Meriem Bennani 2 Lizards and Siham & Hafida

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Two Moroccan women navigate the changing face of traditional Aita music in Meriem Bennani’s mesmerizing video ‘Siham & Hafida’ from ’17, seen here at The Kitchen in a photo from New York Art Tours’ archive.  Two quite different characters – a pair of lizards in Brooklyn – navigate a separate set of challenges in Bennani’s new video series, launched with filmmaker friend Orian Barki in mid-March as a break from COVID-19 mandated isolation.  Entertaining and short, the videos speak to the surreal quality of life during the pandemic. (Episode One.  Episode Two).

Meriem Bennani, still from the video installation Siham & Hafida, The Kitchen, 2017.

Tuan Andrew Nguyen at jamescohan.com

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The centerpiece of Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s current on-line show at James Cohan Gallery is  ‘The Boat People,’ a video about a heroic group of survivor children who’ve become the last humans alive.  They parade through their lonely world carrying wooden artifacts (sculpture hand crafted in Bataan, Philippines) that speak to war and migration pre-apocalypse.  The Bodhisattva Guanyin reappears throughout the exhibition (here making a benevolent gesture), repeatedly orienting the narrative toward compassion.  In a must-see video, Nguyen explains that the dark, burned areas on the wood point to fire as ‘a strong metaphor for freedom and liberation, both spiritual and political.’ (On view through May 3rd).

Tuan Andrew Nguyen, The Offering Of A Sentient Cry (detail – right hand only), hand-carved gmelina wood, 26.5 x 15.5 x 9 inches, 2019.

Rebecca Morris at bortolamigallery.com

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Exhibition walkthroughs and artist interviews have abounded since the pandemic cut off access to physical gallery spaces, but few videos have been as engaging and personal as Rebecca Morris’ recent Q & As with painter friends at bortolamigallery.com.  The untitled work here from New York Art Tours’ archive (May ’16) prefigures the silver and gold paint and the play between organic and inorganic shapes prominent in her show installed through June at Bortolami Gallery in Tribeca.

Rebecca Morris, Untitled (#02-16), oil and spray paint on canvas, 48 x 48 inches, 2016.

Curtis Talwst Santiago at The Drawing Center

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Canadian-Trinidadian artist Curtis Talwst Santiago’s invented ancestors are conduits to an inaccessible past, allowing him to imagine the lives of those who came before him.  The fabulously beaded Jab Jab Knight seen here breaks through a wall of netting and stone to dominate Santiago’s recent show at Rachel Uffner Gallery; at the Drawing Center where the artist’s drawings and installations are now on view on-line, Santiago walks visitors through the show, introducing his knights and inspiring consideration of ‘genetic imagination.’

Curtis Talwst Santiago, The Jab Jab Knight, wire and beads, 82 x 24 x 24 inches, 2020.

Liza Lou & makers at #apartogether_art

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Liza Lou is no stranger to communal art projects, having run studios in California and South Africa employing dozens of craftspeople to hand-make sheets of beads as seen in this textile piece at Lehmann Maupin Gallery from fall ‘18.  Now isolated in her studio by the pandemic, she’s launched #apartogether_art, an open invitation to the on-line community to take inspiration from childhood security blankets and make textiles using materials at hand.  With hundreds of postings, the project testifies to the ubiquity and diversity of the creative impulse.  (Also accessible via apartogether.com).

Pannus, oil paint on woven glass beads and thread, 89 x 95 x 6 inches (approximately overall), 2018.

Louise Bourgeois’ ‘Drawings ’47-’07’ at hauserwirth.com

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Louise Bourgeois’ spiders may be her best-known work (this image from New York Art Tours’ archives captured a bronze arachnid appearing to scale a wall at the American Museum of Natural History), but for 70-years of the late artist’s career, drawing played a key role in expressing states of mind.  Hauser & Wirth Gallery’s inaugural on-line exhibition features a selection of drawings from 1947-2007 that channel Bourgeois’ unconscious and personal history.

Louise Bourgeois, Spider I, bronze, 50 x 46 x 12 1/4 inches, 1995.

Erwin Wurm at Tang Contemporary Art

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Beijing gallery Tang Contemporary Art recently reopened (after closing in January to prevent the spread of COVID-19) with a showcase of work by artists represented by Konig Galerie in Berlin.  The exhibition includes Austrian artist Erwin Wurm’s deliberately absurd ‘abstract sculpture’ (formed from variously sized cast bronze frankfurters) which brings to mind recent work at New York’s Lehmann Maupin Gallery which involved food treated as an object rather than something to eat.  Made entirely of concrete, this sculpture is a permanent version of Wurm’s One Minute Sculptures, in which participants interact with everyday objects. (Photo from New York Art Tours’ archive, Jan ’20).

Erwin Wurm, One Minute forever (hands/fruits), concrete, 15.35 x 7.87 x 5.91 inches, 2019.

