You have about two weeks left to check out the Guggenheim's terrific exhibition Hilma af Klint: Paintings for the Future, the first major U.S. survey featuring the vibrant, abstract works of the little-known artist whose early 20th-century paintings feel notably contemporary. The Ten Largest (No. 1, Childhood; No. 2, Childhood; No. 3, Youth; No. 4 Youth), 1907 The Ten Largest (No. 1, Childhood; No. 2, Childhood; No. 3, Youth; No. 4 Youth), 1907 The Ten Largest (No. 5, Adulthood; No. 6, Adulthood; No. 7. Adulthood; No. 8, Adulthood), 1907 The Ten Largest (No. 7, Adulthood; No. 8, Adulthood; No. 9,... Continue reading

You have another week to check out the Guggenheim Museum’s comprehensive survey of the work of Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966) before it closes on September 12. Perhaps best known for his sculptures of extremely slender figures, the exhibition includes several of the artist’s drawings and moody paintings featuring ghostly figures etched onto darkened canvases. Giacometti was born October 10, 1901 in the village of Borgonovo in Switzerland to a Post-Impressionist painter father, Giovanni, who introduced his sons to the arts. Giacometti’s brother, Diego, was also an artist and served as Giacometti’s assistant and frequent model. Upon moving to Paris in 1922,... Continue reading

The Whitney currently has on view a terrific retrospective of the work of the multi-disciplinary artist and activist, David Wojnarowicz. David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night begins in 1979 with his photographs of three friends as they wandered around NYC wearing masks of the French poet Arthur Rimbaud, then on to the early 80s when he created artwork on found materials (supermarket ads, garbage can lids), painted murals on the Hudson River Piers (most often at Pier 34 off of Canal Street), and played in the post-punk band 3 Teens Kill 4—their 1983 album No Motive plays in... Continue reading

Dan Flavin: in daylight or cool white is currently on view at David Zwirner's 537 West 20th Street location until next Saturday, April 24. This exhibit focuses on some of Flavin's more subdued light installations, or "situations," as the artist referred to them, showcasing a series of works from 1963 through the early 1970s composed of different variations of commercial, fluorescent white lights (cool white, daylight, warm white, and soft white). "The works from this pivotal first decade of his exploration of ready-made, commercially produced lamps exemplify and distill—in this restricted palette—his minimal and conceptual approach," the exhibition's press release... Continue reading

In honor of his 80th year, the Met currently has on view a spectacular retrospective of the long (almost 60 years!), prolific, and ever-evolving career of David Hockney. The museum is the only North American stop for this exhibition which showcases Hockney's early works, his iconic paintings including A Bigger Splash and Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy, more recent landscapes and iPad paintings, as well as several drawings and photo collages. It's a vibrant, fascinating show that offers a glimpse into Hockney's personal life, glamorous Californian lifestyle, and unflinching creativity and productivity. David Hockney is on view through February... Continue reading

Hoping to avoid an hours-long line, I took the day off from work a couple of weeks ago to check out Yayoi Kusama's Festival of Life exhibition at David Zwirner. I arrived at the gallery just before its 10am opening on a Wednesday morning and found a queue snaking from the gallery's entrance at 525 West 19th Street down to 11th Avenue and around the corner about a third of the way up the block. Fortunately, I chose an unseasonably warm day to play hooky, so the 90-minute wait was bearable. Once inside, visitors are shuttled into another short queue... Continue reading

I finally made it up to North Adams, Massachusetts at the end of August to catch Nick Cave's Until at Mass MoCA (1040 MASS MoCA Way) before it closed on Monday, September 4th. The Chicago artist is best know for his Soundsuits—elaborate, sound-producing, wearable sculptures (see here and here). His installation Until was informed by the deaths of African-American men in recent years, including Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, and Michael Brown. The word "until" plays on the phrase, "innocent until proven guilty," or in some cases, "guilty until proven innocent," the exhibit's notes state. Until addresses gun violence, gun control... Continue reading

South Korean artist, Lee Bul, continues her beautiful exploration into utopian ideals with her latest exhibition Lee Bul: LMG Show 2017 currently on view at Lehmann Maupin in Chelsea. Entering the exhibit via Souterrain, a disco-ball-like tunnel composed of mirrors, it doesn't take long before visitors have to crouch down in order to successfully pass through its dramatically lowered ceiling. The once grandiose entryway quickly gives way to discomfort and claustrophobia, implying all that glimmers is not so perfect. Once inside, visitors can gaze upon Untitled: In This New..., a sleek mirror suspended by steel chains featuring a network of... Continue reading

