Tag: art show

de la Cruz Art Collection in Miami_ Force and Form 2018 show

de la Cruz Art Collection in Miami: Force and Form 2018 show

Posted on by veronica

Located in the Miami Design District, de la Cruz Collection is a private, 30,000 square foot art museum displaying the contemporary art collection of Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz. Occupying a modern, 3-story white building, the art museum opened in 2009 to display the collection and to conduct lectures and workshops. Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz are the top 200 art collectors in the U.S., and it is amazing to see how much time, effort and finances this couple spared to build and maintain this art museum.

Force and Form

Force and Form brings together pivotal works from the collection to create a dialogue addressing a shift in artistic, as well as cultural, practice and form. The works respond to current issues of identity, gender, class, power, and the values that define our social fabric. The use of everyday materials and recycled imagery challenge traditional practices of sculpture, installation, and painting, while addressing the interaction between the human and mechanical gesture. 

If you happen to see the galleries, the staff is incredibly friendly and accommodating to every person ringing the door bell. They are also eager to walk you through the installations. The downside is that the art show is hardly visual arts. Despite its monumental display and the scope of this art exhibition, most artwork is so conceptual, it leaves nothing for the eye to get excited about. And while the staff may explain the artwork to engage you some, this engagement would be limited to your perception and art appreciation in general. When I see such shows one of the questions that runs in my mind is how irrelevant the skill, talent, and knowledge have become in art production and sales. Almost anything can be named ART, while very few artworks deserve this definition. This is one of the reasons visitors feel confused looking at ART that makes no sense whatsoever and therefore doesn’t connect with the viewer on a visceral way. This purposeful deskilling of ART leads to and fosters public’s indifference to contemporary art in general, in my opinion.

Obviously, any private art collection is a matter of taste of the collectors, and should be viewed as such. It is nice of the couple to support the artists making purchases of their art. If you plan on buying art for your private art collection, I encourage you to rely on your aesthetics and support talented contemporary artists as well.

de la cruz collection 2018
de la Cruz collection 2018 (Left: these white leaves are made of paper that are glued over the image to produce the 3-D effect. Top Right: Ana Mendieta is known for her feminist work that’s mainly installations in video and pictures.)

Artists in the Exhibition

Kathryn Andrews, Tauba Auerbach, Walead Beshty, Mark Bradford, Joe Bradley, Dan Colen, Martin Creed, Aaron Curry, Salvador Dalí, Peter Doig, Isa Genzken, Félix González-Torres, Mark Grotjahn, Wade Guyton, Guyton/Walker, Rachel Harrison, Arturo Herrera, Jim Hodges, Evan Holloway, Thomas Houseago, Alex Israel, Rashid Johnson, Alex Katz, Martin Kippenberger, Michael Krebber, Wifredo Lam, Glenn Ligon, Michael Linares, Nate Lowman, Adam McEwen, Ana Mendieta, Albert Oehlen, Laura Owens, Jorge Pardo, Manfred Pernice, Sigmar Polke, Seth Price, Sterling Ruby, Analia Saban, Josh Smith, Reena Spaulings, Rudolf Stingel, Rufino Tamayo, Kelley Walker, and Christopher Wool.

de la cruz collection 2018
de la Cruz collection, 2018

Contact:

Open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00AM to 4:00PM. Admission free. Must call the doorbell to enter the museum (doors are locked even during the open hours).

 23 NE 41 Street. Miami, FL 33137 | (305) 576-6112 | https://www.delacruzcollection.org/

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King Woman: contemporary art show review

Posted on by veronica

King Woman

King Woman is a contemporary art show held at the Pen+Brush nonprofit art gallery in New York in October, 2017. The title reflects epic impact you receive visiting the exhibit. Occupying two floors, the exhibition features a number of large artworks in contemporary painting, photography and sculpture. This art show is a rare gem, sparkling in an overall landscape of mediocre contemporary art. Both abstract and realistic, art is united in a single vision where a woman is King. The curator of the show is Mashonda Tifrere.

She said, “My goal for this show is to highlight work by women who question history and deny limitations, persevering in their art despite social mores and norms. These artists have also found a way to acknowledge their gender but at the same time move beyond it by owning it in an unabashed way – showing that women can be more than Goddess or Queen, that they are capable of being ‘King,’ at the pinnacle of power and strength and skill.”

