SanArt

Hendershot Gallery
547 West 27th Street, No. 504, 212.239.1210

Chelsea

March 3 – April 17, 2010
Opening: Wednesday, March 3, 6 – 8 PM
Web Site

Hendershot Gallery is pleased to present La Charmeuse de Serpents, the first New York solo exhibition by Dutch artist Hadassah Emmerich.

The exhibition title, from the homonymous 1907 Henri Rousseau painting, reflects the inspiration for Emmerich’s latest series of work on paper. Installed in the manner of a classical St. Petersburg hanging, this exhibition is comprised of a selection of large-scale paintings and a salon of smaller plates.

This mise-en-scene references the salon as the urban exhibition platform installed by cultural elites in the early 17th century to create a conduit for intellectual exchange and the debate of Western culture during the ‘Enlightenment.’

Emmerich incorporates the language of late 19th century painters, like Paul Gauguin and Henri Rousseau, who fantasized and studied Asia. Similarly to the humanists, they envisioned it as the origin of the world, as they stood on the brink of modernism. Emmerich’s dual insistence on female and non-Western identity is not surprising given her very own Indonesian and Dutch roots. To this end, the artist strives to reveal the multitude of cultural signifiers she encounters having been raised in the West with her own heritage.

Envisioning herself as a veritable snake charmer, Emmerich addresses the complex representation of the female image in relation to modern art and the exotic. Serpentine lianas are intertwined with symbolically charged elements, arabesques, and visions of mythological fauna. This layering of icons, on a sublime level, is revealed in the artist’s sensitive application of paint, ink, and charcoal and the unique use of linocut print.

Her interest in illuminated manuscripts can be found in works such as “The Manuscript.” With inspiration from “Paul Gauguin: An Erotic Life,” by Nancy Mowll Mathews, Emmerich juxtaposes graphic floral representations with a passage from his biography, creating a mystical atmosphere.

Bringing form and subject matter together in this collage–like format, this installation of works create an intriguing world of their own in which the viewer is lured in to rest and contemplate – not only by viewing, but by emotionally experiencing the work.

Hadassah Emmerich, born 1974, holds a BFA from the Maastricht Academy of Fine Arts, The Netherlands and a MFA from the Goldsmith College, Great Britain. She currently lives and works in Berlin. The artist has presented her work in numerous critically acclaimed solo and themed group exhibitions.

Her latest solo exhibitions include “With Love from Batik Babe,” Gemeente Museum, The Hague, The Netherlands, 2005; “Casino Exotique,” Künstlerhaus Bethanien Berlin, Germany, 2008; “Salon,” Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland, 2008; “Le Cercle Infernal,” Galerie Akinci, The Netherlands, 2009; and “Jean Gid Lee presents…,” Münzsalon, Berlin, Germany, 2009.

Emmerich’s work has been included in numerous critically acclaimed international group exhibitions at MoCA, Miami, United States; Bonnefanten Museum Maastricht, The Netherlands; Kunstverein Bielefeld, Germany, Centraal Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Museum of Modern Art, Arnhem, The Netherlands; Elisabeth Kaufmann Galerie, Zürich, Switzerland; and Institut Néerlandais, Paris, France.

The Rubell Family Collection (RFC) was started in New York in 1964 when Don and Mera Rubell were first married. Since 1993 it has been displayed in Miami at its current, 45′000 square-foot location, and it first opened to the public in 1994. Since then, the Rubell Family Collection has been recognized as the pioneer of what is often referred to as the “Miami model,” whereby private collectors create a new, independent form of public institution.

In 1998 the non-profit Contemporary Arts Foundation (CAF) was created to expand the Collection’s public mission inside the paradigm of a contemporary art museum. Each year CAF presents thematic exhibitions drawn from the collection with accompanying catalogs. The current exhibition bears the title “Beg Borrow and Steal” and deals with the question of artistic influence, revolving around the quote attributed to Picasso: “Good artists borrow, great artists steal.” (see also VernissageTV’s video about the opening of the exhibition).

In this video, art historian and art expert Bettina Krogemann and Don and Mera Rubell sit down in Cady Noland’s installation “This Piece Has No Title Yet” (1989) to talk about the history of the collection and the various aspects of collecting art (Excerpt. Full-length version on VernissageTV’s HD page).

Interview with Don and Mera Rubell at the Rubell Family Collection, Miami. Miami / Florida, February 4, 2010. A transcript of the interview is going to be published in the German art magazine Weltkunst.

