Magical Consciousness*

First day in New York ... I spent the entire afternoon at the MoMA.  Since I had only(!) three hours, I had to pick and choose.  I chose to see its collection from after the 1960s.  That's actually what I like most.  Not only was I happily bombarded by the rich imagery, I was surprised to see an exhibition of Runa Islam's recent films.  I have really missed her films since the 2008 Turner Prize exhibition at Tate Britain.  As always, Islam's films were very beautifully shot, with her distinctive minimal poetic style.

*Magical Consciousness is the title of one of Islam's four films currently on view at MoMA.

Camouflage

Since I'm going to New York tomorrow, I'm posting some works from a couple of New York artists today, with a common theme - camouflage.

Andy Warhol at Museum Brandhorst, München 2011:

Andy Warhol at Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin 2011:

Jim Hodges at Camden Art Centre, London 2010:

And, though not from New York, my humble drawing, 2010:

Russian avant-garde @ Ludwig

I have always loved the Russian avant-garde.  When I visited Koeln's Museum Ludwig in July, I was impressed by its broad collection.

Kazimir Malevich at Ludwig, 2011:

Ilja Tchaschnik at Ludwig, 2011:

Alexander Rodchenko at Ludwig, 2011:

Another edition of Rodchenko's spatial construction Square In A Square in the last picture was shown at Berlinische Galerie in Berlin.

It Began In Afrikkka

I'm not talking about the Chemical Brothers' 2001 hit.  It's the summer group show at Toronto's Peak Gallery.  It features many familiar names who have shown at Peak before.  Works were carefully chosen and arranged so that each piece resonates with the others.  A refreshing dose of primal vibes on a hot summer day.

Dan Brault and Dariusz Krzeminski:

Dan Brault:

Dan Brault:

Dan Brault and Kathryn Dain:

Kathryn Dain:

Curtis Amisich and Kathryn Dain:

Curtis Amisich:

Plastic Geometry

Heather Carey is one of the two artists currently showing at Toronto's Loop Gallery.  Her show Plastic Geometry presents a way of seeing the world which is both calculated and malleable.  Carey's works demonstrate exactly why I often prefer painting/drawing to photography when it comes to "seeing".

Swing Stage

I went to Toronto's Olga Korper Gallery and saw Lyla Rye's installation Swing Stage today.  Inspired by the history and architecture of the gallery site, Rye's work engages the structural elements of the exhibition space.  Visitors are encouraged to step on the swinging platform, which has been painted reflective black to mirror the ceiling and the structural trusses.  Very subtle yet clever construction.

Brinkmann for Finkenwerder

Through his eclectic collage of found objects and eerie self-portraits, it seems like Thorsten Brinkmann is telling a story with his installations - story of a dream-like adventure.  His solo exhibition Finger, Dogs & Dellen at Hamburg's Kunsthaus is presented in conjunction with his winning of the Kunstpreis Finkenwerder.

Brinkmann at Kunsthaus, Hamburg 2011:

The walking man

Richard Long's land art is created by walking.  When he's not walking, he works with the indigenous materials he's collected while walking around the world.  His works are ubiquitous in Europe this summer.

Long at Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin 2011:

Long at Haunch of Venison, London 2011:

Also at Hallen für Neue Kunst, Schaffhausen, where no photography was allowed.

Baselitz's world of the illogical

Georg Baselitz first started painting with inverted motifs in 1969, an ingenious idea embracing disharmony, imbalance and destruction with a logic of the illogical.  His works were seen everywhere I travelled to in Europe, though not necessarily my taste.

Baselitz at Museum Ludwig, Koeln 2011:

Baselitz at Pinakothek der Moderne, Muenchen 2011:

Baselitz at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg 2010:

Twombly's roses

Cy Twombly at Museum Brandhorst, Muenchen 2011:

Rose, oh reiner Widerspruch, Lust, Niemandes Schlaf zu sein unter soviel Blütenblättern

(Rose, oh pure contradiction, desire to be no one's sleep under so many petals)

- after Rainer Maria Rilke 1925

Im Gewitter der Rosen

Wohin wir uns wenden im Gewitter der Rosen,

ist die Nacht von Dornen erhellt, und der Donner

folgt uns jetzt auf dem Fuß

(In the storm of roses

Wherever we turn in the storm of roses

The night is lit up by thorns, and thunder

Rumbling at our heels)

- after Ingeborg Bachmann 1953

Before/After We Talked

... from Gold Panda's 2010 album Lucky Shiner:

Video from SjolanderHelpsYou's youtube channel

Video from iamguyw's youtube channel

Absalon's minimalist space

Absalon was born in Ashdod Israel in 1964 and moved to Paris in 1987, where he lived and worked until his early death in 1993.  His works border between sculpture and architecture. With white geometric forms and based on his own ergonomics, he created minimalist individualized ascetic living units called cellules.  These habitation cells contain the minimum space to accommodate a single person and just enough furniture to meet his basic everyday needs.  I saw Absalon's works at Daimler Contemporary and Hamburger Bahnhof when I was in Berlin.

Absalon at Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin 2011:

Hortus conclusus

London's Serpentine Gallery has its temporary summer pavilion every year designed by an internationally acclaimed architect who has never completed a building in England at the time of the gallery’s invitation.  The designer for the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion this year is Peter Zumthor from Switzerland.  The concept for Zumthor's design is the hortus conclusus, a contemplative room, a garden within a garden.  Zumthor played with the effect of light by allowing visitors to experience the dramatic contrast between light and darkness on entering this enclosed space.  The dark, solid and bland exterior gives no hints of the lush, contemplative garden oasis inside.

McCartney's 21st century psychedelia

Although I've been to east London many times, it was my first time visiting this new gallery last week.  Hoxton Art Gallery was having this group show called painting?.  I like Rory McCartney's works the most.  McCartney's new take on the 60s op art/psychedelia has created impactful images by contrasting the organic with the geometric.  Very nicely done.

McCartney at Hoxton, London 2011:

Images courtesy of Hoxton Art Gallery

Wyn Evans' light signals

Just got back to Toronto yesterday, feeling kinda surreal - entering the plane in London, coming out on the other side of the Atlantic.  I've never found enough time to see all things I've wanted to during my art trips.  So I will definitely go back to Europe again.  There will be dOCUMENTA (13) in Kassel Germany next summer - another reason to go.  I have seen much more than I have written here in the past month.  I'll revisit all the other sights and sounds I have experienced in my future posts.

I saw Cerith Wyn Evans' installation 'Astrophotography...The Traditional Measure of Photographic Speed in Astronomy...' by Siegfried Marx (1987) when I visited Tate Britain in March and again two days ago.  Using a chandelier, Wyn Evans translated selected texts into the flashing light signals of Morse code.

Batchelor's vehicles for colour at modernist Tate

I spent most of my time at Tate Britain today.  I have enjoyed their show The Vorticists: Manifesto for a Modern World and learned about the development of modern art (the vorticist movement) in the UK during World War I.  Unfortunately, photography was not allowed at the exhibition.

Another exhibition currently showing at TB is the retrospective of British revised modernist architect James Stirling.  Impressive axonometric drawings of important projects of his were displayed along with models and other information.

It was a nice surprise to see David Batchelor's work again today at TB.  Though not a lightbox installation this time, his work on view is equally colourful: