this week in art

ARTWORK OF THE DAY: “DWARF AND RHINOCEROS (WITH LARGE BLACK SHAPE)” BY JOHN BALDESSARI

John Baldessari, “Dwarf and Rhinoceros (with Large Black Shape),” detail, archival inkjet prints mounted on Lexan with inset aluminum frame, latex paint, archival inkjet print mounted on plexiglass, 1989/2013 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

“I’ve got to say, I don’t like being labeled a California artist, or a Los Angeles artist, or a Conceptual artist,” John Baldessari told us last year in a wide-ranging twi-ny talk. “I just like it to be artist.” The artist is back at Marian Goodman with a solo show that reinstalls a trio of works first seen in 1987-89, three rooms that feature Baldessari’s unique way of combining painting, photography, and sculpture; words, image, and meaning; the real world and its cinematic equivalent; and humanity and the animal kingdom. “Dwarf and Rhinoceros (with Large Black Shape)” (“Ni por Esas/ Not Even So: John Baldessari,” Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, 1989) focuses on a black-and-white photo of a little man, seemingly squeezed into a rectangular frame, looking up and pointing at a rhino in the wild. “Two Stories (Yellow and Blue) and Commentary (with Giraffe)” (“Magiciens de la Terre,” Centre Georges Pompidou and Grande Halle La Villette, Paris, 1989) includes a giraffe emerging from a corner, facing a cross of pop-culture images. And “The Difference Between Fête and Fate” (“John Baldessari,” Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Castello di Rivoli, Rivoli, Italy, 1987) consists of striking photographs of people and animals, including polar bears, an owl, and a burning man. The eponymously titled exhibition continues in Midtown through August 23.

JOHN CHAMBERLAIN: THE HEDGE

John Chamberlain, “The Hedge,” painted and chromium-plated steel, sixteen elements, 1997 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Lever House Art Collection
390 Park Ave. at 54th St.
Through August 31, free
www.leverhouseartcollection.com
the hedge photo set

Indiana-born sculptor John Chamberlain has seemingly been omnipresent since his death in December 2011 at the age of eighty-four. Sadly, the longtime Shelter Island resident passed away shortly before his wonderful career retrospective, “Choices,” last year at the Guggenheim, which showed off the surprising breadth of his work, which went well beyond car chrome and steel assemblages. Then the Gagosian put together a small outdoor sculpture installation on Seagram Plaza in Midtown last summer and fall, allowing such recent biomorphic aluminum pieces as “FROSTYDICKFANTASY,” “MERMAIDSMISCHIEF,” and “ROBUSTFAGOTTO” to glitter in the sun. Now Lever House is presenting one of Chamberlain’s largest sculptures, 1997’s “The Hedge,” which consists of a forty-six-foot-long row of sixteen evenly spaced forty-four-inch-high squares composed of painted chromium-plated steel from automobiles. A kind of three-dimensional Abstract Expressionist canvas come to life, “The Hedge” cuts through the mostly black-and-gray glassed-in Lever House lobby, where it can be seen residing next to a row of live green plantings. Each piece has a square hole in the middle, allowing visitors to look through them all, directly out onto Park Ave., where more colors pass by with the traffic, adding sly commentary on America’s consumerist car culture. Using such tools as a sledgehammer, a compactor, an acetylene torch, a band saw, and a steel cutter on automobile parts, Chamberlain is able to evoke the natural world with “The Hedge,” which features an array of bright, bold colors in a unique kind of metallic topiary. Each piece is a work of art in its own right, but together they invite viewers into a multifaceted, multidimensional space that seems to morph as seen from different angles.

