NOWTHISISART

A contemporary art lifestyle blog.

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What in the (Art) World Should I Wear... to Miami?

Abstract faces.  Tsemaye Binite x Daniel Silver, Mouth, 2014.

Anyone attending the many art fairs, parties, parties and more parties in Miami this week will need a pretty diverse wardrobe. Miami art week doesn’t have a dedicated contemporary Africa art fair (unlike 1:54 that is held during London and New York Frieze weeks) but contemporary Africa still has a place in Miami. For me this place is in my wardrobe (hence the “diversity”). In fact, many of the fashions coming from the continent pair well with the creations coming from artist studios that will be featured in Miami. Check out these examples... 

Geometry a la Piet Mondrian, but pink. Bridget Awosika x Andrew Masullo, 5397, 2012. 

Lisa Folawilo x James Turrell

I chose a Lisa Folawilo ensemble for the first edition of WITASIA - for Frieze NY 2015 - and here she is again. I’m pretty much in love with everything Lisa designs, and her personal style is tres chic too - check out her Instagram page. The geometric patterns in the Lisa Folawilo Fall 2015 collection pair naturally with James Turrell’s First Light etchings, which will be at Art Basel with Galeria OMR. Turrell is better known for his light installations, and although he was not involved in the video, he was thrust into the limelight with Drake’s Hotline Bling video that simulated his work.

Cyrus Kabiru x Frank Stella

Sunglasses are a must on South Beach. They could be used to fight the blazing Miami sun or to attract light - that being the light from paparazzo cameras. To attract the latter don stylish AFROFUTURISTIC eyewear from Kenyan artist Cyrus Kabiru. The Kenyan artist refashions electronic refuse and other found material from Nairobi into creations that function as performance art, sculpture, and eyewear. The designs range from the traditional spectacle-like to the far out:

Via.

Cyrus Kabiru’s eyewear/sculpture would be perfect for viewing Frank Stella’s industrial sculptures, like Ngebat below. See it John Berggruen Gallery at Art Basel.

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See, Stay, Art: London

London is long overdue for a turn in the See, Stay Art series. I’m in London often, and since it’s home I’m not typically in the hotel circuit. This changed on my last trip last week when I had dinner in the restaurant of an artsy hotel. So feeling full and inspired, I created a top list for where you can art while you sleep in my favorite city:

CitizenM Bankside, above. A budget-friendlier spot located close enough to the Tate Modern that features art by fashion photographer Mario Testino and British artist Gavin Turk.

Mondrian Hotel. Also near the Tate and has an in-house gallery, Lazarides. The hotel decor is pretty spectacular too. 

Sanderson. Designed by one of my faves, Philippe Starck, so that’s good enough for me! An added bonus is the Mae West Lips Sofa by Salvador Dali.

The Soho Hotel.  A 10-foot tall voluminous and voluptuous feline sculpture by artist Fernando Botero welcomes guests in the lobby. Here kitty kitty...

Dean Street Townhouse. Also located in Soho. The restaurant features a solid British art collection - with artists like Paul Noble, Keith Tyson, Peter Blake, and Tracey Emin as well as emerging talent.

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From Gluttony to Conceptual Art: My Trip to Paris

I spent this past weekend in Paris celebrating a friend’s birthday. But like any foreign vacation, a major part of my trip included food. And not wholesome, complete meals. I binged on beignets from PAUL and macarons from Laduree. The stacks of empty boxes that accumulated from my consumption spree didn’t result in a feeling of guilt. Instead they called to mind conceptual art. 

Conceptual art prizes the idea an artwork presents over the medium used to present it. In my case the consumption habits of western tourists is expressed as several empty Laduree macaron boxes. (Speaking of boxes, the top image is via, which looked just like my box except mine was empty). 

In the case of a real artist there’s Walead Beshty’s “FedEx Kraft Box 2005″ (below). What appears to be careless handling by FedEx is actually an artwork that examines the value, meaning, and aesthetics in art. Shipping the glass cube was part of Beshty’s creative process - the effects of transit (shipping labels, cracks) actualizes the artwork - and the shipping box is ultimately used as a pedestal. 