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Related Articles:

• Beg Borrow and Steal / Rubell Family Collection, Miami

Now in its second year, Low Lives is a one-night exhibition of live performance-based works transmitted via the internet and projected in real time at numerous venues throughout the U.S. and around the world. Low Lives 2 will be presented as part of Fusebox Festival in partnership with Co-Lab, Austin, TX; Galeria de La Raza, San Francisco, CA; Diaspora Vibe Gallery, Miami, FL; The Temporary Space in Houston, TX; and Terminal, APSU, Clarksville, TN. Additional presenting partners T.B.A.

Low Lives examines works that critically investigate, challenge, and extend the potential of performance practice presented live through online broadcasting networks. These networks provide a new alternative and efficient medium for presenting and viewing performances. Low Lives is about not simply the presentation of performative gestures at a particular place and time but also about the transmission of these moments and what gets lost, conveyed, blurred, and reconfigured when utilizing this medium. Low Lives embraces works with a lo-fi aesthetic such as low pixel image and sound quality, contributing to a raw, DIY and sometimes voyeuristic quality in the transmission and reception of the work. Submissions are welcome from both established and emerging artists.

Submission Requirements:
- Artists can submit previously created works or new work to be considered through links to artist’s websites or other web destinations. Duration of works must be under 5 minutes to be considered.
- Only live performances will be considered
- Artist statement including how work relates to Low Lives concept
- Artist Bio
- CV
- Email complete submission materials to: keoqui@gmail.com

Important Dates:
March 30th – Submission deadline
April 7th – Artists notified on selection
April 30th – Show opens – 7:30 – 10:30 pm (EST)

Artists selected to participate in this exhibition will transmit their work live through Ustream.tv a platform that allows for anyone with a computer, webcam and internet connection to broadcast live.

Opportunity for Presenting Partners:
Regional, national, and international arts organizations interested in presenting this one-night exhibition contact Curator, Jorge Rojas at: keoqui@gmail.com

To view last year’s exhibition catalog and performance videos visit labotanica –
http://labotanica.org/blog/?page_id=782

Presenting Partners:
Fusebox Festival 2010 – http://www.fuseboxfestival.com/
Galeria de La Raza – http://www.galeriadelaraza.org/
Diaspora Vibe Gallery – http://www.diasporavibe.net/
Co-Lab – http://www.colabspace.org/
The Temporary Space – http://www.thetemporaryspace.com/
Terminal – http://www.terminalapsu.org/

Jorge Rojas – http://www.jorgerojasart.com/

Franklin 54 Gallery + projects
526 West 26th Street, No. 403, 917.821.0753

Chelsea

March 3 – March 31, 2010
Opening: Thursday, March 11, 6 – 8 PM
Web Site

Franklin 54 Gallery + projects is pleased to present an exhibition of new paintings and mosaics by Java. A lover of “breaking china”, Java has mastered the use of these broken pieces in creating colorful and fun imagery. Mosaics go back more than 4,000 years and the process is a physical one; the actuality of breaking up pieces and juxtaposing them together for a composition is intriguing and self-involving. Irregular chipped surfaces and edges dominate as the materials are carefully adhered to the surface. As the artist notes he appreciates the mosaics as he is able to fix what has been broken.

Staying within this realm, Java’s paintings have a primitive, Cubist quality but again are quite involved and color continues to be important. Each one tells a story and here there is much symbolism to build on. “Still Life” is a colorful piece titled appropriately. The asymmetrical faces are sadly confrontational and the 2 tilting sideways become part of the still life. The lying figure’s head becomes enmeshed in the fruit and the chest almost becomes the outside of the watermelon on top. Color is lush and the simple thick handling of the paint heightens the texture and works well for this artist. In contrast to the mosaics, his paintings have a deeper more serious side.

Java is a self taught artist, born and raised in Cuba, now living and working in Brooklyn. Using recycled materials in his mosaics and sculptures leads him to endless possibilities as he continues the exploration with these new works. His attitude of “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” is a wonderful one that he takes seriously in his dedication to the work. He has completed many commissions both private and public including portraits, patios and a recent commission in 2009 for National Payroll Week. Works have been included in exhibitions in Cuba, Italy, Miami and New York City.