PUNK: CHAOS TO COUTURE

The Met’s “Punk” show is in its last days; may it rest in peace (photo © the Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Metropolitan Museum of Art
Costume Institute
1000 Fifth Ave. at 82nd St.
Through August 14, $25 adults, children under twelve free
212-535-7710
www.metmuseum.org

In 2011, the Met made big news with its overwhelmingly popular and widely praised cutting-edge spring Costume Institute exhibition, “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty,” which, particularly in its last days, had tremendously long lines as people flocked to see the vast oeuvre of the late British designer, who committed suicide in February 2010 at the age of forty. One of the themes of the show came from a McQueen quote: “You’ve got to know the rules to break them. That’s what I’m here for, to demolish the rules but to keep the tradition.” The Met was probably hoping for a similar response to this spring’s Costume Institute exhibit, “Punk: Chaos to Couture,” breaking all kinds of rules, but instead this display arrived DOA (no offense to the legendary Canadian band that just broke up). Divided into such themes as “New York and London,” “Graffiti and Agitprop,” “Clothes for Heroes,” and “Destroy” and featuring questionably punk music and videos, the show actually focuses on how the punk aesthetic was coopted by Madison Ave. and the fashion industry; most of the clothing on view is from high-end designers that costs a pretty penny, made in the twenty-first century, long after the punk invasion of the 1970s. Joan Jett might be a punk goddess, but seeing an image of her wearing Karl Lagerfeld for Vogue in March 2011 makes us want to reevaluate her bad reputation. And the re-creation of the CBGB bathroom — well, let’s just say we can’t imagine that the Ramones and Hilly Kristal would be too happy about that. Anyway, “Punk: Chaos to Couture” runs through Wednesday, August 14, but there is absolutely no reason for you to run over to the Met to catch it before it goes away, hopefully never to be seen or heard from again.

SUMMER STREETS: VOICE TUNNEL BY RAFAEL LOZANO-HEMMER

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s “Voice Tunnel” welcomes pedestrians into the Park Ave. Tunnel for the first time ever (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

SUMMER STREETS
Park Ave. Tunnel, 33rd – 40th Sts.
Saturday, August 10 & 17, free, 7:00 am – 1:00 pm
www.nyc.gov
voice tunnel slideshow

In such multimedia projects as “Open Air,” “Semioptics for Spinoza,” “First Surface,” and “Voice Array,” Mexican-born Canadian electronic artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer has used light, sound, movement, and touch to create interactive, immersive installations that require public participation. In 2008, his “Pulse Park” measured the heart rate of individuals in Madison Square Park and turned those biometric rhythms into beams of light that radiated across the oval lawn. Lozano-Hemmer’s latest New York piece, “Voice Tunnel,” is the highlight of this year’s “Summer Streets” festival, in which the city closes down Park Ave. to vehicular traffic for three successive Saturdays (August 3, 10, and 17) from 7:00 am to 1:00 pm, instead encouraging people to walk, jog, run, bike, blade, and stroll down the famous thoroughfare and make their way to five rest stops filled with special free activities.

Visitors add their voice to affect light and sound in interactive tunnel installation (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

For “Voice Tunnel,” part of Lozano-Hemmer’s “Relational Architecture” series, the artist has installed three hundred theatrical spotlights that line both sides of the tunnel, projecting arcs of light that race across the ceiling, then go dark. The speed and frequency of the chasing lights are directly impacted by people’s voices; near the center of the tunnel, visitors can say anything they want into a microphone box, lasting between one and five seconds, with volume mattering. The word or phrase can then be heard echoing among the one hundred and fifty loudspeakers in the tunnel, mixing with the sounds of the previous eighty-nine participants. (Try to seek out the exact speaker that is emitting your recording.) Up to five hundred people are allowed in the tunnel at a time, and that is a first; the tunnel, which runs from Thirty-Third to Fortieth St., has been closed to pedestrians since it was built in 1834. Try not to get too caught up in taking pictures and video and instead let the light and sound envelop you, since without your involvement, nothing would happen. It’s also fascinating to realize that Lozano-Hemmer, who refers to his oeuvre as “antimonuments for alien agency,” is primarily using old-fashioned, more analog-type materials for “Voice Tunnel,” although everything is processed through a central computer station. “Depending on what is happening that day, you might see a very wide variety of different reactions, and that’s what I’m excited about,” Lozano-Hemmer says about the project. “I’m excited that this platform is out of my control.” “Voice Tunnel” is an enticing, engaging, and just plain fun display; don’t miss it.