From an exhibit of “FedEx” at the University of Michigan:

Beshty extends his inquiry beyond physical materials and technical processes to include the means by which artworks exist, circulate, and accrue value after they leave the studio. In addition to the challenge they pose to normative ideas about conservation and value, Beshty's boxes also ask us to rethink our notion of what an individual work “looks” like, as their appearance changes with each showing.

Of course Beshty’s artwork gives me a completely new idea - have my friend use FedEx to mail some macarons.

Conceptual art doesn’t need to include a recyclable object nor does it need to be presented as, in, or on top of, a box. A foremost Conceptual artist is Joseph Kosuth. His 1965 work, “Five Words in Green Neon” is literally is five words in green neon.

From the Whitney Museum:

When we look at a neon sign blinking at night, we fall under its spell, almost believing that it floats miraculously in midair. Artist Joseph Kosuth exposes the trick behind the neon sign’s magic. Here we see dark sections of the phosphorescent tubes that connect the letters, and the electrical cord plugged unceremoniously into the outlet against the wall of the museum.  

Kosuth believed that most of us are under a similar spell when we look at a painting.  We can sometimes forget that, like the neon sign, there are mixtures of color, tricks of light and shade and perspective that combine to make a painting resemble a bowl of fruit or a naked figure.... Kosuth’s neon sign attempts to move away from pictorial illusion and into the realm of ideas. 

And speaking of nighttime lights that put us under a spell...

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James Bond’s Art Collection

Handsome. Debonair. A spy. Le sigh, I heart James Bond. But despite these desirable qualities Mr. Bond, James Bond, is missing one thing: An art collection as polished, and British, as he is. So like a good Bond girl I’ll offer James my services, in art advising of course, by offering these artworks from British artists for his acquisition.

To start is Tracey Emin’s, Blinding, 2008 (above). He’s James Bond. Of course his art collection, much like his life, includes a flexible naked woman. And speaking of...

Marc Quinn, Sphinx, 2005. A life size sculpture of Kate Moss wearing a leotard in a yoga pose.

From when it all began: the 1960s. The quintessential Bond girl of the time - bob hairdo, big eyes and bold eye makeup.

Richard Hamilton, Study for a Fashion Plate, 1969. 

Bond films are as notable for James’ harem of women as they are for their opening sequences. Often the sequence shows shadows of multiple (more like cloned, actually, since they are all so similar), svelte dancing women. The figures in this painting by Gary Hume could easily fit into a Bond opening sequence.

And James could always expand his Hume collection with this other artwork.

James’ missions always require him to save the world from some madman, or even to prevent war. This war plane installation by Fiona Banner is a reminder of that, not only the literal object but its delicate hanging (note its nose just barely hangs off the floor) tells how on-the-verge the world remains at tipping into war.

Fiona Banner, Harrier and Jaguar, 2010. Installation at the Tate.

Damien Hirst, For the Love of God, 2007. Human skull (with human teeth) encrusted in diamonds. To remind James of his many near-death encounters. And because Diamonds Are Forever.

This Aston Martin was for sale at art auctioneer Bonhams, so I’ll count it as art. And I doubt James would disagree. After all what’s James without his Aston Martin?

And lastly,

Grayson Perry, Britain is Best, 2014. Because for James, it is.

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What in the (Art) World Should I Wear? Halloween Edition

Halloween is only a few days away. If you haven’t found a costume and you’re asking WITAWSIW, look up - to art hanging on the wall - for inspiration. 

There’s the murderous housewife above (Miles Aldridge, Home Works #7)...

... if you’re with a plus 1, try the zombie bunny and her superhero (George Condo, Batman and Bunny, 2005)... 

...old faithful, a skull (or skeleton) (Damien Hirst, Till Death Do Us Part)...

... a vampire, and to stand out from the other Draculas and Elviras attach a metal pipe to your forehead. It’s so bizarre it will be a great way to attract warm-blooded victims conversation starter (Urs Fischer, Good Problem, 2013)...

...a zombie (Joseph Parra, Trait)...

... a she-devil (Michael Sarich, Change, 2012).

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1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair London ... My Top 5 (Photography)

Namsa Leuba, Untitled 1 (Cocktail series), 2011. 

