Whitney Biennial - Tam Tran

After seeing the Whitney Biennial, a showcase of contemporary artists, Tam Tran’s series of photographs stood out to me. Tran photographs her younger family member dressed in pajamas with a cape, holding a stick threateningly. In the different photographs the boy is yelling with the menacing ferocity of a war leader, or thrusting his stick in the air. The photos are in color, but appear to be slightly manipulated. The background colors are faded, and the bright colors of the boy’s pajamas have a washed out appearance. The pictures have a nostalgic quality. At one time the child’s 110% commitment to the poses and faces creates a real intensity but once the viewer notices the pajamas and the cape, it becomes more endearing. I also appreciated the old school dramatic quality that, the boy in costumes has, because of the serous angles of the photos it is almost insignificant in the beginning that the boy is very young. The view is guided directly to the ferocious face and expressions, and it seems as if the photographs might be still frames from a play. This creates an interesting tension between the simultaneous candid nature of the shot. The simplistic element of the visual content of the frame makes the shot more powerful. Through the drama, and whimsical elopements the most powerful effect of the photograph is the genuine and real feeling of the moment.

Skin Fruit

The Skin Fruit exhibition at the New Museum (3/3/10-6/6/10) represents a smorgasbord of contemporary art from the Dakis Joannou collection, assembled by Jeff Koons. The exhibit mainly addresses the human form, and how our bodies or the surface of a thing can define its experience. Many of the pieces also confront the tension between the skin and outside and how that guides the viewer’s evaluation of what the piece implies. Skin fruit shows how contemporary artists have interpreted such a historical theme and inspiration of art, the human body. Most of the artists featured in the show are heavy weights in the contemporary art scene and the work dates from the 1960s until the present.
One of the first pieces that I saw was Liza Lou’s sparkly “Super Sister”. The piece is of a black woman with 70 ‘s style afro, cut off Levis, a green beaded bikini top, heavy make up, and dark red platform heels. The super sister with a rifle in one hand and the other placed on her hip looks up with attitude. The beaded, sparkly red shoes reminded me instantly of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, but instead of wearing a blue and white checkered dress with a basket, super sister sports blue and white Levis and a gun. The imposing tall figure mixes images of black power with female sexuality. The visual shock factor of the piece is part of its effect; the shiny and gaudy shell represents the entirety of the sculpture. The women fruit or self is literally on display through her clothes and figure.
Another jarring piece is Pavel Althamer’s “Schedule of the Crucifix”. A wooden cross is displayed on the wall with foot pegs, a small seat, and leather straps on the arms. Random actors are hired to dress as Jesus and sit on the cross till they can no longer. While in the museum, an actor wearing a white cloth, climbed on to the cross and suddenly, getting into character, turned his face up to the ceiling in agony. This was a very bizarre scene to see the actor climb onto the cross and then suddenly jump into character. The iconic and historic image of Jesus on the cross is transformed by the real human figure. Although the real figure adds to the piece, the cross with out the figure seems empty.
There are other pieces in the show that deal with the human form in a less literal manner. The physical way that our bodies are constructed is, in many ways, how we comprehend the world and sort out thoughts and confusions. In Kiki Smith’s sculpture “Mother and Child”, a naked mother and child are seated both facing away from each other pleasuring themselves. Though next to each other, their relationship is separated by their preoccupation with their own bodies. On the other hand, Chris Ofili’s “Rodin…The Thinker” illustrates a black woman with orange hair in the class pose of the original Rodin sculpture, but wearing stockings with her breast and vagina exposed. The act of thinking is confined inside, but the upward gaze and the expression on the thinker implies the struggle of thoughts to move byond the self.
I really enjoyed the show overall and thought that it did do a good job representing artists with different approaches and thoughts. While some artists seemed to be highlighting the restriction that the body or the skin has on a persons being others seemed to imply the freedom or power that ones form or outside can allow. The show is also a good survey or introduction for those who are not familiar with recent art scene to view many prominent artists in the recent contemporary art scene.
After seeing the show I read Roberta Smith’s review in the New York Times. She was very critical that the owners of the collection were on the board of directors of the museum and were showing the pieces mainly to increase the value of the art. She also comments that the New Museum has always tried to be a place that showcased new artists, but all of the artists in Skin Fruit are well established. Although she might be right that this show is not launching anyone’s career. I think that it is a worthwhile use of the museum’s space because it is enjoyable, accessible and cohesive. Many are critical of what some would call blockbuster shows, but I think that the more people who are drawn into museums and are exposed to art the better. Although I think it is important to show unknown artists work, the artists in the show are very talented and their fame should not detract from the power of their work.