GRAVITY AND GRACE: MONUMENTAL WORKS BY EL ANATSUI

El Anatsui’s hanging works welcome visitors to fascinating show (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

El Anatsui’s hanging works welcome visitors to fascinating retrospective (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Brooklyn Museum
Morris A. and Meyer Schapiro Wing and Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Gallery, fifth floor
200 Eastern Parkway at Washington St.
Wednesday – Sunday through August 18, suggested donation $12
212-864-5400
www.brooklynmuseum.org

Over the last decade, Ghana-born, Nigerian-based abstract artist El Anatsui has been gaining international fame for his unique sculpture-paintings that hang from ceilings and walls and climb across floors. The works, which often resemble maps, are composed of aluminum liquor bottle caps of a multitude of colors, woven together with copper wire by a team of assistants into patterns that Anatsui then puts together to form larger pieces that evoke African history, mass consumption, environmentalism, and the intimate physical connection between people all over the world. This continuing series welcomes visitors to the outstanding Brooklyn Museum exhibition “Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui,” which also looks back at the artist’s past while revealing his fascinating process.

El Anatsui’s “Waste Paper Bags” look back at African history while also evoking modern-day environmentalism (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Much of Anatsui’s oeuvre changes every time it’s shown at a new location, hung a little differently, without the same type of lighting, allowing them to be experienced anew; they also benefit from being viewed from a distance and then close up, offering varying perspectives. The show is expertly laid out, from the mazelike hallway entrance to the side-by-side “Red Block” and “Black Block” to the inclusion of several videos that show Anatsui at work in his studio and walking around, seeking out found objects and ideas for future projects. “I don’t believe in artworks being things that are fixed,” the artist and longtime teacher has said. “You know, the artist is not a dictator.” Indeed, painted wood reliefs such as “Motley Crowd” and “Amewo (People)” from the 1980s and ’90s are meant to be altered, with curators encouraged to rearrange the blocks of wood as they see fit. It’s all part of Anatsui’s “nomadic aesthetic” and dedication to the “nonfixed form,” representing multiple materials in varying shapes and sizes while also celebrating personal freedom. His titles also capture an international flavor, with such names as “Drifting Continents,” “Earth’s Skin,” and “Amemo (Mask of Humankind).” And make sure to get up close to “Ozone Layer,” which has the added bonus of air being blown in through the wall, creating sound and movement.

“Red Block” and “Black Block” hover behind “Peak” in beautifully curated show (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

“Red Block” and “Black Block” hover behind “Peak” in beautifully curated exhibition (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

The exhibition, Anatsui’s first solo show in a New York museum, also features charcoal and graphite drawings, acrylic works on paper, and “Waste Paper Bags,” a collection of large-scale sculptures made of discarded aluminum printing plates that relate to Nigerian culture as well as go-bags that Ghanaian refugees packed when escaping their country in a hurry. It’s a terrific show that has been extended two weeks through August 18; there is also still time to see his “Broken Bridge II” outdoor wall piece on the High Line, which runs through September. Admission to the Brooklyn Museum is free on August 4 for the monthly First Saturdays program, the theme of which is Caribbean, with live performances by Casplash, Los Hacheros, and Zing Experience, curator talks, screenings of the omnibus film Ring Di Alarm and Storm Saulter’s Better Mus’ Come, an artist talk with Miguel Luciano, dance workshops, a discussion with author Nelly Rosario about her debut novel, Song of the Water Saints, and pop-up gallery talks focusing on specific works by Anatsui.