Bobson Sukhdeo Mohanlall, Untitled #33, c. 1960-1970.

Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou, Untitled (Egungun series), 2011.

Hassan Hajjaj, Miriam, 2010.

Omar Victor Diop, Frida (re-Mixing Hollywood series), 2013.

Apart from representing my favorite photography genre, portraits, I selected these photographs in my Top 5 because of their collective theme: They blend traditional and modern; western with African motifs; and theater and reality. These juxtapositions describe contemporary Africa.

Namsa Leuba’s aesthetic blends “her anthropological interest in traditional customs with an aesthetic informed by fashion and design sensibilities. Adopting a theatrical approach with attention to props, colours, and gestures, Leuba works to examine the tension between opposing forces: fact and fiction, action and representation, sacredness, and secularity.” (via 1:54).

This top 5 also includes two firsts: Bobson Sukhdeo Mohanlall was the founder of Bobson Studio, one of the first photographic studios in Africa to produce color portraits. He founded the studio in 1961 in Durban. Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou is founder of the first photographic school in Benin. Let’s consider them the fathers of modern African photography. 

Hassan Hajjaj’s eclectic photographic compositions (the photograph is bordered by cans of pop) are real eye-catchers. Inspired by his bi-continental upbringing (Larache, town in Morocco, and London), Coca-Cola advertisements, and Andy Warhol, Hajjaj “draws on juxtapositions and hyperbolic imagery to celebrate North African street iconography in radiant fashion.... His practice explores the rich artistic heritage of Islam, whist contributing to broader debates within Islamic culture, and on the acceleration of globalization.” (via 1:54).

In his [re-]Mixing Hollywood series Omar Victor Diop recasts iconic scenes from western film (in this case from the movie Frida) in Dakar and Abidjan.

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1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair London ... My Top 5 (Textiles)

Hassan Musa, Halal Flag, 2015. Ink on textile. (See more here).

Athi-Patra Ruga, A Land without a People for a People without ... a Land, 2015.  Thread and Lurex on tapestry canvas. (See more here).

Billie Zangewa, Back to Black, 2015. Silk tapestry. (See more here).

Lawrence Lemaoana, I wanna be like you, 2015. Fabric and embroidery. (See more here).

Abdoulaye Konate, Composition No. 3, 2015. Textile. (See more here).

In May I attended 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair in NYC, where I loved everything (read here). For that Top 5 list I selected artworks from a range of genres to sample art that is being created around the continent. 

Attending the fair in its original location, London, like I did last week didn’t make narrowing my Top 5 any easier. The London fair is larger - 38 galleries, over 150 artists, held across 3 wings of Somerset House - and like the New York edition the fair, London represented art as diverse as the continent itself (which is really the point, isn’t it?). This time I’ll divide the artworks in subject matter, with part 1 highlighting textiles.

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Moschino, and Coca-Cola and Gum

Top: Tony Gum, via. Bottom: Chiara Ferragini on Moschino Instagram. Chiara authors the blog, The Blonde Salad. Tony’s blog is “The South African Salad.” (Blog similarities aside, they’re also both holding appropriated things).

It's funny how Instagram, purveyor of all pictures now, can call to mind a picture I saw months ago. Or maybe the truer revelation is how art I saw in the past still resonates with me today.

Start with Moschino. Recently while scrolling Instagram I saw that Moschino designed an iPhone case that looks like a bottle of Windex glass cleaner. And it's marketed as such:

Dressed to clean kill. Via Moschino Instagram.

The Windex-like design called to my Insta-art mind (as in, Instagram is to pictures what my mind is to art) appropriation. In art, appropriation occurs when an artist adopts a pre-existing image or product and incorporates it into their own artwork.

By this definition Moschino didn't appropriate - the iPhone case only uses the likeness of Windex. But since I was already mulling over appropriation I connected it to contemporary African art, and voila, the photographic series Black Coca Cola by South African artist Tony Gum (aka “The Coolest Girl in Cape Town”, according to Vogue) which I first saw a few months ago. (In another twist of irony, Moschino previously designed bottles for Coca-Cola for a charity project, see also this Vogue article). 

