Park Slope's 440 Gallery unveiled its 15th Annual Small Works Show on Wednesday, December 4, featuring 74 works from artists across the country in a variety of media. "The most valuable work of art in a grand collection, may very well be the smallest piece," notes the show's press release. Clockwise from top left: Adam Hardy, Reykjavik Winter, 2019; Tricia Townes, Selfie 1, 2019; Alan Gaynor, RIP, 2012; Ruth Kalla Ungerer, Femme Fatale, 2017 Rich Garr, Stacked Craft, 2012 Hongyi Jiang, Tank Fireworks Made At Anytime After 4th June, 1989 (2019) Jim Ebersole, Prospect Park, 2019 Daqian Zhang, Rose, 2019... Continue reading

If you happen to check out Yayoi Kusama's Every Day I Pray For Love at David Zwirner this week, be sure to head over to the gallery's 19th Street space where Jason Rhoades' Tijuanatanjierchandelier is on view through Saturday, December 7. The immersive installation transforms the room into a mesmerizing, seedy mess, filled with 44 of Rhoades' chaotic neon chandeliers suspended from the ceiling. The illuminated sculptures are composed of exposed wires and extension cords, taxidermied animals, Moroccan pendant lamps, and assorted tchotchkes the artist picked up during his travels. Rhoades' colorful chandeliers also feature various English and Spanish expressions... Continue reading

Garry Winogrand: Color, on view at Brooklyn Museum through December 8 This is your last week to catch Garry Winogrand: Color at the Brooklyn Museum. The exhibit is the first devoted to the color photographs of Winogrand, who was known primarily for his black-and-white street photography. Born in the Bronx in 1928, Winogrand pioneered a "snapshot aesthetic," according to the museum, and shot thousands of color slides from the early 1950s through the late 1960s. The artist did not have the funds to print his color slides and at the time exhibited these works in slideshows. "He found ways to... Continue reading

The bloviating, badly-behaving men holding positions of power in this country are forcing many to question and combat patriarchy as well as the outdated boys-club mentality. Macho, a group exhibition currently on view at Established Gallery, brings together the work of twelve artists examining toxic masculinity and what it means to be a man today. Macho, on view at Established Gallery The show’s curators, Alexandra Rubinstein and Andrew Smenos, decided to explore masculinity and gender relations because machismo is an “unexplored topic in today’s sexual landscape,” Smenos explained. “There’s a lot of things focusing specifically on women and women’s issues... Continue reading

Kurt McRobert's signage on the window of Ground Floor Gallery Ground Floor Gallery’s latest group show, The Constructions, is packed with wonders inspired by the art of Joseph Cornell including sculpture, assemblage, collage, and painting. “I have a long affair with Joseph Cornell. I love the work. It’s kind of heartbreaking. It’s poetic,” said the exhibit’s curator, John Gagné, during the gallery opening Friday evening. “His kind of working method was [going to] Downtown Manhattan, [into] old bookstores, antique stores, and gathering up all these small bits and then building them into boxes.” Cornell (1903-1972) crafted dreamlike scenes with found... Continue reading

Dozens of artists in Park Slope and Windsor Terrace welcomed visitors into their studios the past two weekends (November 9-10, 16-17) for tours. Since 2013 Park Slope/Windsor Terrace Artists—a collective of visual artists living and working in the two Brooklyn neighborhoods—has hosted annual PSWT Open Studio Weekends, inviting the public to visit local artist workspaces and maybe even purchase original works of art. This year, the "Open Studio Central" at Ossam Gallery (300 7th Street) showcased one piece by each participating artist, offering attendees a preview of each studio as well as information on the artists and maps of tour... Continue reading

I debated for weeks about whether I wanted to stand in line for Yayoi Kusama's latest blockbuster exhibit at David Zwirner, Every Day I Pray For Love. Ultimately FOMO got the best of me, so I bundled up and headed over to 537 West 20th Street this chilly morning to join the crowd. About 30 people were already waiting outside when I arrived at the gallery at 9:35am. The early birds at the head of the queue said that they had been waiting since 8am. Once the doors opened at 10am, 25 people were ushered inside. Fortunately the line moved... Continue reading

After visiting the phenomenal Gropius House in Lincoln, Massachusetts, head over to the deCordova Sculpture Park & Museum just one mile away. Situated on 30 acres of sprawling lush lawns surrounded by woods and adjacent to a pond, deCordova features more than 60 modern and contemporary outdoor sculptures and site-specific installations. Established in 1950, the cultural institution is housed on the former estate of Julian and Elizabeth (Lizzie) de Cordova. While Lizzie came from a prominent Boston family, Julian was a self-made man who found fortune as a tea broker, wholesale merchant, and investor. He also served as President of... Continue reading

About 35 minutes northwest of Boston in the town of Lincoln, Massachusetts stands the eye-catching former home of Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius. The 2,400-square-foot, four-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath Gropius House, one of Historic New England’s house museums, is open for tours year round. Gropius House, 68 Baker Bridge Road, Lincoln, Mass. The bold, modern façade of the house is an unexpected sight on the unassuming residential road that leads to the deCordova Sculpture Park & Museum and Walden Pond. The striking rectangular structure sits on an expansive grassy hill and features a flat roof, a dramatically angled entrance marquee, ribbon windows, a... Continue reading

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