Sweet vertigo: Hadid's dizzying spaces

Zaha Hadid's 1993 Fire Station, Weil am Rhein:

Hadid's 2003 Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art, Cincinnati:

This is the kind of vertigo I love.

Konkrete Munari

A drawing based on Bruno Munari's konkrete installation at Museum für Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt 2010:

Morris grid

A drawing based on a Sarah Morris painting, 2010:

Vogel's Klangwand*

Peter Vogel's electronic sound sculptures are featured in the current Rethinking Art & Machine show at Kitchener's THEMUSEUM.

Some of Vogel's sculptures respond to shadows to produce sounds:

Others respond to sounds to produce light signals:

*Klangwand (Sound wall) is the title of one of Vogel's sound sculptures.

Brandl - more wintry landscapes

To continue with the theme of wintry landscapes ...

Herbert Brandl at Sammlung Essl, Klosterneuburg 2006:

Sammlung Essl is a private contemporary art museum just outside Vienna.  It is worth taking a short train ride there if you are visiting Vienna.

Frozen waterfall

Chinese artist Zheng Guogu created his sculpture Waterfall by pouring melting wax over a metal ballast, capturing a frozen fountain of time.

Zheng at Saatchi Gallery, London 2008:

Wintry Lebofsky

Lisa Lebofsky's contributions to Milavec Hakimi Gallery's current group show Serenity Now are her monochromatic oil-on-aluminium wintry landscapes.

Lebofsky at Milavec Hakimi, New York 2011:

Pliessnig's 3D sketches in steam-bent wood

Also featured at the current Milavec Hakimi Gallery group show Serenity Now is furniture designer Matthias Pliessnig.  His works are like 3D sketches in steam-bent wood.

Pliessnig at Milavec Hakimi, New York 2011:

London sketches

Bishopsgate 2010:

Charles Avery at Hayward Gallery's British Art Show 7 "In The Days Of The Comet" 2011:

Rusty Wagner

I found Jeremy Wagner's lovable paintings of industrial structures during my recent visit to NYC's Cooper Union.  He was one of the artists featured at Milavec Hakimi Gallery's latest group show Serenity Now.  Wagner's clever use of rust, charcoal and enamel paint on steel panel works well with the industrial theme of his works.

Wagner at Milavec Hakimi, New York 2011:

Monochromatic Castellani

Enrico Castellani's monochromatic paintings and sculptures are poetry in light and shade.

Castellani at Haunch of Venison, New York 2011:

Mohr's algorithmic geometry

My overnight business trip to Kitchener turned out to be a very nice surprise.  Local attraction THEMUSEUM's current exhibition Rethinking Art & Machine features my favourite German artist Manfred Mohr's computer generated algorithmic geometry.

Mohr's algorithmic geometry in action:

Islamic geometries

Ferran Martin's Granada at Newman Popiashvili Gallery, New York 2011:

Brick Lane, London 2011:

Black Country

Black Country, Carl Fudge's solo exhibition of paintings and woodcut prints at Chelsea's Galerie Richard was inspired by Edward Wadsworth's woodcuts.  It is a remix of the best vorticist works.

Fudge at Richard, New York 2011:

Agam's colours and shapes

Ron Agam is better known as a photographer than as a painter.  His latest show at Chelsea's Bertrand Delacroix Gallery, however, is a collection of square paintings in bold colours and pure geometric shapes - naturally love at first sight for me.

Agam at BDG, New York 2011:

Serra experience vs Höller experience

Two major shows currently on view in NYC are Richard Serra's Junction/Cycle at Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea and Carsten Höller's Experience at New Museum.  Though totally different in execution, both invite viewers' active participation by physically travelling through the installations - leisurely walking in Serra's while recklessly dashing in Höller's.

Serra at Chelsea's Gagosian, New York 2011:

The Serra experience is contemplative and personal, almost like a pilgrimage.  One couldn't help feeling enlightened while exiting.  Höller's Experience, on the other hand, is more sensory and spontaneous.  It is a re-interpretation of his 2006 Unilever Series project at Tate Modern in London.  I must confess that I actually did not experience Höller's installation first-hand.  Deterred by the long queue waiting to get in, I decided to observe from a distance instead.  Here's a glimpse of what it looks like:

Video from ShootingStarsProNY's youtube channel

Floral Chelsea

Back to Toronto today.  Continuing with the floral theme from yesterday, here's some more freshly delivered from Chelsea ...

Luisa Caldwell at Bertrand Delacroix Gallery, New York 2011:

Charles Andresen at newly opened Guided By Invoices, New York 2011:

The Heart Of The Thousand Petalled Lotus

It was a nice surprise to find Eva Rothschild's latest solo exhibition The Heart Of The Thousand Petalled Lotus at Chelsea's 303 Gallery yesterday.  Her elegant sculptures with minimalistic tendencies are as eye-catching as always.

Rothschild at 303, New York 2011: