Artist Brian Dupont has been a longtime Hyperallergic pal. He describes is art as “a study of how the visual aspects of information can be conveyed — or distorted — within the framework of abstract painting.” That visually abstract lexicon is often layered with words and letters to convey an added sense of familiarity but not necessarily direct meaning.
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A Perceptual Dance Party for Your Eyes
Abstraction is a fickle shapeshifter. Outlines of horses and bulls in caves and geometric markings on ceramic flatware were the earliest embodiment of the craft. Since then, abstraction has travelled through an unbelievable number of incarnations. James McCoy Gallery recently took on the challenge of presenting a hiccup’s worth of abstraction from the 20th Century, anticlimactically titled 70 Years of Abstract Painting: Excerpts. The showing was based on the gallery’s strong holding of abstract art, looking to “initiate an unusual dialogue” between past and present.
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Under Construction at Parker’s Box
If contemporary art remains far too removed from daily life for some people, Briac Leprêtre’s Like It Is exhibition at Parker’s Box makes the case for exactly the opposite. On the walls of the Williamsburg gallery viewers encounter carefully constructed watercolors of unfinished domestic interiors and on the floor are concrete sculptures that almost resemble utilitarian objects arranged around the room. The watercolors are a crucial part of the display but their painterly touch is stiff and restrained. In the center of the space, there is a massive column that is far too large for the gallery but feels strangely at home, as if it had been there all along.
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Photo Preview of Cory Arcangel at the Whitney
Tomorrow marks the opening of Cory Arcangel: Pro Tools, a full floor of new and recent work by the artist at the Whitney Museum. Lucky you, you get to see it a day early! I previewed the exhibition and came back with a photo essay featuring bowling video games, photoshop gradients, bad golfers and epic sunglasses.
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Five Works of Art for the Beginning of Summer
This post is an image-only art mix tape of 5 works of contemporary art chosen around the theme of summer. It’s my look at the oncoming season through art, specifically inspired by our recent humidity.
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WTF is… Performance Art?
You may have heard that James Franco and Lady Gaga are performance artists, that their careers themselves are art objects built up over a lifetime. You may also believe that your Uncle Bob farting the alphabet is performance art. And maybe it is! Really, it’s up to you, there’s no quick and easy chart to tell what is performance art and what isn’t. Nevertheless, there are a few guidelines to follow when defining performance, in the context of the medium’s history as well as its current practice. Despite what you’ve heard, there are good reasons that getting carried into the Grammys in an egg isn’t really an act of performance art.
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Q+A With Geandy Pavon, Who Projected Ai Weiwei On Chinese Consulate
Earlier this morning, we posted a video of Cuban artist Geandy (pronounced jee-ahndy) Pavon projecting Ai Weiwei’s portrait onto the street side of the New York City Chinese Consulate, a guerrilla protest for the detained artist. In this exclusive Q+A, Pavon explains how he did it, what the reaction has been to his work and his future plans.
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Surviving AIDS
The most visceral pieces in Brooklyn-based artist and activist Hunter Reynolds’ solo show Survival AIDS at Lower East Side nonprofit art space Participant Inc. are not, as one might expect, the blood splattered newspaper clippings screaming ominous headlines posted on the walls of the gallery. Rather, it’s the packing tape mummies collapsed on the floor and suspended from the walls that are the real shockers. The bodies missing from their cocoons seem to have only recently burst out, resurrected.
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Talking About Creative Time Tweets, Social Media Art Commissions
This week, Creative Time Tweets begins on Wed, March 25 with Man Bartlett’s “#24hPort” (2011) performance at Manhattan’s Port Authority bus terminal. The project is the first of three commissions, and I spoke to curator, Shane Brennan, about the project and why Creative Time is commissioning Twitter-based art works.
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How to Enjoy Your Rapture
Today is the day! You may have been praying your whole life for this moment and it has finally arrived. Now what? The anticipation may be getting to you but we suggest a few things you might want to try before you get whisked away to the bosom of God. Here are our top five.
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Mail Art Bulletin: Four Originals
Today’s installment of the Mail Art Bulletin includes works by Bernard Klevickas of Queens, Rainer Zamojre of Germany, Dave LaMorte of New Jersey and Dave Byrd of Brooklyn.
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Has Werner Herzog Made the First Art Stoner Flick in 3D?
Director and filmmaker, Werner Herzog’s latest, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, is a strange mix of flighty pseudo-intellectual reverie and jaw-dropping documentary. Filmed in the famously inaccessible Chauvet Cave in southern France with 3-D enhancement, and sprinkled with the usual eccentric Hertzogian locals, the movie cannot fail to entertain and simultaneously irritate — just like the great man himself.
