Thanks to artist Kara Rooney, the curator of Panepinto Galleries, Jersey City is once again featuring dynamic artists working in the field today.
Brendan S. Carroll
Four Art Shows to See in Philadelphia: Mario Ybarra Jr, Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, KAWS, The Barnes
One of our critics travels to Philadelphia to report on a few shows that should be on your radar.
One Gallery, Two Very Different Artists
David Zwirner is currently showing solo exhibitions of Raymond Pettibon and Philip-Lorca diCorcia in his West 19th Street galleries. On the surface, Pettibon and diCorcia do not have much in common: the former creates punk noir drawings; the latter makes engaging photographs that dance between fact and fiction. They’re the Felix and Oscar of the art world. Here, Pettibon swings and misses; DiCorcia, by contrast, hits a home run.
Taking Account of Hard-edge Abstraction
The Graham gallery on the Upper East Side of Manhattan has an edifying show titled Against Nature: Hard Edge Abstraction. The exhibition, on view until October 12, features more than 30 artworks by 20 different artists.
In the Digital Era, Old Media Still Packs a Knockout Punch
I want to preface my review of Radiator Arts’s current show So Real with a brief shout-out to Bernard Hopkins. On Saturday, March 9, 2013, Bernard Hopkins defeated Tavoris Cloud to win the Light Heavyweight World Championship at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. At 48, Hopkins became the oldest fighter in history to win a major belt.
Aesthetic Insubordination: Elevating the Everyday
Curious Matter’s current show, Aesthetic Insubordination, is modest but rewarding. Organized by Virginia-based artist Travis Childers, the exhibition features five artists who find inspiration in common domestic materials, like razor blades, buttons, and flannel.
Discovering Emerging Japanese Talent at New City Art Fair
Most art fairs in New York City this week are bombastic affairs. New City Art Fair, by contrast, is not one of them. The mission of this fair is to feature original artwork by contemporary Japanese artists. To achieve this goal, Kentaro Totsuka, the director of New City, invited eleven Japanese galleries to display their wares.
Bushwick’s First Gallery Dedicated Exclusively to Works on Paper
So much paper! What is a clutterer to do? As a lifelong homebody, I hesitate to walk out my front door. But last Friday night (upon a friend’s urging), I ventured outside, and I’m glad I did. Why? I stumbled across Schema Projects, the first gallery in Bushwick dedicated exclusively to works of art on paper. Conceived by artist Mary Judge, the gallery features drawings, prints, sketchbooks, illustrations, and all things related to paper. Housed in a former barbershop, the project space is modest. The room is spare and high-ceilinged and offers lots of natural light. It is a delightful venue to see art.
The Kamikaze, The Temptress, The Manipulator, The Guru and Other Asian-American Stereotypes
Marvels & Monsters and Alt.Comics, the current tag team exhibition at Museum of Chinese in America, offers a one-two punch that unmasks the American comic book industry’s often conflicted relationship with Asians and Asian-Americans.
Reading Beyond the Page
The other day I saw two solo exhibitions: The Words by Jen Mazza at Stephan Stoyanov Gallery and Game Plan by Alighiero Boetti at MoMA. Both artists want to show you what they value in their lives, but they use their inspiration to different ends. Mazza paints unassuming still lifes of books. Boetti, on the other hand, used various lines of attack to realize his many projects, which ranged from sculpture to mail art to collaborative embroideries.
A Blank Slate and Some Curious Matter
Artist Aimée Burg organized Tabula Rasa, the current show at Curious Matter in downtown Jersey City. On view until September 16, the exhibition features nine artists, many of whom hail from the MFA program at Yale University. Participating artists include Sam Anderson, Lorraine Dauw, Frank De Leon-Jones, Tamar Ettun, Shanti Grumbine, Nate Heiges, Steven Paneccasio, Monika Sziladi and Catherine Telford-Keogh.
Deep Inside a Billionaire’s Limo
Hyperallergic writers and siblings Brendan and Marisa Carroll recently attended a screening of David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis at Walter Reade Theater in New York, which was followed by a Q-and-A session with the director. Here they review the film and tease out the artistic influences that inform Cronenberg’s sinister urban dreamscape.