Category: On the Horizon

The New Museum’s first triennial, ‘The Generational: Younger Than Jesus,’ won’t open ‘till April, but its gratuitous title and its exclusion of any artist over age 33 has already created buzz. In the meantime an upcoming new show by British artist Jeremy Deller promises something more daring. In lieu of a traditional exhibition of art objects, Deller’s ‘It Is What It Is: Conversations about Iraq’ will bring veterans, journalists, scholars and Iraqi nationals into the museum space to engage in unscripted discussion. Will museum visitors want to engage? Participating should prove to be as fun as watching others when this show opens on February 11th.

There aren’t many gallery openings in December, which makes Nathalie Djurberg’s opening at Zach Feuer Gallery on December 10^th stand out all the more. The young, Berlin-based, Swedish artist’s stop motion animations star cartoonish characters crafted from plasticine, but their child-like innocence stops there. Darker than Grimm fairy tales, Djurberg’s films don’t necessarily have a redemptive quality as they skewer humanity’s baser instincts, but as stark expose, they’re unbeatable. If anything, Djurberg’s first New York solo show was too crowded with these dubious morality plays. Her second effort – a new film and ceramic sculptural installation – promises to deliver a more concise message.

Will this be the year that the Whitney Biennial makes critics happy? The United States’ most important contribution to today’s international circuit of biennials and triennials (and one of the oldest by far) is usually guaranteed to provoke debate about which artists were and weren’t invited to participate. The focus in 2006 was international while previous editions of the show stressed artists from regions outside New York, but this year’s show appears likely to please the New York/LA axis. Chockablock with artists familiar to gallery crowds in both cities, the list of 81 participating artists and collectives includes conceptual art pioneers Louise Lawler and John Baldessari, and representatives from the subsequent generations they influenced, including Fia Backstrom and Carol Bove. Amongst the other strains of contemporary art showcased by the Biennial will be a focus on cross-discipline work, including a series of performances staged March 3 – 23 at the Seventh Regiment Armory on Park Ave at 67th Street. Save the dates!

For more on the show, visit the Whitney Biennial’s website.

After two long years of itinerant existence, the New Museum of Contemporary Art is poised to open its brand new building at the intersection of Prince and Bowery on December 1st. Though noteworthy galleries have long called the Lower East Side home, the Museum’s move is boosting the neighborhood’s contemporary art cachet in a big way. Uptown galleries Salon 94 and Greenberg Van Doren have opened satellite spaces just around the corner, while galleries including 31 Grand, Envoy, Luxe and others have relocated from other parts of town to be part of the burgeoning scene. Tiny storefront spaces that are the opposite of Chelsea’s pristine white cubes make for an intimate and fresh art viewing experience while suggesting that the LES trend is one to watch.

It’s the season for group shows in New York galleries, but one upcoming solo show stands out this summer. Starting June 29th, Banks Violette, known for his Goth-inspired aesthetic, will show new work at two collaborating galleries: Barbara Gladstone Gallery and Team Gallery. More than another example of how hot artists are increasingly working not just with one New York gallery, Violette’s dark vision promises to be an intriguing counterpoint to the sunny summer season. (Show runs June 29 – August 17.)

For more information, see Barbara Gladstone Gallery or Team Gallery.

The empires of major Chelsea gallerists continue to expand. On April 10th, Paula Cooper will open a third space in an unlikely location: London Terrace Towers, between 9th and 10th Aves with a show of work by Sherrie Levine. In addition to 192 Books and two spaces on 21st Street, the more intimate new venue (1,100 sq ft) will offer the gallery the option of complimenting exhibitions or offering a third show.

Speaking of gallerists who’ve made good, be sure to check out ‘The Art of the Deal’ at the Kantor/Feuer window between 25th and 26th Streets. An installation opens April 1st of artwork created by several well-known dealers before they traded in their ambitions as artists for successful careers as gallerists. Is this an April Fools joke?