SUMMER STREETS 2013

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s interactive “Voice Tunnel” is a highlight of this year’s free Summer Streets programming

Park Ave. & 72nd St. to Foley Square
Saturday, August 3, 10, 17, free, 7:00 am – 1:00 pm
www.nyc.gov

Good luck trying to find one of those blue Citi Bikes for the next three Saturday mornings, as Summer Streets returns for the fourth year. On August 3, 10, and 17 from 7:00 am to 1:00 pm, Park Ave. will be closed to vehicular traffic from 72nd St. to Foley Square and the Brooklyn Bridge, encouraging people to walk, run, jog, blade, skate, and bike down the famous thoroughfare, getting exercise and enjoying the great outdoors without car exhaust, speeding taxis, and slow-moving buses. There are five rest stops along the route (Uptown at 52nd St., Midtown at 25th, Astor Pl. at Lafayette St., SoHo at Spring & Lafayette, and Foley Square at Duane & Centre), where people can stop for some food and drink, live performances, restorative yoga and meditation, fitness classes, bicycle and parkour workshops, ziplining, rock-wall climbing, and other activities, all of which are free. In addition, there are four site-specific art installations, including Risa Puno’s “The Course of Emotions: a mini-golf experience” at the Uptown Rest Stop, Chat Travieso’s “CoolStop” water mister at Foley Square, Bundith Phunsombatlert’s “Art within One Mile” self-guided adventure consisting of eighty signs from Central Park to the Brooklyn Bridge, and Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s “Voice Tunnel,” an interactive sound and light work that will allow pedestrians into the Park Ave. Tunnel for the first time ever. It’s quite a sight to see Park Ave. filled with only extremely happy men, women, children, and dogs; don’t miss it.

CHELSEA ART WALK SUMMER 2013

Rachel Hulin’s “Cape Flight” is one of many photos capturing her son seemingly flying through the air (© Rachel Hulin / courtesy ClampArt)

Multiple locations in Chelsea
Thursday, July 25, free, 5:00 – 8:00
www.artwalkchelsea.com

Nearly one hundred galleries will stay open till 8:00 on July 25, many hosting opening or closing receptions, during the fourth annual Chelsea Art Walk. Over at Lombard Fried Projects, Lucien Samaha’s “The Flight Attendant Years: 1978-1986” details the artist’s longtime relationship with airplanes, first as the son of a father who worked for the airline industry, then as a TWA flight attendant who graduated from the prestigious Breech Training Academy. Marianne Boesky is celebrating summer with “Sunsets and Pussy,” with images of both by Ed Ruscha, Lucien Smith, Betty Tompkins, and Piotr Uklanski. At Bryce Wolkowitz, JR follows up his “Inside Out New York City” project with “The Wrinkles of the City, Havana,” a collaboration with José Parlá in which they take photographs of people in Cuba’s capital and put large-scale versions on the sides of buildings. Rachel Hulin will be at ClampArt for the opening of her first New York City solo show, “Flying Henry,” which consists of photos of her six-month-old son seemingly soaring through the air like a child superhero. Julie Saul is currently showing Siberian photographer Nikolay Bakharev’s “Amateurs and Lovers,” a series of black-and-white shots, primarily nudes, taken both inside and outside, providing a unique sense of intimacy.

Karen Finley’s “The Art World and Its Discontents” is a work-in-progress on view at Freight + Volume’s “The Decline and Fall of the Art World, Part 1: The One-Percenters”

Beverly McIver explores her identity as an African-American artist in a group of portraits at Betty Cuningham. Ana Cristea promises to “serve bliss” with James Viscardi’s “Present Perfect.” David Zwirner is featuring early work by Robert Arneson in its 20th St. space and a pop-up bookstore at 519 West 19th St. Franz Prichard will give a tour and lecture on Takuma Nakahira’s “Circulation: Date, Place, Events” at Yossi Milo, Jon Irving, Matt Van Asselt, Joyce Kozloff, and Leslie Golomb will participate in artist talks in conjunction with the International Print Center show “New Prints / New Narratives,” Masako Inkyo will offer a calligraphy demonstration at Onishi Project, Susan Shwalb will give a silverpoint demonstration at Garvey/Simon, and visitors can play a game of Inclusion and listen to the band Challenger at Rare Gallery. In addition, a number of artists will open their studio doors at 526 West 26th St., including Melora Griffis, Xanda McCagg, Arlene Rush, Ayn S Choi, William Evertson, Farhana Akhter, and Myrna Minter-Forster.