Out and About: A Week in Review

Lawrence Weiner

Gyroscopically Speaking

Marian Goodman Gallery

A founder of the conceptual art movement, Lawrence Weiner uses text to challenge traditional assumptions viewers may have about an object. Phrases such as “Pushed Forward/ Close By/ Pushed Aside/ Close By/ With Graceful Haste” line an S-shaped wall constructed in the north gallery of Marian Goodman as part of the artist's most recent gallery show, Gyroscopically Speaking.

The bold, curving lines that accompany most of Weiner’s pieces in the show are a tool to manipulate the viewer’s eye, the most basic goal of any visual art work. These lines also allow the viewer to maintain a sense of orientation (hence, the gyroscope) while interpreting the text. However, the phrases Weiner presents remain open to individual interpretation, and that fundamental relationship between what is being presented and how it is being interpreted is the most significant aspect of Weiner’s work.

Lawrence Weiner, TAKEN FROM THE WIND & BOLTED TO THE GROUND, 2009, LANGUAGE + MATERIALS REFERRED TO. Courtesy of the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York and Paris

Mark Bradford

The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston

Contemporary art superstar Mark Bradford is the subject of the ICA’s latest blockbuster exhibition, Mark Bradford. It's also the first survey exhibition of the Los Angeles based artist’s work which consistently explores race, class and gender in American urban society. Organized by the Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio State University, Mark Bradford includes installation, video, sculpture and the collage paintings the artist is most famous for.

Mark Bradford, "Strawberry," 2002. Image Courtesy of the ICA, Boston and the Collection of Barbara and Bruce Berger

workworkworkworkwork Works For Me

As the world’s most well known designers begin to unveil their latest creations in New York this Fashion Week, Bostonians can see some extraordinary designs on a much smaller scale thanks to an exhibition dedicated to artist Charles LeDray at the Institute of Contemporary Art.

Again, it’s on a much smaller scale.

No…much smaller.

Smaller than that.

Charles LeDray, MENS SUITS. Photo Courtesy of the ICA, Boston

The small scale sculptures included in workworkworkworkwork bucks “the bigger, the better” trend so popular in today’s contemporary art scene and goes far beyond small scale haute couture. Miniature bound books, beautifully glazed thumb-sized urns and small scale replicas of antique furniture carved from human bone are all on view.

LeDray, a native of Seattle, learned to sew from his mother at age four, and could knit and macramé by 10. He received no formal fine arts training and briefly worked as a security guard at the Seattle Art Museum. "Many nights I would leave the museum with a burning desire to make something -- anything -- inspired by spending the day with great works of art," LeDray told the Seattle Post Intelligencer in a 2003 interview.


One of the installations, Throwing Shadows, features more than 3,000 black porcelain pots. Displayed in a row of three jewelry cases, the harsh museum lighting creates thousands of shadows from these tiny ebony figures, doubling the already vast number of handmade creations.

Charles LeDray, Throwing Shadows. Photo Courtesy of the ICA, Boston

In a world of mass market disposable fashion, where knockoffs of $4,000 Hermès Birkin bags can be bought from the trunk of a Chrysler in Long Island City (one in black and one in red, Bitches!), Ledray’s one of a kind handmade pieces are almost too good to be true. In this month’s ARTNews, artist Nari Ward writes “The aspect most relevant for contemporary art is figuring out how to take a formal language and push it as much as possible.” By taking a men’s blazer and recreating it on such a small scale - the almost microscopic buttons, epilates and patches all created from hand - Ledray forces us to reexamine the countless items we surround ourselves with on a daily basis.

workworkworkworkwork is on view at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston until Oct. 17. After its debut at the ICA, the exhibition travels to the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (Nov. 18, 2010—Feb. 13, 2011) and to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (May 8—Sept. 11, 2011).

For more information, visit the ICA’s Web site here.

Editorial Disclaimer: The author of this post received discounted or complementary admission to the above mentioned exhibition, courtesy of the host institution, organization or gallery.

Review: Roni Horn aka Roni Horn

In a.k.a, Roni Horn pairs portraits of herself from over the years producing feelings of intrigued surprise. A photograph of the artist as a young girl in a yellow dress with her red hair carefully placed is displayed next to a portrait of the artist as an androgynous adult in a man’s button down work shirt with her salt and pepper hair clipped close to her head. The often startling effect that is the passage of time is a theme that can be felt throughout Roni Horn aka Roni Horn on view at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston until June 13.

Originally organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in association with Tate Modern, aka is the most comprehensive survey of the artist’s work to date. Educated at the Rhode Island Institute of Art and Yale, Horn moves effortlessly through disciplines, using photography, sculpture and painting as mediums. She lives and works in New York and Reykjavik – the landscape and eco-diversity of Iceland is an inspiration felt in many of her works. “Iceland is always becoming what it will be, and what it will be is not a fixed thing either,” writes Horn. In Still Water (The River Thames, for Example) Horn is able to capture the elusive nature of water in a series of photographs. She then dots the photos with footnotes that examine the complexity of fluid emotions and thoughts both associated and unrelated to the water’s surface.

100 photographs of the same woman’s face are hung around a gallery like a horizon line in You are the Weather documenting the fleeting existence and uniqueness of expressions. In sharp contrast to the small amount of time examined in You are the Weather Horns five-ton pink glass cube Pink Ton’s is a testament to how long things take to come to fruition. I can’t even begin to fathom how long it took for the cube to come into existence: from Horn’s first notion of the cube to its installation.



Roni Horn, "You are the Weather" (detail), 1995. Image via the ICA Web site, courtesy of Hauser and Wirth, Zurich and London.

Although The Boston Globe panned the ICA for its decision to host the show, I believe that the exhibition was a positive strategic move by the museum. Boston is not a town known for its contemporary art scene and this show is both approachable and thought provoking. As an institution, the ICA has to exhibit ground breaking pieces from the contemporary art world, but at the same time it needs to develop shows that appeal to the general public. The ICA is creating a market for itself by cultivating a community of patrons interested in contemporary art by slowly introducing the work of today’s more provocative artists.

The works included in aka details Horn’s diverse talents as an artist and shows how an aesthetic can both change and stay the same over time. After seeing Roni Horn aka Roni Horn you will examine moments both big and small in your world with a renewed sense of interest and appreciation.

Roni Horn aka Roni Horn is on view at the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston until June 13. For more information visit the ICA’s Web site.

Editorial Disclaimer: The author of this post received discounted or complementary admission to the above mentioned exhibition, courtesy of the host institution, organization or gallery.

Experiment @ The ICA - Boston

Read about the ICA here

The Boston Globe review of Damian Ortega's "Do It Yourself." At The ICA through Jan 18.

A decent show, four beers and dancing with this guy.