this week in art

NUALA CLARKE: so i have observed

Nuala Clarke, still from so i have observed (part two of five), five-part video, 2020 (funded by the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon)

Who: Nuala Clarke
What: Live discussion about so i have observed video series
Where: Zoom
When: Saturday, September 5, free with RSVP, 3:00
Why: During the pandemic, Irish artist Nuala Clarke created so i have observed, a five-part video that incorporates images from her series The Dream Drawing with text from Irish alchemist Robert Boyle’s 1664 Experiments and Considerations Touching Colours and her own dreams, with music by experimental composer Roarke Menzies. “I have sometimes thought it worth while to take notice, whether or no the Colours of Opacous Bodies might not appear to the Eye somewhat Diversify’d, not only by the Disposition of the Superficial parts of the Bodyes themselves and by the Position of the Eye in Reference to the Object and the Light, (for these things are Notorious enough;) but according also to the Nature of the Lucid Body that shines upon them,” Boyle writes in Experiment VII. The camera goes from shots of Clarke’s works on paper, seemingly floating in space, to scenes of her at work, washing her hands, folding clothing, at the beach, and wearing a mask, as she delivers the narration in voice-over. The first four videos total about twenty-three minutes, while the final one is eighteen minutes and features a score by Menzies.

Nuala Clarke will discuss her new video series on September 5 at 3:00 (photo courtesy Nuala Clarke)

“And then I see it in front of me, emerging from the dark. A body drawing is how I thought of it,” Clarke eloquently relates in part two, as shafts of light shine on abstract shapes twisting unhurriedly. “It was suspended, not square, paperlike, connected at points along the way, white and gold, curved, lungs, voids among the turning spaces. I woke slowly, remembering, made a drawing, and kept it in my mind’s eye.” On September 5 at 3:00, Clarke will host an informal and unrehearsed Zoom conversation in conjunction with the virtual opening of so i have observed. Having participated back in 2010 with Menzies and others in a performance Clarke curated for her show “You Delight Me” on Shelter Island, we are very familiar with the multidisciplinary approach she takes with all of her work, so we are excited about hearing her discuss this beautifully poetic project that deals with loneliness and loss, nature and beauty, centered around color. Be sure to check out the videos here first.

GALERIE LELONG CONVERSATIONS: LEONARDO DREW WITH MARY SABBATINO

Leonardo Drew, City in the Grass, aluminum, sand, wood, cotton and mastic, 2019 (Collection of the artist, Courtesy Talley Dunn Gallery, Galerie Lelong, and Anthony Meier Fine Arts; © 2019 Leonardo Drew; Photograph: Leonardo Drew/Madison Square Park Conservancy)

Who: Leonardo Drew, Mary Sabbatino
What: “Galerie Lelong Conversations”
Where: Galerie Lelong Zoom
When: Wednesday, September 2, free with advance registration, 2:00
Why: “Galerie Lelong Conversations” continues September 2 with Tallahassee-born, Bridgeport-raised, Brooklyn-based sculptor Leonardo Drew, who will be speaking from his studio with gallery vice president and partner Mary Sabbatino. They will be focusing on Drew’s newest projects in addition to his first outdoor installation, City in the Grass, a striking amalgam of miniature buildings on undulating carpets with holes where grass can grow through.

In his artist statement about the commission, which was on view in Madison Square Park from June to December of last year, Drew explained, “Reaching. It’s all about reaching. Life lays out its plan, but you need to reach to achieve. My journey to realize City in the Grass is a life diagram filled with twists, turns, thrills, and doors blown wide open. What I had in mind and where I ended up are vastly different . . . for all the right reasons. Working outside and understanding the poetic and concrete concerns is a learning curve that needed to be addressed. The idea of meeting the existing (historic) skyscrapers with a vertical/monumental structure was quickly scrapped. . . . What if we switched the perspective? How the kids in my neighborhood read my works on the floor of my studio convinced me that this was the direction. Gulliver, Lilliput. From cinema, The Wizard of Oz, Metropolis . . . The details are explained in the piece itself. Imagining that my philosophy of viewers being complicit in the completion of the art could be made whole is truly a revelation in this particular work. While they walk on it, lie on it, climb on it, they add to (and subtract from) the new iteration ‘the new self of the work.’ Could not and would not have it any other way.” The work is currently on view at the North Carolina Museum of Art. You can watch previous “Galerie Lelong Conversations” with Kate Shepherd here and Jaume Plensa here.