For his Real Time Project, Dutch designer Maarten Baas became a film director. Thanks to new technologies in video, it’s possible to produce videos of 12- or even 24 hours in length. This makes it possible to film a movie that can function as a clock. Maarten Baas created a clock collection by using the language of cinema. The passing of the time is shown by people who are shot and screened in a true interval of 12 or 24 hours. There’s the Grandfather Clock (the screen is an integrated part of a Grandfather Clock showing a film of a man, drawing the hands of a clock), the Sweepers Clock (people are making the hands of a clock by sweeping garbage all day long), the Analog Digital (the LED lights are managed by someone who either paints them to make them dark, or wipes them clean to have the red light shine through), the World Clock (people in three different countries are indicating the local time, using their daily things to be the hands of a clock.). Maarten Baas’ Real Time has been shown at Design Miami Basel 2009, Milan Salone 2009, Design Miami 2009, and the Zuiderzeemuseum. The clocks will be available on Blu Ray Disc.

From February 19, 2010, Maarten Baas has a solo show at the Stedelijk Museum in ’s-Hertogenbosch.

Maarten Baas: Real Time Project, Design Miami 2009. December 1, 2009.

Click here for an interview with Designer of the Year Maarten Baas at Design Miami 2009.

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Neon Monster is an art and design collective based in San Francisco that curates and creates limited edition experiences: handpicked selections of art, limited edition multiples, designer toys, current and back-issue comics, and new and vintage vinyl records. Neon Monster was founded in October 2007 by four collectors. John Crowe, Kristy Klinck, and brothers Jacob and Isaac Pritzker wanted to share their love for limited edition collectibles. Neon Monster also curates and hosts art shows featuring works by local and national artists. In this video, filmed at their temporary show in Miami’s Design District during Art Basel Miami Beach 2009, partners Kristy Klinck and John Crowe introduce us into the world of Neon Monster.

Neon Monster at Limited Edition Experiences at The F Factory Moore Building, Design District Miami. November 30, 2009.

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Metro Pictures
519 West 24th Street, 212-206-7100

Chelsea

February 18 – March 20, 2010
Opening: Thursday, February 18, 6 – 8 PM
Web Site

In the exhibition “Midnight Matinee,” Gary Simmons uses images of drive-in theater marquees and infamous houses from vintage horror films to reflect on ghosts and abandoned pasts. Simmons has long referenced film, architecture and American popular culture in works that address personal and collective memories of race and class.

The films Amityville Horror, Burnt Offerings, Psycho and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre all have houses that figure prominently, often actively, in the plot. No less haunted are the forsaken drive-in theatres, their elaborate signs and marquees totems to their lost vitality. Combined, the images of architecture and the cinema naturally lend themselves to the movement inherent in Simmons’ drawings and paintings. “Split Personality” is a large wall drawing (scaled to the proportions of a movie screen) that uses an image of the notorious Psycho house split horizontally and inverted as if flickering between frames. The multi-panel drawings create the illusion of movement in their vertical filmstrip format with images repositioned as in stop-motion animation.

Simmons’ distinctive “erasure” technique has been central to his work since the early 1990’s. In their earliest incarnations, Simmons composed compositions in white chalk on readymade chalkboards or directly onto slate-painted walls that he partially expunges and erases by smudging the images with his hands. In recent years, Simmons has adapted the process to canvas using pigment, oil paint and cold wax. Using a black on black palette for the first time, Simmons’ new works amplify the refinement of his technique with subtly textured backgrounds and images drawn and smeared in lush oil paint.

Gary Simmons has been included in exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Bohen Foundation, New York; the Whitney, New York; the Studio Museum of Harlem, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C.; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the St. Louis Art Museum and the Kunsthaus Zürich. He has had work recently commissioned for both the New York Presbyterian Hospital and the Dallas Cowboys stadium. His work is represented in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Rubell Family Collection, Miami; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the Whitney, New York.

David and Lee Ann Lester, founders of International Fine Art Expositions (IFAE) have been the pioneers of the Florida art fair market, establishing Art Miami in January, 1991, The Palm Beach International Art & Antique Fair (now American International Fine Art Fair AIFAF) in 1997, and Art Palm Beach in 1998. They have organized more than 65 international art fairs worldwide in New York, Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Chicago, Dallas and Hong Kong.

In 2009, the Lesters resumed ownership of the two Palm Beach fairs, acquired the historically favorable January art fair dates at the Miami Beach Convention Center, and in 2010 presented the first edition of MIA – Miami’s new January contemporary art fair. In 2009, IFAE entered into a joint venture with Clarion Events to serve as the partners and executive management of the Olympia International Art & Antiques Fair, now re-branded as the London International Fine Art Fair at Olympia. Most recently they have announced plans for the Naples International Art and Antique Fair and Art Naples in 2011.

In this conversation with Bettina Krogemann, David Lester talks about how he and his wife became art fair organizers, the history of the American International Fine Art Fair AIFAF, the London International Fine Art Fair at Olympia, their plans with the SeaFair, what makes a fair a successful one, and IFAE’s plans for the future. This video is an excerpt, the full-length version is available on our HD page.