This is your last weekend to catch Pixel Forest, the New Museum’s survey of Swiss video and multimedia artist Pipilotti Rist’s 30 year career. Go see what the long entrance lines winding up Bowery, around Stanton and beyond are all about. Occupying the museum’s 3 main floors, the second floor showcases a collection of Rist’s early single-channel videos from the 80s and 90s viewed inside single-capacity boxes that viewers insert their heads into. Administrating Eternity (2011), a four-channel video installation consists of dreamlike images of flowers, sheep, cats, and green fields projected onto rows of long, diaphanous, white curtains—much like... Continue reading

Last Friday, December 16th, the artist, choreographer, and dancer Grazia Capri performed her work Corpi in Vertigine #2 (Bodies in Vertigo #2) before an audience at Fordham University’s Lipani Gallery located at Lincoln Center. The work is an exhibit of raw emotion and energy by an engaging performer. The compelling, non-narrative, 34-minute piece is, according to the performance notes, a modern study on the struggle of “having to choose between who we really are and who we choose to show to the world…. Our nature is stifled, hidden in our deepest depths, causing an existential vertigo.” Before Capri took the... Continue reading

Two additional Ai Weiwei exhibits can currently be seen in Chelsea at the Mary Boone and Lisson galleries, both on West 24th Street. Roots and Branches, at Mary Boone features Tree, a 25-foot-high tree Frankensteined together from sections of multiple dead trees collected from mountains in Southern China. The various tree parts were bolted together to create one massive tree complete with twisted roots and sprawling branches. The imposing piece is displayed before a wall covered in wallpaper specially designed by the artist. According to the exhibit’s press release, Tree is a “totem that may be seen as a comment... Continue reading

Check out BKLYNER.com for my post on Spencer Finch's Lost Man Creek currently on view at MetroTech Commons in downtown Brooklyn through March 2018. Continue reading

After a five year absence, artist and activist Ai Weiwei returned to New York in a major way. He was recently in town for a few weeks to open four gallery exhibitions (at Deitch Projects in Soho, Lisson Gallery and Mary Boone in Chelsea, and Mary Boone in midtown), give a talk with artist Tania Bruguera at the Brooklyn Museum (which I regrettably missed), and pick up a WSJ. Magazine Innovator Award. Ai’s recent artwork has focused on the global refugee crisis. According to an interview with Ai provided by Deitch Projects, the focus began following the artist’s 2011 detention... Continue reading

A photo posted by Ai Weiwei (@aiww) on Nov 1, 2016 at 2:00pm PDT During his current visit to New York City, Ai Wei Wei expresses what we are all feeling... Continue reading

During my quick jaunt to Pittsburgh over the summer, I wasn’t sure I’d have enough time to visit The Andy Warhol Museum—I’ve seen so much of his work over the years, I wasn’t entirely sure it would be worth the effort. I am happy to say I was convinced to make the effort and check out the museum because it is terrific! Warhol’s signature, bold Pop Art gems are well represented—the soup cans, celebrity portraits, flowers, electric chairs, skulls, cows… but there is so much more to see with 7 floors dedicated to showcasing his massive oeuvre. Opened in 1994... Continue reading

It’s no secret I am crazy about Eero Saarinen’s work (see my past posts here and here), so finding myself in Indiana this summer, I absolutely had to visit his phenomenal work, the Miller House and Garden, located 50 miles south of Indianapolis in a small city called Columbus (~population under 50,000). I was not disappointed. The house is perfect. I immediately fell in love and wanted to move in! Commissioned in 1953 by J. Irwin Miller (Chairman and CEO of Cummins Engine) and his wife Xenia, Saarinen was a friend of the couple’s, having previously designed a summer house... Continue reading

During a road trip this summer, I passed through Pittsburgh for a few hours where I discovered Mattress Factory, a wonderful contemporary art museum. Founded in 1977 by artists, Mattress Factory supports artists working in residence to create site-specific installations, videos, and performance pieces. The museum has presented new works by over 650 emerging and established artists from all around the world. Each of the five stories of the main building as well as its outdoor spaces (a rear garden and the roof top) exhibit extraordinary, often large-scale and immersive work that “allows artists to respond to developments in technology,... Continue reading

