I’m Your Venus at Bee in the Lion Gallery

Contributor: Douglas Turner

 

Closing April 5th, I’m Your Venus at Bee in the Lion gallery celebrates the mythical figure of Venus in her myriad of forms. 

Michael Wolf, “I’m Your Venus”, 2019, copper, stone and 18k gold plated brass) Image courtesy the artist

The artistic fascination with the female figure is the primary focus of this most recent show at Bee in the Lion.  Venus is depicted one hundred ways, one hundred times – this may be an exaggeration, but her likeness is represented so frequently that we can begin to contemplate the qualities of Venus in works seemingly unrelated to her whatsover. I’m Your Venus asks what is “Venus”: in symbol, in form, and in identity. The show exhibits works by Arslan, Janie Korn, Lucy MacGillis, Pedro Calapez, Andy Warhol, Wendy Ploger, Dana Nechmad, and Michael Wolf as well as African artifacts and the 19th century bijin-ga (beautiful women woodblock prints) of Tokugawa-era Japan.

In her many representations, Venus has always transcended a singular specific figure. She is the icon for the rebirth of civilization and represents a shift in culture. In her many physical forms, we discern unfettered observations through various artists’ eyes:  an 11 cm female figurine, pregnant with full breasts from far-off Greece, was discovered in 1908 and was immediately named “Venus of Willendorf{. Although she has nothing to do with Venus, this story details the transcendence of Venus: a title denoting reverence for female resplendence. Michael Wolf figuratively radicalizes the “Venus of Willendorf” for a post-pop generation. Bright interpretations of the figurine push the bounds of the icon into revered idolism.

Janie Korn, “Revenge Bodies”, 2017, Acrylic, Resin and Clay. Image courtesy the artist

Portuguese painter Pedro Calapez’s abstracts use a sensuality created by his broad brushstrokes, plying seductive curves that swell with fullness. Known for his illuminations of the female form, Arslan achieves beauty in his painting “Venus Rising”, singing the praises of the feminine as divine in all her glorious dynamism. In “Glimpse”, we are offered a divergent intimate observation of the female figure that is sensual and sensitive, effusing her vulnerability and perhaps instinctual generosity of spirit transcending materiality for something more along the lines of virtue. Lucy MacGillis’s self-portrait renders female form with lack of adornment and a hewn composition that seems to convey the passing of time. And an early illustrative work by Andy Warhol, which the gallery chose as a light-hearted addition to the show, exudes both elegance and grace. Contrasting these contemporary works, African artifacts sit on plinths among the gallery. The “Seated Woman”, with its angular carvings,  indicates a direct influence on Western art history.

African Art, Seated Woman Figure. Image Courtesy the Bee in the Lion.

I’m Your Venus is an exhibit both playful and sensuous, recounting the storied conflict of femininity deftly pitting women against the expectations and sensibilities laid out for them. Janie Korn’s “Revenge Bodies” are curvaceous figurines of pop culture icons, like Star Jones whose body transformed before our eyes after her gastric bypass surgery. Body, and image, in these times, is up for re-imagination as the body transforms in view of the public eye. Korn’s work is in contrast with the 19th Century arts of ukiyo-e that espouse the privacy with ordinary intimacy. Dana Nechmad draws inspiration from Louise Bourgeois’ gleaming ‘The Arch of Hysteria’ for their work, with paired forms of female figures symbolically elucidating the vigors and torment internal to the female existence. On a more lighthearted note, an early Andy Warhol illustrative piece of the head of a woman paired with the heads of a swan and a horse, each wearing a pearl necklace, contemplating the virtues of being a woman. 

In a contemporary and classic exploratory contrast, “I’m Your Venus” honors the romanticism of Venus while also discussing a contemporary understanding of women in a social, political and religious context through symbol, form and identity. The show closes Friday, April 5th. The Bee in the Lion gallery, located in Gramercy, is open by appointment.