Brooklyn Museum: Kiki Smith- Sojourn

Smith addresses a wide range of legitimate ideas in her exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum that are often acknowledged but dismissed by society. The show aims to address the lack of creative space that women have had in history and how duties such as childbirth, marriage and house work and overwhelmed and stifled the creative process. I would agree with Smith in that a simple lack of personal space, and the presence of enforced cultural duties have prevented many women’s creative pursuits. While walking through the show, I was struck by the disjointed nature of the narrative of the pieces, both in the physical layout and the ascetic effect of each peace. Most of the pieces had a craftsy feel that felt slightly uncouth and not very sophisticated. One piece entitled Messenger III depicts a small gold metal bird that is surrounded by joined silver wooden sticks. The bird’s feet are not perched on any of the sticks and its path of travel seems to be intercepted by the sticks surrounding it. On the bottom of the piece three gold stars line two of the sticks. The clear image of the bird’s flight being restricted by the structure of the sticks surrounding literally suggests the societal limits that have prevented women or their creative spirit as the bird from flight. Most of the pieces contained this literally imagery of suppression or confinement but lacked a greater commentary or narrative. Together the pieces seemed disjointed and seemed only to reiterate and not expand on the message stated at the beginning of the show. I appreciate Smiths efforts in trying to draw attention to the restrictions around women but the execution of the show seems restricted itself.

Zoe Leonard

Recently I went to the museum Dia: Beacon. The Dia is a great museum converted from an old animal box factory. Natural light pours in the space from when the workers needed skylights to see the colors of the dyes. A new piece that caught my eye was by Zoe Leonard entitled “You see I am here after all. “ Leonard collected a plethora of postcards of Niagara Falls, ranging from the very earliest taken and from different famous vantage points. The postcards are arranged according to their perspective and span almost the whole wall space. The arrangement of the postcards serves both as a way to catalog the photographs but is also visually compelling. At first glance the postcards seem to be of the same part of the falls, on a closer look the angles create an almost panoramic view. It elevates the piece that Leonard uses postcards instead of just using photographs. Although only the front of the card with the photograph is displayed, the historical nature of the sight and the pieces themselves adds a depth to the piece. Niagara Falls is a natural site but its commercialization over the years has added to its iconic and timeless quality. The postcards can both reinforce this notion and also combat it. If the viewer only gives the piece a superficial glance than the vast similarities of the post cards, exacerbated by the same color scheme, would be most apparent. Niagara Falls would appear to be a relic, almost a souvenir itself of a once new and exciting natural wonder. If the viewer inspects the piece closely though, the different perspectives and representations become clear. On the one hand the whole exhibit is a plate and example of the waterfalls changing nature but also can perpetuate the commercialization of the falls.
Last summer I visited Yosemite National Park with my California family. I was struck by the commercialization of different views of natural wonders such as Half Dome. It seemed that everywhere I went the iconic photograph by Ansel Adams. Although the photographs of the park are stunning the ubiquitous image distracts from the viewers own examination of the natural wonders. There is a tension between wanting to document natural wonders and turning the changing natural wonder into a two dimensional commodity.

Samurai Tree Invariants

The second piece that I saw at the Gabriel Orozco show was Samurai Tree Invariants. Having just viewed the Mobile Matrix, I was shocked that the two pieces were by the same artist. On a superficial level, the pieces are drastically different and seem to express similar ideas through contrasting mediums. The circular pattern is contained within a box, and is shown covering the entire wall space of the room. The tree is a series of circles in different sizes split with different colors down the diameter. The formation of circles is then displayed on top of a different rotating color scheme. Through out the piece the colors of the circles and the background changes. At first glance the color variation appears to be random but they are based on the movements of a chess piece. This is really interesting compared to Mobile Matrix because the graphite design on the bones was essentially without a method and designed through artistic opinion where as Samurai Tree Invariants had a rule behind the pattern. Both pieces challenge traditional design. People really don't draw on surfaces, in the home or other public spaces. There is a taboo nature to drawing on the walls and disrupting blank space that the Mobile Matrix touches on. Samurai Tree Invariants similarly questions color and patterns, what is the visual effect of having logic behind a pattern if any?

Gabriel Orozco at Moma

Last week I saw the Gabriel Orozco show at The Museum of Modern Art. I was not familiar with Orozco’s work before seeing the show, but I was very impressed with the variation and sophistication of his work. The first piece that I saw was Mobile Matrix on the second floor. At first I felt as though I was in the Natural History Museum instead of at Moma, I walked around the entire piece and was struck by the beauty of the circles that radiated out from different joints and points on the whale, neatly overlapping. The graphite lines are thick and slightly dusty,against the stark white background of the bones the markings blend well. The display of the whale bones is very traditional, attached and suspended in air, but the graphite etchings provide surprising juxtaposition of the geometric lines of the marks and arches of the bones. Mobile Matrix grew on me the longer that I observed the piece from different angles, I appreciated the detail and scope of the matrix. Suspended in air, the whale looked light, and fluid like the snapshot of a graceful bird in a downward swoop. I think that mobile matrix exuded life and character. Bones in most cultures have a sacred quality, that the etchings challenging the expected blank surface in an innocent and playful way. It challenges the way that bones should be used, Orozco gives the figure of the whale a new life and confronts viewers with the massive remains of the foreign animal. The piece is very jarring in size,Orozco used 20 assistants and 6,000 pencil leads to create design on the matrix. The lighting on the Matrix creates a fascinating shadow of the ribs of the whale, underneath the figure. Many people were almost equally interested in the shadow as with the matrix.