Street – interesting photos of Midwest landscape
Sean Kelly 528 W 29th Street – very minimal works
AC Institute 547 W 27th Street 6th Floor – I don’t know what this is but I am very curious
The Painting Center 547 West 27th Street 5th Floor – landscape paintings
J Cacciola 617 West 27th Street – interesting oil on board paintings
Paul Kasmin 293 Tenth Avenue – large-scale watercolor paintings of animals
Derek Eller 615 West 27th Street – small show of two major works coupled with a lot of smaller original drawings
Sputnik 547 West 27th Street – photos of gymnast and acrobats
Lelong 528 West 26th Street – Yoko Ono – looks questionable
Magnanvetz 521 West 26th Street – interesting photos, not 100% sold
Salomon 526 West 26th #519 – fun sexual paintings
Marlborough 545 West 25th Street – dying for this exhibition
Winston Wachter 530 West 25th Street – interesting paintings
Henoch – 555 West 25th Street – beautiful realistic paintings of bathers/swimming
1500 511 West 25th Street #607 – photos of real people in Brazil
Leila Heller 568 West 25th Street – gayish photos
Galdstone – 515 West 24th Street and 530 West 21st Street – a disco ball installation?
Benrimon 514 West 24th Street 2nd Floor – lattice-work sculptures
Nicole Klagsbrun 526 West 26th Street # 213 – 37 min performance part of Performa. Start times: 2:00, 2:37, 3:14, 3:51, 4:43, 5:20, 5:57, 6:34, 7:18
Fredericks & Freiser 536 West 24th Street– creepy black & white paintings
Danese 535 West 24th Street – more landscapes
Matthew Marks – go to all 3: 523 West 24th Street, 502 West 22nd Street and 522 West 22nd Street
Danziger 527 West 23rd Street – more animal photos
Carolina Nitsch 534 West 22nd Street - Carsten Holler – also at New Museum right now
Casey Kaplan 525 West 21st Street – basic sculptural works
Flowers 529 West 20th Street – whimsical sculptures
Jonathan Levine – 529 West 20th Street – wild works, not sure what to expect
Hpgrp – 529 West 20th Street 2W – photography

Upcoming Schedule

I know I've been falling behind in the updates. We've had a busy fall and are hitting all we can at pacific standard time tomorrow before racing back to New York for the Tuesday opening of performa '11.
http://www.pacificstandardtime.org/
http://11.performa-arts.org/

For pacific standard time, I'm only hitting the major museum exhibitions as there is time crunch. Our top three are Moca Geffen, LACMA  and Hammer.
http://www.moca.org/black_sun/
http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/californiadesign
http://hammer.ucla.edu/

In addition, I will try to squeeze in a stop at Bergamot Station as its a center for galleries that we've never been to. http://bergamotstation.com/visit.php

Since I'm spending the weekend in the OC, we'll also take the opportunity to explore lagunaartmuseum.org as well as ocma.net/

And before you know it, we'll be on the red eye home landing tuesday morning and literally right into performa. Very excited for a long overdue fill of elmgreen and dragset. Both their opening performance on the 1st followed by a very special artist class on Saturday November 5th.

In the mean time we've seen some amazing works in Chelsea and fell back in love with nick cave.

I've been tweeting updates on the great works I've seen and will continue to do so.
twitter.com/PendulumArtNews

Midtown Gallery Visits

Upcoming gallery tours this week: 


Gabriel Orozco at Marian Goodman
24 West 57th Street 

Red Grooms at Marlborough

40 West 57th Street 

Luis Gispert at Mary Boone
745 Fifth Avenue 


Ad Reinhardt at Pace 
32 East 57th Street 


Group Show at fordProject
57 West 57th Street

PST

Where is my trust fund? I need to make to Los Angeles, if only for two days for Pacific Standard Time...

I know this video has received some negative commentary - but its Ed Ruscha - is there any other living man who more fully defines Southern California art? And I say man because Catherine Opie has been heavily involved in this initiative as well.

Saturday Line Up - West Chelsea

Zwirner 519 W 19
Zwirner 533 W 19
Gladstone 530 W 21
Paula Cooper 534 W 21
Haunch 550 W 21
303 Gallery 547 W 21
Andrew Kreps 525 W 22
Pace 545 W 22
Mallick Williams 150 11th Ave
Gladstone 515 W 24
Marianne Boesky 509 W 24
Andrea Rosen 525 W 24
Lyons Wier 542 W 24
Pace 534 W 25
Lehmann Maupin 540 W 26
Mitchell-Innes + Nash 534 W 26
David Nolan 527 W 29
Sean Kelly 528 W 29

If we can make it to Hudson Square....
Gavin Brown 620 Greenwich

And we are definitely trying to make it to the LES.... 
Creative Time @ Essex Street Market