Arslan, “Venus Rising”, 2019, Oil on Canvas. Image courtesy the artist

The Bee in the Lion

310 East 23rd Street, 2H

New York, NY 10010

T: +1 212 542 0525

info@beeinthelion.com

 

Altered States: Artist Evelyne Huet Abstracts Humanity in DEAR HUMANS

“Envious Thoughts”, Evelyne Huet, DEAR HUMANS at Atlantic Gallery

Evelyne Huet‘s solo exhibition at Atlantic Gallery, DEAR HUMANS, extracts the pure essence of humanity in a range of mostly abstract compositions. Spanning sombre-colored hues and bright flashes of neon, the digital paintings on view intersperse various references to the human psyche. Linear compositions merge with organic forms to allow the viewer’s subconscious to create spontaneous responses to the overall effect of each artwork. Translating the spirit of Color Field painting from the analog to the digital, Huet’s works draw from the same elevated abstraction as artists like Gerard Richter. Color and line merge to form in Huet’s DEAR HUMANS, with the works forming a digitally-painted deep dive into various psychological and emotional states. On view through March 30, 2019, DEAR HUMANS provides a nuanced and provocative exploration of both normal and altered states of human consciousness.

“The Innocents”, Evelyne Huet, DEAR HUMANS at Atlantic Gallery

Huet draws from her professional background in anthropology, mathematics and fine art to create a new, digitally-created sensorial realm. With colors seemingly melting back toward flat planes of tones beyond amorphous figures, Huet doesn’t hold back from bold juxtapositions in these works while still maintaining an ethereal quality. “I choose to study this discipline for its infinitely dream-like dimension,” remarks Huet. Creating works centered around the human form and psyche, Huet physically creates these digital paintings using her fingers on a screen: building these complex representational works directly with her body, mediated by technology. Drawing from Western art history’s roots in religious subject matter, specifically by bestowing titles such as “The Parables of Jesus of Nazareth” and “Nativity” on her artworks, Huet’s exhibition spans social and historical themes that remain timeless. The primitive and cutting-edge technology merge in her artistic stylings, with the final paintings printed specifically in Brussels with rare, museum-quality Diasec® finish (in limited editions of 3).

“Nativity”, Evelyne Huet, DEAR HUMANS at Atlantic Gallery

Evelyne Huet is a French artist who lives and works in Paris. She was originally trained as a mathematician, before teaching for years at the Sorbonne in Paris before re-orienting her career toward Fine Arts. Originally working as an oil painter, Huet changed to digital painting and as a new means of translating her artistic vision. She is a member of the Sociétaire of the Salon d’Automne, as well as membership in the OpenArtCode group of international artists. DEAR HUMANS is on view at Atlantic Gallery, 548 W 28th Street, Suite 540 New York, NY 10001, through March 30th (open Tuesday-Saturday, 12-6 pm).

Contemporary Desire: Puppies and Flowers at the Royal Society of American Art

by contributor Daniel Morowitz

 

Beauty and companionship are two simple human yearnings that have served as remedies for loneliness for as long as desire itself has existed. While we look for these qualities in lovers and partners, by proxy, people have filled the void through various means. In the history of art, symbolism is used to represent this proxy, and code the human experience through representation with a rich language or symbols. Classically dogs have been a stand in for fidelity, loyal companionship with an unbroken bond; flowers, beauty, being both the feminine lure and stand in for sexual organs and desire. Puppies and Flowers, curated by Katie Hector and on view at The Royal Society of American Art in Williamsburg, Brooklyn until March 31st, takes this classical iconography and filters it through a contemporary lens. 

Dominique Fung, My Dog is Anemic, oil on canvas, 30 x 30 inches, 2017. Image courtesy of The Royal Gallery.

