Kehinde Wiley, “Solomon Mashash,” oil and gold enamel on canvas, 2011 (© 2011 by Kehinde Wiley)
THE WORLD STAGE: ISRAEL
Jewish Museum
1109 Fifth Ave. at 92nd St.
Thursday, March 15, $15, 6:30
Exhibition continues through July 29
212-423-3337
www.thejewishmuseum.org
www.kehindewiley.com
Born in Los Angeles and based in New York City, painter Kehinde Wiley has been traveling the global diaspora for his “World Stage” series, taking portraits of men of color in Brazil, China, Nigeria, India and Sri Lanka, and Lagos and Dakar. The Jewish Museum has just opened “The World Stage: Israel,” fourteen large-scale works that feature young men standing in front of elaborate backgrounds, staring directly at the viewer. The decorative background patterns, based on Jewish ceremonial art, include plants and animals that also twist and climb in the foreground, entwining the subject. Each work is shown in a black hand-carved frame topped by a pair of Judean lions surrounding tablets containing either the Ten Commandments (for Jewish men, several of Ethiopian descent) or the Rodney King plea “Can we all get along?” (for Arab men) in Hebrew. Some of the men take distinctly homoerotic poses, confronting the viewer with their gaze; all stand in familiar “heroic” poses representative of European portraiture. The paintings are accompanied by Torah ark curtains, bed covers, Ketubahs (elaborately designed wedding certificates), and papercuts selected by Wiley from the museum’s permanent collection that work in dialogue with Wiley’s backgrounds, placing them in artistic and historical context. The exhibition also includes a short film in which Wiley discusses his process and meets with some of his subjects. “I think there is a strong correlation between being on the margins of society as a person of color in America,” Wiley says in the film, “and that which we see in the streets of Israel.” Portrait subject Solomon Mashash adds, “It’s very hard to live your daily life as a black person here in Israel. When somebody tells you you’re not worth something, if you believe him, your mind believes him. If you change your mind, he cannot do anything to you.” Wiley’s paintings seek to reassert the identity of diverse cultures, empowering individuals to present themselves with pride. You can hear more from Wiley when he takes part in a conversation with culture reporter Lola Ogunnaike at the Jewish Museum on March 15 at 6:30.
There’s nothing abstract about the title of Corinna Belz’s documentary on German artist Gerhard Richter, no missing words or punctuation marks. Gerhard Richter Painting is primarily just that: Ninety-seven minutes of Gerhard Richter painting as he prepares for several exhibitions, including a 2009 show at the Marian Goodman Gallery in New York City. In 2007, Belz got a rare chance to capture Richter on camera, making a short film focusing on the stained-glass window he designed for the Cologne Cathedral. Two years later, the shy, reserved German artist, who prefers to have his art speak for itself, invited Belz into his studio, giving her remarkable access inside his creative process, which revealingly relies so much on chance and accident. Belz films Richter as he works on two large-scale canvases on which he first slathers yellow paint, adds other colors, then takes a large squeegee and drags it across the surface, changing everything. It’s fascinating to watch Richter study the pieces, never quite knowing when they are done, unsure of whether they are any good. It’s also painful to see him take what looks like an extraordinary painting and then run the squeegee over it yet again, destroying what he had in order to see if he can make it still better. “They do what they want,” he says of the paintings. “I planned something totally different.” About halfway through the film, a deeply concerned Richter starts regretting his decision to allow the camera into his studio. “It won’t work,” he says. “At the moment it seems hopeless. I don’t think I can do this, painting under observation. That’s the worst thing there is.” But continue he does, for Belz’s and our benefit. Belz (Life After Microsoft) even gets Richter to talk a little about his family while looking at some old photos, offering intriguing tidbits about his early life and his escape to Düsseldorf just before the Berlin Wall went up. Belz also includes clips from 1966 and 1976 interviews with Richter, and she attends a meeting he has with Goodman about his upcoming show, lending yet more insight into the rather eclectic artist. “To talk about painting is not only difficult but perhaps pointless, too,” Richter, who turned eighty last month, says in the 1966 clip. However, watching Gerhard Richter Painting is far from pointless; Belz has made a compelling documentary about one of the great, most elusive artists of our time. “Man, this is fun,” Richter says at one point, and indeed it is; watching the masterful artist at work is, well, a whole lot more fun than watching paint dry. Gerhard Richter Painting opens on March 14 at Film Forum, with Yale School of Art dean Robert Storr introducing the 8:00 screening.