In Black Coca Cola Ms. Gum poses with Coke bottles because “figured Coca-Cola needed a black woman in their presence,” she states. In appropriating Coke, she is not copying (some artists have been sued for “appropriating”, including mega names like Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons). Instead Ms. Gum elevates the soft drink from its mere happy-go-lucky slogan, “Have a Coke and a smile,” to a sociopolitical symbol. She incites a direct and legitimate conversation about Western marketing. To support her point, the image below accompanies the “History of ‘Have a Coke and a Smile’” page from the company’s website: 

Or this...

Of her Black Coca Cola series Ms. Gum says, “This is evidently not a racist remark - just a proud one.”  

Caption: “A woman derived from the 60's, as well as an African woman (which explains why the crate is on my head) merged into one to create an image of Black Coca-Cola lady. An image relatable to every Mom, Pink and Larry.” Via.

This is quite an accomplishment for the 20-year-old artist, who was named “One of 9 Women to Watch in South African Art in 2015″ by okayfrica. 

Images from Black Coca Cola via. For more on Tony Gum check out her Tumblr page.

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Pope Art

I just returned from a quick trip to the northeast, where there’s a holy hype over Pope Francis.  I couldn’t resist to join in this faithful frenzy with showing popes in art:

Maurizio Cattelan, La Nona Ora (The Ninth Hour), 1999. Wax, clothing, polyester resin with metallic powder, volcanic rock, carpet, glass. 

Pope John Paull II under the weight of his heavenly burden, which is depicted humorously as a fallen meteor. Via.

Cheryl Pope, Too Young To Die, 2014. White carnations, red roses, and foam. Via.

Niki Johnson, Eggs Benedict. Condoms.

This portrait of Pope Benedict XVI, made entirely of condoms, sparked debate when it was displayed at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

William Pope.L, Purple People Are The End of Orange People, 2011. Mixed media on paper. Via.

Pope.L’s art deals with sociopolitical issues, particularly race and class in America from a black male perspective.

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The Broad Museum Opening Day: My Top 5

What hasn’t been written about The Broad, LA’s newest contemporary art museum? Many details about this museum, which houses and displays the private art collection of Eli and Edythe Broad, were revealed prior to its public opening on September 20th. See here, here, here, etc. And if your news source is Instagram you couldn’t have missed it either -  Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrored Room—The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away (2013), which is on the main floor of The Broad, is one of the “Most Popular Art Exhibitions on Instagram, Ever” (says artnet).

But here’s what you haven’t seen from The Broad - my top 5 artworks that I saw on opening day. 

1. Goshka Macuga, Death of Marxism, Women of All Lands Unite, 2013. Wool tapestry.

Via.

It’s difficult to see from the image above, but the bust of Karl Marx and women in the background, and clothing in the foreground appear to be three-dimensional (the effect is easier to see here, but the tapestry isn’t hung as it is in the museum, seen above). The optical illusion is so good that when I first saw this artwork I did a double-take because I thought the clothing was real. Maybe Tracey Emin stopped by and left some clothes on the tapestry (like here). The life size figures also draw you into the tapestry.

But the eye trick isn’t the primary reason this artwork is my #1 pick; this a consciously-created piece. See below from The Broad:

Born in postwar Poland, Goshka Macuga is uniquely positioned to examine communism, which she does by evading and complicating hierarchies of communist histories. Macuga... collaged [Death of Marxism] with voyeuristic images of women from twentieth-century Czech artist Miroslav Tichý. With this provocative juxtaposition, Macuga turns the photographs on their heads, moving the women from passive objects of Tichý’s gaze to active — albeit fictional — political participants of a history that excluded them.

2. Takashi Murakami, In the Land of the Dead, Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow, 2014.

Via.

Murakami’s trademark is a blend of anime and cartoonish symbols like skulls, flowers, and mushrooms. But there’s sincerity and historical meaning behind his colorful and playful imagery. Land of the Dead reflects on the disastrous 2011 tsunami and earthquake in Japan. Murakami visualized faith (he was inspired by Buddhist stories), trauma, and fantasy “awash in an enormous tsunami of churning water”. The mural is 82 feet long, so the image above is just a snippet. Up close, the detail and color of this piece is simply magnificent.

