ARTIST MARK JENKINS TROLLS PASSERSBY WITH DISTURBING STREET SCULPTURE

Mark Jenkins brought sculpture to street art and he’s known for these surprising installations in urban spaces. His new book, The Urban Theater, documents his often disturbing street installations and also includes pics of viewers’ responses and interactions. Work from Jenkins oeuvre has been exhibited in Lazarides Galleries and the Kunsthalle Wien, among others but his art was made for the street. Jenkins says his sculptures only become complete for him when they interact with their urban environments and the people within them. But these poor people had no idea what they were experiencing, as you can see from their reaction. You can get The Urban Theater here.

ROM MUECK'S SCULPTURES ARE MESMERZING & STRANGE –JUST LIKE PEOPLE

Australian sculptor Ron Mueck has made just a few dozen sculptures in the last 20 years. His likenesses of humans range from newborns to octogenarians are often out of scale. 

He spends more than a year conceiving and making each figure, capturing every feature with astonishing detail. Mueck rarely talks about his work but said in an interview in 2003,

“I never made life-size figures because it never seemed to be interesting. We meet life-size people every day. [Altering the scale] makes you take notice in a way that you wouldn’t do with something that’s just normal.”

The son of German émigrés, Mueck was born in Australia in 1958. After working in film and television in the United States and London, he shifted his focus to the fine arts in the mid-1990s. The sculptures assembled here —about a third of Mueck’s entire production— illustrate the arc of his career from 1999 to 2013. 

Fresh from a world tour, 13 of Mueck’s sculptures will be on view at Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts starting today through August. Here’s an unsettling preview.

(via W)

FRANK STELLA'S WHITNEY RETROSPECTIVE BRINGS THE ARTIST'S IMPORTANCE INTO FOCUS

"I don't like to say I have given my life to art. I prefer to say art has given me my life."

I’m an artist not a critic, so this is not so much a review as it is a confession. I never “got” Frank Stella. His work always eluded me. Much of what I had seen was early work (the black paintings) in museums and his massive 80s wall sculptures in corporate lobbies. By definition, Stella is an abstract expressionist, but this new retrospective to use a cliché, paints a more complete picture of his importance in 20th century art. Stella has always been important. His art work was recognized for its innovations early on and in 1959 at the age of 23 he was included in Sixteen Americans at the MoMA. So, I’m not saying that he’s become more important but to me this exhibit, the first major one in NYC in three decades, really shows the full range of work and influence. I guess that's what a major NY retrospective does. The 5th floor of the new Whitney Museum, which just reopened in its new Meatpacking District location, has 18,000 square feet of select Stella.

I just came back from an early preview and I’m still buzzing with the thrill. The work is dynamic on its own, but it is dynamically installed as well, creating somewhat of a widescreen cinematic experience as you walk from gallery to gallery. Some wall sculptures are really enormous, as deep as they are tall and wide. The materials, color and scale change are all exciting to witness together. One of the most surpring installations has a dozen or more small scale models for scuplture –sitting in the open on sawhorse tables–  that let's you see how he “draws” in 3D before he blows them up. He’s still not my favorite artist or even in my top 10, but I understand and appreciate how he works much more now. Have a look-see and if and if you likey and find yourself in NYC this winter, go see it in person. Stella's most famous quote should guide you...

"What you see is what you see."

Frank Stella: A Retrospective opens this Friday October 30 and runs through February 7, 2016 at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

ANISH KAPOOR'S SCULPTURE OF A "QUEEN'S VAGINA" AT VERSAILLES WAKES UP THE MEDIA

It seems the media rarely pays attention to art until it reaches the extreme… astronomical auction prices, unconventional materials or something deemed “offensive” (... like Paul McCarthy's butt plug that was removed from its site and the artist was punched in the face on the streets of Paris.) I’m an artist myself and am guilty of writing about work for those very reasons. So of course, Anish Kapoor has sparked an uproar in France by installing a huge work on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles. In 2008, Versailles opened the palace and hosted a contemporary exhibit of work by Jeff Koons, which has yet to be equalled, in my opinion. With the exception of Chisto‘s The Gates in Central Park, it remains the most incredible contemporary art installation ever.