Art transcends the gender roles, and while it shouldn’t be about the division between the sexes, it’s important to see women have equal say, being presented in art exhibitions. While we don’t see male artists showing in groups where their art challenges stereotypes and disparity they often face, women seem to unite in their message channeled through their art. Being vulnerable is beautiful. Women artists often feel unimportant and invisible however, their art becomes powerful once the forces are united in the show like this one.

Carole A. Feuerman

Carole Feuerman_King Woman show

Carole Feuerman is a pioneer hyperrealist artist who actually began the the hyper-realism movement in the 1970s. She portrays women in steel, bronze and resin so lifelike, you can’t help but reach out and touch the sculptures. Tiny eyelashes, hair and droplets of dew make her figures appear incredibly real.  Large and small, her figurative sculptures can occupy a small space in a room or in the entire garden. The sculptures are often integrated into their environment, like you can see in Venice. https://veronicasart.com/venice-biennial-2017-a-crappy-show-with-rave-reviews/

On the artist’s website Feuerman explains her work.

“She creates visual manifestations of the stories she wants to tell of strength, survival, balance, and the struggle to achieve.”

Carole Feuerman_King Woman show_s

Chrysalis, 2017, resin, 33 x 36 x 18″

Ingrid Baars

Artemis, 2017, C-print face mounted on dibond, edition of 7, 45″x 59″

This incredibly powerful photograph is inspired by African culture, fashion and women. Romantic at heart, the photo manipulation is the image of  striking beauty and ethereal contemplation.

Yvonne Michiels

Royal Flowers, 2017, Fuji Crystal on dibond with perspex

Based in the Netherlands, the artist creates incredibly moving digital collages of women with floral crowns.  At first sight her portraits of women express confidence and beauty. Women’s faces look so magnificent, you stare at the image speechless, yet we can feel some hidden vulnerability behind the perfect looks.

Roos Van Der Vliet

White float frame | King Woman show_| Art by van Roos
Roos Van Der Vliet, Storytellers XX & XV, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 37 x 29″ White float frame | King Woman show

These intimate portraits of women feel incredibly sincere. Dutch artist paints women realistically to express her inner desire to replicate reality as close as she can. Her paintings give a sense of a woman who is hiding yet she wants to be seen. Painting process is always a path to understanding oneself. Here we see the artist making discoveries about her own vulnerability.

Reisha Perlmutter

Iris, 2017, oil on canvas, 40 x 60″

Reisha paints women floating in colorful water. Abstracted patterns of body and water channel their healing powers where women are allowed to dwell freely in their ever changing environment.

Victoria Selbach

king woman show_Vic Selbach

Kali Ma, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 50″

This painting surprises with its size that creates instant sense of power and control found in a figure. She looks like a goddess or warrior who is ready to concur the world.

The list of artists in King Woman includes:

Rebecca Allan; Azi Amiri; Ingrid Baars; Hunter Clarke; Donna Festa; Carole Feuerman; Lola Flash; Meredith Marsone; Yvonne Michiels; Stephanie Hirsch; Kharis Kennedy; Kit King; Lacey McKinney; Jane Olin; Reisha Perlmutter; Renee Phillips; Trixie Pitts; A.V. Rockwell; Victoria Selbach; Lynn Spoor; Swoon; Tiara; Roos Van Der Vliet; Elizabeth Waggett; Lynnie Z

Where:

King Woman is the contemporary art show that runs between October 12th-December 9th, 2017 at Pen+Brush nonprofit art gallery in New York (29 East 22nd street). To read more about the show: http://www.penandbrush.org/articles/press-release/upcoming-exhibition-king-woman 

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Venice biennial 2017:  a crappy show with rave reviews

Posted on by veronica

If you regret that you haven’t seen the show yet, don’t. Venice Biennale 2017 is monumental in concept and degraded on visuals, heavy on installations, and weak on any form of beautiful painting, huge on scale and tiny on emotion. Chief curator of the Pompidou center in Paris, Christine Macel  arranged the exhibition in a number of pavilions -realms which flow together with concept art titled “Viva arte Viva!”