3. El Anatsui, Red Block, 2010.

I am passionate about contemporary African art, so it really was the realization of a dream to see artwork by El Anatsui for the first time in person. His artworks hang with the fluidity of a tapestry but are actually made of aluminum, wire and like materials. The artworks reference kente cloth, a nod to the artist’s heritage, and can be distorted and hung according to the museum’s discretion. Here’s a close up of how The Broad arranged Red Block:

4. Julie Mehretu, Cairo, 2013.

While I was familiar with El Anatsui, Ethiopian artist Julie Mehretu was a new discovery. Mehretu’s strongly architectural (buildings are drawn in lightly in the background) yet abstract depiction of Cairo shows the city caught in a wind storm from the Sahara; but the upheaval of the city also reflects its state as the seat of the Arab Spring.

Number 5 is a tie for artwork with text. Some of my favorites included Cy Twombly and Glenn Ligon. There are big differences in how text is used between these two artists: Cy Twombly’s cursive is hardly legible; his writing is scrawled. Glenn Ligon’s Double America 2, in which neon lettering of “America” is reflected in reverse, is legible. But the text takes on new meaning when you take it within the context of Ligon’s work - a focus on the African American experience. American history from the POV of an African American person is a different history, perhaps the reverse reflection of what a white American would have. 

Since I couldn’t choose just one text-based artwork I’ll present this work by Ed Ruscha, of which the subject matter is oh so appropriate for LA.

Ed Ruscha, Hollywood is a Verb, 1979.

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Twinning with W Magazine!

Diana Picasso. Via W.

I have an art feature in W magazine! OK, well I actually don’t, BUT, in yesterday’s post, “Just Face It, Just Vase It”, I linked Picasso to a feature in the current September W. Apparently the editors were on the same wavelength because yesterday they too featured a “Picasso” story on Diana Picasso, the artist’s granddaughter. 

Diana is currently curating Picasso.mania, a survey of the artist’s impact on contemporary artists. Opening in October at the Grand Palais in Paris, it will be the most wide-ranging museum exhibition to present works by Picasso in tandem with sculptures, films, paintings, and installations made by contemporary artists he inspired (including Jasper Johns, Georg Baselitz, Thomas Houseago, Frank Stella, and others). 

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Just Face It, Just Vase It (aka Art is Everywhere!)

Simon Porte Jacquemus, Fall 2015 Ready-to-Wear; Pablo Picasso, Le Chandail Jaune [The Yellow Shirt] (Dora Maar), 1939.

I’ve enjoyed some much needed R&R lately (I guess it’s my anniversary gift to myself). This means I finally had time to start delving into my September issues. One of my favorite reads is W magazine. W always features some art content - in fact they publish a special Issue wholly dedicated to art. One thing that caught my attention in the current was Simon Porte Jacquemus’ Fall 2015 RTW show, which featured double-faced models. The “surrealist makeup trick” was by German artist Sebastian Bieniek. But these double faces also reminded me of the artwork of Pablo Picasso, in particular his paintings of fellow artist and lover, Dora Maar. 

Via.

Bieniek ’s models and Picasso’s Dora paintings both simultaneously show a frontal and profile view.

Pablo Picasso, Dora Maar au Chat, 1941.

Why does Bieniek draw faces on faces? His website sheds light on his Doublefaced series:

...What’s behind the double-face idea? It could be our alter ego, the otherness inherent to human nature. With these series Bieniek leaves behind the crudeness and mockery to go deeper into humanity. Which face is real and which face fake? Which Bieniek is the real one, the artist or the one hiding behind?

You could say Bieniek draws on the surface to see what’s within. Picasso on the other hand distorted faces to show all true physical angles of the sitter. The resulting painting wasn’t meant to be an interpretation or an alter ego; it was the true person as they existed.

(Speaking of human-as-canvas-art, check out my experience with artist Shantell Martin here).

Apart from influencing Picasso, Dora Maar has also apparently influenced designer Jonathan Adler to create a series of home accessories. Check out some vases below. Maybe I’ll treat myself to one of these for my anniversary too!

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Do you Know What Today Is? It’s My Anniversary!

