Posted: 13 Nov 2011 07:03 PM PST
Monday, 14 November 2011
Diane Arbus: A Retrospective, 1960-1971
Sunday, 13 November 2011
Reconnecting and Exploring the Love of Looking With Nan Goldin
Reconnecting and Exploring the Love of Looking With Nan Goldin
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A gallery goer looking at a Goldin works at the Matthew Marks Gallery show. (photo by the author for Hyperallergic) (click to enlarge)
Don’t you love attending a high profile art opening on a Friday night and instead of getting a nice big glass of vino, you are handed a plastic cup of imported mineral water? Forget about TGIF. Obviously, we all have to suffer if the artist is in recovery and the legendary bad girl photographer Nan Goldin, now 58 years old, is trying to stay off the stuff.
One of the most notable aspects of her hugely successful career spanning almost four decades is her back-and-forth relationship with recreational drugs and booze. During part of that period, she was hooked on heroin or shitfaced drunk interspersed with other periods when she’s been sober. Like right now.
One reason Goldin’s work became so famous was it openly documented her doping it up with her friends in a gritty dysfunctional world. So as a result, we weren’t getting any potent libations. There’s nothing worse than teetotaler friends who won’t permit anyone to drink in their presence.
But back to the event, Scopophilia is derived from the Greek “scopo,” to look and “philia,” love of friends, or the love of looking. It’s an apt title because Goldin is an artist who provides a voyeuristic window into her own life and who captures the images of her friends and lovers with her camera, making her a perpetual outsider. The show debuted in Paris last winter and appeared at the Look3 Festival of the Photograph in Charlottesburg, Virginia in June. It’s her first solo show in New York City since 2007 and her eighth show at the Matthew Marks Gallery since 1992.
The artist has been under the radar for a while and in some self-imposed isolation from the art scene. She divides her time between New York and Europe but spends more time there, though she’s been quoting as saying she “hated” Paris. Apparently she no longer wants to document her own life. Dammit! She’s certainly going to disappoint her fans. Last year shetold ArtInfo France, “I don’t want to show my life to the public this way anymore. It’s cost me a lot and I don’t want anyone to know anything about my life today.” Maybe that’s because her life today is a lot more boring. For some people, hitting the big five-oh is when the partying ends. Could it be that documenting a life spent idling with a bunch of middle-class middle-aged Eurotrashies in the throes of ennui doesn’t have the same resonance or visual appeal as some drag queens shooting up in a badass gay bar?
No matter what Goldin does, she will always have a hard time topping the work she did in herBallad of Sexual Dependency show and perhaps that’s one reason why she often re-uses her photographs from the 1970s and 1980s. She was criticized in the art blog Spot for her 2008Stories Retold show in Houston, which complained that she was “mashing and remixing old work to squeeze new life out of past glory.”
Nan Goldin, "The Back" (2011) (via matthewmarks.com)
In Scopophilia, she again revisits her older work. Although billed as the first show of new photos by Goldin in a while, in actuality half of them are recycled from her earlier work, some of which haven’t been displayed and were dug out of her archives. Every Tuesday for eight months, when the Lourvre was officially closed, Goldin was allowed to freely wander around the galleries, occasionally barefoot, with her assistant and take thousands of pictures of the paintings and sculpture. Lucky bitch!
Let’s face facts, the Louvre isn’t going to let just anyone cavort around in their hallowed halls. The Mona Lisa alone is estimated to be worth around $743 million and that’s just one out of 35,000 artworks. Based upon Goldin’s exhaustive work in the museum, she chose 400 new photographs and paired them with her own images, many of which are autobiographical. The assembled images are compiled into an accompanying 25-minute long slide installation commissioned by the Louvre. Is it arrogance to place your own work smack dab in the middle of a grouping of some of the world’s most fabulous masterpieces? Some might say it’s hubris to juxtapose your own work next to a Rembrandt, Raphael, Renoir, Bronzino or Corot, but it could be viewed as an homage, a way to demonstrate that the themes of love and desire and sensuality are eternal and the high art we go to see in museums is closely linked to our own everyday realities. It attempts to mix high and low art together. Some of the comparisons work better than others and I’d say the sculptures are less effective. Goldin is especially skillful with light and golden dappled colors bathing accentuating an intimate scene and she’s picked some works that complement that aspect, for example her photo “Kim and Robin, Boston Sisters” works beautifully with the 1569 painting “Vanity, Modesty and Death” by Jan van der Straets, despite the several hundred years difference in age.
Nan Golden, "Sisters" (2010) (via matthewmarks.com)
It’s become a cliché to say the French love to revere America’s castoffs, but in spite of her Jerry Lewis-like celebrity in Paris, she also enjoys a cult-like status here in the States, so naturally, this was a jam-packed opening stuffed with some prominent art scenesters like photographer Terry Richardson, filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowski and PS1 honcho Klaus Biesenbach.
