Tete casquee

Tete Casquee, 1933. Bronze

My favorite piece from the Gagosian Picasso and Marie-Thérèse: L'Amour Fou exhibition seemed to have little to do with Marie-Thérèse: the Tête casquée (1933) bronze head of a warrior is charming, a little goofy even, but fantastic. (It is also apparently under copyright protection in the US, because heaven forbid my blog show a small, low-res image of a famous Picasso sculpture without a 'gettyimages' tag over it. I mean, we all have to keep our standard up or soon the rabble would be sharing images of god-knows-what important sculpture.)

Luckily MoMA is a little freer with an image of a plaster cast of the same work, which shows the wonderful face of the soldier better:

Head of a warrior, Boisgeloup, 1933. Plaster, metal, and wood

I hope the inclusion of this piece wasn't meant to be a riff on Marie-Thérèse's Roman nose?

Jean-Michel Basquiat at Film Forum

For once a press release was sent to me that was topical and handy. Via my inbox, this was from Gagosian yesterday:

JEAN-MCHEL BASQUIAT: THE RADIANT CHILD
PRODUCED and DIRECTED BY TAMRA DAVIS

Wednesday, July 21 – Tuesday, August 3 • Two Weeks
Showtimes: 1:15, 3:15, 6:00, 8:00, 10:00 • Tickets available online beginnning July 14


"Tamra Davis creates a dazzling sense of the '80s New York art scene."
– Caryn James, Newsweek

The meteoric rise and fall of Jean-Michel Basquiat, born 1960. In the crime-ridden NYC of the 1970s, he covers the city with the graffiti tag SAMO. In 1981 he puts paint on canvas for the first time, and by 1983 he is an artist with "rock star status." In 1985 he and Andy Warhol become close friends and painting collaborators, but they part ways and Warhol dies suddenly in 1987. Basquiat's heroin addiction worsens, and he dies of an overdose in 1988. The artist was 25 years old at the height of his career, and today his canvases sell for more than a million dollars. With compassion and insight, Tamra Davis details the mysteries that surround this charismatic young man, an artist of enormous talent whose fortunes mirrored the rollercoaster quality of the downtown scene he seemed to embody.

USA • 2010 • 90 MINS. • ARTHOUSE FILMS

• Q & A with Director Tamra Davis after the 8:00 show on Wednesday, July 21st and Thursday July 22nd
•Q&A with Fab 5 Freddy to follow the 8:00 show on Friday, July 23rd

To purchase tickets online: Film Forum | Box Office

Just in case you've developed a similar fascination with the odd cast of characters I wrote about yesterday.

Linnea in Monet's Garden

Nympheas, 1907

Of course you have heard the hype and of course you like Monet, so if you haven't heeded the call to go see Monet's Late Work on view at Gagosian's 21st street location, yet let me repeat them all and say: Go now. It's cheaper than a museum (free) and shows works that museums rarely do (privately-owned). This being one of my first art excursions upon being back in New York, I was more than a little gleeful to find myself surronded by these late, great works. They are strangely wild, more so than you might give "pretty" Monet credit for. And the colors!

The colors almost beg you to paint, even if you should be someone like me: more of an enthusiast than an artist. From a distance all seems serene, giving an impression of reality. Up close, things in the pictures fall apart and you become filled with wonder at a surface that contains so many contradictions.

At least that was the joyful effect it had on me, reminding me as it did of Linnea in Monet's Garden.There are few Linneas in the US and certainly very few in Georgia where I grew up so as a child, which is why I was given a copy of this book about once a year in honor of my name. However my trips to Paris have unfortunately been when the Orangerie hosting Monet's circular water lily series was closed. Here I was finally in Monet's garden.

L'Allee de Rosiers, 1920-1922

While I have been to the real garden of Monet in Giverny, it's beauty doesn't compare with the artist's work. Somehow in the process of seeing and painting the same sights for so many years, Monet arrived a point in his later years when his paintings were so patently not about the object itself but about his experience with them, his experience with the paint, his desire for the right color, that he no more heeded his eyes than he did contemporary painting styles. He painted, as it were, from the heart, from years of experience, and with great love. It is a beautiful thing to see.