Dana Schutz hasn’t shown many paintings in New York since her knock-out piece in PS1’s 2005 Greater New York exhibition, so anticipation is growing to see what she’ll unveil in her next solo show, due to open April 12th. Judge for yourself whether the painting in this intriguingly titled show, ‘Stand By Earth Man,’ is just eye candy or if Schutz is making a breakthrough contribution to figurative, expressionist painting.

For more information on Dana Schutz, visit Zach Feuer Gallery (LFL).

It’s nearly the time of year when the international art world descends upon New York for the annual weekend extravaganza of art fairs. As usual, the week’s anchors are The Art Show, presented by the Art Dealers Association of America and featuring 70 galleries offering art by artists of all periods, and The Armory Show, which despite today’s plethora of art fairs, still boldly dubs itself, “the world’s leading art fair devoted exclusively to contemporary art.” If these two fairs aren’t enough to keep you occupied over the weekend, satellite fairs abound and include: Scope New York at Lincoln Center, Damrosch Park, Pulse New York at the 69th Regiment Armory at Lexington Ave and 26th Street, and the Digital and Video Art (DiVA) Fair at the Embassy Suites Hotel, Battery Park. Better get your rest now!

If getting to galleries in this busy season is impossible, don’t stress. Shows may be closing soon, but the good news is that several promising ones open this week. Tops among them may be Jenny Perlin’s unconventional video and film work at The Kitchen, based on research into FBI wiretapping in the ‘50s. At the opposite geographic end of Chelsea comes a completely different kind of exhibition: ‘Primitivism Revisited’ at Sean Kelly Gallery which matches classical African Art with work by major contemporary artists (including Robert Mapplethorpe, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Marina Abramovic and more) to demonstrate changing attitudes toward African culture. (Jenny Perlin at The Kitchen opens Dec 15th and runs through February 10th. ‘Primitivism Revisited: After the End of an Idea opens Dec 15th and runs through January 27th.

New York-based painter Yun-Fei Ji’s lively depictions of Chinese village life express equal parts affection for rural ways and disgust at the corruption and ignorance that threatened to make them extinct. Using Classical Chinese painting techniques, he has spent years documenting The Three Gorges Dam project and its displacement of millions of Chinese citizens. What will the paintings show now that the dam’s waters have risen? Find out when the exhibition opens, Nov 17th at James Cohan Gallery

Christian Marclay’s last solo show was a memorable installation of 16 monitors arranged in a circle and playing a composition of sounds made by shaking, rattling and rolling objects from the Walker Art Museum’s Fluxus archive. This and other imaginative projects (including one front and center in MoMA’s newly reinstalled contemporary art galleries) ramp up the excitement for his next show, titled ‘The Electric Chair’ after Andy Warhol’s famous image from his Death and Disaster series.

Click for more on Christian Marclay at Paula Cooper Gallery.

It’s never too soon to start looking forward to the big fall shows, and ‘Ectopia: The Second International Center of Photography Triennial of Photography and Video’ promises a strong start to the new season. Goodbye nature photography! Nearly 40 artists or collectives will exhibit art that explores mankind’s interaction with the natural world, revealing “new perspectives on the planet that sustains, enchants and – increasingly – frightens us.” (Sept 14 – Jan 7th)

The group shows of summer are nearly upon us, offering a unique opportunity to discover new artists and enjoy familiar artists in new contexts. Paula Cooper Gallery leads the pack this year with, ‘An Ongoing Low-Grade Mystery,’ an exhibition of mostly minimal artworks that opened earlier this month. It sounds preposterous for a self-respecting gallery exhibition, but the show’s premise – all artworks are predominantly red – somehow manages to work. On a decidedly more serious note, on June 9th, James Cohan Gallery opens ‘A Brighter Day,’ an ambitious show of work that seeks to address the ‘ominous tenor’ of today’s uncertain world. Also noteworthy, the venerable, now rejuvenated performance and exhibition space ‘The Kitchen’ promises an injection of new talent into the New York scene with a survey of video art by Eastern European artists, which opens May 31st.