There were your usual Chelsea gallery yuppies, some other artists, and the hard-core Goldin cultists — downtown club kids, out there artists and performers and the gay crowd. Of course, a lot of the old-timers from the 1970s and 1980s are dead now, and there were only a sprinkling of that generation present, though I did see Mudd Club alum Glenn O’Brien, who just published an adulatory piece about the artist in Harper’s. Film director Katrina Del Mar posed for me in front of the picture of her in the gallery. From 2006 to 2008, Katrina del Mar was Goldin’s studio manager and helped coordinate the Ballad of Sexual Dependency show for the Museum of Modern Art.
Goldin, "Crazy Scary" (2011) (via matthewmarks.com) (click to enlarge)
I’m personally interested in Goldin’s work because I am from her world. We both regularly attended The Other Side, the nightclub in Boston where she documented the drag queens, all of whom I had a passing acquaintance with. Although slightly younger than she is, I moved to New York City in 1974 and she followed later in 1978 after graduating from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, where she earned both a BFA and a fifth year Certificate.
Our paths coincided again when my new roommate turned out to be the closest friend of one of her superstar models, Kenny Angelico (aka Ivy), a talented fashionista and hair stylist who also came from Boston to New York City to work at the cutting edge hair salon Jungle Red Studios downtown. Unfortunately, Angelico died of AIDS during the 1980s.
I would see Nan about town, with Cookie Mueller, or at the Mudd Club, and she even came over to my apartment a few times. Even then, she was already quite serious about her photography and we all admired her for her tenaciousness in documenting the times. She herself encouraged me to write, which I was attempting to do but finding it easy to be sidetracked by all the distractions so prevalent during that time. She soldiered on taking the photographs even though at the time there was no critical acclaim or monetary compensation. Indeed, it was tough in those days to survive in New York City at all and we all sacrificed in order to live there.
“Do you think Nan will be coming?” I asked Del Mar. “She’s coming, but she usually comes at the end,” she said.
The thought of seeing Goldin again after more than 25 years was a bit daunting. Would she acknowledge me or just give me the brush off? When someone from your group makes it big, and I mean REALLY big, you know that they might not stay your friend. They’ll be busy with everything major success has brought them. Nan was no different and I wasn’t at all surprised.
The author and artist Nan Goldin (via the author)
“Hi, Nan. Geraldine Visco. I haven’t seen you since the 1980s.” The artist gazed at me distantly and looked away. She was in the midst of talking to some fans and other artists and I’d just taken her photo.
“No, it was the 1970s,” she told me. And that was it.
“Well, do you remember Michael?” I persisted. Then her ears perked up and she become more interested.
“Yes, Kenny’s friend. I’d like to get in touch with him. Do you know where he is?” she asked.
Now she was listening. No doubt, when someone has reached the pinnacle of their career, they get constant annoying requests by people from the past looking to get a loan or a favor. It’s also more pleasant sometimes to just forget the past and the people we once knew. That’s especially true when you’ve had a ménage à quatre with them, although some of the details are even fuzzy to me.
Maybe she didn’t want to think about the past. After all, the walls were littered with the skeletons of her former life, many of them gone forever. Scopophilia is a show people should see because it acknowledges our mortality but also preserves it.
International Chinese Contemporary Art
In the new survey, ArtTactic’s Risk Barometer for the International Chinese Contemporary Art market came in at 4.4. While this is an increase of 10 percent since April 2011, this remains below the “medium” risk level, suggesting that the current recovery is “growing at a healthy speed without strong elements of speculation.” The Speculation Barometer sits at 6.4 at the upper “medium” level, but has only risen two percent since the last study this spring. For the mainland China market, naturally the proliferation of upstart, unproven auction houses has had a negative effect on ArtTactic’s Risk Barometer, which currently comes in at 6.7, 49 percent higher than the International Chinese market. Still, this remains within the “upper medium” risk level. Speculation in the mainland China auction market remains a distinct concern, however, with inflows of new speculative and short-term investment capital from private, as well as institutional (art funds and investment trusts) raise concerns about the sustainability of the rapid growth of the mainland Chinese art market. What all this boils down to is that the Chinese art market recovery has attracted a great deal of “hot money,” while Hong Kong is better positioned for more sustainable growth. Not a surprise, but an important trend to keep in mind.
In terms of valuations, the US$50,000-100,000 price segment has seen the strongest increase in confidence over the past six months, driven mostly by the recent auction results at Sotheby’s Hong Kong. This price segment, which accounted for only one percent of the total at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in spring 2010, rose to seven percent of the total this autumn. While a majority of experts surveyed remain positive about the top price segment (over US$1 million), confidence has weakened in the $500,000-1 million segment.