One Goofy Dragon: Murakami at Gagosian

ArtObserved reminded me of a work I saw recently and wanted to share, if only because it strikes me as such a departure from how I thought of the artist. Entitled Picture of Fate: I Am But a Fisherman Who Angles In the Darkness of His Mind, Takashi Murakami has taken over the wall of Gagosian's 24th Street location. This painting is massive, intricately colored and textured, with a storyline from Japanese legend.


When I saw the Murakami exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, including the work above, I was totally turned off. His paintings there were done in saturated color in a super flat style, and accompanied by a Luois Vuitton boutique no less.



This new painting is interesting to look at, which I couldn't have said before. I'm not saying the skulls and dopey-faced lion aren't kitsch or that the colors don't straddle a line between apocalyptic sewage and Rainbow Bright. But the surface and the application of paint is beautifully done. It's worth seeing in person just to marvel at the texures. This may or may not be a saving grace, but it certainly counts for something.

Some reviewers have commented about how the aging artist is seriously wrangling with the themes of death and mortality. This is hogwash. Just because the painting delves beyond otaku culture into older Chinese and Japanese symbolism (or the artist says he is tired) doesn't necessarily make it weightier or more personal. Murakami does not produce earnest, lyric art; he maunfactures an appealing and accessible view of Asian culture with a pop sensibility. That is what I see in his latest picture, and that is what I see in clips from his latest project, a music video remix of Turning Japanese with Kristin Dunst:

Sidenote: The rest of the gallery is devoted to works in the spirit of the 80s ala gold lamé MC Hammer pants. Enter at your own risk.

Gagosian opens not a gallery, but a store.

The Gagosian empire has spread across Chelsea and the rest of the world, most recently to Rome, Italy. But this incredibly successful venture is taking on a new aspect--retail. Coolhunting reports that the store "focuses primarily on the publications, posters and accessible artist editions that the powerhouse gallery creates from its many shows at its galleries around the world."

My first reaction was along the lines of "ugh, how commercial." Unlike museum shops, this seems like a drive to squeeze the last penny out of an already profitable machine in a way that may or may not help the artist. But then I started daydreaming about the cool stuff that I might actually be able to afford....this is clearly designed to reach out to a whole new audience of people like me...I like that.

Picasso Notebook Stolen in Paris

Via the BBC:

A sketchbook of some 32 drawings by Pablo Picasso worth about 8m euros ($11m; £6.8m) has been stolen from a museum in Paris, police have said. The theft from the Picasso Museum was discovered on Tuesday afternoon but the exact time and circumstances have yet to be determined. Initial investigations showed the sketchbook was held in an unlocked display case on the first floor.

Police sources told the Agence France-Presse news agency that the theft would probably have been committed between Monday evening and noon on Tuesday. There were no signs of a break-in an no alarms were set off. The museum was closed at the time, although there was a private viewing on Tuesday.

My first thought is: how awesome would it be if the theif were some rich, old lady with cleptomaniac impulses at the private viewing? The kind with embarrassed younger relations who had to keep returning silver spoons from dinner parties. She would just have to nod drowsily as if she were falling asleep, then quickly stick her hand in there and put the notebook in her pocketbook.

While that's a ludicrous scenario, you would think museums could spare funds for security. A lock would be an especially low-tech way to go. While I gloried at how close you could be to so many Picassos at Gagosian's new space in Chelsea, now I wonder if the small white box can provide enough security.

K

Ravels in Review May Day!

It is the first of May, which means many beginnings, Spring, outdoor activities, my 26 day birthday countdown, and last but not least--that my parents are visiting me this weekend! Their visit came off to a good start, with the 10 course tasting menu at Degustation last night, or if not, they were too stuffed and pickled to complain. Despite vowing last night not to eat for the rest of the month (luckily last night was the last day of April), we have more eatings planned, some museum goings, and some theater. I'll keep you posted.

