Sikkema Jenkins – Amy Sillman
Dear reader,
I really wanted to start off with discussing this show on account of how much I enjoyed my time in its presence. Personally this is due to the fact that I had a sense of connection with this show. It reminded me of a few exhibitions I’ve seen in Rhode Island featuring a color scheme I would probably pick out myself. I could see someday having an exhibition similar to it. The set up so tender and simplistic, exhibiting paintings and even animated like videos. I loved the mix of the two different mediums, however I do wish I got to see more animations like the girls throwing rocks. Oh and don’t even get me started on the zine for sale at the front desk. A) I can’t describe to you how much I love zines and B) it’s the perfect trinket to make you feel like you took the exhibition home with you. I bought one for myself and it now sits on my desk with my pens and pencils. Amy Sillman is an artist i’ll have to keep my eye out for, even look at her past work. I got the chance to see some of it in class, it resembles some of my sketches and themes.
Anton Kern Gallery – Francis Upritchard and Martion Gamper
Who’s feminism is it anyways? consisted of photographs,sculptures, video, drawings and paintings. It was a lot to take in, but I have to say it was over all a great show. Each section was really engaged in its subject. The first paragraph of the exhibitions statement describes it all. “This exhibition begins a new project that documents trans women activists committed to direct action and civil disobedience.” The show did just that, whether it be the graphite drawings of individuals matching at trans Latina Coalition protests or the blown up photographs of trans activists. It discussed trans and even in my poison informed the viewer of whats going on today for the trans community.
Andrew Kreps gallery – Andrea bowers
While walking around I couldn’t stop invitation this wife and husband art duo setting up the show, creating the pieces and over all theme together. Im fascinated by that, how two individuals invested into echoer and their own work. It must create the perfect work environment, I’ve heard in some cases married artist try to out art echoer by being in more shows or having more exhibitions. Looking back at the pieces with this perspective made all the work seem better. Even with my critical eye and opinions on the furniture side of the exhibition. Readers note, I see myself doing furniture design after and even during my time at Parsons. So this is why I payed more critical attention to the furniture. Overall I generally enjoyed the pieces, however I feel the pillars holding up the animal statures should of been wider. This would give the statues more space to be viewed easily and less awkwardly, giving them an area similar to the human like figures on the tables. Over all the show featured a interesting color scheme, patterns textures and objects. Sentimental objects with the essence of “different/ foreign” resembling items one would bring back from a travel.
James Cohan – Fred Tomaselli
To my surprise, and luck, this show was every interactive in a sense. compared to most other exhibitions I’ve been to. you get a feeling as if your contributing to most of the pieces. It gave me a feeling of post apocalypse memories loss, what ever that means. But I liked it, I preferably loved the tubs of water dwelling in the dark grey hallway. It was a comforting little cove with the settling sound of boiling water. Even the room with wind blown cups seemed fascinating, I kept trying to think of how an idea of that short would come up, or how it would even be excited. To think of al the attempts resulting in many tangled cups. Or maybe he got it all the good the first try, non the less it was an interesting experience.
Galerie Lelong – Ana Mendieta
from the sentimental time laps of empty out door spaces, people or wifi like videos the show was a well executed video frenzy. I sat dead center of the galleries biggest room fixing my look from one video to the next and then another time over just for fun. Each video contained its own one of a kind personality, but still contributed to staying congruent to one another. I spent minutes on end watching one video on loop of a girl sleeping. I don’t know exactly interested me about this video. I think its mostly because seeing someone sleep is a rare event I feel only friends,family or lovers get to see. It felt as if I know her, I got this same feeling with the videos of just looped locations. It rendered a purposeful calm solitude, I was in the video for a second, wasting time somewhere in the 1900’s.
303 Gallery – Karen Kilimnik
Overall I came to the conclusions that yes this show is a cute idea and cleanly excited, but I disliked it. Most of the material seemed receptive to me and a few of the ratings seemed to be just thrown in still lives or ratings with no correlation with the others. If you just left the show with the sticker pages and hallway glitter paintings i’d be more content with what the show was offering. I enjoy the idea and playful execution of putting stirrers on old era book pages. But It was just a few marks short for me. Im curious to see past works of Keren Kilimnik, to see the timeline of how she got from her early works to now.
Gagosian Gallery – Taryn Simon
Due to a “might as well check it out” kinda mindset I walked into This gallery located on 555 west 24th street. I’m more then pleased that I did, This show invoked inspiration to me thinking of how to push my own work. Each wall exhibited huge blown up photos of bright colored backdrops with beautiful flowers front and center. Each was incased in a wooden frame and some text sat beside it. The room held glass containers featuring smaller book like pages of photos, pressed flowers and text similar to the ones on the wall. These wall texts all go into detail about a specific important accords, treaties, deals and systems of governance. The flower arrangements match up with the wall texts, they are the same arrangements that were at these meetings. I thought it was a very eloquent and nobel subject matter. It baffled me, these flowers and photos, as simple as they are, represent these crustal and important meetings. To me the subject is just a small element of these specific events, they have nothing to do but everything. The artist could gone in any direction with this project. By taking pictures of people, buildings the actual paper agreement, but he instead took a subtle element and made it the main event. To me this is genius and I would like to further this story telling element into my own work.
