Josef Albers at David Zwirner

Grey Steps, Grey Scales, Grey Ladders Grey scales are missing from modern day life. All is either balck or white, and no one knows what grey steps even look like anymore. ” To this end, we study gradation by producing so called grey steps, grey scales, grey ladders. These demonstrate a gradual stepping up or…

Alberto Burri: The Trauma of Painting  by Andrea Kutsenkow  When I buy tickets for a scary movie, I enter the theater wanting to be scared. When I received my invitation for the exhibition Alberto Burri: The Trauma of Painting, I wanted to feel uncomfortable. With the word “trauma” used in the exhibition title and with…

Donald Judd Studio by Le Beck Amidst the tourist clutter and overpriced designer mayhem of Soho, there are precious few reminders that not long ago this area was an industrial wasteland and starving-artist haven. One of the remnants of Soho’s history is 101 Spring Street, a building that Donald Judd renovated in 1968 from the…

The Alchemy of Objects: Midnight Party

By Ingrid Nordstrom Part 3 of 5 The mystical power and life of objects is uniquely explored in Midnight Party on view at the Walker Art Center from March 19, 2011- August 3. 2014. The display is arranged by guest curator Joan Rothfuss the through a daring paradigm of wonder and the fantastical.   This exhibition…

9 Artists in Search of…

By Ingrid Nordstrom Part 4 of 5 When thinking on the exhibition 9 Artists, the Luigi Pirandello play, Six Characters in Search of an Author continually came to mind. The meta-theatrical play works through the relationships between author, characters, theatrical practitioners and the audience. A Director’s rehearsal is interrupted by Characters in search of a resolution to their plot. Many arguments…

Claes Oldenburg: The Sixties

By Ingrid Nordstrom (Part 2 of 5- Institutional critique) Claes Oldenburg: The Sixties, on view at the Walker Art Center from September 13, 2013 to January 12, 2014 amassed more than 300 earlier works of the iconic artist. The exhibition was organized by the Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien under the leadership of curator…

The Walker Art Center’s Existential Dilemma

By Ingrid Nordstrom (Part 1 of 5- Institutional critique) In a lecture opening the exhibition Claes Oldenburg: The Sixties at the Walker Art Center in September of 2013, with a nod and a wink Claes Oldenburg stated, “Well, this is an awfully clean version of The Street. So, now it’s become art, you see.”i This…

Balthus. Coy, but no Cigar.

By esartia There are two days left to see “Balthus: Cats and Girls- Paintings and Provocations” ” at the Metropolitan Museum before it closes on. This is the first major exhibition of Baltusz Klossowski de Rola’s aka Balthus’, work in a US museum since 1984 and it has left much to be desired. The show focuses…

ADRIAN PACI on the High Line

by Kat Widing Photo by Timothy Schenck Currently on view at the High Line, Adrian Paci’s thought-provoking The Encounter (2011), PilgrIMAGE (2005) and Turn On (2004) – are inspired by both Paci’s tumultuous biography and broader, more global topics of identity as shaped by politics and socio-economics. Paci’s works derive from his experience as an exile from Albania, and yet are suggestive…

Gilbert and George Brighten the High Line Art Billboard with Vibrant Colors

by Kat Widing Photo by Laura Bjorstad The High Line Art Billboard is back in action, sporting Gilbert & George’s Waking (1984) next to the High Line at West 18th Street. With luminous colors and thick black outlined figures, the semi-mirrored composition of faces and bodies recalls the look of a stained glass window. Gilbert…