Odds are, you’re probably doing some traveling in 2011. If you’ve got places to go, we’ve got art for you to check out. From Gerhard Richter’s retrospective at the Tate to an exhibition of Gertrude Stein’s personal collection in San Francisco, here are five exhibitions outside of New York to look for in the next year. Better start planning that business trip now!
Gerhard Richter at the Tate
Gerhard Richter, “Reader” (1994) (image from tate.org.uk)
October 6, 2011–January 8, 2012
Though Richter is almost omnipresent at international museums, sometimes hard to see the full sweep of the artist’s career in one exhibition. Richter has gone through so many different periods of work, from blurred photos to monochromes and non-objective canvases, that one work never does him justice. Good thing the Tate is mounting a huge retrospective! This one is guaranteed to be an education in itself.
Calder at National Portrait Gallery
Alexander Calder, “Portrait of Miro” (1930) (image from npg.si.edu)
March 11–August 14, 2011
This is one NPG show that probably won’t be censored. Calder’s wire work is often saccharine, but this exhibition focuses on the artist’s bent metal portraits of friends and fellow artists. These works are definitely among the deeper and more probing of Calder’s whimsical oeuvre. Plus, Calder’s work is just a joy to look at. Bring the family.
The Steins Collect at SF MoMA
Pablo Picasso, “Gertrude Stein” (1906) (image from artchive.com)
May 21–September 6, 2011
A good argument could be made the the Steins were some of the most important collectors in the history of modern art. This exhibition will reunite “the collections of author Gertrude Stein, her brothers Leo and Michael Stein, and Michael’s wife, Sarah Stein,” in a group of works that are uniquely relevant to the growth of modernism. From early Picassos and Matisses the Steins launched a lifetime of collecting artists that they also happened to hang out with. This exhibition should give a pretty cool intimate look into the Steins’ differing aesthetics, personalities and lives.
Art in the Streets at LA MoCA
Blu’s mural, previously a planned part of the exhibition (image by Unurth, unurth.com)
April 17–September 15, 2011
This retrospective of street art at LA MoCA is already off to an inauspicious start with the destruction of blu’s mural depicting dollar bills draped over coffins. Czar Jeffrey Deitch, director of the museum, kind of fucked things up already. So how will this initial drama impact the rest of the show? Does it bode badly for its quality? I tend to think so, but maybe the show’s actual curators will get the last laugh with something that will make us rethink street art.
Nathalie Djurberg at Walker Art Center
Still from Nathalie Djurberg’s “I found myself alone” (2008) (image from dailyserving.com)
September 8–December 18, 2011
Nathalie Djurberg is nothing if not up and coming. A star of Zach Feuer Gallery’s stable, the artist makes twisted stop motion clay animations that poke at gender norms and ideas of disgust. Her videos have a Baroque Victorian sensibility with whorls of clay and garish colors, figures dancing among fine china. This exhibition will form the largest one Djurberg has had yet and is sure to be a milestone in her career.