THE NEW SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT #120: URSULA VON RYDINGSVARD

Ursula von Rydingsvard, seen here in her Williamsburg studio, will take part in virtual webinar on September 1

Who: Ursula von Rydingsvard, Amanda Gluibizzi, Jason Rosenfeld, Vi Khi Nao
What: Virtual webinar
Where: The Brooklyn Rail Zoom
When: Tuesday, September 1, free with RSVP, 1:00
Why: I had long ago fallen love with the extraordinary sculptures of German-born, Brooklyn-based artist Ursula von Rydingsvard, monumental wooden works that breathe with the glory and complexity of life. But I fell in love all over again upon seeing Into Her Own, Daniel Traub’s intimate and revealing portrait of von Rydingsvard’s difficult life and artistic adventures; screening virtually through Film Forum, it was followed by a live Q&A that further showed von Rydingsvard to be an extraordinary human being, charming and engaging, open and honest. (You can watch the discussion here.) On September 1, in conjunction with her longtime gallery, Galerie Lelong & Co., the Brooklyn Rail will be hosting a live Zoom talk with von Rydingsvard, in conversation with Rail ArtSeen editor Amanda Gluibizzi and Rail editor-at-large Jason Rosenfeld. The event, which is free and will conclude with a poem from Vi Khi Nao, is part of the Rail’s “New Social Environment” series, which features such upcoming programs as “Common Ground: A Conversation with Dwight Bullard,” “Yto Barrada with Yasi Alipour,” and “Andy Goldsworthy with Jason Rosenfeld.”

100 YEARS | 100 WOMEN

100 years

Who: Maya Wiley, Sayu Bhojwani, Tantoo Cardinal, Rita Dove, Catherine Gray, Susan Herman, Jari Jones, Shola Lynch
What: Virtual watch party marking a century of women’s suffrage
Where: Park Avenue Armory
When: Tuesday, August 18, free with RSVP, 2:00
Why: Park Avenue Armory and National Black Theatre’s second part of its “100 Years | 100 Women” program occurs August 18 at 2:00 with a free virtual watch party. Hosted by New School professor Maya Wiley, the event celebrates the one hundredth anniversary of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, with woman artists, activists, scholars, students, and community leaders responding to the centennial while also putting it in context with what is happening in America today. Wiley will be joined by Susan Herman, Jari Jones, Tantoo Cardinal, Rita Dove, Catherine Gray, the Kasibahagua Taíno Cultural Society, and Shola Lynch, who will premiere her short film A Portrait of 100 Years | 100 Women. The project features contributions from Zoë Buckman, Staceyann Chin, Karen Finley, Ebony Noelle Golden, Andrea Jenkins, Meshell Ndegeocello, Toshi Reagon, Martha Redbone, Mimi Lien, LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, Peggy Shaw and Lois Weaver of Split Britches, Carrie Mae Weems, Christine Jones, Deborah Willis, and many more. Also participating in the program with Park Avenue Armory and National Black Theatre are the Apollo Theater, Juilliard, La MaMa, the Laundromat Project, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of the Moving Image, National Sawdust, NYU, and Urban Bush Women.