Tara Donovan in ‘Material Matters’ at pacegallery.com

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Whether she’s transforming plastic cups into glacial landscapes or Styrofoam into clouds, Tara Donovan has a knack for turning masses of everyday materials into wondrous installations.  In this June ’14 image from New York Art Tour’s archives, index cards become termite mounds or stalagmites at Pace Gallery.  The gallery’s current on-line group exhibition, ‘Material Matters,’ features a delightful artwork by Donovan crafted from Slinkys that appear to have massed together and come to life.  (On view through April 21st).

Tara Donovan, Untitled, styrene index cards, metal, wood, paint and glue, 12’ 5 1/2” x 22’ 4” x 22’ 11 1/2”, 2014.

James Welling in David Zwirner Gallery’s On-Line Viewing Room

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Titled ‘Pathological Color,’ James Welling’s on-line exhibition of photography at David Zwirner Gallery assaults the senses with intense color contrasts generated by the artist’s experimental practice in Photoshop.  This detail of a photo by Welling from New York Art Tours’ archives features images of dancers layered with modernist buildings and landscapes, each suggesting performance on a different kind of stage.   Aiming to explore our perception of color, Welling draws on ‘pathologies’ described by Goethe, who considered the impact of particular colors on the senses.  For more images, including early examples of his technique, visit David Zwirner Gallery’s on-line Viewing Room.

James Welling, detail of 7809, inkjet print, 42 x 63 inches, 2015.

New York Art Tours Goes Remote!

by Merrily KerrDon't Miss, Features & Commissions, Hottest ShowPosted on Comments are Disabled

Contemporary art inspires.  Take your on-line engagement with art to a deeper level on a remote gallery tour.  Join Merrily on an hour-long virtual walk through of some of the most beautiful and thought-provoking shows of the moment, seeing and discussing images and video.   Tours take place via Zoom. 50% of profits in April go to New York City’s COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund.

Keegan Monaghan with David Zwirner & James Fuentes Galleries

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Virtual exhibitions have replaced in-person shows at many New York galleries, but David Zwirner Gallery’s new ‘Platform’ offers something different by showcasing work by individual artists represented by twelve established, smaller New York galleries.   The initiative highlights painting and sculpture, conceptual and digital art by groundbreaking artists and includes Keegan Monaghan’s impasto oil paintings.  Monaghan’s ‘The Screen’ – pictured here from New York Art Tour’s photo archive from Jan ’18 at James Fuentes Gallery – perfectly illustrates how pictures can ‘serve alternatively as barriers and entry points’ as we look at someone looking at someone looking.

Keegan Monaghan, The Screen, oil on canvas, red oak frame, 50 x 56 ¾ inches framed, 2016-2017.

Bayne Peterson at Kristen Lorello Gallery

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Intimately scaled and vibrantly colored, Bayne Peterson’ abstract sculpture is both a pleasure and puzzle for the eye.  In this Sept ’15 photo from New York Art Tour’s archives, a series of interlocking triangular forms made from dyed plywood segments joined by dyed epoxy creates a jittery pattern belied by the sculpture’s soothing curves.  Peterson’s latest work – currently featured by Kristen Lorello Gallery – was inspired by the dynamism of classical sculpture and the unique optical abilities of the mantis shrimp.  To see his recent sculpture, visit Kristen Lorello Gallery or check out the gallery’s special Learning Opportunities.

Sept 2015 installation view of Bayne Peterson and Nadia Haji Omar at Kristen Lorello Gallery. Foreground: Bayne Peterson, Untitled (Greens, Wood and Stone), dyed plywood, dyed epoxy, powdered granite, resin, 10.5 x 6 x 8 inches.

Kathrin Sonntag in ‘First Responders’ at Thomas Erben Gallery

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Berlin-based artist Kathrin Sonntag is no stranger to quiet moments in the studio; past photos of seemingly banal environments allude to the paranormal or time travel.  As part of Thomas Erben Gallery’s ‘First Responders’ series – an ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic by gallery artists – Sonntag presents a series of images made in the solitude of her workspace in 2004.  The photos turn the everyday moment into magic; here, nail scissors come to life and mince across the floor.  To see more from Sonntag’s unique POV, visit the gallery’s Instagram or Facebook page.

Kathrin Sonntag, from Thomas Erben Gallery’s Instagram @thomaserbengallery, posted April 6th, 2020.

Tito Ferrara at Bushwick Collective

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While museums and galleries are closed, a walk through Bushwick’s outdoor art gallery is a great alternative way to get your art fix.  This huge painting of a Brazilian jaguar by Sao Paulo street artist Tito Ferrara dominates the intersection, standing out among the many superb murals commissioned by the Bushwick Collective.  If you can’t get to Bushwick, check out the latest murals @thebushwickcollective or watch a short video of Ferrara strolling through the neighborhood @titoferrara.

Tito Ferrara, installation view of A Brazilian Jaguar, at Jefferson Street and St Nicholas Ave, 2019.