On September 9, 2014 I left my office job to travel the world and discover contemporary art. Just before I started that journey I came across the September 2014 Conde Nast Traveler, and I judged the mag by its cover. I loved Liya Kebede’s hat patched with travel mementos, and knew it was “a sign”. The timing of me discovering that issue with that cover was spot on.

In one year of traveling I haven’t amassed Liya’s patches or buttons to add to a hat, BUT I’ve had unique experiences. Since September 9, 2014 my major art trips have been to Rome (November 2014), London (March 2015), and Berlin and Cologne (August 2015).  I’ve traveled around the US a lot, too, to more museums and galleries than I can even write about. This is an honor I very much appreciate. I should also mention art fairs: Art Basel Miami Beach, Frieze, and 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair.  I’m planning another excursion (or two!) to Europe by the end of the year, and of course will continue discovering art in the US, and write about it.

I am so excited for the future!

Cheers to more years!

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Art de Toilette

Minako Nishiyama, Miki Kasahara, Yuma Haruna, “Melting Dream” (2014). 

"Japan Wipes Away Pretentiousness with Art Festival Devoted to Toilets” is the (butt)cheeky title of an article on Hyperallergic about Toilennale, the first art festival dedicated entirely to bathrooms. The festival is currently running (no pun intended) in Japan, which ironically is “home to the world’s most complex and high-tech toilets.” Toilennale “brings together Japanese artists who have transformed 16 public restrooms into sites for art installations.”  

Q: So, why host an art festival in a public lav? At first I thought it was to ensure no one would touch the art because, well, they’re in a public bathroom where you avoid touching things by default. I was wrong.

A: “Toilennale is meant primarily as a way to boost tourism, providing visitors with the opportunity to become familiar with Oita (the southwestern host city) through art and bathrooms.”

This is a creative solution for art engagement. If you can’t draw crowds to museums/galleries bring the art to the people. 

The festival includes a range of mediums, like video installation and performance art. The exhibit spaces are in live, functioning restrooms. So expect to hear a good amount of background activity if, for example, you are watching Tatsuo Majima’s “Modern Art History Lecture ‘Where did modern art come from?'” (2014), a 90-minute video lecture presented inside a stall, below.

Japan is a technology and design pioneer, is known for its cleanliness, and as Hyperallergic noted, is home to the author of Everyone Poops. Other countries have a hefty criteria list to match if they hope to host future Toilennales. 

Hiroyuki Matsukage, “Have no idea how to flush” (2015).

Hiroshi Fuji, “UTTM~UsedToysToiletMuseum–” (2013).

Yujiro Miyazaki, “Traveling Toilet” (2015).

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BEY DAY

On a blog about how contemporary art is relatable to the everyday, I’d be remiss to not mention Beyonce’s influence in, and references to, art on this day, September 4th, aka B’Day aka Beyonce’s birthday.

Top to lower:

Beyonce posted the work of artist Hank Willis Thomas on her website in February for Black History Month. Check it out on her website. Image via artnet.

Beyonce + Jay Z + Mona Lisa = #artselfie. Image via artnet.

But wait, there’s more...

Beyonce showing us her inner surrealist in the MINE video, which references “The Lovers” (1928), by Belgian surrealist painter Rene Magritte… She’s the surREALIST B ha ha.

Lastly, in a connection to art I imagined (meaning, I created a meme to show this), the time Beyonce and Roy Lichtenstein wondered about love over the phone - a video still from B’s WHY DON’T YOU LOVE ME? video, and Lichtenstein’s “Oh, Jeff…I Love You, Too…But…” (1964).

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For the Love of Germany: My Top 5 at Museum Ludwig

I fell in love in Koln (Cologne), with Koln. The people were helpful; the food was tasty; the Kolsch (beer) was refreshing, and ubiquitous. And of course, the ART. Museum Ludwig, Koln’s museum of modern art, is architecturally one of the best museums I’ve visited. The simple interior - tile and parquet-style floors, expansive white walls, and bright, even on the rainy day I visited. The floor plan was open and there was light! I really can’t emphasize the brightness enough. There were few corridors - the exhibition spaces were wide avenues off the grand staircase. You could even stand at one point and see art on upper and lower levels. I found a picture online, see above. Note the brightness!