Meanwhile what were we talking about this past week? Aside from a rather lame Monday, when I suffered from some of the less innocuous effects of summer, I talked about two gallery shows in Chelsea, Picasso at Gagosian being absolutely requisite (I hope to bring my mom tomorrow) and Louise Fishman being well-worth seeing, especially if you like textured, thickly-painted abstract canvases. I do. While you can't actually go see the recent installation in the atrium of the Guggenheim by Ann Hamilton, you can see my video of her Human Carriage and the applause it generates.

We've also had some fun discussing the huge, new ArtPrize being offered and the populist way it's being decided and a billboard takeover in New York City. This street warfare between advertisers and artists wasn't entirely successful; I hear that most of the billboards have already been reclaimed and painted over by companies.

Picasso at Gagosian: Go now!

As you know, if you read yesterday's or the day before's post, I had a great list of galleries in Chelsea that I wanted to go see. Yesterday was beautiful outside, so I biked up to 20th Street. Overall, I had a mixed reaction, but one thing stands out as being an incredible show and opportunity for any art lover:

The Picasso exhibition at Gagosian

It's amazing to see Picasso in a smaller, intimate gallery setting. This is Gagosian's new space at 522 W. 21st St, and it's beautifully lit. The sheer number of works in the 4 large spaces is dauntingly fun, and it really helps you make sense of Picasso's late period during the 60s and 70s, from which all the works were drawn. Called Mosqueteros, due to an abundance musketeers, cavaliers and prostitutes in these later works, the show comes mostly from private collections that are not accessible to the public. So Gagosian's exhibition is an unprecedented chance to see this grouping.

The artist in 1971

Gagosian's business acumen is amazing: rather than focusing on lower-priced works in these economic times, he is marshalingl his resources to create shows like the Pierro Manzoni retrospective and this one to generate buzz and excitement at a time when it's hard to generate sales. The exhibitions themselves have been wonderful.

I felt within the Mosqueteros, there was certainly an uneven quality to the grouping. Some paintings were great, others very great. The paintings themselves were jarring, ruthlessly honest, and aggressive with haunting eyes. If the exhibition shows you anything, it's that Picasso remains fresh and relevant today. It's on view until June 6, so go see it while you can.

Gagosian: A Mistaken Identity

Who is this man?

This is Gagosian, the infamous Larry Gagosian of Gagosian galleries around the world...and how I've disdained him in the past with reverse snobbery. 'Oh ho ho, Mr. Gagosian, must be easy to be a behemoth when you have everything. From one successful gallery to another, hop skipping and jumping across the art world, making stars of artists as you go. The gall with which he opened another gallery in Rome despite the downfall of the art market. Hah! Not for me, not after you tricked me with your multiple Manhattan galleries so that I missed the Cy Twombly exhibition in 2007. For me, let there be street art and collectives in dingy Brooklyn warehouses and such. Let creativity run rampant in bohemian poverty!'

And yet, Larry is apparently really Lawrence Gilbert. An Armenian-American born in Los Angeles in 1945, and his past is not what I thought. He hates press, and a recent article for Intelligent Life describes the difficulty of getting those who know him to talk about him. An entrepreneurial and clever businessman, Gagosian has made his fortune through good judgement, salesmanship, and showmanship. Gagosian got his start in the 'art world' by selling posters near UCLA's campus. According to Wikipedia,

"In the early 1980s he developed his business rapidly by exploiting the possibilities of reselling works of art by blue-chip modern and contemporary artists, earning the nickname "Go-Go" in the process. Working in concert with collectors including Douglas Cramer, Eli Broad and Keith Barish he developed a reputation for knowing how to push prices upwards as well as for staging museum quality exhibitions."

After establishing a New York gallery in the mid-1980s Gagosian began to work with a stable of super collectors and expand his gallery empire. Now he has three locations in New York City (on Madison Avenue, West 24th St. and 21st St.), two locations in London (on Britannia and Davies Streets), one location in Los Angeles (in Beverly Hills) and his latest in Rome.He represents the best and biggest names. When art and business come together, there you find Gagosian.

Art for arts sake, on the other hand? Doesn't have a place in his world. So with additional respect for the man, I'll keep my reservations and ideal of unfettered garret life.

ADDITION: For added spice on Larry, see this article describing a recent letter to staff telling them, in these tough economic times, to sell art or get out.