Kapoor’s 200-foot long, 33-foot high steel-and-rock sculpture, called Dirty Corner is set up in the garden, which attracts five million visitors a year. He told French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche a week ago that the sculpture was meant to be blatantly sexual, and regal. He said; 

“Facing the castle, there will be a mysterious sculpture of rusted steel 10 meters high, weighing thousands of tons, with stones and blocks all around. Again sexual in nature: the vagina of the queen who took power.”

He didn’t say WHICH queen, but added that while the work was “ambitious”, it was not as over-the-top as the scale of the palace and grounds. Inside is a canon that fired red wax at white walls in a symbol of the phallus and ejaculation of blood. The conservative daily Le Figaro saw the work as an effort 

“to use Versailles as an object of contrast between two types of art”

But at a media conference later, the artist seemed to back away from his description a bit. Kapoor told reporters;

“I don’t remember saying it. I don’t see why it’s problematic – sexual organs being universal. The point is to create a dialogue between these great gardens and the sculptures.” 

The French official in charge of Versailles, Catherine Pegard, said that what was of interest to Kapoor was “the hidden chaos” of the gardens designed by Andre Le Notre, the 17th century landscape architect who designed its strict lines.

The man in charge of the exhibition, Alfred Pacquement, said the gardens formed a contrasting background for Anish Kapoor’s work.

“The dark cavity is an ever-present theme in Kapoor’s work. He brings out contradiction with perspective, upending its (the garden’s) order” while taking into account the large scale of Versailles.”

Regardless, I’d like to get to Versailles (I’ve never been, if you can believe!?) and see that giant rusty vagina, the red wax canon, the grounds reflected and the whirlpool… they seem to all reflect and amplify the nastiness that inevitably lies beneath all obscene opulence and extravagant wealth.

(via NDTV)

WHY DID THE WHITNEY REJECT CHARLES RAY'S "HUCK AND JIM"?

The Whitney Museum’s new, location just off the High Line is apparently a great place for controversial and challenging art INSIDE, but not outside. Calvin Tomkins criticized the institution in his latest New Yorker profile on the artist Charles Ray. A sculpture commissioned for the plaza outside the museum was rejected on the grounds that the Meatpacking District’s crowd might find it too naked. 

The nine-foot-tall sculpture, called Huck and Jim, was commissioned in 2009. The Whitney is dedicated to American art and this inspired Ray to consider Mark Twain‘s classic novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He showed the preliminary designs to director Adam Weinberg and chief curator Donna De Salvo, but the article reveals that the concerns came later, and stemmed from notions that a sculpture of a nude African-American man next to a nude white youth would be too challenging for those who would pass by the public space without understanding the context. This might turn them off from entering the museum. Five years ago, Weinberg reportedly told Ray he would be happy to install the sculpture somewhere else on the museum’s property, but that it couldn’t be placed in the public-facing plaza.

But Ray rejected this relocation; 

“I don’t want whatever becomes of it to be less than the original idea, and the original idea was for it to be there. Listen, I’m not naïve to the controversies this would generate—I told them that controversies would be a forest we had to navigate through.” 

He continued working on it, and it’s now part of his retrospective at the Art Institute of Chicago. But the disclaimer trend of recent years is implemented on their website saying;

“Some works in this exhibition may not be suitable for younger viewers.”

As Ray told Tomkins, 

“I’m over the fact that Huck and Jim is not going to be at the Whitney, and I understand the reasons.”

I understand the reasons too. In the finger-pointing world we live in today, a Tweet can turn into a firestorm, so this rejection was a preemptive strike to not offend tourists. But seeing the crowds and the bustling area now that the museum is open to the public, as much as there might be a bit of controversy, I think it might have been at home in there on the plaza. A nice little plaque with an explanation, and maybe turned with its back to the High Line, and it would have been lost in the shuffle. Twitter might have bitched at first, but Instagram would have LOVED it in the long run.