With social media and a pluralized consciousness mediated by omnipotent digital awareness, symbols take on renewed, potent meaning; no longer just allegorical, painting can historicize life even as we live it. With this vision in mind, Puppies and Flowers creates a world of desire, recognizable by the trappings of modern impulses, while remaining an approximation of genuine connection. Walking into The Royal Society of American Art, dogs immediately greet you in the form of Dominique Fung’s “My Dog is Anemic” and Mark Zubrovich’s “Stick it Out and Touch Your Cleats”. The playful balance of these two works in dialogue is immediately reciprocal, with an emphasis on the blue hues (in Fung’s painting) and red tones (in Zubrovich’s work). The duality is established, mirroring fire and water, hot and cold. Fung’s dogs lick a centrally-placed vase, while Zubrovich’s anthropomorphized baseball player bends down to present his tail to the viewer. These works together can seem to point toward a sexual act, although this connection would not be made independently. The connection forms a compelling narrative which ties the viewer to the scene, making imagination complicit in the construction of the fantasy.

Mark Zubrovich, Stick It Out and Touch Your Cleats, acrylic on canvas, 26 x 31 inches, 2018. Image courtesy of The Royal Gallery.

Jenn Dierdorf’s paintings of flowers in vases inhabit the traditional art history canon of Nature Morte, flanking the canine imagery of Fung and Zubrovick. Unlike the dogs, Dierdorf’s flowers are fleeting wisps, with one painting rendered in tones of black and white, while the other painting is comprised of vivid tones. The colorful image, Night Creeps, grows out of black, ordure masses, as if they are the remains of rotten black flowers which nourish new growth.

Jenn Dierdorf, Night Creeps, acrylic and ink on canvas, 25 x 21 inches, 2018. Image courtesy of The Royal Gallery.

Night and day present very different worlds, and allude to the transitory nature of time. Night will always give over to day, day to night, flowers even give way to seasons and a bloom in May differs from one in October: referenced by the title of one of the Deirdorf’s larger work on paper.

Katarina Janeckova, Bad Ass Roxx (Roxanne Edwards), 20 x 16 inches, acrylic on canvas, 2016. Image courtesy of The Royal Gallery.

The back wall is the most direct play on the theme, arching around to the wall on the right. A bouquet of paintings presents flowers first, playing on a real life application. Figuration becomes mixed in through the painting of a body holding a blue vase, where Katarina Janeckova codes a black body holding an image of a white figure as a modern day Olympia. Here she is presenting a white body, but handing the authority to the black figure, flipping the narrative and upending the classical power dynamic. 

This representation stands in stark contrast to the historic lithograph-style drawing to its right, where Delphine Hennelly’s women sit indifferently. Even the dog presents their back, affronting traditional fidelity that ties women to the male gaze, allowing these figures to take agency and not perform classical representational motifs.

Delphine Hennelly, Untitled II, gouache and pastel on paper, 14 x 12 inches, 2017.

Image courtesy of The Royal Gallery.

Rounding out this wall are two paintings on panel by Aliza Morell roses rendered as if presented in neon, and two impressionist inspired still-lifes: one by Delphine Hennelly and one by Jenn Dierdorf, creating a clash between classical representation and the garden of our modern world.

To end the narrative juxtaposition the largest painting, directly across from this “flower wall” on the left side of the gallery, by Janeckova, features a woman reclining on a couch with a dog at her feet. Orbs float above her head, reverberating like memory orbs, while round flower paintings by Tess Michalik are featured to the right, and to the left more of Zubrovich’s baseball playing dogs.

 

Tess Michalik, Louis Francois, oil on canvas, 20 x 20 inches, 2019. Image courtesy of The Royal Gallery.

This wall exists as a place of fantasy and directly makes reference to the constant reconstruction of our engagement with the established motifs present through the gallery. A sleeping figure infinitely dreams, rearranging all the tools and symbols around the gallery. I like to believe the sleeping figure is the stand in for the viewer. Surrounded by dogs and flowers, she is the exhibition, a symbolic dreaming of how the adjacent symbolism can dictate her next move when she wakes; and like the viewer, how will she change her world when she exits the room with this information.

Puppies and Flowers is on view at The Royal Society of American Art in Williamsburg, Brooklyn until March 31st, 2019.