While paid entrance to the biennale invites you to visit vast spaces of the Arsenale and the Giardini, a number of other pavilions are scattered throughout Venice in medieval palazzos and gardens. Art in those palaces looked better than the one in the official biennale. Each pavilion usually represents a single country with its native artists exhibiting their talent to the multilingual public.

Karla Black abstract sculptures
Venice biennial 2017: the Arsenale. 9 chapters or realms, 86 countries, 120 artists – one feeling of confusion. The show opens up with large-scale installations situated between a long stretch of bare, tall brick halls of the Arsenale. Arsenale is the medieval Venetian warehouse for arms and boats.

This is one of the top art international shows that obliterates visual beauty in favor of concept. Boring to the eyes and craftsy at best, the viewer has to read lengthy statements in provided brochures to “get” the idea behind the pieces. I love Venice for its beautiful architecture, history and art, yet the biennial rejects even a slightest idea of having representational art on its grounds. The exception is the Venetian pavilion itself that defies the curator’s voice with sparkling jewelry, chandeliers, gowns and sophisticated glass that highlights traditional artist labor and skill.

A woman’s head is picking out from a hole in the floor with piles of clothes arranged in a circle.
The Romanian Pavilion

Like in the naked king fairy-tale, fooling of people takes place in the exhibition stating what they see is ART.  Rooms after rooms visitors encounter piles of materials, fabric, metals or abstract sculptures, that often have profound meaning expressed through riveting writing. However these endless primitive installations and videos leave the spectators  confused on what ART means.

Art exists to call our attention to something, to make a statement, or to leave a record of times lived. Curated as apolitical and without a clear message, the biennial misses to deliver on any of these points.

The German Pavilion
More rooms

Visual arts are called visual for a reason. Because the artist’s call to attention and its impact is visual, conceptual art rarely leaves considerable emotional impact. Even when the concept is strong, it’s weakened by the absence of the visual perception we all share. Therefore, such installations should get a specific classification not to be promoted as art. Today’s notion abolishes any standard for an artist to aspire to, and for people to understand or appreciate. Why did we keep high standard in music or dance and completely abolished the one in art? It’s not the absence of artists willing to travel years in education to achieve something worthwhile of people’s attention, it’s about few art critics and curators, influential art shakers who pick and choose, add and subtract – curate according to their tastes, business practice and economic whims.

The pavilion of Shamans

Art installations that catch attention

On the upside, the exhibition is gender-even, nationality-diverse, with the majority of the unknown artists representing both influential and obscure countries. There are a few art installations at the main complex of the biennale that caught my eye.

The Zimbabwe Pavilion
Zimbabwe pavilion
The Russian pavilion
Russian Pavilion: Change of Decorum. Growing aggression, terror, irrational life of people, control and manipulation of masses are the themes of the art installation with drones, people, soldiers and androids living in the “transparent world.”
The Chile Pavilion
Artist Bernardo Oyarzun explores the theme of the current representation of the Mapuche community, a group of indigenous inhabitants of southcentral Chile and southwestern Argentina. Dark room features an installation of over 1,000 Mapuche kollong masks, traditionally used in ceremonies. Note that 40 Mapuche artisans produced these handmade masks commissioned by the artist who installed them in the pavilion.
The Argentinean Pavilion
Claudia Fontes, The Horse Problem
“Making art is not a luxury. It’s a way of surviving that humans as a species have developed: we are, so far as we know, the only group of living beings capable of calling the attention of others to the meaning of life. That’s something to celebrate.” – Claudia Fontes
Other rooms
The Mongolian Pavilion
The Venetian Pavilion
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Art seen off of the biennial in Venice in 2017

A nice surprise is a solo show by Carole A. Feuerman situated in a peaceful corner of a green garden at the Giardino Della Marinaressa, by the Venice Biennale (open and free to the public). The artist makes hyper-realistic, life-size sculptures of women in painted bronze and steel, resin and oil that look so life-like, you just want to reach out and touch the sculptures!

Kendall Island, lacquer on bronze, life-size sculpture

Project by Lorenzo Quinn on the Grand Canal in Venice. His monumental sculpture of white hands raises awareness about the climate change and the rising sea levels.

Street art in Italy

I must mention the performance that I saw on the streets of Turin. A young man pounded the keys of an old typewriter with rare obsession. Here is one of his finished pieces.

The artwork made using an old type writer.

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