"Huck and Jim" on view now in Ray's retrospective at The Art Institute of Chicago

(via ArtNews)

#NADA: SHOES ON THE COURT, LOTS OF TALKING, RIVER VIEWS & CRAZY COLOR

The NADA art fair (New Art Dealers Alliance) has a different vibe than the Frieze fair up the river on Randall’s Island. More experimental with emerging artists, a bit reflective of the nearby Lower East & Brooklyn galleries across the river. From lunch at the Whitney, I went over to “Basketball City“, literally a huge basketball arena, with Muna Tseng, the choreographer sister of the late photographer, Tseng Kwong Chi who has a career retrospective show at Grey Art Gallery at the moment… more on that in another post. We met up with artist Alan Belcher, in from Toronto, and local gal-about-town, gallerist Anna Kustera. I think we all did equal parts looking and talking in the nearly three hours walking around and around. As I didn’t really feel I had the stamina to do a real survey of the entire fair, I decided to use "naive/ color" as themes, as there was a lot of luscious pigment all over, especially in Eric Firestone‘s pop-y booth of Misaki Kawai‘s childlike work. Muna and I HAD to take advantage of our green and red pants –sorry, it couldn’t be avoided. And when we decided to take a break, the East River, Manhattan Bridge and New York skyline was another visual feast for the eyes. It’s all happening still, today and tomorrow. Find out more here. It's free, btw.

Artist Alan Belcher taking an art break with gallerist, Anna Kustera

Me & Muna Tseng with Misaki Kawai's sculptural chair

Misaki Kawai

Adjusting Alain Biltereyst’s small abstracts with style

Alain Biltereyst

Holly Coulis

Brian Belott

Zane Lewis

Zane Lewis

Zane Lewis (detail)

Genieve Figgis

Catherine Bradford

Sorry, I don’t know the artist’s name… but I blame the gallery for not putting a label on the wall.

RIP CHRIS BURDEN

If you live in L.A. and like art, you’ve seen Chris Burden‘s work, even if you aren’t aware. Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s entry plaza features “Urban Light,” a sculpture in the form of a Greek temple composed of 202 antique cast-iron street lamps. Installed in 2008, in addition to the Hollywood sign, it’s become new new symbol for L.A. LACMA director Michael Govan says

“Chris’ work combines the raw truth of our reality and an optimism of what humans can make and do… he wanted to put the miracle back in the Miracle Mile.”

But by this piece you’d never guess that the same guy had himself shot in the arm for a performance piece at a Santa Ana gallery over 40 years ago. It made him semi-famous in the much smaller art world of the 70s. Burden, was a pioneer in the newly forming category of “Conceptual Art”, the art of the idea, not the “object.” And he eventually became one of the most compelling and widely admired sculptors of his generation. He died yesterday in L.A. of a malignant melanoma. He was 69.

Burden gained notoriety in 1971 as a 25-year-old grad student at UC Irvine and for his master’s thesis, he created “Five Day Locker Piece,” where he closed himself inside an ordinary school locker just two by two by three. The locker above had a five gallon bottle of water, and the locker below, an empty five-gallon bottle.

Now, suddenly part of the emerging Post-Minimal artists, young Burden got his degree and quickly connected with a group of Northern California artists. What cemented Burden’s rep was having himself shot in the arm by a friend from about 15 feet away, in “Shoot“. He would forever be known as “the artist who had himself shot” — lampooned by critics and closely monitored in the L.A. art community.

Power was always a motif in Burden’s work. “The Big Wheel” was a turning point. A performance sculpture —activated by the artist– where a three-ton, cast-iron wheel eight feet in diameter is powered by a motorcycle. When the engine revs and the motorcycle’s tire is engaged, the flywheel begins to spin eventually, very fast. When the engine shuts down, the big wheel spins for several hours on its own. It is in MOCA’s permanent collection. He also was known for “L.A.P.D. Uniforms,” a row of oversize, navy-blue garments, big enough for a giant, made after the Rodney King beating at the hands of local police– it's particularly relevant today. “What My Dad Gave Me,” is a 65-foot skyscraper made entirely of Erector set parts installed briefly in Rockefeller Center in 2008.