Augmented Humanism: The Digital Art of Marjan Moghaddam

Artist Marjan Moghaddam is many things, but bored isn’t one of them. A multi-disciplinary artist whose viral sensations, Glitched Goddesses, are propelling the artist toward phenomenal digital art visibility, Moghaddam is that rare artist whose formal stylings and conceptual acumen are equally stunning. Stemming from an #ArtHack Instagram project which the artist initiated in 2016 to disrupt and democratize the exhibition space, her glitch aesthetic permeates the oscillating female forms depicted in her Glitched Goddesses series. Buzz around the series has reached fever pitch, with over 3 million views of her works combined across Arts in Paris and Facebook. So far, her hacks have engaged in dialogue with exhibitions and events at locations ranging from Miami Art Basel to the Guggenheim, the New Museum and Mary Boone gallery – the last three, it is worth noting, were founded by women. “When my ArtBasel Miami hack went viral on Facebook, that’s when I realized the Internet has matured enough for serious, conceptual, thoughtful digital art to go viral and find an audience, ” Moghaddam explained. She now routinely receives collector inquiries on Instagram for work from her #ArtHack collection due to the ongoing social media demand for digital artworks.

“To See if I Still Feel At The Armory Show 2019” by Marjan Moghaddam, with Tonny Cragg Sculpture at Galerie Thadeus Ropac (image provided courtesy of the artist)

We sat down with the artist in the wake of her recent exhibitions for the Smithsonian and National Cathedral, commissioned by arts nonprofit Halcyon and digital art center Artechouse, for the 2018 #WeThePeople Festival. Moghaddam has also recently shown in high-profile exhibits with the Rowan University Art Gallery and Piramid Sanat Art Center in Istanbul. Discussing her upcoming exhibit, Re-Engineering Humanity, at 836m gallery in San Francisco this March, curated by lady Pheonix of Yes Universe, Moghaddam walked us through some of the key components of her practice, reflecting on what this sudden success means for her as an artist with decades of artistic creation behind her.

“Kavanaugh Haunted my Frieze London #Arthack” by Marjan Moghaddam , with original video taken from @mqtfas (image provided courtesy of the artist)

We kicked things off by questioning Moghaddam about the forms she uses. Why women’s figures, and why the glitch animation format digitally transforming this shiny amorphous substance into different women’s bodies? The artist points to her own evolution as an artist, watching as male artists have continually garnered the lion’s share of market value and attention in the press. She points to recent exhibits of women artists at major institutions – Sarah Lucas at the New Museum, and Hilma af Klint at the Guggenheim, as evidence that while things are changing, there is still work to be done. “I set this #ArtHack (of these women’s exhibitions) to [the sounds of] PJ Harvey and Bjork screaming out the Rolling Stones’ “No Satisfaction” as a reminder of how far women and especially rebellious and outsider women artists still have left to go, in comparison to their male counterparts,” notes Moghaddam.

“To See if I Still Feel At The Armory Show 2019” by Marjan Moghaddam, Perrotin Gallery (image provided courtesy of the artist)

The artist focuses on women as the subject matter, shifting the lens toward the female gaze by celebrating and extolling the wonders of our own bodies. Extending this concept of equality and equanimity, the artist explains that she engages with advocacy in her artwork, remarking specifically that women deserve representation regardless of their abilities, appearance, age, etc. “The #GlitchedGoddesses glitch the concept that a woman can be a singular form as they shift from heavy to slender, buff, young, old and pregnant, this is how the digital can intervene to expand the conceptual and aesthetic possibilities in art,” she explains. She notes of the #GlitchedGoddesses that although they occur in dialogue with other artists’ work, they don’t solely translate to appropriation art. “Merely hacking is just transgressive, but to do so with social and political activism and as a critical dialogue, becomes transformative,” the artist concludes.

