“Roden Crater and Autonomous Structures” at PACE Gallery

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Lynn Maliszewski, Contributor-at-Large

by Mary L. Coyne

 

Roden Crater (Sunset), © James Turrell, courtesy Pace Gallery

Roden Crater (Sunset), © James Turrell, courtesy Pace Gallery

There is an assumption that unmediated experience, even one that is purely perceptual, is an impossibility—the unexplained is almost always preceded by a disclaimer or an exposé; a significant event is heralded by previews and preparations. Explorations of an anticipated future experience are displayed in Roden Crater and Autonomous Structures, which closed April 20th at Pace. The exhibition is composed entirely of plaster models representing James Turrell’s construction at the Roden Crater site in Northern Arizona, supplemented by the artist’s photographs of the seemingly unadulterated crater. Autonomous Structures whets New York’s palette for what is certain to be a blockbuster installation at the Guggenheim in June 2013. Generating renewed interested in the decades-long Roden Crater project, the exhibition satisfies a curious public with formerly unknown features of the remote project. Continue reading →

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Symmetry as Death in Brutalist Architecture

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Lynn Maliszewski, Contributor-at-Large
Marcel Breuer's Cleveland Trust Tower in downtown Cleveland, Ohio (Coutresy Wiki Commons)

Marcel Breuer’s Cleveland Trust Tower in downtown Cleveland, Ohio (Coutresy Wiki Commons)

by Pac Pobric

 “It is more important to fail spectacularly than to achieve mediocrity.” Allison and Peter Smithson, 1954

 

It’s easy to give a sociological reading of Brutalist architecture as inhuman or cold because that’s largely the consensus. This kind of sociology doesn’t look at form closely enough, if at all. What’s harder than agreeing with it is looking at the buildings themselves. That some of the best ones are asymmetrical is not a coincidence; it has everything to do with Brutalism’s development in post-war history. Continue reading →

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Review of Nouvelles Impressions de Raymond Roussel

Posted on April 4, 2013 by CUE

Palais de Tokyo
13, avenue du Président Wilson, 75 116 Paris
Level 1 – Galerie Seine
February 27 – May 2, 2013

by Joseph Nechvatal

 

Marcel Duchamp by Man Ray (1920) & Etoile cosmique (1923) by Raymond Roussel

 « My soul is a strange factory » -Raymond Roussel

New Impressions of Raymond Roussel points us towards an intellectual history that maps out art’s role in creating a social allegory for the poetic psychoanalysis[1] of mechanized pleasure – in circular struggle with the mechanized mass killings of World War I and II, the holocaust, and Hiroshima. And the rewards of such exhausting circularity are considerable, given both the historical significance of Raymond Roussel’s influence and its unapologetic relevance to today’s cyber culture – with its intransigent obliqueness and mechanical dizziness. Continue reading →

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Review of The Visitors at Luhring Augustine

Posted on April 4, 2013 by CUE

by Chris Mansour

Ragnar Kjartansson. The Visitors, 2012. Still. Nine channel HD video projection. From an edition of 6 and 2 artist’s proofs. Duration: 64 minutes.

The ability to express the profound sense of love and completeness we experience when bonding with friends is difficult to do without being overly light-hearted or kitschy about it. We consider Hallmark cards, emoticons, or even flowers & chocolates to be tinted with an element of corniness. Often, artworks about friendship no less escape this same fate. They usually either expose facets of the relationship that are considered undesirable, or end up recycling mushy formulaic tropes. Despite these dangers, artists have sought to viscerally capture this bond since time immemorial. The Icelandic musician and performance artist Ragnar Kjartansson has bravely offered a video and music installation on this theme at the Luhring Augustine gallery entitled The Visitors. Continue reading →

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The Crux: Conversation with Max Razdow (Part II)

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Lynn Maliszewski, Contributor-at-Large

Part I of this conversation can be found here.

Max Razdow is a practicing artist based in NYC.

Max Razdow, Face 9, 2011. Pen, ink, xerox transfer on paper,9 x 7 inches,

Max Razdow, Face 9, 2011. Pen, ink, xerox transfer on paper,9 x 7 inches

LM: The symbols you work through function in a similar way, often recurring in a number of drawings in the series with slightly varied connotations. Are there any symbols you feel particularly strongly about? Continue reading →

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The Crux: A Conversation with Max Razdow (Part I)

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Lynn Maliszewski, Contributor-at-Large
Max Razdow, Crystal 2, 2009, pen, ink, xerox transfer on paper. 9″ x 7 inches.

Max Razdow, Crystal 2, 2009. Pen, ink, xerox transfer on paper. 9 x 7 inches.

Lynn Maliszewski: To catch everyone up, you were recently included in a group show at Freight + Volume called What’s the Story?, which considered how one might relay their own particular truth through images. The Nebula Series, a recently completed body of pen and ink drawings, was on display for the very first time. The drawings are demure yet acquire the volume of your most grandiose paintings. The series sprouted in 2008, which means you’ve been pregnant for nearly five years.

Max Razdow: I had a lot of breaks. I think every year [since 2008] I pretty much made a few. There were times when I’d make a set of ten or something like that and then I wouldn’t make them for six months, then I’d make a few more. Probably close to half of them came in the first two years, then I slowed down for a while. The last couple of years I started working on them pretty hard again.

Continue reading →

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Unzipped: An Interview with Suzan Batu and Sally Lelong

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Jill Conner, Editor-in-Chief

 

On November 9th, 2012 Suzan Batu opened up a solo show of new work at the Phatory titled Unzipped, on view in the East Village until January 19th, 2013. However the entire run of Batu’s solo exhibition paralleled the dramatic events that took place during hurricane Sandy, which left New York City emerging from flooded waters.  Art galleries throughout the city were hit especially hard. However in discussion with Suzan Batu and gallerist Sally Lelong both ruminated over the nature of the arabesque, the unpredictable line and its possible metaphor to the waves of water that came and went throughout the fringes of this urban landscape, even though the Phatory fortunately evaded massive loss.   Continue reading →

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