GEORGE CONDO – MENTAL STATES

Posted on 2011-10-17

This is the first major retrospective of the American artist George Condo. Since his emergence in New York’s East Village in the early 1980s, George Condo has developed a provocative body of work that, for all its outlandish humour and outrageousness, is deeply engaged with the memory of European and American traditions of painting. Focusing on his ‘imaginary portraits’, which conjure varied mental states with a mixture of comic absurdity and the heart-rending pathos, and incorporating sculpture as well painting, the exhibition offers a comprehensive survey of
three decades of his art.

Exhibition runs through to January 8th, 2012

Hayward Gallery
Southbank Centre
Belvedere Rd
London
SE1 8XX

www.southbankcentre.co.uk

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MEL BOCHNER

Posted on 2011-10-17

One of the founding figures of conceptual art, and one of its most astute critics, Mel Bochner combines colour and language in his work.

The exhibition traces his work over the last 50 years, from the 1960s and 70s and his early installations, wall drawings and works on paper, to his most recent series of exuberant paintings using a thesaurus to generate word chains full of wit and humour.
This is the first major European survey show of the US artist.

Exhibition runs through to December 30th, 2011

Whitechapel Gallery
77-82 Whitechapel High Street
London
E1 7QX

www.whitechapelgallery.org

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TIM BISKUP – FORMER STATE

Posted on 2011-10-10

Tim Biskup’s new collection of paintings looks strangely familiar. Maybe
it’s the unavoidable Biskup-ness of his color palate or the uncomfortable, slightly “off” expressions of his characters. Whatever it is, it is intentional. This exhibition was carefully planned out from the very beginning of it’s conception. Something that skews dramatically from Biskup’s improvisational past. It’s not like he hasn’t put a lot of thought into his shows (His last NYC show was accompanied by a 60 page book of text.).

The difference here is the level of focus. The show is almost entirely made up of large scale paintings in the artist’s polygonal style.
To add another layer of unity, the subjects are a series of small mask-like heads. These are not the carefully produced characters that make up his vast array of vinyl figures, but small, roughy hewn, crudely painted things that the artist sculpted himself.

Exhibition runs from October 14th to November 4th, 2011

THIS Los Angeles
5906 North Figueroa Street
Los Angeles
CA 90042

thislosangeles.com
timbiskup.com

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LOUIS VUITTON – THE ART OF HOTEL LABELS – SET TWO

Posted on 2011-10-10

Louis Vuitton publishes a second box set of 30 hotel labels from its private collection. Presented in an elegant boxed set, each postcard adhesive for the first time, equally evokes the art of travel and the great hotels of the world, from the Plazza Athénée in Paris to the Astor House in Shanghai. Louis Vuitton thus pays tribute to this lost tradition which consisted in sticking hotel labels on the trunks and luggage of passing travellers.

This collection of hotel labels witnesses stories and anecdotes that were carefully collected over the years by its passionate owner, Gaston-Louis Vuitton. Gaston-Louis Vuitton (1883-1970), grandson of Louis, booklover, traveller and collector has, throughout his life, put together a unique collection of 3,000 hotel labels which are today kept in the House archives. Stuck onto trunks and luggage, these labels admittedly had an advertising objective but also created the desire to travel the world, as well as providing information on the journeys and detours made by the owner of said trunk.

www.louisvuitton.com

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RICHARD WENTWORTH

Posted on 2011-10-10

Since the 1970s, Richard Wentworth has established himself as one of the major figures of New British Sculpture alongside Tony Cragg, Anish Kapoor and Richard Deacon. His work has also been of crucial importance in the development of the following generation and among others The Young British Artists.
The work of Richard Wentworth is characterised by its unusual visual poetry. The artist’s raw materials are to be found in everyday objects, which he photographs or assembles within his sculptures and installations. Through the use of juxtaposition, isolation and compilation, he exposes the formal and sculptural qualities of objects from our surroundings and explores their meaning and function. His oeuvres investigate notions of balance, weight and how space is occupied, while challenging the traditional definition of sculpture.

Exhibition runs through to November 10th, 2011

Galerie Nelson-Freeman
59 rue Quincampoix
FR – 75004 Paris
France

www.galerienelsonfreeman.com

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LISA YUSKAVAGE

Posted on 2011-10-03

Over the past two decades, Yuskavage has developed her own genre of the female nude: lavish, erotic, cartoonish, vulgar, angelic young women cast within fantastical landscapes or dramatically lit interiors. They appear to occupy their own realm while narcissistically contemplating themselves and their bodies. Rich, atmospheric skies frequently augment the psychologically-charged mood, further adding to the impression of theatricality and creative possibility.

For this exhibition, Yuskavage takes her complex narratives to a larger scale, whose sheer vastness adds a cinematic component to the works. More so than previously, this new body of work appears to merge the genres of landscape, still life, and portrait painting. Despite their immediacy, the plots reveal themselves slowly over time. Her compositions are equally prolonged: the terrains are more spacious and more intricately articulated than in previous works, which heightens a sense of realism while at the same time dismantling easy construction of meaning.

Opposite – Afternoon Feeding, 2011

Exhibition runs through to November 5th, 2011

David Zwirner
525 West 19th Street
New York
NY
10001

www.davidzwirner.com

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