Artist confidence remains high at the top-tier, with 67 percent of artists now having a reading above 50, indicating there is more positive than negative sentiment towards the artist’s market. In the Top 10 Short-Term Confidence Ranking, Zeng Fanzhi has moved from fourth place to first, and four new entries have taken their places in the top ten: Song Dong (now second place, up from 12th), Zhang Xiaogang (fourth, up from 11th), Li Songsong (sixth, up from 15th), and Gu Wenda (eighth, up from 19th). In terms of long-term confidence, 35 percent of artists (18 out of 52) have seen a positive increase over the past six months. Among the top 10 artists that the experts believe will stand the test of time are Ai Weiwei, Cai Guoqiang, Zeng Fanzhi, Yang Fudong, Zhan Wang and Xu Zhen. ArtTactic does note that there have been some changes to the top 10 since April 2011, however, with Zhang Peili, Song Dong, Xu Bing and Zhang Xiaogang entering the list.
Though several artists in these lists have seen a drop in their confidence levels since April, ArtTactic echoes what Jing Daily has said before: that a select group of blue-chip Chinese contemporary artists have firmly established themselves, and will in all likelihood remain, in the longterm performers category — including Ai Weiwei, Cai Guoqiang, Zhang Peili, Zeng Fanzhi, Xu Bing, Song Dong , Zhang Xiaogang, and Yang Fudong.
As for the collector base of Chinese contemporary art, Asian collectors continue to dominate as they have since 2008, when Western collectors cut back in the wake of the global financial crisis. Though Taiwanese collectors remain the most powerful force in the Chinese contemporary art market, one important finding in ArtTactic’s new survey is that mainland Chinese “new collectors” have risen into the top five collector segments, ahead of American collectors and Indonesian collectors. Perceptions among respondents towards mainland Chinese collectors are now shifting, with ArtTactic noting that observers have largely validated the “new trend of growing interest in contemporary art from mainland China.” Look for this to continue as more new collectors enter the market.
As Shanghai-based “super-collector” Liu Yiqian observed this past August, “Over the past five years, there were only a few collectors involved with this market, and [I was] therefore quite familiar with buyers as well as sellers. But this situation has changed [in 2011], as half of the buyers are even new to me.”
Overall, the latest ArtTactic survey indicates that the Chinese contemporary art market (at the uppermiddle to top-tier) is moving towards more sustainable growth and quality. This is very much a positive trend, and one that’s absolutely necessary. As Chinese collectors continue to become more discriminating — with many passing up lower-quality works by blue-chip artists at the recent Sotheby’s Hong Kong autumn auctions — we should see prices for many artists stabilize or trend towards slower growth. If these artists can remain insulated from the “hot money” inflows that are contributing to the myriad problems facing upstart domestic Chinese auction houses (unsustainable growth rates, issues with collecting payment, counterfeiting controversies), they will likely see their long-term confidence rankings and auction sales prices remain among the highest in the global contemporary art world. Luckily, top-tier artists like Zeng Fanzhi, Zhang Xiaogang, Fang Lijun and Yue Minjun — who are widely sold on the internationalized Hong Kong auction market — should see little to no ill effect from issues in the mainland China auction market.
In terms of valuations, the US$50,000-100,000 price segment has seen the strongest increase in confidence over the past six months, driven mostly by the recent auction results at Sotheby’s Hong Kong. This price segment, which accounted for only one percent of the total at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in spring 2010, rose to seven percent of the total this autumn. While a majority of experts surveyed remain positive about the top price segment (over US$1 million), confidence has weakened in the $500,000-1 million segment.
Artist confidence remains high at the top-tier, with 67 percent of artists now having a reading above 50, indicating there is more positive than negative sentiment towards the artist’s market. In the Top 10 Short-Term Confidence Ranking, Zeng Fanzhi has moved from fourth place to first, and four new entries have taken their places in the top ten: Song Dong (now second place, up from 12th), Zhang Xiaogang (fourth, up from 11th), Li Songsong (sixth, up from 15th), and Gu Wenda (eighth, up from 19th). In terms of long-term confidence, 35 percent of artists (18 out of 52) have seen a positive increase over the past six months. Among the top 10 artists that the experts believe will stand the test of time are Ai Weiwei, Cai Guoqiang, Zeng Fanzhi, Yang Fudong, Zhan Wang and Xu Zhen. ArtTactic does note that there have been some changes to the top 10 since April 2011, however, with Zhang Peili, Song Dong, Xu Bing and Zhang Xiaogang entering the list.
Though several artists in these lists have seen a drop in their confidence levels since April, ArtTactic echoes what Jing Daily has said before: that a select group of blue-chip Chinese contemporary artists have firmly established themselves, and will in all likelihood remain, in the longterm performers category — including Ai Weiwei, Cai Guoqiang, Zhang Peili, Zeng Fanzhi, Xu Bing, Song Dong , Zhang Xiaogang, and Yang Fudong.