Burden was the first artist to join Gagosian Gallery when it opened in L.A. in 1978. His first major solo show in a New York museum didn’t come until 2013, when “Chris Burden: Extreme Measures” opened at the New Museum. His work is better known in California and in Europe. He became a tenured professor in 1986 at UCLA, and no doubt has influence several generations of artists. He was instrumental in developing its rep as one of the nation’s leading art schools.

Burden’s final sculpture, an homage to Alberto Santos-Dumont, a Brazilian aviator who flew a dirigible around the Eiffel Tower in 1901, will be shown at LACMA in a special exhibition opening May 18.

"Shoot"

Crawling through broken glass in “Through the Night Softly”, 1973

Nailed to the roof of a VW in “Trans-fixed”, 1974

This piece just happened to be performed on my 13th birthday...

"The Big Wheel", 1979

“Metropolis II” at LACMA

"L.A.P.D Uniforms", 1993

His final work, “Ode to Santos-Dumont”, 2015

Chris with his wife, artist Nancy Rubins. Photo: Todd Eberle

THOMAS HOUSEAGO "MASKS" (PENTAGON) UNMASKED IN ROCKEFELLER CENTER

Walking through 30 Rock last Monday afternoon, I came out into Rockefeller Plaza upon sculptor Thomas Houseago Masks (Pentagon), which was being installed overlooking the Rockefeller Center ice rink. Right where the Christmas goes every year. It was unveiled and consists of five upright plaster masks, each more than 14-feet tall, joined together to create an interior space. One mask looks like a winking skull, another, formed by overlapping slabs is barely recognizable as a face. Mr. Houseago told WSJ:

“It’s as close as you will get, in a way, to having my studio in Rockefeller Plaza. You become part of the work and the city becomes part of the work.”

It took about a year and a half to create the all of the masks. Mr. Houseago is originally from Leeds, England. He moved to L.A. more than a decade ago and says Pablo Picasso and Darth Vader among his influences. His hulking pieces have been on display in public before, in places like the High Line and City Hall Park to the Palazzo Grassi in Venice, Italy. 

“It’s so risky, and it’s so terrifying. Hopefully kids will enjoy walking in it. And maybe one of those kids will think about being an artist, and that would be fabulous. That’s always the dream, that you give people that space to wonder.”

(via WSJ)

#OSCARS: COKE-SNORTING SCULPTURE APPEARS ON HOLLYWOOD BLVD

LA street artist Plastic Jesus put a life-sized gold Oscars statue snorting cocaine on Hollywood Boulevard, just yards from the red carpet (and World of Wonder’s offices.) The golden guy is snorting coke on its hands and knees, and popped up for just a few hours yesterday before being removed by the artist. Plastic Jesus told the Daily News.

“We’re deluded if we’re saying that cocaine isn’t a major part of Hollywood and almost every other city in the world. A lot of people will sit down and watch the Oscar show this Sunday and then go and indulge in cocaine. I want to cause controversy about the issue. But I don’t want to cause controversy about the placement. I didn’t want a confrontation. The piece is out there. People have posted it. It got enough publicity to get people to think.”

Last year, Plastic Jesus created a similar statue of a life-sized Oscar statue injecting heroin which followed the tragic death of Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died of an overdose.

(Photo, Plastic Jesus; via The Daily News) 

CHRIS LABROOY'S TRUCK "SCULPTURES" STRETCH THE BOUNDS OF ART

Pickup trucks get stretched, twisted and turned into British artist Chris Labrooy’s ‘tales of auto elasticity’ series. These manipulated vehicles set in abandoned parking lots, only exist in the digital realm. The series twists and turns and the images are made with such precision, you’d swear they were real. Maybe I shouldn’t have let the cat out of the bag and made you believe they existed? You can see more of Labrooy’s trucks and other work here.