Scoping the streets of New York was infinitely rewarding
this year when you take into consideration all the galleries and all museums
that on a daily basis every New Yorker is provided easy access. I’m choosing 10 exhibits that if had not seen
this year I would not be as informed on the dilemmas that are currently being
faced in the world of painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, and
video. There were many exhibits’ that
offered thought provoking methods. My top ten compromises the best experiences
and the most compelling exhibits that I saw this year.
1. Come Together Surving Sandy curated by Phong Bui at
Industry City in Brooklyn provides a survey of 21st century
Art. All mediums of work are represented
in a show that will go down in importance for capturing the current condition
in art and will be remembered one hundred years from now as significant the 1913 Armory Show
is today.
2. Anselm Kiefer Morgenthau
Plan at Gagosian Gallery was a feast for all senses. Kiefer implements his thick impasto paint
technique to create large-scale multi-media painting’s that are extraordinary
to look at. Their meaning is embedded in
the cultural anxiety of post-world war II Germany, but what’s most fascinating
is the artist’s aesthetic vision that comes across in in sculptural use of
materials.
3. Jean Michel Basqiuat at Gagosian Galllery earlier this
year was nothing short of a blessing from the gods of painting. I remember seeing his exhibit at the Brooklyn
Museum in 2005 and was inspired by the work.
The artist has become mythologized in the art world thanks to Julian
Schnabel’s brilliant movie starring Jeffery Wright. Basqiuat died at age 27, so there is not
much work of his in the world, making retrospectives a rare event.
4. I’m a big fan of
Surrealism, you know Breton, Dali, Miro, those guys. Drawing Surrealism at The Morgan Library was
a must see this year and displayed the full scope of Surrealism and how the
idea stretched outwards globally making it as far as Japan in it’s artistic
conquest from the late 1920’s to early 1940’s.
This was a survey that displayed the full development of it’s
progression in packed two room gallery.
5. "I met someone in a deli" is a classic New York saying implying a long story come
afterword. But literally I met a guy
in a deli who I had seen earlier in the
night in Chelsea. He advised me to see
this show before it closed. I went and
now I realize that "someone in a deli" was heaven sent.
Ashley Bickerton Mitchondrial-eveviral at Lehmann Maupin Gallery on the
Lower East Side was one of those exhibits that you will be talking about 5
years from now saying “I remember this show in 2013.”
6. Michael Williams is a young painter who works in Brooklyn
and has had a few solo shows with Canada Gallery in the Lower East Side. Each show has been refreshing to see the artist’s work to evolve. His current
work, paintings created on the computer, printed on canvas, then
painted over is a breath taking fresh approach to art in the 21st
century, and his pictures are often very humorous.
7. Draw Gym at Know
More Games in Carroll Gardens was written up in the New York Times by Roberta
Smith. Subsequently, I felt compelled to
see the show, curated by eccentric artist Brian Belott. The show is a survey of “underground” art
that is currently being made by well-known artist such as Chris Marrtin, and
Joe Bradley. It also surveys many up and
comers and could be classified as a show that displayed a modern movement away
from painting and focus on drawing which is a more direct medium, and one could
say the stimulus of all creativity.
8. Gravity and Grace: Monumental works by El Anatsui at the
Brooklyn Museum was a sculptural meca exhibit.
His work which I document on my blog is large scale installations
created with wire and found materials such as bottle caps. He also makes sculptures with wood. They larger wire works are hung from high on
the walls and allowed to fall how they may.
The result creates a new perspective of the work every time they’re
hung.
9. When I was in
Graduate School I had a studio visit with Glenn Goldberg. He is a calm and composed communicator which
you could easily say to describe his paintings as well. This exhibition at Jason McCoy Gallery on Madison Avenue displays Goldberg’s
experimentation with painting and use of icons such as, teddy bears, and birds
to create iconic images with arabesque motifs. . The result is a decorative
pleasure house and a unique creative effort.
10. To complete my
list, although very hard because I’m leaving out many other great exhibits, I
have to go with Chuck Webster at Betty Cuningham gallery in Chelsea. I went back to this exhibit twice to get the
full scope of the enterprise. The second
time I went I got lost in one of the large panel paintings and was struck by
the artists ability to manipulate the materials to create painting strokes with
energetic ferocity. While maintaining a balance of form and substance. This displayed a sense of continuity of
abstract expressionism while mutated for the 21st century absurdum.
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