Where High Gets Low.
This Friday, I’m gonna spend the entire day watching Andy Warhol’s marathon eight-hour film Empire and Tweeting about it — in the company of WNYC, Hyperallergic, ARTnews Magazine and architecture and literary experts Mark Lamster and Bryan Waterman. Please join in!
Find all the deets here.
A stunning photo essay of the protests in Egypt — in black & white — by photographer Gabriele Micalizzi is up at Cesuralab. See her his Tunisia photos here. (Image courtesy of Cesuralab.)
'Conditions' allows the reader to view the images in various configurations.
It might seem straight out of Borges, but it is possible to read a book in two directions at once. Late last year, blogger Jörg Colberg of Conscientious, slipped me a copy of Conditions, a new book of photography that features the work of Peruvian-born photographer Andrés Marroquín Winkelmann. The book is actually two in one: it opens at the center — like a gift — and has two separately bound sections. These are side-by-side mini-books that that can be viewed individually or together — in left to right order, in right to left order, or both at the same time. Likewise, you can dip into either bound section at will. This allows the reader to study one image, create random pairings of images, and in some cases, admire photographs across four pages simultaneously, such as the image of the religious icons below (after the jump).
“I think the viewing experience of the book really puts the focus on the ideas behind the project: perception and self definition,” Marroquín explained to me via e-mail. “Even though I try to use the same ideas in a gallery exhibition of the work, the book’s format invites the viewer to interact with the images in a more personal and intimate way than is possible in a gallery.”
Continue reading ‘Conditions: On Andrés Marroquín Winkelmann’s innovative new book.’
She was missing an eye. Her tongue hung out the side. She had arthritis that left her walking like John Wayne. Yet Ester ate like a horse and could tear into garbage like nobody’s business. She could also snort-sleep with the best of them. For her relentless positivity and creaky looks, Ester was my muse. On Sunday morning she passed away. I can’t even begin to express how wrenching this is to me. (And more so to her family.) Ester: You shall be sorely missed.
¡Sin Esperenza ni temor!, by El Celso, a poster made in the chicha style — a collaboration with the esteemed Fortunato Urcuhuaranga at Publicidad Viusa, in Lima. (Photo by C-M.)
Congrats to JP for winning the C-Mon Giveaway for Skateboarding.3D.
Jeune homme, pattes d’elephant, avec sacoche et montre, 1977, by Malick Sidibé. Part of the photographer’s solo exhibit Malick Sidibé: The Eyes of Bamako at M+B Arts in Los Angeles, through April 5. (Image courtesy of M+B; via Hustler of Culture.)
A piece of Gordon Matta-Clark’s graffiti truck, from 1973. Matta-Clark was inspired by graffiti in the early ’70s — before it had caught on with the mainstream art world. (Photo by C-M.)
The 1970s were not kind to New York. There was a middle class exodus to the suburbs. The Son of Sam was terrorizing the town. The city was bankrupt. Which, in a way, made the place an ideal spot for artists — who could take over empty SoHo warehouses for dance performances and attack derelict buildings in the Bronx with chainsaws, all without anybody batting an eyelash. The current David Zwirner exhibit 112 Greene Street: The Early Years (1970-74) examines this history — specifically, the story behind the alternative arts spot that gave rise to a number of figures, among them sculptor and conceptualist Gordon Matta-Clark. (Most interestingly, he was able to make a real live cherry tree grow in 112′s by-all-accounts-nasty basement.)
For those who relish examining a period when the city was entirely bereft of velvet ropes and gaggles of Sex and the City wannabes, this is definitely the show for you. It is heavy on Matta-Clark, containing evidence of some of his early building slicing experiments, but also has some compelling sculptures by Richard Nonas and Alan Senet. In addition, to anyone interested in the history of graffiti, the show is an absolute must-see. Matta-Clark had a heavy duty interest in the art form — letting Bronx teens tag up his van and documenting early tags on the subways in pieces he called Graffiti Photoglyphs. (See the photos below.)
You’ve got until the end of the week to catch the show. 112 Greene Street runs through this Saturday, Feb. 12.
Continue reading ‘Photo Diary: ’112 Greene Street’ at David Zwirner Gallery, in NYC.’