Scholars have taken notice, as these figures were were recently presented at Colloque international Jeptav2019 conference on Art, Intelligence, and Intuition. An Iranian-born creative living and working in the United States, political and social freedom have remained a mainstay in Moghaddam’s artistic practice. Last September, the artist embedded an angry Kavanaugh talking head, in a Vagina Vedanta from Happy Happy Leaf artist Rae-Yen Song for her Frieze London 2018 #ArtHack, in what she views as a type of collectively sourced artistic imagination on social media feeds. This expanded view of collaboration and intervention re-examines methods by which artists can engage both the art world and society on the whole in reckoning with the lack of women’s art being represented at major art world fairs and market events. 

“#GlitchGoddess with a Fractal Niche”, Print triggered- Augmented Reality app with Chronometric Digital sculpture, on exhibit at Enamored Armor, Rowan University Art Gallery “#GlitchGoddess with a Fractal Niche”, Print triggered- Augmented Reality app with Chronometric Digital sculpture by Marjan Moghaddam, on exhibit at Enamored Armor, Rowan University Art Gallery (image provided courtesy of the artist)

Moghaddam has never been someone to stay inside the box or play by the rules; since her early days as an artist on wildly creative scene at the Pyramid Club in the 1980s, where she also exhibited her very first computer animations (she remarks that these were created on a Commodore 64). In the 1990s, Moghaddam became the featured artist for the launch of DOTCOM Gallery and International Forum for the Digital Arts – the very first commercial NY art gallery based entirely on the Internet (Archived on Rhizome.org), with GIF animations of her 3D CG avatar and fractals. As a rebel and an artist, her work has often been positioned on the fringe: a place that has served to her advantage in the viral digital space that is social media. She cites various factors that have continually worked against her since she relocated to New York, to where she currently lives and works in Brooklyn. “Being a woman, doing cutting edge and disruptive technology art, being an immigrant from Iran, and not being wealthy or having any proximity to wealth and privilege [do seem to work against me],” reflects Moghaddam. She continues,  “I also think my rebellious nature is another strike against me, since that is usually celebrated in men but not women. But these barriers have also fed my practice and forced me to forge my own path.” Because of this persistence, her early virtual reality installation “The Box” went straight from Soho galleries to Internet pioneer Josh Harris’ executive office at Jupiter Communications, in what was then the heart of NYC’s 1990s Silicon Alley in the early internet era. Tech and art both find a voice in Moghaddam’s work, and her continued attention and acceptance from the tech community indicate how her work also embraces philosophies which are relevant outside of just the fine art community. 

The artist may march to the beat of her own drum but her work is firmly rooted in art theory and social critique. She cites influential post-war philosophers as crucial to her development of the #ArtHacks as a body of work. “A few [philosophers] that I would list are Norbert Weiner, Baudrillard, Sloterdijk and even Foucault whose ‘art of the museum spaces’ I have cited with my #ArtHacks as part of my art of the social media space.” Embedding these concepts within the depth and breadth of her digital artistic practice has proven critical to connecting with a new generation who is eager for art that speaks to their social moment, and teaches something of value through cutting-edge technological methods.

Additionally, her signature style and aesthetic innovation, a practice that she has termed Chronometric Sculpture, blends the ideals of sculpture with the aesthetics of animation. Social media has continually uplifted her work to viral status: as of 2019, her work is even shared by various digeratis and Futurists on Linkedin as a starting point on discussions about the future of art.

Previously her Baisser at Mary Boone in Glassish and Waxish had garnered over 2 million views on a single Instagram post, and another 1.7 million views on a Facebook post.

Autonomous, location-based, Chronometric Sculpture, Augmented Reality app by Marjan Moghaddam on exhibit at the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building, Washington DC (image provided courtesy of the artist)

With a multi-disciplinary practice spanning digital art, animation, painting, sculpture, and augmented and virtual reality among other disparate creative pursuits, Moghaddam is an unstoppable force in contemporary art, adapting to new formats and carving new paths ahead at the advent of cutting-edge technologies. In addition to “Re-engineering Humanity,” on view through Spring/Summer of 2019 at 836m gallery in San Francisco, the artist also has new animations available now on the Noow.art digital art collection platform, and an upcoming exhibition at Art Jed gallery. Future projects include another commissioned, site-specific public Augmented Reality art project with City Unseen projects, so stay tuned – knowing Marjan Moghaddam there is plenty more where that came from!