COCKTAILS WITH THE CURATORS: BEHIND THE SCENES OF “FOR AMERICA”

Robert Frederick Blum, Two Idlers, oil on canvas, 1888-89, NA diploma presentation, March 26, 1894 (photo courtesy National Academy of Design)

Who: Jeremiah William McCarthy, Diana Thompson
What: Livestreamed art conversation
Where: National Academy of Design
When: Monday, August 17, $10-$15, 7:00
Why: The National Academy of Design on the Upper East Side had already been closed for exhibitions for several years when the pandemic lockdown hit; at the time, its traveling retrospective, “For America: Paintings from the National Academy of Design,” was on the road, having visited Dayton, Connecticut, and Florida before scheduled stops in New Mexico, Iowa, and other locations across the country. It is currently on view at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens in Memphis, but you can catch up with it online August 17 at 7:00 when curator Jeremiah William McCarthy and director of collections Diana Thompson explore the show, which features one hundred paintings from the collection, either a portrait of and/or or by a member, along with a second piece (known as diploma works), which are required upon induction into the academy. The traveling exhibit is divided into five sections: “Founding an American School,” “A New Internationalism,” “Painting America,” “Postwar Realisms,” and “For America,” with canvases by Childe Hassam, Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Edwin Church, William Merritt Chase, Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, George Wesley Bellows, Ivan Albright, Andrew Wyeth, Charles White, George Inness, Will Barnet, Maxfield Parrish, Thomas Eakins, Jane Freilicher, Philip Pearlstein, Reginald Marsh, Wayne Thiebaud, Louisa Matthíasdóttir, and others. The hourlong discussion is being held in conjunction with the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa, where the show will be on view February 20 – May 9, 2021.

“TO BE THE WAVES AND THE OCEAN: NEW SOUND SCULPTURES AND PAINTINGS” LIVE PERFORMANCE

Greg Glassman and Susan Jennings activate sound sculptures at Tanja Grunert’s Beatrix House gallery in Hudson (photo courtesy Tanja Grunert)

Who: Silver the Void with Susan Jennings
What: Live outdoor performance
Where: Tanja Grunert Salon
When: Monday, August 17, free, 7:30
Why: On Friday night during the golden hour, artist Susan Jennings and musician Greg Glassman teamed up for a live performance in conjunction with Jennings’s current exhibit at Tanja Grunert’s Beatrix House gallery in Hudson, with Glassman on trumpet and Jennings activating pieces from the show, “To Be the Waves and the Ocean: New Sound Sculptures and Paintings.” On Monday, August 17, at 7:30 (which just happens to be Grunert’s birthday), Silver the Void, which consists of Jennings, painter Alexander Ross, and Faye Ross, will perform on the sound sculptures and paintings. There will be no live audience; the event will be streamed live on Tanja Grunert’s social media platforms. You can watch a clip from the Friday-night performance here to get in the mood.

IN THE STUDIO: MARTA MINUJÍN

Marta Minujín received the Cultural Achievement Award at Americas Society in 2018 (photo by Beatriz Meseguer)

Who: Marta Minujín, Aimé Iglesias Lukin
What: Artist conversation
Where: Americas Society Instagram Live, (archived on YouTube)
When: Wednesday, August 12, free, 5:00
Why: This past fall, Argentine artist Marta Minujín remounted her seminal La Menesunda interactive installation at the New Museum, an exciting and fun multimedia labyrinth that anticipated Instagram-friendly pop-up galleries way back in 1965. The seventy-seven-year-old Buenos Aires-based Minujín is now returning — virtually, of course — to Americas Society, where in 1968 she installed Minucode at the Center for Inter-American Relations, now known as Americas Society, for a live discussion from her studio with the institution’s visual arts director and chief curator, Aimé Iglesias Lukin; part of the Americas Society program “In the Studio,” the free talk will take place on August 12 at 5:00, after which it will be archived on YouTube. The Wednesday series previously featured such artists as Naufus Ramiréz-Figueroa, Gabino Castelán, Gonzalo Fuenmayor, Sara Ramo, and Juan José Olavarría; up next on August 19 will be Ulrik López.