Like what you like, I say… nobody asked me, but here are my art picks from last weekend…
Kara Walker at the Domino Sugar Factory in Williamsburg is a
do-not-miss masterpiece. Yes, masterpiece. She’s always good, but here
she’s aweing. Everyone will claim for
years that “they were there” and that “they saw it,” you might as well
actually be there and see it. Added bonus of getting to walk through
that space just once before it is priced-out for high-rise condos?…..
Priceless. Thru July 6
www.creativetime.org
The Bechers and August Sander finally hang side-by-side at Silverstein.
The genetic code of conceptual photography is laid out plain as day as
photography turns its gaze on its own functions. Thru June 7
http://www.brucesilverstein.com/artist/311/a
The Petzel half of Robert Longo’s two-gallery meditation on American
Empire is down, but the Metro half-- with drop-jaw, shockingly rendered
charcoal on paper renditions of Ab-Ex masterpieces-- is still up.
Robert has cranked rendering up to a whole new high here. (I’ve taught
drawing for 20+ years and these take my breath away.) But more, these
shows gave, for me, a rare occasion to appreciate craft AND concept...
as Longo mapped the once-rarefied dream of America and the pivot-point
of 1963. Thru May 23
http://www.metropicturesgallery.com/exhibitions/2014-04-10_robert-longo/
I know, I know… there are lots of reasons to not like Julian Schnabel
and plenty of people who don’t like him, but I admit, I like some of
these sprawling paintings… it’s been awhile since I’ve seen any of
these and… I like some of them. There, I’ve said it. The massive
scale and neo-arte-povera surfaces, the
flipped-over-velvet/backside-of-opulence reminds me of the optimism of
another time-- a hoped for opening. The bonus star-map Kiefer paintings
in the backroom (?) are an added treat and-- anywhere else-- could
really be a show all on their own. Thru May 31
http://www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/julian-schnabel--april-17-2014
The two-gallery show way up on 73rd of Pierre Soulages is like a
not-so-mini museum retro of the 94 year old painter. Black is the
all-enveloping reality of these works and its coursing through 30-40
years of work is a beautiful thing to witness. From cancellation to
utter void to abraded surface, Soulages’ works reduce it all to the most
bare and let us stare long into the void…. Thru June 27
http://www.dominique-levy.com/exhibitions/pierre-soulages
And-- though it’s over now (came down on the 11th)-- I want to give a
shout-out to Oliver Wasow’s show of new photographs at Theodore Art in
Bushwick. Wasow is particularly good at lodging big ideas in simple
formats- from his well-known fake-UFO pics, to his massive Artist
Unknown project of scavenged online pics to this quiet and demure group
of portraits that set up all sorts of ideas of historical painting,
representation and truth. A great show… sadly, down.
http://theodoreart.com/exhib-current.html