Interview with David Lester at the VIP Lounge of the American International Fine Art Fair 2010. February 3, 2010.

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Related Articles:

• American International Fine Art Fair Palm Beach 2010 / Highlights
• American International Fine Art Fair 2010 / Vernissage

PULSE New York 2010
March 4 – March 7, 2010

Having entered its fifth season with a successful and critically-acclaimed run in Miami last December, PULSE New York 2010 will host over 50 exhibitors from around the world, including thirteen solo exhibitions of emerging artists in the IMPULSE section of the fair.

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Momenta Art
359 Bedford Avenue, between S. 4th and S. 5th, 718-218-8058

Williamsburg / Greenpoint / Bushwick

February 4 – February 15, 2010
Opening: Sunday, February 7, 3 – 5 PM
Web Site

In lieu of a traditional opening for their show at Momenta, Mariam Ghani and Erin Ellen Kelly will present a 20-minute excerpt of their current collaboration, Landscape Studies, with live voiceover and live dance performance. This one-of-a-kind event will be followed by a conversation moderated by New Museum Curatorial Associate Amy Mackie about cross-disciplinary collaboration.

The work being screened/performed for this event, Landscape Studies, juxtaposes footage shot in and around the Galisteo Valley, White Sand Desert, and Route 66 in New Mexico combined with live and filmed performances and original and adapted texts drawn from the region’s turbulent history. The video is organized by Tewan theories of the meaning of colors, clouds and directions – while the voices, sound and music layered over the visible landscapes evoke (in)famous people from New Mexico’s history (J.R. Oppenheimer, J.B. Jackson, Elsie Parsons, Charles Lummis, Howard Cushing) and reference films that have used these places as stages and stand-ins, including The Misfits and The Man Who Fell to Earth. There will be only one performance of this work at Momenta; please join the artists at Momenta on Sunday at 3PM.

The work, which is the pair’s fourth collaboration, is an HD video with a spatialized surround sound score by Aaron Taylor Kuffner. Smile is a study of the patterns and rhythms of movement through shared spaces of the city-state of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. The video, named for Sharjah’s infamous welcome sign (spelled out in flowers in a traffic circle notorious for rush-hour traffic jams), roams the neighborhoods, suburbs, exurbs, plazas, highways, alleys, and excavations that range between Sharjah’s seaport and its desert fringes, with an eye to the cycles of construction and consumption that sustain this precarious and often contradictory place. Sharjah is self-evidently a work-in-progress, and the migrant workers responsible for its continual reconstructions – the most omnipresent and invisible of its inhabitants – are also the main players in Smile’s simultaneously choreographed and documentary reconstruction of Sharjah.

Mariam Ghani has exhibited her work in video and installation internationally, including at the Sharjah Biennial, the Liverpool Biennial, the Tate Modern, the National Gallery in DC, transmediale in Berlin, the New York Video Festival, and the Brooklyn, Bronx and Queens Museums. She has been awarded NYFA and Soros Fellowships, ETC and Mid-Atlantic grants, Turbulence and Creative Time commissions, and residencies at LMCC, Eyebeam Atelier, Smack Mellon, and the Akademie Schloss Solitude. Her recent projects include public projections in Berlin and Amsterdam and curating an exhibition of public dialogue projects in Buffalo. She has a B.A. in Comparative Literature from NYU and an MFA from SVA, and teaches at Cooper Union and Parsons.

Choreographer Erin Ellen Kelly employs techniques from Butoh, qigong, gymnastics, farming, cabaret dancing, and performance action-theater to create new works, ways of moving, and performance installation pieces that comment on the human condition and its relationship to the environment and society. Her solo performances have been presented by venues including Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin in Miami, Kultur im Spannwerk in Berlin, and the New York Butoh Festival, the HOWL Festival, Collective Unconscious, and Movement Research at Judson Church in New York. Her collaboration with artist Mariam Ghani is focused on creating performances equally specific to the site of production and the medium of video.

Aaron Taylor Kuffner, aka Zemi17, is a composer, musician, and media artist. Kuffner co-founded the multi-media performance group Ransom Corp in 1997. He started the 23 Windows Collective community arts studio in Brooklyn in 2001 and was the co-creator and curator of the Resonant Wave Art Festival in Berlin. From 2004 through 2006, Zemi17 conducted ethnomusicological research in Indonesia; on his return to NY, he established The Gamelatron, the world’s first and only fully robotic gamelan orchestra, with the League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots. He performs locally and internationally.