art and the body/identity pics

Nayland Blake

Shirin Neshat

Marlene Dumas

eric fischl

tania bruguera

art and the body/identity

1. why is feminism and body art so closely intertwined? is all art and the body a reaction against the male gaze?

2. is performance a subcategory of art and the body?

3. what is the difference between art and identity and narrative?

4. What about video art makes it conducive for art and identity? why are so many of these works video works?

5. is art and the body different from deformation because of its affiliation and tendency towards the pornagraphic?

Review Criteria

A review should include an overview of the exhibition, with information on the curator(s) and gallery space.

A survey of the work should be made, comments on the overall theme of the show as well as how selected individual works fit within the theme.

Discussion of the quality of the exhibition should be present, including unbiased even handed opinions, without too much personal detritus.

A summary of the shows reception within the community, perhaps with quotes from patrons and curator(s)

art&technology/Deformation pics

Soundsbutter.com

lauren Kalman

Jenny Saville

Arthur Ganson

narrative/representation pics

sarajo frieden

Myfanwy MacLeod

Verne Dawson

storm tharp

Chiho Aoshima

nature&technology/Deformation

when technological advances are used in the visual arts how much of it is considered aesthetically, often the contraptions look like crazy equipment more than finished visual work?

is "nature art" a way to promote human interaction with nature or is it just the artist imposing their will on an already established system?

what is the definition of deformation, what level of distortion is necessary for it to be present?

After the 1970s is there any merit in enlisting shock to garner attention?

to what end is the inclusion of the scatological in contemporary art?

Art and Representation/Narrative

representation in art is used to reflect the arbitrary conditions of perception, or manipulate ideology or sense of reality. Given all the things that representative work can do, is there a place for abstraction anymore?

Is representation in art a better way to engage the audience or is it just an easier way to garner attention?

Is it possible to create narrative without representation?

Can a strong narrative function the same way as a strong formalist work?

Does representation in art inevitably include narrative?

Whitney Biennial Review

Armory Show Review

Impressions from the Armory Show March 4-7 are nothing if not overwhelming, with both pier 92 and 94 jam packed with 117 contemporary dealers and 67 modern dealers and their most “important” works. Promising in a way that will attract buyers and allow the gallery to return next year. The show was divided into two sections; one for more contemporary works and the other was a modern section.

The general aesthetics of the contemporary area comprised a large number of galleries, which included photography of everyday life, or candid scenes. These are categorized by photographs in which no apparent alteration of the image has been made, the photos appear to be representations of the human condition in its most mundane form. The number of galleries with such work ranges in the twenties, and this is on the lower end of what could be considered the same type of work, as photos which deal with the same ideas or are slightly altered where not included in the tally.

Another common thread among the galleries was art that was made up of garbage, or had the aesthetics of garbage. The artist gathered presumably random objects and arranges them in a pile or glues them together or hangs them together. These works were also much more prevalent than the thirty or so galleries that were included, but those works were not entirely comprised of “garbage”. While this was the aesthetic that prevailed at the show, there were many outliers outlined subsequently.

One of the first things available coming down the stairs at the Armory show is the Reed Seifer “Spray to Forget” display. The exhibit has all the makings of fairground snakeoil salesman with the clean simple aesthetics of the times. The spray is supposed to allow a person to let go of a bad memory and replace it with a good memory, and includes a mixture of natural oils championed by aromatherapy. Not only is the display reminiscent of a con game, the research in memory is completely non-existent. While there are substances capable of altering the strength of memory it is impossible for and oily spray to do so. The human memory is one of the most unique and complex systems on the planet and to propagate the notion that a perfume can in any way alter it is grossly irresponsible.

The Rachel Uffner Gallery featuring works by Australian artist Hillary Harnischfeger. These wall sculptures range from 10in to 36in across and are made of mixed materials including paper, plaster and ink. The surface resembles that of a cliff face but of a different palette, this one being of a pastel wet-envelope variety rather than that of a craggy desert. The materials are layered and stacked to form larger flat shapes and then cut and turned upward to reveal the striations of the layers. The work is incredibly engaging due to the complexity of the imagery and the levels in which one may investigate, the depth of the work physically is matched its psychological depth.

Sachiko Kodama had a display near the stairs of the contemporary exhibit, the sculpture “Fountain ?” was a tiny cone sitting in a pool of oily liquid under a glass vitrine. The liquid is magnetic and goes through a cycle in which it winds up the cone and then becomes spikes that grow to a point and then recede or cascade up and down the cone. There is a projection on the wall of the sculpture going through its cycle as well. While it is and interesting phenomenon and is a beautiful chocolaty color and movement, there is hardly more to the sculpture than the display of this new stuff. This particular piece is one of the more mundane in the series usually the liquid reacts to sound and some are more of a still pool in a bowl rather than a cone that becomes spiky, the mystery in these other works is absent in “Fountain ?” and one wonders if the fact that it needed to be displayed covered in any way informed the choice to show this piece in particular.

Overall the work at the show was disappointing, with a small percentage of galleries which included things other than those state previously and in that small percentage and even smaller number of interesting, unique, and well-crafted works. The real disenchantment is that the armory show claims it is including the most important art of the 20^th and 21^st century, the fact that so much of it is the same and so much of it is strategically chosen to be attractive to collectors really negates the idea of it being important.

Manifesto