The Virtual is Visceral in “Speculative Cultures” at the New School’s Kellen Gallery

Ancient and contemporary collide in the spectacular “Speculative Cultures: A Virtual Reality Exhibition”, on view through April 14th at the Anna-Maria and Stephen Keller gallery at the New School (2 W. 13th Street, New York, NY). Curated by Tina Sauerlaender (DE), Peggy Schoenegge (DE), and Erandy Vergara (MX/CA), “Speculative Cultures” examines the physical remains and objects that embody the weight of cultures immemorial, ranging from ritualistic and spiritual artifacts to our current digital practices. Featuring a survey of contemporary artists working across the digital realm, “Speculative Cultures” features cutting-edge artists including Morehshin Allahyari (IR/US), Scott Benesiinaabandan (CA), Matias Brunacci (AR/DE), Yu Hong (CN), Francois Knoetze (ZA), Erin Ko (US) and Jamie Martinez (CO/US).

Installation shot, “Speculative Cultures. A Virtual Reality Exhibition” (2019), curated by Tina Sauerlaender, Peggy Schoenegge, and Erandy Vergara. Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Gallery, Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, Parsons/The New School. Photo: Marc Tatti

This survey show probes the various ways in which artists working in multi-disciplinary, digital artistic practices re-create myth and ritual. A global survey of civilizations’ myths and spiritual practices, the intersectional approach adopted by the curatorial team frees it from the abject fetishism still (regrettably) present in many contemporary surveys meditating on diverse civilizations. Adapting diverse shamanistic and traditional practices into a digital format, “Speculative Cultures” allows breathing room for entrenched ideological precepts to be creatively re-interpreted.

Exhibiting artists such as Morehshin Allahyari (IR/US) and  Scott Benesiinaabandan (CA) configure their practices by denying the myth of Western hegemony perpetuated by way of colonialism. Allahyari’s postcolonial approach reflects her contemporary, digital artistic practice in dialogue with ancient Iranian belief systems. Benesiinaabandan, meanwhile, configures an ancient story of the Anishinabe native peoples of the North American continent, orienting it toward a futuristic setting.

Diverse experiences await visitors to the exhibit, including an interactive shaman’s journey created by Matias Brunacci (AR/DE) and explorations of China’s rich historical diversity as told through the eyes of artist  Yu Hong (CN). Francois Knoetze (ZA) blends past and present into futurist modes of dress, posture and performance. Meanwhile, the sole US contributors – artists Erin Ko (US) and Jamie Martinez (CO/US) – draw from the Egyptian Book of the Dead to imagine new possibilities and propose a liminal spiritual space linking life with afterlife.

Jamie Martinez and Erin Ko,”Neo Kingdom”, Digital Installation component. “Speculative Cultures. A Virtual Reality Exhibition” (2019), curated by Tina Saurlaender, Peggy Schoenegge, and Erandy Vergara

Ko and Martinez formulate an approach especially apt to continuing the discussion around shfits and symbiosis in cultural tradewinds, ranging from analog to digital. Their installation, “Neo Kingdom”, contains both tangible and virtual components, welcome visitors into an ethereal space delineated by light and fabric. This partition, representing the veil separating life as we experience it from the afterlife, also serves as a boundary marking a viewer’s shift from observing with the senses to observing an unseen, digital world as represented through virtual reality. The power of the exhibit as a whole is cemented in this particular gesture, showing us that by contemplating the methods by which great civilizations of the past imagined the overlap of physical and spiritual realities directly impacts the modes by which contemporary artists can imagine alternate cultures.