But what I loved most about the Museum is that it displayed artworks of several German artists, some even born in Koln. This gave the experience of viewing that artwork added sentiment, and bestowed an almost tangible effect since I was touring the city of that artist’s birth and, probably literally, walking in that artist’s footsteps.

In tribute to my newly founded love (this affection will last beyond the honeymoon phase!), my top 5 artworks from Museum Ludwig are by German artists.

1.  Rosemarie Trockel, Recycled Fountain, Recycled Bosom, 2004. Born in Schwerte.

When I saw Rosemarie Trockel’s fountain I immediately thought of Marcel Duchamp’s urinal fountain. However, in being shaped as a giant clam shell it’s immediately obvious that Trockel’s fountain is more feminine. (My second immediate reference was of goddess Venus arriving in a clam shell in Sandro Boticelli’s painting). The opening in the center of the fountain/shell is like a vaginal opening, therefore underscoring this point.

2. . Michael Krebber, MK/M 2015/06, 2015. Born in Koln.

Co-winner of the Wolfgang Hahn Prize 2015 (see here), Krebber’s paintings focus on “the im­pos­si­bil­i­ty of paint­ing—that, for all its time­less rel­e­vance, has gained in­creased at­ten­tion pre­cise­ly in re­cent years.” Continues the museum director, “both artists have long ex­plored the premis­es, chal­lenges, and pos­si­bil­i­ties of paint­ing to­day and have made inim­itable con­tri­bu­tions to this dis­course,” (via).

3. Kai Althoff, Ohne Titel, 2008. Born in Koln.

Kai Althoff’s sculpture stands in its own bright enclave. Space was definitely needed because I had to get a 360 degree view of the sculpture to really "see” it. This iron sculpture is of a curved, elongated female figure with hands up in the air and head between her legs. The artist describes the sculpture as an “ur-mother” that “unites several human identities within herself.... The sculpture performs a balancing act, torn between its own desires and society’s expectations.” 

4. Max Pechstein, Das grune Sofa [The Green Sofa], 1910. Born in Zwickau.

Pechstein was an expressionist painter. Characteristics of expressionist painting are, well, emotion expressed through painting techniques like wide, directional brushstrokes and color. I stood in front of this painting for several minutes wondering about the artist’s and the subject’s state of mind: What does her body language indicate? The bow in her hair alludes to her youth, but does does her hand in between her thighs (a la Edouard Manet’s Olympia) say otherwise? Does the melancholy palette of her living room sway my conclusion of the painting’s mood? What about the cat?

5. Gerhard Richter, Betty, 1977. Born in Dresden.

Gerhard Richter makes my top 5, but for reasons more than Betty. My favorite type of imagery in art is portraits, especially abstract portraits. The first artwork I purchased was Untitled [but close] by Joseph Parra. The distortion of Parra’s portrait is reminiscent of Richter’s “blur” portraits. Richter once said, “I blur to make everything equal, everything equally important and equally unimportant.”

His statement makes sense when you consider Betty, a non-abstracted painting in which Betty’s arresting blue eyes are unequally important. In Betty’s eyes there’s an innocence. I saw myself in that innocence, in recalling my first internship in a gallery where I purchased my first work of art. I was (and am!) a novice in the art world and absorbing the experience, never fathoming that I would travel to Koln and fall in love.

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Crack is Wack.

Mural at a playground in New York City by Keith Haring, 1986.

But art is not!

It’s settled that I’m wearing sneakers around Cologne. And while the Converse x Andy Warhol and Vault by Vans x Takashi Murakami collaborations from yesterday’s post presented some good options, my favorite sneaker x art collaboration is Reebok x Keith Haring. The latest collection, Crack is Wack, based on Haring’s mural, debuted last September. There are also retired styles from earlier collaborations between this pair.

Like Takashi Murkami’s prints, Keith Haring’s characters are immediately recognizable - kinetic figures outlined in bold and surrounded by short, black lines to emphasize movement. Haring’s work should not be minimized as “cartoonish”; he expressed sexuality, love, and political themes through his art.