As for the collector base of Chinese contemporary art, Asian collectors continue to dominate as they have since 2008, when Western collectors cut back in the wake of the global financial crisis. Though Taiwanese collectors remain the most powerful force in the Chinese contemporary art market, one important finding in ArtTactic’s new survey is that mainland Chinese “new collectors” have risen into the top five collector segments, ahead of American collectors and Indonesian collectors. Perceptions among respondents towards mainland Chinese collectors are now shifting, with ArtTactic noting that observers have largely validated the “new trend of growing interest in contemporary art from mainland China.” Look for this to continue as more new collectors enter the market.
As Shanghai-based “super-collector” Liu Yiqian observed this past August, “Over the past five years, there were only a few collectors involved with this market, and [I was] therefore quite familiar with buyers as well as sellers. But this situation has changed [in 2011], as half of the buyers are even new to me.”
Overall, the latest ArtTactic survey indicates that the Chinese contemporary art market (at the uppermiddle to top-tier) is moving towards more sustainable growth and quality. This is very much a positive trend, and one that’s absolutely necessary. As Chinese collectors continue to become more discriminating — with many passing up lower-quality works by blue-chip artists at the recent Sotheby’s Hong Kong autumn auctions — we should see prices for many artists stabilize or trend towards slower growth. If these artists can remain insulated from the “hot money” inflows that are contributing to the myriad problems facing upstart domestic Chinese auction houses (unsustainable growth rates, issues with collecting payment, counterfeiting controversies), they will likely see their long-term confidence rankings and auction sales prices remain among the highest in the global contemporary art world. Luckily, top-tier artists like Zeng Fanzhi, Zhang Xiaogang, Fang Lijun and Yue Minjun — who are widely sold on the internationalized Hong Kong auction market — should see little to no ill effect from issues in the mainland China auction market.
"Man Ray in Paris" New Book by Getty Publications
Posted: 10 Nov 2011 08:09 PM PST
Los Angeles, CA - Paris after World War I was teeming with Americans. Bon vivants seeking escape from prohibition mingled with artists and intellectuals, all pursuing their dreams in the City of Light. The American Modernist Man Ray (1890–1976) spent the 1920s and 1930s in Paris, where experimental expression was flourishing. While he considered himself to be primarily a painter and also worked in film, sculpture, and collage, his best-known and most innovative medium was photography. Man Ray arrived in Paris in 1921 full of creative energy. Inspired by Marcel Duchamp’s “readymades” —mundane objects that became works of art in the gallery context—Man Ray spontaneously created an assemblage during a party by combining carpet tacks and an iron, which he then photographed. Soon afterward, he began to experiment with cameraless photography and devised his Rayographs— abstract images produced by placing objects directly on photographic paper and exposing it to light.
Twilight Visions: Surrealism, Photography, and Paris
Posted: 12 Nov 2011 07:13 PM PST
Host Bunny Yeager's Pin-ups
Posted: 12 Nov 2011 07:26 PM PST  Miami, Florida.- The Dezer Schauhalle Miami (the Museum & Pavilion’s contemporary art showcase) marks the initial phase of the multi-faceted facility with the exhibition “ Bunny Yeager : Retrospective to the Future”, on view from November 18th through February 29th 2012. The exhibition provides a retrospective of this Miami photographer and includes never-before-seen works. Curated by international art critic and Berlin-based curator, Helmut Schuster, the Dezer Schauhalle will be the initial phase of the 250,000-square-foot art and automobile museum developed by prominent New York/South Florida developer and collector Michael Dezer. International art collectors and enthusiasts, as well as local influencers, will be in attendance to pay tribute to one of the leading figures of twentieth-century photography and view 220 of her photos, including self-portraits and photos of Bettie Page , taken from the fifties, sixties and seventies. |
SFMOA Showcases Eadweard Muybridge's Contributions To The Art Of Photography
Posted: 11 Nov 2011 07:18 PM PST
San Francisco, CA - The rows of black-and-white photographs, each slightly different, feel like a slow-motion film: two men boxing, a horse and rider galloping, a cockatoo in flight. Eadweard Muybridge’s groundbreaking work is the focus of “Helios: Eadweard Muybridge in a Time of Change,” which opened Saturday 26th February 2011 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOA). The fascinating exhibition, which originated at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., includes more than 300 objects created from 1857 to 1893.The series of sequential photographs will be familiar to viewers fond of Muybridge’s work; he showed that as horses run, they briefly lift all four hooves off the ground. The show is the first retrospective of the artist’s pioneering work. It includes Muybridge’s only surviving Zoopraxiscope — a device he designed in 1879 to project motion pictures.
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