Another spectacular exhibition by artist Doug Wheeler is currently on view at David Zwirner at 537 West 20th Street. The artist's third solo exhibit with the gallery, Encasements showcases five works composed of acrylic and neon lighting. First conceived between 1967 - 1969, Wheeler created only twenty "light encasements." Four of the works on view here consist of 90.5" x 90.5" vacuum-formed plastic panels mounted onto a wall with neon lighting lining the edges from behind. The artist created only two, rarely seen variations featuring the illumination at the center of the panels—one of these works is included in this... Continue reading

Well this is disappointing—it's reported that artist and activist Ai Weiwei has been denied a bulk order he requested from LEGO because the company doesn't want him to create political work with its toy bricks. Ai, known for his criticism against the Chinese government, was planning to use the LEGO pieces for a work he hoped to exhibit at the National Gallery of Victoria in Australia. I'm sure this decision by LEGO executives has absolutely no connection to the upcoming Legoland planned for Shanghai. Read more at gawker.com. Image from the artist's Instagram account Continue reading

It's been quite a while since I've checked out the galleries in Chelsea, so I was happy to return Saturday to catch the final day of the exhibition Dan Flavin: Corners, Barriers, and Corridors at David Zwirner's West 20th Street location. When I arrived, I was surprised to find a queue waiting to get into the exhibition. Fortunately the line moved quickly and we were soon inside experiencing Flavin's beautiful light installations (or "situations," as he called them). Created between the late 1960s and early 1970s using commercially available fluorescent lamps, each piece is constructed within a corner, corridor, or... Continue reading

Hopefully you were among the thousands who made it out to JFK Airport yesterday for a last look into the iconic TWA Flight Center before construction begins to convert it into a 500+ room hotel. Built in 1962 by the legendary Finnish architect, Eero Saarinen, the terminal is a mid-century masterpiece and a symbol of the exciting Jet Age. The dynamic exterior of the terminal suggests wings in flight while the interior boasts soaring, arched ceilings slashed with skylights. Touches of bold red, marble, and light fixtures of multiple exposed, round bulbs give the terminal a sleek, glamorous vibe. The... Continue reading

The Whitney Museum's final exhibition at its Madison Avenue location is a blockbuster—with extended museum hours to accommodate the hordes of visitors. When Jeff Koons: A Retrospective, the museum-wide exhibition of the divisive artist's oeuvre closes on Sunday, October 19th, it will mark the end of an era for the Whitney which will move downtown to the Meatpacking District to new Renzo Piano designed digs (opening Spring 2015). Organized chronologically, the retrospective showcases the 59-year-old artist's polarizing works throughout the years including vacuum cleaners encased in plexiglass, inflatable flowers and bunnies, basketballs floating in tanks of distilled water and sodium... Continue reading

Kara Walker's highly anticipated installation at Williamsburg's soon-to-be-demolished Domino Sugar Factory opened last weekend to long lines waiting in the rain. Commissioned by Creative Time, A Subtlety or the Marvelous Sugar Baby is Walker's largest public art project to date and a departure from the delicate yet disturbing cut-paper silhouettes that the artist is best known for (see my post on the artist from September 2009 here and another from May 2011 here). After waiting a little over 30 minutes in intermittent downpours last Saturday, and signing a waiver to enter the active construction site, visitors were greeted by an... Continue reading

Ai Weiwei's must-see According to What? has arrived at the Brooklyn Museum—a triumphant final stop for the touring exhibition. The Brooklyn Museum features 30 works spanning over 20 years of the multimedia artist and activist's career. Many of these works were displayed at the Hirshhorn Museum last year (see my post here), however, Brooklyn has a few newer works on view that were created after the artist's 81-day detention by the Chinese government in 2011. The museum's lobby has on display S.A.C.R.E.D., 6 large iron boxes equipped with small windows allowing viewers to peer into claustrophoic scenes of Ai's imprisonment.... Continue reading

Currently on view at the Guggenheim is Carrie Mae Weems: Three Decades of Photography and Video, a mid-career retrospective of the artist's work featuring over 200 pieces that explore race, gender, class, identity, and social relations. Born in Portland, Oregon in 1953, Weems, a 2013 MacArthur Foundation Fellow, is the first African-American woman artist to have a retrospective at the Guggenheim. Some highlights of the exhibition include one of her first major photographic series, Family Pictures and Stories (1978 - 1984), which documents the artist's family in intimate, black and white portraits. The powerful From Here I Saw What Happened... Continue reading