“Speculative Cultures. A Virtual Reality Exhibition” is on view through April 14 at the Anna-Maria and Stephen Keller gallery at the New School (2 W. 13th Street, New York, NY).

Presented in partnership with the Consulate General of Canada in New York.
Technical expertise and support kindly provided by the XReality Center at The New School

Bold Tones Define “Self Alive” at The Yard South Williamsburg

“To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom.” 

In an era of dissonance, “Self Alive” brings the wisdom of self-awareness to bear, playing witness to a whirlwind of textures and hues. Featuring the work of artists Katie Hector, Tomo Mori and Jean Rim,
“Self Alive” remains on view through Spring 2019 at The Yard, South Williamsburg. Drawing from themes of self-expression, “Self Alive” explores the beauty we can bring into the world through our relationships with those around us as expressed in a variety of artistic mediums. The exhibit is curated by Deborah Oster Pannell, curator at The Yard South Williamsburg, whose curatorial perspective is informed by decades of experience as a writer, editor, performer, director and producer. She has curated and performed at KGB Bar, Animamus Art Salon, Shag, Green Oasis Community Garden, Chinatown Soup, The Red Room at KGB, UNDER St. Marks Theater and JCC Harlem. Pannell currently works at C24 gallery in Chelsea, Manhattan.

“Nexus”, Tomo Mori for The Yard’s “Self Alive”

Artist Jean Rim connects disparate aspects of her Korean-American identity through her practice. She draws links to different layers of her identity with intricate patterns of shimmering, geometric compositions. A graduate of Parsons School of Design, Rim currently works in Brooklyn, NY and exhibits in South Korea and the United States. Her vibrant juxtaposition of line and color form exuberant compositions accessible to everyone, regardless of cultural background. These bright, rhythmic abstractions speak in a universal language that both astonishes and delights.

The diverse works of Tomo Mori reveal a thoughtful and labor-intensive process. Sculptural forms emerge from accumulations of discarded clothing, making reference to her labor as an artist and a mother. Hailing from Osaka, Japan, Mori studied both Western and Japanese traditional painting and drawing. Her rope installation works make explicit the important links connecting us all as human beings, across cultures, countries and social constructs.

Katie Hector, “FOMO Banner II” at “Self Alive” at The Yard

 

Katie Hector‘s work explores the inherent anxiety of modern-day life in her “FOMO” series, on view in part in “Self Alive”. An artist, curator and writer, Hector is also Founder and Co-Director of Sine Gallery. Based in New York, she received her BFA from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University and has participated in numerous international exhibitions and received numerous scholarships and accolades. The “FOMO” series as a whole is based around abstracted ovals, which could reference eyes or vision. In a world in which vision is constantly facing distraction and disassociation, the self can feel distant or insecure. Hector’s abstractions aggregate multiple layers of color and painterly gesture, hinting at the social anxiety and chaos that engulfs us all.

Rooted in the search for a higher self-awareness, the meditative and enticing artworks on view in “Self Alive”  reveal a survey of contemporary color and material palettes. An incisive look into unique artists’ practices, they also comprehensively reveal a society fearlessly searching for truth in every direction.

“Self Alive” is on view through May 4, 2019 at The Yard, South Williamsburg.

 

Irreverent Gestures: The Work of Ivan Lardschneider

Ivan Lardschneider isn’t afraid to play with toys.

“Untitled”, Ivan Lardschneider. Courtesy the artist.

Imbuing his work with references to playthings and just a hint of pre-pubescent immaturity, Lardschneider’s pointed yet playful approach proves remarkably efficacious: a concise survey incorporating the objects from our youth. The emotions and nostalgia these objects portend frame a potent look into the human psyche as found through the artist’s oeuvre. His sculptures, simple in form yet trenchant in their observation, form a lexicon of emotion and vulnerability.

“Untitled”, Ivan Lardschneider. Courtesy the artist.

Recalling Pop Artists such as Andy Warhol and Michelangelo Pistoletto along with the stylized figuration of Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti, Lardscheider hones in on his singular style with a simplified color palette and straightforward textures. Figures are marked by their stillness or incorporate simple gestures into their pose that reveal an underlying simplicity. Poses are childlike, silly yet wise, operating with an innocent and guileless logic all their own. Witty, provocative and poignant, Lardschneider distills the essence of both animate and inanimate forms into intuitive compositions both humorous and thought-provoking.

“Untitled”, Ivan Lardschneider. Courtesy the artist.

Ivan Lardschneider is based in Italy and his work is represented by Armanda Gori gallery, and his work has been exhibited in New York, NY at Galleria Ca’ d’Oro. His work has been featured in D/Railed Magazine, Wall Street International, and more. More examples of his work can be found on his website and on Instagram. 

Fresh Approaches Feature At Spring/Break 2019

Every year during Armory Fair week, a refreshing breeze traipses down the avenues, blowing past the piers from its irreverent, unsanctimonious perch. This breath of fresh air originates at Spring/Break Art Show, where emerging gallerists, independent curators and contemporary artists present installations and exhibitions centered around a proposed theme. This year’s theme, FACT AND FICTION, goes as far as to feature artist residencies and nonprofits – expanding the platform to emerging artistic voices from their “Suites” section to other presentations amassing considerably larger square footage. Situated for 2019 at 866 UN Plaza, floor 2, the fair – on view through Monday, March 11 – presents a thoughtful re-contextualization of societal constructs by channeling and filtering them through a subversive, and at times perverse, lens. Best of all, there is plenty of space for exhibits to sprawl, taking on meanings in relation to one another that were unintended even by the curators themselves!

Real Fairy Tale by Lulu Meng and Naomi Okubo, for Spring/Break Art Show 2019

For this year’s iteration, standout presentations center around revealing and concealing information, allowing fairgoers access to alternative viewpoints to their own, and imagining a world differing vastly from our current version.

For starters, Lulu Meng and Naomi Okubo‘s “Real Fairy Tale”(S8) provides a poignant and tech-loaded exploration of femininity as prescribed by the Walt Disney world princess trope. Placing identity within – and in direct contrast to – fairy tale figures such as Snow White and Cinderella allows the artists to examine their own identities while provoking visitors to reconsider theirs. Particularly rooted in a deeper exploration of feminism, ethnicity and privilege, this clever and touching re-imagination of Disney princesses touches a deep cultural nerve.

Roxanne Jackson’s “Third Eye Fuck (Devil’s Card)” for Spiritual Art Advisory

In “Spiritual Art Advisory”(E25), contemporary culture’s penchant for tarot is taken all the way to its logical conclusion in the form of an art exhibit in which each piece represents one of the 22 Major Arcana cards in the tarot deck. Curated by Sarah Potter and Caroline Larsen, the exhibit displays a wide array of artists – Roxanne Jackson‘s sculpture stuns – and proposes a reconsideration of the intersection existing between spirituality and art.

Artist and curator Vanessa Albury’s Coral Projects (E33) is presented with Albury and Tamara Weg leading the booth’s curation. Featuring artwork reflecting the diminishing state of our ocean due to climate change, works of art include a fish bowl sculpture (including fish upon purchase!) by Albury, which is on view along with sculptures reminiscent of coral. The presentation also introduces a public art project, to be installed off the coast of Jamaica: consisting of sculptures placed underwater near the shore, the project will hopefully lead to more coral growth in this tourist-prone area.

There is much to see – don’t miss the last two days, March 10&11, to check out Spring/Break’s multitude of artistic offerings at 866 UN Plaza! Tickets at the Spring/Break Art Show website.

“Taped Shut” by Rachel Lee Hovnavian, presented by Jenny Mushkin-Goldman and Jessica Davidson (E8)

 

work by Jen Dwyer as part of Anna Cone’s “A World All Her Own” (E31)

INLIQUID’s presentation for Spring/Break Art Show featuring work by Christina Massey (S9)